Some say that on Pesach or Succos, one can decide to celebrate either by feasting the entire day or studying Torah the entire day (the halachah is that one divides the day in two, half for seudah and half for davening and learning). However, all Tanna’im agree that on Shavuos, there is a mitzvah to hold a festive meal. This seems counter-intuitive. If on other Yomim Tovim certain sages held that we have the right to celebrate only by studying Torah, than surely on Shavuos, when the Torah was given, we should be able to celebrate this way?
Rather, since the entire reason why the Torah was given to us and not the malochim was because we have a body and we must work to perfect it, on Shavuos we demonstrate this fact by eating and drinking with the intent of fulfilling the mitzvah of seudas Yom Tov.
The Maharal (Tiferes Yisroel 25) explains that this idea is alluded to in the unique bread offering on Shavuos in the Beis HaMikdosh — the “Two Breads.” This was the only wheat offering that was made of leavened bread, because in the language of the Sages, the rising of dough is an analogy for the yetzer horah. Only on Shavuos, the day of the Giving of the Torah, was leavened bread offered in the Beis HaMikdosh, to show that Torah is the way to master one’s yetzer horah.
Of course, this doesn’t happen automatically. When you open a Gemara, your desires don’t just disappear. Everyone has to learn mussar and work on controlling their bad middos, but even after succeeding in this, one’s evil tendencies are still present, only they’re under control. When a Jew clings to Torah study, this can sanctify him, so that even these tendencies are diminished (see Beis Halevi II 15).
Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv would note that Chazal liken the Torah to honey, and honey has the ability to absorb and neutralize foreign elements that are introduced into it. Bees produce honey, and raw honey typically contains vestiges of these bees, but if left alone, these remains of bees will literally disappear and become part of the honey itself. So too Torah, if a Jew puts himself into it as much as he can, the Torah will have an effect on him similar to honey, doing away with his bad desires and putting them in line with the Torah itself.
This sounds like a level of Torah study that is far above us. Is our Torah on such a level that it can do away with our bad desires?
Rav Chaim of Volozhin shows a way to put this power in our reach (Avos, Ruach Chaim 3:9). Before we begin learning, we should first daven to Hashem, saying: “Hashem, I know that I am a human being who has a yetzer horah, and I have bad tendencies, such as jealousy and laziness. Please, I do not want to err in such sins. I want the Torah that I am about to learn to help me overcome them.” If a person says such a tefillah before learning, his learning is called Torah lishma, and can indeed help him fight his yetzer horah.
Of course, one needs to value Torah study. If he does not, he will not engage in it sufficiently. Next, when it comes to spiritual matters, we don’t gain from things we don’t value. If a person doesn’t value his Rav or Rosh Yeshiva, he is not going to grow from them. So too with Torah. If a person does not value it (or, he doesn’t believe that it has the power to change him), Torah will not change him — even if he says this tefillah.
Rav Itzele Blazer sees this idea reflected in Nedorim (81a), which asks: Why was the Beis HaMikdosh destroyed? The Jews of that period were learning Torah! Hashem revealed that they did not say the berachah before studying Torah. The Ran explains that they did not properly value the Torah. Rav Blazer infers from here that the Jews’ Torah study was unable to protect them from committing the sins that led to the destruction of the Beis HaMikdosh, and the reason their Torah could not protect them was because they did not value their Torah study.
How can we work on valuing Torah more?
The Bach (Orach Chaim 47) notes that one of the seven perpetual mitzvos is to remember the event of the Giving of the Torah (Devorim 4:9,10). This means more than just the giving of the Torah. It means the event that took place, in which Torah came to this world amid an awesome fire. Why was this necessary? The Bach explains that it was to show us the Torah’s awesome power and kedusha. We should think, every day, that the Torah is this invincible fire of kedusha.
In addition, we should think to ourselves: Were there to be even one moment in which no Torah was being studied in the world, the entire universe would cease to exist (Nefesh HaChaim 4:25, 26). Also: Our study of Torah brings blessing upon us and the entire universe.
Considering such ideas should bring home to us the greatness of Torah and help us value it properly.
The Chofetz Chaim would advise people to picture the following Chazal (Megillah 16b): “Torah study is greater than saving lives.” Picture an earthquake, and victims are lying wounded by the hundreds. A doctor arrives and rushes from victim to victim, quickly resuscitating, bandaging, administering treatment and medicines; in short, saving lives. He works tirelessly for hours without a break. At night he collapses from exhaustion, only to rise an hour later to once again rush from victim to victim, saving more people. This doctor is unquestionably a hero, but think: A Jew who learns Torah during that same amount of time is even greater than this doctor!
