R’ Moshe Krieger continues:
Still another way to strengthen our valuing of the Torah is to observe great talmiday chachomim. One sees their wisdom and sterling character, and it inspires us to appreciate the Torah that shaped them. I myself can credit my father for instilling in me my value for Torah. He was a great talmid chocham, and in addition, one could see from his actions that Torah was the only thing that mattered to him.
On numerous occasions, he turned down job offers that would have enabled him to support his family much more comfortably, since he knew that these jobs would take away from his learning. He always managed with a meagre parnassa precisely because he devoted large parts of his day and night to learning. At a time when others his age were at the peak of their earning capacity, my father decided to stop working entirely and devote himself solely to Torah. His parnassa was always a mystery to us, and now even more, but he was adamant that he could not suffice without giving all his time to learning.
“Use all of your time for learning,” he would tell us often. He did not want us to seek any occupation other than learning or teaching Torah. When my brother went to America (to learn in a kollel there), he commented to my father that “here, you need a car.” My father was steadfast that he should live near his kollel and not get a car. “Once you have a car, you’ll find yourself driving to places instead of learning during that time,” he said.
May we value our Torah study and sanctify ourselves!
