Continuing the sequence that was begun after Passover, this Shabbat we study Chapter Five of Ethics of the Fathers, which contains the following Mishna:
“Ben Bog Bog said: Learn it and learn it [the Torah], for everything is in it...Ben Hei Hei said: Commensurate with the painstaking effort is the reward.”
Ben Bog Bog was not the actual name of the Rabbi quoted; rather, it is a pseudonym indicating that he was a convert or the descendent of converts to Judaism. In Hebrew, Ben BoG BoG is an acronym for “Ben Ger, Ben Giyoret” “the son of a male proselyte, the son of a female proselyte”. The Mishna refers to him in this manner because the saying attributed to him has special significance for converts.
Non-Jews are obligated to keep the Seven Noahide Laws that were given by G-d for all mankind. In order to know what these rules consist of and how to observe them, a gentile must study the relevant sections of Torah. Nonetheless, his Torah study is not an end in itself, but only a means of acquiring practical knowledge. By contrast, when a Jew learns Torah, his study is a mitzva in its own right.
When a non-Jew undergoes conversion according to Torah law, he also assumes the obligation to study Torah as a mitzva unto itself. His study becomes entirely different in nature, intrinsically and objectively valuable. Thus the Torah study of a proselyte most graphically demonstrates the distinction between learning Torah as a means toward something else (which he engaged in before converting), and the true commandment of Torah study, which he started observing when he became Jewish.
Like everything else in the Torah, the names of the Sages quoted are extremely exacting. Moreover, the order of the above Mishna is also significant: First comes “Learn it and learn it,” the study of Torah, followed by “Commensurate with the painstaking effort is the reward,” the reward G-d gives us for keeping His commandments. For as our Sages taught, “Great is the study of Torah that leads to actual deed.”
