Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, known as the Ramchal, was a brilliant talmid chacham from Italy. The Goan of Vilna proclaimed that if he lived in the same generation he would walk all the way from Vilna to Italy to study by the Ramchal. The Vilna Goan also said that in his life of Torah study he only has recognition to his Rebbe that taught him the Alef Bet because after that, he gained all of his knowledge on his own. Nevertheless he felt it would be worthwhile to spend months traveling by foot to study by the Ramchal. The Ramchal had moved to Amsterdam and printed his works and then moved to the holy land. He passed away at an early age of 39, and is buried in Teveria next to Rabi Akivah. The great kabbalist concluded that the Ramchal was a reincarnation of Rabi Akivah and his 39 years of teaching the secrets of Torah was what Rabbi Akiva missed out on the beginning years of his life, before he became learned.
Recently the Russian government allowed access to the library of the famous Baron Rothchild which contained the handwritten manuscripts of The Ramchal. They found part 1 of the famed work of Mesilat Yesharim, “The Path of the Just”. The writing style of the Ramchal is a dialog or a debate between a wise man and a chosid. The wise man is on a quest to understand the life of a chosid; how he can be satisfied with saying a few chapters of tehillim, long tefilot, and immersing in ice cold mikvah. How are they intellectually stimulated? The day comes and the wise man meets his childhood friend who became a chossid, and they engage in conversation, resulting in an animated debate. The wise man starts to understand the concept of “shlaimut hama’ase” – perfection in one’s actions. It doesn’t really matter how much one accomplishes, but rather the quality of his accomplishment.
Finally, the chosid asks the wise man, who dedicated much of his life to the study of Torah, a simple question. What does Hashem want from us? I am sure many of us ask ourselves the same question. In parshat Eikev the same question is asked. The Torah tells us of only five things Hashem requests from us: #1 to fear/ awe Hashem #2 to love Hashem #3 to go in His ways #4 prayer #5 to observe all the mitzvot. The chosid asks the wise man; the verse seems to be redundant because #1 to fear/ awe and #2 to love Hashem is included in #5 to observe all the mitzvot. Why does the Torah put them as separate concepts? The chosid explains that there is a difference between the actual mitzvah and the emotional component of how to go about the mitzvah. The first four requirements are the emotional aspects of our service; the last part is the physical action. The chosid challenges the wise man saying, by studying all day you accomplish just 20% of Hashem’s will. How do you explain yourself?
I find this to be a tremendous chidush, a novel insight, to our way of life when defining our priorities. As the Mishna teaches us, any study that does not come to action is a waste of time. The Ramchal explains that the action of the person doing the mitzvot and the study of the mitzvot is only 20% but the duties of our heart and the way we go about doing things comprises 80% of our service to Hashem. It’s something to think about.
