He despised the word of Hashem and abrogated His commandment. That soul shall be cut off; its sin is in it. (Bemidbar 15:31)
“He despised the word of Hashem” – This refers to anyone who can engage in Torah study but does not. (Sanhedrin 99a)
We see that neglecting Torah study is called, “He despised the word of Hashem.” The Rambam states this as a halachah:
Anyone who could engage in Torah study but doesn’t, or who studied Scripture and Talmud but abandoned it for the vanities of the world, who left his study and neglected it, is despising the word of Hashem.
Why is this sin considered so severe?
When a person learns Torah, besides the mitzvah it entails, this also creates a special and direct relationship with Hashem. By the same token, neglecting Torah learning is judged completely differently from neglecting other mitzvos.
With other mitzvos, such as mezuzah for instance, Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded us to put up a mezuzah, and failure to do so is abrogating the mitzvah. Abrogating a command is rebelling against the King. But when a person neglects Torah learning, he is not just abrogating Hashem’s command. It is also a tremendous insult.
This is because learning Torah, besides the mitzvah, is also connection with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And nullifying that connection is truly terrible. It is pushing Hashem away and rejecting Him.
Rabbeinu Yonah expresses this in emphatic terms:
When people finish their work and business activities, and go home to do nothing, or to engage in idle talk, this is very bad and a heavy sin. Because they are despising the Torah. If they would believe that the reward for studying it is endless, why wouldn’t they get up and walk to the synagogue to learn halachos or read Chumash or recite prayers?
Chazal say that the verse, “He despised the word of Hashem and abrogated His commandment” is said about anyone who is able to engage in Torah study but doesn’t do so. He is despising the word of Hashem.
Therefore, every person must set up a special place also in his home, and put halachos or Tanach or Tehillim there for himself. When he is free from his business, he should go there to study Talmud or read Chumash. Setting up such a place is also a wonderful way to save his soul from going down.
Chazal say that there are various kinds of people that Hakadosh Baruch Hu cries over every day, and one of them is someone who can engage in Torah study but doesn’t. The second is someone who cannot engage in Torah study but does.
The Maharsha is puzzled by the second one. Why does Hashem cry over him, if he is engaging in Torah learning? On the contrary, Hashem should be happy about that, says the Maharsha. After all, the person is pushing himself to learn even when he can’t. What’s the problem with that?
We could answer that the first kind of person, who can learn but doesn’t, Hashem cries over him because he has time to learn and is neglecting Torah study. This is tragic because every moment of learning is so precious.
The second kind of person, who can’t learn but does, is someone who can’t learn because he is so busy with other things that it takes mesirus nefesh to pull himself away from them and learn Torah. Hashem cries over him because he needs mesirus nefesh to learn. Why did he make himself so busy in the first place? Why didn’t he just focus on his learning, and not get so caught up in other things?
This may be compared to a father who says to his son, “Bring me a glass of water.” The son sighs and says, “Tateh, I will do it for your sake, with mesirus nefesh!” He somehow manages to peel himself off the couch, goes to the fridge, and brings his father a glass of water. It was so hard for him, but he did it.
The father says to him, “I don’t need your mesirus nefesh. I don’t want favors. If it’s so hard for you, don’t do it.”
Hashem is crying over the second kind of person because he let himself get so wrapped up with other things that he can’t learn. Learning is so hard for him that it takes mesirus nefesh.
Let’s say a Kollel man leaves the beis midrash at 11:00 PM, goes home, and before he says krias shema she’al hamitah, he picks up a book. He doesn’t pay attention to the time. He suddenly looks at the clock and discovers that it is already 3:00 AM! Sounds like he is a masmid, right?
Well guess what, the book was a suspense story. Now he doesn’t sound so heroic. Anyone can read a story until late. Why? Because it is enjoyable. But what about Torah? Why isn’t Torah so enjoyable to him?
This is what Hashem cries about. Why is it that a person can’t learn, but he can read a story and not even notice the time going by?
The way to get into enjoying the learning is by working hard and toiling over the learning. Then it becomes sweet. This creates a deep connection between the learner of the Torah and the One Who gave it.
