Learning and Praying

The Talmud (Taanis 2a) refers to prayer as “service of the heart” avodah shebalev. When one prays one addresses directly God, so it may be asked, when does God speak to us? The answer is through learning Torah. The words of our Torah are the words of the holy one blessed be he, by learning Torah we enable our service of the heart to let God’s voice in.

The Virtuous Life

According to Maimonides, there are two models of the virtuous life. He calls them the way of the saint (Hassid) and the sage (Hakham).

The saint is a person of extremes. Maimonides defines hessed as extreme behaviour – conduct in excess of what strict justice requires (Guide for the Perplexed III, 52). For example, “If one avoids haughtiness to the utmost extent and becomes exceedingly humble, he is termed a saint (hassid)” (Hilkhot Deot 1: 5). The sage is different. He follows the “middle way” of moderation and balance. He or she avoids the extremes of cowardice on the one hand, recklessness on the other, and thus acquires the virtue of courage. The sage avoids both miserliness and renunciation of wealth, hoarding or giving away all he has, and thus becomes neither stingy nor foolhardy but generous. He or she knows the danger of too much and too little – excess and deficiency. The sage weighs conflicting pressures and avoids extremes.

These are not just two types of people but two different ways of understanding the moral life. Is the aim of morality to achieve personal perfection? Or is it to create gracious relationships and a decent, just, compassionate society?

The intuitive answer of most people would be to say: both. That is what makes Maimonides so acute a thinker. He realizes that you can’t have both – that they are in fact different enterprises.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

A Talmud Torah

Rambam, "Talmud Torah 3:10"

Anyone who decides to be engaged in Torah [study] and not to work, and will be supported by Tzedaqa - this person desecrates God's name (Chillel et Hashem), degrades the Torah, extinguishes the light of our faith, brings evil upon himself and forfeits life in Olam haBa (The world to come); since it is forbidden to derive benefit from the words of Torah in this world. The Rabbis said (Avot 4:5): Anyone who derives benefit from the words of Torah in this world, forfeits his life in Olam haBa. They further commanded and said: (Avot 4:5) Do not make them [the words of Torah] a crown to magnify yourself or an axe with which to chop. They further commanded, saying: (Avot 1:10) Love work and despise positions of power (Rabbanut). And: (Avot 2:2) Any Torah which is not accompanied by work will eventually be nullified and will lead to sin. Ultimately, such a person will steal from others.