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This sheet on Genesis 26 was written by Eliezer Melamed for 929 and can also be found here
What is the ideal that educators should place before their students--just to be students who continually study Torah or individuals who engage in a variety of professions? What can one learn from our three forefathers on this topic?
A teacher in a school for Torah studies asked me whether one should encourage all its students to sit in the yeshiva day after day and engage in Torah study, for this is the highest value, or one should compromise with reality and say to the students that all professions are a prior appropriate?
I answered him: How is it possible to learn verses in the Torah and say to students that it is ok for every Jew to spend his life studying Torah? How would you explain to students what is written about our forefather Isaac who sowed, plowed, and planted? How would you explain the verses: “And the man (Isaac) grew richer and richer until he was very wealthy; he acquired flocks and herds, and a large household...And Isaac dug anew the wells….” (Genesis 26:13-18),
Or, how would you explain what is said about Abraham our forefather “Now Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold” (Genesis 13:2) and “Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-Sheba…” (Genesis 21:33)?
How would you explain the actions of our patriarch Jacob who conscientiously watched over Laban’s sheep for 20 years, “Often scorching heat ravaged me by day and frost by night; and sleep fled from my eyes” (Genesis 31:40) so that not a single sheep miscarried nor any lamb was attacked and each animal had enough food and water? If there is no value to work, why does the Torah speak in this way?
Rather, one must educate students to adhere to the Torah and its commandments, and once one has mastered the basics and developed a habit of setting regular times to study Torah, each person must engage in some act that improves the world in an area that fits him. If we do not educate in this way, we will have to distort and contort verses in the Torah and our Sages’ guidance.
A teacher in a school for Torah studies asked me whether one should encourage all its students to sit in the yeshiva day after day and engage in Torah study, for this is the highest value, or one should compromise with reality and say to the students that all professions are a prior appropriate?
I answered him: How is it possible to learn verses in the Torah and say to students that it is ok for every Jew to spend his life studying Torah? How would you explain to students what is written about our forefather Isaac who sowed, plowed, and planted? How would you explain the verses: “And the man (Isaac) grew richer and richer until he was very wealthy; he acquired flocks and herds, and a large household...And Isaac dug anew the wells….” (Genesis 26:13-18),
Or, how would you explain what is said about Abraham our forefather “Now Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold” (Genesis 13:2) and “Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-Sheba…” (Genesis 21:33)?
How would you explain the actions of our patriarch Jacob who conscientiously watched over Laban’s sheep for 20 years, “Often scorching heat ravaged me by day and frost by night; and sleep fled from my eyes” (Genesis 31:40) so that not a single sheep miscarried nor any lamb was attacked and each animal had enough food and water? If there is no value to work, why does the Torah speak in this way?
Rather, one must educate students to adhere to the Torah and its commandments, and once one has mastered the basics and developed a habit of setting regular times to study Torah, each person must engage in some act that improves the world in an area that fits him. If we do not educate in this way, we will have to distort and contort verses in the Torah and our Sages’ guidance.
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Bracha
929 is the number of chapters in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, the formative text of the Jewish heritage. It is also the name of a cutting-edge project dedicated to creating a global Jewish conversation anchored in the Hebrew Bible. 929 English invites Jews everywhere to read and study Tanakh, one chapter a day, Sunday through Thursday together with a website with creative readings and pluralistic interpretations, including audio and video, by a wide range of writers, artists, rabbis, educators, scholars, students and more. As an outgrowth of the web-based platform, 929 English also offers classes, pop-up lectures, events and across North America. We invite you to learn along with us and be part of our dynamic community.
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