But learning isn't quite everything

The first Baraita in the final chapter 6 of Avot offers a great deal for those whose commitment to Torah is sincere and serious. This teaching by Rabbi Meir opens promisingly:

כָּל הָעוֹסֵק בַּתּוֹרָה לִשְׁמָהּ זוֹכֶה לִדְבָרִים הַרְבֵּה, וְלֹא עוֹד, אֶלָּא שֶׁכָּל הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ כְּדַאי הוּא לוֹ

What does this mean? Who is the person who is עוֹסֵק בַּתּוֹרָה (osek baTorah, literally “engaged in the Torah”)? There is a wide consensus that these words apply to the many advantages and privileges to which a person is entitled when studying Torah. Thus, for example:

“Whoever studies Torah for Torah's sake alone, merits many things; not only that, but [the creation of] the entire world is worthwhile for him alone” (Chabad.org)

“Whoever engages in Torah study for its own sake merits many things. Furthermore, the entire world is worthwhile for his sake” (ArtScroll; the Koren Pirkei Avot reads virtually the same).

The Baraita then goes on to list nearly 30 things to which one who is osek baTorah is entitled. Such a person is

“…called friend, beloved, lover of God, lover of humanity; he makes God happy and makes people happy. He is clothed in humility and awe. [Torah] makes him fit to be righteous, pious, upright and faithful; it distances him from sin and brings him close to merit. From him, people enjoy counsel and wisdom, understanding and power… The Torah grants him sovereignty, dominion, and legal perspicacity. The Torah's secrets are revealed to him, and he becomes as an increasingly productive wellspring and as an unceasing river. He becomes modest, patient and forgiving of insults. The Torah uplifts him and makes him greater than all creations”.

Classical commentaries have long affirmed that this Baraita is pointing to the the advantages of Torah study, some at great length. These include the Maharal (Derech Chaim), Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner’s Ruach Chaim, the Anaf Yosef (Rabbi Chanoch Zundel ben Yosef), Rabbi Menachem Mordechai Frankel-Teumim, citing the Turei Zahav) and Rabbi Yitzchak Magriso (Me’Am Lo’ez). The siddur commentary of Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch and Irving M. Bunim’s Ethics from Sinai take the same view.

But maybe this Baraita is teaching more than that.

In his Tiferet Tzion, Rabbi Yitzchak Ze’ev Yadler draws our attention to what the Baraita does not say, as well as what it does. He briefly observes that the text before us talks of someone who is osek baTorah—not someone who is lomed Torah (“studying Torah”). Osek baTorah is a wider term. Everyone who learns Torah is osek baTorah, but one can be osek baTorah without learning Torah at all. The classic example, which the Tiferet Tzion cites, is that of the Yissaschar-Zevulun relationship, where one brother goes to work in order to support his brother in learning. Both receive the same reward.

Looking beyond this brief comment, we might speculate that not just brothers with business acumen but many others who are involved in Torah processes are covered by this Baraita. For example, is not a person who is put to great inconvenience in order to perform a Torah mitzvah also osek baTorah? And what of the parents who expend time and effort in ferrying children to and from Torah classes, or the youngsters who visit hospitals on Rosh Hashanah with a shofar to blow for patients who cannot attend their synagogue?

To conclude, there are many degrees of being osek baTorah and it is possible to read our Baraita as encouraging them all.