Rav Yaakov Emden(Migdal Oz): You won’t find a person who is engaged in studying Torah for the sake of Heaven who does not become great and wealthy. If you try refuting this with the verse in Koheles (9:11) that “the wise don’t have bread” – that is only referring to secular scholars. It is not referring to those who are accomplished Torah scholars. And this that we find that there are some of our holy scholars who are poor such as Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa…one should not make the mistake and say that they were unable to find a respectful livelihood – rather the reason that they were poor is because they didn’t want to benefit from their status as Torah scholars … This is quite obvious and certain. There is no question that if Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa and his colleagues wanted they could have been wealthy. They also did not want to interrupt their Torah study even for a moment in order to be involved in work or a trade because of their great love and desire for Torah. Therefore it was with their desire and free choice they bore poverty and lovingly accepted their suffering. However if they wanted to benefit then the option of enjoying wealth was always available and if they wanted to they could have avoided suffering. This of course is true only as long as they studied Torah purely for the sake of Heaven which gives merit to many things which are detailed in the 6th chapter of Avos.
a) he may have gotten rich, but it doesn't mean that all Torah scholars do.
ReplyDeleteb) The structure of Rabbinic profession is that those who rise to the top become more successful financially. In Israel, City rabbis command huge salaries. Plus Kabbalists can earn money from their speciality. What the Rosh yeshivas get , i have no idea.
c) this is all an inversion of Torah, which is not meant to be a used for a spade.
you missed the condition that it must be done for the sake of Heaven
DeleteRead between the lines and you get a different lesson.
ReplyDeleteIt's not Torah study per se that makes you wealthy. Sitting down and doing 7 blatt a day b'iyun won't make the simoleans come rushing in.
No, the point is that anyone smart enough to do that is also smart enough to get a high paying job. So Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa's Torah learning is evidence that, if he'd wanted to, he could have gone into investing and used his brains to whip up a fortune.
Where does Rav Emden this from? Sounds like a true unprovable hypothesis. If a talmid chacham has no money its because he did not learn lishmah.
ReplyDelete