Sir Ken Robinson wants to transform education by shifting our traditional modes of learning to a process where each individual can discover his or her “element,” the subject that this student loves to learn, something that is essential to that student’s “identity, purpose, and well-being.” Robinson writes:
“The Element is the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion. What you’ll find in common among the people you’ve met in this chapter and the vast majority of the people you will meet in the coming pages is that they are doing the thing they love, and in doing it they feel like their most authentic selves. They find that time passes differently and that they are more alive, more centered, and more vibrant than at any other times” (Ken Robinson, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, 21).
Jewish tradition takes embraces wholeheartedly the approach outlined by Robinson, for Judaism is not content for someone to simply “study” Torah. Our tradition uses word like cleave, immerse, and embrace Torah, sending the message that only when a person considers Torah their “element” will he or she actualize God’s vision for the Jewish people.
This approach is echoed in how rabbis analyze the first verse in Parashat Behukotai, which states that “If you walk in My statutes, keeping and performing My commandments, I will grant your rains [gishmeykhem] in their times” (Vayikra 26:3-4). While a first-reading of the parasha might lead us to conclude that the Torah uses the words “laws” and “commandments” for rhetorical effect, our traditional commentators reject the idea that any literary device is only used by the Torah for rhetorical effect. Taking a familiar approach, Rashi argues that the purpose of this verse is to make Torah study the central value of the Jewish people. Rashi states:
“If you follow My laws and faithfully observe my commandments”: “Follow My laws” would seem to mean “observe my commandments.” But if that is stated explicitly, what is meant by “follow My laws”? That one should labor in the study of Torah, and one should do so in order to “observe my commandments.” As Deuteronomy 5:1 says, “Hear, O Israel, the laws and rules that I proclaim to you this day! Study and observe them faithfully”” (Rashi on Vayikra 26:3).
On the one hand, Rashi’s commentary identifies that the seeming redundancy in the Torah-text between the words “laws” and “commandments” actually draws a distinction between the study of Torah specifically and pursuit of mitzvot generally. However, Rashi’s commentary also expands upon the contextual meaning of our parasha, asserting that we do not follow Gody only through the observance of mitzvot, but also through engaging in the passionate pursuit of a divine connection through Torah study.
Taking an approach that combines philosophy and mysticism, Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda, otherwise known as Rabbeinu Bahya, writes in his Hovat Ha-Levavot (The Book of Direction to the Duties of the Heart) that the verse in our parasha connects rainfall with the observance of mitzvot because the observance of mitzvot is connected to the sustenance to humanity and the entire world. He states:
“You must know that God in His Holy Book has entrusted the world and everything in it to your service, for your welfare, on condition that you obey Him. If you disobey Him, everything will disobey you too, as is made clear in the Scriptures: “If you walk in My statutes, keeping and performing My commandments, I will grant your rains in their season, and the land shall yield her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit” (Vayikra 26:3)” (Bahya ben Joseph Ibn Pakuda, The Book of Direction to the Duties of the Heart, “On Self-Reckoning for God’s Sake,” Translation by Menahem Mansoor, 360).
For Rabbeinu Bahya, the foundation of the world depends upon the observance of the mitzvot, because God entrusted us to live our lives in a way that reflects God’s Torah. While taking a different approach than Rashi, Rabbeinu Bahya’s commentary reminds us mitzvot are meant to be an all-consuming approach to life, and not merely a secret of discrete acts.
Finally, the Or Torah writes in his Hasidic commentary that this verse from our parasha shows that one cannot truly embrace Torah unless they perform mitzvot with passion and devotion. He states:
“...This verse may also be applied to fulfilling the commandments. A person who understands the meaning of a commandment and its origin will do it with incomparably more fervor and desire than one who does not, who follow it as a statute for which no reason is given in the Torah. Even if the latter person does it to fulfill God’s decree, it just cannot bear the same enthusiasm. Thus: If you walk in My statutes. Even when you don’t know the reason, you walk with devotion and fervor. This will be even more true of My commandments, where you know the reasons. Then I will grant your rains, [purifying your bodily selves: gishmeykhem].” (Or Torah on Leviticus 26:3-4, in Arthur Green ed., Around the Maggid’s Table, 310).
In this final commentary, it is not enough to observe the mitzvot; the mitzvot must be observed in a particular way, and with a particular mindset. Whether we call it passion or devotion, our parasha challenges us to see a full embrace of God’s Torah as the only way to truly show that we are following his words.
While our students at Schechter primarily learn about Judaism by sitting and studying in a classroom, ultimately our vision for Jewish education is that each child find their pathway to make Judaism something essential to their purpose, and a passion they wholeheartedly embrace. By extension, if we wish to make sure that our children are in their element when studying Torah, then it follows that we must take that challenge in our own lives. This Shabbat, ask yourself, “What do I need to do make Torah my element?,” and then go out and do it. It will be the best choice you’ll ever make.
Shabbat Shalom!
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