“Whoever forgets one thing of his Torah learning, it’s as if he bears guilt for his soul.” (Avot 3:10) This is a very interesting line that Perkei Avos brings, but what does it mean? Surely someone who forgets something that he learns isn’t chayiv b’nafsho!? Rav Avraham Twerski brings this line into a more clear light by explaining that we shouldn’t read it as ‘Whoever forgets one thing,” rather we should read it, “Whoever forgets the One,” i.e. Hashem. Rav Twerski goes on to explain that there are many of us who will go about our lives doing Mizvot, learning Torah, but in the process of doing this we forget about our ultimate goal.
It is taught that Hashem, Torah, and Eretz Yisrael are considered one, and if we are not striving to acquire all 3 of these, we won’t be able to serve Hashem in the best possible way. We can’t learn Torah properly without knowledge of Hashem, without the Torah Eretz Yisrael is meaningless, and we can’t properly fulfill all of the mitzvos in the Torah while being outside the
If we treat each one of these as individual items, without a connection between each one, life looses its spirituality and the endeavors we strive for, will turn into ‘just another aspect of out life,’ without being the true goal of life. For instance, if someone learns Torah without the knowledge of G-d, and doesn’t incorporate what he learns into his life, the gemarah or halacha he learns, is no different to him, than learning a math or science book.
To solve this problem is easy; we have start being more aware of each of these aspects which define a Jew, and start doing whatever we can to, instead of these elements being part of our life, start to incorporate these as being our life. Once we are able to do this, we will be able to lead more productive and enjoyable lives, because our purpose and goals will be more clearly defined.
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