[thereisone] The Yoke of Torah

From: Gutman Locks <locks.gutman@xxxxxxxxx>
To: thereisone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2017 08:29:10 +0200

[image: Inline image 1]

The Yoke of Torah

     This is perhaps the biggest mistake in Jewish education today. The
rabbi looks sternly at the student and says, “You have to take upon
yourself the yoke of Torah.” The student shudders and meekly agrees to take
upon himself this huge, G-d-given burden.

     Yuck! This is not what accepting the yoke of Torah means.

     The metaphor “yoke of Torah”[i] comes for a good reason. Before the
farmer’s yoke was invented the animal still had to pull the plow. Man had
to eat. But without the yoke the animal had to pull the plow with its neck
and teeth. Ouch! Then some bright guy invented the yoke. The yoke rests on
the animal’s shoulders so it can now pull the plow with its bigger,
stronger, shoulder muscles.

     What a relief. The animal loves the yoke. It came and made the
animal’s life so much better.

     And this is what the Torah does for us. The Jew has to pull the plow
of daily living with or without the Torah. If he (or she) rejects the Torah
he will pull the plow with his teeth! He will end up working day and night
struggling trying to gain huge amounts of money, or power, or fame, or any
of the other empty goals that secular life insists on. His successes will
be short lived measured by what he has gotten and all of which is to be
left behind when he leaves the world.

     If instead he will accept upon his shoulders the yoke of Torah he will
work day and night trying to make the world a better place. He will work to
spread the Light of Heaven to every corner of the Earth. The Torah’s
guidelines will help him to pull the plow of life. The Torah will decide
what his standards and successes should be, not Wall Street or Hollywood.

     A Jewish mystic, a most revered Jew, is called a *mekubal*, a Jew who
has received what G-d has given him. And this is what we are to do with the
Torah. We are to receive it. The Torah does not come to increase our
burdens. The Torah comes to relieve our burdens.

------------------------------

[i] Ethics of the Fathers 3:5

     ----

To reply; email me directly at:  locks.gutman@xxxxxxxxx

- There Is One - Spiritual Thoughts from the Old City, Jerusalem, mailing
list, copyright by Gutman Locks.  Sharing and reprinting for non-commercial
use allowed with attribution and link to http://thereisone.com.

- SUBSCRIBE by visiting //www.freelists.org/list/thereisone and
choosing action Subscribe.

- UNSUBSCRIBE by sending email to thereisone-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
'unsubscribe' in the Subject field OR by visiting
//www.freelists.org/list/thereisone and choosing action Unsubscribe.

- Emails will arrive from thereisone-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, please make sure
to add this to your NOT SPAM lists, so the emails don't end up caught by
your spam filter.

[thereisone] The Yoke of Torah

Other related posts: