[Avodah] Torah Study vs. other contributions to soCIETY

[Zvi Lampel]

Tue, 8 May 2007 From: "Chana Luntz" chana at kolsassoon.org.uk

>.... It is clear from the Shulchan Aruch that I brought in that discussion that one is in
fact commanded to take time out from talmud torah to perform other
mitzvos, unless they are delegatable to others

...It seems pretty clear from the sources that if there is nobody else
around to bury, then one is commanded to stop and bury ....-

...This is not a TUM versus Torah only discussion, and I am sorry if I
seemed to suggest that is was. It is about something even more
fundamental. Should members of our society be taking time out to form a
Zaka,

...Now if you answer that indeed some people ought to be out there being a
Zaka or protecting graves, then surely the same answer must be, some
people need to be out there being a medic.<

I'm not involved in this discussion, but I would just like to point out that it is not so poshut to go from the classical cases of temporarily interrupting one's learning for doing an immediately necessary deed that required no training, to the kind of training and more permanent time commitment that preparing for Zaka requires, and certainly to the time and effort needed to become a medic in preparation for situations not yet in existence (although of course predictably they will be). In the first case, Talmud Torah remains the kevius, as opposed to in the other two cases.

Zvi Lampel
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