[Avodah] Torah Study vs. other contributions to society

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, April 19, 2007 5:38 pm, R Doron Beckerman wrote:
: Let us take a hypothetical of an 18 year old of average-ish
: intelligence who seriously learns Torah B'Taharah, decent Hasmadah,
: with no Parnassah concerns, and with no aspirations of becoming a
Rabbi.

: This person could be a great medic if he would train, but he does not
: want to give up the time needed for that course because he wants to
: continue learning for  the foreseeable future.
...
: By age 40 or so, he'll be a Baki in a good few Massechtos, and he'll
: have a
: good knowledge of Halachah, but he has no Rabbinical skills. There are
: people aged 25 in Yeshivos who know far more than he does.

: Has this person fulfilled his mission in life from a TuM perspective?

I think the only problem from a TuM perspective is that he had no
justification for defying the Rambam's ban on living off one's
learning.

I'm reminded of the story (urban legend) of R' Chaim Brisker bemoaning
the fact that Einstein didn't go into learning. However, one wonders
how differently WWII would have ended had relativity been discovered a
couple of decades later, and the US didn't get the bomb.

In theory it's easy to say the world would have been better off with
more learning. In practice, it's hard to see how this would be true in
Einstein's case. (Or Szilard, Teller, Simon or Curti, noted Jewish
members of the Manhattan Project.)

The question as phrased is for the A-lmighty's accountant. Our
question is what to choose to do; not the value of a choice once made.
If the person's neti'os are to learn, then he has the most important
quality for learning -- cheisheq. (Not, as implied, intelligence or
memory.)

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
http://www.aishdas.org   and it flies away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter