[Avodah] Torah study vs. other contributions to society

[Doron Beckerman]

I've discovered that this is an idea expressed quite a bit earlier than the
Chafetz Chaim. The Ta"Z to YD 251:(6) says (commenting on the Psak of the
Shulchan Aruch that one may use money designated for Talmud Torah to save
people from being stripped and beaten)

"The Rasha"l asks on this ... Gadol Talmud Torah MeHatzalas Nefashos... And
there is no question here, for certainly there is nothing that overrides
Pikuach Nefesh, only there the Gemara means that there is more merit to one
who merits to learn Torah and did not have the opportunity to engage in
Hatzalas Nefashos, than one who has the opportunity to save lives and
through this he had to be Mevatel  Torah and deal with Hatzalas Nefesh. This
is learned from Mordechai Bilshan, that initially, where he did not have any
opportunity to engage in Hatzalas Nefashos, he was more important in the
eyes of the Chachamim than later, when he had the opportunity to perform
Hatzalas Nefashos and he had to be Mevatel Torah, as it says there that the
Chachamim did not count him as they did before."

The Ta"Z goes on to prove this from  the later comparison between Talmud
Torah and Binyan Beis HaMikdash, where Ezra did not go up since the Mikdash
was going to be built anyway, and Talmud Torah is greater than participation
in that construction.
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