[Avodah] Torah Lishmah

[Micha Berger]

On Areivim, there was discussion of a "yeshiva" for studying Torah as
culture, with no connection to or necessary belief in its Author.

Someone suggested that this pure desire to know Torah would qualify as
lishmahh, others questioned whether lishmahh is separable from leshaim
mitzvah.

Looking at the train of thought that runs through Nefesh haChaim and
further developed by R' Chaim Brisker, it would seem that Torah
lishmahh even includes learning Torah for the intellectual excitement
of it.

In any case, this email from RYL, containing a snippet from a
translation of R' Dov Katz's Tenu'as haMussar vol I, also touches on
the subject.

-mi

-------------------------- Original Message --------------------------
Subject: The RYS Daily 6/6/07 Mussar Doctrine VI
From:    "Yitzchok Levine" <Larry.Levine at stevens.edu>
Date:    Wed, June 6, 2007 7:31 am
To:      Recipient list suppressed:;
----------------------------------------------------------------------

>From The Mussar Movement, Volume 1, Part 2, pages 18 - 19.

He divided Torah study into two categories: The  study itself and
objectivity ("lishmah"). His method followed along these lines: first
to
proceed with the sharpest application of the mind ("giftig" in his
Yiddish) in argumentation and debate - "each person clinging
stubbornly to his own, and attacking his colleagues', opinions" which
is the sine qua non for the clarification of the subject. Then,
finally to proceed calmly, "coolly to consider both his and his
opponent's opinion" — "each person abandoning his own position so as
to follow the majority opinion or the opinion of the greater
authority" in conformity with the accepted principles — and so arrive
at the truth. This is "lishmah" 0 studying
for the sake of truth. Our Sages have described this by a play on
words (Num. 21.14): "Et vahev besufah" "Even if a father and his son,
teacher and pupil, who study Torah in the same gate (academy) and
become enemies of one  another, they do not depart from there until
they love (vahev) each other in the end (besofah).

Earlier issues of The RYS Daily are at
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/salanter/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20070606/6ff30111/attachment-0002.htm>