[Avodah] why stop learning?

[Prof. Levine]

At 05:59 AM 2/10/2012, R. David Riceman wrote:

>2.  Yissachar would not have had so much time to study had Zevulun not
>supported him.

RSRH seems to have a different take on Yissachar. 
Most people understand a Yissachar/Zevulun 
partnership to mean that Zevulun works and 
supports Yissachar, who spends /all/ of his time 
learning and does not work at all. However, the 
following commentary on Bereishis 49:15 by RSRH 
does not seem to agree with this.  Indeed, it is 
clear from the remarks of Rav Hirsch that the 
members of the tribe of Yissachar were farmers 
who, as a result of their profession, had more 
time to learn than those involved in other occupations.  YL

15 He [Yissacjar] saw that leisure is the good 
thing, and that the land is suited for it; so he 
bent his shoulder to bear and became one who pays
the tribute imposed by landwork.

Yissachar is happy to work, but only to the extent and in such a way
that the work is of value to the Jewish people. While Yehudah is the
tribe of rulers and Zevulun the tribe of traders, Yissachar represents
the true nucleus of the Jewish people: the Jewish farmer. He does not
work so as to labor without letup and accumulate wealth. The Jewish
man of the people does not subjugate himself to his work; he works in
order to gain Menucha. He leaves it to Zevulun to earn millions with his
products; as for himself, he prefers to stay at home. He regards the
leisure he earned by his own labors as his greatest asset and most prized
possession. For leisure enables a person to stand tall and to find himself.
Yissachar therefore lowers his shoulder to bear burdens, leaving the
ruler’s scepter to Yehudah and the merchantman’s flag to Zevulun. Neither
military glory nor business profit attract him. He knows other
conquests, other treasures, which can be won and retained only in hours
of leisure .

Thus, it was the tribe of Yissachar that became the guardian of the
nation’s spiritual treasures.

When, after the fall of Sha’ul, the tribes of Israel rallied around
David, thousands and hundreds of thousands came from all the tribes.
Yissachar sent only two hundred, the Roshim , the “heads” of the tribe;
the others stayed at home and worked. But these two hundred were
Yodeah binah laitim ( Divrei Ha-Yamim I, 12:33); they brought with them
Binah , discernment, the ability to see between (bein ) things, to recognize
the interrelationships of persons and things and their potential effects
on one another. This insight, attained by Yissachar during his hours of
leisure, was Daas binah, concrete perception, not sophistry but practical
understanding of the true relationships of persons and things, which is
acquired through genuine Chochmas ha Torah. And it was laitim : it came through
correct evaluation of the uniqueness of any given moment. That was
why Kol Acheichem al pihem (ibid.), all of Israel 
lived by their pronouncements.

Knowledge of Torah and its practical application to current circumstances
are not attained by one who immerses himself in business.
Rather, they are attained by one who, in his hours of leisure, frees his
mind of all else, of whom it can be said that Vayar menucha ki tov, he regards
leisure as the true profit to be obtained from work; thus Oseh Torahso
keva oo'malachto aroiy (see RAMBAM halochos 
talmud Torah 3:7), he regards Torah study as the
main goal, and work as merely an incidental means.

Yissachar regards Ha'aretz , agriculture, as the surest path to this goal.
Hence, he devoted himself with enthusiasm to the taxing chores of
tilling the soil: Vayehi  l'mas ovad.

Use of the term Am Ha'aretz to denote “an ignorant person” dates from
a much later period, when Jews were prevented from enjoying the quiet,
leisurely life of the farmer. This was a time when knowledge and culture
were concentrated in the cities, and Jewish villagers lived scattered about,
a few here and a few there. Cut off from the centers of learning, they
degenerated ­ intellectually and often also morally ­ under the heavy
burden of their daily labors.

In Tenach , Am  Ha'aretz denotes the general community, in the noblest sense
of this term.




>3.  The father would not have given tzedakah had his son not been ill.
>
>But when I was in yeshiva sometimes someone would ask us to dedicate
>today's learning for someone we'd never heard of, when we would have
>done the same learning regardless.  How does that work?

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