[Avodah] What are the main mitzvos to focus on?

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Nov 30, 2017 at 12:11:31PM +0200, Marty Bluke via Avodah wrote:
: The last daf in Makos (24a) states that the Neviim took the 613 mitzvos and
: reduced them to a smaller set for people to focus on.

: Michah gave three Mitzvos for people to focus on - "Asos Mishpat..."

: "Asos Mishpat" is monetary laws;
: "Ahavas Chesed" is bestowing Chesed;

Is "din" necessarily a reference to monetary laws? Din vs chessed is a
recurring dialectic. As in sheim Elokus vs sheim Havayah.

: "V'Hatzne'a Leches Im Elokecha" is escorting the dead and bringing a Kalah
: to Chupah;

I saw the gemara differently, emphasizing tzeni'us itself. As it explains,
one should walk with one's G-d modestly even when doing these two mitzvos,
which normally happen in public. And then the gemara continues with a qal
vachomer al achas kamah vekamah those which are normally done betzin'ah.

So it seems to be closer to the words of the pasuq than the identification
with two specific acts of chessed (one of which is famously "chesed
shel emes") the gemara begins its explanation with. After all, chessed
is already covered in the previous item in the list.

(Parallel gemara at Sukkah 49b.)


: Yeshayah later gave two primary Mitzvos - "Shimru Mishpat va'Asu Tzedakah."

Tangent: You'll notice that Yeshaiah is listed twice, once before Mikhah
(giving 6 principles), and once after. As they were contemporaries whose
nevu'os overlap in content, R' Simla'i's intent is likely chronological
order.

: The mitzva of learning Torah which we understand to be the most important
: and fundamental mitzva does not appear in these lists....

I think the "we" in your sentence are simply following a hashkafah which
isn't majority opinion.

Not only does R' Simla'i skip them, in favor of living to emulate HQBH's
din and chessed, but

- Hillel famously defines all of Torah in terms of using one's empathy to
  avoiding doing what one's chaver would loathe.
  Rashi ad loc includes avoiding what one's Chaver would loathe, but in
  his other discussions of the quote, this aspect is missing.

- R' Aqiva and Ben Azzai argue over which pasuq better captures the Torah's
  kelal gadol, and both are interpersonal.

- In both shasin, "Torah lishmah" is discussed in terms of al menas la'asos
  and/or al menas lelameid. Not knowing for its own sake.
  See also Meshekh Chokhmah (Devarim 218:61) which I blog about at
  <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/learning-and-teaching>

So, who amongst Chazal really does make learning the central goal of a
Jewish man's life?

Jumping ahead to the Isms that today's O world is trying to build from:

- In chassidus, talmud Torah is a means to deveiqus.

- The discussion in Nefesh haChaim sha'ar 4 which denies the previous bullet
  item might be the earliest source for the position you describe as what
  "we understand" was written by the same RCV about whom his son says (in
  the haqadmah to NhC, emphasis mine):
     He regularly rebuked me, because he saw that I did not participate
     in the pain of others. And these were his constant words to me:
     This is the entire person. One is not created for himself, but
     to benefit others with the full extent of his powers. (SHEZEH
     KOL HA'ADAM: lo le'atzmo nivra, RAQ LEHO'IL LE'ACHRINI...)
  
  So, while sha'ar 4 waxes poetic about the chiyus talmud Torah gives the
  world, RCV didn't mean to say that therefore learning is the It of life.
  (And yeshivos tend not to learn shaar 1's discussion of the power of
  maaseh nor shaar 2's discussion of dibbur. Which also yeilds an imbalance
  in how one sees the NhC shaar 4's description of machashavah.)

- Similarly, while we remember R' Chaim Brisker for inventing Brisker
  lomdus, he said his main job was to be a baal chessed. And his family
  agreed; the praise on his matzeivah simply reads "rav chessed".
  Apparently the Pulmus haMussar was about the proper means to come to
  embody the ideal, and not what the ideal actually is.

This notion that learning is the ends rather than a central part of
the means is arguably idiosyncratic. It is far easier to argue that the
central mitzvah is to emulate the Meitiv and bring His Tov to others.

:                                                Additionally, these lists
: seem to consist solely of mitzvos bein adam lachaveiro, are there no
: mitzvos ben adam lamakom that are important enought to appear on these
: lists?

As per what I said above, mitzvos bein adam laMaqom -- or R' Yisrael
Salanter's third category of mitzvos being adam le'atzmo, which includes
talmud Torah as an act of self-refinement -- is more caring for the
goose than the goose's actual laying of the golden eggs.

Rather than a question mark, just end with an exclamation point.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             We are great, and our foibles are great,
micha at aishdas.org        and therefore our troubles are great --
http://www.aishdas.org   but our consolations will also be great.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                        - Rabbi AY Kook