[Avodah] Who is an considered an am ha'aretz

[Professor L. Levine]

The following is from pages 567 - 568 of the sefer Rav Schwab on Chumash.


Judaism without Torah is "just another religion," and is not in consonance with
the will of G-d. Ritual is common to all religions; the unique quality of Yiddishkeit is
the special relationship with Hashem that a Jew achieves only through Torah study.

Exactly who is considered an am ha'aretz? The Rambam writes, "The Sages defined an am ha' aretz as one who hates to learn Torah. But if someone loves to learn Torah and
just did not have the chance yet to learn it, then although he is not one
who actually sits in the beis medrash, he is still considered miyoshvei
beis hamedrash. He identifies himself with and loves the yoshvei beis
hamedrash and is eager to exert his best efforts to master the rudiments of
learning. He tries to be a Zevulun and to make it possible for Yissachar to
learn. He sends his children to the beis medrash so that they can become
talmidei chachamim. Eventually, he is zocheh to understand more and
more Torah so that he can indeed say,  We are grateful to You that You have placed our lot among the occupants of the beis hamedrash.

On the other hand, we also have the world of Do'eg and Achitofel,
a world which is outside of the parameters of the beis medrash. It says
regarding Do'eg and Achitofel that All their Torah was from their lips outward. They went through Shas, but Shas never went through them; it made no impression upon them! They discussed hundreds of halachos, and the Gemara tells us that this included the
halachah of a tower that was suspended in the air.And they did not even know that it was talking about them! They were also big towers-big talmidei chachamim, suspended in the air and not connected to the ground, and therefore not implementing the principle
of yiras Shamayim into daily living. Therefore, they could be considered
as if hovering in the air. Do'eg and Achitofel belong to the other side - the
world of confusion, of doubts and of emptiness. They were the street corner loiterers, even while they were learning.

Today we have the same situation. We have yoshvei beis hamedrash,
people who learn all day in the beis medrash, who are zocheh to have
Torah as their full-time profession. We also have those who
are miyoshvei beis hamedrash, who are koveiah etim l'Torah-they set aside
time each day to study, and support the Torah.

On the other hand, we have the yoshvei kranos -those who sit at the
corners, who are also koveiah etim, who "set aside time"- a lot of time each
night - for the television. While the yoshvei beis hamedrash are learning
their Daf Yomi, the yoshvei kranos  have their "channel yomi," and while the
yoshvei beis hamedrash learn one masechta after another, the yoshvei kranos
learn only one "masechta": the "masechta of "emptiness of emptiness," and they never make a siyum!

Selected Speeches, pages 182-183


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