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<font size=3>At 05:59 AM 2/10/2012, R. David Riceman wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">2. Yissachar would not
have had so much time to study had Zevulun not <br>
supported him.</font></blockquote><br>
RSRH seems to have a different take on Yissachar. <font size=3>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<br><br>
</font><font size=4><b>15 </font><font size=3><i>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<br>
the tribute imposed by landwork.<br><br>
</i></b>Yissachar is happy to work, but only to the extent and in such a
way<br>
that the work is of value to the Jewish people. While Yehudah is the<br>
tribe of rulers and Zevulun the tribe of traders, Yissachar
represents<br>
the true nucleus of the Jewish people: the <i>Jewish farmer</i>. He does
not<br>
work so as to labor <i>without letup </i>and accumulate wealth. The
<i>Jewish<br>
</i>man of the people does not subjugate himself to his work; <i>he works
in<br>
order to gain Menucha. </i>He leaves it to Zevulun to earn millions with
his<br>
products; as for himself, he prefers to stay at home. He regards
<i>the<br>
leisure he earned by his own labors </i>as his greatest asset and most
prized<br>
possession. For leisure enables a person to stand tall <i>and to find
himself</i>.<br>
Yissachar therefore lowers his shoulder to bear burdens, leaving the<br>
ruler’s scepter to Yehudah and the merchantman’s flag to Zevulun.
Neither<br>
military glory nor business profit attract him. He knows other<br>
conquests, other treasures, which can be won and retained only in
hours<br>
of <i>leisure</i> .<br><br>
Thus, it was the tribe of Yissachar that became <i>the guardian of
the<br>
nation’s spiritual treasures</i>.<br><br>
When, after the fall of Sha’ul, the tribes of Israel rallied around<br>
David, thousands and hundreds of thousands came from all the tribes.<br>
Yissachar sent only two hundred, the <i>Roshim</i> , the “heads” of the
tribe;<br>
the others stayed at home and worked. But these two hundred were<br>
<i>Yodeah binah laitim </i>( <i>Divrei Ha-Yamim </i>I, 12:33); they
brought with them<br>
<i>Binah</i> , discernment, the ability to see between (<i>bein</i> )
things, to recognize<br>
the interrelationships of persons and things and their potential
effects<br>
on one another. This insight, attained by Yissachar during his hours
of<br>
leisure, was <i>Daas binah</i>, concrete perception, not sophistry but
practical<br>
understanding of the true relationships of persons and things, which
is<br>
acquired through genuine <i>Chochmas ha Torah</i>. And it was
<i>laitim</i> : it came through<br>
correct evaluation of the uniqueness of any given moment. That was<br>
why <i>Kol Acheichem al pihem </i>(ibid.), all of Israel lived by their
pronouncements.<br><br>
Knowledge of Torah and its practical application to current
circumstances<br>
are not attained by one who immerses himself in business.<br>
Rather, they are attained by one who, in his hours of leisure, frees
his<br>
mind of all else, of whom it can be said that <i>Vayar menucha ki
tov</i>, he regards<br>
leisure as the true profit to be obtained from work; thus <i>Oseh Torahso
<br>
keva oo'malachto aroiy</i> (see <i>RAMBAM halochos talmud Torah</i> 3:7),
he regards Torah study as the<br>
main goal, and work as merely an incidental means.<br><br>
Yissachar regards <i>Ha'aretz</i> , agriculture, as the surest path to
this goal.<br>
Hence, he devoted himself with enthusiasm to the taxing chores of<br>
tilling the soil: <i>Vayehi l'mas ovad</i>. <br><br>
Use of the term <i>Am</i> <i>Ha'aretz</i> to denote “an ignorant person”
dates from<br>
a much later period, when Jews were prevented from enjoying the
quiet,<br>
leisurely life of the farmer. This was a time when knowledge and
culture<br>
were concentrated in the cities, and Jewish villagers lived scattered
about,<br>
a few here and a few there. Cut off from the centers of learning,
they<br>
degenerated intellectually and often also morally under the
heavy<br>
burden of their daily labors.<br><br>
In <i>Tenach</i> , <i>Am</i> <i>Ha'aretz</i> denotes the general
community, in the noblest sense<br>
of this term.<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">3. The father would not
have given tzedakah had his son not been ill.<br><br>
But when I was in yeshiva sometimes someone would ask us to dedicate
<br>
today's learning for someone we'd never heard of, when we would have
<br>
done the same learning regardless. How does that work?<br>
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