<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">:: So basically you are saying that the current Charedi hashkafa/lifestyle of</div><div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">:: Torah only and Torah learning being the ultimate purpose of life is not a</div><div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">:: majority opinion in Chazal and in fact you can't find anyone among Chazal</div><div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">:: who says this.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">: I intentionally avoided stating it that confrontationally, but yes.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Forgive me, this may be a side issue to your main point about the 2 ways/reasons to learn, but I feel it should be clarified what you mean.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">How do you understand the Shulchan Aruch - Orach Chaim 155-156 - go immediately from davening to learning, make Torah your <i>ikkar</i> and malacha your <i>arai;</i> minimize work to only what you need [Be’er Heiteiv, Mishna Berura] not more…?? </div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Not mainstream? Breaking with Chazal? It’s a verbatim quotation from Gemara Berachos 35b. And maybe related to Taanis 24b (Chanina ben Dosa and his wife.)</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now, let’s think sociologically for a moment. Why did the Mechaber choose to state this halacha the way he does? It seems to me that in his time (as in all times) there were Jews who were pulled to the needs and attractions of parnasa and spending the vast majority of their time and energy on it and in his view not in the proper balance. The fact that he has to state this halacha implies that not everyone was behaving that way. So the fact that not everyone behaves this way today is no proof whatsoever against the halacha.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br></div><div><font face="Verdana,sans-serif">But anyone who wonders on what basis do some Orthodox Jews forsake full-time jobs and toil in Torah should read the Beur Halacha on Siman 155.1 - “</font><i><font face="Verdana,sans-serif">Eis lilmode” </font></i></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br></div><blockquote id="MAC_OUTLOOK_ATTRIBUTION_BLOCKQUOTE" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5px;"><div><br></div></blockquote></body></html>