Day 45: לּוֹמֵד עַל מְנָת לַעֲשׂוֹת / Learning in order to do
Abraham Joshua Heschel received criticism for spending time marching with Dr. King in the Deep South, when he could have been back in New York researching and teaching. He famously dismissed those critiques by saying that when he marched in Selma, "I felt my legs were praying."
In Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Ishmael states, "The one who learns in order to teach, it is granted to them to study and to teach; But the one who learns in order to practice, it is granted to them to learn and to teach and to practice (Pirkei Avot 4:5). Some have the misimpression that life gets in the way of learning. On the contrary, the project of acquiring Torah only succeeds once activated as a lived practice. (It is for that reason that each post concludes with a suggestion for how to practice that day's value).
Practice does not replace learning. Heschel did not mean to dismiss the importance of his scholarship. He simply meant that his work in the academy and the beit midrash would have been hollow and even sanctimonious had he only learned and taught but not also lived Torah.
Reflection:
With only a finite amount of hours to work with, how do you balance learning, teaching, and doing?
Do you think there is a hierarchy between learning, teaching, and doing?
Lived practice:
Look through past posts, and see how many you think you generally live out in. Choose 3 that you will make an effort to embody in the next few days.
