The Greatest Job

The Mishna states in Ethics of the Fathers: “Any Torah study that is not combined with work, will not endure.” Elsewhere the Talmud maintains that man was not born to toil in work, but rather to toil in Torah. So if one has the ability to study Torah exclusively, why “work” at all?

The explanation: It is possible for someone to get so lost in his Torah study that he forgets there is an entire Jewish people out there who need his help. Maimonides rules: “You must always see yourself as if you and the entire world are perfectly balanced on a scale – and your next thought, word or action will tip the scales of merit to the side of salvation.”

Even while you’re deeply engrossed in the most profound Torah subject, your study must be in a way that the world will directly benefit from you. This is why your soul came down into this world in the first place, leaving behind the “exclusive Torah study” that it had experienced at the foot of G-d’s HeavenlyThrone Above.