As I was finishing my morning prayers this morning I heard a yell of joy from my youngest son. I turned around and see him beaming with happiness as he excitedly shows me that he was able to tie his shoelaces all by himself for the very first time. While he was convinced that it partially had to do with the fact that his new shoes have very good shoelaces, I am sure it also has to do with the practice we have been working on together.
I shared in his joy and complimented him for this major accomplishment and was happy knowing that he will be able to tie his own shoes when they come undone when he is in school or at home. At the same time I was left contemplating and reflecting on the joy of a young innocent child on being able to master an essential part of his daily needs. His joy and pride at mastering the art of shoelaces, was heartening, inspiring and a lesson in the innate desire of children to learn and discover.
A 4:40am Moment to Remember
Earlier in the week my family took a trip to New York & New Jersey to visit some relatives and friends and while we were there we bought some new reading material for the kids. Among the items that we bought were two birthday presents for two of my children which they had asked us to get them. These included, a set of Mishna, a 2000 year old set of books that contain the first writings of the Oral traditions of Judaism for one child and a set of Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law, for another child.
In my heart I was enjoying seeing them have such excitement in owning books of Torah study and was determined to buy them these sets and help cultivate and foster their love for learning.
The ride back to Massachusetts was a little challenging due to some bad weather and we ended up pulling in to our driveway at the late / early hour of 4:40am. As we woke the kids to take them to their beds one child while still half asleep made sure to get his box of new books from the trunk of the car and take it to his room before he fell back asleep. Minutes later, another child came out of his bed and asked me if I can bring in his box of Mishna Books from the car and leave it in his room for him to have first thing in the morning.
As we finished schlepping in the last things from the car sometime after 5am, I made sure to bring into the house the box of Mishna books. I carried the books upstairs in awe at the excitement of children to learn and grow and gently placed the box next to my now sleeping son.
Of course in the days since our trip we have spent time every day studying together from their new books.
Adult Passion for Learning
As we grow older the desire to learn may seem like a thing of our past and our youth, but the truth is, that the desire to learn and grow never really diminishes. Perhaps the desire may be concealed and misplaced in the hustle and bustle of life and the numerous responsibilities that we all have, but it is always still there.
Jews are known as the people of the book, a people who have spent their thousands of years not just doing Mitzvos and helping out the world around them, but also in making sure that we are always learning and growing intellectually. If anything, the learning of Torah and study, debates and infinite layers of learning and ideas have provided the stimulus and backbone for the morality and actions of the Jewish people.
Action or Study
There is a famous debate in the Talmud as to what is greater, the pursuit of study or the pursuit of action?
The Talmud rules with a classical Talmudic twist, that the pursuit of study is in fact greater, why, since it will lead to the pursuit of action!
It is for this precise reason why study is such an integral part of our Judaism.
Like children, as adults we too have the desire to learn and grow, we just have more distractions that prevent us from exercising this part of who we are. At the same time we must remember that we are the people of the book, and we owe it to ourselves and our children to make sure that we too find ways to continue learning and growing and incorporate this into our lives.
These days learning Torah and Judaism couldn’t be much easier with an almost infinite amount of online classes and articles at websites such as this or Jewish.tv and a plethora of books and materials on almost every topic under the sun. Of course at Chabad of Sudbury we always have some great ongoing classes for adults including our upcoming course “The Jewish Course of Why”, our weekly Torah Study Class, our Women’s Series, classes at local offices and more.
If you are looking for a class that we don’t yet offer, reach out to us and try us and hopefully we can try and address that too and if you are looking for some recommended books for weekly or daily reading let us know.
Good luck with the learning!
Good Shabbos / Shabbat Shalom