Ameilut-Toiling in Torah
In the third book of the Torah’s culminating parasha there is recorded a formula for Jews to follow to merit great rewards. “If in My statutes you will walk and my Mitzvot you will keep and you will fulfill them, I will give you rain at the opportune time, and I will remove dangerous animals from your land and foreign armies will not enter your land…” The list of blessings goes on and on.
On the surface, there is nothing unusual about the formula, you fulfill Hashem’s will and He will reward you in the greatest way possible. However, the Sages of the Torah clarify what Hashem prefers as fulfilling His will, and it’s an eye opener. The first words of the parasha, “If in My statutes you shall walk and My Mitzvot you will keep”, appear to be redundant, as statutes and Mitzvot are essentially the same thing. They comment that the notion of going in the laws is an expression of toiling in the study of the laws.
What is eye opening is the obvious absence of the more basic requirement to just learn Torah. As if to say, learning Torah and keeping Hashem’s Mitzvot are not enough to guarantee the bountiful rewards recorded. Toiling in Torah connotes a more assertive and intense effort, otherwise the verse would read “in My Torah you shall learn.” One other telling absence from this command is achievement. It would make sense if Hashem commanded that we are required to toil in the content of the Torah to mastery. Yet, we are only required to toil even if we fall short of mastering the content.
How do our sages describe Ameilut-toiling? The Or HaChaim sees in the words, “you shall go”, that toiling in Torah is described as someone who attends to his learning even when he is on the go. Learning intensively even if a person is not in an optimum learning environment for success. As well, it’s recorded in Pirkei Avot, “This is the way of the Torah, eat bread with salt, drink water in small measure, sleep on the ground, live a life of discomfort-but toil in the Torah. These commentaries are not stating that to be Ameil, one must live his life as described and he must learn on the run. But rather, the one who toils is the individual who would toil in his learning even if he faced such hardships. In other words, associated with toil is a great desire to learn Torah.
The Or HaChaim provides a second powerful description of Ameilut based on the words, “you shall go.” The pasuk in Tehilim quotes King David saying, “I considered my ways…” The Midrash explains that David was contemplating going here and there to take care of certain matters, but his feet brought him to the Bet Midrash. David’s natural inclination, his great desire to learn Torah generated by his Ameilut overrode his momentary consideration to go and do something else.
This idea of Ameilut arousing an intense drive to learn Torah is reinforced in the writings of HaRav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, who brought down a powerful perception of HaRav Chaim Kreiswirth. He said the sugiot that he learned with Mesirut Nefesh (Ameilut B’Torah) were the ones that have remained with him in great clarity. And he added, that these same sugiot had a great impact on his children and have remained with them. We must assume that the effort and toil of Rav Kreiswirth, as he learned those portions, spilled over into his family as the passionate sounds of learning reverberated throughout their home. Ameilut unleashes strong human emotions, which maximize human effort, potential and achievement.
Let’s revisit our original two questions, why does the Torah reject the foundational mitzvah of learning as a fulfillment of Hashem’s will to unleash the great blessings promised to us and why isn’t learning to mastery necessary. Should learning which results in failure be sufficient for receiving Hashem’s blessings? The answers are found in the common thread of the commentaries of the Or HaChaim and the powerful perception of Harav Kreiswirth. We see the primary outcome from learning Torah or for that matter approaching any Torah Mitzvah with Ameilut is the impact it has on the individual, beyond intellectual outcomes and knowledge acquisition. In other words, Hashem’s desire for His children in their pursuit of service to Him is to fix themselves, to reach a level of completion-shleimut. The tools to that end are the passionate pursuit of His Mitzvot and the intense effort to fulfill them.
This idea is expressed succinctly by our sages in the final Mishna of the original five chapters of Pirkei Avot: L’fum Tzara Agra, the reward for a person’s service to Hashem is proportional to the amount of discomfort and hardship he is willing to endure. This is such an appropriate conclusion to Pirkei Avot, to impress upon us what is Hashem’s priority, to fix ourselves through Ameilut.
Let’s take a closer look at this idea that Mesirut Nefesh, Tzar, hardship and discomfort are the ingredients which cause change in a person. We referred to it as fixing the person to completion-shleimut. It refers to the fulfillment of one’s life potential in character, intelligence, emotional and social maturity, all other talent and skills and ultimately in his relationship to Hashem. As we said earlier, Ameilut unleashes strong human emotions, which maximize human effort, potential and achievement.
However, there is compelling evidence in the studies of neuroscience that toil and struggle promote human growth. Dr Lara Boyd, neuroscientist from British Columbia, and her team have been conducting research in neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the science behind the notion that the human brain can reorganize and rewire its neural connections, enabling it to adapt and function in ways that differ from its prior state.
Although neuroplasticity gained popularity over the last 50 years through the care for stroke victims, in the last 20 years, neuroscience and plasticity have become a prominent area of study in education. Dr Boyd, Dr Carol Dweck and many other prominent researchers have focused on children in school. Here are some of the facts they have gleaned from their research:
Neuroplasticity puts you and not genetics in control of your future, and the future of your children.
You and your children are not stuck with the brain you were born with.
Every time you learn something new your brain changes.
Actions, thoughts and habits reshape it daily, intentionally or unintentionally.
Unintentional reshaping can result in undesired changes.
Struggle (Ameilut) = growth
The more effort it takes to learn the deeper the wiring.
Discomfort does not mean you are failing; it means your brain is adapting.
Behavior is the most powerful brain changing tool.
There is no one size fits all, growth is based on Al Pi Darko- guide a child according to his way.
To summarize, the Torah guides us to understand that fixing ourselves through Ameilut-toiling in the study of Torah and in all areas of life dedicated to the service of Hashem, will result in Hashem blessing His nation with great bounty. We understand that the fixing happens through the development of our Holy Neshamot and through the neuroscience of brain plasticity.
We also understand that children can greatly benefit from Ameilut. Parents and school personnel should be inspired to learn more of how a child’s actions, habits, and thoughts can result in growth in Torah and Mitzvot and in maximizing their potential, reaching Shleimut.