Rabbi Tarfon, in the section of the Mishnah called Pirkei Avot (Chapters of our Fathers), used to say, "The day is short; there is much work to be done…It is not up to you to finish the work, yet you are not free to avoid it."
What was the work to be done? The work was Jewish learning.
Rabbi Tarfon, a 2nd century rabbi living in Lydda, knew that learning was significant for the Jewish people. He was aware that Jewish learning was vast and could not all be learned even in one lifetime. And yet, his famous words spur us on to begin to learn, even if we never complete the holy task.
Rabbi Tarfon grew up while the 2nd Temple was still standing. But, he lived through the most difficult of Jewish times. In the year 70 CE, on Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. The city of Jerusalem lay in ruins, the Temple was reduced to smoldering ashes and the Jewish population had been massacred. The system of bringing offerings and sacrifices to the glorious Temple came to a screeching halt, and the remnant of Jews scattered to the four corners of the earth.
How could the Jewish community survive these destructions and disruptions? How could the Jews continue to be Jews without the Temple, without the Jewish priests, without the rituals and celebrations that had brought them to Jerusalem since the time of King David?
Surprisingly, the answer came from Rabbi Tarfon! It was incumbent on Jews to study the words of Torah and the words of scholars to figure out what it meant to be a Jew in different places, in different lands and in different circumstances.
And, in the greatest rags to rags to eventual riches, the rabbis saved the day! They refashioned our religion from the scraps left behind. They discovered that, through study, continuity was possible.
In many ways, our lives are more complex than Rabbi Tarfon’s. We are mobile, we are wired, we are connected. We have the internet, a place filled with information, opinion, opportunities to buy, to sell and to do all sorts of naughty things. Rabbi Tarfon would be amazed at the amount of information that we could surf in, a virtual ocean of words and images.
And yet, we would be wise to immerse ourselves occasionally or even regularly in Jewish study. Educated Jews continue to be the key to Jewish continuity. And so, again, I ask you to look at our offerings for Jewish education here at Temple that are in this month’s bulletin on the following pages and to look also at offerings at other institutions including Melton. Find a teacher, find a class, begin the learning.
There is so much to learn. You may not finish the task, but our generation cannot be the one that breaks the chain of continuity through our apathy.
