Musar sur Avot 6:1

I also wish to appeal to my son-in-law to adhere to all the above. Read to the children as I have stated and learn for the sake of Heaven. Become well-versed in it for Hashem's sake. Don't pay attention to those who say that it is unnecessary for the child, G-d forbid. To the contrary, "Train a lad, etc." It is easier to remove the skin of a nut before it hardens into a shell. Most importantly, it is through such study that one merits everything, as our Sages stated (Avos 6:1): "Rabbi Meir said, 'Whoever studies Torah for its own sake merits many things; furthermore, the whole world is worthwhile for his sake alone.'" You should study Tractate Avos, especially Avos D'Rabbi Noson, and Tractate Derech Eretz, since Derech Eretz (good manners) are more important than Torah study. Honor both your mother-in-law and your children's great grandmother. Also always treat everyone with politeness and respect.

When Rabbi Meir says in Avot 6,1 that "he who occupies himself with Torah with a pure purpose acquires many things," he does not spell out what these things are (The continuation in that paragraph does not describe any of these "many things"). The reason is that it depends on what that particular person studied. The "many" varies with the kind of opportunity a person has to fulfill what he has studied with a view to fulfilling. Individual Jews may be viewed like soldiers in an army, many of whom have different tasks. If all fulfill their tasks to the best of their ability, they can all be considered as having fulfilled all tasks, since victory was due to their combined effort. (The author mentions that he has elaborated on this theme in his commentary on the first Mishnah of the fifth chapter of Avot.)

Therefore, you must set your heart and all your mind on the Torah at all times. For in the Torah a man learns wisdom, proper conduct, humility, modesty, and all good deeds, and Heaven will provide him his necessities. And the Torah guards him and uplifts him and exalts him, as the Sages taught : Rabbi Meir said, "Everyone who occupies himself with the Torah for its own sake merits many things ; and not only this, but he is worthy of all the world. He is called friend, beloved … and it raises him and exalts him over all created things" (Aboth 6:1). And lo the fruit of the reward for this devotion to Torah is in this world, and in the world to come the reward is such that no eye has seen it but the eye of God (see Is. 64:3), and there is nothing greater than that reward in the world to come. They said in the Midrash (Ruth Rabbah 1:1 letter 2) : Rabbi asked Rabbi Bezalel, "What is the meaning of what is written in Hosea 2:1, 'For their mother had played the harlot' "? And he said to him, "When do the words of the Torah become like harlots? When those who study them shame them by their conduct. How would that be? A wise man sits and learns 'you shall not incline or wrest judgment' (Deut. 16:19), but he does in fact wrest judgment. He studies, 'You shall not be prejudiced in favor of the mighty,' but he does respect the presence of a wealthy or powerful person in court. 'You shall not take a bribe,' and he does take a bribe!"

I believe that I have found a better meaning of the statement in Kidushin (that study leads to action). It is something I have discussed in connection with the tradition that our 248 limbs correspond to the 248 positive commandments of the Torah and that the 365 sinews correspond to our 365 negative commandments. One can achieve perfection of one's body by performing all the 613 commandments. In that connection we raised the question that such perfection is impossible to achieve in view of the many commandments which simply cannot be fulfilled by any individual, however pious he may be. Some can be fulfilled only by priests, others can only be fulfilled in consequence of the committing of certain sins, something which is certainly not desirable. We wrote that Rabbi Meir solved this apparent difficulty by saying that people who study Torah לשמה, for pure motives, without ulterior design, will merit many things (Avot 6,1). He did not specify what precisely these "many things" were. It seems clear that he who preoccupies himself with Torah for Torah's sake, i.e. learns in order to observe and carry out the Torah's precepts to the extent he is able to, will merit many things; this although he might not actually have had the chance to practice what he had studied. We have further proof from the Talmud (Berachot 6a) that the intention to perform a מצוה is rated as equivalent to the deed.

Concerning the other method of sanctifying the body, the method described in the Torah by the words: והייתם קדושים, Rabbi Shimon said that when one indulges too much in words, דברים, one is bound to commit a sin sooner or later. Rabbi Meir says in Avot 6,1 that כל העוסק בתורה לשמה זוכה לדברים הרבה "Whosoever studies Torah for its own sake will merit many דברים." In view of Rabbi Shimon's statement about the potential problems arising out of דברים הרבה, we seem to have a contradiction between the statements of these two sages. We also wonder what these דברים הרבה can possibly be in view of the long list of benefits listed in that same Mishnah as accruing to people whose preoccupation with Torah is totally altruistic. It seems that the answer may be found in something the Rivash (Rabbi Yitzchak ben Sheshet) wrote in a responsum about prayer. Concerning the ability to understand mystical dimensions as alluded to in Psalms 37,5: גול על ה' דרכך ובטח עליו והוא יעשה, "Leave all to the Lord, trust in Him; He will do it," the Rivash explains that G–d will arrange and reveal, יגלה, these hidden aspects of Torah to you. These hidden aspects are called דברים הרבה. The reason they are called this is that whatever is revealed in our world is only a little, whereas the ramifications of these hidden dimensions of Torah in the Celestial Regions are many. This is why the sages said: מקדש עצמו מלמטה מעט, מקדשין אותו מלמעלה הרבה, "If someone sanctifies himself a little in our world one will add a great deal more sanctity to him in the "higher" world." These are the דברים הרבה which Rabbi Meir referred to in Avot 6,1. This is also what Rabbi Shimon referred to when he said that if one is involved in such דברים הרבה it will lead to one's soul being out of step with the development of the body. One's soul will cleave to G–d whereas one's body will cease to function normally and one will have caused its death. Since we believe that there is no death without sin of some kind, the sin in such a case would be the unbalanced progress toward דבקות ה'. It is also possible that when Rabbi Shimon mentioned the word חטא, he equated it with חסרון, a deficiency. A biblical example of this would be אני ושלמה בני חטאים, in Kings I 1,21 where Bat Sheva reminds king David of his oath that Solomon would be his successor. She tells the king that unless arrangements for Solomon's succession to the throne are made prior to his death, both she and her son will be deprived of his promise. The word חטאים in that context can certainly not mean that Bat Sheva and Solomon would be sinners because David died. It means rather that the "physical aspect,” i.e. גופנית, of the promise that Solomon would rule would go unfulfilled. The word may also allude to the fact that when the revealed and the hidden do not go hand in hand, when the משכן and מקדש aspects of the Tabernacle do not work in unison, something will go awry. Man was created בצלם אלוקים, a combination of the physical and the spiritual; the two parts must work in tandem.