Avos 3:5

בס׳ד

אבות ג:ה

Rabbi Nehuniah ben Hakanah says: Whoever accepts the responsibilities of the Torah is released from the responsibilities of government and worldly occupations; But whoever rebels against the responsibilities of Torah is burdened with the responsibilities of government and worldly occupations.

רַבִּי נְחוּנְיָא בֶּן הַקָּנֶה אוֹמֵר, כָּל הַמְקַבֵּל עָלָיו עֹל תּוֹרָה, מַעֲבִירִין מִמֶּנּוּ עֹל מַלְכוּת וְעֹל דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ. וְכָל הַפּוֹרֵק מִמֶּנּוּ עֹל תּוֹרָה, נוֹתְנִין עָלָיו עֹל מַלְכוּת וְעֹל דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ:

        Rabbi Nehunia ben Hakanah is one of the most mysterious of the early Sages.  Very few of his halakhic rulings are preserved and there is nothing particularly distinctive about those that are.  Yet he is a very important figure in an obscure group of Rabbinic writings called Maaseh Merkavah (“Actions of the Divine Chariot”).  In these writings Rabbi Nehunia ben Hakanah joins Rabbi Aqiva and Rabbi Ishmael in teaching disciples techniques of mystical contemplation. These enabled Sages to lift their souls up through the heavenly worlds to catch a glimpse of the light surrounding HaShem’s Throne in Heaven.

        The separation that Rabbi Nehunia drew between his conventional halakhic teaching and his rich inner life must have been a strain.  But many great Sages followed in his path.  Perhaps the most famous is Rabbi Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulhan Arukh.  He was a profound Kabbalist who believed that, during his mid-night vigils of Torah study, the Mishnah would inhabit his body and speak through his mouth.  Yet you wouldn’t know it from the careful, painstaking, halakhic rulings that fill up his great halakhic code.

        There is a slight glimpse of Rabbi Nehunia’s mystical inclination in his teaching in this mishnah.  At first glimpse he seems to be saying that talmidei hakhamim should be exempt from public responsibilities, even those of earning their own living, since their labor constitutes a kind of public trust.  This is, in fact, a very common perspective in the yeshivah world of our own day, especially in Eretz Yisroel, where yeshivah students can gain exemptions from military service.

        But I think there is more to it than that.  If we recall Rabbi Nehunia’s “hidden side”, he might be saying that the more a person invests himself or herself in the contemplative study of Torah, the more quickly does the world and its apparent reality retreat from our view.  Deep penetration of the Torah’s mysteries releases us from the feeling of oppressiveness that our labors impose upon us, even as we are emotionally freed to perform them without being weighed down. So, in a way, Rabbi Nehuniah’s teaching does NOT release Torah-learners from public responsibility.  Rather, it is advice about how we can use our Torah study to refresh us and keep us “above” the burdens that come with immersion in the everyday pressures of our lives.

        

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