Avos 4:14

בס׳ד

אבות ד:יד

Rabbi Nehorai says: Exile yourself to a place of Torah, And don’t expect it to come looking for you - or that your friends will master it for you. And “don’t rely on your own insight” (Mishlei 3:5).

רַבִּי נְהוֹרַאי אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי גוֹלֶה לִמְקוֹם תּוֹרָה, וְאַל תֹּאמַר שֶׁהִיא תָבֹא אַחֲרֶיךָ, שֶׁחֲבֵרֶיךָ יְקַיְּמוּהָ בְיָדֶךָ. וְאֶל בִּינָתְךָ אַל תִּשָּׁעֵן (משלי ג):

        This is one of Rabbi Nehorai’s rare appearances in the Mishnah as a whole.  He seems to have been a colleague of Rabbi Yehudah at Usha.  Rabbi Nehorai’s name is an indication of his nature.  Nehorai is Aramaic for “Illuminator”, and it sounds very much like the Aramaic word for Torah, oraisa, which illuminates the mind.  Rabbi Nehorai, in fact, seems to have been very much the “Torah Extremist”.  In Mishnah Kiddushin 4:14 he says: “I will avoid any form of worldly craft and will teach my son nothing but Torah, for a person enjoys its benefits in This World, while the principle remains waiting for him in the Coming World.  And no other craft works this way - if you become sick, or aged, or otherwise unable to work, you die of starvation.  But not with Torah!  Rather, it preserves you from all evil in your youth, and offers you hope in your old age.”

        Rabbi Nehorai’s advice to “exile yourself” to a place where Torah is taught might seem to apply only to people who live in a place where no one can teach Torah.  If Torah is taught down the street or across town, should you still travel far to learn?  And a second question pops up from this one: How can you be in “exile” in a place of Torah?

        Let’s deal with the second first.  The word used in this mishnah for “exile” is goleh.  Why didn’t Rabbi Nehorai simply say lekh, “go to a place of Torah”, the way HaShem commands Avraham Avinu, lekh lechah me-artzekhah, “go out from your land”?  The specific word goleh has, I think, a special significance.  A simple change of vowels throws a whole new meaning on Rabbi Nehorai’s point. If you pronounce the word this way - galeh - the phrase means: “reveal yourself in a place of Torah.”  That is, go where Torah is taught and open your heart to it, learn to receive it, keep none of yourself closed to it.

        If we look at it this way, we’ll see why it is important to study Torah far away even if instruction might be close to home.  As the Tiferes Yisroel points out, separation from home for the purpose of study creates a psychological break with your familiar identity.  The loss of the familiar faces, smells, and activities of home makes you rethink your own identity and re-examine some taken-for-granted aspects of your life.  Now that your normal sense of self is thrown a bit into question, you’ll be in a better position to let the light of Torah penetrate more deeply into your mind, heart, and will.  The transforming power of Torah will be enhanced by your greater receptivity to its truth.  In this way “exile” becomes “self-discovery”.   And no one - not even your best friends - can make that discovery for you.

       As Solomon teaches us in his proverbs, “fill yourself up with Torah, so as to fulfill your destiny!” .

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