Ponderings of the Perkei Avot Chapter 6:2

RaYBaSH’s Ponderings of the Perkei Avot

Chapter 6:2

By: Yehudah ben Shomeyr

I’d like to focus on a phrase in our selected passage that reads:

“…one who occupies himself with Torah.”

The word occupies is the Hebrew word “osek” and it is usually used in association with doing business.

The business of Torah is not like buying and selling, but it is our job to know the full worth and value of Torah and convince our fellow man to do the same. Just as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company must know his business backwards and forwards, we too need a daily set time to study and put into practice the rest of the time. This leads into another aspect of business which is always moving forward; if a business stays in one spot for to long on the corporate ladder there is a danger of stagnation which can lead to the death of a company. So it is with Torah, we need to practice it and learn how to apply it in any and every situation and time we find ourselves in. How do you think we as a people survived through out the centuries? Our ancestors weren’t stuck in a religious rut; they learned to adapt Torah to every situation and climate. Betterment and Spiritual Progress is the name of the game. I also think of our Messiah when he was at Bar Mitzvah age.

Luke 2:41-52 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

Let’s hone in on verse 49:

And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

Yeshua, even as a young man knew the importance of being “osek” with Torah.
Oh if our youth would “osek” themselves with Torah…. No! What’a  deluded hypocrite am I, not only our youth, but ALL of us. Think of a better community, a better world we would have if we all osek Torah!

Shalom,
-- Yehudah ben Shomeyr