In the poem that comprises Parashat Ha’azinu, Moses asks that his “discourse come down as the rain” — ya’arof kamatar likchi. (Deuteronomy 33:2) Rabbi Alexander Zusia Friedman (murdered in Poland, 1943) writes that rain produces growth only in fields that have been plowed and planted beforehand. But in a field that has not been properly prepared, that same rain turns everything into mud. So it is with the words of Torah. They nourish and elevate the person whose heart has been plowed and seeded; but for a heart that is unprepared, Torah can cause more harm than good.
This idea is alluded to in the verse V’zot haTorah asher sam Moshe. The word sam, spelled with a sin, [שם] means “he placed” — Moses placed the Torah before the Children of Israel. But the word som, spelled with a samekh, [סם] means “potion.” The Torah can be either an elixir for life or a toxin for death. [BT Yoma 72b]
With proper preparation and intention, Torah study can transform a person into someone more generous, gentle, and compassionate. Without that preparation and intention, it can lead a person to become egoistic, selfish, and arrogant. Torah can either corrupt and degrade the human spirit or raise it to unimagined heights.
Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova
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