Have You Changed?

We have a large crabapple tree in our backyard; it has been there for decades. Over the years, its beautiful branches have served as climbing apparatus for many young hands and feet, and its wonderful leaves have provided pleasant shade for many a gathering or a book reader.

Its spring blossoms are the pride of the neighborhood, and its sturdy trunk serves as a raceway for squirrels who love to chase each other up and down the tree. We never used the crabapples, but they make for a luscious carpet across the yard in the Fall season.

Sadly, the tree is getting old and seems to be suffering from a disease. Some years are better than others, but this year, the tree has not produced a single crabapple. Its leaves began to shed in late July, and currently, it seems to think it is mid-winter. What good is a crabapple tree without crabapples?

Humans and Trees
In the Torah portion, we read this week, G-d compares humans to trees. There are many areas of comparison, but I want to dwell on this one. What good is a fruit tree without fruit? It might have deep roots, a sturdy trunk, gnarled branches, and luscious leaves, but it is all for naught if it doesn’t fulfill its purpose.

The same is true of humans. Our purpose is, as King Solomon wrote, “The final word after all has been heard, is fear G-d and observe His Mitzvot for this is our sole human purpose” (Ecclesiastics 12:13). The Torah plays a very big role in Judaism, but the function of the Torah is to better our character and guide our behavior. If our studies don’t impact us, what have they accomplished?

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson the third Rebbe of Lubavitch would often say: “What good is Chassidus and piety if the main quality—love for another—is lacking. What’s worse, even to the extent of causing aguish to another” (Hayom Yom 8 Av).

I once heard a joke about a student who saw his professor tearing into an unhealthy meal shortly after lecturing on healthy nutrition. When he called his professor on the incongruity, the professor said, just because I teach it, you expect me to become it? My colleague down the hall teaches geometry, do you expect him to become a triangle?

They say that Aristotle’s students once caught him smoking an unhealthy substance after lecturing them on healthy living. When they called him on it, he replied, “At the moment, I am not Aristotle.”

Become It
When I was a teenager, one of my teachers told me something I will never forget. He said, Chassidus (the inner facet of Torah) must be learned not studied. Thers is a difference. When we study something, the information is in us, but it doesn’t become us. When we learn, it becomes part of us.

My father often talked about a student who told his teacher that he studied the entire Torah. The teacher, replied, “Yes, but what did you learn from it?” Did it teach you anything? Has it changed you in any way? Torah study is different from any other kind of study. It is not enough to know the information. It must impact us; mold and shape us.

We can’t walk away from Torah study unchanged. We can’t return to our default mindset—I didn’t care before, I don’t care now, but I had an interesting study session. That is not learning. That is wasting time.

The most important part of any Torah study is the outcome. If you listen to a Torah lesson that doesn’t conclude with a practical takeaway—something to take home and do—you missed an opportunity.

Action Rules
The Talmud (Kidushin 40b) asks which is more important, Torah study or Mitzvot? The Talmud answers that Torah study is more important. And why? Because it teaches you how to do Mitzvot. This is inimitable Talmudic logic. It is really saying that action is more important, but it acknowledges that action without guidance is not productive. We begin with Torah study, but only because it leads to action.

So, a Torah lesson without an actionable conclusion misses the purpose of the Torah. The entire point of the Torah is to teach us how to behave and how to be. If a Torah study session is theoretical and hypothetical, it fails its mandate. It fails the purpose and function of the Torah.

Our sages tell us that “action counts for more than words” (Ethics of the Fathers 1:17) and that “everything follows the signature” (Talmud, Brachot 12a). An unsigned contract is not worth the paper it is written on. If there is a signature at the end, the contract is valid. The signature is the last part of the contract, but it lends validity to the entire agreement.

True, a signature without a contract is useless and can be dangerously abused. Similarly, behavior without Torah guidance is not only useless but can be dangerous. A signature is only effective when it follows a contract. However, a contract is only valid when a signature follows it.

What comes out of a study session is its signature. If it improves our character, disposition, behavior, etc., it has a signature and is a valid study session. If not, it loses validity.

In Yiddish, there are two words for listening, heren and derheren. They are loosely translated as hearing and listening. Heren doesn’t mean it went in one ear and out the other. It means that you heard and understood. You absorb, and it stays with you. But it doesn’t change you. It doesn’t mold you and become you. Derehen means that you have absorbed the teaching until it has become part of you.

It is like the difference between clothing and food. You wear your clothing; it stays with you wherever you go, but it doesn’t become part of you. Food is different. What you eat becomes part of your bloodstream, your nutrition. Torah must be digested. It must become part of us. The litmus test is to see what it produces. A fruit tree without fruit fails its litmus test. A Torah without results fails its litmus test.

The Fruit
So, what is the signature of this article? What is the take-home lesson that can become us?

It is really very simple. A new year is coming, and we need to reflect on how well we have absorbed the Torah we have learned this past year. No matter how well it went, next year must be better. Every day is meant to be an improvement from yesterday; otherwise, what purpose does it serve?

So, the next time you walk the street and observe a tree, use it as a reminder to produce your fruit. As our sages wrote, the fruit of the righteous are their good deeds.