Parshas Bechukosai: Einstein’s Torah

“If you will go in my statues and observe My commandments and perform them; then I will provide your rains in their time etc.” –Leviticus 26:3-4

“IF YOU WILL GO IN MY STATUES: Meaning, that you should be laboring in torah.
AND OBSERVE MY COMMANDMENTS: Be laboring in the Torah in order to observe and fulfill that which you learn” -Rashi ibid

Last Thursday a letter written in 1954 by the Time Magazine’s Person of the Century, Albert Einstein, to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, in which he described the Bible as “pretty childish” and scoffed at the notion that the Jews could be a “chosen people,” sold for $404,000 at an auction in London. That was 25 times the presale estimate. In the letter, he states: "The word G-d is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this." This new piece has poured much gasoline onto the age-old debate of G-d and science, and the Chosen People. In fact, the London based Arabic newspaper Dar Al-Hayat went so far as to contrast Einstein and President Bush’s views on the Jewish People. “Einstein, who was a Jew, said in a letter that was recently disclosed that he did not consider the Jews to be a chosen people. He describes the Old Testament as "a bunch of primitive and childish fables". But Bush believes in them, and he is ready to destroy humanity to defend them. Childish faith is destructive, especially if the child is evil.”

Aside from the absolute waste of money on the part of the anonymous bidder, how could the brilliant Albert Einstein who was even offered the second presidency of the State of Israel, be so ignorant of the Torah’s wisdom? The answer to understanding Einstein’s ignorance lies in the first three words of this week’s parsha. We are told that the cause for all of our blessing and the withholding of blessing is contingent on going in G-d’s statues. Rashi explains this to mean laboring in Torah study. The nuance of the verse is quite telling. Why does the Torah use the word “going” to describe laboring in Torah?

Because Torah is meant to affect our every action in life. Those who treat Torah as a dry academic pursuit which only applies in the study halls, or during the Rabbi’s sermon on Shabbos in the Synagogue, are in direct contravention to the Torah dictates of going with the Torah. There exists no aspect of our lives that is not dictated by the Torah. For many people, the childhood tales of Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sara, and Moses and Pharaoh is the sum total of their adult view of Torah, save for the occasional Torah message contained in a sermon. That is why we are commanded to labor in Torah. Had Albert Einstein entered the study halls of the great yeshivos of today in which every last letter of Torah is debated and analyzed for its infinite depth and wisdom, this letter would never have been written. The problem was that he became an agnostic at age 12, and he remained with his childhood view of G-d, Torah, and the Jewish People throughout his adult life. Yes he contributed greatly to the world of science, but had he taken the time to follow the obligation to labor in Torah, there is no doubt that this letter would never have seen the light of day. It behooves us all to change our childhood impression of Torah into a mature adult perspective. Yes-childish faith is indeed destructive, if only because the beauty of Torah is so much more apparent when it is revisited in our adult life. That can only be achieved through laboring in Torah.