Tzav: Leviticus 6:1-23

Curriculum 101

Once, Rabbi Tarfon and the elders were reclining at a banquet in

the upper room of the house of Nitezeh in Lud. This question was
raised for them: “Is study greater or is action greater?”
Rabbi Tarfon responded: “Action is greater.”
Rabbi Akiva responded: “Study is greater.”
All responded, saying, “Study is greater, for study brings about
action.”
[Since study brings action as well, it accomplishes both. Study
which leads only to more study and never action is inferior and
not true study.]

One who planned to do a mitzvah but, due to circumstances

beyond control, could not do so, is considered as if he had done it.
Shabbat 63a

Rabbi Yosi says, “Great is study, for it preceded the

commandment to separate dough-offering by forty years, the
commandments governing priestly rations and tithes by fifty-four years,
the commandments covering remission of debts by sixty-one years, the
commandment concerning the Jubilee Year by one hundred and three
years.” And just as study of the Torah came prior to the actual practice
of it, so judgment on that account takes precedence over judgment
concerning practice of the Torah.

That accords with Rabbi Hamnuna, for said Rabbi Hamnuna, “The
beginning of a person’s judgment comes with the issue of study of
Torah. And just as judgment concerning study takes priority over
judgment concerning practice, so, too, the reward for studying the
Torah takes priority over the reward for practice.
 One should always see himself as if he is half meritorious and half
guilty. If he did a single commandment, happy is he, for he has inclined
the balance for himself to the side of merit. If he committed a single
transgression, woe is he, for he has inclined the balance to the side of
guilt.

Rabbi Eleazar ben Rabbi Simeon says, “For the world is judged by
the conduct of the majority in it, and an individual is judged by the
majority of the deeds that he has done; if he did a single
commandment, happy is he, for he has inclined the balance for himself
and for the world as well to the side of merit. If he committed a single
transgression, woe is he, for he has inclined the balance to the side of
guilt for himself and for the world.

Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai says, “If a man was righteous his entire
life but at the end he rebelled, he loses the whole, for it is said, ‘The
righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his
transgression’ (Eze. 33:12). And even if one is completely wicked all his
life but repents at the end, he is not reproached with his wickedness,
for it is said, ‘And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall
thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness’ (Eze. 33:12)”
Kiddushin 40b