The Gemara (Berachos 35b) raises an apparent contradiction between two pesukim. On the one hand, the pasuk states "And you shall gather your grain" (Devarim 11:14), which ostensibly commands personal engagement with the natural order and the expending of effort to procure a livelihood. While at the same time we are instructed, "This Torah shall not depart from your mouths and you shall contemplate in it day and night" (Yehoshua 1:8). Rabbi Yishmael resolves to blend the two pesukim and endorses a balanced and integrated approach, "in the way of the world." Each person should set aside some time for working and other times for Torah study. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai passionately disagrees and argues, "is it possible that a person plows in the plowing season and sows in the sowing season and harvests in the harvest season and threshes in the threshing season and winnows in the windy season." If he is constantly busy and preoccupied with his job "what will become of the Torah?" Rather, in his view, Torah learning demands total dedication and a singular focus, to the exclusion of all other endeavors.
According to Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, the pasuk "And you shall gather your grain" is referring specifically to a time when the Jewish people are "ain osin ratzono shel makom - not doing the will of Hashem." Only then, will they be required to support themselves manually. But if they act appropriately and meet Hashem's expectations, their physical work will be delegated to others, as it states, "And strangers will stand and feed your flocks and foreigners will be your plowmen and your vinedressers" (Yeshayahu 61:5), providing them the freedom to study Torah continuously "and contemplate in it day and night."
However, the Maharsha (Berachos ad loc) and Nefesh Hachaim (1:8) note that Rabbi Shimon's reading of the pasuk, "And you shall gather your grain", does not seem to jibe with its broader context. This clause is found immediately following the words, "And it will be, if you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving Hashem your God and serving Him with all your heart and soul, I will grant the rain for your land in its season" (Devarim 11:13-14). If the Torah is discussing the consequences and blessings that will follow if the Jewish people adhere properly to the mitzvos, how can Rabbi Shimon claim that the conclusion of the pasuk addresses the scenario of "ain osin ratzono shel makom - not doing the will of Hashem." Rav Eliyahu Baruch Finkel deduces that it is possible to be in technical compliance with all the mitzvos but still be "ain osin ratzono shel makom - not doing the will of Hashem." If the Jewish people are fastidiously obsessed with the letter of the law but ignore the larger question of, "what ultimately is the will of Hashem," they are still in a perilous and inadequate space.
Not every behavior or attitude that a Jew must embrace is articulated explicitly. Some are intuited or inferred meta-halachic principles. Rav Elchanan Wasserman (Kuntrus Divrei Sofrim 1:22-23) classifies this set of mitzvos as "ratzon haTorah - the will of the Torah", a designation which is explored and expanded upon further by Rav Asher Weiss (Minchas Asher, Devarim 75).[1] For example, while the specific fulfillment of mitzvos by children is only mandated rabbinically, it is untenable to suggest that the general notion of educating and training children to live a life of Torah and mitzvos once they reach maturity is not of Biblical origin, despite the absence of any definitive directive. After all, Avraham Avinu was only chosen as the progenitor of the Jewish people because he was trusted to "instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of Hashem by doing what is just and right" (Breishis 18:19). Ironically, it is quite possible that the relative paucity of overt source material regarding certain foundational issues only highlights their overarching nature further. Some things are so fundamental they simply cannot be contained or limited to one verse, jot, or tittle.
In the section of the Gemara (Gittin 58a) that deals with the precursors to the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, the concluding item mentioned is a tragic incident involving a certain carpenter's apprentice who set his eyes upon his master's wife. Once it happened that the master needed to borrow some money, and his apprentice generously suggested, "Send your wife to me and I will lend her the money." He dispatched his wife to him, but the apprentice delayed her for three extra days before granting her leave. The apprentice then hurried back to his master, ahead of his returning wife, whereupon the master questioned him, "Where is my wife whom I sent to you?" The apprentice said to him, "I sent her back immediately, but I heard that she became romantically involved with the youth along the way." The master turned to his trusted apprentice and asked, "What shall I do?" The apprentice responded, "If you listen to my advice, divorce her." The master objected, "But her kesubah is large and I do not have the money to pay it." The apprentice assured him, "I will lend you the money, and you will give her payment of her kesubah." The master accepted his terms and divorced her at once. Not long after, the apprentice went and married her himself. When the due date for the debt arrived, the master did not have the means with which to repay the apprentice. The apprentice offered him, "Come and work off your debt with me." And so it was, the apprentice and his new wife would eat and drink, while he, the woman's first husband, would stand over them and serve them. As the master's tears of humiliation and betrayal dropped from his eyes and fell into their cups, the Jewish people's sentence was sealed for the crime of remaining silent in the face of such an injustice.
What is the parting message of this stirring story? Rav Yaakov Emden claims that perhaps the apprentice did not violate any official prohibition or precept. He graciously lent money twice to his former master and was careful to only marry his wife after she was already divorced. At the same time Hashem is disgusted by his duplicity and hypocrisy in plotting to achieve his desired outcome. His treachery constituted a particularly despised sin precisely because of his perverted halachic machinations. Sometimes because of our intimate knowledge of halacha and advanced learning, we too, paradoxically, fall into a similar trap. Before following rabbinic guidance, many erstwhile yeshiva students will insist upon a written source, whilst forgetting that just because a certain practice is not expressly proscribed by a particular siman or seif in Shulchan Aruch, does not mean it is automatically sanctioned or advised. Indeed, the Netziv (Haamek Davar, Introduction to Breishis) writes that at the time of Second Beis Hamikdash, though they were pious and toiled in Torah study, they were still not upright - yashar - in their societal dealings, and that alone was sufficient grounds for the churban.
In concert with investigating and investing in the legalities of the mitzvos, which is wonderful and admirable, we must also always remember to ask ourselves, "what does Hashem truly want?" Moshe encourages the Jewish people, "And now, Yisrael, what is Hashem, your God, asking of you, other than to fear Hashem, your God, to go in all His ways and to love Him, to serve Hashem your God wholeheartedly and with your whole being" (Devarim 10:12). The Chafetz Chaim (Ahavas Chesed 2:11) interprets the word "now" to mean the universal "now," namely, that one should always stop to consider, "What is Hashem asking of me?" This should be our religious compass and objective throughout life in all that we do. We must be able to transcend the letter of the law and the details of Jewish life to create a unified spiritual existence that is "upright and good in the eyes of Hashem" (Devarim 6:18).
[1] See also Rabbi Yonasan Sacks, Ratzon HaTorah.