The Sages strongly condemn a person who had the opportunity to learn Torah and did not learn, or a person who has learned Torah but stopped learning. They deplore it so severely that with their ruach hakodesh they declare that this person is barred from the World to Come.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin 99a says:
> “Since he has shown contempt of Hashem’s word and violated His commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off — הִכָּרֵת תִּכָּרֵת (hikareis tikareis).”
— Bamidbar 15:31
R. Nehorai says that this refers to anyone who has the opportunity to engage in Torah study but does not.
The Sages explain the double expression hikareis tikareis — “that soul shall be utterly cut off” — as implying that he shall be cut off both in this world and in the World to Come.
The kareis punishment of such a person is far graver than the kareis given for other sins. If one is condemned to kareis for any other sin, he has not lost his share in the World to Come. Only the small spark of the soul that committed the sin is cut off from its Divine root. But the present verse stresses emphatically hikareis tikareis, meaning that his entire soul has lost his share in the World to Come.
The Rambam, Hilchos Talmud Torah 3:13, mentions this, and Rabbeinu Yonah, Sha’ar HaTeshuvah 3:153, enumerates ten levels of sin. On the tenth level are sins for which the sinner is denied a share in the World to Come. Included in this group are those who are able to study Torah but do not.
The Rambam and the Beis Yosef both state that one who previously learned Torah but then took up worldly frivolities, abandoning his Torah studies, is judged as one who was able to study but did not.
(In practice: This is especially important for a person who has retired from work or substantially reduced his business responsibilities. During his working years, much of his day may have been occupied with earning a living and supporting his family. Once those obligations are reduced and hours become available, he must be particularly careful that this newly available time is not consumed by worldly frivolities and nonsense. The issue described here is specifically a person who has the ability and opportunity to learn but allows that opportunity to pass.)
His Punishment Fits His Misdeed
His punishment fits his misdeed. His deplorable deed keeps him away from goodness. He had the opportunity to study Torah but callously chose a bad deal for himself, for others, and for all the higher worlds.
He spurned the holy Torah, the light of all the worlds, the path to draw him close to the Holy One, blessed be He. He tried to tear down the King’s palace and dimmed the abundant light that illuminates all the worlds and his soul.
Why should he deserve everlasting life?
By not seeing the light of eternal life, he has cut himself off from Gan Eden. He refused to be bound up in the bond of life with Gd, going from bad to worse.
(In practice: The central issue is not simply whether a person is technically “retired.” The question is whether he now possesses time that he previously did not have. If hours that were once required for business or work have become free, those hours create an opportunity for Torah. A person must therefore be careful not to replace the business that once occupied his time with other activities that merely occupy the same hours.)
The Sages said that at the end of time, when the dead will awaken for everlasting life, he will not be resurrected.
Commenting on the verse:
> “May your dead come to life… for Your dew is like the dew that revives vegetation.”
— Yeshayah 26:19
The Gemara in Kesubos 111b says:
> “A person who makes use of the light of the Torah will be revived by the light of Torah, but a person who does not make use of the light of the Torah will not be revived by the light of Torah.”
(In practice: A person may have spent many years saying that his work and responsibilities prevented him from learning as much as he wished. When those responsibilities diminish, the opportunity that he once said he was waiting for has arrived. He must therefore examine carefully what is now occupying his day.)
The Remedy for Those Who Cannot Learn
The Sages found a remedy for the ignorant so that they, too, can be resurrected.
If they support Torah scholars, allowing them to benefit from their resources, the Torah considers it as though they attached themselves to the Shechinah.
In that merit:
> “But you who cling to Hashem your Gd are all alive today.”
— Devarim 4:4
They will be revived for eternal life.
Not only the scholars themselves, but anyone who assists Torah scholars, or marries his daughter to a Torah scholar, will be resurrected.
The Chafetz Chaim further explains that although women do not engage in intensive Torah study, they merit everlasting life in the World to Come because they have a share in the Torah that their husbands and children are learning.
(In practice: The teaching therefore gives a person two direct ways of attaching himself to Torah: through the time he personally devotes to Torah study, and through the resources with which he enables Torah scholars to learn. When a person reaches a stage in life in which he has both more available time and accumulated resources, both opportunities become particularly significant.)
The message of these words is therefore very direct. A person who has been freed from the demands of daily work must be especially aware of how he uses that freedom.
The Sages are speaking specifically about one who has the opportunity to study Torah but does not.
When time becomes available, that opportunity becomes greater.
And with the opportunity comes the responsibility.
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