When he sits on the thrown of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a transcription of this Torah…before the Kohanim.[1]
Presumably, the Kohanim were not there to check on the king’s penmanship. So why does the Torah specify that he must copy his scroll in their presence?
The Mishnah[2] tells us, “Let all your deeds be for the sake of Heaven.” That seems like a tall order, considering how many things we really must devote time to that have nothing to do with Heaven.
Or maybe not. Rambam explains:[3] A person should eat, sleep – all so that he will be healthy and strong for Hashem’s Torah. All of his activities should be with this intention – to better serve Hashem, and to delve into his Torah. When he does so, all the ancillary activities that he engages in become mitzvos. He is viewed as an anus regarding the Torah that he is unable to learn at those times, and Hashem credits him as if were able to perform his heart’s desire.
Chazal[4] tell us, “The Torah of the earlier generations was primary; their work was secondary.” They therefore succeeded in both, because they were rewarded not only for their Torah, but for the work that they did, since they saw it entirely as done for the sake of their Torah. Later generations, however, placed their primary emphasis on their vocations. They were very much interested in olam hazeh and its vanities. Their occupations became primary; their Torah took the also-ran position. (They figured that their Torah would being them success in their work.) They succeeded in neither.
The gemara[5] reflects on the meaning of the instruction, “This book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth.”[6] Taking literally, it would require us to study Torah every waking moment of the day! Yet the Torah writes, “You will gather in your grain.”[7] Rather, concludes the gemara, “Lead a life conducted in the manner of the world, but together with Torah study.” The gemara is not offering a compromise between the demands of Torah study and earning a livelihood. It is not suggesting that we split the difference. Instead, it asks that the Torah study suffuse and inform all our time at our occupations. In our intentions, in our focus, it should all be about Torah. By doing so, the Torah never, ever departs from our mouths!
If this is the Torah’s prescription for elevated living for the general population, it is even more important for the monarch. So much of his time is necessarily occupied with the needs of his subjects. So little of his time is his own. The Torah therefore instructs that he carry a sefer Torah on his person at all times. Moreover, he should write that Torah in the presence of the kohanim, i.e. those who have no portion in the land, occupy themselves minimally with other tasks, but focus primarily on Torah study. The king should keep in mind their Torah specifically, and apply it to his life. In that way, all his royal activities as well as his mundane personal ones become adjuncts to Torah. Torah therefore will not leave his mouth for an instant.
- Devarim 17:18 ↑
- Avos 2:12 ↑
- Hilchos De’os 3:2 ↑
- Berachos 35b ↑
- Berachos loc. cit. ↑
- Yehoshua 1:8 ↑
- Devarim 11:14 ↑