2

The Rambam in his Hilchos Talmud Torah 3:1 says:

The crown of Torah is set aside, waiting, and ready for each Jew, as [implied by Deuteronomy 33:4]: "The Torah which Moses commanded us is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob." Whoever desires may come and take it.

See: Shorshei HaYam for a lengthy explanation on why the term "keser Torah" is used here

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, in his work on the Messianic Era and on Moshiach, called Shaarei Geulah- שערי גאולה describes that in the days of Moshiach, בני ישראל- B'nei Yisrael will be all crowned with כֶּתֶר תּוֹרָה - crown of Torah. See:

ח שלימות זו בעסק התורה וחכמתה שתהי' בימות המשיח נכל פרטי' המנוארים בלשונות הרמב"ם כנ"ל בארוכה תוכן יותר ע"פ ביאור הרמב"ם בהל' תלמוד תורה שלו אודות קיום מצות ת"ת כשלימות וכלשון הרמנ"ם שם מי שנשאו לבו לקיים מצוה זו כראוי ולהיות מוכתר בכתר תורה כו" היינו שקיום מצוה זו כראוי הוא כשהאדם מוכתר בכתר תורה שמזה מובן ששלימות זו שתהי' בימות המשיח ענינה שבני ישראל יהיו מוכתרין ככתר תורה ועפ"ז יש לומר שפרטי לשונות הרמב"ם שבסיום וחותם הספר אודות אופן העסק כלדעת את ה"' הם בהתאם להפרטים המבוארים כהרמכ"ם הל' ת"ת בביאור אופן קיום מצוה זו כראוי ולהיות מוכתר בכתר תורה

Are we "crowned with the crown of Torah" because during the Messianic Era, "a new Torah shall proceed from Me"? implying that because of the Messianic Era, we will be able to understand the deeper facets of Torah?

Are there (contemporary/chabad also welcome) sources that explain why, especially in the Messianic Era, we will (all) be crowned with keser Torah? And what does that mean?

Improve this question
10
  • Keter is ratzon and ta'anug. So it could either mean that we will be given, as a gift, the desire and pleasure of Torah, or it means that the ratzon and ta'anug we developed while our ratzon and ta'anug was makif, will be given b'pnimi. Meaning right now we don't have control over what we want or gives us pleasure, and any work we do in that is being "collected" so one day the real ratzon and ta'ava we have earned for Torah will become real and in our full control and on display for all to see. Apologies, this is based on my own understanding and suggestions, I hope you get a better answer
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Oct 13, 2022 at 16:20
  • Interesting take!
    – Shmuel
    Commented Oct 13, 2022 at 16:35
  • Another take for you, based on my understanding of these matters (now that there's a bounty, I might go ahead and find sources :P). Right now, we get excited to wake up in the morning and fix the world. We have a yeitzer hara to defeat. Goodness is boring, sin is exciting. When Moshiach comes and shechts the yeitzer hara, we will have to relearn how to get excited about good. This is why we need a "new Torah". Ta'avah is Keter = Crown. Lashon acher: right now we are driven by dopamine, seratonin doesn't draw us. When dopamine is no longer "necessary", we will have to learn to enjoy seratonin
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 24, 2022 at 19:40
  • Interesting. Thanks. You write: we will have to relearn > however, does the coming of Moshiach not ensure that we will understand the deeper layers of the Torah, hence why we will follow Shammai, instead of Hillel?
    – Shmuel
    Commented Nov 24, 2022 at 21:05
  • That's not a contradiction to my thought. Meaning, we will need to relearn how to get excited about life without anything to accomplish. The "Feminine millennium", where we have to learn to think like the feminine, and enjoy what is, rather than what can be (like the masculine, that seeks to fix and solve and improve). In that world, Beis Shammai's halacha will make more sense (for reasons outside the scope of this comment)
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 24, 2022 at 23:16

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1
+50

Perhaps an answer comes from this video, by Rabbi Manis Friedman, a great student of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

In it he says that what does it mean the Moshiach will force the world to become good? He explains that this can't mean he will "hold a gun to our head", as even that is a choice, not force.

Force means, we can't possibly not be good (the deep meaning of b'chol me'odecha). If Hashem came and personally told you to study His Torah, and you knew for sure how Infinitely important it is to Him, you couldn't possibly say no. This is what happened at Har Sinai, and will happen again, permanently when the Moshiach comes.

Then we will receive our "Crown" of Torah. Our "Crown" is our Keter, our innermost desire. Our innermost desire will no longer be hidden by a yeitzer hara, a darkness and an ignorance. Our innermost desire is to cleave to Hashem, to perform His will, and get to know Him by studying His Torah, which reveals Him (the central theme of Likkutei Amarim, Tanya). As Rambam writes: “the only occupation of the entire world will be just to know G‑d.”

Of course you are right, once the Moshiach comes, we will all learn the deeper Torah. There will no longer be a choice for evil, so we won't need to spend our time deciding halacha anymore (although certainly we will study it in that is reveals Him, and Beit Shammai's Torah will be in force), and will be able to devote our entire learning to directly getting to know Hashem, so we can have true Da'at, which is true Oneness.

The Moshiach will need to teach us this. Right now, we get our satisfaction from developing Torah, and fixing the world. When Moshiach comes, the world will be fixed, Hashem will "move in" to His Bayit Ne'eman, and we will "move in with Him". All that will be left is to wake up every day and enjoy what we have built over the Galut, enjoy our Marriage, enjoy our Spouse. We will have to learn a "New Torah", meaning a Torah of enjoying what is, rather than what can be. This is why it is called the "feminine millenium"

Improve this answer
8
  • 1
    Wonderful. TY. The Rebbe (bottom p. 254 of Shaarei Geulah) writes: ויש לומר הטעם נזה העילוי דמוכתר בכתר תורה הוא בזה שהאדם שקוע כל כך בתלמוד תורה עד שזה נעשה כל מציאותו כלומר לא זו כלבד שלומד תורה ועוד זאת שתלמודו מתקיים בידו אבל עדיין אפשר להפריד נין מציאות האדם הלומד והדברי תורה שלמד הוא מציאות נפני עצמו שיש לו רכוש קנה דברי תורה עד שתורה דילי' הוא כ"א שהוא מוכתר ומסובב בדברי תורה באופן שזה נעשה מציאותו ועצמותו - so it seems according to this interpretation that Torah will be our flesh and blood (my own interpretation) it will be a part of ourselves. Maybe that explains the crowning?!
    – Shmuel
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 15:25
  • 1
    Yes, I would agree. A person may know the Torah, but not live it and breathe it, but when they do, they are "crowned" with Torah. We live and breathe our innermost desire, the essence of who were are. The Yeitzer Hara makes us think our innermost desire is not Hashem. When the Yeitzer Hara is shechted, this will no longer be possible.
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 15:36
  • 1
    Wonderful. That reminds me of the posuk in Yirmiyahu: I will put my Tora in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts - 31:33. That conveys the same idea.
    – Shmuel
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 15:38
  • 1
    A mashal. A man marries a woman but, due to his yeitzer hara, he's not completely satisfied with her. He felt all his life he dreamed of someone, and she doesn't make him feel this way, so he feels life isn't perfect and makes do. 50 years of marriage, of seeing her for who she really is, he now realises that she is the one, the only one, she was who he had dreamed about and he just couldn't see it until now. His innermost desire from since he was a child is suddenly what he has had all along and now he can finally appreciate it, and he will live and breathe only for her [continued]
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 15:41
  • 1
    Really nice addition to your answer. I will accept it, since this is the answer that is closest to what I was looking for. Kol HaKavod. Your mashal also sheds some light upon it. I am wondering if there is a sefer that discusses your mashal or something familiair.
    – Shmuel
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 15:48
1

I think … the source is the rambam that is quoted afterwards in sharei geulah and is explained ….. the rambam says there is 3 prerequisites nec. to achieve it

  1. no היסח הדעת

2)no other interests

3)non-stop

so he explains that although today one “can״ be zoche to KT but the reason we are not zoche today ,is due to us missing those 3 prerequisites (even when we learn a lot , it’s not ONE entity with us) when moshiach comes we will (all) have those prerequisites easily as we will see there is nothing else in the world but דעה את ה then we all have the torah become a KESSER ………,amen

Improve this answer
3
  • It's hard to imagine, but a good mashal I once heard: Why do we constantly re-read the Torah? What would you do if you had a love note from your soul mate, it was the last one they wrote and you haven't seen them in a while? You'd read it and re-read it over and over. One day, B'EH soon, we will feel this way about Hashem and His Torah
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 14:34
  • This goes in the right direction. Thank you. On page 255, on the bottom, it says what you wrote. Does that means that in order to get crowned, we must non-stop immerse ourselves in Torah, and since we can't do that now, we can't be crowned? Only until Moshiach comes?
    – Shmuel
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 15:18
  • now ….it’s possible but very rare
    – user19400
    Commented Nov 30, 2022 at 15:33
0

Simply, by being happy and doing the Miswoth in Simcha (including and quintessentially Talmud Torah which is k'neged kulam) - which is how we received the crowns previously - this is the vessel to receive Keter Torah. Whoever wants can come and take it now.

Irrespective of Messianic Era. [As a not-quite-on topic and partial clarification of this take and view, see LM II:119:2: The Rebbe, of blessed memory, declared: Look! Everyone says there is this world and the World to Come. Now, we believe there is a World to Come. And it is possible that an Olam HaZeh exists in some universe. But here it looks more like Gehinnom, because everyone is full of great suffering—always! The Rebbe also said: “There is no Olam HaZeh at all!”]

Likutei Moharan, Torah 65, Ot 5

...

וְהַשִּׂמְחָה הוּא כְּלִי אֶל חִדּוּשִׁין דְּאוֹרַיְתָא, כְּמוֹ שֶׁאָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה (שבת פח): בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמְרוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמַע, יָרְדוּ שִׁשִּׁים רִבּוֹא מַלְאָכִים וְנָתְנוּ שְׁנֵי כְּתָרִים בְּרֹאשׁ כָּל אֶחָד, וּכְשֶׁחָטְאוּ וְכוּ', וְעָתִיד הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְהַחֲזִירָן לָנוּ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וְשִׂמְחַת עוֹלָם עַל רֹאשָׁם. נִמְצָא שֶׁהַשִּׂמְחָה הִיא בְּחִינַת נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמַע, שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת קַבָּלַת הַתּוֹרָה.

Joy is the vessel for receiving enhanced Torah insights. As our Sages, of blessed memory, taught (Shabbat 88a): At the time that the Jewish people declared “We will do and we will hear” (Exodus 24:7), 600,000 angels descended and placed two crowns on the head of each one, but when they sinned [sin is the aspect of sadness and melancholy]…. But in the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will return [the crowns] to us, as it is written (Isaiah 35:10), “an eternal joy on their heads.” Thus we see that joy corresponds to “We will do and we will hear,” [because the essence of Mitzvah, is Simchah. Attain Miswa-Joy, attain Nishma-Torah and its Crown] which relates to receiving the Torah.

etc., see there the whole Torah

https://www.sefaria.org/Likutei_Moharan.65

Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    Ty, but this does not answer the question why if Moshiach comes, we will be crowned. Rav Nachman of Breslev says that happines places a crown on our heads so to speak, but that does not explain what the Lubavitcher Rebbe is saying.
    – Shmuel
    Commented Nov 26, 2022 at 19:49
  • It’s important to distinguish which שמחת עולם Rebbe Nachman was referring to, Isaiah 35:10 or Isaiah 51:11. They are very different and will give you better understanding of his intent in the teaching. It’s also important to learn his teaching in the historical context of his life and when he said it to better comprehend his meaning.
    – Yaacov Deane
    Commented Dec 2, 2022 at 13:40

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .