Beloved Doe

Hashem says to Moses (Exodus 3:12), “I have sent you to take the nation out of Egypt, you shall serve The L-rd on this mountain.”
 
“This mountain” refers to Mount Sinai, and Mount Sinai is symbolic of the Torah, for our forefathers received the Torah on Mount Sinai. In their interpretation of the above passage, our sages teach us that Hashem took us out of Egypt for one reason only – so we can immerse ourselves in Torah, day and night.
 
Sure, we all have free choice. A student has free choice to party in university rather than to apply himself in his studies. But, he’ll then flunk out. An employee also has free choice to play around at work rather than to do his job, but he’ll soon be fired. A wife and mother has free choice to squander her midday hours on Facebook and in chat forums, but her house will be a mess, her children will be eating junk-food, and her marriage will be in shambles. No one can expect privileges without fulfilling responsibilities.
 
Our first responsibility as Jews is to devote our lives to Torah. Hashem created the world in such a manner that it only functions at its optimum if a Jew learns Torah and dedicates his life to Torah. Yes, we all have free choice not to do so, but the alternative is a return to slavery just as bitter as bondage in Egypt.
 
Many a Jew asks, “Why can’t I be lawyer or stockbroker who plays tennis in the afternoon and watches DVDs in the evening?” The answer is simple – Hashem created him with a different task in life. A person with a Jewish soul cannot attain perfection or true gratification without Torah. He’ll always feel that something is missing and he’ll never attain genuine inner peace and satisfaction. A gardener will never be happy as an insurance salesman, no matter how much money he’s making.
 
Too bad people don’t get to know the Torah. If we can compare a Jewish soul to a young husband, then the Torah is like a gorgeous, faithful young wife. The soul attains a level of ecstasy when it clings in full to the Torah. With this in mind, we can understand the Gemara’s remarkable advice (see tractate Eruvin 54b): “If your head aches, go occupy yourself with Torah; if your throat hurts, go learn Torah; if your fingers are arthritic, put your head in Torah; for anything in your body that ails you – learn Torah!” When your soul is intertwined with its true love, it feels no pain. And rest assured, the Gemara’s advice really works.
 
King Solomon says (see Proverbs 5:18-20): “You shall rejoice with the wife of your youth, for she is a beloved mountain doe, a charming ibex… you will be intoxicated by her love. Why then, my son, should you err with a strange woman and embrace a foreign body?”
 
King Solomon was not only the wisest man that ever lived, he was the greatest poet that ever lived. This beautiful passage in Proverbs is actually describing the Torah and comparing her to the gorgeous beloved young wife of our dreams.
 
“You shall rejoice with the wife of your youth,” – the wife of our youth is the Torah, for we were given the Torah as a young nation that had recently left bondage in Egypt.
 
A Jewish soul derives is no greater joy in the world than completely immersing itself in Torah, as opposed to the cheap thrills and the utter wastes of time that modern society has to offer. “For she is a beloved mountain doe, a charming ibex” – an ibex is a mountain deer whose native habitat is the Negev desert in the Holy Land of Israel. The female ibex, or “Yael” as we call her in Hebrew, has 3 main characteristics:
 
First, she’s the most elegantly beautiful animal you’d ever want to see. Her coat is a phenomenal shade of gold and her features are very delicate.
 
Second, she’s unbelievably surefooted. She jumps and skips from cliff to cliff on the steepest mountains. It’s breathtaking to see (image at right, Negev Ibex on cliffs above Nachal Zin, courtesy of Emuna Outreach).
 
Third, she’s absolutely loyal to her mate.
 
In like manner, King Solomon refers to the Torah as a Ya’alat Chen, a charming mountain doe or female ibex. The Torah too is magnificently beautiful. The Torah is surefooted, for those who cling to Torah never lose their footing and walk on safe ground. The Torah is completely loyal to the Jewish people, and never lets them down. They fail when they substitute the Torah for what King Solomon calls “a strange woman,” in other words, foreign philosophies. So, when a Jew embraces foreign philosophies rather than devoting his time and efforts to Torah and its teachings, in King Solomon’s words – that’s tantamount to embracing a foreign body, in other words, like cheating on the gorgeous wife of your youth. Who would do such a thing?
 
The Midrash tells us that there is no true freedom other than Torah (see Bamidbar Raba 10:8). Torah frees us of the type of lusts, bad habits, and time-killers that enslave the soul. Maybe a person won’t be laying bricks in the Egyptian hot sun, but he’ll still be a slave to any number of obsessive soul destroyers if his heart and mind are not immersed in Torah.
 
A person invests time in making a living. His leaving the house to go to work during the day is not only permissible, but laudable too. Yet in the evening, he comes home to his wife. By the same token, we are certainly well-advised to pursue a career and make a living. But at the end of the day, our heart must come home to the Torah. She’s the beloved of our soul and our true freedom. She’s waiting for you to taste her delights.