Man is budgeted with a limited expense account by G-d on an annual basis. It is man's responsibility to apportion his means over the year taking into consideration his needs, desires, and religious obligations. Regarding this last category, the expenses of Shabbat, Yom Tov and Torah study for one's children are exceptions to the rule. We can spend on these mitzvot without limit, and are assured we will be compensated through G-d's providence.

This does not seem to be the case with other mitzvot. In buying tefilin, or making a seudat mitzva, we must be aware that we are drawing on a limited fund. It is only in spending for Shabbat, Yom Tov and Torah education that we should feel unencumbered to put out as much as we are willing to invest towards the maximal fulfillment of these mitzvot. It is our goal in the next few lines to explain why Torah education is numbered in this category.

The Talmud ( Bechorot 29a) teaches us that we are obligated to teach Torah without receiving compensation, based on 2 Biblical verses. One requires us to teach Torah as G-d taught it to us: free of charge. The second forbids the sale of the 'truth' of the Torah. Let us examine the unique message of each verse. The first requires our reenacting the receiving of the Torah at Sinai each time we teach it. It must be an act of grace, not of transaction. The second verse teaches us a rule regarding Torah itself ( as opposed to its transmission ). Torah is truth, and truth must be provided without demanding a price. Truth is not for sale.

It is in these ideas that we can find a basis for G-d's unlimited funding of our Torah education. Our need to pay for our children's Torah study is itself improper. It demeans the Torah itself, as well as its transmission. By footing the bill of Torah education, G-d reconstructs the act of teaching Torah as being without charge. At least from the perspective of the student, the Torah is received as grace. And the dignity of the Torah itself is maintained.

G-d's covering expenses of Torah education can be understood from a different perspective as well; obligation. Torah study is amongst the mitzvot with no upper limit ( Peah 1:1 ) For all the other mitzvot in this category, it is true that the more one performs the mitzvah, the better, but even a minimal amount is sufficient . For Torah study, on some level, the obligation of further study is always pending. Rabbi Tarfon teaches us in Pirkei Avot : ' velo atah ben chorin lehibatel mimenah' Other Mitzvot are performed and accomplished. Talmud Torah is never ending. As parents financially responsible for the Torah education of our child, this never ending obligation to study Torah becomes an unending responsibility to support our child's Torah education. Such an unending obligation cannot be budgeted. It requires unlimited means to allow for the fullest possible effort to provide for Torah education. Thus the financing of Torah education is provided for by G-d by nature of its obligation, by nature of its fulfillment, and by the nature of the Torah itself.

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'Agaddic Visions' by Rabbi Blau

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