The drive to take initiative is embedded in man from the moment of his creation. From a young age, he tries again and again to move forward and develop beyond wherever he currently stands. This drive frequently leads him to take risks and to engage in bold, adventurous undertakings whose success is far from guaranteed—without being deterred by the risk involved.
Indeed, the world is deeply impressed by people of initiative, by those who are not afraid to take a chance. We live in a world saturated with entrepreneurship; new ventures and innovative developments are launched constantly, and we make no secret of our admiration for those visionaries who refuse to let fear of failure hold them back. Yet upon closer reflection, we notice within ourselves a tendency to assume that this capacity for initiative belongs primarily to the advancement and development of the secular world, and less to the world of Torah. We ought to consider why this is so, and whether it is correct—or whether the world of Torah, too, requires this kind of boldness.
Rethinking a Common Misconception
At first glance, one might think that there is no room in the Torah world for initiative-driven action—that everything, as it were, is already known and written, and all that remains for us is to comply with and fulfill the laws, chalilah that we should add new undertakings beyond what has already been done in the past. The Torah is perceived by us as something ancient and preserved, and unlike the outside world, where there is a constant movement of initiative, development and advancement, the Torah world, so it seems, is concerned only with maintaining the status quo, without any development.
But in truth, this perception is fundamentally mistaken. Initiative is a basic, natural drive that seeks to break forward and develop wherever a person finds himself, and we who aspire to live a life of Torah must bring this drive—and give it expression—specifically within the world of Torah itself. If we fail to channel this drive into our Torah lives, it will erupt instead into the realm of chullin, for the initiative that pulses within a person from birth cannot be eliminated or uprooted.
We must recognize that although the Torah indeed preceded even the creation of the world and is never to be exchanged, our capacity to develop and take initiative within the world of Torah is boundless—and it is precisely for this reason that we are called upon to exercise vision and boldness, in order to develop our initiative-driven nature within Torah as well.
Lessons from Gedolei Yisrael
The great leaders of the generations were themselves deeply invested in initiative within Torah, and they even taught others how to become so. It is told that the Saba of Slabodka zt”l instructed his talmid, the Gaon Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l, to read a work of fiction involving adventure, seeing in this a fundamental step in his talmid’s development. He held that in this way the talmid would draw inspiration for how one takes a risk and enters into an undertaking of daring—and just as the outside world advances through adventurousness, so, too, must the Torah world advance through new initiatives and the taking of risks.
When the Chazon Ish moved to Eretz HaKodesh, he was offered the opportunity to settle in the Yishuv HaYashan in Yerushalayim, on the grounds that there he would be able to continue growing in Torah alongside the gedolei olam who were already living there. Nevertheless, the Chazon Ish chose to settle in the Yishuv HaChadash, for by doing so he would build up the Torah world of the Yishuv HaChadash. He said that if he succeeded, all the better—but if, chalilah, he failed, he would go together with them to Gehinnom. In this statement, the Chazon Ish expressed a decision born of initiative, one that carried real risk, and he taught us that this is the path toward growth and development in Torah.
One of the initiatives of Rav Yisrael Salanter was to publish a monthly journal called Tevunah, intended to create a broad exchange of ideas among ovdei Hashem. In his sefer Ohr Yisrael (Michtav 29), he wrote, as an introduction to the launching of the journal, that a person must learn to take risks in his learning of Torah.
Applying This Courage to Limud HaTorah
Rav Yisrael Salanter likewise gave us an example of taking a risk and expressing ourselves even when a matter is not yet fully clear to us, for through fruitful exchange with one’s chavrusa, the truth will gradually develop and reveal itself. Similarly, the Rav of Brisk zt”l said that speaking during learning means telling one’s chavrusa one’s thoughts immediately, even before they have been fully weighed and refined. Indeed, if we reflect on this, we can identify countless such acts of initiative—such as going to speak with and gain wisdom from a great Rav, despite the embarrassment and the fear of saying something foolish, or attempting to act and to draw others closer to Torah, and so on.
Just as in the world of commerce the simple worker who merely fulfills what he is told, without ever taking a risk, cannot advance and develop very far, while the entrepreneur who takes chances often goes far indeed—so, too, in the world of Torah: if we fail to make use of our innate drive for initiative to take on challenging risks, we will not succeed in developing and reaching far.
It is clear, then, that the call for initiative and risk-taking is not a call for recklessness. Rather, it is a call to understand that harnessing our natural drive for initiative within our spiritual world grants us the ability to grow and develop within the world of Torah.