ABSTRACT
The preparation of the young for a life of learning and religious action and their initiation into what is inherently valuable engages the tradition of Torah with great force. In his exhaustive study of Talmudic theology, Ephraim E. Urbach explains that the rabbinic sages did not only explicate the Torah’s commandments but constantly explored and reexplored their inner meaning. The sages, he finds, were much engaged in discovering cogent philosophical, social, or moral reasons for the mitzvot. For how could anyone reading the text of the Torah doubt that a major theme, even there, is lo lishmah? One may wonder where the Talmudic sages and later teacher-commentators found grounds for the sometimes heatedly argued position that only the performance of the commandments and the study of Torah for their own sake were genuinely valuable.
