How to make your Torah fixed and regular.
Find a group, reflect seriously, and struggle deeply.
As Jews, we are encouraged to engage in Torah. To make ourselves busy with Torah. To let it guide our lives and make it essential.
In Pirkei Avot 1:15, Shammai makes this clear:
Shammai says: make your [study of] Torah fixed [and regular].
However, what does this mean exactly? How can we apply this instruction?
I believe that we can learn a number of principles from Rabbi Yehudah on Berachot 63b:
And Rabbi Yehuda again began to speak in honor of Torah and taught: When Moses took leave of Israel on his last day in this world, he said: “Keep silence [hasket] and hear, Israel; this day you have become a people unto the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 27:9).
This is surprising: Was the Torah given to Israel on that day? Wasn’t that day at the end of forty years since the Torah was given?
Rather, it comes to teach that each and every day the Torah is as dear to those who study it, as it was on the day it was given from Mount Sinai.
He begins by quoting a verse that has two parts:
Keep silence [hasket], and hear Israel, [Shema Israel].
This day you have become a people.
We’ll do the second part first. What day did the Israelites become a people, as opposed to just a group of families, descended from common ancestors? Arguably when they were freed from Egypt and received the Torah.
In Deuteronomy, which Rabbi Yehuda quotes, we’re at the end of the story! Moses is coming close to his death, and “this day you have become a people,” really?
This is what the Gemara is surprised by since this seems out of alignment with when they actually became a people. This leads us to our first approach to Torah.
We should treat every day as though it was the day we received Torah.
Imagine the implication on your psyche. If every day you felt as though you received this monumental gift, you might feel joyful, fearful, overwhelmed, excited, encouraged, or a myriad of other things. You might also feel deeply connected to those around you who share in your inheritance.
A few lines later, the Talmud says this:
The Gemara interprets the word hasket in this verse homiletically, as an acronym of the words as, make, and kat, group. Form [asu] many groups [kitot] and study Torah, for the Torah is only acquired through study in a group.
Hasket, gets interpreted to mean asu kitot, make groups. This is a bold claim that challenges us to ask a number of questions:
What does it mean to acquire Torah? What does a group entail? What happens if I study alone? What is at risk?
Torah is a team sport, find more players.
It is difficult to be a Jew alone. Community is important. So too, when we apply this to Torah. We should seek to learn from many people in partnerships, in groups, in classes. All of these are good options.
What if we don’t?
This is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina; as Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “A sword is upon the boasters [habaddim], and they shall become fools [noalu]” (Jeremiah 50:36)?
This verse can be interpreted homiletically: A sword upon the enemies of Torah scholars, a euphemism for the Torah scholars themselves, who sit alone [bad bevad] and study Torah. And furthermore, those who study alone grow foolish, as it is written here, noalu, and elsewhere it is written that after Miriam was afflicted with leprosy, Aaron told Moses: “For that we have done foolishly [noalnu]” (Numbers 12:11).
And furthermore, they sin due to that ignorance, as at the end of that same verse it is stated: “For that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned.”
Here, we can begin to understand the consequences.
Rabbi Yosei, the son of Rabbi Hanina, interprets a verse using metaphor and word play, to teach us that studying alone is a risk.
Those who sit alone, bad bevad, is drawn from habaddim, become foolish. Why? How?
Learning alone leads you to make potentially wrong assumptions.
Without the input and wisdom of others, you might misunderstand a verse or come up with a faulty idea. These might cause you to harm another or lead others astray.
This is why the text stays that they sin. It is not that studying alone by itself is problematic. The risk is you might make a mistake and cause others to do the same.
How many times in our lives have we had thoughts which caused us to make choices? Sometimes, just verbalizing them out loud to another person would have shown us that our ideas were wrong and assumed something that wasn’t true. This is what the rabbis were afraid of.
But this is not the only way to interpret this verse, using this week’s Torah portion, Hukkat, as inspiration.
The Gemara offers an alternative explanation of this verse: “Keep silence [hasket] and hear, Israel”; break [kattetu] yourselves over words of the Torah. This is in accordance with the opinion of Reish Lakish, as Reish Lakish said: From where is it derived that matters of Torah are only retained by one who kills himself over it? As it is stated: “This is the Torah: When one dies in a tent” (Numbers 19:14); true Torah study demands the total devotion of one who is willing to dedicate his life in the tent of Torah.
Reish Lakish takes a very different approach. He recognizes that there are elements of Torah that are so important that it is worth dying over. We see this elsewhere in the Talmud as well.
Stepping back from the details here, we learn is that:
Torah is serious business.
There are real impacts on our lives when we take learning and acting on Torah seriously. There were times in Jewish history when engaging with Torah was a deadly risk. Thankfully, most of those have passed and remain in history.
But, while some study is fun, encouraging, and even silly, some study is serious. Lives have been changed due to the study of Torah.
Thankfully, the Talmud doesn’t end there, but continues offering interpretations of this verse:
The Gemara offers yet another alternative explanation of this verse: “Keep silence [hasket] and hear, Israel”; first be silent [has] and listen and then study intensively in order to analyze [kattet] and clarify the details. This is in accordance with the opinion of Rava, as Rava said: One must always study Torah and gain expertise in it, and only then analyze and delve into it.
Rava suggests that we cannot just study Torah but must step back to analyze and reflect on it.
We should not just accept the teachings of others without reflection.
There is wisdom to be gained from every student and in every approach to Torah. It doesn’t make us right, we still have to prove our ideas, but it also means that no one is above another.
We are each equals in the eyes of the Tradition. We all have something to learn.
This is when we learn with others and then analyze it on our own.
When we learn on our own and then analyze it with others, that is when we’ve protected ourselves from the risk of foolishness.
The Talmud continues:
In the school of Rabbi Yannai they said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “For the churning of milk brings forth cream, and the wringing of the nose [af] brings forth blood, so the forcing of wrath [appayim] brings forth strife” (Proverbs 30:33)?
We shift away from our core verse and pick up another for analysis.
With regard to the beginning of the verse: For the churning of milk brings forth curd; in whom do you find the cream of Torah? With one who spits out the milk that they nursed from their mother’s breasts over it; one who struggles with all his might to study Torah.
In this very graphic interpretation, we ask about the meaning of the phrase from the verse, “churning of milk brings forth cream.” What does this mean?
According to Rabbi Steinsaltz, this visual of a child spitting out the milk they’ve drank from their parent is a metaphor for struggling to ingest Torah.
As a baby who attempts to drink too quickly or is searching for food, so too we should be as one who seeks out spiritual sustenance and find ways of dealing with the difficulties of what we learn.
Said another way, struggling with Torah is a good thing. It means you’re doing it right.
The Talmud goes on to interpret this verse and discuss the benefits of having your teacher be mad at you and being silent in response. But, I want to focus on one line near the end of this sugiyah instead:
Rabbi Yishmael says: One who seeks to become wise should engage in monetary laws, as there is no greater discipline in Torah, as they are like a flowing well in which innovations constantly spring forth.
Rabbi Yishmael teaches us that wisdom comes from those who engage in the laws that govern our commercial interactions.
Rabbi Steinsaltz adds the additional nuance that hiddushim innovations come from these laws.
The Torah of daily, mundane human interactions are the source of deep wisdom.
Finally, the Talmud ends with this teaching:
Similarly, Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have planned devices [zamota], lay your hand over your mouth” (Proverbs 30:32)?
Anyone who abases himself over matters of Torah, asking questions despite the shame he feels for his ignorance, will ultimately be exalted. And if he muzzles [zamam] himself due to embarrassment, he will end up with his hand over his mouth, unable to answer.
Beyond the foolishness that we risk when we study alone, there is another way to become a fool:
Torah comes from pushing through fear and asking questions.
Allowing ourselves to be a little embarrassed is the way to greater wisdom. We must take it upon ourselves to continue to push ourselves to deeper learning, no matter what we come with from before.
Be fearless and ask questions.
Ask them to your group or your hevruta.
Ask them to yourself in your analysis or preparation.
Ask them as you navigate your daily life.
Ask them when you are struggling.
These are how we can make Shammai’s guidance real in our life and make Torah essential.
If we're open to asking questions and the potential of looking a bit (or very) foolish, do you have some practical suggestions for how to build different kinds of Torah study groups with others?
I think this gets back to the Twitter conversation about faith communication, and while I haven't said much more about the Hebrew study group, it's mainly because I'm trying to talk to people in my congregation to find out who's interested and the actual logistics of running it.
Any advice might apply to that, but I'm also thinking about online study groups for Torah and if there are any other kinds of study group?