In Judaism, we read from the Torah scroll four times in three days. Monday and Thursday mornings, and twice on Saturday, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
This was originally established because Mondays and Thursdays were market days when people would gather together. The more people who gather, the more people who would hear the Torah. Seems simple enough.
But while the Torah is being read, particularly on a Shabbat morning, I’ve always struggled with: what should you actually be doing?
Should you be following along in Hebrew?
What about if you don’t understand Hebrew?
Should you just read the English?
Am I allowed to step outside?
Could I read something else during that time?
I think these are important practical questions but also significant spiritual questions.
Our Talmud this week begins to speak on these questions but challenges us to think bigger than just this specific moment in the prayer service.
We begin on Berachot 8a amidst a conversation on Torah reading:
Rav Huna bar Yehuda said that Rabbi Menaḥem said that Rabbi Ami said: What is the practical halakhic meaning of that which is written: “They who forsake the Lord will perish” (Isaiah 1:28)?
This verse refers to one who abandons the Torah scroll when it was taken out to be read and leaves the synagogue, as it appears that he is fleeing from God.
Our text starts with the question, what does it mean to “forsake the Lord?” Who are those who will perish? Rabbi Ami explains that this refers to someone who leaves during the Torah reading.
First of all, it is not particularly clear what this means, neither the verse nor its explanation. It is certainly possible that “forsaking” Torah could mean something more dire, but he sticks to a context that is more mundane.
Rabbi Steinsaltz adds that this means that when someone leaves the synagogue, it is as though they are fleeing from God. Beyond the literal choreography being described here, there are interesting philosophical questions to be asked about our connection to the Torah, particularly the scroll.
Rabbi Abbahu would go out between one person who read the Torah and the next person who did so.
The Talmud continues by relaying a story of Rabbi Abbahu and how he would leave between readers.
This is a prime example, of many, of how the rabbis recognized the practicality that someone might have to leave. All the more so, in context, we can understand that Rabbi Abbahu wouldn’t be seen as fleeing from God. There must be more to this situation that originally understood.
Rav Pappa raised a dilemma: What is the ruling with regard to leaving between one verse and the next verse? Is one permitted to leave during a break in the Torah reading while the verse was translated into Aramaic?
The dilemma stands unresolved.
Rav Pappa adds another layer, what happens if someone left between one verse and the next?
There is important context here about how Torah reading has changed over the millennia. As we will learn shortly, there was a custom of reciting each verse twice in the original Hebrew and once again in translation. Not everyone knew Hebrew, just like today, and there weren’t necessarily books of translation in slots behind the chairs or pews.
At the time of the Talmud, that translation was in Aramaic. Today, there is still a custom of the twice Hebrew, once in Aramaic readings. However, in our day, English, if that is your language, would be more than sufficient for translation.
This is how it could be possible to leave between verses.
Lastly, the Talmud tells us that this disagreement is teiku, unresolved. The rabbis did not articulate a single answer for this question of when it is permitted to leave during the Torah reading. This is a powerful reminder that the Talmud is not merely a lawbook. If it was, there would not be unresolved disagreements.
The Talmud expands our context and approaches our question of “forsaking” God and Torah in a new way.
Torah study is both a communal effort and an individual one. One of the ways we do that is hearing the reading. Being a part of the communal effort matters.
While we can certainly study on our own, communal approaches are difference.
It is like working in the office versus remote work. Syncronous work happening all at the same time versus asynchronous work, done on our own time.
Rav Sheshet would turn his face away from the Torah while it was being read and study.
In a relatively shocking description, we learn that Rav Sheshet would turn his face away from the Torah and study!
Is this not forsaking the Lord! This would appear to be so disrespectful! Perhaps more than just leaving!
He said: We are engaged in ours, the study of the Oral Torah and they are engaged in theirs, listening to the Written Torah.
Rav Sheshet makes a fascinating, albeit a bit challenging statement. He suggests here that he is not being disrespectful, but recognizes that he might not benefit specifically from hearing the Torah read.
Rather, he says, as explained by a number of commentators, that it would be better for him to study from the oral tradition, as it is more advanced and he is well versed in the texts.
The implications of this text make a distinction for those who are not well grounded in the Torah text and that they should focus their energies on reading the Torah rather than studying beyond or more advanced materials.
This is probably a good policy, as there is much of Torah we skip over or miss even with many reviews and intentional studying. We could all benefit more from studying the text itself.
However, broadening this out, if you are in the category of individuals who feel grounded in the Torah text, there is an opportunity for you to, perhaps, studying something else during that time period of the service.
Or in other words, can you read a book during services?
This is risky, as we might place ourselves in this category when it is not earned and that we might miss important learning by skipping past the Torah reading.
So how might we fulfill this minimum threshold? I think our Talmud text provides some important guidance, even if that is not the primary focus of this text.
Rav Huna bar Yehuda said that Rabbi Ami said: A person should always complete his Torah portions with the congregation. The congregation reads a particular Torah portion every Shabbat, and during the week prior to each Shabbat, one is required to read the Bible text of the weekly portion twice and the translation once.
Rabbi Ami, who provided our original teaching above, encourages us to always studying the Torah portion with the congregation.
We might understand this as reading during services, despite what Rav Sheshet does. This is followed by our previously mentioned framework, twice in Hebrew, once in translation.
Do we really have study every verse this way? What if the translation isn’t that different from the Hebrew? This is what the Talmud explains, using a verse from this week’s Torah portion, Matot.
This applies to every verse, even a verse like: “Atarot and Divon and Yazer and Nimra and Ḥeshbon and Elaleh and Sevam and Nevo and Beon” (Numbers 32:3). While that verse is comprised entirely of names of places that are identical in Hebrew and Aramaic, one is nevertheless required to read the verse twice and its translation once, as one who completes their Torah portions with the congregation is rewarded that their days and years are extended.
Even though our verses are primarily names, which are the same in very language, we are still encouraged to recite the verses the three times.
Whenever the rabbis talk about long lives, you mean they are making a strong recommendation. Studying the Torah in depth is no exception here.
Rav Beivai bar Abaye thought to finish all the Torah portions of the entire year, which he had been unable to complete at their appointed time, on the eve of Yom Kippur when he would have time to do so.
As we learned above, learning with the congregation is a good thing, studying along with them, week after week.
But, as we learn from Rav Beivai bar Abaye, that is not the only way to do it. Perhaps there is a way to make up for it at the end of the year and complete one’s study?
But Ḥiyya bar Rav of Difti taught him: It is written with regard to Yom Kippur: “And you shall afflict your souls on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening to evening you shall keep your Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:32).
And does one fast on the ninth of Tishrei? Doesn’t one fast on the tenth of Tishrei?
Hiyya bar Rav Difti is not convinced by Rav Beivai’s approach. He suggests, through quoting a verse, perhaps that is not what the day before Yom Kippur is for.
Rather, this verse comes to tell you: One who eats and drinks on the ninth day of Tishrei in preparation for the fast the next day, the verse ascribes him credit as if he fasted on both the ninth and the tenth of Tishrei.
What is the 9th of Tishrei, the day before Yom Kippur for? No, eating and drinking before the holiday, not study.
When Rav Beivai heard this, he thought to read the Torah portions earlier, before they were to be read by the community. A certain unnamed elder told him, we learned: As long as one does not read the Torah portions earlier or later than the congregation. One must read them together with the congregation.
And finally, full circle, Rav Beivai is reminded of earlier learning that encourages him, and us, to study along with the congregation.
That being said, I think we can study in lots of different ways. It does not only mean during the congreational reading. I think that we can understand this principle, applied above as here, that it is desirable to read the same portion as your community, so that you are studying along with the congregation.
It also means that you could prepare during the week for the reading that Shabbat. And if you study during the week before Shabbat, you can study something else during the reading.
However, taking all of this in mind and using Rav Sheshet as an example, I think we can learn a few lessons and set a few rules:
The Torah is not an idol. It is not God.
Instead, it is a spiritual tool, passed down the generations to teach us wisdom and meaning. Regardless of how you believe the Torah comes to us, it is there to give us a foundation. As I talked about here, it is understood by the rabbis as the blueprint of the universe itself.
Study with the community.
Being Jewish alone is difficult. We are constantly encouraged to remained connected to community and Torah study is no different.
Even in the situation with Rav Sheshet, he was studying during the Torah reading, even if he wasn’t studying the same thing. Be a part of the conversation that the collective is having.
If you’re going to read a book, make it Jewish.
Once you have a grounding in the Torah of that week, I think we can learn from Rav Sheshet and the broader sugiyah that studying something else is permitted.
However, to keep us from going too far off the intention, I think we should use these broad guidelines for book selection. The reading material should have one of the following:
be Jewish in subject matter
challenge or expand your thinking on a Jewish idea
encourage greater depth of understanding or Jewish practice
inspire meaning and connection to others
Each of these keeps us focused on what matters, being in community, advancing our studies, and growing as Jews.
What do you like to read during services?