With Heart in Mind

These words which I command you today shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them thoroughly to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you rise up.

THE FIRST METHOD to internalize Jewish wisdom that we explored in this book was talmud, translated as “study.” How does this current method—studying the written and oral Torah—differ from what we’ve already learned about study?

The Sh’ma is the primary statement of Jewish belief and monotheism, and in the first blessing recited in the Sh’ma, we read the instruction that we should lay the words of the Torah on our hearts, and we should teach them thoroughly (v’shinantam) to our children. In the teaching from the Talmud quoted in the epigraph above, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya does a little word play to switch the word v’shinantam to read v’shlishtam,¹ which causes the meaning of the verse to change to “and you shall divide them in thirds.” He then deduces that a person should divide learning into three equal portions: biblical scripture (the written Torah), and Mishnah and Gemara, which together compose the Talmud (the oral Torah). (Then along come the commentators to argue whether that means a third of every day, or one day in three, or even one year in three, devoted to each of these subjects.)

The first reference to study we encountered was general, and here we get specifics: To gain access to the transformation wrought by Torah, we must spend time learning both the written Torah (the Bible) and the oral Torah.

In saying that we must study both the oral and written Torah, our teaching is making a political statement. In the period of the Second Temple (between 530 B.C.E. and 70 C.E.), there was division in the Jewish world between the Pharisees, who gave the written and oral traditions equal importance, and the Sadducees, who accorded authority only to the written word (especially the Books of Moses). After the destruction of the Second Temple, the Pharisees came to dominate, and rabbinic Judaism was born. We ourselves are within that tradition that acknowledges both the oral and the written Torah and asserts that we need to study and follow the teachings of both. Most of us, that is. The sect of the Karaites still exists, mostly in Israel, and is made up of people from Iraq and Egypt who traditionally (and to this day) have accepted only the written Torah as their guide.

The dominant view, however, is that acquiring wisdom requires study of both the written and the oral traditions, because one cannot be understood properly without the other.

Many teachings of the written Torah just could not be understood or acted upon without the oral tradition to fill in the picture. In regard to ritual, for example, we get the verse that is incorporated into the blessings after the Sh’ma: “You shall tie them as a sign on your arm and for totafot between your eyes.”² Tie what on your arm? Who? How? When? And just what are totafot, anyway? We’d have no idea without the oral tradition to explain the practice of wearing tefillin.³

The oral and the written sources are also needed to understand what is involved in Jewish law. The verse that calls for “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” for example, would set off a slew of vengeance seeking and retribution, except that in the hands of the rabbis this is understood to be all about monetary compensation, not retaliation.

Emphasizing text study as spiritual practice is a distinctively Jewish element of this path. The Talmud spells this out:

Rav Yosef said, “Torah study is superior to saving lives.” Rav, and some say, Rabbi Shmuel Bar Marta, said, “Torah study is superior to the building of the temple.” Rebbi said in the name of Rav Yitzchak bar Shmuel Bar Marta, “Torah study is superior to honoring your mother and your father.”⁴

This list of things here being compared to Torah study is not random.

Saving a life is usually the trump card in Jewish thought and practice, as nothing is meant to stand in the way of life-saving activities. Torah study is superior.

The temple is the location of the holy of holies, where God’s presence was manifest. Torah study is superior.

And honoring one’s mother and father is not only one of the Ten Commandments, it is also the primary obligation in the interpersonal realm, because our parents gave us life itself. And Torah study is superior even to honoring one’s parents.

Why does Torah study rank even higher than the elevated status ascribed to each of these three categories of practice? Because when you study Torah, you save your own life because you connect to the source of truth and goodness that is the essence of living. The temple is no longer standing, and so that route to spiritual elevation is simply not available to us today, whereas Torah study is entirely accessible. And there is no higher way to honor one’s parents than to become someone who embodies the highest ideals they would hope for us, which we learn from Torah.

PRACTICE

Let’s do some learning to see how the oral tradition is needed to understand and fulfill the verses of the Torah. The prayer book quotes a Mishnah that is set before us to learn every day: “These are the precepts that have no prescribed measure: the corner of a field, the first fruit offering, the pilgrimage, acts of kindness, and Torah study.”⁵ The Mishnah is elucidating verses from the Torah that we can break out, one by one:

The Corner of a Field

Leviticus 19:9–11 tells us that the corners of fields (pe’ah) are designated for the poor: “When you [plural] reap the harvest of your land, you [singular] shall not reap all the way to the corner of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger.” No specific measurement is provided to determine how much of the field to leave unharvested.

The First Fruit Offering

Deuteronomy 26:2 describes the offering of the first fruits: “You shall take of the first of every fruit of the ground that you bring in from your Land that your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that your God, will choose. . . .” No limit is set for how much fruit is to be offered.

The Pilgrimage

Rayon refers to being seen to be a pilgrim who goes up to the Temple for the three commanded annual visits, at the festivals of Pesach, Shavuot, and Succot. No specific amount of time is set that a pilgrim must spend in Jerusalem, nor for how many sacrifices must be brought.

Acts of Kindness

It is said that the Torah begins with an act of kindness (God clothing Adam and Eve) and ends with an act of kindness (God burying Moses). There is no limit or end to the kindnesses we can do in our life to those around us and those in need, such as visiting the sick, clothing the naked, and feeding the hungry.

Torah study

Torah study is a commandment, but how many hours or days or years is nowhere stipulated.

Now that you have learned a bit of Mishnah and the scripture upon which it is based, go back and review what you have learned.