What Is the Torah?
In its most literal sense, the word “Torah” refers to the five books that G-d gave to Moses on Mount Sinai: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Nowadays, however, the word “Torah” is used to refer to all of the works that fill the bookshelves of religious Jews and Torah scholars all over the world.
An Overview of the Torah
Introduction
Any list of the basic religious texts for a Jew begins with the 24 books of the Bible, known in Hebrew as Tanach. The Bible consists of three different categories of works: the Torah, the Prophets (Neviim), and the Scriptures (Ketuvim). (Tanach is an acronym for these three categories.)
The five books of the Torah were dictated by G-d directly to Moses, who personally transcribed them.
The Books of the Prophets were written by a number of individuals in history who are considered prophets (neviim) due to the spirit of prophecy (a sort of Divine inspiration) that they were granted. A “prophet” is a person to whom G-d appears and reveals what He wants, what is going to happen in the future, and so forth.
The Scriptures were written by several individuals who also had Divine inspiration, albeit on a slightly lower level.
For an overview of the Bible and all that it contains, see Your Jewish Guide: The History of the Jewish People.
The Bible is the foundation and basis of all the written works that make up the standard “Jewish bookshelf”: the Midrash, the Mishnah, the Talmud, the works of Kabbalah and mysticism, and the literature of Jewish law.
The Mishnah is a work of Jewish law that was compiled in the study halls of our Sages; it consists of six distinct sections. The Talmud is the most fundamental work in Jewish culture, the backbone of all Jewish literature and of the life of the Jewish people in general. Halachah refers to the assortment of works that teach a Jew how to conduct himself at every step throughout his life. This is a large body of literature that continues to grow as time goes on.
Kabbalah and Mysticism
All of the sacred works listed above make up what is called the “revealed Torah.” They discuss subjects that have to do with our lives in the physical world. They speak about objects, actions and events that are tangible.
There is another part of the Torah, as well, which is known as the “hidden Torah.” This body of literature speaks about profound, esoteric topics. It describes the human soul and the meaning of creation, the sublime levels of G-dliness and the spiritual worlds that are beyond our perception.
- It is important to note that the “hidden Torah” is not separate from the “revealed Torah.” Rather, it represents the true profound meaning of the revealed Torah. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, explains and elucidates the many layers of profound meaning that lie beneath the surface of the “revealed Torah.”
Chassidut
These two realms of the Torah are connected by the wisdom of chassidut, which was first introduced to the world by Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov and which took on a special form under the leadership of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Chabad movement.
The wisdom of chassidut speaks about mystical concepts, but it presents them in such a way that even the average person is capable of understanding them. Moreover, it offers guidance on how to translate the sublime ideas of the mystical realm into practical, physical action.
The Importance of Torah Study
Introduction
Torah study is one of the most important mitzvot we have. Our Sages teach us that it is “equivalent” to all of the other commandments, meaning that if we were to place the commandment of Torah study on one side of a scale and the remaining 612 mitzvot on the other side, the scale would be evenly balanced.
What is the reason for the great importance of this mitzvah?
Knowing What to Do
First of all, the Torah is essentially a complete guide to Judaism. It teaches every Jew how to fulfill the Torah’s commandments and all of the Rabbinic ordinances that have ever been established. No commandment or custom can be observed without prior study of how it is done. (After all, have you ever seen a doctor performing an operation without having learned first how to do it?)
A Complete Connection with G-d
Secondly, Torah study connects us to G-d much more powerfully and intensely than do other mitzvot.
Let us take, as an example, the mitzvah of wearing tefillin. Our tefillin and our arms are two separate entities, and when the tefillin are placed on the arm, we have created a connection between the two. The tefillin and the arm, however, do not become a single unit; they remain two distinct things that have come in contact with each other.
What happens when we engage in Torah study? When we delve into our studies, our intellect—which is an inseparable part of the soul—“takes hold” of the material we are studying and focuses exclusively on it. Moreover, when a person’s intellect focuses on Torah study, it can be said that the text itself “takes over” his mind; if someone were to ask him a question unrelated to what he is learning, he would have to “detach” his mind from the material he is studying in order to focus on the question.
The Torah is the wisdom of G-d Himself. That Divine wisdom is embedded in the text of the Torah, and when we learn G-d’s Torah, our minds, in a sense, “take hold” of G-d Himself, and G-d takes hold of our minds. Those little gray cells in our brains are enveloped by G-d and also envelop Him, so that when we study the Torah, we exist in the most sublime and holy state possible—a state of complete connection with the Creator of the universe.
“For They Are Our Lives”
Torah literature is replete with illustrations of the vast importance of Torah study.
One of the most notable examples is the line that we recite every evening during the Maariv service: “For they [the words of Torah] are our lives and the length of our days.” The Torah is not simply an extraneous subject that we study on our free time; rather, it is the very essence of our lives.
The Roman government once issued an edict prohibiting the Jews from being involved in Torah study. Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues continued to teach Torah to the masses, in defiance of the evil decree. A man named Pappus ben Yehuda once met Rabbi Akiva and asked him, “Why are you violating the king’s decree and endangering your life?”
Rabbi Akiva replied with a parable: “A fox was once walking along the riverbank when he noticed some fish swimming quickly from one place to another in the water. ‘Why are you in such a hurry?’ the fox asked them, and they responded that they were fleeing from the fishermen, who were trying to catch them with a net.
“‘I have an idea for you,’ the devious fox replied. ‘Come up here, onto the dry land, and I will find you some excellent hiding places in the caves and the crevices between the rocks.’
“‘And you are considered the most clever of all animals?’ the fish replied in astonishment. ‘You are the most foolish of them all! We can survive only in the water, yet you suggest that we come up onto dry land? If we are afraid for our lives here in the water, we will be much more afraid outside of it!’
“We, the Jews, are like those fish,” Rabbi Akiva concluded. “You are suggesting that I stop learning Torah in order to save my life? The Torah is my life, and without it my life would not be a life at all!”
Connecting to Our Ancestors
The history of the Jewish people is an incredible story of survival. We are a tiny nation that was exiled from its land and scattered throughout the world. The nations of the world have harbored hatred and animosity toward us throughout the generations; they have schemed against us, oppressed us, and sought to destroy us. Despite all this, the Jewish nation has determinedly maintained its unique character, against all odds. Incredibly, despite the many trials and tribulations that we have suffered, the Jewish nation is the only nation that has continued to exist throughout the years, watching from the side as mighty empires rise and fall one after the other.
One of the secrets of the Jewish people’s magic has to do with the story of our nation’s birth. The Jewish nation is not like any other nation in any sense. Our nation was created when the Torah was given, and the Torah is the heart of our people and the center of our existence.
Torah study is the means by which we become a link in the chain of generations that stretches back through history to the very genesis of our nation. Every father teaches his children Torah, transmitting it as he received it from his own father. Every teacher or rabbi transmits the Torah to his students, just as he received it from his own teachers. And so, from generation to generation, this wondrous chain continues, perpetuating Torah knowledge and our people’s existence for centuries. Even in the most difficult and dreadful periods of persecution that the Jewish people endured, their Torah study has never ceased.
When a father passes on the tradition to his children, and when a teacher of Torah passes it on to his students, this is what ensures the continued existence of the Jewish people. Every Jewish child begins learning the Torah as soon as he learns how to read, before he even becomes acquainted with the world around him, and then moves us to the Mishnah and Talmud. The child is thus brought into the cycle of Jewish life and taught about the vast light with which the Torah is imbued. He is taught to value the Torah to the point that he is prepared to make any sacrifice for its sake. When he grows older, he will bring his own children into this chain of tradition, and the cycle will thus continue.
Thus, when a Jew engages in Torah study, he becomes part of a sacred chain that began with the Divine revelation at Mount Sinai and has remained unbroken until today.
Rules for Torah Study
Who Must Learn and When?
The commandment to engage in Torah study applies to every Jew, at every age and on every intellectual level. It applies to the wealthiest man, no matter how preoccupied he is with his business dealings, and to the poorest man, regardless of how busy he is attempting to eke out a living. It applies to the healthy and the ill alike.
In principle, every Jew is obligated to engage in Torah study all day and all night. There is a verse that states, “You shall study it day and night.” Naturally, this does not mean that we are required to refrain from eating or sleeping; the verse simply means that whenever a person is able to learn Torah, he must do so.
For this reason, a person who does not need to be involved in efforts to make a living (such as a retired person, an heir to a fortune, a lottery winner, and so forth) is obligated to learn Torah during every free moment he has.
Most people, however, must spend many of their waking hours in pursuit of a livelihood to support themselves and their family. These people are required to establish set times for Torah study every day, both in the morning and at night.
- A person can engage in Torah study even while driving a car. One can listen to Torah lectures on cassette tape of compact disc, and one can even review Torah passages by heart—excerpts of our prayers, passages from the Book of Psalms, passages from the Mishnah, excerpts from Tanya, and so forth. Not only is a person who does this considered to have fulfilled a mitzvah, but the actual location where his Torah study takes place is considered to be cleansed and sanctified by his actions.
What Should Be Learned?
Because the Torah is very vast and there are many subjects that are important for us to study, it is advisable to split one’s study time so that one can learn a little bit of a different topic at each study session. When time is short, it is preferable to study works of halachah in order to be aware of the proper behavior for a Jew in the course of his daily life.
Women
While it was rarely considered acceptable in the past for women to engage in Torah study, other than the laws that they needed to know in order to observe the commandments that pertained to them, the situation today has changed. Women are able to study Torah today and they should, but their obligation to do so is not the same as a man’s obligation to study Torah at every possible moment.
For more information about Torah study for women, see The Jewish Woman.
Children
Not only are we obligated to teach ourselves the Torah; we are also required to teach it to our children. The Torah commands every father to teach his child Torah from the moment the child begins to speak.
Beginning at this age, a father should teach his child Torah gradually, in accordance with the child’s intellectual level and development at every age. The child should first be taught the verse, “Moses commanded us the Torah, an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob,” and then the verse, “Hear, O Israel, G-d our L-rd, G-d is One.” The father should slowly continue teaching his child more and more material over time.
Even before this age, from the very moment of birth (and even before), an infant (or fetus) should be brought to a place where he can hear words of Torah being spoken, even if he does not understand a thing. Words of Torah have an extraordinary power to have a spiritual influence on a child, even if that effect cannot be detected by our senses.
How to Learn
Our Sages have taught us several rules for Torah study. These rules can be divided into two categories: those that stem from the sanctity of the Torah, and those that serve as guidelines for a better quality learning experience and enhancing our recall of the material we study—details which relate to the fulfillment of the mitzvah of Torah study itself.
The following are some of the rules of Torah study.
The Sanctity of Torah
-
- Before beginning to learn Torah, one should recite the blessings over Torah study. (These blessings are generally recited at the beginning of the day, along with the other Morning Blessings; see above in this volume.)
- The Torah should be studied in a respectful way and with a slight sense of fear and awe of G-d, Who can be “found” in the Torah. At the same time, Torah study should be accompanied by great enjoyment and joy over the mitzvah and the opportunity it offers to connect with G-d.
- It is preferable to learn Torah in a beit midrash—a study hall designated for that purpose—or at least in a synagogue – but it is possible, of course, to engage in Torah study in one’s own home or anywhere else.
- One should not learn Torah in places where filth or foul odors are present. This constitutes a form of disrespect to the Torah.
- A person who engages in Torah study must understand what he is learning; otherwise, he would simply not be considered to be learning Torah. With respect to the Written Torah (the books of the Bible) and mystical works (such as the Zohar and Tanya), even reading the material without understanding it can be considered a fulfillment of the mitzvah of Torah study.
Tips for Remembering One’s Learning
Sometimes, we may learn something and then find that the information has simply escaped from our heads. Jewish tradition teaches us a few “tricks of the trade” that can help us remember the Torah we learn.
-
- One should learn Torah aloud.
- One should review one’s learning multiple times.
- A sacred book should not be left open when it is not being used. If you have to go outside for a moment to make a telephone call, close the book until you return.
- Learning with a chavruta (another person), discussing the material and brainstorming together, is both a way to better remember what one has learned and a powerful tool for achieving a deep, fundamental understanding of the material.
