Today’s daf TB Eruvin 54 brings us midrashic material on the importance, method, and value of Torah study. I’ll just pick one example from each category; nevertheless, I encourage you to study the entire daf for it is replete with wonderful insights.
The importance of Torah
“Rabbi Ḥiyya
bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning
of that which is written: “He who guards the fig tree shall eat its fruit”
(Proverbs 27:18)? Why
were matters of Torah compared to a fig tree? Just as this fig tree, whenever a person searches it for figs to eat, he finds
figs in it, as the figs on a tree do not ripen all at once, so that one can
always find a recently ripened fig, so too, with matters of Torah.
Whenever a person meditates upon them, he finds in them new meaning.”
(Sefaria.org translation) The
Torah is relevant in every age and in every situation. All one has to do to
find meaning and direction in life is to study Torah. No wonder Ben Bag taught,
“Search in it and search in it, since everything is in it” (Avot 5:22)
The
method to study Torah
“The Gemara
continues to discuss methods of Torah study. The Sages taught the
following baraita: What was the order of teaching the Oral Law?
How was the Oral Law first taught? Moses learned directly from the
mouth of the Almighty. Aaron entered and sat before him, and Moses
taught him his lesson as he had learned it from God. Aaron moved
aside and sat to the left of Moses. Aaron’s sons entered, and Moses
taught them their lesson while Aaron listened. Aaron’s sons moved
aside; Elazar sat to the right of Moses and Itamar sat to the left of
Aaron. Rabbi Yehuda disagreed with the first tanna with regard to
the seating arrangements and said: Actually, Aaron would return to sit
to the right of Moses. The elders entered and Moses taught them their
lesson. The elders moved aside, and the entire nation entered and Moses
taught them their lesson. Therefore, Aaron had heard the lesson four
times, his sons heard it three times, the elders heard it twice,
and the entire nation heard it once.
“Moses then departed
to his tent, and Aaron taught the others his lesson as he had
learned it from Moses. Aaron then departed and his sons taught
the others their lesson. His sons then departed and the elders
taught the rest of the people their lesson. Hence everyone, Aaron,
his sons, the elders and all the people, heard the lesson taught by God four
times.
“From
here Rabbi Eliezer said: A person is obligated to teach his student his
lesson four times. And it follows by way of an a fortiori inference:
If Aaron, who learned from Moses himself, and Moses had received the
Torah directly from the mouth of the Almighty, needed this
regimen; an ordinary student learning from the mouth of an ordinary
teacher, how much more so must he review his studies four times.” (Sefaria.org
translation) Constant review is the key ingredient to learn and to remember
what you have studied.
The
value of Torah
“One who
feels pain in his head should engage in Torah study, as it is stated: ‘For
they shall be a graceful wreath for your head.’ One who feels pain in
his throat should engage in Torah study, as it is stated: ‘And chains
about your neck.’ One who feels pain in his intestines should engage in
Torah study, as it is stated: ‘It shall be health to your navel’ shall
Marathon were not interested thank you (Proverbs 3:8). One who feels pain in his
bones should engage in Torah study, as it is stated: “And marrow to your
bones’ (Proverbs 3:8). One
who feels pain in his entire body should engage in Torah study, as
it is stated: ‘And health to all their flesh’ (Proverbs 4:22). Rav Yehuda, son of Rabbi Ḥiyya,
said: Come and see that the attribute of flesh and blood is unlike the
attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He. The attribute of flesh and blood
is that when a person gives a drug to his fellow, it is good for this
part of his body and it is harmful to that other part of his body. But
the attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is not so; He gave the Torah
to the Jewish people, and it is a drug of life for one’s entire body, as
it is stated: ‘And health to all their flesh.’” (Sefaria.org translation) The
Torah is a cure-all for all what ails us.
One
last story from our daf
Because Torah is so
important and has eternal value, Torah teachers must be patient with his/her
students as the following story so demonstrates. “Rabbi Perida had a certain
student whom he would have to teach
four hundred times, and only then would he learn the material, as he
was incapable of understanding it otherwise. One day they requested
Rabbi Perida’s presence for a mitzva matter after the lesson. Rabbi
Perida taught his student four hundred times as usual, but this
time the student did not successfully learn the material.
“Rabbi Perida
said to him: What is different now that you are unable to grasp the
lesson? He said to him: From the time that they said to the Master that there
is a mitzva matter for which he is needed, my mind was distracted
from the lesson and every moment I said: Now the Master will get up, now the
Master will get up to go and perform the mitzva and he will not complete
the lesson. Rabbi Perida said to him: Pay attention this time and I
will teach you, and know that I will not leave until you have fully
mastered the lesson. He taught him again an additional four hundred times.
“Due to the merit of Rabbi
Perida’s great devotion to his students, a Divine Voice emerged and said to
him: Is it preferable to you that four hundred years be added to
your life, or that you and the rest of your generation will merit
the World-to-Come? He said: I prefer that I and my generation merit the
World-to-Come. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to the angels: Give him
both; he shall live a very long life and he and the rest of his generation
will merit the World-to-Come.”
Because of our daf yomi studies,
may we also merit long lives and the world-to-come.
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