What is Torah?
Mixed Metaphors What is Torah?
I. To begin, you and your study partner will each take 2 minutes to free associate out loud about what you know or think Torah is or can be. This can be based on your personal experiences, Jewish education and intuition. There are no right or wrong answers. You may dedicate any amount of your time to silence. I will ring the bell to keep track of time.
II. Please read each source out loud at your own pace. According to each text, please answer the question: "What is Torah?"
Midrash Shir HaShirim 5:15
R. Simeon ben Lakish said: The scroll which Gd gave was of white fire and its writing of black. It was itself fire and it was hewn out of fire, completely formed of fire and given in fire, as it says, "At his right hand was a fiery law unto them (Deut 33:3).
Ben Bag Bag says: Turn it, and turn it again, because all is in it; and in it contemplate, and grow gray and old over it; and never move away from it, for you cannot have any characteristic better than this.
Avot De-Rabbi Natan, Chapter 6
By the age of 40, Rabbi Akiva had still not learned anything.One time he was standing at the mouth of a well, and asked “Who hollowed out this rock?”
They answered him, “It was the water that constantly falls on it”
“Akiva, are you not familiar with the verse “Water wears away stone…” (Job 14:19).
And as it was, Rabbi Akiva uttered his first logical inference (kal v'homer):
“Just as the soft [water] shaped the hard [stone], Words of Torah — which are as hard as iron — all the more so they will shape my heart which is but flesh and blood.”
Rabbi Hiyya said that Rabbi Yochenan said: What [is the meaning of the verse where it] is written: “He who guards the fig will eat of its fruit” (Proverbs 27:18)? Why are the words of Torah compared to a fig tree? Just as with a fig three the whole time a person tends to it it bears fruit, the whole time a person studies the words of Torah the more pleasure he brings out from them.
R. Samuel b. Nahmani said: What is the meaning of the verse "A loving hind, a graceful gazelle. Let her breasts satisfy you at all times (Prov 5:19)?" Why were the words of Torah compared to a hind? To tell you that as the hind has a narrow womb and is loved by its mate at all times as at the first hour of their meeting, so it is with the words of the Torah — They are loved by those who study them at all times as at the hour when they first made their acquaintance.‘And in graceful gazelle’? Because the Torah bestows grace upon those who study it.
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times'
Why were the words of the Torah compared to a breast? As with a breast, however often the child sucks it often does it find milk , so it is with
the words of the Torah. As often as one studies them does he find pleasure in them.
To make a place in my body for Torah
so that she may enter
and sit in me, a cave
And I will raise up a spring and a tree for her
from so much longing and sweetness so she will stay
And then, my two hands will be as two springs
My forehead will flow illuminating
A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell
and a pomegranate (the most beautiful
words) come and open up in my mouth
A great river breathes in my insides
I am drawn forth weeping
by Na'ama Shaked
WHAT DID THEY SEE?
“The Torah was given through seven voices. And the people saw the Master of the Universe revealed in every one of these voices. That's the meaning of the verse ‘All the people saw the the voices.’ (Exodus 20:15) These voices were accompanied by sparks of fire and flashes of lightening that were in the shape of the letters of the ten commandments. They saw the fiery word pouring out from the mouth of the Almighty and watched as they were inscribed on the stone tablets, as it says, ‘The voice of God inscribes flames of fire’ (Ps 29:4). And when the people actually saw The-One-Who-Speaks-the-World-into-Being, they fainted away. Some say that their spirits left their bodies, while others say that they entered a prophetic trance. These visions brought them to trembling and shaking and a blackout of the senses.” (Midrash Exodus Rabbah)
THE SILENT ALEF: “It is possible that at Sinai we heard nothing from the mouth of God other than the letter alef of the first utterance 'Anochi Adonai Elohechem, I am YHWH your God.' As we read in Exodus 20:15, “And all of the people saw the thunder.” In other words, they saw what is normally heard! At Sinai we saw the letter “alef” evoking the name and presence of God…” (Zera Hakodesh- Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Horowitz 19th Cent)
WHAT DID THEY HEAR? “Rabi Yochanan Said: When God’s voice came forth at Mt. Sinai, it divided itself into 70 human languages, so that the whole world might understand it. All at Mt. Sinai, young and old, women, children, and infants according to their ability to understand. Moses too, understood only according to his capacity, as it is said (Ex. 19:19), ‘Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice.’ With a voice that Moses could hear.” (Midrash Exodus Rabbah 5:9)
SAW YOU AT SINAI: "And God spoke all these words, saying" (Exod. 20:1). Rabbi Isaac said: At Mount Sinai, the prophets of each and every generation received what they were to prophesy (in the future). For Moses told Israel, "But with him that stands here with us this day before Adonai our God, and also with him that is not here this day" (Deut. 29:14). He did not say, "That is not standing here with us this day," but, "That is not here with us this day," as a way of referring to the souls that are still destined to be created. Moses did not use the word "standing" for them, because as yet these had no substance. Still, even though they did not as yet exist, each one received his share of the Torah. Nor were the future prophets the only ones who received at Sinai the prophecy they were to utter. The sages who were to rise in each and every generation--each and every one of them also received at Sinai the wisdom he was to share later.
(7) "and they encamped in the desert": The Torah was given openly, in a public place. For if it were given in Eretz Yisrael, they could say to the nations of the world: You have no portion in it. But it was given openly, in a public place, and all who want to take it may come and take it. I might think it was given at night; it is, therefore, written (Ibid. 19:16) "And it was on the third day, when it was morning, etc." I might think that it was given in silence; it is, therefore, written (Ibid.) "and there were thunders and lightnings." I might think that they did not hear the thunders; it is, therefore, written (Ibid. 20:15) "And all the people saw the thunders and the lightnings," and (Psalms 29:4) "the voice of the L rd in majesty, etc."
(1) (Exodus, Ibid. 16) "And they said to Moses: Speak, you, with us, and we will hear, (and let G d not speak with us, lest we die.") We are hereby apprised that they lacked the strength to receive no more than ten pronouncements, viz. (Devarim 5:22) "If we continue hearing the voice of the L rd our G d, we will die," but (Ibid. 6) you draw near," and we will hear.
God In Search Of Man, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
The word Torah is used in two senses; the supernal (heavenly) Torah, the existence which preceded the creation of the world, and the revealed (earthly) Torah. Concerning the supernal Torah the Rabbis maintained: "The Torah is hidden from the eye of all living...Man knows not the price thereof." "Moses received Torah" but not all of the Torah "at Sinai." And not all that was revealed to Moses was conveyed to Israel; the meaning of the commandments is given as an example. Together with the gratitude for the word that was disclosed, there is a yearning for the meaning yet to be disclosed. There is a theory in Jewish literature... which maintains that the Torah, which is eternal in spirit, assumes different forms in various eons. The Torah was known to Adam when was in the Garden of Eden, although not in its present form. Commandments such as those concerning charity to the poor, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, would have been meaningless in the Garden of Eden. In that eon the Torah was known in its spiritual form. Just as man assumed a material form when he was driven out of the Garden of Eden, so has the Torah assumed a material form. If man had retained "the garments of light" his spiritual form of existence, the Torah, too, would have retained its spiritual form.
Ben Zion Bokser “Judaism: Profile of a Faith”
“There is no contradiction between the discovery of a historical dimension in the sacred texts of Scripture and the belief that they are disclosures of God’s revelation. The human and the divine commingle in all of life.”
REVELATION EVERYDAY: The Kotzker Rebbe was asked: ”Why is Shavuot called (z’man matan Torah) 'The Time that the Torah was Given,' rather than 'The time the Torah was Received?” He answered: “The giving took place on one day, but the receiving takes place at all times.” (Martin Buber Tales of Hasidim)
"THE SILENT ALEF" From The Book of Miracles (Rabbi Lawrence Kushner)
Narrator: “No one really knows for sure what happened on Mount Sinai.” One time the rabbis were arguing about it.
RABBI 1: "At Mt Sinai God spoke the entire Torah to all the Children of Israel, and Moses wrote it down as God spoke.
RABBI 2: "No! It says in the Torah that the Children of Israel heard only the Ten Commandments that were carved in stone with the finger of God.
RABBI 3: "NO NO! The people could not handle hearing all of that. It would be too much for them. They only heard God say the first word of the Ten Commandments– “ANOCHI!" אנכי and then the entire world went totally silent, not even a bird chirped or a frog croaked.” Anochi means “I am” – Basically they heard God saying “I exist – I am real”
RABBI 4: "NO NO NO!!! ‘Not even the first word, Anochi אנכי, was heard. All that God spoke was the first letter, of the first word, of the first commandment. At Sinai, all the people of Israel needed to hear was the sound of the alef. It meant that God and the Jewish people could have a conversation.”
Narrator: Jewish mysticism teaches that Alef, contains the entire Torah. But not everyone hears the gentle sound of alef. People are able to hear only what they are ready to hear. God speaks to each of us in a personal way, taking into consideration our strength, wisdom, and preparation.
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