GO FIND YOURSELF A CHAVRUSA

Received a newsletter recently, the lead-article of which sparked the mind.


Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo wrote:
'Rav Shefatiah said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Whoever reads the Torah without a tune, or repeats a Mishnah without a melody, about him Scripture says: "So too I (Hashem) have given them decrees which are not good, " i.e. they turned commandments into harsh decrees instead of privileges (Megillah 32A).'


Studying Torah is not just an academic exercise which can be done in any environment. And to study Torah without a melody is to study without spirit, without soul. To sing the words is to reveal their meaning.

In addition to the written Torah (Torah she biksav) there is the spoken Torah (Torah she balpeh), which is what is taught and learned, rather than read passively. Without the spoken Torah, a large part of Torah is missing.

This does not merely mean the Mishna and the Gemara (the Talmud), which were written down when it seemed like the written Torah might be lost forever (during the Roman period, when the empire sought to destroy the Jews and eradicate Judaism in the land).
Rather, it means that there is a line of transmission (and understanding, and interpretation, and commentary), to each new generation from those who preceded them, all the way from to Sinai. It implies that Torah is a form of testimony (the word Torah can mean many things: law, testimony, cultural and literary inheritance, Talmud-Torah - it means all of them).


The testimony has, as its perfected form, the discussion of Torah between people. As is mentioned in the shma-yisroel.
But also, and perhaps more importantly for those actively studying the material, between two students. Studying with a chavrusa forces you to adapt and think, it demands that you get into the material and prepare yourself. And it makes you a much more flexible learner.

This, then, is as good a reason for finding yourself a study-companion as any.

Go find yourself a chavrusa.

You'll be glad you did.


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NOTE:

The Shema (‘Shema Yisroel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai achad…’), is the quintessential Jewish statement of faith, the battle-cry in hardship, the last comfort of the dying.

Reciting the Shema and the blessings fulfills the commandment to meditate on the laws ‘day and night’, as is written (Joshua 1:8): "Lo yamo'ush sefer ha Torah haze mi picha, ve hagita bo yomam va leila le maan tishmor la'ashoot ke chol ha katuv bo ki az tatsliach et derachecha ve az taskil" (Let not leave from your mouth this book of laws, but that you consider it day and night, that you may obey all that is written in it, and make your travails prosperous, and succeed.).

This is also said in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:7 "Ve shinantam le bneicha, ve dibarta bam be shivteicha b'veiteicha, u velechteicha va derech, u veshachbeicha u vekumeicha"
(And you will teach them diligently to your children, and discuss them when you sit in your home, and when you walk on the road, and when lie down and when you get up).


And note also, when it is light enough that you can tell the blue threads from the white in your tallis (prayer shawl), it is time to recite the Shema.