Q&A: Torah Study
Torah Study
Question
Hello. In your post about the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), you wrote that you see engagement in studying the Hebrew Bible as falling under the category of Torah study (because of the wording, etc.). Why? After all, not all of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) came from Moses at Sinai. Why is this Torah study and not the study of history? Where is the line?
One more thing: why is studying the words of a commentator on the Talmud considered Torah study, when that commentator is mistaken in his interpretation? That is, suppose I study Rabbi Chaim on Maimonides, but his interpretation is wrong—why is that Torah study?
Answer
Why does it need to have come from Sinai? It came from the Holy One, blessed be He. That is precisely why it is Torah, whereas other history books are not Torah, because they did not come from the Holy One, blessed be He. And that is why I spoke there about the holiness of the content and the holiness of the wording.
I think I explained this. A commentator on a halakhic passage works with an interpretive aim. He is trying to decipher what is written there and what it means. That is why the Sages said that even what a student mistakenly says was given to Moses at Sinai. All interpretive possibilities are part of the Torah, even though the Holy One, blessed be He, did not necessarily intend all of them.
Discussion on Answer
In other words: what caused the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) to become sanctified and turn into “Torah study”? Wasn’t it because they were composed by people who were “holy”? And if not—then what did cause it?
Mush, I don’t understand what you want. Everything was explained. I explained that the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) is the words of prophets spoken from God’s mouth, and therefore it is Torah. The word of God, and in no way connected to the holiness of the people.
All this has already been written here several times, both in articles and in responsa.
Is there a reason the Rabbi isn’t answering this question:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%d7%94%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%94-%d7%90%d7%95-%d7%93%d7%97%d7%95%d7%99%d7%94/
I answered it. I don’t understand why it doesn’t appear there.
Where did you write that? I don’t remember it. And when exactly did we receive the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)?