Q&A: Torah Study in General, and Gemara in Particular
Torah Study in General, and Gemara in Particular
Question
Hello and blessings. I am a yeshiva student in the fifth-year shiur. I’m considered one of the diligent students in the yeshiva, etc. But over the past half-year I simply haven’t understood why I am learning. Seemingly this shouldn’t be a question, because I also don’t understand why I wave the lulav, so why doesn’t that bother me there, and I just wave it because it is God’s will? Because with the lulav, even though I do not understand why it is God’s will, I still believe that it is His will. But regarding Gemara study, my lack of understanding is so great that I think it is not God’s will that we study it.
It is true that there are explicit verses such as “and you shall speak of them,” etc. But in my understanding, it seems that in the time of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), all the discussions were discussions about what to do in practice, and everyone stated his opinion until they reached a ruling based on the verses or on reasoning. But it seems likely to me that they did not sit and toil to understand what someone from several generations earlier had said in some discussion, unless he was someone whose view had been ruled on and they needed to understand him in order to refute him or agree with him. I sit over a Tosafot and do not understand why—and therefore whether—it is God’s will that I rack my brain and work to understand its reasoning, to analyze how its interpretation fits the wording of the Talmud, and how it is not contradicted by other places.
True, in order to know how to issue a halakhic ruling one needs to know Gemara, but it does not seem that one needs to rack one’s brain over reasoning about things that were not ruled in practice, or to understand how they fit into the wording of the Talmud (which in any case makes no practical difference for you, since even if you do not resolve them, in practice you will still take them into account).
The answer people always give—that you are knowing “the wisdom of God”—is also plainly unclear to me: why is what our sages said regarding human judgment in monetary matters, etc., “the wisdom of God”? And why is understanding how the medieval authorities (Rishonim) fit into the wording of the Talmud “the wisdom of God,” and so on?
I would be very happy to receive an answer. Thank you very much.
Answer
This is not the place to elaborate at length. I will write briefly.
Every in-depth study of Jewish law is study for the sake of practice, including the law of the stubborn and rebellious son. You study in order to reach practical conclusions, and even what is not actually implemented still has practical conclusions that are God’s will, except that in practice you will not need to carry them out. Beyond that, in every topic / passage, however theoretical it may be, one can derive conclusions for other matters that are very practical. Therefore, in my opinion, even according to the views that women are obligated to learn only the laws that apply to them in practice, they are obligated to learn the entire Torah.
But I wrote all this on the assumption that the purpose of study really is action. In my opinion, that is not so. Study is defined as analysis that ends with a practical conclusion, because that is the proper form of study. But that does not mean that the purpose of study is action. Its purpose is to cleave to God’s will, as is discussed at length in Nefesh HaChaim, Gate 4. The commandments are His wills. The approaches of the sages of the generations are the medium through which we clarify His wills as expressed in the Torah. That is the meaning of tradition; otherwise you are reinventing the wheel, and there is a fair chance that you are wrong.
True, you are not required to rack your brain specifically over Tosafot, but you do need to exhaust the halakhic topics, and studying the commentators helps with that. By racking your brain over their approach, you can formulate your own approach. That mental struggle brings God’s will into your very bones, and in that way you cleave to Him. “And you shall speak of them” says exactly that the value is not the action but the study itself. And so too in Rashi at the beginning of the section Bechukotai.
As for myself, I have a clear feeling that this study is much more important than any other commandment—Torah study is equal to them all.
Discussion on Answer
Hello, thank you very much, and sorry for the hour. Maybe you already answered this, but I still haven’t managed to understand. For example, each medieval authority (Rishon) defines the prohibition of theft differently, so one can say these are different facets of what God’s will is in prohibiting theft. But what exactly is the interest that the rabbis prohibited, in which cases there is more appearance of impropriety and in which less—I’m not really managing to understand how these are facets of God’s will or His wisdom. Is it because He commanded us to listen to the sages, and therefore this is called facets of God’s will? And similarly in other matters: how does racking my brain over how the medieval authorities fit into the wording of the Talmud instill God’s will into my bones? After all, here I am not racking my brain over God’s will itself, since I know only with my limited intellect, and even if I remain with a difficulty against them—that they do not fit, in my understanding, into the wording of the Talmud—there is no practical difference for me.
Also, I didn’t really understand what is meant by formulating my own approach. Do you mean which view I connected with most, even though in practice I would act differently based on what was ruled in the Shulchan Arukh / Rema, whose rulings we have accepted upon ourselves? Or if there is a dispute between the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud, then even if I connect more with the reasoning of the Jerusalem Talmud, I would follow the Babylonian Talmud because we have accepted it upon ourselves?
Also, when you wrote, “The approaches of the sages of the generations are the medium through which we clarify His wills as expressed in the Torah. That is the meaning of tradition”—is that because they are probably right, or because God told us to rule according to the sages, “according to all that they instruct you,” and therefore their approaches are His wills, and somehow this is also His wisdom? If a non-Jewish philosopher were to define the concept of ‘theft’ differently, and I would connect more to that—what then? Seemingly it comes out that tradition has no practical significance at all, since the fact that there are so many views shows that these are their own reasonings.
I think I addressed this in the past. I really do think that clarifying rabbinic laws is not Torah study but halakhic study—simply clarification in order to know what to do. Torah study, which is cleaving to His will, is only clarification of Torah-level laws (which also includes clarifying the positions of the medieval and later authorities regarding that Torah-level law). But theft is a Torah-level prohibition, and therefore there is value in clarifying it. If you feel that the wisdom of a non-Jew would help you with this—then by all means.
The wisdom of earlier generations matters because there is truth in what they say. They are closer to the source—Mount Sinai—and tradition mediates that to me. That does not mean they are necessarily right, but it is likely that the truer clarification passes through clarifying the approaches of earlier generations.
I have written more than once that in my opinion, as a matter of Jewish law, there is no obligation at all to act in accordance with the Shulchan Arukh or the Rema. You must formulate a position and act according to it. The Shulchan Arukh and the Rema are custom (of the community), and one follows custom only when one has no position of one’s own (that is, when you are in doubt). In the Jerusalem Talmud they wrote about this: “If you do not know, O fairest among women, go forth in the footsteps of the flock and pasture your kids beside the shepherds’ dwellings.” Only if you do not know—then go in the footsteps of the flock.
Thank you very much, food for thought. I very much appreciate the fact of your reply and how quickly you answered.
If you search the site, you can find many discussions of these questions. Search for “why study Torah” or “the meaning of Gemara study,” and the like.