God, Torah, Israel:  Talmud Torah Keneged Kulam
Sermon, Erev Rosh Hashanah 5765
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

Imagine, if you will, that we brought a giant balance scale onto the bima.  And on one side of the scale we began placing mitzvot.  Not just any mitzvot, but important mitzvot, mitzvot that we not only benefit from in this world, but also build up capital in the world to come.  Mitzvot such as:

--honoring one’s father and mother,
--g’milut chasadim/deeds of lovingkindness,
--hachnasat orchim/welcoming guests,
--bikur cholim/visiting the sick,
--supporting a needy a bride,
--attending to the dead,
--praying with devotion,
--and making peace between one person and another.

If all of those mitzvot were on one side of the scale, what would it take to make it balance?  How many mitzvot would you have to place on the other side?  Fifty?  One hundred?  Six hundred?

According to the rabbis, you only need one!  Just one mitzvah placed on the opposite side will put it in balance.  That mitzvah is Talmud Torah, the study of Torah.  If you place all those mitzvot on one side, the rabbis say:  “Talmud Torah k’neged kulam - studying Torah is equal to them all.”  That is one of the boldest statements in all of rabbinic literature, and it is the statement that will be our theme for this year:  “Talmud Torah k’neged kulam - studying Torah is equal to them all.

For the most part, the rabbis shy away from comparing one mitzvah to another.  Yet, they are not afraid to boldly claim:  Talmud Torah k’neged kulam.  This evening, as I begin my series of High Holy Day sermons focusing on God, Torah and Israel, I want to examine this important mitzvah to see why the rabbis thought it to be so important and suggest why it remains essential for us today.

To understand the importance of Talmud Torah, we need to understand the central role that Torah plays in Jewish life.  Now to some, the centrality of Torah is axiomatic.  After all, we keep our Torah scrolls in the aron hakodesh, our holy ark.  Each time we take the Torah from the ark it is as if we were once again at Mount Sinai receiving the Torah from God. 

When we open the ark we rise.  When we walk through the congregation with a scroll, we never turn our back on it and traditionally reach out to touch it with the corner of our tallit or with a siddur.  

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of Britain, writes, “I wonder if any people has ever loved a book as we love the Torah.  We stand when it passes as if it were a king.  We dance with it as if it were a bride.  If it is desecrated or destroyed, we bury it as if it were a relative or friend.  We study it endlessly as if in it were hidden all the secrets of our being.”

The Torah reading is the central ritual of the Shabbat morning worship service, with pomp and ceremony reserved for special occasions.  For the Torah is not just another book, and our reading not just another passage for contemplation. 

Indeed, it would be much easier to take out a chumash, open to the page, and read the text in a language we all understand.  But we don’t do that.  We don’t use a book, but a sefer Torah, a handwritten scroll with the Hebrew text as it has been preserved and passed down for centuries. 

And ideally, we don’t just read the words, but chant them with trope.  So one who reads from Torah not only needs to master the precise pronunciation of each word, but the melody as well.  No other people takes the reading of its scriptures as seriously.  Indeed, we Jews were the first people to make the reading of scripture public, so that its words are accessible to all, not just to the elite.

According to the rabbis, the Torah was given in public, openly, in a free place in order to say that anyone who wants to receive it may come and receive it  (Mechilta Exodus 19:2).  I would add that the Torah was given openly to indicate that each of us is obligated to receive it and to study it.  The rabbis further taught that God gave the Torah once –at Mount Sinai—but that we have the opportunity to receive it each and every day.

The rabbis developed a whole list of rules for the proper reading of Torah, beginning with the requirement that it only be read with a minyan present.  When the Torah is read it is forbidden to engage in conversation, even with regard to matters of Torah (Shulchan Aruch 23:8) When the Torah is read, everyone’s undivided attention is to be focused on the reading.  Why is this so important?  Because the words that we read are the guide to who we are and how we should lead our lives. 

Whether we literally believe that the Torah was given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai or that it is the product of the interaction between God and the Jewish people over a number of centuries, all Jews agree that it is the basis of Jewish life.  It is the story of our people, their triumphs and tragedies.  It is the source of Jewish law, containing, according to tradition, 613 mitzvot.   It is, according to Heinrich Heine, the “portable homeland” of the Jewish people. 

The centrality of Torah is what unites all Jews; it is what defines us as a religious community.  Other religions, Christianity for example, accepts these books as part of its scripture, but it understands those books through the lens of the life and death of Jesus.  We do not look at Torah through any lens; for us, the Torah is the lens through which we view the world.  It is “the foundation of Jewish life” [Statement of Principles of Reform Judaism].  According to Rabbi Milton Steinberg, “To a Jew the Torah is not only a source of what he [or she] is as a Jew and religious person, it is much of the substance as well.”

While the word Torah refers first and foremost to the first five books of the Bible, it has another meaning as well.  When the rabbis, at the beginning of Pirkei Avot, wrote “Moses received the Torah at Sinai,” they meant not only the written Torah (the Five Books of Moses) but the oral Torah as well. 

The oral Torah includes all of the laws and teachings that are derived from the Torah.  It includes the Mishnah and Talmud, collections of Midrash and Codes of Jewish law.  It includes commentaries, both ancient and modern, as well as the vast body of Responsa literature –questions and answers to Jewish issues.  When this body of material became so vast that it was difficult to pass on orally, the rabbis permitted that it be written down. 

For some, the oral Torah also includes poetry and prose written over the centuries by Jews struggling to understand what it means to be Jewish, not to mention music and films and art that explore this issue.

In the words of Rabbi Steinberg, in the end Torah is “everything which has its roots in the Torah-Book, which is consistent with its outlook, which draws forth its implications and which realizes its potentialities.”  So Torah is not just five books, but everything that has spawned from them throughout our people’s history.

Now that we have an idea of what Torah means, let us examine the mitzvah of Talmud Torah.  Studying Torah has always been central to Judaism.  Someone once referred to study as Judaism’s only sacrament.  Rabbi Joseph Hertz has written, “It is the absolute conviction of the teachers of Judaism that habitual reading and study of the Sacred Literature has a purifying influence.  Jewish learning is part of the Jewish religion; and to the Rabbis, study of the Torah constituted an act of Divine Worship.” 

The mitzvah of daily Torah study was so important, that the rabbis built it right into the worship service.  As part of Birchot Hashachar, the morning blessings, one recites the blessing for study and then studies three passages:  the priestly blessing from the book of Numbers; a passage from the Mishnah listing mitzvot which have no prescribed measure; and the passage from the Talmud that concludes “studying Torah is equal to them all.” 

The rabbis purposely placed the Torah reading at the center of the Shabbat morning service to emphasize that the reading and study of Torah were central to Judaism.  Why was Talmud Torah so important for the rabbis?  Why is it so important for us? 

The rabbis considered Talmud Torah itself as a purifying act.  Rabbi Hertz has observed that the rabbis ascribed a “certain atoning efficacy” to such study.  It is an essential part of who we are.

A midrash tells us that when the Roman government issued a decree forbidding Jews to study or practice Torah, Rabbi Akiva ignored the decree and continued to teach his students.  When Pappus ben Judah asked him if he wasn’t afraid of the government, he told this story: 

“A fox was once walking along a river and saw fish swimming from one place to another.  ‘What are you running away from?’ asked the fox.

‘From the nets cast to catch us,’ they answered.

‘Why don’t you come up to dry land so that you and I can live together the way our ancestors lived?’ asked the fox.

The fish answered, ‘Are you the animal known as the cleverest of all?  You are not clever, but foolish.  If we are afraid in the element in which we live, how much more fearful would we be in the element in which we would die!’”

“So it is with us,” Rabbi Akiva added.  “If this is our situation when we sit and study Torah, of which it is written:  ‘For it is your life and the length of your days’ (Deuteronomy 30:20), how much worse off would we be if we were to go and neglect it.”

(Berachot 61b)

Rabbi Akiva understood that despite the government’s threat, Jewish survival depended upon studying Torah.  Rabbi Akiva, by the way, was killed for continuing to teach Torah and for supporting Bar Kochba’s rebellion against Rome.  He is among the ten martyrs whose story we read in the traditional Yom Kippur liturgy.  Though he was brutally murdered, Judaism survived because he and others never deviated from their commitment to study Torah and teach it to others.

Throughout our history our enemies have murdered Jews and destroyed our synagogues.  They have forced us to move from one community to another.  They have even burned the Talmud and our Torah scrolls.  But they have not prevented us from continuing to study and teach Torah.

We do not face such persecution.  The threats to our survival are assimilation and indifference.  But the cure is the same:  the continued study and teaching of Torah.

Talmud Torah begins with the study of our sacred scriptures.  Ben Bag Bag encouraged us to “turn it and turn it for all is in it.”  We call the Torah a “tree of life,” and after reading from it we affirm that God “implanted within us eternal life.”  The key to understanding how we should live our lives lies in the Torah and its teachings.

In the book of Jeremiah (23:29) God asks, “Is not My word like fire and like a hammer that shatters a rock?”  The School of Rabbi Ishmael interpreted this analogy to mean that “Just as a hammer splits a rock into many pieces, so too does one biblical verse yield many interpretations.”  (Sanhedrin 34a)  According to some authorities, the Torah has seventy facets. 

That is why we read the Torah over again each year.  That is why we continue to study Torah.  Even in a lifetime of study, we can only begin to scratch the surface of its many meanings.  And that is why it is important that each of us is committed to studying Torah. 

We will have a number of opportunities to study Torah together this year.  Beginning on Saturday, October 9, when we read Parashat Bereishit, I invite you to join me in studying the weekly Torah portion at 9 a.m., prior to our Shabbat morning service.  We will look at commentaries, both classical and modern in our weekly discussions of the text.  Seniors Talking About Torah will continue to meet on the second Thursday of each month at noon.  And my wife, Barbara, will be leading a class examining “Women in the Bible” on Fridays at 10 a.m. beginning October 1. 

If you are not able to attend one of these classes, you can still study Torah on your own.  Why not begin by reading the parasha each week?  If you have a little more time, look at the commentaries that our found in one of the chumashim such as Plaut, Hertz, Art Scroll or Etz Hayim.  Or go to one of the many web sites that provide commentaries on the weekly Torah portion, such as Torat Chayim which we make available each Shabbat.

But studying the Torah text itself is only the beginning of Talmud Torah.  We are also called to study Torah in its broader sense.  Again, there will be a variety of classes, programs and speakers throughout the year to enrich our Jewish learning.  Many of these were outlined in the September Temple bulletin.  Others are still being planned.  Studying with others is the best way to learn because it allows for the exchange of ideas. 

There are other ways to engage in Talmud Torah as well:  reading a Jewish book or periodical.  Finding a Jewish web site that offers learning opportunities.  Watching a movie with a Jewish theme. 

The rabbis encouraged us to make Talmud Torah a fixed habit, something we do at the same time each day, because they knew that if we left it until we had some free time, most often we would not find the time. 

The rabbis anticipated that it is easy to make excuses for not studying.  They told the story of a poor man, a rich man and a vain man who died and appeared before the Heavenly court. 

They asked the poor man, “Why didn’t you study Torah?”        When he said, “I was poor and worried about earning a living,” they responded, “Were you poorer than Hillel?”

Next they asked the rich man, “Why didn’t you study Torah?”  When he said, “I was rich and preoccupied with my possessions,” they responded, “Were you richer than Rabbi Eleazar” who was left an inheritance of 1000 cities and 1000 ships, but nevertheless did not miss a day of studying Torah.

Finally, the asked the vain man, “Why didn’t you study Torah?”  When he said, ‘I was so good-looking and was too busy keeping my passions under control” they responded “Were you better looking than Joseph?”  (Yoma 35b)

The rabbis anticipated every excuse that we might make for not studying Torah, and rejected them out of hand. 

The High Holy Days offer us the opportunity to break bad habits and make good habits.  One of the habits that each of us should commit to this year, one of the mitzvot that we should embrace is the mitzvah of Talmud Torah.  Find a time of day that you won’t be distracted by work or family or cell phones, and commit to studying some aspect of Judaism each day.

At the last biennial convention of the Union for Reform Judaism, President Eric Yoffie initiated 10 Minutes of Torah.  He said, “Who among is so busy that he cannot spend 10 minutes a day in the study of a Jewish text?  Just 10 minutes?  Such a commitment would enable us to meet our obligation to make Jewish study a fixed occurrence.  If we make time to answer our cell phones a dozen times a day and to check our email five times an hour, surely we can find 10 minutes to contemplate sacred words that nourish the soul.”

The URJ makes it easy to meet this challenge by sending e-mails with a Jewish text and commentary each week day.  Each day has a different theme:  Torah; Social Action; Israel Connections; Jewish Ethics; and the Jewish world.  You can subscribe to all of them or any combination of them.  Each morning, or at some time each day, you can read and reflect on this material.  If you need some place to start, 10 Minutes of Torah is the perfect place.

But it is only the beginning, because there are virtually an unlimited number of resources available to help you study Torah.  Each of us must take the first step of making the commitment, of making a place in our lives for Talmud Torah.

The rabbis taught that Talmud Torah was equal to all of the other mitzvot because they understood that through study we would be motivated to observe other mitzvot.  We cannot read the stories in our scripture, without recognizing how to live our lives.  We cannot study a passage from midrash or Talmud, without taking from it lessons about what we should do.  We cannot learn something new without doing something with what we have learned.

There is another mitzvah related to the Torah.  It is one of the more obscure mitzvot in the Torah and actually the last one in the entire Torah.  Deuteronomy 31:19 reads:  “You shall write for yourself this song and teach it to the Israelites…”  Now, “this song” seems to refer to the Song of Moses in chapter 32, but the rabbis interpreted it to refer to the Torah.  In other words, each one of us is obligated to write an entire Torah! 

Now, I have dabbled at Hebrew calligraphy and know how hard it is just to write even a few words.  To write an entire Torah would be an overwhelming task, requiring artistic talent, precision and patience, and detailed knowledge of the laws of writing a sefer Torah. 

The rabbis, of course, realized that it is unrealistic to expect most Jews to actually write their own Torah, so they created alternative ways to fulfill this mitzvah.  It is permissible to hire another person to write the scroll, or even to repair and correct it if it is defective.  Thus, anything we do to support creating or repairing a Torah scroll allows us to fulfill this mitzvah.

This year, each of us has the opportunity to do exactly that.  A few years ago, Neil Yerman, a sofer, examined our Torah scrolls and found that all of them needed repairs.  At the time, the congregation repaired one of the scrolls, which we now use on a regular basis, but put off repairing the other scrolls.  The board has now decided to move forward with this exciting project.  Our president, Glenn Lasko, will fill you in on more of the details and you will be receiving information in the mail.

Together, we will have the opportunity to support the repair of a number of our Torah scrolls, so that we will be able to use them again.  We will give new life to these sacred documents, some of them more than 150 years old, and assure that their words will continue to give life to us.    

So as we begin the Jewish new year 5765 tonight, we commit ourselves to the mitzvah of Torah study and to the mitzvah of writing a Torah as well.  This year we will focus on the mitzvah of Talmud Torah, as we affirm the rabbinic teaching “Talmud Torah k’neged kulam - studying Torah is equal to all of the other mitzvot.” 

We pray, O God, that our Torah study this year will enrich our lives.

May it bring us closer to You and closer to one another.

And may our study of Torah inspire us to embrace other mitzvot.

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