Laws of Torah Study, Chapter 1 (Auto Translated)

Laws of Torah Study: Chapter 1 — The Obligation of Torah Study

Introduction: The Place of the Laws of Torah Study in Sefer HaMada

Good, we are going to learn today Sefer HaMada, and baruch Hashem we are beginning to learn the mitzvah of the Laws of Torah Study. We have already finished the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, we have already finished the Laws of Character Traits, and baruch Hashem we are now holding at the third set of laws that is in Sefer HaMada.

It’s very beautiful, one can think that, let’s say, we learn the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah which is what the truth is, what is the essential reality upon which the Torah is built, the Laws of Character Traits is essentially how a Jew must conduct himself, character traits, good qualities, and now we are going to learn how one must learn the Torah. After all, the entire Torah is a mitzvah to learn the Torah.

You could say perhaps differently, first a Jew must want to be a Jew, that is the Foundations of the Torah, that I am created in this world because I want to follow the Torah. And we have a concept called derech eretz kadma laTorah, to be a person, and afterwards one can become a talmid chacham. One has faith and wants to be a Jew, and knows how to conduct oneself in a human and Jewish manner, yes.

But we understand that the Laws of Torah Study are part of Sefer HaMada, are part of, as the Rambam says, devarim she’hen techilat hakol, the foundation of everything, the foundation of the Torah. If one doesn’t learn Torah, one doesn’t yet know the Torah.

The Count of Mitzvot: Two Positive Commandments

So the Rambam says, “yesh bichlelan”, in the general category of the mitzvot of Torah study there are two positive commandments. “rishona, lilmod Torah”, the first positive commandment is to learn Torah. “vehashenit”, and the second, very interesting, directly connected to this, is “lechabed melamdeiha veyodeiha”, to honor those who teach and those who know Torah.

The Difference Between Honor of Torah Scholars in the Laws of Character Traits and in the Laws of Torah Study

We learned this in the Laws of Character Traits, we learned this too, how good it is to associate with upright Jews, with good Jews. But that wasn’t a law in Torah study, that was a law in how to conduct oneself.

This will be the third time, the third time we are holding here from, first there was a concept of, in the laws, ah, to know the way of Hashem, to know the way of the mitzvah, one must look at how talmidei chachamim, how people who are excellent in this, yes, the Rambam had regarding one who goes in the way of the mitzvah he also said that people should look at talmidei chachamim. It’s not explicit, but you say in chapter six it was stated.

Davuk beyodav was stated, “veladoni davuk beyodav”, yes, “hevei davek”, yes. It was stated in kiddush Hashem, how you mean first that one must conduct oneself in ways that people should learn from him.

But we learned yesterday how a person doesn’t become afraid of people, but there wasn’t the word “melamdei” or “yodei Torah” there. There it is because he is an adam chacham, an adam tzaddik, and one learns much from him, let’s say even if he doesn’t say anything, simply from his conduct one learns.

But here, the concept of the Laws of Torah Study, it doesn’t help that he is a tzaddik, it only helps if he does the work of teaching Torah, “melamdei veyodei”.

Two Categories: Melamdei and Yodei

There are two categories, when we learn inside we will see that there is a dispute. There is “melamdei” which means one who is melamed Torah, this can even be in this a specific law of one who is your rebbe, who has a special law of honor. And then there is “yodav” which means simply someone who is a yodea haTorah must be honored by everyone, not only his students, but you must also honor a tzaddik who is a melamed.

But it’s probably also interesting that perhaps one can say that there are three different types of honor. “Uledavka bo” is a concept of honor of Hashem, even if a Jew doesn’t understand anything in learning, honor of the Almighty is to honor a tzaddik, to honor an adam gadol. And then there is a concept of learning from him. Learning from him doesn’t necessarily mean one must learn from him Gemara Tosafot, one can learn from his conduct, from various things.

But here, “lechabed et melamdei veyodav” apparently means in a manner that one learns from him. It can even be honoring him as the melamed. How does one honor a person as a melamed? By listening to his shiur. You don’t listen to him as a human being, you honor his aspect of being a melamed, his aspect of being a yodea. You are actually learning from him, you bring out his importance. And it appears that this is also the condition in the Torah, because when one honors a person and takes him seriously, one learns from him.

Discussion: The Structure of Chapters 4, 5, 6

Chavrusa A: It could be, it could be. That is chapter four of yours speaks of the honor that a student must have for his rebbe, and chapter five, chapter six states the honor that one must have for those who know how to learn, which is a general thing. It’s two laws.

I believe that when we learn here it will look like a somewhat interesting thing, but I think probably it will become clear inside when we learn.

Discussion: Is “Lelamed” a Separate Mitzvah?

Chavrusa A: The Rambam doesn’t mention as a mitzvah to teach Jews, lilmod Torah. And what about what we know “ulimadtem otam et bneichem”? People, I mean most people think that here there is a separate mitzvah of teaching people. The Rambam doesn’t count it as a separate mitzvah.

Chavrusa B: And inside it could be that yes, it should be better there. It should be there, yes.

Chavrusa A: Yes, you see, he doesn’t bring here the sources, citations from Shaarei Tzion, that in the count of mitzvot from the introduction that they said it states yes, “lilmod ulelamed”. I don’t know what this has to do with the count of mitzvot. Yes, what we mentioned here, I don’t remember, I saw in Sefer HaMitzvot. Ah, you see, in the count of mitzvot it states “lilmod Torah ulemadah”. So it could be that one can’t separate them, but it’s not made into a separate mitzvah, that certainly not. It’s one mitzvah.

Chavrusa B: Ah, if that’s what you wanted to say, yes.

Novel Idea: The Two Mitzvot of Torah Study as Parallel to Foundations of the Torah and Character Traits

Chavrusa A: I also thought, I mean I already said it yesterday, that it could be that the two laws, the two mitzvot of Torah study, are exactly like the aspects of certainly, Foundations of the Torah and Laws of Character Traits. From lilmod Torah, that one should learn a part of the Torah, is certainly the maaseh bereishit and maaseh merkava, which is one of the parts of Torah study, the knowledge itself.

And then the conduct of how one conducts oneself with the learning, honor of talmidei chachamim. It could be that the talmidei chachamim themselves must be respected, that they have already learned the Laws of Character Traits. It’s also a part of the obligations of the character traits that you speak of, there is also an obligation regarding talmidei chachamim.

Novel Idea: Honor of Torah Scholars as a Condition in Learning

Chavrusa A: I also thought that it could also be that honoring is only like a condition in learning, that you should take seriously enough the learning with a good shiur that you learn from him. I mean that in Moreh Nevuchim the Rambam says that the reason why you must honor talmidei chachamim is as you say, that through this one takes them seriously and learns from them.

Chavrusa B: Okay. Yes.

Chapter 1 Law 1: Who is Exempt from Torah Study

So we learn chapter one. The Rambam says, what is the obligation of lilmod Torah? The Rambam says in the first law, “nashim vaavadim uketanim peturim mitalmud Torah”. Who is exempt? Women and slaves, are exempt from Torah study.

Discussion: The Status of Minors — Exempt but Obligation on the Father

Chavrusa A: I mean the end of this chapter the Rambam speaks again about what is the exemption from Torah study of women? Are they completely exempt from everything? Are they exempt from most things? Apparently, apparently the reason why you have chinuch is like all mitzvot. But a minor who generally gives a dispensation is not yet obligated in mitzvot, but there is already yes an obligation to learn with him Torah. Apparently, apparently an obligation of chinuch is like all mitzvot…

Chavrusa B: Ah, an obligation on the father, I see.

Chavrusa A: A minor but is obligated lilmod Torah, here an obligation on the father! It means even the minor himself doesn’t yet have any obligations, but there is an obligation on the father, that even if the child is still small, already “ulimadtem otam et bneichem ledaber bam”. From when does one know with a minor? Apparently simply, because an adult is already a person for himself. That means when the father says “come learn” and the child comes, then he becomes a minor. I will go here mentioned in “ulimadtem otam et bneichem”.

Novel Idea: The Obligation of Chinuch Perhaps Stems from “Ulimadtem Otam Et Bneichem”

Chavrusa A: I think perhaps one can think that the entire source of the obligation of chinuch perhaps comes from here. That means when one takes him “ulimadtem otam et bneichem” and is mechanech bemitzvot, it’s also a part of what the Torah says, and therefore it’s understood why he began with who is exempt. A general rule: women, slaves, and usually the third in these groups: minors are exempt… minors are not completely exempt, that means themselves from their own perspective perhaps exempt, but the father has an obligation to teach them even when he is small, as it states “ulimadtem otam et bneichem”.

Discussion: The Difference Between Chinuch and Torah Study

Chavrusa B: But know, because chinuch is not a mitzvah of teaching something, but is a mitzvah of doing the mitzvah with him. Or, I mean that this brings him greatly into being accustomed to doing, it’s a lot limited. It’s probably the same, that it’s the same reason, why… that it expresses time “ulimadtem otam et bneichem” this can mean chinuch, habit… could be so…

But however, the mitzvah of chinuch, is that the father should teach him about the four species. And the father should take his hand, he himself the four species his hand. And with this he teaches him. With this he becomes somewhat accustomed, yes.

Novel Idea: “Shekol Hachayav Lilmod Chayav Lelamed” — Lelamed as Completion of Lilmod

Chavrusa A: I remember there is a dispute among Rishonim, because the man deamar says the father is obligated to be mechanech the son, I know for the job to be with this book. The Rabi Hameater says, “ve’eino isha chayevet lelamed et benah”, on the father has an obligation, but one says this exactly so, that if it were an obligation of the child, would he perhaps if there is no father, would the mother have had the obligation.

But the mother doesn’t have the obligation lilmod, she doesn’t need to teach her son. The obligation is specifically on the father, shekol hachayav lilmod chayav lelamed. That means, we assume that a woman is exempt.

Chavrusa B: That’s interesting, that this has to do with what we spoke about. Lilmod and lelamed are two separate concepts. That’s very good, that’s a tremendous thing.

Chavrusa A: The Rambam looks at lelamed as like a completion of lilmod. A person begins to learn when he still can’t well, he must learn himself. But once he knows well, that’s the natural continuation of learning, that one teaches other people. So the father who has a mitzvah lilmod, has a mitzvah lelamed. But the woman is removed from this, because she doesn’t have any obligation lilmod.

Chavrusa B: In the Gemara there is more than one teaching, but you say very well that this is perhaps the meaning of the teaching. Yes, I mean so it appears later also.

Chapter 1 Law 2: The Obligation to Teach One’s Son and Grandson

The Rambam says further, keshem she’adam chayav lelamed et beno… but he said before that this is a law regarding your children. It’s not specifically a law regarding your children. Rather, keshem she’adam chayav lelamed et beno, just as one is obligated “ulimadtem otam et bneichem”, your children. Your children doesn’t mean only your children, it also means your grandchildren. kach hu chayav lelamed et ben beno, he is also obligated to learn with his grandchild, shene’emar “vehodatem levanecha velivnei vanecha”.

There it speaks about making known the story of the Exodus from Egypt, but we see that the Rambam learns… or perhaps one speaks there of teaching the principles of faith, or what? The standing at Mount Sinai. I mean so, “vehiyu nachon lisheloshet hayamim”, “asher hayita omed lifnei Hashem Elokecha beChorev”. So in Chorev, the day of the giving of the Torah, they learned Torah. So it comes out that this is a mitzvah to learn Torah. One must make known to the generations that the forefathers learned Torah. So it comes out that the reference is to the standing at Mount Sinai. So it appears that ben beno specifically, ben bito there is no obligation.

But wait, I don’t see that it’s specifically ben beno, it’s still confusing. No, but he will yes enumerate what he must, here is a part.

The Obligation on Every Sage — To Teach All Students

He says further, velo beno uven beno bilvad. He says further, the concept of learning with your children doesn’t mean only that one must learn with the children, ela mitzvah al kol chacham vechacham miYisrael lelamed et kol hatalmidim. It’s a mitzvah that whoever can learn should teach other people.

Because it’s certainly building, shene’emar “veshinantem levanecha”, and “levanecha” simply means actually your children, but in the oral tradition the Chazal learned halacha leMoshe miSinai, that they received that “levanecha” means “elu talmidecha”, shehatalmidim kruyim banim, shene’emar, and the Rambam brings there a clear verse “vayetze’u bnei hanevi’im”, and “bnei hanevi’im” means those who are accustomed to prophecy, those who are preparing themselves.

Laws of Torah Study Chapter 1 — Laws 2 and 3: “Veshinantem Levanecha”, the Law of Priority, and the Obligation to Hire a Teacher

Law 2: “Veshinantem Levanecha” — Students, Children, and the Law of Priority

“Veshinantem Levanecha” Means Students

We see that essentially “veshinantem levanecha” doesn’t necessarily mean one should learn with the children, but what does it mean? One should learn with the students. It’s a mitzvah from the Torah that something one must be melamed. Every Jew must learn, every sage, he says. Perhaps not every Jew, it can’t be. It’s certainly not that you should pass over your ignoramuses to other people, it’s not a good conduct. One who is a sage…

It’s interesting, because by the child one doesn’t say if he is a sage. It appears that every father is sage enough for his child. Perhaps we’ll soon see that he must yes hire a sage for his own child. One who is not a sage, indeed he shouldn’t learn, he should… but for children indeed, even if he isn’t a sage, he can say “Torah tziva lanu Moshe”. But it appears that there is no obligation on a Jew to say “Torah tziva lanu Moshe” to other people.

The Question of “Bnei Banecha”

But let’s now go to law three, I want to once find here that the Rambam says, let’s finish with law three and then we’ll see with the rabbis further. Okay, if I now say that it’s not necessarily that one must learn with the children, one must learn with students, but let’s just see what is with “bnei banecha”? It states indeed yes “levanecha velivnei vanecha”. And it states indeed yes several times “levanecha”. You indeed said that “banecha” has a sort of inclusion that it also means students, but we see that the Torah means primarily the children. What is the simple meaning?

The Rambam’s Answer: The Law of Priority

The Rambam says that it’s not the simple meaning that one is only obligated for the children, but there is a law of priority: “lehakdim beno leben beno, ben beno leben chaveiro”. It’s a law of priority. The Torah writes more times “levanecha”, “bnei banecha” is stated only once, and students is only a teaching where there it is only hinted at in the verse, because the Torah wants to teach us the law of priority. But it’s not that one is exempt from the others, but it’s a law of priority.

Just as for example there is a law of to whom one must first give tzedakah, the obligation is for everyone, but we are taught who is more important, who is more significant. So too, if a person has a choice whether he should learn with a stranger or he should learn with his child, first he must learn with his child. That is one answer.

The Second Distinction: The Obligation to Hire a Teacher

The next thing is an even simpler answer to the same question. So it appears, these are two distinctions. Because the obligation of the child is more important, it is like a law of priority, it brings about another way. That what? That “chayav liskor melamed livno lelomdo”. If a father cannot himself well teach the child, or he cannot, he must hire a teacher for his son to teach him. But a ben chaveiro there is no such obligation, there is no obligation to hire teachers for other people. “ve’eino chayav lelamed ben chaveiro ela bechinam”.

Continuation of Lecture on Hilchos Talmud Torah

for another person’s son is only a din (law), that because you know how to learn, you should be mezakeh (give merit to) other people, you should learn with other people. But there is no din that the obligation lies upon you, therefore if you cannot do it yourself you would need to hire a shaliach (agent). These are two distinctions, yes, in the distinction between others and one’s own son.

The Question of a Source

It’s interesting, because this is not a source. I mean that it is indeed simple in the matter, but I haven’t seen that he brings a source in the Gemara for the fact that one is obligated to hire a melamed (teacher). On the contrary, it says that the takana (enactment) of Yehoshua ben Gamla was that they bring a melamed for the entire city, for whoever’s father cannot teach him. The Rambam certainly had a source, he doesn’t just write such a thing arbitrarily. But apparently it is indeed very simple, that if you have an obligation and you cannot… One doesn’t say that you have an esrog and you don’t have a lulav, there in Eretz Yisrael. You have an obligation that you should learn with your child. You cannot? Do it through an agent. When you hire a melamed, that is the simple meaning, he merely becomes an agent, he is doing a mitzvah here.

Discussion: Is There an Obligation to Hire for Other Jews?

Speaker 1: Yes, but that is the question. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Gamla made a takana that he made it easier for Jews, he removed the burden of livelihood from people. If so, I ask you a question. The Rambam says, he says a distinction in the obligation. Every Jew is obligated to learn if he can. He says a distinction in the obligation, that one must hire for all children of all Jews. If so, must one hire a melamed for other Jews? According to the words you are saying, that everyone who can must hire a melamed also, just like the mitzvah of tzedakah for example, that there must be an obligation on every Jew to hire a melamed for every other Jew who cannot, so he should learn. But we don’t see it that way.

Speaker 2: You know what I said about the Rambam? The Rambam says, your son you are obligated. If you cannot, you must hire someone who can. For someone else’s son you are not obligated. You are right, there is perhaps a takana, but you are not obligated. This is not… One understands that this is a new chiddush (novel insight). Do you understand what I’m saying? I mean that this is not a chacham (scholar).

Speaker 1: Ah, I mean that this is also something that is hinted at, the Rambam doesn’t say it clearly, that there is a distinction between a chacham and not a chacham. A chacham must learn with everyone, and one who is not a chacham must learn with the children by hiring a melamed. With his own children, but not with all other people’s children.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Story with Rav Chaim Kanievsky and Rav Gedalya Nadel

It doesn’t say, we don’t see a clear source in the Gemara that one must pay money for a melamed. Everyone struggles with the source of the halacha. There is perhaps a Midrash Rabbah, it says “tzav es bnei Yisrael al Talmud Torah” (command the children of Israel regarding Torah study), Maseches Bava Basra, I see the source citations say so. But he answers well the source citations, all the things that they say as a source.

Have you ever heard from whom he tells a story? Just so, Rav Shaul Yatzils told the story that he was once a neighbor, a relative of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, not a relative, a nephew. And they say that he, Rav Chaim Kanievsky wrote a sefer “Kiryas Melech” on the sources of the Rambam, how the Rambam wrote the phrases he brings a source. He says, that one day he was standing there, and Rav Gedalya Nadel was a neighbor there, and he asks, go to Rav Chaim, ask him that he should send me the sefer “Kiryas Melech”. And I want to tell, I was a young boy, a bachur of fourteen, and I went to Rav Chaim, and I tell him, Rav Gedalya is here for a sefer. So Rav Chaim simply sent him the sefer. Once, the student he already threw out, he doesn’t hold of my sefer. So he sent it again. So he sent, he brings over the sefer to Rav Gedalya, and Rav Gedalya looks in, he tells him, go back and tell him that where one needs him he doesn’t help.

“Ela B’chinam” — What Does This Mean?

Or one can say this way, the same thing here, you don’t find a distinction. The Rambam understood something that for one’s own child one is obligated even to pay money for another, and for someone else’s child one is obligated to teach for free. Also the “ela b’chinam” (only for free) that the Rambam says, one must see, that one may not take money. Others say that one may take money for another reason perhaps, because he is a worker, yes? But this way that one may take money the Rambam will speak about later. This is that “ela b’chinam” means that one is obligated to teach for free, not only that one should not pay money for the other person, but even when he learns himself he should teach for free. That is the simple meaning of “ela b’chinam”.

Obligation to Hire a Melamed for Grandchildren

Apparently, the Beis Yosef brings that the Shulchan Aruch in chapter 6 brings this regarding grandchildren, that for a grandchild, ben beno, there is also an obligation to hire a melamed. One can hear that the Rambam expressed himself that regarding children it says more clearly, more times, and regarding grandchildren it says only once. There is a priority. The Rambam says that one need not pay.

Discussion: If a Father Learns Partially with His Child

Speaker 1: I also think what does it mean a Jew who is a chacham and he learns with his children, but he doesn’t learn enough, he doesn’t learn twenty-four hours. He still has an obligation to the side. He learned two hours with his child, must he still hire a melamed for the remaining time?

Speaker 2: We need to know, we didn’t have a measure in the learning, because one can say that you must learn with him enough until he becomes a great talmid chacham. But we weren’t given the measure. But to answer the question, if one can understand the Rambam, one need not ask further about the measure.

Speaker 1: Okay, let us first learn this, the definition of the halacha, what one practices a bit here halacha l’ma’aseh (practical law).

Discussion: Obligation to Pay Tuition

Speaker 1: Another thing that one can think about right here is, the thing that one must judge in the simple meaning, if in another way he doesn’t have learning. What I mean to say is, if a Jew has a heter (permission) not to pay his tuition, but can one tell him, that you are obligated to me to pay tuition? Because you have an obligation to hire a melamed for your children. Because he can say, that if I don’t have time, my son is an am ha’aretz (ignoramus), do I have an obligation to hire. But today that there are Talmud Torahs, paying is an important thing, God forbid I don’t mean here to promote not paying, it’s not a mentchlich (decent) thing, why should another person suffer because I don’t have who. But it could be that the din of hiring, there is a distinction between paying…

Speaker 2: Okay, don’t go into the obligation for me. Okay, what is the obligation? The obligation is that you should give someone to pay. Okay. The obligation becomes that if you don’t learn, another should learn with him. But if another already learns with him, there is no din to pay him. It’s a din that you should not let your son be an am ha’aretz. If there is no melamed, let someone be the melamed.

There are commentators who learn that it is indeed a mitzvah, that it becomes like an obligation. He becomes like an agent, shaliach shel adam k’moso (a person’s agent is like himself), he becomes a hand working like the homeowner, he becomes employed by him. It becomes like an obligation. There is such a definition of a mitzvah that obligates giving out money, and there is what does not obligate giving out money. Talmud Torah is a great thing, I don’t know what the rule is here, but there is such an opinion that there is an obligation to give out money for this. It’s not just a mitzvah that one can, one cannot, he must pay.

Speaker 1: I would tell you that apparently, the truth is that no one fulfills with hiring a melamed, because one who hires a melamed, simply he sends him to cheder and he doesn’t look after the children himself, he doesn’t learn with him, it’s almost not possible for a child to grow. And the hour that the father learns with the children, many times one accomplishes more than the fifty hours that he learns with the melamed. If you hire him a private melamed, it is truly an obligation. If the cheder provides the building blocks, but you see that he needs it l’chatchila (ideally), it is obligatory. You don’t fulfill with paying the minimum not to be an am ha’aretz.

Halacha 3: “Mi She’lo Limdo Aviv” — Obligation to Learn Oneself

But the Rambam has here a piece of reasoning. He says, if there is an obligation that the father should teach me, perhaps a person will say, “if my father taught me, and when I come and I become a bar chiyuva (one obligated), and here the Rambam says “mi she’lo limdo aviv” (one whose father did not teach him) — one whose father did not teach him, he is not exempt, rather “chayav lilmod es atzmo k’sheyakir” (obligated to teach himself when he recognizes). “K’sheyakir” means when he has realized that he still cannot. But when he is smart enough, when he can learn on his own. Perhaps even specifically, perhaps he means to say even when he is not yet a complete…

Hilchos Talmud Torah, Chapter 1 — Halacha 3 (continued) and Halacha 4: Obligation to Learn Oneself, Study Precedes Action, and the Law of Priority

Halacha 3 (continued): “Mi She’lo Lamdo Aviv — Chayav Lilmod Es Atzmo K’sheyakir”

Therefore there is such a thing, if the father didn’t take care and the beis din didn’t take care, a person must take care when he comes and becomes a bar chiyuva.

So the Rambam says, “mi she’lo lamdo aviv” — one whose father did not teach him, he is not exempt, rather “chayav lilmod es atzmo k’sheyakir”. “K’sheyakir” means when he has realized that he also cannot, or when he is smart enough, when he can learn on his own. Perhaps even by intelligence, perhaps he means this to say, perhaps even when he is not yet an adult.

The Rambam Will Later Speak About the Essential Mitzvah of Torah Study

The Rambam will later speak about the essential mitzvah of Torah study. Here he only says that the part of being a teacher, every Jew must be taught Torah. So he says just as a father is obligated lilmod es beno Torah (to teach his son Torah), just like with the rules of how many hours a day, he will say later, you have an obligation to be your own father as well. If you didn’t have a father, you have an obligation to be your own father. You must teach yourself “k’sheyakir”, as it says, “ul’madtem osam u’shmartem la’asos” (and you shall learn them and observe to do them).

How Do We Learn This from the Verse?

How do we learn this from the verse? Perhaps that the… yes, “ul’madtem” and “u’shmartem la’asos”. Perhaps he means to say this way, that just as the purpose of learning is to come to be able to do the mitzvos, you cannot say, even if one will say that you find a way out, already, you are unfortunately an ones (unavoidable circumstance), you didn’t learn for years, but you must know what to do mitzvos, you must learn on your own in order to know the mitzvos.

“Talmud Kodem L’Ma’aseh” — What Does “Kodem” Mean?

I mean that this comes out from the continuation. So he says further, “v’chen atah motzei b’chol makom” (and so you find everywhere), regarding this you find in general that “Talmud kodem l’ma’aseh” (study precedes action). That study is more important. Does “kodem” mean it is first in time, it comes earlier, or it is more important? He says “kodem b’zman” (first in time), it seems. That study… is he already obligated to put on tefillin even before he learned hilchos tefillin? No, he learned, he knows that he must put on tefillin. It could be that “kodem” means more important than action. “She’hatalmud mevi lidei ma’aseh” (that study leads to action), because study leads to action. When one learns one knows what to do, one knows to do mitzvos. “V’ein hama’aseh mevi lidei Talmud” (and action does not lead to study) — action does not lead to study. Doing mitzvos does not bring that one should be able to learn. You can daven very sincerely, but it won’t make you understand learning.

Discussion: The Gemara’s Language “Gadol” Versus the Rambam’s Language “Kodem”

Speaker 1: But apparently the difficulty with the Rambam that you said, that the Rambam doesn’t speak about this. The Gemara brings an inquiry whether study is greater or action is greater. But here it doesn’t say greater, here it says precedes. Precedes can mean until one is obligated to learn, I must know what to do.

Study is a Foundation for All Other Mitzvos

I mean that there is an interesting thing, because study is itself an action also. Study is a mitzvah, it is a mitzvah of learning Torah. But it could be that the point here is, he says that study is important like all other mitzvos. Study is, in this world one eats their fruits, it is one of the mitzvos. There is a mitzvah of lending with grace, and I work in order to be able to lend money to people, I don’t have time to learn. No, he says but no, because study is a foundation for all other mitzvos, just as in study there are all 613 mitzvos. Besides that it is one mitzvah, it is a foundation of the Torah. Therefore the Rambam placed it in Sefer HaMada, which is the foundations of the Torah.

Novel Insight: “K’sheyakir” Can Mean Even Before Bar Mitzvah

Ah, perhaps I’m thinking a new interpretation, I’m thinking a new chiddush. Because there is a second language of “misheyakir”, what is this misheyakir ben chayav lilmedo (from when he recognizes a son is obligated to teach him)? I think that perhaps there is a great chiddush. We learned at the beginning that a minor works for learning Torah, it is a new din, “um’lamdim osam” (and we teach them), simply so it is an obligation for the father upon the minor. It could be misheyakir means even if he is older than eleven twelve, and it says that his father did not teach him, he is obligated himself to find a melamed who should teach him. And why is study before action? Before he is obligated in action he is already obligated in study.

Speaker 2: My son, it’s a truth, it’s a beautiful teaching. But I mean that the thing is… in short, but he says that study is a foundation for all other mitzvos, but other mitzvos are not a foundation for other mitzvos. It means, every mitzvah is a mitzvah for itself, but study is much greater because it is a foundation for all other mitzvos. But what you’re saying, friend, that misheyakir you say that even before many forms he is a bar chiyuva. It could be. But others do speak about the obligatory event when one becomes an adult. But still, perhaps one can also say the opposite, that an adult who is still misheyakir is also exempt, and one can make it apparently with this. It’s not dependent on the din of adult, it’s dependent on something new — misheyakir.

The Language “K’sheyakir” by Avraham Avinu

He cites the language, from misheyakir it says by Avraham Avinu, “hikir es boro” (recognized his Creator). Ah, and the language says, there is an interesting thing that I point out to Rav Rabinovitch, that it says Avraham Avinu did not have a teacher, but he recognized by himself. And when he recognized, he himself understood that he is obligated. It’s not that someone taught him. His father didn’t teach him.

Halacha 4: Law of Priority — “Hu Kodem L’vno”

The Rambam already said that there is a great law of priority that learning with one’s own child or with one’s own grandchild comes before learning with other students, which is also an obligation. Yes, the Rambam speaks with the law of priority.

When a Person Must Learn Himself and He Has a Son to Teach

The Rambam says, “haya hu lilmod Torah” (if he needs to learn Torah), a person still needs to learn Torah himself, he has not yet completed himself in Torah — later the Rambam will say when one knows one already knows Torah, when one has finished — if a person needs to learn Torah himself, “v’yesh lo ben lilmod Torah” (and he has a son to teach Torah), there is a normal question, a Jew works a whole week, Shabbos he has, everyone can learn and himself have some order of learning that during Shabbos he should become a bit of a talmid chacham. But he has children.

The Rambam says, “hu kodem l’vno” (he precedes his son), the obligation himself, that he himself should be able to learn, is a greater law of priority. “Chayecha kodmim” (your life comes first) and so on. The greatest priority is one’s own. One understands, the Gemara says that the essence of the mitzvah was to teach, but one said that “ein lo lilmod” (he has nothing to learn), that he is obligated himself, one sees that “ein lo lilmod” is a greater obligation than “lilmedo” (to teach him), it is first.

Discussion: About Which Case Are We Speaking?

Speaker 1: But we’re talking about a situation where learning with his child won’t make him a talmid chacham (Torah scholar). For example, if he has a son who is a bar sechel (intelligent), learn with the son. But we’re not talking about my case, we’re talking more about having to put money so that one should be able to go to yeshiva and the other has to work.

Speaker 2: No, no, it can be. For example, he has a boy who is five years old, and he needs to learn Chumash (Pentateuch) with him. By learning with the boy “she’ar ba’alei chayim lo yochelu” (other living creatures shall not eat) which he already knows, he won’t become a talmid chacham. But he has a thirty-year-old bachur (young man), he sits down and he learns, he learns, so that he himself should also learn things that he hasn’t yet learned, so they should both become talmidei chachamim (Torah scholars).

It’s a practical dilemma that people have today. I think I understood the Gemara in Kiddushin that talks about this. It’s not talking about specifically, it’s talking about simple people. About hiring a melamed (teacher) for me or for him? Or sometimes, as the situation was, one was poor, one couldn’t afford yeshiva for everyone. One had to earn the livelihood, and the second had to learn. It’s not specifically the time, it was in the sense of hiring a melamed.

Speaker 1: Or about hiring, or in general, hiring or time and money. It wasn’t permitted, one didn’t work in those times, one had generations.

“If his son is more understanding and insightful than him — his son takes precedence”

Says the Rambam, here stands an interesting chiddush (novel insight): “If his son is more understanding and insightful than him”. If the son is a navon (understanding), he’s a smart child, and he will be maskil (successful) in what he learns more than him, that what he will learn he will be much more successful than the father, then “his son takes precedence”.

It’s very interesting. There is indeed a law of precedence, but there’s also a law that one seeks the tachlis (purpose) of the Torah. One doesn’t seek only your or your child’s tachlis, but one seeks what is better for Klal Yisrael (the Jewish people), for the Torah, the “bigger picture” so to speak. If your son can become a talmid chacham, he comes first. I mean, they already had also the halacha in Hilchos De’os, the Rambam said that a person should have children because perhaps a gadol b’Yisrael (great Torah scholar) will grow up. Every Jew has an obligation, besides that he has an obligation, we may not be “selfish”. We are not here only as “I mean”, I should know that I’ve checked all the “boxes”. One must look at the great tachlis of Klal Yisrael, at the tachlis of the Torah.

Discussion: How much better must the son be?

Speaker 1: It could be that he will say “he takes precedence” only, it could be as you said, perhaps because the older one by you he will understand better. Perhaps he is more wise first. How?

Speaker 2: No, “he takes precedence” is simply “he takes precedence”. Yes, but when does it speak? When they are both equal simply. What is a little better? How much better should the son be? Much better.

“He takes precedence” — even when the son is an iluy (prodigy)

Says the Rambam, but the Rambam makes that “he takes precedence”. A simple humility. Even when he has such a son, such a successful son, an iluy (prodigy). It doesn’t mean that okay, baruch Hashem (thank God), I’m a Jew, well, I’ll be that whatever my sons will learn, and I’ll do a person further, not being able to nullify his Torah with excuses. It’s not the simple meaning that the son can do the “job” instead of you. No. “Just as it is a mitzvah to teach his son, so it is a mitzvah to teach himself”. A person must teach himself, a person must educate himself.

The chiddush of “his son takes precedence” — one looks at the great tachlis

And here it seems your question comes in. I know that the simple meaning that I said Shabbos to my children, that it’s a greater obligation, because one says that my children are more under me than I am. But what is not my doing. Mine doesn’t have the one who feeds. You need to calculate a way to make your own considerations, not the same.

Speaker 1: No, you can’t. That’s just another case, another case. So, let’s say literally that he can’t learn at all, and it’s the question whether to hire a melamed for himself or for another. But the current case speaks apparently to one can at all go with a rebbe, or the checks can the children in yeshiva, won’t go to yeshiva.

Speaker 2: Okay, now, we’re talking. But you can already yes, you can make yourself. It’s a shiur (lesson), you can do something.

Speaker 1: Yes. If that means, that learning should be done before everything. One must already start learning really young. And afterwards one can perhaps start finding work and a career afterwards further. And if one won’t do a shiur, perhaps with a certain shiur one can think to earlier.

Digression: Learning before marriage — the Rambam’s approach

The Rambam is not against getting married first, if he has further he takes marriage before that, he will always be married. The Gemara says before that baruch chayim the world holds, if he already has a heavy aleph in his head. One place from learning he doesn’t have the availability, he doesn’t have the clarity in his head to learn with the same clarity. But… says the Rambam, but… the general rule one must first learn before marriage, and one should marry later, is specifically when one can, but the Rambam is with someone who already has a strong desire, if however, will he struggle so strongly with his yetzer hara (evil inclination)?

Speaker 1: Very interesting. He shouldn’t what struggle with the yetzer hara?

Speaker 2: He says, if he doesn’t have a clear mind further. If he doesn’t have a clear mind, because he can’t learn. Why with his yetzer hara? Anyway, he’s doing anyway. He says but if he becomes okay.

Speaker 1: Yes, but if he can’t, it’s simple that he won’t be able to learn.

Speaker 2: Officially one must have da’as panui (free mind) or lev panui (free heart). Also by a prophet one saw so, there one came one must have hispashtus hada’as (expansion of mind). The borrower won’t be able to learn, because one doesn’t have understanding, and kal vachomer (all the more so) when he has a yetzer hara that disturbs him, one needs twice the fulfillment of Torah.

And we saw that I strongly with the other argument. It’s not at all interesting that the other Jew should understand and achieve.

Hilchos Talmud Torah, Chapter 1 — Halacha 3 (end) and Halacha 4: Having marriage vs. learning; order of education; payment for teaching

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Halacha 3 (end): Having marriage vs. learning — “his yetzer overcomes him”

Speaker 1: Yes, but if he can’t, it’s simple that he won’t be able to learn. To learn one must have da’as panui or lev panui. Also by a prophet one saw so, one must have harchavat hada’as (expansion of mind). Therefore, if he won’t be able to learn because he doesn’t have a wife and his yetzer is overcoming him, then he is nullifying Torah.

Speaker 2: Very good. And this is not only in Hilchos Ishus (Laws of Marriage), but in Hilchos Talmud Torah. In Hilchos Ishus there is the mitzvah of peru u’revu (be fruitful and multiply), and there it says that one must have other laws. But here it’s very interesting that the Rambam understood that this is apparently also what one learned then, that one doesn’t necessarily have to take out the wife and whatever.

And it’s not simply a yetzer hara, the problem is that he has a yetzer hara, he has foreign thoughts, and it’s not only in having marriage.

Speaker 1: Yes, but the Rambam brings that the Rambam says that one must have marriage. In Hilchos Ishus he says so, when it comes to a certain age, in English, one must have marriage. He says, if he has a fear that his wife will take him away from learning, he may delay, because one who is engaged in a mitzvah is exempt from another mitzvah. Says the Rambam, but not forever, because you know, somewhere one must have marriage. But if there is such a one whose soul desires Torah, and conversely, having marriage will take him away from his service of God, from his complete toil in learning, he can be like Ben Azzai and not have marriage. But he says the condition for this is only if his yetzer is not overcoming him. But if his yetzer is overcoming him, he can’t play a game, he has a great aspiration to learn very diligently, therefore he fights all day. Once you see that there is a yetzer overcoming him, you must yes have marriage.

Discussion: What does “his yetzer overcomes him” mean?

Speaker 2: Very good. But I wanted to explain that the yetzer overcoming him is not necessarily that he has fallen. It means that in such a way, like one who most of the day he is troubled by his yetzer, even if he doesn’t do any sin, even a Lipshitz where the custom is to marry later, normally, when he is a bit more grown, he already has a yetzer, it’s not simple that he doesn’t have any hirhurim (improper thoughts), but he can most of the time learn anyway.

Speaker 1: It could be that most of the time he learns, but not so strongly, perhaps the quality. He doesn’t have, as the Rambam says, “his heart is not free”. He is not calm, he doesn’t learn like a person with a clear head.

Speaker 2: It can also be, it’s interesting, the person thinks that the thing that he must come up there with the four thousand dollars a month is difficult. But it could be that no, the thoughts that keep coming into your head are harder than the millstone around his neck. A person must calculate what is harder for him, the millstone around his neck or the yetzer that is overcoming him. It’s a person himself.

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Halacha 4: Order of education — from when does his father begin to teach him Torah?

Speaker 1: Because the shiur is the time on the person, and now is the time on the child, can you say? From when does the son begin to learn Torah? One learned that the father has a… or the rebbe… ah, now we’re talking about the father. Ah, the rebbe, one must with the rebbe, with the students also. But it’s interesting, yes, that is not for children. Students is another chapter on the… why not?

Speaker 2: I’ll tell you, from when is the obligation that one should learn with a child? From when… it’s indeed the father’s obligation, he doesn’t say from when does the son begin to learn Torah. But the thing, this is the order of education, the Baraisa that is built on Tractate Sukkah. It could be the education is not a Baraisa that sets out the measures of all mitzvos.

Speaker 1: Yes.

Speaker 2: No, I didn’t swear that I say that a melamed, that a chacham (wise person) must be until he says “Torah tziva lanu Moshe” (Moses commanded us the Torah). This is indeed something that a father, everyone can. It’s indeed an obligation on the father. When he begins to speak, the first words that the child says, should be “Torah tziva lanu Moshe”. And? And the first verse of Parashas Shema. Shema Yisrael and Torah tziva.

Torah tziva lanu Moshe and Shema Yisrael — two fundamental beliefs

Speaker 2: There is indeed a beautiful teaching from the Ramak in the Pardes Rimonim, he says that the two verses are against the two fundamental beliefs that a person must know, which are essentially brought already in Yesodei HaTorah (Foundations of Torah), the two fundamental beliefs: that there is a Creator, that is Shema Yisrael, and that He gave the Torah, the prophecy, the Torah. It makes sense that one teaches him the two verses that contain the fundamental beliefs.

Story with the Noda BiYehuda

Speaker 2: There is the story that the Noda BiYehuda once went around in the monasteries looking for Jewish children who were with the priests, with the Christians. And he came to a place, and the administration said, “No, there are no Jewish children.” He said, “Let me speak a minute to the children.” He went in and said loudly, “Shema Yisrael…” Shema Yisrael is awesome, that a small child knows this, even from a young age. He saw the children who became emotional from the Shema Yisrael, he knew who were Jews.

The order of education: verses, verses

Speaker 2: Already, further, and afterwards he teaches him, after he teaches him Torah tziva and Krias Shema… what does he begin first? Until then?

Speaker 1: Yes.

Speaker 2: When he is a ben shesh (six years old) or ben sheva (seven years old), a child usually begins first says father mother, he can’t yet say any sentence, yes, but he says to him, because one doesn’t speak with the small ones, with smaller children one sees very important, yes, Krias Shema, a verse, a blessing.

Afterwards he teaches him little by little. Afterwards one teaches the child little by little, one teaches him bit by bit verses, verses. This is the order that he sets out, that the first thing that a child learns is verses, Torah shebichsav (Written Torah). One teaches him a verse, a verse from Chumash from the parasha, or, yes, until he is ben shesh or ben sheva.

Discussion: prayers or verses?

Speaker 2: That means, the Rambam doesn’t say like pieces of prayers, like one says today like one says with him Modeh Ani, one says with him blessings. I could be the Rambam held that prayer is something that is kavana (intention), which is not, I don’t know. I could be in the order of education is indeed prayer that he writes there. But in practice prayer is also composed of verses.

Speaker 1: Yes, true. Modeh Ani is precisely not a verse, and it stands in the siddur because one should be able to say it even before netilas yadayim (ritual hand washing).

Speaker 2: Yes, he says a lot, the Modeh Ani is precisely a chiddush. This is indeed by the way, it doesn’t come in here, but Modeh Ani is a blessing. No, it’s already indeed late. A thing that lies on every boy, is indeed a chiddush. First place it doesn’t stand in the Seder HaYom of Rabbi Moshe ben Machir, and literally from Acharonim (later authorities), a chiddush of Acharonim is the Modeh Ani. But it’s a beautiful thing, thanking the Almighty.

Speaker 1: But thanking the Almighty stands yes everywhere. The nusach (version) is a later nusach.

Speaker 2: Yes.

Ben shesh or ben sheva — according to his health

Speaker 2: Until he is ben shesh. So one teaches him verses, verses, until he is ben shesh or ben sheva, when he becomes a child of six seven. Ben sheva I mean generally is usually the mitzvah of chinuch (education). By the way, the Rambam by every mitzvah he has chinuch according to that mitzvah. It says when he can already manage the limbs, and he can already fast.

When he is already six or seven, he is already a bit of a ba’al da’as (person of understanding), says the Rambam according to his health. That means, there is sometimes a child who is already good at six, and there is sometimes a child who needs to be seven or eight. When according to his health, health here means his physical health, yes, according to his physical health, yes, according to the maturity.

He takes him to the melamed of young children

Speaker 2: He takes him to the melamed of young children. So here the Rambam already speaks of a reality, you have such an institution called a melamed tinokos (teacher of young children). Very good, very interesting. He says there is a mitzvah to hire, and here he already speaks of the reality that in every Jewish city there is, after the ordinances of Yehoshua ben Gamla.

Discussion: The father or the melamed?

Speaker 2: And apparently it also wouldn’t really have worked that the father should sit and teach the entire Chumash with the boy. He has indeed something to do. Who was the one who said that… I don’t know if it was true, the father of the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner said “How was I privileged to such Torah?” But one must say that it’s a very small minority that succeeded, because a father is usually… There is no father who is not a talmid chacham, and also a talmid chacham has the obligations of his own learning. How is there a father who can’t really free himself?

And it’s not so. When he is still small, the “Torah tziva lanu Moshe” is not something that one does all day. From time to time, when the father plays normally with the child, he learns instead of just singing to him, he says to him “Torah tziva”. But once you actually need a way during length, he can’t arrange, because he wants to learn himself, etc. I don’t believe that it was ever a reality that literally the father was with him. Perhaps he made himself fulfill with a little, but the normal thing was a simple melamed whose job this is, and not the father who also has a job.

Discussion: The mother or the father?

Lecture on Rambam’s Laws of Torah Study, Chapter 1

Speaker 1: It’s interesting, he said earlier that the mother doesn’t have the obligation. For example, why shouldn’t the mother be the one who says “Torah tzivah”? I mean, and doesn’t the mother fulfill the mitzvah here according to the Rambam? Generally, the mothers do it more. But he said that the obligation, when one says “Torah tzivah” and fulfills the mitzvah of “u’limadetem otam et bneichem,” this is how it looks, and the mitzvah is on the father. No, it’s a matter. It turns out that when one thinks, should the father or the mother say “Torah tzivah” with the child? You can say that the Rambam says, you have an obligation, she doesn’t have an obligation. You do the mitzvah, why should you let your wife? It’s also an important thing, but she doesn’t do it to fulfill a mitzvat aseh, you fulfill the mitzvat aseh.

Speaker 2: I mean mainly that the father needs to work to make money so that one can pay the teacher. I remember I was in kollel, it was a certain time of year, a man consulted with one of the roshei kollel, and he gave him the Rambam’s ruling from today, and he told him “say ‘Torah tzivah’ with him, you will fulfill a mitzvah.” Very good.

Speaker 1: I mean you said earlier, I mean it’s a bit gender-take, because you’re saying that the mother does it with him already as an agent.

Speaker 2: Okay.

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Halacha 4 (continued): Payment for Teaching — Written Torah vs. Oral Torah

The Father’s Obligation to Pay a Teacher

Speaker 2: Yes, the Rambam says further: “Since it is the custom of the land to hire teachers of children for payment”. What is a teacher of children? If there is… there is a custom of the land, how does the teacher get paid at all, interesting?

Speaker 1: Is there a mitzvah to think.

Speaker 2: And how does he live?

Speaker 1: Who does he see?

Speaker 2: Does he have another livelihood?

Speaker 1: Or he means with the teacher.

Speaker 2: Very good.

Speaker 1: There’s a problem, that essentially there’s a reason why one may not receive money, which the Rambam will now say.

Speaker 2: And so the Rambam says, behold, it is the custom of the land to hire teachers of children for payment, that the teacher should receive payment for teaching, he gives him his payment, because the father must pay, because this is the custom of the land.

And he is obligated to teach him for payment. The father must hire a teacher. Until when must the father spend money for a teacher? Until he reads the entire Written Torah. Until he learns the entire Written Torah. But for Oral Torah the father no longer needs to hire for money. Because it’s not apparently regarding halacha 4, that one may not take money for it.

The Permission for Payment for Teaching Written Torah

Speaker 2: But here one needs to know, halacha l’maaseh a fact according to the Rambam, I don’t know what the Shulchan Aruch says about the reasons for the custom. I don’t know so, but apparently the halacha still remains true, that if one sends a child to a cheder where they don’t learn any Written Torah, or cantillation marks are not really part of the learning, and for cantillation marks one may take payment.

So for cantillation marks you don’t have a problem, because as long as we’re learning Written Torah, you can say that the money given to the teacher is payment for time lost, if he receives more than payment for time lost, the extra is for teaching cantillation, for teaching cantillation marks. And so it comes out in Peirush HaMishnayot, it was said it’s better to learn to know the root, but so the Rambam says the halacha l’maaseh.

Where It Is Customary to Teach Written Torah for Payment

Speaker 2: Now he says the halacha, that is, now he said how the order goes in the halacha. But it appears, as this also makes the obligation, because the father cannot say, I want to be stringent about not learning for payment, because until then you don’t have permission, and until then there is permission for the teacher to take money.

Afterwards, where it is customary to teach. Now he will say the halacha, as he said the conclusion of the halacha for the father? He will take the essential halacha. Where it is customary to teach Written Torah for payment, to learn and to teach for payment, one may learn for payment because there are certain permissions. There are certain permissions. The Gemara says an approach that one can take payment for time lost, or payment for time lost or payment for punctuation and cantillation, there are several ways in the Gemara. We don’t know how the Rambam rules, but what practical difference does it make how the Rambam rules? There’s a distinction regarding Oral Torah. Yes?

But Oral Torah — It Is Forbidden to Teach It for Payment

Speaker 1: Yes, but Oral Torah, it is forbidden to teach for payment, there is a prohibition to learn for payment.

Laws of Torah Study, Chapter 1 — Halacha 4 (continued) and Halacha 5

Halacha 4 (continued): Learning Torah for Payment — Written Torah vs. Oral Torah

Speaker 1: Why does one learn for payment? Because there’s some permission. There’s some permission. The Gemara says an approach that one can take payment for time lost, or payment for punctuation and cantillation, there’s a dispute of Amoraim in the Gemara, we don’t know how the Rambam rules, but in practice the halacha is as the Rambam rules, that there’s a distinction between Written Torah and Oral Torah. Yes?

But Oral Torah is forbidden to teach for payment, there is a prohibition to learn for payment, as it says “See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as Hashem my God commanded me”. Moshe Rabbeinu says to the Jews, “Look, I teach you statutes and ordinances the same way that the Almighty taught me.” To teach you, that Moshe Rabbeinu is here like the archetype of a teacher, he is the example of a teacher. “Just as I learned for free, so too you should teach for free to the generations”. Just as I learned for free, so should you learn for free. “So too when you teach to the generations, for free just as you learned from me”. When you will teach further, you should learn from me.

Moshe Rabbeinu as the Archetype of a Teacher

It’s very beautiful, it appears as if when a Jew learns with anyone, he is like Moshe Rabbeinu, and Moshe Rabbeinu is the copy of the Almighty, as it were. When you learn, you must think you are now going in the ways of God, the Almighty learns with Moshe, Moshe learns with you, and you learn further.

This also fits with the language “as He commanded me,” which we learned in the introduction that “mitzvah” is Oral Torah. About this he says, therefore this is specifically relevant to Oral Torah, because “as Hashem my God commanded me.” Unlike the other Written Torah matters, the Jews wrote down the language, and they reviewed it themselves, but Oral Torah Moshe Rabbeinu had to go over with them and learn it thoroughly, and there he was the essential teacher, and this is regarding Oral Torah.

Digression: Practical Application — Supporting Shiurim

From here comes evidence for our shiur, that we learn here for free, because we’re turning here the Oral Torah, and there is indeed the Rambam, the essential Oral Torah. But I always tell you for those who should support the shiurim, this doesn’t mean that one may not pay money l’chatchila to come to the video or to the audio to listen, but every single person is obligated to fulfill the mitzvah of “lilmod,” this obligates everyone. And “lilmod” means even if it costs you money. True, it doesn’t cost you, the maggid shiur doesn’t cost you, but it costs money to buy all the things one needs to be able to live. So if someone supports the shiur, he fulfills “lilmod” for free. Not that he pays for the Torah, no one pays God forbid for the Torah. Rather the one who supports the shiur, he fulfills the mitzvah of teaching Torah to others for free.

I mean it can be like the teacher gets paid for the cantillation marks, first of all, there’s time here, recording, downloading the shiurim, for that one may indeed receive money. And also, we throw in sometimes a little story, a Torah thought, and for that one may indeed get paid. We get paid only for the little stories. If not, let us be told. If you have benefit from the shiur, you can send us a link, because there is a way to make an official system of making an address for each shiur, which will already be, with God’s help, in the new year it will come out properly already.

Priorities — Learning for Payment Is Better Than Not Learning at All

The Rambam says further, on Oral Torah one may not receive payment. The Rambam says, but in reality, “he did not find who would teach him for free” – he doesn’t find who should teach him for free, and the chances are quite high that this will happen, he won’t find who should teach him for free – “let him learn for payment”, yes let him pay, “as it says ‘buy truth’”. For truth, Torah is called truth, for truth one must pay money.

I mean the Rambam says here an awesome thing, that you must know priorities. There is a matter that one should learn for free, very good, but are you going to stand on this and lose for its honor that your son should grow up an am ha’aretz? It’s much more important that your son should indeed learn than to fulfill this piece of halacha. It’s true, but if you don’t find, it’s not an excuse, you won’t get out of the matter of not learning for payment. This is priorities.

This is not only that he’s speaking for his son, he’s also speaking for himself. If he wants to learn himself, yes, for himself or for his son, yes. “Teach him” means him, or one is teaching the son. About whom is he holding in the middle of speaking? He says, yes, yes, that because it says “buy truth” is already an excuse. Everyone would have wanted to have his life’s salary, and he would have been a teacher for payment, and he could have continued to be a teacher for free.

The Rambam as the Ba’al HaShmuah — He Himself Fulfilled It

So until here we have learned the essential obligation of Torah study, who is obligated, and how much one is obligated to pay for it, and so on. By the way, it’s very beautiful, because the Rambam is the ba’al hashmuah, and the Rambam himself indeed never took any money for learning, and he says it himself several times, and in Avot he has a spirit about this that the Rambam didn’t take any money for learning, and his brother R’ David helped him, supported him, or he was a doctor, the Rambam was very sharp about this. And also in the Gemara one sees various, yes, Amoraim who worked hard, and the learning was not for money.

Our shiur, or the shiurim that are from laypeople, fulfill the halacha much more than the Talmud Torahs and the kollelim. Everyone who almost takes the shiur, no one receives any money, and we pay the kollel of Yesodot Hashem, this is indeed even fulfilling the mitzvah of learning for free.

Yes, it’s very interesting. Until now was the obligation. Now the Rambam will apparently learn from the obligation of the person himself, not from the “lilmod” from which also comes out students and so on. Until the end of the chapter is essentially the essence of the obligation of Torah study. Ah, he started earlier with who is exempt, and afterwards he said a bit about when one is obligated, but now he will go more into the matter, which sort of person.

—

Halacha 5: Every Jewish Man Is Obligated in Torah Study

Every Jew Is Obligated — Without Exception

Every Jewish man is obligated in Torah study, whether poor or rich. He brings this from a Gemara that a poor person said that he couldn’t learn, they told him, were you a greater poor person than…

Or poor, was he a great poor person? Or Hillel? Ah, what does the Gemara say about Hillel? That he stood there in the snow on the roof?

Whether rich, whether a person who is whole in his body, or a ba’al yisurim, which the Rambam said earlier in Laws of Character Traits, that when a person is a ba’al yisurim it’s harder for him to learn, but still he must learn, as much as he can.

Whether a bachelor, whether one who hasn’t yet married, when then his yetzer overpowers him, or… or just so, whether young, whether old, whether old, not to say let me first work a few years and make a lot of money and afterwards retire and become a Torah scholar. A question now obligated, a question say nothing, his strength has weakened, he is also obligated.

The Rambam goes further, even a poor person who is supported by charity, even one unfortunately who is poor, and he must go around knocking on doors for money. And the greatest novelty there, I don’t have time. Even a ba’al isha u’vanim, even one who has a wife and children… a couple with children who already has a yoke upon them, for whom the Rambam said earlier, for him it’s harder to learn. He is obligated to set aside time for Torah study day and night.

The Distinction Between “All the Entire Torah” and “Setting Times”

This appears as even if you didn’t have earlier the obligation that you must know all the entire Torah, Written Torah, Oral Torah. So you can’t do that, but you still have an obligation to learn Torah every day, day and night, as it says “and you shall meditate on it day and night”.

Every Jew is obligated, this is the Rambam says a law from the Torah, a law from the halacha, that every morning and every evening, and “you shall meditate on it” doesn’t stand in the Torah, it stands in the Book of Joshua. But to learn a shiur, morning and evening. “Meditate,” what does meditate mean, to think to learn. It means to learn with depth, it doesn’t mean to say words, and not prayer.

Discussion: One Cannot Fulfill with Kriat Shema Alone

There is a dispute of commentators on “you shall meditate on it day and night.” It’s a great dispute, a great dispute. The Rambam doesn’t hold that one can fulfill with Kriat Shema, somewhere the Rambam indeed speaks of it. There is a Gemara there in Gemara Menachot, but the Rambam doesn’t hold that one can fulfill with Kriat Shema. I mean then this is Kriat Shema, it can indeed be with prayer, going to say it, that for example when one says U’va L’Tzion, one says there various verses, which stands in the Rambam, this is essentially an obligation, in order to fulfill this obligation of Torah study.

Therefore one says, after Birkat HaTorah one says Eilu Devarim with pieces of verses. Because with prayer, because with prayer one has inserted already pieces, which are only there in order to fulfill Torah study. Yes, but so one can fulfill the obligation.

And a bit in mind. It’s indeed, one can say that the part of prayer that one must have the most in mind is there in “V’hayu hadevarim ha’eileh,” because as you say, this has to do with Torah study.

Digression: A Story with R’ Avraham Rosenblum

I remember by my Rosh Yeshiva of blessed memory, R’ Avraham Rosenblum, the Rosh Yeshiva in Sha’ar Yosher, there was once some sugya that had to do with kodashim, and I asked during the shiur, I asked some question, and he laughed at me so, started laughing. He tells me, “What do you mean? We say it every day, ‘zevach shelamim’, ‘zevach shelamim’, it should be a certain fulfillment, ‘kol michol’, what are you saying already…” That he made me feel like such a genius, like such a fool. Something that you say for thirty years in a row, I’m not saying yet thirty, I was fifteen then, fifteen years long I say, I say, I say, and one doesn’t pay attention that the non-Jews weren’t allowed to eat. But this is what he said.

What Does “Tamid” Mean — Always or Regularly?

“And you shall teach them and keep to do them” – “day and night”. Apparently it would mean a whole day and a whole night. But there is “tamid,” there is “tamid” which means… I mean when did we have a similar thing already in the Rambam? There is “tamid” means…

I said that we spoke last week, the things, “and you shall kindle a lamp continually.”

No, but how did we have such a matter in the Rambam? Ah, I told him that there is… ah, he speaks there of the spheres that they go continually, and we say that the Torah says that one must learn Torah continually.

Okay, but rabbotai, there is when… perhaps it can be not in our shiur, it can be something else that I learned, that there is when “tamid” means always, and there is regularly, every day a bit. There is what the Rambam learns here that “roughly day and night,” one who has means must learn day and night. But one who doesn’t, should at least every day a bit during the day and a bit at night.

The Rambam says in chapter 3 that one must learn a third of the day Torah, but here he speaks that there is an obligation every day and every night to learn a bit of Torah, this every Jew is obligated. I mean one can add that even kollel young men are obligated.

I mean he allows himself to tease the kollel young men, because they listen less to the shiurim, because it’s a shiur for laypeople.

The Rambam says further, “the great Torah scholars of Israel…”

The Rambam said that one must divide oneself, he indeed mentioned refined Jews.

But I am a great devotee of the holy kollel young men who learn Torah day and night, fortunate is their portion.

—

Halacha 5 (continued): The Great Torah Scholars of Israel — Stories of the Righteous

Why Does the Rambam Bring Stories of the Righteous?

The Rambam goes further in, this is very interesting, it’s connected with what we spoke about.

Laws of Torah Study, Chapter 1, Law 5 (Continued) — Great Sages of Israel Who Worked Hard

And after he begins to count the mitzvah, he begins with stories of tzaddikim. It says that this is how honest Jews actually acted, that it’s never halacha l’tamiyon (a law that goes to waste), this is actually how one conducts oneself.

Great sages of Israel, lofty people were among them, they had all sorts of hard work, they were woodchoppers, some were water drawers, and some… who else was among the Chazal? Hillel the Elder, Hillel the Elder was a woodchopper.

The Rambam’s Listing of Tzaddikim: Examples of Great Ones of Israel

The Rambam goes further into this, this is further connected to the same thing, connected to what we discussed. The Rambam has a plan that he already had, that after relating the mitzvah he begins in order with a listing of tzaddikim. It says that this is how honest Jews actually acted, that there is such a thing as halacha v’ein morin ken (a law but we don’t instruct so), this is actually how one conducts oneself.

Great sages of Israel, if one looks among them, they had to work hard, they were woodchoppers, and some were water drawers. And some, who was among the Chazal, ah, there was a woodchopper? Hillel the Elder was a woodchopper. And Rabbi Yochanan was, I don’t know what, Rabbi Huna was a water drawer. Ah, yes, there was Rabbi Yochanan who was a sandal guard, and a shoemaker, and Rabbi Yitzchak Napcha, and so on.

And among them were blind people, Rava was blind, yes, Rav Yosef, not Rava, Rav Yosef, Rava’s teacher, or Rava’s colleague, somewhat a rabbi. Yes, Rav Yosef was the one who filled the position after Rabbah, he was the teacher of Abaye and Rava. And he was blind, yes? And nevertheless he was engaged in Torah day and night. And not just that he devoted himself to learning Torah, and he is among those who received the tradition person to person from Moshe Rabbeinu.

In the introduction to the book, the Rambam enumerated those who received the tradition, the Rambam says, you should know that among those who received the tradition that he enumerated were Rava, Rav Yosef, and many others, and some of them you wouldn’t say are included in Torah, they are the greatest of the Jewish people. And not all of them were princes who sat on a golden chair, rather they had to work hard.

You shouldn’t think that it’s a big deal to learn even when one works, it’s okay, one can be a lay person’s little shiur. No, one can be the greatest receiver of the tradition.

—

Law 6: Until When Is One Obligated to Learn Torah — Until the Day of Death

The Obligation to Learn Until the Last Day

Now, another thing, until when is one obligated to learn Torah? Until when is one obligated to learn Torah? The Rambam says, until the day of one’s death. Do you understand? From when do you know that you’re exempt? If you feel that you’re dying, you should know that you’re already dead now. Until the day of one’s death, that day… does he think he’ll be exempt then? This is Moshe Rabbeinu, even the day he died he still managed to write the thirteen Torah scrolls.

How three? What does he understand? It’s not just pen yisaron v’yavo’u kol yemei chayecha. It means the gathering at Mount Sinai, it means the review of Torah, you should always review all the days of your life.

The Ramban’s Explanation: The Nature of Forgetting

All the time, the Ramban says, very beautiful words, “u’limadtem otam et bneichem v’et bnei bneichem”, what’s the connection? Yes, yes, he’s speaking here about reviewing Torah study with children. The Ramban says, here he says very important words, why indeed? Because as long as it won’t be forgotten from his heart, the forgetting. If it weren’t for the nature that Hashem placed in us of forgetting, that a person can forget, then yes, a person would say, “I already know the entire Torah,” and he’s finished. But yes, one forgets, so one must learn all the time, one must always know Torah.

Here too, how does one derive it from this verse, “pen tishkach et hadevarim”, how can it be that all the days of your life is about pen tishkach et hadevarim? The reason why all the days of your life is because pen tishkach et hadevarim, because you can forget. It’s certainly necessary that it shouldn’t be forgotten from his heart all the days of your life, so the only way is you will learn all the days of your life, there’s no other way.

And from this there’s also a proof apparently, that we’re not just talking here about the Ten Commandments, because a person can remember the Ten Commandments. When there’s pen tishkach et hadevarim, it must be that we’re talking about Torah study broadly and comprehensively.

The author of Torat Menachem, he learned that perhaps he had a source from Chazal, but as it appears in Talmud Torah, they think that he didn’t have a source, it’s already stated earlier there, that the Ramban is the source of this powerful idea. That one sees the greatness of the mitzvah of Torah study.

Practical Mussar: One Never Finishes

Well good, this is also an important principle, people don’t know this. People think that he learned as a bachur, as a young married man, and he’s finished with his portion. As long as you won’t forget, you won’t forget, is not the truth. Yes, I know people who learned a bit as a bachur and a bit as a young married man, they’re completely resentful. One must always learn, and on the contrary, if one learns a bit one realizes that what one learned as a bachur is literally nothing. One forgets, perhaps it’s good that one forgets it already. According to the standards in a yeshiva, already, he not only knew the seven pages of Bava Basra, he knew thirty pages of Bava Basra. Compared to how great Torah is, what is that? From this one can see how one must learn the entire Torah. Very good.

—

Laws 7-8: The Order of Study — Division into Three Parts

The Three Parts of Study

The Rambam says, how does one learn Torah? That is, you have the four hours day and night, what do you do with them? The Rambam says, the order is thus, divide it into thirds, it should be divided into three. A third in Written Torah, a third Written Torah, a third Oral Torah. Oral Torah means the Rambam, right? The general principles of halacha, the Mishnayos? It doesn’t mean Gemara, because the third is Gemara. Perhaps the Rambam means, he means Mishnayos, right? Or the Rambam, the general principles of halacha that were received from Moshe Rabbeinu. And the third, and another third, and a third, the last third…

Ah, again, I say in Written Torah means Written Torah, yes, Scripture, Torah Prophets Writings. Oral Torah is not everything one needs to know until halacha. Just as the Rambam would say that my book Mishneh Torah is Oral Torah, or Mishnah. Yes, yes.

What “Talmud” Means According to the Rambam

And a third is understanding the sugya. He says thus: “to understand and comprehend the end of a matter from its beginning”. Understanding the end of the matter, the end of the matter means the halacha, the end of the study from its beginning. How does one know for example that an esrog is a pri etz hadar? With all sorts of ways that the Gemara derives it. “And derive one thing from another and compare one thing to another”. Deriving one thing from another, and comparing one thing to another. “Derive one thing from another” means extracting, one from general and specific. “And compare one thing to another” means the thirteen principles by which the Torah is expounded. Perhaps “to know the essence of the principles”, until he understands what is the essence of the principles. This is interesting. I mean the root, as you say, as it says the essence in the halacha, the rules that were received, “how prohibition and permission are derived”, how one reaches the conclusion of what is forbidden and permitted, “and similar matters that are learned from the received tradition”. Things that were derived from the received tradition.

From the received tradition means the essence of Oral Torah. Ah, it could be that he means to say that he’s making a new question, he needs to know how to rule. Also what was received, the things that are halacha l’Moshe miSinai, I thought he means to say that the Rambam said in the introduction to the Commentary on the Mishnah, he learned in the Rambam’s introduction, that even the things that are halacha l’Moshe miSinai there’s also room to rely. I thought he means to say that the Rambam is explaining here that it’s better. It means, according to what was learned, that he can innovate new halachos, he can rule on a new question.

Very good. “In this manner he is called a talmid”, he is called a student. Very interesting. This is what the Gemara does, but the Rambam says that this may never be finished. Essentially, what is Reb Chaim or what is Reb Nachum? The later Rambams, approximately the same type of learning, of going in and making distinctions and making analytical studies. Understanding analytical studies, but with the purpose of knowing “the end of a matter from its beginning”. “Better is the end of a matter than its beginning”.

I don’t want to go too much into “the end of a matter from its beginning”. The simple explanation is that one should know the simple meaning, but I want to see what the Rambam says about “better is the end of a matter”. “He will be elevated and comprehend”, this is the language of the verse, “he will be elevated and comprehend the end of a matter from its beginning”. No, “the end of a matter from its beginning” is the verse, it’s stated in Koheles, you’re telling me. It’s a verse, “better is the end of a matter than its beginning”. I thought you were saying a verse about this. Just as in Laws of Kings and Wars one also knows from Laws of Secrets of Torah. Very interesting.

The Rambam Demands Very Much

And the Rambam gives an example. But he demands very much from a person. A person must know “the entire Torah,” he must know all the halachos, but not only that, he must also be a great scholar. Very good, but this is a third. This is very basic what he says here. A small thing, we learned earlier in Laws of Character Traits that one sleeps a third of the day. So it’s very interesting that we learn to divide things into thirds. In general, according to the middle path everything is also divided into three. There’s one extreme, the other extreme, and the middle way. More of a parable, yes.

The Rambam says further, “and so the Sages established that the Torah should be threefold”. The Torah was… “the Torah is threefold”. Here is already a foundation in Kabbalah, that one says that the Torah is threefold. Yes, this is the sefirah of Tiferes. But now we’re learning the Rambam, not Kabbalah.

Three Hours Work, Nine Hours Torah

Ah, what happens if a Jew wants to learn… there’s a whole world of learning the inner dimension of Torah. We’ll soon see what the Rambam says about it. We’ll soon find out the answer.

It’s not so difficult. In the time that each of us goes about, one can learn entire Scripture and entire Mishnah, or entire Chumash and entire Tanach, and entire Rambam, entire Tanach. This is what you’re talking about, but it’s possible. One spends so much time on Talmud, but… in any case, it’s an old complaint of the Maharal and others, but it’s not… not everyone can learn. One can make an order, do you want to keep up with our shiur? I have two shiurim, one is in Tanach, every day a chapter, and one is a chapter of Rambam, and in about three years one finishes both, Scripture and Mishnah, and then one can come to Talmud.

Fortunate are you who will submit yourselves to Talmud study.

No, but it’s true, it’s true, it’s not so difficult. It’s true, it’s not so difficult. A person makes himself a goal, he wants to finish Tanach, learn a bit of learning, a chapter, finish, not every day learn with all the commentators, simply try to understand the gist of it, as they say, the essence, understand it superficially. Yes.

The Rambam’s Practical Example

The Rambam comes in, it’s worthwhile to say the Rambam. How does the Rambam say: “If one is a craftsman”, if the person is one who works, as you said earlier that ordinary people need to work, need to chop wood to draw water. And what does the Rambam say? “He engages in his work three hours a day”, he should work three hours a day, “and in Torah nine hours”. What is this? We’re talking here about a householder. He learns nine and he works three? How will he feed the nine? He needs to make his Torah permanent and his work temporary, he needs to make the nine into three, and the three into nine.

The Rambam didn’t say the words “his work temporary” and “his Torah permanent”. He said “householder”. He spoke of all the tzaddikim, and he said that one must devote oneself to Torah. The Rambam said that one needs three hours. So three of the nine he fulfills Scripture and Mishnah, but not Talmud.

“In the first three hours he reads Written Torah, and in the second three he reads Oral Torah, and in the last three he contemplates in his mind to understand one thing from another”. That is, you see that when he says Talmud he doesn’t just mean learning the Gemara, but only doing the matter.

Discussion: How Can One “Contemplate in One’s Mind” for Three Hours?

There are commentators who say that there’s another dispute, the Rambam has a different reasoning. It seems to a person, how can he think for three hours about one thing from another? But if he learns the other six hours Written Torah and Oral Torah, he has another three hours what to think about.

No, I mean that the dramas to think about.

No, I said, if one feeds the mind enough with much material, you have what to think about.

No, I was contemplating the wealth, and what else he will learn, and he tries to engage with his other Mishnayos, not to think the world into it.

Laws of Torah Study, Chapter 1, Law 11 (Continued) — Law 15: “And He Divided His Years into Three” — Further Explanations and the Order After One Grows in Wisdom; Laws 16-17: Women Learning Torah

Law 11 (Continued): “And He Divided His Years into Three” — Further Explanations

Talmud as Contemplation — How Can One “Think” for Three Hours?

Speaker 1: He fulfills Scripture and Mishnah, but doesn’t fulfill Talmud. It could be that he learns Gemara, so he fulfills Oral Torah. There are commentators who say that this is another dispute, the Rambam with others.

It seems to a person, how can he think for three hours about this and that and that? But if he learns the other six hours Written Torah and Oral Torah, he has another three hours what to think about. Well, I mean that by the Rambam… well, truly, if one feeds the mind enough with much material, you have what to think about. He contemplates the subject, and then he tries to understand the Mishnah, not that he thinks into the world.

The Numbers of Three and Six — Is It Specifically So?

I mean that the numbers of three and six, the Rambam also said it, it’s not specifically that the Rambam is realistic. He wants to bring out his point, but… I don’t know if the Rambam meant exactly three hours… ah, he’ll say, he’ll say, he means yes here exactly, but afterwards it’s not… later it’s not exactly. I’ll tell you, he brings from the Vilna Gaon that it’s exactly. I’m just saying that the example of nine hours is not reality, because a normal person won’t learn nine hours, right?

What Is Included in “Written Torah”?

Speaker 2: No, matters of tradition are Prophets and Writings, so it’s included in Written Torah.

Speaker 1: When he says Written Torah, he doesn’t just mean Chumash, but he also means Prophets and Writings, and the commentaries on Written Torah, how one learns the verses, is included in Oral Torah.

An Interesting Innovation: Commentary on Scripture Is Included in Oral Torah

That is, when he says Oral Torah, he doesn’t just mean halacha, but all commentaries on Scripture. So it comes out. This is an interesting innovation. That derash is Tanach.

That is, regarding the matter of Torah study, regarding the conditions of Torah study, not regarding the foundations. Yes, no, the Rambam still holds that Oral Torah means practical halacha. We learned in the introduction, we saw that he makes a distinction, he brings that there are midrashim that are commentary on Scripture, and the Rambam also included them in the list of the sages’ compositions, like Bereishis Rabbah or parts of other midrashim. It could be that yes, he held so. Still Oral Torah is the simple meaning in verses. I don’t know.

“Talmud” Includes Pardes (Secrets of Torah) — Kabbalah as Part of Talmud

Speaker 2: Ah, now he asks from the holy ones, why do they say one should learn Kabbalah? Like the Rambam. Yes? Yes. Who wants to argue this? Yes, yes.

Speaker 1: The matters of the essence of Pardes, this the Rambam said earlier in Laws of Foundations of Torah, he said that this is called Pardes, which are the secrets of Torah. But what will he do there? He will dedicate there for Pardes.

Yes, the Rambam asks, what is there? It’s one of the five mitzvos. The first four chapters are Torah. Maaseh Bereishis and Maaseh Merkavah the Rambam said, it’s called Pardes, to know Hashem’s creation and what happens in the upper worlds.

What is “Machloket De’ot”? It’s Part of Talmud. What is “Bichla Talmud”? Because it’s something that requires contemplation. It’s not something that’s written out clearly. So chochmah u’madda (wisdom and knowledge), that must be. By the way, the Rambam himself included a portion of that subject in the form of Mishnah, in Mishneh Torah. That’s a question that should already be asked then. But the main point, he means to say that this is part of Talmud. So, part of the three hours, or perhaps the main part of the three hours, one must learn Kabbalah. The third third, yes.

Halacha 15: After One Grows in Wisdom — The Order Changes

The Rambam’s Words

Now the Rambam says, “When is this? At the beginning of a person’s learning.” When a person begins to learn. “But when he grows in wisdom and no longer needs to study Torah she’bichtav (Written Torah) or to be constantly engaged in Torah she’be’al peh (Oral Torah),” because he will already remember. If someone, if he says it takes three years to learn Torah she’bichtav, it means he’s already learned it twenty times, he already remembers it. Why should he exert himself? Torah she’be’al peh, he will remember Torah she’be’al peh. He began learning with the Rambam’s order. First he learns one chapter a day, and then he begins to learn three chapters a day, because he’s already learned several times one chapter a day, and he will already know it well by heart.

“He should read at designated times Torah she’bichtav and divrei hashemu’ah (words of the tradition) so that he doesn’t forget anything from the laws of the Torah.” He puts in here the word “laws of the Torah.” The essence of Torah he means, like the foundations of Torah, but he also says Torah she’bichtav. But divrei hashemu’ah, and divrei hashemu’ah that are relevant. It could be he holds that not all Mishnayot need to be reviewed constantly, only what’s relevant for learning. The Rambam did take all the Mishnayot, yes? It’s already a reward for everyone. One doesn’t need to go into the distinctions of practical matters from non-practical matters. “And he should devote all his days to Talmud alone according to the breadth of his heart and his settled mind,” then one can in all the remaining times give more and more to Talmud, to what one learns with the mind.

The Logical Progression of the Rambam’s Order

Right, good. This is an interesting order that the Rambam made. In the Gemara there’s a whole law about how one fulfills “ve’shilash shenotav” (and divide his years into three). The Rambam made such a logical progression, that first one takes literally three hours three hours, but one must finish everything. After one has already finished, then the order changes accordingly.

Halacha 16: A Woman Who Learned Torah — She Has Reward

Ah, now we’re going to learn back, that this also explains a bit what we learned that a woman is exempt from Torah, and perhaps here we’re speaking of the mitzvah of the woman herself, because the previous chapter doesn’t speak of teaching but of learning oneself.

Reward But Not the Same Level

Right, good. The Rambam says, “A woman who learned Torah has reward.” If a woman does learn Torah, we learned earlier that she’s not obligated, but if she does learn Torah, she receives reward. Yes. What the Rambam speaks about here regarding reward, a person who does a good thing, does something important. But actually there is reward here, it’s not the same level of reward as someone who is metzuveh ve’oseh (commanded and does), because she is after all eino metzuveh ve’oseh (not commanded and does). One reasoning is that the reward of the mitzvah is at the time of its performance, like the well-known “greater is one who is commanded and does than one who is not commanded and does.” Someone whom the Ribbono Shel Olam (Master of the Universe) commanded the mitzvah receives greater reward, but less than him. Well, if they want to tell us something about the reward, it’s not interesting. Just one point from here.

Halacha 17: The Sages Commanded That a Person Should Not Teach His Daughter Torah

The Rambam’s Words

In halacha 6, perhaps for today’s times this is one of the most difficult, I’m speaking of the most difficult. The Rambam says, “Even though she has reward,” even though we said here that it’s an important thing that she learns, and she receives reward for it, but “the Sages commanded that a person should not teach his daughter Torah.” The father should not teach. Why? “Because most women’s minds are not directed toward learning,” most women’s minds are not directed, not set up to learn well, and the concern is, “and they turn words of Torah into words of nonsense, according to their poverty of understanding,” he says that they have poverty of understanding, that they don’t have broad understanding, and they shouldn’t learn the proper way, and they’ll use the Torah for improper things, meaning they’ll learn it incorrectly and so on.

The Rambam Means the Father Should Not Teach — But a Woman Herself May

But it seems that not all women, the Rambam means a woman herself should learn, she should think herself, but when a father doesn’t teach, because the order is that the father means according to Chazal (our Sages) the order for learning, but here one sends to a teacher, and the order doesn’t even work, because Abaye personally, he doesn’t learn it so well, but not that one learns the Torah in itself, but generally it doesn’t go that way. This is apparently itself the filtering system, that the father doesn’t teach, and what’s not from the rabbi, she should learn on her own.

Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. Perhaps the father must then teach, she asks the father, I don’t know, she should learn herself from a book or from a rabbi who… yes.

“Tiflut” — What Does This Word Mean?

Speaker 1: The Sages said, whoever teaches his daughter Torah is as if he teaches her tiflut (nonsense), as you extracted. What exactly does the word tiflut mean? Not good things. Mainly, tiflut means… in Perush HaMishnayot (Commentary on the Mishnah) it means divrei havai (idle matters). Ah, it seems so. But the language is tiflut.

The Distinction Between Torah She’be’al Peh and Torah She’bichtav for Women

“This refers to Torah she’be’al peh, but Torah she’bichtav, he should not teach her initially,” he also shouldn’t teach initially, “but if he taught,” it’s not a bad thing, “it’s not as if he taught her tiflut.” If she did learn, then… that means even the father can have his own approach, initially the father shouldn’t teach. If he does teach, he should teach Torah she’bichtav, not Torah she’be’al peh.

But if she learns Torah she’be’al peh herself, she has reward, but not the same reward as one who is metzuveh ve’oseh. Right? Yes.

Discussion: The Acharonim (Later Authorities) — What About Laws That Are Relevant to a Woman?

And the Acharonim speak about this, what happens with the part of Torah that is relevant to a woman, that she has the mitzvot that a woman is obligated in, laws of Shabbat and so on.

They say a chiddush (novel interpretation), that if because most laws are… because the Rema says that she is obligated, that the woman is indeed obligated in everything she needs. It could be the Rema also means that she doesn’t need to know the pilpul (sharp analysis), she needs to know the halacha le’ma’aseh (practical law).

A Reasoning: Because Talmud Leads to Action — Should a Woman Learn?

Apparently she’s also not so obligated, according to that approach not so obligated, but she receives reward like the reward of one who is not commanded and does, because Talmud brings to action. Yes, but the reasoning is actually like the approach, because we learned that if one doesn’t learn… one doesn’t know. Why else do you need an answer to that question? Because we see in Tractate Sotah, it says there with the four questions, and it doesn’t seem that she should know, and women are exempt. If a person is obligated to learn, or if an inadvertent error in Talmud is considered intentional, he’s obligated to learn, and if he makes a mistake because he didn’t learn, it’s a sin. But a woman whom we don’t require to learn, and when she makes a mistake one can come to her with consolation. But we see that the Acharonim did try to sweeten it a bit and did allow teaching women.

Most of Torah a Woman Can Learn

So for example, the Rema says that things that are relevant to her she may learn, so you already have most of Torah she can learn, and most of Torah is not mitzvot she’hazman grama (time-bound commandments). And the mitzvot she’hazman grama also, yes, Shabbat she’s obligated, and Yom Tov during the time of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) she’s obligated, all mitzvot… I mean, basically everything she’s obligated, almost in everything, except for… except for the mitzvot she’hazman grama.

The Distinction Between “Things That Are Relevant” and “Her Domain”

Speaker 2: So you mean to say that she’s more than there’s no distinction?

Speaker 1: No, no, laws of niddah (menstrual purity), salting, the things… the things that she needs to know practically, that the husband knows less. The wife is the one who takes care of her laws of niddah, or she takes care…

Speaker 2: But you don’t mean to say things that are relevant, that’s the question. The things that are her domain, that she needs to take care of.

Speaker 1: The Rambam that you said earlier, that the wife is the one who salts the meat in the home, and one must teach her how to salt meat. That’s not the laws of the Torah, that’s a preparation, that’s a manual of how to make meat. Perhaps that’s the distinction. Perhaps those titles that you said, perhaps that’s the distinction. And it’s obvious that she needs to know, she can’t figure out being kosher.

Digression: The Chatam Sofer and the Satmar Rebbe — Can Halacha Change?

But anyway, indeed, the Chatam Sofer wrote in his introduction to the laws of Gittin, that the halacha has changed, and the Satmar Rebbe was very upset about this, he says in his book Vayoel Moshe, in the section on Lashon HaKodesh (the Holy Tongue), I remember, he says there an article, how can the Torah change? But it’s not a question on the Chatam Sofer, because the Rambam says “a person must learn the reality,” that most women are like this. It’s not a law, this isn’t a law, this isn’t a Beit… the law is, the law remains the law, that if it’s a positive time-bound commandment, it doesn’t change. If someone says that today one should indeed teach women, it doesn’t mean he’s going against Chazal, but the women have indeed changed, and women are more sophisticated. In the past women couldn’t read, they were illiterate. But in practice, if women read, it makes a lot of sense that a woman learns everything, and she… perhaps they even learn more strongly than the men in a certain sense. Well, if the husband tells her, “You know, we can’t be like Tosafot experts, while she knows every Kli Yakar with every…

Women Learning Torah — Continuation and Conclusion

Halacha 16: The Claim That Women Have Changed — No Contradiction to Chazal

If someone says that today one should indeed teach women, it doesn’t mean he’s going against Chazal, because the women have indeed changed, and a woman today is more sophisticated.

Women of the past couldn’t read, they were illiterate, but today women can read. It makes a lot of sense that a woman learns everything, and their learning is even stronger than the men’s in certain things.

Yes, the husband who comes home and doesn’t know any Tosafot Yom Tov, and she knows every Kli Yakar with every commentator — it’s a great embarrassment. It’s an embarrassment twice over.

Two Reasons Why Women Should Learn

First of all, that the men should learn from the women and begin to learn a bit of Chumash with commentators. Yes.

But there are also two reasons. One that you say, and what the Chafetz Chaim said, is that one must never weigh against the will of Hashem. But if the other side is that she’ll go learn all kinds of nonsense, it’s certainly not simple that the posek (halachic authority) meant that the woman should have her head full of nonsense from all of TikTok, but not a word of Torah which isn’t…

“Distinguished Women” in Torah Study — Analogy from Laws of Pesach

But it’s interesting, for example, regarding, let’s say, in the laws of Pesach, “distinguished women” — there are different types of women. Why shouldn’t we say “distinguished women” also regarding Torah study?

“Most Women” — A Reality-Based Concept That Changes

Eh, there’s a midrash. Someone told me, “most women,” someone told me, if one may have a minority opinion we said. “Most” means most in his time. It can go up between all generations, and today it’s from the minority. It can be with that.

I said there, if someone says that tomorrow will be a bit different, it’s not a contradiction, because there’s clearly the halacha that the good time he told us, and the good time can indeed change with the situation, with the reality in the world.

Personal Testimony: The Shatz-Rova Rav Learned Gemara with His Daughter

My holy grandfather, the Shatz-Rova’er, learned Gemara with his daughter. Ah, it’s already so.

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Thus far the Laws of Torah Study for today.