Talmud

Light of Memory: Talmud Study’s Power in Parshat Naso

Parashat HaShavua, Talmud

Parshat Naso commands the Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim). The Kohanim bless Israel with three verses: (Numbers 6:24-26)
יְבָרֶכְךָ ה’ וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ.
יָאֵר ה’ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָ.
יִשָּׂא ה’ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם.

The Torah Temimah by Rabbi Baruch Epstein organizes these verses into three types of divine favor. The first verse grants physical sustenance, the second bestows spiritual light, and the third offers mercy beyond justice. This framework reflects God’s comprehensive care for Israel.

  1. First Verse: “May the Lord bless you and safeguard you” , יְבָרֶכְךָ ה’ וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ.
    • Physical Favor: These are explicit gifts, like “Blessed be your basket” (Deuteronomy 28:5, בָּרוּךְ טַנְאֲךָ). They include wealth, health, and fertility, sustaining the physical world.
  2. Second Verse: “May the Lord illuminate His countenance upon you and be gracious to you” יָאֵר ה’ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָ.
    • Spiritual Light: A Midrash (Sifrei Bamidbar) explains: “This is the light of Torah” (זה מאור תורה), citing Proverbs 6:23, “For a mitzvah is a lamp, and Torah is light” (כי נר מצוה ותורה אור). The Torah Temimah defines this as memory to recall forgotten Torah.
  3. Third Verse: “May the Lord lift His countenance to you and establish for you peace”  יִשָּׂא ה’ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
    • Merciful Grace: This transcends justice (lifnim mishurat hadin), granting favor despite faults, ensuring peace.

The Torah Temimah clarifies the second verse’s ma’or Torah. It cites Berachot 57b: “One who sees olive oil in a dream should expect the light of Torah” (הרואה שמן זית בחלום יצפה למאור תורה). In Horayot 13b, olive oil restores “seventy years of learning” (תלמודו של שבעים שנה). Shabbat 151a equates “radiant” (nahir) with sharp memory. Thus, ma’or Torah blesses us to retain and revive Torah knowledge.

The Greatness of Talmud Study

The Torah Temimah’s memory focus highlights Talmud study’s power. Talmud’s sugyot—complex debates like those in Berachot 57b—train the mind to recall Torah. A chavruta partner’s question may revive a verse studied years ago. For example, a mishnah in Horayot can spark memory of a related halacha. This is ma’or Torah: Torah stays alive in the heart.

Talmud study is a spiritual blessing. The Midrash links ma’or Torah to divine light, connecting learners to God’s wisdom. Olive oil, per Berachot 57b, evokes the Temple’s menorah, symbolizing Torah’s radiance. Studying one daf kindles this light. Online resources make Talmud accessible. Beginners can start, and ma’or Torah blesses their effort, reviving past learning.

This blessing is practical. Talmud’s arguments sharpen memory, ensuring no Torah is lost. A single page connects disparate texts, like Horayot 13b to Shabbat 151a. This trains learners to hold Torah fast, fulfilling the priestly blessing’s promise.

Begin Talmud Study This Week

The Torah Temimah invites you to Talmud study, where each daf strengthens memory and soul. Start with Parshat Naso or a Talmud page.

Contact me for an online session at https://yosefcornfeld.com or subscribe for weekly parsha insights. Let Talmud’s light guide you.

 

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Applying Case, Law, Factor to the Mishnah

Talmud

For this exercise, we will take to formula for the Mishnah discussed in the last blog post: “Case, Law, Factor”, and apply them to the first Mishnah in Baba Metzia. The first part of the Mishnah reads as follows, with a literal English translation:

שְׁנַיִם אוֹחֲזִין בְּטַלִּית, זֶה אוֹמֵר אֲנִי מְצָאתִיהָ וְזֶה אוֹמֵר אֲנִי מְצָאתִיהָ, זֶה אוֹמֵר כֻּלָּהּ שֶׁלִּי וְזֶה אוֹמֵר כֻּלָּהּ שֶׁלִּי, זֶה יִשָּׁבַע שֶׁאֵין לוֹ בָהּ פָּחוֹת מֵחֶצְיָהּ, וְזֶה יִשָּׁבַע שֶׁאֵין לוֹ בָהּ פָּחוֹת מֵחֶצְיָהּ, וְיַחֲלֹקוּ.

 

  1. שְׁנַיִם אוֹחֲזִין בְּטַלִּית, Two are holding a Tallit
  2. זֶה אוֹמֵר אֲנִי מְצָאתִיהָ וְזֶה אוֹמֵר אֲנִי מְצָאתִיהָ, This one says: “I found it” and that one says:  “I found it”
  3. זֶה אוֹמֵר כֻּלָּהּ שֶׁלִּי וְזֶה אוֹמֵר כֻּלָּהּ שֶׁלִּי, This one says: “It’s all mine” and that one says: “It’s all mine”.
  4. זֶה יִשָּׁבַע שֶׁאֵין לוֹ בָהּ פָּחוֹת מֵחֶצְיָהּ, וְזֶה יִשָּׁבַע שֶׁאֵין לוֹ בָהּ פָּחוֹת מֵחֶצְיָהּ, This one swears that he does  not possess less than half of it, and that one swears that he does not possess less than half of it
  5. וְיַחֲלֹקוּ. And they split it.

 

The normal order is to start by identifying the case. Line 1 is obviously describing the case. In order to understand what the case is we need to fill in some of blanks – read between the lines. Where are they that they are holding this Tallit? From the context, and the continuation of the Mishnah, we can surmise that they are standing before the court, with both of them holding the Tallit. Now we come to line 2. This seems to be the continuation of the Case of line 1, namely that the two people who are holding the Tallit both claim that they found it. Then when we come to line 3, and they both claim that it all theirs, we wonder: Is this the same Case, or is it a new Case. In other words, do each of two people holding the Tallit make the claim: “I found it and it’s all mine”? Or perhaps this is two separate cases, where in both cases there are two people holding the Tallit, and in the first case they both claim: “I found it” and in the second case they both claim: “It’s all mine.” Indeed, this is the first discussion in the Gemarah, whether this is one case, where both claim to have found it first, and therefor “It’s all mine” hence the two claims for the same case. The other possibility is that it is two cases, the first one where both claim to have found it, and the second case that both claim to have bought it.

 

That brings us to the Law: each one takes an oath that “not less than half of it is mine”. As a continuation of the Law, once they take the oath, they split the Tallit.

 

We see that there is no Factor, no reason given in the Mishnah for the Law. This is the more common form of the Mishnah, that no reason is given. This is where we have to ponder the reason for the Law, and this is very often what the Gemarah will do. In our Mishna here, the Law is complex. One aspect is that they both take an oath. Another aspect is the wording of the oath. And once the oath is completed, the Tallit is split between them. These Factors are all discussed in the Gemarah. This we will discuss at a later date.

 

What we have seen from here is that when we think of the Mishna in terms of “Case, Law, Factor,” that it helps us to clarify what exactly the Mishna is teaching us. More on this next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What is the Talmud?

Talmud

Simply stated, the Talmud is the body of the Oral Torah, that was given to Moses together with the Written Torah on Mt. Sinai. Throughout the generations there have been movements both inside and outside of Judaism that have denied the very existence of the Oral Torah. But in fact, any proper understanding of the Written Torah has to have a tradition of how to understand what it says. This is illustrated by a story in the Talmud (Shabbat 31a):

“There was an incident involving one gentile who came before Shammai. The gentile said to Shammai: How many Torahs do you have? He said to him: Two, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. The gentile said to him: With regard to the Written Torah, I believe you, but with regard to the Oral Torah, I do not believe you. Convert me on condition that you will teach me only the Written Torah. Shammai scolded him and cast him out with reprimand. The same gentile came before Hillel, who converted him and began teaching him Torah. On the first day, he showed him the letters of the alphabet and said to him: Alef, bet, gimmel, dalet. The next day he reversed the order of the letters and told him that an alef is a tav and so on. The convert said to him: But yesterday you did not tell me that. Hillel said to him: You see that it is impossible to learn what is written without relying on an oral tradition. Didn’t you rely on me? Therefore, you should also rely on me with regard to the matter of the Oral Torah, and accept the interpretations that it contains.”

The lesson here is that in order to simply understand how to read the words you have to have a tradition of how to read the letters, how to pronounce the words they form, how to interpret how the words connect with each other. This demonstrated to the convert that that in order to understand the text of the Torah, he had to rely on Hillel to teach him how to read the letters. This requires a belief in a tradition of how to read the book. In his wisdom, Hillel showed him that once he is relying on this handed down tradition, that he should rely on all of the handed down tradition, namely the tradition of the Oral Torah.

In the time of Hillel (first century BCE) the Oral Torah was still oral. Indeed, there was a prohibition to write it down. It was only something that you could learn by sitting with a teacher. All of the teaching had to be committed to memory. Indeed, in order to qualify to be an “Amora” – a Rabbi – it was necessary to have memorized the entire body of Mishna.

Today, when we speak about learning Talmud, also known as Gemara, it is a much different thing than it was in the time of Hillel. All of our texts are written down. And the amount of texts that there are to learn in the Oral Torah is overwhelming. It is so vast that there are few that can actually learn all the texts, and even fewer, if anyone, who can master them all.

In the coming weeks and months, we will explore the nature of the Talmud, how it came about, ways to approach learning it.

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What is the Talmud? Some ideas of Rav Adin Steinsaltz

Talmud
Rav Adin Even-Yisrael Steinsaltz

 

Giving an accurate definition of what the Talmud is perplexes many. It is hard to pin down exactly what it is, and to state precisely what it does. Below is a video of Rav Adin Steinsaltz זצ”ל where he addresses the question, and giving us insight into how to understand the Talmud. I have written out some of the more pertinent passages, editing it for clarity and readability. In some places I have altered the transcript to reflect what I thought were the intentions of the Rav. You can judge for yourself by watching the entire video (15 min) which appears at the end of the post.

 

Rav Steinsaltz starts by saying that he will dive right in to the “Sea of the Talmud” to explain it. Here are some of the highlights.

 

“The Talmud is a book that’s very hard to explain because there is  

not a book that is exactly like it. Not just in contents but in the way it is built…

 Generally speaking, it’s a book of discussions, dealing with ideas, problems.  

It is not so much a book that that has conclusions or results but rather discussions about subjects in its own very particular way.…”

 

He then goes on to describe it as interactive learning:

 

“The Talmud is perhaps the first book which is which is made for interactive learning.  

You cannot really read it passively. You will understand very little of it and surely not  enjoy any of it. To deal with it in any level from the simplest to more and more advanced levels, you have to interact. You are not just a passive listener, reader, viewer.  You have somehow to ask, to figure out, to try to understand things. Otherwise  it remains not only a closed book but a text without any meaning whatever.” 

 

The Rav then goes on to explain that the Talmud is the Oral Law, which is based on the Written Law, which is the Bible. The Law was given by Moses as a written text, but in order to understand the text, it needs explanations. These explanations are the Oral Law. He compares it to a manual on how to use a complicated machine. It’s not enough just to read the manual, but it  needs to be accompanied by someone explaining how to understand the manual and how to use the machine. With the passage of time, circumstances change and language changes, so the Oral explanation can adjust for these changes


“One of the of the main reasons why the oral law was kept intentionally and

even religiously as an oral law and not as a written law – up to the to the  

end of the of the of the second, in fact almost the beginning of the third century

in in the common era. Why? Because as long as it is not written it remains something that is transmitted from one generation to another, it means that you can always adjust it to the language, to the usage, and to the problems of any particular age. When it is written down it gets involved into the same problematic as any kind of a written text. Which means it needs its own commentaries and explanations.”

 

“Talmud is all about taking the text of the written law and somehow trying to  

deal with it to make it to make it alive. One of the keys to understand the Talmud as a book because [once it has been written down] it is a stable text [about a Law that has been in movement]. When it was written down it’s a kind of freezing of a movement, taking a picture of a dance, freezing a river in the middle of its flow so you have all the ripples out there. All the half tones still remain there and that is what makes the book in one way far more fascinating, and in the other way it becomes far more hard to get the…”

 Here the video ends in mid-sentence, mid-thought. I hope we can gain access to the rest of this pearl of a video.

 

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Beginnings

Talmud, Torah

New beginnings. I am starting this website because I want to expand my reach to bring more Torah into the world. My title “Talmud 101” is based on the dictum: ואינו דומה שונה פרקו מאה פעמים לשונה פרקו מאה ואחד[חגיגה ט:]  “There is no comparison between someone who learns a piece of Torah 100 times to one who learns it 101 times.

I am using this website to start to put Torah out into the world to make it available to more and more people. And I am offering my services as a teacher of Talmud to help those who want to learn how to learn the Talmud.

There is a methodology to the Talmud, but it is not so apparent at first. The Talmud starts in the middle, and expects that you know everything else except for the subject at hand. It’s almost as if the editors of the Talmud wanted to keep things a secret. Yeshivot seem to operate the same way. They toss the Talmidim into the Sea of the Talmud and expect them to swim. There is not much attention given to the methodology of the debate and logic of the Gemara.

My teacher Rav Mordechai Goldstein ז”ל was a firm believer in teaching the methodology, mainly with Derech Tevunot of the Ramchal, Darkei HaTalmud of Rav Yitzchak Kanfanton. I will be presenting these sefarim, and others in how to analyze and understand the methodology of the Talmud. Stay tuned.

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