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Torah Study

Values
Torah study involves the study of sacred Jewish texts, like the Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, and works of midrash, kabbalah, and Jewish thought. It is considered central to religious practice, with blessings acknowledging the commandment to engage in Torah study and thanking God for giving the Torah featured at the beginning of daily liturgy. The subject, form, and nature of Torah study vary between individuals and communities.
Notable Sources
All Sources
A
When You Lie Down and When You Get Up
TANAKH
This passage from the Book of Deuteronomy, which is included in the morning and evening prayer services, calls for learning and teaching Torah regularly. According to many legal authorities, this is the source of the commandment to engage in Torah study.
Hear, O Israel! יהוה is our God, יהוה alone. You shall love your God יהוה with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Transformative Torah Study
TALMUD
In rabbinic literature, Torah study has the ability to completely transform an individual. In this talmudic story, a bandit transforms into a great Torah scholar through the power of Torah study and a dedicated mentor.
The Gemara relates: One day, Rabbi Yoḥanan was bathing in the Jordan River. Reish Lakish saw him and jumped into the Jordan, pursuing him. At that time, Reish Lakish was the leader of a band of marauders. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Reish Lakish: Your strength is fit for Torah study. Reish Lakish said to him: Your beauty is fit for women. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: If you return to the pursuit of Torah, I will give you my sister in marriage, who is more beautiful than I am. Reish Lakish accepted upon himself to study Torah…
Bava Metzia 84a:12-18
Learning and Not Forgetting
MIDRASH
It can be challenging to remember large quantities of information, and Torah study covers a vast amount of content. This collection of rabbinic interpretations on Song of Songs describes how the people of Israel originally heard the Torah in a way that could not be forgotten.
Rabbi Yudan in the name of Rabbi Yuda bar Rabbi Simon, Rabbi Yehuda, and Rabbi Neḥemya. Rabbi Yehuda says: At the moment that Israel heard: “I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:2), Torah study was affixed in their heart and they would study and would not forget. They came to Moses and said: ‘Moses our master, you become an intermediary between us, as it is stated: "You speak to us and we will hear” (Exodus 20:16), “Now, why shall we die? (Deuteronomy 5:22). What benefit would there be in our demise?’ They reverted to studying and forgetting…
Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:2:4
Unbounded Love
LITURGY
Jewish sources compare the relationship between teacher and student to a loving parent-child relationship. This daily prayer describes God giving and receiving love through learning and teaching Torah.
[With] unbounded love You have loved us Adonoy, our God; [With] great and abundant pity have You pitied us. Our Father, our King! for the sake of our forefathers who trusted in You, and whom You taught statutes of life, so too, be gracious to us and teach us. Our Father, merciful Father, Who acts with compassion have compassion on us and put into our hearts to comprehend, and to be intellectually creative, to listen, to learn, and to teach, to preserve, to practice, and to fulfill all the words of instruction in Your Torah with love…
Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Blessings of the Shema, Second Blessing before Shema 1
Communal Education
HALAKHAH
Parents are a child’s first teachers, but it takes a village to complete the education. Rambam (12th century, Spain) explains in his law code, Mishneh Torah, that teaching one’s own child is only the beginning.
Just as a person is obligated to teach his son, so, too, is he obligated to teach his grandson, as [Deuteronomy 4:9] commands: "And you shall teach them to your sons and your grandsons."
[Furthermore, this charge is not confined] to one's children and grandchildren alone. Rather, it is a mitzvah for each and every wise man to teach all students, even though they are not his children, as [Deuteronomy 6:7] states: "And you shall teach them to your sons..." The oral tradition explains: "Your sons," these are your students, for students are also called sons…
Mishneh Torah, Torah Study 1:2
“I Wanted to Learn Torah”
MIDRASH
Torah study is an essential part of the process of becoming a Jew. This collection of biblical interpretations tells an elaborate story about the nephew of a famous Roman general and enemy of the Jewish people who wished to learn Torah to become Jewish, and what he ultimately accomplished.
(Exod. 21:1:) AND THESE ARE THE ORDINANCES…. This text is related (to Ps. 147:19–20): HE DECLARES HIS WORDS TO JACOB, <HIS STATUTES AND ORDINANCES TO ISRAEL>. HE HAS NOT DONE SO FOR ANY NATION; <AND, AS FOR HIS ORDINANCES, THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THEM>. Aquila the son of Hadrian's sister wanted to convert to Judaism, but he was afraid of his uncle Hadrian. He said to him: I want to engage in a business. He said to him: Do you perhaps lack silver or gold? Here, you have the treasury before you…
Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Mishpatim 3:1
Teach Your Children
TOSEFTA
The rabbis list at least five, and maybe six, obligations that a parent has to a child. This list from the Tosefta is quoted in the Talmud as it discusses what it means for parents to be obligated to teach their children Torah.
Which is a positive time-caused mitzvah [for which women/wives are exempt]? Sukkah, lulav and tefilin. Which is a positive non-time-caused mitzvah? [Returning a] lost object, sending away the mother bird [in order to take the eggs], [setting up] a railing [on your roof] and tzitzit. Rabbi Shimon exempts wives from tzitzit because it is a positive time-caused mitzvah. Which is a mitzvah of the son about [his] father? Feeding, giving drink, clothing, anointing, taking out and bringing in, washing his face, hands and legs…
Tosefta Kiddushin 1:8
Serving God
JEWISH THOUGHT
Torah study isn’t only a way to gain knowledge, but also a way of serving the Divine. In this theological discourse, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (18th century, Italy) discusses some of the spiritual implications of serving God through Torah study.
Regarding Torah study according to the matter of the influences: Among the influences that are brought from Him, may He be blessed, for the needs of His creatures, [Torah study] is the most precious and sublime of all that can be found in existence. That means that it is the greatest entity of all that which can be found to be similar to His true existence, may He be blessed, and that can be found to have preciousness and sublimity similar to His true sublimity, may He be blessed. And it is that which the Master, blessed be His name…
Derekh Hashem, Part Four, On Torah Study 2
A Daily Practice
HALAKHAH
Jewish legal sources emphasize the importance of Torah study as a daily practice. In his legal code, Rabbi Yosef Karo (16th century, Israel) explains that parts of the daily liturgy are designed to ensure that people learn Torah each day.
They established that one should recite the part of "Eyzehu M'komam" and the baraita of Rabbi Ishmael after the section of the daily offering in order that every person would attain merit by learning Bible, Mishnah, and Talmud every day in that the baraita of Rabbi Ishmael is in place of Talmud since midrash is like Talmud.
Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 50:1
School of Talmudists, painting by Samuel Hirszenberg 1887, National Museum in Kraków
School of Talmudists, painting by Samuel Hirszenberg 1887, National Museum in Kraków

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