Deuteronomy 29:9- 31:30
This week we continue the address of Moses to the congregation. During this he notes:
Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, "Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?" Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?" No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your mind, to observe it. [Deut 30:11-14]
There are many interesting midrashim about this passage. The rabbis open up one such midrash with a verse from Proverbs:
Wisdom is as unattainable to a fool as corals; he opens not his mouth in the gate (Prov. XXIV, 7). What is the meaning of,’ Wisdom is as unattainable to a fool as corals’? R. Tanhuma said: The fool enters a synagogue and sees people there engaged in discussing the law, and as he knows not what they are saying he feels ashamed…
The Rabbis say: The fool enters the synagogue, and seeing there people occupying themselves with the law he asks: 'How does a man begin to learn the law?’ They answer him: ‘First a man reads from a Scroll, then the Book [of the law], and then the prophets, and then the Hagiographa; when he has completed the study of the Scriptures he learns the Talmud, and then the Halakah, and then the Aggadah.’ After hearing all this [the fool] says to himself, ‘When can I learn all this?’ and he turns back from the gate. This is the force of, ’He opens not his mouth in the gate.’ [Deut R VIII]
If this didn’t make any sense, R. Jannai gives a parable.
R. Jannai said: This can be compared to a loaf suspended in the air; the fool says, ‘Who can bring it down?’ But the wise man says, ‘Did not someone suspend it? ‘And he takes a ladder or a stick and brings it down. So anyone who is a fool says: ‘When will I succeed in reading the whole law? ' But the man who is wise-what does he do? He learns one chapter every day until he completes the whole law. God said: ' IT IS NOT TOO HARD, but if [you find it] too hard, it is your own fault, because you do not study it.’
This all comes to mind because it is Elul and September. This is back to school time once again. My first day of Hebrew studies for the academic year is this week, and many school children once again take up the aleph bet and the rest. But for many in their later years there is a resistance to learning. Apparently this was a problem in the time of the rabbis as much as today for them to write these midrash. The rabbis knew the study of Torah was an endless task. There are so many levels involved that it is not a task that anyone can do instantly, nor can it ever be completed in a life time. The fool of these stories sees study and has a reaction of not studying. The fool is intimidated and ashamed he is not among this number of scholars. In his shame he turns for the door since he feels he does not belong there. In the second case he sees the end product, knows the process, but thinks he does not have time to do the work.
Yet there is a wonderful story found in another midrash to remind us it is never too late to learn:
What were Akiva's beginnings?
It is said: Up to the age of forty, he had not yet studied a thing. One time, while standing by the mouth of a well in Lydda, he inquired, "Who hollowed out this stone?" and was told, "Akiva, haven't you read [in Scripture] that 'water wears away stone' [Job 14:19]?--it was water [from the well] falling upon it constantly, day after day. "At that, R. Akiva asked himself: Is my mind harder than this stone? I will go and study at least one section of Torah. He went directly to a schoolhouse, and he and his son began reading from a child's tablet. R. Akiva took hold of one end of the tablet, and his son of the other end. The teacher wrote down alef and bet for him, and he learned them; alef to tav, and he learned them; the book of Leviticus, and he learned it. He went on studying until he learned the whole Torah. [Avot R. Natan 6]
This story of R. Akiba’s education, who would become one of the greatest scholars of all time, started strangely enough in mid-life observing a stone, hollowed away by drops of water. He took that a a model for learning, taking everything in drop by drop. We read elsewhere he took a total of twenty four years of study to achieve his scholarly greatness. [b. Ketubot 62-63a]
Jewish practice is based on divine revelation of mitzvot happening very rarely, if not only once at Sinai. Judaism is not a religion which believes that people can change the rules on their own by talking to God. Moses in his speech is reminding the people that from now on there is no divine revelation of law, there is only the judgment of a majority. With the death of Moses, there will be no more like Moses, in that there will be no more telling us laws and practices. Granted the prophets tell us that we’re doing those practices wrong, but in very rare emergencies does anyone create a new law. It’s all there in Torah.
Our verse is even quoted by the rabbis in the famous case of Baba Metzia 59b. In the story, rabbi Eliezer Calls on a Divine voice, a bat kol, to prove his legal point. When the voice from heaven agrees with R. Eliezer, R. Joshua objects, quoting “it is not in heaven!” God’s reaction to this, it is claimed, was laughing in joy repeatedly saying “my sons have defeated me!” Whether this really happened or was propaganda for strengthening the rabbinic authority, it does reflect a major theme of Judaism, the core of our passage in Deuteronomy. We are a religion where God’s commandments to us are as close as our mouths and our minds - the discourse of the house of study.
The Torah is as close as education. Education is to say the least not easy and does take a lot of time. In my fourth year of grad school and my ninth year of studying Hebrew, I realize how much more I have to go. Akiba learned his aleph-bet and even Leviticus rather fast, yet even he took twenty-four years to study enough to be the scholar we celebrate today. And while he had an incredible mind for halakic works, apparently many rabbis thought him inferior in some other areas of study. Even the great R. Akiba was uneven in his studies.
The point of education is not that it is done and gotten over. It is a process of learning, and there is always more to learn, drop by drop. I might eventually learn this Rabbinic Hebrew I’m struggling with now. But learning it is only a step into a bigger world of actually delving into the material of the rabbis, be it Midrash Rabbah or the lesser know ARN or Sifrei. There’s always more to study and learn. And while we are learning, we still transmit it to others, spreading the knowledge of mitzvot tradition and story of the Jewish people.
Jewish education is really never far. All it really needs is a book like Torah or Mishnah and a few people talking and thinking about the divine words on the page. While not believing in divine revelation of mitzvot any more the Talmudic Rabbis did equate conversation of Torah with divine revelation in the Perkei Avot:
If three have eaten at one table, and have spoken thereat words of Torah, [it is] as if they had eaten at the table of the All-present, Blessed be He [M. Avot 3:3]
[When there are] ten sitting together and occupying themselves with Torah, the Shechinah abides among them, as it is said: God stands in the congregation of God. [M. Avot 3:6]
As Elul ends and we get ready for the new year of 5766, whether you study every day or not at all, everyone should consider as a new years resolution adding a little more Study to their lives. Every time I walk into the classroom, I am always awed by the students and teachers around me and our divine conversation. Whether it is a grammatical point or a discussion of the legitimacy of the death penalty, the Shechinah resides among us every Wednesday night. I remember that a decade ago I knew nothing. And like Akiba before he studied, I was even hostile to scholars. Yet later in life I, like Akiba, am learning and working towards being one of those same scholars. I’m still growing, taking things step by step, not ashamed about where I am still ignorant, nor would I ever consider I’ll quit because I don’t have the time to study.
It is easy to be the lazy fool or the ashamed fool, But it is such a joy to have the Shechinah as a guest at your table. May you have the privilege of her sitting at your tables too.
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