1.
How many columnists do you know, or even spiritual teachers, who can sell you an idea, and promise you that if you implement it - just a few minutes each day! - your life will be more peaceful, more balanced, more optimistic?
All these things (and more) I am going to promise you now. And all this in difficult times, during a war, with all the tension and instability. Yes, I pretend to say that I have the formula that will upgrade your consciousness.
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Two of them are called Mikra and one Targum.
Oh, that's the whole story? Going through the daily reading of this week's Torah? That's what you're so excited about? Yes. The truth is, I'm even more excited than it seems. What you just read here is the softened version.
2.
Anyone who follows this column knows how much I am a believer in daily study, with an emphasis on daily. As someone who for years has been unable to persevere over the long term in almost any spiritual acceptance he has taken upon himself (not even that of Yom Kippur during the lockdown), and in general as someone who has started many tractates and books with a lot of motivation but has not been able to finish them – I know that the most effective way to take yourself in hand is to join a regular study course. I know of no other method for people without self-discipline.
I would almost say that it doesn't matter what you study. Because ultimately it's a matter of personal connection. The Sages have already stated that a person does not study except in a place their heart desires. And this place is not just a physical place.
Each one has its own part in the Torah: a daily page (the thing that personally changed my life and started my entire addiction to daily study), daily Mishnah, daily Halacha, daily Tehillim, daily Rambam, daily Tanya. Again, it almost doesn't matter what the first word in the pair of words that describe the cycle you join, the main thing is the second word: daily.
3.
I recently read a wonderful idea by Rabbi Steinman in his commentary on the siddur 'Yamla Pi Tehilatech' (I'm opening parentheses here: someone must publish this book in a new edition that is accessible to the masses. There are such sweet interpretations for each of the prayers, but the book is written in heavy Torah language with acronyms. How I await its edited version!). Rabbi Steinman writes that the world was created so that in physical matters, the body signals us when we need to eat or drink. And it's a good thing that it is, otherwise we would die of hunger or thirst. Literally dead.
But this does not happen. Why? Because long before that we eat. The body will not let us reach such a state. A few hours after breakfast, a person feels hungry and eats lunch. A few more hours pass and he must snack on something for dinner.
But what about something else that we do three times a day? A few hours after we prayed Shacharit, do we feel like we have to pray Mincha? Does that really make us spiritually weak, make it hard for us to concentrate, until we pray? And a few hours after Mincha, do we have a strong hunger for Aravit? No. And there is a reason for that: to give man free choice. This is how God created his world.
Nevertheless, so that a person does not reach spiritual malnutrition, we were given all kinds of commandments intended to remind us of our role in life. The most prominent of these, he writes, is the tzitzit, whose function is "to arouse a person to observe and remember all the commandments, so that you may remember and do them... The threads of the tzitzit remind a person in every direction he turns that he is a servant of God.".
4.
I take this idea to daily study. In fact, you can live your entire life as a person who is largely observant, but you lack some of the staples. You do things out of habit, and also because that's how your parents do it, and overall it's nice – Sukkot is coming up, what a magical holiday! – but if you're not connected to Torah study, something is missing in your balance, in your spiritual health. And your body, what can you do, doesn't signal. True, there may be some side effects of depression, distraction, perhaps reflections on the meaning of life, but nothing dramatic that will make you take care of yourself. And this is where daily study comes in. It closes that corner for you. You will get your portion every day, even if you're not hungry. You will never fall into malnutrition.
And perhaps that is why in our generation, precisely because of the increase in annoyances and distractions, there are so many projects and paths of daily study. In our era, we need permanent anchors that will make us stop the life that washes over us and learn something every day. Perhaps just as the Sages corrected the prayers thousands of years ago, so that we would stop three times a day and receive our spiritual portion, even if the soul does not signal to us that it owes it, so in recent years there have been more and more projects of daily study that take care of our daily nutrition.
5.
But two readings and one translation is far from being a new learning project. After all, it is already written in the Gemara in Tractate Berakhot (page 8, which even those who did not survive the Daf Yomi have access to): "Rabbi Huna bar Yehuda said, Rabbi Ami said: A person will always complete his parshas with the public, two readings and one translation... all those who complete his parshas with the public lengthen his days and years." Oops, I just remembered that I forgot to promise you longevity!
The Shulchan Aruch rules that nowadays even Rashi's commentary is considered a "translation." In other words, what you need to do is read the daily reading with Rashi every day. Sometimes it's very easy, and takes literally four minutes, sometimes a little more. It all depends on the length of the parasha. And yes, also on its level of difficulty. There are difficult parashas. With concepts that we are less familiar with. For example, the book of Leviticus with all the work of the sacrifices.
But the beginning that has come our way in a few days is fascinating. An opportunity to relearn the stories of Genesis from childhood, at a slightly higher level, with all due respect to the kindergarten teacher. Then the Book of Exodus, with all the slavery and miraculous redemption. Then Leviticus, which we have already talked about. Then in the wilderness, the journey of our ancestors to the Land of Israel and everything that happened along the way. Then Deuteronomy, with Moses' farewell speech that is so relevant to our day.
Anyone who has already been in the story of two biblical men can tell you how much encouragement they have drawn from the verses of Moses in recent weeks.
6.
And if you have a hard time with Rashi's writing, like I do (it's a real trigger for me. It reminds me of my failures in yeshiva), don't worry: There are now editions in which Rashi appears in block letters, with punctuation and punctuation. And even with explanations of his words. In other words, Rashi's commentary on Rashi. I recently told Hanoch Dranger, CEO of Oz Vehadar Publishing, that in recent years it has been publishing, more or less, the entire ancient Jewish bookcase in new and enlightening editions, which essentially destroy all our excuses for not setting times for Torah. Everything is so inviting and beautiful. There's nowhere to run.
Just a small note of warning: The very first parashah of Genesis, with which we will begin the Pentateuch, in the week of Simchat Torah, actually begins with a particularly long reading. The entire creation of the world is there in this reading, with a long and exhausting Rashi commentary. Okay, let's go through it together. Think of it as a consolidation for the beginning, after you go through it everything is easy. And this year it turns out that there is actually one short day to study the entire parashah, the Friday after Simchat Torah. Okay, consolidation, I tell you. A week later, we already get a full week with the fascinating parashah of Noah. And then Abraham our father steps onto the stage of history.
And it's okay if you don't understand every word in Rashi. The main thing is the daily connection to the parasha. To the pulse of the Jewish world, to the Jewish story, and to the Giver of the Torah who chose us from all the peoples. So you didn't really understand the verses in "Rishon"? Not bad. Tomorrow comes a new day, Monday, which brings with it "Shani." And the day after that, "Third." And so on.
There will be days you might miss. But you are always in touch. If you leave me for a day – tomorrow we will get to meet. Because I don't despair. I don't have that option. I have a structured, daily work plan.
7.
And all of this before we even talked about the personal side of Torah study, and the halachic obligation of setting times for Torah. With an emphasis on "setting." Every day.
But before all else and after all, a few minutes of investment every morning and you receive reinforcement, a vaccine, a daily dose of a comforting connection to history, to sources, to faith, to the word of God, in confusing and challenging days. So shall we begin the day after Simchat Torah? This year it is also so symbolic. Out of the darkness we ask, to get up tomorrow morning and start from the beginning.
