TALMUD TORAH K’NEGED KULAM – “The study of Torah encompasses them all”

Throughout Jewish history, our tradition has held that learning (i.e. “study of Torah”) is the greatest virtue – as it leads to the performance of mitzvot (sacred obligation) and therefore includes the entire range of values that Judaism promotes. This is why we celebrate learning throughout the life-cycle with such great joy.

We have an upcoming opportunity in our community to participate with the Jewish people world-wide in such an occasion. Spearheaded by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz – one of the most prolific and influential Jewish text scholars of our day – Jews the world over have been invited to partake in a Global Day of Jewish Learning, which will be held on Sunday, November 7^th. Rabbi Steinsaltz developed this idea to mark a significant accomplishment – the completion of his translation of the Talmud (the multi-volume work of the ancient rabbis, covering several generations of commentary and discourse, which has been one of the major foundations of Jewish thought and learning for centuries).

Our observance here in South Bend is being sponsored by the Jewish Federation along with the congregations. Our Global Day of Jewish Learning event will be held at Federation beginning at 6:30 p.m. Rabbi Friedland of Sinai Synagogue, Rabbi Nebel of the Midwest Torah Center, and I will be teaching (in a “round-robin” style, as we did for a communal night of learning with the rabbis last year) various aspects of Talmud torah – the study of Talmud text, its customary style of teaching, and how the Talmud fits in the context of Jewish learning. My piece of the program will address the history and development of this vital Jewish resource. I hope you will attend this amazing opportunity to share with our fellow Jews around the world in our love for learning.

Commenting on the upcoming Global Day of Jewish Learning, my colleague and teacher Rabbi Jan Katzew (Director of Life Long Learning for the URJ) writes very sweetly about how awe-inspiring it can be to recognize the vastness of Jewish sacred text. “I was humbled and intimidated,” he admits. And then refers to a lesson he learned from our teacher, Dr. Ben Zion Wacholder (another of the great Talmud teachers of our generation; fortunately for Reform rabbis, he has taught us at HUC-JIR, our seminary, for the past five decades). The teacher related the following story:

A “Talmid Chacham”, a Jewish scholar, once claimed to have gone through more than a hundred “pages” of Talmud and felt proud of the accomplishment until he was asked, “How many pages of Talmud have gone through you?”

For some of us, the Talmud may seem foreign and “traditional” Jewish learning might be unfamiliar. Whether you are well-versed in Jewish texts or a complete novice, our Day of Global Jewish Learning is an opportunity for all of us, no matter what our background, to share in the real joy, uplift and meaningfulness of our heritage. Join me, and together let’s find ways, as taught above, for Talmud Torah to go through us.