This week’s parasha, Parashat VaYelech, presents the final mitzvah of taryag – the 613 commandments. The Torah teaches, “and now, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the Children of Israel…” Based on this verse, our chachamim teach that each of us is obligated to write a sefer Torah – a sefer Torah that contains “this song”.
The Sefer HaChinuch explains that writing a Torah provides the means for a person to learn Torah without having to rely on a friend’s Torah or the Torah of the community. Writing one’s own Torah promotes Torah study.
In discussing the importance of this mitzvah, our Rabbis provide an additional explanation regarding this commandment. They teach that one who personally writes a sefer Torah is as if he received it from Mount Sinai.
Metaphors are a teaching tool and our rabbis employ them to teach ideas. What additional message about the commandment to write a Torah are our Rabbis teaching?
Torah comes in two forms – the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. The Written and Oral Torahs are inseparable and together constitute “The Torah”. The Written Torah, Torah she’bichtav, is the text of the Torah itself. The Oral Torah, Torah she’be’al peh, is the body of teachings that explain the Torah – teachings that are to be taught orally. While these Torah she’be’al peh teachings are now recorded in the Talmud, a written document, their oral character is retained in the conversational style of Talmudic writing and in the intensive discussions that flow from serious Talmud study.
The Torah, in both of its forms, is to be transmitted from one generation to the next. In his Introduction to the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides writes, “Moshe wrote all of the Torah by hand before he died and he gave a sefer to each tribe and place one sefer as testimony in the ark (of the covenant) … and the ‘mitzvah’, which is the explanation of the Torah, he did not write down. Instead, he commanded (about) it to the elders and to Yehoshua and to the rest of Israel … Therefore, it is called Oral Torah.” Hence, the Jewish People are obligated to pass down each form of the Torah, Written and Oral, in its respective form – the Written Torah as a complete Torah text and the Oral Torah as an oral body of explanatory teaching.
Through their explanation that one who writes a Torah is comparable to one who receiving the Torah from Mount Sinai, the Rabbis are teaching that the mitzvah of writing one’s own sefer Torah has an aim greater than the practical consideration of facilitating Torah learning. Through writing a Torah, one engages in the process of the transmission of Torah – the mesora-process. Engaging in the process of Torah-transmitting complements Torah-learning – but is a separate and distinct aim.
Last night, the Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys held its annual Evening of Torah Learning in preparation for Yom Kippur and Sukkot. This magnificent and well-attended event featured five shiurim – Torah lessons – delivered by CYHSB students. Working with their rebbeim, each of these students presented sources and analysis that uncovered Torah ideas related to topics about which the students have been learning. Rabbi Gersten and Rabbi Harris were instrumental in making this program such a success.
As an audience-member at the Evening of Torah Learning, I was struck that these students are full participants in the mesora-process, in the process of transmitting Torah. Like our Rabbis’ explanation that writing a sefer Torah is comparable to receiving a Torah from Mount Sinai, last night’s Evening of Torah Learning was a reenactment of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Like Moshe Rabbenu, these students transmitted Torah to the Jewish People.
Each one of us is obligated to transmit Torah. Whether through giving a shiur, teaching Torah to our children or supporting Jewish education with money and/or time, each of us should strive to transmit Torah, however we can.
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