The Rambam writes in Sefer HaMitzvot, and haMitzvah HaYod-Aleph hi שציוונו ללמוד חכמת התורה וללמדה. וזהו שנקרא תלמוד תורה. והוא אמרו ושננתם לבניך. ובלשון ספרי לבניך אלו תלמידיך. וכן אתה מוצא בכל מקום
shehatalmidim kruyim banim, שנאמר ויצאו בני הנביאים. Vesham in the Sifrei ne'emar another drasha, ושננתם שיהיו מחודדים בתוך פיך, כשאדם שואלך דבר לא תהא מגמגם לו אלא אמור לו מיד.
That last drasha of the Sifrei that the Rambam quotes, the Gemara in Kiddushin quotes it also, that veshinantam שיהיו דברי תורה מחודדים בפיך, that it should be at the tip of a person's tongue. שאם ישאלך אדם דבר לא תהא מגמגם לו, אלא אמור לו מיד.
He should be able to answer immediately. That's the degree of command of divrei Torah which we aspire to under Mitzvat Talmud Torah. But why is the Rambam quoting this in Sefer HaMitzvot? In Sefer HaMitzvot, the Rambam doesn't tell us the dinim of the mitzvot. Sefer HaMitzvot is intended as a list of the mitzvot. Rambam doesn't tell us—he tells us Mitzvat Tefillin is to—doesn't tell us any of the dinim of what Tefillin are. Sefer HaMitzvot is intended—the Rambam said he made himself a checklist in anticipation of writing Mishneh Torah, so he made himself a checklist that he shouldn't forget any of the Taryag Mitzvot. So it's intended just to be a listing of the mitzvah with the most elemental definition of the mitzvah. This is already a prat within the mitzvah that שיהיו דברי תורה מחודדים בפיך. Ela mai, that the Rambam explains in the Hakdama to Sefer HaMitzvot that he will be ma'arich when his minyan—when the rationale for his minyan isn't self-evident. When there's something which is either mechudash in the Rambam's minyan, when the Rambam is diverging from his predecessors amongst the moneh hamitzvot, so then the Rambam will make his case. He'll show to us, he'll prove to us that his minyan is the correct one. And clearly that's the case here as well. If you look in Rav Saadia Gaon Sefer HaMitzvot, so Rav Saadia Gaon has lilmod and lelamed as two different mitzvot. And the Rambam has it as a single mitzvah. Here in Sefer HaMitzvot and of course in the Yad as well, ללמוד חכמת התורה וללמדה. So how does the Rambam know that it's one mitzvah? If anything, the sevara is like Rav Saadia Gaon. As interconnected as the two are, but they're clearly very distinct. Ein hachi nami, it's a good thing to learn before you teach, I'm always working out—not always consistent on that, but it clearly is a good thing, you really should do that. As I say, not as I do. Where was I? So they're obviously interconnected, but that interconnection notwithstanding doesn't conflate them into one mitzvah. Mikra Bikkurim is interconnected with Hava'at Bikkurim, it's two different mitzvot in the minyan hamitzvot. So the Rambam is proving to us how he knows it should be one mitzvah. Veshinantam levanecha, so the Rambam quotes two drashot of the Sifrei on the phrase, on the pasuk of Veshinantam levanecha. The first one he quotes, velashon Sifrei, again המצוה הי"א היא שציוונו ללמוד חכמת התורה וללמדה. And he says—I skip a few words—and he says Veshinantam levanecha. Velashon Sifrei he quotes two drashot of the Sifrei, levanecha eleh talmidecha, vesham ne'emar, again skipping. The first drasha of the Sifrei of banecha eilu talmidecha reflects the fact that v'shinantam means to teach. To whom do you teach? So it doesn't mean that you teach only your biological sons. No, banecha eilu talmidecha. So the first drasha of the Sifrei reflects and is anchored in an understanding that v'shinantam means to teach. The second drasha of the Sifrei, שיהיו מחודדים בתוך פיך, reflects and is anchored in an understanding that v'shinantam means you should learn. To what degree should you learn? What type of command of divrei Torah should you have? Ad k'dei kach, not just that if you're holding in the sugya, no, someone comes out and asks, emor lo miyad. So you see al pi haSifrei that the Torah combined lilmod u'lilamed into a single word. Now let's reread a phrase that we skipped the second time around. המצוה הי"א היא שצונו ללמוד חכמת התורה וללמדה וזהו שנקרא תלמוד תורה.
It's so funny וזהו שנקרא תלמוד תורה. I don't know before we opened the Sefer Hamitzvos, I think we knew what talmud Torah meant. It wasn't one of the words where we would be inclined to pull out our dictionary. But the Rambam's saying וזהו הנקרא תלמוד תורה. So what does he mean? So the Rambam means like this. In Lashon Hakodesh when you want to form, you have a three-letter shoresh and you want to form out of that shoresh, not a verb, but a noun, so there are different ways of doing it. One of the ways that a noun is constructed from a shoresh is you have a taf before the shoresh and you have a vav between the second and third letters of the shoresh. So for instance, tanchumei aveilim. Tanchumei aveilim. It's a lashon mikra also, not just a lashon Chazal, it's a lashon mikra also. We speak of tanchumim, tanchumim. Mah ashiv l'Hashem, we just said Hallel Rosh Chodesh, kol tagmuluhi alay. So the shoresh is nun-ches-mem in the case of tanchumim. You have the taf before the shoresh, you have the vav between the second and third letters of the shoresh. Just two more minutes of dikduk, everybody stay hold on. This is good stuff, this is good stuff. And tagmuluhi also, the shoresh is gimmel-mem-lamed. You have the taf before the gimmel-mem, you have the vav between the mem and the lamed. Okay, fine. And that's Talmud is, the word Talmud is built the same way. Okay. But the shoresh lamed-mem-dalet, when you make it into the noun, are you assuming lamed-mem-dalet as in limmed, teach? Or are you assuming lamed-mem-dalet as in lamad, learn? Which of the two meanings or form of the shoresh lamed-mem-dalet is reflected in the noun Talmud? So in the case of tanchumei aveilim, we're working off the l'nachem. Right? So if you would sort of extrapolate from there, so then Talmud is working off of l'lammed. In tagmuluhi alay is lashon ligmol chesed. So if you work off of that, so then Talmud is built not from limmed, but from lamad, not from l'lammed, but from lilmod. So which does it mean? It means both. Says the Rambam, so you also see that Lashon Chazal, the phrase Chazal use for Torah is a phrase that means both lilmod u'lilamed. Why? Because you see that's what the Torah did in Veshinantam, because it's one mitzvah. Nifla me'od, Rambam. Nifla me'od, as usual, as always. But what's the sevara though? The sevara still remains, still remains hidden, no? Likh'ora, the sevara supports Rav Saadia that again as interconnected as lilmod and lelamed are, but they're very conceptually distinct. It's one action, one activity to learn. It's another action, another activity to teach. Again, v'talmidei yosair mikulam notwithstanding, there's lilmod and there's there's there's lelamed. Ella mai, there is one vantage point in which lilmod and lelamed are not distinct, but lilmod and lelamed are two halves of a whole. Instead of being two related wholes (with a W), they're two halves of a whole. And that is if the definition of the mitzvah is that a person should be a link in the masora. So how how is one a link in the masora from Sinai? One is a link in the masora from Sinai: one receives, lilmod, and one transmits, lelamed. So from that vantage point, viewed from that angle, so lilmod and lelamed are no longer two distinct actions, conceptually separate. No, they're clearly two halves of a whole. And that's what the Rambam is telling us: that the mitzvah of talmud Torah is that we're obligated to be a link in transmitting Torah, to be a link in transmitting Torah, first again chronologically: first mean lilmod, but that's only half of of the of the charge. That's only half of the mandate. The other half is lelamed. And only through that two-step process is a person serving as as a link in the masora. The Gemara in Bava Batra commenting on the in Yesh Nochalin, commenting on the pasuk in Parshat Va'era of ונתתי אתה לכם מורשה אני ה. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says והבאתי אתכם אל הארץ אשר נשאתי את ידי לתת אתה לאברהם ליצחק וליעקב ונתתי אתה לכם מורשה אני ה.
Eretz Yisrael is described as a morasha. So the Gemara asks, what's the semantics of the word morasha? What does it mean? And the Gemara concludes that morasha has a double meaning. Morasha means that it's a yerusha, it's an inheritance that a person receives and it's a morasha, it's an inheritance that a person bequeaths. The the lashon of morasha has that that double meaning. Both both meanings, both the the receiving, the yerusha, as well as the as well as being morish, as well as bequeathing, both meanings are are compressed into that one word morasha. תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב. The Torah that Moshe Rabbeinu commanded us is something which is a morasha, it's something to receive as yerusha. Again, unlike yerusha in other contexts which a person receives passively, there's nothing passive obviously about the receiving the the yerusha of Torah. But תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב again, this depiction that the mitzvah of of talmud Torah is to be a link in the masora. But that Torah should be a morasha, the way, the way Torah is a morasha is that we receive, we transmit lilmod ulelamed. This understanding of mitzvath talmud Torah highlights, it's true regardless, it's true regardless, but it's accentuated, it's accentuated by this havana when the Rambam in the hakdama to the Yad Hachazaka describes the shalshelet hamasora of Torah she-ba'al peh. So after describing it in detail, beginning with כל המצוות שניתנו לו למשה בסיני בפירושן ניתנו, so then the Rambam, he has a recap. He has a summation and he says נמצא מרב אשי עד משה רבינו ארבעים איש. There were 40 links, 40, 40 links in the chain of masora from Rav Ashi with chasimat haTalmud going back to Moshe Rabbeinu. Again counting up. The Rambam counts up from Rav Ashi to Moshe Rabbeinu. Rav Ashi meRabbana, Rabbana is 2, meRabba is 3, meRav Huna is 4, fine. And when you get to the top of that chain, meEli 37, mePhinchas 38, meYehoshua 39, meMoshe Rabbeinu 40, רבן של כל הנביאים, מעם ה' אלהי ישראל. So when one is a part of a masora, so it means one is a part of a masora with all the, all the chachmei hamasora. Not only that, that's already something extraordinary to reflect upon, that when one learns Torah, so one is connecting to and then transmitting, passing on a masora, so one's part of a chain, a chain that, that includes Moshe Rabbeinu, Yehoshua, Phinchas, past the times of the Tanna'im and the Amora'im, the Rambam, the Gaon, Rav Chaim, the Rav. It's extraordinary, extraordinary to think about that in whatever minute degree one does accept and transmit that masora. But all of that pales in comparison to מעם ה' אלהי ישראל. One, one connects to Hakadosh Baruch Hu at the top of the chain if one, if one grabs onto the bottom link, the link of the generation which is above us. That's, that's the bottom link. That's, that's the link which is closest to us. When one holds onto that chain, the top of that chain is מעם ה' אלהי ישראל. The, the other he'ara, and again with which we'll, we'll conclude for tonight, the Rav quoted from Rav Chaim the following he'ara which, which integrates very beautifully with what we've been talking about, how the, the structure or the sequence of perek aleph of Hilchot Talmud Torah seems very anomalous, seems very counter-intuitive. The Rambam begins with the chelek of the mitzvah of lelamed. Katon, אביו חייב ללמדו תורה, halacha aleph. Halacha bet, כשם שאדם חייב ללמד את בנו כך הוא חייב ללמד את בן בנו ולא בנו ובן בנו בלבד אלא מצוה על כל חכם וחכם מישראל ללמד את כל התלמידים.
Begins with lelamed. And then he only takes up lilmod in halacha chet, כל איש מישראל חייב בתלמוד תורה בין עני בין עשיר
etcetera. So Rav Chaim said, so you see that the ikkar of the mitzvah, again... And it seems to be a counter-intuitive sequence because it's obviously not the chronological sequence, but Rav Chaim says no, the ikkar of the mitzvah is l'lammed. Ad kan devarav, but it ole b'kane echad with what we're talking about. If the mitzvah is to transmit the masorah, so again, that's fully accomplished only through the l'lammed, and that makes the l'lammed the crowning achievement of the mitzvah, and that's reflected in the Rambam's sequence. What I hope we'll do in the coming weeks in this slot is to talk about inyanei masorah. When we talk about masorah, there are obviously many elements that all bnei Torah, ma'aminim bnei ma'aminim, share in common. And then there are elements of masorah where there are particular masoros that different parts of the Torah community have, and we'll try to focus on some of those individuating and differentiating elements of the masorah that we try to transmit here in Yeshiva.