Torah Study

The are different ways to study the Torah. Here the Torah student will find techniques to explore and interpret the Torah.

By Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald

The Talmud in Chagiga 14b, tells the story of four great scholars, Ben Azai, Ben Zoma, Acher, and Rabbi Akiva, who entered a "Pardes," an orchard. The Talmudic narrative cryptically states that upon entering the "Pardes" Ben Azai looked in and died, Ben Zoma looked in and was stricken and Acher, chopped off the roots. Only Rabbi Akiva came out of the "Pardes" in peace.

The rabbis explain that the "Pardes" that the rabbis entered was not a real orchard, but rather the four levels of Torah study and understanding scripture represented by the acronym "Pardes."

1. The Hebrew letter "pay" stands for "p'shat," the literal meaning of the scriptural text.
2. The Hebrew letter "raish" stands for "remez," which is the alluded-to meaning of the text.
3. The Hebrew letter "daled" stands for "drash," the homiletic meaning of the text.
4. The Hebrew letter "samach" stands for the "sohd," the mystical meaning of the text.

Four great scholars entered into a "Pardes" - began to delve into the four levels of scriptural meaning. Of the four, only Rabbi Akiva was able to reach the full depth of understanding and come out in peace. Ben Azai died. Ben Zoma became demented. Acher (whose real name was Elisha ben Avuya) cut off his roots and became an apostate (see As a Driven Leaf, by Milton Steinberg). Rabbi Akiva was the only scholar great enough to explore the deepest levels of the Torah secrets without being harmed.

According to Jewish tradition, every verse in the Bible has many levels of interpretation. Each verse has a literal meaning, the plain and simple message that the written text conveys (pshat). At times, the text itself raises questions that allude to interpretations other than the literal meaning (remez). On ocassion, these questions are responded to by citing a Midrash, a legendary interpretation of the Bible, which attempts to resolve the disparities in the text (drash). Finally, there are instances where the verse suggests deep and intense new meanings that are generally hidden from the rational mind and are often beyond the ken of mere mortals (sohd).

Study of the Torah is like an onion; the more layers you peel off -  the deeper you go to the heart or soul of it...

By Rabbi Goldie Milgram

One particularly helpful method of Torah study and teaching is the Four Worlds model. This develops four dimensions of mind-body-spirit exploration (i.e., safe, grounded mysticism, the four worlds comes from traditional Jewish Kabbalah), so we can expand the meaning of a text for ourselves and experience its relevance to our lives. The method that follows is my adaptation of the model.

Dimension One: World of Assiyah (tachlis, basics, action)
Explore Question: What is the actual text?

• Read the text out loud in the language that works for you.
• Look at the actual words and phrases, storyline and characters very carefully, and see it for what it is.
• What is happening in the text? Who is speaking? What did they say/do?

For individuals, if at all possible do as our tradition says, "take a friend for yourself and go and study." Using these methods in the context of a friendship helps to focus and deepen the study of Torah and the spiritual intimacy of your relationship. This is called "hevruta" (friendship based study) in Hebrew.

Dimension Two: World of Yetzirah (kishkes)
Explore Question: What are the actual feelings this text brings up in you?

Express out loud with facial, body and hand motions, and words if desired, the strongest sensations within your body that the text brings up for you.

Suggested way to handle this in a group:
After reading a segment of text out loud (try, for example, the first 24 lines of Parshat Emor in Leviticus). Invite each person to identify through a word and a replicable motion of their hands/face/body the most powerful sensation the text brought up in them.

Go around. Let each person say the phrase or words that describes the sensations the text evokes and make the relevant symbolic movements. The whole group repeats that person's sensing phrase as one voice and also enacts the same movements.

Then look at the speaker and say "shama-ti" and their name.

(Shama-ti means "I have listened". It comes from the Unity of All Being prayer which is found in Deuteronomy: "Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai Echad")

It is very validating and expanding to have a group repeat your sensation and the motion of your senses about "all this". It also feels bonding and wonderful to see all eyes upon you during the "shama-ti" and to hear your name recited as a giver-over of Torah to the group.

Dimension Three: Beriyah (Yiddishe Kup - thought - intellect)
Explore Question: What questions do we ask of this text, characters and author(s)?

You might begin to write down your questions. In a group, use the same method above. Each person gets a turn to dramatically pose their most urgent question. The group repeats the question with the asker's inflection, says "shama-ti" and the person's name. NO answers are given...the field of inquiry simply becomes much richer by the sharing.

Dimension Four: Atzilut (Unification with the Source - Becoming the text)
Explore Question: Whose voices, issues and experience in the text could be mine?

Become the text by empathetically taking on the voice of one of the characters or symbols.Enter into dialogue with another of the characters or symbols. Notice important relationships and characters who may not be present in this particular section of texts, and invite them into the story. Become their voices. If you are studying on your own, you might write down these dialogues.

Four Dimensions Summarized
The revelation/vision for the future and understanding of your own past through this experience will create an interpenetration of the metaphors and world of the Torah...with the Torah of your own life. This is a form of  Yechidus, closeness to the Oneness. Notice your experience in all the dimensions we have covered. It is more layered than linear as an experience. There is complexity and richness. All dimensions are occurring simultaneously, yet informed by the sequential focus on each...like an opera of exploration and knowing.

Important Note: Dimension Four exploration is a very delicate thing to do in a group. (On one's own, this is powerful stuff.) For groups an experienced biblio-drama or psychodrama facilitator is important. I believe in a Torah study group one needs to keep boundaries at the level of raising awareness and not push such an experience into the realm of therapy. It can be very wonderful!

Bibliodrama is a recently coined term used to describe studying Torah by inhabiting a character the way an actor does. The technique recognizes thta there are so many parts of the Torah where it remains silent about what the characters said to each other. Perhaps the most famous example is found in the story of Abraham's almost-sacrifice of Isaac. The Torah says that they walked three days together to get to the place where Abraham was going to sacrifice his son. The Torah does not tell us what they said to each other, and the reader cannot help but wonder what Abraham might have said to his son, whom he has been commanded to sacrifice.

The rabbis of all generations have seen these silences as an opportunity to interject their own dialogue in the form of stories, which are known as midrash. There are well-known collections of midrash from Jewish tradition, and new books of midrashim are being created all the time.

Bibliodrama seeks to inject dialogue in a different way. If you were studying with a group of people, two people might volunteer to be Abraham and Isaac, and they would act out the scene of the three days of walking, ad-libbing the dialogue. In determining what the characters would say to each other,one is, in effect, doing a type of Torah study.

Advocates of this kind of study also see its potential for therapeutic application. For the actors who are playing Abraham and Isaac, they may be revealing something about their own sense of what it means to be a parent, and their relationship with their parents and their children. Acting out these parts may be a kind of therapy, in which the participants can articulate some of their struggles through the biblical dramas. Just as a trained therapist can facilitate deeper explorations of the self, a trained bibliodrama leader can facilitate deeper understandings by the participants.

Collage 

The medium of art seeks to duplicate bibliodrama's success. Instead of acting out the scene of Abraham and Isaac, artists suggest taking different colored paper and creating a collage that depicts the scene. This is but one of a multitude of possible art projects.

The Torah art you produce will be a type of Torah study. Based on how you represent the characters and the colors you choose, you will be interpreting the scene in some way.

Dance

Similarly, scenes from the Torah can also be danced. There are many dance companies, such as the Avodah Dance Company and the Liz Lerman Dance Company, that specialize in helping people to study Torah (and do Jewish ritual) through dance. 

Torah Study
Congregation Or Chadash
3939 N Alvenon Way  Tucson AZ 85718

(520) 512-8500     office@orchadash-tucson.org     http://www.orchadash-tucson.org