Parshat Ha'azinu: The Power of Learning Torah

The pasuk in this week’s parsha says, ( כי שם ה׳ אקרא הבו גודל לאלקינו (לב:ג - “When I call out the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our G-d.” The Talmud (Brachot 21a) tells us that this pasuk is the Biblical source for making Birchat HaTorah every morning before learning Torah. The commentators go to great lengths to analyze what this means exactly: is it really a biblical level obligation or not? And what are the ramifications? Similarly, the commentators  ask, why do we say two brachot on the mitzvah of Learning Torah, when typically, one mitzvah gets one bracha assigned to it? (We say לעסוק בדברי תורה and שבחר בנו מכל העמים… והערב נא….)

I will focus this thought on a different, yet  basic question; one that I suspect many of us have often wondered about.  Why do we not recite a bracha when we conclude our learning of the Torah? When we have kriyat HaTorah in shul, we recite a bracha before and one after. Why is our individual practice different?

Rabbi Mordechai Jaffe, otherwise known for his classic commentary, The Levush, suggests a novel approach to understand this concept. When we make Birchat HaTorah over the kriyat haTorah in shul, it fits the pattern of a typical birchat hanehenin; a bracha over receiving benefit. Just as we make a bracha before and after receiving the benefit of eating a food, so too, for kriyat haTorah in shul we recite a bracha before and after. But the brachot recite every morning goes on our obligation to learn Torah, which is upon us at all times, as the pasuk in Yehoshua (1:8) says, והגית בו יומם ולילה, “you should toil in it by day and night.” In other words, our obligation to learn Torah each day has no end time; it is always there. Whenever we are not occupied with earning a livelihood, attending to our family needs, or to other mitzvot, the mitzvah to learn Torah is paramount. Therefore, it does not make sense to make a bracha achrona on our individual obligation to learn Torah.

The Levush adds that one reason we recite two brachot in the morning is so that one of them should count for the bracha achrona on the learning we did the previous day. He suggests we cannot even say a bracha achrona at night, before going to bed for our obligation continues up until the moment that we actually go to sleep. He notes that although according to this logic, we should really recite the bracha of אשר בחר בנו first to go on the previous day's learning, since we recite that bracha as a bracha rishona before the kriyat haTorah in shul, we remain consistent and use that as the bracha rishona each morning before learning Torah.

On the heels of Yom Kippur and in anticipation of Simchat Torah, it is incumbent upon us to understand the importance of learning Torah. It is always there; you cannot hide from it or run away from it. This year, me must accept upon ourselves to strengthen our own Torah learning and the learning which takes place in our homes.

A few practical suggestions:

1. Parents should find an additional weekly shiur to attend. Model the importance of learning for your children. If your schedule doesn’t allow for going attending a shiur, make a set time each week to listen to a shiur online. Make it part of your week! Your children will see it too.
2. Choose something the entire family can learn at the Shabbat table, or perhaps even at the dinner table a few times a week. Keep it simple so that you will be able to maintain it. Imagine the impact this can have on you and your children.