So That Torah Will Not Be Forgotten

Will the Torah be remembered because of what we say in class?

Rabbi Hiyya knew that the answer was no. In Bava Metzia 85b, we encounter Reish Lakish marking graves of the tanaim, as seems to be his custom. However, he cannot find the grave of Rabbi Hiyya, and he feels distressed by his inability to connect to an ancestor in this way. 

.אֲמַר: רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם! לֹא פִּלְפַּלְתִּי תּוֹרָה כְּמוֹתוֹ? יָצְתָה בַּת קוֹל וְאָמְרָה לוֹ: תּוֹרָה כְּמוֹתוֹ פִּלְפַּלְתָּ, תּוֹרָה כְּמוֹתוֹ לֹא רִיבַּצְתָּ

He cries out to Gd, confused and hurt. He assumes he must have done something wrong enough that would warrant what feels like a punishment to him, “Ribono shel olam!! Am I not an equal to Rabbi Hiyya in arguing Torah? [Or even more outside: What have I done? Why can’t I honor my teacher’s memory?]” The voice of Gd came out of heaven and said to him, “You argued Torah like him, but you did not spread Torah like him.”

Reish Lakish knows that he is a star in the beit midrash. He and his beautiful boyfriend Rabbi Yochanan spend day after day arguing with one another. Just a daf earlier, Rabbi Yochanan describes the intensity of their learning together by relating that for every matter he’d raise, Reish Lakish could provide 24 difficulties. We remember and know him as someone who knows how to engage with the Talmud, a player in the greatest sense. So what does the voice of Gd find so admirable in Rabbi Hiyya?

Reish Lakish focuses on פִּלְפַּל, but the bat kol says that Rabbi Hiyya רִיבַּצְתּ. He spread the Torah. Irrigated it. Laid it down in many places outside of the beit midrash. And it was this work that kept Torah alive for all of b’nei Yisrael—not his perfectly worded comment or beautiful recitation or 24 comebacks.

If you keep learning the sugya about Reish Lakish at the graves (and you should, it’s a really rich one), you learn that, in a practical sense, the way Rabbi Hiyya spread Torah was through slow, in-depth learning with small groups of learners (children!!). How slowly? Slow enough to grow flax to make parchment on which to teach. And once the learners could sustain themselves, he went on his way, coming back as a touchstone every so often, but primarily trusting that they had the tools to sustain themselves, to share, spread, and grow the tradition.

If it sounds like I’m saying we should get out of the beit midrash, I am. To be clear, I also want you to come to the beit midrash! I love learning with you! But, as the bat kol and Rabbi Hiyya teach us, there is work to be done outside of these hallowed halls. 

Next week, in a Rav Hiyya mission of our own, SVARA is opening up a segment of Daf Shenati learning for independent chevruta pairs. Daf Shenati (literally, a-Page-a-Year) is SVARA’s radical take on Daf Yomi (literally, a-Page-a-Day)—the century-old global project of learning one page of Talmud a day. By slowing the pace, Daf Shenati creates space to go deeper – so that the text, and those learning it, can do their most transformative work. While transformation is happening week after week in our beit midrash, we also recognize that this transformative learning isn’t only restricted to our weekly synchronous gatherings. In Daf Shenati, you set the pace, you decide where and when to dig in, and you’re a vital part in a global moment of SVARA’s torah growing and spreading in ways we can only imagine. We, like Rabbi Hiyya cannot anticipate the ways our learning will influence those around us, but we trust that it will penetrate their lives, and so we’re committed to spreading it as far and wide as possible.

What would it mean for all of us to work with one another on one project for an entire year? Not rushed, at the pace of relationship, getting to know one another while the flax grows? How might we be changed? How might the world be changed? In Daf Shenati, we’re answering these questions by democratizing Talmud learning. We’re giving you the tools and we’re saying go teach and be taught. Do it in the streets, in your synagogues, on your couches. It’s the perfect opportunity to find a new chevruta, to pull together a ragtag crew of learners and dig in. 

Bringing learning out of the beit midrash doesn’t mean SVARA’s going anywhere. It means we’re everywhere. In every time, in every place, making players, shaping the tradition. Join us! 

Daf Shenati for independent chevruta study launches next week. Keep an eye out for our social media and subscribe to our newsletter to learn more.