The Revolutionary Power and Importance of Talmud Study

Opening comments

Rabbi Sacks: Rabbanim mechubadim, Matthew Miller, who really, through Toby Press, through Magid and now through Koren, has really engaged in a transformative publication programme, has done so with great vision and the lev tov, the great heart that he has, and it's, speaking personally, it's been an absolute privilege, Matthew, to work with you and your quite remarkable team. The beauty of Koren books, the intellectual rigour and all the rest of it. 

In the case of the Steinsaltz Gemara, really, you have excelled yourself, and my congratulations to all involved in the team - to our beloved chaver, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, who is the Editor-in-chief, and to all the editors, to Raphael Friedman, who's just just totally amazing, amazing man, for this magnificent work of art, and it is really going to transform the accessibility of Gemara to everyone.

At the end of his life, Moshe Rabbeinu, having given 612 mitzvahs to the Bnei Yisrael, decided one more was needed, and gave the 613th mitzvah, which was “V’ata kitvu lachem et haShira haZot,” the mitzvah, on every Jew, even if you've inherited a Sefer Torah, lichtov Sefer Torah, to at least take a share in writing a Sefer Torah, anew. And the great Rabbeinu Asher, the Rosh, who moved to Sfarad and was instrumental in combining the world of Ashkenaz and Sfarad, paskens that increasing the availability of books, of sefarim, to the community is a fulfilment of that 613th mitzvah.

You have fulfilled that leMehadrin and Matthew, we wish you every success in this, as in all your projects. And may I just add that we must not forget, if we can ask, where's Thomas Nussel? who's here on behalf of Rav Adin. Please Thomas, send Rav Adin our congratulations. It is wonderful to see his brilliant work being brought into new life, and to a new generation of readers, and we thank him, tartei mashma, for the brachot that he has brought into Jewish life.

Friends, what did you ask me to speak about tonight? The Revolution of the Talmud. Okay, the Revolution of the Talmud. 

I suppose you can say the difference between Torah SheBichtav and Torah SheBa’al Peh is Torah SheBichtav is the revelation, and Torah SheBa’al Peh is the revolution.

And I just want, if I may, to share with you something of the historical drama, the Gemara that Mishnah and Gemara together represent. I don't mind, this means simply the Torah SheBa’al Peh, which goes all the way back to Moshe Rabbeinu, but that actual extraordinary work that represents the Talmud Bavli. And I want to relate that to Parashat HaShavua, to the time of year, Pirkei Avot, and so on.

So let me ask three questions, which will be answered as soon as we understand the nature of this civilisation-transforming revolution in Jewish life. 

Question one: why was it that the Gemara, that whole enterprise of writing down what until then had been the Oral tradition and elaborating it, emerged out of perhaps the greatest historical catastrophe to occur in Jewish life, Churban Bayit Sheni, the destruction of the Second Temple? Why was it that davka out of that catastrophe, this revolution occurred? Question one. 

Number two: question on Parashat Hashavua. What was it that Korach said that was wrong? Korach utters one of the most, on the face of it, beautiful lines in the whole of Torah.

He says, “Rav lachem,” to Moshe and Aaron, he says, “Ki kol haEida kulam kedoshim,” the entire community is holy. And God is among them. “Madua titnasu al kahal Hashem?” Why then do you hold yourself above the rest of the congregation? 

Now what was wrong with those beautiful words? 

We know his motives were wrong. He wasn't really an egalitarian. You know, Korach actually combines two propositions which are quite hard to combine. Number one, we don't need any leaders in the Jewish people because we're all equal. And number two, I want to be the leader. 

But then as Emerson said, “Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.” However, what was wrong with what Korach said? Moshe Rabbeinu in Beha’alotcha said something almost exactly the same. When he, Joshua thought that Eldad and Medad were challenging his leadership, and “Adoni Moshe kelaem,” Moshe Rabbeinu says, “HaMekane ata li,” Are you jealous on my behalf? “Umi yiten shekol am Hashem nevi’im.” Halevai, that all Jews were nevi’im. So what is the difference between saying let all Jews be prophets and Korach saying let all Jews be leaders? They seem to be the same thing. What therefore was wrong with Korach? My second question.

And thirdly, since we're in the, you know, we're just still reading Pirkei Avot and the line with which Pirkei Avot begins is the only place where the rabbis actually trace their own intellectual history, their own provenance. “Moshe kibel Torah miSinai umesara liYehoshua, viYehosuha liZkeinim uZkeinim liNevi’im, uNevi’im mesaruha leAnshei Knesset HaGedola…” And there is the sharsheret haKabbalah, the line of transmission, and one group of people is missing from that line.

Who are they? The Kohanim. Where are the Kohanim? Moses received Torah from Sinai, gave it to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets to the Anshei Knesset HaGedola. Who in the Torah is specified as the transmitters of Torah? Answer, the Kohanim.

It's the Kohen, the Kohen Gadol and the Kohanim who are charged with “Yoru mishpatecha leYa’akov veToratcha leYisrael.” They are the ones who will teach your judgments to Jacob and your Torah to Israel. It is the Kohanim who are charged with being the teachers of Torah.

And not only does Moshe Rabbeinu say it, all the way to the end of the Prophets, the last of the Prophets, Malachi, says, “Ki siftei kohen yishmeru da’at,” the lips of the Kohen guard the knowledge for Torah, “yivakshu mipihu,” and if you want Torah, go and ask it from a Kohen. From the first of the Nevi'im to the last of the Nevi'im, teachers of Torah are Kohanim. Chazal were teachers of Torah. Why did they not trace their descent from Kohanim? Why did they insist, adderaba, in tracing their provenance through the Nevi'im? 

And those three questions will lead us to an understanding of the significance of the Steinsaltz Gemara. Let me explain. 

First of all, we have to begin with what I believe is the unique Jewish capacity to see hope in the midst of bracha [means kelala.]

I once said, you know, when I met, since I still go to Hong Kong - they've forgotten it's not British Empire anymore - so I still go along there, and I met the first Chinese governor of Hong Kong, Mr. Tung Chee-hwa, and he was fascinated, you know, the Chinese and the Jews are very old civilisations, and I was fascinated. You know, we were talking about what allows civilisations to survive over the centuries, and it occurred to me, and I suggested that how come the Chinese survive? Because the Chinese ideogram for crisis also means opportunity. So if in every crisis you see an opportunity, you survive a crisis.

And there's only one language that I know that goes one better, and that is Ivrit. Why? What is a crisis? Not that we ever have such things. Mashber. And what did mashber originally mean? It was a birthing stool used by midwives. In other words, a crisis is not merely an opportunity. Crisis is chevlei leida, birth pangs.

Something new is being born. It's not the possibility of something new, it's the certainty of something new. How did Chazal know this? I believe they understood that with it, that they knew that in everything that looks like a kelala, everything that looks like a curse, you will find a bracha, you will find a potential blessing.

Why? Because there's an explicit line in Isaiah, we actually incorporate it in, slight paraphrase at the very beginning of tefilla b’tzibur. Isaiah says, “Yotzer or u'vorei choshech. Oseh shalom u'vorei ra.” I create light, I form light and create darkness. I make peace and I create evil. “Ani Hashem, oseh kol eileh.” I, the Lord, do all these things. 

It follows that if Hashem is borei ra, it follows that since God is only good, everything that looks to us as ra is, in some sense, ultimately for good. Otherwise God would not create it.

And therefore it is a yesod, it is a fundamental of Jewish faith, that when bad things happen, Iike God forbid, Churban Bayit Sheni, there must be some blessing concealed in there somewhere. And the task of leaders of Jewish faith is to find the bracha in what appears to be the curse. 

What was the historical change brought about in Jewish life as a result of Churban Bayit Sheni? Fundamental change. No more kings, no more active priests, no more prophets, no more Beit HaMikdash, no more avodah, no more korbanot. All the standard bases of Jewish life were dismantled and discontinued. Somehow, Chazal wanted to know what's the good news in that? 

And it is then, I believe, that they had a brilliant insight.

At the heart of Judaism, already stated in the very first chapter of the Torah, is the most profound statement ever given of the fundamental equal dignity of every human being under the sovereignty of God. Because every single human being, regardless of creed, colour, or culture, is b'tzelem Elokim. The infinite value of a human life means that ultimately we seek to create in the Jewish world, a pilot project for the human race, of a society in which everyone has equal dignity. And that is what HaKadosh Baruch Hu does. “Mekimi me’afar dal ume’ashpot yarim evyon.”

Whereas other people see poor people and downtrodden people, God lifts the poor from the dust and from the ashpa, He lifts up the needy. He is “oseh mishpat la’ashukim,” HaKadosh Baruch Hu does justice to the oppressed. “Noten lechem la’re’evim,” He sees the hungry. He feeds them. “Kol makom,” said Rabbi Yochanan, “she’ata motzai et gadluto shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu, sham ata motzai et anvetanuto.” Wherever you find the greatness of God, there you find His humility. 

Historically, Yetziat Mitzrayim was saying that the Supreme Power intervenes in history to liberate the supremely powerless.

At the heart of Judaism is an opposition to hierarchy. Hashem wants us to create a world in which the greatest of the great is no higher than the lowest of the low. 

And listen to the passion of equality, for equality, written into the Torah itself.

Who was the highest-ranking official in the Jewish world? The highest ranking was the Melech. Right? You know, everyone else you can separate between the person and the honour. There's a sugya in Kiddushin, daf lamed beit. “Av sheMochel al kvodo kvodo machul. (Don't tell your children that.) But if a parent chooses to renounce the honour or respect due to them, you're entitled to do so. (Just don't tell them.) And “Rav sheMochel al kvodo kvodo machul. Nasi sheMochel al kvodo kvodo machul. Melech sheMochel al kvodo ein kvodo machul.” A king is not allowed to renounce the honour.

The king is the most honoured person in the whole Jewish people, and yet the Torah says explicitly in Parashat Shoftim that he has to read the Torah every day, “levilti rum levavo m’echav,” so that he should never consider himself higher than his brothers. The only person in the whole Torah who is commanded to be humble is the highest of the high, the Melech. A Melech is not allowed to consider himself higher than the lowest Jew. He has to be mechabed the lowest Jew, as if he were the highest. In short, there is a passion for equality written throughout the whole of the Torah. 

The trouble is, throughout the whole of biblical history, the Jewish world was a hierarchical society, and two roles in particular were dynastic, passed from father to son, so that your eligibility for that role didn't depend on worth, it depended on birth.

Which were those two roles? A Melech and a Kohen. A Kohen passes from father to son. In Malchut, eventually it passed that way. Moshe Rabbeinu had a din-Melech. Yehoshua had a din-Melech. We learned from Yehoshua, “HaMored beMalchut chayav mita.”  But eventually, with David HaMelech, monarchy became dynastic. And that was the dazzling insight of Chazal.

With Churban Bayit Sheni, with the end of Malchut, and with the end of an active Kehuna, for the first time there could be a genuinely equal society, because the hierarchies, the political hierarchy of kings and the religious hierarchy of Kohanim were no more. 

What was left? The third form of person is a Navi. Now, not everyone can be a Navi, but everyone can be a ben Navi.

And who do we learn this from? From the person who, in his own person, overturned all the conventional hierarchies. Namely, Hillel HaZaken. Hillel was poor. Hillel was a Babylonian who came as an unknown to Eretz Yisrael to study.

And it was Hillel, the poorest of the poor, who became the Nasi, who showed that you can reach the heights in learning, even if you are from the depths socially and economically. And what did Hillel say? Hillel HaZaken, “Hanach lahem leYisrael, im einam Nevi’im, hein bnei Nevi’im.” Every single Jew can be a ben Navi.

How do you get to be a ben Navi? Answer, by learning Torah. What did Nevi'im do? They heard the Word of Hashem and they interpreted the Word of Hashem. And that is what everyone does when they learn.

We hear the Word of Hashem and we interpret the Word of Hashem. The Gemara says, “Amar Rav Chazya leRav Himnuna…” He saw Rav Himnuna davening a long Mincha. You know what he said? (He was missing the first five minutes of the Gemara shiur.) You know what he said? “Manichim chayei olam v’ozkim b’chayei sha’a.” Look at this hedonist. He's pursuing pleasure, he's davening, instead of enjoying eternal life by coming to the Gemara shiur.

Now go figure. Is there a religion in the world that holds learning higher than prayer? Why did Chazal hold learning higher than prayer? Pashut! Because what happens in davening? We speak and we ask Hashem to listen. What happens in learning? We let God speak to us and we try and listen to Him.

That is why learning is like Nevu'a. It's not like davening, which is like Avoda, which is like the Kohanim. Learning is listening to the Dvar Hashem, zu Halacha, and that is why when we learn we become Bnei Nevi'im and Nevi'im. All Israel could become Nevi'im. 

Now, we understand the revolution that Chazal saw. That out of this loss of kingship and Kehuna, the two dynastic forms of leadership, could come for the first time in history what God wanted from the first chapter of the Torah, a society in which everyone has access to equal dignity.

And now we see why Korach was wrong. What did Korach want to be? He wanted to be a Kohen. Moshe Rabbeinu says, “Isn't it enough for you?... uVikashtem gam Kehuna” He wanted to be a Kohen.

Now you cannot have a situation in which if you weren't born a Kohen you can become a Kohen. A Kohen is a dynasty, passes from father to son. You cannot have a society in which everyone is a Kohen. It just doesn't work. 

Nevua is exactly the opposite. There it depends on your worth, not on your birth.

Who succeeded Moshe Rabbeinu as a Navi? His children? Whatever happened to Gershom and Eliezer? He gets succeeded by Yehoshua.

So Nevua does not function dynastically. Anyone can aspire to be a Navi. And now you see why Korach was wrong in saying he wanted an egalitarian society made of Kohanim. You can't do that because Kehuna is a dynastic role. And now you see why Moshe Rabbeinu was right in saying you want an egalitarian society. “Umi yiten shekol am Hashem nevi’im.” Not Kohanim but Nevi'im.

And that is what Moshe Rabbeinu was saying. That is how you create a society by everyone not becoming a ben Kohen but by becoming a ben Navi. 

And Chazal knew this. And they said it not just as a spiritual truth but as a profound revolution. 

Here's the lashon of the Rambam, in Perek Shlishi. Famous language of the Rambam, Perek  Shlishi of Hilchot Talmud Torah, He says, “Israel was honoured by three crowns. The crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, the crown of kingship.” The crown of Kehuna went to Aaron and his children. The crown of kingship went to David and his children. The crown of Torah is there in front of every single Jew.

The Torah is everyone's yerusha. Whoever wants that crown, come and take it. And he then quotes the famous ma’amar Chazal. Just listen to this. “Mamzer Talmid Chacham kodem leKohen Daol am ha’aretz.” A mamzer, who is a scholar, takes priority when it comes to pikuach haNefesh over a Kohen Gadol. Now this is not a stray remark, guys.

There were Kohanim who were am haratzim. Kohanim Gedolim. In the days of the Seleucids, Jason, Menelaus, they bought the Kohen Gadol. They bought the office. They were am haratzim. So when Chazal was saying this, they were making a political statement.

Guys, Kohanim, Kohen Gadol am ha’aretz is lower in the hierarchy than any ordinary Jew, afilu mamzer, who learns Torah. That is fighting talk. And that was the revolution of Gemara.

Now you understand the machloket between the Perushim and the Tzedokim. Did you ever think about this? What was the argument between the Pharisees and the Seleucids? You think the argument was about, is there or isn't there a Torah SheBa’al Peh? You think the argument is, is there or isn't there Techiat HaMeitim? You think the argument is, if you're a Marxist like Louis Finkelstein, it was a class war between the aristocratic rich Sadducees and the proletarian Pharisees. Who were the Tzedokim? Who was Tzadok? Tzadok was the first, it was, Tzadok was a kohen in the days of David HaMelech, and when Shlomo HaMelech built the Beit HaMikdash, Tzadok was the first Kohen Gadol to officiate in the Beit HaMikdash, and for all Brits among us, we will know, if you're my age, that Handel's anthem, “Tzadok the Priest,” has been sung at every coronation since Handel wrote it in 1727, but the Queen should live, until 120.

This is it! The Tzedokim were the kohanim, and it was a conflict between a priestly elite and the Perushim, who said every single Jew is holy because every single Jew can learn Torah, and that is how you create the kind of society that Hashem wanted to create at the very beginning of time. “Umi yiten shekol am Hashem nevi’im.” 

I hope now we have answered three questions. Number one, why Korach was wrong, and yet Moshe Rabbeinu was right.

Number two, why the rabbis insisted that their descent, their democratisation of learning, had to pass through the Nevi'im and couldn't pass through the Kohanim, and number three, why this vision of an egalitarian society was only possible after Churban Bayit Sheni, where there's no active Malchut, and there's no active Kehuna. 

And that is the revolution of Gemara. 

It created a situation where every single Jew can wear a crown, and not just one crown, but the greatest of the three crowns. 

And Chazal understood one consequence of this, and they were prepared to be incredibly self-critical about it, and that is that sometimes - because learning Gemara is hard and demanding, at least until Adin came along and made it accessible to all of us - there can be an elitism of Bnei Torah. Not that you've ever encountered such a thing, but there can be. 

So I want you to listen just very carefully - with this I end - to a remarkable passage. It's in Vayikra Rabbah, it's also in Yalkut Shimoni, and it says the following.

Rabbi Yannai was on a journey and he saw a very distinguished-looking guy. 

“Do us a favour, distinguished person, come and eat with us. Come and have a meal with us.”

He said, “Great.”

He brought him into the house, an honoured guest, gave him to eat and to drink. He tested him on Chumash, and he didn't know Chumash. He tested him on Mishna, he didn't know any Mishna. Aggadic stuff he didn't know. He didn't know any Gemara. 

He said, ”Look, do me a favour. Do us a favour, just bench for us.”

He says, “No Rabbi Yannai, you're the ba’al haBayit. You bench.”

From which Yannai realised he couldn't even bench.

Yannai said to this distinguished guest, “Can you repeat after me what I say?” 

He said, “Of course, I can repeat.”

“A dog has just eaten Yannai's food.”

What is this? Here’s a yid who doesn't know Mishna, Gemara, Midrash, Mikra, what makes you better than a beheima? Say a beheima ate Yannai's food! 

The visitor got up and he grabbed hold of Yannai. He said, ”You're a robber. You've taken my yerusha and you're keeping it from me.”

He [Yannai] says, “What of yours have I stolen from you? 

“Once,” he said, “I was passing by a Jewish school. And I heard the children chanting somewhere. And what were they chanting? Torah. “God gave us a Torah which is the possession of the whole Jewish community.” It doesn't say “the congregation of Yannai,” just the guys who went to all the best yeshivas. It says “kehillat Ya’akov.” Torah is part of my yerusha. And instead of insulting me, teach me.” 

And that is a story Chazal told against themselves. Never ever let learning lead to an elitism. The whole essence of Mishna, Gemara, the revolution is to lift everyone, to create. “Umi yiten shekol am Hashem nevi’im.” That's what learning is about. And that is what Rav Adin did in his Gemara.

He opened the doors to everyone. He said, whoever wants to learn, I've made it available to you. I have turned this from “Morashat Kehillat Yannai” to “Morashat Kehilat Ya’akov.”

This book is now an open book before everyone. He has democratised and made accessible Gemara to everyone. And I think that is a major part in the continuing drama of Jewish learning.

Friends, as you know, there's nothing in secular terms exactly like learning Gemara. But lehavdil alef alfei havdalot, learning Gemara is like going, lehavdil, to university. You're not the same after you've been to university as you were before.

You are not the same kind of person after you've learned Gemara than you were before. You see the world differently. You think differently. It, as we now know from neuroscientists about the plasticity of the brain, learning Gemara reconfigures the architecture of the mind. 

And what is Gemara all about? It's all about - since we're in the presence of the family of the late Isaiah Berlin - and Henry Hardy from Oxford, called one of the books of his collected essays, “The Power of Ideas.” I say Judaism has been fighting a battle against the world from ancient times to today. And what is the battle? The battle is between the idea of power and the power of ideas. The world believes in the idea of power. We believe in the power of ideas.

Ideas change the human mind, and when the mind changes, the person changes, and when the person changes, the world changes. 

And that is what happens when you learn Gemara. You become a different person. We become equal citizens in the republic of the mind. We are able to do the prophetic thing of engaging in dialogue with dvar Hashem zu Halachah, with God's word translated and transmitted and decoded in Gemara. And so the revolution continues.

We thank Rav Adin for allowing us all to become a little more like Nevi'im than we were before. We thank Rav Adin, we thank Matthew, we thank everyone here, and thank you for listening.