Where is the Torah? Does it reside in the heavens with the angels? Or in a parchment scroll in the ark of the synagogue? Or with the rabbis and scholars?
It lives in the heart of each person who learns it, in the voice of the one who discusses it and in the life of the one who lives it.
That heart, that voice, that life—that, too, is G‑d’s word.
:) thanks Reply
Love this idea. I love this idea that the Torah lives within everyone that learns it. Reply
Doc HH
Your comment hits on another theme in the book "On the Essence of Chassidus " by The Rebbe. It goes as follows. The Alter Rebbe wanted to bless a Rabbi Liepler a long life. R. Leiper responds that he does not want a longer life unless it is of high quality meaning G-dly. The passage asks how can one be given a gift, and ask that it be made even better ? On the surface it looks very inappropriate, even greedy. However R. Leiper was only asking : Give me extra life with quality/yechidus/Torah/G-d or no extra life at all. This is parallel to the familiar cry of the French Revolution " give me life liberty equality or no life at all ".
Hopefully this post jives with your insightful comment.
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Where does the Torah live?
This concept is actually more complex and deep than first meets the eye.
The Torah being the word of G-d, and not separate from Him, cannot be said to live, die, or change in any manner. It was, is, and will always be, as the essence of G-d and one with Him.
What in fact lives or dies is the material body of those who study and live by it's precepts. Studying Torah increases length of days. Our G-dly soul may be asleep, but in fact knows the entire Torah, with studying simply awakening it.
In conclusion the Torah simply IS, our G-dly soul IS, and when we study it we live and increase our length of days.
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Essence of Chassidus
I read the short book by the Rebbe " On the Essence of Chassidus " about two years ago. i could not get a real understanding. But i got lucky and found a mentor who would try to wade through it with me. It's 30 minutes per week and very slow going on account of how intense and compacted the material is.
So what is my comment ? It is that i have learned that Torah is the word of G-d alright, but it goes beyond that. Torah is G-d. Modeh Ani via it's pristine level of Yechida is our attachment to G-d. Moreover, He is a part of us just as you say how the Torah is a part of us, heart, voice, blood flow.
By merging G-d and Torah into one,He resides within our own inner essence. We carry Our Companion not only alongside but also within. I now understand the custom of touching or kissing the Torah covering, and touching tzitzit ot the scroll on an aliyah. Touching G-d's words like touching G-d Himself.
Hopefully this is not too far off the mark.
Good Shabbos !
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Where is the Torah
A beautiful perspective.
Thank you
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Yes & the Torah is a tree of Life to ALL who eat of the sweetness. Its like sweet honey comb Reply
Torah The Torah lives in the hearts of all jews. In the heart of the unlearned as well as in the heart of the learned. it lives in my heart too. Reply
where lives the Torah ?
People and many leaders of all religions in the world should learn that instead of calling for the "holy war". What a diffferent deepness between these words and the words you can read in other books full of hate and violence.
They are two different universes !!
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kinyan in intangible form Learning/becoming Torah is an example of kinyan in an intangible form. We 'see' it with our soul and grab it and make it ours! Reply
good answer.
Like the question "Where does G-d live?"
Good answer.
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Where Lives the Torah? I started yet another class at our Chabad Center 3 weeks ago - "Life in the Balance"; Wednesday's lesson was on "Fetal Position" and included a section on Talmudic Embryology: "The fetus is taught the entire Torah ... But as the fetus emerges into the world, an angel comes and strikes its mouth, causing it to forget the entire Torah ... The fetus does not emerge before it is made to take an oath ... What is the content of the oath? 'Be righteous and not wicked'." - Talmud, Nidah 30b.
Dr. Hamburger's comment [1-21-11] on awakening our sleeping G-dly soul by studying and the ever so slow processing of Wednesday's lesson gave me a flash of insight.
I may off the mark, but that explains to me why some lines in my study of Tanya seem so easy, whereas others are still incredibly difficult ... part of my G-dly soul has awakened through study and mitzvot, while other parts are still asleep; it also explains the feeling of deja vu that sometimes occurs in the pursuit of knowledge.