Pt2 Methods and Ethics of Torah Study (Eruvin 54b-55a)
This is the second and final part of a two-part series. Part 1 is here; the outline of the series can be found at Part 1.
Teaching Torah: Obligations of Clarity, Repetition, and Reasoning
R’ Akiva - Obligation to Teach Until Understood (Deuteronomy 31:19)
R’ Akiva states that a teacher must continue instructing a student until they both learn and understand the material, based on the verse “teach it to the children of Israel” (Deut. 31:19).
רבי עקיבא אומר:
מנין שחייב אדם לשנות לתלמידו עד שילמדנו?
שנאמר:
״ולמדה את בני ישראל״
R’ Akiva says:
From where do we derive that a person is obligated to teach (לשנות) his student until he learns the material and understands it?
As it is stated:
“Now therefore write this song for you, and teach it to the children of Israel;
put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:19).
This verse indicates that one must teach Torah to others.
Requirement for Verbal Mastery (Deuteronomy 31:19)
The phrase “put it in their mouths” (Deut. 31:19) implies that the material must be taught until students can recite it fluently and teach it to others.
ומנין עד שתהא סדורה בפיהם?
שנאמר:
״שימה בפיהם״
And from where do we derive that one must teach his students until the material is organized (סדורה) in their mouths?
As it is stated:
“Put it in their mouths,”
so that they should be capable of teaching it to others.
Need for Explanation and Logic (Exodus 21:1)
The command to “set [the judgments] before them” (Exod. 21:1) indicates that a teacher must also explain the underlying reasons, presenting the material in an organized and rational form.
ומניין שחייב להראות לו פנים?
שנאמר:
״ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם״.
[...]
And from where do we derive that a teacher must show his students the reasons (להראות לו פנים) for the teachings?
As it is stated:
“Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them” (Exodus 21:1),
which indicates that the lesson must be set out in logical fashion for the students.
[...]
R’ Perida’s Patience and the Reward of a Generation
Part 1: Devotion to a Student’s Needs; A Moment of Distraction; Doubling the Effort
The Talmud recounts how R’ Perida had a student who could only understand a lesson after being taught 400 times. Despite the extreme effort required, R’ Perida patiently repeated each lesson until the student learned.
On one occasion, R’ Perida was asked to attend to “a mitzva matter”1 after the lesson. Although he still taught the student 400 times, the student was unable to absorb the material. The student explained he had been distracted, fearing R’ Perida would leave at any moment to fulfill the mitzva.
R’ Perida reassured the student of his full attention and proceeded to teach him the same lesson an additional 400 times until he understood it.
רבי פרידא הוה ליה ההוא תלמידא
דהוה תני ליה ארבע מאה זימני, וגמר.
יומא חד, בעיוה למלתא דמצוה.
תנא ליה, ולא גמר.
אמר ליה: האידנא מאי שנא?
אמר ליה:
מדההיא שעתא דאמר ליה למר איכא מילתא דמצוה —
אסחאי לדעתאי,
וכל שעתא אמינא: השתא קאי מר, השתא קאי מר.
אמר ליה: הב דעתיך ואתני ליך.
הדר תנא ליה ארבע מאה זימני [אחריני].
Having discussed the importance of reviewing one’s Torah study, the Talmud relates that R’ Perida had a certain student
whom he would have to teach (תני) 400 times, and only then would he learn (גמר) the material, as he was incapable of understanding it otherwise.
One day they requested R’ Perida’s presence for a mitzva matter after the lesson.
R’ Perida taught his student 400 times as usual, but this time the student did not successfully learn the material.
R’ Perida said to him: What is different now that you are unable to grasp the lesson?
[The student] said to him:
From the time that they said to the Master that there is a mitzva matter for which he is needed,
my mind was distracted from the lesson
and every moment I said: Now the Master will get up, now the Master will get up to go and perform the mitzva and he will not complete the lesson.
R’ Perida said to [the student]: Pay attention this time and I will teach you, and know that I will not leave until you have fully mastered the lesson.
[R’ Perida] taught [the student] again an additional 400 times.
Part 2: Heavenly Reward
A bat kol then offered R’ Perida a choice: either 400 extra years of life or a guarantee of the World-to-Come for himself and his generation.
He chose the latter. God responded by granting him both—longevity and eternal reward for all.
נפקא בת קלא ואמר ליה:
ניחא ליך ד
ליספו לך ארבע מאה שני,
או דתיזכו את ודרך לעלמא דאתי?
אמר: דניזכו אנא ודריי לעלמא דאתי.
אמר להן הקדוש ברוך הוא:
תנו לו זו וזו.
Due to the merit of R’ Perida’s great devotion to his students, a bat kol emerged and said to him:
Is it preferable to you that
400 years be added to your life,
or that you and the rest of your generation will merit the World-to-Come?
[R’ Perida] said: I prefer that I and my generation merit the World-to-Come.
God said to the angels:
Give him both (זו וזו);
R’ Perida shall live a very long life and he and the rest of his generation will merit the World-to-Come.
Mnemonic Signs Aid Torah Study (Jeremiah 31:20)
Rav Ḥisda states that Torah can only be acquired through mnemonic signs, based on a wordplay reading of “simah” (“put it”) as “simanah” (“its sign”), suggesting that memory aids are essential.
אמר רב חסדא:
אין תורה נקנית אלא בסימנין,
שנאמר: ״שימה בפיהם״,
אל תקרי ׳שימה׳,
אלא ׳סימנה׳.
The Talmud continues its discussion with regard to methods of Torah study:
Rav Ḥisda said:
The Torah can be acquired only with mnemonic signs that aid the memory,
as it is stated: “Put it in their mouths.”
Do not read the phrase as: “Put it [simah],”
but rather as: “Its sign [simanah],”
thus indicating that mnemonic signs aid in memorizing the material.
R’ Abbahu’s Proof to Rav Taḥalifa of Eretz Yisrael
Rav Taḥalifa of Eretz Yisrael reports this to R’ Abbahu, who supports the same idea from Jeremiah 31:20, “Set up signposts [tziyyunim],” read as an instruction to make mnemonic markers for Torah learning.2
שמעה רב תחליפא ממערבא,
אזל אמרה קמיה דרבי אבהו,
אמר: אתון מהתם מתניתו לה,
אנן מהכא מתנינן לה:
״הציבי לך ציונים
שימי לך וגו׳״ —
עשו ציונים לתורה.
Rav Taḥalifa of the West, i.e., from Eretz Yisrael, heard this statement
and went and said it before R’ Abbahu,
who said: You learn this idea from there;
we learn it from here, as the verse states:
“Set up signposts [tziyyunim] for yourself;
establish you markers” (Jeremiah 31:20),
which is understood to mean: Establish mnemonic signs for the Torah.
Lexical Justification of ‘Tziyyun‘ (Ezekiel 39:15)
To validate the interpretation of tziyyun as “sign,” the Talmud cites Ezekiel 39:15, where a tziyyun marks a bone to indicate impurity—a precedent for reading tziyyun as a memory-marker.
ומאי משמע דהאי “ציון” לישנא דסימנא הוא?
דכתיב:
״וראה עצם אדם
ובנה אצלו ציון״.
And from where may it be inferred that this term tziyyun denotes a sign?
As it is written in a different verse:
“And when they that pass through shall pass through the land, and any sees a human bone,
he shall set up a sign [tziyyun] by it” (Ezekiel 39:15),
i.e., a sign that there is a source of ritual impurity at that spot.
R’ Eliezer - Scheduled Learning Times (Proverbs 7:4)
R’ Eliezer offers another proof from Proverbs 7:4, interpreting moda (“kinswoman”) as moda’im—signs that help one remember Torah, a reading reinforced by phonetic similarity.
Rava interprets that same verse differently, reading mo’adim (“appointed times”) instead of moda’im, emphasizing the importance of setting fixed times for Torah study rather than just mnemonic aids.
רבי אליעזר אמר:
מהכא:
״אמור לחכמה: אחותי את
ומודע לבינה תקרא״ —
עשה מודעים לתורה.
רבא אמר: עשה מועדים לתורה.
R’ Eliezer said that
we learn this same idea from here:
“Say to wisdom, you are my sister,
and call understanding, your kinswoman [moda]” (Proverbs 7:4),
which means: Establish signs [moda’im] that convey knowledge of the Torah.
Rava said with regard to this verse: Set appointed times [mo’adim] for Torah study.
The Effort and Humility Required for Torah Study (Deuteronomy 30:12–13)
Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Dosa - even if Torah were as distant as heaven or across the sea, one would be obligated to pursue it
Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Dosa explains the verse “It is not in heaven… nor is it beyond the sea” to mean that even if Torah were as distant as heaven or across the sea, one would be obligated to pursue it.
והיינו דאמר אבדימי בר חמא בר דוסא:
מאי דכתיב:
״לא בשמים היא
ולא מעבר לים היא״?
״לא בשמים היא״,
ש
אם בשמים היא —
אתה צריך לעלות אחריה,
ואם מעבר לים היא —
אתה צריך לעבור אחריה.
And this idea, that one must exert great effort to retain one’s Torah knowledge, is in accordance with what Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Dosa said:
What is the meaning of that which is written:
“It is not in heaven…
nor is it beyond the sea” (Deuteronomy 30:12–13)?
“It is not in heaven”
indicates that
if it were in heaven --
you would have to ascend after it,
and if it were beyond the sea --
you would have to cross after it
as one must expend whatever effort is necessary in order to study Torah.
Rava - excludes those who elevate their intellect above the Torah and think they don’t need teachers, and hose who arrogantly believe they’ve fully mastered the topic
Rava offers a psychological reading:
“It is not in heaven” excludes those who elevate their intellect above the Torah and think they don’t need teachers.
“Nor is it beyond the sea” excludes those who arrogantly believe they’ve fully mastered the topic.
רבא אמר:
״לא בשמים היא״ —
לא תמצא במי שמגביה דעתו עליה כשמים,
ולא תמצא במי שמרחיב דעתו עליה כים.
Expounding the verse differently, Rava said:
“It is not in heaven”
means that Torah is not to be found in someone who raises his mind over it, like the heavens, i.e., he thinks his mind is above the Torah and he does not need a teacher;
nor is it to be found in someone who expands his mind over it, like the sea, i.e., he thinks he knows everything there is to know about the topic he has learned.
R’ Yoḥanan - Torah is not for the arrogant who think of themselves as exalted like heaven, nor for itinerant merchants who lack the time to study consistently
R’ Yoḥanan interprets the verse ethically and practically: Torah is not for the arrogant who think of themselves as exalted like heaven, nor for merchants (who lack the time to study consistently).
רבי יוחנן אמר:
״לא בשמים היא״ —
לא תמצא בגסי רוח,
״ולא מעבר לים היא״ —
לא תמצא
לא בסחרנים
ולא בתגרים.
R’ Yoḥanan said:
“It is not in heaven”
means that Torah is not to be found in the haughty (גסי רוח), those who raise their self-image as though they were in heaven.
“Nor is it beyond the sea”
means that it is not to be found among
merchants (סחרנים)
or traders (תגרים)
who are constantly traveling and do not have the time to study Torah properly.
מלתא דמצוה - the specific mitzvah is left unspecified.
On the noun tziyun ( צִיּוּן - Hebrew Wiktionary: “landmark (1), mark (1, 2), note (2), marking (3)”), see next section as well, and see Jastrow (modernized), entry “צִיּוּן”:
(Biblical Hebrew; צָוָה; compare צְוָואָה)
heap of stones, mark, especially the mark put up to indicate the neighborhood of an unclean place.
Eruvin 54b:2-24 - מאי … ציון לישנא דסימנא הוא - “what evidence is there that this tsiyyun (Jeremiah 31:20) means sign?” Answer referring to Ezekiel 39:15.
Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 1:1:14 - מיכן לציון - “from here (Ezekiel see above) we have an evidence for the custom of marking sunken graves”; Moed Katan 5a:13.
Moed Katan 5b:16 - אין מעמידין ציון במקום וכ׳ - “we must not put up a mark on the very spot of uncleanness”
Shemot Rabbah 52:5 (play on צִיוֹן, Song of Songs 3:11) - מה הציון הזה נראה באצבע וכ׳ - “as a mark is seen (pointed at) with the finger, so is Israel (distinguishable by his features)”
and elsewhere.
Plural: צִיּוּנִים, צִיּוּנִין.
Eruvin see above (referring to Jeremiah see above) - עשו ציונים לתורה - “make marks (mnemonical notes) for the study of the Law”, see סִימָן;
Denominative verb: צִיֵּן.