The gift of Torah

by Shammai Engelmayer

Chanukah is not Christmas.

And it certainly is not about gift-giving, at least not the X-boxkind.

Getting that message across each year is difficult enough; this year, it is made even more difficult by the calendar. Chanukah begins in the evening of the same day as the Christian observance. That means all of us will be under even more pressure to turn Chanukah into what is not and never was supposed to be.

As important as the events of Chanukah were to our survival, the festival simply does not measure up to a major observance on a par, say, with Passover or Shavuot. God's hand surely must be seen in the victory that was achieved over Antiochus IV and his army, but the sea did not part and God offered no new Revelation on any mount. (And no, Virginia, there was no cruse of oil that burned for eight days, but that is a whole different column.)

Yet there is agift that is appropriate for Chanukah: the gift of Torah. Because the festival is about our right to remain Jewish, giving the gift that teaches us who we are, why we are and what we are supposed to be, God's kingdom of priests and holy nation, must surely be the only gift worth giving.

Fortunately, there are many ways to give this gift this year. One very interesting way is through a set of the CDs called "Torah at the Table," in which Rabbi Shmuel Goldindiscusses each individual Torah portion.

Because these discussions were recorded at a class he held at his synagogue, Congregation Ahavas Torah in Englewood, there is the added benefit of listening in on the interaction he had with the people who attended those sessions. Recorded lectures often are problematic; the listener cannot ask a question or make a comment, or even seek a clarification. On these CDs, the class stands in for the listener.

This interaction helps in another way, as well. Recorded lectures often areflat and pedantic. His students give Rabbi Goldin the opportunity to display a spontaneous sense of humor alongside his passion for Torah and its message. It makes these CDs a real pleasure to listen to on a number of levels.

In these sessions, Rabbi Goldin relies heavily on traditional sources, especially the wealth of rabbinic literature that falls under the rubric “the Midrash,” rabbinic commentary that illuminates difficult Torah passages through homiletical means.Rabbi Goldin takes his listeners to the core of each midrash he cites, getting them to concentrate on the lesson it seeks to teach.

Whether one is Orthodox, as is Rabbi Goldin, or from another stream of Judaism, this is an invaluable tool to studying Torah and a perfect gift for Chanukah.

One category of superb study tools is that which we know as “Miqra’ot Gedolot,” which means something like “The BigBook of Bible.” There are several versions, but each follows the same format. In addition to the Torah text, there is at least one Aramaic translation (known as a targum). The set I use has three targums, which are as much commentary as they are translations. There also are several rabbinic commentaries, always including the most well-known, that written by Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak (a/k/a Rashi). Usually, the “editor” also includes his own comments.

The stumbling block to using this tool is language. Unless you know Hebrew and Aramaic (and unless you can read Rashi script as well as normal Hebrew letters), the volumes might as well be in Greek.

Enter the Jewish Publication Society, which has just published the first volume in its planned “Miqra’ot Gedolot: The Commentators’ Bible” series, edited by Michael Carasik,the author of “Theologies of the Mind in Biblical Israel” who teaches Biblical Hebrew at the University of Pennsylvania. Carasik earned a Ph.D. in Bible and the Ancient Near East from BrandeisUniversity.

The volumes are in an extremely readable English and are very accessible to non-scholars (which is the point of the series). Included among the commentators are Rashi, his grandson Rabbi Samuel ben Meir (a/k/a Rashbam), Nachmanides and Abraham Ibn Ezra, as well as selections from the commentaries of several other great exegetes. In place of an Aramaic translation, there are two English translations—the current JPS translation, published in 1985, and the first one, which is now 87 years old.

There is good reason for this. No two translations of anything are ever alike, and the Torah is no exception. Many words have more than one meaning and, within each meaning, there often are a variety of nuances. How a translator chooses to translate a verse is itself a commentary.(In a Torah class I lead, we study six translations before we begin to look at a single commentary.)

The current volume is on the Book of Exodus, which means purchasing it for Chanukah makes it a timely gift, since we begin weekly readings in Exodus on January 21.

For those seeking more modern commentary, there is the excellent but expensive five-volume The JPS Torah Commentary (but certainly worth the investment). The one-volume Etz Hayim, published jointly by the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and distributed through JPS, is in many ways a condensed version of the five-volume set and now has a study companion to go with it, also available through JPS. Etz Hayim, however, is a lot more than that. It offers two types of commentary, contextual and midrashic (including modern voices, religious and secular). It also points out the laws derived from Torah verses, especially their practical applications.

There also is “The Torah: A Modern Commentary,” a new, updated and more accessible edition of which has just been published by the URJ Press. And, of course, there is always the Hertz Chumash, a perennial favorite and an excellent resource.

For the tradition-bound, of course, there are a variety of ArtScroll commentaries, but these really are not geared to adherents of the more liberal-minded Jewish streams.

In truth, Chanukah is just an excuse. The gift of Torah is one that is appropriate 24/7/365, as they say. It also is a gift every Jew should give to him- and herself, as well as to others.

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