 | Fittingly for this month that leads into Shavuot, our festival of receiving Torah, I write these words on the evening after Nancy Heller's bat mitzvah. I write these words about how we receive Torah and what it means for a spiritual community to put Torah at our center – – the physical scroll, of course, and far more. |
By Rabbi David
After Nancy Heller inspired our community with her beautiful chanting and teachings about belonging and social justice, I shared a few words of Talmud that felt written just for me.
What do we mean, Talmud asked, that Torah "is a tree of life to all who grasp her" (Proverbs 3:18)? One answer: all who grasp her become part of the tree of life that is Torah. So I said to Nancy what Talmud's R. Hanina said (Ta'anit 7a), "I have learned much from my teachers and even more from my colleagues, but from my students I learned most of all."
In Torah, Nancy became to me student, colleague, and teacher all in one. Radical equality, complete belonging, and love – a living tree. As Nancy taught us, so is Torah.
Torah is ours. She is not especially mine just because I'm a rabbi. Torah is equally and totally yours. Of course, Torah is not ours only by inheritance (Pirkei Avot 2:12). As we all know, Nancy efforted to learn Torah. As Nancy told us, sometimes she wrestled Torah – as sometimes we must wrestle our complex and imperfect world.
How we do that is everything. The heart of Torah isn't actually about learning Hebrew, liturgy, philosophy and trope (important as they are).
Soon after the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE, our ancestors asked how one can "acquire" Torah. Pirkei Avot 6:6 records their answers, as profound today as 2,000 years ago:
After Nancy Heller inspired our community with her beautiful chanting and teachings about belonging and social justice, I shared a few words of Talmud that felt written just for me.
What do we mean, Talmud asked, that Torah "is a tree of life to all who grasp her" (Proverbs 3:18)? One answer: all who grasp her become part of the tree of life that is Torah. So I said to Nancy what Talmud's R. Hanina said (Ta'anit 7a), "I have learned much from my teachers and even more from my colleagues, but from my students I learned most of all."
In Torah, Nancy became to me student, colleague, and teacher all in one. Radical equality, complete belonging, and love – a living tree. As Nancy taught us, so is Torah.
Torah is ours. She is not especially mine just because I'm a rabbi. Torah is equally and totally yours. Of course, Torah is not ours only by inheritance (Pirkei Avot 2:12). As we all know, Nancy efforted to learn Torah. As Nancy told us, sometimes she wrestled Torah – as sometimes we must wrestle our complex and imperfect world.
How we do that is everything. The heart of Torah isn't actually about learning Hebrew, liturgy, philosophy and trope (important as they are).
Soon after the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE, our ancestors asked how one can "acquire" Torah. Pirkei Avot 6:6 records their answers, as profound today as 2,000 years ago:
By study, By attentive listening, By right speech, By an understanding heart, By an intelligent heart, By awe, By fear, By humility, By joy, By attending to the wise, By rightness with friends, By argumentation with students, By clear thinking... By a minimum of chatter... By patience, By generosity, By faith in the wise, By receiving suffering.
In knowing one's place, In rejoicing in our portion, In making a fence around one's words, In taking no credit for oneself.
By loving, by loving God, by loving others, by loving righteousness, by loving correction, by loving uprightness, by keeping oneself far from honors, by not letting one's heart swell by one's learning...
By sharing another's burden, by judging others from the side of merit, by standing others in truth, by standing others in peace, by discipline in study, by asking and answering, by listening and then adding....
Notice how few of these are about study itself. Yes, they're about what we bring to learning, the qualities of heart and mind that help Torah flow. Even more, they're about how we live. At heart, they're about making our lives into Torah.
Rightly understood, we can acquire Torah each and every day by how we live.
At our next Shabbat together (June 5), Barry Stein will share about how Shir Ami acquired our Torah scroll from Poland. Last Shabbat, Nancy gifted us a beautiful example of how to acquire Torah.
May we grow from strength to strength together.
If you or someone you know might be interested in an adult b-mitzvah journey (even if you/they had a b-mitzvah experience long ago, please be in touch. Torah belongs to you!
Rightly understood, we can acquire Torah each and every day by how we live.
At our next Shabbat together (June 5), Barry Stein will share about how Shir Ami acquired our Torah scroll from Poland. Last Shabbat, Nancy gifted us a beautiful example of how to acquire Torah.
May we grow from strength to strength together.
If you or someone you know might be interested in an adult b-mitzvah journey (even if you/they had a b-mitzvah experience long ago, please be in touch. Torah belongs to you!
May 2026 Highlights at Shir Ami...
- Saturdays 10:00am. This month our SoulSpa Torah journey closes the Book of Leviticus and opens the Book of Numbers. Each week, 15-25 caring and supporting souls gather for a Shabbat of depth and spirit. This year's theme is uplifting women's voices. Open to all, no experience required. Click here for our link or to view past recordings.
- Sunday, May 17, 11:00am, is Shir Ami's Mitzvah Day at Greenwich JFS (67 Holly Hill Lane). Deep thanks to Ronny Kaplan and Barbara Salop for leading us. Please RSVP to Ronny ([email protected] or 203.249.0602).
- Wednesday, May 20, 7:00pm is our annual meeting at First Presbyterian. Aside from the usual annual congregational business matters, there are some plans and changes we’d like to share with you. Please click here to register.
- Thursday, May 21, sunset begins Shavuot, our festival of Torah. The community opted not to commemorate Shavuot ritually because of Memorial Day weekend. That said...
- Saturday, May 23, 7:30pm we'll gather online for the Yizkor of Shavuot (online). Please have wine/juice, a Yizkor candle, and photos of loved ones. Please click here to register.
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