Said to Myself

I always think about how to make Torah relevant to myself, my family, the Jewish people, and the world. Torah is unchanging, but what it means is always evolving. Torah will not survive in a museum behind glass. This idea is well articulated in Nitzavim / VaYelech this week’s Torah portion. There we read:

12 It is not in heaven, that you should say: ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’     13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say: ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ 14 Rather the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it. (Deuteronomy 30:12-14)

There is no agency. Torah is supposed to be for all of us.  While it seems the plain reading is that to understand that Torah is not just for learning, but rather for action. That seems to sell learning short and worse miss too many students. Torah itself is learned in many ways. Rashi comments that” in your mouth” implies the oral Torah as much as the written Torah, but I still think that is missing the mark. Torah can be learned in many different ways including “in your mouth” (speaking and tasting), “in your heart” (emotional intelligence), and action itself.

Howard Gardner, the renowned developmental psychologist,  believes that there are multiple intelligences.  This graph does a good job breaking out the different ways people learn.

It is true, Torah is not in heaven. It is also true that Torah is not limited to the Beit Midrash or the School. Torah is out there in the world. There is no one else who can bring it to you. It is very near to ourselves and we must figure out for ourselves and help each other realize in ourselves what kind of student we are and our way of discovering Torah.  I am not saying that Torah is innate. We still have to do something to reveal it. Maybe in future posts I will look at the different intelligences individually. For now I can say that there is no one way to learn Torah.

On the recent occasion of  sending Yishama to kindergarten a teacher at the Carmel Academy, my children’s’ school, sent this video to me . Enjoy.

I sincerely hope that I am able help each of my children find his or her own path in Torah and his or her own variety of success in the world. There are many gates to the Torah. I hope to give my children the keys and never be perceived as a gate-keeper. An empowered child will transform our world in ways we have yet to imagine.  As we move to Rosh HaShana I hope that we all reconnect to our inner intelligence and open more gates in the days, weeks, and years to come.