{"id":6145,"date":"2010-01-10T03:00:16","date_gmt":"2010-01-10T01:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=6145"},"modified":"2018-05-24T11:24:53","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T08:24:53","slug":"02-10-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/02-10-03\/","title":{"rendered":"03 &#8211; Is the Recital of Birkot HaTorah a Biblical Commandment?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cRav Yehudah says in the name of Rav, where do we learn that [the obligation to] recite a blessing prior [to learning Torah] is biblical? As it is written (Deuteronomy 32:3), \u2018When I proclaim Hashem\u2019s Name, ascribe greatness to our God\u2019\u201d (<i>Berachot<\/i> 21a). The interpretation of this verse is that the entire Torah is comprised of the names of <i>HaKadosh Baruch Hu<\/i> (<i>Zohar<\/i>, part 2, 87:1; <i>Tikunei Zohar<\/i>,<i> Tikun<\/i> 10) for He is completely concealed from us, and through the Torah <i>HaKadosh Baruch Hu<\/i> is revealed to the world. Hence, we learn that the Torah is the names of <i>HaKadosh Baruch Hu<\/i> and through it He is manifest. That is the meaning of the verse, \u201c<i>Ki Shem Hashem ekra<\/i>,\u201d \u201cWhen I proclaim Hashem\u2019s Name\u201d \u2013 before learning Torah, \u201c<i>Havu godel l\u2019Elokeinu<\/i>,\u201d \u201cAscribe Greatness to our God\u201d \u2013 recite a blessing for the Giver of the Torah.<\/p>\n<p>In practice, the <i>Rishonim<\/i> are divided concerning the question of whether these words should be taken literally, making the recital of <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i> before learning a biblical commandment. According to the <i>Rambam<\/i> and the <i>Shulchan Aruch<\/i> (<i>Orach Chaim<\/i> 209:3), reciting <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i> is a rabbinic enactment and what <i>Chazal<\/i> extrapolated from the verse is none other than an <i>asmachta<\/i> (a reference). Based on this, in a case of doubt, one must be lenient and refrain from reciting the blessings, and that is the custom of the <i>Sephardim<\/i> (<i>Kaf HaChaim<\/i> 47:2). According to the majority of <i>Rishonim<\/i>, among them the <i>Ramban<\/i> and the <i>Rashba<\/i>, the source for the mitzvah to recite <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i> is biblical. Therefore, when a person is uncertain as to whether or not he recited <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i>, he must be stringent and recite them, in keeping with the rule, <i>sefeika d\u2019oraita l\u2019chumra<\/i> (we are stringent concerning matters of biblical uncertainty), and that is the <i>minhag<\/i> of the <i>Ashkenazim<\/i> (<i>Mishnah Berurah<\/i> 47:1).<sup><a id=\"_te02ftnref10_3\" class=\"aup1\" href=\"#_te02ftn10_3\">[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>However, all opinions agree that if there is a person present who did not yet recite <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i>, it is preferable to fulfill one\u2019s obligation by hearing him recite them and in that way avoid uncertainty. When there is no such option, if one is about to pray and recite <i>Ahavat Olam<\/i> (or <i>Ahavah Rabbah<\/i>), he should have <i>kavanah<\/i> to fulfill his obligation of <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i> in his recital of that <i>berachah<\/i>. Nevertheless, if the time to pray has not yet arrived, and there is no one whom he can hear recite the <i>berachot<\/i>, according to those who maintain that the obligation to recite <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i> is biblical, he must be stringent and recite them out of uncertainty. It is sufficient to recite only the third <i>berachah<\/i>, \u201c<i>Asher bachar banu<\/i>\u201d (\u201cWho chose us,\u201d) for it is the most important from among <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i>.<\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div><a id=\"_te02ftn10_3\" href=\"#_te02ftnref10_3\">[3]<\/a>.\u00a0According to the <i>Rambam<\/i>, <i>Birkat HaMazon<\/i> is the only blessing that is a biblical commandment, and that is what the <i>Shulchan Aruch<\/i>, <i>Orach Chaim<\/i> 209:3, writes. However, most <i>Rishonim<\/i> and <i>Acharonim<\/i> maintain that <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i> are also a biblical obligation. Similarly, the <i>Sha\u2019agat Aryeh<\/i> 24 proves this from the fact that the <i>Gemara<\/i> wants to learn a principle of<i> kal vachomer<\/i> from <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i> and apply it to the <i>berachah<\/i> before eating and a <i>kal vachomer<\/i> principle cannot be learned from a rabbinic ruling. Nevertheless, concerning a case of uncertainty, although there are those who rule to recite all the <i>berachot<\/i>, he writes that one must recite only the \u201c<i>Asher bachar banu<\/i>\u201d <i>berachah<\/i> as it is written in the <i>Mishnah Berurah<\/i> 47:1. See <i>Yalkut Yosef<\/i> 47:2 for an expanded list of sources. Additionally see <i>Aruch HaShulchan<\/i> 47:2 who explains that even according to the <i>Rambam<\/i>, <i>Birkot HaTorah<\/i> is biblical, yet it is included in the mitzvah of learning Torah and therefore is not listed as its own commandment.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cRav Yehudah says in the name of Rav, where do we learn that [the obligation to] recite a blessing prior [to learning Torah] is biblical? As it is written (Deuteronomy 32:3), \u2018When I proclaim Hashem\u2019s Name, ascribe greatness to our God\u2019\u201d (Berachot 21a). The interpretation of this verse is that the entire Torah is comprised [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-birkot-hatorah-the-blessings-on-the-torah"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>03 - Is the Recital of Birkot HaTorah a Biblical Commandment? - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/02-10-03\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"03 - Is the Recital of Birkot HaTorah a Biblical Commandment? - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cRav Yehudah says in the name of Rav, where do we learn that [the obligation to] recite a blessing prior [to learning Torah] is biblical? 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