The virtue of studying halachos every day
[א] (halacha 1000)
Whoever studies halachos every day
Question: What is the virtue of studying halacha every day?
Answer: The Gemara in Maseches Niddah1 says: 'Tana DeVei Eliyahu: Whoever studies halachos every day - he is assured that he is a son of the World to Come, as it says "הליכות עולם לו" ("The ways [halichos] of the world are His"), do not read it as "halichos" but rather "halachos"'.
And Rashi explained: 'Halachos - Mishnah and Baraisa, halacha l'Moshe miSinai'. [And below it will be explained that Rashi's intent is to the study of practical halacha].
In the Midrash Tanchuma2 it is brought: '"למען אנסנו הילך בתורתי אם לא" ("That I may test them, whether they will walk in My Torah or not"). Rabbi Yehoshua says: a person who studies two halachos in the morning and two halachos in the evening and is occupied with his work all day - it is reckoned for him as if he fulfilled the entire Torah in its entirety, and he fulfilled "והגית בו יומם ולילה" ("And you shall meditate on it day and night")'.
And likewise we find in the Alpha Beisa LeOr Zarua3: 'Alef Beis, that is to say: Alef - the two Toros, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, as I explained above, and Alef - two halachos every day, as I explained above'. And before that4 he wrote: 'And Yisrael are obligated to meditate on it day and night, as it says "והגית בו יום ולילה" ("And you shall meditate on it day and night") - he says two halachos today and two halachos tomorrow. And we say in Shocher Tov: "ובתורתו יהגה יומם ולילה" ("And in His Torah he meditates day and night") - Bar Kappara said: anyone who reads two chapters in the morning and evening has fulfilled "ובתורתו יהגה יומם ולילה" ("And in His Torah he meditates day and night"). Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said: Bar Kappara only said this regarding one who is accustomed to expound them; one who adds two halachos in the morning and two halachos in the evening, it is as if he fulfilled "ובתורתו יהגה יומם ולילה" ("And in His Torah he meditates day and night")'.
[In the Midrash Rabbah5 it is explained that the way to success in Torah study is through diligence - of fixed study, even in a small quantity, and the example is from two halachos a day: 'Rabbi Chanin of Tzippori expounded the verse regarding this mound of earth: one who is foolish, what does he say? Who can clear this away? One who is wise, what does he say? Behold, I will clear away two basketfuls today and two basketfuls tomorrow until I clear it all. So too one who is foolish says: who can learn the Torah - Nezikin thirty chapters, Keilim thirty chapters? One who is wise, what does he say? Behold, I will study two halachos today, two halachos tomorrow until I study the entire Torah in its entirety. Rabbi Ami said: "ראמות לאויל חכמות" ("Wisdom is too high for a fool")6. Rabbi Yochanan said: it is like a loaf suspended in the air of a house. One who is foolish says: who can bring this down? One who is wise says: did not another suspend it? Rather, he brings two reeds and joins them to one another and brings it down. So too one who is foolish says: who can learn the Torah that is in the heart of a sage? One who is wise says: and did he not learn it from another? Rather, behold, I will learn two halachos today and two tomorrow until I learn the entire Torah in its entirety'].
The Rashbash7 wrote: 'You further asked regarding what they found in the Sefer HaManhig, that one who reads two halachos every day is assured that he is a son of the World to Come - are the halachos of the Rambam, of blessed memory, or of the other authors included? Answer. In Maseches Megillah, in the chapter Bnei HaIr, Tana DeVei Eliyahu said: whoever studies halachos [every day] is assured that he is a son of the World to Come. And the minimum of "halachos," which is a plural term, is two. And every single day we read this Baraisa in the synagogue, may it be rebuilt. And this author came and learned two halachos, since the minimum of a plural is two. And in truth all halachos, even from the composition of the Rambam, of blessed memory, or from another, are included, for the halachos of the Mishnah too are gathered from other halachos that preceded them, and our holy Rabbi, of blessed memory, arranged them, as it says in the chapter HaBa Al Yevimto: "the Mishnah - who arranged it? Rabbi"; and likewise in Maseches Yom Tov they said: "since who is the anonymous author of the Mishnah? Rabbi"; and likewise in Maseches Chullin it is stated like this, that our holy Rabbi arranged the Mishnayos from halachos that preceded him. If those who came after arranged halachos from halachos that preceded them, all of them are halachos. And the Rosh, of blessed memory, already wrote that one who buys the books of the Gemara and their commentaries - they are included in what they said, that it is a mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah for oneself, and likewise you will find this in the Sefer Yoreh Deah in the laws of Sefer Torah. And may my portion be among those who occupy themselves with them for their own sake, not in order to provoke, and not to aggrandize and exalt oneself, and to glorify oneself before the unlearned'.
[Regarding what the Rashbash wrote, that two halachos a day are needed, the Chida8 wrote: 'And the Gaon Mahariy in the Sefer Iyun Yaakov wrote that one needs to learn one hundred halachos every day, see there well, in Maseches Temurah9, and Niddah10. And, with his pardon, he diminished the merit of Yisrael, for ordinarily the minimum of a plural is two11, and with two it is sufficient for him to be a son of the World to Come. And so it is explicit in the Sefer HaManhig, who is one of the very earliest of the early authorities, that anyone who studies two halachos is assured that he is a son of the World to Come, and the Rav Maharash ben the Rashbatz brought him in a responsum, siman 52, and agreed with him'].
> If so, we have seen in the words of Chazal the importance of studying halachos every day, and some have written that the intent is to two halachos every day [and some have mentioned two in the morning and two in the evening], and not only study in the books of the Mishnayos and the Talmud is considered the daily halacha study, but also study in the books of the poskim.
The Derishah12 wrote: 'There are householders who are accustomed to study Gemara, Rashi, and Tosafos every day, and not the other poskim, and they bring proof from that which we say at the end of the last chapter [of Niddah]: Tana DeVei Eliyahu, whoever studies halachos every day is assured that he is a son of the World to Come. But to me it appears that this is not the repose, nor in this shall the one who praises himself praise himself, but rather in this shall he praise himself: to comprehend and know in the books of the poskim the laws of the Torah, such as the Alfasi, the Mordechai, the Rosh, and the like, for this is the root and essence of our Torah, and one does not fulfill it at all by studying Gemara with the commentary of Tosafos. For regarding that of Tana DeVei Eliyahu etc., Rashi already wrote there: whoever studies halachos - meaning decided halachos. And that which Rabbeinu Tam wrote here, "the Babylonian Talmud is intermingled etc.," refers to what Rabbeinu wrote before this regarding studying nine hours a day, for since he has much leisure he should study Talmud; but those householders who only study three or four hours should not study Talmud alone, as written above'.
And these are the words of the Alter Rebbe13: 'But such a person, since he cannot study very many words of Torah, needs all his study to be in study that leads to action, which are the halachos that every person needs to know in order to fulfill the mitzvos according to their halacha and to be careful not to stumble in prohibitions, G-d forbid, and they are matters about which it is impossible to always ask the sage who teaches in the city, or that he would not know how to ask and to be in doubt at all if he did not learn them first - namely, most of Orach Chaim, almost all of it, and a minority of Yoreh Deah, and a little in Even HaEzer and Choshen Mishpat, every halacha clear in its reasoning from the Talmud and its commentators, such as the Rosh or the Beis Yosef at the least, and to review them always. And even one whose mind is fine, who is able to study and remember the entire Oral Torah, ought to study and review these halachos that are necessary for practice first, for they have precedence over all the other halachos that are not needed for practice so much.
And so too he wrote in the Sefer HaTanya14: 'And also to study a little in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim, the halachos that every person needs, and regarding this Chazal said: whoever studies halachos every day etc., which are clear and decided halachos, practical law, as explained in the commentary of Rashi, of blessed memory, there'.
The Rebbe, in the sicha of 20 Teves 5745, said: 'Whereas halacha is as the Alter Rebbe explains in his Iggeres HaKodesh, that davka "whoever studies halachos" is assured, for halacha reveals the will of Hashem clearly, in a manner that one knows the deed "אשר יעשון" ("which they shall do") and "אלה אשר לא תעשנה" ("these which shall not be done")'.
> If so, we have seen that the study of practical halacha precedes the other matters, and in it one sees the will of Hashem in a clear manner.
Notes:
1 עג, א ↩
2 בשלח סי' כ ↩
3 סימן כה ↩
4 סי' יט ↩
5 מצורע פי"ט סי' ב ↩
6 משלי כד, ז ↩
7 סי' נב ↩
8 ברכ"י או"ח סי' קנה ס"ק ב ↩
9 יד, ב ↩
10 עג, א ↩
11 ב"ב ח, ב ↩
12 יו"ד סי' רמו אות ב. הובא בט"ז ס"ק ב. ובש"ך ס"ק ה ↩
13 הל' ת"ת פ"ב ס"ט ↩
14 אגה"ק כג ↩
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