60 times.
Why not 61?
If I were so passionate about a certain subject in the Torah that I reviewed it 60 times, would anybody be surprised if I proceeded to review it another time?
For some, it runs against the grain to come back to a topic, a page, a personality in the Torah one already studied.
For others, review is relished. If I loved it once, how much more will I love it a second time.
For some, it just keeps going. I remember a story of a student who never turned the first page of the Talmud. He never moved past it. Why? He said words to this effect: It is so warm here, I can’t move on.
I am like this, which is why the pain was multiplied when I was told last week that a certain student was so in love with Tractate Sukkah that he reviewed it 60 times, but will never review it a 61st time. I sat on one chapter of the Code of Jewish Law, on the laws of mikveh, for 19 years. I sat on another chapter for 11 years. I relish review.
The additional insights.
The wrinkles.
The subtleties.
The better the chance of remembering it all.
Tractate Sukkah is not the longest in the Talmud, but it’s not the shortest, either. In any event, it takes a long time to cover and a much longer time to master. Fourteen-year-old Moshe Englard, I would guess, mastered it. He studied it 60 times! Only 14-years-old — and he brought the intense focus and passion to review it 60 times! And this was besides his regular curriculum of studies.
Hard to fathom.
What a future ahead of him.
What a contribution to be expected.
Moshe Englard will not review it a 61st time.
Why?
Did his passion subside?
Did his love of Sukkah recede?
No.
Last week Moshe Englard died in the tragedy in Meron, Israel.
His younger brother Joshua died there, too.
Their parents buried two children at the same time.
I learned this on what loomed as a routine phone call from a friend in New York who told me about the Englards. My friend had just returned from a trip to Israel.
He called.
I heard his voice.
I asked, routinely, “how are you?”
“Broken.”
Shavuot is the holiday of the revelation of the Torah.
Which makes it the holiday of Torah study.
Which makes it the time to ask: Do I take the joy of Torah study for granted?
Do I relish review?
Isn’t it a bit much — a bit goody goody — to ask these questions? You know, preachy: Pay more attention. Open the book. Don’t fritter away your time on trivialities. The Torah beckons.
If we haven’t heard it from one rabbi, we’ve heard it from more rabbis than we can count.
Except: We cannot assume that the opportunity will always be there.
We can dive in 60 times.
Not necessarily the 61st.
What I learn from the life of the late 14-year-old Moshe Englard is what I learn from the upcoming holiday of Shavuot: the Torah is like everything else in the world we can love.
A spouse.
A child.
A sport.
A hobby.
A fine meal.
A gorgeous day.
We can take for granted even the things we love.
That is what I hope I can take away from the upcoming Shavuot: Never to take the Torah for granted.
Never to figure, I’ll always have the 61st opportunity.
In Judaism, 60 is the number representing the full measure of existence.
The Talmud says:
Shabbos serenity is 1/60 of the World to Come — the fullness of existence.
A dream is 1/60 of prophecy — the fullness of knowledge of G-d.
The sweetness of honey is 1/60 of manna — the fullness of human pleasure.
60 weddings filled the household of the Talmudic sage R’ Hisda.
60 bakers by day and 60 by night in the household of the sage R’ Hana bar Hanikai fed the poor.
I thought of these splendid statements of 60 when I heard that Moshe Englard loved the Torah so much that he returned to Tractate Sukkah 60 times.
But not for a 61st.
We, however, have that opportunity — to come back to the topic, page or personality in the Torah. To delve into it again. To see it ever more clearly and completely.
Do we say: When is there time to study Torah anyway in this crazy busy world of ours?
I do not think we’ll ever be held in judgment for the Torah that was too difficult or deep for us to understand. I do tremble before the judgment for the Torah we loved but took for granted and let it lay, neglected.
Still, we all need moments of inspiration.
Shavuot is the ultimate moment.
Chag Sameach!
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