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Davar Torah
Davar Torah
In the book, “Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus,” Lois Tverberg explains how God’s law (or torah) was planted deep in the memories of the Jews through synagogue and the supper table.
In the formal schooling system in the synagogue for boys, historian Shmuel Safrai comments: “Individual and group study of the Bible, repetition of the passages, etc., were often done by chanting them aloud. There is the frequent expression, ‘the chirping of children,’ which was heard by people passing close by a synagogue as the children were reciting a verse.” Tverberg writes, “It was also typical for boys to repeat their lessons as they strolled along the dusty roads, something seen in Arab villages even now. You can hear their passion for learning by memory in this saying: ‘A person who repeats his lesson a hundred times is not to be compared with him who repeats it a hundred and one times!” (from the Babylonian Talmud).
Though there was no school system for girls, they attended synagogue each Sabbath where the Law and Prophets were read aloud and preached on for hours at a time. Tverberg continues, “Along with the weekly reading in the synagogue was a tradition of always having a discussion of the Scriptures at festive gatherings. This is called a davar torah, a word of teaching. Each week on Friday night, after a family celebrated the Sabbath with the best meal of the week, the father would share a lesson from the passage currently being studied in the synagogue. At holiday gatherings and family celebrations this was the practice too. Safrai writes: ‘Torah study was a remarkable feature in Jewish life at the time of the Second Temple and during the period following it. It was not restricted to the formal setting of schools and synagogue, nor to sages only, but became an integral part of ordinary Jewish life. The Torah was studied at all possible times, even if only a little at a time…The sound of Torah learning issuing from homes at night was a common phenomenon. When people assembled for a joyous occasion such as a circumcision or a wedding, a group might withdraw to engage in study of the Law.’
The Jews emphasized the importance of talking Torah at mealtime. One Rabbi wrote, ‘When three eat at one table and words of Torah are not spoken there, it is as if they ate at the altars of the dead…but when three eat at one table and bring up words of Torah, it is as if they ate from the table of God!’ Tverberg says this could be Paul’s meaning in 1 Timothy 4:4-5, “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.” Just like we bless or sanctify our food with prayer, so too some Jews believed discussing Scripture over meals had a sanctifying effect. (Paul could also be referring to God’s word pronouncing all foods clean in Mark 7:19 and Acts 10).
Historian Martin Jaffe writes about the effects of Bible memorization on the Jewish rabbis in the first century, “Their mastery of the Scriptural text testifies to the comprehensive project of memorization that yielded a Scripture known backwards and forwards, inside out and upside down…the mind-stopping display of Scriptural erudition obvious in nearly any Rabbinic exegetical discourse on Scripture reminds us that the sages knew their Scripture with a physical intimacy reminiscent of the Hebrew double entendre regarding the word ‘knowledge.’ Scripture was first and foremost known through a possession as intimate as the taste in one’s mouth, encountered textually as a presence lodged in memory and brought to expression in the tongue’s speech. In this crucial sense, the written Torah was an oral as much as a written text, a possession within the body as much as a material object in the world.” (“Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus: How a Jewish Perspective Can Transform Your Understanding.” Lois Tverberg. p. 181-185.)
Certainly we’re not still bound to the Torah, but consider 3 key takeaways:
- Let’s strive, like the Jews, to make God’s word a presence lodged in our memories and a possession within our bodies.
- Start your kids early on memorizing Scripture and rejoice at the sound of your “children chirping!” You’ll be amazed at what sticks.
- Why not adopt the tradition of davar torah, “a word of teaching,” by making it a goal to discuss one verse a day from Scripture around the dinner table with your family?
