The Whole Torah in One Tweet: Shavuot 5780

שׁוּב מַעֲשֶׂה בְּגוֹי אֶחָד שֶׁבָּא לִפְנֵי שַׁמַּאי. אָמַר לוֹ: גַּיְּירֵנִי עַל מְנָת שֶׁתְּלַמְּדֵנִי כׇּל הַתּוֹרָה כּוּלָּהּ כְּשֶׁאֲנִי עוֹמֵד עַל רֶגֶל אַחַת! דְּחָפוֹ בְּאַמַּת הַבִּנְיָן שֶׁבְּיָדוֹ. בָּא לִפְנֵי הִלֵּל, גַּיְירֵיהּ. אָמַר לוֹ: דַּעֲלָךְ סְנֵי לְחַבְרָךְ לָא תַּעֲבֵיד — זוֹ הִיא כׇּל הַתּוֹרָה כּוּלָּהּ, וְאִידַּךְ פֵּירוּשַׁהּ הוּא, זִיל גְּמוֹר.

Shabbat 31a:6

Once a gentile came before Shammai. He said to him, "I will convert to Judaism on the condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one leg [regel].

Shammai pushed him away with the builder’s measuring stick that was in his hand.

He came before Hillel [with the same condition].

Hillel converted him. He said to him, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the entire Torah. The rest is its commentary. Go and learn it."

What is this story about? What's it for? What's the "moral" of the story?

These are provocative questions, as they provoke uncertainty and self-doubt as to whether or not we're good enough. Putting them in the mouth of an outsider makes them easier to wrestle with.

Regel (foot) - sounds like Latin word regula (basic principle, rule)

Hillel formulates a regula (a basic principle of Torah), while Shammai also uses a regula (his ruler).

Frequent abbreviations of this story and their consequences:

Widespread modern phenomenon: minimizing the importance of comprehensive study in favor of one overarching idea.

But at the same time, we can't possible study everything and we NEED summarizing principles to be able to interact with the overwhelming complexity of the world.

Presenting, a better (in my opinion) attempt at deriving the "essence of Torah" or Judaism's "fundamental principle":

ויקרא י״ט:י״ח

(יח) לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יהוה׃

Leviticus 19:18

(18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18 is basically a positive formulation of what Hillel said, and this verse is probably what he was alluding to.

תלמוד ירושלמי נדרים ט׳:ד׳:ב׳-ה׳:ב׳

ואהבת לרעך כמוך (ויקרא יט). רבי עקיבה אומר זהו כלל גדול בתורה. בן עזאי אומר זה ספר תולדות אדם (בראשית ה) זה כלל גדול מזה.

Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 9:4:2-5:2

Love your fellow as yourself. (Leviticus 19:18) Rabbi Akiva says: "This is the great principle of the Torah." Ben Azzai says: "This is the book of the generations of Adam (Genesis 5:1) is an even greater principle than this."

(This exchange can also be found in Bereshit Rabbah 24:7 and Sifra Kedoshim 4:12)

Rabbi Akiva basically agrees with Hillel. But there are two important shortcomings to holding up this sentiment as the "great principle of the Torah."

Ben Azzai presents an alternative idea that addresses these shortcomings. And, he doesn't need to add any additional directive to go study because it's already implicit in his answer. You can't even understand his answer until you go look up the rest of the verse in a Tanakh!

בראשית ה׳:א׳

(א) זֶ֣ה סֵ֔פֶר תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת אָדָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם בְּרֹ֤א אֱלֹהִים֙ אָדָ֔ם בִּדְמ֥וּת אֱלֹהִ֖ים עָשָׂ֥ה אֹתֽוֹ׃

Genesis 5:1

(1) This is the written record of the human line.—When God created human beings, God made [them] in the likeness of God;

The real fundamental principle is in the second half of the verse: Human beings were created in the image of God.

Interpretive advantages to Ben Azzai's answer:

Ultimately, there are still no shortcuts to attaining the wisdom needed to live into this essential principle. All 3 sages who offered teachings on the essence of Torah understood this.

אבות דרבי נתן ו׳:ב׳

מה היה תחלתו של רבי עקיבא. אמרו בן ארבעים שנה היה ולא שנה כלום. פעם אחת היה עומד על פי הבאר אמר מי חקק אבן זו אמרו לא המים שתדיר [נופלים] עליה בכל יום אמרו [לו] עקיבא אי אתה קורא אבנים שחקו מים. מיד היה רבי עקיבא דן קל וחומר בעצמו מה רך פסל את הקשה דברי תורה שקשה כברזל על אחת כמה וכמה שיחקקו את לבי שהוא בשר ודם. מיד חזר ללמוד תורה.

Avot DeRabbi Natan 6:2

What were the origins of Rabbi Akiva? They say that he was forty years old and had still not learned anything. Once, he was standing at the mouth of a well and he said: "Who carved a hole in this stone?" They said to him: "It is from the water, which constantly falls on it, day after day." And they said: "Akiva, don't you know this from the verse (Job 14:19), 'Water erodes stones'"? Rabbi Akiva immediately applied this, all the more so, to himself. He said: "If something soft can carve something hard, then all the more so, the words of Torah, which are like steel, can engrave themselves on my heart, which is but flesh and blood." He immediately went to start studying Torah.

Akiva understood that no one drop of wisdom can "penetrate a heart." (i.e. become internalized to the point that one can live it fully)

משנה אבות ד׳:ב׳

(ב) בֶּן עַזַּאי אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי רָץ לְמִצְוָה קַלָּה כְבַחֲמוּרָה, וּבוֹרֵחַ מִן הָעֲבֵרָה. שֶׁמִּצְוָה גּוֹרֶרֶת מִצְוָה, וַעֲבֵרָה גוֹרֶרֶת עֲבֵרָה. שֶׁשְּׂכַר מִצְוָה, מִצְוָה. וּשְׂכַר עֲבֵרָה, עֲבֵרָה:

Pirkei Avot 4:2

(2) Ben Azzai said: Be quick in performing a minor commandment as in the case of a major one, and flee from transgression; For one commandment leads to another commandment, and transgression leads to another transgression; For the reward for performing a commandment is another commandment and the reward for committing a transgression is a transgression.

Ben Azzai understood that learning one thing pulls you forward to learn another thing, and another thing, and then another thing. The pursuit of wisdom demands expansive study.

משנה אבות א׳:י״ד

(יד) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי. וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי. וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי:

Pirkei Avot 1:14

(14) He (Rabbi Hillel) used to say: If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self [only], what am I? And if not now, when?

Hillel understood that undertaking such study can be daunting, and that we need to be reminded that there is no time like the present to get started.