(17) As iron sharpens iron
So a person sharpens the face of their friend.
Rabbi Chama, son of Rabbi Chanina, said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17)? to tell you that just as these iron implements, one sharpens the other, so too, Torah scholars sharpen one another in matters of law.
Rabba bar bar Chana said: Why are matters of Torah compared to fire, as it is stated: “Is not My word like fire, says the Erternal” (Jeremiah 23:29)? To tell you: Just as fire does not ignite in a single, so too, matters of Torah are not retained by a person alone.
And this is what Rabbi Yosei bar Chanina said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “A sword is upon the boasters [habaddim], and they shall become fools [noalu]” (Jeremiah 50:36)? A sword upon the 'enemies of' Torah scholars who sit alone [bad bevad] and study Torah. And not only that, but they grow foolish as it is stated: “And they shall become fools.” And not only that, but they sin, as it is written here: “And they shall become fools,” and it is written there: “For that we have done foolishly [noalnu] and for that we have sinned” (Numbers 12:11). And if you wish, say from here: “The princes of Zoan have become fools [noalu]…they have caused Egypt to go astray” (Isaiah 19:13).
Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said: Why are Torah matters likened to a tree, as it is stated: “It is a tree of life to them who lay hold upon it” (Proverbs 3:18)? To tell you that just as a small piece of wood can ignite a large piece, so too, minor Torah scholars can sharpen great ones. And this is what Rabbi Chanina said: I have learned much from my teachers and even more from my friends, but from my students more than all of them.
טוֹבִים הַשְּׁנַיִם מִן הָאֶחָד, טוֹבִים הַשְּׁנַיִם שֶׁהֵם יְגֵיעִין בַּתּוֹרָה, מִן הָאֶחָד, שֶׁעוֹסֵק זֶה לְעַצְמוֹ וְזֶה לְעַצְמוֹ. כִּי אִם יִפֹּלוּ הָאֶחָד יָקִים אֶת חֲבֵרוֹ, שֶׁאִם שָׁכַח הֲלָכָה אֶחָד מֵהֶם, חֲבֵרוֹ מַחֲזִיר הַהֲלָכָה.
"Two are better off than one..." It is better for two to toil in Torah than individuals learning on their own. For if one falls, their companion can raise them up; if one forgets a halachah (rule), their friend can help them remember.
The chaverim (study partners) do not simply study Bible. . . . The very structure of their relationship and the nature of its boundaries present a Jewish model for the relation between self and other. In this relationship, people experience each other as whole, rather than as fragmented, beings…Self and other are not sharply separate here. To be chaverim is to be neither fused nor counterposed, but to be juxtaposed. The root CH-B-R means to join together at the boundaries. The curtains of the tabernacle, for instance, are chevrot isha elachotah, “joined one to another” Some boundaries are barricades—chain link fences guarded by [watch dogs]. Others are not primarily barricades but loci of interaction. A cell membrane, for example, is part of the living substance of the cell. It is the perimeter at which the cell conducts its interchanges with other cells—the contacts, the flowings in and out, which maintain its life within its environment. The boundary between self and other [in the study partner relationship] resembles this living, permeable boundary…
מאי את אויבים בשער אמר רבי חייא בר אבא אפי' האב ובנו הרב ותלמידו שעוסקין בתורה בשער אחד נעשים אויבים זה את זה ואינם זזים משם עד שנעשים אוהבים זה את זה שנאמר (במדבר כא, יד) את והב בסופה אל תקרי בסופה אלא בסופה
What is “enemies in the gate” (Psalm 127:5)? Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba says: Even a father and his son, or a rabbi and his student, who are engaged in Torah together in one gate become enemies with each other. But they do not leave there until they love each other, as it is stated: “Vahev in Suphah [beSufa]” (Numbers 21:14). Do not read this as “in Suphah [beSufa]”; rather, read it as “at its end [besofa]”.
Rabbi Oshaya says: What is that which is written: “And I took for myself two staves; the one I called Graciousness, and the other I called Binders” (Zechariah 11:7)? “Graciousness”; these are the Torah scholars in the Land of Israel, who are gracious to one another in Law. “Binders [ḥovelim]”; these are the Torah scholars in Babylonia, who injure [shemeḥabbelim] each other in law.
“Then he said to me: These are the two anointed ones, that stand ” (Zechariah 4:14), “And two olive trees by it...” (Zechariah 4:3). “Anointed ones,” Rabbi Yitzchak says: These are the Torah scholars in Eretz Yisrael, who are pleasant to each other in Law like olive oil, “and two olive trees by it”: these are the Torah scholars in Babylonia, who are bitter to each other in law like an olive.
אָמְרוּ: שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר אָלֶף זוּגִים תַּלְמִידִים הָיוּ לוֹ לְרַבִּי עֲקִיבָא מִגְּבָת עַד אַנְטִיפְרַס, וְכוּלָּן מֵתוּ בְּפֶרֶק אֶחָד, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁלֹּא נָהֲגוּ כָּבוֹד זֶה לָזֶה. וְהָיָה הָעוֹלָם שָׁמֵם, עַד שֶׁבָּא רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אֵצֶל רַבּוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁבַּדָּרוֹם וּשְׁנָאָהּ לָהֶם: רַבִּי מֵאִיר, וְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה, וְרַבִּי יוֹסֵי, וְרַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן, וְרַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן שַׁמּוּעַ, וְהֵם הֵם הֶעֱמִידוּ תּוֹרָה אוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה. תָּנָא, כּוּלָּם מֵתוּ מִפֶּסַח וְעַד עֲצֶרֶת. אָמַר רַב חָמָא בַּר אַבָּא וְאִיתֵּימָא רַבִּי חִיָּיא בַּר אָבִין: כּוּלָּם מֵתוּ מִיתָה רָעָה. מַאי הִיא? אָמַר רַב נַחְמָן: אַסְכָּרָה.
They said Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students from Gevat to Antipatris, and they all died in one period of time, because they did not treat each other with respect. And the world was desolate until Rabbi Akiva came to our Rabbis in the South and taught them - Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua. And these are the very ones who upheld the study of Torah at that time.
It is taught that all of them died from Passover until Shavuot. Rav Chama bar Abba said, and some say it was Rabbi Chiyya bar Avin: They all died a bad death. What is it? Rav Nachman said: Diphtheria.
And God gave to Moses, after He ceased to speak with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of witness – tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God: When Moses went up to the heavens, he began to recite the Torah after his Maker. After [the Torah] was fully memorized, [God] said to him, come now let us speak together, you and I. Thus we have the words: after God ceased to speak with him. (Midrash Rabbah on parashat Ki Tissa (Ex 41:5)
We learn that God was only in the role of “instructor” only when God was teaching Moses material that Moses did not already know. But regarding material that Moses already knew, God did not “instruct” Moses at all – rather, according to the opinion of the Midrash, God learned together with Moses, and not as an “instructor”. Thus, you must perforce acknowledge that God actually learns Torah with us.
(ב) רַבִּי חֲנִינָא סְגַן הַכֹּהֲנִים אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי מִתְפַּלֵּל בִּשְׁלוֹמָהּ שֶׁל מַלְכוּת, שֶׁאִלְמָלֵא מוֹרָאָהּ, אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ חַיִּים בְּלָעוֹ. רַבִּי חֲנִינָא בֶן תְּרַדְיוֹן אוֹמֵר, שְׁנַיִם שֶׁיּוֹשְׁבִין וְאֵין בֵּינֵיהֶן דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה, הֲרֵי זֶה מוֹשַׁב לֵצִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים א) וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים לֹא יָשָׁב. אֲבָל שְׁנַיִם שֶׁיּוֹשְׁבִין וְיֵשׁ בֵּינֵיהֶם דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה, שְׁכִינָה שְׁרוּיָה בֵינֵיהֶם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מלאכי ג) אָז נִדְבְּרוּ יִרְאֵי יְיָ אִישׁ אֶל רֵעֵהוּ וַיַּקְשֵׁב יְיָ וַיִּשְׁמָע וַיִּכָּתֵב סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן לְפָנָיו לְיִרְאֵי יְיָ וּלְחֹשְׁבֵי שְׁמוֹ. אֵין לִי אֶלָּא שְׁנַיִם, מִנַּיִן שֶׁאֲפִלּוּ אֶחָד שֶׁיּוֹשֵׁב וְעוֹסֵק בַּתּוֹרָה, שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא קוֹבֵעַ לוֹ שָׂכָר, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (איכה ג) יֵשֵׁב בָּדָד וְיִדֹּם כִּי נָטַל עָלָיו:
(2) ...Rabbi Chananiah ben Teradion said: if two sit together and there are no words of Torah [spoken] between them, then this is a session of scorners, as it is said: “nor sat he in the seat of the scornful…[rather, the teaching of the Eternal is his delight]” (Psalms 1:1); but if two sit together and there are words of Torah [spoken] between them, then the Shekhinah abides among them, as it is said: “then they that feared the Eternal spoke one with another; and the Eternal hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name” (Malachi 3:16)...