[Avodah] What did they learn in the yeshiva of Shem and Ever?

[Zev Sero]

Marty Bluke wrote:
> The Gemara in Sanhedrin 59a tells us that a goy who learns Torah is
> chayav misa. If so what were they allowed to learn in Shem and Ever's
> yeshiva? What did they learn all day?

Why can't a goy learn Torah?  Because it's "morasha kehilat yaacov";
it's both our "property" and our "bride", and therefore a goy who
intrudes on our relationship with the Torah is metaphorically guilty
of both "theft" and "adultery".  Of course this *is* only metaphorical,
which is why he isn't *really* chayav mita; all that means is that it's
a really bad thing.

But before mattan torah none of this was true.  The Torah *didn't*
belong to anyone in particular.  Whatever Adam passed down to those of
his descendants interested in learning it was in the public domain.

Even nowadays, goyim are allowed to learn anything that's relevant to
them, and since they're required to believe pretty much everything that
we do, it would seem to follow that they can and should learn everything
related to theology, machshava, etc.  They're also allowed to take on
almost any mitzvah they like, so it follows that they can learn all the
details of the mitzvot, in order to know what there is to choose from.
And certainly they may and should learn all the laws of amira lenochri,
bishul akum, etc, so they know what they can and can't do for Jews,
kashrut so they know what food they can give Jews, etc.

This doesn't leave a lot of Torah that they can't learn, which leads me
to the conclusion (for which I have no explicit source, but which seems
almost muchrach to me) that "goy shelamad torah" doesn't refer to actual
study of material but to the intent of the learning.  What we have that's
special isn't the information that's in the Torah but the *mitzvah* of
Talmud Torah.  We learn Torah not just so we should know what's in it,
but because the learning itself is a mitzvah.  Even someone who is baki
in every aspect of Torah, and has a perfect memory, still has to learn
for its own sake.  It's this mitzvah that creates a special bond between
Am Yisrael and the Torah; when we learn the words we become one with
them and with their Giver, Who put Himself into them ("ana nafshi ktavit
yehavit").

And it seems to me that *that* is what's forbidden to goyim; learning
Torah for the sake of deveikus with it is like the intimacy between a
husband and wife, and therefore when a stranger attempts the same kind
of relationship it's like making a pass at someone else's wife.  But
learning Torah for the information that it contains is like having a
completely platonic conversation with a married woman, with no hint of
intimacy.  And similarly, learning Torah for the sake of uniting with
it is like breaking into someone's home, while learning it for the sake
of finding out what it says is like admiring someone's home from across
the street.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas