[Avodah] Explanation of the Tur?

[via Avodah]

From: Chana Luntz via Avodah  <avodah at lists.aishdas.org>

I



Well the CC is  explaining the Rambam.  The Rambam says:


--quote-- A woman who  studies Torah gains a reward but not like the reward 
of a man, 
...and even though she gains a reward, the Sages commanded that a man  
should not 
teach his daughter Torah because the majority of women their minds  are not 
suited to
 the learning, and they will turn matters of Torah to matters of  
foolishness according to
the poverty of their minds, the Sages said: Anyone  who teaches his daughter
Torah it is as if he teaches her tiflut.  With  regard to what are we
speaking, with Torah she baal peh [oral Torah]; but  Torah she bichtav
[written Torah] even though he should not teach her ab  initio, if he taught
her it is not as though he taught her tiflut. --end  quote--

That is, the Rambam says: women who study Torah gain reward BUT a  man 
should
not teach his daughter Torah BUT only Torah she ba'al peh is  tiflut, while
Torah shebichtav shouldn't be done, it is not  tiflut.

So, the Rambam here appears to only have two categories of Torah,  torah
sheba'al peh, and torah shebichtav ...

....But saying that the
experiential aspect is not Torah at all,  would seem to be saying the 
shimush
talmedei chachaimim, which is so valued  as essential for horah, is in fact
not Torah at all, and it would also seem  to knock out ma-aseh rav, which is
again absolutely critical for our  definition of halacha l'ma'ase....  



.....So this kind of informal education - how to put on  tephillin, how to 
shect,
showing how to... (the list is endless) is not  Torah, and doesn't take the
bracha when done between father and son, or rebbe  and talmid?  Isn't that
the consequence of what you are saying?   That the only Torah that men are
obligated to learn as Talmud Torah are the  formal abstract rules and
regulations and not the practical, which is best  taught experientially?   


Regards

Chana





>>>>>
 
I think that different uses of the word "Torah" are being confused  here.  
The very word "Torah" has many meanings, depending on context.   It can 
refer to just the Chumash -- the Torah shebichsav -- about which the  Rambam 
says "but Torah she bichtav [written Torah] even though he should not  teach 
her ab initio, if he taught her it is not as though he taught her  tiflut."  
Some chassidishe schools to this day do not teach girls  Chumash.
 
The word Torah can mean both Chumash and Gemara.  "The Sages said:  Anyone 
who teaches his daughter
Torah it is as if he teaches her  tiflut."  There is universal agreement 
that "Torah" in this context means  Gemara.  NO ONE thinks that teaching 
halacha to girls is  tantamount to teaching tiflus.
 
The word "Torah" can refer to the vast corpus of everything that has ever  
been written by or about the Tanaim and Amoraim, Rishonim and Achronim.  The 
word can refer to halacha, to hashkafa, to everything that makes up  Jewish 
life and thought.
 
"Torah" can also refer to that which is taught and learned by example,  or 
by osmosis, or by a mother's tears when she bentshes lecht and davens for 
her  children.  "Al titosh Toras imecha."
 
Every language has words like that, words whose precise meaning depends on  
context.  Certainly in the Gemara itself there are many such  words.  
 

--Toby  Katz
t613k at aol.com
..
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