Joodse traditie als permanent leren

170.

code to be "a compendium of all the oral law, ordinances, customs

and decrees from the days of Moses, our master, to the close of

the Talmud, including the interpretations of the Geonim since that

time". This monumental code opens, significantly, with the sefer

ha-Mada, the "Book of Knowledge", which contains the oft-quoted

Hilkhot Talmud Torah, the "Laws Concerning the Study of Torah".

These in turn are subdivided into chapters and sections dealing with

the affirmative precepts (mitzvot Aseh) to study the Torah and to

honor its teachers as well as those versed in it. The following

passages from the Hilkhot Talmud Torah are all relevant to our

143

theme of lifelong learning among Jews.

((Regels 1 : 1-7)) '1.1 Women, slaves and the young (under the age of puberty) are exempt from the obligation of studying Torah. But it is a duty of the father to teach his young son Torah: as it is said, "And ye shall teach them, to your children, talking of them" (Deut. 11:19). A woman is under no obligation to teach her son, since only one whose duty it is to learn has a duty to teach.

1. 2. Just as it is a man's duty to teach his son, so it is his duty to teach his grandson, as it is said, "Make them known unto thy children and thy children's children" (Deut. 4:9). This obligation is to be fulfilled not only towards a son and grandson. A duty rests on every scholar in Israel to teach all disciples (who seek instruction from him), even if they are not his children, as it is said, "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children" (Deut. 6:7). On traditional authority, the term "thy children" includes disciples, for disciples too are called children, as it is said, "And the sons of the prophets came forth" (II Kings 2:3). This being so, why does the precept (concerning instruction) specifically mention (Deut. 4:9) a man's son and son's son? To impress upon us that the son should receive instruction in preference to a grandson, and a grandson in preference to another man's son.

1.3 A father (who cannot teach his son) is bound to engage a paid teacher for him. But the only obligation one owes to a neighbour's son is to teach him when it involves no expense. If a father has not had his son taught, it is the duty of the latter, as soon as he realizes