עֲשָׂרָה שֶׁיּוֹשְׁבִין וְעוֹסְקִין בַּתּוֹרָה,
שְׁכִינָה שְׁרוּיָה בֵינֵיהֶם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: אֱלֹהִים נִצָּב בַּעֲדַת אֵל. וּמִנַּֽיִן
אֲפִילוּ חֲמִשָּׁה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וַאֲגֻדָּתוֹ עַל אֶֽרֶץ יְסָדָהּ. וּמִנַּֽיִן אֲפִילוּ
שְׁלֹשָׁה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: בְּקֶֽרֶב אֱלֹהִים יִשְׁפֹּט. וּמִנַּֽיִן אֲפִילוּ שְׁנַֽיִם,
שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: אָז נִדְבְּרוּ יִרְאֵי יְיָ אִישׁ אֶל רֵעֵֽהוּ, וַיַּקְשֵׁב יְיָ וַיִּשְׁמָע.
וּמִנַּֽיִן אֲפִילוּ אֶחָד, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: בְּכָל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אַזְכִּיר אֶת שְׁמִי,
אָבֹא אֵלֶֽיךָ וּבֵרַכְתִּֽיךָ
When ten people sit together and
occupy themselves with Torah, the Divine Presence rests amongst them, as it
says: "The Almighty stands in the congregation of God" (Tehillim
82:1). And from where do we know that this is also the case with five? From the
verse, "He established his band on earth" (Amos 9:6). And three? From
the verse, "He renders judgement in the midst of the tribunal" (Tehillim
82:1). And two? From the verse, "Then those who feared God conversed with
one another, and God listened and heard" (Malachi 3:16). And from
where do we know that such is the case even with a single individual? From the
verse, "In every place where I have My name mentioned, I shall come to you
and bless you" (Shemot 20:21).
In its simplest understanding, this mishnah offers us
comforting assurance that, so long as we are focused on the study of Torah, God’s
Presence is with us—even if we can’t feel it at the time. This suggests that,
by learning Torah, we are bringing a little bit of Godliness down into our simple
human lives. From a mussar point of view there is the additional
implication that we should learn Torah in a respectful manner, in the knowledge
that He is, as it were, standing by us and looking over our shoulder while we
study.
In his Jewish Press blogpost Raphael Poch gives us a fresh
and highly topical application of this ancient text, though it does not claim
to be a literal reading of it:
“The Mishna describes how Rabbi Chalafta
ben Dosa expounded several passages from Tanach to teach us how God is with us
when we study the Torah or even simply call out his name. The Mishna gives
biblical support/exegesis from pasukim to prove Rabbi Chalafta’s points and
state that God will be with us if we call out His name in groups of 10, 5, 3,
2, and yes, even if only one person who is standing alone and doing so. The
pasuk brought to support God’s being with even an individual who calls upon His
name comes from … Sefer Shemot, and reads: “In any place where I cause my name
to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.” (Shemot 20:21)….
The context of the pasuk is about
the command to build an altar, upon which sacrifices will be offered and comes
directly after the Ten Commandments were given. Sacrifices are not always easy
to give, but if the effort is made, and God’s name is called upon, He promises
to not only answer but to bless the person who made the effort, even if they
have to do it on their own. What is more telling, is that the entire pasuk is
said in the singular language, using words such as Ta’aseh instead of Ta’asu,
lending more strength to this concept of God standing with us when we go it
alone, as long as we put in the effort.
Everyone in Israel is putting in
the effort. We may not agree on the exact methodology, but we all want the same
things, for the war to end in victory with the remaining hostages being
returned home safely and the dismantling of Hamas and terror infrastructure in
Gaza so that the people living in the region can live in peace.
Of course, there is another
understanding of why the passage in Shemot was given in the singular because
the Jewish people at the time were unified after receiving the Ten Commandments
at Sinai. Throughout history, whenever oppressors have attacked the Jewish
people, it has resulted in Jews regaining a sense of purpose, coming closer to
one another, and a greater unity than was present before. The same held true
after the October 7th attacks. The refrain has been repeated over and over
again that ‘united we will win’. The more we fight and bicker amongst
ourselves, the more we allow our enemies to break us down and have power over
us. The lesson from Shemot and Pirkei Avot …was clear. We can go it alone, even
if we are only one voice of reason in a world that has gone crazy. If we follow
the ethics set down for us by God, declare what is correct and moral and
thereby call upon God’s name, even if it is hard and we have to sacrifice
things along the way, we can win. We can do that in a group with a multitude of
voices, but if we do that in unison, and call out as one voice, then He will
come down to us and bless us. What is greater in this world than to be blessed
by God?”
While this application of Avot 3:7 is unlikely to have been
within the contemplation of Rabbi Chalafta ben Dosa, its sentiments are
pertinent to the situation in which we currently find ourselves in Israel and
beyond—and I personally doubt that the great Tanna would have objected to them.
For comments and discussion of this post on Facebook, click here.
