Eruvin 54b

עירובין נ״ד ע״ב

Learn Eruvin 54b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Praise of תורה and methods of learning it: review, repetition by teachers, memory signs, and fixed times

Overview

This amud is a long section of אגדה about the greatness of תורה and how to learn it well. It opens by comparing תורה to a fig tree, a hind, and a breast: it is always beloved and always gives new meaning. The story of רבי אלעזר בן פדת, so absorbed in learning that he forgot his cloak, illustrates this. Several פסוקים are then read as warnings to review and to learn little by little, like a hunter who secures each catch. A ברייתא describes how משה taught the תורה שבעל פה so that everyone heard each lesson four times. From this רבי אליעזר learns that a teacher must teach four times, while רבי עקיבא says to teach until the student has truly mastered it. The story of רבי פרידא, who taught a slow student four hundred times and then four hundred more, shows the great reward for such devotion. The amud ends with sources for using memory signs (סימנים) and for setting fixed times to learn תורה.

Opening lines

The steps (43)

1. Statementתורה is like a fig tree that always has ripe fruit
2. Statementתורה is like a hind, always as beloved as the first time
3. Statementתורה gives grace to those who learn it
4. Statementתורה is like a breast that always gives milk
5. Statementרבי אלעזר בן פדת forgot his cloak while learning
6. StatementA snake guarded רבי אלעזר's cloak
7. StatementRiders on white donkeys are traveling תלמידי חכמים
8. StatementThree levels of learners: מקרא, משנה, תלמוד
9. StatementThe deceitful hunter will not live long
10. Challengeרב ששת: does the clever hunter really lose out?
11. Statementרב דימי's parable: break each bird's wings as you catch it
12. StatementLearning in big bundles shrinks, gathering bit by bit grows
13. StatementThe רבנן know this advice but do not follow it
14. Proofרב נחמן בר יצחק: I did it and it worked
15. StatementHow משה first taught the Oral Torah: Aharon and his sons
16. Statementרבי יהודה: אהרן always returns to משה's right
17. StatementThe elders and the people learn, and the first count
18. ConclusionThe teachers step out and teach again, so everyone hears it four times
19. StatementA teacher must review a lesson four times
20. ProofA קל וחומר supports the four-times rule
21. StatementTeach until the student knows it and it is organized in his mouth
22. StatementA teacher must show the reasons
23. ChallengeWhy not have everyone learn directly from משה?
24. ResolutionTo give honor to אהרן, his sons, and the זקנים
25. ChallengeWhy not use a simple chain of teachers?
26. ResolutionLearning from משה brings special success
27. StatementQuoting רבי יהודה on where אהרן sat
28. QuestionWhose view is the ברייתא about walking with a teacher?
29. ResponseIt can fit the חכמים too: they did not want to trouble אהרן
30. Statementרבי פרידא's student needed four hundred lessons
31. StatementOne day the student did not learn
32. Questionרבי פרידא asks why today was different
33. ResponseThe student explains he was distracted
34. Statementרבי פרידא teaches another four hundred times
35. QuestionA בת קול offers רבי פרידא a choice
36. Responseרבי פרידא chooses עולם הבא for his generation
37. Conclusionהקדוש ברוך הוא gives him both rewards
38. Statementרב חסדא: תורה is acquired only through memory signs
39. Statementרבי אבהו learns the same idea from a different verse
40. QuestionHow do we know ציון means a sign?
41. ResponseProof from the marker set beside a human bone
42. StatementA third source for signs from משלי
43. Statementרבא reads the same word as fixed times for learning