Aharon Razel: "It’s a Living Text, Not Something Ancient"

“And so the Rabbi once told me, closing the door behind him: You entered the Beit Midrash; you found refuge in the battlefield. Sit before the Gemara, it will be your shield in times of trouble. Turn it over and over, meditate on it day and night, for there is no wisdom or power apart from it.”
(Aharon Razel, “Ten Men”)

The thirteenth cycle of the daily daf  began just over a month ago, and it seems that many are joining the study, whether in pairs or alone, through elucidated Talmuds such as Schottenstein or V’Shinantam, whether through online learning or in-person study. Singer Aharon Razel has also embarked on the cycle and, concurrently, released two songs, “I Set My Seat (in the Beit Midrash)” and “Ten Men”, which speak about Torah study in a wholesome, loving, and strengthening tone.

Razel first encountered a page of Gemara at around the age of ten, at the school he attended. Later on, his music teacher, Prof. Andre Hajdu, told him that he himself had returned to religious observance because of the Gemara, after its study opened worlds to him that he had not known before. Years later, Razel began studying in his brother Rabbi Yehuda Razel’s daily daf class at Beit Yitzchak Synagogue in Nachlaot. At the same time, Razel began weaving study and prayer into various songs he composed, such as “Hagiga,” “Mincha,” and “The Cream and the Biscuit.” “The uniqueness of the Jewish people is embedded in the Gemara. The special dialectic it contains is one of the secrets of the Jewish people, making you an active partner in creating the Oral Torah, because everyone can innovate within it,” he explains.

What is it about the Gemara that develops an inner world?

“I’ll give an example. If a person’s inner world is not sufficiently developed, he needs many external stimuli, like television channels. He becomes bored and moves from one channel to another, and so on. But someone who does not channel surf, and instead looks at the same page for three hours, understands that the real task is developing the inner world, not relying on external stimuli. Otherwise, it doesn’t truly fulfill. That is why the close scrutiny of a Gemara page makes a person more sensitive to the world. A page of Gemara actually develops sensitivity.”

How do you make topics such as an ox goring a cow interesting, even though they seemingly are not relevant to everyday life?

“You need to understand that the Gemara does not want you merely to read about a cow and an egg, but to examine whether you have something to say about it, whether you understand what the sages are trying to convey. Then it becomes an intellectual, emotional, and faith-based challenge. How much do you care about the Torah? How much are you willing to sacrifice for it? That is why in yeshivot there is almost exclusively Gemara study, because here you confront the logical flow of the text. You try to understand where it is unclear, where you can challenge it, and where you can connect to it. And it is a delight.”

To such an extent?

“Yes. This is the Oral Torah. When you come to study, you are an active participant in writing the Gemara, in a sense. It is somewhat like Wikipedia, with a crucial distinction. The Oral Torah teaches that all of Israel can innovate within it. In my study, I may realize that Rashi already said the same thing before me, but in a certain way, creative thinking is not optional, it is essential. You need to ask a question that hasn’t been asked before, find a difficulty that hasn’t been addressed, discover something uniquely yours. It is a living text, not something ancient. Perhaps you are not Abaye or Rava, but you are continuing what they began.”