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52 | FESTSCHRIFT

R. Menachem Tzvi Taksin, a Lithuanian rabbinic scholar from the city of Kamenetz
who lived at the end of the nineteenth century, elaborates on this point. He writes that
someone who receives a gift will assess its value based on two considerations: the sta-
tus of the one who gave it (“הנתמה תא ןתונה”) and the significance of the gift itself
(“המצע הנתמה”) . For example, if a king gives one a gift, the recipient will treasure it
even if it is just a trinket. In other circumstances, the level of appreciation for the gift
will depend upon how expensive or significant the gift itself is. When it comes to To-

rah, however, both factors are relevant. It is precious because we received it from God
and it is precious because it is intrinsically valuable. These two perspectives, he contin-
ues, are represented in the brakhot recited both before and after Torah study. The pre-
brakhah, “Who has chosen us from all the peoples and given us the Torah רחב רשא(
ותרות תא ונל ןתנו םימעה לכמ ונב),” underscores the significance of He who bestowed
this gift upon us while the post-brakhah, “Who . . . planted in our midst everlasting life
)וניכותב עטנ םלוע ייחו,”) underscores the significance of the gift itself. By not reciting
birkhat ha-Torah prior to learning Torah, the Jews at the time of the destruction dem-
onstrated that they did not appreciate the first consideration, namely, that it was God

who gave it to them. What was missing was not the study of Torah, but the recognition
that it was God Himself who gave them this gift of Torah. It was their connection or
relationship with God that was found wanting. And, Maharal goes so far as to sug-
12
gest that Torah enables the Jew to, actually, love God (“ךרבתי םשה בהוא אוה הז ליבשבו
ובל לכב”). 13

This notion, that the importance of Torah lies in the fact that it enables a relationship,
a direct personal relationship, between the Jew and God, was an important theme for
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (the Rav) and one to which he returned again and again.
In one of the most famous autobiographical passages in all of his writings, the Rav de-
scribed how the Rambam sat next to him on his bed as a child while he was listening

to his father teaching. At the end of that story, he continued:

In my childhood, only the Rambam was my friend, while at present

12 R. Menachem Tzvi Taksin, Orach Yesharim, vol. 1 (Pietrokov, 1909), 18a. It is very interesting to note that
this book contains approbations both from the Bet Halevi and Rabbi Eliyahu (Feinstein) of Pruzhin. The Bet
Halevi’s grandson, Moshe, married Rabbi Eliyahu’s daughter, Pesia. They were the parents of Rabbi Joseph B.
Soloveitchik.
13 Maharal, “Netiv ha-Torah,” Netivot Olam, end chapter 7. See Maharal, Netivot Olam, vol. 1 (Jerusalem,
1971), 32-33.