Our Gemara on Amud Aleph describes the two verses a young child should be taught to say, as soon as he is able to speak. The Shema and Torah Tziva Lanu Moshe.

Ben Yehoyada raises the question as to why both verses are necessary and why not the first verse in Bereishis? The Shema is obvious because it’s a credo of a Jew, declaring belief in one God who is unified. However, the verse Torah Tziva etc certainly requires some analysis. I will offer my own reason for this.

Let us analyze the components of this verse. There is a section which speaks of Torah that Moshe commanded us to do “Tziva lanu Moshe”, and then there is the tradition and inheritance “morasha”, and finally an interesting idiom for the Jewish people, “Kehillas Yaakov”, the congregation of Jacob. The idiom had two noteworthy words, “Jacob”, and “congregation”. Why not use the usual phrase, “Benei Yisrael”, the “sons of Israel”?

The Gemara and Midrashim note in many places the odd language of Torah Tziva Lanu Moshe, as why is the verse stressing that Moshe commanded the Torah instead of Hashem? The Midrashic answer is to draw a distinction between the first two commandments that came directly from God, and the 611 that came through Moshe. That is “Torah”, the numerical equivalent of 611 came from moshe (Makkos 23b).

However, I will offer another understanding of these various anomalous phrases. After accepting the Yoke of Heaven in the reciting of Shema, the child also must be introduced to his communal responsibility of Torah. Yes, Hashem commanded the Torah but that is not the communal obligation. Moshe gave the Torah to the Jewish people as an inheritance to guard and preserve it. While of course the study of Torah is about knowing God’s will and fulfilling it, there is also a commitment to study it and pass it on to the next generation. This is a meta obligation, meaning that it is beyond mere mitzvos, and begins as soon as a child can talk, just as the child is “obligated” to protect his heritage, way before he even understands what he is protecting, because it belongs to him.

Quote: Khalil Gibran

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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