Hi, thank you for your answer to my question on Klalos neemra bsinai.
My question today (on daf 7) is actually a fairly basic concept in Judaism. Is the mitzvah of Limud Torah a mitzvah deoraisa or drabanan. The Gemorah here says that these items (Peah, bikurim etc.) that there is no shir (limit) upward or downward from the Torah but midirabanan there are limits.
This got me thinking, isn't the source for our mitzvah to learn a pasuk in Yehoshua ("vhigisa bo yomam valaila") see Rambam Hilchos Talmud Torah 1:8. (in 1:2 the Rambam says that the mitzvah to teach your children and grandchildren and friends children is from the Torah e.g., "v'lemaditem otam es bnaichem" yet the actual obligation to learn is from Yehoshua)
In other words, Peah, bikurim etc. all have pesukim in the Torah (even Gmilas Chesed has the pasuk of veahavta lreiacha kamocha) but not Talmud Torah. So how can the gemara say that the basic shir is from the Torah. Also, how can something that we know "midivrei sofrim" be "kineged coolum" those things that are dioraisa?
thanks, and good Shabbos
Bill Kanter
bkanter@aol.com
There is no doubt that the Mitzvah of learning Torah is not only learned from the words of the Navi, but is a positive commandment from the Torah. The Rambam quoted the verse from the Navi only to teach that we are to learn during both the day and the night (as is evident from the context of the Halachah). Even though the Rambam also cites the verses of "v'Limadetem Osam Es Beneichem..." and "V'Shinantam...," we can only learn from those verses that there is an obligation mid'Oraisa to learn and to teach Torah (but not when to learn Torah). Actually, the Mitzvah to learn is included in the Mitzvah to teach, which is the way it is phrased in those verses.
The Rambam writes this clearly in his list of the Mitzvos at the beginning of Hilchos Talmud Torah. The Rambam states there that "there is a Torah obligation to learn Torah...." The Rambam also states in Sefer ha'Mitzvos (Mitzvah 11), "The Mitzvah of Talmud Torah is to learn and to teach." The Rambam explains himself there in more detail, and he cites many verses that show that the obligation of Torah study is mid'Oraisa.
See also Sefer Ma'alos ha'Torah, where the author shows that one who studies Torah fulfills over 50 Mitzvos d'Oraisa for every word studied. He cites many verses as sources. There is certainly no doubt with regard to the status of the Mitzvah of learning Torah. Indeed, some Amora'im even maintain that the blessings recited before learning Torah are mid'Oraisa (see Berachos 20a).
Mordecai Kornfeld