The 48 (or 49, or 50) Ways to Torah

Rabbi Shimon said: There are three crowns: the crown of torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of royalty, but the crown of a good name supersedes them all.

Greater is Torah than the priesthood and than kingship, for kingship is acquired by thirty stages, and the priesthood by twenty-four, but the Torah by forty-eight things.

1.) By study

2.) Attentive listening

3.) Deliberate speech

4.) An understanding heart

5.) An intelligent heart

6.) Fear

7.) Awe

8.) Humility

9.) Joy

10.) Purity

11.) Attending to the sages

12.) Give and take with friends

13.) Argumentation with disciples

14.) Sitting

15.) Scripture

16.) Mishnah

17.) By minimizing business

18.) By minimizing worldly matters

19.) By minimizing pleasure

20.) By minimizing sleep

21.) By minimizing laughter

22.) By long-suffering

23.) A good heart

24.) Faith in the sages

25.) Acceptance of suffering

[Learning of Torah is also acquired by one] 26.) Who recognizes their place

27.) Who is happy in their portion

28.) Who makes a fence about their words 29.) Who takes no credit for themselves 30.) Who is loved

31.) Who loves God

32.) Who loves [their fellow] creatures

33.) Who loves righteous ways

34.) Who loves correction

35.) Who loves rebuke

36.) Who keeps themselves far from honor

37.) Who does not let their heart become swelled on account of their learning

38.) Who does not delight in giving legal decisions

39.) Who carries a burden with their friend

40.) Who judges with the scales weighted in their favor

41.) Who brings them to truth

42.) Who brings them to peace

43.) Who settles their heart when they study

44.) Who asks and answers

45.) Who listens and adds,

46.) Who learns in order to teach,

47.) Who learns in order to practice,

48.) Who makes their teacher wiser,

49.) Who is exact in what they have learned,

50.) And who says a thing in the name of the one who said it. Thus you have learned: Anyone who says a thing in the name of the one who said it, brings deliverance into the world, as it is said: “And Esther told the king in Mordecai’s name” (Esther 2:22).