בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
בְּרוּךֶ אַתֶה חֲוָיָה שְׁכִינּוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדַשְׁתַנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיהֶ וְצִוְתָנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָהּ אֱלֹהָתֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קֵרְבָתְנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתָהּ וְצִוְתָנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
Blessings for learning and studying Torah
Berakhot 11b:
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu la’asok b’divrei Torah
Nonbinary Hebrew Project:
B’rucheh ateh Khavayah Shekhinu ruach ha’olam asher kidash’tanu b’mitzvotei’he v’tziv’tanu la’asok b’divrei Torah
Feminine God Language:
Brukhah at Ya Elohateinu ruach ha’olam asher keir’vat’nu la’avodatah v’tziv’tavnu la’asok b’divrei Torah
From Rabbi Benay Lappe and Dan Libenson, "A Third Torah From Sinai: Revising Our Myth for a New Jewish Era, https://svara.org/hot-off-the-shtender-a-third-torah-from-sinai-revising-our-myth-for-a-new-jewish-era/
God gave Moses three torahs at Mount Sinai—the written torah, the oral torah, and the svara torah—the torah of our own moral intuition, the torah that is in our hearts and minds, the torah that we know to be True in our kishkes, the torah drawn from the insights gained from our lived life experiences—and the queerer the lived life experience, the richer the insight, and the more essential it is to be brought into the tradition which so desperately needs it in order to be the liberatory enterprise it has always sought to be.
Svara: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, "Bet Midrash Reference Guide," pg. 4
The Five Sources of Jewish Law
Kra (קרא) Torah verse
Minhag (מנהג) Custom
Ma'aseh (מעשה) Precedent
Takanah (תקנה) Legislation
Svara (סברא) Informed moral intuition
Svara is one of five sources of Jewish law, among which, of course, is a verse of the Torah itself. Just as any law which grows out of a Torah verse is understood to have the higher status of d'oraita ("toraitic," or "straight from God") rather than merely d'rabbanan or "rabbinic," a law whose source is svara is also d'oraita! What's more, when one's svara and a verse in the Torah conflict, svara has the power to trump even Torah in the determination of law, when that svara is understood to more accurately reflect the deepest foundational principles of the Jewish tradition.
From Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z''l, "Let My Teaching Fall Like Rain", https://rabbisacks.org/haazinu-let-my-teaching-fall-like-rain/
Let my teaching fall like rain: Just as the rain is one thing, yet it falls on trees, enabling each to produce tasty fruit according to the kind of tree it is – the vine in its way, the olive tree in its way and the date palm in its way, so the Torah is one, yet its words yield Scripture, Mishnah, laws and lore. Like showers on new grass: just as showers fall upon plants and make them grow, some green, some red, some black, some white, so the words of Torah produce teachers, worthy individuals, sages, the righteous and the pious.
There is only one Torah, yet it has multiple effects. It gives rise to different kinds of teaching, different sorts of virtue. Torah is sometimes seen by its critics as overly prescriptive, as if it sought to make everyone the same. The midrash argues otherwise. The Torah is compared to rain precisely to emphasize that its most important effect is to make each of us grow into what we could become. We are not all the same, nor does Torah seek uniformity.
בֶּן בַּג בַּג אוֹמֵר, הֲפָךְ בָּהּ וַהֲפָךְ בָּהּ, דְּכֹלָּא בָהּ. ובָהּ תֶּחֱזֵי, וְסִיב וּבְלֵה בַהּ, וּמִנַּהּ לָא תְזוּעַ, שֶׁאֵין לְךָ מִדָּה טוֹבָה הֵימֶנָּה.
Ben Bag Bag says: Turn it, and turn it again, because all is in it; and in it contemplate, and grow gray and old over it; and never move away from it, for you cannot have any characteristic better than this.
(9) Two are better off than one, in that they have greater benefit from-e their labors. (10) For should they fall, one can raise the other; but woe betide [the one] who is alone and falls with no companion to raise [them]!
The Gemara cites other expositions that deal with Torah study. Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Iron sharpens iron, so a [person] sharpens the countenance of [their] friend” (Proverbs 27:17)? This verse comes to tell you that just as with these iron implements, one sharpens the other when they are rubbed against each other, so too, when Torah scholars study together, they sharpen one another in halakha.
Resources for Torah study
Shabbat Morning Torah Study: 8:45 a.m.
The JPS B'Nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary by Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin
The Torah: A Women's Commentary by Tamara Cohn Eshkenazi