Birkat HaTorah

(1) Blessed are You, Adonoy our God, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to be engrossed in the words of Torah.

(2) Adonoy our God, please make the words of Your Torah pleasant in our mouths and in the mouths of Your people Israel. And may we and our descendants [and the descendants of our descendants] and the descendants of Your people the House of Israel, all know Your Name and be students of Your Torah for its own sake. Blessed are You, Adonoy Who teaches Torah to His people, Israel.

(3) Blessed are You, Adonoy our God, King of the Universe Who chose us from among all the peoples and gave us His Torah. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Giver of the Torah!

May Adonoy bless you and guard you. May Adonoy shine His countenance upon you and be gracious unto you. May Adonoy turn His countenance toward you and grant you peace. And they shall set My Name upon the Children of Israel, and I shall bless them. These are precepts for which no fixed measure is prescribed: [leaving] the corner [of a field unharvested], [the offering of] the first fruits, the appearance-offering, [performing] deeds of kindness, and the study of Torah. These are precepts, the fruits of which man enjoys in this world, [while] the principal [reward] is preserved for him in the World-to-Come. They are: honoring father and mother, [performing] deeds of kindness, early attendance in the House of Study morning and evening, providing hospitality to guests, visiting the sick, participating in making a wedding, accompanying the dead [to the grave], concentrating on the meaning of prayers, making peace between fellow men and between husband and wife— and the study of Torah is equal to them all.

Rav Yehuda said: From where is the mitzva by Torah law to recite Grace after Meals, derived? As it is stated: “And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:10). And from where is the mitzva by Torah law to recite the blessing over the Torah before it is read, derived? As it is stated: “When I proclaim the Lord’s name, give glory to our God” (Deuteronomy 32:3), meaning that before one proclaims the Lord’s name by reading the Torah, he must give glory to God. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: We derived that one must recite the blessing over the Torah after it is read from Grace after Meals by means of an a fortiori inference. And we derive the obligation to recite a blessing before partaking of food from the blessing over the Torah by means of an a fortiori inference. The blessing over the Torah after it is read from Grace after Meals by means of an a fortiori inference: Food, which does not require a blessing beforehand by Torah law, requires a blessing afterward; Torah, which requires a blessing beforehand, is it not right that it requires a blessing afterward? And similarly: The blessing before partaking of food from the blessing over the Torah by means of an a fortiori inference: Torah, which requires no blessing afterward by Torah law, requires a blessing beforehand; food, which requires a blessing afterward, is it not right that it requires a blessing beforehand?

[...] That He commanded us to praise His name constantly. We read the Torah for all the enormous goods that Hashem did for us by giving us the Torah and informing us of the deeds he wants us to do, which contain the

One who rises to study Torah, whether the Written or Oral Law, before he recites the Shema, should wash his hands beforehand, recite [the following] three blessings, and then study.[These blessings] are:[Blessed... universe,] who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the words of Torah.And please, God, our Lord, make pleasant the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of Your people, the entire House of Israel. May we, our offspring, and the offspring of Your people, be knowers of Your name and among those who occupy themselves with Your Torah. Blessed are You, God, who teaches Torah to His people, Israel.Blessed are You, God, our Lord, King of the universe, who has chosen us from among all the nations and given us His Torah. Blessed are You, God, who gives the Torah.

When the Sages instituted [a text for] these prayers, they [also] established other blessings to be recited every day. These are:

One who rises to study Torah, whether the Written or Oral Law, before he recites the Shema, should wash his hands beforehand, recite [the following] three blessings, and then study.[These blessings] are:[...]

One is obligated to recite these three blessings every day. Afterwards, one should read a few words of Torah. [To fulfill this obligation,] the people adopted the custom of reading the Priestly Blessing. In certain places, they recite [the passage, (Numbers 28: 1-9)]: "Command the children of Israel...," and there are places where they read both of them.Also, [it is proper] to read chapters or laws from the Mishnah and the Beraitot.

Having mentioned the blessing recited over Torah, the Gemara focuses on a dispute over what constitutes Torah in terms of requiring a blessing. Rav Huna said: For the study of Bible, one must recite a blessing, as it is the word of God, and for halakhic midrash, the derivation of halakhot from verses, one need not recite a blessing. And Rabbi Elazar said: For Bible and midrash, which includes halakhot derived from verses themselves, one must recite a blessing; for Mishna, which is only comprised of halakhic rulings issued by the Sages, one need not recite a blessing. And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Even for Mishna, which includes final, binding halakhic rulings, one must recite a blessing as well, but for Talmud, which comprises a study of the Mishna and the rationales for its rulings, one need not recite a blessing. And Rava said: Even for Talmud, which is the means to analyze the significance of the halakhot, and is the only form of Torah study that leads one to its true meaning, one must recite a blessing.

This tells me only of food as requiring a blessing before it and after it. Whence do I derive (the same for) Torah? R. Yishmael says: It follows a fortiori, viz.: If food, which is only temporal, requires a blessing before and after it, how much more so Torah, which is eternal! R. Yehudah b. Betheira says: It is written (Devarim 8:10) "and you shall eat and you shall be sated and you shall bless … for the good land." What is lacking that "good" supplies? This ("good") is Torah, as it is written (Mishlei 4:2) "for a taking of 'good' have I given to you." R. Chanina, the son of the brother of R. Yehoshua says: It is written (Devarim 32:3) "When I call upon the name of the L rd" — the blesser; "give grandeur to our G d" — the answerers. And what do they answer? "Blessed is the L rd who is blessed forever." And when he mentions His name, they respond "Blessed is the name of the glory of His kingdom forever."

Rebbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac went to a synagogue. A man stood up to translate while leaning on a pillar. He said to him, this is forbidden to you; just as it was given in trembling and fear so we have to treat it in trembling and fear. Rebbi Ḥaggai said, Rebbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac went to a synagogue. He saw Huna standing up translating without putting up another person in his stead. He said to him, this is forbidden to you; just as it was given by an agent, so we have to treat it by an agent. Rebbi Jehudah bar Pazi went and turned it into a question, I was standing between the Eternal and you at that time to tell you the Eternal’s word. Rebbi Ḥaggai said, Rebbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac went to a synagogue. He saw a teacher delivering the translation from a book. He said to him, this is forbidden to you; matters which were said orally orally, matters which were said in writing in writing.

There is also another blessing over the Torah… “Who has chosen us from among all the nations and given us His Torah. Blessed are You, O Lord, who gives the Torah.” And he should have in mind in his blessing the assembly at Mount Sinai, when He chose us from among all the nations, and brought us close before Mount Sinai, and sounded His words to us from out of the fire, and gave us His holy Torah, which is the house of our lives, His precious vessel in which He delights every day.