The Things Whose Interest You Keep Forever

Good morning everyone. Welcome back to Learn to Daven - Day 25.

Yesterday we learned the Priestly Blessing, the first piece of Torah we study after Birchos HaTorah. But it doesn't stop there. The siddur keeps going. After the verses, it gives us a Mishnah. And after the Mishnah, a piece of Gemara. And here's why.

The halacha - this is in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 47:9 - is that when you fulfill your morning learning, you should touch all three layers of Torah: Mikra, Scripture; Mishnah; and Gemara, Talmud. So the Sages built it right into your siddur. The verses of Birkas Kohanim were the Scripture. Then comes a Mishnah - Eilu Devarim, from the very first chapter of Maseches Peah. And then a piece of Gemara from Shabbos, daf 127a. Three bites, three layers, every single morning. You become a complete learner before you've even started davening.

Now let's look at what the Mishnah actually says, because it's gorgeous. Eilu devarim she'ein lahem shiur - these are the things that have no measure. No ceiling. No "okay, that's enough, you're done."

And it lists them: Pei'ah - the corner of your field you leave for the poor; you can leave as much as you want. Bikkurim - first fruits you bring to the Beis Hamikdash. Re'ayon - the offering when you came up for the festivals. And then - gemilus chasadim - acts of loving-kindness. There's no maximum on kindness. You can never do "too much" chesed and be told you've hit the cap. And Talmud Torah - learning Torah. No limit. You're never finished.

Then the Mishnah does something even bigger. It says there's a second category - things whose fruits you eat in this world, but the principal stays intact for the World to Come. And here's the way I always explain this. Imagine you put money in the bank, and every year it pays you interest - but the original deposit, the principal, never gets touched. It's waiting for you, whole, in the next world. That's what these mitzvos are. You do an act of kindness today, you feel the good of it today - but the real reward, the principal, isn't spent. It's earning for eternity.

And then the line that everyone knows, the punchline of the whole passage: v'salmud Torah k'neged kulam - and the study of Torah is equal to all of them combined.

Think about how strong that is. The Mishnah just listed honoring your parents, doing kindness, making peace between people - enormous things. And then it says: learning Torah weighs against all of them together. Not because the others don't matter - they matter infinitely. But because Torah is the thing that teaches you how to do all the rest. Learn the Torah of honoring parents, and you'll honor them better. Learn the Torah of chesed, and your kindness gets wiser. Torah is the root; everything else is the fruit.

Here's the Chassidic point I want to leave you with. Notice that the Sages paired these two specifically in your morning learning - gemilus chasadim, kindness, and talmud Torah, learning. The Rebbeim teach that these are the two pillars a Jew stands on every day: what you take in through Torah, and what you give out through chesed. Learning without kindness is cold. Kindness without learning is blind. But put them together - fill yourself up with Torah and pour yourself out in chesed - and you've got a complete day.

And you're saying all of this before Baruch She'amar. Before the real davening even begins. You've blessed the Torah, you've received a blessing, you've learned Scripture, Mishnah, and Gemara, and you've reminded yourself that the best investment in the universe is the one whose principal never runs out.

Tomorrow: we move into getting dressed for prayer - the tzitzis, and what it means to wrap yourself in a tallis.