For this week’s Tuesday TorahTutors Tidbit, a tutor describes an important teaching moment that occurred in a real TorahTutors session:
In the course of studying Tanach, we discussed a pasuk (verse) that concludes the story we were learning. My student interjected and asked how this pasuk can conclude the story, seeing as it is actually the first pasuk in the following perek (chapter). This led to the understanding that the chapter divisions we use are not “Torah l’Moshe m’Sinai,” and even more so, are actually Christian in their origin. My student expressed her discomfort at this piece of knowledge. We discussed the challenge of dealing with outside influences, why this division was adopted, and ultimately – how this knowledge can enhance our Torah learning, by empowering us to think critically about the way the stories are broken up.”
A challenge to our readers: Study this week’s parsha and consider the various divisions present within the text and how they might enhance or challenge our understanding. Do the chapter divisions seem to make sense? Would the meaning be different if the units were divided differently?
This is the sort of real Torah we love to learn in real TorahTutors sessions!
