1) What do you consider valuable in your life?

2) What would you be willing to seek out to make life better?

Now read the introductory midrash (page 3). Which of the items mentioned as hidden, were on your list? How would you change your list?

Do you think these things are hidden? If so, how does one find and access them? If not, when/how do you encounter them?

Midrash – With which Torah stories are you most familiar? 

Take a little time to find out if these are text or midrash. 

Can you define a be’er?


 
 
 
 

Which sense(s) do you rely upon for memory? 

Look around and see if you notice something you had not seen before. 

Close your eyes and describe what you hear and/or smell that you had not previously noticed. 

Make a list of the Hebrew words you do not know and their meaning. 
 
Why does mama talk about ‘the song of Torah’? (Deut. 32:44)

What makes the Torah a song? (Keep in mind that the trop/ta’amim/liturgical chanting was added by the Masoretes, 6th-10th century.)  

Consider the differences between prose and poetry: which is easier to remember? Which is Torah? 

Explore the sections of Torah which are presented as poetry. Why do you think those sections are different?  Note: some of those sections are chanted with different trop. 

Writing Torah is considered to be the last of the 613 mitzvot. God tells Moses, "Therefore, write for yourselves this song and teach the children of Israel it (her), place it in their mouth, so that this song shall be for Me to witness on (against) the children of Israel" (Deut. 31:19).   How does being a song influence the fulfillment of this mitzvah?

Aside from adding music, trop helps with word pronunciation and sentence structure/syntax. Write a sentence that takes on different meaning by changing the emphasis or syntax of the words.