By Reena Wasserstein
One of the first Shiur Klalis was given by Ilana Kurshan, the author of "If all the Seas Were Ink". She spoke to us about the value of learning Torah even when we forget most of it. She referenced her own experience where she completed the previous Daf Yomi cycle and now is returning to start the cycle again. She is constantly frustrated that she could not remember that which she previously learned. She brought sources like Kohelet Rabba, which compared people to a vessel which is constantly emptied in order to be refilled with Torah, ensuring that one would spend their whole life learning Torah. Shir Hashirim Raba brings a mashal of a worker who is hired to fill a basket and finds the basket has a hole and complains that there is a hole. The other worker asks why the first is complaining, his job is to fill the basket, not that the basket be full. So too, we are supposed to learn Torah all of our life, and forgetting gives the ability to sustain life long Torah learning. Another aspect of forgetting which she discussed is that material when relearned can be better than what was understood the first time.
I really appreciated the beauty Ilana found in forgetting and relearning. I have been exposed to text study before The Nachshon Project (although I am really appreciating the discussions that are stemming from the text study in the cohort) and something I always think about is how to balance learning and remembering. Ilana gave me a new way based on Jewish texts to feel comfortable with and even value forgetting. I think this also fits into general learning and how we can balance taking in all the information from this semester. Between Hebrew University classes, living life in Jerusalem and amazing Nachshon Project programming, our brains are overwhelmed with knowledge and learning. The importance is to take these lessons and incorporate them into our lives without being overwhelmed with remembering every detail because we can constantly learn and relearn. I look forward to learning both Jewish texts and the amazing lessons we can learn from The Nachson Project.
