Becoming better readers

In our weekly Torah study class, we are reading closely the stories of the Ten Plagues in Sefer Shemot, The Book of Exodus.  With the plague of blood (dam), the Egyptian magicians are able to replicate the feat of turning water to blood just as the magicians turned their staffs into serpents.  The magicians ability to replicate the feat is limited in comparison to the way God strikes all the water of Egypt from the Nile, to canals and lakes, and even to the water contained in stone and wooden vessels throughout the land. 

Imitations, like generic versions of medicines, can provide similar experiences and benefits.  In our semi-vegetarian household, meat substitutes like gluten and other non-meat proteins make it possible for everyone to be able to eat ‘burgers’ and ‘chicken’ with satisfying flavors. 

One discussion in the realm of ‘imitation’ I have had on several occasions is about the merits of e-readers and e-books.  Even page-turning booklovers have told me that e-readers make reading while on the road easier and lighter.  E-books take up much less space in a house.  The e-book market has made self-publishing a reality for many aspiring writers.  All these benefits are real and worthy of note.

My question is one that I read in a review of Milorad Pavic’s 1984 book ‘Dictionary of the Khazars’, a lexicon novel.  A friend told me about this book and the idea of it was intriguing.  In reading over a review of the book, Pavic explained that he wrote the book the way he did since he believed the focus of literature and writing has, for too long, been about better writing rather than helping to create better reading, or better readers.  Pavic’s insight made me think about reading, writing, literature and learning in a whole new way.  The question, then, is whether e-books have helped make us better readers, as opposed to only more prolific readers.  There is a good argument that reading more helps us to become better readers and writers.  No doubt, learning any skill requires patience, perseverance, and repetition.

To be a better reader requires new ways of thinking.  It requires being a pro-active rather than a re-active consumer of words and meaning. The same is true for studying Torah and Jewish tradition.  We can all be more proficient explorers of Torah and we need not all be Hebrew scholars to do it.  We can be better studiers, pray-ers or daven-ers, if we engage with the words we say – wonder about their significance, repeat them a few times, make associations, ask questions. We can help our Jewish communities to be stronger if we engage with Rabbis, Cantors-Chazzanim, with lay leaders and live in worlds that may not reflect our exact vision but that represent a willingness to hold hands and work together to create a more inclusive and energizing vision.

In Avot (5:22) Rabbi Ben Bag Bag teaches, turn it over and over, for everything is in it; in other words, the Torah is a diamond with an infinite number of facets, look at it from all angles, search for the beauty, meaning, and impact of its message.  The key to this teaching is the holding, that we pick it up with our own hands and begin the search.  This teaching helps me to better understand the closing words of the Torah service, “It is a tree of life to those who hold fast to it…” Etz chayim hi lamachazikim bah – like a kite that can only fly if we hold the string, the Torah only can have meaning for us if we actively seek it out.