במעלת הלימוד שמו"ת עם פירש רש"י
The advantage of learning shnayim mikra v’echad Targum with Rashi
And the Children of Israel were armed when they went up from Egypt. (13:18)
The word 'וַחֲמֻשִׁים' – means ‘armed’, but since there are no punctuation marks in the Torah, we can also punctuate the word as 'וְחֻמָשִׁים' – meaning one-fifth. This is a hint that the weapons of a Jew are the 'חמשה חומשי תורה' – ‘The Five Books of the Torah’, for they give him life as Chazal have said (Berachos 8b), ‘Whoever completes the Torah portion of the week with the congregation merits that his days and years are lengthened.’ And when Chazal promise prolonged days, they surely intended that these days would have substance, perforce they took up all the best from Egypt.
The Torah is also ‘a weapon of war’ against the yetzer hara, as Chazal said (Kiddushin 30b), ‘I have created the yetzer hara and I have created Torah as its antidote’, and it also says (there), ‘If this repulsive one engages you, draw him into the Bais Medrash. If he is stone, he will dissolve; and if he is iron, he will shatter.’ Based on this we can explain 'וחמושים' – with the power of the ‘Chumash’ which is the Torah itself 'עלו בני ישראל' – Bnei Yisrael in all the generations went up and were rescued 'מארץ מצרים' – from the yetzer hara and its army which are categorized as 'מצרים', this applies to the present and the future.
I am very pained when I see many distinguished young men whose Torah is their craft, and they toil day in and day out over their study of Gemara and halacha, but they do see any significance in the study of ‘Torah shebiksav’ – ‘The Written Torah’. For some reason it seems to them that they have fulfilled their obligation with what they learned ‘Chumash’ in grade school when they were young, before Bar Mitzvah. Like those who say, the understanding they had when they were young children, serves them for today, and they do not want to add to it today. All this with the reality that when they learn Shas, they see many references to posukim and the explanations. The matter testifies against them that the truth of the matter is they have still not learned ‘The Written Torah’ as they must learn it. They must begin again from Bereishis and study in depth the commentaries of the Torah, particularly the explanation of Rashi, in order to understand the posuk, whether the simple meaning or whether the deeper meaning. As long as they do not do this, they are classified as ‘amei ha’aretz’ – ignorant, even though they are fluent in parts of Shas, since there are still posukim in the Torah that they do not know their meaning... how great is the shame when the matter stands out from people considered ‘ba’alei batim’ who will sometimes engage talmidei chachamim in conversation thinking there is an expert talmid Chacham before him who is not fluent in the posukim...
If these ‘learners’ would only know the great profit they would make if they spent time every week on the parsha of the week with Rashi’s explanation and not belittle this, and as we actually see from those who are steadfast in this, for half of Shas is explained and understood well through Rashi’s explanation on the Torah...
I will quote the language of the ‘Pri Megadim’ (the beginning of the section of Orach Chaim) on this teaching: ‘The young men who say, it is a waste of time for them to study a parsha of Chumash with Rashi or a chapter of Navi or kesuvim – how wise they would be had they learned this first, see the Ra’am (Rav Eliyahu Mizrachi) who enlightened the eyes of all Israel with his commentary on Rashi on the Torah’.
We see from his words that even in his time, learners did not give much significance to the study of Torah and Rashi, and because of this they created a situation where if one set aside time to learn Chumash, they were looked at as being ‘a lower level’. But he did not hold this way. Though his knowledge was vast, he considered this learning very important, and he rebuked the learners of Rebbe Eliyahu Mizrachi’s group, that the words of Rashi were very deep, and there was no shame at all to study his words, and to understand from his explanation the depth of the meaning of the Torah.
Even based on halacha, it is appropriate to review the parsha of the week with Rashi. So, it is written in Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 285:2), ‘One who is Heaven fearing will read Targum and also Rashi’, and in Mishnah Berurah (seif katan 6), ‘Targum has an attribute that was given at Sinai and he explains every word, and Rashi’s explanation has an advantage in that he explains the topic based on the expositions of Chazal, more than Targum. In truth, it is fitting for every person to accustom himself to this, that every week he learns the portion of the week with Rashi aside from Targum. There are many parshiyos in the Torah, in Vayikra in particular, that are not possible to understand at all through Targum alone.
See the sefer ‘Kaf HaChaim’ (Siman 27 seif 7) where he writes, ‘I do not know who exempted those who hold onto the Torah since they are not included as yarei Shamayim, and why are they not careful to also learn Rashi?’ He concludes, ‘Surely, it is a zchus to learn his holy and pure explanations.’
Even the Gedolei Chassidus saw special significance in Rashi and his teaching. Come, see what the maggid of Trisk wrote in his sefer ‘Mogen Avraham’ (Parashas Bo) in the name of his father, the Maggid of Chernobyl. Just as holy Chazal expounded (Vayikra Rabbah 36:4) from the word ‘Bereishis’ that the creation of the world was due to the Torah which is called ‘Reishis’ and for the sake of Israel which is called ‘Reishis’, so can we expound from this word that the creation of the world was for the sake of Rashi, that is, the Torah becomes complete through Rashi’s explanation. Bereishis is an acronym for ב'שביל [ת'ור ת] ר 'ש'למה י'צחק (for the sake of the Torah of R’ Shlomo Yitzchak). See there how he explains that Rashi breathes life into the Torah and his explanation reveals the Torah’s intent.
The ’Bnei Yisaschar’ extols Rashi’s explanation in his sefer ‘Igra D’Kallah’ (Bereshis 30) and hints to attribute of his explanation in the word ‘Bereishis’, ‘All the chachamim of the generations agree that Rashi is the head of the commentaries and Heaven agrees with him, and it is not by accident that there is a hint in the acronym ר'בינו ש'למה י 'פרש ב'אור ת'ורת א'מת.
See the sefer ‘Imri Pinchas’ (Shaar 5 Os 9) that Rebbe Pinchas of Karitz said, ‘When your sons can learn Rashi on Chumash, I guarantee that they will be upright men, and they will have no thought of avodah zara, and will be pure in the holy covenant.’
In the name of Rebbe Shalom of Belz (Divrei Yitzchak Os 121) ‘One who learns and finishes every week Rashi on the Torah, then he is guaranteed that in the Eternal World he will be in the Mesivta of Rashi.
In conclusion, it is fitting to bring the words of the ‘Chofetz Chaim’ (in his sefer ‘Zechor Lemorim’ Perek 21), ‘The best advice that strengthens the emunah in the heart of the person, is to learn the parsha of the week with Rashi and study it well.
