What Exactly Is Talmud Torah?
This isn’t exactly the first time I’m writing about the mitzva to learn Torah. And I’m reliably informed that there have been others before me. But this one isn’t about what is and isn’t included in Torah Sh’baal Pe, how to build the ideal Torah curriculum, or how you should focus your learning. Instead, this time I’m forced to admit that I have no clue what the mitzva of Torah learning actually consists of. How it’s meant to be done, so to speak.
It all begins with Tosafos (Berachos 11b שכבר נפטר), who quote the Yerushalmi that those who rely on saying אהבה רבה in place of the morning berachos on Torah study should make sure to learn at least some Torah right away. Tosafos then quote Rabbi Yitzchak who wonders what “we” - who are often too busy to learn any Torah until at least half way through the day - are supposed to do? Should we say a full set of the regular Torah berachos when we finally do find the time? Tosafos concludes that the halacha doesn’t follow this Yerushalmi so there’s no need to say the berachos later.
However, the Shulchan Aruch (Orech Chaim 47) and the Gra both, to varying degrees, rule with the Yerushalmi. Practically, that means someone who forgot to say the regular berachos of the Torah before davening and relied on אהבה רבה would need to learn something immediately after davening.
But the problem, as the Bais Yosef observes is that, right after אהבה רבה, we recite the Shema, which should certainly count as “learning Torah”. So why did the Yerushalmi insist we learn other Torah after davening has ended?
The Bais Yosef offers two possible answers. One is that, according to the order of davening assumed by the Yerushalmi, Shema might have come before אהבה רבה, and would thus not have helped. And the second answer is that we don’t say אהבה רבה as learning, but as part of davening (דדברי תחנונים ותפלה לחוד ודברי ת"ת לחוד וק"ש כדברי תפלות הוא).
Which brings us to what’s got me so confused. Why, according to the Bais Yosef’s second answer (and according to the accepted halacha) is reciting Shema not considered a fulfillment of the mitzva of תלמוד תורה? After all, you read the words and (hopefully) understood them. Isn’t that considered “learning”? Even if your intention is also for דברי תחנונים, you still read and understood words of Torah.
So if, according to at least the Bais Yosef and the Gra, reading and understanding words of Torah isn’t enough to justify Torah berachos, then what is? And what are we supposed to be doing differently whenever we learn?
Torah Brachos are justified when you are making a bracha for the purpose of learning Torah. Just because one gets a Mitzvah of Talmud Torah, it's not enough for a Bracha. Even Hirhur is a mitzvah. According to the gra one can't even have hirhur without a bracha (though we don't pasken like this). Only learning with the kavana of learning justifies a bracha, not learning for a different purpose and derech agav being yotzei talmud torah.