Jewish blessings are generally meant to elevate mundane into acts of holiness. Food and drink, lighting candles, using the bathroom, witnessing awesome acts of nature — all these and more are transformed into spiritual acts through the recitation of blessings.
So one might think that the learning of Torah — an act that is intrinsically holy — doesn’t require a blessing. But the rabbis tell us otherwise. Even inherently holy activities run the risk of becoming rote if we aren’t constantly examining our intentions around them.
And so we have the Viha’arev Nah prayer, which features early in the standard liturgy of the morning prayers and thanks God for teaching Torah to the Jewish people. The prayer’s opening words are commonly translated as asking God to make the words of Torah “sweet” in our mouths. But that’s not the only possible meaning of the word arev. The others suggest alternative ways we might relate to the most sacred text in Judaism.
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