“What a Geshmake Shiur” vs. “That’s my favorite Parashah”
“Zemiros hayu li chukecha…” (Your statutes have been my songs), Dovid Hamelech says in Tehillim, to describe how the Torah brought joy and solace to his soul while undergoing his many hardships in life. The Gemara states that Hashem admonished him for this statement, and as a result he would forget a basic tenet of Torah Law at a crucial time.
My Two Cents and the Torah
We must always be mindful that Torah is first and foremost chochmaso shel Hakadosh baruch Hu (the Wisdom of G-d) beyond our finite capabilities to comprehend; we are granted the opportunity to grasp aspects of it through intense study only as a chessed (kindness). We are therefore warned not to pronounce personal judgment on Torah subjects. The Gemara casts aspersions on those who exclaim, “shmuah zu na’ah u’shmuah zu einah na’ah” (this statement [of Chazal] is nice and this one is not).
Regarding this precept, the Maharsha and other commentaries explain: it is problematic not only to draw comparisons of good and bad, but even to state an opinion inferring preference by saying, “shmuah zu na’ah.”
This applies equally to all of Torah; we should not verbalize that we favor a certain facet of Torah over another, and certainly not deride a certain subject. For example, saying “Why learn Kabbalah or Chassidus?” is similar to saying shmuah zu einah na’ah.
The Kitzur Shaloh rules that a gabbai (shul officer) who auctions off aliyos (being called to a Torah reading) should not label a specific aliyah as a “gut parashah” (good segment). This comparison to other readings would be deemed a violation of “shmuah zu na’ah”, even if done in order to entice buyers.
Please Don’t Praise the Passuk
At the time when a curriculum was being formed in schools by the maskilim (the 18th century Jewish “Enlightenment” movement), they proposed a collection of select pesukim (Torah verses) from Tanach for the children to learn. This anthology—choosing particular pesukim and rejecting others—was decried by gedolei yisroel (contemporary Jewish leaders) as an infringement of the Gemara’s cautionary advice against stating “shmuah zu na’ah.”
(An obvious exception to the Gemara’s rule applies when confronted with a dubious assertion in the realm of halachah or hashkafah (Torah values)—not only must we say “einah na’ah,” we are encouraged to vociferously protest it.)
How about Homage for Homiletics?
But we hear it all the time: “Wow, what a geshmake shiur!” (enjoyable Torah class) the inspired learner exclaims. Is this halachically prohibited, too?
One explanation brought to support such emotive reaction is that it’s usually in response to a drush (interpretations of the text) or pilpul (multi-text analysis)—not to Torah passages and halachah. Furthermore, when someone studies Torah with the intent of improving their avodas Hashem (service of the Creator), deriving physical pleasure from their learning increases the long-term effect on the person, including his nefesh habehamis (animal soul, a person’s non-spiritual life-force). “Geshmak!” is thus a statement on the nefesh habehamis and not on the Torah per se.