BIRKOT HATORAH – BLESSINGS OVER THE TORAH In Judaism learning is an even higher religious experience than prayer (Shabbat 10a), for in prayer we speak to God, but in studying the divine word we hear God speak to us. So we preface the act of prayer with an act of learning. The basic structure of learning is to divide one’s time into three: a third to study Mikra, the Written Torah, a third for the study of Mishna, and a third for Talmud (Kiddushin 30a). That is the structure of the three passages that follow: first a passage from the Torah; then from the Mishna, tractate Pe’ah; then a passage from the Talmud, tractate Shabbat.