BLESSINGS OVER THE TORAH The history of Judaism is a story of the love of a people for the Book of Books, the Torah. As a preliminary to study, we pronounce two blessings and a prayer. The first, “who has made us holy through His commandments,” is a blessing over the commandment to engage in study of the Torah, a declaration that we do not simply study as an intellectual or cultural exercise but as the fulfillment of a divine commandment. This is followed by a prayer that God make Torah study sweet, and help us to hand it on to our children. The final blessing, “who has chosen us,” is a blessing of acknowledgment that chosenness means responsibility, and is inseparably linked to the study and practice of Torah. So as to follow the blessings immediately with an act that fulfills the commandment, we read three texts whose recitation forms an act of study. The Talmud (Kiddushin 30a) rules that Torah study must be divided into three: study of (1) Torah, (2) Mishna, and (3) Gemara. Hence we read: (1) a biblical text – the priestly blessings, (2) a passage from the Mishna about commandments that have no fixed measure, and (3) a passage from the Gemara about the reward of good deeds in this world and the next.