Blessing On Thought

עד שפירשו הקב"ה בעצמו דכתיב (ירמיהו ט, יב) ויאמר ה' על עזבם את תורתי וגו' היינו לא שמעו בקולי היינו לא הלכו בה אמר רב יהודה אמר רב שאין מברכין בתורה תחלה (Nedarim 81a.)  I was the one substituting to say the halachos in a Morrocon minyan last week and this Gemorah was my excuse to go through some of the laws of birchat haTorah.  As I was looking it over, I noticed some things I hadn’t picked up on beforehand. 

Firstly, I noted that the Shulchan Aruch writes the halachot in siman 47, which is one before מח, so its easy to remember the siman of birchat haTorah is beforeמח , which should be engaged in one’s learning.

The Shulchan Aruch rules in sif 4 that there is no requirement to say a beracha before thinking words of Torah, if one doesn’t actually speak.  In sif 3 he rules one must say a beracha before writing Torah, even if one doesn’t speak.  The Achronim ask what’s the difference?  To understand the difference, we first must understand why one doesn’t say birchat haTorah one thinking words of Torah.  There are two schools of thought as to how to understand this din, either it’s a din in Talmud Torah or a din in berachot.  The Taz and Magan Avrohom seem to understand the reason is that when one doesn’t speek the words there isn’t a complete fulfillment of Talmud Torah.  [The Gra disagrees and holds that there is a fulfillment of learning through thinking alone.  Presumably, the other Achronim agree that of course, thinking is an integral part of learning, but the optimal form of learning, the form which obligates a beracha, is when the words are said.]  Based upon this, some Achronim answer the contradiction by saying when writing, one will always say some words out loud.  However, it doesn’t fit well in the Shulchan Aruch, who says explicitly he’s dealing with a situation where the person didn’t say any words out loud.  The Aruch Hashulchan goes along the lines of this approach and explains that writing is also considered the main, optimal form of learning Torah for it preserves the words for the future.

Another understanding of the din is that it’s a general rule that one doesn’t say a beracha on thought.  This understanding of the Shulchan Aruch is taken by the Levush, Minchas Chinuch mitzvah 430 and Nitziv in Mashiv Davar #47.  The germane of this idea stems from the Beis Yosef #432 that explains there is no beracha on bittul chametz because אין מברכין על דברים שבלב.  Based upon this, we understand that when writing, there is an action and one does say a beracha. We need to understand why did the other Achronim not accept this explanation, and how can the Gra rule one must say birchat haTorah before thinking in Torah, why is it different from bittul chametz?

It is possible to suggest that when it comes to bittul chametz, there is no beracha because the thought of the person is just a means to the kium of bittul.  The thought is the “maaseh mitzvah” to negate the chametz from one’s mind, but the actual fulfillment of the mitzvah is an outgrowth from this;  the chametz is considered battal.  In such an instance, a maaseh mitzvah of a mere thought doesn't warrant a beracha.  On the other hand, thinking in learning is the action of the mitzvah and the kium hamitzvah together and as such, one will say a beracha beforehand (see Asher L'Shlomo volume 3 #18.)