“Moltiplicare la Torah è moltiplicare la vita” (Pirqé Abot 2,8). Maestri e discepoli in alcuni commenti rabbinici

The article examines the tractates of Pirqe Abot and Abot de Rabbi Nathan with regard to the study of the Torah. Together with other Rabbinic literature, these texts present a lively and fascinating picture. Various types of master-disciple relationships emerge offering precise clarification on the existential and spiritual elements that animated the readers of the Torah. It was a continuous and passionate study conducted under the guidance of tested masters and companions of study; a study capable of permeating and modifying the ambience and style of life; a study centered on learning the Torah in order to live it. Whoever desires to encounter God in His Word knows that there is a price to pay: a life of sobriety, suffering accepted as opportunity, adopting a scale of values, and above all a great love for the Word, which manifests itself and grows in every choice in life and relationship. Man does not become wise suddenly; he must be created little by little and grow, in order to bring forth copious and recognizable fruit which inevitably returns to Him who sowed His Word with abundance. Thus “to propagate the Torah is to propagate life” (PA 2,8).