Do Jews memorize the Torah

Answer 1

Yes, very often children in schools are taught to remember it and say it by heart. I heard of a Rabbi who asked his 11 year old son if he knew the 'Tanya' by heart, the child said yes. In return the Rabbi said ok, I'll wake you up in the middle of the night and then you can recite it to me...

Answer 2

The questioner's information is inaccurate and misleading. There is no directive in Judaism that

obligates its adherents to 'memorize' the Torah. Those who engage in regular Torah study (which

is strongly encouraged) naturally find, as a by-product of routine study, that words, phrases, and

verses become known to them, and that they often have in mind a verbatim quote that fits a given

situation. There are certainly individuals or groups who find meaning and value in memorizing

portions of the scriptures. But on the whole, Judaism has no requirement for memorization.

The questioner should take a bit of time for directed reading or Googling, in order to clarify some of

the inaccurate impressions with which he is burdened.

Answer 3

Memorizing Torah passages is not a central lpart of the Jewish tradition. Jews traditionally pray from prayerbooks and read Torah. Literacy is highly prized. However, most Jews can recite key passages from memory, notably the first part of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). It is quite likely that all Jewish children in even marginally Jewish families have memorized this by bar mitzvah age. Also, many Jewish boys end up memorizing the Torah portion for their first alyiah (when they are called up to the Torah on their bar mitzvah). This is because reading Torah is traditionally done to a melody (trope) that is tightly connected to the grammar of the text. For those who are really fluent in Hebrew, the trope follows largely from the text and grammar, with a few elements in each passage that must be memorized, but for those who are not fluent, memorizing the entire passage and using the written text as a crutch to spur the memory is a faster track to what, for many less observant boys, is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Another answer mentions a Jewish child who has memorized Tanya. Tanya is not Torah, but rather, a book by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi published in 1797. This is an important text to the Chabad Lubovitch movement within Hassidic Jews, and the child who is reported to have memorized it is almost certainly a member of a Lubovitch family.