Seek, Do, Teach

Opening: “If you have a word, say on”

One Shabbat, Shaul and Barnabas came into the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia. They sat down and listened. The Torah was read. Then the Prophets were read. Then the leaders of the synagogue sent them a message: “Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on” (Acts 13:15).

That is a drash. The Torah is read, and then someone stands up to say a word about it.

This custom is much older than Shaul. When Ezra read the Torah to the people who came back from Babylon, the Levites “read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (Nehemiah 8:8). And it is older than Ezra. Before Israel crossed the Jordan, “Moses began to declare this law” (Deuteronomy 1:5). The whole book of Devarim is Moshe explaining the Torah to the people.

Yeshua gave a drash too. In the synagogue in Natzeret, he stood up and was handed the scroll of Isaiah. He read a few verses, rolled up the scroll and sat down. Then he said one sentence: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:16–21). It was one of the shortest drashot ever given, and one of the most powerful.

In this shiur I want to teach you how to give a word like that. Some of you are getting ready for your bar or bat mitzvah. The drash is the part of that day that you write yourself. Some of you are parents who will help. And all of you will be asked, sooner or later, to say something about the parashah. It might be at a Shabbat table, at a simchah, at a shiva house, or in the synagogue. I want you to leave knowing how to do it, and not afraid to do it.

What is a drash?

The word comes from the Hebrew root darash. It means “to seek” or “to search.” A drash is what you find when you search a text. The same root gives us the words midrash and beit midrash, “the house of searching.”

One verse in the Tanakh gives us the whole method. It is about Ezra the scribe:

“For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of Hashem, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” (Ezra 7:10)

“To seek” is lidrosh, the same word as drash. Then comes la’asot, “to do it.” Then u’lelamed, “to teach.”

Look at the order. Ezra did not seek and then teach. He sought, then he did, and only then did he teach. That is the plan for this shiur: Seek. Do. Teach.

And look at what comes before all three. Ezra prepared his heart. A drash does not start at the computer. It starts with prayer and an open Bible.

First, the plain meaning

Our sages describe four ways of reading Scripture. Together they are called PaRDeS:

• Peshat: the plain meaning.
• Remez: a hint.
• Drash: a lesson you find by searching.
• Sod: the hidden meaning.

A drash lives on the third level. But the Talmud gives us a rule that keeps us honest: “A verse never leaves its plain meaning” (Shabbat 63a).

This means a drash has to grow out of the verse. It cannot just be glued on top. If you could give your talk without the verse, it is a speech, not a drash. So before you look for a deep lesson, find out what the verse plainly says. Who is speaking? Where are they? What is happening?

Step one: Seek

Read slowly and ask questions

Ben Bag Bag said about the Torah: “Turn it and turn it, for everything is in it” (Pirkei Avot 5:22). Read your portion more than once. Read it in English. Then look at the key words in Hebrew. Write down every question that comes to you. Good questions are where every drash begins.

Your study buddy: ask AI first

Most of us used to start with Google. Now there is a better first step. An AI tool like ChatGPT or Claude can be your study buddy. It is more interactive than a search engine. You can ask exactly the question you have about your portion, and then ask a follow-up, and another. It is like having a ḥavruta, a study partner, who is awake at any hour.

Ask your study buddy about:

• The main themes of the portion.
• The actual mitzvot in it. Which commandments are really there?
• Connections to the rest of the Tanakh, and to the Brit Hadashah, which we call the Keter (Keter Talmidei Rishonim, “the crown of the first disciples”), the New Testament.
• Hebrew nuances that you might not see in English, or in your own language, like Spanish or Telugu.
• Controversies. Where do readers disagree, and why?
• Jewish commentary: Rashi, the Talmud, the Midrash, the Zohar, Rebbe Naḥman of Breslov, First Fruits of Zion (FFOZ.org), Ariel Cohen Alloro, and other Jewish followers of Yeshua.
• Ties to the news. Is there anything in the portion that speaks to what is happening in the world, or in your own town?

Here is what that can look like with Vayetze:

• “What are the main themes of Parashat Vayetze, Genesis 28:10–32:3?”
• “Which of the 613 mitzvot are in Vayetze?” This is a good test of your study buddy. Sefer HaḤinuch counts none of the 613 commandments in Vayetze. Yaakov prays, makes a vow and promises a tenth (28:20–22), but those are examples, not commands. If your AI gives you a list of mitzvot, check it.
• “Where else in the Tanakh and the Brit Hadashah do we see Yaakov’s ladder?” It should take you to John 1:51.
• “What Hebrew details in Genesis 28:10–22 are hard to see in English?” Here is one. In 28:12 the angels go up and down bo, which can mean “on it” or “on him.” The Midrash records two sages who disagree: were the angels going up and down on the ladder, or on Yaakov himself (Bereishit Rabbah 68:12)? Now read John 1:51 again: “ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” Here is another: sulam, “ladder,” adds up to 130 in Hebrew numbers, the same as Sinai.
• “What are the hard questions in Vayetze?” For example: Was Yaakov wrong to bargain with Hashem in his vow (28:20–22)? Why did Raḥel steal her father’s household idols (31:19)?
• “What do Rashi, the Midrash, the Zohar and Rebbe Naḥman say about Yaakov’s dream? What do First Fruits of Zion and other Messianic Jewish teachers say?”
• “Are there any ties between Vayetze and the news, or issues in my city?” Yaakov was a man who fled his home, and he worked for a boss who “changed my wages ten times” (31:7). Your study buddy may help you see how the portion speaks to people today.

Then do two things with what you get. First, check it. Your study buddy can be wrong, and the rules later in this shiur show you how to check. Second, bring it home. Talk it over with your parents, and with your Rabbi, your teacher and your shul. AI is a good first step. It is not the last word.

Let me show you with Parashat Vayetze (Genesis 28:10–32:3). Yaakov runs away from Esav. He sleeps on the road and dreams of a ladder. He works twenty years for his uncle Lavan. He marries Leah and Raḥel and has eleven sons and a daughter. At the end, he heads home.

Now write down your own questions. Here are some kinds of questions that open up a text:

• Something strange. Yaakov is a grown man from a rich family. Why does he sleep on the ground with a stone under his head (28:11)?
• Something repeated. In one verse, the word makom, “place,” comes three times: “he lighted upon a certain place… he took of the stones of that place… and lay down in that place to sleep” (28:11). Why does the Torah keep saying “place”?
• Something surprising. When Yaakov wakes up, he says, “Surely Hashem is in this place; and I knew it not” (28:16). Why didn’t he know? And why does the Torah let us hear him say so?
• A picture. A ladder stands on the earth, and its top reaches heaven. Angels are “ascending and descending on it” (28:12). Why do the angels go up first?
• A connection. Where else does this show up? Yeshua said to Natan’el: “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (John 1:51).
• Something human. After his wedding night, Yaakov wakes up: “And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah” (29:25). The man who tricked his brother has been tricked himself. What is the Torah teaching?

Any one of these questions can become a drash. That leads to the most important rule of all: choose one. A drash is not a summary of the whole parashah. It is one question and one answer. Go deep, not wide.

For our example, I will choose 28:16: “Surely Hashem is in this place; and I knew it not.”

Search for the answer

Now we search. Your AI study buddy has already pointed you to places to look. Here is the toolbox for reading them yourself:

1. The Tanakh itself. Read the verses before and after. Then look for the same words in other places in Scripture. A Bible with cross-references helps.
2. Rashi. For nine hundred years, Jewish students have started with Rashi. He explains the plain meaning verse by verse. You can read him for free in English on Sefaria.
3. The sages. Look at the Talmud and the Midrash. Rashi often quotes them.
4. The Brit Hadashah. Yeshua and his followers quote and explain many Torah verses.
5. Our congregation’s teaching. Read our Statement of Faith, and ask your Rabbi or Morah.

Here is what the search finds for our verse.

Rashi reads Yaakov’s words as an apology: “If I had known, I would not have slept in a holy place like this.” Yaakov had treated holy ground like a campsite.

The Talmud notices a strange word in 28:11. The Torah does not say Yaakov “came to” the place. It says vayifga, “he met” the place. The sages say this word means prayer. From it they learn that Yaakov started the evening prayer, Ma’ariv (Berakhot 26b). Avraham started the morning prayer. Yitzḥak started the afternoon prayer, Minḥah. And Yaakov started the prayer of the night. It is the prayer of someone who is alone in the dark.

The Midrash answers our question about the word makom. Why is Hashem sometimes called HaMakom, “the Place”? Because “He is the place of the world, and the world is not His place” (Bereishit Rabbah 68:9). Yaakov thought he had stopped in an empty place. In fact, he had stopped in the Place.

Rashi again, on the angels. The angels who went up first had guarded Yaakov in the Land of Israel. The angels who came down would guard him outside the Land. Yaakov was never alone, not even for a moment at the border.

And Yeshua. Look at what happens just before John 1:51. When Natan’el comes to Yeshua, Yeshua says: “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” (John 1:47). Guile means trickery. That sentence points straight to Yaakov. He was the man who took his brother’s blessing by a trick, and then he was given the name Yisrael. Next Yeshua tells Natan’el that he will see Yaakov’s ladder, with the angels going up and down upon the Son of man. Yaakov said, “Hashem was in this place, and I did not know it.” Yeshua tells Natan’el: now you will know it. The place where heaven and earth meet is standing in front of you.

Now we have our answer. Yaakov did not know Hashem was there because he was running, tired, alone and afraid. He expected to find Hashem only in his father’s house. The Torah lets us hear him admit it, so that we will learn to say it sooner: Hashem was here the whole time.

Step two: Do

Ezra sought the Torah “and to do it” before he taught it. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: “Not study is the main thing, but doing” (Pirkei Avot 1:17).

Most people skip this step. But it is the step that turns a speech into a drash. Before you teach your lesson, live it for a week. Suppose your drash is about Yaakov finding Hashem in an ordinary place. Then this week, say a blessing in an ordinary place: in the car, at the bus stop, at your desk. Pray Ma’ariv one night when you are tired and don’t feel like it, just as Yaakov did. Then when you stand up to speak, you will not just repeat what Rashi said. You will tell us what you found.

Doing takes work. In this same parashah, Yaakov tells Lavan what twenty years cost him: “in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes” (31:40). And he says, “God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands” (31:42). Your drash is the labor of your hands. Hashem sees it. Others can help you put it into words, but no one else can do the seeking and the doing for you.

Step three: Teach

Now you write. Here is a plan that works for a bar or bat mitzvah and for any drash on Shabbat. Under each part is a short sample from our Vayetze example. These are only samples of each part, to show the idea. Your drash will be your own.

1. Opening. Say “Shabbat shalom” and name the parashah.
   Sample: “Shabbat shalom! My Torah portion is Vayetze.”
2. A short summary. Two or three sentences. No more. Everyone just heard the reading.
   Sample: “Yaakov runs away from Esav, dreams of a ladder to heaven, and works twenty years for his uncle Lavan.”
3. Your question. Ask it clearly, so the whole room wonders with you.
   Sample: “When Yaakov wakes up, he says, ‘Surely Hashem is in this place; and I knew it not.’ Why didn’t he know?”
4. The answer. Share what you found, and name your sources: the verse, Rashi, the sages, the Brit Hadashah.
   Sample: “Rashi says Yaakov was saying sorry. If he had known, he would never have slept in such a holy place.”
5. The Yeshua connection. Where does your idea meet Yeshua’s life or teaching? Stay close to the text.
   Sample: “Yeshua told Natan’el he would see the angels ‘ascending and descending upon the Son of man’ (John 1:51).”
6. What it means for us. Give one thing to do, not ten.
   Sample: “This week, say a blessing in one ordinary place, like the car, to remember that Hashem is there too.”
7. Thank-yous, if it is a simchah. Keep them short and real.
   Sample: “Thank you to my parents, and to my Rabbi and Morah for teaching me.”
8. Closing. End with a verse or a blessing, and “Shabbat shalom.”
   Sample: “‘This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven’ (28:17). Shabbat shalom!”

How long?

A bar or bat mitzvah drash is usually three to five minutes long. That is about 400 to 600 words. A Shabbat drash from an adult can be five to ten minutes. Shorter is almost always better. The same mishnah that says doing is the main thing also says: “Whoever talks too much brings on sin” (Pirkei Avot 1:17). Remember Yeshua in Natzeret: one reading, one sentence.

Be clear

Hillel taught: “Do not say something that cannot be understood, thinking it will be understood in the end” (Pirkei Avot 2:4). Explain every Hebrew word the first time you use it. Write for the eight-year-old in the second row and the grandmother in the back. The scholars will still enjoy it.

Be careful

Avtalyon said: “Sages, be careful with your words” (Pirkei Avot 1:11). Check every verse you quote against the Bible. Check every source in the original. If you are not sure the Talmud says something, don’t say “the Talmud says.” Say “I once heard,” or leave it out.

Give credit

The Mishnah says: “Whoever says something in the name of the one who said it brings redemption to the world” (Pirkei Avot 6:6). The proof comes from the book of Esther: “Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai’s name” (Esther 2:22). Esther gave Mordechai credit, and that one act led to the saving of the Jewish people. So when an idea comes from Rashi, say so. When it comes from your Rabbi, your Morah, your father or a book, say so. Giving credit does not make you look weak. It brings redemption.

Speak like rain

Moshe began his last song this way: “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew” (Deuteronomy 32:2). Gentle rain soaks into the ground. A flood just runs off. So:

• Practice out loud at least five times. Do it at least once in front of someone.
• Print it in big letters, with space between the lines.
• Slow down. Pause after your question and after each verse.
• Look up at the end of each paragraph.
• Mean it. You do not have to be perfect. Speak about something you care about, and people will listen.

For B’nei Mitzvah: your portion, your question, your voice

When Yeshua was twelve, the age of getting ready for bar mitzvah, his parents found him in the Temple. He was “sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). That is what your drash is. It shows that you have started asking your own questions of the Torah.

A bar or bat mitzvah drash is special in a few ways:

• It comes from your own portion. The portion you chant is the portion you teach. You have spent months with these verses. Find the one that keeps catching your attention.
• It is in your own voice. Your parents can ask you questions, listen to you, and help you cut. Your Rabbi or Morah can point you to sources in a guidance session. But the words should sound like you, because they are yours. The congregation would much rather hear one honest sentence from a thirteen-year-old than a perfect page written by a grown-up.
• The thank-yous matter. Thank your parents, your family and the people who taught you. Keep it short and real. Saying thank you is a mitzvah too.
• Girls give a drash too. At Benei Avraham, girls read their own Torah portion at their bat mitzvah and teach about it.

Our B’nei Mitzvah study pages have a full lesson on this, with quizzes and a step-by-step plan: Writing a d’rash.

“In the morning, behold, it was Leah”: using AI the right way

Now for a question many of you are already asking. Can I use ChatGPT, Claude or another AI tool to help write my drash?

Let me answer from Parashat Vayetze. Yaakov worked seven years for Raḥel, and “they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her” (29:20). On the wedding night, in the dark and under a veil, he was given the bride he thought he had worked for. “And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah” (29:25).

An AI tool can hand you something in the dark that looks exactly like what you asked for. It sounds smooth and sure of itself, and it is neatly organized. But you only find out what it really is in the morning light, when you check it. Many people have stood up to teach and found out too late that it was Leah.

So yes, AI can help. But keep these rules.

1. Study buddy first, then a writing helper

Use AI first as your study buddy, as we saw in “Seek.” Ask it about the themes, the mitzvot, the Hebrew, the connections, the commentary and the hard questions. Let it ask you questions back.

AI can also help you write. Many of us use it to put our drashot into words. That is fine, as long as the direction and the perspective are yours.

The Bible has a picture of this. Yirmeyahu spoke, and his scribe wrote: “Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Hashem” (Jeremiah 36:4). Shaul’s letter to the Romans was written down by someone else too: “I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord” (Romans 16:22). Nobody calls those Baruch’s prophecies or Tertius’s letter. The message belonged to the one who gave it.

So before you ask an AI to write anything, do the seeking yourself:

• You choose the verse and the question.
• You choose the sources, and you read them.
• You decide the lesson and what you want people to do.
• You tell it our perspective: Messianic Jewish, Torah-observant, KJV with Hashem for the Name.

Then read every sentence it gives you. Change what does not sound like you. Take out anything you do not believe, cannot check, or cannot explain. When you stand up, you should be able to answer a question about any line. If you can’t, it is not yours yet.

For B’nei Mitzvah students, the same rule applies, with one more step. The question, the answer and the “what it means for me” must come from the student. A parent, a teacher or an AI can help put them into words. Then practice it out loud until it sounds like you.

2. Check every source in the morning light

AI tools make up sources. They don’t mean to, but they do it often, and they sound completely sure. They may give you a verse that isn’t there, a Talmud page that says something else, or a “famous quote” from a rabbi who never said it. They can also get real sources backwards.

Here is the kind of mistake I mean. The Talmud (Pesaḥim 56a) tells how Yaakov’s sons said the Shema to him on his deathbed, and Yaakov answered, “Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.” An AI can easily tell you that the sons said the “Baruch shem.” It sounds right. But it is Leah.

So open every verse in your Bible. Look up every Talmud, Midrash, Zohar and Rashi reference on Sefaria, and read it yourself. If you can’t find it, don’t use it. The Torah says: “Keep thee far from a false matter” (Exodus 23:7).

3. Know which way it leans

AI tools repeat what most people on the internet say. On many questions, that means the most common Christian reading. Or it may give a rabbinic reading that leaves Yeshua out. For example, ask an AI about Mark 7, and it will probably say that Yeshua “declared all foods clean.” That is not what the King James text says, and it is not what we teach. So test what AI gives you against the Torah, the Brit Hadashah and our Statement of Faith. When you are not sure, ask your Rabbi or Morah.

4. Give credit to the real source

Suppose an AI points you to a good idea. Go find where the idea really comes from, read it there, and give credit to that source: “Rashi says,” or “the Talmud teaches.” That is saying it “in the name of the one who said it.” And be honest. If someone asks whether you used AI, tell them how you used it.

5. Protect other people’s privacy

Do not type other people’s personal stories, family details or private information into an AI tool. What you type may be saved. “A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter” (Proverbs 11:13).

6. Pray first

Remember the ladder. Rashi says the angels went up before they came down. Your drash should go up before it comes down to us. It goes up in prayer before it comes down in words. No machine can pray for you. And no machine can wake up, like Yaakov, and say, “Surely Hashem is in this place.”

Good ways to ask

Here are some ways to ask an AI for help while you stay in charge:

• “Be my study buddy for Parashat Vayetze. Tell me the main themes, the mitzvot, the Hebrew details and the connections to the Tanakh and the Brit Hadashah. Give exact references I can check.”
• “I am preparing a drash on Genesis 28:16. Ask me ten questions about this verse to help me find my question.”
• “Write a five-minute drash in simple English on Genesis 28:16. My question is: why didn’t Yaakov know Hashem was there? Use only these sources: Rashi on 28:16, Berakhot 26b, Bereishit Rabbah 68:9 and John 1:47–51. My lesson is that Hashem is with us in ordinary places. Write from a Messianic Jewish, Torah-observant view, and quote the King James Version with Hashem for LORD.”
• “Explain the Hebrew word vayifga in Genesis 28:11 in simple English. Tell me which commentators talk about it, with exact references I can check.”
• “Here is my draft. Which sentences are hard to understand? Don’t rewrite it. Just point them out.”
• “Quiz me on my drash, so I can practice answering questions about it.”

Closing: Waking up

Yaakov went to sleep on a stone in what he thought was the middle of nowhere. He woke up at the gate of heaven. That is what happens every time you really prepare a drash. You take a passage you have heard a hundred times. You turn it and turn it. And one morning you wake up and say: Hashem was in this place, and I did not know it.

So seek, the way Ezra did. Do it before you teach it. Then stand up and say your word. “If ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”

Shabbat shalom.

Quiz: test yourself

Fifteen questions on what we learned in this shiur. The choices are there to help, and one of them in each question is a joke. Tap a choice to check your answer.

Handout: My Drash Worksheet

My parashah: Verses I’m reading:

What I asked my AI study buddy (themes, mitzvot, Hebrew, connections, commentary, hard questions, the news):

Questions I noticed (something strange, repeated, surprising, a picture, a connection):

The ONE question I chose:

What I found (write the exact source next to each one, and check it):

My answer in one sentence:

What I did this week to live it:

What I want my listeners to do:

How long it takes to read aloud: minutes (B’nei Mitzvah: 3 to 5 minutes)

Handout: Using AI the Right Way (checklist)

• ☐ I used AI first as a study buddy, and I talked over what I learned with my parents, my Rabbi or Morah, or my shul.
• ☐ I gave the direction: the verse, the question, the sources and the lesson are mine.
• ☐ I read every sentence, and I can explain it and agree with it.
• ☐ I opened every verse in my Bible.
• ☐ I looked up every Talmud, Midrash and Rashi reference myself. (Sefaria is free.)
• ☐ I took out anything I could not find in the original.
• ☐ I checked the ideas against the Torah, the Brit Hadashah and our Statement of Faith.
• ☐ I gave credit to the real sources by name.
• ☐ I did not type anyone’s private information into an AI tool.
• ☐ I prayed before I wrote it, and again before I gave it.

Sources

• Tanakh and Brit Hadashah: Ezra 7:10; Nehemiah 8:8; Deuteronomy 1:5; 32:2; Genesis 28:10–22; 29:20, 25; 31:7, 19, 40–42; Exodus 23:7; Proverbs 11:13; Esther 2:22; Jeremiah 36:4; Romans 16:22; Luke 2:46; 4:16–21; John 1:47–51; Acts 13:15; Mark 7:19.
• Mishnah: Pirkei Avot 1:11 (Avtalyon); 1:17 (Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel); 2:4 (Hillel; 2:5 in some editions); 5:22 (Ben Bag Bag; 5:25 or 5:26 in some editions); 6:6.
• Talmud: Shabbat 63a (“a verse never leaves its plain meaning”); Berakhot 26b (the fathers and the three daily prayers; vayifga); Pesaḥim 56a (Yaakov and the Shema).
• Midrash and commentary: Bereishit Rabbah 68:9 (HaMakom), 68:12 (on the ladder or on Yaakov); Rashi on Genesis 28:12 and 28:16; Sefer HaḤinuch (no mitzvot counted in Vayetze).
• Teachers named: Rebbe Naḥman of Breslov; First Fruits of Zion (ffoz.org); Ariel Cohen Alloro.
• Benei Avraham: Writing a d’rash (B’nei Mitzvah study notes); our Statement of Faith.