Studying Torah on the Way
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Question
Hello Rabbi, can a person study Torah on the way, in a place where people pass by? According to the drash and kabbalah. On one hand, "and when you walk on the way" On the other hand?
Answer
Hello Rabbi
It is stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:7) in the commandment of Torah study, 'and when you walk on the way'. This means that a person is commanded to engage in Torah even when on the road.
Moreover, it is said that a person who does not engage in Torah on the way but instead engages in trivialities and says 'how beautiful is this tree', will be severely questioned for it.
However, the place of fixed study should not be in a public place, as stated in the Gemara (Moed Katan 16.), but in a private place.
Source
Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, Verse 7 (Parashat Va'etchanan)
And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the way and when you lie down and when you rise:
Mishnah, Tractate Avot, Chapter 3, Mishnah 7
Rabbi Shimon says: One who walks on the way and studies, and interrupts his study to say: How beautiful is this tree and how beautiful is this plowed field, is considered as if he endangers his soul:
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Moed Katan, Page 16
Once Rabbi decreed that students should not study in the market. What did he expound - "Your thighs are hidden, like jewels", just as the thigh is hidden - so too should the words of Torah be hidden.