The Fire Around Ben Azzai
As Ben Azzai sat linking verses of the Torah, Neviim and Kesuvim, fire blazed around him, and he explained to Rebbi Akiva where it came from.
It is told that Ben Azzai was once sitting and expounding the Torah, and fire was blazing all around him.
Some people went to Rebbi Akiva. Rebbi, they told him, Ben Azzai is sitting and teaching, and fire is burning around him.
Rebbi Akiva went to see for himself. I heard that you were expounding and fire was burning around you, he said to his talmid. Yes, Ben Azzai answered.
Rebbi Akiva wondered whether the fire had come from the study of the Maaseh Merkavah, the most hidden secrets of the Torah. Perhaps you were busy with the secrets of the Merkavah? he asked.
No, said Ben Azzai. I was only sitting and stringing together words of Torah, like pearls on a thread. I connected the Torah to the Neviim, and the Neviim to the Kesuvim, and the words were as joyful as on the day they were given at Sinai, and as sweet as when they were first given. And when they were first given at Mount Sinai, were they not given in fire? As the verse says: The mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of the heavens.
Ben Azzai was not reaching for anything hidden. He was simply learning the words of the Torah that every Jew knows, with so much love and freshness that they became new again, and the fire of Sinai returned to light up the room.
Source: Midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:10 (on Shir HaShirim 1:10, 'your neck with strings of beads'); parallel in Midrash Vayikra Rabbah 16:4.
This week, when you learn a pasuk in the parsha, look for one other place in Tanach where the same word or idea appears. Many Chumashim list such cross-references in the margin. Read the two places side by side and ask what each one adds to the other. Even five minutes of linking verses together can make familiar words feel as fresh as the day they were given.