בְּעַל פֶּה (לָמַד בְּעַל פֶּה)

ביטוי (אנגלית)

By heart/ orally/ (to learn by rote (heart)/to memorize)

הגדרה (אנגלית)

From memory. The ability to quote without reading from the text.

("Tanu Rabbanan: An incident with a certain foreigner who came before Shammai, he said to him: How many Torahs do you have? He said to him: Two, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. He said to him: The Written I believe you, but the Oral I do not believe you. Convert me so you will teach me the Written Torah. He rebuked him and expelled him with a reprimand. He came before Hillel, who converted him." - Shabbat 31a, and also: "But in 'זה זכרי' (This is my memorial) which indicates his nickname, and his nickname is not hinted there... Therefore the Rabbi had to say: 'Learn how he is called', and about that which they learned by heart, the Torah wrote 'וזה זכרי' (and this is my memorial), meaning by this nickname I taught you, remind it." - Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi (HaRa'am) Exodus 3:15, and also: "If he had a siddur in his hand... and orally does not even know how to pray! Nothing at all!" - Y.L. Peretz / Mesirut Nefesh, 115, and also: "He gives him the 'musarot' (instructions) and teaches him practical Halacha by heart 'tightly'" - Bialik / Behind the Fence, 88, and also: "He continued the entire chapter, and repeated it several times until they knew it by heart" - Chaim Sabato / Like the Blink of Dawn, 102)