Nothing in this method is new. It gathers what Chazal said about keeping Torah, what the poskim say about writing it, and how talmidei chachamim actually kept their notebooks.
Each rule has a source in Torah, a precedent in how talmidei chachamim actually kept their notebooks, and in several cases the same mechanism appears in other long-lived note-keeping traditions. The first column is the authority; the others show that the practice works.
| Rule | Source | Seen in real pinkasim | Also found in | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | One book, in order | קבע נא הערותיך בספר מכורך למען תהיינה לך למשמרת וזה חיזוק לעיון Set your notes down in a bound book, so that they are kept for you; and this strengthens one’s learning. Chazon Ish, Kovetz Igros I, letter 4 | Bound volumes, leaves numbered and written on both sides, kept whole. | Laboratory notebooks: bound, numbered, never a page removed. |
| 2 | The entry line: date · makom · source | כל האומר דבר בשם אומרו מביא גאלה לעולם Whoever says a thing in the name of the one who said it brings redemption to the world. Avos 6:6 | Talmidim write the attribution into the entry itself (שמעתי ממו״ר), often with when and where. | |
| 3 | The makom in the margin; the margin for hagahos | עשו ציונים לתורה Make markers for the Torah. Eruvin 54b | Margins filled with additions over years, between the lines and around the text. | The commonplace-book tradition wrote the heading in the margin. |
| 4 | The marks; short entries; העולה | אין תורה נקנית אלא בסימנין Torah is acquired only through simanim. Eruvin 54b | The abbreviations of the seforim themselves: קשה · וי״ל · צ״ע · הגה״ה. | |
| 4 | Short entries | אל תתאוה לחידושים ארוכים Do not yearn for long chiddushim. Chazon Ish, Kovetz Igros I, letter 4 (opening) | ||
| 5 | What a sevara rests on; צ״ע | אין אדם עומד על דברי תורה אלא אם כן נכשל בהן No one grasps words of Torah until he has stumbled in them. Gittin 43a | צ״ע closes an unanswered question throughout the literature. | |
| 6 | Threading; dated additions | Additions in a different ink, years later; הגה״ה marks them. | “Continued on page” in laboratory notebooks. | |
| 7 | The index by makom, at the back | The index sits at the back of real notebooks and grows with the book. | Studies of how people find notes again: by place and subject, not by search. | |
| 8 | The Rosh Chodesh review | דהרבה זימנין מצוי שאדם שוכח מה שחידש כבר ואינו יכול לחדשו אח״כ For it often happens that a person forgets what he has already understood, and cannot arrive at it again. Mishnah Berurah 545:47 (the Chofetz Chaim) | Carrying open items forward on a fixed rhythm, as modern notebook systems do. | |
| 9 | The log of what entries became | ואם שמע דבר חידוש מותר לכתבו כדי שלא ישכח If he heard a new insight, he may write it down so that he will not forget it. Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 545:9 | Talmidim’s notes of a rebbe’s shiurim, dated shiur by shiur. |
“Seen in real pinkasim” summarises descriptions of handwritten notebooks of rabbanim and talmidim in auction and library catalogues, for example a notebook of chiddushim of R’ Shmuel Rozovsky, a talmid’s dated notes of his rebbe’s shiurim, and a volume whose index sits at the back.
קבע נא הערותיך בספר מכורך למען תהיינה לך למשמרת וזה חיזוק לעיוןדהרבה זימנין מצוי שאדם שוכח מה שחידש כבר ואינו יכול לחדשו אח״כואם שמע דבר חידוש מותר לכתבו כדי שלא ישכחהאידנא מצוה לכתוב חומשי תורה ומשנה וגמרא ופירושיהןאין תורה נקנית אלא בסימניןעשו ציונים לתורהכל האומר דבר בשם אומרו מביא גאלה לעולםאין אדם עומד על דברי תורה אלא אם כן נכשל בהןוהפנקס פתוח, והיד כותבתThe line printed at the foot of the Pinkas title page.
Descriptions of rabbanim’s and talmidim’s handwritten notebooks, in auction and library catalogues, return to the same habits again and again:
Pinkas Torah gives each of those habits its place on the page.
Every quotation in the book and on this site is checked against the printed text: the Vilna Shas and the classic editions of the Mishnah, Shulchan Aruch and Mishnah Berurah, and the Bnei Brak edition of the Chazon Ish’s letters. If you find an error, please tell us.