Who has the right to come up with chiddushei Torah?

Question

I am not at all learned in Torah, and yet I occasionally come up with what I think is a chiddush of Torah.

Of course, it frequently turns out that someone else has thought of my "chiddush" before me, and in such cases, I am reasonably reassured of being correct.

But what about in the others? Is it possible that some of my "original" chiddushim are right? Moreover, how could one know if they were?

Could any Jewish neshama, in principle, come up with a chiddushah Torah? Or is some minimal skill set required--perhaps the ability to understand language, for a start--or a great deal more?

Answer 1

See the Pele Yoetz's discussion of this in his entry for "Chiddush".

The basic idea (according to him) is that everyone can and should be mechadesh to the best of their abilities.

וכל אדם אינו חייב אלא כשיעורו רק שיעמול בכל כחו לחדש חידושי תורה

He defines being mechadesh chiddushei Torah as asking and answering in Tanach and Shas, or providing explanations of peshat/remez/drush/sod for Tanach and Shas.

דהיינו להקשות ולתרץ בתנ"ך ובש"ס או לפרש פירושים בפרד"ס על תנ"ך וש"ס

He states that it is very important to write down your chiddushim, as that is the only reason they were given to you.

וכתבו גם כן שעתיד אדם ליתן את הדין על שגילו לו חידושי תורה ולא כתבם שלא גילו לו אלא על מנס שיכתבם ויהנו ממנו ולמטי לה הנאה שיהיו שפתותיו דובבות בקבר

For those who cannot come up with any chiddushim of their own, they can study the chiddushim of others. When you learn something that you did not know before it is considered as if you were mechadesh it yourself.

ולמי שאין ידו משגת לחדש חידושי תורה מדעתו כבר יש תקנה שילמד חידושי תורה את אשר כבר עשוהו ונכתב בספר כל אשר ילמד וידע את אשר לא ידעו חשוב כאילו חדשו

Perhaps the best summary is where he says that whatever you do is fine as long as you have the proper intentions.

ואחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט ובלבד שיכון לבו לשמים

Answer 2

Could any Jewish Neshama, in principle, come up with a Chidushei Torah?

Let's first define Chidushei Torah: A way of understanding the text that fits into the words but isn't the way the commentators (that you have read) understand the passage.

Or is some minimal skill set required--perhaps the ability to understand language, for a start--or a great deal more?

I would differentiate between 2 types of Chidushei Torah.

1. The narrative
2. The law - Halacha

The narrative

When learning a passage of Tanach, for example, there's nothing wrong with coming up with a novel interpretation. Au contraire, you are expected to learn in depth to the best of your ability; glossing over the text is considered qualitative Bitul Torah by some.

These Chidushei Torah should be written down, and one may even do so on Chol HaMoed (when most writing is forbidden) since forgetting one's Chidushei Torah is considered a major irreplaceable loss.

On a practical level, every few years you should review these Chidushei Torah to ensure that you still agree with them, based on new knowledge you've gained since you wrote them down.

The law - Halacha

However, when it comes to practical Halacha, you cannot come up with novel ideas unless you are an expert in the field. What you invented may fly in the face of something written explicitly elsewhere.

We have dozens of explanations for many passages in Tanach and Medrash - and they may even contradict each other. This goes along with the rule of there are 70 ways to interpret the Torah.

Rarely will you find a Perush arguing and trying to disprove another Perush. It happens, but mostly the various explanations live side by side.

When it comes to explaining Halacha-related texts, there's only one correct way, in theory. When we do have multiple opinions they are either Minhag-based (which I suspect is the majority of them, with different locations developing variant customs) or they disagree on how to explain/decipher/implement a passage in the Gemara. Whichever way they explain it will be consistent across the board, which is why the layman cannot pick & choose which Poskim to follow in different areas. Since we're (blissfully) unaware of the roots of each halacha and how they are intertwined, we may be doing contradictory things by following multiple opinions in different areas.

The difference

Point being that while you may create an entirely new school of thought regarding the narrative, (and the Malbim does that, for example), if you have a novel way of explaining a Halacha-based text, e.g. a Gemara, then the chances are you're misunderstanding something.

In the narrative case, write it down for posterity.
In the Halacha case, write it down and ask around to find out where you went wrong. You may discover you're correct... but hope for the best and expect the worst.

To sum it up:
שִׁבְעִים פָּנִים לָתּוֹרָה
There are 70 facets to the Torah.
^{(Go figure them out)}
vs.
מְּגַלֶּה פָנִים בַּתּוֹרָה שֶׁלֹּא כַּהֲלָכָה
The transgression of uncovering facets of the Torah in contradiction to Halacha.
^{(Don't go there).}

Answer 3

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, in Dvar Malchus, explains what the posuk means

"וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛" Now the L-rd said to Avram, Get thee out of thy country

The Rebbe explains:

שהרי על כל אחד ישנו החיוב ד"לאפשא לה" כנ"ל Every person has the obligation to increase in Torah all the time

The posuk says "Lech Lecha", e.g. go forth. What is going forth? The Rebbe explains:

הליכה אמיתית - a true "going/movement/progress" is היא כאשר החידוש של התלמיד הוא מכוחותיו הנעלמים - when the new Torah ideas that a pupil sees in the Torah, כוחות שעד רגע זה לא ידעו שהם קיימים בו! - comes from his hidden powers, that he did not be aware of that they excisted at all.

The Rebbe says that even if a Jew has already learned much Torah in his life, it is an obligation to "lech lecha", go forth, e.g. learn more and more. To add to it, even if it is in the form of chiddushim.

אפי' אם יהודי למד כבר הרבה תורה, תמיד שייך להוסיף בזה, עד באופן של חידוש – שכן התורה הינה בלי גבול, "ארוכה מארץ מידה ורחבה מני ים"[106]. ויתר על כן: בהיותה חכמתו של הקב"ה, הרי כל ענין בתורה בעצמו נותן את הכח "להוליד" עוד ענינים חדשים, עד אין סוף.

So, according to this explanation of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, everyone has the right to come up with chiddushim, it is an obligation to keep stheiging so to speak.