In Judaism, a gathering of students is a havruta and each student is studying with a haver (friend) to master the text. They study by discussing parts of the text in 2’s or 3’s, and asking questions that can be grappled with as they learn from each other. Some students will have one hand poised over an open volume while the other hand gestures wildly, the debate waxing and waning. If one student doesn’t understand a passage, the other tries to explain it. Early rabbis said: “When two sit together and exchange words of Torah, then the Divine Presence dwells among them.” Was Jesus speaking of haverim when he said “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them?” Our westernized culture believes that the way to a closer relationship with God is through solitary prayer and study, but is it better found in the small group of a haverim?
(Parts and ideas of the text were taken from the book “Sitting at the feet of Jesus” by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg)