Effort and Process in Torah Study

Until when is a person obligated to learn? Until the day of his death, as it says "And lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life" (Deut 4:9). And as long as one does not occupy himself with Torah he forgets it.

For that it is also said, a part of one's knowledge he cannot sell.

Laboring and not finding (success); it must be a lie! But the answer is that even if one does not merit to be a great man [in Torah] whose words are sharp, deliberate, and conclusive, in any case if he labored for real, he for sure found (success) for he will be a simple Talmud Chacham.

Having discussed the importance of reviewing one’s Torah study, the Gemara relates that Rabbi Perida had a certain student whom he would have to teach four hundred times, and only then would he learn the material, as he was incapable of understanding it otherwise. One day they requested Rabbi Perida’s presence for a mitzva matter after the lesson. Rabbi Perida taught his student four hundred times as usual, but this time the student did not successfully learn the material. Rabbi Perida said to him: What is different now that you are unable to grasp the lesson? He said to him: From the time that they said to the Master that there is a mitzva matter for which he is needed, my mind was distracted from the lesson and every moment I said: Now the Master will get up, now the Master will get up to go and perform the mitzva and he will not complete the lesson. Rabbi Perida said to him: Pay attention this time and I will teach you, and know that I will not leave until you have fully mastered the lesson. He taught him again an additional four hundred times. Due to the merit of Rabbi Perida’s great devotion to his students, a Divine Voice emerged and said to him: Is it preferable to you that four hundred years be added to your life, or that you and the rest of your generation will merit the World-to-Come? He said: I prefer that I and my generation merit the World-to-Come. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to the angels: Give him both; he shall live a very long life and he and the rest of his generation will merit the World-to-Come.

The Gemara in Megilla 27b recounts that when the students of R' Preida asked him how he got to live so many years. R' Preida said it was because he would always come to the Beit Midrash early. But he didn't know it was also because he taught his student 800 times! Or it could be that he didn't know this until after he lived an extra 400 years. (Teachers who don't give up on their students merit much reward!)

(23) Ben Hey Hey says: According to the pain is the reward.

Whether in learning Torah, doing mitzvot, or working on his character, due to the pain his merit will increase. Or it is saying that according to the labor and tiresome work that one does to increase in wisdom, for that even more one would see the fruits of his work, as the words of Torah are understood only by those who "die over it" (Berachot 63b) as in whom will you find the "butter of Torah"? In he who "spits out the milk that he nursed from his mother’s breasts over it; (i.e. one who struggles with all his might to study Torah)" (Berachot 63b). And thus it gives him a life of success and honor, honey and milk under words of the Torah.

(4) We give thanks before You, Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, for you gave us a share among those who sit in the study hall, and not among those who sit on street corners. For we arise early, and they arise early; we arise for words of Torah, and they arise for words of emptiness. We work, and they work; we work and receive a reward, and they work and do not receive a reward. We run, and they run; we run towards eternal life, and they run to a pit of desolation. As it says: (Psalms 55:24) "And You, O Lord, bring them down into a pit of desolation, people of blood and deceit will not live out half of their days; and I, I will trust in You." (We should appreciate the uniqueness of Torah learning whereby we are rewarded for the mere act of study no matter how much we material we get through, as distinct from secular studies, where only the end result matters. This should be reflected in our educational practices, such as reconsidering the use of grades in Judaic Studies classes in Jewish day schools.)

The Gemara offers an alternative explanation of this verse: “Keep silence [hasket] and hear, Israel”; break [kattetu] yourselves over words of the Torah. This is in accordance with the opinion of Reish Lakish, as Reish Lakish said: From where is it derived that matters of Torah are only retained by one who kills himself over it? As it is stated: “This is the Torah: When one dies in a tent” (Numbers 19:14); true Torah study demands the total devotion of one who is willing to dedicate his life in the tent of Torah.

Based on the verse "This is the Torah: When a person dies in a tent, whoever enters the tent and whoever is in the tent shall be unclean seven days" (Bamidbar); we see that "this is the Torah" is said in relation to being in the tent of a dead person, but not in relation to touching a dead person. This is to teach us that the Torah is retained by he who kills himself over the tent of Torah" (i.e. puts much effort into engaging with Torah).

With regard to the beginning of the verse: For the churning of milk brings forth curd; in whom do you find the cream of Torah? With one who spits out the milk that he nursed from his mother’s breasts over it; one who struggles with all his might to study Torah. (Those who find it challenging to learn Torah and do so anyway should earn our highest admiration.)