The Exciting Value of Learning Torah

(1) [With] a great love have You loved us, Lord, our God; [with] a great and superabundant compassion have You had compassion upon us. Our Father, our King - for the sake of our fathers who trusted in You and You taught them the laws of life; so [too] grace us and teach us. Our Father, the merciful Father, the merciful One - have mercy upon us, and put into our hearts to understand and to comprehend and to listen and to study and to teach and to keep and to do and to preserve all of the words of the study of Your Torah with love. And enlighten our eyes in Your Torah, and make our heart cling to Your commandments, and unite our hearts to love and fear Your name; and may we never be embarrassed ever. Since we have trusted in Your great and awesome holy Name, let us rejoice and be gladdened by Your salvation.

(1) Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to be involved with words of Torah.

(2) And please, Lord, our God, make the words of Your Torah pleasant in our mouths and in the mouths of all of Your people, the House of Israel. And may we and our offspring [and the offspring of our offspring] and the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel - all of us - be knowing of Your Name and studying Your Torah for its sake. Blessed are You, Lord, Who teaches Torah to His people, Israel.

(3) Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who has chosen us from all of the nations and given us His Torah. Blessed are You, Lord, Who gives the Torah.

(162) I rejoice over Your sayings as one who finds great spoil.

(4) He was accustomed to say: ...Do not say, "When I will be available I will study [Torah]," lest you never become available.

(5) He was accustomed to say: A boor cannot fear sin. An ignorant person cannot be pious. A person prone to being ashamed cannot learn. An impatient person cannot teach. Not all who engage in a lot of business become wise. In a place where there is no man, strive to be a man.

(8) Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai received [the tradition] from Hillel and Shammai. He used to say: If you have learned a lot of Torah, do not credit it favorably for yourself, because for this you were created.

(16) He used to say: It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it. If you have learned much Torah, your reward will be much; and the Master of your work is trustworthy to pay you the wage for your activity. And know, the giving of reward to the righteous is in the future to come.

(2) Rabbi Chananya ben Teradyon says: Two who are sitting together and there are no words of Torah [spoken] between them, this is a session of scorners, as it is said (Psalms 1:1): “[Happy is the man who has]... not sat in the session of the scorners.” But two who are sitting together and there are words of Torah [spoken] between them, the Divine Presence rests with them, as it is said (Malachi 3:16): “Then those who feared the Lord spoke one with another, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for those who feared the Lord and for those who thought upon His Name.” I have no [Scriptural support for this] except [in a case of] two. From where [is there proof that] that even [when there is only] one [person studying Torah], the Holy One, blessed be He, determines a reward for him? As it is said (Lamentations 3:28): “He sits alone and is silent, since he takes [a reward] for it.”

(3) Rabbi Shimon says: Three who ate at one table and did not say upon it words of Torah - it is as if they ate from the offerings of the dead, as it is said (Isaiah 28:8): "For all of the tables are full of vomit and feces without the Omnipresent." However, three who ate at one table and said upon it words of Torah - it is as if they ate from the table of the Omnipresent, blessed be He, as it is said (Ezekiel 41:22): "And he said to me, this is the table that is before the Lord."

(6) Rabbi Chalafta [ben Dosa] of Kfar Chananiah says: Ten who are sitting together and engaging in Torah, the Divine Presence rests among them, as it is said (Psalms 82:1): “God stands in the congregation of God.” And from where [is there proof that this is true] even [when there are only] five? As it is said (Amos 9:6): “And He has founded His band upon the earth.” And from where even three? As it is said (Psalms 82:1): “In the midst of judges He judges.” And from where even two? As it is said (Malachi 3:16): “Then those who feared the Lord spoke one with another, and the Lord hearkened and heard.” And from where even one? As it is said (Exodus 20:20 (20:21 in NJPS)): “In every place where I cause My Name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you.”

(5) Rabbi Yishmael his son says: One who studies Torah in order to teach will be given the opportunity both to study and to teach. One who studies in order to practice will be given the opportunity to study, to teach, to observe, and to practice. Rabbi Tzadok says: Do not make it [the Torah] into a crown with which to aggrandize yourself, and not into a spade with which to dig into them. And thus Hillel used to say: And one who makes use of the crown [of learning] passes away. From here you learn that any one who benefits from the words of the Torah removes his life from the world.

(6) Rabbi Yosi says: Anyone who honors the Torah - his body will be honored by the created beings. Anyone who desecrates the Torah - his body will be desecrated by the created beings.

(10) Rabbi Meir says: Minimize business and engage in Torah. Be humble of spirit before everyone. If you neglect the Torah, many reasons for neglecting it will be presented to you. And if you labor in Torah, [He (God)] has abundant reward to grant you.

(7) Seven things are [found] in an unformed person and seven in a wise man. A wise man does not speak in front of someone who is greater than him in wisdom or in number; and he does not interrupt the words of his fellow; and is not impulsive in answering; and he asks to the point and answers as is proper; and he speaks to the first [point] first and the last [point] last; and about that which he has not heard [anything], says, "I have not heard [anything]"; and he concedes to the truth. And their opposites [are the case] with an unformed person.

(22) Ben Bag Bag says: Search in it and search in it, since everything is in it. And in it should you look, and grow old and be worn in it; and from it do not move, since there is no characteristic greater than it.

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

(9) Said Rabbi Yosi ben Kisma: One time I was walking on the road, and a man met me, and greeted me, and I returned the greeting. He said to me, "My master, from which place are you?" I said to him, "I am from a great city of sages and scribes." He said to me, "My master, do you wish to live among us in our place, and I will give you a thousand of thousands of golden Dinarim, and precious stones and pearls?" I said to him, "If you were to give me all the silver, gold, precious stones and pearls in the world, I would not live but in a place of Torah." And so it is written in the book of Psalms by David, King of Israel (Psalms 119:72), "The law of Your mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." Moreover, at the time of a person's passing, neither silver, gold, nor precious stones nor pearls accompany him, but Torah and good deeds alone, as it says (Proverbs 6:22), "When you walk, it shall lead you, when you lie down, it shall watch over you; and when you awake, it shall be your conversation"; "When you walk, it shall lead you" - in this world; "when you lie down, it shall watch over you" - in the grave; "and when you awake, it shall be your conversation" - for the world to come. And it says (Haggai 2:8), "Mine is the silver, and Mine the gold, speaks the Lord of hosts."

(11) Everything that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created in this world, He created only for His honor, as it says (Isaiah 43:7): "Every one that is called by My name, and whom I have created for My honor, I have formed him, yes, I have made him." And it also says (Exodus 15:18 ), "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever."

(Makkot 3:16) Rabbi Chananya ben Akashia says, The Holy One, Blessed be He, wanted to give Israel merit; therefore He multiplied for them Torah and commandments, as it said, "The Lord desired, for the sake of His righteousness, to make the Torah great and glorious," (Isaiah 42:21).

...For I have given you good instruction; do not forsake My Torah. It is a tree of life to those who hold fast to it, and all of its supporters are happy. Its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace. Return us to You, God, and we shall return; renew our days as of old.