יערף כמטר…
“My teaching shall drop as the rain, my speech shall drip as the dew…” (32:2)
In the song of Ha’azinu, the Torah is compared to rain and dew. Rain is formed by con-densation that evaporates from the ground. When there is enough condensation, rain falls. Dew, however, appears every morning, regardless of the atmospheric conditions.
Torah learning can rain knowledge down upon the person—but only if there is enough effort to warrant it. The more effort the person is willing to expend upon learning a certain subject, the more knowledge and understanding of that topic he will gain. Like rain, the advantage is de-pendent on ground conditions. However, Torah is also like dew, which appears consistently and unconditionally. When a person learns Torah, they gain the additional benefit of connecting to Hashem. This connection is available to any and all who study Torah, whether it’s for five minutes or five hours, whether they’re struggling to understand it or easily grasping a pleasant shiur.
This makes Torah learning accessible to all Jews, regardless of their knowledge, level, or scholarship. Whoever is willing to make the commitment to learn Torah is able to reap the benefit of a connection with Hashem. Therefore, we should not take learning Torah for granted; rather, we should eagerly welcome all opportunities to learn. Through learning Torah, we can gain knowledge proportionate to our efforts. But we can also gain an automatic relationship with Hashem that is precious beyond measure.1
Hear the Call
There was once a poor woman who had many children. She had limited means of support and the family was hungry. Her children asked her for food to eat, but she did not have any to give them. Once she found an egg. Excitedly, she called her children to her and told them, “My children, we no longer have anything to worry about. I have found an egg. And since I am a person who looks to the future, we will not eat this egg. I will ask our neighbor to allow me to place this egg under one of his hens, and from it will come a small chicken. And we will not eat the chicken, since she will be able to lay eggs. We shall not eat those eggs but will place them under her and we will have more eggs and more chickens. We shall not eat of any of them, but we shall sell them and I will buy a calf. And we shall allow the calf to grow and become a cow. The cow will have calves, and we will allow them to grow, and we shall have many cows and calves. Then I will sell them and buy a field, and we shall have fields and cows and calves and chickens and eggs. We will not be lacking for anything.” And while she said this to her children the egg fell from her hand and broke.
The holy Rebbe of Sanz, The Divrei Chaim explained: This is the way people act. When the holy Days of Repentance come, everyone makes plans in his mind and accepts upon himself to do Teshuvah, thinking he has all the answers to turn himself around. But when the days have passed and nothing gets done, all the plans fall to pieces, and he is left with nothing. A person must listen to his inner conscience – not just during this holy period – but all year round. But it is not enough simply to hear the call – one must act immediately!
