The Noda b'Yehudah (Tzlach) writes, "In my opinion, birchas haTorah is a wonderful segulah for remembering Torah." This is because when one says birchas haTorah, Hashem gives him the Torah as a gift. Hashem can provide gifts in large quantities. We can grow in Torah immensely by being careful with birchas haTorah.
The Tzlach writes, "Rebbe [Reb Yehudah HaNasi] arranged and organized the Mishnayos so that people won't forget the oral Torah. Nevertheless, Rebbe feared that even after arranging the mishnayos, people might forget Torah. Therefore, he named the first masechta 'Brachos', to remind people to recite birchas haTorah. It was important for Rebbe that people say birchas haTorah because then the Torah will be given to them as a gift, and it won't be forgotten. If it weren't for this reason, he would have called it 'Masechta Kriyas Shema,' because Shema is a mitzvah from the Torah and is the first topic of the masechta."
The Tzlach writes that this is also the reason the ג"בה (Baal Halachos Gedolos) wrote out the entire birchas haTorah at the beginning of his sefer. He wanted to remind people to say birchas haTorah, so the students will remember the lessons he writes in his sefer.
There were twin brothers that were learning in the same cheder. One was an exceptional student, and the other a very weak one. The teachers were amazed at how twins could be so different. One day, however, the weaker student suddenly became a masmid and began understanding and enjoying Torah. The change was so quick and evident that people wanted to know how it happened. The principal asked the father for an explanation. At first, he didn't answer, but when the menahel kept bugging him, he replied that he had made a kabbalah to say birchas haTorah with kavanah. The day he made this kabbalah, his weaker son began to excel in Torah.
This is because we say in birchas haTorah, לשמה תורתיך ולומדי שמך יודעי ...וצאצאינו אנחנו ונהיה, we daven and ask that our children succeed in Torah.
Reb Moshe Sternbuch Shlita once said a genius idea in Torah at the Tchebiner Rav’s shiur. The Tchebiner Rav reacted by saying, "It isn't your pshat! It is your mother's because you could only say such a good pshat due to your mother's tears."
Reb Shlomo Wolbe zt'l said that he thinks the main chinuch of a child is the parents' tefillos. He said that his success in Torah and harbatzas Torah (teaching Torah) is thanks to his mother's tears.
During their travels, Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk zt'l and Rebbe Zusha of Anipoli zt'l saw a very special young child, and they asked his mother to tell them about her husband's ways because they wanted to understand how he merited such a special child. The mother insisted that her husband is a regular, good person; nothing unusual. They asked her to share his seder hayom, and when she began speaking about Shabbos, she said, "There is one thing. During shalosh seudos, when he says, לשמה בתורה עוסקים בנים ובני בנים לראות וזכנו, he repeats the words many times, with immense hislahavus, in a loud voice, until he faints. This happens each week." This young child became renowned as Rebbe Dovid of Lelov zt'l. It was these tefillos that made the difference.
A seventy-year-old man came to the rosh yeshiva of a baal teshuvah yeshiva and said he wanted to do teshuvah. The rosh yeshiva asked him why he wanted to do teshuvah at this point in his life. (It isn't very common for people to do teshuvah and change their lives at that age.) The man explained that his father was burned in Auschwitz, and his mother became irreligious. She sent him to an orphanage run by the Ponovizher Rav zt‘l. Once, his mother visited the orphanage and discovered that it was a religious institute, and she immediately took her son back home to Tel Aviv.
The Chazon Ish zt'l once said that sometimes a bachur turns around in a moment. Yesterday, he didn't understand the Torah; today, he does. What happened? This is because his mother davened and cried for her son to succeed in Torah, but a kitrug prevented and blocked the tefillos from going up. The moment the kitrug was removed, everything turned around.
