Midrash Sifra on Parshas Bechukosai teaches:
אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵּכוּ מלמד שהמקום מתאוה שיהו ישראל עמילים בתורה...וכן הוא אומר ”מִי יִתֵּן וְּהָיָה לְּבָבָם זֶה לָהֶם לְיִרְ אָה אֹתִי וְלִשְמֹר אֶת כָל מִצְוֹתַי כָל הַיָמִים לְּמַעַן יִיטַב לָהֶם וְּלִבְּנֵּיהֶם לְּעֹּלָם. “מלמד שהמקום מתאוה שיהו עמילים בתורה.
אִם בְחֻקֹתַי תֵּלֵּכוּ - “If you will walk in my statues” - this teaches us that the Omnipresent desires for Bnei Yisroel to toil in Torah learning....In the same way it is taught (Devorim 5:26): “If it could only be that this heart of theirs would remain for them to have awe of Me and observe all My mitzvos all the days, so that it should be good for them and for their children forever.” This teaches us that the Omnipresent desires for Bnei Yisroel to toil in learning Torah.
We see from this Midrash that the power of Torah instills awe of HaShem and His Torah in the heart of a person who toils in it. And in turn, this will help a person to observe all of HaShem’s mitzvos.
Rashi interprets the opening words of parshas Bechukosaiאִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵּכוּ...) ) as:הוו עמלים בתורה על מנת לשמור ולקיים - Toil in learning Torah with the intention that it will help you to guard and fulfill Hashem’s mitzvos.
With the Midrash quoted above, we can now understand Rashi’s words in the following way, “Toil in learning Torah in order to guard and fulfill [Hashem’s mitzvos]. How will every part of the Torah will help you guard and fulfill HaShem’s mitzvos? Because its light will increase your awe of HaShem and His Torah.”
An important lesson we learn from here. Every time, before we open a sefer and begin learning Torah, we should think, “The Torah that I am about to learn will help me to do mitzvos, because the light of this Torah will enrich my heart with more love and awe of my Father in Shamayim.”
