זאת חקת התורה
“This is the statute of the Torah” (Bamidbar 19:2)
The Gemara in Sanhedrin (99a) states that a person who studies Torah but neglects to teach it to others has disgraced Hashem’s words and broken His commandments, and as a result, his sin will be upon him and he will be completely cut off from the Jewish nation. Although there is a positive mitzvah to teach Torah to others, it is difficult to understand why is the failure to do so should be judged so harshly?
Rav Pam suggests that the very fact that he is able to keep his learning to himself without spreading it to others inherently proves that he doesn’t appreciate the sweetness of the Torah that he studies. If he appreciated and personally experienced the beauty and depth of the Torah he studied, he would literally be unable to contain it within himself.
The Chasam Sofer writes that although Moshe Rabbeinu merited to become the only human who would ever understand the mysteries of the purification of the porah adumah, the fact that he wasn’t given Divine permission to share it with a single person caused him so much agony to the point that he would have actually preferred that he not be privy to the secret!
Similarly, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz was wont to quote something which the Ketzos HaChoshen writes in the name of the Mahar”i Muskato: if a person will merit the appearance of angels to reveal to him Divine secrets, he will actually have no pleasure from the intrinsic knowledge until he is able to share it with others. Therefore, if a person studies Torah and feels no desire or need to teach it to others, it can only be because he doesn’t appreciate the value and sweetness of that which he studied, which is indeed the ultimate fulfillment of “scorning the word of Hashem.” (R’ Ozer Alport)
