The Need to Toil
Rebbi Yitzchok said: "If someone says that he toiled in Torah but did not find (meaning that he was not successful), do not believe him. If someone says that he did not work hard but did find, do not believe him either. Believe the person who claims to have toiled and found (Yagati u'matzasi – taamin)."
Rava said: "Every physical body was created to work. Fortunate is he who merits having his work and effort in Torah."
(מגילה ו' ע"ב, סנהדרין צ"ט ע"ב)
Eliyahu HaNavi related: A talmid who was not well versed in halacha once complained to me, "I learn Torah and strongly desire it, and wait that it come to me, but it does not." I explained to him that only a person who gives up his life for Torah, for the honor of HaShem, merits this.
(תנא דבי אליהו רבה פכ"ב)
Based on the Zohar, the Alter Rebbe explains that just as the Yidden toiled physically and then went out to receive the Torah, so too we must toil in learning Torah, to bring about the final Geula. The Rebbe adds that even the laziest person would choose such work over the labor in Mitzrayim.
(תורה אור פ' וארא, שיחו"ק תש"מ ח"ג ע' 636 )
No Shortcuts!
The Alter Rebbe writes that since HaShem demands of us to serve Him "with all [our] nefesh," every individual is required to learn to use his skills to the utmost. One who is capable of learning something difficult cannot discharge his duty by learning something easy. The Frierdiker Rebbe directed that everyone must have an in-depth shiur in Gemara (l'iyun) and not be satisfied with simply learning Mishnayos, important though it is. The Rebbe explained that learning that takes place without effort is essentially insufficient, since it does not involve the entire person.
(מאמרי אדה"ז ענינים א' ע' קנח, לקו"ש ח"ב ע' 566 )
At the Rebbe's chassuna, the Frierdiker Rebbe went around greeting the guests and pouring them L'chaim. Approaching the standing area of the bochurim, he said: "Temimim! Torah can only succeed through great effort. A person who toils will understand what he studies even better than another who has a stronger head. You must dedicate yourselves to learn with effort!"
(סה"ש תרפ"ט ע' 53 )
The Rebbe once said that everyone ought to become a talmid chacham. He explained that there is no shortcut to this, and it is only attainable through hard effort. A person who thinks of excuses as to why he is unable to do so is really only fooling himself, and unfortunately he will remain ignorant (an am haaretz)...
(שיחו"ק תשמ"א ח"ב ע' 565 )
The Fruits of Toil
Reb Yekusiel, a salt merchant from Liepli who had been a chossid from the time of the Alter Rebbe, was a great oved, but with a limited understanding of Torah, especially of Chassidus. Once, a young mashpia traveling through Liepli stayed there for a few days, and every day he chazered a maamar of the Mitteler Rebbe. His sharp mind and articulateness left a strong impression on all those who heard him, but Reb Yekusiel didn't grasp the maamarim and was greatly disheartened.
As he later related, "I was then forty years old. For fifteen years I had often traveled to visit the Alter Rebbe and when I was there I studied with all my kochos. Yet when this yungerman sat and chazered the maamarim, I didn't grasp them. Every maamar I heard made me feel utterly crushed. Because of my burning desire to know the maamarim and understand them, I asked the yungerman to review them over and over again for me. This he did, but despite his repeated explanations, my mind remained like a block of wood. It was closed to it all.
"For three weeks I held him back from continuing his journey home, and let my family run the store. Days and nights I toiled to understand what the yungerman taught me, but it was all to no avail. He eventually left, and I was left like a stranded ship at sea. I fasted and said Tehillim with tears, but my mind didn't open, so I decided to travel to Lubavitch. "There I noticed that over the past nine months since my last visit, there was a new atmosphere. Fifty or sixty yungeleit sat for hours on end, learning Chassidus diligently. On my first Shabbos there, the Mitteler Rebbe delivered a maamar, and I understood it. But unlike the yungeleit, I couldn't understand the Rebbe's additional explanation. This caused me such intense pain that I cried all night and fasted the next day.
"When I went to yechidus with the Rebbe, I told him all that had transpired. He told me that nothing can stand in the way of a person's will. Indeed, a strong desire can actually change his capabilities. When I heard that everything depended on my desire, I decided to remain in Lubavitch until I would begin to understand, and sent a message to my family to continue running the store on their own. I spent about four months working intensely, training myself to think about a subject for hours at a time and reviewing each topic dozens of times.
"That Tishrei I felt like a new creation, as if I had 'washed out the pot' and had become a proper recipient for receiving what I truly desired to receive. Only then did I go home."
(אג"ק אדהריי"צ ח"ג ע' שס"ד)
Consider
How does effort in Torah replace toiling in worldly labor?
Did Reb Yekusiel not exert himself in his hometown? How much effort must one apply?
