וְלוֹ תִהְיֶׁה לְאִשָה – she must stay his wife. The Ohr Hachaim explains that a person is not obligated to learn more than a little during the day and a little during the night. The possuk (Yehoshua 1:8) says וְהָּׁגִּיתָּׁ בּוֹ יוֹמָּׁם וָּׁלַּיְלָּׁה – you shall meditate on it day and night, and the Gemara (Menachos 99b) explains that a person can suffice with just reading Shema each day and night. However, when a person has treated Torah lightly and insulted it, claiming that it does not have the power to uplift and support the world, his punishment is that he must learn all day and night. The Medrash (Vayikra Rabbah 25) writes that a Ba’al Teshuva must change his actions, and if he is used to learning one daf, he must learn two. This Ba’al Teshuva who has insulted the Torah must repair that which he has done and learn all day.
This is similar to the mashal of the person who denigrated his wife. A person who marries a lady and does not like her, has mistreated her terribly by maligning her reputation. By announcing the lack of her virginity, he has told the world that she is unworthy of being a trustworthy wife. He has essentially betrayed her trust. He can only repair that which he has done by devoting himself to her completely, with no option of leaving her any more. He must stay married to her, he cannot wait a year and divorce her, causing tongues to wag again.
If the person who denigrated the Torah were to do Teshuva by merely making time each day for learning, he would not be announcing with his actions how mistaken he was. Not everyone is obligated to dedicate his life fully to the Torah, Chazal tell us that the general public may work to sustain themselves. The Gemara in Berachos (35b) says, that Rabbi Yishmael’s opinion is that the Torah permits a person to work for a living, and that is the fulfillment of the possuk (Devarim 11:14) וְאָסַּפְתָּ דְגָנֶׁךָ וְתִירֹשְךָ וְיִצְהָרֶׁךָ - and you shall gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai disagrees, saying that if everyone did so, there would be nothing left of Torah. Abaye said, many people attempted to act like Rabbi Yishmael and were successful, but many tried Rabbi Shimon’s path and were not.
If a person acts like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and does so correctly, he will merit special divine assistance and be supported through the Torah.
When a person messed himself up, claiming that the Torah is a contradiction to his life of work and assembling money, he must repair that which he did, and announce through his actions that the Torah can and will support a person everywhere. He must close down his business and dive into the Torah, and rely wholly on Hashem. When he does so, he will show the world the truth; that the Torah is more powerful than anything he can do on his own, and he will be an embodiment of the ability of the Torah to sustain.
