The Reward for Ameilus:
A man once sadly told the Chidushei Harim zy”a that he recently began to feel that his Torah learning was missing vitality and enthusiasm. The Chidushei Harim told him that the Gemara (Avodah Zarah 5B) says that one should take to words of Torah like an ox to its yoke and a donkey to its burden. The Gemara seems to be comparing Torah to a burden that is forced upon a person. What could be the value of such Torah?
He explained that when an ox carries a yoke, it has no idea what the benefit is in what it is doing. Even after the job of plowing the field is done, it doesn’t understand why it was forced to do what it did. However, the owner of the field benefitted greatly from the ox’s efforts. So too, even if one who learns Torah doesn’t understand what benefit there is from his learning, he is accomplishing great things and he will be rewarded by having his mind opened to comprehend the secrets of the Torah and to taste its sweetness.
