In the first Torah in Likutei Mohoran, Rebbe Nachman explains that through learning Torah, we enter the realm of tefillah, break ourselves free from the false charm of the material world, awaken our minds to see the deeper meaning of life, and come closer to Hashem. Studying Torah gives us strength and energy. It builds our emunah and brings us to an awareness of the Creator.
However, in that lesson, Rebbe Nachman specifies that in order for the Torah to change our lives, we must learn “b’koach” – with power. The simple understanding of learning with power is the subject of this sichah, as well as many other teachings in Sichos HaRan, some of which we’ve already discussed. It means that we have to awaken ourselves to take advantage of every opportunity we have to learn and not waste time. It means that we don’t wait until we have chavrusa, a coffee, a shtender, clarity of mind, and so on, before we begin studying Torah. Instead, we just sit down, open a sefer, and start reading the words.
Some days, we have a lot of time for Torah and we have the yishuv hadaas to learn in depth – this certainly gives Hashem a lot of nachas. But even when we’re tired, busy, or for whatever reason we’re unable to focus, we should still maintain a connection to the Torah by studying in a simple way. There are even situations when all we can do is read the words with hardly any understanding at all. Nonetheless, at these times, we shouldn’t give up completely and waste time reading a newspaper or doing other unnecessary activities. Instead, we should awaken ourselves to remember that whatever we learn stays with us forever. This is not just true about a bachur in yeshivah who studies for hours at a time. Rather, even just a few minutes of learning a Mishnah or reciting Tehillim during a short break at work is an eternal merit.
Practically speaking, the main way that we attach ourselves to the Torah in this way is through taking on specific amounts from different sefarim that we study every day. Some sefarim we learn for an hour or more, while others we do for just ten or fifteen minutes, according the nature and importance of each sefer, as we discussed previously. Also, each person has different capabilities and amounts of time to spend learning Torah each day. The point is that we should keep ourselves busy with Torah study by going through certain sefarim every day, without fail. And if we miss a day, we should simply block out the past and make a new start the next day. This is the path of learning Torah with power that purifies our minds and elevates every aspect of our lives.
Here, in this sichah, Rebbe Nachman emphasizes the importance of being attached to the Torah with consistency, and through the example that he uses to illustrate this practice, he brings out some unique points regarding learning Torah.
