A 17-year-old bachur came to the Chasam Sofer's yeshiva in Dreznitz and told the Chasam Sofer that he wants to join the yeshiva and begin learning Torah. The bachurim who heard him say this, laughed because they knew that this bachur had never learned Torah before. The Chasam Sofer rebuked them, "Why do you laugh? Whoever wants to learn can join the yeshiva." The Chasam Sofer asked several bachurim to contribute one hour of their day to learn with the new bachur, which they did.
However, the bachur still wasn't learning well because, in addition to having no background in Torah, the bachur had a terrible memory. Even if he reviewed something a hundred times, he forgot it by the next day. But the bachur so much wanted to succeed in Torah, so he didn’t give up. He kept learning with hasmadah with the chavrusos that the Chasam Sofer arranged for him. Chazal say, "When one wants to be pure, Heaven helps him" and indeed, this bachur became a great talmid chacham and was renowned for his yirei shamayim. He held rabbanic positions, and was one of the rabbanim in the Mattersdorf beis din (under the auspices of the Chasam Sofer). Later he was the rav of Shleining, and then the head of the beis din in Neizetz.
As the Chasam Sofer predicted, if one studies Torah with hasmadah, he will have siyata dishmaya, and he can succeed.
--Torah Wellsprings: Collected Thoughts from Rabbi Elimelech Biderman.
