The entire people responded together, saying, “All that Hashem spoke, we shall do.” (Shemos 19:8)
These verses describe the exalted event that took place at Har Sinai, and the wondrous gift we received there: Torah and mitzvos.
Out of all the mitzvos we received at Sinai, the most important and wondrous of them all is the mitzvah to learn Torah. It says in Sefer Nefesh Hachayim as follows:
And even greater than this is the holy Torah, which has more light and additional holiness over and above all the mitzvos put together. If a person will fulfill all the 613 mitzvos with true perfection, just as they should be done... then his entire person will become – with all his limbs and organs and faculties – a complete base on which will rest the supernal holiness of all the mitzvos. But even so, the holiness and light of the mitzvos do not compare at all to the tremendously great holiness and light of the holy Torah. And the Torah’s illumination will come upon a person who studies it and occupies himself with it properly. It is greater because its holy source is far above the root of the holiness and supernal light of all the mitzvos.
The tremendous wondrousness of Torah learning is not just for great chachamim who know and understand the entire Torah. Rather, as Chazal say, there is a mitzvah of Torah learning in each and every word a person learns. Each word is a great mitzvah on its own, equal to all the other mitzvos put together. Each word contains the entire awesome wondrousness of the Torah.
Rabbeinu Yonah makes forceful remarks about Torah study:
When people finish their work and business, and they go home, if they are idle, or talk about idle matters, this is very bad. It is a very heavy sin because they are despising the Torah. If they would believe that there is endless reward for Torah learning, why wouldn’t they pick up their feet and go to the synagogue to learn Talmud or read Chumash, or the Siddur? Therefore, every person is obligated to set up for himself, also in his home, a special place, and he should put Talmud or Tanach or Tehillim there, or a Siddur. And when he finishes attending to his business, he should go there to learn Talmud or to read Tanach. This practice, too, will work wonders to save his soul from destruction.
When Hashem gave the Torah at Sinai, He did not give it to just anyone. We got the Torah because we were ready and willing to receive it. Only after we accepted upon ourselves to learn and keep the Torah, only when we said נעשה ונשמע, “We will fulfill it and we will study it,” then we got the Torah.
And the same is true today. Our success in drawing close to Hashem and acquiring Torah depends on how much we accept the Torah upon ourselves, how much we are willing to devote ourselves to it. The most important thing is to make up our minds to stand strong as a wall and keep the times we have designated for Torah study, to show mesirus nefesh and keep those times holy for Hashem, and not allow disturbances to take those times from us. The stronger is our decision to keep up our learning times, the more Hashem will help us, and the disturbances will go away.
The week of this parshah, in which we read about Kabbalas Hatorah, is a prime opportunity for us to set up a daily schedule with clearly defined times for Torah learning, and to guard those precious times. If we do this, Hashem will help us keep it up.
