Sefer HaMiddot, Torah Study, Part I/ספר המדות·לימוד·חלק ראשון

1A person who brings his father pleasure and happiness will have a desire and love for learning.

2If you want the Torah that you teach to be inspirational, don’t expound on evil topics, but on those verses and topics that speak of good.

3A person who teaches new insights into the Torah causes the Holy One to rejoice.

4You should know that when a wicked person teaches Torah, he corrupts those who listen to his words.

5Whoever interrupts a fellow Jew’s Torah study clearly has turned away from God’s path.

6It is good to study Torah, even when half asleep.

7A person who accepts suffering with love will not forget his studies.

8Whatever a person studied but failed to fully comprehend in this world, he will merit understanding its true meaning in the World to Come.

9Those who stand in honor of a Torah sage merit [the wisdom of] Torah.

10All knowledge of the Torah’s precepts—whether of the commandments between a man and his fellow man, or those between a man and his Maker—the very knowledge itself is beneficial for the soul.

11A holy book that was written with ink containing olive oil is especially beneficial for study.

12Fear of a Torah scholar is especially beneficial for study.

13When one studies Torah at night, the Divine Presence stands by his side.

14What should a person do to acquire wisdom? Let him increase his study, limit his business activities, and ask for God’s compassion. One without the others is not enough.

15Reciting the words of Torah in a loud voice instills feeling and motion into all a person’s limbs.

16One who studies in a loud voice is blessed with long life and his studies remain with him.

17Whoever has no haughtiness retains his studies.

18This is also true of one who teaches others.

19A person benefits most when he hears his studies directly from a teacher.

20The study of Torah is even greater than offering the daily-sacrifice.

21By saying “This teaching is pleasing and that one is not,” one loses out on the Torah’s treasures.

22It is easier to learn something new than to recover what one has forgotten.

23Whoever [willfully] forgets a single detail of his studies causes his children to be exiled and has his prestige diminished.

24A Torah scholar whose inside is not like his outside is considered an abomination.

25Those who live in the same town as a Torah scholar are responsible for seeing to his needs.

26When Torah study is lax, God, figuratively speaking, becomes poor.

27Torah study is even greater than saving lives, than building the Holy Temple, and than honoring one’s parents.

28Through holiness one merits understanding.

29There are three things over which God cries each day, one of which is a person who has the ability to study Torah but does not.

30Through understanding one merits repenting.

31It is forbidden to teach the wonders of God to a wicked person.

32Only a great person may learn from a wicked individual; others may not.

33Diligent study surpasses the fulfillment of even all the mitzvot.

34Whoever has no wife has no good [namely, Torah].

35That which a person studies on his own cannot match that which he learns from a teacher.

36The Holy One takes no pleasure from the Jews being judged unfavorably.

37When a person feels love for a Torah scholar, the Torah returns that love to him and his descendants.

38A person should study Torah even without understanding.

39Seeing your teacher’s mouth while he teaches is very beneficial.

40Studying by the side of a river is very beneficial.

41When a person studies Torah at night, it is as if he performed the Temple service.

42When one studies the laws of the Temple service, it is as if the Holy Sanctuary was built in his lifetime.

43Whoever teaches Torah to an improper student descends into hell, and it is as if he worshiped idols.

44The Torah itself was given to all Jews, but engaging in polemical analysis of Torah law was given to Moses alone, and he benevolently passed this privilege on to all of Israel.

45When a person makes himself available for teaching Torah to anyone [who wishes to learn it], the Torah is given to him as a gift.

46The Torah endures only with one who “stands naked” [of all he has] for its sake, or who makes himself as if he knows nothing.

47Study is a prerequisite for attaining the fear of sin, and the fear of sin is a prerequisite for analytical Torah study.

48By eating bread for breakfast a person retains his studies and merits both studying and teaching Torah.

49Torah study must be verbal. That which one studies in thought alone is forgotten and does not lead to actual practice.

50One who studies but does not review his studies is like a person who plants but does not reap.

51When a person reviews his learning, the Torah itself asks God to reveal its reasoning and secrets to him.

52Whoever doesn’t have set times for Torah study will be bothered by immoral thoughts.

53Whoever fails to review his studies will find it difficult to raise his children.

54A person who studies Torah for its own sake brings peace to the hosts of angels above and below, and protects the entire world with his merit. It is as if he built a palace in both worlds, and he hastens the Final Redemption.

55Whoever teaches Torah to the son of a fellow Jew, Scripture says that it is as if he created the child, created the words of Torah, and also created himself.

56When one blackens his face in this world {for the sake of Torah}, the Holy One causes his face to shine in the World to Come.

57When one denies himself the pleasures of this world for the sake of Torah, God rewards him with great contentment in the World to Come.

58A person who reads the books of heretics is called an apostate.

59One who recites a Torah verse at the right time brings good to the world.

60Given a choice between two verses, one that you can interpret as speaking favorably and positively, and one that you can interpret as saying the opposite, you should choose to expound the former.

61A person who cannot understand his studies should spend time in the company of the Tzaddik. This will also enable him to study Torah for its own sake. Alternatively, he should endeavor to please the Tzaddik in some way, or he should study with joy, or greet the Shabbat with joy, or greet the Tzaddik with joy.

62Analytical study of the Torah enables one to pray.

63A person who has numerous obstacles interfering with his Torah study should refrain from drinking alcohol.

64Laxity in Torah brings one to laxity in prayer. The inverse is also true, [as diligence in Torah brings diligence in prayer].

65A person who has no time for study other than on Shabbat and the new moon still manages to restrain the spirit of impurity [through the Torah he does study].

66A person who cannot understand his Torah studies clearly has been beset by harsh judgments.

67It is easier for a person to understand a complex Torah subject when he is on a mountain or some other high place.

68Waking up early to study Torah is a segulah for repairing one’s hearing.

69Teaching Torah to schoolchildren promotes peace.

70One should pray to be worthy of proper students.

71Expounding the Torah positively enables a person to bring salvation.

72A person’s bigheartedness gives him the ability to deduce one thing from another.

73A person who has no desire to study Torah study should never say anything bad about anyone.

74Learn only from a person who is God-fearing.

75Through Torah study you will be rewarded with peace.

76When the Torah you teach is consistent with your level, and not above it, the Holy One carries out your wishes.

77Heresy destroys a person’s desire for learning.

78By giving charity for the sake of Heaven, you will merit studying Torah for the sake of Heaven.

79By waking up from sleep to recite Tikkun Chatzot a person merits understanding the Torah and expounding its meaning.

80Whoever has neglected Torah study for idleness and nonsense should rectify this by waking up for Tikkun Chatzot.

81Whoever despises falsehood like he would despise an abomination will have a desire to study Torah.

82Don’t study from a book that a wicked person studied from, because the letters themselves will turn you to evil.

83When you hear a person teaching Torah or ethics and yet gain no respect for him, it is an indication that he is a fool.

84When you pay a price for a Torah insight, you won’t forget it.

85When a person chases after his heart’s desires, each and every Torah verse can be interpreted as alluding to his shame.

86Whoever separates himself from the path of Torah attaches himself to Satan.

87When two Torah scholars show mutual respect and humbly dispute Halakhah for its own sake, the Holy One sees to it that they are successful and gain prestige. They merit Torah, which was given with the “right hand,” and are rewarded with those things that emanate from the Torah’s “right side.”

88A Torah scholar is as vindictive as a snake. Attach yourself to him so that eventually you will derive benefit from his learning.

89It is forbidden to learn from someone who draws people to idolatry. One who learns from him deserves death.

90Torah without mitzvot is like a myrtle branch, which has a good smell but no taste.

91With whom will you find the various branches of Torah? With a person who arrives early to the study hall and stays late in order to study them, and who on their account resembles a raven, blackening his face [with deprivation] and bringing himself to be unpitying with his children.

92A person cannot successfully learn from everyone. This is the reason people travel great distances in order to study.