Q:
How can one attain sweetness in learning Torah?
A:
I’ll tell you a little recipe for sweetness in learning.
We say every morning “v’ha’arev na” please make sweet the Torah in our mouths. And Dovid Hamelech said about the Torah – “mesukim mi’dvash vi’nofes tzufim.” It is sweeter than honey and the dripping of the honeycomb. Dovid Hamelech said that. That when he learned it tasted sweeter than dvash.
Now, I am not able to tell you how Dovid Hamelech came to that madreigah, but I’ll tell you a little hint that will help you.
After you learn a little piece of Gemara – this much, like a third of an amud: Say it aloud b’al peh. Out loud. Not every word like the Gemara says but speak out the whole svarah, the sechel of the sugya. Slowly, talk it out. Bi’kol ram, b’al peh. And then do it again. And then again a third time. The third time it will already become sweet in your mouth.
You know what it is – it’s like when you chew bread. I always tell you the same thing. Bread has starch in it. And in your saliva, you have an enzyme called Ptyalin. Ptyalin causes the starch to turn into sugar. So the longer you chew the bread, the sweeter it becomes.
The more you review the Gemara, with slow chazara of the svaros, it becomes sweeter and sweeter in your mouth. So chazara is the answer. Repeat b’al peh what you’re learning. Again and again.
Every perek you should do again and again. And it will become sweeter and sweeter in your mouth. It’s not important to cover much ground right now. The first thing is to lock it into your mind. Again and again. And you’ll be amazed how it becomes sweeter and sweeter. And after a while you’ll feel a happiness – a delight – in learning Torah.
And then on Tisha B’av you’ll feel very sad that you cannot learn Torah.
TAPE #E-246
