לזכות רפואת הרב יצחק חיים יחיאל בן אסתר
לזכות רפואת הרב דוד העניך מרדכי בן פרידה שמחה
לזכות רפואת הרב מרדכי בן שרה
לזכות רפואת שרה לאה בת רבקה
בתוך שח"י
Says the Gemara [Menachos 7a]:
אבימי מסכתא איתעקרא איתעקר ליה ואתא קמיה דרב חסדא לאדכורי גמריה ולישלח ליה וליתי לגביה סבר הכי מסתייעא מילתא טפי
..... Avimi was the teacher, but Gemara Menachos was uprooted for him, i.e., he forgot it, and Avimi came before his student Rav Chisda to help him recall his learning. The Gemara asks: If Rav Chisda was in fact Avimi’s student, let Avimi send for him and Rav Chisda come to Avimi. The Gemara responds: Avimi thought that this would be more helpful in this matter, i.e., that by exerting the effort to travel to his pupil in order to learn from him, he would better retain his studies.
How does exerting physical effort help one better retain one's learning? From here we see that toiling in Torah is not only about learning the actual texts, thinking, analyzing, probing, asking, answering, etc. etc. but even the physical exertion that precedes and enables the learning is also part of the toiling process. This is because learning is not purely intellectual endeavor but also has a central spiritual element. In order to merit Divine assistance one has to invest effort. This effort can take on many different forms. One is intellectual. Another is physical which is seemingly not part of the actual learning process.
Rav Moshe Shapiro ztz"l was VERY poor when he first got married. He couldn't afford bus fare [!!] so he would walk every day from Bayit Vegan to the Mir Yeshiva [maybe an hour]. Maybe that played a role in helping him attain the heights he reached. [You could not quote a Gemara or Tosfos or Rambam or many other sefarim that he didn't know - nigle and nistar. He never asked someone "where does it say that". In addition to his unbelievably illuminating chiddushim].
It could also be that part of Avimi's siyata dishmaya was fueled by his HUMILITY in traveling to learn from his talmid. Lowering yourself and learning from lesser scholars is a great quality and qualifies you as a חכם.
איזהו חכם? הלומד מכל אדם
