“Im Bechukosai telechu – If you will follow My decrees, and observe My mitzvos and perform them.” (Vayikra 26:3)
On this posuk, Rashi famously comments: “Im Bechukosai telechu – shetihiyu amelim baToirah”—that you should be ones who toil in the Torah.
In the eyes of Chazal, amal (toil) is not merely a supplementary enhancement to learning; it is the very essence of the endeavor. To possess Torah, one must pay the price in effort. As the Rambam writes in his commentary on the Mishnayos in Avos (5:23):
“Chochmoh (wisdom) that is acquired without toil and bother does not endure, and the person has no gain from it… Chazal say that the only chochmoh that will endure is what you learn through toil, bother, and awe… However, reading for pleasure does not endure, and there is no gain from it.”
Following the Rambam’s footsteps, Reb Yisroel Salanter finds a profound lesson in a well-known Aggadata. The Gemorah in Nidah (30b) says that while a baby is in the womb, he is taught the entire Torah. Yet, the moment he enters the world, a Malach strikes him on the mouth, causing him to forget everything.
Reb Yisroel asks the obvious question: If the end result is forgetfulness, why teach him at all? He explains that Heaven is teaching us a fundamental rule of existence: Torah received as a gift has no value. G-d wants a person to re-acquire the Torah through his own amal. As Ryan Holiday writes in The Obstacle Is the Way, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” The "forgetting" is the obstacle that creates the opportunity for the greatness of toil.
This is how the Tosfos Yom Tov explains the Mishnah in Avos (4:10): “If you have toiled in the Torah, then you are given great reward.” Note that it does not say, "If you have learned a lot of Torah." The reward is calibrated to the struggle, not the IQ or the page count.
The Chofetz Chaim elucidates this by citing the Gemorah in Brachos (64b), which we recite at a Siyum: “...I toil and receive reward, but they [the world] toil and do not receive reward.”
The Chofetz Chaim asks: Does a master craftsman not get paid for his toil? Of course he does! But there is a distinction. A craftsman is paid for the product. If he spends 100 hours making a chair that should take five, he isn't paid for the extra 95 hours of labor; he is paid for one chair. In the world of ruchniyos, however, the "product" is the "process." As the Ben Hei Hei says, “L’fum tza’ara agra”—According to the pain is the gain. In Torah, you are paid for the sweat, even if the "chair" never gets finished.
You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.” In Torah study, the "trajectory"—the amal—is the reward.
Even if a person struggles and eventually forgets what he learned, the amal remains eternally credited to his account. The Meshech Chochmoh, commenting on the Mishnah in Avos (5:14), notes the phrase: “Know before Whom you study, and the owner of your craft can be trusted to pay the reward for your work.” Rav Meir Simcha explains that even if the knowledge slips away, the "Owner" is a faithful paymaster. He pays for the work, not just the inventory.
The Maharal in Chidushei Agados takes this a step further: Toil has inherent value even when it leads to a "mistaken" result. He cites the Gemorah in Bova Kama (41b) regarding Shimon Ha’Amsoni, who spent a lifetime expounding every "Es" in the Toirah. When he reached the posuk, “Es Hashem Elokecha tira” (You shall fear the L-rd your G-d), he realized his methodology couldn't apply there, as nothing can be "added" to the fear of G-d. He immediately retracted all his previous teachings. When his students asked, “Rebbe, what will become of all the 'Ets' you expounded?” he replied, “Just as I received reward for the expounding (drishah), so I will receive reward for the retracting (perishah).”
The Maharal asks: Why should he be rewarded for the drishah if the conclusions were wrong? He answers that because Shimon Ha’Amsoni labored in the Torah with sincerity, that labor is a reality that cannot be undone. The toil itself is the achievement. The Maharal concludes: “Whenever one of the Chachomim provides an explanation... and that explanation is rejected, Heaven forbid that the toil of the first should be in vain.”
Finally, we see a dual nature in our relationship with Toirah. We are taught to tell our children, “Torah tzivah lonu Moishe, morashah kehilas Yaakov”—The Torah is an inheritance. An inheritance is a gift; you don’t work for it. Yet, the Mishnah in Avos (2:12) says, “Prepare yourself to study Torah, for it is NOT an inheritance for you.”
The Tiferes Yisroel reconciles this beautifully: Toirah is an inheritance for the Klal (the nation). It will never be lost from the Jewish people. But for the Yachid (the individual), it is not a legacy you simply wake up with. To make it yours, you must earn it.
Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle. To be a Jew who "walks" in the decrees of G-d—Im Bechukosai telechu—is to be a Jew who embraces the grind, finds holiness in the struggle, and knows that in the Beis Medrash, the effort is the victory.
