Birchos HaTorah 5: V’Haarev Na

ולומדי תורתך לשמה

…and learn Torah for its sake (with the pure intention to understand and fulfill Your will)

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The last request we make is “ולומדי תורתך לשמה–v’lomdei Sorasecha lishmah.” The word “lishmah” has several meanings. We will present some individual opinions and then combine them into one thought to make it clearer for us when reciting this brachah:

• The Rambam (Hilchos T’shuvah 10:5) understands “lishmah” here the same as he does with all other mitzvos. We want to be performing mitzvos “מִפְּנֵי אַהֲבַת אֲדוֹן כָּל הָאָרֶץ שֶׁצִּוָּה בָּהּ–mipnei ahavas Adon kol ha’aretz she’tzivah bah.” Therefore, we are asking that we and our offspring, amongst all of klal Yisrael, should merit to learn Torah because of our love for Hashem, Who commanded us to learn Torah.
•  The Rosh understands “lishmah” here differently than all other mitzvos. For all other mitzvos, we perform them because Hashem commanded us to do so. The mitzvah of learning Torah requires learning “for its sake.” This means, to learn Torah for itself and to increase our understanding of Torah.
•  Many state that the ultimate purpose of Torah and mitzvos is to come closer to Hashem (“dveikus”). Learning Torah is, in fact, the greatest form of coming closer to Hashem. Therefore, “lishmah” means that we learn Torah in order to come closer and connect ourselves in the greatest way to Hashem.
•  Other opinions state that we learn in order to know what Hashem wants us to do and what He does not want us to do, so that we can bring Him “nachas ruach.” Additionally, we learn in order to know Hashem’s ways so we can emulate them. Kindness and compassion are examples of Hashem’s ways, which we strive to emulate.
•  We learn to purify ourselves in the “mikvah of Torah” (Ruach Chayim Avos).

Taking these different opinions into consideration, we can apply some to what should be thought about before learning Torah, and others to what we should focus on during our learning. BEFORE we begin learning, we think about learning because we love Hashem and He commanded us to learn, so that we can become pure and know His will and His ways, in order to come closer to Him through our learning. DURING our learning, we focus only on understanding the Torah itself as clearly and deeply as possible.

Learning Torah “lishmah” on any level is vastly greater than learning Torah for honor or reward. Our Torah learning has major impact on this world, the worlds above, and on our neshamos. The greater the level of lishmah, the greater the impact.

Attaining the levels of lishmah are challenging and not easy. Pleading to Hashem for success is a crucial ingredient to attain such levels. Hashem has graciously granted us the tremendous opportunity to beseech Him on behalf of our future generations, ourselves, and all of our fellow Jews. Let us take advantage of this opportunity each morning by reciting this brachah mindfully and with all of our hearts.