Eruvin 54 – How to retain one's learning

One should always enunciate what he is reading. Why? – “For they (the words of learning) are life to those who find (motzaehem) them,” which can also be read as “motziehem,”pronounce them out loud.”

It also says, “They (the words of learning) are like a necklace on your neck.” What is the lesson? Just as the necklace, one must be pliable and agreeable with people. And just as a necklace is sometimes seen but mostly not seen, so too one should mostly stay at home engrossed in his studies.

The Proverbs say, “She (meaning, your study) is a lovely hind who effuses charm.” Just as a hind, whose womb is narrow, and therefore she is beloved to her mate every time as the first time, so too the words of one's learning give one pleasure every time he reviews them.

The same proverb continues, “Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; may you always be insane in her love.” What is this comparison? Just as a baby who touches the breast and always finds milk, so too those who repeat their learning always find pleasure in it. And they should be “insane” to the point of forgetting their daily needs. They say about Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat that when he was studying in the lower part of the market in Tzippori, he would forget his cloak in the upper part of the market.

Art: Jacobus Frederik Sterre De Jong - A sunlit interior with a mother sewing by a baby