The Gemara at the end of Amud Aleph going into Amud Beis tells us an important truism about Torah and spiritual attainment:
Rabbi Zeira said, and some say that it was Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa who said: Come and see that the attribute of flesh and blood is unlike the attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He. The attribute of flesh and blood is that an empty vessel holds that which is placed within it, while a full vessel does not hold it. However, the attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is: If God adds to someone who is a full vessel in terms of knowledge or good attributes, he holds it; a person who is an empty vessel will not hold it. …If you hearken [shamoa] in the present, you will hearken [tishma] in the future as well; and if not, you will not hearken. Alternatively: If you hearkened to the old, i.e., if you review what you already learned, you will hearken to the new as well. “But if your heart turns away” (Deuteronomy 30:17), you will no longer be able to hearken.
Rashi explains two different dimensions represented in the two opinions. In the first opinion, the initial “listening” that allows for additional listening is the being open to study new Torah. In a second opinion, the initial listening means to review and try to understand more what one originally studied, and that will allow additional “listening“ to understand more Torah. Rashi’s two versions represent two key ideas: (1) The thirst for knowledge; and (2) the review of knowledge both are potentiators for future knowledge acquisition.
Ben Yehoyada offers two interpretations as well, though it does not seem he is discussing them as representing the specific two opinions in the Gemara. That is to say, he offers two global Interpretations of what kind of initial “listening” leads to more knowledge, without corresponding it to the two opinions in the Gemara. (1) Like Rashi’s peshat, the more you study, the more you are prepared to learn. (2) The more you fill yourself with Yiras Shamayim and character development, the more open you will be to Torah knowledge.
There is an idea in mysticism that a machlokes actually represents two different truths, since there are many facets to Torah. (One striking example is that in the Gemara Rosh Hashana 33b there is a three-way safek about what is the “Teruah” sound of the Shofar, which leads us to the three sounds we hear on Rosh Hashana. Shevarim, Teruah, and Shevarim-Teruah. Yet, according to Zohar III:232a, each sound activates different Middos in Hashem, and thus all sounds are necessary.) This is especially the case in regard to non-halakhic matters. We therefore can assume that all these ideas are true and worthy. That is all three practices, studying more, or reviewing, or working on character will allow you to learn more.
Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
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