If a person studies Torah, he will feel neither a headache, nor a stomachache nor a pain in the body (Photo: ShutterStock)
As Shavuot approaches, Rebbe Rabbi Josiah Pinto referred in his lesson to the special power of Torah study, to the point where those who engage in it forget about their pain and suffering.
Rav Pinto cited the words of the Talmud that says (Eruvin 55.) "He felt in his head that he would deal with the Torah. Feeling in his throat will deal with the Torah. Feeling in his bowels will engage in Torah. Feeling in his bones will deal with the Torah. He feels all over his body that he will engage in Torah."
Rabbi Pinto continued:
If a person studies Torah, he will not feel neither a headache, nor a stomachache, nor a pain in the body, nor a single pain. If a person truly adheres to the holy Torah as the Torah commands, then a person will feel no pain or annoyance, no sickness and no feeling nothing. If a person begins to feel annoyed, begins to feel headaches, begins to hear noises, it means that he does not really adhere to the holy Torah, because those who adhere to the holy Torah feel nothing. If a person studies Torah and he studies Torah, he will feel nothing.
It is told about great tzaddikim who had to undergo difficult surgeries and during the operation learned Torah and stuck to difficult issues in Shas and could have done the operation without anesthesia and did not feel the operation, because a person who descends and dives into the depth of the Torah does not feel anything. Therefore, the Mishnah says (Avot 3:5) that anyone who accepts the Torah passes it on to Malchut and Derech Eretz. No matter what problem a person has, if he really enters Torah he will not feel any problems, the moment a person learns Torah and feels problems it means that he is not really studying Torah at the highest level.
As opposed to sleep, there are several degrees in sleep, the deeper a person sleeps, the more he feels nothing. A person who dreams is a sign that he does not sleep so deeply, the level of a dream is third or fourth in sleep, a person who sleeps really deeply does not dream at all. Similarly, in Torah study there are degrees, a person who descends and dives into the depths of things, there is no reality that he will hear any noise or even pain, because a person who adheres to the Torah does not pay attention to anything.
The Gemara tells of a rabbi who used to sit and study and would rub his fingers with his pants and because he was so immersed in studying, after a while the skin in his hand peeled off and he bleed a lot and he didn't feel it, until a righteous man came to him and told him that he was from a reckless people who said "we will do and listen" before they knew what they were saying. Rava said to him: We believe in G-d that what G-d does and what G-d tells us is the best.
Similarly, the Gemara tells (Berakhot No.) about Rabbi Akiva who would begin the eighteenth prayer at one end of the beit midrash and end the prayer at the other, because he would pray fervently and would not notice that during the eighteenth prayer he reached the other end of the beit midrash. As much as a person adheres to the Torah in depth of things, he does not feel the problems, does not feel the pain, does not hear the noise and does not feel anything.
David Berger, in collaboration with Shova Israel
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