Powtórzonego Prawa 31:19 Halacha: Mishneh Torah, Torah Study, Mishneh Torah, Tefillin, Mezuzah and the Torah Scroll, Mishneh Torah, Positive Mitzvot & Kitzur Shulchan Arukh

Although it is mandatory to study by day and by night, no man acquires most of his wisdom at any but during night-time. Therefore, whosoever desires to attain the crown of the Torah should take care of all of his nights, not to spend even one of them in sleeping, eating, drinking, conversation, or in like matters, but in study of the Torah and in matters of wisdom. The sages said: "The voice of the Torah cannot be heard save at night, as it is said 'Arise and speak loud in the night'" (Midrash Raba, Song of Songs, 5.11; Erubin, 65a; Lam. 2.19. Whosoever pursues the study of the Torah by night has a thread of God's lovingkindness drawn upon himself by day, as it is said: "By day the Lord will command His lovingkindness and in the night His song shall be with a prayer unto the God of my life" (Abodah Zarah, 3b; Ps. 42.9). Any house wherein the words of the Torah are not heard by night, fire consumes it, even as it is said: "All darkness is laid up for his treasures, a fire not blown by man shall consume him" (Sanhedrin, 92; Job. 20. 26). "Because he had despised the word of the Lord, is one who hath not at all observed the words of the Torah" (Num. 15. 31; Sanhedrin, 99a). Likewise, he who has the means to pursue the Torah and does not pursue it, or he who studied and became proficient in the Torah but separated himself from it for the sake of the vanities of the world and abandoned his studies and deserted them is included among those who "had despised the word of the Lord." The sages said: "he who abandons the Torah because of wealth will end up by abandoning it because of poverty, but whosoever continues to study the Torah in poverty will in the end continue its study in wealth" (Pirke Abot, 4.11.). This subject is, moreover, defined in the Torah, for, it says: "Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with greatness of heart by reason of the abundance of all things: therefore shalt thou serve thine enemy" (Deut. 28.47–48); and it is furthermore said: "That He might afflict thee to do thee good at thy latter end" (Deut. 8.16).¹⁴Hagigah, 9. C.

When a master gave a lesson which the disciples did not understand, he should not get angry at them and be moody, but go over it again and repeat it even many times, until they will understand the depth of the treatise. Likewise, a disciple shall not say, I understood, and he did not understand; but he should repeat and ask even many times. If the master angers at him and becomes moody, he may say to him: "Master, it is Torah, and I need instruction, but my mind is short of understanding"!⁵Erubin, 54b; Pir. Ab., 2.6. C. G.

It is an affirmative precept binding upon every individual Israelite to write a scroll of the Law for his own use, as it is said, "Now therefore write ye this Song for you" (Deuteronomy 31:19). As the Torah is not written in separate sections, this text means, "Write for yourselves the Torah in which this Song is contained." Even if one's ancestors have left a person a scroll, it is a religious duty to write a scroll at his own expense. If he wrote it with his own hand, it is accounted to him as if he had received it from Sinai. If one does not know how to write a scroll, he should get others to write it for him. He who corrects a scroll, even a single letter of it, is regarded as if he had written it completely.