Musar do Przysłów 9:5

And, especially, if one has a time set aside for Torah in the house of study, how much will the trait of guarding his tongue avail his learning that it not be disturbed! For failing that he runs the risk of losing learning every day, and his learning itself will be fragmented. And the greatness of the punishment for this is well known. As Chazal have said (Avodah Zarah 3b): "If one interrupts his Torah study to engage in talk, he is fed broom-coals, as it is written (Iyyov 30:4): 'Those who interrupt maluach [(homiletically) "words written on the tablets" (luchoth)] with [idle] talk, broom-coal roots are their bread.'" And this is measure for measure. For if one studies Torah, his soul endures forever by the light of the holy Torah, which does not consume the soul (G-d forbid), but, to the contrary, sustains it eternally, as bread sustains his body in his lifetime. For this reason, Torah is called "bread," as it is written (Mishlei 9:5): "Come, eat of My bread, etc." And if he stops in the middle of his learning, he indicates that he does not want that bread, wherefore, he is fed there — instead of the food of the soul, the light of Torah — the light [i.e., the fire] of broom-coal roots.

And not in vain has Torah been compared to bread, as it is written (Mishlei 9:5): "Come and eat of my bread" [i.e., Torah]. This is to teach us that just as bread feeds the heart, as it is written (Psalms 104:15): "And bread, the heart of man shall feed," and if one does not eat bread for one or two days his heart weakens; and, how much more so, if he does not eat bread for a week, his heart weakens greatly, and it is difficult for him to regain the strength that he lost by this — so is it exactly with Torah study, which feeds the holy soul of the Jew. If he does not learn for some days (how much more so, a full week), it is greatly weakened, wherefore he must take great care not to miss the set time for even a day. And, aside from the fact that this undermines the second and third day after this (for it is very likely that he will not learn on them either, as Chazal have said: "If you leave me [Torah] for a day, I will leave you for two days") and it is very difficult for him afterwards to overcome his yetzer anew and to set times for Torah — but even those days that he does learn, if the set time is not constant, the holy spirit does not repose to its full extent upon that learning. This, as opposed to a constant set time, in which a great and awesome holiness reposes upon each study session. Therefore, if because of some very pressing exigency he must cancel his set time, it shall rest upon him exactly as a debt, which he must make haste to repay in this twenty-four hour period, as we find in Eruvin 65b about R. Acha bar Yaakov, that he would "borrow" in the daytime [from his set time (for his livelihood)] and "repay" at night (see Rashi there).

Another difficulty is that we are told by the Midrash in Song of Songs 2,4, that when G–d descended on Mount Sinai to give Israel the Torah He brought with Him 22,000 ministering angels. We know this from the verse in Psalms 68,18, רכב אלוקים רבותים, אלפי שנאן. "The chariots of G–d are myriads upon myriads, thousands upon thousands." All these angels were made to appear with flags, or like flags. Israel developed a yearning for flags and wished also to have flags like these. This is why it says in Song of Songs, 2,4, "He has brought me to the house of wine," i.e. Sinai where the Torah was given, which in turn has been compared to wine." The verse in Proverbs 9,5,"Drink of the wine I have mixed," refers to Sinai. The words דגלו עלי אהבה, in Song of Songs 2,4, refer to Israel exclaiming "I wish G–d would display His love for me through the flags." G–d responded saying: "Since you yearn for flags, I am surely going to fulfil your request," to wit Psalms 20,6, ימלא השם כל משאלותיך, "may the Lord fulfil your every wish." G–d immediately informed Israel of His decision by instructing Moses to make flags for them, as is written: “איש על דגלו באותות.” So far the Midrash. This Midrash too requires an explanation. Again we need to know what the term "love" is all about! We further need to know how the wording in this Midrash adds anything to the previous Midrash on that subject?