T142 PNC - Cannot Study But Heart Burns — Longing Itself Is Service (1 seg)

What should a person do when it is genuinely impossible for him to study Torah at all — whether because he is an ignoramus who never learned, or he has no books available, or he finds himself in a wilderness or isolated place — yet his heart burns within him with longing and love for God and Torah? The answer: in such a state of longing, the very yearning itself is considered as if he had actually studied. The Talmud and Midrash teach that when one deeply desires to perform a mitzvah but is prevented by circumstances beyond his control, the desire is credited to him as if the act had been performed. So too with Torah: the burning longing in the heart, the yearning to learn and serve God when the physical possibility is absent, is itself a form of divine service. This person should focus on that longing — nurturing it, not crushing it with despair — knowing that God sees and values the burning heart as much as the act of study itself.