Kabbalah Library

“Rewarded” means that if a person says that he has a desire to learn Torah although he finds in it no flavor, still, he considers it a great privilege that he sits and delves in the book and was given a thought and desire to come to the seminary, and he thanks the Creator for this. This is called “rewarded,” when he says that it is a great privilege for him.

By this, the Torah becomes to him a potion of life and he receives vitality from above.

“Not rewarded” is if he does not appreciate the fact that he could come to the seminary because he was rewarded from above and was given a thought and desire. Therefore, when he comes to learn, the Torah becomes for him a potion of death, meaning that he dies and has no vitality of the Torah. This is as it is written, “How good are your tents, Jacob, …and I, by Your great mercy, will come into Your house.”