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It is appropriate that a person should use the summer to rest, play ball, and enjoy one’s self. However, it is very important to continue learning during the summer. The Rabbis teach us that each day that a person doesn’t learn Torah, he regresses two days. In other words, those who don’t learn Torah at all during the summer will find themselves at the level they were at four months earlier. Those who devote time each day to learning Torah keep current, while those who don’t regress.
Why is it so important to continue learning during the summer?
First, a student of Torah, in many ways, it is similar to a doctor. There are different types of doctors. Some doctors haven’t read medical literature since they graduated medical school, and others are up to date with the newest ideas and research. Similarly, a student of Torah should be up to date, familiar with new and fresh ideas, always deepening his understanding of the Torah and misvot
Second, it is also unhealthy not to continue learning during the summer. The Torah (Bereshit 37:24) relates that Yosef was thrown into an empty pit. The Torah describes the pit - "vehabor reik ve’ein bo mayim"- the pit was empty and there was no water. The Talmud (Shabbat 22a) teaches that although there was no water in the pit, there were snakes and scorpions. What is the message of this midrash?
Whenever a cavity, a hole or a pit is empty, something else will occupy the space; in this case, snakes and scorpions. So too, the brain is like a cavity- a space. If the brain is empty, and there is no water, wich symbolizes Torah, something else will occupy the space. If one does not fill one’s head with Torah learning, the brain doesn’t remain empty; rather, all of the negative influences of society will fill the brain. That is why there is a spike in the crime rate during the summer. The children aren’t occupied; they are bored, and get into trouble. Torah fills up the brain, and keeps one from getting into trouble.
Therefore, by learning, not only do we keep up to date with the newest Torah ideas, we stay on the proper path, and out of trouble.
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