Seek Torah Like Silver Or It Will Never Come After You

"If you seek it like silver" - Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: If a person does not go after the words of Torah, they will never go after him. A parable: a person who has merchandise - if a person does not go after it, it does not go after him. There we have learned (Mishnah Avot 4:18): "Rabbi Nehorai says: Exile yourself to a place of Torah, and do not say that it will come after you, and do not rely on your own understanding." Therefore: "If you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasures" - these are the words of Torah, which search and descend to the depths of the abyss. So too, if a person searches after them, through that he merits wisdom and understanding: (Proverbs 2:5): "Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, etc." - if a person runs after a commandment and the words of Torah, they are found before him; therefore it is said "and you will find the knowledge of God." Rabbi Yirmeyah said: But has it not already been said (Daniel 4:22): "and to whomever he wishes he gives it"? But if a person desires the words of Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives it to him, as it is said (Proverbs 2:6): "For the LORD gives wisdom." Another interpretation of "For the LORD gives wisdom" - that he adds wisdom to the wise, as it is said (Daniel 2:21): "He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who know understanding." "From his mouth come knowledge and understanding" - that he grants the opening of the mouth to a person, as it is said (Exodus 4:11): "Who placed a mouth in man, or who makes one mute or deaf or seeing or blind - is it not I, the LORD?" It does not say "Is it not I, Moses," but rather "Is it not I, the LORD." Another interpretation of "From his mouth come knowledge and understanding" - the Holy One, blessed be He, said (Jeremiah 15:19): "If you bring forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth" - the mouth that breathed a soul into the first man. From here Rabbi Meir expounded: Anyone who is able to bring forth words of Torah from the vile is reckoned like that mouth which gave knowledge and understanding.