Let Your Fountain Be Blessed And Rejoice In The Torah Of Your Youth

(Proverbs 5:18): "Let your fountain be blessed" — from here they said: Happy is the man whose wife is from his own town, whose Torah is from his own town, whose livelihood is from his own town, and concerning him Scripture says, "Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth." Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said: Happy is the man who has acquired wisdom, who has acquired for himself the words of Torah from his youth, as it is written, "and rejoice in the wife of your youth." And from where do we know that this expression is an expression for Torah? From what is written: (Proverbs 5:19): "a loving hind and a graceful doe [let her breasts satisfy you at all times, with her love be ravished continually]." (Proverbs 5:20): "And why should you be ravished, my son, with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a foreign woman?" — better for you to embrace the breasts of Torah, which bring you to merit, than to embrace the bosom of a foreign woman, who brings you to guilt.