TO LOVE THE TORAH
CHAPTER 5
THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF PRAYER IN LEARNING
TORAH

• Another key to success in learning Torah is to ask Hashem for
  it – you can ask him that you should be able to learn, whether it
  is the time or the natural inclination you think you are lacking.
  You can also ask Him to help you understand a particular
  Gemara that you are trying to learn.
• In several places in our daily prayers our Sages included
  prayers for learning: In the morning we say ‫נא‬ ‫והערב‬…. in the
  ‫התורה‬ ‫ברכת‬: ‘Make pleasant the words of Your Torah…’, in the
  blessings before Shema: ‫רבה‬ ‫אהבה‬ in the morning, and ‫עולם‬ ‫ת‬ ‫אהב‬
  in the evening prayers, ‫חונן‬ ‫אתה‬ and ‫השיבנו‬ in Shemone Esre.
  When saying these prayers a person should beg Hashem to make
  him want learn, to help him enjoy learning, to enable him to
  learn diligently, to let him understand what he learns, to make it
  easy for him to remember what he learns, and anything else he
  needs to learn Torah.
• It is advisable to daven to Hashem at other times as well –
  your own personal prayers. In your own words and at any time
  you want, you can always ask Him to help you learn Torah and
  to enjoy the learning.
  Another place in the mandatory daily prayers where one can ask
  about Torah is at the end of Shemone Esre, before the last ‫יהי‬
  ‫לרצון‬. There one may also insert personal prayers, as many and
  as detailed as one wishes to.
• Know that tefilla, prayer, is a very powerful force. The Chazon
  Ish wrote that a person has to know that sincere prayers can
  change every situation in life for the better.
• In the Gemara it says that in order to learn Torah successfully
  there are two essential requirements: To work hard, and to
  daven. To daven to Hashem for success is as necessary as it is to
  put effort into your studies.
• Hashem listens to all our prayers. He hears your prayers and
  accepts them and gives you what you ask for. Moreover, the
  actual prayer itself also unites you with your Creator. Tefilla
  forms a link which very effectively unites your soul with Hashem,
  and, as we mentioned earlier, the closer a person feels to
  Hashem the more successful will he be when he learns Torah.