Rashi: …regarding this, they formulated a proverb “like mother, like daughter”

Filling Words of Torah

Rabbi Yissachar Teichtal zt”l, author of Eim Habanim Semeicha, related:

When I was a young child, my dear mother would rise early on Fridays, and prepare delicious cakes, in honor of Shabbat. Because I was the only boy in the family, my mother took care to prepare a special little cake just for me, in order to engender feelings of love for Torah learning. She would serve this cake to me, immediately after morning prayers.

One Friday morning, when I was about eight years old, I returned home from the synagogue, only to find that the cakes were still in the oven, and not yet ready to be eaten. I looked up at my mother and said “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

My mother contemplated my words, and, with great love and wisdom, responded “go review the pages of Gemara which you have learned this week. Torah satisfies a person’s hunger, even more than cake or bread.”

I listened to my mother’s idea, and believed her words with all my heart. I sat down to learn, and quickly became engrossed in the holy words of the Torah. The sweetness of the Gemara learning began to fill me, and, amazingly, I forgot my hunger. I was so absorbed in the learning that I didn’t even notice that the cakes had finished baking, until my mother came and urged me to eat. I ate the cake which my mother had prepared, and quickly returned to the Gemara.

Rabbi Teichtal, Hy”d, concluded: This was how my mother continuously tried to encourage my love of Torah. Because of this, I succeeded in remaining steadfast, and overcoming the many challenges which I have encountered, throughout the course of my life.