לשמה פירש לשם התורהFor the Torah's Sake

lishmah perush le-shem ha-torahIn Gamatria ↗

Learn to know and understand; that is learning for its sake.

Torah lishmah does not mean devekut, mystical cleaving, as most people now held. David asked that reciting Psalms count like studying the intricate laws of Nega'im and Ohalot, which shows that toiling over the law is dearer to God. And if devekut were the point, a single tractate would suffice, yet Yohanan ben Zakkai left nothing unlearned. Following the Rosh on R. Elazar b. Tzadok's saying, lishmah means for the sake of the Torah itself: to know, to understand, to add learning and sharp analysis, not to quarrel or to show off.

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