Rav Haim of Voloshin [a disciple of the Gra] that it is a well tested thing that if one gets up in the morning and is right away accepting on himself the yoke of Torah, that is that he or she will not listen to anyone and not let anything distract him or her, then on that he he will succeed in Torah;- and according to the degree of commitment, to that same degree there will be removed from him the yoke of the state and the yoke of having to run around for making a living. [note 1]
[This same idea is brought in Avot which is a part of the Mishna]
I want to add to this Physics and Mathematics as brought in some rishonim [but not all.] We know already the opinion of the Saadia Gaon, Ibn Pakuda and the Rambam. However the Ramban [Nahmanides] is less clear."Less clear "means we know he is not thrilled about Aristotle, but what about learning the natural sciences? There the Ramban/Nahmanides is unclear to me. At least the Rambam we know what he thinks.
[Few people are aware of this. They think of learning as something you do with a goal in mind of using the learning somehow. They do not see learning in itself as the highest goal. תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם
[Few people are aware of this. They think of learning as something you do with a goal in mind of using the learning somehow. They do not see learning in itself as the highest goal. תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם
[note 1] אמר רב חיים מוואלשין דבר מנוסה כשאדם ישכים בבוקר ויקבל על עצמו ביום ההוא עול תורה באמת היינו שיגמור בליבו שלא ישמע לשום אדם ולא יבטלנו שום טרדה אזי יצליח ביום ההוא בתורה וכפי גודל הקבלה ותוקף ההסכמה כן יסירו הטרדות והביטולים ממנו
I must admit I am no where near this great level of service of God, but I just wanted to bring this in the hope of conveying understanding to others and then I hope that like a mirror perhaps a little bit of understanding will enter into me too.
