In the beginning of parashat Bichukotai , the Torah promises the most beautiful rewards, but first it tells us how to access them. אם בחוקותי תלכו – and Rashi writes, שתהיו עמלים בתורה – that we are to toil in the study of Torah. The Torat Kohanim here says Hashem desires us to toil in Torah. The Gemara says in Masechet Berachot , whoever toils in the study of Torah brings נחת רוח ליוצרו – brings satisfaction to his Creator. One aspect of learning Torah is to know how to perform the mitzvot, but there is another aspect and that is to learn Torah just for the sake of delving into the wisdom of Hashem. And for this, it is not good enough to just read it on the surface level, a person must mentally strain himself to understand the deep layers of Torah. The more a person delves into Torah, the more he connects himself to Hashem. There are many ways that a person can toil in the study of Torah. One of them is to get himself to fully focus on what he is learning at the moment, to remove all other distractions from his mind and ensure that he will not be interrupted while learning. The Be’er HaParashah brings a story that was told by Rabbi Tzvi Michel Shapira, zatzal . Two business partners who lived in Turkey used to begin their workday early in the morning and then they would stop at midday and go to the Bet Midrash to learn. They would learn b’chavruta straight for three hours and during that time, they would not stop even for a moment. They were very careful to keep that time sacred, never conversing with each other on any other topics or allowing themselves to be distracted for any reason. As they were getting on in years they asked each other that whoever goes up to the Upper World first should come back to tell the other one about the judgment in Shamayim for their deeds. Sure enough, one of them passed away and, a couple of weeks later, he was allowed to appear to the other in a dream. He said every single thing he ever did was scrutinized by the Heavenly Court. He saw multitudes of malachim kedoshim that he created through the performance of the mitzvot. But he also saw all of the destructive angels that he created through his averot and he became petrified from them. As they were approaching him, all of a sudden, a wall went up between them and him and they were unable to pass through it and go near him. He asked why that happened and was told, it was a result of his uninterrupted Torah study every single day. This wall was built and because he had no interruptions, the wall was solid, without any cracks and therefore not even one destructive angel was able to pass through. The man concluded by saying he was allowed to come back in the dream just to inform him of the importance of his uninterrupted, completely focused Torah study. If somebody does not have the ability to do that for three hours, he can do it for two, or even for one, or even for a half hour, whatever time a person is able to dedicate to the learning of Torah, it should be with complete focus and no outside distractions. This will be considered עמילות בתורה , which Hashem yearns for, and will give Hashem so much satisfaction and, b’ezrat Hashem, will bring the person beautiful blessings. Shabbat Shalom.