שמר ושמעת את כל הדברים האלה אשר אנכי מצוך למען ייטב לך ולבניך אחריך עד עולם כי תעשה הטוב והישר בעיני ד’ אלקיך.” (דברים י”ב, כ”ח)
רש”י: “שמור – זו משנה שאתה צריך לשמרה בבטנך שלא תשכח. כענין שנאמר (משלי כ”ב, י”ח) כי נעים כי תשמרם בבטנך, ואם שנית אפשר שתשמע ותקיים, הא כל שאינו בכלל משנה אינו בכלל מעשה
Rashi: “Safeguard – This refers to Mishna, that you must guard it in your stomach, that it should not be forgotten. As it is said ‘It will be pleasant when you guard them in your stomach.’ And if you study, then it is possible that you will listen and perform; implying that one who is not in the category of study is not in the category of performance.”
Of all the places in the body we would think that we should “guard” the Torah that we have learnt, the stomach probably ranks pretty low on the list. The stomach is not generally associated with intelligence or spirituality. Yet Rashi here writes that the Torah is to be guarded in the stomach. Similarly, the Rambam refers to one who knows the halacha as “מי שנתמלא כריסו לחם ובשר”—one who has filled his stomach with bread and meat. (Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 4:13) What role does the stomach play in remembering the Torah, and how can we use it to make our own study more efficient?
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One might have thought that the Torah should be guarded in the mind, the seat of the Neshama. Afterall, the mind is responsible for thought and introspection. Or perhaps one would suggest the heart, which holds the Ruach of the human spirit, as the place we should guard our Torah. The Ruach is responsible for speech (See Onkelos Bereishis 2:7), one of the crucial elements of Torah study. The stomach, on the other hand, is associated with what the Rishonim refer to as the “נפש המתאוה” or the “נפש המרגשת”—the nefesh which desires and feels. See, for example, Ibn Ezra Bamidbar 11:6) These are desires and feelings which do not originate in the intellect. It is not only hunger that we feel with our stomachs, but fear, stress and excitement as well.
What does Rashi mean that if one does not guard his Torah in his stomach, he will forget it? Quite often, we do remember what we learn, but still, in the course of everyday life, we fail to make the necessary connections. Months or even years may go by, until someone says “Hey, isn’t that stealing” or “Is that allowed on Shabbos”? The reason this happens is because we learn only with our hearts and our minds, and not with our stomachs; meaning that we learn without sufficient feeling, sensation. Our goal in learning should be that the Torah leaves an impression on our basic feelings and senses. Stealing or Chillul Shabbos should be repulsive, such that we feel it in our stomach. If we would actually feel that way, then when these halachos were applicable, we would recognize them immediately; we would not forget. This is the meaning of Rashi, “that you must guard it in your stomach, that it should not be forgotten.”