Working Hard to Understand
One talmid recalled that when he first came to the yeshiva as a bachur of eighteen, he asked questions constantly. Rav Chaim put a hand on the young man's shoulder and said, lovingly but with force, "You are working hard not to understand. You have to work hard to understand."
The talmid said later, "It was a lesson I never forgot. There is a mitzvah to understand. This was a profound lesson in life for me, and I quickly dropped the attitude of asking a question just for the sake of asking."
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