Learning for the Sake of Heaven

Rav Chaim Volozhiner, zt”l, explains, “Our sages teach:'לעולם'—‘one must always’ learn Torah not lishmah, since it is only through learning not for the sake of heaven that one comes to learn lishmah. This means that although it is virtually impossible to begin learning for the sake of heaven, one must focus on coming to learn Torah l’shmah. If he does not think about coming to lishmah, however, he is all too likely to spend his entire life learning shelo l’shmah.
“This can be compared to a king who orders his servant to ascend to the top floor of a tall building. It is certainly obvious that the servant cannot jump so many flights on his own steam. He must obviously take the stairs and ascend story by story until he finally arrives at the top floor. It is self-evident that the king would have no right to be angry at his servant for beginning his climb up the stairs from the ground floor. Nevertheless, if the king were to see the slave loitering from side to side on the steps and not really ascending at all, he would be furious.”
The Alter of Kelm, zt”l, similarly explains that one must learn shelo lishmah that will bring to lishmah. “If one learns for ulterior motives but he is also motivated by a deep desire for spirituality, his she’lo lishmah is somewhat lishmah already and he will eventually learn lishmah. But if one’s entire motivation is for a shallow desire for honor in this world or other material concerns, he will likely never learn lishmah. The reason for this is since although this person appears to be serving Hashem, this is really just a façade that is as shallow as a Purim spiel. Just like one’s actions on the stage on Purim do not necessarily reflect who he really is, so too, a person learning Torah only for material benefit without a thought for Hashem cannot come to lishmah. Nevertheless, we must not refrain from doing mitzvos or learning merely because we have ulterior motives, since although this is a very puny level compared to lishmah, one will still be rewarded for every mitzvah or Torah learning, even shelo lishmah.”