My mentor, Rabbi Chaim Shmuel Lopian, zt”l, the Rosh Yeshiva of the yeshiva in Sunderland, England, who wrote the sefer Ravachah Shmatetah, related that when the author of the sefer Ketzot Hachoshen would sit down to study Torah, he would precede his study session by reciting the verse in Tehillim (50:16), “But to the wicked one G-d said, ‘To what purpose do you recount My decrees and bear My covenant upon your lips?’” Rabbi Chaim Shmuel explained that he did this in order that he should not learn Torah out of habit. Through this introduction, he would negate himself before the holy Torah. Only afterward, would he begin learning Torah and feel novelty in it.
In direct opposition, there are those who, unfortunately, prepare for their study session with a good puff on a cigarette or a perusal of a newspaper. They learn Torah by rote and never feel the sensation of freshness in it. What a shame!
David Hamelech entreats Hashem (Tehillim 27:4), “One thing I asked of Hashem, that I request: To dwell in the House of Hashem all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of Hashem and to visit in His Sanctuary.” David wanted to constantly feel novelty and newness in his Torah study. May we always aspire to sense these feelings in our service of Hashem, always striving to attain the level of the Sweet Singer of Israel.
