מרגלא בפומיה דרבא תכלית חכמה תשובה ומעשים טובים שלא יהא אדם קורא ושונה ובועט באביו ובאמו וברבו ובמי שהוא גדול ממנו בחכמה ובמנין שנאמר (תהלים קיא, י) ראשית חכמה יראת ה' שכל טוב לכל עושיהם לעושים לא נאמר אלא לעושיהם לעושים לשמה ולא לעושים שלא לשמה וכל העושה שלא לשמה נוח לו שלא נברא.
It was a favourite saying of Raba : The goal of wisdom is repentance and good works; so that a man shall not read [Torah] and study [Mishnah] and then contradict his father or mother or teacher or anybody greater than he in knowledge and number [of years]; as it is said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding have all that do thereafter" (Ps. cxi. 10). "All that learn" is not said here, but "all that do thereafter," i.e. they that practise Torah for its own sake, but not they that practise Torah not for its own sake. As for him who does not fulfil the Torah for its own sake, it were better had he never been created.
Tosafot on Berakhot
One who does them not for their own sake, preferable for him had he not been created - What about what the statement of Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav in the perek Makom Sh'Nahugu (Pesachim 50b) "A person should always do Torah and mitzvot even if he doesn't do them for their own sake, for thought doing them not for their own sake he will come to do them their own sake"? It is possible to say that over here we are dealing with someone learning only to vex his friends whereas over there it is someone who learns with the motivation that others should honor him.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
Some edd. read : all that learn thereafter.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
He who learns only to display his knowledge by contradicting others is not one who practises Torah for its own sake.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
