The previous post ('Shammai and the Three Pillars on Which the World Stands', here) discussed his teaching at Avot 1:15 about (i) making one's Torah "fixed", (ii) saying a little but doing a lot, and (iii) greeting other people with a happy, smiling face.
My copy of the Breslov commentary (featuring Rabbis Nachman and Natan) has an unexpected insight into making one's Torah "fixed" -- which is that the mishnah doesn't mean "fixed" at all -- it means "stolen". My first inclination was to dismiss this as a bit of fluffy Chasidut, but further reflection led to the conclusion that there was a rock-solid basis for this. The word
קְבַע, translated as "fixed" does not have that meaning in the Tanach. Its root is found in only two uses in the Written Torah, both in the late book of Malachi, and on both occasions the word means "steal". The meaning "fixed" is not found until it is used in later Hebrew, in mishnaic and midrashic texts.
The idea of making one's Torah "stolen" is the exact opposite of "fixed". Rather than have regular times for learning Torah (which one should ideally have anyway), one should "steal" moments of learning time from other activities, thus both showing one's dedication to learning Torah and gaining a little more precious time for that purpose.
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