tremble and sin not....

if one is a Torah scholar, he does not need to repeat the Shema before going to sleep....Rashi tells us this is because he is always reviewing what he has learned and therefore the thoughts occupying his mind are sufficient to protect him from the propensity for sinning....but there are other commentators who say that in this day and age, there are no Torah scholars of the caliber that one can claim that his/her mind is so constantly occupied with Torah...so this leniency isn't relevant today! My question is this: when were there ever Torah scholars so concerned with study that they couldn't change their focus to look at their beautiful wife lying in bed next to them!? I know that even the greatest scholars had kids....so they must have gotten involved in something other than Torah thoughts. I bet this exemption never really applied to anyone.

And with this in mind, the text goes on to discuss all the reasons one might neglect his or her study of Torah, one of them being the "afflictions of love"! So I'm not so far off from how the rabbis think....

perhaps more later.