The Obligation of Reading Twice the Scripture and Once the Translation

Our Rebbe, the Gaon and Tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, in a wonderful article regarding the mitzvah of reading the weekly Torah portion as Shnayim Mikra V'echad Targum, and the abundance that it draws down for those who fulfill this mitzvah.

The Rebbe said, "You may crumple my books as much as you like, but do not transgress a single sign in the Shulchan Aruch."

In sign 282 of the Shulchan Aruch, the mitzvah of reading 'Shnayim Mikra V'echad Targum' is discussed. It is a tremendous wonder how upright and innocent Bnei Yisrael, who are meticulous about the mitzvot, both the light and the severe, and who are careful and beautify every mitzvah in the world, and every sign and clause in the Mishnah Berurah and all the commentaries—on the other hand, ignore and skip an entire sign in the Shulchan Aruch with arrogance and complete disregard as if it does not exist, Heaven forbid?

For through Shnayim Mikra V'echad Targum, it is possible to sweeten all the judgments in the world and to merit an abundance of parnassah (livelihood) and expansion in all matters. To merit that the intellects and the fifty gates of understanding open, all the screens will fall from the mind, and all the delays and concealments will disappear in the blink of an eye as if they never were, as it is written, "As the head of the Yeshiva in the Garden of Eden said: 'A piece of wood that does not catch fire—one beats it...'" (Holy Zohar).

For through Shnayim Mikra V'echad Targum, one merits the level of the soul (neshamah), and the soul enters the body; and in the merit that the soul enters the body, one also merits the levels of Chayah and Yechidah. As it is written regarding the daughter of Yiftach, and therefore she said, "And she said to him, 'My father, you have opened your mouth to Hashem; do to me as has gone out of your mouth'" (Judges 11:36). For about her it is said, "And she was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her" (ibid. 34), "And she said to him, 'My father, you have opened your mouth to Hashem; do to me as has gone out of your mouth.'"

And then a Heavenly voice went out, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad" (Abudraham, Sha'ar HaTekufot), and therefore, every single person must read a portion of the weekly Torah portion every single day (according to the Ari, one reads on Friday before the mikvah) as Shnayim Mikra V'echad Targum. And through this, all the intellects, all fifty gates of understanding, and the thirty-two paths of wisdom will open, and all the screens will descend from the mind. In this way, a person can study and read every day for 20 hours without stopping.

Edited from 'Shevivei Or'