The Torah is an inheritance for Israel; and for one who abandons it then returns and engages in studying it, it is as though he is returning to his ancestral home.

“Torah, Moses commanded us, a heritage of the assembly of Jacob” (Deuteronomy 33:4). This teaches that the Torah is a heritage for Israel.

This can be explained by means of a parable. To what can this matter be compared? It can be compared to a prince who was taken captive in a distant country when he was young. If he seeks to return, even after one hundred years have passed, he will not be embarrassed to return, because he says: I am returning to my inheritance. So too, with regard to a Torah scholar who forsook the Torah and went to engage in other matters, if he seeks to return, even after one hundred years have passed, he will not be embarrassed to return, because he says: I am returning to my inheritance. Therefore, it is stated: “A heritage of the assembly of Jacob” (33:4). (Sifrei Devarim, Haazinu 545)