Question

Hello Rabbi Michael Abraham,
What, in your opinion, is the ultimate purpose for a person who studies Torah? In the literature of Jewish thought we find several answers: cleaving to the Holy One, blessed be He, bringing the Divine Presence down into the world, repairing higher worlds, intellectual cleaving that leads to providence, etc. These are just examples of what I’m somewhat familiar with from the thought of the medieval authorities (Rishonim) and later authorities (Acharonim), though not with especially deep familiarity.
Or perhaps you would expect that a person who studies Torah should have his character traits refined and become a good and upright person—not necessarily that in practice such a person will indeed be moral, but still that this is what we would expect to come from someone who studies God’s Torah.
Another possibility is that you would not expect any changes at all to occur in a person who studies Torah, other than that he now knows more Torah—just as when someone studies mathematics, we do not expect anything to come out of that study except that he should know more of the truth, ostensibly.
In other words, should Torah study be regarded like some kind of activity that has side effects, the way we would expect that a person who works out and eats well will be slim, strong, and healthy—and if so, what effects do in fact belong to Torah study? Or perhaps, like the last possibility I suggested, Torah study has nothing beyond the study itself.
I hope I formulated the question well. I’d be glad to hear your thoughts.