Gemara: We read the pasuk with the double language of “shamoah tishma” (Shemot 15:26) as follows: If you listen to the old, you will listen to the new, and if your heart turns away, you will subsequently not listen.
Ein Ayah: It is possible to have a love of Torah knowledge in two ways. One is based on valuing the Torah and the shleimut (completeness) it brings. The second is that some people naturally love knowledge, in general.
There is a special condition regarding Torah that one must have a special love for it based on its holy value. That is why we expect one to love even the ideas he already heard and treat them as if they were new. Only if he accomplishes that will Hashem bless him with the gift of fully understanding new information as one who learns Torah with noble intentions. This is the gemara’s intention: by hearing the old, out of love of Torah, he will hear the new.
In contrast if one turns away from Torah that is not new, he lacks true love and has only coarse love of knowledge in general, and he will not understand. This is because the Torah will not shine its countenance on him, and he will not be able to properly accept it. Ultimately, he will not even enjoy learning Torah intellectually, for “Hashem wants those who fear Him” (Tehillim 147:11).
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