Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism

The next of the 48 ways to acquire Torah is closeness of friends. This means that a person who has close friends, they can help him in his ability to acquire Torah. They help him understand the text better through the way they make inferences and the knowledge that they have.

Another possible explanation is that through the camaraderie of friends, they will help one understand what their rebbe is teaching. This means, after the rav gives the class, they discuss the intricacies of the class and break it down to make sure they understand every aspect.

This does not mean that one cannot understand the class by himself but as explained previously, since one has their own biases of how they look at things, it is better to learn with a chevrusah (study partner) to bounce ideas off so what they learn will be crystal clear.

Rabbenu Yonah tells us that from the the Mishna in Chapter 2 Mishnah 12 that one of the best things to have for character development is to have a good friend since one can get good advice and direction from them.  Usually, good friends will not lead one astray and the benefits from one are limitless.