People who have studied the Talmud, or know someone who has – what was the motivation?

Greetings to you all.

I am a gentile who has recently been enjoying learning some of the ABC’s of Judaism. On reading that the Talmud is 63 volumes of over 1500 year old esoteric legal/theological debate in an extinct language that takes up to a decade to master: I imagined the only reason a person would undertake such an endeavour was if they wished to become a Rabbi.

Then I read this article about 100,000 people celebrating completing a Talmud study course in 2020, which says it’s more of a community bonding experience. But it seems a *phenomenally* hard way of doing that, especially since I understand it is not considered a Holy text.

https://eu.app.com/story/opinion/columnists/2020/01/10/orthodox-jews-daf-yomi-suyim-metlife-stadium-torah-values/4431051002/

So – why do people take on such a formidable task? Is it the same “because it’s there” spirit that drives mountaineers and marathon runners?

Thanks.