In the previous part we established the rule that a mitzvah which cannot be performed by anyone else overrides Torah study. Now we will look at the reason behind this, and at the unique quality of Torah study in a case where the mitzvah can be done by someone else.
The reason we set Torah study aside for a mitzvah that no one else can fulfill is «כי זה כל האדם», «for this is the whole of man». This is a Jew's mission in this world, the entire purpose of his creation and of his descent here: to make for Him, blessed be He, a dirah betachtonim, a dwelling place specifically in the lower realms, to transform the darkness into light. «ומלא כבוד ה' את כל הארץ», the glory of Hashem fills the whole earth, the physical earth specifically. «ונגלה כבוד ה' וראו כל בשר יחדיו», the glory of Hashem will be revealed and all flesh together will see, physical flesh, as in all the verses brought at length in the previous chapters.
A mitzvah that can be done by others:
The calculation changes when the mitzvah can be fulfilled by someone else. Then a person must weigh the matter: his task is to refine his soul, and where will it be refined more? Through Torah study. And therefore:
אין מבטלים תלמוד תורה, אף שכל התורה אינה אלא פירוש המצוות המעשיות
We do not interrupt Torah study, even though the entire Torah is nothing other than the explanation of the practical mitzvos.
At first glance this is puzzling. What is a person learning when he sits and studies Torah? The explanation of the mitzvos. He is learning the laws of sukkah or the laws of lulav, that is, how the mitzvah is actually performed. If so, how can we tell him that when there is someone else available to do the mitzvah in his place, he should stay with his learning? If a Jew is standing in front of him with a lulav and he could give him the mitzvah of lulav, and there is another person present who could do it, we tell him: send your friend to take care of it, and you carry on learning. But right now he is learning the explanation of that very mitzvah! Why should he not get up and actually do it?
To this the Alter Rebbe answers:
והיינו משום שהיא בחינת חכמה בינה ודעת של אין סוף ברוך הוא, ובעסקו בה ממשיך עליו אור אין סוף ברוך הוא ביתר שאת והארה גדולה לאין קץ מהארה והמשכה על ידי פקודין שהן אברין דמלכא
Because the Torah is the chochmah, binah and daas of the Ein Sof Himself, and when a person is engaged in it he draws down upon himself the light of the Ein Sof in incomparably greater measure than the illumination drawn down through the mitzvos, which are «the limbs of the King», evarin demalka. The Torah a person learns is the Divine wisdom itself, and by occupying himself with it he draws onto his soul a light infinitely loftier than the light drawn down through the mitzvos.
So we now have two reasons why Torah study takes precedence over everything:
From the angle of dirah betachtonim: the inner layer of the nefesh habahamis, the animal soul, is refined more through Torah study.
The holiness a person draws onto his soul through Torah study is higher than the holiness he draws onto it through the performance of mitzvos.
Only in a case where no one else can fulfill the mitzvah, where the mitzvah stands as his own personal mission on this earth, is he obligated to carry out that mission and interrupt his learning. Otherwise, he continues to learn.
וזהו שאמר רב ששת: חדאי נפשאי, לך קראי לך תנאי
This is what Rav Sheshes would say while he was engaged in Torah: «Rejoice, my soul! For you I read Scripture, for you I study Mishnah.» When a person reads and studies, it is the soul itself that is being refined by it, as is explained elsewhere.
Torah study described as «calling»:
At the close of the chapter the Alter Rebbe adds a point that strengthens the standing of Torah study even further:
והנה המשכה והארה זו שהאדם ממשיך ומאיר מאור אין סוף ברוך הוא על נפשו ועל נפשות כל ישראל
This refers to the Shechinah, Knesses Yisrael, the source of all the souls of Israel, as is explained in a number of places. And when does a person draw down the source of the souls of Israel? Through his engagement in Torah. And this drawing down, says the Alter Rebbe, «נקראת בשם קריאה», is called by the name «calling».
The wording here deserves careful attention. For Torah study Chazal use a particular expression: «korei baTorah», one who calls in the Torah. Ordinarily the word «calling» is used when turning to another person, one man calling to his friend. So what exactly is this «calling» that takes place in Torah?
Shem hato'ar and shem ha'etzem:
When you call a person, there are two kinds of names you can use:
Shem hato'ar, a descriptive name: wise one, wealthy one, mighty one, beautiful one, artist. Titles that express some particular quality in him.
Shem ha'etzem, his essential name: Reuven, Shimon, Levi. The name given to him at his bris, which describes no quality at all.
On the face of it, the descriptive name seems to express something higher, since it carries content and distinction. But in truth it names only one detail of the person, one particular quality, a part of him and not all of him; whereas his essential name calls to the whole of him. When a man turns to his friend by his title and says, «You are a wise man, come, I need you», he has no need of his hands and feet, only of his wisdom. But when he calls, «Reuven, come here», he has called to all of him. And although the words «Reuven» and «Shimon» contain nothing impressive, while «wise man» or «artist» seem to carry far more content, the essential name is immeasurably more powerful.
For this reason it is brought that when a person faints, one of the ways to rouse him is specifically to call him by his name. Fainting is a kind of disconnection between a person's inner essence and his revealed faculties, and therefore simply shouting, or calling him by some other name, is not enough; it is precisely the call of his own name that touches his very essence and is able to awaken his soul anew. So we see that one who calls a person by his name is calling to his very self, to his essence.
There is the well known story of the Alter Rebbe and his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek, with whom he would play as a child in all sorts of ways. Once the child turned to him and called out, «Zeide!» The Alter Rebbe asked him: when you call «Zeide», whom do you mean? The child pointed to his nose. The Alter Rebbe said: that is the Zeide's nose. He pointed to his hand. That is the Zeide's hand. He pointed to his head. That is the Zeide's head. But who is the Zeide himself? Whom did you mean? The child was silent. A short while later he hid behind the wall and cried out in alarm, «Zeide! Zeide!» The Alter Rebbe immediately rushed over to him, and the child said: here is the Zeide! And although «Zeide» is not an essential name but a title, the story nonetheless teaches us what calling really is: a turning to the whole person.
Now the same applies to Torah study. What does «korei baTorah» mean? Whom is he calling? He is calling the Holy One, blessed be He, His very essence and being. It is not only that a greater light shines in Torah, as explained above, but that in Torah study the Essence itself is present, the very Atzmus of the Creator. In the Alter Rebbe's words:
פירוש, שעל ידי עסק התורה קורא להקדוש ברוך הוא לבוא אליו כביכול, כאדם הקורא לחברו שיבוא אליו, וכבן קטן הקורא לאביו לבוא אליו, להיות עמו בצוותא חדא ולא ליפרד ממנו ולהישאר יחידי חס ושלום
That is, through his engagement in Torah a person calls the Holy One, blessed be He, to come to him, as it were, like a man calling his friend to come to him, and like a small child calling his father to come to him, to be together with him and not to part from him and leave him alone, God forbid.
Here too the matter seems puzzling. A person learning Torah says «שניים אוחזין בטלית», two men are holding a tallis; he deals with an ox and a cow, and he mentions neither the name Havayah, nor Kel, nor Elokim. In davening, by contrast, he addresses the Creator with explicit names: «ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו ואלוקי אבותינו». The answer is that the names used in davening are in the category of shem hato'ar, a descriptive name, whereas «the entire Torah is the Names of the Holy One, blessed be He», and these are His essential names. The Name found in Torah is therefore vastly higher, for in every single word of Torah the essential Names are concealed.
«לכל אשר יקראוהו באמת»:
וזהו שכתוב: קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו, לכל אשר יקראוהו באמת
Hashem is close to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. There are two parts to the verse. «לכל קוראיו», anyone who calls to Him, He is close to. But to whom is He closest? «לכל אשר יקראוהו באמת», to those who call Him in truth, «ואין אמת אלא תורה. דהיינו שקורא להקדוש ברוך הוא על ידי התורה דווקא», and truth means nothing other than Torah; that is, one who calls to the Holy One, blessed be He, specifically by way of Torah. The one who davens is indeed close to Him, and the Holy One, blessed be He, grants him a blessed year and healing for the sick, health and abundance. But the one who is engaged in Torah calls to Him «in truth», and receives something far deeper and more powerful.
With this the Alter Rebbe is excluding the one who calls to Him not through Torah study, but simply cries out with his lips, «Tatte, Tatte», in the manner of davening. Such a call is with the shem hato'ar and not with the shem ha'etzem.
וכמו שקובל עליו הנביא: «ואין קורא בשמך כו'»
As the prophet laments, «and there is none who calls upon Your Name». His intent is not that nobody calls to Him at all, for then he would have said «ואין קוראך»; rather, many call out to Him, but few call «בשמך», by Your Name, with the essential Names found in Torah. It emerges that a person calls to the Holy One, blessed be He, with every single word he learns, and the Holy One, blessed be He, is there together with him.
ומזה יתבונן המשכיל להמשיך עליו יראה גדולה בשעת עסק התורה כמו שנתבאר לעיל
From this the thinking person will contemplate and draw upon himself a great yirah while engaged in Torah, as explained earlier. Why a great yirah? Because at the time of his learning a person is together with the very essence of the King, with the Creator Himself. Therefore the one who understands the preciousness of this has the opportunity to draw upon himself a great fear of Heaven precisely while he learns. This is as explained in chapter 23, that Torah is the gateway to yirah, as the verse says, «ויצוונו ה' לעשות את כל החוקים האלה ליראה את ה'», Hashem commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Hashem. And the more deeply he contemplates the fact that Torah calls to the Creator Himself, the more yirah will be added in him.
To summarize: in this part we learned three points about the superiority of Torah and the reason Torah study takes precedence over everything:
Torah study refines the inner dimension of the nefesh habahamis.
Torah study draws down a higher Divine illumination than that of the mitzvos, and therefore a mitzvah that can be performed by others does not warrant interrupting Torah study.
It is not merely a greater light: the very Essence of the King is present with a person at the moment he draws Torah study upon himself.
In the next part we will continue, with Hashem's help, with the coming chapters of Likkutei Amarim.