In the previous section we learned how a person's mind grasps the wisdom of Torah and is at the same time enveloped by it, both as one. Now we come to the conclusion of the Alter Rebbe's words: the moment a Jew studies, understands, internalizes and connects to G-d's wisdom, a "yichud nifla" comes into being, a union so remarkable that "nothing like it, and nothing of its kind, is found anywhere in physical existence."
"A Wondrous Union" - What Makes It Unique?
First, a point of precision in the wording: the Alter Rebbe does not write 'one' but 'yichud', union. Chassidus explains the difference between 'echad' (one) and 'yachid' (singular): 'yachid' is a far deeper expression, describing a complete oneness in which there are not even two things that have joined together, but something that is truly one. The phrase "yichud nifla" that the Alter Rebbe chooses points to a oneness of this sort between the human mind and G-d's wisdom.
Why is there no parallel to this union anywhere in the physical world? There are several ways to explain it, and most simply: in physical reality there is no example of two opposite, utterly distant things managing to become joined. Ordinarily, in order to join two things there has to be some relationship or common denominator between them, while two things with no connection whatsoever are exceedingly difficult to unite. Here, though, a bond is formed between the two most distant extremes: Divine wisdom, which is infinite, together with human wisdom, which is limited and constricted.
And not only that, but "to become literally one and united" - from every side and every angle he grasps it and is grasped by it. Not one corner remains in the mind of the student that is not wondrously united with the wisdom of Torah.
The Union That Turns "G-d's Torah" Into "His Torah":
The verse says, "and in the Torah of G-d is his desire," and immediately afterward, "and in his Torah he meditates day and night." One has to ask: is it G-d's Torah or the student's own Torah? The explanation is that it depends on the person himself: the Torah is G-d's Torah, and it is up to a person to study it and immerse himself in it until it becomes his own Torah.
What does it mean that the Torah becomes "his"?
We find the ruling that "a rav who waives the honor due him, his honor is waived." Why do we honor a rav in the first place? Quite simply, because he knows how to learn Torah. In other words, the honor is not directed at the physical man but at the Torah within him. If so, how can he waive the honor of the Torah? The answer is that the rav has become so united and so identified with the Torah he has learned that he becomes, as it were, its owner, and therefore he has the right and the ability to waive its honor.
We likewise find the expression "Man malchei? Rabbanan" - who are the kings? The Torah scholars. On the face of it, the King is the Holy One, blessed be He, the King of kings; rather, the point is that when a rav studies G-d's wisdom, that wisdom enters his mind and his very being, and for that reason he himself is called a king.
It is worth noting where this concept ('man malchei rabbanan') first appears. The Gemara relates that Rav Huna and Rav Chisda were sitting together, and a man named Geniva passed by them. On the one hand Geniva was a 'tzurva merabbanan', a scholar who knew how to learn Torah, and on the other hand he was not such a fine person, and he made a great deal of trouble for Mar Ukva, who was the head of the beis din. It went so far that Mar Ukva asked whether he was permitted to hand Geniva over to the authorities so that they would imprison him, and he was told that informing is forbidden. One can look up the entire lengthy discussion in the Gemara there.
As Geniva approached, the two Amoraim were unsure whether to rise in his honor: on the one hand he was a Torah scholar, and on the other hand he was a contentious man who tormented Mar Ukva. Before they resolved the question, Geniva arrived and said to them, "Shalom aleichem, kings!" They asked him: why do you call us kings, and from where do you know that Torah scholars are called kings? He answered: it says explicitly, "through Me kings reign" - whoever learns Torah becomes a king, "man malchei? Rabbanan."
That is the source of the phrase in the Gemara. The expression "man malchei? Rabbanan" appears in the Zohar as well, but the source is in the Gemara. So it turns out that we received this expression specifically from Geniva, a lowly sort of person, who saw in Rav Huna and Rav Chisda the kings that they were and greeted them twice with "Shalom aleichem, kings."
This is the tremendous union achieved through the study of Torah: a person becomes united with the Torah until they are "literally one and united."
From a Letter of the Rebbe: Toiling in Torah Illuminates the Mind
In a general letter that the Rebbe wrote toward Rosh Hashanah 5731 (the letter is dated Chai Elul 5731), the Rebbe addresses the psalm recited during the month of Elul, "LeDavid, Hashem ori veyishi," and analyzes every word of the opening verse.
The Rebbe explains: during Elul a person is obligated to make an honest reckoning of his soul, but a person is biased in his own favor. He looks at himself as someone who never had a single problem, so from where would he ever reach the conclusion that there is something to do teshuvah for? How, then, will he arrive at a genuine soul-reckoning? The answer is Torah study: when a person toils in Torah, the unique light of Torah, hinted at in the words "Hashem ori" ("G-d is my light"), grants him the ability to look at himself honestly, without the blindness that bias creates.
On these words about toiling in Torah the Rebbe adds a note referring the reader to chapter 5 of Tanya, and he adds a fascinating point: a person who toils in Torah constantly and is occupied with it all the time, his intellect and his line of thinking become a Torah intellect, to the point that one can rely on what he says. True, for ruling on halachah this is not enough, since in Torah "these and these are the words of the living G-d," and it may be that he will offer a line of reasoning and in the end the halachah will be decided according to someone else's view; but in general terms his line of thought will be a line of Torah thought.
And how does one achieve this? Through sheer volume of study, by force of the principle that "habit becomes second nature." Even if this is not his original nature, a habit repeated again and again becomes nature. Every single time a person learns Torah, even for one moment, his mind unites completely with the intellect of Torah, as explained here in Tanya; and when he learns more and more, toiling in Torah and immersed in it always, his mind is united with the intellect of Torah all the time, until the very nature of his mind begins to think along the right line, the line of Torah, and one can rely on the reasoning he offers.
In all this there is a further advantage of Torah over all other bodies of wisdom:
In other bodies of wisdom: a person who studies, for example, about the sun has the idea and the concept in his mind, but the sun itself is not within him. Even after he has understood every detail, the subject itself remains distant from him, and the subject will never become perfectly united with the person.
In Torah study: a person understands the subject with his intellect, and the essence of Torah is the wisdom and will of the Holy One, blessed be He, the G-dliness and holiness within the matter; and within the person himself there is a Divine soul, which is likewise holy. It emerges that he becomes united with G-dliness itself in a full and genuine oneness, not only with the intellect and comprehension in the Torah, but with the G-dliness within it, since his soul grasps G-dliness and is grasped by it.
This is what is novel about Torah study: the Torah does not remain a subject detached from the person, but literally becomes part of him, because he unites with the Divine part within himself. For this reason, even someone who recites the Written Torah without understanding anything at all, merely pronouncing the words with his mouth, has in this the virtue of Torah study. Not, of course, on the level of studying with understanding, as we will see later in the chapter, but there is here a direct connection of the soul to the G-dliness within the Torah.
And what about a non-Jew who studies Torah? It will accomplish nothing for him, since he lacks the Divine part; moreover, he is forbidden to study Torah. This comparison serves to sharpen our appreciation of what a Jew has: "You have chosen us from among all the nations." This is the meaning of the Alter Rebbe's words, "and this is a further advantage, great and wondrous" - an additional advantage, great and wondrous without limit.
In summary: in this section we learned about the "wondrous union" between the human mind and G-d's wisdom, a union that has no equal and no parallel in physical existence, since physicality offers no example of a bond between the infinite and the finite. We saw how G-d's Torah becomes the student's own "Torah," from "a rav who waives the honor due him, his honor is waived," and from "man malchei? Rabbanan," whose source is the Gemara's account of Geniva, Rav Huna and Rav Chisda. We looked at the Rebbe's letter of 8 Elul 5731, where he explained that toiling in Torah grants a person a true, unbiased view of himself, and imprints in him a Torah line of thinking by force of "habit becomes second nature." And finally we saw that what makes Torah unique is that a person unites not only with the intellect within it but with the G-dliness within it, and this is the added advantage of "Atah bechartanu," "You have chosen us."
In the next section we will continue with the Alter Rebbe's words in chapter 5, and examine the difference between studying Torah with understanding and comprehension and merely pronouncing the words, and the special advantage of learning that is grasped by the mind.