In the previous section we learned about the two modes of avodas Hashem: a person embracing the King, and the King embracing the person. In chapter 5, the Alter Rebbe shows how both of these actually take place between a Jew and the Creator during Torah study.
The whole of chapter 5 is devoted to the preciousness and the greatness of Torah study, and in it the Alter Rebbe's own deep love for learning Torah shines through. It can even be studied on its own, apart from the four chapters before it and the chapters that follow: an entire chapter explaining what the great virtue of Torah study is, what happens at the moment of learning, and what tremendous power and connection is created between a Jew and G-dliness while he learns Torah, a virtue that exists in no other mitzvah and in no other area, only in Torah study.
The term "tefisa" (grasping):
The Alter Rebbe opens the chapter by proposing "לבאר היטב לשון 'תפיסא'" ("to explain well the term 'grasping'"). As we have learned, the entire tzimtzum by which the Holy One contracted Himself into the Torah and mitzvos of this world has one purpose: that the soul in this world should be able to grasp Him. Eliyahu HaNavi says in the introduction to the Zohar, "לית מחשבה תפיסא בך" ("no thought can grasp You"), which is the negative side of the expression. But on the positive side there is one place where grasping is in fact possible: in Torah and mitzvos. What, then, does the word "grasping" actually mean?
"Immersed in it" versus "I've got it":
Let us first take note of two expressions people use. Sometimes a person says, "Don't disturb me, I'm immersed in this subject right now," and sometimes he says, "I've got it, I've grasped the idea." "Immersed" is like an object lying inside a container: the container surrounds it and it sits within. In other words, the subject encompasses the person and he is inside it. "I've grasped it" is the reverse: the thing is inside the person, and the person is the one surrounding it.
In the process of learning both states are present at once, and they unfold gradually in three stages (this intellectual process happens in the study of other bodies of knowledge as well, but here we are speaking of Torah study):
Stage one, a general understanding: A person hears a topic for the first time and grasps in a general way what it is about. It has entered him and he encompasses it: "I've got it."
Stage two, the labor: He sits with himself and reflects, and discovers that he does not really understand. Things do not fit, they contradict one another or contradict what he knew before. It becomes clear to him that he grasped nothing, and at that point he begins to be immersed in the subject: the subject encompasses him and he is inside it.
Stage three, complete grasp: Once he has merited to go down to the depth of the matter, absorbed it, resolved the contradictions and made everything clear and orderly, he once again grasps the thing, and now with a true grasp.
In physical terms it is impossible for both to be true at once, but in spiritual terms, and in learning, both directions are true together. And when the learning is Torah study, we are not dealing with mere intellect, for "אורייתא וקודשא בריך הוא כולא חד" ("the Torah and the Holy One are entirely one"): at the stage where the person grasps the subject, the Torah, and with it the Holy One, is resting inside his mind; and at the stage where he is immersed in the subject and toiling in it, the Torah encompasses him. This is "you embrace the King and the King embraces you."
The wording in Tanya:
It is worth noticing the order the Alter Rebbe chose: he presents the two extremes first, the first stage and the third stage, and only afterwards brings the middle stage:
"כל שכל כשמשכיל ומשיג בשכלו איזה מושכל - הרי השכל תופס את המושכל ומקיפו בשכלו" ("whenever an intellect conceives and comprehends some concept, the intellect grasps the concept and encompasses it"): this is the first stage, in which the mind has grasped the matter in a general way and encompasses it.
"והמושכל נתפס ומוקף ומלובש בתוך השכל שהשיגו והשכילו" ("and the concept is grasped, encompassed and clothed within the intellect that comprehended it"): this is the third stage, in which the idea is fully grasped and sits well in the mind, "as though placed in a box." On this our Sages commented on the verse "ושיננתם לבניך," that words of Torah should be sharp in a person's mouth, so that if he is asked something he will not stammer, but will draw the answer clearly out of his store of knowledge.
"וגם השכל מלובש במושכל בשעה שמשיגו ותופסו בשכלו" ("and the intellect too is clothed in the concept at the time it comprehends and grasps it"): this is the middle stage, which must not be missed. The mind is clothed in the subject, the person is immersed in it and toils to understand the whole comprehension, the questions and the discussions within it, and this is "at the time it comprehends it," during the actual learning itself.
From here the Alter Rebbe brings his example: "דרך משל, כשאדם מבין ומשיג איזו הלכה במשנה או בגמרא לאשורה על בוריה" ("for example, when a person understands and comprehends some halachah in the Mishnah or Gemara clearly and thoroughly"). This is not the study of some imaginary subject, but a halachah of G-d's Torah. When he has learned and understood the halachah to its depth, "הרי שכלו תופס ומקיף אותה" ("his intellect grasps and encompasses it"): the halachah rests in his mind and he encompasses it, and this is the person embracing the King. "וגם שכלו מלובש בה באותה שעה" ("and his intellect is also clothed in it at that time"): during the time he labored in the matter his mind was immersed within it, and this is the King embracing the person.
Were this ordinary human intellect, there would be nothing so novel here: he learned an idea, encompassed an idea, and was encompassed by an idea. But here we are speaking of divine wisdom, which is the Holy One Himself: "והנה הלכה זו היא חכמתו ורצונו של הקדוש ברוך הוא" ("now, this halachah is the wisdom and will of the Holy One, blessed be He"). It emerges that at the moment of learning, the Holy One Himself is resting within the person's mind.
In summary: In this section we learned that chapter 5 is devoted entirely to the greatness of Torah study and to the power of the connection formed between a Jew and G-dliness while he learns. The Alter Rebbe explains the term "grasping" that Eliyahu HaNavi used in its negative sense, "לית מחשבה תפיסא בך," and shows that in Torah and mitzvos a person has been given the ability to grasp. We saw the difference between being "immersed" in something and "grasping" it, and the three stages of learning: a general grasp, the labor in which a person is immersed in the subject, and a complete grasp. And since "the Torah and the Holy One are entirely one," in Torah study both directions are true at once: a person's mind encompasses G-d's wisdom, and G-d's wisdom encompasses his mind.
In the next section we will continue with the Alter Rebbe's words about the halachah being the wisdom and will of the Holy One, and about the greatness of the union created during learning between the one who learns and the Creator.