Celebrate the Depth of Torah

To answer this question, we need to first understand a basic principle about Torah. The Midrash poses a fascinating question: Which is more central — Torah or Klal Yisrael? The answer seems obvious. The Torah is Hashem’s word, the blueprint and life force of Creation. And we are lowly beings of flesh and blood. But, says the Midrash, it is Klal Yisrael that is the main purpose of the world. The ultimate goal of Creation is a perfected Klal Yisrael, and Torah is the vehicle to bring the Jewish nation to its rightful level. Chazal liken the Torah to the wife of Klal Yisrael. The Torah is the “ezer k’negdo” that brings every Jew as an individual, and the Jewish People as a whole, to perfection.

I’ve seen how Torah builds a person. One day, I was running late to a vaad of Rav Wolbe ztz”l. In my rush, I threw open the door, and it slammed forcefully into something. That something was nothing other than Rav Wolbe’s back. I expected him to turn around and glare at me till I melted. But instead, I saw something unbelievable.

He carried on giving the vaad without even a pause. He didn’t turn his head. He didn’t move a muscle. He simply did not react. This wasn’t a scenario he had prepared for. It wasn’t his mind that told him to refrain from making mincemeat out of me. His body itself had internalized that it wasn’t the center of the universe and had no right to demand respect. It was the Torah that brought him to the level that his body was willing to take such a blow without protest.

The Torah is Divine, but it’s intended to build a person. It’s from the heavens, but it reaches down to us at our low level to raise us up. That’s what the secular world can never understand. The sciences deal with objective reality, and are unconcerned with the human being. The humanities deal with individuals and their trials and endeavors, but only through subjective lenses. Only Torah is both objective truth and yet deeply personal.