Q&A: Why Did the Sages See Torah Study as a Supreme Value?
Why Did the Sages See Torah Study as a Supreme Value?
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
Why, in your opinion, did the Sages value engaging in Torah study more than fulfilling commandments?
There is a well-known saying: “And Torah study is equal to them all.” It is commonly explained to mean that, according to the Sages, engaging in Torah has greater value than the practical fulfillment of the commandments.
My question is: why is the value of thinking about an act (that is, Torah study, which is an intellectual clarification of the commandment) greater than the act of the commandment itself?
Thank you, and much success in your blessed undertaking.
Answer
My claim is that the purpose of study is not to clarify what to do. That is the form of study, not its purpose. The value of study is cleaving to God’s will (understanding it is cleaving to Him), as the author of the Tanya explains at length (at the beginning) and Nefesh HaChaim (Gate 4) as well. However, the proper form of study is study in order to clarify what the practical obligation is. And this is the meaning of “Great is study, for it leads to action,” which is seemingly brought as the reason that study is greater, while its content indicates that action is the goal. I argue that what is great is specifically study that leads to action, because only that kind of thing is called study (that is the form of study that can be considered great).
Many thanks.
Discussion on Answer
The author of the Tanya addresses this. He explains that there is cleaving through the limbs (which is done by performing commandments) and cleaving through Chabad (spiritual-intellectual faculties), which is accomplished by understanding His will and internalizing it, and that is done through study.
As an analogy, I once brought up science here. Some see scientific research as a means: you discover the laws in order to apply them to technological needs. Others see the application as merely a way to examine the laws, while the real value is knowing the laws themselves (an intellectual-spiritual value). So too regarding the Torah, its study and its application.
I like how naturally you explain things from the author of the Tanya.
It seems strange to me that study is greater than actual practice. If the value of Torah study is that it is cleaving to God’s will, then seemingly actually performing the commandment cleaves a person to God to the same degree, because through actual observance too a person cleaves to God’s will.
If I take two people, one studies in a theoretical way what God’s will is regarding the issue of kindness, and the other actually carries out God’s will and practices kindness, why shouldn’t we say that the one who actually carries out God’s will cleaves to God’s will to the same degree?