Q&A: Torah for Torah’s Sake or for Cleaving to God
Torah for Torah’s Sake or for Cleaving to God
Question
I heard a lecture of yours in which you presented the question of why one should study Torah, and you presented the Hasidic approach, which says that the goal of learning is cleaving to God and the learning is only a means. And the Lithuanian approach of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, which says that the Torah itself is cleaving to God. So even according to this view, it comes out that one studies Torah for the sake of cleaving and not Torah for its own sake. And it turns out that it is still for the sake of cleaving, just that according to his view the cleaving is not something external to the Torah. What does our Rabbi say?
Answer
Engaging in Torah is itself cleaving to God. One does not study for the sake of cleaving; rather, the study is a state of cleaving. That state is a value in itself and not a means to anything outside it. It is like my not giving charity to a poor person in order to be moral. Giving charity is a moral act, and as such it is an end in itself.
Discussion on Answer
Correct. I’ve explained more than once that here Nefesh HaChaim and the author of the Tanya converge. But your suggestion is still the same thing. I study Torah, and that itself is cleaving. I want to cleave to Him and I want to study Torah—it’s the same thing. Exactly as with morality.
This is similar to what the author of the Tanya writes, that the Torah and the commandments are the garments of the King, and one who grasps His garments is as though he grasps the King—this is essentially the idea of cleaving. But don’t you think that studying Torah from the perspective that I learn only because it is God’s will and His command is of greater value? Maybe this can be compared to the words of Maimonides, that one does the truth because it is truth. I mean, from which approach are you coming—not what the thing is. Then, even though this itself is cleaving, I am not doing it because of that, but because it is God’s will, and so I automatically cleave to Him. What do you say about that?