The Advantage of Torah Over Mitzvos

The Advantage of Torah Over Mitzvos
Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

Soul Food Vs. Soul Garments

Performing mitzvos and studying Torah draw down fundamentally different forms of divine light.[1]

Mitzvos involve physical actions that the body performs. This draws an ohr makif, an encompassing divine light, down onto the soul as it exists within the body.

This light is compared to a garment (levush), for just as a garment encompasses the body, so does this light spiritually encompass the person’s body. Therefore, of Mitzvos the verse states, “and His right hand embraces me,”[2] for Mitzvos are like a hug, which encompasses the body externally.

In contrast, Torah study involves studying divine wisdom and thereby uniting one’s mind with it. This draws down a light that not only encompasses the person (an ohr makif), but also an ohr pnimi, a divine light that permeates the person’s inner self, which is his mind.

Therefore, Torah study is compared to food (mazon) for the soul, for just as food is taken in, digested, and becomes one with the person’s flesh and blood, so does Torah study unite the person’s mind with Hashem.

The verse expresses the comparison between digesting food and Torah study: “Your Torah is in my innards.”[3] Likewise, the verse, “Come, partake of my bread,”[4] is interpreted as a divine call to study Torah.

Two Levels in the Ohr Ein Sof

The[5] reason for this difference is the supernal source of Torah and mitzvos in the Ohr Ein Sof that precedes the Tzimtzum.

Mitzvos stem from Hashem’s ratzon, will, which is the more chitzoniyus, external aspect of the Ohr Ein Sof. Therefore, performing mitzvos only elicits an ohr makif, an encompassing divine light, akin to a garment.

In contrast, the Torah stems from the pnimiyus, the inner aspect of the Ohr Ein Sof. Of this we say in our prayers, “For with the light of Your face, You have given us a Torah of life”[6]: Hashem’s face, which represents His pnimiyus, is associated with the Torah, for the Torah is united with the pnimiyus of Ohr Ein Sof. Likewise, the Zohar states, “The Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are one.”[7]

Since the ultimate origin of the Torah is in the pnimiyus of the Ohr Ein Sof, it also affects the person in a like manner, in a way of an ohr pnimi, a form of divine light that permeates the person—akin to food.

Torah Descends Lower than Mitzvos

This difference between the supernal source of Torah and of mitzvos also manifests in their respective effects upon the physical world.

To preface, there are three general categories of physical objects:[8]

· forbidden objects, which stem from the Three Impure Kelipos (spiritual energies)

· permitted objects, which stem from the Kelipah (impure spiritual energy) of Nogah

· objects of kedusha, holiness—like tefillin, mezuzah, and so on

Mitzvos involve taking a physical object that is permitted to use and is derived from the Kelipah of Nogah and using it for one of the 248 Positive Mitzvos. This imbues the holiness of Ohr Ein Sof into the physical object. The object then rises from the Kelipah of Nogah up to a state of holiness, transforming it into a vessel for G-dliness.

However, objects that are forbidden can only be elevated indirectly, through abstaining from committing one of the 365 Negative Mitzvos.

Indeed, the sages say that “If one sits (i.e., exercised restraint) and does not transgress, he receives a reward as one who performs a mitzva.”[9] However, the sages only consider refraining from transgression like a mitzva when it comes to receiving reward. But one does not truly refine and elevate the forbidden physical objects that one rejects in the way that one accomplishes when performing a positive mitzvah.

In contrast, the Torah discusses both the permitted and the forbidden, for example, the Gemara teaches that “These are (the animals that are) tereifah (contain defects that assume cause them to die within a year and are therefore forbidden)”[10] and “These are (the animals that are) kosher.”[11] Likewise, Torah discusses disputes in a beis din (rabbinic court) between litigants over the facts of a case, where one side is certainly lying and committing the sin of perjury.

In the act of Torah study, one doesn’t reject the forbidden, one actively engages with it. The act of studying the forbidden in the domain of Torah elevates it spiritually.

This ability stems from the root of Torah. Since, as explained earlier, its ultimate origin is even higher than that of the mitzvos, the Torah is able to descend lower than the mitzvos and elevate even the realm of the forbidden, associated with the Three Impure Kelipos.

Based on the Rebbe Rashab’s Sefer Hamaamarim 5679, p. 146.

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[1] For this section, see Tanya ch. 5.

[2] Shir Hashirim 2:6.

[3] Tehillim 40:9.

[4] Mishlei 9:5.

[5] For this paragraph, see Sefer Hamaamarim 5679, p. 7, line beginning התומ"צ.

[6] From the Amidah liturgy, s.v. Sim shalom.

[7] III:73a.

[8] See Tanya chs. 7-8.

[9] Kidushin 39b.

[10] Chulin 42a.

[11] Ibid. 54a.