"The Way of G-d"
Part 4: "Divine Service"
Ch. 2: "Torah Study"
Paragraph 3
Now, there's the degree of understanding of the Torah that most of us
enjoy,
and then there's the sort of true and thoroughgoing *grasping* of it that
sages experience.
After all, while I might fully understand each and every word I read and
know
its general import, I might still-and-all not understand some of the
subtler
implications of what's being said the way they do; I might not be aware of
the
perspectives a reader would be expected to have; I might not catch many of
the plays-on-words that would so color and affect the meaning; I could
very
easily not recognize the mystical import of what I'm reading, etc.
So while I would still be credited with having studied the text, to be
sure,
and I would likewise have benefited from and been nourished by its inner
incandescence -- even if I only *recited* the words -- nonetheless, I
would only
have benefited by the transcendent force lying behind it to a relatively
small
degree.
But the fact remains that each one of us can in fact draw upon the Divine
love and revelation that emanates from that most eminent transcendent
force.
Text Copyright © 2004 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org.
