In the Gemara (Kiddushin 40b) we are taught that: “Study is greater, because study leads to action.”
However, Chassidus reveals that this superiority of study over action applies only in the present era. In the time of the redemption, the situation will be reversed — action will be greater than study.
The very rationale that now tips the scales in favor of study will, in the time of the redemption, favor action. Just as today “study leads to action,” so too in the future, action will lead to study. Through the very performance of the mitzvot, a Jew will reach the highest levels of Torah understanding.
The Fig Will Protest
Today, we need study to know what is permitted and what is forbidden. One who does not study may transgress various prohibitions.
But in the era of redemption, the reality of the world will change to such an extent that it will itself warn us against what is forbidden. Just as today the heat of fire warns us not to put our hand in it, so too in the future, when the world is refined, it will naturally warn us against transgressing the Torah.
As the Midrash teaches, “In this world, a person may pick a fig on Shabbat, and the fig says nothing. But in the World to Come, it will cry out and say, ‘It is Shabbat!’” The physical world itself will alert us to avoid Torah violations.
Therefore, action will gain superiority over study, just as practical knowledge has an advantage over theoretical learning. By engaging in mitzvah observance, the Jew will learn — through experience — all the details of the Torah’s laws, more deeply and solidly than through study alone.
The Majority will Rule
Today, spirituality is above physicality, and its role is to refine and elevate the material. But in the future, the inner truth of physical reality will be revealed — namely, that the infinite power of G-d Himself is specifically vested in the physical.
Thus, today, study (the spiritual) is superior to action (the physical). But in the future, when physicality is refined and no longer conceals its inner truth, it is precisely through physical mitzvahs that a Jew will attain the highest levels of connection to G-d — more than through Torah study. At that point, “action will be greater.”
Action is Greater
But, how can a halachic change take place once the law has already been decided? This is a fundamental issue regarding many changes expected to occur in the era of redemption — for example, the tradition that halachah will then follow the view of Bet Shammai rather than Bet Hillel.
The answer is that even this change will occur according to the rules of Torah: a Sanhedrin (Rabbinic court) will convene that is greater than the previous one “in wisdom and in numbers” — and this will be easy, for Moshe, Aharon, and all the great Sages of the generations will be with us — and they will rule by majority that the halachah is like Bet Shammai and that “action is greater.”
