In this week's Parsha we find the famous piece from Rebbi Chayim ben Attar, the Ohr HaChayim HaKodesh who brings 42 elucidations on the first verse, “If you will walk in My statutes and observe my commandments and do them...". (VaYikra 26,3)
The first one is particularly amazing. He brings a drasha from the Medrash Toras Cohanim. What does it mean, the Medrash asks, to “walk in My statutes” If it means to keep the commandments, that is mentioned immediately afterwards. Therefore, the Medrash concludes, walking in My statutes means to exert oneself in Torah study.
The Ohr HaChayim then asks, what is the connection between the idea of statute, (immutable decrees that we follow even without understanding the reason for them) and the exertion of oneself in Torah?
He answers that there is a mitzvah to learn Torah even if one has learned something 2 or 3 times before. Moreover HaShem loves the Torah learning of Israel so much, that he decreed, (made it a statute) that in order that a Jew should continue learning his whole life with enthusiasm, he should learn and then forget!! (Koheles Raba 3,10) This should be a great consolation to anybody who suffers from forgetfulness. Keep on learning!!
The first reason that the Ohr HaChaim gives for the Torah's linkage of "walking" and "G-d's decrees" is that we should discuss Torah even while just walking along our way, just as the verse in Deuteronomy says: "and you should speak of them. . . while walking on your way." (Devarim 6:7, part of the first paragraph of the Shema.)
I like this because it suggests that fulfilling the Torah (however one understands that to happen) in rote, automatic way isn't enough- one has to let Judaism permeate one's being, so that spiritual thoughts and topics just naturally occur while doing other things, even just walking along. Religion isn't just a matter of doing a bunch of commanded rituals, or confined to the synagogue on Shabbat morning, but should live and breathe in our lives.
Furthermore, notice that we should talk about what we've learned and what we're doing- not taking it for granted or accepting it automatically, but sharing it, processing it, turning it around, getting new ideas and refining old ones all the time.
The third homiletic meaning of this verse, according to the Ohr HaChaim, is based on the famous teaching that Torah study can happen on 4 "levels": the plain meaning of the text (pshat); the homiletic or moral expounding of the text (remez); the Medrashic or imaginative interpretation (drash); and the secret, mystical meaning (sod.)
Based on this concept, the Or HaChaim writes:
These four methods between them account for what our sages call the 70 facets of the Torah. Each of these 70 facets is perceived as being a "path" one walks in the study of G-d's teachings. The lesson is that the approach to Torah study should be along a variety of paths.
Thus, not only should we be letting Torah (understood broadly as Jewish teachings) permeate our everyday activities, we should learn the multiple meanings that Torah can encompass. Again, this suggests to me that learning is a dynamic, creative process - one doesn't learn just one way of doing something, or only one interpretation, but one "walks a variety of paths," paying attention to different ways of understanding and challenging oneself with new perspectives. In our day, in addition to the 4 "paths" of Torah interpretation, we might add other ways of thinking that we haven't even thought of yet.
The pursuit of Torah differs greatly from that of individual mitzvos. Whereas a sin can 'extinguish' a mitzvah, it can never extinguish the merit of one’s Torah. If one toils in Torah, he is guaranteed that it will walk with him - it will accompany him to the next world.
Another explanation he brings is that man, unlike the animal kingdom, has the ability to change himself and improve. Our pasuk comes to reveal to us what gives man this ability to move, to change, to improve. If you will toil in Torah then you will walk! That is the only way for a true sustained improvement.
