If you shall go in my statutes and you will guard my commandments and perform them. I will grant you your rain at their time, and the earth shall give its bounty and the trees of the field shall give its fruit...
The Ohr Hachaim famously wrote 42 explanations on these pessukim, explaining the importance of Torah study and its benefits for the world. We will quote some of them.
All paths end with Torah.
The Medrash (Vayikra Rabbah 35:1) quotes the possuk (Tehillim 119:59) חִשַּׁבְתִי דְרָכָי וָאָשִיבָה רַּׁגְלַּׁי אֶל עֵדֹתֶיךָ – I have reckoned my ways and return my feet to Your witness. The Medrash explains this with a story. Dovid Hamelech would walk in the street, planning on going to various places and taking care of the issues his crown required. Yet, when it came to it, he always found himself in the Beis Hamedrash, learning Torah from the mouths of the wise men. His natural inclination had been trained to love Torah so much, and he was so used to learning Torah, that he naturally turned to the Beis Hamedrash. Force of habit and great pleasure pushed him into the Beis Hamedrash.
The Torah is referring to this kind of walking. אִם בְחֻקֹתַּׁי תֵלֵכוּ – if you shall walk in my statutes, which Rashi explains as referring to learning Torah. But this learning Torah is not simply sitting in front of a Gemara or at the feet of a wise man, rather making learning so ingrained, and enjoying learning so much, that all walking ends up with learning.
If a person reaches this level, he will merit the Berachos of this week’s Parsha.
The many different layers of Torah.
The Ohr Hachaim offers another explanation. We know that there are four principal methods of understanding Torah. They are known by their acronym פרד"ס – פשט, רמז, דרוש, סוד. These are the simple explanation, the hinted meaning, the homiletic meaning, and the secret meaning.
If a person limits his understanding of Torah to one path, he has not plumbed the full depths of Torah. Only if he walks on all paths of Torah, making sure to understand the Torah on many levels, will he reach the full understanding of Torah necessary.
אִם בְחֻקֹתַּׁי תֵלֵכוּ – if you shall walk on all paths of the Torah, not limiting yourselves to staying in one place, with one kind of understanding. You will then merit the Berachos of this week’s Parsha, which apply to someone who is fully devoted and dedicated to Torah knowledge, study, and performance.
