There is a Possuk at the Beginning of the Parsha that states: חֻקַּת הַּתּוֹרָה גּוֹ׳ זֹאת “This is the statute of the Torah”. The Alter Rebbe explains in Likkutei Torah in this week’s Chassidishe Parsha that the Word חֻקַּת comes from the word חֲקִיקָה meaning engraved. So חֻקַּת הַּתּוֹרָה is a level in Torah which is categorised by ‘Engraved letters’, and this level surpasses תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִכְתָב - ‘The written Torah’ and וֹרָה שֶׁבְעַּל פֶׁהתּ - ‘The Oral Torah’.
On the one hand regarding the written word the ink and the paper are two separate entities and therefore it is possible to separate them, whereas on the [other hand] regarding the engraved word one cannot separate the letters from the stone upon which they are hewn. The engraving is from it and a part of it. In other words; the engraving is within the stone itself as well as from the stone itself.
Similarly, [this concept applies] in a person’s Avodah. The connection and association of each individual to Torah and Mitzvos must not be like the written word whereby the individual and the Torah and Mitzvos that he is performing remain as two separate entities, rather the connection needs to be in a way in which the Torah and Mitzvos become ‘engraved’ within the person himself. Also [this connection] must be ‘hewn’ from the person himself.
It can be said that the empowerment for this Avodah of חֲקִיקָה comes from the ‘Luchos’. This is so because the letters on the ‘Luchos’ are engraved letters, and the ‘Aseres Hadibros’ on the ‘Luchos’ had an effect throughout the whole world. As our sages of blessed memory have said: “At the time the ten commandments were said the voice came out and was heard from all four sides of the world”. In other words, the חֲקִיקָה also has an effect on the entire world. From this the ‘Koach’ is also extended into the Avodah of a person so that his Avodah in Torah and in Mitzvos shall also be in a manner of חֲקִיקָה.
And even though this Avodah is a big Avodah as the Rambam writes that serving Hashem with joy is a ‘big Avodah’, nevertheless, it is not beyond his reach because he has the ‘Koach’ for this as previously mentioned.
Particularly, in the year that this Maamor was said (5748 - 1988) which was a year of Hakhel in which there is a greater emphasis on the concept of חֲקִיקָה. This is so because then all people are gathered - men, women and children, and the King reads before them specific sections from the Torah. Hearing these portions from the King’s mouth is akin to hearing them straight from Hashem. (It can be said that this is the reason why the unity of Yisroel at the Hakhel gatherings was absolutely perfect is because besides the fact that: הַּנָּשִׂיא הוּא הַּכֹּל “The leader is everything” there was an absolute unity uniting them.) This concept is the true meaning of חֲקִיקָה.
It is explained in Likkutei Torah that the reason why the Torah says זֹאת חֻקַּת הַּתּוֹרָה and not זֹאת חֻקַּת הַּפָרָה is because the פָרָה אֲדֻמָה is the חֻקַּת of the whole Torah. There, the Alter Rebbe explains that Mitzvos generally are a means for a person to attain a level of רָצוֹא וָשוֹב – Advancing and Retreat in the way it is explained in Likkutei Torah.
