Produced by clouds, so too, the Torah that is a spiritually “energizing rain” comes together with intense feelings for Hashem during prayer, where one’s contemplation of Hashem hits him like thunder and lightning.
This maamer does not complete the explanation of the second level of Torah, which is likened to dew, and it does not explain how it corresponds to the Written Torah. It also ends off without going back to show how these two levels are “witnesses” to the Jewish People.
The explanation of these points will be understood based on what the Alter Rebbe explains at the beginning of the maamar:
The idea of the Written Torah, called “the Heavens,” is that they are similar to water that has no color, meaning that it is a revelation of Hashem’s Wisdom that is essentially beyond our human understanding, and therefore, comes down in the form of stories and analogies. This level cannot be fully internalized, and therefore, cannot fully enable us to produce love and fear during prayer, just like dew alone cannot enable the ground to produce vegetation, since it does not fully saturate the ground. It’s advantage, however, is in that it is a much loftier revelation of Hashem’s essential wisdom than the understandable laws of the Oral Torah.
In these two levels, we find that it is the love and commitment to Hashem during prayer that enable these levels of the Torah to be expressed: The Oral Torah can be fully absorbed in the person, like energizing rain, and the Written Torah can shine a sublime revelation of Hashem’s essential wisdom into the person’s soul through reading and translating the Written Torah.
Since the effect of the Torah on the person comes through his connection to Hashem in prayer, the Torah becomes a “witness” as to whether or not one truly connects to Hashem in prayer. If his Oral Torah study is truly absorbed in him until it becomes a part of him, and he feels and appreciates the intense holiness of the Written Torah, this indicates that he must have really connected to Hashem in prayer. If not, this is a sign that he needs to take prayer more seriously....
