Based on this, the sefer Yareach L’Moadim offers a most wonderful answer. There is a Pasuk that appears in Parshat Nitzavim, which we read before Rosh Hashanah:
כִּי הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם לֹא־נִפְלֵאת הִוא מִמְּךָ וְלֹא רְחֹקָה הִוא... כִּי־קָרוֹב אֵלֶיךָ הַדָּבָר מְאֹד בְּפִיךָ וּבִלְבָבְךָ לַעֲשֹׂתוֹ
For this Mitzvah that I am commanding you today; it is not obscure to you nor is it distant. ... For the matter is extremely close to you; in your mouth and in your mind to fulfill it.
But what is this Mitzvah being discussed? The Torah does not state explicitly. And this is exactly the question that Chazal ask immediately: about which Mitzvah is the Torah speaking here? The Ramban and the Seforno, explain that it refers to Teshuva. Rashi, quoting the Gemara in Eruvin, says it refers to Torah. So, which is it – Teshuva or Torah? The answer is, both – for real Teshuva cannot exist without Torah. Torah is the engine that carries Teshuva forward.
Rav Chaim of Volozhin, in Nefesh HaChaim, writes that Torah itself atones; Torah protects even a sinner, surrounding him with kedusha. The Gemara (Menachot 110a) makes the same point: זֹאת תּוֹרַת הָעֹלָה... זֹאת תּוֹרַת הַמִּנְחָה... זֹאת תּוֹרַת הַחַטָּאת – This is the Torah of the burnt offering... the meal offering... the sin offering. Whoever studies these sections of Torah, says the Gemara, is considered as if he brought the offerings themselves. Torah is equal to Korbanot – and greater, for Torah atones even where Korbanot cannot.
The Be'er Moshe of Ozharov comments on the second Pasuk we will read this Shabbat:
יַעֲרֹף כַּמָּטָר לִקְחִי תִּזַּל כַּטַּל אִמְרָתִי כִּשְׂעִירִם עֲלֵי דֶשֶׁא וְכִרְבִיבִים עֲלֵי עֵשֶׂב
Let my instruction flow like rainfall, let my saying drip like dew; like storm winds on verdure, and like raindrops on grass.
Rashi asks on the words כִּשְׂעִירִים עֲלֵי דֶשֶׁא, what is in this image of showers on the grass? He explains it is like a storm wind. Just as these winds strengthen the grasses and cause them to grow, so too the words of Torah strengthen and cause their learners to grow. In another version, Rashi adds: they strengthen those who study them and make them flourish. Either way, there are two stages – strengthening and growth. This is the power that Torah has within it.
The Midrash (Sifrei) adds a further layer: כִּשְׂעִירִים are like the se’irim – the goats of the Yom Kippur sacrifices, as it is written: וְנָשָׂא הַשָּׂעִיר עָלָיו אֶת כָּל עֲוֹנֹתָם אֶל אֶרֶץ גְּזֵרָה. Just as the scapegoat bears away the sins of Bnei Yisrael, so too Torah atones.
The Be’er Moshe asks: why do Chazal go so far with this drash? Isn’t it simpler to explain, as Rashi did, that the Pasuk refers to wind? Everyone knows that “showers” here refers to winds; why leave the straightforward reading for something that seems so far from logic? He answers, both explanations are true. It is indeed wind, but it is also the goats of atonement. And together they teach us something deeper. Chazal say (Ta’anit 3a):
וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כְּאַרְבַּע רוּחוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם פֵּרַשְׂתִּי אֶתְכֶם... כְּשֵׁם שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לָעוֹלָם בְּלֹא רוּחוֹת, כָּךְ אִי אֶפְשָׁר לָעוֹלָם בְּלֹא יִשְׂרָאֵל
As the four winds of the heavens I have spread you... just as the world cannot exist without winds, so too it cannot exist without Israel.
So too, says the Be’er Moshe, the world cannot exist without Torah. Just as the winds are essential to sustain life and growth on earth, so Torah is essential for the spiritual existence of the world. And just as the goats of Yom Kippur atone for sin, so too the words of Torah bring atonement. Thus, in these Pesukim, we find both aspects bound together: wind and goats, strength and atonement. Without Torah, the world could not endure even a moment. This is the great yesod hidden in the words הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וַאֲדַבֵּרָה – everything is speaking about Torah!
