Parshas Bechukosai
1. On the verse "אם בחוקותי תלכו" ("If you walk in My statutes"), the Sifra says (and it is also cited in Rashi): "יכול אלה המצות, ת"ל כו' שתהיו עמלים בתורה" ("One might think that this refers to the mitzvos; [therefore] the verse says… [it means] that you should toil in Torah"). That is, "If you walk in My statutes" does not mean the fulfillment of the mitzvos, since that is stated explicitly afterwards — "ואת מצותי תשמרו וגו'" ("and keep My commandments…"); rather, what "If you walk in My statutes" means is: you should toil in Torah.
This needs to be understood: Had "If you walk in My statutes" meant the mitzvos, one could then have explained why it mentions only chukim (statutes) — although among the mitzvos there are also the categories of eidos (testimonies) and mishpatim (judgments) — because eidos and mishpatim too, which do have a reason, must be fulfilled with kabbalas ol (acceptance of the yoke), just like chukim.1
However, since here it is speaking about Torah, why does the verse use the expression "If you walk in My statutes"? Torah is essentially understanding and comprehension; one must toil not only to review and know the particular laws, but also to understand their reasons, as they have been explained in the Written Torah and in the Oral Torah. And although the mitzvos that are called by the name chukim — it is indeed not possible to understand their reasons, for concerning them it is said:2 "חוקה כו' אין לך רשות להרהר אחרי'" ("It is a statute… you have no right to question it") — they are nevertheless a small part of Torah; the greater part of Torah was given specifically in a manner of comprehension.
Just as the Written Torah as a whole — whose main aspect is the reading, so that even an unlearned person can recite the blessing over the Torah although he does not understand the words he is saying — is much smaller in quantity than the Oral Torah, which one must specifically understand, and when one does not understand what one is learning one cannot recite the blessing over the Torah on it3 (and even more: the difference between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah is beyond all comparison: the Written Torah is a fixed number of verses, letters, etc., and there may not be anything extra; the limitation of the Oral Torah, however, is only in what is already revealed in actuality, but from the perspective of what is contained within it and keeps coming out into revelation more and more — "מה שתלמיד ותיק עתיד לחדש" ("whatever a seasoned student will in the future innovate")4 — the Oral Torah is without limit), the same is true within the Written Torah itself: the part of Torah whose reason was not explained, the part that speaks about chukim, is much smaller than the part of Torah that speaks about the mitzvos that come down into comprehension.
Thus the expression "If you walk in My statutes" is not understood: when the verse wishes to instruct "that you toil in Torah," why does it mention chukim, which are only a very small part of Torah?
2. The Alter Rebbe in Likkutei Torah explains that "בחוקותי" is from the term chakikah (engraving), and the verse here alludes that the toil in Torah study must be in a manner of engraving.
The advantage of engraved letters consists in this: not merely that the letters are united with the thing upon which they are engraved —
— that quality exists also in written letters. Although the letters that one writes on parchment are something added to the parchment, through the writing they become united with the parchment —
rather, the quality of "engraving" is that the letters have no existence of their own at all; their entire existence is only the thing in which they are engraved.
And this is the directive of "בחוקותי" regarding Torah study: the verse does not come here to caution that the Jew who studies Torah must be united with the Torah (such study — where the one learning remains a separate thing from the Torah, like the Torah of Doeg, which was "מן השפה ולחוץ" ("from the lip outward")5 — is not what is being cautioned against here). Here it comes to caution that the study must be in a manner of engraving: it is not enough that his union with the Torah is in the way two things become united (writing); rather, it is demanded that he should not be a [separate] existence at all — his entire existence should be Torah (engraving).
Similar to Moshe Rabbeinu (the first recipient of the Torah), who was in such bittul (self-nullification) and union with G‑dliness that he said6 "ונתתי עשב גו'" ("And I will give grass…"), because "שכינה מדברת מתוך גרונו" ("the Shechinah speaks from within his throat").7 And so too the bittul of Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai), who said "ראיתי בני עלי' כו' אם שנים הן כו'" ("I have seen the people of ascent… if they are two, [they are I and my son]")8 and "ואם חד הוא כו'" ("and if it is one, [it is I]")9 — although speaking praises about oneself is not the way of the tzaddikim — because he was not an existence of his own, and his entire existence was G‑dliness (the bittul of engraving).
3. As has been discussed several times, all the interpretations in Torah are connected with one another.10 It is thus understood that the Alter Rebbe's interpretation — "בחוקותי" from the term chakikah — corresponds with the plain interpretation: "בחוקותי," the mitzvos that are called chukim; that is, Torah study must be in the manner of "chukim," out of kabbalas ol. True, a Jew must understand Torah with his intellect, but this itself he does with kabbalas ol (not for the sake of his own enjoyment, but because G‑d commanded to study in a manner of comprehension), and because of this he has the "toiling in Torah": he toils in study more than his nature and diligence demand (if he does it only out of his enjoyment in Torah, his study is measured according to the extent of his enjoyment, and then he has no toil). And this is the connection between the two interpretations: through study in the manner of chukim, "that you toil in Torah," he comes to the point that his study is in the manner of "engraving" — that he and the Torah become truly one.
4. However, one still needs to understand the expression "If you walk in My statutes." Walking applies to matters in which there are distinctions of levels (because they are connected with a matter of hishtalshelus — progressive descent: the world, etc., the powers of man), so that in them a person goes from level to level. For example, regarding the emotions one can say that he goes, ascends, from level to level — from a lesser love (ahavah zuta) to a great love (ahavah rabbah); and so too in intellect: lesser intellect, greater intellect. But how does walking apply to chukim, to kabbalas ol?
In Likkutei Torah the Alter Rebbe explains that the word "תלכו" ("you walk") alludes to the giving of reward: the reward for the service of "בחוקותי" is "תלכו," for true walking is without limit. [But] the plain meaning of the verse, as it is taught to children in cheder, is that the account of the reward begins from "ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם וגו'" ("I will give your rains in their season…"), and "תלכו" still speaks about man's service.
5. It is stated in Likkutei Torah11 that the essence of faith is in the levels of G‑dliness which the intellect cannot grasp. In the levels that the intellect can grasp, there must also be comprehension; only after his comprehension is complete, as high as his intellect can reach — in the higher levels which the intellect cannot grasp, there is the place of his faith.
— This is indeed the advantage of the faith of Israel over the faith of the nations of the world, lehavdil.12 Among the nations of the world there is no true faith in G‑dliness. Their belief is in the levels that the intellect compels. Therefore their faith is only in the aspect of memalei kol almin (that which fills all worlds), the aspect of G‑dliness that is grasped by the intellect. Whereas among Jews, faith is in the aspect of sovev kol almin (that which encompasses all worlds), which is above intellectual comprehension. —
From this it is understood that since in intellect there are ascents from level to level, as it is said13 "ימים ידברו ורוב שנים יודיעו חכמה" ("Days should speak, and the multitude of years should teach wisdom"), then as the comprehension becomes higher, so too the faith moves into higher levels: the matters for which he previously needed faith have already come down for him into comprehension, and his present faith is in higher levels of G‑dliness.
Accordingly, it is understood that walking applies also to chukim. The higher his comprehension in mitzvos becomes, the higher the chukim become for him. What was previously chukim for him is today no longer called chukim, for it has already come down into his intellectual comprehension. As we find with Moshe Rabbeinu, that G‑d said to him:14 "לך אני מגלה טעם פרה" ("To you I reveal the reason of the [Red] Heifer") — from then on, for Moshe Rabbeinu, the Red Heifer was no longer a chok. Yet one cannot say that Moshe Rabbeinu lacked, G‑d forbid, the matter of chukim — rather, for him the matter of chukim was at a higher level.
And this is the meaning of "If you walk in My statutes — that you toil in Torah." One must constantly keep toiling in Torah. What he toiled yesterday, to the point of exhausting the soul, is already too little today; today he must attain a higher comprehension, and consequently — higher chukim. "If you walk in My statutes" — he is one who walks onward in chukim.15
The reward for this is "ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם וגו'" ("I will give your rains in their season…") up to "ואולך אתכם קוממיות" ("and I will lead you upright"), which refers to the future Redemption, when there will be the walking without limit — "ילכו מחיל אל חיל" ("they go from strength to strength") — until we will merit the revelation that is above walking: "ליום שכולו שבת ומנוחה לחיי העולמים" ("the day that is entirely Shabbos and rest for life everlasting").16
(From the sichos of Shabbos Parshas Bechukosai, 5722)
Notes
1) See above, p. 896, and the sources cited there.
2) Rashi, beginning of Parshas Chukas.
3) Hilchos Talmud Torah of the Alter Rebbe, end of ch. 2. Likkutei Torah, Vayikra, explanation of "ולא תשבית".
4) See Yerushalmi Peah 2:4; Shemos Rabbah, beginning of ch. 47; Vayikra Rabbah, beginning of ch. 22; Tanya, Kuntres Acharon, section beginning "ולהבין פרטי".
5) Sanhedrin 106b.
6) Devarim 11:15. Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai (50a).
7) Cf. Zohar III, 232a, and ibid. 7a; 265a, end. Shemos Rabbah 3:15. Vayikra Rabbah 2:3. Mechilta, Shemos 18:19.
8) Sukkah 45b. Sanhedrin 97b.
9) Bereishis Rabbah 35:2.
10) See above, p. 782.
11) Vaeschanan 4a ff. Derech Mitzvosecha 47a ff.
12) See Siddur, Shaar HaTefillah; and elsewhere.
13) Iyov 32:7.
14) Bamidbar Rabbah 19:6.
15) See similarly above, p. 996, note 8.
16) End of tractate Tamid.
Key Lesson
Torah study must be done with kabbalas ol, toiling beyond one's natural inclination, until the learner becomes one with the Torah like letters engraved in stone. And this toil is never static: what was enough yesterday is too little today, so a Jew keeps "walking" to ever higher comprehension and ever higher chukim, leading to the limitless walking of the future Redemption.