Let My People Know

"There is no essential difference between the one who studies with the highest esoteric comprehension and the one who merely reads the written words correctly"

 

If Scripture declares that when an ox gores another man's ox, such-and-such should be the indemnity payment, this may be interpreted in any number of ways according to one's point of departure. 

In the physical world, it is fairly straightforward commonsense justice, not necessarily a reflection of the Torah as a whole. 

For all images of Torah are vehicles of expressing something definite; every level of expression has meaning on its own level. 

There is that which is of spiritual value and that which is of physical value, each with its own validity. 

Therefore, when a person is engaged in Torah without ulterior motive, he may be said to be united with the Divine Will. 

He is thinking God's thoughts concerning God's world. 

And there is no essential difference between the one who studies with the highest esoteric comprehension and the one who merely reads the written words correctly. 

In order to help illuminate this point, consider a complex electrical device. 

Although one may not understand how it works, it may be easily operated by pushing certain buttons. 

One simply has to be aware of the consequences of pressing the wrong one. 

Although one may be limited in one's comprehension, there is no relation to the rightness or wrongness of what one does or to the benefit one gets from it. 

So too with Torah and Halachah–one may grasp more or less of the inner meaning and rise to higher levels according to one's ability. 

This does not influence the degree of correctness of the action or the advantages of a proper relation to Scripture. 

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
From "Torah as God's Wil in The Long Shorter Way by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz