“It is the very letters of the Torah, and not only the sentences, that reveal God’s will.
This is one of the characteristics of the Torah, differentiating it from other sacred works like the Mishnah.
The holiness of the Torah is in the very letters of the text.
This makes for a difference in relation to the study of these books, as tradition has shown.
Every letter and sign in the Torah is pored over as a Divine mystery waiting to be revealed.
The combinations of the letters in words and sentences are the manner in which their meaning is communicated to us.
One may make all sorts of combinations, on a variety of levels, and obtain six hundred thousand possible revelations.
As the Ramban said, all of the Torah spells out the names of God.
It is a list of His names, very little of which has any meaning for us.
It is like a secret code with an infinite number of possible interpretations, a tale within a tale within a tale.
Each one is equally valid and holy.”
From Pebbles of Wisdom from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz (forthcoming)