The Torah is not a textbook.
If a textbook is objectively good, I may study from it, but how I relate to it is irrelevant.
I cannot argue with the mathematics it presents.
I cannot argue with the rules of grammar it lays out.
Certainly, I can learn from it, but it is not important to me, because it is utterly independent of me.
It says what it says.
With the Torah, on the other hand, I have to find my message.
I have to figure out our relationship.
Therefore, I have to care.
I cannot glide over the text.
I have to engage it.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz