Daily Tanya Chapter 37 Part 7: The main purpose are the practical Mitzvos (Wednesday, 29th Adar)

29^th Adar

2. The main purpose are the practical Mitzvos:

• Despite the above advantage of Torah study over the Mitzvos, the Sages state that learning Torah is not the main purpose but rather the action of Mitzvos, as the verse states “Vehayom La’asosom.”
• Stopping Torah learning to fulfill a Mitzvah: For this reason, we stop our Torah learning for the sake of fulfilling the physical Mitzvos, if the Mitzvah is unable to be fulfilled by others.
• Only Mitzvah’s make for G-d a dwelling place below: The physical Mitzvos is the entire essence of man, and the main purpose of his creation and descent to the physical world. The entire purpose of man is to make Hashem a dwelling place below in this world and turn darkness into light, filling the entire physical world with the glory of G-d, and making it tangible to the human eye.

3. Torah learning has infinitely greater revelation-Continue learning if the action can be done by others:

• Whenever a Mitzvah is able to be fulfilled by others, then one is not to stop learning Torah for the sake of fulfilling the physical Mitzvos. This is despite the fact that the entire Torah is only an explanation of the physical Mitzvahs.
• The reason for this is because the Torah contains the level of Chabad of Or Ein Sof, and through learning it one draws upon himself an infinitely greater level of Or Ein Sof than is drawn through the Mitzvos, which are the limbs of the King. [Hence, Torah learning has the advantage that it draws down an infinitely greater Divine light onto the person, while the fulfillment of practical Mitzvahs has the advantage that it draws Divine light into the physical creations and makes for G-d a dwelling place below. Hence, whenever a Mitzvah cannot be fulfilled by another, even a Torah learner must stop and fulfill it in order to fulfill the purpose of the world in making G-d a dwelling place below. However, whenever a Mitzvah can be fulfilled by others, then he should continue engaging in Torah learning which draws down a greater Divine light.]
• It is due to this advantage of Torah study over the Mitzvahs that Rav Sheishes stated that “rejoice my soul, for you do I study Torah,” as explained in length elsewhere.