The Secret of Shattering the Screens: The Immense Power of Torah Study
Class No. 120 | Thursday, Parashas Miketz, 26 Kislev, 2nd Candle of Chanukah 5758 - Class at the Breslov Kollel for Young Men
According to the teachings of the Ramchal and the holy Arizal, Torah study is the only power capable of piercing through all the screens and accusers in the supernal worlds. Yaakov Avinu (our Patriarch Jacob) proved this when he shattered the kelipah (impure shell) of Kayin (Cain) and ascended to the highest spiritual levels, solely in the merit of fourteen consecutive years of study in the academy of Ever.
In order for prayer to ascend and be accepted, one must first return to the wisdom of the Torah, to the intellect of the Torah. If a person lacks the intellect of the Torah, his prayer does not ascend and is not accepted. All requests and prayers are accepted exclusively through Torah study.
The Ramchal, in his book Tikkunim Chadashim (Fifth Tikkun), explains that if a person does not study Torah, his prayer cannot ascend at all. King Shlomo (Solomon) states an explicit verse in Mishlei (Proverbs):
"He who turns away his ear from hearing Torah, even his prayer is an abomination" (Mishlei 28:9).
The Key to Breaking Through the Accusers
The Ramchal explains why prayer cannot ascend without Torah: There are accusers and destructive forces standing in the pathways, acting as angels of destruction, and they do not allow the prayer to pass. When a person does not study Torah, his prayer lacks the power to break through the pathways and the accusations. The Torah is what creates the routes, paves the paths, and clears away all the accusers.
The Torah pierces all the gates, all the firmaments, and all the screens. It breaks through all the blocked routes standing in the way. Prayer must pass through many stages: "May it ascend, come, reach, be seen, be accepted, be heard, be noted, and be remembered" (Yaaleh V'Yavo prayer). Imagine a letter sent to an important office, and suddenly it is thrown into the wastebasket without anyone even having the time to look at it. Similarly, prayer must break through endless screens in order to be accepted.
What breaks through these screens, says the Ramchal, is only Torah study. The world of intellect, as explained in Likutey Moharan (Torah 9), is built through the Torah. The Torah is called a "beloved hind and graceful roe" (Mishlei 5:19); it bestows grace upon those who study it, and only through it are all prayers and requests accepted, both in spiritual and material matters.
The Difference Between Prayers and Requests
There is a difference between "prayers" and "requests." Prayers are the fixed text that is already written in the Siddur (prayer book). Requests are what a person asks for on his own, aside from what he prays from the written text.
Every moment, a person needs to make requests: If he does not understand something in his learning, he asks, "Hashem, open and illuminate my eyes to learn Your Torah." Even when he hammers a nail into the wall, he needs to ask that he shouldn't hit his finger or strike an electrical wire, Heaven forbid. These are called requests.
Nothing ascends On High—neither prayers nor requests—except through Torah study. Even a simple request will not ascend if the person does not study Torah.
The Secret of Yaakov Avinu: Shattering the Kelipah of Kayin
According to the words of the holy Arizal, every person is clothed from his midpoint and below in the soul of Kayin, and he cannot shatter this kelipah except through studying Torah day and night. This was the essence of Yaakov Avinu's mission.
Yaakov Avinu was entirely clothed in the soul of Kayin. The Arizal explains that Yaakov saw he could not escape this kelipah in any way, except through Torah study. Therefore, he went to study in the Beis Midrash (study hall) of Shem and Ever for fourteen consecutive years, without sleeping at all.
Yaakov possessed immense intellect, but he understood that to truly shatter the kelipah of Kayin that clothed him, he had to study Torah literally day and night without pause. In the merit of those fourteen years of continuous study, he merited to emerge from the kelipah of Kayin.
Ascending to the Level of "Head"
Immediately afterward, it is stated in Parashas Vayetzei:
"And he took of the stones of the place, and placed them at his head" (Bereishis 28:11).
The holy Arizal says: Now Yaakov merited to be in the aspect of "head." He ascended from the navel to the head. In the merit of the Torah he learned by Shem and Ever, he broke through the kelipah (impurity) of Kayin, which clothes the body and below, and ascended upward to the head of Zeir Anpin (the Kabbalistic configuration of the emotional attributes).
This ascent brought him to cleave to the illumination of Leah, whose place is in the head. Yaakov initially thought that his destiny was only Rachel, who corresponds to the lower half, but through the study of Torah, he ascended to such high levels until he reached "his head" (mera'ashotav) – to the aspect of Leah, who corresponds to the head and the eyes.
Part 2 of 3 — Lesson No. 120