English translation — כ'-כ"ד טבת

20th—24th of Tevet^*

<pg>16</pg>

1.

In the laws of Talmud Torah, chapter two, our master the Alter Rebbe elaborates in explaining the obligation to study the entire Torah¹

and the prohibition to forget words of Torah

(therefore there is an obligation to review the study many times etc. so as not to forget)²,

and he writes,

that one whose mind is not capable to study and remember the entire Torah³,

"all his study should be in study that leads to action, which are the laws that are necessary for every person to know them in order to fulfill the commandments according to their halachah and to be careful not to stumble into prohibitions, heaven forbid"⁴.

And afterwards continues the statement "if after he is well-versed in all his study that leads to action&lt;sup&gt;5&lt;/sup&gt;

..

he can&lt;sup&gt;6&lt;/sup&gt;

set for himself a large hour for other study and the rest of the day will suffice him to review his study that leads to action,

then he is obligated to add little by little to study in this hour other halachos that are the explanation of the 613 commandments even commandments that are not practiced like Kodshim and the like and to review them properly etc. as explained above that it is said&lt;sup&gt;7&lt;/sup&gt;

All the commandment etc. and not&lt;sup&gt;8&lt;/sup&gt;

upon you is the work to finish.

And therefore even though this hour is not sufficient to study these halachos from the Talmud and to review them so much,

at least he should study them from the Mishnayos with their commentaries and review them properly until he remembers them etc. and he should first engage in the order of Kodshim as the Sages said&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt;

Whoever engages in the Torah of the burnt-offering is as if he offered a burnt-offering.

And therefore the matter is proper if it is possible for him to study the halachos of all the sacrifices completely and all the services in the Temple and the halachos of the Temple and all its vessels as explained well in the composition of the Rambam z"l, the book of Avodah and the book of Korbanos, and afterwards in the course of time if he can add further in this hour to study and review properly he should engage in the order of Taharos and Zeraim etc.'".

And it requires explanation: at the beginning of the chapter¹⁰

the Alter Rebbe explained,

that studying "halachot that are ruled without reasons" is insufficient,

"because if one does not know the reasons of the halachot, he does not understand the bodies of the halachot in their true form, in their clarity, and he is called a boor,

and therefore there are¹¹

those who forbid ruling even for oneself from halachot that are ruled without reasons that he studied"

(and therefore also at the beginning of his study a person is obligated to study "the Talmud that explains the reasons of the halachot in the Mishnayot and Beraitot and sayings of the Amoraim, and in this time also in the books of the early poskim that explain the reasons of the ruled halachot that the Tur and Shulchan Aruch ruled, such as the Rosh and the Beit Yosef").

<pg>17</pg>

[And this is according to the method of Rashi¹²

and the Rosh¹³,

and not according to the method of the Rambam "who composed¹⁴

the book Mishneh Torah without giving reasons for the halachot at all,

and made it to rule from it alone, as he wrote in his introduction there that a person will not need another composition in the world etc."].

And thus it is not understood: since "if he does not know the reasons of the laws he does not understand the bodies of the laws in their proper form thoroughly and is called a boor,"

why does he write that "if he can set for himself a large hour for another study..

he should study..

from the Mishnayos..

the composition of the Rambam z"l in the Order of Avodah and the Order of Korbanos" — for seemingly it would be better and more correct that he should study the laws "with their reasons in a brief manner"¹⁵

(from the Talmud¹⁶

and the poskim),

so that he then understands the laws "in their proper form thoroughly"?

[Regarding the study of Mishnayos it must be said,

that for this reason the Alter Rebbe adds "

(Mishnayos)

with their commentaries",

for in the commentaries on the Mishnayos the reasons are also included

(and as explained in the introduction of the Tiferes Yisrael to the Mishnayos)

; but it is still difficult from the continuation of the words of the Alter Rebbe,

that in addition to the study of Mishnayos one should also study "the laws of all the korbanos in completeness

[and not only those in the Mishnah]..

in the composition of the Rambam z"l" — and the composition of the Rambam is "without giving reasons for the laws at all"

(as above)¹⁷].

And even though if he will also learn the reasons of the laws in brief, the quantity of study will be lacking — but in any case it is speaking about someone who will not be able to finish the entire Torah entirely

(even only the decided laws),

and it is possible that he will not be able to finish more than the order of Kodashim

(and only that if in the course of time "he will be able to add more in this hour..

he will occupy himself with the order of Taharos etc.'"),

and he already wrote about this there that he should not be concerned about this that he cannot finish the entire Torah entirely,

for "it is not upon you to finish the work"

(and as he brought before this&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;

that "there were found in their days students who were not expert and knew by heart only one tractate and some of them two tractates")

; and since in any case "it is not upon you to finish the work",

then seemingly it is better to study a little in quantity and much in quality

(namely laws with their reasons in a brief way),

than the study of decided laws without reasons from the Mishnayos and the composition of the Rambam?

2.

And this will be understood with the introduction of a general clarification regarding the definition of the obligation of Torah study according to the system of the Alter Rebbe in the laws of Talmud Torah.

&lt;pg&gt;18&lt;/pg&gt;

And his holy words of the Alter Rebbe at the beginning of chapter 2 there: "One whose father did not teach him Torah is obligated to teach himself when he becomes aware, as it is said&lt;sup&gt;19&lt;/sup&gt;

And you shall teach them and you shall guard to do them — this is the positive commandment of Torah study upon every person for himself to learn the entire Written Torah and the entire Oral Torah."

And he cites its source in the "Rambam&lt;sup&gt;20&lt;/sup&gt;

From the Gemara Kiddushin 29&lt;sup&gt;21&lt;/sup&gt;

".

However, in the Rambam,

after he brought the lesson from "And you shall teach them and you shall guard to do them",

he adds "And so you find in every place that study precedes action, because study brings to action, and action does not bring to study",

but the Alter Rebbe omitted this conclusion.

And superficially it seems to explain the reason that the Alter Rebbe omitted this addition,

because according to this reasoning, the definition of the obligation of Torah study is that it brings to action,

and as the Kessef Mishneh explains that "since he is obligated to do, he is obligated to learn",

which implies from his words,

that the foundation of the obligation of study is because it brings to action.

And based on this, it can be said,

that this that the Alter Rebbe omitted this proof is because he holds that the obligation is

(as his words continue)

"to study the entire Written Torah and Oral Torah in its entirety",

that this study is not only study that leads to action,

but includes knowledge of the entire Torah in its entirety,

and the definition of this commandment is the obligation of knowledge of Torah for the sake of knowledge

(not for the sake of action).

3.

But one should not explain in the opinion of the Rambam,

that the obligation of study is only because it leads to action,

for even according to the Rambam the obligation of Torah study includes not only study of necessary laws,

and as he explicitly ruled&lt;sup&gt;22&lt;/sup&gt;

that "a person is obligated

(a person)

to divide his study time: a third in Written Torah, a third in Oral Torah, and a third he will understand and comprehend the end of a matter from its beginning, and deduce one thing from another, and compare one thing to another, etc. ..

which is called Gemara",

behold,

that even at the beginning of his study a person is obligated to study the pilpul of Torah

[and not only practical halacha,

for according to the opinion of the Rambam, study of "Mishnah" suffices,

which is decided laws without reasons

(and in the language of the aforementioned Rambam "a third in Oral Torah"),

in order to know the deed that one should do,

and as above section 1].

And on the contrary: specifically according to the view of the Alter Rebbe,

this that a person is obligated to learn "one third in Talmud" is only the reasons of the laws in a brief manner,

that this is necessary for the understanding of "the bodies of the laws in their proper form and in their clarity"

(and only then is it permitted to rule),

but not so the pilpul of Torah,

which is "the depth of analysis of the reasons of the laws and to understand one thing from another and to compare one thing to another etc.",

"he should not do at the beginning of his study except after he finishes learning all the decided laws with their reasons in a brief manner without much analysis and pilpul"¹⁵.

Also: if the intention of the Rambam is only that the foundation of the obligation of study is because it leads to action,

it is not understood what is the practical difference of his conclusion "

(that the Talmud leads to action)

and action does not lead to Talmud".

And even more perplexing: below in the laws of Talmud Torah²³,

when the Rambam details the laws connected with this principle "that study takes precedence over action in every place"

(postponing a commandment for the sake of the commandment of Talmud Torah),

he writes "that Torah study

(is equivalent)

to all the commandments, all of them, because study brings to action, therefore study takes precedence over action in every place" — and he does not add this detail "and action does not bring to study".

And if in its place of this law the Rambam did not bring it,

<pg>19</pg>

why did he bring it here,

when the matter was brought only incidentally as evidence for another matter?

4.

And therefore it seems to me,

that the intent of the Kesef Mishneh in what he wrote

(in explanation of the words of the Rambam)

"And since he is obligated to do, he is obligated to learn",

is only that he is obligated to learn in order that he know how to do

(since study leads to action)

— but this is also a proof by way of kal vachomer and a fortiori,

that since we find everywhere that study precedes

(and is more important)

than the matter of action

["because study leads to action and action does not lead to study"],

then,

one who is obligated in action,

all the more so and a fortiori is he obligated in study

(which is more important and precedes action in every place)^*23.

And based on this it emerges that the intent of the Rambam is,

on the contrary,

to increase the importance of study over action,

that besides the obligation of study because it leads to action,

behold the essence of the obligation of study is more important and precedes the matter of action.

For this quality is from the essence of knowledge of the Torah,

and therefore the Rambam ruled that also at the beginning of a person's study he is obligated to study a third of his time in the pilpul of Torah "which is called Gemara".

And therefore we must say,

that this that the Alter Rebbe omitted the conclusion of the words of the Rambam "and so you find etc.",

is because he follows his own system in this that "one is obligated to divide his study time into three parts",

which he interprets "one third in Talmud"

(at the beginning of his study)

— that is "to know&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;

the reasons in a brief way from the Talmud and the codifiers without extensive analysis and pilpul",

and as follows.

5.

And we must say the explanation in this:

as the Alter Rebbe explains&lt;sup&gt;24&lt;/sup&gt;

the obligation "to know the entire Written Torah and Oral Torah in its entirety,"

explains&lt;sup&gt;24&lt;/sup&gt;

and specifies "that is, Tanakh and all the settled laws of the entire Torah with the reasons, for they are the explanation of the 613 commandments that are in the Torah,"

and similarly he further emphasizes several times in Hilchos Talmud Torah&lt;sup&gt;25&lt;/sup&gt;,

regarding the definition of knowledge of the laws etc.,

that they are "the explanation of the 613 commandments that are in the Torah"&lt;sup&gt;26&lt;/sup&gt;.

And the explanation of this wording is understood from the words of the Semag&lt;sup&gt;27&lt;/sup&gt;

— which is the source of the Alter Rebbe&lt;sup&gt;28&lt;/sup&gt;

that there is an obligation to also study the laws of the commandments that are not practiced in this time — and this is his language: "For the commandments which the Master of the world commanded, one must know their foundations even though they are not needed now,

for regarding all the commandments we were commanded and you shall teach them, and it is said&lt;sup&gt;29&lt;/sup&gt;

Keep all the commandment which I command you today etc.,

and it is said&lt;sup&gt;30&lt;/sup&gt;

And you shall keep My commandments and do them,

behold you have learned that keeping and doing are two things,

for keeping is only in the heart..

And thus said&lt;sup&gt;31&lt;/sup&gt;

our Rabbis: 'And you shall keep them' — this is Mishnah; 'and you shall do them' — this is action."

And from his words it is understood,

that regarding the 613 commandments there are two obligations: a)

the performance of the 613 commandments,

b)

the guarding of the 613 commandments in the heart,

that is, knowledge of the commandments.

And based on this it can be said,

that this is the foundation of the difference between the view of the Rambam and the view of the Alter Rebbe regarding the definition of the commandment of knowledge of the Torah: according to the Rambam this is a separate obligation of knowledge of the Torah,

whereas according to the Alter Rebbe its foundation is the knowledge of the 613 commandments&lt;pg&gt;20&lt;/pg&gt;

in the Torah,

and the definition of study is in the manner of fulfilling the 613 commandments,

except that this is through action and this is through guarding in the heart³²

[and this matter is emphasized also in the language of the Alter Rebbe in Hilchos Talmud Torah³³

in the name of "the wise ones of truth" regarding the obligation to study the entire Torah in its entirety,

"that every soul of Israel needs etc. to fulfill all the 613 commandments in action, speech and thought,

and speech and thought is the study of their laws"]^*33.

And based on this, it can be said,

that the Rambam and the Alter Rebbe differ in the explanation of the words of the verse "and you shall teach them and you shall guard to do them"

(which is the source of the obligation to teach oneself)

:

From the words of the Rambam,

that after bringing the verse he continues "and so you find in every place that Talmud precedes action etc." it is understood that he interprets the words "and you shall guard them to do them" regarding the performance of the commandments

[and the verse comes to emphasize the precedence of Talmud to action,

that first comes "and you shall teach them" and afterwards "and you shall guard them to do them"]

: but the Alter Rebbe, who did not bring the continuation of the Rambam's words,

interprets that also the continuation of the verse's language "and you shall guard them to do them" refers to the obligation of study,

and as the words of the Semag "for there is no guarding except in the heart..

and you shall guard them — this is the Mishnah",

that they need to guard the 613 commandments in the heart through study and knowledge of the 613 commandments&lt;sup&gt;34&lt;/sup&gt;,

and this is the continuation of the Alter Rebbe's language that "this is the positive commandment of Torah study upon every person for himself to study the entire Written Torah and Oral Torah in its entirety as explained above that it is said&lt;sup&gt;7&lt;/sup&gt;

the entire commandment etc.'"

(that there "above"&lt;sup&gt;33&lt;/sup&gt;

he brought the verse&lt;sup&gt;7&lt;/sup&gt;

"for if you shall surely guard all this commandment" and the words of the Semag),

that this obligation is hinted at in what is said "and you shall guard them to do them",

that for this they need to know all the 613 commandments.

And based on this, the difference between the view of the Rambam and the view of the Alter Rebbe in the interpretation of "a third in Talmud" is even more understood&lt;sup&gt;*34&lt;/sup&gt;

— that according to the Rambam this is pilpul of Torah,

and according to the Alter Rebbe it is only the reasons of the laws in a brief manner as above:

According to the system of the Rambam that the commandment is the knowledge of the Torah,

what they said, a person is obligated to divide his learning time, a third in Scripture, a third in Mishnah, and a third in Talmud,

that is, that they need to divide the time of study among all parts of the Torah,

Scripture, Mishnah, and Talmud;

But according to the system of the Alter Rebbe,

they are not three different parts,

rather Scripture, Mishnah, and Talmud constitute one entity of the knowledge of the 613 commandments of the Torah,

for which knowledge study is needed<pg>21</pg>

The Scripture — in which the 613 commandments were stated³⁵

; and the study of Mishnah and Talmud, which are the explanation of the 613 commandments³⁶

: Mishnah — settled laws; and Talmud — knowledge of the reasons of the laws in a concise way, so that only then "he understands the bodies of the laws in their proper form, in their clarity"

[Unlike pilpul of Torah,

which does not pertain to knowledge of the 613 commandments of the Torah,

this comes only after a person has finished studying the entire Torah,

"let him finish and then let him understand"³⁷].

6.

And one can prove this

(that according to the view of the Alter Rebbe, the main obligation of knowledge of the Torah is knowledge of the 613 commandments)

from the words of the Alter Rebbe himself,

below in Hilchos Talmud Torah, beginning of chapter 3,

and this is his language: "And anyone whose mind and memory power is good, so that he can learn and remember the entire Oral Torah, this one should not marry a woman until he first learns the entire Oral Torah, which are all the laws with their reasons in a concise way, which are the explanation of all the 613 commandments in their conditions and their details and the details of the scribes, and afterwards he should marry a woman etc., for if he marries a woman first etc., he will not be able to engage in Torah properly, so much so to learn and remember all the laws with their reasons, which are the explanation of the 613 commandments and the essence of the Oral Torah."

And one should examine,

why did he mention here only the study of "all the halachos with their reasons",

and behold earlier in the first chapter³⁸,

when he speaks about the obligation "to know the entire Written Torah and Oral Torah in its entirety",

he writes that this includes also the study of all "words of the Sages that they anchored on the exegesis of verses, which are the aggados",

and likewise later³⁹

when he explains about the obligation to divide his study time into three,

he writes that "the homilies of the aggados are considered within the third of Mishnah",

and if so he is obligated to study them — and why did he omit<pg>22</pg>

at the beginning of chapter 3 regarding the obligation of studying the aggados

[and likewise several times afterwards in the continuation of the chapter⁴⁰,

he brings the matter of the study of the entire Oral Torah which is the study of halachos etc. and does not mention regarding the study of aggados]?

And according to the above it is understood,

that the main obligation of knowledge of Torah is knowledge of the 613 commandments,

that in this is included only the study of the laws of the commandments⁴¹.

And this is also the precise wording of the Alter Rebbe in several places in chapter 3 that the laws of the Torah which are "the explanation of the 613 commandments" are "the essence of the Oral Torah",

that with this he comes to resolve the aforementioned precision,

that even though the aggados of the Torah are included in the Oral Torah⁴²,

nevertheless they are not included⁴³

in "the essence of the Oral Torah",

that this is only the explanation of the 613 commandments

[and one could say,

that the source of the words of the Alter Rebbe is in the introduction of the Rambam to the book Yad,

"All the commandments etc. in their explanation they were given..

And this commandment its explanation is..

And this commandment is what is called the Oral Torah"⁴⁴],

and only the obligation of knowledge of "the essence of the Oral Torah" is so severe that it "is pushed aside⁴⁵

because of this study the great commandment of procreation and multiplication".

7.

And behold, even though according to the opinion of the Alter Rebbe "the essence of the Oral Torah" which is the explanation of the 613 commandments is specifically laws with their reasons

(at least in a brief manner),

nevertheless we find that the Alter Rebbe⁴⁶

also calls even decided laws without reasons "the explanation of the 613 commandments that are in the Torah".

And another thing: "Mishnah,"

which is settled halachot without reasons,

is considered a part in itself in the study of Torah,

for the obligation to divide one's study time is — a third in Mikra, a third in Mishnah, and a third in Talmud,

meaning that one must study Mishnah in a time by itself.

And at first glance it is perplexing: since the Alter Rebbe [says] "if one does not know the reasons of the halachot he does not understand the bodies of the halachot in their proper form in their clarity" and he does not fulfill the obligation of knowledge of Torah until he also knows the reasons of the halachot in a brief way — if so, why is "Mishnah" considered a part by itself in the study of Torah&lt;sup&gt;47&lt;/sup&gt;,

to the point that it is in a time by itself?

And it must be said,

that what the Alter Rebbe said that without knowledge of the reasons of the halachot at least in a brief way it is impossible to understand "the bodies of the halachot in their proper form in their clarity",

the intention is not to exclude the study of Mishnayot from the category of fulfillment of the commandment of knowledge of "the explanation&lt;pg&gt;23&lt;/pg&gt;

the 613 commandments,

but his intention is that there is a lack in the perfection of understanding,

"in their clear and well-ordered form".

And one can say,

that this is the reason that he continues there "And therefore there are those who forbid ruling even for oneself from codified laws without the reasons that he learned" — for ostensibly the prohibition of ruling

(even for oneself)

has no place in the laws of Torah study but in the laws of ruling — except that by this the Alter Rebbe emphasizes,

that the lack of understanding in studying codified laws without reasons primarily affects the matter of ruling,

that "there are those who forbid ruling..

from codified laws",

but not

(so much)⁴⁸

regarding the study,

for even regarding the study of codified laws the category of knowing "the explanation of the 613 commandments that are in the Torah" applies,

and there is in this the fulfillment of the commandment of knowing the Torah,

And only — since the perfection of knowledge and understanding

("in their clear and well-ordered form")

also requires knowledge of the reasons of the laws at least in a brief manner — therefore one must also study "a third in the Talmud".

And one can prove this

(that also according to the words of the Alter Rebbe, the study of decided halachos without reasons falls under the category of knowledge of "the explanation of the 613 commandments in the Torah" and the fulfillment of the commandment of knowledge of the Torah)

from the words of the Alter Rebbe himself later in Hilchos Talmud Torah⁴⁹,

where he wrote that "one who has not reached this level that he can learn the reasons of the halachos and their source, and even in study that leads to action alone, only decided halachos alone, even if he makes his Torah study fixed due to the limitation of his mind...

he is not obligated to live a life of hardship and make his work temporary in order to increase study that he does not understand thoroughly, which is the study of halachos without reasons...

unless he does so in the measure of piety and love of the Torah"

[for only one "whose mind is good and succeeds in his studies and can be a Torah scholar to learn the entire Oral Torah from the Talmud and the poskim" is obligated to make his work temporary etc.].

And it is proven,

that even though there is no obligation to live a life of hardship for the sake of studying decided halachos without reasons,

nevertheless,

because of "the measure of piety and love of the Torah" there is room for such conduct,

to live a life of hardship in order to study decided halachos of the entire Oral Torah.

And that is,

because also regarding this applies the category of fulfillment of the commandment of knowledge of the 613 commandments of the Torah,

and only because this is "study that he does not understand thoroughly" is there no obligation upon a person to live a life of hardship for this.

8.

According to all the above, the words of the aforementioned ADH"Z will be understood

(section 1),

that there is an advantage to studying decided halachos from Mishnayos and the Rambam's compilation regarding studying some halachos with their reasons in a brief manner

(so that he understands them "clearly and thoroughly")

:

Because the obligation of study is not merely for the sake of knowing the Torah

(so that it is understood that there is an advantage&lt;pg&gt;24&lt;/pg&gt;

With a knowledge that is more complete,

knowledge "not upon its face"),

but for the sake of knowledge of the explanation of the 613 commandments,

because a person is obligated to keep all the 613 commandments "in the heart"

[And in this time only the fulfillment of the 613 commandments in action is nullified,

but not the guarding in the heart,

which is the knowledge of the laws of the commandments],

so it is understood,

that it is preferable to study decided laws from Mishnayos and the Rambam's composition,

for then there is a possibility that he will finish studying the laws of all the 613 commandments⁵⁰,

than studying some of the laws

(even if the study will be more excellent,

with their reasons in a brief manner).

That is: the discussion here is not about study that pertains to action,

but about study of laws that are not practiced in this time; and since it is not study that pertains to action,

but only for the sake of the obligation of knowledge of the 613 commandments,

therefore,

it is better that there be knowledge in all 613 commandments of the Torah,

than a more complete knowledge but only in some of them.

9.

And behold, from all the above there is to learn an additional encouragement regarding the proposal concerning the study of a fixed daily lesson in the book Mishneh Torah of the Rambam

(which was accepted and is spreading throughout the Jewish diaspora⁵¹)

— that the content of the study of this book,

is the study of the entire Oral Torah,

and as the language of the Rambam in his introduction to the Book of the Hand⁵²

that "this compilation gathers the entire Oral Torah..

that a person reads the Written Torah first and afterwards reads this and knows from it the entire Oral Torah and does not need to read another book between them":

For at first glance there is room to say,

that this advantage is only according to the view of the Rambam,

who holds that one may rule even without knowledge of the reasons; but according to the ruling of the Alter Rebbe

(according to the view of Rashi and the Rosh),

that it is forbidden to rule from decided laws and the study of the laws must be with the reasons

(in a brief manner at least)

— and as the Alter Rebbe composed his Shulchan HaZahav,

laws with their reasons specifically — then ostensibly in the study of the Rambam there is not the advantage of knowledge of the entire Oral Torah.

But⁵³

According to the above, it is understood that it is not so,

for even according to the ruling of the Alter Rebbe,

a person who has not reached this level that he can learn and remember all the laws of the entire Torah with their reasons in a concise manner

(whether because he does not have leisure or because his mind is not good enough to succeed in his studies so much)

— like most people in our generation — he must learn the explanation of all the 613 commandments

(according to his ability^*53),

that is, the actual decided laws from the Mishnah and the Rambam's compilation as above,

because this too is in the category of knowledge of the 613 commandments of the Torah<pg>25</pg>

(which is the essence of the entire Oral Torah),

except that it is lacking in the completeness of the knowledge

(which is only when he also knows the reasons of the laws)

— that without this he has not reached this level as above.

And it is found,

that in addition to all the virtues in this that all of Israel unite in one study,

and in this itself — in words of halachah,

and in this itself — in the book of the Rambam,

in which are included the decided halachos of all the 613 mitzvos of the Torah⁵⁴,

behold, according to the above it is understood,

that in this study there is also the fulfillment of the mitzvah of knowing the essence of the entire Oral Torah

(for one who cannot learn the halachos of the entire Torah with their reasons)⁵⁵.

May it be His will that we merit "that time"⁵⁶

that then Israel will be "free in Torah and its wisdom",

and there will be the study of the entire Torah in its completeness,

"for the earth will be filled with knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea"⁵⁷.

(From the talk of Shabbat Parshat Chukat 5744)