The greatest barrier that the Jew who "believes that he does not believe" has with regard to the study of biblical sources is that he feels that it is necessary to be religious or a believer in order to find it interesting or relevant. "If I'm not a believer, why would I want to study religious texts that talk about subjects that don't interest me," he reasons.
I can understand that.
—OK, then, Mr. Secular, so you're not interested in religion and irrational beliefs; are you interested in logical puzzles?
—Yes, of course!
Now we have a starting point.
Biblical texts contain multidimensional structures, starting with the five most known dimensions of Peshat, Remez, Derush, Sod and Chasidut. In each dimension one can find an infinite number of expressions; in fact, the study of the Torah consists not only of learning what has already been discovered but also of contributing something that until now has perhaps gone unnoticed. It is a never-ending task, to be sure. But, before entering into the analysis of advanced and more sophisticated levels as to what the text wants to and can say, it is necessary to understand what it is saying in the most basic sense, the level known as Peshat or Peshuto shel mikra.
Now, it is not always an easy task to discern the Peshat of a biblical text. Many times there is information that to the untrained eye seems to be lacking, although to the experienced eye it is more than evident.
A good example to understand that dynamic is the game of Sudoku. You have to fill the squares with the missing numbers. If only one number is missing it would be quite evident to realize which one it is. The great challenge is when many numbers are missing and the solution is not so evident. It is clear that the degree of difficulty depends on the capacity and the experience of the one that looks at it. The Master will see the solution right away and will be able to give you some elements that will help solve the rest. Perhaps the clues that are so obvious to him will still be insufficient for others of lesser training and it will be necessary that another Master come show you how to identify the missing links, based on the information that the first Master provided.
As for the biblical texts, the first Master was Rashi, who in his commentary always keeps to the Peshat level of the texts. Everything Rashi brings in his commentary is in order to help us understand what the text is saying, why it says what it says and why it does not say what it does not say. His goal is not to interpret the texts but to help us understand them.
But, for most of us, the subtleties of Rashi's commentaries on the biblical texts elude us. We are very fortunate that the second Master came in 1964, the year of mourning for his mother, Rebetzin Chana Schneerson, A "H, and in a systematic way began to shed light on this fascinating world of Pirush Rashi.
The Rebbe introduced us to that world by analyzing each Shabbat before the audience that participated in the weekly Farbrengen, Rashi's commentary on the first and last verses of that week's Bible reading. After the conclusion of the year of mourning, the Rebbe would select a verse from the parashah with Rashi's commentary to be analyzed every time there was a Farbrengen on Shabbat. Over the years the Rebbe identified and articulated a whole sophisticated system with hundreds of rules as to what can and cannot fall within the "Peshat" criteria. One thing is clear: simplicity is not so simple.
You don't have to be a believer in order to enjoy the intellectual and logical challenge that each approach by the Rebbe to Rashi's commentary presents; you have to be —or believe that you are— intelligent and be willing to have your intelligence challenged.
(The Akshn who resists even a proposal of this nature reminds me of the applicant for an accounting position who, upon learning that it was for a dairy exporter, says: sorry, I can't take the job; I'm lactose intolerant...)
In my opinion, this proposal is a very effective tool to be able to break the barrier that prevents the Jew who believes that he doesn't believe from having and enjoying a contact with the biblical texts.
According to the great Chasidic masters, within the sophisticated simplicity of Rashi's commentary there is also embedded a "wine" dimension —sod or secret— of the text. Through a thorough understanding of Rashi's commentary one can succeed in shedding light not only on the texts, but also on other dimensions of the Torah, on life and its challenges. Usually, after explaining what the text is saying the Rebbe goes on to share some of the broader themes to be extracted from the text, in addition to what it is saying explicitly.
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