The Torah of Life
Torah is the source of energy and sustenance. Torah is the elixir of Life.
That’s what I was taught as a child, and that’s what I have come to understand as an adult. But that’s only if we are ״זוכה״ to תורת אמת. Only if we are “deserving” of the True Torah.
As the Talmud teaches:
If one is deserving, the Torah becomes a potion [sam] of life for him. If one is not deserving, the Torah becomes a potion of death for him.
(Yoma 72b)
A person is ״deserving” when they do their due diligence. That is, when they analyze the Bible in its entirety without preconceived notions; learn through all the different opinions and interpretations; understand it all in context; extract the pure information out; apply it rationally and honestly, then check to see if it has the desired effect — and reevaluate if it doesn’t. Using this Talmudic approach a person can flesh out the true meaning of the Holy words of the Torah. But this is obviously easier said than done.
If, however, a person is not a proper vessel — either emotionally or intellectually, they are “not deserving”, and the Torah will become a potion of death to them. That’s because such a person will not properly do their due diligence and they will end up with a very warped perception of reality from reading the Torah. It’s not that the actual Torah is a potion of death — Heaven forbid, it’s that this person’s subjective understanding of the Torah is poisonous. Books don’t read themselves, and as such they are open to the interpretation of the reader.
It is for this reason that we must be extremely careful about the Torah we consume — both on our own, and from others. I find that people are often concerned with their physical diet and do their due diligence regarding the food they consume. This is especially true in religious circles where people keep a strict standard of Kosher. Yet those same people often pay very little attention to their spiritual/intellectual diet — to the ideas, concepts, and “Torah teachings” that they consume. Incorrect thoughts and ideas are always unhealthy, and when we read them into the Torah and decide they are the word of God — they become truly poisonous.
