Hidden Treasures

מֵחֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ עַד שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ

machotav etseikha ad sho’av meimeikha
both your woodcutters and your water drawers
(D’varim 29:10)

די וואָס האקען ארויס עצות פון דער תורה, און די וואָס שעפּען פון ים של תורה.

Those who chop out advice from the Torah, and those who draw from the sea of Torah. (Chidushei Harim)

The master here is making a remez* between the Hebrew words עצה eitsah (wood, timber) and עצה eitsah (advice, counsel), which are homonyms. On the simple level (pshat), the Torah is actually talking about people who cut wood and carry water. But our master says there is a deeper understanding to be had here. Namely, those who are able to derive meaning and life from Torah and Jewish living.

*Remez literally means a hint, or to wink. In Yiddish, the term meremez (to make a remez) is often used by the Masters to describe a sort of spiritual pun they are making in which a word from Torah can be understood as suggesting or leading us to a connection with some other similar word. Here, the Chidushei Harim is asking us to step out of the literal, simple meaning and to connect with this passage in a more spiritual light.

Remez is one of the four levels of understanding in the Torah. These levels are Pshat (simple, literal meaning), Remez (allegorical or symbolic meaning), Drash (metaphoric or comparative meaning, from which we derive the word Midrash) and Sod (secret, mystical meaning). Our sages understand that everything written in the Torah has a specific meaning and significance at each of these levels. Together they spell PaRDeS, which means “orchard” and is the etymological origin of our word “paradise”. They understand that reading Torah is like walking through an orchard with different types of fruit trees. Four different experiences, four different levels of understanding, are available to one who wishes to harvest them.