Torahism

Here's a short travel tip from Rabbi Nachman.

In this world, it's good to go through all the holy books one can get one's hands on, covering as much ground in Torah as possible.

One should travel through Torah the way the aristocracy traveled through the capitals of Europe. (Rabbi Nachman lived in the Ukraine, 1772-1810).

These aristocrats would visit one country, then another country, and another, spending lavishly on "travel trophies," treasures (architectural walnut wardrobes, massive porcelain tea sets, detailed amber carvings) to proudly showcase in their farshtunkeneh palaces or country estates. 

Each capital featured its own speciality. In Warsaw, an aristocrat could actually sit for a "view painting," a portrait of him (or her) sitting in front of a real scene from the city. It later hangs in the parlor, and the aristocrat says, "See! I was in Warsaw!"

In my grandparents' day, they would take a transatlantic ocean liner to spend a month in Europe, returning with a steamer trunk pasted with stickers marking every stop. They called them "badges of honor". In my day, we bought "I Went to Boston and All I Got Was This Lousy Red Sox Hat" t-shirt. Today, it's a selfie and status post.

But I digress. 

Rabbi Nachman's advice, in addition to any drill-down study of a particular topic, one should also aspire to tour it all, to visit as many parts of Torah as possible, to see its "holy sites". There is enough available now in translation that no one has to worry about a language barrier.

I once studied the ancient Kabbalah book Sefer Yetzirah, translation and commentary by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, though "studied" is a sloppy overstatement. I read it. Much of it flew over my head. But I now have a sense, at least, of what it is. Even that which flew over my head. The bookmark in the book serves as the "badge of honor".

That's in this world. 

Then, after 120 years, when the soul returns home to its heavenly palace in the next world, having toured so many holy places down here, it can proudly showcase its own abundance of spiritual treasures. "See, I was in the Talmud," and so on.

Not only that, but in the next world, the soul revisits all of these holy places, and this time, see them properly. 

(Adapted from Sichas HaRan, #28)