155. One night, Rabbi Aha was with Rabbi Elazar after midnight, and they were engaging in the Torah. Rabbi Elazar said, “For He is your life and the length of your days, and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers.” Above all the commandments that the Creator decreed when they entered the Land of Israel was the decree to learn Torah, since the Shechina does not dwell in the land, but in the Torah, and does not dwell above except in the Torah, ZA.
156. The oral Torah, the Shechina [Divinity], is known only because of the written Torah, ZA. The Shechina does not settle above unless through the Torah that is learned below. As long as the Torah is with her, the Shechina can be in the world, as it is written, “For He is your life and the length of your days, and that you may dwell in the land.” “In the land” means Malchut. If not, if the study of Torah is canceled, she cannot exist, as it is written, “Why is the land destroyed?” And it is written, “And the Lord said, ‘Because they have forsaken My law [Torah].’”
157. So it is indeed. We find in the book of Rav Hamnuna Saba that he explained this verse in the assembly of Israel, Malchut, where it is written, “he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights.” By learning the Torah, the coupling and abundance of Malchut will not be diminished. If she is denied, it is written, “then she shall go out free,” as it is written, “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away?” and it is written, “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.”
One who denies the Torah from Malchut is as one who takes the husband from the wife, and denies her from him, for he causes the departure of the Torah of above, ZA, her husband, and she remains as though a widow, but not an actual widow, as it is written, “How like a widow has she become,” and not “a widow.”
158. They sat and engaged in Torah until daylight. They arose and walked. As they were walking, they saw a man walking along the road with his head covered. They approached him, and his lips were whispering, and he did not answer them at all.
Rabbi Elazar said, “He must be consulting his master, praying the wayfarer’s prayer. They sat and prayed the prayer, and that man stood in his place in a different place. After they completed their prayer, they walked on the way, and that man left them. Rabbi Elazar said, “That man is a fool, or his ways are not upright; let us engage in Torah.”