The Salty Paradox

Is salt tasty? On one hand it does not have a taste on it's own, on the other hand it gives taste to other foods, it's the salty paradox. Salt has an important place in Judaism, as seen in the Torah's commandment to salt all the sacrifices offered in the temple, a commandment that is commemorated until this day by the custom of dipping our bread in salt.

To understand the significance of salt we must look at the analogy the Torah uses to describe itself: bread. Just as the bread eaten is digested, becoming part of the human being, so does the Torah learned become completely united with the mind. In fact this is the great advantage of Torah over all other commandments, in the words of the Tanya "the study of Torah creates a great unity like no other, and this unity has no comparison in the physical realm to be like one from every angle". The significance of Torah is it's ability to be understood, therefore if you just read the Torah without understanding, you are missing the point, there is no unity.

For this reason the great sages of the Talmud spent their entire lives debating matters of law concerning simple and mundane objects, what to do if a ox goers a cow, or if two people are holding a garment, for although it does not feel as spiritual as discussing the spiritual worlds, it offers the opportunity too grasp Hashem's wisdom. Having said that, there is a crucial part of Torah that can't be understood, the light of Hashem that is beyond wisdom that is en-clothed within the Torah. This aspect in Torah is especially evident in the Mitzvah to tread the written Torah even without understanding, here the unity is not as great but we connect to the essence of Hashem which is far greater then his wisdom.

While studying Torah there are two important ideas that we must constantly keep in mind, firstly, we must remember that we can only understand a tip of the iceberg of the Torah's true significance most of which is far beyond our understanding. Secondly, Torah is not just a tasteless, spiritually dull, body of law about a physical reality, rather it is a manifestation of Hashem's will and wisdom.

To help us relate to these two messages the Torah says that whenever we bring an offering we should salt it. Salt represents the mystical secrets of the Torah, that physical beings cannot comprehend, it has no taste, it's salt. It however gives taste to the bread, the reavealed part of Torah. Making us aware of the great paradox: in order to achieve unity we must understand; yet we are uniting with a being who is beyond understanding.

(Likutey Totrah, Vayikra)