וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהוֹשָׁפָ֗ט הַאֵ֨ין פֹּ֤ה נָבִיא֙ לַֽיהוָ֔ה וְנִדְרְשָׁ֥ה אֶת־יְהוָ֖ה מֵאוֹת֑וֹ וַ֠יַּעַן אֶחָ֞ד מֵעַבְדֵ֤י מֶֽלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וַיֹּ֔אמֶר פֹּ֚ה אֱלִישָׁ֣ע בֶּן־שָׁפָ֔ט אֲשֶׁר־יָ֥צַק מַ֖יִם עַל־יְדֵ֥י אֵלִיָּֽהוּ׃
At sinabi ni Josafat: “Wala ba rito na propeta ng Walang-Hanggan, upang makapagsiyasat tayo sa Walang-Hanggan sa pamamagitan niya?” At sumagot ang isa sa mga lingkod ng hari ng Israel at nagsabi: “Narito si Eliseo na anak ni Safat, na nagbuhos ng tubig sa mga kamay ni Elias.”
Kuntres Mattan Torah
16. This will explain the words of the sages that “service of Torah is greater than its study” (tractate Berakhot 7b) as said, “Here is Elisha son of Shafat, who poured water over the hands of Elijah” (II Kings 3:11). It did not say that he studied but that he poured water. This is surprising. How can simple actions be greater than the study of wisdom and knowledge? We derive from those words that serving the rabbi with one’s body and being for the sake of giving satisfaction to his rabbi, brings the person to cleave to his rabbi, that is, to a state of similarity of form. Through it he acquires his rabbi’s knowledge and thoughts by means of a mouth-to-mouth transmission, which is the cleaving of spirit with spirit, thus meriting to attain God’s loftiness to a degree that will transform giving into receiving so he would have enough fuel to give his soul and being until he attains cleaving to the Holy One, blessed be He, as said. Studying Torah with his rabbi is different because it is necessarily for his own benefit and does not bring him to a state of cleaving. It is considered a transmission from mouth to ear; thus, serving allows the student to access his rabbi’s thoughts while studying only his rabbi’s words. The virtue of service surpasses the virtue of study as the importance of his rabbi’s thought surpasses his rabbi’s words and as the mouth-to-mouth transmission surpasses that of mouth to ear.