“For the mitzvah is a candle, and the Torah is light ….” (Mishlei, 6:23) The Torah is likened to light because its light is very great, and the mitzvah to a candle as its light is small. However, there is an advantage to the candle over the great light, for the candle has the ability to reach into holes and crevices that the great light cannot. The Torah refines the whole man in general, yet in a place where he knows that he is deficient, there he needs the specific mitzvah whereby he can be strengthened in this aspect. This is as we find in the Gemara (Shabbat, 118b), “Concerning which mitzvah was your father most careful? He told him that it was the mitzvah of tsitsit.” He needed this particular mitzvah according to the understanding of where he was lacking, and could thereby replenish his lack.
כִּי נֵר מִצְוָה וְתוֹרָה אוֹר. הַתּוֹרָה נִמְשְׁלָה לְאוֹר לְפִי שֶׁאוֹרָהּ גָּדוֹל מְאֹד, וְהַמִּצְוָה לְנֵר כִּי נֵר אוֹרוֹ קָטָן מֵאוֹר, אֲבָל יֵשׁ מַעֲלָה בְּנֵר יוֹתֵר מֵאוֹר כִּי נֵר יָכוֹל לְהַכְנִיסוֹ לְחוֹרִין וּסְדָקִין מַה שֶּׁאֵין כֵּן בָּאוֹר, וְהִנֵּה הַתּוֹרָה מְזַכֶּכֶת אֶת כָּל הָאָדָם אַךְ בְּמָקוֹם שֶׁיּוֹדֵעַ בְּעַצְמוֹ שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ חֶסְרוֹן, שָׁם צָרִיךְ לְמִצְוָה מְיוּחֶדֶת שֶׁיַּחֲזִיק בָּהּ כְּמוֹ שֶׁמָּצִינוּ בַּגְּמָרָא (שבת קי"ח:) אָבִיךָ בְּמָה זָהִיר טְפֵי אָמַר לֵיהּ בְּמִצְוַת צִיצִית, כִּי הָיָה צָרִיךְ לְזֹאת הַמִּצְוָה עַל פִּי בִּינָתוֹ, וְעַל יְדֵי זֶה נִשְׁלַם הַחֶסְרוֹן.
“For the mitzvah is a candle, and the Torah is light ….” (Mishlei, 6:23)
The Torah is likened to light because its light is very great, and the mitzvah to a candle as its light is small. However, there is an advantage to the candle over the great light, for the candle has the ability to reach into holes and crevices that the great light cannot. The Torah refines the whole man in general, yet in a place where he knows that he is deficient, there he needs the specific mitzvah whereby he can be strengthened in this aspect. This is as we find in the Gemara (Shabbat, 118b), “Concerning which mitzvah was your father most careful? He told him that it was the mitzvah of tsitsit.” He needed this particular mitzvah according to the understanding of where he was lacking, and could thereby replenish his lack.