Hayom Yom: Menachem Av 13

"Speak of them when you sit..."1 Our sages2 explain that "speak of them" refers to words of Torah. However, in Torah-study itself there are many gradations, and all these gradations are here explained:

"When you sit at home," refers to the soul's occupation with Torah when it is in the trove of souls, before its descent to this lowly world.

"When you go on the way," refers to the time during which the soul descends from world to world, from plane to plane, until it comes below to this lowest world to be invested in a physical body. There the soul "goes in the way" of this world until the time of old age, until -

"When you lie down," when man's appointed time arrives. Then, too, the Torah will protect him, as explained in Chapter Six of Avot,3 until -

"When you rise up," as it is said, "When you awaken (it shall be your discourse)."4