דעֶר אַלְטעֶר רֶבִּי האָט אַמאָל געֶזאָגט: פֵּרוּשׁ רַשִׁ"י אוֹיף חוּמָשׁ אִיז יֵינָהּ שֶׁל תּוֹרָה, פּוֹתֵחַ הַלֵּב וּמְגַלֶּה אַהֲבָה וְיִרְאָה עַצְמִיּוֹת, פֵּרוּשׁ רַשִׁ"י אוֹיף גְמָרָא אִיז פּוֹתֵחַ הַמּוֹחַ וּמְגַלֶּה שֵׂכֶל עַצְמִי.

The Alter Rebbe once said:1 “The commentary of Rashi on the Chumash is ‘the wine of the Torah.’ It unlocks the heart and reveals one’s essential love and fear [for G‑d]. Thecommentary of Rashi on the Gemara unlocks the mind and reveals the essence of one’s mind.”2

To Fill In the Background

The term “the wine of the Torah” refers to the Torah’s inner secrets. In the idiom of the Sages,3 “When wine enters, the secrets come out.”

At every farbrengen held on a Shabbos throughout the 24 years from the passing of his mother early in the year 5725 (1964) until the passing of his wife in the year 5748 (1988), the Rebbe would expound a particular comment of Rashi. These expositions were motivated by two objectives:

(a) To show how the commentary of Rashi can speak to even a five-year-old learning Chumash for the first time and hence we, too, can look at the Torah through the inquisitive eyes of a child to find answers in this work to all our questions;

(b) To show how that multilevel commentary includes “the wine of the Torah” — the inner secrets to which the Alter Rebbe alludes in the teaching quoted above.

These two approaches are actually complementary. Essential truth contains the deepest secrets of life, yet can also be perceived by a young child.