We noticed on our road-trip to Toronto that highway exits are not usually called Exits, instead they are more often called “Interchanges”. We assume this is because this is a spot where cars are both exiting and entering the highways. In NYS where we are from, they are called Exits – because from the perspective of the driver already on the highway, all that matters at this point is the exit aspect.
Being that we noticed this close to Shavuot, the festival of the Giving of the Torah, this new & unique road-sign terminology recalls a teaching of the Alter Rebbe in Tanya chapter 5 about a unique 2-way dual-connection that happens when we humans study G-d’s Torah:
On one hand, the Torah we learn shapes us. It’s ideas fill our mind, it influences us, it uplifts, deepens, enriches us. And on the other hand, our minds shape the Torah we learn. Who we are, where we come from, what we’ve experienced, all shapes and personalizes the Torah we learn. So at the same time that we grasp the Torah, the Torah is grasped and held within our mind.
The highway signs in Ontario seem to reflect this Alter Rebbe vision of Torah study. This is a 2-way exchange, an interchange. From above to below, and below to above! (Actually I looked it up and the difference between intersections vs. interchanges is whether there is a change in road level, a change in grade).
It’s not only about filling our minds and hearts with Torah – surely a wonderful amazing thing, but also to put our imprint and investment in Torah, to make it our own, to deeply personalize it. There’s G-d’s side and our side, and where they meet, and in the most harmonious dual-connection way, that maintains the integrity of Torah but also our input and imprint, that’s where the magical union of Torah study is strongest. The interchange!