Note on "Fortified and Motile"

See Epistle One in "The Holy Epistle" in Tanya, that the Ba'al HaTanya compares the learning of the Oral Law, the details of the Biblical Commandments, to loins that hold up the head and facilitate moving the feet to bring the body from place to place.

Our Rebbe comments on this that the main teaching from this metaphor is in regard to how the loins hold up the head which is the meditation prior to prayer. The motiity aspect of the metaphor is not addressed. The Rebbe suggests that prayer itself involves motion as it is compared to climbing up a ladder. However, based on the Rebbe's Talk in Vol. 18 of Selected Talks, this second part of the metaphor is also clarified. The fortification of one's faith, the "girding of one's loins", is achieved through studying the Oral Law. This helps to reveal the Impregnable part of the soul. When this aspect is revealed it also reveals the Journeying, or striding, abilities of the soul to "move from place" or to climb from one realm of holiness to a higher one.