"When a person performs a commandment, he is like a worker constructing the building.
But when a person studies Torah, he is involved with the building plans themselves.
He is, so to speak, considering the instructions anew together with the Architect himself.
The person performing the commandment is in the action stage, but the person studying Torah is in the planning stage.
And at the planning stage, the connection with the planner, with the one who has the will, is deeper and more intimate than it is at the action stage."
--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From Learning from the Tanya, p. 199
