We’re all familiar with some of the more famous examples of ambiguous images. Rubin’s vase (pictured above) was developed around 1915 by the Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin. This ambiguous or reversible image exploits graphical similarities between two or more images – in the case of Rubin’s vase, between the vase and two face profiles. Other well-known examples are the rabbit-duck image, published in a German humor magazine in 1892 and the old-young woman image traced back to a German postcard in 1888. Once the ambiguous images are pointed out, our minds are able to perceive both images going back and forth (being reversible), but the two images cannot be seen at the same time.

Lessons to be learned from ambiguous figures have been hotly discussed in the field of Vision Science since the early 1800s. Vision science, a sub discipline within Psychology, focuses on the study of sensation and perception and analyzes why we see things the way that we do. Memory and experience play significant roles in determining what we see first when looking at an ambiguous image. The most obvious takeaway is that different people with different abilities and experiences can look at the same object and see different things.

The opening Midrash on Parshat Terumah refers to Torah as a lekech, an acquisition. The Torah was the central and holiest component of the Mishkan, and according to the Rambam the purpose of the Mishkan was to recreate and perpetuate the experience of the revelation at Har Sinai.

As might be expected, the Midrash tells us that Torah should not be viewed as comparable to any other acquisition. When it comes to other acquisitions, says the midrash, the content of that acquisition is clear and unambiguous. When someone purchases an object of gold, it is made of gold and not of silver. When someone purchases an object of silver, it is made of silver and not of gold. Not so the Torah, for the Torah is an acquisition that has both gold and silver in it. Torah is multifaceted.

Although on the surface the midrash makes sense, the question can be asked as to why the value of Torah is extolled because it contains both gold and silver? Gold is after all the more valuable metal and if the Torah is comparable to gold why did the midrash need to also include a comparison to silver?

Perhaps an answer can be suggested based on a commentary of Rav Chaim of Volozhin (1749-1821, Lithuania) on a passage in the Pesach Haggadah. The section of the Haggadah that contains the description of the four different types of children is introduced by a passage known as Baruch Hamakom Baruch Hu which praises Hashem for giving us the Torah. What’s the connection between the two?

Rav Chaim explains that when it comes to other wisdom in the world, material is presented tailored to the ability of each person. For example, a young student studying mathematics will have a different textbook than the college student studying mathematics. Not so when it comes to the Torah. Both the young student just starting out and the talmid chacham who has been learning his entire life study the same Torah. The greatness of the Torah is that each person is able to gain from it based on his or her ability and desire. Each of the different types of children described in the Haggadah is able to connect to Torah.

Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv explains that this is why Torah is compared to a song. Each person listening to the song will connect to the song differently based on his or her ability and experience. The advanced student of music will appreciate the nuances of the notes, tempo and composition. The novice, on the other hand, might simply enjoy the way the music makes him feel. So too with Torah as each person connects to the Torah based on his or her ability and desire.

This is the reason why the Torah is described as an acquisition made of both gold and silver. Some individuals who study the Torah will find the gold within it whereas others will find the silver. Like an ambiguous image people with different backgrounds and experience will see different things within the same Torah.

But like the lottery, you need to be in it to win it. Only when we approached the Torah to learn it with consistency and dedication will we be able to mine the treasures that lie within it.

May we be privileged to benefit from all that the Torah has to offer.

Shabbat shalom.