I think that the essence of Torah is clear from the context. If you look at the Torah itself it has a structure like a Mozart Symphony. It has the first climax [which is is sometimes repeated depending on the conductor]. The first climax of the Torah --that everything is leading up to is the Ten Commandments. [I might note that the minor climax --the Ten Commandments is in fact repeated later, but not in the same way as in a Mozart symphony. Another difference is the Torah has five movements, not four.]
Then the final climax is of course the entrance of Israel into the Land of Canaan.
Also there is fear, love and attachment with God which is the purpose of the commandments.
This is stated openly in the verses. "You should do the commandments in order to love and fear and be attached to God." (Paraphrasing) [This is stated in many verses in Deuteronomy.]
So my contention is that attachment with God [Devekut] is in fact a major goal of the Torah. The Torah itself says that the commandments themselves are meant to bring one to attachment with God.
So what do you do with many places where it is said that learning Torah is worth more than all teh other commandments put together? [The mishna from Peah that everyone says right away in the morning right after the blessing on the Torah.]
You have to say that learning Torah is the major way of coming to become attached with God but the learning it in itself is not the final goal. The goal is the attachment.
[But as Rav Nahman pointed out there can be "Ribui Or" ("too much light"). So it is hard to know clearly how to limit oneself in this regard.]
The way to understand this "devakut" I think is only through the idea of Kelley Ross [the Kant Friesian School] of non intuitive immediate knowledge. It is a type of knowledge that is not emotion, not sense perception and not reason. A kind of knowledge the type that Plato describes--.\
I am not trying to avoid the question of how to come to true Devakut. It seems that it is a combination of good midot, learning Torah and Rav Nahman's idea of speaking with God as one talks with a friend, and being in Israel.
