The fiftieth gate above the seventy nations

במדרש הביאני אל בית היין בין ע' אומות ובחר בדגל ישראל.

In the Midrash on "He brought me to the house of wine": among the seventy nations, and He chose the banner (degel) of Yisrael.

The "house of wine" is the arena of the seventy nations; out of all of them, Hashem chose the banner of Bnei Yisrael as His own.

ד"א למרתף גדול של יין סיני התורה שנתפרשת במ"ט פנים כו' ע"ש.

Another interpretation: [He brought me] to a great wine-cellar — this is Sinai, the Torah, which is expounded in forty-nine "faces" (panim); see there.

A second reading: the "house of wine" is the Torah given at Sinai, with its forty-nine gateways of understanding and interpretation.

בית היין הוא המקום שמשם יש התפשטות לע' לשונות.

The "house of wine" is the place from which there is a spreading-out into the seventy languages.

The "house of wine" is the spiritual source from which the world's seventy languages and nations branch out.

ובנ"י נשאר להם זו השפה אחת שהי' מקודם.

And to Bnei Yisrael there remained this "one language" that existed beforehand.

Bnei Yisrael retained the original single language — the unified holy tongue that preceded the dispersion into seventy nations.

והוא כולל כל הע' לשון.

And it includes all of the seventy languages.

This one root-language is not merely one among many; it contains and encompasses all seventy.

ודגלו עלי א'ה'ב'ה גימ' א'ח'ד.

"And His banner over me is love (ahavah)" — its gematria equals "echad (one)."

The numerical value of "ahavah" equals that of "echad," showing that the love between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael expresses their unity and oneness.

ולכן כתיב בבני ישראל ע' נפש לשון יחיד.

Therefore it is written regarding Bnei Yisrael, "seventy souls (nefesh)," in the singular.

Though they were seventy, the Torah calls them a single "nefesh" — because their seventy contain an underlying oneness, unlike the fragmented seventy nations.

ופי' הב' הוא מדריגה שלמעלה מזו לכן רמז מרתף גדול של יין שמשם מתפשט מ"ט פנים וישראל יש להם דביקות בשער החמשים שכולל כל השערים.

And the second interpretation is a level above this one; therefore it alludes to a "great wine-cellar" from which the forty-nine "faces" spread out, and Yisrael have a cleaving (dveikus) to the fiftieth gate, which includes all the gates.

Beyond the level of the seventy languages is a higher one: the Torah's forty-nine gates of understanding flow from a fiftieth, all-encompassing gate, to which Bnei Yisrael are bound.

והגם שבכאן יש נ' שערים ושם ע' לשונות.

And even though here there are fifty gates and there [in the other interpretation] seventy languages.

The Sefas Emes contrasts the two: the realm of Torah has fifty gates, while the realm of the nations has seventy languages.

מ"מ זה הוא מדריגה גבוה מעט הכמות ורב האיכות.

Nevertheless, this [fifty] is a higher level — small in quantity but great in quality.

Though fewer in number than seventy, the fifty gates of Torah are far higher in quality — depth outweighs breadth.

וב' מדריגות אלו הם בחי' חג השבועות חמשים עצרת.

And these two levels are the aspect of Chag HaShavuos, the fiftieth [day], Atzeres.

Shavuos, reached by counting fifty days, embodies this higher quality-level of the fiftieth gate.

והוא מדריגה עליונה שהיו בנ"י מוכנים לזה קודם החטא.

And it is a lofty level for which Bnei Yisrael were prepared before the sin.

Before the sin of the golden calf, Bnei Yisrael were ready to attain this exalted level of the fiftieth gate.

אמרתי אלהים אתם ובני עליון כולכם.

"I said, you are godly beings, and all of you are children of the Most High."

At Sinai they reached an almost angelic stature — "children of the Most High" — by attaining this highest level.

ויש מזה התגלות בחג השבועות.

And there is a revelation of this on Chag HaShavuos.

Each Shavuos there shines forth a measure of this lofty pre-sin level.

וחג הסוכות הוא מדריגה השני' לכן מקריבין ע' פרים.

And Chag HaSukkos is the second level; therefore they offer seventy bulls.

Sukkos corresponds to the lower level of the seventy nations, which is why its korbanos consist of seventy bulls.

ואח"כ שמיני עצרת יהי' לכם שהוא הכולל כל ע' לשונות כמ"ש.

And afterward, Shemini Atzeres, "it shall be for you" — which encompasses all seventy languages, as mentioned.

Shemini Atzeres, "for you" alone, represents the higher, unified level that contains and rises above all seventy nations.

אח"כ מצאתי כזה בשל"ה מס' שבועות:

Afterward, I found similar to this in the Shelah, Maseches Shavuos.

The Sefas Emes notes that he later found a parallel idea in the Shelah HaKadosh's treatment of Shavuos.

Summary: The "house of wine" is the source from which the seventy nations and languages branch out, yet Bnei Yisrael retain the original "one language" that contains them all — their seventy souls being called a single "nefesh," for "ahavah" equals "echad." Above the realm of the seventy languages lies the higher, quality-rich realm of the Torah's fifty gates, rooted in the all-inclusive fiftieth gate to which Bnei Yisrael cleave. This is the level of Shavuos (the fiftieth day) and Shemini Atzeres — the lofty, unified stature Bnei Yisrael were prepared for before the sin — as opposed to the level of the seventy nations marked by Sukkos and its seventy bulls.