Oral Torah revealed through toil lishmah

במשנה דאבות אוי להם לבריות מעלבונה של תורה.

In the Mishnah in Avos: "Woe to the creatures from the insult (elbon) of the Torah."

The Mishnah laments the "shame" or "insult" caused to the Torah. The Sefas Emes will explain what this slight to the Torah refers to.

זה על בחי' תורה שבע"פ.

This refers to the aspect of Torah she'b'al peh (the Oral Torah).

The "insult to the Torah" specifically concerns the Oral Torah, whose honor depends on people engaging with it.

כי תורה שבכתב מונחת בקרן זוית.

For the Written Torah lies [fixed] in a corner.

The Torah she'biksav has a permanent, unchanging form — it simply sits there, set and complete, regardless of whether anyone learns it.

אבל תורה שבע"פ הוא כפי העוסקין בה כך מתגלה כח התורה.

But the Oral Torah — according to those who toil in it, so the power of the Torah is revealed.

The Oral Torah is different: its light shines forth only to the extent that people involve themselves in it. The koach of Torah becomes revealed through the effort of those who learn.

דאיתא בגמ' או יחזק במעוזי יעשה שלום כו' שלום יעשה.

As it is taught in the Gemara: "or let him take hold of My stronghold (ma'uzi) and make peace [with Me]; peace let him make [with Me]" (Yeshayahu 27:5).

The doubled "make peace… peace let him make" hints at a twofold peace — one made above and one below — accomplished by grasping Hashem's "stronghold," which Chazal understand as the Torah.

העוסק בתורה לשמה עושה שלום בפמליא של מעלה ושל מטה.

One who engages in Torah lishmah (for its own sake) makes peace in the heavenly retinue (pamalya shel ma'alah) and in the lower one.

Learning Torah lishmah has cosmic effect: it creates harmony both among the upper, heavenly hosts and in the lower world — the double "shalom" of the verse.

וזה הענין כמו שני המאורות חמה ולבנה והרבה הקב"ה הכוכבים לפייס הלבנה שנתמעטה.

And this matter is like the two luminaries, the sun and the moon, and the Holy One multiplied the stars to appease the moon, which was diminished.

The Sefas Emes draws on the Midrash: the moon was made smaller than the sun, and to console it Hashem surrounded it with many stars. This becomes a model for the relationship between the two Torahs.

וזה רמז לתורה שבכתב ושבע"פ.

And this is a hint to the Written Torah and the Oral Torah.

The sun corresponds to the Written Torah (greater, self-illuminating) and the moon to the Oral Torah (which has no light of its own); the stars are Israel's souls.

ונשמות בנ"י שנמשלו ככוכבים הם העושים שלום ומחברין ב' התורות.

And the souls of Bnei Yisrael, which are compared to stars, are the ones who make peace and join together the two Torahs.

Just as the stars accompany and "comfort" the moon, the neshamos of Israel — likened to stars — make the peace by connecting and uniting the Written and Oral Torahs through their learning.

וכמו הלבנה אין לה רק מאור החמה כמו כן תורה שבע"פ הוא מתורה שבכתב.

And just as the moon has only the light of the sun, so too the Oral Torah is [drawn] from the Written Torah.

The moon merely reflects the sun's light; similarly, the entire Oral Torah derives its content from, and reflects, the Written Torah.

וזה כל אסמכתות ודרשות שבדברי חז"ל.

And this is [the basis of] all the asmachtos (textual supports) and derashos (expositions) in the words of Chazal.

Every supporting allusion and homiletical derivation of the Sages is rooted in the Written Torah — the Oral Torah draws its light from there.

שהכל נרמז בתורה שבכתב.

For everything is hinted at in the Written Torah.

Nothing in the Oral Torah is truly independent; it is all latent and alluded to within the Written Torah, waiting to be drawn out.

וע"י הת"ח העוסקין לשמה מתגלה הארת התורה בכל המעשים.

And through the talmidei chachamim who toil [in Torah] lishmah, the illumination of the Torah is revealed in all deeds.

When scholars learn for the sake of Heaven, they draw the Torah's hidden light out of the Written Torah and into all the practical mitzvos and actions of life.

כי המצוה יש בה מתורה שבכתב ושבע"פ.

For the mitzvah contains [elements] from the Written Torah and from the Oral Torah.

Every mitzvah is composed of both: the command rooted in the Written Torah and its detailed application supplied by the Oral Torah.

כי התורה שבכתב בעצמה היא אלקית רק שנתלבש אור התורה באלה המצות שלפנינו.

For the Written Torah in itself is Divine (Elokis), except that the light of the Torah has become clothed in these mitzvos that are before us.

In its pure form the Written Torah is wholly Divine. The mitzvos are the "garments" into which that Divine light descends and clothes itself, making it accessible in practical form.

וזה כמו ירידה רק העוסקין בתורה לשמה מאירין הדברים ומתיחדין בשורש התורה לכן נק' עלבונה של תורה כשאין עוסקין בה.

And this is like a descent; only those who engage in Torah lishmah illuminate these matters and unite them with the root of the Torah — therefore it is called "the insult of the Torah" when people do not engage in it.

The clothing of Torah's light in mitzvos is a kind of "coming down." Only learners who toil lishmah re-illuminate these mitzvos and reconnect them to their supernal root. When people neglect this learning, the Divine light remains trapped in its lowered garments, unredeemed — and that is the very "elbon," the insult, suffered by the Torah.

ובמ"א כתבתי עוד ע"ש כוכב כי הוא שם הוי"ה וכ"ב אותיות שבהם נברא העולם.

And elsewhere I have written further on the matter of "kochav (star)," that it is the Name Havayah and the twenty-two letters with which the world was created.

The Sefas Emes notes a further teaching: the word "kochav" alludes to the Divine Name Havayah together with the twenty-two letters of the alef-beis, the very letters through which the world was brought into being.

וכוכב יש בו מב' הבחי'.

And the "star" contains [something] of both aspects.

The kochav thus combines both dimensions — the Divine Name (corresponding to the higher, Written Torah) and the letters of creation (the lower realm) — bridging them.

וכמו כן בנ"י נשמות וגופות נמשלו לכוכבים:

And likewise Bnei Yisrael — souls and bodies — are compared to stars.

Israel too is a "star" uniting both aspects: a neshamah from the upper realm and a guf in the lower, and by toiling in Torah they join the two Torahs and the upper and lower worlds, just as the star bridges Name and letters.

Summary: The "insult to the Torah" of the Mishnah refers to the Oral Torah, whose light is revealed only through those who toil in it. Like the moon that has no light of its own but reflects the sun, the Oral Torah draws everything from the Written Torah, where all of it is hinted. The Divine light of the Written Torah "descends" and clothes itself in the practical mitzvos, and only learners who study lishmah re-illuminate those mitzvos and reunite them with their root — making peace above and below. The souls of Israel, likened to stars (uniting the Divine Name and the letters of creation), are the ones who join the two Torahs together.