Torah Received as Gift

וממדבר מתנה

"And from the wilderness, a gift" (Bamidbar 21:18).

The Sfas Emes opens with the words of the pasuk describing the well of water that came to Bnei Yisrael as a matnah, a gift, after they passed through the wilderness.

דמקודם חשיב המעלות שיכולין לקנות התורה על ידיהם שהוא עפ"י הדין במ"ח דברים התורה נקנית זהו חפרוה שרים כו' נדיבי עם כו'

For beforehand the pasuk enumerates the qualities through which one is able to acquire the Torah, which is in accordance with the halachah that the Torah is acquired through forty-eight things; this is the meaning of "the princes dug it... the nobles of the people" (Bamidbar 21:18) — referring to those who labor and acquire the Torah through their own merits and exertion.

He explains that the Torah is first acquired through hard-earned avodah and merit — the path of halachah symbolized by the "princes" and "nobles" who dig for it through their own exertion and the forty-eight qualities by which the Torah is acquired.

אח"כ וממדבר מתנה שיש ג"כ דרך אפילו לאינם ראוים שיזכו במתנה לזו הבאר ע"י הביטול שנמשכים אחר הקב"ה באמונה

Afterwards comes "and from the wilderness, a gift" (matnah) — teaching that there is also a path even for those who are not worthy by their own merit, whereby they may yet merit this well as a gift, through bittul (self-nullification), in that they draw themselves after the Ribono shel Olam with emunah (faith).

Beyond the path of earned merit there is a second path: even one who is not worthy can receive the well of Torah freely as a gift, through bittul and by faithfully drawing himself after the Ribono shel Olam with simple emunah.

וזה פי הבאר שנפתח בע"ש כי שבת נק' מתנה טובה ולכן בשבת הביטול כל מלאכות בחי' ממדבר מתנה כנ"ל:

And this is the meaning of "the mouth of the well" that was opened on Erev Shabbos, for Shabbos is called "a good gift" — and therefore on Shabbos the bittul of all melachos is itself the aspect of "from the wilderness, a gift," as explained above.

He ties this to Shabbos, which Chazal call "a good gift," for on Shabbos a Yid ceases all melachah and nullifies his own doing, and that very bittul embodies the dimension of "from the wilderness, a gift" — receiving the Torah without having earned it through his own labor.

Summary: In this piece the Sfas Emes reads the pasuk "and from the wilderness, a gift" (Bamidbar 21:18) as describing two distinct paths to acquiring the Torah, both hinted at in the well of water. The first is the path of earned merit — the way of halachah, symbolized by the "princes" and "nobles" who dig for the Torah through their own avodah and the forty-eight qualities by which the Torah is acquired. The second, signaled by the word matnah (gift), is open even to those who have not earned it: through bittul (self-nullification) and faithful attachment to the Ribono shel Olam in emunah, they merit the well of Torah as a free gift. The Sfas Emes then connects this to Shabbos, which Chazal call "a good gift," explaining that the cessation of all melachos on Shabbos is itself the embodiment of this gift-dimension, in which the Torah is received not through one's own doing but through bittul and self-surrender to Hashem.