Moshe hearing on behalf of the community

קרב אתה ושמע.

"You draw near and hear" (Devarim 5:24).

After the giving of the Aseres Hadibros, Bnei Yisrael asked Moshe to draw near and hear in their stead. The Sefas Emes is troubled by the word 'draw near.'

וקשה לשון קרב כי שם הי' עומד רק הם נתרחקו והוא נשאר במקומו.

And the expression "draw near" (kerav) is difficult, for he was already standing there; it was they who drew away, while he remained in his place.

Moshe never moved — he was already close to Hashem. It was the people who pulled back. So why tell Moshe to 'draw near' when he had not retreated at all?

אכן מסרו לו את כח הקבלה שלהם להיות שומע בעבורם ג"כ.

Rather, they handed over to him their own power of receiving, so that he should be a hearer on their behalf as well.

"Draw near" does not mean a physical step. The people transferred to Moshe their collective capacity to receive, so that his hearing would now include and represent theirs.

כי אינו דומה השומע לעצמו להשומע בעבור הצבור:

For one who hears for himself is not comparable to one who hears on behalf of the tzibbur (community).

Hearing as the agent of the entire community is a far greater, more elevated act than hearing for oneself alone. By taking on the people's power of reception, Moshe rose to that higher level — and that is the deeper 'drawing near.'

Summary: When Bnei Yisrael told Moshe "draw near and hear," they were not asking him to move — he was already close. Rather, they invested in him their own power of receiving, so that he would hear the Torah as the representative of the whole community. Hearing on behalf of the tzibbur is incomparably greater than hearing for oneself, and that elevation is the true 'drawing near.'