Standing Forever at the Doorway
במדרש שמוע תשמע
In the Midrash on the verse "If you will surely hearken" (shamo'a tishma).
The Sfas Emes opens with a Midrash on the doubled language "if you will surely hearken," linking it to a verse in Mishlei about standing watch at Hashem's doorways.
לשקוד על דלתותי כו'
It expounds the verse "to watch diligently at My doorways" (Mishlei 8:34).
He notes this Mishlei verse speaks of diligently watching at the doorways, a theme he develops here.
כ"כ במ"א
I have written similarly elsewhere.
He references that he has discussed this idea in another place.
והעיקר לשמור הפתח בכל זמן אף כי יעלה אדם לכמה מדרגות צריך לזכור שהוא עני עומד בפתח
The main point is to guard the doorway at all times: even though a person may ascend to many lofty levels, he must remember that he is a pauper standing at the doorway.
The essential avodah is to keep guarding the entryway constantly; no matter how high one climbs, one must stay humble, like a poor man at the door.
כי כל עבודת האדם בעוה"ז הדומה לפרוזדור רק הכנה לכנוס לטרקלין ויש דלת לפנים מדלת
For all of a person's avodah in this world, which is likened to an antechamber, is merely a preparation to enter the inner chamber, and there is always a door within a door.
This world is only a corridor leading to the inner palace, and there is always a deeper threshold yet to cross, so the work of entering never ends.
וז"ש אשרי כו' לשקוד על דלתותי אף שמאשרין אותו א"כ הוא איש צדיק אעפ"כ לשקוד ע"ד וזה אשוריו בשעה ששמועותיו לי שזאת השמיעה היא יותר חביב מהמדרגה שמשיג ע"י השמיעה
This is the meaning of "Fortunate is the man... to watch diligently at My doorways" (Mishlei 8:34): even though he is praised — meaning that he is already a righteous person, a tzaddik — nonetheless he must continue to watch diligently at the doorways. And this is his good fortune: at the moment that he is hearkening to Me, for this very act of hearkening is more precious than the level he attains through that hearkening.
Even a person already praised as a tzaddik must keep watching at the doorways; his real fortune lies in the very act of listening to Hashem, which is dearer than whatever level that listening earns him.
לכן אם שמוע תשמע תמיד כנ"ל
Therefore, "if you will surely hearken" — continually, as explained above.
Hence the doubled "surely hearken" teaches that this listening must be ongoing and never-ending.
שלא תהי' זז מהפתח כנ"ל: עוד במד' העונה אמן בעוה"ז זוכה לענות אמן בעוה"ב
That a person should never budge from the doorway, as explained above. Further, in the Midrash: whoever answers "Amen" in this world merits to answer "Amen" in the World to Come (Olam Haba).
One must never move away from the doorway. He then brings a second Midrash: answering Amen in this world earns one the merit of answering Amen in the World to Come.
והיינו ע"י הביטול שמבקש להיות נמשך אחר האמת אף שאינו מבין הדבר על בוריו
And this is accomplished through bittul — that a person seeks to be drawn after the truth even though he does not fully grasp the matter in its clarity.
This works through bittul: a person willingly lets himself be drawn after the truth even when he cannot fully understand it.
זוכה גם לע"ל להיות נמשך אחר מקומות שלמעלה ממדרגתו
He thereby merits, also in the future, to be drawn after places that are above his own level.
Because of that self-surrender, he will later merit to be drawn upward to levels beyond his current reach.
וזאת האמונה היא שאמרו בא חבקוק והעמידן על אחת וצדיק באמונתו יחי'
And this emunah is what the Sages meant when they said that Chavakuk came and established all the mitzvos upon one principle: "And a righteous person shall live through his emunah" (Chavakuk 2:4).
This emunah is the one principle to which Chavakuk reduced all the mitzvos: the tzaddik lives by his emunah.
פי' אף שהוא צדיק אעפ"כ ע"י אמונה שרודף תמיד לבטל עצמו עוד יותר ויותר להבורא ית' שיודע שעדיין מבחוץ
The explanation is: even though he is a tzaddik, nonetheless, through emunah — by constantly striving to nullify himself ever more and more before the Borei Yisbarach, recognizing that he is still on the outside —
Even a tzaddik must keep using emunah to nullify himself further before the Creator, always aware that he has not yet truly entered.
עי"ז יש קיום לעבודתו עד עתה
through this, his avodah until now is given enduring existence.
This ongoing self-nullification is what grants lasting validity to all the avodah he has done up to now.
וקיום כל המעשים טובים הוא ע"י ההכנעה וביטול עצמו
And the endurance of all good deeds comes about through submission (hachna'ah) and self-nullification.
Good deeds endure only when accompanied by humility and self-effacement.
עי"ז מתקיים העבודה
Through this, the avodah is sustained and endures.
It is precisely this submission that keeps one's avodah alive and permanent.
ואמרו גדול העונה אמן יותר מהמברך כו'
And the Sages said: greater is the one who answers "Amen" than the one who recites the berachah.
The Sfas Emes cites the teaching that answering Amen is greater than reciting the berachah itself.
אמן הוא הרצון להיות נמשך אחר האמת והרצון יוכל להיות בשלימות לעשות באמת כרצונו ית'
"Amen" is the ratzon, the desire, to be drawn after the truth — and the desire can be perfect, to truly carry out the will of the Borei Yisbarach.
Amen expresses the pure desire to follow the truth; while a deed is always flawed, the inner desire to do Hashem's will can be complete.
אבל המעשה א"א להיות בלי חסרון וע"י הרצון והאמונה מתקיים המעשה כנ"ל:
But the deed itself can never be without some deficiency, and it is through the desire and the emunah that the deed is given enduring existence, as explained above.
Since no action is ever perfect, it is the wholehearted desire and emunah behind it that give the deed its lasting standing.
Summary: The Sfas Emes teaches that the heart of avodah is to remain forever standing at the doorway, like a pauper who never presumes he has arrived, for this world is only an antechamber to ever-deeper inner chambers. Even a tzaddik must keep listening to Hashem and continually nullify himself, since the very act of hearkening and self-surrender is more precious than the lofty level it produces. This is the emunah upon which Chavakuk established all the mitzvos — "the righteous shall live by his emunah" — for it is humility and bittul that give lasting existence to every good deed. So too, answering Amen is greater than the berachah itself, because Amen is the perfect ratzon to be drawn after the truth and to fulfill Hashem's will. Since no deed is ever free of deficiency, it is this desire and emunah that sustain and perfect a person's avodah.