Torah Gifted Over Forty

בפסוק ולא נתן ה' לכם לב כו' ואזנים לשמוע כו'

On the verse, "But Hashem did not give you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day" (Devarim 29:3).

The Sfas Emes opens by citing Moshe Rabbeinu's words to Bnei Yisrael that only now, after forty years, did Hashem grant them a heart, eyes, and ears to truly grasp the Torah.

דכ' היום הזה נהיית לעם

For it is written, "This day you have become a people unto Hashem your God" (Devarim 27:9).

He links this to the verse spoken at the covenant that 'this day' Bnei Yisrael became a people unto Hashem, pointing to a transformation that happened specifically then.

והגם דחז"ל דרשו על כל יום יהי' בעיניך כחדשים

And although Chazal expounded the verse to mean that on every day the Torah should be in your eyes as something new,

Chazal read 'this day' homiletically, that the Torah should always feel fresh and new to a person each day.

מ"מ הפשוט ג"כ אמת דבסוף הארבעים שנה ניתן להם התורה במתנה

nevertheless, the plain meaning is also true: that at the end of the forty years the Torah was given to them as a gift.

But the Sfas Emes affirms that the literal sense is equally true: a complete giving of the Torah, as a gift, occurred only at the close of the forty years in the wilderness.

כדאיתא במד' גבי מ' יום שהי' מרע"ה במרום ויתן א"מ ככלותו דרשו ששכח עד שנתנה לו הקב"ה לבסוף במתנה ע"ש בפ' כי תשא

As is brought in the Midrash regarding the forty days that Moshe Rabbeinu was on high, on the verse "And He gave to Moshe, when He finished" (Shemos 31:18), where they expounded that he forgot the Torah until the Holy One, Blessed is He, finally gave it to him as a gift — see there in Parshas Ki Sisa.

He supports this from the Midrash that Moshe Rabbeinu kept forgetting the Torah during his forty days on Har Sinai, until the Holy One, Blessed is He, granted it to him as an outright gift at the end.

והנה בנ"י מכח החטא נחשב להם יום לשנה ולא יכלו לתקן עד סוף מ' שנה

And behold, on account of the sin, Bnei Yisrael had a day reckoned for them as a year, and they could not rectify this until the end of forty years.

Because of the sin of the spies, each of the forty days became a year of wandering, and the deficiency could not be repaired until those full forty years had passed.

כי ענין מ' יום וודאי הי' כמו יצירת הוולד שהיא במ' יום

For the matter of the forty days was surely like the formation of the fetus, which takes place over forty days.

The forty-day period parallels the forty days of the fetus's formation in the womb, hinting that Torah, like a person, takes shape over forty.

כן סדר התרי"ג מצות שבתורה שמסודרים נגד האברים והגידין והם בסדר וציור קומה שלימה

So too is the arrangement of the six hundred and thirteen mitzvos of the Torah, which are arranged corresponding to the limbs and the sinews, and they are set in the order and form of a complete stature.

Just as a body is formed limb by limb and sinew by sinew into a complete figure, so the six hundred and thirteen mitzvos correspond to the limbs and sinews and form a whole spiritual stature.

שמקודם קיבלו התורה בכלל אבל בפרטות לסדר כל מצות התורה שזה בחי' תורה שבע"פ

For at first they received the Torah in a general way, but to receive it in detail — to arrange every mitzvah of the Torah, which is the aspect of Torah she'be'al peh, the Oral Torah —

At Sinai they received the Torah in its general form, but the detailed, ordered grasp of every mitzvah — the dimension of Torah she'be'al peh — was not yet complete.

זה ניתן להם בסוף ואז ממש נעשו הוי' חדשה כדכ' נהיית לעם וז"ש ולא נתן כו' לכם לב כו' ואזנים כו'

this was given to them only at the end, and then they truly became a new creation, as it is written, "you have become a people," and this is the meaning of "But Hashem did not give you a heart to know... and eyes... and ears."

That detailed Torah was bestowed only at the end of the forty years, and only then did Bnei Yisrael become a wholly new creation, which is why Moshe could say their full faculties of understanding were granted 'this day.'

ועמ"ש במ"א עוד מזה ובשם הרב מפרשיסחא ז"ל:

And see what I have written elsewhere further on this matter, and in the name of the Rav of Peshischa, of blessed memory.

The Sfas Emes closes by referring to his own further writings on this theme and to a teaching he heard in the name of the Rav of Peshischa.

Summary: The Sfas Emes asks why Moshe Rabbeinu told Bnei Yisrael that only 'this day,' at the end of the forty years in the wilderness, did Hashem grant them a heart, eyes, and ears to truly grasp the Torah. He explains that beyond the homiletic reading that Torah must feel new each day, the plain meaning is true as well: a complete giving of the Torah, as a gift, took place only at the close of those forty years, just as the Midrash describes that Moshe Rabbeinu received the Torah as a gift from the Holy One, Blessed is He, at the end of his forty days on high. The forty days parallel the forty days of a fetus's formation, and just as a body is built limb by limb and sinew by sinew into a complete stature, so the six hundred and thirteen mitzvos correspond to the limbs and sinews and form a complete spiritual figure. At Sinai Bnei Yisrael received the Torah only in general, but the detailed, ordered grasp of every mitzvah — the dimension of Torah she'be'al peh — was bestowed only at the end. Only then did Bnei Yisrael become a truly new creation, fully able to know, see, and hear the Torah.