Forty Years Completing Torah

במדרש על פסוק ויקרא משה כו' כשם שקיבל התורה בקריאה כן מסרו בקריאה כו' ע"ש

The Midrash comments on the pasuk "And Moshe called" (Devarim 29:1): just as he received the Torah through a calling, so too he transmitted it through a calling, see there at length.

The Sfas Emes opens with a Midrash that links how Moshe received the Torah and how he handed it down: both happened through a "calling."

הענין הוא כי עתה בסוף מ' שנה נגמר קבלות התורה בשלימות

The matter is this: now, at the end of the forty years, the receiving of the Torah was brought to its complete fulfillment.

He frames the central idea: the forty years in the wilderness were not merely a wait, but the process by which receiving the Torah reached full completion.

כי כל דור המדבר הי' בחי' קבלת התורה וכמ"ש במ"א כי כמו שהי' מ' יום בהר כמו יצירת הולד שהוא מ' יום כן הוא ציור רמ"ח ושס"ה שהם פנימיות האדם

For the entire generation of the wilderness was itself an aspect of receiving the Torah, as we have explained elsewhere: just as there were forty days on the mountain, corresponding to the formation of a child, which takes forty days, so too is it the configuration of the two hundred forty-eight limbs and the three hundred sixty-five sinews, which are the inner essence of a person.

The whole wilderness generation was a kind of receiving of the Torah; he draws a parallel between the forty days on Har Sinai and the forty days of a fetus's formation, both shaping the inner structure of a person, the two hundred forty-eight limbs and three hundred sixty-five sinews.

וכמו כן הי' מ' שנה בקבלת בנ"י ממשה רבינו

And in like manner there were forty years in the receiving of the Torah by Bnei Yisrael from Moshe Rabbeinu.

Just as the forty days formed Moshe, so the forty years formed Bnei Yisrael as they received the Torah from Moshe Rabbeinu.

וכמו שבסוף מ' יום ניתן לו התורה במתנה כמ"ש במד' כן ניתן עתה לבנ"י במתנה כמ"ש ולא נתן ה' לכם כו' עד היום הזה

And just as at the end of the forty days the Torah was given to him as a gift, as the Midrash states, so too was it now given to Bnei Yisrael as a gift, as it says, "Yet Hashem has not given you a heart to know... until this day" (Devarim 29:3).

Just as the Torah was given to Moshe as a gift after forty days, so after forty years it was given to Bnei Yisrael as a gift, when their hearts were finally ready to truly know.

ועתה עמדו על דעת משה בשלימות וזה קריאה לשון חבה ודביקות

And now they grasped Moshe's understanding in its completeness, and this is the meaning of "calling" (keriah), which connotes a language of affection and dveikus.

Only now did Bnei Yisrael fully attain Moshe's level of understanding, and the word "calling" expresses the closeness and dveikus of that moment.

ועתה התחיל קיום התורה במעשה שזה העיקר כמ"ש במד' הלומד ואינו מקיים מוטב לו שנהפכה שליתו על פניו

And now the fulfillment of the Torah through action began, which is the main thing, as the Midrash states: one who learns and does not fulfill, it would have been better for him had his afterbirth been turned over his face.

At this point the actual doing of the mitzvos began, which is the true purpose; the Midrash warns sharply that learning without fulfilling makes one's very existence regrettable.

פי' כמו גמר הולד בבטן האם ונעשה כלי מ"מ התכלית הוא לצאת לעולם להשתמש בכלי זה

The explanation is as follows: just as with the completion of a child in the mother's womb, where a vessel has been formed, nevertheless the ultimate purpose is to emerge into the world and make use of this vessel,

He brings a mashal: a fetus is fully formed into a vessel in the womb, yet the entire point is for it to be born and put that vessel to use in the world.

כמו כן התורה הי' משלמת האדם ונעשה כלי לקיים מצות התורה וזה העיקר ודו"ק:

so too the Torah was completing the person, and he became a vessel to fulfill the mitzvos of the Torah, and this is the main thing, and analyze this carefully.

So too, the Torah finished forming the person into a vessel, and the real purpose is to use that vessel to actually fulfill the mitzvos.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that the forty years in the wilderness were the process through which Bnei Yisrael's receiving of the Torah reached full completion. Drawing a parallel to the forty days of a child's formation in the womb and the forty days Moshe spent on Har Sinai, he shows that these years shaped the very inner essence of a person, fashioning him into a vessel for Torah. Just as the Torah was given to Moshe as a gift after forty days, it was now given to Bnei Yisrael as a gift, for only at this point did they fully grasp Moshe Rabbeinu's understanding, with the "calling" expressing closeness and dveikus. But forming the vessel is not the goal: just as a fetus must be born to use its body in the world, the person formed by Torah must now actually fulfill the mitzvos through action. This doing, he stresses, is the true purpose, for one who learns without fulfilling has missed the entire point of his formation.