Inner Gates Of Listening

במדרש אשרי א' שומע לי כו' ששמועותיו לי לשקוד ע"ד אל תעמוד בדלת החיצון להתפלל ע"ש כל המדרש

The Midrash expounds on the verse "Fortunate is the man who listens to Me" (Mishlei 8:34) — "whose hearings are to Me," to be diligent, in keeping with what it says, "do not stand at the outer doorway to daven," as the entire Midrash there explains.

The Sfas Emes opens with the Midrash on "Fortunate is the man who listens to Me," which teaches one to be diligent in tefillah and not to remain merely at the outer doorway.

ומ"ש אל תהי זז מבתי כנסיות ובתי מדרשות קשה לפרש כפשוטו להיות כל היום והלילה בבת"כ וב"מ

And that which the Midrash says, "do not budge from the shuls and the batei midrash," is difficult to explain according to its plain meaning — that one should literally remain in shul and the beis midrash all day and all night.

He notes the difficulty in taking the Midrash's instruction not to leave the shul and beis midrash literally, since no one could actually stay there day and night.

אלא וודאי רמז המדרש כי אלה השערים והדלתות הם פתחי שערי בינה ודיעה שבלב ונפש

Rather, certainly the Midrash is alluding to the idea that these gates and doors are the openings of the gates of binah (understanding) and daas (knowledge) that reside in the heart and the neshamah.

Therefore he explains that the "gates" and "doors" the Midrash speaks of are really the inner openings of understanding and knowledge within a person's heart and neshamah.

וכמו שהמזוזה קבוע בדלת כמו כן ברית מילה קבוע בפתח האדם

And just as the mezuzah is affixed upon the doorway, so too the bris milah is fixed at the opening of a person.

He draws a parallel: just as a mezuzah is set upon a physical doorway, the bris milah is set upon the spiritual opening of a person.

ויש ברית הלשון וברית המעור שני שערים ולהם ב' דלתות שהרי לא כ' דלתי שהי' משמע ג"כ שנים רק דלתותי רק שיש לכל פתח ב' דלתות במילה ופריעה

And there is the bris of the tongue and the bris of the milah — two gateways, and they have two doors; for the verse does not write "My door" (which would also have implied two), but rather "My doors," except that each opening has two doors, in milah and pri'ah.

He identifies two such gateways in a person — the tongue and the milah — each with two doors, learning from the plural "My doors" that milah and pri'ah are the two leaves of one opening.

וגם בפה השפתים והשיניים

And so too with the mouth — the lips and the teeth.

He extends the same image to the mouth, whose two doors are the lips and the teeth.

וברית מילה נק' בית הכנסת שהוא התקשרות כל הגוף וברית הלשון בית המדרש

And the bris milah is called "beis haknesses," the shul, for it is the binding together of the entire body, while the bris of the tongue is the "beis hamidrash."

He assigns the names: the bris milah, which binds the whole body together, is the "shul," and the bris of the tongue is the "beis hamidrash."

והנה דלת החיצון הוא תיקון הגוף שהגשמיות מסתיר ומכסה הפנימיות ובשבירת הטבע והגשמיות הוסר המכסה ואז נקרא אדם וצריך להיות שוקד לשמוע דבר ה' והיא פתיחות הפנימיות

Now, the outer door is the rectification of the body, for the physicality conceals and covers over the inwardness; and through the breaking of one's nature and physicality the covering is removed, and then he is called "adam" (man), and he must be diligent to hear the word of Hashem — and that is the opening up of the inwardness.

The "outer door" represents fixing the body, because physicality hides one's inner self; breaking through that physicality removes the covering, earns one the title "adam," and opens him to hear Hashem's word.

וזה הרמז בשעה ששמועותיו לי שמקודם עדיין לא הי' מוכן לשמיעה זו

And this is the allusion in "at the time when his hearings are to Me" — that beforehand he was not yet prepared for this hearing.

This explains "at the time when his hearings are to Me" — the word "time" signals that earlier the person was not yet ready to truly hear.

ובאמת כפי פעולת האדם להסיר מכסה החיצוניות כך נפתח לו שערי פנימיות

And in truth, according to a person's effort to remove the covering of the outwardness, so are the gates of inwardness opened to him.

He states the principle that a person's inner gates open in exact measure to his effort in stripping away the external covering.

וז"ש שהקב"ה מונה פסיעותיך ונותן לך שכר

And this is what is meant by the teaching that the Holy One, Blessed is He, counts your footsteps and gives you reward.

He ties this to the teaching that Hashem counts each of a person's footsteps and rewards them.

שעל כל פסיעה קטנה שמרחק עצמו מן הגשמיות נגלה לו הארה פנימיות שזה לעומת זה עשה

For with every small step by which a person distances himself from physicality, an inner illumination is revealed to him — for "this corresponding to that did Hashem make" (Koheles 7:14).

Every small step away from physicality reveals a corresponding inner light, in keeping with "this corresponding to that did Hashem make."

ובכל נפש ישראל נגנז אור תורה אבל הוא כמו יין שצריך חותם בתוך חותם ואשרי אדם שומע:

And within every neshamah of Bnei Yisrael the light of Torah is hidden away; but it is like wine that requires a seal within a seal — and fortunate is the man who listens.

He concludes that the light of Torah lies hidden in every Jew's neshamah, sealed away like fine wine, and only the one who listens and works to uncover it is truly fortunate.

Summary: The Sfas Emes reframes the Midrash's call to never leave the shul and beis midrash, explaining that the "gates" and "doors" are really the inner openings of understanding and knowledge within a person's heart and neshamah. Just as a mezuzah sits on a doorway, the bris milah and the bris of the tongue are the two spiritual gateways of a person, each with its own pair of doors. The "outer door" is the body, whose physicality conceals one's inner self; by breaking his coarse nature a person removes that covering, earns the name "adam," and becomes able to hear the word of Hashem. The measure of inner light revealed corresponds exactly to one's effort to strip away the outer shell, which is why the Holy One, Blessed is He, counts every footstep of distancing from physicality and rewards it with a flash of inner illumination. The light of Torah lies sealed within every neshamah of Bnei Yisrael like fine wine, and fortunate is the one who labors to listen and uncover it.