Torah And Tefillah Daily
במדרש אשרי א' שומע לי כו' לשקוד כו' דלת לפנים מדלת
In the Midrash, the verse states, "Praiseworthy is the man who listens to Me... to be diligent... [at My doors day by day, watching] at the doorposts of My entrances" (Mishlei 8:34) — a door within a door.
The Sfas Emes opens with a verse the Midrash darshens about the man who listens to Hashem and stands watch at His doors — picturing a door set within an inner door.
העיקר עבודה בכל יום תורה ותפלה שומע לי בחי' תורה וזה ק"ש בכל יום שמע ישראל
The essence of avodah every single day is Torah and tefillah: "who listens to Me" is the aspect of Torah, and this is Krias Shema each day, "Shema Yisrael."
He maps the daily avodah onto these two pillars: Torah and tefillah. "Listening to Me" is Torah, expressed in the daily Krias Shema.
לשקוד ע"ד היא תפלה
"To be diligent at My doors day by day" refers to tefillah.
The phrase about diligently watching at Hashem's doors he reads as a reference to tefillah.
ולכן ק"ש קודם התפלה כמ"ש בגמ' עץ חיים תאוה באה
And this is why Krias Shema comes before the tefillah, as is stated in the Gemara, "a tree of life that the desire fulfills" (Mishlei 13:12).
This explains the order of davening: Krias Shema (Torah) precedes Shemoneh Esrei (tefillah), supported by the Gemara's image of Torah as a tree of life from which fulfillment flows.
וכל התורה צריך להיות כדי להתקרב על ידה להקב"ה זה שומע לי לשמי כדי לשקוד על דלתותי
All of one's Torah must be in order to draw close to the Holy One, Blessed is He, through it — this is "who listens to Me," for My sake, in order to be diligent at My doors.
The purpose of all Torah study is to come close to the Holy One, Blessed is He, through it — learning for His sake so as to then stand at His doors in tefillah.
וכשהתפלה מתוך דברי תורה זוכה לכנוס דלת לפנים מדלת
And when one's tefillah comes out of words of Torah, he merits to enter a door within a door.
When tefillah grows out of words of Torah, a person merits to pass through the inner door, reaching a deeper closeness to Hashem.
וכ"כ במד' אם שמוע לתורה ומצות תשמע את תפלתך
And so too the Midrash states: "If you will surely listen" to Torah and mitzvos, "you will hear" your own tefillah.
He brings a second Midrash teaching that listening to Torah and mitzvos is what makes one's own tefillah heard.
ועל ב' אלו כ' את ה' האמרת וה' האמירך
And concerning these two it is written, "You have distinguished Hashem... and Hashem has distinguished you" (Devarim 26:17-18).
Both pillars are alluded to in the verse describing the mutual distinguishing between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael.
כי בנ"י זכו שניתנה להם התורה זה האמרת כי המה תבעו בלב עד שזכו שגילה להם הקב"ה עשרת הדיברות
For Bnei Yisrael merited that the Torah was given to them — this is "You have distinguished Hashem," for they yearned for it in their hearts until they merited that the Holy One, Blessed is He, revealed to them the Ten Commandments.
"You have distinguished Hashem" corresponds to Torah: Bnei Yisrael longed for it until Hashem revealed the Ten Commandments to them.
וה' האמירך בחי' תפלה כמו שמקדימין ה' שפתי תפתח כי זה הכח נפתח משמים בלב איש ישראל שיוכל לפתוח פיו לפני ה'
And "Hashem has distinguished you" is the aspect of tefillah, just as we preface the tefillah with "Hashem, open my lips" (Tehillim 51:17), for this power is opened from Heaven within the heart of a Yid, that he should be able to open his mouth before Hashem.
"Hashem has distinguished you" corresponds to tefillah: just as we open with "Hashem, open my lips," the very ability to daven is a power Hashem opens within the Yid's heart.
וזה בחי' תורה שבעל פה אשר נטע בתוכינו
And this is the aspect of Torah She'be'al Peh, which He has implanted within us.
This implanted power of tefillah is itself the aspect of Torah She'be'al Peh, the Oral Torah Hashem placed within us.
וב' אלו צריך איש ישראל לעורר בכל יום:
And these two a Yid must arouse every single day.
The Sfas Emes concludes that a Yid is obligated to awaken both of these — Torah and tefillah — anew each and every day.
Summary: The Sfas Emes builds the daily avodah of a Yid around two pillars: Torah and tefillah, which he reads into the verse "Praiseworthy is the man who listens to Me, to be diligent at My doors," picturing a door within a door. "Listening to Me" is Torah, embodied in Krias Shema, while "being diligent at My doors" is tefillah; this is why Krias Shema precedes the davening, since tefillah that grows out of words of Torah merits to pass through the inner door to a deeper closeness with the Holy One, Blessed is He. He anchors both in the verse "You have distinguished Hashem and Hashem has distinguished you": the first reflects Torah, which Bnei Yisrael yearned for until Hashem revealed the Ten Commandments, and the second reflects tefillah, the very power to open one's mouth before Hashem, which is the implanted aspect of Torah She'be'al Peh. The avodah, he concludes, is to awaken both Torah and tefillah anew every single day.