Unlocking The Heart's Seal
קרוב כו' בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו
"It is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it" (Devarim 30:14).
The Sfas Emes opens with the verse that the Torah is not distant but is found close to a person, in his mouth and his heart, ready to be fulfilled.
במד' הפותח והחותם בתורה מברך לפני' ולאחרי' כו'
The Midrash teaches that the one who opens and the one who concludes the reading of the Torah recites a blessing before it and after it, and so on.
He cites the Midrash that the baal korei's blessings frame the Torah reading — an opening blessing before and a closing blessing after — hinting at the themes of opening and concluding.
כבר כ' מזה כי בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו קרוב אבל צריך להיות הפתיחה בכח התעוררות האדם
It has already been written regarding this verse that 'in your mouth and in your heart, to do it' means it is close at hand — yet the opening must come through the power of a person's own arousal and awakening.
Although the Torah is genuinely within reach, a person cannot access it passively; he must rouse himself and initiate the opening through his own effort.
פותח וחותם הוא בפיך ובלבבך שכ' רש"י התורה ניתנה בכתב ובע"פ
The 'one who opens' and the 'one who concludes' correspond to 'in your mouth and in your heart,' as Rashi explains that the Torah was given both in writing and orally (Torah SheBichsav and Torah SheBe'al Peh).
The 'opening' and 'concluding' map onto the two-fold giving of the Torah — the written Torah and the Oral Torah — corresponding to 'heart' and 'mouth.'
בכתב חרות על לוח לבם של בנ"י שיש בכ"א נקודה קדושה כללת התורה שחתם הקב"ה בלבות בנ"י
The written Torah is engraved upon the tablet of the heart of Bnei Yisrael, for there is within every single Jew a holy point that contains the entire Torah, which the Holy One, Blessed is He, sealed into the hearts of Bnei Yisrael.
The written Torah is imprinted on the heart of every Jew as a holy inner point that encompasses all of Torah, a seal that Hashem fixed into Bnei Yisrael.
לכן אחר שימול ה' ערלת הלב יתגלה חותם זה
Therefore, after Hashem circumcises the foreskin of the heart (Devarim 30:6), this seal will be revealed.
When Hashem removes the blockage of the heart, as the Torah promises, this hidden seal becomes revealed.
ובע"פ היא פתיחת החותם שע"י כח הפה מתעורר נקודת הלב
The Oral Torah is the opening of that seal, for through the power of the mouth the point of the heart is aroused and awakened.
The Oral Torah serves to break open that seal, since speaking words of Torah with the mouth awakens the dormant point within the heart.
וזה נק' פתוחי חותם שביד תנועת מוצאות הפה לפתוח חתימת הלב
This is what is called 'the engravings of a seal' (pituchei chosam) (Shemos 28:11), for it lies in the power of the movement of the points of articulation of the mouth to unlock the sealing of the heart.
He connects this to the phrase 'engravings of a seal' from the Kohen Gadol's garments — the articulated speech of the mouth has the power to release what is sealed in the heart.
והבן
Understand this well.
A brief instruction to ponder the depth of this idea.
וצריכין לראות לדבק כל המעשים בשורש הנקודה שיש בלב מתנת שמים וזה הברכה של בחותם התורה:
We must take care to attach all of our actions to the root of that point which lies in the heart — a gift of Heaven — and this is the blessing that one recites when sealing the Torah reading.
The avodah is to bind every one of our deeds back to that Heaven-given point in the heart, and that connection is the meaning of the concluding blessing over the Torah.
Summary: The Sfas Emes builds on the verse that the Torah is close to a person, 'in your mouth and in your heart, to do it,' and links it to the Midrash about the blessings that open and conclude the Torah reading. He explains that 'heart' and 'mouth' correspond to the written and Oral Torah: the written Torah is a holy point sealed by Hashem into the heart of every Jew, containing the whole Torah, while the Oral Torah is the means of opening that seal. Through the articulated speech of the mouth, a person arouses the dormant point hidden in his heart, just as the 'engravings of a seal' suggest that speech can unlock what is sealed within. The avodah is to take the initiative to awaken this inner point and to attach all of one's actions to its root, the Heaven-given gift within the heart — and this connection is the deeper meaning of the blessing recited upon sealing the Torah reading.