Torah as inheritance and gift

שמחת תורה הוא לשמוח במה שמקבלין דברי הקב"ה.

Simchas Torah is to rejoice in receiving the words of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

The joy of Simchas Torah is not over our own accomplishment but over the privilege of receiving Hashem's words — the Torah itself as a gift from Him.

כי עיקר פי' תורה הוא הלימוד מה שלא ידע עד עתה.

For the essential meaning of "Torah" is the teaching of that which one did not know until now.

The very word "Torah" implies instruction — being taught something new and beyond one's prior grasp.

ואף כי פשוט הידיעה נותן שמחה.

And although, simply understood, it is knowing that gives joy.

One might assume the joy of Torah comes from understanding and mastering what one learns.

אבל בנ"י שמחין בביטול ידיעתם רק לדבר ה' אף שאין מובן להם.

But Bnei Yisrael rejoice in the nullification of their own knowing — solely for the word of Hashem, even though it is not understood by them.

The deeper joy of Bnei Yisrael is the opposite: in bittul, setting aside their own understanding to embrace Hashem's word for its own sake, rejoicing even in what they cannot comprehend.

וכ' תורה צוה לנו להיות דבקין ובטלין לחיות התורה.

And it is written, "Torah He commanded us" — to be attached and nullified, to live by the Torah.

The verse (Devarim 33:4) expresses our bond to Torah: to cling to it in deveikus and bittul, drawing our very life from it.

מורשה אחז"ל אל תקרי מורשה אלא מאורסה.

"An inheritance (morashah)" — Chazal said: do not read morashah (inheritance) but me'orasah (betrothed).

The Gemara rereads the word "inheritance" as "betrothed," likening our bond with the Torah to the intimate, loving bond of a betrothal.

וגם ארז"ל אינו ירושה לך.

And Chazal also said, "It is not an inheritance for you" (i.e., it does not come to you automatically as an inheritance).

Elsewhere Chazal teach the reverse: Torah is not simply handed down to a person as a passive inheritance — it must be earned.

ודאי מי שהוא בכלל ישראל בודאי נאמר מורשה.

Certainly, regarding one who is within the category of Yisrael, "inheritance" is indeed said.

For a Jew who is fully part of Klal Yisrael, the Torah truly is an inheritance — his birthright as a member of the nation.

אבל אין האדם יכול לבוא אל בחי' זו רק כשמתקין עצמו להיות בטל לכנס"י כמ"ש קהלת יעקב.

But a person cannot come to this level except when he prepares himself to be nullified to Knesses Yisrael, as it is written, "the congregation of Yaakov."

Yet that inheritance is accessed only by one who makes himself part of the whole — nullifying his individual self into Knesses Yisrael, the collective body of "the congregation of Yaakov." Belonging, in bittul, to the nation is what unlocks the birthright.

וכפי היגיעה זוכה ג"כ בדרך ירושה ומתנה [כמ"ש במ"א פי' יגעתי ומצאתי בשם אא"ז מו"ר ז"ל]:

And according to the toil (yegiah), he merits it also by way of inheritance and gift — [as is explained elsewhere on "I toiled and I found," in the name of my grandfather, my teacher, of blessed memory].

Both ideas are true at once: through his own toil a person earns the Torah, yet what he then attains comes also as an inheritance and an unearned gift. This resolves Chazal's saying "I toiled and I found" — the "finding" is a gift, but it comes only after the toil.

Summary: The joy of Simchas Torah is not over what we understand but over receiving Hashem's word in bittul — rejoicing even in what we cannot grasp. Torah is at once an inheritance (the birthright of every Jew bound in betrothal-like love to it) and something not automatically given: it is reached only by nullifying oneself into Knesses Yisrael. Through toil one earns it, yet what is attained comes also as inheritance and gift — "I toiled and I found."