Torah as fire, joined through bittul

מימינו אש דת כו' אף חובב עמים כו' תכו לרגליך ישא כו'.

"From His right hand a fiery law unto them... Indeed, He loves the peoples... they gather at Your feet, he bears [Your words]..." (Devarim 33:2-3).

The Sefas Emes opens with these verses from Vezos Haberachah, which he will expound: the Torah as fire, Hashem's love for His people, and their gathering at His feet.

פי' אש דת שהנהגת התורה היא למעלה משכל האנושי.

The meaning of "fiery law" (aish das) is that the conduct of the Torah is above human intellect.

The Torah is called "fire" because its ways transcend ordinary human reasoning — it operates on a level higher than the mind can grasp.

כמ"ש כה דברי כאש כו' ומ"מ ניתן לבנ"י [וזה שהראה למשה הסנה איננו אוכל שבנ"י דבקים באש התורה כמ"ש בזוה"ק וארא].

As it is written, "Behold, My word is like fire" (Yirmiyahu 23:29); and nevertheless it was given to Bnei Yisrael. [And this is what was shown to Moshe in the burning bush that "was not consumed" — that Bnei Yisrael cling to the fire of the Torah, as stated in the Zohar HaKadosh, Va'eira.]

Though the Torah is a consuming fire, it was entrusted to Bnei Yisrael. The bush that burned but was not consumed hints that Bnei Yisrael can cleave to this fire and not be destroyed by it — they live within the fire of Torah.

אף חובב עמים מלשון עוממות.

"Indeed He loves the peoples" (af choveiv amim) — from the language of "dimming" (omemos, embers).

The Sefas Emes reads "amim" not as "peoples" but as related to "omemos," dimmed or banked coals — hinting at Jews whose fire of Torah burns low.

אף שיש אנשים בישראל שאינו בוער בהם כל כך אש התלהבות התורה.

Even though there are people among Yisrael in whom the fire of enthusiasm for Torah does not burn so strongly —

Not every Jew is aflame with passion for Torah; some have only dim, banked coals of hisorerus (arousal).

מ"מ על ידי הביטול לכלל ישראל והקדושים שבישראל בידך כו'.

nevertheless, through bittul (self-nullification) to Klal Yisrael and to the holy ones among Yisrael — "[all His holy ones are] in Your hand" —

The Jew with dim fire is not lost: by nullifying himself to the whole of Klal Yisrael and binding himself to the tzaddikim, he draws on their blazing fire.

והם השפלים תוכו לרגליך וע"י ההכנעה וביטולם מוסיפים עוד כח.

And these humble ones "gather at Your feet" — and through their submission and self-nullification they add even more strength.

Far from being a deficiency, the humble Jew's hachna'ah (submission) actually contributes added power to the collective fire of Torah through his bittul.

ישא לשון משואין משואות שמעוררים דברי התורה שיעלו הדיבורים לשורש האש.

"He bears" (yisa) is from the language of signal-fires (mas'uos) — that the words of Torah are kindled, so that the spoken words ascend to the root of the fire.

"Yisa" evokes the beacon-fires lit on mountaintops. The words of Torah spoken below act as signal-flames that rise up and rejoin their source — the root of the divine fire above.

וז"ש ישא מדברותיך דהול"ל ישאו כמ"ש תוכו כו':

And this is the meaning of "he bears Your words" (yisa midaberosecha) — for it should have said "they bear" (yisu), parallel to "they gather" (tuku), in the plural.

The grammatical shift from plural ("they gather") to singular ("he bears") teaches that the many individual Jews, through bittul, unite into one — their separate words rise together as a single flame to its root.

Summary: The Torah is a divine "fire" beyond human intellect, yet it was given to Bnei Yisrael, who can cling to it like the bush that burned but was not consumed. Even a Jew whose own enthusiasm has dimmed to embers can rejoin the blaze through bittul to Klal Yisrael and the tzaddikim; his very humility adds strength, so that all the scattered words of Torah rise as one beacon-fire back to their source.