Written and Oral Torah as inheritance

תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב.

"The Torah that Moshe commanded us is an inheritance for the congregation of Yaakov" (Devarim 33:4).

The Sefas Emes takes this verse, which speaks of the Torah as an inheritance, as the basis for his teaching.

זש"ה טובה חכמה עם נחלה.

This is the meaning of the verse: "Wisdom is good with an inheritance" (Koheles 7:11).

Wisdom — the Torah — is at its best when it is joined to a "nachalah," an inheritance, as the rest of the piece will explain.

כי האבות קיימו התורה עד שלא נתנה כי התורה היתה מאירה בנפשותיהם.

For the Avos kept the Torah before it was given, since the Torah shone within their souls.

Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov fulfilled the Torah even before Sinai, because its light was already radiant within their very neshamos.

ואח"כ הוצרכו להוריד תורה מן השמים.

Afterward, it became necessary to bring the Torah down from Heaven.

For later generations, who lacked the Avos' innate inner Torah, the Torah had to be given openly from above.

ושע"י זו התורה שבכתב יפתחו לבות בנ"י למצוא חיי עולם אשר נטע בתוכינו דייקא.

And through this Written Torah, the hearts of Bnei Yisrael are opened to find the eternal life that He has planted specifically within us.

The Written Torah serves as a key that unlocks the inner Torah Hashem has already planted within every Jew, awakening the eternal life hidden inside.

והיא התורה שבע"פ שנק' נחלה והיא ירושה לנו מאבותינו.

This is the Oral Torah, which is called a "nachalah" (inheritance) and is a heritage to us from our forefathers.

The inner, living Torah that the Written Torah unlocks is the Torah she-be'al peh — an inheritance passed down to us from the Avos.

וכן הוא כל תורה שבע"פ ואסמכה חכמים אקרא.

So it is with all of the Oral Torah, which the Sages "leaned" upon a verse of Scripture.

The Chachamim derived and anchored the Oral Torah by drawing it out from hints within the written verses.

שמתוך תורה שבכתב הוציאו מכח אל הפועל התורה שבע"פ.

For out of the Written Torah they brought the Oral Torah from potential into actuality.

The Sages did not invent the Oral Torah but actualized it, drawing out what lay latent within the Written Torah.

אבל האבות לא היו צריכין סעד ומעצמם קיימו את התורה:

But the Avos needed no support, and fulfilled the Torah on their own.

Unlike later generations who require the Written Torah as a "support" to access the inner Torah, the Avos kept the Torah entirely from within themselves, by the light that already shone in their souls.

Summary: The Sefas Emes explains why "wisdom is good with an inheritance." The Avos kept the entire Torah before it was given, because its light shone within their souls and they needed no external support. Later generations, however, required the Written Torah to be brought down from Heaven — and through it the hearts of Bnei Yisrael are opened to find the "eternal life" planted within them, which is the Oral Torah, our inherited nachalah. The Sages actualized this inner Torah by drawing it out of the written verses, whereas the Avos alone fulfilled the Torah entirely from within.