Gates Of Teshuvah Always Open

במדדש ואני תפלתי כו' וים רחוקים כו' שערי תפלה פעמים נעולים כמקוה

The Midrash expounds the verse "As for me, may my tefillah be to You, Hashem, at a favorable time" (Tehillim 69:14) together with "and the distant seas": the gates of tefillah are at times locked, like a mikveh.

The Midrash contrasts two verses: tefillah is compared to a mikveh whose gates are sometimes locked, while teshuvah is compared to the open sea.

ושערי תשובה כים לעולם פתוחין כו'

But the gates of teshuvah are like the sea, forever open.

Whereas tefillah can be blocked, the gates of teshuvah always remain open and accessible.

פי' מקוה התאספות המים למקום מיוחד והיא ההארה שנמצא בכל איש ישראל

The explanation: a mikveh is the gathering of waters to a particular place, and this corresponds to the illumination that is found within every single Jew.

Just as a mikveh is water gathered into one designated spot, so too there is a Divine illumination concentrated within every Jew.

וכשמבטל עצמו ומאסף כל רצונותיו להנקודה פנימיות נק' עבודה שבלב תפלה

When a person nullifies himself and gathers all his desires into that inner point, this is called the avodah of the heart, which is tefillah.

When a person sets aside his own will and draws all his desires toward that inner point, that is tefillah, the service of the heart.

אבל תשובה היא להש"י בעצמו שבא על חטא שנפרד א"כ צריך לשוב למה שלמעלה שמשם נמשך חיותו

Teshuvah, however, is directed to Hashem Himself, for one who has come to sin has thereby become severed; therefore he must return to that which is above, from where his life-force is drawn.

Teshuvah reaches even higher, to Hashem Himself, because sin severs a person from his source, so he must return all the way up to where his life-force originates.

והוא רצון עליון

And that is the Supernal Will.

That source is the Supernal Will of Hashem.

וזה כים שלעולם פתוח ששם אין החטא נוגע רק שצריכין להיות בביטול ממש להדבק בשורשו

This is like the sea, which is forever open, for there sin does not take hold at all; one need only be in genuine bittul in order to cling to his root.

At that exalted level sin cannot take hold, like the ever-open sea; a person simply needs true self-nullification to reattach himself to his root.

וזהו בכל קראנו אליו בחי' ביטול אליו ממש

And this is the meaning of "whenever we call out to Him" (Devarim 4:7) — the aspect of utterly nullifying oneself to Him.

This is the meaning of the verse describing how Hashem is near to us whenever we call to Him — through complete bittul to Him.

אבל תפלה לעורר הנקודה שבנפשו

Tefillah, by contrast, serves to arouse the point within one's soul.

Tefillah, on the other hand, works by awakening the inner point of holiness within the soul.

פעמים נעול כי החטא מפסיק

At times it is locked, because sin creates an interruption.

That gate can sometimes be shut, because sin interposes itself and blocks the connection.

רק ע"י תשובה לעולם פתוח כנ"ל:

Only through teshuvah is it forever open, as explained above.

Only teshuvah, which reaches above the reach of sin, remains perpetually open, as explained.

Summary: The Sfas Emes contrasts tefillah and teshuvah through the Midrash that likens tefillah to a mikveh, whose gates are sometimes locked, and teshuvah to the sea, which is forever open. Tefillah is the avodah of the heart: a Jew nullifies himself and gathers all his desires into the inner point of Divine illumination found within him. But because sin severs a person from his source, tefillah's gate can be blocked, since sin interrupts the connection to that inner point. Teshuvah, however, reaches all the way up to Hashem Himself and the Supernal Will, the very wellspring of one's life-force, where sin cannot take hold at all. Therefore, through genuine bittul a person can always cling to his root, and the gates of teshuvah remain eternally open.