Renewing Matan Torah Daily

במדרש כי מי גוי גדול כו' סמיכת ק"ש לתפלה

In the Midrash on the verse "For what great nation is there that has Hashem so near to it" (Devarim 4:7), Chazal derive the requirement to join the recitation of Krias Shema directly to the Shemoneh Esrei tefillah.

Chazal learn from this verse that Krias Shema must lead directly into Shemoneh Esrei without interruption.

פי' בכל קראנו אליו שיהי' כל הקריאה רק אליו ית' להתבטל אליו

The meaning is found in the continuation of the verse, "whenever we call upon Him" — that the entire calling out should be directed solely to Him, may He be blessed, in order to nullify oneself to Him.

True "calling upon Hashem" means directing the entire act of calling solely toward Him, so as to nullify oneself before Him.

ואז נעשה קרוב כמ"ש קרוב ה' לכל כו' יקראוהו באמת

Then a person becomes near to Hashem, as it is written, "Hashem is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth" (Tehillim 145:18).

When one calls out in truth, with total self-nullification, he becomes genuinely close to Hashem.

וזה באמת ע"י ביטול לכללות ישראל כמ"ש במד' ציבור לעולם נענין

And this nearness in truth comes about specifically through nullifying oneself to the entirety of Klal Yisrael, as Chazal say in the Midrash that a tzibbur, a community, is always answered.

This authentic closeness is reached by joining oneself to the whole of Klal Yisrael, since a community's tefillos are always answered.

ולכן סידרו חכמים בכל יום סדר הזכרת יצ"מ וקבלת התורה וק"ש שהיא עיקר התורה כמ"ש מצוך היום

Therefore the Chachamim arranged that every single day we recite the order of mentioning Yetzias Mitzrayim, the receiving of the Torah, and Krias Shema — which is the very essence of the Torah, as it is written, "which I command you this day" (Devarim 6:6).

For this reason the Chachamim built into the daily order the recall of leaving Mitzrayim, receiving the Torah, and Krias Shema, which is the heart of the entire Torah.

אח"כ זוכין לתפלה

Afterward we merit to come to tefillah.

Only after this preparation does a person merit to enter into tefillah.

וז"ש בכל קראנו אליו אז הוא קרוב פי' שיכול האדם לעורר תמיד הקורבות שהי' במתן תורה כמ"ש וקרבתנו מלכנו לשמך הגדול

This is the meaning of "whenever we call upon Him" — then He is near, meaning that a person is able to constantly arouse anew the nearness that existed at Matan Torah, as we say in tefillah, "and You drew us near, our King, to Your great Name."

"Whenever we call upon Him" teaches that one can reawaken daily the closeness first felt at Matan Torah.

וכל כחן של בנ"י הי' בקבלת התורה

And all the strength of Bnei Yisrael lay in their receiving of the Torah.

The entire spiritual power of Bnei Yisrael flows from their having received the Torah.

והשי"ת נותן התורה תמיד כמ"ש קול גדול ולא יסף ולא פסק

And Hashem, may He be blessed, gives the Torah continuously, as it is written, "a great voice that did not cease" (Devarim 5:19) — it never stopped.

Hashem never ceased giving the Torah; the giving continues at every moment without interruption.

אך אם היינו מתקדשים כמו אז שכ' וקדשתם היום ומחר היינו שומעין התורה בכל עת

But if only we would sanctify ourselves as we did then, regarding which it is written, "and sanctify them today and tomorrow" (Shemos 19:10), we would hear the Torah at every moment.

Were we to sanctify ourselves as Bnei Yisrael did before Matan Torah, we would be able to hear the Torah constantly.

[וז"ש חז"ל בכל יום ב"ק יוצאת מהר חורב כו' שכביכול הקב"ה רוצה להשפיע ואין אנו מוכנים לקבל וזה עלבון כו']. וזה העצות של כל המצות דכ' אשר קדשנו במצותיו ועי"ז הקדושה מתעורר קבלת התורה

[And this is what Chazal mean that every day a Heavenly voice goes forth from Mount Chorev — for as it were, the Holy One, Blessed is He, desires to bestow influence upon us, yet we are not prepared to receive it, and this constitutes a grievance.] And this is the purpose of all the mitzvos, regarding which it is written, "Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos" — and through this kedushah the receiving of the Torah is aroused anew.

The daily Heavenly voice from Chorev reflects Hashem's ongoing desire to bestow Torah, frustrated only by our lack of readiness; the mitzvos and their kedushah are the means to make us ready and reawaken the Torah within us.

וכתי' רק השמר לך כו' נפשך מאד פן תשכח

And it is written, "Only beware and guard your soul exceedingly, lest you forget" (Devarim 4:9).

The Torah warns us to guard our souls carefully against forgetting.

פי' שכל השמירות משס"ה ל"ת ומדות רעות הכל כדי שלא לשכוח הארת מתן תורה כי כל האיסורים גורמין שכרה זו

The meaning is that all the acts of guarding oneself from the three hundred and sixty-five negative commandments and from bad character traits are entirely in order not to forget the radiance of Matan Torah, for all the prohibitions are what would otherwise cause this radiance to be forgotten.

Keeping away from the negative commandments and bad traits exists so that the radiance of Matan Torah will not be forgotten.

וממילא כל המצות עשה מביאין זכירת מתן תורה

And it follows automatically that all the positive commandments bring about the remembrance of Matan Torah.

Consequently, fulfilling the positive commandments actively brings back the remembrance of Matan Torah.

וכפי התעוררות זה הכח מתקרבין אליו ית'

And in accordance with the arousal of this power, one draws near to Him, may He be blessed.

The more one arouses this power of remembrance, the closer he draws to Hashem.

וזה צריך איש ישראל למצוא בכל יום ע"י הביטול לכלל ישראל כמ"ש הקהל לי את העם כו'

And this is what every member of Bnei Yisrael must find anew each day, through nullifying himself to Klal Yisrael, as it is written, "Gather the people to Me" (Devarim 4:10).

Each Jew must rediscover this closeness daily by nullifying himself to Klal Yisrael, as in the gathering of the people.

ומרע"ה חזר והראה לאותו הדור מעמד הר סיני בשלימות ואמר הדברים אשר ראו עיניך

And Moshe Rabbeinu reviewed and showed that generation the standing at Har Sinai in its fullness, and said, "the things that your eyes have seen" (Devarim 4:9).

Moshe Rabbeinu re-presented the full experience of Har Sinai to the new generation, telling them their own eyes had seen it.

אם כי הי' דור חדש

This was so even though it was a new generation.

This was remarkable, since the generation he addressed had not literally stood at Sinai.

יתכן לפרש כמו שהוכיח אותם על עבירות של דור הקודם כדאיתא במד' דברים שהיו יכולין בנ"י לומר אנחנו לא חטאנו לכן בירך אותם מקבלי תוכחות כמוכם כו' ע"ש

It is possible to explain this in line with the way he rebuked them for the transgressions of the previous generation, as is brought in the Midrash on Devarim — that Bnei Yisrael could have said, "We did not sin," and therefore he blessed them, "may there be more among you who accept rebuke as you do," see there.

Just as Moshe rebuked them over the earlier generation's sins, so the very fact that they accepted rebuke they had not earned showed their connection to that generation.

הי' זה השכר שלהם שזכו להתעוררות של קבלת התורה

This was their reward — that they merited the arousal of receiving the Torah.

Their reward for accepting that rebuke was meriting the renewed arousal of receiving the Torah.

כי כפי מה שתיקנו חטא דור המדבר

For in accordance with the extent to which they rectified the sin of the generation of the wilderness,

To the degree they repaired the sin of the wilderness generation,

כן זכו לזכיות של דור המדבר

so too did they merit the merits of the generation of the wilderness.

they correspondingly inherited the merits of that wilderness generation.

וכן הוא בכל הדורות שצריכין לתקן חטאים הקודמים ועי"ז זוכין לזכיות הקודמין כנ"ל ודו"ק:

And so it is in every generation, that we must rectify the sins of those who came before us, and through this we merit the merits of those who came before, as explained above — and contemplate this well.

So it is in every generation: by rectifying the sins of previous generations, we become heirs to their merits as well.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that true closeness to Hashem comes through calling upon Him with complete self-nullification, which is achieved by binding oneself to Klal Yisrael. For this reason Chazal arranged that each day we recall Yetzias Mitzrayim, the receiving of the Torah, and Krias Shema, so that a person can reawaken daily the nearness first experienced at Matan Torah. Hashem in fact continues giving the Torah at every moment, and the mitzvos — both guarding against the prohibitions and fulfilling the positive commandments — exist to keep the radiance of Matan Torah from being forgotten and to draw us near to Him. Moshe Rabbeinu showed even the new generation the fullness of Har Sinai, for by accepting rebuke over the wilderness generation's sins and rectifying them, they inherited that generation's merits. So it is in every generation: by repairing the sins of those who came before, we merit their merits and renew our own receiving of the Torah.