Written Torah In Galus

בפרשה הנך שוכב כו' ואמר כו' אין אלקי בקרבי כו' הסתר אסתיר כו' וענתה השירה הזאת לפ' לעד כו'

In the parsha it is written, "Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers" and so on, and it says, "and they will say, 'Is it not because my God is not in my midst' " and so on, "and I will surely hide" and so on, "and it shall be that this song shall testify before them as a witness" (Devarim 31:16-21).

The Sfas Emes opens by citing the pesukim from the parsha in which Hashem foretells that after Moshe Rabbeinu's passing Bnei Yisrael will sin, claim that Hashem is no longer among them, suffer a hiding of the Divine face, and have the song of the Torah testify against them.

הענין כי בזמן שהי' מרע"ה קיים הי' התגלות אלקיות בהתגלות בלבות בנ"י

The matter is this: in the time when Moshe Rabbeinu was alive, there was a revelation of Hashem's Godliness openly within the hearts of Bnei Yisrael.

He explains that while Moshe Rabbeinu lived, Hashem's presence was openly felt and revealed within the hearts of Bnei Yisrael.

ולא הוצרך להיות התורה כתיבה דאורייתא וקוב"ה וישראל כולהו חד

And there was no need for the Torah to be written down, for the Torah, the Holy One, Blessed is He, and Bnei Yisrael are all one.

Because that revelation was so direct, there was no need for a written Torah, since Torah, Hashem, and Bnei Yisrael were experienced as completely unified.

ובזמן הגלות אמרו אין אלקי בקרבי היינו שהוא בבחי' הסתר אספקלריא שאינה מאירה

But in the time of galus they said, "my God is not in my midst," meaning that Hashem is in an aspect of concealment, a glass that does not shine.

In galus, by contrast, the people feel that Hashem is absent; this is really a state of concealment, like a dim glass that does not give clear light.

אבל בוודאי לא עזב הש"י אותנו

Yet surely Hashem did not abandon us.

Nevertheless, the Sfas Emes stresses that this hiddenness does not mean Hashem has truly left us.

וזה הרמז הסתר אסתיר כמ"ש במד' בפסוק דומה דודי לצבי כו' נגלה ונסתר רואה בעין אחת ע"ש

And this is the hint of "I will surely hide" (haster astir), as it is said in the Midrash on the pasuk "My Beloved is like a gazelle" (Shir HaShirim 2:9) - revealed and hidden, seeing with one eye; see there.

The doubled language of "haster astir" hints, per the Midrash on Shir HaShirim, that Hashem is at once hidden and revealed, like one who watches with one eye while seemingly turned away.

ובזוה"ק [פ' בחקותי קי"ד:]. ולעולם יש זמנים שמתגלה איזה הארה ומיד אתכסיאת וז"ש הסתר אסתיר

And in the Zohar HaKadosh [Parshas Bechukosai 114b]: that there are always times when some glimmer of light is revealed and immediately it is covered over again, and this is what is meant by "I will surely hide."

He brings the Zohar that even in concealment there are recurring moments when a flash of Divine light shines through and is then covered again, which is the meaning of the doubled "I will surely hide."

אכן ע"י התורה יכולין למצוא התגלות אלקותו ית' וז"ש ועתה כתבו לכם כו'

Indeed, through the Torah we are able to find the revelation of His Godliness, may He be blessed, and this is what is meant by "and now write for yourselves" (Devarim 31:19).

The remedy is the Torah itself: through Torah one can rediscover Hashem's revelation, which is why the pasuk commands "and now write for yourselves."

ובתורה יש חלק לכל הדורות והרי כל פרשיות אלו הם רק לדורות השפלים אחרי החטאים והעוונות א"כ יש לנו חלק בתורה

And in the Torah there is a portion for every generation, for behold, all these parshiyos are only for the lowly generations after the sins and transgressions; if so, we too have a portion in the Torah.

Since these very parshiyos were given for the lowly later generations after sin, it proves that even such generations retain a real portion and connection in the Torah.

וזה הרמז שאמרו חז"ל כי מצות כתיבת ס"ת נלמד מכתבו לכם השירה הזאת

And this is the hint in what Chazal said, that the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah is derived from "write for yourselves this song" (Devarim 31:19).

This is why Chazal derive the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah specifically from the command "write for yourselves this song."

רק שאין כותבין התורה מגילה מגילה וצריכין לכתוב כל התורה ע"ש

Only that one does not write the Torah scroll by scroll, but rather one must write the entire Torah; see there.

Yet the halacha requires writing the whole Torah as one, not in separate scrolls, pointing to a deeper unity in how Torah must be transmitted.

והרמז היא כנ"ל

And the hint is as stated above.

The reason for this requirement is the same principle the Sfas Emes has been developing above.

כעין שכ' במד' תשא אכתוב לו רובי תורתי כמו זר נחשבו כי מקודם הי' רק עשרת הדברות בלוחות

It is similar to what is written in the Midrash on "Ki Sisa": "Should I write for him the majority of My Torah - they would be considered as foreign" (Hoshea 8:12), for at first there were only the Ten Commandments on the Luchos.

He cites the Midrash that originally only the Ten Commandments were inscribed, since a fuller written Torah would have seemed "foreign" had Bnei Yisrael remained on their original lofty level.

ואחר החטא הוצרך להיות כתיבה כל התורה

And after the sin it became necessary that the entire Torah be written down.

It was only after the sin of the Golden Calf that the necessity arose to commit the entire Torah to writing.

ובדורות אחרונים התירו לכתוב גם תורה שבע"פ

And in the later generations they permitted writing down even the Oral Torah.

Likewise, in later generations the sages found it necessary to permit even the Oral Torah to be written down.

והיינו כנ"ל כי עצם התורה ניתנה שתהי' אותיותי' מאירות בלב איש ישראל

And this is as stated above, for the essence of the Torah was given so that its letters should shine within the heart of a Jew.

All of this flows from the same idea: the Torah was originally meant to live as glowing letters within the heart of every Jew rather than on parchment.

כענין שאמרו על ר"מ עפעפיך ישורו נגדך כו'

As they said about Rabbi Meir, "your eyelids will look straight before you" (Mishlei 4:25) and so on.

He illustrates this with the teaching about Rabbi Meir, whose inner clarity of Torah is described by the pasuk "your eyelids will look straight before you."

אך אחר החטא כ' כתבו לכם השירה הזאת היא פרשת התשובה

But after the sin it is written, "write for yourselves this song" - this is the portion of teshuvah,

After the sin, however, the pasuk commands to write down "this song," which the Sfas Emes identifies as the portion dedicated to teshuvah.

האזינו שניתנה לדורות השפלים

Haazinu, which was given for the lowly generations.

That portion is Haazinu, given specifically for the lowly generations who would need the path of return.

והיא התגלות הדרך האחרון שבתורה שיהי' כתובה בגשמיות

And it is the revelation of the final pathway within the Torah, that it should be written in physical form.

It represents the Torah's final pathway, the one in which Torah descends to be written in concrete, physical form.

וזה הדרך הוא נוקב והולך עד התיקון השלם שיהי' בביאת המשיח בב"א:

And this pathway pierces and continues onward until the complete rectification that will come with the arrival of Mashiach, may he come speedily in our days.

This lowest pathway is precisely the one that reaches deepest, boring through all the generations until the complete tikkun arrives with Mashiach, may he come speedily in our days.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that while Moshe Rabbeinu was alive, Hashem's Godliness was revealed openly within the hearts of Bnei Yisrael, so there was no need for a written Torah, for Torah, the Holy One, Blessed is He, and Bnei Yisrael were all one. In galus that revelation went into concealment, yet Hashem never truly abandoned us; the doubled "haster astir" hints, per the Midrash and the Zohar, that even amid hiddenness flashes of Divine light continually break through. The remedy is the written Torah itself, commanded in "write for yourselves this song," from which Chazal derive the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah, and which proves that even the lowly later generations retain a real portion in the Torah. Just as only the Ten Commandments were originally inscribed until the sin made it necessary to write the whole Torah, and later generations had to permit writing the Oral Torah, so too the essence of Torah was meant to shine as living letters in the Jewish heart. The portion of teshuvah, Haazinu, is this final pathway in which Torah is written in physical form, and precisely because it is the lowest it pierces deepest, reaching down through all the generations until the complete tikkun at the coming of Mashiach, may he come speedily in our days.