Torah as a gift from above, like Shabbos

מצות השבת וסמיך לי' ויתן אל משה.

The mitzvah of Shabbos, and adjacent to it "and He gave to Moshe."

The Sefas Emes notes the juxtaposition: the command of Shabbos is followed immediately by Hashem giving Moshe the Luchos.

דאיתא בגמ' ומד' כל מ' יום הי' משה רע"ה לומד תורה ושוכח עד שניתן לו במתנה.

For it is taught in the Gemara and Midrash: all forty days Moshe Rabbeinu would learn the Torah and forget it, until it was given to him as a gift.

Throughout the forty days Moshe kept learning and forgetting, until finally Hashem granted the Torah to him as an outright gift.

כי המשילו במדרשים אותן המ' יום לתורה כמו ששת ימי המעשה.

For in the Midrashim they compared those forty days — to the Torah — like the six days of labor.

The Midrash likens the forty days of receiving the Torah to the six workdays of creation.

שכך אמז"ל העולם נברא בו' ימים והתורה במ'.

For so Chazal said: the world was created in six days, and the Torah in forty.

Just as creation took six days, the giving of the Torah took forty.

וכמו דמעשה בראשית ששת ימים הוא הכח בטבע וכל יום פרט בפ"ע ושבת אח"כ כלל כל המעשים בשורש העליון.

And just as the work of creation in six days is the power within nature, each day being a distinct particular, and Shabbos afterward gathers all the works into the supernal root,

The six days are the forces within nature, each its own detail, while Shabbos draws them all back together into their higher root.

כמו כן במ' יום כתיב לדבר אתו כי הי' בכח קבלת מרע"ה.

so too regarding the forty days it is written "to speak with him," for it was within the power of Moshe Rabbeinu's own receiving.

During the forty days the Torah came through Moshe's own effort and capacity — "to speak with him."

ואח"כ ניתן לו במתנה מה שאינו לפי כח הנברא.

And afterward it was given to him as a gift — that which is beyond the capacity of a created being.

Then came the gift: a level of Torah that no created being could attain by his own power.

ואמרו ככלתו שניתנה לו בכללים.

And they said [on] "kechaloso" (when He finished) — that it was given to him in general principles (kelalim).

Chazal read "kechaloso" (related to "kallah"/totality) as teaching that the Torah was given to Moshe as encompassing kelalim.

שהיא כמו השבת שהיא כלל הבריאה.

For this is like the Shabbos, which is the all-encompassing principle (klal) of creation.

This gift of the Torah-as-kelalim parallels Shabbos, which is the unifying klal of all creation.

ובימי המעשה שכחה שולטת הואיל והוא בהשתתפות הטבע שסופה לחרוב וכמו כן כל מעשה הגוף שסופו להתבטל שולט בו שכחה.

And on the weekdays forgetfulness rules, since they involve the participation of nature, whose end is to be destroyed; and likewise all bodily activity, whose end is to be nullified, is ruled by forgetfulness.

Forgetting belongs to the realm of nature and the body, which are transient and destined to pass — so it dominates the "weekday" mode of effort.

ושבת כתיב בו זכור כי הוא יום שאין בו שכחה שהוא מעין יום שכולו שבת ולא יתבטל לעולם.

And of Shabbos it is written "zachor" (remember), for it is a day with no forgetfulness, being a foretaste of the day that is entirely Shabbos and will never be nullified.

Shabbos, marked by "zachor," is free of forgetting because it reflects the eternal world-to-come, which never passes away.

וכמו כן אמרו חז"ל יגעתי ומצאתי תאמין הוא לחדודי אבל לאוקמי שמעתא סייעתא דשמיא.

And likewise Chazal said: "I toiled and I found — believe it"; this refers to sharpening one's understanding, but to firmly establish the teaching (le'okimei shema'asa) requires siyata diShmaya (heavenly assistance).

Toil yields sharpness of mind, but to truly retain and establish Torah one needs help from Heaven — a gift beyond one's own effort.

ולכן שבת שנאמר עליו מתנה טובה יש לי הוא הסיוע מלמעלה והוא בחי' זכור.

Therefore Shabbos, of which it was said "I have a good gift [in My treasury]," is the assistance from above, and it is the aspect of "zachor."

Shabbos is the "good gift" — the heavenly help that secures retention — and corresponds to "remember," the opposite of forgetting.

וכמו כן ויתן אל משה במתנה לכן נתקיים בו לעולם וזה הי' בחי' הלוחות חרות שהיו כל הדברים חקוקים להתקיים לעולם:

And likewise "and He gave to Moshe" — as a gift; therefore it endured within him forever; and this was the aspect of the Luchos being "charus" (engraved), for all the words were engraved to endure forever.

Because the Torah was given to Moshe as a gift from above, it remained permanently — like the Luchos that were "charus," engraved to last eternally, beyond the reach of forgetting.

Summary: For forty days Moshe learned and forgot the Torah, until it was given to him as a gift. Just as the six days of creation are the forces of nature and Shabbos gathers them into their root, so the forty days were Moshe's own effort, and the gift was a level beyond any creature's power. Forgetting rules the transient realm of nature and body (the weekday), but Shabbos — marked "zachor" and called Hashem's "good gift" — is the heavenly assistance that endures. So too the Torah given to Moshe as a gift endured forever, like the engraved, eternal Luchos.