Three ascending levels of acquiring Torah

במדרש לקח טוב נתתי.

In the Midrash: "I have given you a good acquisition (lekach tov)" (Mishlei 4:2).

The Sefas Emes opens with the Midrash on the verse that calls the Torah a "good purchase," the choicest of acquisitions.

אל תעזובו את המקח כו'.

"Do not forsake the merchandise (mekach)…"

The verse warns never to abandon this precious "purchase" — the Torah.

יש לך מקח יש בו זהב כסף שדות כרמים.

There is a merchandise that contains gold, silver, fields, and vineyards.

The Midrash describes different kinds of "purchases": some bring with them obvious, tangible wealth.

יש לך מקח שא"י מה לקח ומשכר הסרסור נתודע.

There is a merchandise such that one does not know what he acquired, and [only] from the broker's fee does it become known.

Another kind of purchase is so valuable that the buyer cannot even grasp what he has obtained; its worth becomes apparent only from the high fee the broker (sarsur) charges.

יש לך מקח שהמוכר נמכר עמו כו'.

There is a merchandise in which the seller [himself] is "sold" along with it, and so on.

The highest kind of purchase is one in which the seller gives himself together with the goods — pointing, as the Sefas Emes will explain, to Hashem "dwelling" with His Torah.

פי' לקיחת התורה יש בו כמה מדריגות לכן אל תעזובו את המקח כי לעולם צריך אדם לייגע בתורה שהיא מים שאין להם סוף עד שיזכה להתדבק בו ית"ש.

The explanation: the acquisition of the Torah contains several levels; therefore "do not forsake the merchandise," for a person must forever toil in the Torah, which is "waters without end," until he merits to cling (deveikus) to Him, may His Name be blessed.

Acquiring Torah is an ascending ladder of levels. One must never stop laboring in it — it is a boundless sea — until he reaches the ultimate goal: deveikus, attachment to Hashem Himself.

וכל אלה הם מדריגות זה למעלה מזה.

And all of these are levels, one above the other.

The three "purchases" of the Midrash are progressive rungs in the acquisition of Torah, each higher than the last.

מקודם וזאת התרומה אשר תקחו כו'.

First: "And this is the terumah (offering) which you shall take…" (Shemos 25:3).

The first level corresponds to the opening of our parshah — "taking" the terumah, the initial act of acquisition.

לידע כי כל חפצים לא ישוו בה לבטל הכל אל התורה ולידע כי הכל בא בכח התורה.

To know that "no desirable things can compare to it" (Mishlei 3:15) — to nullify everything to the Torah, and to know that everything comes through the power of the Torah.

The first level is the "gold and silver" purchase: recognizing that nothing in the world equals Torah, achieving bittul of all else to it, and knowing that all blessing flows from its power.

אח"כ זוכין להבין בתורה כי היא גבוהה ורמה לידע כי א"י מה לקח.

Afterward, one merits to understand in the Torah that it is lofty and exalted — to know "that he does not know what he acquired."

The second level is the purchase whose worth is unknowable: one perceives that Torah is so sublime that its true value lies utterly beyond grasp.

ומסרסור נתודע דכתיב בי' ולא ידע כו'.

And "from the broker it becomes known," concerning which it is written, "and he did not know…"

As in the Midrash, the immeasurable value of this level is sensed only indirectly — "from the broker" — since the thing itself is beyond comprehension.

וזה ועשו לי מקדש שהוא לשון פרישה והבדלה.

And this is "And they shall make for Me a Mikdash" (Shemos 25:8), which is a term of separation and setting-apart (perishah and havdalah).

This second level is hinted in "make for Me a Mikdash" — for "kodesh" connotes separation: rising above and being set apart through the awe of Torah's loftiness.

אח"כ ושכנתי בתוכם הוא מדריגה העליונה מוכר נמכר עמו:

Afterward, "And I will dwell among them" (Shemos 25:8) — this is the highest level: "the seller is sold along with it."

The supreme level is "I will dwell among them" — the purchase in which the Seller Himself comes with the goods: Hashem rests His Shechinah among Bnei Yisrael, the deveikus that is the ultimate goal of acquiring Torah.

Summary: The Midrash's three kinds of "purchase" map the ascending levels of acquiring Torah. First, like a sale of gold and fields, one knows nothing compares to Torah and nullifies all else to it. Second, like a purchase whose value is unknowable, one grasps that Torah is too lofty to comprehend — the level of "make for Me a Mikdash," of separation and awe. Highest of all, like the sale in which the seller comes with the goods, is "I will dwell among them" — Hashem Himself dwelling among Bnei Yisrael, the deveikus that crowns endless toil in the boundless waters of Torah.