265. Inner Keys and Outer Keys

“Raba Bar Rav Huna said, ‘Anyone in whom there is Torah but no fear of heaven is like a treasurer who was given the inner keys but was not given the outer keys. Can he come in?’ Rabbi Yannai declares, ‘It is a shame about one who has no Darta [Aramaic: courtyard/house] yet makes a Taraa [Aramaic: gate/door] for the Darta’” (Shabbat 31).

This is a known question. This allegory implies that the Torah is the internality. From the words of Rabbi Yannai, it seems as though the Torah is the externality, and fear of heaven is the internality. We should also ask, Why does he compare fear to the outer keys if “The fear of the Lord is His treasure,” and here it is implied that the fear is the internality.

We should say that there is Torah that is called “internality,” and there is Torah that is called “externality,” and fear of heaven is in the middle.

Accordingly, the Torah on the externality is called Taraa, meaning “a gate,” and fear of heaven is called “internality.” In other words, through the Torah, we achieve fear of heaven.

With respect to the inner Torah, fear of heaven is called “externality,” meaning that through fear of heaven we come to the internality of the Torah. Hence, fear of heaven is called a “treasure” because it means that it is only internal, since we achieve it after the Torah.

The writing says, “I wish they left Me and kept My Torah; the light in it reforms them” (Jerusalem Talmud, Hagigah, Chapter 1). Yet, how can one observe the Torah without the Creator? How does He say, “I wish they left Me”?

However, this refers to those who want to be rewarded with “Me,” meaning to have fear of heaven, to have Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator.

Then they are told, “Do not stand in this work to be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] by having a desire and yearning for the Creator, since the Creator cannot connect to one who is in the quality of falsehood,” as it is written, “He who speaks lies shall not be established before My eyes,” or one who is proud, as our sages said, “Anyone in whom there is crassness of spirit, the Creator said, ‘I and he cannot dwell in the world’” (Sotah 5).

It is also written that if one does not correct the evil inclination, called “serpent,” then as our sages said, “Man does not dwell in the same abode with a serpent,” much less the Creator. Rather, one must correct one’s actions and then he can be rewarded with faith in the Creator.

This correction is found in the Torah. This is why they interpret, “And kept My Torah,” for the light in it reforms them. That is, through the light, the Torah will reform them, and then they will be rewarded with the treasure of fear of heaven.

It follows that the Torah is a gate by which one can enter the treasure, and the treasure is called a “house,” which is Darta.

Therefore, one who wants only to stand at the gate and does not notice that he can go through the gate, meaning take from the Torah the light so as to be reformed and thereby be rewarded with faith in the Creator, called “the treasure of fear of heaven,” he is as one who only builds himself a gate but has no intention to build himself a house, for the main purpose of the gate is only to serve the house. But when one has no house, meaning he does not intend to achieve fear of heaven, why does he need the gate? An opening is only made to be a place of transition, meaning when we want to enter some place, we must find the door through which to enter.

Or in a place that is closed all around, he makes himself an opening in order to get in. But to make an opening and not come into the house? This means that all his work on the opening was to no avail and a waste.

Afterward, we enter the house, called “fear of heaven,” which is the treasure, and then we come to the internality of the Torah. This is the meaning of learning Torah Lishma [for Her sake]. That is, after the Torah has brought him to Lishma, called “fear of heaven,” the secrets of Torah are revealed to him and he becomes as a flowing stream. It follows that the heart of the work is to be rewarded with fear of heaven, called Lishma.

This is why Rabbi Yannai declares that if fear of heaven is the most important, and then one is rewarded with the Torah from above, then one who learns Torah and does not see that the Torah will reform him, to be rewarded with fear of heaven through the Torah, meaning that all his concern and labor will be for the house, which is the treasure of fear of heaven, while he wants only the Torah, and the whole point of the Torah is to serve as a gate for the fear of heaven, then he is as one who has no house, yet builds a gate for the house. Thus, this opening he makes is to no avail and in vain.

In this way, we should interpret the allegory about the keys that it is as a person whose concern and desire are to be rewarded with the internality of the Torah but does not see that he has the Lishma, which is fear of heaven. About this he says, “Can he come in?”

One who learns Torah Lishma, meaning for the Torah to bring him to Lishma—and is rewarded with fear of heaven—is rewarded with the revelation of the secrets of Torah. But before he has been rewarded with Lishma, it is not revealed to him. It follows that here his work to be rewarded with internality is in vain.

Hence, we must pay attention mainly to the Lishma, to fear of heaven, and that everything one does will focus only on this point, which is fear of heaven, since this matter is concealed and one must reveal it.

This is the meaning of “The Creator has in His treasury only a treasure of fear of heaven, as was said, ‘The fear of the Lord is His treasure.’” This means that one should make an effort to find the fear of heaven.

As for the Torah, the Creator reveals it to him without any labor, as Rabbi Meir says, “Anyone who engages in Torah Lishma,” that the only reason he engages in Torah is to achieve Lishma, which is fear of heaven, and in this is all of his labor. Conversely, when a person has been rewarded with fear of heaven, the secrets of Torah are revealed to him.

Regarding “concealment,” it means that we should seek, for without seeking, it is impossible to find. This is the meaning of “If you labored and found,” where by laboring, he is rewarded with finding, meaning when he finds what He concealed in His treasury: a treasure of fear of heaven.

But as for the Torah, Rabbi Meir says that the secrets of Torah are revealed to him and he becomes as a flowing stream and as a river that does not stop. This is the meaning of “Everything is in the hands of heaven but the fear of heaven,” for he himself must find the treasure of the fear of heaven.