Deeper meanings for closed and open passages in the torah

Question

B"H

The Rambam in the laws of Sefer Torah chapter 8 halacha 4 lists all of the "open" and "closed" passages in the Torah.

Are there any commentaries anywhere that discuss any deeper meanings of why certain passages are closed as opposed to open?

I recall seeing something briefly, I Believe from the Rebbe Rashab, explaining why one of the passages was either open or closed, but I don't remember which.

Based on that, and the fact that everything in the Torah is so exact, I would assume that there are other commentaries somewhere that suggest deeper meanings of each passage based on if it's open or closed.

As an example to illustrate what I mean, (this is my own pure conjecture just for illustration purposes),

The first passages, about the initial creation of the world, are:

יְהִי רָקִיעַ. יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם. יְהִי מְאֹרֹת. יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם. תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ. וַיְכֻלּוּ. אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם. כֻּלָּן פְּתוּחוֹת.

Which are all "open".

In some commentaries it says that this world was created with a ה, to allow it to be "open" for teshuva. Also, it's explained elsewhere that the initial act of creation was an "Awakening from above", without any efforts from humans. Both of these ideas may be related to how the passages are "open".

In contrast, the next passages:

אֶל הָאִשָּׁה אָמַר. וּלְאָדָם אָמַר. שְׁתֵּיהֶן סְתוּמוֹת.

About the sin of the tree of knowledge, are closed, maybe implying that sin "closes" one off for a time.

These are just my own examples, to illustrate the type of commentary I'm looking for, if it exists, regarding these passages

Any answer that provides even one official commentary (rishon, acharon etc.) on even one passage, would be good, although the more the better.

Ideally only official sources should be cited.

However, if you have your own reasoning to add, as long as it can be justified by some earlier commentary, and it's specified that it is your own insight (like the above example), that would also be accepted.

Answers may include explanations for one passage or many.

Answer 1

B"H

An obvious example that I forgot about before:

Beginning of Vayechi in Rashi:

And Jacob lived: Why is this section [completely] closed? Because, as soon as our father Jacob passed away, the eyes and the heart of Israel were “closed,” (i.e., it became “dark” for them) because of the misery of the slavery, for they (the Egyptians) commenced to subjugate them. Another explanation: That he (Jacob) attempted to reveal the End [of the exile] to his sons, but it was “closed off” (concealed) from him. [This appears] in Gen. Rabbah (91:1).

וַיְחִי יַֽעֲקֹב: לָמָּה פָּרָשָׁה זוֹ סְתוּמָה? לְפִי שֶׁכֵּיוָן שֶׁנִּפְטַר יַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ נִסְתְּמוּ עֵינֵיהֶם וְלִבָּם שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל מִצָּרַת הַשִּׁעְבּוּד, שֶׁהִתְחִילוּ לְשַׁעְבְּדָם; דָּבָר אַחֵר: שֶׁבִּקֵּשׁ לְגַלּוֹת אֶת הַקֵּץ לְבָנָיו, וְנִסְתַּם מִמֶּנּוּ. בּבְּרֵאשִׁית רַבָּה:

Answer 2

This is a topic that has fascinated me for a long time. Thanks to @MichoelR for pointing out the Maharshal in the comments above (and thanks for the informative PDF). The best link to that section of תשובות מהרש"ל ס' לז is here where he writes the following:

אכן תדע שיש חילוק בין פרשה סתומה לסתומה כי פרשה סתומה היא סותמת העניין של הפרשה שלפניה אע"פ שאותה פרשה שלפניה היא פרשה פתוח' כי בלאו זה צריכין אני לחקור וליתן לב מה הפרש יש בין פר' פתוח' לפרשה סתומה כי רבותינו ז"ל הקדמוני' לא נתנו סיבה אלא לפרשיו' מה היו הפרשיות משתמשו' כדי ליתן ריוח למשה להתבונן בין פרש' לפרש' כו' אבל בשימוש הפתוחה והסתומה לא הזכירו אם לא תאמר שאין צריך חקירה על זה כי הוא מובן מעצמו וכשמם כן הוא שפתוחה אין לה חבור עם מה שלמעלה והוא עניין חלוק בפני עצמו וכאילו התחיל פה וסתומה מחוברת וסתו' לדברים שלפניה ואינה חלוקה אלא ליתן ריוח בין הפרשיות

where he basically states that while חז"ל never mentioned a distinction between the underlying meaning for the two types of parshios, it is self-evident that a פתוחה starts a brand new topic and a סתומה is a lesser break and more topically connected to the parsha that precedes it. Best to see the full section there to get a better sense of all the nuances. He does mention shortly after this quote that sometimes the divisions might depend on hidden reasons and סודות that were only known to earlier generations.

Many years ago I attempted to make brief synopses of each פרשה פתוחה וסתומה in the Chumash to see if there were any patterns. In many cases the words of the Maharshal worked very well as adjacent סתומות fit between one פתוחה and the next פתוחה as neat topically connected sub-chapters within a larger general topic covered by the פתוחה. In other cases it wasn't all that simple.

Additional resources for further reading are mentioned on this page which happens to point to a very helpful article ר' חיים כהן - המשמעות הפרשנית של פרשיות פתוחות וסתומות - כתלנו יג among other good links.