Mitzvos as vessels for the light of Torah

במדרש ה' חפץ כו' וכן היא במשנה רצה הקב"ה לזכות את ישראל הרבה להם תורה ומצות.

In the Midrash: "Hashem desired, for the sake of his righteousness, to make the Torah great and glorious" (Yeshayahu 42:21), etc.; and so it is in the Mishnah: The Holy One wished to grant merit to Yisrael, therefore He gave them abundant Torah and mitzvos (Makkos 23b).

The Sefas Emes opens with the well-known teaching that Hashem multiplied Torah and mitzvos out of love, to give Bnei Yisrael every opportunity to earn merit.

והענין דכתי' נר מצוה.

And the matter is, as it is written, "a mitzvah is a lamp (ner)" (Mishlei 6:23).

The pasuk compares a mitzvah to a lamp, and the Torah to light — a comparison the Sefas Emes will now unpack.

היינו כמו הנר הוא כלי איך להעלות אורה.

That is, just as a lamp is a vessel (kli) for raising up light.

A lamp by itself is not light; it is the vessel that holds the oil and wick and enables the flame to rise and shine.

כן המצות הם כלים לקבל אור התורה.

So too the mitzvos are vessels to receive the light of the Torah.

The mitzvos function like that lamp — they are the vessels through which a person receives and reveals the light of the Torah.

וכמ"ש עושי דברו לשמוע היינו שע"י עשיות המצות יכולין לשמוע ולקבל דברי תורה.

And as it is written, "those who do His word, to hearken" (Tehillim 103:20) — meaning that through the doing of the mitzvos one is able to hear and receive the words of Torah.

The pasuk places "doing" before "hearkening," teaching that the active performance of mitzvos is what makes a person able to truly hear and absorb the Torah's words — fulfilling "we will do" before "we will hear."

נ'ר' הוא רמ"ח מצות עשה עם אהבה ויראה כדאיתא בזוה"ק.

"Ner" (lamp) is the 248 positive mitzvos together with love and fear (ahavah v'yirah), as it is brought in the Zohar HaKadosh.

The Zohar reads the letters of "ner" (nun-resh = 250) as the 248 positive mitzvos plus the two foundational mitzvos of love and awe of Hashem, which animate all the rest.

ומילוי נ"ר הוא שס"ה נגד שס"ה גידים שהם בפנים.

And the "filling" (milui) of the word ner is 365, corresponding to the 365 sinews, which are internal.

When the letters nun and resh are spelled out in full, their value is 365 — matching the 365 negative mitzvos and the 365 sinews, which lie hidden inside the body.

ורמ"ח איברים נגלים (ועי"ז) [*וע"י] התרי"ג מצות נתקן האדם ונעשה כלי מוכן לתורה.

And the 248 limbs are revealed; and through the 613 mitzvos a person is rectified and becomes a vessel prepared for the Torah.

The positive mitzvos correspond to the visible limbs and the prohibitions to the hidden sinews; by fulfilling all 613, a person rectifies his entire being and turns himself into a fitting vessel to hold the Torah's light.

ונפשות בנ"י המה נשתלחו לעוה"ז שהם כלים לגלות אור תורה על ידם שרצה הקב"ה לזכות אותנו שיהי' הארת התורה על ידינו.

And the souls of Bnei Yisrael were sent into this world to be vessels through which to reveal the light of the Torah; for the Holy One wished to grant us merit, that the illumination of the Torah be through us.

The very mission (shlichus) of the Jewish soul in this world is to serve as a vessel that reveals Torah's light — Hashem's loving way of granting merit, by making us the channel through which His Torah shines.

וזה הצלם של תרי"ג הוא הכלי לגלות אור התורה על ידו:

And this "image" (tzelem) of the 613 is the vessel through which to reveal the light of the Torah.

The complete "form" of a person built out of the 613 mitzvos — limbs and sinews aligned with the commandments — is itself the vessel through which the light of Torah is revealed in the world.

Summary: Hashem multiplied Torah and mitzvos to grant Bnei Yisrael merit. A mitzvah is a "lamp" — a vessel — and the Torah is the light it holds: through doing the mitzvos one becomes able to hear and receive the Torah. The 613 mitzvos correspond to the 248 limbs (revealed) and 365 sinews (hidden), with love and awe at their core, so that by fulfilling them a person rectifies his whole being and becomes the "image" or vessel through which the light of the Torah is revealed — the very mission for which Jewish souls were sent into this world.