Serving purely for the sake of Heaven

בפסוק אספה לי שבעים איש.

On the verse: "Gather for Me seventy men" (Bamidbar 11:16).

The Sefas Emes begins with Hashem's command to Moshe to assemble seventy elders, focusing on the words "for Me" (li).

ובמד' הבונה בשמים מעלותיו כו' משל בנין ע"ג ספינות קשורות דאיתא במשנה כניסי' שהיא לשם שמים סופה להתקיים ושאינה לש"ש אין סופה להתקיים.

And in the Midrash: "He who builds His upper chambers in the heavens" (Amos 9:6) — a parable of a building set upon ships tied together; as is taught in the Mishnah: an assembly (kenissah) that is for the sake of Heaven (l'shem Shomayim) will endure in the end, and one that is not for the sake of Heaven will not endure in the end (Avos 4:11).

The Midrash compares Hashem's heavenly structure to a building resting on bound-together ships — stable only if anchored. So too the Mishnah: only a gathering l'shem Shomayim has lasting permanence.

וזה החילוק בין אספה לי שהוא לשמי.

And this is the distinction: "Gather for Me" — which is for My Name (l'shemi).

The seventy elders were gathered "for Me," entirely l'shem Shomayim, and therefore their assembly endures.

ובין האספסוף שהוא ג"כ לשון אסיפה ולפי שלא הי' לשם שמים בשלימות נתוסף בו אתוין כמו האמינון וכמו עשתי עשרה כמ"ש בזוה"ק.

And by contrast the "asafsuf" (the rabble) — which is also a term of gathering (asifah) — but because it was not for the sake of Heaven in completeness, extra letters were added to it, like "ha'eminon" and like "ashtei asar," as is brought in the Zohar HaKadosh.

The "asafsuf" shares the root of "gathering," but because their assembly was not fully l'shem Shomayim, the word is padded with extra letters — a sign of incompleteness, as the Zohar notes for similar swollen words.

ופי' לשם שמים להיות כל דבר שלמטה יש לו שורש למעלה ולכן צריך להיות כל עבודת האדם לעשות למעלה רצון אביו שבשמים.

And the meaning of "for the sake of Heaven" is this: that everything below has a root above; therefore all of a person's avodah must be to accomplish above the will of his Father in Heaven (ratzon Aviv shebaShomayim).

L'shem Shomayim means recognizing that every earthly thing has a root on high, so that all one's avodah aims to fulfill the ratzon Hashem above, not one's own benefit.

והנה אותן שהתאוו תאוה הי' ג"כ אנשים גדולים ונתכוונו ג"כ לעבודת הבורא ית'.

And behold, those who "craved a craving" (Bamidbar 11:4) were also great men, and they too intended the service of the Creator, may He be blessed.

The Sefas Emes notes — surprisingly — that the cravers were not crude sinners but great people whose desire was actually aimed at avodas Hashem.

ז"ש זכרנו את הדגה כו' נאכל במצרים.

This is the meaning of "We remember the fish… that we ate in Mitzrayim" (Bamidbar 11:5).

Their longing for what they "ate in Mitzrayim" was not mere appetite but a yearning for the spiritual work that eating in Mitzrayim had once accomplished.

כי ע"י גלות מצרים והוציאו הניצוצות קדושות שבמצרים נתעלו והרויחו הרבה.

For through the galus of Mitzrayim, and by extracting the holy sparks (nitzotzos kedoshos) that were in Mitzrayim, they were elevated and gained a great deal.

In Mitzrayim, every act of eating released holy sparks trapped in the physical, and through this avodah of berur Bnei Yisrael rose greatly.

ובמן לא הי' העלאת נצוצין כידוע.

But with the mann there was no raising up of sparks (haalaas nitzotzin), as is known.

The mann was pure heavenly bread with no admixture of the physical, so eating it involved no extraction of trapped sparks — and the cravers felt the loss of that avodah.

ולכן בקשו אוכל למו כמ"ש בספרים מזה.

And therefore they requested food for themselves, as is explained in the sefarim regarding this.

Their demand for "real" food was, on this reading, a request to resume the spiritual labor of refining sparks — as the sefarim explain.

אכן באמת הכל כפי הנהגת הבורא ית"ש.

Nevertheless, in truth, everything is according to the conduct (hanhagah) of the Creator, may His Name be blessed.

Despite their seemingly lofty intent, the Sefas Emes corrects them: a person must follow whatever mode of avodah Hashem ordains for his generation, not choose his own.

ובמצרים הי' כך רצונו ובדור הזה הי' רצונו באופן נעלה מזה.

In Mitzrayim such was His will, but in this generation His will was in a manner loftier than that.

The avodah of extracting sparks suited Mitzrayim, but the dor hamidbar was called to a higher path — the bittul of receiving mann directly from Heaven without that labor.

וז"ש אל תהיו כעבדים המשמשים על מנת לקבל פרס.

And this is the meaning of "Do not be like servants who serve in order to receive a reward (pras)" (Avos 1:3).

The cravers' wish to "gain" through their avodah resembles serving for a reward; the higher avodah of the mann is to serve with no thought of personal gain at all.

וכן הי' כוונת האספסוף לתקן נפשם.

And so too the intention of the asafsuf was to rectify their own souls.

Even the rabble's aim was self-improvement — to fix their own nefesh — but this self-directed motive is precisely the subtle flaw.

אבל אספה לי הוא רק לשם שמים כנ"ל:

But "Gather for Me" is solely for the sake of Heaven, as above.

The seventy gathered "for Me" served purely l'shem Shomayim with no thought of personal gain — and that is why their assembly, unlike the asafsuf, endured.

Summary: An assembly endures only when it is purely l'shem Shomayim — "gather for Me." Even the cravers and the asafsuf had lofty intentions, longing for the avodah of extracting holy sparks they had known in Mitzrayim; but a person must serve in the manner Hashem ordains for his generation, without any thought of personal gain, just as the seventy elders were gathered solely for Hashem's Name.