Mitzvos Reveal Ancestral Light

בפסוק ויראו כל העדה כי גוע אהרן ודרשו חז"ל וייראו כדר"ל מה שמע הכנעני שמת אהרן ונסתלקו ענני הכבוד וסבר שניתן רשות להלחם בישראל

On the verse "And all the congregation saw that Aharon had passed away" (Bamidbar 20:29), Chazal expounded "and they saw" as though it read "and they feared" — for what did the Canaanite hear that prompted him to come and wage war against Bnei Yisrael? He heard that Aharon had died and that the Clouds of Glory had withdrawn, and he reasoned that permission had now been granted to make war against Bnei Yisrael.

The pasuk says Bnei Yisrael saw that Aharon died, and Chazal read "saw" as "feared": Aharon's passing caused the protective Clouds of Glory to withdraw, which emboldened the Canaanite to attack.

נראה כי העננים היו שמירה לבנ"י דהג' מתנות שנתן לנו הקב"ה מן בזכות משה כו'

It appears that the Clouds were a protection for Bnei Yisrael, for of the three gifts that the Holy One, Blessed is He, gave us, the mann came in the merit of Moshe Rabbeinu, and so on (the well in the merit of Miriam, the Clouds in the merit of Aharon).

The Sfas Emes frames the Clouds as one of three gifts that Hashem gave in the wilderness, each coming in the merit of a leader — the mann through Moshe Rabbeinu, the well through Miriam, and the Clouds through Aharon.

הם אכילה שתי' לוי'

These three are eating, drinking, and escort — the mann being food, the well being drink, and the Clouds being an accompanying escort.

He categorizes the three gifts by their function: the mann was food, the well was drink, and the Clouds were an escorting presence that accompanied Bnei Yisrael.

והנה לוי' הוא חיבה יתירה ואות אהבה

Now, escort (levayah) is an expression of extra affection and a sign of love.

He highlights that an escort is not merely practical but an expression of extra affection and a sign of special love and closeness.

וע"י שסתם דרכים מסוכנים צריכין לוי'

And it is because the roads are blocked and dangerous that one requires an escort.

An escort becomes necessary precisely when the road ahead is blocked and dangerous, which is why Hashem provided the accompanying Clouds.

ובנ"י במדבר שהיו עוסקים במלחמת ה' כביכול וה' הולך לפניהם כו'

And Bnei Yisrael in the wilderness, who were engaged, as it were, in the war of Hashem, had Hashem going before them, and so on.

Bnei Yisrael in the desert were on Hashem's mission, fighting the war of Hashem, as it were, and so Hashem Himself went before them as their escort.

ובאמת בכל איש ישראל שנשתלח בעוה"ז שהוא מקום סכנה הולך עמו עזר עליון

And in truth, with every individual Jew who is sent into this world — which is a place of danger — there goes along with him a supernal help.

The Sfas Emes universalizes the idea: every individual Jew sent into this perilous world is accompanied by a supernal help, just as Bnei Yisrael were in the wilderness.

כי מכל המתנות שנתן השי"ת לאבותינו נשאר לנו הארות רק שאינם יכולין להתגלות בפועל ממש כמו שהי' בדור המדבר

For of all the gifts that Hashem Yisbarach gave to our forefathers, there remain to us illuminations, except that they cannot become revealed in actual deed as they were in the generation of the wilderness.

Although the open, visible gifts of the wilderness era are gone, their spiritual illuminations still remain with us in a hidden form, no longer manifest in actual deed.

וע"י המצות שנתן לנו הקב"ה יכולין למצוא אלה ההארות

And by means of the mitzvos that the Holy One, Blessed is He, gave us, we are able to find these illuminations.

The mitzvos that the Holy One, Blessed is He, gave us are the means by which we access and draw out these otherwise concealed illuminations.

וכמ"ש במ"א במצות תפילין וציצית

And this is as I have written elsewhere regarding the mitzvos of tefillin and tzitzis.

He refers back to his own teaching elsewhere that develops this theme through the mitzvos of tefillin and tzitzis.

שהם בחי' הארה פנימיות שהוא דעת התורה ע"י התפילין והארה המקפת לאדם לשמור אותו והוא על ידי מצות ציצית

For they are the aspect of an inner illumination — which is the knowledge of the Torah, attained through the tefillin — and an illumination that encompasses a person to guard him, which comes through the mitzvah of tzitzis.

Tefillin draws an inner illumination — the knowledge of the Torah within a person — while tzitzis draws an encompassing illumination that surrounds and guards him from without.

והם בחי' משה ואהרן כו'

And these two are the aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon, and so on.

These two illuminations, the inner and the encompassing, correspond to Moshe Rabbeinu (the inner Torah knowledge) and Aharon (the protective, encompassing light).

ויתכן שעי"ז זכה אהרן לבגדי כהונה שהוא הי' המכין בחי' המלבוש לנפשות בנ"י שהוא תיקון הגוף כמ"ש במ"א:

And it is plausible that through this Aharon merited the priestly garments, for he was the one who prepared the aspect of the garment for the neshamos of Bnei Yisrael — which is the rectification of the body — as I have written elsewhere.

He suggests that because Aharon embodied this protective garment for the neshamos of Bnei Yisrael — rectifying the body so it can hold kedushah — he merited the special priestly garments.

Summary: This piece begins with the teaching of Chazal that the Clouds of Glory, given in the merit of Aharon, withdrew at his passing, exposing Bnei Yisrael to attack. The Sfas Emes classifies the three wilderness gifts as food (the mann), drink (the well), and escort (the Clouds), and dwells on the escort as a sign of love that becomes necessary on a dangerous road. He then universalizes this: every Jew journeying through this perilous world is accompanied by a supernal help, and though the open gifts of the wilderness are gone, their inner illuminations remain and are accessed through the mitzvos. He maps this onto tefillin (an inner illumination of Torah knowledge, corresponding to Moshe Rabbeinu) and tzitzis (an encompassing, protective illumination, corresponding to Aharon). Finally, he proposes that Aharon's role as the one who fashioned this protective garment for the neshamos of Bnei Yisrael — rectifying the body to receive kedushah — is why he merited the priestly garments.