Cleaving Through Our Possessions

ומ"ש במד' ובו תדבק וכי אפשר לדבוק כו' אלא המשיא בתו לת"ח ומהנהו מנכסיו עליו נאמר ובו תדבק

And as the Midrash says on the verse "and to Him shall you cleave" (Devarim 11:22): Is it then possible to cleave to Hashem? Rather, one who marries off his daughter to a Torah scholar and lets him benefit from his possessions — of him it is said "and to Him shall you cleave."

The Midrash asks how one can possibly cleave to Hashem, who is beyond grasp, and answers that one accomplishes this by supporting a Torah scholar, such as marrying off one's daughter to him and sharing one's wealth with him.

הפי' שצריך האדם לחפש התקשרות ודביקות בכל דבר בהבורא ית'

The meaning is that a person must seek to bind himself and cleave to the Creator, may He be blessed, in every single thing.

The Sfas Emes explains that the deeper lesson is that a person must look to forge a connection and dveikus to Hashem within every aspect of his life.

גם שכבר הוא ירא ה' ומפנה לבו לתורה על כל זה צריך גם בכל אשר יש לו להדביקו ע"י סיבות שונות

Even though a person already has yiras Hashem and turns his heart toward Torah, despite all this he must also, in everything that he possesses, attach it to Hashem through various means.

Even a person who already has yiras Shamayim and devotes himself to Torah must go further and attach all his possessions to Hashem by various means.

והאמת שעי"ז יבוא לבו תדבק אם בעוה"ז אם בעוה"ב כי ובו תדבק הוא ציווי והוא הבטחה היינו כפי השתוקקות לדבוק בו ית'

And the truth is that through this he will come to "and to Him shall you cleave" — whether in this world or in Olam Haba — for "and to Him shall you cleave" is both a command and a promise: that is, according to one's yearning to cleave to Him, may He be blessed,

Through this effort one ultimately attains true dveikus, in this world or the next, because the verse is simultaneously a command to cleave and a guarantee that the cleaving will be granted in proportion to one's yearning.

הסוף ימלא השי"ת משאלות לבו

in the end Hashem will fulfill the requests of his heart.

Hashem ultimately grants the desires of the heart of one who genuinely longs to cleave to Him.

ובמדרש ומקנה רב הי' ג' מתנות בעולם כו' בזמן שהם מתנת שמים ובאות בכח התורה

And in the Midrash on "and they had abundant livestock" (Bamidbar 32:1): there are three gifts in the world... at the time when they are a gift from Heaven and come through the power of Torah.

The Midrash on the wealth of the tribes of Reuven and Gad teaches that material gifts are truly a gift from Heaven when they come through the merit and power of Torah.

הגם כי הכל מתנת ה'

Even though everything is a gift of Hashem,

The Sfas Emes acknowledges that, in truth, everything a person has is a gift from Hashem.

אך בזמן שהאדם דבוק בכח המתנה

yet it depends on the time when a person is bound to the power of the gift.

The point is whether a person stays connected to the spiritual power behind the gift, not merely to the gift itself.

כי מתחלה כשהקב"ה נותן לו

For at first, when the Holy One, Blessed is He, gives it to him,

When Hashem first bestows something on a person,

בע"כ יודע ומודה אליו ית'

he perforce knows and gives thanks to Him, may He be blessed.

he naturally recognizes the gift and feels gratitude to Hashem.

ואח"כ נשכח

But afterward it becomes forgotten.

But over time this awareness fades and is forgotten.

וכל זמן שנזכר מכח המתנה אז זכה בכל כי כח המתנה מאתו ית' הוא הרבה יותר מגוף המתנה

And as long as he is mindful of the power of the gift, then he has merited everything — for the power of the gift, which is from Him, may He be blessed, is far greater than the body of the gift itself.

Whoever keeps the source of the gift in mind retains everything, since the divine power that grants the gift is worth far more than the physical gift itself.

וז"ש אל יתהלל כו' כי אם בזאת כו' השכל וידוע אותי

And this is the meaning of "Let him not boast... but rather in this... that he understands and knows Me" (Yirmiyahu 9:22-23):

The Sfas Emes ties this to Yirmiyahu's teaching that a person should boast not in wealth or strength but in knowing Hashem.

פירוש בהתקשרות הדבר הניתן להנותן ואז יש בו ברכה והוא שכתבנו פי' ובו תדבק:

the explanation is the binding of the thing given back to the Giver — and then there is a blessing in it — and this is what we wrote as the meaning of "and to Him shall you cleave."

The explanation is that true blessing comes from binding the gift back to its Giver, which is precisely the meaning of cleaving to Hashem developed throughout the piece.

Summary: The Sfas Emes opens with the Midrash that cleaving to Hashem is achieved by supporting a Torah scholar, and from it derives that a person must seek dveikus to the Creator within every part of his life. Even one who already possesses yiras Shamayim and toils in Torah must further attach all his possessions to Hashem through various means, for the verse "and to Him shall you cleave" is both a command and a promise that one's yearning will be fulfilled. Connecting this to the abundant wealth of the tribes of Reuven and Gad, he explains that material things are truly a gift from Heaven only when a person stays bound to the spiritual power behind them rather than to the gift alone. At first one naturally recognizes and thanks Hashem for a gift, but this awareness fades; whoever keeps the source in mind retains everything, since the power that grants the gift far surpasses the gift itself. This is the meaning of boasting only in knowing Hashem — binding every gift back to its Giver, which is the very essence of cleaving to Him.