Oral Torah Through Tefillin
בענין מלחמת מדין שדרשו חז"ל שיניך כעדר (העזים) [* הקצובות] ע"ש בשיה"ש שכולם מתאימות שלא הקדימו תפילין ש"ר לשל יד
Regarding the war against Midian, Chazal expounded on the verse 'Your teeth are like a flock of (the goats) [* the shorn ones]' (see Shir HaShirim 4:2) — that they are all paired evenly, for they did not put the tefillin of the head before the tefillin of the hand.
The Sfas Emes opens with a teaching of Chazal that the even pairing of teeth in Shir HaShirim alludes to the proper order of tefillin — placing the hand-tefillin before the head-tefillin. He links this to the war against Midian.
ולבאר הענין דכתיב נקום נקמת בני ישראל כו'
To explain the matter: it is written 'Take the vengeance of Bnei Yisrael against the Midianites' (Bamidbar 31:2).
He grounds the discussion in the Torah's command to take vengeance on Midian on behalf of Bnei Yisrael.
עפ"י מ"ש כבר דעתה התחיל בחי' תורה שבע"פ ולכן הי' ע"י קנאת פינחס
This is based on what we have already said, that now there began the level of Torah she'be'al peh (the Oral Torah), and that is why it came about through the zealous deed of Pinchas.
At this stage in the wilderness, the level of the Oral Torah was beginning, which is why the campaign was triggered by the zeal of Pinchas, a human-initiated act.
וכמו כן כל המלחמה במדין הי' רק כפי הכעס שהי' לבנ"י
In the same way, the entire war against Midian came about only in accordance with the anger that Bnei Yisrael felt.
The whole war was empowered specifically by the genuine anger Bnei Yisrael themselves felt — it was an arousal from below.
וז"ש החלצו מאתכם כו'
This is the meaning of 'Arm men from among yourselves' (Bamidbar 31:3).
The command to 'arm men from among yourselves' reflects that the war drew its force from within the people.
ובס' אוה"ח כ' שנבררו אותן שאין להם הרהור בחטא דשיטים ע"ש
And in the sefer Ohr HaChaim it is written that those were selected who had no trace of a sinful thought regarding the matter of Shittim — see there.
The Ohr HaChaim notes that only those untainted by any sinful thought from the sin at Shittim were chosen for the army.
וכפי הקנאה והשנאה שהי' בלבם כך גברו
And in accordance with the zeal and the hatred that were in their hearts, so did they prevail.
Their power in battle was proportional to the zeal and hatred for evil that filled their hearts.
ולכן השאירו הטף והנשים שלא היו יכולים יותר
That is why they left the children and the women, for they were not capable of more than that.
Because their initial empowerment had limits, they did not yet have the strength to kill the children, so they left them and the women alive.
ואח"כ כשקצף משה רבינו ע"ה
And afterward, when Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, was angry,
When Moshe Rabbeinu later grew angry at the army's leniency, a new dynamic was introduced.
בזו השנאה רבה שהי' למרע"ה ניתן להם כח גם לכלות הטף
through this great hatred that belonged to Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, there was given to them the power even to destroy the children.
Moshe's own intense hatred of evil transmitted to them the additional power needed to destroy even the children.
וז"ש ועתה הרגו כל זכר כו'
This is the meaning of 'Now slay every male' (Bamidbar 31:17).
This is reflected in Moshe's command to slay every male.
שניתן להם עתה זה הכח כנ"ל
That now there was given to them this power, as explained above.
The point is that only now, through Moshe's anger, were they given this further strength.
ולכן לא הלך מרע"ה בעצמו שבחי' מרע"ה הוא תורה שבכתב דור המדבר
And this is why Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, did not go himself, for the level of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, is Torah she'biksav (the Written Torah), the generation of the wilderness.
Moshe did not go to war personally because he embodies the Written Torah, the fixed level of the wilderness generation, whereas this war flowed from below.
ועתה התחיל התורה בבחי' התעוררות התחתונים
And now the Torah began on the level of an awakening from the lower ones (an arousal from below).
The new stage represented an awakening initiated by the people below rather than coming down from Above.
וב' אלו הם התפילין של יד ושל ראש
And these two are the tefillin of the hand and the tefillin of the head.
These two dimensions — from below and from Above — correspond to the hand-tefillin and the head-tefillin.
של יד הוא לחבר התחתונים לעליונים
The tefillin of the hand serves to connect the lower ones to the higher ones.
The hand-tefillin represents the work of connecting the lower world to the higher world.
וע"י הקשירה לשעבד הכח והלב אליו ית' זוכין אח"כ להארה הבאה מלמעלה והוא בחי' תפילין של ראש שדרשו חז"ל שם ה' נקרא עליך זה תפילין שבראש ע"ש
And through this binding — to subjugate the strength and the heart to Hashem, may He be blessed — one then merits the illumination that comes from Above, which is the level of the tefillin of the head, about which Chazal expounded 'The name of Hashem is called upon you' (Devarim 28:10) — this refers to the tefillin of the head — see there.
By binding and subjugating one's strength and heart to Hashem through the hand-tefillin, one then earns the illumination from Above represented by the head-tefillin, upon which Hashem's name rests.
וכ"כ וקשרתם כו' והיו לטוטפות משמע כי תפילין ש"ר הוא הארה הבאה מלמעלה
And so too it is written 'And you shall bind them... and they shall be as totafos' (Devarim 6:8), which implies that the tefillin of the head is an illumination that comes from Above.
The verse about binding the tefillin and their being totafos shows that the head-tefillin is specifically a light that descends from Above.
ויתכן כי הל"ב שיניים שיש באדם ואיתא בספרים כי הם בחי' ל"ב נתיבות חכמה דכמו בגשמיות הדעת של האדם הוא בראש
And it is possible that the thirty-two teeth that a person has — and it is brought in the sefarim that they are the level of the thirty-two paths of chochmah (wisdom) — for just as in the physical realm a person's da'as (understanding) is in the head,
He introduces a new idea: the thirty-two teeth correspond to the thirty-two paths of chochmah, paralleling how a person's understanding sits in the head.
ובפיו נמצא ג"כ הדעת בחוש הטעם ובחוש הדיבור
so too in his mouth there is found da'as as well, in the sense of taste and the sense of speech.
Da'as is also present in the mouth, expressed through the senses of taste and of speech.
וי"ל דזה שנחלקו ששה עשר למעלה וכמו כן למטה שהוא כנ"ל שהדעת בא בכח המעשה שלמטה בידים וגוף וחלק אחד בא ממוח שבראש
And one can say that the reason they are divided into sixteen above and likewise sixteen below is as explained above: that da'as comes through the power of action that is below, in the hands and the body, while one portion comes from the brain that is in the head.
The sixteen upper and sixteen lower teeth mirror the two sources of da'as: the power of action below in the body, and the portion that descends from the brain above.
וכן הוא בפנימיות
And so it is in the inner dimension as well.
This same division applies on the spiritual, inner plane as well.
ולכן כתיב על התפילין למען תהי' תורת ה' בפיך שזוכין לדעת בב' התפילין כנ"ל
That is why it is written concerning the tefillin 'so that the Torah of Hashem shall be in your mouth' (Shemos 13:9) — for one merits da'as through the two tefillin, as explained above.
The verse 'so that the Torah of Hashem shall be in your mouth' teaches that da'as is attained through both tefillin together.
וכתיב שכולם מתאימות שצריך להיות המעשה נמשך אחר הדעת ולא להתחכם יותר מדאי
And it is written 'that they are all paired evenly' — for the action must be drawn after the da'as, and one must not be overly clever beyond measure.
The phrase 'all paired evenly' teaches that action must follow understanding, and one must not over-intellectualize beyond proper measure.
ואותן הנשמרים שיהי' הדעת כפי המעשה נאמר עליהם שכולם מתאימות וז"ש שלא הקדימו כו'
And of those who are guarded such that their da'as is in accordance with their action, it is said of them 'that they are all paired evenly,' and this is the meaning of 'that they did not put before...'
Those who keep their understanding aligned with their action are described as 'all paired evenly,' alluding to keeping the proper order of the tefillin.
וכמו כן בש"ק זכור ושמור הוא ב' אלו [כמ"ש בזוהר פינחס] דשמירה בלב בחי' תש"י נגד הלב וזכירה במוחא ביום שבת שהוא בחי' תפילין ש"ר לזכרון בין עיניך
And in the same way, on the holy Shabbos, 'Remember' and 'Guard' are these two [as is written in the Zohar, Pinchas] — for guarding is in the heart, the level of the tefillin of the hand which is opposite the heart, and remembering is in the brain on the day of Shabbos, which is the level of the tefillin of the head, 'for a remembrance between your eyes' (Shemos 13:9).
On Shabbos, 'Remember' and 'Guard' parallel the two tefillin: guarding in the heart like the hand-tefillin, and remembering in the mind like the head-tefillin.
ולכן הדיבור בשבת אינו כשל חול כמ"ש חז"ל בפסוק ודבר דבר
That is why speech on Shabbos is not like that of a weekday, as Chazal expounded on the verse 'and speaking a word' (Yeshayahu 58:13).
This is why even speech on Shabbos must rise above weekday speech, as Chazal derived from the verse about 'speaking a word.'
וכלל ענין הנדרים והשבועות הוא ג"כ בחי' תורה שבע"פ שע"י דיבור איש הישראלי חל המצוה לאסור איסור שנעשה איסור
And the entire matter of nedarim (vows) and shevuos (oaths) is likewise the level of Torah she'be'al peh — for through the speech of the Jewish man the mitzvah takes hold to forbid a thing, so that it becomes forbidden.
Vows and oaths likewise belong to the Oral Torah, since a Jew's spoken word has the power to create a binding prohibition.
ומענין זה הוא כל סייגים וגזירות חז"ל שנאמר עליהם לא תסור ולזה זכו בנ"י עתה לכן כתיב ראשי המטות
And of this same matter are all the protective fences and decrees of Chazal, about which it is said 'You shall not turn aside' (Devarim 17:11), and to this Bnei Yisrael merited now — therefore it is written 'the heads of the tribes' (Bamidbar 30:2).
All the protective fences and rabbinic decrees stem from this same power of the Oral Torah, which Bnei Yisrael now merited — hence the phrase 'the heads of the tribes.'
[ואפשר לכך נסמך לרגלים כי מסתמא בכל עליות רגל שהתאספו בנ"י כא' תיקנו שם הסנהדרין בלשכת הגזית רוב התקנות]. וכמו דבפרט כל איש איתא במד' אחר המדריגות ה' אלקיך תירא כו' תעבוד כו' תדבק כו'
[And it is possible that for this reason it is placed adjacent to the festivals, for presumably at every pilgrimage festival, when Bnei Yisrael gathered together as one, the Sanhedrin in the Chamber of Hewn Stone enacted most of the enactments there.] And just as with each individual man, it is brought in the Midrash that after the levels of 'You shall fear Hashem your God' (Devarim 6:13), 'you shall serve...,' 'you shall cleave...,'
He suggests this section is placed near the festivals because the Sanhedrin enacted most of its decrees when Bnei Yisrael gathered for the pilgrimage festivals; he then turns to the Midrash about the individual's spiritual ascent through fear, service, and cleaving to Hashem.
באמת משפט וצדקה
in truth, justice and righteousness,
These stages culminate in true justice and righteousness.
אח"כ ובו תשבע
afterward comes 'and by Him you shall swear' (Devarim 6:13),
Only after attaining those levels does one reach 'and by Him you shall swear.'
כן בכלל אחר שהלכו מדריגת תורה שבכתב במ' שנה במדבר זכו לבחי' הנדרים והשבועות כנ"ל:
so too in general: after they passed through the level of Torah she'biksav during the forty years in the wilderness, they merited the level of the nedarim and the shevuos, as explained above.
So too on the national scale: only after living through the Written Torah era of the forty wilderness years did Bnei Yisrael merit the level of vows and oaths.
Summary: The Sfas Emes connects the war against Midian to the beginning of Torah she'be'al peh, the Oral Torah that draws its force from an awakening below rather than from Above. He shows that Bnei Yisrael's power in battle matched the zeal and hatred for evil in their hearts, and that only Moshe Rabbeinu's added anger empowered them to destroy even the children — which is why Moshe, who embodies the Written Torah, did not go himself. He then maps these two channels onto the tefillin of the hand and the head: the hand-tefillin binds and subjugates a person's strength and heart from below, while the head-tefillin draws down illumination from Above, with the thirty-two teeth and the two sources of da'as reinforcing that the proper order is action following understanding. Finally he extends this to Shabbos's 'Remember' and 'Guard,' and to the realm of vows, oaths, and rabbinic decrees, all of which belong to the Oral Torah that Bnei Yisrael merited only after passing through the Written-Torah era of the wilderness.