Refining the soul's yearning for Hashem

במדרש ע"פ וישלחו כו' כל צרוע כו' הגו סיגים מכסף ויצא לצורף כלי כ"ז שהפסולת בכסף אינו מראה יפיו כו'.

In the Midrash, on the verse "Let them send out... everyone with tzaraas...": "Remove the dross from the silver, and there comes forth a vessel for the smith" (Mishlei 25:4) — as long as the dross is in the silver, it does not show its beauty.

The Sefas Emes opens with the Midrash that links the command to send the impure out of the camp to the image of refining silver: the precious metal cannot shine while the slag is still mixed in with it.

ויתבאר עפ"י המדרש בפסוק איש כי יפליא כו' שוקיו עמודי שש שוקיו זה העולם שנשתוקק הקב"ה לבראתו כו' ויכולו כו' כלתה נפשי כו'.

This will be explained according to the Midrash on the verse "When a man sets apart..." — "His legs are pillars of marble" (Shir HaShirim 5:15): "His legs" refers to the world, which Hashem yearned to create, as in "And the heavens were completed" and "My soul longs..."

He brings a Midrash reading "His legs are pillars of marble" as a hint to the world itself, which Hashem desired to bring into being — the world stands on a foundation of yearning and longing.

פי' כי עיקר קיום העולם זאת התשוקה שיש להנבראי' להתדבק בבוראם.

The meaning is that the essential existence of the world is this very yearning that the created beings have to cleave to their Creator.

What truly sustains the world is the desire of every creature to attach itself to Hashem — that longing is the inner life of all of creation.

אך יש בעוה"ז תשוקות אחרים מסט"א ולכן אין הכסיפה והתשוקה מראה יפיו.

But in this world there are other desires from the sitra achra (the side of impurity), and therefore the longing and yearning does not show its beauty.

In this world the pure longing for Hashem is mixed with competing desires that come from the side of impurity, and as long as that "dross" is present, the inner beauty of the yearning cannot shine through.

ובבוא יום ש"ק (מתבערין) [* מתעברין] מיני' כל סט"א כמו שכתבו חז"ל גם ע"ה אימת שבת עליו ולכן מתברר בש"ק זאת התשוקה והוא קיום העולם.

And when the holy day of Shabbos arrives, all the sitra achra is removed from him, as Chazal wrote that even an unlearned person feels the awe of Shabbos upon him; therefore on Shabbos Kodesh this yearning is clarified, and that is the existence of the world.

On Shabbos the forces of impurity withdraw — even a simple person senses the awe of the day — so the pure longing for Hashem becomes refined and revealed, and that purified yearning is what upholds the world.

וישלחו מן המחנה כו' הוא ג"כ מה שניתן רשות לכל איש ישראל שיכול לברר ולהשליך כל הפסולת כנ"ל:

"Let them send out from the camp..." is also that permission given to every Jew, that he is able to refine and to cast away all the dross, as above.

The command to send the impure out of the camp is itself the empowerment of every Jew to separate out and discard the inner "slag," so that the pure point of yearning for Hashem can shine.

Summary: The world exists by virtue of the soul's yearning to cleave to Hashem, but in this world that longing is mixed with foreign desires from the sitra achra. Shabbos burns away the impurity and refines the yearning, and the mitzvah of sending the impure out of the camp empowers every Jew to cast off his inner dross so his true beauty can shine.