Sincere Yearning Beyond Capacity

שם יותר מלימודך עשה וכן מי שמעשיו מרובין מחכמתו כו'

It is taught there: "there" — meaning, do more than your learning; and so too, "one whose deeds exceed his wisdom, etc."

The Sfas Emes cites the teaching that one should strive to accomplish more than the bounds of his own learning, echoing the Mishnah that praises the one whose deeds outweigh his wisdom.

ואיך יכולין לעשות יותר מהידיעה

But how is it possible to do more than one's knowledge?

He raises the obvious difficulty: how can a person's actual deeds extend beyond the limits of what he actually knows and understands?

רק ע"י החפץ והרצון בכל לב לעשות יותר מהשגות האדם

Only through the yearning and the will, with one's whole heart, to do more than what a person can grasp.

The answer is that it comes not through the deeds themselves but through the wholehearted longing and ratzon to do more than a person is capable of comprehending.

עי"ז נעשה מעצמו כל התקונים

Through this, all the rectifications come about on their own.

When that yearning is genuine, the spiritual rectifications are brought about by themselves, beyond what the person could have effected by his own hand.

כמ"ש ויהי נועם כו' פי' בזוה"ק אף שא"י לעשות כראוי כו'

As it is written, "And may the pleasantness [of Hashem our God be upon us], etc." (Tehillim 90:17), which the Zohar HaKadosh explains: even though a person cannot do as is fitting, etc.

He supports this from the verse in Tehillim about Hashem's pleasantness resting upon us, which the Zohar HaKadosh applies even to one who cannot perform the avodah as it truly ought to be done.

וגם ע"י הרצון באמת עושה האדם שמזמנים לו מן השמים אף שא"י כמ"ש בדרך שאדם רוצה לילך מוליכין אותו:

And likewise, through the true will, a person accomplishes that they grant him from Heaven [the means to act], even though he cannot — as it is taught, "In the way a person wishes to go, they lead him" (Makkos 10b).

Through sincere ratzon, Heaven grants a person the very means to accomplish what was beyond him, as Chazal teach that a person is led along the path he sincerely wishes to travel.

Summary: The Sfas Emes addresses how a person can possibly do more than the measure of his own knowledge and understanding, as Chazal praise the one whose deeds exceed his wisdom. He explains that the key lies not in the deeds themselves but in the wholehearted ratzon and yearning to serve Hashem beyond one's capacity to grasp. When that longing is true and complete, all the necessary rectifications come about on their own, as the Zohar HaKadosh derives from the verse of Hashem's pleasantness resting even upon one who cannot perform the avodah as is fitting. Heaven itself then grants the person the means to accomplish what lay beyond him, for in the way a person sincerely wishes to go, they lead him from Above.