Two Paths to Heaven
בפסוק לרב תרבה נחלתו ולמעט תמעיט כו'
Regarding the verse, "To the larger group you shall increase its inheritance, and to the smaller group you shall decrease its inheritance" (Bamidbar 26:54).
The Sfas Emes opens with the verse describing how the Land was apportioned, giving more to a larger tribe and less to a smaller one.
לכאורה מיותר הסיפא למעט תמעיט
On the face of it, the latter clause, "to the smaller group you shall decrease," seems superfluous.
He raises a difficulty: once the Torah says the larger group gets more, the clause about the smaller group getting less seems redundant.
וי"ל כי יש ב' בחי' מרבה וממעיט כי מצינו מדת הענוה כמ"ש אתם המעט שממעיטין עצמיכם
One may explain that there are two distinct modes of "increasing" and "decreasing." For we find the trait of humility, as Chazal expound, "You are the fewest" (Devarim 7:7) — meaning that you make yourselves small.
He resolves this by noting two valid spiritual approaches. One is the path of humility, where a person makes himself small, as Chazal derive from Bnei Yisrael being called "the fewest."
ומצינו ג"כ ויגבה לבו בדרכי ה' שיש מי שחפץ להרחיב לבו בהשגת התורה וכוונתו לשמים ג"כ אם כי הענוה עלתה על כולם
And we likewise find, "and his heart was elevated in the ways of Hashem" (Divrei HaYamim II 17:6) — that there is one who desires to broaden his heart in the attainment of Torah, and his intent too is for the sake of Heaven, even though humility rises above them all.
The second is a person who, with intent purely for the sake of Heaven, seeks to expand his heart through ever-greater attainment in Torah, though humility still remains the highest trait of all.
וע"ז כ' אחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט בלבד שיכוין לבו לשמים ר"ל אם הכוונה לשמים אף המרבה טוב כנ"ל
Concerning this Chazal said, "Whether one does much or one does little, provided that he directs his heart to Heaven" — meaning, if the intent is for the sake of Heaven, then even the one who does much is good, as explained.
He cites the teaching that one may do much or little so long as the heart is directed to Heaven, showing that the path of "doing much" is also good when the intent is pure.
ובדרך שאדם רוצה לילך מוליכין אותו
And along the path that a person wishes to travel, they lead him.
He invokes the principle that Hashem leads a person along whatever path he himself chooses to walk.
ומי שבוחר דרך הענוה הקב"ה מזמין לו הכל באופן
And one who chooses the path of humility — the Holy One, Blessed is He, arranges everything for him in such a manner
One who chooses humility is granted by the Holy One, Blessed is He, that all his circumstances be arranged to that end.
שיומשך לו ענוה גם מהשגת עצמו שזוכה להשיג בתורה הכל מביאו להענוה
that humility should be drawn forth for him even from his own attainment; that the very fact that he merits to grasp Torah brings him entirely to humility.
Even his own Torah attainment becomes a source of humility for him, since grasping Torah brings him to recognize his smallness before Hashem.
וכן הבוחר בבחי' המרבה הקב"ה מזמין לו לבוא ע"י ההשגות להתרחבות הלב
And likewise the one who chooses the mode of "doing much" — the Holy One, Blessed is He, arranges for him to come, by way of his attainments, to a broadening of the heart.
Conversely, one who chooses the path of expansion is enabled by Hashem to reach a broadening of the heart through his attainments.
וע"ז נאמר לרב תרבה ולמעט תמעיט ואיתא כי מרע"ה אמר הדבר אשר יקשה מכם תקריבון אלי לכן הראה לו הקב"ה משפט בנות צלפחד כו'
Concerning this it is stated, "To the larger group you shall increase, and to the smaller group you shall decrease." And it is brought down that Moshe Rabbeinu said, "The matter that is too difficult for you, you shall bring near to me" (Devarim 1:17); therefore the Holy One, Blessed is He, showed him the case of the daughters of Tzelafchad.
He ties this back to the verse and brings the incident where Moshe Rabbeinu told Bnei Yisrael to bring difficult cases to him, after which Hashem withheld the law of the daughters of Tzelafchad from him.
והוא תימה כי היכן ענותו של משה רבינו ע"ה הנאמר עליו עניו מכל
And this is astonishing — where is the humility of Moshe Rabbeinu, of whom it is stated that he was "more humble than any man" (Bamidbar 12:3)?
This raises a puzzle: how does Moshe's statement that hard matters be brought to him square with his being the most humble of all men?
אמנם כי בלי ספק לא עלה על דעת אותו צדיק שיש בדבר הזה גבהות כי ודאי הכל יודעין כי כל השגת מרע"ה וידיעתו מהקב"ה
However, without a doubt it did not enter the mind of that tzaddik that there was any haughtiness in this matter, for surely all know that the entire attainment and knowledge of Moshe Rabbeinu was from the Holy One, Blessed is He.
The answer is that no thought of haughtiness ever crossed the tzaddik's mind, since everyone knows that all of Moshe's wisdom came entirely from the Holy One, Blessed is He.
ולפי מה שנחלט השפלות בעיניו לא הי' יודע כלל שיש מקום גבהות בזה
And according to the degree to which lowliness was firmly settled in his own eyes, he did not know at all that there was any room for haughtiness in this.
Moshe's lowliness was so deeply ingrained that he could not even conceive that his words might be taken as a claim of self-importance.
אבל הקב"ה הזמין לו מעשה זו לאשר מרע"ה בחר במדת הענוה הזמינו לו דבר זה שזה יסייעו בהענוה שידעו כל אדם כי המשפט לאלקים הוא שלא יטעה שום אדם במאמר תקריבון אלי
But the Holy One, Blessed is He, arranged this incident for him: because Moshe Rabbeinu chose the trait of humility, He arranged this matter for him, for it would assist him in his humility — that all people should know that "the judgment is Hashem's" (Devarim 1:17), so that no person should err in the statement "you shall bring near to me."
Yet precisely because Moshe chose humility, Hashem arranged this incident to deepen it, teaching all that judgment belongs to Hashem so that none would misread "bring near to me" as self-aggrandizement.
ואם הי' מרע"ה יודע שיש מי שיטעה בזה הלשון הי' מפרשו והזמין לו הקב"ה אותו דרך שחפץ להלוך בו והוא הדבר אשר דברנו לעיל:
And had Moshe Rabbeinu known that there was one who would err in this expression, he would have explained it; and the Holy One, Blessed is He, arranged for him that very path which he desired to travel — and this is the very matter of which we spoke above.
Had Moshe foreseen anyone erring in his words, he would have clarified them; so Hashem led him along the very path of humility he had chosen, which is the principle the Sfas Emes established earlier.
Summary: The Sfas Emes asks why the verse apportioning the Land mentions both increasing the inheritance of the larger group and decreasing that of the smaller, when the second clause seems redundant. He answers that the words hint at two legitimate avodos: the path of humility, in which a person makes himself small, and the path of "doing much," in which a person expands his heart through ever-greater attainment in Torah with pure intent for the sake of Heaven. Because Hashem leads a person along whatever path he chooses, one who chooses humility finds even his Torah attainment humbling him, while one who chooses expansion is brought through his attainments to a broadened heart. He then applies this to Moshe Rabbeinu, whose statement that hard cases be brought to him led Hashem to withhold the law of the daughters of Tzelafchad; far from haughtiness, this very incident was arranged by the Holy One, Blessed is He, to deepen Moshe's humility, since Moshe had chosen the path of humility and Hashem leads each person along the road he desires to travel.