Elevating Nature Through Korbanos

בפרשת הקרבנות

In the portion dealing with the korbanos.

The Sfas Emes opens by situating this teaching in the parsha that discusses the sacrifices.

עד שאתה מצוני על בני צוה את בני עלי

"Before you command Me concerning My children, command My children concerning Me" (Sifrei; Rashi on Bamidbar 28:2).

He cites the Midrash in which Hashem tells Moshe that just as Moshe asks Hashem to provide for Bnei Yisrael, Bnei Yisrael are commanded to bring the korbanos for Hashem.

הענין הוא כי מדריגת מרע"ה הי' להמשיך השפעה משמים לארץ כאשר הוריד התורה מן השמים

The matter is this: the level of Moshe Rabbeinu was to draw influence down from Heaven to earth, as he brought the Torah down from Heaven.

Moshe Rabbeinu's unique role was to bring spiritual influence down from above to below, as he did when he received the Torah and gave it over.

ובחי' עבודת הקרבנות הם להעלות ע"י התעוררות שלמטה התחתונים להעליונים

The aspect of the avodah of the korbanos, by contrast, is to raise up the lower realms to the higher ones through an arousal that comes from below.

The korbanos work in the opposite direction: an arousal initiated by people below lifts the physical world upward toward the spiritual.

וזה צוה את בני עלי

And this is the meaning of "command My children concerning Me."

The phrase "command My children concerning Me" expresses this upward avodah that Bnei Yisrael perform.

וע"ז כתיב עולת תמיד העשוי' בהר סיני דכ' נעשה ונשמע נשמע הוא הקבלה מעליונים לתחתונים

Regarding this it is written, "a continual olah-offering that was made at Har Sinai" (Bamidbar 28:6), for it is written, "We will do and we will hear" (Shemos 24:7) — "we will hear" is the receiving from the higher realms to the lower ones.

The Torah ties the daily offering to Har Sinai, where "na'aseh" and "nishma" represent the two directions: "nishma" is what Bnei Yisrael received from above.

ונעשה הוא שבנ"י קיבלו על עצמן להעלות כל העשי' והטבע לשורשו

And "we will do" is that Bnei Yisrael took upon themselves to raise up all action and all of nature to its root.

"Na'aseh," the commitment to do, is Bnei Yisrael accepting the task of elevating all action and the natural world back to its source.

כאשר חכמים הגידו כי השי"ת ברא יש מאין

As Chazal have taught, that Hashem created something from nothing (yesh me'ayin).

Chazal teach that Hashem's act of creation was bringing existence (yesh) into being out of nothingness (ayin).

והצדיקים צריכין לעשות אין מיש

And the tzaddikim must make nothing from something (ayin mi'yesh).

The tzaddikim are charged with the reverse movement: taking the physical existence and returning it to its nullified, spiritual root (ayin).

וזה הכח ניתן לבנ"י בהר סיני להעלות כל הטבע לשורשו

And this power was given to Bnei Yisrael at Har Sinai — to raise up all of nature to its root.

At Har Sinai, Bnei Yisrael were granted this very power to elevate the entire natural world back to its source.

וזהו עבודת הקרבנות תמידין ומוספין שהוא לקשר כל סדר הזמנים בשורשם

And this is the avodah of the korbanos, the daily offerings (temidin) and the additional offerings (musafin), which is to bind the entire order of times to their root.

This elevating is exactly what the korbanos accomplish: the daily and additional offerings reconnect the whole framework of time to its root.

ועתה תפלות במקום תמידין

And now the tefillos stand in place of the daily offerings.

Now that the Beis HaMikdash is gone, our tefillos take the place of those daily offerings.

וכ' תשמרו להקריב

And it is written, "you shall be careful to offer" (Bamidbar 28:2).

He notes the wording "you shall be careful to offer," which he will go on to expound.

כי בודאי עבודה זו אינה בכח אנושי רק כפי רוב התשוקה שמצפין בנ"י כל היום לדבוק בשורש האחדות זוכין לסייעתא דשמיא להצליח בשעת עבודתם בעזר עליון

For certainly this avodah is not within human power; rather, in accordance with the abundance of yearning with which Bnei Yisrael look forward all day long to cleave to the root of Oneness, they merit siyata diShmaya to succeed at the time of their avodah, with help from Above.

This avodah cannot be done by human strength alone; the depth of a person's yearning to cleave to Hashem's Oneness earns him Divine assistance to succeed.

וכאשר אנו רואין בתפלת האדם שכפי היגיעה כל הימים לרבות הלילות בעבודת התורה ומצות כך זוכין להתפלל

And just as we see in a person's tefillah, that in accordance with the toil of all his days — including the nights — in the avodah of Torah and mitzvos, so does he merit to daven.

We see this in tefillah: the more a person toils in Torah and mitzvos day and night, the more he is able to truly daven.

וכמ"ש ה' שפתי תפתח כי לאדם רק מערכי לב כו'

As it is written, "Hashem, open my lips" (Tehillim 51:17), for a person has only the arrangements of the heart, and so forth (Mishlei 16:1).

The verse "Hashem, open my lips" shows that a person can only prepare his heart, while the actual ability to express tefillah is a gift from Hashem.

ומכש"כ עבודת ביהמ"ק שהתפלה רק רמז לאותה העבודה

And all the more so the avodah of the Beis HaMikdash, for which tefillah is only a hint to that avodah.

If tefillah, which is merely a hint of the Temple avodah, requires such preparation, then certainly the actual avodah of the Beis HaMikdash did.

בודאי הי' תלוי בעבודת בנ"י כל הימים

It certainly depended on the avodah of Bnei Yisrael throughout all their days.

That avodah depended on the constant spiritual labor of Bnei Yisrael over all their days.

ותשמרו הוא כמ"ש ושמרתם זה משנה ע"י הלימוד לשמה לידע האיך לעשות

And "you shall be careful" (tishmeru) is like that which is written, "and you shall guard" (ushmartem) — this refers to Mishnah, through learning Torah lishmah in order to know how to perform the avodah.

The word "tishmeru" (be careful) is linked to "ushmartem" (guard), which Chazal connect to Mishnah — learning Torah lishmah in order to know how to carry out the avodah.

על ידי זה אחר כך ועשיתם

Through this, afterward comes "and you shall do" (va'asisem).

This preparatory learning and guarding leads to "va'asisem," the actual performance of the avodah.

וגם ירמוז למ"ש חז"ל העוסק בפרשת הקרבנות כאלו הקריב וזהו תשמרו:

And it also alludes to that which Chazal said, that one who occupies himself with the portion of the korbanos is as though he had offered them — and this is the meaning of "you shall be careful" (tishmeru).

Finally, "tishmeru" also hints to the teaching that studying the laws of the korbanos is counted as if one actually brought them.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that Moshe Rabbeinu's role was to draw the Torah and Divine influence down from Heaven to earth, while the avodah of the korbanos works in the opposite direction — an arousal from below that elevates all of nature and action back to its root. This is the meaning of "na'aseh," Bnei Yisrael's commitment at Har Sinai to make ayin mi'yesh, returning physical existence to its spiritual source, just as Hashem made yesh me'ayin. Our tefillos now stand in place of the daily offerings, and this avodah cannot be accomplished by human power alone; rather, the depth of a person's constant yearning and his toil in Torah and mitzvos earn him siyata diShmaya to succeed. The word "tishmeru" teaches that one must first guard and learn the Torah of the korbanos lishmah in order to know how to perform the avodah, which then leads to "va'asisem." It also hints that one who occupies himself with the portion of the korbanos is regarded as if he had actually offered them.