Preparing the vessel to receive Torah

ויסעו מרפידים כו'. דרשו חז"ל שרפו ידיהם מן התורה.

"And they journeyed from Refidim…" (Shemos 19:2) — Chazal expounded "Refidim" as "they weakened their hands (rafu yedeihem) from the Torah."

Chazal read the place-name Refidim as a hint that Bnei Yisrael had slackened in their grip on Torah; the Sefas Emes will ask how this fits at a stage before the Torah was even given.

ויש להבין כי עדיין לא קיבלו התורה.

And it must be understood, for they had not yet received the Torah.

How could they have "weakened from the Torah" when Matan Torah had not yet occurred? This is the question that drives the piece.

אכן הענין הוא שמיציאת מצרים עד קבלת התורה הי' הכנה לקבלת התורה והוא ענין ספירת החמשים יום.

Indeed, the matter is that from the Exodus from Mitzrayim until the receiving of the Torah was a preparation for receiving the Torah, and this is the matter of counting the fifty days.

The period of Sefiras HaOmer is itself an avodah of preparation; "weakening from the Torah" means a lapse in that work of readying oneself to receive it.

כי האדם צריך להכין מקום בלב לקבל התורה.

For a person must prepare a place in the heart to receive the Torah.

Torah cannot be received without an inner vessel; one must first clear and ready a space within the heart.

וזה נק' יד כמ"ש בפ' שמיני בענין שבעת ימים ימלא את ידכם.

And this is called "yad" (hand), as is discussed in parshas Shemini regarding "for seven days he shall fill your hands (yedchem)" (the inauguration of the Mishkan).

This act of inner preparation is termed "filling the hands" — millui yadayim — the same expression used for the seven days of preparing the Kohanim for the avodah.

היינו שמקודם צריך האדם לתקן עצמו כענין שכתוב אשר תמצא ידך לעשות בכחך כו'.

That is, first a person must rectify himself, in the sense of what is written, "whatever your hand finds to do, do with your strength" (Koheles 9:10).

A person's own effort and "strength" — what his "hand" can reach — is the first stage: he must refine himself by his own avodah before higher help can come.

ואח"כ יורד הסיוע מן השמים למעלה מהטבע בחי' שמיני ע"ש שכתבנו שזה ענין תפילין של יד ותש"ר.

And afterward the assistance descends from Heaven, above nature, the aspect of "eighth" (shemini), as we wrote — that this is the matter of the tefillin of the hand and the tefillin of the head.

After a person does his part (the "hand"), a supernatural gift comes from above — the dimension of "eight," which transcends the natural seven, corresponding to how the arm-tefillin (human effort) leads to the head-tefillin (the higher gift).

כמו כן באלה ז' שבועות שהם תיקון המדות היינו הכלים כי התורה ארוכה מארץ מדה אבל המדות הם כלים לקבל בהם התורה כ"א כפי הכנת כחו.

Likewise in these seven weeks, which are the rectification of the middos (character traits), namely the vessels — for the Torah is "longer than the earth in measure" (Iyov 11:9), but the middos are the vessels in which to receive the Torah, each person according to the preparation of his strength.

The seven weeks of the Omer are devoted to refining one's middos, which serve as the vessels to hold the Torah; the Torah itself is infinite, so a person can only receive it in proportion to the vessel he has prepared.

וע"ז איתא התקן עצמך ללמוד תורה.

And concerning this it is taught, "Prepare yourself to learn Torah" (Avos 2:12).

The Mishnah's instruction to "prepare yourself" for Torah refers precisely to this work of readying the vessel of one's character to receive it.

ובזו ההכנה הוא המלחמה עם עמלק.

And in this preparation lies the war with Amalek.

Amalek's attack occurred at Refidim, during this very stage of preparation, because Amalek specifically opposes the refinement that readies a person to receive Torah.

כמ"ש במ"א פי' והידים ידי עשו כי בפנימיות התורה אין לו אחיזה רק בתיקון הגוף שהוא בחי' הידים בזה הוצרכו ללחום.

As we have written elsewhere, the explanation of "but the hands are the hands of Esav" (Bereishis 27:22): for in the inner essence of the Torah he has no grip, only in the rectification of the body, which is the aspect of the "hands" — in this they had to wage war.

Esav/Amalek can gain no foothold in the inner pnimiyus of Torah; his only point of attack is the "hands," the outer rectification of the physical self, and that is the battleground where Bnei Yisrael had to fight.

וכתיב כאשר ירים משה ידו כו'.

And it is written, "and it was, when Moshe raised his hand…" (Shemos 17:11).

Moshe's raising of his hands in the war with Amalek symbolizes lifting the "hands" — the physical, outer dimension — upward toward Hashem, which is how Amalek is overcome.

וכשנסעו מרפידים והכינו לבם בבחי' מילוי ידים ניתן להם בשבועות התורה מן השמים שהיא בחי' שמיני למעלה מהז' מדות כנ"ל:

And when they journeyed from Refidim and prepared their hearts in the aspect of "filling the hands," the Torah was given to them on Shavuos from Heaven, which is the aspect of "eighth," above the seven middos, as above.

Once they completed the preparatory work — strengthening rather than weakening their "hands," and readying their hearts — the Torah was granted from above as the supernatural "eighth," a gift transcending the seven weeks of self-refinement that prepared the vessel.

Summary: Though "they weakened their hands from the Torah" at Refidim seems impossible before Matan Torah, it refers to a lapse in the work of preparation during the Omer. A person must first "fill his own hands" — refine his middos to form the vessels that can hold the infinite Torah, his portion measured by his effort. Amalek attacks precisely this outer "hand"-level rectification. Only after Bnei Yisrael completed this preparatory avodah was the Torah given on Shavuos as the supernatural "eighth," a gift from Heaven beyond the seven weeks of self-refinement.