Every Jew is an emissary of mitzvos

במדרש אין חביב לפני הקב"ה כשליח שנשתלח לעשות מצוה ונותן נפשו שיצליח בשליחותו כו'.

In the Midrash: nothing is more beloved before the Holy One, Blessed is He, than a messenger who is sent to perform a mitzvah and gives over his soul to succeed in his shlichus (mission), etc.

The Midrash teaches that Hashem treasures above all an emissary who throws his whole self into completing the mission entrusted to him.

נודע דברי אא"ז מו"ר ז"ל כי כולנו שלוחי מצוה שנשתלחנו מהשי"ת בעוה"ז לקיים מצותיו כו'.

The words of my grandfather, my master and teacher (of blessed memory), are well known: that we are all messengers of a mitzvah, sent by Hashem into this world to fulfill His commandments, etc.

Every person is an emissary dispatched by Hashem into the world with a mission — to carry out His mitzvos.

ובודאי לא הי' אפשרות להמשיך קדושת השי"ת בעוה"ז.

And surely it would have been impossible to draw down the holiness of Hashem into this world.

On its own, the physical world could never have contained or revealed divine holiness.

רק ע"י בנ"י בעבודתם.

Except through Bnei Yisrael by means of their avodah (divine service).

It is specifically Bnei Yisrael, through their service, who make it possible to channel kedushah into this world.

והי' העצה שיוכלו להתקיים בעוה"ז בקדושה ע"י המצות כדכתיב שלח אורך ואמתך כו'.

And the device by which they could endure in this world in holiness is through the mitzvos, as it is written, "Send forth Your light and Your truth, etc." (Tehillim 43:3).

The mitzvos are the means Hashem gave so that Bnei Yisrael can survive in a physical world while remaining holy — His "light and truth" sent into the world.

דהנה בכל דבר יש קדושה כדכתיב מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים נמצא כל הנעשה הוא רצון עליון בלבד רק שנסתר בעוה"ז.

For behold, in every thing there is holiness, as it is written, "Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds" (Tehillim 145:13) — so it emerges that everything that happens is solely the supernal will (ratzon Hashem), only that it is concealed in this world.

Since Hashem's kingship fills all worlds, every single thing is in truth nothing but His will; the only difference is that in this world that will is hidden.

והמצות נקראין נרות שמאירין בכח התורה לכל המעשים.

And the mitzvos are called "lamps," for they illuminate, by the power of the Torah, all deeds.

The mitzvos are like lamps that shine the Torah's light onto every action, revealing the hidden holiness within it.

כי אין לך מעשה שאין בה מצוה.

For there is no deed in which there is no mitzvah.

Every action a person does contains within it the potential for a mitzvah.

ורק קודם כל דבר צריך האדם ליתן נפשו בשליחותו והיינו שיאסוף כל רצונות שלו לבטלם רק לקיים רצון עליון ועי"ז מצליח בשליחותו ועושה המצוה כתיקונה.

Only, before everything, a person must give over his soul to his mission — meaning that he gathers all his own desires to nullify them, leaving only the wish to fulfill the supernal will; and through this he succeeds in his mission and performs the mitzvah properly.

The key is bittul: a person must collect all his personal wants and set them aside, so that his single desire is to carry out Hashem's will. Only then does he succeed in his shlichus and do the mitzvah correctly.

ואף במעשה גשמיי ע"י ישוב הדעת שמברר אצלו וחפץ באמת שיתקיים רצון עליון שיש בזה יוכל להנצל.

And even in a physical act, through clarity of mind, by which he clarifies within himself and truly desires that the supernal will contained within it be fulfilled, he can be saved.

Even in a mundane deed, if a person settles his mind and genuinely wants the divine will hidden in it to be realized, he is protected and elevated.

וזה הי' העצה במרגלים שאמרו בנ"י נשלחה כו' לפנינו.

And this was the device with the spies, when Bnei Yisrael said, "Let us send men before us, etc." (Devarim 1:22).

The sending of the spies could itself have been a holy mission, had it been approached as a shlichus to fulfill Hashem's will.

וצוה השי"ת שיהי' מצוה וע"י זה יוכלו להנצל כמ"ש כבר במ"א.

And Hashem commanded that it be a mitzvah, and through this they could have been saved, as I have already explained elsewhere.

Hashem turned the mission into a mitzvah ("Shlach lecha"), giving the spies the means to be protected from failure — had they used it properly.

אך שהיו צריכין לידע כי אין השליחות כדי שיעשו רצונם להבחין טוב הארץ רק היו צריכין לבטל רצונם לרצון השי"ת ששלח אותם.

But they needed to know that the mission was not so that they should fulfill their own desire to assess the goodness of the land; rather, they had to nullify their will to the will of Hashem who sent them.

The spies' error was treating the mission as a chance to satisfy their own curiosity and judgment about the land, instead of nullifying their will entirely to Hashem who had sent them.

וזהו שמשבח במדרש שליחי מצוה יותר מגוף קיום המצוה כי הרצון וההכנה והתשוקה לקיים המצוה הוא העיקר ועי"ז מצליח בשליחותו כנ"ל ע"י שנותן נפשו כנ"ל.

And this is why the Midrash praises the messengers of a mitzvah even more than the actual performance of the mitzvah — for the desire, the preparation, and the yearning to fulfill the mitzvah are the essence, and through this one succeeds in his mission, as above, by giving over his soul.

The Midrash exalts the emissary because the inner ratzon, readiness, and longing to do the mitzvah are its very core; that wholehearted desire, the giving of one's soul, is what brings success.

ודברי תורה הם לדורות שכשמפשיט אדם עצמו מגשמיות וחפץ למצוא כבוד ה' בכל דבר יוכל לתור ולחפש ולמציא הארה הגנוזה בכל מקום כמ"ש בזוה"ק על שלח לך כו' אילולי האי עלמא כנ"ל:

And words of Torah are for all generations: when a person strips himself of physicality and desires to find the glory of Hashem in everything, he is able to seek, search, and find the hidden illumination in every place — as it says in the holy Zohar on "Shlach lecha," "were it not for this world, etc."

This teaching applies in every generation: one who divests himself of materialism and seeks Hashem's glory everywhere can "spy out" and uncover the concealed divine light hidden in all places — the true and elevated form of "sending spies."

Summary: The Sefas Emes teaches that we are all shluchei mitzvah, emissaries sent by Hashem into this world to fulfill His will, which is hidden within every thing. The mitzvos are "lamps" that illuminate that hidden holiness. The essence of any mission is bittul — gathering all one's personal desires and nullifying them to Hashem's will. This was the spies' failure: they sought to fulfill their own judgment rather than nullify themselves to the One who sent them. One who strips away physicality and seeks Hashem's glory everywhere can uncover the concealed light hidden in every place.