Mitzvos weave the soul's higher garment

לפ' ציצית במד' אור זרוע לצדיק זרע הקב"ה תורה ומצות בישראל כו' דקשה להבין איך ע"י מעשה גשמיי של המצוה יתעוררו הנפשות דכתיב למען תזכרו כו' והייתם קדושים כו'.

On the parsha of tzitzis: the Midrash says, "Light is sown for the tzaddik" (Tehillim 97:11) — the Holy One sowed Torah and mitzvos within Yisrael, etc. It is difficult to understand how, through the physical act of a mitzvah, the souls are awakened, as it is written, "in order that you remember… and you shall be holy."

The Sefas Emes raises the basic question of the tzitzis parsha: how can a tangible, physical act — looking at threads of wool — arouse the soul to remembrance and holiness?

אבל באמת יש שורש מכל מצוה בנפש ישראל כמ"ש רמ"ח איברים ושס"ה גידים נגד תרי"ג מצות כו'.

But in truth there is a root of every mitzvah in the soul of a Yisrael, as it is taught: the 248 limbs and 365 sinews correspond to the 613 mitzvos.

Every mitzvah already has a root planted within the neshamah. The body's very structure mirrors the mitzvos, so the deed below answers to something already present above.

אך ע"י הקיום של מעשה המצוה מתעורר הארת השורש שנשרש בנפשות בנ"י כנ"ל.

But it is through the fulfillment of the physical act of the mitzvah that the illumination of the root, planted in the souls of Bnei Yisrael, is awakened, as above.

The physical deed does not create holiness from nothing; rather it awakens and lights up the holy root that already lies dormant within the soul.

והנה הגוף הוא רק מלבוש אל פנימיות הנשמה.

Now, the body is only a garment (levush) for the penimiyus (inner core) of the neshamah.

The Sefas Emes establishes that the physical body is not the person himself but a garment clothing the true inner soul.

ולאחר פטירת האדם יתלבש בלבוש עליון והוא עיקר המלבוש.

And after a person's passing he is clothed in a higher garment, and that is the essential garment.

The body is only a temporary garment; the real, lasting garment of the soul is the spiritual "upper levush" woven from one's mitzvos, which clothes the soul in the World to Come.

וגוף האדם מפסיק בין הנשמה למלבוש העליון.

And the body of a person interposes between the neshamah and the higher garment.

In this world the physical body stands as a barrier, screening the soul from the radiant upper garment it is destined to wear.

וצריך האדם לידע ולהשתוקק למלבוש העליון.

And a person must know of, and yearn for, the higher garment.

The avodah is to remain conscious of that higher spiritual garment and to long for it, rather than being absorbed in the bodily garment alone.

והטלית רמז למלבוש הנ"ל וכמ"ש שמן קיום המצות נעשה מלבוש וחלוקא דרבנן בעולם הבא.

And the tallis alludes to the aforementioned garment, as it is said that from the fulfillment of mitzvos is fashioned a garment — the "chaluka d'rabbanan" (the robe of the sages) in the World to Come.

The tallis is a tangible hint of the spiritual garment: each mitzvah weaves another thread of the luminous robe that will clothe the soul in olam haba.

וכפי הכנת זה המלבוש ע"י המצות כמו כן נתקן הפנימיות שהוא נשמת האדם אשר בקרבו.

And to the extent that this garment is prepared through mitzvos, so too is the penimiyus — the soul of the person within him — rectified.

Preparing the outer garment of mitzvos is not separate from inner growth: the very act of weaving that garment refines and perfects the inner neshamah itself.

וז"ש וראיתם כו' וזכרתם כו' ולא תתורו כו' שלא לתור אחר מלבוש הגוף.

And this is the meaning of "and you shall see… and you shall remember… and you shall not stray (lo sasuru)…" — not to chase after the garment of the body.

The warning "do not stray after your heart and eyes" means not to be drawn after the outer bodily garment and its desires, but to keep one's gaze on the inner reality the tzitzis recall.

וכפי התרחקות מהגוף באין לזכירה פנימיות אח"כ שהוא התעוררות הנשמה הטמונה בגוף עד שזוכין להתקדש כו'.

And to the degree that one distances himself from the body, one comes afterward to inner remembrance — the awakening of the neshamah hidden within the body — until one merits to become holy.

By loosening one's attachment to bodily desires, a person reaches a deeper, inner remembrance: the hidden soul stirs and awakens within, leading at last to genuine kedushah.

ובמ"א כתבנו עוד מזה:

And elsewhere we have written further on this.

The Sefas Emes notes that he has discussed this theme more fully in another place.

Summary: Tzitzis answers how a physical mitzvah can awaken the soul: every mitzvah already has a root within the neshamah, and the bodily act lights up that latent root. The body is only a temporary garment that screens the soul from its true "upper garment," the luminous robe woven from mitzvos for olam haba. By preparing that garment through mitzvos and by not straying after the body's desires — "lo sasuru" — a person refines his penimiyus, awakens the hidden neshamah, and attains kedushah.