Joining deed to word to rectify body and soul

במדרש שלוחי מצוה דוחין השבת כו'.

In the Midrash: "Those sent on a mitzvah override Shabbos," etc.

The Sefas Emes opens with the principle that messengers on a mitzvah-errand may set aside certain Shabbos restrictions. He will explain how this connects to the deeper relationship between Shabbos (Torah) and the weekdays (the mitzvos of action), and to the parshah of the meraglim (spies).

הענין הוא כי בנ"י נשתלחו בעוה"ז לתקן העולם בב' בחינות תורה ומצות.

The matter is that Bnei Yisrael were sent into this world to rectify the world in two aspects: Torah and mitzvos.

Bnei Yisrael themselves are "messengers" sent into Olam Hazeh on a mission of tikkun ha-olam, working through two channels: Torah (study) and mitzvos (action).

דכ' וייצר כו' עפר מן האדמה ויפח כו' נשמת חיים.

As it is written: "And He formed [man] of dust from the ground, and He breathed into him a soul of life" (Bereishis 2:7).

Man is composed of two elements: the body, formed from the dust of the earth, and the neshamah, the divine breath of life within him.

והתורה היא תיקון הנשמה.

And the Torah is the rectification of the neshamah.

Torah study is the tikkun for the soul, refining and elevating the spiritual dimension of a person.

ומצות בעשי' תיקון הגוף.

And the mitzvos performed through action are the rectification of the body.

The mitzvos that are carried out by physical deeds are the tikkun for the body, sanctifying the material dimension.

לכן כ' נר מצוה.

Therefore it is written: "A mitzvah is a lamp" (Mishlei 6:23).

A mitzvah is compared to a candle, and the Sefas Emes will explain why a candle is needed specifically for the realm of action.

ונרות הם במקום החושך וההסתר שצריך נר.

And candles are needed in a place of darkness and concealment, where a lamp is required.

A lamp is only necessary where there is darkness. The physical world of action is a place of hester (concealment), so it needs the "lamp" of the mitzvos to light it.

שהמצות מאירין האיך לתקן כל אבר ואבר.

For the mitzvos illuminate how to rectify each and every limb.

The mitzvos of action serve as a guiding light, showing how to sanctify and rectify every part of the physical body.

אכן בחי' התורה הוא כולו אור לנשמת אלוקי ממעל והוא בחי' השבת יומא דנשמתין ולאו דגופא.

However, the aspect of the Torah is entirely light, for the divine soul from above, and it is the aspect of Shabbos — "the day of souls and not of bodies."

Torah, by contrast, is pure light needing no candle; it belongs to the divine neshamah. This is the quality of Shabbos, which the Zohar calls "yoma de-nishmasin" — the day of souls, not of bodies.

לכן שבת יעשה כולו תורה.

Therefore on Shabbos one should make the entire [day] Torah.

Since Shabbos is the day of the soul and of pure light, it should be devoted entirely to Torah.

אבל בימי המעשה הוא תיקון העשיה גשמיות והוא מדריגה תחתונה ונק' מרגלים.

But the weekdays are the rectification of physical action, which is a lower level, and it is called "meraglim" (spies).

The six workdays are devoted to rectifying physical action — a lower rung, associated with the "spies" who were sent into the physical land. Engaging the material world is the work of the meraglim.

לכן אמר יוסף מרגלים אתם לראות כו' ערות הארץ באתם.

Therefore Yosef said: "You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land" (Bereishis 42:9).

The Sefas Emes connects this to Yosef's words to his brothers. "Seeing the nakedness of the land" symbolizes the descent into the exposed, lower realm of physicality.

כי י"ב שבטים הם מתקנים ששת ימי המעשה כמ"ש במ"א.

For the twelve tribes rectify the six days of action, as explained elsewhere.

The twelve shevatim correspond to and rectify the six weekdays (two tribes per day), the realm of physical avodah.

ויוסף שהוא בחי' השבת הוא יומא דנשמתין כו' כדכתיב ולקדקד נזיר אחיו.

And Yosef, who is the aspect of Shabbos, is "the day of souls," as it is written "and upon the crown of the one separated (nazir) from his brothers" (Bereishis 49:26).

Yosef stands above the twelve as the aspect of Shabbos — the "day of souls" — set apart from his brothers like a nazir, just as Shabbos is set apart and elevated above the weekdays.

וכ"כ בשבת אם תשיב משבת רגליך.

And so it is written regarding Shabbos: "If you restrain your foot [from your affairs] on Shabbos" (Yeshayahu 58:13).

The pasuk instructs us to hold back our "foot" — physical, worldly activity — on Shabbos, reinforcing that Shabbos is not the time for the work of berur.

שא"צ בירור בשבת.

For there is no need for berur (sifting/clarification) on Shabbos.

On Shabbos there is no avodah of separating good from evil, because everything is already in its elevated, clarified state.

ובימי המעשה שהעיקר לברר הטוב מהרע זה ענין מרגלים לראות ערות הארץ.

And on the weekdays, when the main task is to sift the good from the evil, this is the matter of "spies, to see the nakedness of the land."

The weekday avodah is precisely this berur — extracting the good from the evil mixed within the physical world — which is the inner meaning of the "spies" entering to examine the "nakedness of the land."

וכמו דאיתא שהנשמה בע"כ יורדת בגוף לעוה"ז שאינה חפיצה לירד בעולם השפל.

And as it is brought, that the soul descends into the body in this world against its will, for it does not desire to descend into the lowly world.

Chazal teach that the neshamah is brought down into the body unwillingly, reluctant to leave its lofty spiritual abode for the lowly physical world.

כמו כן הי' קשה למרגלים לכנוס במדריגה זו.

So too, it was difficult for the meraglim to enter into this level.

In the same way, the spies found it hard to descend into the lower level of engaging the physical land, preferring to remain in the elevated spiritual existence.

שבמדבר הי' כולו תורה.

For in the wilderness it was entirely Torah.

In the midbar, life was wholly given to Torah and spirituality, like an extended Shabbos with the manna and the Clouds of Glory — no engagement with material toil.

אכן השי"ת רצה להכניסנו לא"י לתקן גם הגוף.

However, Hashem desired to bring us into Eretz Yisrael, to rectify the body as well.

But Hashem's will was to bring Bnei Yisrael into Eretz Yisrael, where they would also have to rectify the physical — the body and the material world — not only the soul.

וז"ש בה' אל תמרודו שהוא כמו מרידה שאין לנו לבחור רק לקיים רצונו ית' שהוא הטוב והישר.

And this is the meaning of "Do not rebel against Hashem" (Bamidbar 14:9) — for [refusing this descent] is like a rebellion, since it is not for us to choose, but only to fulfill His will, may He be blessed, which is the good and the upright.

Refusing to enter the land — refusing the harder avodah of rectifying the physical — was itself a rebellion against Hashem. Our task is not to choose the avodah we prefer, but to carry out Hashem's ratzon, which is always the true good.

וזה ענין סמיכות פרשת נסכים אחר מעשה מרגלים כמ"ש במ"א ע"פ הגמ' הקורא ק"ש בלא תפילין כמעיד עדות שקר וכאלו הקריב עולה בלא מנחה זבח בלא נסכים.

And this is the matter of the juxtaposition of the parshah of nesachim (libations) after the episode of the meraglim, as explained elsewhere, based on the Gemara: one who recites Krias Shema without tefillin is as if he bears false testimony, and as if he offered an olah without a minchah, a zevach without nesachim (Berachos 14b-15a).

The Sefas Emes explains why the laws of nesachim follow the story of the spies. Just as the Gemara says reciting Shema without tefillin is "false testimony" — affirming with words but not with deeds — so a korban needs its accompanying minchah and nesachim. Word alone is incomplete without action.

כי צריכין לשתף עובדא למלולא כדאיתא בזוה"ק תרומה.

For one must join the deed (uvda) to the word (mulula), as it is brought in the Zohar HaKadosh, Parshas Terumah.

The Zohar teaches that one must pair action with speech — uniting the physical deed with the spoken or studied word — to make the avodah whole.

והוא לתקן הנשמה והגוף.

And this is to rectify both the neshamah and the body.

Joining deed to word accomplishes the full tikkun of both dimensions of a person — soul and body together.

לכן בשעת ק"ש צריך להיות גם התיקון במעשה המצוה שעי"ז מתקיים וישאר הארת הדיבורים בגופו של אדם.

Therefore, at the time of Krias Shema, there must also be the rectification of the physical act of the mitzvah [tefillin], for through this the illumination of the words endures and remains within a person's body.

This is why Shema (word) must be accompanied by tefillin (deed): the physical mitzvah anchors the spiritual light of the words so that it is absorbed and remains within the very body of the person.

ובלא"ה הוי מעיד עדות שקר בעצמו שאינו מבורר בגוף רק בנשמה בלבד.

And without this, he bears false testimony against himself, for he is not clarified (refined) in the body, but only in the soul.

Without the accompanying deed, a person testifies falsely about himself — claiming a wholeness he lacks, since his refinement reached only his soul and not his body.

והבירור צריך להיות גם בגוף.

And the berur must take place in the body as well.

True clarification must extend to the physical body, not remain confined to the spiritual realm alone.

וכמו כן בכל קרבן צוה השי"ת להוסיף נסכים ומנחה שהוא התיקונים מן הארץ דגן תירוש ויצהר שבאין בכח חרישה וזריעה ונטיעה.

And likewise, with every korban Hashem commanded to add nesachim and a minchah, which are the rectifications from the earth — grain, wine, and oil — which come through the labor of plowing, sowing, and planting.

So too every korban requires libations and a meal-offering drawn from agricultural produce — grain, wine, and oil — which are the fruits of human physical labor (plowing, sowing, planting), representing the tikkun of the material world through deed.

אבל הבהמה הוא בע"ח בעצמו.

But the animal is a living creature by itself.

The animal of the korban is already a living being requiring no human cultivation, so on its own it does not represent the rectification achieved through human labor.

והקב"ה רצה בשעת הקרבן יהי' דביקות במעשה האדם.

And Hashem desired that at the time of the korban there should be deveikus through the deed of man.

Hashem wanted the korban to include the dimension of human action and effort, so that a person's own deeds become a vehicle of deveikus, clinging to Hashem.

ולכן השירה הי' בשעת נסכים עובדא ומלולא.

Therefore the song (shirah) was sung at the time of the nesachim — deed and word [together].

The Leviim's shirah was sung specifically during the pouring of the libations, uniting the spoken/sung word with the physical deed of the nesachim — uvda u-mulula joined.

וכמו כן ק"ש ותפילין.

And likewise, Krias Shema and tefillin.

The same pairing of word and deed is found in Shema (word) together with tefillin (deed).

לכן בש"ק אין צריכין תפילין שהיא יומא דנשמתין וא"צ בירור כנ"ל:

Therefore on Shabbos Kodesh we do not need tefillin, for it is "the day of souls," and there is no need for berur, as above.

This is why tefillin are not worn on Shabbos: Shabbos is the "day of souls," already wholly in its refined state, requiring no berur and therefore no physical deed to anchor the word — the word alone is complete on the day of the neshamah.

Summary: The Sefas Emes explains that Bnei Yisrael were sent into this world to effect tikkun through two channels — Torah, which rectifies the neshamah, and mitzvos of action, which rectify the body. Torah is pure light, the quality of Shabbos, the "day of souls" needing no candle and no berur; the weekdays are the lower realm of action, the avodah of the "spies" who sift good from evil in the physical world. The spies' sin was reluctance to descend into this harder work of rectifying the body, which is itself a rebellion against Hashem's will to bring us into Eretz Yisrael. Hence the laws of nesachim follow the meraglim: just as Shema without tefillin is "false testimony" and a korban needs its grain-and-wine offerings of human labor, true avodah must join deed to word (uvda u-mulula) so the berur reaches the body and not the soul alone. On Shabbos, the day of souls, no berur and thus no tefillin are needed.