Wholeness through clinging to the root

במדרש יודע ה' ימי תמימים כשם שהם תמימים כך שנותיהם תמימים.

In the Midrash: "Hashem knows the days of the wholehearted (temimim)" (Tehillim 37:18) — just as they themselves are temimim (whole/complete), so are their years complete.

The Midrash links the "wholeness" of righteous people to the wholeness of their years; their inner integrity is reflected in the very nature of their lifespan.

ורש"י פי' שני חיי שרה כולן שוין לטובה.

And Rashi explained on "the years of Sarah's life" (Bereishis 23:1) that they were all equal in goodness.

Rashi teaches that all of Sarah's years were uniformly good, without the ups and downs that mark most lives.

והוא מדת השתוות שכתב בס' חובת הלבבות.

And this is the trait of "equanimity (hishtavus)" written about in the sefer Chovos HaLevavos.

This uniformity is the lofty middah of equanimity — being inwardly unchanged by external circumstances — described by the Chovos HaLevavos.

והוא מעלה גדולה להיות אדם עומד בתמימותו בכל מה שעובר עליו.

And it is a great level for a person to remain steadfast in his wholeness through everything that passes over him.

True greatness is to hold firm to one's inner integrity regardless of whatever life brings.

ויש נסיון לעני ויש לעשיר.

And there is a test for the poor person and there is a test for the wealthy one.

Both poverty and wealth present their own spiritual challenges; each state tests a person differently.

ושרה בתחלת ימי' עברו עליה כמה זמנים קשים ברעבון ובלקיחתה לפרעה ואבימלך.

And Sarah, in the beginning of her days, passed through many difficult times — through famine and through being taken to Pharaoh and Avimelech.

Sarah's early life was full of hardship and danger, including famine and being seized by foreign kings.

ובסוף ימיהם הי' להם כל טוב ולא נעשה בה שום שינוי בכל השינוים האלה.

And at the end of their days they had every good thing, yet no change was wrought in her through all these changes.

Although her circumstances shifted dramatically from hardship to abundance, Sarah herself remained inwardly unchanged throughout.

וזה מאמר המשנה עשרה נסיונות נתנסה אאע"ה ועמד בכולן להודיע כמה חיבתו של אאע"ה.

And this is the statement of the Mishnah: "With ten tests was Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, tested, and he withstood them all — to make known how great was the beloved-ness of Avraham Avinu" (Avos 5:3).

Avraham's withstanding of all ten tests demonstrated his greatness and Hashem's love for him — the same quality of steadfastness as Sarah's.

פי' ברוב אהבתו להקב"ה.

The meaning is: through the abundance of his love for Hashem.

It was Avraham's overwhelming love for Hashem that enabled him to pass every test.

כל הרוחות שבעולם אין זזין אותו ממקומו.

All the winds in the world could not move him from his place.

Like a deeply rooted tree, Avraham could not be budged from his spiritual standing by any external "wind" or pressure.

ועמד בתמימותו.

And he remained steadfast in his wholeness.

Avraham held firm to his inner integrity throughout.

ולא הרגיש כלל בכל מה שעבר עליו.

And he felt nothing at all of everything that passed over him.

So firmly was he anchored in Hashem that external trials made no inner impression on him at all.

לא כדרך אנושי שיש לו כמה שינוים בכל יום.

Not in the human manner, where a person has many changes every day.

Ordinary people are emotionally swayed and altered by daily events; the tzaddik is not.

והם כל שנותיהם לא נעשה בהם שינוי.

And in all their years, no change was wrought in them.

Throughout the entire lives of Avraham and Sarah, their inner state remained constant.

ועליהם נאמר גמלתהו טוב כו' כל ימי חייה.

And about them it is said, "She did him good... all the days of her life" (Mishlei 31:12).

The verse describing the "woman of valor" applies to Sarah: her goodness was constant across all the days of her life.

כולל כל מיני שינוים ונסיונות בעוני ובעושר.

This includes all kinds of changes and tests, in poverty and in wealth.

"All the days of her life" encompasses every type of circumstance and trial, both lean times and prosperous ones.

ואמר כשם שהם תמימים כך שנותיהם.

And it said: just as they are temimim (whole), so are their years.

Returning to the opening Midrash: their personal wholeness is mirrored in the wholeness of their years.

כי המה למעלה מן הזמן.

For they are above time.

The truly whole tzaddikim transcend the flux of time itself; they are not subject to its constant changes.

כענין שאמרו אני מעיר השחר ואין השחר מעיר אותי.

As they said: "I awaken the dawn, and the dawn does not awaken me" (Vayikra Rabbah, based on Tehillim 57:9).

Dovid HaMelech mastered time rather than being mastered by it — he roused the dawn rather than waiting for it; so too the tzaddikim govern time rather than being subject to it.

כי הגם שיש בכל יום התחדשות והארה חדשה לא ראי זה כראי זה לכן יש שינוי בכל יום ושנה לטובה ולרעה.

For although there is renewal each day and a new illumination, "this one is not like that one" — therefore there is change every day and year, for good and for bad.

Each day brings its own distinct spiritual light, and because no two days are alike, ordinary existence is marked by constant fluctuation, better or worse.

אבל הצדיקים הם למעלה מן הזמן והם מביאים התמימות גם בזמן.

But the tzaddikim are above time, and they bring wholeness even into time.

The tzaddikim, rooted above the flux of time, draw their constant inner wholeness down into the time-bound world, smoothing its fluctuations.

וז"ש אשריך ארץ שמלכך בן חורין זה החירות לצאת מן הטבע והזמן.

And this is the meaning of "Fortunate are you, O land, whose king is a free man (ben chorin)" (Koheles 10:17) — this is the freedom to go out from nature and from time.

The "free king" represents the freedom to rise above the constraints of nature and time, the hallmark of the tzaddik.

בעת יאכלו הוא עת קבוע להם.

"They eat at the proper time" (Koheles 10:17) — it is a fixed time for them.

Those who are "free" relate to time in a measured, fixed way, mastering it rather than being driven by it.

אי לך ארץ שמלכך נער ובבוקר יאכלו היא הנהגה שתחת הזמן.

"Woe to you, O land, whose king is a youth (na'ar), and whose princes eat in the morning" (Koheles 10:16) — this is conduct that is under (subject to) time.

The "youthful king" represents being ruled by time and impulse — eating "in the morning," driven by appetite rather than discipline.

לכן מקבלים שינוים כפי שינוי היום והשנה.

Therefore they are subject to changes according to the changes of the day and the year.

Those who live "under time" rise and fall along with the shifting days and seasons.

ועיקר התמימות הוא להיות דבוק בשורש העליון כמ"ש תמים תהי' עם ה' אלקיך כי כל דבר שלמטה יש לו שורש למעלה.

And the essence of temimus (wholeness) is to be attached to the supernal root, as it says, "Be wholehearted (tamim) with Hashem your God" (Devarim 18:13) — for everything below has a root above.

True wholeness is achieved through deveikus — clinging to one's spiritual source above, since every earthly thing has a heavenly root.

וכשהחלק שלמטה דבוק בשרשו הוא דבר תם ושלם.

And when the lower part is attached to its root, it is something whole and complete.

A thing becomes "whole" precisely when it is joined to its source above; separation from the root is what creates deficiency and fluctuation.

וזה תכלית עבודת האדם לידבק עצמו בשורש העליון.

And this is the ultimate purpose of a person's avodah — to attach himself to the supernal root.

The whole goal of one's spiritual service is to bind oneself to one's heavenly source.

וזה עצמו מה שזכתה שרה למערת המכפלה שדרשו עלי' זממה שדה ותקחהו.

And this itself is what Sarah merited with Me'aras HaMachpelah, about which they expounded "She considered a field and acquired it" (Mishlei 31:16).

Sarah's acquisition of the burial cave is connected to the "woman of valor" who acquires a field — her lifelong striving toward her root earned her this special resting place.

ובמדרש שנק' מכפלה שמי שקבור בה שכרו כפול ומכופל.

And in the Midrash, it is called "Machpelah (doubling)" because whoever is buried in it, his reward is doubled and redoubled.

The name "Machpelah" hints at a doubled reward for those buried there.

ובגמ' פליגי חד אמר ב' בתים זו לפנים מזו וח"א בית ועליי' על גביו.

And in the Gemara they disagree: one says it was two chambers, one within the other, and one says it was a house with an upper story above it (Eruvin 53a).

The Gemara records two views of the cave's physical structure — either two chambers side by side or one above the other.

ומסתמא שניהם אמת דיש ג"ע תחתון ועליון.

And presumably both are true, for there is a lower Gan Eden and an upper Gan Eden.

The two physical descriptions correspond to a spiritual reality: a lower and an upper Gan Eden, both real.

וכמו כן בג"ע עצמו יש חיצוניות ופנימיות.

And likewise within Gan Eden itself there is an outer aspect and an inner aspect (chitzoniyus and penimiyus).

Gan Eden has gradations of depth — an outer dimension and a deeper, inner dimension.

והכל תלוי בהכנת האדם בעוה"ז כפי מה שמברר מעשיו להיות תוכו כברו ומשתוקק תמיד להתדבק בפנימיות ובשרשו העליון.

And it all depends on a person's preparation in this world — according to how much he refines his deeds to be "his inside like his outside (tocho k'voro)" and constantly yearns to cling to the inner dimension and to his supernal root.

One's place in the inner or outer Gan Eden is determined here, by how thoroughly one purifies one's deeds to match one's inner self and yearns for deveikus with one's source.

כי לכל דבר יש שורש למעלה.

For everything has a root above.

Reiterating the principle: every earthly thing is rooted in a heavenly source.

ולבד זה גם למטה יש פנימיות בכ"ד כמ"ש בחכמה יסד ארץ.

And besides this, even below there is an inner dimension (penimiyus) in everything, as it says, "With wisdom Hashem founded the earth" (Mishlei 3:19).

Beyond having a root above, every earthly thing also contains an inner point of holiness within it, since the world was founded with divine wisdom.

[ובאמת איתא דמערת המכפלה היא בחי' אות ה' שבשם ויש בה מילוי ה'.

[And in truth it is taught that Me'aras HaMachpelah is the aspect of the letter "Heh" of the Divine Name, and it contains the "filling (milui)" of the Heh.

In a kabbalistic note, the cave corresponds to the letter Heh of Hashem's Name and to its "filled-out" spelling.

ויש ה' עילאה ותתאה] וזה מערת המכפלה התערבות והתדבקות בפנימיות ובשורש העליון.

And there is an upper Heh and a lower Heh] — and this is Me'aras HaMachpelah: the intermingling and attachment to the inner dimension and to the supernal root.

The doubled Heh (upper and lower) expresses the cave's essence: the joining of the lower with its inner depth and its higher root.

וכפי השתוקקת האדם כל ימיו להתדבק בשרשו.

And according to a person's yearning all his days to cling to his root.

One's lifelong striving for deveikus with one's source is the determining factor.

כך מכין לעצמו מקום לאחר פטירתו.

So does he prepare for himself a place after his passing.

The yearning one cultivates in life directly prepares one's resting place in the World to Come.

וע"ז כתיב יתפלל כל חסיד כו' לעת מצוא זו קבורה.

And concerning this it is written, "let every devoted one pray... at a time of finding (l'eis metzo)" (Tehillim 32:6) — "this refers to burial" (Berachos 8a).

Chazal read "a time of finding" as referring to burial; the prayer of the chassid prepares his place of rest.

ושרה זממה שדה כל ימי' וזכתה למקום מובחר מכל המקומות:

And Sarah "considered a field" all her days, and merited the choicest of all places.

Because Sarah strove her entire life toward her supernal root, she earned the most exalted resting place of all — Me'aras HaMachpelah.

Summary: The Sefas Emes explains the "wholeness" (temimus) of Sarah and Avraham as the trait of equanimity — remaining inwardly unchanged through every shift of fortune, from famine and danger to abundance. Most people fluctuate daily because they live "under time," each day bringing a different illumination; but the tzaddikim stand above time and draw their constant wholeness down into it, because they are attached to their supernal root, which is the very essence of temimus and the ultimate purpose of avodah. Sarah's lifelong yearning to cling to her root earned her Me'aras HaMachpelah — the "doubled" place reflecting upper and lower Gan Eden, inner and outer dimensions — for one's eternal place is prepared precisely by how much one refines one's deeds and yearns for deveikus with one's source during life.