The tzaddik's gaze elevates all creation

בפסוק ראה מן המקום אשר אתה שם כו' כי כל אשר א"ר לך אתננה כו'.

On the pasuk: "Look out from the place where you are… for all the land that you see, I will give it to you…"

Hashem tells Avraham to lift his eyes from wherever he stands and survey the land that will be given to him.

מן המקום הזה הול"ל.

It should have said "from this place."

The Sefas Emes notes the unusual wording — "the place where you are" rather than simply "this place."

או הכל מיותר.

Or [else the phrase] is entirely superfluous.

The extra words "where you are" seem redundant and therefore must carry a deeper meaning.

אך ביאור הענין כי בכל מעשה הצדיקים תלוין כל הברואים וזה רצה הקב"ה להודיע לאאע"ה אשר בכל מקום אשר הוא שם ישא עיניו לד' רוחות העולם והטעם כי כל מקום שראייתך מגעת לך אתננה

But the explanation of the matter is that all created beings depend on the deeds of the tzaddikim; and this is what Hashem wished to make known to Avraham Avinu — that in every place where he is, he should lift his eyes to the four directions of the world; and the reason is, "every place that your gaze reaches, I will give to you."

"The place where you are" teaches a portable truth: wherever the tzaddik stands, the whole world is bound to his avodah, and his very "seeing" — his spiritual reach — draws those places toward holiness and possession.

וכן צריך להיות בכל איש ישראל שבאמצעות מעש"ט שלהם יקרבו כל הברואים אליו ית'.

And so it must be with every Jew, that through their good deeds all created beings are brought near to Hashem.

This is not Avraham's alone: every Jew, through his maasim tovim, draws the whole of creation closer to Hashem.

ואיתא דבר שהי' בכלל ויצא ללמד על הכלל כולו יצא.

And it is taught [as a principle of derashah]: a matter that was included in a general category, and then went out [to be singled out] to teach something — it went out not [only] for itself but to teach about the entire category.

He invokes a hermeneutical rule: when Scripture singles out one item from a larger group, the lesson applies back to the whole group.

וכן הוא בזה הגם כי נבחר אאע"ה ודורות בני ישראל אחריו אבל יצא הכל מן הכלל של כל הבריאה ע"כ ללמד על הכלל יצא כדכתיבנא:

And so it is here: although Avraham Avinu and the generations of Bnei Yisrael after him were chosen [and singled out], yet they "went out" from the general category of all creation — therefore [their being singled out] is to teach about the whole category, as we have written.

Avraham and Klal Yisrael were singled out from among all creatures, but by that very rule their election is meant to elevate everything: their avodah serves to draw all of creation back to Hashem.

Summary: The phrase "the place where you are" teaches that all creation depends on the deeds of the tzaddik — wherever Avraham stands, his very gaze acquires and sanctifies the world around him. This applies to every Jew, whose good deeds draw all created beings near to Hashem; and by the rule that something singled out from a category teaches about the whole, the election of Avraham and Bnei Yisrael exists in order to elevate all of creation.