Mitzvos as a Garment and Shield

בפסוק אנכי מגן לך ובמדרש אמרת ה' צרופה כו'.

On the pasuk "I am a shield for you" (Bereishis 15:1), and in the Midrash on "The word of Hashem is refined" (Tehillim 18:31), etc.

The Sefas Emes links Hashem's promise to Avraham — "I am a shield for you" — with the Midrashic teaching about the refined, purifying word of Hashem, and sets out to explain how the two illuminate each other.

אנכי הוא אנכי דעשרת הדברות שמאברהם התחילו ב' אלפים תורה וקיים אברהם אבינו כל המצות והנה המצות הם נותנים לבוש קדושה לאדם לכן יש בהם רמ"ח ושס"ה לתקן לבוש לגוף האדם והוא מגן ותריס על האדם זהו אמרת ה' צרופה מגן הוא זה כח תרי"ג מצוה אמרת גי' כ"ח תרי"ג.

This "I" (Anochi) is the same "Anochi" of the Aseres HaDibros, for from Avraham began the two thousand years of Torah, and Avraham Avinu kept all the mitzvos. Now, the mitzvos give a garment of kedushah to a person — therefore there are 248 (positive) and 365 (negative) mitzvos, corresponding to the limbs and sinews, to fashion a garment for the body of a person; and it is a shield and buckler upon a person. This is "the word of Hashem is refined (tzerufah)" — it is a shield. This is the power of the 613 mitzvos: "imras" (the word) has the gematria of 28 plus 613.

Avraham, though he preceded Matan Torah, already lived the Torah — so the "Anochi" of the Ten Commandments reaches back to him. The mitzvos clothe a person in a spiritual garment that exactly fits the 248 limbs and 365 sinews of the body, and this garment of kedushah serves as armor. The Sefas Emes reads "tzerufah" (refined) as "tzeirufah" — the joined word that shields — and finds the 613 mitzvos hinted in the gematria.

וזה פירוש המדרש לך נתתי מגינים של צדיקים זה המלבוש שהצדיקים מושכים להם בכח מעשה המצות.

And this is the meaning of the Midrash: "To you I have given the shields of the tzaddikim" — this is the garment that the tzaddikim draw upon themselves through the power of performing the mitzvos.

The "shield" Hashem gives is not a thing apart from us; it is the very garment of kedushah that a tzaddik weaves around himself by doing mitzvos.

שכרך הרבה מאוד הוא עצם התורה פנימיות של המצות שזה לעוה"ב כמ"ש שכר מצות בהאי עלמא ליכא.

"Your reward is very great" — this is the essence of the Torah, the penimiyus (inner dimension) of the mitzvos, which is for the World to Come, as it says: "There is no reward for mitzvos in this world."

Beyond the protective "garment" of the mitzvos lies their inner essence — the Torah itself. That inner reward is reserved for Olam Haba, since the true recompense for a mitzvah cannot be paid out in this world.

שכרך הרבה מאד ר"ת משה שר התורה אבל מן הפירות נשמרים הצדיקים גם בעולם הזה.

"Your reward is very great" — the initial letters spell Moshe, the prince of the Torah; yet from the "fruits" the tzaddikim are sustained even in this world.

The acronym points to Moshe Rabbeinu, master of Torah, whose reward is the Torah's inner essence. Still, like the "fruits" of a mitzvah (its byproducts), tzaddikim do enjoy some benefit and protection even here below.

מגן הוא בעוה"ז דצריך הגנה ושמירה מן המלחמה:

"A shield" applies in this world, where one needs protection and guarding from the battle.

In Olam Hazeh, where a person is locked in the constant battle against the yetzer hara, the mitzvos function as a shield; their deeper reward, however, waits in the World to Come.

Summary: The mitzvos weave a garment of kedushah that fits the 613 limbs and sinews and serves as a protective shield in this world's spiritual battle, while their inner essence — the Torah itself, hinted in "Anochi" and in Moshe — is the great reward stored up for Olam Haba.