Falsehood flees the perfected tzaddik

בפסוק הן עוד היום גדול כו'.

On the verse, "Behold, the day is still long…" (Bereishis 29:7).

The Sefas Emes opens from Yaakov's words to the shepherds at the well, telling them that since much of the day remained, they should water their flocks rather than gather idly.

וקשה הלא ראה האבן גדולה על פי הבאר.

And there is a difficulty: he had seen that the stone upon the mouth of the well was large.

Yaakov could plainly see a great stone covering the well, which the shepherds said required all of them together to move.

ואם כי הוא הי' גבור.

And although he was mighty,

Even granting Yaakov's own great strength, with which he would single-handedly roll the stone away,

הי' לו להבין כי לא יוכלו לגול האבן.

he should have understood that they would not be able to roll the stone away.

Yaakov should have realized that the shepherds, by their own account, could not move the stone until all the flocks had gathered — so his urging them to water the sheep first seems puzzling.

ונראה מזה כי הצדיק שאינו מחשיב הבלי העולם.

It appears from this that the tzaddik, who does not give importance to the vanities of the world,

The resolution reveals something about a tzaddik like Yaakov: because he attaches no weight to the empty "vanities" (hevel) of the world,

לכן אין השוא עומד בפניו והשקר בורח מלפניו.

therefore falsehood (shav) cannot stand before him, and the lie flees from before him.

emptiness and falsehood have no power to obstruct him. A tzaddik who lives entirely for truth causes falsehood itself to flee, so even physical obstacles rooted in this world's "vanity" give way before him.

וכ' גדולה על פי הבאר כי כל התחלות קשות ורק ע"י ביטול הכלל יכולין לפתוח לפי שעה.

And it is written, "(the stone was) large upon the mouth of the well" — for all beginnings are difficult, and only through the bittul (self-nullification) of the klal can one open it for a brief while.

The heavy stone on the well's mouth symbolizes the difficulty of all beginnings. The ordinary shepherds could open the wellspring of holiness only momentarily, and only by gathering together as a collective and nullifying themselves into the klal.

ואח"כ כתיב והשיבו את האבן כמ"ש במדרש לאחר שיוצאין מביהכ"נ חוזר יצה"ר למקומו.

And afterward it is written, "and they would return the stone," as the Midrash says: after they leave the beis haknesses, the yetzer hara returns to its place.

For the common person, the opening is temporary: after the moment of holiness passes — like leaving the synagogue — the stone is rolled back, and the yetzer hara reasserts itself, sealing the wellspring once more.

ולכן הם תמיד אצל התחלות קשות.

And therefore they are always at "difficult beginnings."

Because the obstruction keeps returning, such people are perpetually back at square one, forever facing the same hard beginning again and again.

אבל ביעקב לא כתיב שהשיב האבן למקומו שהיה ניתקן כולו ולכן ברח השקר מלפניו כנ"ל:

But concerning Yaakov it is not written that he returned the stone to its place — for he was wholly rectified, and therefore the lie fled from before him, as above.

Yaakov is different. The Torah never says he replaced the stone, because for a perfected tzaddik the wellspring stays open permanently. Having been wholly rectified, falsehood flees from him for good, and the obstacle does not return — unlike the ordinary person whose yetzer hara always comes back.

Summary: Why did Yaakov urge the shepherds to water their flocks when the great stone seemingly could not yet be moved? Because for a tzaddik who places no value on the world's vanities, falsehood cannot stand and flees before him. The heavy stone on the well represents the difficulty of all beginnings; ordinary people open the wellspring only briefly, through collective bittul, and then the stone returns as the yetzer hara reasserts itself — leaving them perpetually at hard beginnings. But the Torah never records Yaakov replacing the stone, for as a wholly rectified tzaddik, the wellspring stayed open and falsehood fled from him permanently.