Demolishing Falsehood Before Building Torah

בפסוק אחרי הכותו כו' כבר כ' בשם <b>מו"ז ז"ל</b> כי קודם איבוד אותן הרשעים לא הי' יכול לפרש אלה הדברים וביאר עוד קליפת סיחון מלך חשבון הוא מחשבות הרעות היפוך בחי' ת"ש ראש

On the verse "after he had smitten Sichon" and so forth, I have already written in the name of my grandfather and teacher, of blessed memory, that before the destruction of those resha'im Moshe Rabbeinu was unable to expound "these are the words"; and he further explained that the kelipah of Sichon, king of Cheshbon, represents the evil thoughts, the opposite of the aspect of placing the head in subjugation ["tash rosh"].

Citing his grandfather, the Sfas Emes notes that Moshe Rabbeinu could only begin Sefer Devarim after defeating Sichon and Og, and that Sichon represents corrupt thoughts that block the subjugation of the head to Hashem.

ועוג באדרעי היפוך תש"י לשעבוד הכח והלב אליו ית' עכ"ד

And Og at Edre'i is the opposite of "yad kehah" [a weakened hand] — that is, the subjugation of one's strength and heart to Him, Yisbarach. These are his words.

Og at Edre'i represents the opposite of a hand subdued to Hashem — meaning the failure to surrender one's strength and heart to Him.

ונראה שכמו בפרט כל אדם אחר והי' כו' לאות על ידך כו' בין עיניך למען תהי' תורת ה' בפיך

And it appears that just as with regard to every individual person — "and it shall be a sign upon your hand and between your eyes, so that the Torah of Hashem may be in your mouth" —

He applies this to every individual through the verse about tefillin being a sign on the hand and between the eyes, leading to the Torah being in one's mouth.

שצריכין מקודם לקשור היד והמוח

that one must first bind the hand and the mind,

The order of avodah is to first bind the hand and the mind before reaching speech of Torah.

ובוודאי יש במקום הזה עיכובים שע"ז נתן לנו הקב"ה סיוע במצות התפילין

and certainly there are obstructions in this matter, and against this Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us assistance through the mitzvah of tefillin —

There are inner obstacles to this binding, and Hashem gave the mitzvah of tefillin as a Divine aid to overcome them.

כמו כן בכלל לא הי' יכול להתגלות באור התורה שבע"פ עד שהכה מרע"ה אלה הקליפות

so too in general, the light of the Torah she'be'al peh [the Oral Torah] could not be revealed until Moshe Rabbeinu smote these kelipos.

On the collective level, the light of the Oral Torah could not emerge until Moshe Rabbeinu destroyed these kelipos.

וכ' עליהם כי לעולם חסדו שהם חסדים הנצרכים בכל יום לכל עובד ה'

And it is written concerning them "for His chesed endures forever" (Tehillim 136), for these are the acts of chesed that are needed every day by every one who serves Hashem.

These victories are described as Hashem's enduring chesed, because they correspond to the daily acts of chesed needed by every servant of Hashem.

וכ' ונקח כו' א"הא מיד שני מלכי האמורי כו' שסיחון ועוג שמרו ארץ כנען כו'

And it is written "and we took at that time the land from the hand of the two kings of the Emori" and so forth, for Sichon and Og guarded the land of Canaan and so forth.

The verse describes taking the land from Sichon and Og, who guarded Canaan and thereby blocked entry.

והענין הוא כמ"ש במ"א ע"פ והאבן גדולה ע"פ הבאר שהוא האבן שביקש עוג לזרוק על מחנה ישראל כדאיתא בגמ' עקר טורא כו' והיא קליפה גדולה שמתנגד (לכלל) [*לכל] כלל מחנה ישראל דכמו דיש בנין באותיות התורה שהוא סוד א"י ובהמ"ק שזה הבנין ניתן לבנ"י לבנות

And the matter is as I have written elsewhere on the verse "and the stone was great" upon the mouth of the well — that this is the stone which Og sought to hurl upon the camp of Bnei Yisrael, as it is brought in the Gemara (Berachos 54b) that he uprooted a mountain and so forth; and it is a great kelipah that stands opposed to the entire collective camp of Bnei Yisrael, for just as there is a structure of building in the letters of the Torah — which is the secret of Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash, this building having been given to Bnei Yisrael to build —

Drawing on his teaching about the great stone Og tried to throw, the Sfas Emes explains that Og embodies a great kelipah opposing all of Bnei Yisrael, paralleling the holy building made of the letters of the Torah that produces Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash.

כמו כן לעומת זה אית בנינא דשיקרא והבלים

so too, opposite this, there is a building of falsehood and emptiness.

Opposite the holy structure stands a counterfeit building made of falsehood and emptiness.

לכן היו צריכין בנ"י לסתור מקודם אלה הבנינים שבנו הרשעים להיות מסך מבדיל שלא יכלו בנ"י לבנות באותיות התורה עד שאיבדו אלה הבנינים דתהו כנ"ל

Therefore Bnei Yisrael first needed to demolish these buildings that the resha'im had built, which served as a partition separating, so that Bnei Yisrael could not build within the letters of the Torah until they destroyed these structures of tohu, as above.

Bnei Yisrael had to first tear down these false structures of tohu, which acted as a barrier preventing them from building with the letters of the Torah.

וכמו כן ממש נמצא בכל איש ישראל איזה חלק בנין מאותיות התורה ששייך אליו רק שצריך מקודם לסתור בנין הבלים שהקדים היצה"ר שבא מקודם

And in precisely the same way, there is found within every man of Yisrael a certain portion of building from the letters of the Torah that belongs to him; only that he must first demolish the building of emptiness that the yetzer hara, which comes first, had set up beforehand.

The same dynamic exists within each individual Jew, who has his own portion in the Torah's letters but must first demolish the empty structure the yetzer hara erected ahead of him.

ובהסיר ההבלים וע"י תש"י וש"ר שמשעבד הגוף והמוח אז למען תהי' תורת ה' בפיך

And upon removing the emptiness, and through the tefillin of the hand and the tefillin of the head, which subjugate the body and the mind, then "so that the Torah of Hashem may be in your mouth" is fulfilled.

Once the emptiness is removed, and through hand and head tefillin subjugating body and mind, the goal of Torah in one's mouth is achieved.

וכמו כן הי' בכלל בנ"י כמ"ש:

And so too it was with the entire collective of Bnei Yisrael, as is written:

The same process applied to the entire nation of Bnei Yisrael, as the verse goes on to say.

Summary: The Sfas Emes, building on his grandfather's teaching, explains that Moshe Rabbeinu could only begin Sefer Devarim and reveal the light of the Oral Torah after destroying the kelipos of Sichon and Og, who represent corrupt thoughts and the refusal to subjugate one's strength and heart to Hashem. He draws a parallel to the holy building of Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash, which are constructed from the letters of the Torah and given to Bnei Yisrael to build, set against a counterfeit structure of falsehood and emptiness erected by the resha'im as a barrier. Just as Bnei Yisrael first had to demolish these structures of tohu before they could build with the Torah's letters, every individual Jew possesses his own portion in those letters but must first tear down the empty edifice that the yetzer hara built ahead of him. Through the tefillin of the hand and head, which subjugate the body and the mind, the obstacles are cleared so that "the Torah of Hashem may be in your mouth" is fulfilled, both for the individual and for the entire collective of Bnei Yisrael.