Extending Torah To The Heel
והי' עקב תשמעון פרש"י ובמד' מצות קלות שאדם דש בעקב כו'
"And it shall be, eikev (because) you hearken" (Devarim 7:12) — Rashi, and likewise the Midrash, explains this to refer to the lighter mitzvos that a person tramples with his heel (akeiv).
The pasuk uses the word eikev (heel), and Rashi and the Midrash see in this a hint to the lighter mitzvos that people tend to step on with their heel and neglect.
הענין הוא דכ' אם שמוע תשמעו פרש"י שמוע בישן תשמע בחדש
The matter is as it is written, "If you will surely hearken" (im shamo'a tishme'u), which Rashi explains: if you hearken to the old, you will hearken to the new.
The Sfas Emes connects this to another pasuk teaching that constant hearkening to the old Torah opens one up to hearing it anew.
והענין הוא דכ' קול גדול ולא יסף לא פסק כי הדברים חיים וקיימים והקב"ה נותן התורה תמיד
And the matter is as it is written, "a great voice, and it did not cease" (Devarim 5:19) — it never stopped, for the words are living and enduring, and the Holy One, Blessed is He, gives the Torah continually.
The voice of Hashem at Sinai never ceased because the Torah is living and eternal; Hashem is giving it to us continually, not just once.
אכן כפי קיום התורה והמצות כן יכולין לשמוע חדשות בכל עת כמ"ש דדי' ירווך מה שדים כשתינוק ממשמש בו מוציא חלב כך ד"ת ומצות כפי עסק האדם בהם כך מתחדש לו לשמוע בכל עת חדשות
Indeed, according to one's fulfillment of the Torah and the mitzvos, so is one able to hear new things at every moment, as it is written, "Her breasts shall satisfy you" (Mishlei 5:19) — just as breasts, when an infant nurses from them, draw forth milk, so too the words of Torah and the mitzvos: according to a person's involvement in them, so is something new revealed to him to hear at every moment.
The more one keeps the Torah and mitzvos, the more fresh insight he draws out of them — like a nursing infant who draws milk by suckling. Effort produces ever-new revelation.
ז"ש נעשה ונשמע כי ידעו שכפי העשי' כך ישמעו תמיד התחדשות
This is the meaning of "We will do and we will hear" (na'aseh v'nishma) (Shemos 24:7), for they knew that according to the doing, so will they always hear new revelation.
When Bnei Yisrael said na'aseh before nishma, they understood that the doing itself is what unlocks the ongoing hearing of new Torah.
וע"ז נאמר אשרי איש שישמע למצותיך
And concerning this it is said, "Praiseworthy is the man who hearkens to Your mitzvos" (cf. Mishlei 8:34).
The verse praising one who hearkens to the mitzvos points to this same idea of continually listening for the renewing Torah.
ובכח זה הוציאו החכמים מכח אל הפועל התורה שבע"פ
And it was through this power that the Chachamim drew the Torah she'b'al peh (the Oral Torah) from potential into actuality.
It was by this power of drawing out new Torah through fulfillment that the Chachamim brought the Oral Torah from potential into the actual.
ואחריהם בכל דור ודור חכמי הדורות שהרחיבו הארת התורה בכל עת
And after them, in every generation, the Chachamim of the generations broadened the illumination of the Torah at all times.
This same process continued through the Chachamim of every generation, who kept expanding the Torah's light.
וכמו כן בכל אדם בפרט
And so too with each individual person.
The very same dynamic of expanding revelation through involvement applies to each individual person as well.
כל ימי חייו צריך לעסוק בתו"מ ויתרחבו הדברים ויוכל למצא בכל דבר קיום מצוה
All the days of his life he must involve himself in Torah and mitzvos, and the matters will broaden for him, and he will be able to find in every thing the fulfillment of a mitzvah.
A person must engage with Torah and mitzvos his whole life, and through that engagement the scope of avodah widens until he finds a mitzvah to fulfill in everything.
וזה מצות קלות שדש בעקביו ואינו מבין מתחילה איך יש בזה מצוה
And this is the meaning of the lighter mitzvos that one tramples with his heels, and at first does not understand how there is a mitzvah in this.
These are the lighter mitzvos one tramples underfoot, in which a person at first cannot even perceive that a mitzvah is present.
ובאמת כל העולם ומלואו מלא מצות כי הכל לכבודו ברא
But in truth the entire world and all that fills it is filled with mitzvos, for Hashem created everything for His honor.
In reality the whole world is saturated with mitzvos, because Hashem created everything for His honor.
וכשעוסק בהם כל ימיו זוכה שיתגלה לו לעשות מצות בכל עת ובכל מקום ובכל דבר
And when a person involves himself in them all the days of his life, he merits that it be revealed to him to perform mitzvos at every moment, in every place, and in every thing.
Lifelong involvement in mitzvos earns a person the gift of seeing how to serve Hashem at every moment, in every place, and in every thing.
וזה עקב תשמעון את המש' האלה כו'
And this is, "eikev (because) you hearken to these ordinances" (Devarim 7:12).
This is the deeper reading of the pasuk: by hearkening to even these ordinances, a person extends his service to the lowest level.
כמו ציור האדם הנשמה בראש ומאיר ונותנת חיים עד העקב
Just as in the form of man the neshamah is in the head, and it illuminates and gives life all the way down to the heel,
The Sfas Emes draws an analogy from the human body: the neshamah sits in the head yet sends its light and life down to the very heel.
כך התורה שנק' ראשית ובה נברא כל העולם צריכין בנ"י להרחיב אור התורה עד העקב
so too the Torah, which is called "reishis" (the beginning) and through which the entire world was created — Bnei Yisrael must broaden the light of the Torah all the way down to the heel.
Likewise the Torah, called reishis and the tool of creation, must have its light extended by Bnei Yisrael all the way down to the lowest, heel-level matters.
ואז יהי' גאולה שלימה במהרה ב"א
And then there will be a complete geulah speedily, may it come.
When the Torah's light reaches even the heel, the complete geulah will arrive speedily.
ומו"ז ז"ל פי' שנרמז בוהי' עקב ר' עקיבא ע"ש
And my grandfather, of blessed memory, explained that in the word "v'hayah eikev" there is an allusion to Rabbi Akiva — see there.
The Sfas Emes cites his grandfather, who found Rabbi Akiva hinted in the word eikev.
וי"ל עוד כי תשמעון רמז על רשב"י
And one can further say that "tishme'un" (you will hearken) is an allusion to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai,
He adds his own suggestion that the word tishme'un alludes to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
כי ר"ע בנגעים ואהלות ור"ש באגדה שהאירו עיניהם של ישראל בתורה עד העקב:
for Rabbi Akiva is in the laws of Nega'im and Ohalos, and Rabbi Shimon is in Aggadah, and they illuminated the eyes of Bnei Yisrael in the Torah all the way down to the heel.
Rabbi Akiva mastered the intricate halachos of Nega'im and Ohalos, and Rabbi Shimon excelled in Aggadah; together they brought the Torah's light down to the very heel, illuminating the eyes of Bnei Yisrael.
Summary: The Sfas Emes opens from the word eikev (heel) in the pasuk, which Rashi and the Midrash read as the lighter mitzvos that people trample underfoot. He explains that because the Torah is living and Hashem gives it continually — the great voice that never ceased — a person draws ever-new insight from it in proportion to his involvement, just as an infant draws milk by nursing. This is why Bnei Yisrael said na'aseh before nishma: the doing itself unlocks the ongoing hearing of renewed Torah, the same power by which the Chachamim of every generation expanded the Oral Torah. Just as the neshamah in the head sends life down to the heel, Bnei Yisrael must extend the light of the Torah — called reishis — into the lowest, heel-level matters, until the entire world is revealed as filled with mitzvos and the complete geulah arrives. He closes with the hint, from his grandfather and himself, that eikev and tishme'un allude to Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who illuminated the eyes of Bnei Yisrael in Torah all the way down to the heel.