Love Through Resembling Hashem

בפרשת והי' א"ש כו' לאהבה כו' ולעבדו בכל לבבכם

In the parsha of "And it will be, if you surely listen... to love... and to serve Him with all your heart" (Devarim 11:13).

The Sfas Emes opens with the verse from this week's parsha that joins listening to Hashem with loving Him and serving Him wholeheartedly.

פירש"י שלא תלמוד בשביל להיות עשיר רבי רק מאהבה כו'

Rashi explains: do not learn in order to become rich, or to be called Rabbi, but rather out of love.

Rashi teaches that Torah study and avodah must flow from love of Hashem, not from a desire for wealth or honor.

פי' הפסוק כי תכלית המצות הם כדי לבא לאהבת ה' כי איך אפשר לב"י לבא לאהבת הבורא וכן הקשו הפלוסופים כי איך שייך ציוי באהבה אם אין הנפש אוהב בעצם

The meaning of the verse is that the purpose of the mitzvos is to come to love of Hashem, for how is it possible for Bnei Yisrael to arrive at love of the Creator? And so too the philosophers raised the difficulty: how can there be a command regarding love, if the soul does not love by its very essence?

The very goal of the mitzvos is to bring a person to love of Hashem, which raises a difficulty the philosophers also voiced: how can love be commanded if the soul does not love on its own?

ולא מחכמה שאלו זאת רק מחסרון המצות שלהם

But it was not out of wisdom that they asked this, but rather from the deficiency of their own mitzvos.

Their question stemmed not from true wisdom but from the inadequacy of their own commandments, which lack the power to generate love.

אבל בנ"י ע"י המצות מתעורר בהם האהבה

But Bnei Yisrael, through the mitzvos, have this love awakened within them.

For Bnei Yisrael, however, the mitzvos themselves arouse love of Hashem from within.

ובס' הישר לר"ת איתא כי שורש אהבה התדמות האוהב אל הנאהב ע"ש

And in the Sefer HaYashar of Rabbeinu Tam it is brought that the root of love is the resemblance of the one who loves to the one who is beloved; see there.

Rabbeinu Tam in Sefer HaYashar teaches that the root of love is becoming similar to the one you love.

ולכן כאשר קדשנו הקב"ה במצותיו ומדותיו ומתדמין במעשינו ומדותינו אל מידות הבורא ית"ש ולמעשיו

Therefore, when the Holy One, Blessed is He, sanctified us with His mitzvos and His middos, and we come to resemble, in our deeds and our middos, the middos of the Creator, blessed be His Name, and His deeds,

Since Hashem sanctified us with mitzvos and middos, performing them makes our deeds and character resemble His.

בזה יש לנו דביקות בו ית' כמ"ש הדבק במדותיו

through this we have dveikus in Him, blessed be He, as it is written, "Cleave to His middos."

This resemblance produces dveikus, clinging to Hashem, fulfilling the directive to cleave to His middos.

ולכן נק' מצוה על שם החיבור ודביקות וכמ"ש לוית חן הם

Therefore a mitzvah is so called because of the joining and the dveikus, and as it is written, "they are a garland of grace" (Mishlei 1:9).

The very word mitzvah connotes joining and attachment, and mitzvos are called a garland of grace that binds us to Hashem.

והיא בחי' אהבת חסד מה שזיכה אותנו הקב"ה במצותיו כמ"ש רצה הקב"ה לזכות את בנ"י הרבה להם תורה ומצות שעי"ז מזדככין מעשיהם להתדמות אל הבורא

And this is the aspect of love rooted in chesed, that which the Holy One, Blessed is He, granted us with His mitzvos, as it is written, "The Holy One, Blessed is He, wished to grant merit to Bnei Yisrael; therefore He gave them abundant Torah and mitzvos" (Makkos 23b), for through this their deeds are refined to resemble the Creator.

This is love born of Hashem's chesed: He gave us many mitzvos precisely so that our deeds would be refined to resemble Him.

ותרי"ג מצות מזככין רמ"ח ושס"ה שבאדם ובזה זוכין לאהבת ה'

And the six hundred and thirteen mitzvos refine the two hundred and forty-eight limbs and three hundred and sixty-five sinews within a person, and through this one merits love of Hashem.

The 613 mitzvos correspond to and purify the 248 limbs and 365 sinews of a person, and through this refinement one attains love of Hashem.

והנה בפרשה ראשונה בק"ש כ' סתם ואהבת והיא מדרגה גדולה כמו שהי' לבנ"י בשעת קבלת התורה אמרתי אלקים אתם

Now in the first parsha of Krias Shema it is written simply "And you shall love," and this is a great level, like that which Bnei Yisrael possessed at the time of Kabbalas HaTorah, of which it is said, "I said, you are godly beings" (Tehillim 82:6).

The first paragraph of Shema commands love plainly, reflecting the lofty level Bnei Yisrael reached at Matan Torah, when Hashem called them godly beings.

והי' להם אהבה בעצם בלי שום פעולה

And they had love by its very essence, without any action whatsoever.

At that level their love was essential and innate, requiring no action to produce it.

ופרשה שני' בחי' קבלת עול מצות הוא מדרגה קטנה מזה כמ"ש בגמ' ואספת דגנך כשאין עושין רצונו של מקום

And the second parsha is the aspect of accepting the yoke of the mitzvos, which is a lesser level than this, as it is said in the Gemara concerning "and you shall gather in your grain" (Devarim 11:14) — this is when they are not doing the will of the Omnipresent.

The second paragraph reflects the lower level of accepting the yoke of mitzvos, which the Gemara links to working the land, the state of those not fully doing Hashem's will.

כי עושין רצונו של מקום היינו שאין לו עשי' אחרת בעולם כמלאך שאין בו רק השליחות

For when they are doing the will of the Omnipresent, this means that he has no other activity in the world, like an angel that has within it nothing but the mission upon which it is sent.

Doing Hashem's will completely means having no other pursuit in the world, like an angel whose entire being is its single mission.

וכשאין זוכין למדרגה זו צריכין לעורר את האהבה בכח המצות כנ"ל

And when one does not merit this level, he needs to awaken the love through the power of the mitzvos, as above.

One who has not reached that essential level must instead arouse love through the power of performing the mitzvos.

גם ולעבדו אחז"ל זה תפלה עבודה שבלב

Also regarding "and to serve Him," our Sages of blessed memory said: this refers to tefillah, the service of the heart.

The phrase "and to serve Him" refers, per the Sages, to tefillah, which is the service of the heart.

ואיתא בגמ' אין עומדין להתפלל רק מתוך שמחה של מצוה

And it is brought in the Gemara that one may stand to daven only out of the joy of a mitzvah.

The Gemara teaches that one should begin to daven only from the joy of having performed a mitzvah.

זה הרמז והי' א"ש כי והי' לשון שמחה שע"י שמחת המצות ולעבדו בכל לבבכם כנ"ל:

This is the hint of "And it will be, if you surely listen," for "and it will be" (vehayah) is an expression of joy, for through the joy of the mitzvos comes "and to serve Him with all your heart," as above.

This is hinted in vehayah, an expression of joy: the joy of the mitzvos enables one to serve Hashem with the whole heart through tefillah.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that the entire purpose of the mitzvos is to bring Bnei Yisrael to love of Hashem, answering the philosophers' challenge of how love can be commanded. Drawing on Rabbeinu Tam, he teaches that love grows from resemblance: by performing Hashem's mitzvos and refining our middos to mirror His, our 613 mitzvos purify the 248 limbs and 365 sinews, producing dveikus and love rooted in His chesed. He distinguishes two levels in Krias Shema: the essential, innate love of the first paragraph, like the heights Bnei Yisrael reached at Matan Torah, versus the second paragraph's acceptance of the yoke of mitzvos, where love must be actively awakened through their power. Finally, the avodah of the heart, tefillah, must begin from the joy of a mitzvah, which is the very joy hinted at in the word vehayah that opens the parsha.