Heaven And Earth Witnessing

ברש"י ז"ל יד העדים תהי' בראשונה

Rashi, of blessed memory, teaches (on the verse) "the hand of the witnesses shall be against him first" (Devarim 17:7) — that the witnesses must be the first to act against the one who sinned.

Rashi explains the law that the witnesses to a capital sin must themselves be the first to carry out the punishment against the sinner.

כי עיקר עדות שמים וארץ הוא

For the essential testimony is that of heaven and earth, which Hashem called upon to bear witness against Bnei Yisrael.

The Sfas Emes points to the deeper level of testimony: heaven and earth themselves, which Hashem appointed as witnesses over Bnei Yisrael.

כי ממילא כן שכח שמים וארץ תלוין בעבודת בנ"י וכ' שמים וארץ קנין אחד ובנ"י קנין אחד ותורה קנין אחד

Because it follows of itself that the very existence of heaven and earth is suspended upon the avodah of Bnei Yisrael, as Chazal wrote that heaven and earth are one acquisition (of Hashem), Bnei Yisrael are one acquisition, and the Torah is one acquisition.

Since heaven, earth, Bnei Yisrael, and the Torah are each called an 'acquisition' of Hashem, the survival of heaven and earth depends entirely on the avodah of Bnei Yisrael.

וכמו שבנ"י מקבלין כח התורה ומתחברין ב' התורות שבכתב ושבע"פ כן מתבררין קנין שמים וארץ ואם לאו ח"ו אין להם חיות

And just as Bnei Yisrael receive the power of the Torah and join together the two Torahs — the Written Torah and the Oral Torah — so too are the acquisitions of heaven and earth brought to their fulfillment; but if not, Heaven forbid, they have no life-force at all.

When Bnei Yisrael draw down the strength of the Torah and unite the Written and Oral Torah, they bring heaven and earth to their true purpose; without that avodah, creation itself has no inner vitality.

ופשוט הטעם יד העדים בראשונה שכן צריך להיות שלא יוכל אדם לראות דבר עבירה ולכן עדים שראו צריכין לסוקלו

And the reason is straightforward that "the hand of the witnesses shall be against him first" — for so it must be, that a person should not be able to look upon a matter of transgression, and therefore the witnesses who saw it are the ones who must stone him.

Just as a witness, by definition, cannot passively watch a sin take place and so must be the one to act, the same principle is being applied to heaven and earth.

וכמו כן הטבע א"י להתקיים כשאין נעשה רצונו של מקום כנ"ל:

And in the very same way, nature itself cannot endure when the will of the Omnipresent is not being carried out, as explained above.

Because heaven and earth are 'witnesses,' nature cannot tolerate or sustain itself when Hashem's will is being violated, just as the witness's own hand must rise up against the transgressor.

Summary: The Sfas Emes builds on Rashi's teaching that the witnesses to a sin must be the first to act against the transgressor, and asks what this means on the level of heaven and earth, which Hashem appointed as the ultimate witnesses over Bnei Yisrael. He explains that heaven, earth, Bnei Yisrael, and the Torah are each an 'acquisition' of Hashem, and that the continued existence of heaven and earth is suspended entirely upon the avodah of Bnei Yisrael. When Bnei Yisrael receive the power of the Torah and unite the Written and Oral Torah, they bring heaven and earth to their true fulfillment; without that avodah, creation has no inner life-force. Just as a true witness cannot passively look on while a transgression unfolds and so his hand must rise first, so too nature itself cannot endure when the will of the Ribono shel Olam is not being fulfilled.