Israel As Hashems Portion
זכור ימות עולם כו' חלק ה' עמו ימצאהו כו'
"Remember the days of old... for Hashem's portion is His people... He found him..." (Devarim 32:7-10).
The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk from Ha'azinu, in which Moshe Rabbeinu calls on Bnei Yisrael to remember the days of old and recognize that they are Hashem's own portion.
פי' כי צריך איש ישראל לידע כי הוא חלק ה' ממעל
The explanation is that a Jew must know that he is a portion of Hashem from on high.
He explains that every Jew must internalize the awareness that his very essence is a portion of Hashem drawn down from above.
ובני ישראל נשתלחו לזה העולם להטות כל הברואים אליו ית'
And Bnei Yisrael were sent into this world in order to turn all of creation toward Him, may He be blessed.
The purpose of sending Bnei Yisrael into this world is to direct all created things back toward Hashem.
ולכן צריכין שלא לשכוח העיקר
Therefore they must not forget the essential point.
Because this is their mission, they must never lose sight of this central truth.
ופי' חלק ה' עמו דאיתא כשאמר השי"ת נעשה אדם היינו שהוא כלול מכל הברואים
And the explanation of "Hashem's portion is His people": for it is brought down that when the Holy One, Blessed is He, said, "Let us make man" (Bereishis 1:26), this means that man is composed of all the creations.
He now explains the phrase "Hashem's portion is His people" through the Midrash that man, created with the words "Let us make man," is a composite of every part of creation.
וכולם נתנו בו חלק והש"י כביכול נשתתף עמהם
All of them gave into him a portion, and Hashem, as it were, became a partner together with them.
Every created force contributed a share to man's makeup, and Hashem Himself, so to speak, joined as a partner in his creation.
ובאדה"ר הי' מעורב כל הכחות ואח"כ נבדלו בנ"י בצירוף אחר צירוף כמ"ש יעקב חבל נחלתו
And in Adam HaRishon all the forces were intermingled, and afterward Bnei Yisrael were separated out, refinement after refinement, as it is written, "Yaakov is the rope of His inheritance" (Devarim 32:9).
Adam HaRishon contained all these forces mixed together, and through successive stages of refinement Bnei Yisrael were extracted, as the pasuk calls Yaakov the rope of Hashem's inheritance.
שמאברהם יצא פסולת וכן מיצחק ובזרע יעקב נבדל רק חלק ה' ממש
For from Avraham there issued forth waste matter, and likewise from Yitzchak, and in the seed of Yaakov only the actual portion of Hashem was set apart.
At each stage the unworthy element fell away, Yishmael from Avraham and Eisav from Yitzchak, until in Yaakov's descendants only the pure portion of Hashem remained.
ולכן נתן השי"ת אותות בישראל מילה תפילין שבת אות היא ביני וביניכם
Therefore Hashem gave signs to Bnei Yisrael: milah, tefillin, and Shabbos, "it is a sign between Me and you" (Shemos 31:13).
Because of this distinct status, Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael identifying signs, milah, tefillin, and Shabbos, which the pasuk calls a sign between Him and them.
וכן פשוט מצות מנוחת השבת לשבות מכל מלאכה ולזכור כי העיקר הנשמה וכל חיי עולם הזה רק גירות וארעי
And so too the mitzvah of resting on Shabbos is straightforward: to cease from all melachah and to remember that the essential thing is the neshamah, and that all of the life of this world is only a sojourning and temporary.
The mitzvah to rest on Shabbos plainly teaches a Jew to stop all melachah and recall that the neshamah is what truly matters, while this worldly life is merely a temporary sojourn.
ושבת יומא דנשמתין ולאו דגופא
And Shabbos is the day of the soul and not of the body.
Shabbos belongs to the dimension of the soul rather than the body.
ולכן גוי ששבת חייב מיתה כי א"י לחיות רק בצירוף הגשמיות
Therefore a non-Jew who rests is liable to death, for he is unable to live except through the combination of the physical.
This is why a non-Jew who keeps a day of rest is liable, since his existence depends entirely on being bound up with the physical.
רק בנ"י קודש לה' ויכולין לפרוש מעולם הזה ולהתדבק באלקות:
Only Bnei Yisrael are holy unto Hashem, and they are able to separate from this world and to cleave to Elokus.
Bnei Yisrael alone are sanctified to Hashem and therefore have the capacity to detach from this world and cling to Elokus.
Summary: The Sfas Emes builds on the pasuk "for Hashem's portion is His people" to teach that every Jew is, in his very essence, a portion of Hashem drawn down from above, sent into this world to turn all of creation back toward Him. He explains that Adam HaRishon was created as a composite of all created forces, with Hashem Himself as a partner, and that Bnei Yisrael were then separated out through stage after stage of refinement, the waste falling away from Avraham and Yitzchak until only the pure portion of Hashem remained in Yaakov's seed. To mark this distinct kedushah, Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael the signs of milah, tefillin, and Shabbos, with Shabbos in particular teaching that the neshamah is the essential thing and that this-worldly life is only a temporary sojourning. Since Shabbos is the day of the soul and not the body, a non-Jew who rests is liable to death, for his existence is bound up entirely with the physical. Only Bnei Yisrael, who are holy unto Hashem, are able to separate from this world and cleave to Elokus.