Preparing Vessels For Torah

בפסוק שימו לבבכם כו'

Regarding the pasuk, "Set your hearts..." (Devarim 32:46).

The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk in which Moshe Rabbeinu urges Bnei Yisrael to set their hearts to the words of Torah.

פרש"י ז"ל מספרי צריך אדם לתת עיניו ולבו ואזניו להיות מכוונים לדברי תורה כו'

Rashi, of blessed memory, explains from the Sifri: A person must direct his eyes, his heart, and his ears to be focused upon the words of Torah.

Rashi, citing the Sifri, teaches that a person must orient three faculties — his eyes, his heart, and his ears — entirely toward Torah.

פי' כי התורה היא הסיוע משמים כמ"ש יערוף כמטר כו' כטל

The explanation is that the Torah is the assistance that comes from Shamayim, as it is written, "My teaching shall drop like the rain... like the dew" (Devarim 32:2).

Torah is a gift descending from Shamayim, compared by the pasuk to rain and dew that fall from above.

כמו שהשדה אחר שנחרש ונעבד צריך הגשמים להוציא הזרע מכח אל הפועל

Just as a field, after it has been plowed and worked, needs the rains in order to bring forth the seed from potential into actuality,

Just as a plowed and worked field still requires rain to make its seed sprout, the field is prepared but cannot produce on its own.

כן צריך האדם מקודם לתקן אברי הגוף להיות כלים מוכנים לקבל הארת התורה

so too a person must first prepare the limbs of his body to be ready vessels fit to receive the illumination of the Torah.

So too, a person must first ready the limbs of his body so that they become fitting vessels capable of receiving the light of Torah.

וכפי זה התיקון כך נפתחו לו שערי תורה

And in accordance with this preparation, so are the gates of Torah opened for him.

The measure of a person's self-preparation determines how widely the gates of Torah are opened to him.

וזהו ענין תפילין של יד נגד הלב ואח"כ תש"ר תהי' תורת ה' בפיך

This is the matter of the tefillin shel yad, which is placed opposite the heart, and afterward the tefillin shel rosh, so that "the Torah of Hashem shall be in your mouth" (Shemos 13:9).

The order of donning tefillin — first the shel yad by the heart, then the shel rosh — reflects preparing the heart before Torah can rest upon the mind and mouth.

וכ"כ לב חכם ישכיל ע' פיהו פי' כפי תיקון הלב נפתח הפה

And so it is written, "The heart of the wise gives insight to his mouth" (Mishlei 16:23); the explanation being that according to the rectification of the heart, the mouth is opened.

The pasuk in Mishlei teaches that a refined heart is what opens and gives wisdom to the mouth.

וכ"כ לב טהור ברא לי כו' אח"כ ורוח נכון חדש

And so it is written, "Create for me a pure heart..." and afterward, "and renew within me a steadfast spirit" (Tehillim 51:12).

Dovid HaMelech's order in Tehillim mirrors this: first a pure heart is created, and only afterward a steadfast spirit is renewed within.

וכמו כן בימי המעשה צריכין לברר במלאכות הגופניות כדי להיות מוכן ביום שבת לעשות כולו תורה

And likewise, during the weekdays one must refine himself through the physical labors, in order to be prepared on Shabbos to make all of it Torah.

In the same way, the weekday labors are a refinement that prepares a person so that on Shabbos his entire being can be turned into Torah.

כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם כי ציור הגוף מכוון רמ"ח איברים כו'

"For it is not an empty thing from you" (Devarim 32:47) — for the form of the body is aligned, corresponding to the two hundred and forty-eight limbs, etc.

The pasuk teaches that the body is no empty vessel; its very structure corresponds to the two hundred and forty-eight limbs that align with the mitzvos.

ובזוה"ק תולדות כל שייפא ושייפא לקבל ברי' כו' וכן באורייתא כו'

And in the Zohar HaKadosh, Parshas Toldos, it is taught that each and every limb is fashioned to receive a corresponding creation, and so too in the Torah.

The Zohar teaches that each limb of the body was fashioned to receive a corresponding spiritual reality, paralleling the structure of the Torah itself.

וכמו כן בימים אלו אחר ר"ה ויוהכ"פ נתקנן נפשות בנ"י להיות טהורים

And likewise, in these days following Rosh Hashanah and Yom HaKippurim, the souls of Bnei Yisrael are rectified to be pure.

So too, in the days after Rosh Hashanah and Yom HaKippurim, the neshamos of Bnei Yisrael are rectified and made pure.

ולכן בחג הסוכות נידונין על המים היינו לקבל השפע הבאה משמים ואין מים אלא תורה

Therefore, on the Chag of Sukkos, judgment is rendered concerning the water — that is, to receive the abundance that comes from Shamayim, and "water" refers to nothing other than Torah.

On Sukkos we are judged regarding water, which alludes to receiving the heavenly flow of Torah, since "water" in Chazal refers to Torah.

וביוהכ"פ נטהרו הנפשות ולכן בסוכות רוח נכון יחדש בקרבנו

And on Yom HaKippurim the souls were purified, and therefore on Sukkos a steadfast spirit is renewed within us.

Because Yom HaKippurim already purified the souls, Sukkos becomes the time when a steadfast spirit is renewed within us.

וצריכין בימים אלו בין יוהכ"פ לסוכות להשתוקק לקבל הארת התורה בסוכות

And one must, during these days between Yom HaKippurim and Sukkos, yearn to receive the illumination of the Torah on Sukkos.

During the interval between Yom HaKippurim and Sukkos, one should actively yearn to receive the Torah's illumination that Sukkos brings.

לפני ה' תטהרו

"Before Hashem you shall be purified" (Vayikra 16:30).

The Sfas Emes cites the pasuk that the purification of Yom HaKippurim takes place "before Hashem."

פי' שהטהרה הוא רק כדי להיות כלי מוכן לקבל דבר ה'

The explanation is that the purification is only in order to become a ready vessel fit to receive the word of Hashem.

He explains that purification is not an end in itself but a means to become a ready vessel fit to receive the word of Hashem.

לכן איתא בימים אלו טרודין במצות ואין עושין עונות דכתיב שומר מצוה לא ידע דבר רע

Therefore it is taught that during these days the people are occupied with mitzvos and do not commit transgressions, as it is written, "He who guards a mitzvah shall know no evil thing" (Koheles 8:5).

This is why Chazal say that in these days the people are so busy with mitzvos that they have no room for sin, fulfilling "he who guards a mitzvah knows no evil."

וע"י הכנה ותשוקה לעבודת ה' מתגרשין המחשבות זרות מהבלי עולם:

And through preparation and yearning for the avodah of Hashem, foreign thoughts stemming from the vanities of the world are driven away.

Through preparation and longing for the avodah of Hashem, foreign thoughts drawn from worldly vanities are pushed out and driven away.

Summary: The Sfas Emes teaches that the Torah is a gift that descends from Shamayim like rain and dew, but it can only take root in a person who has first prepared himself to receive it. Just as a plowed field still needs rain to bring forth its seed, a person must first refine the limbs of his body into fitting vessels, and the extent of that preparation determines how widely the gates of Torah open for him — a theme he draws out from the order of tefillin and from the pesukim that place a purified heart before the opening of the mouth and the renewal of the spirit. He then applies this to the calendar: the weekday labors prepare a person for Shabbos, and the purification of Rosh Hashanah and Yom HaKippurim prepares Bnei Yisrael to receive, on Sukkos, the heavenly flow of Torah hinted at in the water of which we are judged. Purification, therefore, is never an end in itself but a means of becoming a vessel ready for the word of Hashem, and through this preparation and yearning for His avodah the foreign thoughts of worldly vanity are driven away.