Hashem Rejoices In His Portion

בפסוק זכור ימות עולם כו' חלק ה' עמו כו'

On the pasuk "Remember the days of old... for Hashem's portion is His people..." (Devarim 32:7-9).

The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk in Haazinu that calls Bnei Yisrael Hashem's own portion, the theme of the whole piece.

דכ' נעשה אדם כו'

It is written, "Let Us make man..." (Bereishis 1:26).

He brings the verse where Hashem says "Let Us make man," hinting that man is fashioned with a special Divine involvement.

ואיתא כי האדם כלול מכל הברואים לכן נקרא עולם קטן

And it is brought down that man is composed of all the created beings, and therefore he is called a microcosm, a small world.

Chazal teach that man contains within himself all the created beings, which is why he is called a small world, a microcosm.

והקב"ה וב"ש שיתף עצמו ונתן בו חלקו כמ"ש ויפח באפיו

And the Holy One, Blessed is He, attached Himself to man and placed His own portion within him, as it is written, "And He blew into his nostrils" (Bereishis 2:7).

Hashem invested something of Himself into man, the neshamah, which the Torah describes as Hashem breathing life into him.

ובשעת הפלגה נתברר חלק ה' עמו ונבדלו בנ"י מן האומות כמ"ש אתה בחרתנו כו' ושמך כו' עלינו קראת

And at the time of the Dispersion (the Generation of the Tower of Bavel), the portion of Hashem among His people became clarified, and Bnei Yisrael were set apart from the nations of the world, as we say, "You chose us... and Your Name... You have called upon us."

When mankind split apart at the Tower of Bavel, it became clear which portion belonged to Hashem, and Bnei Yisrael were singled out from the nations as His chosen people.

וע"ז איתא בתד"א על הקב"ה עשיר ושמח בחלקו

And concerning this it is brought down in the Tanna D'vei Eliyahu, regarding the Holy One, Blessed is He, that He is wealthy and rejoices in His portion.

The Tanna D'vei Eliyahu applies the idea of being wealthy and rejoicing in one's portion to Hashem Himself.

כי עשירות הוא תוספות נכסים מבחוץ והוא מותרות

For wealth means an increase of possessions from the outside, and these are mere superfluities.

Ordinary wealth is just extra possessions piled on from outside, things that are not truly essential to a person.

אבל איזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו בזה העשירות ששייך לו לחלקו

But "Who is the truly wealthy one? He who rejoices in his portion" (Avos 4:1) — rejoicing in that wealth which belongs to him as his own portion.

True wealth, by contrast, is the contentment of one who rejoices in what genuinely belongs to him as his own portion.

והקב"ה שהכל שלו

And the Holy One, Blessed is He, to whom everything belongs,

Even though absolutely everything belongs to Hashem,

אבל שמח באותן הדביקין בו

nevertheless rejoices specifically in those who cling to Him with dveikus.

what He truly takes joy in is those who attach themselves to Him through dveikus, not the rest of creation.

וזהו מדת יעקב כמ"ש אנכי איש חלק עשו איש שעיר שמתדבק במותרות שהשערות הם מותרות

And this is the middah of Yaakov, as it is written, "I am a smooth man, and Esav is a hairy man" (Bereishis 27:11) — for Esav clings to the superfluities, since the hairs are the superfluous outgrowths.

This is Yaakov's quality. Esav is the "hairy man" who grabs at the superfluous outer layers, the hairs symbolizing excess externals.

אבל יעקב אבינו אינו מתדבק בחיצוניות כדאיתא במד' שבכל שנה ביו"כ מתנקין בנ"י כמ"ש לטהר אתכם

But Yaakov Avinu does not cling to externals, as is brought down in the Midrash, that each year on Yom Kippur Bnei Yisrael are cleansed, as it is written, "to purify you" (Vayikra 16:30).

Yaakov does not attach himself to outer trappings, paralleled by the Midrash that on Yom Kippur Bnei Yisrael are purified of such externals.

לכן יעקב איש חלק חלק ה' עמו

Therefore Yaakov is "a smooth man" — "for Hashem's portion is His people."

Because Yaakov is "smooth," free of those outer layers, he is precisely the one who is Hashem's portion.

וזהו עיקר עבודת בנ"י להתדבק בשורשם ולצאת ממאסר הגוף והטבע

And this is the essence of the avodah of Bnei Yisrael: to cling to their root and to go forth from the imprisonment of the body and of nature.

The core avodah of Bnei Yisrael is to cling to their spiritual root and break free of the confines of the body and the natural world.

וע"ז כתיב זכור ימות עולם

And concerning this it is written, "Remember the days of old" (Devarim 32:7).

All of this is the deeper meaning of the pasuk's call to "Remember the days of old."

והרמז לזכירת יום השבת להעלות ימי המעשה בפנימיות השבת

And the allusion is to the remembrance of the day of Shabbos, to elevate the weekday days into the inner essence of Shabbos.

The remembrance hinted at is that of Shabbos, through which one elevates the ordinary weekdays into the inner holiness of Shabbos.

בינו שנות להעלות ימי השנה ביו"כ שהוא שבת שבתון

"Understand the years of every generation" (Devarim 32:7) — to elevate the days of the year on Yom Kippur, which is a Shabbos Shabbason, a Sabbath of complete rest.

"Understand the years" hints at elevating the whole year through Yom Kippur, which is the Shabbos Shabbason, the highest level of rest.

וכמ"ש במד' ימים יוצרו ולו אחד בהם הוא השבת ויוהכ"פ

And as it says in the Midrash, "the days were fashioned, and one of them is His" (Tehillim 139:16) — this is Shabbos and Yom Kippur.

The Midrash on "one of them is His" identifies that singular day belonging to Hashem as Shabbos, and likewise Yom Kippur.

לכן שבת וישראל מעידין זה על זה כמ"ש במ"א

Therefore Shabbos and Yisrael bear witness one for the other, as is explained elsewhere.

Because of this shared quality, Shabbos and Yisrael testify about each other, both being Hashem's portion, as discussed elsewhere.

ולכן אחר יוה"כ נסע עשו לדרכו שעירה ויעקב נסע סוכתה

And therefore, after Yom Kippur, Esav journeyed on his way toward Se'ir, and Yaakov journeyed toward Sukkos (Bereishis 33:16-17),

After the avodah of Yom Kippur, Esav heads off to Se'ir with his externals while Yaakov journeys to Sukkos.

שנתברר להיות חלק ה' ושמח הקב"ה בחלקו כמ"ש בזוה"ק:

for it became clarified that Yaakov is the portion of Hashem, and the Holy One, Blessed is He, rejoices in His portion, as is written in the Zohar HaKadosh.

This separation made clear that Yaakov is Hashem's true portion, the portion in which the Holy One, Blessed is He, rejoices, as the Zohar teaches.

Summary: The Sfas Emes builds on the pasuk in Haazinu that Bnei Yisrael are "Hashem's portion." Hashem placed His own portion within man, the neshamah, and at the Tower of Bavel it became clear that Bnei Yisrael alone are that portion, set apart from the nations. He explains "Who is wealthy? He who rejoices in his portion" as applying to Hashem Himself: though all of creation is His, He delights specifically in those who cling to Him with dveikus, contrasting Yaakov the "smooth man" who shuns externals with Esav the "hairy man" who grasps at superfluities. The essence of Bnei Yisrael's avodah is therefore to cling to their root and break free of the body and nature, a theme expressed through Shabbos, which elevates the weekdays, and Yom Kippur, the Shabbos Shabbason, which elevates the whole year. After the purification of Yom Kippur, Esav journeys to Se'ir and Yaakov to Sukkos, making it clear that Yaakov is the portion of Hashem in which the Holy One, Blessed is He, rejoices.