Rectifying the Two Hearts

במדרש בפסוק ול"נ ה' לכם לב לדעת כו' כשאמר הקב"ה מי יתן והי' לבבם כו' הי' להם לומר אתה תן משל לחבר כו' עכנא כו' ע"ש

The Midrash on the verse "But Hashem did not give you a heart to know" (Devarim 29:3) teaches that when the Holy One, Blessed is He, said, "Who would grant that this heart of theirs remain theirs" (Devarim 5:26), Bnei Yisrael ought to have responded, "You give it to us" — like the parable of the friend, and the serpent, as is explained there.

The Sfas Emes opens with a Midrash: when Hashem expressed the wish that Bnei Yisrael keep a heart of yiras Shamayim, they should have asked Hashem Himself to grant it to them, as the Midrash illustrates through its parables.

וקשה למה לא אמר מרע"ה אתה תן

And there is a difficulty: why did Moshe Rabbeinu not say, "You give it"?

He raises the question: why did Moshe Rabbeinu not turn to Hashem and ask Him to grant them that heart?

אכן ביאור הענין כי בוודאי מדרגת מרע"ה הי' למעלה ממדרגתם ובנ"י אמרו לא אוסיף לשמוע כו'

But the explanation of the matter is that surely the level of Moshe Rabbeinu was above their level, and Bnei Yisrael said, "I will not continue to hear" (Devarim 5:22).

He begins to answer: Moshe Rabbeinu stood on a higher level than Bnei Yisrael, who themselves asked not to keep hearing Hashem's voice directly.

ואם היו שומעים הכל בעצמם הי' באמת תיקון הגמור והיו בנ"י כמלאכים והי' להם לב אחד וזאת הי' וודאי במתנה מהש"י

And had they heard everything by themselves, it would truly have been the complete rectification, and Bnei Yisrael would have been like the angels, and they would have had a single heart — and this would surely have come as a gift from Hashem.

Had Bnei Yisrael received everything directly, they would have become like angels with a single, undivided heart — but that perfection would have been a gift handed to them rather than something they earned.

אמנם באמת רצונו ית' הי' שבנ"י יתקנו ב' הלבבות כמ"ש והי' לבבם זה כו'

However, in truth, the will of Hashem was that Bnei Yisrael themselves should rectify the two hearts, as it is written, "that this heart of theirs remain" (Devarim 5:26).

Yet Hashem's true desire was that Bnei Yisrael rectify the two competing hearts on their own, as the verse hints by saying the heart should "remain" theirs.

והוא תיקון עה"ד טו"ר ולכן לא נתן ה' לכם מצידו בלי תערובת טו"ר ונק' לב

And this is the rectification of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, and therefore Hashem did not give it to you from His own side without an admixture of good and evil, and it is called "a heart."

This work is the very repair of the sin of the Tree of Knowledge; that is why Hashem did not simply hand them a pure heart free of any mixture of good and evil, and the human faculty is called "a heart."

אבל הוצרכו בנ"י לסבב כמה דרכים בכל המסעות והנסיונות שעבר עליהם והוא הסדר שסידר מקודם הברכות והקללות והם בחי' עה"ד טו"ר

But Bnei Yisrael needed to wind their way through many paths in all the journeys and the trials that passed over them, and this is the order that He arranged beforehand — the blessings and the curses — and they are an aspect of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.

To accomplish this, Bnei Yisrael had to travel through many paths, journeys, and trials, an order Hashem set up — including the blessings and curses — which themselves embody the good-and-evil dynamic of the Tree of Knowledge.

אעפ"כ אחר שתיקנו הכל זכו לבא לבחי' זו כמ"ש עד היום הזה

Even so, after they rectified everything, they merited to come to this aspect, as it is written, "until this day" (Devarim 29:3).

Nevertheless, once they had worked through and rectified everything, they earned this elevated level, as the verse signals with the words "until this day."

אך שבנ"י א"י להשיג זאת רק ע"י נסיונות מקודם לעבור ב' הדרכים ולתקן ב' הלבבות

Only that Bnei Yisrael cannot attain this except by way of trials beforehand, to pass through the two paths and to rectify the two hearts.

The point is that Bnei Yisrael can only reach this attainment by first enduring trials, traversing the two paths and rectifying the two hearts.

לכן אמר להם מרע"ה שכיון שבחרו להם זה הדרך ע"כ ישמרו מאוד כל המצות למען תשכילו כו' כי הם צריכין ישועה כי דרך זה מסוכן הוא, ולא חשב להם זאת לחטא מה שלא אמרו אתה תן רק שהראה להם שבחרו להם הדרך לעבור דרך אותו עכנא לתקן הכל:

Therefore Moshe Rabbeinu said to them that since they had chosen this path for themselves, they must therefore guard all the mitzvos with great care, "so that you may succeed" (Devarim 29:8) — for they are in need of yeshuah, since this path is a perilous one; and he did not reckon it to them as a sin that they had not said "You give it," but rather he showed them that they had chosen for themselves the path of passing through that serpent in order to rectify everything.

So Moshe Rabbeinu charged them: since they chose this harder path, they must keep all the mitzvos carefully so they will succeed, for the road is dangerous and they need Hashem's salvation; he did not count their not asking Hashem as a sin, but showed them they had elected the path of passing through that serpent in order to repair everything.

Summary: The Sfas Emes addresses a Midrash that asks why, when Hashem wished aloud that Bnei Yisrael would keep a heart of yiras Shamayim, they did not simply ask Hashem to grant them such a heart as a gift. He explains that receiving a single, undivided heart directly from Hashem would have made Bnei Yisrael like angels, but this was not Hashem's true will. Rather, Hashem desired that Bnei Yisrael themselves rectify the two hearts — the inner struggle of good and evil that is the legacy of the Tree of Knowledge — through their journeys, trials, and the order of blessings and curses. Only by passing through these two paths and laboring to repair both hearts could they earn this level, as hinted in "until this day." Moshe Rabbeinu therefore did not fault them for choosing this harder road, but warned them to guard all the mitzvos carefully, since the path is perilous and they require Hashem's salvation to bring the rectification to completion.