Joyful Service Within Poverty

בפסוק תחת אשר ל"ע כו' בשמחה כו'

On the verse, "Because you did not serve Hashem your God with joy and gladness of heart, out of the abundance of everything" (Devarim 28:47).

The Sfas Emes opens with the Torah's rebuke that the punishments came because Bnei Yisrael failed to serve Hashem with joy while they had abundance.

יש ללמוד מזה דמכ"ש במדה טובה כשבנ"י עובדין להשי"ת בגלות בשמחה אע"פ שהם בחוסר כל מזה יבא הגאולה בעזה"י

We can learn from this, by way of a kal vachomer applied to the measure of good: that when Bnei Yisrael serve Hashem in galus with joy, even though they are in a state of lacking everything, from this the geulah will come, with the help of Hashem.

He draws an inference: if lacking joy in plenty brought galus, then serving with joy even amid total lack will surely draw the geulah.

ולכן נכתב סיבת הגלות לידע איך לתקן זה ע"י ההיפוך להתחזק בשמחת עבודת הש"י גם מתוך היסורין

Therefore the cause of the galus was written down, so that we should know how to rectify it through the opposite path: by strengthening ourselves in the joy of serving Hashem even from amidst the suffering.

The Torah records the cause of galus precisely so we can fix it by doing the reverse — serving joyfully even through hardship.

ובאמת הי' רצון המקום ב"ה וב"ש שנעבוד לפניו מתוך הרוב כל

And in truth, it was the will of the Omnipresent, Blessed is He and blessed is His Name, that we serve before Him out of the abundance of everything.

Hashem's original desire was that we serve Him out of a state of abundance and good.

ואיתא שיש נסיון בבחי' העושר ויש בבחי' עניות ושנסיון העושר קשה משל העוני

And it is brought down that there is a test in the dimension of wealth and there is a test in the dimension of poverty, and that the test of wealth is harder than that of poverty.

There are two tests, one in wealth and one in poverty, and the test of wealth is the harder of the two.

והראי' שלא יכולנו לעמוד בנסיון העשירות

And the proof is that we were unable to withstand the test of wealth.

The proof that wealth is the harder test is that Bnei Yisrael failed it.

ומתוך העניות יהי' הגאולה במהרה בימינו

And out of the poverty the geulah will come, speedily in our days.

It is specifically from the state of poverty that the geulah will ultimately emerge.

וזה כמ"ש במשנה המקיים התורה מעוני סופו לקיימה מעושר ומבטלה מעושר סופו לבטלה מעוני

And this is as it says in the Mishnah: "Whoever upholds the Torah amidst poverty will in the end uphold it amidst wealth, and whoever neglects the Torah amidst wealth will in the end neglect it amidst poverty" (Avos 4:9).

He cites the Mishnah in Avos teaching that one who keeps Torah in poverty ends up keeping it in wealth, and one who neglects it in wealth ends up neglecting it in poverty.

ושניהם נתקיים בנו כי ע"י שלא עבדנו בשמחה כו'

And both of these were fulfilled in us, for through the fact that we did not serve with joy and so forth.

Both halves of this Mishnah came true for us, because we failed to serve with joy in our abundance.

ומ"מ יתקיים גם הסיפא שע"י שמתחזקים בגלות לקיים התורה סופנו לקיימה מעושר

And nevertheless the latter clause will also be fulfilled, that through our strengthening ourselves in galus to uphold the Torah, we will in the end uphold it amidst wealth.

Yet the positive ending will also come true: by holding strong in galus we will merit to keep the Torah in wealth once more.

ואיתא בשם האר"י ז"ל פי' מרוב כל להיות שמח בעבודת הש"י יותר מכל מיני טוב שבעולם ע"ש דפח"ח

And it is brought in the name of the Arizal, of blessed memory, the explanation of "out of the abundance of everything" — to be more joyful in the service of Hashem than in all the kinds of good in the world; see there, words from the mouth of the living.

The Arizal explains "out of the abundance of everything" to mean rejoicing in serving Hashem more than in any worldly good.

ולפי דברינו הנ"ל נאמר כי זה עצמו העצה להישאר גם במדריגת העושר

And according to what we have said above, we may say that this itself is the counsel for how to remain even on the level of wealth.

Based on this, the Sfas Emes says that this very joy is the strategy for safely remaining even in a state of wealth.

אם החשק והרצון יותר בעבודת הש"י מכל הרוב טוב שיש לו

If the desire and the will toward the service of Hashem is greater than all the abundance of good that one has,

If a person's longing for serving Hashem exceeds all the material good he possesses,

ממילא מתקיים גם הרוב כל

then automatically the "abundance of everything" is also fulfilled.

then he can keep that abundance without it harming him, fulfilling "abundance of everything" in the proper way.

וזה ענין השבח תורה וגדולה במ"א פי' שצריך להיות כלי שיוכל לקבל טובת עוה"ז ושלא לפשוע בתורה עי"ז

And this is the matter of the praise of "Torah and greatness in one place," the explanation being that one must be a vessel that is able to receive the good of this world, and yet not transgress against the Torah on account of it.

This is the praise of having both "Torah and greatness" together: one must become a vessel that can hold worldly good without being dragged away from Torah by it.

וזהו הברכה והשיגוך כו' והותירך ה' לטובה כו' פי' שיהי' נשאר בעבודת הבורא גם כשיהי' לו כל הטוב

And this is the meaning of "and the blessing shall overtake you and so forth, and Hashem will leave you over for good and so forth" — the explanation being that one should remain in the service of the Creator even when he has all the good.

The blessing that Hashem will leave one with surplus good means one should stay anchored in serving the Creator even amid full abundance.

אך כשפשענו מתוך השביעה

But since we transgressed out of satiety,

But because we sinned specifically out of satiety and plenty,

צריכין אנו לתקן בבחי' העניות והיסורים

we need to rectify it through the dimension of poverty and suffering.

the rectification must now come through the opposite condition of poverty and suffering.

וז"ש והשיבך כו' מצרים באניות בדרך א"א כו' לא תוסיף עוד לראותה

And this is what is said: "And Hashem will return you to Egypt in ships, by a way that I said to you, you shall never see it again" (Devarim 28:68).

He brings the verse that Hashem will return us to Mitzrayim in ships, by a way we should never have had to see again.

כי הש"י רצה שנהי' לגמרי בני חורין ועתה צריכין לחזור לעבוד מתוך היסורין והמצרים

For Hashem desired that we be entirely free men, and now we need to return to serving from amidst the suffering and the straits.

Hashem had wanted us to be entirely free, but having failed, we must now return to serving Him through suffering and constriction.

וזה נק' דרך רחוק כמ"ש היתה כאניות כו' ממרחק תביא לחמה כו'

And this is called "a faraway way," as it is written, "She was like the merchant ships, from afar she brings her bread" (Mishlei 31:14).

This descent is called "a faraway way," likened to merchant ships that bring their sustenance from a great distance.

ובזוהר חדש דורש א"ת באניות אלא בעניות ע"ש והכל אחד כמ"ש:

And in the Zohar Chadash it expounds: do not read it "in ships" (ba'aniyos) but rather "in poverty" (ba'aniyus); see there. And it is all one, as has been written.

The Zohar Chadash rereads "in ships" as "in poverty," and the Sfas Emes notes that the two readings are really one and the same idea.

Summary: The Sfas Emes builds on the Torah's rebuke that galus came because Bnei Yisrael failed to serve Hashem with joy while they enjoyed abundance. He explains that the test of wealth is harder than the test of poverty, and since we failed the test of plenty, the rectification — and ultimately the geulah — must come specifically through serving Hashem joyfully from amidst the poverty and suffering of galus. Citing the Arizal, he teaches that the true avenue even for one blessed with wealth is to rejoice in serving Hashem more than in any worldly good, thereby becoming a vessel that can hold material blessing without being drawn away from the Torah. He weaves in the Mishnah of Avos and the Zohar Chadash's reading of "in ships" as "in poverty" to show that the path back is through embracing avodah even within constriction. The central message is that the geulah will be drawn down through steadfast, joyful service of Hashem even in a state of lacking everything.