Shabbos Root Of Brachos
בפסוק ובאו עליך כל הברכ' האלה והשיגוך כ"ת בקול ה"א
On the pasuk "And all these brachos shall come upon you and overtake you" (Devarim 28:2) — "all these brachos" — "if you will listen to the voice of Hashem your God."
The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk that all these brachos will come and overtake a person who listens to the voice of Hashem.
כל הברכות הוא שורש הברכות
"All the brachos" refers to the root of all the brachos.
He reads "all the brachos" not as a sum total but as the single root from which every individual bracha flows.
כדאיתא בזוה"ק על ברכת השבת כיון דלא אשתכח בי' מזונא מה ברכתא אשתכח בי' אלא כולהו ברכאין בשביעאי תליין כו'
As it is brought in the Zohar HaKadosh regarding the bracha of Shabbos: since no food is found in it, what bracha is found in it? Rather, all the brachos are dependent upon the seventh, etc.
He cites the Zohar's question on Shabbos: since no fresh food descends on Shabbos, where is its bracha? The answer is that Shabbos is the source upon which all the brachos of the week depend.
ולכן פורט הכ' אח"כ ששה ברכות פרטיות ברוך בעיר בשדה פרי בטנך טנאך בבואך בצאתך
And therefore the pasuk afterward specifies six particular brachos: "Blessed shall you be in the city, blessed in the field, the fruit of your womb, your basket, in your coming, in your going" (Devarim 28:3-6).
He notes that the Torah then lists six specific brachos — in the city, the field, one's children, one's basket, one's coming and going.
מול ששת ימי המעשה
Corresponding to the six days of activity, the weekdays.
These six particular brachos correspond to the six weekdays, the days of physical activity.
אבל כל הברכות הוא שורש הברכות והוא ברכת שבת שאין הכל מוכנים לקבל אלה הברכות רק בנ"י בכח התורה
But "all the brachos" is the root of the brachos, and that is the bracha of Shabbos — for not everyone is prepared to receive these brachos, only Bnei Yisrael, through the power of the Torah.
But above them stands "all the brachos," the root, which is the bracha of Shabbos; and this root-bracha can be received only by Bnei Yisrael through the power of the Torah.
כי תשמע בקול כו' עי"ז והשיגוך כמ"ש את הברכה א' תשמעו כמ"ש מזה בפ' ראה
"For you will listen to the voice, etc." — through this, "and they shall overtake you," as it is written "the bracha — that you will listen" (Devarim 11:27), as was explained on this in Parashas Re'eh.
The pasuk's condition "if you will listen" is the channel through which the brachos overtake a person, paralleling the teaching in Re'eh that "the bracha" itself is the listening.
[ויתכן לומר כי בעבור זה אומרים אלה הברכות במוש"ק
[And it is possible to say that on account of this we recite these brachos on Motzaei Shabbos.
He suggests a practical reason behind reciting these brachos on Motzaei Shabbos — because Shabbos is the root from which the weekday brachos draw.
ושוב מצאתי מזה בסידור ר' הירץ ז"ל במש"ק שם]:
And afterward I found mention of this in the Siddur of Rav Hirtz, of blessed memory, there regarding Motzaei Shabbos.]
He adds that he later found support for this practice in the Siddur of Rav Hirtz regarding Motzaei Shabbos.
Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that "all these brachos" in the pasuk refers not to a collection of individual brachos but to their single root — the bracha of Shabbos. Drawing on the Zohar HaKadosh, he shows that even though no new food descends on Shabbos, Shabbos is the very source upon which all the weekday brachos depend. The Torah's six specific brachos — in the city, field, children, basket, coming and going — correspond to the six weekdays, while their hidden root is the all-encompassing bracha of Shabbos, which only Bnei Yisrael can receive through the power of the Torah. The condition "if you will listen to the voice of Hashem" is itself the channel through which these brachos overtake a person. On this basis the Sfas Emes suggests the reason for reciting these brachos on Motzaei Shabbos, finding support for the practice in the Siddur of Rav Hirtz.