Suffering Sweetening Divine Service
בפסוק תחת אשר לא ע' את ה"א בשמחה כו' מרוב כל
On the verse, "Because you did not serve Hashem your God with joy... out of an abundance of everything" (Devarim 28:47).
The Sfas Emes opens with the verse warning Bnei Yisrael that they were punished for failing to serve Hashem with joy even when they had an abundance of everything.
פי' האר"י ז"ל להיות שמחת עבודת ה' יותר מרוב כל
The Arizal explains that the joy of serving Hashem must be greater than the joy that comes from an abundance of everything.
The Arizal reads the verse to mean that the joy of avodas Hashem itself should outweigh any joy one derives from material abundance.
כי בכל המדות צריכין לעבוד את ה' כמ"ש עבדו א"ה בשמחה וכ' עבדו א"ה ביראה
For with all of one's dispositions a person must serve Hashem, as it is written, "Serve Hashem with joy" (Tehillim 100:2), and it is also written, "Serve Hashem with awe" (Tehillim 2:11).
A person is meant to harness all his inner traits in serving Hashem, both the trait of joy and the trait of awe, as the verses instruct.
וכשאדם שרוי בטובה צריכה להיות עבודת ה' בשמחה ושיתגדל שמחת עבודת ה' יותר מכל השמחות ויתבטל שמחת הגוף לעבודת ה' וכמו כן בגלות ויסורים צריך להיות יראת ה' ופחד ודאגה מחסרון תיקון הנפש בעבודת ה'
When a person dwells amid goodness, his service of Hashem must be with joy, and the joy of serving Hashem must grow to exceed all other joys, so that the joy of the body becomes nullified before the service of Hashem; and likewise, in galus and amid suffering, there must be yiras Shamayim, dread, and worry over the deficiency in repairing one's soul in the service of Hashem.
When life is good, one's joy in serving Hashem should overshadow every physical pleasure; and when in galus and suffering, that same energy should turn into yiras Shamayim and concern over one's spiritual shortcomings.
ויתגבר זו הדאגה ויתבטל דאגות יסורי הגוף
And this worry must grow strong, so that the worries over the body's suffering become nullified.
The proper response to hardship is to let worry over one's avodah eclipse any worry over bodily pain.
וכ' צרור המור דודי לי דרשו חז"ל אע"פ שמצר ומימר לי בין שדי ילין
And it is written, "My Beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh" (Shir HaShirim 1:13), upon which Chazal expounded, "Even though He distresses me and embitters me, He shall lie between my breasts."
The verse from Shir HaShirim teaches that even when Hashem brings distress, He remains close, lying as it were between one's breasts.
שגם מתוך היסורים והגלות יכולין להתקרב אל ה'
For even from within the suffering and the galus, one is able to draw close to Hashem.
Suffering and exile are not barriers to closeness with Hashem; they themselves can become a path toward Him.
ואיתא בגמ' כ' ברית במלח וברית ביסורים מה המלח ממתק את הבשר [ובילקוט גורס ממתק את הקרבן] כך יסורים ממתקים את הגוף
And it is stated in the Gemara that the word "covenant" is written regarding salt and the word "covenant" is written regarding suffering: just as salt sweetens the meat (and the Yalkut has the version "sweetens the korban"), so too suffering sweetens the body.
The Gemara links salt and suffering through the shared word "covenant": just as salt refines and improves meat, suffering refines the physical self.
פי' כשעובדין את הבורא מתוך היסורים
The explanation is that when one serves the Creator from within the suffering itself,
The Sfas Emes clarifies that this sweetening happens specifically when a person uses the suffering as a vehicle to serve the Creator.
היסורים מסייעין לעבודת הבורא כמו הכהן והמלח בבהמ"ק הי' מסייעין להקרבן:
the suffering becomes an aid to the service of the Creator, just as the Kohen and the salt in the Beis HaMikdash were an aid to the korban.
In that case the suffering itself assists his avodah, paralleling how the Kohen and the salt elevated and completed the korban in the Beis HaMikdash.
Summary: The Sfas Emes builds on the Arizal's reading of the verse rebuking Bnei Yisrael for not serving Hashem with joy amid their abundance: the joy of avodas Hashem must outweigh every material joy. He explains that a person must serve Hashem with all his traits, so that in times of goodness his joy in Hashem nullifies bodily pleasure, while in times of galus and suffering his yiras Shamayim and worry over his spiritual deficiency nullify his worry over physical pain. Drawing on the verse in Shir HaShirim and Chazal's teaching, he shows that even from within suffering one can draw close to Hashem. Just as salt sweetens the meat through the shared "covenant" of salt and suffering, so suffering refines the body, becoming an aid to serving the Creator like the Kohen and the salt that completed the korban in the Beis HaMikdash.