Fighting Within The Collective

בספרי כי תצא לא תצא אלא במחנה

In the Sifrei on parashas Ki Teitzei it is taught: "When you go out" — you only go out within a camp.

The Sfas Emes opens with the Sifrei's reading of "when you go out": one only goes out to war as part of a camp, never as a lone individual.

פי' אף שכל יחיד צריך להלחם ביצרו הרע

The meaning is that even though every individual must wage war against his evil inclination,

He explains that although each person bears the personal obligation to fight his own yetzer hara,

עכ"ז יהי' המלחמה ע"י שיכניס עצמו בכלל ישראל

nevertheless the battle should be waged by way of his including himself within the collective of Bnei Yisrael,

the proper way to wage that battle is by joining himself to the larger body of Bnei Yisrael rather than fighting in isolation.

ויהי' כוונתו כדי שכלל ישראל יצליחו במלחמות ה'

and his intention should be in order that the collective of Bnei Yisrael succeed in the wars of Hashem,

His aim in the struggle should be for the sake of the whole — that all of Bnei Yisrael prevail in Hashem's wars.

כי הכלל תלוי בפרט

for the collective is dependent upon the individual.

The reason joining the collective matters is that the strength of the whole rests upon what each individual contributes.

ואז יוצא עמו כח מלחמת הציבור

And then the power of the public's war goes out together with him.

Once a person fights with this collective intention, the combined power of the entire community's battle accompanies him.

וגם דברי חז"ל שאמרו מחנה הם האברים שבאדם

And also the words of Chazal, who said that "camp" refers to the limbs that are within a person,

He then turns to the other teaching of Chazal, that "camp" hints at the limbs of a person's own body.

ג"ז אמת

this too is true,

He affirms that this interpretation is also correct, not a contradiction.

כי יש בכל פרט כח כללי ג"כ שנק' עולם קטן

for within every individual there is likewise a collective power, which is called a "small world" (microcosm).

Within each individual there is a collective dimension as well, since a person is a microcosm — an entire world in miniature.

וכפי מה שמכניס כל רמ"ח אבריו לאסוף כולם לרצון זה

And in accordance with how much a person draws in all his two hundred and forty-eight limbs to gather them all to this will,

To the degree that a person marshals all his two hundred and forty-eight limbs and unites them toward this single will,

כך יוכל להכניס עצמו בכלל ישראל:

so too is he able to include himself within the collective of Bnei Yisrael.

to that same degree he is able to bind himself into the collective of Bnei Yisrael.

Summary: The Sfas Emes builds on the Sifrei's teaching that one goes out to war only "within a camp" to explain how a Jew should wage his private battle against the yetzer hara. Although the fight is each individual's personal obligation, it must be fought as part of the collective of Bnei Yisrael, with the intention that the whole nation succeed in Hashem's wars — for the strength of the collective depends on every individual, and only then does the power of the entire community's battle go out with him. He then harmonizes this with Chazal's reading of "camp" as the limbs of a person, showing the two are one truth: every individual is a microcosm, a small world that itself contains a collective power. To the very extent that a person gathers all his two hundred and forty-eight limbs and unites them toward this single will, he becomes able to include himself within the greater collective of Bnei Yisrael.