Lifting Others Lifts Yourself

בפסוק הקם תקים עמו

On the pasuk "Hakeim takim imo" — "You shall surely help him lift it up with him" (Devarim 22:4).

The Sfas Emes opens with the mitzvah of helping one's fellow raise up his fallen burden, citing the words of the pasuk in Ki Teitzei.

כפי מה שא' עוזר לחבירו כענין אמרם הוי נושא בעול עם חבירך

In the measure that a person helps his fellow — as Chazal expressed it, "Be one who bears the yoke together with his fellow" (Avos 6:6) —

He links the obligation to the teaching in Pirkei Avos that one of the ways Torah is acquired is by sharing the burden of one's fellow, helping shoulder his load.

כמו כן זוכה לתקן עצמו ליישר אורחותיו להיות לו תקומה

in that very same measure he merits to repair himself, to straighten his own ways, that he too should have an uprising and a standing.

Precisely by the degree to which a person involves himself in lifting up his fellow, he is granted Heavenly assistance to set his own conduct straight and to rise himself.

וזה הקם תקים עמו

And this is the meaning of "Hakeim takim imo" — through your lifting up of him, you yourself are lifted up "imo," together with him.

The double language "hakeim takim" hints that the lifting is mutual: when you raise your fellow, you are raised along with him, which is the force of the word "imo," with him.

והוא ענין יותר משבעה"ב עושה עם העני העני עושה עמו:

And this is an even greater matter than what Chazal said, that "more than the householder does for the poor man, the poor man does for the householder" (Vayikra Rabbah 34:8).

This goes beyond the well-known teaching that the poor man does more for the wealthy giver than the giver does for him; here the very act of helping another becomes the means of one's own spiritual rectification.

Summary: The Sfas Emes learns from the mitzvah of "Hakeim takim imo" that helping one's fellow lift his fallen burden is not only an act of chesed toward the other, but a means of self-repair. Drawing on the teaching in Avos to bear the yoke together with one's fellow, he explains that to the very measure a person involves himself in raising up another, he merits Heavenly aid to straighten his own ways and to rise. The doubled language "hakeim takim" and the word "imo" reveal that the lifting is mutual: in raising his fellow, a person is himself raised together with him. This is an even loftier matter than the known teaching that the poor man does more for the giver than the giver does for the poor man, for here the act of helping becomes the very vehicle of one's own tikkun.