Melting Foreign Desires Before Hashem

ובמ"א כ' פי' לא יראה בך ערות ד' כמ"ש חז"ל בפ' לא יראה לך שאור בטל בלבך שעי"ז שאינו חשוב בלב האדם ומואס בו

Elsewhere it is explained, regarding the verse "that He see no unseemly thing in you" (Devarim 23:15), in accordance with what Chazal expounded on the passage "no leaven shall be seen with you" (Shemos 13:7) — nullify the leaven that is in your heart; for through this, since the chametz is of no importance in a person's heart and he loathes it,

The Sfas Emes connects the command that Hashem see nothing unseemly in us with the mitzvah to remove chametz, which Chazal read as a call to remove the inner leaven — the yetzer hara — by holding it as worthless and despising it in one's heart.

עי"ז זוכה לפטור ממנו

through this he merits to be exempted from it and rid of it entirely.

Precisely because a person inwardly rejects and is disgusted by the yetzer hara, he becomes worthy of being completely freed from its grip.

כמ"ש בטל רצונך כדי שיבטל רצון אחרים

This is as Chazal taught: "Nullify your own will so that He will nullify the will of others before your will" (Avos 2:4).

He grounds this in the teaching of Avos: when a person nullifies his own will before Hashem, Hashem in turn nullifies the foreign wills that oppose him.

והש"י משפיע הארת קדושה בימים אלו שמרוב הארה והתעוררת אהבה אליו ית' צריכים להתבטל רצונות ואהבות זרים כמאמר כהמס דונג מפני אש כו':

And Hashem bestows an illumination of kedushah during these days, for from the abundance of that illumination and the awakening of love for Him, Yisbarach, all foreign desires and loves must be nullified — as it is said, "like wax melting before fire" (Tehillim 68:3).

During these days of Elul, Hashem pours out a special light of kedushah, and the intense love for Him that it awakens automatically dissolves every alien desire, just as wax melts away before fire.

Summary: The Sfas Emes links the verse that Hashem should see no unseemly thing in us to the mitzvah of removing chametz, which Chazal understood as nullifying the inner leaven of the yetzer hara by despising it within one's heart. Through this loathing and inner rejection, a person merits to be entirely freed from the yetzer hara's hold. He anchors this in the teaching of Avos — nullify your own will before Hashem, and He will nullify the foreign wills set against you. In these days of Elul, Hashem bestows an abundant illumination of kedushah that awakens a powerful love for Him, Yisbarach, and before this love all foreign desires must melt away like wax before fire.