Mitzvos Escort The Neshamah

במדרש לוית חן כו' לראשך כו' בכ"מ מצות מלוין אותך כו' פי' שהמצות מחברים כל המעשים אל הראשית והשורש

In the Midrash on the verse, "For they shall be a graceful wreath upon your head" (Mishlei 1:9): wherever you go, the mitzvos accompany you. The meaning is that the mitzvos connect all of one's actions back to the Beginning and the Root.

The Sfas Emes opens with a Midrash teaching that the mitzvos go along with a person wherever he turns. Their purpose is to bind every action a person does back to its source — the Beginning and the Root of all things.

כי התורה נעלמה מכל חי

For the Torah is hidden from every living thing.

The Torah itself is concealed and beyond the grasp of any created being.

והוא הראשית והשורש של כל הבריאה וע"י המצות ממשיכין הארת התורה לכל המעשים ומחברין הדברים לשורשן וזה לראשך

It is the Beginning and the Root of all of Creation, and through the mitzvos one draws down the illumination of the Torah into all of one's actions and connects all things to their root — and this is the meaning of "upon your head."

Since the Torah is the source of all Creation, performing mitzvos channels the Torah's light into a person's everyday deeds and ties those deeds back to their root, which is the deeper meaning of the wreath resting "upon your head."

כי בעוה"ז עלמא דשיקרא

For in this world, which is a world of falsehood,

This world is fundamentally a realm of falsehood, where truth is concealed.

החושך יכסה

darkness covers over.

Because of that falsehood, a spiritual darkness covers over and hides the true light.

והמצות הם נרות להאיר אור התורה

And the mitzvos are like candles to shine forth the light of the Torah.

The mitzvos function like candles that pierce that darkness and reveal the hidden light of the Torah.

ולכן נשתלחה הנשמה בעוה"ז והמצות הם הלוי' כמו שמלוין אורח בדרך שכל הדרכים בחזקת מסוכנים והלוי' שומר המהלך בדרך

This is why the neshamah was sent into this world, and the mitzvos serve as its escort — just as one escorts a traveler on his way, since all roads carry a presumption of danger, and the escort safeguards the one journeying along the road.

The neshamah was dispatched into this world on a mission, and the mitzvos act as its protective escort, the way one accompanies a traveler because every road is presumed dangerous and the escort guards him.

כן המצות מלוין האדם בדרך הזה שהנשמה מסוכנת בשליחות זה:

So too the mitzvos accompany a person along this road, for the neshamah is in danger upon this mission.

In the same way, the mitzvos accompany a person through the perilous journey of life, since the neshamah faces real danger in carrying out its mission here.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains, based on the Midrash, that the mitzvos accompany a person wherever he goes because they connect all of his actions back to their source — the Torah, which is the Beginning and the Root of all Creation. Since the Torah is hidden from every living thing, the mitzvos serve as the means to draw its illumination down into a person's everyday deeds and bind those deeds to their root. This world is a realm of falsehood in which a spiritual darkness conceals the truth, and the mitzvos are like candles that shine forth the light of the Torah into that darkness. For this reason the neshamah was sent into this world, with the mitzvos serving as its escort — just as one accompanies a traveler on a dangerous road to safeguard him. So too the mitzvos guard the neshamah, which faces genuine danger in fulfilling its mission in this world.