Mitzvos Rooted in Life
עוד למד' אורח חיים פן ת' נעו מעג' לא תדע כו' ע"ש
He further taught us, "Make level the path of your feet... do not let your ways waver... you will not know" (Mishlei 4:26 and 5:6) — see there.
The Sfas Emes opens by citing the verses in Mishlei urging a person to level out and steady his path, leading into a discussion of how the mitzvos function in this world.
והענין הוא דקודם החטא כ' וישם שם כו' האדם כו' לעבדה ולשמרה ודרשו חז"ל במ"ע ול"ת ואח"כ ויגרש את האדם ע"י שאכל מעץ הדעת טו"ר וניתן אח"כ המצוות בגשמיות כמו שהוא בעוה"ז ומצד זה התערובת נמצא קלות וחמורות שיש מקום שקשה לברר
The matter is this: before the sin it is written, "And He placed there... the man... to work it and to guard it" (Bereishis 2:15), and Chazal expounded this as referring to the positive commandments and the negative commandments; and afterward, "And He drove out the man" (Bereishis 3:24) — because he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, and thereafter the mitzvos were given in physical form, as they are in this world. From the standpoint of this admixture there exist lighter and weightier matters, such that there is room where it is difficult to clarify the truth.
Before Adam's sin, the mitzvos were given in a purely spiritual form of working and guarding the Garden; after he ate from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, the mitzvos descended into physical form, and within that mixture of good and evil there arose lighter and weightier categories where the truth is hard to clarify.
אבל בשורש המצות שהם אורח חיים ע"ז נאמר פן תפלס
But regarding the root of the mitzvos, which is the very "path of life," concerning this it is said, "lest you weigh it out" (i.e., lest you attempt to calculate and measure them).
At the root level, however, the mitzvos are pure "path of life," and concerning that root one must not try to weigh, calculate, or measure their relative importance.
לא תדע
"You will not know" (Mishlei 5:6).
He cites the phrase "you will not know," indicating that this root reality lies beyond human calculation.
כי מצד הידיעה שיש תערובות א"י להשיג המצוות כמו שהם בשורש עץ החיים
For by reason of the very knowledge that there is an admixture, one cannot grasp the mitzvos as they are in their root in the Tree of Life.
Precisely because we live within a world of mixed good and evil, our knowledge cannot reach the mitzvos as they truly are at their source in the Tree of Life.
ושם כל המצוות הם אחד
And there, in that root, all the mitzvos are one.
At that source, before the descent into physicality, all the mitzvos are a single unified whole.
ואיתא במשנה רצה הקב"ה לזכות ישראל הרבה להם תורה ומצוות כו'
And it is taught in the Mishnah: "The Holy One, Blessed is He, wished to grant merit to Bnei Yisrael; therefore He gave them abundant Torah and mitzvos..." (Makkos 3:16).
He brings the Mishnah that Hashem wished to grant Bnei Yisrael merit, and therefore gave them an abundance of Torah and mitzvos.
והלא התורה ומצוות קודמין לכל הבריאה
But are not the Torah and the mitzvos prior to the entire creation?
He raises the question: since the Torah and mitzvos preceded the entire creation, what is the meaning of saying they were 'given' in abundance?
רק לזכות את ישראל המשיך הקב"ה התלבשות התורה ומצוות בגשמיות
Rather, in order to grant merit to Bnei Yisrael, the Holy One, Blessed is He, drew down the clothing of the Torah and mitzvos in physical form.
The answer is that the abundance refers to Hashem drawing down and clothing the already-existing Torah and mitzvos into physical form, so that Bnei Yisrael could earn merit through them.
וז"ש לוית חן הם המצות מלוות אותך כי עיקר החן התורה שנק' עץ החיים
And this is the meaning of "a wreath of grace" (Mishlei 1:9) — these are the mitzvos, which accompany you; for the essence of the grace is the Torah, which is called the Tree of Life.
He explains the phrase "a wreath of grace": the mitzvos accompany a person like an adornment, while the true inner grace is the Torah itself, called the Tree of Life.
והמצוות שלפנינו הם לוית חן כמ"ש יגדיל תורה ויאדיר וכמ"ש במ"א מזה:
And the mitzvos that lie before us are the "wreath of grace," as it is written, "He will make the Torah great and glorious" (Yeshayahu 42:21), and as is explained elsewhere regarding this matter.
The physical mitzvos before us serve as the accompanying wreath that magnifies and glorifies the Torah, as the verse states, and he refers to a fuller treatment elsewhere.
Summary: The Sfas Emes contrasts the mitzvos as they existed at their root with the mitzvos as they descended into this world. Before Adam's sin, the commandments were a pure spiritual reality of working and guarding, where all mitzvos are unified as one; after he ate from the Tree of Knowledge, they took on physical form within a world of mixed good and evil, giving rise to lighter and weightier categories that are difficult to clarify. At their source in the Tree of Life, however, the mitzvos cannot be weighed or measured against one another, for they are all one. Citing the Mishnah that Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael abundant Torah and mitzvos to grant them merit, he explains that since the Torah preceded creation, this 'giving' means Hashem clothed the Torah and mitzvos in physicality. Thus the physical mitzvos before us are a 'wreath of grace' that accompanies and adorns the inner Torah, the Tree of Life, magnifying and glorifying it.