Standing Within The Klal

אנ"ה כולכם

"You are standing today, all of you" (Devarim 29:9).

The Sfas Emes opens with the posuk from the parsha that all of Bnei Yisrael are standing together before Hashem.

היום בכל יום כשמכניסין עצמו להכלל כי הכלל תמיד נצבים לפני ה' כי כל הכתוב בתורה הוא קיים לעד

"Today" means on every single day, when a person draws himself into the klal, the community; for the klal is always standing before Hashem, since everything written in the Torah endures forever.

He reads "today" as a daily call: every day a person can join himself to the community, which stands eternally before Hashem because the Torah's words never lapse.

וכל העבודה תפלה שבלב להכניס עצמו אל הכלל

And the entire avodah is the tefillah of the heart — to draw oneself into the klal.

The whole task of a Jew is the heartfelt tefillah by which he attaches himself to the klal.

ובמד' מכוון לבו לתפלה כו' פי' לבד הבקשה להיות נענה בתפלה רק להתאוות להיות עומד לפניו ית' בתפלה

And in the Midrash it says that one should direct his heart in tefillah, etc. The meaning is that beyond the request to be answered in his tefillah, one should yearn simply to be standing before Him, may He be blessed, in tefillah.

The Midrash about directing one's heart in tefillah teaches that tefillah is not only about getting one's request granted, but about the desire to simply stand in Hashem's presence.

וזה הקדמה אל קבלת הערבות שקיבלו להיות כ"א ערב על חבירו ע"י שהראה להם כי הכלל חביב לפניו ית'

And this is the hakdamah, the preparation, for accepting the areivus, the mutual responsibility, that they accepted — that each and every one would be a guarantor for his fellow — which came about by Hashem showing them that the klal is beloved before Him, may He be blessed.

This standing before Hashem within the klal is what prepared Bnei Yisrael to accept areivus, each one a guarantor for his fellow, once Hashem showed them how dear the community is to Him.

וכמו שחטא א' פוגם בכלל מכ"ש זכות הציבור מסייע לכל פרט:

And just as the sin of one individual causes a blemish in the klal, all the more so the merit of the tzibbur, the community, comes to the aid of every individual.

Since one person's sin harms the whole klal, it follows even more strongly that the collective merit of the tzibbur supports each individual.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that "You are standing today, all of you" speaks not only to that generation but to every day, when a person draws himself into the klal — the community that stands eternally before Hashem, since the Torah's words endure forever. The avodah of the heart in tefillah is precisely this act of joining oneself to the klal, and true tefillah is not merely seeking that one's request be answered but yearning to stand in Hashem's presence itself. This standing before Hashem is the hakdamah to the areivus that Bnei Yisrael accepted, each one a guarantor for his fellow, once Hashem showed them how beloved the klal is before Him. And the principle cuts both ways: just as one person's sin blemishes the whole community, all the more so does the collective merit of the tzibbur come to the aid of every single individual.