Covenant Binding All Generations

בפסוק לעברך בברית ה"א

On the pasuk "to bring you into the covenant of Hashem your God" (Devarim 29:11).

The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk describing how Bnei Yisrael are brought into a covenant with Hashem, and he will explain what this covenant truly is.

זה הברית היא התורה כדאיתא קוב"ה ואורייתא וישראל כולהון חד

This covenant is the Torah, as is brought down: the Holy One, Blessed is He, the Torah, and Bnei Yisrael are all one.

He identifies this covenant as the Torah itself, citing the well-known teaching that Hashem, the Torah, and Bnei Yisrael are bound together as one inseparable unity.

תורה גי' תרי"א ועם דחילו ורחימו שהוא שורש כל המ"ע ול"ת

The word "Torah" has the numerical value of six hundred and eleven, and together with the fear and the love it equals six hundred and thirteen, for fear and love are the root of all the positive and negative mitzvos.

Through gematria he shows that "Torah" equals 611, and adding the two mitzvos of fearing and loving Hashem brings it to the full 613, since these two are the root of every mitzvah, positive and negative.

והוא בחי' אנכי ולא יהי' לך וכתיב אחת דיבר א' שתים זו שמעתי

And this is the aspect of "I am Hashem your God" and "You shall have no other gods," and it is written, "One thing Hashem has spoken, two things have I heard" (Tehillim 62:12).

Love and fear correspond to the first two of the Aseres HaDibros, which Chazal teach were heard from Hashem directly - one utterance from which Bnei Yisrael heard two matters.

ובאמת אהבה היא מתת אלקים וזה אנכי

And in truth love is a gift of Hashem, and this is "Anochi" - I am Hashem.

Love of Hashem cannot be generated by a person alone; it is a gift granted from Above, which is the meaning of "Anochi," the gift of Hashem's own self.

וע"ז ביקש דהע"ה אחת שאלתי מאת ה'

And concerning this Dovid HaMelech requested, "One thing I ask of Hashem" (Tehillim 27:4).

Dovid HaMelech longed precisely for this gift of closeness and love when he asked Hashem for the "one thing" he sought.

ויראה היא עיקר הכח של איש ישראל בעצמו וע"ז כ' מה ה"א שואל מעמך כ"א ליראה

And fear is the essential power of a Yid within himself, and concerning this it is written, "What does Hashem your God ask of you, only to fear Him" (Devarim 10:12).

Fear of Hashem, by contrast, is something each Yid must produce from within himself, which is why the Torah frames yiras Shamayim as what Hashem "asks" of us.

נמצא א' עם תורה הוא ברית

It comes out that "I am Hashem" together with the Torah is the covenant.

Therefore the covenant is the combination of "Anochi" - love given from Above - together with the Torah and its avodah, which a person builds through fear.

וזה הברית מהקב"ה להתורה ומהתורה לישראל

And this is the covenant - from the Holy One, Blessed is He, to the Torah, and from the Torah to Bnei Yisrael.

The covenant flows in a chain: from the Holy One, Blessed is He, into the Torah, and from the Torah down to Bnei Yisrael.

וזה הברית הוא לכלל ישראל כמ"ש לא אתכם לבדכם א' כורת כו' פי' שזה הברית א"א להיות רק לכלל ישראל הדורות שהי' ושיהי'

And this covenant is for the entire Klal Yisrael, as it is written, "Not with you alone do I forge this covenant" (Devarim 29:13) - meaning that this covenant can only be made with the whole of Klal Yisrael, all the generations that have been and that will yet be.

Because this is a covenant of all of Klal Yisrael, the Torah stresses it is not made with the present generation alone but binds every generation, past and future, together as one.

כמו הקב"ה הי' הוה ויהי' והכל אחדות א'

Just as the Holy One, Blessed is He, was, is, and will be, and it is all a single oneness,

Just as Hashem transcends time, existing as one unbroken reality across past, present, and future,

כן בריתו א"א להיות רק בכלל כל הדורות

so too His covenant can only come about through the entirety of all the generations together.

so His covenant cannot belong to any single moment but only to all the generations bound together as one.

ומ"מ יש לכל איש ישראל חלק בו

And nevertheless, every individual Yid has a portion in it,

Yet despite the covenant belonging to the collective whole, each individual Yid still holds a real personal share in it.

שכל אחד מישראל כשמכניס עצמו לקבל עליו זה הברית מעורר כל הדורות עמו שהי' ושיהי':

for whenever a single member of Bnei Yisrael brings himself to accept this covenant upon himself, he awakens all the generations along with him, those that have been and those that will yet be.

When even one Yid accepts this covenant upon himself, he draws in and awakens every generation together with him, both those that came before and those yet to come.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that the covenant into which Bnei Yisrael are brought is the Torah itself, for Hashem, the Torah, and Bnei Yisrael are one. He shows through gematria that "Torah" (611) together with the two mitzvos of love and fear reaches 613, the root of all mitzvos; love is a gift of Hashem given from Above ("Anochi"), while fear is the power each Yid must draw out from within himself. The covenant therefore flows from the Holy One, Blessed is He, to the Torah and from the Torah to Bnei Yisrael, and it is forged not with one generation but with all of Klal Yisrael across the generations. Just as Hashem is one unbroken reality spanning past, present, and future, so His covenant belongs only to all the generations bound together as one. Nevertheless, every single Yid holds a real share in it, for when even one person accepts the covenant upon himself, he awakens and draws in all the generations, those that were and those that will yet be.