Elevating The Mundane Through Will
בברכה כתי' אשר כו' ובק' אם לא תשמעו כי הקללה נעשה ע"י החטא אבל אין לה מקום בל"ז
Regarding the blessing the verse writes "asher" — "that you shall listen" — whereas regarding the curse it writes "if you will not listen," because the curse comes about only through sin, but in and of itself it has no place.
The Sfas Emes notes a difference in phrasing: the Torah states the blessing as a definite "that you shall listen," but the curse only as a conditional "if you will not listen." This shows the curse has no independent existence; it is only triggered by sin.
כי מאתו לא תצא הרעות כו'
For from Him no evil emerges, as it is said.
He supports this with the principle that nothing evil issues forth from Hashem Himself.
ואדרבא הרשות ביד אדם להפוך גם הקללה לברכה וז"ש נותן לפניכם כו' ברכה וק' שגם הקללה ביד האדם כו'
On the contrary, it lies within a person's power to transform even the curse into a blessing. This is the meaning of "I place before you... a blessing," and a difficulty arises, since the curse too is in a person's hands.
Not only is the curse not inherent, but a person can actually turn it into a blessing. This explains why the verse frames it as something "placed before you," raising the question of how the curse too can lie in a person's hands.
וז"ש ז"ל שהכל בבחירות האדם
And this is what Chazal meant when they said that everything depends on a person's free choice.
This is the point of Chazal's teaching that everything hinges on a person's free choice.
כי גם בעוסקו בעוה"ז
For even while a person is occupied with the matters of this world,
He begins to explain how: even when one is engaged in mundane worldly affairs,
אם כל רצונו מגעגע להתדבק בהש"י
if his entire will yearns to cleave to Hashem,
if a person's whole desire longs to be attached to Hashem,
עי"ז עצמו יש עלי' לכל הדברים שעוסק בהם
through this very thing there is an elevation for all the matters with which he is occupied.
that very longing elevates all the ordinary activities he is involved in.
וע"ש זה נקרא רצון מל' ריצה שלא בהדרגה
And it is for this reason that it is called "ratzon" (will), from the language of "ritzah" (running) — that one runs without gradual stages.
He plays on the word ratzon (will), connecting it to ritzah (running): true will is a swift running toward Hashem that skips the usual gradual steps.
שע"י הרצון יכולין להפוך הכל אל רצונו לעלות להש"י כנ"ל
For through the will one is able to transform everything toward His will, to ascend to Hashem, as above.
Through such will a person can redirect everything toward Hashem's will and raise it upward.
וכתי' כי ירחיב ה' וכו' גבולך כו' שזה התרחבות נקודה הפנימיות
And it is written, "When Hashem shall broaden your boundary," for this is the broadening of the inner point.
He brings the verse about Hashem broadening one's boundary, reading it as the expansion of the inner point of holiness.
שיש בכל איש ישראל נקו' פנימיות להש"י
Every Jew has within him an inner point that belongs to Hashem.
Every Jew contains within himself an inner point that is connected to Hashem.
גם יותר מזה אף בכל דבר כנודע
And even more than this — it is found in every single thing, as is known.
Beyond that, this point is hidden within every object and matter in the world.
רק שצריך האדם להרחיב נקודה הנ"ל שתתפשט בכל דבר
It is only that a person must broaden the aforementioned point so that it spreads out into every thing.
The avodah is for a person to expand that inner point so it permeates everything he encounters.
והיתר בשר תאוה
And the permitting of "meat of desire" —
He turns to the permission the Torah gives to eat "meat of desire" (ordinary, non-sacrificial meat).
היינו שיהי' כח ביד איש ישראל שלא להתדבק בגשמיות אף שאוכל ושותה כמ"ש במד' ה' מתיר אסורים שכל איסור ע"י שמאסר האדם ומתדבק בגשמיות וסט"א
that is, that there should be the power in the hand of a Jew not to become bound up in the physical even though he eats and drinks, as is stated in the Midrash, "Hashem releases the bound," for every prohibition comes about through a person's being imprisoned and becoming attached to the physical and to the Sitra Achra,
This permission expresses the power given to a Jew to remain unattached to physicality even while eating and drinking. Citing the Midrash on "Hashem releases the bound," he explains that prohibition itself is the soul's being imprisoned and bound to the physical and to the Sitra Achra.
אבל הש"י התיר זה כנ"ל רק שצריך להיות הרצון להש"י
but Hashem permitted this, as above — only that the will must be directed toward Hashem.
Hashem released this binding by permitting such food, on the condition that the person's will remain directed toward Hashem.
כנראה מלשון הפסוק כי ירחק ממך המקום כו'
As is apparent from the language of the verse, "when the place is far from you,"
He finds support in the verse's wording, "when the place is far from you."
שהגם שהתיר בשר תאוה מטעם שא"י להקריב תמיד
for although He permitted the meat of desire for the reason that one is unable to bring an offering at all times,
Although the permission was granted because one cannot always bring an offering,
מ"מ צריך להיות הקדמת הרצון שהי' מתרצה יותר להעלות להש"י רק ע"י שמרוחק כנ"ל
nonetheless there must first come the will — that one would rather have it be elevated to Hashem, and it is only because he is distanced, as above.
the proper will must still come first: ideally one would rather have the food elevated through an offering to Hashem, and only because he is distanced does he eat it as ordinary meat.
ובחירת האדם לבד בכלל להיות בוחר במצות ה' ובדרך התורה
And a person's free choice in general is to choose the mitzvos of Hashem and the way of the Torah,
On a broader level, a person's free choice is to choose Hashem's mitzvos and the path of the Torah.
רק בכל דבר יש טוב ורע שצריך האדם להיות רצונו לעשות הדבר לש"ש ולהתדבק רק בבחי' הטוב שיש בה
only that in every matter there is good and evil, so that a person must direct his will to do the thing for the sake of Heaven and to cleave only to the aspect of good that is within it.
But within every matter there is a mix of good and evil, so a person must aim his will to act for the sake of Heaven and cleave only to the good contained within it.
וז"ש במד' שיש דרך שתחילתו קוצים וסופו מישור כו'
And this is what the Midrash says, that there is a path whose beginning is thorns and whose end is level ground,
He cites the Midrash about a path whose start is full of thorns but whose end is smooth and level.
שצריך האדם ליישר הדרך שיש בו קוצים ג"כ [אם שאין הפשט כן
for a person must straighten the path that has thorns in it as well. [Even though this is not the plain meaning,
The lesson is that a person must straighten even the thorny path. He acknowledges this is not the verse's plain meaning,
ע' פנים לתורה]:
see — there are seventy faces to the Torah.]
but notes that the Torah has seventy faces, so this homiletic reading is legitimate.
Summary: The Sfas Emes opens by noting that the Torah phrases the blessing as a certainty but the curse only conditionally, teaching that the curse has no independent reality and emerges solely through sin, since nothing evil issues from Hashem. From here he builds his central theme: everything depends on a person's free will, and even while engaged in worldly affairs, one whose entire desire yearns to cleave to Hashem elevates all his activities — for ratzon (will) is like a swift ritzah (running) toward Hashem that transforms everything. He reads "Hashem shall broaden your boundary" as the expansion of the inner point of kedushah hidden within every Jew and within every object, which the person must spread into all that he does. Applying this to the permission of ordinary meat, he explains, via the Midrash on "Hashem releases the bound," that physicality binds a person to the Sitra Achra, yet Hashem permitted eating and drinking on condition that the will remain fixed on Him, ideally preferring to elevate the food through an offering. The piece concludes that in every matter, good and evil are intertwined, and a person's avodah is to straighten even the thorny path and cleave only to the good for the sake of Heaven.