Equanimity Disarms The Curse

במדרש אין מפסיקין בתוכחות ואל תקוץ ל"ת תוכחות קוצין קוצין כו'

In the Midrash it says that we do not pause in the middle of the tochachah, the passage of rebuke, and on the verse "Do not despise (the discipline of Hashem)" the Sages teach that the words of rebuke are like sharp thorns, broken into pieces.

The Midrash notes that the Torah's passage of rebuke is not interrupted during the public reading, and likens the words of rebuke to thorns. The Sfas Emes will mine deeper meaning from this.

דכתיב אנכי נותן כו' היום ברכה וקללה

For it is written, "See, I set before you this day a berachah and a kelalah" (Devarim 11:26) — a blessing and a curse.

He brings the pasuk where Hashem places before Bnei Yisrael both a berachah and a kelalah "this day."

פי' שבכל יום ניתן לבנ"י בחירה חדשה

The explanation is that on every single day a fresh power of choice is granted to Bnei Yisrael.

The phrase "this day" teaches that bechirah, free choice, is given anew each and every day.

א"כ לעולם ביד האדם להפוך הרע לטוב

If so, it is forever within a person's hand to overturn the evil into good.

Because the choice is constantly renewed, a person always retains the ability to transform evil into good.

ואין לדבר סוף

And there is no end to this matter.

There is no fixed endpoint where this power runs out.

וז"ש אין מפסיקין קוצין קוצין כי אין אחרית וסוף להקללה

This is the meaning of "we do not pause," that the rebuke is broken into thorny pieces, because there is no finality and no end to the kelalah.

This is why the rebuke "is not paused" and is likened to broken thorns — the kelalah itself has no real finality or permanence.

כמאמר שקר אין לו רגלים

This is in line with the saying that falsehood has no legs to stand on.

Just as a lie cannot stand on its own for long, the curse has no stable footing.

כי בסוף מתהפך לטוב

For in the end the kelalah turns over into good.

Ultimately the kelalah does not remain a curse but flips over into good.

והאמת כי אין הרע יורד משמים

And the truth is that evil does not descend from Shamayim.

Fundamentally, true evil does not come down from Heaven, for nothing genuinely bad originates Above.

אך לכל השפעה מוכרח להיות תערובת מטו"ר וכל שיש התחדשות ברכה נמשך ג"כ אחריו הקללה

Rather, every flow of influence from Above must contain an admixture of good and evil, and whenever there is a renewal of berachah, the kelalah is drawn down following after it as well.

Every spiritual influence that descends comes mixed with good and evil, so the renewal of blessing inevitably draws a measure of kelalah along with it.

וז"ש נותן לפניכם כו'

This is the meaning of "I set before you" — placing both before you.

The wording "I set before you" shows that both blessing and curse are placed in front of a person as a choice.

שהכל ביד האדם

For everything is in a person's hand.

The outcome depends entirely on the person's own response.

וביאור הענין ואל תקוץ בתוכחתו

And the explanation of the matter, "Do not despise His rebuke," relates to the middah of equanimity, of accepting all alike.

He now ties "Do not despise His rebuke" to the trait of accepting everything with equanimity.

היא מדת השתוות

It is the middah of hishtavus, of evenness of soul.

This is the middah of hishtavus — remaining inwardly even and unshaken.

שמשבחין מאוד מדה זו

The seforim praise this middah very greatly.

The seforim praise this trait of equanimity very highly.

והיינו לקבל כל המאורעות בשוה כי אם אין האדם משתנה בפגעו בו מדה"ד אין לה קיום להקללה וחולפת ועוברת ממנו

And this means to receive all the events that befall a person equally, for if a person does not become altered when the attribute of strict judgment, middas hadin, strikes him, then the kelalah has no enduring existence, and it passes and moves away from him.

If a person stays steady and unaffected when middas hadin strikes, the kelalah finds no foothold and simply passes away from him.

אך ח"ו אם האדם מתפעל יותר מדאי

But, chas v'shalom, if a person becomes overly agitated and shaken,

But if, Heaven forbid, a person reacts with excessive agitation,

בזה נוסף קיום וחיזוק להרע

through this he adds endurance and strengthening to the evil.

his own overreaction is what grants the evil endurance and strength.

וז"ש אין מפסיקין שלא יפסיק מדביקות ובטחון שיש לו בהקב"ה אף שיעבור עליו מה שיעבור כנ"ל:

This is the meaning of "we do not pause" — that a person should not break off from the dveikus and the bitachon that he has in the Holy One, Blessed is He, even though whatever befalls him may befall him, as explained above.

Therefore "we do not pause" means a person must never break off his dveikus and bitachon in the Holy One, Blessed is He, no matter what he must endure.

Summary: The Sfas Emes opens with the Midrash that the tochachah is read without pause and is likened to broken thorns, and he reads this through the pasuk "See, I set before you this day a berachah and a kelalah." Because bechirah is renewed daily, a person always has the power to overturn evil into good, so the kelalah has no real finality — like falsehood, it has no legs and ultimately flips into good. He explains that true evil does not descend from Shamayim; rather every flow of influence from Above comes mixed with good and evil, and the very renewal of berachah draws a trace of kelalah after it, leaving the outcome entirely in a person's hand. The key, tied to "Do not despise His rebuke," is the middah of hishtavus — equanimity — so praised by the seforim: if a person remains unshaken when middas hadin strikes him, the kelalah finds no foothold and passes away, but excessive agitation only lends the evil strength. Thus "we do not pause" teaches that one must never break off his dveikus and bitachon in the Holy One, Blessed is He, whatever may befall him.