Freedom Sanctifies Physical Pleasure
במדרש כי ירחיב כו' את גבולך כו'
In the Midrash on the verse, "When Hashem will broaden... your boundary..." (Devarim 12:20).
The piece opens by citing the Midrash on the verse in which Hashem promises to broaden Bnei Yisrael's boundary, after which the eating of ordinary meat is permitted.
אגילה ואשמחה כו' ראית את עניי כו' העמדת במרחב רגלי כו'
"I will rejoice and be glad... You have seen my affliction... You have set my feet in a broad place..." (Tehillim 31:8-9).
It pairs this with Dovid HaMelech's words of rejoicing, that Hashem saw his affliction and then set his feet in a broad, open place.
הענין היא כי כל מה שהקב"ה הביא נסיונות ויסורים על בנ"י הכל לטובה כמ"ש להטיבך באחריתך
The matter is as follows: everything that the Holy One, Blessed is He, brought upon Bnei Yisrael in the form of trials and afflictions was entirely for their good, as it is written, "to do you good in your end" (Devarim 8:16).
The Sfas Emes establishes the foundation: all the trials and suffering Hashem brought on Bnei Yisrael were ultimately for their good and benefit in the end.
ולאשר בנ"י הוכנו ונבראו לברר כבודו ית' בכל העולמות ובכל הגשמיות
And since Bnei Yisrael were prepared and created in order to bring out and reveal His blessed glory in all the worlds and in all physicality,
The reason is that Bnei Yisrael were created specifically to reveal Hashem's glory throughout every world and within all of physical existence.
לכן הוצרכו מקודם להיות בכור הברזל ובגלות מצרים וכשהוציאנו השי"ת משם הרחיב אותנו
therefore they needed first to be in the iron crucible and in the galus of Mitzrayim; and when Hashem took us out from there, He broadened us.
To accomplish that mission they first had to pass through the iron crucible of Mitzrayim's galus, after which Hashem "broadened" them by setting them free.
במרחב רגלי
"In a broad place are my feet" (Tehillim 31:9).
He quotes the words "in a broad place are my feet" as the key phrase he is about to explain.
היא דרגא תחתונה שנק' רגלי להיות גם שם התרחבות הדעת
This refers to the lowest level, which is called "my feet," that there too should be a broadening of the daas.
"My feet" represents the lowest level of a person; the broadening means that even there, in the lowest place, there should be an expansion of daas and awareness of Hashem.
ולכן התיר לנו אח"כ בשר תאוה שניתן לבנ"י כח חירות שלא להיות נאסר ונאטם ע"י הגשמיות
And therefore He afterward permitted to us the meat of desire, for Bnei Yisrael were given the power of freedom, so as not to be bound up and stopped up through physicality.
Because of this newfound freedom, Hashem permitted ordinary meat of desire, giving Bnei Yisrael the inner power not to become spiritually choked and sealed off by physicality.
ומה שהי' מקודם אסור התיר להם כמ"ש במד' ה' מתיר אסורים ע"ש
And that which was previously forbidden, He permitted to them, as it is brought in the Midrash, "Hashem releases those who are bound" (Tehillim 146:7) — see there.
What had once been forbidden became permitted, which the Midrash hints at in the phrase "Hashem releases those who are bound."
והענין הוא כי הכל תלוי בעבודת האדם שהוא עולם קטן
And the matter is that everything depends on the avodah of a person, who is a miniature world (olam katan).
He now turns inward: everything hinges on a person's own avodah, since each person is a complete miniature world.
בפרט איש ישראל
And in particular, the man of Yisrael.
This applies in a heightened way specifically to a Jew, whose inner world mirrors all of creation.
וכמו שיש באדם מקומות שקשה למצוא שם הקדושה כמו כן נמצא ברואים שנאסרו ומטמטמים לב האוכל אותם
And just as there are within a person places where it is difficult to find kedushah there, so too there are found created beings that were forbidden and that dull the heart of one who eats them.
Just as a person has inner regions where kedushah is hard to find, so too certain creatures were forbidden because they dull and coarsen the heart of one who eats them.
וכפי מה שנעשה חירות ותיקון בנפשות בנ"י כן הותר להם אותן המינים
And according to the measure of freedom and tikkun that is wrought in the souls of Bnei Yisrael, so was it permitted to them to eat those species.
As Bnei Yisrael achieve more freedom and rectification in their souls, more of these once-forbidden foods become permitted to them.
ולכן לעתיד איתא שיהי' מותר החזיר כאשר יהי' תיקון השלם
And therefore it is brought that in the future the chazir (pig) will be permitted, when the complete tikkun will come.
This explains the teaching that in the future even the pig will be permitted, once the complete tikkun of the world is achieved.
ולכן כי ירחיב כו' הותר להם בשר תאוה שיוכלו להיות דבוק בקדושה ולא יזיק להם הבשר
And therefore, "When Hashem will broaden..." — He permitted to them the meat of desire, so that they would be able to remain attached to kedushah in dveikus and the meat would not harm them.
Thus "when Hashem will broaden" introduces the permission of ordinary meat, given only because Bnei Yisrael can now stay attached to kedushah so the meat causes them no spiritual harm.
ומה"ט ג"כ בשבת שהוא יום מנוחה וחירות מצוה להתענג כי אין התענוגים מזיקין לנפש
And for this same reason, on Shabbos, which is a day of rest and freedom, it is a mitzvah to take pleasure (oneg), for the pleasures do not harm the soul.
The same principle underlies the mitzvah of oneg Shabbos: because Shabbos is a day of rest and freedom, its pleasures do not damage the soul but elevate it.
וגם זה תלוי כפי היגיעה בימי המעשה
And this too depends upon the toil during the weekdays (yemei hama'aseh).
Yet this elevated state of Shabbos depends on the spiritual labor a person invests during the ordinary weekdays.
ראית את עניי כו' זה בימי המעשה העמדת במרחב הוא ש"ק
"You have seen my affliction..." — this is during the weekdays; "You have set me in a broad place" — this is the holy Shabbos.
He maps the verse onto the week: "You saw my affliction" is the toil of the weekdays, and "You set me in a broad place" is the holy Shabbos.
וכמו כן בעוה"ז
And likewise it is in this world (Olam Hazeh).
The same pattern of toil and broadening operates within the framework of this world as a whole.
העמדת במרחב בעוה"ב
"You have set me in a broad place" — this is in the World to Come (Olam Haba).
And on the largest scale, "You set me in a broad place" corresponds to the expansiveness of Olam Haba, earned through avodah in this world.
והכל ענין א'
And it is all one matter.
All three frameworks — meat, Shabbos, and the World to Come — are really one single underlying concept.
ולכן מזכירין בבהמ"ז יצ"מ על שהוצאתנו כו' שע"י יצ"מ ונעשו בני חורין אין המזון מזיק וממילא יכולין למצוא פנימיות המזון להנפש כמ"ש מזה לעיל בפ' עקב ע"ש:
And therefore we mention in Bircas Hamazon the going-out from Mitzrayim — "that You took us out..." — for through the going-out from Mitzrayim, when we became free men, the food does not harm; and consequently we are able to find the inner essence (pnimiyus) of the food for the soul, as is written about this above in Parashas Eikev — see there.
Therefore we recall the going-out from Mitzrayim in Bircas Hamazon: because that redemption made us free men, food no longer harms us, and we can draw out the inner spiritual essence of the food to nourish the soul.
Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that all the trials and the galus of Mitzrayim that Hashem brought upon Bnei Yisrael were for their ultimate good, since they were created to reveal Hashem's glory within all of physicality. Once Hashem redeemed and "broadened" them, He granted them the inner freedom of daas so that physical things would no longer choke off their kedushah, which is why ordinary meat of desire and other once-forbidden foods became permitted — and why in the time of the complete tikkun even the pig will be permitted. The same principle, he teaches, underlies the mitzvah of oneg Shabbos, where the pleasures of a day of rest and freedom no longer harm the soul but elevate it. Crucially, this broadening on Shabbos and in Olam Haba is earned specifically through the toil and avodah of the ordinary weekdays, as reflected in the verse "You have seen my affliction" followed by "You have set my feet in a broad place." For this reason we recall the Exodus in Bircas Hamazon: having become free men, our food no longer harms us, and we can draw out its inner essence to nourish the neshamah.