Neshamah Reveals Our Sonship

בפסוק בנים אתם כו' ול"ת קרחה ב"ע למת

Regarding the pasuk "You are children [to Hashem your God]" (Devarim 14:1), and "you shall not make a bald patch between your eyes for the dead" (Devarim 14:1).

The Sfas Emes opens with the two verses that sit side by side: Bnei Yisrael are called Hashem's children, and immediately after comes the prohibition against making a bald patch in mourning for the dead. He links these two ideas.

ובמשנה חביבין ישראל שנק' בנים חיבה יתירה נודעת להם כו' פי' הקב"ה נתן לנו אותות ומצות שעל ידיהם יהי' לנו דביקות בכח הנשמות שמצד זה נקראו בנים

And in the Mishnah: "Beloved are Bnei Yisrael, for they are called children [of the Omnipresent]; an extra measure of love was made known to them [that they are called children]" (Avos 3:14). The explanation is that the Holy One, Blessed is He, gave us signs and mitzvos through which we attain dveikus by the power of the neshamos, for it is on account of this [neshamah] that they are called children.

The Mishnah teaches that Bnei Yisrael's title of "children" reflects a special love. The Sfas Emes explains that Hashem gave us signs and mitzvos to bind us to Him through our neshamos, and it is the neshamah that earns us the name "children."

כי כל המצות שנק' אות כמו מילה שבת תפילין כולם הם לעורר הפנימיות וכח הנשמה

For all the mitzvos that are called an "os" (sign) — such as milah, Shabbos, and tefillin — all of them serve to awaken the inner dimension and the power of the neshamah.

Certain mitzvos are specifically called an "os," a sign — milah, Shabbos, tefillin. Their shared purpose is to arouse the inner self and the strength of the neshamah.

וכמ"ש שם לטוטפות בין עיניכם כמו כן כתי' כאן ול"ת קרחה בין עיניכם שלא להתדבק בגשמיות להסתיר הדעת והתקשרות הנשמה

And just as it is written there "as totafos between your eyes" (Devarim 6:8), so too it is written here "you shall not make a bald patch between your eyes" — meaning, that one should not cling to physicality and thereby conceal the daas and the bond of the neshamah.

The phrase "between your eyes" appears both by tefillin and by this prohibition. Just as tefillin bind us to Hashem, the prohibition warns us not to sink into physicality and thereby hide the daas and the connection of the neshamah.

כי כל הגשמיות נק' מת שאין לו קיום

For all physicality is called "dead," since it has no enduring existence.

He defines why physicality is called "dead": it has no lasting existence of its own.

אבל הנשמה היא החיות כמ"ש ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים כו'

But the neshamah is the very life-force, as it is written "and He blew into his nostrils the breath of life" (Bereishis 2:7).

The neshamah, by contrast, is the true source of life, as the pasuk says Hashem breathed the breath of life into man.

ז"ש ולא תשימו קרחה ב"ע למת

This is the meaning of "you shall not place a bald patch between your eyes for the dead" (Devarim 14:1).

This is precisely why the Torah says not to make a bald patch "for the dead" — one must not mourn over, or attach oneself to, mere physicality, which is the "dead."

וכמו כן כתי' אח"כ ל"ת כל תועבה כי מאכלות אסורות מטמטמים הלב שלא תוכל הנשמה להתגלות בגוף האדם כנ"ל

And likewise it is written afterward "you shall not eat any abomination" (Devarim 14:3), for forbidden foods dull the heart so that the neshamah cannot become revealed within a person's body, as explained above.

The following prohibition against forbidden foods fits the same theme: such foods coarsen the heart and block the neshamah from shining forth within the body.

וכן איתא בתיקונים בנים מסטרא דנשמתין אפרוחין רוחין ביצים נפשין ע"ש:

And so it is brought in the Tikkunim: "children" are from the side of the neshamos, "fledglings" are ruchin (the spirits), "eggs" are nefashin (the lower souls) — see there.

The Tikkunim layers the verse's images onto the three levels of the soul — "children" correspond to neshamah, "fledglings" to ruach, and "eggs" to nefesh.

Summary: The Sfas Emes weaves together the verse calling Bnei Yisrael Hashem's children with the neighboring prohibitions against making a bald patch for the dead and against eating forbidden foods. He explains that we are called Hashem's children specifically by virtue of the neshamah, and that the mitzvos termed an "os" — milah, Shabbos, tefillin — all serve to awaken that inner life-force. Physicality is called "dead" because it has no enduring existence, whereas the neshamah is the genuine source of life that Hashem breathed into man. The Torah therefore warns against clinging to physicality, whether through mourning over it like the dead or through forbidden foods that dull the heart and prevent the neshamah from revealing itself in the body. He closes with the Tikkunim, which align the verse's imagery with the soul's levels of neshamah, ruach, and nefesh.