Neshamah Returning To Its Root
בפסוק בנים אתם כו' ול"ת קרחה ב"ע למת
On the verse 'You are children [to Hashem your God]' and so on, and 'you shall not make a bald patch between your eyes for the dead.'
The piece opens with two verses from the parsha: that Bnei Yisrael are called Hashem's children, and the prohibition against making a bald patch between the eyes in mourning for the dead.
בזוהר הק' (ויחי ושלח) דנשמתא אשתלח לעלמא דא כמו בן המלך דשדר לי' לכפר למילף אורחי' דהיכלא דמלכא כיון דאיתרבי שדר בגיני' למיתי להיכלא דמלכא
In the holy Zohar (Vayechi and Shelach) it is taught that the neshamah is sent into this world like the son of a king whom the king dispatched to a village to learn the ways of the king's palace; once he had grown up, the king sent for him to come to the king's palace.
The Zohar gives a mashal: the neshamah is like a prince sent off to a village to learn how a royal palace operates, and when he matures the king summons him back.
אינון בני כפר בכאין
Those villagers were weeping.
When the prince was recalled to the palace, the villagers among whom he had lived began to cry.
חד פקח הוי תמן אמר מה לכו למבכי וכי לאו בן מלכא הוא כו' כך משה פקח הוי אמר בנים אתם כו' ע"ש ויחי רמ"ה ע"ב ושלח קנ"ט ב'
There was one clever fellow there who said: Why are you weeping? Is he not the son of the king, and so on. So too Moshe Rabbeinu was clever, and he said, 'You are children,' and so on. See there, Vayechi 245b and Shelach 159b.
A clever villager pointed out there is no reason to mourn, since he is the king's son returning home; likewise Moshe Rabbeinu, being wise, reassured Bnei Yisrael by saying 'you are children.'
וזהו צריך כל איש ישראל לידע ולזכור תמיד כי נשתלח רק בעוה"ז ללמוד דרך המלכות
And this is what every Jew must know and always remember: that he was sent only into this world to learn the way of the kingship.
The lesson is that every Jew must constantly remember he was sent into this world only to learn the way of Hashem's kingship.
כי באמת הנשמות בנים
For in truth the neshamos are children.
At their source, the neshamos are truly children of Hashem.
ובעוה"ז שנתלבש בגוף הוא בחי' עבדים אבל כל רצונו ומחשבתו צריך להיות לחזור למקומו
And in this world, where the neshamah is clothed in a body, it is on the level of servants; but all his desire and his thought must be to return to his place.
Once the neshamah enters a body in this world it functions as a servant, yet its whole aim must remain to return to its true place.
כמ"ש בזוה"ק ע"פ החכם עיניו בראשו כי לכן עשה הקב"ה בחכמה עינים בראש להסתכל תמיד אל השורש
As is written in the holy Zohar on the verse 'The wise man, his eyes are in his head' (Koheles 2:14) — for this reason Hakadosh Baruch Hu wisely placed the eyes in the head, to gaze always toward the root.
The Zohar explains that Hashem wisely set the eyes in the head so a person would always look upward toward his root above.
היפך מכסיל בחושך הולך שכל רצונו ומחשבתו בעלמא דחשוכא
This is the opposite of 'the fool walks in darkness' (Koheles 2:14) — whose entire desire and thought is in the world of darkness.
This contrasts with the fool who walks in darkness, whose every desire and thought stays sunk in the dark lower world.
וע"ז כתיב והיו לטוטפת בין עיניכם
And concerning this it is written, 'And they shall be tefillin between your eyes' (Devarim 6:8).
The mitzvah of tefillin between the eyes expresses this, directing one's gaze toward Hashem.
וזה הרמז ולא תשימו קרחה ב"ע למת
And this is the allusion in 'and you shall not make a bald patch between your eyes for the dead.'
The verse forbidding a bald patch between the eyes for the dead is hinting at this same idea of keeping one's vision fixed above.
כי כל עניני הגוף שנק' מת שעומד למות
For all the matters of the body, which is called 'dead' since it is destined to die —
The body is referred to as 'dead' because it is bound eventually to die.
כל אלה הדברים לא יערבבו את האדם מעיקר התכלית שנשתלח מעולם העליון
all these things should not confuse a person away from the essential purpose for which he was sent from the upper world.
All the concerns of the body should not throw a person off from the real purpose for which his neshamah was sent down from above.
ובאמת אם המיתה עצמה אינה מעצבת את האדם שיודע שכל עוה"ז רק לבוא לשלימות שיחזור לעולם העליון מתוקן
And in truth, if death itself does not sadden a person, for he knows that all of this world is only to come to perfection, that he will return to the upper world in a state of completion,
If a person is not even saddened by death itself, recognizing that this world is only a path to perfection and a complete return above,
ממילא כל דאגות ויסורים שבעוה"ז אין מערבבין אותו ולא יפסקו ויעשו קרחה בין עיניכם שהוא הסתכלות המוח שבראש
then automatically all the worries and sufferings of this world do not confuse him, and they will not cut off and make a bald patch 'between your eyes,' which is the gaze of the mind that is in the head.
then naturally none of life's worries and sufferings will unsettle him or sever the gaze of his mind that is fixed above.
ועכ"פ צריך אדם לראות כשמניח באמת התפילין שהוא זכרון והארת הנשמה לא יסיח דעתו מצד הגוף
And in any case, a person must see to it that when he truly puts on the tefillin — which are a remembrance and an illumination of the neshamah — he does not divert his attention to the side of the body.
Practically, when putting on tefillin — which awaken remembrance and the light of the neshamah — one must not let his attention drift to bodily concerns.
וכמו כן בשבת קודש שא"צ תפילין שהוא עצמו אות ומאיר בו הארת הנשמה לא יסיח דעתו
And likewise on the holy Shabbos, when one does not need tefillin, since Shabbos itself is a sign and the illumination of the neshamah shines within it, he should not divert his attention.
The same applies on Shabbos, which itself is a sign that radiates the light of the neshamah and therefore requires no tefillin; one must not divert his attention from it.
וזה בחי' זכור ושמור
And this is the aspect of 'Remember' and 'Guard.'
This is the meaning of the twin commands 'Remember' and 'Guard' regarding Shabbos.
לזכור השורש הנ"ל ולשמור שלא להרהר במלאכת עוה"ז כמ"ש בס' הבהיר שמור מן ההירהור
To remember the aforementioned root, and to guard against contemplating the labor of this world, as is written in the Sefer HaBahir: 'Guard' refers to guarding from thought.
'Remember' means to keep the root in mind, and 'Guard,' per the Sefer HaBahir, means to guard against thoughts of weekday labor.
וכן כשעומד בתפלה כמו שרמזו חז"ל אפי' נחש כרוך על עקבו שהיא בחי' המיתה לא יפסיק:
And so too when one stands in tefillah, as Chazal alluded, 'even if a snake is coiled around his heel' — which is the aspect of death — he should not interrupt.
Similarly, Chazal taught that even a snake coiled on one's heel — symbolizing death — must not cause one to interrupt his tefillah, the same unbroken focus on the root.
Summary: The Sfas Emes builds on the Zohar's mashal of a prince sent to a village to learn the ways of the palace, only to be recalled by the king: so too the neshamah is sent into this world to learn the way of Hashem's kingship and is destined to return to its root above. Because the neshamos are really Hashem's children, a person must keep his gaze fixed upward — the reason Hashem placed the eyes in the head — and not let the concerns of the body, which is called 'dead,' confuse him about his true purpose. One who is untroubled even by death, knowing this world is only a path to perfection, will not be unsettled by any worry or suffering, and will preserve the unbroken vision of his mind toward the root. This is expressed by tefillin between the eyes, and on Shabbos by the sign of the day itself, captured in 'Remember' and 'Guard' — to remember the root and guard against thoughts of weekday labor, just as one does not interrupt tefillah even when a snake is coiled at his heel.