Judge And Officer Within

שופטים ושוטרים ת' לך כו' שופטים הוא לשפוט כל המעשים לפי החכמה והדעת ע"פ התורה

"Shoftim v'shotrim — Judges and officers shall you appoint for yourself" (Devarim 16:18). "Shoftim," judges, refers to weighing all of one's deeds according to wisdom and understanding, in accordance with the Torah.

The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk of appointing judges and officers, explaining that the "judges" represent measuring all our actions by Torah wisdom and proper understanding.

ושוטרים הוא אף שאין השכל מסכים

And "shotrim," officers, refers even to those cases where the intellect does not agree.

The "officers" represent a second function: enforcing correct behavior even in moments when one's reasoning does not assent to it.

כי יש הרבה זמנים שאין זוכין לבוא לישוב הדעת כראוי

For there are many times when a person does not merit to arrive at a proper settled-mindedness.

He notes that there are frequent stretches of time when a person simply cannot reach a clear, settled state of mind.

צריכין לכוף עצמו כמו השוטר שכופה לבעל דין שהבע"ד סובר שהאמת אתו

He must compel himself, just like the officer who forces the litigant to comply, even though the litigant believes that the truth is with him.

In such times one must force himself into compliance, like an officer compelling a litigant who is still convinced that he himself is in the right.

כן צריך להיות באדם עצמו ב' הבחי'

So too within a person himself there must be these two aspects.

These two roles, judge and officer, must both exist inside every individual.

שופטים הוא לבטל החומר להשכל

"Shoftim" is to subdue the physical matter to the intellect.

The inner "judge" is the work of bending one's coarse, physical self into submission before the intellect.

ושוטרים הוא לקיים גזירת המלך בלי טעם

And "shotrim" is to fulfill the decree of the King without any reason.

The inner "officer" is the work of carrying out Hashem's command even when no reason for it is felt or understood.

והיא עבודת האדם בימי העבודה בחול

And this is a person's avodah during the weekdays, the days of toil.

This officer-type avodah, acting without grasping the reason, characterizes a person's service during the ordinary weekdays of toil.

ובשבת קודש שנתוסף דעת לכל איש ישראל אז העבודה בבחי' שופטים

But on the holy Shabbos, when additional da'as is granted to every Jew, then the avodah is in the aspect of "shoftim."

On Shabbos, however, when every Jew receives an extra measure of da'as, the avodah rises to the higher "judge" level of acting with full understanding.

וב' אלו הבחי' תלוין זה בזה

And these two aspects are dependent upon one another.

The Sfas Emes now teaches that these two levels are interdependent, each enabling the other.

כי ע"י שמבטל החומר אל השכל

For through subduing the physical matter to the intellect,

First direction: it is through subduing the physical self to the intellect that a foundation is laid.

עי"ז זוכה שיכול לכוף עצמו גם כשאין השכל מסכים

by means of this a person merits that he is able to compel himself even when the intellect does not agree.

From that subjugation a person earns the strength to compel himself even in the moments when his intellect offers no agreement.

כי בחי' השבת נותן ברכה לעבודת החול

For the aspect of Shabbos bestows a berachah upon the avodah of the weekday.

This works because the elevated aspect of Shabbos pours a berachah into the weekday avodah.

לכן אמרו חז"ל שנברא אדם בע"ש כדי שיכנס לשבת תחילה

Therefore Chazal said that Adam was created on Erev Shabbos so that he should enter into Shabbos first.

He brings the teaching of Chazal that Adam was created on Erev Shabbos specifically so that he would enter Shabbos immediately.

כי עבודת החול בא ע"י עבודת השבת

For the avodah of the weekday comes by means of the avodah of Shabbos.

This shows that the weekday avodah itself draws its vitality from the avodah of Shabbos that precedes and infuses it.

וכמו כן עבודת החול הכנה לשבת שע"י שמבטלין עצמן אף בלי שכל זוכין להשיג אח"כ בשכל טעמי המצות בחי' השבת כנ"ל:

And likewise the avodah of the weekday is a preparation for Shabbos, for through subjugating themselves even without an intellectual grasp, they afterward merit to attain, with the intellect, the reasons of the mitzvos — the aspect of Shabbos, as explained above.

Conversely, the weekday avodah of submitting without understanding is itself a preparation that earns a person the Shabbos-like attainment of grasping the reasons of the mitzvos with the intellect.

Summary: The Sfas Emes reads the pasuk of "judges and officers" as two inner avodos every Jew must contain. The "judge" is subduing one's physical self to the intellect and serving Hashem with understanding, while the "officer" is compelling oneself to fulfill the King's decree even when no reason is grasped and the intellect does not assent. The officer-avodah of acting without comprehension belongs to the toil of the weekdays, whereas the judge-avodah of acting with full da'as belongs to Shabbos, when every Jew is granted added understanding. These two levels are mutually dependent: the elevated berachah of Shabbos empowers the weekday submission, and that very weekday submission without understanding is itself the preparation that earns one the Shabbos-aspect of afterward attaining the reasons of the mitzvos with the intellect — which is why Adam was created on Erev Shabbos to enter Shabbos first.