Inner Gates Of Understanding

שופטים ושוטרים תתן לך בכ"ש כו'

"Judges and officers shall you appoint for yourself in all your gates" (Devarim 16:18), and so on.

The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk commanding that judges and officers be appointed in all the gates, which he will read as a teaching about the inner 'gates' of the heart.

כי כשנפתח שער בלב משערי בינה יש כנגדו מ"ט פנים טמא

For when a gate among the gates of binah (understanding) is opened within the heart, there stands opposite it the forty-nine faces of impurity.

Whenever a gate of understanding opens in a person's heart, an equal and opposite force of impurity arises to challenge it.

אכן כשזוכין לכנוס להשערים בלב משכיל ורוח טהרה

Indeed, when one merits to enter into those gates of the heart with an enlightened mind and a pure spirit,

When a person succeeds in entering these inner gates with a clear mind and a pure spirit, the entry is clean.

אין בו מגע נכרי

there is no foreign touch upon it.

Such an entry remains untouched by any foreign or impure influence.

וצריך להיות בכל השערים שופטים לשפוט איך לכנוס

And there must be at every gate judges, to weigh how to enter,

At every such gate a person needs 'judges' to discern and weigh how to enter properly.

והוא בשכל ודעת

and this is through the intellect and da'as (knowing).

This faculty of judging operates through one's intellect and clear understanding.

ושוטרים צריך להיות לשמור שלא להתפשט ליגע בשערים המתנגדים

And there must also be officers, to guard against spreading out and touching the opposing gates,

He also needs 'officers' to guard him from straying and brushing up against the opposing gates of impurity.

והוא בלי שכל רק ביראת הבורא

and this is accomplished not through the intellect, but solely through yiras haBorei (fear of the Creator),

This guarding work is not a matter of intellect at all, but flows purely from one's fear of Hashem.

ונק' שוטר

and that is what is called a shoter (officer).

That guarding force grounded in fear of Heaven is precisely what the Torah calls a shoter, an officer.

גם פי' הכתוב כי כל השערים שהקב"ה פותח לאדם צריך האדם ליקח מהם לעבודת הבורא

The verse also means that all the gates which the Holy One, Blessed is He, opens for a person — the person must take from them for the avodah of the Creator.

On a second level, every gate of insight that Hashem opens for a person is given so that the person should use it to serve Hashem.

וז"ש שו"ש תתן לך בכל השערים הללו מהם תתן לך שופטים כו'

And this is the meaning of "judges and officers shall you appoint for yourself": within all these gates, from them shall you appoint for yourself judges, and so on.

Read this way, the pasuk says: from all the gates that open within you, appoint judges for yourself to direct their use.

כי כל השגות שבאים לאדם הם כדי להשיג רוממות אל

For all the attainments that come to a person are in order to attain the exaltedness of the Almighty.

Every level of attainment a person reaches is meant to bring him to grasp the exaltedness of Hashem.

וזה שסיים הפסוק צדק צדק תרדוף כי יש לאדם לדעת שיש שערים למעלה משערים עד שזוכה לבחי' תשובה באמת שהוא החזרת אדם לשורשו

And this is why the verse concludes, "Righteousness, righteousness shall you pursue" (Devarim 16:20) — for a person must know that there are gates above gates, until he merits the level of true teshuvah, which is the returning of a person to his root.

The pasuk's closing words 'righteousness shall you pursue' teach that there are always higher gates beyond the present one, until a person reaches true teshuvah, which is returning to his spiritual root.

וכשנכנסין בשערים כראוי זוכין להשיג תמיד יותר עד וירשת כו' הארץ כו' פי' לבא לשורשו ומקומו כנ"ל

And when one enters the gates as is fitting, he merits to attain ever more, until "and you shall inherit the land" (Devarim 16:20), and so on — meaning, to come to his root and his place, as above.

Entering the gates properly lets a person attain ever higher, fulfilling 'you shall inherit the land' — arriving at his root and his place.

והוא בחי' שבת קודש

And this is the aspect of the holy Shabbos.

This state of arriving at one's root corresponds to the holy Shabbos.

וצדק תרדוף הוא בימי המעשה שהם בחי' עוה"ז

And "righteousness shall you pursue" is in the weekday days, which are the aspect of this world —

The pursuit of righteousness belongs to the weekdays, which represent this world.

עלמא דשיקרא

the world of falsehood —

This world is characterized as the world of falsehood.

לכן צריכין לרדוף אחר הצדק

therefore one must pursue after the righteousness.

Because the weekday world is one of falsehood, a person must actively chase after righteousness within it.

ועי"ז זוכין וירשת כו' בשבת קודש שהוא מעין עוה"ב:

And through this one merits "and you shall inherit," and so on, on the holy Shabbos, which is a foretaste of Olam Haba.

Through that weekday pursuit, a person merits the 'inheritance' on Shabbos Kodesh, which is a taste of the World to Come.

Summary: The Sfas Emes reads the command of "judges and officers in all your gates" as a teaching about the inner gates of binah that Hashem opens within a person's heart. Whenever such a gate opens, forty-nine faces of impurity rise up against it, so a person needs 'judges' — his intellect and da'as, to discern how to enter properly — and 'officers' — his yiras Shamayim, to guard against drifting into the opposing gates of impurity. Every gate of insight Hashem grants is given so the person should harness it for avodas Hashem and grasp the exaltedness of the Ribono shel Olam, and the call of "righteousness shall you pursue" teaches that there is always a higher gate to climb toward, until one reaches true teshuvah, the return to one's root. This pursuit of righteousness belongs to the weekdays, which are the aspect of this world, the world of falsehood, where one must actively chase after the truth. Through that weekday pursuit one merits the 'inheritance' of arriving at his root on Shabbos Kodesh, which is a foretaste of Olam Haba.