Inner Will And Deed
שופטים ושוטרים ת"ל כו'
"Shoftim v'shotrim — Judges and officers shall you appoint" (Devarim 16:18), and so on, the Torah teaches.
The Sfas Emes opens with the verse commanding the appointment of judges and officers, which he will read as a hint to two inner faculties of avodah.
שופטים הוא הסכמת הדעת והרצון
"Shoftim," the judges, represents the consent of the mind and the will.
The judge represents the inner decision — the agreement of one's mind and will to do what is right.
ושוטרים הוא תיקון המעשה
"Shotrim," the officers, represents the proper carrying out of the deed.
The officer represents the outer execution — actually carrying the decision through into action.
כי השוטר הי' לגמור המעשה ע"פ דעת השופט
For the officer's task was to bring the deed to completion in accordance with the ruling of the judge.
He explains the pairing: the officer exists to complete in deed what the judge has determined in mind.
ודבר זה צריך להיות בכל מצוה כמ"ש חז"ל יקבל עול מ"ש תחילה אח"כ עול מצות
And this matter must be present in every mitzvah, as Chazal said: one must first accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven, and afterward the yoke of the mitzvos.
This two-step pattern belongs to every mitzvah, just as Chazal teach that accepting the yoke of Heaven must precede accepting the yoke of the mitzvos.
זה שייך בכל מצוה
This applies to every single mitzvah.
He stresses that this order is not unique to one mitzvah but governs all of them.
שקודם הקיום בפועל צריך לקבל עליו עמ"ש להסכמת הדעת
For before the actual performance one must accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven, which is the consent of the mind.
Before performing a mitzvah physically, one must first accept the yoke of Heaven, which is the mental consent corresponding to the judge.
כמ"ש בזוה"ק בהר
As is stated in the holy Zohar on Parshas Behar.
He cites the Zohar in Behar as the source for this requirement.
דאם לא קביל עליו האי עול לא עביד מידי ע"ש
That if a person did not accept upon himself this yoke, he has accomplished nothing — see there.
Without first accepting this yoke, the Zohar teaches, even the physical act accomplishes nothing.
ואח"כ הקיום בפועל
And only afterward comes the actual performance of the deed.
Only after that inner acceptance does the actual physical performance have its place.
וזה בכל שעריך שא"א להיות פתיחת שערי הלב רק באמצעיות הרצון והמעשה בפועל ג"כ בב' בחי' הנ"ל
And this is the meaning of "in all your gates" (Devarim 16:18), for the opening of the gates of the heart can come about only through the medium of the will and the actual deed as well, in the two aspects mentioned above.
He ties this to the phrase "in all your gates": the gates of the heart open only through both the will and the actual deed — the same two aspects of judge and officer.
ועיקר ב' הבחי' הם ענין השבת וימי המעשה
And the root of these two aspects is the matter of Shabbos and the weekdays.
He now identifies the deeper root of these two aspects as the relationship between Shabbos and the weekdays.
שהשבת היא בחי' הדעת והרצון
For Shabbos is the aspect of the mind and the will.
Shabbos corresponds to the inner faculty of mind and will, like the judge.
ובחול במעשה
And the weekday is the aspect of the deed.
The weekday corresponds to the outer faculty of action, like the officer.
כי כן הי' רצון הבורא ית' כי ששת ימים עשה כו'
For so was the will of the Creator, may He be blessed, that "six days He made" (cf. Shemos 20:11), and so on.
He grounds this in Hashem's own pattern at Creation: six days of doing, hinted by "six days He made."
ובשבת השביתה
And on Shabbos there is rest from labor.
On the seventh day Hashem rested from all labor, so Shabbos stands apart from doing.
כביכול השבת בבחי' המחשבה ורנון בלבד
As it were, Shabbos is in the aspect of thought and joyous song alone.
Shabbos, as it were, exists purely in the realm of thought and joyous song rather than physical labor.
וז"ש מה גדלו מעשיך כו' מאוד עמקו מחשבותיך
And this is the meaning of "How great are Your works, Hashem; exceedingly deep are Your thoughts" (Tehillim 92:6).
He brings the verse from the Shabbos psalm contrasting Hashem's great works with His exceedingly deep thoughts.
כלומר ע"י התבוננות כח הבורא ית' במעשה בראשית
That is to say, through contemplating the power of the Creator, may He be blessed, in the work of Creation,
He explains: by contemplating the Creator's power as revealed in the work of Creation,
נלמד מכ"ש מה מאוד עמקו מחשבותיו כי לעולם המחשבה עמוקה מהמעשה
we learn from how very deep His thoughts are; for the thought is forever deeper than the deed.
one comes to recognize how much deeper His thoughts are than His deeds, for thought always runs deeper than action.
והתבוננות ימי המעשה בבחי' גדלו מעשיך
And the contemplation of the weekdays is in the aspect of "How great are Your works."
Thus the avodah of the weekdays corresponds to grasping "How great are Your works" — the realm of deed.
ובשבת בבחי' עמקו מחשבותיך:
And on Shabbos it is in the aspect of "exceedingly deep are Your thoughts."
And the avodah of Shabbos corresponds to grasping "exceedingly deep are Your thoughts" — the realm of mind and will.
Summary: The Sfas Emes reads "Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your gates" as a model for the two faculties present in every mitzvah: the judge is the inner consent of the mind and will, and the officer is the actual carrying out of the deed. Just as Chazal teach that one accepts the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven before the yoke of the mitzvos — and the Zohar in Behar teaches that without that acceptance the act accomplishes nothing — so too the gates of the heart open only through both the will and the deed together. He then roots these two aspects in Shabbos and the weekdays: Shabbos is the realm of mind, will, thought, and joyous song, while the weekday is the realm of action, paralleling Hashem's own pattern of six days of doing and resting on the seventh. From the verse "How great are Your works; exceedingly deep are Your thoughts," he teaches that thought is forever deeper than deed — so the contemplation of the weekdays grasps "How great are Your works," while Shabbos rises to "exceedingly deep are Your thoughts."