Inner Judge And Officer
שופטים ושוטרים ת"ל
"Appoint judges and officers" (Devarim 16:18) — may it teach us as follows.
The Sfas Emes opens with the verse commanding judges and officers and signals that he will draw a lesson from it.
במ"א כתבתי כי כל אדם צריך להיות לו בחי' שופט ושוטר
In another place I have written that every person must have within himself the aspects of a "judge" and an "officer."
He recalls a teaching that the avodah of every Jew is to set up an inner "judge" and an inner "officer" within himself.
שופט הוא בהשגת הדעת
The "judge" operates through the attainment of clear understanding and knowledge.
The inner "judge" is the faculty of clear-minded understanding that discerns right from wrong.
ושוטר לכוף עצמו אפי' שלא לרצונו
And the "officer" serves to compel oneself even against one's own desire.
The inner "officer" is the force that compels a person to act correctly even when his desires pull the other way.
וכ"כ וידעת היום ואח"כ והשבות אל לבבך ב' יצריך
And so it is written, "And you shall know this day" (Devarim 4:39), and afterward, "and you shall take it to your heart" (ibid.) — referring to your two yetzarim, the good inclination and the evil inclination.
He brings a proof from the verse that pairs knowing Hashem with taking it to heart, mapping these onto the good and evil yetzarim that a person must govern.
ועל ב' אלו ניתנו תפלין ש"ר וש"י
And corresponding to these two it was given that one dons tefillin: the tefillin of the head and the tefillin of the hand.
These two inner functions correspond to the two tefillin, of the head and of the hand.
ובשל יד כתי' וקשרתם שצריך קשירה בע"כ והוא לשעבד חלק הגוף נפש הבהמיות
And regarding the tefillin of the hand it is written, "and you shall bind them" (Devarim 6:8), for this requires a binding that is forced upon oneself, and it is meant to subjugate the bodily portion, the animal soul.
The tefillin of the hand involves "binding," representing the forced subjugation of the body and the animal soul, like the inner "officer."
וש"ר הוא הנותן דעת לאדם
And the tefillin of the head is what grants a person clear knowledge and understanding.
The tefillin of the head represents the faculty of knowledge and understanding, like the inner "judge."
וכ"כ אדם ובהמה תושיע ה' שצריך כל אחד לייגע א"ע לדעת את ה' בכח הנשמה שנק' אדם ואח"כ להיות אדם רוכב ושליט על הבהמיות כמ"ש דע את אלקי אביך אח"כ ועבדהו שהוא בעובדא
And so it is written, "man and beast Hashem saves" (Tehillim 36:7) — for each person must labor and exert himself to know Hashem through the power of the neshamah, which is called "man," and afterward to become a "man" who rides upon and rules over the animal aspect, as it is written, "Know the God of your father" and afterward "and serve Him" (Divrei HaYamim I 28:9), for that service is in actual deed.
A person must first toil to know Hashem with his neshamah, the "man" within, and then have that "man" rule over the "beast" within, just as the verse pairs knowing Hashem with serving Him in action.
וכן הוא ימי המעשה דכתי' ועשית כל מלאכתך הוא בע"כ כמ"ש ז"ל בפסוק ועשית אזהרה לב"ד שיעשוך
And likewise are the weekdays, the days of labor, of which it is written, "and you shall do all your work" (Shemos 20:9) — this is done under compulsion, as Chazal expounded on the verse "and you shall do," that it is a directive to the Beis Din to compel you to perform.
The weekdays of labor correspond to the dimension of compulsion, as Chazal read the command "and you shall do" as the Beis Din enforcing performance.
וזהו המלחמה ועבודה בימי המעשה
And this is the battle and the avodah during the days of labor.
Thus the weekday represents the struggle and avodah of forcing the body into service.
ובש"ק כתי' למען ינוח שורך כו' דהוא יומא דנשמתין ולאו דגופא
But regarding the holy Shabbos it is written, "so that your ox may rest" (Shemos 23:12), for it is the day of neshamos and not of the body.
Shabbos, by contrast, is described as a day of rest, belonging to the neshamah rather than the body.
יום שניתנה בו התורה
It is the day on which the Torah was given.
Shabbos is the day on which the Torah was given.
והוא הדעת בחי' שופטים כנ"ל:
And it is the daas, the aspect of "judges," as explained above.
Shabbos therefore embodies daas, the aspect of the "judge" — clarity of knowledge rather than the compulsion of the weekday.
Summary: The Sfas Emes teaches that the command to appoint "judges and officers" points inward: every Jew must establish within himself a "judge" — the faculty of clear knowledge of Hashem — and an "officer" — the force that compels the body to serve even against its will. These two aspects parallel the tefillin of the head, which grants daas, and the tefillin of the hand, which is "bound" to subjugate the animal soul, just as a person must first know Hashem with his neshamah and then rule over the beast within. The weekdays, the days of labor, embody the realm of compulsion and battle, where the body must be forced into avodah. Shabbos, however, is the day of the neshamah and not the body, the day the Torah was given, embodying pure daas — the aspect of the "judge" — rather than the struggle of the "officer."