Cleaving Above Nature
בפסוק תמים תהי' עם ה"א כי הגוים כו'
The pasuk states, "You shall be wholehearted with Hashem your God, for these nations [that you are about to dispossess listen to soothsayers and diviners]" (Devarim 18:13-14).
The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk commanding Bnei Yisrael to be wholehearted with Hashem, set against the surrounding nations who turn to soothsayers and diviners.
ובמד' תנחומא ונתנך ה' לראש כו' והיית רק למעלה כשאתה צריך לשאול שאל מלמעלה ולא מלמטה כאוב מארץ כו'
And in the Midrash Tanchuma it expounds on "And Hashem will set you as the head [and not the tail]" (Devarim 28:13) — "and you shall be only on top": when you need to inquire, inquire from above and not from below, like one who consults a Ov (a necromancer's spirit) from the earth.
He cites the Tanchuma, which reads the blessing of being "the head" to mean that a Jew directs his inquiries upward to Hashem rather than downward to forbidden powers like necromancy.
הענין הוא כי לכל הדברים יש שורש למעלה וכל מעשה בראשית בטבע היסודות כל זה נמשך אחר שורש עליון כמ"ש במד' בראשית (כל) [*הן] אלה קצות (הארץ) [*דרכיו] ע"ש
The matter is this: every thing has a root above, and all of the workings of Creation within the nature of the elements — all of this is drawn after a supernal root, as the Midrash on Bereishis says regarding "behold, these are but the edges of His ways" (Iyov 26:14); see there.
Everything in the natural world has a spiritual root above, and all of Creation flows from that supernal source.
אבל בנ"י שניתן להם התורה שבה נברא העולם ולכן נק' ראשית לכן יש להם דביקות למעלה ממעשה בראשית
But Bnei Yisrael, to whom the Torah was given — through which the world was created, and which is therefore called "reishis" (the beginning) — they therefore possess a dveikus that is above the workings of Creation.
Because the Torah, through which the world was created, was given to Bnei Yisrael, they are bound to a level above nature itself.
זה לראש ולא לזנב כי כל הטבע בכלל זנב
This is "as the head and not as the tail" (Devarim 28:13), for all of nature as a whole is in the category of "the tail."
Being "the head and not the tail" means that Bnei Yisrael cleave above nature, whereas all of nature is merely "the tail."
ואיש ישראל כולל כל העולמות ונשמתו חלק אלקי ממעל והגוף יש בו מהטבע וד' יסודות
And an ish Yisrael encompasses all the worlds: his neshamah is a portion of Godliness from above, while his body contains something of nature and of the four elements.
Every Jew contains both worlds: his neshamah is a portion of Godliness, while his body shares in nature and the four elements.
והרשעים כל חכמתם במעונן ומנחש הכל בחכמות הטבעיות ובזה מחזקים כחות הגוף ומתמעט בהם כחות הנשמה
But the resha'im — all their wisdom lies in the soothsayer and the diviner, everything within the natural sciences, and through this they strengthen the powers of the body, and the powers of the neshamah are diminished within them.
The wicked invest all their wisdom in natural and occult sciences, which strengthen the body but starve the power of the neshamah.
ואנחנו צריכים להתחזק רק בתורה ולהעלות הנפש אל השורש ובזה מתחלש כח הגוף
And we must strengthen ourselves solely through the Torah and to elevate the soul to its root, and through this the power of the body is weakened.
Our task is the reverse: to strengthen ourselves through Torah and raise the soul to its root, which weakens the pull of the body.
תמים תהי' עם ה' זה חלק אלקות והי' תמים
"You shall be wholehearted with Hashem" (Devarim 18:13) — this refers to the portion of Godliness, and it shall be whole.
Wholeness belongs to the Godly portion of a person; that part is what can be truly whole with Hashem.
וחלק הגוף אין בו השלימות אדרבא כפי חסרון השלימות בו כן מתרבה התמימות כמ"ש במילה התהלך לפני וע"י המילה תהי' תמים
But the portion of the body has no wholeness within it; on the contrary, in accordance with the lack of wholeness within it, so does the wholehearted-ness increase, as it is written regarding milah, "Walk before Me [and be wholehearted]" (Bereishis 17:1) — and through the milah you shall become whole.
The body cannot be whole on its own; rather, the more its physical self-sufficiency is reduced, the greater one's wholehearted-ness becomes, as seen in milah, where becoming whole comes through a physical diminishment.
ובאמת כל הכשפים נעשה מתערובת טו"ר ע"י חטא אדם הראשון בעה"ד טו"ר
And in truth, all sorcery comes into being from the admixture of good and evil through the sin of Adam HaRishon with the Eitz HaDaas Tov VaRa (the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil).
Sorcery itself stems from the mixture of good and evil that entered the world through Adam HaRishon's sin with the Tree of Knowledge.
כמ"ש בס' התיקונים
As it is written in the Sefer HaTikkunim.
He notes this is taught in the Sefer HaTikkunim.
אבל בנ"י שניתן להם אח"כ עשרת הדברות זה הי' התיקון לעשרה מאמרות להיות מבורר טוב בלא רע
But Bnei Yisrael, to whom the Aseres HaDibros (the Ten Commandments) were afterward given — this was the rectification of the Ten Utterances of Creation, that the good should be refined out without the evil.
The giving of the Aseres HaDibros rectified the Ten Utterances of Creation, separating the good from the evil mixed into the world.
לכן לא נחש ביעקב
Therefore "there is no divination in Yaakov" (Bamidbar 23:23).
As a result, divination has no hold over Yaakov, for Bnei Yisrael stand on the side of refined good.
ואחז"ל לא תלמד לעשות אבל אתה למד להבין ולהורות
And Chazal expounded (on "You shall not learn to do" — Devarim 18:9): "You shall not learn to do, but you may learn in order to understand and to render rulings" (Sanhedrin 68a).
Chazal teach that while one may not learn forbidden arts in order to practice them, one may learn them in order to understand and rule on halachah.
פי' בינה מבין דבר מתוך דבר כי מכל אלה הדברים יודעים החכמים שורש הדברים למעלה בתורה
The explanation: "binah" means understanding one thing from within another, for from all these matters the wise ones know the root of things above in the Torah.
True binah is deriving one matter from another, for through these very subjects the wise discern the root of things as they exist above in the Torah.
ולכן היו חז"ל יודעים בכשפים
And this is why Chazal had knowledge of sorcery.
This is how Chazal could possess knowledge of sorcery without being drawn into it.
וזה ג"כ פי' והיית רק למעלה
And this too is the explanation of "and you shall be only on top":
He returns to the phrase "and you shall be only on top" to draw out its deeper meaning.
פי' אפי' כשתעסוק בדברים שלמטה תהי' רק למעלה ולא למטה להתדבק תמיד בשורש הדברים שלמעלה זה פי' תמים תהי' שלא להיות נפרד מן השורש כי כל התועבות האלה נכרתין מן השורש ואתה תמים תהי' עם ה"א כנ"ל:
It means that even when you occupy yourself with matters below, you shall be only above and not below — to cleave always to the root of things that is above. This is the meaning of "You shall be wholehearted": that you not become severed from the root, for all these abominations are cut off from the root, while you shall be wholehearted with Hashem your God, as above.
Even when engaged in worldly matters, a Jew is to remain bound "above" — cleaving to the supernal root of all things; this is what "be wholehearted" demands, that one never be severed from the root, for all the abominations are cut off from it while Bnei Yisrael remain whole with Hashem.
Summary: The Sfas Emes explains the command to be wholehearted with Hashem by contrasting Bnei Yisrael with the surrounding nations who rely on soothsaying and divination. Everything in nature has a supernal root, but the nations cling only to the natural world — "the tail" — strengthening the body and starving the neshamah, while Bnei Yisrael, who received the Torah through which the world was created, are bound "above" nature as "the head." Wholeness, he teaches, belongs to the Godly portion of a person, and it actually grows as physical self-sufficiency is diminished, as we see in milah. Sorcery itself springs from the admixture of good and evil born of Adam HaRishon's sin, and the giving of the Aseres HaDibros came to rectify the Ten Utterances of Creation and refine the good from the evil, which is why "there is no divination in Yaakov." Ultimately, to be wholehearted means that even while engaged in worldly matters one cleaves constantly to the supernal root, never severed from it, while all the abominations are cut off from that root.