Aligning Deeds Below Above

כי אתה בא כו' ל"ת לעשות כתועבות הגוים כו' ובגלל התועבות כו' מוריש א' מפניך תמים תהי'

"When you come (into the land) ... you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations ... and because of these abominations Hashem your God drives them out from before you ... You shall be wholehearted (tamim) with Hashem your God" (Devarim 18:9-13).

The Sfas Emes opens with the pesukim that link the abominations of the nations to being driven from the land, and to the mitzvah to be tamim — wholehearted — with Hashem.

עיקר התמימות היא להיות בכל דבר שלמטה דביקות בחלק שלמעלה ואיש ישראל צריך להיות כל מעשיו למטה כמו שנעשה למעלה

The essence of temimus (wholeness) is that within everything below there should be a clinging (dveikus) to its portion above; and a Jew must have all his deeds below correspond to the way they are performed above.

True temimus means that everything in this lower world is bound to its source above, so a Jew's every act below should mirror what is done in the upper worlds.

וכן במילה כתיב התהלך לפני והי' תמים דיש ערלה בבחי' עולם שנה נפש

And so too regarding milah it is written, "Walk before Me and be wholehearted (tamim)" (Bereishis 17:1) — for there is an orlah (foreskin, an excess) in the dimensions of olam, shanah, nefesh (space, time, and soul).

He brings the command of milah, where temimus is also demanded, because the orlah represents an excess that exists across the three realms of space, time, and soul.

וכמו הערלה בגוף שהיא יתרת שאין דוגמתו למעלה בשורש העליון בקדושה

Just as the orlah in the body is a superfluous addition that has no counterpart above in the supernal root within kedushah,

The physical orlah is a leftover growth that has no parallel in the holy supernal root.

ולכן הוא מום וחסרון בגוף ובהסרת הערלה נעשה תמים

therefore it is a blemish and a deficiency in the body, and through the removal of the orlah one becomes whole (tamim).

Because it has no root above, the orlah is a blemish, and removing it through milah brings a person to wholeness.

כמו כן יש בעולם דברים יתירים שאין בהם שורש בקדושה למעלה

In the same way, there are within the world superfluous things that have no root in the kedushah above.

Likewise, throughout the world there exist superfluous things that have no source in the kedushah above.

לכן נק' כשפים שמכחישין כח שלמעלה פי' שהם דברים שאין בהם שורש וא"ת מהיכן בא יתרת זה בוודאי כל זה נעשה ע"י חטא הראשון שנמשך הערלה בעולם שנה נפש

Therefore they are called kishufim (sorcery), for they weaken the power above — meaning that they are things which have no root; and should you ask, from where did this superfluous excess come, surely all of this came about through the first sin, through which the orlah was drawn down into olam, shanah, nefesh (space, time, and soul).

Such rootless things are the realm of sorcery, which seems to weaken the heavenly power; their existence traces back to the first sin, which drew this excess into the realms of space, time, and soul.

אבל בנ"י חלק ה' עמו ניתן להם המילה והתורה ללמדם איך שיהיו כל מעשיהם למטה מתאימים לשורש שלמעלה

But Bnei Yisrael are the portion of Hashem among His people, and to them were given the milah and the Torah, to teach them how all their deeds below should be made to correspond to the root above.

Bnei Yisrael, as Hashem's portion, were given milah and Torah specifically to teach them to align all their deeds below with the root above.

לכן ניתן להם א"י ובהמ"ק שהם המקומות המכוונים למטה מול הקדושה למעלה

Therefore Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash were given to them, for these are the places below that are aligned opposite the kedushah above.

For this reason they received Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash, the physical places that stand directly opposite the kedushah above.

לכן בגלל התועבות האלה מוריש אותם מא"י

Therefore, because of these abominations, Hashem drives them out from Eretz Yisrael.

And so, when the abominations corrupt that alignment, Hashem drives them out of the land.

וכן בזמן ניתן לבנ"י שבתות ויו"ט שהם ימי תמימים וזה שנק' שבת שלום

And so too within time, Bnei Yisrael were given Shabbosos and Yamim Tovim, which are days of wholeness (temimus), and this is the meaning of its being called "Shabbos Shalom."

Within the realm of time, Bnei Yisrael were given Shabbos and Yom Tov as days of wholeness, which is why Shabbos is called "Shabbos Shalom" — a day of completeness.

והנה צריכין לקבל נשמה יתירה בש"ק הרמז כמ"ש במ"א כמו שיש ערלה בגוף והיא יתרת שאין בה רוח קדושה

Now, on the holy Shabbos one must receive a neshamah yeseirah (an extra soul); the hint to this is as has been explained elsewhere — that just as there is an orlah in the body which is a superfluous excess containing no spirit of kedushah,

On Shabbos one receives a neshamah yeseirah; the Sfas Emes parallels this to the orlah of the body, which is an excess devoid of any spirit of kedushah.

מול זה בנשמה נתעלה שורש הנשמה מה שאינו מתלבש בגוף כי אלקים עשה האדם ישר בנשמה וגוף וע"י החטא נתעלה שורש הנשמה וניתוסף בגוף יתרת

corresponding to it, in the soul, the root of the neshamah — the part that is not clothed within the body — was elevated; for "Hashem made man upright" (Koheles 7:29) in both neshamah and body, and through the sin the root of the neshamah was elevated away and a superfluous excess was added to the body.

Just as the sin added a rootless excess to the body, it caused the root of the neshamah to withdraw upward, beyond what is clothed in the body, even though man was originally created upright in both body and soul.

וצריך איש ישראל לקבל בש"ק נפש רוח נשמה יתירה

And a Jew must receive on the holy Shabbos an additional nefesh, ruach, and neshamah.

Therefore a Jew must draw down on Shabbos an additional nefesh, ruach, and neshamah to restore that wholeness.

והם בבחי' מעשה דיבור ומחשבה שהשבת מסייע להיות כח הנר"נ שולטין על הגוף כי מעשה דיבור ומחשבה נעשין בהשתתפות הגוף בנר"נ ובנ"י מכוונים בשבת שיגבור אור הנשמה על הגוף במחשבה

And these are in the dimensions of action, speech, and thought; for Shabbos assists the power of the nefesh-ruach-neshamah to rule over the body, since action, speech, and thought are accomplished through the partnership of the body together with the nefesh-ruach-neshamah; and on Shabbos Bnei Yisrael direct themselves that the light of the neshamah should prevail over the body in thought,

These three correspond to action, speech, and thought; Shabbos empowers the soul-forces to rule over the body in these three faculties, and Bnei Yisrael aim for the neshamah's light to dominate the body in thought.

ואור הרוח בדיבור

and the light of the ruach in speech,

The light of the ruach is meant to dominate in the faculty of speech.

ואור הנפש במעשה

and the light of the nefesh in action,

And the light of the nefesh is meant to dominate in the faculty of action.

להיות הנר"נ יתירים ומתגברין על השתתפות הגוף

so that the nefesh-ruach-neshamah become heightened and overpower the partnership of the body.

The goal is that the heightened nefesh-ruach-neshamah overpower the body's grip on these faculties.

וכח זה מסייע לאדם גם על ימי המעשה:

And this power assists a person during the weekdays of action (the days of the workweek) as well.

And the strength a person gains on Shabbos carries over to help him throughout the ordinary weekdays of work as well.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that the essence of temimus — being wholehearted with Hashem — is that everything in the lower world should cling to its root in the upper worlds, so that a Jew's deeds below mirror what is done above. He shows that the orlah, both in the body and across the realms of space, time, and soul, represents a rootless excess introduced by the first sin, which is why milah and the removal of that excess restore wholeness. Bnei Yisrael were given milah, Torah, Eretz Yisrael, and the Beis HaMikdash so that their deeds and places below would align with the kedushah above. Shabbos and Yom Tov are the parallel gift within time — days of wholeness, of "Shabbos Shalom" — on which a Jew receives an extra nefesh, ruach, and neshamah corresponding to action, speech, and thought. Through these added soul-forces the neshamah prevails over the body in all three faculties, and the strength gained on Shabbos carries over to elevate a person's deeds throughout the weekdays as well.