Broadened heart runs to serve Hashem

כתיב דרך מצותיך ארוץ כי תרחיב לבי.

It is written: "I will run the way of Your mitzvos, for You will broaden my heart."

The Sefas Emes opens with the pasuk from Tehillim (119:32): when Hashem "broadens" a person's heart, he is then able to "run" eagerly in the path of the mitzvos.

ואחר שיצאנו זכאי בדין והרחיב לנו השי"ת.

And after we have emerged innocent in judgment, and Hashem has broadened things for us.

Having come through the Yom HaDin (Yom Kippur) acquitted, and with Hashem having "broadened" our hearts through that purification, we are now in an expanded, opened state.

אז עיקר הזמן לרוץ בדרך מצותיו.

Then is the prime time to run in the way of His mitzvos.

The days of Sukkos, right after Yom Kippur, are therefore the choicest time to "run" in the path of mitzvos with the broadened heart we have just received.

כי זה תכלית הטהרה ביוהכ"פ להיות כלי מוכן לעבודת השי"ת.

For this is the purpose of the purification on Yom Kippur — to become a vessel prepared for the avodah of Hashem.

The whole goal of the taharah achieved on Yom Kippur is not the cleansing itself but its result: to make a person into a ready keli (vessel), fit and prepared to serve Hashem.

וזה עיקר הפרש בין בנ"י לאומות.

And this is the essential difference between Bnei Yisrael and the nations.

The Sefas Emes now contrasts how Bnei Yisrael and the nations respond when blessing and goodness come their way.

כשמשפיעין להם טובה זה פונה לכרמו ולזיתו.

When goodness is bestowed upon them — "this one turns to his vineyard and that one to his olive grove."

When the nations receive abundance, they turn it toward their own material pursuits — their vineyards and olive groves — using the bounty for personal gain and comfort.

ובנ"י משימין לב לעבודת השי"ת.

But Bnei Yisrael set their heart to the avodah of Hashem.

Bnei Yisrael, by contrast, take whatever goodness and "broadening" they are given and direct it toward serving Hashem — turning blessing into a means of avodah rather than self-indulgence.

ועמ"ש לקמן בענין מן המיצר קראתי:

And see what is written further on regarding the matter of "from the strait I called out."

The Sefas Emes refers the reader to a later piece on the pasuk "min hameitzar karasi" ("from the narrow place I called out to Hashem") — the counterpart of the "broadening" discussed here, the movement from constriction to expansiveness.

Summary: After emerging acquitted from the judgment of Yom Kippur, with our hearts "broadened" through its purification, Sukkos is the prime time to "run in the way of Hashem's mitzvos." The purpose of Yom Kippur's taharah is to make us a vessel ready for avodah. Herein lies the essential difference between Bnei Yisrael and the nations: when given goodness, the nations turn to their own material pursuits, while Bnei Yisrael devote it to serving Hashem.