Uncovering Hidden Love
קושית המפ' בשם הרמב"ם על מצות ואהבת וכדומה איך שייך ציווי בדבר התלוי בטבע האדם כו' והאמת כי הקושי' היא עצמה התירוץ שמזה נלמד שיש בטבע כל איש ישראל לאהוב להש"י בכל לבו ונפשו ורק שנטמן בעומק הלב וע"י הרצון והתשוקה למצוא זאת האהבה ע"ז נאמר יגעתי ומצאתי כו'
The commentators raise a difficulty, in the name of the Rambam, regarding the mitzvah of "And you shall love Hashem your God" (Devarim 6:5) and the like: how can there be a command concerning something that depends on a person's natural disposition? The truth, however, is that the very difficulty is itself the answer, for from this we learn that it lies within the nature of every Jew to love Hashem with all his heart and all his soul, and the only issue is that this love is buried in the depths of the heart. It is through one's will and yearning to discover this love that the words "I labored and I found" (Megillah 6b) are said.
The commentators ask how Hashem can command us to love Him if love is a natural emotion not subject to will. The Sfas Emes answers that the question is its own answer: the command itself reveals that every Jew already has this love planted within, merely hidden deep in the heart.
ובספרי והיו הדברים כו' למה נאמר לפי שנאמר ואהבת כו' א"י כיצד אלא מתוך שאתה נותן הדברים אל לבך תכיר מי שאמר והי' העולם כו'
And in the Sifrei it is taught: "'And these matters shall be' (Devarim 6:6) — why is this stated? Because it says, 'And you shall love.' I would not know in what manner one loves Hashem; therefore the verse teaches: rather, through your placing these matters upon your heart, you will come to recognize the One who spoke and the world came into being."
The Sfas Emes brings the Sifrei, which asks why the Torah continues with "these matters shall be upon your heart" after commanding love. The answer is that by placing Torah upon one's heart, a person comes to recognize Hashem, which is the pathway to that love.
פי' כנ"ל שע"י שמשים האדם זה ללבו תמיד ומשתוקק לבוא לאהבת בוראו נגלה לו רוח הקדושה אשר בקרבו וע"ז נאמר חיי עולם נטע בתוכנו
The explanation is as stated above: that through a person constantly placing this upon his heart and yearning to arrive at the love of his Creator, the spirit of holiness that is within him becomes revealed to him; and concerning this it is said, "He planted eternal life within us" (from the blessing over the Torah).
Constantly keeping this in mind and yearning for closeness to Hashem causes the holiness already within a person to be uncovered. This is the "eternal life" that Hashem planted within us through the Torah.
והכלל שכל מצות שבתורה הם כללים
And the general principle is that all the mitzvos of the Torah are overarching principles.
The Sfas Emes lays down a foundational principle: every mitzvah in the written Torah is stated as a broad, general directive.
והפרטים איך לבוא לקיום המצוה הוא בחי' תורה שבע"פ
And the particulars — how one is to arrive at the fulfillment of the mitzvah — are of the aspect of the Oral Torah.
The detailed instructions for how to actually carry out and reach the fulfillment of each mitzvah belong to the realm of the Oral Torah.
לכן חביבים דברי סופרים כו' שדברי חכמים הם הקדמות איך לבוא לקיים מצות המפורשין בתורה כי דברי התורה נאמרים לאדם השלם שיש בו השלימות שיכול להשיג מעצמו והוא תורה שבע"פ כנ"ל
This is why "the words of the Soferim are beloved" (cf. Avodah Zarah 35a), for the words of the Chachamim are the introductory steps for how to arrive at fulfilling the mitzvos that are explicitly stated in the Torah; for the words of the Torah are addressed to the complete person, who possesses the wholeness that he can grasp these matters on his own — and this is the Oral Torah, as stated above.
Because the written Torah speaks only to the wholly developed person who can grasp its directives unaided, the words of the Chachamim are precious — they provide the practical steps that bring an ordinary person to fulfill the mitzvos written explicitly in the Torah.
ואף שקשה לצייר לקיים בכל לבבך
And even though it is difficult to picture how to fulfill "with all your heart" (Devarim 6:5),
Even though it seems hard to imagine truly serving Hashem "with all your heart,"
מ"מ צריך להיות הרצון והתשוקה לבוא לזה בכל עת ועי"ז נפתחים השערים שבלב האדם כנ"ל:
nonetheless one must have the will and the yearning to arrive at this at every moment, and through this the gates within a person's heart are opened, as stated above.
a person must nevertheless constantly maintain the will and yearning to reach that level, and this yearning is what opens the inner gates of his heart to the love already hidden within.
Summary: The Sfas Emes addresses the Rambam's difficulty: how can Hashem command love, which seems to depend on natural feeling? He answers that the very command proves that the love of Hashem is already implanted within the nature of every Jew, merely buried in the depths of the heart, and that one's will and yearning to find it draws it out — "I labored and I found." Citing the Sifrei, he explains that placing Torah upon one's heart reveals the inner spirit of holiness, the "eternal life" Hashem planted within us. He then establishes that the written Torah states mitzvos only as overarching principles addressed to the complete person, while the Oral Torah and the beloved words of the Chachamim supply the particular steps for how an ordinary person arrives at their fulfillment. Though serving Hashem "with all your heart" is hard to picture, the constant will and yearning to reach it is precisely what opens the gates of the heart.