Exodus Rooting Shabbos Kedushah

וזכרת כי עבד היית כו' ע"כ צוך כו' לעשות כו' השבת

"And you shall remember that you were a slave [in Mitzrayim]... therefore [Hashem your God] commanded you... to keep... the Shabbos" (Devarim 5:15).

The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk in Vaetchanan that gives the reason for keeping Shabbos: because Bnei Yisrael were once slaves in Mitzrayim and Hashem redeemed them.

אף כי עיקר טעם שבת בעבור ששבת הקב"ה כמ"ש בדברות ראשונות

This is so even though the essential reason for Shabbos is because the Holy One, Blessed is He, rested [on the seventh day], as is stated in the first set of the Aseres HaDibros (Shemos 20:11).

He notes a difficulty: in the first set of the Dibros, the stated reason for Shabbos is that Hashem rested on the seventh day, not the exodus from Mitzrayim.

אך שלא יאמרו בנ"י אשר המה רחוקים מקדושת שבת

However, lest Bnei Yisrael say that they are far removed from the kedushah of Shabbos,

He answers that Bnei Yisrael might feel they are too lowly and distant to lay claim to the lofty kedushah of Shabbos.

לכן נאמר ע"כ שהוציאנו ממצרים יש לנו דבקות וחיבור לקדושת שבת

therefore it is stated 'therefore' — that because He took us out of Mitzrayim, we have a dveikus and a connection to the kedushah of Shabbos.

Therefore the Torah says 'therefore' — Yetzias Mitzrayim itself earns us a dveikus and a connection to that kedushah, so it is within our reach.

ובאמת בכל שבת מתעורר הגאולה

And in truth, on every Shabbos the geulah is reawakened.

He adds that this is not merely a memory of the past, for the power of geulah is renewed within every Shabbos.

והנה יצ"מ היא יסוד לכל המצות

Now, Yetzias Mitzrayim is the foundation of all the mitzvos.

He now broadens the point: the exodus from Mitzrayim is the root and foundation of every mitzvah.

כי ביצ"מ היו בנ"י עבדי ה' ואותה הנקודה צריכין לעורר תמיד וכל המעשים הם רק לגלות נקודה פנימיות שניתן לבנ"י ביצ"מ

For at Yetzias Mitzrayim Bnei Yisrael became the servants of Hashem, and that very point we must constantly reawaken, and all of our deeds serve only to reveal the inner point that was given to Bnei Yisrael at Yetzias Mitzrayim.

At Yetzias Mitzrayim Bnei Yisrael were transformed into servants of Hashem, and the purpose of all our avodah is to reawaken and reveal that inner point implanted in us then.

וכן בכ"מ נאמר זכר ליצ"מ עד לעתיד דכתי' לא יאמר עוד כו'

And so too in many places it is stated 'a remembrance of Yetzias Mitzrayim,' [and this endures] until the time to come, regarding which it is written, "It shall no longer be said... [that Hashem lives Who brought up Bnei Yisrael from the land of Mitzrayim, but rather Who brought up... from the land of the north]" (Yirmiyahu 16:14-15).

This is why so many mitzvos are labeled 'a remembrance of Yetzias Mitzrayim' — a remembrance that will persist even in the future, when, as Yirmiyahu foretells, the redemption from Mitzrayim will be eclipsed by an even greater geulah.

ושבת מעין עוה"ב שיש קצת חירות בעוה"ז:

And Shabbos is a semblance of Olam Haba, in that there is a measure of freedom even in this world.

He concludes that Shabbos is a foretaste of Olam Haba, since it grants us a taste of true freedom already in this world.

Summary: The Sfas Emes confronts the apparent tension between the two reasons the Torah gives for Shabbos: in the first Dibros the reason is that Hashem rested on the seventh day, while in Vaetchanan the reason is the exodus from Mitzrayim. He explains that Bnei Yisrael might imagine themselves too distant to share in the lofty kedushah of Shabbos, so the Torah teaches that Yetzias Mitzrayim itself forges our dveikus and connection to it — and that the power of geulah is renewed within every Shabbos. He then broadens this into a principle: Yetzias Mitzrayim is the foundation of all the mitzvos, for there Bnei Yisrael became servants of Hashem, and all our avodah serves to reveal that inner point. This is why countless mitzvos are a remembrance of Yetzias Mitzrayim, a remembrance enduring even into the future geulah, and why Shabbos is a foretaste of Olam Haba, granting a measure of freedom already in this world.