Cleaving To Mitzvos Root

בפסוק כי הוא חכמתכם ובינתכם לעיני העמים כו'

On the pasuk, "For it is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the nations" (Devarim 4:6).

The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk that describes keeping the Torah's mitzvos as the wisdom and understanding that the nations will recognize in Bnei Yisrael.

וקשה אטו מטעם זה נשמור המצות גם פי' רק עם חכם

There is a difficulty: Is it really for this reason that we are to keep the mitzvos? And further, there is the explanation of the words "only a wise nation."

He raises two questions: Can the mitzvos really be kept merely because they impress the nations? And what is meant by calling Bnei Yisrael "only a wise nation"?

הגם כי י"ל שאין בנמצא עם חכם רק בנ"י

Although one could answer that there exists no truly wise nation other than Bnei Yisrael.

One possible answer is that Bnei Yisrael are the only nation that can truly be called wise.

אכן נראה הפי' כי באמת ע"י המצות ניתקן גם גוף איש ישראל

However, the explanation appears to be that, in truth, through the mitzvos the very body of a Jew is also rectified.

But the deeper explanation is that the mitzvos accomplish something real — they rectify even the physical body of a Jew.

כי רמ"ח מ"ע ושס"ה מל"ת מתקנין כל ציור האדם

For the two hundred and forty-eight positive commandments and the three hundred and sixty-five prohibitions rectify the entire form of a person.

The 248 positive mitzvos correspond to the limbs and the 365 prohibitions to the sinews, so that together they refine and rectify the entire makeup of a person.

וז"ש רק עם חכם פי' שהם בעצם עם חכם ונבון בלי גשמיות כלל

And this is the meaning of "only a wise nation" — namely, that in their very essence they are a wise and understanding nation, without any physicality at all.

Thus "a wise nation" means that through the mitzvos Bnei Yisrael become, in their very essence, wise and understanding, with their physicality elevated and refined.

אכן באמת גם זה הציור הוא רק התפשטות והתלבשות אור המצות באלה מצות גשמיות שלפנינו אבל שורש המצות הם אלקות ממש

Yet in truth, even this form is only the spreading forth and the garbing of the light of the mitzvos within these physical mitzvos that lie before us; but the root of the mitzvos is literally Elokus — Divinity itself.

Even so, this refinement is only the outer garment of the mitzvos as they appear in physical form; at their root the mitzvos are literally Divinity itself.

וז"ש כי הוא חו"ב לעיני העמים

And this is the meaning of "For it is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the nations" (Devarim 4:6).

Therefore the pasuk speaks of wisdom and understanding only "in the eyes of the nations" — that is the level the nations can perceive.

אבל לכם יש לדעת כי יש עוד גבוה מעל גבוה ולהתדבק בשורש אלקות כמו שהי' בקבלת התורה בהר סיני

But for you yourselves there is to be known that there is yet a higher level above the high — to cleave to the root, which is Divinity itself, just as it was at the receiving of the Torah at Har Sinai.

But Bnei Yisrael are meant to reach higher still: to cleave to the Divine root of the mitzvos, as they experienced at the giving of the Torah at Har Sinai.

וע"ז מסיים הפ' רק השמר לך כו' פן תשכח כו'

And upon this the pasuk concludes, "Only guard yourself... lest you forget..." (Devarim 4:9).

This is why the pasuk concludes with the warning to guard oneself "lest you forget" — a caution not to lose that connection to the root.

וכן אי' בשם הבעש"ט ז"ל על המשנה השוכח ד' אחד ממשנתו ששוכח דבקות האחדות שיש בכל אות שבתורה

And so it is brought in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, on the Mishnah concerning "one who forgets a single word of his learning" — that he forgets the dveikus of the Oneness that is present in every single letter of the Torah.

The Baal Shem Tov explains the Mishnah's warning against forgetting one's learning as referring to forgetting the dveikus to Hashem's Oneness contained in every letter of the Torah.

וע"ז מביא במשנה הפסוק פן תשכח כו':

And upon this the Mishnah brings the pasuk, "lest you forget..." (Devarim 4:9).

And that is why the Mishnah supports its warning with this very pasuk of "lest you forget."

Summary: The Sfas Emes asks why the Torah presents keeping the mitzvos as the wisdom that the nations will recognize in Bnei Yisrael, and what is meant by calling them "only a wise nation." He answers that the mitzvos truly rectify even the physical body of a Jew — the 248 positive mitzvos and 365 prohibitions refining the entire form of a person — so that in their essence Bnei Yisrael become a wise and understanding nation, their physicality elevated. Yet this refinement is only the outer garbing of the mitzvos in physical form; their true root is literally Elokus, Divinity itself. This is the level the nations perceive, but Bnei Yisrael are called to cleave to the Divine root of the mitzvos as at Har Sinai. The concluding warning "lest you forget" — explained by the Baal Shem Tov as forgetting the dveikus to Hashem's Oneness in every letter of the Torah — is a charge to never lose that bond with the root.