Awakening The Hidden Light

בפסוק ואנכי הסתר אסתיר כו' ועתה כתבו לכם כו' שימה בפיהם כו' כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו כו'

Regarding the verse, "And I will surely hide [My face]" (Devarim 31:18), followed by, "And now write for yourselves [this song]" (Devarim 31:19), "place it in their mouths" (Devarim 31:19), "for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of his offspring" (Devarim 31:21).

The Sfas Emes opens with the cluster of verses about Hashem hiding His face and the command to write down the song of the Torah and place it in the mouths of Bnei Yisrael so it will never be forgotten.

דכ' וירא אלקים כו' האור כי טוב ויבדל גנזו לצדיקים כו' והיכן גנזו בתורה

For it is written, "And Hashem saw the light, that it was good" (Bereishis 1:4), "and He separated" — He hid it away for the tzaddikim. And where did He hide it? In the Torah.

The primordial light of Creation, too holy for an unworthy world, was hidden away by Hashem for the tzaddikim — and its hiding place is the Torah itself.

וע"ז איתא צדיקים מקיימין העולם שנברא בעשרה מאמרות שבנ"י בכח התורה מעוררין אור הגנוז בעולם

And concerning this our Sages taught that the tzaddikim sustain the world that was created through ten utterances, for Bnei Yisrael, through the power of the Torah, awaken the hidden light within the world.

Because the tzaddikim, through the power of Torah, awaken this hidden light, they are the ones who keep the world standing.

ואחר שחטאנו לפניו ית' באופן שגם בבנ"י לא זכו כולם לאור הגנוז נעשה הסתר על הסתר ונגנז עוד פעם שנית והכל בתורה

And after we sinned before Him, may He be blessed, in such a way that even among Bnei Yisrael not all merited the hidden light, a concealment upon concealment was brought about, and it was hidden away yet a second time — and all of this is in the Torah.

Once Bnei Yisrael sinned and even they could not all access this light, Hashem hid it a second time — a concealment within the concealment — yet it remains stored within the Torah.

לכן איתא כי קודם החטא הי' מאירין דברי תורה בהתגלות ועתה צריכין יגיעה רבה לאור פנימיות התורה

Therefore our Sages teach that before the sin the words of the Torah would shine forth in open revelation, whereas now we require great toil to reach the light of the innermost depths of the Torah.

Before the sin, Torah revealed its light openly; after the sin, reaching the inner light of Torah demands great labor.

ולכן השי"ת ברא רפואה קודם המכה כמ"ש הסתר א' פני ביום ההוא דייקא

And therefore Hashem created the remedy before the affliction, as it is written, "I will surely hide My face on that day" (Devarim 31:18) — "on that day" precisely.

Hashem prepared the cure before the wound: the very verse that decrees the hiding of His face also contains the means of rescue, hinted by the precise words "on that day."

ע"כ גילה להם אז איך הכל נגנז בשירה הזאת

Therefore He revealed to them then how everything is hidden away within this song.

Through the song of Haazinu, Hashem showed Bnei Yisrael how all the hidden light is stored away and recoverable within it.

והכין אז כל התיקונים שנוכל למצוא בעת הסתר פנים

And He prepared at that time all the rectifications through which we would be able to find [the light] at a time of the hiding of the Divine countenance.

Built into that song are all the spiritual rectifications a Jew needs to find the light even during times when the Divine countenance is concealed.

כמאמר וענתה השירה כו' כי ל"ת מפי זרעו ושכחה לא שייך בפה והל"ל מלב זרעו

As it is stated, "And this song shall testify" (Devarim 31:21), "for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of his offspring" (Devarim 31:21) — yet forgetting does not apply to the mouth, and it should have said "from the heart of his offspring."

Since the verse warns the song will not be forgotten "from the mouth" — though forgetting is a function of the heart, not the mouth — there is a deliberate hint in the unusual wording.

רק הפי' שע"י היגיע בפה נוכל לעורר אותן ההארות כמ"ש שימה בפיהם דייקא

Rather, the meaning is that through toil with the mouth we are able to awaken those illuminations, as it is written, "place it in their mouths" (Devarim 31:19) — "in their mouths" precisely.

The point is that specifically through toiling with the mouth, by speaking and learning Torah aloud, we awaken those hidden illuminations, as the verse stresses "place it in their mouths."

ופרשה זו היא הכנה עד סוף כל הדורות לכן כ' עד תמם:

And this parshah is a preparation for all of the generations until their very end; therefore it is written, "until they were complete" (Devarim 31:24).

This parshah serves as a preparation that endures to the end of all generations, which is why the Torah says Moshe Rabbeinu wrote it "until they were complete."

Summary: The Sfas Emes weaves together the verses of Parshas Vayeilech about Hashem hiding His face and the command to write the song of the Torah and place it in the mouths of Bnei Yisrael. He explains that the primordial light of Creation was hidden away for the tzaddikim within the Torah itself, and that the tzaddikim sustain the world by awakening this light through the power of Torah. After the sin, the light was concealed a second time, so that reaching the inner depths of Torah now demands great toil rather than coming through open revelation. Yet Hashem prepared the remedy before the affliction: the very passage that decrees the hiding of His face also embeds within the song all the rectifications needed to recover the hidden light. The key is that davka through laboring with the mouth — speaking and learning Torah — we awaken these illuminations, making this parshah an enduring preparation for every generation until the end of time.