Borrowing with the Owner exempts man

בפסוק וכי ישאל כו' בעליו עמו לא ישלם.

On the pasuk: "And if a man borrows... if its owner is with it, he need not pay" (Shemos 22:13–14).

The Torah's law of the borrower: if the owner was working alongside the borrowed object, the borrower is exempt even from accidents. The Sefas Emes will read this as a mashal for man's life.

כי כל מעשי האדם נמשכין אחר עצמות האדם בכללו.

For all of a person's deeds follow after the essence of the person as a whole.

A person's individual actions take their character from the overall essence and orientation of the one performing them.

והשי"ת נתן לכל אדם כלים יקרים כל החושים ונשמה הטהורה שכ' בזוה"ק ע"פ כי ימכור כו' בתו לאמה כו' והאדם עושה בה כל חפצו.

And Hashem gave every person precious vessels — all the senses and the pure neshamah — as the Zohar writes on the pasuk "if a man sells his daughter as a maidservant" (Shemos 21:7), etc.; and the person does with it all that he wishes.

Hashem lends each person priceless "vessels" — the senses and the pure soul. The Zohar reads "his daughter as a maidservant" as the neshamah placed into a person's hands, which he then uses for whatever he chooses.

וכל הנאה שלו וא"כ חייב באונסין.

And all the benefit is his; if so, he should be liable even for accidents (onsin).

Since a person derives all the benefit from these borrowed faculties, by the law of the borrower he ought to be fully accountable — even for damage beyond his control.

אך העצה ע"י מס"נ להקב"ה בכלל נק' שאילה בבעלים.

But the counsel is, through mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice) to the Holy One, blessed is He, in one's totality — this is called "borrowing with the owner" (she'eilah bivealim).

The remedy is to give oneself over entirely to Hashem. Then it is as if the Owner — Hashem — is "with" the borrowed vessels, which exempts a person even from accidents.

כי לא שייך שיהי' ה' נשאל לאדם רק ע"י השתעבדות במס"נ למקום כמאמר אם ישים אליו לבו כו' ונשמתו אליו יאסוף הרי הוא עמו במלאכתו ופטור באונסין.

For it is not fitting that Hashem be "borrowed" by a person except through subjugating oneself with mesirus nefesh to the Omnipresent, as in the saying: "If He sets His heart upon him, He gathers in his spirit and his soul" (Iyov 34:14) — then He is with him in his work, and he is exempt from accidents.

One cannot simply "have" Hashem present in one's vessels; only by binding oneself to Him in self-sacrifice does the Owner come to be "with" the borrower in his labor — and then man is freed from liability for what is beyond his control.

ובאמת כי איך יחייב ה' על אונס רק שאם אינו מקבל עומ"ש כראוי כל האונסין נחשבין כפשיעה.

And in truth, how could Hashem hold one liable for an accident? Only that if one does not accept the yoke of Heaven (ol malchus Shomayim) properly, all the "accidents" are reckoned as negligence (peshiah).

Hashem would never punish a person for genuine accidents; but when a person fails to take on the yoke of Heaven, even his "accidental" failures are counted against him as if they were careless negligence.

ואם בכללו תחת עול יראת ה' נחשבים המעשים לאונסין.

And if, in his totality, he is under the yoke of the fear of Hashem, his deeds are reckoned as accidents.

Conversely, when a person has placed his whole self under yiras Hashem, his shortcomings are judged leniently as unavoidable accidents, for which he bears no guilt.

ומצינו מתה מחמת מלאכה.

And we find the case of "it died because of the work" (meisah machmas melachah).

Halachah recognizes a borrowed animal that dies from the very labor it was lent for — and there too the borrower is exempt.

אף כי השכל מחייב שכל החסרונות מצד האדם השואל.

Even though reason would dictate that all the deficiencies come from the side of the borrowing person —

Logically one might assume every failure stems from the borrower's own fault.

אעפ"כ לפעמים כך רצונו ית' שנותן לאדם עבודה שלא יוכל לגמרה.

nevertheless, sometimes such is His will, yisborach, that He gives a person a task that he will not be able to complete.

Like an animal lent precisely for work that wears it out, Hashem sometimes deliberately assigns a person an avodah he cannot finish — and the "failure" is by design, not the person's fault.

ע"כ לא יפול לב האדם בראותו שאין השעה עומדת לו לגמור כל מעשיו כראוי.

Therefore a person's heart should not fall when he sees that the moment does not allow him to complete all his deeds properly.

One should not be discouraged when circumstances prevent him from finishing his avodah; the incompleteness may itself be Hashem's will.

והבן:

And understand this.

The Sefas Emes signals that there is a deeper point here to contemplate.

Summary: Reading the law of the borrower as a mashal, the Sefas Emes teaches that Hashem lends each person precious "vessels" — the senses and the pure neshamah — so a person seems liable even for accidents. The way out is "borrowing with the owner": through mesirus nefesh and accepting the ol malchus Shomayim, a person draws Hashem to be "with" him in his labor. Then his unavoidable failures are judged as blameless accidents rather than negligence. And just as an animal may die "from the work" it was lent for, Hashem sometimes assigns avodah a person cannot finish — so one must not lose heart when he cannot complete it all.