True judgment renews creation through emes

ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם.

"And these are the ordinances (mishpatim) that you shall place before them" (Shemos 21:1).

The Sefas Emes opens with the verse introducing the civil laws, and will explore how Bnei Yisrael are uniquely able to "place" true justice before them.

במד' חקיו ומשפטיו לישראל דכתיב משפטי ה' אמת.

In the Midrash: "His statutes and His ordinances to Yisrael" (Tehillim 147:19), as it is written, "the ordinances of Hashem are true" (Tehillim 19:10).

The mishpatim are given specifically to Bnei Yisrael, and they are "emes" — Hashem's ordinances are truth itself. This truth is the theme the Sefas Emes develops.

ובעלמא דשיקרא האמת נעדרת וא"א לקיים אלה המשפטים רק בני ישראל בכח התורה שקבלו בהר סיני.

And in the world of falsehood (alma d'shikra), truth is absent, and it is impossible to fulfill these ordinances — only Bnei Yisrael, through the power of the Torah they received at Har Sinai, can do so.

This world is an "alma d'shikra," a realm where truth is hidden and lacking. Genuine mishpat of truth cannot take root here on its own; only Bnei Yisrael, empowered by the Torah of Sinai, can bring real emes into judgment.

זהו הסמיכות מה אלו מסיני.

This is the juxtaposition: just as these [ordinances] are from Sinai [so too the earlier ones are from Sinai] (Rashi).

Rashi's teaching that "these" mishpatim, like all the laws, derive from Sinai expresses that the power to administer true justice comes specifically from the Sinai revelation.

שע"י קבלת הדיברות זכו בנ"י לבחי' אמת.

For through the receiving of the Dibros, Bnei Yisrael merited the aspect of truth.

Accepting the Aseres HaDibros at Sinai endowed Bnei Yisrael with the quality of emes — an inner capacity for truth that the rest of the world lacks.

וז"ש הדן דין אמת לאמיתו נעשה שותף להקב"ה במעשה בראשית דכתיב בי' ויהי ערב כו' בוקר כו'.

And this is what they said: one who judges a true judgment according to its truth becomes a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the work of Creation (Shabbos 10a), about which it is written, "and there was evening… morning…" (Bereishis 1).

A dayan who renders true judgment becomes Hashem's partner in Creation. The Sefas Emes links this to the Creation refrain "evening… morning," which he will explain as the movement from concealment to revelation that true judgment accomplishes.

פי' כיון דאין האמת נמצא בעוה"ז.

The meaning is: since truth is not found in this world.

Because emes does not naturally exist in this concealed world, anyone who brings it in is creating something genuinely new.

ומי שזוכה להמשיך בחי' אמת בעולם הזה מתקן העולם ממש בדבר חדש.

And one who merits to draw the aspect of truth into this world truly rectifies the world with something new.

Drawing emes into a world of falsehood is an act of tikkun — it introduces a genuinely new reality, repairing the world by revealing the truth that was hidden.

וז"ש שעולם קיים על האמת.

And this is what they said, that the world endures upon truth (Avos 1:18).

The world's very existence rests on emes — truth is the foundation that holds creation together.

וכל דבר אין יכול לקיים את עצמו.

And nothing is able to sustain itself.

No created thing can hold itself in existence; its endurance must come from something beyond it — namely, the truth above the world.

מכלל שהאמת למעלה מן העולם וע"י משיכת אמת לעולם מתקיים ומתחדש שכן הי' הבריאה מהשי"ת שמכח דבר ה' נעשה שמים וארץ ונטבעו בטבע זה בחי' ערב.

It follows that truth is above the world, and through drawing truth into the world it is sustained and renewed — for so was the creation by Hashem, that by the power of the word of Hashem heaven and earth were made and embedded in nature; this is the aspect of "evening."

Since the world cannot sustain itself, emes must lie above it. Creation itself came about through the "word of Hashem," but once heaven and earth were fixed into nature, the divine truth became concealed — this concealment within the natural order is the "erev" (evening).

וע"י דין אמת מתחדש בחי' בוקר בערב כנ"ל.

And through true judgment, the aspect of "morning" is renewed within the "evening," as above.

When a dayan renders true judgment, he draws the hidden divine truth back into the concealed world — turning "evening" into "morning," revealing light within the darkness, and thereby renewing creation.

ואמרו דין אמת לאמיתו פי' לאמיתו של הדיין.

And they said "a true judgment according to its truth" — meaning, according to the truth of the dayan himself.

The phrase "din emes la'amito" points to the inner truth of the judge — that he himself must be a person of emes for his judgment to carry that quality.

לפי שאין אמת בארץ. רק בנ"י בכח תתן אמת ליעקב יכולין לשפוט דין אמת.

Since there is no truth on earth, only Bnei Yisrael, through the power of "You shall give truth to Yaakov" (Michah 7:20), are able to judge a true judgment.

Truth is not natively found on earth; it is a gift granted to Bnei Yisrael — "titen emes l'Yaakov." That inherited emes is what empowers them, and them alone, to render truly true judgment.

ז"ש אשר תשים לפניהם.

This is what is meant by "that you shall place before them."

The verse's phrase "place before them" is precisely the point: this true mishpat can be set specifically before Bnei Yisrael, who possess the inner emes to receive it.

הגם דהוא עלמא דשיקרא. מ"מ לפניהם תוכל לשים המשפטים כנ"ל:

Even though it is a world of falsehood, nevertheless before them you can place the ordinances, as above.

Though the world at large is an alma d'shikra where true justice cannot take hold, before Bnei Yisrael — who carry the emes of Sinai — these mishpatim can be established, drawing truth into the world and renewing creation.

Summary: The mishpatim are "true," but in this world of falsehood truth is absent and cannot be fulfilled — only Bnei Yisrael, empowered by the Torah of Sinai and the gift of "titen emes l'Yaakov," can render true judgment. A dayan who judges din emes la'amito becomes Hashem's partner in Creation, for drawing emes into a concealed world is a genuine act of renewal, turning the "evening" of nature's concealment into "morning." Therefore, though the world is an alma d'shikra, the Torah's mishpatim can be "placed before them" — before Bnei Yisrael, whose inner truth alone can sustain and renew the world.