Receiving Torah through emunah and ratzon

במדרש ויקחו לי הה"ד כי לקח טוב כו' יש בו כסף כו' זהב כו' מן הסרסור נתודע מה לקח כו' מוכר נמכר עמו כו' כי התורה ניתנה לישראל כפי הכנת קבלתם.

In the Midrash on "And they shall take for Me" — this is the meaning of "For I have given you a good acquisition (lekach tov)" — there is in it silver, there is in it gold; from the broker (sarsur) it became known what the buy was; the seller is sold along with it — for the Torah was given to Bnei Yisrael according to the preparation with which they receive it.

The Sefas Emes opens with Chazal's image of the Torah as a precious "acquisition." Just as a buyer learns the true worth of a purchase through the broker, so each person draws from the Torah exactly in proportion to how he readies himself to receive it.

וזה ענין תושבע"פ כי הכל יש בתורה רק לכל אדם ניתן כפי רצונו באמת.

This is the matter of Torah she'be'al peh (the Oral Torah): for everything is contained in the Torah, only that to each person it is given according to his true ratzon (will).

The Oral Torah is the dimension that opens up to a person in measure with his own inner desire. The whole of Torah is present, but how much is revealed to me depends on the sincerity of my wanting it.

וצריך לזה אמונה לידע ברור כי כל המדרגות וקדושת התורה גבוה מעל גבוה הכל תלוי ברצון והכנת האדם.

For this one needs emunah (faith) — to know clearly that all the levels and the holiness of the Torah, "high above high," all depend on the ratzon and preparation of a person.

Even the loftiest heights of Torah are not unreachable. Emunah means recognizing clearly that those very heights are unlocked by a person's own will and readiness.

כ' בטח בה' ועשה טוב ע' בזוה"ק שעיקר הבטחון הוא להיות מובטח בעבודת הש"י.

It is written, "Trust in Hashem and do good" (Tehillim 37:3); see in the Zohar HaKadosh that the essence of bitachon (trust) is to be confident in the avodah (service) of Hashem.

True bitachon is not only trusting Hashem for one's needs, but trusting that one's very avodah will succeed — that the effort to serve Him will bear fruit.

כי הש"י יעזור.

For Hashem will help.

The confidence rests on the assurance that Hashem Himself assists the one who comes to serve Him.

כי כן הוא.

For so it is.

This is not wishful thinking but a statement of reality — the help is built into the way Hashem runs the world.

שכן ארץ ורעה אמונה.

As it continues: "Dwell in the land and cultivate faith (re'eh emunah)" (Tehillim 37:3).

The Sefas Emes reads "re'eh emunah" as an instruction: a person must actively nourish and tend his emunah, like one who cultivates a field.

פי' כי מקודם צריך להיות האמונה להאמין כי חיות הכל מהש"י.

The explanation: first there must be emunah — to believe that the life-force (chiyus) of everything is from Hashem.

The starting point of all avodah is the simple belief that nothing has any vitality of its own; every existence is enlivened by Hashem at every moment.

וכפי בירור האמונה בלב האדם.

And according to the clarification of emunah in the heart of a person —

The degree to which this belief becomes clear and settled within one's heart determines what follows.

כן נעשה באמת.

— so it actually comes to be in truth.

Emunah is not passive. The clearer one's faith, the more that inner reality is actualized and made manifest in the world.

ומתגלה חיות הפנימיות שבכל דבר.

And the inner life-force (chiyus ha'penimiyus) that is in every thing becomes revealed.

Through clarified emunah, the hidden inner vitality within every created thing — the spark of Hashem's presence within it — comes to light.

וזה רעה אמונה כי יש אמת ואמונה.

This is "cultivate faith," for there is emes (truth) and there is emunah (faith).

The Sefas Emes now distinguishes two related ideas: emunah, which is belief in what is hidden, and emes, which is truth made revealed and explicit.

ואמת הוא מה שנגלה ומפורש.

And emes is that which is revealed and explicit.

Emes refers to the dimension of clarity — where Hashem's presence is no longer concealed but openly seen.

בחי' אספקלריא דנהרא.

This is the aspect of the aspaklaria de'nahara (the clear, luminous lens).

Emes corresponds to the "shining glass" of prophecy — perception in which the truth is seen directly and without distortion.

וע"י אמונה זוכין להתגלות בחי' אמת.

And through emunah one merits the revelation of the aspect of emes.

Faith in the concealed is the doorway to the clear vision. By holding fast to emunah, a person earns the unveiling of emes.

והוא מזון וסעד האמונה.

And it (emes) is the nourishment and support of emunah.

The two work in a cycle: emunah leads to emes, and the revealed emes in turn feeds and strengthens the emunah.

וכ' ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם.

And it is written, "And they shall make for Me a Mikdash, and I will dwell within them" (Shemos 25:8).

The Sefas Emes now turns to the parsha's central command, reading "within them" (be'socham) — not "within it" — to mean that Hashem dwells within each person.

פי' מקדש ע"ש פרישה והבדלה.

The explanation: "Mikdash" is named for separation and distinction (perishah and havdalah).

The word "Mikdash" shares the root of kedushah, which connotes being set apart and distinct.

שהש"י קדוש ונבדל מהכל.

For Hashem is holy and set apart from everything.

Hashem in His essence is utterly removed and transcendent, beyond all created things.

ושכנתי הוא התגלות כבודו ית'.

And "I will dwell" is the revelation of His glory, may He be blessed.

"Ve'shochanti" expresses the opposite movement — the transcendent Hashem allowing His glory to be revealed and to rest within the world.

כי ע"י מה שאדם יודע שבכל דבר ומעשה שעושה יש כח חיות מהש"י.

For through a person's knowing that in every thing and every deed he does there is a power of life-force from Hashem —

The bridge between the transcendent and the indwelling is awareness: recognizing that every object and action contains Hashem's enlivening force.

וממילא יש בחי' קדוש.

— automatically there is the aspect of "holy."

This awareness itself draws down kedushah, the quality of separateness, into the deed.

ועי"ז נתבטל כל רצון האדם לכח הש"י שיש במעשה ההוא.

And through this, all of a person's own will becomes nullified (bittul) before the power of Hashem that is in that deed.

When a person recognizes Hashem's force in what he does, his self-centered will dissolves in bittul, surrendering to the Divine power at the heart of the act.

ועי"ז זוכה להתגלות חיות הש"י במעשה ההוא.

And through this he merits the revelation of Hashem's life-force in that very deed.

The bittul of the personal will clears the way for the hidden Divine vitality within the action to shine forth openly.

וזה ושכנתי בתוכם כי הכל תלוי באדם אף להמשיך קדושתו ית'.

And this is "I will dwell within them" — for everything depends on the person, even to draw down His holiness.

The Mishkan is built within each person. It is in human hands, through awareness and bittul, to draw Hashem's indwelling kedushah into the world.

וז"ש במד' המוכר נמכר עמו.

And this is what the Midrash said: "the seller is sold along with it."

Returning to the opening Midrash: when Hashem "sold" the Torah to Bnei Yisrael, He, as it were, gave Himself along with it — His presence comes packaged within the gift.

וכן שמעתי מאא"ז מו"ר זצלה"ה עמ"ש ברוך הגבר אשר יבטח בה' והי' ה' מבטחו.

And so I heard from my grandfather, my teacher and master (zecher tzaddik livrachah), on the verse "Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, and Hashem will be his trust" (Yirmiyahu 17:7).

The Sefas Emes cites a teaching of his grandfather, the Chiddushei HaRim, on the reciprocal nature of bitachon.

כי כפי בטחון האדם בו ית'.

For according to a person's bitachon in Him, may He be blessed —

The measure of one's trust in Hashem sets the measure of what follows.

כן יש לו מובטח באמת.

— so does he truly have something assured to him.

"Hashem will be his trust" means that the very trust a person extends becomes the guarantee he receives back. The verse measures the reward by the bitachon itself.

וכ"כ במדה שאדם מודד מודדין לו.

And so too: "With the measure (middah) a person measures, it is measured out to him" (Sotah 8b).

The same principle is the famous teaching of Chazal: a person receives back in exactly the measure he gives.

פי' כי וודאי הש"י מלא כ"ה כבודו.

The explanation: for certainly Hashem fills all — "the whole earth is full of His glory" (Yeshayahu 6:3).

In reality there is no place empty of Hashem; His glory saturates all of creation entirely.

רק שיש הסתר כענין הגלות שהשפע הולך ע"י מדרגות שפילים.

Only that there is concealment, like the matter of galus (exile), in which the flow of shefa (Divine abundance) passes through lowly levels.

The reason we do not perceive this fullness is the hester (concealment) of galus, where Hashem's bounty descends through layers of lower, dimming intermediaries.

ופי' מדה הוא חיותו ית' בתוך הטבע שהוא במדה.

And the meaning of "middah" (measure) is His life-force within nature, which is in measure.

"Middah" denotes Hashem's chiyus as it appears clothed within nature, where it is limited and measured.

כי בעצמותו א"ס.

For in His essence He is Ein Sof (without limit).

In Himself Hashem is infinite; "measure" applies only to how that infinity is contracted to appear within the finite world.

וכפי האמונה שנמדד לאדם שהכל מהש"י.

And according to the emunah that is measured out within a person — that everything is from Hashem —

A person's degree of faith that all is from Hashem becomes itself a "measure."

כן מודדין לו בהתגלות כפי אמונתו כנ"ל.

— so is it measured out to him in revelation, according to his emunah, as above.

By the same middah-for-middah principle, the more one believes that all is from Hashem, the more that truth is revealed to him openly.

וכן נ"ל פי' ה' רועי לא אחסר.

And so it appears to me is the meaning of "Hashem is my Shepherd, I shall not lack" (Tehillim 23:1).

The Sefas Emes applies the same idea to the opening of the well-known mizmor.

וכ' בקול שמחה בשם הרב מנעסכיז שלא יחסר לי בחי' לאמור ה' רועי.

And it is written in Kol Simchah, in the name of the Rav of Neschiz, that "I shall not lack" means: may there never be lacking in me the aspect of being able to say "Hashem is my Shepherd."

The Rav of Neschiz read the verse as a prayer not to lack material things, but never to lose the awareness and ability to declare "Hashem is my Shepherd."

ובאמת הפי' כי אם נשכח זה מאדם.

And in truth the explanation is: for if this is forgotten by a person —

The Sefas Emes deepens this: the real danger is forgetting that Hashem is one's Shepherd.

נעשה באמת חסרון בהשגחת הש"י שהוא ע"י הסתר כנ"ל.

— there truly comes to be a lack in Hashem's hashgachah (providence), which is by way of the concealment mentioned above.

Losing the awareness of "Hashem is my Shepherd" itself creates a deficiency — not in Hashem, but in how His providence reaches the person, since forgetting brings on the very hester that dims the flow.

והבן כי נראה אמת.

And understand, for this appears to be true.

The Sefas Emes invites the reader to grasp how perception and providence are intertwined: our awareness shapes the measure of Divine light we receive.

כן גם בשבת נק' סעודתא דמהימנותא ופי' אא"ז מו"ר זצלה"ה שנותן סעד להאמונה.

So too, Shabbos is called "the meal of faith" (se'udasa de'mehemnusa), and my grandfather, my teacher and master, explained that it gives support (sa'ad) to emunah.

The Sefas Emes connects all this to Shabbos, called the "meal of faith." The Chiddushei HaRim taught that Shabbos provides nourishment and reinforcement to one's emunah.

ג"כ הפי' כנ"ל.

This too is to be understood as above.

The same framework of emunah and emes applies here.

כי ימי עבודה בחול בחי' אמונה הנ"ל.

For the days of avodah during the week are the aspect of emunah mentioned above.

The weekday is the time of labor in the realm of the concealed — the work of emunah, believing in the hidden life-force.

וכפי העבודה כן בשבת מעין עוה"ב שנתגלה בחי' אמת.

And according to one's avodah during the week, so on Shabbos — which is "a taste of the World to Come" — is revealed the aspect of emes.

Shabbos, a foretaste of Olam Haba, is the dimension of revealed emes. What one perceives then corresponds exactly to the emunah labored over during the week.

והוא סעד האמונה כנ"ל.

And this is the support of emunah, as above.

The revealed emes of Shabbos feeds and strengthens the emunah of the week — the cycle described earlier.

ואא"ז מו"ר זצלה"ה הגיד על חודש אדר ע"ש מ"ש במד' עשה לי קיטון ואדור ביניכם.

And my grandfather, my teacher and master, said regarding the month of Adar, based on what the Midrash states: "Make Me a small chamber (kiton) and I will dwell among you."

The Sefas Emes brings his grandfather's teaching on the name "Adar," linking it to Hashem's request for a small dwelling-place among Bnei Yisrael.

פי' לידע שהכל ממנו ית'.

The explanation: to know that everything is from Him, may He be blessed.

The "small chamber" is the inner recognition that all comes from Hashem — making room for Him within oneself.

וזה נותן חיזוק לאדם.

And this gives strength (chizuk) to a person.

This recognition is itself a source of empowerment and fortitude.

ואדר ע"ש חיזוק כמ"ש אדיר במרום ה'.

And "Adar" is named for strength, as it says, "Mighty (adir) on high is Hashem" (Tehillim 93:4).

The name "Adar" shares the root of "adir," might. The month is fundamentally about drawing strength from the awareness that all is from Hashem.

וכן אמר כי בגסות אין אני והוא יכולין לדור.

And so he said: with coarseness (gassus), "I and he cannot dwell together" (Sotah 5a).

Citing Chazal on the arrogant person, the Sefas Emes notes that gaavah and Hashem's presence cannot share the same space — the "small chamber" requires bittul, a humbling of the self.

וז"ש במד' ויקחו לי לקח טוב נתתי כו'.

And this is what the Midrash said on "And they shall take for Me": "I have given you a good acquisition…"

The piece circles back to its opening verse to draw the conclusion.

שידע האדם כי גם הלקיחה ורצון האדם הוא רק מאתו ית':

That a person should know that even the very taking — and a person's own ratzon — is only from Him, may He be blessed.

The final point: even the desire to receive the Torah and the act of "taking" it are themselves gifts from Hashem. Everything, down to our own will, traces back to Him.

Summary: The Sefas Emes teaches that the Torah, the Mishkan, and all of Hashem's revealed presence are unlocked in exact proportion to a person's emunah and ratzon. Faith in the hidden life-force within every thing draws down the revealed emes — most fully on Shabbos and reinforced in Adar — and through bittul of the self a person becomes a dwelling-place for Hashem, recognizing in the end that even his own desire to receive is itself a gift from Hashem.