Deeds Rooted in Heaven Above

במדרש ופניתי לראות כו' אשר כבר עשוהו כו'.

In the Midrash: “And I turned to see… that it had already been done.”

The Sefat Emet opens with the Midrash stating that what Moses sought to understand was something already completed above.

כי יש לאדם לידע כי כל מעשה נוגע בשורשו למעלה למעלה עד שאין השגת אדם מגעת כלל.

For a person must know that every action touches its root far above, beyond the reach of human understanding.

Human deeds resonate in supernal realms inaccessible to ordinary awareness.

ולזאת צריך להיות בטל כל השכל וכל הרצונות לרצונו ית"ש

Therefore one must nullify all intellect and all personal will before His blessed will.

The proper stance is surrender, since one cannot grasp the upper roots of action.

וכן שמעתי מאא"ז מו"ר זצלה"ה עמ"ש במד' אלו הי' יודע ראובן שהכ' יכתוב עליו למען הציל כו' על כתיפו הי' מביאו כו'

And so I heard from my grandfather and teacher of blessed memory regarding the Midrash: Had Reuven known that Scripture would write of him “that he sought to save,” he would have carried Joseph on his shoulder.

The Midrash highlights the hidden significance of deeds.

וח"ו שהי' עושה מפני הכבוד שיעיד עליו הכתוב רק אלו הי' יודע שהדבר נוגע כל כך שהכ' יכתוב כו' עכ"ד.

He would not have done so for the honor of Scripture praising him, but had he known how deeply the matter touched higher realms, he would have acted differently.

The point is not honor but awareness of spiritual impact.

וכל מעשה אדם נגזר כבר בשמים.

And every human act is already decreed in Heaven.

The Sefat Emet stresses predetermined divine orchestration.

וז"ש אשר כבר עשוהו.

That is the meaning of “that it had already been done.”

The deed is rooted above before manifesting below.

שלמעלה כבר נגזר לפניו ית' כל מה שיעשה אדם אח"כ

For above, before God, everything a person will do is already decreed.

Heaven holds the archetype of all future actions.

א"כ אין שייך להרהר אחר הש"י.

Therefore one should not question the Holy One.

Doubt is inappropriate when all derives from divine will.

ובוודאי שלמה הע"ה הי' נראה לו ברור כי לא יסיר לבבו.

Surely King Solomon believed it clear that his heart would never turn astray.

Solomon assumed his spiritual stability.

אבל מעשה האדם נוגע מה שלמעלה מהשגתו.

But human action affects realms beyond his comprehension.

Therefore even the wise cannot foresee outcomes.

וממילא יוכל להיות שינוי בשורש האדם.

Thus a change can occur in a person’s root above.

Supernal shifts alter a person’s spiritual trajectory.

וא"כ לא יוכל אדם לדעת זה כלל.

Consequently a person cannot truly know this.

One cannot see how one’s choices resonate above.

וכ' שעלתה היו"ד שבירבה לפני הש"י ואמרה שלמה מבטל אותי.

And it is written that the yod of the word “yirbeh” ascended before God and said: “Solomon is nullifying me.”

The Midrash personifies the letter yod to show cosmic consequences of human words.

וכי מי שעושה עבירה מבטל האות.

Is someone who sins capable of nullifying a letter?

The text questions the literal reading.

אך וודאי ע"י חטא האדם נכרת מדביקות.

Rather, through sin a person is cut off from cleaving to God.

Disconnection is the true “nullification.”

אבל שהע"ה ידע כי בכח התורה שבו וחיות הש"י בלי פירוד אמר אנכי ארבה ולא אסיר

But Solomon knew that through his Torah power and divine vitality he would not be separated, and so he said, “I will increase and will not turn away.”

He relied on his spiritual stature-mistakenly.

[וז"ש אתי אל ואוכל].

[This is the meaning of “Ithiel and I will prevail.”]

Solomon’s name for himself in Proverbs, read as “God is with me and I can.”

ולכך עלתה היו"ד

Therefore the yod ascended.

The letter protested the assumption of immunity.

[שע"ש המחשבה שהוא השורש כמ"ש סוף מעשה במחשבה תחילה]

For thought is the root, as it is said: “The end of the act is first in thought.”

Deeds originate in primordial thought.

ואמרה כו'

And it said what it said.

A reference to the Midrashic protest.

וכן במשה אמר למה הרעותה.

So too Moses said, “Why have You done evil?”

Moses questioned God’s treatment of Israel.

וודאי לא הי' יכול לצייר ח"ו על רעת ישראל.

Surely he could not, God forbid, imagine true evil for Israel.

Moses’ question was not literal disbelief.

והש"י השיבו אני ה'

And God answered him: “I am the Lord.”

The response anchors all events in divine being.

שכל הויות ע"י רצוני

All existence derives from My will.

Everything, even suffering, is encompassed in divine purpose.

א"כ לא שייך קושיא והירהור.

Therefore questioning and doubt are irrelevant.

God affirms a reality beyond human critique.

וכן צוהו לומר לבנ"י אני ה'

And so He commanded him to say to Israel: “I am the Lord.”

The same message is to be conveyed to the people.

לידע שגם גלות מצרים רק ע"י חיותו ית'

To teach that even the Egyptian exile was sustained only by His divine vitality.

Exile itself is animated by God.

כי כל הויות ממנו ית'.

For all existence comes from Him.

No state is outside divine life‑force.

ולא שמעו כו' מקוצר רוח

But they did not listen… from shortness of spirit.

Israel could not absorb this teaching in enslavement.

כי כשהיו בגלות לא הי' נגלה זה

For in exile this reality was not revealed.

Spiritual constriction blocked perception.

[פי' קוצר רוח חיות הש"י שבאדם דכ' ויפח באפיו כו'.

[Meaning, “shortness of spirit” is the life of God in a person, as it is written, “and He breathed into his nostrils,” and so on.

The “spirit” they lacked is the divine breath in every person.

ובגלות נפסק הדבקות בשורש החיות] וז"ש במד' שהכל מן התורה קבע בה מ"ע ול"ת כו' פי' שיש לכל מעשה איש ישראל חיות בתורה ומצות התלוין במעשה.

In exile the attachment to the root of life was cut off.] This is what the Midrash says, that everything is from the Torah: He set in it positive and negative commandments, and so on. Meaning, every deed of a Jew has life in the Torah and in the mitzvot that depend on deeds.

Every action of a Jew is rooted in Torah and mitzvot.

ולכך מעשה אדם נוגע במה שלמעלה ונמשך מחיותו ית'.

Therefore a person’s deed touches what is above and is drawn from His life.

Our actions reach upward and draw on God’s life.

וכן מ"ש בש"ק אשר ברא כו' לעשות פי' מה שנעשה גם עתה ע"י רצון הש"י בשעת הבריאה ובשבת מעידין בנ"י ע"ז שנתברר האמת.

So too what we say on the holy Shabbat, “which God created to do”: meaning, what is done even now is through God’s will at the time of creation. And on Shabbat Israel testifies to this, that the truth has become clear.

Even present deeds were set in place at creation, and Shabbat bears witness to it.

וז"ש וכבדתו מעשות כו' חפציך כו' פי' ז"ל שיהי' כל מלאכתך עשוי'.

This is “and you shall honor it by not doing your own ways, your own desires,” and so on. Rashi explains that all your work should be as if done.

On Shabbat one should feel that all work is finished.

י"ל כנ"ל שידע שגם מה שעושה האדם כבר הוא נעשה ע"י רצונו ית' כמ"ש אין אדם נוקף אצבעו כו' וז"ש אשר כבר עשוהו כנ"ל.

One may say, as above, that he should know that even what a person does has already been done by His will, as it says, “a person does not lift a finger,” and so on. This is “what has already been done,” as above.

We are only carrying out what God has already decreed.

ובשבת הוא בחי' הביטול וקבלת עמ"ש שהוא להיות בטל אל שורש החיים.

Shabbat is the aspect of self-nullification and accepting the yoke of Heaven, to be nullified to the root of life.

On Shabbat we yield ourselves to the source of life.

ועי"ז כל מעשה נמשך אחר שורשו בשמים.

Through this, every deed is drawn after its root in heaven.

Then each action returns to its source.

דכ' נפלאות עשה. וברמ"א א"ח פי' ומפליא לעשות שהמעשה יש בו מבחי' פלא ע"ש כמ"ש במ"א.

It is written, “He does wonders.” And the Rema in Orach Chaim explains “and acts wondrously,” that the deed has something of wonder in it. See there, as said elsewhere.

The Rema on the blessing Asher Yatzar sees wonder in every physical act.

וגם שכל האדם צריך להיות בטל לבחי' שורש החכמה דכ' מאין תמצא כו'.

Also, a person’s intellect must be nullified to the root of wisdom, as it is written, “Wisdom, from where (me’ayin) is it found?”

True wisdom comes from ayin, from nothingness and humility.

כי אדם יודע שכשנתגדל ומחכים יותר.

For a person knows that as he grows and becomes wiser,

As we grow in understanding,

רואה שמה שלא נחשב לו לחטא מקודם.

he sees that what he did not count as a sin before

we see that what we once thought was fine

הי' טעות. וכן אח"כ יותר.

was a mistake. And so again later, even more.

was a mistake, and this happens again and again.

א"כ לחכמה אמתיות אין שיעור וצריך להיות בטל כל הדעת למאמר הש"י ונמשך הכל אל השורש כנ"ל:

If so, true wisdom has no limit, and one must nullify all one’s understanding to the word of God, and everything is drawn to its root, as said above.

Since wisdom has no end, we must bow our understanding to God’s word.

Summary: Every human deed touches its root far above human understanding, and much is already decreed before it happens, so one must yield intellect and will to God. Reuben, Solomon and Moses each show the limits of human calculation. God answered Moses, “I am God,” teaching that even the exile in Egypt came from His life, but Israel could not hear it while the divine breath within them was cut off in exile. Shabbat is the time of yielding to the root of life, when we testify that all was made by God’s will, and true wisdom, which has no end, requires the same humility.