Refinement as endless cycle of light

והשיג לכם דיש כו' בציר ובציר כו' זרע.

"And the threshing shall reach for you... and the vintage... and the sowing" (Vayikra 26:5).

The Sefas Emes cites the blessing in Bechukosai that the threshing will reach until the vintage, and the vintage until the sowing — an unbroken chain of agricultural abundance, which he reads as a parable for spiritual labor.

דכתי' אור זרוע לצדיק והוא הארת התורה שאדם מקבל בלבו ועושה פירות.

For it is written, "Light is sown for the tzaddik" (Tehillim 97:11), and this is the illumination of Torah that a person receives in his heart and which produces fruit.

The "sowing" hints at the light of Torah planted in a person's heart, which then bears fruit — spiritual growth and good deeds.

ואח"כ צריך לברר מעשיו להיות בלי פסולת.

And afterward he must refine his deeds so that they are without waste (pesoles).

Once the Torah's light has borne fruit, the next stage — like the "threshing" and "vintage" that separate grain and juice from chaff and skins — is the birur (refinement) of one's actions to remove anything impure.

וכפי הבירור זוכה אח"כ לקבל הארה אחרת וכן לעולם.

And according to the refinement, he then merits to receive another illumination, and so on forever.

Each cycle of refinement earns a fresh influx of light, which in turn must be refined again — an endless ascending spiral of receiving and purifying.

וזהו רמז הכתוב והשיג לכם דיש שהוא הבירור כנ"ל:

And this is the hint of the verse, "And the threshing shall reach for you" — that this is the refinement, as above.

The unbroken sequence of threshing reaching the vintage and the vintage the sowing alludes to this continuous process: each act of birur leads seamlessly into the next planting of divine light.

Summary: The agricultural blessing of Bechukosai — threshing reaching the vintage, the vintage reaching the sowing — is a parable for the spiritual life: the light of Torah is sown in the heart and bears fruit, which one must then refine of all waste; each birur earns a new illumination, in an unending cycle of receiving and purifying.