From the individual to the collective

במד' חשבתי דרכי כו' אמו"ז ז"ל אמר ע"פ המשנה אם אין אני לי מי לי.

In the Midrash: "I considered my ways…" (Tehillim 119:59). My grandfather and teacher, of blessed memory, expounded it in light of the Mishnah: "If I am not for myself, who is for me?" (Avos 1:14).

The Sefas Emes brings his grandfather's teaching connecting Dovid HaMelech's "considering his ways" to Hillel's dictum about taking personal responsibility for one's own avodah.

כי כל אדם צריך לתקן דבר מיוחד שאין אחר יכול לתקנו וכמו כן כל שעה מיוחד לענין אחד.

For every person must rectify a particular thing that no one else can rectify, and likewise each moment is designated for one particular matter.

Each soul has its own unique tikkun (rectification) that only it can accomplish, and each hour has its own assigned task. This is the "if I am not for myself" — no one can stand in my place.

וזה וא"ל עכשיו אימתי.

And this is "and if not now, when?"

Since every moment carries its own irreplaceable opportunity, a chance missed now can never be recovered — "if not now, when?"

ומ"מ מהפרט צריך להעשות כלל וזה כשאני לעצמי מה אני.

Nevertheless, the particular must become part of the whole — and this is "when I am for myself, what am I?"

Though each person begins with his own private task, he must not remain isolated in it; his individual avodah must be folded into the klal (the collective whole). Standing alone, "what am I?"

וז"ש המדרש בכל יום הייתי מחשב למקום פלוני כו' בפרטות ואח"כ ואשיבה רגלי להכלל עכ"ד פח"ח.

This is what the Midrash says: "Each day I would plan to go to such-and-such a place…" — in particularity — "and then I returned my feet" to the collective. These are his holy words, may they be a pleasant fragrance.

Dovid first directed himself toward his own specific destinations and tasks, and then "turned his feet" back toward the klal Yisrael — moving from the individual to the collective. So ends the grandfather's teaching.

ולהוסיף ביאור ע"ד קדשו.

And to add explanation along the lines of his holy approach.

The Sefas Emes now elaborates and deepens his grandfather's idea.

כי החקים והמצות יש להם כמה מדרגות ולהם שורש בכל העולמות כמ"ש במד' חקים שבהם חקקתי שמים וארץ חקים שחקוקים על היצר.

For the chukim (statutes) and mitzvos have many levels, and they have a root in all the worlds, as the Midrash says: "chukim through which I engraved heaven and earth; chukim that are engraved upon the yetzer."

The mitzvos are not flat; each has many ascending levels and a root reaching into every spiritual world. The Midrash describes statutes by which the very heavens and earth were engraved, and statutes engraved upon the yetzer hara to restrain it.

חקים שמביאין האדם לחיי עוה"ב.

"chukim that bring a person to the life of Olam Haba (the World to Come)."

A further level of these statutes: they are the very means by which a person attains eternal life.

ודורש שם עוד בחקותי ממש שהם חקים של הקב"ה שמקיים אותם ע"ש.

And the Midrash expounds further on "in My chukim" literally — that these are the statutes of the Holy One, blessed is He, which He Himself fulfills; see there.

At the highest level, "My chukim" refers to the statutes that Hashem Himself keeps — the mitzvos as they exist in their supernal root above.

וע"ז אמרו חז"ל מצוה גוררת מצוה שכר מצוה מצוה.

Concerning this our Chachamim said: "One mitzvah draws another mitzvah" and "the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah" (Avos 4:2).

These sayings describe the ascent through the levels: doing a mitzvah pulls the person upward to the next, and the "reward" for a mitzvah is access to its deeper, inner dimension.

פי' ע"י שמקיימים בעוה"ז פשטי המצות זוכין לפנימיות המצות מדרגה אחר מדרגה.

That is: through fulfilling the plain, simple form of the mitzvos in this world, one merits the penimiyus (inner dimension) of the mitzvos, level after level.

Performing the outer, literal mitzvah is the gateway: it earns entry to the mitzvah's inner essence, and so one climbs from level to level toward its supernal root.

ובוודאי בפרט א"א ליחיד לעשות המצוה כראוי לעורר שורש העליון.

And certainly, as an individual, a single person cannot perform the mitzvah perfectly enough to awaken its supernal root.

No lone individual, by himself, can fulfill a mitzvah so completely that it reaches all the way up to arouse its highest root.

רק בכלל ישראל נמצא כל אלה המדרגות.

Only in Klal Yisrael (the collective whole of Israel) are all these levels found.

The full range of a mitzvah's levels, up to its supernal root, is reachable only through the collective body of Israel as one.

וז"ש מקודם חשבתי דרכי שהוא בפרט וגם שבתחילה הוי כמו לגרמייהו לתקן הנפש.

This is the meaning of, first, "I considered my ways" — which is in particularity, and also that at first it is, as it were, "for oneself," to rectify one's own soul.

Dovid's first stage, "I considered my ways," is the individual phase — initially a person works on his own private task, for his own soul's repair.

אך אח"כ זוכין ע"י שמכניסין עצמו בכלל לקיים המצוה לשמו ית' בלבד.

But afterward one merits, by bringing oneself into the collective, to fulfill the mitzvah solely for His Name's sake.

The higher stage comes when a person joins himself to the klal and performs the mitzvah purely lishmah — for the sake of Hashem alone, not for his own benefit.

כמ"ש ואשיבה כו' עדותיך דייקא.

As it says, "and I returned [my feet to] Your testimonies" — precisely "Your testimonies."

The verse stresses returning to "Your testimonies" — Hashem's own — signaling the shift from self-focused avodah to acting wholly for Hashem's sake within the klal.

וזה בחקותי תלכו שהוא זכי' גדולה לזכות למדרגה זו.

And this is "If you walk in My chukim" — which is a great merit, to attain this level.

"Walking in My chukim" means reaching this elevated rung: performing the statutes for Hashem's sake alone, joined to the klal, awakening their supernal root.

לכן השכר ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם היא מדה במדה ע"י שמעלין כל המעשים לשמו ית' ממש כנ"ל אז הקב"ה משפיע לבנ"י שגם הגשמיות ושפע היורדת לעולם יהיה נמשך משורש העליון כי עת הוא השורש כמ"ש לכל עת כו':

Therefore the reward, "and I will give your rains in their time (b'itam)," is measure for measure: because they elevate all their deeds truly for His Name's sake, as above, then the Holy One bestows upon Bnei Yisrael that even the physical and the abundance descending into the world should be drawn from the supernal root — for "eis" (time/season) is the root, as it says, "for everything there is a season (eis)…" (Koheles 3:1).

The blessing is precisely measured to the avodah: when Bnei Yisrael raise all their deeds to their supernal root by acting for Hashem alone, Hashem responds by drawing even physical bounty down from that same elevated root. "In their time" hints at this, for "eis" — the appointed time — is itself the supernal source from which the flow descends.

Summary: Every person has a unique tikkun and every moment its own task — yet the individual's avodah must rise into the collective of Klal Yisrael, for only there can the mitzvos reach their supernal root. By moving from self-focused effort to performing the mitzvos lishmah within the klal, "walking in My chukim," Bnei Yisrael draw down blessing measure-for-measure: even physical abundance flows from the elevated root, "in its time."