Mitzvos perfect soul through thought, speech, deed

והנה בחקותי תלכו.

Behold: "If you walk in My chukim (decrees)" (Vayikra 26:3).

The Sefas Emes begins with the opening words of the parsha, the call to "walk" in Hashem's statutes.

מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם כולל מחשבה דיבור ומעשה.

"And you guard My mitzvos and do them" (Vayikra 26:3) — this includes thought, speech, and deed.

The three phrases of the verse correspond to the three modes of human service: machshavah (thought), dibbur (speech), and ma'aseh (action).

ובמד' ועשיתם כאילו עשיתם אתם.

And in the Midrash: "and you shall do them" — as if you made them yourselves.

Chazal read "va'asisem osam" (you shall do them) as though it said "you made them" — performing the mitzvos is reckoned as if a person fashioned them.

עצמכם.

Yourselves.

The Midrash adds another reading: "as if you made your own selves" — through the mitzvos a person re-creates and perfects his very self.

זוכה לרוה"ק ע"ש כל הג' מדרגות הם כמ"ש אשר קדשנו במצותיו הוא שורש המצוה בשמים.

One merits ruach hakodesh (Divine spirit) — see there. All three levels are as expressed in "Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos": this is the root of the mitzvah in Heaven.

The Midrash concludes that one who fulfills the mitzvos merits ruach hakodesh. The Sefas Emes then maps the wording of the berachah onto the three levels: "asher kideshanu b'mitzvosav" (Who sanctified us with His commandments) points to the heavenly root of the mitzvah, its source above.

וצונו הוא בדיבור בתורה.

"And commanded us" — this is in speech, in the Torah.

"V'tzivanu" (and commanded us) corresponds to the dimension of speech: the mitzvah as it is spoken and revealed to us in the Torah.

להתעטף להניח הוא המעשה.

"To wrap oneself," "to don" — this is the deed.

The closing words of the various berachos — "to wrap in tzitzis," "to put on tefillin" — express the dimension of physical action, the mitzvah carried out in deed.

דכמו שיש באדם נ"ר נשמה בכל הג' יש שורש התרי"ג מצות.

For just as a person has nefesh, ruach, neshamah (three levels of soul), in all three lies the root of the 613 mitzvos.

Corresponding to the three soul-levels within man, the entire body of the 613 mitzvos is rooted on three planes.

במעשה הוא תיקון רמ"ח ושס"ה אברי הנפש.

In deed lies the tikkun (repair) of the 248 (limbs) and 365 (sinews) of the nefesh.

The 248 positive mitzvos and 365 prohibitions, performed in action, repair the corresponding 248 limbs and 365 sinews on the level of nefesh, the lowest soul-power tied to the body.

בדיבור הרוח.

In speech, the ruach.

Mitzvos performed in speech effect their tikkun on the level of ruach, the middle soul-power.

ובמחשבה הנשמה.

And in thought, the neshamah.

Mitzvos engaged through thought reach and repair the neshamah, the highest soul-power.

וכן יש ג' עולמות שיש לכל ישראל חלק בהם וכולם מתוקנים ע"י המצות.

So too there are three worlds in which every Jew has a portion, and all of them are repaired by means of the mitzvos.

Beyond the three soul-levels, there are also three cosmic worlds; every Jew has a share in each, and the mitzvos — in thought, speech, and deed — bring tikkun to all three.

עצמכם תיקון נפש האדם.

"Yourselves" — the repair of the person's nefesh.

Returning to the Midrash's wordings: "as if you made yourselves" refers to the rectification of one's own nefesh.

עשיתם אתם היינו המצות הכתובין בתורה.

"You made them" — that is, the mitzvos written in the Torah.

"As if you made them" refers to the mitzvos themselves as inscribed in the Torah, the dimension of speech and revelation.

רוה"ק הוא השורש בשמים.

Ruach hakodesh is the root in Heaven.

The reward of ruach hakodesh corresponds to the highest plane — the heavenly root of the mitzvah, the dimension of thought.

וע"ז מבקשין ויהי נועם ה' עלינו בחי' רוה"ק הנ"ל.

And concerning this we pray, "May the pleasantness of Hashem our God be upon us" (Tehillim 90:17) — the aspect of ruach hakodesh mentioned above.

The plea "vihi no'am Hashem" asks that the heavenly root, the dimension of ruach hakodesh, rest upon us from above.

ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו הוא עשיות תיקון הנפש.

"And establish the work of our hands upon us" — this is the deeds that repair the nefesh.

The first clause, "uma'aseh yadeinu konenah aleinu," corresponds to the dimension of action that rectifies the nefesh.

ומעש"י כוננהו הוא עשיתם אתם המצות הכתובין בתורה.

"And the work of our hands, establish it" — this is "you made them," the mitzvos written in the Torah.

The repeated clause, "uma'aseh yadeinu konenehu," corresponds to "as if you made them" — the mitzvos as given in the Torah, the dimension of speech.

ודו"ק:

And examine this closely.

The Sefas Emes signals that the careful structure he has drawn — three modes, three soul-levels, three worlds — rewards further reflection.

Summary: From the verse "If you walk in My chukim, guard My mitzvos and do them" and the Midrash that reads "you shall do them" as "you make yourselves," the Sefas Emes builds a threefold scheme: every mitzvah is fulfilled through thought, speech, and deed, corresponding to the soul-levels of neshamah, ruach, and nefesh, to three worlds, and to the phrases of the berachah and of "vihi no'am" — so that the whole of avodah, in all three modes, perfects the person, the worlds, and reaches up to the heavenly root, earning ruach hakodesh.