Hashem's seeing versus knowing

בפסוק וראיתי את הדם ופסחתי כו'.

On the verse: "And I will see the blood and pass over [you]…" (Shemos 12:13).

The Sefas Emes opens with the verse describing how Hashem, seeing the blood on the doorposts in Mitzrayim, passed over the homes of Bnei Yisrael.

וכתב רש"י הכל גלוי לפניו אלא נותן אני עיני שאתם עוסקים במצותי ופוסח אני עליכם.

And Rashi writes: everything is revealed before Him; rather, "I place My eye [on the fact] that you are occupied with My mitzvos, and I pass over you."

Rashi is troubled that Hashem, who sees all, would seemingly need the blood as a marker; he explains that the blood signifies that Bnei Yisrael are engaged in His mitzvos, and on account of that He spares them.

ואכתי קשה הכל גלוי לפניו.

But it is still difficult — everything is revealed before Him!

The question persists: if all is already open before Hashem, why does He speak of "seeing" the blood at all?

הגם כי יש ליישב פי' רש"י עפ"י פשוטו שבא לפרש שאין נתינת הדם כדי שיראה.

Although one may resolve Rashi's explanation according to its plain sense — that he comes to clarify that the placing of the blood is not in order that [Hashem] should see it.

On a simple level, Rashi means only that the blood is not literally for Hashem's benefit, as if He needed to look at it.

רק וראיתי הוא פי' כשתקיימו מצותי אז אני פוסח עליכם כו'.

Rather, "and I will see" means: when you fulfill My mitzvos, then I pass over you.

"Seeing the blood" is just a way of saying that your performance of the mitzvah is what brings about His passing over you.

אבל נראה לבאר הענין הזה שנצרך להבין בכמה מקומות כי הידיעה והראיה אינו ענין אחד כאשר כתבו הקדמונים התירוץ על הבחירה האנושית הלא הקב"ה יודע מה שעתיד להיות ותירצו כי ידיעתו למעלה מהשגתינו כו'.

But it seems [better] to explain this matter, which is needed in many places: that "knowing" (yedi'ah) and "seeing" (re'iyah) are not one and the same — as the early authorities wrote in their resolution regarding human free will: behold, the Holy One knows what is destined to be [yet man chooses freely], and they answered that His knowledge is above our comprehension.

The Sefas Emes draws on the classic problem of free will versus Divine foreknowledge: the Rishonim resolved it by saying Hashem's "knowing" is utterly beyond our grasp. He uses this to distinguish "knowing" from "seeing."

פי' שהקב"ה ברא עוה"ז בהשגחתו בבחי' ראי' ושמיעה ולא ידיעה.

The explanation: the Holy One created this world with His providence in the mode of "seeing" and "hearing," and not "knowing."

Hashem deliberately governs olam hazeh through the modes of re'iyah and shemi'ah rather than the mode of yedi'ah, in order to leave room for human free will.

כמובן שהידיעה הוא בעצם היודע.

As is understood, "knowing" is within the very essence of the knower.

Knowledge belongs entirely to the knower himself — it is internal to him and not dependent on anything outside.

והראי' והשמיעה הוא מבחוץ להרואה והשומע.

But seeing and hearing are [directed] outside, toward the one seen and the one heard.

Seeing and hearing, by contrast, reach outward to something external — they respond to what another does or says.

והוא רואה מה שאחר עושה ושומע מה שאחר מדבר.

For he sees what another does, and hears what another speaks.

By governing through "sight" and "hearing," Hashem relates to the free deeds and words of His creatures as genuinely their own, not predetermined.

וכן הדבר בתורה ומצות שנתן הקב"ה לבנ"י כי אף שאמיתת לבבם ורצונם אליו ית' נגלה וידוע הוא אליו.

So too is the matter with the Torah and mitzvos that the Holy One gave to Bnei Yisrael: for although the truth of their hearts and their will toward Him is revealed and known to Him —

Hashem already "knows" the inner truth of every Jew's heart and his innermost ratzon toward Him, with perfect clarity.

אך כי רוצין שהאדם יכניס יראתו ורצונו הטוב אל המעשה גשמיות בפועל.

— yet He desires that a person bring his yir'ah and his good will into actual, physical deed.

Knowing the heart is not enough; Hashem wants a person to translate his yiras Shomayim and good intentions into concrete, physical action in this world.

וזה ענין המצות נגד רמ"ח איברי האדם שהם ג"כ לבוש אל הנשמה הפנימית.

And this is the matter of the mitzvos, which correspond to the 248 limbs of a person, which are themselves a garment (levush) to the inner soul.

The mitzvos are tied to the body's 248 limbs because the body itself is the garment of the inner neshamah — the mitzvos clothe the soul's inner will in physical deeds.

ואפשר כי להאבות כן נהג השי"ת עמהם בבחי' ידיעה כמ"ש עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה כי לא ניתן להם המצות.

And it is possible that with the Avos, Hashem Yisborach conducted Himself in the mode of "knowing," as it is written: "Now I know that you fear Elokim" (Bereishis 22:12) — for the mitzvos were not [yet] given to them.

The Avos, who lived before the mitzvos were given, were related to by Hashem through "knowing" — as at the Akeidah, where Hashem says "now I know" — since they had no physical mitzvos through which to externalize their inner avodah.

וע"י המצות מעוררין השגחת השי"ת בבחי' ראיה ושמיעה שבבחינות הללו הוא מנהיג את עולם הזה כנ"ל:

And through the mitzvos we awaken the providence of Hashem Yisborach in the mode of "seeing" and "hearing" — for it is through these modes that He governs this world, as above.

Once the mitzvos were given, Bnei Yisrael can arouse Hashem's hashgachah specifically in the modes of sight and hearing — the modes by which He runs olam hazeh — by clothing their inner will in actual deeds. Thus "and I will see the blood" means Hashem responds to the mitzvah Bnei Yisrael actively performed.

Summary: Rashi's difficulty — that all is revealed before Hashem, so why must He "see" the blood — leads the Sefas Emes to distinguish "knowing" (yedi'ah), which is internal to the knower, from "seeing" and "hearing" (re'iyah and shemi'ah), which respond to something external. Hashem governs this world through the latter modes to leave room for free will. The mitzvos, bound to the body's 248 limbs, clothe the soul's inner will in physical deed; the Avos, lacking mitzvos, were related to through "knowing," while we, through performing mitzvos, awaken Hashem's providence in the mode of "seeing" — which is why "I will see the blood" means He responds to the mitzvah we actually do.