Mitzvos as markers toward holiness

במד' ישלח עזרך מקודש כו' ומציון כו' מקידוש מעשים וציון מעשים כו'.

In the Midrash: "May He send your help from the Sanctuary... and from Tzion..." (Tehillim 20:3) — from the sanctification of [your] deeds, and from the "marking" of [your] deeds.

The Sefas Emes opens with the Midrash that reads "mikodesh" (from the Sanctuary) as the sanctification of one's deeds, and "miTzion" as the "tziyun" — the marking or signpost of one's deeds. He will build on this double reading.

כי איך יכול ב"ו להתקדש.

For how can a mortal of flesh and blood become holy?

He raises the difficulty: holiness belongs to Hashem — how can a physical human being, basar vadam, possibly attain kedushah?

רק להיות הרצון והשתוקקות לזה.

Only by having the will and yearning for it.

Man's part is not to produce holiness himself, but to generate the ratzon (will) and longing for it; the kedushah itself is then granted from Above.

וכן בכל מעשה להראות ולרמוז להפנימיות.

And likewise in every deed, to point toward and allude to the inner essence.

Each action a person performs should "point" beyond itself — serving as a gesture toward the penimiyus, the inner holiness it is meant to express.

וכן כל מצוה היא רק ציון ורמז כמ"ש הציבי לך ציונים.

And so too every mitzvah is only a "marker" and an allusion, as it is written, "Set up markers for yourself" (Yirmiyahu 31:20).

A mitzvah is a tziyun — a signpost or marker. Like the "tziyunim" Yirmiyahu speaks of, each mitzvah marks the way back to the inner holiness it points toward.

ועי"ז יכול לבא לקדושה.

And through this one can arrive at holiness.

By following these markers — the mitzvos — a person is led to the kedushah they signify.

מקודש. התורה. וציון הם מצות.

"From the Sanctuary" — that is the Torah; and "Tzion" — those are the mitzvos.

He maps the two terms: "mikodesh" corresponds to the Torah (the source of holiness), while "tziyun" corresponds to the mitzvos (the markers that lead to it).

כי המצות כלולין בתורה.

For the mitzvos are included within the Torah.

The mitzvos are not separate from the Torah; they are contained within it, drawing their holiness from it.

ובכל מצוה אף שהוא במעשה גשמיות בחי' ציון כנ"ל.

And in every mitzvah — even though it is performed as a physical act, in the aspect of a "marker," as above.

Though a mitzvah is carried out through a physical deed and is thus only a "tziyun," an outer marker, that is not the whole of it.

מ"מ הציווי הוא מהקב"ה בתורה.

Nevertheless, the command itself is from the Holy One, in the Torah.

The physical act is only the outer marker, but the tzivuy (the command) behind it issues from Hashem within the Torah — and there lies its inner holiness.

ולכך ע"י ציון המצוה יכול להתדבק בהקדושה שבה והיא התורה.

Therefore, by means of the "marker" of the mitzvah, one can cleave to the holiness within it, which is the Torah.

Performing the physical marker (the mitzvah-act) becomes the means of deveikus — attaching oneself to the inner kedushah it points to, namely the Torah and the command of Hashem within it.

ומצות הם באמת עצות איך להמשיך קדושתו ית' לכל המעשים כנ"ל.

And the mitzvos are in truth "counsels" (eitzos) for how to draw His holiness into all of one's deeds, as above.

The Sefas Emes (playing on mitzvos / eitzos) teaches that the mitzvos are practical advice: instructions for how to channel Hashem's kedushah into every aspect of one's life and actions.

וכן בש"ק כתי' ויקדש כו' שממשיך קדושה לכל מעשה בראשית.

And so too regarding Shabbos Kodesh it is written, "and He sanctified [it]..." — for it draws holiness into all of the work of Creation.

Shabbos functions the same way: "vayekadesh" — Hashem sanctified the seventh day, and through it kedushah is drawn down into all of ma'aseh bereishis, the entire created world.

[דרך רמז עזרך מקודש הוא קידוש ומציון יסעדך סעודת שבת והבן]:

[By way of allusion: "your help from the Sanctuary" is Kiddush, and "from Tzion may He support you" is the Shabbos meal (seudah) — understand this.]

A closing hint: the pasuk's "ezrecha mikodesh" alludes to the Kiddush of Shabbos, and "umiTzion yis'adecha" (yis'adecha sharing a root with se'udah) alludes to the Shabbos meal — both being the means by which the holiness of Shabbos is drawn into the physical week.

Summary: A mortal cannot generate holiness on his own; his part is only the will and yearning for it. Mitzvos are "markers" (tziyunim) — physical acts that point toward an inner holiness, for though the deed is bodily, the command behind it comes from Hashem in the Torah. Thus the mitzvos are really "counsels" (eitzos) for drawing Hashem's kedushah into all one's actions, just as Shabbos draws holiness into all of Creation — alluded to in Kiddush and the Shabbos seudah.