Descent for the sake of ascent

זאת תורת העולה כו' מצות תרומת הדשן.

"This is the law of the olah (burnt-offering)…" — the mitzvah of terumas hadeshen (the removal of the ashes).

The Sefas Emes opens with the verse introducing the olah, which the Torah connects to the mitzvah of removing the ashes from the altar.

וקשה למה נקרא זאת תורת העולה שהיא מצוה אחרונה אחר כל קרבנות היום.

And it is difficult: why is "This is the law of the olah" stated regarding what is the last mitzvah, after all the offerings of the day?

The removal of the ashes is the final service, performed after all the day's korbanos — so why does the Torah head the entire "law of the olah" specifically with it?

ומשמע שכל הקרבן תלוי בהרמת הדשן.

It implies that the entire offering depends on the lifting of the ashes.

The phrasing suggests that the whole korban somehow hinges on this concluding act of removing the ashes.

כי הנה עולה באה על הרהור הלב כמאמרם ז"ל היא העולה מחשבה רעה דאתוקדא על גבי מדבחא.

For behold, the olah comes for a sinful thought of the heart, as Chazal said: "It is the olah" — an evil thought that is burned up upon the altar.

The olah atones for improper thoughts; Chazal read "it is the olah" as the sinful machshavah being consumed by fire on the mizbei'ach.

והוא שריפת החטאת.

And this is the burning away of the sin.

The fire of the olah represents the burning out and destruction of the evil within.

אך אחר ביעור השאור צריכין להרים הדשן כי כל ירידה הוא צורך עלי'.

But after the burning away of the "leaven" (the evil), one must lift up the ashes, for every descent is for the sake of an ascent.

Destroying the evil is not the end; one must then "raise the ashes," because in Hashem's plan every descent (here, the reduction of sin to ash) exists in order to enable a subsequent ascent.

והרי הכל בכלל בריאת השי"ת.

And indeed all of it is included in the creation of Hashem.

Even the evil and its destruction fall within the scope of what Hashem created and governs.

כמאמר בורא חושך.

As it says, "Who forms darkness."

Hashem Himself is described as the One "who forms darkness" — even darkness has its place within His creation.

והוא לבוא על ידי שריפת הרע אל הטוב.

And its purpose is to arrive, by means of the burning of the evil, at the good.

The darkness/evil exists so that, through its being burned away, one reaches the good that lies beyond it.

ואז נגמר המכוון.

And then the intended purpose is completed.

Only when the evil is burned and turned toward the good is the whole purpose fulfilled.

נמצא כי הרמת הדשן עיקר הקרבן.

It emerges that the lifting of the ashes is the essence of the offering.

Hence the terumas hadeshen — turning the burned remnant into an ascent — is in fact the heart of the korban.

וכן מצינו באפר פרה שע"י שריפת החטאת בא מזה כל הטהרה כמאמר מטמא טהורים ומטהר טמאים.

And so we find with the ashes of the parah (red heifer), that through the burning of the sin-offering comes all the purification — as it is said, "it renders the pure impure and the impure pure."

The parah adumah is a parallel: from the ashes of the burned offering comes all taharah, even though those same ashes make the pure impure and the impure pure — a paradox of purification arising from burning.

ובמד' מי יתן טהור מטמא לא אחד כו'.

And in the Midrash: "Who can bring a pure thing out of an impure? Is it not the One?"

The Midrash on this verse (Iyov 14:4) points to Hashem as the only One who can extract purity from impurity.

פי' כי זה עדות על אחדותו ית'.

The explanation is that this is testimony to His blessed Oneness.

The very fact that purity can emerge from impurity testifies to Hashem's absolute unity.

פי' כי אם הי' ח"ו לסט"א כח בפ"ע איך יוכל להתהפך הרע לטוב.

That is, for if the sitra achra (the "other side," the forces of evil) had, Heaven forbid, an independent power of its own, how could the evil be transformed into good?

If evil were a truly autonomous power, it could never be flipped into good; the very possibility of that reversal proves evil has no independent existence.

ולכן זה עדות שאין כח לסט"א ג"כ רק לפי רצונו ית'.

Therefore this is testimony that even the sitra achra has no power except according to His blessed will.

The transformation of evil to good demonstrates that the forces of evil too operate only by the ratzon Hashem, with no power of their own.

ועיקר אמונת ישראל הוא שהקב"ה מחדש בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית.

And the essence of the emunah of Yisrael is that the Holy One, blessed is He, renews the act of creation each day, continually.

A core principle of Jewish emunah is that Hashem is constantly renewing creation, not just once long ago.

ופי' תמיד. בכל רגע.

And the meaning of "continually" is: at every moment.

"Continually" is to be taken literally — creation is being renewed at every single instant.

שלא כדברי הכופרים שאומרים שהקב"ה נתן בשעת הבריאה קיום להטבע.

This is unlike the words of the heretics, who say that the Holy One, blessed is He, gave nature a permanent existence at the time of creation.

The deniers claim Hashem "wound up" nature once at creation and then left it to run on its own — a view the Sefas Emes rejects.

רק בנ"י מאמינים כי השגחת הקב"ה בכל שעה על כל הבריאה בכלל ובפרט.

Rather, Bnei Yisrael believe that the Providence of the Holy One, blessed is He, is over all of creation at every moment, in general and in particular.

Bnei Yisrael hold that Hashem's hashgachah actively governs every part of creation at all times — both the broad order and every detail.

ולכן יכול להתהפך הטבע עפ"י עבודת האדם להקב"ה ונעשה מטמא טהור כנ"ל:

And therefore nature can be transformed in accordance with a person's avodah to the Holy One, blessed is He, and the impure becomes pure, as above.

Because Hashem continually sustains nature, nature is not fixed: through a person's avodah it can be overturned, so that even the impure is rendered pure.

גם היא העולה ע"מ.

Also, "it is the olah" (ha-olah) — on the basis of mesirus nefesh.

The word "ha-olah" further hints at the ascent that comes through self-sacrifice.

שכל העליות הם כפי המס"נ שיש לאדם:

For all the ascents are according to the measure of mesirus nefesh that a person has.

The height of a person's spiritual elevation corresponds precisely to the degree of mesirus nefesh he brings to his avodah.

Summary: Though terumas hadeshen is the last service of the day, it is the very essence of the olah, for "every descent is for the sake of an ascent": the olah burns away sinful thought, but the goal is to then lift the ashes — to turn the burned-out evil into good. That purity can emerge from impurity (as in the parah adumah) testifies to Hashem's absolute Oneness, since evil has no independent power and exists only by His will. The bedrock of Jewish emunah is that Hashem renews creation at every instant; therefore nature itself can be overturned through a person's avodah, with all spiritual ascent measured by his mesirus nefesh.