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Parshat Shlach
Sfas Emes, Zechuso Tagein Aleinu, Parshas Shelach, 5631
The Sfas Emes begins by echoing words of the parsha's first Medrash
Rabba: "Nothing in this world is as beloved (chaviv) to HaShem as
sheluchei mitzva -- people who are sent on a mission to do a mitzva --
who give their all in order to accomplish their mission."
Continuing in this vein, the Sfas Emes quotes a thought of his
Grandfather. The Chiddushei HaRim would often say that, in fact, each
one of us can fill this beloved role of being a shli'ach mitzva. All(!)
we have to do is to view ourselves as having been sent to this world
with the express purpose of carrying out the will of HaShem -- and to
conduct ourselves accordingly. Being a shl'iach mitzva means viewing
oneself -- and living one's life -- as an agent of HaShem's will.
Note: The Chiddushei HaRim understood the Mishna in Avos (1:14): "Im
ein ani li, mi li? (ArtScroll: "If I am not for myself, who will be for
me?") in a similar perspective. In his ma'amar on parshas Bechukosai,
5632, the Sfas Emes returns to this idea. He quotes his Grandfather as
saying: "Every person is created to do a tikun (a task that improves the
world) for which he is uniquely qualified, and which only he can do."
Thus, in effect, every one of us is a potential "shliach mitzva".
Further, the implication is clear: if a person leaves this world without
having achieved his mission, his life has been a failure. (The
postscript to this email discusses what such a tikun might be in
present-day, real-world terms.)
The Sfas Emes proceeds to explain the concept of sheluchei mitzva
(agents of HaShem's will) in the context of parshas Shelach. The parsha
begins with HaShem's command to send meraglim (spies) to reconnoiter
Eretz Yisroel. One might suppose that the spies who were sent had the
status of beloved sheluchei mitzva. In fact, that is not how events
unfolded. We know from other sources that the idea of sending spies to
Eretz Yisroel came from Bnei Yisroel, not from HaShem. Unfortunately,
the people's motive for sending spies was a lack of bitachon (trust) in
HaShem. Hence, from the viewpoint of hashkofo (intellectual
perspective), the project was ill conceived. Further, the spies did not
conduct themselves as agents of HaShem's will. On the contrary, the
report that they gave when they returned from their mission was a
disaster. Hence, the Sfas Emes tells us, the Medrash is addressing an
implicit question. If sending the spies was wrong, how is the conceptual
framework of "shelu
chei mitzva" relevant in this case ?
The Sfas Emes explains that, indeed, the project started as a bad
idea. But once HaShem went along with it, and issued a command to send
the spies, the situation was transformed. Bnei Yisroel could have saved
the day (and themselves!) if they had changed their mind-set, rejecting
their own initial (ill-conceived) motives for sending the spies, and
adopting instead the motive of desiring to carry out HaShem's command.
That is, the same spies could have been sent, with the very same
instructions. But by conceptualizing differently what they were doing --
i.e., viewing their mission as fulfilling HaShem's wish -- the whole
episode could have been transformed.
You see how critical it is that a person perceive correctly the
metaphysical context within which he is acting. In the shiur on parshas
Behar, we saw other examples of the importance of conceptualizing one's
life accurately. As you may recall, one such case involved Shlomo
HaMelech, who encountered two men carrying a heavy stone. Shlomo asked:
"What are you doing?" To which one man replied: "I am carrying a heavy
stone". By contrast, the second man replied: "I am building the Beis
Hamikdash".
Now the Sfas Emes takes this discussion a big step further. He tells
us that if a person includes any other motivation -- that is, other
than the desire to do HaShem's will -- in doing mitzvos, he loses the
beloved status of being a sheliach mitzva. The Sfas Emes proceeds to
twist the knife in our ego ever deeper. He explicitly includes in the
category of extraneous motivations even the desire to "steig", that is,
to reach a higher level in our avodas HaShem! For if the person has such
a motive of his own, he is no longer acting as a shaliach, as an agent
who is carrying out HaShem's agenda.
Continuing, the Sfas Emes refers to another passage in the same
Medrash Rabba. This part focuses on the two meraglim (spies) that
Yehoshua sent to Yericho (Yehoshua, 2:1; this text is also read as the
Haftarah of this Shabbos). The Medrash tells us that these were
exemplary shelichei mitzvo, who were moseir nefesh (totally dedicated)
to accomplish their mission and hence, were beloved to HaShem.
The pasuk in Yehoshua says that he sent the spies "cheresh" --
secretly. However, the Medrash chooses to read this word not as ending
with the Hebrew letter 'shin" -- which would, indeed, make the word mean
"secretly" -- but rather as ending with the letter "sin". That spelling
has the word read as "cheres" -- i.e., earthenware vessels. The Medrash
views this construction as alluding to the subterfuge of the meraglim:
to avoid being detected as spies, they disguised themselves as potters.
The Sfas Emes adds his own comment on reading the word as "cheres"
-- an earthenware vessel. He points out that for Chazal, an earthenware
vessel is typically a very inexpensive vessel. For this reason, it has
little value of its own ; its importance derives totally from its
contents. The Sfas Emes says: so, too, should we view ourselves. HaShem
gives us free will. The Sfas Emes urges us to exercise our free will in a
manner that casts us totally as instruments to do HaShem's will.
Returning to a metaphor that we have seen in earlier ma'amarim, the Sfas
Emes advises us to take the role of the "garzen beyad hachotzev" -- the
hatchet in the hand of the wood-chopper.
The idea of seeing ourselves solely as instruments of HaShem may
sound "extreme". But this perspective cannot be rejected as a "deviant"
strand of Yiddishkeit. The metaphor of the hatchet in the hand of the
woodsman has an impeccable origin (in Yeshayahu, 10:15). And that notion
is kept as contemporary as next year's Yom Kippur; for the metaphor
recurs in one of the piyutim that we say on the night of Kol Nidre.
So far, the Sfas Emes has been presenting essentially one idea:
namely, that we can view ourselves as shelichei mitzva. But you should
be aware that there is much more to this week's Sfas Emes. (I have
presented only half (!) of his initial paragraph.) The "much more"
includes:
The idea that one of the assignments of the spies ("meRaGLim") was to infuse the excitement of Torah
into the "heRGeiL" (unthinking routine, habit), with which we too often
live our lives. Bearing this reading in mind, we can see new meaning in
our daily tefila (prayer) of "vesaRGiLeinu beSoRAecha." What we are
asking is: "Let your Torah permeate our hergeil (unthinking routine)".
HaShem's command to send the spies (Bamidbar 13:2) stated: "veyasuru
es Eretz Kena'an." (ArtScroll: " ... and let them spy out the Land of
Canaan ...") The Sfas Emes reads the word "veyaSuRu" as alluding to the
word "Torah." Thus, he reads HaShem's command to the spies as telling them to "Torah-ize" Eretz Kena'an; that is, to infuse Eretz Kena'an (with all the evil that the name "Kena'an" evokes) with Torah!
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A postscript: As noted, the Chidushei Harim understood the Mishna's
statement "Im ein ani li, mi li" as saying that every one of us has been
given an assignment to do in improving the world; i.e., to make a
"tikun". Further, this is a mission for which he/she is uniquely
qualified, and for which his/her failure to fulfill the assignment means
that it will not be done at all. This perspective on life may sound too
mystical for some people. Indeed, the idea may sound so mysterious that
a person may be tempted to consider the whole subject irrelevant to
oneself. To avoid falling into that trap so artfully placed by the
yetzer hara, it may help to mention some real-world cases.
I know a man who has taken on himself the job of publicizing
everyday acts of chessed. That is, he posts to a list of hundreds of
people a daily email recounting anonymous actions of chessed. This
project raises consciousness concerning the need for and the possibility
of helping people with acts of kindness. Now that the project has been
launched, it may seem like something that anyone could -- and should --
have done. But in fact, it was not done -- until this man did it. Only
he had the unique blend of compassion, persistence, and intelligence to
do this tikun.
Other examples of assignments come to mind that are crucial and
often very close at hand. Thus, a parent may be uniquely qualified to
help his/her child grow up properly. Similarly, a specific person may be
the only one in the world with the qualities necessary to give his/her
spouse -- with his/her unique needs -- a tolerably happy life. These too
are cases to which the Chidushei Harim's reading of "Im ein ani li ..."
may apply. Thus even in apparently mundane situations, a person can be a
sheliach mitzva, chaviv (beloved) to HaShem.
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