Sefas Emes on Yisro

The holy Zohar writes that the Shabbos is the entirety of the Torah.

Similarly, the Talmud tells us that someone who desecrates the Shabbat is considered to be a rebel against the entire Torah.

The reason for this is that accepting the Torah and the 10 commandments is the reason for the world's existence.

This is what meant by the letter "Hey" in HAshishi (the 5 books of the Torah).

My holy grandfather (the Chidushei Harim) explained that there are 10 commandments which correspond to the 10 statements which G-d used to create the world.

Just as a human being starts of with pure physical will and only afterwards his positive inclination comes into play, so too the world was created on very physical level begining with TOHU VAVOHU - the basic physical building blocks of creation . The world is therefore completed by the 10 commandments which come to clarify the purpose and source of energy of the world. The 10 commandments create clarity that it is only through the Almighty that the creation exists. [This is alluded to in the Rashi/Medrash in which we are told that the word Bereishis is used to to say that with Torah which is called Reishis the world was created.]

The Torah itself also has the power to return our souls to our bodies, which flew out of our bodies at the giving of the 10 commandments. [This is the reason why the Jews wanted Moshe to speak, because when G-d spoke at the giving of the 10 commandments, their souls left their bodies (Medrash).] This is the meaning of the words in Psalms (19:8) The Torah of G-d is perfect, because it returns our soul [literally to us].

The Torah has the capacity to return the spirituality of our souls into the physical state of our bodies, because it enables us to clothe the spiritual in the physical elements of this world through the Mitzvos that we do in THIS world.

It is for this reason that it uses the word "NEFESH" (in Pslams 19:8) because the Nefesh is the lowest level of the soul, which allows it to return to its rightful place at the source of all spiritual energy (the Neshama).

This is exactly the same thing with Shabbos. Shabbos has the capacity of VAYINAFASH [which literally means Hashem rested. The Sefas Emes is now going to be Mechadesh that this really means more than that]. It means that when we keep Shabbos, there is a general elevation of the NEFESH - the souls of the Jewish people, which allows the spirituality that arrives from Shabbos to flow into the week, which allows us to connect to our most true selves during the week.

It therefore follows that Torah itself is indeed the source of the Torah - it is the personification of the ultimate purpose of Torah. The reason for this is is that it allows us to link into the primordeal spirituality of the creation of the world (because after all that is exactly what we are commemorating).

The Torah then tells us that Hashem rested on the seventh day and blessed it and sanctified it. The words "and he rested" is more than an explanation of what G-d did to make the day holy. It is explaining that through the Shabbos day the Jewish people have the capacity to finally rest to a place of rest where they can truly connect to Hashem, and in this way to access the source of blessing from Hashem.

Rashi explains that the Vav in V'Eileh tells us that just like the 10 commandments were mentioned at Sinai, so too these commandments were mentioned at Sinai.

My grandfather explained that it refers to the reasons for the matters (which are self-explanatory in these Mishpatim).

The main focus is that the Jewish people should know that even though these laws are understandable and logical, they are nonetheless present because G-d commanded it, not because they make sense.

It is for this reason that one is forbidden to be judged by a non-jew, even if they make their judgement like a Jewish court. The reason is judgement belongs to G-d, and also the reasonings and the logic of it is not because it is logical, but rather because it is the will of Hashem.

The medrash states:

דָּבָר אַחֵר, וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (תהלים קמז, יט): מַגִּיד דְּבָרָיו לְיַעֲקֹב, אֵלּוּ הַדִּבְּרוֹת. (תהלים קמז, יט): חֻקָּיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, אֵלּוּ הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים. לְפִי שֶׁאֵין מִדּוֹתָיו שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא כְּמִדַּת בָּשָׂר וָדָם, מִדַּת בָּשָׂר וָדָם מוֹרֶה לַאֲחֵרִים לַעֲשׂוֹת וְהוּא אֵינוֹ עוֹשֶׂה כְלוּם, וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֵינוֹ כֵן אֶלָּא מַה שֶּׁהוּא עוֹשֶׂה הוּא אוֹמֵר לְיִשְׂרָאֵל לַעֲשׂוֹת וְלִשְׁמֹר.

This shows us that G_d himself fulfils His own laws. This means as follows:

After Moshe told the Jews the commandments they said Naaseh V'Nishmah. The Zohar on these words brings the verse "