Expand Your Kedusha

The midrash comments on the possuk (12:20) כִּֽי־יַרְחִיב֩ י״י֨ אֱלֹהֶ֥יךָ אֶֽת־גְּבֻלְךָ֮ that there are times when Hashem goes further than one even wants.  Yosef would have been happy to merely get out of his servitude, but his was appointed as second to the king.  Klal Yisroel would have been happy to merely get out of Egypt, but they were also given riches.  What is the connection between these ideas and expanding boundaries?  The possuk says  כִּֽי־תְאַוֶּ֥ה נַפְשְׁךָ֖ לֶאֱכֹ֣ל בָּשָׂ֑ר, but the nefesh doesn't desire meat, the body does?  

The midrash (4:9) says וְאָמַרְתָּ אֹכְלָה בָשָׂר כִּי תְאַוֶּה נַפְשְׁךָ לֶאֱכֹל בָּשָׂר בְּכָל אַוַּת נַפְשְׁךָ תֹּאכַל בָּשָׂר (דברים יב, כ), זֶה שֶׁאָמַר הַכָּתוּב (תהלים קמו, ז): עוֹשֶׂה מִשְׁפָּט לַעֲשׁוּקִים נֹתֵן לֶחֶם לָרְעֵבִים ה' מַתִּיר אֲסוּרִים, מְדַבֵּר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל.  What is the connection between eating and redeeming captives?  

The Sfas Emes (5634) explains from the Baal Shem Tov that a person elevates trapped sparks from within the food when one eats properly.  In Tehillim (107:5) it says רעבים דם צמאים נפשם בהם תתעטף.  The Baal Shem Tov translated as why is one hungry?  Because the sparks are concealed in the food and must be elevated.  That is why the Midrash compares this possuk of eating meat to redeeming captives for one redeems the captured sparks from within the food.  כי ירחיב ה את גבולך, the Torah gives boundaries of where kedusha must be contained.  In the parsha itself we have boundaries of the tamah and tahor animals.  To extend kedusha to the physical confines of the world one must extend the boundaries.  The גבולם  are expanded.  ואמרת אוכלה בשר, you want to eat meat, why? ואמרת אכלה בשר כי תאוה נפשך לאכל בשר בכל אות נפשך תאכל בשר, because your nefesh wants to access the sparks within the food.  Why the double expression?  The Sfas Emes (5656) adds אין ריבה אחר ריבה אלא למעט, the desire of the body is really just a cover up for the real desire for the meat which stems from the neshama. 

That is why the midrash brings the examples of going beyond the boundaries from Yosef becoming second to the king and Klal Yisoel obtaining wealth.  The midrash is highlighting that Klal Yisroel needs a bridge to connect, to extend the kedudha into the gashmiut of the world.  It is only because of that connection that one can elevate the sparks.  It is when one’s גבול is widened that one can elevate more. 

בנים אתם לה אלקיכם.  The Sfas Emes (5654 and 5664) says that the נשמה is the level of בן and the body is likened to an עבד. With that idea he explains the machlokes in KIddushin (36b) if we are considered בנים of Hashme even if we are not fulfilling his will.  A son is always a son, how can that level be lost?  The question is if the neshama still has dominion over the body for one who has sinned.  החכם עיניו בראשו, the wise man is guided by his neshama who's place is in the brain.  לא תשימו קרחה בין עיניכם למת, one should not lose focus of his mission because of the façade of the world which is called death.  The neshama comes to find the kedusha, to taste it from afar, not to be consumed by it. 

It is only by the mitzvah of עלייה לרגל, the end of the parsha,  where the Torah promises וְהִרְחַבְתִּ֖י אֶת־גְּבֻלֶ֑ךָ וְלֹא־יַחְמֹ֥ד אִישׁ֙ אֶֽת־אַרְצְךָ֔ בַּעֲלֹֽתְךָ֗ לֵרָאוֹת֙ אֶת־פְּנֵי֙ י״י֣ אֱלקיך שלש פעמים בשנה (Shemos 34:24.)  Why is this promise in regard to this mitzvah?  The Sfas Emes Pesach (5639) says the eretz are the desires of a person (see Berashi Rabbah 5:8,) when one goes to be עולה לרגל it is an experience of  forgoing one's personal humdrum earthly concerns and one merits to come connect with Hashem.  לראות, one comes to see the the pnimious of the world.  With such a focus, with that vision, one looks to expand one's horizons of kedusha.  To see the ראה אני, to share in that vision.