The Dvar Malchus begins with Vayikra 5751, but where does it end? The Parshas Vayakhel sicha is unfinished, and parshas Pekudei is missing (actually, “missing” is one of the definitions of the word*, as in יפקד מושבך). What is the message?
Firstly, we could take note that the start of our Dvar Malchus cycle is parshas Vayikra. This hints at the division of the Chasidishe Parsha, Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah — the former covering Bereishis to Vayakhel, the latter Vayikra through the end. In an odd turn of hashgacha protis, parshas Pekudei is absent from Torah Ohr (which covers all of Shemos) and appears in the other volume.
But more to the point, the Rebbe generally explains these two parshiyos (Vayakhel and Pekudei, which in many years are read together) as reflecting two distinct angles:
- Vayakhel means “gathering” and speaks of unity and generality, where the individual elements are subdued in the whole.
- Pekudei implies making an accounting of the individual elements, and in fact it is here that we learn the details: this many talents of silver, that many hooks and boards, etc.
The fact that our Dvar Malchus has Vayakhel but lacks Pekudei (when looked at in light of the content of all the sichas) implies that from the collective side of things, everything is in a state of Geulah: the aspect of Above to below, the “Nosi is everything” (הנשיא הוא הכל) which nullifies all the elements to the greater whole. You can find this expressed many times in these sichos.
What remains to be completed is the aspect of Pekudei: the completion and perfection of the parts, not as they are nullified to the greater whole but their own intrinsic importance as unique elements. Meaning our avodah, individually. In the Rebbe’s words: “do all that you can” — you, personally and as an individual! (Of course, merging the individual effort with the unity of Vayakhel, which is the reason that most years the two parshiyos are read together.)
What is needed now is for each one of us to reveal his spark of Moshiach through our own efforts, and not to expect someone else, not even Melech HaMoshiach, to do it for us. “Avodah b’koach atzmo“, to reveal individually what has already been accomplished collectively. To bring — each one of us — Moshiach in actuality!
(Not only will this complete the aspect of “Pekudei”, but it brings about the completion and perfection of “Vayak’hel”, because the “incomplete” Sicha of Vayak’hel hints that even the aspect of “Above to below” remains incomplete as long as the “Pekudei” is lacking. Completing the task of the mekabel (from below) adds to the perfection of the mashpia (Above).)
* Another meaning of Pekudei is connected with childbearing and the marital union, as in “Hashem remembered Sarah” (to bless her with a child) (ה’ פקד את שרה), and “a man must be intimate with his wife [before seeing out on a lengthy journey]” (יפקוד את אשתו). In fact, this second meaning is mentioned in the Alter Rebbe’s drush on this parsha in Likkutei Torah, strengthening the connection between the parsha and these words. This fits as a hint that although Parshas Pekudei is “missing”, and it might seem to some that the “husband” has gone on a journey leaving his wife alone — even so he must “be intimate with his wife” before departing (these Sichos of Dvar Malchus) and even to the point of making her “pregnant” through this intimacy: pregnant with the true an complete Geuloh.