Our sages tell us that the Jewish people are likened to the moon and thus we count according to the moon. The months of the Jewish calendar begin with the birth of the new moon each month. This means that the 15th of every month is the date of the full moon. What is a full moon? It is the time when the moon reaches the state of maximum revelation, reflecting the light of the sun to its utmost. This is called shleimus halevana, the moon being “full” and “complete”. This process of the waxing of the moon until it reaches completeness is illustrated by the increasing number of the day of the month: 1, 2, 3, etc., until the 15th. The ascending number corresponds to the ascending completeness of the moon’s revelation.
The true completeness of the moon, explains the Rebbe, is not truly found on the 15th of the month (the full moon), because then the moon is is only at maximum capacity as a mekabel, a receiver (and reflector) of light from the sun. The true shleimus, the true completeness of the moon is when the moon becomes similar to the sun — a mashpia — and no longer needs to receive light from the sun.
By examining the astronomical properties of the movement of the moon we will understand this more deeply: the first half of the month, when the Continue reading →
Yaakov Avinu, fleeing the wrath of his brother Esav, arrived in Beis El as the sun was setting unexpectedly. As a result of the sudden sunset, he went to sleep there for the night. The next morning, when he woke up, he realized where he was — Har Hamoriah, the site where the Beis Hamikdash would later be built. He declared his shock that he had slept in such a holy spot!
In the Dvar Malchus sicha of Vayeitzei, the Rebbe examines Yaakov’s laying down to sleep “‘in that place’ — the place of the Mikdash (מקום המקדש)…”
This expression “the place of the mikdash” (“מקום המקדש”) should grab our attention — this is the same expression the Rebbe uses in Kuntres Beis Rabbeinu Sh’b’Bavel (which was published and distributed several weeks prior to this sicha). In that Kuntres, the Rebbe states that 770 is the “place of the Mikdash” (מקום המקדש). Does the Rebbe want us to realize that we, too, are “sleeping” in the “place of the Mikdash” (מקום המקדש) and don’t realize it?!
Apparently so.
However, the Rebbe explains in this sicha that the seemingly disgraceful “sleeping in the place of the Mikdash” can Continue reading →
This sicha was said on Shabbos Vayeitze, which corresponded in 5752 to the 9th of Kislev, the birthday and hillula (day of passing) of the Mitteler Rebbe, the 2nd Rebbe of Chabad.
The Alter Rebbe, his father, represented the attribute of Chochma (wisdom), and his son the Mitteler Rebbe represents the attribute of Bina (understanding). Just as Bina expands and reveals the breadth and depth of Chochma, so, too, the teachings of the Mitteler Rebbe are “wide as a river”, allowing one to drink deeply from the wellsprings of pnimiyus haTorah. This is significant to bringing the Geuloh, because:
At this time there needs to be…the study of pnimiyus Hatorah as it has been revealed in the teachings of Chassidus, and the fulfillment of the instructions of our Rebbeim. This includes — learning the subjects of Moshiach and Geuloh, in a way that it opens the heart and the eyes and the ears — so that they will understand, and see and feel the true and complete Geuloh tangibly in the physicality of the world.
Not merely learning as some sort of intellectual exercise, but rather “in a way of seeing, that this [the true and complete Geuloh] is already prepared and ready, and one only needs to open the eyes and then he will see this!“
This maamor begins with the words of the haftorah (“Vayomar lo Yehonoson“) recited on Shabbos Erev Rosh Chodesh. The attentive student will recall that a maamor on the very same verse was distributed as Kuntres Erev Rosh Chodesh Iyar, 5751 (seven months earlier), but the content differs significantly. The maamar quotes the haftorah: “Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh and you will be remembered (nifkadta) because you are missing from your place (ki yipakedmoshavecha).”
Erev Rosh Chodesh is when the moon completely disappears from sight. It represents the bittul of the Yidden. Through this bittul they draw down a new revelation that was never in the world before, which manifests as the birth of the new moon on Rosh Chodesh, the level of “nifkadta” (“remembered”). This new light — “Ohrchodosh” — is from a level that is completely above the world, drawn down through the avoidah of bittul. In contrast, avoidah connected with the existence of the individual (קשורה עם המציאות שלו) only draws down Ohr on a level that has a connection with the world.
This week the sicha examines a simple but deep concept: the distinction between “essential existence” (“etzem metzius“) and the revelation of that existence. This is illustrated by the difference between the birth of a person, the beginning of their essential existence, upon which everything they will do in the future depends, and the actual good deeds that they will do in their life.
Similarly, we find by the moon (this sicha was spoken on the Shabbos following Rosh Chodesh Kislev), that Rosh Chodesh is the “birth” of the new moon. Following its birth, the moon proceeds over the next 15 days to wax greater and greater, increasing the amount of light it shines. The greatest light that reflects from the moon is on the 15th of the month, representing the fulfillment of its ability to shine (a “full moon”). [There is also a special quality of the 2nd half of the month is explained in the sicha of Parshas Vayishlach]. Yet, even the great light of the full moon derives from the initial revelation of its essential existence on Rosh Chodesh.
In the case of a Yid: the first moment of revelation of his essential existence, etzem metziyuso, is the moment of Continue reading →
As we learned in the Dvar Malchus sicha of parshas Chayei Sarah, this parsha contains the first shilchus in Torah and that in our times shlichus has a new element: the acceptance and “kabbalas panim” of Moshiach. In most years, it comes out to be the time when the International Gathering of the Rebbe’s shluchim is held. The Rebbe often brings the words of the Shelah that everything is by hasgacha protis, and thus days and events which fall out near the Parsha are connected with that Parsha. The Rebbe also speaks about the connection between the Torah portion and the daily section of Tanya, Tehillim, and Rambam.
If we look, we see a wonderful and eye-opening hasgacha protis as regards the Kinus Hashluchim.
When the Kinus Hashluchim falls out on parshas Chayei Sarah, thousands of Shluchim find themselves Continue reading →
“I will be for them a small sanctuary (mikdash me’at) in the lands where they will come.” (Yechezkiel 11:16)
Our sages explain this posuk to mean that even outside of Eretz Yisroel, in the place and time of golus, there is a “small mikdash” which is a scaled-down example of the “great mikdash” in Yerushalayim. Rebbi Yitzchok in the gemora (Megillah 29a) said that this refers to the shuls and study halls in Bavel (Babylon), and Rebbi Eliezer said that this is “Beis Rabbeinu sh’b’Bavel” — “the house of our Rebbe in Bavel”.
The Rebbe, as might be expected, holds that these two sages do not have an argument, that each one surely agrees with the opinion of the other; the only difference is what they consider to be the main and most important fulfillment of the prophecy of “mikdash me’at“. Rebbi Eliezer holds that it is the study hall (place of learning) and shul (place of Tefilla) of “Rabbeinu”. Every shul possesses this quality in a small measure, but the primary and most complete manifestation of it is in the shul and study hall of the Rav whose Torah decisions are followed by the people of the city. And, in a fuller sense, there is one place which is the main “mikdash me’at” in the time of golus: the shul and study hall of the leader of the generation.
Our sages state that “Everywhere that Yisroel were exiled, the Shechina was exiled with them.” The sages in our gemora asked where in Bavel is the Shechina to be found? Abaye answered: in the shul of Hutzal and the shul of Shaf v’Yosiv in Nehardea — sometimes here and sometimes there. These were two unique shuls in Bavel, the first being close to the study hall of the revered Ezra the Sofer, the second being built from stones that were brought from the Beis Hamikdosh in Yerushalayim and “the Shechina was always found there” (Rashi). It called “Shaf v’Yosiv” (meaning “uprooted and [re]settled”) to indicate that “the Mikdash travelled and settled there”. It was literally the Beis Hamidkash of that generation, as “the revelation of the Shechina that was in the Beis Hamikdosh in Yerushalayim (and nowhere else) traveled and settled in this special place in Bavel, in place of the Mikdash in Yerushalayim.“
Of course, the Shechina dwells in every shul where Jews gather for Tefillah, and every study hall where they learn Torah, but nowhere is the Shechina more revealed than in the Beis Hamikdosh in Yerushalayim, or (in the time of golus) in these special buildings. Similarly we find that “in the future the shuls and study halls of Bavel will be established in Eretz Yisroel” — this is true of every shul and study hall, all of which will be connected to the Third Beis Hamikdosh in Yerushalayim. And when these places are relocated to Eretz Yisroel, the revelation of the Shechina will also return to Eretz Yisroel, and there will no longer be a revelation of the Shechina outside the land of Israel where the “mikdash me’at” stood. The Rebbe adds (quoting the Maharsha): Continue reading →
This maamor was edited and printed in honor of the birthday of the Rebbe Rashab, and it was handed out personally by the Rebbe in 770.*. It discusses deep inyonim of Chassidus, and demands attentive learning. But here, we will focus only on one point from the maamor, which is overtly relevant to the concepts of Moshiach and Geuloh found in Dvar Malchus.
The Rebbe discusses here the concept of the Divine Light (Ohr) that preceded the tzimtzum (Tzimtzum being the contraction of light by which it becomes possible to create limited, finite worlds). This Ohr that existed prior to the tzimtzum possessed two dimensions: unlimited and limited. These dimensions became the source for the two kinds of Divine revelation that exist now: Sovev (surrounding light, which cannot be grasped and thus is not revealed in the world), and Memaleh (filling light, which is limited and can this be grasped by the lower creatures).
Additionally: through the mitzvos we perform now, there will be the revelation of a new light in the time to come, an Ohr Chodosh. This Ohr Chodosh will bring about a new heavens and a new Earth (as stated by the novi Yeshaya).
The Rebbe clarifies: if we are referring to the revelation of the unlimited light that illumined before the tzimtzum (which is presently not revealed in the worlds), this is not truly new (אין זה חידוש אמיתי) — this Ohr was already revealed before the Tzimtzum, and afterwards was concealed from the world. Thus, when this Ohr will return and be revealed again, it will not truly be something new. The truly new Ohr Chodosh, which will generate a new heavens and a new Earth, is Ohr that is drawn down by our fulfilling Torah and Mitzvos now, an Ohr that didn’t exist even before the Tzimtzum!
In these words the Rebbe is giving us a small glimpse at the great significantly of the avoidah of a Yid in performing Torah and Mitzvos — it is a complete chiddush, and draws down an Ohr Chodosh that never existed previously! Here, in the oisios of Chassidus, the Rebbe is explaining the famous words of 28 Nissan (“I’ve done all that I can do, now you must do all that you can do to bring the Geuloh…”) — because it is the avoidah of a Yid, davka, to make this lowest world a “dira b’tachtonim” that draws down the Ohr Chodosh, which is the revelation of the Geuloh.
(Note that in the kuntres published for Rosh Chodesh Kislev of this year, the Rebbe will elaborate further on this subject, bringing out the point that the avoidah of the Yid is even greater than the Ohr Chodosh that comes from his avoidah!)
* Some want to suggest that perhaps the timing of the distribution of this maamor by the Rebbe served as a “distraction”, so to speak, from the amazing revelations found in the Sicha “Beis Rabbeinu sh’b’Bovel”, which was printed the same week. (Chassidim had in their hands a maamor given to them personally by the Rebbe and a second kuntres dropped off unceremoniously in 770 — it is obvious which a chosid would learn first.)
Well known is the principle that the first luchos were given with a big “shturem”, but had to be shattered. The final luchos, to the contrary, were brought down without lightning, thunder, and the sound of the Shofar — but they were not shattered, they endure. In our case, Chassidim were so excited to learn a maamor that the Rebbe had handed to them personally, from his holy hand, that they didn’t have time to make a big deal overthe other kuntres (“Beis Rabbeinu…”)… (But what can a goat understand from gazing at the moon…?)
This sicha was said on Shabbos during the annual Kinus Hashluchim gathering in 5752 (1991).
Standing by the beginning and opening of the Kinus Hashluchim — emissaries of my father-in-law the Rebbe, Nosi Doreinu, in all corners of the globe — we must mention, first of all, the foundation [of the Shlichus] and to verbalize the task of the shluchim in our generation in general, and especially — the new element which has been added especially in the most recent time to the work of shlichus: to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu in the true and complete Geuloh. [Emphasis in the original]
The Rebbe proceeds to explain that periodically there is added a new element (“chiddush”) to the Shlichus, which becomes the gate through which all the other elements ascend, and in our generation and in this time “the special shlichus of our time: to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu.” [it should be noted that in the original the expression is “lekabel pnei Moshiach Tzidkeinu”, which can be translated as “to greet”, but literally the words convey the meaning “to accept the face of Moshiach”.]
Then the Rebbe then explains at length what a Shliach is, according to halacha, and how Continue reading →
This sicha begins with the story of the Rebbe Rashab as a young boy. On his 4th or 5th birthday he was brought to his grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek, to receive a blessing. When he entered his grandfather’s room he burst out in tears and said “In cheder, we learned that G-d revealed Himself to Avraham. Why does He not reveal Himself to me?”
The Tzemach Tzedek responded:” When a Jew [alternatively, ‘When a tzaddik’] who is ninety-nine years old recognizes that he must undergo [the spiritual service of] circumcision, he is worthy of having G-d reveal Himself to him.”
Both the question and the answer contain clues to the process of redemption.
The mitzvah of circumcision is a unique covenant with the Creator which is brought about by removing the foreskin, the “orlah“, an impure manifestation that obscures. Although none of us Continue reading →
Dvar Malchus 770 