3_Sefer Vayikra

5) Kuntres 13 Iyar: Like Which Brother?
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5) Kuntres 13 Iyar: Like Which Brother?

This Chassidic discourse was printed in honor of the Yahrtzeit of the Rebbe’s brother, Yisroel Aryeh Leib.  Fittingly, it begins with the words of the posuk “Oh, that you were like a brother to me,” (Shir Hashirim, 8:1). Rashi comments that this verse refers to the way Yosef dealt kindly with his brothers even though they had mistreated him (by selling him as a slave to Egypt).  Contrasting this: there is a midrash which says that the verse refers to his beloved brother Binyomin, who, unlike his older brothers, had no hand in selling Yosef down to Egypt.

The discourse goes into depth about the nature of free choice, and the responsibility of Yosef’s brothers for selling him even though later Yosef reveals that it was divinely orchestrated for the good —  so that Yosef should rise to power in Egypt and be in a position to provide for his family when they sought respite from the famine in the land of Canaan.  However, we are now only going to focus on the part of the discourse that shows an open connection to the sichos of Dvar Malchus.

The verse “Oh, that you were like a brother to me,” is a request from the Jewish people to Hashem — to relate to us like a brother.  It is understood why we would interpret it to be referring to the brothers who sold him: the brothers did evil to Yosef but he repaid them with kindness.  Similarly, we request from Hashem that even though we have “done evil to Him” through our sins, He should repay us with kindness.  However, as we know from the story in chumash, Yosef’s kindness followed the trials and tribulations that he put the brothers through in order to bring them to do teshuva and acknowledge their sin.  By asking for Hashem to relate to us like Yosef to Binyomin, who had no hand in the sale of Yosef, we are asking for open and revealed good without any “trials and tribulations”.

The difference between the two interpretations (whether the verse is referring to Yosef’s conduct to his 10 brothers or to Binyomin) will be understood as the difference between a number of contrasting concepts, all of which contain a common thread.

On the one hand we have Continue reading →

Achrei-Kedoshim 5751: Using Out Golus to Make Geuloh
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Achrei-Kedoshim 5751: Using Out Golus to Make Geuloh

Geuloh is made from Golus (Exile)

There is a heady excitement that develops when one begins to feel what the Rebbe has been expressing in the recent sichos — that we are truly on the cusp of the coming of Moshiach and the revelations of the true and complete Geuloh.  Such excitement and anticipation for Moshiach could generates a desire to throw off the responsibilities of Golus and charge head-first and full-speed into Geuloh.  For example: abandoning one’s job and devoting 24 hours a day to spreading the news of the redemption and learning the subject of Moshiach and Geuloh (after all, the Rebbe said in the previous sicha that this learning is the direct path to bringing the Geuloh, so why delay it by attending to earthly needs such as a job and a house?). Such “over-the-top”  behavior, explains the Rebbe, is not the way to bring Moshiach.  Or, from the other side, one could be worried that all of one’s efforts in worldly matters will go to waste with the coming of Moshiach.  Such fear is also put to rest in this sicha.

As mentioned in the previous sichos, the Geuloh (redemption) is the word exile (GOLA) with the addition of the letter “alef”, representing the revelation of Hashem in exile itself.  This is the concept of the Rambam that with the coming of Moshiach (in the first stage, at least) nothing will change in the conduct of the world — the world will conduct itself naturally — the only difference is that we will not be subjugated to physicality and the laws of nature as before.  However, this itself is no small matter!  What is means is that Continue reading →

Tzora’as: The Illness Before Geuloh
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Tzora’as: The Illness Before Geuloh

In the landmark Sicha of Tazria-Metzora 5751, the Rebbe explains how Tzora’as is a condition that occurs at the end of golus, after avoidas habirurim is finished (which is why it appears in the Torah after parshas Tazria, which refers to the birth of the soul of Moshiach).  As we are now holding at that time and place — the end of golus, after the birurim are finished — the condition of Tzora’as is relevant to us.

In fact, the Rebbe states clearly that each and every Yid today can be said to be on the level of one who has completed his avoidah and is holding in a state of the Metzora — all the bad is coming out, but the inside is completely refined.  (Reminiscent of chazal’s play on words that “Metzora” is from the words “moitzi ra’“, a reference to loshon hora, but according to Chassidus we can understand it literally “to put out the evil” — that all the evil has been purged from within and it’s appearance externally is really the final stage before it’s complete eradication.)

How can we understand this Tzora’as in our lives?

The maamor of the Alter Rebbe in Likkutei Torah and this Sicha of the Rebbe MH”M explain how the oirois Elyonim (“lofty Divine lights”) begin to shine in a Yid’s soul only after the inner refinement is completed.  Lacking bittul and proper vessels to receive these oiros, the lights of G-dly עונג (pleasure) are rearranged to become נגע (lesion).  This manifests itself as anger, judgmental behavior, and “spiritual arrogance”.  The powerful lights of Tohu which demand “Moshiach Now!” and “Yechi Hamelech” may be unable to tolerate those who one perceives to be “holding up the process”.  We could call it intolerance for and arrogance regarding one who appears to be a “misanaged” in these matters.

There is another form of Tzora’as that can affect their person, in the opposite manner, alluded to also in the maamor.  The Alter Rebbe explains that the lesion of Tzora’as which appears on the skin is a white patch of skin because the white color is a sign that the blood flow is interrupted.  In a healthy body the heart pumps blood to the limbs, and the limbs return the blood to the heart (see also Tanya, Igeres Hakodesh ch. 31).  The failure of the limb to return blood to the heart results in the white patch of skin, which is Tzora’as.

With this concept in mind, let us revisit the words of the Rebbe is the Sicha of Beis Nissan, 5748 (3 years and a month before the Sicha of Tazria-Metzora 5751).  There the Rebbe explains how the King is the heart of the nation (as the Rambam writes), and just as the role of the heart in the body is to pump blood, which is life, to the limbs, similarly the King gives life to the people. And just as in a healthy body the limbs must send blood — life — back to the heart, so, too, the people must give life to the King (for there is no King without a people).

The people giving life to the King, says the Rebbe, is expressed by the crowning of the King with the expression “Yechi Hamelech”, which “emphasizes that also the actions of the nation affect the life of the King”.

The crowning of the King by the people through the declaration “Yechi Hamelech” is likened to the limbs returning the blood to the heart. And the failure to return blood to the heart results in the white lesion which is Tzora’as, meaning that the inability to declare “Yechi Hamelech” is itself a case of Tzora’as!

The cure for Tzora’as, as explained in our sources, is the bittul that comes from learning Torah — and in our time the Rebbe emphasizes that it must be in the subject of Moshiach and Geuloh, especially as explained in the Rebbe’s own Sichos and Maamorim.  This study provides the the vessels to heal both forms of Tzora’as — both the intolerant and judgmental form, and also the inability of the “limb” to return the blood to the “heart” by crowning the King with the declaration “Yechi Hamelech”.

Surely we will all add in this study, to bring about the realization of “the law of the Metzora on the day of his purification”, which the Rebbe says refers to the revelation of Moshiach.

Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu v’Rabbeinu Melech haMoshiach L’olam Vo’ed!

!יחי אדוננו מורנו ורבינו מלך המשיח לעולם ועד

4) Kuntres Beis Iyar, 5751: Why Concealment
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4) Kuntres Beis Iyar, 5751: Why Concealment

[The discourse presented here was edited by the Rebbe and printed for Beis Iyar 5751 (1991), and in retrospect we can see how it is meant to guide us and strengthen us through the present time (even more so than when it was published), as will be explained, בעז”ה.]

The haftorah that is read when Shabbos falls out in Erev Rosh Chodesh (the day before the new month when the moon is completely concealed) begins with the verse: “Yehonosan said to him: tomorrow is [Rosh] Chodesh and you will be remembered (נפקדת) because your place will be vacant (כי יפקד מושבך).”

The words of this verse demand explanation: why are words from the same root — נפקדת and כי יפקד — used for completely opposite concepts? “You will be remembered” is seemingly quite the opposite from “your place will be vacant”, which implies that he will be missing?!  To explain this, the Rebbe Continue reading →

Tazria-Metzora 5751: The “Geuloh Illness”
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Tazria-Metzora 5751: The “Geuloh Illness”

Moshiach in Exile is Called “Metzora”

In many years the Torah portions of Tazria and Metzora are read together on the same Shabbos.  Parshas Tazria begins with the words “a woman who gives seed and gives birth to a male” — according to Chassidus, this hints at the birth (revelation) of the soul of Moshiach.  Giving seed refers to our deeds and effort (“avodah”) in the time of exile, followed immediately by the sprouting — the complete Geuloh.

Metzora refers to Moshiach; as our sages say: he bears our sicknesses.  The name of Moshiach in the time of exile is “Metzora” (one suffering from the spiritual skin ailment called Tzoraas).  The opening words of this parsha, “This is the Torah of the metzora on the day of his purification” — the day of his purification, the day that the nega on his skin is healed, meaning when he (Moshiach) is revealed and redeems the children of Israel in the true and complete Geuloh.

What is the connection?  Tazria is birth, meaning the eternal Geuloh; Metzora is one who needs to be brought to purification.  Seemingly, if the eternal Geuloh is “born”, it is not related in any way to the state of a metzora, who is connected with illness and exile.  However, the content of parshas Tazria is all about the various types of lesions of a metzora, which pertains to exile.  And, parshas Metzora actually teaches the laws of the purification of the metzora, the inyan of Geuloh.  Seemingly, it should be reversed?!

Tzora’as — Illness After Completing Everything

It turns out that the order is of the parshiyos and their subjects is exact.  The illness of tzora’as becomes relevant only at the very end of golus.  The verse that begins to describe the illness of tzora’as states “A man [‘Adam’] who has a on the skin of his flesh…”, and the Zohar states that “Adam is a great level, the perfection of everything”.  If so, how could he be subject to illness?!  The answer is: although he has rectified everything Continue reading →

28 Nissan: Do All You Can!
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28 Nissan: Do All You Can!

What follows comes from the “famous sicha of Koach (28) Nissan”, which the Rebbe spoke after Maariv prayers to a small crowd in 770. Although the words were –- and remain –- shocking, an attempt to shake Chassidim out of their complacency in golus, they would be followed by nearly a year of sichos containing some of the loftiest revelations, which are the subject of this website: the Dvar Malchus sichos of 5751-52.

The shliach and mashpia R’ Zalman ‘שיחי Liberow is fond of pointing out that although the Rebbe’s words are strong, disturbing, and sound almost as though the Rebbe “doesn’t know what to do with these people” (chas v’sholom), if we take a second look we find that the Rebbe says that he is doing “the only thing left to do”, which should give us tremendous encouragement! It means that literally there is nothing else that needs to be done (by the Rebbe) to bring Moshiach. If the Rebbe gives it over to us, it means that we have the power to do it! “Karov eleicha hadavar me’od.”

(Perhaps it is worth noting that 28 Nissan is the 13th day in counting the Omer, Yesod sh’b’Gevurah. It is the day that the walls of Yericho, the first city conquered by Yehoshua bin Nun and the bnei Yisroel upon entering Eretz Yisroel. It is also the day (in 5714 [1954]) that the Rebbe taught the famous niggun of “Tzema Lecha Nafshi”, a niggun of longing for G-dly revelation.)

A translation of part of the sicha:

Because of the unique stress on the Redemption in this time, an astonishing question arises: How is it possible that despite all these factors, Moshiach has not yet come? This is beyond all possible comprehension.

It is also beyond comprehension that when ten (and many times ten) Jews gather together at a time that is appropriate for the Redemption to come, they do not raise a clamor great enough to cause Moshiach to come immediately. They are, heaven forbid, able to accept the possibility that Moshiach will not arrive tonight, and even that he will not arrive tomorrow, or on the day after tomorrow, heaven forbid.

Even when people cry out “Ad mosai” — Until when will we remain in exile?’ they do so only because they were told to. If they had sincere intent and earnest desire, and cried out in truth, Moshiach would surely have come already.

What more can I do to motivate the entire Jewish people to clamor and cry out, and thus actually bring about the coming of Moshiach. All that has been done until now has been to no avail, for we are still in exile; moreover, we are in an inner exile in regard to our own service of G-d.

All that I can possibly do is to give the matter over to you. Now, do everything you can to bring Moshiach, here and now, immediately.

May it be G-d’s will that ultimately ten Jews will be found who are stubborn enough to resolve to secure G-d’s consent to actually bring about the true and ultimate Redemption, here and now immediately. Their stubborn resolve will surely evoke G-d’s favor, as reflected by the interpretation of the verse, “For they are a stiff necked people; You will pardon our sins and wrongdoings and make us Your possession.”

I have done whatever I can; from now on, you must do whatever you can. May it be G-d’s will that there will be one, two, or three among you who will appreciate what needs to be done and how it needs to be done, and may you actually be successful and bring about the true and complete Redemption. May this take place immediately, in a spirit of happiness and gladness of heart.

View the video with English subtitles:

Shemini 5751: Unifying the Limited and the Unlimited
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Shemini 5751: Unifying the Limited and the Unlimited

Periodically parshas Shemini (“Eighth”, referring to the 8th day of setting up the Mishkan in the desert) is read 8 times (this occurs outside of Eretz Yisroel in a non-leap year when Pesach falls out on Shabbos).  This gives rise to the expression “Shemini Shmoneh Shmeina”, meaning “[When parshas] Shemini (“Eighth”) [is read] Shmoneh [eight times, then the year will be] Shmeina [fat]” — with material and spiritual abundance.  (And is drawn into all the coming years until the next time it will be read 8 times.)

The “eighth” that is mentioned in this parsha is the beginning of the indwelling of the Shechina in the Mishkan. The world derives from 7,  which represents G-dly light as it is enclothed in the Creation. The number 8 represents the G-dly light above Creation, and it is specifically on the 8th day that we find the Shechina being revealed in the Mishkan.

Ultimate Purpose of Creation

Hashem’s intent in creating the world is that the G-dly light that is above the world (represented by Shemini, 8th) will not remain separate but rather will be drawn down to be revealed in the world in a way that the world, on its own terms, will be able to receive this revelation.  This means the revelation above limitation being unified with limitation itself. When these two aspects are unified, the recipient beomes a vessel to accept this revelation in an internalized way — the revelation of Continue reading →

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3) Kuntres 18 Nissan: Guarding the Intellectual Soul

What is easier: keeping a powerful beast like a cow or a bull locked up in it’s pen, or a bird?  Which requires “additional guarding”?

Although a bird possesses nothing of the power that the bull has, it has an additional ability that even the most powerful beast lacks — the power of flight. Thus, fences are sufficient to keep a mighty bull locked up, but a tiny bird is not properly guarded unless the walls are capped by a roof.

In Halocho this expresses itself in the laws regarding courtyards — that a large courtyard that is not covered by a roof is considered a carmelis (by Rabbinic decree, even though according to Torah it is a private domain (reshus hayochid)), but if it is covered with a roof then it remains a private domain according to Rabbinic opinion as well.

The maamor printed for 18 Nissan, 5751 (anniversary of the Rebbe’s Bris Mila)  explains this in terms of our Divine service: the animal for which fences are sufficient is our animal soul; the bird that requires a roof is our Intellectual Soul (Nefesh Hasichlis).  The animal soul, while powerful, has four legs on the ground and looks down — it’s only attraction and interest is gashmiyus.  It is enough to build fences to pen it in.  But the Nefesh Hasichlis, while it is a human intellect which relates to worldly things, possesses an inclination to “fly away” to contemplate things which are of a higher nature. Thus it needs a roof as well.

What is this roof?

In our Divine service, the “roof” is Continue reading →

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2) Kuntres Yud Alef Nissan 5751: Prayer of the Rich Man

This discourse of the Rebbe was edited and printed for distribution for the Rebbe’s birthday, 11 Nissan, 5751.  A lengthy and deep discourse, we mention here only the main points, reflecting the themes of the Dvar Malchus sichos from the same period.

“Tefilla leMoshe” is called by our sages the prayer of a rich man, and “Tefilla leDovid” is the prayer of a poor man.  Since tefilla is defined as our asking for our needs, what is a rich man’s prayer?  What does he need?

We find that according to Torah one must fill the needs of the poor man.  This doesn’t only mean those necessities required by every person, it means we are obligated also to fill his personal needs.  If he had previously been wealthy and was accustomed to a servant and a horse to run before him, then for him such a thing is lacking and we must provide it for him.  One is obligated to fill what he lacks, but one is not obligated to make him rich.  Thus, it comes out that even having a servant and a horse running before him (i.e. to be not lacking anything) is still not wealthy.

Wealthy, explains the Rebbe, is “superabundance”, which is more than just that nothing is lacking.  Furthermore, it means that this abundance is not received from another source (and thus could be cut off or taken away); rather, it is inherently his — making him rich in essence (עשיר בעצם).   This is why our sages say “there is no one wealthy except in da’as (knowledge)”.  Rich (in knowledge) means that what he has learned has become unified with him and part of him as a result of his own effort (as opposed to remaining on the level of what others taught him).

Back to the question: one who is rich has superabundance — what, then, is his prayer?!  The Rebbe answers: Continue reading →

Tzav 5751: Moshe “the G-dly Man” Has Power to Redeem Us
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Tzav 5751: Moshe “the G-dly Man” Has Power to Redeem Us

The sicha opens by mentioning that this Shabbos was Shabbos Hagadol, the Shabbos when we commemorate what the Shulchan Aruch calls “the beginning of the Geuloh and the miracles”.  This does not refer to the 10 plagues (9 of which already occurred by this time), but to the armed revolt of the first-born Egyptians who demanded from Pharoah and the elders of Mitzrayim that they let the Bnei Yisroel leave Egypt.  When Pharoah refused, the first-born took up arms and killed 600,000 Mitzriim.  The Rebbe is connecting this with the Gulf War (which ended 2 weeks before Shabbos Parshas Tzav), when the “first-born” (the strongest nations) took up arms against a tyrant who was threatening the Jewish nation.  Recall the words of the Shulchan Aruch: “the beginning of the Geuloh and the miracles”.

But the focus of this sicha is on the redeemer, on Moshe Rabbeinu.  What makes him singularly capable of redeeming the Yidden from golus Mitzrayim?  (And since “the first redeemer is the last redeemer” (Moshiach) — this applies also to the final redemption.)

The Rebbe explains that Moshe is uniquely qualified, and endowed with the ability, to bring the Geuloh.   To understand this, the Rebbe defines for us the meaning of Geuloh: Continue reading →