Our parsha begins with the words “Vayechi Yaakov” (“Yaakov lived”). And although in the parsha we read about Yaakov’s passing, nonetheless our sages teach us that “Yaakov Avinu didn’t die — just as his children are alive, so too he is alive”. Explains the Rebbe:
The life of Yaakov is eternal life through this that it is drawn to to his children and their descendants until the end of all of the generations. “His children are alive” meaning true life through learning and fulfilling the Torah. [Although we mention his children], nonetheless the name of the parsha is named after the life of Yaakov (“Vayechi Yaakov”) — since the truth of the life of Yaakov, eternal life, is expressed in the life of his children.
This means that Yaakov himself lives eternally (soul in a body, as explained elsewhere), and since the material eyes see that “they embalmed him and buried him, etc” his eternal life must therefore be expressed through the life of his children: they are alive because he is alive. (Similarly, he is alive because they are alive — he is the reason Continue reading →
In our parsha we read about Yehuda approaching Yosef despite the fact that Yosef was second in command to Pharaoh (and not knowing this was really his brother). Yehuda fearlessly, but respectfully, demands that the youngest brother, Binyomin, be set free. Although he spoke respectfully, he did not ask permission to approach (as is customary) and was prepared to fight if necessary. All this in order to free Binyomin.
Who was mightier: Yosef or Yehuda? We know that Yosef was second only to Pharaoh, and everyone had to do exactly what he commanded. Yehuda, on the other hand, was a visitor with no rights, who had previously bowed in deference to Yosef. Despite this, Yehuda “broke protocol” and — recognizing that the life of Binyomin was at stake — confronted the Egyptian viceroy with mesirus nefesh (hardly imagining that this was really his brother Yosef who still loves him) .
Chanukah commemorates and publicizes the miracle of the oil which lasted for eight days. Oil is unique in that it is an edible substance, but it is never consumed alone. We add oil to foods, and it enhances them, but oil by itself is harmful to a person. Thus, it is demands explanation why the festival of Chanukah is celebrated with oil and not with a festive meal (consisting of bread, wine, and water) as all other festivals are (including Purim, which is similar to Chanukah in many ways).
Let us examine these substances, all of which serve as a moshol for Torah:
Bread and water are a perquisite for life — a person must have bread to eat and water to drink in order to survive. This refers to the revealed Torah, which is necessary for a Jew in order to know how to fulfill the mitzvos.
Wine is a luxury, one can subsist without it. Nonetheless, it adds enthusiasm and pleasure to the meal. This corresponds to the secrets of Torah.
Oil is also not essential, but is only consumed in very small quantities that are added to other foods. The oil refers to the “secrets of the secrets” of the Torah.
The Rebbe begins this sicha by restating that we are the final generation of exile and, thus automatically, the first generation of Geuloh, because “we have already finished all matters of the avodah and are already standing ready for the true and complete Geuloh through Moshiach Tzidkeinu immediately.”
There is, however, a question from some quarters: the Geuloh is, after all, dependent on the whole world being ready for Geuloh, not just one person or a small number of people — but the entire world. The Geuloh depends on the gathering of the dispersed Jewish nation from all four corners of the world, and also the refinement of all the nations and all the lands. So they ask: where do we see a change in the world the indicates that the world is more ready for the Geuloh today than in previous generations?
The sicha of Vayishlach 5752 contains several different threads, each of considerable significance. Firstly, the Rebbe explains the concept of the diminution of the moon — that the full moon on the 15th of the lunar month, when the moon fully receives and reflects the light of the sun, is followed by a decrease in the light until it completely disappears from sight. However, this period of diminution of the light of the moon is really only as far as the revelation of the moon is concerned. But the fact that we continue to count the days up (16th, 17th, 18th, etc.) hints that in fact the moon is really reaching a higher level, coming closer to the sun (the mashpia) until it ultimately unifies with it and becomes a mashpia itself. “The complete perfection of the moon is when it becomes like the sun and no longer needs to receive the light of the sun.“
The unification of the sun and the moon, the mashpia and the mekabel, requires the moon to be completely nullified, resulting in “the essence being revealed” (etzem b’hisgalus). This is a metaphor for the relationship of the Jewish people to Hashem, that when Continue reading →
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 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 →
“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 →
Dvar Malchus 770 