Thoughts

Devarim: Aquiring the Geuloh in the Closed Chest
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Devarim: Aquiring the Geuloh in the Closed Chest

Several times in these talks of 5751-52 the Rebbe states that the “direct way” to bringing Moshiach is through learning the subjects of Moshiach and Geuloh.  Parshas Devarim contains the instruction “do not disturb Moav” (אל תצר את מואב, Devarim 2:9), which is the nation living in one of the three lands “beyond the Yarden river” which were promised to Avraham Avinu and will be inherited in the future.  These lands are called the lands of the Keni, Kenizi,  and Kadmoni (lands of Ammon,  Moav, and Edom (Seir)–see Rashi on Devarim 2:5).

The inheritance of these lands is explained at length in Chassidus as referring to the intellectual faculties (Chochma, Bina) and the super-intellectual level of Kesser (see Lech Lecha 5752, for example), which are part of our spiritual makeup, but we have not “acquired” them yet.  In fact, the names Keni, Kenizi and Kadmoni all contain the letters of “kinyan” (the letters ק – נ – י), acquisition, hinting that these lofty levels must ultimately be “acquired” — internalized in a way where we master them.

With that in mind, note the interesting expression the Rebbe uses in the sicha for parshas Devarim, that all matters of the Geuloh have been completed and are “as if in a closed chest”:

…all the matters have been completed, and the Beis Hamikdash stands ready Above, and similarly all the matters–“everything is ready for the feast”, everything is ready as if in a closed chest and they have given the chest and its key to every single Jew.

What makes this noteworthy is the following halacha of the Rambam in chapter 21 of the laws of Mechira (“Selling”):

If, however, a person tells a colleague: "I will sell you whatever this house contains for this and this amount," "...whatever this chest contains,..." or "whatever this sack contains for this and this amount," the purchaser agrees and performs meshichah, the transaction is not binding. For the purchaser did not make a binding commitment, since he does not know what the receptacle contains, whether straw or gold. This is no more than gambling. The same applies in all analogous situations.

The Rambam rules that one cannot acquire something if he does not know what he is acquiring!  We cannot acquire the “closed chest” which contains the Geuloh until we know what is in it!  Until we know what Moshiach and Geuloh are all about, even if “the closed chest” that contains them has been handed to us along with the keys, we need to learn about it in order to “acquire” it, to internalize it as our own.

And if you will ask: but we have the keys, why not just open the chest and we’ll know exactly what’s in it and that satisfies all requirements for kinyan (acquisition)?

Yes, this is true. But the fact is that the chest and the keys have been given over to every Jew, and yet no one has yet seen fit to open the chest and reveal the Geuloh; thus, it seems that in order to arouse a Jew to do that he has to be motivated to do so by excitement over what is inside the chest that has been given to him.  How will he be motivated to open the chest?  Through fulfilling the Rebbe’s instruction to learn the subjects of Moshiach and Geuloh, to know what is in the chest, and then certainly each one of us will realize the great treasure we have been given and we will rush to open it up — and the sooner the better!

Pinchas 5751 — How Being a “Pnimi” is Living Geuloh
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Pinchas 5751 — How Being a “Pnimi” is Living Geuloh

In this sicha the Rebbe explains that we bring the Geuloh through the avoidah of “making ‘here’ Eretz Yisroel” (מאך דא ארץ ישראל).  This is associated with the avoidah of being a “Pnimi” — one who is completely involved in what he is doing.  The instruction of “making ‘here’ Eretz Yisroel” is explained by the Rebbe: “even when he is found ‘here’, in chutz la’aretz, and in the time of golus — one must make ‘Eretz Yisroel’ [while he is] ‘here’ — in this place and time…seemingly: according to Torah ‘here’ (chutz la’aretz) is not ‘Eretz Yisroel’!”

The way to make “here” (which is not “Eretz Yisroel”) into “Eretz Yisroel” is by being totally involved in the avoidah of the moment, without thinking about what it will lead to, whether it is the main thing or a preparation for something else.  “It is known the saying of the Rebbe Rashab — a Pnimi is one who is completely involved in everything he does.”  Even if what he is doing is a preparation for Continue reading →

Rebbi Akiva’s Opinion on Gimmel Tammuz
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Rebbi Akiva’s Opinion on Gimmel Tammuz

Everything in the life of the Rebbe’s Chassidim is governed by the Rebbe’s teachings.  But when something occurs for which we don’t have explicit instructions — such as Gimmel Tammuz — we must look in the Rebbe’s Torah for guidance.

Many Chassidim will say that the Rebbe in fact does give explicit instructions for Gimmel Tammuz, for example in 5751 the Rebbe writes that Gimmel Tammuz represents “the beginning of the Geuloh”.  Nonetheless, not every chosid today is prepared to accept that what the Rebbe said regarding the “beginning of the Geuloh” of the Rebbe Rayatz can so easily be applied to  Gimmel Tammuz, 5754.  Even so, this split — how Chassidim respond to the situation after Gimmel Tammuz 5754 — is itself addressed by the Rebbe, as we hope to show.

In Likkutei Sichos volume 19 is printed a famous sicha explaining an aggadeta at the end of Mesechta Makos.  The aggadeta describes two incidents involving Rebbi Akiva while he was travelling with three other sages.  What concerns us here is the second incident:

Rabban Gamliel, Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah, Rebbi Yehoshua, and Rebbi Akiva were going up to Yerushalayim (after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash).  When they reached the point where they could see the Temple Mount they all (including Rebbi Akiva) tore their garments as a sign of mourning.  As they proceeded and approached the site of the Beis Hamikdash, they saw a fox run out of the Holy of Holies.  The three sages began crying, and Rebbi Akiva laughed.

“Why are you laughing?!” they asked him.

He responded: “Why are you crying?”

They answered: “The place about which the verse states ‘a non-Kohen who approaches will die’ and now foxes are are going there and we shouldn’t cry?!”

Rebbi Akiva responded: that is why I am laughing.  The verse states (Yeshayahu 8:2) “two faithful witnesses will give testimony: Uriah haKohen and Zecharia [the prophet].”  The prophecy of one is dependent on the other.  Uriah prophesied (about the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash) that  “Zion will be plowed like a field”.  Zecharia prophesied (about the Geuloh) that “elderly men and women will yet sit in the streets of Yerushalayim.”  “Now that I see that Uriah’s prophecy was fulfilled, I’m certain that Zecharia’s will be fulfilled.”

They said to him: “Akiva, you have comforted us.  Akiva, you have comforted us.”  Thus ends the aggadeta.

The Rebbe asks a number of questions, which are answered at length in the Sicha, but for our purposes we need to understand how the Rebbe explains Rebbi Akiva’s laughter upon seeing something as drastic as a fox running out of the Holy of Holies.  The Rebbe explains Rebbe Akiva’s view as follows:

Rebbi Akiva was able to see the good, even in something that appears as not good at all.  Since the good will come out in the end, his opinion was that the future good takes precedence over anything “not good” in the present.  Thus, if one knows (according to Torah, not merely a “hergesh”) that the destruction that you see will lead to Geuloh — this demands, according to Rebbi Akiva, that one relate to the future Geuloh and not the present destruction.  In the Rebbe’s words: Rebbi Akiva only saw the future good.

And more than that: in the verse the destruction itself is likened to a “plowed field”, which is actually part of the growth process.  It is not a negative step which one must suffer in order to get to better things down the road; rather — the plowing itself is part and parcel of the sowing and reaping.

In other words, not only the future good must take precedence over the unpleasant present, but the present itself is part of the future good!  And this is why the other sages were comforted by his words: because he showed them how the future good was actually already present in the “here and now” (despite how unpleasant the “here and now” might appear).

Let us translate this as it might apply to Gimmel Tammuz in our times: Continue reading →

Gimmel Tammuz: What is the Moment When the Sun Stands Still?
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Gimmel Tammuz: What is the Moment When the Sun Stands Still?

Would you like to know at what moment the sun stood still on Gimmel Tammuz, 5754?

In the sicha of parshas Korach, Gimmel Tammuz, 5751, the Rebbe explains at length the great miracle which occurred on Gimmel Tammuz in the days of Yehoshua bin Nun: the sun and the moon (and the entire cosmic system) stood still.  “Shemesh b’Givon dom“.

This miracle doesn’t seem to have such an obvious connection to the miraculous Geuloh of the Rebbe Rayatz in 5627 (the subject of the Rebbe’s farbrengen), but mashpiim find an obvious connection to the events of Gimmel Tammuz 5754: that just as it was by Yehoshua bin Nun, that he commanded the sun and the moon (and the entire cosmos) to stand still, causing time to “freeze” in order to enable the Yidden to win the war they were waging on their own effort, so too we are in a “frozen moment” where the Rebbe wants us to finish the war to end golus with our own effort.  But there is an even greater insight, as we hope to explain with Hashem’s help.

When Gimmel Tammuz comes around, half the farbrengens are on the theme of celebrating “as’chalta d’Geuloh” (the beginning of the Geuloh), and the other half are  on the theme of Hillula.  Confusion?  Denial?  Delusion?

Come and hear an amazing resolution of what might have seemed to be an irreconcilable dispute about reality.

When Eliyahu HaNovi was preparing to ascend heavenward, he asked Continue reading →

28 Sivan a Preparation for Gimmel Tammuz?

We find that the Rebbe teaches a firm principle: the flow of the year is a continuum.  This means to say that each holiday or commemoration day is a preparation for the one that follows it on the calendar.  For example: Pesach (coming out of Egypt) is a preparation for Matan Torah on Shavuos; the day of Yud Kislev (the redemption of the Mitteler Rebbe) is a  preparation for Yud-Tes Kislev (the day of redemption 29 years earlier of his father, the Alter Rebbe).  The year that things happened in history is of much less significance than the order that they happen on the calendar.

From this we understand that since 28 Sivan precedes Gimmel Tammuz by 5 days — according to the Rebbe’s principle it serves as a preparation for Gimmel Tammuz.  In what do we see this?  On 28 Sivan we celebrate the Rebbe coming to America, being miraculously saved from the “valley of tears” of war-torn Europe.  Gimmel Tammuz is marks the end of the era (until now, at least) when we could see and hear the Rebbe in the usual ways.  What sort of preparation is this one for that one?

The day of 28 Sivan is noted in the “Shalsheles Hayachas” printed (at the Rebbe’s behest) at the beginning of the sefer Hayom Yom.  It begins with the Maharal of Prague, indicating the 7 generations to the Alter Rebbe.  Then it lists by year the major events and accomplishments of each of the Rebbeim of Chabad, concluding with the Rebbe.  For the Rebbe it states (after the year he was born and married) that in “5701 — Sivan — came to the city of New York”.  Not “arrived” (as a refugee) but “came” (purposefully).  A few comments about the Rebbe’s coming to New York:

Firstly, in the farbrengen of Shavuos 5701, about 10 days before the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin would set sail for America, the Previous Rebbe said:

According to universal custom, preparations for an important guest begin well in advance.  Every corner in the house is cleaned two weeks in advance, the family talks about the upcoming visit, and the neighbors are duly updated. He’s arriving soon. It’s now close to the time when Mashiach will come. It’s time to prepare for his arrival….  

Many see in this a hint to the arrival to America of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.  The old-timers who were in New York at the time tell that from the moment the Rebbe arrived, “everything changed”.  In fact, the Rebbe even testified on himself that something changed when he arrived to the USA.  At a farbrengen (Chol haMoed Pesach, 5748), the Rebbe addressed his arousal to cry out “Ad Mosai” (“until when” must we remain in golus):

I never heard this from my father, and certainly not from my grandfather. Even from myself, I never heard such talk before I arrived here in the United States…

So even the Rebbe’s impatience for Geuloh started when the Rebbe came to America (on 28 Sivan)!

We could say that 28 Sivan is an aspect of Moshiach being revealed.  Revealed to the Chassidim in America, revealed to the Rebbe himself, revealed in the new activities of Lubavitch that began only after the Rebbe’s arrival.

Based on this, we can see how 28 Sivan is a preparation for Gimmel Tammuz: on 28 Sivan Moshiach is revealed, on Gimmel Tammuz Moshiach is concealed.  As Rashi brings from on Daniel 12:12:

“in the future our Moshiach will be concealed after he has been revealed and will return and be revealed [again]” (שעתיד משיחנו להתכסות אחר שנגלה וישוב ויתגלה)

In order to fulfill the second step of being concealed (with the great value of the Divine service of the period of concealment, as discussed, for example, in the Kuntres of Rosh Chodesh Kislev, 5751 which addresses the concealment of Erev Rosh Chodesh), there must be the preparation of Moshiach being revealed.  The aspect of revelation of 28 Sivan precedes and prepares for the aspect of concealment of Gimmel Tammuz (and it’s connected to Erev Rosh Chodesh, which is the day after 28 Sivan).  Of course Gimmel Tammuz is not an end in itself — it leads to the ultimate redemption of 12-13 Tammuz.  And as the Rebbe says many times: the Geuloh of 12-13 Tammuz showed in retrospect how Gimmel Tammuz itself was “the beginning of the Geuloh”.  May we bring it about now!

Parshas Naso, 5751: The Year (in which) Moshiach is Revealed
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Parshas Naso, 5751: The Year (in which) Moshiach is Revealed

In the sicha of Parshas Naso, the Rebbe states as follows:

This is especially emphasized in this year — the year 5751 (1991) which stands for “I will show wonders” — beginning with the wonders that we already saw in actuality, revealed in the eyes of the whole world, in this year [referring to the miracles of the Gulf War].  That through [these events] the words of the Yalkut Shimoni midrash were fulfilled: “In the year that Melech Hamoshiach is revealed all the kings of the world will quarrel, the king of Persia [Iran/Iraq], the king of Arabia, and the Holy One, blessed be He, says to the Jewish people, “my children, do not be afraid, all that I have done I only did for you…the time of your Redemption has arrived.”  Since that time, we are already standing at [the closing section of the Yalkut Shimoni midrash] “in the hour that Melech Hamoshiach comes, he announces to the Jewish people and says humble ones, the time of your redemption has arrived.”

Prior to and during the first Persian Gulf War, the Rebbe made frequent references to this Yalkut Shimoni midrash, but here, for the first time, the Rebbe says unequivocally that “it has been fulfilled”, specifically quoting the words “in the year Melech Hamoshiach is revealed”.  In other words: in 1991 Melech Hamoshiach was revealed.  But despite this, as the Rebbe points out in other sichos, the Jewish people are still fearful and require Moshiach to tell them not to be afraid and to inform them that the Geulah has arrived.  But the “breakthrough” has happened: the year Melech Hamoshiach is revealed.

To add further insight:

“The year in which Melech Hamoshiach is revealed…” (“שנה שמלך המשיח נגלה בו”). The word “year” in Hebrew is feminine, and grammatically we would expect this Midrash to read “נגלה בה“, meaning “in her [the year, feminine]”.  So we need to explain why it says “בו” instead of “בה”: “the year Melech Hamoshiach is revealed in him“[masculine].

Regarding this logical question, it will help to Continue reading →

Keep Your Eyes on the Rebbe!

In the sicha of Parshas Emor, that Rebbe makes the following enigmatic statement:

[The Geulah and building of the 3rd Beis Hamikdash] will be hastened through the study of Torah, and of Chassidus in particular. This also includes looking into the face of your Rebbe, which helps one’s understanding…

This concept is found in the Gemara (as brought in the sicha of Emor), and the Rebbe himself wrote (in the early years of his leadership) that a person should imagine the face of the Previous Rebbe or look at his photo, explaining the benefits that come from this.  So why mention it seemingly “out of context” in a sicha in 5751?

It can be understood that the Rebbe is not only saying to look at the Rebbe’s visage, whether in person or via a photo, but something more than this.  The Rebbe is giving us advice how to better understand these sichos of 5751-52, where the Rebbe is speaking openly about Moshiach in unprecedented ways: when we are learning here about Moshiach, we need to know whom we are talking about; that this is not just “learning Torah lishmah“, but has very practical ramifications. How will we properly understand what the Rebbe is trying to tell us about the identify of Moshiach, and whether we are waiting for him to come or if he has already come? Simple: Keep your eyes on the Rebbe!

Read the following words from the sicha of Behar-Bechukosai as they are without “looking at the face of the Rebbe”, then read them again with the Rebbe in mind — you will understand very well the “enigmatic” advice “which helps one’s understanding“:

Immediately we will see that Moshiach is already found among us, and every single Jew will point with his finger and say “Behold, this one (is the Melech haMoshiach, and he already) came”.

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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

VIDEO: The Poor Man Must Accept the Gift

Based on the Maamar in Kuntres Beis Nissan 5751: The Rebbe gives the moshol of giving to a poor man. The “initial thought” is not the giving of the tzedakah, but that the poor man should accept it and benefit from it, which is not in the power of the giver, only the recipient.

What does this mean for Dor Hashvii and the Rebbe’s assertion that “I’ve done all I can do, now I give it over to you…”

Introduction to the cycle of Dvar Malchus
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Introduction to the cycle of Dvar Malchus

Introduction to the cycle of Dvar Malchus

“Rav Asi asked, ‘Why do little school children begin their Chumash learning with Vayikra and not with Bereishis? It is because little children are pure and unblemished, and the sacrifices are pure and unblemished. The pure ones begin their learning with the study of the pure.'” (Vayikra Rabbah, Tzav 7:3)

The cycle of Dvar Malchus refers to the twelve months of sichos which the Rebbe said between 5751-52 (1991-92), the latest words (“Mishna achrona”) that we have from the Rebbe.  Notably, the cycle begins with the sicha of Parashas Vayikra, 5751.  Although the Torah of Moshiach will only be revealed to us together with the revelations of the true and complete Geulah, these sichos are a “taste” of the “new Torah that will come forth from Me” (Yeshayahu 51:4; Vayikra Rabbah 13:3) and fittingly we start learning from parshas Vayikra.  Furthermore, the sicha describes a connection to Simchas Torah, which is the day when we begin reading the Torah anew (finishing with “V’zos Habrocha” and beginning with “Bereishis”).

Some background: The year 5750 (1990-91) was termed by the Rebbe “it will be a year of miracles” based on the letters that form the Hebrew year.  The year 1990 saw the beginning of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the outbreak of the first Gulf War.  The year 5751 received the name “it will be year of ‘I will show wonders’”. 

By the time we reach Parshas Vayikra, 5751 (March 1991), the Gulf War has ended (on Purim, two weeks earlier); the events in the disintegration of the Soviet Union will lead, in June (Rosh Chodesh Tammuz), to the election of Boris Yeltsin and the end of the Communist Regime, effectively ceasing to exist upon the resignation of President Gorbachev in late August (Shabbos Ki Seitze).  This new reality — the defeat of Sadaam Hussein in Iraq (and the overt miracles witnessed in Israel during that war) and the collapse of the Soviet Union (bringing an end to the Cold War and the nuclear arms race) — is the background to these sichos.

As the Rebbe often explains, events in the physical world are a consequence of what occurs spiritually, the realm of the Jewish souls.  If we see the fall of the earthly “iron curtain” it is because the spiritual “iron curtain” (“mechitza shel barzel”) which separated Israel from their Father in Heaven has fallen.  If an evil dictator who threatened to annihilate, G-d forbid, Jews young and old is defeated and rendered powerless without a Jew firing a weapon, this is because the same drama is playing out spiritually.  These sichos are to guide us in this “new world order” — a new earthly world order, reflecting a new spiritual world order. Continue reading →