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. Come and hear an amazing reconciliation of this widespread confusion:
When Eliyahu HaNovi was preparing to ascend heavenward, he asked his disciple Elisha what he could do for him “before I will be taken from you.” Elisha responds with a puzzling request: a double-portion of Eliyahu’s prophetic spirit should rest upon him. Eliyahu replies that this is a difficult request — meaning it is impossible to give more than one has! (Rashi) Nonetheless, Eliyahu adds that if he (Elisha) will see him being taken from him, then he can fulfill his request.
There are various answers given to the question: how could Eliyahu HaNovi give his disciple more than what he possesses. The answer we will present here will open our eyes to something amazing: Continue reading →
Everything in the life of the Rebbe’s chassidim is guided 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 will say that the Rebbe in fact does give explicit instructions for Gimmel Tammuz. For example the most recent sicha of 5751 where the Rebbe informs us that in 5687, despite the confusion as to what was going on, the transfer of the Rebbe Rayatz to exile in Kostrama was “the beginning of the Geuloh” (as would be determined later with his ultimate release on 12-13 Tammuz, 5687). Nonetheless, not every chosid can accept that what the Rebbe said regarding the “beginning of the Geuloh” of the Rebbe Rayatz can so easily be applied to the far more confusing event of Gimmel Tammuz, 5754. Yet, even this split as to how to respond to the situation after Gimmel Tammuz 5754 is explained in the Rebbe’s teachings, 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 (Rabban Gamliel, Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah, and Rebbi Yehoshua). What concerns us here is the second incident:
The four were going up to Yerushalayim (after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash). When they Continue reading →
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:
The Miracle of the Sun standing still was only in order to allow Israel to defeat the enemy by their own power in a natural way.
Gimmel Tammuz is the day that the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe was released from Soviet prison in 5687 (1927).
Prior to that, we find that it was on this day that Yehoshua bin Nun performed a tremendous miracle, causing the sun to stand still. The story behind the miracle is that Israel were doing battle with the enemy. Sunset was approaching, and with the setting of the sun the battle would cease and the enemy would be able to escape. In order to enable Israel to defeat the enemy, Yehoshua instructed the sun to “be silent”, causing it to cease it’s flight in the heavens, preserving the daylight so that the battle could be won.
The Rebbe asks an obvious question: if one has the power to cause the sun (and the entire heavenly system with it) to pause, why not simply bring about the defeat of the enemy in a direct fashion? The preceding verses in Sefer Yehoshua tell us that more of the enemy were killed by stones which fell upon them from heaven than were killed by the sword. Is it not a simpler matter to rain down some more stones than to freeze the entire heavenly system?
The answer the Rebbe gives is that the battle is Israel’s battle, it must be won by them under their own power. Of course Hashem is helping with miraculous assistance from above, but this is only assistance. The war must be fought and pursued by Israel in a natural fashion, even if on top of that there is super-natural assistance. Thus, instead of Yehoshua simply bringing about the defeat of the enemy and Israel stand by passively, he used his power to give Israel more time to overcome the enemy in a natural way.
In our day, Gimmel Tammuz is primarily associated with the transition from the years when we saw the Rebbe to the current situation where the Rebbe is not seen except in videos and dreams. Moshe Rabbeinu is likened to the sun, and the Rebbe, Moshe Rabbeinu in our generation, is still providing all the assistance necessary to win the war against evil. But the war must be won by us, under our own power. While the Rebbe was visible to all, it was possible to “rely on the Rebbe” to win the war. Today, when it seems that the sun, Moshe Rabbeinu, has “stopped moving” it is only in order to allow us to overcome the enemy using natural means.
For a more detailed explanation, with comprehensive references from Chassidus, see the KuntresInyonei Moshiach and Geulah for Gimmel Tammuz.
[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 →
Towards the end of the sicha of parshas Mishpotim, the Rebbe elucidates on the meaning of the monthly dates of 25, 26, 27, 28, and erev Rosh Chodesh. We can see how the Rebbe is in fact laying out a roadmap for the avoidah of Chassidim after 27 Adar (the medical event that occurred to the Rebbe one month after this sicha, which affected the Rebbe’s speech, etc.):
25th (כה) and 26th (כו) refer to Birkas Cohanim, giving Divine blessing (ונתינת כח) to the Yidden in the time of golus and also in the Beis Hamikdosh, when Hashem (gematria 26) is “before them” (hinting at having Hashem’s shliach, Nosi Doreinu, in front of us at the time the Sicha was said);
27th (ז”ך) is associated with the verse “shemen zayis zach (ז”ך)”, which serves as the basis of the maamor the “V’Atah Tetzaveh”, which would be distributed by the Rebbe for Purim Koton. This can be read as a hint at the avoidah in that maamor (being crushed from being in Golus, even when there is spiritual and material abundance) — the “crushing” that would begin on the 27th of the following month of Adar;
28th (כח) is not only “adding strength”, but is also the gematria of “Yechi”, the declaration of Chassidim which took root after 27 Adar (with the repeated encouragement of the Rebbe);
29th is erev Rosh Chodesh, the time of concealment (hinting at Gimmel Tammuz and thereafter) which precedes Rosh Chodesh (which refers to Geuloh). In the maamor of Beis Iyar the Rebbe explains how the concealment of the moon is actually the preparation for the unification of the Mashpia and the Mekabel on Rosh Chodesh, and in the maamor of Rosh Chodesh Kislev the Rebbe addresses the great level of the avoidah of the tachton at the time of concealment.
A roadmap of the avoidah from before and after 27 Adar, through Gimmel Tammuz, up to today: the giving of the power to succeed (25th, 26th); the “crushing” that brings out the essence (27th); the declaration of Yechi (28th); until the complete concealment of erev Rosh Chodesh that brings about the highest avoidah and leads to the true redemption.
Although the trip has been longer than anyone expected, we have received clear directions, and know that the road leads to the true and complete Geuloh, so “step on it”!
Everything in the life of the Rebbe’s Chassidim is guided 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! In 5751 the Rebbe writes that Gimmel Tammuz represents “the beginning of the Geuloh” — explicit instruction! Nonetheless, we see that 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 (Yeshayah 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 →
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 →
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!
The Miracle of the Sun standing still was only in order to allow Israel to defeat the enemy by their own power in a natural way.
Gimmel Tammuz is the day that the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe was released from Soviet prison in 5687 (1927).
Prior to that, we find that it was on this day that Yehoshua bin Nun performed a tremendous miracle, causing the sun to stand still. The story behind the miracle is that Israel were doing battle with the enemy. Sunset was approaching, and with the setting of the sun the battle would cease and the enemy would be able to escape. In order to enable Israel to defeat the enemy, Yehoshua instructed the sun to “be silent”, causing it to cease it’s flight in the heavens, preserving the daylight so that the battle could be won.
The Rebbe asks an obvious question: if one has the power to cause the sun (and the entire heavenly system with it) to pause, why not simply bring about the defeat of the enemy in a direct fashion? The preceding verses in Sefer Yehoshua tell us that more of the enemy were killed by stones which fell upon them from heaven than were killed by the sword. Is it not a simpler matter to rain down some more stones than to freeze the entire heavenly system?
The answer the Rebbe gives is that the battle is Israel’s battle, it must be won by them under their own power. Of course Hashem is helping with miraculous assistance from above, but this is only assistance. The war must be fought and pursued by Israel in a natural fashion, even if on top of that there is super-natural assistance. Thus, instead of Yehoshua simply bringing about the defeat of the enemy and Israel stand by passively, he used his power to give Israel more time to overcome the enemy in a natural way.
In our day, Gimmel Tammuz is primarily associated with the transition from the years when we saw the Rebbe to the current situation where the Rebbe is not seen except in videos and dreams. Moshe Rabbeinu is likened to the sun, and the Rebbe, Moshe Rabbeinu in our generation, is still providing all the assistance necessary to win the war against evil. But the war must be won by us, under our own power. While the Rebbe was visible to all, it was possible to “rely on the Rebbe” to win the war. Today, when it seems that the sun, Moshe Rabbeinu, has “stopped moving” it is only in order to allow us to overcome the enemy using natural means.
For a more detailed explanation, with comprehensive references from Chassidus, see the KuntresInyonei Moshiach and Geulah for Gimmel Tammuz.
Dvar Malchus 770 