1. It is written, “And on the eighth day, it shall be a day of restraint for you.”1The Midrash2 likens this command to “the parable of a king [who, on the last day of a period of celebration together with many invited citizens, or with all his sons,] tells the most beloved individual there: ‘Parting is so painful! Please stay on, and we’ll rejoice together, just me and you!’” That is to say, this day (Shemini Atzeres) is the eighth day, yom hashemini, the day that is generously nourished (shamen – lit., “fat”) in every way, “so let us rejoice together, just Me and you.”
From time to time, it is natural for a person to want to be in his own environment. True, this is a period that must be utilized for the benefit of the public. Nevertheless, there are times at which a person wants to be in his own environment, because working for the benefit of the public places one in the public arena, whereas being in one’s own environment is like being alone.
Right now, I would like to be in the atmosphere of Lubavitch. After all, a person is able to create an atmosphere around himself. To appreciate this concept on a broader scale: The Almighty invested His creatures at every level – whether inanimate, vegetative, animal or human – with the power to change and to correct. This is implied in the verse that tells us that G‑d blessed and sanctified the Shabbos that followed the Six Days of Creation – “for on that day He rested from all of His handiwork, which G‑d had created to do.” To rule out the impression that that last verb merely repeats what has already been said, we learn that in this context, לַעֲשׂוֹת (“to do”) means לְתַקֵן (“to correct” or “to repair”).3 In fact, everything that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, is in need of tikkun, correction and completion. A man is empowered to make even air,4 which is the highest component of the material world.
As is explained in the works of Kabbalah, Chakirah and Chassidus, the word אֲוִיר (avir – “air”) comprises the three letters of אוֹר (“light”), with the addition of the tiny letter yud, signifying the innermost point of the soul. This word thus expresses the ideal – that the yud, the innermost point of the soul, should diffuse light (אוֹר). This is taught by the Alter Rebbe5 when explaining the three meanings6 of the eisan (אֵיתָן) in the soul – “old,” “tough,” and “strong” – signifying the longtime and unbending strength with which a Jew remains staunchly loyal to the Torah and its mitzvos. To be true to what one is, that goes without saying; to refuse to change one’s colors demands mesirus nefesh, setting oneself aside with self-sacrifice, which is the very foundation of the path of the Torah and its mitzvos.
This is what is alluded to in the above word אֲוִיר (avir), which comprises the letters of אוֹר (“light”) and the letter yud, by virtue of which the soul’s latent eisan – its longtime and unbending strength – surfaces. And this comes about specifically by virtue of a merit from Above.
2. For me, the thirteen-day voyage here from abroad was a heavy-hearted experience.7 It was painful to take leave of our fellow Jews over there. I was brought here in chains of iron. I didn’t travel here: I was taken away from there. In fact the incident by which I broke an arm before the appointed date of departure brought me relief: for a few weeks I didn’t have to talk about traveling. I wasn’t apprehensive on account of material concerns, nor of personal, spiritual concerns, but on account of the entire task that lay before me in America. Nevertheless, I had full trust that hashgachah peratis, the ways of Divine Providence, would no doubt lead to positive and blessed results.
That was the stage of those “who sow in tears.”8 True, we have not yet arrived at the stage of those “who will reap in joy,”8 and not even the stage at which the first stalks of grain are reaped.9 Nevertheless, as we have already mentioned, “the buds can be seen in the land”10 – though things here are not at all like they were in Warsaw,11 and of course not at all as they were in Lubavitch.12
Throughout its 102 years,13 Lubavitch was steeped in Torah study and in avodas HaShem. Its very soil promoted the growth of G‑d-fearing people who were utterly faithful to their principles.14 True, they hadn’t all attained the same levels, but they were all G‑d-fearing, and were utterly faithful to their principles.
More generally, we learn15 that there are zones that produce people that are wise, or foolish, or naked. (By the way: The Mitteler Rebbe speaks of the influence of various climates, and when he goes on to discuss differences between languages, he states that a language is spiritually elevated when it is used to articulate Torah subjects.)
As we were saying, the very soil of Lubavitch produced G‑d-fearing people who were utterly faithful to their principles. Nevertheless, let it be stated explicitly and thankfully: after the efforts of three years, there are temimim here, too.
I have remarked in the past that Americans are characterized by temimus, artless sincerity. Over here, even when someone gives in to a forbidden desire, he does it with temimus, and not rebelliously. This makes it possible for genuine temimim to sprout here. Some of them, thank G‑d, can be called, without hesitation, temimim. And to them let me say: “Temimim, I am fond of you! I am yours, and you are mine.”
So sing a niggun, and let each one of you visualize himself as a son to his father.
3. Two entities can be united either by hiskashrus, by being bound together, or by dveikus, by cleaving to each other. When two entities are bound together, their connection is visible; when two entities cleave to each other, then even though they are discrete entities, their connection is imperceptible.
My father used to say: “If one understands how things work in the ten faculties of the soul16 here below, he will be able to understand how things work in the [corresponding] Sefiros Above.” That means that one will then be able to understand what the terms hiskashrus and dveikus signify Above, for they correspond to mochin and middos: hiskashrus relates to middos, whereas dveikus relates to mochin.
Mesirus nefesh, self-sacrifice, means that one does not take oneself into account. (It’s hard for me to speak at length, but I hope to convey this subject, G‑d willing, in writing. As for now, I’ll speak as long as I can – briefly, though only point by point.)
[The first point:] Hiskashrus and dveikus correspond to prayer and Torah study. Davenen is hiskashrus, and studying Torah is dveikus. The Torah itself comprises galya deTorah, its revealed dimension, and pnimiyus haTorah, its inner [and mystical] dimension. Studying galya deTorah [connects one to the Giver of the Torah at the level of] hiskashrus; studying pnimiyus haTorah [connects one to the Giver of the Torah] at the level of dveikus.
Another point: G‑d created time, and also invested it with a blessing. This [duality] finds expression in the Halachah, as in the discussion [concerning Kiddush on the eve of Shabbos or Yom-Tov] as to which takes precedence – the blessing concerning the time, or the blessing over the wine.17
The phrase birkas hayom (“the blessing concerning the time”) can mean either that such days are blessed, or that such days produce blessing. These two meanings echo the difference between Yom-Tov and Shabbos. The festive days are blessed days, whereas Shabbos is a day that produces blessing, as in the phrase, “From it, all the days are blessed.”18
[These two meanings of] birkas hayom (“the blessing concerning the time”) are present in every individual, varying with his level of attainment, his innate level, and his endeavors in avodah. The soul comprises [in ascending order] five levels – nefesh, ruach and neshamah,19 chayah and yechidah. They correspond [in descending order] to the Four Worlds – Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah – and to the Or Ein-Sof, the infinite light that transcends the World of Atzilus.
Thus, in chapter 3 of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains that the soul has specifically ten faculties, because they correspond to the Ten Sefiros from which they evolve. And beyond them, re’usa deliba (lit., “the heart’s desire”), i.e., the soul’s innermost love for its Source, corresponds to the Or Ein-Sof, the infinite light that transcends the World of Atzilus.
We see, then, that the day’s potential to diffuse blessing exists at all of the soul’s four levels – Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. And with this power I am giving a blessing to the entire House of Israel: Be blessed!
4. I cherish every moment that I sit together with you – and not only at this farbrengen, but likewise at all the farbrengens at which Anash are gathered together at this time,20 because “I dwell in the midst of my people.”21
I have so much to tell about today’s date, Yud-Beis Tammuz, that it can’t all be told now, but let me tell you about one episode from fifty years ago.
On Yud-Beis Tammuz, 5653 (1893), at my bar-mitzvah, I had to repeat from memory one of the bar-mitzvah maamarim at the Ohel of my grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash.
The order of events on that long Tammuz day was as follows: The bar-mitzvah celebration continued until after Minchah and Maariv, and then there was a farbrengen until daylight. Then, after going to the mikveh22 and Shacharis with the minyan, it was time for the seudas bar-mitzvah.
To repeat everything now would demand too much effort, but let me repeat the beginning of the subject on which my father spoke in the course of his maamar:
We learn that “he who aggrandizes himself by [eagerly] issuing legal decisions is a fool, wicked and arrogant.”23 What is the point of this statement? The answer: In the dark, one can’t notices obstacles. The more light there is, the more can one notice, so that when there is a strong light, one can detect even a white stain. Now, the Torah is light.24 And within the Torah there is pnimiyus haTorah, its innermost dimension – and from its perspective, even the previous light is darkness.
At that point, that statement by my father was intercepted by a comment of the revered chassid, R. Yaakov Mordechai of Poltava: “That means that you follow the opinion that darkness is [not merely the absence of light but] a created entity in its own right.”25 To this my father answered: “After all, that is the approach adopted by the [Alter] Rebbe!”26
My father went on to say: “It thus transpires that if a person who ‘aggrandizes himself by [eagerly] issuing legal decisions is a fool, wicked and arrogant,’ then in the light it is clear that he is aggrandizing himself, he is a fool in his intellect, he is wicked in his middos, and arrogant in the ‘garments’ of the soul.”27
That was what my father said at the beginning of the maamar, and I would also like to repeat for you what he said at its conclusion.
[Here begins a scholarly discussion of the roots of Chochmah and Binah in the highest worlds. It hinges on subtle distinctions between classic terms which are current in Kabbalah and Chassidus – such as ko’ach hamaskil, ko’ach hahiyuli, hamshachah ne’elemes and merchav ha’atzmi – but which would each require a paragraph of explanation. My father concluded by defining the ultimate test of whether a person has grasped this subject not only intellectually, but has also ingested it:]
“The test takes place in his avodas hatefillah, in his disciplined meditation on Kerias Shema. If that hisbonenus gives rise to ahavah or yir’ah, to a love of G‑d or an awe of G‑d, that means that it has crystallized into avodah. Conversely, if after davenen his mind becomes “an open-ended alley”28 [in which unmonitored thoughts can run amok], then he is the kind of person who “aggrandizes himself by [eagerly] issuing legal decisions,” and hence is “a fool, wicked and arrogant.” All of that indicates that the comprehension that he gained by his meditation was worthless.
The chassidim who were present at that farbrengen included eminent maskilim29 such as R. Yehoshua Khersoner and R. Asher Nikolayever. When R. Asher later described it to his fellow maskil, R. Chaim Ber Kremenchuger, and repeated the teachings of Chassidus that my father had delivered, R. Chaim Ber was so overawed that he said aloud that if he had been present, he would have kissed my father’s hands and feet. As for R. Asher, he later commented that he wished that he could feel as humble and contrite on Yom Kippur as R. Chaim Ber was when he heard that teaching.
R. Chaim Ber was a man of broken spirit. The second time I saw him was in 5652 (1892), and after that I never saw him again.
5. [After a niggun was sung, but not precisely, the Rebbe commented:]
Here in America, not only are new niggunim not being composed, but the old ones are being forgotten. In Lubavitch, chassidim such as R. Avraham, R. Aharon and R. Shalom Charitonov often brought new niggunim [to the Rebbe’s court], and R. Hillel [of Paritch] used to urge chassidim to compose new niggunim. Yet over here, people forget even the old ones, just as they forget all kinds of other things. And “if you forsake it for a day, it will forsake you for two days.”30
6. My father once advised a chassid at yechidus: “Set yourself up higher,31 and then you will be higher.” [To this the Rebbe Rayatz added:] …but within himself, a person should know that in fact he is not higher. [He then proceeded as follows:]
A chassid once asked my grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash, “At what stage does something that one has learned become worthy of being called learned?”
My grandfather answered: “That stage is the stage at which, after having studied a subject in nigleh or in Chassidus, one is there. And like the dwarf who is perched on the shouldersof a giant, one should be thankful that the giant doesn’t shake off the baggage from his shoulders…”
7. Our Rebbeim, following the lead of the Baal Shem Tov, have bequeathed us an infinite inheritance, namely, the ability to perceive the unique quality of every fellow Jew.
In the eyes of the Baal Shem Tov, a little child’s Amen! was as great as the [huge outer] entrance to the Beis HaMikdash. As is cited in HaYom Yom (in the entry for 16 Tammuz), the Maggid of Mezritch once said: “If only people would kiss the sefer Torah with the same love with which my mentor, the Baal Shem Tov, kissed the children whom he took to school, when he worked as a teacher’s assistant at the cheder!”
The Divinely-inspired prophets, Yeshayahu (Isaiah) and Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah), lived in differing eras. Yirmeyahu lived in an era in which the Jewish people were (so to speak) distanced [from G‑d] and the Divine Countenance was veiled. Yeshayahu, by contrast, lived in an era of Divine self-revelation [in the Beis HaMikdash].32 These differences are reflected in the letters that spell their respective names. The name of Yirmeyahu (יִרְמְיָהוּ) includes the two words יָרֵם יָ-ה – “G‑d will uplift.”33 The name of Yeshayahu (יְשַׁעְיָהוּ) includes the two words, יְשַׁע יָ-ה – “G‑d will bring salvation.”34 The letters of his name also hint at the Kabbalistic concept of שׁע"ה נְהוֹרִין – the “375 lights” of the Divine Countenance.
Yeshayahu lived in the reign of Achaz, whose name records that he seized (achaz) the houses of prayer and the houses of study35 and entrenched himself there. (In a similar situation, at the Rabbinical Conference in Petersburg in 1843 at which the maskilim strove to have the czarist regime impose reforms in Jewish education and prayer,36 the Tzemach Tzedek reminded Lilienthal, one of their leading ideologists, of the notorious precedent of Achaz.)
When Yeshayahu saw what was happening, even though he was a prophet of G‑d his spirits fell [lest he be left without listeners]. [Speaking of his own prophetic mission in the third person, he asked:] “To whom will he impart understanding? To whom will he explain what he has heard [from Above]?”37 However, as soon as he found a number of children who could be taught Torah, he said: “Here am I, with the children that G‑d has given me,”38 and his spirits were restored.
Today’s need, then, is to establish yeshivos that study Torah in a G‑d-fearing spirit. I don’t mean specifically Tomchei Temimin yeshivos, just yeshivos that study Torah in a G‑d-fearing spirit, for “the Torah protects and saves.”39 It is also written that תּוֹרָה אוֹר – “the Torah is light.”40 So may the Torah itself diffuse light, and the Children of Israel will then have light in all their dwellings.41
