מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חֹדֶשׁ שְׁבָט. אֲמִירַת כָּל הַתְּהִלִּים בְּהַשְׁכָּמָה. יוֹם הִתְוַעֲדוּת. הפטורה: הַבָּאִים יַשְׁרֵשׁ.

[On Shabbos Mevarchim,1 it is our custom] to recite the entire Book of Tehillim early in the morning and to hold a farbrengen on that day.

The haftarah [for Parshas Shmos] begins Haba’im yashresh Yaakov (Yeshayahu 27:6-13, 28:1-13,29:22-23).

מִשִּׂיחוֹת אַאַמוּ"ר: יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם אִיז דעֶר אַרוֹיסגעֶהן פוּן מֵצָרִים וּגְבוּלִים, אוּן חֲסִידוּת אִיז אוֹיף אַרוֹיסגעֶהן פוּן דִי מֵצָרִים אוּן גְּבוּלִים פוּן וועֶלט. עֶס אִיז פאַראַן אַ הֶפְרֵשׁ: יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם אִיז אַ עִנְיָן פוּן שְׁבִירָה אוּן עֲזִיבָה, דעֶרפאַר אִיז מעֶן אַוועֶק פוּן מִצְרַיִם. יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם פוּן חֲסִידוּת אִיז בֵּירוּר אוּן תִּקוּן, יְצִיאָה פוּן מֵצָרִים אוּן גְּבוּלִים פוּן וועֶלט אָבּעֶר אִין וועֶלט. דאָס הֵייסט זַייעֶנדִיג אִין וועֶלט בּאַדאַרפעֶן זַיין אִין אַ יְצִיאָה פוּן מֵיצַר וּגְבוּל פוּן וועֶלט. אַראָפּנעֶהמעֶן דעֶם מֵיצָר וּגְבוּל אוּן דעֶרהעֶרעֶן דעֶם אֱמֶת, אַז וועֶלט אַלֵיין אִיז בֶּאֱמֶת גוּט, וַוייל דאָס אִיז דאָך רְצוֹנוֹ יִתְבָּרֵךְ, אִיז דאָס דוּרךְ עֲבוֹדָה פוּן חֲסִידוּת.

From a talk of my revered father, the Rebbe [Rashab]:2 The [historical] Exodus from Egypt [foreshadows every individual’s personal] departure from limits and boundaries.3 [Beyond this,] Chassidus [enables us] to free ourselves from the limits and boundaries of this [material] world.

There is a difference between these two [spiritual thrusts]. A [personal, spiritual] “exodus from Egypt” in its usual sense involves shattering [worldliness] and abandoning it. For this reason, the Jews left Egypt.4 In contrast,undergoing a [personal, spiritual] “exodus from Egypt” in the chassidic sense involvesrefining (beirur) and rectifying (tikkun) — liberating oneself from the limits and boundaries of the world, while remaining in the world.

In other words, while being involved in this world, one ought to constantly aspire to be outside its bounds. One must remove the confinements and restraints and perceive the truth — that the world itself is in fact good, for after all, this is what G‑d willed. And this perception may be attained through the spiritual labors5 prescribed by Chassidus.

Delving Deeply

The Rebbe Rashab describes6 two alternative perspectives on the world: (a) Elokus bipshitus and olamos behis’chadshus, and (b) olamos bipshitus and Elokus behis’chadshus.

Peshitus (lit., “obviousness”) refers to the normal way we look at things, based upon our immediate impulses and natural tendencies. His’chadshus (lit., “innovation”) signifies a new way we learn to see things.

When we say olamos bipshitus, we mean looking at the world through mundane eyes. To such eyes, it is obvious that what really exists is the world. When we perceive the world in this way, we accept the natural order and the events of the world as determining factors in our lives. True, a person with such a perspective may also be dedicated to the Torah and its mitzvos — but the latter exist in his mind as being behis’chadshus, as something new and learned, not as something obvious and self-evident.

Elokus bipshitus, by contrast, is the perspective from which it is obvious that what really exists is G‑d. The world does exist, but it is behis’chadshus: we must train ourselves to recognize that it, too, exists.

Chassidus teaches us to look at our existence from the perspective of Elokus bipshitus. This does not mean that we should rise above the world to the point that we lose contact with it. Rather, it means living within the world and seeing its day-to-day realities as expressions of G‑dliness.

Chassidim compress this sublime ideal into four simple Yiddish words: In velt, ois velt — “Living inside the world, yet beyond it.”