Mashiach’s Day
The Haftorah recited on Acharon shel Pesach (the final day of Pesach) contains many prophecies the Era of the Redemption including “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with a young goat”;1 and “He will raise a banner for the nations and gather in the exiles of Israel.”2
Slightly more than two hundred and fifty years ago, as the time for Mashiach’s arrival drew closer, the Baal Shem Tov instituted a custom which underscores the connection between the Redemption and the Eighth Day of Pesach: On that day he would partake of Mashiach’s Seudah, the festive meal of Mashiach.
In subsequent generations, the Lubavitcher Rebbeim enhanced and amplified this practice. For example, in 5666 (1906) the Rebbe Rashab (the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe) added a new element to Mashiach’s Seudah, the drinking of four cups of wine.3 One Acharon shel Pesach,4 the Rebbe Rayatz (the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe) spoke of joining in a Mashiach’s tantz, “the dance of Mashiach.”
The Rebbe broadened the scope of the practice. Before the first Acharon shel Pesach farbrengen following the acceptance of his leadership position, he used the words “Mashiach’s day,” to describe the unique spiritual character of the day. Each year, he would hold a Mashiach’s seudah for the entire chassidic community and all others inspired to attend. Often, in the maamarim and sichos he would deliver at that time, he would explain the radical changes in our lives that Mashiach will bring about.
The Ultimate Purpose of Creation
Our Sages teach,5 “the world was created solely for Mashiach.” The teaching implies that in Mashiach’s era, the ultimate purpose for the existence of the world will be revealed. An even greater G‑dly light than that which shone in the Garden of Eden originally will pervade all being. The Rebbe Rashab6 explains the mystic nature of this new development, stating that in the era of Mashiach, the essence of G‑d’s infinite light, the light that shined forth before the tzimtzum, will be revealed in the frame of reference that exists after the tzimtzum.
To appreciate the Rebbe Rashab’s statement, we must understand the spiritual processes through which G‑d created our world. In its description of how all existence came into being, Etz Chayim states:7
Before... the realms of emanation and... the created beings were created, there existed a simple sublime light that permeated all existence; there was no empty space…. There was no beginning and no end….
When it arose in His simple will to create the worlds…, He constricted this light and moved it to the sides…, leaving an empty cavity.
To explain these concepts: It cannot be said that a vacuum existed, for a vacuum implies empty space, the absence of something and Etz Chayim explicitly states, “There was no empty space.” Instead, all that existed was G‑d and His name.8 “His name” refers to His light that reflects His Being and hence, is utterly infinite, defying all definition as He does.9 When that light shined in a revealed manner, there was no possibility of any other existence.
Therefore, when He desired to create our world – and the entire Seder HaHishtalshelus (Spiritual Cosmos) above it – He had to remove this light entirely. Were even the slightest vestige of this light to have remained, it would have prevented limited existence from coming into being. Hence, He absorbed this light into His own Being, preventing it from shining forth. The absorption of the light is called the tzimtzum.
In the statement quoted above, the Rebbe Rashab articulated the concept that in the era of Mashiach, that initial light that shined forth before the tzimtzum will be revealed here, on our material plane.
To Attempt to Understand
Somewhere in the process of his or her introduction to Chassidus, just about everyone has encountered these concepts. He or she heard the idea and accepted it. Nevertheless, Chassidus is not intended to be accepted as an axiom of faith or a canon of belief to be assented to blindly. Instead, the intent is that a student labor until he has grasped and internalized the ideas within his ordinary mode of understanding.
As part of this process, when one thinks about the Rebbe Rashab’s statement a little more deeply, he wonders: What am I saying? How can that be? As he contemplates the idea and probes beneath its surface, the statement reveals a seemingly irresolvable paradox: After all, it was the intense revelation of G‑d’s light that existed before the tzimtzum that made it impossible for finite existence to come into being. Only through the tzimtzum, the self-concealment of G‑d’s light, was finite existence made possible. If so, how is it possible that in the era of Mashiach G‑d’s infinite light will be revealed in our finite world? Indeed, its very name (עולם) discloses the concealment (העלם) that defines it.10
The more one thinks about the question, the clearer it becomes that, revealing such light within the framework that defines our present existence, requires a fusion of opposites; it’s like putting an elephant through a needle-hole.11 Indeed, it is even more difficult than that, for an elephant and a needle-hole are both finite, whereas here we are speaking about bringing together polar opposites – taking a light that is absolutely above limitation and having it shine within a limited world. How, then, is that possible?
Thinking Dialectically
The Rebbe Rashab did not merely pose the paradox; he offers a resolution to it. With the methodical style of explanation that earned him the title “the Rambam of Chassidus,”12 he debates the issue, proposing – and rejecting – several possible resolutions, and ultimately arriving at a conclusion. In the maamar that follows, the Rebbe summarizes and expands the germ of the concepts expounded by the Rebbe Rashab.
One of the resolutions that the Rebbe Rashab and the Rebbe propose is that essentially, there is no conflict between the concealment brought about by the tzimtzum and Or Ein Sof, G‑d’s infinite light. The Divine light that shined forth after the tzimtzum, the light of the kav, is innately defined and finite.13 Since this light is finite by nature, its limitation thus became even more pronounced through the tzimtzum. In contrast, the Or Ein Sof remained unchanged by the tzimtzum. The only effect brought about by the tzimtzum is that before the tzimtzum, this infinite light shone in a revealed manner, whereas as a result of the tzimtzum, it became withdrawn and concealed within its source. Since this infinite light did not undergo any intrinsic change, one might say that it is possible for it to become revealed in the framework of existence that was brought into being through the tzimtzum, because that light and the tzimtzum are not in conflict. They are simply two different frames of reference that share no common ground.
This proposition is based on an incorrect assumption. True, the Or Ein Sof was unaffected by the tzimtzum and indeed, is present in every dimension of our existence, as it is written,14 “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” Nevertheless, this infinite light remains hidden. To that extent, the tzimtzum did affect the way it interacts with our existence. Were it to be revealed, it would nullify the framework of existence established by the tzimtzum.
At times, the Or Ein Sof is revealed in our material world. This is what constitutes a miracle. The limits of nature are temporarily suspended and G‑d’s infinite light is revealed – for G‑d can place the laws of nature aside and reveal a phenomenon that runs contrary to our ordinary pattern of existence, manifesting infinite G‑dliness in our material world. Nevertheless, a revelation of this kind does not resolve the paradox raised above. Since miracles suspend the natural order of the world, they do not reveal G‑d’s infinity within the natural order. Though the miracles take place in our material realm, the spiritual pattern that governs that material framework is temporarily bypassed and a higher reality is enabled to prevail. In contrast, the desired intent of our Divine service is that the natural order will continue to prevail and yet, within it, infinite G‑dly light will be revealed.
“You Cherish the Work of Your Hands”15
In conclusion, the Rebbe Rashab and the Rebbe emphasize that a fusion of such polar opposites cannot take place by means of a “downward” revelation initiated from Above (gilui milemaalah lematah). It is only through the “upward” efforts initiated by the Jewish people in their Divine service down here below (haalaah milematah lemaalah) that G‑d’s infinite light can permeate the framework of our existence.
The phrase “Divine service” is a translation of the Hebrew term avodah (עבודה). This Hebrew term also shares a root with ibud (עיבוד), which is the process of tanning leather. The tanning process serves as an analogy for the Divine service of the Jewish people. Just as tanning takes a raw animal hide and transforms it into a useful product, so too, the Divine service of the Jewish people transforms the concealment and limitation brought into being by the tzimtzum into a medium that reveals G‑d’s infinite light.
The Jews’ Divine service makes such a transformation possible, because a Jew combines both these opposites within his own person. On one hand, his soul is “an actual part of G‑d Above,”16 and yet that soul is housed in a body and an animal soul that are very much part of the gestalt of limitation and concealment that characterizes our world. When a Jew works17 on himself, endeavoring to bring into expression the essential G‑dliness within his being and within the world at large, he is, in microcosm, bringing about the fusion of opposites described above. By carrying out this service within his own self and in his corner of the world, a person makes possible the revelation of essential G‑dliness in the world at large.
Paradigm Shifts
In the course of their discussions touched upon above, the maamarim of both the Rebbe Rashab and the Rebbe employ two pairs of terms: Elokus bipeshitus and metziyus behischadshus, and metziyus bipeshitus and Elokus behischadshus.
Elokus means G‑dliness. Peshitus means one’s simple perception of what appears as the obvious reality. Metziyus means existence, the feeling that something apart from G‑d appears to exist. Hischadshus means a newly-acquired awareness that runs contrary to one’s initial assumptions.
These maamarim explain that before the initial tzimtzum, Elokus was bipeshitus. What was perceived as the simple and obvious reality was G‑d’s light which was then revealed in its infinity, shining forth in an unbounded variety of options. All of these expressions of His light were, however, subsumed in their bittul to Him. That was their peshitus, their natural perception. By contrast, their own metziyus, their own existence, was behischadshus, a newly-acquired awareness.
The tzimtzum brought about a radical change. Ever since the tzimtzum,18 on even the highest levels of G‑dly light, metziyus is the peshitus; it is conceivable that something other than G‑d can enjoy self-sufficient existence. Elokus, the awareness of Him, comes behischadshus, as a newly-acquired perception. On certain levels, that perception is so overwhelmingly powerful that the very framework of existence becomes entirely batel, subsumed in the Divine light. Even so, however, that is not its natural state; it is an acquired trait.
In the Ultimate Future, all existence will return to the state of Elokus bipeshitus, a state in which19 “the world will be filled with the knowledge of G‑d as the waters cover the ocean bed.”
To understand the simile: The immense variety of creatures that live on dry land are readily discernible as separate entities. A vast multitude of creatures likewise inhabit the ocean. Nevertheless, when looking at the ocean, what we see is the ocean as a whole and not the particular entities that it contains. Similarly, although in the Era of the Redemption the world will continue to exist, individual creatures will lose consciousness of their separate identity and will be suffused entirely with the knowledge of G‑d.
In the Ultimate Future, as a result of the Jewish people’s Divine service, this realization will be appreciated even within the context of material reality. In that era, in contrast to the awareness of G‑d that existed before the tzimtzum, humanity and the other created beings of our world will be conscious of their own existence, yet they will appreciate that existence as nothing more than an extension of G‑d.
Souls for Whom the Screen has been Pierced20
One of the ways the Rebbeim illustrate this concept in the maamarim cited is by comparing the Divine service of different tzaddikim. There have been some gifted souls that attained elevated levels of G‑dly awareness. Nevertheless, their initial perception was of worldly existence, and even when they reached the highest rungs, they did not divest themselves of worldliness entirely. For example, G‑d spoke to Avraham directly. Yet how did he come to his awareness of G‑d? By contemplating the order and wisdom vested in this material world. In this way, he realized that the world has a Master.21 After he arrived at this realization, the Master revealed himself to him, but that revelation came behischadshus. As a result, even after that revelation, his fundamental material orientation prevailed – metziyus bipeshitus.
However, as these maamarim proceed to explain, there are individuals, for example, Yosef and Moshe, whose souls were not affected by the tzimtzum and maintained the awareness they had Above even when after descending into this material realm. Their orientation is the same as that of existence before the tzimtzum: G‑dliness is bipeshitus. This is their reality. A person with such a soul has to labor to bring proof that there exists anything other than G‑dliness.
Moreover, the maamarim point out that what is unique about the lives of Yosef and Moshe, is that they did not withdraw from worldly existence. On the contrary, they were immersed in the day-to-day realities of existence, yet still maintained their inherent awareness of G‑d.
Spiritual Lighthouses
In his maamar, the Rebbe gives a further example – our Rebbeim, the nesi’im of Chabad. We may guess at an obvious explanation for this addition: Moshe and Yosef lived thousands of years ago, whereas the Rebbeim are much closer to our reality. But beyond that, the true greatness of the Rebbeim does not lie only in the uniqueness of their spiritual vision, but also in their willingness to share that vision with others and encourage them to adopt it.
True, there is no way ordinary people like ourselves can fully identify with the mindset and soulset of the Rebbeim. If even Avraham our Patriarch perceived the world from the perspective of metziyus bipeshitus, to what can we aspire?
And yet, through hiskashrus, by cultivating a spiritual bond with the Rebbeim, we can borrow the Rebbe’s mindset, even if we cannot internalize it entirely. By way of analogy, it’s like having the picture of a jigsaw puzzle in front of you while you try to put the pieces together. Though a certain measure of work is still demanded, the fact that you see the larger picture makes it far easier to put each piece in its place. Similarly, in the analogue, when guided by a person for whom G‑dliness is the inherent and obvious reality, it is easier to appreciate and highlight the G‑dly dimension that exists within every situation that we encounter.
And in doing so, we create the setting for G‑dliness to surface and become the prevailing reality with the coming of Mashiach.
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