Lech Lecha: 5786 - "Go from your land and from your birthplace... and I will make you into a great nation." A descent for the sake of ascent — specifically through the lack does the blessing come…

00:00 Speaker 1 The parsha begins with Hakadosh Boruch Hu saying to Avraham: “Go forth from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.” And then: “I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great.” Rashi explains that when a person travels, it diminishes three things: his name, his wealth, and his family. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu promises Avraham that even though He is telling him to leave his land, on the contrary, “I will bless you and make your name great,” and “you shall be a blessing.” But this raises a question: If so, why does he have to go? Hakadosh Boruch Hu could bless him where he is. Why does he have to leave, with all the things that travel diminishes, only for Hakadosh Boruch Hu to bless him afterward? He could stay where he is and be blessed there. The answer is that a descent is for the sake of an ascent. To rise and reach a higher place, there first has to be a descent. A descent for the sake of an ascent. We see this in a number of places. Chassidim used to sing about the soul descending into the body and crying, “Oy!” It descends from its honored place beneath the Throne of Glory and becomes clothed here in this world in a physical body. So the soul cries, “Oy!” And they tell it: “This descent is for the sake of an ascent, so much so that it is all worthwhile.” I don’t know who composed those words, but that is how chassidim used to sing the song: “It is all worthwhile.” There is such a thing as a descent for the sake of an ascent. We see it elsewhere too. When Rosh Chodesh falls on Sunday, on Shabbos we read the haftorah of Machar Chodesh. There too we see the same idea. What happens in Machar Chodesh? At the feast held by Shlomo—uh, by Shaul—when King David was absent

02:06 Speaker 1 “You will be missed, for your seat will be empty.” It was precisely because King David was missing that the question arose: Where is David? It is the same idea of a descent for the sake of an ascent. David’s absence is what prompts the question, “Where is David?” In 5738, on Shemini Atzeres, in the middle of hakafos, the Rebbe suffered a very severe heart attack. The Rebbe was in great danger. Chassidim were very, very worried. The doctors there at the time said they were not sure the Rebbe would survive the night. That is how serious it was. The Rebbe said to his secretary, Rabbi Groner, “The purpose of concealment is revelation.” For the worlds to be created, there had to be the process of seder hishtalshelus, of tzimtzum. The great light was concealed, but the goal and purpose was not concealment; it was revelation. The Rebbe told him to ask Rabbi Yoel Kahn, the Rebbe’s chozer, to explain this to the crowd. And Rabbi Yoel Kahn explained it at length to everyone. What does it mean? What is the deeper meaning of saying that the purpose of tzimtzum is revelation? He gave an analogy: When we want water from a hose to reach farther, we narrow the opening at the end, and then the water sprays out with greater force. It is the same idea: precisely by narrowing it, I bring about an even greater flow. The Rebbe himself explained it as well. On that occasion, when a doctor took a blood sample from the Rebbe, the Rebbe asked him: How does the blood enter the test tube? The blood flows through the arteries and veins. Why does it enter the tube? The doctor explained to the Rebbe that inside

04:21 Speaker 1 the tube a vacuum is created, an empty space. There is no air there, so to speak, and that draws the blood in. The Rebbe explained that it is the same idea. Precisely because of the emptiness, the blood enters the tube. This is the idea of a descent for the sake of an ascent. It is the same idea that tzimtzum is specifically for the sake of revelation. And it connects with what the Baal Shem Tov said. It is written: “It is a time of distress for Yaakov, and from it he will be saved.” What does “from it he will be saved” mean? The Baal Shem Tov said that the Hebrew word for distress, tzarah, has the same letters as tzohar, a window—an opening through which light enters. It is precisely through the distress, through the descent and the concealment, that revelation comes. A descent for the sake of an ascent. That is how Hakadosh Boruch Hu established it. The Jewish people have gone through very great troubles over the past two years, but all of this is for the revelation that, with Hashem’s help, will come soon. There will be a great revelation, a great light, the true and complete Geulah, very soon.

05:28 Speaker 2 Amen.