Parshas Shemos 5782 - The depth of the revelation of the Shechinah from within the thornbush

00:03 There was an incident in America in the first years after the Second World War. A young man was studying at the Lubavitch yeshiva in New York. He was a learned student who sat and studied. But at that time in America, there was a very strong belief that everyone had to [unclear] and go to university, get a degree, get a diploma. It was part of life there. This belief was so strong that even observant Jews felt they had to do it; otherwise, they would not be able to earn a living. In those years, the first years after the passing of the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe led a major campaign to educate the new generation, the younger generation, that this was not the way: there was no need to [unclear], no need to think about making a living, no need to think about the future. Instead, one had to devote oneself to learning. A child, and certainly a young man, during his years as a yeshiva student, should sit and learn and forget about everything else. When the time came, Hakadosh Boruch Hu would take care of him, give him everything he needed, and he would find a livelihood and all the rest. This was one of the major things the Rebbe worked on in those years: a great campaign to change the entire outlook of the observant world, including in America. The Rebbe spoke about it a great deal at the time.

02:00 In several sichos on Parshas Shemos, we find these ideas in connection with Pharaoh’s decree, “Every son who is born, you shall cast into the river.” The Rebbe explained then that this applies to our time as well. Just as there was the Egyptian exile—and indeed, all exiles are called by the name of Egypt, as it says, “after Egypt,” because they constrict the Jewish people—so too there is exile now. And just as there were Pharaoh and his decrees then, so too today there are those same decrees and that same Pharaoh [unclear]. Accordingly, the Rebbe explained the whole matter of Pharaoh’s decree, “Every son who is born, you shall cast into the river,” as something that continues into our own time. What was the river? The river was the source of livelihood in Egypt: the Nile. There was no rain in Egypt; everything operated through natural means, by way of the river, from which everything grew. The river would overflow and bring abundance, and the Egyptians lived from it. It was also the idol of Egypt. The Rebbe explained “you shall cast into the river” this way: they wanted to throw Jewish children into that kind of education, an Egyptian education, so they would believe in livelihood, believe in nature, believe in the source of livelihood—the Nile. And down to our own time, this is the university, secular studies,

03:27 outside disciplines, and the notion that you need some sort of certificate, that you have to become somebody, a person of standing in the world, in order to earn a living. The Rebbe waged a forceful campaign against this and said that it was Pharaoh’s decree in our generation. Even “and every daughter you shall keep alive,” as the verse says—the daughters were not thrown into the river, but were to be “kept alive”—also means giving them life in an Egyptian way, not a Jewish way. At any rate, this was one of the great campaigns. There was an incident involving a young man who wrote to the Rebbe that he wanted to go to university because [unclear], and he pressed the matter strongly. The Rebbe then wrote him a powerful letter, saying: Know that I see this matters a great deal to you [unclear]. Know that a student of Tomchei Temimim, studying in the Rebbe’s yeshiva, is not someone who stands on his own. Know that the Rebbe is there with you. Even when you go to [unclear], know that the Rebbe goes with you, to that very place. You take the tzaddik, the Rebbe, the leader, along with you. As Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, “I am with him in distress”: when a Jew is

04:59 in distress, “I am with him in distress.” And since tzaddikim resemble their Creator, the tzaddik too is there with his students: “I am with him in distress.” As the Rambam writes in the laws of cities of refuge: “When a student is exiled, his teacher is exiled with him.” So when the student goes into exile, the Rebbe goes into exile with him. Therefore, the Rebbe says: If you yourself have no problem being in a place of danger, a forbidden place, a place that is inappropriate, where a Jew should not be—that is your own affair. But how are you not ashamed to take the Rebbe, the tzaddik, with you into your filth? That was the sharp letter he wrote him. There was a further exchange: the young man argued that he really did not want to take the Rebbe with him into his filth. During the hours when he would be in that place—what they call college in America, at the university—he would be there, and he genuinely wanted the Rebbe not to go with him then. At other times, the Rebbe would be with him. And the Rebbe said: You can think whatever you want, but know that when the Rebbe, the tzaddik, forms a bond with a student,

06:20 with a chossid, with a Jew, it is a bond, an eternal bond. It is a bond that can never be broken. So you must know: you can think whatever you want, but the Rebbe goes with you. And if you step into the mud, know that you drag the Rebbe into the mud with you. So I ask you to think about it again and reconsider your decision. When these words reached the young man and he heard such things, his thinking changed. He did indeed reconsider, and in time he became one of the great chassidim, bringing honor and distinction. In the weekly parsha, we find this idea of “I am with him in distress.” The weekly parsha tells us about Moshe Rabbeinu and the burning bush. It is a remarkable account the Torah tells us: “And Moshe was tending the flock.” The Torah begins by telling us that Moshe Rabbeinu was tending Yisro’s flock, and there he saw the bush. The well-known Midrash asks: What is the story behind “And Moshe was tending the flock”? What happened there? What does the Torah want to tell us by saying that Moshe Rabbeinu tended Yisro’s flock? Why is that relevant? On this, we have the well-known Midrash. The Midrash relates that Moshe Rabbeinu was with Yisro’s flock, and then

07:44 something happened: a little lamb ran away from the rest of the flock. Moshe Rabbeinu ran after it, searched for it, gave it water to drink, and so on, and carried it on his shoulders. After that, as a result, he saw the burning bush. That is how the parsha continues. We know what is brought in the name of the holy Baal Shem Tov: what happened was not merely an incident in the literal sense. It is clear and obvious that Moshe Rabbeinu was a tzaddik, a lofty soul, a soul of Atzilus, as explained in Chassidus. And it is clear and obvious that there was no need to test Moshe Rabbeinu with literal lambs. Was that the proof that Moshe Rabbeinu was a good and compassionate person—that he tended to lambs and cared for them? Was that the only way to know that Moshe Rabbeinu would be a good shepherd of the Jewish people? Clearly, this story, this Midrash, contains higher and deeper matters. And we know what the holy Shelah writes: “The Torah speaks of the higher realms and alludes to the lower realms.” The things the Torah tells us are primarily about the higher realms. That is where the main event takes place, on a higher plane. It only “alludes to the lower realms”—the event was reflected and expressed here below as well, in the world, in a literal way. But the main event, which the Torah “speaks” about, is in the higher realms.

09:20 It is brought in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: What was the story of Yisro’s flock? The holy Baal Shem Tov says that each of the lambs was a spark of a soul. They were holy souls. Moshe Rabbeinu’s attachment to Yisro’s flock was because the flock contained holy sparks of holy souls, which Moshe Rabbeinu came into contact with as he tended it. The holy Baal Shem Tov also said that afterward they all became Moshe’s students. All those souls later came into the world and became the generation of knowledge, to whom Moshe Rabbeinu gave the Torah and revealed all the teachings of that generation. The generation of knowledge consisted of the souls that had been in Yisro’s flock. This is indeed explained accordingly in works of Chassidus. [unclear] On this subject, it was explained in detail at a farbrengen that what is described here—Moshe Rabbeinu was with Yisro’s flock, and suddenly one lamb ran off and wandered away—is about a soul, a spark, a spark of holiness or a holy soul. After all, all souls, as we say, “Bless us, our Father, all of us as one,” are one. And when the spark of a soul is lost, runs into the wilderness and wanders far away, Moshe Rabbeinu puts aside all his own concerns and goes to look for the soul, the lost soul

10:52 this one. He tends to it to pull it out of the mud and help it return to its former state. That is the story in the Midrash. And when we look at its inner, spiritual meaning: What happened here, and what did the Torah show him? This helps us understand what the parsha goes on to tell us. When we approach the parsha this way and read on, we understand what happened in the story of the burning bush. Moshe Rabbeinu runs after a lamb—a spark, a soul, a lost soul, a soul that has sadly strayed from its path. Moshe Rabbeinu sets everything else aside and goes to see how he can save this lost Jewish soul. He sees that the poor soul is exhausted, so he gives it water to drink—“There is no water but Torah.” He carries it on his shoulders and tends to it. And what happens then? What does the Torah tell us next in the parsha? “An angel of Hashem appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the bush.” What is revealed to Moshe Rabbeinu “in a flame of fire from within the bush”? The bush is a small, dry shrub, a shrub with no fruit, not even leaves. A dry shrub, full of thorns and brambles. And among those thorns, within that shrub, there is a flame

12:26 of fire. And Moshe Rabbeinu sees: “He saw that the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.” Rashi says: What did Hakadosh Boruch Hu show Moshe Rabbeinu? Rashi tells us: “I am with him in distress.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu shows Moshe Rabbeinu what it means that “I am with him in distress.” What does this Midrash mean? What does this Rashi mean? Moshe Rabbeinu sees “I am with him in distress.” There are maamarim on these verses. Then come the following verses. Through what he sees in the bush, through “I am with him in distress,” Hakadosh Boruch Hu is showing Moshe Rabbeinu: Know that the Jewish people are in the bush; they are in a state like this bush, a dry state, [unclear], a state of distress. Know that there is a flame of fire: the Shechinah is there. “I am with him in distress”; Hakadosh Boruch Hu is with the Jewish people in their time of distress. And then the plain meaning of the narrative continues. For Hakadosh Boruch Hu explained “I am with him in distress” to Moshe Rabbeinu. We will soon see how all of this is written in the plain meaning of the verses. But when we study the plain meaning, the question is: What happened here? What exactly took place in what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to show Moshe Rabbeinu? Here we see the matter as it is explained in the Chassidus works of the Baal Shem Tov’s disciples. What exactly happened here? That is the interpretation we are discussing.

14:07 Now, “I am with him in distress” means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the holy Shechinah, is with the Jewish people in their time of distress. Moshe Rabbeinu was there and saw that the Jewish people were suffering in exile. What was the nature of their suffering in exile? The exile had already gone on for many years, and they were suffering in it, until “the Jewish people groaned under the labor,” as the verses said earlier. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu shows Moshe Rabbeinu: Know that “I am with him in distress.” They tell a story about the holy Ruzhiner. When they came to take him away—as is known, there was a grave accusation against him, he was arrested, and he spent time in prison; it is a whole story, rich in detail—they say that when they came to take the holy Ruzhiner to prison, he burst into tears. He said: It says in Tehillim—what does David say? “Hashem is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing.” King David says, “Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” The simple meaning is that, as King David says, even when one faces the “valley of the shadow of death,” G-d forbid, and a Jew is in distress, in the “valley of the shadow of death,” “I will fear no evil”—I am not afraid of evil, because I know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is with me, “for You are with me.” But the Ruzhiner interpreted it the other way around: “Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” David says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “I will not fear”—I am not afraid of the valley of the shadow of death; that is not what pains me. “Evil”—what is the painful thing? “For You are with me.” When I reflect on “I am with him in distress,” when I know

15:56 that the Shechinah is with us in exile, that is the distress. That is what pains me. The holy Ruzhiner said: The very fact that they are taking me to a place of impurity, to prison, does not pain me. But I know that “the Shechinah is in exile,” that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is going with me—“for You are with me”—that I am taking Hakadosh Boruch Hu with me. And as they always say about “I am with him in distress”—as the Rebbe said to a chossid, to a student: Ah, you are taking the tzaddik with you; you are taking the Rebbe with you. “I am with him in distress” is even harder than our being in exile itself. There was once a farbrengen on Shabbos Parshas Shemos, more than forty years ago. The Rebbe held a farbrengen then, and it was a fiery farbrengen. The Rebbe spoke about the parsha, about the sequence of events at the burning bush, and dwelt on this Rashi. Those who were at that farbrengen say that there was a tremendous storm of emotion. The Rebbe shed tears and wept, and spoke with such force, such passion, such a flame of fire. He explained the parsha and Rashi on that day’s parsha through the idea of “I am with him in distress,” to understand what happened there at the bush. And I want to ask some simple questions here. When we study the parsha, it says that Moshe Rabbeinu sees “a flame of fire from within the bush.” And what does it say next? “Let me turn aside and see”—Moshe Rabbeinu approaches the fire, the flame,

17:50 “this great sight.” And Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to him, “I am the G-d of your father.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu comes to him with the great, good, G-dly news that they are about to leave exile. Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu, “I am the G-d of your father.” Then He says, “I have surely seen”—you must know that I see the condition of the Jewish people; I see how they suffer in exile. “I have heard”—I am listening to them. “I know their pain”—I feel it; “I know” does not mean merely that I am aware of it. “I know” means a connection: I take it in, I feel it, I feel their pain. “And I have come down to rescue them”—the time has come; I want to bring them out of exile. And I want to send you as My emissary to bring the Jewish people out of exile. What does it say next in the parsha? Moshe Rabbeinu says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: I will come to the Jewish people—“When I come to the Jewish people”—and tell them, “The G-d of your fathers has sent me to you”; Hakadosh Boruch Hu sent me. “And they say to me, ‘What is His name?’”—the Jewish people will ask: What is His name? “What shall I say to them?”—what is the answer? It then says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu answered: “G-d said to Moshe, ‘Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh’”—Alef, Hei, Yud, Hei, the holy Name, “I will be as I will be.” And then He says, “Ehyeh has sent me to you.” Rashi comes and says: What answer did Hakadosh Boruch Hu give? What happened here? Moshe Rabbeinu says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “What is His name?”—that the Jewish people will ask what the Name is. Rashi says: Hakadosh Boruch Hu answered

19:33 with “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh”—what does it mean? Rashi says: “I will be with them in this distress.” I will be with them in this distress. “As I will be with them”—I will be with them in other troubles too, in further exiles. Moshe Rabbeinu says to the Master of the Universe: Why mention other troubles to them? Is the distress of Egypt not enough, that You must now tell them there will be more troubles? If so, say it only once: “Ehyeh.” And a simple question arises: What happened here? What did Moshe Rabbeinu say to the Master of the Universe? All the commentators address this. Moshe Rabbeinu says: I will go to the Jewish people and tell them that the Master of the Universe, the G-d of your father and the G-d of your fathers, will bring you out of exile. “And they say to me, ‘What is His name?’”—what is His name? What is the meaning of that question? Does Moshe Rabbeinu think the Jewish people will ask, “What is His name?” Don’t the Jewish people know Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s name? Do they need to know His name? Is that precisely what they are missing? This is a major difficulty. First of all, the Jewish people are in exile. They are working to the point of exhaustion, worn out, tormented and embittered, full of suffering. Moshe Rabbeinu comes and tells them that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is bringing them out of exile, and they ask about the Name? Is that what they will want to know—the Name? And again: Was it the Name that the Jewish people lacked? Didn’t they know Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s name? After all, the Jewish people were believers, the children of believers. They knew “the G-d of your fathers,” “the G-d of Avraham,” “the G-d of Yitzchak.” They knew there is a G-d, and—

21:07 He is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and He... what was missing? How many times had this already been said earlier in the parsha? “What is His name?” He says: Hashem—what is the issue here with the name? E-l, Elokim—what is going on here? What is the question, and what is the answer? All the commentators ask this question. The Rebbe said: I want an explanation for a five-year-old learning Torah, a Rashi explanation. The Rebbe would often study Rashi with children at farbrengens. After all, Rashi is for a five-year-old learning Torah—Rashi explains the plain meaning of the text. How do you explain this passage to a five-year-old? A five-year-old child learns the plain meaning; he does not know Kabbalah, allusions, or profound concepts. There is a whole world here: the Moreh Nevuchim, the commentators, Ibn Ezra—a whole world of interpretations and explanations based on Kabbalah, the plain meaning, and Midrash. But what is the simple meaning here, in a way a child can understand? What happened? What took place? What was the exchange? What did Moshe do, and what did Hakadosh Boruch Hu answer? The Rebbe once said something wonderful in explaining these verses. Hakadosh Boruch Hu appeared to Moshe Rabbeinu in the bush. Moshe Rabbeinu sees the revelation of the Shechinah, “in a flame of fire from within the bush”—“I am with him in distress.” Moshe Rabbeinu hears from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells him: He sees

22:38 them. Know that I see everything, I feel everything, I am here. “And I will bring you up”—the time has come for Me to take you out of exile. Moshe Rabbeinu says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, in the words of the verse, “Behold, I will come to the Children of Israel.” I will come to the Children of Israel and tell them—“and I will say to them”—what will I tell them? I will bring them the great news: “The G-d of your fathers has sent me to you.” You must understand: for more than two hundred years, the Children of Israel have been suffering, doing hard labor in the exile of Egypt, exhausted and weary, seeing only darkness. All they see, constantly, is, yes, [unclear], mortar and bricks. And now I am to tell them that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has come to take them out of exile. “And they will say to me,” Moshe Rabbeinu argues before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “What is His name?” What does “What is His name?” mean? Simply: “What is His name?”—after all, “I am called according to My deeds.” The Midrash says, and everyone knows, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has many names. A name reflects “I am called according to My deeds.” Each name is connected to a way of governing: there is governance through the attribute of mercy, governance through the attribute of judgment, governance associated with one name or another. The Children of Israel will ask Moshe Rabbeinu: Tell us, Moshe Rabbeinu, “What is His name?” What kind of governance is this? What kind of governance leaves us suffering in exile for hundreds of years? And here the Rebbe addressed this, and burst into...

24:20 It was terrible. The Children of Israel suffered under Pharaoh for hundreds of years. And not only that, but there was Pharaoh’s decree: “Every son who is born, you shall cast into the Nile.” Then came something even more terrible: when Pharaoh fell ill, what did he do? May Hashem protect us, he slaughtered Jewish children and bathed in their blood. Moshe Rabbeinu voices the question the Children of Israel will ask: “What is His name?” What kind of governance is this? How can one accept a way of governing in which the Children of Israel must remain in exile for so many years and endure suffering—and Jewish blood, seas and rivers of Jewish blood, throughout hundreds and thousands of years of exile? What kind of governance is this? What is the meaning of it? “What shall I say to them?” How can you tell them such a thing? How can it be understood? Hakadosh Boruch Hu answers Moshe Rabbeinu: “I will be what I will be.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu: “I will be with them in this distress”—“I am with him in distress.” What do you think—that I am in heaven, far away? I am together with every Jew when he is in pain, when he suffers, when he is in distress. Know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is with him in exile. The Shechinah is in exile. And the Rebbe explains: What does it mean that the Shechinah is in exile? Not only that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present in the place of exile, but that Hakadosh Boruch Hu shares in the pain of exile. “I am with him in distress.” One might say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is

26:03 Himself [unclear]. This means that it is true everywhere. When Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu, as Rashi explains: You ask, “What is His name?”—what kind of governance is this? You must know that when a Jew suffers, “I am with him in distress”; “I will be with them in this distress.” I am in the midst of their suffering. I feel their suffering. This is explained in Chassidus. The Alter Rebbe explains in Sefer Hamaamarim the words “In Your abundant mercy, have mercy on us”—“G-d of the world, in Your abundant mercy, have mercy on us”: Why do we say to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “In Your abundant mercy”? Surely a soul deserves compassion. The Jewish people in exile deserve compassion. But is what we understand the full extent of it? We feel compassion: a Jew is in pain, a Jew suffers hardships; a Jew struggles to earn a living, suffers the pain of raising children, difficulties with peace in the home, may Hashem protect us, afflictions, the harshness of exile. A Jew suffers in exile. But how much do we feel the full extent of the compassion due to someone in exile? Hakadosh Boruch Hu feels it far more. “Our Father, the merciful Father”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu is our Father, and He is the merciful Father. “In Your abundant mercy”—with Your mercy, Your abundant mercy, for You know how great the need for compassion truly is. Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees the real pain, which the Jews themselves do not even sense. And here Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu: “I will be with them in this distress.” You must know that I am with a Jew in his troubles.

27:46 I am not only with him. I feel his pain even more than he himself does. I will tell you a heartrending story. There was a chossid, the great Reb Simcha Gorodetsky. Reb Simcha Gorodetsky was one of the Rebbe Rashab’s students at Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch. Later, he was among those who showed the greatest mesiras nefesh in Russia during the Communist period. He was one of those remarkable, self-sacrificing chassidim who traveled from town to town and established chadarim and yeshivos. The Frierdiker Rebbe sent him from place to place, until he was imprisoned; he was in Siberia and endured all the suffering he endured. There was a period when he would travel among the towns of Russia, in the early years of the Frierdiker Rebbe. I want to tell you about something that happened, I believe, about a hundred years ago. Those were the years, a century ago—hard years in Russia. It was after the passing of the Rebbe Rashab. The Frierdiker Rebbe was then after [unclear]. It was a difficult period, a time of trouble. There was no money, no livelihood, and the Communists caused every kind of hardship, closing chadarim and yeshivos. He would travel among the towns as the Rebbe’s shliach, collecting money, helping establish institutions and reopen yeshivos that had been closed. He worked with extraordinary mesiras nefesh. And as he traveled, the chassidim would give him their pidyonos, their notes, their

29:17 little notes and letters that chassidim would write to the Rebbe, asking for blessings. A whole bundle accumulated. He came to the Frierdiker Rebbe, who was in Rostov, and brought the bundle. He watched as the Frierdiker Rebbe took out one note and began to read it, then burst into tears. He wept terribly over that one note. Then came a second note, and again the same thing: terrible weeping, for some time. And so it went, note after note, until Reb Simcha became frightened that it was harming the Rebbe’s health, because the Frierdiker Rebbe was not well at the time. He was so distressed by the suffering of the Jewish people that he simply could not bear any more. When that shliach went out again to travel among the towns, he told the chassidim: Friends, you should know that the Rebbe is more distressed by your troubles than you yourselves are. He told them about the terrible weeping he had seen from the Rebbe over every note. When the chassidim heard this, they stopped writing. When the shliach returned to the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe asked him: Where are the letters? He answered: No, they did not write anything. The Frierdiker Rebbe spoke sharply to him and said: You need not have pity on a Rebbe. And he told him: Know that every letter and every note from chassidim is like [unclear] nefesh. Speak to them again and ask them; tell the chassidim to write, and to write in detail. This

30:59 is “I am with him”—“I am with him in distress.” And this is what Hakadosh Boruch Hu shows Moshe Rabbeinu when the Children of Israel are in exile. This is “I will be what I will be.” You must know that in this time of distress, and in other troubles during exile, you are never alone. You must know that “I am with him in distress”: there are hard times, bitter times. You must know that at every time and in every place, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is with a person; the Shechinah is with him in his time of trouble and experiences that trouble with him. And so we are certain that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will help him out of his trouble, and when the time comes, he will immediately see the abundant mercy. That is how the passage continues. After “I will be what I will be,” what does it say next? “And Elokim said further: Thus shall you say to the Children of Israel: Hashem, the G-d of your fathers.” Here the name Havayah, the name of mercy, already appears. In a time of “I will be,” a time of concealment, you must know: “I am with him in distress.” [unclear] The difference between “I will be” and the name Havayah is [unclear]. And when does the time of revealed mercy arrive? [unclear].

32:40 [unclear] with the darkness. This is the meaning of “Hashem appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the bush,” which we discussed in connection with the revelation of the Shechinah. Beyond that, there are deeper interpretations connected to the Jewish people. [unclear], one of the Baal Shem Tov’s students, explains the meaning of “in a flame of fire from within the bush”: [unclear] the soul [unclear]. What Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed Moshe Rabbeinu was a Jew. Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed Moshe Rabbeinu: Look at a Jewish soul. And specifically the bush—the bush is the soul. What is the aspect of the bush? The soul, from the perspective of [unclear], can be reached through Torah and mitzvos. Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu: “He appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the bush”—within every Jewish soul, a flame of fire burns. [unclear] cites the Midrash, which interprets the verse “in a flame of fire from within the bush” in connection with [unclear]: “I am asleep, but my heart is awake.” The Midrash says: “I am asleep in exile, but my heart is awake to Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” That is “in a flame of fire from within the bush.” A Jew, even when he is in the darkness of exile, in dark and bitter times, has “a flame of fire from within the bush” inside him. In every Jewish soul, even in a Jew who [unclear], there is this bush. This is the soul, [unclear] the soul. This is [unclear] the soul. [unclear] Torah and mitzvos. [unclear] as the verse in Shir Hashirim says: “I am asleep, but my heart is awake.” This is the point: “I am asleep in exile, but my heart is awake to Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” That is “a flame of fire,” and the bush is [unclear]. A fire burns within. And this is the wondrous thing Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells Moshe.

35:09 [unclear] Rashi says that Moshe Rabbeinu led the flock [unclear]. Moshe Rabbeinu knew of the suffering of the Jews in Egypt. The Jews were waiting for the Geulah. Moshe Rabbeinu was tending the flock when he saw the bush. [unclear] The revelation was in the flame of fire from within the bush. In the Jewish soul, a flame of fire burns even in exile and in the darkness of exile. And there is a wonderful story about the Alter Rebbe that relates to this, even in a time of [unclear]. It is a wonderful story about the Alter Rebbe. In Eretz Yisroel [unclear] the Maggid of Mezritch. As is known, the Maggid’s health did not allow him to travel around much. So he sent his students to travel from place to place. Chassidim relate that as the Maggid’s students traveled from place to place, they inspired thousands of Jews to do teshuvah, as is well known, [unclear]. And the Alter Rebbe even said that during the few years he lived—and he lived only a few years—he inspired tens of thousands of Jews to do teshuvah through his travels. The Alter Rebbe would travel among the towns. It is known that he would visit towns of Torah scholars in Lithuania, where there were yeshivos and Torah scholars. And one of the stories the Frierdiker Rebbe tells in his sichos

36:55 is about the Alter Rebbe’s time in Minsk. It was “a great city before G-d,” a city where there were [unclear]. And the Alter Rebbe himself had come from there. I think he lived there for a year; he had already been there. When the Alter Rebbe was there, a major debate took place in Minsk with leading misnagdim, who had objections to the Baal Shem Tov and the path of Chassidus. They raised two objections then, two serious objections that they asked the Alter Rebbe to explain. One was that they had heard that the Baal Shem Tov drew simple people very close and spoke of their virtues, of their mitzvos and prayers, and of how precious they were to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They felt that speaking this way about simple people and giving them such an important place could lead to a lack of respect for the honor of Torah, and so on. Then there was a second objection, concerning Torah scholars: the holy Baal Shem Tov said that even a Torah scholar, a tzaddik, must do teshuvah. What does it mean that he must do teshuvah? In their eyes, this too showed a lack of respect for the honor of Torah. And the Alter Rebbe said: I was in Mezritch, and I heard from my teacher, the Maggid of Mezritch, that he

38:08 said in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that the Baal Shem Tov’s approach and the revelation of Chassidus are founded on Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s first revelation to Moshe Rabbeinu at the bush. And he said: Moshe Rabbeinu was, after all, a Torah scholar. Moshe Rabbeinu was a great soul, a lofty soul, a complete tzaddik, [unclear]. And Moshe Rabbeinu approached and saw the bush. Moshe Rabbeinu saw a simple person. When Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed Moshe Rabbeinu a bush, He showed him a soul. And He showed him the soul of a simple person, of someone who [unclear], who [unclear] and goes to the market, and has no time to study or pray, and knows nothing. A simple, simple Jewish soul. A bush. But when he says a few verses of Tehillim, or a few lines of the prayers, and sighs—or when he listens to [unclear], which he does not understand very well, and sighs—you can see a thirst in him, a flame of longing for G-dliness. Moshe Rabbeinu saw how a Jewish soul has a leaning, an attraction, a thirst for G-dliness. And the soul’s thirst for G-dliness is a bush that is not consumed. It will never go out, never [unclear]; it always wants more.

39:40 Thirst, and still more thirst. Why? Why don’t I have it? Why can’t I grasp it? Why don’t I feel it? He has a feeling for G-dliness. And this is the greatness, the preciousness of a Jewish soul: the flame, the fire, the love, the “I am with him in distress” that the Baal Shem Tov saw. “Distress” refers to the world, to this physical world. A soul that comes into this physical world, into the distress of this world, and nevertheless, “I am with him”—from this it has faith, warmth, thirst, a passion for G-dliness. This is what he emphasized: the preciousness of simple people. And on the other hand, Moshe Rabbeinu said: “Let me turn aside and see.” “Moshe said, ‘Let me turn aside and see’”—turn aside from here and draw closer to there. Even Moshe Rabbeinu [unclear]. This is teshuvah. This is the great foundation of teshuvah in Moshe Rabbeinu. It is not teshuvah for sins. It is the teshuvah of “the soul returning.” It is the teshuvah of “turning aside from here.” However lofty Moshe Rabbeinu was, however good and profound his levels of holiness, Torah, and service of Hashem, he still had this thirst, this G-dly fire, [unclear] “and the bush was not consumed.” And this is what is demanded of Moshe Rabbeinu, on his level: a new teshuvah of “the spirit returns to G-d who gave it,” a thirst for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, [unclear]. This is the foundation of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings. We find it in souls, and we find it in Jews deeply immersed in exile, in darkness, in concealment. We must know: “I am asleep in exile, but my heart is awake.” Every Jewish soul has a thirst for G-dliness. And this is the true Ahavas Yisroel

41:25 that the Baal Shem Tov taught us. And when we meet every Jew with an essential love, with love, with boundless love, we can then awaken souls and bring a Jew out of his own exile, out of his own [unclear]. In this way, each of us can leave our inner exile, leave our own exile, and awaken the soul. And as the Baal Shem Tov says, every Jew has a spark of Moshiach in his soul. And as is cited, [unclear] brings in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, this spark of Moshiach is present in each and every person. We must awaken the spark, leave our inner exile, and thereby merit the complete Geulah in its entirety very soon. “Send, please, by the hand of the one You will send”—by the hand of the one You are destined to send, Moshiach ben Dovid. And so, from the redemption from Egypt, which we learn about in the current parsha, may we merit, soon in our days, the future Geulah, the Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. May we merit to hear the new Torah—the Torah, its inner dimension and its secrets—from Moshiach Tzidkeinu himself.