Parshas Vaeira and 24 Teves - The avodah of teshuvah according to the path of Chassidus.

00:00 We are in the week of Shabbos Parshas Va’eira. This is also the week of 24 Teves, the yahrtzeit, the day of the passing, of the Alter Rebbe. We are, of course, deeply connected to the Alter Rebbe. One of his great chassidim was the well-known chossid Reb Aizik of Homil. Rabbi Yitzchak Aizik Epstein, known as Reb Aizik of Homil, was renowned as an extraordinary genius in the revealed Torah, Kabbalah, and Chassidus. Reb Aizik came from a large, distinguished Lithuanian family. His family name was Epstein, a prominent family of rabbis, generation after generation. When the Alter Rebbe traveled through Vitebsk, Shklov, and Vilna—and it is known that dozens and hundreds of young men then joined in the study of Chassidus—Reb Aizik heard about it. He was still young, a sixteen-year-old boy. He left home, traveled to Liozna, and became one of the Alter Rebbe’s foremost students. When he arrived at sixteen, he was already a prodigy with a brilliant mind. By the time he came to the Alter Rebbe at that age, he had already studied the entire Talmud seven times. Once the Alter Rebbe accepted him, he immersed himself in Chassidus while continuing to spend many hours studying the revealed Torah. He studied Chassidus, and not

01:58 only that—he poured his entire soul into Chassidus. Chassidim relate that his service of Hashem at that time was so intense that the Alter Rebbe once called over the older chassidim, those who had been with the Maggid of Mezritch, some of whom had even seen the Baal Shem Tov. He called these elder chassidim and showed them a note, a pidyon nefesh, a kvittel, written by the young Reb Aizik of Homil. What did it say? Just one line: “How can a lowly and exalted soul merit to come before Hashem, blessed be He?” Reb Aizik was writing about himself in his request to the Alter Rebbe: “a lowly and exalted soul.” Out of humility, he asked, “How can it merit to come before Hashem, blessed be He?” He wanted to draw close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Alter Rebbe said to the chassidim, “Look what a young boy, a young man, writes—and what he asks for.” The Alter Rebbe showed it to them in praise of Reb Aizik, to demonstrate his soul’s thirst and his desire to draw close to Chassidus. There is, in fact, a very substantial letter that Reb Aizik of Homil wrote in his later years, describing how he was drawn to Chassidus and how he came to the Alter Rebbe. He relates there that when he came to the Alter Rebbe and heard about the oneness of Havayah,

03:43 the oneness of Hashem—the Alter Rebbe revealed the truth, the absolute truth, of Hashem’s oneness, of “there is nothing besides Him,” of genuine devotion and genuine self-nullification before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This true oneness of Hashem touched him so deeply that he pleaded. In his own words: “[unclear].” He describes how persistently he pleaded, and how he pleaded before the Alter Rebbe with many [unclear]. He asked the Rebbe to help him so that the Divine light would shine within him, so that the truth of the oneness of Havayah would illuminate his soul and the veil would be lifted. He later became one of the great chassidim, the chossid Reb Aizik of Homil. The point is that this is an example of a chossid who drew close to the Alter Rebbe. This is connected to the saying that the Alter Rebbe made people into baalei teshuvah. There are the well-known stories associated with 24 Teves, including a story the Rebbe Rashab told on 24 Teves. The Frierdiker Rebbe later retold it, and the Rebbe also related it at several farbrengens connected with 24 Teves. The point of the story is that the Mitteler Rebbe had a dream. Ah, this story was told by the Rebbe Rashab; the Rebbe, the leader of our generation—the Rebbe Rashab told it.

05:24 At a farbrengen on 24 Teves, [unclear], he was then in Würzburg, Germany, for medical reasons, because of matters that required his attention at the time, and he stayed there for a while. During that stay, there was a farbrengen at which he told the story. The story was that the Mitteler Rebbe once fasted because of a dream, and the Alter Rebbe learned of it. The Alter Rebbe did not want him to fast, because the Mitteler Rebbe’s health was weak, and he was not at all pleased. He then demanded that the Mitteler Rebbe tell him what the dream had been. In the dream, he had seen several tzaddikim, and there was a river. The river was full of water, flowing with tremendous force and a great roar. A plank led from one bank of the river to the other. Several of the great tzaddikim stepped onto the plank, and it swayed. Then he saw the Alter Rebbe, his father—yes, this was the dream of the Mitteler Rebbe, the son—walk across the plank from one bank to the other. The plank remained strong, firm, and steady, and it

06:51 did not—it did not sway. This caused him great distress; it is not clear why, and no one understands. That is how the story has been passed down, from Rebbe to Rebbe. And so he fasted. The Alter Rebbe explained that the reason for the dream was that the other tzaddikim were more occupied with the service of tzaddikim, with tzaddikim themselves. He, the Alter Rebbe, by contrast, was primarily occupied with making baalei teshuvah. Because he worked to make baalei teshuvah, he saw this as the meaning of the dream: that he walked firmly across the water. The water represents the raging waters, the “mighty waters.” The fact that the Alter Rebbe illuminated Jewish souls and awakened them to the service of teshuvah—that was the merit that stood by him. That is the meaning of his walking with strength and stability. But what does it mean to make baalei teshuvah? They say that the Alter Rebbe made many baalei teshuvah. Yes, one of the principal innovations of Chassidus is that teshuvah is not only about sin and wrongdoing. As is well known, the Alter Rebbe writes this several times in Likkutei Torah and says repeatedly that teshuvah is not only for when a person commits a transgression

08:22 and is not necessarily about sin and wrongdoing. The Alter Rebbe says we must know that the essence of teshuvah is “and the spirit shall return to G-d Who gave it.” Teshuvah is not only about sins; it is a state of mind in which a Jew connects with G-dliness and becomes one with G-dliness. In this sense, even a Jew who is a Torah scholar and serves G-d—and even tzaddikim—need teshuvah. They even cite the Zohar’s teaching about Moshiach: Moshiach “will come to bring the tzaddikim to teshuvah.” When Moshiach comes, even tzaddikim will do teshuvah. In other words, it will then become clear that teshuvah is not only connected with sins and wrongdoing; that is what teshuvah truly is. And when we look at how this is revealed, one of the main places we see it, in particular, is in Chabad: teshuvah in the sense of “the spirit shall return.” The service of teshuvah means that a Jew must always keep drawing closer, deepening his connection to G-dliness. We see this in the stories about [unclear]. Sometimes the Jew was a tzaddik, sometimes a Torah scholar, sometimes thoroughly versed in the Talmud, sometimes a prodigy—that was [unclear]. But when he came to the Rebbe, he spoke of his lowly soul and of how he could draw close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and this awakened genuine teshuvah within him. This theme of teshuvah is now found in Chassidus, in Parshas Va’eira. More broadly, we are now in the period known as Shovavim. Shovavim is connected with teshuvah. It is a time to correct undesirable matters, a time for teshuvah. In Chabad Chassidus, we do not speak much about Shovavim, but we do discuss the question the Alter Rebbe raises: Why specifically during Shemos, Va’eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yisro, and Mishpatim? Their initials form Shovavim. And it is “Return, wayward children,” as the Gemara says.

10:26 The verse says, “Return, wayward children.” This applies especially during the seven weeks from Shemos through Mishpatim, and even through Tetzaveh. The Rebbe explains the concept of teshuvah we are discussing, based on a maamar of the Alter Rebbe, in connection with these seven weeks, which are a time for teshuvah. Teshuvah means that a Jew, a soul, can rise from a lower and lower state, drawing closer to and connecting with G-dliness. In the parshiyos from Shemos through Terumah–Tetzaveh, we see the soul leave the exile of Egypt, the deepest exile, and rise higher and higher. We see the power of teshuvah, how the soul begins to ascend. Parshas Shemos is the exile of the soul of the Jewish people. At the beginning of the book of Shemos, the Jewish people were in exile in Egypt, where they faced the greatest hardship. From there, they awakened from darkness to great light, from bondage to Geulah. Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought them out with a strong hand, and in each parsha we see the Jews rising higher and higher. The Rebbe explains: It begins with Shemos, then we move to Vaeira, and from Vaeira to Bo. Each time, the Jews rise higher and higher. This expresses the Jews’ power of teshuvah. And the holy point the Rebbe explains is that the work of teshuvah is not to stare at the mud and think about one’s lowliness, the filth, and the undesirable things. On the contrary, the power of teshuvah comes from a Jew thinking about how Hakadosh Boruch Hu, in His abundant mercy, loves us. That is the power: even when a Jew is in a state of “the nakedness of the land,” at the very lowest point, from there—“You chose us”; and Hakadosh Boruch Hu draws us out of the deep mud, lifts us up, and takes us from one extreme to the other: from Egypt, the nakedness of the land, to the Splitting of the Sea, the Giving of the Torah, and the Mishkan—the greatest revelations. The point is that this is true teshuvah, and it lifts a Jew up to be with Hakadosh Boruch Hu with joy and gladness of heart. And that is the true

12:43 meaning of teshuvah. I am looking at a maamar of Chassidus by the Alter Rebbe in honor of 24 Teves, on the parsha as explained in the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim. Teshuvah in Parshas Vaeira is a very significant subject, and presumably it is connected with this. Among the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim, we find maamarim that deal with teshuvah. One of them is an awe-inspiring maamar. The Frierdiker Rebbe related—and the Rebbe also brings this in Hayom Yom—that the Alter Rebbe would repeat this maamar every year. It is called the Vaeira maamar. It was an intense maamar, not an ordinary one: it spoke about teshuvah in a very forceful and profound way. The Alter Rebbe repeated it many times. Among the chassidim, it was a maamar that aroused tremendous trembling and a great awakening because of the way he delivered it, even though he repeated the same maamar every year. In that maamar, the Alter Rebbe speaks about teshuvah in a profoundly wonderful way. The Rebbe later repeated this maamar at the first farbrengen of 5712, when the Vaeira maamar was delivered. The Rebbe repeated the Alter Rebbe’s maamar almost word for word. It is said that when the Rebbe delivered the maamar, he stood and wept intensely. The central point of the maamar is this: Our Sages say, “The Jewish people will be redeemed only through teshuvah.” The Rambam also cites this in Hilchos Teshuvah: before we come

14:32 to the Geulah, there must be teshuvah. What is the connection between teshuvah and Geulah? What does this tell us? That teshuvah cannot be only about sins and transgressions. We say, “The Jewish people will be redeemed only through teshuvah”; that means even a Jew who has no sins or transgressions must do teshuvah. The question is: How do we reach a state of teshuvah, of Geulah? There must be Geulah. What does “The Jewish people will be redeemed only through teshuvah” mean? Why is teshuvah essential to the coming of the Geulah? From this, they explain that teshuvah is “to be absorbed into the body of the King.” Teshuvah is the way a Jew connects and becomes one, so to speak, with Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. He cites the idea that teshuvah, as the Zohar also says, involves shame. “Bereishis”—“yerei boshes,” awe and shame—as the Zohar says. So teshuvah involves shame. The shame we are speaking about here is not only shame over sins and transgressions, though of course that too is shame, being ashamed of oneself. Here we are speaking of shame on a higher level: when a Jew contemplates before Whom he stands—that he stands before the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu; when he contemplates the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, that He is King over all the earth, that He extends infinitely above and without end below, that His very Essence is the true Infinity, [unclear] all the powers and attributes, which are limited,

16:11 while he stands here below, with his soul and body—when a Jew contemplates this, an overwhelming sense of shame comes over him. Even a Jew who studies Torah and observes mitzvos, and who has love and awe of Hashem, feels profound shame: Who am I, and what am I, to stand here before Hakadosh Boruch Hu? What is this shame? It is true teshuvah, awe born of shame. This is true teshuvah: shame that takes him beyond his limits and constraints. He contemplates that, when it comes to standing before the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, even all his service is incomparably less than what it ought to be. The shame he feels before Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes him beyond his limitations, and he gives himself over to Hakadosh Boruch Hu with the extraordinary feeling of “To You, Hashem, I lift up my soul.” This teshuvah is the spirit of teshuvah, the true teshuvah that brings the Geulah. The Alter Rebbe says this applies at every level. At the very highest level, a Jew who is a tzaddik, who has love and awe of Hashem and observes Torah and mitzvos perfectly—when he contemplates that, relative to the truth of Hashem’s Essence, relative to the truth of the Infinite, all this service is considered as nothing, an overwhelming sense of shame comes over him. That is how it is on the highest levels, among lofty souls. But this also applies to lower souls, to simple souls. There is the work of teshuvah, expressed in “From Egypt I called My son.” The Alter Rebbe goes on to present [unclear] a powerful point in serving Hashem.

17:54 The Alter Rebbe says there is the idea of “For Israel is a child, and I love him,” a verse in Hoshea: “For Israel is a child, and I love him.” To Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, a Jew is like a small child, a young boy loved by his father. A father’s love for his child is so great that sometimes the child, precisely because his father loves him, can [unclear] from his father; the father knows that he loves him. Then a situation arises of “From Egypt I called My son.” When the Jew, the world, is in Egypt, he goes on to give an analogy: The father sees that the child is taking advantage of his love in order to [unclear]. Though the father is so close to him, the child thinks he can do whatever he pleases, and begins to behave wildly. Then the father [unclear]. A distance develops. The father withdraws from him. Suddenly the child begins to feel: Where is my father? He cannot bear it, cannot stand it. And the child cries out: “Father, Father, I want to be with you!” That cry is the truth of the Essence revealing itself, and this is teshuvah, the Exodus from Egypt, the departure from Egypt, from constraints and limitations. It lifts the Jew up and brings him close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And the Alter Rebbe adds another wonderful point: that

19:24 sometimes a Jew can be distanced from Above, to the point that a stumbling block involving sin and transgression is placed in his path. He goes on to mention even the well-known sin: from Above, a stumbling block is placed in a Jew’s path so that “From Egypt I called My son” will awaken within him; so that the Jew will cry out to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “Father, Father, I don’t want to be far from You anymore. I want to be close to You.” Being unable to bear or endure that distance is what arouses the great Exodus from Egypt. That is the movement of teshuvah. Teshuvah is shame, through which he leaves behind his entire inner exile: “From Egypt I called My son.” [unclear] Teshuvah is shame, and [unclear] Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It takes a person beyond all limits and constraints, and that is the true preparation for the Geulah. That is Parshas Vaeira. There is, I think, a deeper explanation: What is the meaning of the four expressions of redemption? They appear in the parsha, which begins with “Vaeira,” and later says, “And you shall know that I am Hashem.” Four expressions of redemption are stated: “I will bring you out,” “I will save you,” “I will redeem you,” and “I will take you.” What are these four expressions of redemption? They are four expressions, four distinct matters. That is why the four cups were instituted, corresponding to the four expressions of redemption. The Midrash also says that [unclear].

21:18 Expressions of Geulah, Yechezkel. This relates to the four exiles. What is the significance of the four expressions of Geulah, and what is their connection to teshuvah? This is discussed in the sefarim. The holy Shelah writes that the four expressions of Geulah correspond to the four matriarchs: Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel, and Leah. As is known, three mitzvos correspond to the three patriarchs. The four expressions of Geulah correspond to the four matriarchs. The holy Shelah explains: the first cup is connected to Sarah our mother, the second to Rivkah, the third to Rachel, and the fourth to Leah. He explains how each cup expresses its connection to one of them. The first cup is Kiddush, “Who chose us”; that was Sarah our mother—being chosen, “You chose Avram.” The second cup, the telling of the Exodus from Egypt, relates to Rivkah: “We begin with disgrace and end with praise”—the story of Esav and Yaakov, Rivkah’s sons. The third cup is connected to Rachel. This cup is associated with bentching; it relates to Yosef, who was “the provider” and gave food to the Jewish people. The fourth cup is Leah, from whom comes the Great Hallel, “This time I will thank Hashem.” This is connected to Yehudah and King David, to Moshe Rabbeinu, to “This time I will thank Hashem,” to Hallel, thanksgiving, and praise. That is what the holy Shelah says. Another sefer, by one of the Baal Shem Tov’s students, the Berditchever[?], says—in the sefer [unclear] he writes that the four cups correspond to the four legs of the Divine chariot: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and David. And he explains how this relates to the four

23:01 matters. But where does teshuvah come in? When we say that Parshas Va’eira is connected to Geulah, that is connected to the avodah of teshuvah. And when we cite “The Jewish people will be redeemed only through teshuvah,” it follows that the four expressions of Geulah are four levels in the avodah of teshuvah. This is how the Alter Rebbe, whose yahrzeit is on 24 Teves, explains it in a maamar. It is the maamar “Mah Tovu” in Likkutei Torah, where the Alter Rebbe speaks about four levels of teshuvah. They are alluded to in the verse: “Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” These are four things. And these four things are the four expressions in the verses: “I will bring you out, I will save you, I will redeem you, and I will take you.” The first form of teshuvah is turning away from evil. Turning away from evil in its plain sense: one must distance oneself from evil. This does not refer only to actual transgressions. Certainly one must do teshuvah for transgressions, but here we are speaking about evil in general, even things that are permitted. That is what turning away from evil means. This teshuvah is teshuvah motivated by awe: a Jew must have awe, yiras Shamayim and kabbolas ol of the Kingdom of Heaven, and through these he distances himself from his own evil, from the evil of the yetzer hara, from the evil within his soul, and even from permitted things that do not serve a purpose for the sake of Heaven. Where is this expressed in the verse? What is the first expression of Geulah? “I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt.” “I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt”—that is turning away from evil. “Burdens”—one

24:45 interpretation of “burdens” is a weight, something that weighs a person down, a load. A living thing is in the category of “the living carries itself”; it is light. But something without life has great weight; it is heavy. When a Jew learns Torah and fulfills mitzvos with vitality, when they are alive for him, it is easy. When he loses that vitality, when it lacks life, it is dead; it is a burden. “Positive mitzvos”—a burden. And that is the evil, “the burdens of Egypt.” The poor Jew keeps Torah and mitzvos, but he has to go to yeshivah, he has to learn Torah, and everything weighs on him. Everything is a burden; everything is hard. It is without vitality, without any feeling for it; this is lifeless Torah and mitzvos. “I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt”—that is the first step, turning away from evil, getting out from under the yoke of that burden. Beginning with kabbolas ol of the Kingdom of Heaven—that is the first movement of teshuvah: “I will bring you out.” Then comes the second form of teshuvah, doing good. Doing good does not mean only observing the Shulchan Aruch and doing so with vitality. Rather, as the Alter Rebbe explains, “doing good” means the avodah of “going beyond one’s habits.” Doing good means that a Jew loves learning, and he learns more than he is obligated to by law. This is what the Alter Rebbe discusses

26:15 in Tanya, chapter 15, where he speaks about “one who serves G-d”—about someone who reviews his studies a hundred times, and someone who reviews them a hundred and one times. When it comes to learning, he learns a hundred and one times. In his service of Hashem, he does more than he is accustomed to. For this, love is already needed; awe alone is not enough. Awe can lead a person to refrain from a negative act, but to make an effort beyond his usual practice, he needs to have love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When a Jew loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he wants to serve Him even more than halachah requires. That is the second level of teshuvah. Of this it says, “I will save you.” What does “I will save you” mean? The word for “save you” is related to the word for shade. One aspect of shade is that it surrounds: shade envelops a person. A surrounding light creates shade. This indicates that we are already speaking of something on a higher level. For when there is love of Hashem, it is, as we say, like a sukkah. A sukkah surrounds a person, like an embrace. There is love here; there is affection. The holy Berditchever explains the sukkah as having three handbreadths: like a person embracing someone—there is the body, then the arm, and then the palm of the hand. Those are the three handbreadths. This is the true meaning of an embrace, as the verse says: “His left hand is beneath my head, and His right hand embraces me.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu envelops the Jew with great love, and that is

27:45 the love of “doing good,” in which a Jew serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu beyond his usual practice. This is the second level of teshuvah, teshuvah motivated by love. Then comes the third level, “seek peace.” “Seek peace” refers to learning Torah. Learning Torah is higher than both love of Hashem and awe of Hashem. The bond a Jew forms with Hakadosh Boruch Hu through learning Torah is peace. Peace means that unity is created, that they become one. “The entire Torah was given only to bring peace into the world.” In learning Torah, there is a unity between a Jew and Hakadosh Boruch Hu as one. As explained in Chassidus, the Alter Rebbe explains that “turn away from evil and do good” refers to fulfilling mitzvos. Mitzvos can be fulfilled in the manner of “turn away from evil,” with awe, or in the manner of “do good,” with love. In “turn away from evil and do good,” in fulfilling mitzvos, a person is like a servant serving Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the King—the King’s servant. But in learning Torah, as in the expression “Who are kings? The sages,” he becomes like the King Himself. When he learns Torah, he is not merely a servant serving his master. Through learning Torah, a Jew becomes so united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu that he and Hakadosh Boruch Hu become, so to speak, truly one. This is unity, as explained in Chassidus and as the Alter Rebbe discusses several times in Likkutei Torah. And this is the “wondrous union” that the Alter Rebbe describes in chapter 5: “A wondrous union, the like of which, or anything comparable to it, is not found at all in the physical world”—becoming one

29:19 and truly united in every respect. The true wondrous union is found when a Jew learns Torah. And the Alter Rebbe explains “Who are kings? The sages”: when the sages say, “So-and-so says,” it is as though the King Himself says it, because it is, so to speak, the word of Hashem—“the Shechinah speaks from his throat,” “the Mishnah speaks from his mouth,” as was said of the Beis Yosef. In this way he becomes like the King Himself. This is the greatest unity. That is the meaning of “seek peace.” It is the third level of teshuvah. Of this He says, “I will redeem you.” “I will redeem you”—Geulah. “No one is truly free except one who engages in Torah.” The true meaning of Geulah is to go beyond all measures and limitations, all exile and all constrictions. A Jew is redeemed when he learns Torah; that is true freedom, that is “seek peace.” But there is a fourth level. The fourth level is “and pursue it.” Within learning Torah itself there are two levels. There is learning Torah in the manner of “seek peace,” searching and seeking; and there is “pursue it,” the pursuit. This is when a person becomes so connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu that “pursue it” is fulfilled in him: he runs, becomes “eager to run to perform a mitzvah,” and becomes completely united with it, connected to it, and immersed in it. And more generally, this distinction exists within Torah itself, where there are two aspects: there is the Torah as it is clothed in physical matters, including the revealed dimension of Torah, the body of Torah; and there is its soul, the inner dimension of Torah. And in the revealed dimension of Torah

30:57 There is “seek peace.” “The entire Torah was given only to bring peace into the world” refers primarily to the revealed part of Torah, to Torah law. That is where “seek peace” applies. But when we come to the inner dimension of Torah, to the soul of Torah, there is [unclear] of Hashem Himself. In the inner dimension of Torah, there is true oneness: one single entity. And then it says, “And I will take you.” As the verse is understood: “You take Me.” When a Jew studies Torah and senses the Giver of the Torah, when he studies with a conscious connection to the Giver of the Torah, then “And I will take you” means that he becomes one with Hashem Himself. This is what the Alter Rebbe discusses in Tanya, chapter 47, which deals with the Exodus from Egypt. There, the Alter Rebbe dwells on the statement: “In every generation, and on every single day, a person must see himself as though he left Egypt today.” The Alter Rebbe adds to the words of the Mishnah that a Jew must live each day with the feeling that today he is leaving Egypt. The Alter Rebbe explains: What is the essence of leaving Egypt? It is the soul’s oneness with Hashem, [unclear], and the greatest oneness is in “You take Me.” So when a Jew studies Torah and knows that within the Torah is the “Anochi”—“I have written and given My very self”—Hashem Himself, he is, as it were, taking Hashem through his Torah study. And in this lies the [unclear], this

32:22 is the first level of teshuvah. This is “And I will take you”—becoming one with Hashem. The four expressions of redemption are four levels in the service of teshuvah, through which a Jew draws closer and closer and rises higher and higher. There is a well-known account about the holy Baal Shem Tov—the Frierdiker Rebbe relates it, and the Rebbe recounts it in his sichos—that in the Baal Shem Tov’s time, the name “chassidim” did not yet exist. Today we say chassidim, Chassidus, chassidim, but they did not have the name “chassidim” then. When the Baal Shem Tov founded Chassidus, they were not called chassidim; they did not yet have a name. The Frierdiker Rebbe relates that the Baal Shem Tov said he wanted to call the chassidim “baalei teshuvah.” As we discussed, the true concern of Chassidus was primarily teshuvah—genuine teshuvah, the teshuvah of “and the spirit returns.” The Alter Rebbe revealed this concept. And this is what the Alter Rebbe accomplished—“he brought many to teshuvah”: Chassidus revealed the depth of teshuvah, its true meaning. Of this teshuvah it is said: “The Jewish people will be redeemed only through teshuvah.” When Jews are able to do genuine teshuvah, inner teshuvah, and reveal the essence of teshuvah at every level of “I will bring you out, I will save you, I will redeem you, and I will take you,” we will merit the true and complete Geulah very soon, through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. And [unclear] with the story about Reb

33:41 Aizik of Homil. I’ll conclude with a story the Rebbe tells about Reb Aizik of Homil. The great chossid Reb Aizik of Homil was [unclear] in the chassidic town of Homil in Russia. Once, at a farbrengen, Reb Aizik of Homil said something quite remarkable: When Moshiach comes, he will reveal every Jew, and every Jew will see what he has done and accomplished. Then he said: When Moshiach comes, he will take Reb Aizik. “Aizik,” he said, “is a small man.” Compared with the great chassidim, with the great disciples of the Baal Shem Tov and the disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch—who is Aizik? A small man, “a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant.” Moshiach will take Reb Aizik, place him in the palm of his hand, and say: “Oh, this little man davened, studied Chassidus, worked with all his strength, and did what he could. He connected with Hashem.” And that, above all, is what Chassidus revealed: how every Jew, at his own level, in his own way, and from within, can connect with Hashem, do teshuvah, and reach those first things—to connect and become one with Hashem. May we merit the fulfillment of what is written in the parsha: “And you shall know that I am Hashem,” “I will bring you out, I will save you, I will redeem you, and I will take you,” and ultimately, “I will bring you into the land”—with the complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu.