Balak-Pinchas - Pinchas Zeh Eliyahu, the Revelation of Eliyahu HaNavi According to Chassidus - Rabbi Asher Parkesh

00:01 This was when the Alter Rebbe was at the beginning of his leadership, while he was still a young man studying under the Maggid of Mezritch, a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. The Alter Rebbe would travel from town to town in Lithuania and began drawing Jews close to Chassidus and to the Baal Shem Tov. The Rebbe relates that the Alter Rebbe was in Shklov. Shklov was a stronghold of Torah; there were great Torah scholars there, many learned men who sat and studied day and night. The Alter Rebbe entered the beis midrash. There was a Torah scholar there, a tremendous genius named Reb Yosef of Shklov, whom people called Reb Yosef Kolbo. At that time, he was still completely distant from Chassidus. He was delivering a highly scholarly lesson. The Alter Rebbe listened to it, then spoke and debated with him. Reb Yosef was deeply impressed by the Alter Rebbe’s greatness and brilliance in the revealed parts of Torah. As their conversations continued, they met more than once. At one of their meetings, Reb Yosef Kolbo even spoke harshly against the Baal Shem Tov. The Alter Rebbe could not hold back and began speaking about the greatness of

01:32 the holy Baal Shem Tov. Among other things, the Alter Rebbe told him that he should know that a revelation of the Baal Shem Tov is loftier even than a revelation of Eliyahu Hanavi. Hearing this, Reb Yosef was thoroughly shaken: How could anyone say such a thing? The Alter Rebbe answered that he should know this was a teaching in the Gemara; it was written in the Gemara. Reb Yosef said, “Oh, in the Gemara? Where does the Gemara say that?” The Alter Rebbe told him there was a passage in Tractate Kesubos. The Gemara says that when Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi entered Gan Eden—the Gemara in Kesubos tells the whole sequence of events—Eliyahu Hanavi went ahead and announced, “Make way for bar Livai.” In other words, Eliyahu Hanavi served Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. The Alter Rebbe explained that “bar Livai” alludes to the phrase “This time my husband will become attached to me.” “Become attached” means to join and connect. And the tzaddikim, the leaders of the Jewish people, whose entire purpose, whose whole lives, are devoted to being a “bar Livai”—connecting Jews with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, connecting the world with G-dliness—for them Eliyahu Hanavi announces, “Make way for bar Livai.” That is what the Alter Rebbe said. Reb Yosef Kolbo asked him, “And what is your connection to the Baal Shem

03:17 Tov? After all, you are already several generations after him.” The Alter Rebbe was of the third generation: a disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch, who was a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. The Alter Rebbe replied, “This, too, is an explicit Gemara.” The Gemara says in Tractate Avodah Zarah that there is a law called nitzok, a poured stream. What is the law of nitzok? It is a law concerning ritual impurity and purity: when there is a vessel containing hot water, and one takes another vessel containing hot water and pours from one vessel into the other, the stream forms a connection for purposes of impurity and purity. That is, if the water in one vessel is pure and the water in the other is impure, the stream creates a connection, so the other water also becomes impure. This is particularly so with hot water, when the rule that “nitzok forms a connection” applies. So, the Alter Rebbe said, “The teachings of the Baal Shem Tov are a matter of nitzok, and nitzok is a connection. Since we receive these teachings from the holy Baal Shem Tov, and they have been passed down from generation to generation in this way, they are living teachings of the Baal Shem Tov; they are the Baal Shem Tov’s authentic teachings.” That is the story. But regarding Eliyahu Hanavi, a revelation of Eliyahu Hanavi, as compared with

04:47 [unclear] a revelation of the holy Baal Shem Tov, there is a point [unclear] that we will now go through in connection with the weekly parsha. At the end of Parshas Balak, the Torah tells of the self-sacrifice of Pinchas, son of Elazar, son of Aharon the Kohen. He rose with self-sacrifice, took a spear, and acted with zeal for Hashem among the Jewish people. Afterward, in the merit of his self-sacrifice, he received what is stated in our parsha, Parshas Pinchas. The Torah says: “Pinchas, son of Elazar, son of Aharon the Kohen, turned My wrath away from the Children of Israel by acting with zeal for Me.” For this, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave him several blessings: “Therefore say: Behold, I give him My covenant of peace. And it shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of everlasting priesthood, because he acted with zeal for his G-d and atoned for the Children of Israel.” In other words, Pinchas received several blessings because he rose with self-sacrifice to save the Jewish people. The holy Ohr Hachaim examines these two verses. “Therefore say: Behold, I give him My covenant of peace” is one blessing. Then it says, “And it shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of everlasting priesthood”—a second blessing. What are these two blessings? The holy Ohr Hachaim explains them based on what is written in the Zohar and the Midrash: “Pinchas is Eliyahu.” That is, Pinchas and Eliyahu Hanavi have the same soul. As brought in the holy books, this

06:20 was the very same person. At first he was Pinchas. Then he disappeared, as it says in the books. With Pinchas there was—yes, it says that [unclear], that with Pinchas [unclear], and he did not disappear, and then returned. So we find Pinchas in that generation, and we find Pinchas later in the Book of Shoftim. Yes, later, in Shoftim, Pinchas returned again. After that we find Eliyahu Hanavi, and it is the same person: Pinchas is Eliyahu. The holy Ohr Hachaim says that we find two things regarding Eliyahu Hanavi. One is that he received the priesthood. Although he had already been born, that was before Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose the kohanim, so Pinchas could not become a kohen by virtue of that choice. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the priesthood to him, “to him and to his descendants after him,” and that was a gift he received then. Later, Eliyahu Hanavi also received this role: he would be Eliyahu, the herald of the Geulah. As the verse in Malachi says—yes, these are the words of the verse—“Behold, I send you Eliyahu Hanavi before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem.” Eliyahu Hanavi will, as the Mishnah also says, and as the Rambam brings at the end of Hilchos Melachim, come before Moshiach

07:47 comes, and he will herald the Geulah. He will also bring those who are distant close and make peace in the world, as emerges from the whole discussion in the Mishnah in Tractate Eduyos, and as the Rambam also rules at the end of Hilchos Melachim. So what is the point? The holy Ohr Hachaim says that the Torah is telling us here: Since Pinchas is Eliyahu, we find both these things in him. In our parsha we find “by acting with zeal for Me”: he rose with zeal for Hashem concerning the Jewish people, concerning the sin of that time, the sin of idol worship with Baal Peor. He rose to atone for the Jewish people with self-sacrifice, tremendous self-sacrifice. Later we also find that in the days of Achav, when there was idol worship, Eliyahu Hanavi rose with tremendous self-sacrifice against all the prophets of Baal. He performed that well-known act on Mount Carmel, which we also read about in the haftorah of Parshas Pinchas—yes, when the parsha falls outside the Three Weeks. We then read that haftorah because in this matter of Pinchas–Eliyahu, we saw the self-sacrifice involved in opening the eyes of the Jews: “How long will you waver between two sides?”

09:13 And through his self-sacrifice he was zealous for Hashem, as Eliyahu was in his time on Mount Carmel. His distinction had two aspects: he uprooted the sin of idol worship, both in the earlier generation and in the later one. In both generations he waged a zealous battle against idol worship. Therefore he will be Eliyahu who brings us the Geulah, for in the Geulah, “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth.” Then there will be the revelation of “Hashem will be King over all the earth; on that day Hashem will be One and His name One.” Through him, the world saw that there is nothing besides Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and that is why Eliyahu is the one who will bring us the Geulah. And because he atoned for the Jewish people during the plague, and also through what he did in the days of Achav, he is the kohen, whose role is to atone for the Jewish people. Those are the words of the holy Ohr Hachaim. But in Kedushas Levi, the tzaddik of Berditchev asks: If we say, “Pinchas is Eliyahu,” why do we say “Pinchas is Eliyahu”? Shouldn’t we say “Eliyahu is Pinchas,” since, after all, Pinchas

10:34 After all, Pinchas came first. Eliyahu Hanavi came later. If so, it should say “Eliyahu is Pinchas”: Eliyahu, who came hundreds of years later, is the same person who had been Pinchas. Why do we say “Pinchas is Eliyahu”? The truth is, this is not a difficult question, because we find both wordings. Sometimes it says “Pinchas is Eliyahu,” and sometimes it says “Eliyahu is Pinchas.” Yes, it depends on whom we are talking about. When we are talking about Pinchas, we say “Pinchas is Eliyahu”; when we are talking about Eliyahu, we say “Eliyahu is Pinchas.” But the tzaddik of Berditchev says something very profound here, something wonderful. He explains that, in essence, it is the same soul. Eliyahu Hanavi—yes, it is the soul of Eliyahu Hanavi present in that generation. The Zohar says that Eliyahu Hanavi dates back to the six days of Creation. The soul of Eliyahu Hanavi is a soul whose concern is “when he zealously avenged My cause”—to rise up and take a stand. It is he who inspires a person to act with mesirus nefesh to fulfill “when he zealously avenged My cause.” When Shechem and Zimri appear, that is Eliyahu Hanavi. And when Pinchas had to rise up at that moment with mesirus nefesh against the tribe of Shimon, against the Jews who were then involved in idol worship, at the moment when Pinchas

11:53 took his stand with mesirus nefesh, the soul of Eliyahu Hanavi entered him. That is what we mean when we say, “Pinchas is Eliyahu.” In other words, at that very moment, at that point in time, when he took his stand with mesirus nefesh—“when he zealously avenged My cause”—the soul of Eliyahu Hanavi entered him. That is the meaning of “Pinchas is Eliyahu.” Then the holy Berditchever says something wonderful. But regarding the statement that he continues to exist in his body—[unclear]. Eliyahu Hanavi was among the tzaddikim whose distinctive quality was that he continued to exist in his body: his body did not pass away, and he ascended to heaven in a whirlwind, body and soul together. The reason is that, at the beginning of Creation, Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s intent was for Jews to be eternal. The soul is eternal—a literal part of G-d above—and the body, too, was meant to be eternal. The body is also a garment, but [unclear]. Just like the soul, which is a literal part of G-d above. This is the part [unclear]. Hakadosh Boruch Hu—“I, Hashem, have not changed”—is eternal. The soul, which is part of the Essence, is eternal like the Essence. And the body—because the body, too, [unclear], its entire existence is the [unclear] of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—was also meant to exist eternally. But what happened? After the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, the body

13:32 became coarse, and so there arose the matter of a body, without interruption, and it exists forever. But with Pinchas, the mesirus nefesh came from the body as well. He gave his body over entirely to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That was his mesirus nefesh in the circumstances of that time. He took his stand, as the Gemara says in Sanhedrin. So with Pinchas, the mesirus nefesh was not only on the part of the soul; the body, too, was given over completely with mesirus nefesh. To give one’s life in order to [unclear], to put an end to the sins of idol worship and to atone for the Jewish people. Consequently, his entire body, too, became united with G-dliness. That is why, with Eliyahu Hanavi—Pinchas is Eliyahu—his body continues to exist. Elsewhere, the holy Berditchever writes [unclear], and with this he explains why the Gemara so often says “teiku.” When the Gemara raises a question, a doubt, an unresolved inquiry, it says “teiku.” We know that “teiku” is an acronym for “Tishbi will resolve the difficulties and questions.” The holy Berditchever asks: Why “Tishbi”? Why is it specifically the Tishbi who must answer the questions? After all, when Moshiach comes, as the Gemara says, “Moshe and Aharon will be with him.” Moshe Rabbeinu received and transmitted the Torah. It is of him that it says, “Moshe received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it.” Surely he is the greatest expert in Torah. Why do we need

15:05 Eliyahu Hanavi—“Tishbi will resolve the difficulties and questions”? Moshe Rabbeinu should answer the questions. The holy Berditchever says that to answer questions and unresolved inquiries, it is not enough to be someone who knows the Torah, not even Moshe Rabbeinu. What is needed specifically is a soul in a body. After all, we have the principle that “the Torah is not in heaven.” The Torah must be entrusted specifically to a soul in a body. And the Gemara says in Eruvin that “these and those are the words of the living G-d.” Both Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel are “the words of the living G-d.” Nevertheless, the halachah was decided according to Beis Hillel. That is the halachah: the Sanhedrin ruled in accordance with Beis Hillel. The writings of the Arizal say that when Moshiach comes, the halachah will follow Beis Shammai. What does that mean? He explains that the Sanhedrin are the ones who see the state of the world. Beis Shammai tended toward stringency, [unclear] and gevurah, and for the most part they ruled stringently. Beis Hillel were [unclear] chessed, and for the most part they ruled leniently. The Sanhedrin, who are souls in bodies, see the state of the generation and what the generation is capable of receiving. They decide the halachah accordingly. So they ruled that the generation, the world, could not receive the approach of Beis Shammai; therefore, the halachah follows Beis Hillel. In the future, when the world [unclear] and Jews will be able to receive the approach of Beis Shammai, souls in bodies will be able to decide the halachah

16:38 and say what the ruling should be. The same applies to the statement “Tishbi will resolve.” It is specifically Eliyahu Hanavi—Pinchas is Eliyahu—who is [unclear], and thus he is a soul in a body. As a soul in a body, he sees the condition of Jews as they are down here. That is why he can be the one to resolve difficulties and questions. So it emerges that the point about Eliyahu Hanavi, “Pinchas is Eliyahu,” is that they are the same, the same person, yes, and that he remains in a body because his mesirus nefesh was genuine mesirus nefesh on the part of the body. For [unclear]. When [unclear] the idea of “Pinchas is Eliyahu,” the [unclear] says that it is written, and he quotes the verse: “Behold, I am sending you Eliyahu Hanavi.” He asks: Why is it phrased in the present tense, “Behold, I am sending you Eliyahu Hanavi”? It should have said that a time will come—yes, in the future tense—“I will send you.” What does “Behold, I am sending” mean? It implies that this is something present, something relevant at all times. The [unclear] answers, and this is a foundational principle in Chassidus. He presents the idea and cites the words of the Baal Shem Tov, words brought in [unclear] Chassidus, concerning how [unclear] acts.

18:16 [Unclear] in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, and also in the name of the Meor Einayim. The Rebbe cited the Meor Einayim in the name of the Baal Shem Tov several times in sichos, maamarim, and farbrengens, when speaking about Moshiach. The holy Baal Shem Tov said that the idea of Moshiach is that every Jew has a spark of Moshiach within his soul. Every Jew has the spark of Moshiach within him, which in Chabad Chassidus is called the yechidah of the soul. Yes, that is the spark of Moshiach found in every Jew. He says that every Jew must perfect his part of Moshiach’s stature. In other words, when the Baal Shem Tov speaks about the revelation of Moshiach, he says that a Jew must work on himself—awaken, reveal, and perfect the spark of Moshiach within him. Deep within every Jew’s soul is the quality of Moshiach, the yechidah of the soul. When we speak of Moshiach, there is the “general yechidah,” in the language of Chassidus, and he is that general yechidah. Moshiach is the one in whom G-dliness shines at the deepest level of the soul’s essence, and that is the revelation of Moshiach in the time to come. Every Jew has a spark of that aspect of Moshiach. That is why we say that “Adam” is an acronym for Adam, David, Moshiach. Adam Harishon, too, is described as an all-encompassing soul, as brought in the writings of the Arizal, and his soul encompassed—

19:44 all the souls of Israel. Yes, that was Adam Harishon. Similarly, when we speak about King David, we find that he is called “the sweet singer of Israel.” In other words, he was a collective soul who encompassed all the souls of Israel—“David, King of Israel, lives and endures.” Likewise, when we speak about Moshiach, he will have a collective soul encompassing all souls, the spark of yechidah within every Jew. And that spark is found in every Jew. The path to personal Geulah, in which each Jew reveals and redeems the spark of Moshiach within him—through this, [unclear], we will merit the collective Geulah. This is what Moshiach means in a person’s avodah. The idea is, yes, in [unclear] Geulah, that a Jew connects, and this is what Geulah is about. Geulah means connecting every thought, word, and action with Hashem. And this is what Moshiach is about, as explained at length: “Moshiach” is related to “sicha,” speech. As is also brought in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, Moshiach is mem-siach. This is the idea of speech—speaking words of Torah and prayer. In every word of Torah and prayer, one must reach the depth of its G-dly intent, and through this one leaves exile. Yes, with every word of prayer, in every prayer, with every word of prayer and every word of Torah, a Jew leaves his inner exile and connects with Hashem. About this he says that—

21:13 But for a Jew to bring about his own Geulah, there must first be an awakening, and that is the role of Eliyahu Hanavi. As we say, before Moshiach comes, Eliyahu Hanavi will come. He heralds the Geulah; he awakens the Jews and prepares the world and the Jews for the time of Geulah. So too with every Jew: before a Jew is about to say a word of Torah or prayer, and thereby leave his personal exile and reveal the spark of Moshiach in his soul, he must have a longing and thirst, a desire to connect with Hashem. Similarly, [unclear], with longing, with thirst—and this is Eliyahu Hanavi within every Jew. This is the meaning of the verse he quotes here: “Behold, I am sending you Eliyahu Hanavi.” It is not in the future tense, but in the present tense. In other words, whenever a Jew wants to leave his inner exile and reveal the Moshiach within him, “Behold, I am sending you Eliyahu Hanavi” takes place. Hashem sends Eliyahu Hanavi to him, and Eliyahu Hanavi awakens in Jews the [unclear], the thirst and longing to leave their exile and draw close to Hashem. This is the idea of “Behold, I am sending you Eliyahu Hanavi.” As brought in the Zohar, Eliyahu Hanavi received, by virtue of his self-sacrifice—

22:42 Pinchas is Eliyahu. When he stood there with self-sacrifice in the parsha, in the account, and confronted Zimri with self-sacrifice, throughout the incident recounted in the parsha, he received the souls of Nadav and Avihu. This is explained according to Kabbalah, and that is why he merited becoming a kohen. “Therefore say: Behold, I give him My covenant of peace”—the souls of Nadav and Avihu were reincarnated in Pinchas, and this is the meaning of his receiving the covenant of peace. What do we find with Nadav and Avihu? We find such fervor in them. What was that fire, that fervor? They wanted to enter the Holy of Holies, as the Torah recounts in Parshas Shemini and Parshas Acharei. As the holy Ohr Hachaim says: What was Nadav and Avihu’s sin? They had ratzo, an immense, tremendous, burning thirst for Hashem. That is why they wanted to enter the Holy of Holies, out of “cleaving, delight, closeness, affection, yearning, sweetness,” as the holy Ohr Hachaim writes. Their cleaving and delight were so great that they experienced the soul’s expiration. And that itself was the sin, because it came only from the soul, while the body did not

23:59 go with them; on the contrary, it remained below. It was ratzo without shov. There was only the soul’s thirst; what was missing was self-sacrifice on the part of the body—to bring the body along too, so that it could be a vessel for the great revelation. And because Pinchas, as we discussed earlier, gave himself over not only with his soul but with his body as well, he received the fire, the burning fervor of Nadav and Avihu. But not in a way that the soul would expire, G-d forbid, and leave the body; rather, the revelation would take place within the body. Through this he can reveal the spark of Moshiach within my soul. And this is the meaning of what is said in our parsha, when the Torah says: “Pinchas son of Elazar turned back My wrath.” The maamarim explain that “My wrath” refers to heat, to warmth. “Turned back”—he restored the warmth. The warmth that Nadav and Avihu had, which was not [unclear], he restored as it should be: it should pass not through the soul alone, but through the soul together with the body. And through this, “Behold, I am sending you” takes place. Whenever a Jew wants to leave his exile and bring forth the Moshiach within my soul, Eliyahu Hanavi within my soul comes first, and he

25:23 awakens in him the thirst and longing to draw close to Hashem. That is the strength that enables him to leave his inner exile and bring forth the Moshiach within my soul. That is one point on this subject, and on this basis there is an explanation from the Rebbe Rashab that resolves the earlier question. Seemingly, what is so remarkable about Pinchas in particular meriting such great things? After all, Moshe Rabbeinu did this many times. “When he zealously avenged My zeal”—standing up for the Jews and giving himself over for them—is something we find with Moshe Rabbeinu many times: at the sin of the Golden Calf, at the sin of the spies, during the trials. Wherever there was a need to stand up for the Jews, we find Moshe Rabbeinu giving himself over for them. As we find later in the parsha, which we learned recently, “Moshe fell on his face.” We find this with Moshe Rabbeinu all the time. How can it be that Pinchas in particular, who gave himself over for the Jews once, received “Behold, I give him My covenant of peace,” and became Eliyahu Hanavi, the herald of the Geulah? What is there in Eliyahu Hanavi, in Pinchas, more than in Moshe Rabbeinu? Moreover, when we look further on in Parshas Pinchas, we find the opposite with Moshe Rabbeinu from what we find with Pinchas. With Pinchas, it was not only for himself,

26:55 but “a covenant of everlasting priesthood for him and his descendants after him.” With Moshe Rabbeinu, on the other hand, our Sages tell us that he asked for his sons to continue in his path and succeed him. But Hashem said, “One who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit”; Yehoshua would succeed him, not Moshe Rabbeinu’s sons. And this was despite Moshe Rabbeinu having given himself over for the Jews many times, just like Pinchas. But the Rebbe Rashab explains this in a remarkable way, based on what we have discussed here: the difference between Pinchas and Moshe Rabbeinu is that with Moshe Rabbeinu, everything came from above. Moshe Rabbeinu’s self-sacrifice consisted of arousing a response from Hashem. Since Moshe Rabbeinu was a lofty soul, a soul of Atzilus, and he was Torah and drew Torah down from above, whenever the Jews were in a situation [unclear], he prayed to Hashem that Hashem forgive them, atone for them, and give the Jews everything they needed. This was an activity from above. But when we speak about Eliyahu Hanavi, Pinchas, his self-sacrifice came from below, from the body. Pinchas’s sacrifice was his own deed. As the Gemara says, and as the Midrash cited by Rashi relates, Pinchas went to Moshe Rabbeinu and

28:21 asked, “What should be done?” And this was a case of “the law is known, but we do not instruct someone to act on it.” In other words, from the perspective of Torah, from Moshe Rabbeinu, there was no instruction about what to do. On the contrary, “they were weeping,” as it says in the parsha. That is how they would have remained, and Pinchas went only with Moshe Rabbeinu’s authority. This is the meaning of what Rashi says: “Let the one who reads the letter be its messenger.” Moshe made him a shliach and told him to go as a shliach. But all this happened because he himself, on his own initiative, rose and gave himself over. And not only did he give himself over, but he did so with his body as well, as we discussed. He gave his body over completely, with self-sacrifice, surrendering his body to atone for the Jewish people. Therefore, because for him this came from below, as [unclear], not only from above but from below—from his body, from his own being—he gave himself over as he stood here below. That is why all these things followed, including the covenant of everlasting priesthood. Because it came from him, it became internalized within him. Something that comes from above can be present with Moshe Rabbeinu, but it does not continue to his sons. Because for him it came from his body, from

29:44 His very existence—he gave himself over from below to above, threw himself completely into the fire of mesirus nefesh, and this became something enduring, continuing “for him and for his descendants after him.” So this is the point the parsha teaches us. When we study the parsha and learn about Pinchas, and know that “Pinchas is Eliyahu,” it means that what Pinchas represents is eternal. And it is present in every Jew: “Behold, I am sending you Eliyahu the prophet.” Every Jew has a spark of Pinchas. Pinchas is Eliyahu—the self-sacrifice and the flame a Jew has, to go forward with mesirus nefesh and devote himself to serving Hashem, “and to atone for the Children of Israel,” to stand up for the honor of Jews and bring Jews out of exile. This is given to every Jew, so that through it he can reveal the spark of Moshiach in his soul. But we see another point as well. We are speaking about Eliyahu Hanavi; and there is another teaching from the Meor Einayim in a different parsha. In Parshas Vayeitzei, he says that whenever—here [unclear]—whenever a Jew brings good news to another Jew, a spark of Eliyahu Hanavi enters his soul. For Eliyahu Hanavi’s whole purpose is to bring

31:13 good news, salvation, and comfort. That is what Eliyahu Hanavi is about. We say in the song for Motzaei Shabbos that Eliyahu Hanavi is the one who brings all this good news. In the same way, when a Jew brings good news to another Jew, a spark of Eliyahu Hanavi is drawn into his soul, and through it he delivers the good news. So, in the situation we find ourselves in now, each of us needs to take this to heart. We are in a parsha that speaks about Geulah. When we speak about the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching—and I heard this many times from the Rebbe at farbrengens—the Rebbe would repeat with tremendous force and enthusiasm, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, that there is a spark of Moshiach in every Jew. The Rebbe spoke several times at farbrengens about how, in Parshas Balak, we find the idea that every Jew has a spark of Moshiach: “A star shall emerge from Yaakov, and a scepter shall arise from Yisroel.” Rashi, the Rambam, and all the commentators cite Midrashim that say these words refer to Moshiach. “A star shall emerge from Yaakov, and a scepter shall arise from Yisroel”—these words refer to Moshiach, who will be the “star from Yaakov” and the “scepter from Yisroel.” And we also find in the Yerushalmi that a man had a dream in which he saw a star, and he went to ask the Tannaim

32:42 to interpret his dream. They told him: “A star shall emerge from Yaakov”—every Jew is a star from Yaakov; that is a Jew’s mazal. So we see that the very same verse, “A star shall emerge from Yaakov,” is interpreted as referring to Moshiach, and that same verse is also interpreted as referring to every Jew. This is a source in the revealed dimension of Torah for the fact that every Jew has a spark of Moshiach. The Rebbe would emphasize this strongly: we find that when Yom Tov arrives, the Jewish custom is to [unclear]. It is an auspicious time, a very powerful auspicious time. And in the text of the prayer customarily said on Yom Tov, we ask: “Fulfill in us the verse that is written: ‘And the spirit of Hashem shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and fear of Hashem.’” These verses speak about Moshiach. “Fulfill in us”—that is what the prayer says. This is an auspicious time, a time of truth, a time when a Jew asks with all his heart and when prayers are accepted. What does a Jew ask of Hakadosh Boruch Hu? “Fulfill in us”—in every Jew—“the verse that is written,” a verse said about Moshiach: “And the spirit of Hashem shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and fear of Hashem.” The explanation is in accordance with the teaching quoted in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, that

34:11 every Jew has a spark of Moshiach. And when a Jew awakens the spark of Moshiach within himself, he first reveals Eliyahu Hanavi within himself—the warmth, the flame, the fervor, and the thirst for G-dliness, to nourish himself and other Jews with them. And what Eliyahu Hanavi [unclear]—on the contrary, [unclear] about the Children of Israel. [unclear]. As the Rebbe said several times at farbrengens for Parshas Pinchas, a Jew must go out into the street and be a shliach, convey the word of Hashem and fight Hashem’s battle—of course, in pleasant and peaceful ways, as the work in our generation must be. And when a Jew awakens Eliyahu Hanavi within himself and reveals his own spark of Moshiach, leaves his personal exile, and reveals the spark of Moshiach in his soul, we will merit, immediately and very soon, to see the Moshiach of all the Jewish people and the complete Geulah. Then these days “will become days of joy and gladness and festive occasions,” with the building of the Third Beis Hamikdash speedily in our days. Amen.