Parshas Ki Teitzei - The War of the Avodah of Prayer - Rabbi Asher Perkesh

00:01 In the days of the Tzemach Tzedek, there was a harsh decree in Russia, the well-known Cantonist decree. The Cantonists were Jewish soldiers: Nicholas, may his name be erased, who was the czar in those days, decreed that young Jewish children be taken and drafted into the Russian army. His aim was to take them while they were young and cause them to forget the Torah, the mitzvos, their faith, and their Jewishness. His aim was “to make them forget Your Torah and turn them away from the statutes of Your will.” That was how he wanted, G-d forbid, to sever Jews from Judaism. With tremendous cruelty, they simply took Jewish children from their homes and their cheders while they were very young and drafted them into the army. They had to serve there for twenty-five years. As you know from the stories, there were many miracles there. It was a terrible, harsh decree, and the Jewish children showed mesirus nefesh. Though they were small children, they stood firm in their faith and their Jewishness, despite not knowing much, because they had been taken from home at such a young age. Their extraordinary mesirus nefesh was something that... This went on for several more years, and of course, after many years the decree was abolished. They saw that it was impossible—that the Jewish soul could not be

01:39 bent, could not be defeated. It was an extremely difficult time, and the Tzemach Tzedek lived in those days and waged an entire campaign with mesirus nefesh to save the children, help them, and do everything possible to rescue Jewish children from the decree. Over the years, already in the Tzemach Tzedek’s later years, whole groups had grown up; there were older soldiers who had served many years in the army. This was in the later period. Once, in the month of Elul, the Tzemach Tzedek was in Moscow or Petersburg. In any event, he was in the big city, and while he was there, he was told that in a town called Kronstadt, outside the city, there was a group of Cantonist soldiers. Several hundred soldiers had gathered there, and they very much wanted the Tzemach Tzedek to come visit them, see them, and speak to them words of inspiration and encouragement. The Tzemach Tzedek agreed and traveled there. He delivered a maamar of Chassidus on the verse “I have wiped away your transgressions like a cloud.” That maamar was delivered then, and it still exists and is in print today. Afterward,

03:19 they asked the Tzemach Tzedek to tell them how to prepare for Rosh Hashanah. The Tzemach Tzedek explained that Rosh Hashanah is the time of coronation. That is, the crowning of the King: Rosh Hashanah is when we crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King. Just as in the army, when the time comes to crown the king, everyone stands ready to receive him. You have to appear in laundered, clean, polished clothing—in your military uniform. Even the buttons have to be polished. Russian military uniforms in those days had large brass buttons and the like, and you had to rub them well so they would shine brightly. That is part of the preparation: how do you polish and clean the buttons? You take something special [unclear] that was used in those days—water and sand—mix the sand with the water, and rub the buttons thoroughly. That cleans them well and gives them a special shine. Then you stand ready to receive the king. The Tzemach Tzedek explained to them that this applies all the more when speaking of the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. How much more so when

05:00 Rosh Hashanah arrives, and the Jewish people, the King’s servants, stand before Him to receive the King and, at that very time, crown Him King of Israel and King over the entire world. We must prepare clean garments. The garments are thought, speech, and action, as the Alter Rebbe writes in Tanya. Our thought, speech, and action must be clean, and we must polish the buttons. They have to be polished with earth and sand, with sand and water. This is the element of action—reciting Tehillim, which is a form of action. When Chassidus is joined with action, like earth, like sand, the water is the tears. And when we say a chapter of Tehillim with tears, that washes the uniform, the garment in which we stand to receive the King. There was tremendous inspiration there as the Tzemach Tzedek spoke. Then one of the soldiers stood up and said: “Rebbe, in our army they taught us that when the army sets out and prepares to go to war, it marches to a tune—a joyous march, a victory march. Even though they have not yet gone into battle but are only setting out toward it, they set out with that kind

06:33 of joyous march, a victory march. That itself gives them the spirit, courage, and strength to go into battle and emerge victorious.” The Tzemach Tzedek was deeply moved by the words of that soldier, that simple man. He said the man was right: we must indeed receive the King with great, immense joy, and through it we win the battle. The Tzemach Tzedek took to heart the words of this simple man, his analogy and his saying. When he returned home, he was full of excitement and shared it with his family, the members of his household, and later with the chassidim as well. So much so that when the Tzemach Tzedek returned home that Tishrei, although it was a difficult time of severe decrees, what he had heard from that simple man led to a very joyous Yom Tov, a joyous Rosh Hashanah, a Selichos and a process of teshuvah filled with joy. The entire year, too, was a happy and successful one. This is the story the Frierdiker Rebbe recounts in his writings about the Tzemach Tzedek and how we should approach Rosh Hashanah. The point is that when we set out for battle, we begin with a joyous march from the outset—and that is part of winning the battle. And that

08:02 is what helps us win. This idea appears in the weekly parsha. Chassidus explains the verse, “When you go out to war against your enemies.” Chassidus draws a point from it: when a person goes out to battle—the battle with the yetzer, with the world, with the body, with the animal soul, and with his portion of the world—he goes to battle with all these things. That is the battle, especially during exile: the battle against the darkness, concealment, and hiddenness of exile, and the work of preparing the world for the Geulah. We need to know that when it says, “When you go out to war,” the parsha says, “against your enemies”—literally, “above your enemies.” A person must know that he is above his enemies and stronger than they are from the moment he sets out, even before the battle begins. At the very moment of “when you go out,” as soon as he goes out to battle, he is “above your enemies”: he stands above the enemy, the opposing force, the yetzer, and the animal soul, and is stronger than they are. Knowing that he is “above your enemies” gives him the strength to win, overcome, and wage the battle successfully. The verse “When you go out to war against your enemies,” and the verses that follow it, are part of what the Torah tells us. The Torah is eternal, and it is a Torah of life. All the Torah’s narratives, laws, and mitzvos contain guidance for how we should live. In particular, as it also says in the holy Mishnah, the parshiyos

09:41 read at a particular time of year are connected to that time. When we study the themes of Parshas Ki Seitzei, they have a connection to the month of Elul, when this parsha is always read. In the Or Hachayim Hakadosh on the weekly parsha, on the verse “When you go out to war,” the opening verses of the parsha are explained. On the entire passage about the beautiful captive woman, the Or Hachayim offers two explanations. First, he explains the matter as a whole: How is the whole idea of the beautiful captive woman possible? How could the Torah permit it? This is the plain meaning of the mitzvah, as it applied in wartime. The Or Hachayim explains it wonderfully, bringing in the whole idea of the great and lofty sparks within souls that, following Adam’s sin, fell into the kelipos. The Jews who went out to war were completely righteous, and they saw great sparks in the yetzer. When it says, “and you desire her,” it means that the soul influenced him, and so on. In his holy manner, the Or Hachayim explains the details of the verses and their connection to the lofty sparks found in wartime. That is what is recounted here in the parsha.

11:03 But then the holy Ohr Hachayim offers a second interpretation. He explains that “When you go out to war” refers to the soul’s descent, and on that basis he explains the rest of the verses. Here the Rebbe is speaking to the soul of every Jew. Every Jew’s soul is in the higher world, in the world of Atzilus, in Gan Eden. Why does the soul come down here? The soul was on a very high level; it was in [unclear], stood with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and was on the loftiest levels. “When you go out”—when the soul leaves the higher world, descends to the lower world, and enters a body with a yetzer hara and an animal soul, that is a war. It goes out to war: the war of Torah, of refining the world, of transforming the body, the animal soul, and the world, to make the world a dwelling place for Him. The holy Ohr Hachayim explains all the verses that follow. “When you go out to war against your enemies”—you must know, he says, that the yetzer hara, the world, and the animal soul are enemies. They are a person’s enemy. In other words, one must not think that [unclear] the war. A person can reach a certain point, find himself in a certain place, [unclear], enter the war, and think he can stop along the way and remain as he is. But that is not so: this is an enemy. If you do not wage the war and take part in it constantly, he will become an obstacle to you. That is “against your enemies”—facing the enemy. The enemy does not stand still. It is not just that the person stands there; rather, [unclear]. What does the enemy want? He wants to defeat the person. That is how war works. The yetzer hara is the enemy; he actively opposes you. And [unclear] at every moment—a person’s yetzer is there at every moment. Is that true or not? And this is [unclear], may Hashem protect us. So we must know that this is a world of war; we must take part in it all the time and remember that this is an enemy. Consequently, we must not let up.

12:31 We must not stop the work; we must keep working all the time. Then the verse continues: “And you see among the captives a beautiful woman.” This refers to the soul. When you see the soul—the “beautiful woman” is the soul’s beauty. It is a part of G-d, and that is the beauty and richness within it. How do we reveal that? Through the work of battle. That is how we reveal the soul within ourselves. Then he continues. This is the connection between this subject and this time of year: “And she shall weep for her father and her mother for a month.” This refers to [unclear]. And when is the time for teshuvah? The time for taking stock of oneself. “And she shall weep for her father”—that is the work of teshuvah. “And she shall weep for her father and her mother for a month.” And through this—“and you shall take her as your wife.” This is also [unclear] Tishrei. It is the time of union, when she is united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They become one. That is the holy Ohr Hachayim’s interpretation. Further on, we find that Chassidus explains the particular ways to carry out this work. This is the Rebbe’s maamar [unclear] on “When you go out to war against your enemies,” and the Rebbe explains it.

14:29 As we see, the Zohar says: “The time of prayer is the time of battle.” The main time of battle is specifically during prayer. “When you go out to war against your enemies” applies primarily during avodah. This is the time for the avodah of prayer. When a person prays, he wants the powers of his G-dly soul to be revealed and shine within him: love of Hashem and awe of Hashem. And then we see how the left side, the other side, the animal soul, awakens. That is when the battle takes place: the time of prayer is the time of battle. The Alter Rebbe explains this in Tanya. The Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, chapter 28, that when an alien thought enters a person’s mind in the middle of prayer—something that commonly happens—he feels crushed. He thinks his entire prayer is worthless. Here he has been praying and contemplating G-dliness, and what enters his mind? Alien thoughts, improper thoughts, and distractions. Seemingly, nothing remains of that prayer. He cannot pray. The Alter Rebbe says that this is a grave mistake. It is not true. If it were one soul that was both praying and thinking the alien thought, he would be right: how could the same soul, in the same moment, be connected to G-dliness while impure thoughts arise within it? What is going on here? That would indeed be confusing. But that is not the case. The Alter Rebbe emphasizes the fundamental teaching of Likkutei Amarim, Tanya, where he explains that every Jew has two souls. There is a soul from the side of holiness, a G-dly soul, an actual part of G-d above, which is drawn to G-dliness. It wants nothing but G-dliness; it wants only to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu and to love

16:28 Hakadosh Boruch Hu, with love of Hashem and awe of Hashem. At the same time, there is also a second soul, the animal soul. And the animal soul wants exactly the opposite: it wants to disrupt a person’s avodah. Because the two souls are at war with each other, it is specifically when the G-dly soul grows stronger, and a person wants to devote himself to serving Hashem and be drawn toward G-dliness, that, as the Alter Rebbe says, the other side, the left side, the animal soul, awakens and begins to wage war. It introduces all kinds of desires into the person so that he cannot continue praying. But the very fact that he has alien and improper thoughts is actually evidence that he is praying. If he were not praying and were not devoting himself to the avodah of prayer, the animal soul would sleep peacefully and would not interfere or distract him. It is precisely when it sees that he is now genuinely engaged and wants to devote himself to the avodah of prayer that the opposing side is stirred up. That is what the Zohar means: “The time of prayer is the time of battle.” Prayer time is battle time. And when there is a battle, we must know: the Alter Rebbe cites another passage from the Zohar, which says that every day a herald goes out with a proclamation from the king: whoever can “kill the serpent”—what is the wording? “Whoever kills the serpent”—

17:52 Yes, there he brings a whole parable from the Zohar about a battle, about a king’s daughter who is in a fortress. She is surrounded by a serpent that encircles the palace and does not allow anyone to reach the king’s daughter. Yes, and a herald goes out and announces: “Whoever kills the serpent”—whoever kills that serpent—will receive the king’s daughter. “They will give him the king’s daughter.” He will receive the king’s daughter. And the Alter Rebbe explains this parable in terms of a person’s avodah. He explains that the work here is the avodah of prayer. The soul, the G-dly soul, is the king’s daughter—and particularly the yechidah of the soul, its innermost dimension. For every Jew has within him an actual part of G-d above, a Divine spark that resides there. This is the yechidah of the soul, “the yechidah, to unite with You,” the innermost heart, the innermost soul. And that is the king’s daughter. “The king’s daughter is all glorious within.” She is present in every Jew, deep within his soul; that is where the king’s daughter is found. That is where the soul is found, an actual part of G-d above. Yechidah is a feminine form, receiving from the Yachid, the One. In other words, the king’s daughter is a Jew’s soul, which receives, like a daughter, from the One and Only of the world, from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But she is captive. She is in a fortress, surrounded by a serpent, and the serpent alludes to

19:24 the yetzer hara, the animal soul, which derives from the primordial serpent. The point of the avodah of prayer is that a Jew contemplates the greatness of Hashem in Pesukei Dezimra, in the blessings of Shema, and in Shema itself; he contemplates the oneness of Hashem and how Hakadosh Boruch Hu is true life, and kindles the fire, the fire of love for G-dliness and for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Through this he “kills the serpent.” In this way, every day—and the Alter Rebbe says, day after day—he burns away and eradicates the serpent of kelipah, the evil serpent in the animal soul. And “whoever kills the serpent”—by overcoming the animal soul—“they will give him the king’s daughter”: the yechidah, the innermost soul, is revealed within him. On this basis, the Alter Rebbe explains what the verses in the parsha say: “When you go out to war” refers to the soul’s descent below. And when the soul descends below, the verse says “against your enemies”: as we said, he must know that he truly stands above the enemy. They are not equal, because the G-dly soul has far stronger powers—Divine powers, immense powers, eternal powers, powers from the Essence and Being of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “a part of G-d above.” By contrast, the animal soul, the yetzer hara, also has powers, yes, but its powers cannot compare at all to the powers of

20:55 of the soul. That is why it says “above your enemies”: you stand above the enemy altogether, stronger than the animal soul and the yetzer hara. That knowledge itself gives a person strength. He knows that he must approach the work of prayer with strength, with confidence—yes, with fire and enthusiasm. And when it says “above your enemies,” it also says, “and Hashem your G-d will deliver him into your hands”: he is promised, and he is certain, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will place the enemy in his hands, so that he can defeat him and transform him. Not merely subdue the animal soul, but transform the entire situation—“and you will take his captives.” He can even draw out the sparks within the animal soul and transform them into holiness. That is “and you will take his captives.” “His captives” means the sparks of holiness held by the animal soul, which give it life. Through the work of prayer, we not only break the animal soul; we transform it. We draw out the sparks of holiness and turn the darkness within the animal soul into light, until we make it into a great sun. It is transformed “from darkness to light and from bitterness to sweetness,” and becomes completely devoted to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is what the verse goes on to say: “And you see among the captives a beautiful woman.” The Alter Rebbe explains, as we quoted from the holy Ohr Hachaim, that the “beautiful woman” is

22:21 the innermost dimension of the soul. And the Alter Rebbe explains here that in the work of prayer, as in everything, there are two aspects. Broadly speaking, in serving Hashem there is what Chassidus calls the outer dimension of the heart and the innermost dimension of the heart. The service associated with nefesh, ruach, and neshamah is the outer dimension of the heart, a service guided by reason and understanding. A person contemplates Hashem’s greatness. He reflects intellectually and understands the meaning of “Taste and see that Hashem is good”: how good Hakadosh Boruch Hu is, and that He is also the source of life—“for He is your life,” the life of all life. Contemplating the richness and beauty of the goodness in G-dliness awakens pleasure and love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu within him. All this belongs to the outer dimension of the heart: love based on reason and understanding. But there is also the innermost dimension of the heart. This is chayah-yechidah. It is the essential bond between Jews and Hakadosh Boruch Hu, a bond entirely beyond reason and understanding. This is the true, inward love described in Kabbalah, the connection to G-dliness that a Jew has in his soul, to the point that he neither wants nor is able to be separated from G-dliness. This is the soul’s true, essential love, and this is the “beautiful woman.” And in our service, in—

23:41 And this is what the Alter Rebbe brings: every day, from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Hoshana Rabbah, we say the psalm “Hashem is my light and my salvation,” Psalm 27. And what do we say there? “On Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My face’; Your face, Hashem, I seek.” The work of the months of Elul and Tishrei is contained in this verse: “Seek My face.” During the period of Rosh Hashanah, a Jew must discover within himself the call to seek—to search, to search thoroughly and uncover—“My face,” his own inner dimension, the innermost dimension of his heart and soul, the yechidah of the soul, which is bound to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It awakens at this time of year, and that is why we say, “Seek My face.” The month of Elul, the days of Selichos, Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Teshuvah, and especially Yom Kippur, which is the time of the yechidah, [unclear], and then on through Hoshana Rabbah, when the completion takes place [unclear]—all these are times of “Seek My face; Your face, Hashem, I seek.” Of this it says, “And you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her, and take her as your wife,” and “she shall weep for her father and her mother for a month.” The whole theme of Elul and Tishrei is a time of marriage. Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people—we speak of “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,” meaning that we go to our beloved, to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, like a bride to her groom. Then comes the rest of the sequence, from Rosh Hashanah through the Ten Days of Teshuvah to Yom Kippur, when the union takes place. This is the inner dimension, the yechidah of the Jewish people with

25:15 the One, with the One Above, until we reach the joy of marriage: the great rejoicing among the Jewish people on Sukkos, which is the chuppah, and Simchas Torah, which is the wedding. The dancing on Simchas Torah is the dancing of the wedding. This is explained in Kabbalah and in the books of Chassidus. The entire period of Elul and Tishrei is a time of [unclear] with the beautiful woman, when a Jew connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. From this comes the true joy of the Jewish people: “Let Israel rejoice in its Maker; let Hashem rejoice in His works.” This is “she shall weep for her father and her mother for a month.” In Likkutei Torah, the Alter Rebbe says of this verse that “she shall weep for her father and her mother for a month” refers to the month of Elul. And in explaining “for a month” and “she shall weep,” he offers a new insight: this weeping is weeping for joy. It is like what is said about Rabbi Akiva. The Midrash says that when Rabbi Akiva revealed Shir Hashirim, which speaks of the Jewish people and Hakadosh Boruch Hu as bride and groom, tears flowed from his eyes because of the revelations of the inner dimension of Torah disclosed in Shir Hashirim. Likewise, when Jews come to the months of Elul and Tishrei, “she shall weep.” This is not weeping from sadness, G-d forbid. Nor is it

26:42 weeping from bitterness. It is weeping for joy, tears that arise in a Jew from emotion, from cleaving to Hashem, from unity. A Jew connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and this is the true joy of Elul, the joy of “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” As the verse says, a Jew draws close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu with love. The tears are tears of joy, “for a month,” and from this comes the joy of the wedding afterward, and so on, all the way to the joy of Simchas Torah, the great rejoicing of the Jewish people with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is the lesson that today’s parsha gives us concerning our service at this time, the service of “When you go out to war above your enemies.” When someone goes out to war, when he begins the work of teshuvah and confronts the yetzer hara, which would like to, and so on, he must remember “above your enemies”: the moment he goes out to war, the moment he takes his stand, [unclear], and afterward the war ends in victory. There is no need to wait until Simchas Torah. Rather, “when you go out”—the moment you go out to war, there should already be a victory march. He must know that this is it, that [unclear], that he is connecting with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and that when he connects, he has within him, in his innermost being, the blessing, the G-dliness, and he

28:02 will certainly defeat the animal soul. He will certainly be able to win the war and truly become one with the G-dly soul. But this raises a question. Rashi says of our parsha, on “When you go out to war”: “The verse speaks of an optional war.” This is an optional war. The question is: how can we say that? According to what we have explained, “When you go out to war” refers to the war of the G-dly soul with the animal soul, particularly when a person feels it intensely. So how can this be called “the verse speaks of an optional war”? Is this an optional war? It is an obligatory war. A war against the yetzer hara and the animal soul is surely an obligatory war. Why is it called an optional war? The Tzemach Tzedek asks this question. The Rebbe Rashab also addresses it; they ask the question and begin to offer a beautiful and interesting explanation. This explanation is based on the chapter of Tanya we discussed earlier, chapter 28. The Alter Rebbe says the same thing in chapter 28 of Tanya. He says that when distracting thoughts disturb a person in the middle of prayer, what is the solution? The Alter Rebbe says that he must put them entirely out of his mind and reject them. He must push them away with both hands, increase his resolve and joy in the work of prayer, and not be affected by the distracting thoughts at all. He should simply push them away with both hands and continue praying,

29:48 And [unclear] does not come to argue or wage war with the animal soul. He needs to turn his attention away completely and understand that this is the way of those who are fighting and struggling, as we discussed earlier. So he must strengthen himself and continue praying with even greater joy. That is how he should deal with distracting thoughts. And if, as the Alter Rebbe says, he finds it difficult because his heart and desire feel dead within him, the Alter Rebbe offers advice: “Let him humble himself before Hashem” and ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu in his thoughts. Let him say that, since he is Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s child, “for His own sake, let Him act.” And Hakadosh Boruch Hu will certainly help him, even if he is [unclear] by the distracting thoughts. This is the advice the Alter Rebbe gives in chapter 28 for dealing with distracting thoughts. The Alter Rebbe also says there: “Nor should he be a fool and occupy himself with elevating the middos of the distracting thought.” A person should not be foolish enough to think he can elevate the thought—the middos within the distracting thought. “For those things were said only of tzaddikim.” What is the Alter Rebbe saying here? The Tzemach Tzedek explains that in serving Hashem there is the avodah of tzaddikim and the avodah of beinonim. That, after all, is what the entire Tanya discusses. When we speak of a tzaddik, we mean someone who has refined the evil. A tzaddik is a person whom the Alter Rebbe describes in Tanya as having transformed

31:18 all the middos of his animal soul. His avodah is that when a passing thought or idea is sent to him from Above, he takes that evil thought. As the Baal Shem Tov explains several times in Kesser Shem Tov, and the Maggid of Mezritch also explains in his works, and as is brought in the works of the Baal Shem Tov’s students: When a thought arises in a person’s mind and takes shape, he should contemplate how that thought contains Divine vitality. There is a spark within it that gives it life. Even if the thought is connected to the middah of love, to desires associated with love, it originates in supernal love. Or if a thought comes from the middah of gevurah, it originates in supernal gevurah. He should contemplate that Divine spark. Why? Because nothing in the world can live without a Divine spark. When he contemplates how, at its root, this thought comes from supernal love, he elevates the spark out of the evil and transforms it. In this way, he elevates the evil to holiness and transforms darkness into light. This is the refinement of distracting thoughts, which can be accomplished through the avodah of tzaddikim. The holy Baal Shem Tov explains that this is also the sequence described in the verse: “When you go out to war against your enemies, and Hashem your G-d delivers them into your hand, and you take their captives.” The Baal Shem Tov asks: What does “you take their captives” mean?

32:42 It means taking back from the animal soul, from evil, from kelipah, what it has taken captive. After all, it lives from the Divine spark that gives it life. It has taken a Divine spark captive, and that is where the evil gets its vitality. When a Jew contemplates this, as we discussed earlier, he takes back its captive, draws the spark out of the evil and transforms it into holiness. The works of the Baal Shem Tov’s students bring another interpretation of “you take their captives”: When a person looks at the yetzer hara, he learns from it a way to serve Hashem. He learns alacrity from it. As the Frierdiker Rebbe describes, when he gets up in the morning, the yetzer hara is already standing beside his bed and beginning to distract him. He takes that alacrity from the yetzer hara itself and applies it to his own avodah. As we said, there are many levels to this. But what the Alter Rebbe is saying here in Tanya, [unclear], is that this approach is not the avodah of a beinoni. These things belong to tzaddikim. A tzaddik has his level, but the avodah of a beinoni must be one of battle. So for him, as the Alter Rebbe says in chapter 8 of Tanya, [unclear]. He must overcome.

34:07 As we said earlier, “With every rejection with which he rejects it from his thoughts, the sitra achra is subdued below,” and through this, “the glory of Hakadosh Boruch Hu rises above all.” The great pleasure Above comes from every act of self-restraint he performs. On this basis, the Tzemach Tzedek explains the maamar: This is what is meant by the statement that “the verse speaks of an optional war.” When Moshe Rabbeinu speaks here to the souls of his generation, who were on an exceptionally high level, “you take their captives” refers, for them, to the avodah of transformation: extracting the spark and transforming it into holiness. That is the avodah of tzaddikim. But because this is indeed an optional war, it is not relevant to everyone; those words were addressed to those souls. What is required of every Jew, what applies to everyone and constitutes the avodah of beinonim, is “When you go out to war against your enemies” in its straightforward sense, through self-restraint at the very least: overcoming distracting thoughts and improper musings, and strengthening oneself. “And Hashem your G-d delivers them into your hand”—in this way, every Jew can fulfill the Divine intent, refine the body and the animal soul, change the world, and make it a dwelling for Him in the lower realms. This is the Tzemach Tzedek’s explanation of the matter.

35:33 There is another point from the Rebbe, which the Rebbe discussed in the last year, 5751. The Rebbe added a wonderful explanation of “the verse speaks of an optional war.” He said this: It is true on every level—not only of the avodah of tzaddikim generally, but even when we speak of the levels of beinonim. The reason “When you go out to war against your enemies” is described here as “the verse speaks of an optional war” is that a Jew, in essence, stands above the world. A Jew stands above wars. A Jew, in essence, stands above all these matters. A Jew’s true reality is that he is literally a part of G-d Above. A Jew’s true reality is that he is above the entire order of creation and above the whole world, above all matters of war, holiness and kelipah, and the evil inclination. A Jew stands above all of them. Moreover, as the Midrash says, “With whom did He consult? With the souls of the righteous.” And the Rebbe says: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling in the lower realms,” and, so to speak, asked the souls to descend here below and make the world a dwelling for Him. So the soul descends here below and does its avodah. For the soul, this is what it means that “the verse speaks of an optional war.” In essence, a Jew stands above everything. What, then, is the optional war in relation to a Jew’s true essence? The soul’s entire descent below, and all its involvement with the world, with the yetzer hara and with the animal soul, is what is meant by “the verse speaks of an optional war.” Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants a dwelling in the lower realms, the soul descended here below and does its avodah. When a Jew knows that, in his very essence, he stands above all these things, that itself

37:33 gives him strength so that, although he is engaged in battle, he remains at peace in mind and body, with complete confidence. He knows for certain that he will succeed in the battle, and he knows for certain that his avodah will bring the complete Geulah. Therefore, even while he is still living in the time of exile, and even while he is still engaged in battle, his state of mind is one of complete serenity and complete confidence—a state of Geulah. This is what is demanded of Jews. Now, as we stand at the end of exile and Moshiach has still not come, Jews are asked to recognize that, on the one hand, there is the darkness of exile, and the darkness of exile is powerful. But a Jew knows that, in his very essence, this is not his place. In his essence, he is in a different light; he belongs to a light above the darkness, above exile, above the world of concealment, above the tzimtzumim. [unclear] And so, already now, he actually lives in a state of miracles and wonders, joy and gladness of heart. This is what we find later in the parsha: “Hashem your G-d did not wish to listen to Bilam, and Hashem your G-d transformed the curse into a blessing for you.” Not just “did not wish”—so that what needs to be stopped is nullified—but “transformed”: the curse is transformed into a blessing, “because Hashem your G-d loves you.” The Rebbe explains in Chassidus that this love is essential: Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves Jews, and that is revealed in these days. Through this month of mercy, may every Jew receive a favorable inscription and sealing for a good and sweet year, and immediately, too, Geulah and deliverance for each and every person, wherever they may be.