Ki Savo - 18 Elul - The Baal Shem Tov's Teaching in the Name of the Parsha - Rabbi Asher Perkesh

00:00 In 5652, in the month of Elul, there was a wedding in Lubavitch. It was the wedding of the Rebbe Rashab’s sister. Their father, the Rebbe Maharash, was no longer alive in this world, so the Rebbe Rashab, as her brother, arranged and took care of everything for the wedding. Throughout the week there were sheva brachos meals, with farbrengens and everything else, and the Rebbe Rashab led the meals. As Shabbos approached, the Rebbe Rashab prepared to say a maamar, “And It Shall Be When You Come into the Land.” The maamar was based on a maamar of his father, the Rebbe Maharash. He related that he had heard the maamar, but to be able to say it, the maamar had to become one with him. That is, they had to become one and the same. The Rebbe Rashab wanted the maamar to unite with him inwardly. But to bring that about within himself, the Rebbe Rashab traveled to the Ohel. He spent several hours at the resting places of his father, the Rebbe Maharash, and the Tzemach Tzedek, in Lubavitch. Afterward, he felt that the maamar had still not become sufficiently one with him, and the next day he went again—something repeated and unusual for the Rebbe Rashab. So he went twice, on consecutive days, and spent long hours there, so that the maamar would unite with him, become one with him, so that

01:37 he could then say it in public. The Rebbe Maharash once said that, because of the way he had listened to his maamarim, [unclear], he would take him along with him that Shabbos. That Shabbos was Shabbos Parshas Ki Savo, Chai Elul; that year, Chai Elul fell on Shabbos. As is known, Chai Elul is also the birthday of the holy Baal Shem Tov. He would take him along so that he could be with the Baal Shem Tov on Shabbos. As the Frierdiker Rebbe, who was then a child before his bar mitzvah, related years later, on Shemini Atzeres 5697—the Frierdiker Rebbe was then in Otwock, Poland—on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah he told the details of the story, which had been kept secret for many years. That was when he revealed its details. He related that on that Shabbos, Shabbos Chai Elul, Shabbos Parshas Ki Savo 5652, he saw that his father, the Rebbe Rashab, was not in this world at all. Outwardly, he was here: he davened, was with the community, and took part in the meals. But he was completely detached. You could sense that he was entirely in a higher world. He davened for many hours. On Shabbos day he davened almost the entire day; he barely, barely managed to grab something so he could make Kiddush. You could plainly see that he was

03:11 truly in a higher world; no one understood why. Only afterward, during the meal on Shemini Atzeres, did the Rebbe Rashab reveal the details to his son, the Frierdiker Rebbe. He related that his father, the Rebbe Maharash, [unclear], had said in the maamar that on that Shabbos he would be with the Baal Shem Tov. And on that Shabbos the Rebbe Rashab was with the Baal Shem Tov in Gan Eden and merited to hear seven teachings, seven maamarim, from the Baal Shem Tov. When the Frierdiker Rebbe retold the story on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, he repeated several of the teachings at each meal. There were seven teachings; he repeated all seven, and years later their details were written down and printed in Kesser Shem Tov. It was a wondrous revelation, an extraordinary disclosure. Then, at that time, when the first teachings were said, [unclear], and there were also [unclear] of the Baal Shem Tov’s disciples present. And, as he said, there were [unclear] souls there. He said the first two teachings to all those souls. The first teaching was on the verse “And It Shall Be When You Come into the Land.” And the teaching he said, “And it shall be when

05:05 [unclear],” and afterward he repeated it once more with an addition. This teaching was also printed in Hayom Yom for Chai Elul. Its subject was “And It Shall Be When You Come into the Land,” a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. What does the Baal Shem Tov say? The Hebrew word for “land,” eretz, is related to ratzon, “desire.” The Midrash says: “Why is it called eretz? Because it desired to do the will of its Creator.” In other words, the idea of eretz is desire and eagerness. “And it shall be when you come into the land that Hashem your G-d gives you”—every Jew has a desire and eagerness “that Hashem your G-d gives you,” received as a gift from Above. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives every Jew a gift. And what are this desire and eagerness that he has? That is what “when you come into the land” tells us: when a Jew comes to be part of the Jewish people, he has this desire and eagerness. And what is the Jew’s task? The verse says that his task is “you shall inherit it and dwell in it.” There has to be a matter of dwelling: bringing this light into a settled state, into vessels. In other words, the desire and eagerness are an awakening of the soul, an awakening of faith, the awakening a Jew has. Within him is the soul’s eagerness, an attraction to G-dliness. The Jew’s task is “and dwell in it”—he must bring this into...

06:42 bring it into a settled state, bring it inward. And how is that done? “You shall take from the first of every fruit of the soil and place it in a basket.” Here he explained that the light must be brought into a vessel. That is, the light, the feeling, the emotion, the richness—the rich feeling he has toward G-dliness—must be brought into a basket, into vessels. This is the meaning of “and you shall go to the place that Hashem will choose.” A Jew must know that wherever he goes is “the place that Hashem will choose.” When a Jew goes somewhere, he does not go on his own; he is led from Above and brought to the place that Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose for his soul to be. And for what purpose? The purpose is “to cause His Name to dwell there”: to make G-dliness known, to bring awareness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to make Him known in the place he has reached, the place where he finds himself. That was the first teaching. Then, after Maariv, the Baal Shem Tov repeated the first teaching, with an addition. The addition was that “and it shall be when you come”—in order to come, yes, in order to have that desire and eagerness, there must be “you shall go to the place,” “to cause His Name to dwell there.” A Jew must take it upon himself, with self-sacrifice, to make G-dliness known wherever he is. And how does one make G-dliness known? The holy Baal Shem Tov said: through a blessing and through a verse of Tehillim. When—

08:14 The Rebbe Rashab related the first two teachings and repeated them to the Frierdiker Rebbe. And the Rebbe said: Look, down here all the distinction, all the importance, lies in intellectual understanding, in depth and comprehension. Above, what is valued, what carries distinction? A verse of Tehillim, a simple verse of Tehillim, a blessing, a verse of Tehillim. Yes, that was the conclusion drawn from it. Then there was another teaching, and that was the continuation of the story that was printed afterward. And in connection with this, a story needs to be told. The Rebbe repeated the story several times. One of those times was in 5747, at a farbrengen on Shabbos Chai Elul, when the Rebbe recounted the story at great length and spoke with great wonder and enthusiasm about [unclear] of the Baal Shem Tov in this story. Yes, because a story like this was revealed in all its details—a story in which it was revealed that there had been a great miracle, a revelation of G-dliness at that gathering. Yes, such a story was revealed: the Rebbe Rashab merited to be together with the Baal Shem Tov, yes, in his birthplace, and was able to hear the teachings and repeat them, and so on. And this verse, “And It Shall Be When You Come into the Land”—the teaching was revealed specifically at the time of Chai Elul, the Baal Shem Tov’s birthday. Chai Elul always falls around the week, the short week, in which this parsha is read. So, regarding the verse “And It Shall Be When You Come into the Land,” what is the connection between these things and the revelation of this teaching?

10:05 Chassidus, which is the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. And also the fact that the Alter Rebbe brought this into Chabad—this too relates to Chai Elul, as is known, the birthday of the two great luminaries. And as we say, it should be stated: the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe were born on Chai Elul. We must say that “and it shall be when you come”—that is, “when you come”—means entering, and entering means entering completely. Entering inwardly; true entry is reaching the innermost point, fully. And this is what the Gemara says. After all, this was after the forty years, and after the fourteen years that followed—the seven years of conquest and the seven years in which the land was divided among the tribes. Only after those fourteen years did “and it shall be when you come” apply, as did the bringing of first fruits. From this we take a central point about the teachings of Chassidus, revealed by the Baal Shem Tov and made accessible to understanding by the Alter Rebbe in Chabad Chassidus: the essence of Chassidus is “when you come”—to enter, and to enter inwardly. That is, for Torah and mitzvos to become one’s own, something alive, something internal. It permeates a person, so that he and Torah and mitzvos become one. And the explanation of this is that—

13:23 We know that the revelation of Chassidus is connected with a birthday: Chai Elul. We say that this day was the birthday of the holy Baal Shem Tov and also of the Alter Rebbe. The word “chai” means vitality, life. And what does vitality mean? We have a body and a soul. These are two things as far apart as can be, at opposite extremes. The body is a piece of flesh, “dust from the earth,” as the verse says. And the soul is, as the Tanya says, “The second soul in a Jew is literally a part of G-d above.” So the soul and the body are the ultimate in spirituality and the ultimate in physicality, at opposite extremes. Yet we say that the way the soul enters the body is: “He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” A person is not two things, as though you could say there is human flesh, a piece of flesh, a body, and he also has a soul that gives him a little life from a distance. No. What vitality means is that when the soul enters the body, you cannot separate them even slightly—not in a single detail, not at a single point in the body. Every point in the body is permeated and interwoven with vitality; the body is alive. We don’t say,

14:51 “So this is human flesh.” Nor do we say, “This is a human soul.” We say, “This is a person.” And what is a person? A person is the joining of soul and body, which become one single thing. As is well known from the Maggid’s teaching, the Hebrew word for “person,” adam, is aleph and dam. Aleph represents the Master of the world—the soul, a part of G-d above; and dam, blood, represents the body. That is what a person is: aleph, dam—the soul and body joined into one single thing. That is how a person comes to be. The same applies to serving Hashem. There is a Jew who does, indeed, observe Torah and mitzvos. Before the Baal Shem Tov, too, there was, of course, observance of Torah and mitzvos. But in practice, there could be a situation in which the Jew and his Torah and mitzvos were two separate things. He had his life and the things he wanted, needed and did, while occupied with eating and drinking, sleeping and his business. Then, when he went to shul and davened, or performed a mitzvah, or learned Torah, he connected with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But the two remained, as it were, separate matters. The holy Baal Shem Tov came and revealed, revealed, the

16:06 meaning of “When you enter the land.” The Baal Shem Tov revealed the idea of entering fully into something. That is, a Jew enters into Torah and mitzvos the way the soul enters the body, and the body and soul merge and unite into one single thing. The Jew and Judaism, G-dliness and Torah and mitzvos, are truly one reality, one single thing, and they cannot be separated. So it is evident in every detail—even when he eats and drinks, in his pleasures and in his business—that he is a Jew, a Jew who lives with G-dliness and Judaism. The Baal Shem Tov revealed this by uncovering the true inner dimension of everything. Were it not for his revealing the inner dimension of the world—as is well known, the Alter Rebbe cites in Tanya, in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, the Baal Shem Tov’s interpretation, which is one of the foundations of Chassidus. There he cites the Baal Shem Tov on “Forever, Hashem, Your word stands in the heavens”: a Jew looks at the world and knows that the physical world is brought into being and sustained at every moment by the word of Hashem, by G-dliness. Nothing in creation has any independent existence; its entire existence is the word of Hashem, which

17:28 brings it into being, gives it life and sustains it at every moment. That is what the Baal Shem Tov taught us. And how was this understood beforehand, in simple terms? Hakadosh Boruch Hu is certainly the Creator: He created the world, and He gives life to and guides everything. But they were seen as two things: there is a world, which is not G-dliness, and He created that world. The basic understanding was that the world was created at the beginning of creation—“In the beginning, G-d created”—and afterward Hakadosh Boruch Hu guides the world, gives it life and sustains it, but the world also has an existence of its own. The Baal Shem Tov revealed the depth of Torah’s inner dimension, and this was later explained at length in Chabad Chassidus, in Tanya and in the maamarim that followed: how, at its core, nothing in creation exists on its own for even a moment; its entire existence comes only from the word of Hashem. When a Jew knows this, thinks about it, learns about it, reflects on it and lives with it, then body and soul, the world and G-dliness, become one single thing for him. Then “When you enter the land” is fulfilled in the fullest sense. This is one main point that shows how the depth of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings is revealed in “When you enter.” And there is another point, a wonderful point that the Rebbe once discussed at length.

18:48 When did the obligation to bring bikkurim, the first fruits, begin? Only after they had conquered and divided the land. This is remarkable: they waited fourteen years, until they had finished all the wars and divided the entire land among all the tribes. Only after those fourteen years did they begin bringing bikkurim for the first time. This is another remarkable thing that, on the face of it, is not at all understandable. How could that be? After all, the whole point of bikkurim, as the commentators say, is for a Jew to remember Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When he brought the bikkurim before Hakadosh Boruch Hu—“and you shall place it before Hashem your G-d”—and also “and you shall recount,” the Jew told of and listed the miracles, wonders and praises: how they came into the world and how they reached this point. All the miracles of “An Aramean sought to destroy my father,” the descent to Egypt, everything that happened along the way as the Jewish people came here, all the miracles and wonders they experienced, and how they conquered the land—until he reached the point where he could now bring bikkurim. For the point of bikkurim, as all the commentators on the Torah explain, is to remember Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to know that everything comes from Him, that everything belongs to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So the question arises: What about a Jew who arrived in the Land of Israel? He lived in one of the first cities to be conquered and had already settled there. He had his tribe’s allotted land, he already had a house, and

20:23 he already had a field of his own. Did he have to wait fourteen years to thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu? What does that mean? Surely he should have brought bikkurim immediately and thanked Hakadosh Boruch Hu, acknowledging that everything belongs to Him. Why did he wait fourteen years? The explanation is a wonderful one, and it too is based on the new teachings of the Baal Shem Tov: the idea of “You shall rejoice in all the good.” After all, the verse says of bikkurim that they are brought only at a time of joy. When were bikkurim brought? Rashi says: at the time of rejoicing, between Shavuos and Sukkos, which is the season of joy. For there must be “You shall rejoice in all the good.” That is what it says there later: “You shall rejoice in all the good.” This must take place specifically at a time of joy. So the condition for bringing bikkurim is serving Hashem with joy. When a Jew is happy, he brings bikkurim and can thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Here we come to the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching that all Jews are one. The Baal Shem Tov revealed the true meaning of Ahavas Yisroel: that all Jews, the entire Jewish people, are one. In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains the foundation of Ahavas Yisroel according to the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching: because we are all one soul, and all Jews are rooted in the one Hashem, “truly brothers, from one root and source”—all Jews are one. So Ahavas Yisroel is an intrinsic love: a Jew loves another Jew simply because he is a Jew.

21:53 All Jews together are one. So when is a Jew happy? Only when he knows that all the other Jews are doing well. Even if a Jew has a field and, baruch Hashem, things are growing in it, and he has abundance and all good things, he does not feel complete joy as long as he knows that another Jew is still moving from place to place, with no house, no field and still no home of his own. His joy is incomplete. Therefore, until the seven years of conquest and the seven years of division had passed—fourteen years—and all the Jews had settled, each beneath his vine and each beneath his fig tree, he too could not have true and complete joy. It was not enough that he himself was happy; only when they were happy could he be happy. Only then could he truly feel “You shall rejoice in all the good,” and only then could he enter the Beis Hamikdash and bring the bikkurim with great joy—“You shall rejoice in all the good.” This is a wonderful lesson we learn here from what the Baal Shem Tov teaches on the basis of the verse “When you enter the land.” To sum up, this is the order according to the holy ways, the main lessons we take from here, and it is all based on the revelation of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings.

23:20 Shem Tov, which was revealed on 18 Elul. The first point is “When you come”—you have to enter. You have to enter into the inner dimension, with vitality and a sense of life, and with [unclear], into the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, [unclear], to enter with your whole being, to learn with vitality and to daven with vitality. A Jew needs to live Torah and mitzvos as one whole. Second, the second point is joy. For a Jew to have true joy, [unclear], and secondly there is—then he can have true joy. This is “When you come into the land”: when it comes to bikkurim, as [unclear]. A Jew’s true joy in what he has comes only when he knows that another Jew [unclear]. Then there is the third lesson, from the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov revealed through [unclear] on 18 Elul: “When you come into the land”—this is the [unclear]. Every Jew has the [unclear]. The Baal Shem Tov revealed the inner treasures. The Baal Shem Tov revealed “which Hashem your G-d gives you.” In other words, Jews have gifts from Above that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives them: [unclear] of willingness and contentment. A Jew has love and faith and joy and fear of Heaven, and vitality and warmth for Torah and mitzvos. All these are present in every Jew, and the Baal Shem Tov revealed this. That is “which Hashem your G-d gives you.” Then came the Alter Rebbe, with Chabad Chassidus, and he

24:47 taught “and you shall dwell in it.” In other words, we take the simple faith that the Baal Shem Tov revealed, the hidden love and the inner joy that the Baal Shem Tov revealed, and bring them into expression through the intellect, through understanding—the Chabad faculties of the soul. From the intellect, this comes into expression in the emotions of the heart: in love of Hashem and fear of Hashem, and in joy, joy and vitality in serving Hashem. True joy and inner joy are “and you shall dwell in it.” And there is a continuation: “And you shall take from the first of every fruit of the earth,” [unclear] into vessels, and into the world. A Jew knows he has a shlichus: wherever he goes, his whole purpose and task are to bring glory to the name of Heaven. When a Jew knows that the matter of—when a Jew lives, and it is openly visible, you can see that he is alive; the vitality is not just on the outside. That is what vitality means: when people are alive, joyful, content, moving; you can see signs of life in them. “Every living thing moves”—you can see movement in a living being. You can see that the vitality is not just on the outside. This is the meaning of “and you shall go”: he goes, and wherever he goes and wherever he stands, he knows that this is “the place that Hashem will choose.” The Rebbe cites [unclear] on this point: your task is to illuminate that place, to devote yourself utterly to illuminating it and making it a dwelling place, a place where Hakadosh Boruch Hu will cause His name to dwell—“to cause My name to dwell there.” This is the strength we receive on the great days of 18 Elul, [unclear] the final twelve days leading up to Rosh Hashanah. These twelve days correspond to the twelve months of the year, one day for each month, one day for each month. And the period of 18 Elul here—

26:32 it is a time for taking stock of the soul, and the month of Tishrei [unclear], and the coming month of Tishrei, may it be for good. Tishrei is the time when we crown the King, and on Rosh Hashanah we receive life—and it begins specifically on 18 Elul, [unclear]. May there be vitality throughout the year, a year full of life. And may we merit to be inscribed and sealed for good, for a good and sweet year, a year of life. “Remember us for life, King who desires life, and inscribe us in the Book of Life, for Your sake, living G-d.” The true meaning of vitality, the true meaning of life, was revealed by the Baal Shem Tov and by the Alter Rebbe. And very soon, in our days, may we merit “He will revive us after two days; on the third day He will raise us up, and we will live before Him”—true life. And that will be eternal life with the revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu. May it be a year of Geulah and salvation for all the Jewish people.