28 Sivan - The "Koach" (Power) of Mattan Torah

00:00 In 5756, 28 Sivan fell on Shabbos. By the way, they held a chassidic farbrengen then, a thanksgiving meal in honor of 28 Sivan. That was the day the Rebbe and Rebbetzin, husband and wife, arrived in the lower hemisphere in 5701. It was in the midst of the war years. At that time, their lives were truly in danger. The Rebbe escaped the depths of suffering, from the war raging on the other side of the world, in Europe, and arrived in America on one of the last ships, on 28 Sivan 5701. It happened through open miracles, beyond the natural order. But until 5756, people did not know about it; they did not know exactly which day it had been. Then the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Igros Kodesh were published, and it became known that this was the day. The chassidim made it a Yom Tov and held a thanksgiving meal. It also became clear for generations to come that this is a special day: the day the Rebbe and Rebbetzin, husband and wife, were saved, and the day a new surge and new strength began in spreading Yiddishkeit, spreading Torah, and spreading the wellsprings outward in the lower hemisphere. The Rebbe spoke at length about this then. So we would like to understand a little of its deeper meaning, the significance of that period and of what is said about spreading Torah in the lower hemisphere: what is

02:14 the deeper meaning of 28 Sivan? The Rebbe spoke about it then, at the farbrengen on Shabbos Parshas Shelach, 28 Sivan 5756, and subsequently also on Shabbos Parshas Shelach, 28 Sivan [unclear], when 28 Sivan again fell on Shabbos Parshas Shelach. There he spoke about it further, emphasizing the significance of the day and its connection to our avodah at this time: on the one hand, the month of Sivan, the third month, and on the other, Shabbos Mevarchim for the month of Tammuz. What does that mean, and how is it expressed in our avodah? First, we need to begin with a story connected to this. The story appears in a letter the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote to his son-in-law, the Rebbe, while they were still in Europe. The Frierdiker Rebbe was then living in Poland, and the Rebbe was living in [unclear], in Paris. In that letter, the Frierdiker Rebbe explained to his son-in-law the source of the ruling concerning the lower hemisphere. The Rebbe had asked his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, about a teaching he had heard from chassidim in the name of the Alter Rebbe: that the Alter Rebbe had said that Matan Torah did not take place in the lower hemisphere. Matan Torah did not take place in the lower hemisphere, where America is located. What does that really mean? The Frierdiker Rebbe answered in a rather long and interesting letter, in which he tells a story,

04:08 which, of course, relates to this entire matter. This is what he tells: The Alter Rebbe had a set practice for delivering maamarim of Chassidus. Some maamarim he would deliver to all the chassidim, while others were special maamarim he would deliver only to his closest students and members of his household. He relates that around the year 5559, his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek, was still a young child, only nine years old. At that time, his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, was delivering a maamar of Chassidus. It was a very cold winter day. The Tzemach Tzedek very much wanted to go in and hear the Chassidus. In those days, the Alter Rebbe would deliver a maamar of Chassidus in his room, his yechidus room, only to the closest of his outstanding students and members of his household. The practice was to admit only a select few. The Tzemach Tzedek desperately wanted to go in and hear the maamar, but he was a small child, and they would not let him in. His grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, told him that his time to enter had not yet come. Because he had such a great thirst for it, he looked for a way to listen to the Chassidus. Between that room and the adjoining room was a fireplace, with a place where wood could be put in.

05:40 They would burn the wood there to heat the rooms. The fireplace was built into the wall between the two rooms. Its opening, the little door, was in the outer room, while the fireplace itself extended into the Alter Rebbe’s room. So he crawled inside, where he could hear the Alter Rebbe delivering the maamar of Chassidus. The Tzemach Tzedek went into the fireplace and sat there to listen to the maamar. Since it was cold, the non-Jewish man who was responsible for household matters—the arrangements, preparations, and other things that needed doing—wanted to put wood into the fireplace and light it to heat the house. He took several pieces of wood and pushed them in, but saw that they would not go all the way in. He did not look inside to see what was happening and did not notice the child in the fireplace. He left some of the wood sticking out and lit a fire. As soon as he lit it, the Tzemach Tzedek began pushing the wood back out. His life was in danger. A great commotion broke out, and with great difficulty they managed [unclear] to put out the fire. They found the child lying unconscious inside the fireplace. There was a great

07:07 uproar, with shouting and confusion. It was truly dangerous, a life-threatening situation. The Tzemach Tzedek was unwell for some time afterward, until he recovered from what he had been through. He relates that Rebbetzin Shterna, the Alter Rebbe’s wife, went to the Alter Rebbe and complained. She said to him, “Why won’t you let him come in to hear Chassidus? You let outsiders come in, but you won’t let your own child come in.” The Alter Rebbe reassured her and said, “Don’t worry, everything will be all right. He will be healthy.” He said that Torah is received through fire. Moshe Rabbeinu came to Matan Torah through fire, through the burning bush, and thereby merited that the Torah be given through him. He gave a blessing, with a promise, that through the Tzemach Tzedek’s mesirus nefesh in his desire to learn Chassidus, he would merit to reveal many matters in Torah and Chassidus. He blessed him with health and long life. And later [unclear] in Parshas Balak [unclear].

08:35 This explains the matter of the lower hemisphere [unclear]: the world is round, and the lower hemisphere [unclear] is below. In the lower hemisphere, one does not fall [unclear], because there is the concept of sovev kol almin, of circles. The world is round, and this [unclear] from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, from the level of circles, from the arousal of Chassidus, sovev kol almin. With sovev kol almin, all sides are equal, not [unclear]. Like circles, with respect to sovev kol almin, [unclear] the lower and upper hemispheres are equal, and one does not fall downward. He then said that there, in America, in the lower hemisphere, the revelation of Matan Torah had not occurred. And [unclear] later in this letter, and also in the second letter [unclear]. Because of the greater revelation at Matan Torah, it took place in an ordered progression [unclear], in the place where, in Eretz Yisroel, [unclear] there was the revelation of Matan Torah. Moreover, the main point is that the revelation of Matan Torah did not reach the lower hemisphere at that time. For from the perspective of [unclear] in the Holy Land, in the holy lands, the revelation of Matan Torah was present there. By contrast, in this place, in the lower hemisphere, there were no Jews at that time, and there was no revelation of Matan Torah. But from the perspective of sovev kol almin, of circles, because this [unclear].

10:16 Then the Torah reaches every part of the lower hemisphere. As he concludes in the letter, the avodah of Jews, their avodah with mesirus nefesh, draws Torah into the lower hemisphere as well. What emerges from the letter is that to reveal Torah in the lower hemisphere, one must reach a higher level, sovev kol almin, circles, [unclear]. This is accomplished through the avodah of Jews—specifically through avodah with mesirus nefesh, which draws Torah into the lower hemisphere. In light of this, the Rebbe speaks at that farbrengen connected with 28 Sivan, and afterward in the sichos of Shabbos Parshas Shelach, and later also on Shabbos Parshas Korach—very rich farbrengens. He speaks at length about how this came about through the mesirus nefesh of our Rebbeim. They brought the wellsprings of pnimiyus haTorah to the lower hemisphere, to the point that the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived in America in 5700, and the following year, on 28 Sivan 5701, the Rebbe arrived in America. The foundations were then laid for spreading the wellsprings to every corner of the world through the establishment of the well-known institutions for spreading Chassidus: Machne Israel, Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, and Kehot. Through them, Chassidus spread to every corner of the world, to every country. This is the point: the wellsprings of pnimiyus haTorah themselves reached the lower hemisphere. And from there it

12:01 spreading to every corner of the world. And there is another connection between these ideas and the story—interestingly, it is not stated explicitly in the letter, but it emerges from what follows: as the Alter Rebbe told the Tzemach Tzedek, Torah is received through mesirus nefesh, self-sacrifice. That was the story of the Tzemach Tzedek, who risked his life and climbed into the oven to hear new teachings in the inner dimension of Torah. As the Rebbe once told the story in greater detail at another farbrengen, [unclear], where the Rebbe told the story in detail and drew the lesson from it. We see that the child’s desire to hear a new teaching in the inner dimension of Torah aroused such thirst, such intensity, that he was prepared to put himself in danger to hear a teaching of Chassidus. How much effort is required, [unclear] of Chassidus. But when we merit to have a new maamar, a new sicha, a new teaching, a chossid needs an immense thirst for the words of the living G-d: to hear them, to know and understand them, and to receive the revelation in that new teaching of Chassidus. That is why we say mesirus nefesh is needed; and similarly, what happened in the lower hemisphere came through mesirus nefesh. It was mesirus nefesh that began in the period of

13:32 Gimmel Tammuz and 12 Tammuz of the Frierdiker Rebbe. At that time, there was mesirus nefesh openly and publicly. Everyone knows the story: on 15 Sivan, the Frierdiker Rebbe was taken into custody because of his work spreading the wellsprings and spreading Judaism in Russia. In those days, actual, public mesirus nefesh was needed to engage in Torah, to open chadarim, mikvaos, and yeshivos, as was the case in Russia then. That led to the Frierdiker Rebbe’s arrest and imprisonment on 15 Sivan 5687. It was an imprisonment that openly and quite literally endangered his life; as the story is told, there was a sentence of death, G-d forbid. Then, through open miracles, the Rebbe was released from prison. On Gimmel Tammuz, he left prison and was sent into exile. Although he was supposed to spend three years in exile in a distant city, just days later, on 12 Tammuz, his birthday, he was freed. This led, some weeks or months later, to his leaving Russia altogether and traveling to Poland, and eventually to America. The entire journey was one continuous development: through that Geulah,

14:58 the teachings of Chassidus subsequently spread to every corner of the world, especially in the lower hemisphere. All of this resulted from that event, that time, that Geulah. And it is all connected with mesirus nefesh. As the Frierdiker Rebbe said after arriving in America, around 12 Tammuz: just as in Russia there had been mesirus nefesh in practice—literal self-sacrifice—to continue teaching Torah to Jewish children, so too in America mesirus nefesh was needed, though of a different kind. It was not mesirus nefesh of the body, G-d forbid, but mesirus nefesh of one’s will. As is known, nefesh is associated with the will, and mesirus nefesh means surrendering one’s will: a person must give up what he wants. Even in America, a land of comfort, where a person has what he wants and what he needs materially, he must surrender himself, surrender his will—not do what he wants, but what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants, what the Torah commands him to do. This surrender of the will is the means by which the teachings of Chassidus, the inner dimension of Torah, reach the lower hemisphere and thereby spread throughout the entire world. That is the story and the continuation of the letter, in which he explains the connection between the story of the Tzemach Tzedek and the giving of the Torah in the lower hemisphere, in America. And what is the connection

16:25 to 28 Sivan? The Rebbe spoke about that in 5749, on Shabbos Parshas Shelach: the connection to this day, and the Divine providence in what happened on 28 Sivan. What is the significance of 28 Sivan? Sivan is, after all, the third month, the month of the giving of the Torah. As is known, Chassidus explains why the Torah was given in the third month: the number three represents peace. Chassidus explains that the number one is not peace. When there is only one, there is no dispute at all. “Alone, with none besides Him,” as is said of the first day—there is nothing besides Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When the second day arrives, dispute arises: “On the second day, dispute was created.” The same is true of the months: Nissan is the month of the Exodus from Egypt. At that point, there is nothing else to begin with. “Draw me”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought the Jewish people out of exile, and there is only Hakadosh Boruch Hu alone. On the second day, in the second month, Iyar, the days of Sefiras HaOmer, the animal soul begins to come into the picture, and it must be refined through the work of refining the animal soul—Sefiras HaOmer—as explained at length in Chassidus. In the third month, there is already the idea of peace. When the third comes, as on the third day, “it was twice said to be good”—good toward Heaven and good toward people. On the third day, peace was made

17:53 between the upper waters and the lower waters. Then dry land appeared, where man would later come and make the world a dwelling place for Hashem, joining the material with the spiritual, the upper realms with the lower realms, until everything becomes one. The same is true of the third month, the month of the giving of the Torah, for “the entire Torah was given only to bring peace to the world.” The Torah brings peace between the upper and lower realms, between the material and the spiritual, and makes this physical world a dwelling place for Hashem. That is why the giving of the Torah takes place in the third month: the Torah was given to bring peace to the world—in the third month. And within the third month there is the idea of 28, koach, strength. This is the strength of the giving of the Torah. As we discussed earlier, the central point about strength is that there is the revelation of the giving of the Torah, which came from Above. The giving of the Torah was a revelation of “Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the Jewish people a gift from Above; the Torah was given from Above. But afterward must come the work done through one’s own strength. And that work, which began—as we discussed last week—with the spies, “Send for yourself,” meaning “at your discretion,” is work that must be done specifically through one’s own strength. The work must be done with one’s own inner powers, with mesirus nefesh, even when there is no revelation of light; when one must enter into the natural world and work within it, without seeing miracles or wonders. And working through one’s own strength is also...

19:22 soul. And [unclear], to make a dwelling place for Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the lower realms through one’s own strength—that was the innovation in the episode of the spies. A new kind of work began then with “Send for yourself men”: not waiting for a revelation from Above, sitting in the desert where everything comes from Heaven—the manna, Miriam’s well, and the Clouds of Glory—but going specifically to Eretz Yisroel, a place where one must act by engaging with the world. There, too, mesirus nefesh is needed to recognize Hakadosh Boruch Hu, even when one sees no revelation from Above. This idea, working through one’s own strength, began in Parshas Shelach. And 28 Sivan is koach—one’s own strength—and work in the mode of koach, in which a person must awaken his own powers, serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu with his own powers, and thereby connect with Him and make the world a dwelling place for Him in the lower realms. That is the significance of 28 Sivan: the strength of the giving of the Torah. In our generation, something similar began on 28 Sivan, the day the Rebbe arrived in America. There, the spreading of the teachings of Chassidus began in a place that was steeped in materialism and physicality, as everyone knows America was in those days. It really was difficult for Jews there to maintain their Judaism. Even before the Rebbe’s arrival, it was materially difficult to live there as a Jew, facing severe challenges in keeping Shabbos and kosher and...

20:42 and so on, as is well known. Nevertheless, through mesirus nefesh they transformed the situation, and America became a place of Torah, through the yeshivos and the Torah scholars, and through the mobile units we discussed earlier. All those mobile units brought about the spread of Torah in general, and Torah and Chassidus in particular, to every corner of the world, beginning with the lower hemisphere. That is the significance of 28 Sivan and the strength of the giving of the Torah. This is also the significance of this combination of events: this Shabbos is Shabbos Mevarchim for the month of Tammuz. Tammuz is the month of Geulah, when the Geulah of Gimmel Tammuz and 12 Tammuz took place. As the Rebbe spoke about at length then, beginning on Shabbos Parshas Shelach, and then at even greater length, with a very rich discussion, on Shabbos Parshas Korach, 8 Tammuz, [unclear], he spoke about what this means. For we find that Tammuz, on the one hand, is a time of exile, a time of destruction. Tammuz is the fourth month, when the sin of the Golden Calf took place and the Tablets were broken, and that was not something uplifting. All these matters of exile and destruction—the fourth month and the fifth month—are a time of concealment, darkness, and destruction. But on the other hand, through the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Geulah, which took place in the month of Tammuz, there was revealed

22:09 The advantage of light that comes from darkness, the advantage of strength that comes precisely from a place of concealment. We see this with places: it was specifically America, specifically the lower hemisphere, where the revelation of the Giving of the Torah from Above had not taken place. Through work with mesirus nefesh, they transformed it, and that very place became the place and the foundation from which Torah and Chassidus would spread throughout the entire world. And so it is with time: the month of Tammuz, a time of concealment, darkness, bitterness and exile, was transformed into a month from which we draw strength to spread the wellsprings, through the Geulah of the Frierdiker Rebbe, which took place in this month. This also connects to what follows. As we find in Parshas Shelach, it is precisely within concealment that the foundation, the strength of “Send men for yourself,” is revealed. As Kalev said, “The land is very, very good”: it is precisely through work in the lower realms, in the world, in all physical activities, that we reach the highest levels—“very, very.” “And now, please, let the power of Hashem grow”—the word “power” appears here in Parshas Shelach. So too in the following parsha, Parshas Korach, we find the same idea: precisely out of the evil, the concealment and darkness of Korach, who opposed Aharon the Kohen and Moshe

23:31 Rabbeinu. The Rebbe spoke about Korach’s dispute and their incitement, which raised a challenge, as Rashi says: “A document whose validity was challenged and then upheld in court.” Following the accusations against Aharon the Kohen came the episode of Aharon’s staff: all the Children of Israel were shown that Hakadosh Boruch Hu had chosen Aharon’s staff in particular, “Aharon’s staff among their staffs.” As the Rebbe explained then, this revealed the strength the Children of Israel have, through our Rebbeim, to transform the deep, doubled darkness and reveal the deepest and loftiest things precisely there—and to make the lower hemisphere a place from which Chassidus is spread throughout the world. This is also the significance of 28 Sivan in general. And this is why the Torah’s wording in the parsha is so precise: when the staffs were brought and Aharon’s staff was taken, Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to take “Aharon’s staff among their staffs.” What do the words “among their staffs” come to tell us? What does the Torah mean by saying that Aharon’s staff is “among their staffs”? And then, more than that: when morning came, they saw on Aharon’s staff the blessing that came through him: “and behold, it had blossomed,” and “it brought forth a blossom and produced buds.” They saw that the blessing through which Aharon received the priesthood included all blessings. The passage goes on to say, “They saw, and each man took his staff”—each person took his own staff. What is the purpose of that?

25:02 Why does the Torah tell us these details of the story? How are they relevant to us? Well, the Rebbe says in this farbrengen that Aharon’s staff represents the point we have been discussing: our Rebbeim, the tzaddikim, have the power to open the way. But seemingly, that is the work of a tzaddik. The Torah says: no—“Aharon’s staff among their staffs.” Aharon’s staff descends among the staffs and becomes invested within them. It does not remain above, removed from them. Rather, the power of the nasi, who drew down the inner dimension of Torah here below, is given “among their staffs.” Thus all Jews, wherever they are, can work to bring G-dliness down into the world, until a physical, material world becomes a dwelling place for Him. And afterward, “They saw, and each man took his staff”: each person, where he lives and finds himself, in his country, his city, his land, can act there with his own staff. Through the power of Aharon the Kohen, he can do his work, draw down the blessings he seeks, and make the world a dwelling place for Him. This is the lesson we take from a day that falls among these auspicious days: we should take from it a lesson and guidance for ourselves, for each of us, because the Torah is eternal. And in these great days in which we now find ourselves, let us draw strength from this time, from 28 Sivan.

26:26 And from 28 Sivan we equip ourselves with the strength to transform the entire world and make it a dwelling place for Him. And the holy Baal Shem Tov received the answer that through “your wellsprings spreading outward,” “the Master—King Moshiach—will come.” After so many years, the time must already have arrived when the entire world [unclear] becomes a dwelling place for Him. May we merit to see, with our own eyes, the Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu: “Hashem will be King over all the earth; on that day Hashem will be one and His name one.”