Parshas Vayeira - learning from the self-sacrifice of Avraham Avinu

00:00 In 5705, the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote a letter to all the Temimim—that is, to all the students of Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch yeshivos throughout the world. It is a very rich letter, in which he writes about the service of Hashem that was required, and the role required of every Jew, every chossid, and every yeshiva student in those days, in the circumstances they faced. We have to remember: 5705 was the final year of World War II, and the Frierdiker Rebbe had already been in America for five years. He wrote this letter after a period in 5705 when he had been very unwell. Around Kislev, the Frierdiker Rebbe was seriously ill, actually in danger. The suffering, and what he heard about what was happening—about what had happened in the Holocaust, and about so many Jews and chassidim, and so on, who were caught up in the war [unclear]—had severely affected the Frierdiker Rebbe’s health. Boruch Hashem, by then his condition had improved somewhat, and he wrote the letter. In it, he explains at length what is required of a Jew and a chossid in our times, in this period. As he writes, this is a new era, demanding new work and a new mission: everyone must influence many others. And everyone

01:47 must think not only about their own spiritual life and their own service of Hashem, but must also work for the sake of others and spread Yiddishkeit and Chassidus around them and throughout the world. In that letter, he tells a very interesting story about things that happened, which he heard from his father, the Rebbe Rashab. Around this time, in Cheshvan, is the Rebbe Rashab’s birthday. He relates that in the summer of 5668, he and his father, the Rebbe Rashab, went out for a walk. During the walk, his father spoke with him and told him stories from earlier times. Among other things, he spoke about a yechidus that he, the Rebbe Rashab, had had with his father, the Rebbe Maharash. In that yechidus, he spoke about various portraits, various kinds of chassidim from the past. He spoke about two kinds of chassidim, describing and portraying two types of people, two approaches to life found among the great chassidim. He gave the example of a chossid named Reb Nochum Eizelman. He describes at length how this chossid conducted himself. He was one of the exceptional chassidim, a student of the Alter Rebbe’s students, and one of the great

03:31 chassidim. He was among the great scholars, [unclear], among the great chassidim devoted to avodah—a gifted man, a prodigy, great in Torah and in the service of Hashem. By nature, he was a solitary person who preferred to be on his own. As he describes him, he had a special place in the woods near Lubavitch. He would go outside the town to a place with a river and trees. There he had a hut, a small room, where he would sit for hours on end, [unclear]. There he would study Torah and daven at length, engage in the service of Hashem, and remain absorbed in deveikus and G-dliness. That was Reb Nochum Eizelman’s way of serving Hashem. He described in considerable detail how he studied Torah, how he davened, his contemplation during davening, and all these matters. He spoke at length [unclear] about the greatness and extraordinary stature of the chossid Reb Nochum Eizelman in those days. By contrast, he told of another figure, giving the example of a chossid named Reb Yosef Hillel. And Reb

05:07 Reb Yosef Hillel was a teacher of young children. It says which town he lived in; that was where he taught young children. [unclear]. Reb Yosef Hillel was a great scholar, a Torah scholar, well versed in sacred texts, and a man of great fear of Heaven, and so on. But he had been educated by chassidim of the Alter Rebbe and had grown up under their guidance. From them he received his education and the approach that a person must devote himself to the good of others. The purpose of Chassidus and the purpose of serving Hashem according to Chassidus is for a person to devote himself to the good of others, to work for another Jew. That was what was special about Reb Yosef Hillel: although he was a great scholar, an accomplished Torah scholar, and so on, well versed in sacred texts, he devoted himself to teaching children. He was a teacher in the town, and he invested himself in Jewish children, educated them, worked with them, and instilled in them fear of Heaven, the ways of Chassidus, and chassidic conduct. In this way, he raised generation after generation—whole circles, whole groups of hundreds of Jewish children who received a Jewish education. And the Rebbe gave another example, of another chossid, Reb Shimon Chaim, who was the rabbi of an important town. Although he could have devoted his time to himself, he dedicated himself, taking on

06:36 a town whose householders were, in fact, simple people, very simple in their conduct. He invested himself in the welfare of the townspeople, worked with them, and labored with them until he established [unclear] and built up a town renowned for its conduct, its fear of Heaven, and its ways of Chassidus, with its arrangements and additional groups, and so on and so forth. And the Rebbe clarified the difference between the two, Reb Nochum Zalman and Reb Yosef Hillel: Reb Nochum Zalman, great as he was, devoted himself to Torah study and avodah, reaching the highest levels, but all this remained within the realm of personal service. Reb Yosef Hillel and Reb Shimon Chaim, by contrast, set aside their personal interests for the good of the community and the good of others. And the Rebbe said that the soul’s descent below—the fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu sends a soul down from the loftiest levels, a soul that is truly a part of G-d above, dwelling above in Gan Eden, and sends it down here—is meant to improve the world and make it more beautiful and brighter, to illuminate the body and the animal soul and illuminate the world around it. But that is still not enough. The work a person does on himself as an individual is still not the ultimate purpose and intent that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desires. A Jew must devote himself to the good of the many

08:06 and to the good of others. And he emphasized the distinction between Reb Yosef Hillel and Reb Shimon Chaim on the one hand, and Reb Nochum Zalman on the other: Reb Nochum Zalman engaged in serving Hashem and refining his character traits, and so on and so forth, but all of it was for himself, personal work. The ultimate purpose of the work, as the Alter Rebbe [unclear] in Chassidus, is that this is why the soul descended below: not only so that a person himself [unclear], but so that he will work with others, devote himself and put himself aside for their sake, to educate and bring another Jew and yet another Jew closer, and create a brighter environment. And he said that the difference between them is not only that one engaged in personal work while the others worked for the community, but also in the matter of mesirus nefesh. After all, a Jew’s work in this world is a work of mesirus nefesh: he puts aside his material concerns, his physical comforts, his desires, and all such things in order to devote himself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And here, too, there are two approaches. Reb Nochum Zalman’s mesirus nefesh is for the sake of his own service, his own personal perfection: he devotes himself to loftier things, to higher qualities, in order to reach higher levels in the service of Hashem. Whereas the work, the mesirus nefesh of Reb

09:31 Yosef Hillel, Shmuel—Shmuel Chaim, is a mesirus nefesh in which a person puts himself aside for the good of another. To explain this, Chassidus discusses at length the difference between the mesirus nefesh of Avraham Avinu and the mesirus nefesh of Rabbi Akiva. What lies behind this? It is a subject in Chassidus, and the Rebbe Rashab explained it at length in those remarks, in that sicha in which he spoke about it in the years [unclear]. As Chassidus explains, we find mesirus nefesh both in Rabbi Akiva and in Avraham Avinu. With Rabbi Akiva, we all know the story the Gemara tells in Berachos: Rabbi Akiva was one of the Ten Martyrs. When the authorities seized him, took him, and imprisoned him, they raked his flesh, rachmana litzlan, with iron combs. Rabbi Akiva’s mesirus nefesh took place in the most terrible and cruel way. And the Gemara relates that when they took Rabbi Akiva and raked his flesh with iron combs, he said, “Hear, O Israel: Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One,” reciting Shema. His students saw this and asked, “Our teacher, even now?” They could not understand it, could not bear it: how could Rabbi Akiva be in such a situation, enduring what we are describing here, rachmana litzlan, undergoing such suffering, and still

10:53 How, then, could he say “Shema Yisroel” calmly? Rabbi Akiva told them, “All my days I longed for this”—all his life he had waited for the moment when he could give his life to sanctify Hashem’s name. And now the moment had come. “You shall love Hashem your G-d ... with all your soul”—even if He takes your soul. This was the moment when he could give his life; he had waited for it all his life. And he did indeed give his life. That was Rabbi Akiva’s mesirus nefesh, [unclear], Rabbi Akiva being one of the Ten Martyrs. On the other hand, there is the story of Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu risked his life to make G-dliness known in the world. As it says in the weekly parsha, Parshas Vayeira: “He planted an eshel in Be’er Sheva and called there in the name of Hashem, Keil Olam.” Avraham Avinu established an eshel in Be’er Sheva, and “called there in the name of Hashem, Keil Olam.” He risked his life to make G-dliness known in the world. And regarding “he called,” the Midrash says: “Do not read it ‘he called,’ but ‘he caused others to call.’” In other words, he did not only risk his own life to call in Hashem’s name. He made sure that everyone who came to him would also go out, call out and proclaim it. He revealed

12:17 and publicized G-dliness in the world. What did he publicize? “Keil Olam.” As explained in Chassidus, it does not say “Keil HaOlam,” “the G-d of the world,” as though there were two separate things—G-d and a world, with G-d being the G-d of that world. Rather, it says “Keil Olam”: the entire world is G-dliness, and there is nothing besides Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That was Avraham Avinu’s mesirus nefesh. As explained in Chassidus, the Rebbe Rashab spoke about this in those sichos and explained the difference between Avraham Avinu’s mesirus nefesh and Rabbi Akiva’s. Rabbi Akiva’s mesirus nefesh was for his own sake, out of a desire to attain the loftiest levels of love, closeness, deveikus and connection to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. His greatest connection to Hakadosh Boruch Hu was through mesirus nefesh, [unclear]. He wanted to reach the highest level of mesirus nefesh, the highest level of love for Hashem. He believed that the greatest connection to Hakadosh Boruch Hu could come specifically through mesirus nefesh. And when he merited to attain it, he felt the greatest joy. This is mesirus nefesh as an end in itself: a person seeks his own spiritual perfection through mesirus nefesh, in his personal avodah. But with Avraham Avinu,

13:39 mesirus nefesh meant complete devotion. Avraham Avinu did not think about himself at all. He thought neither about his material well-being nor even about his spiritual well-being. Avraham Avinu did not even think about the virtue and perfection to be found in mesirus nefesh. He was not seeking mesirus nefesh. That was not what Avraham Avinu was thinking about; it was not what absorbed him. Avraham Avinu’s mesirus nefesh was devotion to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What is Hashem’s will? Once it was clear to him that Hashem’s will was to make G-dliness known in the world—that he had come into the world to spread the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and faith in Him, so that the entire world would know that “Hashem our G-d, He alone is our G-d”—that became his purpose. He pursued it with enthusiasm; it absorbed him. If it required giving his life, he would give that too. If it meant literally jumping into a fire, he was ready for that as well. But that was not what absorbed him. His purpose was not mesirus nefesh; his purpose was to devote himself to fulfilling the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to making G-dliness known in the world, and to revealing to the entire world the message of “He called there in the name of Hashem, Keil Olam.” And Avraham Avinu passed this on as an inheritance to every Jew.

14:55 And he said that this explains the difference between Reb Nochum Yoselman[?] and Reb Yosef Hillel and Reb Shimon Chaim. Reb Nochum Yoselman[?] practiced mesirus nefesh, but along the lines of Rabbi Akiva’s mesirus nefesh. In his personal avodah, he reached the highest levels of love and fear of Hashem, of deveikus in G-dliness, and the greatest [unclear]. By contrast, Reb Yosef Hillel and Reb Shimon Chaim had the mesirus nefesh of Avraham Avinu: they did not think about themselves, not even about their own spiritual well-being, but devoted themselves to the good of others—to reaching another Jew who needed to learn about Yiddishkeit, another Jew who needed to learn about serving Hashem, and another Jew who could be brought closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They devoted themselves to this completely, to raising generation after generation of Jews and sustaining Yiddishkeit. The Rebbe Rashab concluded with this point in that sicha with Reb Mordechai. He said what he wanted of his students, what he wanted to instill in the Temimim and in the students he was training: that they should all be Yosef Hillels, Yosef Hillels and Shimon Chaims. That is what he said there in that letter. This is the point: go out and do not think only about yourself. Go out and work for the good of others; go out and see what you can accomplish. Work with one more person, and another, and another. That is how

16:22 you bring them closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. You bring them closer and closer and closer to Yiddishkeit, closer to Chassidus, closer to serving Hashem and to genuine love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is what we saw in Avraham Avinu, and what we also inherited from him: mesirus nefesh. And this is the true meaning of mesirus nefesh—not just mesirus nefesh in which a person seeks his own perfection through self-sacrifice. For in that mesirus nefesh, with Rabbi Akiva, he gave himself over completely. He did not think about himself, neither about his material well-being nor about his spiritual well-being. He thought of nothing else but how to fulfill Hashem’s will and make the world a dwelling place for Him. The Rebbe spoke about this point in his first maamar, the maamar he delivered when he accepted the nesius. As is known, for our Rebbeim, the first maamar is the one in which the Rebbe accepts the nesius. This was in 5711, a year after Yud Shvat. On Yud Shvat 5710, the Frierdiker Rebbe passed away. Throughout the following year, from Yud Shvat 5710 until Yud Shvat 5711, chassidim wrote letters, [unclear], and asked the Rebbe to accept the nesius after the Frierdiker Rebbe, but the Rebbe

17:42 did not want to, and on this matter he was altogether [unclear]. A whole year passed, until Yud Shvat 5711. Then it became clear that the Rebbe had agreed to take on the nesius of Chabad. The Rebbe then delivered the well-known maamar of Chassidus, “Basi Legani” 5711. Among the other subjects he discusses there, he speaks about the seven generations. In the maamar, he explains and cites the account of the seven generations in this context. In his final maamar, “Basi Legani Achosi Kallah,” which he released before his passing, the Frierdiker Rebbe discusses the Midrash. The Midrash says there were seven... yes, the Midrash on “Basi Legani Achosi Kallah” says that seven sins drove the Shechinah away from the world. As the Midrash relates, there was the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, then Cain and Abel, the generation of Enosh, the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion, and so on. The sins drove the Shechinah higher and higher, until it reached the seventh heaven. Then came seven tzaddikim, who brought the Shechinah back down, one level at a time.

19:07 They brought the Shechinah down from level to level: Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, followed by Levi, Kehos, Amram and Moshe, who was the seventh. Yes, he was the one who brought the Shechinah down below at the giving of the Torah, when “Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai.” This is the meaning of “Basi Legani Achosi Kallah”: as the Midrash says, the Shechinah returned “to My garden,” “to My bridal chamber”—to the world, the place where Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to be. From the beginning of Creation, the intent was for the world to be a dwelling place for Him in the lower realms, for the physical world to be His garden, the place where He wants to be. The sins drove away the Shechinah, G-d forbid, until the seven tzaddikim came, generation after generation, and brought the Shechinah back down to be [unclear], until Moshe Rabbeinu brought it down to earth. This is the point addressed in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s maamar for Yud Shvat 5710. Then we come to the maamar of Yud Shvat 5711. There, the Rebbe spoke at length and with the greatest depth about “a dwelling place for Him in the lower realms.” He sought to understand the statement of our Sages: What does it mean that “the primary dwelling place of the Shechinah was in the lower realms”? Why specifically “the primary dwelling place of the Shechinah”? Not just [unclear]—what are our Sages telling us here? Hakadosh Boruch Hu has a desire; Hakadosh Boruch Hu yearns; Hakadosh Boruch Hu

20:22 There is a desire, a deep desire: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms,” in this physical world. The Rebbe spoke about this at great depth and with great richness. He also spoke about the point brought in the Midrash, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to Moshe Rabbeinu: Although you, Moshe Rabbeinu, are the seventh, and “all sevenths are cherished”—the seventh is especially cherished, and therefore he gave the Torah and brought it down here to earth—nevertheless, “the whole significance of the seventh is that he is seventh from the first.” What is it about the seventh that makes him so cherished? Why is he cherished? Because he comes from the first. Without the first, there would be no seventh. All the distinction of the seventh, all that makes him cherished, also stems from the fact that he comes from the first, who blazed the trail and showed the way in the avodah. From the first came the second and the third, until the seventh was reached. So it falls to the seventh to bring the entire undertaking to fruition and complete the first one’s work. And that work is Avraham’s work, as we discussed earlier: Avraham was the first to open the channel of mesirus nefesh. He opened the channel of mesirus nefesh in order to establish the revelation of G-dliness in the world.

21:38 And in the way Avraham Avinu did it: he did not think about himself. None of his work was for the sake of his own spirituality or his own mesirus nefesh. His whole purpose was “and he called”—“do not read it ‘and he called,’ but ‘and he caused others to call’”: to bring about the spread of G-dliness throughout the world. And that is the distinction of the seventh: he carries out the work and brings G-dliness to the entire world. Moshe Rabbeinu accomplished this when he brought the Torah down here to earth. The Rebbe spoke then about how, in a similar way, as we have already discussed, each of our Chabad Rebbeim had his own path. The Alter Rebbe was the founder of Chabad Chassidus, the first to open its path, and he devoted himself to it. As we see with him, he gave of himself with mesirus nefesh and dedicated himself to spreading Chassidus, to spreading the wellsprings of the Baal Shem Tov. I can tell you about the Alter Rebbe, who would go from town to town and place to place, speaking and explaining things there. First he would speak about the revealed part of Torah, and afterward he would move on to speak with them about the inner dimension of Torah. In this way he illuminated the entire town with the light of the inner dimension of Torah, bringing and spreading the light of the Baal Shem Tov everywhere. And...

22:56 This then spread through the generations, generation after generation, until the Rebbe, the seventh, and this is our task. With the Rebbe, we can see concretely the approach he established for our generation: a Jew, a chossid who studies Torah and Chassidus, must remember that the whole point of studying Torah and Chassidus is not just for him to become a better person, more G-d-fearing, a greater chossid or a greater scholar. Everything he himself learns and does, he must go out and spread. He must act and make sure that another Jew knows, that another Jew remembers Hashem, that another Jewish woman lights Shabbos candles, that another Jew studies Torah, that another Jew fulfills mitzvos, and that another Jew comes closer to the inner dimension of Torah. That way, the entire world will grow brighter and brighter and become a place, a dwelling for Him. One year, a Jew who was among the leading communal activists in Eretz Yisroel, one of the leading activists in Agudas Yisroel, wrote a letter to the Rebbe. In the letter he wrote [unclear], a chossid from the family of the Gerrer Rebbe. His name was Reb Yitzchak Meir Levin.

24:19 But from what he wrote to the Rebbe, [unclear]. Among the things he wrote in his letter—and this is interesting—was that he knew the Rebbe’s greatest hope, greatest desire and greatest longing were for Chassidus to be studied in all the chassidic shuls. That would bring the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu closer, as quoted in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: “When will the Master come?”—Melech HaMoshiach, as is known. Through “when your wellsprings spread outward,” they will bring Moshiach. The Rebbe replied that he was right: his greatest desire and hope were indeed for Chassidus to spread and be disseminated. But not only in chassidic shuls—in all shuls, everywhere, in every Jewish home, in every Jewish town and wherever a Jew might be. People should know the light of Torah in general and the light of the inner dimension of Torah in particular. The G-dly light of Torah, of the revealed part of Torah and its inner dimension, should spread everywhere, and the entire world should become a place of light—a place illuminated by G-dliness, by the light of Torah and the light of its inner dimension, the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov. Through this, they will prepare the entire world to be a world of light, a world of Geulah. And in our days [unclear], when we see, speak about and hear the sound of the shofar, the

25:51 shofar of Moshiach—all the things happening now in the world, and particularly in Eretz Yisroel, are certainly among the final stages of refinement, what we might call the last moments. The sound of the shofar calls out that Moshiach is coming any moment. In the meantime, we must remember our task, our work and our shlichus: each person must devote himself completely and do everything in his power to spread what the Baal Shem Tov heard from Melech HaMoshiach: “When will the Master come? When your wellsprings spread outward.” To bring G-dliness, to bring Yiddishkeit, and especially to bring Chassidus and the inner dimension of Torah, wherever one can reach. Jews should study Torah, Jews should study the inner dimension of Torah, Jews should study [unclear] and G-dliness. And through what we do to spread the G-dly light of Torah and mitzvos and of the inner dimension of Torah everywhere—this is the point of Yosef Hillel, of Shmuel Chaim: devoting oneself to the good of the many, with mesirus nefesh, without even thinking about one’s mesirus nefesh, but simply doing everything in our power to fulfill “do not read it ‘and he called,’ but ‘and he caused others to call.’” So that one more Jew and then another will remember Hashem, and remember that “Hashem is one and His name is one.” And not only should they know it; they should proclaim throughout the world that the world is not a reality unto itself, that it has no independent existence, but that the entire reality of the world is

27:17 a revelation of G-dliness. Through this we will bring to fruition the ultimate intent expressed in the words “I have come into My garden”—“to My bridal chamber, to the place where My essence was present at the beginning”: to draw down the Shechinah, to bring the Shechinah down here, in the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. May we merit that [unclear], “The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh together will see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.”