Parshas Bo - "Come to Pharaoh" or "Go to Pharaoh"?!

00:00 Speaker 1 The chossid Reb Sholom Marozov, a"h, was the mashpia at the central Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in 770. He was the youngest son of the well-known chossid Reb Chunya Marozov. Reb Chunya Marozov was a chossid of the Rebbe Rashab, the Rebbe’s grandfather. He served as a gabbai and secretary to both the Rebbe Rashab and the Frierdiker Rebbe. Reb Sholom was one of his younger children. I had the privilege of spending some time with him and hearing a number of stories from him. One of them relates to Yud Shvat, the yahrzeit of the Frierdiker Rebbe and the day the Rebbe assumed the leadership, on Yud Shvat 5711. One more piece of background: Reb Sholom Marozov was a small child in 5687. That was the year the Frierdiker Rebbe was released from imprisonment on 12 Tammuz. Sholom was only four years old then. In Tishrei 5688, the Frierdiker Rebbe left Russia. That was when he took leave of Russia. That Tishrei, on Simchas Torah, many chassidim came to say goodbye to him. It was a deeply emotional time. The chassidim did not know when they would see him again. The Rebbe was leaving Russia, and the atmosphere was very, very tense; it was an extremely difficult period. Reb Sholom was only four years old, and—

01:54 Speaker 1 his father, Reb Chunya, who was the Frierdiker Rebbe’s gabbai, was then imprisoned in Siberia. His mother was left alone with the children. On the morning of Simchas Torah, many chassidim came in, one after another, to say goodbye to the Frierdiker Rebbe. Many people passed through, and emotions ran high. Because of the Marozov family’s particular circumstances—the father was in Siberia, and he had been the Frierdiker Rebbe’s gabbai—special permission was given for the mother and children to come in and say goodbye too. Although in those days women were not normally received for yechidus, the special circumstances allowed her to enter. She went in with the children. Sholom, as I said, was a small child, and he did not want to leave. He insisted on staying in the room, and everyone waited. There was a large crowd, and the Rebbe already had to leave. So the Frierdiker Rebbe said to Sholom, “Don’t worry, we’ll see each other again; we’ll meet again.” After that, he went out. That is what the Rebbe told him then. As is well known, almost all the chassidim who were there—or at least a large number of them—could not meet the Frierdiker Rebbe again, because he left and—

03:32 Speaker 1 later departed that country and traveled to Poland, and eventually was in America. When the chassidim left Russia years later, most of them could not meet the Frierdiker Rebbe face to face. Reb Sholom Marozov, who was then a young man, arrived in America with one small group on Rosh Chodesh Shvat, eight days before the Frierdiker Rebbe’s passing. In 5710, exactly eight days before the passing, they arrived in America. There were five or six young men. They had come from Russia and, after leaving it, had stayed in Paris. Eventually they received permission, the authorization, to leave Russia and come to America. The question arose whether to go in for yechidus with the Frierdiker Rebbe. As is well known, by 5710 the Frierdiker Rebbe was no longer in good health; he was very weak. His holy body had endured suffering for many years. And the way to see the Rebbe was to go in for yechidus, to come face to face with the Frierdiker Rebbe and see him. So the question arose whether they should go in and meet him. Sholom was one of the young men, and he was unsure what to do. On the one hand, he felt that he needed to make—

05:28 Speaker 1 preparations before going in for yechidus. The Frierdiker Rebbe describes in his writings and stories how much chassidim prepared before entering yechidus. So Sholom wondered whether he should prepare: should he go in for yechidus right away, when chassidim would spend so much time preparing for it? On the other hand, there was the question of whether to go in during the coming days, and he did not know what to do. He asked the mashpia about it. In the end, they sent him to ask the Rebbe’s son-in-law, who was then known as the Ramash and later became the Rebbe, and discuss his questions with him. Reb Sholom went into the office the Rebbe had at the time, the office of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch. He went in and explained his question. He said that, on the one hand, he had been offered the chance to go in for yechidus in the coming days, but on the other hand, he wanted to prepare and felt he was not ready. The Rebbe told him that, on the contrary, if there was an opportunity to go in, he should go in, because one could not know what would happen afterward. That is the wording I heard from Reb Sholom himself.

06:57 Speaker 1 Marozov told the story, but I heard from him personally that the Rebbe told him to go in. If there is an opportunity to go in for yechidus now, you should go in, because you cannot know what will happen afterward. “But when will I make my preparations?” The Rebbe told him, “You can make the preparations afterward, too.” That was part of it as well. The Rebbe then told him a few other interesting things. Perhaps I’ll mention them briefly. The Rebbe discussed one point with him. He had asked which blessing one recites upon seeing the Rebbe for the first time: does one recite, “Who has apportioned of His wisdom to those who fear Him”—ah, “Who has given of His wisdom to those who fear Him”? I do not remember the exact wording of the blessing said upon seeing a sage, a tzaddik. The Rebbe discussed both sides of it with him, going back and forth. But in the end he said, “Perhaps the Rebbe is beyond that.” On the other hand, one certainly must say “Shehecheyanu.” Upon seeing the Rebbe, one certainly must say “Shehecheyanu.” And when you say “Shehecheyanu,” say it aloud so that the Rebbe can answer amen. The Rebbe also told him that when he went in that night, he should first immerse in a mikveh. Before going in for yechidus, one must purify oneself in the waters of the mikveh. So, with the mikveh, one also needs... That is what—

08:25 Speaker 1 the Rebbe told him. Reb Sholom then related something interesting: when he arrived for yechidus that night, the young men were standing in that room. They were waiting to go in for yechidus, and they were very excited. And the Rebbe came in just then. The Rebbe—the one we call the Ramash—apparently saw how excited they were. He told them, “I see there is a great deal of excitement here. Perhaps you should leave the mikveh for afterward.” [unclear] Perhaps leave the mikveh for afterward. That is how he told it. The Rebbe also told him to go in wearing a gartel. When one goes in for yechidus, one wears a gartel. There was a whole matter surrounding this [unclear] with—

12:15 Speaker 2 This was the final week of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s life in this physical world. Then he understood what the Rebbe had told him at the time: that it was better to go in now, because one could not know what would happen afterward. It was the last month in which it was possible to go in, and the blessing the Frierdiker Rebbe had given him as a child—that they would meet again—was fulfilled. He merited to be with the Rebbe in those final days, at that yechidus on 4 Shvat 5710. But Reb Sholom also told what happened next. A few years later, he was once at a farbrengen, [unclear]. It was a Shabbos farbrengen. The Rebbe said a little “l’chaim,” and suddenly called out, “Is Sholom Marozov here?” And the Rebbe said, “Nu, have you finished the preparations yet?” That is what the Rebbe said. He said that the crowd thought the Rebbe meant preparations for davening. Reb Sholom used to daven late, making various preparations for davening and davening at length. So the crowd thought it was about preparations for davening. But he understood what the Rebbe was saying to him. The Rebbe meant what he had told him earlier, in 5710—

13:29 Speaker 2 that he could make the preparations for yechidus afterward, as had been the case with the Rebbe himself. Even before he had finished his preparations, the preparation for that yechidus had already begun. That is a story connected with Yud Shvat. Reb Sholom Marozov then told something interesting. I heard this from him personally as well. After the Frierdiker Rebbe’s passing, about a month after Yud Shvat, around the month of Adar or so, he wanted to go in for yechidus with the Rebbe. The Rebbe was already there for the chassidim, even though this was before he accepted the leadership. As is well known, the Rebbe did not want to accept the leadership until a year later. But as Reb Sholom said—and I heard this from his own mouth—the Rebbe began working with the young men right from the start. The Rebbe himself said something to this effect: you cannot leave the young men; you continue working with them and meeting with them. And this was immediately apparent. He related that in Adar, about a month after the Frierdiker Rebbe’s passing, he wanted to go in for yechidus with the Rebbe. He received permission to go in, but stood outside the door, unsure what to do. What was he uncertain about? After all, the Rebbe had told him that one goes in to the Rebbe wearing a gartel. Before his yechidus with the Frierdiker Rebbe, he had told him—

14:50 Speaker 2 To wear a gartel. On the other hand, the Rebbe had told him to ask Reb Shmuel Levitin. Reb Shmuel Levitin told him that bochurim do not wear a gartel. Now he was about to go in for yechidus with the Rebbe. It was a real question: with a gartel or without one—what should he do? He asked Reb Chodakov, the Rebbe’s secretary, and told him he did not know whether to go in with a gartel or without one. Reb Chodakov went in to the Rebbe before Reb Sholom did and told him that Sholom Arusov was waiting outside. He wanted to come in but did not know whether to wear a gartel. The Rebbe smiled and said, “Well, if it’s bothering him, if it’s bothering him.” In other words, so it would not bother him, he should wear the gartel under his coat. And that did indeed become the custom, including among the bochurim. To this day, they wear a gartel under their coats when going in for yechidus, or when going to the holy Ohel, or when entering the Rebbe’s room. This is a story I heard from Reb Chaim Sholom Arusov in connection with Yud Shvat. We are in that period now; by Divine Providence, we are speaking on Shabbos Parshas Bo, Yud Shvat. And that is the very Shabbos on which the passing took place

16:04 Speaker 2 of the Frierdiker Rebbe, as is well known. That year, 5710, Yud Shvat fell on Shabbos. As the Rebbe writes in a note describing the day of the passing, on Erev Shabbos Kodesh he brought in the maamar “Basi Legani.” Before sunset, he brought the maamar “Basi Legani” to the Frierdiker Rebbe, who was already wearing his spodik and Shabbos clothes, and was in the middle of [unclear] and “Pesach Eliyahu.” He was between “Hodu” and “Pesach Eliyahu.” That was the last time the Rebbe merited to see his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe. He handed him the maamar, and the Frierdiker Rebbe showed a sign of satisfaction. Early on Shabbos morning, shortly before eight o’clock, the Frierdiker Rebbe passed away, on Shabbos Parshas Bo. As the Rebbe writes in a note on Parshas Bo, he cites the Zohar’s words: “The passage ‘Come to Pharaoh’—there all the lights break forth and are revealed.” In “Come to Pharaoh,” Pharaoh’s significance, as the Zohar explains, is revelation—the revelation of all the supernal lights. So I want to speak a little about “Come to Pharaoh” and its connection to this day, the holy day of Yud Shvat, the yahrzeit of the Frierdiker Rebbe and the day the Rebbe accepted the leadership. When we hear

17:35 Speaker 2 “Come to Pharaoh,” the name of the parsha, and as the Rebbe discussed several times, particularly in the later years—in 5751 and 5752—the Rebbe asked: Our parsha is seemingly one of the great historical parshiyos in the Torah, the parsha of the Exodus from Egypt. After all, it deals with the Exodus and everything connected to it. And what is Parshas Bo called? At first glance, the name says nothing; it does not express anything distinctive. How can that be? The Rebbe always spoke about how a parsha’s name must encompass its entire essence. How can such an important parsha be called “Bo,” “Come”? And not merely “Come,” but “Come to Pharaoh.” More than that, the name highlights Pharaoh’s power. Moshe goes in to Pharaoh and has to struggle with him, and Pharaoh says he does not want to hear a word and drives him out. Is that the name of the parsha, which is meant to express the Exodus from Egypt? The Rebbe dwelt on the words of the Zohar. In fact, there are two places in the Zohar from which he draws an understanding of Pharaoh: one in our parsha, Parshas Bo, and the other in Parshas Vayigash. The first is a question the Zohar asks in our parsha,

19:03 Speaker 2 and it is a straightforward question about the plain meaning of the verse: Why does it say “Come to Pharaoh”? Come! When you send someone to another person, you do not tell him “come” but “go.” It should have said “Go to Pharaoh”—approach Pharaoh. But instead Hashem tells him, “Come to Pharaoh.” What does “come” mean? The Zohar explains in our parsha that Moshe Rabbeinu was afraid to go to Pharaoh. Moshe Rabbeinu was very afraid of Pharaoh, because Pharaoh embodied the greatest impurity in the world, “the great serpent crouching in the midst of his rivers.” The Zohar explains that the great serpent is the primordial snake, the source of the kelipos, the throne of kelipah. This is kelipah at the highest and deepest level possible. And Moshe Rabbeinu, with all his qualities, all his holiness and all his spiritual levels—Moshe Rabbeinu represents the wisdom of holiness. The wisdom of holiness, Moshe Rabbeinu, the “power of ‘what,’” “What are we?”—chochmah. With all his qualities, Moshe Rabbeinu was afraid to stand face to face with such immense impurity, with the throne of kelipah, Pharaoh’s throne, the essence of Pharaoh. As the Zohar says, until now all of Moshe’s encounters with Pharaoh had been by the river: “Behold, he is standing by the river.” The rivers are emanations, flows of Divine energy, constrictions and individual details. That is not the essential force of the kelipah. Here he was about to break the kelipah in its full force, in Pharaoh’s palace, in his home, and that frightened Moshe Rabbeinu. And what did Hakadosh Boruch Hu tell him?

20:38 Speaker 2 Hakadosh Boruch Hu told him: Know that you are not going alone. “Come to Pharaoh”—come together with Me; I am taking you with Me, and together we are going to Pharaoh. And that is the lesson in the name of the parsha. Parshas Bo is where the life of the Jewish people begins. That is where the Exodus from Egypt begins; the hosts of Hashem, the Jews, go out into the world and make it a dwelling place for Him. From there begins the journey through the wilderness and the wilderness of the nations, the Giving of the Torah, the time of exile, and the entire history of the Jewish people, from the Exodus until the last three thousand three hundred and some decades. The Torah says, Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, the parsha says in its opening words: “Come to Pharaoh.” If you look at the first verses, you see that He did not tell him anything at all. It says, “Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart,” and then nothing further is said. Only later does it say again, “And Hashem said,” and then He spoke to him about the plague of locusts. And that is exactly the point. That itself is the lesson the Torah is teaching, as the Zohar relates: A Jew should know—Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu: Know this, do not be afraid. Know that I am going with you, “for I am with you.” I am going with you. So you can stand before Pharaoh, and you will be able

22:04 Speaker 2 to break this darkness, and you can also transform it, [unclear] within a Jew. And that is the first message, the first lesson, the first thing we learn from the parsha. The Rebbe spoke about this at great length in 5751, on Parshas Bo 5751. Does that remind you of anything? 5751—that was the parsha, the very Shabbos when the war began, the well-known war called the Gulf War. It was a war that aroused tremendous fear; the whole world stood in fear of what was about to happen. Saddam Hussein, may his name be erased, in Iraq, said he would launch missiles toward Eretz Yisroel, and there was terrible fear. The Rebbe then said explicitly: After all, it is written, “A land that Hashem your G-d watches over; the eyes of Hashem your G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” There is nothing to fear. We must know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will protect it, and nothing will happen. Afterward, we saw truly open miracles. Missiles fell across Eretz Yisroel, and, thank G-d, there were open miracles in the way Hakadosh Boruch Hu protected Eretz Yisroel at a time of the greatest distress: “The eyes of Hashem your G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” Parshas Bo was the beginning of the war. And on that Shabbos, the Rebbe spoke

23:22 Speaker 2 about a lesson I want to share with you. I still remember how the things the Rebbe said then were plainly visible before our eyes—extraordinary things. He also spoke then about “Come to Pharaoh”: a Jew needs to know the strength he has. There is a Moshe Rabbeinu within every Jew, as it says in Tanya, “within each and every one.” And every Jew has this strength. When a Jew goes out into the world, into this world, with his head held high, and encounters many kelipos, and encounters his own yetzer hara, the Pharaoh within him, the serpent in his soul—he must know that he is not alone. A Jew need not be afraid, even when kelipah, evil and darkness appear with such power and force. He must know that even Moshe Rabbeinu was afraid. He is told: Know this: “Do not fear, for I am with you.” What is there to fear? I am going with you. “Come to Pharaoh”—I am holding your hand and going with you. And so a Jew can go forward with the greatest strength. He has nothing to fear from any darkness. He can go out into the world, act and do things, and in the near future go and engage in matters of Yiddishkeit too: go out into the street, look for a Jew and put tefillin on him, and in all the activities and mitzvah campaigns that he

24:38 Speaker 2 does, and thereby illuminates the world and prepares it for the coming of Moshiach. This is in keeping with what is said in Parshas Bo. In 5752—the last year, for now, in which we merited to hear a farbrengen from the Rebbe; may the Rebbe already merit the complete Geulah, and may we merit to hear him again [unclear]—on Shabbos Parshas Bo 5752, the Rebbe spoke again about that same question. This time, the Rebbe focused mainly on the Zohar in Parshas Vayigash. The Zohar there says that the meaning of the name “Pharaoh” is “from him all lights are revealed and brought into the open.” The meaning of Pharaoh is, in fact, something lofty, in holiness. Everything here below has a source above. Everything in kelipah, in evil and darkness, has a source in holiness. The Zohar says that just as there is a Pharaoh of the greatest impurity, of the full force of kelipah and the deepest darkness, so there is a Pharaoh as he exists in holiness. “Pharaoh” comes from the word “uncovering.” Uncovering—Pharaoh. Pharaoh signifies revelation and expansion. It is a level of greatness beyond all measures and limitations, the exact opposite of all the measures and limitations in the world. This is the meaning of “from him all lights are revealed and brought into the open.” And Pharaoh, king of Egypt, means that all the measures and limitations found

26:04 Speaker 2 in Egypt—in narrow straits and confines—are broken, until, ultimately, the true meaning of Pharaoh is revealed. And this is the [unclear] that took place with Yosef in Parshas Vayigash. Here the Rebbe related that when Yosef the righteous revealed himself to his brothers, his revelation to them was a revelation of Pharaoh, “Come to Pharaoh”—a revelation of the unlimited, of Geulah, which points to [unclear]. But afterward they went through the entire process of Geulah, to its conclusion. So “Come to Pharaoh,” as it exists above in holiness, means that when one enters into this power, one can become a vessel to receive the greatest revelations—the revelations of Matan Torah, the revelations of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the revelations of Moshiach, the greatest revelations possible. Here the Rebbe spoke about Moshe Rabbeinu’s question: How can a soul in a body, how can a person actually living here in the physical world, receive such lofty things? A person could reach a state in which the soul expires, leaving the self behind. With such an immense revelation, how can a soul in a body receive it? After all, it is known that the ultimate purpose is specifically for the soul to remain in a body. All these revelations must descend here below. To this, Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells him: Know that you are not alone. “Come to Pharaoh.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes him by the hand and gives him the strength so that—

27:30 Speaker 2 so that you can be a soul in a body here below, in a physical body, a limited body, with a physical mind and physical limitations, and at the same time be able to receive the greatest revelation, the greatest expansion, the [unclear], all the greatest and deepest revelations. And this, as the Rebbe said, is also connected with Yud Shvat. For the whole significance of Yud Shvat, as discussed in the maamar “Basi Legani,” is that we stand at the time of Geulah, when “Basi Legani”—“I have come to My garden”—will be fulfilled: the revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the essence of the Shechinah dwelling in the lower realms, coming and descending “to My garden,” “to My bridal chamber,” to the place that was its primary abode at the beginning. The revelation of Hashem’s Essence and Being, the revelation of the loftiest things, here below in the physical world. And that is the task of our generation, the generation of Geulah. And Moshiach is coming, [unclear]. The lavish spending of the treasures, the revelation of the inner dimension of Torah and the revelation of Torah in general, so great in our generation, are quite simply the final preparation for the great revelation of G-dliness for which we stand waiting—Moshiach is coming. And here the question arises: Our generation, such a weak generation, such a dark generation, with weak people—how can we receive all these things? On the contrary, from the weekly parsha we must know: “Come to Pharaoh.” You are not going alone. Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes us by the hand, and the Rebbe, the Moshe Rabbeinu of every generation, gives us the strength. Each person receives the strength for all this greatness to be present in souls within bodies, a healthy soul within

29:06 Speaker 2 a healthy body, so that we can receive all these lofty things being revealed now—the great treasures of the true and complete Geulah. And this is the lesson we take from the weekly parsha. Regarding the [unclear] of today, we need to know: In that sicha from 5752, the Rebbe spoke with great fervor and said that every Jew in our generation must know that we stand at [unclear]. On the one hand, time is a limitation. On the other hand, [unclear] the unlimited within time. We are living at an exceedingly precious time, and we must make use of every second, knowing that every action we take in Torah and mitzvos, and particularly in “spreading your wellsprings outward”—spreading Torah and Chassidus—is the final preparation for the revelation of Moshiach: Moshiach is coming. And all the things happening in the world, the wars with non-Jews, with the nations that oppose the Jews, and so on—as the Rebbe spoke then about the words of the Midrash, Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to the Jews: “Do not be afraid. Everything I have done, I have done only for your sake; the time of your Geulah has arrived.” All the darkness and concealment in the world are truly the final preparation for breaking the last Egypt, Pharaoh, for breaking the kelipah of Pharaoh. Then there will be clarity, until no trace remains of that foreign Pharaoh. May we therefore merit this sooner—the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, immediately, right now.