Tetzaveh - When Noise and Commotion Are a Good Thing

00:00 Chassidim tell stories about the wedding in Zhlobin. It was a grand wedding, between the Alter Rebbe’s grandson and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev’s granddaughter. The wedding took place in Zhlobin, and both grandfathers were there: the Alter Rebbe on one side and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev on the other. Great tzaddikim and chassidim from all circles were there as well, including disciples of the Baal Shem Tov and disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch. Many things happened at that wedding, and chassidim tell many stories about it. One is that Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev asked the Alter Rebbe about the Mitteler Rebbe. The Mitteler Rebbe was the father of the bride, while the Alter Rebbe was the Rebbe, the nasi. Even then, during his father the Alter Rebbe’s lifetime, the Mitteler Rebbe was already on a very lofty level, even within Chabad Chassidus. The Alter Rebbe praised him highly and spoke at length about his greatness. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev wanted to see that greatness for himself. It is said that when the time came for Birchas Hamazon, he honored the Mitteler Rebbe with leading the zimun at the wedding meal. The Mitteler Rebbe

01:58 led the zimun, and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev expected excitement, noise, commotion—but there was none. Everything was done calmly and quietly, without any visible emotion, fervor or excitement. That was how the Mitteler Rebbe recited Birchas Hamazon. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev was puzzled. After hearing the Alter Rebbe speak of the Mitteler Rebbe’s greatness, he had thought he would be able to see it here, but he saw no great excitement or anything out of the ordinary. Later, he asked the Alter Rebbe about it. The Alter Rebbe explained that the Mitteler Rebbe’s very calmness came from his having a loftier soul. The Rebbe explained: Some souls are called “nunei yama,” meaning fish of the sea. Fish in the sea are quiet, without noise or commotion. Why? They are always in the water, and so they are always within the source of their life. When one is within the source of life, one is naturally always in a state of bittul, devotion and closeness that does not express itself in outward excitement. Other souls, by contrast, are more distant from G-dliness, and so

03:46 that distance expresses itself in fervor and excitement. Chassidim relate that the Alter Rebbe told Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev that when the Mitteler Rebbe was born, he saw what kind of soul he had and wanted to name him Hamnuna. The name Hamnuna is connected with the word for fish. Kabbalah says that Rav Hamnuna was among the souls called “nunei yama,” and that is why he was called Hamnuna. Hamnuna comes from the Aramaic word for fish, and that was the name the Alter Rebbe wanted to give the Mitteler Rebbe. But [unclear] to name him after the Maggid of Mezritch, so he was named Dov Ber. This shows that there are two paths in serving Hashem. There are several ways to serve Hashem: one is with a “still, small voice,” and another is with noise. [unclear] One is one path of service, and the other is another. Chassidim tell stories about this. For the Alter Rebbe, this was his way of serving Hashem, the way he delivered Chassidus, what is called [unclear]. In this connection, we find a point in Parshas Tetzaveh. Parshas Tetzaveh describes the garments the Kohen Gadol wore while serving in the Beis Hamikdash. One of them was the robe. The Torah describes the robe worn by the Kohen Gadol: along its hem, at the bottom, were “a golden bell and a pomegranate.” There were bells and there were pomegranates. Rashi explains—and Rashi and the Ramban disagree about this—that they were side by side.

06:02 Each pomegranate was made from the woolen threads of the robe. It was shaped like a pomegranate but completely hollow inside. Beside it was a bell. The bell and the pomegranate made a commotion and a noise. The Ramban disagrees with Rashi. He holds that the pomegranate was not solid; it was hollow, with the bell inside it. In any case, there were bells and pomegranates along the hem of the robe. And the Torah says, “Its sound shall be heard when he enters the holy place.” That was the purpose of the bells and pomegranates along the hem of the robe: “Its sound shall be heard when he enters the holy place.” This was an audible sound. When the Kohen Gadol entered the Beis Hamikdash, entering the holy place, the Sanctuary, to perform the service, the bells and pomegranates along the hem of his robe had to make a noise. So much so that the verse says, “so that he shall not die.” If that sound were not heard, it would, G-d forbid, constitute a sin that brought about death. That is how essential the sound was. Several things need to be understood. First, the simple question: Why is it so important? Why does this loud noise matter so much that the verse says “so that he shall not die”? Why is it so important for the Kohen Gadol to enter amid commotion and tumult, specifically with a loud noise? What does it mean? What does it accomplish? The Ramban writes that the reason is that a person should act courteously. Even when entering a room, he should not come in suddenly; he should knock on the door. Similarly, the sound is a kind of knock on the door, after which he enters. That is the Ramban’s explanation. According to this, it is mainly a preparation for entering to perform the service. But the verses imply that it concerns the Kohen Gadol’s service itself. He enters the Beis Hamikdash; from this aspect

08:14 of the Kohen Gadol’s service in the Beis Hamikdash, we learn that it must be performed with noise. What place does noise have in the service? Second, we need to understand: Why were there pomegranates? Why were there pomegranates together with the bells? What was the purpose of the pomegranates, especially according to Rashi? According to the Ramban, the pomegranates were needed for the bells: the bells were inside the pomegranates; there was a pomegranate-shaped form with a small bell inside. But according to Rashi, they were beside the bells. What was the purpose of placing pomegranates beside the bells? What purpose did they serve? Here the Rebbe offers a rich explanation, from which we learn a broad and fundamental lesson in serving Hashem, drawn from the priestly garments for each person’s service of Hashem. For there are two ways of serving Hashem: service with a “great, loud sound,” and service with a “still, small voice.” We find this in the Beis Hamikdash itself. When the Kohen Gadol entered the holy place for his daily service, he wore a robe that had to make a sound. So much so that the verse says, “Its sound shall be heard when he enters the holy place”; he was always obligated to ensure that “its sound shall be heard when he enters the holy place.” Otherwise, the verse says, “so that he shall not die,” G-d forbid. But on Yom Kippur, when the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies, the garments—the four garments

09:50 the Kohen Gadol wore in the Holy of Holies, the holy linen garments—had neither bells nor pomegranates. There was no noise. There was a “still, small voice.” His entry into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, specifically, had to be with a “still, small voice,” without any noise, tumult or upheaval. What is the explanation? Broadly speaking, these are two ways of serving Hashem. When a Jew is distant from G-dliness, his service is loud. We see the same thing in the physical world: when a person is in danger, G-d forbid, he cries out with shouting, commotion, tumult and a loud outcry. Only that way can he escape the danger. He is in mortal danger and wants to reach life, so he makes a commotion that shakes the whole world. As related here in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: In his time, when chassidim had only just begun their manner of serving Hashem through prayer, he was asked why chassidim prayed with such fervor and shouting, sometimes even moving their hands and feet. What place did such unrestrained behavior have in serving Hashem through prayer? The Baal Shem Tov said: When a person is in the water and wants to save himself, he does so with commotion and great noise. Likewise,

11:22 when a Jew approaches prayer, he feels that he wants to flee from death to life. He wants to escape the opposite of life and connect to the Life of all life, to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That approach, we are told, arouses tremendous fervor and excitement, with a great, loud sound. The noise comes from his distance. He feels far from the source of life, from true life, from the Life of all life, from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So he is in a state of tumult, noise and commotion, wanting to draw close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is how it is when he is at a distance. But when he is inside the holy place, in the Holy of Holies, when a Jew stands in closeness—as we find in halachah regarding Shemoneh Esrei: during prayer, Shemoneh Esrei is the moment when a Jew stands in the Holy of Holies. He is in the world of Atzilus, and at that time he is in the loftiest state of closeness and bittul to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Then, as the Shulchan Aruch rules, the Shemoneh Esrei prayer must be said in a “still, small voice”; “one may not make one’s voice heard in prayer.” For then he is in a state of unity and closeness, like fish in the sea, and there is no need to shout or make noise, because one is with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And this is the general principle governing service throughout the year as compared with Rosh Hashanah—Yom Kippur, sorry. Throughout the year, he follows his regular order of service,

12:49 Because of his distance from G-dliness. That is why he is stirred and deeply moved: he wants to flee from the opposite of spiritual life toward a G-dly life; he wants to draw close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is why it finds expression in excitement. And this is why, in the Kohen Gadol’s regular service—the sacred service with the offerings and the incense—“his sound was heard when he entered the holy place.” In other words, as we discussed earlier, when we speak about serving Hashem, we are speaking about Jews. And among the Jewish people there are many different levels. Broadly speaking, there is a difference between a tzaddik and a baal teshuvah. The tzaddik stands close to G-dliness, cleaving to it and united with it. The baal teshuvah’s service comes out of his distance from G-dliness. That arouses tremendous enthusiasm and emotion in him, a drive to run, an excitement in that very rush: he wants to flee from death to life. As we said, there are many levels in this as well. Even among great tzaddikim, both approaches are found: some tzaddikim served with great enthusiasm and emotion, while others served with “a still, small voice,” in silence—and that, too, is a form of deep feeling. But the point, in the service as a whole, is that when the Torah tells us, “his sound was heard when he entered the holy place,” the Kohen Gadol, even

14:20 though he was a holy Jew, a great tzaddik, had to take all the Jews with him when he entered the Beis Hamikdash to serve Hashem. He had to take everyone with him, including those Jews who feel as though they are in a place of death, the opposite of life, and want to flee from there and do teshuvah. That desire expresses itself in the great noise and intense emotion of teshuvah. This also explains why the pomegranates were there. As our Sages say about the verse “Your temple is like a slice of pomegranate,” the Jews are compared to pomegranates in Shir Hashirim. One aspect of the pomegranate is expressed in our Sages’ teaching that “even the sinners of Israel are as full of mitzvos as a pomegranate.” A pomegranate has a peel on the outside and many seeds within. So, too, those called “the empty ones among you”: they are called empty, yet they are full of mitzvos like a pomegranate. That is what the pomegranates at the hem of the robe symbolized. The Kohen Gadol represented the entire Jewish people and took all the Jews with him. That was his service: when he entered the Beis Hamikdash, he had to bear the breastplate, inscribed with the names of all the tribes, and the ephod as well, so that they were always before Hashem. He took all the Jews with him. At the hem of the robe, its lowest part, were the bells and pomegranates. Those pomegranates represented the Jews who are called “the empty ones among you.” And

15:53 yet, it is precisely among them that there is great noise, a storm of feeling, a commotion and a thirst: “My soul thirsts for You in a dry and weary land without water.” It is precisely from them that we hear the clamorous desire to be filled with G-dliness. And the Kohen Gadol must take that with him into his service in the Beis Hamikdash. That is why the Torah says, “His sound was heard when he entered the holy place, and he shall not die.” If the Kohen Gadol does not take this with him, he is missing the essential thing. A Kohen Gadol [unclear] great noise, those who are stirred up and are in very, very deep matters [unclear], cannot enter the Beis Hamikdash. To be the Kohen Gadol, to enter the Beis Hamikdash and carry out his service, he must take with him precisely the Jews at the back, at the hem of the robe—the bells and pomegranates, the empty ones among them—and in them [unclear] the great noise, the noise [unclear] of their desire to leave [unclear] for a place of life [unclear]. That is the service throughout the year. When Yom Kippur arrives, the service is entirely different. On Yom Kippur he does not serve wearing the robe with its bells and pomegranates. But when the Kohen Gadol enters the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, that is a special time even within Yom Kippur itself, similar to the Neilah prayer we have now—the time when the yechidah of the soul shines forth in Jews. When the yechidah of the soul is revealed—“the yechidah, to unite with You”—then all Jews [unclear].

17:27 And then all Jews stand in a state of [unclear]. They stand before Hashem, stand in the Holy of Holies, stand in the state of “the yechidah, to unite with You,” at the level of the self-sacrifice of the soul’s yechidah. There, their very essence is revealed [unclear]—the purity, beauty and preciousness of the Jewish people—and then [unclear] the great noise is revealed, because every Jew stands before Hashem, and all Jews have that same movement [unclear]. This is the special service of Yom Kippur, when the yechidah of the soul shines forth. But when the service is outside, when we stand outside the Holy of Holies and engage in the regular service, then the service must be carried out with great noise. From this we learn wonderful lessons for serving Hashem today. What is the great noise that must accompany our service of Hashem? We are in exile, we are outside, we are in the world. And when we need to reach more Jews who [unclear] are distant from Torah and mitzvos, to awaken their souls and inspire them to do teshuvah, we must work as it says in today’s parsha: “His sound was heard when he entered the holy place”—a service carried out with great noise. That is the lesson we learn from the great noise. And this is the whole approach to outreach to Jews that the Rebbe established: using the means available in the world. In other words, today, when we want to bring Jews closer to Judaism—to have them put on tefillin, observe the holy Shabbos, be

19:08 careful about kashrus and come to study Torah—we use all these means, means that make a great noise. We bring about a transformation, make a revolution, call out loud, stir things up, create a commotion and generate all the publicity, all the noise [unclear]. We go out into the street and call on Jews to put on tefillin. And we go out as the Rebbe established, with the tanks—that is, we go out into the street with the [unclear] and make a great noise, so that another Jew will learn about Judaism. We do not hide [unclear] in the beis midrash. We go out, specifically, with great noise. And this is what we learn from the weekly parsha, this great lesson: “His sound was heard when he entered the holy place.” We must take every Jew with us, so that no Jew, G-d forbid, is left behind in exile. As we stand at the end of the exile, and must see to it that one more Jew, and another, and another, prepares for the true and complete Geulah, with Moshiach arriving in just another moment, we must carry out precisely the service of “his sound was heard when he entered the holy place,” the service of the bells and pomegranates, so that all the pomegranates, even the empty ones among us, will be full of mitzvos—one more mitzvah and another. As the Rambam says, a person, through speech and thought, can tip the scales for himself and the entire world toward merit. Through this we bring deliverance and salvation, and may we merit, immediately, the true and complete Geulah, when we will see the Kohen Gadol [unclear], the Kohen Gadol lighting

20:38 the lamps of the menorah, and [unclear] as far as the [unclear] of the Holy of Holies, in the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu.