Parshas Tzav - The Depth of Constantly Thanking Hashem

00:00 I want to tell a story I heard from the person it happened to, who was there himself. This was years ago. A young man was studying at the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. He went through a period of great difficulty and was in a hard situation. In his distress, he wrote a letter to the Rebbe. He poured out his heart in the letter, mailed it, and waited eagerly for a reply—for the Rebbe to give him advice and a blessing concerning what he had asked about. Time passed. In those days, sending mail back and forth took time. The Rebbe received so many letters, and a reply did not always come, though it was possible to receive one. The young man was worried; the matter meant a great deal to him, and he eagerly awaited the reply. One day passed, then another, then another. Meanwhile, he kept waiting, and every so often he felt drawn to go to the post office. He studied at Tomchei Temimim in Kfar Chabad, and there was a post office there where he could check whether anything had arrived. The days passed, and no reply came. He relates that one Friday, while it was still well before Shabbos—

01:30 The young man was sitting alone in the yeshiva as Shabbos approached. There is a teaching from the Baal Shem Tov: on Friday, before Mincha, one says the psalm “Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, for His kindness is everlasting. Let those redeemed by Hashem say so, those He redeemed from the hand of the foe”—the psalm about the four who must give thanks. This is Psalm 107 in Tehillim, which speaks about giving thanks: four people must give thanks, and a Jew thanks Hakadosh Boruch Hu for being saved from various dangers. The Gemara in Berachos says that this is the source for the blessing of Hagomel and the thanksgiving offering—all the ways a Jew thanks Hakadosh Boruch Hu for saving him from danger. It is taught in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that this psalm should be said on Friday before Mincha. Why? The Baal Shem Tov says: throughout the week, the soul is occupied in this physical world, with all the work of birurim, with all the matters in which a Jew is engaged in a struggle in galus, amid the concerns of this world. In this there is an aspect of those who go down to the sea, amid the concerns of this world; of a sick person, Heaven forbid, in a spiritual sense; of travelers, who are presumed to be in danger, in the course of a mitzvah; and also of someone confined in prison. All these are connected with travelers being presumed to be in danger, with a Jew being occupied all week in this world

03:08 with material concerns. When Friday arrives, while it is still well before Shabbos begins, a Jew thanks Hakadosh Boruch Hu for having made it through the journey described in “Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good.” He thanks Hakadosh Boruch Hu as one of “those redeemed by Hashem”; now he enters a state of Geulah. This teaching is quoted in the name of the Baal Shem Tov in the book Meor Einayim, and it is also brought in [unclear]. The young man sat and said the psalm with very deep concentration. His heart was broken, so deeply broken, and of course, as he said the psalm and reflected on it with a broken heart, every verse was fire; every verse burned. He relates that he sat alone. It was six o’clock, and the others had not yet arrived. He sat apart and said each verse with concentration, with [unclear]. When he reached the verse that says, “Prisoners in affliction and iron,” he felt that every word spoke about him, that he was in galus—“prisoners in affliction and iron,” “and they cried out to Hashem in their distress.” As he was saying those words, he suddenly heard someone shout his name. He raised his head and saw [unclear]. A friend called to him and said that he had been to the post office and seen that a letter had arrived for him, addressed to him. The young man hurried there: a letter! The time had finally come. He had waited long enough. He ran to the post office and, sure enough, saw that a letter in reply had arrived.

04:50 [unclear] The blessing, the advice, and the words he received brought him peace of mind. The weekly parsha, Parshas Tzav, deals with giving thanks to Hashem for His kindness, with the thanksgiving offering. “And this is the law of the peace offering that one shall bring to Hashem. If he brings it as a thanksgiving offering”—we learn about the thanksgiving offering in the weekly parsha. Rashi explains that a thanksgiving offering is brought in four circumstances: a sick person who recovered, those who crossed the sea, those who traveled through deserts, and someone who had been in prison. These are the four cases in which one must thank Hashem for His kindness, thanking Hakadosh Boruch Hu for the miracles and wonders He performed. In the time of the Beis Hamikdash, thanks were expressed through the thanksgiving offering. And when we look at that offering, we find several interesting details. First, it has special laws, including that it comes with bread. And not just one loaf: forty loaves must be brought. Of the forty loaves, thirty are three kinds of matzah, and ten are chametz. This differs from other meal offerings, which must specifically be matzah. “All meal offerings come as matzah,” as the Gemara says, with two exceptions; one of them is the meal offering that accompanies the thanksgiving offering.

06:54 With the thanksgiving offering, ten of the forty loaves are chametz, while the other three kinds are matzah. That is why it is said that one cannot bring a thanksgiving offering on the eve of Pesach, because it contains chametz. Unlike other offerings, the thanksgiving offering includes not only matzah but also chametz. What is the point of this? Then we find another teaching of our Sages in the Midrash on the weekly parsha, Parshas Tzav: “All offerings will eventually cease, except for the thanksgiving offering.” This is another special feature of the thanksgiving offering: a time will come when all offerings will cease, but the thanksgiving offering will not. What does “all offerings will eventually cease” mean? The commentators ask: How can it mean that there will be no offerings in the future? After all, in the Musaf prayer we say, “And there we will perform them before You in accordance with the commandment of Your will.” We await the Geulah, when the Beis Hamikdash will be built and we will be able to bring offerings. What does it mean that all offerings will cease? One explanation is that this refers to individual offerings, not communal offerings. Communal offerings will be brought in accordance with the commandment of His will, but individual offerings are brought because of sins and transgressions. When Moshiach comes, there will be no sins or transgressions. Therefore, there will be no individual offerings, but there will be a thanksgiving offering. That is one explanation. But the explanation in Chassidus is that “cease” does not mean they will stop existing. There is a similar idea concerning Purim: our Sages say, and the Rambam quotes, that “all the festivals will eventually cease, except for Purim.” What does that mean? Clearly, it cannot mean that Pesach, Heaven forbid, will no longer be observed.

08:46 Heaven forbid. We will certainly have Yom Tov days in the future. Rather, “cease” means that, compared with the great revelation that will exist then, they will be like a candle in daylight. The candle is still burning, but its light cannot be seen because the sunlight is so strong. So it will be with all the Yom Tov days: their light will not compare with the revelation of that time. Regarding Purim, however, Chassidus explains that its revelation will retain its distinctive light even then. Chassidus explains the thanksgiving offering in the same way: all the offerings will still exist, but compared with the great revelations of the future, they will be as though they have ceased. The thanksgiving offering, by contrast, will retain its distinctive light even then. And that is the central point. What is so great about the thanksgiving offering that we say, “All offerings will eventually cease, except for the thanksgiving offering”? The Midrash goes on to say something similar about songs of praise: “All songs of praise will eventually cease, except for ‘A Psalm of Thanksgiving.’” “A Psalm of Thanksgiving,” the chapter in Tehillim that begins, “Raise a joyful shout to Hashem, all the earth,” will not cease then either. All of this relates to the same point. What is that point? Chassidus explains that “A Psalm of Thanksgiving” is about giving thanks. That is the very essence, the foundation of the revelation of Moshiach: to thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu and acknowledge the good He has done.

10:28 Giving thanks—that is one aspect of “modim,” acknowledgment. In Chassidus, broadly speaking, there are two approaches in our relationship with Hakadosh Boruch Hu: intellectual comprehension and acknowledgment. Comprehension is a matter of intellect. Intellect, reason, and understanding are levels of revelation. A person reaches them through the mind. And broadly speaking, this is [unclear]. Chassidus explains that there are levels of G-dliness. What happens in the world? [unclear] This is a level of revelation that is clothed in what we study. This brings us to the words of our Sages: “Just as the soul fills the body, so Hakadosh Boruch Hu fills the world.” A person understands that just as the soul is present in the body, so Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives life to the world. We look at the world and see G-dliness. “Raise your eyes on high and see Who created these.” We see His greatness in the details: He gives life to everything at every moment. This is comprehension, the approach based on intellect, reason, and understanding. But there are matters beyond intellect. This is the level of [unclear]. It is the level of “Above is existence, and below is nothingness.” G-dliness is the true reality. And this is the approach of acknowledgment. It sets intellect aside. We understand that G-dliness does not merely give life to the world; that is not the whole of what Hakadosh Boruch Hu is, that He

12:19 Creator of worlds. Although Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates worlds, gives them life, brings them into being, and sustains them, He is infinitely beyond all that. His very essence—Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself—is beyond comparison with all the praise and greatness involved in creating worlds. And when we speak of that, we cannot grasp Him through understanding. We can relate to Him only through acknowledgment: “We acknowledge You.” A person acknowledges His very essence—“You”—and gives himself over to Him. That is acknowledgment. It is like “the Sages acknowledge Rabbi Meir”: they held a different view, yet acknowledged that he was right. That is how we acknowledge Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A person knows that however much he understands, he does not understand. He gives himself over and says, “I acknowledge that this is the truth.” This acknowledgment is directed toward His very essence; it is the highest level in serving Hashem. And this, we say, will be the main form of service in the future. When Moshiach comes, however much we understand and understand and understand, the true revelation of the Divine Essence will be in the future, and then there will be true acknowledgment, true “Mizmor Lesodah.” Now, what does this have to do with the thanksgiving offering a Jew brings in everyday life, to thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu for the miracles He has done for him? Here too, it is plainly a matter of acknowledgment: a person accepts and realizes that, in truth, he is entitled to nothing.

13:50 There is someone who was ill and recovered, someone who crossed the sea and came ashore, someone who was in prison, and someone who traveled through a desert. These are situations that, in the natural course of things, involve danger. And a person understands that, by the measure of reason, he is actually liable, because of his own affairs—because “a person knows his own soul”; everyone knows himself—and therefore he is entitled to nothing. Yet Hakadosh Boruch Hu helps us, brings us out, and allows a person to live, to get through all these things, and to be saved from danger. And this is not only in material matters. The four situations of which it is said, “Four must give thanks,” also exist in the miracles and wonders that happen to us every day. For these, a Jew says, “We acknowledge You.” A Jew knows the truth: by the measure of reason, he is entitled to nothing. Hakadosh Boruch Hu owes him nothing—it cannot, no, it cannot be demanded on rational grounds. This is acknowledgment and self-nullification beyond reason: a Jew gives himself over to Hakadosh Boruch Hu beyond reason and understanding. The same applies in spiritual service of Hashem. As the Baal Shem Tov says, all four of these situations exist in spiritual service of Hashem. And there too, the point is the same: a Jew needs to have “Mizmor Lesodah,” acknowledgment and self-nullification beyond reason and understanding, as explained in Chassidus [unclear].

15:19 There is an entire explanation of these four situations in serving Hashem. One explanation appears in the maamarim of the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Frierdiker Rebbe delivered a maamar on “Blessed is He who bestows good upon the undeserving, for He has bestowed good upon me.” This was when the Frierdiker Rebbe had been imprisoned and had gone through his most severe ordeals. He had been arrested in a situation of real mortal danger, with a sentence that threatened his life. Through open miracles, on Gimmel Tammuz, he left prison and was then sent into exile; and on 12 Tammuz, his birthday, he was freed. That was the great miracle, the release and Geulah of 12 Tammuz. The Frierdiker Rebbe delivered the maamar “Blessed is He who bestows good upon the undeserving, for He has bestowed good upon me” on the very day he received the news, or the following day. Then, on Shabbos, when he was back home after returning to Petersburg, to Leningrad, he recited the blessing of Hagomel beside the bimah during the Torah reading. He then delivered the maamar again, at much greater length and in greater detail. The maamar explains what these situations mean spiritually. It says that the soul’s descent below is a case of “all roads are presumed dangerous.” The soul descends here below, where these four situations exist. What are they? In a person’s spiritual life there is a state called “illness.” What defines illness? It is connected with dullness of mind and dullness of heart.

16:53 That is what he says here in the maamar. This is spiritual illness. As explained, illness is a matter of dullness of mind and dullness of heart. In other words, a Jew’s mind is a healthy mind, which ought to understand Hashem’s greatness and take delight in it, and the heart ought to feel love and awe. The normal order is that when a person understands G-dliness, love and awe are aroused within him. But sometimes, because of an abundance of desires, forbidden foods, and even permitted things, a person’s mind and heart become dulled. This is the person who is ill and presumed to be in danger—spiritually ill. There is also the situation of someone in prison. Someone in prison may be whole in himself, but he is confined, “bound in affliction and iron.” In other words, a person needs to be in control of himself, able to conduct himself where he is, do what he needs to do, and have an effect on his surroundings—to be someone who gives and influences. But when others control him, surround him with bonds of affliction and iron, and he cannot manage or exert any influence, he reaches the state of someone in prison. He is impoverished and cannot illuminate the place; on the contrary, his surroundings engulf him and make him their instrument, may Hashem protect us. And there is also the situation of

18:16 those who cross the sea. As explained in the maamar, the sea is connected with the raging waters, the many waters—the worries of earning a living and the many preoccupations of this world. All of these surround a person and completely unsettle him in his service of Hashem. There is also the desert, may Hashem protect us, “a desert in which no man dwelt”: desolation, emptiness, idle talk, and mockery. The Alter Rebbe says in Tanya that frivolity, mockery, idle talk, and all these things leave a person desolate and empty, until he finds himself in a desolate desert, may Hashem protect us, with no sense of Hashem’s greatness, no revelation of G-dliness, and no spirituality in his life. These are the four situations the Frierdiker Rebbe explains there in the maamar, of which it is said, “Four must give thanks.” So what is the remedy that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives? What is the remedy for a situation in which “all roads are presumed dangerous”? The remedy is acknowledgment. The way out of all these places and situations is for a Jew’s service to be based not only on understanding, but also on acknowledgment: acknowledgment, self-nullification, and kabbolas ol. And as for acknowledgment—we are here with the Purim Megillah. We are coming out of Purim, where the whole miracle of Purim is connected with the “Yehudi,” the “Jewish man.” Yes, anyone who rejects idolatry…

19:45 The Gemara says that anyone who rejects idolatry is called a Yehudi, a Jew. The essence of a Jew is that he is devoted through acknowledgment, self-nullification, and self-sacrifice, with the strength of wholehearted sincerity. And the entire miracle of Purim, as explained, came about in the merit of the acknowledgment and self-sacrifice of the Jews. This brought about pleasure Above and the greatest revelation of what Purim is about, of which it is said that even [unclear]. Similarly, there is acknowledgment in serving Hashem, and that is the idea of the thanksgiving offering. This is what the parsha explains: “If he brings it as a thanksgiving offering.” And here comes a remarkable innovation: the thanksgiving offering included not only matzos, but also chametz. What is the explanation? The author of the maamar explains that the nature of chametz, and the difference between matzos and chametz, is that matzah is dough without any sense of self-importance. Matzah represents complete self-nullification. Chametz represents self-importance. Chametz signifies pride, a sense of independent existence, self-importance. In other words, chametz has [unclear], and that is why we eat matzos on Pesach. Pesach is the festival of faith, and here faith must be pure, without any admixture of pride or self-importance. That is why we do not eat chametz. But when Shavuos arrives, with the revelation of the Giving of the Torah, there must be the two loaves, which “shall be baked as chametz.” The Rebbe explains: What is the explanation for this? What is the point? At...

21:16 At the beginning of one’s service, one must be [unclear] from chametz. Faith mixed with any chametz, with pride and self-importance, is, may Hashem protect us, [unclear]. Faith must be pure, and we eat matzos. But at the culmination of one’s service, when we reach the revelation of the Giving of the Torah, even chametz can be made into an offering. When there is the revelation of the Divine Essence that took place at the Giving of the Torah, even chametz, even a sense of self-importance, can be made into an offering to Hashem. The same applies to “Mizmor Lesodah.” Through the service of kabbolas ol, self-nullification, and giving oneself over—the theme of the thanksgiving offering, which continues this idea—even chametz can be made into an offering to Hashem. In serving Hashem, this means that even service connected with self-importance and a sense of independent existence, from which one would usually seek [unclear], can, when there is devotion and giving [unclear], turn even chametz into an offering to Hashem. In other words, in “Mizmor Lesodah” I find not only matzos, but also chametz. That they should also take

22:42 Even our sense of self, too, can be made into an offering to Hashem, so that we serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu with every part of our being and transform our intellect and understanding until they, too, become vessels for the revelation of G-dliness. And this is the idea [unclear] of the thanksgiving offering. The sequence teaches us this: when [unclear] arrives, we are in the period between Purim and Pesach, the time of “There was a Jewish man in Shushan the capital,” which reveals what it means to be a servant. And through serving as a servant, we merit [unclear], so that very soon, the Geulah will come immediately, and we will merit to see the complete Geulah right here. Then there will be Mizmor Lesodah: “Make a joyful noise to Hashem, all the earth”—the greatest joy, which will fill the entire world. And I see that “make a joyful noise” also suggests breaking, as well as joy: breaking all the things that obstruct the revelation of G-dliness. Then there is true joy, the joy of “Serve Hashem with joy,” [unclear], in the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu.