Shavuos - To Receive the Torah, One Must Have a Rebbe

00:00 Eighty years ago, in 5704, on Shavuos, the Frierdiker Rebbe told the following story. He related that when the Alter Rebbe was with the Maggid of Mezritch, before he himself became a Rebbe, he was among the Maggid’s foremost chassidim and students. He encountered great opposition. The Alter Rebbe lived in Vitebsk, where his father-in-law also lived, and there was strong opposition to his embrace of Chassidus. He went through great difficulties before he succeeded in bringing Jews from Vitebsk closer to the path and teachings of Chassidus. And when was this? By 5531, the Alter Rebbe already had a minyan of his own. He said that once he had his own minyan, he no longer had anything to fear. What does that mean? Having devoted himself to the teachings of Chassidus and followed that path, he now had a minyan of students with him. That gave him strength; at any rate, he said that at that point he had the strength and had nothing to fear. During those three days of preparation before Shavuos, the Alter Rebbe held a farbrengen with his minyan. It is important to know that some of the Jews in that minyan were great Torah scholars, but others were simple people.

01:35 There was a Jew known as the chossid Reb Shlomo Lachmacher. Shlomo Lachmacher was a simple man who earned his living preparing meals for Jews celebrating bris milahs and bar mitzvahs—what we would call catering today. He would bake and prepare the seudas mitzvah for these celebrations. Years later, when Reb Shlomo Lachmacher was an old man, he spoke about those three days of preparation before Shavuos in Vitebsk in 5531, when the Alter Rebbe held a farbrengen with them. He related that among the things the Alter Rebbe discussed at that farbrengen was the verse in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu, “Behold, I am coming to you in the thick cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and they will also believe in you forever.” The verse says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu told Moshe Rabbeinu: I will come in the cloud so that the people, the Jewish people, will hear “when I speak with you”—they will hear how I speak with you, how Hakadosh Boruch Hu speaks with Moshe Rabbeinu—“and they will also believe in you forever.” Through this, they will have true faith in you, in Moshe Rabbeinu. The great early commentators ask: What does this mean? What is the plain meaning of the verse? When Hakadosh Boruch Hu persuades Moshe Rabbeinu to do his work, to come and help, to fulfill his mission—to stand as an intermediary between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people,

03:05 and to convey the Torah to the Jews—when He comes to persuade him, He says: Do your work, “and they will also believe in you”; they will believe in you with true faith. What is the point here? What is the verse saying? What does it mean to tell us? Ibn Ezra asks this question and says that the plain meaning is that, even before the Exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people knew there had to be a prophet, someone through whom the Torah would come. But they had some doubts about the truth of the prophecy. They were not yet certain of the truth of Moshe Rabbeinu’s prophecy. So “they will also believe in you forever” refers to one of the foundations of faith: belief in a prophet. The revelation in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu spoke to Moshe Rabbeinu established its truth for them. But the Ramban challenges this and says: By my life, it cannot be said—Heaven forbid to say—that the descendants of Avraham, the Jewish people, would have doubts about prophecy. That is what the Ramban writes. The Alter Rebbe discussed this and said that Ibn Ezra is right, but the doubt was not, as the Ramban understood it, about the very concept of prophecy. Heaven forbid, the Jews had no doubts about their faith. The Jews knew with certainty

04:25 that faith was something true. Their doubt was not about prophecy; their doubt was whether Moshe Rabbeinu was indeed the prophet who conveyed the prophecy to them—whether he was the prophet. And when they saw [unclear], that it was not true, they saw that Moshe Rabbeinu was the true prophet through whom the Torah was revealed: Moshe is true and his Torah is true. This was the subject of the Alter Rebbe’s farbrengen. He went on to say that, as the Zohar says, there is a Moshe in every generation. Moshe Rabbeinu, the tzaddik, is present in every generation; there is a Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation. But who is he? In our generation, it was the Baal Shem Tov, who was the Nasi—the holy Baal Shem Tov. After him came his successor, who now, [unclear], while the Maggid of Mezritch is alive, is the Nasi: the Maggid of Mezritch, the Baal Shem Tov’s successor. Certainly, all Jews know there must be a Moshe in every generation. All Jews know there is a Moshe Rabbeinu, a tzaddik who says, “I stand between Hashem and you.” The question is whether he is indeed that person.

05:47 So one must know, when coming to the Giving of the Torah, that the Baal Shem Tov is the one who says, “I stand between Hashem and you.” And his successor now, the Maggid of Mezritch, is the Rebbe and truly the Moshe Rabbeinu of our generation. And [unclear], when the Alter Rebbe said this, he instilled in the chassidim that there is a connection to [unclear]: that on that Shavuos, about which they [unclear], that Shavuos which was engraved in the memory of each of them, they had an inner grasp and a feeling of “I stand between Hashem your G-d and you.” They grasped the role of Moshe Rabbeinu, the “I stand between,” the intermediary who connects Jews with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Frierdiker Rebbe concluded the story by saying: Here you are hearing greetings from 174 years ago. These are greetings from an experience chassidim had in the first generation of the Alter Rebbe, and also [unclear] the Maggid of Mezritch. This aspect of Shavuos shows us one of the central elements of our service on Shavuos. Since it is the time of receiving the Torah, we see the central element in the Giving of the Torah: “I stand between Hashem your G-d and you,” and “they will also believe in you forever.” For the receiving of the Torah to

07:17 be a true receiving of the Torah, “they will also believe in you forever” is essential. As he cites from the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, the Baal Shem Tov explains that “believe” has the sense of [unclear]. Faith is [unclear]. This is how the Baal Shem Tov explains it: [unclear] in the tzaddik, the bond through which a Jew believes and trusts. The Baal Shem Tov says that faith and trust belong to the same family. Yes, faith and trust are two related words. As he puts it, when you believe in someone, you trust him. In other words, faith carries the sense of loyalty, and loyalty is a matter of trust. The Baal Shem Tov says that the root of the word for trust comes from “betoch,” meaning to adhere. Yes, “toch,” [unclear], refers to [unclear] of the plaster used to coat a house. The mortar that sticks is also described with a word related to trust, related to “betoch.” In other words, trust means adhering, being attached. “They will also believe in you forever”—they will attach themselves to you. A Jew attaches himself to Moshe Rabbeinu, attaches himself to the tzaddik. For through attachment, trust, faith and loyalty to the tzaddik, who is the intermediary that connects—“I stand between Hashem and you to tell you the word of Hashem”—the tzaddik links and connects the Jews, uniting them with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And this follows from what

08:56 we always hear from the Rebbe on Shavuos. One of the things we see—I myself merited to be with the Rebbe on Shavuos for several years—is that the Rebbe would always emphasize that Shavuos is connected with three leaders of the Jewish people throughout the generations. The Rebbe would speak with enthusiasm about Shavuos being connected with Moshe Rabbeinu, with King David, and with the holy Baal Shem Tov, whose hilula, his passing, was also on Shavuos. All three are connected with the time of the Giving of the Torah. This is no coincidence; it is a central aspect of Shavuos. These three leaders are connected with the Giving of the Torah. The general principle and the deeper point are this: Since this is the revelation of the Giving of the Torah, for the Giving of the Torah to descend, penetrate and reach the Jews, there must be [unclear] between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people. That is the role of these three leaders, who were the [unclear] between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people, revealing the Torah to the Jews. But what is distinctive about these three leaders in particular, more than others? The Rebbe gave a number of explanations on several occasions, and one of them is that all three have a special connection to the concept of

10:25 A special aspect of Torah. The point is this: Moshe Rabbeinu is associated with the Written Torah. That is his role: Moshe received the Torah at Sinai, and he wrote the Five Books of the Torah, the Torah scroll. The Written Torah is connected with Moshe Rabbeinu. King David, as the Gemara says, “Hashem was with him”—meaning that the halachah followed his opinion in every case—is associated with the Oral Torah. He established the foundations of the Oral Torah. As the Gemara says, “The halachah followed his opinion in every case”; he is connected with the Oral Torah. And the inner dimension of Torah, the secrets of Torah, the teachings of Chassidus—which prepare us for the Torah of Moshiach, for “your wellsprings will spread outward”—that is the role of the Baal Shem Tov. These are the three aspects of Torah. And as the Rebbe said at other farbrengens, these are the three that come together: Chumash, Tehillim, and Tanya—Chitas. There is the well-known story about the Tzemach Tzedek during a difficult time of harsh decrees. In the time of the Tzemach Tzedek, there was a major decree against Judaism in Russia. The Tzemach Tzedek then saw his mother in a dream. As is known, the Tzemach Tzedek was orphaned; his mother passed away when he was three years old.

11:57 His mother passed away. The Tzemach Tzedek used to [unclear]. She appeared to him in a dream and revealed to him the verse, as is well known: “And the terror of G-d fell upon the cities.” Chitas is an acronym for Chumash, Tehillim, and Tanya. When we study the daily portion of Chumash, the daily portion of Tehillim, and the daily portion of Tanya, then through this, “the terror of G-d fell upon the cities”—fear and dread fall upon them. In this way, one can be protected from everything, and this is, as they say, a vessel that holds blessing for every kind of blessing. This is where the practice of studying these three things every day comes from: Chumash, Tehillim, and Tanya. Chumash is connected with Moshe Rabbeinu. Tehillim is connected with King David, of course. And Tanya, which the Alter Rebbe wrote, is the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, as is known. Tanya is, as it is famously called, the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings in writing. The Alter Rebbe was the one who put them into writing in the book of Tanya. These are the three tzaddikim, the three pillars, the three foundations on which the whole matter of the Giving of the Torah stands.

13:23 [unclear] the three tzaddikim. At another farbrengen, the Rebbe once spoke about the three pillars on which the world stands. The Mishnah says: “The world stands on three things: on Torah, on avodah, and on acts of kindness.” Receiving the Torah is connected with Moshe Rabbeinu. Receiving avodah—avodah means the offerings, but when there is no Beis Hamikdash, avodah means prayer. That is Tehillim, King David, the sweet singer of Israel, who is connected with receiving avodah, with receiving prayer. And acts of kindness are a matter of kindness. What does chossid mean? That is what a chossid is: a person of kindness, who does a favor for a Jew. As is known, there is a story in which the Alter Rebbe said: What does chossid mean? A chossid is prepared to put himself in danger to do a favor for another Jew, so that the other person will be better off. That is what a chossid and acts of kindness are about—doing a favor for a Jew. So these three things are the three [unclear], the three tzaddikim, the three leaders of the Jewish people connected with this day of Shavuos. Once, at a farbrengen, the Rebbe spoke at length about a very beautiful idea, particularly connected with what was new at the Giving of the Torah: What do we receive from these three leaders of the Jewish people? And in particular connection with this distinctive aspect of the Giving of the Torah, the Rebbe also spoke then about

14:48 an interesting point based on what is written in Chumash. On 2 Sivan, the Jewish people were told: “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The first word Moshe Rabbeinu says to the Jewish people is “kingdom.” Jews are kings. And Rashi says that the expression “kingdom of priests” is connected with kingship. So at the Giving of the Torah, the Jewish people, broadly speaking, became kings. All Jews, as the Gemara says in Tractate Shabbos—and as several of the Tannaim say—“All Jews are children of kings.” More than that, it is brought in the Zohar, in Tikkunei Zohar, where it says [unclear], “All Jews are kings”—actual kings. Every Jew is a child of a king. Every Jew is a king. And what is so significant about that? What aspect of kingship came into being at the moment of the Giving of the Torah? “And you shall be to Me a kingdom”—the Jewish people became “a kingdom of priests.” They received an aspect of kingship. What does it mean that a Jew is a king? Kingship here does not mean arrogance and self-importance, with everyone coming and submitting to him. It has a deeper meaning. Kingship means that a Jew has mastery over the world. As they say of a king: “The king says it, and the mountain is uprooted.” The king decrees. And as the saying goes, “A king breaks through a boundary.” “The king says it”—the king says that this is how things must be. A Jew is a king in his world. A Jew

16:18 feels that through Torah and mitzvos—when he studies Torah and observes mitzvos—he has no need to fear the world. He has mastery over the world. Precisely when he is in the world, the world is subject to him. “If you walk in My statutes, I will give your rains in their season”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu says that He entrusts all material things to the Jewish people, and that is the meaning of “I will give your rains in their season.” A Jew knows that Torah and mitzvos have mastery over the world. And when a Jew conducts himself according to Torah and mitzvos, he is the king, and the whole world is under his control. The three [unclear] brought this idea. So it was with Moshe Rabbeinu, with King David, and with the Baal Shem Tov. That is the role of kings: to instill this quality of kingship in Jews so that they feel it. So that they do not fear this world. So that they do not fear a non-Jew. So that they do not fear the world, as the Rebbe writes in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: “He should not be ashamed before those who mock him.” Not to be afraid—neither of himself nor of what people might laugh at or say. Not to be ashamed before anyone, but to be proud and strong in observing Torah and mitzvos, like a king. For this, special strength is needed. And we receive that strength from the three leaders of the Jewish people: the holy Baal Shem Tov, King David, and Moshe Rabbeinu. And Moshe Rabbeinu was a king, and this was in the time of the Jewish people; it was [unclear]. The kingship was a kind of [unclear], and at first [unclear]. But it came from him; it was [unclear].

17:58 From the outset, they lived in a world above nature. The Torah was not given, ... [unclear]. But one sees openly that a Jew is above the world, above nature. King David, when he was in the Land of Israel, was operating within nature. He had to work, he had to act, ... [unclear], and he was there on the ground, in the Land of Israel, and had to dwell in the Land of Israel and conduct himself within the workings of nature. But with this body ... [unclear]. And King David saw that one must not be daunted by the workings of nature. King David also saw open miracles in the wars he fought against the enemies of Israel, and so on. Through this, we see openly that even the workings of nature are wholly permeated with G-dliness. Then we come to the time of the Baal Shem Tov, which was just the opposite, a time of the deepest, most intense darkness. It was a time of exile, an extremely difficult period for Jews. It was after 5408 and 5409, after all the harsh decrees that had befallen the Jews. It was a time when Jews were at their lowest point, materially and spiritually, in the deep darkness of exile. And out of that situation, the Baal Shem Tov arose like a king. As is known from the many stories told about the Baal Shem Tov and his conduct, ... [unclear] chassidim, the conduct of the Baal Shem Tov. It was above the natural order, and he turned the world upside down, as is known from the stories. He performed miracles and wonders to reveal the hand of Hashem even in the deepest darkness. A Jew need not be daunted by the darkness of the world. He stands together with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and he stands above the world, even in the deepest darkness.

19:37 And these are the three kings, who showed three kinds of royal leadership: how a Jew rules over the world and conducts himself as its master in all three situations. Whether he still stands above the world, whether he is within the trappings of nature, or even when we come to the Baal Shem Tov, in the doubled and redoubled darkness of exile. Each of them, in his time, gave Jews the substance, the outlook, the way and the approach to always see themselves as standing above the world. And this is the lesson of Shavuos, ... [unclear]. The lesson for each and every one of us—and what is remarkable is how wonderfully this applies in practice—is that everyone goes through all three periods in life. There are times when one is, as it were, in the desert. There are times in life when a young man sits in yeshiva, and then he is completely ... [unclear]. He does not have to worry about earning a living or about material needs. The yeshiva takes care of his needs, his parents pay for him; all he has to do is sit and learn Torah and engage in avodah. That is one period. The second period is when one is already within the trappings of nature, has to earn a living, and has the millstone around his neck. And there is a third period as well: everyone has times of darkness, times of distress, of concealment, of difficulties, when things seem not to be going right. In all three of these periods, we receive the strength that we receive from Moshe Rabbeinu,

21:05 from King David, and from the holy Baal Shem Tov: in whatever situation a Jew finds himself, he knows he is a king; he knows he stands above the world. This is the meaning of “And I stood between Hashem and you,” for Hakadosh Boruch Hu reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets. And as the Alter Rebbe cites the words of the Midrash in Tanya, “The light of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the tzaddikim ...” [unclear]. In every generation, Hakadosh Boruch Hu sends the tzaddik of the generation; the tzaddikim of the generation are the leaders of the Jewish people, who give Jews the strength to rule, to know that Torah and mitzvos are above the world, that the Rebbe is master over the world. He need not be intimidated by the ways of nature, and then he serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu with complete dedication and devotion. In this way, not only does the darkness of exile have no power over him; on the contrary, he transforms the darkness into light and brings the light of the Geulah into the darkness of exile. And the Rebbe said then at the farbrengen, in the last year in which he spoke ... [unclear], and at the last farbrengen at which he spoke about Shavuos that year, that the theme of the three leaders is connected to the complete Geulah, to King Moshiach ... [unclear]. For the role of Moshe Rabbeinu is, in the well-known

22:25 expression, “Moshe is the first redeemer and the final redeemer.” The first redeemer is also present in the soul of Moshiach. King David, too, is the ancestor of King Moshiach, who is of the Davidic dynasty. And the holy Baal Shem Tov—King Moshiach appeared to him and told him that through “your wellsprings spreading outward,” then “they will spread” [unclear] of King Moshiach. So these three great tzaddikim are connected to the revelation of Moshiach. As the Frierdiker Rebbe said, the expression always used regarding Moshiach, which the Rambam cites in Hilchos Teshuvah, is: “The Jewish people will do teshuvah and immediately be redeemed.” The “immediately,” the “at once” in “immediately, truly at once”—the word miyad, “immediately,” is an acronym: mem—Moshe, yud—Yisroel, daled—David. These are the three leaders of the Jewish people connected to the revelation of Moshiach. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu help us receive the Torah on Shavuos with joy and inwardness. May we remember that there is one who “stands between Hashem and you”—the leader of the generation, who connects Jews with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and through whom we receive the Torah inwardly. And through him, each person has the strength, even in the deepest darkness of exile, to stand as a king and exercise true kingship, to transform the world, to transform nature. May we come to see and merit, immediately, truly at once, the first redeemer and the final redeemer, the complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. And may we receive the Torah with joy and inwardness, together with the new Torah from the mouth of

23:57 Moshiach.