Between the First and Second Portion of Shema - Parshas Eikev, 20 Menachem Av

00:00 This week, on 20 Menachem Av, which falls on Shabbos, is the yahrzeit of the holy tzaddik Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, the Rebbe’s father—eighty years. I want to mention a story, or rather several stories, that I heard at the time from the chossid Reb Yoel Kahn, a”h, the Rebbe’s chozer. I studied Chassidus with him. I remember that once, on 20 Av, he held a farbrengen with us and told us several stories he had heard from Rebbetzin Chana. Those stories were later printed in Rebbetzin Chana’s memoirs. That is, the Rebbe’s mother, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s wife, wrote memoirs. But hearing the stories from Reb Yoel, who told us he had heard them from her herself—from the Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana—gave them a different vitality. I was a bochur then, and he wanted to bring out who Reb Levi was. Chassidim used to call him Reb Levi. He was a chossid, an exceptional chossid. He was a great rabbi, a great Torah genius, and, as is well known, a great kabbalist too. Reb Yoel wanted to emphasize something about this holy tzaddik, Reb Levi. He said that he was a spiritual person. That was his description: a spiritual person. Today, titles are used freely. Everyone gets called “the great rabbi,”

01:47 “the righteous rabbi,” “the holy rabbi.” It is so easy to use titles. But when you know what lies behind them, you discover their depth. To call someone a spiritual person is to say that he is an elevated person, someone who lives with spirituality, who lives in a higher world. He gave three points, three stories as examples, that bring out this quality, the essence of this holy tzaddik. As Rebbetzin Chana recounts, when they took her husband away, it was before Pesach. They put him in prison on 9 Nissan 5699. He spent several months in a number of prisons, enduring terrible suffering. They beat him severely and persecuted him severely—physically, and all the more so spiritually and emotionally. As she recounts, after the first five months had passed, or after several months, she saw him for the first time. Her heart broke when she saw him, battered and broken, and she could barely recognize him. They met for just one minute—that was all the wicked men allowed her, one minute face to face with him. He stood on the other side of a partition, as she describes in detail. And the first question he asked her, when he saw her after months apart, was: “Tell me, is Rosh Chodesh Kislev one day or two?” That

03:30 was his first question. As is well known, Cheshvan and Kislev are months that can be either short or full, and accordingly Rosh Chodesh Kislev can be one day or two. That was his only question, the first thing on his heart and mind when he met her after so many months of pain, suffering, and persecution: Is Rosh Chodesh Kislev one day or two? She told another story. There was a time when they had literally nothing to drink. They were on the way to exile, traveling by train, alone on that journey. They suffered greatly during the trip. The wicked men had sent them into remote exile for five years in Kazakhstan. They were on the road for days, and there simply was not even a drop of water. Reb Leivik was deeply distressed that there was nothing to drink. After some time, they somehow got water through one of their friends. I do not remember the details of the story now, but they managed to obtain a cup of water. When they got it, their eyes lit up. Reb Leivik took the cup of water and immediately washed his hands—negel vasser. The first thing that occurred to him was that he needed to wash his hands; after all, several days had already passed. And that

05:21 was the greatest pleasure for him. Reb Leivik later told Rebbetzin Chana about it, and she in turn recounted it. I heard from Reb Berel that she told him: Despite all the distress of having nothing to drink for several days, that did not bother him at all. The moment a drop of water came into his hands and he could wash them, it was paradise on earth for him. It was his greatest pleasure. She said this was not, for him, a matter of self-denial, of breaking himself, of suffering or self-sacrifice for a mitzvah. For him, it was simply natural. That is what she wanted to convey by calling him a spiritual person: for him, this was the most natural thing in the world. It was the simplest thing for him; he could not have done otherwise. What was on his mind was not that he lacked a cup of water to drink. What was on his mind, what mattered to him deeply, was his desire to wash his hands, to be able to wash his hands. The Rebbe tells another story: There were times in exile when they simply had nothing to eat. He went through day after day of hunger. But the Rebbetzin always did what she could, [unclear] what was happening with him.

06:38 She was there with him, and she had to run around searching for something for him to eat. But there were [unclear] entire days when she had nothing to eat. Still, each time they somehow managed to prepare one more little thing in honor of Shabbos. Once, on a Friday, as Shabbos approached, she could not obtain anything. She went around, searched here and there, and came back empty-handed. Shabbos arrived, and there was simply nothing to eat. All that remained was a small piece of bread. At that time they were living in exile in a place called Chiili, a village of non-Jews, among non-Jews, with one small room for the whole family. They did not even have a table there; they had a box of some kind that served as a table. When Shabbos came, she spread a tablecloth over it and placed the little piece of bread on top—the only thing they had. She prepared for Shabbos. Reb Leivik put on his kapote and his Shabbos coat, his Shabbos clothes, and paced back and forth across the room. This is how I heard Reb Berel describe it: He walked back and forth across the room, humming to himself the words, “There is one spice, and its name is Shabbos.” Those were

08:11 the words. As is well known, “There is one spice, and its name is Shabbos” comes from a story the Gemara tells about Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi and Antoninus. Antoninus ate at his home on Shabbos and wanted to know how the food was made. He found it so delicious that he asked for every detail of its preparation. But when he prepared a feast himself, the food did not have the same taste. He sent to ask what was missing: something was missing from the food, and it had not turned out as tasty as it had been in Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi’s home. Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi answered him with the words of our Sages: “There is one spice, and its name is Shabbos.” There is a spice, something added to the food, called Shabbos—and that cannot be reproduced. So Reb Leivik walked back and forth across the room, absorbed in those words. And that was his entire Shabbos, the Rebbetzin said. That was what he lived with: “There is one spice, and its name is Shabbos.” This is the essence of a spiritual person. He lives in a higher world, a spiritual world, and that is his true world. Physical and material concerns had no place in his world at all. As we mentioned, in today’s portion, in today’s section of Parshas Eikev, we find the second paragraph of Shema: “You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be frontlets between your eyes.” And as we discuss this point,

09:44 it relates to the first and second paragraphs of Shema. Parshas Vaeschanan contains the first paragraph, “Shema” and “Ve’ahavta”; Parshas Eikev contains the second, “Vehayah im shamoa.” We find a statement of our Sages that, on a straightforward reading, is difficult to understand. What is it? The Gemara in Berachos, page 35, cites two verses. One verse says, “Strangers will stand and tend your flocks.” In other words, we will not need to work; strangers, other people, will do the work for us. Another verse says, “You shall gather your grain, your wine, and your oil”—each person will have to gather his own produce. On this, the Gemara says: “This refers to a time when the Jewish people do the will of Hashem, and that to a time when the Jewish people do not do the will of Hashem.” When Jews do the will of Hashem, their work is done by others. They do not need to work; others do all the work. When they do not do the will of Hashem, then “you shall gather your grain”: they have to gather the produce themselves. The Maharsha asks: I do not understand. How can one say that “you shall gather your grain, your wine, and your oil” refers to a time when Jews do not do the will of Hashem, when they are not doing what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants? Where does it say

11:33 The verse “And you shall gather in your grain”? It appears in the second paragraph of Shema. And the second paragraph of Shema is “And it shall be, if you diligently listen.” Earlier verses speak of a situation in which “if you diligently listen” and fulfill positive mitzvos, “to love Hashem and to serve Him”—all those verses. And about this it says, “And you shall gather in your grain.” How can the Gemara say that the verse “And you shall gather in your grain” speaks of a situation in which people are not doing the will of Hashem? That is the Maharsha’s question, and he resolves it based on Tosafos. Other Rishonim there, on page 35 of Berachos, challenge Tosafos. But Tosafos say that when the Gemara speaks here of “doing the will of Hashem” and “not doing the will of Hashem,” it does not mean simply that these Jews are not completely righteous. There can be different levels of doing the will of Hashem. On this basis, the Maharsha explains the difference between the first paragraph of Shema and the second. The first paragraph says: “You shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” The second paragraph says: “And it shall be, if you diligently listen to My commandments that I command you today, to love Hashem your G-d and to serve Him with all your hearts and with all your souls.” It does not say “with all your might”; “with all your might” is missing. The Maharsha notes this difference and explains that the Gemara interprets “with all your might” as “with all your money,” as the Gemara says in Berachos, at the end of chapter five, in its explanation of the Mishnah’s words: “With all your might—with all your money.” And so the Maharsha explains the difference: in the first paragraph

13:25 this is “doing the will of Hashem,” along the lines of “You shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” In other words, to devote all that you have, even “all your might,” even “all your money.” But the second paragraph does say “with all your hearts and with all your souls”; when it comes to “your might,” though, to money, it is no longer so simple. It may be that in this respect they are not devoted to the same degree. There is that teaching of our Sages about righteous people whose “money is dearer to them than their bodies.” When it comes to money, they find it hard to give it up. So they are indeed devoted “with all your hearts and with all your souls,” but “with all your might” is lacking. That is why, in this particular respect, it is called “not doing the will of Hashem.” He explains that because “your might,” their money, is lacking, measure for measure they must toil themselves over their livelihood, in their fields, and gather in “your grain, your wine, and your oil.” So much for the Maharsha’s words. There is also a beautiful explanation from the Maggid that adds depth to this. The holy Maggid says that the word “me’od”—the Gemara does indeed interpret it as money too, but the plain meaning of “me’od” is just that: very much. “And G-d saw... that it was very good.” “Me’od” means very good. So the meaning of “with all your might” is to devote your “very much” as well. He cites, from among the students of the Arizal,

15:12 the book Nagid Umetzaveh. That was by [unclear]. He was one of the students of the Arizal’s students. The Maggid quotes Nagid Umetzaveh as saying that “with all your might” means that “me’od” means one’s “very much”: a person must devote the intensity of that “very much” to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In other words, the Maggid explains that, generally, when a person works, labors, and works hard—why does he work? Because through that work he wants to receive some pleasure, to gain something from it. And the greater the gain, the harder he will work. That is the “very much,” meaning the greatest pleasure. In it he has his [unclear], his greatest pleasure. The verse says that love of Hashem must be “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” This means that the greatest thing for you, your “very much,” is devoted to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. His greatest pleasure—he seeks nothing else; he has no pleasure in, and no connection to, this world. His pleasure is in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. His “very much” is devoted to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. I remember a story they once told about Reb Mendel Futerfas—he was a mashpia, a man of mesirus nefesh, a chossid who had survived. A little boy was sitting and learning the letters while eating a little... what was it, ice cream, something sweet. And the boy says to his father, “Ah, it’s very tasty.” Very tasty. That is how you say it in the Holy Tongue too: “Very tasty.” Reb Mendel says, “The ‘very’ has to be given to Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” Is it tasty? Yes. Give that taste

17:00 to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And that is the meaning of “with all your might”: directing the “very much” toward G-dliness. This is the meaning of “doing the will of Hashem,” as the Maggid of Mezritch explains. And the Maggid says that this also explains why, in the second paragraph, they are “not doing the will of Hashem.” What does that mean? After all, you are attached to Hakadosh Boruch Hu “with all your hearts and with all your souls,” but you do not see serving Hashem as the “very much”—as the greatest, most beautiful and best pleasure in the world. You do not see the “very much” in serving Hashem. In other words, this world still holds something for him; he still has a taste for material things. He says that this is the whole difference between the first paragraph and the second. In the first paragraph, material things are not spoken of at all. That is not what he wants; he wants only prayer, only Torah, only mitzvos. He wants only G-dliness. His desire is directed toward Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and that is included in “with all your might.” His “very much,” his greatest pleasure, is in G-dliness. This world does not speak to him; he has no connection to it. But a person who lacks “with all your might,” who does not devote his “very much” to G-dliness—for him, this world still has substance, and he still has a taste for material things, for material reward. The Torah tells him: I will give you “your grain, your wine, and your oil.” In other words, this is a result, measure for measure. Not a punishment, but the opposite: because his “very much” remains in this world, he is given what he wants. He gets what he wants. That is the explanation of the Maggid of Mezritch. And then we say that the difference between the first paragraph of Shema and the second paragraph of Shema

19:03 is that in the first paragraph, which has “with all your might,” they are “doing the will of Hashem”; while in the second paragraph, which does not have “with all your might,” they are “not doing the will of Hashem.” This leads to the question that Chassidus asks: On the face of it, how can we ultimately say that? I do not understand: how can we describe this in such harsh words, saying that they are “not doing the will of Hashem”? After all, it already said that this is directed toward Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And not only toward Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but “to love Him and to serve Him with all your hearts and with all your souls.” The only thing they lack is the “very much.” Just because they lack the “very much,” they are called people who are “not doing the will of Hashem”? Those are such harsh words. What is the explanation? The “very much” is what makes it “doing the will of Hashem.” This leads to a teaching of the holy Baal Shem Tov. The Maggid of Mezritch quotes it; the Baal Shem Tov brings it. In fact, it is a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. Its basis is a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov explains—here we have to be precise about the words. What does the Gemara say? [unclear]. It is not [unclear]. It is not [unclear]. It is [unclear]. The Baal Shem Tov explains that [unclear] means they create a will. [unclear]—that is G-dliness, a higher level. It is not the [unclear]. [unclear]. [unclear] seeks an opening, [unclear]. To open, as it were, a new will. The truth is, [unclear]. To open a new will. That is what our Sages say: Hakadosh Boruch Hu decrees, and the tzaddik nullifies the decree.

21:15 A tzaddik decrees, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu fulfills it. “Whoever teaches Torah to the son of an unlearned person”—the Gemara in Bava Metzia. “Whoever teaches Torah to the son of an unlearned person” is [unclear]. As the Rebbe, ultimately, [unclear]. These matters, meaning [unclear]. And the Baal Shem Tov emphasizes that [unclear], and not a word, that [unclear], as explained here. As the Rebbe said about many of the [unclear], [unclear]. G-d forbid, one should not think that there was a decree concerning the Rebbe, literally, G-d forbid, that he would not be healthy. But in many matters of children, life, and livelihood, there was a decree issued Above, as it were. And those were the words of the maamar. Then the tzaddik comes, and he [unclear]. He opens a new will. He goes against, as it were, what was said, against the decree of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and opens a new will in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as it were. And this is [unclear]. And [unclear] explains the depth of the matter: what is [unclear], and how does he reveal that this is the true will? He gives an analogy of a father who loves his son. Truly, a father genuinely loves his son; he always wants to give him every good thing. But a father’s true love is revealed when the father says

22:54 a matter, and wants to hear his son’s opinion, and the son sharply rejects his father’s words and challenges them. He says that a truly wise father, a good father, is not only unbroken by this. On the contrary, he calls into the room: “Reuven, Simcha, come here! The child, with his sharp mind, has bested his father.” And that is what he says, [unclear], because he knows that this is what his father wants. The child, seemingly, respects his father or stands in awe of him, but he knows his father’s will. The father’s true desire is for the child to be able to offer a new insight, raise a challenge, and refute his words. This is the meaning of “Hakadosh Boruch Hu decrees, and a tzaddik nullifies the decree.” The tzaddik reveals and brings to light Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s true will, His true desire: that the tzaddik should be able to challenge His decree and nullify it. He does so by offering a new insight, a new depth, and revealing the inner dimension of that will. And this is [unclear]. He explains several stories there. In any case, the point is that through serving Hashem “with all your might,” the tzaddik can nullify the will Above as it stands and open up a new will, in keeping with the will Above. To open up a new will, change the decree, change

24:29 the judgment, and open up a new and beautiful will Above, so to speak. This is what “with all your might” means. When serving Hashem is “with all your heart and with all your soul,” a person loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu and serves Him, but it is service with the heart, with the soul. “With all your might,” however—what this means, in the language of Chassidus, is that the former is service within measure and limitation. And because the service is within measure and limitation, the flow of G-dliness, the blessings that come from Above, are also within measure and limitation. One cannot open up something new. [unclear]. The point is to move beyond measure and limitation. When one serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu “with all your might,” one goes beyond limitation. This “might” is the “might” below; in the language of Chassidus, it arouses the supernal “might.” When a Jew has this movement of “with all your might,” going beyond limitation, it draws down the supernal “might,” the “might” Above, the boundlessness Above. This is the matter of the will Above: it opens up a new will and can thereby overturn and nullify the decree. And as mentioned, the Gemara says that when a Jew teaches Torah to the son of an am ha’aretz, it is because [unclear] Above. My friends, remember this saying. The Gemara means that when a Jew—[unclear] tzaddikim, the souls of the Jewish people—[unclear]. When a Jew devotes himself to bringing another Jew closer to Torah, teaching Torah to the son of an am ha’aretz, he takes this Jew, this son of an am ha’aretz, [unclear] and learns Torah with him. This

26:32 is why our Sages say, so to speak, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu decrees and a tzaddik nullifies the decree. That is a novel idea; how is it measure for measure? Because a Jew brings about this new development: he takes sparks, takes souls that are lodged in the kelipos, in deep, compounded darkness, and brings them out of there. This causes pleasure Above, the pleasure of “with all your might,” a “might” beyond limitation, true boundlessness. “Hakadosh Boruch Hu smiles and says: ‘My children have bested Me, My children have bested Me,’” as the Gemara relates in Bava Metzia. As the Gemara relates in that well-known story, this was received with favor Above—the idea of “Hakadosh Boruch Hu smiles and says: ‘My children have bested Me, My children have bested Me.’” Jews bring pleasure to Hakadosh Boruch Hu through “My children have bested Me.” A Jew can accomplish this when his service is in the spirit of “with all your might”—going beyond limitation, with mesirus nefesh that is beyond measure. Here, even if Above there is reward, blessing, revelation, and goodwill from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, [unclear]. This is the advantage of the first passage over the second passage. The Rebbe once spoke at a farbrengen on 20 Menachem Av. [unclear]. The Rebbe delivered several sichos at that farbrengen. But on the other hand, he raised a question about one point: so far we have been speaking of the advantage of the first passage, but the Rebbe said—

28:23 that the second passage also has an advantage. [unclear] in the second passage, but on the other hand, the second passage contains the matter of teshuvah. The verses say so explicitly: “Beware, lest your hearts be led astray, and you turn away and serve other gods,” and all these things. Here the subject is exile. Exile awakens in Jews the power of mesirus nefesh, the power of teshuvah. This is the difference between the first passage and the second: the first is a passage of tzaddikim, and the second is a passage of baalei teshuvah. When one is in a state of decline, may Hashem spare us, and emerges from it through teshuvah, one thereby reaches a higher level. So we see that the second passage has a higher level than the first. The Rebbe explained that in the first passage, the order is: first, “You shall teach them diligently,” and then, “You shall bind them”—Torah first, then action. “You shall teach them diligently” refers to Torah study, while “You shall bind them” and “You shall write them” refer to the performance of mitzvos. In the second passage, the order is reversed: first it speaks of tefillin, “You shall bind them as a sign upon your hands,” and only afterward, “You shall teach them to your children”—action first, then study. There is the well-known Gemara in Kiddushin, the debate over whether study is greater or action is greater. The conclusion, too, was that study is greater, because it leads to action. The greatness lies in study, but that very greatness of study leads to action. As explained in the maamarim, and as is well known in Chassidus, this applies in the present time. But in the future, the advantage of “action is greater” will be revealed. After all, exile—

30:19 action is superior to study in it. According to this, in the first passage study precedes action: study is greater. It is specifically in the second passage that action precedes study, as will be revealed in the future, when the advantage of “action is greater” will become apparent. From this we see that the second passage has a great advantage over the first. For the second passage speaks of a state of exile, a state in which there is, may Hashem spare us, decline and so forth, as described in the verses there that speak of matters of darkness. And it is precisely this that awakens in Jews the power of mesirus nefesh, the power of teshuvah. That is the advantage of the second passage. [unclear]. But it is specifically in the second passage that we find the advantage of baalei teshuvah, and the Jewish people transform the darkness. That is why we see in it the advantage of action. This is what will be revealed in the future. Since we are now close to the coming of Moshiach, as the Rebbe said, we must specifically take action, be permeated with this, and bring about in ourselves the principle that “action is greater.” One deed and another deed. As the Rambam says: one deed, one word, or one thought can tip oneself and the entire world to the side of merit and bring salvation and deliverance. And so it will indeed be fulfilled in actuality. These are all the verses of salvation, the verses of blessing, spoken of during the Shiva d’Nechemta. And especially in the weekly parsha, Parshas Eikev, which itself contains many blessings: “Hashem your G-d will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your forefathers,” “You shall be blessed above all peoples,” and so on and so forth. Up to the verses at

31:57 the end of the parsha: “From the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the Euphrates River”—the boundaries, all the places Jews will conquer, all the lands and all the cities, the lands of the Keini, Kenizi, and Kadmoni, in the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, speedily in our days. Amen, may it be His will.