Parshas Shemini (5785) - "Kol Holeich Al Gachon" - advice for coarseness of the heart and mind

00:00 One of the stories told about the Rebbe Maharash, whose yahrzeit is on 2 Iyar, is that he was once asked: “What were you looking for in Paris?” The Rebbe Maharash was known to travel to various places for various purposes. He also followed the way of the Baal Shem Tov, performing wonders and doing things beyond nature. Once, the Rebbe Maharash wanted to travel to Paris. He took his attendants and two other chassidim with him, and they went there. When they arrived in Paris, the chassidim asked, “Where will we stay?” The Rebbe Maharash said, “We’ll go to the Hotel Alexander.” It was the most expensive hotel in the city. Only great wealthy men, kings, and princes stayed there. It was a very rich and splendid hotel. The Rebbe Maharash wanted to stay specifically there. He arrived at the hotel, spoke French with its owners, and before long rented some of its most expensive rooms. He took three rooms: one for himself, others for his attendants, and so on. They stayed there for a few days. One day, the Rebbe Maharash entered a hall where people were sitting and playing cards, as they call it. A group was sitting there playing cards and drinking wine. Among them was a young man, playing and drinking, and—

02:08 He sat there playing. The Rebbe Maharash went over to him, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, “Young man, that is yayin nesech.” Then he added, “Young man, yayin nesech dulls the heart and the mind. You are a Jew.” The Rebbe Maharash said, “Good night,” and returned to his room. After the Rebbe Maharash said this and left the room, the young man was deeply shaken. He very much wanted to leave, and he sat down on a bench. The hotel staff immediately approached him. They wanted to help him up, thinking he needed to go upstairs, since he was staying on that floor. He said, “Everything is all right. Please, leave me alone.” He got up and went to his room. A short while later, a few minutes afterward, there was a knock at the door. That young man came in and sat down in the Rebbe Maharash’s room, and they sat together for several hours. The next day, the Rebbe Maharash returned to Lubavitch. The Rebbe Maharash said then that he remembered that for fifteen years there had not been such a pure soul, which had unfortunately fallen into the depths of the kelipos. The Rebbe Maharash had traveled there, stayed there, done what he did, and rescued the soul from the depths of the kelipos. Later, the young man became a complete baal teshuvah and raised a family of G-d-fearing, observant Jews. This is one of the stories the Rebbe tells in—

03:56 The maamar “Basi Legani” 5710, where he tells it briefly. But this is the story as the Rebbe told it, as he heard it from the Frierdiker Rebbe, the previous Rebbe. Our weekly parsha discusses all the matters relating to forbidden foods. Toward the end of the parsha, it says, “You will become spiritually dulled by them”—they dull a person’s heart. The Gemara in Tractate Yoma says, and Rashi explains, that this refers to forbidden foods, which dull a person’s heart. The word used in the parsha, “venitmeisem,” is written without an alef: it conveys not only impurity but also dullness. “You will become spiritually dulled by them” means that when a person, for example, stumbles in matters of forbidden foods, it “dulls a person’s heart.” Before we discuss this, the Gemara in Tractate Kiddushin, page 30a, has a discussion about the sofrim, who counted the letters of the Torah. The Gemara asks: Why were the early sages called sofrim? The sages are, after all, called sofrim, as in “the words of the sofrim.” The Gemara answers: “Because they counted the letters of the Torah.” They used to count the letters. The Gemara says that “the vav of gachon” is “the midpoint of the letters of the Torah,” the middle letter of the Torah. “The vav of gachon” means that, of all the letters in the Torah, this letter is exactly in the middle,

05:55 marking the midpoint of the letters. In the entire Torah scroll, it is the vav in the word “gachon.” “Anything that moves on its belly”—that is the verse near the end of our parsha. There it speaks about forbidden foods and says that we must not eat various creeping creatures, forbidden foods, and forbidden animals. This is what it says near the end of the parsha: “Anything that moves on its belly.” It refers to snakes and scorpions, as explained—impure animals and creeping creatures that we are forbidden to eat. “Anything that moves on its belly” refers to a snake. So the vav of “gachon” is “the midpoint of the letters of the Torah.” The Gemara then continues and says that they also counted the letters of Tehillim, and the letter in the middle of Tehillim is in the words “A wild boar from the forest ravages it.” In chapter 80 of Tehillim, there is a verse, “A wild boar from the forest ravages it.” The ayin of “miya’ar,” “from the forest,” is a suspended ayin, a small ayin set apart, and it is “the midpoint of the letters of Tehillim.” Interestingly, in both the Chumash and Tehillim, what is being discussed at the exact midpoint? Undesirable things, forbidden animals. In the Torah, in the Chumash, it is the snake, “anything that moves on its belly”; and in Tehillim, it is the “wild boar from the forest,” which—

07:40 Is also an impure animal. It is mentioned there in Tehillim, in the verse in chapter 80, and precisely there is the midpoint of the letters. The question is: What is all this about? What is the meaning and the deeper significance of it? [unclear] What is the significance of the vav of “gachon” being an enlarged vav and dividing the letters of the Torah in the middle, “the midpoint of the letters of the Torah”? And what is the significance of the ayin in “A wild boar from the forest ravages it” dividing the letters of Tehillim in the middle? The Maharsha answers this. The Maharsha explains [unclear]. Throughout the Torah is found the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is holiness: its letters are the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. All the secrets and mysteries are there. The Maharsha says that the sages’ counting of the letters of the Torah reveals an aspect of the Torah’s holiness, the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu [unclear]. Here we are speaking of the kelipah of the snake. The root of all evil is the snake, the primordial serpent. [unclear] darkness, kelipah, and all undesirable things. [unclear] “Anything that moves on its belly”—that is the snake. And the vav of “gachon” [unclear]. That is the significance of the vav. It is found in the Torah. [unclear]

09:41 As for Tehillim, “A wild boar from the forest ravages it”: This chapter, chapter 80, speaks about Jews in exile: “You brought a vine out of Egypt; You drove out nations and planted it.” It speaks about the Jews at the Exodus from Egypt. Of the Exodus, it says, “You brought a vine out of Egypt”—the vine is the Jews. That is what this chapter describes. And afterward, what happened during the exile? The exile causes even the vine, G-d forbid, [unclear]. “A wild boar from the forest ravages it.” The Midrash says that Esav is compared to a boar. [unclear] It is Esav, G-d forbid, who wants to [unclear] the Jews. And that is the ayin. What is the power of the letters of Tehillim? Tehillim have the power to drive away the “wild boar from the forest,” the exile of Edom. The exile of Esav is the exile of Edom. Through Tehillim, through its letters, we have the power to nullify Esav’s ability to draw sustenance and life, and to drive him away completely. [unclear] That is the point. [unclear] This is within the power of the vav of “gachon,” [unclear] the snake. And continuing from what we saw earlier: Chassidus explains [unclear]; the Tzemach Tzedek [unclear] explains several aspects at length. But in any case, what is the central point? We see that forbidden foods dull a person’s mind and heart. And about this it is said that the vav of “gachon” is “the midpoint of the letters of the Torah.” [unclear]

12:08 In this connection, Chassidus explains forbidden foods and the dulling of the mind and the heart. It is well known in Chassidus that there are two forms of dullness: one called dullness of the heart, and one called dullness of the mind. The difference, briefly at least, is explained at length in Chassidus, and in this maamar [unclear] he discusses the details at length. But the main point is that when a person is immersed in desires for food, for drink, for [unclear], it dulls his heart. The first thing is dullness of the heart. What is dullness of the heart? It means that the heart is not moved; it does not feel matters relating to the greatness of Hashem. A person’s nature is that when he contemplates—as the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya—when he contemplates and understands an idea about the greatness of Hashem, studies an idea in Torah, studies an idea in Chassidus, and learns to contemplate the greatness of Hashem, that contemplation and understanding naturally bring him to love Hashem. The Baal Shem Tov’s teaching on the verse “You shall love Hashem your G-d” is well known. The Baal Shem Tov asks: What does “You shall love Hashem your G-d” mean? How can love be commanded? But the Alter Rebbe explains in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that the mitzvah is not the love; the mitzvah is the contemplation. When a person contemplates “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One,”

13:47 A person contemplates the greatness of Hashem, the oneness of Hashem, how Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present in heaven and on earth and [unclear], and how all created beings are utterly nullified before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. All this is explained at length in Chabad Chassidus. Through contemplation, he will certainly come to love Hashem. When the Torah says that through “Shema Yisroel”—“Shema” meaning understanding—there will certainly be “Ve’ahavta,” “And you shall love,” this is not a command but a promise: “You shall love Hashem your G-d” will follow naturally. You will have love, a desire to unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is human nature. For intellect and emotions have the relationship of parent and offspring, as explained in Tanya. It is a natural process: love and awe are born from contemplation and understanding. Sometimes, though, a person contemplates a G-dly matter, understands it, absorbs it, and grasps it in all its breadth and depth, yet it does not bring him to love or awe of Hashem. In other words, a person may learn, understand, contemplate, and engage with these subjects, but in practice they awaken no love or awe in him, no feeling at all. The reason is timtum halev, a dulling of the heart, G-d forbid. This is caused by excessive indulgence in desires: the desire for food, forbidden things, or even permissible things, but

15:14 not for the sake of Heaven, as discussed in Chassidus. Chassidus offers various ways to refine the heart and rid oneself of timtum halev. As he discusses in that maamar, and earlier in the maamar of [unclear], the Rebbe gives three approaches in serving Hashem: how to work on and refine the heart so that it can take things in, so that a person will love Hashem and his contemplation will reach his heart as well. He discusses several matters: taking stock of oneself, bitterness, [unclear]. He gives several ways to refine the heart and make it receptive, so these things can be absorbed. But there is a similar maamar that deals not only with timtum halev but also with timtum hamoach, a dulling of the mind. This means that not only does he fail to reach a feeling of love for Hashem in his heart—even in his mind, the ideas do not sink in. He may be an intelligent, understanding person; he is no fool. On the contrary, he is very bright. But when it comes to a G-dly matter, it may not speak to him. It does not sink in. He may understand the intellectual concept, the idea itself, but find it hard to truly grasp it. We are not even talking yet about the feelings of the heart. For an ordinary person, the ideas might enter his mind,

16:51 and might settle in his understanding. Yes, they make sense to him; perhaps they sink in, perhaps they become clear to him. Timtum hamoach means that even on an intellectual level, when it comes to G-dly matters, he either has no way into them, no interest in them; they do not take hold, and he takes in nothing [unclear]. This is a terrible affliction. As long as the problem is in the heart, it can be corrected through the mind. But when it affects the mind—the mind is the essence of the soul. As the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, the soul is called the “intellectual soul.” A human being is an intellectual creature. When a person’s intellect is in a state where a G-dly matter does not take hold, it means the problem has reached much deeper layers of the soul. The soul’s very essence has become material and coarse. For this, there are three remedies explained by the Alter Rebbe. As is well known, the Alter Rebbe writes in Likkutei Torah for Parshas Ki Savo that there are three remedies for timtum hamoach. What are they? The Alter Rebbe says briefly: they are the three preparations before davening. The first is going to the mikveh; the second is giving tzedakah; and the third is studying the inner dimension of Torah, studying Chassidus. What is the significance

18:18 of these three things? Each of them brings about a change in a person’s very being. They do not merely stir the heart; one’s very essence must change from one extreme to the other. Regarding the mikveh, it is well known that going to the mikveh means that a person becomes nullified within it. His former existence ceases to be, and a new, refreshed existence comes into being. In other words, between one state of being and another there must be a state of nothingness. As explained in Chassidus, this is the meaning of the mikveh. Immersion is an act of self-nullification. A person enters the mikveh and his former existence is covered by the water, “as the waters cover the sea,” as though he were no longer there. He ceases entirely to exist as he was. When he emerges from the immersion, he is a new person: he has been washed clean and born anew. This is the meaning of immersion in a mikveh. It also has significance on a deeper level, [unclear], a mikveh, waters of purification. The mikveh makes a person into a new being, someone of a different kind, with an entirely new freshness. The same is true of tzedakah. Tzedakah has the power to change a person from one extreme to the other, as we learned in Likkutei Torah about the power of the mitzvah of tzedakah: when a person sustains a poor person’s life,

19:54 he receives new life himself; he changes from one extreme to the other. The same applies to the inner dimension of Torah. This is what is said about studying the inner dimension of Torah, studying Chassidus: it is the vav in the word “gachon.” As we mentioned earlier, the vav in “gachon” reveals the depth of Torah’s inner dimension, the depth of Torah study. The inner dimension of Torah comes from a light entirely beyond the primordial serpent—the Tree of Life. As the Zohar says, the primordial serpent is bound up with the Torah of the Tree of Knowledge. The Zohar explains that the revealed dimension of Torah, because it is clothed in material matters and in laws dealing with sin and prohibition, has a connection through which the primordial serpent can draw sustenance from it. G-d forbid, the Gemara says: “If he is not worthy, it becomes a potion of death for him.” Even Torah, when studied in the wrong way, can become, G-d forbid, the opposite of life—a potion that is the opposite of life. But when one studies the inner dimension of Torah, G-dliness shines there openly; it is the Tree of Life. There are no questions, disputes, or heresy there. It is pure G-dliness. The inner dimension of Torah is the large vav. The Tzemach Tzedek explains that the large vav represents the inner dimension of Torah, which is drawn from the very essence of Ein Sof, entirely beyond the order of spiritual descent. And from there, from this aspect of the inner dimension of Torah—this is what it means that the middle stands above the two sides. In other words, Torah has a right side and a left side.

21:32 “To distinguish between the impure and the pure, between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten,” as the verse says. There is a right and a left, permitted and forbidden, living and dead—the two lines along which Torah is divided. But the vav, which stands above both lines, makes peace between them, because it joins them. Since it stands above them, it represents the inner dimension of Torah, which is above permitted and forbidden, and above living and dead. This is G-dliness revealed, and there the essence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed: chochmah stima’ah, the intellect of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, above all these lines. It therefore has the power to nullify the presence and vitality of the primordial serpent, as well as timtum hamoach and timtum halev. In this way a person becomes a new being: he is healed of this condition, receives a new mind and a new heart, and the dulling of his mind and heart is corrected. All this is also hinted at in the plain meaning of the verse. The Rebbe taught us that hints to everything can be found in the plain meaning of the verse. The Rebbe once delivered a rich sicha in which he explained Rashi. It is interesting to look at Rashi on “anything that goes on its belly.” What does “anything that goes on its belly” mean? Rashi says it refers to the snake. What does “goes on its belly” mean? It bends down; it “moves with its head lowered.” It bends down,

23:05 and “falls upon its belly.” What is distinctive about the snake? It has an interesting way of moving. At first it raises itself up, but then it lowers its head. Some creeping creatures remain on the ground all the time. The snake raises its body, but then lowers its head, bends down, and suddenly falls—“falls upon its belly.” It falls upon its belly. What is Rashi telling us here on an inner level? In the “wine of Torah,” even Rashi contains allusions to teachings from the inner dimension of Torah. The Rebbe explains this wonderfully, and it supports what we were discussing earlier: a person, as the Rebbe emphasizes, must look upward—“Raise your eyes on high.” This is elevation, and this is Torah. Torah raises a person to great heights, to a higher plane, when he studies the inner dimension of Torah. Then the snake comes along. What does the snake do? The first thing is that it “lowers its head.” The person is standing and looking upward, toward G-dliness, toward lofty matters, because he understands lofty matters. The snake bends him down so that he looks at the earth, looks at physicality and materiality, and sees only this physical world. And then, because he has lowered his head and is looking down instead of up, he eventually “falls upon his belly.” He falls. Into what does he fall? Into his belly, into desires—whether for forbidden foods,

24:36 And this includes permitted foods eaten not for the sake of Heaven. A person becomes preoccupied with physical and material desires, with the affairs of this world. This is “falling on his belly.” It begins with “bending low”: he bends down; instead of looking upward, he looks downward. That is how he comes to “fall on his belly” because of his desire for food. And how can he be brought back? What is the remedy? As we said earlier: Do you want to correct the sin? Do you want to correct the dullness of the mind and the dullness of the heart? The remedy lies in “everything that goes on its belly.” As we said, the inner dimension of Torah provides the remedies, particularly the study of the inner dimension of Torah. This is the vav in the middle of the Torah. And the ayin in “the boar from the forest,” the ayin that is the one in “eye to eye they shall see,” [unclear], refines the bitterness. Thus the seeing eye, the suspended ayin, is the eye of “Lift your eyes on high”—precisely that “eye to eye.” Study Chassidus, the inner dimension of Torah, and contemplate G-dliness. That eye removes the eye of Esav, the eye of the opposing side. And what does it accomplish? The transformation of the serpent. Thus, instead of the serpent, the kelipah, it becomes—as the works of Kabbalah say, “serpent” also has the same numerical value as “Moshiach”—what is made of the serpent. As it also says of the future,

26:06 “Even his enemies will be at peace with him”—that refers to the serpent, says the Midrash. The primordial serpent will be transformed into holiness. And there will be [unclear]; the greatest darkness will be transformed. It will turn into the greatest light, just as “Moshiach” has the same numerical value as “serpent”; this is the serpent of holiness. In this way, light will be made from it in the future. All this comes through the inner dimension of Torah. And this is our work now: after Pesach, we come to study Parshas Shemini. What does it tell a person? How should he enter the coming summer, when the seasons begin in which we need to strengthen the body’s health? After all, the letters of Iyar stand for “I am Hashem, your healer”—the matter of bodily health. And [unclear], therefore there is also Pirkei Avos. We study it during this period too, because a person must be careful with food, with material matters, and with the desire to eat. On the contrary, the approach must be precisely “Lift your eyes on high,” the vav in “on its belly.” This strengthens the faculty in “on its belly,” and the ayin strengthens the faculty of “the boar from the forest.” Through this, the entire exile of “this boar is Edom” will surely be transformed, and the complete Geulah will already come. Then “for eye to eye they shall see when Hashem returns to Zion,” speedily in our days, amen.