Shavuos (5785) - Receiving the Torah Through Avodah, Not Automatically

00:00 The Rebbe once related what happened on Shavuos in 5656. The Rebbe Rashab delivered a very long maamar on the first day of Shavuos. In general, the custom in Lubavitch was that on the first day of Shavuos, around candle-lighting time, the Rebbe would enter the hall and deliver the maamar. This was before candle-lighting, and the maamar would continue until late. It was a very long maamar. The Rebbe delivered it for more than two hours—two and a half hours. By the time he finished, it was very late. The Rebbe then davened Maariv, and Maariv on the first night of Shavuos was also long. As you may know from Tzfas, the Rebbeim would daven at length on the first night of Shavuos. The davening that night was long. And all of this was before the meal. In general, the Shavuos meal began very late. Relatives were seated at the meal on the first night of Shavuos. The chossid Reb Boruch Schneur Schneerson was there. He was the father of Reb Levik, the Rebbe’s grandfather. At the meal he said, “Today we had temimos automatically.” What did he mean? The Shulchan Aruch says that on Shavuos night, one should daven only once it is late at night. One must wait until there is “temimos”—completeness. The Torah says that the days of the Omer count must be “temimos,” complete, and the eve of Shavuos is the last day of the Omer count. For there to be “temimos,” one must wait until nightfall, so that the days of the Omer count are complete days—“temimos.” And Reb Boruch Schneur said there, in the Rebbe’s presence, that since

02:17 the maamar was long and the davening was long, “temimos” had arrived automatically, without their having to wait. When the Rebbe Rashab heard this, he said that among chassidim, there is no such thing as “automatically.” Temimos and “automatically” do not go together. Temimos can come only through work. In Chassidus, nothing simply comes automatically. In Chassidus, everything must come through effort and work by one’s own strength. And when we speak of work, we speak of temimos: temimos in time, because this is Shavuos; temimos in place; and temimos in the soul. The main form of temimos is temimos in the soul. The Rebbe cautions us about temimos, about the truth within temimos. And all these things can come only through work and effort. When we speak of Shavuos, this is the idea of working by one’s own strength. It is a central theme of Shavuos. On Shavuos, we find precisely this point: the demand to work by one’s own strength. Things must come through work, which is why it is specifically called “receiving the Torah.” Shavuos is also about the giving of the Torah. The giving of the Torah is what is given from Above—the revelation from Above at the giving of the Torah. But the central point of Shavuos, as the Rebbe explains in Chassidus, is work. This is what the Torah says: “You shall make the festival of Shavuos”—one must make Shavuos. A person must reach it through his own work, specifically by working by his own strength. This is a central theme of the Torah. There is also a well-known teaching of the Alter Rebbe: At the giving of the Torah, three things were given—the revealed dimension of Torah, the inner dimension of Torah, and the strength to accomplish all

04:23 these things specifically through work. The strength to work was received at the giving of the Torah. This is how it must be: things must come specifically through work by one’s own strength. This is explained in Chassidus, particularly in the maamarim that discuss the revelation at the giving of the Torah. What is written about the giving of the Torah? It says there was thunder and lightning, and all the things that came from Above. There was also “the mountain was smoking.” In other words, there were revelations from Above: thunder, lightning, the sounds of shofars. All these were revelations from Above. But there was also “the mountain was smoking”—the mountain was enveloped in smoke. Chassidus explains that these are the two aspects of the giving of the Torah. On the one hand, there are the things Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave from Above at the giving of the Torah—the thunder, the lightning, and the revelations from Above. On the other hand, the Torah emphasizes that “the mountain was smoking.” What does “the mountain was smoking” mean? It refers to the refinement of the mountain, the refinement of physicality. The mountain—physicality, inanimate matter, an actual mountain—was permeated with smoke. There was smoke, and smoke signifies something that rises from below to Above. When something physical burns, smoke comes out of it, signifying the refinement of matter. As matter is refined, burned, and made more delicate, and

05:56 so too. The point we want to make is that in the work of the giving of the Torah and of Shavuos, the main emphasis must be specifically on working by one’s own strength, preparing one’s own vessels for all the revelations of the giving of the Torah. Now, it is well known that Shavuos is connected with the holy Baal Shem Tov, whose passing was on the first day of Shavuos. And with the Baal Shem Tov we find something remarkable. It is well known and accepted among chassidim that the Baal Shem Tov passed away on the first day of Shavuos, but his burial was on the second day of Shavuos. The Frierdiker Rebbe mentions several times a tradition he heard from the Alter Rebbe, who repeated what he had heard from the Maggid of Mezritch: The Baal Shem Tov had a special affection specifically for the second day of Shavuos, even more than for the first. His passing was on the first day of Shavuos; only his burial was on the second. Nevertheless, the holy Baal Shem Tov showed a special regard, a special affection, specifically for the second day of Shavuos. It is related that the Baal Shem Tov once held a special meal and farbrengen with his chassidim,

07:25 his students. He wanted to sit with them specifically on the second day of Shavuos. One could see in the Baal Shem Tov a special enthusiasm and energy. The Maggid of Mezritch followed this practice, as did the Alter Rebbe. This was seen among our Rebbeim, up to the Rebbe, whose main Shavuos farbrengen was specifically on the second day of Shavuos. That was when the farbrengen took place, and when the maamar of Chassidus was delivered. With the Rebbe, one could see that the second day of Shavuos was the main day—the main energy, the main fervor. What does the second day of Shavuos have that the first does not? What does it mean? This brings us to the point. As the Rebbe said, the Frierdiker Rebbe repeated in the name of the Alter Rebbe, who had heard it from the Maggid of Mezritch, that the Maggid explained why the second day of Shavuos was so dear to the Baal Shem Tov: because it is the first full twenty-four-hour period after the giving of the Torah. He then added: according to Rabbi Yosi. The Gemara asks: When was the Torah given, on the sixth or on the seventh? According to Rabbi Yosi, this is the actual day of the giving of the Torah. At first glance, this is hard to understand. What did he mean? What is the great virtue, the great richness, of these being the first twenty-four hours after the giving of the Torah?

08:40 And what about according to the Sages? Surely one cannot say that the giving of the Torah itself is not better. What is special about the twenty-four hours after the giving of the Torah? And on the other hand, what is he saying? According to Rabbi Yosi, this is the giving of the Torah itself. That seems self-contradictory. The affection is for the day of the giving of the Torah, and the affection is for the day after the giving of the Torah. The Rebbe once addressed this subject in a sicha and elaborated on the whole point. Here we see that the central innovation of Chassidus is the virtue of working by one’s own strength. The giving of the Torah, after all, came from Above. But what Chassidus emphasized as the main thing—the greatest delight, the greatest richness, the greatest virtue—is that I must work with my own abilities and become a vessel for the Torah. That is what is new about the second day of the giving of the Torah. On the second day of the giving of the Torah, according to the Sages, this is what we are saying: the Torah was given from Above, but the Jews began to act and work on the day after the giving of the Torah. In the first twenty-four hours after the giving of the Torah begins the main thing the Jews have in this [unclear]. What the Rebbe gave, the Rebbe gave. When did the Jews begin to bring about the ascent, the connection to “from below to Above”? “Those below shall ascend Above,” as the well-known Midrash says. In the world,

10:02 Transforming the world into a dwelling place for Him, may He be blessed—that began after the giving of the Torah. And this is the main point: work through our own efforts, through which Jews transform the world into a dwelling place for Him. But according to Rabbi Yosi, as we know from the Gemara in Tractate Shabbos, the giving of the Torah took place on the seventh of Sivan, because Moshe Rabbeinu added one day on his own initiative. In other words, Rabbi Yosi’s entire approach rests on Moshe Rabbeinu’s desire that the Jews do even more through their own efforts: that they have another day of preparation. He added, on his own initiative, to what came from Above. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to give the Torah on [unclear]. Moshe Rabbeinu, who sensed the value of work through one’s own efforts, added another day on his own initiative so that there would be work through their own efforts. And that is the central innovation of the giving of the Torah: work through one’s own efforts. That is the whole foundation. What Moshe added on his own initiative is the foundation: when learning Torah, I need to know that it is not enough for it to be given to me from Above. I have to exert myself, toil, and act through my own efforts, making myself a vessel for the Torah. I need to do that by preparing myself, working, and toiling. And this is the particular advantage of the second day. We saw this with the Baal Shem Tov—his joy on this day was greater than on the first day.

11:26 And this is what we mean: when we consider the Baal Shem Tov, as the story relates, his passing was on the first day, but his burial is associated specifically with the second day. And the Rebbe relates, as is well known, and cites what is brought in Hemshech Ayin Beis. The Rebbe Rashab began delivering Hemshech Ayin Beis and continued for four or five years. [unclear] In that series he discusses the deepest subjects in Chassidus, and he also speaks about the Baal Shem Tov. There, he relates the tradition passed down among Jews: the Baal Shem Tov said that he had the power to ascend to heaven in a whirlwind. He could, in fact, have ascended to heaven in a whirlwind, as is said of Eliyahu Hanavi, with his body ascending in the whirlwind as well. But what did he want? To undergo “and to dust you shall return.” He wanted to pass through the dust. That is why his burial took place in the literal sense, so that “and to dust you shall return” would be fulfilled in him. Here we see, along the lines of what the Rebbe discussed earlier, that the first day, the Baal Shem Tov’s passing, was the ascent of the soul. But the second day, associated with the burial he wanted, is specifically about the path of work, and undergoing “and to dust you shall return.” In other words, the advantage of refining the lower realm, the advantage of the earth, the dust—the refinement of the body. This aspect is present specifically at the time when

12:50 one passes through the earth, through physical dust. And this is the point: the central innovation in the giving of the Torah is that a Jew, through his own work and toil, accepts the yoke of Torah upon himself. As mentioned, the Alter Rebbe said that at the giving of the Torah there is what is given from Above—the giving of the Torah—but there must also be the Jew’s own work. And this is the main work of preparation and toil leading up to the giving of the Torah: to be ready to receive the Torah and to be a vessel for it. The Torah must become something that is his own, and for that, work and toil through his own efforts are specifically required. This is what the Mishnah says in Pirkei Avos: “Prepare yourself to learn Torah, for it is not an inheritance for you.” There is Torah that comes as an inheritance, there is Torah that comes as a gift, and there is what a Jew must toil for through his own efforts, becoming a vessel for the Torah. Through this, the Jew and the Torah become one. This is the point being made: as we approach the giving of the Torah, in these holy days of preparation for it, we need to prepare the vessels. We should also mention all the preparations for the giving of the Torah, as brought in the Shulchan Aruch. Each detail and each day has its own preparation. On the first of Sivan: “And Israel encamped there opposite the mountain,” as one person with one heart. Then, on the second of Sivan: “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” On the third of Sivan, the days of setting boundaries. Then, on the fourth of Sivan, the days of separation. And on the

14:13 fifth of Sivan, “We will do and we will hear”—they placed “we will do” before “we will hear.” Each day has its own work; every day has its own task in our inner work, as explained in Chassidus. A Jew needs to go through all these stages in his own work, and through that he prepares the vessels so that he can truly receive the Torah. Not merely as something that happens automatically, but specifically through work and toil, becoming worthy of receiving the Torah—until we truly merit to receive the genuine new Torah. What Hakadosh Boruch Hu will reveal through King Moshiach, the new Torah, will come with the arrival of Moshiach Tzidkeinu. And this is what the Gemara says: “Everyone agrees that on Shavuos we also need ‘for you.’” There must be the “also for you,” whose numerical value is that of “the end,” the time of the Geulah. May we merit the complete Geulah speedily in our days, immediately.