Parshas Pinchas (5785) "Es Korbani Lachmi" - The Power of Davening

00:00 There was another chossid, the gaon Reb Dovid Horodoker, Reb Dovid Kievman. He was among the outstanding students of Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch. So much so that when they spoke about the students, the Rebbe Rashab said that Dovid Horodoker should study with all the students. But the version I have is that Reb Dovid and [unclear] were two of the leading Temimim. There were Reb Shilem Kuratin and Reb Dovid Kievman, Reb Dovid Horodoker. [unclear] among the students. That is, [unclear]. It would be worthwhile to understand these two young men. [unclear] about greatness in avodah. Among chassidim, there is avodas Hashem [unclear]. [unclear] He said of the Frierdiker Rebbe that it was worth many millions. He was a great oved Elokim, [unclear] in inner avodah. And afterward there was [unclear]. Toward the end of his life, he went through a difficult period, during the war years. He traveled to Hungary; this was during World War II. [unclear]. He reached a point, simply [unclear] from Hungary. It was difficult; he was in a condition where his body was not clean. And according to [unclear], he could not pray with tefillin. So he said that all thirty-five years he had devoted to avodah were worthwhile for one day of putting on tefillin. In other words, putting on tefillin once is worth

01:43 more than all those years of avodah. And chassidim said about this: when you hear something like that, [unclear]. Chassidim said that to reach that understanding takes thirty-five years of avodah—to grasp the preciousness of putting on tefillin once, the preciousness of actually putting on tefillin, after thirty-five years of avodah. And that was Dovid Horodoker. In our parsha we find a very interesting Rashi. Parshas [unclear], Parshas Pinchas. Moshe Rabbeinu asks Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “May Hashem, the G-d of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation.” Moshe asks Hakadosh Boruch Hu to choose a man over the congregation, “who will go out before them and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them in,” and so on, “so that Hashem’s congregation will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” Heaven forbid, he does not want them left without a shepherd. Hakadosh Boruch Hu responds to him in the verses about Yehoshua bin Nun, as the Torah relates. And after this section, we move on to the section about the offerings, the daily offering: “Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Command the Children of Israel and say to them: My offering, My bread for My fire-offerings, you shall take care to bring to Me at its appointed time.” This is the section about the daily offering. Now the question is: what is the connection between this section and the preceding one? Moshe Rabbeinu asks for a man over the congregation, “so that Hashem’s congregation will not be like sheep without a shepherd,” and here we move on to speak about offerings, about the daily offering. What is the connection between the sections? Rashi addresses this and says: “What was said above?” What did Moshe Rabbeinu ask of Hakadosh Boruch Hu? “May Hashem,

03:22 the G-d of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation,” “so that Hashem’s congregation will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” Moshe asks Hakadosh Boruch Hu to choose a man over the congregation. Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to him: Yes, when you turn to Me about My children, ask My children about Me as well. “Before you command Me concerning My children, command My children concerning Me.” Yes, instead of telling Me, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, what I should do for the Jews, tell the Jews what they should do for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And that is the connection between the two matters. Offerings are what the Jews need to do for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Rashi gives a parable about this: There was a father who left instructions before his passing. He called his man and told him how he should treat the children. The man said: Instead of telling me how I should treat the children, tell the children how they should treat me. That is Rashi; he brings it from the Midrash, and [unclear]. Here a big question arises: seemingly, what is the connection between the two matters? What is happening here? After all, Moshe Rabbeinu has a justified concern. Moshe Rabbeinu comes and asks Hakadosh Boruch Hu for something that affects everyone: that there be “a man over the congregation.” There has to be someone. The Jews must not be left alone, Heaven forbid, “so that Hashem’s congregation will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” This is something that concerns the entire Jewish people. And what are we talking about here? The daily offering. A mitzvah,

05:03 a particular detail in the laws of offerings, the daily offering. It is certainly a mitzvah, an important mitzvah. But what is happening here? Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to him: “Before you command Me concerning My children, command My children concerning Me.” What is this exchange between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and Moshe Rabbeinu? We will go into it further, but in any case, the point is this: on a straightforward level, this is what Rashi is addressing here. And more generally, what does the wording “Command the Children of Israel” mean here? Seemingly, the offerings are a mitzvah connected with the kohanim and the Beis Hamikdash, with what they must do with the offerings. Why does the Torah say, “Command the Children of Israel”? Rashi answers this through that exchange: yes, the command is addressed to all the Jews, because all Jews must be connected to the offerings—the kohanim in their service, the Levi’im at their platform, and the Yisraelim at their posts. In fact, all Jews are connected to the offerings and to what they accomplish through them. But what is this exchange between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and Moshe Rabbeinu? The Rebbe explains beautifully in a sicha that, in fact, [unclear]. The concern that seemingly comes from Moshe Rabbeinu is that the Jewish people must be looked after. And the concern

06:31 is that, since the situation is that Jews have sinned, as it says in [unclear], there could, Heaven forbid, be a situation of [unclear], Heaven forbid, in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu would leave the Jews. The whole matter of “a man over the congregation” would remain unresolved, G-d forbid, and the Jews would have to cope on their own. How would the Jews remain connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Certainly, Moshe Rabbeinu does not need to worry about himself. But Moshe Rabbeinu feared that if the Jews were in such a state—and this was after the incident of Pinchas, after the incident of Baal Peor and the sins the Jews had committed—there might be a distance between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jews. That is why Rashi’s wording is precise: “who gives instructions to her husband.” It does not say “to the king.” Rashi calls Moshe Rabbeinu a “king’s daughter,” but in the parable he calls Hakadosh Boruch Hu “her husband.” Because in this situation one cannot, Heaven forbid, as it were, call Him a “king,” since “there is no king without a people”: there must be a people devoted to the king. But when the Jews are not devoted to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, something is lacking in the people, and consequently something is lacking in the king. So Moshe Rabbeinu “gives instructions to her husband,” asking Hakadosh Boruch Hu, her husband, to at least

07:56 have mercy on the Jews and see to it that they have “a man over the congregation,” even if the Jews are not worthy of it, Heaven forbid. Hakadosh Boruch Hu answered Moshe Rabbeinu: But the Jews are “My children.” The Jews are beyond the category of a “people.” On the contrary, there is something of His very essence in them. That is the difference between a people and children: in one case there is a king and a people, whereas the Jews are, in essence, “children of Hashem your G-d.” As “children of Hashem your G-d,” the Jews and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are truly one. So distinctions of this kind have no relevance here. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is always with the Jews. [unclear]. There is no need to worry at all, no need to [unclear] about the Jews. What, then? Because they are “My children,” now “command My children concerning Me”: on the contrary, Hakadosh Boruch Hu needs the Jews. Hakadosh Boruch Hu asks Moshe Rabbeinu: “Command My children concerning Me,” that they should bring “My offering, My bread for My fire-offerings.” I need bread. What is the greatness, the virtue, of a Jew’s prayer? That through simple prayer—simple, genuine Shacharis, Minchah, and Maariv on an ordinary day—a Jew has the power to bring “My bread for My fire-offerings,” to bring bread to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What does “My bread for My fire-offerings” mean? “My bread”? Chassidus explains: what is the purpose of the offerings? “Come, partake of My bread.” The Midrash says: “The Jewish people sustain their Father in Heaven.” As it were, Hakadosh Boruch Hu needs this bread, the Jews’ offerings. And tzedakah, too, is considered an offering, and that is the meaning of

09:45 Prayer. What does this mean? Chassidus explains that bread serves the same purpose here as it does physically. Why does a person need bread? If a person does not eat, G-d forbid, the soul and body cannot remain connected. That is what bread does: it sustains the connection between the soul and the body. When a person eats, the soul can remain in the body and live in it. If food is lacking, G-d forbid, the body may grow weak, and the soul may separate from it. We need bread to sustain the connection between the soul and the body. In the same way, we are taught: the Gemara says that just as the soul fills the body, so Hakadosh Boruch Hu fills the world. And for Hakadosh Boruch Hu to fill the world as the soul fills the body, bread is needed. What is that bread? The offerings. When the daily offering is brought each day—one in the morning and one toward evening—that is the bread, so to speak, that creates the connection and union between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people, and through them, between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the entire world. The world can then receive G-dly vitality. When there are no offerings, G-d forbid, the world’s connection with G-dliness may be severed, and that can lead, G-d forbid, to destruction. This relates to these days, when we are in

11:16 the days of 17 Tammuz. One of the things that happened on 17 Tammuz was that “the city was breached and the daily offering ceased.” Yes, the daily offering ceased, and this led to the city being breached and to the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. For the Gemara says that as long as the daily offering was brought, the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash was not possible. As long as the daily offering continued, there was a connection between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the world, and destruction was not possible. But when the daily offering ceased—as the Midrash recounts the whole story at length, that it was no longer brought each day—the city could be breached, and this could lead to the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. And since today we have no offerings, prayer takes their place: “The prayers were instituted to correspond to the daily offerings.” Shacharis, Minchah, and Maariv correspond to the morning offering, the offering toward evening, and what burned on the altar during the night. These are the three prayers. In other words, what is “My bread”? A Jew brings bread to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and brings about the union, the closeness of a person to G-dliness. This is the service of the heart—prayer—each and every day. And this is what the Rebbe teaches us. Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu: “Before you instruct Me concerning My children, instruct My children concerning Me.” This is the profound meaning of the Midrash as the Rebbe explains it: We want Moshiach, and we need great endeavors,

12:43 to seek to bring about great changes. But before undertaking great endeavors, the Rebbe says to Moshe Rabbeinu: “Before you instruct Me concerning My children, instruct My children concerning Me.” First of all, you need to want this and care about it. What does your concern for the Jewish people mean? It is concern for the Jewish people as a whole. The Rebbe says: Care for the Jewish people. Pray Shacharis, pray Minchah, pray Maariv. Know that simple prayer accomplishes even more than all the great endeavors, and there is no need to wait for great changes. With one prayer, one mitzvah, one act—as the Rambam says, one deed, one word, one thought—a person tips the balance for themselves and the entire world toward merit and brings deliverance and salvation to the whole world. That is the power of simple prayer. “My offering, My bread”—this is bread that connects the world with G-dliness, and it accomplishes the greatest thing: uniting Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people and bringing the Geulah. This is the meaning of the offerings that the Rebbe teaches us, following Moshe Rabbeinu’s request. And within this discussion, the daily offering comes first. First the daily offering, and then the additional offerings. These are separate matters: there is the daily offering, and there is the additional offering. The daily offering is discussed first to show that the constant service is the main thing. That is the virtue of the daily offering: steady service, each and every day, the simple service. Then come the additional offerings. More things are added, and still more things, but the daily offering is the everyday service, the simple things a person does. The everyday service of the daily offerings is the main thing, and it brings about the greatest revelation, the greatest union. This is “I, Hashem, have not changed.” When the service continues without change, every

14:40 day—daily prayer, putting on tefillin every day, observing the mitzvos day after day—it brings about the connection, the revelation of “I, Hashem, have not changed.” This is the revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the world, and ultimately it brings about the complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. And as we are now in these days, the Three Weeks, Likkutei Sichos explains that we read these parshiyos at this time because they deal with matters connected to exile and Geulah. We find in them many matters concerning entry into the Land, its conquest, and its division. All of these are connected to exile and Geulah during the Three Weeks. May these days be transformed into days of joy and gladness and festive occasions. The point is to carry out the service of the morning daily offering and the offering toward evening—prayer. We pray today as well, and it is all for Hashem; it is a person’s offering. By carrying out the service of the offerings now, we prepare to merit, very soon, the building of the Beis Hamikdash, where we will be able to bring all the offerings “in accordance with the command of Your will,” with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu speedily in our days, amen.