Parshas Tavo, 18 Elul - "Es Hashem He'emarta Hayom..." - The Concept of the Unity of Hashem in the Way of the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe

00:00 Speaker 1 One of the stories told about the Alter Rebbe, whose birthday is on 18 Elul, is that when he was imprisoned, he was taken to hearings and repeatedly called in for questioning. The Alter Rebbe took his tefillin with him. It was before dawn, and he had them with him so that when the time for Shema arrived, he could put them on. When that time came, in the middle of the hearing and questioning, the Alter Rebbe asked for a break because he wanted to put on tefillin. Apparently, by then they were already treating him with a certain measure of respect, and they gave him the few minutes he needed to say Shema. The Alter Rebbe put on his tefillin. At the time, there were many people in the large room: investigators, people conducting the questioning, police officers, and various others. The room was full. When the Alter Rebbe began putting on tefillin, dread and fear fell upon everyone. So much so that when he placed the tefillin shel rosh on his head, such dread and fear, such trembling, seized all the people that even those who were sitting there

01:33 Speaker 1 could not get up because of their fear and trembling. They were simply paralyzed. Those who were standing could not move, could not walk; dread and awe simply fell upon everyone present. Only after the Alter Rebbe finished putting on tefillin and saying Shema did the people calm down, and even that did not happen immediately. From then on, the way the investigation was conducted, and the respect shown to him, changed completely. They understood that he was a holy rabbi, and they called him a holy Rebbe. They understood that he was not someone to be trifled with, and they treated him with an entirely different level of respect. When they later discussed this story [unclear], they asked the Alter Rebbe: What was the wonder here? What was the miracle? The Alter Rebbe said that it was neither a wonder nor a miracle. It is an explicit verse, stated in that very parsha, Parshas Ki Savo: “And all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of Hashem is called upon you, and they will fear you.” When all the peoples of the earth see that the name of Hashem is called upon you, they will be afraid and tremble. And on this the Gemara says: “It was taught: Rabbi Eliezer the Great says, ‘These are the tefillin on the head.’” What does it mean that the peoples of the earth see that “the name of Hashem is called upon you”? They see that Hashem’s name is called upon you—and this refers to tefillin. Consequently, when a Jew puts on tefillin, the peoples of the earth fear

03:02 Speaker 1 it. They asked the Alter Rebbe: We see Jews putting on tefillin, but we do not see people becoming afraid. When the Alter Rebbe put on tefillin, dread and awe fell upon them; but when an ordinary Jew puts on tefillin, where do we see dread and awe? The Alter Rebbe replied that the wording of our Sages is “tefillin that are in the head.” It does not say “tefillin that are on the head,” but “tefillin that are in the head.” “Tefillin that are in the head” means that it is not enough merely to place tefillin on the head; one must live with the tefillin. The tefillin must enter within; their message must penetrate the mind, must be in the head, inside. In other words, the meaning and message of tefillin express the idea that “the name of Hashem is called upon you.” This must penetrate the person, his mind and his head, and then the dread and awe of “they will fear you” comes about. This idea is also explained in the words of the Mitteler Rebbe. As is known, the Mitteler Rebbe writes in his introduction to Imrei Binah [unclear]. Imrei Binah is one of the Mitteler Rebbe’s books. And it is known that Imrei Binah is no ordinary book, but one of the deepest works of Chassidus; some say it is the deepest of them all. The Rebbeim spoke of Imrei Binah in extraordinary terms. I think the

04:31 Speaker 1 Tzemach Tzedek or the Rebbe Maharash said that when they heard Imrei Binah, its depth left them overwhelmed and at a loss. And, as is known, there are descriptions of Imrei Binah as one of the deepest works of Chassidus. The book’s subject is the oneness of Hashem. In Imrei Binah, the Mitteler Rebbe builds upon the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim, explains them, elaborates and expands on them, examines their precise wording, and explains the concepts and the contemplation in which a Jew needs to engage. In the introduction to Imrei Binah, he writes that the purpose of the maamarim of Chassidus that the Alter Rebbe would deliver on Shabbos—the entire purpose of the revelation of Chabad Chassidus by the Alter Rebbe—was to give chassidim a means to fulfill the mitzvah concerning the oneness of Hashem, to contemplate Hashem’s oneness. In particular, the oneness of Hashem revealed by the Baal Shem Tov. It is known that the Baal Shem Tov revealed the depth of Hashem’s oneness: the oneness of “there is nothing besides Him,” the oneness of “He alone exists, and there is none other.” The true oneness of Hashem means that the entire existence of the world is not an independent existence at all, and all existence is G-dliness. It is not merely that there is Divine providence and that G-d is present in the world; rather, in light of that providence, there is no independent existence at all: not me, not a separate self, not [unclear].

05:51 Speaker 1 For “there is nothing besides Him” means exactly that: everything is G-dliness, and the Divine power brings every thing into being, gives it life, and sustains it at every single moment. This is one of the foundations of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, as explained at length in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah in Tanya. The Alter Rebbe brought an interpretation from the Baal Shem Tov of “Forever, Hashem, Your word stands firm in the heavens”—Hashem’s word creates at every moment. On this foundation, the Alter Rebbe built the twelve chapters of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, to make the idea clear. The Mitteler Rebbe says that, in essence, all the maamarim of Chassidus delivered by the Alter Rebbe were intended to give chassidim concepts to contemplate concerning the oneness of Hashem, the higher unity and the lower unity—how the world and G-dliness are one. Through this, one can fulfill the mitzvah “to love Hashem,” attain love and fear of Hashem as required of a Jew, and fulfill the ultimate purpose of making a dwelling for Him in the lower realms. Especially in our generations, when we already stand on the threshold of the Geulah, it is important for a Jew to be permeated with the concept of Hashem’s true oneness. The Mitteler Rebbe writes that this is the meaning of putting on tefillin that are in the head. And he says something very sharp, which is difficult even to repeat: the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah says that “a head that has not worn tefillin” is called “the sinners of Israel with their bodies.” That a Jew who is—

07:08 Speaker 1 that a head, a skull, on which tefillin have not been placed, G-d forbid, is called “the sinners of Israel with their bodies.” Along these lines, the Mitteler Rebbe says that a head into which one does not place the concepts of Hashem’s oneness—the tefillin that are in the head, for the meaning of tefillin is the oneness of Hashem—if this does not take hold in his mind, deep within, and he does not contemplate the higher unity, the lower unity, and the oneness of Hashem, he uses the expression that this is, G-d forbid, a matter of “the sinners of Israel with their souls.” In other words, a Jew needs to hear and understand, and also absorb and internalize, delve into and contemplate the concepts of Hashem’s oneness that were revealed by the Baal Shem Tov and explained by the Alter Rebbe. And here the well-known question arises: What did people do until then? After all, there were good, wholehearted Jews before the time of the Baal Shem Tov, before the time of the Alter Rebbe. What was it like until then? The well-known answer to all this is “beautiful in its time”: everything was revealed at its proper time. When the time came for Hakadosh Boruch Hu to reveal these things, when the time came for “the heavens opened, and I saw visions of G-d.” The time of “the heavens opened,” as it says in the order of—

08:30 Speaker 1 In the era of Moshiach’s coming, the inner dimension of Torah will be revealed. The wellsprings of wisdom and the inner dimension of Torah will be revealed—the concepts that have been revealed from the time of the Baal Shem Tov onward. Consequently, there is an obligation and a necessity to know where we stand, to contemplate, study, and delve into the concepts of the true oneness of Hashem. Especially since this is connected with preparing for the Geulah. For then, in the Geulah, the truth of Hashem will be revealed before everyone’s eyes. In the Geulah, the verses will be fulfilled: “The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh together will see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken”; “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem”; and “Hashem will be King over all the earth; on that day Hashem will be one and His name one.” And here is the point: as cited in the name of the Baal Shem Tov in the entry under the letter Tav, the Baal Shem Tov came to reveal the inner dimension of Torah in connection with the Geulah. A Jew needs to prepare himself for this and enter into the atmosphere of the time of the Geulah, through contemplation and in-depth study, understanding and personal work on the subject of Hashem’s oneness: to study it intellectually and contemplate it. And then to bring it down into the emotions of the heart, as the Tzemach Tzedek says, one must internalize—

09:47 Speaker 1 that in the lower realms, they make the world one and reveal here in this world that “there is nothing else besides Him.” This is the inner Geulah, which prepares for the universal Geulah, when the truth of Hashem will be revealed for all to see: “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” So, in particular, in today’s portion of Parshas Ki Savo, we learn more about the mitzvah of Hashem’s oneness, which we affirm in Shema. We also find a verse along these lines, speaking about the same idea mentioned earlier in the parsha: “You have affirmed Hashem today...” and “Hashem has affirmed you today.” The verses there speak of how Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose the Jews, and the Jews choose Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “You have affirmed Hashem”—the Jews praise Him, proclaim His oneness, affirm Him. Rashi says that “affirmed” is an expression of praise. In other words, the Jews praise Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and then Hakadosh Boruch Hu praises the Jews. The verses spell this out in a number of ways. From these verses, our Sages also learn about tefillin: the Gemara says that just as a Jew puts on tefillin, so too Hakadosh Boruch Hu puts on tefillin. This is also explained in the Midrash on “He tells His words to Yaakov, His statutes and judgments to Israel”: what Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells the Jews to do, He does Himself. And what He does Himself, the Jews do

11:19 Speaker 1 [unclear] below. First He does it, and then, when the Jews do it, the movement is naturally from below upward. Through what the Jews do, they also have an effect above [unclear]. So there is this idea that Hakadosh Boruch Hu puts on tefillin. The Gemara asks: “What is written in the tefillin of the Master of the world?” In our tefillin it says, “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is one.” But what is written in Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s tefillin? “And who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth?” Just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu is one and the Jews proclaim His oneness, so too Hakadosh Boruch Hu proclaims the oneness of the Jews: “And who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth?” The Jews are one nation on earth. The Rebbe explains: What does “one nation on earth” mean? That the Jews reveal the “One” on earth. It does not mean only that they are a unique people. After all, we say, “You are one and Your name is one, and who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth,” and we say this at Minchah too. The Alter Rebbe explains here that “who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth” means that the purpose of the Jewish people, their mission and their purpose in life, is to be a people who bring the “One” into the earth, actually revealing the “One” on earth. In earthly matters, physical matters and material matters, they must not be separated from the true One. And the Alter Rebbe says this in Tanya, Igeres Hakodesh, section 9, and in many maamarim of Chassidus: in earthly, material and physical things, one actually sees Hashem’s oneness in the world. This is “one nation on earth”—the “One” drawn down into the earth. The Jews also explain the concept of Hashem’s oneness,

13:02 Speaker 1 and through this they bring the “One” into the earth, and so they are one nation on earth. That is what makes them distinctive: the “One” revealed specifically amid the many. They reveal the “One,” revealing Hashem’s oneness here in the world. This is how the ideas in the parsha continue: “You have affirmed Hashem today” follows the mitzvah of bikkurim, because the mitzvah of bikkurim works in the same way. The mitzvah of bikkurim applies when a Jew enters the land: “When you come into the land.” Why does he enter the land? He begins to deal with physical things, with the natural world. [unclear] Everything we have discussed comes together here. Now we are speaking about entering the Land of Israel. In the Land of Israel they will encounter physical and material things, the concerns of this world. The Torah says: “When you come into the land that Hashem your G-d gives you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and settle in it.” A Jew enters the Land of Israel, inherits it and settles there. He must remember: “You shall take from the first of every fruit of the ground and put it in a basket,” and he must bring it “to the place that Hashem will choose.” The first thing a Jew must do—bikkurim—is take from the first of every fruit of the ground and bring it to the Beis Hamikdash, bring it to Jerusalem, bring it to the kohen, “to the kohen who will be in those days.” And there he must “respond and say”—express praise and gratitude to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—and “rejoice in all the good.” This is the revelation of Hashem’s oneness on earth.

14:31 Speaker 1 “To the place that Hashem will choose”—the holy Baal Shem Tov, whose birthday is on Chai Elul, explains this in the well-known teaching he gave on Chai Elul in Gan Eden, which the Rebbe Rashab heard from him and repeated: “When you come into the land”—when a Jew comes to his own “land,” a word connected with desire and with being pleased. A Jew has a genuine desire for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and he is truly pleased. And he must know: “To the place that Hashem will choose”—wherever a Jew goes and wherever he stands, he must bring his G-dliness to that place. A Jew must know that when he arrives somewhere, it is not by chance. He has come there because he was led there from Above. That is “the place that Hashem will choose”; Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose it. He does not go there on his own; Hakadosh Boruch Hu leads him there. And what is the intention—why is he led there? “To cause His name to dwell there”: to bring the Divine Presence into that place, to reveal Hashem’s oneness. And how? The Baal Shem Tov says in that well-known teaching: one reveals Hashem’s oneness through a verse of Tehillim, a blessing or a mitzvah. When a Jew is somewhere and the light of Hashem is hidden in that place, he says a verse, performs a mitzvah, says a verse of Tehillim, recites a blessing—and in this way he draws Hashem’s oneness down into the earth. That is “one nation on earth”; that is why the soul descended below. And the Alter Rebbe says even more than this. The Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, chapter 33, that when

15:50 Speaker 1 a Jew has faith in Hashem’s oneness, in the very idea the Alter Rebbe explains in chapter 33 of Tanya, this is “the soul’s true joy.” When a Jew contemplates what the Baal Shem Tov says—“He alone is just as He was before the creation of the world”—that is how He is now, after the creation of the world; there is no difference at all. “I fill the heavens and the earth”; Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here below. Naturally, this arouses tremendous joy in him. “Like the joy”—the Alter Rebbe gives an analogy there—“of an ordinary person who merits to host a mortal king, who stays and lives with him in his home.” That is a great joy. “How much more so” is the joy of hosting the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And this is a great joy, the joy of “How fortunate we are, how good is our portion, how pleasant is our lot, and how beautiful is our inheritance.” The Alter Rebbe says that “our lot” alludes to our faith in Hashem’s true oneness: that even on the earth below, there is nothing else besides Him—to reveal Hashem’s oneness in the world. And the Alter Rebbe says that the very fact that a Jew reveals this within himself—“this is joy.” He explains there in the chapter that it is not just this joy, but “joy doubled and redoubled.” Because I am not only happy that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here below, in Hashem’s true oneness. It goes much further: I rejoice in Hashem’s joy. And the Alter Rebbe says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has joy. “There is no greater joy before Him, may He be blessed, than the light and joy that come specifically from light’s superiority over darkness.” In the world of darkness, in this physical world, in the public domain, in the realm of separation, in this lower world—Hashem is present.

17:41 Speaker 1 This is the idea of the oneness of Hashem. It is Hashem’s greatest joy. There is no greater joy than this. It brings the greatest pleasure Above: that a soul in a body reveals the oneness of Hashem. And when a Jew reflects on this, he rejoices in Hashem’s joy. As it says in chapter 33, “Let Israel rejoice in its Maker.” Everyone descended from Israel should rejoice in Hashem’s joy. Every Jew, being descended from Israel, should rejoice in the joy Hashem has in a dwelling in the lower realms—in His unity and the faith in Him being revealed down here. For that dwelling below is made through faith in the oneness of Hashem. This itself transforms the darkness of the world, turning darkness into light. This is the greatest joy Above, and a Jew should rejoice that Hashem rejoices. On this, he brings another teaching, which the Alter Rebbe says in the name of the Baal Shem Tov. The teaching was printed in the additions to Parshas Ki Savo in Likkutei Torah—not in Likkutei Torah itself, but in the additions, from a manuscript. That is how it appears in a manuscript of the Tzemach Tzedek, who writes it in the name of the Baal Shem Tov. On “You have declared Hashem this day,” he says in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that the Jewish people have been scattered everywhere. Jews travel and wander from place to place. What is the purpose of that? Jews wander throughout the world; wherever you go, wherever you find yourself, there are Jews. And here we are not speaking only about Jews who are great tzaddikim, the most elevated among the Jewish people. We are speaking about Jews, even Jews who do not observe Torah and mitzvos. But they walk through the streets and all sorts of places. The Baal Shem Tov says:

19:30 Speaker 1 What is the point of this? The very fact that a Jew goes somewhere—wherever he goes and wherever he arrives—the very fact that a Jew walks and is present somewhere in the world means that the oneness of Hashem goes there; faith goes there. This itself turns a land of the nations into a holy place; it brings holiness into the world. This is “You shall go to the place that Hashem will choose”—wherever a Jew goes and wherever he stands, he brings the oneness of Hashem there. On this he says, “You have declared Hashem,” and “Hashem has declared you.” It works both ways: Jews proclaim His name as one in the world, and Hashem singles out the name of the Jewish people in the world.

24:15 Speaker 2 A physical, natural thing that happens to a person in everyday life, something he does—over that we say a blessing. A blessing reveals the oneness of Hashem in the world: “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe.” We bring Hashem into the world. So much so that one of the blessings we say in the morning concerns shoes. The Gemara says that when one... how do you say it, the shoes—when one ties one’s shoes, one says, “Who has provided me with all my needs.” A full blessing, mentioning Hashem’s name, with His name and kingship, over shoes, over tying one’s shoes: “Who has provided me with all my needs.” But Chassidus explains that when a person ties his shoes, a complete flow of holiness is drawn down, a complete unification takes place. [unclear] Shoes—the shoe is what is worn on the feet; the foot corresponds to the Shechinah, and the shoe of the Shechinah brings the Shechinah down as well. Tying the shoes brings about a unification in the Shechinah below. The very act of tying shoes brings about a complete revelation of holiness down here in the world. And only a Jew can do this. If a non-Jew were to put on tefillin, it would be like putting tefillin on a hammer; nothing would happen. But when a Jew puts on tefillin, a complete flow of holiness is drawn down; G-dliness is drawn

25:51 Speaker 2 into the world. When a Jew ties a shoe, a complete unification takes place below. And only a Jew can do this. This is “one unique entity”—the distinctiveness of the Jewish people, Hashem’s special nation. And so, when we are in the days of Rosh Hashanah, when the great focus is accepting Hashem’s kingship and crowning Him as King, we see that one of the verses—and indeed the main verse, the central verse in the Kingship verses—is “Hear, O Israel: Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.” We reveal the oneness of Hashem in the world. This is the meaning of “Recite the Kingship verses before Me so that you will crown Me King over you”: “Reign over the entire world in Your glory.” A Jew asks Hashem: “Let everything that has been made know that You made it.” The request on Rosh Hashanah is that the oneness of Hashem be revealed down here in the world. This is the power Jews have to bring it about, through “You have made Me one unique entity, and I will make you one unique entity.” May we see that the prayers are not only [unclear], but that the prayer is explicit: to internalize the oneness of Hashem through studying and spreading Chassidus, and to absorb its teachings on His oneness. And may we merit to see this in the Geulah, with our own eyes: “All the peoples of the earth will see that the name of Hashem is called upon you, and they will fear you.” May there be awe of the Jewish people, and [unclear] of Jews, and may we see it soon in our days: the victories of [unclear], a complete Geulah, peace in the Land, and peace throughout

27:11 Speaker 2 the world. And “all the inhabitants of the world will recognize and know” that the Master of the world—“Hashem reigns” and “rules over the nations.” May it be in the true and complete Geulah, immediately. Amen, may it be His will.