Shabbos Bereishis 5786 - Making the World a Place of Holiness Without Breaking It

00:00 It was Shabbos Bereishis in 5750, and I was at the Rebbe’s farbrengen. The Rebbe held two farbrengens that Shabbos Bereishis. It wasn’t planned in advance; no one knew there would be two. The Rebbe held the first farbrengen and, if I’m not mistaken, Shabbos Bereishis that year fell on the eve of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan. The first farbrengen was in the middle of the day, at 1:30, as usual, following the schedule for every Shabbos Mevarchim. Afterward, the Rebbe said there would be a continuation and that he would hold another farbrengen before sunset. And so it was: he held the second farbrengen before sunset, and by the time it ended, it was already night. Then, after Maariv, he distributed kos shel brachah. It was an extraordinary abundance—two farbrengens on one Shabbos. In any case, in one of the sichos the Rebbe said that Shabbos Bereishis, he told a remarkable story that stirred me deeply. He related that someone once brought the Alter Rebbe a gift: a snuffbox. Yes, in those days, I believe, it was common for Jews to use a snuffbox. It was a beautiful, gold-plated box, a truly elegant box, with snuff inside, and [unclear].

01:30 In any case, the Alter Rebbe said then that there is one faculty of the human body whose desires one need not satisfy. With other things, like eating and drinking, a person has to eat; he has no choice. But he must work on himself so that his eating is for the sake of Heaven, and his drinking is for the sake of Heaven. And likewise, with every faculty, a person must work on himself to use it for the sake of Heaven. But the sense of smell is not essential. It is a sense one can live without. And the Alter Rebbe said: Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave a person one faculty whose desires he is not compelled to satisfy. There is no need to indulge its desires; one should restrain it. So the Alter Rebbe set the snuff aside. He took the beautiful box, whose lid was silver and shiny, with a mirrorlike surface. The Alter Rebbe broke the lid off the box and used it as a mirror so that, when putting on tefillin, he could see that the tefillin were centered on his head. When the story was told in the presence of the Tzemach Tzedek, he heard it and immediately remarked that it was not accurate. The Tzemach Tzedek said, “Father didn’t break it—Grandfather, sorry, Grandfather didn’t break it.”

03:03 After all, the Tzemach Tzedek was the Alter Rebbe’s grandson. No, Grandfather didn’t break it. He merely separated the lid, which was attached to the box by a cord or by [unclear], perhaps a screw—whatever held the lid to the box. He simply removed what connected them, and the lid came away from the box. He then used it as a mirror when putting on tefillin. The Rebbe told this story at that farbrengen, and we will see how this story—like every story told about our Rebbeim, which contains a great lesson and guidance in serving Hashem—contains a wonderful lesson in serving Hashem, one especially connected to Shabbos Bereishis. For on Shabbos Bereishis we read the Torah, and on Shabbos Bereishis we establish how we approach things. We begin: “In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth.” The Torah tells us about the creation of the world, and then we enter into the order of creation: the heavens and the earth, the seven days from the beginning of creation, the six days of creation and the creation of man, and the rest of the parsha’s accounts in all their detail. That is Shabbos Bereishis. And there is also the well-known saying that chassidim quote in the name of our Rebbeim: As one sets oneself on Shabbos Bereishis, so the entire year goes. And simply put, this is [unclear].

04:45 When we reach this point, we begin learning the Torah from the beginning, and we learn, “In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth.” Especially in light of the wonderful explanations revealed by Chassidus, and particularly the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching, “In the beginning, G-d created” means that creation takes place at every single moment. It did not happen just once. Rather, at every moment, at every time and every hour, Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings all of creation into being, gives it life and sustains it, truly creating something from nothing. And what is creation from nothing? It comes through the power of the Infinite, the power of Hashem’s very Essence, for “He alone, in His power and ability, can create something from nothing.” Only Hashem’s very Essence can create something from nothing; no created being has that power. Only Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself has the power and ability to create something from nothing. So when Shabbos Bereishis arrives and we learn Parshas Bereishis, and we see in every detail of creation that all of it was created from absolute nothingness by Hashem’s very Essence—then Hashem’s Essence is present in the world at every single moment. When a person comes to recognize this, it gives him the strength to go out into the world and make the world a dwelling place for Hashem. In general, this is the difference between the month of Tishrei and the month of Cheshvan. The work of Tishrei takes place amid the festivals, when we are completely removed from worldly concerns. In Tishrei we have Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos and Simchas Torah; we are in shul, dancing, singing, davening and learning, connected with matters of holiness, with matters of

06:24 mitzvos. During the festivals, we are entirely above, disconnected from the world. When all the festivals end and Shabbos Bereishis arrives, as in the well-known saying of our Rebbeim, we say that it is time for “And Yaakov went on his way.” When the time after Shabbos Bereishis arrives, and especially after Simchas Torah, the work is “And Yaakov went on his way.” Chassidus explains the name Yaakov: Yaakov, specifically, not Yisroel—“Yaakov, My servant.” Yaakov contains the word eikev, “heel.” One must enter the world with the heel, go out on one’s feet, go out into this world. And Yaakov is the letter yud joined with eikev, as in “the heel of Eisav”: to struggle with Eisav, meaning the yetzer hara, the animal soul and all the concerns of this world. One must engage in business matters, each person according to his circumstances, and nevertheless retain the aspect of the yud, serving Hashem at all times. When we say “And Yaakov went on his way,” we mean that, in entering the world, instead of turning Eretz Yisroel into a place outside Eretz Yisroel, we turn the place outside Eretz Yisroel into Eretz Yisroel. This practice goes back to the days of the Alter Rebbe: it was said that after Shabbos Bereishis, “And Yaakov went on his way” begins. That was the practice among our Rebbeim; it was customary to say, quite simply, after Simchas Torah, “And Yaakov went on his way.” And the Rebbe pursued this theme with enthusiasm after Simchas Torah, after Shabbos Bereishis, and even throughout the month of Cheshvan—he truly lived “And Yaakov went on his way.” And with all the levels this involves, that is when a new

07:52 order of service begins. We see that the verse “And Yaakov went on his way” is also said of Yaakov Avinu when he returned from Charan. He was going to Eretz Yisroel. And we say this verse when Jews leave Tishrei and enter Cheshvan. At first glance, that is surprising: we are leaving Tishrei, with its exalted days, and entering ordinary days. And precisely then we say, “And Yaakov went on his way”? Yaakov was outside Eretz Yisroel, in Charan, and returned to Eretz Yisroel. That is exactly the opposite of the direction we seem to be going: we leave Tishrei and its holy days and enter the ordinary days of Cheshvan. Yaakov, by contrast, was on his way back from Charan to Eretz Yisroel. But that is the point. That is the main message, the main lesson, the essential thing we want to say: Jews must know that going from Tishrei into Cheshvan is not like leaving Eretz Yisroel; we are entering Eretz Yisroel. As the well-known saying goes, “Make this place Eretz Yisroel.” A Jew must make this world a dwelling place for Hashem. To do that, we must remember the words of the Baal Shem Tov. But we must also remember that the world is not something to break; the world is something to elevate. And that is the story the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, tells about the snuff. The Rebbe once said at a farbrengen that “the world is nothing but a piece of tobacco.” It is a chassidic saying, an expression chassidim used: the whole world is nothing but a piece of tobacco. And a piece of tobacco is, on the one hand, something one can smell, but it is not good to smoke. And a piece of tobacco is also a small thing; it is not something one needs to smoke.

09:39 Apparently. After all, the whole world is not just temptation. And the Rebbe told him the opposite: to say that it is only temptation is wrong. At the end of the day, a person does feel desire. Especially when we come to teshuvah, to Yom Kippur, and then to Purim. Yom Kippur, the Rebbe says, is also connected with the hundred blessings. Yom Kippur does not contradict the hundred blessings. After all, the ultimate purpose of the Geulah is that the world, too, should be redeemed. We cannot say that it is only temptation. And likewise, we cannot say that the world hardly exists. For the vast majority of people, the world is, at the very least, nothing but temptation. And for chassidim it is even more “nothing but temptation,” the Rebbe said. And that is not good. But this is the lesson the Rebbe wants to teach us, and what the Tzemach Tzedek sought to understand: the world is not something bad. We do not need to break it. We do not need to push it aside or diminish it. We need to use the world and make it into an object of a mitzvah. That is how the Rebbe took a physical object, an ordinary vessel, and made it a vessel for holiness. He made it a vessel for prayer, for the heart and mind to be devoted to Hashem. A Jew can use anything physical in the world and find in it the purpose of a mitzvah, tzedakah, good deeds, and helping another person. There are many ways to use any physical thing and find a G-dly purpose in it. This is the work with which we need to rise up and set out on Shabbos Bereishis. When a Jew leaves Shabbos Bereishis with these strengths, he must remember that at every moment Hakadosh Boruch Hu renews the world—that it is being brought into existence from nothing at every moment. Accordingly, our work must be to reveal this in what we do in the world. We do not need to break it. We need to reveal the G-dly power, to reveal it within existence. “And

11:33 G-d said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” A Jew must make light, bring the light of Torah and the light of mitzvos into the world, and make the world a dwelling place for Him. Make it an illuminated world, a world in which Hashem can be seen. And we must reach the Geulah: “The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh will see together that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.” From this holy day, from the end of Tishrei, from Shabbos Bereishis, we must go out into the coming weeks and make the world a dwelling place for Him. And Rashi says about the first verse that a Jew must remember: “He declared the power of His works to His people, to give them the heritage of the nations.” The whole world is [unclear] Eretz Yisroel, and just as the holiness of Jerusalem spreads throughout Eretz Yisroel, so the holiness of Eretz Yisroel spreads throughout all lands. Until the entire world becomes a dwelling place for Him, with the building of the third Beis Hamikdash. Especially as we leave Shabbos for the weeks of Cheshvan. The Midrash says that Cheshvan is the time when the third Beis Hamikdash will be dedicated. May we merit to see it immediately, right now.