Parshas Vayikra 5786 "It is proper to say Parshas Hanasi" - The Eternality of the Nesi'im and Their Influence

00:00 The Frierdiker Rebbe relates that when he was a child, only four or five years old, it was a short time after the passing of his grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash. The Rebbe Maharash passed away in Tishrei 5643. The Frierdiker Rebbe was then not yet three years old. His father, the Rebbe Rashab, whose yahrzeit falls this week, on 2 Nissan, was deeply broken after his father’s passing. He was a very young man, as is known; the Rebbe Maharash passed away at a young age, and his son, the Rebbe Rashab, was then about twenty-two. He was deeply broken: he had lost both a Rebbe and a father. The Frierdiker Rebbe relates that, as a little boy, he liked to go into the yechidus room, the Rebbe Maharash’s room. It was not a large room, and to one side stood an armchair, a kind of sofa, a soft seat one could sit on. The Frierdiker Rebbe relates that, as a child, he liked to sit there and look around. Once, while sitting there, he suddenly noticed the door opening and saw his father enter—the Frierdiker Rebbe’s father, the Rebbe Rashab—fully dressed and wearing a gartel. He came in, and then—

01:47 [unclear], the Frierdiker Rebbe watched. The child saw him and immediately tucked himself farther in so that his father would not notice he was there. His father, the Rebbe Rashab, entered with a note, as one does when entering yechidus. He approached the holy table, the yechidus table, where the Rebbe Maharash used to sit and receive chassidim for yechidus. The Rebbe Rashab, his son, stood by the table as a chossid would when entering yechidus, wearing a gartel, his head bowed, and began reading the note he had brought with him, his yechidus note. Tears streamed down his face as he stood [unclear] and wept. He stood there for some time, then calmed down and left. Throughout it all, the child, the Frierdiker Rebbe, only four or five years old, sat to the side and saw everything. [unclear] the sight, the whole experience, affected him deeply. He later told this story, and that was shortly after the passing of the Rebbe Rashab. The Rebbe Rashab, the Rebbe, of blessed memory, passed away on 2 Nissan—

03:24 in 5680. As is known, the last maamar the Rebbe Rashab delivered in public was on Purim, the maamar “Reishis Goyim Amalek.” There is a special story surrounding the delivery of that maamar. The Rebbe Rashab said then—this was already the second maamar that Purim—that with this maamar [unclear] the kelipah of Amalek. At that moment, the police came in and wanted to cause trouble. The Rebbe Rashab began the maamar and said that through it they would be completely nullified. And so it was: they left without doing anything or causing any harm. But afterward the Rebbe Rashab became [unclear], and a little more than two weeks later, on 2 Nissan, he passed away. The first maamar the Frierdiker Rebbe delivered afterward, on Pesach 5681, had the same opening words: “Reishis Goyim Amalek.” [unclear] Moshe Rabbeinu, King David. That is how it appears there [unclear]. It says there that Moshe Rabbeinu concluded with “Fortunate are you, Yisroel”—“Fortunate are you, Yisroel” in the blessings—while King David opened with “Fortunate is the man.” So too here: the last maamar of the Rebbe, of blessed memory, was “Reishis Goyim Amalek,” and the first maamar the Frierdiker Rebbe delivered when he assumed the leadership—

04:53 was [unclear] Amalek. That maamar is based on his father’s maamar from that Purim, with additions and explanations. In that maamar he relates the story and brings it as an explanation of its subject. The maamar deals with profound concepts in Chassidus. There he explains the meaning of “He endures and His Name endures, and His throne is established, and His kingship and His faith endure forever.” Just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu is eternal and enduring, so are the lights and the sefiros—both the lights and the vessels. All the levels are eternal because they are bound to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Since everything is connected and bound to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, everything has that same power of eternity. The Frierdiker Rebbe says in the maamar that the same applies to tzaddikim. Tzaddikim resemble their Creator, and they too possess eternity. “He endures and His Name endures, and His throne is established, and His kingship and His faith endure forever”—this is said of Jewish souls, which also possess eternity. And just as the levels of the lights are bound to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, they too endure eternally. With tzaddikim, we see this not only in the tzaddikim themselves. Even after their passing, when the soul ascends above, they still possess eternity. More than that: even their vessels, the objects they used, possess eternity. To illustrate this, he relates the story of—

06:18 what he saw: after the passing of his grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash, his father entered his grandfather’s room, and when he went in, it was, as it were, just as it had been during his grandfather’s lifetime. There, beside the table and chair, he saw his father standing in yechidus, right before his eyes. This expresses the point: not only the tzaddik himself, but also all the objects he used—the table, the chair and the other things he used—carry within them the tzaddik’s eternity. This is the power of a nasi, the power of a tzaddik. A tzaddik, a nasi, possesses eternity, and this is received from the first nasi, Moshe Rabbeinu. The same applies to the Moshe of every generation. Moshe Rabbeinu was the first nasi, and of him the Gemara in Sotah says, “All the works of Moshe’s hands are eternal.” And just as the Gemara in Sotah says of Moshe Rabbeinu himself, “Just as there he stands and serves, so too here he stands and serves”—that he possesses eternity—so too the things Moshe worked on. The Gemara says that everything Moshe made with his hands, “all the works of Moshe’s hands”—the Mishkan, its vessels, the trumpets and so on—are eternal. They exist to this very day, though hidden. And likewise—

07:44 with the nesi’im of the Jewish people, who carry on his work and are all an extension of Moshe, the first nasi. The month of Nissan in particular is connected with the nesi’im. The Rebbe spoke about this, and I’ll now relate something from the farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Vayikra 5747. The Rebbe delivered an entire sicha then, a very interesting sicha, on a subject connected with Nissan. There is a Jewish custom, dating back to early times and mentioned in works of Kabbalah, that throughout the Jewish world people begin reading the passages about the nesi’im on the first day of Nissan. Regarding the practice of reading these passages, the Alter Rebbe writes in Shulchan Aruch that Tachanun is not said on the first day of Nissan, or throughout the rest of the month, because the Mishkan was inaugurated then. On Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the eighth day of the inauguration period, the altar and the Mishkan were inaugurated. Then came the twelve days from Rosh Chodesh Nissan through 12 Nissan, during which each nasi brought offerings on behalf of his tribe. Therefore Tachanun is not said on any of those days. And on those days when Tachanun is not said, the custom is to read the passage about that day’s nasi after davening and add a special prayer, as printed in the siddurim.

09:28 In the “Yehi Ratzon,” we ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu that all the sparks of holiness and holy lights of that tribe should shine upon us. All Jews say it. And according to the Chabad custom, everyone may say the prayer for all the tribes. The Rebbe Rashab once said that everyone should say it, because each person has a connection to that tribe, even though today we do not know this openly. It is also connected with reincarnation and so on, with the roots of souls. Souls of others may also become invested within a person, so all the tribes have a connection to all the tribes. We say the “Yehi Ratzon,” and it is very rich in content. It contains a great request: “May all the holy sparks” from the holiness of that tribe “shine upon me,” and may this be “for me, my offspring, and my offspring’s offspring, until the end of all generations,” so that we may “understand and gain insight into Your Torah and Your secrets.” All of these things are expressed in the wonderful requests based on this. As the Rebbe discussed at that farbrengen, on Shabbos Parshas Vayikra 5747, he dwelt on something that seems puzzling: Why do we make such a great occasion of the nesi’im’s inauguration offerings? We make a whole observance of it and give it great importance. We do not say Tachanun, we read the passage ourselves each day, and we say a special request—where do we find anything like that? We do not find that we make an entire observance out of every account the Torah tells. Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos are overarching matters. The Exodus from Egypt, the Giving of the Torah and so on—these

11:03 General matters, major matters. We commemorate miracles and make a Yom Tov of them. But we do not find that a Yom Tov is made of every detail the Torah relates. So why, seemingly, all the excitement, the great fuss and the great significance attached to the fact that the nesi’im brought offerings—the offerings of the nesi’im—and that each nasi came from a different tribe? For twelve consecutive days, we make a whole Yom Tov of it: we do not say Tachanun, and in addition, we read the daily passage and say a special prayer and request, the “Yehi Ratzon.” And all this for what? For the offerings of the nesi’im. What is so great about them? Here we come to the main point, which is connected specifically to the month of Nissan—and that is no coincidence. This is what the Mishnah says in tractate Rosh Hashanah. How does the tractate begin? The first Mishnah says, “There are four New Years,” and continues, “On the first of Nissan is the New Year for kings and for festivals.” In other words, of the four New Years, the first is in the month of Nissan. What does it mean that Nissan is the New Year for kings and festivals? Regarding festivals, the Gemara says it is “the festival that falls within it”: Pesach falls in Nissan. Nissan contains the festival of Pesach. But

12:26 when it comes to kings, the Gemara discusses at length how the New Year for the kings of Israel is in Nissan: when someone becomes king, his reign is counted until Nissan arrives, which is the New Year for kings, for the kings of Israel. I do not need to go into the verses and so on, all those details. What matters is the inner depth of the subject, connected to Nissan being the month in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose the Jewish people. That was when, as the Midrash says, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose Yaakov and his children, the Jewish people,” and “all Jews are children of kings.” That was when Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose the Jews and they became kings. “All Jews are children of kings”—they are kings. As the verse says, “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests.” When the second year came and they erected the Mishkan, the nesi’im came to the Mishkan, and “They shall make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell within them” had to be fulfilled: the Shechinah would rest upon every Jew, “within each and every person of Israel,” through the Beis Hamikdash and the site of the Mishkan. Through this, the Shechinah was revealed in the world permanently and for all time. And this was fulfilled in every Jew—“within them,” within each and every person of Israel. Who has the

13:55 power to bring this about? For that, we need the nesi’im. Their bringing of offerings was not just some incidental matter, but something central. For the nasi is the one who connects Jews with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the role of a nasi: he brings Jews together with Hakadosh Boruch Hu and connects them to Him, as is readily understood from the general role of the nesi’im. And the concept of a nasi is itself connected to that of a king. As we find in the Torah, in Parshas Vayikra, “When a nasi sins”; and a nasi, as Rashi says, is a king who has none above him but Hashem his G-d. In other words, the role of the nasi, as we find with a king of Israel, is to elevate the Jews and bring them to true fear of Hashem. In particular, the Torah says, “You shall surely appoint a king over yourself.” The role of a king is to be “over yourself”: through submitting to the king, the king elevates the Jews and reveals within them the sovereignty of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Every king of Israel represents this; he is an intermediary who connects, [unclear], in order to awaken fear of Heaven in Jews and reveal their connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And that is the role of a king

15:26 who is a nasi—from a word meaning elevation: he elevates the people and brings them closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is why we find the law concerning a king, as cited in Chassidus, [unclear] and as the Rambam states: “Once a king bows, he does not straighten up again.” The general rule in the Shemoneh Esrei prayer is that one bows and straightens up. But of a king it is said, “Once he bows, he does not straighten up again.” Why? Because a king’s self-nullification and fear of Heaven must find their fullest expression. He is utterly self-nullified. “He has none above him but Hashem his G-d.” That defines a nasi; that defines a king. And the nesi’im of Israel—each tribe and each nasi contributed of himself and of his strength; and Moshe Rabbeinu gave, through their bringing the offerings of the nesi’im, the power of the nesi’im, so that they could have an effect [unclear] on each tribe in a particular way, and awaken in the tribe the possibility of “I will dwell within them,” within each individual, through the nesi’im bringing their offerings. So we can understand why this is so important and so relevant. For the offerings of the nesi’im made it possible, for all generations and for all time, for holiness to rest among us—“I will dwell within them.” This was true in the Mishkan, as it was expressed in the First and Second Beis Hamikdash, and in the days of Moshiach, when there will be the Third Beis Hamikdash. And even during exile, when

16:59 there is no physical Beis Hamikdash, the Shechinah still rests among us, for the Beis Hamikdash exists spiritually. There is a Beis Hamikdash in the heart of every Jew, a spiritual Beis Hamikdash. Because of this, every Jew has the power to bring about “I will dwell within them”—the resting of the Shechinah—within himself. Every Jew has the power to bring about “I will dwell within them,” the resting of the Shechinah within himself, inwardly, for all time and on a permanent basis. This helps us understand the great power and distinction of the passage about the nesi’im and their offerings. We can also understand what we say in the prayer: that by reciting the passage of the nasi, “holy sparks” of that tribe “will shine upon me,” and that this gives us the strength “to understand and comprehend Your Torah,” [unclear], and the strength to understand the Torah more deeply, and also [unclear]—we receive this quality of permanence from the nasi, from the nasi himself. This is the significance of the time we are in now, the month of Nissan, a month connected with kings. There is also an interesting allusion here, as explained in Chassidus: “The New Year for kings and for festivals.” What does “for kings and for festivals” mean? Both ideas are also present in the festivals. The Hebrew word for “festivals,” regalim, is related to the word regel, “foot,” and the foot signifies kabbolas ol and self-nullification. On the other hand, the festivals are “the time of our rejoicing.” The service of the festivals involves going up for the pilgrimage, and a Jew must know that he is truly like a foot. This is a matter of kabbolas ol, [unclear].

18:51 The one being led follows the head. Similarly, every Jew is like a foot when he is in a state of self-nullification. He submits to the tzaddik, to the nasi, to the king, and through this he becomes submissive to the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Through this he receives the true joy, “the time of our rejoicing,” found on the Yamim Tovim—“festivals for rejoicing.” This applies to kings and festivals: through the service of the festivals, through self-nullification and kabbolas ol, every Jew becomes a king—over himself, and also a king with the authority of “a kingdom of priests.” A Jew has the strength to be a king and to act in the world, to be part of “a kingdom of priests”; and when a Jew says something, “so shall it be established and so shall it come to pass.” This is why, in today’s parsha, Parshas Vayikra, we find the subject of the nasi. The parsha says, “When a nasi sins.” And on this Rashi comments on the words “When a nasi sins.” All the commentators ask: what does the Hebrew word asher mean here? Some explain it to mean “if,” and others, “when”; how should the word be understood? Rashi, who explains the plain meaning of the verse, comes and says: there is a meaning in the word itself. Asher, Rashi says, means “Fortunate is the generation” whose nasi brings an offering. That is “fortunate is the generation.” What point is Rashi making here? The point is that when

20:37 a nasi comes, what must he be like as a nasi? His role is to elevate: to raise the people of his generation to a higher level, and instill in them true fear of Heaven, true self-nullification and true devotion to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So “fortunate is the generation” when its nasi shows that he, too, has gone through something like this, and he is not ashamed. He takes it to heart. The nasi, as Rashi says there, takes it to heart in order to show the people of his generation how a person must guard against sin and wrongdoing. And if he has stumbled in some matter, he is not ashamed; rather, he brings an offering, and does so with full enthusiasm, to demonstrate what true fear of Heaven should look like. Of this we say, “Fortunate is the generation,” because its people receive this quality from their nasi. That is the role of a nasi: to teach the people of his generation so that we can indeed attain true fear of Heaven and true remorse. And when we need to do teshuvah, we should not be ashamed, but stand up and say the words, “in which I have sinned,” and be able to do teshuvah and begin a new path in serving Hashem. That is the role of a nasi—to elevate the people of his generation to a higher level, for “the nasi is everything.” The month of Nissan is

21:59 The month associated with all the leaders of the Jewish people, as we find in many respects. Our Rebbeim, too, are connected with the month of Nissan in several ways: 2 Nissan is the day of the passing of the Rebbe Rashab and the beginning of the leadership of the Frierdiker Rebbe; 13 Nissan is the day of the passing of the Tzemach Tzedek and the beginning of the leadership of the Rebbe Maharash. And there is also 11 Nissan, the birthday of the leader of our generation, the Rebbe. 11 Nissan is the day of the nasi of the tribe of Asher, and the Rebbe spoke extensively about this. This is “Fortunate is the people for whom this is so; fortunate is the people whose G-d is Hashem.” May we indeed merit, immediately, the true leader, the leader who is King Moshiach. And we learned in the haftorah of Shabbos Parshas Hachodesh: “All the people shall belong to the nasi.” The nasi means the leader, King Moshiach, who is in exile; and immediately, this very month of Nissan, “In Nissan they are destined to be redeemed.” And through each of us strengthening our connection to the leader, to the tzaddik, to Moshe Rabbeinu—and, in simple terms, to the Moshe of our generation—strengthening our connection to the leader, as explained in the sicha, that this connection is through Torah study and through living according to Chassidus, we will merit

23:19 surely to see the revelation of the true leader, King Moshiach. And may we merit to say this coming Pesach, this year: “And there we shall eat of the sacrifices and the Pesach offerings. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Israel.”