Parshas Tzav - Shabbos HaGadol 5786 "Zos Toras Ha'olah Hi Ha'olah" - How to "Burn Up" the Golus of Edom

00:00 This was in 5699, on 9 Nissan. The police entered the home of Reb Leivik, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, the Rebbe’s father, and Rebbetzin Chana. The police in Russia took Reb Leivik away and imprisoned him. From that moment, he was a prisoner. He spent several months in harsh prisons. They moved him from one prison to another, with all the suffering that entailed, and put him on trial. Eventually, he was sentenced to five years of exile. After his imprisonment, he was sent to a remote place, a non-Jewish village called Chi’ili in Kazakhstan—a different world. There was not even one Jew there. Rebbetzin Chana fought to be allowed to go with him, to be at his side, support him, help him, and see to everything he needed. As is known, he remained there for four years, until, at the end of his term of exile, he was finally able to move to a better place. But his health was already very frail, and he passed away prematurely on 20 Menachem Av 5704. Rebbetzin Chana wrote a precious account, a diary in which she describes in detail everything they went through during that entire period. She tells many stories in this remarkable account, in Rebbetzin Chana’s diary. She writes about the years, the good years she spent with her husband in Yekaterinoslav, in—

01:55 Dnepropetrovsk, where he was already the rabbi of the entire region and led all its affairs with a firm hand. She also writes about the difficult years, the bitter years, and everything they went through. Among the stories, she recounts what happened in 5700 [unclear], that is, the following year. The arrest was on 9 Nissan 5699. For many months they moved him among all those prisons, with all the suffering that entailed. Later, at the end of Adar or around that time, he arrived at the village of Chi’ili, where he had to settle. When Pesach 5700 [unclear] approached, the Rebbetzin describes how it all unfolded. They arrived there, and there was no [unclear]. By the time she reached the tiny room in the non-Jews’ home where they were living, it was already Rosh Chodesh Nissan. They had to begin discussing what they would do for Pesach. The moment the landlady heard that she wanted to do things connected with cleaning for Pesach, she threw them out, and they were left without a roof over their heads. Eventually, she found another home, even worse than the first, and they went through all these troubles and hardships. On her journey from Yekaterinoslav to join her husband, she had brought some utensils with her, including utensils for Pesach, because she knew they would need them. But the utensils were lost or taken along the way, and she was left with none.

03:32 Reb Leivik said that if they had no utensils for Pesach, he would not eat for the rest of Pesach. The Rebbetzin worked very hard until she managed to obtain a few utensils she could cook with. She also managed to get to another town, where Jews lived, to obtain a little fish and meat. All the fish and meat spoiled on the way—a whole story of the bitter things that happened. Then she describes what took place there on Erev Pesach. When Erev Pesach came and it was time to burn the chametz, they took the few crumbs of chametz they had to burn them. They lit a fire outside, in the street, to burn the chametz. She says that when he came to recite the “Kol Chamira” said at the burning of the chametz, they burst into tears. They simply could not go on. They cried and cried. And he could not help seeing and hearing the wickedness taking place there. The “Yehi Ratzon” recited when burning the chametz says: “Just as I have removed chametz from my home, so may You remove all the external forces... and remove the spirit of impurity from the earth”—all those phrases, “and all wickedness will vanish like smoke.”

05:08 First. Here she describes how, as Reb Levi said this, there was truly thunder and lightning; he cried out so powerfully that, as she puts it in her own striking words, no one had ever seen a burning of chametz like it. Of course, she meant that no one anywhere in the world had seen anything like it. But the point is that everything that erupted during that burning of chametz was bound up with a plea to Hakadosh Boruch Hu for the true removal of chametz: to burn away the entire exile and the entire wicked nation, so that “all wickedness will vanish like smoke.” That is what happened at this true burning of chametz. She goes on to describe the Seder night: there was almost nothing to eat, and they had bitter matzah; non-Jews stood outside by the windows, laughing at them and watching them conduct the Seder. Her husband had managed, with difficulty, to obtain a piece of matzah, and they sat at the Seder until two in the morning. Then he said that when he thought of the previous Pesach, when he had been sitting in prison with nothing at all, this year Hakadosh Boruch Hu had granted them freedom. I am speaking about this subject particularly in our time, in the circumstances we find ourselves in today, when we see how all the prophecies are being fulfilled—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu

06:39 will take vengeance on all the enemies of the Jewish people, and that we will see “all wickedness vanish like smoke.” And we do indeed hope that this will come to pass. As the sefarim explain, the whole theme of these days, of the month of Nissan, is connected with the removal of chametz: removing the chametz of Amalek, the chametz of the exile of Edom, the chametz of all these things. All the forms of chametz that must be removed must be burned, so that no trace of them remains. May the entire exile be burned away, and may the complete Geulah come already. I want to speak about a point, a very rich and delightful point, found in a maamar of the Rebbe Rashab, n”e, delivered on Shabbos Parshas Tzav, Shabbos Hagadol, 5675. This maamar is indeed very historic, because the Shabbos Parshas Tzav, Shabbos Hagadol, on which the Rebbe Rashab delivered it was just after 11 Nissan, the day of the Rebbe’s bar mitzvah. The Rebbe was born on 11 Nissan 5662, and his bar mitzvah was on 11 Nissan 5675. That year, 11 Nissan fell on a Friday. On Friday afternoon, [unclear], that was when the Rebbe Rashab, n”e, said [unclear]. In other words, at the very time the Rebbe’s bar mitzvah was taking place—in

08:19 Yekaterinoslav, in Ukraine—the Rebbe Rashab was delivering this maamar in Lubavitch. But when we look at what the maamar discusses, we find truly wondrous ideas there, among the most remarkable ideas, which the Rebbe also returned to several times over the years. They appear in the Rebbe’s maamarim—in 5734 there is a maamar, “Chashav Hagalus,” and later, in 5740, another maamar, “Chashav Hagalus,” which also discusses these matters. There the Rebbe Rashab examines a verse in today’s parsha. The parsha opens: “Command Aharon and his sons, saying: This is the law of the burnt offering; it is the burnt offering.” Yes, the parsha opens with the laws of the burnt offering, all the laws of “the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it,” and how the removal of the ashes must be carried out—all the laws the Torah gives at the beginning of today’s parsha. Notice how it begins: “Command Aharon and his sons, saying,” and continues, “This is the law of the burnt offering: it is the burnt offering on its fire, upon the altar, all night until morning.” On this, the Rebbe Rashab, n”e, cites what Rabbeinu Bachya wrote. Rabbeinu Bachya writes that these verses allude to the exile and the future Geulah. Among the other details, there is also [unclear].

09:56 This is written in the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh on today’s parsha. But here the Rebbe quotes Rabbeinu Bachya on the verse, “This is the law of the burnt offering: it is the burnt offering on its fire.” He interprets the verse as referring to exile and Geulah. He asks: What is “the burnt offering”—ha’olah, “that which rises”? It is the exile of Edom, of which it is said, “Though you soar like an eagle.” “It is that which rises”—he writes—what does the exile of Edom mean? The angelic prince of Edom; the exile of Edom, which is our exile, this last exile, is called “the law of that which rises; it is that which rises.” He cites a well-known Midrash about the ladder of Yaakov Avinu. We find that when Yaakov Avinu went to Charan, he saw in a dream “a ladder standing on the ground, with its top reaching the heavens,” and “angels of G-d ascending and descending on it.” The Midrash asks: What did Yaakov see on the ladder? He saw the angelic prince of Babylon ascending seventy rungs—seventy steps, seventy levels of the ladder. Then he saw the other exile, the angelic prince of Greece, ascending [unclear] rungs. Then he saw the angelic prince of Media ascend fifty-two rungs—fifty-two, for Media. Yes, and then he saw the angelic prince of Edom rising, rising and rising and

11:51 Rising higher and higher, and he could not see where it ended. He was frightened. “Yaakov saw and said”—Yaakov Avinu was frightened and said: “Perhaps” the angel of Edom will keep rising without end, and there will be no end to this. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu said: “Do not fear, My servant Yaakov.” Even if he rises “and sits beside Me,” I will bring him down from there: “Though you soar like an eagle, from there I will bring you down, says Hashem.” As explained, these words refer to the exiles: the exile of Edom, the exile of Babylon, and all the exiles. The exile of Babylon had a set number of years, seventy years, corresponding to those seventy rungs; and there were fifty-two years of Persian exile, and [unclear] years of Greek exile. Then came the exile of Edom, an exile so long that it began [unclear] years ago, and to this day we are still in that same exile. Yaakov Avinu could not see its end, and that frightened him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu told him: You have nothing to worry about. “Do not fear, My servant Yaakov.” Even if he “sits beside Me,” still, “from there I will bring you down”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu will bring him down from there. Rabbeinu Bachya says that this is alluded to in our verse. “This is the law of the burnt offering”—this exile, this darkness, the exile of Edom, which rises; “it is the burnt offering”—the well-known exile, rising and rising and rising, with no end in sight. We need to know:

13:21 “On its fire”—ultimately, it will be burned. The higher it rises, on the contrary, the fire that consumes it will come from there. It will burn in the fire of Gehinnom. As he cites from the Midrash, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will take a cap from Edom and set it on fire, and this will be Edom’s greatest destruction, after all the suffering it caused the Jewish people. But the holy Ohr Hachaim discusses these straightforward matters at length. He goes on to address other things in today’s parsha. As is well known, the Rebbe mentioned the Ohr Hachaim several times at a farbrengen on Shabbos Hagadol 5672—I certainly heard about it from Shabbos Hagadol 5651—and the Rebbe cites the holy Ohr Hachaim. There he adds that this is “all night until morning.” As he explains it, “all night until morning” refers to our millennium, the sixth millennium. The first half of the sixth millennium, from its beginning until 5500, is “all night”—the darkness and all the troubles. As he describes there, we see all the suffering the nations cause the Jews. He speaks about the countries, and particularly Yishmael and the Yishmaelites, who caused suffering unlike that caused by any other exile. He recounts those bitter experiences, for as is known, as the Rebbe said, the holy Ohr Hachaim himself went through

14:43 all those hardships in Morocco, where he lived. He says that “the light of morning” is the second half of the night, which already shows signs of morning, of Geulah, when there will be only good. As is known, the holy Ohr Hachaim lived around the year 5500. Already then he had the hope, faith, and confidence that the second half would be entirely different. As the Rebbe discusses, this is connected with the revelation of the Baal Shem Tov, the revelation of Chassidus and the inner dimension of Torah, the “spirit of Moshiach,” and “your wellsprings spreading outward.” All this began specifically in the second half: from 5500 onward began the main revelation of the preparations for Moshiach. And as the Rebbe said in 5751, even within this half, by 5751, half of those five hundred years had already passed. That means we are already on Friday afternoon, after midday. As the Rebbe also added, according to this [unclear], Friday afternoon actually began back in 5500. If so, we are already at the time of plag haminchah, and so on. In any event, this is the time of Geulah. And in the verses that follow, the holy Ohr Hachaim shows us

16:12 throughout the continuation of these verses how, and through what merit, we will attain the Geulah. We should mention what the Rebbe said on Shabbos Hagadol, Shabbos Parshas Tzav, [unclear]. He says that the matters being discussed here are also connected with burning the chametz. He says that the exile of Edom in which we now find ourselves is overcome specifically through [unclear], and this is the main intent of burning the chametz. As he cites from the writings of the Arizal, from the book Tur Barekes by a disciple of Rabbi Chaim Vital, which says in its discussion of the intentions for burning the chametz that the whole purpose is to draw down the gevurot of Atik. This is a fire from above, and the gevurot of Atik are the powers of the Essence. This is the meaning of “striking Egypt and healing Israel.” From there comes the burning, the fire that consumes the entire evil spirit of kelipah and the sitra achra, of the exile of Edom. As the Midrash and the Gemara also say of the sun that will emerge in the time to come, the wicked will be judged by it and the righteous will be healed by it. This is what he says here about burning the chametz: When a Jew burns the chametz on Erev Pesach, he thereby burns away every aspect of kelipah and the sitra achra, and all the power of Edom, and he

17:44 destroys it, burning away the entire exile. This prepares for the revelation of the time to come and the revelation of Moshiach. As the Midrash says, by eliminating the descendants of Amalek we merit the building of the Beis Hamikdash: “When Hashem your G-d gives you rest from all your enemies around you ... you shall erase the memory of Amalek.” As the Rebbe cites the well-known teaching about the three mitzvos, so it will be in the time to come: After appointing a king, Moshiach the King, he wages war against Edom and Amalek, and against all the forces that give rise to Amalek in this generation, and then comes the revelation of Moshiach. Pesach is the fitting time for this, an auspicious time. Just as it was the first time, during the exile in Egypt, so it will be in the future Geulah. In this connection, the Rebbe cites what is written in Panim Yafos. Panim Yafos is a book by the author of the Hafla’ah, Rabbi Pinchas, who, as is known, was among the [unclear]. Rabbi Pinchas and Rabbi Shmelke, as mentioned also in the introduction to the Shulchan Aruch, were both with the holy Maggid and had a connection with the Alter Rebbe; they were among his friends, and so on. Rabbi Pinchas, the author of the Hafla’ah, writes in his book Panim Yafos, a commentary on the Torah in the style of derush. In this connection he offers

19:13 an explanation of this verse. He explains the verse here: It says, “Command Aharon and his sons.” Rashi says that “the word ‘command’ always implies urging, both immediately and for future generations.” Panim Yafos asks: What is the significance of “immediately and for future generations”? He explains that “immediately” refers to the offerings. This passage deals with the offerings brought when the Beis Hamikdash stood. And what does “for future generations” mean? He says it means what our Sages teach: Whoever studies the laws of a burnt offering is considered to have brought a burnt offering; whoever studies the laws of a meal offering is considered to have brought a meal offering; and so on. Thus, “for future generations”—when there is no Beis Hamikdash, a Jew can study Torah at any time, and it is as though he performs all the rites of the offerings. This is what he says about the verse here. The Rebbe explains this in a maamar: A Jew comes and asks, How do we merit it? Through what merit will we attain it?

20:15 [unclear] from both Amalek and the exile of Edom. As the Rebbe says, we burn away all the darkness of exile and bring the light of Geulah. This is through two things: offerings and Torah. In serving Hashem, these correspond to prayer and Torah. Offerings are also connected with prayer. Prayer stands in place of the offerings: “The prayers were instituted to correspond to the daily offerings.” This is the burnt offering, literally a burnt offering, the tamid: the morning tamid and the afternoon tamid. These correspond to the Shacharis, Minchah, and Maariv prayers. These are the prayers connected with the offerings. Then he speaks about Torah: the dimension of derush, of engaging in Torah study. These are the two things: the service of prayer and the study of Torah. Through them, we burn away the kelipah of Edom and bring the Geulah. That is how the whole matter is explained. It is a remarkable idea. This is brought [unclear]. What is the central point in serving Hashem? The soul descends into the world. The souls of the Jewish people descended into the world to illuminate it. That is their purpose. By descending into this physical world as souls in bodies, together with the body and the animal soul, they refine and transform them. They subdue the animal soul and transform it, making it a vessel for holiness. In this way, they fulfill the Divine intent of making a dwelling in the lower realms and bring about a world of Geulah. This is why souls descended into the world. This is what the verse says: “Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed, indeed, whom I made,” says the Rebbe. What does “everyone who is called by My name” mean? It also means souls. The Jewish people are called by His name. And the Gemara says in Bava Basra, [unclear], the Gemara says about the righteous,

22:24 The Jewish people are called by the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Chassidim and tzaddikim are called by His name. But not only chassidim, not only tzaddikim—the Jewish people, all Jews, are tzaddikim. And who is called by His name? The verse says, “Everyone who is called by My name.” The Jewish people, the Jews, are “called by My name.” This is “For His people are Hashem’s portion,” “an actual part of G-d above.” The soul is, in essence, “called by My name.” The verse tells us that the soul, which is “called by My name,” descended below and became clothed in a body and an animal soul, in this physical world. This is a world full of kelipah and sitra achra, where the wicked prevail. One might ask: What is the point of all this? Why must the soul descend and enter the body? To this the verse answers: “For My glory.” All of this is “For My glory I created it.” When the soul descends below to illuminate the world through Torah and prayer, through refinement and transformation—that is the meaning of “For My glory.” All of it is for the glory of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Through this, Hashem’s ultimate intent is fulfilled: to make a dwelling for Him in the lower realms. And this is what the Torah tells us next. The Rebbe says: this is Torah. When a Jew does these two things [unclear]. What is meant here by serving Hashem is the service of prayer. Prayer is the ladder, like the ladder we spoke about earlier. That is the concept of the ladder in prayer. [unclear] all the roots of exile. When a Jew strengthens himself, especially in our time, there must be [unclear] the service of prayer. We ascend and ascend in holiness—the ascent in prayer. A person rises from level to level. This is explained in Chassidus: the whole concept of the ladder of prayer. At every stage of prayer, a person rises from level to level, with

24:28 more intention, with greater attachment, with a deeper bond, with a greater sense of Hashem’s greatness. That is the ascent in prayer. And there is something else to take from this: after prayer comes Torah study. It is specifically there, in Torah study, that the principal drawing down takes place. Through Torah study, we draw Hashem down; we bring the Torah down below. We bring the Torah and its greatness down here into the world. When a Jew has prayer and Torah, these two things [unclear] break the kelipah of [unclear], the kelipah of Edom. We take it [unclear], the Rebbe says, bring it down and cast it below. And [unclear] a blazing fire. Then we cast it into the fire of [unclear], of Gehinnom. And then the entire transformation of darkness into light takes place, leading to the complete Geulah. In particular, we are now in such great days, at the time of Shabbos Hagadol, approaching Erev Pesach. This is the time for removing chametz. And indeed, this very year we should merit the removal of every spirit of impurity from the earth, and “all wickedness shall vanish like smoke.” That is what we say in the text for removing chametz. May we indeed merit the complete Geulah. And as we say in the Haggadah: “There we will eat of the offerings and the Pesach sacrifices, whose blood will reach the wall of Your altar with favor; and we will thank You with a new song for our redemption

25:58 and for the deliverance of our souls.” May the complete Geulah indeed come this very year. Amen, may it be His will.