Pesach 5786 - "Vehi She'amda"

00:00 The Frierdiker Rebbe tells a story in a sicha—actually, in a letter—about the holy Baal Shem Tov. In general, Nissan was a very joyous month for the holy Baal Shem Tov. From the very beginning of Nissan he was filled with joy, and all the more so after Pesach—with tremendous joy. As Erev Pesach drew closer, each day became more joyous and lively than the one before. The joy kept growing until Pesach night arrived, the Seder night, which the Baal Shem Tov would conduct with tremendous joy. But in the year 5507, something was different. From Rosh Chodesh Nissan, something unusual could be seen on his holy face. He was deeply distressed, very tense, and very broken. Day by day, as Pesach approached, his condition grew worse. By Erev Pesach he was so weak; the holy Baal Shem Tov had simply been weakened by all the fasting, self-denial, and prayer. He lay in bed, utterly exhausted, and could not move. The disciples gathered a minyan throughout the night before Pesach, said Tehillim, and prayed. His condition continued to worsen, until on Erev Pesach the holy Baal Shem Tov asked them to gather a minyan and say prayers, because, as on Erev Yom Kippur, perhaps [unclear].

01:20 Like Yom Kippur Katan [unclear], specifically on Erev Pesach. And this continued until Pesach night. The disciples were deeply distressed and prayed fervently. They understood that something was happening—perhaps an accusation in Heaven or a decree—that had left the holy Baal Shem Tov so broken. His condition did not improve. When the holy Baal Shem Tov came in for the Seder on Pesach night, he was pale, white. He had to be supported by the arms; he could not walk because he was so broken and weak. That was how the Seder began. It went on like that for several hours, until the middle of the night. Suddenly the Baal Shem Tov closed his eyes, and then they saw a light on his face; the color of his holy face changed [unclear]. Suddenly he burst into tremendous joy and laughed aloud, as though something momentous had broken through. The disciples were astonished and wanted to know what had happened. They kept asking, until the holy Baal Shem Tov himself began to speak and said, “What is it?” Then he told them what had happened. He said that a very harsh decree had been issued against the entire Jewish people, [unclear] expulsion, but a harsh decree was hanging over them, [unclear]. He had tried to annul the decree but had not succeeded.

02:42 As Pesach drew closer, he saw the decree growing harsher. He struggled against it but could find no way to annul it. That was why he had been so broken. Pesach night arrived, and they sat down to conduct the Seder, as Jews throughout the world were doing. In another town, some remote little town, a Jewish couple—a husband and wife—were sitting together at their Seder, as the Baal Shem Tov related. As they read in the Haggadah about the miracles and wonders, the husband turned to his wife and said, “What is going on? Why did Jews once have so many miracles and wonders, while we have none of those things?” He began to cry and lament their situation, the bitterness, the fact that Jews suffer and live among non-Jews who persecute us. Why do we not have all the things the Haggadah tells us about? His wife began to strengthen him with words of trust and faith: surely things would be good, Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves us, and surely everything would be all right, and so on. They spoke this way until, at a certain point during the meal, they began to dance with joy over the certainty that things would be good. And that joy caused an enormous stir Above, the Baal Shem Tov said.

03:55 And that broke the decrees. It aroused great excitement in the Heavenly court, and tremendous joy arose Above. The Baal Shem Tov asked his disciples to place their hands on one another and close their eyes. The holy Baal Shem Tov placed his two holy hands upon them, and as the disciples sat beside him with their eyes closed, they saw that couple, saw their great joy, and saw what it had brought about. The Frierdiker Rebbe tells this story and concludes that it shows the great power of trust in Hashem. Yes, that is its power: the thought that things will be good, the trust a Jew places in Hakadosh Boruch Hu—these themselves annul decrees and bring good, good for the entire Jewish people. And that is really what Pesach is about. Pesach is the festival of trust in Hashem. “I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your bridal days, how you followed Me into the wilderness, into an unsown land.” The Jews left Egypt for the wilderness and relied entirely on Hakadosh Boruch Hu, with complete trust that He would provide everything they needed. And that is indeed what happened. That is Pesach, the festival of trust. And we say in the Haggadah, “Vehi She’amdah—And it is this that has stood by us.” When we want to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, on this one night, the night of the Exodus, the great night of the Seder, when the Divine Presence is revealed, on that night, when

05:15 it is written in the name of the Arizal that on the night of the Exodus from Egypt there is a great strengthening in all matters, and that the Divine Presence is revealed on the first night [unclear], which shines [unclear]. Among the things we say when we come to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt is “Vehi She’amdah.” The Haggadah’s instructions for the Seder say to lift the matzos and take the cup. “Raise the cup,” as the Alter Rebbe writes in the Haggadah in the name of the Arizal. We take the cup in hand and say: “And it is this that has stood by our ancestors and by us: not just one has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves us from their hands.” In other words, just as at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, so too in every generation there are those who want to destroy us, to annihilate and erase us. And in every generation, “He saves us from their hands.” This raises two questions. First, what does “Vehi She’amdah” mean? All the commentators address this: what does “it” refer to? What are we speaking about when we say, “And it is this that has stood by our ancestors and by us”? And second, why do we take the cup in hand? So let us see what the Rebbe says about this in the Rebbe’s Haggadah, which this year marks eighty years since its publication, and especially the wonderful explanation the Rebbe gives there. And I have

06:50 other explanations that the Rebbe gave in later years, as well as explanations found in sefarim. They are all wonderful explanations and interpretations that clarify these matters in serving Hashem, and what we can learn from them now, at the time we find ourselves in. Regarding “Vehi She’amdah,” the Rebbe cites his ancestor, the author of Shaar Hakollel. Shaar Hakollel is a book by the Rebbe’s ancestor, Rabbi Avraham David Halevi Lavut. He was the rabbi of Nikolayev, the city where the Rebbe was born. He was the Rebbe’s great-great-grandfather and a chossid of the Tzemach Tzedek. He writes that the reason for raising the cup is that “song is recited only over wine,” and so the cup must be taken in hand. Since we are singing a song, we take the cup in hand. The Rebbe asks: What does song have to do with this? “Vehi She’amdah” is not a song. It is a blessing, a prayer, an expression of thanks, but not a song. Later, when we take the cup in hand and say, “Therefore we are obligated to give thanks,” that is indeed a song, and that is why we take the cup in hand. But here there is no song, so the explanation seems difficult to understand. The Rebbe points out something very interesting: the Alter Rebbe wrote, “One must raise the cup and cover the bread; so wrote the Arizal.” In practice, our custom is to do this in the opposite order: first we cover the bread,

08:17 and then we raise the cup. But what is the Alter Rebbe telling us here by mentioning “the Arizal’s cup”? The Alter Rebbe does not usually cite sources. In the Siddur, he generally just records the customs as they are practiced, without stating their sources. Why did the Alter Rebbe add the words “the Arizal’s cup” here in particular? The Rebbe says simply: the Alter Rebbe wants to tell us that this is not a matter of halachah. Taking the cup in hand here is not because of the halachah of reciting song over wine, since there is no song here [unclear]. Rather, “the Arizal’s cup” means that this is a matter based on Kabbalah. The custom of taking the cup in hand for “Vehi She’amdah” comes from the Arizal, that is, from the writings of Kabbalah. That is the source of the custom. And indeed, the writings of Kabbalah and the Arizal explain the significance of taking the cup in hand. The Arizal says that the cup alludes to the Shechinah. And the verse says, “I will raise the cup of salvations and call upon the name of Hashem.” The Zohar explains that the “cup of salvations” is the sefirah of Malchus, the Shechinah, which is also called [unclear] Knesses Yisroel. It alludes to the Jewish people, to Knesses Yisroel, to the souls of the Jewish people,

09:34 And that is why all Jews are children of kings. This is Knesses Yisroel, with whom the Shechinah is present. The Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya that every soul is, in essence, connected to the sefirah of Malchus. Knesses Yisroel is the source of the souls. So when we come to say “Vehi She’amdah,” we take the cup in our hand. As we said, this strengthens Malchus. Since the Shechinah is with us in exile, that very fact gives us strength during exile. So this is a concept from Kabbalah, and the Alter Rebbe alludes to it here by noting “the cup of the Arizal”: this is a teaching originating with the Arizal, a Kabbalistic teaching. But what does it mean? First, what is the simple meaning of “Vehi She’amdah”? Before turning to that explanation, the Rebbe first explains the plain meaning of the Haggadah. At first glance, the entire passage of “Vehi She’amdah” does not seem to belong here: we are speaking about Pesach and the Exodus from Egypt, and are about to continue speaking about Pesach. Why insert a prayer in the middle? Rather, the Rebbe explains, the word “vehi”—“and it”—refers to the promise. It continues the preceding passage, where we say: “Blessed is He Who keeps His promise to Israel, blessed is He.” Hashem made a promise to the Jews, and the promise to Israel is what—

11:02 gives us strength. “Blessed is He Who keeps His promise to Israel, blessed is He, for Hakadosh Boruch Hu calculated the end in order to act.” Hashem promised that the exile would not go on forever; it would have an end. “And afterward they will leave with great wealth.” The author of the Haggadah then says: “Vehi”—this promise—“is what stood by our fathers and us.” Just as in Egypt: the Jews were in Egypt, suffering, enslaved, and life was bitter for them. But they knew that Avraham Avinu had been given a promise: “And afterward they will leave with great wealth.” That promise sustained them and gave them the strength to withstand all the trials of exile. This is the meaning of the Haggadah, its plain meaning: “Vehi”—this promise “stood by our fathers and us,” and the same is true for us. Because there is [unclear] in all the verses, that Hashem promised us a time would come when “Hashem your G-d will restore your captivity and have mercy on you, and He will return and gather you from all the nations.” The verses of promise in Tehillim, the Prophets, and the Writings are themselves what “stood by our fathers and us.” At times when “they rise against us to destroy us,” we know with absolute certainty that Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves us from their hands. That is the meaning. Other commentators also explain that “vehi” refers to faith. [unclear] also according to Kabbalah. “Vehi” is feminine in Hebrew, and so is the word for faith; [unclear] this is the faith that the Jews received. Yes, so what—

12:34 Faith in the promise? That is another interpretation, but the previous interpretation is that the promise Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes to the Jews is what stands by us. Whereas the “vehi” that strengthens the Jews, that keeps us firm as a rock in exile, is faith. Yes, that is what the Jews, Knesses Yisroel, receive from the promise. And when we devote ourselves to it and strengthen our faith in the promise, “vehi”—that faith—“stood by our fathers and us.” That is the second interpretation of “Vehi She’amdah.” Then there is a third interpretation, that of the Kabbalist, the Arizal. He says that “vehi” refers to the cup, and we take the cup in our hand. This is “I will lift the cup of salvations”—the sefirah of Malchus, Knesses Yisroel. We say that this cup is the Shechinah in exile, and it is what “stood by us.” For we know that the cup—Malchus, the Shechinah—is with us. As the Gemara says, “Wherever Israel was exiled, the Shechinah went with them.” The Jews are beloved: wherever they were exiled, the Shechinah went with them. They were exiled to Edom, to Babylonia, to Elam—in every exile, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is with us. “Vehi”—the fact that Malchus, the Shechinah, is with us—“stood by us”: it gives us strength, because just as the Shechinah will not remain in exile, neither will we. The Shechinah’s entire descent into exile is only to refine the sparks. Similarly, the soul’s descent below, as the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya, is to refine the body and the animal soul. And ultimately, “He saves us

13:57 from their hands,” and we leave all the exiles. Likewise, it is brought in the name of the Arizal concerning the word “lechaloseinu”—“in every generation they rise against us to destroy us”—that “lechaloseinu,” “to destroy us,” also alludes to “our bride.” This is Knesses Yisroel, the bride of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It alludes to the well-known verse: “Yet even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not despise them or abhor them to destroy them.” The Zohar says that the word “lechalosam,” “to destroy them,” is written without a vav. Hakadosh Boruch Hu promises the Jews that even when they are in exile, in the hardest and deepest exile, nevertheless, “I will not despise them or abhor them to destroy them.” “Lechalosam” alludes to our bride, for the Jews are the bride of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As the Zohar relates—Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say something remarkable there—consider a king whose bride is in the tanners’ market, a market of animal hides, a filthy market full of foul odors that no one can or wants to enter. Yet because his bride is there, the king enters the tanners’ market. Not only does he enter, but he is there with the greatest joy; to him, all those odors are like the most pleasant fragrance, as the Zohar describes there at the end of Parshas Noach. Similarly, when we say here “lechaloseinu,” the allusion is to “our bride.” We are speaking of the bride of Hakadosh Boruch Hu,

15:24 and Hakadosh Boruch Hu protects the bride and enters the tanners’ market—which is the physical world, a world full of kelipos and the sitra achra. This is the world in which “Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling in the lower realms.” Through their avodah, through their struggle with the body and the animal soul, the Jews transform the animal soul, the tanners’ market, and make it into the greatest dwelling for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, which will be revealed with the coming of Moshiach. Of this we say, “Vehi”—this Malchus, this cup, Knesses Yisroel—“stood by our fathers and us” through all of this, so that “Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves us from their hands.” May Hakadosh Boruch Hu indeed help us merit to see with our physical eyes, souls actually in bodies, that “Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves us from their hands,” even before Pesach. May we merit the complete Geulah—“From the narrow place I called to Hashem; Hashem answered me with expansiveness”—and celebrate Pesach. And by each of us strengthening our absolute trust, as the holy Baal Shem Tov said that Pesach is a time for trust, may the matzos we eat—“the food of faith, the food of healing”—heal all the afflictions of exile and bring the complete Geulah. May there be peace in the Land, peace for Israel, peace in the body, peace in the soul, and peace in the world. And may the true Geulah come already through the Prince of Peace, as the verse says: “Of the increase of his rule and of peace there shall be no end, upon

16:50 the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it from now and forever”—the true and complete Geulah, for “In Nissan they were redeemed, and in Nissan they are destined to be redeemed.”