Parshas Emor 5786 "Eileh Mo'adei Hashem Vegomer" - The Proper Preparation for Yom Tov

00:01 The Rebbe told a story at a farbrengen on Shavuos 5729 that he had heard from his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, at a farbrengen on Shavuos 5696—that is, ninety years ago. The story the Frierdiker Rebbe told had been passed down from Rebbe to Rebbe. This is how it happened: The Alter Rebbe called the Mitteler Rebbe to him, and at that time first introduced him to the avodah of Chassidus. The Alter Rebbe told him that he was about to repeat a teaching that was among the first the Maggid of Mezritch had heard from the Baal Shem Tov. Through it, the Baal Shem Tov made the Maggid of Mezritch into a chossid, someone who could receive his teachings. The Maggid of Mezritch taught it to the Alter Rebbe, and it was among the first teachings the Alter Rebbe heard from him; through it, the Maggid drew the Alter Rebbe close—that is, made him a chossid. The Alter Rebbe passed this teaching on to the Mitteler Rebbe. What was the teaching? The verse says: “These are Hashem’s appointed times, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.” The Torah says in Parshas Emor, in the section about the festivals: “These are Hashem’s appointed times”—these are Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s Yomim Tovim; “holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.” And he explained:

01:51 The holy Baal Shem Tov passed this teaching on to the Maggid of Mezritch, the Maggid to the Alter Rebbe, and the Alter Rebbe to the Mitteler Rebbe. It was also among the teachings through which they were introduced to Chassidus. What is the inner meaning of the verse? “These are Hashem’s appointed times”—these are appointed times that belong to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “The Torah preceded the world by two thousand years.” In other words, even before the Torah was given, two thousand years before the creation of the world, these matters already existed above, with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And the Torah waited those two thousand years until it came down here at Matan Torah, until the Torah was received below. Then the appointed times came into being down here: from “Hashem’s appointed times,” they reached this world. “Holy convocations”—through the appointed times, the Yomim Tovim, we draw down holiness. The word for “convocations” is related to calling: we call forth and draw down from kodesh, from the supernal holiness, from the loftiest levels of holiness. Kodesh is on a level of its own—kodesh is the wisdom above—and through the appointed times we draw that supernal holiness down here. “Which you shall proclaim”—all these things come about through the preparations, what we call preparing for Yom Tov. There are preparations one must make for Yom Tov, to get ready for it. Through all this, we draw down

03:23 Hashem’s appointed times and bring them down here, and we draw the supernal holiness into the weekdays. That was the entire teaching, and through it he drew him close. The Rebbe tells the story and asks: When we hear this, what is the great novelty here? There is nothing in this teaching through which one could attain wealth and [unclear]. What has been said here? All these ideas appear in the teachings of our Sages and in the Zohar; they had already been written down. “The Torah preceded the world by two thousand years” is a teaching of our Sages. And drawing down from kodesh—“holy convocations”—from the level of holiness, the supernal holiness, through “holy convocations”: that too is written in the Zohar. We are speaking here about the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid of Mezritch, and the Alter Rebbe—giants in Torah, both its revealed and hidden dimensions. They already knew all these things from the Torah. And the need to prepare for Yom Tov is written elsewhere too. What is so novel about this teaching? The Rebbe says two things. First, we see from this that not everything depends on what is said, but on how it is said. Sometimes a person thinks he needs to present great new insights and lofty ideas, that he must come up with matters of [unclear]. He is told: No. The teaching itself

04:59 can consist of simple things. But when it is said—who says it and how it is said—that is what has an effect. We see this at Matan Torah: as is often pointed out, even simple things were said in the Ten Commandments: “Do not steal,” “Do not murder.” In themselves, these are straightforward matters. But because at Matan Torah they were spoken by Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, amid all the thunder and lightning, the sound of the shofar, and all the revelations of Matan Torah, with a great commotion, they had such an effect that “the people saw and trembled, and stood at a distance.” It penetrated to the very essence of [unclear]. So too here: When the Baal Shem Tov said those things, the ideas themselves were simple. But when they are said with that inner depth, with that G-dliness, with that fire and enthusiasm, they have an entirely different effect. This is also one of the foundations of Chassidus: sometimes we need to recognize that Chassidus takes an idea we have already learned, heard, and known. But when we return to it, delve into its depths again and again, and contemplate it, it affects a person in a completely different way.

06:23 It becomes internalized. And as the Rebbe relates, this is what we saw with our Rebbeim: many times they would instruct their students and chassidim to take an idea in Chassidus, think about it again, study it again, hear it again, and contemplate it over and over—dozens of times. Sometimes forty times, forty-two times, or sixty times—to review it repeatedly. So much so that sometimes it is better to take one idea and contemplate it forty-two times than to study forty-two different ideas. A person might think: Why spend time reviewing? I could learn forty-two new ideas in Torah. Instead, I should keep going over the same idea? I’ve heard it already; I know it; I’m familiar with it. But, says the Rebbe, sometimes when you revisit the same idea, turn it over again and again, work it through, and internalize it, it has an entirely different effect on you. These were simple ideas, but when the Baal Shem Tov repeated them, he put his very self, his essence, his soul into them—“Ana nafshi kesavis yehavis.” And through this he won over the Maggid of Mezritch; likewise, the Maggid won over the Alter Rebbe, and the Alter Rebbe the Mitteler Rebbe, and so on. But afterward, when we reflect on it, [unclear] is contained in this teaching. And in this teaching

07:48 there are chiefly three points, three fundamental matters in serving Hashem, which encompass central ideas in Chassidus. The first is [unclear] “The Torah preceded the world by two thousand years.” The Torah stands and waits for thousands of years until a Jew comes to receive it and study it. And when the Jew studies Torah, he elevates that Torah. In other words, all these things do indeed exist beforehand in G-dliness, with their roots and sources in the loftiest levels. Nevertheless, such is the power of a Jew that the Torah stands and waits thousands of years for him to come and study it. Through doing so, he affects the Torah; he draws something new into it. It is explained in many places in Torah and Chassidus that when a Jew studies Torah, he elevates it. This is one of the ways Chassidus explains the phrase, “Anyone who engages in Torah study for its own sake.” What does “for its own sake” mean? Lishmah—“for its sake,” in the feminine—means for the sake of the Torah. A Jew studies Torah because through his study, as he learns, he lifts up the Torah, elevates it, and draws [unclear] into it. The Torah in itself is the wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but it is [unclear].

09:15 On that level, it is wisdom. But when a Jew studies Torah, he draws the Essence and Being of Hashem into the Torah—lishmah, for the sake of the Torah. As Chassidus quotes in the name of the Midrash, “David would connect the Torah above with Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” He brings Hakadosh Boruch Hu into the Torah. This is what the Baal Shem Tov said: “Hashem’s appointed times” stand and wait for thousands of years. The same applies to every Jew, every year, with every appointed time and mitzvah: when Yom Tov arrives, when Shabbos arrives, when a particular time or mitzvah arrives, that mitzvah, that Yom Tov, that appointed time stands above and waits for the Jew down here to come. And when he fulfills that mitzvah and celebrates that Yom Tov, he truly draws down from the loftiest levels, brings Hakadosh Boruch Hu into the Torah, and raises that day to a higher level. This is the power a Jew has to affect matters of Torah and mitzvos. And there is a second point here. The second point is “holy convocation”: the power of a Jew to draw holiness into the mundane. What does that mean? Not only does a Jew affect the Torah and mitzvos themselves—drawing close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu through Torah, bringing Hakadosh Boruch Hu into Torah and mitzvos, and elevating Torah and mitzvos to a higher level, as... Rather, through this,

10:37 When a Jew celebrates Yom Tov, through his actions he brings the holiness of Yom Tov into the world, and brings holiness into the mundane as well. In other words, even in everyday life, in ordinary, mundane matters, he brings in holiness. This is what “mikra kodesh,” a holy occasion, means. This is especially the point of Yom Tov, and it is a difference between Shabbos and Yom Tov. When Shabbos arrives, it is a holy day in its own right. As the Gemara puts it, “Shabbos is sanctified and stands.” Every seventh day is Shabbos. That is how it was established from Above: “Six days work shall be done, and on the seventh day is Shabbos to Hashem.” Shabbos is a day given from Above. It does not depend on the Jewish people. That is, it does not depend on a Jew sanctifying and establishing the months and all such things; it is given from Above. The Gemara says, [unclear], “Who sanctifies Shabbos.” We do not say, “Who sanctifies Israel and Shabbos.” Why? Because Shabbos is holy in its own right; it “is sanctified and stands.” Yomim Tovim, by contrast, fall on weekdays. Usually, a Yom Tov falls on a day of the week, and that weekday becomes a “mikra kodesh.” That is why it is called a “mikra kodesh”: a Jew takes a weekday and makes it something

11:59 holy. This gives a Jew strength in all matters of Yom Tov, strength that we draw on throughout the year. As the Gemara says, the point of Yom Tov is [unclear]: to take mundane matters and make them “appointed times for joy,” to make them part of the joy of Yom Tov, to bring in mundane matters and transform them into holiness. This is the point of every Yom Tov. All the more so with Shavuos, where the idea runs even deeper than on other Yomim Tovim. How so? There is a teaching in Chassidus from the Alter Rebbe, among the first teachings he delivered in his early years, [unclear], on the verse “You shall make a festival of Shavuos.” The Alter Rebbe explains: What does “You shall make a festival of Shavuos” mean? “Shavuos” means weeks, the weekdays; shavua, “week,” alludes to chol, the mundane weekdays. “You shall make a festival of Shavuos” means taking the weekdays and bringing a festival into them, making the weeks into a festival. In other words, the work of Shavuos depends on what prepares us for the Giving of the Torah: taking mundane matters and transforming them into the holy Torah, making holiness out of the mundane, making the weekdays holy. Broadly speaking, this is the point of Torah and mitzvos that comes with Shavuos. And the Alter Rebbe said: How do we make the weekdays into a festival, into something holy? It

13:33 happens through the forty-nine days, through the preceding counting. Each day is a day of its own, with its own work. Each day is a day in which we have worked on ourselves. Through that work we reach Shavuos, and the weekdays become holy. This is what he means by “holy occasions”: through Yom Tov, a Jew brings holiness into mundane matters. And there is a third point: “which you shall proclaim.” What I want to say here is that the Yom Tov a Jew celebrates should be one of which we can say that it waited thousands of years for him to come and do with it what needs to be done: to bring holiness into it. And likewise, through it, to bring holiness into all mundane matters, to make the weekdays holy. For this to happen, there must be “which you shall proclaim.” There must be preparation and an invitation before Yom Tov. What does preparation mean? What needs to be prepared? This is one of the fundamental principles of Chassidus and of faith: every mitzvah requires preparation. A Jew does not “fall into” a mitzvah, as chassidim say. A Jew does not “fall into” Yom Tov, simply entering it with no preparation at all. There must be preparation beforehand: learning about the Yom Tov, preparing for it, and becoming involved in its concerns.

15:00 Being in a state of purity and holiness—all the preparation needed before Yom Tov arrives. Preparation is a central principle in Chassidus generally and in Chabad Chassidus in particular. The Alter Rebbe insisted that our avodah proceed in an orderly, gradual way. Chassidus sometimes speaks of avodah by way of a leap. On occasion, at certain times, we are told that a person must move from one extreme to the other, from the lowest depths to the highest—an immense avodah accomplished by a leap. But that is not the usual way of working. It is for particular times and occasions. Generally, the regular avodah must follow a gradual order, step by step. There must be preparation. When there is inner preparation, the mitzvah is performed in an entirely different way. Yom Tov is experienced in an entirely different way. It was often taught among chassidim, by our Rebbeim and in Chassidus, that before Yom Tov arrives, one must prepare for it and develop a connection to it. And the same applies not only when Yom Tov arrives, but every day, before a mitzvah and before davening. As it says in Hayom Yom, before beginning to daven one must go to the mikveh, learn Chassidus, and give tzedakah. There must be preparation before coming to daven, not just walking in. That is why chassidim would get up early and prepare and prepare, until they were ready to go

16:28 and daven. I once heard the Rebbe say at a farbrengen: Regarding the Akeidah, when Avraham Avinu went to the Akeidah, it says, “Avraham arose early in the morning.” Avraham Avinu hurried to the Akeidah: he got up early, made haste, and went. The Rebbe said jokingly, with a chassidic vort: When did Avraham Avinu go to the Akeidah? At what hour? It says “in the morning,” but it does not say at what hour. The Rebbe said it went like this: If Avraham Avinu had been a Litvak, “Avraham arose early in the morning” would mean that he got up as early as possible and immediately set out. But Avraham was a chossid. He got up early, before dawn, but first he went to the mikveh, and he had to learn Chassidus before going to the Akeidah. What does that mean? In short, by the time he set out, it was already daylight. But in any case, what is the point? In serving Hashem, there must be preparation; one must prepare. Before a mitzvah can be carried out in practice, there must be an element of [unclear]: a Jew must prepare—proclaim it, invite it—so that the mitzvah is performed. The same is true of Yom Tov; it does not simply happen. These are the three points that the Baal Shem Tov passed on to the Maggid of Mezritch, that the Maggid of Mezritch passed on to the Alter Rebbe, and that the Alter Rebbe added to and passed on to the Mitteler Rebbe. The teachings reached us through the Frierdiker Rebbe, and are included in

17:52 the Rebbe’s teachings. The Rebbe once said at a farbrengen that this is how one must approach the study of Chassidus: one must know that Chassidus teaches that every mitzvah and every Yom Tov is waiting for each Jew. The mitzvah has been waiting for thousands of years for him to bring light into it and thereby raise it to a higher level. Through this, he draws holiness into the mundane: he changes the affairs of the world and everyday life, making them holy. And in all these matters [unclear], by serving Hashem in this way, preparing himself inwardly, he becomes a vessel for it. For the works of Chassidus also explain, in connection with these days, the verses we find here in the parsha: “These are the appointed times of Hashem, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.” There is something interesting here: the verses in our parsha, the section of the festivals in Parshas Emor, speak about Pesach, Shavuos, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkos—all the Yomim Tovim. But in the middle, they also give the laws of the mitzvah of counting the Omer, the counting of [unclear], and all its details. Those are not appointed times of Hashem; the Omer is not a Yom Tov. Yet all forty-nine days of the counting, and all the details of its laws, appear in the middle of the section on the festivals. The sefarim say that this is

19:22 the point: in truth, we see from here that all the days of the counting are part of the appointed times. For example, when the Torah says, “These are the appointed times of Hashem, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times,” “the appointed times of Hashem” includes the counting of the Omer. All forty-nine days between Pesach and Shavuos are days of appointed times; they are Hashem’s appointed times. On each day of the Omer, through counting the Omer and refining his character traits, a Jew turns that day into an appointed time. He makes the days bright and joyful, into appointed times. Through the work of counting the Omer, a Jew prepares for the Giving of the Torah. Consequently, all forty-nine days receive something of the holiness of the appointed times, and a Jew has the power to draw greatness into them, the light of greatness. For that is the point of the appointed times, as we said: drawing the light of greatness from the holy into the mundane. This also explains how the verses connect: first they speak about the menorah, and from there they move to the festivals. What is the connection between them? Why does the section about the menorah come before the section about the festivals? The explanation is that it is like the menorah. The menorah’s purpose is that “from there, light goes out to the entire world.” That is, in the Beis Hamikdash, there by the menorah,

20:52 The Shechinah was drawn down in the place of the Beis Hamikdash, and from there light was drawn to the entire world. The same is true of the festivals: What is the purpose of each Torah passage that deals with a Yom Tov? It draws down G-dliness; it brings the light of that Yom Tov not only into the Yom Tov itself, but into the entire year. As explained, these are the three dimensions of world, year, and soul, all of which are addressed in that same passage. The passage speaks about the kohen, the kohanim, and the Kohen Gadol—and that is the dimension of soul: the holiest people, the holiness of the kohanim and the holiness of the Kohen Gadol. He brings holiness into the Jewish people as a whole; as is known, the Kohen Gadol enters the Holy of Holies and brings holiness to all the Jewish people. That is the dimension of soul. The same is true of place: from the Beis Hamikdash, when the menorah is lit, G-dliness is drawn down there, and “from there its light goes out to the entire world.” And the same is true of time: the festivals draw holiness and G-dliness into the entire year. As mentioned, the days of the Omer count—all the days of the count—are also included among the festivals. As the Rebbe once said at a farbrengen, this includes, in particular, Pesach Sheini and Lag BaOmer. For the Torah calls these days “the appointed times of Hashem.” What are the appointed times of Hashem? The days of the Omer count. We have Pesach Sheini, which is

22:18 a Yom Tov, a minor Pesach; Pesach Sheini is a festival day. And there is also Lag BaOmer, whose significance was revealed specifically in later generations, but everything [unclear]. By calling the days of the Omer count “the appointed times of Hashem,” the Torah hinted that a time would come when Lag BaOmer would be a day of hilula, a day of joy. And not just any day of joy, but a day of joy on which the teachings of the inner dimension of the Torah, the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, are drawn down. He illuminated the world, drew down and revealed the inner dimension of the Torah, the Torah of Moshiach, and made the world an illuminated world, a living world, a world of Geulah. That is why the sefarim say that the light of Moshiach is alluded to in Lag BaOmer. May we indeed merit “the appointed times of Hashem, which you shall proclaim”—that they be the true appointed times of Hashem; that G-dliness be drawn down into the world, and that this exile turn into Geulah in every aspect of the world, in the world itself—so that golah, “exile,” becomes Geulah, with the true and complete Geulah through our righteous Moshiach.