Parshas Behar-Bechukosai 5786 "Im Bechukosai Teleichu" - Toiling in Learning

00:01 The Frierdiker Rebbe relates in one of his sichos that a young man once came to Lubavitch to study at Tomchei Temimim. He was an outstanding student—gifted, with a very good mind and remarkable abilities. He learned exceptionally well, a real prodigy. He was in the top group in the yeshiva, among its leading students. Once, before Pesach, the Rebbe Rashab, the founder of the yeshiva, saw the young man from a distance and asked the Frierdiker Rebbe, who was then running the yeshiva, about him. The Frierdiker Rebbe told him what he knew. The Rebbe Rashab said that this was good, that the young man was indeed gifted, but he could see a certain coarseness in his face, a certain lack of refinement. He needed to be refined; even the look of his face needed some refinement. The Frierdiker Rebbe immediately understood what he meant and began working with the young man. Since it was a few days before Pesach, the Frierdiker Rebbe called him in and said he had a job for him. Pesach was approaching, and there was a great deal of work to do in the yeshiva beforehand. There were hundreds of students, and the rooms, the tables, and

01:45 everything else, including the chairs, had to be cleaned and prepared for Pesach. It was a whole undertaking, demanding real effort. At the same time, all the yeshiva’s regular study sessions continued each day, with everything they entailed. He put the young man in charge of all those preparations. He had to work hard preparing, arranging, and cleaning everything needed, so that it would all be in its proper place. At Tomchei Temimim, you couldn’t say, “I don’t want to,” “I can’t,” or “I don’t know how.” When the Rebbe said something, there were no questions. When the person running the yeshiva said something, there were no questions. And the young man had to manage this too. But the Frierdiker Rebbe certainly did not tell him, “You’re excused from learning.” He had to study everything like any other student and attend every study session, just like everyone else. Not only that, he gave him another task: he had to review all the maamarim the Rebbe Rashab delivered over Pesach, learn them, and even be tested on them. He had to know the maamarim. The Rebbe Rashab delivered long, profound maamarim. The young man had to review them, know every line, and be able to recite them straight through. Of course, for a student this was extremely difficult on every front. Hard work, tremendous effort. On the one hand, he had to attend the yeshiva’s study sessions. On the other, he had to

03:14 review the maamarim delivered by the Rebbe of that time, the Rebbe Rashab, know them, and be able to be tested on them. And along with that, he had to do backbreaking work on everything connected with the kitchen, the yeshiva, [unclear], and all the preparations. It really was backbreaking work. He had no day and no night, and he exerted himself tremendously throughout Pesach. But of course, at Tomchei Temimim there was no other option, and he kept it up throughout Pesach. The whole week passed, and the last day of Pesach arrived. The Rebbe Rashab came to eat the final-day-of-Pesach meal with the students, as had been the practice since 19 Kislev 5666, when he sat with the students and farbrenged with them over the four cups of wine. That was when the custom of Moshiach’s Seudah with four cups began. He would also share words of Chassidus, as was his practice. They were sitting at the table, at the farbrengen. The Rebbe Rashab looked at the young man. The young man did not know it, but the Rebbe Rashab had noticed him. He quietly called over his son, the Frierdiker Rebbe, and said, “From what I can see, thank Hashem, the work with this young man has had its effect. The face he had, that…”

04:36 The work, the effort he put in, went on to shape him, and it refined him. And with Hashem’s help, everything he did produced a tree that bore fruit and more fruit, in Torah and avodah, as the Temimim always aspired to do. Chassidim relate that this young man—and today it is no longer a secret—went on to become one of the great chassidim of his time, Rabbi Avraham Plotkin. In later years, he was among the important rabbis, mashpi’im, and leaders of the chassidim during the difficult period in Russia. He subsequently left Russia and came to France. He passed away in [unclear]. In the weekly parsha there is a verse: “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments.” On “If you walk in My statutes,” you all know what Rashi says. What does “walk in My statutes” mean? “That you should toil in Torah study.” Why is it called “walk in My statutes” if it means “that you should toil in Torah study”? Rashi himself addresses this. Rashi says that, at first glance, “My statutes” could mean the mitzvos—but immediately afterward the verse says, “and keep My commandments.” So it is not speaking here about the mitzvos; keeping the mitzvos comes next. If so, how do we fulfill “walk in My statutes”? It refers to toiling in Torah study. But that raises a question, as all the commentators ask—the Maharal of Prague and others:

06:14 How does that fit the words “walk in My statutes”? Where is it written in those words? Where is Torah mentioned here? It says “My statutes”; “statutes” means laws. And “walk”—where does that speak of toiling in Torah study? That is the question: how does that meaning fit into the verse? Most commentators point out that Rashi derives it from the word “walk.” It does not say “do,” “keep,” or “fulfill.” The wording is “walk in My statutes.” What connection is there between statutes and walking? Since it says “walk,” we understand that it is speaking of something particular—progression. Progression applies to Torah. It applies to learning, where one goes from strength to strength, from one level to the next, from one depth of understanding to a deeper one. That is where the idea of walking applies. With a mitzvah, it is the same mitzvah, the same act of fulfillment; the idea of progression does not apply there to the same extent. Walking, simply put, means going from strength to strength. That happens primarily in Torah study, where one can continually add to one’s learning. So when the verse says “walk in My statutes,” we understand that it is connected to Torah study. The question is: what is the connection to “My statutes”? Chassidus explains that the Hebrew word for “My statutes” has two meanings. It comes from the word for “statutes,” but it is also related to the word for “engraving.”

07:44 As is well known, there are two ways of serving Hashem. There is writing, and there is engraving. What is the difference between them? First, in simple terms: when you write on parchment, what is written and the parchment are two separate things, one placed on top of the other. They remain separate. With engraving, by contrast, the engraving and the stone become one. There is another point as well: engraving demands a great deal of effort and work. In writing, the ink is something added; sometimes it can even be erased. But the main point is that writing itself does not demand so much strength, exertion, and work, because it joins two separate things. When you want to engrave in stone, even on the most basic physical level, it takes a great deal of strength. You have to strain, toil, and sweat to make the engraving. Once it has been engraved, it becomes one with the stone. It lasts and remains forever; it is not something added to the stone. The same is true in serving Hashem: there are two ways of serving Him. A person studies Torah and fulfills mitzvos, with all that entails—fear of Heaven, halachah, observing Torah and mitzvos. But in Torah study there are two distinct possibilities. One is that the person remains an entity unto himself while he studies Torah and fulfills mitzvos, so that it all remains something added to him. Here there is

09:40 Second: what does engraving mean? That a person and the Torah become one. What he learns is engraved in his soul, engraved in his heart; it permeates him completely, so that he and his Torah learning become one. And that requires tremendous effort. For Torah learning to be like writing—something added to the person—he can study in the usual way, quietly. He does not need to exert himself or break a sweat. He studies and then observes the mitzvos, but his Torah learning and his observance of the mitzvos remain separate matters. And it may not take hold. There can be changes, there can be a weakening, there can be an interruption. But the point of “Bechukosai” is that the work, as Rashi says, is connected not only to the word “teileichu,” but specifically to the word “Bechukosai,” which relates to toil. Engraving means that the Torah is engraved within the soul. The person and the Torah become one, and his heart becomes a heart of Torah. The Gemara tells of Rabbi Akiva seeing drops of water falling on a stone: “Water wears away stones.” He saw how the drops of water penetrate inward, into the stone, until the stone is no longer the same stone. From this we understand the power of Torah: Torah is not something added on. It is not that Torah passes over the surface of the stone and becomes an addition to it. “Water wears away stones”—that is the power of Torah: it is engraved in his heart, permeates the entire person, from one end to the other, and he becomes Torah. They become one. Accordingly, we understand what the Torah is saying: “If you walk in My statutes.” Both words, “Bechukosai” and “teileichu.” “Bechukosai” means, as Rashi says, “that you toil in Torah.” To study Torah with toil and effort—to exert yourself, work, break a sweat, invest all your strength, and study Torah with tremendous effort. That the work of Torah should be specifically in such a way,

11:50 that the Torah is engraved in the soul. And when a person exerts himself, he and the Torah become one. This is study in the manner of “Bechukosai”; this is “toiling in Torah.” Then comes “teileichu”—this speaks of true movement. What does true movement mean? The Rebbe says: there are different levels of movement. One can go only from strength to strength, from one level to the next, but that is not the true meaning of movement. True movement is movement without limit. That is its true meaning. Later in the parsha, in the blessings that follow “If you walk in My statutes,” it says, “And I will walk among you”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s walking. Everyone understands that Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s walking is without limit, infinite. That is the kind of “teileichu” spoken of here. When Torah learning is in the manner of writing, it is limited study, limited prayer, limited observance of mitzvos; all of it is within limits. When there is “Bechukosai,” “that you toil in Torah”—studying with such effort that the Torah is engraved in his soul—then we see that this kind of Torah learning is “teileichu.” It reflects unlimited movement, a “ufaratzta” within the soul. In this way he leaves his constraints and limitations behind and devotes himself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This brings an ascent from strength to strength in the manner of “teileichu,” true movement, movement without limit. What

13:26 is movement without limit, “teileichu”? Yes, it is “with all your might.” “Might”—the true “might,” through which he can go beyond his constraints and limitations, in the loftiest manner of “Bechukosai teileichu.” And this also brings about that the blessings Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives will be without limit, infinite. Accordingly, the Rebbe says, we can also connect the interpretation of “Bechukosai” as related to engraving with the plain meaning of “Bechukosai,” referring to chukim. Why? Because engraving, as we said, reveals the boundlessness within the soul. So it is reflected in his avodas Hashem: he serves in the manner of chukim, beyond reason and understanding. When his service is in the manner of writing, it is confined by limits, and so he looks for a reason in everything: if he understands it, he finds it satisfying; if not, he does not, and he has to work at it. But when he approaches his service in the manner of engraving it in his soul, which brings about “teileichu” and reveals the boundlessness of his soul, his avodas Hashem, too, is without limit, “with all your might.” “With all your might” means mesirus nefesh beyond reason and understanding. As explained in Chassidus, “might” in the soul is service beyond constraints and limitations, beyond reason and understanding—mesirus nefesh, complete devotion. And so this is expressed in serving in the manner of chukim, which is,

14:59 that is how he studies—not within limits, but without limits, in the manner of “with all your might.” And that is what the Torah asks of us. In fact, the parsha that deals with this is connected to Lag BaOmer. What is interesting is the thematic connection between “If you walk in My statutes,” [unclear] boundlessness, engraving and walking, and Lag BaOmer. Why Lag BaOmer? In this maamar, in Chassidus, he brings out the idea of boundlessness. It is explained in a maamar of the Rebbe, Nasi of our generation, [unclear] of the Alter Rebbe, in which he dwells on the hillula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: why is Lag BaOmer called a hillula? He explains that a hillula—the Gemara says, “This world is like a wedding feast: grab and eat, grab and drink.” Yes, the Gemara’s wording is “this world from which we depart.” On the simple level, the Gemara says that this world is like a wedding: seize the opportunity now, because later it will no longer be possible. But spiritually, this refers to Torah and mitzvos. When the soul descends below, [unclear]. He explains what lies within the idea of a wedding: it is the union of a man and a woman, a giver and a recipient. In a sense, it is also the union of the soul with the body. The soul descends from above and enters a body and this world; that is a wedding union, of a man and a woman.

16:28 The purpose of a wedding is “be fruitful and multiply,” and the Gemara says [unclear]. These are the children, [unclear], who come from this union, from the joining of body and soul. The Gemara says, “This world from which we depart”—so that the soul becomes one who moves forward. This is explained in Chassidus. Above, the soul, like the angels, is in a state of standing; it stands in one place. It can, of course, pass through all the levels and ascents in Gan Eden, but it all happens in an ordered progression, in a state of standing. It remains in one place. This is not a leap, a boundless jump. “This world from which we depart”—through the soul in a body, through Torah and mitzvos here below, one attains movement without limit. It is specifically from this world that boundless movement comes about. And this is the hillula. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai revealed the inner dimension of Torah, true boundlessness, the infinity within Torah—all this was revealed through him. Therefore, the day of his hillula is a hillula, the true meaning of a wedding, and the joy is without limit. And this is the particular theme of Lag BaOmer, together with Parshas Bechukosai and “teileichu”: through studying Torah in a manner of engraving, toiling in Torah, we reach the boundlessness within Torah. This is the revelation of the inner dimension of Torah, the Torah of Moshiach, which was revealed through Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. And now

17:58 this is expressed in Torah study, in studying Chassidus, the inner dimension of Torah—the wellsprings of the inner dimension of Torah: “Your wellsprings shall spread outward.” The Zohar says, “Through this work of yours,” [unclear] “they will be sustained by it.” When we study Torah in a manner that sustains us, literally [unclear], we will reach the revelation of “through it they will go out of exile with mercy”—the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. Amen, may it be so.