Shabbos Parshas Nasso (Beha'aloscha in Eretz Hakodesh) 5786 "Torah Achas Lechulanu" - Making Peace Between All Parts of Torah

00:00 There was a great rosh yeshivah at the Mir Yeshivah, Rabbi Nachum Partzovitz. He was a great genius and Torah scholar, also known for the books published in recent years from his classes, the Shiurei Rabbi Nachum series, z"l. He also had a connection with the Rebbe. Years ago, when his health was poor and he needed to spend time in America, he met with the Rebbe. They had a very special connection, which I’ll tell you about later... In any case, one story people tell is that he used to receive Likkutei Sichos. He studied it closely and enjoyed it very much. Once he spoke about it with one of his students, who, if I remember correctly, was a Lubavitcher chossid. He spoke about the Rebbe’s tremendous genius in Torah, in every field—revealed Torah, derush, Kabbalah, Chassidus, and everything else. He spoke with great admiration about the profound explanations in Likkutei Sichos. Among other things, he said that sometimes he nevertheless had a question, as it were: he saw that the Rebbe would sometimes raise questions that were genuinely difficult, profound questions in revealed Torah, but the explanation, the answer, was based on Chassidus. In other words, the questions seemed to be posed on the level of revealed Torah, while the answer came from Chassidus. That was his observation, and that observation

02:00 reached the Rebbe. Someone passed his words on to the Rebbe—either he himself or one of his students. In any case, the Rebbe responded: “After all, I am named after the Tzemach Tzedek.” And it is well known that the Tzemach Tzedek’s particular focus was joining revealed Torah with the inner dimension of Torah. As chassidim know, the Rebbe spoke many times about how each Rebbe had his own particular focus, something he was especially involved in. The Rebbe would speak about this and would always point out that with the Tzemach Tzedek, one could see the theme of harmony and connection. He brought together a number of things, including revealed Torah and the inner dimension of Torah. In his books, we find him explaining many subjects by bringing something from revealed Torah, something from Kabbalah, and something from Chassidus, and making them all one—a single, unified whole. So, since the Rebbe bore the Tzemach Tzedek’s name, the Rebbe too explained matters of revealed Torah through Chassidus, and matters of Chassidus through revealed Torah. This whole subject is explained more broadly. There is a passage in the Zohar on Parshas Behaaloscha where the Zohar says that the Torah

03:43 was given on several levels. As is well known, the Torah is called a person: “This is the Torah—a person.” The Torah is called a person and has the form of a person. The Zohar says in Behaaloscha that just as a person has a body, clothing, a soul, and a soul of the soul—it lists four elements that make up a person—there are the person’s clothes; there is the body; and there is the soul, and the soul of the soul, the encompassing levels of chayah and yechidah. The same is true of the Torah. “This is the Torah—a person”: the Torah is in the form of a person and contains all these elements. The Zohar says that the stories of the Torah are its clothing. The Torah was written as a narrative, a telling of events. Then there is the body of the Torah, which is its laws. There is a soul to the Torah—its reasons and its secrets; and deeper still is the soul of the soul, the deepest secrets of the Torah. The Zohar says that although the first thing we encounter in Torah is the clothing, we must remember that clothing is only clothing. We need to remove it, look more deeply, and find what lies beneath it. From the clothing we reach the body, and from the body the soul, until we also reach the soul of the soul,

05:17 the deepest secrets of the Torah. What does this mean? That the Torah is, in essence, one Torah. It is made up of a body and a soul and all these parts, but in essence it is one single Torah. Here we find an entire process of development. That is, the revelation of these things unfolded over a period of time. Incidentally, at Matan Torah the entire Torah was given as one Torah. The whole Torah was given once and only once. As the Alter Rebbe rules, there will not be another Matan Torah—not merely because there is no need for one in terms of our merit, but because there is no need for one at all. For at the moment of Matan Torah, the entire Torah was given, every aspect of Torah, on every level. As the Rebbe quotes the well-known saying: “Everything that an accomplished student will ever innovate was given to Moshe at Sinai.” Moreover, as explained in Chassidus, even what is called the “new Torah” that will come in the future—the Torah that King Moshiach will reveal—is already included in the Torah given through Moshe Rabbeinu at the moment of Matan Torah. It truly is one Torah. Nevertheless, as the Torah reached us over the generations, things developed in such a way that it came to be divided into two distinct areas, with two different approaches to study, and even two different periods in the history of

06:53 the Jewish people. From the time of Moshe Rabbeinu, immediately after Matan Torah, there were already the matters of revealed Torah—the Torah’s laws and stories—while matters of the inner dimension of Torah remained hidden and concealed, present in potential but not revealed. As the Gemara says in Tractate Chagigah: “One does not expound on the workings of the Divine Chariot.” These matters were hidden in the Torah and were revealed only in later years. Incidentally, in every generation there were true tzaddikim, and from Moshe Rabbeinu onward, throughout the generations, there were individuals in each generation who were “wise and able to understand on their own” and who knew the inner dimension of Torah. But it was not openly revealed. When the time of Rashbi came, the inner dimension of Torah began to be revealed. But this does not mean, G-d forbid, as some mistakenly think, that only revealed Torah was given at Matan Torah. At Matan Torah the entire Torah was given—one Torah encompassing every level of Torah. Everything was included in the Ten Commandments given at Matan Torah. The Rebbe once spoke at a farbrengen and went further: when we look at the Midrashim and the words of our Sages, we see just the opposite—the matters of revealed Torah were given in a concealed way, while the matters of the inner dimension of Torah were given openly. The Rebbe points out that one thing was openly visible at Matan Torah. What did the Jews see with their own eyes?

08:33 The supernal Divine Chariot. There was a revelation of the Divine Presence; “Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai”; and the ministering angels were there. As King David says in Tehillim, and as the Midrash explains, all the thousands of angels and the supernal Divine Chariot descended from above, and the Jews saw all these things. All of these are matters connected even with the deepest secrets, with the inner dimension of Torah, and they were openly revealed—to the point of being seen face to face: “Face to face Hashem spoke with you.” By contrast, the matters of revealed Torah were all conveyed then through allusion. The Ten Commandments include all 613 mitzvos, but it is all there by allusion—in the letters, in the words, and between the words. So at that moment of Matan Torah, the hidden dimension of Torah was expressed openly, while revealed Torah was conveyed in a concealed way. In any case, it is plainly understood that the Torah is one Torah, a single, unified whole. All these levels are included in it—the four levels of Pardes in Torah: pshat, remez, derush, and sod. It is one Torah, and broadly speaking, revealed Torah and the inner dimension of Torah are all one. As the well-known words of the Zohar, quoted in maamarim of Chassidus, say: there is the Jewish people, there is the Torah, and there is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and in all three there is a hidden and a revealed dimension.

10:10 So it is with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, in matters of G-dliness: there are secrets, higher levels, and there are revealed matters, the lower levels—the hidden and the revealed. The same is true of the Torah. There are the Torah’s secrets and its revealed dimension, and likewise with Jewish souls: there is a hidden and a revealed dimension of the Jewish people. There are parts of the soul that are revealed, and parts that remain hidden, higher levels. Of this the Zohar says: “Three bonds are bound together”—the three are connected to one another. “The Jewish people are bound to the Torah, and the Torah to Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” A Jew connects with the Torah, and the Torah connects him with Hakadosh Boruch Hu; here too there is a hidden and a revealed dimension. The Jew’s revealed side connects with the revealed dimension of Torah, and through it with the revealed dimension of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The same is true of the Torah’s secrets: the Jew’s hidden side, the inner, concealed part of the soul, connects with the inner dimension of Torah, and through it with the inner dimension of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is what it means that there is one Torah: it is all the same Torah, but within it are hidden and revealed dimensions. And as I said, here too we find a progression over time. At Matan Torah, incidentally, the entire Torah was revealed, as mentioned earlier, and there was a moment when

11:45 The Jews saw: “You have been shown to know that Hashem is G-d; there is nothing else besides Him.” And our sages explain: “You” means You, Hashem’s very Essence; “have been shown” means You showed Yourself. Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, His very Essence, was revealed to every Jew. “To know” means so that they would know the true knowledge: “that Hashem is G-d.” The two names, Havayah and Elokim, are one. And “there is nothing else besides Him” is the true oneness of Hashem. These are the fundamental matters that the inner dimension of Torah reveals. And this took place at the same event where the Ten Commandments were then spoken—straightforward matters in the revealed dimension of Torah, in Torah law. Both were given together at Matan Torah, as one Torah. At that moment of Matan Torah, creation was in that state, and since then there has been a progression. There were times when the revealed dimension of Torah took precedence and was the main focus, until the time of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai arrived. In general, we see that even before Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, there were tzaddikim and Tannaim whose focus was the inner dimension of Torah, as we find in the Midrashim and teachings of our sages in their times—in the Talmudic era, in the time of the Beis Hamikdash, and even later, during the exile. There were two kinds of Tannaim, two kinds of tzaddikim. There were tzaddikim whose entire focus was the halachic dimension. We encounter them in the halachic dimension of Torah, and the Gemara mentions various Tannaim and Amoraim who dealt with the laws of damages and monetary law. The Gemara says at the end of Bava Basra: “One who wishes to become wise” should

13:21 go to Shimon ben Nanas. And similarly, there were various Amoraim. Rav Yehudah—“all his teachings were in Nezikin.” There were Tannaim and Amoraim whose main occupation was the revealed dimension of Torah, and we do not find teachings of theirs, or explicit discussions by them, connected with the secrets of Torah. On the other hand, there are Tannaim whom we find in the inner dimension of Torah, in the secrets of Torah, but hardly find—or do not find at all—in the revealed dimension of Torah. Several names of Tannaim and Amoraim are cited in connection with the secrets, the inner dimension, of Torah, but we find nothing from them in the revealed dimension. Rabbi Hamnuna, Rabbi Yosi, Rabbi [unclear]—various names that the Zohar brings in its accounts of the secrets taught by Tannaim and Amoraim, from whom we hear the secrets of Torah. They were masters of Kabbalah, but we do not find them in halachah, in the revealed dimension of Torah. But when do we find this—that there was both the revealed dimension and the secret dimension, each in its full force, strength and breadth? That was with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is the first in whom we find this to such a degree. There are indeed other Tannaim, but not with the same completeness that we find in Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. On the one hand, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is one of the Tannaim, one of the great Tannaim of the Mishnah. As the Gemara says in Yevamos, [unclear], there was

14:46 Rabbi Akiva and his students. After the plague, when those many thousands of students were no longer alive, Rabbi Akiva went to our sages in the south and established five students, through whom he upheld the Torah. Who were those five students? One of the five was Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yosi, Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua, as the Gemara says. So Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was one of the great Tannaim of halachah, of the Mishnah. All of them, of course, were students of Rabbi Akiva. And as we find here, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is one of the Tannaim whose views on halachah we find discussed at length in almost every tractate—or even more than that, in every chapter. At the same time, Rabbi Shimon is the one who revealed the secret dimension, who revealed the inner dimension of Torah, the secrets of Torah. And not only was he one of those who did so; he was the leader of them all. He was the “Botzina Kadisha,” as the Zohar calls him, the great luminary through whom the inner dimension of Torah, the secrets of Torah, was revealed. It is brought in the sefarim that he had the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu. And on the other hand, he had the soul of Moshiach, as the Rebbe brings in Likkutei Sichos. We find that Rabbi Shimon bar

16:05 Yochai possessed both qualities: the revealed dimension of Torah and its inner dimension. As explained, this is what is said in connection with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: “I have wounded, and I will heal.” He healed the divide that had existed. Until then there had been a kind of divide, connected with Lag BaOmer—a gal, a mound that separates and divides, G-d forbid, between the revealed dimension of Torah and its inner dimension. And he fulfilled “I have wounded, and I will heal”: he healed that divide, repaired it, and made it possible for the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah to come together. This happened with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. But with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, although we do indeed find both, for the most part they are divided between two separate books, separate teachings. They did not become one Torah. In other words, a Jew could study Mishnah and halachah and know Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai as a great Tanna in halachah, and it would never occur to him that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was the Tanna of the Zohar. He does not know about that. He knows Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai from halachah; as far as he is concerned, there is nothing there beyond halachah. On the other hand, a Jew could know the Zohar and know about the hidden teachings of Torah and Kabbalah, and have learned about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his great stature in the knowledge of the inner dimension of Torah, yet not know at all that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai

17:28 is the same Rabbi Shimon of the Mishnah, who dealt with matters of halachah in all their details. For these two aspects, although both existed, were at least outwardly two separate things. There was no inner connection between them. There is Rashbi of the Zohar, and there is Rabbi Shimon of the Gemara, of the Mishnah. Someone could know about one and not the other. Yes, that is [unclear], because each area has teachings of its own, and someone familiar with them knows that the author of the teaching speaks as he was [unclear]. But it is hard to find them integrated—to find the revealed dimension explained according to Kabbalah, and Kabbalah according to the revealed dimension. Years later, six years later, the holy Baal Shem Tov came and revealed the inner dimension of Torah, the teachings of Chassidus. And this is the story that the Frierdiker Rebbe tells at length and in detail: the Baal Shem Tov spoke when he heard about the Alter Rebbe, who was born on the same day of the year as the Baal Shem Tov, as is known, 18 Elul. The Baal Shem Tov was forty-eight when the Alter Rebbe was born, and later, two years afterward, he was about fifty, fifty-one. But the Baal Shem Tov said [unclear], yes, that Schneur—that he brings light with

19:02 The Alter Rebbe’s name was Schneur because he illuminated the world with two lights: the light of the revealed dimension of Torah and the light of its inner dimension. And so it was. The Alter Rebbe was an extraordinary genius in the revealed dimension of Torah. Later he came to the Maggid of Mezritch; he did not know that his father had been to the Baal Shem Tov, as is known. There is a long story about that, with [unclear]. But in practice, what is known is that when the Alter Rebbe came to the Maggid of Mezritch, he was already an extraordinary genius in the revealed dimension of Torah. The Maggid then instructed his son, Rabbi Avraham the Angel, to study with the Alter Rebbe. They studied the inner dimension of Torah, Kabbalah and so on together. And the Alter Rebbe reached the highest levels of knowledge of the inner dimension of Torah, which was later revealed as the teachings of Chabad Chassidus. As the Baal Shem Tov had said, the Alter Rebbe embodied the two lights in the name Schneur: the light of the revealed dimension and the light of Chassidus, the inner dimension. The Alter Rebbe revealed both of these lights. He published the Tanya, the book that deals with the inner dimension of Torah, with the teachings of Chassidus; and on the other hand, he wrote and published the Shulchan Aruch, a foundational work in the revealed dimension

20:26 of Torah, in the halachic part. Both of these were deeply important to the Alter Rebbe, and he devoted his entire life to bringing these two works into the world: his work in the revealed dimension of Torah and the Tanya, his work in the inner dimension of Torah. But even with the Alter Rebbe, it was not yet as it was with the Tzemach Tzedek. They were two separate endeavors: he revealed his teachings in the revealed dimension through the Shulchan Aruch, and his teachings in the inner dimension of Torah through Chassidus. But the connection between them was [unclear]—where they met again and became bound together. The revealed and inner dimensions of Torah became truly one Torah, and this was expressed most of all by the Tzemach Tzedek. With him, there was a unification, as we find in his maamarim: when he writes about the deepest concepts in Chassidus, he also brings explanations based on the revealed dimension of Torah and on halachah. At times, he even enters into a detailed halachic discussion in the middle of a maamar. And sometimes the reverse is true. This was the Tzemach Tzedek’s distinctive quality and greatness: he took the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah and made them one Torah. The fullest expression of this appeared in the Rebbe’s maamarim, sichos and teachings, particularly in Likkutei Sichos.

21:57 There, we see in a most remarkable way how the Rebbe takes a subject from the revealed dimension of Torah and explains it—how its details fall into place and its questions are answered through concepts from the inner dimension of Torah. And sometimes the reverse: concepts in the inner dimension of Torah that still need explanation, clarification, interpretation and a foundation find that explanation and foundation in the revealed dimension of Torah. In the Rebbe’s teachings, we see in a most remarkable way the complete connection between the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah, which has become manifest in our generation. The two have truly become one Torah, and each needs the other: one cannot truly understand the revealed dimension of Torah without its inner dimension, and sometimes the inner dimension needs the revealed dimension for the study to be complete. For it is one Torah for all of us, one and only one Torah. These ideas are also connected to what we are learning in today’s parsha, and to the manna that was eaten in the desert in general. As explained in Chassidus, there is bread from heaven and bread from the earth. The bread a person normally eats is bread from the earth. But the manna—

23:17 we ate bread from heaven. Chassidus explains that Torah is compared to bread. This is one reason that on Shavuos, which is now approaching, the two loaves are brought. The two loaves correspond to the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah, as explained in Chassidus; that is why two loaves are brought. This is also connected to the giving of the Torah, which is approaching. As every Jew knows, each year on Shavuos we must bring Torah down here, so that there is a connection between the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah, between the inner and outer dimensions of the soul, between its hidden powers and its revealed powers, and all of it becomes one and only one Torah. When a Jew studies Torah, he must [unclear], and at the same time see the infinity within Torah, [unclear]. Only then will it be one Torah. This is the connection that must exist between the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah, which was revealed down here by the Baal Shem Tov and continued through the Rebbe and our Rebbeim, the leaders of our generations. In our generation especially, we can actually see it. This is also the deeper meaning of the request explained by the Tzemach Tzedek. Yes, it is the deeper meaning of the request in the verse, “Uncover my eyes, that I may behold wonders from Your Torah.” A Jew is, in essence, asking Hakadosh Boruch Hu—and we ask this every day—for the—

24:43 age-old request that Hakadosh Boruch Hu bring our righteous Moshiach. Then “Uncover my eyes” will be fulfilled—it has to be in the eyes. Yes. It is precisely the opposite of the mound that forms a barrier, a mound of work. And that mound of work will become “Uncover my eyes”: clearing our eyes so that we can see the “wonders from Your Torah.” As the Tzemach Tzedek cites in the name of the holy Shelah, the meaning is that from within the revealed dimension of Torah—“from Your Torah”—we will be able to see the wonders, the inner dimension within the revealed dimension, to see the inner dimension of Torah within it. This is what Torah truly is, and a Jew must study it at all times. This is what Torah study truly is: it is one Torah. The Rebbe would repeat with enthusiasm the words of the Rebbe Rashab, founder of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva. When he opened the yeshiva, he said that here they would study the revealed dimension of Torah with the same warmth, love, awe and fear of Heaven with which they study the inner dimension of Torah. And that same Jew would study the inner dimension of Torah with the same strength and love, the same “with all your might,” the same vitality and enthusiasm with which [unclear]. A connection—Torah must be one Torah. This is the purpose of the inner dimension of Torah, the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, which have been revealed. After all, we are coming from the festival of Shavuos, when there was the—

26:09 giving of both the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah. Together they become one and only one Torah, one Torah for all of us. And with this Torah we will go to greet our righteous Moshiach, who will reveal to us what is hidden, the depths of Naso, in the true and complete Geulah through our righteous Moshiach.