Parshas Chukas-Balak, 12-13 Tammuz 5786 "Nasata Liyereicha Nes Lehisnoses" - The Avodah of Nisyonos

00:01 The Frierdiker Rebbe, whose birthday and day of liberation are celebrated on 12 Tammuz, relates in one of his writings: It was in 5680, on 20 Cheshvan, the Rebbe Rashab’s final year in this world. That year, on his birthday, as he did every year, the Rebbe Rashab called in the Frierdiker Rebbe, his only son, and delivered a special maamar for his birthday. It was in yechidus; no one knew about it. When 20 Cheshvan, the Rebbe Rashab’s birthday, fell on Shabbos, he would deliver the maamar in public, as he did every Shabbos. But when 20 Cheshvan fell on a weekday, the Rebbe Rashab would deliver a maamar of Chassidus in yechidus. That year, which, as we said, was the Rebbe Rashab’s last year here in the physical world, he called in the Frierdiker Rebbe and delivered a maamar of Chassidus to him. The maamar was on a verse in the chapter of Tehillim that the Rebbe Rashab began reciting that year. In 5680, the Rebbe Rashab was fifty-nine. As is known, the Rebbe Rashab lived fifty-nine years; this was his final year. The chapter was chapter 60, in keeping with the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov that on one’s birthday, one should recite the chapter corresponding to the year one is entering. So when he was fifty-nine, his chapter was chapter 60.

01:48 The Rebbe Rashab delivered a maamar on the verse, “You have given those who fear You a banner to be raised because of truth, Selah.” That verse was the opening words of the maamar. In the maamar, the Rebbe Rashab discussed the whole subject of “You have given those who fear You a banner to be raised” at great length, with tremendous richness and depth. It is a very profound and delightful maamar, and it discusses at length the subject of tests in the service of Hashem. When he finished delivering the maamar, the Rebbe Rashab said that on one’s birthday, one must review Chassidus. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu help you to be able to review Chassidus. This was the blessing the father, the Rebbe Rashab, gave his son, the Frierdiker Rebbe: May Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant that you be able to review Chassidus on your birthday, but may Hakadosh Boruch Hu help that it be with kindness and mercy. That is how he blessed him. When the Frierdiker Rebbe told the story, he concluded by saying that it took seven years. What did he mean? The year 5680 was the year of the Rebbe Rashab’s passing; that year, in Nissan, the Rebbe Rashab, the Frierdiker Rebbe’s father, passed away. Then, seven years later, in 5687, the well-known event occurred: the Frierdiker Rebbe was arrested and imprisoned. On 12 Tammuz, the Frierdiker Rebbe’s own birthday, he heard that he was about to be released from prison, and on that day

03:29 he heard that he was about to be released from prison. It was the greatest joy, a great Yom Tov—the day the news came, 12 Tammuz. The following day, 13 Tammuz, was the day of liberation, when he was set free and returned home. That is the whole well-known Yom Tov—and on that day, the Frierdiker Rebbe delivered a maamar of Chassidus, the maamar he delivered after reciting the blessing of Hagomel. From then on, every year, these days became an established Yom Tov: the Frierdiker Rebbe designated 12–13 Tammuz as days of liberation in commemoration of the miracles and wonders that had occurred. And it was a Yom Tov on which the Frierdiker Rebbe began delivering Chassidus in public, starting then. This is what the Rebbe Rashab had said: that on one’s birthday, one reviews Chassidus, and that Hakadosh Boruch Hu should grant us kindness and mercy. In any event, that was the foundation and beginning of 12 Tammuz. And there is something interesting here: the maamar that the Rebbe Rashab delivered to the Frierdiker Rebbe on that 20 Cheshvan 5680 discusses the entire subject of tests at great length. “You have given those who fear You a banner to be raised.” As he cites from the Talmud and Rashi, “a banner to be raised” refers to tests. The word “banner” is related to the word for “tests.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu sends a Jew tests. “Those who fear You”—every Jew fears Hashem; every Jew has a natural fear of Heaven, and every...

05:05 Jew has a natural fear of Heaven, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu sends a Jew tests. What is the purpose of all these tests? To raise him to a higher level. Through the tests, and through a Jew’s standing firm in the face of them, he rises to a higher level. There he explains at length the purpose and intent of the whole matter of tests, and why Hakadosh Boruch Hu does this. Interestingly, after the great miracle of the liberation on 12 Tammuz, the Frierdiker Rebbe began delivering maamarim that explain this same subject. There are several maamarim of the Frierdiker Rebbe from 12 Tammuz that deal with the banner, with the banner of tests, and are based on the maamar from 5660. Several maamarim all deal with this subject of the “banner,” and we will discuss them at length and in depth. In them, we see the Frierdiker Rebbe’s distinctive approach to explaining the subject of tests, as it appears in the maamarim from 5700. In Sefer Hamaamarim 5700, among the maamarim delivered in the winter, there is a series of several maamarim, five or six, all based on the maamar “You have given those who fear You a banner to be raised” from 5660. In his distinctive way of presenting every subject at length and with explanation, the Frierdiker Rebbe sets out and explains the matters discussed in the maamar, and explains in detail all the kinds of tests and the purpose of

06:37 the tests—what their goal is, why they come, and when. These matters are very interesting, very rich, and very profound. And it is interesting to note two things. First, it was specifically in 5700 that the Frierdiker Rebbe recited that same chapter. That was the year the Frierdiker Rebbe turned sixty, and he recited chapter 60. So we can understand why he speaks at such length about tests, which are connected to this chapter of Tehillim. And in addition, it was one of the most difficult periods. It was in the midst of World War II. Quite literally: during the period when the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote the maamarim, that winter, in Cheshvan and Kislev of 5700, he was in Warsaw, in the midst of the war, when miracles and wonders were taking place in the most literal sense—one can imagine, at every moment. And while he was there, at that time, in that very vale of tears, he wrote and delivered the maamarim in which he explains the subject of tests at length. Of course, there were the tests of those days, but there are also the tests of our time. This is the kind of test discussed in Chassidus: just as there are tests of poverty, there are also tests of wealth. And in general, as the Frierdiker Rebbe explains in the maamarim of 12 Tammuz, in these generations of ours, in the footsteps of Moshiach, at the end of the exile, the main task—truly the main task—is the work of facing tests. The main task

08:07 Jews have in our time is the work of facing tests. And here he explains what that work entails. Why are we discussing these maamarim? Because this is connected to the whole subject of the soul’s descent below. The soul descended below to do the work of birurim, refining and elevating the world. The soul must descend below—as discussed in Tanya and as written in the maamarim—not for its own sake. The soul comes to carry out the birurim. That means revealing and elevating the G-dly spark in every physical thing in the world—in inanimate matter, plants, and animals, and in all the affairs of the world. When a Jew is in a body, he uses physical things to perform a mitzvah. He takes tefillin, he takes [unclear], or he takes wool and makes tzitzis from it. And so it is with every mitzvah: we use physical things from this physical world and make them into something connected with a mitzvah, something G-dly. That is the work of birurim, and that is why the soul descended below. As the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya, the soul descended below not for its own sake, but to refine the body and the animal soul and the like, and also to make the world a dwelling place for Him: to refine and elevate the physical things in the world and the sparks of holiness, and make them into vessels for holiness. That is the overall purpose of the soul’s descent below. But then there is another kind of work: the work of facing tests. Birurim are carried out with all sorts of things where there is a rational way to proceed. That is, the work takes the form of either “turn away from evil” or “do good.” Either way, you approach the thing knowing how to relate to it; you deal with it either by drawing it close or by keeping your distance. Either you eat it, or you do not.

09:52 I eat it. In other words, we are talking about something that exists in the world, and the question is how to deal with it properly, according to Torah and halachah, in order to refine the spark. There are things the Torah says we refine by eating them, and things the Torah says we refine by refraining from eating them. [unclear] If it is a mitzvah, that means we must do it in a positive way, because we are making the world into a dwelling place for Hashem. Then we speak about the matter of tests. In a test, there is something that opposes you, something that has no purpose at all—not a positive purpose, and not even a negative one. It is something Hakadosh Boruch Hu placed in the world whose entire existence is only to dazzle and confuse a person—an opposing force. And here the question arises: How can there be something in the world that opposes? How can Hakadosh Boruch Hu allow something to exist in the world that has no purpose at all, whose entire existence is only to dazzle and confuse a person? How can such a thing be? He explains that the point of tests is not to deal with the thing itself, but to work on yourself. That is the point; that is the difference between the work of refinement and the work of facing tests. The work throughout the day is generally the work of refinement: you deal with worldly things and make them into vessels for G-dliness, make something G-dly of them, use them for the sake of Heaven—“All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven”—and so on, in all its details. But with tests, Hakadosh Boruch Hu places something whose entire purpose is only to confuse a person. And the response called for, the way to approach it, is not to fight it, not to

11:41 engage with it, neither by turning away from evil nor by doing good. So what do you do? Treat it as though it were not there, as though it did not exist. The work, as the Rebbe says in the maamarim of Tammuz, is not with that thing; the work is with yourself. When you work on yourself and reveal within yourself your inner strength, as it is called, or your innermost bittul, revealing it within yourself with resolve—that nothing can stand in opposition to G-dliness—then, quite simply, that thing does not exist. You keep going, [unclear]. He gives the example of Avraham Avinu. The test the Torah tells us about is the test of the Akeidah. What was the test of the Akeidah? There was a test there, even though, on the face of it, it had no real existence. The test itself—Rashi brings that Hakadosh Boruch Hu told Avraham Avinu to take his son and “bring him up there as an offering.” But this completely contradicted what Hakadosh Boruch Hu had promised Avraham Avinu: “For through Yitzchak your descendants will be named”—an entire nation would come from Yitzchak. And now He was telling him to bring Yitzchak up onto the altar. Yet Avraham Avinu had no doubts, no questions. Hakadosh Boruch Hu had spoken. It did not even occur to him to think there was any contradiction here. He went: Hakadosh Boruch Hu had told him to go. What would happen? Hakadosh Boruch Hu knew. And that is how it became clear when Hakadosh Boruch Hu later revealed to him that He had never told him to slaughter Yitzchak; He had only said, “Bring him up.” That is what—

13:10 Rashi says: after all, no one had told him to slaughter him. But this was not revealed earlier, when Avraham was facing the test. In other words, it had not been revealed that, from the human perspective, there was no concealment here. In practice, as it had been presented to him, there was a great concealment here—one of the hardest tests, the hardest test there ever was. Along the same lines, the Midrash also tells how, when Avraham went to the Akeidah, there was a river. The river blocked his way and would not let him pass. And Avraham kept walking, kept going, and paid it no heed, as though it were not there. Then the river vanished and ceased to exist. Here, too, we see the point of the work of facing tests: the entire existence of the test is only [unclear]. But what is the purpose of it? The whole reason such a thing exists at all—a thing whose entire purpose is to oppose a person and put him to the test—is to reveal a deeper attachment, a greater depth, a deeper bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A bond in which a person does not see all the concealment; as far as he is concerned, it does not exist. He is not shaken by it, as though it were not there. He keeps going, and it becomes clear to Avraham that the whole thing has no real existence at all. And this is precisely the work here, in exile itself, as it is, even when we are in a time when [unclear].

14:26 The Rebbe said, the work [unclear], and we can already see that a new era is beginning, a time of Geulah. Moshiach must come already. But what appear on the surface to be tests—all kinds of difficulties that still make serving Hashem harder, difficulties in [unclear]—both the difficulties from outside and all the tests that arise in one’s own avodah, and each person knows what goes on within himself—the approach to these tests must be not to enter into a fight, an argument, a back-and-forth, philosophical debates, matters that are [unclear]. Rather, one must stand firm, with inner strength. Here [unclear]. Inner strength is strength that comes from one’s essence, from the essence of a Jew, from the essence of the yechidah. And this inner strength, this innermost bittul, together with [unclear], with self-dedication, causes the whole thing, which seems to be real, which [unclear], completely [unclear]—there was nothing there; there never was anything there. This [unclear]; there was nothing, not even [unclear]. And this is the work required of Jews today in particular. [unclear] Such great strength, and with this, 12 and 13 Tammuz, and this [unclear]. We must be aware of this: we are truly in the final days of exile. And each person, according to his level and his situation, is called upon to stand with [unclear],

16:15 a miracle. And may we all await the miracle of the true and complete Geulah, through our righteous Moshiach, speedily in our days, amen.