Parshas Shoftim 5786 "By the word of two witnesses shall a matter be established" - Jews are witnesses to Hashem

00:00 One of the stories told about a chossid of the Alter Rebbe named Reb Moshe Vilenker goes like this: Reb Moshe Vilenker was among the Alter Rebbe’s greatest chassidim, from the “first cheder.” In other words, he was among the earliest and greatest of the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim. One account relates that the Alter Rebbe once called Reb Moshe Vilenker in for yechidus. It was unplanned; suddenly, the Alter Rebbe called him in. Reb Moshe entered the Alter Rebbe’s room, and the Alter Rebbe said to him, “Moshe, Moshe, Moshe, tell me: What is G-d?” The Alter Rebbe began speaking in a melody; the account describes the distinctive tune with which he began to speak. In that melody, the Alter Rebbe asked him, “Moshe, Moshe, Moshe, tell me: What is G-d?” He asked the question three times. Reb Moshe Vilenker was deeply frightened and did not know what the Alter Rebbe wanted from him. Why was the Alter Rebbe asking him this question, and what was he supposed to answer? He stood there motionless, like a stone. The Alter Rebbe entered a state of dveikus for some time. Then he raised his head and said, “Moshe, Moshe, Moshe, tell me: What is faith?” He asked that same question three times. Reb Moshe was again utterly overwhelmed and remained standing

01:29 like a stone, without answering. The Alter Rebbe again entered a state of dveikus for some time. Then he raised his head and said once more, “Moshe, Moshe, Moshe, tell me: What is a soul?” He asked that same question three times. Reb Moshe was again utterly overwhelmed and did not understand what the Alter Rebbe wanted from him with all these questions. The Alter Rebbe entered a state of dveikus for some time. Then he raised his head and said, “What is G-d? G-d is everything that exists, and apart from Him, nothing at all exists. In other words, G-dliness, G-d, is everything; He is the only reality, the true reality, and there is no reality, nothing, apart from Him. What is a soul? A soul is literally a part of G-d above. In other words, it is illuminated by the truth that G-d is the only reality, and apart from Him there is no reality. And what is faith? That I must live with the awareness that G-d is the only reality, and apart from Him there is no reality.” The Alter Rebbe spoke several times about how the nature of the soul is explained in Moreh Nevuchim, in the Rambam, and in other books. But as explained in Tanya, this is what a soul is. And that was a yechidus with the chossid Reb Moshe Vilenker, in which the Alter Rebbe established the foundations of Chassidus within him.

03:13 This is the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. These are the three questions: What is G-d? What is a soul? And what is faith? Ultimately, they are all, in essence, one single point. But how can we come to know and grasp—and have it illuminate us—that the only reality is G-dliness, and that apart from Him there is nothing? In this week’s parsha, Parshas Shoftim, we find the mitzvah of testimony. The Torah says, “On the testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, a matter shall be established.” Testimony is needed to establish a matter. Both in capital cases and in monetary cases, we learn the laws relating to testimony from this parsha. And when we speak about testimony, we find that there are several kinds. Broadly, they fall into two categories: witnesses who clarify a matter and witnesses who establish it, as explained in halachah. What is the difference between them? As discussed in the relevant Talmudic passage, there are a number of areas in halachah where witnesses are needed to clarify what happened. That is, the witnesses’ entire role is simply to establish the facts. “A person does not act to establish a falsehood”; yet a person might lie, say something false, and not tell the truth. That is why witnesses clarify the matter: they recount what they saw, what they know, and what they heard. In the words of the verse, “And he is a witness, or has seen or knows.”

04:58 He saw or heard something and recounts what he saw or heard. In this way, they establish whether there was a loan, whether there was a marriage, whether there was a sale, or the truth of any of the other matters that witnesses clarify. But there is a special kind of testimony called witnesses who establish a matter. This means witnesses who do not merely clarify what happened; they are the ones who establish the matter, who bring the entire reality into being. Without them, that reality does not exist. Broadly speaking, this applies to witnesses for divorce and kiddushin. Witnesses to kiddushin do not merely clarify the facts. It is not that they later come to beis din and report that they saw the kiddushin; rather, they are the ones who bring about the kiddushin. This is known from the Gemara in a number of places in its discussion of this subject. In other words, witnesses who establish a matter do so by standing at the chuppah and seeing how Reuven betroths a woman, how he gives her a ring, places it on her finger, and says, “Behold, you are betrothed to me.” In doing so, they bring the act itself into being. This is what gives it legal effect; this is what establishes the very act of kiddushin. They do not merely clarify afterward that they saw the kiddushin. Their presence brings the act of kiddushin itself into being. That is, for the kiddushin to take effect as required,

06:27 there must be a gift from the man to the woman worth at least a perutah, and the testimony is part of the act of kiddushin itself. Several practical halachic differences follow from this, and there are deep explanations of the subject. One practical difference, at least as a way of understanding the distinction, concerns the examination and cross-examination of witnesses. Under the laws of testimony, witnesses must be questioned thoroughly to establish whether their testimony is true. Halachah states that witnesses to kiddushin do not require this examination and cross-examination. With witnesses in monetary cases and matters of that kind, they must be questioned thoroughly to see whether they are qualified, and to establish whether they saw what they say they saw, and so on. But for witnesses to kiddushin—unlike witnesses in monetary and capital cases—the ruling in the Shulchan Aruch is that examination and cross-examination are not required. Why? One explanation depends on this distinction: When witnesses serve to clarify a matter, they come to beis din, where they are questioned, and through them it is established whether it actually happened. They must therefore be questioned thoroughly to see whether they are indeed fit to testify and know what they are saying, and so on. With witnesses to kiddushin, by contrast, the matter has already taken place. The point is not that we are now trying to establish what happened. The witnesses, at the time of the act, when they stood under the chuppah and were present for it, had

07:57 already fulfilled their function; the witnesses had already acted. Consequently, there is nothing now to establish through examining and cross-examining them about that testimony. And there are several other practical halachic differences between these categories. When we speak about testimony in the service of Hashem, there is also the verse in which the prophet Yeshayahu says, “You are My witnesses.” That is, Jews are called witnesses; Hakadosh Boruch Hu says that Jews are, so to speak, witnesses to the Master of the world. “You are My witnesses”—Jews are, so to speak, Hashem’s witnesses. What does it mean that Jews are, so to speak, Hashem’s witnesses? We need to understand the nature of this testimony. More generally, it is known regarding testimony, as the Gemara discusses in Gittin and elsewhere, that something plainly visible does not require testimony. Even regarding “a matter likely to become known,” the Gemara says, “A person does not lie,” and so on. Testimony is primarily about something concealed, something hidden that might otherwise be impossible to know. This is the role of witnesses: they come and reveal what is hidden. The Alter Rebbe explains along these lines in Likkutei Torah regarding the souls of the Jewish people: When we say that Jews are, so to speak, witnesses to Hakadosh Boruch Hu above, there are three levels to this. There is something revealed. What does that mean in relation to G-dliness? That Hakadosh Boruch Hu fills all worlds,

09:38 And that Hashem is openly present in the world, enclothed in it, giving it life, bringing it into being and sustaining it. This is, quite simply, the Divine life-force that can be seen in the world, that a person can see with his own eyes, as in the verses of praise: “How manifold are Your works,” “How great are Your works,” “Lift up your eyes on high and see Who created these.” This is the G-dliness revealed in the way all kinds of creatures are sustained. That needs no testimony, because it is visible. And as the Alter Rebbe explains in Chassidus, there is also the level of sovev kol almin: levels that are above the world but still have a connection to it. Testimony is not so necessary for those levels either. What does a witness testify to? What is the testimony for which Jews are called “You are My witnesses”? “You are My witnesses,” the Alter Rebbe says in Chassidus, means that they testify to the Divine Essence. They testify to that level of G-dliness at which Hashem is entirely above the world, entirely above all enclothing. He is not merely above memalei and above sovev, but the Divine Essence, before which all those levels are “considered as nothing before Him.” And seemingly, how is that possible? That is what testimony is about: Jews are witnesses to Hashem. Jews testify through their very existence, through their conduct and through their avodah. They reveal the Divine Essence and bear witness to it. And how is this expressed in serving Hashem? There are several kinds of avodah. If we say

11:09 that there are several levels of G-dliness—broadly speaking, three levels: memalei kol almin, sovev kol almin, and “all is considered as nothing before Him”—then correspondingly, there are three kinds of avodah in a person’s service. There is “with all your heart.” We say in prayer, “You shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” “With all your heart” is avodah based on reason and understanding. When a person contemplates G-dliness, contemplates “How manifold are Your works” and “How great are Your works,” and sees how Hashem gives life to the world, he comes to feel the level of memalei kol almin, the Divine life-force present in everything. He feels that Divine life-force. G-dliness is his life, and he loves G-dliness because he sees the Divine life-force. This is the love that comes from “with all your heart,” from what is revealed. Then there is “with all your soul”: that already involves the entire soul. He invests himself in it; it is not only love in the heart, but love that permeates him completely. This comes through contemplating the G-dliness that is above the world, sovev kol almin. And the Gemara calls this “istaklusa.” It is a deeper love: the entire soul, not just the heart, not just love in the heart, but every faculty of the soul devoted to Hashem. So much so that the Gemara says, “With all your soul”—even if He takes your soul. But this is a kind of mesirus nefesh that still has a place within reason. It is not

12:40 the true meaning of mesirus nefesh, which comes from the yechidah of the soul. It is not merely that he contemplates how G-dliness is above the world and is therefore devoted to Hashem even beyond reason, beyond what his mind demands and beyond what his nature demands. All of that is still connected to a calculation of how much he can do, and he does more than he can. The love of “with all your might” is true mesirus nefesh, coming from the yechidah of the soul: a Jew does not want to, and cannot, be separated from Hashem. This is true, boundless love, in which a Jew goes entirely beyond all limitations and gives himself over to the Divine Essence, which is above all definitions and limitations. This is the true meaning of “You are My witnesses.” How does a Jew serve Hashem in the manner of “You are My witnesses,” through testimony? It means that he is utterly devoted, giving himself over completely in his service of Hashem. This is called “with all your might,” and through it he becomes a witness: he reveals, draws down, and brings the Divine Essence into revelation in the world. But what are the two aspects we are discussing? In general, this is what testimony means: a Jew is a witness to Hashem. Through his conduct and his avodah, he is a witness; he brings into revelation and reveals Hashem’s [unclear]

14:00 [unclear]. A Jew can [unclear] the aspect of memalei kol almin. His avodah can draw on the full force of his soul, so that he reveals sovev kol almin. And beyond that, a Jew can reveal and draw down the Divine Essence here in the world—Hashem Himself, so to speak. This is the true meaning of “You are My witnesses”: a Jew “makes” Hashem. But within this, we say there are two forms: witnesses who clarify and witnesses who effect. What is the difference between them? Witnesses who clarify establish what happened, but do not create that reality. Witnesses who effect create that reality; they bring about the entire act of kiddushin. The Rebbe once explained this at a wedding, when he was still very young, in the early years before his leadership. The Rebbe wrote it down for himself in a note, among the notes he wrote for himself that were found after Gimmel Tammuz—notes from those very early years. There is an interesting note there: the Rebbe records things he said at a wedding, where he spoke about this subject and explained its meaning in serving Hashem. He explained that the difference between witnesses who clarify and witnesses who effect, in serving Hashem, is that there is a Jew who works on himself: he studies, prays and acts, but

15:31 he does it for himself. He lives his life for himself and does not work with others. He does not bring about anything in the world; he concerns himself only with himself. But what happens? When people look at him, they see that Hashem is present in the world. “You are My witnesses.” When this person walks down the street, when people see a Jew walking down the street, they see: a Jew is walking down the street. They say: This is a Jew, a descendant of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. The Jewish people are testimony to the Giving of the Torah, testimony to Hashem, testimony that there is G-dliness in the world. And the Rebbe once said that the very fact that a Jew walks down the street—the first mitzvah of a Jew, simply to walk down the street—is a miracle. By the laws of nature, after the Jewish people endured so many troubles throughout all the generations of exile, nothing would have remained of them, G-d forbid. Yet the verse says, “For I, Hashem, have not changed, and you, the children of Yaakov, have not been consumed.” The Jewish people stand firm and proud. This is the first thing one sees when looking at a Jew walking in our generation. The Rebbe is speaking about the period after all the terrible suffering they went through, the Holocaust. And yet Jews walk down the street proud of their Judaism. This is the greatest confirmation of the truth of Hashem, the truth of the Torah and the truth of the mitzvos. But that is still only clarification. The deeper aspect is testimony that effects: that a Jew

16:46 not only makes Hashem known through his very existence, but also acts. He brings holiness into the world. He illuminates and has an effect. When a Jew walks down the street, he speaks about Judaism. He is not ashamed. He puts on tefillin. He speaks about Torah and mitzvos. He brings light; wherever he goes, he makes his surroundings bright and alive. This is the true meaning of “You are My witnesses”: a Jew’s testimony does not merely clarify; it effects. He brings about, he creates a reality of G-dliness and holiness. He sanctifies; he creates holiness in the world. He creates living holiness, creates a reality of holiness. Through his actual avodah, he connects the world with G-dliness, illuminating the world wherever he goes and wherever he stands. This is the true meaning of testimony that effects, of “You are My witnesses” as it applies to Jews. On another occasion, the Rebbe discussed and explained a further inner point in the whole idea of Jews being witnesses, and in the difference between testimony that clarifies and testimony that effects. After all, we find that heaven and earth are also called witnesses: “Give ear, O heavens ... and the earth,” and “I will call heaven and earth to witness against them,” as stated in Parshas Vayeilech and Parshas Haazinu. Heaven and earth are witnesses; they too are called witnesses. And in the plain sense, “The heavens recount the glory of G-d.”

18:19 “And the firmament declares the work of His hands”—the world, too, bears witness. “How manifold are Your works,” “How great are Your works”: these testify to the existence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So heaven and earth are witnesses. And a Jew is a witness—what is the difference? He discusses the distinction between witnesses who establish a fact and witnesses whose presence brings something into effect. Heaven and earth establish a fact. In other words, by contemplating heaven and earth, we know that there is a G-d. What does that mean? We can see them as evidence. A Jew looks at the world, sees an orderly world, sees how it is built, and says: The world could not have come into being by itself. It must have a Master, a Creator. The world establishes the truth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s existence. But it does not bring His Essence into the world. It does not bring about a new revelation. A Jew, by contrast, has the power, through Torah and mitzvos, through teshuvah and good deeds, to bring about the open revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the world. Heaven and earth tell of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—they do tell of Him, but they do not bring Him into the world. They cannot make it fully clear; there is a screen. But a Jew...

19:38 To make the world and G-dliness one thing—a dwelling place in the lower realms. For the world to be a dwelling place for Him, may He be blessed; for G-dliness to enter the world, for the world to become a dwelling place. Only witnesses whose presence brings something into effect can accomplish this, and that is the work of the souls of the Jewish people. This is the true meaning of “You are My witnesses”: Jews are witnesses who not only reveal and establish the truth, but actually bring it into effect, so that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will be revealed in the world and the world will be a G-dly world, a world that cries out, “There is nothing besides Him.” [unclear] The moment they stand under the chuppah, they bring about [unclear]. They will reveal it afterward as well, but the act itself takes place at that moment. As the Rebbe says: The moment a Jew performs a mitzvah down here, His very Essence is present in the world. The matter [unclear] now. To make a dwelling place for Him, may He be blessed, and “all flesh shall see”—for it to be openly revealed. Here we also see what the Rebbe says about “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One”: the two letters, the ayin of “Shema” and the daled of “Echad.” These are large letters, an enlarged ayin and an enlarged daled, which together spell “eid,” witness. That is the point: a Jew is a witness. A witness is someone who...

21:07 Is a partner in the work of Creation. He bears witness to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the “eid,” formed by “Shema” and “Echad.” This is the “eid” the Rebbe explains—“two witnesses.” And this is the idea of a witness, of seeing and hearing. [unclear] He sees and hears; he is a witness. [unclear] His body, his soul—he reveals and brings G-dliness into the world, and reveals [unclear] in the world. This is the work we need to do now, through this and through the work by which a witness connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In fact, through every mitzvah, through every action, we bring Hakadosh Boruch Hu into the world and connect the world with G-dliness. And through this we will indeed see it revealed immediately: “Hashem will be King over all the earth; on that day Hashem will be One and His name One,” and “The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh together shall see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.”