Moshiach's Meal - the Deep Secret of the Last Day of Pesach and What the Baal Shem Tov Revealed

00:00 What is the story of the Seudas Moshiach? When did it begin? What does it mean for us? What are its customs, and why do we observe them? In 5666, in the town of Lubavitch—that was 1906—the Rebbe was the Rebbe Rashab, the founder of the yeshiva. The yeshiva had been founded only a few years earlier, in Elul 5657, 1897. Within a few years, it had gained such a distinguished reputation throughout Russia that by 5666 there were already more than three hundred bochurim there, three hundred students who had come from cities all over Russia to study in this yeshiva. There they studied not only the revealed part of Torah, Gemara and halachah, but also Chassidus. It was the first yeshiva where Chassidus was studied—not just casually, but in depth, for several hours every day, both morning and evening. The Rebbe Rashab, who founded the yeshiva, established its schedule of study to bring together the study of the revealed part of Torah, Gemara and halachah, with in-depth study of Chassidus. He invested himself in this. He delivered maamarim of Chassidus and gave the students a wealth of Torah teachings so they could understand the depths and foundations of Chassidus. On Acharon Shel Pesach, the Rebbe Rashab instructed that a meal be prepared toward the end of the day, called the Seudas Moshiach. The story of the Seudas Moshiach had actually begun with the Baal Shem Tov. He instituted the practice among his students of holding a special meal toward the end of Acharon Shel Pesach, even though there is no requirement to have a third meal on Yom Tov. Nevertheless, on Acharon Shel Pesach he instituted a special meal at the end of the day. At this meal they would wash their hands, eat matzah, and conclude the festival with great joy. The Baal Shem Tov called this meal the Seudas Moshiach. In a moment we’ll explain why. Then the Rebbe Rashab came

02:35 to take part in the meal with the students himself. During the meal, he asked that the students also be given four cups of wine. As the meal continued, with a farbrengen and words of Chassidus, the students would each receive four cups of wine to drink over the course of the meal—just as on the first night of Pesach we not only eat matzah but also drink four cups of wine. The Rebbe Rashab instituted the same practice on that occasion, and from then on it became an established custom: at the Seudas Moshiach, we wash our hands toward the end of Acharon Shel Pesach, eat matzah, and also drink four cups of wine. This meal is called the Seudas Moshiach. So it’s very interesting that the whole practice of the Seudas Moshiach was instituted by our master, the holy Baal Shem Tov. He began it, while the practice of drinking four cups of wine was instituted by the Rebbe Rashab. So let’s explain today what it really means. What does it symbolize? What does it teach us? Why was it specifically the Baal Shem Tov who began the custom of the Seudas Moshiach? And why was it the Rebbe Rashab who instituted the drinking of four cups, specifically at the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in 5666? These questions are very relevant to us today as well, so that we can draw lessons for our daily lives right now. We know that the days of Pesach are days of Geulah. At the beginning of Pesach, we celebrate the redemption from Egypt. When we reach the seventh day of Pesach, we celebrate the day of the Splitting of the Sea, which was really the completion of the Exodus from Egypt. We know that when the Jewish people left Egypt, the redemption was not yet complete. They were still afraid of the Egyptians. And indeed, the Egyptians

04:56 pursued them until they reached the sea. Then came the great miracle of the Splitting of the Sea, and there the Egyptians met their end, bringing the exile in Egypt to an end. At the Splitting of the Sea, the Jewish people stood before the sea and witnessed all those great miracles: not one of the Egyptians remained. Hakadosh Boruch Hu split the sea for us, we crossed on dry land, and the Jewish people walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Hakadosh Boruch Hu drowned all the Egyptians, and so on. This whole experience of the Exodus from Egypt led the Jewish people to sing that song, the Song of the Sea: “Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang this song”—the wonderful Song of the Sea. When we look closely at its content, we see that it does not speak only about the redemption from Egypt. The Jewish people do not only sing and rejoice over every detail of that redemption; they also speak about the future Geulah. We see that toward the end of the Song of the Sea, they make a request: “Bring them and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance.” Then it continues, “The Sanctuary, Hashem, that Your hands established.” They speak about entering the Land of Israel and building the Beis Hamikdash, culminating in the words, “Hashem will reign forever and ever.” As Rashi says on this verse, it refers to the reign of Moshiach. In other words, the Jewish people knew that the redemption from Egypt was only the beginning of a process. It was the start of an ongoing Geulah that began with the Exodus from Egypt. They had seen the great miracles, but they knew that it was not over; it was only the beginning. We have a goal. The goal is to reach the Land of Israel and build the Beis Hamikdash, and the ultimate goal is “Hashem will reign forever and ever”—that the sovereignty of Hakadosh Boruch Hu be revealed throughout the world, in every place, for all eternity. This will ultimately happen

07:04 in the days of Moshiach, when “the kingship will be Hashem’s,” “Hashem will be King over all the earth,” and “on that day Hashem will be One and His name One.” As is customary throughout the Jewish world, we say the Song of the Sea every morning, and at its end we add these verses. They tell us that the Song of the Sea ultimately concludes with the complete Geulah for which we are all waiting. And so, on the last days of Pesach, we celebrate not only the Exodus from Egypt and the Splitting of the Sea, but also the future Geulah, the Geulah of Moshiach. We see this in the haftorah as well, including the haftorah of the seventh day of Pesach. After reading the Song of the Sea on that day, we read the haftorah containing the Song of David. There are several songs—our Sages say there are nine—yet the song we read as the haftorah on the seventh day of Pesach is specifically that of King David, from whose line Moshiach will come: Moshiach ben David. It, too, concludes, “He magnifies the salvation of His king and shows kindness to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.” That is how the haftorah of the seventh day of Pesach ends, speaking of King David’s kingship and its continuation forever. “He magnifies the salvation of His king” refers to Hakadosh Boruch Hu bringing Moshiach, “to David and his descendants forever.” Then, outside the Land of Israel, we also have Acharon Shel Pesach, with its special haftorah from the prophet Yeshayahu: “Yet today he will halt at Nov; he will wave his hand toward Jerusalem.” It is a remarkable haftorah about the complete Geulah, the Geulah of Moshiach. It says, “A shoot will emerge from the stem of Yishai,” and goes into all the details. Who will Moshiach be?

09:14 What is his greatness? “The spirit of Hashem will rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of Hashem.” “He will be imbued with the fear of Hashem,” and “he will judge the poor with righteousness.” Then the prophet goes on to describe what will happen in that time: “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid.” He continues with all those wondrous things, until “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” The rest of the haftarah is one of the most wonderful passages about the promises of the Geulah that we are all waiting for. So the final days of Pesach symbolize the complete Geulah—the longing, the yearning, the thirst of the Jewish people. We understand that the redemption from Egypt is not yet complete, not until we merit the complete Geulah. The Baal Shem Tov wanted to bring this into a more tangible, concrete form: the faith that burns within every Jew. Despite the long, grueling exile, every Jew has faith in the coming of Moshiach, as we say in the well-known words, “I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Moshiach, and though he may tarry, I await his coming every day.” A Jew waits every day for Moshiach to come today. It is not just that he waits each day for Moshiach to come whenever it happens; he waits each day for the Geulah to come that very day. This faith is always present in a Jew, in every generation, every circumstance, every place and every time. But when the days of Pesach arrive—and, more broadly, the month of Nissan, about which the Gemara says, “In Nissan they were redeemed, and in Nissan they are destined to be redeemed”—especially on Pesach, when we celebrate the redemption from Egypt, and even more especially in its final days, this burning faith in the coming of Moshiach awakens in every Jew. The Baal Shem Tov was among those who merited to begin the great movement

11:34 to prepare the world for Moshiach. Everyone knows the famous story that the Baal Shem Tov himself records in a letter to his brother-in-law. On Rosh Hashanah in the year 5507, he experienced an ascent of the soul and rose to Heaven. There he entered the chamber of Moshiach and met the soul of King Moshiach. He asked him, “When will the Master come?” When will that special day we all long and wait for arrive? When will King Moshiach be revealed? “When will the Master come?” And King Moshiach told him, “When your wellsprings spread outward.” When the wellsprings of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, the wellsprings of Chassidus, spread to every place and every corner, Moshiach will come, as he recounts in detail in his wonderful letter. So in the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, we see how he explains this and gives us a taste of the fact that we are in a period when we are beginning to prepare ourselves for the Geulah through Moshiach. One of the things the Baal Shem Tov instituted was this: he said that on the last day of Pesach, a revelation of Moshiach’s light shines for every Jew. This is one of the wonderful secrets the Baal Shem Tov revealed—that on this day, the last day of Pesach, a revelation of Moshiach’s light shines for every Jew. In other words, something wonderful from the revelation of King Moshiach awakens, becomes revealed, and shines in the world on this day. As we said, this is expressed in the haftarah we read and in the faith in Moshiach’s coming that awakens in every Jew on this day. To make it more tangible, the Baal Shem Tov instituted a meal at which we eat matzah toward the end of the day. What is the point of eating matzah at that meal? When we do something in a tangible, physical way, we also bring about its revelation in the physical, tangible world.

13:55 The Alter Rebbe said something he had heard in the name of his teacher, the Maggid of Mezritch, who was a student of the Baal Shem Tov. When a thought or an idea came to the Maggid, he would voice it aloud, even if it was not relevant to the people around him. He said that when a person says something aloud, it takes on a physical expression. That helps bring it about in this physical world. We see the same thing with the prophets. Often, when prophets delivered a prophecy, they performed some physical action in this world—taking a stick or a plant. In Tanach we find all kinds of actions the prophets performed as they spoke their prophecies. What is the purpose of handling physical things? Chassidus explains that this is precisely the point: to bring things into the physical world, so they do not remain only on the spiritual plane. That is why the Baal Shem Tov instituted the Moshiach Seudah toward the end of the seventh day of Pesach: we wash our hands and eat matzah to strengthen our faith. As we know, the Zohar calls matzah michla d’mehemnusa, “the food of faith.” Matzah is also the bread of healing. The Zohar explains at length that eating matzah on the night of Pesach heals the king’s son, who is ill, may Hashem protect us. He had fallen into the impurity of Egypt, into Egypt’s spiritual and emotional ailments. Through eating matzah, the Jewish people were healed of Egypt’s impurity, and their faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu grew stronger. That is why they left Egypt with complete trust. As the verse says, “Your following Me into the wilderness”: “I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your bridal days, how you followed Me into the wilderness, into an unsown land.” The Jewish people believed in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, trusted

15:59 Moshe Rabbeinu, and left Egypt even though they had nothing prepared, because they had faith and trust in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That was the first redemption. Eating matzah has a special power to strengthen faith, as Chassidus explains at length. What is it about eating matzah? Specifically this matzah, which has no flavor, no salt, and has not risen. It expresses a Jew’s complete self-nullification before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So the matzah we eat during the seven days of Pesach has the power to strengthen a Jew’s faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Just as this applies to faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, it also applies to faith in the complete Geulah. Among the Thirteen Principles of Faith, a Jew believes in the coming of Moshiach and in the resurrection of the dead. So when we eat matzah on the seventh day of Pesach, our faith and awareness grow stronger: Moshiach really is about to arrive. “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills.” “Behold, he stands behind our wall.” King Moshiach is already here, and we are all ready—ready to welcome him. This began with the Baal Shem Tov: strengthening faith in the coming of Moshiach. Several generations later, the Rebbe Rashab, at the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah, added another element to this custom: not only eating matzah, but also drinking wine—four cups of wine. What is the explanation for four cups of wine in connection with the final days of Pesach? As the Midrash says, there are four expressions of redemption in Parshas Va’eira. They relate to the first redemption, the redemption from Egypt, and corresponding to them our Sages instituted four cups of wine. There are also four cups of calamity in the future.

18:13 In other words, in the verses of Tanach, in Yechezkel, there is the word “cup,” referring to cups that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will bring—cups of punishment for the nations of the world, and also cups of Geulah for the Jewish people. “I will raise the cup of salvation,” and various other verses mention the word “cup” four times in connection with the salvation of the Jewish people in the complete Geulah, the Geulah of Moshiach. So the Rebbe Rashab says: To add even more, since we are moving ever closer to the Geulah, eating matzah alone is not enough. There is also the matter of drinking wine, as a preparation to internalize and instill faith in the Geulah more deeply. Why, exactly? What does wine add to matzah? What is the difference between eating matzah and drinking wine? This will also help us understand why the Baal Shem Tov instituted eating matzah on Pesach, while the Rebbe Rashab instituted drinking wine on Pesach. The explanation is that matzah, as we discussed, is about faith. Matzah has no taste, and the reason it has no taste is that the beginning of serving Hashem must be simple faith. A Jew’s first connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is simple faith, without calculations, clever arguments, explanations, or understanding: complete devotion and self-nullification before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is like what happens every day when we get up in the morning. A Jew wakes up; his mind is not yet active, he is not fully awake and is not yet feeling much, but he says, “I thank You, living and eternal King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; great is Your faithfulness.” Modeh Ani is simple faith. That is what eating matzah accomplishes: simple faith. But remaining at the level of faith forever is not the goal either. The goal is “and nourish faith,” as the verse says—

20:19 Nourish faith. That means faith needs to be sustained and fed, like a shepherd who takes his flock and feeds them so they will grow and develop. That is also the meaning of raya mehemna, the shepherd of faith: to sustain, feed, internalize, and strengthen faith, so that it does not remain just an abstract, intangible point of belief. Sometimes we see a person who believes, but his faith is disconnected from his life. For faith to truly permeate every part of a person, there must be understanding, study, and explanation. There is a wonderful teaching from the holy Shelah about Shirat Hayam, the Song at the Sea, which we recite on the seventh day of Pesach. Among its verses is, “This is my G-d and I will glorify Him; the G-d of my father and I will exalt Him.” It seems to say the same thing twice. What is the difference between the first part of the verse and the second? There are certainly many explanations, but the holy Shelah gives a wonderful one. He says: There is a Jew whose entire connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is a connection of faith. He inherited that faith from his father, who inherited it from his father and grandfather, all the way back to Avraham Avinu, the first of the believers. This is the faith we received as an inheritance. When faith is inherited, it remains something very lofty, exalted, distant, and wonderful. That is very important; it is the foundation. But leaving it at that is not enough. We must take that faith and try to study it, delve into it, contemplate it, and understand it as much as a person can. That is what the verse means by “This is my G-d”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu becomes my G-d, Whom I have studied, understood, and contemplated as much as I can. Then comes “and I will glorify Him”—va’anveihu, which the holy Shelah reads as ani vaHu, “I and He.”

22:39 It is a combination of two words, “I” and “He,” together. We become one. But when it is “the G-d of my father”—my father believed, so I believe—then “I will exalt Him”: He is exalted and sublime, but it does not become part of me. And that is the point of wine in relation to matzah. Matzah is faith, as we said. The Sages instituted wine because wine, by contrast, works through “when wine enters, secrets emerge.” Wine reveals what is hidden and brings it out into the open. Wine has taste. Wine brings joy. It is “wine that gladdens G-d and people,” as the verse says. In other words, bringing wine into it means these things do not remain only an abstract point of faith. They also come with taste, reason, understanding, and comprehension, so that a person truly becomes one with them. Then the person becomes permeated with faith through and through. It enters him and takes hold of him, bringing him to joy and love—the power of wine that gladdens G-d and people. And this applies to faith in the Geulah, faith in the coming of Moshiach. The Baal Shem Tov, who founded the teachings of Chassidus, revealed faith. We all know the Baal Shem Tov’s story. He came into the world to strengthen the faith of the Jewish people. One reason the Baal Shem Tov was given the name Yisroel is that it was not a common name at the time. Today it has become common, but in those years it was not common at all. He was named Yisroel because, as we know, when a person faints, calling him by name helps wake him from his faint. The Baal Shem Tov’s name was a way of calling the Jewish people by name, to awaken their faith. We all know the history of the Jewish people—

24:36 At that time, three hundred years ago, it was a period when faith was very weak. The Jewish people were going through a time of great bitterness and great weakness in matters of faith. After the episode of Shabbetai Tzvi and the pogroms that took place in Poland and elsewhere in Europe, the Jewish people were living through an extremely difficult period. The Baal Shem Tov breathed new light, vitality, and faith into the Jewish people. He upheld and strengthened their power of faith. So on Acharon Shel Pesach, when we receive inspiration to have faith in Moshiach for the entire year, he instituted eating matzah. But after generations of Chabad Chassidus—the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, and the Rebbe Maharash—came the Rebbe Rashab. It is well known that under the Rebbe Rashab, Chabad Chassidus developed on an enormous scale, with wonderful explanations. In his maamarim, known as hemsheichim, the Rebbe Rashab gave complete and profound explanations of the teachings of Chassidus, with analogies and explanations presented in a way that anyone could understand. This was especially true in that year, 5666, which we are discussing now. A whole book is devoted to the profound, wide-ranging, and wonderful maamarim the Rebbe Rashab delivered throughout 5666, explaining the purpose of the world’s creation and the coming of Moshiach, and how these fit with everything we do in our daily lives. It is one of the most wonderful books in the teachings of Chassidus. The Rebbe Rashab said then that the books speak of 5666 as a year of the ketz, the time of the end. We know that various books by kabbalists and others make calculations, and there are certain years that are an especially favorable time. Of course, Moshiach must come at any moment, and we await him all the time. But according to certain calculations, some years are a kind of especially favorable time: more than an ordinary year, that year offers an opportunity to bring the Geulah

26:40 In practice. The year 5666 was one of those dates designated for the Geulah, and the Rebbe Rashab devoted that entire year to developing the remarkable maamarim that explain the purpose of the Geulah, the purpose of the world’s creation, the whole idea of the dwelling place we make for Hashem in this world, and how we accomplish this through Torah, mitzvos, and a Jew’s service of Hashem. They are remarkable, expansive maamarim. And so, on that last day of Pesach, the Rebbe Rashab came to the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva—the first place, as we said, where young students sat and studied both the revealed and the hidden parts of Torah. They studied Chassidus carefully, broadly, and in depth. And the Rebbe Rashab said: The time has come not only to eat the matzah, but also to drink the wine. Our faith in the Geulah must not remain abstract, vague, and disconnected. It should become something we truly taste, feel, enjoy, and rejoice in. Only when a person truly studies the teachings about the Geulah in a personal, deep, and thorough way can he connect to it genuinely and deeply. That is the idea behind drinking wine, the four cups, on the last day of Pesach. And because we are already in the final moments of exile, in a time when we can feel that the whole world is moving toward the Geulah, this is the most fitting time for each of us to make use of these great days, the final days of Pesach. In particular, make use of the seventh day of Pesach and the last day of Pesach: hold this special meal and tell acquaintances who do not yet know about it. Have the meal toward the end of the day, eat the matzah, and drink the wine—the four cups of the Geulah. At every moment, keep it in mind, talk about it, encourage and strengthen one another: “Each shall help his fellow, and say to his brother, ‘Be strong.’” Strengthen ourselves and others on the subject

28:50 of the Geulah and the coming of Moshiach, and know that the moment when Moshiach will be revealed is almost here. May we merit that this year, in the month of Nissan, what our Sages tell us will come to pass: “In Nissan, they are destined to be redeemed.” May we merit the complete Geulah through our righteous Moshiach, and may all the words of prophecy come to pass—as we mentioned, all the words of prophecy—that the spirit of Hashem will rest upon him. May every Jew reveal within himself the spark of Moshiach that the Baal Shem Tov speaks about. Through this, we will bring Moshiach to the entire world. Then it will be a world filled with—a world of peace, a world of unity. “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” If even the animals will live together, how much more so will there be peace among the Jewish people and the nations of the world. May we soon merit that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” Amen, may it be so. A joyous Yom Tov to everyone.