3000 Years Later: Shmuel's Prophecy Foresaw What's Happening Today in Iran

00:00 In these momentous days, as the whole world anxiously follows what is happening to our fellow Jews in Eretz Yisroel, we are witnessing historic expressions of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s love and affection. Amid all this darkness, we see great miracles and wonders in everyday life—“Your miracles and wonders that are with us every day.” We feel it; the whole world feels it. We are now in the final moments of the darkness of exile, at the threshold of the Geulah. The words of the prophets are being fulfilled before our eyes. Someone might ask—and we hear people wondering—by what merit? What merit does the Jewish people have that we are seeing all these expressions of affection? How are these miracles and wonders happening before our eyes amid all the turmoil, all the noise, and all the darkness? Of course, we pray and ask and wait at every moment to see the Torah’s words fulfilled in full: “I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down with none to frighten you, and no sword will pass through your land.” We are waiting for peace, tranquility, and rest. Above all, we are waiting for the complete Geulah, for the moment of the true and complete Geulah, when He will lead you upright—all the Jewish people from around the world—to Eretz Yisroel, to the building of the third Beis Hamikdash and the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, in the most open way. At times like these, we are all waiting for a word of encouragement, a word to strengthen us. And of course, the words of Torah are the greatest source of strength for every Jew, especially the words of the weekly parsha. The Alter Rebbe taught us that a Jew must live with the times—live with the times. He explained that this means living with the weekly parsha. That is what gives us strength. That is what we see being fulfilled. The Torah is eternal. It is not a story about the distant past. The stories of the Torah are stories of the present. Today we will focus on a verse specifically in the haftarah of the

02:27 weekly parsha, Parshas Korach. The haftarah contains a truly wonderful verse, one that strengthens and encourages us. Especially when we study it with the depth of the teachings of our Sages and the depth of Chassidus, it takes on a wonderful meaning for our times. In the haftarah of Parshas Korach, we encounter the prophet Shmuel. Shmuel, a descendant of Korach, came to rectify Korach’s sin. As is known from the Midrashim and the commentators, there is an inner connection between Korach and Shmuel. The prophet Shmuel was Korach’s descendant. Rashi already says this in the parsha: Korach saw it with ruach hakodesh. Korach was a great man. Later he fell into conflict, but he saw that the prophet Shmuel would descend from him. And indeed, in the haftarah, after anointing Shaul as king and renewing the kingship, Shmuel gathers the Jewish people. The haftarah recounts the words of rebuke and moral instruction that Shmuel speaks to the people because they chose a king for the wrong reasons. It is true that the Torah commands, “You shall surely appoint a king over yourself.” But Shmuel discerned that the Jewish people did not want a true Jewish king—one who would elevate us, bring us closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and teach us how to serve Hashem. Instead, they asked for a king for political reasons, like all the other nations. So he rebukes them over this and awakens them to teshuvah. As the haftarah relates, Shmuel’s words awakened the people to teshuvah, and they asked him, “Pray for your servants.” Then comes the haftarah’s closing verse, its decisive statement—a wonderful verse from which we can draw strength for our times. The prophet Shmuel concludes: “For Hashem will not forsake His people, for the sake of His great name, because Hashem has chosen to make you His people.” The prophet Shmuel tells the Jewish people: Do not be afraid and do not worry. Despite your conduct, despite all

04:50 the... what happened in that situation, Hakadosh Boruch Hu nevertheless loves you. “For Hashem will not forsake His people, for the sake of His great name.” So let us look a little more closely at this verse. What is its deeper meaning? We know there is a very similar verse in Tanach, in Tehillim, chapter 94. Let us look more deeply at the difference between the two verses, and then we will understand the wonderful meaning of the verse in this week’s haftarah. Dovid Hamelech says in Tehillim: “For Hashem will not forsake His people, nor will He abandon His inheritance.” There, too, Dovid brings us the good news despite everything the nations of the world, the enemies of the Jewish people, try to do to us. Chapter 94 is a forceful chapter: “G-d of vengeance, Hashem, G-d of vengeance, appear!” It speaks of Hashem’s vengeance against the nations that hate the Jewish people—what we are seeing in our times. And then there is this wonderful verse: “For Hashem will not forsake His people, nor will He abandon His inheritance.” Here it says: “For Hashem will not forsake His people, for the sake of His great name.” On this, the Midrash Yalkut Shimoni, along with other Midrashim, comments on the verse. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani asks: What is the difference between the two verses? He says: When the Jewish people are worthy, “Hashem will not forsake His people, nor will He abandon His inheritance.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not forsake us because we are His people and His inheritance. We are Hashem’s inheritance, and because the Jewish people are His inheritance, He does not abandon or forsake us. But there are times when the Jewish people are not worthy, G-d forbid. Then the verse says—and this is what the prophet Shmuel says—even when you are not worthy, G-d forbid, “Hashem will not forsake His people, for the sake of His great name.” The Midrash goes on to offer another explanation: one verse refers to Eretz Yisroel, and the other to outside Eretz Yisroel. The Jewish

06:57 people in Eretz Yisroel: “For Hashem will not forsake His people, nor will He abandon His inheritance.” It interprets “His inheritance” as Eretz Yisroel. And outside Eretz Yisroel: “For Hashem will not forsake His people, for the sake of His great name.” Then the Midrash continues. Rabbi Reuven says: Always, in every situation, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will not forsake His people for the sake of His great name. “For My sake, for My sake, I act for you, House of Israel.” The verse tells us that it is always “for My sake, for My sake”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu always protects us for the sake of His great name. He is with us, like a single sheep among seventy wolves, and it remains protected. How wonderful this verse is for us today. When we delve into it, especially into the Midrash, what is the Midrash really telling us? There are different times. There is a time when we say, “Hashem will not forsake His people, nor will He abandon His inheritance.” And there are times when we say, “Hashem will not forsake His people, for the sake of His great name.” What is the deeper difference between these two periods? It tells us that there is a way in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu protects the Jewish people when we are worthy vessels for blessing. When the Jewish people fulfill His will, Hakadosh Boruch Hu grants us protection and blessing and gives us everything we need. But there are also times when, G-d forbid, our conduct makes us unworthy. And yet this is the wonderful thing the prophet Shmuel says in this verse: even when, so to speak, G-d forbid, something is lacking in the Jewish people’s service of Hashem, even when our conduct is not yet perfect, nevertheless, for the sake of His great name, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has chosen the Jewish people, and He protects them in every situation. There are also two similar verses in the Torah. It is quite wonderful. We see that there is one verse

09:11 It says: “I will remember My covenant with Yaakov, and also My covenant with Yitzchak, and also My covenant with Avraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.” In other words, this is speaking about the merit of our forefathers: that Hakadosh Boruch Hu, in their merit, remembers His covenant with Avraham, His covenant with Yitzchak, His covenant with Yaakov, “and I will remember the land.” Then it says: “And even so, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu protects us in every situation; in every situation He is with us. There is another verse in the Torah that says: “Behold, I am making a covenant.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes a covenant with Moshe Rabbeinu, and He says: “Before all your people I will perform wonders that have not been created in all the earth or among all the nations. And all the people will see the work of Hashem, for it is awe-inspiring.” There is something very interesting in this verse: Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes a covenant with Moshe Rabbeinu, and He tells him this. Moshe Rabbeinu makes a special request of Hakadosh Boruch Hu after the sin of the Golden Calf. The Jewish people committed the terrible sin of the Golden Calf, and Moshe Rabbeinu asks Hakadosh Boruch Hu to forgive us for it. Then he says: “And we, I and Your people, shall be distinguished from every people on the face of the earth.” Moshe Rabbeinu asks Hakadosh Boruch Hu to give the Jewish people special protection—that we should be distinguished, different. And then, in the following verses: “Behold, I am making a covenant”—a special covenant Hashem makes with Moshe Rabbeinu—“Before all your people I will perform wonders that have not been created in all the earth or among all the nations.” The question the commentators ask, which is discussed at length in Chassidus, is this: There is already a covenant Hashem made with the forefathers. With Avraham Avinu, in the Covenant Between the Parts, Hashem made a covenant with him—in Parshas Lech Lecha—concerning the inheritance of the land and Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s protection of them. Hashem made a

11:49 covenant with the forefathers, and that is essentially the verse we read earlier: “I will remember My covenant with Yaakov”—the covenant with Avraham, the covenant with Yitzchak, the covenant with Yaakov—“and I will remember the land.” That is the earlier covenant. Why is there another covenant with Moshe Rabbeinu? What is the difference between the covenant Hashem made with the forefathers and the covenant He made with Moshe Rabbeinu? Something wonderful is explained: Regarding the covenant with the forefathers, it says, “And I will remember the land.” Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov—“and I will remember the land.” Regarding the covenant with Moshe Rabbeinu, it says, “that have not been created in all the earth.” What does this mean? There is a secret here. The Rebbe Rashab explains it in the last maamar he delivered before his passing, entitled “Hinei Anochi Kores Bris.” He explained something wonderful there. He said: The Hebrew word for “land,” eretz, is related to ratzon, “will.” Why is it called eretz? Because “it desired to do the will of its Creator.” When the Jewish people serve Hashem, they are in the category of eretz: they have the desire. Their will is in the right place. Eretz Yisroel—the true desire of a Jew to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “to do the will of its Creator.” So the verse says that in the covenant with the forefathers, Hakadosh Boruch Hu promised Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov all the blessings for the Jewish people. But: “And I will remember the land”—when the Jewish people are in the category of eretz, Eretz Yisroel, when their will is in the right place and they want to serve Hashem. But Moshe Rabbeinu is with the Jewish people after the sin of the Golden Calf, that dreadful, terrible sin. Through it, the Jewish people had seemingly severed their connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Moshe Rabbeinu stands in the breach to pray and ask forgiveness: “Forgive our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance”—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu should take us as His inheritance even when we do not deserve it. And so Moshe says: Here we are making a covenant with the Jewish people, and he asks for a covenant of an entirely different kind. “Before all your people I will perform wonders.” There is

14:12 something wonderful here: “wonders that have not been created in all the earth.” Even when the Jewish people are in a state where their will is lacking, because their desire to do the will of their Creator is not fully revealed, even then Hakadosh Boruch Hu is with us. And this is what Shmuel the prophet tells the Jewish people: “For Hashem will not forsake His people, for the sake of His great name.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu protects the Jewish people in every situation, for the sake of His great name. Hakadosh Boruch Hu always reaches out His hand to us, always gives us strength. The moment a Jew awakens—the moment a Jew remembers that he is a Jew and connects himself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—then, for the sake of His great name, Hakadosh Boruch Hu always protects us in every situation. Nearly a hundred years ago, on Gimmel Tammuz 5687—ninety-eight years ago—the Frierdiker Rebbe left prison that day. As is well known, the Frierdiker Rebbe was imprisoned during these days ninety-eight years ago. It was an extremely harsh imprisonment, with mortal danger, rachmana litzlan, because he had spread Yiddishkeit in Russia during the difficult period of the Communists and their decrees against religion. After eighteen days of the Rebbe’s harsh imprisonment, the great miracle happened. It was truly a miracle in those days, because the Russians did whatever they wanted. Nevertheless, the great miracle happened and the Rebbe was released. Of course, it was not yet a full release. As is well known, on Gimmel Tammuz the Rebbe was sent into exile in a remote town in Russia, but it was a great miracle. He was sent there for three years. In the end, he was there for only a week, and then came the great celebration of Yud-Beis Tammuz. On that day, Gimmel Tammuz, the Frierdiker Rebbe was standing on the—on the steps of the train, about to board; the train was about to depart. The journey was supposed to be for—as we said—three years. To be far

16:40 from the community of chassidim, far from his family. That was the original sentence. Hundreds of chassidim came to the platform to say goodbye to the Rebbe. There was much crying, many tears, a great deal of emotion. On the one hand, there was the joy of seeing the Rebbe after they had feared the worst. It was a rescue from death to life in the fullest sense. On the other hand, the Rebbe was leaving for a long time. What would happen? We chassidim would remain here alone. Those were extremely difficult moments. The Rebbe stood on the steps of the train. It was a tall train in Russia, and he could see the whole crowd. Among them, of course, were police officers, spies and all sorts of people. The Rebbe stood there and began with a verse. Which verse did the Rebbe use to begin his sicha to the crowd? “May Hashem our G-d be with us as He was with our forefathers; may He not leave us or forsake us.” Nothing less than a verse remarkably similar to the words of the haftorah we were just discussing: “For Hashem will not forsake His people, for the sake of His great name.” The Rebbe said it using a different verse, one said by King Shlomo. When the Beis Hamikdash was built, King Shlomo stood at those most wonderful moments of the building of the Beis Hamikdash, at its dedication. All the Jewish people had come to the dedication, as the account in Melachim relates. Then King Shlomo stood and said this verse. He asked and prayed: “May Hashem our G-d be with us as He was with our forefathers; may He not leave us or forsake us.” The Rebbe spoke a few words—powerful words. At that moment, speaking that way was forbidden. The Rebbe had just been imprisoned in circumstances of actual mortal danger because he had stood against the government. But the Rebbe was not afraid. He stood before that entire reality and spoke clearly, saying, “Listen and remember what my father said.” He was speaking in the name of his father, the Rebbe Rashab, who had said it at the time of the Russian government’s decrees in the generation

19:06 Earlier, the Rebbe Rashab said, “It was not by our will that we went into exile. It will not be by our will that we leave exile. Our Father, our King, blessed be He, sent us into exile, and soon He will lead us upright to our Holy Land through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, speedily in our days, amen.” But we need to declare this openly, and all the nations need to know it: only our bodies went into exile. Our souls never went into exile. All the powers that rule over us can do is try to control our bodies, but our souls are always free. We always have the strength to stand up and declare openly: “Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.” The Rebbe went on to speak about the mesirus nefesh with which a Jew must stand firm and strong, without being shaken or intimidated by any of the difficulties or trials. And our request of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is that He be with us as He was with our forefathers, who lived with mesirus nefesh: “May He not leave us or forsake us.” We must not be shaken or intimidated, or, G-d forbid, weakened by all the difficulties and suffering we face in the final moments of exile. The Rebbe concluded his sicha with a blessing for everyone present, that we be strong and healthy physically, and strong spiritually as well. He asked Hakadosh Boruch Hu to fulfill the words: “May Hashem our G-d be with us as He was with our forefathers; may He not leave us or forsake us,” and may all the Jewish people have light, spiritually and physically. These are the words of a tzaddik, spoken on this day. And we draw strength and fortitude from these words in our own time, too, as we find ourselves in days of darkness, days when Hashem’s presence is concealed. On the one hand, we are still in exile. We can see that we are still living through moments of anxiety, waiting at every moment for this war to end. On the other hand, we also see the miracles and wonders. And we need to keep remembering these wonderful words, to remember that

21:38 Hashem will not forsake His people for the sake of His great name, for Hashem will not forsake His people, and He will not abandon His inheritance. And we must pray and ask: “May Hashem our G-d be with us as He was with our forefathers; may He not leave us or forsake us.” May we already merit to see that “all the Children of Israel had light in their dwellings,” even during exile, and speedily, in our very days, may we merit to see the light of the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu.