We Are the Last Generation - What Task Remains for Us So That the Geulah Will Come?

00:00 Among the preparations each of us makes for Shavuos, the day we receive the Torah, is the custom of studying Pirkei Avos. As the commentaries and seforim explain, a Jew studies its six chapters over the six Shabbosim between Pesach and Shavuos. This gives us strength and a message. The Sages in Pirkei Avos teach us about the chain of Torah transmission, about receiving the Torah, and about the proper conduct, character traits, and moral guidance a Jew receives through the Torah. Pirkei Avos is the best preparation for understanding exactly what we receive on Shavuos. What is this great and wonderful gift that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is about to give us? Every year, we receive the Torah anew on Shavuos, and the best preparation is Pirkei Avos. With each chapter, we move closer to that great and wonderful day. And the fifth chapter, which we are going to study today—of course, every mishnah gives us information, moral guidance, direction, and lessons in how to be a better Jew, how to observe the Torah with more joy, more light, and wonderful insights. Today we are going to focus on the first mishnah of the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avos. When we open this mishnah, the first thing is that the mishnah itself needs to be understood. We need simply to study it and try to understand exactly what it is saying. Its straightforward message is actually not so clear at first glance. All the commentaries raise very simple questions, and our main question in this class will be: What message does this mishnah have for us now, in these days when we are preparing to receive the Torah? What exactly does this mishnah tell a Jew who wants to understand what the giving of the Torah means for us? So let’s look at the mishnah a little, and we’ll see that once we hear how to understand it

02:24 according to the teachings of Chassidus, the wonderful explanations Chassidus gives of the mishnah, the whole mishnah takes on a new dimension—a deep and vital dimension that opens our eyes to the purpose of creation and the purpose of receiving the Torah. What exactly are we doing here in this physical world? “The world was created with ten utterances,” the mishnah begins. And it asks: “Could it not have been created with one utterance?” A very simple question. In Sefer Bereishis, Parshas Bereishis, right at the beginning, we find that Hakadosh Boruch Hu spoke ten utterances to create the world. “And G-d said, ‘Let there be light.’” “And G-d said, ‘Let there be a firmament.’” “And G-d said, ‘Let the earth bring forth vegetation.’” If we count, we’ll find ten utterances. Actually, we’ll find only nine. The Gemara already discusses this in tractate Rosh Hashanah and in several other places. Why do we say there are ten? One seems to be missing. And the Gemara says that “Bereishis” is the first utterance. Although it doesn’t say “And G-d said,” it does say, “In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth.” So the first utterance is actually the words of the Torah’s first verse. That gives us ten utterances. Then the mishnah asks: Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu need to expend ten utterances? He could have done it with one utterance at the same cost. If Hakadosh Boruch Hu can bring into being and create an entire world, with millions and billions of details, in ten utterances, He can do it with one utterance too. He could have said only “Bereishis,” and that would have been it. “In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth”—the heavens, including all their hosts, and the earth, including all its hosts. Rashi says this in his commentary on Chumash too. The Ramban explains it in his commentary on the first verse. Everything is included; everything is there in the first verse. Nothing more is needed. Why did He need to speak ten utterances? The mishnah answers: “Rather, to exact punishment from the wicked who destroy the world that was created with ten

04:26 utterances, and to give a good reward to the righteous who sustain the world that was created with ten utterances.” Wow. Because there are ten utterances, there is reward and punishment. The wicked destroy the world and deserve punishment; the righteous sustain it and deserve reward. This is the question everyone asks: What is the connection? If it had been created with one utterance, couldn’t there have been reward and punishment? What is going on here? There are many explanations. The simple explanation given by most commentators is that there is a very big difference between someone damaging—or, conversely, beautifying—an object that is precious and important, and doing the same to an object that is cheap and ordinary. If you break or damage a cheap, ordinary object, people will let it go; they’ll forgive you quickly. And if you beautify it, you won’t receive anything special for that either. But an object that is very precious and important, in which a great deal of money and effort has been invested, is guarded more carefully, and people are therefore more particular about it. So the reward and punishment are proportionate. The same applies to creation. If the world had been created with one utterance, that would mean Hakadosh Boruch Hu had not invested much in creation, so creation would not warrant reward and punishment on that scale. Because Hashem created it with ten utterances, it has a special worth and importance. Certainly, then, the reward is very great, and, correspondingly, so is the punishment, G-d forbid. But here an extremely simple question arises, which the commentators also address. Beis Reb Shmuel, one of the most wonderful books on Pirkei Avos, which gathers wonderful explanations from the great sages of the Jewish people, raises the simplest question: Wait a moment. Hashem created it with ten utterances, but in fact it is worth only one utterance—so why should the reward and punishment be greater? A simple question. Imagine you have an object that is actually worth just one shekel. You can buy it in a dollar store, but you decided to pay a million dollars for it. So if someone damages or ruins it, should they face a million-dollar penalty? It’s an object worth a dollar. It’s an object worth a shekel. What’s going on? What is the world actually worth? One utterance. So why does Hashem’s creating it with ten utterances make it more precious? Clearly, there is a much deeper meaning here. We need to understand in depth exactly what one utterance is and what ten utterances are. What is the mishnah really trying to tell us? Seemingly, it’s a story about history, about the past; more than five thousand years have passed since the creation of the world. What relevance does it have for a Jew studying Pirkei Avos, who wants to work on his character traits and conduct and prepare to receive the Torah? He is standing at Shabbos Mevarchim for the month of Sivan, preparing for the third month. What message does he get from this mishnah? What is it telling us? And here the Rebbe tells us something wonderful. Do you know what one utterance is, and what ten utterances are? What are we talking about? It isn’t just a matter of numbers. There is something much deeper here than numbers. We are talking about value, about the very nature of things. The difference between one utterance and ten utterances is a difference in essence, a different level, a different kind of world. Chassidus explains that when we say “one utterance,” we mean the realm of thought. “Ten utterances” means the realm of speech. In other words, we can understand everything from the human being. When a person speaks, there is a difference between thinking and speaking. When we want to convey a message, first we think

06:33 One. So why should the reward and punishment be greater? It’s a simple question. Imagine you have an item that’s actually worth just one shekel. You can buy it at a dollar store, but you decided to pay a million dollars for it. So if someone damages it, should they have to pay a million dollars? It’s an item worth a dollar, an item worth a shekel. What’s going on? What is the world actually worth? One utterance. So why should the fact that Hashem created it with ten utterances make it more valuable? Clearly, there’s a much deeper meaning here. We need to understand what exactly “one utterance” and “ten utterances” mean. What is the Mishnah trying to tell us? At first glance, it’s a story from history, from the distant past. More than five thousand years have passed since the creation of the world. How is this relevant to a Jew studying Pirkei Avos, who wants to work on his character and behavior and prepare to receive the Torah? He’s standing on Shabbos Mevarchim for the month of Sivan, preparing for the third month. What message does he take from this Mishnah? What is it telling us? Here the Rebbe tells us something wonderful. Do you know what “one utterance” means, and what “ten utterances” means? What are we talking about? It isn’t just a matter of numbers. There’s something much deeper here. We’re talking about value, about essence. The difference between one utterance and ten utterances is a difference in essence, a different level, a different kind of world. Chassidus explains that when we say “one utterance,” we mean the realm of thought. “Ten utterances” means the realm of speech. In other words, we can understand this from the way a person works. There’s a difference between thinking and speaking. When we want to convey a message, first we think.

08:35 About that. Now, in thought, a person can think one point that he will later have to break down into ten points in speech. One word in thought may take ten statements to express aloud. In other words, speech goes into much more detail; it divides things up. And the reason is very simple. Why can I think one point, one word, and then have to spell out that very same thing in many details when I speak? Because when I’m by myself, the faculty of thought and the letters of thought are connected to my soul, so the point itself is there. I don’t need the details. Within myself, I grasp the underlying point, its depth. That’s enough. If I have the point, I have it all. It’s like seeing something at a glance: you see the whole thing. But when I want to convey it to someone else, I can’t just speak in points. I have to give all the details so that, from them, the other person can arrive at the point. I have to divide it into parts. So when we say “one utterance,” we really don’t mean an utterance in speech, but an utterance in thought. Sometimes, in Tanach, “saying” refers to thought: “I said in my heart,” “he said in his heart,” “and he said in his heart.” Saying can also take place in thought, and the world could have been created through one utterance. Here we come to a remarkable insight explained in Chassidus: “could have” does not mean something hypothetical—that He could have done so in theory. When we speak of what Hakadosh Boruch Hu “could” do, it is a reality. With Hakadosh Boruch Hu, anything within His power also exists in actuality. As soon as He says it—as soon as it arises in His thought—it is already created. There is a creation that comes from the realm of thought. So the Mishnah here is telling us something very important: there is a world of one utterance, and there is a world of ten utterances.

10:44 These are two aspects, two levels, two stages in creation. When Hakadosh Boruch Hu came to create the world, He first thought of it. The thought of creating the world arose before Him. The Zohar and the teachings of our Sages say that it arose in His thought, in His will. In fact, near the very beginning of the Zohar, it says, “At the beginning of the King’s will”—in the King’s will, in the King’s thought, Hakadosh Boruch Hu willed that there should be a world. That is the one utterance. And that is the depth of the question in our Mishnah: “It could have been created through one utterance.” After all, the moment Hakadosh Boruch Hu thinks, the moment He wills, He needs no more than a single thought. Everything is already there. It could have been created through one utterance, and with Him, even in thought, creation already exists in its entirety, down to every last detail. So why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu also bring it down into speech and divide it into ten utterances? Why wasn’t the world created only from the realm of thought, but also, as the Torah says, through “And G-d said”—an utterance divided into the ten utterances? That means creation also came from the realm of speech, not only from the realm of thought. Here comes the remarkable explanation. If the world had been created only from the aspect of thought—one utterance, one thought from which all creation emerges—then creation would have been on the level, of the kind, and of the nature of thought. It would be the world as it exists in the thought of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. True, it could have been created through one utterance: Hashem thinks of the world, and with one thought everything comes into being. A world comes into being, but a world on the level of thought—a spiritual world, a refined world, a world that is entirely one thought, a world in which it is felt that its whole purpose is the Divine light: to bring G-dliness into the world, to reveal the Divine light in the world. A world wholly nullified to

13:08 Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And if the world had been created only through one utterance, it would be an ideal world, a wonderful world. You would look at creation and see it proclaiming, “There is nothing besides Him.” A creation that says there is nothing but Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A world utterly nullified to Him. In such a world there is no free choice, no reward and punishment, no righteous people and wicked people. We are all completely nullified and united with the supernal light. How could it even enter a person’s mind to do something different? There is no choice. And if there is no choice, there is no reward and punishment. That is why Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world through ten utterances. He divided it into parts so that there could be an independent reality: a world created from nothing, a physical and material world in which each created being seems to say something different, and the Divine light is not openly visible. You have to work; you have to toil. Then free choice becomes possible. There can be a wicked person who does not want to seek Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the world and who damages the world—“to exact retribution from the wicked, who destroy the world.” And on the other hand, there is the righteous person who chooses good, reveals the Divine light in the world, sustains the world, and makes a dwelling place for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So the question arises: Fine, wonderful. If there really must be a world created through the speech of ten utterances so that it can be, so to speak, a separate world, a world that feels itself to be a reality, allowing for free choice and for reward and punishment—then why tell us that it could have been created through one utterance? Why do we say that there is also another aspect? After all, we said it is not just an imagined possibility, not just theoretical. There really is an aspect of one utterance. “In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth”—that is, in fact, the one utterance that encompasses all creation. So that means that, in actuality, too,

15:12 there was—and is—a world created from the aspect of thought, and only afterward a world created from the aspect of speech. Why is there a world from the aspect of thought if it serves no purpose, G-d forbid? So now the question is the reverse: What is the message in saying that it could have been created through one utterance? Especially since we say that this possibility is a reality. There is a world associated with one utterance. And here comes the wonderful, profound secret the Mishnah wants to teach us. It is telling us: Listen, you look at the world with ordinary eyes, through worldly lenses. We see a physical, material world, full of darkness, full of evil, full of kelipah and sitra achra—things that conceal and obscure the Divine light. And then a Jew says: How can I accomplish anything here in this world? In a world so full of darkness, coarseness, and materialism—a world that, as it says in Tanya, is a world of kelipos and sitra achra, where the wicked prevail—what am I to do? What can be done with this world? How can one live in such a reality? So the Mishnah reveals the secret to us. This very reality of the world as you see it is actually a world that comes from one utterance. Within this world, in its potential and in its very essence, it is a world connected to the thought of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is a Divine intention here; there is Divine light here. It is already present in the world. The world was originally created through one utterance; only afterward did it descend to a lower level and become the world of ten utterances. But within the world there is also the possibility of connecting it to that nullification and permeating it with that connection. A Jew only needs to remove the kelipah. A kelipah is just a shell, nothing more. Inside the shell is a fruit; there is a Divine spark, there is Divine vitality. So when a Jew knows that this is there, that the world is capable of becoming nullified, then

17:20 That makes it much easier for us to know what our purpose is and how to reveal it. And that is the wonderful message this Mishnah gives us on the Shabbos before the month of Sivan, as a Jew approaches the giving of the Torah in the third month. The giving of the Torah revealed something extraordinary: Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the Torah down here, in the physical world. He did not lift the Jewish people up to heaven. It happened here below, at Mount Sinai, in the Sinai Desert. The Jews had left Egypt and were in a place in the most physical, material world, and it was here that the Divine revelation of the giving of the Torah took place. The point of the giving of the Torah is to tell a Jew: there is a world. “The Torah is not in heaven”; the Torah was given to human beings. We all know the story of Moshe Rabbeinu and the angels, their debate. The angels said the Torah should be given above: “Place Your glory upon the heavens.” What did Moshe Rabbeinu answer them? Do you have an evil inclination? Did you go down to Egypt? Is there idol worship among you? In other words, Moshe Rabbeinu says the Torah was not given to the ministering angels. It was given precisely here, in the physical world, amid physical reality and the challenges we face in this world. And here a Jew has the power to make a dwelling place for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to bring Divine unity into creation. That is the giving of the Torah, and that is the message of the third month. Why is it called the third month? Because three is the number that unites. When you have only one, there is just that one and nothing else. Two means disagreement. Then “let the third verse come and reconcile them.” The third month is the month of peace. The Torah is called “a threefold Torah,” given on the third day in the third month. As the well-known Gemara in Tractate Shabbos says, everything about the Torah is three, because here there is a joining of the upper and the lower, above and below, heaven and earth, Hakadosh Boruch Hu and creation. Through the Torah, a Jew brings about

19:40 this wonderful connection. And this wonderful connection is what the Mishnah comes to teach us in the first Mishnah of the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avos. The Mishnah tells us: On the one hand, know that the world was created with ten utterances—a world of separation, a world of division, where everything is distinct from everything else. No two things are together, and therefore there is free choice. There are the wicked and the righteous; there is reward and punishment. But know, too, that it could have been created with one utterance. Within creation there is that one utterance, the Divine thought, the Divine intent, the Divine power—“and You give life to them all.” And you, as a Jew, have the power to reveal it, to reveal Divine unity within creation. When a Jew knows this, he enters the month of Sivan with strength. He enters the month of Sivan with joy, with purpose. He is focused on his purpose. He knows what this month of Sivan is about and what is happening here. What are we preparing for? May Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant each and every one of us a month of the giving of the Torah. May we merit to receive the Torah anew, and may we already merit a new Torah—the Torah of Moshiach, who will reveal the secrets of the inner dimension of the Torah with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, speedily in our days, amen.