The Offerings of Shavuos - Rabbi Yaron Yitzchok Laderman shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Shalom u’vracha. We’re approaching Shavuos, and we want to know a little—actually, more than a little. With Hashem’s help, we want to understand more about what happens in the Beis Hamikdash on Shavuos. We know it’s the festival of the first fruits, and we know it’s the festival of the Giving of the Torah. We know a lot happens there, but what happens in terms of the offerings? What’s their significance? Parshas Emor describes the first fruits and Shavuos, which is also called Atzeres. It tells us about an offering, a communal offering that we bring, and Rashi comments there: Is this the same offering mentioned in Parshas Pinchas, where all the communal offerings brought on the festivals are listed? Rashi says no. From the numbers of rams and bulls, you can see they aren’t the same offerings. So let’s try to understand what offerings are brought in the Beis Hamikdash on Shavuos, what we bring, what the community brings, and what the two loaves are about. We’ll go through the whole order from beginning to end. Let’s define our terms. We have communal offerings. As we mentioned, a communal offering is brought on behalf of the community. It comes from the half-shekel contributions. Once a year the shekalim are collected, and those funds provide for the holiest offerings, for the incense, and so on. Many things are purchased with this money throughout the year, including all the communal offerings. On Shavuos, among the communal offerings, we also have the two loaves and two lambs. So let’s look at it. We have the two loaves that come with two lambs; that’s one offering. We have a burnt offering brought on account of the loaves, the offering mentioned in Parshas Emor: one bull, two rams, seven lambs, and a goat. That is for the loaves. Then we have another burnt offering, a communal offering,

02:22 Speaker 2 which is the Yom Tov offering for Shavuos. It’s the regular offering brought on Yom Tov; we brought one like it on Pesach too: two bulls, one ram, seven lambs, and a goat. So altogether we have two sets: three bulls, three rams, fourteen lambs, and two goats. They are all offerings, except that one set is for the loaves and the other is for Yom Tov. In our prayers, we mention only the Yom Tov offering of Shavuos, not the offering for the loaves. There are reasons for that, which we can discuss later if we have time. That covers the communal offerings, but Shavuos is also a pilgrimage festival. So in addition to having a very substantial communal offering, we also have individual offerings that we bring: the olas re’iyah, the shalmei chagigah, and the shalmei simchah. The burnt offering must be a male sheep or cattle. It does not have to be in its first year; it can be older. The peace offerings can be sheep or cattle, male or female. Generally, the animal is brought before it is three years old, when it is considered to be in its prime. We bring these as individual offerings; the community does not bring them. With Hashem’s help, we’ll discuss the festival offerings in a separate class. Today we’ll focus mainly on the communal offerings brought on Shavuos. So we have this special offering, right? We have a special meal offering called the two loaves, along with their two lambs. What are those two lambs called? We say it every day before davening: “communal peace offerings and guilt offerings.” What are

04:25 Speaker 2 communal peace offerings? Usually a peace offering is a personal, individual offering. So what are communal peace offerings? They are these two lambs. The only offerings classified as communal peace offerings are the two lambs we bring together with the loaves. They are part of the offering of the loaves. They aren’t brought on account of the loaves, like the burnt offering we mentioned earlier; rather, they are part of the whole offering called the offering of the two loaves. [unclear] There is, as we know, a close connection between the omer offering and the offering of the two loaves. The Mishnah says—or the halachah states, and the Rambam rules accordingly—that before the omer, all new grain is forbidden. In other words, grain from the new crop that grew before the omer, before 16 Nissan, is called chadash. The omer is harvested on the night of 16 Nissan, and the omer permits that grain. Anything from the grain crop that grows afterward—wheat, barley, rye, everything—has to wait for the next omer to permit it. That is what’s called chadash. But you still can’t take that grain and use it for offerings in the Beis Hamikdash. The two loaves permit the new grain for meal offerings. In other words, the omer permits the new grain for everyone, right? This is the chadash we mean when we speak about kashrus concerns such as tevel, shemitah, and chadash. That new grain cannot be used in the Beis Hamikdash before Shavuos. The two loaves permit it for the meal offerings in the Beis Hamikdash. All meal offerings were made as matzah, meaning they were not allowed to become chametz. So they had to be prepared quickly, with cold water, and various steps had to be taken. The rubbing and pounding mentioned in the sources also helped ensure that the—

06:40 Speaker 2 Rubbing and pounding are how the wheat is treated to soften it, so the husks can be removed more easily. Only then is it ground, not before. This also made the wheat softer and less likely to become chametz. It separated the hard outer husk of the grain from the inside, so that when it was ground, it could be ground more thoroughly. So all the meal offerings were made as matzah. They made sure the dough didn’t become chametz. There were eighteen minutes; I assume someone in the Beis Hamikdash was responsible for keeping track of those eighteen minutes. It isn’t stated explicitly, but presumably, in every shift, whenever a priestly family was serving, they made sure someone was watching so the meal offerings wouldn’t become chametz. Every morning they brought the chavitin meal offering, which was also made as matzah. Every meal offering in the Beis Hamikdash—everything brought from crops or grain—was prepared as matzah, not chametz. Except for two offerings, two kinds of meal offerings. One is the offering of the two loaves, which specifically had to be chametz. The other is an individual offering, the thanksgiving offering. It comes with forty loaves, ten of which are chametz. This shows that when a person understands that everything comes from Hashem—Torah, and the idea of giving thanks, of recognizing that everything comes from Him—there is room for a measure of dignity, as the Gemara in Sotah says: a Torah scholar should have “an eighth of an eighth” of it. He must know that he cannot simply be trampled on, G-d forbid, because he represents the

08:34 Speaker 2 the Torah. So that level of pride, or a slight sense of being elevated, is permitted and holy. Now, the two loaves are made of wheat—specifically wheat, as we said. With the Omer, we brought barley; fifty days later, on Shavuos, we bring the two loaves. What do we do with these two loaves, with this wheat? We sift it through two sieves so that it will be very, very refined and pure—clean fine flour. We take two esronos. Two esronos generally come to about 2.2 kilograms; there are several ways of measuring it, but according to all the opinions it is certainly around two kilograms or more. That is an isaron for each loaf. For each of the two loaves, they would take about a kilogram of wheat and knead it into an initial dough. Then they would add leaven to that dough to make it rise. They would place it in the measuring vessel for the required amount—they measured exactly an isaron, no more and no less—and then add leaven to make the dough rise. This is the only dough we leaven in the Beis Hamikdash. Now that I think about it, perhaps they also made sure to keep those isaron measures specifically for chametz, since all the other isaron measures were used only for matzah. I would have to check. In any case, they would take that isaron, about a kilogram, and shape it into one of the chametz loaves of the two loaves. Another distinctive feature of the two loaves was that they had corners—projections at all four corners of the rectangle. Each loaf was rectangular, four tefachim wide, about forty centimeters, by seven tefachim, about seventy centimeters.

10:45 Speaker 2 That is a very, very large loaf compared with the sizes we are used to. It had four projections, one at each corner, seven fingerbreadths high, which is fourteen centimeters. So those were the dimensions of the loaf as we picture it—sorry, each projection was eight centimeters. They were baked in the courtyard before Yom Tov, because baking them does not override Yom Tov, even though food preparation is permitted on Yom Tov. These two loaves were eaten in the courtyard over one day and one night: on Shavuos itself and the night following Shavuos. That was the time for eating this offering. But they had to be baked before Yom Tov, because their baking does not override Yom Tov. The general rule on Yom Tov is that any work you can do before Yom Tov, you should do before Yom Tov; otherwise it is forbidden. The two loaves were sanctified in the oven. It is very interesting how much time the commentators, the Rishonim, and the halachic authorities spend discussing whether they had to be baked together or separately. According to most opinions, unlike the lechem hapanim, which they specifically made sure to bake all together—the lechem hapanim was on the table inside the Heichal and was eaten once a week; it remained warm from one week to the next, a special miracle—everything concerning the two loaves was done separately. In a moment, according to the inner dimension of Torah, we will understand a little of the root of these matters. But with the two loaves, each loaf was specifically made separately and baked separately. That is the majority view. It may be that, ultimately, the Sanhedrin will decide they should be baked together, but the majority view among the Rishonim and later authorities whose writings we have today is as I described. And then we actually had the two loaves ready. As we said, on the eve of

12:54 Speaker 2 Yom Tov they were waiting for us, kept in a chamber. They were baked in the Beis Hamikdash and sanctified through a sacred service vessel. Any material, anything that comes into contact with a sacred service vessel, is sanctified by it. That is to say, the wheat we took for the two loaves—the quantity of wheat we took and sifted—had monetary sanctity. Therefore, whatever remained of that wheat could be redeemed. Redeemed: something with monetary sanctity can be redeemed, and its value given for the upkeep of the Beis Hamikdash—to repair whatever needed repairing, to purchase supplies, and so on, all sorts of things needed to maintain the Beis Hamikdash. We would use what was redeemed, because it had only monetary sanctity. But some things have intrinsic sanctity. Anything touched by a sacred service vessel has intrinsic sanctity. That means it has acquired a more stringent holiness and cannot be redeemed. If it becomes disqualified—through impurity, or by being taken out, or by being left overnight until dawn, at which point it is disqualified by remaining overnight—all these things disqualify the offering itself. It must then be burned at the place where it became disqualified. If it became disqualified in the courtyard—for example, something impure came in or fell onto the bread—then the bread is disqualified and must be burned. There was a beis hadeshen, a designated fire called the beis hadeshen, in the courtyard, where they burned consecrated items that had become disqualified. If it became disqualified on the Temple Mount, there was also a beis hadeshen on the Temple Mount. There were several such places where consecrated items were burned. But the rule is that wherever it became impure, that is where

14:53 Speaker 2 it must be burned, because it may not be taken any farther. It has intrinsic sanctity and, of course, one may not derive benefit from it. Its intrinsic sanctity means that the thing itself has been sanctified, and that is that—it is holy. Like our tefillin, which are intrinsically holy: our tefillin are actually holy, as are our Torah scrolls and mezuzos. These are the things we still have whose very substance is holy. So something whose very substance is holy must be placed in genizah after it becomes unfit for use. Some say—and this is very interesting—that the person who purchased the supplies for the Beis Hamikdash would buy the two lambs after the two loaves had been baked. In other words, the lambs had not even arrived at the Beis Hamikdash yet. We will soon understand the connection between them. But the point about the two loaves is that they are the main thing, even though they are not offered on the altar. It is written, “You shall not burn any leaven or any honey as an offering.” So this bread, being leavened, may not be burned as an offering, and none of it reached the altar. Only the blood and the portions burned on the altar from the Shavuos peace offerings reached it—the lambs, which, as we said, were communal peace offerings of the highest degree of sanctity. They, in fact, sanctified the bread to its full level of holiness. That is to say, so far we have baked the bread. Some say that even if it was baked in a sacred service vessel—because there are opinions that it does not have to be baked in one—what gives the loaves intrinsic sanctity is specifically the sprinkling of the blood of the lambs, the peace offerings. Until then, the loaves do not have intrinsic sanctity. So if the loaves become disqualified, they can be redeemed and other loaves prepared. Of course, in that case it would be permitted to bake them on Yom Tov, because we have no choice.

16:55 Speaker 2 Otherwise. Of course, there are those who disagree about this too, but let’s say that’s what they would do, since it’s a Yom Tov need from the outset. How do we handle all these offerings in the Beis Hamikdash? Every lamb requires at least six kohanim. I say “at least” because there are also the other portions burned on the altar and its accompanying offerings—the wine and the fine flour. So every communal offering requires a number of kohanim, at least six. I say that because there are several opinions. Every ram requires at least eight; a bull requires twenty-four kohanim. An enormous number of kohanim. We have three bulls, three rams, and fourteen lambs. Think how many kohanim we need here in the Beis Hamikdash. So the rule is that on the pilgrimage festivals, all the watches serve. We said earlier that there were watches, and that the members of the ma’amad would bring the first fruits and so on; we discussed that in another class. Here, there was a regular watch: the watch whose turn it was to bring the offerings now, the one scheduled to serve that week, including all its family groups of kohanim. There used to be twenty-four watches, so the kohanim would be in the Beis Hamikdash once every twenty-four weeks. On a pilgrimage festival, the rule is that all the watches come, because a large workforce of kohanim is needed. It may be that the ruling will change according to the time and place. Now there are hundreds of kohanim in the world—hundreds, if not thousands, if not tens of thousands. So we’ll have to see how the watches are divided then, but that will be dealt with in the future. For now, we know what was done up to that point. In any case, on a pilgrimage festival all the watches would come and help with the service in the Beis Hamikdash. The regular watch was the one that received shares of the regular offerings, their hides, and so on. There were

18:50 Speaker 2 many laws governing the kohanim: who received an offering’s hide or its meat, whether it was a peace offering or a sin offering. Depending on the circumstances, they would divide what remained of the offerings and eat it among the kohanim. How do we consecrate the lambs? We say, “These are communal peace offerings.” The moment we say those words, they acquire inherent sanctity. Until then, they had monetary sanctity, because the treasurer had purchased them with Temple funds, consecrated funds. They were thus consecrated with monetary sanctity, and if they developed a blemish, they would have to be redeemed. But after saying, “These are communal peace offerings,” they are consecrated for the community and acquire inherent sanctity. Now they are holy, and we must observe all the laws governing offerings of the highest sanctity that have acquired inherent sanctity, as we mentioned earlier. Now the point is that the service involving these peace offerings is only beginning, because we now wave them. Where do we wave them? East of the altar, together with the two loaves. The Alter Rebbe says in Likkutei Torah that the bread is waved on top of the lambs. The early commentators do not understand it that way, but rather as being next to them. That is, in practice, how all the early commentators understand it. After all, taken literally, it may be possible to place the bread on the lambs, but I also think it would be technically difficult to wave the lambs while they were lying down. They wouldn’t want that. In any case, what most of the early commentators understand is that one waves bread, lamb, lamb, bread—or bread, lamb, bread, lamb. Those are more or less the approaches. And the waving takes place, as we said, on the east side. The lambs are not so heavy, since they are a year old. You can take a relatively light lamb weighing ten kilos, so two lambs are twenty kilos, with two loaves weighing another two kilos—a total of twenty-four kilos. True, the kohen has to be strong; he still has to lift something. But it is still possible to carry. The kohanim were very, very strong. They performed very hard work, some of them carrying the head and the foreleg—large portions of an offering. Those are not light things. In any case, the kohanim served in the Beis Hamikdash, and now they are going to wave them. As we said, the waving can be done either on the east side, or, according to one opinion, between the entrance hall and the altar—the area west of the altar, which is considered even more “before Hashem.” Of course, the farther west a place is, the more it is “before Hashem.” That is how those who say the waving must be done specifically between the entrance hall and the altar justify their view. But most opinions say they are waved in front of the altar, to its east, which is called “before Hashem,” because the eastern side is considered the front. That is one approach. Although we also mentioned that the altar has a front on another side: the front of the altar is specifically where one approaches it and ascends it, at the ramp on its southern side. In practice, however, one enters the courtyard from the east, and in the Torah the east is generally considered the front. So they would stand there on the east side with the two lambs and the two loaves and wave them, as we said earlier, the way we wave a lulav: in the four directions—the four points of the compass—and also upward and downward. In that way, we raise them. We’ll soon explain the spiritual significance of this waving, but as far as the physical action goes, that is what we would see. So what they would do is take these Shavuos lambs—the two lambs—and slaughter them as peace offerings. Yes, when offering peace offerings, as we said, two applications of blood that count as four are required: one at the northeastern corner and the second at the southwestern corner. They count as four because each application reaches two sides of the wall. When the blood is thrown at a corner, both faces of that corner receive it. This is called “two applications that count as four,” and these are the applications for a peace offering. Then the peace offering is cut up to remove the portions to be burned on the altar. Once those have been removed—the two kidneys, some of the fat of the intestines, and so on—they would put the portions in a large bowl, with each offering’s portions in a separate bowl, and burn them on the altar. Once the blood of these lambs had been thrown, the bread—the two loaves—acquired inherent sanctity. After their portions for the altar, the inner parts that go up to the Most High, called the fats in various places, had been burned, the bread became permitted to eat. The rest of this offering, the rest of the peace offering of these lambs, was eaten by the kohanim like sin offerings and guilt offerings: in the courtyard, as offerings of the highest sanctity, “for distinction and greatness.” They would eat it with consecrated spices—spices consecrated for eating with the offering—because it says “for distinction and greatness,” meaning to eat it like kings, as with the anointing of kings. That is how they would eat these offerings, the two offerings of the two days of Shavuos. They are divided specifically among the kohanim of the watch, or, according to some, among all the kohanim. But certainly all the service is divided among all the members of the watch, because, as we said, there is a great deal of work, and all the kohanim have to do it. They have to come and complete the task. After—before they would burn the portions on the altar, we would perform another action: the second waving. We said there are two wavings, one while the lambs are alive.

20:48 Speaker 2 Relatively light, weighing, uh, ten kilos. So two lambs are twenty kilos, with two loaves weighing another two kilos—a total of twenty-four kilos. True, the kohen had to be strong; he still had to lift something. But this was something he could carry. The kohanim were very, very strong. They did very hard work, sometimes carrying the head and the foreleg—large portions of an offering. Those are not light things. In any case, the kohanim were serving in the Beis Hamikdash, and now they were going to wave the offerings. As we said, the waving could be done either to the east of the altar or, according to another opinion, between the Sanctuary and the altar—the area west of the altar, which is considered even more “before Hashem.” Of course, the farther west a place is, the more it is “before Hashem.” That is how those who say the waving must be done specifically between the Sanctuary and the altar explain their view. But most opinions say it is done in front of the altar, to its east, which is called “before Hashem,” because east is generally called the front in the Torah. That is one approach. Although we also mentioned that the altar has a front of its own: the front of the altar is where you approach and ascend it, at the ramp on its southern side. But in practice, people enter the courtyard from the east, and east is generally called the front in the Torah. So they would stand there on the eastern side with the two lambs and the two loaves and wave them, as we said earlier, like a lulav: toward the four directions of the compass, and also upward and downward. In that way, we raise them up. We’ll soon explain the spiritual significance of this waving, but that is the action you would have seen. So what they would do was take these two Shavuos lambs and slaughter them as peace offerings. Yes, peace offerings are brought, and as we said, their blood requires two applications

22:41 Speaker 2 that count as four: two applications, one at the northeastern corner and the other at the southwestern corner. They count as four because each application reaches two sides of the wall. When the blood is thrown at a corner, both faces of that corner receive it. This is called “two applications that count as four,” and these are the applications for a peace offering. Then they begin cutting up the peace offering to remove the portions to be burned: the two kidneys, some of the fat around the intestines, and so on. After removing all those portions, they would put them into a large bowl. The portions from each offering went into a separate bowl, and then they would burn them on the altar. Once the blood of these lambs had been applied, the two loaves acquired inherent sanctity. And once the portions destined for the altar—the inner parts, called the fats in several places—had been burned, the bread became permitted to eat. The rest of this peace offering, the remainder of the lambs, was eaten by the kohanim like sin offerings and guilt offerings: in the courtyard, as offerings of the highest sanctity, “for distinction and greatness.” They could eat it with spices that had been consecrated for use with the offering, because “for distinction and greatness” means eating it like kings, in keeping with the anointing of kings. That is how they would eat these offerings, the two lambs of Shavuos. They were apportioned specifically to the kohanim of the watch—or, according to some, to all the kohanim. But certainly, all the tasks were divided among the members of the watch, because, as we said, there was a great deal of work. All the kohanim had to take part so that they could complete it. Then—before burning those portions—they would do one more thing: the second waving. We said there were two wavings, one while the lambs were still alive.

24:56 Speaker 2 And after the slaughter, we would wave the breast and thigh together with the sacrificial portions, and the two loaves once again. Only after that second waving would they burn the sacrificial portions. As we said, those portions permitted the loaves to be eaten, and also, of course, the rest of the meat of the Shavuos peace-offering lambs to be eaten by the kohanim. All the other offerings were burnt offerings, apart from the goats. We said there was a burnt offering accompanying the loaves: one bull, two rams, seven lambs, and a goat as a sin offering. That sin offering has the same law as a peace offering in that its blood is applied—four applications on the four corners—but its sacrificial portions are also burned, and its meat is eaten. That is that goat. And the second goat, from the Yom Tov offering of two bulls, one ram, seven lambs, and one goat, is also eaten in the same way, as a sin offering. There are many different opinions on the order in which all these offerings were brought. According to most opinions—by far the majority—the two loaves came first: they were baked, and then the two lambs were brought. So that was the beginning. Of course, the daily morning offering came first, as it does every day. I’m talking now about this great offering of Shavuos. So we have the two lambs: before the slaughter they were waved, then slaughtered, then waved again—this time with their sacrificial portions and the breast and thigh—and then their sacrificial portions were burned. All of that was the first stage of the Shavuos offering: the two loaves and their lambs. Afterward came the offering accompanying the loaves, the burnt offering we mentioned: one bull,

27:03 Speaker 2 two rams, seven lambs, and a sin offering. They would bring that, and then the final burnt offering: two bulls, a ram, seven lambs, and a goat. That came last. This is the order that seems most likely according to the various opinions, though of course there are other opinions and other reasons. Some say they began with all the bulls—three bulls altogether—because the rule for offerings is that the more important ones come first. So which is more important here? The larger, more significant animal, more fitting as an offering to Hashem: the bull. Then came the rams, and then the lambs. There are other opinions as well, but that gives you some sense of the matter. How were the two loaves divided? Ordinarily there was a Kohen Gadol in the Beis Hamikdash—there always had to be one. But toward the end of the Second Beis Hamikdash, there were all sorts of Kohanim Gedolim who had bought their positions, and that was more or less how they behaved, too. So the Kohen Gadol was to receive one of the two loaves, and the remainder was divided among all the kohanim of the watches present. Some might not receive anything at all, and each portion did not have to be a kezayis. As it says, “The greedy would snatch, while the modest would hold back.” In general, people who did not want to push their way in and fight over something holy would step back and say, “All right, if this is how Hakadosh Boruch Hu is distributing the bread, I don’t want it. If this is what He wants, I…” But there are, of course, different approaches to this—the strength of holiness and so on. Let’s explain a little

28:56 Speaker 2 about the spiritual significance of the two loaves in the Shavuos offering. We know that throughout the days of the Omer, we draw down the encompassing lights of Binah. Over all forty-nine days, seven encompassing lights for each attribute, and we draw down the strength to serve Hashem through that attribute in purity and holiness. The two loaves represent, in essence… The Torah is called bread, as in “Come, partake of My bread.” It is called bread because a person must engage with Torah as though “Your Torah is within my innards”—as though it were something he eats and is nourished by. So the two loaves symbolize the Oral Torah and the Written Torah. On Shavuos, after drawing down all the encompassing lights of Binah, we connect with the two levels of Torah: higher Chochmah and lower Chochmah, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. And the Gemara asks how Moshe Rabbeinu knew it was night: when he was taught the Oral Torah, he knew it was night. The Oral Torah is more connected with the lower realms; it clarifies matters here below. And a hint is enough for the wise—that is the idea of a hint. What we do here in this world is only a hint of the higher worlds. Now, the waving of the bread—the bread is made from wheat. What does waving the bread mean? The numerical value of chita, wheat, is twenty-two: the twenty-two letters of the Torah. That is connected with Malchus; letters correspond to Malchus. So waving the bread means connecting the level of the letters, the lowest level—letters also represent Malchus—with the highest level, with their source. It is known that on Shavuos we draw down Kesser, the cherished crown of light, the highest connection. But why do we need

30:49 Speaker 2 to wave the lambs with it? Because the lambs represent the middos—the middos of Chochmah, the middos of Chochmah. We raise the middos to their highest level, to their source, and there they become united. There, our middos want only Torah. The Chabad teachings on the intentions for prayer say that a person must devote himself completely on Shavuos so that his whole concern is Torah study, and that in the prayers of that day he should intend to succeed in learning Torah throughout the year. And so the Torah says keves, lamb; as you see in the text, the idea of the lamb relates to the letter shin, which represents the middos, the higher middos. Shin alludes to—shin alludes to six levels, to three levels. Yes, “The King has brought me into His chambers.” Of this period it says, “Draw me after You; we will run.” “Draw me” is singular: the G-dly soul awakens with the Exodus from Egypt. Then “we will run”: the animal soul, too, awakens during Sefiras HaOmer. We run; we awaken to the service of Hashem. And “He has brought me” is singular again, because we have reached a united level where the G-dly soul and the animal soul become one. “His chambers”—the Hebrew word for “chamber” is an acronym for chesed, din, and rachamim, alluding to the middos. So “His chambers” brings me to the higher middos, where [unclear]. We ran only toward G-dliness, running with joy toward Hashem, toward oneness. So everything becomes united in Kesser, rising within Kesser to the very highest level. This is the meaning of what the Zohar says: the middos, Zeir Anpin, are “bound to and dependent on Atika,” which is Kesser. How do the middos become united through Kesser? That is the rectification. How does our rectification come about through union with Kesser? By taking the Torah, because the Torah guides us. Halachah leads us to the right and true places. That, in essence, is the connection with Kesser, and it is also what it says

32:49 Speaker 2 In this verse, as the Rebbe’s father explains, “He makes peace within your borders; He satisfies you with the finest wheat.” The Rebbe’s father says that we have here an allusion to two offerings brought on Shavuos. “He makes peace within your borders” alludes to the peace offerings, while “He satisfies you with the finest wheat” refers to the wheat, to the two loaves. These two offerings represent taste and abundance. This is not the bread of affliction we ate on Pesach, but the deeper, more inward connection we have through the peace offerings as well, and through the great elevation a Jew experiences when he connects with serving Hashem. And when a Jew truly serves Hashem with such joy, and wants to connect with this, it connects us to true strength. That is why, in the future, it will be said, “For you are our father,” referring to Yitzchak, who represents gevurah; and the festival of Shavuos is associated with gevurah. Yes, that is why, in the future, the halachah will follow Beis Shammai, who represent gevurah. But it will be a rectified gevurah, not the destructive gevurah of Esav. It will be a rectified gevurah: “He sustains life with kindness.” We say that in the blessing of gevurah in davening, because that is the whole point of gevurah: to make it possible for life to flourish, to create vessels, vessels within vessels, and to sustain them. To reveal the deeper, inward root of gevurah—that “Avraham fathered Yitzchak.” Kindness gives rise to gevurah so that gevurah can give rise to even more kindness, not so that it will produce severity for its own sake. And that is really the idea of Torah. Torah, generally speaking, is called Rachmana, which is Yaakov, the quality of mercy; that is the sheep, which connect us more completely and deeply with Atik. Our connection in Atik means that all our desires will be directed only toward Hashem, and toward giving nachas

34:39 Speaker 2 to Hashem, to the Rebbe, and to everyone—to everything that can be elevated in this world. May we be elevated and see the revelation of His glory soon, amen. Amen.