The Festival of the Giving of the Torah in the Geulah - Rabbi Menachem Cohen shlita

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

00:09 Speaker 2 Hello and welcome. Today, with Hashem’s help, we’ll talk about the important, central subject of studying matters of Geulah and Moshiach, particularly those connected with the time of year—living with the times and with the festivals of the year. We’ll talk about Shavuos: Shavuos and the true and complete Geulah, and Shavuos in the time of the Geulah. The giving of the Torah. So first, let me take this opportunity to bless each and every one of you listening: May you receive the Torah with joy and inwardness. With Hashem’s help, may there be blessing and success for each of you. May you celebrate receiving the Torah with joy and inwardness. We’re talking now about Shavuos. Shavuos is deeply connected with the true and complete Geulah. We know that Shavuos marks the first historical event of its kind, the first time that “Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai.” There was a spiritual phenomenon, something wondrous that had never happened before. The Jewish people came, and the entire world fell silent. A bird did not chirp; no fowl cried out. Nothing made a sound. Everyone was completely silent, ready to hear the Torah, to hear what Hakadosh Boruch Hu would say. An ox did not low, a bird did not chirp—nothing. Why? Because the giving of the Torah was taking place. Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself was revealed. It was a revelation unlike anything before it: “Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu came and spoke the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people. That happened on Shavuos, more than three thousand three hundred years ago, at the giving of the Torah. That revelation was temporary. Later on—why did they go up the mountain? The mountain itself, even though Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the Torah upon it, did not become holy. Afterward there was the Mishkan and the Beis Hamikdash. The full revelation of

02:22 Speaker 2 Hakadosh Boruch Hu at the giving of the Torah will come with the true and complete Geulah. Then the words “The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh together will see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken” will be fulfilled in their entirety. Hakadosh Boruch Hu will be revealed in the most powerful way, so that the entire world will know and feel His presence. “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” So when we speak of the revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu that will come in the Geulah, and we want an example of what that means, the Alter Rebbe writes in Tanya: “A foretaste of this occurred in the past at the time of the giving of the Torah.” At that time, too, Hakadosh Boruch Hu was revealed to the Jewish people and to the entire world. So it will be in the true and complete Geulah, only then it will be complete and enduring. This will bring all the miracles and wondrous things that will occur in the true and complete Geulah. One striking expression of this connection between Shavuos and the Geulah is found in the Gemara. The Gemara in Pesachim, page 68b, says: “Everyone agrees that on Atzeres”—Shavuos—“we also require ‘for you.’” What does that mean? Regarding Shabbos and other festivals, there are opinions that if a person wishes, he can devote the entire day to Hashem. According to those opinions, if someone wants to spend Rosh Hashanah, for example, only learning, davening and blowing the shofar—not eating or drinking—he can. He doesn’t want any of the physical aspects, any “for you”; he wants it all to be for Hashem. Or if he wants it to be entirely “for you,” apart from davening and the basic things he must do, then

04:16 Speaker 2 for the rest of the festival—whichever festival it is, Pesach, Sukkos, Rosh Hashanah, it doesn’t matter; apart from fast days, of course—he can say, “On this festival I just want to eat and drink and have festive meals.” Aside from the times set aside for davening and other basic obligations, he wants the whole day to be “for you.” According to that opinion, he can. Why? Because there are two different verses. One says, “An assembly for Hashem your G-d”—the festival assembly is for Hashem. Another says, “On the eighth day, you shall have an assembly for yourselves”—“for yourselves,” for eating and drinking. How do they fit together? Is it for Hashem your G-d, or is it for you, for eating and drinking? So according to one opinion in the Gemara, it can be either one. You can choose. If you want it entirely for Hashem, it can be entirely for Hashem. If you want it to be “for you,” that’s fine too. But there is a second opinion, which is also the halacha brought in Shulchan Aruch: it isn’t simply up to you. Half the day must be for Hashem and half for you. You can’t say, “I want to fast this entire festival, and that’s it.” Nor can you say, “I only want to eat and drink.” That isn’t the right way either. What is the right way? The Rambam and the Alter Rebbe write about it, as do many halachic authorities: half for Hashem and half for you. You begin the day’s schedule on Yom Tov with davening, of course, and getting ready to daven. You eat something before davening, then you daven. After davening, you

06:15 Speaker 2 begin the Yom Tov meal, and afterward you continue with learning and other matters until Mincha, and after Mincha as well. That is “half for Hashem and half for you.” That is what the halacha says. But there is one festival on which everyone agrees—even the opinion that says a day can be entirely for Hashem—that there must also be a “for you”: a person must eat and drink as well. When is that? Shavuos. “Everyone agrees that on Atzeres,” on Shavuos, “we also require ‘for you’”: a person must also eat and drink. And the question arises: Isn’t that exactly the opposite of what we would expect? The other festivals commemorate things that involved physical salvation too. Pesach commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. On Sukkos, Hakadosh Boruch Hu surrounded the Jewish people with the Clouds of Glory, and so on. But Shavuos is entirely about something spiritual: Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the Torah to the Jewish people. That is what Shavuos is about. So why do we say that דווקא on Shavuos there must be eating and drinking? Rashi explains why we require “for you”: so that a person will rejoice with food and drink, showing how dear the Torah is to him. But it still isn’t clear. Why specifically Shavuos, and why specifically through eating and drinking, do you show that the Torah is dear to you? Sitting and learning all day would seem to show your love for it even more. The Rebbe says something wonderful about this. The Rebbe shlita explains it this way: “Everyone agrees that on Atzeres we also require ‘for you.’” Why? Shavuos is not merely about the fact that we can now sit and learn Torah. True, that is central and important, but it is not

08:16 Speaker 2 But that alone is not the central point of Shavuos. Why do we celebrate Shavuos? If it is about studying Torah, if the goal is to sit and learn, people sat and learned even before the giving of the Torah. The Patriarchs already sat and learned. It says: “Avraham our father was an elder who sat in a yeshivah.” That is what the Gemara says. Yitzchak our father was an elder who sat in a yeshivah; Yaakov our father was an elder who sat in a yeshivah. Yaakov sent Yehudah ahead of him to Goshen, “to show the way before him.” Our Sages say this meant establishing a house of study for him, from which halachic rulings would go forth. In other words, they sat and learned. About Avraham, the Torah says: “Because Avraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My teachings.” In other words, there was both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, and they observed it all. Our Sages tell us that the Patriarchs even observed eruv tavshilin. After them came the tribes, and after them the Jewish people, sitting and learning. The tribe of Levi always sat and learned, and that is why they did not have to perform backbreaking labor: they were sitting and learning Torah. So Torah study had existed all along among the Jewish people, going back to Avraham our father. Even earlier, Shem and Ever had the yeshivah of Shem and Ever. They observed all the mitzvos even then. So what was new at the giving of the Torah? What happened at the giving of the Torah? What was its great innovation? The central innovation of the giving of the Torah and of Shavuos is that on Shavuos, at the giving of the Torah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu was revealed here in the world. Until the giving of the Torah, “The heavens are Hashem’s heavens, but the earth He has given to mankind.” As the Midrash puts it: a king had two provinces, Syria and Rome. Rome suggests exaltedness, while Syria is a lowly place. He declared: “The people of Rome shall not

10:07 Speaker 2 go down to Syria, and the people of Syria shall not go up to Rome.” Then he came and annulled the decree. He said: “There is no problem. The people of Rome may go down to Syria, and the people of Syria may go up to Rome.” The same thing happened at the giving of the Torah. Until then, the heavens belonged to Hashem; spirituality was spirituality, with no connection to the world. It says that Yaakov our father fulfilled the mitzvah of tefillin with the sticks he peeled while he was with Lavan, but no holiness or spirituality remained in those sticks. Certainly, they reached the very highest levels. Avraham our father reached the ultimate perfection of love, Yitzchak of awe, and Yaakov of tiferes, and so on. Those are tremendous, extraordinary levels, but they are spiritual levels. Spirituality was separate, and physicality was separate. The people of Rome represent spirituality, spiritual matters, which stood on their own; physical matters stood on their own. There was no connection between them. Each had its own domain. At the giving of the Torah, spirituality and physicality were joined. “And Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu came down below and revealed Himself to the Jewish people and to the entire world, here in this world. And to Moshe He said, “Come up to Hashem.” He raised Moshe Rabbeinu up; Moshe Rabbeinu ascended to heaven for forty days and forty nights. He ate no bread and drank no water. This is the great innovation and the great distinction of Shavuos and the giving of the Torah: the connection between G-dliness and the world. Now we can take a book and study from it, and it becomes a holy book. You use it and, you know, you kiss it; you know there is holiness in it. Tefillin are holy tefillin; there is holiness in physical things. Yes, holiness is not only in spiritual things or in spirituality. No, it is in physicality. A physical object can become something sacred, something holy. Yes, someone said to me,

12:05 Speaker 2 “Imagine opening the aron kodesh and a cow comes out of it. You open the aron kodesh and out comes a big, fat cow. Everyone would be alarmed. What is this? What is it doing here? It has to be driven out. What is this? Who played this joke, this prank? What nerve!” But in a sense, that is what happens. We open the aron kodesh and take out a Sefer Torah. What is a Sefer Torah? It is animal hide, seemingly—and physically, that really is what it is. It is animal hide with words written on it in physical ink. But what happened? It has become something entirely different. It has become something holy, the height of holiness. The aron kodesh, the Sefer Torah—it has become a sacred book. They processed the hide, worked on it, changed it, transformed it from coarse hide into parchment prepared for a holy purpose, and wrote holy words on it. It has become something holy, something you stand up for. You know: this is a Sefer Torah; it has a special holiness. You take care to respect its holiness. It is among the holiest things there are. That is the innovation of the giving of the Torah. It happened specifically through the giving of the Torah. You can take physical things and turn them into something holy, even into the holiest things there are: tefillin, tzitzis, and so on. That is why on Shavuos we say, “Everyone agrees that on Atzeres, we also need ‘for you.’” This shows that there must also be physical eating and drinking, to show that holiness does not remain something merely spiritual, lofty, elevated, and nothing more. It permeates physicality too, physical things, physical eating and drinking. We express joy in physical matters as well, showing that physicality too becomes something holy. That is why “everyone agrees that on Atzeres, we also need ‘for you,’”

13:55 Speaker 2 because that is the idea of Shavuos: to bring holiness into physicality, as will happen in its fullness in the true and complete Geulah. In the Geulah, this will reach its peak: spirituality will enter physicality itself, the entire world, and therefore the entire world will become holy. “The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh will see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.” The Geulah, when the meaning of Shavuos reaches its fullness—the complete union of the higher realms, spirituality, and the lower realms, physicality—is also alluded to in the saying of our Sages that we quoted from Tractate Pesachim: “Everyone agrees that on Atzeres, we also need ‘for you.’” The book Maamar Mordechai says the following: What does “Everyone agrees that on Atzeres, we also need ‘for you’” mean? There is the straightforward explanation, which is what we have discussed until now. But he offers another, deeper explanation, by way of allusion. He says: “Everyone agrees on Atzeres”—everyone agrees on Shavuos. For Shavuos is the time when, as it says, the words were “engraved on the tablets” at the giving of the Torah. Our Sages say: “Do not read ‘engraved on the tablets,’ but ‘freedom.’” Freedom from the Angel of Death, freedom from the yetzer hara, freedom from all these things. If they had not sinned with the Golden Calf, that would have led straight to the true and complete Geulah. Nothing would have stood in the way or raised an accusation. When Shavuos arrives, it is such an exalted time, so conducive to this, so closely connected to the Geulah. So he says: “Everyone agrees on Atzeres.” Shavuos arrives, and “we need”—not just that we need something. The word can also mean asking, as in “If you wish to inquire, inquire.” “The watchman said: ‘Morning comes, and also night; if you wish to inquire, inquire.’” In other words, if you want to come and ask for the Geulah, I say that we need to ask. What

15:46 Speaker 2 To ask? Nami lachem. What is “nami lachem”? “Nami” has a gematria of one hundred: nun is fifty, mem is forty, and yud is ten—a total of one hundred. “Lachem” has a gematria of ninety: lamed is thirty, chaf is twenty, and mem is another forty—ninety. So “nami lachem” has a gematria of one hundred and ninety. One hundred and ninety is the gematria of “keitz,” the end. What I’m saying is: everyone agrees concerning Shavuos. When Shavuos arrives, everyone agrees that we need to come and ask for the end, for “nami lachem”—that the end should come already, the true and complete Geulah, and that we should merit the true and complete Geulah immediately, right now. This brings us to another interesting point about Torah study. We said that Shavuos is the festival of the Giving of the Torah. It’s worth discussing a very interesting point about the Giving of the Torah. We know that in the true and complete Geulah, when it comes to Torah study, people will not forget what they have learned. It is explained that forgetfulness comes from the sitra achra, for “there is no forgetfulness before Your Throne of Glory.” Above the Throne, when there will be a revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, there is no forgetfulness, no such concept as forgetting. People will remember everything. That is why the Alter Rebbe says it is worthwhile for a person to study even today. He says a person should try not to forget what he has learned, but should also make an effort to study the entire Torah. He says that even if he forgets it all, nevertheless, in the true and complete Geulah he will remember it. He will remember everything he learned. Why? Because “there is no forgetfulness before Your Throne of Glory.” In the true and complete Geulah there will be no forgetfulness at all. So whatever people learn, they will remember forever and for all eternity. They will also remember what they learned during the time of exile—even what they have already forgotten. Of course, there will also be a giving of the Torah: “A new Torah will go forth from Me.” That does not mean there will be another Giving of the Torah, but

17:42 Speaker 2 as it is written, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,” there will be the revelation of “A new Torah will go forth from Me”—a revelation of profound, inner depths that have never been revealed before. So much so that a person studying Torah in the true and complete Geulah will say, “Listen, this isn’t the Torah I know. This is something else.” Until now we’ve said that it is the same Torah and the same 613 mitzvos will remain. The Torah will not be replaced. Fundamentally, that is how it is, as the Rambam says: this Torah, its statutes and its laws, are forever and for all eternity; nothing may be added to them or taken away from them. And anyone who adds or takes away is certainly wicked and a heretic. That is what the Rambam says. But such lofty depths of the Torah will be revealed that you will say, “Listen, this isn’t what I knew until now. I thought it was all simply laws and the like, all just…” No. In the future, “A new Torah will go forth from Me.” The secrets of the Torah, wondrous secrets, will be revealed. As a result, there will also be changes in certain Torah rulings, in accordance with the Torah’s rules—for example, the slaughter of the wild ox with the fin of the Leviathan, and the halachah following Beis Shammai. These are things that will emerge from the revelation of the Torah’s secrets, from the revelation of loftier depths within the Torah, in ways that are possible under the Torah’s rules. But now let’s discuss a very, very interesting question. What will happen? As we said, people will not forget the Torah in the future. The question now is whether it will still be possible to write down the Torah. What is the issue? We know that until Rabbeinu Hakadosh—Rabbeinu Hakadosh was, in fact, the first to write down the Oral Torah. We know it is written, “For according to these words I have made a covenant with you.” The Gemara in tractate Gittin says: “You are not permitted to recite the Written Torah by heart, and you are not

19:38 Speaker 2 permitted to write down the Oral Torah.” The Written Torah must be read from the text. That is why you can notice something interesting: when the Rebbe and other great Torah sages quote verses, they often make some change, changing a word or a few words. Why? Because you are not permitted to recite the Written Torah by heart. You recite the Written Torah from the text. The Oral Torah is oral; you do not write it down. That is how it was throughout the generations until Rabbeinu Hakadosh. Even someone who wanted to write down certain things so he would not forget them would record them in a private scroll. He was concerned that he might forget, so he would make a note. That is why the Gemara in Shabbos and elsewhere says, “I found a private scroll.” What were these private scrolls? Writing it down was prohibited. If you wanted to, you could make a note for yourself, fine, so you would not forget. But generally, the Oral Torah remained oral only. The explanations of the Written Torah remained oral. Rabbeinu Hakadosh saw that if things continued this way, with many decrees and forgetfulness becoming common, the words of Torah were in danger of being forgotten entirely. So he said, “It is time to act for Hashem; they have violated Your Torah.” The words of Torah had to be written down. He permitted them to be recorded in writing, and that is the Mishnah. The Mishnah was the first work to put the Oral Torah into writing. Afterward came the Gemara, and so on—halachic authorities, Rishonim, Acharonim, commentators, analyses, and so forth. Today, baruch Hashem, there are large libraries. But in the future the Geulah will come and impurity will be removed: “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth.” There will be no forgetfulness, as we said: “There is no forgetfulness before Your Throne of Glory.” So

21:28 Speaker 2 seemingly, the prohibition against writing down words of Torah will apply again, as it did before Rabbeinu Hakadosh. More than that, it will be forbidden even to write a private scroll, because there will be no forgetfulness at all. That also leaves room to discuss whether the prohibition will apply only to printing new material, or perhaps even to reprinting what has already been printed. Certainly we will not need to throw away existing books, G-d forbid. The books that exist will remain. The question is: if a book already exists, are we allowed to print it again, or is that forbidden? Are we allowed to take new material and write it down at all? The Rebbe discusses this, and it is discussed in other places as well. Some are indeed concerned and argue that it will be prohibited. In a sicha from the 19th in 5730, the Rebbe speaks about this at length. But the main point was mentioned by the Rebbe in 5751, in the sicha of Parshas Vayigash 5751. The Rebbe mentioned it in connection with the seforim, the trial over the seforim, 5 Teves, Didan Notzach. Every year on 5 Teves, because of the victory concerning the seforim, the Rebbe would—almost every year—mention and encourage buying new seforim and so on. In 5751, the Rebbe said that even in the full and complete Geulah, people will continue to write down words of Torah. The Rebbe said that even though they will not be forgotten, we see clearly that writing something gives a person additional enjoyment and a deeper understanding of what he has written. Therefore, the Rebbe said that not only will people write down the Torah, the further teachings of Torah, but they will even write down the “new Torah will go forth from Me” taught by Moshiach. Some also point out that the Rambam does not mention this in his work, the Mishneh Torah. If you look through the entire Mishneh Torah, the Rambam does not bring it. The Rambam does bring

23:28 Speaker 2 Even in the laws of King Moshiach, the laws of the Geulah, the Rambam does not say that in the future, words of Torah will no longer be written down. So it seems from the Rambam that there is no longer a prohibition against it, because it was already permitted under “It is time to act for Hashem; they have nullified Your Torah.” So in the future too, it will be permissible to write down words of Torah. There is no problem with that. That’s one point. So in the future, too, it will be possible to write things down, as we said. Some explain that once it was permitted, it was permitted completely. Others say that the prohibition against writing down the Oral Torah is not the halachah, as is known. Either way, it will be permissible to write it down, and that will add to our understanding of these matters, even in the true and complete Geulah. It will still be possible to write down the Oral Torah. But in the Rebbe’s sicha on Parshas Eikev 5751, the Rebbe, King Moshiach, shlita, mentions that in the future even the blind will be healed. A Tanya had been published in Braille, and the Rebbe said: Braille is for the blind. So the Rebbe said that this is spreading the wellsprings to a new group of people who, until now, could not study the Torah of Chassidus. Now they have a Tanya in Braille. Then the Rebbe said that in the future, even the blind will first be healed, as it says, and in the future there will be no need for written letters either. So although, as we said, writing will be permitted, there will apparently be no need for it. That is, it will have the advantage of adding to our understanding, but there will not be such a need for it in the future. Why? Because learning will be by way

25:26 Speaker 2 of seeing. Learning in the future will take the form of seeing. It will not be just that you study the World of Atzilus or the World of Beriah, or study halachos, and it all remains theoretical for you. Everything will be a matter of pointing with one’s finger and saying, “This.” As it says of Moshe Rabbeinu, he showed them and said: “This is the animal you may eat; this is the animal you may not eat.” It says that Moshe Rabbeinu showed them every domesticated animal and every wild animal. He told them, “You may eat this one; you may not eat that one. This animal may be eaten; that animal may not be eaten.” The same will be true in the future of spiritual matters, G-dly matters, the sefiros, Kesser, and so on. Everything will be seen. King Moshiach will show everything to each and every person so that they can see it, and then we will not need written letters. We need written letters today because we cannot see these things, but in the future we will see them in the most tangible way: pointing with one’s finger and saying, “This.” “Behold, this is our G-d.” Look, King Moshiach is coming. We will see it in the most tangible and clearest way, and so we will no longer need written letters. The main thing is that we should merit, beginning this Shavuos, to continue the festival of Shavuos into the true and complete Geulah and the giving of the Torah. “A new Torah will go forth from Me”—may we receive the new Torah in the Geulah, immediately, right now. Amen.