Maamar Yivchar Lanu Es Nachalaseinu 5723 - Rabbi Boruch Boaz Yorkovitz shlita

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

00:09 Speaker 2 The main work of Rosh Hashanah is building malchus, Hashem’s kingship. These are words we use: “Recite verses of kingship before Me so that you will make Me King over you.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu asks us, as it were, “Please, recite verses of kingship before Me so that you will make Me King over you.” The idea is that every year, everything returns to its original state. That’s how it begins—the Arizal explains that at the time of the world’s creation, at the beginning of creation, the entire world returns to its original state, as it was before creation. And we, the souls of the Jewish people, need to bring Hakadosh Boruch Hu to have desire and delight in our service. That is the entire work of Rosh Hashanah. The entire work of Rosh Hashanah. That is the work of Rosh Hashanah. Through our service, then, we have to bring Hakadosh Boruch Hu to want to continue that desire for the coming year. With Hakadosh Boruch Hu, every year begins all over again. “Sound the shofar at the new moon”—I heard the Rebbe say that every year is new again. To arouse in Hakadosh Boruch Hu the desire, of His own accord, to continue being King over us—that comes through the service of the Jewish people. This is one of the things that is very hard to understand. How do we do it, and with what? The Midrash says, “And with what? With the shofar”—through sounding the shofar. So the Rebbe asks: If we’re speaking about a moment when there is no desire for kingship, not even a desire for kingship, how can fulfilling a command arouse that desire? A command comes only after there is a king. But before that, if there is no king, there are no commands, and a command cannot create a desire for kingship. That is the hardest question to understand. The Rebbe asks several other questions as well, several

02:48 Speaker 2 other questions. The Rebbe speaks about the three—the two—before sounding the shofar, we say, “For the conductor, a psalm of the sons of Korach.” There we speak about the greatness of the souls of the Jewish people, and how all the nations will speak of their greatness. The main reason we say this psalm is that it contains the verse, “G-d ascends with a teruah; Hashem, with the sound of the shofar.” But before that it says, “He will choose our inheritance for us.” “He will choose for us”—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will choose the souls of the Jewish people—and this is very important for arousing the desire for kingship. So we need to understand what is happening here. The souls of the Jewish people can arouse the desire for kingship, and that is the greatest wonder. How can they arouse a desire for kingship if He has no desire for it? We explain that the souls of the Jewish people are rooted in Hashem’s very Essence. Those are the words. In this maamar, “Yivchar Lanu,” from 5751, the Rebbe explains what it means for the souls of the Jewish people to be rooted in His Essence, and how this is possible. It is only after “He will choose our inheritance for us” that they are rooted in His Essence and can have an effect. But we say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is utterly simple, in the fullest sense. There are no souls of the Jewish people, nothing else within Him. So what are the souls of the Jewish people? How are they rooted in His Essence? The Rebbe explains in the maamar: You want to understand what it means that the souls of the Jewish people are rooted in His Essence? It means something quite different. There is an essential thought in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu thinks about Himself. This is the idea that “Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling in the lower realms.” That comes after Hakadosh Boruch Hu thinks about Himself: I want something. Then He asks, well, how will I get it? Who will do it for Me? The souls of the Jewish people. So the souls of the Jewish people are rooted in His thought about Himself, in that first thought. That is the meaning

05:09 Speaker 2 of “they arose in His thought”—an essential thought. So the power the souls of the Jewish people have to arouse something in Hakadosh Boruch Hu comes from “He will choose our inheritance for us.” That is the first verse that says, “He will choose our inheritance for us.” That is what gives the souls of the Jewish people the power to bring about an arousal from below that elicits an arousal from above, awakening desire in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Because if Hakadosh Boruch Hu had not decided to accept the service of the souls of the Jewish people, their service would have no significance. We are created beings and He is the Creator. How could there be any comparison? So we are rooted in His essential thought. That is how the Rebbe explains it here. This is Atik. What does Atik mean? We need to understand what it is, but it is very important. And there is another place where the Rebbe speaks about this. We say, “With whom did He consult? With the souls of the righteous.” What does that mean? The souls of the righteous did not yet exist. So how could He consult with them about creating the world before they existed? The answer is this: The Maggid of Mezritch explains that Hakadosh Boruch Hu contemplated the delight He would have from the souls of the Jewish people, and for that reason He created the world. The Rebbe says that this happens every year, when you say that everything returns to its original state. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is now deciding whether to continue the year with the souls of the Jewish people. In other words, a person needs to think and feel as though he is one of those righteous people with whom Hakadosh Boruch Hu is now consulting about whether or not to create the world. Because that is what we are talking about right now. The idea is that a person thinks about how Hakadosh Boruch Hu relates to us: “He will choose our inheritance for us.” The Rebbe explains that “He will choose for us” refers to the point of wonder within a person. “He will choose our inheritance for us.” And “the pride of Yaakov” refers to the third Beis Hamikdash, Moshiach—all of it is Geulah. Hakadosh Boruch Hu decided that we can bring Him to desire to create the world. The moment we understand that, we are overwhelmed. In other words, we are such small people, yet we are within the thought of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And with whom did He consult? With us, with the soul of... of today, because this is a new day. When a person thinks about this—the Rebbe speaks about it at length, because the world is created anew at every moment—he becomes deeply moved. But another point: For us to arouse desire in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, desire and delight go together. Hakadosh Boruch Hu delights in the creation of the world, and therefore He desires it. In our service, we need to be firm in making our desire a desire for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, in directing our desire toward Him. So the yetzer hara is involved in this, in our desire. But if our desire is filled with foolishness and empty things of all kinds, how can we hope to arouse in Hakadosh Boruch Hu a desire for the soul and for the physical world, a desire for kingship, when we ourselves are far from that desire? Where does the yetzer hara come into this? So this is one of the points. The main work is that, to arouse desire in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, we need to make sure our own desire is clean, pure, without any impurities, without foolishness mixed in, without anything else, so that we can bring about the desire for kingship. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant [unclear].

07:43 Speaker 2 It’s about the third Beis Hamikdash, Moshiach—all of it is Geulah. Hakadosh Boruch Hu decided that we can give Him the desire to create the world, and once we understand that, we’re overwhelmed. In other words, we’re such small people, yet we’re in Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s thoughts. And with whom did He consult? With us—the soul of... of today, because today is a new day. And when a person thinks about that—the Rebbe speaks about it at length—that the world is created anew every moment, it moves him deeply. But here’s another thought: To awaken desire in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, desire and pleasure go together. Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes pleasure in creating the world, and that’s why He wants to do it. In our avodah, we need to be firm in making our desire a desire for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So, so the yetzer hara comes into this, into our desire. But if our desire is filled with foolishness and empty things of all kinds, how can we expect to awaken in Hakadosh Boruch Hu a desire for the spiritual and the physical, a desire for kingship, when we’re far from that desire? Where does the yetzer hara come into this? So that’s one of the points. The main avodah is that, to awaken desire in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, we need to make sure our desire is clean, pure, without impurities, without foolishness mixed in or anything else, so that we can bring about His desire for kingship. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant [unclear].