Ears to Hear 20 | Kuntres Purim Katan 5752

00:00 Speaker 1 “And Hashem did not give you a heart to know, eyes to see, or ears to hear.”

00:08 Speaker 2 Ears to Hear. Audio programs for the Temimim, from the World Atah organization.

00:15 Speaker 1 That a Jew must himself be—Shalom aleichem to all the Temimim in Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch yeshivos throughout the Holy Land and the entire world, and to all our fellow chassidim wherever they may be. We are now beginning a special program, the twentieth in our Ears to Hear audio series. These programs are permeated with a spirit of steadfast hiskashrus to the Rebbe shlita, Melech HaMoshiach, and with our central concern: the actual coming of Moshiach. The programs have made a name for themselves in the chassidic world, particularly among the Temimim in Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch yeshivos. In this program, we want to discuss Kuntres Purim Katan 5752, the special maamar that the Rebbe took the initiative to have printed, distributed, and made available to all the chassidim on Purim Katan 5752. It is a maamar that is daily sustenance for every chossid, wherever he stands in the seventh generation, in the last moments of galus, just moments before the complete revelation of the Rebbe shlita, Melech HaMoshiach. Our guest is Rabbi Asaf Frumer, chairman of the Maamar Mevoar series and mashpia at Yeshivas Chassidei Chabad Lubavitch in Haifa. He will talk with us and clearly explain the special maamar, both in terms of its ideas and in terms of avodah: the maamar Ve’atah Tetzaveh 5752. Before we begin, we want to mention those who dedicated this program: the Zigelbaum family and friends of the family, for the elevation of the soul of Rabbi Avraham Eliezer Zigelbaum, a"h. May he merit the greatest elevation of his soul—as a soul in a body at the Resurrection of the Dead, immediately, right now. Let’s begin our special program with Rabbi Frumer. Shalom aleichem, Rabbi Frumer.

02:34 Speaker 4 Welcome.

02:35 Speaker 1 Baruch Hashem, we’re sitting down for a very special program about Kuntres Ve’atah Tetzaveh, Kuntres Purim Katan 5752, which is so special at every moment. Every chossid in the seventh generation lives with it in a very special way. And with an entire program devoted solely to this kuntres, there will certainly be plenty to examine closely and understand about its significance. So before we delve into the kuntres and its inner themes, we’d first like a general overview, as concisely as possible, of how dear this particular maamar was to the Rebbe. Was it, in fact, especially dear to him, and in what way?

03:15 Speaker 4 We can see it in a number of details. First, the very fact that a Purim Katan kuntres was published—there had never before been a kuntres issued on that date—was itself unusual. Then, in response to the report on the maamar’s distribution, the Rebbe gave an extraordinary reply: “May it fulfill its intended purpose.” The Rebbe expresses the wish, the plea, the request that this maamar truly have its intended effect. That is remarkable: the Rebbe is asking not merely that we study it, but that it actually affect us. We’ll see a number of things the maamar asks of us that the Rebbe wants to take effect within us and through us. Third, the Rebbe distributed it to Anash on Shabbos together with lekach and two dollars. The very idea of the Rebbe choosing to distribute a maamar to each and every person is special, all the more so when it was distributed with lekach, something the Rebbe spoke about. In the edited sicha of Shabbos Parshas [unclear], he adds to this. The Rebbe spoke then about the significance of distributing a maamar of Chassidus together with lekach, connecting it to the verse “For I have given you a good teaching.” This means it belongs to every single person: everyone, even a small child, inherits the entire Torah. It is also connected with honey and with “honey from the rock.” That same year, 5752, the Rebbe also distributed a kuntres with lekach at the Kinus Hashluchim, and a kuntres with lekach at the Kinus Hashluchos in Shvat. At the Kinus Hashluchim, the Rebbe said that giving lekach is similar to the Jewish custom when a child enters cheder. In addition to beginning with a verse of Torah from a Torah scroll, one gives him lekach, alluding to the words “For I have given you a good teaching.” [unclear]

05:07 Speaker 4 Similarly, in our case, this gift of lekach alludes to the entry into the complete study of Torah—the “good teaching” of the future, when “a new Torah will come forth from Me.” In other words, the Rebbe connects his distribution of a kuntres with lekach to a small child’s initiation into cheder. The child is given honey cake to emphasize that Torah is a “good teaching,” something sweet like honey. Here, too, the Rebbe directs us toward “a new Torah will come forth from Me” [?], which Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself will teach, as the Rebbe puts it in that sicha. So the Rebbe includes lekach with the maamar. Each person can reflect on that and understand how much importance the Rebbe attaches to it. Beyond that, this was literally the last maamar the Rebbe personally edited with his holy hand before the event of 27 Adar. Although the Rebbe continued to publish a number of maamarim afterward, this was the last maamar he edited in the literal sense. Chassidim have also found in it many allusions to what happened afterward and to the entire present situation. They have found in it a special empowerment, and an instruction and directive through which the Rebbe gives special strength for the whole period from then until now.

06:30 Speaker 5 So that speaks to how dear it was to the Rebbe. We can see something distinctive in the lekach and in everything else the rabbi mentioned by way of introduction, even before we delve into the maamar itself. You spoke about 5752. We’re in the winter of 5752, a winter filled with sichos on Geulah and Moshiach, with the message taking clearer shape from week to week. How exactly does this kuntres fit into that surge toward Geulah? How is it part of the picture?

06:59 Speaker 4 If you read this maamar, its content is essentially a restatement, in the form of a maamar, of the sicha of 28 Nissan: the coming of Moshiach and the complete Geulah must be the genuine, heartfelt cry of every Jew. It is something every Jew wants deep down, and something each of us must work to reveal. You can see this very clearly. A few days earlier, in the sicha of [unclear] Adar [?], the Rebbe said very similar things during the shiva for Mrs. Leah Lapine [?], who was killed al kiddush Hashem. There, too, the Rebbe spoke in terms very similar to the sicha of 28 Nissan. A few days later, the Rebbe published this maamar. You don’t have to search for the connection: the entire maamar is about crying out from the depths of the heart for the Geulah, about this being what weighs on a Jew. The Rebbe says it in Yiddish: “mit veinen un treislen”—with weeping and trembling. The Rebbe says a number of times that sometimes, when something is hard to express in Lashon Kodesh, it is said in Yiddish, like the Alter Rebbe’s cry of “Gevald!” at the end of Tanya. Here, too, the Rebbe does not stop at saying that a Jew is broken and shaken by the absence of the revelation of G-dliness that will come with the Geulah. The Rebbe says “mit veinen un treislen”: he is shaken, trembling, stirred to the depths of his soul.

08:22 Speaker 5 In other words, the Rebbe is saying that the beginning and the end are bound together. The whole beginning of this extraordinary surge toward Geulah, if we can call it that, from [unclear], reaches a peak in this maamar, where the Rebbe gives us the right focus. How can we cry out “Ad mosai?” Not for show, but sincerely—and live with these things in the truest way.

08:43 Speaker 4 I wasn’t talking about the end of the world, G-d forbid. We’re talking about another stage, another maamar through which the Rebbe gives us strength for the avodah that follows. Of course, we must also include the strength we later received from the Rebbe, including in 5753 and 5754 [?], when, with self-sacrifice, he encouraged “Yechi” with his holy head. But this was certainly an exceptionally important and striking milestone, with some introductory guidance on how deeply this must matter to each of us personally.

09:26 Speaker 5 With that introduction, we can really enter into the maamar and appreciate how much every word and every point matters. Of course, we won’t be able to dwell on every line, but we can at least cover the maamar’s central ideas. Maybe we can start with the question the Rebbe raises at the beginning and carries through the entire maamar: “Veyikchu eilecha”—“Ve’atah tetzaveh es Bnei Yisroel, veyikchu eilecha.” As the Rebbe explains, this implies that an additional light comes to Moshe himself. Through Moshe Rabbeinu connecting the Jewish people to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—the word tetzaveh being related to tzavsa, joining—an additional light comes to Moshe Rabbeinu. Throughout the maamar, the Rebbe seems to be answering the question: What additional light comes to Moshe Rabbeinu through the bond he creates with the Jewish people? Speaking for myself, while learning the maamar it’s possible to lose track of the ultimate answer. What additional light comes to Moshe Rabbeinu? Is it what the Rebbe says at the end of the maamar—that the added light is only in the spark of Moshe within each person? Is that the final answer, or is there a broader explanation of this idea?

10:31 Speaker 4 The Rebbe introduces something new here. The maamar is essentially divided into two parts. The first half is devoted to explaining “Ve’atah Tetzaveh”: how Moshe Rabbeinu connects us with Ohr Ein Sof in his role as Raya Mehemna, nurturing our emunah so that it becomes internalized. The same applies to the Moshe Rabbeinu of every generation, and to the Frierdiker Rebbe in his generation, when he originally delivered the maamar. Here too, the Rebbe adds something new to what is explained in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s maamar and in earlier maamarim. The second half of the maamar addresses “Veyikchu Eilecha.” Here too, the Rebbe takes a new approach to explaining what it means. First, the Rebbe explains the avodah of “Veyikchu Eilecha.” Before asking what it adds, we need to understand what it is—what we have to do. In section 11, the Rebbe explicitly defines this avodah: after Moshe reveals the essence of the soul within the Jewish people, their revealed faculties—their vessels and powers—must also become aligned with the essence of the soul. In other words, how is the avodah of “Veyikchu Eilecha” expressed? What do we do after Moshe Rabbeinu reveals the essence of the soul within us, which, the Rebbe says, is the inner meaning of “Ve’atah Tetzaveh”? We have to bring it about that it isn’t only the essence of the soul that cries out for G-dliness. Our revealed faculties—our intellect, emotions, will and delight, and certainly our thought, speech and action—must be aligned with it too. We need to bring all the levels of our soul and all its faculties into alignment, so that they contain and reflect the point the Rebbe gives us: the desire for a revelation of G-dliness.

12:21 Speaker 5 That, essentially, is adding light to Moshe Rabbeinu. That is the simple meaning.

12:24 Speaker 4 That is the avodah. First, before looking at how it is expressed, we need to understand what the avodah is and what we have to do. That is the Rebbe’s definition of the avodah. How does it manifest? The Rebbe explains that in section 9. But first, what is “Veyikchu Eilecha”? What avodah is required of us? We must bring ourselves into alignment with the revelation Moshe brings out within us, so that our faculties accord with the level of our essence that Moshe Rabbeinu reveals. Moshe Rabbeinu reveals the essence of the soul within a Jew, but in a sense, that essence is revealed as something above him, something his revealed faculties cannot fully contain. Our avodah is to bring the revelation that comes from Moshe into our revealed faculties—our intellect, emotions and delight, and our thought, speech and action. That is our avodah; that is its definition. How does it manifest? The Rebbe explains in section 9: even in times of abundance, both materially and spiritually, when a Jew faces no decrees and can observe Torah and mitzvos freely—and even when he is on an elevated spiritual level—he is still crushed. Not because of decrees and persecution in exile, but because G-dliness is not revealed throughout the world. That itself leaves him broken and crushed. How is the transition from “Ve’atah Tetzaveh” to “Veyikchu Eilecha” expressed? First we have to explain what Moshe Rabbeinu does. There is “Ve’atah Tetzaveh,” through which Moshe Rabbeinu reveals our essential being and thereby enables us to internalize G-dliness. That is what the Rebbe says in the first part of the maamar. Then “Ve’atah Tetzaveh” finds an even higher expression in generations that required mesirus nefesh, as in the time of Mordechai and the time of the Frierdiker

14:13 Speaker 4 Rebbe. Because it was then a time of “katit lamaor,” when mesirus nefesh was required, the essential nature of a Jew’s mesirus nefesh became even more apparent. With Moshe Rabbeinu, what was most visible was the result of revealing our essential being: our ability to internalize G-dliness. With Mordechai the Jew and the Frierdiker Rebbe, it was openly reflected in the mesirus nefesh itself. You could see that a Jew’s essence, his very life, is bound up with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It isn’t conditional. There is an inherent bond, and so he gives his life for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what the Moshe Rabbeinu of every generation gives us. The next stage is to take both the ability to internalize G-dliness and the point of mesirus nefesh that Moshe awakens in us when it is needed, and carry them into ordinary, everyday times. We aren’t facing decrees or trials; we’re living in what seems to be a normal time. But the situation troubles us constantly because it has become our own concern. We lift ourselves toward what Moshe Rabbeinu demands of us, toward what the Rebbe asks of us. Or, as the Rebbe put it briefly in the sicha of 28 Nissan: shouting “Ad mosai?” because one has been instructed to do so is one thing; if people truly cried out, they would accomplish something. In other words, crying out “Ad mosai?” just because the Rebbe says to is not the highest level. We went out and publicized that the Rebbe had said, “We want Moshiach now.” It became the slogan of Tzivos Hashem, rallies and gatherings everywhere. And how much mockery, scorn and humiliation we endured because we went with simple faith and shouted, “We want

16:00 Speaker 4 Moshiach now.” That too is something lofty. But nevertheless, the Rebbe says it was because of the instruction. What was missing was doing it—crying out—truly. Not just doing it because the Rebbe commands us, but because we ourselves genuinely recognize that the continued state of exile is not natural, not normal, so that the cry comes from within us. Not merely that we do it in practice because of the Rebbe’s instruction. The Rebbe returns to this point toward the end of the maamar: a Jew must himself—

17:00 Speaker 6 You’ve focused very strongly on the result. Perhaps we could take a step back so we can understand that result more deeply, and focus first on what Moshe Rabbeinu gives us—the aspect of Raya Mehemna in this maamar. You mentioned it in passing, but perhaps we could focus more on section 6, where the Rebbe says that the primary aspect of Raya Mehemna is that he nourishes and sustains emunah itself. The central role of Moshe Rabbeinu, of Raya Mehemna, is to nourish emunah itself—not, as explained in Tanya chapter 42 and in several other places, that the role of Raya Mehemna is—

17:32 Speaker 4 The Rebbe explicitly mentions that this is also explained in the maamar of 5687.

17:36 Speaker 6 And although those sources explain in several places that Moshe Rabbeinu’s role as Raya Mehemna is to teach the people daas, his primary role is to nourish emunah itself. What, then, is the difference between nourishing emunah itself and teaching the people daas? And what new understanding does the Rebbe give us here?

17:54 Speaker 4 What the Rebbe says in sections 5 and 6 is not just that Moshe Rabbeinu’s role is to nourish faith itself. The Rebbe also says how he nourishes faith: by revealing the essence of the soul, beyond the level where “its mazal sees.” In other words, what is his role? The Rebbe comes back to this point. He says it in section 5, and in section 6 he says it again, when discussing faith and the concept of ra’aya mehemna on page 100, page 133. The Rebbe says that the main point of ra’aya mehemna is that he feeds and nourishes faith itself, so that faith comes not only from a revelation—from the fact that the soul above sees G-dliness—but from the essence of the soul. That, the Rebbe says, is really the inner meaning, the root and the foundation of the whole concept of ra’aya mehemna. Moshe Rabbeinu teaching the people understanding, the Rebbe says, is actually the result. The cause, foundation and root of it is that Moshe Rabbeinu reveals to us—he switches us over from a connection to G-dliness based on revelation, which is itself a very lofty thing. The soul above sees G-dliness, and that affects us, giving us simple faith in G-dliness. So the Rebbe turns the dial, like when I saw you setting up the equipment at the beginning of the interview and turning the knob to get exactly the right frequency. The Rebbe moves us, moves our souls, from the frequency of revelations to the frequency of faith, of an essential connection, of the essence of the soul. An essential connection is a connection that does not depend on a reason. That is the root of the Rebbe’s maamar. The order is that first the Rebbe explains this concept and its result. The Rebbe says that a Jew’s simple faith can exist in two ways—it comes from

19:39 Speaker 4 two causes. One is that the soul above sees G-dliness, but its effect on the soul below is only indirect. There is also another level: the essential connection of the essence of the soul to G-dliness. Since this is the essence of the soul, the soul above and the soul below are the very same soul. Through this, a Jew down here can also grasp G-dliness inwardly. So Moshe Rabbeinu teaching the people understanding is really the result. The Rebbe says that everything written from Tanya through section 7 of the maamar is, in fact, an expression of the central role of the ra’aya mehemna: he reveals our faith so that it comes from the essence of the soul.

20:18 Speaker 6 How did this find expression with Moshe Rabbeinu, with Mordechai the Jew and with the Frierdiker Rebbe? That is, if we follow the distinctions as they are explained in the maamar.

20:26 Speaker 4 The Rebbe says that with Moshe Rabbeinu it was expressed in his teaching the people understanding. But the main point, the Rebbe says, was revealed even more with Mordechai the Jew—sorry, in Mordechai the Jew’s generation, and in generations when actual mesirus nefesh was required, as it was in the time of the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Rebbe says that with the Frierdiker Rebbe and Mordechai the Jew it was the same: in those generations, when mesirus nefesh was required, the fact that faith is bound up with the essence of the soul was revealed even more than with Moshe himself. Because with Moshe himself, what could you see outwardly? If someone had come to report on what was happening in the desert in Moshe Rabbeinu’s generation, he would have seen Moshe Rabbeinu teaching the people understanding. You would have had to open the books for him and explain that this was the result of revealing the essence of the soul. But when you see a Jew being asked, “Which do you prefer: to deny Hakadosh Boruch Hu, G-d forbid, or to be thrown into the fire?” and the Jew says, “I’m not prepared to leave Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That isn’t even an option for me. It’s impossible. I simply cannot deny Him, G-d forbid,” as the Rebbe says—then it becomes still clearer that this is something essential, bound up with his very being, with his life, with his very existence. He always illustrates this with what the Rebbe said about the battle over Israeli ships sailing on Shabbos. The Rebbe went to extraordinary lengths to publicize the prohibition involved. One of the low points was that the religious party, of all people, organized a pleasure cruise on an Israeli ship on Shabbos. The Rebbe said—the Rebbe writes this in Igros Kodesh—that, speaking wryly, you could

22:09 Speaker 4 say that this was the real meaning of “mesirus nefesh.” Why? Usually, when we speak of mesirus nefesh, what does a Jew give up? He gives up his life; he relinquishes his body, the outer envelope, for the life of his soul, so that he can remain connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But here was the “real” meaning, in quotation marks, of mesirus nefesh: people were willing to throw away, to burn, their souls for a momentary pleasure of the body. When a Jew gives up his life, that is really his instinct for life. Every living creature in the world has an instinct to live and cannot conceive of anything else. The same is true of a Jew, even the least observant of Jews. What is his instinct for life? As long as he can, he lives. But if, G-d forbid, he is offered the possibility of continuing to live physically only by acting contrary to his faith, his instinct is to throw himself into the fire rather than deny G-d, G-d forbid.

23:05 Speaker 6 That is what Moshe Rabbeinu reveals in the Jewish people.

23:06 Speaker 4 And that is the point revealed through the extension of Moshe in generations when mesirus nefesh is required. The Rebbe says that with Moshe Rabbeinu, this was expressed in his teaching the people understanding. That, too, could not happen without a revelation of the essence of the soul, but you do not see the essence of the soul in it so plainly. With actual mesirus nefesh, what do you see plainly? That a Jew is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu essentially, without any reason. He is not prepared to be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu under any circumstances.

23:35 Speaker 6 So with those extensions of Moshe in whose generations actual mesirus nefesh was required, something was revealed that was not revealed with Moshe Rabbeinu, even as the Rebbe—

23:41 Speaker 4 Yes, the Rebbe says so. Yes, the Rebbe says explicitly in section 6 that in those generations the concept of ra’aya mehemna was revealed in this respect even more than with Moshe himself.

23:50 Speaker 6 So they revealed this point. The Frierdiker Rebbe says in the maamar that Mordechai revealed it in his generation. Then the Rebbe notes in the maamar that the Frierdiker Rebbe is, in effect, issuing a ruling about himself: that he was unmistakably the ra’aya mehemna of his generation. If we look at it that way, amid all the discussion explaining how Moshe Rabbeinu is the one who gave us faith, we need to look at those square brackets—which are not really a parenthetical aside, but a central point of the maamar—and understand how the Rebbe was issuing a ruling about himself, and how this applies, of course, to the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. First, the Rebbe begins by asking why we say—why our Sages say—that Mordechai in his generation was equal to Moshe in his generation. After all, there is an extension of Moshe in every generation. So why emphasize Mordechai in particular as being like Moshe Rabbeinu? The Rebbe says that what Moshe Rabbeinu and Mordechai had in common was that both were openly the ra’aya mehemna for everyone in their generation. In other words, if you had gone with that [unclear] and conducted a poll in Moshe Rabbeinu’s time or Mordechai the Jew’s time—“Who is the leader of the generation? Who is the ra’aya mehemna? Who is the...?”—everyone would have pointed to the same person. The Rebbe says that this is what was distinctive about Mordechai the Jew, and why he is said to be equal to Moshe. The Rebbe says that since the Frierdiker Rebbe mentioned this in the maamar, it was not merely a quotation. By saying it, he was in fact issuing a ruling about himself. This is based on the well-known teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, which the Rebbe cited several times in his sichos, including edited sichos. Its source is Likkutei Moharan, teaching 113, which explains the Mishnah in chapter 3 of Pirkei Avos: “Know before whom you are destined to give

25:33 Speaker 6 “Judgment and accounting.” At first glance, the order should be reversed. When a person is being judged, first you have to make an accounting of what he did, and only afterward determine the verdict. This is answered by another Mishnah in the same chapter, which also raises a question. It says that a person is punished “with his knowledge and without his knowledge.” We can understand “without his knowledge”: when punishment is given, who asks the person? But what does it mean that he is punished with his knowledge—that he is asked? So the Rebbe explains—he expands on an idea stated there briefly—that no being in the world, neither an angel nor an accuser, has the power to rule over a Jew and punish him. The only way something can be brought upon a Jew is if he passes judgment on himself. We see this with King David. When the incident with Batsheva took place, Nosson the prophet came to him, but he did not immediately tell him about his sin. He began with the parable of the poor man’s lamb: there were two neighbors, one rich and one poor. When a guest came to the rich man, he took the poor man’s lamb and slaughtered it to feed his guest. David became very angry and pronounced a very severe judgment about what that man deserved. As soon as King David had given his verdict, Nosson the prophet said to him, “You are the man.” In other words, it had all been a parable. You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own. That gave David the opportunity to pass judgment; otherwise it would not

27:20 Speaker 6 have been possible. If Nosson had come and told him directly, David might have justified himself. He could have opened Tractate Shabbos and said that it states there, “Anyone who says David sinned is mistaken.” For him to recognize it, pass judgment on himself, and take upon himself everything necessary to correct what had happened—as it appeared to us, according to King David’s level—he needed to pass judgment on himself. So we say that when a Jew passes judgment on someone else, he passes judgment on himself. He judges the other person without realizing it. After a Jew does something he should not have done, an opportunity arises for him to see another Jew who did the same thing, and he says, “He deserves such-and-such.” Then, when he goes up to Heaven, the first thing they do is show him that judgment: “Look, this Jew did such-and-such. Look what you said. Another Jew did this and that. Look what you said.” And he says, “Yes, that’s right. That is what strict justice demands.” Then they tell him, “All right, now let’s make an accounting of how many times you yourself did the same thing.” So at first it is with his knowledge, but after he has passed judgment, it is already without his knowledge; the judgment already has force. That is what it says there. But the Rebbe says that if this is so when a person judges someone else and thereby judges himself, then in the positive direction it applies all the more. The Rebbe spoke about this. For example, the Frierdiker Rebbe said that when he left Russia, he did not

28:55 Speaker 6 part from the chassidim. So, in the same way, he passed judgment on himself regarding Yud Shvat as well: that he never leaves the chassidim. The Rebbe said this regarding many matters—that with good things, it applies all the more, and in the most emphatic and evident way. The Rebbe says it here in the maamar. The Rebbe devotes an entire section to it. It is the link between the two parts of the maamar.

29:14 Speaker 7 Section seven.

29:15 Speaker 6 All of section seven is devoted to this subject: when the Frierdiker Rebbe said something in a maamar, he thereby passed judgment on himself. He did not simply make a statement. He said that Mordechai in his generation was equal to Moshe in his generation, and explained that Mordechai was openly the raaya meheimna, the faithful shepherd, for everyone in his generation. So the Frierdiker Rebbe passed judgment on himself: he was clearly the raaya meheimna of everyone in his generation. From this we can learn that whenever the Rebbe says things such as “Long live our master, teacher, and Rebbe,” he is passing judgment on himself. The Rebbe sometimes speaks about the Moshiach of our generation and the leader of our generation, and about various matters concerning the Rebbe Rashab and the Frierdiker Rebbe. But clearly, the Rebbe is passing judgment on himself. Naturally, as chassidim, we understand—we are certain—that everything the Rebbe said applies to himself. That is why we say that the Rebbe is the prophet of the generation and the leader of the generation. This comes to light here in the maamar.

30:14 Speaker 7 In fact, as you take this central idea from the passage where the Rebbe speaks about the Frierdiker Rebbe, which we of course understand as the Rebbe speaking about himself, perhaps we can also highlight the square-bracketed passage. Could you quote the lines from the unedited version, spoken at precisely this point in the maamar, where the Rebbe speaks about the influence of the leader of the generation specifically in a physical body? Since we are focusing here on the Rebbe, the Rebbe gives us a few special lines in the unedited version that explain who the leader of our generation is. Could you quote them?

30:51 Speaker 6 The Rebbe leaves no room for doubt here. In the edited maamar—we don’t—in the edited maamar itself, all the words are there to make it clear that the true leader of our generation is the Rebbe. It is the Rebbe. When we go out to bring Jews closer to Torah and mitzvos, we reveal the point of faith within them. We approach a Jew with the understanding that, at heart, he believes, and so we say to him, “Jew, put on tefillin. Jew, keep Shabbos.” All the Rebbe’s holy mitzvah campaigns come from this perspective: we are certain that he believes. All this is through the power of the true leader of our generation, the Rebbe, who reveals the faith within each and every Jew.

31:46 Speaker 7 From here, the Rebbe moves on. We have spoken about the influence of the leader of the generation, who reveals faith deep within every Jew, whoever they may be. We see this as it was with Moshe Rabbeinu, and as it was in times of mesirus nefesh with Mordechai and the Frierdiker Rebbe. And then there is the situation of comfort and prosperity. Here, it seems, we return to the central idea of section nine: When we are materially comfortable, how can we still cry out and refuse to accept the situation? How can we still feel crushed?

32:14 Speaker 6 First of all, something very characteristic of the Rebbe’s maamarim of Chassidus—and of many sichos as well—is that the Rebbe always connects an explanation of a verse to its plain meaning. It has to fit. The Rebbe says that the whole line of explanation in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s maamar—and this is something we have not mentioned—is that the giving of the Torah reached its fullest realization at the time of “The Jews accepted.” The fullest acceptance of the Torah was in the time of Mordechai and the Jews. At the time of Matan Torah, the Jews were on a higher level, both materially and spiritually, whereas at the time of Purim, under Achashverosh, the Jewish people were at the lowest point both materially and spiritually. Nevertheless, that was when their acceptance of the Torah reached its fullest realization, because of their tremendous mesirus nefesh. They accepted it of their own accord, not because of an influence from Above—an isarusa d’le’eila, as Chassidus explains, with exalted revelations drawing them in—but on their own. There was no incentive then to be a Jew. On the contrary, because of the decree, someone who converted would, ostensibly, have escaped it. Yet not one of them even considered doing such a thing throughout that entire year. So their mesirus nefesh made their acceptance complete. That is what the maamar says. But the Rebbe points out that, after all, the verse “The Jews accepted” speaks about the time after the miracle. And Rashi says why they accepted: out of love for the miracle performed for them. That is clearly the meaning of the verse. So how does it fit? From here the Rebbe arrives at the explanation that “The Jews accepted” actually has two levels, two aspects: how it was during the time of the decree, and the time, the manner,

33:55 Speaker 6 That was after the miracle had already happened, after there was relief. And the same is true of the “crushing” described in the maamar. There is the crushing during the time of the decree, when “sackcloth and ashes were spread out for many,” and Jews stood with mesirus nefesh throughout the year. And there is the crushing experienced by Jews after they already had “light and joy, gladness and honor,” materially and spiritually, and there was even the added advantage of “[unclear] I have given Esther the house of Haman.” At that point, the maamar speaks of another kind of crushing: the pain was not because there were decrees, but because the exile itself continued. The Rebbe then explains that, in his very being, a Jew wants there to be a revelation of G-dliness in the world. The Rebbe puts it this way—these are the Rebbe’s words: “The true desire of every Jew is that there be a revelation of G-dliness, to the point that this revelation touches his very being.”

34:50 Speaker 7 That is the beginning of the explanation. We’ll explain why, even in a state of relief, this feeling needs to be present.

34:54 Speaker 6 The Rebbe introduces something that is truly ingrained in us by virtue of the essence of our souls. He also speaks of how, from the essence of his soul, a Jew wants to give his life. Elsewhere, too, the Rebbe cites the Rambam’s formulation in halachah that a Jew wants to fulfill all the mitzvos and distance himself from transgressions. Here the Rebbe phrases it this way: every Jew’s true desire is that there be a revelation of G-dliness, and that matters to his very being. The Rebbe adds that he does not want only a personal revelation of G-dliness—that G-dliness should be revealed to him, that he should perform mitzvos and study Torah. The Rebbe says he is not satisfied with that. Even if the light of G-dliness shines for him, even a supremely lofty spiritual revelation—as it is said that Rashbi experienced the revelation that existed in the time of the Beis Hamikdash—the fact that there is a place in the world where that revelation does not shine proves that it is limited. So what does he want? When will G-dliness be revealed throughout the entire world? Only when the infinite light is revealed, the boundless light of Ein Sof. That is why he wants Geulah. In other words, he does not want it for himself, to attain some perfection in his own revelation of G-dliness. He wants the world to be in its true state, with G-dliness revealed everywhere, even in the most remote place. This touches his very being. This is the Rebbe’s innovation: the longing to reach such a state is ingrained in a Jew’s very being. Yet even for this, he needs strength from the nasi of the generation. And this is the strength he is given. This relates to what the Alter Rebbe said: “I don’t want Your Gan Eden; I don’t want Your World to Come. I want only You Yourself.” Then Reb [unclear] publicized

36:35 Speaker 6 it, and afterward the Rebbe publicized it. It was printed there, and the Rebbe publicized it even more by printing it as the final entry in Hayom Yom. The Rebbe says that this brought about a state in which every Jew’s primary desire is for the revelation of G-dliness, ultimately the revelation of Hashem’s Essence. So whenever Hashem’s Essence is not revealed—and all the more so in our situation, when G-dliness is concealed and even the revelation of light that shone in the time of the Beis Hamikdash does not shine—a Jew bursts out three times a day with the plea, “May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy.” That is the pain; that is the force that comes from the very fact that Moshiach has not yet come.

37:12 Speaker 8 And how do we move forward through the stages of the sections the Rebbe presents? In section 9 he says, “And particularly when he contemplates that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed in his day.” What does that mean? Does it add something, or is it part of the explanation itself?

37:25 Speaker 6 First of all, everyone knows the well-known sicha based on the Yerushalmi in tractate Yoma, page 40, in which the Rebbe spoke at length about the teaching of our Sages: “Anyone in whose days the Beis Hamikdash was not rebuilt—it is as though it was destroyed in his days.” The Rebbe described it vividly, as though a Jew were standing there watching the Beis Hamikdash go up in flames. The Rebbe said that even a stubborn Jew with a heart of stone would turn the world upside down. The Torah tells him that, because the destruction is an ongoing matter, it is as though it is happening now, before his eyes. So this brings the point out even more strongly. It is not merely that a Jew wants a revelation of G-dliness; he contemplates that this concealment is taking place right in front of him. It is as though, right now, we are going from the loftiest revelation to the greatest descent. And again, we do not need hints of this. Everyone naturally felt that after the concealment of the month of Adar, and the still greater concealment of Gimmel Tammuz, the cry arises naturally—much more than in the times when we did merit to see and hear. We have seen with our own eyes that Moshiach has not been revealed until now and, on the contrary, there has been even more concealment. That arouses the cry within us still more: [unclear], “May the king live!”—that the Rebbe should be revealed immediately, right now, and that G-dliness should be revealed everywhere in the world.

38:59 Speaker 8 This cries out to each of us. Everyone knows that he needs to awaken himself to this. But when someone reaches section 9 of the maamar, he suddenly comes to section 10 and finds it a little confusing. It is a very deep section—perhaps the deepest in the maamar—where the Rebbe explains that it is not enough simply to feel crushed; it has to reach a level where it permeates every particular faculty of the soul. What, really, is the difference? It is the same cry, the same outcry, the same idea as in section 9. What difference does it make whether I simply feel crushed or reach a level in my soul where it permeates all my faculties?

39:35 Speaker 6 In practice, there is no difference between the present-day experience the Rebbe explains in section 9 and what he explains in section 10. In section 9, the Rebbe explains that present-day experience—what a Jew needs to do. In section 10, the Rebbe explains, more in the language of Chassidic understanding, what level of his soul is revealed when he is in such a state. As we mentioned earlier, wanting a revelation of G-dliness and making that your primary aspiration in life begins with your aligning yourself with what Moshe Rabbeinu draws down to you. The Rebbe adds that it is not merely a matter of taking what Moshe Rabbeinu draws down to you from above and bringing it into your conscious faculties. One might say that this is the innovation: Moshe Rabbeinu brings about the revelation of the essence of your soul within you, and you bring it into your faculties. But the Rebbe says that its permeating those faculties is the result of—and requires—the revelation of an even higher level of the soul: the essence of the soul as it is rooted in Hashem’s Essence. That is why it can be drawn down into the conscious faculties. This is what the Rebbe explains here, and it really is a very deep idea. How can we explain it? How can we clarify it? But the Rebbe says that the point here is not only that you take what Moshe Rabbeinu revealed within you and bring it into all your faculties. You also reach higher and reveal a loftier level within the essence of your soul.

41:04 Speaker 9 In other words, the Rebbe emphasizes here that it comes from my own desire. That is what it means for the conscious faculties to be connected with, to be in a state of, the essence of the soul.

41:11 Speaker 6 Yes, it should become each Jew’s personal concern, something he himself wants. It shouldn’t be some kind of outburst of mesirus nefesh. In fact, that isn’t how it works. The Rebbe emphasizes that mesirus nefesh need not be a one-time thing. We have seen people who lived with mesirus nefesh for many years, yet afterward, when they reached places where they could observe Torah and mitzvos openly, that mesirus nefesh was not so apparent in them. In other words, mesirus nefesh is not necessarily like that. It can be as though the essence of the soul is acting from above. Mesirus nefesh does express the fact that the Jew himself is connected to G-dliness, that his very being is bound to G-dliness, as explained earlier. And that is indeed its advantage over the time of the Giving of the Torah. It is not an expression of a connection through revelations, but of an essential connection: the Jew himself is bound to G-dliness. But ultimately, it can come in a way that feels above the reality of his own personality. It is not something present in his everyday reality; it is like something added on. As the Rebbe says—and the Rebbe is very careful with his wording here, referring to something he explains elsewhere—when Tanya says that even the most insignificant Jew will give up his life, the point is that a person can give up his life and still be considered insignificant in other matters. In other words, although mesirus nefesh is a revelation of the essence of the soul, you would think that when the essence of your soul is revealed, it would automatically transform you completely. The Rebbe explicitly poses this as a question in section 11, in the third paragraph. Then the Rebbe points to the fact that it does not

42:51 Speaker 6 work that way. The fact is that moving from a state of mesirus nefesh to one of yearning for a revelation of G-dliness takes work.

43:11 Speaker 9 Until now, we’ve been discussing what the maamar says, putting it into clearer language. Let’s get to the practical point: How do we actually reach such a state? First, a state of knocking, a state of [unclear]. And second, how do we reach it to the point that it isn’t revealed in me only as a moment of mesirus nefesh at some gathering, in the middle of a farbrengen or in the middle of davening, but accompanies me every moment as one of the Temimim, throughout the daily schedule? What chance do we have of living with this every moment?

43:40 Speaker 6 The chance lies in what the Rebbe said: “May it be Hashem’s will that it have the desired effect.” The Rebbe gave this maamar a blessing and expressed the wish that it truly affect us. Now, how do we bring that about? Everyone understands that, as with everything in Chassidus, it doesn’t happen by sitting in a comfortable chair, drinking juice and staring at the sky. It comes through work and effort: contemplating it and immersing oneself in it, as the Rebbe said at the Kinus Hashluchim of 5752—to get into it. A Jew has to immerse himself in it. If Moshiach and Geulah are just another item on a Jew’s list—another obligation to check off, alongside learning Chitas, learning Rambam and doing various mitzvos during the day—and he also has to set aside time to study the Geulah of Moshiach, then of course it cannot become his whole being. But if he studies the subjects of Moshiach and Geulah with energy, studies them with enthusiasm, and goes over this maamar again and again, endlessly—because, as you said at the beginning, this is the thing at every time and in every place. This is the constant state in which we need to live until the Geulah comes. This is how we need to live. So we go over it again and again, contemplate it, talk about it, and repeat it to another person. As the Rebbe says, sometimes it is precisely by saying it to another Jew that it penetrates you more deeply. That is the way. There are no shortcuts. There is a straight path, but a straight path is not a shortcut. It means it is the most correct and easiest way, but it is a way that requires work and effort. It is a way of, as the Rebbe

45:20 Speaker 6 says, this, this knocking.

45:23 Speaker 10 There are perhaps two parts here, because if you think about the maamar, before the knocking—before the work I have to do on myself—I also need to think about the fact that the Nasi of the generation is revealing the essence of my soul within me. That is encouraging too. In other words, the demand of—

45:38 Speaker 6 It isn’t just encouraging too. It is the foundation of the maamar. The maamar has two main parts: the constant influence of the Nasi of the generation, who reveals the essence of our souls within us; and then the demand placed on us, “and they shall take to you”—that we take our conscious faculties and align them with the demands of the Nasi of the generation. It is worth noting that the Nasi of the generation does his work one hundred percent perfectly. He bestows all these influences upon us and reveals the essence of our souls within us. He said that he had done everything in his power, so we can believe him. The ones who could still improve a little are us: we need to bring our conscious faculties into this more fully. With the Rebbe’s words, especially on these subjects, there are matters where the main thing really is the action. Say a Jew puts on tefillin: the deed is what matters. Or he gives tzedakah, and Hashem brings the time of the Geulah closer. These are matters where, whether he has the intention or not, the action certainly has an effect in practice. But there are matters where the inner dimension is more important—the soul of the matter: that it truly be dear to the Jew, that it truly be his aspiration, that it not be disconnected from him, not something additional imposed on him, like [unclear]. That is the demand. So this really is something one must work on. It does not come to him on its own.

47:00 Speaker 10 To conclude, how can we live with this demand of all 613 mitzvos in a state of knocking, when on the very day the Rebbe released this maamar—so that this knocking should affect us—the Rebbe also released a maamar about [unclear], sixty days, and so on? In other words, there is all this excitement over the Geulah, the joy of the Geulah, the feeling that it is already here—and at the same time we are supposed to be in a state of knocking. How can we combine the two—

47:21 Speaker 6 First of all, the continuation of the Rebbe’s response about the maamar was, “May it be Hashem’s will that it have the desired effect, and the time is conducive to it.” What does “the time is conducive” mean? The sixty days. The Rebbe connected it to the fact that this is an especially auspicious time to accomplish this specifically with joy. As the Rebbe concluded the sicha for the month of Nissan: “with joy and gladness of heart.” Clearly, these things too must be done with joy. And the very fact that the Rebbe tells us this, gives us the opportunity, and reveals to us what he accomplishes within us and what lies within his power—the Rebbe says that even “and they shall take to you” is within the power of the Nasi of the generation. The Rebbe concludes the maamar by saying that “and they shall take to you” will certainly happen, because he gives us the strength for it from the outset, even when [unclear]. So the Rebbe reveals to us the strengths he bestows upon us. That certainly inspires joy and upliftment. Even the state the Rebbe calls “crushed” is not a state of brokenness in the literal sense, like when we speak of someone being brokenhearted. It means an active, dynamic, overflowing state of tremendous yearning to bring about the Geulah in the world, to draw the Geulah into the world. It is not, G-d forbid, a retreat within oneself. It is a state of ascent, of an uplifted spirit. Throughout this maamar, the Rebbe uplifts us. It is interesting: what is the plain meaning of knocking? What does it mean literally? In the plain meaning of the verse, when they go—Rashi says that before the knocking, the Rebbe says one must—Rashi says that knocking refers to climbing to the upper part of the olive tree, to the tender branch at its top, and taking the olives right at the very tip. Those are the olives that have been exposed to the sun the longest. The sun has shone on them, so they are the largest and contain the most oil

49:15 Speaker 6 And after that, they put them in a mortar, where they are lightly crushed by hand. In other words, they are not then ground in a mill. That would no longer be “crushed for the luminary.” Complete pulverization is not what is being asked of us. What is asked of us is this: the Rebbe lifts us up, like the olives at the top of the tree. As the Rebbe once explained, the leader of the generation acts upon every Jew by lifting him up. He sends him soaring, elevating him spiritually so that this essential point can truly come to the fore. The same applies to what the Rebbe says about being “crushed for the luminary.” First, he lifts us to the top of the olive tree, and there we bask in the light of the Rebbe’s Torah, the Rebbe’s maamarim and sichos, and the Rebbe’s influence. Running through all of it is this demand, following the Rebbe’s primary goal: to bring the Shechinah down here, so that G-dliness will be revealed everywhere, even in a remote corner of the world. The Rebbe elevates us through this. He sends us soaring, lifts us up, and when we are in that state, our whole outlook is different.

50:27 Speaker 11 So, through this entire program, we really enter into the idea of the maamar, into its depth, and understand how much we need to live with it, to be in a state of being crushed, of [unclear] [?], and to do everything in our power to bring Moshiach. And there is no doubt that after a program like this, when we understand the idea both intellectually and with certainty, things fall into place as they should.

50:47 Speaker 6 It should be added that the Rebbe explicitly emphasizes at the end of the maamar that this idea, this effect of “And you shall command,” and what Moshe Rabbeinu accomplishes in each and every person, is not only a connection between us and the Infinite Light. It is also a connection—“And you shall command”—among the Jewish people themselves. It adds to Ahavas Yisroel: when the essence of the soul shines in a Jew’s heart, it is easier for him to unite with another Jew. And here, too, there is “and they shall take to you”: his unity with another Jew is not only on the level of the soul. Even on the level of the body, without setting aside his bodily concerns, he is permeated with Ahavas Yisroel. This comes from that same level of the essence of the soul, revealed specifically through “to you.” In other words, this is what the Rebbe asks of us. A student once told me that in this maamar the Rebbe demands that we “get into a fight”—a play on the word “crushed”—and become crushed over matters of Geulah. Of course, jokingly, you could say that it means the opposite of fighting. This drive for Moshiach must find expression. If we want to see it expressed, it must show itself in an increase in Ahavas Yisroel: love for another Jew and closeness to another Jew should shine within you. Then, naturally, all your efforts to influence him will follow naturally too, including in spiritual matters, in matters of bar mitzvah, and in matters of Moshiach. Everything will proceed in a much more elevated and uplifting way.

52:13 Speaker 11 So we have a lot to work on as a result of what we have understood here. With Hashem’s help, may our understanding and intellectual grasp of these ideas descend, as the Rebbe says, from the mind to the heart and into actual practice. With Hashem’s help, may we merit this through this special program.

52:28 Speaker 6 May this maamar, with Hashem’s help, soon bear substantial fruit. And that fruit, as the Rebbe says at the end of the maamar, is that we merit the true and complete Geulah. Then G-dliness will be revealed from below as well, even in the physical world, in the Third Beis Hamikdash—the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, very soon. We have great strength [unclear].

52:52 Speaker 3 Ears to Hear. Audio programs for the students of the Temimim from the World ATA. For more programs, dial *6358. Long live our master, teacher and Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever.