Ears to Hear 31 | An Elul of Geulah

00:00 Speaker 1 And Hashem has not given 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 Atah Haolami.

00:14 Speaker 5 The fact is, it’s about to pass. The Geulah is coming: “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth,” and Hashem will slaughter the yetzer hara. That’s the end of it. So it’s temporary; it’s going to disappear. That tells me, and reminds me, that it isn’t the real me. My true reality is that I am a G-dly soul, an actual part of G-d Above, that I am a chossid of the Rebbe and that I am connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is my true reality. Shalom aleichem to all the Temimim in Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch yeshivos throughout the Holy Land and the entire world. We’re beginning a special program in our Ears to Hear audio series, a program imbued with a spirit of firm hiskashrus to the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach shlita, and with the matter at hand: the days of Moshiach in actuality. In this program, we’re sitting down with the head mashpia of the junior Chassidei Chabad Lubavitch yeshiva in Tzfas, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Nisenlevitch, to talk and farbreng about what the month of Elul is all about—both in the avodah of chassidim throughout the generations, and particularly in light of the main new emphasis now that we stand on the threshold of the Geulah, in the days of Moshiach, right next to the true and complete Geulah. What should our approach and our thinking be, and what does that mean in practice? How do we direct our steps toward [unclear] in the best possible way, with the approach the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach instructs us to take? So let’s begin this special program with Rabbi Nisenlevitch. Shalom aleichem, Rabbi Nisenlevitch.

01:42 Speaker 6 Aleichem shalom. Good evening. L’chaim, l’chaim.

01:46 Speaker 5 Baruch Hashem. We’re sitting down for a special program. The Temimim are already talking about traveling to the Rebbe, but alongside that, the first thing we need to understand is what Elul is—what Elul is really about. When we want to talk about Elul in general, we’re all familiar with it: everyone studies the well-known maamarim on “Ani LeDodi” and the Alter Rebbe’s maamar. And Temimim who have studied the later Dvar Malchus sichos do notice a particular emphasis the Rebbe gives Elul when we stand on the threshold of the Geulah, especially in the last Dvar Malchus, the Dvar Malchus of Parshas Re’eh. What not everyone manages to pin down is the particular change, the new emphasis—the more central approach the Rebbe instructs us to take toward Elul, toward [unclear], when we stand on the threshold of the Geulah. So first, I’d be glad to hear from you: what exactly changed here? What has taken on this special central importance as we stand on the threshold of the Geulah?

02:43 Speaker 6 I would put it this way. As chassidim, we have always known—and we always talk about this at farbrengens—that there is a great difference between Elul among chassidim and Elul in the wider world, certainly among the misnagdim. In the wider world, Elul is generally a time of fear, fear of the Day of Judgment. The main preoccupation is with yourself: will I ultimately be found innocent in judgment? There is much more of a mood of bitterness, and even sadness, and so on. Among us chassidim, we know that the great emphasis in Elul is on “the King in the field,” and on accepting the yoke of Heaven in preparation for Rosh Hashanah, and so on. Incidentally, there’s an interesting point here: when the Alter Rebbe speaks of the King in the field, the point throughout the maamar is that the King is in the field and you can approach Him—meaning, you can do teshuvah and accept the yoke of Heaven. The Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach introduced something new in our generation: yes, the King is in the field, and everyone can approach Him to make requests. The Alter Rebbe doesn’t say that; in his maamar, it is a parable illustrating closeness to the King in terms of serving Hashem. The Rebbe adds making requests for material and spiritual needs. That’s one point. In any case, that is the difference. And though the gap is not as great, you could say that, in a sense, there is an Elul among chassidim—even as it was understood over the years in the earlier generations—and then there is Elul as the Rebbe revealed its particular depth and inner meaning in the more recent years. The point is simple: we’ve moved closer to the Geulah, and things are relevant now that previously felt distant from us. You can talk a little about something when it’s very far away, but you can’t really engage with it inwardly. So we do need to talk and farbreng about this. But the first thing to understand is that this really is something new, arising from our having drawn closer

04:29 Speaker 6 to the Geulah. So first, we’re saying there is a major difference between the Elul of misnagdim and the Elul of chassidim. And within the Elul of chassidim itself, we can see a progression. Let’s take a moment to pinpoint that progression over the years, through 24 Elul. Before that, though, if I may, it’s important to stress a point I think some people miss. When we speak of an Elul that involves avodah connected with the Geulah, we don’t mean that this avodah is only for Elul. The whole year involves avodah connected with the Geulah, just as Torah, avodah, and acts of kindness apply throughout the year. Elul is the month in which the entirety of a Jew’s service of Hashem comes especially to the fore: concluding the year that has passed and preparing for the coming year. So every aspect of a Jew’s service of Hashem—Torah, avodah, acts of kindness, and teshuvah—is expressed with particular intensity, including the Geulah, which is what the Rebbe adds. In other words, this month of taking stock, Elul, brings the work of the entire year into focus. So when we speak of an Elul of Geulah, we don’t mean that there is some special matter of Geulah the Rebbe spoke about that belongs only to Elul. It applies all year; here it stands out powerfully, because this is when we take stock of our avodah connected with the Geulah throughout the year and prepare for the coming year. Of course, the hope is that, with Hashem’s help, we won’t need avodah connected with the Geulah, but will have the Geulah itself, in the plain sense. But Elul is a month of avodah. Now, the background to this is the acrostics of Elul, and it’s very interesting. The sefarim always mention them, and the Rebbe mentions them endlessly: “Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li,” along with the other allusions to Torah, avodah, and acts of kindness, and “Umol Hashem Elokecha Es Levavcha,” which refers to the avodah of teshuvah. And there is one more, from the Arizal:

06:09 Speaker 6 Elul is an acronym drawn from the words “[unclear] Hashem Vayomru Leimor.” Actually, the words appear in a different order in the verse, but [unclear] makes up the acronym for Elul. Now, that is part of the Song at the Sea. The Song at the Sea says “Az Yashir”—“then he will sing.” “Yashir” is in the future tense, referring to the Geulah. So here we have an allusion to the Geulah. Incidentally, the Rebbe immediately notes in one of the sichos that a Jew recites the Song at the Sea every day. That’s another indication that this matter of the Geulah is already present for us today, because we already recite the Song at the Sea. We say “Az Yashir.” Everyone says it, and it is relevant today as well. And here we come to the great change between the earlier years and the more recent years. In earlier years, the Rebbe spoke on a number of occasions about what it means for there to be an acronym alluding to the Geulah. What is the connection to the month of Elul? It’s straightforward: a Jew serves Hashem through Torah, avodah, and acts of kindness, preceded by teshuvah. Through all of this—through a Jew’s avodah—he will merit the future reward, the Geulah. That is the result of it all. But the Geulah itself is a separate matter that comes about through the avodah; it is not part of the avodah. As far as a Jew’s service of Hashem is concerned, it isn’t part of, or connected to, the month of Elul. It is the result of serving Hashem, and with Hashem’s help, we await it. The Rebbe first expressed something new about this in [unclear], very briefly at the time, and then developed it further. It appears in Likkutei Sichos. It’s in Likkutei Sichos, volume [unclear], if I remember correctly. The Rebbe revealed a new understanding: what does it mean that there is an acronym alluding to the Geulah in the month of Elul? It means that the Geulah is part of the avodah. If it is an acronym for Elul,

07:42 Speaker 6 And just as the four before it—Torah, avodah, acts of kindness, and teshuvah—are part of the avodah, so is the avodah of Geulah. So there are several things here. And, incidentally, I say this very cautiously, but it seems that you can see a progression over the years in how the Rebbe approaches this. I’ll discuss a few points in a moment. At first, if I may venture to say so, it’s more like “turn away from evil”: Geulah here means, primarily, no longer being in exile. Later it becomes about the essence of Geulah itself—a taste, so to speak, of Geulah, and living with Geulah as part of the avodah. These are just headings for now, yes? But they’re the background for understanding how the increased focus on Geulah enters the avodah of the month of Elul. So in the sicha of [unclear], we suddenly get a certain shift. It’s not just that the other aspects of avodah bring about Geulah; Geulah is part of the avodah. Part of the avodah—that’s exactly the definition. Now let’s understand this a little better. I think the well-known sicha of Parshas Balak 5751 is one of the most fundamental for understanding the nature of this period: what was, what is happening, and where we stand. It helps enormously in understanding the whole subject. Besides, we all keep repeating the expression “living with Moshiach, living with Moshiach.” That expression is in the Balak sicha. Living with the matter of Moshiach’s Geulah, living with the times, with matters of Moshiach—that language is there, and the Rebbe explains it well. The main point I think we should take from that sicha is this—and I’m taking just one point from it: the Rebbe distinguishes between two approaches to studying the laws of the Beis Habechirah during the Three Weeks. He says there are two general ways to do that.

09:29 Speaker 6 You can study the laws of the Beis Habechirah with a feeling of mourning, with the desire and aim of rectifying the destruction. That’s one way. But now, the Rebbe says, it’s something else. Now the aim in studying those laws is longing and yearning for Geulah: I want the greatness of the Third Beis Hamikdash described there. I want the complete Geulah. That’s what the study of the laws of the Beis Habechirah is about. It’s already a very significant distinction: am I seeking to leave the destruction behind, or am I asking for Geulah? Of course, the two go together, but where is the focus? What gives the study its life? Where are we placing ourselves? And this follows from the fact that we are on the threshold of Geulah. Exactly. Then the Rebbe adds something further: more than that, and most importantly, we study them as halachah—not merely as halachah for the days of Moshiach, but as practical halachah for the moment just ahead, because Geulah can arrive literally at any moment. And that is really the point here. Even the stage the Rebbe described first—the distinction between rectifying the destruction and anticipating Geulah—well, anticipation of Geulah has existed throughout all the generations. True, we feel it much more intensely now because Geulah is near, but it was always there. When, however, you anticipate Geulah knowing that it could actually break through at any moment, because all the avodah has been completed and everything is ready for Geulah, it becomes much, much more powerful. It’s much more real, much more relevant to right now. You actually feel it right now. I would connect this with a nice saying I heard recently. It illustrates a different point, but it fits very well here too, and with many other things. Rabbi Yair Cohen said, “When a poor man counts money, he is certainly counting money—and a rich man counts money too.”

11:06 Speaker 6 We know very wealthy people who know exactly how much money they have, down to the last shekel. So what’s the difference between them? The difference is the state of mind from which they count it. The poor man counts his money with anxiety and tension over every shekel. Every additional shekel he finds matters intensely to him; he is in a state of great constriction. The rich man counts his money with a sense of expansiveness. He isn’t under pressure at all. There’s no anxiety in his counting, none whatsoever. He counts it with pleasure, with a great sense of elevation. In other words, you can do the very same thing in two different states of mind. What place are you coming from when you do it? And that’s exactly the point. You can study the laws of the Beis Habechirah while mourning the destruction and wanting it to end, or even yearning for Geulah but thinking, “If only it would come as soon as possible.” Or you can study them with the awareness that this is relevant right now. That’s the change in approach we can take from the 5751 sicha. We have two paths, and we can choose. When you’re standing on the threshold, either approach is possible. There’s the well-known saying: when you stand on the threshold, there’s an entrance ahead of you, but you can stand there looking out at the courtyard, in which case the law regards you as being in the public domain. If you stand on the threshold looking inward, you’re in the private domain. So you still have a choice, and from that come the two paths: either one is possible.

12:33 Speaker 7 Beautiful, beautiful. I would add a point here. If we look across all the years, there was always involvement with matters of Geulah and Moshiach. “I believe with complete faith in the coming of Moshiach”—that was present throughout all the generations. Everyone had faith in Moshiach’s coming, and they anticipated his coming too. [unclear] But we were never instructed to live with matters of Geulah and Moshiach until this period, the present period. Why? The simple point is that if it’s happening now, you can already live with it. True, there has been a foretaste of Geulah since midday on the sixth day, from the Baal Shem Tov onward, increasingly so, and from [unclear], and so on. But to live with something—if it’s now, you can live with it. That possibility exists now. So let’s say it would be foolish for someone standing on the threshold, when he can live with what’s inside, to look the other way. That’s why we now can, and need to, live with it. There’s a very interesting story about the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe Rashab. The Frierdiker Rebbe relates that when he was a child, he would go in to his father, the Rebbe Rashab, every Motzaei Shabbos to be tested on what he had learned in cheder that week. Each time he would receive some sort of gift for it—sometimes this, sometimes something else. He relates that one year, on Shabbos Parshas Lech Lecha—I don’t remember which year—he went into his father’s room that Shabbos morning. This was before the test. He saw the Rebbe Rashab sitting and reviewing the parsha, reading Parshas Lech Lecha shnayim mikra ve’echad targum, and he says his father’s face looked uplifted. He was clearly in a very elevated mood, yet tears were streaming from his eyes. The child couldn’t understand what was happening.

14:14 Speaker 7 What was going on with his father? Even as a child, he saw that his father was happy, that he seemed to be in a wonderful mood—but on the other hand, he was crying. And anyone familiar with the Frierdiker Rebbe’s descriptions knows how deeply anything involving feelings affected him, especially when it concerned his father, the Rebbe Rashab, and particularly since he was his only son. It occupied his thoughts a great deal. He says he was beside himself; he didn’t know what was happening with his father. Motzaei Shabbos came, and he still had the question. He went in to be tested, took the test, and did well. He relates that the Rebbe Rashab then gave him the maamar “Tanu Rabbanan, Nechleku...” as a gift. After the test, he was supposed to turn around and leave the room, but he remained standing there, because that question was still troubling him terribly. The Rebbe Rashab saw that his son was standing there and not moving, so he asked, “Is there something you want to ask?” He said yes, and asked, “This morning I saw you like that—crying, yet in such an elevated mood. What was that about?” The Rebbe Rashab told him the following, part of which appears in Hayom Yom: “Shabbos Parshas Bereishis begins with something joyful”—the creation of a dwelling for Him in the lower realms, and so on. “But toward the end of the parsha, ‘the earth was filled with violence,’ and something sad begins. Shabbos Parshas Noach begins sadly—‘the earth had become corrupt before G-d’—but ends happily, with the birth of Avraham Avinu. Shabbos Parshas Lech Lecha is joyful throughout the entire week: we live with Avraham Avinu from beginning to end.” He told him that his tears were tears of joy. So he explained what had happened, and along the way we also learned how to view Parshas Lech Lecha. In that connection, the Rebbe Rashab added—and this appears in Hayom Yom for the month of Cheshvan.

15:51 Speaker 7 The Rebbe Rashab related that the Alter Rebbe once told chassidim that they must “live with the times,” and they did not understand what that meant. Through the Maharil, they came to understand that he meant the weekly parsha. That’s the story. You read it, and suddenly you understand what “living with the times” means. It doesn’t mean reading the parsha so I’ll have something to tell people outside, or even understanding the parsha well, with Chumash and Rashi. If, according to Torah, this is the week of Lech Lecha, then that is how Torah defines the present time. That’s how we count the weeks by the parsha, and how dates are written in documents according to Torah. That is the definition of the time. So what do you live with? With the story of this time. Lech Lecha didn’t only happen once, long ago; it is today. Today it is happening—you understand? You live with it. Again, the principle is that if this is the time according to Torah, this is what we live with. We’re all familiar with this: a few years ago there was a Hakhel year, and the whole year we were occupied with Hakhel. That is the year’s inner content. It is how Torah defines the time, if you live with it. In our case—and I’ll finish this point—the Rebbe says that living with the times means living with the days of Moshiach. “Living with the times” is the Alter Rebbe’s expression. For us, it means the present time. In this sicha, the Rebbe says we are on the threshold of the days of Moshiach. The Rebbe’s expression is “at the entrance to the days of Moshiach.” We are already right there now; this is the present. True, this is not the complete Geulah as we want to see it, but this is a special time now called the days of Moshiach. The Rebbe calls it the days of Moshiach, so we need to live with it, and we can live with it. The time itself calls for it—the days of Moshiach.

17:18 Speaker 7 In other words, that’s part of the—exactly. So that’s a general introduction to this whole idea of living with the times, meaning with Moshiach. And from there, after a whole year—after all the years the Rebbe spoke about Moshiach, particularly 5751—we come to see the work of teshuvah, including the work of Elul, in a different light. The avodah of Elul has to be done in a completely different way: illuminated, distinctive, altogether different. It’s interesting, since you mentioned the Frierdiker Rebbe, that there is an interesting account of his concerning the night of Selichos. The Frierdiker Rebbe describes the night of Selichos in Lubavitch: they would sit and farbreng, and say so many l’chaims that they arrived at Selichos swaying. Yes, swaying—the well-known description. And in one of the sichos, the Rebbe says that arriving at Selichos swaying comes from the capacity to hold opposites together that exists within a Jew. That’s how the Rebbe puts it. It appears in the introduction to [unclear]. In other words, on the one hand, he is saying Selichos; on the other hand, he is already somewhere else entirely. He is swaying. It’s a joining of two movements within the soul. Yes. So we know that picture: the night of Selichos, the farbrengen, and then they say you can bring these two directions together. They begin “At the close of the day of rest,” and after the atmosphere, the mashke, the farbrengen, they feel they’re somewhere else entirely. But actually, according to what you’re saying, there’s practically a whole collection of sichos here—an entire body of the Rebbe’s teaching—explaining that the whole month of Elul is like this. The whole atmosphere of

19:07 Speaker 7 teshuvah, the whole idea of approaching the King and returning in teshuvah—all of it can be illuminated by the light of Geulah. So, after speaking about living with the times, meaning with Moshiach, let’s try to focus on how that actually finds expression in avodah in more practical terms. Everything we discussed earlier helps us understand, to some extent, why this approach to avodah comes into play now. It is a special period; the time has come, and we can live with it. Specifically, living with the times means living with Moshiach, as the Rebbe explains. Again, as we said, this isn’t only about Elul, but it finds especially strong expression in Elul. As I mentioned, the Rebbe spoke about this in several sichos. To be specific, there is a brief note by the Rebbe from 5709. It is brief in length, but there is a great deal to discuss in it. Then there are sichos in which the Rebbe elaborated on this in 5746, 5748, 5749, and 5751—four of the later years in which the Rebbe addressed it. Let’s start with 5746, from the simpler to the more involved, so to speak. Parshas Re’eh. Parshas Re’eh. They are all from Parshas Re’eh, all from Shabbos Mevarchim Elul. The one from 5751 is from the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, but it is right at the start of Elul, when the Rebbe defines the avodah of Elul. That’s the setting. And within that, the Rebbe says the following. Again, the Rebbe says that Geulah is part of the avodah of Elul. What is the point here? There are two things in that sicha. First, the Rebbe says there is the straightforward avodah of anticipating the Geulah. Calling for the Geulah is itself an avodah connected with Geulah. If we were looking for what it means for Geulah to be not just a reward but also an avodah, here is an avodah directly connected with it: strengthening our anticipation of Moshiach, and demanding and asking Hakadosh Boruch

20:47 Speaker 7 Hu to bring the Geulah. That is in keeping with [unclear]. Yes, [unclear]. How does this enter into the avodah of Elul? That is the point here, for everyone. Then the Rebbe adds another point, saying “And furthermore, and principally,” or something like that—this, too, is essential. This is the point on which the Rebbe expands a little more. The Rebbe says that our Sages taught, “The Torah was given only to those who ate the manna.” In other words, to learn Torah properly, in the fullest Jewish sense, you need to be free of worries. Nothing is weighing on you; you can be completely immersed in the sefer. That is Geulah: free to devote yourself to Torah and its wisdom, with nothing distracting or disturbing you. You can be entirely absorbed in your connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu through Torah study and through davening, without anything interfering. So how, the Rebbe asks as he explains this, can we reach that state? The Rebbe says: when a Jew knows, thinks about, and contemplates—and all these are the Rebbe’s own words; I’m repeating them deliberately, because this matters a great deal. We always want to start reciting the words, and in the end I don’t feel anything. Right: you have to know it, think about it, contemplate that the whole exile is only for a brief moment, and the true and complete Geulah is coming immediately. This is the most central point: a Jew lives with the knowledge that this is something truly imminent. He lives with the Geulah as something that could happen at any second, that is about to burst through. So all the concealments that still exist do not confuse him, because he knows they are very temporary, something passing. They have no true reality. They are just an outer covering, something that only appears to be there. True, there is a certain concealment here, but I treat it as something that has no true reality,

22:25 Speaker 7 As something that’s about to disappear any second. So I can deal with it more easily. [unclear], the Rebbe says in the sicha. Someone who lives with this point—and again, the main point here, as I said at the beginning, is that this is one of the earlier sichos—is learning how to be free of distractions. It’s less about living Geulah as the essence of Geulah. Geulah means freedom: freedom from problems. So it’s more about what won’t be there. But that itself is certainly relevant to us today. The anticipation, the knowledge that Moshiach is arriving at any moment, literally [unclear], changes our entire avodas Hashem. You can be completely immersed in davening Minchah on an ordinary day, or in your learning during seder in yeshivah, whatever you’re studying. If you remind yourself for a second: What’s bothering me? I’m a little hungry; I’m thinking about food; I’m a little tired. Those are the worries of yeshivah students. These days, students also have things to take care of before bein hazmanim or before a trip to the Rebbe. The practical details usually interfere with Torah study and avodas Hashem, or perhaps there’s some emotional difficulty or other. The Rebbe says that if you know none of this really has any lasting significance, then you can live Geulah: be free, completely unburdened and at ease. You feel that it has no lasting significance because it will pass. It’s fleeting—something very temporary that, in just a moment, won’t be here anymore. Maybe we can illustrate this a little. I think each of us has sometimes had some sort of difficulty, something you don’t know when will end. I’m not talking about anyone in particular, but when a person really is in a certain situation right now, even if they’re in pain. I think every

24:03 Speaker 7 one of us knows what it’s like when their leg falls asleep. At that moment they’re beside themselves; they don’t know where to put their leg, and they feel stuck. They’re uncomfortable right then. But if they ask themselves: How long will this last? Two weeks? Obviously not. Will my leg stay asleep for a week, with no way to find a comfortable position? No. An hour? No. In the end, they conclude that it’s probably less than a minute, maybe twenty seconds. Telling yourself that already takes away eighty percent of the difficulty you feel. That’s how the human mind works. And if we go a little deeper, it’s not just that this will pass in a moment. The fact that it will pass means it isn’t truly real.

24:44 Speaker 8 That’s the deeper point.

24:45 Speaker 7 That’s the deeper point. This doesn’t appear in the edited sicha, but in the unedited version there’s one additional line where the Rebbe says, “It returns to its original state; it isn’t a change.” In other words, it isn’t a real change. The new situation that arose, the state of concealment, isn’t real. Let’s bring this a little closer to our lives and avodas Hashem, in a more general but perhaps more practical way. Everyone has a yetzer hara and a nefesh habehamis, and we struggle, and there are worries and distractions that come from the nefesh habehamis. I’m not talking now about worries and things from outside, but what we might call things from within—from each person’s own nefesh habehamis. When a person, a yeshivah student, tells himself: These disturbances, the habits I have, my laziness, or an attraction to something I shouldn’t be drawn to—these are really external. They aren’t real; they aren’t me. For one thing, they’re about to pass. The Geulah is coming, Hashem will remove it from the earth, and Hashem will slaughter the yetzer hara. That will be the end of it. So it’s temporary. It’s going to disappear. That tells me and reminds me that it isn’t real. Who I truly am is a G-dly soul, literally a part of G-d above; I’m a chossid of the Rebbe and I’m connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is who I truly am. This gives you a powerful strength. Hold on a second—the distractions aren’t so formidable. At first they seem to him like a mountain, and suddenly he discovers they’re like a hair’s breadth. It isn’t so hard. Really, it’s nothing. It’s just something external at work, presenting itself to me in a certain way. I can live Geulah—meaning I can be free of all these things—simply by reminding myself how much weight I’m giving them. It just feels heavy. It isn’t

26:16 Speaker 7 really heavy; it’s external and light, and then you can overcome it and live as you should, in a way of Geulah. And again, the sicha in its entirety is worth reading, and should be read inside. I’ve only condensed it. If I may, there’s one more small point from that sicha that I think is very important.

26:33 Speaker 8 Of course. That’s what we’re here for.

26:35 Speaker 7 So let’s continue. Immediately after this, the Rebbe says—we said there are two things here: first, yearning and anticipation for the Geulah; and second, avodah in a way of Geulah. That means serving Hashem in a way of Geulah, without worries or distractions, because you know Moshiach is coming immediately. Now, the Rebbe says, if a person really takes that second point and lives with the knowledge that Moshiach is coming at any moment, and galus doesn’t interfere with him at all—he’s in a state of Geulah—then perhaps there’s no longer any need to anticipate the Geulah. Of course, the question doesn’t really arise, but the Rebbe does address it in detail. Clearly, the Rebbe says, this does not contradict yearning and anticipation for the Geulah. Don’t get confused: however far a person can reach a state of Geulah during galus, as we’re calling it in this sicha, it doesn’t compare at all to the Geulah as it will actually be. We’re only scratching the surface. It’s a great privilege and a great joy to be able to get a taste of it, but obviously it’s not remotely comparable. We want the Geulah in the simple sense, in its full completeness. So in our present situation, if something is wrong, we have to deal with it. Yes, we have to deal with it. We can’t just say, “I’m living in Geulah, and that’s that. There’s no yetzer hara, so I don’t have to deal with anything.” We do have to deal with it. Further down in the sicha—and I don’t want to go on at length about this—the Rebbe gives such a beautiful analogy. The Rebbe says we can compare it to what we find in the laws concerning kohanim: there is a temporary blemish and a permanent blemish. A temporary blemish will pass, so you can be reassured that in another week the kohen will recover and return to the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash. A permanent blemish is a serious problem. But

28:09 Speaker 7 if a temporary blemish is just a wound, not, G-d forbid, a severed hand, then he can return to the avodah. Now, the Rebbe doesn’t say this there, but we can understand on our own that you would still do something about a temporary blemish. Yes, it’s going to pass, but you need to put on a bandage or some ointment, treat it, go to a doctor. Of course you treat it, because you don’t want even that, and you want it to heal as quickly as possible. But the main emphasis is that it’s temporary, so you can live without feeling burdened by it.

28:31 Speaker 9 Amazing. On the contrary, someone who truly is in a state of Geulah in that second sense described by the Rambam actually anticipates the Geulah even more intensely, because he understands what’s missing. He understands that there’s still something lacking, something that hasn’t yet been made complete. That’s the point in Kuntres Purim Katan II. There, in that well-known section, the Rebbe explains that even with a revelation of G-dliness throughout the world, if there is one place in the world where G-dliness isn’t revealed, that itself is terribly sad. In other words, he himself may be on the level of [unclear], with everything that entails, but as long as there’s still one corner of the world, one thing that isn’t yet complete, it shows that even the revelation throughout the entire world isn’t complete.

29:12 Speaker 7 You can compare what you’re saying to exactly this time of year. We’re right at the beginning of the school year. Picture a boy in eighth grade at the start of the year. These days, thank G-d, there are programs to prepare boys for yeshivah. They begin a preparation program, and at the start of eighth grade he studies certain material. They tell him, “Listen, learn Kuntres Eitz Chaim. At least go through the sections there about Tomchei Temimim, about the purpose of founding our association, and the sicha in Agudas Yisroel, part 14, about the role of the Temimim in our generation.” Okay, he learns it. It starts to stir some excitement. Yeshivah is getting closer, but there’s still a year ahead. Now picture that boy sitting and learning in Menachem Av, a week before he leaves for yeshivah ketanah, and reading that sicha again. He starts to imagine and picture it: here he is, about to enter yeshivah. This is what Tomchei Temimim looks like; this is its work. It takes on an entirely different meaning, because now he’s so close to it. Everyone around him is saying, “Here you are, going up to yeshivah. You’ve been accepted, thank G-d. What a privilege! Our son is leaving for yeshivah!” And as he works to understand what yeshivah is all about, his anticipation is intense. He’s really, really on edge. That’s the point. When we engage with Geulah and Moshiach now, so close to the Geulah—as the Rebbe says in the sicha of Balak—the anticipation is much stronger. Once you’ve had a taste of something, you know what it feels like. When you can almost smell it, you look forward to it even more, every single second. I wouldn’t want to dwell on superficial examples, but take the period we’re living through now—

30:50 Speaker 7 what the Jewish people are experiencing. There are the stories of the hostages, G-d forbid; may Hashem bring them home immediately and in full health. In the few cases when a hostage did return, the family had been waiting for months. But the moment they heard that he had boarded a helicopter from Gaza, or wherever, and was on his way, their anticipation reached another level. People could no longer contain their emotions. And a second before the helicopter landed, their anticipation was through the roof. In other words, the closer you are to something, the stronger your anticipation.

31:20 Speaker 9 The anticipation grows stronger.

31:21 Speaker 7 The anticipation is much more intense.

31:23 Speaker 9 Perhaps we can say that this is also explained in Vayeira II. Precisely because we have the revelation of “Hashem appeared to him,” that gives rise to the verse, “Why should we be afraid?” In other words, because we’re there, the anticipation grows stronger.

31:37 Speaker 7 You could also say—again, I keep coming back to the sicha of Balak in connection with what you’re saying now.

31:42 Speaker 9 The central theme.

31:43 Speaker 7 Absolutely. The more you delve into that sicha, the more you discover. The Rebbe says there that something is lacking: we haven’t sufficiently instilled the awareness and feeling that “s’kumt on shoin”—it’s coming already—that we’re on the threshold of the days of Moshiach. And one thing that can help with this is learning about the Geulah and Moshiach. You might ask yourself: How will learning about the Geulah and Moshiach help me live with the awareness that we’re now in the days of Moshiach? It gives me information about what will happen in the Geulah. First, in the sicha, the Rebbe emphasizes the unique quality of the present time, when all the work has been completed, and so on. But the Rebbe also explicitly emphasizes learning about the Geulah and Moshiach in general. The Rebbe explains that Torah has the power to change a person’s nature. On a very simple level, when you understand what you’re waiting for and know it’s very close—those two things together make you yearn for it with your whole being. Take the boy going to yeshivah, for example. He understands what it means to be one of the Temimim. The more he studies it and understands it, while at the same time getting closer and closer to yeshivah, the more he lives it. He can already live with it months in advance. Now imagine someone who doesn’t know what the Geulah is. Tell him the Geulah is coming right now, in another minute. He doesn’t know what it is, so he isn’t excited. Of course he has to understand what the Geulah is. Couple that with the fact that we’re truly so close, and together they kindle an enormous longing for the Geulah. They enable us to begin living with and feeling what awaits us just beyond the threshold.

33:17 Speaker 10 So here we move past that first stage of [unclear], where we begin. There are two aspects here: the work of anticipating the Geulah, and work that is itself already Geulah-oriented. How do these ideas develop in the Rebbe’s sichos?

33:29 Speaker 7 Well, of course we won’t be able to go through all those sichos right now. We mentioned four other sichos—three other sichos—but we will speak more about our sicha from 5751 itself. It really does contain some subtle, deep lines, but when you read and study it again and again, you discover what’s there. I’ll start with a short story that made a very strong impression on me. I first heard it from my father a few years ago. He told me about a yechidus he had with the Rebbe, and it opened up a perspective that helped me understand these ideas. He says he was there in the year ’70.

34:06 Speaker 10 That was his first yechidus.

34:07 Speaker 7 His first yechidus—and, in fact, his only private yechidus, yes. He was with the Rebbe toward the end of the 5730s, when the Rebbe had already stopped receiving people for private yechidus, except for public figures and the like. There were still certain yechiduyos; even birthday yechidus had stopped a little earlier. He very much wanted to go in—everyone wanted to. At the time, my grandfather, of blessed memory, Rabbi Moshe, had turned seventy. He was due to go in for yechidus because of his father-in-law’s communal work and his own involvement in it. So my grandfather asked Leibel Groner, “Since I’m going in anyway, could my son come in with me?” He got permission. My father would go in with him for a minute, or for however long his own conversation with the Rebbe—his own yechidus with the Rebbe—would take.

34:54 Speaker 10 How old was he?

34:56 Speaker 7 I don’t know exactly what year it was, but he must have been eighteen or nineteen, something like that, maybe twenty. He would go in briefly and then leave, and the yechidus would continue. That’s what happened. Beforehand, of course, he prepared for the yechidus—he told me about that too, but this isn’t the place for it. He wrote three things that were on his mind in the note he handed to the Rebbe. I feel free to tell you about one of them, because I asked his permission some time ago. I’m telling it with a sense of wonder. Each of us still has an animal soul, and with it, a measure of laziness. He told the Rebbe about the laziness he was experiencing at the time. He wrote in his note, “Lately I’ve been lazy in my learning.” The Rebbe addressed what he had written. Regarding that point, the Rebbe said—and I’m not quoting exactly, but this is very close; of course the Rebbe spoke in Yiddish, and I’m saying it in Hebrew—“As for the lack of diligence in learning, the solution is to get a chavrusa.” When you have a chavrusa, the Rebbe used the Russian expression “nepriyatno”—it’s uncomfortable to let your chavrusa down. That obligates each of you to arrive on time, learn properly, and so on. My father told me this almost in passing, but afterward I suddenly stopped and thought: Look what’s happening here. It’s extraordinary. He writes to the Rebbe that he’s lazy in his learning. The Rebbe simply restates what he said and addresses it. The Rebbe says that diligence is lacking, and so on—but that’s a different language. It’s like what we said about the poor man and the rich man: these are two different frames of mind. You come and say, “I’m lazy. I’m stuck in the mud. I’m in a low place.” And the Rebbe—

36:36 Speaker 7 comes and says it in a different language. The Rebbe says, “No. You really belong to a higher place; you belong to diligence. You’re lacking some diligence—make up what’s missing.” How do you do that? With a chavrusa. But that’s an entirely different approach to the whole matter.

36:48 Speaker 11 …

36:48 Speaker 7 I think that when you read the sicha from 5752 [?], the Rebbe speaks about taking stock of oneself. There’s a well-known point where the Rebbe speaks about three ways of doing that. It’s exactly the same thing. There’s one kind of stocktaking where a Jew deals with every detail of what needs fixing, and in a sense he’s busy down in the mud. True, he’s focused on fixing things, but he’s occupied with the details. And as the Rebbe says there, he remains within the limits of those details. It’s a constricted state of mind, one of measure and limitation. Then there’s someone who rises above that: he applies himself, invests himself in Torah and davening and so on, and as a result things are in order and he behaves as he should—but he isn’t dealing with the details. The ideal is to bring the two together. In other words, I deal with the details; I deal with the fact that, in practice, my learning isn’t as it should be. But from what state of mind? From a sense of elevation, from knowing that I’m on a higher plane, that I belong to something higher.

37:35 Speaker 11 That, essentially, is the new point of Rosh Hashanah.

37:38 Speaker 7 And this is where I want to connect it to the Rosh Hashanah sicha. First, the Rebbe places strong emphasis on this. Let’s put it briefly and to the point. The Rebbe says that with the Geulah, the true reality will be revealed: that the Jewish people and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are entirely one. Because of that, a Jew belongs to a way of serving Hashem that is beyond measure and limitation. He belongs to a level of service far beyond what he knows of himself, even though he himself does have limitations—certainly as far as the body is concerned. He belongs to something far beyond that. And he is told: live the Geulah already, now. That means serving Hashem in the manner of the Geulah. The Rebbe uses the expression “in the spirit of the Geulah.” The meaning is that already now, you can reveal this to yourself, remind yourself of it. And the Rebbe says there that this is the beginning and foundation of a Jew’s service: he starts with that premise. Again, what state of mind does he bring to that premise? The sense that, in essence, I belong to something higher.

38:25 Speaker 11 …

38:25 Speaker 7 In essence, I belong to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and that is my true reality. I belong to a way of serving Him that is beyond measure and limitation. So you come to your service already in an unlimited state of mind—the state of mind of “an actual part of G-d above.” Your connection to Hakadosh Boruch Hu is unlimited, and from there you do the work: Torah, avodah, acts of kindness, teshuvah, and everything else. But again, what opens the way to this is the foundation of the Geulah. That is, you establish this within yourself. And again, it is very, very relevant today, because we are already tasting the Geulah and can already live it. This really needs to be the way we serve Hashem all the time, not just something for Rosh Hashanah but for the entire year: recognizing our own greatness, that we are one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is our true reality. We belong to something higher. We really belong at the very highest level. Yes, there’s still some concealment, and that’s why I remind myself who I really am. And from that state of mind—of knowing who I really am, a state of Geulah, which will be fully visible and complete with the Geulah—I need to serve Hashem already now.

39:27 Speaker 11 From what you’re saying, Rabbi, and from these very stirring words in the Rebbe’s Rosh Hashanah sicha, let me ask a practical question from the perspective of the Temimim, of a bochur in Tomchei Temimim. What actually changes in my service in practice? In other words, if I don’t come with that approach of [unclear], if I don’t begin there, but instead start breaking down the things that happened to me over the past year into details and taking stock of my thoughts, speech, and actions—without the approach the Rebbe speaks about for Rosh Hashanah—what will happen? What am I missing? Is there really something I won’t reach, something missing from my Rosh Hashanah? Or is this a good suggestion?

40:09 Speaker 7 Look, even when we speak about what Chassidus brought to a Jew’s service of Hashem, you could ask what a Jew is missing if he lacks the teachings of Chassidus. He’ll do teshuvah for all his sins, and in the end he’ll fulfill all 613 mitzvos, apart from those we can’t fulfill today without the Beis Hamikdash. So what will he be missing on the Day of Judgment? I don’t know; he’ll be perfectly fine. But there’s an enormous loss here, because the whole vitality is completely different. His entire state of mind, his whole way of life, his whole approach to serving Hashem, his whole connection to the innermost and most fundamental point of it all. All service of Hashem is my connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And if I lack that—if I lack the connection that it’s possible to feel today, this infinite connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu—then I’m missing something very, very basic to everything. Again, at the end of the day, as the saying goes, he may be vindicated in judgment, yes? He’ll come before the court and come out perfectly fine. But something very basic and essential is missing. It should also be said that with everything there’s the—take Chassidus, for example, as we discussed. There’s the spirit of it, and there are also ways it finds expression in a number of areas. Someone who lives in the spirit of Chassidus certainly has more joy in serving Hashem. He certainly has Ahavas Yisroel in a much deeper way, because he learned Tanya ch. 32; he knows what it means to set the body aside and focus on the soul, and so on. His davening has a different kind of deveikus, along with everything Chassidus values in inner service. So there are practical effects, practical results, as well. Sometimes, when you’re not living with an idea strongly enough, you can also begin with the actual deed.

41:41 Speaker 11 Mm-hmm.

41:42 Speaker 7 The proper, usual order—the built-in order, yes? The ideal picture—is that it begins with the intellect. Let’s go back to Parshas Balak 5751 [?]. The Rebbe says that the mind is filled and permeated with these matters, and from the mind it descends into the feelings of the heart, and from there into conduct in thought, speech, and action, as befits the era of Melech HaMoshiach. That’s the usual progression within a person.

42:03 Speaker 11 Chabad.

42:04 Speaker 7 Exactly. Chabad flows into feeling, which flows into action. That is certainly the right way, and again, the ideal picture. But at the same time, it’s clear that we can’t, at every single moment, maintain the same strength of understanding and awareness of this true reality. Right? It’s hard work. The Rebbe says it takes effort; it’s difficult, and you don’t always manage to hold on to the same thing. And so feeling it in your heart, living—living with Melech HaMoshiach—is an inner demand, an inner demand. It isn’t a practical action; it’s an inner demand. So you can begin with actual practice, even by telling yourself that third line: thought, speech, and action as befits the era of Melech HaMoshiach. And if you’re talking about—

42:46 Speaker 11 About the avodah of Elul.

42:47 Speaker 7 Again, Elul is really about the whole year, but in Elul you come and take stock of this. So in a moment we’ll get to that stocktaking. But what is asked of us throughout the year? Let’s try to find it within ourselves. I used to tell students in yeshivah: take ten minutes during the day, or an hour if you can, and tell yourself, “Every day, from three to four, I’m going to live with Melech HaMoshiach.” Even before intellect and the feelings of the heart—actual practice: thought, speech, and action as befits Melech HaMoshiach. Certainly you don’t speak lashon hara; you don’t engage in idle chatter. Of course, asking how the friend beside you is doing isn’t idle chatter or anything of the sort—but no idle chatter. In action, you certainly do what you need to do, and in thought, you think only what you should be thinking. You don’t think things that are the opposite of that—not about your friend’s faults, and not thoughts contrary to holiness, G-d forbid. Now, you set aside an hour for yourself, and you know why, during that hour, you’re behaving as befits Melech HaMoshiach: because that’s what’s being asked of us today. Really, that’s always the Divine demand: to behave, sit, speak, and act according to Torah, as [unclear]. I’m expanding on this. In my view, it’s really a demand placed on every single person, but today it does come from that state of mind. So you need to recognize that state of mind and bring it down into action. It remains in all our minds, even when you aren’t living with it strongly. But you still remind yourself of this practical action: at least let’s find that hour in the day when I need to put it into practice. For example, the Rebbe says, along the lines of [unclear] in chapter one, after he speaks about—about—about…

44:24 Speaker 7 In love and in fear, even at the more minimal levels. But even with the fear he is talking about, where a person has some grasp of it, some refinement of his heart or at least his mind, in the end he says: the main thing is kabbolas ol Malchus Shamayim. Even when you have not reached those levels, or that inner sense of kabbolas ol, of awe of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, at the very least, act on it in practice. Accept it and do it in actual practice.

44:46 Speaker 12 Essentially, the rabbi is suggesting that I simply set aside a certain time each day when I live Moshiach. Usually, with time, that will spread little by little until it reaches the rest of the day. It is like a Jew’s Modeh Ani at the beginning of the day: there is an inner, essential point at which he feels that connection to his essence more strongly, and afterward all the details follow. In other words, make sure there is a kind of Modeh Ani in the middle of the day—a stretch of time when I am in a completely different state.

45:16 Speaker 7 Look, it has to be said that, in Chassidus and in the Rebbe’s sichos generally, whenever something is asked of us in serving Hashem, in any instruction of the Rebbe, the practical demand is not the same for everyone—certainly not right now, at the very first moment. There is an enormous range, from someone just beginning to someone who has already done a great deal of work on himself. There are many, many levels. When the Rebbe speaks in a sicha about a particular subject, the Rebbe cannot start spelling out every level: if someone is here, he should do this, and if he is at another stage, he should do that. That is not possible. The Rebbe tells us what is being asked of us. That is the goal, the direction—certainly the focus and the approach. Now, within that, as in every area of serving Hashem, each person works with his mashpia to build a plan for making progress: what is the first step, what is the second step? It is not a decision you make in an instant: “From this moment on, I live Moshiach twenty-four hours a day.” That is certainly not realistic. But as in every area of serving Hashem, so too here. That is why I am putting forward this idea of an hour as an example, to begin bringing it down to practice. If we talk about it for months on end, but I never actually try it and expect that one day, suddenly, this feeling will spring up in me twenty-four hours a day—that will not happen. Start contemplating it too, as the Rebbe says. Study the subject of Geulah and Moshiach, set aside time to study Geulah and Moshiach, and also set aside time when you begin demanding of yourself that you behave as befits the days of Moshiach.

46:34 Speaker 12 In the way that it is defined.

46:35 Speaker 7 Huh?

46:35 Speaker 12 Along the lines of what is said about all this [unclear]: Moshiach says to you, “Come to me.”

46:38 Speaker 7 Good, good. So take an hour. Excellent. Again, following your mashpia’s advice, come back after a month and increase it to an hour and a half. You could decide that this hour is actually the three daily prayers. Maybe then it is easier for you to live Moshiach. I am not talking with anyone; there will be no idle talk here, no lashon hara. Excellent—but do it with the awareness that this is time when I am, in effect, in the Geulah.

47:00 Speaker 12 So, as we approach the end of the program, if we want to put one point on the table—to give a shorter, general summary of the central new emphasis the Rebbe gives us in the avodah of teshuvah during Elul, on the threshold of the Geulah—let’s sum it up briefly.

47:25 Speaker 7 Just one small correction: it is not a new emphasis only in teshuvah; it is a new emphasis in all of our service of Hashem. Look, the whole order of teshuvah is in the spirit of Geulah, as the Rebbe says. It is hard to put this into one word, so let’s use a few. There are several points the Rebbe sets before us. First, an enormous anticipation of the Geulah at all times. Second, to feel free: to know clearly that Moshiach can come at any moment, and therefore that the whole yetzer hara, all the concealments and obstacles, are not something real; they are passing. Live with that. It improves your life; it makes it something entirely different. Beyond that, the Rebbe says, we can awaken this within ourselves already now and remind ourselves of it. This is a basic outlook we are being asked to have today. We want to live now as we will in the Geulah: our automatic, spontaneous sense should be that we and Hashem are one. As the Rebbe discusses elsewhere, regarding what “mitzvos will be nullified in the future” means, in Tishrei 5752: we will, of course, fulfill the mitzvos, but it will not be, “Hashem commands, and I do it.” I am an expression of the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So already now, [unclear], I do the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We did not mention that in the sicha of 5749 the Rebbe speaks about it in somewhat those terms. And again, this rests on clear knowledge—that is the foundation of everything. Understand what Moshiach means: the perfection of everything, the perfection of our connection with Hashem, the perfection of observing Torah and mitzvos. Understand that it is about to happen right now, that we are on the threshold. And understand that already now we can, and are expected to, conduct ourselves accordingly—both in our outlook, so that “we and Hashem are one” becomes something more vivid in our minds, and in actual practice, behaving as befits the days of Moshiach.

49:05 Speaker 3 So, to conclude, let’s take another minute or two of the rabbi’s time. Just before 18 Elul, I think in 5719, members of the youth group of Tomchei Temimim from the central office came to the Rebbe for yechidus. The Rebbe instructed them that they themselves needed to sit and learn, since their own concern was Torah study, and that they should devote the time in Elul to preparation connected with Torah, love, and teshuvah. The Rebbe mentioned several books; I do not remember them all. The Rebbe mentioned the maamarim of 5668 and 5673, and of course the Alter Rebbe’s Likkutei Torah. The Rebbe quotes from this in an edited Likkutei Sichos. So that was the yechidus for Tomchei Temimim from the central office. Now, it is clear to us that this is something vital and fundamental, and we need to study it all. But if we try for a moment to make a list—a bochur asks Tomchei Temimim, the administration of Tomchei Temimim, for a list, so that every bochur in his own Tomchei Temimim can get some sort of list through this program—there is a general list of subjects concerning love and teshuvah. Surely every student already knows that, as the Rebbe mentioned in that yechidus. But there is not really such a list for an Elul of Geulah. Which sichos should we focus on?

50:16 Speaker 7 If we are looking for an Elul of Geulah, as you put it, there really are not many sichos on the subject. The sichos in which the Rebbe addresses it are from 5746, 5748, 5749, and 5751—four years in all. I would say that, if you are looking to go from easier to harder, even in terms of the mental effort involved, the Rosh Hashanah 5746 sicha is much easier to understand for someone who does not currently have the time to sit and study in depth. For someone able to do more, there are the three later sichos, from 5748, 5749, and 5751. As I said, they also seem to go deeper in what they ask of us in relation to the Geulah. Certainly the sicha of 5751, the final year before his histalkus, has a special dearness and emphasis. But taken together, these four sichos lay out the avodah of Geulah in the month of Elul. The main thing, the main thing, is that we should not have to keep working in a Geulah-like way, but should merit the Geulah immediately. The King in the field will be revealed and break through all the barriers, all these things. We will no longer need to work to live Moshiach. It will already be “I will show him wonders”—we will see the wonders revealed. Hakadosh Boruch Hu will show us everything, immediately.

51:30 Speaker 3 Amen. Thank you so much, Rabbi Nissenlevitch, for this special farbrengen, this special program. With Hashem’s help, may we merit the revelation of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. Thank you so much, Rabbi Nissenlevitch.

51:41 Speaker 7 Long live our master, teacher, and Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, forever and ever.

51:46 Speaker 4 Ears to Hear—the audio programs for the Temimim from the worldwide Atah organization. For more programs, dial *6358. Long live our master, teacher, and Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, forever and ever.