A Faithful Shepherd

00:03 In other words, the maamar “Ve’atah Tetzaveh” is [unclear]. This is the maamar the Rebbe edited, but [unclear]. The maamar, as is known, [unclear]. It is something special, and [unclear]. But I want to say that the maamar is also [unclear]. Tanya [unclear]. But yes, the Rebbe [unclear]. I think its connection is to the Rebbe. And as is known, [unclear]. But this is the maamar “Ve’atah Tetzaveh.” [unclear] The maamar is also [unclear]. When you learn the maamar, you see [unclear]. The main thing is that the maamar is special; thank G-d, it is a moment you don’t forget. [unclear] But it is interesting that the maamar begins with the concept of Ra’aya Mehemna. [unclear] Faith that comes from [unclear]. [unclear] The essence of the soul is not [unclear]. But first we need to understand the concept. There are two meanings of “Ra’aya Mehemna.” One is a faithful shepherd. That would seem to be the plain meaning: a devoted shepherd who leads the flock. And right away, ra’aya [unclear].

02:29 [unclear] But that is exactly the Rebbe. There is a second meaning of “Ra’aya Mehemna”: one who shepherds faith. The Rebbe discusses this second meaning at length. The first meaning [unclear] Moshe Rabbeinu, our Rebbeim. But [unclear] explains the meaning of “Ra’aya Mehemna.” The meaning is exactly the other way around. One meaning is a faithful shepherd. [unclear] The Rebbe explains that “Ra’aya Mehemna,” a shepherd of faith, means that he nourishes and sustains faith. That is the point about faith. These are two things in this maamar. The first is the faithful shepherd, and then there is another point. But “faithful shepherd” is the plain meaning. He does something for each person. That is the foundation. These are two things. What is the plain meaning? By the way, once this was [unclear] in Lod. I studied in Lod. There was [unclear] of [unclear] yeshiva; there were a hundred bochurim in a large hall. [unclear]

04:15 And you sit with many Litvish bochurim. On Shabbos Chanukah they held a farbrengen; it was in Kislev. They held a farbrengen that night. One of the bochurim came over, [unclear], that the Rebbe [unclear]. And when [unclear], he says to the mashpia, “This is a question for me: Where is the Rebbe?” [unclear] “The Rebbe is looking at you.” “This is a question for me: Where is the Rebbe?” [unclear] “The Rebbe is learning with you.” “This is a question for me: Where is the Rebbe?” All right, but it does show in you. “Where is the Rebbe?” [unclear] The Rebbe is looking at you. After all, everyone knows their own situation, the spiritual state they are in; each person knows it within themselves. Each person knows within themselves what the Rebbe [unclear]. Not everyone obeys him; not everyone obeys the Rebbe. A father with a child does not look only at whether the child obeys or does not obey. Of course, the father wants the child to obey. But each person knows within themselves: you have [unclear] the things that are [unclear] like his own child.

05:54 The Rebbe, the Rebbe sees himself [unclear]. The Rebbe says, and goes deeper: Each of us needs, at times, to know the Rebbe. The Rebbe is a Rebbe who thinks about each of us, both materially and spiritually. Good, good.

00:02 Speaker 1 The whole matter begins with one point. Within that, [unclear], deeper matters come later. And after the beginning, the first thing, the first level, is simply mitzvos. Sometimes, in Chassidus, there is... A Jew fulfills a mitzvah; he can also do teshuvah. [unclear] Mitzvos—there are positive mitzvos and prohibitions, [unclear]. Teshuvah relates to the One to Whom the will belongs. Teshuvah is higher still. The root of the Jewish people is higher. So it is not [unclear] to mitzvos, with the root of the will. Mitzvos are [unclear] from Ein Sof, the One to Whom the will belongs. That is where the mitzvos came from. What does “the One to Whom the will belongs” mean? It means the one whose will it is. A person is a person, and he has the power of will. The power of will is a contraction, a descent, an expression of his soul—not the essence of the soul. Does the essence of the soul specifically want to eat? Does it want to eat? The essence of the soul... The soul undergoes a contraction, a descent, and then the person wants one particular thing or another. Will is [unclear]. A person wants a particular thing, and that comes specifically through a descent. That is where the desire for that thing comes from. But a person fulfills mitzvos [unclear] from Ein Sof, the One to Whom the will belongs. Because with mitzvos, the will comes from the level of the One to Whom the will belongs. The will is not below Atzmus. From Atzmus Ein Sof, the One to Whom the will belongs, comes the will for mitzvos. That is [unclear] straightforward. Mitzvos come from Ein Sof, the One to Whom the will belongs. But teshuvah helps; what is revealed, what is...

02:13 Speaker 1 Hashem’s will. When a person wants something, it is because that thing is good; he does not want something else because it is bad. A thing has certain qualities, and that is why he wants it or does not want it. But with Hashem, how can you say that about something? How [unclear]? This thing has certain qualities, and that thing has opposite qualities. He chose that this should be a mitzvah, or that it should be [unclear]. So the will is not [unclear]. [unclear] Teshuvah helps. Well, [unclear] in explaining the matter, but Chassidus explains that there are higher matters. First of all, the first thing, the simple meaning: mitzvos—that is Atzmus. Mitzvos [unclear]. They take this passage in the Gemara [unclear], and not another passage in the Gemara. That is higher, [unclear]. What does that mean—when someone asks a question: Which is higher, tefillin or tzitzis? Can you ask a question like that? He asks a question. With bochurim [unclear], if they ask me, let them ask, but about Rashi, about a bochur, that is [unclear]. What he... Yes, the Mishnah—people do ask questions, after all. So he asks.

03:40 Speaker 2 A question with [unclear].

03:42 Speaker 1 A question with [unclear], it’s... After all, that is [unclear], but people ask [unclear].

03:47 Speaker 2 That is the question: what about [unclear]? That is the question: what about [unclear]?

03:52 Speaker 1 Well, I don’t, no. So, well. Teshuvah, teshuvah, after all, is higher than mitzvos. Is there something higher than mitzvos? Mitzvos, that’s... There is a simple meaning. The Rebbe says—the Rebbe speaks about additional interpretations. Sometimes that is the foundation, but in the end [unclear]. The Rebbe thinks [unclear]. From that we learn deeper interpretations; on the contrary, [unclear]. [unclear] the Rebbe gives. [unclear] a level. In entire maamarim, the Rebbe goes through [unclear] levels, but follows the simple meaning. [unclear]. So they correct [unclear], and in the end go a different way. How [unclear]? What is the advice? There are practical things in life, when a person has to [unclear] problems; where do you find an answer to that? All of this [unclear]. The Rebbe speaks [unclear]. The Rebbe—what is present in pure thought. The Rebbe accepts the simple faith that chassidim have. Why? Why? What do you think? What [unclear]? Because the Rebbe has pure thoughts. The Rebbe stands beside you, protecting you and watching over you [unclear]. Well, that is [unclear], but there has to be a path of simple faith. In [unclear], there are three things. The first thing—three things. [unclear].

05:40 Speaker 1 [unclear] a Jew. A Jew needs to think: Ah, good, the Rebbe is here now. What does that have to do with me? All right. Life and life. Life and life.

00:01 Bochurim, bochurim. And the Rebbe thinks [unclear] about the bochurim. They reach the stage of shidduchim. [unclear] We think only about ourselves. That’s what he says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—[unclear]. Nothing else. [unclear]. And the Rebbe—I’m with him [unclear]. Don’t I need to think? That’s not at all [unclear]. No, no, not at all; not to stay in one place. The Rebbe thinks [unclear]. He thinks about each person [unclear], and about food, about [unclear]. Every virtue—the Rebbe thinks about every virtue. [unclear]. That’s not relevant. A chossid [unclear], what they learned [unclear]. Ah, before Chassidus, a chossid was one thing, and a Rebbe and mashpia were another. They weren’t one thing. The foundation, the foundation of what we do, can be learned from the Rebbe himself [unclear]. The foundation of who he is—that he can live there. There was, let’s say, also a personal matter, but also [unclear]. So, I [unclear] during the period of shidduchim. Oy, I wrote to the Rebbe. Yes, what did I write, you understand? Yes. It happened. Why? Why is that—and they don’t believe it at all. I don’t mean that he doesn’t believe at all; they don’t believe in this. It was [unclear].

01:56 After Pesach, shidduchim. [unclear] wrote to the Rebbe that they don’t believe it at all. That you should think about other matters. The Rebbe [unclear] until after the zman. Another thing: there had already been a few shidduch suggestions. That can wait until after the zman. To go in to the Rebbe for yechidus [unclear]. To write—with me, you don’t have to write. But they believe, they believe in this. They write it to the Rebbe; they write other things to the Rebbe. It has to get there. So that the Rebbe will see [unclear] what they wrote, and it will happen. So, shidduchim, please [unclear]. We’re not going [unclear] the Rebbe. That’s how it started—now I had to think about exactly what the Rebbe wanted. [unclear]. The Rebbe—a bochur goes in to the Rebbe for yechidus. The Rebbe [unclear]. The Rebbe doesn’t need to think that this month is Sivan and the next month is Tammuz [unclear]. What is that? He doesn’t need to—[unclear]. The Rebbe thinks about it when a bochur goes in for yechidus. That’s how connected the Rebbe was to the bochurim. [unclear], that he knows. Simply, the Rebbe says [unclear] until after the zman. [unclear]. That’s how it is [unclear], that they should be strong. The Rebbe thinks about us. L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim.

00:01 Speaker 1 This is the question here: faith. The Rebbe comes to the matter of “vayikhat” [unclear]. There is what Moshe does, and there is what a Jew does. There is what Moshe does. But we need to understand: the first is the wondrous luminary. There is faith that comes from “his mazal sees,” and then there is faith that comes from the essence of the soul, which connects a Jew with Atzmus. The essence of the soul. Within the essence of the soul itself there are two levels: the essence of the soul as it extends into the revealed faculties, and the essence of the soul as it is rooted in Atzmus, as it is in Atzmus. And there is another distinction: in the essence of the soul as it extends into the revealed faculties, the essence is revealed, but that is still in the category of revelation. From the standpoint of the essence of the soul that connects with Atzmus, it is [unclear] Atzmus. There, distinctions between small and great, or between essence and revelation, do not apply. All these concepts of distinctions and levels of greatness belong to hishtalshelus; here, a person is one with the essence. The Rebbe explains: this is the meaning of “crushed for the luminary.” For example, a person has something, and there is something he does not have. He is not utterly broken; he still has something. [unclear] But nothing at all. In other words, in a person’s capacity for revelation, there is a revelation of G-dliness, there is wholeness, there is sincerity—but he still has something. Yet [unclear] this is still not the revelation of the essence itself. The Rebbe says “crushed”: that is precisely the point in “vayikhat”—what is the virtue of the capacity for revelation, with its revelation of G-dliness? As long as there is a revelation of G-dliness, he is not utterly broken. It cannot come from that.

02:22 Speaker 1 [unclear], not Moshe. Moshe can still accomplish things above and below, but this is his essence, the essence of the matter. Ah, that is avodah. Where does one get such avodah, like Rabbah’s? [unclear]. We are servants of Hashem, we are [unclear]. That can only be found among exceptional individuals. And even those who [unclear], as the Rebbe sought. [unclear]. Sometimes there is a slight awakening—well, it is a slight awakening—and it arouses very deep avodah. So what? When he is “crushed,” even when there is a revelation of G-dliness here, he is still spiritually whole. That is not [unclear]. But I think we need to take this inwardly, to bring it inside: the Rebbe thinks about us, and we act together. And [unclear] the Rebbe is already thinking about you; don’t sleep through that gift. Ah, I remembered another good story. Avraham [unclear]. Avraham [unclear] was a very wealthy man. And he was a great chossid and a great scholar. [unclear], but he was very wealthy. Once he lost all his property, every bit of it. Not only was he himself [unclear]; people had deposited money with him, and he would return it to them with profits. But now all the money was lost, and the question of how he would repay those people became a practical one. And there at home, he thinks: “I’ve already been sitting for half an hour, half an hour a day, thinking about the money.”

04:19 Speaker 1 Thinking about the money. And it still goes on all day, this way and that. What happened? Well, here he is again. He [unclear] on his own. He said: “For half an hour a day I think about the livelihood I have, and all day I’m immersed only in that book.” And I thought: the Rebbe wants us to think about him. That is not enough. That is not what a faithful shepherd—a faithful shepherd [unclear] for a while. He closes his eyes and walks alone. He walks with us, walks with us and draws us along. We draw [unclear]. Is his name Shammai Lubavitch[?]? Yes, two. But why tell this story? [unclear]. I say, Shammai is not [unclear]. I say: “Alter, I have no chance. I have no, I have no way out.” Ah, ah, she is awake already. That is how he tells it now. Where is it written? We don’t know anything else about him. Shammai, before the war, [unclear] on Shabbos night [unclear] candles. And the Rebbe asks the rabbi, speaks with him [unclear]: “On Shabbos night, should he go with the candles?” And the Rebbe says to him: “What is bothering you? Why do you need [unclear]?” I say: “I can’t sleep, but Shammai, how can I go with the candles? I can’t sleep.” And the Rebbe [unclear]. I say: “Wait—a thought like that, such a [unclear]—because of that I can’t sleep, I—

06:01 Speaker 1 can’t sleep.

06:04 Speaker 2 Can you sleep?

06:04 Speaker 1 Yes, that makes sense. It was [unclear]. But he wrote in the maamar [unclear], it is the Rebbe, it is like [unclear]. We see it in the branches; he brings it there. Through this he brings him along, draws him along, draws the Rebbe along [unclear]. He devoted the whole night to this. He brings the Rebbe inside. Why? It was [unclear]. I say, I’m not [unclear], but [unclear], the Rebbe [unclear] with his matters. The foundation—this is the very first point of the maamar. The first [unclear], where the Rebbe says [unclear] the faithful shepherd. Through that, one can reach all the levels written in the maamar. And then the Rebbe [unclear], that is the [unclear]. The faithful shepherd travels first class. The [unclear] travels second class. Wherever he goes, he travels first class. But the faithful shepherd [unclear]. They said he needs to [unclear]. You cannot reach this on your own. Only through hiskashrus to the Rebbe. The Rebbe [unclear], he enters into [unclear]. He does it; he enters into the matters. That is the Rebbe [unclear]. The Rebbe is the essence, that is [unclear]. The Rebbe, they say, the essence, the essence, that is [unclear]. The Rebbe is the essence of all the chassidim, the essence of everything. That is the Rebbe. L’chaim, l’chaim.

07:36 Speaker 1 L’chaim, Reb Shoret[?]. Why do I say l’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim? L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim.