The Chossid’s Question About Salt

Welcome to our weekly Motzei Shabbos program.

Now, I once said there are hundreds and hundreds of letters written to Rabbi Mindel. He worked with the Rebbe for over fifty years. He worked on letters, he worked on books with the Rebbe on one table.

So he wrote "Talks and Tales." People would write to him with questions — they wrote to him. Now, there are some questions that he didn't know the answer to, so he showed them to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe answered on that same page. Hundreds of letters — it's amazing.

I'm going to use this letter, maybe in future programs. So today I want to show you an example of what I mean by a letter that was written to Rabbi Mindel. I'll show you the entire letter — I'll show you the letter, and how he showed it to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe wrote answers on it, and then he took it and typed the answer and sent it to the person. That was Rabbi Mindel's job.

Every secretary had their own job. Some secretaries answered the phone, were in the office. Some secretaries were PR people. Some secretaries drove. Some secretaries typed. His job was letters.

And not only that — some people don't know this — he also composed. He would go in to the Rebbe with a notebook. Here are hundreds of notebooks. And in them he wrote down the English letters and the Hebrew Igros Kodesh. There are dates here, and there is Igros Kodesh material here.

So the Igros Kodesh — most of them, the major letters, not the standard ones — were also done by Rabbi Mindel. He took shorthand in English, Hebrew, and Russian. So here I've gathered some — there's much more — every single time he walked in with this notebook he took shorthand, and that's what he did.

So I want to share with you today a letter that somebody wrote to him, which he then showed to the Rebbe. I chose this letter, and I'll tell you why I chose it: because this letter is a question about why we dip the challah into salt three times. We just had Pesach a few weeks ago, and I know that at the seder the Rebbe puts salt on the fish like a mountain — I don't know how a person can eat salt like that, like a mountain, but he eats it.

So I thought about this also, since we cover our matzah — what do we do on Pesach, do we take the matzah and dip it into salt, meaning you have to uncover the matzah, or do you put the salt onto the matzah? So I thought I'd use this letter. The question that was asked to Rabbi Mindel was: why do we dip [the bread in salt]? Rabbi Mindel didn't know the answer, so he asked the Rebbe, and I'll share with you the Rebbe's answer. But before that, I want to tell you what is written about this, and then I'll share the Rebbe's answer.

It says that a table is compared to a mizbeach (altar), and that it [the salt] forgives and gives a person long life. The same idea — since the table is like a mizbeach, you put salt [on it]. So when you eat, not for desire but because you have to eat, you have salt on the table, and that gives [protection/atonement]. This is also what it says — when you have a guest at the table, you should also have salt there, and it gives [the same benefit].

Now, it says that when you dip the bread in salt, you do it three times. You don't have to, but the custom is to do it three times. Why? Because it says that with every korban (offering) you should bring salt, and it says "melach" three times [in the verse]. So you dip three times. Also, the three times correspond to the three amudim (pillars), and they remind us of Moshiach.

Another reason why we put salt on the table: when people are sitting at the table and everyone goes to wash their hands, and while they're waiting for everybody to finish, the sitra achra (the evil one) comes and accuses — he says, "They are sitting quietly, not learning, not doing mitzvos." So while they're sitting and waiting for everyone to finish, they're not learning, not doing mitzvos. That's why you put salt on the table — the "melach," the covenant (bris) that Hashem made with Yidden — to protect them, this covenant protects the Yidden from the accusation.

This is what it also says: when Hashem created the world, He separated between the upper waters and the lower waters. The lower waters wanted to be closer to Hashem, since the upper waters were closer to Hashem. So, to appease them, Hashem made a promise to the lower waters, saying that even though they are on the bottom, in the future they will bring salt — from the lower waters — onto the mizbeach. So that is why, to appease the water, we have salt on the table.

So there are many, many more reasons — it's very interesting. Now I want to share with you the answer from the Rebbe, and I will show you the letter — the letter with the Rebbe's answer, and the typed letter that Rabbi Mindel sent to the person, which came after the Rebbe's answer.

Let me read the question first, what Rabbi Mindel wrote. I did it in English, not in Hebrew — so that's the way I understand the answer, the way I understand it. I don't know if this is exactly how it should be understood — you can always learn it the way you learn it — but I understand the answer this way, the way I wrote it.

Rabbi Mindel writes to this person who had written to him: it says in the writings of the Arizal, why do we dip the bread in salt three times? Because the numerical value (gematria) of the word [melach] is 78, and that's the same numerical value as three times the name of Havaya (Yud-Kay-Vav-Kay), which is 26 — three times 26 is 78. So that's the same numerical value. At the same time, the name — this is what it says in Kabbalah, we don't know exactly what it means — and the numerical value of "melach" (salt) is also 78, and that corresponds to the three times. So the first [idea] is about the bread, and the other is: through dipping the bread into salt three times, we sweeten the three Havayos of Gevurah with the three Havayos of Chesed.

This is what the person asked the Rebbe: where in the Arizal is this written? And what does it mean, "three times of Chesed" and "three times of Gevurah"?

So Rabbi Mindel writes to him: "Now I will answer in the order of the questions you asked. The Rebbe wrote as follows." And now you can read what the Rebbe wrote. I'll read it exactly as I understand what the Rebbe wrote — I'm explaining it in English, but you can look at it in the Hebrew.

First of all, the Rebbe wrote: in the writings of the Arizal we find, in Sefer [Pri Eitz Chaim], chapter twelve, that one dips the bread in salt three times. However, in other places — in [Shaar HaKavanot] and in the chapters about the intentions one should have while eating — it only says to dip the bread in salt, without mentioning three times. So in some places it says three times, and in other places it does not say three times.

The three Havayos of Gevurah are mentioned many times in Kabbalah and require a lengthy explanation, but this is not the place for it. The Rebbe then continues:

In general, the entire creation, with all its details, comes about through Hashem using His name Havaya, meaning creation. Now, in every act of creation there is an aspect of giving — when you create, you give. [The Rebbe] does write this — it's an aspect of giving, you build, you give. But at the same time, Hashem wanted the creation to be something not like Himself — meaning that the creation should be limited, unlike the Creator, who is unlimited. Hashem is unlimited, but He wanted the creation to not be like Himself. So there has to be an aspect of restriction, holding back some of His giving, of concealing His revelation. Why? Because if He revealed His light fully, then the creation would be unlimited like Him, and we would not be able to receive it — the world could not be a world like that.

So there is an aspect of Havaya that gives, and an aspect of Havaya that restricts, by not making [the creation] like Hashem. Both of these aspects are necessary for creation — meaning that they are both present, but the first one is revealing and the second one is withholding. Since both are opposite aspects, [one may ask] how can a world be created, how can the world be sustained? So [the Rebbe] says: since both of these aspects are necessary, there needs to be a combination of both, even though they are seemingly opposite. This is through the Havaya that combines the [letters] Gimmel and Vav together — meaning that Hashem creates and sustains the world through these two aspects of the name Havaya, and there are two ways [this works].

In other words, when Hashem acts with kindness, the influence to the world will be through Havaya in a kind way, and when He acts with strictness, the influence will be through Havaya in a strict way. And there are three ways that Hashem acts with kindness, and three ways that Hashem acts with strictness.

So he explains it like this: Hashem will act with kindness if He is judging and sustaining the world with kindness, and He will act with strictness if He is judging and sustaining the world with strictness. That means: Hashem will act with kindness if it is an auspicious time, and He will act with strictness if it is the opposite. Hashem will act with kindness if the Jewish people are learning Torah and doing mitzvos, and the opposite when they are not.

So these three ways of Hashem acting with kindness or strictness are the three [aspects] of Chesed and the three [aspects] of Gevurah. So it seems from here that the Rebbe explains there are two meanings of Havaya: first, a general meaning, where [one aspect of] Havaya shows the aspect of revealing in creation, and [the other aspect of] Havaya shows the aspect of withholding in creation. And the second [meaning] is that within these two aspects themselves, there are [further] two ways — the aspect of Chesed acting in a kind way, and the aspect of Gevurah acting in a strict way. In other words, within Chesed and within Gevurah, the Rebbe explains there are three ways that each can come about.

So this comes out that there are three [aspects] of Chesed [corresponding to] sweetening the Gevurah — meaning that through our dipping the bread in salt three times, we cause the Beis Din shel Maalah (the heavenly court) — as it's written, "the heavenly court should agree with Hashem's decision" — to make a sweet judgment. And this is the third aspect of Havaya.

So this is the answer to this person's question. Now I'm going to show you this [letter] — you'll be able to see it clearly, and maybe you can study it again. That's the way I studied the Rebbe's letter.

Next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.