The Number 1100

00:01 Baruch Hashem, we have reached a milestone, Zechrainas broadcast number 1100. In this installment, we will, im yirtzeh Hashem, cite from the Rebbe's Teda regarding the number 11 as it appears in Chumash, in the Talmud, and how it is illuminated in the light of Chasidus. In a sicha that the Rebbe gave on the 13th of Tammuz of Shin Lamed Vav 1976, the Rebbe was discussing the mitzvah of tznius. And how it is quoted in the Talmud in regards to the number 11. The Rebbe said as following, as it is translated here in English. Within tznius itself, there is also the aspect of quality. As the Gemara tells us in Bava Basra, one who gives a coin to a poor person is blessed with six blessings. And one who appeases him with words is blessed with 11. This means that when he gives tznius, he must give it with a pleasant demeanor, which is something beyond measurement and limitation. A pleasant demeanor is not something that is measurable or quantifiable. Rather, in an instant, a person can show a pleasant face with which the poor person becomes completely appeased. The Gemara says that this is infinitely greater than the mere giving of charity. And especially as explained in Kabbalah, as mentioned in Likutei Teda, the Alti Rebbe's discourses, that the number 11 is beyond measurement and limitation. Since the general system of numbers, which reflects measurement and limitation, is expressed in the number 10. And whatever comes later is considered a repetition. And since the world was

02:24 created through the Asarah Maimaris, the ten utterances, by appeasing the poor person, one draws the act of giving tznius beyond the category of measurement and limitation. For the concept of appeasement is not something limited or measurable, because it expresses the soul, the heartfelt emotion, the vitality and the radiance, the inner fire with which he gives tznius. And all these things are beyond measurement and limitation. From this we see that in tznius there is both the element of quantity and on the other hand also the element of quality. And herein lies one of the missions of a Yid, that there should be, in the well-known expression, the dominance of spirituality over physicality, the dominance of form over matter, and the dominance of quality over quantity. That although both aspects, quality and quantity, are necessary, nevertheless what stands at the forefront, what governs and controls, what is the primary consideration, must be quality over quantity. Now we go to a sicha which the Rebbe spoke in Tav Shin Nun Beis 1992. The Rebbe bases it on the pasuk which is in the beginning of Chumash Dvarim, Achad Asar Yem Michalev, as the Rebbe will mention it further. The Rebbe begins in regards to number 11, that the number 11 alludes to the level of you are one but not in number. Beyond the ten sefirot, the ten attributes, beyond the ten utterances through which the world was created, which correspond to the ten sefirot attributes, and even beyond the ten commandments of the Torah, which are connected

04:40 to the Asarah Maimaris, the ten utterances with which the world was created. This elevated level is drawn down and revealed through Am Yisrael's avedah in the study of Torah and its observance, as hinted in the verse 11 days from Cheilev. At Mount Cheilev, Mount Sinai, the ten commandments were given. This is the dimension of Torah as it relates to a world created with ten utterances. However, from Cheilev refers to the beginning of the work of Am Yisrael within the Torah to draw down and reveal in Torah as it descended into the world, and by extension also in the world itself, the level of 11, the dimension of Torah as it transcends the world, and even as it is rooted and one with Hashem. In a sicha Tav Shin Mem Tes 1989, the Rebbe elaborated on the number saying, the verse on the 11th day of the month signifies the beginning of a Yid's Inner service stemming from his essential being beyond the confines of worldly limitations as he is connected and unified with the essence and being of Hashem, Atzmus and Bohus. And Hashem is, as mentioned, Antochod v'lo v'chushban. You are one, but not in count. Am Yisrael and HaKodesh Baruch Hu are one. The essential bond between Hashem and Am Yisrael is beyond comparison with the perfection of the world's refinement. We continue now from a sicha which the Rebbe delivered on the 15th of Av, Tov Shin Lam Advav, 1976. The Rebbe begins as explained in the discourses, various discourses in Chassidus.

07:08 The concept of 11 is analogous to the 11 ingredients of the Ktedes, the incense which are associated with Yom Kippur. When the service of Ktedes was performed with finely ground incense. Dako me'la dako. This corresponds to the concept of teshuva, repentance. The service of teshuva transcends even the general completeness of the service of tzaddikim, which in general is represented by the ten sefirot and is expressed as ten and not eleven, just like the halachic rule of eser, achad esre, as it's mentioned in Sefer Yetzirah. In contrast, about teshuva is on an even higher level, since his willful sins become merits and he takes the 11 ingredients of the Ktedes and turns them into holiness, even to the level of dako me'la dako, finely ground, corresponding to the idea of once a year he shall atone with all the elements of atonement that are present in this concept. We will, mitzvashem, continue in the next installment.