Parshas Maaseiy^[1]

1^st Mamar “Eileh Maseiy Bnei Yisrael”

1. Eileh Maseiy Bnei Yisrael:^[2]
2. A great rule service of G-d – The need for a Rebbe:

The opening verse of this week’s portion begins with the words “and these are the journeys of the Jewish people who left Egypt in the hands of Moshe and Aaron.” A further verse of Scripture states “and you lead the flock of your nation in the hands of Moshe and Aaron.” The following is a great rule in the service of G-d, that anyone who desires to become close to G-d then he must make sure that his heart is completely cleansed without any blemishes, following the verse “who shall go up to the mountain of G-d, those who are of clean hands and clear hearts, one who doesn’t elevate his soul for no purpose.” Hence, one should not attempt to elevate his soul in the ways of G-d for vanity and falsehood, G-d forbid. [Meaning, that if one has yet to achieve a completely cleansed heart, then he should not attempt to elevate himself to areas and levels that he cannot reach, as this will be an elevation of vanity and falsehood. Likewise, that he should not try to elevate himself in service of G-d for reasons of vanity and falsehood.] Now, certainly this level of service of G-d is very deep, and hence who is able to achieve it? So, the answer is that indeed on one’s own it is impossible for one to reach such a level, however, it is able to be reached through the help of Moshe and Aaron. This is the inner meaning behind the above verse of Scripture, that is not possible for the Jewish people to leave their personal Egypt, which are the constraints of evil within his soul, without the help and leadership of Moshe and Aaron. If a person attempts to elevate himself above without Moshe and Aaron he will never be successful.

Moshe Shushvinin Dimalka: How do Moshe and Aaron assist the person in reaching G-d and elevating his soul? This is through them feeding the soul of the individual with the aspect of Moshe and Aaron which refers to the Torah and Mitzvah’s. Moshe is the escort of the king, which refer to the attributes in the world of Atzilus, from which the 248 positive commands derive. Likewise, Moshe comes from Daas and Chochmah of Atzilus, which is from where the Torah derives. Hence, one must first introduce the aspect of Moshe, Torah and Mitzvah’s, for the sake of then elevating his soul to G-d in prayer. Now, how does Moshe being in the escort of the king connect with the idea of Mitzvos? So the purpose of an escort by a wedding is to escort the groom to unite with his bride. This is likewise the function of the Torah and Mitzvah’s, to draw down the light of G-d to below to make for them a dwelling place below. For example, when a person wears a Tallis and Tzitzis in the morning he draws upon himself the G-dly energy that is found within the Mitzvah, and causes the encompassing light of G-d to surround him.

Aaron Shushvinisa Dimatronisa: Aaron is the escort of the Queen which refers to the attribute of Malchus, and represents the love of G-d that is aroused during prayer. Accordingly one needs both the level of Moshe and Aaron in order to accomplish elevation and service of G-d.

Which comes first: Just like in scripture at times the name of Moshe is written before the name of Aaron and at times name of Aaron are mentioned before the name of Moshe, so too it is regarding service of G-d. At times one must precede Torah and Mitzvah’s to one’s prayer, in order to be able to pray with love, while at other times one must first arouse love in his prayer and only then is he to proceed with the study of Torah and Mitzvah’s.

• The Divine lesson: A most glaring lesson shines from the above teaching. Although Moshe and Aaron in the above teaching are interpreted to refer to Torah and Mitzvah’s and prayer, certainly, it does not leave the simple explanation which is the personalities of Moshe and Aaron as leaders. Thus, the teaching is saying that it is not possible for one to truly elevate himself to the mountain of G-d without the assistance of a Moshe, and Rebbe. The Rebbe escorts his followers in service of G-d and helps them leave their personal Egypt and skeletons of their heart. This is a most fundamental aspect in the teachings of Chassidus and one of the great revolutions of Judaism infiltrated by the Baal Shem Tov, the concept of a Rebbe.

1. The two forms of evil:

There exist two different forms of evil. One is actually evil which includes even light Rabbinical prohibitions of the sages which are nevertheless considered complete evil. The second type of evil is a desire for the permitted, as even regarding the permissible our sages teach us that one is to sanctify himself with the permitted and one is not to be a glutton [i.e. Naval] with the permission of the Torah, as written in the commentary of the Ramban.

1. What comes first; Wisdom or fear of G-d?

There is a known saying of our Sages “If there is no fear there is no wisdom, and if there is no wisdom there is no fear.” Now, seemingly, this is self-contradictory, as how is one to begin? No matter which of the two the person starts with, it will be deemed invalid being that he did not precede the other. So, the explanation is as follows: The two fears and wisdoms in the statement refer to two distinct types of fears and wisdom’s, and are not one and the same. The two fears relate to the two different forms of evil explained above. Our sages state that whoever has fear of heaven precede his wisdom then his wisdom is established. This refers to fear of actual sin which is the first type of evil discussed above. Certainly, one must precede this type of fear from actual sin to the study of Torah, as a person of pure eyes does not look at evil, and a matter of evil is considered an abomination of G-d and there is no need for any wisdom to avoid this type of evil. However, to attain fear for the second type of evil, which is a lust for the permitted, one must first precede it with wisdom, which is the aspect of Moshe and Aaron, Torah and Mitzvos. When a person performs a Mitzvah he draws upon himself the G-dly energy that is found within the Mitzvah, and causes the encompassing light of G-d to surround him. This then causes his lust for even the permissible evil to melt away, as it states that evil melts in face of holiness as wax melts in face of fire.

1. How to overcome a lust for the permitted:

[Is it truly that simple to get rid of one’s desire for the permitted pleasures, by simply learning Torah and performing Mitzvah’s? Many people do so and still have a lust for the permitted. Hence, the Alter Rebbe explains this matter a bit deeper:] It is not the mere performance of Mitzvah’s that melts away the lust for the permitted, but rather also the contemplation of the aspect of Moshe which is Daas. A person should contemplate the fact that he indeed is one with G-d. Now, our sages teach us that a person does not transgress a sin unless a spirit of insanity enters into him. This is because no Jew, even of the lowest level, desires to remove the yoke of heaven from him, and hence even he is willing to give up his life for the sanctity of G-d’s name and no contemplation is required prior to doing so. The mere fact that he knows if he contains a portion of G-d within him suffices for him to give up his life. Now, whenever a person thinks or speaks of material matters that are not relevant for service of G-d he separates himself from this oneness with G-d. There is no Jew who would actually desire this, just as no father would agree for his son to be taken away from him. This then is the meaning of the command “sanctify yourself with what is permitted to you,” as the “you” here is referring to the animal soul, as indeed to the G-dly soul it is forbidden being that it separates one from his attachment to G-d. Contemplating this concept will assist one in overcoming his passion for the permitted.

2^nd Mamar “Eileh Maseiy Bnei Yisrael”

2. Eileh Maseiy Bnei Yisrael:^[3]

See Volume 1 of our Chassidishe Parsha Likkutei Torah Series under Parshas Maaseiy where we covered the following matters of this Mamar in detail:

1. The Question
2. The enemies in the desert
3. Turning the desert into Eretz Yisrael
4. The greatness of Eretz Yisrael-Receives the “Shefa of Yetzira”
5. The governing angels
6. Impurity of the Diaspora: The practical difference between the Shefa received in Eretz Yisrael versus the Diaspora
7. In the future the Diaspora will become like Eretz Yisrael
8. The level of Eretz Yisrael in the future
9. The purpose of the travels
10. Why specifically 42 journeys
11. Why did Hashem create the Kelipos to begin with

1. The Jewish people are a sheep and lamb:

The general souls of Israel are referred to by the name Rachel as it says “and Rachel cries over her sons.” Likewise, it says “like a lamb is quiet in front of those who shear her wool.” The Lamb is the only animal that has its wool sheared and that agrees to allow itself to be sheared without kicking at the person. This corresponds to the attribute of Malchus which allows for all of the Kelipos to nurture off of it. Nevertheless, they only nurture from the hairs of Malchus and not from the essence of its attribute. This is the meaning of the statement that the Lamb is quiet when its wool is sheared, as it is hinting to the idea that the attribute of Malchus does not give to the forces of evil in a way of speaking which represents a large G-dly revelation of the Asara Mamaros, and rather gives to them only in the way of hairs. Now, as for the reason that the Jewish people themselves are considered like a lamb, and not just the attribute of Malchus which they correspond to, is because the G-dly soul that is found in the body of a Jew is a mere glimmer of his soul that remains above. This is similar to the hair of wool which is a mere glimmer of energy of the lamb.

1. Fear within love:

A well-known Kabbalistic concept is the concept of incorporation or Hiskalelus in which every attribute contains an aspect of its counterpart, such as severity within kindness, and kindness within severity. How is this found? So, in the attribute of love and kindness is included an aspect of severity and fear. One who is in love with G-d fears sinning against Him which would separate him from his unity. He fears transgressing any sin even if it is a light Rabbinical prohibition, as all sins separate one from G-d. It also includes the aspect of compassion which can be aroused if one contemplates the depth of darkness that His G-dly soul is found in within his body, as will be explained next.

1. No worries while sleeping:

The Jewish soul descended and became invested within the body and animal soul. As a result of this descent it thinks and worries about bodily matters, including making an income and quenching his lusts. This can be readily seen from the fact that when a person is sleeping he does not have any worries and when he wakes up all the worries return. [This shows that the worries come from the animal soul as when the G-dly soul leaves the body during sleep, it does not have any worries.] Now, the reason that the body is able to think of mundane activity even when the G-dly soul is within it, is because the body only contains a mere glimmer of the G-dly soul as explained above.

1. The Jewish people are the most brazen of the nations:

[Above we stated that Jewish people are compared to a lamb. This can imply that the Jewish people are weak and lack strength and courage to stand up to oppressors, both physical and spiritual. Indeed, there were periods in our history where we were killed like lambs awaiting slaughter. In truth, however, our lamb like nullification is only regards to G-d, that we are willing to accept death for the sake of G-d and His holy name without making any sound of protest. However, with regards to the Gentile nations and the side of evil, we are considered the most brazen of the nations.] A Jew must practice the attribute of Nitzachon, victory, in the service of G-d. This refers to the hidden love that is found in the heart of every single Jew from birth. This is the source of the Jewish stubbornness and is the reason for why we are called a stubborn nation. This is also why the sages state that there are three brazen matters, and the first is the Jewish people amongst the nations. This is because the Jewish people by nature are stubborn and strong in their attribute of victory against evil as a result of their great love of G-d. Their love for G-d is not dependent on any reason or intellectual comprehension, and is a stubborn love for G-d without reason or logic. It is this aspect of brazenness and desire of victory that Hashem showed Yaakov Avinu when he revealed to him that there would be later generations which would not have any love of G-d at all even after contemplation due to their brains inability to comprehend.

3^rd Mamar “Livaer Inyan Hamasaos Bamidbar”

3. Livaer Inyan Hamasaos Bamidbar:^[4]
4. Israel will spread to the whole world and Jerusalem to the entire Israel:

Our sages relate a most strange matter that will occur in the future, that the holy land of Israel will become spread upon the entire world and that the city of Jerusalem will spread throughout all of the land of Israel. [What does this mean? Will all of the settlements and buildings and houses of the Diaspora be squashed and destroyed under the land of Israel which spreads over them? What about all the cities outside Jerusalem, will they be squashed and destroyed under the spread of Jerusalem? So, obviously the above does not refer to a physical spreading of the land of Israel or the city of Jerusalem to the above locations which would bring destruction to the world, but rather to its spiritual concept.] The intent of the statement is that in the future era the entire world will be on the level of the holy land of Israel of today and that the holy land of Israel of the future era will be of the holy level of Jerusalem of today. From this it can be deduced that the level of holiness that Jerusalem will contain in the future era is much greater and higher than its current level. All this is a result of the fact that in the future era there will be an elevation of the worlds. To understand this matter deeper we must first introduce the greatness of the holy land of Israel and Jerusalem of today versus the land of the Diaspora.

The impurity of the Diaspora: It is explained in the writings of the Arizal that the land of the Diaspora receives its divine energy from the level of Malchus of Atzilus through it becoming invested within the level of Malchus of each of the four worlds, Beriya, Yetzira, Assiya. This causes a contraction and concealment of the Divine light and makes it be subject to the laws of nature, making it appear as if it is not coming from G-d, hence giving room for idolatry and apostasy. It is for this reason that the sages decreed impurity upon the air of the land of the Diaspora as the world of Assiya is the ultimate of concealment of G-dliness from which the forces of evil nurture from and lead to belief in idolatry.

The holiness of Israel: In the holy land of Israel the divine energy that is drawn from the level of Malchus of Atzilus enters into the land after it becomes invested within the level of Malchus of only Beriya and Yetzira, and is not invested within the Malchus of Assiya. [This causes the Divine light to arrive in a less adulterated fashion, hence giving special divine providence and an above nature feature to the land.] It is for this reason that the sages did not decree impurity upon the air of the holy land of Israel, as its air and earth is holy, as it does not conceal the G-dly energy as much. Now, although certainly even the land of Israel must have its divine energy pass through the minister of the world of Assiya who rules over the holy land in order for it to be delivered to it, nonetheless, this is a mere package delivery which does not change or modify at all the divine energy which arrived from Yetzira. In the jargon of Kabbalah and Chassidus this is known as Derech Havara in contrast to Derech Hislavshus.

The Diaspora of the future: In the future era the entire world will become refined and there will no longer be any concealment at all of G-dliness, as the verse states “and I will remove the spirit of impurity from the land.” At that time, even the land of the idol worshipers will become refined, as it states that at that time G-d will transform the speech of the nations to call the name of G-d and serve Him with one shoulder. At that time, even the land in the Diaspora will receive their divine energy from the level of Yetzira just like the land of Israel of today, although then too it will need to be delivered through the level of Assiya. This is the inner meaning behind the statement that in the future era the land of Israel will spread throughout the entire world, as it refers to the level of holiness that it will receive from which will be similar to Israel of today.

Israel of the future: In the future era the land of Israel will receive from a higher level than it is today [and will be on par with the level of Jerusalem of today, while Jerusalem itself will receive an even higher level than today].

The purpose of the travels of the Jewish people in the desert for 40 years: The purpose of the Jewish people traveling for 40 years in the desert together with the Aron Habris was to vacuum and banish the evil forces from the desert in order so the world can eventually become capable of receiving from the level of Malchus of Yetzira in the future era.

[1] Likkutei Torah p. 88a-96b

[2] Likkutei Torah p. 88a-b

[3] Likkutei Torah p. 88a-b

[4] Likkutei Torah p. 88a-b