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I Will Write It In Their Hearts - Volume 4
A Treasury of Letters from the Lubavitcher Rebbe,
Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
Selections from Igros Kodesh


An analysis of the passage (Bava Basra 147a): �If the holiday of Shavuos is a clear day (without clouds), sow wheat�

Translated by: Rabbi Eli Touger

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  Texts of Chassidus sent to a followerTable of contentsEncouragement not to postpone one�s spiritual tasks  

No. 488

The text of this letter was sent to various individuals, personally addressed to each one.[357]
B"H, the days preceding the Shavuos holiday,[358] 5709

Greetings and blessings,

Your letter was received. I am [writing now] about a matter of present concern: the enclosed kuntreis for the coming Shavuos holiday. You will, no doubt, share it with others.

Among the concepts explained in this kuntreis: Our Sages state (Bava Basra 147a):[359] �If the holiday of Shavuos is a clear day (without clouds), sow wheat. Mar Zutra says: �When Shavuos is partly cloudy, sow wheat.� And the passage concludes: �The intent is neither clear, nor partly cloudy, but even a partly cloudy day when there is a north wind blowing[360] is considered as clear (and the crop of wheat will be successful).�

There are many points to be derived from the analysis of the passage; see the Talmud [and commentaries]. It is possible to offer the following explanation as a suggestion:

Wheat is �food for humans� (Pesachim 3b).[361] [This concept and the analogy] are described according to Chassidus at length in the maamarim associated with the Counting of the Omer and Shavuos (in Likkutei Torah, et al.).

Behold, �Man is born like a wild donkey.�[362] The yetzer hara and the animal soul within him have a pre-established claim.[363] �On the eve of the fourteenth [of Nissan]� � [in the analogue, i.e., with regard to the soul,] before one becomes bar-mitzvah � �we search for chametz.[364] Afterwards, due to an arousal from Above on His initiative, because �He desires Chessed,� one is granted powers from Above, ([as indicated by the expression] �the King of kings was revealed to them).[365] [Afterwards,] he must count [the days] of the Omer, [an offering of] barley, �animal fodder.� The ultimate goal is that he become an adam, a man, given that name because he is adamah l�Elyon [i.e., he] �resembles the One Above.�[366] This is accomplished through the Torah, [as it is written:][367] �This is the Torah: man...�; [this refers to] Shavuos, which follows the Counting of the Omer. [See] Likkutei Torah, et al., [for further details].

The Torah contains two opposite [thrusts]. From its own perspective, it comes as an arousal from Above without any [preceding] arousal from below at all. [This is indicated by the phrase:][368] �And G-d descended,� [which refers to] the revelation of His essence, [a level] that an arousal from below cannot reach. Also, the refinement that it [brings about] comes as a revelation from Above.

The intent, however, is that the refinement and the Divine service should involve material things. Therefore the Torah was given to beings who have a yetzer hara and who descended to Egypt (Shabbos 88b),[369] as explained at length in the enclosed kuntreis.[370]

This [explains] the allusions in our Sages� words in the passage from Bava Basra cited above. The order is extremely precise. [The weather on] the holiday of Shavuos serves as an indication of the nature of the crop of wheat that will be produced throughout the entire year. As the passage continues and explains: �If the holiday of Shavuos is a clear day....� [The reason the emphasis is on the heavens being clear is that] the Torah is a revelation from Above, unlike prayer. Rashi, in his commentary, makes an even more direct allusion, [citing the expression:][371] �Like the essence of the heavens in their purity.� This [points to] the refinement [brought about by] the direct light of the Torah as [it is revealed] from Above, as explained in Torah Or, Parshas Mishpatim, on this expression.[372]

�Mar Zutra�[373] [whose name indicates a connection] to �small matters � the dialectics of Abbaye and Ravva� (�who asked many questions and resolved them� � Rashbam, Bava Basra 134a) states that, nevertheless, Divine service is necessary in a place where it is partly cloudy � a mixture of good and evil � where �the sun and its shield, Havayah and Elokim,[374] are not entirely revealed.

[The passage continues:] �The Sages of Nehardea said� � [that city was so named because] it was �located on the river of the king� (Kiddushin 70b), i.e., the King of the world. (See Megillah 29a which explains that the Divine presence accompanied [the Jews into exile]. In Babylonia, it was revealed in Nehardea. This is also alluded to in Berachos 58b which states: �The paths of heaven are like the paths of Nehardea.�)

�In the name of Rav Yaakov� � ([The name] Yaakov implies that the Yud [identified with the Sefirah] of Chochmah is drawn down into the heel.)[375] [These Sages agree that] ultimately, the day must be clear. However, [there is a possibility for success,] even if it is partly cloudy at the outset, i.e., one begins his Divine service in a place where there is a mixture of good and evil, provided �there is a north wind blowing.� [In the analogue, this refers to] a higher revelation from Above upon which the world depends and it is constant (Bava Basra 25a). The fundamental time for [this revelation] is midnight, at which time [the north wind] blows alone (Berachos 3b; as is well known, [midnight] is associated with the phrase �And he encountered them at night,�[376] a revelation of the King of kings9 at midnight).[377] This [revelation] scatters the clouds, creating a clear day, which causes the wheat crop to be successful throughout the year. There is room for elaboration, but this is not the appropriate place.[378]

With wishes for receiving the Torah with happiness and inner feeling,

Menachem Schneerson

   

Notes:

  1. (Back to text) [See footnote 1 to Letter No. 472 on p. 119.]

  2. (Back to text) [Literally, the expression used by the Rebbe (�yamei hagbalah�) means �the days (when Mount Sinai) was cordoned off.�]

  3. (Back to text) [This was part of Achitophel�s advice to his sons on his deathbed.]

  4. (Back to text) [This will break up the clouds (Rashi).]

  5. (Back to text) [In contrast to barley which our Sages (loc. cit.) describe as �animal fodder.�]

  6. (Back to text) [Iyov 11:12.]

  7. (Back to text) [See Zohar I, p. 179a ff.; Koheles Rabbah 4:13.]

  8. (Back to text) [Pesachim 2a. Chametz is also used as an analogy for the yetzer hara.]

  9. (Back to text) [Haggadah Shel Pesach.]

  10. (Back to text) [Cf. Yeshayahu 14:14; Shelah, pp. 3a, 20b.]

  11. (Back to text) [Bamidbar 19:14.]

  12. (Back to text) [Shmos 19:20.]

  13. (Back to text) [There the Talmud explains that Moshe gave these reasons as a reply to the angels who asked that the Torah be given to them.]

  14. (Back to text) [See Sefer HaMaamarim 5709, p. 152.]

  15. (Back to text) [Shmos 24:10.]

  16. (Back to text) [Torah Or, Shmos, p. 78c.]

  17. (Back to text) [Zutra means �small.�]

  18. (Back to text) [Tehillim 84:12.]

  19. (Back to text) [See Pardes, Shaar 23, erech Yaakov; Torah Or, pp. 21a, 27b.]

  20. (Back to text) [See Bereishis 14:15 and Rashi�s commentary there.]

  21. (Back to text) [Toras Chayim, Shmos, p. 124b ff.]

  22. (Back to text) [See also Letter No. 490 which discusses some of these concepts.]


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