1. Basically Believers.

"First[201] of all, a statement from royalty."[202] In the spirit of the way this phrase was understood by my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz],[203] let us open with one of his brief teachings.

In the maamar for Pesach[204] which begins with the words,[205] BeEtzem HaYom HaZeh Yatzu Kol Tzivos HaShem MeiEretz Mitzrayim ("On that very day it came to pass, that all the hosts of G-d went out of the Land of Egypt"), the Rebbe [Rayatz] explains why at the time of the Exodus the Jewish people are called tzivos HaShem -- "the hosts (lit., 'the armies') of G-d." At that time, he explains, their divine service was not merely that of a servant (avodas eved), which entails toil and exertion but not self-sacrifice. Rather, they had attained the level of an army, standing guard at their respective posts with self-sacrifice. "They[206] were vigilant in being distinguished[207] there, changing neither their names nor their language nor their garb;[208] they stood their ground with the utmost fortitude."

In a recent letter, someone pointed out that this teaching would appear to contradict another teaching of the Sages -- that [on the eve of the Exodus, the charge was leveled in the Heavenly Court that][209] "those [i.e., the Egyptians] are idolaters, but so, too, are these [i.e., the Children of Israel]."

On a straightforward level, one could resolve this seeming contradiction by noting that the latter quotation refers not to actual idolatry but to their belief in a compound Divinity.[210] Such a belief was not then forbidden to the Jewish people, since at the time of the Exodus, before the Giving of the Torah, they were classified as "descendants of Noah." (This is explained in Sefer HaMitzvos by the Tzemach Tzedek, in the discourse [on the Unity of G-d] entitled Mitzvas Achdus HaShem.[211])

At the level of pnimiyus, the innermost dimension of the Torah, this solution is not satisfactory. It does not appear reasonable that the Torah should praise the Jewish people by referring to them as an army that goes to the point of self-sacrifice in guarding its faith in G-d, when the subject of that faith is [not a Unity but] a compound Divinity.

We must therefore conclude that their faith was complete. (Witness the statement of Rashi:[212] "They did not say, 'How shall we go out into the wilderness without provisions?' Rather, they believed and went forth.") At the same time, however, the sitra achra caused alien thoughts, doubts that questioned their faith in G-d, to fall into their minds. (This is explained in Tanya.[213]) This alien intervention did not (G-d forbid) weaken the vigor of the faith that welled from the essence of their souls.

In this connection one is reminded of the individual who entered the study of the Tzemach Tzedek and complained that his head was occasionally visited by doubting thoughts.

"Why should that worry you?" asked the Tzemach Tzedek.

"But Rebbe," he exclaimed, "I'm a Jew!"

"Then everything's in order...," responded the Tzemach Tzedek.

This exchange recalls the situation of our forefathers at the time of the Exodus.

2. Descent as a Mask for Ascent.

In the sichah [delivered by the Rebbe Rayatz] on Lag BaOmer, 5701 [1941],[214] published this year in Kuntreis Lag BaOmer[215]), it is explained that Lag BaOmer is related to the Sefirah[216] of Tiferes;[217] indeed, to the ultimate expression of that Sefirah, which is called Tiferes shebeTiferes. This means[218] that when the 49 combinations of the seven Sefiros are matched with the respective 49 days of the Omer, then in addition to the downward direction,[219] beginning with Chessed shebeChessed and ending with Malchus shebeMalchus (according to which Beis Iyar (today's date) relates to Tiferes shebeTiferes and Lag BaOmer relates to Hod shebeHod[220]), there also exists the inverse, upward direction,[221] beginning with Malchus shebeMalchus and ending with Chessed shebeChessed (according to which Beis Iyar (today's date) relates to Hod shebeHod, and Lag BaOmer relates to Tiferes shebeTiferes).

This duality may be briefly explained as follows.

The ultimate intent of the downward direction of avodah is that the lower party be thereby elevated. In other words, within this mode of avodah (milmaalah lematah) there lies concealed an intended ascent (milmatah lemaalah).

This is reflected in the Counting of the Omer. Sefiras HaOmer is a sequel and a corollary to the Exodus from Egypt, which is related to the downward direction that characterizes the avodah of tzaddikim (in contrast to Elul and Tishrei, which are related to the upward direction that characterizes the avodah of baalei teshuvah).[222] Hence Sefiras HaOmer too follows a downward direction of avodah, and in this lies concealed the intended ascent of the lower party.

Overtly, therefore, the scheme of the Sefiros in the Counting of the Omer follows a downward direction -- and in this scheme the upward direction lies concealed in the transcendent manner which is called makkif.[223]

More particularly, this scheme may be perceived in the relationship between the Sefiros of Tiferes and Hod.

Tiferes and Hod are interrelated, for both are related to the concept of beauty.[224] Moreover, as is known [in the Kabbalah],[225] Tiferes in a higher Sefirah becomes the Keser of a lower Sefirah. In our case, this means that when a Sefirah at a higher level contemplates the beauty (Tiferes shebeTiferes) that will come into being by means of a lower Sefirah, it (so to speak) desires to descend to the lower Sefirah even though the latter Sefirah is still incomparably lower, and then it is in fact elicited into the lower Sefirah (i.e., into the Sefirah of Hod shebeHod, as is explained in the Siddur Im Dach, in Shaar HaLag BaOmer[226]).

On the actual and overt level, therefore, the sequence is such that the higher Sefirah descends to the lower, with Tiferes shebeTiferes preceding Hod shebeHod. However, from the perspective of the underlying intent concealed in the descent (i.e., the beauty that will come into being by means of the lower Sefirah), the sequence is such that Hod shebeHod (the downward descent) is followed by Tiferes shebeTiferes (for it is by virtue of the downward descent that consummate beauty comes into being).[227]

3. Severity as a Mask for Kindness.

In the Siddur Torah Or, the Sefirah for the twenty-ninth day of the Omer appears [by mistake] as Hod shebeChessed, which the Rebbe [Rayatz] corrected in his Siddur to Chessed shebeHod.

As is well known,[228] everything in the world occurs by Divine Providence,[229] particularly a matter involving the Torah and its commandments. Accordingly, the following thought could be suggested:

In the time of exile, especially in the era that can hear the approaching "footsteps of Mashiach,"[230] a Nasi of Israel has to write [i.e., indelibly confirm] the words Chessed shebeHod -- "the Chessed which is [concealed] in Hod."[231] (Cf. the discussion in Likkutei Torah, Parshas Masei,[232] of the phrase,[233] "And Moshe wrote.")

4. Being Connected.

In the customary wording of the pidyon in which people request the Rebbe [Rayatz] to arouse Divine compassion on their behalf, I would, if I could, delete the following words: "...from the Source of Mercy..., as in the prayer beginning Machnisei Rachamim,[234] as explained in the responsum of Mahariv Zal."[235] There are two reasons for this:

1. The appended words ("as in... Machnisei Rachamim, as explained in the responsum of Mahariv Zal") cite why it is permissible (when it might otherwise appear to involve an intermediary) to address a pidyon to a Rebbe; this is explained in the responsum of Mahariv Zal on the recitation of Machnisei Rachamim. These appended words are thus not appropriate in the wording of a pidyon, which is a request for compassion (as in its opening phrase, "I request that you arouse abundant mercies"), and not an exposition of why this is permissible.

2. As to the phrase miMekor HaRachamim ("from the Source of Mercy"), there is no need to supply the Rebbe [Rayatz] with an address from which to arouse Divine compassion: he knows that himself.... In fact, he may wish to arouse Divine compassion from a level of Divinity which transcends the level known as Mekor HaRachamim.

It is true that the Rebbe [Rayatz] himself used to use this wording.[236] That, however, was his own practice; it does not indicate that we, who do not understand Rebbe-things, should do likewise.

A few days ago a young man walked in and told me excitedly that my father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], had once told him that by being bound to him, he would thereby be bound to Him to Whom he (the Rebbe himself) was bound....

I did not want to cool his ardor, but the truth is, that to Whom the Rebbe is bound is not our concern. We are bound to him, and we have nothing higher than that.

By way of analogy: It could legitimately be said that a particular organ derives its vitality from the liver, or (higher) from the heart, or (yet higher) from the brain; it could not be said (or thought) that any organ derives its vitality from the brain of a different body. A living organ that desires to survive and not to wither, G-d forbid, has to derive its vitality from its own brain.

The same principle applies to hiskashrus, to one's bond with the Rebbe, who is the head (the brain, so to speak) and the transcendent crown (the Keser) of our generation.

5. Receiving Essence, Repaying with Essence.

Receiving spiritual benefits from the Nasi of the generation obliges one to repay, just as a borrower obligates himself to repay a loan. This does not mean that once he has repaid he simply crosses off the debt; rather, on receiving his repayment, the creditor gives him a further sum on credit.[237] Likewise in the analog, the individual beneficiary is endowed with further spiritual energy, which in turn he is obligated to repay, and so on.

[At this point the Rebbe turned to the temimim, the students of the Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch Yeshivah, and said:]

Each one of you should know that he is obligated to make his repayment to my father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], with the innermost and essential faculties[238] of his soul -- his Chayah-Yechidah.

Firstly, all the various benefits that my father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], directs [to you] -- delivering maamarim, answering queries and so on, and including even the granting of stipends and the like -- share a common characteristic: they spring from his innermost and essential soul-faculties, from his Chayah-Yechidah.

---

By the way:[239] I was recently asked, in what way was the greatness of the Rebbe [Rayatz] expressed by comparison with other great figures. I answered that each of the gedolei Yisrael had a particular field in which he engaged and in which his greatness found expression; the Rebbe [Rayatz], by contrast, engaged in all fields, from the loftiest to the most prosaic. (In the idiom of our Sages,[240] "What is meant by 'a great subject'? -- the Celestial Chariot [in the vision of Yechezkel]; what is meant by 'a lesser subject'? -- the legal debates of Abbaye and Rava.") These fields ranged from the uncovering of the most hidden mysteries in the teachings of Chassidus, to a concern that fellow Jews should put on tefillin and observe Shabbos, to utterly material matters such as organizing financial support for the needy. And in every one of these fields he dedicated himself with his entire essence, with his Chayah-Yechidah.

(The above question was asked by two young men -- both ordained with Rabbinical semichah, no less -- and when they heard the above reply they took out a notebook, wrote it down, and commented, "Now we know what the Rebbe is." So you see, now they've got the Rebbe down on paper....)

---

As we were saying: The above-mentioned common characteristic -- that all the benefits spring from Chayah-Yechidah -- relates to the giver, to the mashpia. However, with relation to the hashpaah itself, that is, to the downflow of spiritual energy, and likewise, with relation to its recipients, there is a variety of levels.

In this respect the yeshivah students have a distinctive advantage: they receive the Rebbe's Chayah-Yechidah, and are therefore obligated to repay with their own Chayah-Yechidah.

One might argue that the repayment which they make with their soul-levels of Chayah-Yechidah cannot be compared with the Chayah-Yechidah of my father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz]. This objection can be answered by considering the following point made in the teachings of Chassidus.[241] When the Torah commands a Jew,[242] "You shall love the L-rd your G-d... with all your might," it is true that this involves no more than "all your might." Nevertheless, this very endeavor empowers the finite individual to draw on G-d's true might, which in essence is infinite. An analogous principle applies to the repayment which the temimim make with their soul-levels of Chayah-Yechidah, in response to the spiritual input invested in them from the Chayah-Yechidah of my father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz].

6. A Little Different from the World.

Repaying this debt with one's Chayah-Yechidah finds expression in the way in which one frees himself from constraints -- both from his own inbuilt constraints, and also (and how much more so) from the constraints imposed by worldly considerations.

Apart from the particular spiritual tasks that are certainly expected of each individual student here, there is one universal task that is relevant to everyone -- to separate oneself from worldly considerations, in the spirit of the verse,[243] "I and Your people shall be differentiated." When any one of the students of Tomchei Temimim walks down the street, it should be apparent that he is somewhat differentiated from the world around him.

---

When my father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], arrived in the United States, there were complaints -- not against the actual study undertaken in the Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah which he founded here, but against the fact that it was conducted without the conventional forms of order and authority. He was told that this was a chaotic kind of conduct, which cheapened the entire environment. One gentleman -- in fact, a G-d-fearing individual -- wrote to him that the actual studies in the Yeshivah were fine, and that as far as he was concerned the young men there could study even twenty hours a day. At the same time, he argued, they should study with more decorum. Why, for example, did they have to sway[244] as they studied? Why did they have to argue out their studious debates so loudly? Why should they not follow the custom of raising a finger before asking a question? And so on.

As was said above, however, the students of the Yeshivah are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that is differentiated from the world, that transcends constraints.

7. A Good Start.

This day, Beis Iyar,[245] adds its own impetus to these efforts. My father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], chose to begin the writing of the Sefer Torah with which to greet Mashiach,[246] on this day, whose Sefirah is Tiferes shebeTiferes. (There is also a letter written by my father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], and dated 2 Iyar, 5702, which I will pass on for copying and publication.[247])

As is well known,[248] every Jew has a letter in the Sefer Torah. This is hinted at in the five Hebrew letters which spell Yisrael, and which serve as an acronym[249] for the words, "There are 600,000 letters in the Torah." Accordingly, this day, Beis Iyar, the day on which the writing of the Sefer Torah began, serves as a kind of birthday, and therefore as a beginning for the divine service, of every individual Jew.

8. Networking.

Getting down to practicalities -- for with my father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], what mattered most was actual, practical avodah -- I would like to propose that every one of the students present undertake two things:

1. With regard to himself, an activity by means of which his hiskashrus with my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], will be strengthened;

2. With regard to others, an endeavor to bring at least one fellow Jew -- whether a single student or a married adult -- close to the Rebbe [Rayatz] and to the spiritual lifestyle of Chassidus, so that he will delve deeply into its teachings and meditate upon them at length as he engages in the avodah of prayer.[250]

9. Mere Miracles.

When one sets out to bring a fellow Jew close to the Rebbe [Rayatz] and to the spiritual lifestyle of Chassidus, one can begin in many ways, including the recounting of miracles, and the like. The ultimate aim, however, should be to bring him close to the study of the teachings of Chassidus, for this is the essential aspect[251] -- the Chayah-Yechidah -- of the Rebbe, whereas miracle-working is merely an outward reflection[252] of the Rebbe.[253]

Hiskashrus, one's bond with the Rebbe, is basically unconnected to miracles and the like. Indeed, hiskashrus neither needs miracles nor is benefited by them -- in both directions: seeing miracles adds nothing to one's hiskashrus, and not seeing a miracle (for a day, or a week, or a month) detracts nothing from one's hiskashrus. The fact is, that if one were so to desire, he could see that my father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], related to him even in his natural affairs in a manner that involved miracles day-by-day -- but there is no need for this [awareness] at all, nor should one be overawed by it.

---

By way of illustration: An[254] agunah, a deserted wife, accompanied by her son, who was dumb, once set out to request the blessing of the Tzemach Tzedek. Try as she might, however, she was unable to gain admission to his study, even after having pleaded with the rebbitzin (as was the custom of the women visitors of the time). An enterprising chassid advised her to write out her request and give the note to her son. Then, when no one was in the room, he would hide under the table in the room where yechidus took place, and when the Tzemach Tzedek entered, he would hand it to him. And that is exactly what happened.

When the Tzemach Tzedek received the note, he said: "Go and tell your mother that your father is in such-and-such a place." So both of them were helped -- the boy began to talk, and his mother found her husband.

When chassidim came and excitedly told the Tzemach Tzedek that by relaying this message the boy had spoken for the first time, he replied: "But how was I to know that the boy was dumb?..."

When his rebbitzin heard this story -- and she, like all the daughters of the Mitteler Rebbe, was a woman of mellow understanding -- she showed no signs of amazement. She simply quoted the words of her grandfather, the Alter Rebbe: "In Mezritch [at the court of the Maggid], miracles used to roll about under the table, but no one found the time to bend down and pick them up...."

---

Nevertheless, if there is a need, then as far as others are concerned, one may begin to bring them near by this means too -- by recounting miracles. The ultimate aim, however, as explained above, should be to introduce them to the study of the teachings of Chassidus.

10. Holy Excuses.

Let no one be perturbed by the argument (for example) that if, in addition to his own spiritual tasks, he undertakes responsibility to help his fellow, the lost time will weaken his own avodah.

First of all: A man who sees his friend drowning in the sea doesn't pause to make calculations; he makes every effort humanly possible to save him. The same applies to spiritual outreach: when a man has to be saved, there's no time for any calculations whatever.

Secondly: Not only is one's own avodah not affected adversely by activities for the benefit of one's fellow; quite the contrary, these activities actually enhance one's own efforts at self-improvement. This is stated explicitly by the Sages[255] in their exposition of the verse,[256] "G-d illumines the eyes of them both": G-d grants enlightenment not only to the Torah student, but to his teacher too.

Besides: Exerting oneself for the sake of another is extolled by the Sages in these terms:[257] "Whoever teaches Torah to another's son is regarded by Scripture as having brought him into the world."

Both directions have to be pursued -- on the one hand, studying Chassidus and laboring at self-refinement, and on the other hand, working at outreach.

I once told a learned young man who came to see me that we have to extinguish the conflagration that is running wild in the streets. The learned young man replied that this was a fit occupation for businessmen and diamond dealers; as for himself, he ought to engage only in the study of the Torah. After fifteen years of industrious study he would be "a famed posek among Jews," and then Lubavitch would have whom to be proud of....

In response I told him that when a fire is raging, you don't stop to make calculations. As to his concern that our community should also be graced by eminent scholars,[258] the Alter Rebbe's blessing will certainly be fulfilled -- that "it is in the chassidic community that eminent scholars will be found." This can be proved by a kal vachomer argument, a fortiori: The Alter Rebbe did not want impudent folk among his chassidim, and yet they are present; how much more is it certain that eminent scholars, whom the Alter Rebbe did want among his chassidim, will be present....

11. To Make One More Jew.

My revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], once told me a story about the Alter Rebbe[259] which is most instructive on the subject of exerting oneself for the sake of another's spiritual advancement.

One Yom Kippur, after Shacharis, the Alter Rebbe took off his tallis and kittel, walked to the edge of town, chopped wood, and cooked some soup for a woman who had just given birth. (When he was asked why he had to do this himself when he could have sent along someone else, he replied that when a life has to be saved[260] by an apparent desecration of Shabbos or Yom-Tov, the law stipulates that the mitzvah devolves upon the person of highest stature[261] -- and he found no one more eligible.)

The Rebbe [Rayatz] concluded by commenting that this story was not always spoken of [by the preceding Rebbeim] -- sometimes yes and sometimes no, but they certainly had no desire to publish it.

He nevertheless told me this story, knowing full well that I would not succeed in withholding it from other Jews, together with some explanation of its message.

In terms, of avodah, then, this story may be understood as follows:

The level at which the Alter Rebbe functioned while garbed in his tallis and kittel (resembling an angel[262]) on Yom Kippur, after the morning prayers, can only be guessed at. Despite this, he took off his tallis and kittel, and made his way to the last cottage at the edge of the town, near the fields. Fields are an allusion to the lowest level within the realm of holiness, a level which neighbors the kelipah, as in the verse,[263] "Esau... was a man of the fields." And why did the Alter Rebbe go through all this? -- In order to help a woman in confinement and her infant; in other words, to make one more Jew.[264]

From this episode everyone in the chassidic community can learn the crucial and indispensable importance of working with others. Let every individual therefore resolve to intensify his endeavors -- both with regard to himself, and with regard to introducing others too to the teachings of Chassidus.[265]

   

Notes:

201. (Back to text) This sichah was delivered by the Rebbe in 5710 [1950], on the eve of Beis Iyar, the date on which the Rebbe Maharash was born in 1834.

202. (Back to text) In the Heb. original, pos'chin bidvar malchus.

203. (Back to text) See the sichah of Lag BaOmer, 5708 [1948] (which appears in the original Heb./Yid. edition of Likkutei Dibburim, Vol. III, p. 514a, and in its Eng. translation: Vol. IV, ch. 30); and the sichah of Yud-Beis Tammuz, 5708 [1948] (which appears in Sefer HaMaamarim 5709 [1949], p. 199).

204. (Back to text) See Sefer HaMaamarim 5710 [1950], p. 171ff.

205. (Back to text) Shmos 12:41.

206. (Back to text) Sefer HaMaamarim 5710 [1950], p. 176.

207. (Back to text) The term is borrowed from the Haggadah for Pesach.

208. (Back to text) See Mechilta, Parshas Bo 12:6; Pesikta Zutrasi, Parshas Va'eira 6:6; et al.

209. (Back to text) See Zohar II, 170b; Mechilta, Parshas Beshalach 14:28; Yalkut Reuveni, loc. cit., sec. 27.

210. (Back to text) In the original, shituf.

211. (Back to text) Sefer [Taamei] HaMitzvos is the subtitle of the work entitled Derech Mitzvosecha; see there, p. 59b ff. See also Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXI, p. 41, footnote 36, and sources listed there.

212. (Back to text) See his commentary on Shmos 12:39, and also on Devarim 32:10.

213. (Back to text) End of ch. 29.

214. (Back to text) Sefer HaSichos 5701 [1941], p. 116.

215. (Back to text) Incorporated in Sefer HaMaamarim 5710 [1950], p. 212.

216. (Back to text) See the Counting of the Omer in Siddur Tehillat HaShem, pp. 341-3. For orientation in the Kabbalistic terms used above, see: R. Jacob Immanuel Schochet, Mystical Concepts in Chassidism, ch. 3, on the Sefirot.

217. (Back to text) Lit., "beauty".

218. (Back to text) See footnote 1 of the above-mentioned sichah and the sources listed there.

219. (Back to text) In the original, milemaalah lematah (lit., "from above, downwards"); i.e., the order of Sefiros that begins (as in the Siddur) with Chessed shebeChessed, followed by Gevurah shebeChessed, and so on.

220. (Back to text) Hod literally means "splendor". In the present context, however, it is understood in another sense, as related to hodaah (i.e., unquestioning acknowledgment of G-d's sovereignty), and thus signifying avodah that stems from kabbalas ol.

221. (Back to text) In the original, milematah lemaalah (lit., "from below, upwards"); i.e., the order of Sefiros that begins with Malchus shebeMalchus, followed by Yesod shebeMalchus, and so on.

222. (Back to text) See Or HaTorah on Parshas Bo, s.v. HaChodesh (p. 277ff.); and elsewhere.

223. (Back to text) As documented in footnote 1 of the above-mentioned sichah, the upward direction of Sefiros (milmatah lemaalah) is related to makkifim. [-- Note by the Rebbe.]

224. (Back to text) See Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XII, p. 173ff.

225. (Back to text) See Likkutei Torah on Shir HaShirim, pp. 47d, 51a.

226. (Back to text) P. 304a ff.

227. (Back to text) See also the sichah of Lag BaOmer, 5710 [1950], sec. 6 (p. 98 below).

228. (Back to text) See the Hosafos (Addenda) to Keser Shem Tov, sec. 119ff., and the sources enumerated there.

229. (Back to text) In the original, hashgachah peratis.

230. (Back to text) In the original, ikvesa diMeshicha (cf. Sotah 9:15).

231. (Back to text) This concept -- the kindness (Chessed) which ultimately underlies visible manifestations of Divine severity (Hod, which is a derivative of the Sefirah of Gevurah) -- is clarified in the sichah of Pesach Sheni, 5710 [1950], sec. 2ff. (p. 75 below).

232. (Back to text) P. 91a ff.

233. (Back to text) Bamidbar 33:2.

234. (Back to text) The prayer appears toward the end of the Selichos read in the days preceding Rosh HaShanah. The quoted phrase refers to the angels who "usher in [prayers for] compassion."

235. (Back to text) See sec. 275. (Mahariv is an acronym for R. Yitzchak [ben Avraham] Wanneh, a Yemenite kabbalist.)

236. (Back to text) See the Igros Kodesh (Letters) of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. X, p. 432, and Vol. XI, p. 4. See also the Igros Kodesh (Letters) of the Rebbe Rashab, Vol. IV, p. 145.

237. (Back to text) As explained in Kuntreis Chai Elul 5709 [1949], reprinted in Sefer HaMaamarim 5709 [1949], p. 216ff.

238. (Back to text) In the original, kochos atzmi'im.

239. (Back to text) This interpolation (of two paragraphs) appears in Likkutei Sichos, Vol. II, pp. 508-9.

240. (Back to text) Sukkah 28a.

241. (Back to text) See Torah Or, Parshas Mikeitz, p. 39c ff.; Derech Mitzvosecha, p. 122b ff.

242. (Back to text) Devarim 6:5; in the original, b'chol m'odecha.

243. (Back to text) Shmos 33:16; in the original, v'niflinu ani v'amcha.

244. (Back to text) In the Yid. original, shoklen-zich.

245. (Back to text) The birthday of the Rebbe Maharash (1834); see HaYom Yom (with English translation: Kehot, N.Y., 1988), entry for 2 Iyar.

246. (Back to text) See Sefer HaSichos 5702 [1942], p. 118. In English, see From Exile to Redemption (Kehot, N.Y., 1992), Vol. I, pp. 94-97.

247. (Back to text) Igros Kodesh (Letters) of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. VI, p. 280ff. See also From Exile to Redemption, loc. cit.

248. (Back to text) See Sefer HaMaamarim 5706 [1946], p. 46; Sefer HaMaamarim 5709 [1949], pp. 41 and 64; et al.

249. (Back to text) Megaleh Amukos, Ofen 186.

250. (Back to text) This task is required not only with respect to those who are distant (spatially, and even more so in a spiritual sense). Even with respect to those who are nearby, and even within the Yeshivah itself, students should make a point of lending each other help and support.

     The above note is taken from the unauthenticated record which one of those present made of a statement by the Rebbe.

251. (Back to text) In the original, inyano haatzmi.

252. (Back to text) In the original, hispashtus.

253. (Back to text) Concerning the following passage, see also HaTamim, Vol. II, p. 56ff.; Igros Kodesh (Letters) of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. II, p. 361ff.

254. (Back to text) See Igros Kodesh, op. cit., p. 93ff.

255. (Back to text) Temurah 16a.

256. (Back to text) Mishlei 29:13.

257. (Back to text) Sanhedrin 19b.

258. (Back to text) In the original Heb./Yid., lomdim.

259. (Back to text) See also Sefer HaMaamarim -- Melukat, Vol. I, p. 7.

260. (Back to text) In the original, pikuach nefesh.

261. (Back to text) In the original, mitzvah begadol. Cf. Yoma 84b; the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 328:13.

262. (Back to text) The Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 610:9; 619:9.

263. (Back to text) Bereishis 25:27.

264. (Back to text) At this point the Rebbe went on to expound additional components of the story likewise in terms of avodah -- chopping the wood, cooking the soup -- but no record of this continued exposition is extant.

265. (Back to text) According to an unauthenticated note made by one of those present, the Rebbe concluded the above talk by saying: "The truth is, that people should be going out into the streets and crying out, 'Gevald, Yidden! For heaven's sake, fellow Jews! There exists something called the teachings of Chassidus, which G-d wants Jews to study so that Mashiach will come!' "