Devarim

The sicha for parshas Devarim is in Vol. II of Likkutei Sichos.

Shabbos Devarim always comes out on Shabbos Chazon, the Shabbos before Tisha B’ Av. And it is called Shabbos Chazon because of the Haftorah that is read then. But there is also the statement from Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev that on Shabbos Chazon the third Bais HaMikdash is shown from Above to every Jew. Chazon means a vision. However this vision is described as “re’eh m’rahok, a vision from far, because the word chazon, although it means a vision, implies a vision from a distance. 

The connection between Shabbos Chazon and parshas Devarim is as follows:

Parshas Devarim is the beginning of the fifth book of the Torah, also called Mishneh Torah. Although it is a part of Torah, it is somewhat different than the first four books. Mishneh Torah was said to the generation that went into Eretz Israel, whereas the first four were basically given to the generation that died out in the desert.  The people that went into Eretz Israel had to deal with a different reality, that didn't exist for the people that stayed in the desert.

The difference between the generation that went into the land and generation that stayed in the desert, is that the generation of the desert was called the dor deah, the generation of understanding of knowledge of G-dliness. They were on the level of Moshe Rabbeinu, who was able to see G-dliness. The generation of the desert is the one who saw the Giving of the Torah, the Splitting of the Sea, the miracles and the plagues in Egypt. They saw G-dliness. That was the level of Moshe. And therefore they had no connection, no relationship with the physicality and the worldliness of the earth.

The people that went into the land, they didn't see all these miracles, they were the generation born in the desert. They did not see the G-dliness. They were not the generation of knowledge of G-dliness on the level of vision, of seeing - dor deah  - by them G-dliness came through hearing rather than seeing. And that is why Moshe says to them, “ and now hear about G-dliness.” The difference between hearing and seeing, of course, is that when you see, you see without any restrictions, without any limitations. Once you see something, nothing can shake you from the impression that vision made on you – there can't be any doubts.

But when you hear something, even though you understand it clearly, and you have a mental picture of it, so that you are very familiar with what you heard, still there is some room for doubt and the understanding and the conviction that comes about from hearing can be weakened in time and through challenges.

And that is why Mishneh Torah was said to the generation that went into Eretz Israel. Since they are on a lower level, and there was a danger that they could develop doubts, or weakness in their commitment and attachment to G-dliness, they needed the words and the teachings of the Mishneh Torah to strengthen them and to prevent the weakening or the doubts from happening.

On the other hand, although this generation that went into land was lower than the previous generation, which is actually the case with all generations, yet in spite of the fact that they were lower, they had a certain virtue that made them greater than the previous generation, the generation of the desert. As it says concerning the generation of the desert, that that generation never really reached the level of G-dliness that is settled and permanent, as it was when the Bais HaMikdash was built or when the Mishkan was in Shilo. That happened only for the generation that did go in to Israel. And the reason for it is that the very fact that the Jews of the generation that went into Israel were descended into the lower level where they did involve themselves with physical things, through that descent, they were able to rise to a true higher level, which is a G-dliness that is settled and established.

So we see that in this Shabbos, in parshas Devarim, the beginning of Mishneh Torah, we have two opposite conditions coming together.  On the one hand, they had to be told in very critical terms, what their weaknesses were and what the dangers of their coming to the Land were and so on, which is what the book of Devarim is all about, and at the same time, this descent brought about a true aliyah, a true ascent.

The same is also true of Shabbos Chazon. In Shabbos Chazon, we also see two opposites. On the one hand, Shabbos Chazon is one of the Nine Days; in fact, it is the Shabbos before Tisha B’Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple.  On the other hand, through this yirada, this descent, and only through this yirada, can we come to the ultimate aliyah – the ultimate permanence of G-dliness, as the Berditchever said that Shabbos Chazon every Jew is shown Third Bais HaMikdash, the Third Temple which can never be destroyed, which is higher and greater than the previous two, which will be built speedily in our days by Moshiach.

We see here also there is a coming together of the descent that eventually leads to the greater ascent.

We spoke many times, the Rebbe says, about the fact that the sadness, which is associated with the Three Weeks, or the Nine Days, should not affect Shabbos.  Because on Shabbos we’re supposed to be b’simcha, joyful, and what’s more, on this Shabbos the simcha has to be greater than on a regular Shabbos, in order that there should be no doubt that the sadness of the Nine Days has crept into the Shabbos.

The explanation of this is Shabbos is a taste, a foretaste of the time of the World To Come, which is referred to as Yom she Kulo Shabbos, the permanent millennium of Shabbos and since in the time to come, through the geulah, the redemption, there will be nothing left, no impression left of the golus, the exile, all the pain and all the sadness of the golus will be completely removed, that's why on Shabbos also we have to remove all signs and all reminders of sadness and have only simcha. 

This explains only why on Shabbos you have to avoid things that are sad or that bring sadness. But why and in what way can the Shabbos be more joyful? So it is known that the geulah that comes after a golus leads to a much higher level than the level you were on before the golus.  Because if you go back only to the level that you were on before, then the golus didn't accomplish anything at all. This is true concerning every golus and every geulah – after a golus, the geulah is greater.

For example, with Egypt. The improvement, the increased G-dliness and goodness, that comes with the geulah after a golus, we see in Egypt, as a symbol of all the exiles, we see it there, in that during the golus in Egypt we were able to pick up the Divine sparks that were hidden there, which was the purpose for which we went into golus in the first place, so that if there was a geulah after the golus, we now have a state of G-dliness that includes the Divine sparks that were previously locked away or lost in the unholiness of Egypt. And that’s even in the geulah of Egypt, which was only a temporary geulah.

How much more so, when the permanent true geulah that we are going to have soon, this is a complete geulah, which is not followed by further golus, so here certainly the geulah puts us a level much higher than we were before the golus. It‘s a whole new world and it's a world in which golus not only doesn't exist but a world in which golus cannot exist. And that's different of course from the time of peacefulness that existed before the golus - obviously, if the golus then came about, then even before the golus there was the potential for golus. So the geulah was not complete.

But now that we have the complete redemption, there won’t be a possibility even for another golus.

And so Shabbos, which is the Shabbos of the Three Weeks, which represents a taste of the Time to Come, of the World to Come, Yom she Kulo Shabbos, a millennium of Shabbos, therefore you have to have a greater amount of joy than on a regular Shabbos. Because the whole idea of this Shabbos is that it gives us the strength to change the sadness of the Three Weeks into time of joy.

The beginning of golus, the first mention of golus, took place during the Bris Ben HaBesorim, the Covenant between the Halves, when G-d was making a covenant with Avraham, when He told him his children would be slaves in a foreign land and there are hints to the future exiles as well, not only the golus of Egypt but the exiles that would follow.

A covenant is made when two people feel a great love, an infinite and endless love for each other that is not dependant on any particular reason or any particular circumstance. So that even if the reason or circumstance changes, the love still remains because it is a love that is not dependent on a third thing, and therefore does not end if the condition ends. This internal love that knows no bounds, this is expressed in a covenant when two people feel that kind of love, and promise eternal and endless love for each other. 

The question is, how is it at the time of Bris Ben HaBesorim, when the covenant was made, where G-d was pledging an endless love for the Jews that at that time, there was a mention of golus. And although it says that Avraham chose golus for his children, because it is not as bad as gehenom, purgatory – that was the choice – that the sins should be erased either through golus or gehenom and he chose golus because it was the lesser of the two evils.  But that doesn't answer the question how the subject of punishment, of golus and gehenom, came up in the first place at a time when this endless love was being expressed. 

So the Rebbe says in order to understand this we have to understand the whole inyan of golus itself. We see that golus is not only a punishment and a rectification of sin, because we see that the longer the same golus is the worse it gets, and if it were punishment for sin, if it were a retribution for sin, than everyday that goes by, a little bit of the sin is already forgiven, so that the golus should get lighter or easier and the G-dliness should become more and more revealed with each passing day. And yet, we see that the opposite is true.

We see that with Egypt, the first seventeen years that the Jews were In Egypt were good years and as long as Yakov’s sons were alive, there was no enslavement, then even after the enslavement began, it wasn’t as bad as it was in the end, when Moshe came to talk to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh increased the amount of work and made things worse. In the very last days, before the golus was over, the golus was at its worse.

We see that also in our golus, that at the beginning of the golus, we first had Tannaim, then we had Amaroim, the authors of the Mishna, the authors of the Gemarrah, then we had Geonim and so on, and then with every passing generation, the G-dliness became more and more concealed until our generation which is called the heels of Moshiach, because Moshiach is so close we can hear his footsteps, on the other hand, we are like the heels, the lowest part of the body that has the least amount of life, and as it is referred to as the Angel of Death of the body.

So we see that there is something more to golus than the punishment for sin.  With this we will understand a strange event that the Midrash mentions. On the Ark that contained the Ten Commandments, there were keruvim, two figures of children.  And when G-d was pleased with the Jews, the two figures faced each other, but when G-d was angry their faces were turned from each other. The Midrash says, when the enemy went into the Bais HaMikdash to destroy it, they found the keruvim facing each other.

The question is, here is a time of golus, they are destroying the Bais HaMikdash, because G-d is not pleased, and yet, the figures were facing each other, So Chassidus says, that golus is similar to a teacher and a student, where the teacher is teaching the student great wisdom, and in doing so his focus is totally on the student. But if during the lesson, the teacher comes up with a new idea that he wants to give over to the student, at first, he gets wrapped up and lost in the thought that just occurred to him, and the greater and higher this idea is the more the teacher has to devote himself and immerse himself in the idea, which takes him away from the attention and the focus on the student. So because the teacher wants to teach this new idea to the student, he has to separate himself for a while from the student at least externally, and devote himself to preparing the idea that he just had for the student.

Now externally, the student will experience this as abandonment, as golus and darkness. But the truth is that inwardly, beneath the surface, this is actually a preparation for devotion to the student, this concealment is a preparation for a greater revelation. The teacher is unavailable because he is going to make himself more available than ever.

This darkness, this silence is really a preparation for communication and giluy, revelation. And the same is also true with golus. Golus is when G-d gets focused on the geulah, on the new revelation that will come at the end of the golus. For awhile it seems at least externally that G-d is not paying attention or is not as devoted as He was before to the Jewish people. But the truth is that this darkness is only temporary and its purpose is to bring a greater revelation.  And from the fact that the teacher turns his attention from the student to whom he is devoted, itself proves that this new revelation is worth the temporary breaking communication, the temporary silence is justified because how great and wonderful the new revelation is going to be.

And so the Bris Ben HaBesorim , when G-d’s love for the Jew was at its highest or was being expressed at its highest, at that time the golus was being mentioned because golus is only externally a negative thing but internally it is preparation for the highest communication and the highest form of sharing.

Also with the Bais HaMikdash. When they came in to destroy it and found the keruvim facing each other, like in a time of G-d’s approval, that is because the Ark is in Kodesh HaKedoshim, the Holy of Holies, which is the pnimiyus, the inner level of the Bais HaMikdash, and there in the pnimiyus, the golus is experienced on its internal intention which is only for the good and not negative at all. Although externally there was a churban, a destruction, going on - the Bais HaMikdash was being destroyed and the golus was beginning - internally, in the inner chamber, in the Kodesh HaKedoshim, there the inner purpose of this golus was revealed and obvious and that is why the keruvim were facing each other because this darkness was really an expression of G-d’s approval and G-d’s desire to share with the Jewish people a higher level of geulah, a permanent geulah, that completely eliminates the possibility of golus. This has never existed before, because prior to this, even though there was a Bais HaMikdash, and the Jews were doing mitzvas and living according to Torah, and everything was fine, but there was still a condition in the world that allowed for the possibility of future failure, of future sin, of future golus and destruction.

This was a preparation though, for a geulah that brings about a whole new condition, a condition in the world in which there could be no failing, no sinning, and therefore can be no golus, there can be no churban after this and that is the third Bais HaMikdash that is shown on Shabbos Chazon, a Bais HaMikdash that represents a whole new condition, a whole new world, a world that cannot fail, a world that cannot destroy itself, a world that cannot go back into golus.

What is lesson from all of this? The lesson, the Rebbe says, is that as we see the darkness getting darker and the golus getting worse, a darkness that had never existed, the lowest of all generations and so on, we need to know that that's a preparation for the geulah, preparation for the light. And in order to help this happen, in order to bring about this geulah, using the analogy of the student and the teacher, who has shifted his attention from the student to the new idea that is being developed and being revealed, the student is asked to do two things: one, the student must know that this darkness is only temporary, because it is only on the surface, and inwardly beneath the surface, it is only for the purpose of giluy, revelation of goodness. And secondly, he has to devote himself to his teacher with greater devotion and a longing and thirsting for the teacher's attention in spite of the fact that externally it seems that the teacher has abandoned him, the student has to maintain a devotion and a longing and thirsting for the teacher's communication just as much as during the time when the teacher was focused on the student, and maybe even more so.

As the Alter Rebbe used to say in his dvekus, “ what do I have in Heaven? I don’t want heaven, I don’t want Gan Eden, I don’t want Olam Haba, I want only You alone. “ Gan Eden being a place where Torah is revealed, and Olam Haba is a place where G-dliness is given as a reward for the mitzvas we performed before the geulah, during the time of golus, and the Alter Rebbe said, “ that’s not what I want, I don’t want the gifts of Gan Eden, I don’t want the gift of Olam Haba, I want You alone.” And that kind of a longing, that kind of a thirsting, it actually brings about the hastening of the giluy of this new light that we will receive in final redemption, may it come speedily with Moshiach.

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