Tetzaveh 

The sicha for parshas Tetzaveh is in Vol. I of Likkutei Sichos.

The Gemarrah says that G-d’s dwelling in the Bais HaMikdash or the Mishkan is really the dwelling in each individual Jew, that every person is himself a Mishkan or a Mikdash. Therefore all the avodahs, all the details that are described concerning the Mishkan are also true of the person. 

In Torah we find that there are three levels – water, wine and oil. The revealed part of Torah is called water, the hidden part is called wine and the secret of the secret part of Torah, the deepest part is called oil. Oil floats on top of wine, which means it is even higher than the level of wine. Each level also contains within it all three levels: there is the water within water, the wine within water, the oil within water and so on. And the same is true with the level of Torah which is called oil, the Chassidus of Torah, which contains within itself also the water, the wine and the oil. 

What is special about oil, that makes it different from water and wine, is that oil by its nature permeates whatever it touches. And so it is also spiritually, when you learn Chassidus, razon d’razon, the oil of Torah, then that permeates like oil, it permeates through and through, where the person becomes one with the Torah like the letters engraved in stone.  

The difference between the study of Chassidus and the study of the revealed parts of Torah is that the revealed part of Torah is learnt and studied with human intelligence, which creates the possibility of becoming arrogant from the study of Torah. The nature of human intelligence is that the more you learn and the more you know, the more you feel your own importance and your own significance. In the study of Chassidus however, we study about G-d and the insignificance of the world and therefore not only does it not lead to arrogance, it actually brings bitul, humililty. 

The same is true also within the pnimiyus haTorah itself between wine and oil. Since the pnimiyus haTorah was given in such a way that it can be understood, in that part of Chassidus that we can understand, there is a possibility of becoming arrogant. That is why in the study of Chassidus you have to bring a bitul to the pnimiyus of the Torah, which comes through davening.  

The Gemarrah tells us that when G-d said to make the Menorah, Moshe had a problem. He didn’t understand how. So G-d showed him what the Menorah was like, and He said, take the gold that is necessary for the Menorah, and throw it into the fire, and out came the Menorah. So we have to understand what is so unique about the Menorah, what makes it different from all the other parts of the Mishkan that he couldn’t understand how to make it? Moshe already saw the Menorah in heaven as it says that G-d showed him the Menorah. And yet he still couldn’t make the Menorah and he had to throw the gold into the fire, and G-d had to make the Menorah. 

We will understand this by understanding what the function of the Mishkan was. When the Torah begins to describe the Mishkan in the beginning of parshas Terumah, the Torah makes two statements. “ Daber el Bnei Israel”, speak to the Children of Israel and “Vayikru li” they should bring all of the materials that are necessary for the building of the Mishkan, they should bring it to Me, to G-d.  

The Mishkan was made out of physical objects, gold, silver, copper, which means that from these physical objects, we have to build a Mishkan, and a Mikdash, where G-d will be present. The obvious question is how can physical objects make up a dwelling place for G-d? You would think that a dwelling place for G-d is created through davening, through learning, through meditating. How can you make a place for G-d, from physical objects? The question is even stronger when it is known that the presence of G-d in the Mishkan was even greater than in the higher, spiritual worlds. In them there is only a ray of G-d revealed. But in the Mishkan, the whole purpose of the Mishkan was that it should be a dwelling place for G-d Himself, for the essence of G-d, not just for some rays of G-dliness. How can this come about through physical objects? 

In the Bais Mikdash, and  primarily in the Kodesh HaKadoshim, the Holy of Holies, G-d Himself was present. In the Kodesh HaKadoshim was the aron, the arc with the Ten Commandments. The Gemarrah says that the aron was two cubits long but it did not take up any space. The Kodesh HaKadoshim was ten cubits long. From one end of the aron to the wall was five cubits, and from the other end to the other wall was also five cubits, making a total of ten cubits, and yet there is still the two cubits of the aron itself.  

So here there is an impossible situation, not just a miracle as other miracles, where the law of nature is overruled, or cancelled, and a miracle occurs. Here if the dimensions of the aron were cancelled, it would stop being a kosher aron. Thefore it had to be two cubits long, and yet the two cubits that it was, took up no space at all. This is possible only in the essence of G-d that transcends all laws, even the law of impossibilities. 

This is why all prayers have to go through the Kodesh HaKadoshim, and it is called the Gate of Heaven. Wherever Jews are, they have to direct their prayers to the Kodesh HaKadoshim. Why is that? Most prayers are for physical needs, for health, for wealth, etc., and above in heaven, these physical needs are very insignificant and therefore not answered. Only in the Kodesh HaKadoshim, which is higher than heaven, which reaches to G-d Himself, can there be a combination, a joining of the highest of the high with the lowest of the low so that even our petty physical needs are heard and responded to. 

We see how great and how holy this place was, the question then is how can all of this be produced through physical objects? To understand this, the Torah gives us two statements. “Speak to the Children of Israel”, and “take to Me terumah.” On the posuk take for Me terumah, the Zohar says that all the materials that were necessary for the Mikdash were considered all one donation. Although they are different physical objects, yet they all become one with the “li”, with G-d, because the creation of the physical comes from the essence of G-d. Only G-d Himself, the essence of G-d, can create physicality. 

So there is a direct relationship between the etzem, the essence of G-d and physical objects. The highest relates to  the lowest. However this  relationship, the fact that G-d’s essence is more invested in the physical than in the spiritual is not revealed. That’s why we build a Bais HaMikdash, to reveal what is hidden, what is under the surface. It is not that we are creating something new, we are merely bringing what is there to the surface. Although it is true that it needs only to be revealed, G-d is already present in the physical, it needs only to be revealed, but who can reveal it? “ Speak to the Children of Israel”. Only Jew can do this, because in the Jewish soul, G-d is revealed. And who makes this possible? This has to come through Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe has to speak to the Children of Israel, because in Moshe this level of G-dliness was completely revealed and that’s why he can help the Jew reveal in himself. 

Now we will understand why Moshe had a hard time with the Menorah. It wasn’t that the Menorah was physically so complicated that Moshe couldn’t figure out how to make it. The Menorah was made out of gold, and the purpose of the Menorah was to illuminate the darkness that the whole world should know that the Shechina is resting in the Jew. This is what Moshe didn’t understand, how can gold, a physical object, accomplish such G-dliness? And to this G-d said to him, a person can’t do this. G-d has to do this Himself. He asks only of us to take the gold and throw it into the fire. When a person throws the gold into the fire, then G-d will reveal how the Menorah, the physical object can illuminate the Bais HaMikdash and the rest of the world. 

We have already spoken many times that the fact that the Bais HaMikdash was destroyed, applies only to the physical building, The spiritual Bais HaMikdash, the Bais HaMikdash which is in every Jew, remains always whole and complete. 

When a Jew wants to make his life a mikdash, a dwelling place for G-d, G-d says to him to make it from gold, from the best of his possessions and the best of his physical talents, and use that gold to make the Menorah. G-d says, by yourself you can’t do it, it is something that I will do. What I ask of you is to throw the gold into the fire, take your physical life, your physical possessions and throw it into the fire in your heart, because in every Jew there is a fire that burns and longs for G-dliness. When you throw the gold into that fire, then you will turn the gold into a Bais HaMikdash. Your physical life and the physical objects of your life will become permeated with the presence of G-d, and the light produced will illuminate the whole world, and will testify to the world that the Shechina, the presence of G-d is in the Jewish people, and in the individual who has thrown his gold into the fire of his neshama. 

In Shulchan Aruch, the Rama brings two opinions concerning Purim Katan: to celebrate with drinking and rejoicing, or the other opinion is to increase a little bit one’s meal, to indicate that it is a special day. And in order to cover all the bases, the Rama says to celebrate and rejoice on Purim Katan because “v’tov lev mishna tamid” one should always be joyful and glad of heart. And in this there are two opinions. Does this refer to the 14th of Adar I, Purim Katan, or to the 15^th, Shushan Purim Katan? The Rama seems to agree with the second opinion, because from the words “v’tov lev mishna tamid” that a person who is glad of heart always rejoices, so the always means wherever there is a reason to rejoice, one should rejoice.  

On the posuk “v’tov lev mishna tamid” the Gemarrah says, who is a person who is glad of heart, someone who has a broad daas, is broad minded. Rashi says on the same posuk, “tov lev” means “sameach b’helko” gladness of heart means content with his portion.We have to understand what these two concepts mean. A person is content when G-d gives him what he needs. If his needs are provided for then he can be happy. But when his needs are not provided for, then it would seem that he would not be able to be happy. So how could it be “tov lev mishna tamid” that he is always happy, doesn’t it depend on what is happening on his life? 

We will understand this from what the Rebbe Maharash said, in the name of the Alter Rebbe, from the prayer “the needs of your people are great, and their daas, their knowledge, is limited”. The Alter Rebbe said that the two parts of the verse are cause and affect. Why is it that we have many needs? It is because our knowledge is limited. If we had a greater knowledge, we wouldn’t have so many needs. And so we understand what the Gemarrah means that when a person has broad daas, then he is always happy because he doesn’t have so many needs. G-d always provides what a person needs. So our needs are always provided for.  

The problem is that a person pursues what is not needed. He wants more than is necessary. And when you pursue the unnecessary, then there is the possibility that you don’t get the additional, and you even lose what you are supposed to get. The example given by the Tzemach Tzedek is that if a person wears a suit that is too big on him, not only does it not look right, it even prevents him from functioning. He trips over it, it gets in the way and so on. So when you take on more than you actually need, it actually results in a negative – you lose when you should have had. 

However when a person has daas rehava, when he is broad-minded and he understands himself properly, then he realizes that he has whatever he needs and it all comes from G-d’s kindness and so he is happy with what he has. Also when a person has daas rehava, then he doesn’t find physical matters necessary or important, and so they don’t bother him if he doesn’t possess them because they are not significant in his thinking. What is more valuable to him is the spiritual. As the Rambam said, that the Sages looked forward to the coming of Moshiach, to pursue the knowledge of G-d without interruption.

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