Parshas Emor
1. The month of Iyar has an advantage over all the months of the year, in that every day of the month is connected with a mitzvah: the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer (counting the Omer). In the month of Nissan, only the second half of the month is connected with the Counting; in the month of Sivan, only the beginning is connected with the Counting; but in the month of Iyar, all the days of the month are connected with it.
It is true that during most of the month of Tishrei and the entire month of Nissan Tachanun is not said, and about the month of Nissan it is written, "החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים" ("This month shall be for you the head of the months"), which the Shelah1 explains to mean that all the days of Nissan are in the category of Rosh Chodesh. The virtues of the days of Tishrei and Nissan, however, are not connected with man's avodah at that time; they are a virtue in their own right. The days of the month of Iyar, by contrast, contain a virtue that is connected with man's avodah: the mitzvah of counting the Omer.
The connection of the days of the Counting to the mitzvah of counting is greater than the connection of other times to the mitzvos that fall in them. At other times, the mitzvah has nothing to do with the day itself. Take, for example, the mitzvah of eating matzah on Pesach: the mitzvah is a matter separate from the time itself, the fifteenth of Nissan; it is only that the obligation of the mitzvah falls on that day. Sefiras HaOmer, however, is the mitzvah to count the day, the time itself. The virtue of the month of Iyar is that all its days are themselves connected with a mitzvah.
2. The mitzvah of counting the Omer pertains to each day. Beyond that, the counting of each day also pertains to all the days of the Counting, to the earlier days2 and to the later days, to the point that it pertains also to the general preparation for receiving the Torah.
And this virtue is present equally in all the days of the Counting.
That is to say: in the month of Iyar there is a matter by virtue of which all the days of the month are equal.
3. In general, among the months of the year there are differences between the beginning of the month and the end of the month.
It is stated in the Pardes3 that the twelve months of the year correspond to the twelve permutations of the Name Havayah. The Name Havayah has four letters; so too every month has four weeks (and the additional days are subordinate to the four weeks), and so on.
From this it is understood that just as in the Name Havayah one letter is superior to another, and in general the Yud-Hei is superior to the Vav-Hei4 in the first permutation (the Name in its proper order), and similarly the first half is superior to the second half in all the permutations, so too one week is superior to another, and in general the first two weeks are higher than the later ones.
On account of this distinction there is also a difference regarding marriage, etc., between the first half of the month and the second half5. In the month of Iyar, however, all the days of the month are equal with respect to the aforementioned matter of man's avodah.
4. How does one bring it about that all the days of the month be equal? The allusion to this is in the name of the month: אייר (Iyar) is an acronym of Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov and Rachel, who are the four legs of the Divine Chariot (Merkavah). This allusion is cited also in the revealed part of Torah, in halachah6.
The concept of a chariot is as stated in Tanya7: "שכל אבריהם כולם היו קדושים ומובדלים מעניני עולם הזה" ("for all their limbs were entirely holy and separated from the matters of this world"). That is, when a person has no personal concerns of his own at all, for even in physical matters it is "בכל דרכיך דעהו" ("In all your ways, know Him"), and he is entirely given over to G‑dliness, exactly like a chariot whose whole purpose is only to carry out the will of the rider.
Then all the days are equal, since his entire concern is G‑dliness alone. And through the avodah of being a chariot in the month of Iyar, the month becomes an intermediary between the month of Nissan, "בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדון את האלקים על ההר הזה" ("When you take the people out of Egypt, you shall serve G‑d on this mountain")8 (that is, the Exodus is for the purpose of, and in a manner that leads to, "you shall serve G‑d"), where "you shall serve" (תעבדון) is from the term for the service of a servant, by way of kabbalas ol (acceptance of the yoke), and the third month, "ירחא תליתאי" ("the third month"), Sivan, in which "אוריין תליתאי לעם תליתאי" ("a threefold Torah to a threefold people")9 was given.
(From the sichos of Shabbos Parshas Acharei, 5719)
5. Regarding the mitzvah of counting the Omer, the verse says, "וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת גו'" ("And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbos..."). The Gemara10 relates that the Boethusians erred and taught that "the morrow of the Shabbos" means the morrow of the weekly Shabbos (Sunday), and it was necessary to debate with them and to demonstrate with many proofs and arguments that the word "Shabbos" here means the festival.
Seemingly, then, it is not understood: why indeed does it say "the morrow of the Shabbos," so that one could err and think it means the weekly Shabbos? It could have said explicitly, "the morrow of Pesach"!
6. About the Exodus from Egypt it is written, "When you take the people out of Egypt, you shall serve G‑d on this mountain," meaning that the outcome and purpose of the Exodus is the Giving of the Torah. Between the Exodus and the Giving of the Torah comes the Counting of the Omer. That is, in order to bring about the completion and purpose of the Exodus, there must first be the Counting of the Omer, which is the intermediary between the beginning of the Exodus and the completion of the going out: the Giving of the Torah.
Therefore we find that with the three months, Nissan (the time of the Exodus), Iyar (the time of the Counting of the Omer, all of whose days are connected with the Counting, as mentioned above) and Sivan (the time of the Giving of the Torah)
(although the first days of Sivan are still within the days of the Counting, it is known11 that by Rosh Chodesh Sivan the counting of the first three days of the seventh week, Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferes, which comprise the emotional attributes in general, has already taken place, and the main theme of Sivan is not the Counting of the Omer but the Giving of the Torah, as it is written12, "בחודש השלישי גו' באו מדבר סיני" ("In the third month... they came to the wilderness of Sinai"), and as in the saying of our Sages cited above, "a threefold Torah in the third month"), in all three of these months the Exodus from Egypt is mentioned.
About the month of Nissan it is written13, "חודש האביב כי בו יצאת ממצרים" ("the month of spring, for in it you went out of Egypt"). About the month of Iyar14: "לחודש השני בשנה השנית לצאתם מארץ מצרים" ("in the second month, in the second year of their going out of the land of Egypt"). (Although in the plain meaning "of their going out of the land of Egypt" refers to "the second year," it is known what is stated in the Zohar15, that "the second month" and "the second year" are all one; consequently "of their going out of the land of Egypt" refers also to "the second month.") About the month of Sivan it is written16, "בחודש השלישי לצאת בני ישראל מארץ מצרים" ("In the third month after the Children of Israel went out of the land of Egypt").
Although all the months are counted from the month of Nissan, which is the head of the months and the time of the Exodus, the theme of the Exodus is mentioned explicitly only with these three months.
The reason for this is that the three matters, the Exodus from Egypt, the Counting of the Omer and the Giving of the Torah, are all modes and levels of the Exodus from Egypt, for the completion of the Exodus is at the time of the Giving of the Torah.
7. Of these three times, Pesach is connected with eating matzah. The Counting of the Omer is connected with barley, as our Sages say17: "כל המנחות באות מן החטין וזו (מנחת קנאות) כו' ומנחת העומר כו' מן השעורין" ("All the meal-offerings come from wheat, but this one [the meal-offering of jealousy]... and the Omer offering... from barley"). And Shavuos is connected with the Two Loaves, of which it is said, "חמץ תאפינה" ("they shall be baked leavened")18.
This is not understood: a) Why does the Omer come from barley, unlike all the other meal-offerings? For the meal-offering of jealousy the Mishnah19 gives a reason: "כשם שמעשיה מעשה בהמה כך קרבנה מאכל בהמה" ("Just as her deeds were the deeds of an animal, so her offering is the food of an animal"). But what is the reason for the Omer offering? b) Since on Pesach chametz is forbidden, because chametz signifies self-importance (yeshus) and the evil inclination20, why then is it permitted the whole year, to the point that on Shavuos it is not only permitted, but the mitzvah must be specifically with chametz?
8. These three matters are alluded to also in the verse "משכני אחריך נרוצה הביאני המלך חדריו" ("Draw me, we will run after You; the King has brought me into His chambers"). "Draw me" refers to the time of the Exodus; "we will run after You" refers to the time of the Counting of the Omer; and "the King has brought me into His chambers" refers to the Giving of the Torah.
The explanation of this is as follows. The difference between "draw me" and "we will run" lies in several matters: a) "Draw me" means pulling, from the term meshichah (drawing); "we will run" means running. b) "Draw me" means "You draw me": the Congregation of Israel says to the Almighty, "Draw me," that is, from Above; "we will run after You" means we ourselves will run, from below upward. c) "Draw me" is in the singular, while "we will run" is in the plural.
9. At the time of the Exodus from Egypt, the Jews were immersed in the forty-nine gates of impurity. They were not vessels for G‑dliness, "ואת ערום ועריה" ("and you were naked and bare"); it was only that "נגלה עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו" ("the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to them in His glory and in His very Self") and dragged them out of Egypt.
Since this came about not by virtue of their own avodah but by virtue of a revelation of light from Above, the revelation did not transform them inwardly, for they were not vessels for it. It was only that by virtue of the revelation of light they were drawn toward G‑dliness.
It is also understood that the revelation of light touched only the G‑dly soul, which is a vessel to perceive G‑dliness, but not the animal soul. That is, at the time of the Exodus they had not yet been rid of the evil within them, for the animal soul still remained in its full strength.
With this the Alter Rebbe21 explains what is written, "כי ברח העם" ("that the people had fled"). For seemingly it is not understood: had Pharaoh been told to let them go free permanently, he would have had to do so; why, then, did they need to flee? The Alter Rebbe explains that since at the time of the Exodus the evil in the Jews was still in its full strength, they therefore had to flee.
10. In light of this, the expression "draw me" is understood, in all the nuances mentioned above:
a) The term meshichah (drawing). The acquisition by meshichah (pulling) is not like the acquisition by chazakah (an act of possession). In meshichah one does nothing at all to the object itself; the object remains as it was, and it merely passes from the domain of the seller to the domain of the buyer. So too at the time of the Exodus: no change had yet taken place in their inner being; it was only that they passed over from Egypt, "the nakedness of the land," into the domain of holiness.
b) From Above, because there was not yet any avodah.
c) The singular, because the revelation of light affected only the G‑dly soul and not the animal soul.
11. The intent, however, is that the G‑dly soul should refine the animal soul as well. For if it were for the sake of the G‑dly soul alone, the soul could have remained Above, since "הנשמה עצמה אינה צריכה תיקון כלל" ("the soul itself needs no rectification at all"), and the purpose of its descent below is to refine the animal soul22, as it is written, "בכל לבבך" ("with all your heart"), on which our Sages say, "בשני יצריך" ("with both your inclinations")23. And through the G‑dly soul refining the animal soul, an elevation accrues to the G‑dly soul as well, by virtue of the advantage of the animal soul, as it is written, "ורב תבואות בכח שור" ("and abundant produce comes through the strength of the ox")24.
The difference between a human being and an animal is as follows. A human being, since he possesses intellect, does not have his will and emotions with such force, because they are weakened by being controlled by the intellect. An animal, by contrast, has all its desires with great force. So too within a human being himself: the will of the G‑dly soul does not have as strong a force as the will of the animal soul. And when the G‑dly soul brings it about in the animal soul that its will, which is forceful, be directed toward G‑dliness, then through this there arises in the G‑dly soul, too, a powerful will toward G‑dliness.
In light of this one will also understand the reason why the Omer offering comes from barley, which is animal food: because the theme of the Omer is the refinement of the animal soul.
12. The refinement of the emotional attributes comes about through contemplation (hisbonenus). When one contemplates G‑dliness, he becomes aroused with love and fear.
At the beginning of one's avodah, when he is still immersed in the gates of impurity, that is, when he still wants to do a forbidden thing, Heaven forfend, there is no time for contemplation. Then there must immediately be "the people fled": he must force himself and flee from evil. But after he has already gone out of Egypt, "the nakedness of the land," and he is no longer drawn to desires for what is forbidden, and he needs to force himself only regarding desires for what is permitted, then there is time for contemplation and for is'hapcha (transformation), transforming the emotions inwardly.
13. In light of this one will understand the expression "we will run," in the nuances mentioned above:
a) Running, not walking. The desires of the animal soul are forceful and come with a rush, as mentioned above. So when one brings it about through avodah that the animal soul, too, should desire G‑dliness, then its desire for G‑dliness is stronger than the desire of the G‑dly soul.
b) From below upward, because it came about through avodah.
c) "We will run" in the plural: the avodah is not only on the part of the G‑dly soul but also on the part of the animal soul.
And about both of them it says "we will run," a term of running, meaning that in the G‑dly soul, too, a running comes about. As discussed earlier, although the G‑dly soul in itself is measured and limited, through its bringing about a running toward G‑dliness in the animal soul, a running arises in it as well; and this is the elevation that comes about in the G‑dly soul.
14. After the avodah of the Counting of the Omer one arrives at the revelation of the Giving of the Torah, at which time there was bittul bimetzius (nullification of one's very existence). The refinement of the emotions is not nullification of existence, for it comes through intellect and contemplation, so that one remains within his own existence. But at the Giving of the Torah, "על כל דיבור ודיבור פרחה נשמתם" ("at each and every utterance their souls flew out")25.
In light of this one will understand the reason why chametz is permitted the whole year, to the point that on Shavuos one makes a mitzvah of it, even though on Pesach it is forbidden.
At the beginning of one's avodah, when the evil is still in its full strength, one must set intellect aside, for "חכמים המה להרע" ("they are wise to do evil")26. During the Counting of the Omer, when one is in the midst of the avodah, he can bear intellect; it need not be "wise to do evil"27. Through the preliminary stage of the Counting of the Omer, all the evil is refined, until one reaches nullification of existence, so that his entire existence is G‑dliness. Then the mitzvah is specifically with chametz, because his intellect, reason and understanding must be a vessel for G‑dliness.
15. Our Sages say28: "בכל דור ודור ובכל יום ויום חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא היום ממצרים" ("In every generation and on every day a person is obligated to see himself as if he went out of Egypt today"). Every day one must live through the Exodus from Egypt; consequently, all three aforementioned details of the Exodus are present also in man's avodah every day.
The beginning of the day's avodah is "Modeh Ani..." and "הודו להוי'" ("Give thanks to G‑d"), the level of acknowledgment (hoda'ah). One has no understanding and no feeling; it is only acknowledgment and a general giving over of oneself to G‑dliness. This is like the avodah of the beginning of the Exodus, the month of Nissan.
Afterwards comes the avodah of Pesukei DeZimrah, the blessings of the Shema and the Shema itself, which is the avodah of contemplation (even in the first verse of the Shema: "Shema," "hear," means understanding and comprehension), and transforming the emotions until one reaches the highest levels of love of G‑d: "with all your heart, with all your soul," up to "and with all your might." This is like the avodah of the month of Iyar, the whole month of which is the Counting of the Omer.
This, however, is while one is still within his own existence. Afterwards one comes to the Shemoneh Esrei, "כעבדא קמיה מאריה" ("like a servant before his master")29, nullification of existence, so that one cannot speak at all, only "אד-ני שפתי תפתח" ("My L‑rd, open my lips"); he is merely like one who repeats after the reader. This is like the avodah of the month of Sivan.
16. In light of this one will also understand why it says specifically "the morrow of the Shabbos" and not "the morrow of Pesach." In order to be able to refine the animal soul as well, one needs for this an exceedingly lofty power, as the saying goes30: "כל הגבוה גבוה ביותר יורד למטה מטה ביותר" ("Whatever is higher descends lower").
At the Exodus, since the Jews were immersed in the forty-nine gates of impurity, there had to be the revelation of "in His glory and in His very Self," for only He could drag them out from there; and as is explained in the writings of the Arizal31, an angel or a seraph, etc., not only would have been unable to drag anyone out of there, but on the contrary, they themselves would have been swallowed up there.
And that was no more than going out from evil. How much more so with the Counting of the Omer, where one must transform the animal soul itself: certainly one needs for this an exceedingly lofty power, one that is able to lower itself down below and act upon the evil.
That is why it says "the morrow of the Shabbos." Shabbos is the highest level of time, but it too is within the bounds of time, within the bounds of the seven-day cycle32; within the seven-day cycle itself it is the highest level. As our Sages say33 on the verse "ויכל אלקים ביום השביעי" ("And G‑d finished on the seventh day"): "מה היה העולם חסר, מנוחה; בא שבת, בא מנוחה" ("What was the world lacking? Rest. Shabbos came, rest came"). The rest of Shabbos pertains to, and is a matter within, the worlds. "The morrow of the Shabbos," however, is higher than Shabbos: the light that is above the order of progression (hishtalshelus).
And this is the meaning of "And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbos." In order for there to be "and you shall count for yourselves," taking the forty-nine days, the emotional attributes of the animal soul, and refining and purifying them ("u'sefartem," "and you shall count," is related to the words for luminosity and radiance34), one must draw from "the morrow of the Shabbos," which is above the order of progression.
(Compiled from the maamar beginning "U'sefartem," 5711, and the maamar "Lehavin Inyan Mattan Torah," 5713)
17. The law regarding the Counting of the Omer is that if one, Heaven forfend, misses counting one day, he counts the remaining days without a blessing35.
The reason for this36 is as follows. There is an opinion that the forty-nine days of the Counting are separate mitzvos; consequently, even if one misses a day, it has nothing to do with the remaining days, since each day is a separate mitzvah.
Another opinion holds that the days of the Counting are one mitzvah: to count forty-nine days, "complete" (temimos). Consequently, if one misses even a single day, the completeness is already lacking, and he can no longer fulfill the mitzvah. In practice, the halachah is that one counts the remaining days, but without a blessing.
This is not understood: if we assume that all forty-nine days are one mitzvah, how then does one recite a blessing on each counting, forty-nine blessings? One should have recited no more than a single blessing, at the beginning or at the end!
It is also not understood: according to that opinion, when one misses a single counting, this affects not only the later days but the earlier days too, since it is one mitzvah. The law should then have been that until the last day one may not recite any blessing, out of concern that perhaps he will forget to count and the earlier blessings will have been in vain37.
One may say: in truth these are indeed forty-nine separate mitzvos. Each night is a separate mitzvah. The mitzvah, however, is that on the first night one counts the first count, on the second night the second count, on the third night the third, and so on. Consequently, if one misses counting once, he can no longer continue counting. For example, if one misses the second night, he cannot later say, "Today is three days," "four days," and so on, for there cannot be a third and a fourth without a second. It therefore turns out that missing one counting is a deficiency only in the subsequent days, but not in the earlier ones, since each day is a separate mitzvah.
18. There is an inquiry concerning counting: whether the act of counting itself is a reality (metzius), and the Torah says that this reality, in the case of the Omer, Shemittah, Yovel and so on, should be a mitzvah; or whether, in itself, without the mitzvah, it is no reality at all. For a number in itself is no reality; only by virtue of the mitzvah, "מצותיה אחשביה" ("its mitzvah gives it significance"), does it become a reality.
The practical legal difference arising from this inquiry is: a slave who was freed in the middle of the days of the Counting, and who counted the Sefirah while he was a slave, can he now count with a blessing? If we say that counting in itself is a reality, then since he counted earlier as well, he can later count with a blessing. But if we say that the entire reality of the counting exists only by virtue of the mitzvah, then since earlier it was not a mitzvah for him, the reality did not exist, just as if he had not counted at all, and consequently he cannot now recite a blessing.
(A convert who converted in the middle of the days of the Counting presents no question, since he becomes a new person, "like a newborn child.")
The Minchas Chinuch38 also considers this question, but he considers it not from the standpoint that the reality of the counting is lacking, but according to the reasoning that all forty-nine days are one mitzvah. Consequently his question applies not only to a freed slave but also to a minor who came of age in the middle of the days of the Counting. Since his question stems from all the days being one mitzvah, the question applies also to a minor who came of age: although a minor also has a mitzvah earlier, by virtue of chinuch (training in mitzvos), nevertheless, since that is only Rabbinic, one can say that a Rabbinic mitzvah does not serve to complete a Biblical mitzvah.
But according to what has been explained, that each day is a separate mitzvah and the reason [for the dependence] is only that there cannot be a third day without a second, and so on, it follows that what one needs from the earlier days is not the mitzvah in them but the reality in them. Therefore the question applies only to a freed slave, since earlier his counting was not a mitzvah at all, so the reality is absent. With a minor who came of age, however, there is no question, because even a Rabbinic mitzvah, "its mitzvah gives it significance," creates a reality.
19. What emerges from this: we await him, Moshiach, "אחכה לו בכל יום שיבוא" ("I await him every day, that he will come"), tonight or tomorrow morning, in the midst of the days of the Counting.
(The Tzemach Tzedek once spoke about the coming of Moshiach at a time when it is stated that he cannot come. Someone asked: "How can that be? It is stated that at that time he cannot come!" The Tzemach Tzedek answered him: "Let him come, and when he comes all the questions will be answered; this question, too, will be answered.")
Thus, even according to the opinion of the poskim that the mitzvah of counting the Omer nowadays is only Rabbinic39, one will then also be able to count with a blessing, as explained above.
20. It is stated in the words of our Sages, and the Ramban elaborates on it, that the mitzvos that are fulfilled now are signposts (tziyunim) for the mitzvos of the Future, as we say, "ושם נעשה לפניך כו' כמצות רצונך" ("And there we will offer before You... according to the command of Your will"), meaning that specifically in the Future it will be "according to the command of Your will," while the mitzvos that are fulfilled now are not in ultimate perfection and are like a preparation for the mitzvos of the Future40.
Nevertheless, one must not, Heaven forfend, diminish the preciousness of the mitzvos of the present, for it is specifically through them that one arrives at the mitzvos of the Future, and it is known41 that the cause of a thing is higher than the thing it causes.
This is seen particularly in the mitzvah of the Counting, the entire theme of which is a preparation for the Giving of the Torah: specifically through counting the Sefirah now, one will be able to count in the Future, too, with a blessing.
From this one sees the advantage of the avodah of the present, in the time of exile, as our Sages say42: "יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים בעולם הזה מכל חיי העולם הבא" ("Better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life of the World to Come").
(From the sichos of Acharon shel Pesach, 5713)
Notes
1) At the beginning of Tractate Pesachim. End of Parshas Bo.
2) So that they should have the quality of "seven complete weeks," in addition to the quality of completeness itself (and therefore one recites the blessing even if the count will later be interrupted).
3) Shaar 13, ch. 3, and elsewhere.
4) Tanya, Part 3, ch. 4; Part 1, ch. 26.
5) Rema, Even HaEzer 64:3.
6) Beis Shmuel (Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 126, s.k. 20). See also Me'orei Or, entry Alef, s.k. 84.
7) Ch. 23.
8) Shemos 3:12.
9) Shabbos 88a.
10) Menachos 65a.
11) Torah Or 66c.
12) Shemos 19:1.
13) Shemos 23:15.
14) Bamidbar 1:1.
15) Part III, 118b.
16) Shemos 19:1.
17) Sotah 14a.
18) Vayikra 23:17. Menachos 52b.
19) Sotah, ibid.
20) See above, p. 129 ff.
21) Tanya, ch. 31.
22) Tanya, ch. 37.
23) Devarim 6:5. Berachos 54a.
24) Mishlei 14:4.
25) Shabbos 88b.
26) Yirmeyahu 4:22.
27) See Zohar, Part II, 183b.
28) Pesachim 116b. Tanya, ch. 47.
29) Shabbos 10a.
30) Explained at length in Shaarei Orah, maamar "Yaviu Levush," ch. 13 ff. and ch. 32 ff. See also above, p. 249 ff.
31) Siddur of the Arizal, in the Haggadah, and elsewhere.
32) Responsa of the Rashba, Part 1, sec. 9. See also the maamar "Vayehi BaYom HaShemini," 5704.
33) Bereishis Rabbah, end of ch. 10 (with a variation in wording).
34) Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 35b.
35) Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 489:8.
36) In the commentators on the Shulchan Aruch, ibid. In the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, 489:23–24.
37) See Chok Yaakov, ibid., s.k. 6, and Pri Megadim, ibid., Mishbetzos Zahav, s.k. 1.
38) Mitzvah 306.
39) Cited in the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, Orach Chaim 489.
40) See the Hemshech "VeKachah" 5637, ch. 17 ff.
41) See there, ch. 15.
42) Avos 4:17.
Key Lesson
Iyar, the month whose every day is a counted mitzvah, teaches that a Jew's avodah is not only being drawn upward by inspiration from Above ("Draw me") but actively refining and transforming the animal soul until it too "runs" toward G‑dliness. This Sicha shows that such refinement needs a power from "the morrow of the Shabbos," above all limitation, and that every day's prayer re-lives this journey from Nissan through Iyar to Sivan. Our mitzvos now, in exile, are precious precisely because they prepare and bring about the perfected mitzvos of the days of Moshiach.