בג' מקומות בתניא (ח"א פכ"ו. אגה"ק סכ"ב. שם סי"א) נת' העצה איך לקבל יסורים. החידוש שבכ"א – ס"ח
Parshas Bechukosai — Lag BaOmer
1. The beginning of the parsha is "אם בחקותי תלכו" ("If you will walk in My statutes") [OCR unclear] — that "you will walk in My statutes" means "שתהיו עמלים בתורה" ("that you shall toil in Torah").2
And this request and command also grants strength, and is also an assurance to every Jew that "you will walk in My statutes" — as it is written,3 "לבלתי ידח ממנו נדח" ("so that none who is banished be cast away from Him").
2. These two matters — command and assurance — we also find in the mitzvah of loving G‑d. On the verse "ואהבת את ה' אלקיך" ("You shall love the L‑rd your G‑d"), the Alter Rebbe4 gives two interpretations: a) "You shall love"; b) "You will love." And there, too, the two interpretations are bound up with one another, for the command from Above is also a granting of strength and an assurance, as explained above.
Love is the root of all 248 positive commandments, including also the mitzvah of fearing G‑d, which is the root of all 365 prohibitions.5 It follows, then, that the love of G‑d is the root of all 613 mitzvos.
Thus, just as with love there is a command and an assurance, so too with all 613 mitzvos — which are included in the verse "If" (an expression of entreaty, and also of assurance) "בחקותי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם" ("you will walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them").
3. There is another interpretation6 of "בחקותי" ("My statutes") — that it refers to the mitzvos. Among the mitzvos there are three categories: mishpatim, eidos and chukim. Mishpatim are the mitzvos that reason itself would have required, even if the Torah had not commanded them. Eidos are the mitzvos that reason on its own would indeed not have required, but once the Torah has commanded them, they have a place in reason. Chukim are the mitzvos that have no place in reason at all, such as the mitzvos of shatnez, the red heifer, and the like.
The verse says "My statutes" (chukim), even though it means all the mitzvos, because it alludes that eidos and mishpatim too — although they have a place in reason — must nevertheless be fulfilled out of kabbalas ol (acceptance of the yoke of Heaven), just like the fulfillment of chukim: "חוקה חקקתי גזירה גזרתי" ("I have ordained a statute, I have issued a decree").
And although the fulfillment of the mitzvos is not on account of reason but on account of kabbalas ol, there is nevertheless delight in it. On the contrary, the delight is even greater, as is known7 concerning the service of a faithful servant and of a simple servant: the servant's delight is the very delight of the master.
This is alluded to in the word "תלכו" ("you will walk"): although it is "My statutes" — kabbalas ol — it is nevertheless "you will walk." And since true walking is without limit,8 it cannot come from the inner, limited powers, but only from an encompassing power (koach makif) — delight, vitality.
And the word "If" — G‑d's entreaty and assurance — applies not only to the actual fulfillment of the mitzvos, but also to the manner of fulfilling them: "you will walk in My statutes" — every Jew is assured that he will fulfill the mitzvos with the vitality of kabbalas ol.
4. The reward for this is "ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם" ("I will give your rains in their season"), etc. — rain in the spiritual sense, which is "יערף כמטר לקחי" ("My teaching shall drop as the rain"); and higher still, the light of the Torah; and higher still, the Torah that Moshiach will teach — for the Torah of the present is mere vapor compared to the Torah of Moshiach.9
And through this, also "your rains in their season" in physical matters, in the plain sense.
And the physical will be such that not only will it not hold one back from the service of G‑d, but on the contrary, it will even help, as it is stated,10 "עד דלא אכילנא בישרא דתורא כו'" ("Until I eat the meat of an ox…") (that is, until he eats meat his mind is not clear enough) — so that with physical things one will serve G‑d out of peace of mind and expansiveness of thought.
5. In Likkutei Torah on this week's parsha11 it is explained that all the matters of the rebuke (tochachah) are in truth blessings. (For example: "ואפו עשר נשים לחמכם בתנור אחד" ("Ten women shall bake your bread in one oven") means that all ten powers of the soul will be fully "baked" in "One.") Only, since they are such lofty blessings, they cannot descend in a revealed way; therefore they were stated in such a form.
The Tzemach Tzedek brings there, in a gloss, that this is also the explanation of the story in the Gemara12 that Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai sent his son to Rabbi Yonasan ben Asmai and Rabbi Yehudah ben Gerim so that they would bless him. When he came back to Rabbi Shimon, he related what they had said to him, and complained that, on the face of it, these were things that were the very opposite of blessings. Rabbi Shimon told him that in truth they were all blessings, and explained all the blessings to him.
Seemingly, then, why indeed did they bless him in such language, which could be interpreted otherwise? On this the Maharsha says that it was "לחדודי" (to sharpen him). The Tzemach Tzedek says that it seems more likely to be meant in its plain sense: because these were extremely lofty blessings, they had to come down in such a form.
6. Seemingly, since these are lofty blessings that must come in a concealed form, how could Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai explain them openly?
This will be understood in light of what is explained in Tanya,13 that suffering is good from the hidden world (alma de'iskasya), the level of Yud-Hei; therefore it now descends "בבחינת צל ולא אורה וטובה נראית" ("as a shadow, and not as light and visible good"). And by accepting the suffering with joy, one merits "כצאת השמש בגבורתו" ("as the sun going forth in its might"),14 which will be in the Time to Come, when it will descend as visible and revealed good.
For the souls whose task is to reveal pnimiyus haTorah (the inner dimension of the Torah), the revelation of the Time to Come shines even now.15 Therefore Rashbi, whose task was to reveal pnimiyus haTorah, could explain the blessings openly: since for him "as the sun going forth in its might" already shone, he already saw the blessings in it even now.
Therefore the explanation of the rebuke as blessings comes specifically in Chassidus, which brings pnimiyus haTorah into revelation.
7. Since the explanation of the blessings is bound up with pnimiyus haTorah, then just as Rashbi revealed pnimiyus haTorah to everyone, so too with the blessings: he explained them also to his son, who at that time was not yet on such a lofty level —
which is why the Gemara says "אמר לי' לבדי'" ("he said to his son") and does not call him by his name.16 A further proof is the fact that he sent him to receive a blessing from Rabbi Yonasan ben Asmai and Rabbi Yehudah ben Gerim —
and nevertheless he revealed the blessings to him as well.
8. In three places in Tanya the counsel for suffering is explained: once in the first part of Tanya, and twice in Iggeres HaKodesh.
In the first part of Tanya17 it states that the counsel for suffering is "לקבולי בשמחה" ("to accept it with joy"), through which he will merit that in the Time to Come it will descend as visible and revealed good.
This, however, is something for which one must wait until the Time to Come.
In Iggeres HaKodesh, in one place,18 he gives the counsel "לפשפש במעשיו" ("to examine one's deeds"). He should contemplate how the great King washes away the filth of His only son, as it is written,19 "אם רחץ ה' את צואת בנות ציון גו'" ("When the L‑rd will have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion…") — which stems from the great love Above. Through this contemplation, "כמים הפנים אל פנים" ("as water reflects face to face"), he will arouse within himself love for G‑d, and through this he will draw down Above that the love become a revealed love; and consequently it will descend below as well, as visible and revealed good.
With this counsel, although one indeed need not wait for the Time to Come and can have visible and revealed good already now, one nevertheless needs contemplation and the arousal of love of G‑d, etc.
In the second place in Iggeres HaKodesh,20 he gives the counsel that one should know that this is a matter of tests: the person is being tested whether he has a desire for the matters of this world and the life of the body. And through his withstanding the test, it descends as visible and revealed good.
The advantage of this counsel is that one need not wait for the arousal of love, etc., and meanwhile suffer, G‑d forbid; rather, as soon as one withstands the test, one is freed of the suffering. A further advantage is that even a little suffering is enough, for even with a little he can be tested, and as soon as it is seen that he is not affected by it, it is taken away from him.
Nevertheless, here too one must withstand the test.
The advantage of Rashbi and of pnimiyus haTorah, however, is that one need not wait for the Time to Come, nor for the arousal of love, etc., nor for withstanding tests; rather, by virtue of pnimiyus haTorah one explains it immediately, and reveals every matter as visible and revealed good.21
9. This matter is also connected with this Shabbos — the Shabbos after Lag BaOmer. Regarding Shabbos it is stated,22 "מי שטרח בערב שבת יאכל בשבת" ("He who toils on the Eve of Shabbos will eat on Shabbos"). The "Eve of Shabbos" here does not mean Friday specifically, but all the days of the preceding week: beginning from Sunday, one must begin to prepare for Shabbos.23 Therefore, every day of the week, from Sunday on, we say "היום יום ראשון בשבת" ("Today is the first day toward Shabbos"), "the second day toward Shabbos," and so on… [OCR unclear]
Notes
2) Rashi on the Torah, from Toras Kohanim.
3) Shmuel II 14:14.
4) Torah Ohr 66c.
5) Tanya, ch. 4. See also the commentary on the Rambam, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, beginning of ch. 2.
6) See Targum Onkelos and Targum Yonasan; Ohr HaTorah, Parshas [OCR unclear]; and elsewhere.
7) The maamar beginning "Acharei Hashem Elokeichem," 5666; the maamar beginning "Vayelech," 5704.
8) See Likkutei Torah, beginning of Bechukosai.
9) Koheles Rabbah, parsha 11.
10) Bava Kamma 72a.
11) The maamar beginning "Beshivri lachem mateh lechem."
12) Moed Katan 9a.
13) Ch. 26.
14) Shoftim 5:31. Shabbos 88b. Yoma 23a. Gittin 36b.
15) See further, p. 287 ff.
16) See Sanhedrin 41b, at the beginning.
17) Ch. 26.
18) Epistle 22.
19) Yeshayahu 4:4.
20) Epistle 11.
21) Similar to Rashbi, who would bring rain immediately by saying Torah, without fasts, prayers, etc. (Zohar III, 59b).
22) Avodah Zarah 3a.
23) See Beitzah 16a; Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, siman 242, se'if 10.
Key Lesson
"If you will walk in My statutes" is not only G‑d's request but His assurance and the strength to fulfill it: every Jew will serve G‑d with kabbalas ol and, at the same time, with boundless delight and vitality. Through pnimiyus haTorah — the teachings of Rashbi and of Chassidus — even what appears as hardship can be seen, already now, as visible and revealed good.