The Fighter

TOLDOS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27 26 CHESHVAN, 5777 ב"ה וַיִּתְרֹצֲצוּ הַבָּנִים בְּקִרְבָּהּ (בראשית כה, כב) AND THE CHILDREN STRUGGLED WITHIN HER. (BEREISHIS 25:22) The Fighter Our patriarchs and matriarchs were perfectly righteous. In the words of the Tanya (Chapter 23), “Throughout their lives they sanctified their every limb to serve exclusively as a ‘chariot’ for the implementation of G-d’s will.” Yet, when our matriarch Rivka was pregnant with twins, “The children struggled within her” (Bereishis 25:22). Rashi explains, “When she passed the Torah study hall of Shem and Ever, Yaakov struggled to emerge, and when she passed places of idolatry, Eisav struggled to emerge.” How was Eisav, the child of the saintly Yitzchak and Rivka, already so innately attracted to idol-worship when he was buta fetus in his mother’s womb, causing him to stir each time she passed a house of idolatry? Our sages tell us that the deeds and lives of our patriarchs and matriarchs paved the way for their descendants, the Jewish people, to fulfill their destiny (see Ramban on Bereishis 12:6; Bereishis Rabbah 40:6). One aspect of this legacy is that through their unassailable commitment to G-d, our forefathers endowed every Jew with an inner strength of devotion to G-d. With this strength, a Jew can overcome any challenge to his Jewishness—be it adversity from the outside, or his personal struggles from within. Accordingly, though Yitzchak and Rivka themselves were perfectly righteous, being that the path to G-dliness for some of their descendants would involve struggling with temptation, the legacy of Yitzchak and Rivka also includes a natural inclination towards sin—in order to overcome it.They thus bore not only Yaakov, whose passions were entirely holy and pure, but also Eisav, who was born with an allure to sin and the inner strength to overcome it. In fact, the Zohar (vol. 1, p. 138b) states that as a child, Eisav, like Yaakov, excelled in the education he received from his grandfather Avraham—“Avraham’s merit assisted and caused them to thrive, training them in the observance of mitzvos.” Undeniably, Eisav made the wrong choices as an adult. But until he went off on his own path, Eisav’s attraction to idolatry was simply a natural part of being Yitzchak’s childand Avraham’s disciple: he exemplified the Jew who is born to struggle and is naturally endowed with the strength it takes to win. —Likutei Sichos vol. 20, pp. 109-113 Sponsor a Lightpoints email A project of Or Hachassidus ביוזמת ולזכות הרה״ח הרה״ת ר‘ ישעי‘ זושא ווילהעלם שליט״א להצלחה רבה לו ולכל משפחתו בגו״ר This email is sent from Machon Or Hachasidus - Likras Shabbos. We'd love to stay in touch with you, but if you wish to be unsubscribed from this list please click here, or click here to manage your subscriptions. Sent via ChabadOne Communicator Click here to Reply or Forward 6.94 GB (46%) of 15 GB used Manage Terms - Privacy Last account activity: 21 minutes ago Details

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Redoing the Giving of the Torah

ב"ה

וַיִּתְיַצְּבוּ בְּתַחְתִּית הָהָר (שמות יט, יז)

AND THEY STOOD AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MOUNTAIN (SHEMOS19:17)

Redoing the Giving of the Torah

The Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, of righteous memory, would bless people before the holiday of Shavuos, “to receive the Torah b’simchauv’pnimiyus, joyfully and internally.”

At the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, both of these qualities were somewhat lacking. Firstly, the Torah was given to Bnei Yisrael on G-d’s initiative, not through Bnei Yisrael’s efforts and toil. As such, their relationship with the Torah was superimposed; it did not come from within them.

Furthermore, according to the Talmud (Shabbos 88a), G-d raised Mount Sinai over Bnei Yisrael and said to them, “If you accept the Torah, that’s great. But if not, you will be summarily buried beneath this mountain.”  (The Talmud thus interprets the verse, “and they [Bnei Yisrael] stood at the bottom of the mountain,” to mean not at the foot of the mountain, but underneath the mountain.) Considering that Bnei Yisrael did not have a choice in the matter, their acceptance of the Torah at Mount Sinai cannot be said to have been gladly! In fact, the Talmud declares that the coercion under the mountain “furnished a strong disclaimer against the acceptance of the Torah,” until the Jews reaccepted the Torah willingly after the Purim miracle, almost a thousand later.

This then is the meaning of the Previous Rebbe’s blessing, and with it the Divine assistance that it be fulfilled, that we should receive the Torah b’simcha uv’pnimiyus. Meaning, that unlike the first Shavuos, this time around we should accept the Torah willingly and happily, and our joy in receiving the Torah shall enable us to truly absorb and internalize its message.

—Toras Menachem, vol. 3, pp. 142-143

Lightpoints

וְכָל הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת הַקּוֹלֹת וְאֶת הַלַּפִּידִם וְאֵת קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר וְאֶת הָהָר עָשֵׁן וַיַּרְא הָעָם וַיָּנֻעוּ וַיַּעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק (שמות כ, טו) AND ALL THE PEOPLE SAW THE SOUNDS AND THE FLAMES, THE SOUND OF THE SHOFAR, AND THE SMOKING MOUNTAIN; AND THE PEOPLE SAW AND TREMBLED, AND THEY STOOD FROM AFAR (SHEMOS 20:15) Are You Seeing Things? From the Torah’s depiction of the Giving of the Torah, it seems that Bnei Yisrael’s senses were entirely confused. Instead of stating that Bnei Yisrael heard the voice of G-d and the sound of the Shofar, the verse states, “And all the people saw the sounds,” and Rabbi Akiva in the Midrash interprets this quite literally: “They saw the audible, and heard the visible!” What was the meaning and purpose of this miraculous experience? Seeing is a lot more than believing. To see something is to be certain of its existence, with no element of trust or belief necessary. No proof or argument can convince you to question a reality that you have actually witnessed.  Therein lies difference between seeing and hearing. For the sounds we hear do not affect us as deeply as the sights we see, leaving the truth of our “heard realities” up for discussion and debate. This is all the more so with regard to what we “hear about” and discover only conceptually. Even ideas that are logically sound and scientifically proven always remain subject to further questioning and analysis. This explains why at the Giving of the Torah, Yidden saw what is ordinarily heard and heard what is ordinarily seen. G-dliness and spirituality are normally limited to “conceptual existence”; we believe these ideas to be true, but they are not part of our empirical and observed reality. When G-d introduced and presented Himself at Sinai, however, making Himself known to every Jew with the words, “I am G-d, your G-d,” His existence and presence became an unquestionable fact. The Jews saw G-dliness and perceived it with the certainty with which they normally perceived the physical world—what is normally “audible” became visible and absolute. Conversely, with the revelation of the Creator, the obviousness and substantiality of the created was no longer a given—what is normally “visible” became conceptual and abstract. —Likkutei Sichos, vol. 6, pp. 119-122