“Go!” – to Where?

מו. תרגום מקטעים משיחות ש”פ לך לך, י”א מר-חשון תשנ”ב

 46. Mar-Cheshvan 11, 5752 – October 19, 1991

Parshas Lech Lecha opens with G-d’s command to Avraham to leave his homeland and go to the land of Israel. “This instruction to Avraham,” the Rebbe asked at this farbrengen, “was relevant then, in his day. What can we, generations after the Land of Israel was conquered and has become our eternal heritage, learn from this tale?”

“The answer lies,” the Rebbe explained, “in Hashem’s promise to Avraham of the Land of Israel, which included the lands of ten nations, including not only the lands of the seven Canaanite nations, but also the lands of the Keini, the Kenizi, and the Kadmoni. Nevertheless, in the present era, we were granted only the lands of seven nations.”

When we read about “Go out from your land … to the land I will show you” in the present era, we are reminded that until the ultimate Redemption, when we will “go from our lands” to the ten lands Hashem showed to Avraham, the acquisition of the Land of Israel is incomplete. This final phase of completing the acquisition of the Land of Israel has become of heightened relevence lately:

As mentioned many times recently, “all the appointed times” for the Redemption have already passed,	כַּמְּדֻבָּר כַּמָּה-פְּעָמִים שֶׁכְּבָר “כָּלוּ כָּל הַקִּצִּין”1,
and my sainted father-in-law, the Rebbe N’sie Doreinu, has announced that teshuvah, upon which the Redemption depends after then, has already been done as well,	וּכְבוֹד-קְדֻשַּׁת מוֹרִי-וְחָמִי אַדְמוֹ”ר נְשִׂיא דּוֹרֵנוּ הוֹדִיעַ שֶׁכְּבָר עָשׂוּ תְּשׁוּבָה,
and we have also “polished the buttons,”	וְגַם אֶת הַכַּפְתּוֹרִים כְּבָר צִחְצְחוּ,
and according to all the signs, our generation is the last generation of exile and consequently also the first of Redemption.	וּלְפִי כָּל הַסִּימָנִים הֲרֵי שֶׁדּוֹרֵנוּ הוּא הַדּוֹר הָאַחֲרוֹן לַגָּלוּת וּבְמֵילָא הַדּוֹר הָרִאשׁוֹן לַגְּאוּלָה.
According to all this, what this time requires is that we make actual preparations to “Go out from your land … to the land I will show you,” ­— The complete land of Israel, imminently and immediately.	עַל-פִּי-זֶה מוּבָן שֶׁזֶהּוּ עִנְיָן שֶׁהַזְמַּן גְרָמָא – לַעֲרֹךְ כְּבָר אֶת הַהֲכָנוֹת בְּפֹעַל לַ”לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ גּוֹ’ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ”, תֵּכֶף וּמִיָּד מַמָּשׁ.
According to the above said, that particularly in our generation ­— the last generation in exile and the first of Redemption — there is an added emphasis on the Divine service of “Go out from your land … to the land I will show you,”	… עַל פִּי הַמְּדֻבָּר לְעֵיל, שֶׁבְּדוֹרֵנוּ זֶה בִּמְיֻחָד (הַדּוֹר הָאַחֲרוֹן בַּגָּלוּת וְהַדֹּור הִָראׁשֹון שֶׁל הַגְּאוּלָה) יֶׁשְנָהּ הַדְגָּׁשָה יְתֵָרה עַל הָעֲבוֹדָה דְּ”לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ גּוֹ’ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ”,
including also the acquisition of all the ten lands,	וְקִנְיָן כָּל עֶשֶׂר הָאֲרָצוֹת –
this must be reflected primarily in an increase in Torah study, which foreshadows this service.	הֲרֵי מוּבָן, שֶׁהַדָּבָר צָרִיךְ לְהִשְׁתַּקֵּף לְכָל לָרֹאשׁ בָּעֲבוֹדָה מֵעֵין זֶה שֶׁל יְהוּדִי, עַל יְדֵי שֶׁהוּא מוֹסִיף בְּלִמּוּד הַתּוֹרָה,
To explain: The complete land of Israel, as explained above, comprises the land of the seven nations which  correspond to the seven emotional attributes, and three lands which correspond to the three intellectual faculties. Until the messianic age, every Jew is required to spiritually “conquer” the “garments” of his soul to make them fully G-dly, i.e. to think, talk and do only things that are associated with G-dliness. There is yet a higher level of Divine service where one also conquers his emotions, that he only feels for G-dly matters. This service was possible to be achieved even in time of exile by unique individuals.There is a higher level yet that is associated distinctly to the Redemption, where one conquers his intellectual faculties to be absolutely G-dly, corresponding to the three lands that will be given to us at the time of the Redemption. This spiritual acquisition of the additional “three lands” is primarily associated with Torah study, an aspect of Divine service focused primarily on imbuing one’s intellect (“mochin”) with G-dliness.
However, this needs to be not only with his three intellectual faculties as they are connected to his emotional character traits,	לאֹ רַק לְפִי ג’ הַמּחִֹין שֶׁלּוֹ הַשַׁיָכִים לְמִדּוֹת,
but also in the essence of the three intellectual faculties, as they stand alone not in service of the emotional traits.	אֶלָּא גַּם ג’ מחִֹין בְּעֶצֶם.
— Although Torah study has been part of serving Hashem even in exile, still, at present, the intellect serves the emotions: we study in order to know what is to be done and in order to invoke feelings of love and fear to Hashem. In contrast, at the Era of the Redemption, the three intellectual powers will be expressed in their full potential, being used not (only) as a tool for the garments of the soul and its emotional traits to connect to Hashem, rather as an end to itself — to achieve a complete bond with Hashem only possible through Torah study (see Tanya ch. 5).
This can be achieved especially by an increase in the study of the inner realm of the Torah, Chassidus and Kabbalah, which present the more purely intellectual aspects of Torah,	שֶׁזֶהּ בִּמְיֻחָד – עַל יְדֵי הוֹסָפָה בְּלִמּוּד פְּנִימִיּוּת הַתּוֹרָה
(including Chassidus’s explanations on this matter — the Divine service of the intellect),	(כּוֹלֵל בְּבֵאוּר עִנְיָנִים אֵלּוּ דַּעֲבוֹדַת הַמֹּחִין2),
as well as the subjects of Redemption and our righteous Moshiach as elucidated by Chassidus.	כּוֹלֵל בְּעִנְיְנֵי הַגְּאוּלָה וּמָשִׁיחַ צִדְקֵנוּ.

Comments

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