English translation — מאמר אתם נצבים תשל"ט

With the help of Heaven.

Erev Monday, Parshat Nitzavim-Vayelech,

18 Elul 5739*

(An oral discourse)

"You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem your G-d: your heads, your tribes, etc., to pass into the covenant of Hashem your G-d, etc."1

And afterwards it continues2

(in the second portion,

the daily Torah study portion for that day)

("And not with you alone do I make this covenant, etc., but with etc., whoever is not here with us today")

"And you shall return"3

"to Hashem your G-d, etc."

Now, this portion is always read before Rosh Hashanah

(as the Alter Rebbe writes in Likkutei Torah4),

And the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov is known5

that "You are standing" is the blessing of the Holy One, blessed be He, with which He blesses His people, the children of Israel, on the Shabbat of blessing—the last Shabbat of the month of Elul—with the blessing of the month, the seventh month,

and through this power, Israel blesses the months of the entire year,

from which it is understood that this matter

(of "You are standing, etc.")

is a general matter.

And the explanation is:

Behold, the verse explains that this "You are standing today, all of you, etc.,"

all ten levels6

from your heads, your tribes, to your woodcutters and water drawers,

as one unified whole,6

is in order to pass you into the covenant of Hashem your G-d, etc., for before they entered the Land

(when this portion was first said)

there was a covenant made regarding the acceptance of the Torah, besides the covenant He made with them at Chorev,7

meaning that here it speaks of a special covenant made before entering the Land.

And since "Not with you alone do I make this covenant"

(but also)

"with whoever is not here with us today,"

it is understood that the matter of the covenant before entering the Land pertains to the service of each and every individual.

2)

And this will be understood with a prior explanation of the matter of entering the land in avodah.

For it is written

(in the weekly portion of this past Shabbos,

the eighth [portion], all the following days are blessed,

including this day,

the day of 18 Elul)

"And it will be, when you come into the land which Hashem your G-d gives you..."

And the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, explains

(in the maamar that was said by my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, our leader, who heard it from his father, the Rebbe

(the Rebbe Rashab)

of blessed memory, who heard it from the Baal Shem Tov)

: "And it will be, when you come into the land" – when you will come to that [supernal] will

[the supernal]

and desire,

"which Hashem your G-d gives you as an inheritance and you will possess it" – which is a gift from above, as an inheritance in every Jew,

the avodah must be in this,

"and you will dwell in it" – that this should be with settlement,

"and you shall take... and put it in a basket" – to clothe the lights in vessels,

"and you shall go to the place" – this is the matter of hashgacha peratis,

"which Hashem your G-d will choose" – when a Jew goes to a place,

it is not that he goes, rather he is led,

by supernal hashgacha.

So when he comes to a place, the intention is – "to cause His name to dwell there" – to publicize Elokus in the world.

And afterwards the Baal Shem Tov said the previous maamar again and added that the matter of "to cause His name to dwell there" is "with a blessing and a verse of Tehillim."

And the Maggid, of blessed memory,

(his student and successor of the Baal Shem Tov)

explained:

"And it will be, when you come into the land,"

the explanation is... when you wish to come into the supernal land

(the World to Come)

"which Hashem your G-d gives you,"

for all of Israel have a portion in the World to Come,

"and you will possess it,"

to inherit it as an eternal inheritance so that he will not need to be reincarnated

(G-d forbid)

but rather "and you will dwell in it" an eternal and everlasting dwelling,

so shall you conduct yourself and merit: "And you shall take from the first..." meaning the first of your taking from the pleasures of this world should be from "the first," which is Chochmah, as it is said

"The beginning of wisdom..."

meaning that all matters of this world have a holy spark mixed in them, which is Chochmah, etc.,

therefore all your taking and doing etc. should be, the main focus of your intention and aim should be on the "first" within it, which is the holy Chochmah within it.

And therefore it says "from the first" and not "all the first,"

for the whole thing is physicality, only there is in it a bit of holiness which is "the first," etc.,

and this is what is meant by "from the first of all the fruit of the ground" – these are the sparks within the vegetative.

And not only will you see to extract from the vegetative, but even that which you bring from your land,

meaning even from something that is completely earthiness, which is the inanimate, which is more physical than the vegetative.

And he did not mention here the sparks within animals,

because they can easily be elevated to holiness, as is explained in the writings of the Arizal.

And then he said: Do not say that I am warning you only about physical things, which are inanimate, vegetative,

(and animal),

but even regarding spiritual matters,

which are matters of Torah.

And this is what is meant by "which Hashem your G-d gives you..." – your intention should be pleasing, your thought pure, and your speech complete, etc.,

so that in every word that issues from your mouth, every letter, its vowels, and its cantillation notes should be discernible.

And this is what is meant by "and put it in a basket,"

for "basket" (טנא) is an acronym for "cantillation notes, vowels, letters" (טעמים נקודות אותיות).

And he did not mention here the crowns (tagin),

because they are not in pronunciation, etc. And when you conduct yourself thus

[meaning,

that in all these matters there should be the matter of "and you shall take from the first,"

the aspect of Chochmah,

then there will be]

"and you shall go to the place..." and you will elevate everything to holiness.

And this is "which Hashem your G-d will choose..." and this is "to cause His name to dwell there."

And this is why the verse opens with the language "and it will be," which is a language of joy,

etc.

And our Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe, explained

(in Likkutei Torah, Parshat Tavo)

that just as there is an aspect of Eretz Yisrael in the world, so too there is in the year, and that is Rosh Hashanah,

and before this there must be a cutting of a covenant, etc.

3)

And to understand all this, it is known that all matters in the world have their source in the Torah,

and so it is with the matter of Eretz Yisrael

(and the entry into Eretz Yisrael)

that there is this aspect in the Torah.

And as our Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe, explains at length

(in Torah Or, at its beginning,

and in Likkutei Torah there)

that Eretz Yisrael is the aspect of the Oral Torah,

for "land" (ארץ) is a term of will and desire (ratzon u'retzusa)

(as brought in the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov above)

and as the saying goes,

"Why is it called 'land' (ארץ)? Because it desired (ratzta) to do the will of its Master,"

and the revelation of the supernal will is specifically through the Oral Torah.

For in order to fulfill the supernal will, the study of the Written Torah is insufficient,

for although there is nothing that is not hinted at in the Torah,

this is only in the manner of a hint, and there can be two opinions from it,

for "these and those are the words of the living G-d,"

and specifically through a definitive halachah and clear legal ruling in the Oral Torah is it possible to know and fulfill the supernal will.

4)

And with this, the matter of the cutting of the covenant before entering Eretz Yisrael,

which is the Oral Torah, will be understood.

For the matter of the Oral Torah is the connection of the highest level with the lowest level,

for the halachah originates from the supernal will that is above the aspect of Chochmah

(which is the matter of the Torah in its plain sense),

and it is the aspect of "and he was with him"

that the halachah follows him

(which is above not only the aspect of Elokim, but also above the aspect of "these and those are the words of the living G-d,"

for "living G-d" is the aspect of Binah,

as explained in the discourses of the Tzemach Tzedek

and the Rebbe Maharash

and the subsequent Rebbes who succeeded them,

who explain the matter of "living G-d"),

and from there it is drawn into the legal ruling for practical halachah in this world.

And as our Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe, explains in Iggeret HaKodesh,

the analogy of the fulfillment of the mitzvos is like a pillar that connects the roof with the floor.

And in the language of Kabbalah and Chassidus, it is the connection of Sovev Kol Almin and Memaleh Kol Almin.

And it is known that for this connection, a drawing down is needed from a place that is above both of them,

and this is the matter of the covenant.

5)

And from this will be understood the concept of the cutting of a covenant in the aspect of the soul,

for just as the concept of a covenant in its simple sense is that it draws from a matter that is above reason and intellect,

therefore no change at all applies to it, and it is established,

for through this opposites are unified,

and as explained in Likkutei Torah28

that by passing between the parts they become unified as one actual unity,29

in this way will be understood the concept of the cutting of a covenant in the soul, that for the unification of the hidden and revealed aspects of the soul, there needs to be the matter of a covenant, which is the drawing from a most supernal place in the soul

(in the manner explained above regarding the Torah).

6)

And this is also the concept of the cutting of a covenant in the aspect of the world before entering the land in its simple sense,

"For you are coming to the land... and you will inherit it and dwell in it."

For it is explained in many places30

that the concept of entering the Land of Israel was the descent from the world of thought or from the world of speech to the world of action,

a descent to the lowest level, to a land that consumes its inhabitants,31

and since there needed to be a connection of the highest high with the lowest low,

therefore there needed to be beforehand a special cutting of a covenant, beyond the covenant which He cut with them at Chorev,

for even after the covenant at Chorev they were still the generation of knowledge32

(the aspect of thought or the aspect of speech),

but here there needed to be a descent to the lowest level,

until they caused the land to be very, very good,33

behold, for this there needed to be a special cutting of a covenant.34

7)

And behold, just as there is the concept of the cutting of a covenant in the soul and in the world, so too is it in the year,

for on Rosh Hashanah is the aspect of entering the Land of Israel in the year,35

and every year before Rosh Hashanah there needs to be a new cutting of a covenant.

And the concept is,

behold, on Rosh Hashanah is the completion of the service of man,

for then the Holy One, blessed be He, says "Make Me king over you,"36

[for the decision regarding the creation of the world is through the souls of Israel, as the statement37

"With whom did He consult? With the souls of the righteous,"

and "Your people are all righteous,"38

and as explained at length in the Torah of the Maggid of Mezeritch, in Or Torah and in Likkutei Amarim at its beginning,39

that through the delight from the service of the righteous rising before Him, etc., like the parable of the father who pictures to himself his small son, etc.

And so it is every Rosh Hashanah, that the coronation is specifically through Israel],

and through this is the decision that He be King over the entire world.

And from the decision of Rosh Hashanah, it is drawn to all the days of the year,

therefore it is called "Rosh Hashanah" (Head of the Year) and not "Beginning of the Year,"

as explained at length in Ateret Rosh at its beginning,40

that it is analogous to the head which includes all the limbs,

and also afterward, when the limbs are each in their place, the head is what leads them,

for so it is on Rosh Hashanah, which leads all the days of the year,

and even extends into actual deed.

This is the concept of drawing from one extreme to the other extreme.

And also, the entire concept of the decision to be King is drawn through the coronation of the souls of Israel, whose root is above, even above Torah,

and from there it is drawn downward specifically through a ruling of law in the Torah,

namely the instructions in the Torah regarding actual deed,

and in order to arrive at a true ruling, one must exert oneself to reach the truth in its truth

(as explained in the continuation of the discourse for Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbat from the holy Rebbe, of blessed memory,41

and in the discourses of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, the Nasi of our generation, who fills his place),

behold, all this is a drawing from the highest extreme to the lowest extreme.

Therefore, there needs to be beforehand a concept of a special cutting of a covenant,

for through the cutting of a covenant, all of the children of Israel

(and "Your people are all righteous")

become one with Atzmus and Essence,

in the analogy of a simple physical covenant.

8)

And from the covenant-making in general, there are drawn good decrees regarding the study of Torah, the fulfillment of the mitzvos, and the service of prayer,

for through this, Yisrael and the Holy One, blessed be He, are entirely one.

And from this comes a writing and sealing for a good and sweet year,

and its beginning beforehand in the month of preparation, which is the month of Elul, which is the acronym of "I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me"42,

and particularly from the 18th of Elul, which is the birthday of the two great luminaries43,

for then their mazal prevails44,

and behold, their purpose and intention was that "your wellsprings spread forth outward",

until the outermost, beyond which there is no outside.

And through this, "the donkey comes"45,

that is, King Mashiach, very soon,

and speedily in our days.