English translation — מאמר בחודש השלישי תשל"ד

With the help of Heaven.

Thursday, Parshat Yitro,

the fifteenth of Shevat, 5734*

"In the third month of the children of Israel's going out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came to the Sinai desert."

And it is brought in the Gemara:

It is written here "on this day they came to the Sinai desert" and it is written there,

"This month is for you the beginning of months."

Just as there it is Rosh Chodesh, so too here it is Rosh Chodesh.

And the precise point is known,

that it says "on this day" without specification

(and it is necessary to learn from a gezeirah shavah that it is Rosh Chodesh),

and it does not say "on the first of the month."

And behold, Rashi explains that what is written "on this day"

is that the words of Torah should be new to you, as if they were given today.

And it needs to be understood,

for the simple explanation of "on this day" is that "on this day" refers to Rosh Chodesh Sivan,

but according to the explanation that the words of Torah should be new to you, etc., "on this day" refers to every day of all the days of the year.

Also, it needs to be understood

(as is the precise point in several discourses),

how is it possible for the words of Torah to be new every day, and certainly new, after the Torah was already given more than three thousand years ago?

And seemingly, it is possible to explain this based on what is explained in the discourses on the verse "Zeh"

in the explanation of the verse,

"And Elokim spoke all these words, saying,"

that the word "leimor" (saying) in this verse means that the study of Torah

("all these words")

should be in a manner of "leimor,"

to repeat the words that the Holy One, blessed be He, is saying now,

as it is written,

"My tongue will answer Your word,"

that the Torah is Your word, but my tongue answers like one who answers after the speaker.

And therefore, just as there it was with awe and fear, etc., so too here, etc.,

for when he studies the Torah now, the Holy One, blessed be He, is saying these words now,

in that exact same manner as at the time of the giving of the Torah.

And this also requires explanation,

for since the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, are living and enduring forever without any change,

what is added and renewed by His saying them now

(at the time of a person's study)

once again?

2)

And this will be understood by prefacing what is brought in the Midrash:

A parable of a king who decreed and said: The residents of Rome shall not go down to Syria, and the residents of Syria shall not go up to Rome.

So too, when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He decreed and said: "The heavens are the heavens of Hashem, and the earth He gave to the children of man."

When He desired to give the Torah, He nullified the decree and said: The lower ones shall ascend to the upper ones, and the upper ones shall descend to the lower ones,

and I will begin,

as it is stated,

"And Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai," and it is written,

"And to Moshe He said, 'Ascend to Hashem.'"

And behold, it is known that the revelation of G-dliness in the world that was at the time of the giving of the Torah

(the descent of the upper ones to the lower ones,

"and Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai")

was in a manner from above to below,

meaning that the revelation was from the side of the drawing down from above, and the lower realm was not a vessel for this.

And the matter of "the lower ones shall ascend to the upper ones" is

that at the giving of the Torah, the power was given that the service of Torah and mitzvos after the giving of the Torah will affect the world so that it becomes a vessel for G-dliness.

And as explained elsewhere,

that this—that through the fulfillment of mitzvos, clarification and refinement are made in the things of the world in which the mitzvah is performed—

to the extent that in several matters they become

(the things of the world)

the actual object of the mitzvah,

is through a special power that was given at the giving of the Torah.

For since the mitzvos

(the will of the Holy One, blessed be He)

and the things of the world

(in which the mitzvos are performed)

are completely incomparable,

therefore,

in order for the mitzvos to effect a change in the things of the world, it is specifically through the nullification of the decree and the partition between the upper ones

(mitzvos)

and the lower ones

(the things of the world).

And similarly, regarding the study of Torah,

that this—that through the study of Torah a change is made

(elevation)

in the person who studies it,

to the extent that he becomes united with the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He—

is through the fact that at the giving of the Torah, the nullification of the decree and the partition between the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He

(upper ones)

and the intellect of man

(lower ones) was made.

3)

Now, regarding "above and below"

(higher and lower [beings]),

there are two explanations

(concepts).

[One is] "above and below" in place

(physical place or spiritual place),

and this matter of "above and below" has its root in the line (kav).

For if the flow were from Ein Sof

(without [the intermediary of] the line),

all worlds would be equal.

And there is another explanation of "above and below":

that the entire concept of division

("above and below" of place)

is called "below,"

for "above" is above division.

And as is known

in the explanation of the maamar,

"Ein Sof is above, above without end, and below, below without limit,"

that "below, below" is the light that is in the aspect of limitation,

the root of the line (kav)

(which contains in concealment the division of "above and below,"

which are the root of "above and below" in the worlds),

and "above, above" is the light without limit,

the root of the Surrounding (Sovev) that is above division.

And it can be said

that this [aspect] which, at the Giving of the Torah, effected the union of "above and below,"

is in both of these matters.

The union of "above and below" in the worlds

(place),

which in general is the union of Atzilus and BY"A,

and also the union of the light without limit that is above the worlds with the light that is relative to the worlds,

and as is known

that the matter of the mitzvos

(after the Giving of the Torah)

is that through them is effected the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah,

the union of the Surrounding (Sovev) and the Filling (Memaleh).

4)

Now, this matter—that in the union of "above and below" at the Giving of the Torah is also included the "above" that is beyond the definition of "above and below" in the worlds—

applies both regarding the empowerment that was at the Giving of the Torah for the service of Torah and mitzvos after the Giving of the Torah

(that the lower ones will ascend to the higher ones),

that through the service of the lower ones will be drawn down

(the light of Atzilus and)

the light of the Surrounding (Sovev), and even the light without limit that preceded the tzimtzum

(the root of the Surrounding light),

and [also applies] in the union of "above and below"

(that the higher ones descended to the lower ones)

that occurred at the time of the Giving of the Torah itself.

And the explanation is,

that it is known

that the Torah is above time and place,

therefore, anyone who engages in the study of the burnt-offering [Torah portion] is considered as if he offered a burnt-offering,

even though he is not in the time and place of the offering.

5)

Now, even though the descent of the higher ones below and the ascent of the lower ones above are two [distinct] matters,

to the point that they were at two [different] times—

the descent of the higher ones below was at the time of the Giving of the Torah, and the ascent of the lower ones above was after the Giving of the Torah—

nevertheless,

since the descent of the higher ones below was

(also)

the beginning

(and the empowerment)

for the ascent of the lower ones,

and as our sages, of blessed memory, said, "And I began, all this,"

therefore,

the descent was in a manner that, at the time of the act, it effected [change] in the lower ones.

Based on this, we can explain what is stated

that the voice of the Ten Commandments was heard from all four directions of the world, and from above and from below,

for the revelation of Ein Sof, which is above the definition of place

(above even the definition of place as it exists in the line [kav])

that was in the voice of the Ten Commandments, effected in the place

(in which the voice was heard)

that it should be above place.

Therefore,

even though the place in which the voice was [heard] was a specific place,

all six directions were included in it.

And it can be said,

that the same applies regarding time,

that the time in which the Torah was given was above time,

and the entire continuum of time was included in it.

And it can be said that this is one of the reasons why the Giving of the Torah occurred only once and will not occur again,

for in the time of the Giving of the Torah, the entire continuum of time was included.

And the same applies regarding Rosh Chodesh Sivan, when the preparation for the Giving of the Torah was completed,

that on this day, the entire continuum of time afterwards was included.

And this is the connection between the two explanations of "on this day"—

that it refers to Rosh Chodesh Sivan and that it refers to every day—

for on Rosh Chodesh Sivan of the year of the Giving of the Torah, all the days afterwards were included.

6)

And based on this, we can explain the addition and novelty of the speech of the Holy One, blessed be He

(Your utterance)

at the time of a person's study, in relation to the speech that was at the Giving of the Torah.

For the fact that the speech of the Giving of the Torah exists at all times is by virtue of the person's study,

as explained above

(section 5)

—that the revelation at the Giving of the Torah acted upon the time in which the Torah was given so that it would contain within it the entire continuum of time, in order that the revelation at the Giving of the Torah would be the beginning and the empowerment for the ascent of the lower beings,

the service of man.

Therefore, the speech of the Holy One, blessed be He, that comes through a person's study is more elevated.

And we may add,

that just as on this day, literally, which refers to Rosh Chodesh,

it is only the birth of the moon,

a mere point,

and afterwards it goes and grows until the fifteenth day, on which the moon stands in its fullness,

so too is it with Israel—

that at the time of the Giving of the Torah, which was in the Sinai desert,

it was the beginning,

and through the service of Israel afterwards, and after the Giving of the Torah, they go and grow,

until in the days of Dovid

and in the days of Shlomo, the moon stood in its fullness.

And the main filling and completion will be in the generation of King Moshiach,

for then "He will rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth,"

in every place equally,

until "the glory of the L-rd will fill the entire earth,"

a filling with ultimate perfection in all the earth equally.

7)

Now, it is explained in the discourses,

that the Torah is called "Oz"

and "Tushiyah"—

"Oz" for the G-dly soul, and "Tushiyah" for the animal soul.

And that the Torah contains these two matters

(even though it is clothed in physical matters)

is because

the source and foundation of the Torah is in the Ein Sof, blessed be He, Himself and in His glory

[and the revelation of this aspect of the Torah is when a person's study of Torah is in a state of self-nullification,

like one who answers after the reader].

And it can be said

that these two matters of "Oz" and "Tushiyah" are also analogous to the two matters mentioned above

(section 4)

regarding the connection of above and below.

For that the Torah gives strength and "Oz" to the G-dly soul is in the manner of the descent and drawing down of the Torah below,

and that the Torah weakens the power of the animal soul is in the manner of the empowerment of the Giving of the Torah for the ascent of the lower beings.

And that the source of the Torah is from the Ein Sof, blessed be He,

therefore it contains these two matters of "Oz" and "Tushiyah"—

this is in the manner explained elsewhere,

that the fact that the Torah

(which is above the world)

descended below and acts upon that which is below,

is because there is drawn into it from the Awtsmoos,

which is the bearer of opposites.

8)

And this is [the meaning of] "In the third month... on this day they came to the desert of Sinai,"

"Desert" (Midbar) is from the term "speech" (dibur),

and it is called "Midbar" with the addition of the letter Mem, to indicate that the speech is in a state of self-nullification, like one who answers after the caller

(as explained at length in the discourses),

and through this, Sinai is brought about, [meaning] that hatred descended upon the nations of the world.

For when the study of Torah is in a state of self-nullification, then it becomes

(strength for the Nefesh HaElokis and)

a resource (tushiyah) for the Nefesh HaBahamis,

for "hatred descended upon the nations of the world" includes also the body and the Nefesh HaBahamis.

[And one should note the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov

on the verse,

"When you see the donkey of your enemy,"

when you look with good contemplation at your material, which is the body,

you will see that it is your enemy,

for it hates the soul.]

9)

Afterwards, the verse says, "And they journeyed from Refidim,"

Refidim is so named because they loosened their hands from words of Torah,

meaning that he is not opposed to Torah; on the contrary, he studies Torah,

but his study is with laxity and weakness,

and through the service of "Midbar" (desert/speech of nullification), he moves himself

(also)

from the laxity and weakness in words of Torah and does repentance

for this.

And the verse continues

(after it says "and they journeyed from Refidim")

"and they came to the desert of Sinai... before the mountain,"

for this that he was initially in Refidim brings him to strengthen himself

in words of Torah even more.

10)

And 4)

One could say,

that through studying this verse now,

the empowerment for "and they journeyed from Refidim" is even greater.

For the first time,

the empowerment for "and they journeyed from Refidim" was through the completion of the preparation for the Giving of the Torah on Rosh Chodesh Sivan,

and now,

there is also the empowerment from the Giving of the Torah in past years,

and from the study of Torah after the Giving of the Torah, through which additional strength is added to the matter of the Giving of the Torah

(as above, section 6).

And especially since we are on the fifteenth day of the month, when the moon is in its fullness,

and within this itself—on the fifteenth of Shevat,

the New Year for the Tree,

which relates to a good and spacious land—there is a special empowerment to increase in Torah study and in the fulfillment of mitzvos in a manner of "a good and spacious land,"

and likewise regarding repentance

("and they journeyed from Refidim")

that it should be in a manner of "a good and spacious land,"

meaning supernal repentance, which is with great joy,

and when Israel repents, they are immediately redeemed,

"and you shall be gathered one by one, O children of Israel,"

that the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself

brings them to a good and spacious land literally,

in the true and complete redemption through our righteous Mashiach,

speedily, truly.