English translation — דברים-שבת חזון

1.

Already spoken many times¹,

that although from P. Bereishis until the seventeenth of Tammuz "they read haftaros related to the weekly portions, similar to similar, and from there onward according to the time and according to the event"

(as it stands in the Tur²)

Nevertheless,

since all matters of Torah are most precise,

it is understandable,

that also the haftaros which were established for the Sabbaths from the 17th of Tammuz onward "according to the time etc."

(or Mattos)

etc.,

"Chazon" in P. Devarim³]

— they have, however, also a connection to the portions which are read on those Sabbaths

("related to the portions etc."),

although primarily they are "according to the time and according to the event"⁴.

And this is most emphasized in Shabbos Chazon.

Because the name of this Shabbos is called

(in the custom of Israel,

which is Torah)

after the haftarah — Shabbos Chazon,

it is therefore understood that this is the content of the

(entire)

Shabbos.

B.

Among the matters with which the haftarah "Chazon Yeshayahu"⁵

is "similar" to the parshah

(Devarim)

— is:

The prophecy of the haftarah "Chazon Yeshayahu" consists of a rebuke to the Jews,

and nevertheless the conclusion and seal of the haftarah⁶

is with the matter of the redemption — "And I will return your judges etc. Zion shall be redeemed with justice and her captives with charity";

So too we find in Parsha Devarim,

that although the parsha contains within it "words of rebuke"⁷,

nevertheless its conclusion and seal⁸ speaks

about the entry of the Jews into the Land of Israel — "Do not fear them, for Hashem your God is He who fights for you."

And since "everything follows the conclusion"<sup>9</sup>,

it is understood,

that although the content of the haftarah is "calamity"<sup>10</sup>

— and of the three calamities, the haftarah of Chazon is the harshest of them<sup>11</sup>

— but the main point within it

(— the conclusion and seal)

the matter of redemption: "Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her captives with charity."

And since a haftarah always comes as the completion and conclusion of the Torah portion<sup>12</sup>

— it automatically comes out,

that the conclusion and "sum total" of the parshah is — the matter of the redemption.

And based on this it will be sweetened what is in Likkutei Torah — that the Tzemach Tzedek set forth in the order of maamarim "on the orders of the parshiyos of the Torah etc." ¹³

— is that on Parshas Devarim there exists only the single maamar¹⁴

on the verse "Tziyon shall be redeemed with justice and its captives with charity"

(and there is no maamar on a verse from the parshah itself¹⁵)

— and it can be said

(in a possible way)

that the reason is because this is the content of the parshah.

And although that the matter

and — at the conclusion of the haftarah]

— is common to all sedras,

nevertheless one does not find in this manner in the other parshiyos that the maamar in Likkutei Torah

(in a sedra)

should be only on a verse from the haftarah¹⁶,

and in addition — the conclusion of the haftarah.

And one can say the reason why specifically in our parshah is this — because in the matter of exile and redemption this is emphasized in a special way,

and as follows.

3.

One will understand this with an introduction to what is stated in the Yalkut at the beginning of Jeremiah¹⁷

: "A lion ascended in the constellation of the lion and destroyed Ariel; a lion ascended — this is Nebuchadnezzar, as it is written¹⁸

A lion ascended from its thicket, in the constellation of the lion until¹⁹

the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month,

and destroyed Ariel, namely²⁰

Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped,

on condition that a lion come in the constellation of the lion and build Ariel,

a lion shall come — this is the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written of Him²¹

A lion has roared, who will not fear,

in the constellation of the lion, and I will turn²²

their mourning into joy, and He will build Ariel, He builds²³

Jerusalem; the Lord gathers the dispersed of Israel."

All matters in Torah are indeed precise,

and certainly there is no mere rhetoric in it, heaven forbid.

And one must understand: What is the emphasis in this that the term "lion" is used both regarding the destruction

("A lion ascended in the constellation of the lion and destroyed Ariel"),

and also regarding the building

("that a lion come in the constellation of the lion and build Ariel")

Could it have stated "Nebuchadnezzar came in the fifth month, etc., on condition that the Holy One, blessed be He, come, etc., and build the Holy Temple"?

4.

Is the explanation in this,

That with this the Midrash addresses a general question regarding the destruction of the Holy Temple:

There is a settled halacha²⁴

: "Whoever breaks vessels, and tears garments, and destroys a building, etc., in a destructive way, transgresses 'Do not destroy'"²⁵.

Even more: In addition to the prohibition of bal tashchit,

Regarding the Holy Temple there is the prohibition of "You shall not do etc." — one may not destroy a part of the Holy Temple,

"He who demolishes²⁶

one stone from the altar or from any of the Sanctuary, and from between the Entrance Hall and the Altar, in a destructive way, is lashed, as it is said²⁷

And you shall demolish their altars, etc., you shall not do so to the L-rd your G-d".

And all the more so — the entire Holy Temple.

And as the Rambam counts in the enumeration of the commandments²⁸

"Not to destroy the Holy Temple or synagogues or study halls".

the question arises*²⁸

: since "He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel"²⁹,

that the Almighty, so to speak, fulfills the commandments that He tells Jews³⁰,

then how is it ³¹

that the Almighty allowed the Holy Temple to be destroyed,

and moreover: this was done by His agency, may He be exalted,

as it says in prophecy³²

"Behold, I am sending and I will take etc. and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon My servant etc."?

And if — because Jews were not worthy of having the Holy Temple — the Almighty could have hidden the Temple,

in the manner that we find regarding the Tabernacle that "the Tent of Meeting was hidden etc."³³,

and moreover: regarding the Temple itself, it is indeed "the gates sank into the earth"³⁴.

And likewise several vessels were hidden³⁵.

5.

Regarding the prohibition of bal tashchit one can seemingly answer based on the statement of our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, on the verse³⁶

"The Lord has spent His wrath,"

that "He poured out His wrath on the trees and on the stones, and He did not pour out His wrath on Israel"

(and therefore by Asaph it is not "a lament for Asaph" but "a psalm of Asaph").

And therefore this is not a matter of bal tashchit,

because the prohibition is only "when one acts in a way of destruction and ruin,

but for the purpose of repair it is permitted to ruin if it is impossible to repair except through this ruin"³⁷.

In the manner that it is the law regarding the work of Shabbos,

that all who cause damage are exempt³⁸

(if "one tears garments or burns them or breaks vessels destructively, behold this one is exempt"³⁹)

And nevertheless,

"one who tears in his anger or over the dead that he is obligated to tear for him is liable because he settles his mind with this matter and his inclination will rest, and since his anger is calmed by this matter, behold he is like one who repairs and is liable"⁴⁰

; and likewise in our matter: since the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash was in the manner of "He vented..

His wrath" it is therefore a matter of repair.

Furthermore: through that which "He vented..

His wrath" it is "He did not vent His wrath upon Israel".

It turns out,

that regarding Jews the destruction is a matter of causing damage "in order to repair",

because "it is impossible to repair except through this damage",

and there is not in it the prohibition of bal tashchis⁴¹.

It remains, however, not understood regarding the prohibition of "lo ta'asun kein": although the prohibition of "lo ta'asun kein" is

(as per the precise wording of the Rambam⁴²)

specifically when this is "derech hashchata"⁴³,

and as the Kessef Mishneh⁴⁴

interprets "she'im notetz kedei letaken vadai shari" — but the "kedei letaken" must be a tikkun and binyan⁴⁵

in the body of the thing⁴⁶.

And especially according to the ruling in the Rema⁴⁷

even regarding a synagogue,

that "it is forbidden to demolish anything from a synagogue unless one does so with the intent to build"; but if he does it for another purpose,

even for the purpose of a mitzvah,

it is forbidden⁴⁸.

The only permit is only when the demolition is in order to build,

and in order to build in its place⁴⁹.

And it can be said that this is the addition and the precision in the Yalkut "A lion ascended etc. and destroyed Ariel etc. with the intent that a lion etc.

"And he will build Ariel": to emphasize that the purpose of the destruction of the Temple was

(not because of the destruction itself,

but)

because of an additional matter,

and "on condition that a lion comes and builds Ariel" — "in order to build",

and consequently it is understood that here there is not the prohibition of demolishing the Temple,

destruction of the Holy Temple,

but on the contrary⁵⁰

: "that demolition is called building"⁵¹

- the destruction and demolition itself,

is

(its name)

its essence - building.

And for this reason the Yalkut repeats and reiterates the same phrase "A lion arose in the sign of the lion and destroyed Ariel on condition that a lion comes in the sign of the lion and builds Ariel" — because this explains and emphasizes,

that the inner content of the destruction — the demolition — is "building

(is called)

"; so much so that the matter and cause of the destruction,

has the same name

(that "its name which they call it in the Holy Language" indicates the essence of the thing⁵²)

as the one who does the building of the Holy Temple in its simple sense — "a lion will come in the sign of the lion and build Ariel"⁵³.

6.

From this emerges a wondrous matter regarding the destruction of the Temple,

the First Temple and all the more so the Second Temple:

The building of the Third Holy Temple by the Most High — "The lion, this is the Holy One, blessed be He, will come in the constellation of Leo, and I will turn their mourning to joy, and Ariel will be built",

is not a thing that will only begin in the future,

rather the beginning of its building was initiated immediately upon the destruction of the Temple.

Even more,

this is the entire purpose of the destruction of the Temple: the Almighty wanted to "fix"⁵⁴

the Temple⁵⁵,

that it should not be as it was before,

a "building of a man"⁵⁶

which has no permanence⁵⁷,

but rather it should be "a building..

of the Holy One, blessed be He"⁵⁶,

an eternal building — and therefore there was the destruction of the Temples,

the First Temple and the Second Temple,

in order to fix and build a perfected Temple,

the Third Temple which is a building of the Holy One, blessed be He.

It turns out,

that the destruction of the Temples is actually a category of "building",

not destruction and demolition.

7.

Based on this, one must explain more deeply the story in the Midrash⁵⁸,

that when an Arab

(at the time of the destruction of the Temple)

heard how "the cry of his cow"⁵⁹

from a Jew, he said to him that the Temple has now been destroyed; and immediately afterwards when "the cow cried out another time"⁵⁹

— he said to him that "the savior and redeemer of Israel is born"⁵⁹

That is,

that in the inwardness of the matter, by this is meant not only that then Mashiach was born,

namely, that from the moment after the destruction he is ready to redeem the Jews,

that with the destruction also came the preparation,

the beginning and possibility of the redemption

(And as is understood the necessity for this simply: because when Jews do repentance, "immediately they are redeemed"⁶⁰,

and "I am asleep in exile but My heart is awake" for the Holy One blessed be He etc.⁶¹,

Mashiach must be ready and prepared in the moment immediately after the destruction,

so that the redemption can be — "immediately"⁶²

when they do repentance⁶³),

Only more than this — the destruction of the Temple and the redemption and building of the Holy Temple are not with an interval of time,

with an interval of a moment between them — rather immediately right after the destruction there was in this world below in the Land of Israel itself — the beginning of the redemption,

their redeemer was born.

Openly, among Jews the matter of the destruction is heard,

and consequently — the laws of the Ninth of Av and so on — but their content

(of the fasts and the Ninth of Av in particular)

— is indeed to bring to repentance,

and in the language of the Rambam at the beginning of the Laws of Fasts: And this matter is from the ways of repentance<sup>64</sup>.

So that the redemption and building of the Temple should come through repentance and the service of.

Israel in practice

8.

The matter

(That the beginning of the repair and building of the Temple begins immediately, right after the destruction,

Because that is the entire purpose of the destruction,

For the sake of the repair of the Temple)

One finds explicitly already by the first exile,

The exile of Egypt,

That immediately — right after — the decree upon the exile,

"And they will enslave them and afflict them"⁶⁵,

Has the Almighty told Abraham our father "And after that they will go out with great wealth"⁶⁶.

And as is known the explanation in this⁶⁷,

That the entire matter of the exile of Egypt was for the sake of the elevation

(The "great wealth")

Of the Jews,

And to receive the Torah

(Only the Jews being in exile and bondage of Egypt did not feel this,

Therefore they wanted to go out of exile as early as possible and to forgo the great wealth⁶⁸).

: because among them there was always the study of Torah and they stood in the mitzvos of the fathers<sup>70</sup>,

they knew and they perceived in Egypt that the exile and servitude itself brings the refinement and ascent/ the great wealth — and consequently the servitude was not felt among them].

And likewise — since all the kingdoms

(the exiles)

are called by the name of Egypt<sup>71</sup>

this is regarding all exiles,

and especially this last exile: openly and emphatically the redemption begins after a pause of time after the destruction

(the beginning of the exile),

but inwardly,

since the entire matter of the exile is for the sake of the ascent of the redemption

(the great wealth that one takes out from exile),

the first moment after the moment of exile is already — inseparable moment from the redemption<sup>72</sup>.

And as mentioned above — this is not only in the matter of the destruction and the exile as it is from the side above,

from the side of the One above,

but also in the service of Jews.

Until — a cry breaks out even from an animal,

down here,

Moreover in the language of the old Rebbe⁷³

"The ultimate perfection of the days of Mashiach and the resurrection of the dead, which is the revelation of the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, in this physical world, depends on our deeds and our service throughout the duration of the exile."

And since these revelations and matters of the redemption come through "our deeds and our service throughout the duration of the exile,"

it is understood,

that these revelations and matters are prepared,

are "present" in our deeds and our service⁷⁴.

With fleshly eyes one does not see this,

but righteous ones and princes of Israel who have luminous eyes see in the exile itself

(partly in the descent and darkness of the exile and partly in our deeds and our service)

the matter of the redemption that is in this.

9.

Based on the above, we can explain a perplexing matter regarding the subject of the officer.

The Gemara<sup>75</sup>

says: "May the spirit of those who calculate the end times be blown out."

And the Rambam brings this in his book

(what is "Hilchos Halachos")

at its end<sup>76</sup>

: "And likewise he should not calculate the end; the Sages said: May the spirit of those who calculate the ends be blown out."

In practice, however, one finds a multitude of ends — in addition to Chazal in the Gemara,

also from the great ones of Israel after the time of the Shas in all generations<sup>77</sup>,

and in addition to all this — the Rambam himself writes an end in his Igeres Teiman<sup>78</sup>

; and likewise in the generations after that,

and it is known the end from the old Rebbe in the well-known maamar<sup>79</sup>

"And the thousand and seven hundred"<sup>80</sup>.

Simply, one learns that by "May the minds of those who calculate the end be blown away" is meant⁸¹

(as the Gemara continues)

"who would say, since the time of the end has arrived and he has not come, he will no longer come."

And as the Rambam explains

(in the Epistle to Yemen)

that this brings failure and stumbling to the people,

because "lest they err when they see that the ends have come and he has not come"⁸²,

this will cause a lack of faith in the coming of the Messiah,

"therefore the sages prayed concerning them that their minds be blown away and their calculation be destroyed"⁸³.

But that which the great ones of Israel revealed ends was,

on the contrary,

for the most lofty purpose

(as the Rambam praises the RaSaG⁸⁴

regarding the ends that he announced)

since these were times when Jews were in a lowly state,

"possessors of many corrupt opinions",

the great ones of Israel gathered them together and drew a "multitude of the people by way of calculation of the ends" and thereby strengthened them in their faith and aroused in them the hope for the redemption⁸⁵

through⁸⁶

to make known that the redemption is close, literally to come,

even though were it not for this "the Torah forbade this"⁸⁷,

according to the above it can be said in a possible way — since the righteous see in every time during the course of the exile how the service in every day and moment of exile includes within itself and brings the matters of the redemption,

and after each day etc. in exile they see the addition in the revelations and ascents of the redemption

(great wealth),

until the additions gather together and a state of completeness in the addition comes — they revealed the time of completeness — the year of the end,

that one is in the process of reaching and arriving at the completeness of the addition,

of the higher revelation — and consequently the service of the children of Israel in this time between the revealing of the end and the day of the end — must be in accordance with the completeness of this revelation,

that it should come through their service in actuality,

Revelation of the end,

Calculation of the end by the Rambam etc. the Alter Rebbe is an awakening to add even more in the service of Torah and mitzvos that they should be in accordance with this,

And giving of strength for this.

And consequently it is added that it is simple that it is not about this that the prohibition of "calculation of ends" speaks — which as above the Rambam brings it to halacha —

Is righteous great ones when they see⁸⁸

the great elevation and great wealth that Jews have already achieved in this time,

that this brings them to be wondrous exceedingly in the praise of Jews and in love of Israel and in the merit of Jews,

all Jews —

On the contrary,

they need to reveal this,

all an awakening to addition in the service of G-d and giving strength for this,

so that Jews should add more in their service in accordance with this,

as above.

Yud.

Based on this, the matter of the name of the Shabbat — "Shabbat Chazon" will be sweetened:

Simply, this is erev Shabbat the beginning of the haftarah "Chazon Yeshayahu",

which explicitly is "which he saw concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim etc." the undesirable matters —

(3)

of punishment

On the other hand,

it is known what R. Hillel Paritcher brings<sup>89</sup>

"in the name of the Rav from Barditchev N.B.G.M." that "Shabbat Chazon" is from the term vision,

that on this Shabbat one shows "to each and every one the future Holy Temple"<sup>90</sup>.

And according to the above it is understood,

that if there are no contradictory interpretations,

but on the contrary,

they have a connection between them; and moreover — they are in immediate sequence one after the other: in the destruction of the Holy Temple,

until the very lowest level, as it is on Shabbat Chazon which is the Shabbat before

(and relates to)

Tisha B'Av⁹¹

— one "sees"

(on this Shabbat itself — and beginning from the first moment that is called Shabbat Chazon)

the building of the future Holy Temple.

And this affects the Jews,

that he should not be affected by all the difficulties of the darkness of the exile,

and consequently — his service is,

"our deeds and our service throughout the duration of the exile",

still in a higher manner,

When one brings the third Beis HaMikdash,

which is "built and perfected above"⁹²,

should be "Chazon" in its simple sense,

one should see it down here within ten handbreadths,

because: Yavo aryeh b'mazal aryeh v'yivneh Ariel boneh Yerushalayim Hashem nidchei Yisrael yichanes,

speedily in our days and in this month — the mazal of Aryeh — literally.

(From the sichah of Shabbos Parshas Devarim 5740)