English translation — נצבים

A.

On the verse¹

"And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed" it says in the Targum²

"And the Lord God will remove the <b>foolishness</b> of your heart."

Simply, the Targum explains with this: How does the language "And He will circumcise etc. <b>your heart and the heart</b> of your seed" fit?

The concept of "And He will circumcise" applies specifically to the <b>foreskin</b> of the heart,

not regarding the heart itself.

And as it indeed says in an earlier portion³

"And you shall circumcise the <b>foreskin</b> of your heart" — here too it should seemingly have said "And the Lord your God will circumcise the <b>foreskin</b> of your heart and the <b>foreskin</b> of the heart of your seed."

Therefore the Targum adds — as its translation in the aforementioned series — the word <b>"foolishness</b>

(your heart)

i.

e.

that it is like a "shortened verse" and it is as if the verse had explicitly said "the foreskin of your heart".

One must however understand: Why does Rashi not address the question — in the manner of the Targum

(and as discussed several times⁴,

that Rashi answers every question that arises in the simple understanding of Scripture)?

One must say,

that according to Rashi's method one need not answer the question

(whether because the difficulty is not initially present&lt;sup&gt;5&lt;/sup&gt;,

or because Rashi already answered the

question in a &lt;b&gt;previous &lt;/b&gt;commentary&lt;sup&gt;6&lt;/sup&gt;,

as discussed several times⁴).

B.

Regarding the reason why the verse does not say <b>,</b>

the foreskin of your heart' — one must say,

that this is understood from <b>the continuation of the verses themselves:</b>

Earlier it says&lt;sup&gt;7&lt;/sup&gt;

"And it will be when come upon you etc. &lt;b&gt;And you will return &lt;/b&gt;to the L-rd your G-d and listen to His voice etc. you and your children &lt;b&gt;with all your heart and with all your soul","

and &lt;b&gt;after you &lt;/b&gt;the Torah &lt;b&gt;draws &lt;/b&gt;"

(And the L-rd your G-d will return your captivity etc. and the L-rd your G-d will bring you to the land etc.)

And the L-rd your G-d will circumcise your heart etc.",

D.

Heh.

So the "And the L-rd your G-d will circumcise your heart" will be &lt;b&gt;after &lt;/b&gt;Jews are already in a state of "And you will return etc. with all your heart and with all your soul";

has no place to say that "And He will circumcise etc." — &lt;b&gt;foreskin of &lt;/b&gt;the heart,

because Jews are in a state of "And you will return etc. &lt;b&gt;with all your heart and with all your soul","

is already not by them "foreskin of the heart"&lt;sup&gt;8&lt;/sup&gt;

(Foolishness

(according to the Targum),

or as Rashi explains "foreskin of your heart" — &lt;b&gt;"blocking &lt;/b&gt;of your heart and its covering"&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt;,

that the heart is blocked "from understanding"&lt;sup&gt;10&lt;/sup&gt;)

One must say,

that "and G-d will circumcise your heart" means a <b>higher</b> matter in divine service¹¹

— in addition to the previous <b>negation</b>

(absence of foolishness,

removing the "callousness" of the heart),

there should be a <b>positive</b> matter and action,

as the continuation of the verse — "

(and G-d will circumcise)

<b>to love</b> the L-rd your G-d".

In a slightly different version: Earlier it stands that Jews will repent and obey the Most High "with all your heart and with all your soul",

which can be even when they serve the Most High <b>from fear</b>¹²

; but "and G-d your L-rd will circumcise" will bring about in them — <b>"to love</b>¹³

<b> </b>the L-rd your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul"¹⁴.

— It remains however to understand: what connection does <b>"ומל" — </b>an action of <b>forcible removal</b>

(removal¹⁵

— with the action upon the heart "to love G‑d"¹⁶?

Also it is not understood: from the language of the verse <b>"ומל ה״א </b>etc." it comes out,

that this is a matter which is performed not by the person himself,

but by the action of <b>the Holy One, blessed be He</b>¹⁷

; but if the performance of "ומל etc." consists only of "to love etc." — then love of G‑d is a

A commandment upon each and every one of Israel,

<b>"And you shall love</b>¹⁸

<b> </b>the L-rd your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul"¹⁹

and twice every day!

3.

And one must say,

Then the question is answered in the continuation of the verses:

The verses "And it will be when they bring upon you etc. and you will return etc. and He will return etc. and He will circumcise etc." come in continuation to the earlier lengthiness,

about the bad state in exile,

which comes from the fact that "they forsook the covenant of the Lord"²⁰

: and the Torah describes the <b>cause</b> of such conduct — "For²¹

you know etc. in the land of Egypt etc. <b>and you saw</b> their abominations etc. lest there be etc. whose <b>heart turns away</b> etc. to serve the gods of those nations etc."

So from this it is understandable,

that the <b>"and the Lord will circumcise</b> your heart etc."

(which will be after <b>"and the Lord will bring you</b> <b>to the land</b> etc.")

is to remove the cause of the spiritual descent — the <b>possibility</b> of <b>"and you saw</b> their abominations etc. his heart <b>turns away</b> etc."

And the explanation in this:

In that which the heart of a Jew turns away from after Hashem,

there are two general causes

(which express themselves in the two expressions: <b>orlat</b> halev and "levavo <b>poneh")</b>

A)

A deficiency in the existence of the heart itself — there is a foreskin of the heart

(foolishness or a callousness),

and because of this the heart is drawn to evil and forbidden things.

B)

A cause external to it — from the heart,

And in the language of Rashi

— "The eye sees and the heart covets",

And this is the manner of man's descent: before there is a change

(for the worse)

in the existence of the heart itself — he does not yet have foolishness or a callousness,

so that by itself it would not have any desire for not good things — the seeing of the eye comes and it generates a desire in his heart.

And this is the precise language of the verse in our portion,

that the first cause of the spiritual descent of Bnei Yisrael is "a man etc. whose heart <b>turns" — that is, the</b> language

("his heart turns")

indicates a deficiency

(not in the heart itself — like "their heart <b>is turned"</b>²³

<b> — </b>but)

only in the <b>inclination</b> of the heart

(which can come from an external cause)

; <b>and as explained in the verse</b> the progression of the situation — "for you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt etc. <b>and you saw</b> their abominations etc. his heart <b>turns</b> etc. to serve the gods of the <b>nations"</b>

(the manner of <b>"the eye sees and the heart covets").</b>

D.

Regarding the above-mentioned matter it is understandable:

a)

How does the phrase <b>"ומל" </b>fit on this?

(excision)

— because the action of "ומל" is to remove the possibilities of "לבבו פונה",

which requires <b>cutting off </b>the connection between the sight — with the heart

(so that the heart should not covet the "ותראו

(with the eye)

את שקוציהם").

b)

"ומל ה״א גו״׳ specifically — one must reach the action of the Holy One, blessed be He, in this: a person has the power to remove the <b>ערלת </b>הלב —

His blindness and foolishness; but the connection between his eyesight and his heart is a humility that the Almighty has imbued in him,

and it is only by His power, blessed be He, to nullify this²⁴.

And this is also what the verse continues "

(And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed)

to love the Lord your God with all your heart etc. for the sake of your life": since the <b>possibility</b> of "his heart turning"²⁵ will be completely removed,

then automatically there will be²⁶

"to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul <b>for the sake of your life": </b>not merely love of God²⁷,

but in a manner that this will become the <b>entire life</b> of a Jew²⁸

5.

From the above-mentioned matter emerges a practical difference in the content of the service of this time when one reads the portion of Nitzavim — the seal of the month of Elul:

On the verse "And G‑d will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed" it says in the Baal HaTurim²⁹,

that "your heart and the heart of" — the initials are Elul,

therefore it is customary to rise early to pray Selichot from Rosh Chodesh Elul onward."

From that which the Baal Shem Tov connects the acronym of the verse with the recitation of <b>Selichot</b> it is understood,

that he interprets the content of the verse of "And the Lord your God will circumcise" as the service of <b>teshuvah</b>³⁰.

And one must say,

that this is in accordance with the interpretation of the Targum that "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart" means that one removes the <b>foolishness</b> of the heart.

But not according to the above-mentioned explanation

(according to Rashi's method,

in the plain sense of Scripture),

that the action of "and He will circumcise etc." expresses itself in the continuation of the verse — <b>"to love </b>etc. for the sake of your life"

(because the removal of foolishness and hardness of heart had already taken place before the "and God will circumcise")

— it turns out,

that the service of Elul

(alluded to in the verse "and God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed")

is not the service of repentance and forgiveness,

but the service of <b>love</b>³¹.

Because the action of Elul is also in the line of love,

as understood from the initials³²

"I am³³

for my beloved and my beloved is for me",

where "my beloved" is indeed a matter of <b>love.</b>

And as is also understandable from the well-known parable that the Alter Rebbe³⁴

says about the illumination of the thirteen

Attributes of mercy in the month of Elul,

so this is analogous to a king who "they go out to greet him in the field...

and he receives them all with a cheerful countenance and shows a smiling face to all" — which, of course,

arouses in everyone a love for the king,

as water reflects a face back to a face, etc.³⁵

6.

And one could say,

that what according to the Baal HaTurim is in the service of Elul

(alluded to in the verse "and He will circumcise, etc.")

the continuation of the verse "to love, etc." is <b>not</b> included,

is because according to the interpretation by way of <b>remez</b> (hint)

(the explanation of the Baal HaTurim),

the "to love, etc." is a <b>higher</b> level than the love of Hashem that is in the month of Elul.

And with an introduction: the Alter Rebbe explains³⁶

the difference between the service of the month of Elul and the service of the Days of Awe that follow,

that Elul is primarily the time of "I am my Beloved's",

<b>awakening from below</b>³⁷

; but the Days of Awe are the main time of "and my Beloved is mine" — "the time of the revelation of His kingship, may He be blessed"

(like one who is "receiving³⁸

the face of the king <b>in the palace of his kingship" — </b>and to this merit only the <b>"chosen ones </b>of the people and unique individuals of virtue"³⁹),

that specifically then His love⁴⁰

may He be blessed <b>"is implanted </b>in the heart of man".

That is to say,

that the level of love of the month of Elul is not as high as the love that is attained in the Days of Awe,

the

(main)

time of "and my Beloved is mine".

And based on this, we can explain the difference between the two manners mentioned above

(Whether the "to love etc." is a part of the month of Elul)

The study according to the simple meaning — study that is equal for every soul — corresponds to the not-so-high levels in divine service,

levels to which all Jews are related.

And in our matter — the "to love the Lord your God etc." in the "world of the simple meaning" is a level in love to which all Jews are related — and therefore this is a part of the service of Elul,

because this is a love that one can attain even when one finds oneself &lt;b&gt;"in the field"&lt;/b&gt;&lt;sup&gt;41&lt;/sup&gt;

But not in study according to Remez — a higher⁴²

levels in

(study of Torah,

and consequently not in)

service of G-d — is the "to love the Lord your G-d" a <b>higher</b>

level in love,

which comes only <b></b>

(after the service of Elul—)

in the

(main the)

time of "my beloved is mine"⁴³

(in the Days of Awe)

And therefore the beginning of the verse — "And the L-rd your G-d will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed" is the service of <b>Selichot</b>

(— from Rosh Chodesh onward,

of all days)

the month of Elul,

and after that,

in the Days of Awe

(after the month of Elul)

one reaches "to love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul for the sake of your life."

(From sichot of Shabbat Parshat Nitzavim 5734,

Shabbat Parshat Nitzavim-Vayeilech 5743)