The Rebbe says:
1. The Haftarah (a short selection from the Prophets, read every week after the regular Torah portion) of this week’s Torah portion is part of a series of “seven Haftaros of comfort” which we read between the Ninth of Av1 and Rosh Hashanah (the New Year).
The “seven Haftaros of comfort” are called thus because they speak about our final redemption and this gives us comfort and strength to overcome this dark exile.
2. The Rebbe now explains that the Torah portion after which the “Haftarah of comfort” is read must also be a Torah portion of comfort:
We know that every week’s Haftarah is similar in content to that week’s regular Torah portion.
Therefore, since this week’s Haftarah is a “Haftarah of comfort”, this week’s regular Torah portion must also be a portion of comfort. And, like we said earlier, since a “Haftarah of comfort” speaks about the final redemption, this week’s Torah portion must also speak about the final redemption.2
3. The Rebbe now brings a parable to explain how this week’s Torah portion deals with the final redemption:
If a person that has an illness knows that he is not feeling well and exactly which part of his body is not well, he can go to a doctor and describe the illness which will then enable the doctor to prescribe the correct medication and this will put him on the road to recovery. Therefore we see that even just knowing about the illness is actually a part of the cure.
The same is true for the recovery from our exile: Only if we know that we are in exile right now and we know the causes for the exile, will we be able to cure ourselves and go to the final redemption. And, like we said earlier, understanding our exile is actually a part of our final redemption.
Therefore, this week’s Torah portion, which tells us that the Jewish people were in exile and the causes for the exile, is in effect discussing our final redemption.
4. The Rebbe now explains how this week’s Torah portion tells us that the Yidin (Jewish people) were in exile and the causes for it:
In this weeks Torah portion the Torah talks about the desert which the Yidin wandered in for forty years. The Torah says3, “Who led you through that great and awesome desert, where there were snakes, serpents and scorpions, and thirst but no water…”.
With the Torah’s discussion of the desert it is telling us that our fathers were in exile, and when the Torah gives us all the details of the desert (“that great and awesome desert, where there were snakes, serpents and scorpions, and thirst but no water”) it is telling us the exact sicknesses which caused the ailment- exile.
5. The Rebbe now dissects and explains the words- “that great and awesome desert, where there were snakes, serpents and scorpions, and thirst but no water”- which are telling us the exact reasons for exile:
“That great (and awesome) desert”: A desert is not a place which is inhabited with people, and, as a matter of fact, there is more uninhabitable land on earth then there is inhabitable land. This is what these words (“that great desert”) simply mean. The deeper meaning of these words hint at the small numbers of the Jewish nation:
The Torah tells us that the true meaning of “man” is a Jewish person4. Therefore, when the Torah says “that great desert”, which means that most of the world is not inhabited by “man”, it truly means that most of the world is not inhabited with Jewish people. As the Torah clearly states5, “For you are the smallest of all the nations”.
With these first words (of this verse) the Torah tells us what the first step of the descent into exile is:
If Jewish people believe that the world around them is greater then them, they have just stepped into exile, because the truth is that nothing in the world can ever rule over the Jewish people, as we read in this week’s Haftarah6, “Kings will be your child-minders and their princesses your wet nurse”. Only when we consider the nations of the world to be greater then us can we be (seemingly) ruled by them. As the Talmud7 says regarding the verse “Then all the nations of the earth will see that the Name of Hashem is upon you, and they will fear you”8; “when we put Tefillin (phylacteries) on our heads (“the name of Hashem being upon you”) the nations of the world will fear us”, meaning; if our minds are permeated with the knowledge that Hashem is the only Ruler of the world and “He chose us from among all the nations”9, all the nations of the world are nullified to Him and nothing can get in our way.
“(That great) and awesome desert”: In the previous stage (“that great desert”) the Jewish people think that they have power, however the power of the world is greater then theirs. At this stage (“and awesome desert”) the Jewish people even think that they have no power whatsoever.
The practical difference between them is; in the first stage (“that great desert”) a Jew is only afraid of the nations of the world when there arises conflict, however in the second stage (“and awesome desert”) a Jew is even afraid while sitting at home or in Synagogue.
“where there were snakes”: Our Sages tell us10 that the venom of a snake is hot. Therefore the deeper meaning of these words (“where there were snakes”) is that the person now descends into exile and is passionate (hot) for the desires of the world, which automatically diminishes his passion for Holy things.
“serpents”: A serpent is an even more powerful level of passion. At this stage the Jew is only running after his temptations and does not have a passion for Holy things at all.
“and scorpions”: Our Sages tell us11 that a scorpions venom is cold. This stage is even worse then the previous two because there the Jew was alive and passionate about something, the only thing one would have to do is redirect his passion into the right things, however at this stage the Jew is totally cold/apathetic and this is much harder to deal with.
“and thirst but no water”: At this stage the Jew is so deeply immersed in exile that even when Hashem sends him a feeling of arousal and he is now thirsty, there is no water to quench his thirst. The Talmud tells us12 that “water is (compared to) Torah”, therefore, when our verse says that there is no water to quench his thirst, this means that there is no Torah to quench his thirst. This person is so far that he doesn’t know what to do with the arousal from Above, he doesn’t even know what he is thirsty for.
6. The Rebbe now tells us how we can stay away from these stages of descent:
As we said earlier, all of the above mentioned stages started from the Jew thinking that the world is greater then him. Therefore, we understand that the solution to all of the stages of descent is to get rid of the first bad stage.
In order for us to counteract feeling that the world is greater then us (the first stage) we must have an enthusiasm in Yidishkeit (Judaism) and realize that Hashem chose us from among all the nations of the world to be His special nation and therefore nothing stands in our way. And when we do this we will leave exile with Moshiach now.
Translated and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos Volume 2.
Topic: Parsha Update: Ekev (Read 2822 times)