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contents SOULS AFIRE 4 D’var Malchus | Sichos In English MOSHIACH: TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE 6 Thought | Rabbi Zvi Homnick THE REBBE AND THE RAMBAM 10 Feature | Gai Kantor COMBAT LEADER [CONT.] 16 Profile | Menachem Ziegelboim ‘BESSER AND EVEN BESSER’ [CONT.] 22 Feature | Menachem Ziegelboim USA 744 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409 Tel: (718) 778-8000 Fax: (718) 778-0800 EVERY STEP OF THE WAY [email protected] 28 Story | Nosson Avrohom www.beismoshiach.org EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: M.M. Hendel ENGLISH EDITOR: SHLICHUS STORIES Boruch Merkur Shlichus | Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz HEBREW EDITOR: 29 Rabbi Sholom Yaakov Chazan [email protected] ‘WHO DOESN’T LOVE THE REBBE?’ 36 Beis Moshiach (USPS 012-542) ISSN 1082- [CONT.] 0272 is published weekly, except Jewish Shlichus | Nosson Avrohom holidays (only once in April and October) for $160.00 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and in all other places for $180.00 per year (45 THE REBBE’S BLESSING issues), by Beis Moshiach, 744 Eastern 40 Story | Nosson Avrohom Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409. Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY and additional offices. Postmaster: send address changes to Beis Moshiach 744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409. Copyright 2010 by Beis Moshiach, Inc. Beis Moshiach is not responsible for the content of the advertisements. d’var malchus making this world a dwelling for Him. [11] As the Or HaChayim describes, SOULS AFIRE Aharon’s sons had reached an all- encompassing level of ratzu, a longing to cleave to G-d. This should have been followed Sichos In English by a phase of shuv to express this bond with G-d in their lives. [12] A MOMENT OF DRAMA INSATIABLE YEARNING Their sin [13] was not the The seven days of the dedication The passage is paradoxical. closeness they established with G-d, of the Sanctuary had passed, and On one hand, the conduct of but the fact that the connection was despite the expectations of the Jewish Aharon’s sons appears undesirable, self-contained, causing them to die, people, the Divine Presence had not as obvious from the punishment they without extending this bond into the become manifest. received and as reflected in our realm of ordinary experience. [14] Even after the sacrifices offered Sages’ [7] discussion of “the sin of For G-d’s intent is that the deepest on the eighth day, the hopes of the Aharon’s sons.” levels of love for Him be channeled to people had not been fulfilled. [1] Conversely, however, it also wards appreciating the G-dliness that Aware of the people’s appears that there was a positive exists within every element of disappointment, Moshe and Aharon dimension to their efforts. creation, and undertaking earnest entered the Sanctuary and prayed, For Nadav and Avihu had been endeavors to enable that G-dliness to and then “G-d’s glory was revealed designated for unique Divine service become manifest. to all the people. Fire came forth and Moshe himself stated [8] that The positive dimension of from before G-d and consumed the they were greater than he and Nadav’s and Avihu’s striving is burnt offering.” [2] Aharon and that through their alluded to in the phrase “a strange In grateful acknowledgment, “the sacrifice, the Sanctuary was fire which [G-d] had not people saw this and raised their consecrated. commanded [them to offer].” voices in praise.” [3] This difficulty can be resolved Their Divine service was Two individuals sought a deeper based on the commentary of the Or “strange” - of a level beyond bond with G-d. HaChayim, who explains the death ordinary mortal experience, and on “Aharon’s sons, Nadav and of Nadav and Avihu as follows: [9] such a high peak that G-d could not Avihu, each took his fire pan, and They came close to a sublime light command the Jewish people to seek placed fire and then incense upon it, with holy love and died because of it. such a rung. and offered it before G-d. It was This is the mystic secret of [G-d’s] The closeness to G-d which strange fire which [G-d] had not kiss through which the righteous die. resulted from this Divine service commanded [them to offer]. Fire Their death was equivalent to the “dedicated the sanctuary,” [15] came forth from before G-d and death of the righteous, [except] there endowing it with the potential to consumed them, and they died was one distinction: inspire others to similar heights. For before G-d.” [4] It is the kiss which approaches this reason, our Torah reading begins Moshe praised them in their the righteous, while in their instance, by mentioning “the death of the two death, telling Aharon: “This is [the it was they who approached it.... sons of Aharon, when they drew meaning of] what G-d said: ‘I will be Although they appreciated that close to G-d.” sanctified by those close to Me and I they would die, they did not hold The Torah reading focuses on the will glorified before the entire back from coming close to clinging Divine service of Yom Kippur, the nation.’ “ [5] [to G-d] in a sweet [bond] of love... day on which every Jew “draws close Rashi [6] explains that Moshe to the extent that their souls to G-d.” told Aharon: “I knew that the departed. As an introduction, the Torah Sanctuary would be consecrated by Chassidic thought [10] develops cites the closeness achieved by those in communion with G-d. I this concept, stating that our love for Aharon’s son’s, for their endeavors surmised that this would be either G-d must involve two phases: ratzu, opened a channel enabling all Jews to me or you. Now I see that they are a powerful yearning for connection connect to G-d with such intensity. greater than we are.” with G-d, and shuv, a commitment to return and express G-d’s will by 4 9 Iyar 5770 BEIS MOSHIACH TWO LESSONS, consciousness which surfaces on Shmos, sec. 28). As such, he did not make Yom Kippur. [17] this statement as an expression of humility, TWO NAMES but rather, as an honest appreciation of the On this level, a Jew’s obedience to In retrospect, the Divine service spiritual level of Aharon’s sons. G-d is not a matter of choice, for of Aharon’s sons provides us with 9. One of the interpretations he offers to which there is reward or punishment, two lessons: Leviticus 16:1. but a natural response, an expression a positive one, the potential a Jew 10. See the maamar entitled Acharei, Sefer of his inner self. has to draw close to G-d; and, HaMaamarim 5649, p. 237ff and Likkutei As R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev Sichos, Vol. III, p. 987ff. See also the essay a negative one, that their service would say, it is not a commitment to entitled “After Yom Kippur,” in Timeless lacked the thrust toward shuv, life Patterns in Time, Vol. I, p. 52. observance which prevents a Jew within the context of our world. from eating on Yom Kippur. On Yom 11. Cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Parshas According to popular custom, Bechukosai, sec. 3. Kippur, who wants to eat! there are some who refer to this And from Yom Kippur, this 12. On this basis, we can understand our Torah reading as Acharei and others Sages’ statement (Avos 4:22): “Against your connection can be continued who call it Acharei Mos. will, you live.” The natural desire of a Jew’s Acharei, “afterwards,” lifting the soul is to abandon material existence and to It is possible to say that the entire scope of our Jewish cling to G-d. Living within our world is difference between the two names observance to a higher level. “against your will,” contrary to this desire. It depends on which of the dimensions remains within the body only out of a The inner point of connection is chosen for emphasis. commitment to fulfill G-d’s will. between a Jew and G-d can suffuse Acharei means “after.” See the commentary to this mishnah in In the every aspect of our lives. The height of connection reached Paths of Our Fathers p. 141 (Kehot, N.Y., As such, living within the material 1994). by Aharon’s sons generated the world will not represent a challenge potential for similar closeness to be 13. The Hebrew word for sin - chet - can to dedication to G-d. At this level, also be rendered as “lack.” (See I Kings achieved by the Jewish people one’s life is one of simple connection 1:21.) “afterwards.” which does not allow for any 14. The Or HaChayim explains that this Acharei Mos, (“After the death possibility of separation. concept is underscored by the opening verse of”), by contrast, places the accent of our Torah reading (Leviticus 16:1): “And Mankind as a whole will on the negative outcome that G-d spoke to Moshe after the death of the experience this level of connection in resulted from their inability to two sons of Aharon, when they drew close to the Era of the Redemption, when the G-d and died.” complement the closeness to G-d G-dliness which permeates the world with the commitment to develop an Why does the verse say “and died”? To will be revealed: “The world will be emphasize that this was the negative awareness of G-d within this filled with the knowledge of G-d like dimension of their service.

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