Parshas Vayeira, Shlishi

The aliyah

The two angels reach Sedom in the evening. Lot, sitting at the city gate, runs to greet them and presses them to stay with him; he bakes matzos for them. Before they lie down, the men of Sedom, young and old, surround the house with wicked intent. Lot goes out to them and pleads; they turn on him, "this one came to live here and now he judges us". The angels pull Lot inside, strike the crowd at the door with blindness, and tell him to bring out his family, because Hashem is about to destroy the city. His sons-in-law laugh at him. At dawn Lot lingers, and the angels take him, his wife and two daughters by the hand and bring them out, "in Hashem's mercy on him". They tell him: flee for your life, do not look back, run to the mountain. Lot asks to go instead to a small city nearby, "is it not small", and the aliyah ends there; the angel agrees in the next pasuk, and the city is called Tzoar.

Rashi's questions and answers

Today's Chumash with Rashi on Chabad.org

Iggeres HaKodesh, end of Epistle 27

In short

Yesterday's portion taught how a tzaddik's emunah, yirah and ahavah enter the minds of his talmidim. Today the Alter Rebbe adds a second kind of light: one that does not enter the mind but shines over the talmidim from above. It comes from the tzaddik's soul rising, after his passing, to its source, where all his life's Torah and avodah are "sown" as lofty lights. That light reaches every talmid who became an oved Hashem through his teachings, and awakens in them thoughts of teshuvah and good deeds, "growths of growths". It is hidden, like the sun lighting the stars from below the horizon; so Moshe Rabbeinu's light spreads in every generation to all six hundred thousand souls.

Line by line

1. וְהִנֵּה, יֵשׁ עוֹד בְּחִינַת הֶאָרָה לְתַלְמִידָיו,

   And there is one more kind of light that the tzaddik gives his talmidim. Yesterday's portion spoke of the first kind; now a second.

2. רַק שֶׁאֵינָהּ מִתְלַבֶּשֶׁת בְּתוֹךְ מוֹחָם מַמָּשׁ כָּרִאשׁוֹנָה,

   But this one does not enter into their minds as the first one did. The first kind became part of the talmid's own understanding: his emunah, yirah and ahavah, grasped and felt inside.

3. רַק מְאִירָה עֲלֵיהֶם מִלְמַעְלָה,

   Instead it shines on them from above. In the language of Chassidus this is a makif, a light that surrounds a person and affects him without being grasped by his mind.

4. וְהִיא מֵעֲלִיַּית רוּחוֹ וְנִשְׁמָתוֹ לִמְקוֹר חוּצְבּוֹ,

   Where does it come from? From the ascent of the tzaddik's ruach and neshamah, after his passing, to the source from which the soul was hewn.

5. דְּהַיְינוּ לַ"חֲקַל תַּפּוּחִין קַדִּישִׁין",

   That source is called in the Zohar "Chakal Tapuchin Kaddishin", the field of holy apple trees: the sefirah of Malchus of Atzilus, the root of the souls of Yisrael.

6. וְעַל־יְדֵי זֶה נַעֲשֶׂה שָׁם יִחוּד,

   Through this ascent a yichud, a union of the higher Divine lights with Malchus, is brought about there.

7. עַל־יְדֵי הַעֲלָאַת "מַיִּין נוּקְבִין" מִכָּל מַעֲשָׂיו וְתוֹרָתוֹ וַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָבַד כָּל יְמֵי חַיָּיו,

   How? Through the "mayin nukvin", the arousal from below, that rises from all his deeds, his Torah and his avodah of his whole life. (The next letter, Iggeres HaKodesh 28, explains that at the passing of a tzaddik all of his life's avodah is revealed and shines.)

8. וְנִזְרְעוּ בַּ"חֲקַל תַּפּוּחִין קַדִּישִׁין" אוֹרוֹת עֶלְיוֹנִים מְאֹד,

   And in that holy field very lofty lights are sown, the way seeds are planted in a field.

9. לְעוּמַּת תַּחְתּוֹנִים, אֲשֶׁר הֵם תּוֹרָתוֹ וַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ.

   They correspond to the lower ones, his Torah and avodah down here. Every bit of avodah below brings about a matching light above.

10. וְהֶאָרַת אוֹרוֹת עֶלְיוֹנִים אֵלּוּ מְאִירָה עַל כָּל תַּלְמִידָיו, שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ עוֹבְדֵי ה' עַל־יְדֵי תּוֹרָתוֹ וַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ.

    The light of these lofty lights shines on all his talmidim: everyone who became an oved Hashem through his Torah and avodah.

11. וְהֶאָרָה זוֹ שֶׁעֲלֵיהֶם מִלְמַעְלָה, מַכְנֶסֶת בְּלִבָּם הִרְהוּרֵי תְּשׁוּבָה וּמַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים,

    Even though it only shines from above, it brings into their hearts thoughts of teshuvah and good deeds. A sudden good resolution, a pull to do teshuvah, can come from this light.

12. וְכָל הַמַּעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים הַנּוֹלָדִים מֵהֶאָרָה זוֹ שֶׁמְּאִירָה מֵאוֹרוֹת הַזְּרוּעִים בַּשָּׂדֶה הַנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל – נִקְרָא "גִּידּוּלֵי גִידּוּלִין".

    All the good deeds born from this light are called "giddulei giddulin", growths of growths. The tzaddik's avodah is the seed; the lights above are its growth; the good deeds of his talmidim are the growth of that growth, and they are counted to him.

13. וְהֶאָרָה זוֹ הִיא בְּהֶעְלֵם וְהֶסְתֵּר גָּדוֹל, כְּמוֹ שֶׁמֶשׁ הַמֵּאִיר לַכּוֹכָבִים מִתַּחַת לָאָרֶץ,

    This light is very hidden, like the sun that shines to the stars from beneath the earth: at night the sun is not seen, yet the stars shine from its light.

14. כִּדְאִיתָא בַּתִּיקּוּנִים עַל מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ עָלָיו־הַשָּׁלוֹם,

    So it is brought in the Tikkunei Zohar about Moshe Rabbeinu. (Our Rebbe notes that he found the full matter in the Zohar, vol. III 273a.)

15. שֶׁאַחַר פְּטִירָתוֹ מִתְפַּשֶּׁטֶת הֶאָרָתוֹ בְּכָל דָּרָא וְדָרָא לְשִׁשִּׁים רִבּוֹא נְשָׁמוֹת,

    After his passing, his light spreads in every generation to the six hundred thousand souls of Yisrael,

16. כְּמוֹ שֶׁמֶשׁ הַמֵּאִיר מִתַּחַת לָאָרֶץ לְשִׁשִּׁים רִבּוֹא כּוֹכָבִים:

    like the sun shining from beneath the earth to six hundred thousand stars.

For us

Lessons in Tanya points out a difference: yesterday the Alter Rebbe said the tzaddik's gifts reach "among his talmidim", according to how close each one was; today he says this light shines on "all his talmidim", everyone who became an oved Hashem through his Torah. It explains that this second kind reaches also those who became talmidim after the tzaddik's passing, through learning his teachings, the way Moshe Rabbeinu's light reaches every generation. Each time we learn the Tanya, or a sicha of our Rebbe, we are among those talmidim.

Hebrew text of the Tanya as on Chabad.org. English rendering and explanation ours.

Today's Tanya on Chabad.org (Lessons in Tanya)

An empty head

המחשבה היא לבוש ומשרת השכל והמדות. בשעה אשר אין לה שירות בשכל או במדות, גם אז פועלת פעולתה לחשוב ולהרהר, אבל פעולתה לא לבד שאינה תוכנית, אלא היא גם פרועה לשמצה... ומבואר כי סיבת המחשבות זרות או רעות הוא די פוסטקייט פון קאפ, דכאשר השכל עסוק אז יש להמחשבה מה לשרת ואין מקום למחשבות של שטות והבל שאין בהם ממש.

In English: Thought is a garment and a servant of the mind and the middos. When it has no work serving the mind or the middos, it still does its job, thinking and musing; but then its work is not only empty of content, it is also running wild, to its shame... It is explained that the cause of strange or bad thoughts is "an empty head". When the mind is busy, thought has something to serve, and there is no room for foolish, empty thoughts that have nothing to them.

Explained

The Tanya (chapter 4) teaches that the soul has three garments: thought, speech and action. A garment is something the soul wears to express itself. Thought is the closest garment: it serves the mind (sechel) and the heart (middos), putting into words what we understand and what we feel.

The Frierdiker Rebbe adds a point about how thought behaves. Thought never stops. Even when the mind gives it nothing to do, it keeps running. A garment with nobody inside it does not lie still; it gets blown around. That is where strange or bad thoughts come from: not mainly from a strong yetzer hara, but from an empty head, "di pustkeit fun kop" in the Yiddish of the original.

So the answer is not only fighting bad thoughts one by one. It is giving thought a master to serve. When the mind is busy with something real, a sugya, a Mishnah learned by heart, a line of Tanya, a sicha, thought has work, and the empty ideas have no room. For a bochur this is very practical: the walk to the dining room, the minutes before seder, waiting in line. Those are exactly the empty minutes the Hayom Yom is talking about. Fill them with something you know by heart, and the head stays full.

Hayom Yom was compiled by our Rebbe in 5703 from the talks and letters of the Frierdiker Rebbe. Original quoted from the Hayom Yom for 16 Cheshvan; English rendering and explanation ours. Hayom Yom on Chabad.org

Chapters 79–82

Today's Tehillim on Chabad.org