Parshas Kedoshim – Finding Hashem in the Simple Things

Today is the second day of Iyar, the birthday of the fourth Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Shmuel, known as the Rebbe Maharash. He was the youngest of the seven sons of the Tzemach Tzedek and later became the fourth Rebbe of Chabad. Though he lived only fifty years, his leadership left a lasting impact filled with strength, breadth, and remarkable stories.

He is especially known for one of the most famous teachings in Chabad thought:

“The world says: if you cannot go under, then go over. But I say: Lechatchilah Ariber—go over from the start.”

The common way of thinking is to lower expectations, compromise, or try to squeeze around obstacles. The Rebbe Maharash taught the opposite:

Think bigger.
Act with courage.
Do not begin with limitation.
Rise above the obstacle from the outset.

That same spirit helps illuminate a beautiful teaching connected to Parshas Kedoshim.

Three Years, Four Years, Five Years

In this week’s parshah, the Torah teaches the laws of a newly planted fruit tree.

When a tree is planted, its fruit is forbidden for the first three years. This prohibition is called orlah. During those years, one may not eat the fruit and may not even derive benefit from it.

In the fourth year, the fruit becomes neta revai—holy fruit. It must be brought to Jerusalem and eaten there in holiness, or redeemed onto money which is then used to purchase food in Jerusalem.

In the fifth year and onward, the fruit becomes fully permitted, and the Torah promises special blessing and increased produce.

The Spiritual Meaning of Three and Four

Chassidus explains that these stages reflect deeper spiritual realities.

The First Three Years

The first three years correspond to the three completely impure kelipos—forces of concealment that block Divine revelation.

The fruit exists, but its energy is not yet in a form that can be elevated. Therefore it remains entirely prohibited.

The Fourth Year

The fourth year corresponds to kelipas nogah—a level that still contains concealment, yet already has light within it.

That is why the fruit can now be elevated. It is brought to Jerusalem, a place of holiness, where it is used in the service of Hashem.

The fruit is no longer trapped. It can rise.

The Rebbe’s Question

Yet the Rebbe asks a powerful question.

If the fourth year is holy and must be eaten in Jerusalem, and the fifth year is an even higher stage of blessing—then why does the fifth year have fewer restrictions?

Why is the fourth year treated as sacred, while the fifth year becomes ordinary produce that may be eaten anywhere?

Should not the higher level require even greater holiness?

The Rebbe’s Answer: The Highest Level Is in the Ordinary

The Rebbe explains that this reveals the ultimate purpose of creation.

The goal is not only to find Hashem in holy places.

The goal is to reveal Hashem in ordinary life.

Jerusalem is holy.
The Beis HaMikdash is holy.
Prayer and Torah are holy.

But Hashem does not want to remain only in obviously sacred spaces.

He desires a dirah betachtonim—a dwelling place in the lower world, in ordinary life, in daily experience, in the simple realities of human existence.

That is why the fifth year is greater.

Its fruit is not limited to Jerusalem. It can be eaten anywhere.

Holiness has now entered the ordinary.

The Story of the Baal Shem Tov

The Rebbe illustrates this with a story of the Baal Shem Tov.

Before becoming publicly known, the Baal Shem Tov would travel from village to village and ask simple Jews:

How is your health?
How is your livelihood?

People would answer:

Baruch Hashem.
Thank G-d.
Praised be Hashem.

The Baal Shem Tov treasured these responses.

Once he visited a great scholar who lived in total separation from worldly matters. The man fasted, learned Torah constantly, and ignored physical life almost entirely.

When the Baal Shem Tov asked him the same simple questions, the scholar dismissed him.

The Baal Shem Tov then said:

Why do you not give Hashem His livelihood?

The man was stunned.

What could that mean?

The Baal Shem Tov explained with the verse:

“V’atah kadosh yoshev tehillos Yisrael.”
“You are holy, enthroned upon the praises of Israel.”

Hashem is “sustained,” so to speak, by the praises of Jews who thank Him for daily blessings.

When a Jew says Baruch Hashem for health, for food, for livelihood, for simple goodness, he reveals Hashem within the physical world itself.

Why Torah Alone Was Not the Point

The scholar was immersed in Torah, prayer, and holiness. Why was that not enough?

Because Torah uplifts the soul.

But Hashem also wants the body uplifted.
He wants the home uplifted.
He wants work, food, health, and ordinary life uplifted.

The purpose is not only to rise above the world.

It is to reveal Hashem within the world.

A Lesson for Daily Life

Many people wait for “big moments” to feel spiritual:

• a moving prayer,
• a deep class,
• a special holiday,
• a miracle.

But the Rebbe teaches that some of the highest holiness is found in the simplest moments:

Saying Modeh Ani in the morning.
Making a brachah before eating.
Thanking Hashem for a paycheck.
Thanking Hashem for health.
Thanking Hashem for a beautiful day.
Saying sincerely: Baruch Hashem.

That is not small.

That is the purpose.

The Lasting Message

The first three years are concealment.
The fourth year is revealed holiness.
The fifth year is something even greater:

Hashem found in the ordinary.

When a Jew recognizes Divine blessing in simple life and responds with gratitude, he transforms the world into a dwelling place for Hashem.

And that may be the greatest holiness of all.