Likkutei Sichos Vol. 25 – Bereishis 2
1. The Gemara says in Tractate Shabbos[1]: "One who is born on the fifth day of the week will be a man who does acts of kindness. What is the reason? Because fish and birds[2] were created on it" ("which do not toil for their food, but are nourished by the kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He" — Rashi).
This needs to be understood. The Gemara says in Yevamos[3]: "There are three signs in this nation: they are merciful … and they do acts of kindness" — that is, the trait of doing kindness is "in the nature of all Jews from birth."[4] What, then, is added by saying that one born "on the fifth day of the week" will "be a man who does acts of kindness," compared with the trait of kindness "that is in the nature of all Jews from birth"[5]?
2. It can be said that the explanation is hinted at in Rashi's words, "nourished by the kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He":
The special quality of the fifth day (of the six days of Creation) is that on it "the kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He" shone forth — a kindness without limit[6] (for just as G‑d is "infinite," so are His attributes infinite[7]).
That is why the idea of the greatest abundance is found (specifically) in the creatures of the fifth day — fish[8] — as it is written[9], "May they multiply like fish in the midst of the land."
[This (the blessing of the fish) also bears on man, as the Gemara says[10]: "A virgin is married on the fourth day of the week and the marriage is consummated on the fifth, since on it[11] a blessing was said for the fish." For although on the sixth day "a blessing was said[12] for man"[13] (and here, after all, the subject is human marriage[14]), there is nonetheless an advantage (also) in the "blessing for the fish" (on the fifth day) over the "blessing for man"[15]: specifically with fish there is the quality of abundance ("may they multiply like fish in the midst of the land"), and this is[16] the purpose of marriage — "Be fruitful and multiply."[17]]
And this is the difference between the fact that all Jews do kindness by nature and the nature of kindness of one born on the fifth day:
The nature of kindness that all Jews have from birth comes with measure and limit. Put simply, one is ready to do kindness for others, but not to the point of being ready to give up all one's own needs (or to endure other hardships for its sake).
One born on the fifth day, however (when the kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He, shone forth), has a nature of kindness that is above limitation[18]. That is, his kindness is not only as much as is called for by his attribute of kindness (which, as its name says, is a measured and limited middah, even when it is done "as is fitting for him to do"[19]), but mesirus nefesh for kindness, without any measure or limit.
3. The vessel for the unlimited "kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He" is bittul, self-nullification[20]:
As long as a person feels his own existence, he cannot have kindness (toward another person) without measure and limit. Only when he sets aside his own existence, and no longer feels (so much) his "I" and his own wishes, can he have "with all your might" — above measure and limit.
This idea too is found (in a hint) in fish (which have the blessing of abundance without limit): fish are entirely covered by water, so that their own existence is not seen — only the existence of the water that covers them.
The Gemara says[21] that because "water covers them" (the fish), "the evil eye has no power over them" (and for this reason G‑d's blessing rests on them all the more[22]). For inwardly, "water covers them" does not only rule out the power of the "evil eye" (the opposite of blessing); it also does something positive, through which the fish become fit to be vessels for G‑d's blessing.
The explanation: water is the source of the fish's life[23], to the point that it is their true existence (which is why Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel holds that "anything that is a creature of the water" does not form an interposition against the water[24]). That is, fish have within them a quality of bittul to the source of their life[25] (and that is why they have the quality of abundance[26] beyond the ordinary).
So too in man's service of G‑d: to arouse in oneself the true and highest form of kindness, kindness without limit (which is connected with "the kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He"), one must bring oneself to bittul to G‑d.
And this is what Rashi means in his commentary on the verse[27], "And to Him you shall cleave" — "Cleave to His ways: do acts of kindness … as the Holy One, blessed be He, did." When a Jew serves G‑d in the manner of "to Him you shall cleave," he brings himself to stand in true deveikus, attachment, with G‑d (so that he does not feel his own existence, only G‑d to Whom he is attached). Then acts of kindness "are done" by him as a matter of course, in the manner of "as the Holy One, blessed be He, did" — kindness without measure or limit[28].
4. All of the above has a special connection to our generation:
The special quality of "fish" (described above) is connected with Yosef HaTzaddik, since the blessing "may they multiply like fish in the midst of the land" was said about the sons of Yosef; and as the Gemara[29] says, that is why "the evil eye has no power" over "the seed of Yosef" (as Rabbi Yochanan said[29]: "I come from the seed of Yosef, over whom the evil eye has no power").
And this is the connection to our generation: the first name of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, the leader of our generation, is Yosef.
The Previous Rebbe's way was one of "may they multiply like fish in the midst of the land." He spread the wellsprings of the teachings of Chassidus with great expansiveness, without measure or limit, so that they would reach every single place[30], also "in the midst of the land" — into the very core of the earth and earthiness[31], down to the lowest level, below which there is nothing lower (and in the well-known phrase[32], "Your wellsprings shall spread outward" — to the "outside" beyond which there is no further outside).
And together with this, he was not concerned about "the evil eye"[33] or about what people would say ("Why should you make yourselves conspicuous?"[34]).
This is also the practical lesson: one must be occupied with spreading the wellsprings outward, with the greatest expansiveness, so that the wellsprings of the Baal Shem Tov reach every single place. And when one stands in a state of bittul ("to Him you shall cleave," which is achieved through "cleave to Torah scholars"[35]), there is no need to fear the "evil eye," and certainly not other difficulties.
And by fulfilling with alacrity the mission of "Your wellsprings shall spread outward," the promise of the King Moshiach to the Baal Shem Tov[36] will be fulfilled even sooner — with alacrity — that "when your wellsprings spread outward, the master, the King Moshiach, will come,"
speedily in our days, truly.
(From a talk of 20 Menachem Av, 5744)