6794 —"משכו וקחו... ועשו הפסח" בעבודת תלמידי הישיבה: שינוי במהות והפיכת חושך לאור

B"H, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the month of redemption^[1], 5719
Brooklyn, N.Y.

To all the students of the evening yeshivos^[2] in
Jerusalem, the Holy City, may it be built and established speedily in our days through our righteous Moshiach^[3],
may G‑d be upon them, may they live^[4]

Peace without end^[5] and blessing!

The letter and the pan^[6] have been received. As we stand on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, on which it was said and about which it was said^[7]: "This month shall be for you the head of the months; it shall be for you the first of the months of the year,"

I extend my blessing to each and every one of you, that you continue to go from strength to strength^[8] in the study of our holy Torah, the Torah of life^[9], in fulfilling its mitzvos in the finest manner, and in conduct befitting yeshivah students – and all the more so in a yeshivah conducted in the spirit of Chabad, along the line that our Rebbeim, our Nesi'im, have drawn for it, where one must be one who goes forward in holiness. As explained in the teachings of Chassidus, the true meaning of "going" is when there is a change in one's essence^[10], that is to say: not only an increase in quantity, in diligence and application, but also in quality, in the manner of study. In addition, each one must also influence his fellow in this, as we are commanded, "Love your fellow as yourself"^[11]. And especially since in a Chassidic yeshivah, and above all in a yeshivah founded and directed by our Rebbeim, our Nesi'im, the leaders of Chabad, all the students are one body.

And in all these tasks we have been assured: "According to the camel is its load"^[12].

Just as when Moshe spoke to all the elders of Israel – to all Israel^[13] – after he had heard the word of G‑d, "This month shall be for you...", he began first with:

"Draw forth and take... the Pesach" – and our Sages explained: Draw your hands away from idolatry, and take for yourselves sheep and slaughter the gods of Egypt, and make the Pesach, and thereby the Holy One, blessed be He, will pass over you^[14] –

so too you: rouse yourselves, from this Rosh Chodesh and for all the days and months of the year that follow it, to draw your hands away from service that is foreign to you^[15], foreign to every single Jew, for his service is solely, in the words of the Mishnah, "I was created to serve my Maker"^[16];

"and take..." and slaughter the gods of Egypt – of all the surroundings, which are limited and measured within the boundaries and limits^[17] of matter and physicality;

"and make the Pesach": a leap^[18], and not an ascent from level to level, but rather to turn darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness^[19], so that you transform all the matters of the body and the animal soul^[20] into light and holiness. Thereby the Holy One, blessed be He, will pass over you: He will have compassion on you and protect you^[21] from anything undesirable, and first and foremost from all the matters that confuse a person and keep him from walking in the way of our Torah, the Torah of life – life in this world and life in the World to Come.

Great is the merit of the conduct described – "draw forth," "slaughter" and "make the Pesach" – to bring added blessing and success also to your families^[22] and their affairs, and first of all to your parents and your teachers, may they live long and good days.

With blessings for good news^[23] and for a kosher and joyous Pesach,

M. Schneerson

Publisher's notes

As explained in the teachings of Chassidus (כמבואר בתורת החסידות): See the maamar Zeh HaYom 5709, and elsewhere.

The elders of Israel, to all Israel (זקני ישראל, לכל ישראל): See the Mechilta here.

And our Sages explained (ופירשו חכמינו ז"ל): Shemos Rabbah 16:2.

That is foreign (שהיא זרה): See Shabbos 105b.

From level to level (מדרגא לדרגא): Likkutei Torah, Chukas 61c.

To turn (לאהפכא): Zohar I 4a; Tanya, end of ch. 10.

He will have compassion and protect (יחוס ויגן): Targum Onkelos and Targum Yonasan on Shemos 12:23.

Your families (למשפחותיכם): See Rabbeinu Bachya (on Shemos 12:21): "Your families... and likewise in the days of the redemption..."

All the students of the evening yeshivos (כל תלמידי ישיבות הערב): See also above, letter 6644 (13 Teves 5719, to the students of the Shaarei Chesed evening yeshivah in Jerusalem, on the yeshivah's second anniversary).

Notes

1. Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the month of redemption (ראש חדש ניסן, חדש הגאולה): Rosh Chodesh Nissan 5719 was Thursday, 9 April 1959. "The month of redemption": after R. Yehoshua in Rosh Hashanah 11a: בניסן נגאלו בניסן עתידין ליגאל, "In Nissan they were redeemed, and in Nissan they will be redeemed in the future."

2. All the students of the evening yeshivos (כל תלמידי ישיבות הערב): The evening yeshivos run by Tzeirei Agudas Chabad in Jerusalem: the evening yeshivah in the Shaarei Chesed neighborhood and its branches in the city, where boys learned in the evening hours, after their daytime studies. On 13 Teves the Rebbe wrote to the students of the Shaarei Chesed evening yeshivah on its second anniversary, and asked that his words be passed on also to "their friends... in the other branches of the evening yeshivos" (letter 6644 above); on 12 Adar II he answered R. Naftali HaKohen Rotte, one of those who ran it, about "the development of the evening yeshivah" and his questions about the order of study with the students (letter 6762 above). On Shavuos that year he wrote again "to the students of the evening yeshivah in Jerusalem," in reply to the good resolutions they had taken in the days before the festival (letter 8191 below, 10 Sivan 5719).

3. May it be built and established speedily in our days through (ת"ו ב"ב ע"י): ת"ו = תבנה ותכונן; ב"ב = במהרה בימינו; ע"י = על ידי.

4. May G‑d be upon them, may they live (ה' עליהם יחיו): After Yeshayahu 38:16: אדני עליהם יחיו, "O L‑rd, by these things they live."

5. Peace without end (לשלום אין קץ): The words of Yeshayahu 9:6: לםרבה המשרה ולשלום אין קץ, "of the increase of his dominion and of peace there will be no end."

6. The letter and the pan (המכ' והפ"נ): המכ' = המכתב, "the letter"; הפ"נ = הפדיון נפש, the note requesting a blessing.

7. On which it was said and about which it was said (בו נאמר ועליו נאמר): The verse "This month shall be for you" was said to Moshe on Rosh Chodesh Nissan itself, as Rashi explains on Shemos 12:3: דברו היום בראש חדש שיקחוהו בעשור לחדש, "Speak today, on Rosh Chodesh, that they should take it on the tenth of the month"; and it was said about the month of Nissan, as Rashi explains on Shemos 12:2: ואין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו, על חדש ניסן אמר לו: זה יהיה ראש לסדר מנין החדשים, "Yet the verse does not depart from its plain meaning: He said to him about the month of Nissan, this shall be the first in the order of counting the months."

8. From strength to strength (מחיל אל חיל): The words of Tehillim 84:8: ילכו מחיל אל חיל, "They go from strength to strength"; and Rashi there: מבית המדרש לב"ה, "from house of study to house of study."

9. The Torah of life (תורת חיים): As in the prayer (the blessing Sim Shalom): תורת חיים ואהבת חסד, "a Torah of life and love of kindness."

10. The true meaning of "going" is when there is a change in one's essence (שאמיתית ענין הליכה היא כשישנו שינוי במהות): One who "goes" (mehalech) moves from level to level, and true going is not merely adding more of the same kind, but a change in one's very essence. The publisher's note refers to the maamar Zeh HaYom 5709 and elsewhere. ז.א. = זאת אומרת, "that is to say."

11. Love your fellow as yourself (ואהבת לרעך כמוך): The words of Vayikra 19:18: ואהבת לרעך כמוך אני ה', "Love your fellow as yourself; I am G‑d."

12. According to the camel is its load (לפום גמלא שיחנא): Aramaic. A popular saying quoted in Kesubos 67a, about Nakdimon ben Gurion, who did not give charity as befitted his wealth: כדאמרי אינשי לפום גמלא שיחנא, "as people say, according to the camel is its load." The load is set by the strength of the one who carries it. The Rebbe cites it as an assurance: in proportion to the tasks laid upon them, the strength to fulfill them is given.

13. All the elders of Israel – to all Israel (לכל זקני ישראל, לכל ישראל): The words of Shemos 12:21: "Moshe called all the elders of Israel and said to them: Draw forth and take for yourselves sheep for your families, and slaughter the Pesach." The Mechilta there (Pischa 11): ויאמר אלהם – הדבר מפי משה, לאמר לכל ישראל, דברי רבי יאשיה, "'And he said to them' – the word came from Moshe, to be said to all Israel; so says R. Yoshiyah." Hence "to all the elders of Israel, to all Israel." The Rebbe's point: G‑d opened His command to Moshe with "This month shall be for you" (Shemos 12:2), while Moshe, in passing it on to Israel, began first with "Draw forth and take."

14. Our Sages explained (ופירשו חכמינו ז"ל): Shemos Rabbah 16:2: אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה: כל זמן שישראל עובדין לאלהי מצרים לא יגאלו... משכו וקחו לכם, כלומר משכו ידיכם מעבודת כוכבים, וקחו לכם צאן, ושחטו אלהיהם של מצרים ועשו הפסח, שבכך הקדוש ברוך הוא פוסח עליכם, "The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe: As long as Israel serve the gods of Egypt they will not be redeemed... 'Draw forth and take for yourselves' – that is, draw your hands away from idolatry, and take for yourselves sheep, and slaughter the gods of Egypt and make the Pesach, and thereby the Holy One, blessed be He, will pass over you." Likewise the Mechilta: רבי יוסה הגלילי אומר: משכו ידיכם מעבודה זרה, והדבקו במצוה, "R. Yosi HaGlili says: Draw your hands away from idolatry, and cleave to the mitzvah."

15. Service that is foreign to you (עבודה שהיא זרה לכם): After Shabbos 105b (cited in the publisher's note): לא יהיה בך אל זר ולא תשתחוה לאל נכר... איזהו אל זר שיש בגופו של אדם הוי אומר זה יצר הרע, "'There shall be no foreign god within you, nor shall you bow to an alien god' (Tehillim 81:10) – what is the foreign god within a person's body? It is the evil inclination." The "idolatry" of today is service that is "foreign" to a Jew's soul.

16. I was created to serve my Maker (אני נבראתי לשמש את קוני): Mishnah Kiddushin 4:14, Kiddushin 82a: ואני נבראתי לשמש את קוני.

17. Boundaries and limits (מצרים וגבולים): מְצָרִים, "boundaries" (from מיצר, a narrow strait), an allusion to the name מִצְרַיִם, Egypt: "the gods of Egypt" are the limits and measures of the physical world.

18. A leap (דילוג): "Pesach" means a leap, as Rashi explains on Shemos 12:11: הקרבן הוא קרוי פסח, על שם הדלוג והפסיחה, "the offering is called Pesach because of the leaping and passing over." The publisher's note refers to Likkutei Torah, Chukas 61c: ולא ילך ממדרגה למדרגה, כמו שהשי"ת מדלג על ההרים... נמצא מדלג הוא למעלה מהשכל שלא בדרך עילה ועלול, "and not go from level to level, just as G‑d leaps over the mountains... so leaping is above reason, not by way of cause and effect." Not a gradual ascent, step after step, but a leap beyond the order.

19. To turn darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness (לאהפכא חשוכא לנהורא ומרירו למתקא): Aramaic, from the Introduction to the Zohar (I 4a), quoted in Tanya, end of ch. 10: מאן מנכון די חשוכא מהפכן לנהורא וטעמין מרירו למיתקא, "Who among you turns darkness into light and tastes bitterness as sweetness?" – there, the description of the "bnei aliyah," "who transform the evil and raise it to holiness." In Tanya, ch. 37 this is the purpose of man's creation: להיות לו יתברך דירה בתחתונים דוקא, לאהפכא חשוכא לנהורא, "to make for Him a dwelling in the lower realms, to turn darkness into light."

20. The animal soul (הנה"ב): הנה"ב = הנפש הבהמית.

21. He will have compassion on you and protect you (יחוס עליכם ויגן): On "G‑d will pass over the door" (Shemos 12:23) Rashi explains: ופסח – וחמל. ויש לומר: ודלג, "and He will pass over – and He will have compassion; one may also say: and He will leap over." Targum Onkelos renders it ויחוס ה' על תרעא, "G‑d will have compassion on the door," and Targum Yonasan ויגין מימרא דה' על תרעא, "the Word of G‑d will protect the door." Hence "will have compassion and protect" (publisher's note).

22. Your families (למשפחותיכם): The word of the verse (Shemos 12:21), "for your families." Rabbeinu Bachya there (cited in the publisher's note): למשפחותיכם – מכאן שחייב אדם לקרב קרוביו כדי שישמחו עמהם בימים טובים, וכן בימות הגאולה הבטיחנו הקב"ה להתקרב איש אל משפחתו, "'For your families' – from here we learn that a person must draw his relatives close so that they rejoice with them on the festivals; and likewise in the days of the redemption G‑d promised us that each man will draw close to his family," as it is said, "At that time, says G‑d, I will be G‑d to all the families of Israel" (Yirmeyahu 31:1).

23. Good news (בשו"ט): בשו"ט = בשורות טובות.

Summary

On Rosh Chodesh Nissan the Rebbe blesses the students of the Tzeirei Agudas Chabad evening yeshivos in Jerusalem to go from strength to strength, with a true change in the quality of their learning and in influencing their friends. As Moshe opened with "Draw forth and take... and make the Pesach," they are to withdraw from what is foreign to a Jew, master their limited surroundings, and leap to turning darkness into light.