Parshas Masei

The maamarim 10

1. 1 אלה מסעי בני ישראל אשר יצאו מארץ מצרים… “These are the journeys of the children of Israel who went out…” The pure heart that true closeness to G‑d demands is reached through Moshe and Aharon: Moshe, the King’s groomsman, draws G‑d down through Torah, mitzvos and the plain knowledge that a Jew is part of Him, so that evil, even in permitted things, falls away; Aharon, the Queen’s groomsman, raises the soul’s hidden love in prayer until it is nullified before Him and cleaves to the One. Either may come first, for the two are equal. Maamar 1.8 paragraphs~20 min55 sourcesEnglish
2. 2 אלה מסעי בני ישראל אשר יצאו מארץ מצרים… These Are the Journeys of the Children of Israel The forty-two journeys in the wilderness are the soul’s ascent out of every “Egypt,” every limit, even the limit of understanding: by turning all seven emotive attributes, each with its six facets, to G‑d in self-nullification, a person cuts off the hidden nourishment of the kelipos and reaches the “scent” of G‑d’s will, which is above all comprehension. Maamar 2.24 paragraphs~45 min105 sourcesEnglish
3. 3 לבאר ענין המסעות במדבר To Explain the Journeys in the Wilderness The forty-two journeys in the wilderness were an ascent: by raising Israel’s emotions back into the hidden understanding of Binah, where the external forces cannot feed, they subdued the kelipos of the wilderness, lifted Malchus out of exile, and prepared a future in which the whole world will receive G‑d’s light as the Land of Israel does now. Maamar 3.26 paragraphs~1 h 45 min188 sourcesEnglish
4. 4 אלה מסעי בנ״י כו׳ ויכתב משה את מוצאיהם… “These are the journeys of the children of Israel… And Moshe wrote their goings-forth according to their journeys” Israel’s forty-two journeys in the desert are the souls’ ascents: the soul comes down into the body and the world of kelipah so that, by turning the physical “something” into “nothing” through the mitzvos and the Torah, it rises beyond its place in G‑d’s “thought” up to its true source. Moshe’s “writing” is the power from above, from Chochmah, that makes this ascent possible. Maamar 4.18 paragraphs~50 min138 sourcesEnglish
5. 5 ביאור על זה “An explanation of this” Every ascent needs a drawing down first. The journeys in the desert, the blessing said before a mitzvah and Moshe’s “writing” of the journeys all show that light from above must first come down to give the power to rise; Moshe’s writing is G‑d’s “seal of truth,” the light of the hidden Chochmah shining unchanged in “the light of the King’s face,” drawn into the souls through Torah study so that they can rise back to their source. Maamar 5.Biur24 paragraphs~1 h 50 min206 sourcesEnglish
6. 6 וירד הגבול ומחה על כתף ים כנרת קדמה כו׳ “And the border shall descend and shall touch upon the shoulder of the Sea of Kinneres” The Jordan, which “takes from this one and gives to that one,” is a person’s work of raising the fallen sparks by turning the heat of his natural emotions into fiery love of G‑d. Yet even this love from below succeeds only through light drawn from above, from the Sea of Kinneres, the sparks’ own root before the shattering. Maamar 6.4 paragraphs~5 min13 sourcesEnglish
7. 7 לבאר הדברים בענין וירד הגבול הנה גבול ד׳… To explain the matters concerning “And the border shall descend” The borders of the Land of Israel are rooted in the twelve “diagonal borders” of Sefer Yetzirah: the twelve ways the six emotive attributes blend once the simple divine light is clothed in vessels that limit it. Their root lies above intellect, and when they descend to Malchus they become “love with delights,” sweet as a harp, which is drawn into the soul through the Torah’s thirty-two paths of wisdom, the same Torah that gives the power to refine the animal soul. Maamar 7.12 paragraphs~25 min69 sourcesEnglish
8. 8 ביאור עוד לענין מוצאיהם למסעיהם ומסעיהם למוצאיהם A Further Explanation of “Their Goings Forth to Their Journeys, and Their Journeys to Their Goings Forth” Adam Kadmon, G‑d’s Supreme Will that the Sefiros exist, is the “going forth” (motza), the source, of all souls. Moshe “wrote” its light into the soul through the Torah, bringing down the source’s self-nullification, so that the soul’s journeys can rise back to that source and even beyond it, to the Infinite Light. Maamar 8.Biur24 paragraphs~1 h 10 min109 sourcesEnglish
9. 9 ענין נחלת יעקב “The Inheritance of Yaakov” “The inheritance of Yaakov,” the inheritance without bounds, is a very lofty makif from Atik, rooted above time and above every limit. One who makes himself “like leftovers,” despising a life bound by time and nullified before the makifim, or, in the phrase’s plain sense, nullifying his yesh into ayin, draws from it even now; in the Time to Come it will be revealed through the dew of Atika that revives the dead. Maamar 9.3 paragraphs~10 min51 sourcesEnglish
10. 10 איתא במדרש תהלים ע״פ אחת שאלתי מאת ה׳… It Is Stated in Midrash Tehillim on “One Thing I Have Asked” Above, awe and love are one, so G‑d asks only for the higher awe and the higher love comes to it of itself; from this David learned to ask for only “one thing.” Below, where awe and love are nearly opposites, a person must first soften the heart through humility, the lower awe, so that the love hidden in every soul can grow. Maamar 10.6 paragraphs~15 min33 sourcesEnglish

The Rebbe’s maamarim on this parsha 6

The Rebbe built 6 of his maamarim (5725–5746) on the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim of this parsha. Each maamar’s page summarizes them, with what the Rebbe adds; or see them all together.

• Maamar 2אלה מסעי בני ישראל אשר יצאו מארץ מצרים…4 maamarim · 5725–5745
• Maamar 4אלה מסעי בנ״י כו׳ ויכתב משה את מוצאיהם…2 maamarim · 5744–5746

Learn it in seven days Sunday to Shabbos

The Rebbe asked that all the maamarim of the week’s parsha be learned in that week, spread over its seven days. Here is the parsha in seven portions of about equal length.

1. SUNMaamar 1 ¶1 – maamar 2 ¶24~64 min
2. MONMaamar 3, ¶1–17~66 min
3. TUEMaamar 3 ¶18 – maamar 4 ¶6~64 min
4. WEDMaamar 4 ¶7 – maamar 5 ¶9~68 min
5. THUMaamar 5, ¶10–22~58 min
6. FRIMaamar 5 ¶23 – maamar 8 ¶11~71 min
7. SHABMaamar 8 ¶12 – maamar 10 ¶6~62 min