Parshas Pinchas

The maamarim 4

1. 1 צו את בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם את קרבני… “Command the children of Israel and say to them: My offering, My bread for My fires” Only in this world, through Torah, mitzvos and teshuvah, can a person draw the Infinite Light itself, sovev kol almin, upon his soul, higher than all the graded revelation of Gan Eden; that is why here, and not in the World to Come, the lowest can be turned back to the highest. The offerings embody this: on the altar the fire in the animal offered rises and merges with the “fire of yud” descending from sovev kol almin; in the soul, prayer kindles the animal soul’s fire, the “fire of hei,” to rise to it, and Torah study joins them and keeps that fire in the heart. Maamar 1.23 paragraphs~1 h 5 min156 sourcesEnglish
2. 2 ביאור ע״פ את קרבני לחמי An explanation on the verse “My offering, My bread” Man makes Gan Eden: a radiance of the Infinite Light becomes graspable only through contraction (the gevuros) and through the refining light of Mah, which rests only on self-nullification. The verse of the daily offering maps this service: Moshe’s bittul joined with Israel makes the letters of their Torah study “close” to G‑d, the fire of the soul draws down the fire from above, and prayer, Shabbos and the festivals draw down the still higher union called li, “to Me.” Maamar 2.Biur17 paragraphs~55 min164 sourcesEnglish
3. 3 צו את בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם את קרבני… “Command the children of Israel and say to them” The daily lamb, and the prayer that took its place, raise the “something” back into the “nothing,” the ascent for whose sake the soul came down. Prayer has the offering’s parts: firm contemplation is the bones, the restraints that carry it to the heart are the sinews, fiery love is the blood and delight in the mitzvos is the fat; and its own path is compassion for the fallen soul, the lamb’s quality, which Moshe “makes” by drawing knowledge into Israel. Maamar 3.25 paragraphs~1 h 45 min330 sourcesEnglish
4. 4 קדש ישראל לה׳ ראשית תבואתה Israel Is Holy to Havayah, the First of His Produce Israel are “the first of the produce of the hei”: in G‑d’s daily renewal of creation, the souls of Israel, whose root is the Name Havayah, rise first, through prayer, Torah, mitzvos and charity, into His innermost will above that root, and raise the angels and the worlds with them. One who “devours” the Israel within him restores it through teshuvah from the depth of the heart, a fifth level beyond the four. Maamar 4.28 paragraphs~1 h 35 min274 sourcesEnglish

The Rebbe’s maamarim on this parsha 2

The Rebbe built 2 of his maamarim (5744–5747) 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 1צו את בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם את קרבני…1 maamar · 5744
• Maamar 4קדש ישראל לה׳ ראשית תבואתה1 maamar · 5747

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, ¶1–18~43 min
2. MONMaamar 1 ¶19 – maamar 2 ¶10~46 min
3. TUEMaamar 2 ¶11 – maamar 3 ¶3~44 min
4. WEDMaamar 3, ¶4–18~52 min
5. THUMaamar 3, ¶19–25~41 min
6. FRIMaamar 4, ¶1–10~46 min
7. SHABMaamar 4, ¶11–28~47 min