Torah Ohr · Parshas Chayei Sarah · Maamar 1
יגלה לן טעמיה כו׳
The Subject of the Field of Machpelah
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The big idea
On weekdays a person refines his food from below into strength for serving G‑d; on Shabbos the food’s higher root, from before the shattering of the vessels, is revealed, and life flows from it into the soul from above with no waste. That flow comes down “doubled”: the boundless upper hei reaches below only as its hidden power, a second hei, as in the Cave of Machpelah, until the future reveals the upper hei itself.
The maamar in brief
The maamar opens with the words “May He reveal to us its reasons,” said of the twelve loaves, and with the Cave of Machpelah, the “doubled” final hei of the Name Ban, whose filling is a second hei. It explains this through eating. Food becomes the blood that the liver sends to the heart and brain, so on weekdays a person refines his food into a heart aflame and a mind strong to contemplate G‑d’s greatness, and the craving in it, the root of kelipah, loses the life it swallowed. Yet food gives man life, a sign that its root, in the World of Tohu before the shattering of the vessels, is higher than his. On Shabbos, when the worlds ascend, that root is revealed and life flows from it into the soul from above, with no sorting and no waste. A festival, which permits food preparation, holds some refinement and waste; its remedy is gladdening the poor, which sweetens the judgments. The flow from above comes “thin,” a yud drawn into a vav, and “doubled,” the hidden power of the upper hei revealed below as another hei. In the future the upper hei itself will be revealed.
Outline
- The doubled hei and the question of eatingThe heading; “May He reveal to us its reasons”; the filling of a hei is another hei, the doubling of the Cave of Machpelah. Food becomes the blood that the liver sends to the heart and brain.¶1–2
- Weekday refinement and the food’s higher rootOn weekdays food is refined into a heart and mind that serve G‑d; on Shabbos sorting is forbidden and the eating is drawn from above. Man is “front” to food as it is below, but its root in Tohu is higher, which is why it gives him life; on Shabbos it rises to that root.¶3–4
- Two kinds of eating“To satisfy his soul” is life drawn from above; “the belly of the wicked shall lack” is the craving, the root of kelipah, turned to good and emptied of the life it swallowed. The first is the eating of Shabbos, the second of the weekdays.¶5–6
- No waste on Shabbos; the festivals and the poorRefinement from below leaves waste, which comes from the Tree of Knowledge; Shabbos, above it, has none. A festival permits the work of preparing food and so has waste, remedied by gladdening the poor; one who does not is punished measure for measure.¶7–8
- Thin and doubled, now and in the futureA yud, being contraction, can extend into a vav; the boundless upper hei comes down only as its hidden filling, another hei. Now the flow comes through the twelve loaves; in the future the upper hei itself will be revealed below.¶9–11
Key concepts
- refinement (birur)בירור
- Raising what is below by using it in the service of G‑d: food becomes the strength of a heart and mind that serve Him, and the hold of kelipah on it is broken. It belongs to the weekdays; on Shabbos sorting is forbidden.
- back and frontאחור וקדם
- Man came last in creation (“back”) yet stands first (“front”) as the one who refines the food; the food’s root, in Tohu, is higher than his, which is why it gives him life.
- the World of Tohuעולם התהו
- The world “before any king reigned,” whose vessels shattered; food comes from there, so its root is higher than man’s though it has fallen below him.
- kelipah (the husk)קליפה
- The force opposed to holiness; the craving in every food is its root, and the eating that strengthens a person’s service of G‑d takes from it the life it swallowed.
- sweetening of the judgmentsהמתקת הדינין
- Joy that makes everyone equal softens judgment; so on a festival one gladdens the poor, the Levite and the stranger, and the “waste” does not remain.
- kefila and kelishaכפילא וקלישא
- “Doubled” and “thin”: the two modes of the flow from above. Kelisha is a yud drawn out into a vav; kefila is the hei revealed through its filling, another hei.
- filling (milui)מילוי
- The letters that spell out a letter’s name; the filling is always what was hidden in the letter above, now come out into revelation below.
For children · ages 9–13
Weekday food and Shabbos food
The big idea
On weekdays we lift up our food by using its strength to serve G‑d; on Shabbos the food’s higher root is revealed, and life flows into the soul from above.
Why do we need to eat? Food becomes blood, and the blood brings life to the heart and the brain. On weekdays our eating is birur, “refining”: we use the food’s strength to serve G‑d, with a heart on fire for Him and a mind strong enough to think about His greatness. That lifts the food up. Yet food also keeps us alive, a sign that its root is higher than ours. The verse says, “Back and front You formed me”: a person is “front,” lifting up the food, but also “back,” created last, so they need it to live. On Shabbos, when all the worlds go up, the food rises to its root, and life flows from it into the soul from above, with nothing left over: “you shall call the Shabbos a delight.” A festival, when cooking is allowed, has some left over, and its remedy is joy shared with the poor, the Levite and the stranger. Last, the Cave of Machpelah, the “doubled” cave: G‑d’s light above cannot come down as it is, so only its hidden power reaches us, like a second letter hei. In the time to come, that light itself will be revealed.
The mashal
When we eat, the best part of the food goes to the heart and the brain, and the rest is left over and leaves the body. Weekday eating is like that: we sort the good out of the food from below, and something is always left over. On Shabbos the life comes down from above, from the food’s high root, so there is nothing to sort and nothing is left over.
Questions for the Shabbos table
- How is eating on a weekday different from eating on Shabbos?
- The verse says, “Back and front You formed me.” In what way is a person ahead of their food, and in what way do they need it?
- Before you eat this week, how can you plan to use the food’s strength to serve G‑d, and how can you make your Shabbos meal a true delight?
Explanation © likuteitorah.com, CC BY-NC 4.0: retold for children from our translation and explanation, with AI assistance; not yet reviewed by a human editor.
In the Rebbe’s light · 6
AI research Found by AI reading every place in the Rebbe’s works that cites this maamar, and checked against each source by a second AI reader, the less certain by a third. Only what rated high is shown: the Rebbe’s own words, about this very passage. No person has reviewed it yet, so check the place itself before relying on a detail. See something to correct?
The maamar in the Rebbe’s light
The Rebbe’s teachings sharpen this maamar’s contrast between weekday and Shabbos eating, and tie its doubled hei to the Name and to the time to come. In V’hu Omed Aleihem 5713 he gives the reason behind „בשבת בורר אסור” (“on Shabbos sorting is forbidden”): from Friday afternoon the evil has already separated from the good, though only „בפנימיות הכח שבמאכל” (in the inner power of the food). In a sicha of Shabbos Bereishis 5718, quoting this maamar’s „אין בו פסולת כלל” (“no waste in it at all”), he explains why the Zohar speaks of „פרש חגיכם” (“the dung of your festivals”) and not of Shabbos: Shabbos is holy in itself, while a festival is a weekday time into which a Jew’s service calls holiness. Elsewhere he qualifies that claim twice: in his early Reshimos, that outwardly Shabbos food too leaves waste, so the change is inward; and in a letter of 7 Teves 5714, „שרע אין באכילת שבת אבל מגשם כמו ענין של היתר” (that Shabbos eating has no evil, yet can coarsen as even a permitted thing can). On the opening, a note to his sicha of Shabbos Chayei Sarah 5729 cites this maamar for „גם ה׳ ראשונה מכפילה ה׳ אחרונה” (“the first hei also ‘doubles’ the last hei”); on the close, a sicha of 15 Menachem Av 5746 reads the twelve loaves as the showbread, which belongs to Shabbos as a foretaste of the time to come. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) the maamar’s Shabbos is a real but inward change in the food, and a foretaste of the revelation its last lines promise.
Paragraph by paragraph
- ¶2
Background from the Rebbe
In a sicha of Shabbos Chayei Sarah 5729 on Rashi’s two explanations of „המכפלה” (“HaMachpelah”) (“a house with an upper story over it” and „שכפולה בזוגות”, “doubled with couples”), the Rebbe turns at the end to the inner meaning in Rashi: the Zohar’s „ה׳ מכפלה” (“doubled hei”), the two heis of the Name, read with the Tzemach Tzedek as the lower and the higher teshuvah.
In a sicha of Shabbos Chayei Sarah 5729 the Rebbe brings the Zohar that “HaMachpelah” is the doubled hei („ה׳ מכפלה”), the two heis of the Name Havayah: Rashi’s “a house with an upper story over it” is, as the Tzemach Tzedek explains, the lower hei and the upper hei, which in the soul’s service are the lower (תשובה תתאה) and the higher teshuvah (תשובה עילאה). In a note he adds that not only does the lower teshuvah lead up to the higher, but „גם ה׳ ראשונה מכפילה ה׳ אחרונה” (“the first hei also ‘doubles’ the last hei”), and for this he points first to the opening of this maamar, on „מילוי ה׳ שבה׳ ראשונה” (the filling of the hei in the first hei).
The Alter Rebbe
הנה מילוי ה׳ היא בה׳ אחרת והיא בחי׳ כפילא כנודע מענין מערת המכפלה
The Rebbe
גם ה׳ ראשונה „מכפילה” ה׳ אחרונה. וכמובא בכ״מ בענין מילוי ה׳ שבה׳ ראשונה (תו״א ריש פרשתנו
Likkutei Sichos, vol. ה, p. 111, note 40 · ש״פ חיי שרה תשכ״ט
- ¶3
Background from the Rebbe
In his maamar V’hu Omed Aleihem of Shabbos Vayera, 20 Marcheshvan 5713, the Rebbe Rashab’s birthday, fifty years after the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar of that name, the Rebbe asks why Avraham’s standing over the angels made them eat, and answers through the two eatings, of the altar and of the kohanim, which today are weekday eating and Shabbos eating.
In his maamar V’hu Omed Aleihem of Shabbos Vayera 5713 the Rebbe gives the inner reason for „בשבת בורר אסור” (“on Shabbos sorting is forbidden”): on Shabbos there is no mixture of good and evil left to sort, since „בערב שבת אחרי חצות נפרד הרע מן הטוב” (after midday on Friday the evil separates from the good). He brings the Tzemach Tzedek’s account of the question he put to the Alter Rebbe: if on Shabbos the good is only raised and not sorted out, „מה נעשה ברע שהי׳ במאכל” (what becomes of the evil that was in the food)? The Alter Rebbe answered that from Friday „נפרד הטוב שבנוגה מן הרע שבנוגה מערב שבת ועולה למעלה” (the good of kelipas nogah separates from its evil and rises), in all physical things, but this happens „בפנימיות הכח שבמאכל” (in the inner power of the food) and so cannot be seen from outside. Therefore, the Rebbe concludes, sorting is forbidden on Shabbos, and Shabbos eating is „המשכת אור חדש שלמעלה מעולמות” (the drawing down of a new light from above the worlds).
The Alter Rebbe
אך כ״ז הוא בימות החול אבל בשבת בורר אסור אלא האכילה היא יותר עליונה בבחי׳ המשכה מלמעלה
The Rebbe
אבל בשבת בורר אסור, משום דבשבת אין תערובות הטו״ר, כידוע אשר בערב שבת אחרי חצות נפרד הרע מן הטוב
Sefer HaMaamarim 5713 (bilti mugah), vol. תשי״ג, p. לג · ש״פ וירא, כ״ף מרחשון, ה׳תשי״ג (the same text in Toras Menachem vol. 7, p. 147; the old edition, Sefer HaMaamarim 5711–5713 p. 314)
- ¶7
A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In his early notes (Reshimos, choveres 15) explaining by Chassidus the Gemara’s law of one buried under a fallen ruin (מפולת) on Shabbos (Yoma 83a), where the ruin is the fallen world of Tohu that since the sin of the Tree of Knowledge has fallen upon man, the Rebbe brings Shabbos eating as an example of a change that is only inward.
In his early notes the Rebbe cites this maamar, calling it „ד״ה מערת המכפלה” (“dibbur hamaschil Me’aras HaMachpelah”), for the two kinds of eating, and observes that although Shabbos eating is not refinement, outwardly „הרי גם ממנה יש פסולת” (Shabbos food too leaves waste). He concludes that „שרק בפני׳ משתנה” (it must change only inwardly), and suggests a reason: „דעליות דשבת הוא בפני׳ העולמות דאינו ניכר בחיצו׳” (the ascent of Shabbos is in the inner dimension of the worlds and does not show outwardly), which is why only the manna, „מפני שהי׳ ממקום גבוה בחי׳ טל” (which came from a high place, the level of dew), stopped on Shabbos, and nothing else did.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל בשבת שהוא נעשה מלמעלה למטה אין בו פסולת כלל
The Rebbe
בכ״ז — בחיצוניות — הרי גם ממנה יש פסולת, וע״כ שרק בפני׳ משתנה
Reshimos, choveres 15, vol. רשימות ט״ו–מ״ה (collected edition), p. 12 · רשימה בחוברת טו (the choveres opens with notes headed “שמחת ביח״ש צ״ג ריגא”)
- ¶7
A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In a letter of 7 Teves 5714 to R. Avraham Zusia Ziskind (Igros Kodesh vol. 8, letter 2335), answering his questions on Chassidus and halachah, the Rebbe takes up the first: an apparent contradiction in the Mitteler Rebbe’s Torah Chaim on whether „אכילה דשבת מגשם לגוף” (Shabbos eating coarsens the body).
Answering a correspondent’s question in a letter of 7 Teves 5714, the Rebbe takes up an apparent contradiction in the Mitteler Rebbe’s Torah Chaim: in one place „גם אכילה דשבת מגשם לגוף” (even Shabbos eating coarsens the body), through a physical pleasure that is not refined and is „מעורב טו״ר גמור מעה״ד טו״ר” (a full mixture of good and evil from the Tree of Knowledge); in another, Shabbos eating does not coarsen, since „דפרש שבתכם לא קאמר” (“the dung of your Shabbosos” is not said). He suggests „שרע אין באכילת שבת אבל מגשם כמו ענין של היתר” (that there is no evil in Shabbos eating, but it can still coarsen the way a permitted thing does). He adds that these matters are discussed at the beginning of Torah Ohr Chayei Sarah, in the Siddur (on „יגלה לן טעמי׳”, “Yegaleh Lan Ta’amei”) and in Derech Mitzvosecha.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל בשבת אז תתענג על ה׳ למעלה מעה״ד ולא יגורך רע כלל
The Rebbe
החילוק בזה הוא שרע אין באכילת שבת אבל מגשם כמו ענין של היתר
Igros Kodesh, vol. ח, p. צא (letter ב׳שלה) · ז׳ טבת, תשי״ד (also printed in Likkutei Sichos vol. 31, in the letters)
- ¶7
Background from the Rebbe
In a sicha of Shabbos Bereishis 5718 (Likkutei Sichos vol. 16, Beshalach 4) on eruv tavshilin, its two reasons in the Gemara and the custom of using its bread at the third Shabbos meal, the Rebbe draws the lesson for divine service from the Zohar’s distinction between Shabbos, called „קדש” (“holy”), and a festival, called „מקראי קדש” (“a calling of holiness”).
In a sicha of Shabbos Bereishis 5718 the Rebbe explains, from the Zohar, why the prophet says „פרש חגיכם” (“the dung of your festivals”) and not of Shabbos. Shabbos is “holy” in itself, so it has „אין בו פסולת כלל” (“no waste in it at all”) (he quotes these words of this maamar) and its eating is only „צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו” (“the righteous one eats to satisfy his soul”); a festival is „מקראי קדש” (a “calling of holiness”), a day that in itself belongs to the weekday and into which the Jew’s service calls holiness, so where that service is lacking there is “dung.” When the service is there, he says, the festival’s eating too becomes “to satisfy his soul,” and he notes that Torah Ohr here reads the verse as the eating of Shabbos while the Siddur elsewhere applies it to a festival.
The Alter Rebbe
רק ביו״ט כתיב פרש חגיכם לפי שביו״ט יש בו קצת בירור
The Rebbe
די עבודה איז אין אַ טאָג וואָס מצ״ע איז ניטאָ קיין „פרש” ובמילא נאָר „צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו”
Likkutei Sichos, vol. טז, p. 189 (sec. 10, with notes 47, 49, 51) · שבת בראשית (התוועדות ב׳), ה׳תשח״י
- ¶11
Background from the Rebbe
In a sicha of 15 Menachem Av 5746 showing how that day’s daily Rambam (Hilchos Temidin uMusafin ch. 3–5) bears on 15 Av and the Redemption, the Rebbe comes to the opening of chapter 5, „מצות עשה לסדר לחם הפנים בכל יום שבת” (the mitzvah of arranging the showbread every Shabbos), and quotes the end of this maamar.
In a sicha of 15 Menachem Av 5746 the Rebbe quotes the end of this maamar on the showbread, glossing its „דבתריסר נהמי” (“twelve loaves”) as the twelve loaves of the showbread: the completion of the showbread is „יגלה לן” (“He will reveal to us”) in the time to come, when „הה׳ עצמה שלמעלה יהי׳ לה גילוי למטה” (“the hei itself above” will be revealed below). That future, he adds, is also why the showbread is chiefly a matter of Shabbos, “since the day of Shabbos is a foretaste („מעין ודוגמת”) of the day that is entirely Shabbos.”
The Alter Rebbe
רק הה׳ עצמה שלמעלה יהי׳ לה גילוי למטה ג״כ
The Rebbe
מכיון שיום השבת הוא מעין ודוגמת „יום שכולו שבת ומנוחה לחיי העולמים”
Likkutei Sichos, vol. כט, p. 260 (note 96) · ט״ו מנחם-אב, ה׳תשמ״ו (Toras Menachem 5746 vol. 4, p. 217)
Short quotes only, with the place of each so it can be read in full. The Rebbe’s sichos, letters and maamarim are published by Kehot and by Vaad Hanochos B’Lahak (lahak.org).
The doubled hei and the question of eating ¶1–2
1(ענין שדה המכפלה)
(The subject of the field of Machpelah.)
A heading printed in parentheses: the maamar is about the Cave of Machpelah, the double cave Avraham bought in this week’s Torah portion as Sarah’s burial place. The name “Machpelah” means “doubled,” and the whole first discourse turns on that idea of doubling.
The heading names the theme: the doubled cave, Machpelah, which becomes a key to a doubled letter hei and to the Shabbos meal.
2יגלה לן טעמיה12 כו׳. הנה מילוי ה׳ היא בה׳ אחרת והיא בחי׳ כפילא כנודע מענין מערת המכפלה שהיא ה׳ אחרונה דשם ב״ן [שם ב״ן]3 כו׳.
“May He reveal to us its reasons,” etc. Now, the filling of the [letter] hei is with another hei, and this is the level of kefila (doubled), as is known from the subject of the Cave of Machpelah, which is the final hei of the Name Ban, etc.
The opening words come from the Arizal’s song for the second Shabbos meal (Asader Lisudasa), which asks that “the reasons of the twelve loaves” set out on the table be revealed to us, and calls them “a letter in His Name, doubled and thin.” The Alter Rebbe starts from “doubled”: when the letter hei is spelled out in full, its name is written with a second hei (ה״ה). This doubling is kefila, the same word as Machpelah, and in Kabbalah the Cave of Machpelah corresponds to the final hei of the Name Ban, the form of the four-letter Name spelled out so that its letters total 52.
¶10 Hold this idea of the doubled hei: paragraphs 10–11 explain it.
¶11 “May He reveal to us its reasons” is explained in paragraph 11.
והענין יובן בהקדים להבין ענין האכילה כי הנה עיקר האכילה להיות כי מן המאכל נעשה
And the matter will be understood by first explaining the subject of eating. For the essence of eating is that from the food there is made
Before explaining the doubled hei, he lays a foundation: what eating actually accomplishes.
חלב ודם והדם הוא הנפש4 וחיות האדם שמקבל הכבד הדם מן המאכל ושולח ללב ולמוח דתלת שליטין אינון56 בעלמא כבדא ולבא ומוחא כו׳.7
fat and blood; and “the blood is the soul” and the life-force of a person, for the liver receives the blood from the food and sends [it] to the heart and to the brain, since “there are three rulers in the world: the liver, the heart and the brain,” etc.
Food becomes fat and blood, and the Torah itself says “the blood is the soul,” meaning it carries a person’s life-force. The liver takes that blood from the food and sends it on to the heart and the brain, which together with the liver are called the three “rulers” of the body.
The maamar opens with the riddle of the “doubled” twelve loaves and the doubled hei of Machpelah, and then steps back to lay its foundation: a physiology of eating, in which food becomes the blood that feeds the heart and brain.
The Name Ban is the Tetragrammaton spelled out with hei’s (יו״ד ה״ה ו״ו ה״ה), associated in the Arizal’s system with Malchus and the feminine. Its last letter, ה״ה, is literally a hei filled with another hei, which is why the doubled cave is linked to it. The Kehot notes point for this to the Arizal’s Likkutei Torah (a collection of his teachings on the Torah, recorded by his disciples), on Chayei Sarah, at the passage beginning “Me’aras HaMachpelah.”
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In a sicha of Shabbos Chayei Sarah 5729 on Rashi’s two explanations of „המכפלה” (“HaMachpelah”) (“a house with an upper story over it” and „שכפולה בזוגות”, “doubled with couples”), the Rebbe turns at the end to the inner meaning in Rashi: the Zohar’s „ה׳ מכפלה” (“doubled hei”), the two heis of the Name, read with the Tzemach Tzedek as the lower and the higher teshuvah.
In a sicha of Shabbos Chayei Sarah 5729 the Rebbe brings the Zohar that “HaMachpelah” is the doubled hei („ה׳ מכפלה”), the two heis of the Name Havayah: Rashi’s “a house with an upper story over it” is, as the Tzemach Tzedek explains, the lower hei and the upper hei, which in the soul’s service are the lower (תשובה תתאה) and the higher teshuvah (תשובה עילאה). In a note he adds that not only does the lower teshuvah lead up to the higher, but „גם ה׳ ראשונה מכפילה ה׳ אחרונה” (“the first hei also ‘doubles’ the last hei”), and for this he points first to the opening of this maamar, on „מילוי ה׳ שבה׳ ראשונה” (the filling of the hei in the first hei).
The Alter Rebbe
הנה מילוי ה׳ היא בה׳ אחרת והיא בחי׳ כפילא כנודע מענין מערת המכפלה
The Rebbe
גם ה׳ ראשונה „מכפילה” ה׳ אחרונה. וכמובא בכ״מ בענין מילוי ה׳ שבה׳ ראשונה (תו״א ריש פרשתנו
Likkutei Sichos, vol. ה, p. 111, note 40 · ש״פ חיי שרה תשכ״ט
Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made
TermsMiluiMah and Ban+1
- Milui מילוי explained hereThe milui of the letter hei is a second hei, the “doubled” aspect (kefila) alluded to in the Cave of Machpelah, the final hei of the Name Ban.
הנה מילוי ה׳ היא בה׳ אחרת והיא בחי׳ כפילא כנודע מענין מערת המכפלה
- Mah and Ban מ״ה וב״ן
Also Chayus
Marei mekomos
- 1יגלה לן טעמי׳ · ראה הנחת כ״ק אדמו״ר האמצעי בסידור רב, ג. נמצא בגוכתי״ק כ״ק אדה״א ורשום שם: יום שבת פ׳ תצוה [תקס״ז]. וראה ברשימת המאמרים בסה״מ תקס״ז הערה 39. ראה לעיל בציונים לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע. לכללות הענינים של המאמר ראה סה״מ תקס״ה ח״א ע׳ קנ בענין האכילה דשבת. תו״ח פ׳ לך צו, א. ובפ׳ ויקהל תרלה, א ואילך (הוצאה צילום כת״י הר״ש סופר). ביאוה״ז להצ״צ כרך ב ע׳ תתמה. אוה״ת בראשית כרך ז תתשפב, א. אוה״ת נ״ך ע׳ תרסד. ד״ה והוא עומד עליהם תרס״ג ע׳ נ. סה״מ תרס״ו ע׳ קנד. וראה עבודת הלוי פ׳ ח״ש כח, א. בלקו״ת תזריע כ, ד מציין לד״ה זה. בדרך מצותיך צ, א בשם כ״ק אדה״ז: ששמעתי מפיו הקדוש של מורינו ורבינו נ״ע בכפר פייענע בימים שלפני הסתלקותו בטבת תקע״ג על ענין האכילה בשבת.
- 2יגלה לן טעמי׳ · זמירות לסעודה ב׳ דשבת.
- 3ה׳ אחרונה דשם ב״ן · ראה לקו״ת להאריז״ל פ׳ ח״ש ד״ה מערת המכפלה. וראה סה״מ תקס״ה ע׳ טז. אוה״ת ענינים ע׳ רצב.
- 4
- 5דתלת שליטין אינון · Zohar II, 153a
- 6דתלת שליטין אינון · Zohar, Toldot 4:30–9:73
- 7בסידור מתחיל · יגלה לן טעמי דבתריסר נהמי כו׳, הנה תחילה יש להבין מה שאמר כפילא וקלישא. בזה יובן הסיום דהמאמר כאן בענין כפילא וקלישא.
Weekday refinement and the food’s higher root ¶3–4
3ועי״ז מתעלה המאכל שנעשה ממנו לב ומוח האדם ועי״ז מתחזק לבו ומוחו בעבודת ה׳ שבלבו בהתלהבו׳ כרשפי אש1 שנעשה בכח האכילה2 שבלא אכילה הי׳ [היה] מתחלש כו׳.
And through this the food is elevated, since a person’s heart and brain are made from it; and through this his heart and brain are strengthened in the service of G‑d: in his heart, with a fervor like flashes of fire, which comes about by the power of the eating, for without eating he would grow weak, etc.
Food turned into blood becomes part of a person’s heart and brain, and in that way the food itself is lifted up. His heart now serves G‑d with fiery feeling, and that strength comes from the meal; without food he would be weak.
וגם מוחו נעשה חזק להתבונן בגדולת ה׳ כו׳ וזהו ענין בירור שמן המאכל נעשה אדם.
And also his brain becomes strong to contemplate the greatness of G‑d, etc. And this is the matter of refinement (birur): that from the food a person is made.
His mind, too, gains the strength to reflect on G‑d’s greatness. This is what “refinement” (birur) means: the food, a lower thing, is sorted and raised until it becomes part of a person who serves G‑d.
אך כ״ז [כל זה] הוא בימות החול אבל בשבת בורר אסור אלא האכילה היא יותר עליונה3 בבחי׳ המשכה מלמעלה וקראת לשבת ענג.4 אז תתענג על הוי״ה.5
But all this is on the weekdays. On Shabbos, however, sorting (borer) is forbidden; rather, the eating is higher, in the manner of a drawing down from above: “And you shall call the Shabbos a delight”; “Then you shall delight in Havayah.”
All that describes weekday eating. On Shabbos, “sorting” (borer, the same word as birur, refinement) is one of the forbidden labors, so Shabbos eating cannot be a work of refinement. Instead it is a flow from above, and Isaiah calls Shabbos “a delight” in which one “delights in Havayah.”
כי הנה כתיב אחור וקדם צרתני67 אחור למע״ב [למעשה בראשית] כו׳ שהמאכל כמו שהוא למטה בירידתו בשבה״כ [בשבירת הכלים]8
For it is written, “Back and front You formed me”: “back” [refers to being last] in the work of creation, etc.; for with respect to the food as it is below, in its descent through the shattering of the vessels,
Scripture says that man was formed “back and front.” The Midrash reads “back” as last in the order of creation, since man was made after everything else. Food as we meet it below comes from the sparks that fell in the shattering of the vessels, the primordial breaking of the first divine “vessels.”
הנה האדם הוא בבחי׳ קדם שהמאכל הוא מתברר ע״י האדם אבל בשרשו למעלה הוא מעולם התהו לפני מלך מלך לבנ״י [לבני ישראל]9 אלא שאח״כ וימלך וימת.
the person is in the position of “front,” for the food is refined by the person; but in its root above, it is from the World of Tohu, “before any king reigned over the children of Israel,” except that afterward, “and he reigned, and he died.”
Measured by its present state, man stands “in front,” since he refines the food. But the food’s root is the World of Tohu (chaos), the first, unstable order of lights, symbolized by the kings of Edom who reigned “before any king reigned over Israel” and then “reigned and died,” that is, broke.
Weekday eating is birur: the person raises the food by making it into heart and mind that serve G‑d. Shabbos eating is different: it is a flow from above, because the food’s own root, in the World of Tohu, is higher than man.
The kings of Edom who “reigned and died” (Genesis 36) are the Arizal’s image for the shattering of the vessels in the World of Tohu: lights too intense for their vessels. Their fallen sparks lie in physical things, food among them, which is why eating can refine them. The Kehot notes send the reader to parallel discussions in Torah Ohr, Beshalach and Likkutei Torah, Tzav.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In his maamar V’hu Omed Aleihem of Shabbos Vayera, 20 Marcheshvan 5713, the Rebbe Rashab’s birthday, fifty years after the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar of that name, the Rebbe asks why Avraham’s standing over the angels made them eat, and answers through the two eatings, of the altar and of the kohanim, which today are weekday eating and Shabbos eating.
In his maamar V’hu Omed Aleihem of Shabbos Vayera 5713 the Rebbe gives the inner reason for „בשבת בורר אסור” (“on Shabbos sorting is forbidden”): on Shabbos there is no mixture of good and evil left to sort, since „בערב שבת אחרי חצות נפרד הרע מן הטוב” (after midday on Friday the evil separates from the good). He brings the Tzemach Tzedek’s account of the question he put to the Alter Rebbe: if on Shabbos the good is only raised and not sorted out, „מה נעשה ברע שהי׳ במאכל” (what becomes of the evil that was in the food)? The Alter Rebbe answered that from Friday „נפרד הטוב שבנוגה מן הרע שבנוגה מערב שבת ועולה למעלה” (the good of kelipas nogah separates from its evil and rises), in all physical things, but this happens „בפנימיות הכח שבמאכל” (in the inner power of the food) and so cannot be seen from outside. Therefore, the Rebbe concludes, sorting is forbidden on Shabbos, and Shabbos eating is „המשכת אור חדש שלמעלה מעולמות” (the drawing down of a new light from above the worlds).
The Alter Rebbe
אך כ״ז הוא בימות החול אבל בשבת בורר אסור אלא האכילה היא יותר עליונה בבחי׳ המשכה מלמעלה
The Rebbe
אבל בשבת בורר אסור, משום דבשבת אין תערובות הטו״ר, כידוע אשר בערב שבת אחרי חצות נפרד הרע מן הטוב
Sefer HaMaamarim 5713 (bilti mugah), vol. תשי״ג, p. לג · ש״פ וירא, כ״ף מרחשון, ה׳תשי״ג (the same text in Toras Menachem vol. 7, p. 147; the old edition, Sefer HaMaamarim 5711–5713 p. 314)
Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made
TermsTohu and TikkunHisbonenusAvodas HashemBirur+5
- Tohu and Tikkun תהו ותקון
- Hisbonenus התבוננות
- Avodas Hashem עבודת ה׳
- Birur בירור
- Taanug תענוג
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
- Shabbos שבת
Marei mekomos
- 1כרשפי אש · Song of Songs 8:6
- 2
- 3האכילה היא יותר עליונה · ראה ד״ה והוא עומד תרס״ג.
- 4וקראת לשבת עונג · Isaiah 58:13
- 5אז תתענג על הוי״ה · Isaiah 58:14
- 6אחור וקדם צרתני · Psalms 139:5
- 7אחור וקדם צרתני · Bereshit Rabbah 8:1
- 8שהמאכל . . בשבה״כ · ראה לקמן סה, ד. לקו״ת פ׳ צו יג, ב. מאמרי אדמו״ר הזקן תקס״ח ע׳ יז. מח.
- 9לפני מלך מלך לבנ״י · Genesis 36:31
4וימת וימלך כו׳. אך מ״מ נראה ששרשו יותר גבוה מהאדם שהרי המאכל הוא המחי׳ [המחיה] את האדם.
“And he died, and there reigned,” etc. Yet nevertheless it is evident that its root is higher than the person, for the food is what gives life to the person.
The verse about the Edomite kings continues “and he died, and there reigned.” Even so, the food’s root is higher than man, and the proof is simple: man lives from food, not the other way round.
והאדם הוא מקבל החיות מן המאכל לפי שהוא בבחי׳ אחור למע״ב [למעשה בראשית] כו׳ ובשבת שהוא זמן עליית העולמות מתעלה המאכל
And the person receives life-force from the food because he is in the position of “back” [last] in the work of creation, etc. And on Shabbos, which is the time of the ascent of the worlds, the food is elevated
Man takes his life from food because he was created last, after the plants and animals whose root is earlier and higher. On Shabbos all the worlds rise, and the food rises too, back to its root.
כמו שהוא בשרשו ונמשך ממנו חיות להנפש מלמעלה למטה ע״י י״ב לחמים כו׳ וזהו ענין צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו1 כי יש ב׳ אכילות הא׳ הוא לשובע נפשו.
as it is in its root, and life-force is drawn from it to the soul from above to below, through the twelve loaves, etc. And this is the meaning of “The righteous one eats to satisfy his soul”; for there are two kinds of eating: the first is “to satisfy his soul,”
So instead of being refined by man, the food pours life into his soul from above. That flow comes through the twelve loaves of the Shabbos table. This is what Proverbs means by “The righteous one eats to satisfy his soul”: there are two kinds of eating, and the first is eating that satisfies the soul.
Food lives from a higher root than man, which is why man depends on it. On Shabbos that root is revealed, and the food feeds the soul from above: the first of the two kinds of eating in Proverbs.
The twelve loaves recall the Arizal’s custom of setting twelve loaves on the Shabbos table, corresponding to the twelve loaves of the showbread, and the Shabbos song this maamar opened with.
Marei mekomos
- 1צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו . . ובטן רשעים תחסר · Proverbs 13:25
Two kinds of eating ¶5–6
and the second is “but the belly of the wicked shall lack.” “To satisfy his soul” is the life-force of the soul that comes from above. “But the belly of the wicked,” etc., means
The second kind of eating is “the belly of the wicked shall lack.” Eating “to satisfy the soul” means receiving life that comes down from above. Now the second half of the verse is explained.
כי רשעים הם החיצונים וע״י האכילה מבררים מהם חיל בלע ויקיאנו כי בכל מאכל יש תאוה שהוא שרש הקליפה
that “the wicked” are the external forces, and through eating, [what they hold] is refined out of them: “He has swallowed wealth, and he shall vomit it up.” For in every food there is craving, which is the root of kelipah (the husk);
“The wicked” here are not people but the external forces, the powers opposed to holiness. Eating takes back from them what they hold, as Job’s friend Zophar says of the wicked man who “has swallowed wealth and will vomit it up.” Their foothold in food is the craving that comes with eating, which is the root of kelipah.
וע״י שנכלל בגוף האדם ונעשה ממנו דם הנשלח ללב ומוח מתהפך לטוב בקדושה ע״י חיזוק הלב ומוח בעבודת ה׳ ועי״ז לוקח ממנו החיות שבזלעו״ז [שבזה לעומת זה] וזהו ובטן רשעים תחסר שנחסר החיות שבלעו. ומבטנו יורישנו אל.2
and by its being absorbed into the body of the person and made into blood that is sent to the heart and brain, it is turned to good, into holiness, through the strengthening of the heart and brain in the service of G‑d. And through this the life-force that is in the opposing side (“one opposite the other”) is taken from it; and this is “but the belly of the wicked shall lack”: the life-force that it swallowed is lacking. “G‑d shall drive it out of his belly.”
Once the food is absorbed into a person and becomes blood feeding the heart and mind that serve G‑d, it is turned to good. The life-force that the opposing realm had swallowed is taken away from it, so “the belly of the wicked” is left lacking; as Job continues, “G‑d shall drive it out of his belly.”
The weekday kind of eating is a battle: the food’s holy life is taken out of the grip of kelipah and turned to good, leaving “the belly of the wicked” empty.
The Kehot notes cite the Tzemach Tzedek’s reading of Job’s verse as referring to the G‑dly spark drawn out of the impure kelipos. The phrase “one opposite the other” comes from Ecclesiastes 7:14, “G‑d made the one opposite the other,” which Chassidus reads as holiness and its opposite set up as counterparts.
TermsKoach hamisavehKelipahAvodas HashemBirur+2
- Koach hamisaveh כח המתאוה
- Kelipah קליפה
- Avodas Hashem עבודת ה׳
- Birur בירור
- Hiskallelus התכללות
Also Chayus
Marei mekomos
- 1
- 2חיל בלע ויקיאנו . . ומבטנו יורישנו אל · Job 20:15
6והנה האכילה שבחול שהיא בבחי׳ בירור הוא להיות ובטן רשעים תחסר1. אבל האכילה שבשבת היא המשכה מלמעלה לשובע נפשו מחמת המאכל כמו שהוא בשרשו למעלה קודם שנפל בשבה״כ [בשבירת הכלים] שאין בו בירור.
Now the eating of the weekdays, which is in the manner of refinement, is so that “the belly of the wicked shall lack.” But the eating of Shabbos is a drawing down from above, “to satisfy his soul,” by virtue of the food as it is in its root above, before it fell in the shattering of the vessels, in which there is no refinement.
The summary: weekday eating is refinement, whose goal is to empty “the belly of the wicked.” Shabbos eating is the other kind: a flow from above that “satisfies the soul,” because the food is met at its root, as it was before it fell in the shattering of the vessels, where there is nothing to refine.
The paragraph assigns the two halves of the verse: weekday eating to refinement, Shabbos eating to a flow from the food’s unbroken root.
TermsTohu and TikkunBirurShabbos+1
- Tohu and Tikkun תהו ותקון
- Birur בירור
- Shabbos שבת
Also Haalaah vehamshachah
Marei mekomos
- 1
No waste on Shabbos; the festivals and the poor ¶7–8
7וכמ״ש בזוהר1 פרש שבתכם לא קאמר שמה שנעשה מלמטה למעלה ע״י בירור כמו בימות החול יש בו פרש שהוא פסולת שהמובחר שולח ללב ולמוח והפסולת יורד למטה בקרביים ובני מעיים כו׳ וזהו הבירור
And as it says in the Zohar: “the dung of your Shabbosos” is not said. For what is done from below upward through refinement, as on the weekdays, has “dung” in it, which is waste: the choicest [part] is sent to the heart and to the brain, and the waste goes down into the innards and intestines, etc.; and this is the refinement.
Rebuking the priests, the prophet Malachi says in G‑d’s name, “I will spread dung on your faces, the dung of your festivals,” and the Zohar notes that he does not say “the dung of your Shabbosos.” Weekday eating works from below upward, by refinement, so it leaves waste: the best of the food goes to the heart and brain and the rest goes out through the intestines. That separation is the refinement.
אבל בשבת שהוא נעשה מלמעלה למטה אין בו פסולת כלל2 כי הפסולת הוא מעה״ד [מעץ הדעת] טו״ר [טוב ורע] ולמטה נעשה טו״ר [טוב ורע] בכל הבחי׳ ע״י אכילת אדה״ר [אדם הראשון] מעה״ד [מעץ הדעת] טו״ר [טוב ורע]
But on Shabbos, when it is done from above downward, there is no waste in it at all; for waste comes from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, and below, good and evil came about in every level through Adam’s eating from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.
Shabbos eating comes from above downward, so there is no waste in it. Waste belongs to the mixture of good and evil that entered every level through Adam’s eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
וגם בכל אדם יש תערובת טו״ר [טוב ורע] כו׳ רק שאינו שוה בכל נפש יש שטוב שלו מרובה כו׳
And also in every person there is a mixture of good and evil, etc., only that it is not equal in every soul: there are those whose good is the greater, etc.,
People too are a mixture of good and evil, in different proportions: in some the good is greater.
and likewise there are those whose good is at such-and-such a level, etc. But on Shabbos, “then you shall delight in Havayah,” above the Tree of Knowledge, and “evil shall not dwell with You” at all.
In others the good reaches only a certain level. On Shabbos, though, the delight is “in Havayah,” in G‑d Himself, above the Tree of Knowledge, where “evil shall not dwell with You” at all.
רק ביו״ט [ביום טוב] כתיב פרש חגיכם5 לפי שביו״ט [שביום טוב] יש בו קצת בירור שהרי הותרה בו מלאכת אוכל נפש כאפיה ובישול כו׳
Only of the festivals is it written, “the dung of your festivals,” because on a festival there is some refinement, since the work of preparing food is permitted on it, such as baking and cooking, etc.,
Malachi does speak of “the dung of your festivals,” because on a festival some refinement takes place: cooking and baking for the day’s meals are permitted.
ואינו אסור רק קצירה וזריעה וחרישה כו׳ ולפי שהותרו קצת מלאכות באוכל נפש יש בו בירור ושייך פסולת והתקון הוא למחדי למסכני.
and only reaping, sowing and plowing, etc., are forbidden. And because some kinds of work for preparing food were permitted, there is refinement on it, and waste applies. And the remedy is “to gladden the poor.”
Only labors like reaping, sowing and plowing stay forbidden. Since some food labors are allowed, there is refinement on a festival, and therefore waste. The Zohar gives the remedy: “to gladden the poor.”
כי שעת שמחה היא לשמח את הכל וכמ״ש ושמחת בחגך6 אתה והלוי והגר כו׳ לפי שהשמחה היא בחי׳ המתקת הדינין וצריך לשמח את כולם שיהיו כולם נכללים בבחי׳ שמחה.
For a time of joy is [the time] to gladden everyone, as it is written, “And you shall rejoice in your festival, you... and the Levite and the stranger,” etc.; for joy is the level of the sweetening of the judgments, and one must gladden everyone, so that all will be included in the level of joy.
A time of joy means making everyone happy, as the Torah commands for the festival: “you... and the Levite and the stranger.” Joy sweetens the judgments, the forces of severity, and so everyone must be brought into the joy.
Using the Zohar on “the dung of your festivals,” the paragraph shows that only eating by refinement leaves waste. Shabbos has none, while the festivals, which allow food labors, do, and their remedy is gladdening the poor.
The Zohar passage (2:88b) contrasts Shabbos with the festivals: on a festival one must share with the poor, or the meal becomes the “dung” the prophet speaks of. The Alter Rebbe grounds this in halachah: “sorting” is forbidden on Shabbos, while on Yom Tov the labors of preparing food are permitted.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In his early notes (Reshimos, choveres 15) explaining by Chassidus the Gemara’s law of one buried under a fallen ruin (מפולת) on Shabbos (Yoma 83a), where the ruin is the fallen world of Tohu that since the sin of the Tree of Knowledge has fallen upon man, the Rebbe brings Shabbos eating as an example of a change that is only inward.
In his early notes the Rebbe cites this maamar, calling it „ד״ה מערת המכפלה” (“dibbur hamaschil Me’aras HaMachpelah”), for the two kinds of eating, and observes that although Shabbos eating is not refinement, outwardly „הרי גם ממנה יש פסולת” (Shabbos food too leaves waste). He concludes that „שרק בפני׳ משתנה” (it must change only inwardly), and suggests a reason: „דעליות דשבת הוא בפני׳ העולמות דאינו ניכר בחיצו׳” (the ascent of Shabbos is in the inner dimension of the worlds and does not show outwardly), which is why only the manna, „מפני שהי׳ ממקום גבוה בחי׳ טל” (which came from a high place, the level of dew), stopped on Shabbos, and nothing else did.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל בשבת שהוא נעשה מלמעלה למטה אין בו פסולת כלל
The Rebbe
בכ״ז — בחיצוניות — הרי גם ממנה יש פסולת, וע״כ שרק בפני׳ משתנה
Reshimos, choveres 15, vol. רשימות ט״ו–מ״ה (collected edition), p. 12 · רשימה בחוברת טו (the choveres opens with notes headed “שמחת ביח״ש צ״ג ריגא”)
A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In a letter of 7 Teves 5714 to R. Avraham Zusia Ziskind (Igros Kodesh vol. 8, letter 2335), answering his questions on Chassidus and halachah, the Rebbe takes up the first: an apparent contradiction in the Mitteler Rebbe’s Torah Chaim on whether „אכילה דשבת מגשם לגוף” (Shabbos eating coarsens the body).
Answering a correspondent’s question in a letter of 7 Teves 5714, the Rebbe takes up an apparent contradiction in the Mitteler Rebbe’s Torah Chaim: in one place „גם אכילה דשבת מגשם לגוף” (even Shabbos eating coarsens the body), through a physical pleasure that is not refined and is „מעורב טו״ר גמור מעה״ד טו״ר” (a full mixture of good and evil from the Tree of Knowledge); in another, Shabbos eating does not coarsen, since „דפרש שבתכם לא קאמר” (“the dung of your Shabbosos” is not said). He suggests „שרע אין באכילת שבת אבל מגשם כמו ענין של היתר” (that there is no evil in Shabbos eating, but it can still coarsen the way a permitted thing does). He adds that these matters are discussed at the beginning of Torah Ohr Chayei Sarah, in the Siddur (on „יגלה לן טעמי׳”, “Yegaleh Lan Ta’amei”) and in Derech Mitzvosecha.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל בשבת אז תתענג על ה׳ למעלה מעה״ד ולא יגורך רע כלל
The Rebbe
החילוק בזה הוא שרע אין באכילת שבת אבל מגשם כמו ענין של היתר
Igros Kodesh, vol. ח, p. צא (letter ב׳שלה) · ז׳ טבת, תשי״ד (also printed in Likkutei Sichos vol. 31, in the letters)
Background from the Rebbe
In a sicha of Shabbos Bereishis 5718 (Likkutei Sichos vol. 16, Beshalach 4) on eruv tavshilin, its two reasons in the Gemara and the custom of using its bread at the third Shabbos meal, the Rebbe draws the lesson for divine service from the Zohar’s distinction between Shabbos, called „קדש” (“holy”), and a festival, called „מקראי קדש” (“a calling of holiness”).
In a sicha of Shabbos Bereishis 5718 the Rebbe explains, from the Zohar, why the prophet says „פרש חגיכם” (“the dung of your festivals”) and not of Shabbos. Shabbos is “holy” in itself, so it has „אין בו פסולת כלל” (“no waste in it at all”) (he quotes these words of this maamar) and its eating is only „צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו” (“the righteous one eats to satisfy his soul”); a festival is „מקראי קדש” (a “calling of holiness”), a day that in itself belongs to the weekday and into which the Jew’s service calls holiness, so where that service is lacking there is “dung.” When the service is there, he says, the festival’s eating too becomes “to satisfy his soul,” and he notes that Torah Ohr here reads the verse as the eating of Shabbos while the Siddur elsewhere applies it to a festival.
The Alter Rebbe
רק ביו״ט כתיב פרש חגיכם לפי שביו״ט יש בו קצת בירור
The Rebbe
די עבודה איז אין אַ טאָג וואָס מצ״ע איז ניטאָ קיין „פרש” ובמילא נאָר „צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו”
Likkutei Sichos, vol. טז, p. 189 (sec. 10, with notes 47, 49, 51) · שבת בראשית (התוועדות ב׳), ה׳תשח״י
Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made
TermsHamtakahEtz HaDaasZeriahSimchah+3
- Hamtakah דינים והמתקתם
- Etz HaDaas עץ הדעת טוב ורע
- Zeriah זריעה
- Simchah שמחה
- Birur בירור
- Shabbos שבת
- Hiskallelus התכללות
Marei mekomos
- 1וכמ״ש בזהר · Zohar II, 88b
- 2אין בו פסולת כלל · ראה לקמן סה, סע״ב ואילך. סה״מ הנחות הר״פ ע׳ עד ואילך. סה״מ תקס״ח ע׳ לב. דרך מצותיך צ, א ואילך. צב סע״א ואילך. ד״ה והוא עומד תרס״ג. לקוטי לו״י לזח״ג ע׳ רג. לקו״ש חט״ז ע׳ 189.
- 3
- 4ולא יגורך רע · Psalms 5:5
- 5פרש חגיכם · Malachi 2:3
- 6ושמחת בחגך · Deuteronomy 16:14
8וכנודע ממי שהוא בשעת שמחה שאז רוצה שיהיו כולם שמחים שבזה נמתק הדין מאחר שמשוה את כולם.
As is known of one who is in a time of joy: he then wants everyone to be joyful; and by this the judgment is sweetened, since he makes everyone equal.
Anyone who is truly happy wants everyone around him to be happy too. By bringing everyone to the same joy, he sweetens the judgment, the strict measure that separates and distinguishes.
אבל מאן דלא יהיב למסכני1 כו׳ אין הדין נמתק ונשאר הפרש ולכן העונש הוא מדה כנגד מדה שנותנין לו הפרש כי הוא גרם שישאר פסולת הפרש בעבור שלא המתיק הדין.
But [with] “one who does not give to the poor,” etc., the judgment is not sweetened and the “dung” remains. Therefore the punishment is measure for measure, that they give him the “dung,” for he caused the waste, the “dung,” to remain, since he did not sweeten the judgment.
The Zohar warns about one who does not give to the poor on the festival. For him the judgment stays unsweetened and the “dung” remains, so the punishment fits the deed: the “dung” is given to him, since he left the waste in place by not sweetening the judgment.
וזהו ביו״ט [ביום טוב] אבל בשבת אע״ג [אף על גב] דלא יהיב למסכני אין עונשו רב כי בשבת אין פרש כלל לפי שהוא רק בחי׳ המשכה שמלמעלה דלא יגורך רע כלל.
And this is on a festival. But on Shabbos, even though one does not give to the poor, his punishment is not great, for on Shabbos there is no “dung” at all, since it is only the level of a drawing down from above, “evil shall not dwell with You” at all.
This applies to the festivals. On Shabbos, even one who does not give to the poor is not punished so severely, because Shabbos has no “dung”: it is only a flow from above, where no evil dwells.
The paragraph explains the Zohar’s punishment measure for measure: sharing joy sweetens the judgment and removes the festival’s waste, while failing to share leaves it, and Shabbos, having no waste, is spared this.
TermsIbbur and leidahSimchahShabbos+1
- Ibbur and leidah עיבור ולידה
- Simchah שמחה
- Shabbos שבת
Also Haalaah vehamshachah
Marei mekomos
- 1מאן דלא יהיב למסכני · Zohar II, 88b
Thin and doubled, now and in the future ¶9–11
9והנה המשכה זו היא בב׳ בחי׳ כפילא וקלישא. פי׳ קלישא1 היא המשכת יודי״ן ווי״ן שמיו״ד נעשה וי״ו שהיו״ד עצמה נמשכה ונעשית וי״ו.
Now this drawing down is in two modes: kefila (doubled) and kelisha (thin). Explanation: kelisha is the drawing out of yuds and vavs, for from a yud a vav is made: the yud itself is drawn out and becomes a vav.
The Shabbos song describes the flow as “doubled and thin.” The Alter Rebbe explains “thin” first: it is the letters yud and vav. A vav is simply a yud drawn out downward, a single thin line.
כי לפי שהיו״ד הוא בחי׳ צמצום לכן יכול להיות ממנה המשכה בבחי׳ וי״ו מן היו״ד עצמה אבל הה׳ שהיא התפשטות אורך ורוחב.
For since the yud is the level of tzimtzum (contraction), therefore there can be a drawing forth from it in the manner of a vav, from the yud itself. But the hei, which is expansion in length and breadth:
The yud, a tiny point, stands for tzimtzum, the concentration of light into a point; so the yud itself can extend into a vav, a line that carries it downward. The hei is different: it spreads out in length and breadth, as its shape shows.
The paragraph begins to decode “doubled and thin”: the thin mode is a yud extending into a vav, while the hei, which spreads out in width and length, will need a different kind of descent.
Yud and vav, and the two heis, are the letters of the Name Havayah. The flow “in two modes” thus maps onto the Name: the yud–vav line, and the hei’s whose broad expansion cannot come down as it is.
Marei mekomos
- 1פי׳ קלישא . . ביום ההוא יהי׳ · מובא באוה״ת בראשית כרך ז תתתא, ב.
10ואין התפשטו׳ [התפשטות] אורך ורוחב שלמעלה יכולה להתגלות למטה כמו שהוא למעלה בבחי׳ אורך ורוחב עד אין קץ כו׳ אלא ההמשכה היא בבחי׳ ה׳ אחרת למטה והיא בחי׳ המילוי של ה׳
the expansion in length and breadth that is above cannot be revealed below as it is above, in the manner of length and breadth without end, etc.; rather, the drawing down is in the manner of another hei below, and this is the level of the filling of the hei,
The broad expansion of the hei as it is above, boundless in length and breadth, cannot be revealed below as it is. Instead it comes down as “another hei” below: the second hei that spells out the letter’s name, its “filling.”
¶2 This explains the doubled hei (kefila) raised in paragraph 2.
דהיינו כח הה׳ שהי׳ [שהיה] בהעלם למעלה. כי לעולם המילוי הוא מה שבהעלם ומה שבהעלם למעלה יצא מההעלם אל הגילוי למטה.
that is, the power of the hei that was hidden above. For the filling is always what is in concealment, and what was in concealment above has come out of the concealment into revelation below.
The filling of a letter always represents what was hidden in it. So the second hei is the power of the upper hei that was concealed above, now come out of concealment into revelation below. This is the “doubled” hei of Machpelah.
“Doubled” means the hei cannot descend as it is, so its hidden power appears below as a second hei, the letter’s filling. This links back to the doubled hei of Machpelah at the opening.
In the Kabbalistic spelling-out of letters (milui), the added letters express the inner, hidden content of the simple letter. Here the principle explains how the infinite expanse of the upper hei reaches us only through its reflection, the hei of the filling.
TermsMilui+1
- Milui מילוי explained hereThe expansion of the first hei cannot be revealed below as it is above; it is drawn down as another hei, the milui of the hei, the power of the hei that was hidden above. The milui is always what was hidden, coming out below into revelation.
כי לעולם המילוי הוא מה שבהעלם ומה שבהעלם למעלה יצא מההעלם אל הגילוי למטה
Also Haalaah vehamshachah
11והיינו בחי׳ כפיל׳ שהיא בחי׳ מילוי ההי״ן כנודע מענין המכפלה.1 אך כ״ז [כל זה] הוא שאנו מקבלים ההשפעה ע״י י״ב לחמים בזמן הזה
And this is the level of kefila, which is the level of the filling of the heis, as is known from the subject of the Machpelah. But all this is [so] while we receive the flow of influence through the twelve loaves in this present time;
So “doubled” is the hei spelled with a second hei, the filling, as the Cave of Machpelah shows. But this doubled mode belongs to the present: it describes how we now receive G‑d’s flow through the twelve loaves of the Shabbos table.
אבל לע״ל [לעתיד לבוא] יגלה לן טעמיה דבתריסר נהמי כו׳ ואזי לא יהיה בחי׳ כפילא כו׳ רק הה׳ עצמה שלמעלה יהי׳ [יהיה] לה גילוי למטה ג״כ ע״י כי יגלה לן טעמיה כו׳ וכמ״ש ביום ההוא2 יהיה כו׳:
but in the time to come, “He will reveal to us the reasons of the twelve loaves,” etc., and then there will not be the level of kefila, etc.; rather, the hei itself that is above will be revealed below as well, through “He will reveal to us its reasons,” etc.; and as it is written, “On that day [Havayah] will be [One],” etc.
In the time to come the song’s prayer will be answered: G‑d will “reveal the reasons of the twelve loaves.” Then there will be no need for the doubled mode; the upper hei itself will be revealed below, as Zechariah says of that day, when G‑d and His Name will be One.
¶2 This explains “May He reveal to us its reasons” from paragraph 2.
The first discourse closes by placing “doubled” in time: now the upper hei reaches us only through its filling, but in the time to come the upper hei itself will be revealed below.
The Kehot notes send the reader to the Arizal’s comment on the Cave of Machpelah in his Likkutei Torah on Chayei Sarah and to Meorei Or, a Kabbalistic lexicon, for the doubled hei. The Arizal reads Zechariah’s “will be” (yihyeh) as the future rise of the lower letters of the Name, vav and hei, to the level of the upper ones, yud and hei (Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 10:16).
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In a sicha of 15 Menachem Av 5746 showing how that day’s daily Rambam (Hilchos Temidin uMusafin ch. 3–5) bears on 15 Av and the Redemption, the Rebbe comes to the opening of chapter 5, „מצות עשה לסדר לחם הפנים בכל יום שבת” (the mitzvah of arranging the showbread every Shabbos), and quotes the end of this maamar.
In a sicha of 15 Menachem Av 5746 the Rebbe quotes the end of this maamar on the showbread, glossing its „דבתריסר נהמי” (“twelve loaves”) as the twelve loaves of the showbread: the completion of the showbread is „יגלה לן” (“He will reveal to us”) in the time to come, when „הה׳ עצמה שלמעלה יהי׳ לה גילוי למטה” (“the hei itself above” will be revealed below). That future, he adds, is also why the showbread is chiefly a matter of Shabbos, “since the day of Shabbos is a foretaste („מעין ודוגמת”) of the day that is entirely Shabbos.”
The Alter Rebbe
רק הה׳ עצמה שלמעלה יהי׳ לה גילוי למטה ג״כ
The Rebbe
מכיון שיום השבת הוא מעין ודוגמת „יום שכולו שבת ומנוחה לחיי העולמים”
Likkutei Sichos, vol. כט, p. 260 (note 96) · ט״ו מנחם-אב, ה׳תשמ״ו (Toras Menachem 5746 vol. 4, p. 217)
Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made
TermsMiluiLe’asid lavo
- Milui מילוי explained hereHere, influence now comes through the doubled milui of the heis; in the future there will be no doubling, and the upper hei itself will be revealed below.
רק הה׳ עצמה שלמעלה יהי׳ לה גילוי למטה ג״כ ע״י כי יגלה לן טעמיה
- Le’asid lavo לעתיד לבא
Marei mekomos
- 1כנודע מענין המכפלה · לקו״ת מהאריז״ל פ׳ ח״ש. מאו״א מ, כג. ראה אוה״ת פ׳ חיי שרה כרך ד תשעז, ב. שם כרך ז תתת, ב. תתתא, ב ושם אין תי׳ אלו.
- 2ביום ההוא יהי׳ · Zechariah 14:9
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
Each Rosh Chodesh the names of those learning here are brought to the Ohel. Add your name, and mark what you learn so it is counted.
In one’s avodah
On weekdays, eat so that the strength the food gives goes into serving G‑d: fervor in the heart and a mind strong to contemplate His greatness; this refines the food and empties the kelipah in it. On Shabbos, the eating is a delight in G‑d drawn from above. On a festival, share the joy with the poor, the Levite and the stranger, for joy that includes everyone sweetens the judgments, and one who does not give to the poor leaves the “waste” in place.
Questions for discussion
- If man is the one who refines the food, why does the maamar say that the food’s root is higher than his? How do “back” and “front” answer this?
- What are the two kinds of eating in “The righteous one eats to satisfy his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall lack,” and which of them belongs to Shabbos?
- Why is there “waste” on a festival but none on Shabbos, and why is gladdening the poor the remedy?
- Why can a yud be drawn out into a vav from itself, while the upper hei can come down only as its filling, another hei?
- What will change in the future, when “He will reveal to us the reasons of the twelve loaves”?
Key terms in this maamar
- Life-forceחיות
- Life-force: the G‑dly vitality that brings each creation into being and keeps it alive, drawn to each according to its level and renewed from nothing, as the soul enlivens the body. ×6Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Kelipah (the husk)קליפה
- The “husks” that cover and conceal holiness: forces of yesh set opposite holiness, whose mark is bittul. They came into being through the breaking of the vessels and draw their nurture from holiness. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Tzimtzum (contraction)צמצום
- Contraction: Or Ein Sof (not Ein Sof Himself) hidden in its source so finite worlds can exist, leaving a “vacated space” for the kav; also each later narrowing of light, as in Chochmah. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently