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Torah Ohr · Parshas Noach · Maamar 1

מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה ונהרות…

Many waters cannot extinguish the love

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The Rebbe on this maamar

The Rebbe built on it in these maamarim of his: ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות (5725)ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות (5738)ד״ה אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק (5742)

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The big idea

The pressures of earning a living, the “many waters,” cannot extinguish the soul’s innate love for G‑d; on the contrary, when a person who has been immersed in them all day turns to G‑d in prayer, they raise the soul to a limitless love, higher than it knew before it came into the world.

The maamar in brief

The Alter Rebbe reads the Song of Songs’ “many waters” as the worries and busyness of making a living. They cannot quench the hidden love of the G‑dly soul, a flame that naturally rises toward its Source; they can even lift it higher than before its descent. Isaiah calls them “the waters of Noach,” and Noach means rest. The Flood came not only to destroy but to purify the earth, like a mikveh, and likewise the servitude of livelihood, which began when the Temple’s supernatural blessing ceased, purifies the soul as Gehinnom does. When a person emerges from a day of material “darkness” and contemplates in prayer that all creation is only a glow of G‑d, he is stirred to the love “with all your might,” which has no limit, because it draws on the animal soul, whose root in Tohu is higher than the G‑dly soul’s. So the ark, the words of prayer, is lifted by the waters, and people in business can pray more deeply than scholars. This is the lower Shabbos; in the future the higher Shabbos will reveal a still greater love from above.

Outline

  1. The love the waters cannot quenchThe “many waters” are the preoccupations of livelihood; they cannot extinguish the G‑dly soul’s innate love, and through them the soul can rise higher than before its descent.¶1–2
  2. The waters of NoachNoach means rest; the Flood purified the earth like a mikveh, and the servitude of livelihood purifies the soul as Gehinnom does, lifting it to the highest level.¶3
  3. What the servitude isNot foreign rule or taxes but the worry of earning a living, unknown when the Temple’s supernatural blessing flowed.¶4
  4. Light out of darknessContemplation in prayer after a day of business kindles the limitless love “with all your might,” possible only through the animal soul, whose root in the fallen kings of Tohu is higher than the G‑dly soul’s.¶5–7
  5. The ark of prayerFrom the waters is built the teivah, the ark and the words of prayer, which the waters lift high; businesspeople can pray more than scholars.¶8–10
  6. The lower ShabbosAs the worlds ascend on Shabbos after the six days of work, the day’s labour ascends in prayer, a glow of Shabbos within the week.¶11
  7. The higher ShabbosIn the future, “the day that is entirely Shabbos,” a great love from above, supernal Chesed, will be revealed, higher even than the love born of the waters.¶12

Key concepts

many watersמים רבים
The preoccupations and worries of earning a living and the thoughts of worldly affairs, which threaten to drown a person’s awareness of G‑d.
hidden loveאהבה מסותרת
The love for G‑d present by nature in every Jewish soul, even when it is not felt; like a flame, it strains upward toward its Source.
rest of the spirit (naycha d’rucha)נייחא דרוחא
The meaning of the name Noach: the contentment and ascent that follow work, which is the inner quality of Shabbos.
servitudeשעבוד
In this maamar, the burden and worry of livelihood in exile, which purifies the soul as the Flood purified the earth.
the advantage of light out of darknessיתרון האור מן החשך
The greater light produced when darkness is subdued (iskafya) and transformed (is’hapcha chashocha), beyond light that never met darkness.
with all your mightבכל מאדך
The limitless love for G‑d, which arises from struggle with its opposite, the animal soul. A great love (ahavah rabbah) that comes from above, to be revealed in the Time to Come, is higher still.
the animal soulנפש הבהמית
The soul that animates the body and its drives; its ultimate root, in the kings of Tohu who fell, is higher than the G‑dly soul’s, which is why engaging it yields a higher love.
the ark / the wordתיבה
The teivah is both Noach’s ark and a word; the ark is the words of prayer, lifted by the waters of the day.
lower and higher Shabbosשבת תתאה ושבת עילאה
The lower Shabbos is the rest that follows toil, present in each week and each prayer; the higher Shabbos is the Messianic future, when a love from above will be revealed.

For children · ages 9–13

Busy days and a love that does not go out

The big idea

The busy worries of the day cannot put out the soul’s love for G‑d; when we turn to Him in prayer after them, that love can grow even stronger.

The Song of Songs says, “Many waters cannot extinguish the love.” The Alter Rebbe explains that the “many waters” are the worries and busyness of earning a living. Inside every Jew is a G‑dly soul with a hidden love for G‑d, like a flame that always reaches upward toward its Source. All the busyness of the day cannot put that flame out. More than that, it can lift the soul even higher than it was before it came into the world. The prophet Yeshayahu calls these “the waters of Noach,” and Noach means rest. The waters of the Flood came to make the earth pure, the way a mikveh makes a person pure. When a person has spent the whole day busy with physical things and then stops to pray, and thinks about how everything in the world is only a small glow of G‑d’s light, a love wakes up “with all your might,” a love without limits. Light that comes out of darkness is stronger. So people who work all day should never think they cannot pray well; they can pray even more. This rest after work is a small taste of Shabbos.

The mashal

Noach’s ark, the teivah, floated on the waters of the Flood, and the higher the waters rose, the higher the ark was lifted. The word teivah also means a word. So the words of prayer are lifted up by the “waters” of a busy day, and rise higher because of them.

Questions for the Shabbos table

  1. Why can’t the “many waters” put out the soul’s love for G‑d?
  2. How is the ark that rose on the waters like the words of our prayer?
  3. After a busy school day this week, how could you take a few minutes to turn to G‑d?

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.

The Rebbe’s maamarim on this maamar · 4

AI summaries Written by AI from each maamar and checked against it by a second AI reader; no person has reviewed them yet, so check the maamar itself before relying on a detail. See something to correct?

The Rebbe built these 3 maamarim (5725–5742) on the Alter Rebbe’s. Open one for a summary, for what it adds paragraph by paragraph, and its lesson. All of them, by parsha.

1.5725Built on itד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות ש״פ נח, ד׳ מרחשון, ה׳תשכ״ה · תורת מנחם – ספר המאמרים תשכ״ה · עמ׳ סגThe Rebbe opens from the Alter Rebbe’s reading of “many waters cannot extinguish the love”: the waters are the preoccupations of livelihood, and they cannot put out the hidden love of every Jew. On the contrary, they add to the soul’s…

Summary

The Rebbe opens from the Alter Rebbe’s reading of “many waters cannot extinguish the love”: the waters are the preoccupations of livelihood, and they cannot put out the hidden love of every Jew. On the contrary, they add to the soul’s avodah, which is why they are called “the waters of Noach,” rest of spirit. He illustrates this with the known parable of water held back by a blockage: once enough water gathers, it bursts through, flows with greater force, and even carries the blockage along. The questions that drive the maamar are how one actually gets there, and what the Alter Rebbe’s remark about the “error of the businessmen” demands in practice. That remark speaks of “businessmen” and “those who dwell in tents” in the plural, and the Rebbe asks why “tents” is plural when Torah is one.

The way, he explains, is “come into the ark”: to enter the words (teivos) of prayer, since prayer is what arouses love, while fear belongs to the whole day. From the Alter Rebbe’s words he draws that businessmen must pray on weekdays as well, for less time than those with more free time but with some length; reducing the time can also harm kavanah. On Shabbos their prayer is required with greater intensity. Those who dwell in tents have no room at all for the error, and they must truly pray at length. He reads the plural “tents” as the tents of Written and Oral Torah. Even one who studies Chassidus only superficially, as one recites letters, can and must pray at length, and one with deep understanding needs prayer too. Through such prayer the “many waters,” which trouble scholars as well, lead to the love of “with all your might” and to the still higher levels of “achos lanu ketanah” and prayer that flows of itself.

What the Rebbe adds

  1. ¶2

    The Alter Rebbe states that the waters raise the soul higher but gives no image for how an obstacle becomes a source of ascent. The Rebbe supplies the parable of dammed-up water from elsewhere. The blockage not only fails to stop the flow; it intensifies it, and the blockage itself is swept along and adds force. This is applied to the animal soul and the distractions of livelihood. He also adds, in parentheses, that the same is true of G‑d’s love for Israel, which the many waters cannot extinguish.

    The Alter Rebbeואדרבה ע״י התלבשותה במים רבים הנ״ל יכולה להגיע למדרגה היותר גבוה

    The Rebbeשע״י הסתימה נעשה הילוך המים בתוקף יותר

  2. ¶8

    The Alter Rebbe identifies the ark with the words of prayer. The Rebbe makes this the practical path, “come into the ark,” and explains why it is prayer specifically: the essence of avodah is love, and prayer is the avodah of arousing love. Fear, by contrast, must and can be present all day and is not tied to prayer in particular.

    The Alter Rebbeשנעשה מהם תבת נח שהוא בחי׳ תיבות התפלה

    The Rebbeכיון שתפלה פועלת ענין האהבה

  3. ¶10

    The Rebbe draws out practical implications of this line. Businessmen must pray on weekdays too, for less time than those with more free time, but with some length and kavanah; reducing the time can also harm kavanah. Since “one who toils on Erev Shabbos eats on Shabbos,” they should not lead the services, and on Shabbos their prayer should be pursued with greater intensity, as in Iggeres HaKodesh. Those who dwell in tents cannot even entertain such an error. They must actually pray at length, since less time means less kavanah, as shown by the Alter Rebbe’s “about an hour and a half at least.” Their conduct also shapes those who learn from them.

    The Alter Rebbeוזהו טעות הבעלי עסקים שבדעתם שאין יכול׳ להתפלל כ״כ כמו היושבי אוהלים

    The Rebbeשאצל יושבי אוהלים הנה מלכתחילה אין מקום לטעות כזו

  4. ¶10

    The Rebbe takes the plural “tents” as precise, since the Tzemach Tzedek chose and printed these transcripts. Businesses are plural because worldly matters are a realm of division, but Torah is one. He explains the two tents as Written Torah, where the letters are central, and Oral Torah, where understanding is central. The lesson: even one who learns Chassidus only superficially, like reciting letters, can engage in lengthy prayer just as one who studies it in depth. The deep learner, in turn, cannot say “I have only Torah.”

    The Alter Rebbeכמו היושבי אוהלים כי אדרבה נהפוך הוא

    The Rebbeולמה נאמר אוהלים לשון רבים

  5. ¶7

    The Alter Rebbe presents “with all your might” as the height reached through the waters. The Rebbe adds two things. First, the distracting waters exist for scholars as well, not only for businessmen. Second, through them one goes beyond “with all your might” to the union of “achos lanu ketanah” and to “the day she is spoken for.” There prayer flows of itself (“open my lips and my mouth will declare”), and Torah is learned as one who answers after the reader.

    The Alter Rebbeיכולה לבא לבחי׳ אהבת בכל מאדך

    The Rebbeשגם לאחרי האהבה דבכל מאדך ישנם כמה מדריגות

The lesson

Every Jew, businessman or scholar, deep learner or simple one, must engage in prayer, since through prayer the very distractions become a force that raises one’s love of G‑d. On weekdays, busy people may pray for less time than those with more free time, but some length is required, and shortening the time can also reduce kavanah. Scholars in particular have no excuse, and their conduct sets the standard for others.

AI summary

The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)

2.5738Built on itד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות מוצאי ש״פ נח - בחדרו - ה׳תשל״ח · ספר המאמרים תשל״ח · עמ׳ מהThe Rebbe opens from the Alter Rebbe’s reading that the “many waters” are the preoccupations of livelihood. He then raises several questions. Why does the Alter Rebbe say “troubles” (טרדות) of livelihood? What is the novelty in saying…

Summary

The Rebbe opens from the Alter Rebbe’s reading that the “many waters” are the preoccupations of livelihood. He then raises several questions. Why does the Alter Rebbe say “troubles” (טרדות) of livelihood? What is the novelty in saying these waters cannot extinguish the love? And if the soul is rooted in G‑d’s very Essence, how can its descent raise it above its own root? He explains that “rivers” are thoughts that run on without pause. The Rebbe says livelihood should use external faculties, while the intellect may be used only as necessary for the work, not for strenuous ingenuity and stratagems; “troubles” indicate insufficient contemplation that G‑d’s blessing enriches, not necessarily that inner faculties are actually invested in business. Business is merely a garment for G‑d’s blessing, and multiplying garments adds nothing and can spoil things. The novelty is that the root of the “many waters” is in Tohu, which preceded Tikkun—the root of the G‑dly soul; the Rebbe implies, rather than explicitly states, that this root is higher than the G‑dly soul’s. Even so, they cannot extinguish the love, because the soul and its hidden love are rooted in the Essence of the Ein Sof, above Tohu. This is the “coal” and the “Rock” behind “sparks of fire, a flame of Kah.”

Furthermore, the waters’ own deepest purpose is to add to the love, and this is a second reason they cannot put it out. In avodah, this addition is teshuvah: before descent souls are tzaddikim, and through descent they become ba’alei teshuvah, who stand where tzaddikim cannot. As for the soul’s root in the Essence (“with whom did He consult”), the Rebbe draws on the Maggid’s parable of a son engraved in his father’s thought. That rootedness exists only because G‑d knows the soul will descend and complete His intent. Before descent the completion is only potential, while the real goal is its actual fulfilment, and this is why descent raises the soul even above its root. He ties this to “Yaakov went on his way” after Tishrei: knowing that the descent is for the sake of ascent brings joy, which breaks all limits.

What the Rebbe adds

  1. ¶1

    The Alter Rebbe cites the whole verse but explains only “many waters.” The Rebbe explains “rivers” as a further degree: worldly thoughts that do not merely gather but rush on constantly without pause, like flowing rivers. Even these do not wash the love away.

    The Alter Rebbeמים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה ונהרות לא ישטפוה

  2. ¶1

    The Rebbe reads “טרדות הפרנסה” precisely. Livelihood needs only “יגיע כפיך,” engaging the external faculties; the intellect may be used only as necessary for the work, not for strenuous ingenuity and stratagems. Business is only a garment for G‑d’s blessing, and multiplying such garments adds nothing and can spoil things. “Troubles” indicate insufficient contemplation that G‑d’s blessing enriches, not necessarily that the mind and heart are invested in business. Yet even this cannot extinguish the hidden love.

    The Alter Rebbeהנה מים רבים הם כל טרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז

    The Rebbeיגיע כפיך דוקא אבל לא יגיעת המוח והלב

  3. ¶1,5–7

    The Alter Rebbe says in ¶5–7 that the animal soul’s root is higher than the G‑dly soul’s, but does not identify it as Tohu. The Rebbe introduces Tohu as the root of the “מים רבים” and explains the hidden flame in a “גחלת,” and higher still in “צור,” above Havayah. The Alter Rebbe’s ¶1 supplies the cited flame phrase; the relevant Alter Rebbe paragraphs are ¶5–7 and ¶1.

    The Alter Rebbeכמ״ש לעיל מיניה רשפיה רשפי אש שלהבת יה

    The Rebbeששרש הנשמה והאהבה מסותרת שבה הוא בעצמות אוא״ס שלמעלה גם מבחי׳ תהו

  4. ¶2

    The Rebbe ties the Alter Rebbe’s two statements together. Because the very purpose of the waters is to raise the love, this is itself a further reason they cannot extinguish it, beyond the height of the love’s root. He frames the gain as the soul passing from tzaddik (before descent) to ba’al teshuvah (after), a level beyond the tzaddik’s capacity altogether.

    The Alter Rebbeואדרבה ע״י התלבשותה במים רבים הנ״ל יכולה להגיע למדרגה היותר גבוה מקודם שירדה לעוה״ז

    The Rebbeשתכלית עומק כוונתם של המים רבים גופא הוא אדרבא בכדי לפעול יתרון בהאהבה

  5. ¶1

    If before descent the soul was already united with the Ein Sof, and even rooted in His Essence (“with whom did He consult”), how can descent add to it? The Rebbe explains through the Maggid’s parable of a son engraved in his father’s thought. The soul’s root in the Essence is G‑d’s foreknowledge of its future descent and completion of His intent, which is only potential. The actual completion surpasses it, and so the soul is then termed a ba’al teshuvah rather than a tzaddik.

    The Alter Rebbeהיתה נהנית מזיו השכינה והיתה מיוחדת בתכלית היחוד בא״ס ב״ה

    The Rebbeהוא מצד ידיעתו ית׳ שתהי׳ אח״כ ירידתן למטה כו׳ וישלימו הכוונה

The lesson

When one goes “on his way” after Tishrei into mundane matters and even the “many waters” of livelihood, knowing that this descent is for the sake of ascent should make him go with joy and gladness of heart. Joy breaks all limits and brings his avodah to the level of “with all your might,” and with it G‑d’s full blessing in children, life and sustenance.

AI summary

The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)

3.5742Opens from itד״ה אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק ש״פ נח, ג׳ מרחשון ה׳תשמ״ב. הנחת הת׳ בלתי מוגה · ספר המאמרים תשמ״ב · עמ׳ 52The Rebbe opens with the doubled name in “These are the generations of Noach, Noach was a righteous man.” The Zohar reads the two names as two spirits, one in this world and one in the World to Come. The Midrash reads them as rest (naycha)…

The Rebbe opens from the double Noach as naycha for the higher and lower ones, which the Alter Rebbe mentions in ¶3 and which the Rebbe cites as Torah Ohr, beginning of the parshah. He also echoes the ark as words of prayer and ‘the waters of Noach’ (Isaiah 54). But he builds mainly on the Tzemach Tzedek’s Ohr HaTorah on Parshas Noach (the ark as yesod Ima and yesod Malchus, and ‘as in the days of Noach’), along with teachings of the Baal Shem Tov.

Summary

The Rebbe opens with the doubled name in “These are the generations of Noach, Noach was a righteous man.” The Zohar reads the two names as two spirits, one in this world and one in the World to Come. The Midrash reads them as rest (naycha) for the higher ones and rest for the lower ones. Either way the doubling marks completeness of service. So why is it said at “these are the generations,” which Rashi explains as good deeds, the start of Noach’s service? Why not after the Flood, when “G‑d smelled the pleasing aroma”? Only then did the rest of the lower ones come, with the promise that the seasons would not cease and the rainbow. The rest of the higher ones depends on the lower, as with “I will not enter the Jerusalem above until I enter the Jerusalem below.” The Rebbe adds that the Zohar ties “Noach was a righteous man” to every Jew (“Your people are all righteous”). So what is the doubled Noach in each Jew’s service?

Drawing on Ohr HaTorah, the Rebbe explains that the ark has two aspects, yesod Ima and yesod Malchus. Noach entering it is correspondingly yesod Abba and yesod Z”A, hence two Noachs. In avodah these are Torah and mitzvos. Torah is Binah: real understanding won through toil, not faith alone. Mitzvos are Malchus: total bittul and kabbalas ol to the King’s will, and even Torah study, as a mitzvah, is preceded by the blessing over the Torah. Both apply to scholars and to businessmen alike. The ark is also the letters of Torah and prayer, made to shine with love and fear. The delight of this service will be revealed in the future, but since one already knows this during the work, that delight is present now. So the double נח נח points to rest and pleasure already present at the start of service through awareness of their later revelation—not to completed service already attained; the Midrash’s כימי עולם כימי נח is read as referring to the future according to one interpretation. Because the Torah is a Torah of kindness, literal crushing labor is not required. For G‑d’s only son, the hiding of His face is itself the hardest labor, even amid plenty, until the future revelation and the true redemption.

What the Rebbe adds

  1. ¶3

    The comparison and answer are specific: although the doubled name is associated with completed service, the rest and pleasure of future service are already present at its beginning through awareness that they will later be revealed; this does not mean the completed service itself is already attained.

    The Alter Rebbeומ״ש נח נח ב״פ הם נייחא דעילאי ונייחא דתתאי

    The Rebbeשגם בתחלת עבודתו, לפני וירח ה׳ את ריח הניחוח, כבר ישנו בזה הענין דנח

  2. ¶8

    For the Alter Rebbe the ark is the words of prayer lifted by the waters. The Rebbe widens it, via the Baal Shem Tov, to the letters of both Torah and prayer. He adds “make a window (tzohar) for the ark”: the letters must shine with love and fear, without which they do not fly upward. Through Ohr HaTorah he also splits the ark into two aspects, Torah as Binah and mitzvos as Malchus, each requiring a different mode of entry: grasp and expansion for one, total bittul for the other.

    The Alter Rebbeשנעשה מהם תבת נח שהוא בחי׳ תיבות התפלה

    The Rebbeדתיבה הם אותיות התורה ותפלה

  3. ¶10

    The Alter Rebbe answers the businessman’s sense of inferiority in prayer. The Rebbe applies both aspects of the ark to both groups. Scholars need Torah together with acts of kindness, and businessmen must study Torah itself, not only the laws they need for practice.

    The Alter Rebbeוזהו טעות הבעלי עסקים שבדעתם שאין יכול׳ להתפלל

    The Rebbeהן ביושבי אוהל, מארי תורה,

  4. ¶5

    The Alter Rebbe locates the purifying “servitude” in the actual toil and worry of earning a living. The Rebbe adds that the Torah is a Torah of kindness, so literal crushing labor is not needed. For a king’s only son, the hiding of G‑d’s face is itself against his nature and so counts as the hardest labor. This holds even when he has all necessities and wealth, as long as pnimiyus Atik is not yet revealed.

    The Rebbeע״כ אין צריך להיות עבודת פרך כפשוטה

  5. ¶12

    The Alter Rebbe uses “the waters of Noach” (Isaiah 54) to point to the higher Shabbos and the love from above that will be revealed only in the future. The Rebbe cites the Midrash’s כימי עולם כימי נח; according to one interpretation, ימי עולם refers to the future, and the revelation of that future was already present in Noach’s days. So the future delight can already be present in our service through awareness that it will be revealed.

    The Alter Rebbeובחי׳ האהבה זו יתגלה לעתיד

    The Rebbeשגם אז (בימי נח) הי׳ הגילוי דימי עולם

The lesson

Even at the start of one’s service, amid concealment, knowing the delight that will be revealed brings rest of spirit now. Every Jew, scholar or businessman, must build both aspects of the ark: Torah grasped through toil, and mitzvos kept with total bittul.

AI summary

The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)

With the same ד״ה

This maamar of the Rebbe opens with the same words as this one (5717): where each is printed, and the full text free at Lahak.

AI summary Written by Claude Opus 5.5 reading each of the Rebbe’s maamarim, from the scan corrected by AI, beside the Alter Rebbe’s maamar and our translation; not yet reviewed by a human editor: check the maamar itself before relying on a detail. The Hebrew words are quoted exactly. The full text of the Rebbe’s maamarim is published by Vaad Hanochos B’Lahak, free to read and print on lahak.org, and in print by Kehot. This page gives only short summaries and brief quotes.

In the Rebbe’s light · 13

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

Taken together, the Rebbe’s teachings suggest one thread: the „מים רבים” (‘many waters’) are not only something the love survives but something that serves it. He develops the Alter Rebbe’s reading of the Flood as a purification, like a mikveh, in several directions: the worries of livelihood break a person’s self-regard, since immersion is „ביטול” (bittul) (a sicha of Shabbos Bereishis 5713); the waters were a punishment only from that generation’s side, and gave the world the power of teshuvah (Likkutei Sichos vol. 25, Noach 5743); in their inner sense they were an immersion that adds holiness (Likkutei Sichos vol. 30, Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5746). The love cannot be put out because it comes from „האהבה העצמית דהקב״ה לבנ״י” (G‑d’s own essential love for Israel) (a talk of Shabbos Noach 5724), and „בכל מאדך” (‘with all your might’) comes from the darkness of one’s daily affairs because refining one’s portion in the world is the true novelty (the maamar Ushavti b’shalom 5738). The same waters raise the words of prayer, and in his reading make the businessman’s prayer higher in kind than that of those who dwell in tents (Likkutei Sichos vols. 20 and 30). He also sets this maamar beside Torah Ohr Toldos, where the ‘many waters’ are the love itself, and joins the two: from the lowest state one comes to the highest (Shabbos Vayishlach 5745).

Paragraph by paragraph

  1. ¶1

    The Rebbe explains

    In a talk on Shabbos Parshas Noach, Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5724 (an unedited transcript), the year marking a hundred and fifty years since the Alter Rebbe’s passing, the Rebbe asks what lasting lesson the story of the Flood teaches, since there will never be another Flood, and answers from ‘the Alter Rebbe’s explanation in Torah Ohr, in the maamar Mayim Rabbim’.

    The Rebbe quotes this paragraph and explains why the waters ‘cannot extinguish’ the love: the hidden love of every Jew is an essential love for G‑d that comes from G‑d’s own essential love for Israel, „אהבתי אתכם אמר ה׳” (‘I have loved you, says G‑d’). So even if a person talks himself into believing that his life hangs on the toil of livelihood, the love is not put out. And ‘cannot extinguish’ is not only a promise that in the end „לא ידח ממנו נדח” (no one will be lost), which could take lifetimes, but a power now: by force of that love he overcomes the waters and „בוא אל התיבה” (‘comes into the ark’), the words of Torah and prayer.

    The Alter Rebbeועכ״ז לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה שהוא בחי׳ האהבה המוסתרת שיש בכל נפש מישראל

    The Rebbeשישנה האהבה העצמית דבנ״י להקב״ה, שבאה מצד האהבה העצמית דהקב״ה לבנ״י, כמ״ש ”אהבתי אתכם אמר ה׳”

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5724, vol. א, p. 198–199 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מרחשון ה׳תשכ״ד (בלתי מוגה)

  2. ¶1

    A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a talk on Shabbos Vayishlach, 14 Kislev 5745 (an unedited transcript), the Rebbe takes up places where the same words are read in opposite ways: how Eisav could hate Yaakov and yet kiss him ‘with all his heart’, and, as a case he had mentioned at an earlier farbrengen, the two opposite readings in Torah Ohr of the verse that opens this maamar, „מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה”.

    Torah Ohr, the Rebbe notes, reads ‘many waters’ in opposite ways. In the derushim of Noach (this maamar) they are „כל טרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז” (‘all the preoccupations of livelihood and the thoughts about the matters of this world’), which cannot extinguish the hidden love („האהבה המוסתרת”); in those of Toldos they are the love of G‑d itself, a thirst ‘with all your might’ that nothing stills but Torah and mitzvos. Both stand in the same book, ‘clear and illuminating’ derushim, and yet they are opposite. His answer: from the lowest state one comes to the highest, so a Jew who does his service without being moved by the ‘many waters’ of livelihood reaches through this „ה״מים רבים״ דקדושה, אהבה רבה בבחי׳ בכל מאדך” (the ‘many waters’ of holiness, a great love ‘with all your might’).

    The Alter Rebbeהנה מים רבים הם כל טרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז כו׳

    The Rebbeשעי״ז שיהודי עובד עבודתו מבלי להתפעל מ״מים רבים” דטרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז, אזי מגיע לבחי׳ ה״מים רבים” דקדושה

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5745, vol. ב, p. 809–813 · ש״פ וישלח, י״ד כסלו ה׳תשמ״ה (בלתי מוגה)

  3. ¶1

    A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a talk on Tuesday of Parshas Noach, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5746 (an unedited transcript), after explaining the Flood in its inner sense as an elevation, the Rebbe turns to the Flood in a person’s service, which he ties to „מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה” (‘many waters cannot extinguish the love’) ‘as explained (also) in the derushim of Parshas Noach’, and gives two explanations of ‘many waters’, in the words of this maamar and of Torah Ohr Toldos (the places are in the editors’ notes 167–168). In the edited version of that day’s sicha (Likkutei Sichos vol. 30 pp. 16–23) only the Toldos reading remains, in note 37.

    In the first explanation, from this maamar, the ‘many waters’ are what he calls ‘evil waters’, the preoccupations of livelihood, which still „לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה” (cannot extinguish the hidden love); in Toldos they are positive, the contemplation of G‑d’s greatness that makes the soul thirst „בכל מאדך” (‘with all your might’). Since the Flood is in truth an elevation, the Rebbe says, in service it is the second reading that applies. Yet „אין להשאר במצב זה” (one may not stay there), just as one does not stay in the mikveh but comes out, dresses, goes to the synagogue, puts on tefillin and gives tzedakah: the aim is to act in the world, and so that thirst is stilled only through Torah and practical mitzvos.

    The Alter Rebbeועכ״ז לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה

    The Rebbeאמנם, למרות גודל העילוי שבדבר — אין להשאר במצב זה, שכן, תכלית הכוונה היא — כאמור — לפעול בעולם דוקא

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5746, vol. א, p. 490–491 · יום ג׳ פ׳ נח, א׳ דר״ח מר-חשון ה׳תשמ״ו (בלתי מוגה)

  4. ¶3

    The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a sicha said in his room on Motzaei Shabbos Noach 5738 (printed in Likkutei Sichos vol. 20 after the maamar ‘Mayim Rabbim’ of that night), the Rebbe asks how the parsha can be named „נח” (‘Noach’), rest, when its beginning and end, the Flood and the dispersion, are the opposite of rest.

    The Rebbe answers that the inner intent of the Flood was „נייחא דרוחא” (naycha d’rucha): it came „לטהר את הארץ” (‘to purify the earth’), and through that came rest of spirit (his note 45 cites this paragraph). That is why the prophet, who reveals the inner intent of things, calls the waters in the haftarah not ‘the waters of the Flood’ but „מי נח” (‘the waters of Noach’), a name given „על שם התכלית” (for their purpose). Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) this is also why the Alter Rebbe can take Isaiah’s phrase as the name of the ‘many waters’ of livelihood.

    The Alter Rebbeולזאת נקראים מי נח שנעשה מזה נייחא דרוחא כו׳

    The Rebbeאיז אין נביא (הפטורה) ווערן זיי אָנגערופן (ניט „מי המבול”, נאָר) „מי נח” על שם התכלית, צו שאַפן „נייחא דרוחא”

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. כ, p. 285–286 · מוצאי ש״פ נח - בחדרו - ה׳תשל״ח

  5. ¶3

    The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a sicha of Shabbos Parshas Noach 5743, the Rebbe asks how the Torah can say „ויהי הגשם על הארץ ארבעים יום” (‘the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights’) when Rashi says the rain came down as a blessing only at first and turned into a Flood as soon as they did not repent.

    The Rebbe answers from this paragraph, which he quotes: the Flood came to purify the earth like a mikveh of „מ׳ סאה” (forty se’ah), and so it is called „מי נח” (‘the waters of Noach’). Its being a punishment came only from the side of that generation; from its own side, Noach’s side, it was rest, the purification of the earth, so the same forty days were rains of blessing and a Flood at once. That purification, he adds, put into the world the power of teshuvah (דעם כח אויף תשובה), which the generation of the Flood lacked because the earth had become too corrupted to be refined.

    The Alter Rebbeכי מלאה הארץ חמס ונתקלקלה מאד והיה נצרך לטהרה

    The Rebbeאון דאָס איז געווען דער אויפטו פון מבול — „לטהר את הארץ”, אַז דאָס האָט אַריינגעגעבן אין וועלט דעם כח אויף תשובה

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. כה, p. 23–27 · ש״פ נח תשמ״ג

  6. ¶3

    The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a sicha of Shabbos Bereishis 5713, the Shabbos that blesses Marcheshvan, the Rebbe turns to Torah Ohr on Parshas Noach to show what the worries of livelihood (טרדות הפרנסה), the ‘many waters’, are for.

    The Rebbe reads this passage as saying the Flood was not only a punishment but a purification of an impure world, which is why it lasted forty days, matching the forty se’ah of a mikveh, and why it is called „מי נח” (‘the waters of Noach’). He applies it, as the maamar does, to the worries of livelihood: their true purpose is to wash away what should not be in a person. The inner meaning of a mikveh is bittul, so these worries, „כאָטש עס שטערט און צעמישט אים צייטווייליק, ווערט ער אָבער דורך דעם צעבראָכן ביי זיך” (though they unsettle him for a while, break his self-regard) and „ווערט ער אַ כלי צו קדושה” (make him a vessel for holiness).

    The Alter Rebbeאך באמת היה המבול בא לטהר את הארץ

    The Rebbeכאָטש עס שטערט און צעמישט אים צייטווייליק, ווערט ער אָבער דורך דעם צעבראָכן ביי זיך און גייט אַרויס פון זיין אייגענעם איך

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. א, p. 4–5 · ש״פ בראשית תשי״ג (שבת מברכים מרחשון)

  7. ¶3

    The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a sicha of the first day of Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5746, the Rebbe asks how a Midrash can liken the flooded world to the world at creation, „כל העולם כולו מים במים” (‘all water within water’), when its waters came „לשחת כל בשר” (‘to destroy all flesh’).

    The Rebbe cites this passage, that the Flood came ‘to purify the earth’ with forty days like the „מ׳ סאה” (forty se’ah) of a mikveh, and notes that even so its purification is still tied to the sins that corrupted the earth. He suggests that the inner content of the Alter Rebbe’s comparison is „טבילה במקוה שהיא אך לתוספת קדושה (ולא כדי לטהר מטומאה)” (a mikveh used not to remove impurity but to add holiness), like the Kohen Gadol’s later immersions on Yom Kippur, which raise him from one level of holiness to a higher one. Cleansing the earth of sin is how the Flood looks below; above, it is an immersion for rising higher.

    The Alter Rebbeשהוא כדוגמת המקוה מ׳ סאה שהיא מטהרת את הטמא

    The Rebbeויש לומר, שזהו התוכן הפנימי בביאור אדה״ז הנ״ל שמי המבול היו בדוגמא למי מקוה

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. ל, p. 16–20 · א׳ דר״ח מרחשון תשמ״ו

  8. ¶3

    The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In an edited sicha of Shabbos Parshas Noach, Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5751, asking why G‑d repeats to Noach the command „פרו ורבו” (‘be fruitful and multiply’) already given to Adam, the Rebbe explains the ‘new world’ the Flood brought about and finds it hinted in the name Noach.

    Before the Flood, the Rebbe explains, the world was whole only by virtue of the way G‑d created it, so once it was corrupted it could not be refined; the Flood, which came ‘to purify the earth’, made the world itself able to be refined, and so gave it the firmness of „לא ישבותו” (‘they shall not cease’). That is why the waters bear Noach’s name: quoting this paragraph, that Noach is „שהוא בחינת שביתה כאדם השובת ממלאכתו” (‘the level of ceasing, like a person who ceases from his work’), he says „נח (איש צדיק) פעל והכניס מנוחה בעולם” (Noach brought rest into the world). And the doubled ‘Noach’ is rest for the higher and the lower ones as they are joined, as Noach is one man named twice: a rest added through man’s work, beyond the Shabbos rest with which G‑d completed creation.

    The Alter Rebbeכי הנה נח הוא נייחא דרוחא שהוא בחינת שביתה כאדם השובת ממלאכתו

    The Rebbeנח (איש צדיק) פעל והכניס מנוחה בעולם, ולכן נקראים מי המבול על שמו ”מי נח”

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5751, vol. א, p. 234–237 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מרחשון ה׳תנש״א (תרגום מאידית; edited)

  9. ¶3

    A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a talk on Shabbos Parshas Noach, Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5745 (an unedited transcript), drawing the lesson learned from Parshas Noach ‘according to the explanation and elucidation in the book whose name is Torah Ohr’, the Rebbe quotes the opening of this maamar at length.

    After quoting that the ‘many waters’ cannot extinguish the love and that through them the soul can reach higher than before, the Rebbe says a Jew can turn the Flood’s ‘evil waters’ into „מי נח” (‘the waters of Noach’), rest of spirit. He then asks about the doubled ‘Noach’, „נייחא לעליונים ונייחא לתחתונים” (‘rest for the higher ones and rest for the lower ones’): Noach is among the lower ones, so how does rest for the higher ones belong here? Higher and lower, he answers, are „באדם עצמו” (within man himself), the soul from above and the body from the earth: the waters disturb neither the soul’s service nor the service with the body, and the rest reaches even his portion in the world.

    The Alter Rebbeומ״ש נח נח ב״פ הם נייחא דעילאי ונייחא דתתאי

    The Rebbeוהביאור — שישנם עליונים ותחתונים באדם עצמו

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5745, vol. א, p. 514–515 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מר-חשון ה׳תשמ״ה (בלתי מוגה)

  10. ¶5

    The Rebbe explains

    In the edited maamar „ושבתי בשלום אל בית אבי” (‘Ushavti b’shalom el beis avi’), said in his room on Motzaei Shabbos Vayetzei, 9 Kislev, the eve of 10 Kislev 5738, having shown that through its descent the soul becomes a ba’al teshuvah, the Rebbe says that even so this is not the purpose of the descent, which is the refining of the body, the animal soul and one’s portion in the world.

    The Rebbe explains why, as this paragraph says, the love ‘with all your might’ comes specifically out of the darkness of the physical matters a person deals with all day (החושך של הענינים הגשמיים שעוסק בהם במשך היום). That the soul, „חלק אלקה ממעל ממש” (‘truly a part of G‑d above’), overcomes what hides it „אין זה חידוש כ״כ” (is no real novelty); that the body, the animal soul and above all one’s portion in the world outside become vessels for G‑dliness is, and the delight above comes from what is new. So the boundless love comes through „אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא” (transforming that outside darkness), even though the service ‘with all your heart’, with both inclinations, also turns the evil inclination to holiness (his note 168: 'ראה תו״א נח ט, א׳).

    The Alter Rebbeונק׳ אהבה זו בחי׳ בכל מאדך שהוא בלי גבול ממש שבאה דוקא מן ההפוך שהוא החשך

    The Rebbeשבכדי לבוא לבחי׳ בכל מאדך הוא ע״י אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא [החושך של הענינים הגשמיים שעוסק בהם במשך היום]

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ב, p. קעג · מוצאי ש״פ ויצא, ט׳ כסלו, אור ליו״ד כסלו — בחדרו — ה׳תשל״ח

  11. ¶5

    A question the Rebbe raises

    In the maamar ‘Ki Yedaativ’, said on Shabbos Vayera, 20 Marcheshvan 5736, the Rebbe Rashab’s birthday (an unedited transcript), the Rebbe works through the Rebbe Maharash’s hemshech ‘Mayim Rabbim’ of 5636, which he says is apparently founded on this maamar, and explains why the hemshech brings a person through the ‘many waters’ only to the love ‘with all your heart’, while Torah Ohr reaches ‘with all your might’.

    The difference, he explains, is in how a person is engaged with the physical. The hemshech speaks of engagement that is not „כדבעי” (as it should be), where one is caught up in worries, and casting them off yields only ‘with all your heart’. Torah Ohr Noach speaks of „העסק בענינים גשמיים כפי שהם כדבעי” (engagement in physical matters as it should be), for the sake of Torah and mitzvos; then the waters do more than fail to put out the hidden love, they bring it into the open, up to ‘with all your might’, of which it says „מי לי בשמים ועמך לא חפצתי” (‘Whom have I in heaven . . . besides You I desire nothing’).

    The Alter Rebbeוכמ״ש (תהלים עג) מי לי בשמים ועמך לא חפצתי כו׳

    The Rebbeוגם בתו״א פרשת נח מבואר ע״ד העסק בענינים גשמיים כפי שהם כדבעי, שעי״ז אפשר לבא גם לבחינת בכל מאדך

    Sefer HaMaamarim 5736 (bilti mugah), p. 46–48 · ש״פ וירא, כ״ף מרחשון, ה׳תשל״ו (הנחה בלתי מוגה)

  12. ¶10

    The Rebbe explains

    In a sicha said in his room on Motzaei Shabbos Noach 5738 (the same sicha brought on ¶3), linking Parshas Noach with ‘Yaakov went on his way’, the move from Tishrei into the weekday year, the Rebbe speaks to one who is afraid of the world’s ‘many waters’.

    The ‘many waters’, which he defines in this maamar’s words as „טרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז” (‘the preoccupations of livelihood and the thoughts about the matters of this world’), are called ‘the waters of Noach’, and the way is ‘come into the ark’: „להכניס את עצמו בהתיבות דתפלה ותורה” (to enter the words (teivos) of prayer and of Torah). One who resolves not to be moved by the waters and to cleave to those words is not only saved; the waters themselves become „מי נח” (‘waters of Noach’) and add an elevation to the words of prayer and Torah. His note 56 quotes this passage: „שע״י המים דוקא מתעלות תיבות התפלה” (‘through the waters specifically, the words of prayer are elevated’).

    The Alter Rebbeשע״י המים דוקא מתעלות תיבות התפלה ועולה למעלה מעלה

    The Rebbeדי „מים רבים” גופא ווערן „מי נח” „נייחא דרוחא”, דורך זיי קומט צו אַן עילוי אין די תיבות התפלה והתורה

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. כ, p. 286–287 · מוצאי ש״פ נח - בחדרו - ה׳תשל״ח

  13. ¶10

    The Rebbe explains

    In a sicha on Parshas Vayetzei, on Rashi’s ‘from now on his main dwelling will be with me’ at Zevulun’s birth, the Rebbe asks how the merchant tribe can fix where Yaakov, the man who ‘dwells in tents’ (יושבי אהל), mainly dwells.

    G‑d’s dwelling is made in the lowest realm, mainly by businessmen who use the world for heaven’s sake, and its permanence shows in their own Torah and prayer. So the Rebbe reads the Alter Rebbe’s letter, that on Shabbos prayer „מוטל ביתר שאת ויתר עז” (‘is incumbent on them with greater intensity’), as saying not only that their duty is greater but that „עבודת התפלה שלהם היא ביתר שאת ויתר עז מתפלת יושבי אהל” (their prayer itself is higher than that of those who dwell in tents), and he quotes this passage as the proof: „שהם יכולים להתפלל יותר כי יתרון האור הוא מתוך החשך דוקא” (‘they can pray more, for the advantage of light comes out of darkness’). He extends it to their fixed times for Torah study.

    The Alter Rebbeכי אדרבה נהפוך הוא שהם יכולים להתפלל יותר כי יתרון האור הוא מתוך החשך דוקא

    The Rebbeאלא שעבודת התפלה שלהם היא „ביתר שאת ויתר עז” מתפלת יושבי אהל

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. ל, p. 134–140 · ש״פ ויקרא תשמ״ב, ליל ה׳ דסוכות תשמ״ג

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).

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The love the waters cannot quench ¶1–2

1מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה ונהרות לא ישטפוה אם יתן איש את כל הון ביתו באהבה בוז יבוזו לו.

“Many waters cannot extinguish the love, nor can rivers wash it away; if a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.”

Explanation

The maamar opens with a verse from the Song of Songs, which Chassidus reads as a love song between G‑d and the Jewish people. Its claim is that no flood of water, however great, can put out this love; the rest of the maamar explains what the “waters” are and why they cannot quench it.

הנה מים רבים הם כל טרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז כו׳ ועכ״ז [ועם כל זה] לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה

Now, the “many waters” are all the preoccupations of earning a livelihood and the thoughts about the matters of this world, etc.; and nevertheless they “cannot extinguish the love” —

Explanation

The Alter Rebbe identifies the “many waters” with ordinary working life: the constant pressures of making a living and the stream of thoughts about worldly affairs. These can crowd out a person’s awareness of G‑d, yet they cannot actually extinguish his love for Him.

שהוא בחי׳ האהבה המוסתרת שיש בכל נפש מישראל בטבע מבחי׳ נפש האלקי׳ שטבעה לעלות וליכלל תמיד למעלה כשלהבת העולה מאליה

which is the level of the hidden love that is present by nature in every soul of Israel, from the level of the G‑dly soul, whose nature is to rise and be absorbed constantly above, like a flame that rises of itself,

Explanation

The love that survives is the “hidden love” (ahavah mesuteres) that every Jew possesses by nature, whether or not he feels it. It belongs to the G‑dly soul, which naturally strives upward to return to its Source, just as a flame reaches upward by its very nature without any effort.

כמ״ש לעיל מיניה רשפיה רשפי אש שלהבת יה שהוא בחי׳ שלהבת הבאה מלמעלה שהיא הנפש האלקית שקודם התלבשותה בגוף הגשמי היתה נהנית מזיו השכינה והיתה מיוחדת בתכלית היחוד בא״ס ב״ה.

as it is written just before it, “Its sparks are sparks of fire, a flame of Kah,” which is the level of a flame that comes from above: this is the G‑dly soul, which, before it was enclothed in the physical body, delighted in the radiance of the Shechinah and was united in absolute unity with the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He.

Explanation

The verse just before “many waters” describes this love as “sparks of fire, a flame of Kah”: a fire whose origin is Divine. That is the G‑dly soul, which before coming into a body enjoyed the radiance of G‑d’s presence in the spiritual worlds and was wholly one with the Infinite One; its natural upward striving stems from that origin.

Paragraph 1 in brief

The paragraph sets out the maamar’s verse and its first reading: the “many waters” are the distractions of earning a living, and the love they cannot put out is the G‑dly soul’s innate, hidden love for G‑d, a flame that by nature rises toward its Source.

Deeper

The “hidden love” is the subject of Tanya, chapters 18–19, where it is described as an inheritance from the Patriarchs latent in every Jew, rooted in the Chochmah of the soul, which in turn is a vessel for the Infinite Light. The image of the flame that strains upward to leave its wick is used there for the soul’s natural desire to separate from the body and cleave to G‑d.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. The Rebbe explains

    In a talk on Shabbos Parshas Noach, Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5724 (an unedited transcript), the year marking a hundred and fifty years since the Alter Rebbe’s passing, the Rebbe asks what lasting lesson the story of the Flood teaches, since there will never be another Flood, and answers from ‘the Alter Rebbe’s explanation in Torah Ohr, in the maamar Mayim Rabbim’.

    The Rebbe quotes this paragraph and explains why the waters ‘cannot extinguish’ the love: the hidden love of every Jew is an essential love for G‑d that comes from G‑d’s own essential love for Israel, „אהבתי אתכם אמר ה׳” (‘I have loved you, says G‑d’). So even if a person talks himself into believing that his life hangs on the toil of livelihood, the love is not put out. And ‘cannot extinguish’ is not only a promise that in the end „לא ידח ממנו נדח” (no one will be lost), which could take lifetimes, but a power now: by force of that love he overcomes the waters and „בוא אל התיבה” (‘comes into the ark’), the words of Torah and prayer.

    The Alter Rebbeועכ״ז לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה שהוא בחי׳ האהבה המוסתרת שיש בכל נפש מישראל

    The Rebbeשישנה האהבה העצמית דבנ״י להקב״ה, שבאה מצד האהבה העצמית דהקב״ה לבנ״י, כמ״ש ”אהבתי אתכם אמר ה׳”

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5724, vol. א, p. 198–199 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מרחשון ה׳תשכ״ד (בלתי מוגה)

  2. A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a talk on Shabbos Vayishlach, 14 Kislev 5745 (an unedited transcript), the Rebbe takes up places where the same words are read in opposite ways: how Eisav could hate Yaakov and yet kiss him ‘with all his heart’, and, as a case he had mentioned at an earlier farbrengen, the two opposite readings in Torah Ohr of the verse that opens this maamar, „מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה”.

    Torah Ohr, the Rebbe notes, reads ‘many waters’ in opposite ways. In the derushim of Noach (this maamar) they are „כל טרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז” (‘all the preoccupations of livelihood and the thoughts about the matters of this world’), which cannot extinguish the hidden love („האהבה המוסתרת”); in those of Toldos they are the love of G‑d itself, a thirst ‘with all your might’ that nothing stills but Torah and mitzvos. Both stand in the same book, ‘clear and illuminating’ derushim, and yet they are opposite. His answer: from the lowest state one comes to the highest, so a Jew who does his service without being moved by the ‘many waters’ of livelihood reaches through this „ה״מים רבים״ דקדושה, אהבה רבה בבחי׳ בכל מאדך” (the ‘many waters’ of holiness, a great love ‘with all your might’).

    The Alter Rebbeהנה מים רבים הם כל טרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז כו׳

    The Rebbeשעי״ז שיהודי עובד עבודתו מבלי להתפעל מ״מים רבים” דטרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז, אזי מגיע לבחי׳ ה״מים רבים” דקדושה

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5745, vol. ב, p. 809–813 · ש״פ וישלח, י״ד כסלו ה׳תשמ״ה (בלתי מוגה)

  3. A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a talk on Tuesday of Parshas Noach, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5746 (an unedited transcript), after explaining the Flood in its inner sense as an elevation, the Rebbe turns to the Flood in a person’s service, which he ties to „מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה” (‘many waters cannot extinguish the love’) ‘as explained (also) in the derushim of Parshas Noach’, and gives two explanations of ‘many waters’, in the words of this maamar and of Torah Ohr Toldos (the places are in the editors’ notes 167–168). In the edited version of that day’s sicha (Likkutei Sichos vol. 30 pp. 16–23) only the Toldos reading remains, in note 37.

    In the first explanation, from this maamar, the ‘many waters’ are what he calls ‘evil waters’, the preoccupations of livelihood, which still „לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה” (cannot extinguish the hidden love); in Toldos they are positive, the contemplation of G‑d’s greatness that makes the soul thirst „בכל מאדך” (‘with all your might’). Since the Flood is in truth an elevation, the Rebbe says, in service it is the second reading that applies. Yet „אין להשאר במצב זה” (one may not stay there), just as one does not stay in the mikveh but comes out, dresses, goes to the synagogue, puts on tefillin and gives tzedakah: the aim is to act in the world, and so that thirst is stilled only through Torah and practical mitzvos.

    The Alter Rebbeועכ״ז לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה

    The Rebbeאמנם, למרות גודל העילוי שבדבר — אין להשאר במצב זה, שכן, תכלית הכוונה היא — כאמור — לפעול בעולם דוקא

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5746, vol. א, p. 490–491 · יום ג׳ פ׳ נח, א׳ דר״ח מר-חשון ה׳תשמ״ו (בלתי מוגה)

  4. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5738

    The Alter Rebbe cites the whole verse but explains only “many waters.” The Rebbe explains “rivers” as a further degree: worldly thoughts that do not merely gather but rush on constantly without pause, like flowing rivers. Even these do not wash the love away.

    The Alter Rebbeמים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה ונהרות לא ישטפוה

    The whole maamar, summarized

  5. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5738

    The Rebbe reads “טרדות הפרנסה” precisely. Livelihood needs only “יגיע כפיך,” engaging the external faculties; the intellect may be used only as necessary for the work, not for strenuous ingenuity and stratagems. Business is only a garment for G‑d’s blessing, and multiplying such garments adds nothing and can spoil things. “Troubles” indicate insufficient contemplation that G‑d’s blessing enriches, not necessarily that the mind and heart are invested in business. Yet even this cannot extinguish the hidden love.

    The Alter Rebbeהנה מים רבים הם כל טרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז

    The Rebbeיגיע כפיך דוקא אבל לא יגיעת המוח והלב

    The whole maamar, summarized

  6. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5738

    The Alter Rebbe says in ¶5–7 that the animal soul’s root is higher than the G‑dly soul’s, but does not identify it as Tohu. The Rebbe introduces Tohu as the root of the “מים רבים” and explains the hidden flame in a “גחלת,” and higher still in “צור,” above Havayah. The Alter Rebbe’s ¶1 supplies the cited flame phrase; the relevant Alter Rebbe paragraphs are ¶5–7 and ¶1.

    The Alter Rebbeכמ״ש לעיל מיניה רשפיה רשפי אש שלהבת יה

    The Rebbeששרש הנשמה והאהבה מסותרת שבה הוא בעצמות אוא״ס שלמעלה גם מבחי׳ תהו

    The whole maamar, summarized

  7. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5738

    If before descent the soul was already united with the Ein Sof, and even rooted in His Essence (“with whom did He consult”), how can descent add to it? The Rebbe explains through the Maggid’s parable of a son engraved in his father’s thought. The soul’s root in the Essence is G‑d’s foreknowledge of its future descent and completion of His intent, which is only potential. The actual completion surpasses it, and so the soul is then termed a ba’al teshuvah rather than a tzaddik.

    The Alter Rebbeהיתה נהנית מזיו השכינה והיתה מיוחדת בתכלית היחוד בא״ס ב״ה

    The Rebbeהוא מצד ידיעתו ית׳ שתהי׳ אח״כ ירידתן למטה כו׳ וישלימו הכוונה

    The whole maamar, summarized

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

TermsNefesh ha’elokisShechinahZiv haShechinahOlam HaZeh+3

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    מים רבים · משנת תקס״ח. הנחת הר״פ בסה״מ הנחות הר״פ ע׳ סט בכותרת ”פ׳ נח שקלאב”. והביאור שם ע׳ נח. ראה ברשימת המאמרים דשנת תקס״ח במאמרי אדה״ז תקס״ח כרך ב ע׳ תתקכה הערה 2. הגהות וביאור באוה״ת בראשית כרך ג תרט, א (מלקו״ת לג״פ עם שינויים, ושם נדפס המאמר עם הגהות). ראה לעיל בציונים לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע. לכללות מאמר זה ראה: ד״ה אלה תולדות נח — מאמרי אדה״א בראשית ע׳ ק. ד״ה מים רבים תשל״ח (נדפס בלקו״ש ח״כ ע׳ 276). ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי תשמ״א. ראה גם ד״ה כי ידעתיו תשל״ו. בד״ה אשריכם ישראל תרל״ט ח״ב ע׳ תקכד נתבארו כמה ענינים מהמאמר. בבוך 1110 נמצא הגה״ה לתו״א שנכתב בגוכתי״ק כ״ק אדמו״ר הריי״צ זצקוללה״ה: ”בס״ד. יום ה׳ כ״ט תשרי תער״ג. תו״א פ׳ נח ד״ה מים רבים. מים רבים דטרדות הפרנסה אינם מכבים האהבה מסותרת, והמבול בא לטהר את הארץ והם טרדת הפרנסה שמשעבדי׳ את האדם, ועי״ז נעשה הנייחא, הוא העלי׳ וכמו טוב מאד הנה״ב ששרשו גבוה מהנה״א, ונעשה יתרון האור דטרדת הפרנסה מתעלי׳ ע״י התפלה, וגבהה עבוד׳ בעלי עסקים, חמש עשרה כו׳ גברו המים, ותרם התבה, דתיבת התפלה מתרוממים ע״י המים, הון ביתו הוא חכמת התו׳ וטעמי המצות בוז יבוזו לו, אבל עצם המצות מעשיות שהם פנימיות רצונו ית׳ דנעוץ תחלתן בסופן דוקא, ועקימת שפתיו הוי מעשה”. ע״כ.
  2. 2
    מים רבים · Song of Songs 8:7
  3. 3
    טרדות הפרנסה · וזהו דיוק הלשון ”טרדות הפרנסה” דהגם שהוא במצב שנמשך לו טרדות הפרנסה [שזה מראה אשר אינו מתבונן כדבעי אליבי׳ דנפשי׳ שברכת הוי׳ היא תעשיר (דרמ״צ ז, א ואילך, קונטרס ומעיין מכ״ה פ״ג, ד״ה וידעת תרנ״ז)] מ״מ, הנה גם הטרדות לא יוכלו לכבות ח״ו את האהבה המוסתרת שבכ״א מישראל — ד״ה מים רבים תשל״ח (נדפס בלקו״ש ח״כ ע׳ 276 ואילך). ראה תו״ח נח, ד ואילך. המשך מים רבים תרל״ו בתחלתו, ובפרק עה. במאמרי אדה״א בראשית ע׳ ק מאריך בזה שענין הכיבוי הוא כי הנשמה נק׳ אור שהוא בהתפעלות במוח או בלב כו׳, ועכשיו המים רבים מכבים דהיינו טרדת הפרנסה מכבים אור הנשמה שלא תתפעל לא במוח ולא בלב ואפי׳ בהתעוררו׳ תשובה וכמ״ש כי באו מים עד נפש ועד בכלל כו׳ ע״ש. ראה בשיחת ש״פ נח תשי״ג בסעי׳ יד (מהנחה בלתי מוגה) מבאר השייכות בין דאגות הפרנסה למבול ומקוה.
  4. 4
    שבעניני עוה״ז · בהנחת הר״פ מוסיף: ”והם בחי׳ שעבוד מלכיות”.
  5. 5
    האהבה המוסתרת שיש בכל נפש מישראל · Tanya, Likkutei Amarim 18:2–3
  6. 6
    רשפי׳ רשפי אש · Song of Songs 8:6
  7. 7
    שלהבת י-ה . . הבאה מלמעלה · ראה גם שהש״ר עה״פ (בסופו): שלהבת י-ה .ֿ. כאש של מעלה .ֿ. ולא המים מכבין לאש, וראה בפירוש מהרז״ו שם — לקו״ש ח״כ ע׳ 277 הערה 24. בענין אהבה מסותרת ראה בד״ה ועשית ציץ — תרנ״א ע׳ קמא.

2ולזאת גם אחר התלבשותה בגוף הגשמי לעסוק בענינים גשמיים שהן הנקראים מים רבים עכ״ז [עם כל זה] לא יוכלו לכבותה מלהיות תמיד בבחי׳ אהבה ותשוקה נפלאה לעלות וליכלל למעלה ואדרבה

Therefore, even after it is enclothed in the physical body to occupy itself with physical matters — which are what are called “many waters” — nevertheless they “cannot extinguish” it from being constantly in a state of love and wondrous longing to rise and be absorbed above. On the contrary,

Explanation

Because the soul’s love is its very nature, it does not die when the soul enters a body and becomes busy with material things. The Alter Rebbe calls those material involvements the “many waters,” and insists that they cannot put out the soul’s constant longing to rise and dissolve into G‑d.

ע״י התלבשותה במים רבים הנ״ל יכולה להגיע למדרגה היותר גבוה מקודם שירדה לעוה״ז כאשר יתבאר:

through its enclothement in the “many waters” mentioned above, it can reach a higher level than [it stood at] before it descended to this world, as will be explained.

Explanation

Then comes the maamar’s bold thesis: the soul does not merely survive its immersion in worldly affairs; through that very immersion it can reach a higher level than it had before it came down, even when it basked in the radiance of G‑d’s presence. The rest of the maamar explains how.

¶5 How the soul rises higher through the waters: paragraphs 5–7 explain it.

Paragraph 2 in brief

The paragraph turns the verse from a defence into a promise: the worldly “many waters” not only fail to extinguish the soul’s love but can raise it higher than it stood before its descent.

Deeper

This is the classic Chassidic answer to why a soul must descend into a body: “descent for the sake of ascent.” The maamar will locate the gain in the power of the animal soul and the struggle with darkness.

Explained elsewhere AI research

  1. Explained by the Rebbe, setting out, with additions of his own, an explanation he heard from his father, R. Levi Yitzchak Schneerson

    ¶2 says that the soul, through being enclothed in the „מים רבים” (‘many waters’), can reach a level higher than before it came down, and leaves the explanation for later (‘as will be explained’); nothing here shows how being submerged could raise it.

    In a letter of 23 Teves 5705 (Likkutei Sichos vol. 27 p. 350), the Rebbe sets out, with additions of his own, an explanation he heard from his father, R. Levi Yitzchak, of the Mishnah about a needle lying on the step of a cave and moved back and forth in the water: once a wave has passed over it, it is pure (Mikvaos 7:7). The soul is the needle, sent down to join the lowest to the highest, and it reaches that level, higher than before its descent, „ע״י הטבילה במים רבים שהם בפרט הטרדות דזמן הגלות” (by immersion in the ‘many waters’, above all the troubles of exile), as this maamar explains. The descent is deep, „בירא עמיקתא, מערה” (‘a cave’), yet it serves the ascent, and the immersion goes ‘back and forth’, in Torah and mitzvos and in worldly matters alike, not standing still.

    the Rebbe, setting out, with additions of his own, an explanation he heard from his father, R. Levi Yitzchak Schneerson: Likkutei Sichos (letter of 23 Teves 5705), vol. כז, p. 350–351 ואיך תבוא לידי מדריגה זו, שהיא גבוהה יותר מקודם שירדה לעוה״ז, הוא ע״י הטבילה במים רבים שהם בפרט הטרדות דזמן הגלות

Where the maamar leaves something unexplained, found by AI in the library and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5725

    The Alter Rebbe states that the waters raise the soul higher but gives no image for how an obstacle becomes a source of ascent. The Rebbe supplies the parable of dammed-up water from elsewhere. The blockage not only fails to stop the flow; it intensifies it, and the blockage itself is swept along and adds force. This is applied to the animal soul and the distractions of livelihood. He also adds, in parentheses, that the same is true of G‑d’s love for Israel, which the many waters cannot extinguish.

    The Alter Rebbeואדרבה ע״י התלבשותה במים רבים הנ״ל יכולה להגיע למדרגה היותר גבוה

    The Rebbeשע״י הסתימה נעשה הילוך המים בתוקף יותר

    The whole maamar, summarized

  2. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5738

    The Rebbe ties the Alter Rebbe’s two statements together. Because the very purpose of the waters is to raise the love, this is itself a further reason they cannot extinguish it, beyond the height of the love’s root. He frames the gain as the soul passing from tzaddik (before descent) to ba’al teshuvah (after), a level beyond the tzaddik’s capacity altogether.

    The Alter Rebbeואדרבה ע״י התלבשותה במים רבים הנ״ל יכולה להגיע למדרגה היותר גבוה מקודם שירדה לעוה״ז

    The Rebbeשתכלית עומק כוונתם של המים רבים גופא הוא אדרבא בכדי לפעול יתרון בהאהבה

    The whole maamar, summarized

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.

TermsOlam HaZeh

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
  2. 2
    להגיע למדרגה היותר גבוה מקודם שירדה לעוה״ז · בהנחת הר״פ: להגיע למדריגה היותר גבוה כי מים רבים הנ״ל שהוא בחי׳ שעבוד מלכיות נק׳ מי נח.

The waters of Noach ¶3

3והנה בחי׳ מים רבים הנ״ל נק׳ מי נח וכמ״ש (ישעי׳ [ישעיה] נד) אשר נשבעתי מעבור מי נח עוד על הארץ כן נשבעתי מקצף עליך ומגער בך (עיין בספר עיר גבורים) כי

Now, the level of “many waters” mentioned above is called “the waters of Noach,” as it is written (Isaiah 54), “That I swore that the waters of Noach would no more pass over the earth, so have I sworn not to be angry with you or rebuke you” (see the book Ir Gibborim). For

Explanation

Isaiah compares G‑d’s promise never again to be angry with Israel to His oath after the Flood never again to bring “the waters of Noach” over the earth. The Alter Rebbe takes the prophet’s phrase “the waters of Noach” as a name for the “many waters” of worldly life, and refers the reader to Ir Gibborim, a work by the author of the Kli Yakar commentary on the Torah.

¶12 Hold this verse about the waters of Noach: paragraph 12 explains it.

הנה נח הוא נייחא דרוחא שהוא בחינת שביתה כאדם השובת ממלאכתו. וכמ״ש וישבת ביום השביעי ותרגומו ונח ביומא שביעאה כו׳.

Noach is naycha d’rucha (rest of the spirit), which is the level of ceasing, like a person who ceases from his work. As it is written, “And He ceased (vayishbos) on the seventh day,” and its Targum [renders it], “And He rested (venach) on the seventh day,” etc.

Explanation

The name Noach means rest: the Zohar reads it as naycha d’rucha, the settled contentment of spirit that comes when work is finished. The proof is that the Torah says G‑d “ceased” on the seventh day, and the Aramaic translation of Onkelos renders that word with the root of Noach, “rested.”

ומ״ש נח נח ב״פ [ב׳ פעמים] הם נייחא דעילאי ונייחא דתתאי שהוא בחי׳ שבת תתאה ושבת עילאה שיהיה לעתיד שנק׳ יום שכולו שבת משא״כ שבת תתאה אינו כולו שבת כאשר יתבאר.

And what is written, “Noach, Noach,” twice: these are the rest of the higher ones and the rest of the lower ones, which is the level of the lower Shabbos and the higher Shabbos that will be in the Time to Come, which is called “the day that is entirely Shabbos,” whereas the lower Shabbos is not entirely Shabbos, as will be explained.

Explanation

The verse repeats the name, “Noach, Noach,” and the Midrash explains the doubling as rest for the higher beings and rest for the lower beings. The Alter Rebbe maps these onto two kinds of Shabbos: the weekly “lower Shabbos” we know now, which is not wholly rest, and the “higher Shabbos” of the Messianic future, “the day that is entirely Shabbos.” Both will be explained later in the maamar.

¶11 Lower and higher Shabbos: paragraphs 11–12 explain the difference.

כי הנה לכאורה אינו מובן ענין המבול שאם היה רק להעביר ולשחת האנשים החוטאים למה הוצרך לבחי׳ רעש גדול כזה הלא ברגע א׳ היה ביכול׳ [ביכולת] ה׳ להעבירם אף בלא המבול.

For at first glance the matter of the Flood is not understood: if it were only to remove and destroy the sinful people, why was there need for so great an upheaval as this? Surely in a single moment G‑d had the power to remove them, even without the Flood.

Explanation

The Alter Rebbe now asks why G‑d brought a Flood at all. If the aim were only to destroy the wicked, He could have done it instantly and quietly; a year-long cataclysm of water must have served another purpose.

אך באמת היה המבול בא לטהר את הארץ שנאמר כי מלאה הארץ חמס ונתקלקלה מאד והיה נצרך לטהרה ולזאת בא המבול דוקא שהוא בחי׳ מים בכדי לטהר את הטמאים

But in truth the Flood came to purify the earth, as it is said, “For the earth is filled with violence,” and it had become very corrupted and needed to be purified. Therefore it was specifically the Flood that came, which is the level of water, in order to purify the impure,

Explanation

In truth, the Alter Rebbe answers, the Flood came to purify the earth itself, which had been corrupted by the violence done on it (“the earth is filled with violence”). That is why the punishment took the form of water specifically, since water is the medium of purification in Torah law.

שהוא כדוגמת המקוה מ׳ סאה שהיא מטהרת את הטמא כמו כן היה המבול בא בכדי לטהר את כל הארץ

like the mikveh of forty se’ah, which purifies the impure; so too the Flood came in order to purify the whole earth,

Explanation

The model is the mikveh, the ritual pool, which must hold at least forty se’ah of water to purify a person or vessel. The Flood was in effect a mikveh for the whole earth.

וכמ״ש (יחזקאל לו) וזרקתי עליכם מים טהורים וטהרתם כו׳ ולזאת נקראים מי נח שנעשה מזה נייחא דרוחא כו׳.

as it is written (Ezekiel 36), “And I will sprinkle pure water upon you, and you shall be pure,” etc. Therefore they are called “the waters of Noach,” for from this came about naycha d’rucha, etc.

Explanation

Ezekiel’s promise that G‑d will “sprinkle pure water” on Israel shows that water is the instrument of spiritual cleansing. Because the Flood waters purified the world, they produced the “rest of spirit” that the name Noach denotes, and so they are called “the waters of Noach.”

והנה שעבוד הפרנסה נק׳ ג״כ מי נח וכמארז״ל [וכמאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] שבחר לו אברהם אבינו שעבוד נגד גיהנם.

Now, the servitude of earning a livelihood is also called “the waters of Noach,” as our Sages, of blessed memory, said that Avraham our father chose for himself servitude in place of Gehinnom.

Explanation

Now the Alter Rebbe applies this to working life: the servitude of having to earn a living is also “waters of Noach.” The Midrash relates that when G‑d showed Avraham the future, he chose for his descendants the subjugation of exile rather than Gehinnom (where souls are purged after death); the Alter Rebbe reads that servitude as the burden of making a living, which, like Gehinnom, cleanses.

שכמו שאי אפשר להנשמה לבא בג״ע [בגן עדן] ליהנות מזיו השכינה עד שתרד קודם לכן בגיהנם וכמו שאמרו גבי אחר מוטב דלידייני׳ וליתי לעלמא דאתי

For just as it is impossible for the soul to enter the Garden of Eden to delight in the radiance of the Shechinah until it first descends into Gehinnom — as they said concerning Acher, “Better that he be judged and come to the World to Come” —

Explanation

He explains why such cleansing is a necessary stage. A soul cannot enter the Garden of Eden and enjoy G‑d’s radiance until it has passed through the purging of Gehinnom; hence the Talmud says of the sage Elisha ben Avuyah, called Acher (“the Other”) after he strayed, that it was better he be judged and purified so that he could enter the World to Come.

וגם לטבול בנהר דינור כמ״ש במ״א. כמו״כ [כמו כן] ע״י שעבוד יכולים לעלו׳ למעלה מעלה למדרגה היותר גבוה.

and also [for it] to immerse in the River of Fire (Nehar Dinur), as is explained elsewhere; so too, through servitude one can rise higher and higher, to the highest level.

Explanation

Beyond Gehinnom, a soul rising from the lower Garden of Eden to the higher must immerse in the “River of Fire” so as to forget the lesser delight it knew before. In the same way, the servitude of earning a living, painful as it is, cleanses the soul and lets it climb to the very highest level.

Paragraph 3 in brief

The paragraph names the “many waters” as “the waters of Noach,” explains that Noach means rest, and shows that the Flood’s purpose was purification; likewise the servitude of earning a living purifies the soul, as Gehinnom does, and so lifts it higher.

Deeper

The two kinds of rest correspond to the lower and higher Shabbos introduced here and developed in the final paragraphs. The Kehot note brings the Zohar’s reading of “He ceased” as “the Yesod of the world,” the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva which is itself the “rest and delight” of Shabbos. The comparison of the Flood to a mikveh is completed in Or HaTorah, which notes the Midrashim linking the Flood’s forty days to forty lashes.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a sicha said in his room on Motzaei Shabbos Noach 5738 (printed in Likkutei Sichos vol. 20 after the maamar ‘Mayim Rabbim’ of that night), the Rebbe asks how the parsha can be named „נח” (‘Noach’), rest, when its beginning and end, the Flood and the dispersion, are the opposite of rest.

    The Rebbe answers that the inner intent of the Flood was „נייחא דרוחא” (naycha d’rucha): it came „לטהר את הארץ” (‘to purify the earth’), and through that came rest of spirit (his note 45 cites this paragraph). That is why the prophet, who reveals the inner intent of things, calls the waters in the haftarah not ‘the waters of the Flood’ but „מי נח” (‘the waters of Noach’), a name given „על שם התכלית” (for their purpose). Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) this is also why the Alter Rebbe can take Isaiah’s phrase as the name of the ‘many waters’ of livelihood.

    The Alter Rebbeולזאת נקראים מי נח שנעשה מזה נייחא דרוחא כו׳

    The Rebbeאיז אין נביא (הפטורה) ווערן זיי אָנגערופן (ניט „מי המבול”, נאָר) „מי נח” על שם התכלית, צו שאַפן „נייחא דרוחא”

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. כ, p. 285–286 · מוצאי ש״פ נח - בחדרו - ה׳תשל״ח

  2. The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a sicha of Shabbos Parshas Noach 5743, the Rebbe asks how the Torah can say „ויהי הגשם על הארץ ארבעים יום” (‘the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights’) when Rashi says the rain came down as a blessing only at first and turned into a Flood as soon as they did not repent.

    The Rebbe answers from this paragraph, which he quotes: the Flood came to purify the earth like a mikveh of „מ׳ סאה” (forty se’ah), and so it is called „מי נח” (‘the waters of Noach’). Its being a punishment came only from the side of that generation; from its own side, Noach’s side, it was rest, the purification of the earth, so the same forty days were rains of blessing and a Flood at once. That purification, he adds, put into the world the power of teshuvah (דעם כח אויף תשובה), which the generation of the Flood lacked because the earth had become too corrupted to be refined.

    The Alter Rebbeכי מלאה הארץ חמס ונתקלקלה מאד והיה נצרך לטהרה

    The Rebbeאון דאָס איז געווען דער אויפטו פון מבול — „לטהר את הארץ”, אַז דאָס האָט אַריינגעגעבן אין וועלט דעם כח אויף תשובה

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. כה, p. 23–27 · ש״פ נח תשמ״ג

  3. The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a sicha of Shabbos Bereishis 5713, the Shabbos that blesses Marcheshvan, the Rebbe turns to Torah Ohr on Parshas Noach to show what the worries of livelihood (טרדות הפרנסה), the ‘many waters’, are for.

    The Rebbe reads this passage as saying the Flood was not only a punishment but a purification of an impure world, which is why it lasted forty days, matching the forty se’ah of a mikveh, and why it is called „מי נח” (‘the waters of Noach’). He applies it, as the maamar does, to the worries of livelihood: their true purpose is to wash away what should not be in a person. The inner meaning of a mikveh is bittul, so these worries, „כאָטש עס שטערט און צעמישט אים צייטווייליק, ווערט ער אָבער דורך דעם צעבראָכן ביי זיך” (though they unsettle him for a while, break his self-regard) and „ווערט ער אַ כלי צו קדושה” (make him a vessel for holiness).

    The Alter Rebbeאך באמת היה המבול בא לטהר את הארץ

    The Rebbeכאָטש עס שטערט און צעמישט אים צייטווייליק, ווערט ער אָבער דורך דעם צעבראָכן ביי זיך און גייט אַרויס פון זיין אייגענעם איך

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. א, p. 4–5 · ש״פ בראשית תשי״ג (שבת מברכים מרחשון)

  4. The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a sicha of the first day of Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5746, the Rebbe asks how a Midrash can liken the flooded world to the world at creation, „כל העולם כולו מים במים” (‘all water within water’), when its waters came „לשחת כל בשר” (‘to destroy all flesh’).

    The Rebbe cites this passage, that the Flood came ‘to purify the earth’ with forty days like the „מ׳ סאה” (forty se’ah) of a mikveh, and notes that even so its purification is still tied to the sins that corrupted the earth. He suggests that the inner content of the Alter Rebbe’s comparison is „טבילה במקוה שהיא אך לתוספת קדושה (ולא כדי לטהר מטומאה)” (a mikveh used not to remove impurity but to add holiness), like the Kohen Gadol’s later immersions on Yom Kippur, which raise him from one level of holiness to a higher one. Cleansing the earth of sin is how the Flood looks below; above, it is an immersion for rising higher.

    The Alter Rebbeשהוא כדוגמת המקוה מ׳ סאה שהיא מטהרת את הטמא

    The Rebbeויש לומר, שזהו התוכן הפנימי בביאור אדה״ז הנ״ל שמי המבול היו בדוגמא למי מקוה

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. ל, p. 16–20 · א׳ דר״ח מרחשון תשמ״ו

  5. The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In an edited sicha of Shabbos Parshas Noach, Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5751, asking why G‑d repeats to Noach the command „פרו ורבו” (‘be fruitful and multiply’) already given to Adam, the Rebbe explains the ‘new world’ the Flood brought about and finds it hinted in the name Noach.

    Before the Flood, the Rebbe explains, the world was whole only by virtue of the way G‑d created it, so once it was corrupted it could not be refined; the Flood, which came ‘to purify the earth’, made the world itself able to be refined, and so gave it the firmness of „לא ישבותו” (‘they shall not cease’). That is why the waters bear Noach’s name: quoting this paragraph, that Noach is „שהוא בחינת שביתה כאדם השובת ממלאכתו” (‘the level of ceasing, like a person who ceases from his work’), he says „נח (איש צדיק) פעל והכניס מנוחה בעולם” (Noach brought rest into the world). And the doubled ‘Noach’ is rest for the higher and the lower ones as they are joined, as Noach is one man named twice: a rest added through man’s work, beyond the Shabbos rest with which G‑d completed creation.

    The Alter Rebbeכי הנה נח הוא נייחא דרוחא שהוא בחינת שביתה כאדם השובת ממלאכתו

    The Rebbeנח (איש צדיק) פעל והכניס מנוחה בעולם, ולכן נקראים מי המבול על שמו ”מי נח”

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5751, vol. א, p. 234–237 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מרחשון ה׳תנש״א (תרגום מאידית; edited)

  6. A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In a talk on Shabbos Parshas Noach, Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan 5745 (an unedited transcript), drawing the lesson learned from Parshas Noach ‘according to the explanation and elucidation in the book whose name is Torah Ohr’, the Rebbe quotes the opening of this maamar at length.

    After quoting that the ‘many waters’ cannot extinguish the love and that through them the soul can reach higher than before, the Rebbe says a Jew can turn the Flood’s ‘evil waters’ into „מי נח” (‘the waters of Noach’), rest of spirit. He then asks about the doubled ‘Noach’, „נייחא לעליונים ונייחא לתחתונים” (‘rest for the higher ones and rest for the lower ones’): Noach is among the lower ones, so how does rest for the higher ones belong here? Higher and lower, he answers, are „באדם עצמו” (within man himself), the soul from above and the body from the earth: the waters disturb neither the soul’s service nor the service with the body, and the rest reaches even his portion in the world.

    The Alter Rebbeומ״ש נח נח ב״פ הם נייחא דעילאי ונייחא דתתאי

    The Rebbeוהביאור — שישנם עליונים ותחתונים באדם עצמו

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos 5745, vol. א, p. 514–515 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מר-חשון ה׳תשמ״ה (בלתי מוגה)

  7. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק, 5742

    The comparison and answer are specific: although the doubled name is associated with completed service, the rest and pleasure of future service are already present at its beginning through awareness that they will later be revealed; this does not mean the completed service itself is already attained.

    The Alter Rebbeומ״ש נח נח ב״פ הם נייחא דעילאי ונייחא דתתאי

    The Rebbeשגם בתחלת עבודתו, לפני וירח ה׳ את ריח הניחוח, כבר ישנו בזה הענין דנח

    The whole maamar, summarized

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

TermsOlam HaBaIbbur and leidahShechinahGan Eden+3

Also Neshamah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    והנה בחי׳ מים רבים · מכאן מובא באוה״ת בראשית כרך ג תרכב, א.
  2. 2
  3. 3
    עיין בספר עיר גיבורים · מבעל המחבר כלי יקר עה״ת.
  4. 4
    נח הוא נייחא דרוחא · Zohar I, 60a
  5. 5
    וישבות ביום השביעי · Genesis 2:2
  6. 6
    וישבת ביום השביעי · Zohar, Bereshit 75:178–77:188
  7. 7
    ותרגומו ונח ביומא שביעאה · Onkelos Genesis 2:2
  8. 8
    נח נח ב״פ · Genesis 6:9
  9. 9
    נייחא דעילאי · Bereshit Rabbah 30:4
  10. 10
    יום שכולו שבת · Mishnah Tamid 7:4
  11. 11
    המבול בא לטהר את הארץ · Zevachim 113a:10–11
  12. 12
    כי מלאה הארץ חמס · Genesis 6:13
  13. 13
    והי׳ נצרך לטהרה ולזאת בא המבול · ראה במאמרי אדה״ז פרשיות ח״א ע׳ ס. אוה״ת במדבר ע׳ רס. ובמאמרי אדה״א בראשית ע׳ קא ”שכל הרע שבני אדם עושין ואפי׳ הרע של חיות ובהמות הכל הוא בארץ . . ובמבול נלקח הרע מן הארץ ע״י רחיצה במים”.
  14. 14
    כדוגמת המקוה מ׳ סאה · ראה אוה״ת בראשית ח״ג תרכד, א שצ״ע לפי המדרשים דהמבול כענין ארבעים יכנו, ומתרץ שאפשר לומר שזהו ע״ד מי יתן טהור מטמא, ע״ש. לקו״ש ח״א ע׳ 4.
  15. 15
  16. 16
    וכמארז״ל שבחר לו א״א שעבוד · Bereshit Rabbah 44:21
  17. 17
    וכמו שאמרו גבי אחר . . כמ״ש במ״א · Chagigah 15b:3–4

What the servitude is ¶4

4והנה שעבוד אין הפי׳ מה שיש עלינו עתה מלך ושנוטל מאתנו מס שגם בזמן בהמ״ק [בית המקדש] היה עלינו מלך ישראל והמס היה ביותר כידוע שחלק עשירי הוצרך כ״א [כל אחד / כל אחת] ליתן.

Now, “servitude” does not mean that there is now a king over us and that he takes tax from us, for in the time of the Holy Temple too there was a king of Israel over us, and the tax was even greater, as is known, for each person had to give a tenth part.

Explanation

The Alter Rebbe clarifies what “servitude” means here. It is not political subjugation or taxation: in the days of the Temple, too, Israel had a king who taxed them, even more heavily, taking a tenth.

אלא הכוונה היא שבזמן שבהמ״ק [שבית המקדש] היה קיים היה נמשך ברכה והשפע׳ עצומה עד שא״י [שארץ ישראל] היתה ארץ זבת חלב ודבש כו׳

Rather, the intent is that when the Holy Temple stood, blessing and an immense flow of bounty were drawn down, until the Land of Israel was “a land flowing with milk and honey,” etc.,

Explanation

The real difference is that when the Temple stood, G‑d’s blessing flowed down so abundantly that the Land of Israel literally was “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

שלא ע״פ הטבע כלל כמ״ש בגמ׳ [בגמרא] סוף מסכת כתובות ולא היה כלל דאגות וטרדת הפרנסה.

not by way of nature at all, as is stated in the Gemara at the end of Tractate Kesubos; and there were no worries or preoccupation with livelihood at all.

Explanation

That abundance was supernatural, as the Talmud describes at the end of Tractate Kesubos, so people had no anxiety about making a living. The “servitude” of exile, then, is the worry and toil of earning a living that came when that open blessing ceased.

Paragraph 4 in brief

The paragraph defines the “servitude” of exile not as foreign rule or taxes but as the toil and worry of earning a living, which did not exist when the Temple stood and blessing flowed openly.

Deeper

A Kehot note brings the Rebbe’s refinement: the servitude is the preoccupation itself, when a person pours the intellect G‑d gave him, the “waters,” into his livelihood until he is consumed by it, rather than the material things as such.

TermsKavanahBerachah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    שעבוד אין הפי׳ . . כ״א ליתן · בד״ה כי ידעתיו תשל״ו מפרש ”אלא הכוונה היא על ענין הטרדה שבזה, מה שהאדם מוטרד בזה וכו׳, ולא על עצם הענינים הגשמיים, והטרדה הוא באופן שמשתמש בהשכל שנתן לו הקב״ה, בחי׳ מים, בעניני פרנסה, ועד שנעשה מוטרד בזה” (מהנחה בלתי מוגה). להעיר מאוה״ת פ׳ שמיני ע׳ תפה ”כי הנה אנו רואים שהשר הגשמי יותר יחפוץ וישתוקק בעול המסים בריבוי אחר ריבוי להכביד על ישראל כו׳ משא״כ בנכרי המתפרנס מקרקעו אינו חפץ כלל להגביר עליו כו׳”. וע״ש הטעם.
  2. 2
  3. 3
    שלא ע״פ הטבע כלל כמ״ש בגמרא סוף מס׳ כתובות · בהנחת הר״פ ליתא.

Light out of darkness ¶5–7

5ועתה יש לכאו״א [לכל אחד ואחד] יגיעות וטרדת הפרנסה לעסוק בעניני עוה״ז הגשמי והוא בחי׳ מים רבים הנ״ל שנק׳ מי נח

Now, each and every person has toil and the preoccupation of earning a livelihood, occupying himself with the matters of this physical world; and this is the level of the “many waters” mentioned above, which are called “the waters of Noach,”

Explanation

The Alter Rebbe returns to the present: since the Temple’s destruction every person must labour and worry to make a living. This, he says, is exactly what the verse calls “many waters” and Isaiah calls “the waters of Noach.”

שהוא בחי׳ נייחא דרוחא לפי שע״י בחי׳ מים רבים הנ״ל מתעלית הנשמה למדרגה היותר גבוה מקודם התלבשותה כו׳ שהיתה רק נהנית מזיו השכינה כו׳

which is the level of naycha d’rucha, because through the level of the “many waters” mentioned above the soul is raised to a higher level than [it had] before its enclothement, etc., when it merely delighted in the radiance of the Shechinah, etc.

Explanation

They are called waters of “rest” because they bring the soul to a higher satisfaction than it knew before it came into a body. Then it merely enjoyed G‑d’s radiance; now, through its struggle in the world, it can rise above that.

¶2 This explains the claim from paragraph 2: the soul rises higher than before.

וכמארז״ל [וכמאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומע״ט [ומעשים טובים] בעוה״ז מכל חיי העוה״ב [העולם הבא] לפי שהוא בחי׳ יתרון האור מתוך החושך דוקא שהוא בחינת אתכפייא סט״א [סטרא אחרא] ואתהפכא חשוכא כו׳

As our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “One hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come,” because this is the level of the advantage of light [that comes] specifically out of darkness, which is the level of the subjugation of the sitra achra (iskafya) and the transformation of darkness (is’hapcha chashocha), etc.

Explanation

The Mishnah’s teaching that one hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world outweighs all of the World to Come expresses this. The advantage comes from “light out of darkness”: iskafya, subduing the sitra achra (the forces opposed to holiness), and is’hapcha chashocha, transforming darkness itself into light, produce a light greater than light that never met darkness.

שכשעוסק כל היום בענינים גשמיים בטרדת הפרנסה שהם הנק׳ חשך ומתבונן אח״כ בתפלה איך שאין לך ט, אעשב מלמטה שאין לו מזל מלמעלה כו׳

For when one is occupied all day with physical matters, in the preoccupation of earning a livelihood, which are what is called “darkness,” and afterward contemplates in prayer how “there is no blade of grass below that does not have a mazal above,” etc. —

Explanation

Now he describes how this happens in practice. A person spends the day absorbed in business, the “darkness”; then in prayer he reflects on the Sages’ teaching that every blade of grass has a mazal, a spiritual force above, that tells it to grow.

שהם המזלות שהם המשפיעים חיות כל עוה״ז וכמ״ש (דברים לג) וממגד תבואות שמש וממגד גרש כו׳

these are the mazalos, which channel life-force to this entire world, as it is written (Deuteronomy 33), “And with the bounty of the produce of the sun, and with the bounty of the yield of [the moons],” etc. —

Explanation

The mazalos are the celestial forces (associated with the constellations) through which life-force is channelled to everything in this world. Moshe’s blessing to Yosef, which speaks of the produce ripened by the sun and the moons, shows that the heavenly bodies govern the earth’s growth.

והמזלות הם מקבלים מע׳ שרים והשרים מקבלים משמרי אופנים והם מקבלים מהמלאכים וגבוה מעל גבוה עד שכולם מקבלים מבחי׳ מלכותו ית׳

and the mazalos receive from the seventy princes, and the princes receive from the dregs of the Ofanim, and they receive from the angels, one higher than the other, until all of them receive from the level of His Malchus (sovereignty), blessed be He,

Explanation

The contemplation climbs the chain of influence: the mazalos draw from the seventy angelic “princes” appointed over the nations, those from higher angels (the “dregs of the Ofanim,” the lowest part of the Ofanim, the “wheels” of Ezekiel’s vision of the Chariot, a class of angels), and so on upward, each receiving from the one above it, until all draw from G‑d’s Malchus, His sovereignty, the attribute through which He creates and rules the worlds.

וכמ״ש מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים שמהווה את כל העולמות מאין ליש ממש והוא רק בחי׳ זיו השכינה בלבד שאינו

as it is written, “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds,” which brings all the worlds into being from nothing into actual something; and this is only the level of the radiance of the Shechinah alone, which is

Explanation

Malchus is the power that brings all worlds from absolute nothingness into existence, as the verse “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds” says. Yet this whole creative power is only the “radiance of the Shechinah,” the light that shines outward from G‑d.

אלא בחי׳ זיו והארה בעלמא בלבד לגבי מהותו ועצמותו יתב׳ [יתברך] כביכול שהוא בבחי׳ א״ס ממש היה הוה ויהיה בלי שינוי ממש וכמאמר אתה הוא קודם שנברא ואתה הוא לאחר שנברא כו׳.

nothing but the level of a mere radiance and glow alone relative to His essence and being, blessed be He, as it were, which is on the level of the Infinite One (Ein Sof) in the full sense — [Who] was, is and will be without any change at all; as the saying goes, “You are He before [the world] was created, and You are He after it was created,” etc.

Explanation

Compared with G‑d’s own essence, that radiance is a mere glow. His essence is truly infinite and unchanged by creation, as the liturgy says: You were the same before the world was created and after it was created.

ואחרי התבוננו׳ [התבוננות] כל הנ״ל בעומק הדעת תתעורר נפשו בבחי׳ אה׳ ותשוקה נפלאה כרשפי אש לצאת מתוך החשך והעלם הגשמי הזה ורק לדבקה בו ית׳

After contemplating all the above in the depth of Daas (knowledge), his soul will be aroused with love and wondrous longing, like sparks of fire, to go out of this darkness and physical concealment and only to cleave to Him, blessed be He,

Explanation

When a person contemplates this deeply, not superficially, his soul is set aflame with love and longing, “like sparks of fire,” recalling the maamar’s opening verse. He wants to break out of the darkness and concealment of the physical world and cleave only to G‑d.

וכמ״ש (תהלים עג) מי לי בשמים ועמך לא חפצתי כו׳ שלא יחפוץ כלל לא בג״ע [בגן עדן] התחתון ולא בג״ע [בגן עדן] העליון שהם רק בחי׳ זיו והארה בלבד

as it is written (Psalms 73), “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You I desire nothing,” etc. — that he should not desire at all either the lower Garden of Eden or the higher Garden of Eden, which are only the level of radiance and glow alone,

Explanation

The Psalmist’s cry “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You I desire nothing” expresses this love. Such a person does not want even the lower or higher Garden of Eden, the spiritual rewards of the souls, because they too are only G‑d’s radiance and not G‑d Himself.

וכמארז״ל [וכמאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] צדיקים יושבים וכו׳ ונהנין מזיו השכינה כ״א לדבקה בו ית׳ ליכלל בבחי׳ מהותו ועצמותו ית׳ ונק׳ בזה״ק [בזהר הקדוש] לאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא כו׳

as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “The righteous sit, etc., and delight in the radiance of the Shechinah” — but only to cleave to Him, blessed be He, to be absorbed in the level of His essence and being, blessed be He; and in the holy Zohar this is called “to be absorbed into the body of the King,” etc.

Explanation

The Talmud describes the World to Come as the righteous enjoying “the radiance of the Shechinah”; this love wants more than radiance. It wants to be absorbed into G‑d’s very essence, what the Zohar calls being “absorbed into the body of the King.”

ונק׳ בחי׳ אהבה זו בחי׳ תשובה שהוא בחילא יתיר שבאה דוקא מתוך החשך שהיה עוסק רק בענינים גשמיים והבלי עולם.

This love is called the level of teshuvah, which is “with greater strength,” for it comes specifically out of the darkness, when he was occupied only with physical matters and the vanities of the world.

Explanation

This love is a form of teshuvah, return to G‑d. The Zohar says that those who return serve “with greater strength” than the perfectly righteous, because their love bursts out of the darkness in which they had been immersed in material affairs.

לפי שיתרון האור הוא מתוך החשך דוקא. ונק׳ אהבה זו בחי׳ בכל מאדך שהוא בלי גבול ממש שבאה דוקא מן ההפוך שהוא החשך

For the advantage of light is specifically out of darkness. And this love is called the level of “with all your might (me’odecha),” which is truly without limit, for it comes specifically from the opposite, which is the darkness,

Explanation

Since light born from darkness is greater, this love is called “with all your might (me’odecha),” the third and highest level of love in the Shema, meaning love without limit. It is unlimited precisely because it emerges from its opposite.

וכמ״ש טוב זה מלאך חיים (טוב) מאד זה מה״מ [מלאך המות] שע״י ההפוך והחשך דוקא שהוא בחי׳ נה״ב [נפש הבהמית] יכולים לבא לבחי׳ אהבת בכל מאדך שהוא בלי גבול ממש.

as it is written, “‘Good’ — this is the angel of life; ‘very (me’od) (good)’ — this is the angel of death”: for through the opposite and the darkness specifically, which is the level of the animal soul, one can come to the level of the love “with all your might,” which is truly without limit.

Explanation

The Sages read G‑d’s verdict on creation, “very good,” as including even the angel of death: “good” is the angel of life, “very” is the angel of death. The Alter Rebbe applies this to the animal soul: the very opposition it presents is what makes possible the “very,” the limitless love of “with all your might.”

והיינו לפי שבשרשה למעלה מעלה שורש נה״ב [נפש הבהמית] גבוה יותר מבחי׳ נפש האלקית וכמ״ש (בראשי׳ [בראשית] לו) ואלה המל׳ אשר מלכו כו׳

That is, because in its root, very high above, the root of the animal soul is higher than the level of the G‑dly soul, as it is written (Genesis 36), “And these are the kings who reigned,” etc.,

Explanation

The reason is surprising: at its ultimate root, the animal soul stems from a level higher than the G‑dly soul. The proof is the Torah’s list of the kings of Edom who reigned “before any king reigned over Israel.”

לפני מלך מלך לבנ״י [לבני ישראל] שהוא בחי׳ נפש האלקית רק שע״י שבה״כ [שבירת הכלים] נפלו למטה מטה כמ״ש וימלך וימת כו׳ אבל בשרשם הם למעלה מעלה מבחי׳ נפש האלקית.

“before any king reigned over the Children of Israel,” which is the level of the G‑dly soul; only that through the shattering of the vessels they fell very far down, as it is written, “And he reigned, and he died,” etc. But in their root they are far above the level of the G‑dly soul.

Explanation

In Kabbalah these Edomite kings represent the world of Tohu, a realm of intense lights that preceded the ordered world of Tikkun, to which the G‑dly soul (the “kings of Israel”) belongs. Tohu’s vessels could not contain its lights and shattered, hence the refrain “he reigned, and he died”; so the forces rooted in it fell very low, even though their origin is far above the G‑dly soul.

Paragraph 5 in brief

The paragraph shows how the “waters” of livelihood raise the soul: a person who spends the day in material “darkness” and then contemplates in prayer how all existence is a mere glow of G‑d is roused to a limitless love, the love of “with all your might,” which surpasses what the soul had before its descent because it draws on the animal soul, whose root is higher.

Deeper

The superiority of the animal soul’s root follows the Kabbalistic teaching of Tohu and Tikkun: “the kings who reigned in the land of Edom” are the lights of Tohu, greater than those of Tikkun, which fell through the shattering of the vessels. Because the struggle with the animal soul engages that higher root, iskafya and is’hapcha chashocha reveal a light that the G‑dly soul alone could not reach.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. The Rebbe explains

    In the edited maamar „ושבתי בשלום אל בית אבי” (‘Ushavti b’shalom el beis avi’), said in his room on Motzaei Shabbos Vayetzei, 9 Kislev, the eve of 10 Kislev 5738, having shown that through its descent the soul becomes a ba’al teshuvah, the Rebbe says that even so this is not the purpose of the descent, which is the refining of the body, the animal soul and one’s portion in the world.

    The Rebbe explains why, as this paragraph says, the love ‘with all your might’ comes specifically out of the darkness of the physical matters a person deals with all day (החושך של הענינים הגשמיים שעוסק בהם במשך היום). That the soul, „חלק אלקה ממעל ממש” (‘truly a part of G‑d above’), overcomes what hides it „אין זה חידוש כ״כ” (is no real novelty); that the body, the animal soul and above all one’s portion in the world outside become vessels for G‑dliness is, and the delight above comes from what is new. So the boundless love comes through „אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא” (transforming that outside darkness), even though the service ‘with all your heart’, with both inclinations, also turns the evil inclination to holiness (his note 168: 'ראה תו״א נח ט, א׳).

    The Alter Rebbeונק׳ אהבה זו בחי׳ בכל מאדך שהוא בלי גבול ממש שבאה דוקא מן ההפוך שהוא החשך

    The Rebbeשבכדי לבוא לבחי׳ בכל מאדך הוא ע״י אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא [החושך של הענינים הגשמיים שעוסק בהם במשך היום]

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ב, p. קעג · מוצאי ש״פ ויצא, ט׳ כסלו, אור ליו״ד כסלו — בחדרו — ה׳תשל״ח

  2. A question the Rebbe raises

    In the maamar ‘Ki Yedaativ’, said on Shabbos Vayera, 20 Marcheshvan 5736, the Rebbe Rashab’s birthday (an unedited transcript), the Rebbe works through the Rebbe Maharash’s hemshech ‘Mayim Rabbim’ of 5636, which he says is apparently founded on this maamar, and explains why the hemshech brings a person through the ‘many waters’ only to the love ‘with all your heart’, while Torah Ohr reaches ‘with all your might’.

    The difference, he explains, is in how a person is engaged with the physical. The hemshech speaks of engagement that is not „כדבעי” (as it should be), where one is caught up in worries, and casting them off yields only ‘with all your heart’. Torah Ohr Noach speaks of „העסק בענינים גשמיים כפי שהם כדבעי” (engagement in physical matters as it should be), for the sake of Torah and mitzvos; then the waters do more than fail to put out the hidden love, they bring it into the open, up to ‘with all your might’, of which it says „מי לי בשמים ועמך לא חפצתי” (‘Whom have I in heaven . . . besides You I desire nothing’).

    The Alter Rebbeוכמ״ש (תהלים עג) מי לי בשמים ועמך לא חפצתי כו׳

    The Rebbeוגם בתו״א פרשת נח מבואר ע״ד העסק בענינים גשמיים כפי שהם כדבעי, שעי״ז אפשר לבא גם לבחינת בכל מאדך

    Sefer HaMaamarim 5736 (bilti mugah), p. 46–48 · ש״פ וירא, כ״ף מרחשון, ה׳תשל״ו (הנחה בלתי מוגה)

  3. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק, 5742

    The Alter Rebbe locates the purifying “servitude” in the actual toil and worry of earning a living. The Rebbe adds that the Torah is a Torah of kindness, so literal crushing labor is not needed. For a king’s only son, the hiding of G‑d’s face is itself against his nature and so counts as the hardest labor. This holds even when he has all necessities and wealth, as long as pnimiyus Atik is not yet revealed.

    The Rebbeע״כ אין צריך להיות עבודת פרך כפשוטה

    The whole maamar, summarized

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

TermsLeishtaava begufa demalkaMazalNefesh ha’elokisSitra achra+24

Also NeshamahChayus

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    וכמארז״ל יפה שעה אחת . . מכל חיי העוה״ב · אבות פ״ד, משנה יז.
  2. 2
    יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומע״ט בעוה״ז מכל חיי העוה״ב · Pirkei Avot 4:17
  3. 3
    שאין לך עשב מלמטה · Bereshit Rabbah 10:6
  4. 4
    שאין לך עשב מלמטה שאין לו מזל מלמעלה · Zohar, Addenda, Volume I 1:1
  5. 5
  6. 6
    מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים · Psalms 145:13
  7. 7
  8. 8
    צדיקים יושבים · Berakhot 17a:12
  9. 9
    לאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא · Zohar I, 217b
  10. 10
    בחילא יתיר · Zohar I, 129b
  11. 11
    (טוב) מאד · Genesis 1:31
  12. 12
    טוב זה מלאך חיים . . מאד זה מה״מ · Zohar I, 14a
  13. 13
  14. 14
    אבל בשרשם הם למעלה מעלה · ראה לקמן בשלח סב, סע״ד ואילך. יתרו עא, א. לקו״ת ר״פ בלק ועוד. ד״ה להבין ענין כתיבת ספר תורה תש״ל הערה 19.

6ולזאת גם כמו שנפלו למטה יש להם תגבורת על נפש האלקית מפני ששרשם הוא מבחי׳ מלוכה שהוא בחי׳ התנשאות כו׳.

Therefore, even as they have fallen down, they have mastery over the G‑dly soul, because their root is from the level of kingship, which is the level of self-exaltation, etc.

Explanation

Because the animal soul’s root is in Tohu’s kings, even in its fallen state it has the power to dominate the G‑dly soul. Its root is “kingship,” and a king’s nature is self-exaltation; hence the animal soul’s forceful ego.

וגם האדם מקבל חיות מבחי׳ בהמות ומאכלים ובלעדם אינו יכול לחיות משא״כ המאכלים אינם צריכים אל האדם.

Also, a person receives life-force from the level of animals and foods, and without them he cannot live, whereas the foods do not need the person.

Explanation

A second sign of the higher root: man, the highest creature, draws his life from animals and food and cannot live without them, while they do not need him. The dependence of the higher on the lower shows that the lower has a loftier source.

Paragraph 6 in brief

The paragraph gives two signs that the forces of the animal soul and the physical world have a higher root: their power to dominate the G‑dly soul, and man’s dependence on food for life.

Deeper

The idea that the lower sustains the higher because its source is higher is developed at length in Chassidus in explaining why the soul is nourished by physical food: the sparks of Tohu within food stem from a level higher than the soul.

TermsNefesh ha’elokisRomemus+1

Also Chayus

7וכל זה מפני שבשרש שרשם למעלה הם גבוהים הרבה מבחי׳ הנשמות ולזאת ע״י ירידת והתלבשות נפש האלקית בנפש

All this is because in the root of their root above they are much higher than the level of the souls. Therefore, through the descent and enclothement of the G‑dly soul in the

Explanation

The Alter Rebbe restates the principle: at the root of their root, these forces are far higher than the souls. That is why the G‑dly soul had to descend and be enclothed specifically in the animal soul.

הבהמית דוקא לעסוק בטרדות ומחשבות הפרנסה בענינים גשמיים שהם הנקראים מים רבים הנ״ל יכולה לבא לבחי׳ אהבת בכל מאדך.

animal soul specifically, to occupy itself with the preoccupations and thoughts of livelihood in physical matters — which are what are called the “many waters” mentioned above — it can come to the level of the love “with all your might,”

Explanation

By working through the animal soul, engaged in the worries of livelihood, the “many waters,” the G‑dly soul can reach the love of “with all your might.”

שהוא בלי גבול כנ״ל שהיא מדרגה היותר גבוה מהיותה קודם ירידתה בגוף שהיתה רק נהנית מזיו השכינה כו׳.

which is without limit, as mentioned above, which is a higher level than [it had] when it was before its descent into the body, when it merely delighted in the radiance of the Shechinah, etc.

Explanation

That limitless love is higher than the state the soul enjoyed before it came into the body, when it only delighted in G‑d’s radiance.

והיינו ע״י אתכפיי׳ [אתכפייא] ואתהפכא חשוכא דוקא שהוא בחי׳ יתרון האור שמתוך החשך כנ״ל. לפי ששרשם למעלה גבוה ממדרגת נפש האלקית כנ״ל רק שנפלו למטה כמ״ש וימלך וימת כו׳ וע״י אתכפייא נעשה תחה״מ [תחיית המתים]:

That is, through iskafya and is’hapcha chashocha specifically, which is the level of the advantage of light that is out of darkness, as mentioned above, because their root above is higher than the rank of the G‑dly soul, as mentioned above, only that they fell down, as it is written, “And he reigned, and he died,” etc.; and through iskafya the resurrection of the dead comes about.

Explanation

It is achieved only through iskafya and is’hapcha chashocha, subduing and transforming the darkness. Because the animal soul’s root is higher, subduing it releases that higher light; and this process of iskafya is what will ultimately bring about the resurrection of the dead, when the physical body itself is elevated.

Paragraph 7 in brief

The paragraph summarises the mechanism: because the animal soul’s root is higher, the G‑dly soul’s descent into it, and its labour in the “many waters,” let it reach a limitless love surpassing its state before descent, and through iskafya bring about the resurrection of the dead.

Deeper

The link between iskafya and the resurrection reflects the Chassidic teaching that the reward of the Messianic era, including the resurrection, is the revelation of the effect of refining the body and the animal soul in this world.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5725

    The Alter Rebbe presents “with all your might” as the height reached through the waters. The Rebbe adds two things. First, the distracting waters exist for scholars as well, not only for businessmen. Second, through them one goes beyond “with all your might” to the union of “achos lanu ketanah” and to “the day she is spoken for.” There prayer flows of itself (“open my lips and my mouth will declare”), and Torah is learned as one who answers after the reader.

    The Alter Rebbeיכולה לבא לבחי׳ אהבת בכל מאדך

    The Rebbeשגם לאחרי האהבה דבכל מאדך ישנם כמה מדריגות

    The whole maamar, summarized

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.

TermsTechiyas hameisimNefesh ha’elokisBechol me’odechaIskafya and is’hapcha+5

Also NeshamahHislabshus

The ark of prayer ¶8–10

8וזהו מארז״ל [מאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] יפה שעה א׳ בתשובה ומע״ט [ומעשים טובים] בעוה״ז מכל חיי העוה״ב [העולם הבא] כנ״ל. ולזאת נקראו מים רבים הנ״ל מי נח לפי שנעשה

And this is [the meaning of] the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, “One hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come,” as mentioned above. Therefore the “many waters” mentioned above are called “the waters of Noach,” because there comes about

Explanation

This explains the Mishnah quoted earlier: an hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world surpasses the World to Come, since only here is there darkness to transform. And it explains why the “many waters” are named after Noach, “rest.”

ע״י נייחא דרוחא שנעשה מהם תבת נח שהוא בחי׳ תיבות התפלה וכמ״ש בא אתה וכל ביתך אל התבה כו׳.

through [them] naycha d’rucha, for from them is made the ark (teivah) of Noach, which is the level of the words (teivos) of prayer, as it is written, “Come, you and all your household, into the ark,” etc.

Explanation

From the waters of livelihood comes the ark, the teivah, which in Hebrew also means “word.” The ark is the words of prayer; G‑d’s call to Noach to enter the ark with his household is a call to enter wholly into the words of prayer, where the day’s struggles are elevated.

Paragraph 8 in brief

The paragraph ties the imagery together: the “many waters” are the waters of Noach because through them comes rest of spirit, and the ark (teivah) that floats on them is the words (teivos) of prayer.

Deeper

The play on teivah, “ark” and “word,” lets the whole Flood narrative be read as a guide to prayer: the person enters the words with all of himself, and the waters of the day lift them up, as the next paragraphs show.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5725

    The Alter Rebbe identifies the ark with the words of prayer. The Rebbe makes this the practical path, “come into the ark,” and explains why it is prayer specifically: the essence of avodah is love, and prayer is the avodah of arousing love. Fear, by contrast, must and can be present all day and is not tied to prayer in particular.

    The Alter Rebbeשנעשה מהם תבת נח שהוא בחי׳ תיבות התפלה

    The Rebbeכיון שתפלה פועלת ענין האהבה

    The whole maamar, summarized

  2. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק, 5742

    For the Alter Rebbe the ark is the words of prayer lifted by the waters. The Rebbe widens it, via the Baal Shem Tov, to the letters of both Torah and prayer. He adds “make a window (tzohar) for the ark”: the letters must shine with love and fear, without which they do not fly upward. Through Ohr HaTorah he also splits the ark into two aspects, Torah as Binah and mitzvos as Malchus, each requiring a different mode of entry: grasp and expansion for one, total bittul for the other.

    The Alter Rebbeשנעשה מהם תבת נח שהוא בחי׳ תיבות התפלה

    The Rebbeדתיבה הם אותיות התורה ותפלה

    The whole maamar, summarized

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.

TermsOlam HaBaOlam HaZehTeshuvahTefillah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    בא אתה וכל ביתך אל התבה · Genesis 7:1

9וזהו ויגברו המים מאד כו׳ חמש עשרה אמה מלמעלה גברו המים כו׳ שהוא בחי׳ תגבורת נפש הבהמית על בחי׳ נפש האלקית בעסק הפרנסה ועניינים הגשמיים אך עי״ז נעשה אח״כ יתרון אור כו׳ כנ״ל.

And this is [the meaning of] “And the waters prevailed very greatly,” etc., “fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail,” etc.: this is the level of the mastery of the animal soul over the level of the G‑dly soul in the occupation of livelihood and physical matters; but through this there afterward comes about an advantage of light, etc., as mentioned above.

Explanation

The verses describe the waters of the Flood swelling and rising fifteen cubits above the mountains. The Alter Rebbe reads this as the animal soul’s temporary dominance over the G‑dly soul while a person is immersed in business; but this very dominance is what later produces the greater light of prayer.

Paragraph 9 in brief

The paragraph applies the verse “the waters prevailed” to the animal soul’s dominance during working hours, which later becomes the source of greater light.

TermsNefesh ha’elokisNefesh habahamis

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    ויגברו המים · Genesis 7:18
  2. 2
    חמש עשרה אמה מלמעלה גברו המים · Genesis 7:20

10וזהו ותלך התבה על פני המים דוקא ותרם התבה כו׳ שע״י המים דוקא מתעלות תיבות התפלה ועולה למעלה מעלה כנ״ל.

And this is [the meaning of] “And the ark went upon the face of the waters” — specifically — “and the ark was lifted up,” etc.: through the waters specifically, the words (teivos) of prayer are elevated and rise higher and higher, as mentioned above.

Explanation

“The ark went upon the face of the waters,” and it was the waters themselves that lifted the ark high. So too the words of prayer are raised precisely by the “waters” of a day of material struggle, and they rise to the highest levels.

וזהו טעות הבעלי עסקים שבדעתם שאין יכול׳ [יכולת] להתפלל כ״כ [כל כך] כמו היושבי אוהלים כי אדרבה נהפוך הוא שהם יכולים להתפלל יותר כי יתרון האור הוא מתוך החשך דוקא כו׳.

And this is the error of the businessmen, who think that they cannot pray as much as those who dwell in the tents; for, on the contrary, it is quite the reverse: they can pray more, for the advantage of light is specifically out of darkness, etc.

Explanation

The practical conclusion: businesspeople often assume they cannot pray as well as full-time scholars, “those who dwell in the tents” of study. The Alter Rebbe says the opposite is true: their prayer can reach higher, because their light comes out of darkness.

Paragraph 10 in brief

The paragraph reads the ark lifted by the waters as prayer lifted by the day’s struggles, and draws the lesson that people in business can pray even more deeply than full-time scholars.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. The Rebbe explains

    In a sicha said in his room on Motzaei Shabbos Noach 5738 (the same sicha brought on ¶3), linking Parshas Noach with ‘Yaakov went on his way’, the move from Tishrei into the weekday year, the Rebbe speaks to one who is afraid of the world’s ‘many waters’.

    The ‘many waters’, which he defines in this maamar’s words as „טרדות הפרנסה והמחשבות שבעניני עוה״ז” (‘the preoccupations of livelihood and the thoughts about the matters of this world’), are called ‘the waters of Noach’, and the way is ‘come into the ark’: „להכניס את עצמו בהתיבות דתפלה ותורה” (to enter the words (teivos) of prayer and of Torah). One who resolves not to be moved by the waters and to cleave to those words is not only saved; the waters themselves become „מי נח” (‘waters of Noach’) and add an elevation to the words of prayer and Torah. His note 56 quotes this passage: „שע״י המים דוקא מתעלות תיבות התפלה” (‘through the waters specifically, the words of prayer are elevated’).

    The Alter Rebbeשע״י המים דוקא מתעלות תיבות התפלה ועולה למעלה מעלה

    The Rebbeדי „מים רבים” גופא ווערן „מי נח” „נייחא דרוחא”, דורך זיי קומט צו אַן עילוי אין די תיבות התפלה והתורה

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. כ, p. 286–287 · מוצאי ש״פ נח - בחדרו - ה׳תשל״ח

  2. The Rebbe explains

    In a sicha on Parshas Vayetzei, on Rashi’s ‘from now on his main dwelling will be with me’ at Zevulun’s birth, the Rebbe asks how the merchant tribe can fix where Yaakov, the man who ‘dwells in tents’ (יושבי אהל), mainly dwells.

    G‑d’s dwelling is made in the lowest realm, mainly by businessmen who use the world for heaven’s sake, and its permanence shows in their own Torah and prayer. So the Rebbe reads the Alter Rebbe’s letter, that on Shabbos prayer „מוטל ביתר שאת ויתר עז” (‘is incumbent on them with greater intensity’), as saying not only that their duty is greater but that „עבודת התפלה שלהם היא ביתר שאת ויתר עז מתפלת יושבי אהל” (their prayer itself is higher than that of those who dwell in tents), and he quotes this passage as the proof: „שהם יכולים להתפלל יותר כי יתרון האור הוא מתוך החשך דוקא” (‘they can pray more, for the advantage of light comes out of darkness’). He extends it to their fixed times for Torah study.

    The Alter Rebbeכי אדרבה נהפוך הוא שהם יכולים להתפלל יותר כי יתרון האור הוא מתוך החשך דוקא

    The Rebbeאלא שעבודת התפלה שלהם היא „ביתר שאת ויתר עז” מתפלת יושבי אהל

    Likkutei Sichos, vol. ל, p. 134–140 · ש״פ ויקרא תשמ״ב, ליל ה׳ דסוכות תשמ״ג

  3. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5725

    The Rebbe draws out practical implications of this line. Businessmen must pray on weekdays too, for less time than those with more free time, but with some length and kavanah; reducing the time can also harm kavanah. Since “one who toils on Erev Shabbos eats on Shabbos,” they should not lead the services, and on Shabbos their prayer should be pursued with greater intensity, as in Iggeres HaKodesh. Those who dwell in tents cannot even entertain such an error. They must actually pray at length, since less time means less kavanah, as shown by the Alter Rebbe’s “about an hour and a half at least.” Their conduct also shapes those who learn from them.

    The Alter Rebbeוזהו טעות הבעלי עסקים שבדעתם שאין יכול׳ להתפלל כ״כ כמו היושבי אוהלים

    The Rebbeשאצל יושבי אוהלים הנה מלכתחילה אין מקום לטעות כזו

    The whole maamar, summarized

  4. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות, 5725

    The Rebbe takes the plural “tents” as precise, since the Tzemach Tzedek chose and printed these transcripts. Businesses are plural because worldly matters are a realm of division, but Torah is one. He explains the two tents as Written Torah, where the letters are central, and Oral Torah, where understanding is central. The lesson: even one who learns Chassidus only superficially, like reciting letters, can engage in lengthy prayer just as one who studies it in depth. The deep learner, in turn, cannot say “I have only Torah.”

    The Alter Rebbeכמו היושבי אוהלים כי אדרבה נהפוך הוא

    The Rebbeולמה נאמר אוהלים לשון רבים

    The whole maamar, summarized

  5. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק, 5742

    The Alter Rebbe answers the businessman’s sense of inferiority in prayer. The Rebbe applies both aspects of the ark to both groups. Scholars need Torah together with acts of kindness, and businessmen must study Torah itself, not only the laws they need for practice.

    The Alter Rebbeוזהו טעות הבעלי עסקים שבדעתם שאין יכול׳ להתפלל

    The Rebbeהן ביושבי אוהל, מארי תורה,

    The whole maamar, summarized

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

TermsTefillah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    ותלך התבה על פני המים · Genesis 7:18
  2. 2
    ותרם התבה · Genesis 7:17

The lower Shabbos ¶11

11וזהו שנק׳ מי נח נייחא דרוחא שהוא בחי׳ השבת כמ״ש כי בו שבת מכל מלאכתו כו׳.

And this is why the waters of Noach are called naycha d’rucha, which is the level of Shabbos, as it is written, “For on it He ceased from all His work,” etc.

Explanation

The Alter Rebbe now explains why the “rest” of Noach is Shabbos. The Torah says that on the seventh day G‑d “ceased from all His work,” and cessation from creative work is what Shabbos is.

שבו׳ ימי המעשה הוא בחי׳ התפשטות והמשכת מלכותו ית׳ למטה כמו ביום הראשון נאמר ויאמר אלקים יהי אור כו׳

For the six days of work are the level of the spreading forth and drawing down of His Malchus (sovereignty), blessed be He, below; as on the first day it is said, “And G‑d said, ‘Let there be light,’” etc.,

Explanation

During the six days of creation G‑d’s Malchus, His creative sovereignty, spread outward and downward into ever more worlds and creatures; each day began with a new utterance, starting with “Let there be light.”

יהי רקיע תדשא הארץ דשא כו׳ שנקראים ימי ט, בהמעשה ובשבת הוא בחי׳ שביתה ממלאכה ונייחא דרוחא שהוא עליית העולמות למעלה כאדם השובת ונח ממלאכתו.

“Let there be a firmament,” “Let the earth sprout vegetation,” etc., which are called the days of work; and on Shabbos there is the level of ceasing from work and naycha d’rucha, which is the ascent of the worlds on high, like a person who ceases and rests from his work.

Explanation

The further utterances, the firmament and the vegetation, continued this outward flow, which is why those days are called “days of work.” On Shabbos the flow reverses: the worlds ascend back toward their Source, just as a person who stops working withdraws from his tasks and rests.

כמו״כ [כמו כן] הוא בחי׳ טרדת ועסק הפרנסה בענינים גשמיים שנק׳ מים רבים כשמתהפכים ועולים אח״כ בבחי׳ אלקות ע״י התפלה כנ״ל נק׳ בחי׳ זו בחי׳ נייחא דרוחא

So too is the level of the preoccupation and occupation of livelihood in physical matters, which are called “many waters”: when they are transformed and afterward rise into the level of G‑dliness through prayer, as mentioned above, this level is called the level of naycha d’rucha,

Explanation

The same pattern happens in a person’s week. The day spent in the pressure of business is outward “work”; when, through prayer, those involvements are transformed and raised up into G‑dliness, the result is naycha d’rucha, rest of spirit.

שהוא בחי׳ שבת כנ״ל כידוע שכל תפלה מו׳ ימי המעשה היא הארה מבחי׳ שבת כנ״ל. אך כל זה הוא שבת תתאה.

which is the level of Shabbos, as mentioned above; as is known, every prayer of the six weekdays is a glow from the level of Shabbos, as mentioned above. But all this is the lower Shabbos.

Explanation

That is why weekday prayer is a kind of Shabbos: each weekday prayer carries a glow of Shabbos, an ascent of the worlds. But the Alter Rebbe adds that all this is only the “lower Shabbos,” the rest that follows toil, as opposed to the higher Shabbos he now introduces.

¶3 This is the lower Shabbos promised in paragraph 3; paragraph 12 gives the higher.

Paragraph 11 in brief

The paragraph explains that the “rest” produced by the waters of livelihood is a form of Shabbos: as the worlds ascend on Shabbos after the outward flow of the six days, so a day’s material work ascends in prayer, a glow of Shabbos in the week. Yet this is only the lower Shabbos.

Deeper

The idea that each weekday contains a glow of Shabbos, specifically in prayer, is developed in the Likkutei Torah and Torah Ohr passages the Kehot note cites: the Torah study and mitzvos of each day are gathered into its prayer and rise, and then all the weekday prayers are gathered into Shabbos itself.

TermsShabbosTefillahElokimMalchus+1

Also Haalaah vehamshachah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    כי בו שבת מכל מלאכתו · Genesis 2:3
  2. 2
    ויאמר אלקים יהי אור · Genesis 1:3
  3. 3
    יהי רקיע · Genesis 1:6
  4. 4
    תדשא הארץ דשא · Genesis 1:11
  5. 5
    שו״ה למעלה — כמו״כ הוא בחי׳ טרדת · בבוך 1824: שעבוד מלכיות שהוא טרדת.
  6. 6
    כידוע שכל תפלה מו׳ ימי המעשה היא הארה מבחי׳ שבת · ראה כוזרי מאמר ג אות ה. וראה גם לקמן פח, א. לקו״ת בהר מא, א. האזינו עב, ג.
  7. 7
    כידוע שכל תפלה מו׳ ימי המעשה היא הארה מבחי׳ שבת · Kuzari 3:5

The higher Shabbos ¶12

12ויש עוד בחי׳ שבת עילאה שהוא מה שיהיה לעתיד שנקרא יום שכולו שבת. וזהו אשר נשבעתי מעבור מי נח עוד על הארץ.

And there is yet the level of the higher Shabbos, which is what will be in the Time to Come, which is called “the day that is entirely Shabbos.” And this is [the meaning of] “That I swore that the waters of Noach would no more pass over the earth.”

Explanation

Beyond the weekly Shabbos there is a “higher Shabbos”: the Messianic era, called in the Mishnah “the day that is entirely Shabbos.” The Alter Rebbe now returns to Isaiah’s verse about G‑d’s oath never again to bring “the waters of Noach.”

¶3 This explains the verse from paragraph 3 about the waters of Noach.

כי הנה אף שהם באו לטהר אך לא בכל זמן צריך טהרה כ״כ [כל כך]. כן נשבעתי מקצף עליך ומגער בך.

For although they came to purify, purification is not needed so much at every time. “So have I sworn not to be angry with you or rebuke you.”

Explanation

The waters served to purify, but purification is not needed forever. In the future, when the world is refined, the “waters” of servitude and preoccupation will no longer be needed, and so G‑d swears not to be angry with Israel or rebuke them again.

כי הנה אף שמבואר למעלה שע״י בחי׳ מים רבים הנ״ל נעשה יתרון אור כו׳. שהוא בחי׳ אהבת בכל מאדך כנ״ל.

For although it was explained above that through the level of the “many waters” mentioned above an advantage of light comes about, etc., which is the level of the love “with all your might,” as mentioned above,

Explanation

The Alter Rebbe acknowledges what he has shown: the “many waters” produce the advantage of light from darkness, the limitless love of “with all your might.”

עכ״ז [עם כל זה] יש עוד בחי׳ אהבה רבה הבאה מלמעלה שהיא למעלה מעלה אף מבחי׳ האהבה שבאה ע״י מים רבים הנ״ל.

nevertheless there is yet another level: a great love (ahavah rabbah) that comes from above, which is far higher even than the level of the love that comes through the “many waters” mentioned above.

Explanation

Yet there is a still higher love, “great love” (ahavah rabbah), which is not produced by human effort from below but is given from above. It surpasses even the love born of struggle with the “many waters.”

והוא מ״ש וימינו תחבקני כו׳. ובחי׳ האהבה זו יתגלה לעתיד. וכמ״ש (ישעי׳ [ישעיה] נד) כי ההרים ימושו והגבעות תמוטינה וחסדי מאתך לא ימוש וברית שלומי לא תמוט כו׳.

This is what is written, “And His right hand embraces me,” etc. This level of love will be revealed in the Time to Come, as it is written (Isaiah 54), “For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” etc.

Explanation

The Song of Songs describes it as “His right hand embraces me”: the right hand is Chesed, G‑d’s kindness, embracing the soul by His own initiative. This love will be revealed in the future, as Isaiah promises that even if mountains move, G‑d’s kindness will not depart.

שהוא בחי׳ חסד עליון ואה״ר [ואהבה רבה] הבאה מלמעלה להיות וימינו תחבקני (וזהו )(שם נב) וגבה מאד שבחי׳ בכל מאדך יהיה מבחי׳ גבוה יותר כו׳:

This is the level of supernal Chesed (kindness) and the great love that comes from above, so that “His right hand embraces me.” (And this is [the meaning of]) (ibid. 52) “and he shall be very (me’od) high”: that the level of “with all your might (me’odecha)” will be from a still higher level, etc.

Explanation

That is supernal Chesed, the great love from above. The bracketed addition reads Isaiah’s words about the servant who “shall be very (me’od) high” as saying that in the future the love of “with all your might (me’odecha)” itself will come from a yet higher level.

Paragraph 12 in brief

The paragraph closes the maamar by contrasting the lower Shabbos, the rest earned through the “waters” of livelihood, with the higher Shabbos of the future, when a great love given from above, supernal Chesed, will be revealed, higher even than the limitless love of “with all your might,” which itself will then come from a higher level.

Deeper

The two Shabbosos correspond to two directions of love: the love of “with all your might” rises from below through iskafya and is’hapcha chashocha, while ahavah rabbah descends from above as a gift. According to the Kehot note, the final bracketed passage on “very high” appears to be an addition by the Tzemach Tzedek and is absent from manuscript 1824.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק, 5742

    The Alter Rebbe uses “the waters of Noach” (Isaiah 54) to point to the higher Shabbos and the love from above that will be revealed only in the future. The Rebbe cites the Midrash’s כימי עולם כימי נח; according to one interpretation, ימי עולם refers to the future, and the revelation of that future was already present in Noach’s days. So the future delight can already be present in our service through awareness that it will be revealed.

    The Alter Rebbeובחי׳ האהבה זו יתגלה לעתיד

    The Rebbeשגם אז (בימי נח) הי׳ הגילוי דימי עולם

    The whole maamar, summarized

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.

TermsBris veTorahChesed olamBechol me’odechaAhavah rabbah+3

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    יום שכולו שבת · Mishnah Tamid 7:4
  2. 2
    אשר נשבעתי מעבור מי נח עוד על הארץ · Isaiah 54:9
  3. 3
    שו״ה למעלה — למעלה שע״י · בבוך 1824 נוסף: בחי׳ שעבוד מלכיות שהוא: בחי׳
  4. 4
    וימינו תחבקני · Song of Songs 2:6
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
    שו״ה להיות — (וזהו . . יותר כו׳) · כנראה הוספת כ״ק הצ״צ. בבוך 1824 ליתא.

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In one’s avodah

A person who spends the day in business should not think his prayer must be weaker than a scholar’s. After a day in the “many waters,” let him contemplate in prayer how everything below receives from above until it all depends on G‑d’s Malchus, itself only a glow of His essence; then the very darkness of the day becomes the source of a stronger, limitless love, and his prayer rises higher.

Questions for discussion

  1. Why does the Alter Rebbe say the worries of livelihood cannot extinguish the soul’s love, and how can they actually raise it higher than before the soul’s descent?
  2. How does understanding the Flood as purification rather than only punishment change the way one might view the pressures of earning a living?
  3. What is the connection between the name Noach (rest), Shabbos and prayer in this maamar?
  4. Why does love that comes “out of darkness” exceed love that never met darkness, and what does the high root of the animal soul have to do with it?
  5. How does the love of “with all your might” differ from the “great love from above” that will be revealed in the future?

Key terms in this maamar

The G‑dly soulנפש האלקית
The soul in every Jew that is “a part of G‑d above”: by nature in bittul, it needs no correction itself, and descends into the body and animal soul to refine them. ×8Where it’s explained, stated differently
The Shechinah (Divine Presence)שכינה
G‑d’s Malchus as it “dwells” among created beings to give them life: Malchus of Atzilus come down below Atzilus. Its being clothed below, down to the kelipos, is called the exile of the Shechinah. ×6Where it’s explained, stated differently
The Infinite One (Ein Sof)אין סוף
The name for G‑d as without end or limit, beyond all grasp; what is drawn from Him is Or Ein Sof, only a radiance; all revelation comes from Malchus of Ein Sof.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Teshuvah (return)תשובה
Returning the soul, which descended into physical things, to its source and root, to cleave to G‑d; not only leaving sin. Its two levels are the return of the lower and the higher hei. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
The sitra achra (the other side)סטרא אחרא
“The other side,” the opposite of holiness: what appears as a yesh separate from G‑d and casts off His yoke. It has no life of its own but receives it from holiness.Where it’s explained, stated differently
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. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
Malchus (sovereignty)מלכות
G‑d’s kingship: the lowest Sefirah, His “speech” and the revealed world, through which all worlds come into being from nothing and live, without touching His essence (“there is no king without a people”). ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
Daas (knowledge)דעת
Knowledge as felt recognition: the intellect bound into the soul until it is felt as if seen. Daas unites Chochmah with Binah and spreads into the middos as their inner life; the middos follow it. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
The animal soulנפש הבהמית
One of a Jew’s two souls, clothed in the blood to give the body life; from kelipas nogah, mixed of good and evil, with its own intellect and middos; the G‑dly soul must refine it. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
Chesed (kindness)חסד
The Sefirah of kindness (the right arm; Avraham): giving that comes from its nature to do good, spreading from highest to lowest like water. Gevurah, its opposite, limits it; in tikkun each includes the other. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
The Name Elokimאלקים
The Name of contraction and concealment, the shield and sheath over Havayah, through which creation appears separate (yesh) and runs as nature (hateva, numerically Elokim). Relative to a higher revelation, Havayah counts as Elokim. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently

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Contents

Torah Ohrתורה אור

Parshas Noachנח

  1. 1מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את…Many waters cannot extinguish the love
    1. The love the waters cannot quench ¶1–2
    2. The waters of Noach ¶3
    3. What the servitude is ¶4
    4. Light out of darkness ¶5–7
    5. The ark of prayer ¶8–10
    6. The lower Shabbos ¶11
    7. The higher Shabbos ¶12
    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
    4. 4
    5. 5
    6. 6
    7. 7
    8. 8
    9. 9
    10. 10
    11. 11
    12. 12
  2. 2אם יתן איש את כל הון…If a man would give all the wealth of his house
  3. 3ביאור על הנ״לAn Explanation of the Above
  4. 4ויאמר ה׳ הן עם אחד ושפה…“And G‑d said: Behold, they are one people, and one language for them all”
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