Torah Ohr · Sefer Bereishis · Shabbos December 5
פרשת וישב
Parshas Vayeishev
5 maamarim of the Alter Rebbe on the parsha, in the Hebrew of the Kehot edition, with every marei makom opened right where it appears. Each small section with a faithful English translation and a short explanation.
Your progress in Parshas Vayeishev
The maamarim 5
- וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו בארץ כנען “And Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan” The soul comes down into the body like a merchant who parts with his silver and gold to earn far more: it gives up its open, natural love and awe, and gains the “desire of the heart,” a longing for G‑d beyond all understanding that only a soul in this world can reach.
- והנה אנחנו מאלמים אלמים כו׳ “And Behold, We Were Binding Sheaves” Refining the scattered sparks of the shattered vessels takes two stages: the brothers’ work from below, which binds the fragments into one and nullifies them before G‑d, and Yosef’s light from above, which completes their inclusion in G‑dliness.
- שיר המעלות בשוב כו׳ היינו כחולמים A Song of Ascents: When [G‑d] Returns... We Were Like Dreamers Exile is a dream: with the intellect ‘asleep’, a person holds opposites together, love of G‑d in prayer and love of self afterward. Yet the dream’s power to unite opposites comes from the highest level, the ‘circles’ where all is one, and in the redemption that hidden source will be revealed.
- בכ״ה בכסליו יומי דחנוכה כו׳ שכשנכנסו יונים להיכל וכו׳ On the Twenty-Fifth of Kislev The Menorah and the incense, with the daily offering around them, model the whole of divine service: Torah lights up the emotions, mitzvos and charity lift even the lowest “inanimate” level, and self-sacrifice raises the animal soul. Chanukah is a “dedication” in which Israel’s self-sacrifice against the Greeks drew down the light of Torah anew, celebrated through Hallel (bringing G‑dliness into revelation) and thanksgiving (bowing before what remains beyond reach).
- כה אמר ה׳ צבאות אם בדרכי תלך כו׳… Thus says G‑d of Hosts: If you will walk in My ways Angels and souls above “stand,” fixed at one level; only a soul clothed in a body and an animal soul can “go,” and through its service it gives movement both upward and downward even to the angels. This requires first “judging” the animal soul in a war that lasts through the exile, and will reach its fullness in the Time to Come.
Learn it in seven days Sunday to Shabbos
The Rebbe asked that all the maamarim of the week’s parsha be learned in that week, spread over its seven days. Here is the parsha in seven portions of about equal length.