Torah Ohr · Sefer Bereishis · Shabbos October 17
פרשת נח
Parshas Noach
4 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.
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The maamarim 4
- מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה ונהרות… Many waters cannot extinguish the love 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.
- אם יתן איש את כל הון ביתו באהבה… If a man would give all the wealth of his house The highest love, “with all your might,” wants G‑d’s very essence, so it scorns even the wisdom of the Torah and the Garden of Eden, which are only His radiance. That essence is reached only through the practical mitzvos, G‑d’s inner will, which is clothed in physical things and fulfilled “today,” while the soul is in the body.
- ביאור על הנ״ל An Explanation of the Above The worries of earning a living come from the animal soul, which is rooted in Tohu, a realm of intense, unbounded light higher than our ordered world; when a busy person turns that force toward G‑d in prayer, it becomes a love “with all your might” that seeks G‑d’s very essence, and it is expressed through the mitzvos.
- ויאמר ה׳ הן עם אחד ושפה א׳ לכלם… “And G‑d said: Behold, they are one people, and one language for them all” Unity and inclusion draw down a light higher than anything a single, separate level can receive, and this is why the builders of the Tower of Babel could really have succeeded. But true unity in holiness comes only through bittul; unity without self-nullification would feed evil, so peace among those who are nullified to G‑d is the only vessel that holds blessing.
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.