Torah Ohr · Sefer Bereishis · Shabbos December 26
פרשת ויחי
Parshas Vayechi
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.
Begin with maamar 1 ContinueThe parsha as a PDFPDF · 1.9 MBText onlyThe Hebrew and the translation · PDF · 544 KBThe parsha as an EPUBEPUB · 283 KB
Your progress in Parshas Vayechi
The maamarim 5
- יהודה אתה יודוך אחיך וגו׳ “Yehudah, you — your brothers shall acknowledge you” Yehudah is acknowledgment (hoda’ah): a self-nullification before G‑d that is higher than love and awe, expressed in the bowing and silence of the Shemoneh Esreh. It becomes revealed, “you,” only after the work of his brothers Reuven, Shimon and Levi: love, awe and the Torah, which correspond to the prayers that come before the Shemoneh Esreh.
- ביאור על הנ״ל An explanation of the above Yehudah’s acknowledgment, the self-nullification of prayer that reaches Keser, is brought about by his three elder brothers: Reuven’s sight and love, Shimon’s hearing and awe, and Levi’s middle line, which are the three lines of the Sefiros and the Shema with its blessings. Malchus, which only receives, becomes a crown over those who give to it because its root is in Keser, and the closeness born of bitterness over distance is greater, like light that comes from darkness.
- אסרי לגפן עירה ולשורקה בני אתונו “Binding his foal to the vine, and the son of his she-donkey to the choice vine” The days of Mashiach are not a time of reward but the perfection of the deed, when even the animals of the offerings will be raised into the Infinite Light. That perfection grows out of our service in exile, where humility and a broken heart press out the soul’s hidden love like wine, and the joy of a mitzvah and the bitterness of return wash the soul’s garments.
- חכלילי עינים מיין ולבן שנים מחלב Red of Eyes from Wine, and White of Teeth from Milk The Torah is wine that draws the soul’s hidden, boundless love for G‑d into the open and lifts it to love in delights, and milk that, after honest self-examination, makes love and awe grow until the heart is transformed.
- ביאור על הנ״ל An Explanation of the Above The highest love of G‑d, “love in delights,” never vests itself in the two lower loves, yet it comes down when they are joined: when the wine of Torah brings out the hidden ahavah rabbah and unites it with the ahavas olam of contemplation. This is the meaning of eyes “red from wine,” and the growth that follows is the meaning of teeth “white from milk.”
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.