Parshas Behaaloscha

The maamarim 7

1. 1 בהעלותך את הנרות אל מול פני המנורה יאירו שבעת הנרות “When you raise up the lamps, toward the face of the Menorah…” (Numbers 8:2) Avraham’s love rises from below, as the soul sees the world nullified before G‑d; Aharon’s great love works from above to below, a longing that G‑dliness be seen in this world just as it is above. It is kindled through humility and bitterness over G‑d’s concealment, the crushed oil and the bitter olives, and through the laws of the Torah it draws down the “good oil” of G‑d’s own wisdom, turning the souls to G‑d Himself, “opposite the face of the Menorah.” Maamar 1.16 paragraphs~1 h 20 min602 sourcesEnglish
2. 2 ביאור על הנ״ל An explanation of the above The oil of the Menorah is the hidden Chochmah, and it is drawn out only through “crushing”: refinement above, and humility and bitterness in a person. Through it Aharon’s great love comes down “over the edge of his middos” and raises Malchus herself by the light of Chochmah, beyond the ascent the twelve tribes make on their own. Maamar 2.Biur13 paragraphs~30 min52 sourcesEnglish
3. 3 בהעלתך את הנרות וגו׳ “When you raise up the lamps” Aharon’s kindling of the Menorah was greater than the princes’ offerings because the ascent he gave Israel was carried by the oil of Chochmah: fiery love absorbed in bittul, not the felt fervor of a self that comes from refining meat. The same power, G‑d’s “hand” that is never too short, put the oil of Chochmah into the quail’s meat, and in the Time to Come will reveal Chochmah even in “all flesh.” Maamar 3.28 paragraphs~1 h 10 min92 sourcesEnglish
4. 4 וזה מעשה המנורה מקשה זהב עד ירכה עד פרחה “And this is the work of the Menorah: hammered gold, unto its base, unto its flowers” Every Jew, from the greatest tzaddik to the person whose good is mixed with evil, belongs to the one Menorah of the Congregation of Israel. He becomes its “hammered gold” by breaking his natural attributes, reaching awe through the contemplation of prayer and leaving the “Egypt” of his desires with G‑d’s help; and the base and the flowers become one Menorah when each person sees himself as the base and his fellow as a flower, so that Aharon can kindle all seven lamps. Maamar 4.9 paragraphs~25 min47 sourcesEnglish
5. 5 אם את כל דגי הים כו׳ If All the Fish of the Sea Moshe’s level was so high that even eating meat in order to elevate it would be a descent for him, and since his level dwelt within the people, meat, and even fish, would pull them down from it. Ordinary eating descends step by step, fish from the hidden world before meat from the revealed world; what fits Moshe is bread and the manna, and G‑d answered with fat quail, birds of a higher root than cattle. Maamar 5.3 paragraphs~10 min13 sourcesEnglish
6. 6 ראיתי והנה מנורת זהב כולה וגולה על ראשה… “I saw, and behold, a menorah all of gold, with its bowl upon its top…” (Zechariah 4:2) Israel is Zechariah’s menorah all of gold even now: the souls are the lamps, the mitzvos, G‑d’s will in which His delight is hidden, are their oil and wick, and the Torah is the light that reveals that delight. The oil reaches the lamps through the acceptance of the yoke of Heaven in the Shema, and through the “crushing” of the olives in bitterness and mercy, and with it comes the gold of the joy of the mitzvah; and it is exile itself, as in Babylon, that brings out the soul’s love and turns it to gold. Maamar 6.42 paragraphs~2 h 25 min283 sourcesEnglish
7. 7 לבאר הדברים הנ״ל To explain the matters mentioned above Serving G‑d means drawing down a revelation from beyond the chain of worlds. The mitzvos carry the Supernal will and its infinite delight, but it is the Torah, wisdom, that “gives them life”; and a light from a higher place is drawn through subduing one’s own nature, as oil is pressed from a bitter olive. Maamar 7.13 paragraphs~45 min97 sourcesEnglish

The Rebbe’s maamarim on this parsha 4

The Rebbe built 4 of his maamarim (5728–5748) on the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim of this parsha. Each maamar’s page summarizes them, with what the Rebbe adds; or see them all together.

• Maamar 1בהעלותך את הנרות אל מול פני המנורה יאירו שבעת הנרות2 maamarim · 5728–5748
• Maamar 4וזה מעשה המנורה מקשה זהב עד ירכה עד פרחה1 maamar · 5730
• Maamar 7לבאר הדברים הנ״ל1 maamar · 5743

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.

1. SUNMaamar 1, ¶1–11~62 min
2. MONMaamar 1 ¶12 – maamar 3 ¶5~50 min
3. TUEMaamar 3, ¶6–26~60 min
4. WEDMaamar 3 ¶27 – maamar 6 ¶6~57 min
5. THUMaamar 6, ¶7–23~56 min
6. FRIMaamar 6, ¶24–38~57 min
7. SHABMaamar 6 ¶39 – maamar 7 ¶13~58 min