כה אמר ה׳ צבאות אם בדרכי תלך כו׳…

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? Send a suggestion

The maamar in the Rebbe’s light

The Rebbe’s teachings let this Chanukah maamar be read as one movement, from “standing” to “going”. In Likkutei Sichos vol. 4 he cites Likkutei Torah Shelach and the Rebbe Rashab: angels and souls above rise too, but in order, tied to where they began; a soul in a body can rise beyond order. A letter of 12 Menachem Av 5716 finds hinted in this “going” an elder chassid’s saying: „למחרת צריך להיות אחר לגמרי” (tomorrow one must get up a different person). The way there is the war with the animal soul: in Nasata Lirei’echa Nes (5736) the blessings before the Shema refine it through its root, and his notes for Chanukah 5696, on the lights lit after the victory, point to this maamar’s courtyard, the animal soul, „שאינו מקורה וצריך שמירה” (unroofed and needing guarding). At Vayeishev farbrengens he reads its closing line, „שהי׳ תחלה מלחמה ואח״כ הנס ביום מנוחה” (“first war, and afterward the miracle on a day of rest”): in 5726, its „וכן בפורים” (“and likewise on Purim”) implies the victory fell on a day of its own, the war first, so the oil’s light is drawn only into holiness; in 5746, it marks not Chanukah’s lesser light but the path to “going”. On 24 Kislev he speaks two ways: „ידועה הכרעת כ״ק אדה״ז” (“the known decision of the Alter Rebbe”) (Mitzvasah Mishetishka HaChamah, 5738), and that the maamar follows it, proving no halachic ruling (Likkutei Sichos vol. 30).

Paragraph by paragraph

1. ¶1

   The Rebbe explains

   In an edited sicha for Parshas Ki Savo on the mitzvah „והלכת בדרכיו” (“and you shall walk in His ways”) (adapted from a talk of Motzaei Shabbos Beshalach, 11 Shevat 5721; Toras Menachem 5721 vol. 2 p. 72 gives it in Hebrew, with additions from the unedited transcript), the Rebbe asks why Rambam counts it as a mitzvah of its own when it seems to take in all the mitzvos, answers that it asks the mitzvos to make a person “go”, and turns to this maamar’s verse.

   Citing this maamar (note 9) for the teaching that angels, and souls before their descent, are „עומדים” (“standing”) while souls below, through Torah and mitzvos, are „מהלכים” (“goers”), the Rebbe brings the explanation of “standing” from Likkutei Torah Shelach and the Rebbe Rashab (note 10): angels and souls above also rise constantly, level after level, but „בסדר והדרגה” (in order and gradation), so every ascent stays tied to the level where they began. “Going” is rising beyond order and without limit, leaving the former level altogether. That, he says, is what „והלכת בדרכיו” (“walk in His ways”) asks: that the mitzvos lift a person beyond his limits, which a limited creature can do, and still remain a creature, only by binding himself to G‑d, who joins the limited and the limitless.

   The Alter Rebbeרק אחרי ירידת הנשמות לעוה״ז בהתלבשותן בגוף ונפש הבהמית נק׳ מהלכים

   The Rebbeכאָטש אויך מלאכים, ומכל־שכן נשמות למעלה, זיינען כסדר עולה בעילוי אחר עילוי, פונדעסטוועגן ווערן זיי גערופן ”עומדים”, ווייל זייערע עליות זיינען בסדר והדרגה

   Likkutei Sichos, vol. ד, p. 1132

   Suggest a correction

2. ¶1

   A question the Rebbe raises

   In an edited sicha of Shabbos Vayeitzei 5719 on the ruling that a worker must work for his employer „בכל כחו” (“with all his strength”), as Yaakov did for Lavan, the Rebbe contrasts the soul’s lofty service above, „עמדתי לפניו” (“before Whom I have stood”), which is still only its own, with its work below as G‑d’s worker, making Him a dwelling; a note on that verse compares how Chassidus cites it.

   This paragraph proves that souls above are “standing” from the verse „חי ה׳ אשר עמדתי לפניו” (“As Havayah lives, before Whom I have stood”). In a note the Rebbe observes that this maamar (with Shoresh Mitzvas HaTefillah and Or HaTorah) brings the verse in the form the Zohar quotes it, which is Elisha’s words (II Kings 5:16), while Likkutei Torah Chukas and other maamarim say „כמ״ש אליהו” (“as Eliyahu said”). Some of these places speak of „הנשמה למעלה בכלל” (the soul above in general), as this paragraph does, others of the level of Eliyahu’s soul in particular, and they hold several meanings of “standing” above.

   The Alter Rebbeוגם הנשמות קודם בואם לעוה״ז נק׳ ג״כ עומדים כמ״ש חי ה׳ אשר עמדתי לפניו

   The Rebbeהובא הכתוב ”חי ה׳ אשר עמדתי לפניו” (כבזהר ח״א וח״ג שם), והוא הכתוב דמ״ב ה הנאמר באלישע

   Likkutei Sichos, vol. כה, p. 147 · ש״פ ויצא תשי״ט

   Suggest a correction

3. ¶1

   Background from the Rebbe

   Replying to a letter about his fixed times for studying Chassidus, the Rebbe writes that they are not enough, for „מוסיפין בקדש” (one must always add in holy things), and even if they were enough „הי׳ צריך להוסיף עליהם למחר” (one would have to add to them tomorrow).

   He brings the saying of an elder chassid, a man of thought and of service („משכיל ועובד”), who after a long and labored bedtime Shema would conclude, „מארגען דארפמען אויפשטיין גאר אן אנדערער” (“tomorrow one must get up a completely different person”), and writes that this is hinted in man’s being called a “goer”, „ונתתי לך מהלכים בין העומדים האלה” (“I will give you goings among those that stand”), which is the purpose of the soul’s descent into the body, citing this maamar by its dibbur hamaschil. Since this is asked of each of us, he adds, the powers for it were surely given beforehand, and „אין הדבר תלוי אלא ברצון” (it depends only on the will).

   The Alter Rebbeרק אחרי ירידת הנשמות לעוה״ז בהתלבשותן בגוף ונפש הבהמית נק׳ מהלכים

   The Rebbeמארגען דארפמען אויפשטיין גאר אן אנדערער — ונרמז זה במה שהאדם נקרא מהלך, וכמ״ש ונתתי לך מהלכים בין העומדים האלה

   Igros Kodesh, vol. יג, p. שסז · י״ב מנחם אב תשט״ז

   Suggest a correction

4. ¶9

   Background from the Rebbe

   In his edited maamar “You gave those who fear You a banner” of 12 Tammuz 5736, the Rebbe explains the Rebbe Rayatz’s maamar of that name (5693): trials are met with self-sacrifice because in a trial the G‑dly spark is hidden most deeply, which the Rebbe Rayatz shows from the difference between the work of refinement (הבירורים, birurim) and the work of trials (הנסיונות, nisyonos).

   Explaining that difference, the Rebbe writes that refinement is a war waged by engaging the thing refined: „וכמבואר בכ״מ בענין ברכות ק״ש” (“as explained in many places regarding the blessings of the Shema”), which are contemplation of the root of the animal soul and so refine it, „התלבשות בהמתברר שמתבונן בשרשו” (“clothing oneself in what is refined, contemplating its root”); his note sends to this passage and to Likkutei Torah Teitzei. A trial is the opposite: one does not engage it or argue with it, but stands firm by the soul’s essential strength, and it proves to have had no reality („ענין שאין לו מציאות”). Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) this is why this paragraph insists that the animal soul can be conquered only „ע״י שרשה של הנה״ב” (through its root): the blessings before the Shema are the war of refinement, which works through the thing itself.

   The Alter Rebbeולכך צריך להזכיר לפניה תחלה איך שהמלאכים וחיות הקדש מקדישים וממליכים כו׳

   The Rebbeוכמבואר בכ״מ בענין ברכות ק״ש (שהן ההקדמה לק״ש, ואהבת גו׳, כללות ענין התפלה) שהיא התבוננות בשרש נה״ב והבירורים כו׳, שעי״ז הוא מבררם

   Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. א, p. קפח · ש״פ חוקת-בלק, י״ב תמוז ה׳תשל״ו (continued 13 and 15 Tammuz)

   Suggest a correction

5. ¶20

   The Rebbe explains

   In his notes (reshimah) for Chanukah 5696, going through the Gemara’s account, the Rebbe reads the Hasmoneans’ victory as the work of the soul’s innermost power, self-sacrifice, and comes to the lights they lit after it, in the words of Al HaNissim.

   The Rebbe writes that by this power alone they won, „עד שאח״כ הדליקו נרות גם בחצרות קדשך” (“until afterward they lit lights even in Your holy courtyards”) (the word “courtyards” is the publishers’ reading of his manuscript, in light type; the words are Al HaNissim’s, and his next line bears it out), and adds: „ולהעיר מתו״א ס״פ וישב חצר קאי אנה״ב שאינו מקורה וצריך שמירה” (“compare Torah Ohr, end of Vayeishev: a courtyard refers to the animal soul, which is unroofed and needs guarding”). Earlier in the same notes he writes that they not only won the war but lit up all the powers of the soul. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) he means that the lights in the courtyards are light that reached even the animal soul, and this is the fulfilment of this paragraph’s „תשמור את חצרי” (“you shall guard My courtyards”), said to the High Priest: the priestly house that went to war guarded, and lit, even the courtyard.

   The Alter Rebbeועי״ז תשמור את חצרי. חצרי הוא בחי׳ נה״ב. כי ההפרש שבין בית לחצר הוא שבית מקורה בגג

   The Rebbeועי״ז דוקא נצחו, עד שאח״כ הדליקו נרות גם [בחצרות] קדשך. ולהעיר מתו״א ס״פ וישב חצר קאי אנה״ב שאינו מקורה וצריך שמירה

   Reshimos, vol. חוברת קכה, p. 7 · חנוכה תרצ״ו

   Suggest a correction

6. ¶21

   The Rebbe explains

   At the farbrengen of Shabbos Vayeishev, Erev Chanukah 5726, on the two views of when the war was won (most say the 25th; some, the 24th, with the Temple cleared and the menorah lit the next evening), the Rebbe says the Alter Rebbe’s words imply the second, and reads this paragraph closely.

   The reason this paragraph gives, that Gevuros must come first, would still allow the victory and the miracle of the oil on one day, one after the other; but its parenthesis „וכן בפורים” (“and likewise on Purim”), where the fighting and the rest fell on different days, implies that the war was won on a day of its own, the 24th, as the Tzemach Tzedek’s Sefer HaMitzvos (Derech Mitzvosecha) says outright. Yet the two differ: here the victory is a preparation, „שמקודם צ״ל בחי׳ תדין” (“beforehand there must be the level of ‘you shall judge’”), so that the light revealed by the miracle of the oil „יומשך רק בקדושה, ולא תהי׳ יניקת החיצונים” (be drawn into holiness alone, without the external forces drawing from it); in Sefer HaMitzvos the victory on the 24th is „כענין בפני עצמו” (a matter in its own right).

   The Alter Rebbeרק שמקודם צ״ל בחי׳ תדין כנ״ל. וזהו ענין הנס שהי׳ בחנוכה (וכן בפורים)

   The Rebbeשכדי שהגילוי אור שע״י נס פך השמן בהדלקת המנורה יומשך רק בקדושה, ולא תהי׳ יניקת החיצונים, צ״ל ההקדמה דנצחון המלחמה

   Toras Menachem, Hisvaaduyos (unedited), vol. תשכ״ו ח״א, p. 296–298 · ש״פ וישב, ערב חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תשכ״ו

   Suggest a correction

7. ¶21

   A question the Rebbe raises

   At the farbrengen of Shabbos Vayeishev, 24 Kislev 5746, Erev Chanukah, speaking of 24 Kislev as the day the war was won, as this paragraph implies, the Rebbe asks why a maamar said on Chanukah would present Chanukah as kept on a day of rest.

   The Rebbe notes that this maamar was said on Chanukah, and Likkutei Torah Tzav, which asks „מפני מה יו״ט דפסח הוא ביום שנעשה הנס, משא״כ בחנוכה ופורים שהן ביום המנוחה” (why Pesach falls on the day of the miracle but Chanukah and Purim on the day of rest), was said on Pesach. A festival’s maamarim stress its own virtue, so Tzav rightly stresses Pesach’s, whose light, from the level that encompasses all worlds (סוכ״ע), came all at once; but why would a Chanukah maamar point to the day of rest, which seems to show „החסרון דחנוכה” (Chanukah’s lesser light), one that must first remove what opposes it? He answers from the wording: this paragraph speaks of Chanukah alone, without comparing it with Pesach, and it closes a maamar on how souls, by descending into a body and an animal soul, rise „מבחי׳ עומדים לבחי׳ מהלכים” (from “standing” to “going”), which first requires „תדין” (“you shall judge”); so the war that comes first is the way to the higher level, and the miracle on the day of rest is its fruit.

   The Alter Rebbeוזהו ענין הנס שהי׳ בחנוכה (וכן בפורים) שהי׳ תחלה מלחמה ואח״כ הנס ביום מנוחה

   The Rebbeבדרוש בתו״א מבואר שיש מעלה בכך שהנס הוא באופן ש״תחלה הי׳ מלחמה ואח״כ הנס ביום מנוחה”

   Toras Menachem, Hisvaaduyos (unedited), vol. תשמ״ו ח״ב, p. 96–105 · ש״פ וישב, כ״ד כסלו, ערב חנוכה ה׳תשמ״ו

   Suggest a correction

8. ¶21

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

   In an edited sicha for Chanukah (from talks of Shabbos Vayeishev, Erev Chanukah 5726 and 5746) on the two views among the Rishonim of when the war was won, Rambam’s (25 Kislev, the day of the festival) and the Meiri’s (the 24th), the Rebbe asks what each view says about why the festival was set when it was.

   The Alter Rebbe, the Rebbe notes, „נקט כשיטת המאירי” (follows the Meiri): this paragraph and Likkutei Torah Tzav show that the war was won on the 24th and Chanukah, like Purim, was set on the day of rest after it, unlike Pesach. But in a note he adds that „אין מכאן הכרח שאדה״ז מכריע (להלכה)” (this does not prove that the Alter Rebbe rules so in halachah), for Chassidus often „מבארים ענין לדיעה אחת אף שאינו להלכה” (explains a matter by one view though the halachah is otherwise); only that the explanation in the maamar follows, mainly, this view. He goes on to show that the Alter Rebbe’s explanation of why Chanukah is unlike Pesach can fit Rambam too, since Chanukah had two distinct miracles at two times, the victory and the cruse of oil.

   The Alter Rebbeוזהו ענין הנס שהי׳ בחנוכה (וכן בפורים) שהי׳ תחלה מלחמה ואח״כ הנס ביום מנוחה

   The Rebbeמובן שאין מכאן הכרח שאדה״ז מכריע (להלכה) כדיעה זו שהי׳ בכ״ד, וכידוע בכ״מ בפנימיות התורה, שמבארים ענין לדיעה אחת אף שאינו להלכה

   Likkutei Sichos, vol. ל, p. 204–206 · ש״פ וישב, ערב חנוכה, תשכ״ו, תשמ״ו

   Suggest a correction

9. ¶21

   Background from the RebbeThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

   In his edited maamar “Its mitzvah is from sunset” of Zos Chanukah 5738, explaining that Chanukah, unlike Sukkos, needed a war because its higher light was not openly revealed, the Rebbe turns to what happened on 25 Kislev.

   Though Chanukah needed a war, he writes, „ידועה הכרעת כ״ק אדה״ז” (“the known decision of the Alter Rebbe”) is that the victory was completed on 24 Kislev, so the 25th was already a day of rest, the meaning of the name Chanukah, „חנו כ״ה” (“they rested on the twenty-fifth”); on it they cleared the Sanctuary and lit lights in the courtyards, until it became „להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול” (“to thank and praise Your great Name”), a very high level. His note gives this paragraph first as the Alter Rebbe’s source, with Likkutei Torah Tzav, and adds Shaarei Orah, the Tzemach Tzedek’s Sefer HaMitzvos and the Meiri. So this paragraph’s last line, „שהי׳ תחלה מלחמה ואח״כ הנס ביום מנוחה” (“first war and afterward the miracle on a day of rest”), is read as fixing the day of the victory.

   The Alter Rebbeרק שמקודם צ״ל בחי׳ תדין כנ״ל. וזהו ענין הנס שהי׳ בחנוכה (וכן בפורים) שהי׳ תחלה מלחמה

   The Rebbeידועה הכרעת כ״ק אדה״ז שגמר נצחון המלחמה הי׳ בכ״ד כסלו, משא״כ בכ״ה בכסלו הי׳ כבר יום מנוחה

   Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ב, p. לב · זאת חנוכה ה׳תשל״ח

   Suggest a correction

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).