ויקח מן הבא בידו מנחה לעשו אחיו כו׳

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The maamar in the Rebbe’s light

The Rebbe returned to this maamar many times, and his teachings draw its introduction and its reading of the brothers’ meeting into one movement: „עבודה מלמטה למעלה” (a service from below) that reaches above the whole order of worlds and returns into physical life. In a maamar-like talk of Shabbos Vayishlach 5725 (Likkutei Sichos vol. 5) he explains why every offering and prayer is called minchah („כל הקרבנות נק׳ בשם מנחה”), reads the word’s letters as that rise and descent, and ties Yaakov’s camels to the incense, which takes in even the impure. At a farbrengen of Shabbos Vayishlach 5714 he rules out explaining the strange gift by the time before Sinai („ואין לתרץ שקודם מ״ת שאני”), since „נח הקריב מן הבהמה הטהורה דוקא” (Noach offered only pure animals), and infers that a Tohu mode of service remains even now, as a preparation for Tikkun. Why Yaakov sent such an offering to a brother coming with four hundred men he answers in three ways: in his maamar Vayishlach Yaakov of 5731, a sicha of Shabbos Vayishlach 5747 and the farbrengen of Shabbos Chukas 5748, where he also reads the kiss as wholehearted („וישקהו בכל לבו”) teshuvah; in his maamar of the Fifteenth of Av 5747 „בבכי יבאו” (‘with weeping they will come’) becomes the hidden purpose of exile’s weeping. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) the thread is this: what rises from the lowest place reaches highest, and Yaakov’s gift prepares the world’s future refinement.

Paragraph by paragraph

1. ¶1

   The Rebbe explains

   On Shabbos Vayishlach, 16 Kislev 5725, the Rebbe gave a maamar-like talk opening with this verse, built on „מאמרי חסידות הנדפסים” (‘the printed maamarim of Chassidus’) on it (his note names this dibbur hamaschil in Torah Ohr, Torah Chaim and Or HaTorah) and on a booklet then newly published; he edited it for Likkutei Sichos vol. 5, and it opens with this paragraph’s statement „כל הקרבנות נק׳ בשם מנחה” (that all offerings and prayers are called minchah).

   The Rebbe explains why every offering and every prayer is called minchah. Torah study repeats G‑d’s own words („תען לשוני אמרתך”) and a mitzvah carries out His command, both a drawing down from above; prayer, like an offering, is the person’s own plea for what he lacks, „עבודה מלמטה למעלה” (a service from below upward), and so it reaches higher, as in „למעשה ידיך תכסוף” (‘You will long for the work of Your hands.’) And since the afternoon prayer in particular bears the name Minchah, the heart of minchah is there: a person tears himself away from the thick of the day’s business to pray („רייסט ער זיך אפ פון זיי און דאוונט מנחה”).

   The Alter Rebbeוכן תפלה שכנגד קרבנות כל התפלות בכלל נק׳ מנחה ותפלת מנחה בפ״ע היא פרט

   The Rebbeאון ווייל תפלה איז עבודה מלמטה למעלה, האָט זי די מעלה פון ”למעשה ידיך תכסוף”, וואָס דערפאַר ”דערלאַנגט” זי העכער ווי עבודת ההמשכה שמלמעלה למטה

   Likkutei Sichos, vol. ה, p. 400–401 · ש״פ וישלח, ט״ז כסלו ה׳תשכ״ה

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2. ¶7

   A question the Rebbe raises

   In the same talk of Shabbos Vayishlach 5725 on 'ויקח מן הבא בידו מנחה׳, after explaining the gift as mayin nukvin to Eisav’s root in Tohu, the Rebbe adds „נאך אן ענין” (‘another point’) about Eisav’s being the firstborn.

   This paragraph says Eisav was the firstborn because his root is in Tohu, „לפני מלך מלך” (‘before a king reigned.’) The Rebbe adds, citing in his note the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Rashab, that Eisav’s being first is „נאר בחיצוניות” (only outward), while „בפנימיות איז יעקב (תיקון) דער בכור” (inwardly Yaakov, Tikkun, is the firstborn). His own addition: by refining the sparks of Tohu, Yaakov draws not only from the Tohu that preceded Tikkun but from the place where Tikkun is higher, and so even then, before Eisav was refined, „וירץ עשו לקראתו” (Eisav ran to him) and kissed him with all his heart.

   The Alter Rebbeוזהו שעשו היה בכור שהוא מבחי׳ לפני מלך מלך כו׳

   The Rebbeדאָס װאָס עשו (תהו) איז דער בכור, איז עס נאָר בחיצוניות. בפנימיות איז יעקב (תיקון) דער בכור

   Likkutei Sichos, vol. ה, p. 402–403 · ש״פ וישלח, ט״ז כסלו ה׳תשכ״ה

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3. ¶12

   The Rebbe explains

   In the same talk of Shabbos Vayishlach 5725, having explained why prayer, a service from below, is called minchah, the Rebbe reads the word’s letters („מ״ן ח׳ ה׳”), citing this paragraph (his note: TO 25d).

   The Rebbe explains each letter of minchah as a stage of one movement: mem-nun, „מ״ן מיין נוקבין” (mayin nukvin), the rise from below; ches, which reaches „מזל השמיני שלמעלה מהשתלשלות” (the eighth mazal, above hishtalshelus); and heh, „ה׳ תתאה ספירת המלכות שורש ומקור הנבראים” (the lower heh, Malchus, root and source of created beings), through which what was reached comes down into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah and into the physical, „רופא חולים ומברך השנים” (‘to heal the sick and bless the years.’) The service from below reaches above the whole order and brings its answer down into physical life.

   The Alter Rebbeמנחה ר״ת מ״ן מיין נוקבין. ח׳ חכמה ומזל הח׳ נוצר חסד ומשפיע בה׳ בה׳ בראם היא בחי׳ כנ״י

   The Rebbeח׳ -- װאָס דערלאַנגט אין מזל השמיני שלמעלה מהשתלשלות; ה׳ -- און פון דאָרט ווערט עס נמשך אין ה׳ תתאה ספירת המלכות שורש ומקור הנבראים

   Likkutei Sichos, vol. ה, p. 400–402 · ש״פ וישלח, ט״ז כסלו ה׳תשכ״ה

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4. ¶14

   The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

   At the farbrengen of Shabbos Chukas, 10 Tammuz 5748, when the daily Rambam had reached the meal-offerings, the Rebbe linked them with this maamar and explained its account of Yaakov’s minchah at length; both transcripts (Toras Menachem, Sichos Kodesh) record it, and in the edited version of the talk (Sefer HaSichos 5748 vol. 2 pp. 520–521 note 43) he summarized the reading of the gift himself, adding ‘explained at length at the farbrengen’.

   The Rebbe asks why Yaakov exerted himself so over this gift: the ‘real angels’ had just told him that Eisav was still ‘Eisav the wicked’, coming with four hundred men, yet he sent 580 animals and, when Eisav refused, urged him until he took them. His answer, from this paragraph: Yaakov meant to bring about in Eisav the refinement and completion of the Time to Come, by „העלאה לעשו אחיו שלמעלה מעולם התהו” (raising mayin nukvin to Eisav’s root above); and since „מזלי׳ חזי” (‘his mazal sees’), it acted on Eisav below too, until „וירץ עשו לקראתו ויחבקהו גו׳ וישקהו” (Eisav ran, embraced and kissed him). Yet when Eisav proposed they travel on together, Yaakov put him off until the days of Moshiach, for building G‑d’s house is ‘not for you and us’ (Ezra 4:3).

   The Alter Rebbeהקריב מנחה היא העלא׳ לעשו אחיו שלמעלה מעולם התהו ששם הוא אחיו

   The Rebbeועכצ״ל שכוונתו היתה לפעול בו הבירור והשלימות דלעתיד לבוא כו׳

   Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos (unedited), vol. תשמ״ח ח״ג, p. 574–575 · ש״פ חוקת, י׳ תמוז ה׳תשמ״ח

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5. ¶14

   The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

   In a maamar of Shabbos Vayishlach, 14 Kislev 5731 (unedited), opening with questions on the parsha’s verses that Torah Ohr and Torah Chaim explain, the Rebbe recalled their explanation of the gift (raising mayin nukvin to draw Tohu’s makifim, hence the camels and the two hundred goats („עזים מאתים”) that „רק יעקב אע״ה ידע ענינם” (only Yaakov knew how to offer)) and asked how it fits the angels’ report; he later edited the answer into Likkutei Sichos vol. 15.

   The Rebbe asks: if the angels had told Yaakov that Eisav was coming to war with four hundred men, why send him a gift that is like an offering, raising mayin nukvin to Tohu? He answers that two works were needed: „הן הענין דהעלאת מ״ן לשרשו של עשו בעולם התהו” (raising mayin nukvin to Eisav’s root in Tohu), to draw its makifim, and „והן הבירור דעשו כפי שהוא למטה” (refining Eisav as he is below), „עבודה קשה ביותר” (a far harder work) that continues until our time. The first is wholly lofty; the second requires the refiner to put on the garments of what he refines, a descent that itself needs repair, and that is why „המדרשות חלוקות” (the Midrashim disagree) over whether Yaakov’s approach to Eisav was desirable.

   The Alter Rebbeולכן כשראה יעקב את עשו למטה קם עליו הקריב מנחה

   The Rebbeהן הענין דהעלאת מ״ן לשרשו של עשו בעולם התהו שעי״ז תהי׳ המשכת המקיפים דעולם התהו, והן הבירור דעשו כפי שהוא למטה

   Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos (unedited), vol. סב (תשל״א ח״א), p. 275–280 · ש״פ וישלח, י״ד כסלו ה׳תשל״א

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6. ¶14

   The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

   In a talk of Shabbos Vayishlach, 18 Kislev 5747, on the eve of Yud-Tes Kislev, tracing in Yaakov’s dealings with Eisav the order of every Jew’s mission and of ‘spreading the wellsprings outward’, the Rebbe explains why the gift went by messengers.

   When Yaakov heard that Eisav was not ready, the Rebbe says, he understood that „ער דארף עס אליין ממשיך זיין” (he had to draw it down himself), so he took a minchah, „העלאת מ״ן לשרשו של עשו (בחי׳ תהו)” (raising mayin nukvin to Eisav’s root in Tohu), through which he would „מבטל און מברר זיין עשו דלמטה” (nullify and refine Eisav below); here the Rebbe’s note cites this paragraph. Since Eisav was not ready, Yaakov could not bring the gift himself: he sent his servants ahead with it, „ואני אבוא אחריכם” (‘and I will come after you’), and once the messengers had prepared the way, his own coming refined Eisav „אויף א העכערן אופן” (on a higher level), as the embrace and kiss show.

   The Alter Rebbeואזי יהי׳ עשו שלמטה ממילא בטל ואזי יקוים אז אהפך אל עמים

   The Rebbeוהיות אַז עשו איז נאָך ניט געווען מוכן לזה (ואדרבה, כנ״ל), האָט יעקב אַליין ניט געקענט גיין ברענגען די מנחה צו עשו׳ן

   Likkutei Sichos, vol. כה, p. 363 (the sicha begins p. 360) · ש״פ וישלח, ח״י כסלו ה׳תשמ״ז

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7. ¶15

   The Rebbe explains

   At the farbrengen of Shabbos Vayishlach, 14 Kislev 5714 (unedited; two transcripts, Toras Menachem and Sichos Kodesh), at which the Rebbe also spoke of weddings and the customs of his own wedding, he turned to „המנחה ששלח יעקב לעשו” (‘the minchah Yaakov sent Eisav’) as Torah Ohr explains it, naming Torah Ohr himself, and quoted this paragraph (the editors’ note cites this maamar from 25b on).

   The Rebbe sharpens this paragraph’s point. The strange gift, with its two hundred goats and its camels, cannot be explained by saying „שקודם מ״ת שאני” (that before the giving of the Torah things were different): „נח הקריב מן הבהמה הטהורה דוקא” (Noach offered only pure animals), taking them into the ark „שבעה שבעה” (by sevens) for that purpose, and so did Avraham. These offerings belonged not to Tikkun but to Tohu, which „אין אתנו יודע עד מה” (‘none of us knows’), and only Yaakov knew. And since the Torah tells us the order of Tohu’s offerings, every Jew, even after Sinai, has a Tohu mode of service as well, but „אלא שענין זה אינו אלא הכנה והקדמה לסדר העבודה דתיקון” (only as a preparation for the service of Tikkun).

   The Alter Rebbeרק יעקב אע״ה ידע ענינם וכך שלח קרבנות עזים מאתים כו׳ שהם קרבנות אחרים אשר לא כתובים בתורה

   The Rebbeואין לתרץ שקודם מ״ת שאני, שהרי גם בקרבנות שקודם מ״ת מצינו שנח הקריב מן הבהמה הטהורה דוקא

   Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos (unedited), vol. י (תשי״ד ח״א), p. 201–202 · ש״פ וישלח, י״ד כסלו ה׳תשי״ד

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8. ¶16

   The Rebbe explains

   In the same talk of Shabbos Vayishlach 5725 on this dibbur hamaschil, after explaining why some hold that the Minchah prayer corresponds to the incense („כנגד קטורת”), the Rebbe returns to the verse.

   Yaakov’s gift, the Rebbe says, was „העלאת מ״ן לבחי׳ עולם התהו (לעשו כמו שהוא בשרשו)” (raising mayin nukvin to Tohu, to Eisav as he is in his root), and that is why it included impure animals, unlike the offerings of Tikkun, which come only from pure ones. This is also why it is called minchah: „כמעלת תפלת מנחה על תפלות שחרית וערבית וכמעלת קטורת על קרבנות” (it has the advantage of the Minchah prayer over Shacharis and Maariv, and of the incense over the offerings). The incense included even something impure, musk, and so refined the three wholly impure kelipos and reached higher than the offerings.

   The Alter Rebbeולכן הקריב גם גמלים שהם טמאים בקרבנות דתקון. אך בקרבנות דתהו כתיב מי יתן טהור מטמא

   The Rebbeאון דערפאר רופט מען זי ”מנחה” -- זי איז כמעלת תפלת מנחה על תפלות שחרית וערבית וכמעלת קטורת על קרבנות

   Likkutei Sichos, vol. ה, p. 401–402 · ש״פ וישלח, ט״ז כסלו ה׳תשכ״ה

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9. ¶19

   The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

   In the edited talk of Shabbos Chukas, 10 Tammuz 5748, on how redemption brings something truly new (including the body’s hidden virtue), the Rebbe adds a note linking the day’s Rambam (the meal-offerings) with this maamar; the reading of the dots is from the unedited account of the same farbrengen (Toras Menachem 5748 vol. 3, pp. 574–575; Sichos Kodesh 5748 vol. 3, p. 146).

   The Rebbe reads the kiss as the fruit of the gift: through the minchah, drawing from „נוצר חסד” (notzer chesed) above hishtalshelus to receive the lights of Tohu from Eisav’s root, came „וישקהו בכל לבו” (‘and he kissed him’ with all his heart), „עבודת התשובה” (the service of teshuvah), the novelty brought about by the soul’s descent into a body. At the farbrengen he added that although some read the dots over 'וישקהו׳ as saying „לא נשקו בכל לבו” (Eisav did not kiss wholeheartedly), a word in the Torah of truth is better read as a true kiss, and the dots mark a kiss beyond the ordinary, as „זדונות נעשו לו כזכיות” (sins become ‘like merits’). The Alter Rebbe here also reads the dots as a gain: Chochmah, „ועתה אחר הבירור הנה נתגלה” (revealed after the refinement).

   The Alter Rebbeועי״ז וישקהו בחי׳ נשיקין ונקוד עליו בחי׳ נקודות הוא בחי׳ חכמה

   The Rebbeועי״ז נעשה ”וישקהו”, בכל לבו -- עבודת התשובה, שזהו החידוש שנעשה ע״י ירידת הנשמה בגוף בעוה״ז

   Sefer HaSichos, vol. תשמ״ח ח״ב, p. 520–521 (note 43) · ש״פ חוקת, י׳ תמוז ה׳תשמ״ח

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10. ¶19

    The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place

    In the maamar 'וישלח יעקב מלאכים׳ of 18 Kislev 5747 (unedited), explaining how Yaakov’s division into two camps and his gifts „נהי׳ הבירור של עשו כפי שהוא למטה” (refined Eisav even as he was below), the Rebbe turns to the embrace and the kiss.

    The Rebbe argues from the dots themselves: over 'ויחבקהו׳ there are none, so „שהחיבוק הי׳ בכל לבו לכל הדעות” (by every view the embrace was wholehearted); over 'וישקהו׳ there are dots, and by one reading that is „נקוד משום שנשקו בכל לבו” (because Eisav kissed with all his heart), while even by the reading that he did not, there was still a kiss. Either way, he concludes, „המשכת המקיף דתוהו” (the makif of Tohu was drawn down), in the embrace and even in the kiss: „שנמשכו אורות דתוהו בתיקון” (the lights of Tohu were drawn into Tikkun), until Eisav proposed that they travel on together to Seir.

    The Alter Rebbeונמצא שנכללו ביעקב כל הבחי׳ כנ״ל. ועי״ז וישקהו בחי׳ נשיקין

    The Rebbeדבתיבת ויחבקהו לא נקוד עלי׳, והיינו שהחיבוק הי׳ בכל לבו לכל הדעות

    Sefer HaMaamarim – bilti mugah (old edition), vol. תשמ״ז, p. מב · ש״פ וישלח, י״ח כסלו ה׳תשמ״ז

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11. ¶21

    Background from the Rebbe

    In the maamar „לא היו ימים טובים לישראל” (‘There were no days as festive for Israel as the Fifteenth of Av’), said on 15 Av 5747 and edited by the Rebbe, explaining how the Fifteenth of Av reveals the redemption that lay hidden in Tisha B’Av.

    On the Fifteenth of Av, the Rebbe explains, the inner intent of the first Tisha B’Av’s weeping is revealed: the night the people wept at the spies’ report fixed weeping for generations, so that in the end the weeping would be for the good, „בבכי יבאו” (‘with weeping they will come’), a weeping of joy at „התגלות מדרגות הגבוהות” (the revelation of the higher levels), as Rabbi Akiva shed „דמעות של שמחה מצד ריבוי האור” (tears of joy at the abundance of light). His note says this is the very wording of Torah Ohr here. The future weeping of this paragraph thus becomes the hidden purpose of the weeping of exile.

    The Alter Rebbeוז״ש לע״ל בבכי יבאו שע״י בחי׳ בכיה דוקא שהוא ע״י התגלות מדרגות הגבוהות

    The Rebbeשהיא בכדי שתהי׳ הבכי׳ למעליותא דלע״ל, בבכי יבואו, בכי׳ של שמחה מצד התגלות מדרגות הגבוהות

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat (new edition), vol. תמוז–אלול, p. קפ–קפא · יום ב׳ פ׳ עקב, ט״ו באב ה׳תשמ״ז

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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).