Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

BEGIN WITH A GRIN

A young boy asks his father: How much does a nuclear weapon cost?
Father: I would guess a few million dollars at least.
Son: In that case, if one fell on our house we’d be rich…

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

Parshas Beshalach begins with the Jewish people leaving Egypt which we already read about at the end of the previous parsha. As part of the general description of the exodus, the Torah says, “va’chamushim alu Bnei Yisrael mei’eretz Mitzrayim” (and the Jewish people were armed when they went up from Egypt). Armed Jews in the vicinity of the Egyptian border. Sounds like current events, doesn’t it?

In the Talmud Yerushalmi (Shabbos 6, 4), we find a very interesting explanation for “chamushim,” an explanation which includes two explanations which meld into one. “Chamushim” from the root meaning armed and the root for five. That is, the word “chamushim” in Tanach (in modern Hebrew too), is explained as armed, equipped with weapons. At the same time, the Yerushalmi says, the root is the number five, because the Jews at that time were equipped with five types of weapons. What were those weapons? RPG launchers and Uzis? Perhaps grenades and some ballistic missiles?

The Yerushalmi explains says they were: sword, bow, shield, club and lance, weapons that today we view more as toys. These are the five weapons that the Mishna in Meseches Shabbos talks about in the discussion about whether it is permissible to go out with them to a public domain on Shabbos or not. Rabi Eliezer says it’s allowed since “they are his ornaments.” These weapons are ornaments of a man (I think that many of us would forgo all “ornaments” like these as well as modern “ornaments” of this sort) and a man can go out to a public domain with an ornament.

The Sages maintain, and this is the halacha, that it is forbidden to go out with them to a public domain since if these weapons were in the category of ornaments, they wouldn’t be abolished in the Geula era. We were promised by the prophet, “and they will grind their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” This proves that the club and lance, bow and shield are not ornaments, which is why they are forbidden to be carried on Shabbos.

Okay, now we know what weapons they distributed in the warehouses of the IDF in Egypt three thousand years ago, but what does this have to do with us? What can we learn from this as far as avodas Hashem in connection to bringing the Geula?

The Rebbe addresses this very question in an amazing maamar Chassidus, most of which is a maamar of the Rebbe Maharash from 5632. The Rebbe divides the question into a few sub-questions. First, for what war were the Jewish people preparing for in the desert? Definitely not the war in Gaza… Second, what is the inner meaning of each of the five weapons mentioned in the Mishna? Third, what is the difference between the Geula in Egypt when weapons were needed and the future Geula when we won’t need them at all (amen, inshallah, already now).

The war spoken about in the discourses of Chassidus is a spiritual war, the war of the yetzer, a war of holiness and light against impurity and kelipa. A war of good against evil, and with Hashem’s help, good will win!

But good needs weapons and the basic weapon is a sword. A sword has two edges and with these edges it’s possible to cut off the ‘nourishment’ of the forces of impurity from holiness. How does impurity draw nourishment from holiness? How do the forces of evil receive their energy from the good?

There are two ways described in Chassidus. One is through lowering and the other is through lifting. When a person lowers himself in physical things, he lowers his neshama and G-dly soul which are supposed to be involved in elevated things, Torah and tefilla, tzedaka and mitzvos. Instead, he is involved in petty things, nonsense, money, honor, food and drink. This spiritual lowering also causes a lowering of light and G-dly energy above, to the point that it can devolve into nourishment for the outside forces.

The second way is when a person lifts himself up with his nose in the air. He rises up like a balloon full of hot air, without taste, without fragrance. He is well aware of his lowly spiritual worth and nevertheless, lifts his nose in the air. This gives the power to impurity to spread its wings and rise upward, to raise its head and demand, “I also should get some!”

[These two ways exist today too, even in the war being covered by the news, but we’ll leave that for another article…]

These two ways are dangerous and a person who facilitates that nourishment, whether in the way of lowering or the way of lifting, is also responsible to cut off and neutralize those outside forces. How is this done? With the double-edged sword, one blade against lowering and the other against raising up!

TURNING WORDS INTO SWORDS AND SPEARS

The sword represents the service of G-d which is comprised of two general ways, Torah study and the service of prayer. Torah study lifts a person and places him on a truly high spiritual level. This spiritual elevation “deals” directly with the illusory self-elevation of arrogance. When a person is immersed in Torah study, he is willing to learn with anyone. He puts his ego aside, lowers his nose, and is willing to listen. This is how he is rids himself of the disease of haughtiness. However, this is only one side of the sword.

The other side of the sword is prayer. While praying, a person faces his Creator and arouses his love for Him. In this situation, all the pleasures of this world shrivel into meaninglessness. He cares nothing about money and honor because he cares about G-d, and he’s not seeking the delights of food and drink because his real delight is “closeness to G-d is good.” This is how prayer deals with the problem of spiritual abasement for material things.

The Rebbe explains that the five weapons mentioned before are part of our daily avodas ha’tefilla. The sword represents the Pesukei D’Zimra, from the root [l’zamer] meaning “to cut down the tyrants.” This is the part of prayer when we praise G-d and are amazed by His infinite greatness. In such a situation, all the forces of evil, all thoughts of this world, become nonsense and lose all value. Afterward, comes the bow, the Shemone Esrei. The advantage of the bow over the sword is that it works from a distance. So too, with Shemone Esrei, when a person stands at his full height, face to face with Hashem, the effect is much more far-reaching. It has a much more inward, significant effect, and it pulls the person much further from even the more subtle attractions of this world.

After the bow comes the club which is used for hitting. This is forcefully striking the yetzer hara in the form of the saying of Tachanun after Shemone Esrei. This is the time when we strike our hearts with a fist, symbolizing forcefully striking our yetzer hara. Then there are also the spear and shield. The shield, says the Rebbe, serves to protect, to prevent an attack by the enemy. It surrounds the body and prevents the enemy from coming close.

In the service of prayer this is represented by wearing tallis and tefillin which prevent foreign thoughts from disturbing us while praying. They surround our body and protect our minds and hearts from outside, undesirable influences. Then, there’s the romach (spear), corresponding to ramach (248) words in the Shema. Together with the letter vov (6) which represent the six words of the first verse, “Shema Yisrael” and the six words of “Boruch Sheim.”

What is the connection with the Geula?

In the Geula from Egypt, the spiritual evil within the souls of the Jewish people was still strong, and since the Jewish people had to engage with evil, they needed weapons, five weapons, to vanquish the evil. In the future, by contrast, when the spirit of impurity will be gone from the earth, there won’t be spiritual evil and we won’t need to neutralize it with weapons. This is also the reason why in the future the prophet promises, “their swords will be ground into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks,” because we won’t need to engage with evil.

Still, says the Rebbe, at the start of Yemos HaMoshiach we will still need weapons! This is alluded to in the chapter of Tehillim which we say every day. “Sing to the L-rd a new song, His praise in the assembly of the pious etc. Lofty praises of G-d in their throats and a double-edged sword in their hands.” The song that the verse refers to is the tenth song which will be in the future. The verse says, “shir,” masculine while the other songs are called shira, feminine. Although this is talking about the Geula, the verse still says “double-edged sword in their hands” because at the beginning of the Geula there will still be a need “To wreak vengeance upon the nations, contentions upon the kingdoms.” There will still be a remnant of the foreign ‘nation’ within us, our personal “eirav rav” (mixed multitude), and we will have to deal with it with our spiritual “double-edged sword,” as explained before.

In the complete Geula, no remnant will remain of evil and then we will say “goodbye “ and won’t say “see you,” to the sword, the armored attack vehicle and F15 fighter planes.

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

We will end with a story from the Gemara (Bava Metzia) which is quoted in Chassidic discourses and in the Rebbe’s teachings, about Rebbi and the power of prayer in bringing the Geula. Eliyahu HaNavi was a regular guest at Rabi Yehuda Ha’Nasi’s yeshiva. One day, on Rosh Chodesh, Eliyahu appeared late. Rabi Yehuda asked him, “Why are you late, my master?”

Eliyahu said, “I helped the Avos pray. I stood Avrohom up, I washed his hands, and waited until he finished praying and laid him down. I did the same for Yitzchok and Yaakov.”

“Why not stand them up together and lay them down together after prayer?”

“If I did that, the Avos would generate powerful prayers and bring Moshiach prematurely.”

“Are there people alive in my generation who can do this?” asked Rabi Yehuda.

“Yes. Rabi Chiya and his sons.”

The next time the rains didn’t fall, Rabi Yehuda decreed a public fast. He asked Rabi Chiya and his sons to serve as the leaders of the congregation and pray. When Rabi Chiya said “mashiv ha’ruach,” the wind blew. When he said “morid ha’geshem,” the rain fell. When he was about to say words in the bracha about resurrection (“mechayeh meisim”), the world began to shake. Would the dead arise from their graves?

In the heavenly court they wanted to know who revealed the secret. When it was discovered that it was Eliyahu HaNavi, they brought him and beat him with sixty fiery lashes. Eliyahu went down to the world disguised as a bear of fire and went among the people and distracted them from their prayers, preventing Rabi Chiya from saying the phrase, “Who revives the dead” (and bringing Moshiach prematurely).

Good Shabbos!

♦

Shliach? Community Rabbi? Activist? This is for you.
NEW! Moshiach Beparsha is a weekly drasha connecting the Rebbe’s teachings on Moshiach with the weekly Parsha, presented in an engaging way with stories and practical life lessons.

Hebrew – chat.whatsapp.com
English – chat.whatsapp.com
Russian – chat.whatsapp.com
French – chat.whatsapp.com

24