Yud Shvat and Bosi Legani

Introduction for Yud Shvat (the Tenth day of the Hebrew month of Shvat)

1. Yud Shvat commemorates the passing of the Previous Rebbe, Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson , in the year 1950.

Yud Shvat also celebrates when our Rebbe, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson , assumed the mantle of leadership exactly one year after the passing of his father-in-law, the Previous Rebbe.

2. Some basic information about the Previous Rebbe:

The Previous Rebbe, Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, was born in the year 1880 in Lubavitch, Belarus.

At the age of fifteen he was appointed as the personal secretary of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, his father, Rebbe Shalom DovBer.

At the age of seventeen he married a distant cousin (Nechama Dina Schneersohn). He was then appointed to be the first dean and head of the new network of Lubavitch Yeshivas (named Tomchei Tmimim) in the Russian empire.

The Previous Rebbe was arrested and jailed seven times during his lifetime for spreading Judaism! During these arrests the Czarist police would horribly torture the Previous Rebbe which eventually led to the Previous Rebbe being physically weak and ill.

During his final arrest in Leningrad he was even sentenced to death, however after a world-wide storm of outrage and pressure from Western governments the communist regime was forced to lessen the punishment and he was instead banished to a place called Kostroma and was released nine days later!

After many years of fighting to keep Judaism alive in the Soviet Union he was came to the United States in the year 1940.

3. Here is some information about the discourse that is translated in this email:

A) The last Chassidic discourse written by the Previous Rebbe before his passing was a four-part series entitled “Basi L’Gani – I have come into my garden” . The Previous Rebbe’s (apparent) plan was to give out the first part of the discourse on the Tenth of Shvat to mark the anniversary of the passing (Yahrtzeit) of the Previous Rebbe’s saintly grandmother. As it transpired, the Previous Rebbe himself passed away on this day.

This four-part series is named “Basi L’Gani” after a verse in the Song of Songs because the four-part series is based on this verse. The verse says, “Basi L’Gani Achoisee Kallah – I have come into My garden, My sister, My bride”. The four-part series had twenty paragraphs in total.

B) Every year on the Tenth of Shvat our Rebbe would take one paragraph from the Previous Rebbe’s four-part discourse and expound heavily on it. Being that there are twenty paragraphs in the original four-part discourse, it took twenty years to finish expounding on the whole discourse of the Previous Rebbe. The Rebbe actually went through it almost two times. He started in 1951 on the Tenth of Shvat and ended in 1970 on the Tenth of Shvat for the first time. He then started again to expound on the first paragraph of the Previous Rebbe’s discourse in the year 1971 on the Tenth of Shvat. He would have finished it for the second time in the year 1990 but stopped after the year 1988 with only two paragraphs left.

The discourse translated in this email is the first discourse the Rebbe ever gave over! When our Rebbe accepted the seat of leadership on the Tenth of Shvat 1951, a year after the passing of his father-in-law the Previous Rebbe, he said a very heavy discourse. This first-ever discourse from the Rebbe was an explanation of the first paragraph of the Previous Rebbe’s four-part discourse.

In the Rebbe’s first discourse he clearly outlined for us what his mission statement is and what is expected from each and every one of us. The Rebbe began a new generation with new sights and goals, namely to spread Judaism and Chassidus throughout the entire world to bring Moshiach (the Messiah) who will redeem us and take us to our complete and ultimate redemption. Amen.

Yud Shvat – The Tenth of Shvat

Here is an excerpt from the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s first-ever discourse.

The Rebbe says:

1. The Torah says, “Basi Le’Ga’ni Ah’choy’see Kallah – I have come to My garden, My sister, My bride”.

The Midrash Rabah (a major collection of homilies and commentaries on the Torah attributed to Rabbi Oshiah Rabah) tells us that this verse was said by Hashem (G-d) when the Jewish people received the Torah and then built the Mishkan (the Tabernacle). In other words, this verse is saying that when the Jewish people received the Torah and built the Mishkan Hashem came down and actually rested there, as it says, “Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai” .

The Midrash Rabah continues and observes that the word used in this verse is not “Le’Gan” which would mean “To the garden”, rather “L’Gani” which means “To My garden”. The Midrash Rabah explains that the reason for this is that Hashem is saying, “I have come to the place where My main essence (Ikar Shechinah) was originally found and revealed”; Hashem is saying that He is not coming to a new place in which He has never been before (which would be connoted by the word “Le’Gan – To the garden), He is coming to a place in which He has been before and for whatever reason He left (as we will explain soon) but now at the time of the giving of Torah and the building of the Tabernacle He is coming back (and this is implied by the word “Le’Gani – To my garden”).

2. The Rebbe now examines the Midrash Rabah’s wording of “…Hashem’s main essence…”:

The Midrash Rabah said that “Hashem’s main essence was originally found in this world (and then left) and is now coming back to the world at the time of the giving of the Torah and the completion of building the Tabernacle”. This means that the level of Hashem that was originally in this world and is now coming back is not just any level, but His main essence (Ikar Shechinah); there are myriads upon myriads of levels within Hashem, but the part of Hashem that was originally in this world and is now coming back is Hashem’s main essence.

3. [Translator’s note: The Rebbe now actually enumerates many levels within Hashem and speaks at length of what Hashem’s “main essence” (Ikar Shechinah) could mean. After close examination at what each level means, the Rebbe explains, based on the words of the Alter Rebbe , exactly which level is referred to as Hashem’s “main essence”].

4. The Rebbe now explains why Hashem’s main essence left this world:

The Midrash Rabah explains that when Hashem created the world His presence was found here; his main essence was in this world. Then Adam Harishon (Adam) sinned by eating from the “Tree of Knowledge” (Eitz Hadas) and this sin caused Hashem’s main essence to leave this world and reside in the heavens.

To be sure, there are actually seven heavens, and when Adam sinned he pushed Hashem’s main essence away from this world to the lowest heaven, the level of heaven closest to earth. Then there were six other sins done which pushed Hashem’s main essence even further away from the world.

The Midrash Rabah continues and tells us that the next sin was done by Adam’s son Cain when he killed his brother Abel . This sin pushed away Hashem’s main essence from the heaven closest to earth, the lowest heaven, to a higher heaven, the second level of heaven.

The next sin was done by Adam’s grandson Enosh by bringing idolatry into the world . This pushed away Hashem’s main essence even further away from the world from the second heaven to the third heaven.

[Translator’s note: The next four sins were not stated clearly by the Rebbe in this discourse. At this point in the discourse the Rebbe said “and so on…”. Perhaps we could say that the Rebbe did not want to belabor ideas of sin. The next four sins are however stated clearly in the Midrash Rabah:

The next sin was done by “the generation of the flood” during Noah’s lifetime by acting immorally . This pushed away Hashem’s main essence even further away from the world from the third heaven to the fourth heaven.

The next sin was done by “the generation of the dispersed” who built a tower to wage war with Hashem . This pushed away Hashem’s main essence even further away from the world from the fourth heaven to the fifth heaven.

The next sin was done by the people of Sodom who acted wicked and sinful . This pushed away Hashem’s main essence even further away from the world from the fifth heaven to the sixth heaven.

The next sin was done by the people of Egypt in the days of Abraham our Father by being steeped in lewdness . This pushed away Hashem’s main essence even further away from the world from the sixth heaven to the seventh heaven].

5. The Rebbe now explains how the sin of Adam was the worst sin of all:

The sin of Adam was the worst sin of all these seven (abovementioned) sins because his sin pushed away Hashem’s main essence from this world. This means two things:

Reason one: Even though the other six sins also pushed Hashem’s main essence further away from this world (from the first heaven to the second heaven, or from the second heaven to the third heaven, and so on), this was only within the heavenly spheres; however the sin of Adam caused Hashem’s presence to leave our physical world, and of course what matters to us most is Hashem’s presence being pushed away from our world.

Reason two: Pushing Hashem’s presence further away from this world once it was already in the heavenly realms was not nearly as great of a feat as to push away Hashem’s presence from the physical (world) to the spiritual (worlds). In other words, besides for the fact that what is most relevant to our lives is what happens in our world and therefore the sin of Adam was the worst of all, to push Hashem’s main essence away from the physical world to the spiritual world is also the most powerful act of removal. [Translators addition: For example, let’s say that there is one hundred miles between each level of heaven, but five hundred miles between earth and heaven; it is obviously a much more formidable task to travel from earth to heaven then to travel from one level of heaven to another. So-too with regards to Hashem’s main essence leaving this world and going to heaven, rather than leaving one level of heaven to another heaven, it is a much more formidable removal].

6. The Rebbe now tells us how Hashem’s main essence was brought back into this world:

The Midrash Rabah continues and tells us that after these seven sins there came seven Tzadikim (righteous ones) who returned Hashem’s main essence back to the world.

The seven righteous ones were:
1) Avraham Avinu (Abraham our Father).
2) Yitzchok Avinu (Isaac our Father).
3) Yakov Avinu (Jacob our Father).
4) Levi (one of Jacob’s children, one of the twelve tribes).
5) Kehos (the son of Levi).
6) Amram (the son of Kehos).
7) Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher, the son of Amram).

Through these seven Tzadikim being totally nullified to Hashem and acting out His every will they brought back Hashem’s main essence.

1) Avraham Avinu brought down Hashem’s main essence from the highest heaven to the lower heaven, from the seventh heaven to the sixth heaven.
2) Yitzchok Avinu brought down Hashem’s main essence from the sixth heaven to the fifth heaven.
3) Ya’akov Avinu brought down Hashem’s main essence from the fifth heaven to the fourth heaven.
4) Levi brought down Hashem’s main essence from the fourth heaven to the third heaven.
5) Kehos brought down Hashem’s main essence from the third heaven to the second heaven.
6) Amram brought down Hashem’s main essence from the second heaven to the first heaven.
7) Moshe Rabbeinu brought down Hashem’s main essence from the first heaven to this world.

7. The Rebbe now explains how Moshe Rabbeinu’s act of bringing down Hashem’s essence was the greatest of all the seven righteous ones:

Just as we explained with regards to the sin of Adam that pushing away Hashem’s presence from this world is worse then pushing away Hashem’s presence from one heaven to the next, for the two reasons mentioned above, this also holds true for the other way around; when Moshe Rabbeinu’s brought down Hashem’s presence into this world it was greater than the other six righteous ones drawing down Hashem’s presence, for two reasons:

Reason one: What matters to us most is that Hashem’s main essence is now in our physical world.

Reason two: The descent of Hashem’s main essence into the physical world is the greatest kid of descent (as opposed to the descent within spiritual realms). [Translators addition: As we said earlier, for example, let’s say that there is one hundred miles between each level of heaven, but five hundred miles between earth and heaven; it is obviously a greater descent to go from heaven to earth then from a higher heaven to a lower heaven].

8. The Rebbe now explains why Moshe Rabbeinu had the merit of bringing down Hashem’s main essence into this physical world:

Moshe Rabbeinu was the seventh righteous one starting from Avraham Avinu. The Midrash tells us that “all seventh ones are special” , this means that Hashem decided that all seventh ones are special and there is no logical reason for it. Therefore Moshe Rabbeinu merited being the one who gave the Torah to the Jewish people and brought down Hashem’s main essence back into this physical world.

9. The Rebbe now clearly states that we are the seventh generation from the first Chabad Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe, Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi , and we must bring the revelation of Moshiach into this world:

We are now in the seventh generation from the first Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe.

[Translators addition: The Alter Rebbe, Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi, was the first to disseminate the wellsprings of the inner Torah, namely Chassidus, in a clear format of understanding.
The second Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe and successor of the Alter Rebbe was his son the Mitteler Rebbe, Rebbe DovBer Schneuri .
The third Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe and successor of the Mitteler Rebbe was his son-in-law the Tzemach Tzedek, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson .
The fourth Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe and successor of the Tzemach Tzedek was his son the Rebbe Maharash, Rebbe Shmuel Schneerson .
The fifth Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe and successor of the Rebbe Maharash was his son the Rebbe Rashab, Rebbe Shalom DovBer Schneerson .
The sixth Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe and successor of the Rebbe Rashab was his son the Frierdiker Rebbe (the Previous Rebbe), Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson .
The seventh Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe and successor of the Frierdiker Rebbe is his son-in-law, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, our Rebbe].

As we mentioned above, the Midrash tells us that “all seventh ones are special” and therefore we have the great responsibility and privilege to be the ones to bring down Hashem’s main essence into this world. We did not work for this privilege, we did not choose to be the seventh ones, and it’s possible we do not even want to be the seventh ones. However the fact remains: Hashem made us the seventh and He demands from us to fulfill His mission to bring down His main essence into this world.

We are now at the end of the birth pangs of Moshiach (Messiah) and we have the privilege to bring Moshiach now!

Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Basi L’Gani Tuf Shin Yud Aleph.