A Sicha from the Rebbe – Parshas Behar

The Rebbe says:

1. In this week’s Torah portion Hashem (G-d) commands us to take care of our brethren in need and loan them interest free money. Hashem finishes off this commandment by saying, “I am Hashem, your G-d, Who took you out of the land of Egypt…”.

Our Sages learn from this verse that, “Anyone who accepts the yoke of the commandment regarding not taking or giving interest, accepts the yoke of Heaven; and anyone who throws off the yoke of this commandment, throws off the yoke of Heaven. This is because anyone who complies with the Mitzvah (commandment) of “Ribbis” (not taking or giving interest) also admits to the fundamental principal of our exodus from Egypt; and anyone who denies the Mitzvah of Ribbis also denies our exodus from Egypt”.

In other words, there is something unique about the Mitzvah of Ribbis which has a special connection to accepting the yoke of Heaven and our exodus from Egypt more than any other Mitzvah. We must try to understand this.

2. The Rebbe begins explaining this by first discussing the idea of accepting the yoke of Heaven:

When a person accepts the yoke of Heaven and therefore fulfills the Mitzvos (commandments) which are incumbent upon him, Hashem “teams up” with him. This means two things: Firstly, Hashem fulfills these same Mitzvos before He commands us to do them, and secondly, He fulfills these Mitzvos again after we perform them.

Our Sages point out that this concept is clearly seen from the wording of the blessings which we say before performing a Mitzvah. The blessing always begins, “Blessed are you Hashem, our G-d, Master of the universe, Who has made us holy with His commandments…(and then we specify which Mitzvah we are about to perform)”; they are “His” commandments because He performs them as well.

3. The Rebbe now questions this:

It is quite obvious that the fact that our Mitzvos cause Hashem to perform the Mitzvos as well is not because the level of our Mitzvos are somehow related to the level of Hashem’s Mitzvos, because the Creator and the created have no association between one another. It is solely because Hashem decided to reciprocate when we do a Mitzvah that our Mitzvos cause Him to fulfill the Mitzvos as well.

Bearing this in mind, we must wonder why Hashem desires that our Mitzvos cause Him to fulfill the Mitzvos after we are already done? Regarding Hashem’s observance of the Mitzvos before we perform them, this is readily understood because He wants to give us the strength to be able to fulfill the Mitzvos afterwards. However, we must try to understand why Hashem wants our Mitzvos to also cause Him to fulfill it afterwards.

4. The Rebbe now answers this question by discussing and explaining the idea of Avodah (service to Hashem):

Why is it that we have to work for everything? Seemingly, since Hashem created this world “to do kindness to His creations”, and “it is the nature of what’s good to perform goodness”, He should just give us everything as a gift without any of our own labor!?

The explanation for this is that real goodness is only when the receiver first worked for his reward. When someone receives a gift that he did not work for at all it is called “bread of shame”. Therefore, for the very reason that Hashem created this world “to do kindness to His creations”, and “it is the nature of what’s good to perform goodness”- He does not want us to receive “bread of shame” and He wants us to feel good about ourselves when we receive our sustenance. Therefore Hashem set up the world in a way that we must first work before we receive.

According to this we can understand why Hashem wants our Mitzvos to cause Him to fulfill the Mitzvos after we are done:

If someone works and gets paid, however the work that he does is useless for his boss, this is still “bread of shame” and the worker does not feel good about himself. Therefore, Hashem desires that our Mitzvos cause Him to fulfill the Mitzvos as well, so that we feel valuable and successful.

Additionally, when we feel good about ourselves we fulfill the Mitzvos with enthusiasm and eagerness, and this gives us the strength to continue serving Hashem in the face of any test that may come our way.

5. The Rebbe now answers our original question as to how the Mitzvah of Ribbis is especially connected to accepting the yoke of heaven and our exodus from Egypt:

All Divine energy which is brought down into this world is a result of our work. In other words, every Mitzvah that we perform brings down a specific energy into this world. Furthermore, as we said earlier, every Mitzvah we do down here causes Hashem to “perform” the Mitzvah as well in the higher realms.

Bearing this in mind, we can understand that just as every individual Mitzvah has a specific effect on the higher realms, so too, there must be a Mitzvah which causes the general effect of Hashem desiring to be affected by our Mitzvos.

This “general” Mitzvah is Ribbis:

The transgression of Ribbis is that you are gaining profit now because of money which you once loaned to someone in the past. Guarding oneself from Ribbis means that you will only allow yourself to gain from something which you have in your possession now.

Hashem treats us like we treat our peers. Therefore, if we transgress on the Mitzvah of Ribbis and take interest from our friends now even though we are not doing anything now to deserve it, Hashem will respond and not take part now in our performance of Mitzvos; Hashem will only participate earlier by performing the Mitzvos before He commands us to do them (which gives us the strength to perform them), however He will not reciprocate now and perform them again after we have performed them.

However when we fulfill the Mitzvah of Ribbis and only profit from something we deserve now, Hashem reciprocates and also performs the Mitzvos which we are doing now.

Through this we can also understand how the Mitzvah of Ribbis is especially connected to accepting the yoke of heaven (performance of Mitzvos) and our exodus from Egypt:

The Mitzvah of Ribbis is a general theme which causes Hashem to be a partner in our performance of the Mitzvos and acceptance of the yoke of Heaven. Moreover, when we are connected to Hashem because He becomes a partner with us, we are plugged in to an unlimited energy supply and we have the strength to leave our own individual “Egypt”.

6. The Rebbe now finishes off with the lesson for us:

Our Sages tell us that, “The righteous ones (Tzadikim) are compared to their Creator”. Therefore, just like Hashem gives us strength at the onset of our service and at the end of it, so too, His righteous ones, and specifically His leaders (Nesi’im) of Israel, give us special strength; they give us the specific mission of our generation and the strength to fulfill it, and then continue to surge us with the power to accomplish it.

This is also a lesson that every Jew can implement in his own life: When you help out another Jew, and specifically in the area of Yiddishkeit (Judaism), you should never stop lending him your helping hand.

Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg. Take from Likutei Sichos volume three.