The Rebbe says:

This talk will be based on a verse in this week’s Haftorah (a short selection from the Prophets which we read after reading the regular Torah portion):

1. In this week’s Haftorah the Torah tells us that the Prophet Zechariya refers to the Jewish people and says “I see and behold there is a Menorah made entirely of gold…with it’s seven branches…”.

2. The Rebbe now explains to us why the Prophet Zechariya compared the Menorah and the Jewish people:

The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Beha’aloscha

The Rebbe says:

This talk will be based on a verse in this week’s Haftorah (a short selection from the Prophets which we read after reading the regular Torah portion):

1. In this week’s Haftorah the Torah tells us that the Prophet Zechariya refers to the Jewish people and says “I see and behold there is a Menorah made entirely of gold…with it’s seven branches…”.

2. The Rebbe now explains to us why the Prophet Zechariya compared the Menorah and the Jewish people:

The Menorah had seven branches and this teaches us that there are seven types of Jews and when we are all one we make one complete Menorah.

What do we mean when we say “seven types of Jews”?

Chassidus explains that there are some Jews who (mainly) stem from the attribute of Chessed (kindness) and there are some Jews who stem from the attribute of Gevurah (severity, justice) and there are some Jews who stem from Tiferes (literally “beauty”, it is a perfect blend of kindness and justice), and so on. This means that since our Souls stem from a certain attribute of Hashem (kindness, severity…), we act that way on a day to day basis.

The common denominator between every one of the seven types of Jews is that we are all trying to light up the world- just like the Menorah. The Menorah not only lit up the Beis Hamikdash (the Holy Temple) but even gave light to the whole world (and this is why the windows of the Beis Hamikdash were angled towards the outside, not like regular homes where you angle the windows towards the inside so that the light from the outside will come inside).

And this is the job of every single Jew- to light up the world with his or her specific talents that Hashem (G-d) gave them. Hashem gives every person different abilities and talents in order for each of us to use the talents given to us to serve Hashem and light up the world. Each Jew may light up the world in his or her way, this one with kindness and this one with justice, but the same goal for everyone is to light up the world.

3. The Rebbe now presents for us the way Aharon the Kohen Gadol (the High Priest) would light up the world:

Our Sages tell us that Aharon Hakohen “loved the creations and brought them close to the Torah” (see Mishnayos Avos, Chapter 1, Mishnah 12).
Question: Why do our Sages use the term “creations” and not just say “he loved people”?
Answer: Our Sages are hinting to us that even people which had no specialty them and their only saving grace is that they are creations of Hashem, still Aharon loved them.

Now we know that Aharon the High Priest was the one who would light up the Menorah, which we just explained refers to the Jewish people as a whole. So it comes out that the preferred way to light up another Jew with a fiery passion for life (the true meaning of life which is a Torah observant life) is by truly loving them for who they are, even if their only positive aspect is that they were created by Hashem.

4. The Rebbe now tells us that this was also the way of all the Chabad Rebbes (leaders):

All of the Chabad leaders, starting from the Alter Rebbe and continuing till the last Rebbe, were lamp lighters like Aharon Hakohen. Their job was to light up the Soul of every single Jew to become a fiery flame which would eventually burn on its own. And the way they did this was also like Aharon Hakohen- they loved every single Jew for who they were without any exceptions.

5. The lesson for us our lives:

As we said before, there are some people who don’t have any specialty other then the fact that they were created by Hashem. This week’s Haftorah tells us that every single Jew is needed to complete the Menorah and we must love every one for who they are.

Translated and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos Chelek Beis, 1st Sicha.