Redeemed Through Torah and Tzedakah ציון במשפט תפדה ושבי׳ בצדקה Kabbalah by Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz

Welcome to our class on this, where we're going to be learning a beautiful city discourse in the Rebbe. The name of the city discourse is called Zion the Mishpat Poda. The Rebbe said this city discourse in Shabbos Parshas Devorim, which is also Shabbos Chazon, which is that year it was on the 6th day of Menachem Av in the year tough shin mem daled, 42 years ago. So again, the city discourse is based in the verse from the prophets where it says Zion bemishpat poda, vishaveha vitzdaka. Zion will be redeemed with mishpat, which is literal meaning is justice, and shavah is captains, with tzedaka, which which means charity. And the Rebbe says this verse is the end and the last part of the haftorah of Parshas Chazon. And as we know the questions that are brought down in the Kuntres Torah on our parsha, and the city discourses afterwards, which is already published. And you know, something something that's published is for generations. That and so this verse is part of Torah. And Torah we knows all about teaching us a lesson. And and the Torah is everlasting. So therefore we have an everlasting lesson. In other words, this verse is an everlasting lesson in how to serve Hashem every place and every single time. So therefore, what does it mean practically? That in the serving of Hashem, there's two components in general. One is Zion bemishpat poda, whatever that means on a spiritual level we'll get into. And the second component is vishaveha vitzdaka, whatever that means on a spiritual level. Now, Rebbe says even though this haftorah you only read in Shabbos Parshas Chazon, it's once a year. >> [snorts] >> And therefore obviously for sure it's connected to Shabbos Parshas Chazon, but nevertheless, no, this idea flows in the on the whole year. Not only for Shabbos Chazon. And just like everything in in time that even though it takes place in a certain time, but that power continues for the rest of the year. And like we know the example of from the mitzvah of remembering going out of Egypt, so the main remembering going out of Egypt is on 15th of Nissan, which is the actual anniversary, the day we left Egypt. But, from there, that continues on a whole year cuz we know that we mention going out of Egypt every single day. And the same thing also in our case, that even though the main ideal of sealing the Mishpat u'Shvat with Tzedakah is connected to Shavuot but nevertheless, it continues on that message and that lesson for a whole year. Now, in this verse, so he's explaining these two ideas that you need to be redeemed from. Tzion is going to be is redeemed with Mishpat. There's a Tzion has to be redeemed. And then v'Shaveha, the captives have to be redeemed. So, there's two things that have to be redeemed, Tzion and Shaveha. And the way the redemption takes place is in in in in two components. In other words, that the redemption of Tzion is b'Mishpat. How do you redeem Tzion through Mishpat? We'll explain that it means practically. And the redemption of Shaveha, the captives is through it's Tzedakah. So, we have to understand what is the lesson in serving Hashem? As we know that everything I need to raise my soul to Hashem, I was created what to serve Hashem. So, what's the lesson in serving Hashem? Also, we have to understand based on what we know that Torah there's an order in Torah. And what's the reason why the order of this verse is that first it says Tzion b'Mishpat and only afterwards it says v'Shaveha b'Tzedakah. So, the Rebbe is explaining over here as follows. Like they and obviously it's based on what's brought down in the Siddur discourses. That the explanation of Tzion, when we say Tzion, what does mean what do we mean literally? So, it's referring to a sign. Tzion is a sign. And like he brings another verse, Etz Tzion. Tzion is a sign. In other words, every time you have a sign, there's two opposite components that take place. One hand, what's a sign? It's not the thing itself. It's a sign for the thing. On the other hand, but since it's a sign for that thing, obviously it has some kind of connection to it. So therefore, when it says sealing, then we're referring to what are we What are we referring to? We're referring to the godly soul that we have. But we're calling it a sign, a sign, which means it's a sign for it, but that's what it is. In other words, when it comes to the godly soul, the author explains in Tanya, and he says like this, quote, "The nefesh Hashem is be Israel, the second soul of the Jewish people, he chelek Eloka mimal mamash, it's part of God, literally a part of God." So what do we see from here? That there's two components in the sign. On one hand, it's a sign, it's a chelek Eloka, it's a sign of a part of God, and like the author adds and he says, "That's why it's called a chelek Eloka, part of God, cuz when you hold on to a part of something, you're holding on to the thing itself." But on the other hand, it's only a sign. And that's why it's called chelek Eloka, part of God. I know it's only a part, and that's why it's called the nefesh Hashem, it's the second the second soul, because the way it comes into the body, it's so it's it's actually only secondary. And like the And like we know that what chazal tell us, that the yetzer hara says, "Hey, I came in first. I came in first." Okay. So again, so we say the the seon is referring to what? The godly soul. On one hand, the godly soul is literally that's a part of God. On the other hand, it's only a part of God, and it's secondary to the animal soul. That's what what seon we're referring to, the godly soul. But on the other hand, when it says vishuvet, the captive, it's not referring to the godly soul. Why? Because what is What What does it mean a captive? There's two There's two There's two insights to a captive. One is from returning, returning, and the those that return to it, returning, and the second of a shuvaha is someone that's captive that the that camp that camp short in it. In other words, according to the first insight, returning, so the fact that you have to return means that this is not the place. Which of that means it's not your place you're returning. And the same thing also even according to the second insight. That means that a person's captive, so you're so you're not in your right space, and you're not in your place where you should be you should be. Now, so therefore you cannot say that that is referring to the godly soul. Because you can't say the godly soul is not in the right place. The godly soul is godly. And how [snorts] much more so when it when when the Torah says that my words are like fire? And just like fire cannot receive impurity, so the same thing also Torah can't receive impurity. Because Torah doesn't change. So how much more so with Torah, how much more so in the summer in the summer? So when we say captive, it can't be the godly soul. So when we say captive, what are we referring to? Which means it's not in its right place. So it's not referring to the godly soul. Therefore you must say it's referring to the garments. What's the garments? Thought, speech, and action. And on that you can say, "Yeah, the thoughts are not in the right place. The speech is not in the right place. The actions are not in the right place." >> [snorts] >> Because it it and why? Because they're enclosed in the animal soul and the physical body in the world. Or the body itself. So to to to to be clear, what we just learned was sealing is a sign referring to the godly soul. The shoveled referring to the thought, speech, and action. What does that mean? Let me explain this problem. We know the general idea of serving Hashem for the soul that's in the body. And like we know when I deal with Hashem gave us the Torah, the goal is that he gave us the Torah to not to souls that are within the body. And like it's explained elsewhere, that when Hashem gave the Torah, what does it say? If I gave it Hashem al Har Sinai. God was in heaven, he comes down to Mount Sinai. Not that he had elevated the Jewish people to heaven. But, literally Hashem took his fancy throne and he and the heavens and the high heavens and he put it onto the mountain. And not only that, it came down in a way that it that it affected the physical world. Like it says the the the Mount Sinai was full of smoke. What does that mean? That the God's revelation affected the mountain. >> [snorts] >> And the same thing would apply to the whole idea of Torah. Like we know that the Torah was given to make peace in the world, which means Torah comes into the world that which is not a place of peace. And the the the impact is the goal is to make peace in the world. So, what do we see from here? That the serving of Hashem of the soul within the body, in other [snorts] words, both idea of the tzelem, which is the soul, and both idea of shavya, captive, which is we're talking about the soul that comes in the body, but nevertheless, there's two things that take place. The tzelem is referring to the soul that's in the body. >> [snorts] >> And the garments, the shavya, the captive is referring to the garments, which is thought, speech, and action. So, it is on which is thought, speech, and action, which comes into the animal soul in the world. So, you have these two components, the godly soul that that comes into the world and the thought, speech, and action that get that's clothed in the world. Now, both of these have to be redeemed, have to be pulled out of the world. Now, the way they get redeemed is there's two there's two things that we do to redeem them. One is mishpat and one is tzedaka. What does mishpat mean? Mishpat referring to Torah. And tzedaka is charity. And like the Alter explains in the Likutei Torah, what is mishpat? The laws of the Torah. And like the Targum Onkelos says, "K'mishpat harishon." What does that mean? K'hilchos d'kammaicha, like the first halacha. And you can say this is the source of mishpat, knowing that tzedaka comes in Targum, because obviously it's connected to that idea, because it's brought down the Alter explains in Torah and passion spot them but the transformation of the languages of the nations of the world and transforming to holiness was when you use it in Torah. And that's why it says that that's the whole idea of of of redeeming it from exile. And that's why we use the idea of Targum Onkelos cuz the goal is what? To transform that language as well. Now, the difference between Torah and charity, so it's explained elsewhere, it's it's it's it's a two types of of of of of walking. In other words, you can walk my law my law my law from high down to low. And then there's my law my law from low down and high. What does that mean? Torah we know is walking from high down below. And like it says clearly, God says from heaven we heard his voice. And basically brought down from the the voice from heaven. And even when Torah comes down into this world, it's compared to fire. My words are like fire. And what's the nature of of fire? It wants to go high like the altar explains in Tanya. So this is that Torah comes down here because it basically it has to be constantly pushed to come down into this world. So Torah is all about bringing godly light into this world. And therefore you can say that's the reason why Torah is also called Mishpat. It says Mishpat T and Mishpat Mishpat is connected to Torah cuz what does Mishpat What does a ruling mean? It's referring to bringing down from on high down here. Like what's a Mishpat? Mishpat is a judge. In a Mishpat you have a judge and judge is sitting in higher higher than everyone. And he's giving his ruling from from the bench. So that is what Torah. However, when it comes to Tzedakah, that's elevating the physical physical world. Like it says clearly, Torah and the charity elevates the world. Which basically means it's all about elevation. And the same thing also applies not only to Tzedakah but all the Mitzvahs. Cuz Tzedakah is a general Mitzvah. What's the purpose of all the Mitzvahs? To elevate the physical world. So therefore what do we see from here? That when it comes to redeeming the ceiling the godly soul, that's through Torah, just bringing down the Torah into this world. And to redeem the Shavel, which is the thoughts, speech, and action, that already needs charity. Why? Cuz Torah is all about coming down [snorts] into this world, and when it comes down to the world, it's still on fire, which is connected to godly soul, which is a part of God. However, charity on the other hand is basically taking someone that's poor that you need to elevate him, and you have to go ahead and create a Shavel, you have to redeem him. And from this we'll also understand why he brings first ceiling the mishpatim pada. Why? Why is it because that's referring to Torah, cuz Torah comes before the mitzvahs. And like literally, in order to do a mitzvah, you have to learn Torah to know what to do. And the same thing also on a spiritual level, that the power to do a mitzvah comes through Torah on high. However, the idea of a Shavel mitzvah, which is referring to the physical body, so the the anchor's returned, when the anchor's returned, it actually goes higher than ceiling. Because in the body, you have godliness, because nobody the body doesn't make itself, obviously God God made it. And you have the power of the creator in what was created. But the only thing is you don't feel it. But but this that we the body doesn't feel that's part of God, obviously cuz the source is much higher. Cuz the rule is anything that's higher when it falls, it falls much lower. So when someone doesn't feel godliness, and especially the body, cuz the source is much higher. But when you go ahead and give and that's obviously in captive, but when you go ahead and give charity, you create that the return, the truva, the truva the return, the Shavel comes an idea of truva, and the return goes actually not only to its source, but it goes even higher than its source. And that's why it says ceiling >> [snorts] >> the mishpatim pada, that Zion gets redeemed through mishpatim we said is learning Torah, the Shavel the captive is through charity, cuz the level of ceiling, which is the essence of the soul, so you have to create a redemption. And the level of Shavel, which is referring to the way the soul comes into the body or the garments of the soul, like we said, thoughts, speech, and act action. So, over there you have to create an elevation from down here on high. You know, from the lowest level to the highest level. And how do you go ahead and create the elevation through the two the two ideas of bringing down the light, which is what? Through Torah. And elevating through charity. And then we create the Hashem is going to walk with the amongst us, double walking, which is basically walking from down from high to low and then from low on high. In other words, what does that mean practically? The beginning, Hashem helps you. And but then you have to go ahead and do your work. Both in learning Torah and and giving charity. And there's learning Torah with the our intellect and doing mitzvahs with our 248 limbs in our body, like it's brought down in Sefer Chareidim. >> [snorts] >> The way every single mitzvah is connected to a different part of our body. And when we do our part, we receive from Hashem the nine measures, where Hashem gives you, like the prophet says, "Hashem is not going to forsake us. He's going to give us what we need." And that's why it says, that's why this is this is also discussed where? Not in the Torah, but in the Haftorah. Because the whole purpose of Haftorah was because of the decree that we couldn't learn Torah, which is basically exile. And we finish off Zion bemishpat tipada. That Zion is going to redeem with mishpat. Cuz everything goes based on the end. That when we do our work, both in bringing down the Torah and elevating, we're going to come very, very soon to fulfillment of the of the of the of the of the of of the of the of the idea of Zion is going to be bemishpat tipada. That Zion, the godly souls, going to be redeemed through learning Torah. The Shavel's captives, the body, thoughts, speech, and action through charity. We're going to have it literally. And when is that going to happen? With the coming of Mashiach Tzidkeinu. Bimheira beyameinu mamash, it should It will very, very, very soon and very, very quickly. Here's another beautiful practical Hasidic discourse of the Rebbe of what our spiritual work in this world is, to bring down godliness, to elevate the world, will have the coming of Mashiach. Our next week's class will be in Jerusalem in Morocco. Have a great and blessed week. Shabbat tov.