Omar Rav Oshiya

Rav Oshiyah Said
Chassidic Discourse of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yud-Tes Kislev 5739/1978

Since the Jews are truly one entity, the efforts in Torah and Mitzvos of Jews in one land spiritually assist and strengthen Jews in other lands

A.

Rav Oshaya said, "why is it written that He 'performed righteousness (pirzono tzedakah) in Israel' (Judges, 5:11)? For the Holy One, Blessed be He, did tzedakah for Israel by dispersing them (pizran) amongst the nations" (Talmud, Pesachim 87b). The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that because Israel is dispersed in numerous countries, when one nation persecutes and oppresses the children of Israel and does not permit them to learn Torah or fulfill mitzvos, even with great self-sacrifice they are unable to fulfill many mitzvos [for example, when there is an edict forbidding the importation of the four species (used during Sukkos) into the country, so that even with great self-sacrifice it is not possible to fulfill the mitzvah], they receive strength and power from the mitzvos performed by the rest of Israel who are found in other countries without persecution.

Since initially, despite all this, they succeeded in fulfilling the mitzvos with great self-sacrifice [as is known, there are opinions that even regarding those mitzvos of which the sages said "transgress rather than risk your life," it is meritorious to sanctify the name of G-d and endure great self-sacrifice to fulfill them], they will later need no self-sacrifice at all. There will no longer be any tests or trials, because they will have come out to freedom and will be able to engage in Torah and mitzvos in a free and open manner, as the sages said "all who fulfill the Torah in poverty will in the end fulfill it in wealth."

B.

Since the Torah is eternal, in every moment and time and every place, it is understood that this tzedakah is also in the places that do not have decrees against Torah and mitzvos. It will be understood from what the Previous Rebbe wrote about the mitzvah of redeeming captives, which also applies in spiritual matters. Just as a captive physically (one who sits in prison) is unable to take himself out of there, so it is in spiritual matters. Sometimes a person is held captive by his inclination (such as business people who are greatly bothered about their business, and are occupied [held captive] by the related thoughts and confusions and are unable to remove themselves from them), to the point that he is forced. In the language of Maimonides, his inclination has overpowered him.

This is the matter of tzedakah by way of dispersing us among the nations, relating also to different locations. When one of Israel is held captive by his inclination (relating to a private matter), his escape from captivity comes, not by his own strength (as the Talmud says, a bound man cannot release himself), but by way of a Jew who is not in captivity regarding this matter. That is to say, the one who redeems him from captivity is himself imprisoned by his inclination to the point that he is forced regarding a different mitzvah. In any case, there are some mitzvos regarding which he is not imprisoned by his inclination, since every one's evil inclination mainly generates opposition to different matters.

Just as each particular time has a particular effort that is especially related to it, and the opposition of the evil inclination is intended to prevent it, so the trials of one generation are different from the trials of another generation. And, too, each individual has a particular mitzvah or custom which is connected to him more than others, as is brought down by the sages, and the opposition of his evil inclination is most connected to it. The degree to which he fulfills those mitzvos which, relatively, his inclination is not as forcefully opposed to, he releases from captivity those mitzvos regarding which his inclination has overpowered him.

And this is the tzedakah that the Holy One, Blessed be He, did for Israel, that he dispersed them amongst the nations, for redeeming captives is the highest level of tzedakah. In the mitzvah of tzedakah, redeeming captives is primary, preceding all other needs, and there is no greater mitzvah than redeeming captives. And by way of dispersal amongst the nations, where the inclination of one is different from the inclination of the other, thus the mitzvah of redeeming captives fulfilled.

C.

The discourse brings out the grammatical significance of the words: according to this explanation of "[The Holy One, Blessed be He] performed righteousness in Israel" ("He did tzedakah for Israel by dispersing them...") we find the juxtaposition of "pizrono" (dispersed) and "pirzono" (performed). It is explained that pirzono (performed) is related to the verse "'Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (prozus)" (Zecharia 2:8). Namely, that the tzedakah that the Holy One, Blessed be He did for Israel that he dispersed them amongst the nations, is in order that through this they should arrive at a higher level than before this descent into dispersal, to the degree of "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (pirzono)".

D.

According to our sages, that everything in the world is found in man [thus is man called a "small world" (a microcosm), and every single person is obligated to say "for me the world was created"]. From this it is understood that in the man (Adam) there is an aspect of Jerusalem (and the sages say of the Jewish people, "you are called Adam.") Namely, even during the time of exile, when "because of our sins we were exiled from our land and distanced from our soil" (and this applies even to the children of Israel found in the Holy Land, who also recite this verse in the Yom Tov musaf prayer), Jerusalem is nevertheless spiritually eternal even now, in each and every one of Israel. And the matter is known that Jerusalem (Yerushalayim) comes from the words "Yira Shalem" [and this also applies to the city of Jerusalem, which the Midrash tells us was called by the name "Shalem" by Melchizedek, King of Shalem, and by the name "Yira" by Avraham], which means "perfect fear/awe." The spiritual Yerushalayim is eternal, even now in the time of exile, because in each and every one of Israel, even at the time of exile, there is (albeit, in a state of hiddeness) complete fear, as will be elaborated below.

The matter of Jerusalem (complete fear) of the person can be understood two ways. In several places it is explained that Jerusalem is fear which comes in the form of fear, which is the concept of earthly Jerusalem and supernal Jerusalem, for in "fear" there are two levels. Lower fear -- earthly Jerusalem, and higher fear -- supernal Jerusalem. Thus said the Holy One, Blessed be He, that I will not come to the supernal Jerusalem until I come to the earthly Jerusalem, although regarding revelations the lower fear is much lower than higher fear, in any case lower fear is the root of the higher fear, and they are considered united. Thus, via lower fear (earthly Jerusalem) we arrive to the higher fear (supernal Jerusalem).

It is understood from the discourse that Yerushalayim is a point of fear of heaven that is above intellect, a point above form, which exists in each and every Jew, in the essence of the neshama within him which is above revelations. It can be said that this point is called by the name Jerusalem, complete fear, because the matter of completeness truly means no connection to a state of lacking. Thus, the fear that comes by way of revelation (in the form of fear) could possibly be lacking, and it doesn't truly have completeness. True completeness is a point of fear of Heaven that is above revelations, and this point is always found in each and every Jew.

E.

The point of fear of Heaven which is above intellect is above boundaries, but, nonetheless, it has (in its revelation) numerous levels. The truth of the quality of being without limit will take place in the time to come, And specifically in the time to come will be the state of "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls," which according to Rashi's commentary means that it will be without boundaries or constrictions, etc. And then will be unlmited elevations, as Rashi says, growing from day to day.

This is the matter of "'He performed righteousness (pirzono tzedakah) in Israel' for the Holy One, Blessed be He did tzedakah for Israel by dispersing them (pizran) amongst the nations." The use of the term "pirzono" indicates that by dispersing them (pizran) they will arrive at the state of "pirzono" (unwalled), above all measurement and limit. This has two aspects. The trials and tribulations of the exile (dispersed among the nations [pizran]) awakens and reveals the point of fear of heaven that is within every Jew, which is above all measurement and limit. Beyond this, the matter of "pirzono" hints at "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (prozus)," that via the awakening of the point of fear of heaven at the time of exile, there will be afterwards additions and elevations to it, as there will be in the time to come.

F.

Two things should be said regarding "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls" (the point of perfect fear). First, that this point of fear of heaven itself is above limitations (as discussed above), and its expansion is without boundary. This contains two matters: That the point of fear of heaven works in all the powers of the nefesh-soul according to the point, and as well the point itself expands with all the powers of the nefesh-soul, until the point of clothing itself in ones thought, speech, and action. And second, taking "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls" in its simple sense, that in addition to this, Jerusalem is the mid-point between the world and the Even Shesiya in the Holy Temple, from which the world expanded outward. Jerusalem herself will also expand outward into all the world, since in the future Jerusalem will expand to all of the Land of Israel and in the future the land of Israel will expand to all the lands.

G.

Apparently, the use of the term "pirzono" (without walls, and not "pizrono," dispersed), in the matter of "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls," is related as well to the tzedakah of dispersion ("pizran") as explained at the beginning of the discourse, that Israel's labor in Torah and mitzvos in "broad" places (lacking constraints) gives strength and power to those Jews living under repression to study Torah and fulfill mitzvos. That the labor in Torah and mitzvos of one gives strength and power to the other is because all Jewish people are really one entity, particularly in the point of yiras shomayim (fear of heaven) and their self-nullification, for it is a point which unifies all of Israel. And so, since the labor in Torah and mitzvos of one gives strength and power to the other (in the matter of the tzedakah of dispersion, pizran), and this labor in Torah and mitzvos is like the point of yiras shomayim, "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (prozus)," as his yiras shomayim (Jerusalem) is in the manner of "ufaratzta" (breaking the boundaries) "to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south" (Vayeitzei 28:14), and spreads out (v'hoderes) all the powers of the soul, reaching his thought, speech, and actions.

And this is the meaning that the labor in Torah and mitzvos of one gives strength and power (not only to those found in the place of oppression, but rather) also to those who are in captivity at the hands of their inclination, to redeem them from captivity (as discussed in section B, above) because each and every Jew, even the wicked ones, has (though it may be concealed) a point of yiras shomayim, and thus all the types of Jews (tzaddikim, the average, and the wicked) are really one entity. It is hinted in the term "tzibbur" (community), ("the Jews are a 'tzibbur'", Nazir 91) which is spelled "TZ - B - R" which are the initials of the word "Tzaddik (righteous), Beinoni (average), Rasha (wicked)." It is explained that all three types are really one entity (and that the letter "vav" in the word tzibbur connects the wicked to the average and the righteous, and the head of all the letters is the letter tzaddik, as in the verse, "your people are all tzaddikim"). Thus, labor in Torah and mitzvos of the righteous and the "average" Torah-observant Jew (and particularly when the labor in Torah and mitzvos includes all of Israel, as the verse "you shall love your fellow Jew as yourself"), affects also those who are held captive by their inclinations, that they should come out from captivity and be tzaddikim (in a revealed state as well).

H.

The matter discussed above (that the Torah and mitzvos of one gives strength and power to another as well) is not only when one is prevented (regarding some mitzvah) by a government decree or because he has been overpowered by his inclination. It includes those cases where the Torah precludes the performance of a mitzvah, such as Jews who are found outside of the land for whom, according to Torah, it is impossible to fulfill the mitzvos dependent upon the land, and generally during the time of exile when it is impossible even for Jews found in the Land of Israel to fulfill the mitzvos which can be performed only when the Holy Temple is standing. But since all Jews in all places and in all times are really one entity, the Jews found in the Land of Israel fulfill the mitzvos dependent on the Land for the benefit of the Jews found outside of the Land, and similarly those mitzvos which can be performed only when the Holy Temple is standing which were performed by the Jews of that time benefit as well the Jews living in the time of exile. All Jews over all generations are a single "tzibur," and "there is no death in a tzibbur" [and thus the sacrifice offered in the days of Ezra atoned for the Jews in the generation of Tzidkiyahu as well].

I.

Thus, "Why is it written that He 'performed righteousness (pirzono tzedakah) in Israel'? For the Holy One, Blessed be He, did tzedakah for Israel by dispersing them (pizran) amongst the nations", which says "pirzono" (and not pizrono), because the tzedakah that was performed by the Holy One, Blessed be He, for Israel by dispersing them amongst the nations is how we arrive at the higher state of "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (prozus)," as discussed above at length. And there is another meaning to this, that it says "pirzono", because in order to arrive at "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (prozus)," is by way of the labor of the time of exile (when we are dispersed, "pizran", amongst the nations) which itself is the state of "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (prozus)." In addition, that the entry to Jerusalem, physically, in the true redemption at the hands of our righteous Moshiach, is by way of the service of Jerusalem, arriving at perfect fear [because the coming of the Moshiach will be by way of "you will hear his voice", which is by way of fear, which is the primary root of the Divine service, although the perfect fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos requires love as well, we see the main part of the service is fear]. In order that there should be "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (prozus)," there must be even now the service in the manner of "prozus" (without walls), above measurement and boundary. Generally, this is the service of self-sacrifice, the sacrifice of the will, that this service is a preparation for "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (prozus)" in its simple meaning, in the future Jerusalem will spread out to all of the Land of Israel and in the future the Land of Israel will spread out to all of the lands. This will be done by way of our actions and our service over the time of exile, which are generally the three "lines" of Torah, divine service, and acts of kindness. And particularly by way of the service of "spreading the wellsprings" (as mentioned in the letter of the Ba'al Shem Tov).

Thus, "He did tzedakah for Israel by dispersing them (pizran) amongst the nations," that by our actions and our service in the time of exile (in the three "lines" of Torah, divine service, and acts of kindness, and in particular the spreading out of the wellsprings) every day, and we can add to this that every day (that we are still found in exile), we will make spiritual redemption so that every single action will join to the great account of tzedakah which brings close the redemption in its simple, physical meaning, and then we will arrive at "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls (prozus)" in physicality as well, with the coming of our righteous Moshiach, let it be soon.