ה'תשנ"א – ה'תשפ"א
Prophecy spoken by
the
Lubavitcher Rebbe 30 years ago
for this
Year 5781
“This
will be the year when
I will
certainly show you Miracles”
הי' תהא שנת פלאות אראנו
Sefer HaSichos, Parshas Vayigash, Heh Teves
1990
OVERVIEW
Living
in times when a reader wishes to immediately grasp the point spoken; therefore,
as translator I thought it appropriate to initially offer this short overview
of this lengthy Sicha Parshas Vayigash 5751 which spans 19 pages, and to focus
on the overall theme of which the Rebbe is speaking to us for our current year
5781 and to visualize the major contours of the landscape of the full Sicha
which follows.
The
Rebbe is speaking to us of our present time-period, describing how, whilst
still in exile, we are also in immediate proximity to the imminent Geula by our
righteous Moshiach.
As
Chassidus explains, the word Torah has in its meaning ‘teaching’, eternal and
most relevant messages for Jewish people for all generations. The Rebbe focuses
upon the specific Torah narrative which reflects our times, and from its
manifold details, the Rebbe opens our eyes to the parallel through which we are
now living, offering us the spiritual strength and insights to comprehend the
events in the world around us, and to discern the imminence of the Geula.
The narrative speaks of Yehuda, head of the
tribes, approaching Joseph, the viceroy of Pharaoh, the superpower of that
time, for the release of Binyamin from being held in Egypt, the source of all
later-day exiles [paralleling the Jewish people from exile]. Initially unaware
of the Yosef’s identity, Yehuda displayed supreme determination to fulfill his
mission [as is demanded of us] even without ‘a friend in the White House’. Yosef, upon exposing his identity, with the
full consent of Pharaoh, offered to give of the best of the land of Egypt,
Goshen to Yaakov and his sons and families to settle and gain estates and
holding there. This reflects the final turnaround of the exile which we will
see in favor of the Jewish people resulting from a Jew’s determination to hold
on to his Jewish tradition, regardless of any adverse situation with which he
is beset.
Yaakov
had the seventeen best years of his life in Goshen with the freedom to serve
Hashem and live in tranquility. This is paralleled in our times by the wondrous
opening of the gates of the USSR, offering hundreds of thousands of Jewish
people the freedom to ascend to the Holy Land and also to come to the kingdom
of kindness [USA] where the expanse and pursuit of G-dly service is unimpeded.
Yet, the Rebbe alerts us to the reservation that the Jewish people were then in
Goshen, and as now, we are still in exile.
The
spiritual secret of the letter ה. Our Sages tell us that this material world was created with the
letter ה, a composition of three lines. The upper line and connected right
hand side line represent G-d’s spiritual worlds of thought and utterances for
the process of creation. Different however is the disconnected left side line
which represents this created material world which is seen through our eyes of
exile as disconnected, independent, without source.
However
since this world is the ultimate purpose of Creation where Hashem desired for
himself a residence in this world, our Avoda in this world will draw down a
spiritually loftier fourth dimension of G-dliness into this world.
The
continuation within this overview offers a translation of the highlights and
climax of this Sicha, pages 12 - 15. Same as all of the Rebbe’s words are with
great precision and accuracy, the numbered notes below with their starred
references, need to be studied together very carefully in order that the reader
not miss the sometimes subtle messages of prophecy and insights which the Rebbe
is conveying here to us.
In greater detail –“with relevance to the Yosef of our generation,
the Rebbe my father-in-law, leader of our generation who parallels “And Yosef
was brought down to Egypt” - to the lower hemisphere [to the USA], to the
kingdom of kindness [greatly different to the previous situation of
persecutions etc. initiated by the government of that country in those times].
And this continues with even greater fortitude after his passing – that even then he remains same as יעקב ויחי “And Yaakov lived”, as our Sages tell us [Taanis 5b]
יעקב אבינו לא
מת...מה זרעו בחיים אף הוא בחיים
“Yaakov90
our Patriarch did not die…just as his progeny live so too91
does he live”, even as [the Zohar pt.3
71, 2 etc. says] he is active in all of the worlds [also in this material
world] even more than during his lifetime.
And this is certainly true now of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe
since the completion of forty years [of his passing 1950 – 1990], that [Hashem]
has now granted you [us] a heart to understand and eyes to see and ears to
comprehend”,
Especially in the year of ניסים
– ‘miracles’ [תש"נ] and the year "נפלאות אראנו" ‘I will show you
wonders’ נ"א]] – as we saw openly
miracles and wonders in recent times, with regard to that country [the
superpower USSR] to permit and assist the Jewish people to enter a situation of
breadth, to exit constraint into freedom, that even in the land of Egypt [USSR]
[in the last moments of exile] they should experience “And Yaakov is alive”.
And all of this is because we are in close proximity to the true
and complete Geula by our righteous Moshiach, in the words of David Melech
HaMoshiach, composer of the pleasant songs of Israel [Tehillim], Psalm 8994:
“I have cut a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David, My servant95”,
“I have found David My servant, with my holy oil I have anointed him96”,
and at the conclusion and end of the psalm “Blessed is Hashem forever, Amen and
Amen”, “he [King David] saw…the arrival of Moshiach, therefore gave thanks to
Hashem97”
-------------------------------
90) The same is true of the verse “These are the children of Yaakov
– Yosef”. And as in the verse [our Parsha 45, 26] – “Yosef is still alive”.
Note, that the spiritual sphere of Yosef is Yesod which is called ‘alive’ [Or
HaTorah (יהל אור) on Tehillim 70’ 116.
and other sources]. [The Rebbe is speaking of his father-in-law, the previous
Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchak Schneersohn. -
Translator]
91) Our
Sages in saying “so too is he alive” - specifically use the word אף – indicating both
extremities: אף in a negative sense – the descent of passing
[compared to the burning of The House of our G-d [Tractate Rosh Hashanah 18b]],
and together with thisאף understood
positively – that there [his - the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe’s presence] is
even further enhanced by “his progeny is alive” “even more than during
his [the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe’s] lifetime”.
94) Note, that in the division of the 150 Psalms of Tehillim into 15 x 10* [as is known that at times and certain situations there would be added the saying of ten Psalms of Tehillim**], that Psalm 89 - פ"ט is relevant to the ten Psalms which begin with Psalm 81 – פ"א [and their conclusion Psalm 90 – צ] – Hebrew letters אף, however, in the opposite order indicates the overturn of אף – [anger] of the negative sense into אף of the positive sense ***
[פ"א – the head letters of the year **** פלאות אראנו the year 5781 when] I will show you miracles, the main emphasis being upon the revelation before human eyes of אראנו - “I will show you” – good, seen and revealed].
*) Perhaps
the reason for this was because this parallels the 15 Songs of Ascent of the
book of Tehillim.
**)
Not [only] due to a situation of constraints, may Hashem save us, may this
never again be repeated, but [also and] mainly as giving praise and thanks to
HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
***)
Perhaps one could say and note, in Psalm
89 - פ"ט there appears the word אף five times, which indicates the
overturning of the anger of exile of Pharaoh [the root of all exiles], that
Joseph viceroy of Pharaoh decreed that one fifth of the Egyptian produce [see
our Parsha 47, 24] be taxed for the Pharaoh of impurity, that this be
overturned to the אף of holiness [See Likkutei Torah Song of Songs 24.4 and more],
that one fifth goes to Pharaoh[‘s spiritual source] of holiness that “there be
the torrential flow and revelation from Him of all G-dliness lights” [Zohar
pt.1, 1].
****)
As the head letters of this year 5751 - ה'תשנ"א meaning
הי' תהא שנת
נפלאות אראנו
“This
will be the year when I will certainly show you Wonders”
95)
Verse 4 96) Verse 21 97) Ibn Ezra on the verse
Rabbi Binyomin Schlanger
Translator
Email: 770dvarmalchus@gmail.com
© Copyrighted 2020 by
Translator
All rights reserved. No part of this overview
or the full or part of the translated Sicha [talk] may be reproduced for sale
or any form of financial gain without prior written permission from the translator.
The full Sicha in Lashon HaKodesh with all 133 reference notes and
multiple sources is printed in Sefer HaSichos 5751, volume 1 pages 206 – 217.
