Disaster Passes

10 Iyar 5782

“When you reap the harvest of your Land, you shall not completely remove the corner of your field during your harvesting, and you shall not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. [Rather,] you shall leave these for the poor person and for the stranger. I am the L‑rd, your G‑d.” (Vayikra 23:22)

Why does scripture here interpose the commandments of peah, leket, and shichcha between the seemingly unrelated instructions of the festival offerings? Rashi answers: “To teach you that whoever gives לֶקֶט, gleanings, שִׁכְחָה, forgotten sheaves, and פֵּאָה, the corners, to the poor in the appropriate manner, is deemed as if he had built the Holy Temple and offered up his sacrifices within it.”

“In every generation and every day, a person is obligated to regard himself as if he had that day come out of Egypt.” (Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim, Chapter 47)

In today’s Tanya portion, the Alter Rebbe explains how this directive, to regard oneself as being personally redeemed from golus mitzrayim (exile in Egypt) each and every day, can be heeded by a Jew nowadays, even in a time without a Temple or many mitzvos that only apply in a complete Land of Israel. He explains that the initial Exodus wasn’t only a historic event. It has an influence on every single Jew, even nowadays, because it freed him also to connect to Hakadosh Boruch Hu through mitzvos. Not only should this call forth a great love in each and every Jew, for G‑d himself descended (thus showing His great love for us), but also, in truth, this is a present-day event as well, for the Exodus is a daily occurrence.

“This refers to the release of the divine soul from the confinement of the body, the ‘serpent’s skin’” (Tanya, as above). It is from the exile of the body that the divine soul escapes each and every day, “in order to be absorbed into the unity of the light of the blessed Ein Sof by engaging in the Torah and commandments in general.”

“Favor me, O God, favor me, for in You my soul took refuge, and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until the disaster passes.” (Tehillim 57:2)

How are Chumash and Tanya related? Both teach us that even though we can’t fulfill all the mitzvos today, we can still unite with G‑d and escape physical exile in an equal way, by carrying out the mitzvos that are available to us, with complete sincerity and an open heart, until “disaster passes” and our exile finally ends, with the coming of Moshiach our redeemer, may it be soon.