[103]
During this time of exile we do not perceive the word of G-d which gives life and existence to every created thing; as it is written,
[105] "We do not see our signs." At the time of the future Redemption, by contrast, this G-dly animating force will become manifest; as it is written, "Your Teacher shall hide Himself no longer."
In this light we can better understand the teaching of our Sages,[106] that in future time the Holy One, blessed be He, will give the tzaddikim the strength required to receive their reward. This means that He will fortify them so that they will not expire out of sheer existence when confronted with the Divine light that will then be revealed, unscreened by any garment.
Tanya, ch. 36; Derech Mitzvosecha, p. 40
This physical world hides the Divine light which it harbors; it hides the Divine power which at every instant gives every created thing renewed life and continued existence
ex nihilo. Indeed, the very world
olam (
olam - "world") shares a root with
he'elem (
helem - "concealment").
[107] In the days of
Mashiach the truth will surface - that the real existence of the world is no more than a vessel for the Divine light that animates it. It will become apparent that
[108] ain od milvado - "There is nothing else apart from Him": apart from G-d, nothing else in the world has any real existence.
Sefer HaSichos 5748 [1988], Vol. II, p.514
"For like the new heavens and the new earth which I shall make..."
[109]
The novelty will lie in the fact that the Divine power which constantly brings heaven and earth into existence ex nihilo will then be utterly manifest. This is the power of Atzmus, the very Essence of Divinity; as the above verse says, "which I shall make...."109 For, as is well known,[110] "The very core and Essence of the blessed Emanator, ...it is in His power and ability alone to create something (yesh) out of absolute naught (ayin) and nothingness."
Therefore the entire world will then be a dwelling place for G-d, a dwelling place for His very Essence, just as a mortal man's personality finds full and free expression in his own home. In the same way, the light of G-d will be revealed in future time[111] "without any garment" to screen it.
From a talk of the Rebbe on Shabbos Parshas Naso, 5751 [1991]
In the days of
Mashiach the Divine light will be utterly revealed in the heart of every individual, and in every heart there will be a constant and visible fear of G-d; as it is written,
[112] "They shall go into the caves of the rocks and into the tunnels of the earth, for fear of G-d...."
The body too will change. It will be like the body of Adam before the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, clean of any evil. As the Midrash states,[113] "His heel threw a shadow on the orb of the sun." That is to say, his body was nullified to the Divine Will even more than was the inanimate sun.
Derech Chayim, p. 25
The revelation of prophecy depended on various prerequisites: the prophet was found worthy of it only if he was wise, strong, wealthy, and so on.
[114] And even then, the actual revelation of prophecy was so wondrous and supernatural, that for its duration the prophet came to be divested of materiality and of his regular senses. Thus, for example,
[115] "When I beheld it, I fell upon my face." In future time, by contrast, prophecy will resemble something natural. Even boys and girls will prophesy; as it is written,
[116] "I shall pour My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy."
The same distinction applies to the apprehension of the secrets of the Torah. In our era they are revealed to a select few, such as to R. Shimon bar Yochai and his colleagues. The secrets of the Torah are revealed, moreover, in the manner of something wondrous; in fact they are termed "wonders" (niflaos), as in the verse,[117] "Uncover my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Torah." Concerning the Era of the Redemption, by contrast, it is written,[118] "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d," as part of the natural course of events.
Just as now the apprehension of palpable existence[119] comes naturally, so in future time will the apprehension of Divinity[120] come naturally.
Hemshech 5672, Vol. II, p. 936
Concerning the era of the future Redemption it is written,
[121] "The glory of G-d shall be revealed, and together all flesh shall see...." This verse speaks of visual sense perception by material flesh. As is explained in
Chassidus, "even animals will recognize their Creator, and every created thing will apprehend its Creator." Moreover, this revelation will come about as a self-evident matter of course,
[122] not as an innovation.
[123]
What is the difference?
In the latter case, when this revelation comes about as an innovation, the flesh is enabled to "see" the glory of G-d only because the glory of G-d, being boundless, is able to reach down so low that it becomes perceptible even by physical flesh. This entails an innovation in the world, since the ability of the flesh to "see" does not flow from its innate nature.
In the former case, when this revelation comes about as a self-evident matter of course, the physical flesh "sees" the glory of G-d by virtue of its own natural gifts, just as one's corporeal eyes see a physical object by virtue of their own innate gifts.
In future time, then, the Divine truth will be visible in the same natural, simple and self-evident way that one's eyes see the physical world today.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XVII, p. 93
The Divine light can be revealed in this world in either of two ways:
- By drawing downward:[124] In this case, though the world is not transformed and refined in keeping with the lofty prospective revelation, the Divine light is nevertheless drawn down into it.
- By upward elevation:[125] In this case, the world is repeatedly refined to the point that it becomes a fit receptor (kli; lit., "vessel") for the light (or).
By way of analogy: If one man is standing on a hill and another is in the valley, they can come together either by the descent of the higher or by the ascent of the lower.
In time to come, both thrusts will materialize simultaneously.
Likkutei Torah, Re'eh, p. 26a
The Rebbe explains the relative merit of each of these situations, as follows:
In the former case, the superiority lies in the light: this is a superior, boundless light, which transcends the world.
In the latter case, the superiority lies in the receptivity of the light: since the world has become a fit vessel for the light, the light is fully integrated within it.
In time to come, both merits will come together: the light to be revealed is a light that transcends all created worlds, and it will illumine their innermost dimensions.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. I, p. 235
In future time, when the world is refined to the point that it becomes an actual vessel for the Divine light, it will serve G-d as a home, a real dwelling place. During the revelation at the Giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, by contrast, since the world had not yet been refined it was merely called
[126] "a lodging place for the Al-mighty," just as an inn is not a traveler's real home.
Or HaTorah, Sukkos, p. 1749
At the time of the future Redemption, the world
in its own right will become purified and refined. For this reason the resultant revelation and elevation will permeate it eternally. Thus it is written,
[127] "I shall
remove the spirit of impurity from the earth"; and likewise,
[128] "Death shall be swallowed up
forever."
The revelation at Sinai, by contrast, though it was a foretaste of the future revelation,111 brought the people only to a point at which[129] "their impurity ceased." This left open the possibility of its recurrence, as in fact was the case with the sin of the Golden Calf.[130] This was possible because the world had not been refined in its own right, but only as the result of a revelation from above; accordingly, when this revelation departed, it was able to relapse to its former impurity.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XI, p. 10
In time to come, Divinity will be revealed
in this world at a level more sublime than the level at which it is revealed in the Higher Garden of Eden. This is why even the loftiest
tzaddikim such as Avraham Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu, whose abode is at the zenith of the Higher Garden of Eden, will become vested in corporeal bodies and will arise at the Resurrection of the Dead.
[131]
The reason:[132] "Their end is wedged in their beginning"; i.e., the ultimate elevation of the furthest and lowliest reaches in the process of creation, was anticipated at its outset. Or, as expressed elsewhere,[133] "Last in creation, first in [G-d's] thought."
Likkutei Torah, Shlach, p. 49a
At the festive midday meal on the eve of Yom Kippur, it was the custom of the Rebbe Rashab to speak of how Yom Kippur eve will be observed when
Mashiach comes.
On one such occasion he explained that when Mashiach comes, the Divine light will be revealed in this material world just as it is now in the World of Atzilus. Physical space will be actual Elokus, not clothed at all by any of the garments of physicality, for the true face of physicality will then be discernible - the fact that it is actual Atzmus, the very Essence of G-d Himself.
Just as this is true of space, so too will it be the case with time. Each day will be illuminated by the real revelation appropriate to that day. When Mashiach comes, the Divine utterance batishah lachodesh ("on the ninth of the month,"[134] referring to the eve of Yom Kippur) will illuminate its day exactly as it did when it proceeded from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He. Just as in relation to space and to one's own corporeality, one will be able to see the Word of G-d which constantly brings them into being and gives them life,[135] so too will one be able to see the Word of G-d that brings time into being and gives it life....
When Mashiach comes, everyone will possess true perception, and whatever one sees one will understand, with the truth of the soul.
Likkutei Dibburim, Vol. I, p. 133 (and in English translation: Vol. I, p. 289)
In time to come, it will be apparent in every entity that it is the handiwork of G-d's creation. People will perceive how every created thing lives by virtue of the Ten Utterances by which the universe was created; people will perceive how these creative Utterances channel into every created thing the Divine energy which grants it its life and continued existence.
[136]
This comprehensive degree of perception applies equally to all created things. Beyond this, however, people will also be able to perceive how the true nucleus of each particular entity, with its distinctive features and characteristics, is the Word of G-d - i.e., the particular Divine Utterance which beams into it and grants it life. For all the differences which exist between one created thing and another, whether they are distinctions in identity or nature or form, result from the differences between the particular letters which comprise the Ten Utterances, and which grant existence and life to every created entity in its own distinctive style.
A related quality can be observed among great tzaddikim in our times too. It is recounted that the Maggid of Mezritch once looked at a certain vessel and remarked that the craftsman who had made it was blind in one eye.[137] In other words, in the vessel he discerned a specific characteristic that was unique to this craftsman.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXIX, p. 22
When
Mashiach comes,
golah ("exile") will be transformed into
geulah ("Redemption") by the insertion of the letter
alef.[138]
The name of the letter alef has three meanings, alluding to three kinds of Divine revelation in the future:
- The name alef is related to the word aluf ("master"). At the time of the future Redemption, it will become apparent that G-d is Alufo shel Olam, the Master of the World.52 At that time, "the activating force of the Creator in the thing created"[139] will be revealed. In the words of the prayer service,[140] "Everything that has been made will know that You have made it."
- The name alef is also related to the verbal root elef, meaning "to teach," as in the verse,[141] vea'alfecha chochmah - "And I shall teach you wisdom." In future time there will be a great revelation of the Torah, of which it is written,[142] "The Torah preceded the world by two thousand years." ["Preceded" of course refers to spiritual precedence, not chronological.] Indeed, the very word alpayim, meaning "two thousand," shares a root with the above verb vea'alfecha, meaning "And I shall teach."
- Finally, the letters that comprise the word elef, when rearranged spell pela ("wonder"). The time of the future Redemption will witness a revelation of the wonders of the Torah - its pnimiyus, the innermost mysteries of the Torah, which until then had been wondrously inaccessible.
Here, then, we have three levels of Divine revelation:
Alef in the sense of
Aluf ("Master") alludes to the revelation of Divinity
within the world and in worldly categories;
alef in the second sense ("teaching") alludes to a level of Divine revelation that transcends the world, though standing in a certain relation to the world - and this relation surfaces chiefly by means of the Torah, which
preceded the world; while
alef in the sense of
pela ("wonder") alludes to the ultimate revelation of the very Being and Essence of Divinity.
From a talk of the Rebbe on Shabbos Parshas Emor, 5751 [1991]
At the time of the future Redemption even the hidden miracles, those presently camouflaged within the workings of nature, will be disclosed.
This is why the word zeh (meaning "this", and often alluding to revelation) appears twice in one of the verses which speaks of the revelation of Divinity at that time:[143] v'amar bayom hahu: hinei Elokeinu zeh ... zeh Hashem kivinu lo - "It will be said on that day: Behold, this is our G-d...; this is G-d for Whom we hoped...." By contrast, in the verse that speaks of the revelation of Divinity at the time of the Splitting of the Red Sea, the word zeh appears only once:[144] zeh keili v'anveihu - "This is my G-d and I will glorify Him."
For at the time of the Splitting of the Red Sea there was an overt miracle, a cataclysmic assault on the laws of nature.[145] In the future Redemption, in addition to the overt miracles of that time, the miracles presently hidden within the workings of nature will also be revealed.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. I, p. 259
"In future time, when a man is about to pick a fig on
Shabbos, it will cry out, 'It's
Shabbos!"[146]
In other words, at that time even the very world will sense and will testify that nothing exists in the world but the One.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XI, p. 69
Notes:
- (Back to text) Yeshayahu 40:5.
- (Back to text) Ibid. 30:20.
- (Back to text) Tehillim 74:9.
- (Back to text) Sanhedrin 100b.
- (Back to text) Likkutei Torah, Shlach, p. 37d. In Biurei HaZohar (s.v. shanah), the Tzemach Tzedek traces this connection to the teaching of the Sages (Pesachim 50a) on Shmos 3:15. See Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XVII, p. 95.
- (Back to text) Devarim 4:35.
- (Back to text) Yeshayahu 66:22.
- (Back to text) Iggeres HaKodesh, Epistle 20. (See: Lessons In Tanya, Vol. IV, pp. 376-7.)
- (Back to text) Tanya, ch. 36.
- (Back to text) Yeshayahu 2:19.
- (Back to text) Vayikra Rabbah 20:2.
- (Back to text) Nedarim 38a.
- (Back to text) Yechezkel 1:28.
- (Back to text) Yoel 3:1.
- (Back to text) Tehillim 119:18.
- (Back to text) Yeshayahu 11:9.
- (Back to text) In the original, hayesh vehametzius.
- (Back to text) In the original, Elokus.
- (Back to text) Yeshayahu 40:5.
- (Back to text) In the original, bederech pshitus.
- (Back to text) In the original, bederech chidush.
- (Back to text) In the original, hamshachah milmaalah lematah.
- (Back to text) In the original, haalaah mimatah lemaalah.
- (Back to text) Yoma 12a.
- (Back to text) Zechariah 13:2.
- (Back to text) Yeshayahu 25:8.
- (Back to text) Shabbos 146a.
- (Back to text) Zohar II, 52b.
- (Back to text) See To Live and Live Again: An Overview of Techiyas HaMeisim Based on the Classical Sources and on the Teachings of Chabad Chassidism, by Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov (Sichos In English, N.Y., 1995), ch. 3.
- (Back to text) Sefer Yetzirah 1:7.
- (Back to text) The Sabbath eve hymn beginning Lechah Dodi (Siddur Tehillat HaShem, p. 132).
- (Back to text) Vayikra 23:32.
- (Back to text) In the original, mehaveh umechayeh.
- (Back to text) Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, ch. 1ff. (See: Lessons In Tanya, Vol. III, p. 836ff.)
- (Back to text) Shaar HaEmunah, end of ch. 27.
- (Back to text) See Vol. I (above), p. 119, and footnote 310 there.
- (Back to text) In the original, ko'ach hapoel banif'al; cf. Kuzari III:11, and Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, ch. 2.
- (Back to text) Machzor for Rosh HaShanah with English Translation (Kehot, N.Y., 1983), p. 32.
- (Back to text) Cf. Iyov 33:33.
- (Back to text) Cf. Midrash Tehillim 90:4.
- (Back to text) Yeshayahu 25:9.
- (Back to text) Shmos 15:2.
- (Back to text) In the original classic metaphor, shidud hateva (lit., "an armed robbery of nature").
- (Back to text) Midrash Tehillim, end of ch. 73.
Laws for the Days of Mashiach