After living a full life, the soul of Mr. Shleppstein ascends to the Heavenly gates. An angel stops him, and notifies him that he will have to go to Purgatory for thirty days. However, being that Mr. Shleppstein was also a charitable person, the angel gives him a choice of purgatories: “Sir, would you like the Ashkenazic, Sephardic or Chassidic purgatory?” “Tell me,” asks Mr. Shleppstein, “how do they differ?” The angel explains, “Well, in the Ashkenazic purgatory, you’ll get up at 6:00am, get undressed, walk on hot coals, and receive thirty-nine lashes. In the Sephardic purgatory, you’ll get up at 6:00am, get undressed, walk on hot coals, and receive thirty-nine lashes. In the Chassidic purgatory, you’ll get up at 6:00am, get undressed, walk on hot coals, and receive thirty-nine lashes.” Mr. Shleppstein says, “I’ll take the Chassidic purgatory, please!” “Yes sir,” answers the angel. “By the way, why did you choose the Chassidic purgatory?” Mr. Shleppstein replies, “To tell the truth, to the Chassidim, ’6:00am’ is not 6:00am, ‘hot coals are not hot coals, and ‘thirty-nine lashes’ are not thirty-nine lashes.”[1]

* * *

Bo: Journey of the Soul

Three times in the Torah the word ha-shvi’i, ‘the seventh’ is missing a letter Yud: .[2] The first time is in this week’s portion, in the verse prohibiting eating chameitz, bread and leavened products, on the festival of Passover. Here the Torah states,[3] “Anyone who eats leaven from the first day to the seventh day…” The second time the letter Yud is missing is in a verse concerning Shabbos, “The people rested on the Seventh Day.”[4] The third time is in reference to the High Holy Days, as it states, “You shall sound a blast on the shofar in the seventh month.”[5]

Why are these three words lacking the letter Yud?

SATIATION
The Ba’al HaTurim explains that when the Yud is omitted, the word shvi’i changes to sovei’a, meaning ‘satiated’.[6] What does this mean?

The Talmud tells us [7] that before a child is born, G-d requests that its soul take an oath. The soul pledges to “be righteous, not evil.” Obvious questions arise: how many of us remember taking this oath? If we don’t remember, what is the purpose of taking this oath at all?

THE SOUL’S PATH
The Tzemach Tzedek explains the purpose of this oath. The word for oath, shavu’a, has the same letters as sovei’a, ‘satiated’, and sheva, ‘seven’.[8] These inter-related words describe a soul’s path. The soul takes an oath, and this satiates it, giving it health and strength to overcome all difficulties it will encounter during life in the body. With this strength, the soul can purify the body and the seven negative character traits that stem from the animal soul.

The Tzemach Tzedek’s concept above may be applied here too–the three places where the word ha-shvi’i is missing a Yud relate to the three stages in the path of the soul. During the High Holy Days of the seventh month we recommit ourselves to serving G-d. This is equivalent to an oath. On Shabbos, the seventh day of each week, we are satiated with the spiritual nourishment of Shabbos, and we gain strength to overcome any difficulties the following week may bring. On the seven days of Passover we must purge ourselves of arrogance, which is symbolized by chameitz, leaven. Arrogance is the basis of each of the seven negative character traits. Our oath, i.e. our satiation, allows us to transform these seven negative traits into positive traits, and thereby go out of our personal exile.

YUD SH’VAT
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson was the Sixth Rebbe of Lubavitch. He passed away on the 10th of the month of Sh’vat, which was Shabbos, the seventh day of the week of Parshas Bo. The letter Yud, shaped like a flame, represents the neshama, the soul, “the flame of G-d”.[9] The missing Yud in ha-shvi’i in this parsha therefore hints to the Rebbe’s neshama that ascended on high. The Holy Zohar suggests [10] that the job of a rebbe, and every spiritual leader, is to satiate their generation with emes, truth,[11] meaning true faith in Al-mighty G-d, His Torah and mitzvos. Therefore from his place in Heaven, Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak continues to satiate his disciples and the world at large for he “has left life for all the living.”[12] In fact he is more present in this world than ever before.[13]

In his last written discourse,[14] Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak tells us the nature of our mission as the seventh generation since the Alter Rebbe founded Chabad-Lubavitch. We must bring the Shechina, the revealed Divine Essence, into this world, by observing Torah and mitzvos. Moses, the seventh leader after Abraham, brought about our redemption from Egypt. So too, we the seventh generation will witness the ultimate Redemption through our Righteous Mashiach.

A STORY
My grandfather, Jacob J. Hecht, of blessed memory, told this story. Rav Shemaryahu Gurary (“the RaShaG”) was the oldest living son-in-law of “the Previous Rebbe”, Yosef Yitzchak, and the brother-in-law of “the Lubavitcher Rebbe”, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Some time after the passing of the Previous Rebbe in 1950, my grandfather was asked by the RaShaG to help him raise money for the Lubavitch Yeshivah. On a fundraising trip to Chicago, the RaShaG met a philanthropist who rejected him, saying, “I knew the Previous Rebbe. Why should I give you money now that he’s left us?” Upset, the RaShaG called the Lubavitcher Rebbe for advice. The Rebbe said, ‘Tell him that the Previous Rebbe and I are but one soul in separate bodies.’

ACTION: Make a firm resolution to perform a new mitzvah–or enhance an old one–on a regular basis. Don’t worry: you have the strength to do it.

FOOTNOTES
[1] In contrast to the joke, see HaYom Yom, 7th of Tamuz: For Chassidim, “the essential thing is order.” See also the entry 17th of Cheshvan, “One must be vigilant with time.”
[2] Minchas Shai on Exodus, 16:30
[3] Exodus, 12:15
[4] Exodus, 16:30
[5] Leviticus, 25:9
[6] Baal HaTurim on Leviticus, 25:9
[7] Tractate Niddah, 30b; see also Tanya, Chapter 1.
[8] Kitzurim V’haOros L’Sefer Lekkutei Amarim, pp. 58, 59
[9] Tanya, Chapter 19; see also Letters of Light, Chapter “Yud”: Graphic Design.
[10] Zohar, Part II, p. 225b; See also Kuntres V’ata Tetzaveh 5752, Chapter 3.
[11] See Kitzurim V’haOros L’Sefer Lekkutei Amarim, p. 52: Emes, ‘truth’, is the seventh word of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy.
[12] Rambam, Laws of Yibum, end of chapter 4; See also Iggeret HaKodesh, p. 291
[13] Zohar, Part III, p. 71b; See also Iggeret HaKodesh, p. 292.
[14] Basi L’Gani 5710; See also Basi L’Gani 5711; and Letters of Light, p. 75.