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Parshas Va'eira

Should Jews teach Hasidus to gentiles?

From a public address of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, 1 Shevat, 5747:

"'On the first day of the eleventh month (Rosh Hodesh Shevat)...Moshe [Moses] began to explain this Torah....'1 The review of all that had been taught in the first four books of the Humash [the Five Books of Moses], plus the study of the new mitzvot [commandments] taught in the fifth book, began on Rosh Hodesh Shevat. In this week's [Torah] portion [Va'eira], G-d directs Moses to 'say to the Israelites, I am G-d, I will take you away...free you...liberate you...I will take you...I will bring you to the land'.2

"'I will bring you' refers to the entry of the Jewish people into Eretz Yisroel under the leadership of Yehoshua [Joshua] at the completion of the forty years of the wandering in the desert, as well as the ultimate ascent of the Jewish nation into the Holy Land at the heels of Moshiach [the Messiah].

"Our present discussion of the first day of Shevat as the day on which Moshe began his last concerted effort to teach the Jewish people before his passing is clearly connected to the subsequent entry of the Jews into Eretz Yisroel [the Land of Israel]. Moshe began his teaching on Rosh Hodesh Shevat and continued on a very intense level until the seventh of Adar, the day he passed away. This was just as he planned it, that his profound and penetrating analysis and broad and detailed explanation of Torah into many languages should take him about five weeks of teaching.

"This final teaching to the Jewish people clearly served as the appropriate, climactic preparation for their dramatic entrance into Eretz Yisroel. Then after the 30 days of mourning for Moshe and an additional three days of special preparation--on the tenth of Nissan--the epoch of Moshe came to a close. On the 11th of Nissan the era of Yehoshua, the conqueror, began.

"In the Hassidic realm, the broad interpretation of Hassidus [the mystical philosophy of the Torah] started with the Alter Rebbe, who initiated the teachings that will lead to the fulfillment of the promise 'I will bring you,' with the true Redemption through our righteous Moshiach. When will Moshiach come? After the wellsprings of Hassidus are 'spread' to the 'outside'."

From a public address of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, 19 Kislev, 5743:

"Each of the concepts--spreading wellsprings, and outward--carries within it a unique import. The word 'wellsprings' refers to the source of Torah. Though there is an aspect of Torah that can be compared to a broad river, its source is a wellspring from which water spurts forth in individual drops.

"'Spreading' implies taking those wellsprings and spreading them all over the world with no boundaries or limits. 'Outward' means extending oneself beyond one's natural place. 'Spreading the wellsprings' should extend beyond one's home and family, to every Jew--and to the entire world.

"The spreading of the wellsprings of Hassidus should not be limited to Jews alone, but should be extended outward even to gentiles.... The purpose of the giving of the Torah was to create peace in the world. Similarly, the Rambam writes that every Jew is obligated to try to influence the gentiles to fulfill the Seven Noahide Laws. Furthermore, one of the achievements of Moshiach will be, as the Rambam writes, to refine and elevate the gentiles until they also become aware of G-d, to the point where G-dliness will be revealed 'to all flesh,' even to gentiles.

"Since the rewards of Torah come measure for measure, it follows that among the efforts to bring the Messianic age must be the efforts to spread the Seven Noahide Laws, including spreading the wellsprings associated with them, outward to the gentiles. Indeed, the prophets tell us: 'Nations shall walk following your light.' Though Torah was given to the Jews, it will also serve as a light to gentiles."

1Devarim [Deuteronomy] 1:3, 5
2Shemos [Exodus] 6:6-7

 

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