THE ULTIMATE HAKHEL

Dear Reader sh’yichyeh,

On Shabbos Mikeitz 5751, the Rebbe made the following statement: “When one is totally immersed in a certain subject and then encounters another topic, it is human nature to immediately search for and find the connection with that subject in which he is immersed, even though this other topic has its own issues and critical features.”

I bring up this statement to further explain the current series that we are writing and learning together each week. The Torah is “Toras Chaim,” the Torah and director of life. It is therefore to be expected that there are many aspects and lessons found in each Parsha. Yet, this year is the year of Hakhel and the Rebbe demands that “when one sees you, he should say, “There goes a Hakhel Yid!” Therefore, while there may be many aspects to each Parsha, we are finding the Hakhel aspect of each Parsha through the Sichos of 5748.

One of the central themes of Parshas Toldos is the blessings that Yaakov Avinu receives for all his descendants from his aging father, Yitzchak Avinu. The blessings did not quite come in the most conventional way, as they were officially intended for the older Eisav, but through the intervention of Rivka Imeinu. What did she do? The Torah (27:9) tells us that she called her pure and sincere son Yaakov and instructed him, “Go now to the flock, and take for me from there two choice kids, and I will make them tasty foods for your father, as he likes. And you shall bring [them] to your father that he may eat, in order that he bless you before his death.”

The Zohar (142a) asks: What is the spiritual significance of the two kid goats that only after eating from them was Yitzchak able to give the special and eternal Brachos to Yaakov? The answer is that the two kid goats represent the Korban Pesach (or Chagiga) and the Korban on Yom Kippur.

The Rebbe (Toldos 5748 footnote 64) connects both of these special Korbanos to the concept of Hakhel.

The Korban Pesach, while being a private Korban, was called the Korban of the community, as the Korban Pesach was brought at a specific time and everyone brought it together in the Beis HaMikdash. Also, many people joined together on a single Korban Pesach, which represents the concept of the unity of Hakhel.

In addition, the Korban Pesach was eaten as a dessert, when everyone was satisfied from their meal. Everyone became satisfied from the Korban Chagiga. Satisfaction is a great equalizer. Everyone needs different things to reach satisfaction, but the Korban Pesach was eaten when everyone was on equal and unified standing.

Secondly, Yom Kippur is a very unique day, a day that is known as “Achas Bashana,” literally meaning once a year. On a deeper level it is explained as the day that unites all Jewish people and makes them one, through revealing our common bond, our Neshama. This is the concept of Hakhel, bringing Jews together and revealing their neshamos through inspiring them to connect to Hashem.

This unity is expressed in the unique Yom Kippur service of the two goats. In VaYikra 16:1-34, the Torah describes the service that the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) was to perform on Yom Kippur in the Holy Temple. As Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year, and the day is one set aside for atonement, the service of the Kohen Gadol differed on this day from every other day during the year.

One of the distinguishing parts of the service was the taking of the two goats. The verses tell us (16:7-10), “And he (Aharon, the Cohen Gadol) shall take the two goats…and shall cast upon the two goats lots: one for Hashem, and the other lot for Azazel. And Aharon shall present the goat upon which the lot for Hashem fell, and make it into a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be set alive before Hashem, to make atonement over him, to send him away for Azazel into the wilderness.”

On this latter goat, the verses tell us later, “Aharon shall lay both of his hands upon the head of the goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, and all their sins, and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send (the goat) away…into the wilderness.”

There are many different types of Jews. Some are on the level of being constantly in the Beis HaMikdash while on the other extreme there are those for whom their spiritual observance is “off the cliff.” Yet the service of Yom Kippur, which is the revelation of the eternal unity of the Jewish people among themselves and their creator, unites and combines both of these extremes in a single unified service.

Dear Reader: We started with a quote from Mikeitz 5751. Here is the continuation: “And, inasmuch as Jews are passionately involved with the coming of Moshiach, it is reasonable that in all matters we should search primarily for their association with our awaiting every day that he will come.”

When we are learning about the Korbanos of Pesach and Yom Kippur, this awakens in us our yearning and desire for the ultimate Hakhel, in the third Beis HaMikdash, with the revelation of Moshiach Now!

Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com.