Jewish audio on Chabad.org. This class is presented by Rabbi Leibel Schapiro. Rabbi Leibel Schapiro, a noted Talmudic scholar, is the dean of the ישיבה גדולה Rabbinical College of Greater Miami, the rabbi of Congregation Beit Menachem, and a community leader in Miami Beach, Florida. The topic for tonight's discussion is one of the names of Hashem. The name, there is a question whether we're allowed to pronounce it properly or not. So I'll say the word, and then I'll say the name the way we should pronounce it. The word is Tzevaot. The literal translation of the word Tzevaot means the armies. Tzava is an army, and there is a name of Hashem which is that word, and many hold that when you use this word, meaning the name of Hashem, you're not allowed to pronounce it, just like you can't pronounce Elokim, you must say Elokim, you can't pronounce it properly with a ה', or Havayah you can't pronounce, and Kel we say Kel, we don't say it with an אל\"ף. So too, some say that when you use the name צדיק, בית, אלף, ואו, תו, which is the word Tzevaot, but when you use it as Hashem's name, you have to say Tzvakot. And therefore, from now on, I will use during this talk, call it Tzvakot, even though that's not the real word. So we will discuss the name of Hashem, this name of Hashem. Actually, two or three weeks ago we discussed another name of Hashem. We discussed the name of Hashem, and there too there were two opinions whether we can pronounce it, also not a name that's so famous, and that is the name Akia, which is the real word is, as a word, Ehyeh, which means \"I will be,\" but it's also a name of Hashem, and we discussed is it a name of Hashem or is it not a name of Hashem, the different opinions that we had in the poskim, and we discussed that. Today we will discuss this name of Hashem, Tzvakot. Which the Rambam פסקנ'ט, he writes that this is one of the seven names of Hashem which are known as the שבעה שמות שאינם נמחקים, these are this is one of the seven names that cannot be erased. Because there are so many other names of Hashem, but there is only there are only seven names that we're not allowed to erase and they have a special kedushah, and this is the last one of Hashem's seven names in the list that the Rambam gives of the seven names which cannot be erased, that means if you write it, you can't erase it, and if you erase it you're over an issur, you are transgressing an aveirah, this is this last one of the list, but it is one of those. And there is no argument in the poskim, in the codifiers, whether this name is one of the names of Hashem which cannot be erased, but there is an argument in the Gemara and in other places whether this is one of those names or not. So we will discuss that. But let's first start that the name of Hashem using the word Tzevaot, which now we say the name of Hashem, Tzvakot, is not mentioned in Chumash at all. In Chumash, this is not mentioned as Hashem's name. All other names are mentioned in Chumash. Even the name Ehyeh that we spoke about, which according to some opinions is not even one of the names of Hashem, and we explained why, but in Chumash it's mentioned. It's only mentioned once, when Moshe Rabbeinu asked Hashem, \"When I come to the Jews and they ask me, when I say God sent me to take you out and they'll ask me what's His name, what shall I say?\" And Hashem answered אהיה אשר אהיה, so He used this as a name of Hashem, so that is mentioned in Chumash, but the name צבקות as a name of Hashem is not mentioned in Chumash at all. The first time we find this as used as a name of Hashem is by Chanah. Chanah, the mother of Shmuel HaNavi in Tanach, we find that she, when she spoke to Hashem, she used the name Hashem as צבקות, Hashem צבקות, and from then on it is used other times also. And there is this discussion in the Gemara in Shevuos, whether this is one of the seven names of Hashem that cannot be erased. There are two opinions in the Gemara. One opinion is the first opinion without a name who says it, which is known as the Tanna Kama, which means the first Tanna, the first Chacham of the Mishnah who says it, and usually when there is no name it means that this is the opinion of many Chachamim. So the opinion of the first opinion in the Gemara is that this is one of the seven names of Hashem. Not only does it say it says one of the seven names that cannot be erased, and as I said, the Rambam actually Paskent that way, that's the Halachah that this is one of the seven names of Hashem that cannot be erased, and that's the first opinion. Then the Gemara says that Rabbi' Yosi, another one of the Tannaim, says that this is not one of the שבעה שמות שאינם נמחקים, this is not one of the seven names that cannot be erased. And Rabbi' Yosi says this is the name of the Jews. This is not the name of Hashem, it seems, it doesn't say these words, but he says this is the name of the Yidden. And where do we find that the Yidden are called Tzevaot? Actually in this week's parashah. That's really what got me thinking of discussing this name. In this week's parashah, it says when the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, it says Hashem took out Tzevaot Hashem. He took out the armies of Hashem, and refers to the Yidden, so the Yidden are called Tzevaot. And this is what R'' Yosi says, R'' Yosi says that this is Tzevaot is not one of the seven names of that cannot be erased, this is called by the Yidden, and this, and he quotes pasuk, actually he quotes a pasuk in the previous parashah, but it's mentioned there, it's mentioned in this parashah that the Yidden, when they went out of Mitzrayim, were called Tzevaot Hashem. The truth is that this is the first time the Yidden are called Tzevaot Hashem. We don't find earlier that the Yidden should be called the army of Hashem, but at the time when they went out of Mitzrayim. But anyway, R'' Yosi holds that this is not one of the seven names that cannot be erased, this is the Jews are called that way. So here we have two opinions. One opinion is that Tzevaot is one of the seven names that cannot be erased, שבעה שמות שאינם נמחקים. R'' Yosi's opinion, he says this is and this is not one of the seven names that cannot be erased, this is the name of the Yidden.

This argument between the chachamim, let's call it, and R'' Yosi is found in different places besides the Gemara. What I quoted until now was in the Gemara in Shevuot. This is also found in other places, three more places: Masechet Sofrim, which is kind of a Gemara, but not one of the official Gemaras that's in the סדר, in the order of ש״ס, but it's also, in the Gemara we have a called מסכתות קטנות, small Gemaras which would not enter the Shas, but it's still written by the חכמים, that's called Masechet Sofrim, one of them. So we find that in Masechet Sofrim, too. We find it in Avot d'Rabbi Natan, which is also written by the חכמים, and we find it in the Gemara Yerushalmi. What I mentioned before was from the Bavli. Bavli means our Gemara that we call the Babylonian Gemara. Then you have the Gemara Yerushalmi. We find it in Yerushalmi, too. But the way this argument is brought in the Yerushalmi is a little bit different than the way the argument is brought in the Gemara that I mentioned before. The same argument, but there it's a little bit different, and as we will go on, we will see that it's not, it will come out that it's not only a difference in wording how it puts it, but it's also a difference in what the opinion is. There it quotes the opinion of Rabbi' Yosi and it says Rabbi' Yosi says that the name צבאות is חול. חול. What does חול, how do you translate חול in English? Mundane. Not profane, mundane, not חילול, חול, mundane, secular, the opposite of קדוש, it's not holy. That's what he says. And he even brings a pasuk. He quotes the pasuk where it says, ופקדו שרי צבאות בראש העם. Pasuk in Tanach, Shoftim, where it says that they appointed the heads, the שרים, the prince, the leaders of the armies in front, ahead of the nation. And there we see, it says that the word צבאות is a regular word which means armies, so it's not a name of Hashem. So this is חול, that's the expression that uses that, this is חול, this is mundane, it's not קדוש. Now, superficially, it seems that it's saying the same thing in the opinion of Rabbi' Yosi as our Gemara. Again, our Gemara, Gemara Bavli, we call it our Gemara, the Gemara Bavli says that what was the opinion of Rabbi' Yosi, his opinion is that this is not one of the seven names that cannot be erased of Hashem, this is the name of the Yidden. And here it says Rabbi' Yosi says basically the same thing, that this is chol, this is mundane, this is not holy, has no kedushah. But when we start looking, we see that these two places, meaning our Gemara and the other places, when they quote the pasuk that Rabbi' Yosi brings as his proof, they quote two different pesukim. I'm not trying to make it complicated, it might sound so. In the Gemara, Rabbi' Yosi says that this is not one of the seven names of Hashem, it's the name of the Yidden. And what pasuk does he quote to prove it? The pasuk in Yetziat Mitzrayim, where it says when the Yidden went out of מצרים, the Yidden were called צבאות. So we see this is the name of the Yidden. It's obvious it's not a name of Hashem, that's what it seems to be saying. But in In the Yerushalmi, in Avot D'Rabbi Natan, in the Masechet Sofrim, there he quotes a different pasuk, as I said, that where do we see that צבאות is not a name of Hashem? Because it says a פסוק, ויפקדו שרי צבאות בראש העם, that the the heads of the armies came in the head of the nation, the leaders of the army, and there we see the word צבאות just means army. So it quotes a different pasuk to prove it. Now the fact that in these two places they quote different pesukim shows that it's not exactly the same thing. That means that the way our Gemara understands Rabbi Yosi's opinion and the way the others, Masechet Sofrim, Yerushalmi and the Avot D'Rabbi Natan, understand Rabbi Yosi's opinion is a little bit different. There's another difference that we see between the two. In the Gemara, when it mentions Rabbi Yosi's opinion, it doesn't say Rabbi Yosi holds that it's chol, that it's mundane. Doesn't say that. Only says there that Rabbi Yosi says it is not one of the seven names that cannot be erased, but he doesn't use the term it's chol. But when you look into the other places, it says that Rabbi Yosi holds that the name Tzvaot is chol, is mundane, it's not holy. And therefore it comes out that there is an argument here between the Gemara and the other places in what actually the opinion of Rabbi Yosi is. It seems to be saying like this: the way our Gemara puts it, Rabbi Yosi also agrees that the name צבאות is a name of Hashem, because he says, all he says is it's not one of the seven names that that cannot be erased, but he doesn't say it's not holy. In the names of Hashem, we find two categories. We find the seven names that cannot be erased, and those are the real, real names of Hashem, as we call them, and as we know what they are: קל, אלקים, הוי-ה, אדנ-י, different name, ש-די. These are names of Hashem that cannot Those are the real names. Then we find the Rambam, for instance, mentions that there are other names of Hashem, but they could be erased. For instance, when we talk about Hashem, we give Him other names, too. We say, ה-קל, הגדול, הגיבור, והנורא. So here we call השם, הגדול, the big one, הגיבור, the strong one. הגדול, הגיבור, is a name of Hashem. Then sometimes we call השם, חנון, קל חנון ורחום, השם who's merciful, Hashem who does חן. Those are names of Hashem. The Rambam says clearly, those are names of Hashem, but they don't have that same kedushah, the same holiness, as those seven names. So we see clearly that there are two categories of names of Hashem, and it seems from the Gemara this is the opinion of Rabbi Yosi. Rabbi Yosi holds that the name צבאות is not one of the seven names that it cannot be erased, but it is one of the names of Hashem. While the way it says in the other places, Masechet Soferim and Avot d'Rabbi Natan and Yerushalmi, there he says clearly, this is not one of the names of Hashem, it's chol. Chol means it has no kedushah whatsoever. It's not a name of Hashem at all. In other words, the way Rabbi Yosi is understood in the Gemara, he's understood that צבאות is a name of Hashem, but this that he says in the Gemara that it is not one of the seven names, but it's the name of the Yidden, what he means to say is, that it's the name of Hashem, but not the name of Him Himself, but the way He is related to the Yidden. He is like the God of the Yidden, and because of that, this is also His name, just like let's say, חנון, רחום, השם is merciful. So this is the name of Hashem, but it's not really describing Hashem Himself, but describing Hashem as He has mercy on others. The same Rabbi Yosi holds that the name of Hashem, Tzvaot, is a name of Hashem, but it is a name of Hashem in relationship to the Jews. While in the other places, it seems that Rabbi Yosi holds that this is not the name of Hashem at all. And this explains why in the Gemara Rabbi Yosi brings one pasuk and in the other places brings another pasuk. In the Gemara, he brings the pasuk that this is the name of the Jews, like it says in this week's parashah, because he holds that this is the name of Hashem in relationship to the Jews. But in the other places they bring a complete different pasuk where it has nothing to do with the Jews, a pasuk which just says says that the word Tzvaot means armies. Because the way he's trying to prove there, what he's trying to prove in those places is that the name Tzvaot is not the name of Hashem. And therefore he quotes a pasuk where it says that they put the שרי צבאות, the heads of the army, so he quotes that pasuk. But that's not the same thing here. So it comes out from here, as we have explained till now, that we have three opinions in what this name Tzvaot is. And this is our discussion today, the opinions of what is this, is this the name of Hashem, or is this not a name of Hashem? So it comes out that there are not two opinions, but there are three opinions. See, originally, it would seem there are two opinions: one opinion is that Tzvaot is a name of Hashem, and the other opinion is that Tzvaot is not a name of Hashem. But now it comes out that there are three opinions: one opinion of the chachamim, which is the halachah, two opinions, both related to Rabbi Yosi, but a machloket in an argument what Rabbi Yosi really held. And what are the three opinions, again in short? One opinion is that it is actually a name of Hashem. Not only a name of Hashem, it's one of the seven names that cannot be erased, it has the real kedushah. The other opinion is the opinion of Rabbi Yosi, the way it's in the Gemara, that it is also a name of Hashem, but it is not one of the seven names that cannot be erased. It is similar to חנון, רחום, גדול, גיבור, all these other types of names which can be erased, even though they refer to Hashem, but they refer to Hashem as He is something in connection to something else, and therefore it is not the essence of Hashem, so you could erase it. And then you have the third opinion, that this is not at all one of the names of Hashem. Now, the opinion that says that this is one of the names of Hashem, but not to be erased, if it's one of the names of Hashem, so I tried to explain, what is the difference between this and the seven names? So I'll just explain it in more detail. The seven names of Hashem, even though though some of those words which we use as a name of Hashem are used sometimes not referring to Hashem. For instance: Elokim. Well, everyone agrees Elokim is a name of Hashem. We find Elokim not meaning Hashem. When it says in פסוק, אלוקים לא תקלל, to not curse Elokim, it does not mean not not to curse Hashem, it means not to curse a judge. Elokim could mean a judge. We learned just in last week's parashah, when Hashem said to Moshe when he claimed \"I can't talk,\" so Hashem said, \"I'm going to give send along Aharon with you, he will be the speaker, and you will be to him l'Elokim.\" Means you'll be his God? It means you'll be his master. So Elokim means a master. And many times in chumash, the word Elokim means the beit din. When it says, עד האלקים יבא דבר שניהם, that two people who have a dispute, they should come to Elokim to bring their dispute, it means they should come to beit din. So we have a word Elokim that doesn't mean Hashem. We have a word Kel. Kel, which means Hashem, we find Kel not meaning Hashem. There's a pasuk that says, ואת אילי הארץ לקח. He took the strong people of the land. How do you call the strong people? אילי. איל means a strong person. Doesn't mean Hashem. Then there's a pasuk we say almost every Shabbos in davenen: צדקתך כהררי אל. What does that mean? So if you look at Rashi on the pasuk, that means Hashem says, we're saying to Hashem: צדקתך, those that are Your tzadikim, you make them strong כהררי אל, like strong mountains. We use the word El. Now, El doesn't mean Hashem there. Nevertheless, when we refer to Hashem, it is one of the seven names that cannot be erased. So how come by Tzevaot Rabbi Yosi the Rabbi Yosi holds according to our Gemara, that it's a name of Hashem, but it could be erased, because it's name of the Yidden. But who cares? It could be the name of the Yidden, but if we refer to Hashem, it should not be able to be erased. The difference is very simple. You have some names of Hashem, all the names of Hashem, essentially it means Hashem. Sometimes, we borrow that word, which really means Hashem, and we use it for something else. So when we use the word Elokim, meaning a judge, it's not because the word really means a judge, it's a borrowed term. We mean the real word is a term and a description of Hashem. We sometimes borrow it to use for something else, So it remains the name of Hashem. When we use it for something else, it's okay, but when we mean Hashem, this really means Hashem and it's one of the seven names you can't erase. But the word Tzevaot essentially is opposite. Essentially it means the Jews, but it's borrowed to be used for Hashem. Just like the word רחום and חנון. רחום, which means pitiful, merciful, it doesn't mean Hashem. It means any person who has רחמנות could be called רחום. We borrowed it and we apply it to Hashem. So therefore, it remains it becomes a name of Hashem and it has a kedushah, but it's not one of the seven names that cannot be erased because essentially it's not. And that's the difference according to Rabbi Yosi between the name Tzevaot and other names. But the bottom line comes out here that we have here three opinions: the opinion of the Chachamim, which is the halacha, that Tzevaot is one of the seven names that can't be erased. According to Rabbi Yosi of the Gemara, it is one of the names of Hashem, but it could be erased. It's like the other names which could be erased. And according to Rabbi Yosi of the other places, Masechet Soferim, Yerushalmi, and Avot deRabbi Natan, the name Tzevaot, it's not Tzevaot, it's Tzevaot, and it has no kedushah whatsoever.

But the truth is, what is the reason? We have to think now, what is the reason for the different opinions? What is the source? What is the reasoning behind it? We said what their opinions are, but we have to look a little bit deeper to see there must be a root to the argument and the different different opinions of what the name Tzvaos is. The root of it is as follows. As I said in the beginning, the name Tzvaos is not mentioned in the Torah at all. The first time it's mentioned in the Torah is by Chana, who was a נביאה. That means the first time it's mentioned is by the נביאים, and then later on mentioned by other נביאים, but it started with a נביא. It wasn't mentioned in the Torah. Now, if it wasn't mentioned in the Torah, this is where the question comes up: Is it possible for a נביא, through his נבואה, to be able to get grasp with his נבואה to such a level to be able to say bring out the name of Hashem? If it's written in the Torah, which was dictated by Hashem, so then you could have a name of Hashem. What is a name of Hashem? A name of Hashem is a description. Every name is a description. And this says in Midrash that Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu, \"לפי מעשי אני נקרא. I am called according to my actions. When I have pity, I'm called Havayah. When I do חסד, I'm called Kel. When I do a דין, when I do judgment with the רשעים, I am called Elokim.\" So the names every name describes some describes a certain aspect of Hashem. So when the Torah mentions a name of Hashem, which is a description of Hashem, Hashem Himself is able to give the description and say what it is. The question is, can a נביא, when he has his נבואה, can he reach that point of bringing out a name of Hashem which is really really the true name of Hashem, which describes a certain aspect of Hashem? That's the question. Now, we know that when a נביא speaks, it's the words of Hashem. That's one of the 13 principles, to believe that Hashem gives נבואה to people. And there's a פסוק that says, \"דבר השם דיבר בי... ומלתו על לשוני. רוח השם דיבר בי ומלתו על לשוני.\" The spirit of Hashem speaks from the navi, and the words of Hashem are in his tongue, on his tongue, in his mouth. So obviously, whatever he says is not his own. He says it because he gives over what Hashem related to him. But nevertheless, the navi is a human being. And the navi, just like we say a navi cannot really really grasp the essence of Hashem, so he cannot come up to bring out a name of Hashem which really really describes what Hashem is, because he is a human being. And the nevuah and told him which words to write, so these are directly the words of Hashem, without being מתלבש, without being dressed, clothed in the mind of a human being. So it doesn't come down to us through a, we would call it, tzimtzum, through a contraction of a human being. And therefore, the name itself is the way Hashem gave it. So these are the names that could describe Hashem and bring out different aspects of Hashem. But when it is through the navi, then it's a different level, and that's the question. And even though the Torah also came through Moshe Rabbeinu, but first of all, as we said, Moshe Rabbeinu was just told by Hashem what to write. But even besides that, we know that in Chumash itself, in the five books of Chumash, there is a difference between the first four and the fifth, Chumash Devarim. The Gemara says that חומש דברים משה מפי עצמו אמרה. Moshe himself, on his own, said Chumash Devarim. And Rashi explains, and Tosafot, what does that mean? How come we say that one of the five Chumashim Moshe said it by himself, as if saying the other four were said by Hashem and this was said by Moshe himself? So Tosafot says it means with Ruach Hakodesh. That means it came from the spirit of Hashem. But still, what does that mean? We know that everything the Nevi'im said came with Ruach Hakodesh, everything of the great tzaddikim, the chachamim with Ruach Hakodesh. What does that mean? And still we're talking about Chumash here. The pshat is like this: It's the words of Hashem without a question. But the words of Hashem themselves, when they went through Moshe Rabbeinu, they themselves had two levels. When something goes through a ממוצע, an intermediate, some level in between, there are two ways. And in Chassidut we call it or בדרך מעבר or בדרך התלבשות. מעבר means it just passes through, and I explained it one of the weeks lately, or התלבשות means it gets dressed into. Sometimes something passes and you are just the channel, the pipe through which it goes, and sometimes it passes in a way that it becomes united with you, and then it continues after it became part of you. All chumashim, when Hashem spoke to Moshe, the words of Hashem went through משה בדרך מעבר. בדרך מעבר means it just passed through Moshe, but it didn't become part of him. And then you have the other chumash, Hashem put it into Moshe, and it words of Hashem, but it became part of Moshe, and then Moshe gave it over as it became part of him, but it didn't change. It still was the same it was as was before. It did not change its level. It's the same level as it was before, but it went through the התלבשות, we call it, of Moshe Rabbeinu. Maybe the difference could be, maybe this could be a mashal, that when someone gives over an idea, when you write down an idea on paper, the idea you have goes through your hands, but it doesn't become united with your hand. Your hand is just a vessel that brings out the idea to the paper. But the idea that goes into one's mind, the idea there becomes united with your mind, and your mind grasps it. The mind is a kli for seichel, while the hand is not a kli, not a vessel for seichel. Now, it doesn't mean it'll change when it goes through the mind, but that after it comes through the mind, it's the mind that understands it, while the hand doesn't understand it at all, hand is just a vessel. And that is the difference between the first four chumashim and Chumash Devarim. But even Chumash Devarim that went through the התלבשות of Moshe Rabbeinu, it's still the words of Hashem that came through Moshe Rabbeinu, while by the nevi'im it's not like that. When the words of Hashem go through the navi, they really, really go through a tzimtzum. They go through a contraction when they go into the navi. And the navi, when he gives it out, he gives it out on a much lower level than it was given. And therefore it's not possible, therefore the question is whether is it possible for the navi to come up with the name of Hashem. Besides all that, when we compare the nevuah of Moshe to the nevuah of the other nevi'im, they're not the same. The nevuah of other nevi'im, when they saw the nevuah, it says in midrashim, it was אספקלריא שאינה מאירה. It was vague. They saw the vision, but the vision was not that the Godliness that was revealed to them was not really clear, was vague. Moshe Rabbeinu it says when he saw, he saw אספקלריא המאירה. He saw a clear vision. There are different opinions what אספקלריא המאירה means. One opinion is it means magnifying glass. But other places it means a see-through glass versus a mirror. When you see somebody through a glass, you see the person. When you see a reflection of someone in a mirror, you might see the same thing, there's only one difference. You don't see him. You see his image, you see his reflection, you don't see the person himself. While if you see the person through a glass, maybe the glass taints it a little bit and it's not so clear as if it would be without a glass, but you see the person himself. Moshe Rabbeinu, it says his nevuah was that he had אספקלריא, I mean, he saw whatever he saw clearly himself, while the nevuah of other nevi'im not. And therefore it comes out that the nevuah of other nevi'im, since it's such a lower level, the question is, can they come with the name of Hashem? And that's the reason for the opinion in the Masechet Soferim and other places that Rabbi Yosi holds that the name צבאות is not at all a name of Hashem, because it came through a navi, it's not written in the Torah, and didn't come through Moshe Rabbeinu. So, it's not a name of Hashem at all. It is chol. It is a secular word which we use sometimes for Hashem. So whenever we refer to Hashem and we call him with the name צבאות, he says, according to this opinion, what it means is the God of the armies. But the word צבאות is not the name of Hashem at all. Just like we would say אלקי הצבאות. The word אלקי is Hashem, God of the army. אלקי הארץ when we say the God of the universe. Does that mean that the word ארץ became holy? The word אלקי is holy, ארץ is not. The word אלקי הצבאות means this is the God of the army, but the word צבאות is not God. And why is it so? Because since it came through the nevi'im, it's impossible. Now, the other opinion, which is the opinion of Rabbi Yosi the way it's in the Gemara, that it is a name of Hashem, but not one of the seven seven names that cannot erase, goes along the same line, but a little bit different, saying because it's not written in the Torah, it came through the nevi'im, therefore it is not one of those holy names that cannot be erased. But on the other hand, because it came through a navi, and after all the nevi'im are able to bring out nevuah, it still kept its kedushah, so it still remains a name of Hashem. And therefore it is the name of Hashem, but not the name of Hashem in the same level of kedushah as the other seven are, and therefore you could erase it, just like רחום חנון is a name of Hashem. The opinion of the chachamim, which is the first opinion, the opinion of the chachamim is even further, that even though this is one a name that is not written in the Torah, it's a name written given by the nevi'im, but when the nevi'im gave over their words, it kept in it the kedushah of the words the way it was given by Hashem, even though it was contracted and came to them in a contracted form. What it really means is, according to this opinion, that just like a navi himself What is the concept of a navi? A navi means that Hashem gets dressed, his words, which is him, gets dressed into a human being. It's the way Hashem relates to human beings. The name Tzavaot is the way Hashem relates to human beings, the way he's put into the human being. So it is completely Hashem. It's one of the seven names. It's the last one of the seven names, because after all, it did come from the nevi'im, but this opinion holds that nevertheless, this is a name of Hashem. And as a matter of fact, according to this opinion, there is a ma'alah, there is something special in the name of Tzavaot over the other names. The other names refer to Hashem the way he is removed, while the name Tzavaot is the way he is already put into the human being. And that shows that this is a name that could unite with a person, a name that could cause a person to reach a level where he is close to Hashem. It's the Hashem the way he is in the human beings. All this fits to this Midrash that we said before, that Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu that, \"I am called by my actions.\" Like I said, when I do chesed, I'm called Kel, when I do din, judgment, I'm called Elohim, when I have pity, I am called, have mercy, I am called Havayah. When I have a war with the resha'im, I am called Tzavaot.

Now, one opinion says that how could Tzavaot represent the kedushah of Hashem when this is a name that relates to a point where Hashem has to fight with people that are against Him. The mere fact that this is a name that represents that there is some other force against Him weakens the kedushah of Hashem. It weakens. If Hashem has to fight with the resha'im, the mere fact that you have to fight with others, that means there is another being that is against you that has a certain power which you have to get rid of. So that's a name that cannot have the pure kedushah of Hashem. The other names which represent Hashem's behavior, that represent that's kedushah, it's Hashem the way He does this or Hashem the way He does that or Hashem the way He does a third thing. But when He has it's a name that represents the way He has מנגדים, He has those that are against Him, that name cannot contain kedushah. That's one opinion, that's the opinion that said that it's not one of the holy names. But the psak din is that it is one of the holy names is why? Because this name represents not the fact that there are others against Him, it represents the fact that He is fighting them and He is destroying them. So that is even greater, that shows the power of Hashem that whatever is there to fight Him, He will destroy, and that really is the true kedushah of Hashem. And the truth is we could go a step deeper, that the fact that Hashem allows others to fight Him shows the greatness of Hashem. The fact that Hashem even gives His energy so low, even to those that fight Him, that shows how great He is. The fact that Hashem lowers Himself and brings His Godliness to such low places, this shows how great He is. This shows how infinite He is, that He goes down so low. And this is actually based on a Gemara, an interesting Gemara, we actually learned it lately in Ein Yaakov. We know that in the time, the end of the first Beis Hamikdash, the beginning of the second Beis Hamikdash, the חכמים at that time, the great חכמים were called Anshei Knesses Hagedolah, the Men of the Great Assembly. And the Gemara says why were they called Anshei Knesses Hagedolah, why did they get this title? And the Gemara says, because החזירו עטרה ליושנה, they brought back the crown to its original state. And the Gemara explains: משה רבינו said, called השם, הגדול, the great one, הגיבור, the strong one, הנורא, the awesome one, the fearful one. Came other חכמים later and said, when things started being bad for the יידן, how can we say השם is גיבור? השם is strong. How can we refer to Him as strong when עכו״ם מרקדים בהיכלו ובחוצותיו, גוים are dancing in His palace, גוים are in בית המקדש dancing. איה גבורותיו, where is His strength? איה נוראותיו, where is His fear? Where do we see that He is also awesome and fearful? So they stopped saying הגיבור והנורא. They didn't call השם anymore strong, because we don't see His strength. Not they, חס ושלום, denied His strength, but we don't see it, so we can't refer to Him that way. Came the אנשי כנסת הגדולה and they said, no, we got to take it back. They brought it back and they again said we have to, in davenen we say again הקל הגדול הגיבור והנורא, we use the term גיבור and נורא. And the Gemara asks, but what's their answer to the question? But after all, איה גבורותיו, where is Hashem's gevurah, where is Hashem's strength? And the Gemara says that the Anshei Knesset Hagedolah answer, the fact that He allows goyim to dance in His היכל, הן הן גבורותיו! This is the strength of Hashem! הן הן נוראותיו, this shows the greatness of Hashem that He's able to allow that. We know that nothing in the world exists other than through the power Hashem gives it. And here Hashem gives power even to those that fight Him. That shows how far His השפעה goes. Not only to people who are with Him, people who are against Him and are so far, even that far reaching His strength is. That's the real gevurah of Hashem. So when the word Tzevaot means that Hashem is fighting with the רשעים, so on one hand, one opinion says, well, that means that there are רשעים, this name itself shows that there are רשעים in the world that He has to fight with, so this doesn't really show the קדושה of Hashem, it shows that there are other forces. And if this name brings that out, how can we say this name is one of the holy names? And the other opinion says just the opposite: because He is fighting the רשעים, that means He's allowing the רשעים there, and He's getting rid of them because they're against that but he's allowing them to be, that really shows his greatness and this is his קדושה. This shows how great Hashem is and this is what the name Tzevaot is.

Now it comes out from here that with every way we're going to look at it, the name Tzevaot represents Hashem the way he already relates to the people, to the Jews, he relates to the נביא. It's not the name of Hashem the way he is on his own even when he's doing things, but it's Hashem the way it came through the נביא, which means the way he put himself already in the human being. This is the reason why the Jews got the name Tzevaot, Tzevaot Hashem, when they went out of מצרים. We don't find that earlier. Why? Even before they went out of מצרים, earlier in time of the אבות and later on, they were already special people, no question about it. Special people, people who are recognize Hashem, closer to Hashem. But when they came out of מצרים, that's the time when Hashem said and now I will become united, I will rest in you. Because going out of מצרים was the real preparation for Matan Torah. By Matan Torah, Hashem chose us. By Matan Torah, Hashem gave us the נשמה, that means by Matan Torah, Hashem came into the Jews. So therefore he gave us the name Tzevaot then, because the name Tzevaot represents the name of Hashem which is Tzevaot, which we said means Hashem the way he already is put into the נביא, into the human being, which shows the greatness not only the way he's removed, but the way he comes down. And that happened to the Jews when the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim. That's when they got Hashem in them, that's why they got the title צבאות השם. We know that the Rebbe used the title צבאות השם for little children. Well, all kinds of things he spoke when he started this group called צבאות השם, but one of the things is that this concept of being צבאות השם, which means the army of Hashem, but it's connected to the name Tzevaot, is because Hashem dwells in us. Where do we see the true, pure dwelling of Hashem in a Jew? We see it in the children, more than we see it in adults. The purity of the neshama is seen in children. Their simplicity and their connection to Hashem is much more than by an adult. Similar to what the Baal Shem Tov said that he was mekarev very much the אנשים פשוטים, the simple Jews. And he said the פשיטות of the אנשים פשוטים, the simplicity of the simple Jews reaches, he says, into the פשיטות העצמות, into the simplicity of Hashem. The way Hashem is in essence connects himself more, you feel, in the simplicity of a simple Jew. And that's what a child is. A child is simple. In Yiddish we say a ווייסט נישט קיין חכמות, doesn't know any מעשיות, straight thinking, just pure, connected to Hashem, and that's why the children got the title צבאות השם. The truth is all Jews are צבאות השם. I'll say a vort I heard. Now some people once I told it to somebody he said he doesn't believe he said I'm just telling you what I heard once from Rabbi Popka, who is a רב in Pittsburgh, and the whole family, brothers, are Popka brothers, and he is a maybe I told the story once, he was a a nephew of the Chafetz Chaim. And he said that he remembers he was a child, he was in the house of the Chafetz Chaim, and a group came from a certain city asking advice about accepting a rabbi. The rabbi had passed away or something. Indeed, I told the story once. The rabbi passed away and they need a new rabbi and they have two candidates. One candidate was a ישיבה בחור, came from ישיבה, and one was a ליובאוויטשער חסיד, he told me. And they asked him which one should they take. And this was at a time already when they had problems, you know, with the Communists, and the and the ones that in Russia that really were strong with mesirut nefesh, fighting it and everything, and trying to continue the ישיבות and the underground was were the ליובאוויטשער, and they were all many of them arrested and sentenced to Siberia, and sentenced to death, and anyway when they came to the Chafetz Chaim, this is what he says he remembers the Chafetz Chaim answered them, he said, \"All Yidden are called צבאות השם,\" that's what he said, \"but between the the all the Yidden, who are the צבאות השם that are showing they're fighting within the צבאות השם?\" he says, \"are the ליובאוויטשער חסידים.\" Says, \"Take the ליובאוויטשער,\" he told me. I told this over, once I told it to a shvager, he said, \"I don't believe it.\" I said, \"I didn't make up the story.\" Said, \"This is what he told me.\" So. But all Yidden are called צבאות השם, because all Yidden, from the time went out of Mitzrayim, have Hashem dwell within us, which is the concept of the name צבאות. The children have it even more. And this is connected to one more moment, this is connected to what the word צבא means. צבא means an army. The whole concept of an army is kabalat ol. The basis of an army is discipline, accepting the yoke of your superior, that's it. When it comes to this, you could be the smartest person. You could be in in in regular life, in civil life, you could be a professor, a big doctor, who knows what. When you're drafted to the army, you have a superior who could be 10, 20, 5 years younger than you, and is nothing, but in he reached a certain level in the army, you have to listen to him. You have to גיב זיך איבער, give him over completely. That's why Yidden are called צבאות השם, because Yidden have this ability of kabalat ol, of accepting the yoke of Hashem and giving themselves over to Hashem 100% and feel Hashem dwell within them and tell Hashem, yes. When it comes to the army, there you have no choice. They'll put you in jail, they'll court-martial you. There are reasons why. We don't have that. But why would a Yid be able to do it? Because Hashem is within us. Like the famous story of the Rabbi Yitzchak Berditchever, he always used to find things to show zechusim on the Yidden. So, it came once Erev Pesach after time when you were not allowed to have חמץ anymore. He goes in the street and meets a Yid and he says to the Yid, and some Yidden know used to work with smuggled goods, you know, through the borders, which was illegal, and they took a risk getting caught by the government. So, he stopped a Yid and he said, \"I need some of your,\" he said, \"contraband. I need some of your merchandise that you smuggled. Can you get to me?\" \"Well, Rabbi, no.\" He tried to, you know, cover up, \"I don't really do it.\" But he said, \"Yeah, but I really need it.\" He said, \"You know what? If you really need it, come to my house, I'll get you.\" Then he says to him, \"Yeah, and also I would need a little piece of bread I need now.\" He says, \"Rabbi, a piece of bread? Chas veshalom, it's after the time! How could you ask for bread?\" So, he turns around, he says, \"Look, Hashem, you didn't put any police here in the street. You can't arrest him for this. And look how scared he got and sick, chas veshalom, ought to get back a piece of bread after the זמן. And the the the merchandise that's illegal, you have the government has police, and they could arrest you and they could this and that, and if you need, he'll have some, and he'll give it to you. What's the difference? Because we have a neshamah, and a Yid has a neshamah and he's kabalat ol. Hashem is within him. And that's why he is called צבאות השם from the army of Hashem, because they are like soldiers in the army, especially the children, but even the adults, we have this koach of soldiers in the army, and we have the name Tzevaot in us, which represents not Hashem as he's removed or what he does, but Hashem the way he works through the נביאים, the way he works by coming into the human being, coming into us. And when we do our duty as soldiers in the Tzevaot Hashem, in the army of Hashem, then Hashem reveals even more his name Tzevaot and makes us feel him even more. And the main thing will be we will really feel Hashem when Mashiach will come בקרוב ממש במהרה בימינו. אמן.