from the Rebbe on this week's parsha, Parashat Behar. The parsha starts with וידבר השם אל משה בהר סיני, Hashem spoke to Moshe by הר סיני. And the Chazal ask, brought down in Rashi, מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני? The next halacha written after this pasuk is about the halachot of shemittah. And the question is, why davka by mitzvah of shemittah does the Torah mention that it was said in הר סיני? And they give an answer. But the Rebbe says there's another answer that could be given ברוחניות, על פי חסידות, why the Torah starts off with the words davka in this parsha that Hashem spoke to משה בהר סיני. Because as the Chazal explain, brought down in Rashi later on, that this parsha describes the possibility of the yeridah, of the רוחניותדיקע, spiritual descent of a Yid going down lower and lower, as we call it מדחי אל דחי, from one low madreigah to another lower madreigah. And this is what Rashi says. First the Torah tells you that you should be careful with shemittah. But what happens if a person wants money so much and we suspect that he didn't keep shemittah, the end will be he's going to sell his object, his possessions, because the next halacha talks about וכי תמכרו ממכר, when you sell something. So it's telling you that if a person not careful with shemittah, the end will be he'll have to sell his מטלטלין, which means he'll have to sell his possessions. If he didn't do teshuvah at that point, the end will be he'll sell his real estate. He didn't do teshuvah from that, he will sell his own house. He

didn't do teshuvah from that, the end will be he'll have to borrow money with paying interest. And as Rashi says, each one is a lower level than the other. The end will be if he didn't do teshuvah, he will sell himself as an עבד to another yid. If he didn't do teshuvah yet, he's going to go further, these are all the sequence of halachot that are in the parashah. If he didn't do teshuvah after that, not only will he sell himself to a yid, he will also sell himself to a goy. And then finally, if he doesn't even help with that and he doesn't teshuvah, he'll fall even lower, he'll sell himself to serve the עבודה זרה itself, the idol itself, which means that this shows how it's possible for a yid to go from one low level to another to a lower one till he tears himself away completely, cuts himself off from Hashem, from our Father in heaven, and he gives himself off over to other religions, so not that he, Rashi says it doesn't mean that he will actually convert and be in worship עבודה זרה, but he will become a shamash to the עבודה זרה. So

since the Torah is talking about how low a yid could live, could land, could end up, therefore the Torah starts off from the beginning with the words וידבר השם אל משה בהר סיני, that Hashem spoke to Moshe b'Har Sinai. This is a הקדמה, רפואה למכה. We know the Chazal tell us that when Hashem gives a makah, a negative thing to a person, there is always a refuah, a cure that's said before it. So here also, the Eibershter gave the cure before the makah. Before He talks about the descent that a yid could get in רוחניות, He starts off by saying that you should know that all this was said to Moshe b'Har Sinai. By Har Sinai the yidden became עבדים of the Eibershter, servants, slaves of the Eibershter, actually. Like the pasuk says in this פרשה, עבדי הם, you are My עבדים. Now, when a person is an עבד of somebody, even if he sells himself to somebody else, it's not valid, he's not really the other person's עבד because he's already sold to one before. So all these ענינים that we find that he sells himself to the עבודה זרה, or he sells himself to a goy, or he sells himself even to a yid, and even the earlier things, which are also a ענין of עבד, even though it's not selling yourself, you're selling your property, but you're an עבד to your bad behavior. So the Torah says you should always know that it's not real, it's only superficial. Really, you are an eved of the Aibershter. So therefore the Torah starts off with the words וידבר השם אל משה בהר סיני to tell you that before we even get into the inyanim of how low a Yid could reach, no matter what, he always has to remember that he is an eved to the Aibershter that started by Har Sinai, and therefore he can always get out of his low level. And the

Torah actually promises that he will, because the pasuk says at the end, אחרי נמכר גאולה תהיה לו, after he is sold, he shall have a geulah, he shall have a redemption. Which not not only means that the Torah says after he is sold he can have a geulah, and there is a way to get him out, but it's a promise: גאולה תהיה לו, he will become he will come out of it, he will be redeemed. And the reason is, because all this is only superficial, because be'etzem, since it all started from Har Sinai, so be'etzem every Yid is an eved of the Aibershter, and all the other things that are against it are only superficial, and eventually he comes back and realizes that he is an eved of the Aibershter. Oibershter and he does teshuvah.