wort of the Rebbe on this week's פרשה. In פרשת וילך, the Torah talks about the mitzvah of Hakhel, that once in seven years, the year after שמיטה on Sukkos, all the Yidden, men, women, and children, had to come to Yerushalayim, and on Chol Hamoed, the pasuk says, the king תקרא את התורה הזאת נגד כל ישראל באזניהם, should read the Torah in front of all the Yidden in their ears they should hear. And Rashi says on this פסוק, המלך היה קורא, the king read it על בימה של עץ, on a stage made of wood, שהיו עושים בעזרה that they made in the עזרה. Now we know Rashi wrote his commentary על פי דרך הפשט, which means everything that he writes has to fit into the pasuk, into the simple meaning of the pasuk, or certain things which are simple peshat that the person understands logically, but otherwise, Rashi wouldn't write it. So where do we take here in the simple peshat that there was a stage and that the stage was made of wood? There must be a source in seichel, simple seichel, which automatically means this is understood, self-understood, or from the words of the pasuk. So the Rebbe explains that the peshat is like this.

Since everybody had to come, men, women, and children, and even babies, such a crowd, so how was it possible for everybody to hear what the king was saying? So it's logical that he had to stand on the stage. Probably went along with a miracle also, but everything has to fit to דרך הטבע. So pashut, it's only a logical thing that he had, he sat, he stood on the stage and he spoke. So that's why Rashi says that it was על בימה. But the question is, if it was a stage in the Beis Hamikdash, it took up space a lot, so it probably interfered with the avodah that they had to do throughout the whole year in the Beis Hamikdash. So that's why Rashi says pashut, it was only made of wood. Wood means it's only a temporary thing. They put it together and they took it apart. And that's why Rashi adds, it was made of wood שהיו עושים בעזרה, that they made in the עזרה. They made it, means it came to that time, they made it, and then they took it apart. So it didn't interfere with the avodah. But that's a logical thing and that's why Rashi says it בפשוטו של מקרא. But we know that in Rashi we also have Yenah shel Torah, which means we have lessons in avodat Hashem in Rashi, inyanim of פנימיות התורה, the inner part of Torah. We have inyanim of Chassidut, inyanim of Kabbalah. So the Rebbe says here, we also have a lesson in simple pshat. The inyan of Hakhel, the way the a lesson in in פנימיות התורה, not only simple pshat. The purpose of Hakhel, as the pasuk says is, למען ישמעו ולמען ילמדו ויראו את ה׳ אלקיכם. They should listen and learn and fear Hashem. So the purpose of Hakhel represents the inyan of Yirat Shamayim, to fear Hashem. Now we know the

real Yirat Shamayim, when is the real fear of Hashem? If you are completely batel. A person doesn't feel his own ego, doesn't feel his own metziut, and is a real anav and completely batel. And that is the real Yirat Hashem, that you feel batel to Hashem completely. But we got to be careful. When a person is completely batel, sometimes it could backfire, could have a negative effect. When a person loses his self-esteem and loses his self, self-being, thinking of himself as a metziut, you know what could happen? He could lose the strength to fight the yetzer hara, because he's nothing anyway, so he can't fight the yetzer hara, and then chas veshalom, this could bring him The bitul could bring him in to fall into the trap of the yetzer hara. Therefore, when they had Hakhel, which represent the yirah, the Yirat Hashem, the bitul, it was on a bimah. The bimah represents that as much as we have to do with bitul, you still have to have a bimah is a stage that sticks out. You have to stick out. You have to feel your metziut as a metziut. You have to have self-esteem in order to fight over the yetzer hara. Like in Shulchan Aruch it says, יתגבר כארי, you have to be strong like a lion to serve Hashem, which is similar to what it says in sefarim, why the Torah was given on הר סיני. So the

Gemara says that there were other mountains who wanted the Torah to be given on them, and they gave So they said so to speak all the maalot they have. And the Eibershter said, \"You guys have ga'avah from your maalot, you have your ego. I'm not going to give it on you. I will give it on הר סיני, which is נמוך מכל טורייא, מכיך מכל טורייא, it's the lowest one, the lowest mountain,\" which shows that there's bitul there. But the question is, if the Eibershter wanted to give the Torah in a form that showed bitul, should have given it on the land, on a valley, which is even lower. Why on a mountain? No, shouldn't be a mountain at all. To show that as much as you need bitul, you have to have the mountain, you have to have the ga'avah, but when it comes to Yiddishkeit, you have to have the ga'avah. Like the pasuk says, ויגבה לבו בדרכי ה׳, that your heart should be elevated, you should have ga'avah in דרכי השם. Like the famous story of one of the chasidim who used to come often to Petersburg, which was at that time not a yidishe city, and a lot of, you know, things, not negative things there. And he remained the same tzadik and the same chasid as he was before. And they asked him, \"How did you do it?\" So he said, \"With ga'avah. When the יצר הרע came to me when I passed by a theater, said, 'Why, go in. No one is around anyway. Yidden couldn't live in Petersburg.' So no one will see you. So I said to the יצר הרע, 'Me? No, I'm not gonna do it. I'm so great, I learned Torah, and I'm so, I'm a chasid, I'm so and so.' So here you could serve Hashem with ga'avah. You

have to remember, as much as Hakhel represents bitul, at the same time you have to have a certain ga'avah. And that's why it says בימה של עץ. Etz is wood. Wood is something that's a temporary thing, it doesn't last, not like stone or rock that lasts forever. It's temporary. You got to own this idea that you have to have a stage, which means you have to have the the ga'avah, so to speak, is only a temporary thing. Not always should you do it, only from time to time, when it comes to inyanim that you have to use it in kedushah. And the Rashi says it was made in the עזרה. The עזרה is the courtyard of the בית המקדש. When it comes to inyanim of עזרה, the inyanim of the Beis Hamikdash, the inyanim of kedushah, the inyanim of holiness, then you have to have the stage, you have to be strong. But otherwise, it comes to other things, you have to have bitul. And since הקהל is a very important mitzvah, it says that this is something that brings a Yid to yirat shamayim, which means to bitul, so Rashi says, according to the פנימיות'דיקע פשט, that you had this was on a בימה, to show that together with the bitul has to be a בימה, but a בימה של עץ. You have to stick out, you have to have your ga'avah, but only a temporary, from time to time when it's important, only when that was in the עזרה and comes ענין של קדושה. Now, we read Parshas Vayelech this time of the year. We reading it this time before Rosh Hashanah, sometimes it's in עשרת ימי תשובה, but it's all around the time of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the עשרת ימי תשובה, cuz this is the lesson. When it comes to a time when we have to make a cheshbon hanefesh, make an accounting, taking an accounting of our actions, we have to take an accounting, how did we behave? Has to be in both: How is our bitul to the אויבערשטער? At the same time, time, how is our ga'avah when it comes to עניני קדושה, how is our strength and our self-confidence when it comes to inyanim of קדושה, ענינים of עזרה? And when we make a cheshbon, if it needs fixing we'll fix it, and if it's good we'll add to it. And the אויבערשטער will, because of our proper cheshbon, our proper hachlatot, will give us a ketivah va-chatimah tovah, a shanah tovah u'metukah.