A vort of the Rebbe on the parshah, Parshas Noach. There is a famous vort of the Baal Shem Tov on one of the pesukim in Parshas Noach. It says Hashem said to Noach: בא אתה וכל ביתך אל התיבה. Go in, you and your whole family, your whole household, into the teivah, to the ark. But in Lashon Kodesh, the word teivah has another meaning. Teivah means a word. So the Baal Shem Tov said what the pasuk is telling us, that a Yid has to go into the words of Torah and tefillah. In other words, it's not enough that a person davens and learns, say, has the words, you have to go into it, you have to live with it, it has to be part of you, you have to go into the words, בא אל התיבה, go into the words. So the Rebbe asked a sheilah: according to the vort of the Baal Shem Tov, how do we explain the pasuk where later on Hashem said to Noach: צא מן התיבה, go out from the teivah? Now, according to the peshat that בא אל התיבה means go into the word, צא מן התיבה means go out of the words. It's as if Hashem is telling him: go out of the words of Torah and tefillah. That doesn't make any sense. Does Hashem want a Yid to go out of the words of Torah and tefillah, not to be involved completely in Torah and tefillah? So how does the פסוק צא מן התיבה fit to the words בא אל התיבה according to the peirush of the Baal Shem Tov?

And the Rebbe explains: yes, it's expected of a Yid to go out of the words of Torah and tefilah and to go bring Godliness into the outside world. Every Yid has a mission to bring Godliness into the world. The Midrash says that the Oibershter created the world because נתאווה הקדוש ברוך הוא להיות לו יתברך דירה בתחתונים. Hashem desired to have a dwelling place in the low world. So what Hashem wants is we should take inyanim of this low world, of physical things, things which are outside of Torah, not chas v'shalom something that's forbidden because that you're not allowed to, but things which are outside of Torah, and elevate them to kedushah. Take the worldly things, the tachtonim, and elevate them to kedushah. And a Yid does that when he eats and he sleeps. He's not learning, he's not davening, but he is doing his physical things and he's using that l'shem Shamayim. When a person goes to business, goes to work, that's most of the day by most people, he's supposed to use that as a form of bringing kedushah into the world. You work l'shem Shamayim, you work in order to make money so you should have money to buy nice tefillin, give tzedakah, give your children a fine Jewish education, so that's the tachlis. So this is what the pasuk says: צא מן התיבה, yes, go out of the words of Torah and tefilah and get involved in gashmiyut and bring the gashmiyut closer to Hashem. Some, by some people this is in the way that you go out into the world to see, meet other Yidden who are not really fulfilling their mission of keeping Torah u'mitzvot and elevate them, which is also going out of your own being involved in Torah and tefilah, and you're going out of that to help other Yidden. But the Oibershter wants that you should do that, you should go out of the Torah and tefilah.

But we have to remember, in order to succeed by going out and accomplishing what you're supposed to, to elevate the outside world, you have to first be for a while in the תיבה. Just like by Noach, first the Oibershter said בא אל התיבה, go into the תיבה, and according to the Baal Shem Tov he said go into the words of Torah and tefilah. Then if you're for a משך זמן, for a time, completely involved in Torah and tefillah, in these רוחניותדיקע ענינים completely, in the words of davening, in the words of learning, then you have the koach to go out of that and you will accomplish your mission of elevating the world to a higher מדרגה. And it has to be in such a way that the time that you are in the תיבה, in the words of Torah and tefillah, has to penetrate into the depth of the person. Just like by Noach, he had to be a full year in the תיבה, a full year which includes all the seasons: summer, winter, fall, spring, and includes them all. That means all these ענינים, throughout all the seasons, he was in the תיבה. Then he was able to go out of the תיבה and takeh bring a new world, make the new world seder of making a world that's a good world, a better world than it was before. So too by every Yid, first you have to be involved in Torah and tefillah completely, and when you have that, then you have the ability of taking the kedushah that you got by being involved in Torah and tefillah, bring it into the world.

And this we see takeh, the seder is בנוגע the youth, that before you get married and you go out into the world. You have to first be completely absorbed in Torah, you have to be in yeshivah, the girls have to be in their schools, you have to be involved in Torah and tefillah completely. Odai, even when you're involved in Torah and tefillah completely, there's a certain time that you have to give to eat and drink and you have to use it l'shem shamayim. You also have to certain times go be mekarev other Yidden, but that's not the main task. That's just like a person has to give tzedakah, you have to give tzedakah from your time and go help other Yidden. But the main function in those years first is your involvement in Torah and tefillah. So if you have that and it penetrates into the whole person, then later on you could go out and go, צא מן התיבה, and go out into the world and elevate the world and help other people who are far and elevate them. The same thing every day. The seder is, as Chazal say, the first thing a person should do is to go to Beis Haknesses, davenen, then you go to Beis Hamidrash, you learn, and then הנהג במנהג דרך ארץ. Then you have to go do the worldly things, your own needs of doing business and work, etc., etc. So what's the seder? In order that the rest of the day, when you will be out in the world, מנהג דרך ארץ, you should accomplish your mission, you have to start off your day with completely being involved in Torah and tefilah. So you start off by davenen, you start off by learning. So you have that. When you have that, that gives you the koach for the rest of the day. So now we understand the pesukim according to the peshat of the Baal Shem Tov. First he said בוא אל התיבה, you have to go in. That's the beginning, the yesod is you have to go into the words of Torah and tefilah, be completely absorbed in Torah and tefilah. And then, when you're absorbed for a משך זמן, whether it's a few years of your beginning of your life, or it's a few hours, or whatever amount of time in the beginning of the day, then the Torah says later on, צא מן התיבה, then you could go out from the תיבה of the words of Torah and tefilah, and you could go into the world and elevate the world, just like Noach did. And it says that Noach made a new world, a world that wasn't corrupt, a world that was good, he elevated the world to the Oibershter. And we could do that, to elevate the world to the Oibershter.