1. 0:01 Introduction: Rebbe's Vort on Parshas Vayikra

from the Rebbe on this week's פרשה, Parshas Vayikra. The parshah starts with the words ויקרא אל משה וידבר ה׳ אליו, he called to Moshe and Hashem spoke to him, and then the pasuk continues with all the halachot that he was telling him concerning korbanot, etc. And Rashi says these words: לכל דברות ולכל אמירות ולכל ציוויים קדמה קריאה, לשון חיבה, that before anytime Hashem spoke to Moshe and commanded him certain things, he called him before, the keriah, the ויקרא came before, and the word ויקרא is לשון חיבה, רש״י says, it's an expression of love. Shows how much the Eibishter loved Moshe, which represents all the Yidden, he loved all the Yidden. And then Rashi continues: אבל לנביאי אומות, but to the prophets of the גוים, נגלה עליהם בלשון עראי וטומאה, שנאמר ויקר אלקים אל בלעם. But by the goyishe prophets, there it doesn't say ויקרא, it says ויקר. Now the word ויקר means he met him, which means derech agav, by the way, it's a random thing that happened. It's not a לשון of love, it's actually a לשון of טומאה. But by Moshe Rabbeinu, before Hashem spoke to him and told him the mitzvot, there was a keriah, a calling, which represents the love. So the question that the Rebbe asks is, why is it important for Rashi to go into the details to explain that the way Hashem reveals his, shows his love to Moshe, to the Yidden, he doesn't show to the נביאים, אומות העולם, of the goyim? Why would a person even think that the Eibishter would show the same love to the goyim, to the nevi'im of the goyim, which represents all the goyim, the same way he shows to the Yidden? We all know the Oybershter loves the Yidden much more than he loves the goyim. We know that. Why does Rashi have to go into all the details here? And the Rebbe answers it based on the meaning of the word that Rashi says, that before any commandment, קדמה קריאה, the קריאה, the ויקרא, the calling, came first, לשון חיבה, and that's a לשון of חיבה. What does it mean it came first? So obviously it means it came before. Before he spoke to him, he told him the halachot, he called him. But it also hints to another nekudah. קדמה קריאה means that the קריאה came before it in level, not only before in time, but before in level. This קריאה, this calling, which represents love, is a love that the Oybershter shows to the Yidden higher than Torah, which means that the connection of the Oybershter to Yidden is before the Torah, which is higher than Torah. We know that the Torah is connected to the Oybershter, and when Yidden learn Torah and do mitzvot, that strengthens their connection to the Oybershter, but there is also the connection that the Yidden themselves have because they're Yidden, and this is before, beyond Torah. Actually, as it says in the Midrash, that the two things that came before the world, which means are higher than everything, is Yisrael and Torah, Yidden and Torah, it says in Tanna Devei Eliyahu, and between the two, which one is closer? The Yidden. So we're saying here that this ויקרא, which shows חיבה, shows the love of the Oybershter to Yidden, is קדמה, came before. Before what? Before the ציוויים, before the commandments, which is the Torah itself. Which means that this is a love that the Oibershter shows to Yidden, not mitzad, only mitzad because they do Torah, that's one thing, it's b'etzem because you're a Yid, the Oibershter has a love which is קדמה לתורה, it came before, a higher level than Torah. That's the answer to the question why Rashi has to tell us that to the אומות העולם, to the goyim, Hashem doesn't show that love. Because m'meila if it would be a love that the Oibershter shows because of the Torah, because the Yidden learn Torah and do mitzvot, it would be obvious. The goyim don't learn Torah, it's not given to them, they don't have the Torah, they don't have the mitzvot, therefore, obviously, that same love is not to them. So that Rashi wouldn't have to tell us, you don't to say that the Oibershter doesn't show the same love to the goyim when they're not shayach, the whole love comes because of Torah. But here Rashi is telling us that this is a love that the Oibershter shows that is not a result of Torah. It's a love just because you're a Yid. Which means a love not because of what you're doing. So here, who says that same the love only goes to Yidden? There could be a love that goes to the goyim equally as it goes to the Yidden. Maybe, maybe it is so, because after all, it's not connected to the behavior of the Yidden. So what's the difference between lichora, lehavdil, a Yid and a goy? And maybe the love goes to the goyim also. That's why Rashi tells us that this love, which is קדמה, comes before the ציוויים, which is higher than Torah, a love that the Oibershter shows to the Yidden, to Moshe Rabbeinu, which represents the Yidden, not because of the Torah, is only to Yidden and not to the נביאי אומות העולם, not to the prophets of the goyim, which represents the goyim. To them, that level isn't there, that level of love isn't there. And the reason for that is, because there is a special love that the Oybershter has to Yidden because they're a Yid, not because of their behavior. Avada every Yid has to behave properly, the Oybershter wants every Yid to learn Torah, do mitzvot, and you have to do it, there's no question about it. But the fact that you're a Yid itself, that itself the Oybershter shows has love. To that Yid. It says, it says in the גמרא, ישראל אף על פי שחטא ישראל הוא. A Yid, even though he sins, he's still a Yid, because the neshama is there. If he didn't do the right thing, he has to do teshuva, etc., because Hashem will be upset, etc. But the love that there is an essential love that is only there to Yidden, which is beyond Torah. As the pasuk actually says: הלא אח עשו ליעקב, ואוהב את יעקב, ואת עשו שנאתי. There's a pasuk that this pasuk says that Esav and Yaakov are brothers, and I love Yaakov, and I don't like Esav. Which means that even in a level where Yaakov, which represents the Yidden, behaves like a brother of Esav, which means he behaves the same way as Esav, chas v'shalom, Hashem says: I still love Yaakov, I still love the Yid, and not Esav. Because there is an essential connection that the Oybershter has to Yidden, which is beyond Torah. And that's what Rashi says here: ויקרא אל משה, which ויקרא is לשון חיבה. The Oybershter showed His love to משה. It's a love that's קדמה, comes before the ציווים. And that's the difference in Yid and a goy. By a Yid, besides the Eibershter loves Yidden because they do Torah, but that's another thing. But the main nekudah is that a Yid is a Yid because the Eibershter has a special connection to Yidden. And Rashi says, that's why by the אומות העולם, the נביאים of אומות העולם, it says לשון ויקר, לשון טומאה, and here it says ויקרא, לשון חיבה, which comes before the ציווים, before the commandments, before the Torah itself.