Running Commentary on Torah 39 — V'nasati Eisev b'Sadcha

Beginner: **Peirush rishon — eisev / sadeh / breaking the orlah of hunger**: The Rebbe takes the verse *'V'nasati eisev b'sadcha li'vhemtecha'* — 'And I will give grass in your field for your beasts' (Devarim 11:15) — and unlocks it as a complete program of avodah. First, *eisev* (grass) is read as the **roshei teivos** (initial letters) of *Oseh Shalom Bi'm'romav* — 'He who makes peace in His heights.' Second, *b'sadcha* (in your field) is heard as a *lashon* of **shidud u'shvirah** — *plundering and breaking* — because the desert root behind 'sadeh' carries that flavor. So already in the first phrase, Rabbeinu hears: 'I, Hashem, will give you the secret of heavenly peace — through the breaking of something in your field.' What field? The Rebbe explains the practical psychology: when a person feels a sudden, overpowering **re'avon** (hunger) — when *ta'avas achilah*, the craving to eat, surges over him — he should know **he has enemies**. Hunger is not a neutral physical fact; it is the bodily symptom of a spiritual hostility. The proof is from Bava Metzia 59b on the verse *'ha'sam gvulech shalom'* — 'He who sets your border in peace' (Tehillim 147:14): when Hashem sets your border in peace, *then* He satisfies you with the choicest wheat — meaning satiety follows peace, hunger follows discord. And from Sanhedrin 103b: *'one who has reishim* (poverty / lack) *below has reishim above'* — the lack down here is the visible end of a lack in the upper worlds. **The remedy** is to *shidud u'shvirah* the **behemiyus** — to plunder and break the animal-self that is doing the craving — because the *ikkar ha-re'avon*, the real hunger, is the hunger of the animal soul, not of the person. Now Rabbeinu shows the chain that links hunger to *machlokes* and *cherpah* (disgrace). The Midrash (Bereshis Rabbah 63): *'ba zadon, va'yavo kalon — da k'lono shel ra'av'* — when arrogance comes, disgrace comes, and *that* disgrace is the disgrace of hunger. As the navi says, *'asher lo tikchu od cherpas ra'av ba'goyim'* — 'that you should no longer suffer the disgrace of hunger among the nations' (Yechezkel 36:30). So *machlokes* (the contention that disgraces a person) and *re'avon* (hunger) are two faces of one root. And that root, the Rebbe now reveals, is **orlah** (the foreskin, the spiritual obstruction) — for of the orlah it says, *'ki cherpah hi lanu'* — 'for it is a disgrace to us' (Bereshis 34:14). The same word *cherpah* binds them: hunger = disgrace = orlah. The orlah is the **three klipos** (husks of impurity) that surround the **bris shalom** — the inner covenant of peace. **And so the avodah unfolds**: when a person breaks the orlah (i.e., breaks the craving and the discord), the bris shalom is uncovered. When there is shalom below, there is shalom above 'in His heights' — back to the *eisev / Oseh Shalom Bi'm'romav* with which we started. And when there is shalom above, then **sava** (satiety, abundance) is revealed and increased in the world — as Yosef said in the famine, *'ten zera v'nichyeh'* — 'give seed and we shall live' (Bereshis 47:19). The full circuit: break the orlah of false hunger → expose the bris shalom → draw down heavenly peace → which itself releases real, blessed sava into the field. Intermediate: **Peirush rishon**: 'V'nasati eisev b'sadcha li'vhemtecha' (Dev 11:15). **eisev = r"t Oseh Shalom Bi'm'romav**; **b'sadcha = lashon shidud u'shvirah**. Sudden ta'avas achilah / re'avon = sign of son'im (BM 59b on Teh 147:14 'ha'sam gvulech shalom'; San 103b 'reishim mi'lmata → reishim mi'lma'ala'). Therefore *shidud u'shvirah ha-behemiyus* — ikkar ha-re'avon is la'behemiyus. Chain: machlokes / cherpah / re'avon = same root (Bereshis Rabbah 63 'k'lono shel ra'av'; Yechezkel 36:30 'cherpas ra'av'); that root = **orlah** (Bereshis 34:14 'cherpah hi lanu') = three klipos surrounding **bris shalom**. Break the orlah → reveal bris shalom → shalom mi'lmata = shalom mi'lma'ala 'b'm'romav' → sava nigleh u'misrabeh ba'olam (Bereshis 47:19, Yosef: 'ten zera v'nichyeh').

Beginner: **Peirush sheini — eisev = banim, sadeh = sheid, the Shabbos-zivug**: Rabbeinu now opens a second reading of the same verse, on the axis of children rather than food. *'V'nasati eisev'* — 'I will give grass' — is a hint to **banim** (children), as it says *'v'tze'etza'echa k'eisev ha'aretz'* — 'and your offspring like the grass of the earth' (Iyov 5:25). On this reading, *'b'sadcha li'vhemtecha'* answers the question: **when will you have *banim chayim v'kayamim* — children who live and endure?** Answer: when your **zivug** (marital union) is in *kedushah*, and you break your *nefesh ha-mis'avah* — the desiring soul, which is the *nefesh ha-behemiyus*, the animal soul — and the moment of union should feel to you '*as if a sheid (a demon) had compelled you*' (Nedarim 20b — the gemara's image of intimacy stripped of personal craving and reduced to the bare obligation). And on this the Rebbe builds the wordplay: **'b'sadcha' is also a *lashon of sheid*** — *sadeh* shares the root SH-D with *sheid*. So the *sadeh* of the verse becomes the *sheid* of the gemara: 'compel your animal-soul like a sheid'. Through this discipline, *banim shel kayama* — enduring children — are given. **Why does this discipline matter so much?** Because *misas ha-banim* — the death of children R"l — comes about, as is known, *me'chamas neshamos ha-ashukos b'takla* (because of souls trapped in the *takla*, the kabbalistic 'scale' of judgment) (Zohar Mishpatim 113a). And the *takla*, which is **klipas nogah**, stands closest of all the klipos to the *nefesh ha-behemiyus* — as is brought in *Mishnas Chassidim, Maseches Ha-Harkavah*. So when the act of zivug is run through the unbroken behemiyus, the souls drawn down get caught in the takla and cannot stably enter the world. Break the behemiyus and the path clears. **And there is a more precise instruction**: the *ikkar zivug* (the principal union) should fall on **leil Shabbos** — Shabbos night — for then everything is *included in kedushah*, and all *po'alei aven* (workers of iniquity, the unholy forces) are separated out from it. Finally, the Rebbe folds the verse closed with one more allusion: *'v'achalta v'savata'* — 'and you shall eat and be satisfied' (the next verse, Devarim 11:15) — is itself a hint to Shabbos, *'for then is the savia (satiety) from which the six days are blessed.'* The whole second peirush turns the table: *eisev → banim, sadeh → sheid, achilah → Shabbos-savia*. The same five Hebrew words, two completely distinct roads of avodah — both ending at *bris shalom*, *kedushas ha-zivug*, and the satiety of Shabbos. Intermediate: **Peirush sheini**: **eisev = banim** (Iyov 5:25 'v'tze'etza'echa k'eisev'); 'b'sadcha li'vhemtecha' = when banim chayim v'kayamim? When zivug b'kedushah + breaking nefesh ha-mis'avah = nefesh behemiyus, *k'kfa'o sheid* (Ned 20b). **'b'sadcha' = lashon sheid** (root SH-D). Misas ha-banim ← neshamos ashukos b'takla = klipas nogah (Zohar Mishp 113a; Mishnas Chassidim, Maseches ha-Harkavah) which neighbors nefesh ha-behemiyus. **Ikkar zivug b'leil Shabbos** — niklelis b'kedushah, po'alei aven mis'pardim. 'V'achalta v'savata' = remez l'Shabbos, *sham ha-savia she'mimenu misbarchin sheishes ha-yamim*.