Chapter Three: (i) The verse states (-Isaiah 60:21), “And your people, all of them righteous, shall inherit the land forever, a scion of My planting, the work of My hands in which I will glory.” Every Jew is ‘righteous’ and a ‘a scion of My planting’. How does one reveal this ‘righteous’ and a ‘a scion of My planting’ that is within him? Through self-sacrifice for Torah and Mitzvos, which selfsacrifice is particularly in the times of exile. This is what we find that Mordechai gathered 22,000 students to study Torah, and when the enemies came, these children declared, “whether to life or whether to death, we are bound to the Torah!
” However, we need to understand, how is that specifically in the darkest times of Haman being exalted by the king, that the Jewish People came to such a level of selfsacrifice?
(ii) The Sages teach (-Esther Rabba, portion 6:2), “(There was a Judean man -‘ish’- in the Shushan citadel” – ‘ish’ teaches that) Mordechai, in his generation, was the equivalent of Moses, in his generation… Just as Moses stood in the breach, (as it is written (-Psalms 106:23) ‘He said He would destroy them, were it not for Moses His chosen one, who stood before Him in the breach…’) also Mordechai did likewise ((-Esther 10:3), ‘A seeker of good for his people and spokesman of peace for all his descendants’.)
Just as Moses taught Torah to Israel, (as it is written (-Deuteronomy 4:5), ‘See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances’) also Mordechai did so (as it is written (-Esther 9:30), ‘Matters of peace and truth’)”. Thus through Mordechai doing all this he caused that within the Jewish People shone their Essence of the Soul, and with this power they stood with self-sacrifice.
(iii) This begins to answer some of the questions that the Previous Rebbe has on the opening verse of the Torah-portion of Tetzaveh: “And you (Moses) shall command the Children of Israel, and they shall take to you pure olive oil, crushed for the luminary, to elevate (keep lit) the candle (lights of the Temple’s Menorah being burning) perpetually.” Questions: (a) Why the “And you (Moses) shall command the Children of Israel” instead of the usual “command (in G-d’s name) the children of Israel”? (b) Why the “and they shall take to you pure olive oil”, when the Menorah is kindled by Aharon, and not by Moses?
(c) Why the “crushed”, when the primary issue is that it be “pure olive oil”, which is already stated in the verse, so what is the specific concept of “crushed”? (d) What is the concept of “for the luminary”, when it should have said “to luminate”? (e) What is the concept of Moses’ light of the Menorah being, “the candle (lights of the Temple’s Menorah being burning) perpetually”, when the verse tells us that the kindling of the candles by Aharon is, “from evening to morning”?
(iv) Which all of this is found also in our service to G-d, that the ultimate intention is to bring forth the “to elevate (keep lit) the candle (lights of the Temple’s Menorah being burning) consistently”, which then all of the worldly matters that the person occupies himself with are illuminated.
--This is what the Previous Rebbe said previously, that through Mordechai (who is equivalent to Moses) teaching Torah to the 22,000 students, Mordechai caused that within the Jewish People shone their Essence of the Soul, and with this power they stood with self-sacrifice, and thus, “all of the worldly matters that the person occupies himself with are illuminated”.