Rebbetzen Tziporah: Like The Dalet (Ki Teitzei)

Dear friends,

Last week’s Parsha, Ki Teitzei, begins: “When you go out to war, and Hashem delivers your enemies into your hand…” Rebbe Nachman, in Likutey Moharan II:82, explains that this verse is not only about physical battles but about the inner struggles each of us faces. It is always read in Elul, as is this week’s parshah, Ki Tavo, which is so to speak the “happy ending” entering the Land and eating its fruits.

THE BATTLE OF BALAGAN (CHAOS!!)    

He teaches that the world was created with seder— Hashem’s order. When this order is in place, Hashem’s wisdom flows into the world, and we feel connected and purposeful. But when order breaks down—when we say, “I am my own ruler”—life becomes heavy, confusing, and out of balance.

To explain this, Rebbe Nachman looks at the Hebrew letters:

• Yod (י) is the smallest letter, just a point. It represents chochmah—Hashem’s wisdom, His mind and will, the seed from which everything flows. From this tiny point comes infinite meaning.
• Dalet (ד) comes from dal, meaning poor or empty. This is malchut—like a subject standing before a king, empty of his own ideas, simply ready to hear and follow the king’s will. The emptier the subject is of himself, the more room he has to receive the king’s word. That is why kingship (malchut) is revealed through speech: the king speaks, and his subjects make his rule real by listening and obeying.

This is the secret of Rosh Hashanah. It is the time of malchut—the time when we crown Hashem as King. And this works even for those whose lives feel backward or disordered. If we let go of “I shall rule” and open ourselves like the dalet, Hashem’s wisdom, the yod, can flow into us again.

When this happens, life is whole. But when the letters are reversed, when wisdom is blocked and malchut insists on ruling itself, the same letters form davai—sickness, pain, disorder.

ORDER CAN PREVAIL, BUT ONLY WHEN YOU ARE “SMALL” ENOUGH TO FIND THE MOSHE IN YOU. HE WAS THE MOST HUMBLE OF MEN, BECAUSE HE COULD FIND HASHEM’S WILL AND HIS WISDOM IN EVERY PERSON AND SITUATION WITHOUT BLOCKING IT WITH THE “I SHALL RULE” NOISE WE ALL HEAR.

This is why Moshe prayed so hard for us during Elul, after the sin of the Golden Calf. His humility and his total desire for Hashem to rule allowed him to draw everyone back in —even those who had fallen furthest. And his prayers succeeded. On Yom Kippur, he gathered all of Israel together, showing that no one is left outside of Hashem’s kingship.

So what does this mean for us? We all have moments of “inner war,” times when life feels disordered and blocked. The path forward is to let go of self-rule, to make space for Hashem’s wisdom, and to let His will guide us. That is what it means to crown Him as King.

As Elul continues and Rosh Hashanah approaches, may we each find the humility to open ourselves like the dalet, to receive Hashem’s yod of wisdom, and to let His kingship flow through our lives in wholeness.

One way to practice this is simple: notice one moment this week when you feel the urge to insist on your own way, and instead pause to make space — for Hashem, or even for another person’s words. That small act of “stepping back” is itself an act of malchut.

Love,

Tziporah