Without darkness, there wouldn't be any stars....Aish Kodesh, Parsha Ki Seitzei

Without darkness there wouldn't be any stars.

                                                                                                   -popular saying

The Children of Israel are likened to the stars, which G-d counts and calls by name, when they come out and also again when they pass from the world and are gathered in.

                                                                                                                          -Rashi to Exodus 1:1

Parsha Ki Teitzei                    

Aish Kodesh - Holy Fire

This interpretive translation is taken from a manuscript written in 1939 in the darkness of the Warsaw Ghetto, based upon a talk given on the previous Shabbat by the Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Piasetzner Rebbe.  Found in the book Aish Kodesh - Fire of Holiness.

"When you will go out to war...and Hashem, your G-d, will place him (your enemy) into your hand and you will capture its captives."  (Deut. 21:10)

There is an explanation brought down by the saintly, great Magid of Mezritch regarding the verse, "You are the Kohen, forever".  'Kohen' represents loving-kindness and the word, "You", in the verse represents the idea that every Jewish person is able to say to G-d, "Baruch Ata...", Blessed are You.  The great loving-kindness of Hashem IS that  we can use the term "You" in addressing Hashem.  Until here is his (the Maggid's) holy language.

(To explain)  For  "You" is in the grammatical second person form, which in Hebrew is termed, "right in front of", whereas, the pronoun, "He", which is third person, in Hebrew is termed, "hidden".  So, by the fact that the Men of the Great Assembly fixed the language of the blessings and prayers using the language (Blessed are) "You G-d, our G-d" (King of the universe), certainly, these words cause a Divine revelation of which can be described as "right in front of", or else the use of "You" would result in a blessing in vain (bracha levatala).

And, this is what is brought down in holy books that "prayer, to be effective, requires Torah", as it is written in Proverbs, "the one who prevents his ear from hearing Torah, so are his prayers scorned". So, too, does "Torah requires prayer".  For we say in the blessing over learning Torah, 'Blessed ...the One who teaches to his nation Israel'.  That is, he teaches Torah to His nation, as a collective unit. 

Yet, it is possible for a person to receive "individual" instruction from Hashem.  However, for this, it is upon him/her to affect this, personally.  We find in the beginning of Parsha Vayikra, Rashi comments regarding Moshe meriting that Hashem's voice to spoke to him, personally, while the rest of Israel received general instruction....see there.

But, how do we affect this?  Through prayer, as explained above, which utilizes "You", which affects a direct, divine revelation.  Since he addresses Hashem in the "You" pronoun, Hashem responds by speaking to him and teaching him as well in the "you" form.  Through this, each person grasps their unique portion of the Torah, a portion that is particular to that individual.  One in which no other can grasp or achieve.  There is an insight on the verse, "The secret of G-d is for those who fear Him" (Psalms 25:14) found in the book, Ma'or VaShemesh (The author's maternal great, grand father and namesake). "Secret" usually refers to the deepest level of Torah interpretation, known commonly as Kabbalah.  However, even this esoteric level is able to be learned and is not fully a 'secret', as it is revealed in books.  Only a person's individual a nd personalized grasp of the Divine, which no other person can attain can be termed the true 'secret' of which the verse is fully.referring.  Until here is the his holy language (The author of Ma'or Vashemesh).

But, to be clear, for a person to really have the words of his prayers cause this type of direct, divine revelation, his essence and being has to be found inside those words. And, then, can there be an equal and opposite response, "as a face reflects a face in water" (Proverbs 27:19), will Hashem counter with a direct response. 

And, this applies even when a person's prayers are from "the walls of his heart" (meaning, that he put his essence and being into the words) due, solely, to difficult times, G-d forbid. Nevertheless, since there is an outpouring of the soul and it (the soul) is found in the words of prayer, there is already affected this type of direct response.

And this is the meaning to the beginning of the parsha "When you go out to war upon your enemies, and Hashem, your G-d..."  Even when it is only under duress that you truly pray from the depths of your hearts (like going to war), still the verse continues with the result of "and Hashem, your G-d, will place him (the enemy) into your hands."  Which can be interpreted to mean that the result will be Hashem becoming your (so to speak, personal) G-d".  The verse continues, "And you will capture its captives." (In a play on words, the Hebrew word for 'captive' and the Hebrew word for, 'return/repent' share the same etymological root.)  For Israel beseeches, "Hashem return us to you" (Lamentation 5:21) and, in turn, Hashem asks, "Return to me" .  Thereby, with this particular revelation you affect, "And you will capture its captive/return its returnees" and you will return what that Hashem needs to return, that is that He will return us to Him.