The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הגאון הינוקא - דוד המלך וספר תהילים - שיחה מרתקת ממוצאי שבועות The Yanuka - English subs

2:44 And the second thing, about old books - And the second thing, about old books - I have spoken about this: there is a very, very great virtue in an old book whose printing was done by hand. That is, a book that was bound and imprinted. Once they used to do this. You know, they used to take - there were these plates, and there were the letters with ink, and they would make it like this, a plate like this, this is how they did everything, and at the end they would join it with the threads, the cords; they would bind, cut, fold, put on a cover, and a book.

3:20 A book made this way - these are books from a hundred, a hundred and fifty years ago; books - their printing and their virtue is greater than a book of ours. Why? Because it is done by hand. And so putting them away in a geniza, and care for their honor, is much greater. And there is no comparing a book printed by machine with printing done by hand, where the thought behind it sanctifies it, and learning in it also helps more.

3:47 And also what the holy Chozeh writes, that the Slavita print, for example - there is the Zhitomir print, the Slavita print - he writes that this print is so holy, like a Sefer Torah, the Slavita print. The holy sons of Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz, Rabbi Shmuel of Slavita... who worked at the printing with self-sacrifice, gave all their money to print in holiness and purity, and this is how they did the work, truly with awe and love.

4:13 Every book that is from the Slavita print - so it is received in the name of the Chozeh - has in it a segulah and a great virtue, and the book itself is of immeasurably great virtue. Therefore there is a virtue in these old books, from the side of the virtue of their binding, how they worked on them and how they handled them. It helps the soul very much, for Tikkun. And there are also things that were not left out of the earlier editions, which in the new editions were left out.

4:37 We do not understand them. Therefore this is worth pointing out: to learn from both, from this and from that - do not let your hand rest. It has a virtue, they say, for memory, because it was sanctified and changed over the years, hundreds of years; therefore it has a great virtue for remembering. Its virtue is for remembering - this script, of remembering, to remember the learning. It will help a person remember.

5:02 So therefore there are many typefaces. Not Ashuri - that is only in prayer, only for the siddur, to use only for the siddur, only for prayer: every prayer, to make it in this script. And learning, or another book, or whatever a person wants, he can print. But generally, what they were accustomed to do is, when they would bring the text of a prophet or the Torah, they would write the explanation in this script, so that there would be a distinction and a difference.

5:29 Just using the script, if there is no tradition about something from ancient times behind it, there is no need for this. Sometimes it is a bit puzzling why people do it, because it should be, for example, a Mishnah, so make Rashi script beside it, so there is a distinction that this is the Mishnah and this is the script (of the commentator), or this is the Gemara and this is the script (of the commentator), or this is Talmud, or verses from the Prophet, and this is the script (of the commentator). But if a person composes something on his own, But if a person composes something on his own...

6:01 Regarding King David - Let us say something about King David. King David, may his merit protect us, composed for us the Book of Tehillim. He gave us the gift of the book in which the Name Havayah, blessed be He, is mentioned the most. He was born in the year 2852, King David. He was the eighth son of Yishai.

6:29 He was on a great level, as the book Karnayim of Rabbi Aharon of Kardina, on which the Maharash of Ostropolia writes his insights, that it was in fact about the secret of the light of King David's soul. This whole book deals with explaining what King David's soul is. And King David engaged in songs and praises to the Holy One, blessed be He, and each person can find himself within this holy Book of Tehillim that King David composed.

6:57 King David passed away on holy Shabbos, as brought in Tractate Shabbos, page 30. In fact, this differs from the Yerushalmi, for here again we see a difference between the Yerushalmi and the Bavli, as we have said many times, that according to the Yerushalmi, in Beitzah, chapter 2, halachah 4, and in Chagigah it is chapter 2, halachah 3 - it appears twice in the Yerushalmi that King David passed away on Shavuos. In the Yerushalmi it is on Shavuos; for the Bavli it is on Shabbos.

7:21 That he appears in Yizkor, and in the Yalkut HaMachiri, in section 118, there it is written about King David that Yishai would send him to shepherd the flock, because he wanted the Holy One, blessed be He, to make him perish. He was ashamed of King David, he felt shame over David. Everyone saw that David was - "I became a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's sons." Everyone saw him as something that the Holy One, blessed be He, perhaps did not want. And precisely, "the stone the builders rejected" - in Tractate Pesachim, page 119, where the Gemara says - "has become the cornerstone; this was from Hashem, it is wondrous in our eyes," what David's brothers and Yishai said, the psalms in Tehillim: "This was from Hashem, it is wondrous in our eyes,"

7:58 "This is the day Hashem has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." All together they saw this joy of King David, how much the Holy One, blessed be He, chose the outcast, the different one. According to Tosafos in Chagigah, page 17, they bring this Yerushalmi; they make a further distinction about it. That is another thing to discuss, what Tosafos say. But we see that the greatness of King David, either way, whether he passed away on Shavuos or he passed away on Shabbos, we see that the Holy One, blessed be He, took him at the time and at the greatest festival there is, because there is a practical difference here, whether it is the receiving of the Torah or the day of Shabbos.

8:31 Either way it does not matter. For us, King David, who passed away - if it was on Shavuos, at the receiving of the Torah, then we see that all his Tehillim is one great receiving of the Torah. Therefore, when he asked, in Midrash Shocher Tov, chapter 1 - it mentions there that he asked that the Holy One, blessed be He, count the book for him like Nega'im and Oholos - King David asked this before the Holy One, blessed be He, and Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin says that we did not see whether the Holy One, blessed be He, answered him.

8:55 But I said: if it was written, that is a sign that the Holy One, blessed be He, answered him... that He answered him, and King David asked of the Holy One, blessed be He, to be the fourth leg of the Chariot. The fourth leg - this is in the Zohar, Va'eschanan, page 262b. There it is written that King David was the fourth leg of the Chariot. He asked before the Holy One, blessed be He, that he be the fourth leg. So everyone talks about where this is - it is Rabbi Shimon, in the Zohar, Va'eschanan, page 262b.

9:20 We see the greatness of King David, that he was so close to the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Holy One, blessed be He, chose him out of all the humiliations, out of all the troubles and all the ordeals, for there was no one who went through such a thing as David, and he brought out to the world for us this Book of Tehillim. And the virtue of the Book of Tehillim is beyond measure: that a person should engage in the Book of Tehillim and pray, and read the Book of Tehillim with a little intention, whatever little he can - he sanctifies his mouth, and he can bring about from before Hashem all the bounty he needs before the Holy One, blessed be He.

9:54 Therefore this is a book that a person needs to be accustomed to, and that it be with him all the days of his life, that he read even one psalm a day with intention, only once a day, one psalm, if he can, or two, as much as he can, but to read with intention from the Book of Tehillim, for we do not know the book, its virtue, and how David saw, for all the generations, everything that would pass over each and every one of us.

10:19 Of course, according to the commentators, the Ramban and others, there are many explanations of why he wrote the whole book, and the Radak and the Malbim, who explain about everything, what it was, but the main explanation, to understand, is that the Book of Tehillim was written for the King Mashiach, in the time to come, and because the whole Jewish people is included in the soul of Mashiach, each one finds himself within the Book of Tehillim; each one can see himself within this book.

10:45 Therefore even the most distant person can see himself and find himself within the Book of Tehillim. This is the great virtue. Therefore everyone needs to be connected and accustomed to the Book of Tehillim, for this is what helps a person, this is what will sanctify him, this is what can bring about miracles and wonders for him, and all good, of all good, for in Heaven they hear these psalms, the songs of King David, and this gives very, very great pleasure to the Holy One, blessed be He.

11:10 This is a very, very important thing. In any case, one must be careful to say things on time, to say every prayer and the morning blessings, everything on time. The best and finest thing is that close to midnight he should say the Shema at bedtime, whether he is going to sleep or whether he is not going to sleep. Immediately after that, the morning blessings, without the blessings over the Torah; he should say Tikkun Chatzos, he should learn some words of Torah, whatever he can.

11:34 If he can stay on and learn more, may a blessing come upon him. If he goes back to sleep, let him go back to sleep. This is what one must remember: that the virtue of the night of Shavuos is every one of our nights of the year, we must remember. We need to be awake this night and every night. "The night was created only for learning" in Tractate Menachos, page 110, and in the Zohar, Parshas Emor, page 91, page 97, on the Tikkun of the night of Shavuos.

11:58 So you know how important it is to learn Torah, that this is the virtue, and the main Torah learning is at night. We need to feel now what we went through on the night of Shavuos; that is how every single night of ours should look all year. To engage in Torah at night is the main learning, and that the Holy One, blessed be He, draws a thread of kindness, etc. Regarding Melaveh Malkah on Motzaei Yom Tov: there is a great virtue in it, both at the Shabbos meal and at the Yom Tov meal.

12:27 If a person makes a practice of it, may a blessing come upon him, on whoever practices it, both on Yom Tov and on Shabbos. In siman 300 the Shulchan Aruch did not mention it (for he wrote "to escort the Shabbos"), but rather on page 119 of Tractate Shabbos (where this wording is not mentioned). But in halachah, also on Motzaei Yom Tov it is worthwhile that he eat something, but he is not obligated. But on Motzaei Shabbos, the obligation of the Melaveh Malkah meal is the thing that rises higher and higher. We brought the novel teaching of the Ohr Zarua (Ba'er Heitev, siman 300), that a person who is accustomed to eat the meal of Seudah Shlishis, the third meal, should eat it close to nightfall, and if he eats the measure of a kezayis after the stars come out,

13:02 then it will work for him for both meals. So on Yom Tov one can do this. On Yom Tov one can hold the meal close to nightfall and extend it, and pray Maariv after that. And if he eats, may a blessing come upon him. But it is a very great virtue, Shabbos and Yom Tov, and especially the festivals, which have an even greater virtue. One must be careful that on the festivals they have festival clothes... that the festival clothes be finer and more beautiful than those of Shabbos.

13:26 So one can see the importance, that yes, to make the Yom Tov meal for Motzaei Yom Tov, to make a Melaveh Malkah as with the Shabbos meal, because it is out of honor for the festival, out of honor for it, its holiness and its stature. And it is worthwhile to do it, certainly; it is a great virtue. There are yeshivos where they learn Gemara in the yeshiva, so in the yeshiva they say that reading Tehillim is, is bittul Torah, time taken from Torah study..

13:50 There are responsa about this in the later poskim. We will not go into that, because it is something that is.. it is not something that makes a practical difference for us. Rather, one must learn Torah every day, and one must engage in halachah every day and learn Gemara every day, but one can set aside time for Tehillim. I am not saying if a person now wants to come to read Tehillim all day, each one should do according to his strength and ask his rabbi, his teacher and master, to guide him.

14:20 But of course there is an immeasurable virtue in it. What the Acharonim wrote, that it is better for a person to sit and learn, is so that a person will know the way of Hashem; that is the intent. It is not, Heaven forbid, because of the book itself, but rather so that a person will know Hashem's laws and the Torah, the mitzvos, the halachos, for if he sits all day and reads Tehillim, in the end he will not know halachah. Rather, it is important that a person both read and learn, but he should set aside time for himself for Torah study.

14:54 Regarding the "Amen, yehei shmei rabba": I spoke about this. Amen yehei shmei rabba is a personal redemption and a general redemption. Every time we say Amen yehei shmei rabba, it is both a personal redemption and a general redemption. That is to say, if a person needs to bring about before the Holy One, blessed be He, any salvation at all, whatever he needs before the Holy One, blessed be He, he brings about before the Holy One, blessed be He, a salvation both personal and general. It is written in the Zohar, Noach, page 62b, in the Zohar, Terumah, page 129b; in the Beis Yosef, siman 56, he brought it; and we mentioned yesterday, Shabbos page 119, in the name of Tosafos, that it helps to save the whole Jewish people; in Tractate Sotah, page 49a, and in Tractate Berachos, page 3a, according to Tosafos.

15:37 We see that it is important, that when a person says Amen yehei shmei rabba, his decree is torn up. And the Sefer Chareidim mentioned that there is atonement, several kinds of atonement for a person; one of the atonements, the first that he mentioned, is to answer Amen yehei shmei rabba. It is one of the kinds of atonement that atone for a person's soul: when a person says Amen yehei shmei rabba with intent, it atones for him. And if a person has atonement, then it is brought about for him before the Holy One, blessed be He, all good and from all good, in all that he desires, and all that he needs from before the Holy One, blessed be He, if he answers Amen yehei shmei rabba with intent.

16:08 So therefore, as we explained, the Abudraham explains that the intent is with all his strength, and according to Rabbeinu Manoach, he explains that it is with all the powers of the soul, and according to our master, the author of the Shalmei Tzibbur, Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Algazi, father of the Maharit Algazi, who lived three hundred years ago, who was the Mara D'Ara D'Yisrael, the master of the Land of Israel, the intent is to concentrate with all his mind: when you say yehei shmei rabba, to concentrate with all the mind. And so too what our master, the Chareidim, wrote in chapter 73, and more.

16:34 So therefore I say, if a person concentrates with intent every time that he says.. It is a simple and very easy piece of advice: to say Amen yehei shmei rabba, intending: may the great Name of the King of the kings of kings as our master, the Manhig, wrote in siman 25, Rabbi Avraham bar Nassan, that it is about the redemption. If you have this in mind and understand that it is about the redemption, and are focused on every word, not occupied with anything at all while answering Amen, idle and still, in awe, with trembling and quaking, to answer Amen yehei shmei rabba on the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, you bring about, before Hashem, the awakening of great mercy, to cancel troubles, sufferings.

17:15 And as we said, that even if a person, Heaven forbid, was born under the worst mazal there is, the Amen yehei shmei rabba can tear up his decree, which is what Tosafos say in Tractate Shabbos, page 119, that it helps to save the whole Jewish people. That is to say, even if a person has bad mazal, his mazal can be turned around for the good. If a person was born with bad mazal, "his mazal has turned bad", as in Tractate Bava Basra, page 98, where the Gemara says that if a person sees his wine has soured, he should not blame it on the vessels, but blame it on "his mazal has turned bad": his mazal is what caused his wine to sour, not because now he did some put it in this vessel or that one;

17:55 his mazal caused this wine to turn to vinegar. So the same applies in such a case: if a person has bad mazal, he should say Amen yehei shmei rabba with all his strength, with all his intent, and he should not do any work while answering Amen, as the Mishnah Berurah brought in siman 56, that one must be careful, while answering Amen yehei shmei rabba, that a person not do any work, not fold tefillin, nothing, when saying Amen yehei shmei rabba. One must be trembling and quaking, answering with all one's strength.

18:22 It can tear up bad mazal, it can turn bad mazal around, it can cancel troubles, it can bring about salvations, it can bring about miracles and wonders; all abundance and all kinds of good can come to a person only in the merit of answering the Amen yehei shmei rabba. May it be His will that, with Hashem's help, from Heaven, it be a help and a benefit to all of us. May the Holy One, blessed be He, save everyone. I merited to be with you, to receive the Torah together.

18:50 We merited it; may the Holy One, blessed be He, gladden everyone's hearts. May you have salvations. May the Holy One, blessed be He, bless the Rav, that the Rav, in the merit of the grandfather, Rabbi Katzin, Chacham Shaul and Chacham Yaakov, among the great chachamim, there is no book in which they are not mentioned, among the Acharonim, and may the Rav continue and lengthen his days over his kingdom, he and his sons and all the members of his community abroad. May the Rav and all his students and all that is his have, may you have length of days and years, may you have all the good abundance, "length of days in its right hand, in its left, wealth and honor", all your heart's wishes, for good and for blessing, for gladness and for joy.

19:25 May the Holy One, blessed be He, bless the whole congregation, all the Jewish people, may you have salvations and a good life, and safekeeping and protection, and may Hashem, blessed be He, accept our prayer, may we find grace and kindness before Hashem, blessed be He, and may there be satisfaction before Hashem, blessed be He, may we think only of Hashem, blessed be He, as much as possible, and be full of joy and hope always, and not be broken by anything. And I say: behold, now was the hillula of King David, and we remember and see what David went through.

19:52 Remember not to be broken by any situation. And whatever a person goes through, whatever he goes through, take this book with you, because in all the troubles and all the ordeals a person has, he can find himself in this book. He will never be broken by anything in the world. Be strong, full of hope, that it is possible to overcome all the darkness and all evil.

20:16 Everything can be turned around, and to be full of joy and hope; and this is the greatest strength. To remember, in order to go out from darkness to light, is to remember that one can go out of anything to the eternal and true good, and not to fear anything in the world. May the Holy One, blessed be He, give you strength and hope and salvations and joy, may there be good news for the Jewish people, mercy and forgiveness and salvation in the world, mercy and all good, from all good, and so may it be His will, and let us say Amen.

20:44 - And let us honor His Honor, that he say something in honor of the Torah. - I only want to say that we came from the United States. The Rav spoke now about the light, the surrounding light, the outer light, the inner light, and we came from the United States to receive the light of the holiness of the Land of Israel, of the rabbis, of the chachamim. And the family members and our community wanted very much to see the Rav.

21:10 We said it would be hard to go, until we get there, and how would we get in there to see the Rav? And a few minutes before the festival, they called me: we are here at the hotel, at the David Citadel; they told us the Rav would be exactly there, where you are. So what I want to say: "In the way a person wishes to go, he is led."

21:36 We wanted so much, the children, the young men who came with us, our community, we wanted to come and merit to see the Rav. And in the end, we are leaving in a few days; we said we will not see him, but the Holy One, blessed be He, brought him to us, and we have the merit to see the Rav, to receive the blessings from him. And you should know, all the light the Rav has here also comes to us in the United States, and everyone listens to his shiurim on the video that they have.

22:08 And I am only saying that if the Rav cannot come to us in the United States, we come to him, to receive the abundance, the light, his holiness. And with Hashem's help, as the Rav says, that the light of the Torah will be a merit for us, for all the Jewish people, Amen.