Special Documentation: The Gaon Hinoka receives a copy of the holy siddur of the Baal Shem Tov

2:54 - There are actual letters of the Baal Shem Tov there, that he wrote on the "Bris Menuchah"... - Right. - There are researchers who claim it's a forgery. - Why? - Because there are all sorts of inaccurate dates there, and inaccurate names, but the Lubavitcher Rebbe answers that; he argues that it's... nobody claims this is the original handwriting of the Baal Shem Tov — it's a copy, after all. So it could be that errors crept into the copy.

3:19 But the content is certainly genuine. - The content is genuine, yes. - They tell that Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz received as an inheritance — when the holy Baal Shem Tov passed away, they divided up belongings. Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz had a Sefer Chassidim that the Baal Shem Tov learned from. - What? - The Baal Shem Tov learned from it. He said... and he didn't write anything at all, he only learned; he looked at the letters. So he said that when one learns from a book that a tzaddik looked into and gazed at, it draws down his holiness — like, only to see the letters that he saw, only looked at.

3:54 - In the siddur there are all sorts of wondrous things, for example here, in the morning blessings. - The morning blessings. - "Who gives strength to the weary..." "Who gives strength to the weary..." "Who gives strength to the weary..." Again "Who gives strength to the weary," twice... - Is this a blessing?

4:18 - Yes. - It's probably a scribe's error, no? - One can't say that... it's hard to say... because the Rebbe Rayatz made a survey; when he received the siddur, he noted for himself all the things — that there are all sorts of variant readings here. For example, "al achilas maror": it says "al achilos maror." So he noted that for himself; so certainly... one can't say that it's a mistake. There are apparently matters here that aren't...

4:44 - I wonder whether in Birkas HaMazon it says "from Your full and overflowing hand." - Yes, yes, there is, so... - It also says "overflowing"? - So it's like this: here, in the regular Birkas HaMazon, the Rebbe Rayatz wrote that it says "overflowing" — not "holy" but "overflowing." So when they received it at the library, the Rebbe's librarian looks in Birkas HaMazon and he sees it says "holy." So he came to the Rebbe and said to him, "But the Rebbe Rayatz wrote that it's 'overflowing.'" So the Rebbe said, "If the Rebbe Rayatz wrote it, it can't be otherwise. Look, maybe, in the Birkas HaMazon that's in the Pesach Haggadah."

5:14 And indeed, he searched in the Pesach Haggadah and... - There it says "holy"? - There it's written "overflowing." - "Overflowing." - Yes. - Interesting. Every time I come across this wording — whether it's "holy" or... - What, they wrote about this too? - They wrote about it, yes. Here it is: 259. So on Pesach it's read... - Really, how much trouble you took over this — a lot.

5:41 Your honor, I really have no words... "The full, the open, the overflowing..." This was before the eyes of the Baal Shem Tov. On the Seder night the Baal Shem Tov would say Birkas HaMazon like this, with this. "Overflowing," yes. - Does the Rav have an explanation for this matter?

6:21 - No... yes, [unclear]. - If they wrote it, what can we say? "From Your full hand..." I once saw it written also, "from Your full, open, holy and overflowing hand." It could be that there are those who made versions afterward and combined the two readings. But "overflowing" — for example: "from Your open hand, and not from the gift of flesh and blood, whose gift is small and whose sins are many..."

7:06 This praise to the Creator, blessed be He — that people pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, and one sees their turning toward Heaven. Every time I see old siddurim or old writings, when I see the Name Havayah, I say: this is two hundred years old — I wasn't born yet; how many more... and how many more prayed and gazed at this Name. How many more saw this Name and blessed this King — like, how many of them... there were, and are yet to come. And all the kavanos inside, too.

7:31 I once saw something very beautiful — someone brought it to me... I need to look for it; I lost it. Someone brought me a picture: in Egypt, inside a cave, on a rock, where it was written in Egyptian script, "G-d, save me." By the reckoning it's over 3,000 - 4,000 years, so they say, the researchers. That's how it was written on the wall: "G-d, save me." It was frightening to see that. Like, to see this turning toward Heaven — to the great G-d, to the great, mighty and awesome G-d, the King of kings — how many have already turned to Him; we see how ancient this is.

8:09 How many lifted their eyes and saw this Name. You say: how do we look at this Name today? And how we... how much we ought to tremble when we see this Name. We don't tremble enough when we see the Name of Hashem. Every time... Every time I look at the Name of Hashem, in that second I have a fear in my heart. Every time, just for one second. That's it. I am very afraid...

8:34 - The Rav has, on the tallis, the... - Yes. They made this for me here, yes. Someone made it for me. - Is this a custom of the great ones? Was it seen with... - No, it's simply because... the tallis keeps slipping off me every time, with people and the movements, and this one talks from here and that one from here, so every moment it falls. He found a trick so that it doesn't, like... a magnet, so that while I'm talking and moving about in the morning — it should hold.

9:01 That's the intent on the plain level... there are things in it... I move all the time, from here to there, so every moment the kippah, the tefillin move. This way it holds. - May he have long days over his kingdom, with Hashem's help. There's the well-known letter of the Baal Shem Tov, in which he wrote that he made an ascent of the soul and reached the chamber of Mashiach, and he asked him, "When is the master coming?" It's famous. He answered him, "When your wellsprings spread outward." But he answered him a few more words, which are not so widely spread: "and they will make the yichudim as you do."

9:32 Maybe now that this siddur has come out and become known — and it has all the kavanos of the Baal Shem Tov — maybe this is one more preparation for the coming of Mashiach: that one can actually see, and make, the yichudim of the Baal Shem Tov himself. - This is the resh-lamed-beis, the combinations, which has in it all the kavanos, and the Name of Mem-Beis, and on the combinations and the yichudim of the Names.

9:58 I said: "Rachmana liba ba'ei" — the Merciful One desires the heart. "Rachmana liba ba'ei" — its initials are resh-lamed-beis. You have the kavanah of the heart — that already is all the combinations and the yichudim. - One kavanah. - One kavanah. Sometimes... there are kavanos and there are yichudim. The kavanos come more easily; it's easier to have kavanah. Beyond the kavanos are the yichudim, which is already the raising of the worlds: to connect and bind the nefesh and the ruach in the worlds above — that's already much harder for people.

10:28 One who has done it knows. I say that it's good that people do it in private, that they don't show what they know in Kabbalah, because it is the hidden Torah. All the secrets are kept very small, and not... Someone who looks and thinks that... Once, in their time, everyone would have kavanah and pray with a siddur — in writing, it was very expensive — to pray from a siddur.

10:59 There were a few of them in the synagogue, and each person would write one for himself. There were scribes who copied — copies, yes. Copies were very, very expensive. It was a rare and precious thing; every page was set aside. What it meant to buy a page like this... And you see the work — of course there's also a greater holiness in it, because it is also handwritten. Also, when Torah works, too, are written by hand, the merit is even greater, and the book itself is holier.

11:26 So they say that it has a far greater merit. To pray, too, is a great thing. The kavanos of "Shema Yisrael" — Havayah, yes — with the filling... someone who looks doesn't really understand what... it looks very simple. Only when you go deeper and you look, you understand that the kavanos are here. In a form that was very simple — once, they would grasp it in a very simple form. A person who looks... here, this is the pointing of the eyes.

11:55 It is a great segulah to see the Name of Hashem with the pointing like this, in this form, which is a far greater merit, in this form, of the spreading... the spreading of the Infinite Light. All the... this illumination... - Specifically in this drawing? - In this form, yes. There is a very, very great merit in it — the pointing of the eyes. Ah, we've seen this in the books of Kabbalah...

12:20 There is a script of angels: the script of Gavriel, the script of Michael, the script of Refael, the script of Uriel, all kinds of handwriting of angels. The script of the angels was made in this form. When they wanted to write, they would write shapes, and the shapes turn into letters. That's how they did it. One sees that this is something... wondrous. It's very important in Krias Shema, that it should be there all the time: the Name of Hashem, Ayin-Beis, on the letters. It's very, very important.

12:48 So here he brought it in "Vayomer"... In this script, say, everything that is done... there is a great merit to the letters.

13:36 Let's say a small piece of a vav: it has no form; you can't write a vav without the whole continuation. It would be a yud. What's special about this script is that every circle and every line is in itself a holy illumination. Each one in itself is... a great and very awesome holiness. After all, the holiness and the light of Hashem cannot be contained at all inside a vessel; it's something that is above intellect and reason — no idea can contain it.

14:08 And what do we do? We contract it — the revelation of this light — so far that it becomes a point. We take the infinite revelation, contract it into a single point... and it is still... The entry is to begin — a kind of "Bereishis." Why? Because it's a wonder — how to take a revelation of G-d, a turning to Hashem, blessed be He — you suddenly engrave in this world a certain point in which the Name of the holy King is revealed.

14:44 Learn the whole form of the letters: every letter is itself a world of its own. The letter mem, and the letter yud, and the letter shin — it is a world; this is a world, and this is a world... In Heaven there is a great chamber of the letter mem, and there is a great chamber of the letter yud, and each one of these is like the whole planet Earth, times infinity. And the Infinite Light bursts out of that whole world. It's like a sun — it's like a sun with the letter mem engraved on it; like a sun with the letter alef engraved on it; like a sun with the letter tav engraved on it; the letter shin, the letter resh — like a sun.

15:15 The roots of the letters are like suns; one sees lights. All of this is in fact the lights of the worlds. And a person needs to have in mind that he enters all the worlds, and afterwards, when he forms one whole word, then there is Infinite Light above the combination of the word. Therefore, when a person fouls his mouth, or does something, speaks improperly, or lashon hara, he darkens the illumination in the worlds, and a great commotion is made in the upper world. Someone... Heaven forbid, about a sick person: then that tzaddik looks at the writing, and when they bring the tzaddik a plain white page, and not one with lines, it's easier for him to have kavanah, to include the... to cancel the judgments from upon the sick person. He has kavanah with the kvitlach. There are laws, too — that one has to know how to read notes.

15:54 The "Divrei David Moshe" of Chortkov said that a tzaddik who doesn't know how to read a note — in the name of the holy Maggid — is a robber; he is forbidden... One who doesn't know what is written to him in the note before they come to him — he can't take a note, nor make a pidyon, and he doesn't pray for him a whole year. If he doesn't do that, he's a robber, he said, if he doesn't know. That's how particular the tzaddikim were. They say that the "Divrei David Moshe" of Chortkov had a pipe.

16:19 Do you know this story? When he would read kvitlach, he had a pipe in his right hand, and he would hold the kvitlach in his left hand. And... "Why don't you switch, so that the kvitlach are on the right side?" He said, "For you it's easier to travel a distance of parsaos by carriage — it would be easier for you than for me to move the kvitlach from hand to hand, and the pipe to the other..." The fact that he reads a note... there is a whole labor in it, and in the worlds within every letter — when one suddenly sees, about the sick person, one sees that in his letters, some of the worlds that light up his letters have gone dark on him, and then that tzaddik sees the sick person's condition, and he even knows whether he will live or die; he can know whether he will live or die. Only, he is forbidden to reveal it.

17:08 If he reveals it, Heaven forbid — it's forbidden... - "A tzaddik decrees; the Holy One, blessed be He, annuls." - Right, right. So usually, what is always done is a change of name for the sick person. What do they do for a sick person? - They change his name; they add illumination for him from more worlds that are dark. But that was only for people in the generations that could understand these things. It can also be dangerous — adding a name can be... a change of name.

17:32 There are those who change a name with a wave of the hand, without knowing anything. It is very dangerous, because if, Heaven forbid, he receives his life-force from the letter yud and from the letter beis, for example, and some other wise man comes and says, "Change it to something else," and he hangs on yud and nun... Say, just as an example — let's take another name, so that that person doesn't start imagining things... let's say a name, something else.

17:58 This is a note from yesterday... This too is anxieties... What is this? Let's take, just as an example, the name Chaim. This person is sick. This Chaim comes — Chaim ben...

18:24 sick. One looks at the name; you see that within his letters the final mem and the yud are dark, and a shadow is also starting toward the rest of the letters. The moment there's a shadow over all the letters above, the person is about to go, Heaven forbid. So what do they do? They add a name for him. But the name that's added to him has to be connected from the root of the letters.

18:50 If they add a name for him that isn't connected from the root of the letters, then those worlds won't connect with the worlds; one sees that the lights... and then, Heaven forbid, there can be harm. And then, what do those who don't understand do? They don't understand... That is why the Maggid of Zlotchov writes, in "Malchei BaKodesh," that it is a danger to change names. It's a danger. Why? Because if he now receives his life-force — say, for example, he was Chaim now — the yud and the mem began to go dark, and the yud and the ches too are beginning — it comes out white... there is a little light.

19:18 And that fellow comes and says, "Not Chaim as his name — it's no good. Erase the Chaim; put Chai Moshe Avraham." He just says, offhand, Chai Moshe Avraham. He took away those letters that had gone dark, and he gave, like, names. Now, if those names, as it was, had only a small sustenance — he cut them off; he can kill him. He can die. Dangerous.

19:42 Today one has to know which worlds are shining, in order to know what to connect; and for what went dark — with the second name to add to the first name, so that there is support for the names and they know how to connect with the letters, and also so there won't be gevuros upon gevuros. Like, for example, Daniel. Suddenly someone comes and tells him, "Listen, Daniel, add David." It could be a mess. It depends for whom, again. I understand a little about this, but it isn't, like, for everyone. How to put it — you can't say that; Daniel David... there's someone for whom Daniel David is excellent.

20:13 It depends very much on the time, on the name... Names have a very great power. All the worlds depend on every name; in every letter there is literally a whole world... That is his entire life-force. And when you suddenly see the letters, you see this combination of all the names, all of them. Now, in the Hebrew letters — the Ivri script — in Tractate Sanhedrin, on page 21, the Gemara says, on page 22, the whole of the ancient Ivri script; there is the Ivri script — it appears on the 10-shekel coin.

20:46 Does anyone here have a ten-shekel coin? What's here? - No. A coin of 10 — does anyone have one... - Here, there's one here, Rav. Writing in Arabic, Hebrew script, and here there is ancient Hebrew script. This is the ancient Hebrew script. Pay attention; this is what I came to explain to you: that in the past they would make an engraving here — do you see?

21:15 At the bottom — that's the ancient Hebrew script. In the past they used to draw the letters. They didn't make them like ours. Why is it called "Ashuri script"? Because it is approved from Heaven. An approved script. So the Rishonim write. - Ashuri script is the script of a Torah scroll? - No — Ashuri script, in that it is approved from Heaven. Ashuri script is this, yes, and this is the Ashuri script, this is the approved one, mind you... the Ashuri script is the approved one, but this is the ancient Hebrew script.

21:44 - What was the transition between the ancient script and the Ashuri script? - There is no transition; that is the dispute there among the Rishonim — in Sanhedrin, on page 21 and page 22 — where the Gemara says, about the Hebrew script, what the script actually was — this is according to the view of the Rashba, the view of the Ritva — what the script really was — the Rashbam, the Abarbanel... It is found in the words of the Acharonim that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote — after all, he gave Torah scrolls to each of the tribes — in which script was it? Ashuri. Ashuri, which is approved from Heaven.

22:10 But some say that it was this script. This is a script that — after all, in the Beis HaMikdash, on the rocks, on the stones, on the gates, this was written — the Priestly Blessing that was found, the Yehoyachin scrolls, all kinds of things, in the genizah at the Dead Sea. That. In the genizah there — what is it called — the Qumran cave. So they found a great many things there in writing, in the ancient Hebrew script.

22:35 And notice that the ancient Hebrew script is actually shapes. - It's drawings. It's altogether a drawing, like Chinese. - Yes. - Hints, as it were? - No, it's — in the past they used to draw the letters. - Like signs. - It's like signs; every shape was a sign, because they knew that the script of the Divine revelation is so lofty, it is so lofty, it cannot be used; so they would draw it — make a sign. Today we, altogether — we have the great virtue of the Ashuri script. That is why even a siddur in Ashuri script — Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim writes that it has a special power for the prayer to ascend. Here you are — whoever brought me this...

23:12 It has a virtue now, since words of Torah were learned over it. It has a virtue. - The Rav mentioned Rabbi Michel of Zlotchov; so here, at "Shema Koleinu," the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov wrote down their names... - Right. - So here there is Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov, his handwriting — this is his handwriting. - Yes? - Yes... - Rabbi Nachum of Chernobyl, right? - Rabbi Nachum of Chernobyl too, but I don't know where.

23:40 - Rabbi Menachem — right? — of Chernobyl? - Yes. He too is signed here... - Yes, right. At "Shema Koleinu" he can... There are many names here that they wrote... such as children, special wishes of the heart. Rabbi Michel of Zlotchov writes — he asks for Torah study and fear of Heaven.

24:13 - Right, yes, yes; I also once saw it written. This is what... but [unclear]. - Right. David ben Perele. - Of Mikolayev? - Of Mikolayev, yes. He is the one who made the Baal Shem Tov known, yes. The one who made him known: he saw him doing Tikkun Chatzos, and he saw fire coming out of...

24:39 He went and shouted: "There is a tzaddik in Israel!"... He made the Baal Shem Tov known... [unclear] the Baal Shem Tov. Do you know the story about him, that he was a guest of the Baal Shem Tov? The Baal Shem Tov was a guest at his home. And at the time of the evening prayer, he saw the Baal Shem Tov sitting in the room; the holy Baal Shem Tov did not come out of there...

25:09 Afterward the Baal Shem Tov came out, prayed with the minyan, and went back into the room; and so he sat in the room, and he went on, paid no attention... he came in, he said, "This guest..." — he did not understand. Afterward, at night, he saw — he saw fire. He thought a fire had broken out; he came, took some water, poured it... and then he saw his guest sitting and doing Tikkun Chatzos. So he really saw fire, like that — a revelation of G-dliness — and then he went out in his alarm, and he shouted, "There is such a tzaddik in the world! Where is the world by now, that they don't understand what is here!"

25:43 And then everyone in the community there, in Mikolayev, came — they ran — and they raised up the Baal Shem Tov, and then he began to become famous in Mikolayev there; he was there a lot. This is also what Rabbi Nachman says: that when a person makes the tzaddik known, a salvation comes to him, joy comes to him, from his making the name of the tzaddik shine. Rabbi David of Mikolayev truly merited it — he had a great salvation — he needed a salvation just then — and he was appointed a great parnas; he had a livelihood... The Maggid of Zlotchov was a very great pauper; he had nothing — a livelihood he did not have, nothing at all.

26:13 And he was... The Baal Shem Tov very much wanted him to come close to him, and he sought after him greatly; he said that his soul is a very great one. He passed away at the age of 55, having reached the verse: "Behold, your days are drawing near to die" — that is, the year that he... Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov, the son of Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobitch, the son of Rabbi Moshe of Zvirsh, the son of Rabbi Yosef... the holy gaon who died sanctifying Hashem's Name. His son, Rabbi Moshe, into whom they put the spear from one side and brought it out — in the middle of Shabbos night they drove it into him... They were sitting by the window and saying words of Torah; the rioters came in from behind, thrust the spear at them through the window, drove it in through his back,

26:52 brought it out at his stomach, and it came out onto the table, and all the blood — and he went on being in deveikus. So they said to him, "How do you not feel this?" — this was the grandfather of the Maggid of Zlotchov — "Do you not feel this?" So he looked down and said, "Now that you have asked me, now I feel it." And then he said "Shema Yisrael" — and passed away. He said, "Now that you have asked me, now I feel it." That is what he said to them, this... out of his deveikus.

27:17 And they say that he was — Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov was like this: holy and cleaving to Hashem, like his forefathers. He came from twenty-four generations from whom ruach hakodesh never ceased, who were holy in the covenant; he was very particular about the holiness of the covenant. The Maggid of Zlotchov was a very great pauper. And a certain wealthy man came to receive his blessing, he came to his home and saw his children in the garbage, and the wife... he said: everything is in such great poverty. So he said, "What kind of tzaddik is this? He doesn't take care of his family — not responsible."

27:45 He came to the synagogue and saw him knocking his head against the wall, blood coming out of him, and praying in such a way, with shouts. So he said, "This person is not... keep away from him" — "keep away from there." As he was going out, he said to him, "Tzaddik, you pray — why do you not look after the members of your household?" So he said, "What shall I tell you? Instead of trusting in Hashem, they trust in me; that is why they look... I trust in Hashem; that is why I still have hope, I am happy, I pray with fire, with fervor, not stopping for a moment..."

28:14 He found favor in his eyes; he gave him some coins. The Maggid of Zlotchov, after that, took the wagon — he was the rebbe of several... he was a tremendous gaon — and he would go from place to place, and the Baal Shem Tov would travel after him in a carriage so that he would come close to him. Holy ones, tzaddikim — they look to have disciples who are worthy and holy. That is a virtue... Just as there is a great tzaddik — the geulah will not come if there is no worthy disciple. A disciple is one... the whole geulah depends precisely on the disciple toward his rav — not on rav and disciple; the rav is a father — but it matters that the disciple, too, be like the rav.

28:45 It is not worth it for there to be a disciple who is... like Elisha and Geichazi — what is that worth... So, the Baal Shem Tov very much wanted the Maggid of Zlotchov. He had a very great fondness for him. He traveled after him everywhere. Once he came to a certain forest — the Maggid of Zlotchov — and then the Baal Shem Tov also came to that forest, and then they did what they did — he closed the forest in on him. What does that mean? The Maggid of Zlotchov goes in — right, left — he sees that he is surrounded by trees. He doesn't know where to get out — right, left, left, right.

29:11 And then the Baal Shem Tov came into the forest, and then he sees him, and he says to him — he said to him, as it were, "You again!" — he was, as it were, running away from him. And then the holy Baal Shem Tov said to him, "If you want to get out, come after me." So the Baal Shem Tov turned to the right with the wagon — in the past they traveled in wagons like that, simply — the whole forest opened up — a path formed, and they saw the way out. So the Maggid of Zlotchov said to him, "That — my father knows how to do, too." Rabbi Yitzchak. The Baal Shem Tov served Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobitch.

29:38 The "Igra DePirka," Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, says that he received the lowliest soul in the generation. The lowliest. And by the power of his service of Hashem and his toil, he reached a level where he was the tzaddik of the generation. From his service of Hashem he reached this... that he was... the tzaddik of the generation. He reached levels so tremendous that no one could reach them — by the power of his own toil. So writes Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov about Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobitch. And indeed, the holy Baal Shem Tov continued on his way, and then he saw there was no choice — he did... he left there and traveled on.

30:08 After that, the Maggid of Zlotchov came to a certain house to stay, at some inn there, and the holy Baal Shem Tov knew by ruach hakodesh, and he went to the same house, went in, sat at the inn, and meanwhile the master of the house gave the splendid room to the Maggid of Zlotchov, because he had arrived first. And the Baal Shem Tov arrived; he gave him a smaller room. And then the wife of the master of the house was about to give birth. So he went in to receive a blessing from the Maggid of Zlotchov — the master of the house — and he had to pass through the Baal Shem Tov's room.

30:35 And then he went into the room, to the Maggid of Zlotchov; he said to him, "May your honor pray for the mistress of the house." So the Baal Shem Tov, as he was passing through — so he was passing through — the Baal Shem Tov asks him, "What do you need from the room here?" He said to him, "My wife is about to give birth; I want him to bless her." He said to him, "Come, I will bless her. And tell him to come in to me, because he too needs to receive a blessing from me..." So he went in there to him — he sort of didn't understand, the master of the house, what the Baal Shem Tov was saying, so he kind of laughed, but he went to the Maggid of Zlotchov.

31:02 So he told the Maggid that there is a certain rav there, sitting in the small room next door, and he said that both you and I need to receive a blessing from him. So he was a bit startled: "Who is this here?" He didn't understand who it was. So he looked, and then he understood that it was the Baal Shem Tov. So he said, "Him again..." So he said, "I'm not going in to him." So the Baal Shem Tov said to him, "Tell him that today he heard the song of the angels at Kedushah. Tell him it is because he prayed with me; he heard it for the first time — the first time.

31:29 He should not think that it is an attainment he reached; he prayed with me under the same roof, he heard what I hear. He should not attribute it to his own merit." So he heard this, and he saw that he knew; so he came out to him a little, and, how to put it, the bond already began to form... a long story, but... it began to be great. So the Maggid of Zlotchov began to cleave to the Baal Shem Tov, and was his greatest disciple. He was utterly poor, and all that... And afterward they came to such wealth that he had clasps of gold on his coat, and at the moment he would fasten the coat, he would bestow vitality on myriads of angels.

31:59 The "Noam Elimelech" said: "If they tell me that a Jew has no tefillin to put on, and that the Maggid of Zlotchov has had a kartofel fall off — the gold part of the coat — I will take that money and give it for the coat of the Maggid of Zlotchov, and I will not give it for the tefillin — because the garment of this tzaddik bestows more vitality above." That is how he said to give to him. And indeed, at that time, it truly was so, and he became rich as well.

32:23 They once asked, "How did he come to such wealth?" So the holy Baal Shem Tov said — once he was in Brody and heard lashon hara about the Baal Shem Tov, and he stood like a lion until he subdued those who spoke the lashon hara. And he said to him, "In the merit —" this is what the Baal Shem Tov said to him — "In the merit of your having defended my Torah and my way, the Holy One, blessed be He, will bestow wealth on you from Heaven." When a person defends the honor of the Torah, tzaddikim... he merits wealth; because of this he merited extraordinary wealth.

32:52 The Maggid of Zlotchov — because of this he was rich. Many don't understand how he was poor, and in the stories rich. It is only because of this story — so the Baal Shem Tov told him. - There is the niggun, the niggun "Hisorerus Rachamim Rabbim." - Right, of which the Baal Shem Tov said that he will come — in whatever place he may be, in whatever chamber he may be, he comes down from Heaven, and he will arouse mercy on those who play it, and wherever this niggun is. - Yes. That is something... I should, bli neder, maybe make some version of it. - Now that you have reminded me, I wanted to ask the Rav whether the Rav has made a version of it.

33:21 Today is the eve of the festival of Shavuos — the day of the hillula of the Baal Shem Tov. - I, bli neder, will try to make some version — bli neder — his niggun... - All over the world people listen to the niggunim. I meet people who are not so close to Judaism day to day, and what brings them close is the Rav's niggunim. People simply sit — people who seemingly look completely far.

33:46 They say, "We listen to the niggunim of the Rav, the Yanuka; it gets into us... we have no explanation." - The very essence of the soul... - Is it permitted to listen to it on Shabbos, Rav? Permitted to play it on Shabbos, a Shabbos timer. - I said yesterday to Rabbi Shmuel Chaim, who merits to be the Rav's driver — I told him: to see the Rav is a greater miracle than the splitting of the Red Sea, as far as I'm concerned...

34:11 We have the Rav in this generation, who brings so much light to the Jewish people and unites the Jewish people — so many salvations, miracles, wonders. He was here about a month and a half ago, with the books, and he asked for a certain blessing. His father wanted to come here today to bring good tidings, to ask for a blessing — something to do with the family; but his father did not feel so well; he was not able to come. But one sees salvations — even though he was not here, he asked through someone else, and there were miracles and wonders.

34:39 - I really do pay attention to everything people ask, you know. In my teshuvah — when I do teshuvah, praying to Hashem — I say to Hashem: perhaps I was not careful with someone's honor, perhaps I did not... And then I say to Hashem right away, "But for this I ask — yet You know that I do listen, and do... to everyone who asks of me." Even people — when I am walking fast... and people — someone comes there, I lend an ear to someone who calls out a little, even; I hear and pray, because I know that it is a responsibility.

35:09 I am very, very responsible in what I give — advice to people, a blessing... I try to bless with all my heart, to the Holy One, blessed be He. - Rav, sometimes I send Jews here — I don't manage to come — and they stand at the other end of the beis midrash, and they tell me, "Suddenly the Rav turned around and called us." "Called us" — because they are people in distress, they have a hardship, and they could not get through; they see many people here, maybe they are embarrassed to come up, and the Rav turns to them at the other end of the beis midrash, calls them and blesses them.

35:38 It is a tremendous kindness that the Holy One, blessed be He, has done in this generation. - True. Yasher koach. The Rebbe Rayatz once told a story that they did not like to tell in chassidic circles. The Baal HaTanya — that on Yom Kippur, before the Ne'ilah prayer, he sensed that at the end of the town there, at the edge of the town, there was a woman about to give birth.

36:04 And he left the tallis and the prayer, and he simply ran. And no one knew where the Rebbe was. And in the end it turned out that he... - Yes, in Chabad today they tell it a lot... - Yes, [unclear]. So the Rebbe Rayatz said that they did not like to tell this. He told it — today it has already become well known; in the Rebbe Rayatz's time it was a story that people smiled at. It is a story from the Rebbe Rayatz. I know that the Rebbe, too, wrote it.

36:34 We are already in the generation of the geulah, so by now... the souls are already able to receive it. We need the geulah — truly, one has to do everything in our power to bring the geulah and to shine the light of the King of kings in the world. Is it possible to stay in this exile any longer? What is the thing — the most right point to act on in order to hasten the geulah? What should one focus on? - That we see one body, that we see that we are one people.

37:06 Ahavas Yisrael — that we stop feeling that the body ends here, ends at the far end of your hand. Do you understand? You see — we pray, we give a hand; the body continues all the way to the other side. We always think that we end here. Whoever thinks that his body ends here, that with this it is already over — that is the exile. We have to feel that we are one.

37:32 That we be one people, that we feel as one, without divisions — both the far and the near — that we love them all. But there are those who... this whole exile — but the light of Hashem will come... the Master of the world, the alef — from exile to geulah. From "golah" comes "geulah"... to merit this alef. - Dear Rabbi Tzachi — yesterday at noon we spoke with him; we needed someone to make a certain move, and he immediately pitched in with his time and his money so that it would happen, to bring... may we succeed in the matter. - I am truly embarrassed to receive such a siddur. This... for me it is a great merit. Who am I, that I should receive such a work?

38:19 You have done truly wonderful work here. You wrote the name for me here. I am embarrassed by such a siddur. The Baal Shem Tov did not have one so beautiful... Lovely — they make it so beautiful... Thank you, thank you. I appreciate you and remember you very much, and I will mention you here in prayer, with Hashem's help... This one has lines... And you are particular about this — in Chabad they are particular this way; this is how they write by the Rebbe, like this... without lines, yes.

38:55 May Hashem bless you, that you should have much mercy and salvations, protection and safeguarding... all the good bounty, in good that is seen and revealed, out of joy and gladness of heart, worthy matches. Bring that prayer... this I highly recommend reading. It is very good to read in the morning. That is how I read it, too... Healing, protection... - My father, when he was ill — before he fell ill, he would say, would pray like this; and also when he fell ill, the Rav gave me, and...

39:27 - The most important is to read just the "Michtav LeChizkiyahu," to read these verses up to here — that's all. I don't even read this, although I wrote it; I don't read all of it, yes... - Yes, and then when I came, then what? - Yes, I read this... for protection. Yeshayahu, chapter 38, with the commentary. A great yasher koach. It was a great joy for me to meet you, and thank you very much, your honor, for the wonderful gift.

39:56 May Hashem lengthen your days in good and your years in pleasantness; may you have protection and safeguarding, salvations from Heaven, all the blessings, worthy matches. I will put the note here together with... - Thank you very much, Rav... May the merit of the holy Baal Shem Tov protect you. Thank you very much, thank you. Shabbos shalom and chag sameach — the Torah, inwardly and with joy. Amen...