The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-מהו הסוד של התשובה？ שו＂ת הגאון הינוקא לאחר סעודה שלישית מול חומות ירושלים

2:59 They knew the greatness of Hashem, they knew how to pray to Him and to appease Him. And that is why you find that they had a power of prayer so, so great, that even though there had been a deed or a sin, they knew how to repair it and to raise it up. By the way, I also want to give an example, which Rabbi Shlomo HaKohen of Radomsk writes in the Tiferes Shlomo, on Shabbos Chazon — he has a discourse — and it is in another place as well — right, it is about the ten, from Rosh Chodesh Av — from Rosh Chodesh Av until the tenth of Av is ten days, and it is written that whoever guards himself in these ten days — to keep these days in holiness and as one should, to remember,

3:48 in remembrance of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple — in the Shulchan Aruch, siman 551 — to remember all the pain of the destruction of the Temple, and Tikkun Chatzos — to do Tikkun Chatzos at midday — and not to dance, and not to fill one's mouth with laughter — Niddah, page 23, in the name of Rabbi Zeira — and not to fill one's mouth with laughter, to make an effort in [unclear] and in holiness and everything — then he will merit ten things, corresponding to what the Holy One, blessed be He, renews — it is written in the sefer Nechmad LeMar'eh, part 2, in the seventh discourse.

4:14 Now, Rabbi Shlomo HaKohen of Radomsk writes, in the discourse on Shabbos Chazon — he writes — pay attention, a very beautiful thing — for all the blessings and the good bounty. There he lists all kinds of virtues: that the Holy One, blessed be He, renews the light in the time to come, corresponding to this light that a person did not enjoy — that is, that he did not indulge during this time of these ten days; he will merit to rise at the resurrection of the dead; he will merit that the earth will heal him; he will merit that he will be able to be healed if he takes something to eat; all kinds of things will grow — they list that the earth will be healed, and so on, the plain blessings that are prepared. There he lists it. Now —

4:50 the sefer Nechmad LeMar'eh, part 2, in the seventh discourse — that is where it is written. As Rabbi Shlomo HaKohen of Radomsk writes, a very beautiful thing: that the Shabbosos between the seventeenth of Tammuz and Tishah B'Av are the highest Shabbosos of the year. Why? Why? This will now explain it — that story. Now something new comes out about what you asked. Because the weekdays of Bein HaMetzarim are the greatest days of katnus, smallness, that there are.

5:19 It is katnus, it is katnus. And what happens when we draw a bow back, right? You take a bow and arrow. The more I stretch the arrow back, what happens after that? The arrow flies the farthest forward, right? The more I pull the arrow back, the faster it flies, right? What happens in Bein HaMetzarim? The arrow — every day, every weekday, the arrow goes backward: Sunday is Bein HaMetzarim, Monday is Bein HaMetzarim, Tuesday — Erev Shabbos arrives, there is the ascent of the worlds, so the arrow flies to the highest place.

5:56 That is why the Shabbosos of Bein HaMetzarim are the highest Shabbosos of the whole year, because one rises to the highest places there are. So with Rabbi Zeira, and with all the Sages in all the generations, and all the tzaddikim, who knew — in all that they went through — King David too, with the matter of Bas-Sheva, that was a descent, it was an act of katnus; after that he merited gadlus, greatness.

6:22 What they merited — this is according to the words of our master the Arizal, in Kabbalah — and exactly so, of course. Why? Because the more you pull the bow back, the farther it goes forward — so too the days of Bein HaMetzarim, and so too, the same thing: their contemplation of the greatness of Hashem brought them to a place — they were down, far down, but as soon as they uncovered the contemplation of the mercy of Hashem, they knew how to reveal His mercy, because they had knowledge of Hashem. No need to speak — you cannot speak with a Tanna or an Amora about emunah — they see Hashem.

6:49 So this knowledge brought them straight — they came to themselves at once; they could at once reach the highest places, the levels. - Because of the descent? - No, not because of the descent. It is because of knowing Hashem, and knowing the mercy. Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya — you know the story? How did he reach that level? He reached the World to Come. He went all the way down, and in the end rose to the highest place. That is, you see from here that one can reach the highest places. But today, when we cannot reveal the mercy of Hashem on that level, because of the judgments and because of what there is — there is another aspect, another way.

7:29 That way is somewhat dangerous, and a person loses the World to Come — it is like pronouncing the Name by its letters. - And why does one need to... why... what is pronouncing the Name by its letters? - What? I will explain. So Rabbi Elazar of Worms, in the sefer Sodei Razaya — he has a sefer, Sodei Razaya — there he lists the Name [unclear], the Explicit Name, and so on, the whole Explicit Name — there he lists the Name. And the King Mashiach — you know, after all, that the Name of Hashem is not found in the correct order.

7:58 The whole Name of Hashem is like a table. Think of this table as not arranged in the correct order. I will give you an example. Maybe there is something here? There is nothing here for it. - And the King Mashiach, with the Explicit Name, can bring the geulah? - Yes, certainly. - [unclear] - Yes, I will explain; I will give you an example, all right?

8:24 Yes, let us finish. Imagine a table here, all right? Imagine here the names of the Name of Seventy-Two, not arranged in the correct order. The King Mashiach will know how to join this to this, this to this, this — this to this, this to this, this to this, this to this — he will know how to read it in the correct order. He will know.

8:49 These are formulas that he knows; he knows the Name of Hashem. And of this it is said: "I will raise him on high, for he knows My Name." Why does the Holy One, blessed be He — says Rabbi Elazar of Worms, the Rokeach — why? That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, will raise him on high "for he knows My Name. He will call upon Me and I will answer him." When he calls to Me, I will answer him. He knows My Name, he knows how to appease Me. He knows how to awaken My mercy before Me.

9:16 So the Holy One, blessed be He, says — that is the meaning. Now, that is because of knowing the Name. Now, there is the matter of making use of the Name. If a person, Heaven forbid — you know, this Name — that one, may his name be erased, also knew it, who made use of the Name of Hashem. The crucified one — he made use of the Explicit Name. "One who makes use of the crown passes away" — it is forbidden to make use of the Explicit Name. What did he not do!

9:43 If a person makes use of it — and it is forbidden, for the person has no share in the World to Come; if he makes use of it, he loses his share in the World to Come. Therefore the greater level is to reveal Hashem, blessed be He, in His infinite mercy, without making use of Names. And so with Yaakov Avinu it is written: "For with my staff I crossed the Jordan" — bemakli, "with my staff," is the gematria of Yaakov. Yaakov Avinu did not make use of Names. Bemakli is the gematria of Yaakov; Yaakov used his own name — he took his own name and crossed. They say that the Kedushas Levi used to give out amulets from time to time. Once they opened an amulet of his — it was written: Levi Yitzchak ben Sarah Sasha.

10:15 That was the amulet. - How much the Rav loves Hashem — I always get this question: we, in this world — I am speaking of myself, the lowly and small — we merit small sparks of love of Hashem, and then we merit to chase after Him for a week, two weeks, after that [unclear], and I ask: how does one merit love of Hashem 24/7, [unclear] a year? - Come, one moment.

10:40 - Love of Hashem — to chase, as we see: when a person loves a certain thing, he chases after it. Yes. No matter in what field it is in the world: a person loves something, he chases after it. That is how we want Hashem. "And you shall love Hashem your G-d." The Rambam explains — but when one reads the Rambam, still: how does one merit it? - In Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, chapter 2, halachah 2. There the Rambam answers: contemplation of the greatness of creation, of the greatness of Hashem, and so on — that this brings one to love of Hashem.

11:06 - Yes. But — - One moment, one moment. Look, I will explain. - Rav, let us continue about Mashiach. Can that be explained? - One moment. We will get to that too, with Hashem's help. Let us see [unclear] now. - [unclear] If a person was with a sage, and now suddenly he [unclear] the sage — - We are speaking of — we are not speaking of that. We are speaking, Heaven forbid, of a person who is brazen against tzaddikim and disgraces them, and forbidden things.

11:40 Yes — no, it speaks of things a person does the way Korach went to Moshe Rabbeinu, and it speaks of forbidden things; it speaks of bloodshed — that a person goes and tries to stab, and tries to hurt, and tries to do damage. That too is the danger — as Pharaoh tried to harm Moshe — not things where a person wants to go and receive Torah. Receive da'as Torah. The most important thing is to receive da'as.

12:13 Da'as Torah — to receive from a sage who has da'as Torah, so that it will be of benefit to you. Now, where were you? - The question is who the sage is. In Tractate Eruvin, page 13, the Gemara says that a Heavenly voice went out and said of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel: "These and those are the words of the living G-d." - All right, but that was Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel. The question is whether you know what Beis Shammai is, and if you do not understand Beis Hillel.

12:38 If you already know who the two sages are, then you will also know when a Heavenly voice went out. Now, I will explain it like this. I will explain a simple thing. Reaching love of Hashem, as you say, is a very important thing. The Holy One, blessed be He, is very, very particular that a person pray to Him with kavanah, and draw close to Him, and do His will, and everything. Pay attention: there is one time in the year when there is a very great revelation of the love of the Holy One, blessed be He, for us.

13:03 He asks: what is the way to reach love of Hashem? So we said the Rambam — Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, chapter 2, halachah 2 — and he is asking for more practical advice. What is the way? What hint is there in the year? There is one time in which there is the greatest revelation of the love of the Holy One, blessed be He, for us. Yom Kippur — very good. Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur.

13:30 'For on this day He shall atone for you, to purify you; from all your sins, before Hashem, you shall be purified.' The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I forgive you for everything. That's it, you are clean now, and this is from the revelation of His love for us. On Rosh Hashanah He judges us, and on Pesach we eat matzah, and on Sukkos we sit in the sukkah, the four species — fine. There is love, there is affection, we are dear to Him — but on Yom Kippur He atones for us, and He pardons us and forgives us. That is why there is a prohibition on eating; on Yom Kippur it is kares, a severe prohibition; it is forbidden to eat on Yom Kippur.

14:04 For 'that soul shall be cut off' — a person who eats on Yom Kippur, 'that soul shall be cut off' — except for a person who eats because he is ill; if there is a sick person who is permitted to eat, or permitted to swallow a pill, if he has a pill to swallow, he commits no prohibition by that; it is permitted. In Tractate Pesachim, on page 24, there the Gemara says that there is no prohibition in swallowing. Do you know according to whom there is no prohibition in swallowing? The Rambam ruled, in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, chapter 5, halachah 8, the Rambam ruled that a person who swallows — say a person swallows, if he takes something like that, of medicine, a pill, bitter, and swallows it — in swallowing there is no prohibition. Why? It is not the way of eating.

14:45 It is not the way of eating; it also does not make the person impure, if he ate an impure thing — it does not make him impure, because it is not the way of eating, and so on. There is a dispute about this, as to whether it is so — never mind. Now, I am coming to say something else. Yom Kippur — the Holy One, blessed be He, gave it to us so that we would do teshuvah, be alone with ourselves, not eat, not drink, be holy, be pure. You see, on this day the Holy One, blessed be He, asks us to be truthful.

15:12 He wants us to bring our heart — 'Take words with you and return to Hashem.' If you want to reach a true and pure love of Hashem, it begins from teshuvah — that you be truthful with Hashem, and truly go after Hashem, blessed be He. When a person does teshuvah — what is teshuvah? Return to the true root where you were, return to the clean and pure place where you were; you are truly seeking the way of Hashem. When a person seeks a true Rebbe — clean of all the falsehood of this world, in a true way — he is seeking a true way, then from Heaven they will show him something true.

15:45 But when a person is himself a liar, he is not seeking the truth. A person must care about his true purpose here in the world, [unclear] the truth, to ask for the truth as it truly is. When you ask Hashem for the truth as it truly is, and you do teshuvah truly, from the depth of the heart, you want so much to return to Him, blessed be He, out of love for Him, blessed be He, out of the greatness of the love, then you can reach a love that will be a continuous love. This love will not stop, because you too will receive the light of His countenance. But when a person feels 'My river is mine, and I have made myself' — all the time people think that it is a shame to say sorry,

16:17 a shame to ask forgiveness. No, it is not a shame. One should say sorry all the time: 'I have sinned, I have done wrong, I have transgressed' — this is a trait of kings. Yehudah, the son of Yaakov Avinu — the king; from Yehudah came kings — King David. Have you ever seen a king where all that he writes is 'I have sinned, I have sinned, I have sinned, I have sinned, I have done wrong, I have transgressed; I have sinned, I have done wrong, I have transgressed; I have sinned'? He goes and writes his sins for everyone. If there were such a king today, what would he do? He would hide away all his sins, put them in a notebook, hide them under the ground — 'so that no one will ever know my sins.'

16:47 King David composes a book about all his sins, about all his mistakes, so to speak. 'Whoever says that David sinned is simply mistaken.' But each one interprets it in his own interpretation: 'here he is asking forgiveness' — that is, doing teshuvah. No, King David never sinned. His teshuvah was to teach teshuvah to the individual. But look at his greatness. For him — the morality — this level was not in order. He comes to ask forgiveness for the small things.

17:12 King David asks forgiveness from Hashem, blessed be He, for each and every thing. He teaches us that to say 'sorry,' 'I was wrong,' 'I have sinned, I have transgressed' — this is the most exalted trait. One should not be proud at home, with the wife — the wife did something, a man does not speak to her for a week, he is angry at her. A man does not speak with his father, does not speak with his brother, he does not speak with... 'He hurt me,' and he does not ask him. Who are you? What are you? Who has to ask forgiveness from you?

17:38 You are imagination. I mean, a person — everyone thinks he is something: 'they hurt me' — nothing. There is no such thing. A person must be nothing. 'And let my soul be like dust to all.' And to learn that even if you were wrong toward someone, you come and ask forgiveness, say sorry: 'I ask your pardon, I ask your forgiveness, I have sinned against you, I have transgressed, sorry.' To say 'I have sinned, I have done wrong, I have transgressed' — these are the words that at that very moment bring a person to Keser.

18:04 He reaches Keser; he receives an illumination from Keser, from Ekyeh, the highest place. He receives an immense light upon his soul. It is an immense light. Let's say, all day long 'I have sinned, I have done wrong, I have transgressed' — that is not good, so that he should not be sad and in the end despair. But when he does come with these words, these are the most exalted words. And immediately the Holy One, blessed be He — what does He do, after such a person? Immediately He joins. 'I want to be — I dwell with you.'

18:30 The Holy One, blessed be He, dwelt upon King David. Why do you think? Because of his wisdom? What is the reason? He would ask for teshuvah. 'You turn man back until he is crushed' — for 'to this one I will look: to the poor and broken in spirit.' The Holy One, blessed be He, hears the lowly, the poor, the humbled, the unfortunate, the one in pain, the miserable, the broken, the one who asks forgiveness — him He hears. He does not hear the one who boasts and thinks that he knows and understands, and does not ask forgiveness.

18:56 Forgiveness is not asked once a year; forgiveness is asked every day. And if you do so, you will see that the Holy One, blessed be He, will love you. Therefore, learn: to use the word 'I was wrong' or 'sorry' — it is a trait of kings. Say it every time you can, ask forgiveness from whomever you want — the wife, the family, from everyone. Why? This is the most exalted trait there is. This is the trait and the level, the highest there is. And whoever does this — the Holy One, blessed be He — and therefore, we see even more than this. We are called Yehudim, Jews — after whom?

19:28 After Yehudah. We have the Name of Hashem. The name Yehudah — and the name Yehudah is because he admitted, he did teshuvah, he made confession: 'She is more righteous than I.' So here, the Shechinah rests upon him, and through this we are called Yehudim, because we admit and say sorry. One who does not say sorry, who does not say 'I was wrong,' and goes about all the time with the mindset that he thinks he is right and he understands, and he does not ask forgiveness — he is not from the root of Israel.

19:54 And therefore, if a person wants to truly reach love of Hashem, 'This is the gate of Hashem; the righteous shall enter through it.' Say 'She is more righteous than I,' ask for teshuvah, and then you will see that Yom Kippur will rest upon you the whole year, with Hashem's help, dear tzaddikim. - What is the comparison between Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur? - There are cases, if you are speaking with a person, his understanding, his character traits, are not so high, and he does not understand.

20:26 You know that you are right, [unclear] and he holds to his own. What can you do in such a case? I had a case not long ago: [unclear] and then I said: I will quarrel with him — that is simply needless.

20:53 In the end I said two words to him: do you want to be a tzaddik or [unclear]? Tell me, if you [unclear] I told him of a case: once I was with Rav [unclear] he said: [unclear] I said to him: what do you want, which way do you — In the end, when he was traveling on the way, I called him — I called him, honored Rav, I said to him: if I hurt you — I said to him. - I will explain. Look, there truly are cases where people sometimes are not so settled in their minds, or something.

21:42 I always say to ask forgiveness all the same, and everything. [unclear] - I was not ashamed. Never mind. I had no pride at all about saying it. - Excellent. Whatever you want, tell me. [unclear] Tzaddik, tzaddik. Give him a moment, one second, he wants to say something, one second. No — say it, speak, say it, go on. - Before Pesach, Thursday evening, I came back from work, I said: Mother, Mother, come, let us arrange all the [unclear] that is needed for Pesach, [unclear] the chametz.

22:23 [unclear] Mother: we did not want to call you; [unclear] in the hospital, [unclear] there, sedated. I did everything in order to get in to the Rav, and truly, the Rav, after the prayer on Pesach, blessed my father; he woke up, and said to him: 'Doctor, we need you here with us.' And there is no way to thank our great Rav; that with Hashem's help the Creator of the world will give us, with Hashem's help — three dunams for the Rav; he deserves it.

22:58 - Thank you very much, may there be blessing. [unclear] [unclear] Thank you very much. - Tzaddikim, I love you very much; I wish you all the blessings, all the good abundance. We love you and bless you, and with Hashem's help we want to gird our loins, to succeed on this holy path, for we want to do many great things and to succeed in all that we do. As you know, we still need another beis midrash, we have a great many goals and great things to do.

23:37 Do you want to explain to them? - Yes. With the permission of our teacher the Rav. - Maybe, if I just may, [unclear] - Wait, wait, one second. - [unclear] connected to this. - Wait. Say it, yes. - I too am one of the Rav's ambassadors, and I think that if we spread the talk that the Rav had on Thursday — I think I have never seen such a talk in my life, and until now I am moved, to a crazy degree.

24:02 It will spread light in the world on a level that cannot be grasped. - Everyone who was at the gathering and heard words of holiness, words of flames of fire — Rabbosai, on Thursday there was a very large gathering; there was the opening of a crowdfunding campaign, to be partners in this holy path, and in a moment Liran the tzaddik here will explain the technical details, how to join and how it works, this whole campaign.

24:45 But a few words — with the Rav's permission; I am not worthy to speak before him, but 'it is a time to act for Hashem.' Everyone who comes here, Shabbos after Shabbos, hears the scope of the Torah and the amount of Torah that we hear here, and each and every one can testify about himself how his life and his way of life have changed for the better — in prayer, in Torah, in the service of Hashem, in material matters, how to look at the world, how to live in a better way, with more peace of mind.

25:19 Each one receives here a personal path from the Rav, a general path and a personal path; each one hears the word that he needs to hear. There is a complete path here, and just as you — all of us — merited to receive this path, there is a world, a whole world that also wants to receive this path. And for this path, tools are needed. And these tools — tools are needed here in Jerusalem.

25:44 How is it possible to sit like this, on a stone, under the open sky? It is already a disgrace that for so many years already the Rav is here in Yemin Moshe and does such great activity, and there is no — there is still no beis midrash here. Also on Sunday, whoever comes at sunrise sees the number of people who come: there is no room to stand — not only is there no room to sit, there is already no room to stand. Speaking of parking — it has to be expanded there too. At sunrise this week, if I am not mistaken — this week a certain Jew came who is far from Torah and mitzvos — it was this week or last week, I do not remember — yes, with the tattoos — who came and said,

26:22 who came and said that he — how — 'If I had heard the Rav 17 years ago' — if he had heard the Rav 17 years ago — he was a yeshivah student, he used to give shiurim, and he has Torah, and he left the path completely; it is impossible to connect him with Torah — and he said that if he had heard the Rav 17 years ago, he would not have left the path. Rabbosai, there is a path here, there is something here that we do not yet understand the power of.

26:50 I think — what the Rav said there — no, no person in the world can say what the Rav said. I publicized this to so very many, and people were thrilled: that he comes to the Rav and shows him tattoos like this, and the Rav said to him, 'These are decorations of a sefer Torah' — that is something not to be taken for granted. It is... It is feeling. - Only, not to make such decorations for a sefer Torah.