The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הגאון הינוקא - הסוד של משיח שיעור מיוחד שנמסר לפני מספר שנים מתפרסם כעת לראשונה

3:27 So, 'See, Hashem, my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself.' For the enemy is now on a level of self-importance. And because of this, the Holy One, blessed be He, brings about all that is brought about in the world, so everything we see - the whole world today is turned around because of their self-importance and the pride; in the whole world there is pride. So there is only one who must gather the lowliness. The Holy One, blessed be He, gives lowliness to only one person. Because the whole world is in pride, haughtiness and arrogance, and because this trait is so despicable, the ugliest trait there is, it is impossible to see the geulah at all. For Hashem, blessed be He, is infinite mercy and [unclear].

4:04 And people who are in self-importance - it is the most despicable trait there is. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev never preached on the disgrace of pride. So they once asked him why he does not preach about it. He said, such a despicable trait cannot enter human beings. How could it be that such a despicable trait would enter human beings? That is not something that can be. That is how he held - he did not think there could be such a trait that could enter human beings. Clearly, in human beings it is [unclear].

4:30 And so, corresponding to [unclear], then the Holy One, blessed be He - when it comes, He will send us the geulah. It is already said about Mashiach in Zechariah, chapter 9, verse 9: 'Behold, your king will come to you, righteous and victorious is he, poor and riding on a donkey.' For the Mashiach will come and take all the lowliness of everyone; that is why it is explained why in lowliness.

4:56 And it is also written in Yeshayahu, chapter 53, 'despised and forsaken by men.' So look at what Rashi explains there: from so much lowliness, from so much lowliness, he actually takes all [unclear]. The lowliness - the King Mashiach actually takes the lowliness of the entire world. And so the connection everyone makes is already understood: why do we say Mashiach ben David? Why do we always connect the Mashiach to King David?

5:23 Why must Mashiach be connected to King David? What is the point of Mashiach being connected with King David? It is always Mashiach - King David. The Rambam, in Hilchos Melachim, says - the Rambam explains, in chapter 11, halachah 1, at the end of the halachah, the Rambam says: 'I see him, but not now' - this is David; 'I behold him, but not near' - this is the King Mashiach; 'A star has stepped forth from Yaakov' - this is David; 'and a scepter has risen from Israel' - this is the King Mashiach; 'and he will crush the corners of Moav' - this is David; 'and uproot all the sons of Shes' - this is the King Mashiach.

6:05 The King Mashiach, with whom the Rambam concludes, is the one who will redeem Israel; and so he corresponds to King David, and so David is always associated with Mashiach. For the King Mashiach takes all the lowliness of the whole world and of King David; and so they await a leader who is lowliness, who from there receives all the humility and lowliness - that is, from the whole generation.

6:30 Because the whole generation neglected lowliness and humility and run only after self-importance and pride and haughtiness. So they grow great against this; they become enemies of the right path. And only when everyone merits complete humility, only then can Mashiach come. This is the meaning of lowliness: that the whole generation, the whole world, and especially the heads, and especially the great ones, will lead with humility, that they will have no pride.

7:02 Whether it is the ministers, whether it is people who call themselves - who belong and give authority over the public - they think they are something or other. Any person who has pride over an office, or a government, or a kingship he has, and takes pride in it - he actually delays the geulah, he actually delays the Mashiach. Whether it is the wealthy, whether it is people who have authority, whether people who have honor, and relate to it - to this trait, which is a heavenly trait, which is honor for the Creator - and attribute it to themselves, they delay the Mashiach, they delay the geulah.

7:38 And especially, Heaven forbid, those who harm the thing that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to Israel - that is the Torah. King David - the uniqueness of King David is that King David gave us the book of Tehillim as a gift. King David composed the book of Tehillim with ten tzaddikim who founded the book of Tehillim.

8:11 In Bava Basra, page 14b, two lines from the bottom, at the end of the page, they say who the ten elders were who founded the book of Tehillim: Adam, the first man, Avraham Avinu, Moshe Rabbeinu, Heiman, Yedusun, Asaf, and the three sons of Korach - they are ten tzaddikim who founded the book of Tehillim.

8:40 In Pesikta Rabbasi, section 9, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to King David, 'David, ten tzaddikim founded this book, and I choose only your praise; your praise is what I choose.' You are the one who praises My Name. You are the one who can praise My Name. Your praise, David, is what I choose. That is why King David was chosen - his praise and his acclaim before the Holy One, blessed be He, is the greatest praise.

9:10 And King David comes from holy and pure [unclear] that were never blemished. His father was a tzaddik, holy and awesome. Everyone knows of the level of Yishai, the father of King David, who passed away through the serpent's counsel, as is known from Tractate Shabbos, page 55b, that Yishai passed away through the serpent's counsel. This means only the filth of the serpent was in the world; it was not upon Yishai. Yishai was completely clean of the filth of the [unclear] serpent.

9:37 The mochin that he drew into the world, from King David - these are mochin above the level of a human being. Every person has lower levels, gevuros, bad traits. King David was already born from mochin above that, so that in his nature, in his drawing-forth, from his birth, in his essence, and [unclear], he was already in a place that was closed off, and so he had to come through Yishai, who in fact had no filth of the serpent in him, and because he had no filth of the serpent in him, this filth could not pass to King David, and so King David was in the mochin of greatness, and these mochin King David passed on to Shlomo, his son after him.

10:21 That is why King Shlomo could build the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, for Hashem, blessed be He - to build for Hashem, blessed be He, the House of Hashem, the Chosen House. King David made a request before the Holy One, blessed be He. When did he ask Him? When he was in the mochin of greatness. He wanted to know when his day would be, when he passes from the world. He asks in Tehillim, chapter 39, verse 5: 'Hashem, let me know my end,' 'and the measure of my days, what it is.'

10:59 King David asks, 'Tell me my end, Master of the World; what is my end? When will my end come? When am I going? Which way am I going? When am I going? Tell me about these ways.' He said to him, 'It is a decree before Me that one does not inform flesh and blood of his end; I cannot tell you.' In Tractate Shabbos, page 30a - there are several places where this story appears: in Rus Rabbah, section 3, in Koheles Rabbah, section 5; the story is in the Yerushalmi, in Tractate Beitzah, chapter 2, halachah 4, in Tractate Chagigah, chapter 2, halachah 3, in Tosafos on Chagigah, page 17a: King David died on Shavuos, on a Shavuos that fell on Shabbos, or did not fall on Shabbos, etc.

11:49 King David - his passing: this is the day - he wants to know when the Holy One, blessed be He, takes him. On that day the Holy One, blessed be He, tells him, 'David, on Shabbos [unclear].' King David understands that his passing will be on Shabbos and not on another day. And his mouth did not stop from learning the whole Shabbos; the whole time he learned, until his soul [unclear].

12:29 Immediately after King David passes away - the Holy One, blessed be He, completes the years of the tzaddikim - and King David passes away on Shabbos in the mochin of greatness, and [unclear] is dedicated to his name, as is known. In Tractate Shabbos, page 119b, Rabbi Chanina said: 'A person should always set his table on Motzaei Shabbos, even if he needs only an olive's size.'

13:04 And the Melave Malka meal is attributed to King David in its essence, about the geulah. We await the Mashiach - that Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, we ask for him to bring the tidings. In Yeshayahu, chapter 52, the seventh verse: 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the herald,' 'who announces peace, who brings good tidings.'

13:34 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the herald' - 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the herald' - Which mountains? Which feet? Which herald? When will Eliyahu come? When will everyone merit such a revelation?

14:07 And so they say, 'upon the mountains' - this is 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the herald.' The wholeness we must hear from him is 'who announces peace.' The wholeness that there will be [unclear]. This of this, on Motzaei Shabbos, when we make the Melave Malka meal - the expectation is for the feet of Eliyahu.

14:51 That is why we mention Eliyahu specially on Motzaei Shabbos, together with the Melave Malka meal. The bond between them - Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, and King David - then it will truly be understood why the connection between Mashiach and David. For Mashiach ben David, as we explained, is to go and do all the actions. As the Rambam says explicitly, that Mashiach is a matter of essence, in chapter 11 of Hilchos Melachim, halachah 1: that the Mashiach's matter, in essence, is to build the Temple, etc. - in practice, to do the action.

15:27 And to actually do the action, to bring about the crowning of Hashem, blessed be He, to reveal the kingship of Hashem. And so everyone awaits on Motzaei Shabbos that there will be a revelation of Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good - that Eliyahu will come, give the revelation, bring us good tidings, [unclear] the salvation, that everyone will see the revelation and the kingship of Hashem. We await him, that [unclear], and there will be a revelation of the kingship of Hashem.

15:54 And so the matter of the importance and virtue of the Melave Malka meal is higher and higher and higher, beyond measure. For the matter of the Melave Malka meal is to draw the holiness of Shabbos, from the start of welcoming Shabbos, until Motzaei Shabbos. So one must set his table on Motzaei Shabbos even if he needs only an olive's size, in order to merit receiving the light and the drawing-forth of King David, in order to receive the good from Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good - the wholeness, the salvation, the geulah.

16:40 For this reason Rabbeinu Yerucham too, in Nesiv 12, brought that it is a complete obligation to make the Melave Malka meal; and likewise [unclear], in Klal 8, se'if 36, also brought that it is a complete obligation - at least one should eat mezonos - and a complete obligation to make the Melave Malka meal.

17:09 And so brought the Gaon, the Gaon of Vilna, that one is obligated to make it specifically with bread - to make the Melave Malka meal - in Siman 300, Orach Chaim - the Gra, may his merit protect us - in the Biur HaGra on the Shulchan Aruch. [unclear] this virtue, which is a very great virtue, and is entirely beyond measure, and everyone knows that it is a great thing, higher and higher.

17:35 The Mishnah Berurah brought, in Siman 300, se'if katan 2, and a person is not obligated to push himself in this. There is a great mitzvah and a great virtue in it, and they did not bring that it is a complete obligation in halachah. And [unclear], in the tractate, in his chiddushim, on page 119, and [unclear] 118, [unclear]. This is about the virtue of the Melave Malka meal.

18:05 The Noam Elimelech once said to someone who had no livelihood - he told him, whoever does not make a third meal should not complain about why he has no livelihood - that is what he said - that it is a complete obligation. That is how he held about making the Melave Malka meal, which is also the third meal: if one extends it, one fulfills with it the obligation of Melave Malka. One whose meal went on and continued until after the stars came out, from the third meal - after the fact, he can fulfill with it the obligation of Melave Malka.

18:32 And so the Rebbe Reb Elimelech was strict that every Motzaei Shabbos they make a Melave Malka meal; and whoever does not make Melave Malka - surely, he says, he has no livelihood. When people would come asking for livelihood, he would say, 'Do you make a fourth meal?' They told him no. So they told him, 'Do not complain about why you have no livelihood - because of this; [unclear].' In [unclear] Moshe, siman [unclear], and for whoever keeps a fourth meal - He satisfies his soul with radiance, and [unclear] his soul and his neshamah.

19:02 And so brought the Gaon Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzeira, and so [unclear] a holy book on the covenant - the whole book is tikkunim for the covenant - in the tikkunim of teshuvah, he brings there that keeping the Melave Malka meal corresponds to the holy forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, and David - this is the fourth meal. He says, everything follows the seal. Everything follows the seal. So he says, and it is an obligation on baalei teshuvah in particular, that it is a tikkun for a baal teshuvah for all his sins to keep a fourth meal, the Melave Malka meal, which is for the tikkun of a person's soul; that there is a great and very awesome virtue in it - that the soul is rectified through the Melave Malka meal, And likewise the Gaon, the author of Yesod VeShoresh HaAvodah, in Gate 8,

19:45 chapter 3, also brought about the virtue and importance, that whoever keeps the Melave Malka meal is [unclear] the judgment of the beating of the grave. Whoever wants to know what the beating of the grave is, to know what one is saved from, how frightening it is, should look in Reishis Chochmah, Shaar HaYirah, at the end of chapter 12, at the end; he will see what the beating of the grave is - a terrible fear, what is done after a person passes away from the world. The Gaon, author of Kaf HaChaim, Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer, in Kaf HaChaim, Siman 300, os 4, said that one who accustoms himself to push himself to the Melave Malka meal - even a person who is no longer thirsty, not hungry, and cannot - he should push himself, he says; and the more he pushes himself to eat Melave Malka,

20:26 it will help him that he will not need to eat and drink afterwards medicines and remedies, and eat things to make him healthy. If you push yourself to keep Melave Malka, then you will be spared medicines and remedies and unpleasant things one has to eat in order to be healed, because this will heal your whole body. [unclear] Melave Malka. This is the light of King David.

20:51 King David gives us a meal in the world, gives us a meal in the world, one meal: the meal of the geulah, the Melave Malka meal. As is known to us, what the Beis Yosef brought in Siman 300, and there the Shibbolei HaLeket, who brought the Gemara in Pesachim, page 133a, that one escorts the king on his departure, as you know, the Zohar, Toldos, in the Midrash HaNe'elam, page 137, and in the Zohar, Va'eira, page 28, page 42, about the Nesqui bone; there are all the healings - all the redemption of the body will be from this bone, from the luz, the Nesqui - all its names - it can help, up to the resurrection of the dead, which will be from this; it will be built only from Melave Malka, because all the [unclear] of Melave Malka

21:45 goes directly to this matter of the resurrection of the dead, which is the geulah. It is not just a matter of the resurrection of the dead; rather, Melave Malka is connected to the resurrection of the dead because of Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, who comes to announce it, and to give peace, in order to redeem Israel. So the peace in the salvation is only to bring the Jewish people to the geulah, in practice. That is why we eat Melave Malka. Melave Malka is in order to merit [unclear] the resurrection of the dead, to bring about the resurrection of the dead, which is geulah - and it is all only the matter of the geulah.

22:18 The whole essence of King David in his life was geulah, and so this whole essence is only, solely and only, geulah and the building of the Temple. We have nothing other than this. And so King David - the Holy One, blessed be He, brings about that King David - King David was born from the seed of Boaz, and now this whole story begins to be read, this whole story that begins to awaken, as we know, that each time there is some matter, as I said at the beginning - whoever was at the Pesach shiur - I explained that from Pesach to Shavuos there is a great light that shines, and this light converts all the converts.

23:05 All the converts who convert - it is only from this light that flows at this time when we receive the Torah. From Pesach until Shavuos we receive the light; then we receive lights in greatness, and then we can bring the geulah, and all the converts, all of them, begin to do teshuvah, the whole world begins to draw close to Hashem, blessed be He. King David came from Ruth and from Boaz. We already know that the level of Ruth is beyond measure, coming close under the wings of the Shechinah.

23:46 At first she was called Gilit. And this is Ruth - this is the Zohar Chadash on Ruth, page [unclear], side a: it is written that she was called Gilit, Gilit; afterwards she changed her name to Ruth, [unclear] changed the name to Ruth. That was once she had already received new mochin. So at first she was Gilit; now she is called Ruth. And indeed in Bava Basra, page 14b, and Berachos, page 7b, it is written that from Ruth came King David, who sated the Holy One, blessed be He, with songs and praises; and that is the name Ruth: it is because from her came David, who brings the Holy One, blessed be He, pleasure that is very, very, very very great.

24:25 The whole essence of King David is the pleasure he gives Hashem. It is such great pleasure, of a king of Israel who gives pleasure to his Master. Pleasure with all his 248 limbs and 365 sinews, to crown his Lord, his Master, to raise up the souls of Israel. If not for David, no one would merit to come close to Hashem. Only in the merit of King David can everyone see the light, in the most remote place and the farthest and darkest there is in the world.

24:53 And King David comes from Ruth, and Ruth is the daughter of Eglon king of Moav - in Tractate Nazir, page 23b - that in the merit of 40 offerings that Balak brought, he merited that Ruth the Moabite came out of him. Ruth the Moabite comes out because she is in the darkest and gloomiest place. This is what King Solomon says in chapter 2, verse 13: "the advantage of light over darkness."

25:21 Her light is seen precisely when she comes from such a dark and gloomy place; King David comes, and it was all in the merit of one day. In one day it all was - after all, Boaz lived only one day [unclear]. In Yalkut Shimoni on Ruth, remez 608, it is written that Boaz lived one day, and because of his alacrity on that day, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought it about, and this soul of King David was born. He lived only one day in the world, this day, from his union with Ruth, from the day of the wedding with Ruth, the chuppah, [unclear] what is written in the verses in Ruth, chapter 3, verse 8, which is very moving: "And it was at midnight, the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman was lying at his feet."

26:17 In Ruth Rabbah, section 6: he feels with his hands - what is this? Is this a woman, is this a demon? He touched her hair to check. So he said to her: Who are you? He tries to ask, to see if perhaps it is some demon - who is this woman? But he was seized with a great trembling, because he knows that from this seed someone is destined to come who will rise at midnight.

26:42 This is what the Zohar on Ruth explains, on page [unclear], side a - the Zohar Chadash. which is another matter, already something about the redemption, which connects the two verses in chapter 3, verse 13: "Stay the night, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; and if he does not want to redeem you, I will redeem you, as Hashem lives; lie down until the morning."

27:12 He explains it; the Holy One, blessed be He, teaches us in the holy Zohar: 'Stay the night' - in the darkness of the exile, after all. And precisely this is brought in the Zohar Chadash. 'Stay the night,' said the Holy One, blessed be He, 'and in the morning, he will redeem you' - look, the time of your redemption will come; [unclear] we will see your character traits, the mitzvos, the good deeds, I will redeem you according to that.

27:40 If it fits, we will redeem you. If it does not fit, no. 'And if he does not want to redeem you' - if your traits and deeds will not be enough, 'I will redeem you, as Hashem lives; lie down until the morning' - just wait patiently for the morning of the redemption to come; you will have to wait patiently, so that there is no forcing of the End. This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, says. This is a beautiful explanation of Rabbi Shimon, which connects the two verses to King David.

28:07 The Yalkut Shimoni says about King David, on Tehillim, remez 723, it says about King David that he came before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said to Him: Master of the World, with my knees I sat as sandikos over children; all my limbs, I served with them. 'Against my heart' - this is also another source for the tzitzis, [unclear], that one holds four corners; that I don't need to hold the two - another four behind, I see two opposite the first two [unclear].

28:41 but another four I need to gather. So from here we see that King David took the corners in his hand and held them against his heart at the time of reciting the Shema, when he [unclear] Hashem. He makes a unification and crowns the Holy One, blessed be He, in the world. We all see the Holy One, blessed be He, crowned by King David, the king who crowns the Holy One, blessed be He, in the world. And King David says to Hashem, blessed be He: with all my limbs - "All my bones shall say, Hashem, who is like You" - all this to crown You. I want nothing in the world, only to crown You, only that You reign; for this I wait, to return everything to You, only to see Your revelation, only to see Your kingship. I have nothing else in the world; I live for this,

29:21 I breathe for this, and I am ready to [unclear] for this. I have no other essence in the world. There was no leader and king in the world who thought, with all his soul, spirit and neshamah, his thoughts, his speech and his deeds, at every time and moment, never to take his mind off the kingship of Hashem, until David, king of Israel, comes. And of course he continued all this work, all the essence and all this wisdom, in one chosen one whom he chose: in his son, King Solomon.

29:55 Therefore King Solomon was able to build the Beis HaMikdash. And no one can touch the House of Hashem, or deal with this matter, only the mochin that came from King David, who came from Yishai, who died only through the counsel of the serpent, which was a departure of everything [unclear]; it did not rest in these mochin. So therefore, corresponding to this, he is the third from 'the counsel of the serpent': Yishai first, David second, and King Solomon third, so he can build the Beis HaMikdash for Hashem.

30:27 And then, at the time when the light of King Solomon shines in the world, when he built the House for Hashem, and King David, who reigned with all his limbs and crowned the Holy One, blessed be He, over all his limbs, not only over the Jewish people - this is the novel teaching of the Yalkut Shimoni, that he reigned with the hands, but the knees he made sandikos. This is the source of the word sandak; this is the first source there is for the word sandak.

30:52 Sandikos - it is from there, remez 723; that is Tehillim. Everything on my knees I did, all my limbs, to crown You, Master of the World. And then this light that goes from above, that comes from the lowest place there is, far, far below, from Eglon king of Moav, from Balak - out of this terrible darkness comes such a great light, from such a dark place; this is "the advantage of light over darkness."

31:20 King David comes out, who shines and sates the Holy One, blessed be He, with songs and praises, song and melody, and crowns Him and crowns Him and crowns Him over all the creatures. All the created beings see the kingship of Hashem. And then one can truly understand what is written in Tractate Yevamos, page 47b, that "converts are as hard for Israel as a sore."

31:49 And what is "converts are as hard for Israel as a sore"? There are two approaches, of Rashi and Tosafos - several answers in Tosafos. I am trying to explain it now with one new thing I am suggesting; perhaps it will settle better, to understand it. For how can it be - a contradiction - that if I come and say that they are hard, everyone will see what came out of all the converts; everyone knows how many holy converts came out of Israel - for Israel. So in any case, why are they like a sore?

32:20 So Rashi explains that people should not learn from them and should not mix with them, since they hold on to their former deeds, and people will come to err from them in forbidden and permitted matters. People can be misled by them. Tosafos explain that in fact, because they are among the converts and we are warned about the honor of the convert, so that we should not, Heaven forbid, come to take his honor lightly, and there should not be judgment upon us over this matter. And for this reason mixing with them is ruled out for us, and it is better so, since we will not be able to guard against wronging the convert, and the Torah warned us about that.

32:54 So here they are hard like a sore - the fear lest we come to the two stumbling blocks mentioned. But the matter will be understood further. After all, the matter of a ger toshav is known - one who keeps the seven mitzvos of the children of Noach, as brought in Tractate Avodah Zarah, page 64b. Naaman too had the status of a ger toshav, who took upon himself the seven mitzvos of the children of Noach - in Tractate Sanhedrin, page 96b. The whole story is in Kings II, chapter - everyone knows the famous story?

33:26 Everything that happened with him. And the Ritva also brings, in Tractate Makkos, in his novellae - Tractate Makkos, page 9b, side b, side b, in the Ritva - the matter of a ger toshav who keeps the seven mitzvos of the children of Noach.

33:53 But today, in our days, there is no status of ger toshav. As the Rambam brings in the Laws of Forbidden Relations, chapter 14, halachah 8; [unclear] Tractate Arachin, page 29a: that there is no status of ger toshav today; at a time when the Jubilee is not in effect, there is no status of ger toshav. But why the matter of 'hard as a sore', with a meaning of such hardness, to say that one must push them away, and to think at all that there is something so hard here that one must distance and not bring close?

34:29 There is also a difference between them, between a ger toshav and a ger tzedek. In the view of the Ibn Ezra, if we, Heaven forbid, commit verbal wronging against a ger toshav, it is a Torah prohibition. In the view of the Rambam - the Rambam says it is not a Torah prohibition. You have no prohibition at all; it is only with a ger tzedek. He is a ger tzedek - a ger tzedek for stringency. So the Baal Halachos Gedolos says that he is held a year in his way; if they see that he goes like this, his status is a complete ger tzedek.

34:53 But if not, Heaven save us, he returns to his old ways - no connection to the Jewish people. No tie and no connection. But the meaning of this pushing away, and this distancing, and this drawing close - it is only in order to see: to push them away as much as possible, push and push and push, so that we would have no connection with them. And as Naomi did to Ruth, that she pushes her away and pushes her away - that they are pushed away; on purpose they are told 'like a sore', and they push them away, and say: if we push this person as far away as can be, if the Holy One, blessed be He, brings out of him some sparks of light from all the bad, it is a sign that this is the greatest light.

35:29 So the way to identify it - the light that is inside the darkness - is only through one way: that all the converts be pushed away. And then in fact one will understand what Solomon said, "the advantage of light over darkness" - because all the converts are pushed away, because they are hard like a sore. In a situation where all the converts are pushed away - they push them away - then if there truly is one such, he will push himself in every way to be in the domain of holiness. And when he pushes himself to be there, then everyone will already see that he is there. And that is King David.

35:59 For after he came from there, from Ruth the Moabite, everyone sees what light came out of there. From the lowest place. From the darkest place. But it would have been impossible to reveal this unless they had pushed her away from the start. So for this she has to be pushed. There is a very beautiful novel teaching of Rabbi Yeshayah Bassan. Everyone knows - Rabbi Yeshayah Bassan, son of Rabbi Yisrael, may his merit protect us. Rabbi Yeshayah Bassan has the responsa Lachmei Todah.

36:26 He was the teacher of the Ramchal. He was a student of Rabbi Moshe Zacut of Mantua, author of Shorshei HaShemos, Rabbi Moshe, may his merit protect us. He was related by marriage to Rabbi Binyamin HaKohen of Reggio, may his merit protect us. He too was a mighty genius, famous. Everyone [unclear] him? He has the responsa Lachmei Todah, in siman 5. He writes there a very beautiful thing.

36:52 He writes that if there is a convert who comes close to Hashem, then he says that he will not be judged for the first 20 years for [unclear]. For the first 20 years he has mercy from Heaven, that Heaven will not come into judgment with him. The first 20 years, [unclear] of the heavens, of mercy and compassion, the first twenty years. Now let us note this and say: if a ger tzedek will have such mercy upon him, and let's say for twenty years, then now in this time he will perhaps have a way to bring out his good, because then there will be no judgment upon him from Heaven. And why will they not punish him for the twenty years ahead?

37:28 Perhaps in order to reveal in him the point of light that perhaps truly will begin to come out. Then it will truly be understood why this would happen: because the moment they do not judge him and give him a lot of room in time in which they will not deal with him in judgment, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will arrange from Heaven that we merit to see the good that comes out of him, from that convert, from that one who comes close to Hashem - suddenly everyone will be able to see all the treasures and wonders destined to come out of him, and this light will go and spread through the whole world. But this needs to be given time; why? If they judge him immediately, his light will go out. So therefore they will not judge him; [unclear] mercy on him for twenty years. This will explain why, seemingly, there is no light in him:

38:07 because they push them away; then the light must be revealed. But if we do not push [unclear], one must give him this waiting time so that the light hidden inside the converts is revealed. that they too can come close to Hashem, and in them too the light of Hashem, blessed be He, shines. So all the more is this an encouragement for every one of the Jewish people: that even one who has gone very, very far, down, down, in that very place where he fell down, from that place, even from there the light of Hashem, blessed be He, will shine, in that place where he is, so that he too will be able to merit receiving the Torah.

38:34 For the receiving of the Torah is - they say about Moshe Rabbeinu that the self-nullification of Moshe Rabbeinu [unclear] to the Torah, to Hashem, blessed be He, was a complete and absolute nullification. A complete nullification with all his 248 limbs and 365 sinews. And he knew everything - all the thoughts of everyone, all the Torah of everyone - from his humility, from his lowliness, from his self-nullification, [unclear] David, and Moshe Rabbeinu [unclear]. Moshe Rabbeinu, David - the true leader of Israel, the extension of Moshe in every generation, etc., as is known.

39:03 And Moshe Rabbeinu - in the Derashos of the Ran, in the fifth derush, he brought that Moshe Rabbeinu was deliberately heavy of mouth, so that everyone would see that the Torah was not given to a good orator, to someone who knows how to speak nicely, to someone who is a good speaker. The Holy One, blessed be He, did this on purpose, so that he would remain like that, and everyone would see his stammer and the embarrassment of how he speaks and that it is hard for him. And also, people don't know about Moshe Rabbeinu that he was the greatest forgetter.

39:34 They say about [unclear] that he was a great forgetter, but no one knows that [unclear] repeated forty times in order to know something, so that he would remember. But Moshe Rabbeinu was the greatest of forgetters. There was no greater forgetter than Moshe Rabbeinu. This is written in Nedarim, it is on page 200a, and in the Yerushalmi, [unclear] - in the Yerushalmi, the Jerusalem Talmud. It is written: Rabbi Yochanan said that Moshe Rabbeinu would learn Torah and forget, learn Torah and forget, learning Torah and forgetting it, until it says in the chapter - and it is written in the book of Shemos, chapter 31, verse 18: "And He gave to Moshe, when He finished speaking with him" - this teaches that He gave a gift to Moshe Rabbeinu; the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him the Torah as a gift.

40:17 Take, Moshe Rabbeinu - since you do not remember, take a gift. It is written that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to Moshe Rabbeinu; He said to him: Take the Torah as a gift - it is hard for you to speak, [unclear] - take. So Moshe Rabbeinu stammered, he could not speak - all these things, so that people would not come and say that a leader must be someone who is a speaker, who has a good memory, who knows. That is not a leader.

40:42 That is not the mark of a leader. The Torah teaches us that a leader can be someone with all the flaws there are and [unclear] the very greatest. The Holy One, blessed be He, simply gave this to Moshe Rabbeinu as a gift. "And He gave to Moshe when He finished speaking with him." So "He gave" - the gift. After [unclear] that you do not remember, take yourself a gift. And then He gave it to him as a gift. The Holy One, blessed be He, teaches us on purpose. And therefore there is in fact a difference of opinion whether he was healed or not.

41:08 In the book Torah Ohr of the holy Shelah, on Parashas Devarim, [unclear] at the end, the holy Shelah writes that in truth Moshe Rabbeinu - and there is the Zohar on Shemos, page 20b - that Moshe Rabbeinu was also healed at the stand at Mount Sinai, and in truth he would no longer have a defect, like all the things we said, But it does not matter whether he was healed or not; that is not what this is about; it is not of interest at all.

41:33 The point is that this is how the leader looked, that's it. That's it - that is the image. The leader was like this, and he was like this on purpose, so that each and every one would see with the eyes, with his own eyes and not with a stranger's eyes, would see with his own eyes what the qualities of a leader are: that if you see all the shortcomings and the flaws, know that the leader was like this and like this, looked like this and like this. There is another story that Rabbi Yisrael Lipschitz brought in the introduction to Tractate Kiddushin, in the Yachin uBoaz edition, and they bring it on the right side, at the bottom, at the end of the edition.

42:08 This midrash was rejected; they say it was not so. Everyone knows this story with the portrait - that they brought Moshe Rabbeinu to the king, and so they saw in the portrait, on the face, the character traits, and so on. And they say: how is this their savior, who has such and such according to the portrait? But it is not for this. And also not to say "when He finished speaking with him", and also what was [unclear] Moshe Rabbeinu.

42:33 It is not for this; it is only to tell each one that the receiving of the Torah that we need to receive from Hashem, blessed be He - the true receiving of the Torah is to receive from Hashem what truly is my portion in the Torah: to receive from Hashem, blessed be He, the joy, the cleaving to Him, the revealing of what is in me, the good that can be revealed in me, what Hashem, blessed be He, can indeed light up in me and bring out in what is in me.

43:00 For each one has in him the portion in the Torah. And we stand to receive the Torah on Shavuos in order to receive the revealed portion a person has, what he knows and what he does not know. And this portion the Holy One, blessed be He, will reveal in the person. This is the portion for which we stand to receive the Torah. Each one comes to receive from Hashem now, at the receiving of the Torah, his portion. What is the portion you came into the world for? What portion did you come to light up? What did you come to be drawn to?

43:24 What Hashem brings you. And you will decide; you will light up what to aim at. If you learn Torah and you engage in it, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will shine for you, and if not, then not. But all of this - each one must direct himself to Hashem, that for this he came, and for this he came to shine, and for this he came to learn, and for this he came to teach. And this is the meaning of King David. The beauty of King David is the gift that he gave us, this book, in which each one finds his portion in the Torah.

43:54 For there is no Jew who can say that he does not connect to the book of Tehillim. It is a book that includes all the books. From within the book of Tehillim the light of King David shines, and then a person finds his portion in the Torah. But what I wanted to explain is that you should see that from the greatest darkness, from that lowest place, such a great light came out. From Eglon king of Moav - what could come out of him at all? From Balak. You know, with what kind of side, with [unclear], Heaven save us.

44:19 From there comes out such a light, such a great spark, who composes a book that includes all the souls of Israel in [unclear]. Do you understand this? How can one understand how all the souls of Israel are found within one book, Tehillim, which a king composed who came from a very low and lowly place. And not only will he come from there, but Mashiach too will come from there. He will come from the seed of King David.

44:44 For it is required that he come from the seed of King David. So all this has to be so that the light of the redemption too will come from such a low place, in order to reveal to each and every one of the Jewish people, no matter where they are, no matter what level they are at, and no matter in what place: look at the leader, look at him, you have a leader, you have Torah, you have a symbol; you will be able to learn from it what to do.

45:13 Here - this is the image, this is the way; go like this. Not to the right, not to the left - impossible. And the Kotzker says: not right, not left - in the middle go the horses. As if, of course, a person should walk on the road at least either right or left; in the middle go only the horses. Also the hilula of our master and teacher, Rabbi Yisrael, the holy Baal Shem Tov.

45:38 We all know about the holy Baal Shem Tov; he passed away on Shavuos, the holy Baal Shem Tov. He was - just a little, to explain: Rabbi Yisrael the Baal Shem Tov, son of Mrs. Sarah and Rabbi Eliezer. He was a great-grandson of the brother of the Rema, Rabbi Eliezer. The Rema had a brother, Rabbi Eliezer. It comes out to be the grandfather's grandfather of the holy Baal Shem Tov.

46:03 Many people don't know this. But the Baal Shem Tov had many manuscripts of the Rema. The Rema passed away at age 33 [unclear] Iyar. And the Baal Shem Tov had many writings of the Rema. Many manuscripts, many things. Many awesome, rare books that almost no one had. The Baal Shem Tov had writings that only the holy Baal Shem Tov saw, and a few others. The Baal Shem Tov revealed to the world a way by which every Jew can come close to Hashem, no matter in what place.

46:33 For then, in his time, there were many geniuses, many great ones. And he had no dispute [unclear] the Noda BiYehudah. The Noda BiYehudah is [unclear]; we, baruch Hashem, need to learn all of them; [unclear], Heaven forbid, [unclear] holy, holy, with all of them. it is not at all for us to understand what was between the Noda BiYehudah and the Gaon of Vilna; they are awesome, and in Heaven there is love, unity and peace between them. Of course there was [unclear] and dispute about the way.

46:59 Today I understand what they disputed back then. I say - and more dispute - today, the way - there is no 'way of the Baal Shem Tov'; the way of the Baal Shem Tov was only Torah. And look at the students: Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polnoye, the author of Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Tzafnas Paneach, Ben Poras Yosef - what books he has, what genius! Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz - the Baal Shem Tov said: and I have left you the wise Pinchas, and a bear in the forest. In Tiberias there are Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, the Pri HaAretz, son of Rabbi Moshe - he wrote the book Pri HaAretz.

47:28 Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk, author of Chesed LeAvraham - not the Chesed LeAvraham of the Chida, his own one, Chesed LeAvraham. Rabbi Ze'ev Wolf of Czarny Ostrow - also [unclear] there, Rabbi Yaakov Shimshon of Shepetivka, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Premishlan, the pillar of prayer of the Baal Shem Tov, his pillar of prayer, he was the chazzan in his beis midrash, of whom the Baal Shem Tov said that when Mashiach comes, they will move everyone aside and let him pray before Mashiach. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Premishlan.

47:54 Holy of holies, look what tzaddikim, what [unclear], what divine service, how much holiness the Baal Shem Tov had, and his holiness and divine inspiration - he saw from one end of the world to the other. In that generation, no one in the time of the Baal Shem Tov - the Maggid of Mezritch came to him, who had a thousand questions on the Baal Shem Tov. So he wrote on the Pnei Yehoshua, he learned with the Pnei Yehoshua; they learned together 120 times together, he and the Pnei Yehoshua.

48:21 The study partner of the Pnei Yehoshua. Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua, the Pnei Yehoshua - the best study partner of the Maggid of Mezritch. The one who brought the Maggid close to the Baal Shem Tov was Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Bar. He is one of the greatest tzaddikim in the time of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov had two first close disciples, Rabbi David of Mikolayiv and Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Bar. They brought very, very many close to the Baal Shem Tov. The first who made the Baal Shem Tov known at all, the very first, was Rabbi David of Mikolayiv.

48:48 He was the first to make the Baal Shem Tov known. The Baal Shem Tov was 36 years old, and he went to some place; he knocked on the door - there were snowstorms outside - he went in, he asked the rebbetzin, Rabbi David's wife, whether he could spend Shabbos there, or be hosted, and she pitied him; she said, 'My husband is not here' [unclear], The Baal Shem Tov left; after that he came back, came back again, knocked on the door once more; they said - Rabbi David's household said - come, come in, with honor.

49:17 They give the Baal Shem Tov a room; the Baal Shem Tov sat there, and so the Baal Shem Tov sat there, and at midnight Rabbi David of Mikolayiv got up, and then his wife shouts, 'There's a fire in the house, there's a fire in the house!' He [unclear], took a bucket, filled it with water, [unclear], ran to throw the water. So he poured all the water on the Baal Shem Tov - but when you see fire, then the Baal Shem Tov said to him, 'For such a Tikkun Chatzos, I'm given such water?'

49:46 'Such a Tikkun Chatzos that I said - and now you give me such an amount of water for what I did?' And then he understood that he is a holy man. He took hold of the Baal Shem Tov, and he went and shouted through all of Mikolayiv about the Baal Shem Tov. He said that there is no creature in the world that can grasp that there is such an awesome and mighty tzaddik in our generation. He went from side to side, from city to city, and shouted to the whole entire world. Rabbi David of Mikolayiv was older than the Baal Shem Tov by many, many years.

50:12 The Baal Shem Tov was 36. He went, and then many came from Mikolayiv and appointed the Baal Shem Tov rabbi of Mikolayiv - that was the first time. The Baal Shem Tov, rabbi of Mikolayiv, for the first time. And after that, actually, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Bar began to draw close, and after that they began to draw close — And then actually they began - and then actually there drew close Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polonne.

50:46 He writes at the end of Parshas Behar, at the very end of Parshas Behar, a few last lines. He explains the verse - it is written in the book of Vayikra, in chapter 25, verse 49. 'Either his uncle (dodo) or his uncle's son (ben dodo) shall redeem him.' The Degel Machaneh Ephraim says: Mashiach will be either David or the son of David. The proof: 'either his uncle (dodo)' - either David, 'or his uncle's son (ben dodo)' - or the son of David shall redeem him. That will be Mashiach.

51:13 So writes the Degel, at the end of Parshas Behar: either David or the son of David - that is Mashiach. That is how the Degel Machaneh Ephraim explains it. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov. [unclear] at age 68. Also at the hilula of the Gra, a year ago, I told such stories about the Gra too. Whoever remembers, whoever was there - so you won't think we take some side for Chassidus. We are for all sides. But we also told about the Gaon - many awesome things that happened with the Vilna Gaon. The Rogatchover, who came out of all the... that is Chabad Chassidus.

51:40 was on friendly terms with the Rebbe Rashab; at age 6 he was with the Tzemach Tzedek; he said, 'Learn Tractate Nazir.' So he didn't want to get a haircut; he said it is time taken from Torah. He used to learn in the cemetery, even though it is forbidden - Tractate Berachos, page 18a, the fifth line from the bottom. And there is more [unclear] about tzitzis, also about Torah study, [unclear], that it is a severe prohibition to learn in front of the dead. So he said: in their lifetime they knew nothing, all the more so in their death. That is what he said about the dead. Meaning: in their lifetime they didn't know how to learn? All the more so now they know nothing.

52:08 The Rogatchover. And what about the Toras Chesed of Lublin, a disciple of the Tzemach Tzedek, that there is no [unclear] where he is not mentioned, also connected to the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, to the Tzemach Tzedek, to the Middle Rebbe, Rabbi Dov Ber, and so on, up to the author of the Tanya. See what came out of this from the author of the Tanya. The author of the Tanya is another whole path. There are lots of Chassidic courts: there is Vizhnitz, from Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kosov, and Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz, and Mordechai of Chernobyl, author of Likutei Torah; Rabbi Menachem of Chernobyl, his father; there is Rabbi Nachum Shustik - he was the uncle of Rabbi Menachem of Chernobyl, a mighty tzaddik; he [unclear] - no one knew this.

52:41 Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl was named Rabbi Menachem Nachum after Rabbi Nachum Shustik. Rabbi Nachum Shustik is the tzaddik who wandered in exile, from city to city, from village to village, in the generation of Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl, and no one knew about him. There are no books where he is mentioned. I once made a collection 17 years ago, at about age 13; I made a collection from all kinds of places where I found writings of his, teachings of his. There I found all kinds of things - I found almost nothing. I have only a few single pieces, that's it.

53:09 Because there aren't any - he is not mentioned there. Once I met a certain Jew; I wanted to look into it with him, whether he knows of Rabbi Nachum Shustik, whether he had read writings; he said that he did not [unclear]. He was a wondrous genius. There is the Yismach Lev on the Shas, by Rabbi Menachem Nachum, and I understand his novel insights on the Shas. And all the novel insights of Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl are nothing compared to what he received from his master, the Baal Shem Tov, the holy Baal Shem Tov. The Maggid of Mezritch, who wrote Maggid Devarav LeYaakov, Likutim Yekarim.

53:36 So much Torah, the Maggid - but the Baal Shem Tov [unclear] him only two months in all. And all the Torah he received from the Baal Shem Tov - it was the story with the horses. When he came to the Baal Shem Tov, he wanted to go in to him and see from him some Torah, [unclear]. He went in to the Baal Shem Tov - the Baal Shem Tov said [unclear], 'Wait [unclear].' So he went in to the Baal Shem Tov, he went in. And then he went in to the Baal Shem Tov; he came with some attendant to be with him.

54:03 And then he says, 'Baal Shem Tov, may I come in to you?' [unclear], nothing - come, come in. He went in to the Baal Shem Tov - as soon as he went in, then he says to him, 'You don't know what happened with me some time ago:' 'for many years I've been trying to find this horse that helped me.' What horse? said the Maggid - he says, what is he talking about now? This - a horse? I came here to hear words [unclear]. This is the study partner of the Pnei Yehoshua, you'll understand this. And besides, he has a thousand questions in his head on the Baal Shem Tov, like this.

54:32 [unclear], and on top of that the Baal Shem Tov chooses to tell him stories about the horse, and the Baal Shem Tov even tells him, 'Listen,' 'I gave him straw to eat, he doesn't want to eat,' and so he starts telling him, for an hour, a story about the horse and about the [unclear], until the Maggid [unclear] - what am I doing here? He said: pack the belongings at once; at midnight we leave this city, at midnight. And at once they left the belongings - Rabbi Yaakov of Anipoli, the greatest of the Baal Shem Tov's disciples, was his attendant, the keeper of his keys.

55:01 Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka also kept the letters, between Rabbi Yitzchak, he was actually the uncle of Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov - Rabbi Yitzchak, Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka, He had a sister, Shifra. Shifra married Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych - together the children; that is to say, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov and Rabbi Yechiel of Zlotchov are distant cousins, [unclear] between them; whoever knows surely knows. What is it?

55:30 - Funny. - Yes, there are many funny stories about it. There are, yes, many stories about it. I'll tell you in a moment, if you're not in a rush - I have time, a little, we'll see. We'll learn something a little. I'm finishing in a few minutes. So the Baal Shem Tov said, 'Call him, call him.' Once more he went in to the Baal Shem Tov; he said, 'No, no, I don't want to come again, that's enough.' He - no - call.

55:55 He went in to the Baal Shem Tov; the Baal Shem Tov is lying down now. And he went in [unclear]; the Baal Shem Tov is lying on it, he is lying down, the Baal Shem Tov is lying down, smoking a pipe, like this. So the Baal Shem Tov says to him, 'Do you know how to learn?' So he says to him, 'So they say.' The Baal Shem Tov said to him, 'Come, read [unclear] this Zohar.' Because the Baal Shem Tov did not learn Etz Chaim and the writings of the Arizal.

56:22 He had such a practice, that he learned everything from the Zohar, but he disagreed with many approaches [unclear], In the kavanos, always - he had the siddur of Rabbi Shabsai of Rashkov. The siddur of Rabbi Shabsai of Rashkov brings yichudim and kavanos that are novel teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, on the kavanos [unclear]. Whether these are novel teachings - the Gaon, Rabbi Shabsai of Rashkov, was asked. There are many books of Rabbi Yashar of Ztolin - there are many such books.

56:48 Rabbi Yaakov Koppel Chassid, in the siddur Kol Yaakov - there are all kinds of books. And the Baal Shem Tov had many novel teachings on the kavanos. Many novel teachings on the kavanos, and different views - he held not like the Arizal. There are many stories, that once [unclear], and Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka had a custom: he loved to hear the words of the Baal Shem Tov, but if it was praises, he would not listen. So when the Baal Shem Tov speaks in his praise, it's as if he doesn't hear; so he strains to hear, and they don't understand how he wants to hear his own honor.

57:14 So the Baal Shem Tov tells about him, in his praise, and laughs, and he comes closer to hear, because now he doesn't hear. Whatever is his own praise, he doesn't hear. So the Baal Shem Tov tells him, and he comes closer, and everyone laughs - how he seems to want honor - but he understands that he did not [unclear] honor. Certainly not. He passed away in the Land of Israel, learning Zohar at Shabbos Mincha, [unclear] - Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka, the father of Rabbi Simcha. Rabbi Simcha fathered Rabbi Nachman. He married Feiga - and Rabbi Nachman.

57:41 That this - no, that the Baal Shem Tov said this is his matchmaker's fee to Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka. 'If it's the matchmaker's fee, what will you give?' He said, 'What comes out of it' - that is the Baal Shem Tov. Meaning, he saw in holiness that someone would come who would mend the souls of the Jewish people with the Tikkun HaKlali, and this - that this - [unclear] they don't do the Tikkun HaKlali, [unclear]. Today there are all kinds of tikkunim, but this tikkun they don't do. A tzaddik from 200 years ago.

58:06 In short, the holy Baal Shem Tov said to him, 'Let's hear,' 'stand while I speak to you, stand.' The Maggid of Mezritch stood; [unclear] the Baal Shem Tov began to say the Zohar, and Rabbi Shimon came into the room, and Rabbi [unclear]. And angels began to circle in the house. The Baal Shem Tov also learned Bris Menuchah of Rabbi Avraham of Rimon, the Sephardi, the book Bris Menuchah, a book of Kabbalah; there he [unclear] doing kefitzas haderech, the leaping of the way, to come, and all kinds of things.

58:34 All kinds of received things, and all kinds of different kabbalos and [unclear]. The Baal Shem Tov said to him, 'Get up, what happened to you?' So he woke up. Then the Baal Shem Tov said to him, 'I - the moment I continue the Zohar -' He said to him, 'Don't continue this Zohar, it's fine.'

59:03 And he remained attached to the Baal Shem Tov, and they learned - he learned with him two whole months. From this came out all the Torah of the Maggid. Two months he was with the Baal Shem Tov; in all he learned from him only two months. And do you know the novel thing the Alter Rebbe said? That all the teachings we received - to this day we discuss what this story with the donkey and the straw was - only in order to bring the life story of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk; he told him his whole life, everything that was and everything that will be.

59:30 Rabbi Ze'ev Wolf of Czarny Ostrow, a disciple of Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz and Rabbi Baruch of Mezhbizh. Baruch of Mezhbizh wrote the book Botzina DeNehora, a book with many teachings in his name, and there are many precious collections. The son of the Maggid of Mezritch was the teacher in Kabbalah of the author of the Tanya. The author of the Tanya received Kabbalah from him. He learned Kabbalah with him for eight or nine months. He was a mighty, mighty Kabbalist, Rabbi Avraham, Rabbi Avraham the Angel. He was [unclear] in Kabbalah in such a way that it's impossible to understand his Kabbalah at all. In the book Chesed LeAvraham there is a teaching from Rabbi David of Mikolayiv [unclear], in the middle of the book.

1:00:01 There is [unclear], Mashmia Shalom, of Rabbi Shalom Shachna of Probisht, at the end of the book; and there is Rabbi David of Mikolayiv - it depends which edition it was. A nice new edition, if you know it. There, actually, there are all kinds of novel teachings that do this. And with all this, the Baal Shem Tov once said to the Maggid: 'This is the difference between me and you, only in this: I need to think a thought, and it is done, and you need to think, and pray, and that it be His will.'

1:00:26 That is how it looks, as you know. Rabbi Naftali Katz, author of Smichas Chachamim, and you've heard of him, in Istanbul - he was a mighty genius. One day he wrote an amulet for Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polonne. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen was a grandson of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli, [unclear] Ostropoli. Once he brought the Baal Shem Tov an amulet, and the Baal Shem Tov opened the amulet and saw that Rabbi Naftali Katz composed this whole amulet at night, after he had been fasting, that inside ice he writes the [unclear].

1:01:00 So the Baal Shem Tov remarked, 'I can write such an amulet after eating and sitting [unclear].' That is how he spoke of his greatness in Kabbalah and his power - understand, in the Baal Shem Tov, this, his disciples were very, very, very awesome. Today no one [unclear] of the Torah - they don't understand at all what the path of the Baal Shem Tov is, what he even wanted, what he even embraced. Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac - [unclear] - Safrin of Komarno, author of the Shulchan HaTahor; have you seen the Shulchan HaTahor? See what the Shulchan Aruch is - see the book Shulchan HaTahor, see what novel halachic insights he has - things that no halachic authority can understand; he writes things like that - these are awesome halachic insights.

1:01:37 He brings all kinds of proofs from the Rishonim, things about the path of the Baal Shem Tov, about the views of the Baal Shem Tov, about the practices of the Baal Shem Tov, of the Baal Shem Tov, and he was severely strict not to put his feet down on the floor before washing hands. He was extremely strict about it, with [unclear] caution - [unclear] washing hands, not even to stand. Even though [unclear] prohibition by strict law, and so on, but he was strict about it - as we once brought about Potocki, [unclear].

1:02:01 But understand, understand how far the practices of the Baal Shem Tov went. These are strict practices they kept, and [unclear] kept this practice, perhaps more because of the Baal Shem Tov. Now I'll tell you another story. A bit more, that's it, we need to finish. This is only for the hilula. As it's the hilula - that's how great our tzaddikim are. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polonne, the author of the book Toldos Yaakov Yosef and also Tzafnas Paneach, and also Ben Poras Yosef, questions and answers, [unclear], Tzafnas Paneach and Ben Poras Yosef.

1:02:40 They tell about him that he did not want to draw close to the Baal Shem Tov at all, at all, at all, in any way, but in his time there used to go Rabbi Yaakov of Anipoli, and there was Rabbi Shmerel of [unclear]. He was one of the greatest disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, and many did not know him. He brought a very beautiful novel teaching. He said that a person who has foreign thoughts during prayer certainly stumbled with forbidden foods.

1:03:09 Certainly, certainly - that's what he said. He said that whoever prays the Amidah with kavanah can be calm that the Holy One, blessed be He, will not [unclear] forbidden foods into his mouth. The Holy One, blessed be He, will not [unclear]. But of course, [unclear] - everyone still needs to check, and all that - this does not exempt, but it is measure for measure: you put into the food you give to your [unclear] - dirt, the Holy One, blessed be He, too, against this, will put in dirt - it is measure for measure.

1:03:38 The holy Baal Shem Tov said [unclear], because then they shouted to the Toldos Yaakov Yosef, 'If you knew what you have in the generation, you would go on foot.' So when they said this to the Toldos Yaakov Yosef, he got angry: 'What are they saying about me? The [unclear] of Polonne, the [unclear] of Ostra, a grandson of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli - that I should go to him on foot? I should go to him on foot?' They said to him, 'Do you know what you have in the generation? And you sit like this - you sit in Polonne and you don't go?'

1:04:04 And he did not agree. Once he did not agree. Once he received - there came to him [unclear], one of the disciples, and said to him, 'I'm marrying off my daughter to a disciple of a certain rabbi.' He says to him, 'Where?' He says to him, 'In Mezhbizh.' 'Who is this rabbi?' 'He is [unclear] - the Baal Shem Tov.' 'There? No, I'm not coming.' He says to him, 'You are the rabbi, the rabbi - it's the wedding of... I'm your disciple.'

1:04:31 He said to him, 'Fine, I'll come. Arrange a room for me for the chuppah. I go out, I come in; put me in one place, and there I [unclear]; don't take me out of there. I'm going out to the wedding, after all.' He came there. The Baal Shem Tov was at the chuppah; he began to tell about their rabbi - [unclear], I told him - who Rabbi Yaakov Yosef is and how great a genius he is; he began to tell him, and Rabbi Yaakov Yosef was on the way. On the way. Suddenly Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, as his praise is being said, stopped at the door, at the window, to listen - [unclear].

1:05:00 'Your rabbi is so great, such a tzaddik, but he has something that he has not yet rectified.' So he says, 'Maybe - what is this? How does he say such a thing about me? How does he [unclear]?' And one who told a lot about the Baal Shem Tov: the book Doresh Tov, of Rabbi Yeshayah of Yanov, and Rabbi Yeshayah of Yanov too - you've surely heard - he was one of the great disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Yeshayah of Yanov. He would learn eighteen pages every day. He was a rare genius, mighty, mighty - the son of Rabbi Yosef.

1:05:29 He was the teacher of Rabbi Tzvi Rashmiri - he was Rabbi Tzvi Rashmiri; afterwards he married - Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin married his second wife, the daughter of Rabbi Tzvi Rashmiri - his wife, so to speak. From there also came the glorious Ruzhin dynasty. Ruzhin, where there were more great teachers. Rabbi Yisrael of Chortkov was the teacher of the Maharam Shapira of Lublin. The son of Rabbi Dovid Moshe of Chortkov, the son of Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin. He has the book Ginzei Yisrael and [unclear] Yisrael. Novel insights on the Shas, He was a mighty, mighty genius. Everyone [unclear] about him. Rabbi Yisrael of Chortkov.

1:06:03 Okay, now where were we? No - he hasn't rectified, no, hasn't rectified. Not yet rectified, not yet rectified. He was in some fast from Shabbos to Shabbos, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef - it was also Tisha B'Av that week - he wanted to make some tikkun, something; he had some tikkun to do, some Kabbalah thing, and an old man came to him and persuaded him to eat and break his fast from Shabbos to Shabbos. So Rabbi Yaakov Yosef took this apple and made a blessing on it, and then he remembered that he was fasting, and so the blessing would not be in vain, he ate from the apple, and so he left it, and he, as it were, cancelled his fast.

1:06:42 He felt as if the whole world [unclear] for him, and he fell into sorrow and sadness over this. Like - how, how did I not - I should have slipped away and not eaten from the apple. Now his whole fast, [unclear] - that he fell in this, as if he did nothing - he did everything, he stopped fasting from Shabbos to Shabbos, and then [unclear] an apple - nothing happened to him. But he had sorrow from this, and from this sorrow a great blemish came about in the upper worlds, said the Baal Shem Tov.

1:07:08 And everything he did was overturned, and his roots, actually, were up, and his tree with its [unclear] down - everything [unclear]. And if he wants to set his tree right, he needs to come to him. And then, when he heard this, he immediately went in to the Baal Shem Tov and held on like this - and that was a very easy drawing near. There was one more stubborn: that is Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov.

1:07:34 Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov had a son named Rabbi Moshe of Zvhil. Rabbi Moshe of Zvhil was the father of Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zvhil. He was the father of Rabbi Moshe of Zvhil, the father of Rabbi Mordechai of Zvhil, the father of Rabbi Shlomo of Zvhil - Rabbi Shlomo of Zvhil, the famous tzaddik. Rabbi Shlomo of Zvhil had a very great brother named Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zvhil, his [unclear] brother. And he, actually, as we said, is a descendant of Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zvhil. Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zvhil is the son of Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych.

1:08:02 Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych, who [unclear] of Rabbi Yosef Spravedliver, and Rabbi Yosef Spravedliver [unclear] Rabbi Moshe of [unclear]. That was his teacher. Someone came to me and showed me a picture of some tzaddik. He said to me, 'Do you know him?' I said to him, 'You know - his picture.' I said to him, 'But nobody knows him.' I said to him, 'He was a chazzan at the Kabbalists' yeshiva; Rabbi Yaakov Levi was his name.' Wow. He said to me, 'Yes.'

1:08:27 He said to me, but nobody knows this. I said to him, yes, I know. I also have a picture of him. So he says, [unclear]? I said, yes, [unclear]. I have a photo album that I have been putting together since the age of 13 and a half, an album that holds thousands of very rare pictures of tzaddikim, so rare that there are none like them. And with Hashem's help, I hope it will be ready. And for another shiur I will bring it, you will be able to go through it and look - it rectifies the eyes, it is kedushah, something special.

1:08:56 At 13 and a half I was learning [unclear], for years and years. For we have a very great bond of love with the Pnei Yehoshua. The book Pnei Yehoshua is a book I said with tears of excitement at the novel insights of the Pnei Yehoshua. These are insights of tears, because this book - he writes in his introduction. In the introduction he writes that he composed this book [unclear] the fire that happened. He composed it - 'I went over it thirty-six times, I went over [unclear]' - because I went through this book.

1:09:22 And what humility - thirty-six times, no more. Today people say, this one finished it so many times, that one finished it so many times. He says that he was in a fire, and his wife and his daughter were burned in it, and he took it upon himself to compose this book once he got out of there. Therefore his view in his novellae on Tractate Shabbos, page 30, he explains that Rabbah [unclear] a humorous word [unclear], and he says that these are words of Aggadah. These are words of Aggadah, Midrashim. So that is why he writes in the introduction: I do not mean to touch the Midrashim or these things, but only to engage in the complicated sugyos. And that is it, that is the book Pnei Yehoshua.

1:09:53 To engage in complicated matters, in the complicated sugyos - all these things are what the Pnei Yehoshua deals with. And the way of the Pnei Yehoshua, and the view of the Pnei Yehoshua is - that is, not to go into the Aggados, these things, in order to guide more into Torah learning, they also know that this too is neglect of Torah study, and [unclear]; to learn halachah - that is the main thing, that is the most important, to learn halachah, to learn the Beis Yosef, the Tur, the Shulchan Aruch, to learn these things; the main thing is to learn Gemara, Talmud, you know all of it.

1:10:20 Now, once Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov passed away at the age of 55. He was called up to the Torah, and what came out for him was 'Behold, your days are approaching to die'. He said, that's it, I am going. He passed away that same day. So they went and came, and he said that he was so holy that he could have gone up to heaven in a whirlwind. But he left five cedars: Rabbi Yosef of Yampol, Rabbi Zev of Zbarazh, Rabbi Mordechai of Kremenitz, Rabbi Yitzchak of Radvil and Rabbi Moshe of Zvhil.

1:10:49 'The five cedars', he called them. They were all holy and pure, awesome geniuses, awesome; they have tremendous insights on the Torah. Whoever has heard the books knows how tremendous they were. He was holy in guarding the covenant, very, very much. He never had a nocturnal impurity, he never saw anything; he was very, very, very holy and awesome, to the point that Rebbe Elimelech said: if they tell me that a button fell off the garment of the Maggid of Zlotchov, I would give all the wealth in the world to return the button to him, because through the coat he wears, he draws life-force to eighty thousand angels in heaven.

1:11:19 Now, [unclear] his gartel. Meaning, and if a Jew tells him he wants to give tefillin to a Jew who has none, to a poor man, I would not give to him, he says. I would give for the button of the Maggid of Zlotchov. So much is his button [unclear], as it were... This is what the Rebbe Reb Melech said about the Maggid of Zlotchov. And how frightening - it is no simple thing. Okay, listen to what a turn of events there was. Now, the Baal Shem Tov very much wanted the Maggid of Zlotchov to draw close to him.

1:11:49 In general, Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych, his father, was the tzaddik of the generation, and Rabbi Tzvi of [unclear] - he says that he toiled and labored to reach it by himself. There is the Degel Machaneh Yehudah, for I wrote about this on Parshas Va'eira in our book. The Degel Machaneh Yehudah, Parshas Va'eira - there we expanded on the level of the soul, how much a person who is the lowest soul can rise and be elevated higher and higher, and we brought this as proof. Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych - Rabbi Tzvi of [unclear] brought about him that he was the lowest soul in the generation, and he toiled and labored through the power of prayer, toiling to become the tzaddik of the generation.

1:12:21 Rabbi [unclear], the lowest soul, toiled and labored to become the tzaddik of the generation, [unclear], he merited to become [unclear]. That is Rabbi [unclear]. [unclear] Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov, may his merit protect us. There was one day on which he heard that there was a bris, and they asked him to be sandek. He said, shall I go, shall I not go - and he decided to go. And when he decided to go, who saw this with divine inspiration?

1:12:48 The Baal Shem Tov. He traveled after him, followed him, stopped his wagon, and said to him, where are you going? He said [unclear]. He said, have you heard of Yisrael of Mezhbizh? So he said to him, I have heard. He said to him, come to me - that is me. He said to him, I don't want to come to you, I have my own way - that is what he said to the Baal Shem Tov to his face.

1:13:13 And he traveled on, to the house of the bris, the bris milah. While he went to the house of the bris milah, he sat there as sandek and so on, but the Baal Shem Tov arrived there; they invited him to stay in the house of some wealthy man. He went to the wealthy man's house. The wealthy man's wife was about to give birth, having a hard labor. She was having a hard time giving birth. By the way, a woman having a hard labor - to take a magnet and place it [unclear] right, and the segulah [unclear] quick-quick, [unclear].

1:13:39 Now, he went there [unclear], he gave in. By the way, the Baal Shem Tov sits [unclear] and says to the wealthy man, give me this room next door. He said to him, but here there is a great Rav, so how can I give you? He did not yet know about the Baal Shem Tov. 'Give me a room [unclear].' So there was the room where the Maggid was, and in the room right next to it was the Baal Shem Tov - they were next to each other, and the Maggid does not know that the Baal Shem Tov is in the room here, he does not know.

1:14:07 This was told by Rabbi Shlomo of Zvhil; he told this story. May his merit protect us. [unclear], and who already knows who will live, who will die, who will complete his year and who will not - he [unclear] and came into the Land. He went with Rabbi Yisrael of [unclear], There is the beis midrash of the father of Rabbi Yisrael [unclear], where he learned. It is there, very, very old, really something. Of the Divrei David of Chortkov, the father of Rabbi Yisrael of Chortkov, the teacher of the Maharam Shapiro of Lublin. He said that whoever takes a kvitel and a pidyon from a Jew - a tradition in the name of the Maggid, from the Baal Shem Tov.

1:14:35 Someone - this is in the name of Rabbi Avraham Yaakov of Sadigura - also kept this practice; it is the way of the great tzaddikim. It is possible to know, but who knows - which one, I don't know. He says that when one makes a pidyon - whoever takes a note and a pidyon must pray for you a whole year, and it is a responsibility. You take on responsibility for a whole year, for a note and a pidyon, as it were, no matter how much you brought, it doesn't matter, it makes no difference. That is, it does not need to be a large or a small sum. A note and a pidyon - you have a responsibility, a year of prayer you take on.

1:15:01 A descendant of the holy seed, of Rabbi Menachem [unclear], a student of Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak of Lancut, the Chozeh of Lublin. In Chassidus there are many great and awesome ones, but one must know how to learn. There is the Zos Zikaron of the Chozeh of Lublin, the Divrei Emes of the Chozeh of Lublin, Rabbi Meshulam Feivush of Zbarazh, author of the Yosher Divrei Emes. There are many books. The Rokeach in general - the Rokeach, Rabbi Elazar of Worms - the whole book Rokeach, they say it came before the Baal Shem Tov, because there are many things there in the Rokeach that are like the contemplation of the world of the Baal Shem Tov.

1:15:28 All kinds of things one must know how to learn, to understand it all. It is not a new path; it is a path we received from our fathers. It is simple to understand this. Now, the Maggid of Zlotchov, the wealthy man cries out: my wife needs to give birth, my wife is having a hard labor. So the Maggid of Zlotchov says, quickly, bring her here so she gives birth in my room. Quickly, bring her here. Okay, he goes out, runs to bring her, and he passes through the room of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov says to him, what are you doing?

1:15:54 'My wife needs to give birth.' 'Bring her so she gives birth here.' He said to him, but the Rav from here said that she should come here. He said to him, tell him that he too should come in here, I am waiting for him. He wants the Maggid of Zlotchov, and he does not let go of him. He connected him in the Palace of Song too, the Maggid of Zlotchov. Okay, there is also the Rebbe of Modzitz, the Imrei Shaul of Modzitz, who said a niggun can There is Modzitz Chassidus. Do you know what Modzitz Chassidus is?

1:16:19 Their tzaddikim are of distinguished lineage. Descended from Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh? How, do you know them? Modzitz is of distinguished lineage, Modzitz - their lineage goes to the Baal Shem Tov's student, his name was Rabbi Shlomo Zalman, of the Baal Shem Tov. - How? It seems. The Baal Shem Tov's student - his name was Rabbi Shlomo Zalman, he got a blessing on Simchas Torah.

1:16:46 The Baal Shem Tov said to him, what have you come for? He said to him, children. He said, [unclear]. And then were born to him Rabbi Tzvi, Rabbi Zev and Rabbi [unclear]. From Rabbi Tzvi came Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir. Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir is a grandson, the son of Rabbi Tzvi, son of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman, the student of the Baal Shem Tov. Just as there is Modzitz, there is Lelov too - Rabbi David of Lelov, Rabbi David of Lelov. Rabbi David of Lelov said, do not call me the tzaddik of the generation if I love my son more than I love any one of the Jewish people.

1:17:14 I am not the tzaddik of the generation, that is no longer me. That's it. And that's the end of it. They said to him, you are the tzaddik of the generation. He said, I love my son a little more than another Jew. I am no longer the tzaddik of the generation. The tzaddik of the generation wants to love all of Israel as one, completely, one - unity and absolute completeness. Not to love this one more than that one. [unclear], so yes. There is the Divrei Yechezkel of Shinova, and also when he was a great forceful leader, [unclear].

1:17:41 The Baal Shem Tov says to him, okay, bring him in here. He said to him, what, bring him in here? In short, [unclear] between them. He says to him, okay, tell this Rav that he hears the Kedushah of the angels in heaven, he hears 'Holy, holy' that the angels say - tell him, the proof is that I see this with divine inspiration. He was shaken by this. So he goes in, he says this, he says - he was startled: who knows that I hear this Kedushah of the angels? Nobody knew this. So he said to him, who told you this? He said to him, there is some Rav inside.

1:18:06 He said to him, okay, I don't know this Rav; he sees, but I am not impressed by it. So the Baal Shem Tov said to him, tell him that what he hears is by my power, [unclear] under the same roof. Okay, so he told him this; he said, okay, listen, it doesn't convince me, I don't want to come, I ask you, leave me alone, let me be, I don't want to come. Okay, that is what I said - we won't get along.

1:18:31 The Baal Shem Tov, in any case - since it is not working out with him, left him. He doesn't want to come close - I, by force? In short, in the end they brought in the woman in labor, the mother, and she went in to the Maggid of Zlotchov there, telling you all this is long already, it would hold you up, in the end they went in, and she gave birth [unclear] the Baal Shem Tov, but still the Maggid of Zlotchov did not draw close to the Baal Shem Tov. Immediately he grabbed the wagon and ran away from there.

1:18:57 After that - everything. The Baal Shem Tov travels after him. There is a kavanah that the tzaddikim know, whoever knows - I know, there are angels appointed over the forests. In the forest there are fearsome things in the forest. There is the forest of Grakov. The Grakov forest is a forest that has spirits and demons in it. Today it no longer exists. Once I asked some non-Jew whether it exists, this forest. He told me that a park is built there. We did not see the forest there.

1:19:22 I went there; he said to me, see how [unclear] here - that's it, it's gone. They destroyed it; some building is already built there, [unclear]. It was a forest that whoever went in would not come out of it, ever. He would never come out. I once went into such a forest, there, into some forest, to learn a bit, to sit sometimes - how nice it is to learn in a forest. There is quiet, a settled mind - tzaddikim, everything like that - quiet. The Rosh, the Rokeach, all of them - all the Rishonim, once upon a time. The Rambam sat - there is some forest in Spain where I once was, when I was small, where the Rivash was - the Rivash, Rabbi Yitzchak bar Sheshet, and Rabbi Yehudah of Barcelona, a place they attribute to them, that they were there - it is a building inside a forest,

1:20:05 where they would sit, in this forest. There is Rashi's chair that was in Troyes, there in France. Rashi would once seclude himself in the valleys, go and sit there. Where would they sit? In the city there are the murderous non-Jews. So where do you go? You seclude yourself in places like these, to sit and learn Torah. There is another place - Rabbi Shimon sat in the cave, and sat [unclear]. The Baal Shem Tov, from the age of four, secluded himself in the forests; every night he sat in a different place. Then Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, revealed himself to him, at the age of six, he revealed himself to him.

1:20:34 And once there was... In a moment I'll come back to what I think I'm doing here. Once there came to him some figure of an old man in the forest; it said to him, child, aren't you afraid, you are alone, there is snow here. He said to him, go away from here, get out. That was the Baal Shem Tov. So they said to him, how were you not afraid that maybe it was Eliyahu HaNavi? He said, Eliyahu HaNavi would not frighten me. There is a tradition that when a figure reveals itself to a person, if it frightens you, it is not from the side of holiness; if it does not frighten you, you feel good with it, it is a sign that it is Eliyahu or someone [unclear] - what is it?

1:21:05 If you are afraid, then it is not Eliyahu; Eliyahu would not come to trouble you. If it is a dead person or someone from the World of Tohu, then he will frighten you very much - 'how did I see such a figure here,' that you are afraid. The Baal Shem Tov - they said to him, how do you say it? Whoever frightens me cannot be from the side of holiness. Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, learned with the Baal Shem Tov until the age of 13. They learned together. At 13 he said to him, perhaps you think that I am your Rav, since I have already taught you - he said to him, I am not your Rav, your Rav is Achiyah HaShiloni, he will be your Rav.

1:21:34 And then Achiyah HaShiloni - Eliyahu HaNavi called him - he put tefillin on him for the first time. Achiyah HaShiloni put tefillin on the Baal Shem Tov, the Baal Shem Tov learned with Achiyah HaShiloni, and he was a study partner of Eliyahu HaNavi - the Baal Shem Tov - in the forests. Now there are [unclear] of Torah there, he writes explicitly: 'my teacher and master, Achiyah HaShiloni', that is what he wrote, about 'my teacher Achiyah HaShiloni' - he was [unclear], and Achiyah was a student of King David, and so on - David from Shmuel, Shmuel from Eli, and Pinchas, and from Yehoshua.

1:21:59 And there was already a time when the Baal Shem Tov saw that the Maggid of Zlotchov was traveling through a certain forest. Now this forest was a very big, dense forest. [unclear] the forests there - the forests there are no game. I was once with someone, another student; we traveled together, we were in some place, we went into a forest, we were there, we stopped there inside the forest, and suddenly I look - I notice, ten meters in front of me, I see a bear.

1:22:27 A bear, the size of the bookcase there, something like that; now it still had its back to us. I said, it doesn't see me. Suddenly. Because before that, where we stopped, robbers stopped us on the road, so the driver had to drive against the traffic; there were robbers, all kinds of robbers stopped us, so he almost drove into them - something crazy, It depends where you travel there; you need to know about it. There is a place there that has writings, which belonged to Rabbi Adam Baal Shem and Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem.

1:22:54 [unclear] attribute them - these are the writings in Kaminetz, which they received [unclear] by revelation, and they hid them in some mountain, so they say. [unclear] all kinds of writings. There are writings that, even [unclear], there is a revelation of writings. There are rare writings that are only revealed - like the Scroll of the Temple. It had to be handed over standing, [unclear] Shmuel [unclear] to King David. So he stood in order to receive the Scroll of the Temple. All kinds of things that are hidden away. Things that cannot be received or known - it is only through revelation, [unclear] such writings of the Baal Shem Tov.

1:23:22 He had special writings and hidden things that he traveled to receive, so all these places are very concealed and hidden places in the world - not everyone knows where these places are - these are places where the writings are. And then they told about Rabbi Nachman: he traveled to Kaminetz; they said to him, you are traveling for the writings of your grandfather? So he said, I don't need the writings, as it were, and he said, I have their revelation, I need to travel to them, all kinds of things like that. So in places - there are places there that are very dangerous, so there, suddenly we find this bear.

1:23:51 Now, I didn't grasp what kind of bear was there; there was a bear, and there was also a wolf, all kinds - a wolf there is this size. You think it's a donkey. It is really big - not a donkey - a wolf, or a horse, very big. Okay, we prayed there, a bit of Tehillim like that, a few things, a break, to see if maybe the [unclear] there would also go away - because it was impossible, they had closed this road. The whole forest is dense, dense, dense. It is impossible to pass through the forest at all.

1:24:16 A very tangled forest. So the Maggid of Zlotchov passed through with his horse and his wagon. The Baal Shem Tov made some kavanah, and he closed the forest in on him. And then he could not get out. They close the... there are angels appointed over the forest, that whoever is in the forest, either his time has come to go, or [unclear], he simply disappears [unclear]. They simply make him disappear. Or spirits, or things like that. He closed the forest in on him, and the Maggid of Zlotchov got stuck inside the forest.

1:24:44 And then suddenly he sees a figure far away, far, far away - a carriage standing like this, exactly opposite him. As if he wants to see whether he will cross over in his direction - because now I have closed the forest on you, and I will leave you to understand something [unclear]. So he moves forward in his direction, he moves toward the Baal Shem Tov. And then, when he gets close to him, a few meters away, when he recognizes him, he says to him, what - it's you?

1:25:09 You're here again. As if to say, it's you chasing me. So he said to him, if you want, I'll get you out of here - and come with me. He said to him, my father also knows this, he asked my father to teach me, and I will also get out of here; I don't want, for this, to become your student. The Baal Shem Tov said, okay, manage on your own - I can't begin anymore - get out of here on your own. And the Baal Shem Tov did like this - he just clapped hand to hand - all the ways opened; he saw the whole path to the end. The whole path to the other side.

1:25:34 And then the Baal Shem Tov travels, as if he goes along this path, to see if he will come after him on this path. After he saw that the Baal Shem Tov did this and the way broke open for him, the Baal Shem Tov - 'you stay here, I am going from here.' Now he wants to know if he will go on the path that he paved - he himself. So he turned around, he went toward the Baal Shem Tov, and then there became unity between them, and then he truly cleaved to the Baal Shem Tov, and so it was, they became the closest ones, and he also revealed to him all kinds of his secrets and his things, and so it was between them.

1:26:06 This way of theirs, of the Baal Shem Tov - for they say, the Baal Shem Tov and the tzaddikim, it is so much work on the inner self, to raise everyone to see the good that is in each and every one, in every Jew; he insisted on this so much, [unclear], that they not extinguish the light that is in every one of Israel, so much self-sacrifice over this, [unclear], over revealing the good that is in each one, which is the way of the holy Baal Shem Tov and of so many tzaddikim who labored and toiled over this, to reveal the good that is in each one of us.

1:26:40 May the Holy One, blessed be He, help that we merit to receive the... What? The Maggid said that there are a thousand questions on the Baal Shem Tov, so the Pnei Yehoshua sent him a letter, he said to him, I have a thousand questions. How now will you [unclear]? So he said, questions are on a human being, not on an angel. On an angel there are no questions. On a human being, yes; on an angel, no. Something like the Baal Shem Tov - a great merit. Whoever today wants to learn a lot about the ways of the Baal Shem Tov can learn in the book of the Rebbe of Komarno, the book of the Rebbe of Komarno, the Rebbe [unclear], [unclear] of Komarno.

1:27:13 There is also the book Ben Beisi of Rabbi Eliezer Tzvi of Komarno; these are also very wonderful books. His commentary on Tehillim - it is a segulah for [unclear], also for whoever wants. Ben Beisi - a segulah of Rabbi Eliezer Tzvi of Komarno. A bit of the Zohar Chai, the Heichal HaBerachah, the Toldos Yaakov Yosef; there is the Imrei Pinchas - wonderful books - the Midrash Pinchas, who once received wonderful advice from the Baal Shem Tov; there are also collections there, true stories - all the stories there are true.

1:27:37 The Chozeh of Lublin said all the stories about the Baal Shem Tov are true. Why? Even if he did not do it, it was in his power to do it. Even if it did not happen. They come only to say that each person should believe with complete faith, and absolute, to know that the holy Baal Shem Tov and these awesome tzaddikim are awesome, and living and enduring; and as the Rebbe, the Chelkas Yehoshua of Biala, says, he wrote at the end of his siddur, the Chelkas Yehoshua - they have 13 principles that Chassidim know, let's say: [unclear] and believes in the Baal Shem Tov and his students and [unclear] that one must believe with complete faith that in each and every generation there are tzaddikim on awesome levels that the Holy One, blessed be He, makes; that a person must toil and search, not like the world,

1:28:17 they think that everyone already knows everything. He thinks he knows, he is familiar, he heard, he saw. He must always be in renewal, to believe - these are awesome tzaddikim. May it be His will that the Holy One, blessed be He, help us, that we merit to see the good that is in each one of us. Amen. That we merit to receive the Torah with thunder and lightning. Amen. And to merit to see the light that breaks forth from each and every Jew. Amen. To draw close to Hashem, blessed be He, [unclear].

1:28:43 That we merit the complete geulah. Amen. That we merit the building of our Beis HaMikdash and our glory. Amen.