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The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 1,614 words · 7:22. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 "And whatever he does will succeed, and whatever he does will succeed." I'll explain this verse to you. I'll explain to you what it means. I'll explain it to you: "And whatever he does will succeed." You know, everyone talks about success in this world. They imagine that success is like the desires of this world - that is what's called success.
0:36 But true success is through Hashem. And when one succeeds in this world - his greatest success, in whatever he wants and succeeds at - it is only through Hashem. And with Yosef HaTzaddik, when he came there: "And Hashem was with Yosef, and he was a successful man" - so the Torah says of him. And where was he? "And he was in the house of his Egyptian master." That means it's the opposite of how the world thinks. A man who is a "successful man" - and he ended up in prison.
1:03 That is, the Torah teaches us that success is not about what standing you hold. Success is Who holds you up, Who is with you. Yosef HaTzaddik - the greatness of Yosef: when he was in the house of his Egyptian master, and the Holy One, blessed be He, was with him, He did not leave him. That lifted him up, and He was there with him.
1:27 Success - as it is written about Shimshon: "And the spirit of Hashem rushed upon him," and "The spirit of Hashem began to stir him in the camp of Dan, between Tzorah and Eshtaol." Success is the light of Hashem, blessed be He, that is with a person and gives him strength and hope. If a person wants to feel that he is successful, to know that he is successful, he needs to be full, full of hope, always. He doesn't break from anything. He knows that Hashem is with him. That is called success.
1:51 It is not a person who goes about without any Hashgachah pratis, who lives only within the materialism of this world, who doesn't pray to Hashem at all, and maybe he has more material things - but that is not called success at all according to the Torah. And so you will see that "whatever he does will succeed" - "will succeed" means that a person "did not walk in the counsel of the wicked, did not stand in the path of sinners, and did not sit in the seat of scoffers." He did not walk in all the ways of this world. So the world seemingly imagines it's like that - but it's the opposite: that a person did not walk on this path of the world's falsehood.
2:21 And in any case, even though he is alone, alone in the world - it even speaks in the singular: "Fortunate is the man who did not walk." "Fortunate is the man who did not walk" - it speaks of one person who did not walk. That is, this is the secret of the Lame One in Sippurei Maasiyos. The secret of the Lame One in Sippurei Maasiyos is Psalm 1 in Tehillim, which in fact hints at this whole world, at all the paths in this world: that there is only one way and one path, and that a person does not walk on all the crooked ways.
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2:54 He walks only on the path of sincerity and simplicity with Hashem, blessed be He. He knows that Hashem, blessed be He, is with him and at his side. This is the very, very greatest success of a person in this world: that he merits to turn to the King at all. And this is what our teacher the Ramban explains, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman: that the very act of turning to Hashem, blessed be He, in prayer is the greatest kindness and miracle. This is the greatest thanks - that one can turn to Him at all: to thank Hashem, blessed be He, for granting us to turn to the King at all. It doesn't matter whether the King answers or not; just that we merited to turn to the King.
3:26 That is the greatest kindness, and that is why it is called success. What is it? I'm saying. No, just to ask - you were speaking about...? - Ah, the Ramban. But what am I saying? What is the novelty here - I am coming to say that true success is closeness to Hashem. That is success. That is success - to serve Hashem. That is what it says about Shimshon: "to stir him in the camp of Dan." And here we see that this is success. Because the world imagines success only through materialism that is cut off from the Holy One, blessed be He.
3:54 A person has palaces, and buildings, and towers, and he may be a ruler, and ships, and orchards, and vineyards - he rules over the whole world - and they call that success. But Hashem is not with him. And now, like Yosef HaTzaddik, when he is in the house of his Egyptian master: "And Hashem was with Yosef, and he was a successful man." What would one say of a person who is a "successful man"? That everything stands firm for him. And where is he? It is not written, "and he was in a palace," "and he was among fields and vineyards," "and he had an orchard," "and he had..."
4:24 "And he was in the house of his Egyptian master." Thank you very much... There was a boy in Kfar Aza whose whole family was burned. He is the only one who survived. His bar mitzvah was on Parshas Vayeishev, the parshah of the week, two years ago, 5784. And I said this to them at the Shabbos chassan; everyone cried at what we said. May there be success. They are all gone, the whole family, the whole family. He was left with nothing. His aunt is raising him here in Rishon LeZion, and he was left the only one out of the whole family.
4:49 I told them this in the Rav's name: that this is what is called success today - even if I think he is alone, and he has no family and he has nothing, the Holy One, blessed be He, is with you - and that is called successful. Unbelievable. You know, you know, I always add to this what [name unclear] says, that he is alone - what [name unclear] says: "If a camp encamps against me" - and there are no hardships and no obstacles - "my heart will not fear."
5:17 But "if war rises up against me, in this I trust" - that is exactly the case here: war rose up against him and he was alone, the boy, and everything a person goes through in this world. All the hardships - you should know - the war and the hardships and the suffering are the greatest diamonds. They are the greatest gifts that the Holy One, blessed be He, gives a person. It forges him. "And this stumbling block is under your hand" - "a person does not truly grasp words of Torah unless he has first stumbled in them." Accept it with love.
5:43 Everything we see, we must always accept with love, and shine the light of Hashem, and know that all the constrictions - and it is written in Part 1, Torah 30; Rebbe Nachman writes that perceptions of G-dliness - "A bed of knives - with what is it cut? With the horn of a donkey. And does a donkey have a horn? And is there such a thing as a bed of knives?" What does the Gemara want to say? How can you uproot a bed of knives with a donkey's horn? It's not something logical. And then he begins to explain that perceptions of G-dliness cannot be attained except through many constrictions.
6:09 The more this thing is constricted, from cause to effect, from a higher intellect to a lower intellect - that is how it becomes possible to receive the vessels. And in this world, all the constrictions a person goes through - within them is clothed a very high light, which he cannot attain in any other way. And so, when a person accepts with love everything he goes through, he brings into himself far more revelation of G-dliness, and then he can come close to Hashem, blessed be He, in truth.
6:34 This is the whole true purpose in this world: that a person should contemplate that Hashem is present in every single thing, and then he will be able to come even closer to the Holy One, blessed be He. And that is called success. Success is when a person manages to break through all the barriers and all the obstacles. It is to know that behind every concealment stands Hashem, blessed be He, Himself. That is called "a successful man," and that is called "and whatever he does" - that he sees, in everything he does, that Hashem is with him.
6:58 That is called "and whatever he does will succeed." That he does not cut off his connection with Hashem. Also "Did you deal faithfully in business?" and also "Did you set fixed times for Torah?" - he sets fixed times for Torah, he sees Hashem - that is called success. Always strengthen yourselves in this: to cleave to Hashem, and not to do what is evil in the eyes of Hashem, but to do what is good and upright in His eyes. May we merit this, and so may it be His will, amen. "And a redeemer shall come to Zion."
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