The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הדרך היחידה לצאת מהצרות של הדור הגאון הינוקא בשיעור מטלטל בכנס לרגל ההוצא לאור של הספר אבן שלמה

6:54 Hashem, blessed be He, knows: not for my honor. I never asked for anything for this, and I wanted no honor. I hate honor, and I do not look at this world at all — at all. And baruch Hashem, when the Holy King hears tefillah, and He helps, and He does and will do — and baruch Hashem, we have seen that nature does not exist, and Hashem, blessed be He, hears and watches over His people Israel, and does not abandon His people Israel, and saves His people Israel — and this is only by the power of the holy Torah, which has favor before Him, blessed be He, so as to find favor in the eyes of the Holy King, the King of Judgment.

7:34 As everyone knows, at every time, with every shiur that was given, we went through many ordeals in this world. Usually, in the world, everyone who sits on a chair sits on the chair because of his father, because of his grandfather, because of his great-grandfather — that is how they sit on the chair. I came from nowhere; I come from a simple family, and from toil, and from effort, and from learning — that is what interested me: the four cubits of Torah and halachah, fear of Heaven, and aiming for the truth as it truly is.

8:15 Nothing else interested me. Over every word of Torah I wept to Hashem, over every chiddush, over every tefillah, that an eternal remembrance should be engraved here in the world. All day long I think about the last day; all the time I think about my purpose; all the time I set before my eyes the day on which I will have to leave this world. And all the time I think: what will I engrave in this world? And it is this arm — it is the hand that Hashem, blessed be He, gave me to raise holy students.

8:45 Always think it over in your minds. However much I speak and tell — that all the Torah we learned over all the years, and the shiurim that were given — it was not only on account of the difficulty, on account of much persecution and many ordeals — for of course, when the first shiurim began, they began at the age of 17, and I met with several of the Sages of the generation and several more of the generation's great ones, and I went through tests and questions, and again disputes and many troubles.

9:24 And every student I have today is a student who sat and investigated and examined me very, very well, for after all, he did not accept me because he saw that I am the son of a Rebbe, or that my grandfather was a Rebbe; he accepted me because of the Torah I gave him. I gave no one money, and I gave no one attention. I gave them a way of life and paths of life. I gave them da'as and fear of Hashem.

9:50 People who changed from one extreme to the other. People who came out of denial and heresy to fear of Heaven; people who left the vanities of this world and returned to the Holy King; people who cast away their idols of silver and gold and returned to Hashem; people who left the Sitra Achra, grave deeds, grave sins, and returned to the Holy King. And this my own eyes saw, and not a stranger's — how people drew near to the Holy King and returned in teshuvah before the Holy King.

10:20 And this would be my remembrance out of all my toil. I ask for nothing from Hashem; I do not serve Him for the sake of the World to Come, and I do not ask Him for this world. Hashem, blessed be He, knows, at every time and moment: the whole purpose, the true and eternal one, is to die for the sanctification of His Name, blessed be He, and to reveal His kingship in every place and from every place. If we do not engrave in this world the way of Hashem, if we do not engrave in this world the pure fear, the true, eternal truth — what is left for us in this world?

10:53 We need to understand, in this last generation, in which opinions have multiplied so much and disputes have multiplied so much — and today we see that the Sages teach us, in Rashi and in Tosafos, in Tractate Berachos, page 17, about learning Torah not for its own sake — a person who learns, Heaven forbid, in order to taunt, in order to be proud, in order to be called "Rabbi" — that is the whole aim of his Torah learning.

11:23 Heaven forbid, better for him had he not been created. And Rabbeinu the Ritva writes there, on Yoma, page 73 — page 72 — that, Heaven forbid, this person is called wicked, as it is written in Sefer Chassidim, siman 289, that he learns Torah not for its own sake — in order to taunt, in order to be proud — as Tosafos write in Taanis, page 7, that the whole aim of this learning is to taunt and to be proud and to be called "Rabbi" — he has no aim, no purpose in this world.

11:52 He writes there in Sefer Chassidim that he is called wicked, Heaven forbid — that he learns only in order to taunt, only in order to find the not-good — this person is called wicked, Heaven forbid. And to our sorrow, how these have multiplied in the world over time. Many, baruch Hashem, say Torah, but Torah has to be lishmah, for its own sake; the Torah has to be pure, refined, so that it finds favor in the eyes of Hashem.

12:20 If we do not engrave in this world a clean Torah, if we do not engrave in this world clean, fine flour — the Torah is the highest thing in the world. The Torah is the cleanest thing in the world. When Hashem, blessed be He, gave the Jewish people the Torah, He gave us the merit to hear Your word. And when we touch the Holy King, touch the garments of the King — if we do not grasp and understand that the greatness of the Torah of life is the highest thing...

12:49 Rabbeinu the Rambam says, in Hilchos Talmud Torah, chapter 1, halachah 8, that every person — one who suffers, the sick, the poor, all of them, the rich — must take their share in the honor and learning of the Torah every day: to sit and learn and engage in Torah. Tosafos learned this in Sanhedrin, page 7, in Tractate Shabbos, page 31 — that at all times a person must set fixed times for Torah — what Tosafos discuss at length in Sanhedrin, on page 7, at length — Rav Hamnuna Saba — we see the greatness and the importance of engaging in Torah, and that a person's judgment begins with Torah learning.

13:23 But the importance of Torah learning is how he learns the Torah. Not for nothing did the Shulchan Aruch rule, in siman 238 — he ruled in Orach Chaim — that a person who learns Torah every day, a person who sets fixed times for Torah, but did not manage to complete his learning — then he should set himself a time at night; he should make it up by day; at night he should learn, only so that he makes up what he missed before Hashem, blessed be He, since he did not keep the set time and the hour for Torah learning.

13:49 Hashem, blessed be He, gave time, and wanted His creatures to free their time and engrave Torah in their time. There is one way to engrave Torah in time: one learns the Torah in time — "for they are our life and the length of our days" — and so one engraves the Torah in time. And there are those who engrave the Torah in writing, on the written page: "And Hashem said to Moshe: Write this as a remembrance in the book, and place it in the ears of Yehoshua" — the meaning of learning the Written Torah and learning the Oral Torah, in order to engrave the Torah in this world.

14:25 And when one engraves the Torah in this world and reflects on its importance — if only people knew, as the Biur Halachah writes in siman 156, if they knew the importance and the greatness and the engagement of the Torah, that one must sit and engage in it every day — for this is the gravest sin there is: not engaging in Torah. As the Yerushalmi writes, in Tractate Chagigah, chapter 1, halachah 7, in the name of Rabbi Chiya, from Rabbi Yochanan, from Rabbi Yirmiyah, that all the while the Holy One, blessed be He, forgave the Jewish people for idolatry, for forbidden relations, for everything He forgave them — for their spurning of the Torah, Hashem, blessed be He, did not let them off.

15:05 For this — that they spurned the Torah and did not learn the holy Torah — for this Hashem, blessed be He, was angry, and it was hard for Him to forgive the Jewish people for this — for not engaging in Torah and not learning Torah. But we see that according to the words of our master, the Shulchan Aruch, the greatness, the importance of Torah learning — that a person learns every day; even if he misses some of his learning time by day, he makes it up at night; if he misses at night, he makes it up by day — this is only to show Hashem, blessed be He, that there is nothing greater or more exalted than his learning.

15:44 And today, when we do not merit even to compose works in kedushah, to compose works as they should be, to hear Your word, and also to learn Torah in the time there is, to engrave the Torah in truth, so that the Torah brings us close to Hashem, blessed be He. If the Sages said that jealousy, desire and honor take a person out of the world — "ha'adam", the person — the Sages did not say they take "ha'ish", the man, out of the world; the Sages did not say they take out the young man, nor that they take out the student — they take "ha'adam" out of the world.

16:18 If there is jealousy in a person, if there is desire in a person, if there is honor in a person — even if he is "ha'adam", even if he is the man of the greatest stature there is — the moment he falls into these places, he at once goes out of this world. He loses his whole world — both this world and the World to Come. Nothing remains in him that is of purpose, nothing that is true, nothing that is eternal.

16:44 The thing of purpose and of truth is only when one learns the Torah out of kedushah. One can also say a chiddush on this: that because Hashem, blessed be He, saw that we do not merit to learn the Torah lishmah in the time we have, and do not merit to engrave the Torah as it should be in this world — that the pages have no cleanness, cleanness for kedushah, writing everything in kedushah. They say that the grandsons of Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz — the Slavita press — the holy Chozeh of Lublin marveled and once said that their printing is holy with the holiness of a Torah scroll.

17:20 Whoever touches the Slavita printing — the holiness of learning from a sefer of the Slavita press — whatever a person learns, whether from the Zohar, whether from Tehillim, from a Chumash, from anything a person says — the Slavita press is holy at the level of holiness of a Torah scroll. That is how he put it. Why? Because they were holy, and they did all their deeds for the sake of Heaven, and they had no foreign thought about this world, about their honor, about their money — only for the Name of the King of kings.

17:52 Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz said about this — about the holy ones that they were — he had inherited — he had a Sefer Chassidim, which had been looked into by his teacher and Rebbe, the holy Baal Shem Tov. When he looked into this sefer he said: The holy eyes of my teacher, who learned in these letters for the sake of Heaven — that is all the kedushah and fear of Heaven that I absorbed from this sefer. The kedushah and the fear, and the joy, of our sitting and learning and engaging in Torah.

18:22 Today, in this time in which we find ourselves, in so weak a generation — Hashem, blessed be He, saw this, and among the enactments instituted for them by Moshe Rabbeinu and Ezra the Scribe, in Tractate Bava Kamma, page 82, is that they should read from the Torah on Monday, Thursday and Shabbos — for the root of the Torah is that we receive it from above, from Heaven. The Torah reading, when we read from the Torah — one can find a hint in this: that Hashem, blessed be He, saw in this — as Rabbeinu the Reishis Chochmah writes in Totzaos Chaim, in chapter 5, that the whole matter of going up to the Torah — that a person should take care to go up to the Torah once a month; when he goes up to the Torah once a month —

19:01 it is enough when he goes up to the Torah once a month — it is in order to attach himself and his very being to the bond of life, to the supernal kedushah. By going up to the Torah he cleaves to the source of kedushah, he cleaves to the Tree of Life. When he goes up to the Torah, when a person goes up to the Torah, there it is for His Name, blessed be He, because the scribe's writing itself was already done for His Name, blessed be He. So here it makes no difference — even if a person has no intention, whether he reads or does not read — since the scroll was made in kedushah, it is called learning lishmah.

19:31 The learning of this learning, when a person goes up to the Torah — then it is called learning for His Name, blessed be He. So too Rabbeinu Yair Bacharach brought in Mekor Chaim, siman 136 — he brought this importance, of this greatness and stature. And so too Rabbeinu, in his sefer — Rabbeinu, Maran the Chida — in siman 5, wrote that to go up to the Torah once a month is a matter and a very great obligation for everyone — to go up to the Torah once a month, to go up to the Torah.

20:01 That is why people go, and go up to read from the Torah and to hear the Torah reading — because the Torah there is clean, and there is no blemish in this Torah, and there is nothing in this Torah that is not for His Name, blessed be He. And therefore the obligation of reading shnayim mikra v'echad targum, in siman 285, is of great importance, and it rises above all other learning. For the learning of the Torah reading is this: if we do not merit to learn Torah lishmah during the week, and if we do not read from writings that are holy, then when we read from a Torah scroll that was written for His Name, blessed be He — written for the sake of His Name, blessed be He, in kedushah, by a worthy scribe,

20:43 the holiness of a Torah scroll is there — then there we receive the source of our life-force, meriting to learn the Torah lishmah, in kedushah, in purity; and we learn and teach, and so the power flows down, and the greatness of the Torah, into the world — where all are equal before Hashem, blessed be He, for the honor of Hashem. When we see the virtue—that in every generation they were particular about it—our master the Rosh would go up for the fourth aliyah; our master the holy Ari— and so Maran the Chida brings in Machazik Berachah, siman 282, that the practice of our master the Arizal was to go up to the Torah— he would always go up for the sixth aliyah; that was his practice in going up.

21:23 Our master the Rosh wrote in Moed Katan, chapter 3, siman 28, that Rabbeinu Tam was particular to go up for the third aliyah. In the responsa of the Tzemach Tzedek HaKadmon, siman 56, he brought that with the third aliyah it was the custom to honor leaders and distinguished people. Right after the Kohen and the Levi they would call up an important man, someone who is a rav, a great man, a man of stature—they would honor him with the third aliyah. And that was the practice of many of the great Sages, always to go up to the Torah.

21:52 We see that with the holy Baal Shem Tov and with the holy Maggid, in Chassidus the practice was more to go up for maftir, but we see that the Rosh would go up fourth, and Rabbeinu Tam would go up for the third aliyah. We see the importance, the virtue of an aliyah, of every aliyah to the Torah. There is an early sefer, Avodas HaKodesh—Avodas HaTamid, the early Avodas HaTamid, that is its name. He writes that whatever aliyah a person goes up for when an aliyah comes his way, at the time it comes his way— not that he bought it specially, or that he is able to buy at a certain time— what came his way is words of prophecy from Heaven, that they watch over his deeds, over everything he does, and it hints to him—

22:34 his aliyah—everything that he will go through. Such is the custom in Tzfas, in the synagogue of the Mahari Abuhav: when they went up to the Torah, they would see everything that was going to come upon them, solely from that aliyah. And of course they did not need to be afraid of it, but we see that it is a virtue of very, very, very great importance, that they were particular about it. And so too our master the Magen Avraham brought, in siman 428 and in siman 282, about the virtue and the importance of one who goes up to the Torah— that the practice was to go up to the Torah for the third aliyah, which is a very important thing; but in every aliyah to the Torah that they customarily go up for, there is in it

23:11 the honor of the Torah and the guarding of the Torah. According to the words of our master the Arizal, in the discourse on Shacharis of Shabbos, based on the Zohar, Shelach Lecha, page 164a, in the name of Rabbi Kruspedai, who says that the sixth aliyah, the Tikkun of Yesod, is an aliyah that rises above and is greater than all the other aliyos. That is the aliyah of the sixth, that one goes up for, and in it there is a great allusion to the Tikkun HaBris that is being rectified.

23:38 But one can explain it this way: the whole meaning of going up to the Torah is that there, in the Torah, there is learning lishmah. Because the Torah is holy. If we do not merit all week to learn for the sake of Heaven, then we have the aliyos to the Torah, when we hear the reading of the Torah. Not for nothing is it an obligation of the congregation— it is so as to always fulfill the obligation of learning lishmah. Because what is written in the sefer, what is written in the sefer— the Torah—it was written, each letter, from Heaven.

24:08 It was written from Him, blessed be He. It is holy. In it there is no mixture; in it there is nothing that a person mixed in from his own intellect. In it there is no reasoning that a person brought from his own mind. You know that throughout the generations they would make corrections to sefarim. All kinds of sefarim—they would proofread and correct them. There is an enactment in siman 279 in Yoreh De'ah. It is written in Tractate Kesubos in the name of Rabbi Ami, on page 19a, in Tractate Kesubos— it is written that a Torah scroll that is kept in the house—if one wants to keep a sefer— if thirty days have passed over it without its being checked— it is permitted to leave it for less than thirty days.

24:45 More than thirty days, of course, one must check it—not to leave a sefer uncorrected, Heaven forbid, if there is a flaw or a disqualification in it. And Maran the Shulchan Aruch ruled in siman 279, se'if 3, that if there is a Torah scroll in which three mistakes were found, that sefer needs checking, and the sefer must be proofread from the beginning, for it is presumed to have mistakes. So the practice was to do this checking on a Torah scroll, of course, so that the sefer would be kosher.

25:12 And with everything—our master the Rambam wrote that this is also the practice for the other sefarim. For Rashi wrote on this that such was the practice with Torah, Nevi'im and Kesuvim, and our master the Rambam brought that so they practiced with the other sefarim. And indeed, the correcting that they would do on all the other sefarim— one has to know how to make corrections. They would make corrections, and they would write them in a way that it would— that it would not disqualify, Heaven forbid, and they come to transgress the words of the Sages.

25:36 For all the Sages were strict—Heaven forbid—that it is forbidden to make corrections from one's own reasoning. That is, what our master the Ramban wrote— Chiddushei HaRamban on Tractate Bava Basra, page 134a, and the Ran in Bava Metzia, page 43a— that, Heaven forbid, a person who corrects sefarim from reasoning and not from clear proof, Heaven forbid— over this they cursed; the Rabbis cursed him for it— the Sages cursed him, that person who corrects sefarim from reasoning and not from clear proof, who makes corrections in that way.

26:09 And so too our master the Machazik Berachah brought— Maran the Chida also brought it— who brought our master the Raavad, that the Raavad writes that one who corrects a sefer on the basis of reasoning, and not because he has clear proof for the matter— it is fitting that his hand be cut off. And I say: this the Sages wrote, this our master the Ramban brought, this they brought about making corrections. Of course, in halachah it is permitted when one passes on the versions as they exist— the Bach's version, the Gra's version— there is no problem with that.

26:37 As is written by our master the Chacham Tzvi, in siman 137, in his responsa— he brought a responsum there that it is permitted—that today, when we leave the edition as it is, we make additions in the margins; we do not erase and write anew, but make additions to what is written; we make glosses and note comments in the margins; we do not erase and add and change in the place itself. That is not what the Sages meant.

27:03 But what is meant is what the Ramban says: that if a person, Heaven forbid, without proof, brings his words from his own reasoning, the Sages curse him. And about this our Sages warned us—about words of Torah from straight reasoning. How people ought to tremble— all their limbs, all their sinews— at the moment they speak lashon hara, at the moment lashon hara is written in this world.

27:32 How words are engraved! For if about this they said that his hand should be cut off—one who corrects words of Torah from reasoning, the Rabbis cursed him, the Sages cursed him, as the Ramban writes, as our master the Raavad writes— then what would they say about this, about what people say? From here we see that our Torah learning today has weakened. We are used to things that are far from Hashem, blessed be He.

27:58 We do not merit to learn lishmah; we do not merit to look into sefarim that are written for His Name, blessed be He. Therefore it is always good to learn the early authorities, who directed their deeds for the sake of Heaven. It is good to learn the Pnei Yehoshua— see the account that he writes: thirty-six times he completed Shas, he worked through the sugyos many, many times, and after he was saved from the fire, when his house went up in flames, our master the Pnei Yehoshua sits and writes the Pnei Yehoshua for His Name, blessed be He. And the Maginei Shlomo, which came, on Rashi and Tosafos, to defend the words against the Baalei HaTosafos— the Maginei Shlomo: Rashi thanked him in a dream for saving them from them, and settling his view, in Heaven.

28:39 All the works were for His Name, blessed be He. The aim was always for His Name, blessed be He. The thought was always for His honor, blessed be He— that one learns the Torah lishmah. When we leave room for the honor of the King, then we leave our Torah clean and pure. But when we are used to this world— we are inside a material world, inside a physical world, full of bad opinions, full of strange opinions, full of conceit and pride and jealousy—and today we tend to judge everything from reasoning, and also from what the eyes see, and also from proofs for things.

29:20 Heaven forbid, today there is really no true judgment, and today there is no straight path or straight thinking at all. And how much I prayed and strove before Hashem that in everything people will ever learn—at least in what comes from me—no stumbling block should ever come out from under my hand. And about these small foundations, the small things that a person tramples with his heels, things that are perhaps held cheap by people— I always tried to be exact in them.

29:48 And I know that, baruch Hashem, those who listen to this and learn it will see in it that it brings one very, very close to Hashem, blessed be He, and people will see great benefit in it. And my way is always to explain as much as possible. This whole work that I wrote is only explanations upon explanations, and I did not leave any place closed, whether in matters of Kabbalah or in matters of the plain meaning.

30:14 We always brought it to explanation, so that people would understand the Torah more— to leave things as open and explained as possible. Baruch Hashem, Who has granted us to raise up Torah scholars, holy and righteous students who guard the Torah, and as the guidance we have always handed down: not to forget the Torah—"for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of his offspring"— and to learn it always in holiness, for the sake of His Name, blessed be He, for the Name of the Holy King.

30:44 With the thought that we learn the Torah lishmah, we always set, in Heaven, the times and the seasons for the revelation of the kingship of Hashem, blessed be He. If, in the time of the Sages, they would go and learn Torah and fix their learning at the time of the synagogues and the batei midrash—and I have spoken about this many, many times—that Shabbosos and Yamim Tovim were not given to Israel—in the Yerushalmi, chapter 15, halachah 3—that Yamim Tovim were given to Israel only to occupy themselves on them— Shabbosos—they are designated only for Torah learning and tefillah, for sitting and engaging in Torah.

31:23 And because of three things householders lose their property—in Tractate Gittin, page 38, and as brought in Orach Chaim, siman 290, in the Beis Yosef— we see that the whole reason they go down, lower and lower, is that they neglect Torah study on Shabbos, at the times when there is Torah learning. For Torah learning on Shabbos— that Torah learning is learning for the sake of Heaven.

31:48 On the holy Shabbos, His Name, blessed be He, is revealed. All through the week a person can learn— he is preoccupied with this world. There is a hold from nogah, from kelipas nogah. But on the holy Shabbos he rises and is elevated upward, and every bit of learning that he learns rises high, high, and what he learned is counted for him beyond measure, as the Rokeach brought in siman 55, who brought the Midrash about the sons of Rabbi Meir, who passed away because they would sit and hold their meal at the time when there was the great derashah of the synagogue, which was given on Shabbos, on Shabbosos. For the importance of Torah learning on Shabbos is that it is learning for the Name of the King of kings.

32:32 And therefore on Shabbos—for the level of Shabbos is the highest; all six weekdays we are down below, and on the holy Shabbos we rise and are elevated to mochin d'gadlus, to the highest levels that a person can attain, and we reach the very highest level. And at this time—for Shabbos is more than Yom Kippur, more than Rosh Hashanah—something that comes every week, its virtue has no measure.

32:59 In the world, people keep Yom Kippur, but the Shabbos day they do not keep. If they would keep Shabbos—every Shabbos and Shabbos and Shabbos— more than Yom Kippur, not only for that would we merit to be redeemed, but in the merit of the learning of Shabbos, which is the learning that is most for His Name, blessed be He; it is the cleanest and purest learning, on the Shabbos day, when the Name of the King of kings is revealed and exalted and praised.

33:26 And therefore on Shabbos, because the virtue is so great and has no measure, we see from here that everything they permitted for rejoicing on the holy Shabbos— that when there is Simchas Torah, everyone is glad and joyful, on Shabbos they dance and rejoice— but one can understand the novel point: that because the holy Shabbos is so high, and it is for His Name, blessed be He, there is no need on it for anything that belongs to the joy of dancing.

33:54 When there is rejoicing and dancing—out of concern that one might fix a musical instrument on Shabbos, the Sages forbade a person to dance or to clap hands on Shabbos, out of concern that he might fix a musical instrument, as Tosafos learned in Tractate Beitzah, that is page 36, and in the Beis Yosef, siman 339, as is brought in the Yerushalmi, Beitzah, chapter 5, halachah 2, as our master the Rif learned there, and Rabbeinu Chananel; the Rambam brought it as well, in Hilchos Shabbos, chapter 23, halachah 5.

34:27 We see from this halachah the stringency and the importance that a person should not clap hands on Shabbos, because on Shabbos it is forbidden to show that we have anything connected to matters of this world. And the joy is complete, so we do not show it by clapping hands. But when there is Simchas Torah that falls on Shabbos, a Yom Tov, when there is rejoicing—then it is permitted to dance, then we rejoice; it is done for the honor of the Torah.

34:54 Why is it done for the honor of the Torah? Because perhaps a great drawing-near is now being revealed, of those who were far and are returning to the Holy King. So in a synagogue where there are people who were far, and for them right now this is something new in Torah, it is the joy of the Torah for them— they are permitted to dance and clap hands on Shabbos, because for them it is Simchas Torah. It comes out that the higher one learns the Torah lishmah, then, with the virtue of Torah lishmah, then, baruch Hashem, one has no need of this.

35:24 But when a person has a renewal in joy, when it comes to Simchas Torah, then it is permitted to dance and clap hands. For the Yerushalmi in Beitzah, chapter 5, halachah 2, says that the "lifting" is that one raises one foot and sets down the other foot. But when doing a machol, a circle dance—it is permitted to do a machol on Shabbos, but not to do a dance in which one lifts the feet. For the meaning is that on the holy Shabbos there is an elevation, and there is in the world the complete Tikkun, and there is no flaw on Shabbos, for the Name of Hashem is complete.

35:55 And because of this the Sages only with difficulty permitted saying "Shalom" on Shabbos, and Maran in the Beis Yosef, siman 307, on shtarei hedyotos, ordinary documents— that a person should not read weekday matters on Shabbos or occupy himself with idle things, because he damages the supernal Keser, he damages the supernal Thought. And the story of that pious man, in Tractate Shabbos, page 150b, whose fence was breached and he wanted to repair it: he forbade himself to repair the fence, and a caper bush grew for him there, because he had rectified his thought.

36:23 He understood that one may not engrave a flaw in this world even by way of a thought; rather, my learning must be for His Name, blessed be He—of the Holy One, blessed be He. My thought, and my tefillah, and my Torah, and everything I want must be for the honor of the Holy King. And one who learns for His Name, blessed be He, and one who prays for His Name, blessed be He, and one who engages in Torah for the Name of the King of kings— especially on Shabbosos and on Yamim Tovim, when the immense light that rests on them shines in them even more, for it is a light that Hashem, blessed be He, gave us— and when the Jewish people engage in Torah for His Name, blessed be He, and aim for the truth of Torah:

37:05 not looking for honor, not looking for anything. Learning because Hashem, blessed be He, commanded us, and learning because Hashem, blessed be He, wants us to learn and engage in Torah. Our master the Nefesh HaChaim of Volozhin, in chapter 3, in Sha'ar 3, writes that it is a very great exertion and effort to engage in Torah lishmah. Can it be that it requires great toil and labor, to engage in Torah lishmah?

37:29 Certainly. It is exertion and labor and toil. But a person should learn Torah and try to understand: what is the meaning of my learning in this world? Am I learning in order to see how great I am, or am I learning so that they will see how great He is— how great the Holy King is—and how much to make my fellow greater, how much to make the souls of Israel greater, how much to give light to the souls of Israel? In another week and a bit, Rosh Hashanah is coming upon us, for good.

38:00 The Day of Judgment—and the Holy One, blessed be He, judges us: "How did you touch My garments? How do you touch the garments of the King? You touch My Torah? You touch what I gave you at the stand at Mount Sinai? For what do you learn My Torah? What is your purpose in the learning of what is Mine? Do you learn it in order to make money? Do you learn it in order to use it for donations? Do you learn it in order to quarrel, do you learn it in order to humiliate, do you learn it in order to be small— or do you learn it in order to give light to My children?

38:33 Do you learn it in order to magnify My Name? Do you learn it so that My Name will be revealed and exalted in the world?" The Yalkut Shimoni says, at the beginning of Parshas Vayakhel: no parshah opens with "Vayakhel"— only "Vayakhel Moshe." The whole secret of Vayakhel, Parshas Vayakhel, is that Moshe Rabbeinu assembled congregations and would teach Torah on Shabbosos, teaching the Jewish people Torah. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: My children, if you engage in Torah, you teach My Torah, you do this— I count it for you as though you had made Me King, as though you had proclaimed Me over the whole world.

39:05 You make Me King over the whole world by teaching about Me and explaining My Torah— but for My Name. 'Let them take for Me an offering' — Rashi explains: 'For Me' — for My Name. The offering that is for the honor of Hashem must be for the honor of Hashem. The greatness of an aliyah to the Torah — it is in the responsa of the Chasam Sofer, in siman 51. Our master the Chasam Sofer writes that a person who, as it were, became obligated in an offering — when he goes up to the Torah, it is as if he brought an offering.

39:34 An aliyah to the Torah is a thanksgiving offering. When a person goes up to the Torah, it is the bringing of an offering, because at the time of the aliyah you are offering to Hashem that which was done for the sake of Heaven. You were not able to have intent for the sake of Heaven; the scribe had intent for the sake of Heaven. It is enough for you that you have intent in this, at least. Have intent in something, that it be for the honor of Hashem. Have intent in something, that it be for My honor — 'for Me', for My Name.

39:58 Today there are no offerings. There is the reading of the Torah — 'and we will pay with our lips in place of bulls.' You must guard the Torah. You must — each one of us, each and every one of us. Our Torah is in danger. It is not being taught correctly. People are not learning a Torah of truth. People are not learning Torah lishmah, for its own sake. We must cry out to Heaven every day that we are touching the King's garments — how we are touching the Torah.

40:23 We know that we stand before the One Who spoke and the world came into being. The G-d of Israel — He took us out of Egypt, He gave us the Torah, He does miracles for us, He redeemed us, He did not abandon us, He can do everything. With the Torah one can do everything. But what do they make of the Torah? A mockery and a laughingstock. Along come people who are transgressors, people who are far from the Torah, and they hold themselves to be men of great wealth, and they, as it were, take hold of such people, that they should learn, and make of the Torah 'this one is greater than that one.'

40:57 Torah scholars who engage in Torah are above everything. They are the sons of the Holy King, who engage in the Torah of Hashem, who preserve the Torah of Hashem. But I will tell you who the sons of the Holy King are: those who engage in Torah lishmah — they are the diamonds of Hashem, blessed be He. Those who do not engage in Torah lishmah do not merit 'many things.' Their standing is great, but their standing is not like that of the sons of the Holy King.

41:23 Hashem, blessed be He, guards one who learns the Torah lishmah like the apple of His eye. There is nothing more important than this. In another hundred, two hundred years, not one of us will be sitting here. In another two hundred years, if Mashiach has still not come — then what will remain here is this time, in which we are engraving the Torah and the right path in this world. That is what will remain here. If the grandchildren and great-grandchildren come after us and see all the technology and everything in the world that keeps multiplying, and so much falsehood growing in the world, and so many delusions growing, and it seems the world is running after honor — this one wants to taunt, and that one wants honor, and the world wants greatness — then who will learn the Torah lishmah?

42:07 The Torah must be learned for the honor of Hashem, so that Torah lishmah will increase in the world. Learn for His Name, blessed be He. Always seek a way, as we have learned — from the learning, on rising from the sefer — to seek what Hashem, blessed be He, desires and wants from me: that I draw close to Him, blessed be He. And this would be my remembrance out of all my toil, from all the words of encouragement with which I strengthened myself.

42:31 I am strengthening only myself. Of course, you do not need to hear anything from me, and I say this out of pain. I see things that the world does not see. I meet a great many people, a great many Jews — Torah scholars, rabbis, people who are far, people who are close — and I see the Torah, I see the Torah lying off in a corner, and I weep, and it hurts — that so holy and sweet a sefer, the Torah of Hashem, the sefer in the Ark — there sits a Torah scroll, which begins with 'Bereishis' and ends with 'before the eyes of all Israel' — a Torah scroll; one sees Torah scrolls in the Ark; the six orders of the Mishnah, the Talmud Bavli, the Talmud Yerushalmi, the Rambam, the Mechilta, the Pesikta, the Tosefta,

43:15 the Sifra, the Sifrei, the Rishonim, the Acharonim — all of our Torah, everything the Sages intended — where are we being precise with their words? Hear the Ramban, who writes on Bava Basra, page 134a — read this Ramban, in his Chiddushim — where he writes that one who innovates and emends a sefer by his own reasoning, the Sages curse him.

43:39 Do you understand what that means? Do you understand where we have come to today, in this generation? And that is only one who makes emendations by his own reasoning. You understand — and how many, over time, have stumbled. Do you understand how much the Torah must be learned lishmah? Here I am speaking of an 'all the more so' — an 'all the more so' many times over. How clean we need to be, to be a vessel that can hold this Torah, which came down to us from Heaven.

44:03 Hashem, blessed be He, looked into this Torah and created the world. The Torah scroll in the Ark, which people touch, and indeed lift up — with it He created the world that we sit and stand upon, the whole world, all the galaxies, all the stars. Do you understand that this is the highest thing in the world? It means looking at it as the most exalted thing in the world, and looking into a person's own heart.

44:28 If you truly love Hashem, you will rejoice that the honor of Hashem increases. And perhaps there is in you, in your heart, a hatred of Hashem — that you are an adversary to the kingship of Hashem. The greatest joy should be that the honor of Hashem is revealed. As I said, always remember: in another hundred years, two hundred years, if Mashiach does not come and the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, is not built, not one of us will remain here. Each one will lie in the place prepared for him.

44:53 No one will be here. What will remain here is what we engrave for our children and our grandchildren and all who come into our homes, and our students, and all that is ours. Learn the Torah lishmah, make the Torah great, lishmah. Receive Torah from rabbis who fear Heaven, rabbis who have no lashon hara in their mouths. Today people are careful about muktzeh. A rabbi who speaks lashon hara is not a rabbi — he is a boor and an ignoramus, a fool and a haughty man.

45:22 If those who were not careful in how they spoke of the holy ones, if those who were not careful about emending sefarim by their own reasoning — and for that the Sages cursed them, and for that the Raavad wrote that his hand should be cut off — then all the more so, many times over, those fools who today speak lashon hara among the Jewish people, and multiply disputes and divisions among the Jewish people, between those who are far and those who are close. Do not get involved in disputes.

45:48 All the more so — if today, as it is, people learn Torah that is not lishmah, all the more so, do not learn evil. Learn good, shine good, guard it; pass on to the people our way: to love everyone, to exalt the Torah, to understand that the Torah is the most exalted and highest thing there is. And when you see a person who engages in Torah, strengthen him, encourage him, support him, for he is doing the hardest thing in the world: learning Torah lishmah.

46:18 That is the hardest thing in the world. It is both learning it — which demands a yoke, and time, and hardship — and also learning lishmah. When you see him, let him be like the honored of the land. Hashem, blessed be He, gave me emunas chachamim, faith in the Sages. I know that perhaps this is my gift — that Hashem, blessed be He — that I, a little, a drop, may manage to appease Him — it is only because I have emunas chachamim. I have emunas chachamim in every Jew. When I see a Torah scholar, I bow before him.

46:44 Torah scholars will testify to this — how much I honor them and hold them dear. I do not hold myself to be any kind of sage. Torah scholars who engage in the Torah and its mitzvos: make the Torah great, guard the Torah, watch over the generation that will pass before us, over the generations that will pass. The other generations do not look at the support that is given in the Torah world, they do not look at the money that gets passed along; they look at the message that gets passed along, they look at the da'as that will change the outlook and the thinking.

47:12 Not pride, not jealousy, not honor — that is thrown out of the beis midrash, that is thrown out of the synagogue. When a Jew comes to the synagogue, he should feel love — that everyone jumps toward him, embraces him: 'You have come to the house of Hashem!' When he opens a page of Gemara, let the Rosh Yeshivah see him, explain it to him with sweet words, strengthen him, encourage him, support him.

47:36 When he sees the bachur who is finding it hard, he should not throw him out of the yeshivah. He should embrace him, he should weep over him, he should weep over him, that he return to Hashem. The Rogatchover — you know that the Rogatchover, our master the Gaon, Rosen — Rabbi Yosef Rosen, the Gaon of Rogatchov, the renowned one, in the time of the Ohr Somayach — when he was a young boy, he would sit up in the trees. He would not sit on the benches of the beis midrash; many times he would go outside.

48:01 So they would make sport of him, laugh at him. And so there was much pain, for they would push him away. And there was only one, only one then — a great sage in his time, who was not well known — who prayed for the Rogatchover, and drew him close. He said to him: 'My son, come, come to me.' And he worked with him and taught him. Of course, the Gaon was already a great genius, but still, the closeness he showed him — that he wept over him and did not throw him out — gave us the Tzafnas Pane'ach, gave us the Gaon of Rogatchov, who came into the world.

48:33 Learn from the Sages; learn from the stories, from their way. The Maharam Schick would review four hundred times — would review forty times, excuse me, forty times over every thing, until he understood it. He said: 'I will come before the Heavenly Court, and I will settle accounts with those who said it was hard for them to learn because they did not understand.' The Maharam Schick. But it all depends on the rebbe, on the teacher, on the one who teaches you.

48:57 Be patient, long-suffering with each one. Teach, show a shining face, explain, clarify, increase Torah, increase love in the world. Let there never be a time when a Jew comes to the synagogue or the beis midrash and feels, Heaven forbid, that he is pushed away, that he is worth nothing, that he is far. On the contrary — reveal the G-dliness in him, shine the light of Hashem in him. And always know: the sign of the Holy of Holies is one who is drawn to the Torah, who cleaves to Hashem.

49:24 The sign of the depths of the sea — those who love evil, those who love dispute, those who love lashon hara. These are of that root; these are the ones who hold back the geulah; they are not of the seed of Israel. These are rabbis of falsehood, of the Erev Rav; their tallis is like a donkey's saddle-cloth. There is in them neither Torah nor fear of Heaven, no Temple — only a holding back of the geulah. You — be strong and steadfast, shine the light of Hashem, be mighty, and know that Hashem, blessed be He, is G-d Most High. As for what you see — that troubles and problems are multiplying: the Yerushalmi, in Tractate Taanis, chapter 1, halachah 1 — the Yerushalmi says: Israel will be redeemed only in the merit of the forefathers and in the merit of crying out —

50:02 that they cry out to Hashem, that you cry out and scream to Hashem that you cannot go on any longer. We see such strange troubles in our generation, so many ordeals and troubles and illnesses and tumors and disasters and troubles that are sprouting in this generation, in this world. It is frightening and alarming how many troubles there are in this generation, and how many problems and ordeals, and how there is no home without distress — people are suffering, in pain, with worries, and livelihood, and afflictions, and troubles.

50:32 Increase good; throw this evil out of our generation. Stop growing the evil. Learn lishmah — you will drive the Satan out of the world. He will not prevail over this world. When Torah is learned lishmah, you will see that Hashem, blessed be He, will redeem us. Engage in this, learn this. I, the small and lowly one, bless you with success, with siyata diShmaya, help from Heaven, that each one have great mercy and salvations from Heaven, that it be for your benefit, that it be for blessings for you, that it be for much good for you, that you be strong, that all be rejoicing and glad.

51:04 May the Holy One, blessed be He, bless all the great ones of our generation, all the Torah scholars, all the great ones of the generation. Give them length of days and years — them and their wives and their sons and their daughters, their grandchildren and all that is theirs. Give them robust health, give them joy, give them hope, give them salvations, give them miracles and wonders, with all the blessings and good bounty. May all merit to be written and sealed for a good year, for health, for a good life, a good writing and sealing, good tidings, the mercy of Hashem, blessed be He, upon us.

51:37 Amen and amen. Let us have a few niggunim in honor of the simchah. [singing] - My teachers and masters, let us hear you all together!

53:56 Everyone together with the Rav. We ask the public to sit down; everyone wants to see. Together! [singing] - Look — the One Who sets the moon and the stars in order. Look!

1:13:28 See the awe, see the awe — there is One Who created the world! 'Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these?' Such greatness, the greatness of Hashem — not to serve Hashem, blessed be He — how is it possible? How is it possible? Right now is a moment of Ne'ilah of Yom Kippur. Now there is no need to wait for Rosh Hashanah. Right now it is Ne'ilah, Yom Kippur — here it is. Lift your eyes to Heaven, exalt Hashem, blessed be He, speak to Him, blessed be He; lift your eyes to Heaven — that is to uncover all the treasures hidden away for you.

1:14:00 In each and every one there is the light to bring the geulah. Hashem, blessed be He, loves each one of us. We must be strong and steadfast, full of hope, for no one here knows his own greatness, and his own power, and his own ability to bring the Mashiach. In your merit we will be redeemed. What did I say? 'Because of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, Jerusalem was destroyed.'

1:14:25 In the merit of one Jew, the Temple comes back. In the merit of one Jew. - Should I continue, Rav? - Continue. Continue. - My wife has miscarried twice, Rav.

1:14:51 - I wanted to pass something on to the Rav. - I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. - Amen. Amen. Life, length of days and peace — life, a life of peace.