The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הגאון הינוקא - מעמד הסיומים הגדול בירושלים - יומא טבא • ז' תשרי תשפ＂ג The Yanuka - English subs

4:13 says the Bach. We welcome with song, with melody and with blessing our teacher and our Rav, the Gaon of Israel, our Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda Be'eri, the Rav HaYanuka, shlita. The awesome day, the exalted day.

7:30 'And He was King in Yeshurun, when the heads of the people gathered': thousands of the Jewish people, and at our head the great Torah scholars, our masters and Rabbis, and at our head the holy one of Israel, our teacher and our Rav, the holy Yanuka, shlita. We welcome with blessing our teacher, Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen, Rav of the Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood. We welcome our teacher and our Rav, the Gaon and tzaddik, our Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen, shlita, the Rav of this place.

8:16 - My masters and teachers, for what have we gathered? For what have the great ones of Israel gathered? For what have the heads of the rabbinical courts gathered? For what have you gathered, thousands of the faithful of Israel? What is special about this great and holy event? I want to tell you what we have heard from his honor, our teacher and our Rav, the Admor, Sidna Rabbi Shlomo Boso. He said two points. He says to everyone who comes to him to receive his blessing, he says: You want the merit of the fathers?

8:44 I have the merit of the fathers - I am a grandson of the Baba Sali. But you want the true merit, the merit itself, the merit and the power of the Torah and the holiness in our generation? That is found with the holy one of Israel and its glory, our teacher and our Rav, Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda, shlita, who is the pillar of Torah, and he is the pillar of holiness in our generation.

9:10 And we have heard several times from our teacher and our Rav, the Admor, Rabbi Shlomo Boso, shlita, who said this - listen to the sentence. We are talking about a grandson of the Baba Sali, who grew up on the knees of his grandfather, Sidna Baba Sali, and he said many, many times: 'Since I was with my master and grandfather, Sidna Baba Sali, I have not felt such holiness as I feel with his honor, our teacher and our Rav, our Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda the holy, shlita.' Fortunate are we that we merited.

9:40 We will merit, with Hashem's help, to be part of the great siyum that our teacher and our Rav is making. This is not just another siyum; it is a siyum that includes all parts of the Torah. And before the siyum, and before we hear the holy words of his honor, our teacher and our Rav, we will be honored with words of blessing from his honor, the grandson of the Baba Sali, his honor, his holiness the Admor, Sidna Rabbi Shlomo Boso, his honor, his holiness the Admor, shlita.

10:09 - My masters and teachers, my name was mentioned far too much. I am really, all in all, dust under the feet of his honor, his holiness the Yanuka, shlita. All that I do is for his honor, and it is a tremendous honor. And everyone who had the merit to come in here - it is truly a very, very great merit to cleave to the source that is dearest to us - the holy Torah, and the completion of the Torah, whose source is...

10:43 I am used to saying that whoever takes part in a siyum, it is as if he himself completed the Torah. The source for this is in the Gemara, page 118 in Shabbos: Abaye said, 'May I be rewarded, for when I saw a young Torah scholar who completed a tractate, I made a festive day for the Sages.' The Gemara: 'May I be rewarded, for when I saw a young Torah scholar who completed a tractate, I made a festive day for the Sages.' We see that in fact he did not complete it, but the very fact that there was a siyum, and he joined in it - and the matter went on and spread so far that it is as if he himself completed.

11:12 There are hints to this. that in the filling of 'siyum' - the 'siyum' of 'siyum' carries the name samech, written samech, mem, kaf, and mem-kaf is sixty; and yud is yud-vav-dalet, vav-dalet is like the yud; and mem is mem-mem - to hint that whoever is at a siyum and takes part in the siyum, it is as if he himself... My masters, we merit here something rare, which does not happen except in a few generations: such a siyum of the whole Torah, with full understanding.

11:43 This is not mere recitation; it is with full understanding, as we know. I am all trembling and fear that I even have permission to speak before the Gaon of Israel, who is truly crowned with tremendous humility. Whoever says to me, 'Nu, how can a person make a siyum and remain humble? Isn't that arrogance?' - I will not go at all into the dimensions of the humility, for our teacher and our Rav is altogether beyond that.

12:08 The very fact that he went about in the world for so long without anyone knowing! People who do not know a comma of what he knows make a big noise and become famous, and he stayed hidden like that, until the Holy One, blessed be He, decided that his name should truly go out into the world, to benefit the public. We have never yet seen such a thing.

12:32 Never in my life have I seen a person give a shiur and at once thousands and tens of thousands gather, and while he speaks, people listen and make their ears like a funnel, and when the Rav opens his mouth - not a fly is heard. It is the Torah that proclaims before him. It is a Torah of tremendous humility. I have thanked him from the day I came until now. I thank him for the great humbling he gave me. And we have here truly the Gaon of Israel and its glory. We merit here to take part in this siyum.

12:57 It is a tremendous thing, a wonder of wonders. I must say that at the very event where I came to know the Rav, at the place of the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple (at the Kosel), he showed me the matter of love of one's fellow Jew. And to this day, the main heading of all his words is to honor every Jew, as he is, to love every Jew, as he is.

13:23 And today I merited to hear words he gave over when he was 18, where he spoke about the importance and the power of love of one's fellow Jew, and loving each and every Jew. And I, in my humble way - my heart has bled all along, as I see that all the troubles, all the exiles, all the pogroms - their source is senseless hatred, the hatred that seeped in among us, which the Adversary always succeeded in injecting - this thing that spoiled what holds everything up, the peace - in every single era.

14:01 Before... and I truly wept tears of blood, when I saw how hatred and dispute must always break in. And I said to myself: Master of the World, peace is so important, and dispute is so dangerous, and we see and learn this in all the Rishonim and Acharonim - how does it nevertheless manage to break in and wreak havoc among us?

14:32 If you see someone who keeps Shabbos properly, will you see him one day behaving like that, desecrating Shabbos? If you see someone who is careful to eat kosher, will you see him one day in some restaurant, eating treif? So how, every time, has this plague of dispute, which is entirely negative, managed to break in? My masters, there is a breach.

14:58 I don't know - I searched in the Rishonim and Acharonim, I don't know, maybe I came into the world only for this. There is a breach through which the evil inclination managed to inject the hatred. How? The 'one you hate' in the Torah. How? It is written in the Torah: 'If you see the donkey of the one you hate lying under its burden, would you refrain from helping him? You shall surely help along with him.' Rashi says: what is 'the donkey of the one you hate'?

15:25 How can there be 'the one you hate'? Isn't it written, 'You shall not hate your brother in your heart'? So the Gemara says: no, it is speaking here of someone who committed a sin, and he warned him, and he did not listen to him. He cannot testify, because it does nothing, it is only lashon hara (if he testifies), and he also cannot... so he is permitted to hate him. And so the Rambam brings, and says that it is a mitzvah to hate him. And from there I had a difficulty.

15:54 Even so, I knew that the Rambam, in his commentary on the Mishnah, counts the thirteen principles of faith, which are the foundation of a Jew - that whoever does not believe in his three principles... so he says, he is called [unclear] As long as a person believes in the thirteen principles that the Rambam counts, he is called by the name Israel, and note well: one must treat him with all that is commanded - with love and brotherhood, etc., and it is a mitzvah to love him, even though he committed all the sins he committed.

16:25 How can that be? It is a clear contradiction - you don't need to be a great Torah scholar. Here he committed one sin - it is a mitzvah to hate him, and here he committed all the sins - it is a mitzvah to love him. How can that be? My masters - until Hashem lit up my eyes in the matter: very simple. The Rambam adds a few words: 'who sinned because of desire and his bad nature.'

16:51 Whoever transgresses and stumbles - it makes no difference; not because, Heaven forbid, he does not want to - he cannot. He stumbled - it makes no difference; one must still love him. And people think that a person - if they found some sin in him - wall posters, and hating, and fighting. And all the more so if it is just a person who acted according to his Rav... And this is what has destroyed the Jewish people from always, my masters.

17:15 There is no place and no permission to hate - nothing, unless it is a heretic. There is no permission at all to hate, my masters. This is the Sages: 'It is better for a person to throw himself into a fiery furnace than shame his fellow.' Tosafos ask: so what is this? There are three severe sins - this makes four? Indeed so, only it is not stated explicitly: it is 'be killed and do not transgress'. What is discipline?... What is this permissiveness?

17:39 Are we like all the non-Jews? Is there no mitzvah of education in this? And someone who desecrates Shabbos and eats treif - that's fine? We have lost here the matter of respect between a person and his fellow, already at the level of education. How can he [unclear] begin to change at all? It is within us, my masters.

18:03 And not for nothing, our teacher and our Rav, the crown of our head - with him, in everything, first of all: to honor each and every Jew. And I know that even in matters where he has a clear opinion, if it touches on the rock of dispute, he holds himself back, so as not to enter into dispute, to beware of dispute. I truly apologize that I went on a bit long.

18:27 I thank very much that the Rav agreed to honor us like this, and to give the Jewish people the merit of the holy siyum, for the Torah protects and saves. And we pray that the Holy One, blessed be He, gives him strength and health, length of life and years of life. - With the permission of all the holy rabbis, the Geonim, the tzaddikim, all the holy nation, all the holy and honored congregation, in fear and dread, in trembling and quaking, before the holy King, the King of judgment, the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, the G-d of Avraham, the G-d of Yitzchak and the G-d of Yaakov, the great, mighty and awesome G-d, G-d Most High, the G-d who redeemed us from Egypt, who split the sea for us, who brought us through it,

20:05 who gave us the holy Torah. He is our Father, He is our Judge, He is our King. Blessed be the Name of the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. 'May the Name of Hashem be blessed from now and forever,' that all the creatures in the world praise His great and awesome Name.

20:51 Forgive me that I speak before the holy rabbis and all the Torah scholars. May we always merit to begin the holy Torah. The main thing is to begin the holy Torah, and not to finish it. The main thing is always to begin anew, all the time. That is why, when we make Simchas Torah, we immediately join Bereishis to it, to show Hashem that we have never finished the Torah; we are always only beginning it.

21:28 The great virtue is to begin learning, not to finish learning. It is impossible ever to finish the Torah; it is always only possible to begin it. And the beginning will always start from wherever a person stands. That is the beginning of the Torah. And the main thing is that we, the creatures, the children, the beloved ones of G-d, blessed be He, should unite our hearts to Hashem, blessed be He, praise His great Name, glorify Him, crown Him King, know that He is our King.

22:13 He is our King, He is the holy King, He is the King of judgment. And as the Rav, the holy Rabbi Shlomo, a grandson of the stock of Erelim and Tarshishim, a son of holy and pure ones, of Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeira, may his merit protect us, and our master Rabbi Yaakov - the Avir Yaakov - and all the holy and pure ones he mentioned: how great is the importance of all that we do, in learning and in everything - this is the matter of between a person and his fellow.

23:02 Now we are close to Yom Kippur: the awe and the fear that in a few more hours, the seal from before the King - and we say, 'Remember us and seal us, King who desires life,' and we mention the Name of Hashem, blessed be He, in fear and awe.

23:38 And for this one needs much mercy from before Hashem, blessed be He. At the beginning, when Atzilus withdrew from Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, then, as is known, there was the World of Tohu, and there was the breaking of the vessels, and the breaking of the vessels was in Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchus, and there was separation - a blemish, and a great Tikkun had to be made.

24:24 And for this, Hashem, blessed be He, shone the light of the Will, and there was a revelation of His will, blessed be He, to repair all the breaking of the vessels. And therefore the upper Chabad - Chochmah, Binah and Daas - were not blemished; there was no blemish and no breaking of the vessels in them, because they were nullified, and were as nothing to Atzilus, and from this light that shone in them, there was no blemish.

24:54 And because of this, the Satan cannot accuse in thought, and whatever a person wishes to do in his thought, he can. But what is in deed, which unfolds from Chesed-Gevurah-Tiferes, conditions in the Sefiros - there is a hindrance from Heaven, for that is the place where he is, to wage the war.

25:24 And in what is above that, in the upper Chabad, he could not make the blemish. And therefore in thought there is no control, and a person can desire, can think whatever he will think before Hashem.. for in this matter of Chabad there was the nullification.

25:49 And the more the creatures recognize the greatness of Hashem, blessed be He, and submit to Him, and return to Hashem the honor and the kingship that they took, and all of us humble ourselves before Him, blessed be He - then Hashem, blessed be He, will want to redeem us, which is the purpose of all Torah learning: only to crown Hashem, blessed be He, King, in each and every word, and in each and every blessing; and around this revolves all the work of our holy Torah, for each time we bless: 'King of the world'.

26:30 'King of the world, King of the world...' Whether in tzitzis and tefillin, whether in 'shehakol', and eating and drinking and rising, and the morning blessings, and prayer - at every moment and instant we crown the holy King and return the kingship to Hashem, blessed be He. And as is written in the prophet Yechezkel, in chapter 28, that Chiram came, and the Holy One, blessed be He, was angry at his pride.

27:00 And also because of this, man was created lacking, so that he would have a lack and need the lower levels - this was because of Chiram, because of his haughtiness, because of his pride, for he dwelt in the city for days, and reached a level where he thought he was a real existence, and because of this Hashem, blessed be He, struck him.

27:27 We find that we learn that Hashem, blessed be He, desires the nullification and the submission of the creatures before Him, blessed be He. And the main thought by which a person nullifies himself to Hashem, blessed be He, is through what gives him life - that is Yom Kippur, for on Yom Kippur we become separated from the world and are like angels, and have no business with the matters of this world.

28:02 But before this, we do eating. And one must understand that the matter of holy eating is a very lofty thing, and through eating one can bring about before Hashem, blessed be He, all the actions that are needed - only by eating in holiness, where a person eats and blesses before and after.

28:26 He can bring about before Hashem, blessed be He, all the matters, all of them, only by eating in holiness, and attain the Tikkun of his tzelem, and divine flow, and closeness to Hashem, blessed be He. And this is also what works to bring the geulah closer. And therefore now, with Hashem's help, may we merit on this day, on the ninth day, to increase in eating and drinking before Hashem, which is a great joy.

28:55 It is written in the Zohar, in Parashas Acharei Mos, page 69b, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explains that the ninth day is the day on which one must increase eating and drinking more than all of them, more than all the six days, than all the days that a person eats: on the ninth day one must increase more in eating and drinking.

29:24 About this the Sages said, in Tractate Rosh Hashanah, page 9a, that a person who eats on the ninth, Scripture counts it for him as if he fasted the ninth and the tenth. And indeed, so ruled Maran in the Beis Yosef, in siman 604: he ruled this as halachah. And so the author of the Shibbolei HaLeket brought it, in siman 307. He wrote there that truly this matter is in order to set us apart from the Sadducees, who held that there, too, is the time of a fast, and in order to separate, and so that it would be recognizable, that when a person fasts at this time, then the revelation and the command of Hashem, blessed be He, will not be recognizable, for Hashem, blessed be He, commanded about the tenth day.

30:02 So why fast on the ninth? And it is also written in the Zohar, Parshas Acharei Mos, page 68b. There too is brought what the Sages said in the Talmud, in the same words: that a person who eats on the ninth, the verse considers it as if he fasted. Rabbi Shimon brings there further that a person who fasted - that he should eat and not fast - then he will have more affliction, even greater still, because, since he is drawn after the eating, and then he separates from it, then he can reach a greater attainment, and he will have more difficulty with the fast, for he will see how he delighted in eating and drinking, and now he is prevented from eating and drinking.

30:45 He can no longer eat and drink because of this matter, and then his level will be much greater before Hashem, blessed be He. And on page... one more back, on page 67, Rabbi Shimon explains another reflection on this reason for the eating at this time. He says that we are joyful before the Holy One, blessed be He, for surely we trust in Hashem that He sits on the Throne of Mercy, and surely He will forgive us and have mercy on us, and He will save us.

31:19 And this is just as the Beis Yosef brought, and so too it appears that the Yerushalmi, in Tractate Rosh Hashanah, chapter 1, halachah 5, and in chapter 4, halachah 8, the Yerushalmi brings the same matter: that people go and get haircuts, as the Rema brought. And we too go and rejoice before Hashem and become a new creation, only because of this matter of the joy and the preparation, that we trust in Hashem, He - and we show before Him, blessed be He, that we are joyful and trusting before Him in the great judgment, that in the merit of this eating it will surely accomplish for us before Him, blessed be He, everything that is needed.

31:53 And through this there will be closeness to Him, blessed be He, through this eating, for through this eating the Jewish people will draw closer to Hashem, blessed be He, for the closer we are to holiness - and this eating, that we eat and drink and rejoice before Hashem - Therefore everyone must eat, and it is forbidden to fast on it, even a fast over a dream, and one must eat at least the measure of a large date. Women too must eat at this time, so that the splendor, the beauty and the holiness of the fast of Yom Kippur will be recognizable, which everyone takes upon themselves.

32:26 And there is also another teaching, in Shaarei Teshuvah, in Ma'amar 4, where he brings another thing: that a person should have a settled mind, that when he does teshuvah before Hashem, his mind should be settled within him before the Holy One, blessed be He, and then he will be able to focus his mind more when he prays, and it also shows before Hashem that he is joyful before Him, blessed be He, over everything that he learns and prays. Especially on Yom Kippur, great joy is made before Him in the upper worlds, that he rejoices before Hashem, that he has humbled his heart, and now his mind is settled to do teshuvah and to set out the teshuvah properly before Hashem.

33:03 So this is the reason for the eating: so that his mind will be settled within him. And the more a person will be attached to Hashem, and the more he will be glad and joyful and increase in eating in holiness, especially at this time, then he will be able to bring about elevation and Tikkun, just as we are now repairing all the worlds. And right now there is the matter that from Rosh Hashanah there is a war and a struggle with 'that one'...

33:29 everyone knows who that is. And this struggle is waged with him, for all this time he goes on prosecuting, and right at the close of Yom Kippur he is subdued. And so, at the close of Yom Kippur, when he is subdued - what we do: we pray the prayer before the Holy One, blessed be He, before praying, as it is written in Yoma, page 87, where Rashi says that it is because of drunkenness that the prayer must be said earlier.

33:57 And the Rambam rules in Hilchos Teshuvah, chapter 2, halachah 7, that it is lest, Heaven forbid, he choke at the meal. So the Minchah prayer must be said earlier; we pray - And in Tractate - It is written in Tractate Kiddushin, page 81, It is written that because of his prosecution, of the S... of 'that one', that because he prosecutes, we need to see how to cancel his prosecution.

34:22 For the shofar blast that we do at the close of Yom Kippur is to show our victory. So the Rokeach brought, in siman 624, and the Beis Yosef, and also the Responsa Min HaShamayim, in siman 84. He brought that they used to do this, and had the custom to do it, as a remembrance of the Jubilee, and also this awakening before the Holy One, blessed be He, to show that we defeated the Satan. So the Rokeach brings it: the victory, that we defeated the Satan.

34:47 So at the close of Yom Kippur, then we do the shofar blast before Hashem, blessed be He, as a remembrance of this, to show before Hashem that we were victorious before Him, blessed be He. That is to say, this whole matter corresponds to that matter in the upper Chochmah, Binah, Da'as: 'that one' has no hold there at all, and he cannot touch there. And so at this time we rise to upper levels, from the time of Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, and then we rise and are elevated more and more in the upper world.

35:22 But because of the shattering of the vessels, which happened in Chesed-Gevurah-Tiferes below, they could not make a Tikkun, and for this one must appease his fellow, for this one must do teshuvah and come and ask for forgiveness and pardon, because the flaw was made in the shattering of the vessels. And for this one must appease his fellow, as it is written, 'You shall not wrong one another.' And it is written in Vayikra, chapter 25, verse 17, 'You shall not wrong one another.'

35:49 Then the Rambam explains, in mitzvah 251 in the Sefer HaMitzvos, and here the Chinuch brought it at length, in siman 338, in the mitzvah. There he wrote that also anyone who, Heaven forbid, makes an unpleasant face at his fellow or causes him pain, and shames him and insults him or hurts him, or does to him anything that is forbidden and causes him pain, then he certainly transgresses this prohibition, for it is a prohibition from Heaven, and he can, Heaven forbid, be punished.

36:22 This is what they said in Bava Metzia, page 58b and page 59a, and what the Shulchan Aruch ruled in Choshen Mishpat, siman 228, se'if 1: that a person who cries out over hurtful words - from Heaven, the Holy One, blessed be He, answers him. Anyone who cries out over being wronged, and especially one whom they cause pain and make suffer, then the Holy One, blessed be He, sees this pain, and from Heaven He answers immediately, for each and every pain that he goes through.

36:48 For this whole root is because a Tikkun is made up to Chochmah-Binah-Da'as, up to the Tikkun that we need to bring about and repair before Hashem; then it rolls down, cascades and descends below because of the flaw of the shattering of the vessels. And for this everyone must appease one another. And for this there is also an opinion that if, Heaven forbid, he does not appease his fellow, then he will also not be forgiven; for the sins between man and G-d, too, he will not have atonement, as it is written in Tractate Yoma, page 85b.

37:19 And there is the dispute of Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Akiva, and the halachah follows Rabbi Akiva, as brought in Tractate Eruvin, page 46. There he brings the distinction, and as Rabbi Shaul of Amsterdam brought, and the Shoel uMeishiv, and the Pri Chadash, and the Birkei Yosef, and many poskim. One must take their opinion into account, especially in a matter like this, to be stringent, for if he does not forgive, then how will they have forgiveness from Heaven? So one must certainly take these opinions into account, for then it will be understood why, for it is written in Sefer Chassidim, siman 44, there he writes that they had to go...

37:53 And if a person, Heaven forbid, harmed his fellow, even in a matter done on purpose, only a very small thing, he will be punished for it from Heaven, and he will be judged for it, for a truly very small thing, only that he intended to harm, and the result that came of it was a very small indirect harm - he will be judged for it from Heaven, before Hashem. And if, Heaven forbid, that person is a poor wretch, a person who has great suffering, and he is poor and ill, or something like that, and they caused him pain, then it is already liability to judgment, Heaven forbid, from Heaven, as it is said, 'And My anger will blaze, and I will put the sword among you.'

38:27 That is, this is the meaning of what is written in Shemos, chapter 22, verse 23, that this is 'And My anger will blaze' - that it is Hashem, blessed be He, Himself. He Himself is the One who, Heaven forbid, gives the sword. This is a terror that no one can even bring to mind: to stand before the Holy One, blessed be He, when He Himself, in burning anger, judges and passes sentence on the person for the pain and the hurt that he caused his fellow and pained him.

38:58 And as our master the Rambam also counted, in mitzvah 256, about this pain and about the damage. So the whole matter of the eating on Erev Yom Kippur, and the appeasing, as one appeases between man and his fellow on Erev Yom Kippur, and all these things that are done, are in order to attain the complete Tikkun, in order to repair the shattering of the vessels, to repair all of the vessels, and then, through this, to merit attaining the Tikkun of thought, which is the secret of Yom Kippur: that one rises to a higher level and separates from the world, and then cleaves to the world of thought.

39:30 Therefore, because Yom Kippur is the world of thought, it corresponds to the Tikkun of the upper Chochmah-Binah-Da'as. So in practice there is no hold in the appearance of this world. And therefore holy tzaddikim - they would travel to them to pray, for they did not hold on to this world; they were never in the world, they did not touch it, because of the holiness and the level that they attain. So there is no hold in the world. And for this one must be careful about this thing, which is the root of all the principles and the foundation of all foundations: this is the Tikkun between man and his fellow.

40:04 And for this Yom Kippur must come and atone for the person for the sins that are with him, and only the appeasement that he gives his fellow is what will bring him closer to Hashem, blessed be He. And how much our Sages warned us, and how strict the holy Torah is about this, and gives so much... and how strict the Sages were, and every single thing there is in the Talmud, in all kinds of places in Shas, that there is in the Mishnayos, there is in the Talmud.

40:35 This is just one example: that in Tractate Taanis, chapter 4, Mishnah 8, when they would go out on the fifteenth of Av, everyone, to eat in the vineyards, then they would take, wear - borrow the clothes from one another. Why did they need to borrow the clothes? So as not to shame whoever has none, so that there would be no distinction between the rich and the poor, between whoever has the clothes, the money, and whoever does not, and so that no daughter of Israel would be ashamed because of these clothes.

41:05 And in Tractate Taanis, page 31a, it is written there that they would go in order to give, to lend the clothes. So a king's daughter would take the clothes and borrow them from the daughter of a Kohen Gadol, and the daughter of a Kohen Gadol would go and borrow them from the daughter of the Segan, and the daughter of the Segan would go and borrow them from the daughter of the Kohen anointed for war, who goes and borrows it from the daughter of an ordinary Kohen, who goes and borrows it from the daughter of a Yisrael, and the Yisraelim go and borrow from one another, so as not to shame whoever has none, to give the clothes.

41:34 And about all this the Sages were strict, about that very matter. And as is our custom - may it not be upon anyone of the Jewish people - that throughout the world, when there is a passing away, Heaven forbid, then they go... and there is the seudas havra'ah, the meal of recovery, and one must give the mourner food to eat, and it is forbidden for him to eat from his own, also so that his mind will not be shattered, also so that he will not come to death, Heaven forbid, and also in order to think that one must do kindness with him.

42:05 For once, in their times, when there was a passing away, they would go to that comforting, to the place, and they would take precious vessels, and bring the rich the splendid vessels to eat the meal in, and for those simple poor people there were vessels of less value than theirs. And so, because of this, there was a distinction between the poor and the rich.

42:30 And then, from Heaven, the Sages gave thought to this, that this is a thing that can cause disgrace and pain, so they decided to institute an enactment that everyone would have equal vessels, that whether he is poor or whether he is rich, always - from Heaven, presumably, whatever came his way - is to eat in the same vessels that everyone eats in. And all this is among the simple enactments.

42:55 For who would even put his mind to think how the Sages could think about a matter like this, and at a time like this, when a person is in a state of katnus mochin, of constricted mind, and his mind is not settled within him at all, to think that at this time and in this matter, facing such pain, when his dead lies before him, he at all... they try to spare him because of the vessels, that there would be a difference between precious vessels and simpler vessels.

43:25 And all this for the sake of human dignity, which the Sages took pity on. And the thought and reflection of the holy Torah, and the way of the Sages, this is the purest thing in the world. And everyone needs to feel within the Torah the good and the greatest joy. It is forbidden for anyone in the world to feel that in this pure place, which is the holy Torah, there is deceit and corruption there, Heaven forbid.

43:55 And all those who desecrate His blessed Name - it is forbidden, Heaven forbid, to think about this. For the holy Torah and the holy four cubits are infinite mercy and absolute good, and there is no evil at all. And whoever looks and studies the view of the Sages, and looks at their holy words, will see how in every single thing they thought about human dignity, and did not try to institute any enactment that would cause shame and pain.

44:24 It is written in Tractate Kesubos, page 67b, there it is explained about Mar Ukva and his righteous wife, that they would go to give money. They needed to give money to a poor man, and they did not want him to see them, so he would place it for him at the door. And once, he came when he was returning to him, and he saw only his shadow, and he went into that place, into that furnace, with self-sacrifice, because of what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said: 'It is better for a person to throw himself into a fiery furnace than to shame his fellow in public.'

44:54 The thought of not giving the charity to the poor man in his presence, so that he would not be ashamed before me - and Mar Ukva agreed to go into the furnace, into the fire. And Rabbi Abba - it is written there in the Gemara, further on, that Rabbi Abba would tie coins in his scarf and throw it behind him, that he took his scarf and put it behind him, in such a way that he slung it behind him, and anyone was able to give - then he would look to the sides so that cheats would not come.

45:26 But because of his thought, Rabbi Abba's, the thought was that no poor man would be ashamed, and anyone who needs this money could take it with dignity. To such an extent was the thought of the Sages, it was in order to understand the difference and the distinction of the honor of the Jewish people, human dignity. Not to disgrace any person - this is a terrible fear that has no measure: of disgracing and paining Jews, Heaven forbid - Heaven forbid to cause pain.

46:00 And of lashon hara, Heaven forbid - that is something there is nothing to talk about... Many say today that it is good to read these books and those, and they say that every book will bring the redemption closer, and that there is a point in reading the book... that is how they talk. And truly, the books are all holy, and one must learn in all the holy books, and there is no need to say 'this teaching is fine and this teaching is fine', as is known about 'ro'eh' - what is said about the 'ro'eh' who says 'zo na'ah', 'this one is fine', etc.; for the point of this matter is that there should be no distinction between the things, and that people think this one is more or that one is less, as they say about one thing or another.

46:41 Rather, the importance that one must reflect on is that the holy book, the book 'Chofetz Chaim' by Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaKohen of Radin, is a book that - it is a book that can bring about and bring the redemption closer. The education, the foundation of the Torah that they taught us, that when we look in Torah study, in the Talmud or in anything, we look and see there are many places where this is written, in the Talmud and in the Jerusalem Talmud.

47:18 It is written in Tractate Shabbos, page 56b: Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: 'Had King David not accepted lashon hara' - not that he accepted... but if he had not accepted the lashon hara, then the kingdom of the House of David would not have been divided, and Israel would not have worshipped idols, Heaven forbid, and we would not have been exiled from our land because of this idol worship. And it is written in Tractate Pesachim, page 87b, also about this matter of lashon hara, what they said about Yerovam ben Yoash: for what reason did he merit to be counted with the kings of Israel and the kings of Yehudah?

47:54 Because he did not accept lashon hara about Amos. Amos was a prophet who prophesied harsh prophecies, and the Sages, in the Midrash Vayikra Rabbah, chapter 1, section 2, it is written that he stammered; he was 'amus', heavy, in his tongue, therefore they called him Amos. And truly, Yerovam ben Yoash, who merited to be counted with them, with the kings of Yehudah, this was because he did not accept this lashon hara about the prophet.

48:18 And the very thought that Rabbi Elazar says: Rabbi Elazar says that because there was lashon hara, the Temple was destroyed and tens of thousands were killed, as Rashi says in Tractate Gittin, page 57b, in Tractate Kesubos, page 46a; there are many times in Shas about this, in Tractate Yoma, page 9b, where it is written that the Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred.

48:43 It is also in the Jerusalem Talmud, there is a lot... in Tractate Kallah, chapter 3, where it is written that there is no remedy for the snake that spoke lashon hara, so the snake has no forgiveness for the tongue that spoke the lashon hara, so therefore the snake has no remedy. In Derech Eretz Rabbah, chapter 9, it is written in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak, who says that they are all shedders of blood - all who speak, Heaven forbid... A person who speaks lashon hara is included among those called a shedder of blood, for this is a matter of bloodshed, as we explained at the beginning, for this is the flaw that Yom Kippur cannot atone for until he appeases his fellow, for it is a very severe flaw and punishment, that he spreads slander about the Jewish people, about the holy nation.

49:25 For this reason the Holy One, blessed be He, does not like it when people speak about His nation. This is written in the Zohar, Parshas Balak, page 190a, where Rabbi Shimon explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not like it when people speak lashon hara, Heaven forbid, about the Jewish people. And it is written in the Jerusalem Talmud, chapter 1, halachah 1, in Peah, there it is written that the Yerushalmi explains that the sin of lashon hara is that a person, Heaven forbid, is punished and receives his reward in the world - I am speaking by euphemism, so that the meaning will be understood, so as not to utter a combination that is not good.

50:02 For it is written in Tractate Arachin, page 15b, 'May Hashem cut off all smooth lips, the tongue that speaks great things.' So it was taught in the school of Rabbi Yishmael: he says that this increases his sins corresponding to bloodshed, idol worship and forbidden relations, It magnifies it many times over Let each one calculate how great this measure is that it tips the balance of impurity among them And the Yerushalmi explains, in practice, that if we would look It is a long Yerushalmi, in chapter 1, halachah 1 of Peah It explains at length about many matters concerning mitzvos whose reward is in this world and whose punishment is also in this world But it says, "May Hashem cut off all smooth lips, the tongue that speaks great things" that a person who speaks lashon hara will be punished here in the world

50:45 So the Yerushalmi explains And it explains in the name of Rabbi Abba bar Kahana - Rabbi bar Kahana said that from the time of King David, when King Shaul accepted the lashon hara from Doeg so the lashon hara killed Doeg the Edomite it killed King Shaul, it also killed both Avner and Achimelech All four of these were killed because of this lashon hara So Rabbi Abba bar Kahana says that if we would look and see that this lashon hara caused this killing and this destruction that such holy and awesome people died that they departed because of the sin of lashon hara So the Yerushalmi says that in the time of King David when they went out to war, they would fall because they were holy tzaddikim, and there were ba'alei dilatorin among them So says the Yerushalmi

51:31 that ba'alei dilatorin are talebearers, those who go about as talebearers and they would fall in war And in the generation of Achav, says the Yerushalmi, they were idol worshippers and they would go to war and win only because there were no ba'alei dilatoria among them there were no speakers of lashon hara among them for they were so holy and guarded their mouths and were careful not to say, Heaven forbid, any forbidden word In the Zohar, Parshas Kedoshim "Woe to the one who brings out of his mouth, Heaven forbid, an evil word" If a person, Heaven forbid, brings out of his mouth, out of his holy mouth a bad word in his mouth, Heaven forbid, if he brings it out Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, as it were, curses that person Rabbi Shimon, who says, "Woe to the one who brings out an evil word"

52:30 whoever brings out of his mouth a word that is not good about the Jewish people And in the Zohar, Shelach Lecha, page 161a Rabbi Shimon explains that the sin of lashon hara has no forgiveness it has no rectification, it is something that cannot be rectified as is said in Tractate Kallah So Rabbi Shimon says that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not forgive the sin of lashon hara He does not overlook, does not forgive and does not pardon And there is another Zohar I remembered, in the Zohar Metzora, page 52b There Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says he explains that a person who, Heaven forbid, speaks lashon hara then, may Hashem have mercy, he brings out a sword and this sword comes and kills in the world it kills, as it were, that very person who speaks

53:23 and all his limbs become impure, all his limbs become impure And on page 53, after that it is also written further on, on page 52b and on page 53 that the prayer of that person is not heard, because his prayer... he brought the forbidden thing into a holy mouth so his prayer cannot enter the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He It is something so terrible that it is impossible even to imagine it And in the Zohar Mishpatim, page 122a Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explains that a person who speaks this prohibition of lashon hara then at that time, if some harm and destruction was decreed, Heaven forbid then he brings the harm and the... everything of the world he brings the sword into the world and famine into the world and he can also pass away before the time allotted to him

54:19 And there is another Zohar that speaks of this... there is much Zohar... There is the Zohar Pekudei, page 265b where Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says that there is a spirit called the affliction of tzaraas And as soon as a person speaks an evil word Heaven forbid, to speak something not good immediately it defiles him and it rests upon him and defiles with all the impurities wherever it is it increases his impurities for him And after all these impurities of his he draws into the world killing and the sword, plague all the disasters that come to the world - because of this speech of the mouth We learn from here that all the harm in the world comes from this There is also in the Midrash on Koheles, chapter 6 it is written that all the mitzvos and good deeds a person fulfills

55:10 will not make up for even one word, a sin he sinned with his mouth All the mitzvos and good deeds a person does all the days of his life will not atone for him for a bad word that, Heaven forbid, he spoke with his mouth See how severe this sin is, it is frightening He says... there is also the Gra's commentary on Mishlei our teacher the Gaon of Vilna, chapter 18, verse 8 there he explains this matter of lashon hara He says that the sin is so severe that a person who speaks a bad word - then in the word he speaks the speech is a thing that causes bad True, a blow a person strikes his fellow reaches as far as the flesh, as far as the bone but speech - says the Gra - goes down to that person's very soul and pains his soul

55:59 And therefore speech - they were so strict about it And wherever you find... and the Sages, how holy and pure they were and how careful Rabbi Shimon was, and how strict the Yerushalmi is and all of them were seen in awe and fear of it And therefore I say the thought that the book will certainly have an effect and it can bring about for us all good and every good, and bring the geulah closer... because then it can also be explained that the rectification between a person and his fellow is that there be no lashon hara among the Jewish people and that children in the Talmud Torah not speak about another child and that men not speak, or women speak among themselves, because women are talkative then they will be careful not to speak lashon hara about another

56:45 And so everyone will be careful And so the Jewish people will keep from bringing more harm down into the world another plague, another trouble or panic, or all the plagues that happen in the world their root is in lashon hara And every person who goes about as a talebearer, or every disaster one hears of in the world let them know that, true, everything is decreed by Him, blessed be He but these are decrees that the Holy One, blessed be He, certainly has mercy on and cancels rather, their main power comes from Samael for he took this sword with which they spoke lashon hara and so he can kill and make wars in the world And therefore the importance of this holy study in this book is so great its importance is so far beyond measure

57:29 Let everyone know that it is a level of holiness; they will testify about a person that he is careful in this more than in anything for we have seen how strict the Sages were in this matter and especially when Yom Kippur arrives and a person must appease his fellow And how many broken children there are in the Talmud Torahs and in all sorts of places or how broken the Jewish people is, and how many people took their own lives only from these sins of pain that go down to their souls and the lashon hara and harm that is found in the whole world that one must stop this, for this is not the way of our Torah We need to cry out to Hashem, blessed be He, and reveal the kingship of Hashem It is not possible only to debate sharply over the laws of muktzeh and rabbinic prohibitions

58:15 while in Torah prohibitions, hard and severe beyond measure and all the Sages revealed that they have no remedy a person does not know, is not aware, and is not versed in the holy book Chofetz Chaim They say about the Rogatchover, may his merit protect us that he was a genius of the world and he was particular to know the laws of the Torah reading and the laws of prayer and the laws of the prayer leader and all these laws, he said, a rabbi must be versed in because this is in the area of his prayer and also to know how to guard his tongue so that he increases peace in his community These are things one must know And in the laws of the Chofetz Chaim, everyone must know the general rule that it is forbidden to speak, because the mouth belongs to Hashem, blessed be He

59:06 The mouth is entirely holy, and therefore the mouth corresponds to Malchus And for this reason, the rectification of Malchus the main rectification, we rectify so that we crown Him King at this time when we all say 'the Holy King', 'the King of Judgment' and everyone begins to restore the kingship to Hashem, blessed be He and then Malchus is rectified And for this reason the Satan prosecutes right after Yom Kippur to try to strike at what we did not succeed in rectifying in the breaking of the vessels So for this, holy tzaddikim who perform deeds and reach levels in order to rectify Chochmah, Binah and Daas then through this a very, very great illumination is drawn down because the matter is the root of thought For this reason, on Yom Kippur, we go and everyone is idle, does no work at all, and submits to Hashem, blessed be He

1:00:01 And from then it goes on and passes to Sukkos Sukkos corresponds to the Name E-hyeh, corresponding to the s'chach; the sukkah is of the union of Havayah and Adnus and from then His unity, blessed be He, is drawn into all the worlds for the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah takes place and then everyone shelters in the shade of Hashem, blessed be He So this can also be explained the sukkah, which is the secret of the skin of the Leviathan Therefore, for this reason, on Yom Kippur we read we mention Yonah the prophet and on Sukkos we mention the skin of the Leviathan for there is a foundation and a connection between Yom Kippur and the sukkah for the level is that we are now working on the rectification of Erev Yom Kippur

1:00:48 to make peace between a person and his fellow and to rectify all the sins a person commits in order to rectify all the blemishes before Hashem, blessed be He For this we draw near and are close to this time and the highest thing that is done is His unity, blessed be He that we crown Hashem, blessed be He, as King by saying 'the Holy King, the Holy King, the King of Judgment' that we praise the great Name of Hashem And then we read Yonah the prophet on Yom Kippur and right after Yom Kippur ends we continue on to Sukkos then we sit in the sukkah of the skin of the Leviathan which is, in fact, to recall Yonah the prophet in a way Now, since we are already mentioning Yonah the prophet we need to think what the root and the thought of this matter is

1:01:38 For the more we cleave to Hashem and think about Hashem, blessed be He the more thought - then this thought draws the light of Hashem into the world And the more each one thinks about Hashem he will reveal and draw down the kingship of Hashem he will reveal the kingship of the Holy One, blessed be He each one according to his thought he will reveal the kingship of Hashem and this thought will redeem the person from every problem and from every trouble It is written about Yonah the prophet, whom we are now mentioning Yonah went to act with self-sacrifice and one can expound how he went and fled but if we look, perhaps we will see something that Yonah, his thought was because he did not want there to be an accusation against the Jewish people

1:02:45 When Yonah the prophet went before Hashem, and Hashem commanded him Rabbi Yonah said that Yonah ben Amittai was a true prophet And why did he go? He fled there because he was afraid 'These non-Jews are close to teshuvah, and they will immediately do teshuvah' 'So what shall I do?' As it were, he speaks euphemistically 'that afterwards it will come upon the enemies of Israel' because he means to say what will happen when I carry out my mission which is in the Yerushalmi the Yerushalmi explains this in Tractate Sanhedrin, chapter 11, halachah 5 So he went there and he did not want there to be an accusation against the Jewish people So he said, if I plead merit by fleeing it turns out I did not need to rebuke them and then they will not repent, and there will be no accusation against those who truly engage in teshuvah

1:03:38 for the Jewish people need to do teshuvah before Hashem they always need to do teshuvah so if I rebuke these idol worshippers and it is seen that they do a greater teshuvah then that will be an accusation So he did not want to accuse; so the Yerushalmi explains that he fled In the Bavli it is written in Tractate Nedarim, page 38a where it is written that he went there and Rabbi Yochanan said, "And he paid its fare and went down into it" this teaches that he paid the fare of the whole entire ship So Rabbi Romanus says that the hire of a ship was four thousand four thousand gold dinars he gave to pay the fare of the whole entire ship, so that the ship would flee that Yonah's matter was simply to flee with a thought that is the opposite, that he is only trying to flee from himself

1:04:27 But in the Zohar Terumah, page 170b there Rabbi Shimon explains the contemplation that Yonah's thought was so that the Shechinah would not rest upon him And so that the Shechinah would not rest upon him he needed to flee and so that the Shechinah would not rest that way he could be freed from any obligation to rebuke the Jewish people because he did not want there to be any accusation at all against the Jewish people So he gave himself up, away from before Hashem, blessed be He Yonah sat inside the ship and the sea began to toss; a great tumult began in the sea So those who were on the ship asked him they asked Yonah the prophet, what are you doing?

1:05:09 'Man, why are you sleeping?' they asked him So Yonah answered them that he is of the seed of Avraham the Hebrew and he serves the G-d of the Hebrews and he is also fleeing from before Hashem Immediately dread and fear fell upon them for they understood that from before Hashem, blessed be He from before the great, mighty and awesome G-d, he is fleeing It was a fear beyond measure, being in the middle of the sea And it is written in the Yerushalmi, Tractate Berachos, page 64 there the Yerushalmi says that there were three times kinds of wind that had weight Meaning, three times Hashem, blessed be He, made a wind whose weight was immeasurably great beyond what there was in the world One in the time of Eliyahu, one in the time of Iyov and one in the time of Yonah the prophet

1:06:04 In the time of Yonah the prophet, Hashem, blessed be He, sent a great wind as it is written in the Book of Yonah, chapter 1, verse 4 "And Hashem cast a great wind upon the sea and there was a great storm in the sea, and the ship threatened to break" So Rashi explains that it means that it seemed as if it were breaking And in the middle of the raging sea, it turns out that he... a great fear beyond measure fell a great fear fell upon all of them, over Yonah's life that he was fleeing from before Hashem and they understood that most likely this could cost all of them their lives for they all had fear of the G-d of Israel they all feared the G-d of gods they all knew that Hashem, blessed be He, is above everything

1:06:55 even though there were idol worshippers there but no one ever, in all the generations, had a difference of opinion about the greatness and the existence of Hashem The whole dispute was only over which way to serve Him but no one ever thought that there is no Hashem, blessed be He There was never such a thing even the greatest of the wicked did not hold so they all had a terrible fear of the G-d of heaven and earth the Master of heaven and earth - the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He And when Yonah the prophet sat, and they took him and he said, 'Lift me up and cast me into the sea' then as soon as they put his feet into the water then immediately 'the sea raged' Rabbi Shimon says the sea became stormy

1:07:40 the sea began to roar and rage and as soon as they lifted him up, the sea immediately became calm and as soon as they dipped him in, immediately 'the sea raged' and so again and again, back and forth and there was a very, very great tumult So Rabbi Shimon explains, in the Zohar Chayei Sarah, page 121a Rabbi Shimon explains that as soon as they threw him into the water his soul left him, and they judged him in the Heavenly court and returned him Then it is written in the Zohar Vayakhel, page 197a Rabbi Shimon says that a great fish took him and brought him into the depths of the sea and showed him all the treasures that were there all the treasures that were in the sea, it showed him Then it is written after this that there is a proof from there

1:08:25 So Rabbi Shimon says, in the Zohar Beshalach, page 48a that it is written that he entered into the Leviathan and he saw a great world, and saw its eyes shining like the sun and he saw a precious stone standing in the middle of the Leviathan and it lit up for him all that was happening inside and he rejoiced like one who finds good, and great happiness And immediately Hashem, blessed be He, was angry about this and said, 'Is it for this that I cast you?

1:08:52 Is it for this that I appointed the fish?' Immediately Hashem appointed predatory beasts that began to tear apart the Leviathan and this fish died And then Hashem, blessed be He... Yonah prayed from the belly of the fish and then Hashem, blessed be He, brought it back to life and restored this fish to life and that was a resurrection of the dead And then, when it spat him out immediately they all saw him and converted they all did teshuvah and converted, all those...

1:09:18 Rabbi Shimon says they became great and understanding sages those same ones who were with him, with Yonah and saw the miracle and this wonder that happened from Heaven that Yonah the prophet succeeded in bringing them back before Hashem, blessed be He and they all returned to Him, blessed be He and there was a sanctification of Hashem's Name beyond measure that Yonah the prophet succeeded in bringing them back before Him, blessed be He And this was the secret of all the raising of the sparks in captivity as it explains in Vayakhel, page 197a that the descent of the Leviathan below, to the depth of the great abyss down, down below - from there Yonah brought back all the lost treasures that were in the sea which hints at those sunken souls who fell to very, very, very low and lowly places

1:10:03 and on Yom Kippur we succeed in raising them all up That is why we say, 'to pray with the transgressors' to pray with those who are far away and with the sinners and for this reason we read the Haftarah of Yonah And for this reason, right after that, we find ourselves inside a sukkah corresponding to this Leviathan, corresponding to the Name E-hyeh corresponding to thought, corresponding to the illumination of the upper ChaBaD of Chochmah, Binah, Daas in order to draw down such an illumination so that it rectifies the breaking of the vessels that was in Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, down to Malchus And that is why we mention Malchus, Kingship, every time, to bring about the Tikkun before Hashem, blessed be He.

1:10:38 This is the secret - that this time was the secret, to understand the difference between the exile and the redemption. For there is a distinction in Tractate Berachos, page 26a: it is written that the time of the evening prayer is the whole night, and on page 27 there is a dispute between Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua whether the evening prayer is optional or obligatory.

1:11:06 Rabban Gamliel says it is obligatory, and Rabbi Yehoshua says it is optional. And then Abaye and Rava disagree: Abaye holds like Rabban Gamliel, and Rava holds like Rabbi Yehoshua, that it is optional. And the halachah follows Rava, except for what was ruled on yei'ush shelo mida'as, despair without awareness, on kiddushin not given over for consummation, a plotting witness, a lechi side-post, and so on. There is a dispute with Rabbeinu Tam, Tractate Kiddushin, page 52a, about what he holds there on the lechi, and all these things, which are 'Ya'al Kagam', because there are more halachos there which did appear in the Talmud, and they were ruled like Abaye, and were not listed, but then the reason, as Tosafos explain, is that these are what they disputed by their own reasoning: that it is only despair without awareness,

1:11:42 kiddushin not given over for consummation, and the lechi, and a plotting witness, and all these things, and one who sins to provoke, that these are the things that were not handed down, because this was a dispute in their own reasoning, what Abaye and Rava disagreed on. So that is the reason the halachah follows Rava. And that is also how it was ruled in practice, as the Rif, the Rosh and the Rambam ruled, that nowadays they established it as an obligation, and now it may not be changed, and everyone prays the evening prayer.

1:12:08 And all of us must pray the evening prayer, no matter what; no one can cancel the evening prayer. Tosafos explain there that really, if there is a mitzvah to fulfill, if a person is walking on the road and sees a mitzvah passing by, then, Tosafos explain, what they meant by saying 'optional' is that if a mitzvah would pass him by, he can fulfill the mitzvah and put off the evening prayer. But he says that he has no permission to cancel it on his own; he cannot cancel the prayer, because the prayer must take place.

1:12:34 But we learn from here that this is what the Shulchan Aruch ruled in Orach Chaim, siman 237, for the Shulchan Aruch ruled that in practice the evening prayer has no repetition by the prayer leader, it has no repetition. So the Mishnah Berurah explains that this can be understood: because if it has no repetition by the prayer leader, that is the meaning: because it says there is no obligation in it. Now that they established it as an obligation, that is because of the custom; now, because of the custom, there is no power to come and make it a complete obligation, to obligate a person, to discharge him of his obligation, so it is impossible to obligate, to discharge him of his obligation.

1:13:05 So that is why there is no repetition by the prayer leader: so as not to burden the congregation, to obligate them in something that is a custom, to establish it as an obligation. So that is what the Mishnah Berurah explains in practice, that this is also the halachah in practice, that there is no repetition by the prayer leader in the evening prayer. Now, The Abudraham also writes about 'U'va L'Tziyon', which is said at Minchah on Shabbos, that it is not said at Shacharis; it is said at Minchah.

1:13:29 The reason for this, too, is so there is no burden on the congregation, for they take care not to burden the congregation too much. So the thought was that if we look and see that if the evening prayer, in practice, was ruled in halachah to be optional, and it has no repetition by the prayer leader, then one can explain that the evening prayer is this time: it is the darkness, it is the exile, this long exile that we already want to leave.

1:14:01 And so the evening prayer is optional: it is in our hands, the choice to leave. If we would say it is an obligation, then, Heaven forbid, this exile is an obligation and it is impossible to leave it. But the halachah was ruled that the evening prayer is only optional, it is not an obligation. Meaning it is optional because it is possible to leave it; it is possible to leave this long exile.

1:14:25 And so it has no repetition by the prayer leader, because this exile will not come back and repeat itself on us. That is what can be learned from here: to see that the Holy One, blessed be He, will redeem us with a complete redemption, then there will no longer be any return of the exile. And it is in our hands, the power to leave this exile, if we lift our eyes to Heaven and every day we ask of Hashem, blessed be He, each time we act, that we have care in matters 'between man and his fellow', that we have fear like 'the awe of Yom Kippur'.

1:15:04 Just as we are close to Yom Kippur and everyone is in awe and afraid of the Day of Judgment and the dread of the holy judgment of the Holy King, of the King of Judgment, and everyone is afraid and everyone is awakened at this time, so every day should be in our eyes like Yom Kippur: to understand - between man and his fellow, and to stop the deeds that are not good before Hashem, and to be precise and strict about it. And we see that in our generation we see that the Satan made this confusion between one another: for sins between man and G-d, he gave everyone a heart to cry over them, and for sins between man and his fellow, he closed the heart from crying over them, and even permitted people to keep transgressing them without appeasing and being reconciled.

1:15:52 And we see that this is certainly his advice. The most essential of essentials and the foundation of foundations for coming close to Hashem, blessed be He, is between man and his fellow, because that is the beginning of the redemption, it is the beginning of serving Hashem, it is the beginning of all the light - that people love one another. There is no need to push your way for a Rebbe, to jump on everyone's head and belittle everyone, and trample everyone to reach someone who is different.

1:16:20 And to say - to be blessed, to squeeze and push the other... One must feel that each person is the Stand at Mount Sinai, and on each person the Shechinah rests, and I am forbidden ever to push the holy Shechinah, Heaven forbid. And one must be careful, because each person... that not one hair should fall from anyone's head, and to be careful about the honor of each person, and not to push aside one soul for another, in any way at all, Heaven forbid.

1:16:46 Then 'yiskayar shema d'Kudsha Brich Hu' (then the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, will be honored), when Hashem, blessed be He, sees how His people honor and value one another. Then the Satan's mouth will be shut, as it is written in the Zohar - there is a beautiful Zohar in Parshas Balak, page 199b, where Rabbi Shimon explains that Hashem will redeem us, that we will merit the complete redemption, that on the day of judgment, when the day of judgment comes, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will want to redeem us, that one will come, the Sat...

1:17:32 he will arrive and bring notes before Hashem, blessed be He, and say to Him, 'These are the debts of the Jewish people.' In the Zohar, Acharei Mos, page 67, Rabbi Shimon says: fortunate are the Jewish people, who merit that the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals to them how to walk on the path, what must be done to cancel the trouble.

1:17:56 Where do we find today that Hashem, blessed be He, is so merciful, that He gives us the judgment and gives us the verdict, and within the judgment and within the verdict He prepares for us the tools and the ways, what to do to prevail before Him in judgment, through the Sages - He revealed to us forgiveness, and prayer and supplication, or everything He gave us.

1:18:23 That is mercy: that He judges us and gives us, and reveals to us how to prevail over Him. And let a person consider: what would it be like if there were a judgment where Hashem, blessed be He, did not reveal when in the year the judgment is, and we would not know what to do, and so people would pass the year thinking that perhaps one day is the judgment. So Rabbi Shimon teaches something new: that fortunate is Israel, who merit that the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals to them, reveals to them the secret of prayer - what to do?

1:18:50 how to prevail over Him and how to appease Him. So it is written in the Zohar, Balak, page 199b, Rabbi Shimon explains that the connection is that he will bring the notes of all the sins of the Jewish people; he will bring all the notes and say to the Holy One, blessed be He, 'Here! Here are their debts - how do You want to redeem this people?'

1:19:15 At once the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring all the sufferings of all the generations of the Jewish people, all those who died sanctifying Hashem's Name, all those who died and were killed for the sanctity of His Name, all the tears of the holy children who saw their parents murdered before them for the sanctification of Hashem's Name. You know that the tears are in Heaven, in the upper Sanctuary, or, as they say, the upper royal robe, the porphyra.

1:19:47 When we await the redemption - 'And saviors shall go up on Mount Zion' - and await... that all these tears - we look and await Mashiach and the redemption, that it should come - this waiting is a waiting to see all the tears that flowed from the eyes of all the Jews in all the generations. Who can count all these tears, all these tears that fell, and all these eyes that saw what they saw, all the disasters that all created beings saw, all the generations, all created beings, all of them, how much blood was spilled, how much sorrow and how much sword, and how much killing, how much pain, how many wars and how many quarrels, and how much clash of swords, and the Romans who oppressed Israel, and the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, and Pharaoh and Sancheriv,

1:20:44 and how many wars around Jerusalem. All these tears that small and holy children saw, all these tears keep gathering, and they rise each time with every prayer that we pray to this day, and pray before Hashem with intention, that we pray before Hashem and ask; then the Holy One, blessed be He, raises our prayer together with these tears.

1:21:11 And so we must always remember their tears, of all the holy ones who were before us, to know that they long for the redemption. When we say 'who revives the dead', and say 'who revives the dead', think about them, think about those tears that saw death with their own eyes, how much they wanted the redemption, that they stood and saw the slaughter and they said, 'One more moment and we will live, and Hashem will revive us.'

1:21:39 And it is in our power and it is our duty to act before Hashem, to do what the Sages commanded us, whether it is the prohibition of speaking lashon hara, which will bring the redemption closer, whether it is love between man and his fellow, whether it is prayer, it is the Kingship of Heaven. All these matters are the things that will bring closer and bring about contentment for the dead. And then, in practice, what the prophet Yirmiyahu says, as it is written: 'In those days and at that time, the iniquity of Israel will be sought, and there will be none, and the sins of Yehudah, and they will not be found.'

1:22:10 In the book of Yirmiyahu, chapter 50, verse 20. There it is written: how will they be able to seek the iniquity of Israel? 'Behold, on that day the iniquity of Israel will be sought, and there will be none, and the sins of Yehudah, and they will not be found.' Everyone will search and they will say - who is it that will search? That one, he will search, but he will not find anything, because the Jewish people have no iniquity at all, no Jew has any iniquity, and all are holy and pure and clean, and every Jew is a limb of the holy Shechinah, and every Jew, each one of the Jewish people, is the wondrous light that Hashem, blessed be He, gave to the world - this gift, the holy people, who are all holy and pure and special beyond measure.

1:22:54 And the Holy One, blessed be He, wants to have mercy on us and save us, and He desires our prayer, and our prayer - that we lift our eyes to Heaven before Him, blessed be He, and appease Him, blessed be He, and want Him to have satisfaction. And the main thing, the main thing, is that everyone always remember, as much as possible every day, to lift the eyes to Heaven, as much as possible to look up toward Heaven, every day to see the sky, to look at the sky and see: will I give satisfaction to my G-d today?

1:23:28 Have I not caused pain, Heaven forbid, to anyone of the Jewish people? Did I give You satisfaction? Then this person will surely know that Hashem, blessed be He, is with him, and Hashem, blessed be He, hears him. And we must remember that He who sits in Heaven, who took us out of Egypt, is still alive and enduring and is with us, and that we must not get used to this exile, this long one, and remember that the halachah follows Rava, the halachah follows Rabbi Yehoshua, that the evening prayer is optional.

1:24:02 May we merit to leave this exile and this darkness and to see the light that is in all the Jewish people and in every single Jew, and may everyone have salvations, miracles and wonders. And this Torah learning and this siyum - it is your siyum. (I am small and lowly, ignorant and unlearned, despised and forsaken of men, who am not worth anything, worth nothing at all; I am only your servant before you, in order to pray, and so that Hashem will hear me, so that I merit to pray before Him, that He have mercy on me and save me.) And may this learning be for the benefit of the whole Jewish people, for the benefit of the Shechinah, for the Tikkun of Knesses Yisrael, and may the lack of the Shechinah be filled - the Tikkun of Binah, the Tikkun of the Shechinah,

1:24:50 illumination, for satisfaction before Hashem, blessed be He, illumination for all the souls of Israel in the whole world, that there be guarding and protection for the whole world, that there be rescue for the whole world, and that there be no wars in the world, and no harm and no hatred, and that everyone merit to lift their eyes before Heaven and to crown the Holy One, blessed be He, as King - all created beings, the whole world, will praise His great Name, and may Hashem, blessed be He, have satisfaction, and may we merit the complete redemption, the building of our Beis HaMikdash and our glory, and to love Hashem, blessed be He, and to complete the holy Torah.

1:25:27 Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: In the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will give as an inheritance to each and every tzaddik three hundred and ten worlds, as it says... Hadran alach - we will return to you, Tractate Uktzin, and all the six orders of the Mishnah. It was taught in the school of Eliyahu: whoever studies halachos every day is assured that he is destined for the World to Come, as it says, 'The ways of the world are his' - do not read 'halichos', ways, but 'halachos', laws. Hadran alach - we will return to you, Tractate Niddah, and the whole Talmud.

1:25:51 The Sages and prophets were not commanded for the days of Mashiach not so that they would rule over the whole world, not in order... At that time there will be no famine and no war, no jealousy and competition, and all delicacies will be as common as dust. Hadran alach - we will return to you, the book Mishneh Torah of Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon. [unclear] Hadran alach - we will return to you, the book Arba'ah Turim. Hadran alach - we will return to you, Shulchan Aruch; we will return to you, we will return to you, Torah, Prophets and Writings, their Midrashim and their commentaries, the six orders of the Mishnah, the Babylonian Talmud, the minor tractates, Rabbi Moshe, and the Shulchan Aruch.

1:26:25 We will return to you, and you will return to us; our mind is on you and your mind is on us; we will not forget you and you will not forget us, not in this world and not in the World to Come. May it be Your will, Hashem, our G-d and the G-d of our fathers, that Your Torah be our occupation in this world and be with us in the World to Come. Chanina bar Pappa, Rami bar Pappa, Nachman bar Pappa, Achai bar Pappa, Abba Mari bar Pappa, Rafram bar Pappa, Rachish bar Pappa, Surchav bar Pappa, Adda bar Pappa, Daru bar Pappa. Please, Hashem our G-d, make the words of Your Torah sweet in our mouths and in the mouths of Your people, the House of Israel, and may we, our descendants and the descendants of Your people, the House of Israel,

1:26:54 all of us know Your Name and learn Your Torah for its own sake. 'Wiser than my enemies Your commandments make me, for it is mine forever.' 'May my heart be whole in Your statutes, so that I will not be ashamed.' 'I will never forget Your precepts, for through them You have given me life.' 'Blessed are You, Hashem; teach me Your statutes.' Amen, forever, selah, and ever. We thank You, Hashem our G-d and the G-d of our fathers, that You placed our portion among those who sit in the study hall and did not place our portion among those who sit on street corners. For we rise early and they rise early: we rise early for words of Torah, and they rise early for idle things.

1:27:20 We toil and they toil; we toil and receive reward, and they toil and do not receive reward. We run and they run; we run to the life of the World to Come, and they run to the pit of destruction, as it says: 'And You, G-d, will bring them down to the pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days; but I will trust in You.' May it be Your will, Hashem my G-d, that just as You helped me complete these holy books, so You will help me begin other holy books and complete them, to learn and to teach, to guard and to do, and to fulfill all the words of the teaching of Your Torah with love.

1:27:51 And may the merit of all the Tannaim and Amoraim and Torah scholars stand for us and for our children and for all the Jewish people and for the whole world, that this Torah not depart from our mouths, from the mouths of our children and from the mouths of our children's children. And may it be fulfilled in us: 'When you walk, it will lead you; when you lie down, it will guard you; and when you awake, it will speak with you.' 'For through me your days will be increased, and years of life will be added to you.' 'Length of days is in its right hand; in its left, wealth and honor.'

1:28:15 'Hashem will give strength to His people; Hashem will bless His people with peace.' Magnified and sanctified be His great Name - Amen - in the world that He will renew, and revive the dead, and redeem the living, and raise them up to eternal life, and build the city of Jerusalem, and complete His Sanctuary within it, and uproot foreign worship from the land, and return the service of Heaven to its place, in its splendor and its glory, and may He establish His kingship, cause His redemption to sprout, and bring His Mashiach near. Amen.

1:28:44 In your lifetimes and in your days, and in the lifetimes of all the House of Israel, swiftly and soon, and say: Amen. Amen. May His great Name be blessed forever and to all eternity. Blessed and praised, glorified, exalted, extolled and honored, elevated and lauded be the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He. Amen. Beyond all the blessings and songs, praises and consolations that are uttered in the world, and say: Amen.

1:29:08 Upon Israel, and upon our Rabbis and upon their students, and upon all the students of their students, who engage in the holy Torah, in this place and in every single place, may there be for us and for them and for them grace, kindness and mercy from before the Master of heaven and earth, and say: Amen. (Congregation: Amen) May there be abundant peace from Heaven, life and plenty, salvation and comfort, deliverance and healing, redemption, forgiveness, atonement and relief, and rescue for us and for all His people Israel, and say: Amen. (Congregation: Amen) He who makes peace in His heights, may He in His mercy make peace upon us and upon all His people Israel, and say: Amen. (Congregation: Amen) Mazal tov!

1:29:55 Don't push, don't come close [unclear] right now. [unclear] A good year - all right.