The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-מהי דעת תורה באמת הגאון הינוקא בשיחה מרתקת

3:19 We do not use the Torah to look for what is not good and to multiply disputes. 'Torah scholars increase peace in the world.' Come, be lenient — be lenient for the women, be lenient for that woman, be lenient for this one, be lenient for that one. You want to help? Find the power of leniency — to permit, to help, to bring close — and guard Israel. - Is there a claim in Heaven — women who feel pain? Is there a claim in Heaven over some — over all kinds of particular things? - To speak in general.

3:47 I'm not speaking now about one thing. I am not coming to enter any subject in order to permit it or to be stringent in it. I know what you are talking about. I don't deal with that. How do they say? I spoke around it, with modesty, on the matter of the law, with a straight mind. There are many things where one also has to know how they are viewed from Heaven. One must always be wise. You know what it is like? It's like a person who comes and says: 'I harm all my enemies indirectly, by grama.'

4:16 Is that permitted? 'Under the law I'll be exempt. Am I not exempt? Exempt — I owe nothing.' That is a scoundrel with the Torah's permission. But by the laws of Heaven I am liable. Now, the neighbors — I want to cause someone pain, I want to harm someone: I open their windows, see to it that the rain comes in all winter, make sure to distress all the neighbors. The neighbor sues, and he tells him: 'I'm exempt, what do you want? It's grama; I did nothing.' - He is liable by the laws of Heaven, Rav. - So that is what I'm saying; that is what I'm talking about, that is what I'm talking about.

4:43 This is called a person making himself liable to Heaven. There are things — it's like a person who makes the reckoning and says: 'Even if I'm liable by the laws of Heaven, still I'm exempt — here I'm exempt, though in Heaven I'm liable.' There are many things that a person does and becomes liable for in Heaven. The dangerous breed of humanity, the dangerous breed of created beings, the dangerous breed of people, is those who search with an eye that is not good, speak lashon hara, make lashon hara, think that their opinion and their mind are straighter than another's, think that they are Heaven-fearing.

5:16 A person learns some little thing today and already thinks he knows it all. A person put together some sefer on the laws of muktzeh, and he walks around as if he were the greatest sage of the generations in the laws of muktzeh. The pride, the arrogance, these things that are simply — today the mind is very short. Today there is much ignorance, and things one cannot expand on. This is a generation — why is this generation so bad? Because in this generation ignorance has multiplied, and the ignorant think they are Torah scholars.

5:41 The ignorant think they are wise and sharp and discerning, when in fact they are ignorant. Once a man came to the Rogatchover, and began to speak with him about some sugya or other; the Rogatchover simply kept silent. He did not speak with him. Then, as he went on, he — as it were — said... began to argue with him. Then there was a great man — a very great man — and the Rogatchover, it was as if he wanted to push him; when he was beside him, he pushed him. So he said to him — so that person said to him — 'How can you do such a thing?' he, like, remarked to the Rogatchover.

6:12 'That one you don't answer, and this great man you want to push?' So he told him — like, in turn he told him: 'There isn't even the form of Torah there. Those who look for what does not exist — I don't debate with them.' They are not truly seeking the Torah; they are seeking things that don't exist. You understand? Look at the depth of thought they once had for the true grasp of words of Torah.

6:36 Look at a great man like the Rogatchover. Here — a certain man once came to the Steipler and began discussing some sugya with him, and he told him: 'Fool! If you had learned it in depth, you'd have seen more tractates, seen more Rishonim, and you wouldn't have gotten into this.' And there are things — today the mind is very short, and a person thinks he is making an elephant into a bean and a bean into an elephant. We are always looking for the root of the prohibition, the prohibition, and along the way we trample the Torah in the name of the Torah.

7:01 Baseless hatred, disputes, lashon hara; multiplying hatred, multiplying transgression, pushing people away. We have just had Yom Kippur. So: 'Whom You brought near, I pushed away; whom You pushed away, I brought near.' 'I said of the impure, pure; of the pure, impure.' We don't know — and this breed, the dangerous breed, is those who say: 'I understand, you don't; I know, you don't. Let's see, with an evil eye, what is not good.'

7:27 And then he says: 'This is not good — you will not get into the Talmud Torah.' 'This is not good — you will not get into my yeshivah, you will not get into my place.' Right away he catalogs you and sketches you according to data — sometimes, in part, according to a biased judgment of the mind, sometimes data based on lashon hara. It is either his own mind, which is warped, or lashon hara that he heard about you. But he will never try to sketch you according to the Torah.

7:52 When I have before me, each time, any created being — how do they judge? How do they do judgment? There is right, left and middle, correct? What is the right way of judgment? The middle pillar — the middle way — that a person walks by the middle pillar. What is the middle pillar? What is called a judgment of a straight mind? What is it? It is the middle mind, right? What is the middle mind? A person looks at things not according to 'what will people say', not according to what was said, not according to rumors, and not according to what seems right to my own mind.

8:26 We look according to the mind of the Torah. Now I want to judge a case; I need to judge something — a dayan in a beis din. Now Reuven and Shimon are before me; I have to judge them. When I say: Reuven is a violent man — now my heart, my mind, leans a little toward Reuven, because I say: Reuven is violent; he will threaten me. I must do something to suit him. What am I transgressing? 'You shall not fear any man.' I cannot be a dayan.

8:51 That is how I'll do judgment? Or I say: Shimon is a man of means — one comes to lean a little toward Shimon; later he can help with a donation to the yeshivah. Shimon gave me an opinion — I will surely come close to his opinion. Today we find that our mind, instead of going according to the Torah, leans right, leans left. Or it leans according to what I think, what my opinion is, what my sketch is — that I heard lashon hara about this person, that I heard about him that he does things, I don't know what; one doesn't judge favorably, one listens to lashon hara — I heard a sketch of him, and according to the sketch I already judge him.

9:28 A person like that is a rasha, thoroughly wicked; these are people without a single gram of Torah in them, yes? Let's speak the truth, yes? They have no connection at all to the Torah — those who multiply disputes in every generation — and with Hashem's help, in the time to come the Holy One, blessed be He, will remove them from the world. - Amen. - Because the whole Torah — all those people are ignoramuses and amei ha'aretz. They are truly fools and amei ha'aretz. Or the second one, who says: 'I sketch this person according to my own mind, according to what I have learned, such-and-such, and so on; I heard lashon hara, I heard claims, such-and-such — he doesn't get in.'

10:01 He judges him and rules on him and leans after his own mind. That is already corrupt. Or, second: he rules on him and judges him according to lashon hara, according to talk, according to rumors. He does not judge and carry out a true judgment. What is a true judgment? He assumes — he doesn't know his name, he knows nothing. 'I am ruling on and judging the case.' He does not even try to judge the person and his conduct and his affairs. In judgment too, in halachah, it is not that a dayan now judges between Reuven and Shimon and says: 'Fine, Reuven, come, tell me what you do in life.'

10:34 Now he judges him — judges by the case. It is not about who may be a tzaddik and who a rasha. Is there a case between them? There is a case here between them, in the middle? You have to judge the case. You do not judge this person's standing. Although — look at Abaye and Rava, in all the disputes between them: Abaye always comes to the side of the poor man, the side of the unfortunate one, and Rava always comes in favor of the property owner. I think this too stems from the root — that this is what the one went through in his life, and this is what the other went through in his life — but you can see it a great deal: see the outlook, and how it all repeats itself, all the disputes,

11:05 the compassion, the whole approach and the examination and all the things. You can see it — there are close to 420 disputes between Abaye and Rava in Shas, in which they differ. You come and you say: listen, every dispute — when a person looks, and comes and reflects to see about what and on what the matters stand, you look — you have to judge the case itself, not to judge what surrounds the case.

11:32 And so what has happened to us today? Today we have come to a state where we judge — in the judging I bring in my own mind, bring in my feelings, my bad character traits, against a person. How does it show itself? I want to rebuke someone in the synagogue. A week ago he made a remark to my son. Now there is a chance to rebuke him.

11:58 The rebuke will be harsh: 'How dare you talk in the synagogue? How can you do this and that?' To people I look like the prophet Yirmiyahu; they say, 'What a tzaddik! How he rebukes! What is this? What words! He is right. Look how he warns us against him. That is a dangerous man — talking in the synagogue.' But the Holy One, blessed be He, who examines the kidneys and the heart, knows that since two weeks ago you have been jealous of his son, you are jealous of him, and since you are jealous of him, you rebuked him.

12:26 Your rebuke is not a true rebuke. You rebuke him because you have some resentment in your heart against him. When you want to rebuke someone, when you want to make a remark to someone, when you want to refute someone — what is the reason for your refutation? What do you want to show by your refutation? What is the claim that you want to understand? What is the reason for your dispute? What is the reason for your question? Do you have a purpose? Do you have an opinion? If you speak out of that, you have a straight mind.

12:53 But if you speak because you have hidden jealousy and concealed hatred, things like that, and then you also bring in lashon hara that doesn't exist, and you also bring in other opinions and reasonings that seem right to my mind for judging the picture, to join in and to judge, and then according to that you sketch this person — you have 'merited' and left this world: you have lost your whole world.

13:20 For you have transgressed all the words of the Torah; you have transgressed the whole Torah. Those here with me are silent. What does the Torah say? What is 'With righteousness shall you judge your fellow'? When you are a person who suspects the upright — he is stricken in his body; he transgresses 'With righteousness shall you judge your fellow.' If I suspect someone, I have already transgressed it. I only suspected someone — I transgressed 'With righteousness shall you judge your fellow.' Why didn't you hear him out properly? Why didn't you judge him properly? What is this — you've already judged him? Why did you suspect him?

13:47 It is forbidden. There is truth; there is a straight mind. The Torah — to keep the Torah means putting the Torah at the head. What is da'as Torah? Why do I say, 'I am asking da'as Torah'? Da'as Torah — you know that that sage has Torah in his head. He will not mix in the political, he will not mix in hatred, he will not mix in feelings, he will not mix in his own opinions, he will not mix in his own character traits, he will not mix in his own jealousy, he will not mix in judgment, he will not mix in lashon hara, he will not mix in anything. He will judge the real case, and he will also know how to guard this case, so that it truly will be — you understand — what do we do today?

14:23 We seize on the laws of the Chofetz Chaim, Klal 6, where the Chofetz Chaim speaks a little about a certain delicate case, yes? Today everyone opens the Chofetz Chaim and looks to see: 'Come see how it's permitted to speak, and about whom it's permitted.' About whom may one speak lashon hara? One who transgresses 'that he not be like Korach and his company.' One who multiplies disputes — who stands in public and multiplies disputes among the Jewish people. A person like that is a sinner; that is, from a person like that one is permitted to keep away, but still it is not permitted to disgrace him, not permitted to call him names — even then; there are certain cases; it is forbidden.

14:54 But if there is a person who says... he does it in public and... - To warn — that is permitted; that's the meaning, to warn? - Today, in our generation, I'll tell you the truth, nobody understands this. Learn the Chofetz Chaim by heart, start speaking in praise of a Jew. This generation today, you understand, learns Gemara in depth instead of learning the Chofetz Chaim in depth. To learn the Chofetz Chaim — it is a tremendous sefer. First of all one must learn the laws of rechilus, not lashon hara. We talk — things that we talk about, and talk about, and talk about. And the sin of lashon hara is a sin that has no pleasure in it at all.

15:25 Think about it. It is weighed equal to forbidden relations, bloodshed and idolatry. You can say, with those things: a person served idolatry — they told him, 'You'll be given a treasure from the king.' A person robbed, extorted, murdered — there is, after all, some gain, some advancement, I don't know what. But lashon hara — what gain is there in it? Maybe the words weren't even accepted in the listener's heart. So what did you go and stumble for? People multiply lashon hara and use the Torah: 'Come, come see why it's permitted. Come, come and look.' Those people are impure, utterly impure, and to our sorrow the whole exile drags on, in all the generations, because we had such 'buds and blossoms' as these.

16:01 All kinds of buds sprang up among us — they were buds and blossoms. We see them as something fine, but they were not truth; they were from the Satan. Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz writes: we have a rule in hand, that anyone who, Heaven forbid, speaks ill of the Jewish people, and speaks lashon hara of his own people in particular, 'and they mocked the messengers of G-d' — they are the chariot of the Satan and his troop. They are the chariot of the Satan and his camps.

16:26 Do you understand this generation? Do you understand this generation? You look in the Torah — the Torah is the cleanest thing there is. The Torah scroll should be the greatest thing there is. The Torah, justice, the straight intellect — should be the purest thing there is. A person should come to yeshiva, should come to the synagogue, should come to the beis midrash, with his head held high, with pride — not feeling that he is coming to a court of law where they judge his child, so that he can't get into the schools, where they judge his daughter, so that she won't be let into the seminary, because they sketched her as this and that, because they sketched him as this and that, they sketched his wife by this and that, they labeled him by... that he traveled to Uman to pray.

17:07 He traveled to Uman to pray — they sketched him as 'a crazy Breslover'. They sketched him, they throw him out of... - We come to the Rav. - They sketch him. What? - We come to the Rav to pray. - About that no one talks, that you come to me. That's fine. That is permitted — that's the main thing. We hope it will be Jerusalem. - Rav, Rav — serving Hashem, with the conscience: I often run into this in serving Hashem: conscience, torment, a feeling that I'm really in sadness — I fall into sadness over sins I did, over things I went through.

17:36 It's really hard for me to serve Hashem, to sit in joy, to sit with a smile, with enjoyment in prayer, to fulfill the Mizmor LeSodah — to come with song and with joy. It's hard: there is sadness, there is torment, things we did. - There is a Beis Yosef, in siman 131. Do you know what that is? Nefilas apayim. You do nefilas apayim, right? - Vaya'avor. - Do you know what nefilas apayim is? - No. 'Ashamnu, bagadnu'; 'Of David: to You, Hashem, I lift up my soul.'

18:03 It is a time that was set aside for doing teshuvah. There is a time for saying the teshuvah. You have nefilas apayim at Shacharis, you have it at Minchah, and you have it before you go to sleep. When you say Krias Shema at bedtime: 'Reflect in your hearts upon your beds, and be still, selah.' The Beis Yosef, in siman 239 — you have several reasons for Krias Shema at bedtime: also in case I didn't say Krias Shema in its time; because of the harmful forces — as in the view of Rabbeinu the Rosh, the harmful forces: we are saved from the harmful forces; to fall asleep out of words of Torah; 'Reflect in your hearts upon your beds, and be still, selah'; and also, Heaven forbid, a person — perhaps he gets into bed and, Heaven forbid, passes away.

18:40 And so in the Zohar, Korach, page 178a, this is called 'a master of the reckoning' — that a person does teshuvah before he goes to sleep. Do your teshuvah at these times, and know that your teshuvah will rise up and be accepted. You don't bring in, all day long, the heaviness, the pain and the sadness. - But that's what happens: if I missed a prayer or something, then I'm in torment. - I have a question to ask you. - Yes. - When you miss a meal, are you in torment? - When I miss a meal? - Yes. - No, I eat the next meal. - Are you happy? - Yes. - You don't think about it over the food.

19:07 From this you should know that it is the Satan prosecuting over this, you see? For if you had come to me and said: 'When I'm eating, I can't eat — there's shame, I don't eat.' When does the yetzer hara come? It comes to you when you're praying, to break you, so that you won't pray. When you come to learn, it comes to break you so that you won't learn. Learn with joy, pray with joy. And when it comes time for you to eat, eat with joy too. 'Go, eat your bread with joy.' Pay no attention to anything that comes to break you and comes to distress you.

19:32 Pay no attention to anything. You know, I want to teach you something important. You know, when we say pesik reisha delo nicha leih in a Rabbinic law, that it is permitted — a dispute between the Shulchan Aruch and the Rema — that is, pesik reisha delo nicha leih, right? I don't care about it. Now, I passed by a certain place and an LED light came on — those LED lights, the [unclear] kind, that hang over the entrance. You pass by — it's not my yard, it's not my house, I don't care about that place.

19:57 According to Maran, the Shulchan Aruch, it is permitted to pass. According to the Rema, we are stringent. But pesik reisha delo nicha leih in a Rabbinic law — right now I'll speak about the more spiritual concept, alright? I'm speaking right now about the spiritual concept, so as not to... Let's take this halachah somewhere closer, more spiritual: what is there to learn from it? What is the practical lesson for us to learn today, for the spirit? You say: pesik reisha delo nicha l... I have no need for this thing.

20:22 This thing makes no difference to me. It adds nothing for me, I don't need it, I don't go there. It is the same in serving Hashem, blessed be He. You always need to say to yourself: the yetzer hara that comes to darken things for me, that comes to break me and comes to distress me — I have no need for it, it doesn't interest me, I don't care about it, it doesn't exist for me. I'm not alarmed by it. I'm not alarmed by him. Just as you're not alarmed by him when you eat and dine, and you keep your mind on things, so too in this matter.

20:48 And so I always tell you: be careful, and always set your mind toward Heaven. Don't let anything in this world confuse you, mislead you, or break you, or weaken you. If you dreamed a frightening dream, don't be alarmed. From Heaven they want to show a person good, to show a person something close, something of mercy. From Heaven they don't show you things wanting to frighten you and distress you. - Well, on this subject: I've just been discharged from the army, from Golani. I was there on October 7th, I went through all of it, and things come up at night — you wake up in a fright, and it takes you time to grasp what is going on.

21:23 Alright — it stays with you all day. - You need to speak a great deal, between you and the Holy One, blessed be He. To tell the Holy One, blessed be He, what weighs on you. And it is a very painful thing, and it is a very hard thing. And it is a thing that breaks a person. I'll tell you about myself: I too have seen very hard sights. People who were there came to me and showed me and told me things, and I met people from ZAKA, and others, and not only that — you know, afterward too there are sick people who come to me.

21:49 People come to me — once someone came to me with a scarf, who has the illness in his head; only for me did he take off the scarf, to show me that he has half a face, with half a head. Do you know what it is to see a sight like that? Do you know how frightening that is? Do you know how painful that is? To see a small child with a swollen head, to see organs inside the belly, with surgery — all kinds of things, of people that I happen to see, people along the way. People hear that there are miracles. A person comes in a state — they come in all kinds of states. So what happens?

22:16 You see hard sights too, on the other side. Let's look. You too see very hard things. Does it look to you like it isn't hard for me? Do you think it doesn't break me? Do you know how much I cry over it? Do you know how much I pray to Hashem to save them? How much it hurts — suddenly your head is caught up with some child, with some case, and I am in fact praying for him, and no one could even imagine that right now, on the one hand, I have to show joy. I gladden you, I show you joy — be joyful.

22:41 On the other hand, on the other side of my heart I am crying over that child. I must not show weakness; I don't want to show weakness, I want you to be strong. Now if I cry over this child, what will they say? So I know how to cry in secret. 'In secret places my soul shall weep.' Not to show the... One has to give strength. - Because it affects us too. - It does affect, yes. Now, I come to you with a very painful case that I heard yesterday — a poor person who needs healing.

23:06 Now I... it truly pains me, it still pains me. But I hide it. I work on it with the Holy One, blessed be He. But to you — I give you the strength to be strong. That is what I am coming to explain. You have to understand, you will always need to know, in this world, to know the strength to go on. You have one leg and another leg, right? 'A person's feet' — in Tractate Sukkah, page 53, the Gemara says: 'A person's feet are his guarantors' — the feet are your guarantors.

23:32 When a person arrives, after 120 years, these feet are the guarantors to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Come, return the soul. Now the soul has come down to the world — who knows where it will go back to. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Bring those guarantors, I want them. Look — take this on a more inner level too. One leg — even if it has grown weak — walk with the other leg, with crutches. Go forward — don't stop, keep walking. But if you want to pass through this world in peace, always listen to the Torah.

24:00 Put out all the voices that shout: 'I am the truth, I know, I understand, I am wise.' Those who see only bad — whoever sees only bad and not good is not from the root of Israel. We have nothing to do with him. We must separate ourselves from that breed that has ruined the Torah for us through all the generations and the years, that multiplied disputes and baseless hatred among the Jewish people all these years, that multiplied divisions and baseless hatred for us, and even made themselves great, to rule over us with their warped and corrupted intellect, of, as it were, 'I, and I, and I' — and they are 'the wise and understanding', as though there were still a trace left in them, and they forgot that one has to go by the Torah.

24:42 Only the Torah — the straight intellect of the Torah — where I don't mix in my own intellect, I don't join my own intellect to it, I judge by what is written in the Torah. I judge a case according to the Torah. I don't mix in feelings, I don't mix in residue from the past, I don't mix in a personal hurt, I don't mix in honor, nor family, nor breed, nor label — not because you're Breslov and not because you're Chabad, not because you're crazy and not because you're mentally ill.

25:09 It doesn't interest me who you are. You are a created being; I have to behave toward you and judge you according to the Torah, and only according to what His wisdom, blessed be He, decreed. The Holy One, blessed be He, made no distinction in His Torah of who you are, what you are. If right now there is a non-Jew drowning in a river on Shabbos, it is a mitzvah to save him. Now you could say: 'Fine, he's a non-Jew, come on, let him sink and die' — no? This non-Jew too — save him. Not to look at the [unclear]. Do you understand?

25:37 Do you see what I mean? - Thank you very, very much. - Did you understand the da'as, the way of looking that I mean to say? That is da'as Torah. That is what I am explaining to you — that is called da'as Torah. To look at the Torah — not at my own intellect, nothing. Simplicity and wholeheartedness. May it be His will that these words be of benefit, and with Hashem's help may we be joined to the Holy One, blessed be He, and always, all the days of our lives, be faithful to the Torah and to the Holy One, blessed be He — to give the Holy One, blessed be He, nachas ruach, and may we learn this all the days of our lives, may we increase peace — so much so that there will come

26:11 all the Jewish people, and draw near to the sweetness of the Torah; Jews will come to the synagogue, to the beis midrash, and feel joy, feel closeness, feel that they are met with a shining face. How many Jews do you know... You know, there was a Jew who came to me — I won't tell you who — [unclear] — a Jew, a Torah scholar, an avreich, a good family, everything — he can't come to the synagogue, to his own place. Why? He comes there, he feels that everyone is looking at him.

26:36 He can't pray. He came to pray with us now, on the second festival, and for him it is pleasant to come and pray. I said to him: Why? 'There I would feel that everyone was on me. Here, no one is looking at me.' They look to Heaven the whole prayer. You see thousands at prayer, praying with their heads upward — so many people we have in the minyan — and no one looks at anyone else. They gaze at Heaven.

27:01 They are not looking for [unclear]. So that is how I have educated, baruch Hashem, all those close to me. You know, I don't say 'students'. I don't see anyone as being my student. All of them serve Hashem. They look to the Holy One, blessed be He. We need to understand already that we have a King, and start listening to the voice of His Torah. To get out... Do you know what a person's greatest danger is? His intellect. His intellect — that is our greatest punishment. You said just now: 'Save us from ourselves.'

27:26 So we need to be saved from ourselves. We are always being careful of this one, careful of that one, careful of the other, careful of the neighbor. 'Beware of that rav, beware of a famous man of falsehood.' Beware of yourself; look at yourself. Your intellect — where can it bring you? It can make you lose both worlds, kill you. Your intellect is the most dangerous thing there is. Who said your intellect is clean? Who said your intellect is pure, clear and polished? Who said the truth is found in you?

27:51 Who said? Who gave you the vision? The world today is of the mindset of, like, 'Me — that's it.' And that is how this bad atmosphere is spread. There needs to be a good atmosphere. You should know, a great deal comes from this da'as — that you come and you enjoy praying. On Yom Kippur people enjoyed it; they didn't want Yom Kippur to end. Yom Kippur — a prayer so hard and heavy — and people enjoyed it, people who are far. People took on a head covering, some took on Shabbos — people who said it was their first Yom Kippur.

28:20 Some had been students for a little while, but there were also those who are far. Even the far ones who came felt such an uplift. That comes only from a feeling. - Rav, there was a non-Jew who cried. - Yes, there was a non-Jew who cried, that's right. I heard about a non-Jew — one of the security guards there was a non-Jew. - A non-Jew, he really cried, the non-Jew cried — the non-Jew simply started crying. Rav, the Ne'ilah prayer that we prayed... - You see from this what this voice is — it is a strong voice, it is a true voice.

28:49 It is a true voice, this voice. That's it — this is my voice, a true voice. You should know, it is a true voice. - I think that a non-Jew crying over it... - No, no. Where is that from? It is sparks. You know, connect it to what I said about the Song at the Sea: how can it be that Pharaoh would say 'Who is like You among the mighty, Hashem; who is like You, majestic in holiness'? How can that be? When the Holy One, blessed be He, is revealed in the world, He also wants to hear the...

29:14 - 'A maidservant saw at the sea.' - 'A maidservant saw at the sea' — but the Holy One, blessed be He, wants to hear the song from them too. May His glory be exalted. The Holy One, blessed be He, wants to hear His praise from everyone. He has compassion on His creatures. That shows us how great He is. - Rav, he cried and pointed to Heaven. - He cried and pointed to Heaven. 'And every creature shall know that You made it' — right. It gave great strength. I heard about it — tears came down. Tears came down when I heard it — to see a non-Jew like that, wiping his face.

29:41 It was astounding, astounding. I am telling you, truly, listen to me, listen to the things I say; learn them. Listen — the words are clean, clear, pure and untainted. Listen to the true voice, and remember to recognize this generation and its state, and don't let anything in this world mislead you and confuse you; light up the light of Hashem, blessed be He, in truth — the da'as of the Torah, in truth.

30:07 Don't put out the last ember that remains. - What possibility is there, what possibility, in such [unclear]? - It is almost in my path. You, walk in my path. - We must say thank you very much to the Rav, truly, for this whole festival. - A good year, a good life. I love you. I rejoice in you. Be in joy; light up His light, blessed be He; may we merit that everyone will have a revelation of His G-dliness, blessed be He. To be in joy and to think only good, and to light up the souls of Israel. Not to draw souls and not to sketch souls.

30:34 The souls of Israel were hewn from the top of the rocks, from the highest place. Stop drawing souls — this is not just another drawing. Today people draw souls. They draw, they label. 'Wait, what are you — Breslov? Okay. How old are you? Chabad? You did teshuvah at the age of fifty. [unclear] Fine, we'll send you a shidduch — someone seventy years old, who can't see, I don't know what.' That is how they label people. They don't look at the souls, they don't look at the souls of Israel. Stop it, stop sketching the souls. Look what we are taught about Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya — look at the language of the Sages: 'Rabbi'. How can someone like that be called 'Rabbi'? You tell me — how can he be called 'Rabbi'? 'Rabbi' is only someone who... 'my Rabbi, my guide and my mentor' —

31:15 'Rabbi' is someone who teaches us Torah. Call him 'Elazar ben Durdaya'. 'Fortunate are you' — a Heavenly voice went out — 'and you are destined for the life of the World to Come.' I understand, fine — you know, Avodah Zarah, the Gemara that brings this — but Avodah Zarah speaks about idol worship, fine — this whole story is one great madness: it is idolatry, it is impurity, it is licentiousness, it is adultery — it is a very grave deed. Fine — he went, wailed between his knees, his soul departed: 'Fortunate are you, Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya, for you are destined for the life of the World to Come.' But why this 'Rabbi'?

31:46 And do you know what can be learned? Because he taught us, he is called 'Rabbi' — he taught all of us that there is teshuvah and there is a remedy. So what does Heaven say? 'Fortunate are you, Rabbi, for you did not despair; you let everyone understand, for all generations, that there is no despair in the world; you let everyone understand that even the farthest and the worst sinner has hope and a remedy, to return — you shall be called Rabbi, for you will teach the generations the greatness of teshuvah. So fortunate are you, Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya, for even today we learn from you, and people sit and learn Torah from Rabbi Elazar. But if it were with the mindset of today — how it would be, if we had the great sages of our own time:

32:23 "How dare he write like that? Rabbi Elazar? Erase the 'Rabbi'. I wouldn't mention the 'Elazar' either. What, you... call him by the name Elazar? What did He help him with — to do that? Take off the 'Elazar', take off the rest, call him this, call him that" — and they would pile so many disputes onto him, until they would have taken this story away from us. But the Sages of old — you see the da'as and the understanding and the wisdom, how they lit up the souls of Israel, how the Torah and the Sages increase peace, lift up the people, lift up the souls of Israel.

32:52 They don't increase disputes, or divisions, or cataloguing, or sects, or names, or anything. They light up the light, the souls of Israel, the holy soul: there is in you a holy, lofty, immense soul that has no measure. Light up the light of the souls of Israel. We don't look at the clothes, we don't look at the appearance, we don't look at everything around, we don't look at place, origin, community, place of yeshiva, learning, past, future — nothing.

33:22 We look as the Holy One, blessed be He, said: "where he is." Every soul has the right to take a share in the holy Torah. Who are we, that anyone should dare to come and speak about the souls of Israel, to sketch a soul and rank it, or catalogue it, or tag it with a name and a standing and a rank of influence or of society at all? Or they catalogue the person too: who is he to speak, or to speak like that — on what grounds? Every Jew, [unclear] in this world, has in him a soul, a portion of G-d above. He can bring you the geulah.

33:52 He — that small, strange one with his tzitzis out, who has just now shaved his head and let his peyos out, who yesterday gave up the cigarette, and whose soul shed tears at the Ne'ilah prayer — come and see: the heavens are now open before him. Who knows what will be revealed in that soul? Who knows what will come out of him? Can we talk about the souls of Israel? Can we catalogue people, sketch them out, say whether they will get into the Talmud Torah or won't get into the Talmud Torah — he's like this, he's like that, he's this, he isn't, he's allowed, he's that?

34:23 We cannot speak about angels of G-d. Every Jew is a limb of the Shechinah. We speak well of the souls of Israel — and get this breed out, like a viper that sows venom in the Jewish people, and only tries to sketch out the da'as for us: what a Jew is, and who is truth and who is falsehood, and all this stupidity. The time has come to learn true Torah. Torah. We learn Torah. We don't busy ourselves with everything around it; we busy ourselves with Torah.

34:49 That is the purpose, that is the da'as. What is it? So — we do teshuvah, and one must always know how to take on a resolution. Whoever took upon himself things that are not good, let him resolve within himself, in his heart: to push lashon hara away from my heart, to push anything not good away from my heart. And that is the greatest resolution and teshuvah for lashon hara about another person, for lashon hara about parents, for lashon hara about anyone close: to push it away from the heart and never believe words of slander — only to uphold and hear good things.

35:20 "Take words with you and return to Hashem." You will thank me all your lives if a few drops of what you heard today enter you, and then fortunate are you — for know that this is the will of Hashem, blessed be He. It is clean, and it is correct da'as, and it will help you and bring you benefit. It is the truth, through and through. "Etzba tzeradah", the snapping finger — how did you say it? - Look what you've brought us thanks to the "etzba hatzeridah". - "Etzba tzeradah." No, not "etzba hatzeridah" — "etzba tzeradah."

35:50 It all began with one etzba tzeradah. You know what that hints to us? That this conversation has woken us up, within this world of ours. That is the secret of the etzba tzeradah. It is the secret of the geulah. - You've strengthened us. But from here we learned: etzba tzeradah — they would snap before him with the tzeradah finger, and not with shouting. It isn't derech eretz to make a great noise in the Temple. With derech eretz: someone snaps the tzeradah finger, [unclear].

36:17 But the second half too — that is the kohen's task: to grasp his purpose, and the eyes. Also Divrei HaYamim, Chronicles, that they would read before him — they read things to make him wake up and be moved. - Divrei HaYamim is genealogies, a great many. How would that, like, bring it about for him? A lot of genealogies — like, there aren't many commentators on Divrei HaYamim. A lot of genealogies. What is it there that would bring it about?

36:43 - Rashi... [unclear] Yes, it's like summaries and [unclear]. - The Rav explained Divrei HaYamim to him, so he understood. - Apparently someone really did explain to him what Divrei HaYamim is: explained to him that the days speak, and every soul that was here in the world — remember what it went through, remember what passed over each and every one of them, all those who are mentioned before you. There is a whole history here; you have a purpose and a true path — so that would rouse him.

37:12 - Wow. If that is how Divrei HaYamim were learned... - The days speak. You hear the name of a Jew, you hear a name — it's something... - It's the book of the history of the world. - It's the book of the history of the world. - Bringing all the souls of Israel close, lighting up all the [unclear]. - Amen. - Amen. - Bringing everyone close. - Amen. - All the far ones, all the cast-away ones. - Amen. - The Litvaks too, Rav, the Litvaks too. - The Litvaks too. The Ethiopians too. - Look, Rav, I'm here, so apparently something is working. - There is no such concept, no such concept. [unclear] There is no concept of "Litvaks"; that concept won't be found. There are no Sephardim, no Litvaks, no Chabad, no chassidim — there are Jews. - But the Rav [unclear] Litvak... - That you're a Litvak — listen.

37:52 - He makes everything into pilpul and more pilpul. - What are we supposed to do, Rav? - He brings the Gemara into everything. He asks on the Mishnah why they snap before him with the tzeradah finger — and all of this rolled out of his etzba tzeradah. He said [unclear] — there were people who received a Sefer HaMiddos for the first time. Sefer HaMiddos — the main thing is that we internalize the middos. That is the most important thing: that we truly work on our middos; let us stand within, look inward and not outward.

38:19 "Milgav" and "milbar" — from within and from without. "Milgav" [unclear] — we look outward every time. [unclear], Rav — not "milbar". "Milbar", "mi-la-rav" — that's Rav. Like — so that it shouldn't end up "milra". - But these [unclear], Rav — it's in everything. "He ate its inside and threw away its peel." "He ate its inside, threw away its peel." "He ate its inside, threw away its peel." "He ate its inside, threw away its peel." What about Rabbi Meir? Why did Rabbi Meir take from Acher? What is "he ate its inside and threw away its peel"?

38:44 The secret of Rabbi Meir is the eyes. - Wow. - Our eyes. Rabbi Meir — Rabbi Nehorai — who "lights up the eyes of the Sages in halachah", Meir: that is the secret of the eyes. Rabbi Meir taught us: see only the inner part — "he ate its inside and threw away its peel" — not a bit of the outside. Don't look at his outside at all. Look only at the inner part of the souls of Israel. Look at the soul, the burning coal of fire inside each and every one who comes to you.

39:10 - But how does one see it, though? - You look, you look, [unclear]. Someone asked me this week, a certain person, a reporter; he asked me: "Do you realize how many are coming to you? What do you say about so many people coming to you?" You know what I told him? "I don't see that many people are coming to me. I relate to each one who comes to me. You, with your eyes, see many; I, with my eyes, see who he is. You look and see many coming; I look and see one, and one, coming." - Each one is a diamond. [unclear] - "I look at the one who has come to me.

39:44 I can look at the many, I can look at the individual; I prefer to look at the individual and not at the many, and to receive many individuals, rather than to receive a multitude. That is my way of looking at it." So I said to him: "So what is the question?" So he said to me — - That's about the polishing of diamonds that the Rav spoke about. - It's about polishing, right? "But how is it that with a diamond, when it goes through polishing, there is one that shines a lot, and there is one that shines a little?

40:09 We go through it — we all go through polishing — but how is it that there is one that shines a lot and one a little? They are all taken from the ground the same way, they are all worked the same way, they are all polished the same way. The treatment is the same. Why does one shine a lot and one a little?" Rashi explained: some say a precious stone, and some say a window. Do you know the difference between the precious stone and the window? Which gives more light, a precious stone or a window? - A precious stone. - A window, a window. If I now open the window facing the sun, there will be unlimited light, right?

40:39 But if the sun has now set, I open the window — there will be no light. And I bring the stone — there will be light. - There will be light, right. - So the question is: when do you open the window? When do you use the stone, and when the window? Because the main thing is "A tzohar you shall make for the teivah, the ark." What does that mean? Hold the teivah precious. Hold the teivah precious; hold the small thing precious. If you hold the smallest thing precious, you will see the light. If you don't hold the small thing precious... What is written about Yosef?

41:05 "And she caught him by his garment." She caught hold only of his outside, Potiphar's wife. This whole wife of Potiphar was only the outside — she can grab only at the clothes; "my inner self you will not manage to grab." The wife of Potiphar — all the [unclear] of the world is the wife of Potiphar. They grab only at the clothes, only at the outside: how you dress, how you are catalogued. That is the wife of Potiphar: "and she caught him by his garment."

41:29 But the true da'as is only the inner part. That is why "he fled and went outside" — [unclear]. What is "and he fled" doing here? What is "and he fled" doing here? "And he fled"? What are you running from? What did you see? Meaning: what I fear most is her da'as, more than what she will do to me. Why? He said: "How can I do this great evil, and sin against G-d?" What would be more fitting to say? "And we would sin."

41:54 After all, a ben Noach is commanded as well, [unclear], and it is forbidden for them too. It is forbidden for them too. So why don't you say "How can we do this evil"? We could learn from that — one could learn from it, for all generations, the prohibition for them too. "How can we do this great evil, and we would sin" — from here, a proof from the Torah that they too are forbidden. We would have said that. Why does the Torah say "and I would sin"? How is it that Yosef said "and I would sin" and not "and we would sin"? Rather: Yosef did not want to tie her to himself, even in speech.

42:19 "I share no da'as with you; do not come into any bond with me. With twisted and distorted views — I want no bond." That is to say — why did he say "and I would sin"? "I don't want it; you are not with me at all." He left his garment in her hand, fled outside, away from her: "I want no connection with you. I am fleeing so that I'll have no connection." That is why it is... in order to... Why "the image of Yaakov"? - Of his father. - "The image of his father." - Of his father.

42:43 - Of his father. His father is Yaakov. [unclear] But perhaps he saw the truth, as I said. He looked at the truth. "Give truth to Yaakov." He saw the image of the truth. One must always see, too, "the image of his father." Who is "my father"? It is the Holy One, blessed be He. Yosef HaTzaddik looks and says: "I see my Father in Heaven. I see His image.

43:08 What would Hashem, blessed be He, think of it? What would He think about the purpose that I [unclear]? What would He think about what I want to do here?" Always ask after Hashem's da'as: "What is Hashem's da'as on what I want right now? What really is Hashem's da'as on it? What is His da'as? What is His da'as?" And then you will understand: "How can I go up to my father?" "To my father." - My Father in Heaven. - What? - That is what the Rav is saying.

43:33 - "How can I go up to my father" — right? He can't yet, right now. "I will go up in the palm tree" — I will go up. - The Four Species! One can reach our Father in Heaven just with the Four Species. - But one needs the sukkah too, right? - There isn't one here. - You know what I said. Now there was your chiddush — we're in Berachos, page 48a, on the dispute of Abaye and Rava, [unclear] in the sky or on the ceiling. - Yes. - So the Rav's answer [unclear] was: in the sukkah.

44:01 - In the sukkah — but here it's open ground, Rav. - In the sukkah too, it is both the ceiling and the sky. - The sky too. - We have our [unclear], which is both in the sukkah and in the sky. - Outside too. - But here we are only outside, Rav; it's only sky. - We are both in the sky and under the ceiling. - You don't see the Shechinah here? You don't? - We don't see the [unclear]. [unclear], Rav. - Here is the ceiling, here is the ceiling: the Shechinah is above my head. - That's it, that's it. The tefillin are the ceiling; I feel the ceiling here.

44:28 - Rav, you spoke earlier about the head — that one can't lift it from the... it is called... the Name of Hashem. - Make some order for us in this: people say that the war now has already been going on for two years, that it counts as a milchemes mitzvah, an obligatory war, and why aren't we serving in the army, and all those things. It can be [unclear]. - A milchemes mitzvah — a beis din, a Sanhedrin, a king — these are things that, like...

44:53 Today they call it a milchemes mitzvah in a manner of speaking, as though the situation... they don't mean the halachic definition. - True. - Not the halachic definition of a milchemes mitzvah, for you have no Sanhedrin, [unclear]. Unlike that, a Sanhedrin is needed, to come and [unclear] over us, and also that we have a king who will go to fight before us, at the head of the battle, in the camp. Achav was the bravest. There was no one as brave as Achav in war.

45:20 Achav was victorious in wars, the one who went at the head of the camp of Israel. In the Yerushalmi, Peah, chapter 1, halachah 1, it is written that none would die under him. Why? There were no speakers of lashon hara among them — no one would die. He goes out to war: they go out and come back the same number. Not one would die. He had very great power. [unclear] victory. What is this? His soul reached... [unclear] The Torah, right — it is the main thing. - Right. They said it is some merit, [unclear] in war. - Because of his love for the Torah — he upheld Torah and gained another twenty-two years of life, twenty-two years, [unclear]. - Where did he love Torah — together with idolatry?

45:56 - "Hopping between the two branches." You know, one can also love Torah with idolatry, and not love idolatry with Torah. Today you can find that the world loves Torah with idolatry too. You can say it the other way around; the question is where you read it from. [unclear] The main thing is that we serve Hashem with joy and think good, and be only in the joy of [unclear], a kosher da'as. Thank you very much, Rav Cohen. You always give us the merit of learning new things that [unclear].

46:25 - It's impossible without your questions, Rav Cohen. - It's only the Rav; I'm not, I... - He draws it all out. - No, no, no, no. - You keep going; you're managing to convince me that there is something in the Litvaks. - Rav, even to stand here within the Rav's four amos would be forbidden; one would have to take off one's shoes, ask forgiveness twice beforehand and immerse in a mikveh beforehand. - And he goes every day to Rav Elyashiv, sits there with him. - [unclear] watch over you, for health, [unclear].

46:55 May you succeed, rise and be uplifted, light up the light; go on being humble as you are, a tzaddik as you are, good tidings, [unclear]. - If I were a tzaddik, Rav, if I were humble, I would not be standing here. Everyone knows: I am not worthy, I am not worthy, it's not... - Only one who feels unworthy stands here. [unclear] Look at Rav Cohen — how many shiurim we have merited because of you, Rav Cohen.

47:27 Rav Cohen, Rav Cohen — he knows how to draw it all out. He is one of the ambassadors of France too; his father lives in France, that's his family. - My father is a tzaddik. I am not [unclear], but my father — my father, for over sixty years... he founded the first seminary for girls in France, and Rav Chaikin sent him; he attended Rav Mottel Pogramansky, Reb Itzikel was with us — the tzaddikim, many holy men passed through there — and he has thousands of students around the world.

47:59 He has merited exceptionally long life. He is truly a Jew who "hides among the vessels". I never heard him say a bad word about anyone, never, never... - That is the greatest praise that can be said of a Jew. Wow. [unclear] He never said a not-good word about anyone. That is the greatest praise. - I never heard it from him, ever. - That is a person. Do you know what a person is? Someone who knows how to make peace with his mouth, who doesn't speak evil. That is a person of stature.

48:24 It takes no wisdom to open the sewer, to open one's mouth on all one's fellows, and people become great through their dirty mouths about their fellows. That one became a rosh kollel, and not because... - "One who gains honor through his fellow's disgrace." - He gains honor through his fellow's disgrace. That one became the general director of such-and-such a department — to be wise, to be great. It is the Holy One, blessed be He, who makes a person great. Don't smear anyone in order to be great. Learn, truly, so that the Holy One, blessed be He, will be great — and you will be great. You know, every time, I say — I say: I am always learning to be small, and to make the Holy One, blessed be He, great, and His children great.

48:55 That's it; that is my goal. Learn Torah so that the Holy One, blessed be He, will be great. Don't learn Torah so that you will be great. Oy va'avoy — one doesn't learn Torah in order to be great. One learns Torah so that the Holy One, blessed be He, will be great, and the Jewish people will be great. Make the souls of Israel great. Make them great, light up the light. Truly care for the true purpose. Enough of hearing the voices of goats. The voices of the goats — for "one does not raise small livestock in the Land of Israel."

49:21 It's a mess; it's the voice of the goats, it's the goats — izim — it's the se'ir izim, the he-goat, it's all of it. All these voices that are heard in the world — it's goats, izim. [unclear] It's azus, brazenness; it's all the azus panim, it's the goats; it's all the brazenness there is in the world. We want to hear the pure voice, the clean voice, a true voice — the voice that the Holy One, blessed be He, wants us to hear. - Rav, [unclear] in mortal danger; he isn't taking the medicines he needs, and he has some disturbance in the brain. His name is Yaakov ben [name unclear]; now he... - Yaakov ben [name unclear] — may the Holy One, blessed be He, grant him a complete recovery from Heaven.

49:57 - Amen, amen. - Protection and sound health, a good life. We love you very much, we pray for you; may you have salvations, and may the merit of the Torah protect you. [unclear] the "Writing of Chizkiyahu", for his recovery. "A writing of Chizkiyahu, king of Yehudah, when he was ill and recovered from his illness. I said: with my days cut short I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the rest of my years. I said: I shall not see Hashem — Hashem in the land of the living; I shall look upon man no more, with those who dwell in the world." "My dwelling is pulled up and carried away from me like a shepherd's tent; I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day to night You bring me to my end. I waited until morning; like a lion, so He breaks all my bones; from day to night You bring me to my end."