The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-＂שיחה מצמררת של הינוקא בניחום אבלים – על אובדן ילד, עולם הבא ותחיית המתים＂

3:35 Without noticing. The synagogue on Shabbos. How many people pray in the synagogue, how many come? Eighty come to the synagogue on Shabbos, they sit on Shabbos, in the synagogue, praying, everyone sits there, praying, they pray Shacharis, they pray in the synagogue, they see the Torah reading, they sit on Shabbos, [unclear] — what is it for? What is it for?

4:00 For this world? For the World to Come. After that, Minchah — you are in our synagogue again; Arvis — you are in the synagogue again. Yom Kippur — all day in the synagogue. Everyone here, baruch Hashem, on Yom Kippur — everyone is in the synagogue. Why? Who will tell me why — in the synagogue on Yom Kippur — what is the reason? Why are you in the synagogue on Yom Kippur? Only because of one thing: because all of you believe in the World to Come.

4:27 None of us denies the World to Come — [unclear] that there is a World to Come, and we live, and all our life here in this world — very little is in this world, but most of it is in the World to Come. Look how much [unclear] over the World to Come. We keep kosher. You say to a person, "Come, eat something [unclear]," and he tells him, "I keep kosher." What are you afraid of? You are afraid that a day will come when he will go — [unclear] — he will go to the World to Come and have something not good.

4:53 We live the World to Come a great deal, for the needs of the World to Come, without noticing. And when the World to Come finally arrives, everyone cries and is taken by surprise, and thinks that the one who passed away is in a place that is not good. And that is not true. But you need to know that everything is mercy with Hashem, blessed be He. We here in this world know — the Sages taught us — why the Holy One, blessed be He, made death frightening. We are not afraid.

5:18 You know that the soul that goes [unclear] in the World to Come — it is written that a whole life of this world's desires is not one moment in the World to Come. Once, when Rabbi Nachman — he was sitting with his daughter — he passed away at the age of 38, at a very young age. Our master the Arizal passed away at the age of 37, Rabbi Avraham the Malach passed away at the age of 36, Rabbi Shalom Shachna of Prohobisht at the age of 36, Rabbi Avraham of Prohobisht at the age of 27. There were holy tzaddikim at the ages of 27, 28, the Ramchal, 38 — [unclear] holy ones and tzaddikim passed away at very, very young ages.

5:55 And we are speaking of holy ones, of tzaddikim, of figures who were not of this world. Once he was sitting with his daughter, and his daughter — there was a funeral outside, of the father of a certain woman. She began to cry — the girl cries and cries and cries and cries, really crying, with tears. So Rabbi Nachman says, "Why is this girl crying over her father? What, is she crying because he did not stay to suffer in this world like her? The way she stayed to suffer in it — she is pitying herself.

6:24 If she loved him, she would understand that he is in a place where it is he who should be crying over her." That is what Rabbi Nachman said. You see, the Holy One, blessed be He, made that place frightening so that people would not want to run away to it. You see many people today — I meet many people — may it not come upon us or upon the Jewish people — I also had a meeting earlier with the... Before I came here, I spoke with the head of the burial, [unclear] with you in [unclear], I came with him, with the rabbi who is in charge of the honor.

6:57 I spoke with him about the [unclear], with the family — we spoke. [unclear] And I meet a great many [unclear], a great many cases — I see a great many cases, things that are alarming, hard stories, all kinds of things that come along — we hear things that are far from simple, very, very, very hard things.

7:23 And part of what I deal with and try to help with is even to keep people from being lost. Many times people come who are on their way to being lost — really, just like that. I am talking to you about cases where we are speaking with a person who is suddenly on a roof. When a phone call like that reaches us and one of the gabbaim is there, he says, "Listen, she is on a roof — that's it."

7:47 One says he is with pills; another — of course the police are brought in too, in cases where rescue forces are brought in — but I am talking to you about cases like these. When I look at the... Baruch Hashem, we managed to save many people from those places, baruch Hashem. And afterward people grew stronger and came back to a different place.

8:14 And I look at the person and I say — I say to him, I talk with him: "What, aren't you..." I try to put fear into him. "What, you want to go to a place like that?" He is not afraid. And I say — and in the end, until I persuade him and explain to him — and I say: look at this — if Hashem had made it so that that place was not frightening, then people would jump — anyone who has a problem would go straight up to the World to Come. Because the Sages, in what they wrote in the books — if you knew how they described that place — it is such a good place. It is called Gan Eden.

8:46 Everyone says "Gan Eden" — people always say it here, they say "Gan Eden." It is the best place. With the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no evil — know that. There will never be evil. The Holy One, blessed be He, is entirely kindness and full of mercy. For we, with our own eyes, cannot picture the good, because this world, and reality, picture for us so much hardship and so many judgments. We cannot understand them at all — the [unclear] of this world.

9:10 I want to tell you a story about a very, very holy tzaddik — and it is a little frightening, this story, but I will tell it to you, so you will see the tzaddikim of the past, what stories there were. There was once Rabbi Shalom Shabazi — surely you have heard of him. Everyone has heard of him. You hear? Yes. He was not from Jerusalem — he lived in Yemen, and on Erev Shabbos he would arrive, by means of holy Names, at once in Jerusalem — by a holy Name he would arrive — like that, every Erev Shabbos.

9:41 He had a son whose name was Rabbi Yehudah. He had a son who was a little mischievous, but holy, a tzaddik. He passed away with his days cut short — a boy in age, really young. And once they said to him — his father used to work miracles, but truly something — wonders, in an astounding way; a great wonder-worker. Once some sages said to him — they said to him, "Study, study — you will not be like your father."

10:10 "[unclear] you will not be like your father." He said to them, "I am not like my father?" — and they were just then sitting and smoking hookahs. He said to them, "I am not like my father? No problem — come and see what I know how to do." He did something — they were on very, very high levels, it is not what we understand — certainly 400 years ago. He turned all the hookahs in their mouths into snakes. Suddenly everyone looks, they see a snake — they threw them away. They screamed, and then they heard a noise outside.

10:36 His father arrived, Rabbi Shalom — everyone was afraid of him. Rabbi Shalom arrived and says, "What happened, what happened?" They told him, "Such and such happened." Rabbi Shalom looks at him and said to him, "Rabbi Yehudah, is this what you did?" He did like this with his hand: "One who makes use of the crown passes away." Wow. The child passed away — his son passed away. He was severe. His father was severe with his son, and the child passed away.

11:05 That is Rabbi Shalom. This comes to explain to you where they were at all — where their minds were and where their holiness was. Now you will come and say: Rabbi Shalom took his son to [unclear] — that same Rabbi Shalom — and he knows that he is [unclear] of Hashem. And there were so many stories, so many tales, about so many tzaddikim who... And in the Holocaust there were so many stories, so many things where... or, "The child was with me, I watched over him; now the child is with you."

11:32 A deposit. There is the story of Rabbi Meir and the children and his wife, who said to him, "If a person comes and gives a deposit, and tomorrow he comes to you — you would give it to him, you would return the deposit to him." He goes to speak: "My master Meir, listen — someone gave me a few gold coins to keep with me. Now the time has come, he has asked for them, he has come back — should I return the gold coins to him or not?" What would you say? "Return them." Understand [unclear] — about [unclear] his children, who passed away.

11:59 Say — there were many holy ones and many tzaddikim like these, about whom there were such tales. These are things that we, here in this world — we see the stories, we see the tales, we see what they went through, we see, [unclear] — but we are already in a world where [unclear]; this world is breached on every side. Today you look at the fact that you are sitting — but no one has immunity, no one has immunity here in the world.

12:24 No one. Everyone — King Shlomo says, "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting." No one can feel that he is immune from anything. The Holy One, blessed be He, looks at all the creatures. Each one has his day and his time when he will go. In another hundred years, no one will be here. In another hundred and twenty years, yes? A hundred and twenty years. There are no babies here — a hundred and twenty years.

12:52 In a hundred and twenty years, no one will be here. No one. But we are waiting for Mashiach to come, right? If Mashiach comes, then we will have the resurrection of the dead. That is why people say: may the resurrection of the dead come quickly, may the geulah come quickly. Many times a person comes to me and says to me — I met a certain person, and he says — he wrote me a note — he told me that ever since his father passed away — he said, "Only I, today, await the resurrection of the dead. Many people say 'the resurrection of the dead.'

13:22 I say 'the resurrection of the dead' — when I say 'Who revives the dead,' only I mean it. Today I understand what the words 'Who revives the dead' are: that I am waiting to meet him." That is how it is. Now, I was very attached to my grandmother, peace be upon her, and to my father too, peace be upon him. And them too I lost at a very young age — my father, and [unclear], my grandmother, [unclear].

13:51 And it hurts very much. And I too am reminded at 'Who revives the dead,' and sometimes I miss them and say, the time will come and we will see each other, and there will be the resurrection of the dead, and the geulah will come. I want to tell you that it greatly warmed the heart, to see how you love the family like this, and so many, many of you came here — friends, and people here, neighbors — and you came here like this to do good and to strengthen him — this dear family, the special wife and the special husband, [unclear] — truly, I have no words. I only pray for you, and I want to tell you — you know that we are here for you, always. We will not leave you; no one will leave you. We are here with you.

14:48 You have wonderful children — your children are tzaddikim, and sweet, and your wife is special, and you are special. Truly. And I see your friends, this family — what a family, what friends — [unclear], truly — especially what moved me so much, when we spoke together and were together in the hard moments, at the bitter news, and I saw the understanding, the wisdom, the heart, your feeling — [unclear] — you moved me very, very much. Truly, I am in pain, I am in pain, and I want the Holy One, blessed be He, to give you strength from Heaven.

15:40 I want that, with Hashem's help, all of you, everyone, lift your eyes to Heaven and be strengthened. Lift your eyes to Heaven, everyone; be strengthened; take upon yourselves good resolutions, return to Hashem, return to Hashem, lift your eyes to Heaven, let us be strengthened in the greatness of the Creator. You know that the coming of Mashiach, the geulah and the resurrection of the dead are not fairy tales. A time will come and it will happen.

16:05 A time will come and it will happen, I tell you. If this were a promise from just someone who wrote some composition or something — you know, liturgical poems — we would say, fine, someone composed some song. But we have so many such works by holy ones and tzaddikim who promised us these promises, and so many great scholars and tzaddikim, and so very many works and thousands of books that speak about that day, and they say that we are the closest to the geulah.

16:38 That is according to a great many calculations. You see the Kosel today, the remnant of our Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple — it is a remnant of the Temple. That this remnant exists is like a fire that exists and burns — so you know that it is going to be built. The moment it is built, we will already be in a different place — and it is very close to being built. You see [unclear] the Temple — everyone looks: the Temple — they see the Kosel, the remnant of our Temple. Soon this Temple will be built — this House, which the King of kings will build.

17:03 It will not stay like this. He created the world for this House. The moment He builds this House, the moment Mashiach comes, there is the resurrection of the dead, the coming of the geulah — everything will be. I want you to believe and to await the coming of Mashiach, believe and be strengthened, that there will be the resurrection of the dead, and everything that all the prophecies promised us — everything. "From where do we know the resurrection of the dead from the Torah?" "May my soul die the death of the upright, and may my end be like his."

17:27 There will be the resurrection of the dead; there will be the World to Come. For the sake of the Children of Israel — the Holy One, blessed be He, [unclear] for the sake of the Jewish people. All the good bounty, all the [unclear], the whole Torah, what the Torah commands us — the purpose of the World to Come — everyone is waiting to come to the Land of Israel, "which He swore to your fathers, to give to them." To whom did He swear? To our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov — to give them the inheritance of the Land.

17:51 It will be here, here in the Land of Israel, where we will merit to inherit the Land. There will be the resurrection of the dead, and everything, everything will come to its place in peace. I know that we are a people that right now — these last years have been very, very hard. There were disasters, there was a war, there are the [unclear], before that the epidemic, and now the riots — and you are holy Jews who are here in the Land of Israel, and you live here on the Land of Israel with self-sacrifice.

18:22 Truly. "Fortunate is the people for whom this is so; fortunate is the people whose G-d is Hashem." Whoever lives here in the Land of Israel and is here in the Land of Israel has a different soul. He has a different holiness than when a person is outside the Land — he is not here, and he does not feel the holiness here, and he is not here. Every day that one is here — every moment that a Jew hears a siren and runs, with fear in his heart — he already receives a thousand thousands of reward. And his soul is holy, and is cleansed of all the kelipos.

18:47 His level [unclear] — one who is here every day in the Land of Israel, compared with those who do not live here, who do not contend with things here — that is a different matter, theirs. But there is no comparing the level of the soul that is here — to be a Jew who dwells in the Land — which is a merit so great, to be here in the Land of Israel. I truly rejoice in you, baruch Hashem; and you are still here, and glad, and baruch Hashem, you are close here to our synagogue, you are invited to come and pray.

19:16 I want you to be in joy, to hear good tidings, and I want you to go on strengthening this holy family — to strengthen it, the family, to strengthen it with all your might, to wrap them in warmth, in love, in strength, in power — the sweet children, the wife and the husband, all of them — with Hashem's help, to help them, to strengthen them, to encourage them, so that they have strength, and have hope, and have comfort.

19:42 May the Holy One, blessed be He, comfort you. "I, I am He Who comforts you"; "and in Jerusalem you shall be comforted." And may you have good tidings, [unclear]. And I want you to know that I [unclear] to strengthen you, and I will not leave you. Know that he is a man of very, very, very great emunah. I heard him in the hard moments — at the very hard moment, when what happened happened — and I heard the words of emunah that he spoke, and I also heard today — they told me today how he spoke.

20:18 I truly bless you with success, with a good life, with emunah and with strength — for the words, and for the fortitude with which you held strong. And you will succeed; Hashem will be your help — and also the strength and the fortitude of the Rebbetzin, the wife, this strength and this resilience. And may you have strength from Heaven. May Hashem, blessed be He, watch over you and protect you. And you are strong, and you are mighty — "Hashem is with you, mighty man of valor."