The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הכנה אמיתית לראש השנה - חדש!! שיעור נדיר של הגאון הינוקא במיוחד לימים אלו

4:08 Thirty thousand people did teshuvah. He said nothing more. They say, one time — they tell about Rabbi Zusha. Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli — that one time he came to a certain town, and they gave him great honor; everyone honored him. And he took the... they brought him a bowl of soup, such a dignified one, with spoons of gold, everything.

4:38 He took it and poured it onto his coat. He said, "Eat, eat, eat, eat" — that is what he said, several times. So everyone looked at him in wonder: how does he do such a thing? So he said: "I have no wonder. Perhaps you have a wonder — you do not understand something that is deeper than what I did."

5:05 He told them that when he poured out the bowl of soup, it was that he had been in this town many years before, dressed in rags, and they did not honor him. Now he is dressed in costly clothes, and they honor him. So he said that the garment should eat, because it is the garment they are honoring. The honor, after all, goes to the clothes; for his own sake, after all, they had not honored him.

5:31 The honor that came was honor that came to the clothes. So that was what they were honoring — that is what it was. So it is understood, this matter: that the honor was on account of his garments, and not that the honor was on account of his essence, of the person. After all, all the honor with which people are honored today — they are honored on account of their garments, and they are not honored on account of the essence of the person.

5:59 For the honor should be for his essence, for the honor of the person who is being honored, and not because of the garment, and not because of his clothes, and not because of how he looks, for that is not the way of the Torah. The way of the Torah is to love and to honor and to give the honor to the essence and to the inner self, just as Hashem, blessed be He, gives honor to all created beings, all of them — honor to everyone: to non-Jews too, to Jews too, to those who are far too.

6:26 Hashem, blessed be He, gives honor to each and every one. And now, this month, the month of Elul, when we are already just before, close to the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah — there were several good and great things that happened in this month, in the month of Elul.

6:56 There is an encompassing light and an inner light. And the encompassing light — when there is, Heaven forbid — also, as in practice with the wrapping in tzitzis, where there is a garment one wraps himself in and there is also when it falls — then in effect that is like the withdrawal of the encompassing light. And in the month of Tammuz there was a withdrawal of the makifim, the encompassing lights, because the walls were broken. And in the month of Elul there is a building of the wall, as it is written: "And the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days." The Book of Nechemiah, chapter 7, verse 6.

7:31 Chapter 6, verse 6. The meaning of the month of Elul is that it can help with all of a person's garments, so that he can build all his makifim in completeness — whatever became damaged in him through everything he did over all the months and the whole year. Especially since Rosh Hashanah raises up the whole year, and every week — Erev Shabbos raises up the week, and Rosh Chodesh rectifies the month; so the month of Elul rectifies all the months.

8:04 And what is done in the month of Elul is the finishing and rectification and sealing of the whole year, and of everything a person went through from its beginning to its end. And what they pray and do and accomplish in this month will be of great benefit for the whole year and for what comes after it, and for the ultimate purpose, and everything. King David said in Tehillim, chapter 22, verse 21: "Save my soul from the sword; my only one, my yechidah, from the hand of the dog."

8:35 In the meaning of "Save my soul from the sword, my only one from the hand of the dog" there are two aspects. There are fifty gates, the fifty gates of Binah, and there are the thirty-two paths of Chochmah. The thirty-two paths of Chochmah are not the fifty gates of Binah. The thirty-two paths of Chochmah are a higher level, where in fact only hidden tzaddikim can understand — in a place that is high, high, high — because these are paths.

8:59 And when a person passes from the world, he has a path that he walks on — what he did in his life — and it rises with his Torah, his mitzvah, everything he learned and engaged in in this world; when he passes from the world, he walks on a path that is in Heaven. And one who did not walk in the way of Hashem properly — both as to his Torah, and as to tefillah and the service of Hashem, of all these things that he did and accomplished, if he did not do it the way it needs to be done — yes, walking [unclear] before Hashem, and so on, in all matters, at the level of thought too, in speech too, in deed too, as it should be — through this he is pushed away;

9:39 and however great he may be in stature, and however high a level he may be on, he can then meet a dog in Heaven. For even when he is at the level of yechidah — so this is what King David said: "Save my soul from the sword, my only one from the hand of the dog" — that perhaps in Heaven, perhaps even for one at a level like mine, might there not be some matter by which I would come to that very path — that one. Only You, Hashem, blessed be He, save me — and he asked, "my only one from the hand of the dog."

10:06 And at this time of the month of Elul, before Rosh Hashanah, when it is the time to ask before Hashem for the rectification of a person's soul — there is something that the Alter Rebbe explains in Likkutei Torah. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Shulchan Aruch HaRav. He writes in the sefer Likkutei Torah, Parshas Re'eh, page 32a, section 1. The Alter Rebbe explains in Likkutei Torah, and he explains that in the aspect of the month of Elul there are revealed — this is on page 33a — he writes that there is a revelation of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, which are revealed in the month of Elul.

10:44 The thirteen mechilin d'rachamim, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, are revealed in the month of Elul, in which there is a revelation of mercy, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy that are revealed in this month. In this month, the month of Elul, the thirteen mechilin d'rachamim are revealed. And he says on page 32 — he explains in Parshas Re'eh that there is a revelation, and a dread and fear that falls upon the worlds that are covered and [unclear] and hidden, because of the fear of Hashem and His majesty, which is revealed on Rosh Hashanah. And he says a chiddush that is very, very great. I will explain his chiddush. Why? Because it will not be so easily understood.

11:18 He says that what a person attains of fear and love is not from what a person attains by his own power, but it is only what is bestowed upon him from what he attains on Rosh Hashanah, when he receives fear and love from Hashem; according to that, fear and love will be bestowed upon him, and through this — these are the vessels he will receive in order to serve Hashem. The Alter Rebbe explains that a person who has fear of Heaven, or love for Hashem, blessed be He — it is not because of something he received by his nature, or that he attained something, but it is because on Rosh Hashanah he received a very great revelation of fear and love, and corresponding to the revelation of fear and love that was revealed in him,

11:59 that appeared in him, corresponding to that he received vessels and strength, and this gave him the strength and the essence for the whole year, for fear and love. That is what he explains. And the meaning of these vessels: he received them on account of what he engaged in. That is to say, one who engages especially in these times, which are a preparation and vessels for receiving the great light — then on Rosh Hashanah, when there will be a revelation of Hashem, that He appears even in the covered and hidden worlds, and there too dread and fear fall upon them, here too he will certainly have vessels, and fear and love.

12:31 It turns out that a person who has no fear and love — it is because he did not receive Rosh Hashanah the way it should be; he did not make the preparation the way it should be in this month. The meaning that the Alter Rebbe explains — he explains there a parable of a king who goes out to the field. When the king comes to the field, all the people come to greet him, and the king shows a smiling face, and smiles at each and every one, and everyone sees his face, and he smiles at everyone, and then everyone goes out to meet the king.

13:05 And then, at the time when the king goes and enters the palace, no one enters any more, only those already invited to the king. Only they can enter the palace, for whoever the king invited can enter; so at that time they will enter the king's palace. Only those who were prepared, only those who were invited beforehand, will be allowed to enter the king's palace. If they have no invitation, they will not be able to enter the king's palace. It turns out that only one who has a preparation for this time of the month of Elul — only he will be able to enter the chamber of the King, and to sit by the King and to be close by the King, and so on.

13:40 That is at this time. For the King is now sitting and is found close by, and everyone is near, and there is revelation and tefillah and supplications and everything — so it is the time to ask for His closeness, and to appear and to ask before Him, for this is the time of the revelation. And then, what he explains on page 33 — that the revelation of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy is revealed in this month — there is in it an exceedingly lofty and exceedingly mighty revelation, very great, that can cause all the Jewish people to return, for it is a revelation of great mercy.

14:15 But here one needs to understand something. He writes that a person who is not pained over his sins and his distance — it is because he sinned so much that the soul was cut off from its root, and because of this he does not feel it. That no pain over it came about in him — he does not feel it, because the soul was cut off from its root, so he does not feel. This explains that especially in this month of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, there is the possibility of revealing them, so that everyone will be able to return to Hashem, to bring about teshuvah in truth. For after all, it is impossible to cause people to do teshuvah the way the world thinks. The tzaddikim — a tzaddik asked us: "Speak about bringing merit to the many" — the Jew, the tzaddik.

15:04 And I will explain it, because it — perhaps today we will explain it, so that it will be more — what it is called to bring back in teshuvah, bringing merit to the many. Because according to the truth, in practice, as we explained what the Alter Rebbe speaks of — that it is impossible to bring fear and love to a person by his own power, but it is only what he receives from Rosh Hashanah; and according to his words it is understood that from every year and year and year, what comes to him on Rosh Hashanah is drawn down.

15:32 It turns out that according to what the Alter Rebbe says, what one needs to bring about for Jews is only to bring them close to Rosh Hashanah, and especially in these days; if they have fear and love, it will draw it upon them for the whole year. That is according to his words; that is how it is understood, for he says that by his own power he can never attain fear and love — so that is what he explains. And this is a wondrous chiddush, that this is how he gives an explanation of closeness to Hashem, to bring it about that people will be able to return — that is according to his words, what he says.

16:00 But so we will give still more — we will think more about the things he says, and we will try to see from here, truly, what closeness to Hashem is, to return in teshuvah, and what the connection is to the month of Elul. It is written in Tractate Rosh Hashanah, on page 17b, in Tosafos, in the name of Rabbeinu Tam, that there are Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, which were said in order.

16:40 It says: "Hashem, Hashem." And Rabbeinu Tam says: "Hashem" — I am, before he sins; and "Hashem" — after a person sins. As we say — he says that "Hashem," that this Name in fact has two levels in it. One: He shows a person mercy before — at his level — and then, after a person sins, from there too the Holy One, blessed be He, arouses mercy toward him, so that from here he will be able to return and draw close to Hashem and do complete teshuvah.

17:07 This is the opinion of Rabbeinu Tam; this is also the opinion of the Ramban, this is also the opinion of the Abudraham, and others who hold this way, it seems: "Hashem" is the first attribute, and the second "Hashem" is the second attribute. The opinion of Rav [name unclear] Gaon, and the opinion of the Rif, that the first "Hashem" that one says is the first attribute, [unclear] "G-d, merciful and gracious": "G-d" is the second attribute, "merciful" the third attribute, and so on. The opposite is said according to the opinion of our Rabbi, the holy Arizal; and so too the opinion of the Gaon of Vilna — in the sefer of the Kavanos, Derushei Vaya'avor, Derush 3.

17:44 He explains that this is the Dikna of Arich Anpin: "Hashem, Hashem," one says; "G-d, merciful and gracious" — "G-d" is the first attribute, "merciful" the second attribute, "gracious" the third attribute, and so on. It begins with "G-d" as an attribute, "merciful and gracious," and that is how he counts — not counting the two times of the Name Havayah — and that is how they say it, each one according to his matter, his intention. And here, according to Tosafos — what Tosafos say, that this is the opinion of Rabbeinu Tam, that "Hashem" is before he sins, and "Hashem" — after he sins; for it is "merciful and gracious."

18:17 "Hashem, Hashem, merciful and gracious, slow to anger," and what comes after. What is "merciful"? So they say: "merciful" — before he sins, and "gracious" — that is after he is in his trouble, how to get him out of there. And here it seems there is a difficulty to raise about King David. King David says in the psalm, Tehillim 145, verse 8: "Gracious and merciful is Hashem" — and he reverses the order of the Torah. After all, the Torah says, "merciful and gracious, Hashem." And King David says, "Gracious and merciful is Hashem" — he reverses it; that is not the order of the Torah.

18:46 The Torah said, "merciful and gracious, slow to anger," and King David says, "gracious and merciful." He reverses this order. And this is not clear. For after all, simply, we explained that "merciful" is in the place where a person is, and "gracious" is at the time of trouble. And it will not help — grace when there is trouble, and after that, mercy. So what did King David mean? Why did King David not say it in the language of the Torah, "merciful and gracious"? It is written — this is Parshas Ki Sisa, the chapter in Shemos — Ki Sisa, chapter 34, verse 6: "And Hashem passed before him and proclaimed: Hashem, merciful and gracious."

19:24 And in a little while I will explain what this distinction is. Why is this connected to returning in teshuvah? Explain what you know. Now, so, we know that there is a very beautiful piece of Rabbeinu Bachya, in the commentary on Parshas Ki Sisa, where he explains that from the day the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, we have in this world no offering, no Kohen, nothing, but only tefillah to Hashem and His Thirteen Attributes, for whoever has intention in them — his tefillah does not come back empty, unless he has sins in his hand that hold it back.

20:02 Whoever has intention in this, in His Thirteen Attributes — his tefillah does not come back empty; that is his chiddush. And it is known that this is not said as an individual — with the cantillation, of course — but the opinion of the Minchas Elazar of Munkatch, in Responsa Minchas Elazar, part 4, siman 22 — the Minchas Elazar of Munkatch: even as an individual, not to say it. People do not hold like the opinion of the Minchas Elazar; as in the words of Rav Moshe Feinstein and others, one can say it as an individual too, with the cantillation, and so on — but there is a beautiful view of the Maor VaShemesh, in an explanation according to the inner meaning, of why not to say it as an individual.

20:32 And the Maor VaShemesh explains, in the sefer Maor VaShemesh — Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman HaLevi Epstein, the Gaon, the Maor VaShemesh. He writes in Parshas Vayechi. He says: Why, in fact, would it not be fitting to say the Thirteen Attributes if we say them as an individual? Rather — if he says them as an individual, certainly there will not be found in him something of this attribute that he is saying.

20:57 Perhaps there will not be found in him compassion, or kindness, or being slow to anger; but when he says it with the many, certainly it will come about that in the whole congregation there will be something of the attributes, and because in the whole congregation there will be something of these attributes, then it will certainly count for him. That is what he explains. So the reason it is said with the many, the Maor VaShemesh explains, is because of the attributes of the many. And if he says it as an individual — how, after all, will all these attributes be found in him?

21:21 Certainly they will not be found in him. So that is the reason not to say it as an individual. That is how the Maor VaShemesh explains it. That is how it is — these are the words of the Maor VaShemesh. But according to what will be understood — after all, if we explained before that King David said it in reverse, that he said "merciful" — and then, "gracious and merciful is Hashem," and not as the Torah said, "merciful and gracious" — so here one needs to understand what King David meant, because certainly King David had a very great intention, certainly all his words and his whole sefer are entirely ruach hakodesh, and it is all awesome and exalted things, and he would not just do the reverse of the Torah for nothing.

21:55 After all, simply, to us, King David should have said "merciful and gracious," and kept it [unclear]. And why did he say "gracious and merciful," which is in reverse? And in a little while we will explain the intention more. As for the meaning of teshuvah, there are several levels.

22:22 True teshuvah is when a person can grasp a little of before Whom he stands. It is a drop from the sea; even that he cannot. But when a person knows that before him is his last day, and on it, in fact, he does not give his mind to anything in the world, only before Whom he is going — not people, not thoughts, not anything — only before Whom he stands. Only with this thought — this is an excellent level, very great, because then the teshuvah he does has the law of a shechiv mera, one on his deathbed. As in the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, siman 338, se'if 2, where the vidui, the confession, is brought before the one who is passing away; so that a person may depart, they say vidui with him.

23:00 When a person says the vidui that is before he passes from the world, that vidui is the highest. And then he can acquire his world, like Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya, Tractate Avodah Zarah, page 17a, who acquired his whole world from just a moment of a thought of teshuvah. And this thought of teshuvah — it is recognizable in the da'as, the mind, because the teshuvah needs to be brought all the way to the mind — to cause a person to return in teshuvah so that his mind returns in teshuvah.

23:27 For the meaning of teshuvah — one part of it is in the mind, and the second part is in the heart. For one needs to bring back the heart too, and to bring back the mind too. Why does it matter? Because there is a person who in his heart will want to return to Hashem, but in his views he will never return. He strengthens the hands of evildoers; he holds that people who do not keep the Torah and its mitzvos are people it is permitted to strengthen.

23:53 But he will not hold that one needs to support the Torah and those who learn it; he will hold that it is also permitted to strengthen both these and those. He will have a mind that is flawed, but in his heart perhaps he will return to Hashem. The heart will want Hashem, but his mind — no. And there is a person who in his mind understands that this is forbidden, forbidden, and this is forbidden, and this is against the Torah of Hashem. But in his heart, he himself does not want it — he does not want the Torah. That is to say, there are two aspects in teshuvah: one for the mind and one for a person's heart.

24:21 These are two different levels. And when I say to bring a person back in teshuvah, or to bring merit to the many, what do I mean? Their heart, or their mind? That is one thing that needs to be thought about. And if I am aiming at the heart, that is something else; and if I am aiming at the mind, that too is something else. This is one thing and that is one thing. The heart is a separate thing and the mind is a separate thing. It is not the same thing. That needs to be thought about — one thing.

24:48 And a second thing: what is the meaning of Hashem as "merciful" and as "gracious," that King David said? But here, now, it will be understood. It is written in Tractate Kiddushin, page 49b: she is betrothed — "on condition of being a tzaddik," she is betrothed, for perhaps he had a thought of teshuvah in his mind. In his mind — that is where the teshuvah passes. This implies that teshuvah in the mind is higher.

25:16 Teshuvah in the mind is higher. Now I will explain. There is the attribute of judgment, which needs to be sweetened at its root, completely — which is the nullification and removal of all the judgments in the world.

25:49 And it cannot be sweetened, and it is impossible to get out of this pit, except only when mercy is aroused upon the mercy. That is to say, that there be a revelation of mercy, that this person merit to return to Hashem, and upon the mercy, mercy be revealed — that he return the way he should. Because many think that to return to Hashem is only to come to know Him, or His Torah, and right away they have returned; but they do not know that only coming to know Him, and His Torah and His mitzvah, is only the beginning of closeness to Hashem.

26:26 That is to say, only when a person reaches old age and white hair, after seventy years — it is written in Midrash Tehillim, Midrash Shocher Tov, in chapter 34, it is written about the yetzer hara. The yetzer hara. A person and his friend — he was with him a whole hour, he becomes one who loves him. And the yetzer — it will be with him at twenty, it will make him fall. It will be with him at the age of forty, it will make him fall. It will be with him at the age of seventy, it will make him fall.

26:52 To the age of seventy — seventy years it will be with the person, it will try to make him sin. A person will be with his friend one hour, and he will be one who loves him. A person with the ba'al davar, the adversary — it will want to make him fall; in one moment it will make him fall. That is what it says about the ba'al davar, the yetzer: that it will only want to make him fall, in something, in one moment. However many years it is with him, that is how it will want to make him fall. The thought that a person understands is that to return to Hashem in completeness is only when he is cleansed completely of all the evil.

27:25 And when I say to bring a person back, the meaning is to take him out of all the evil that he is in. That is the true meaning; for in practice, if one does not bring him to his purpose, or in practice, if the person, perhaps, in his outwardness will be in Torah and its mitzvos, but in practice, when he passes on — perhaps also that one who is with him, or who will bring him back, perhaps he too will run into that same dog. For this is what David said: "Rescue my soul from the sword, my only one from the hand of the dog" — my level too.

27:53 Perhaps even a person who can reach levels — he too can be entirely from kelipas nogah, and err. It is another level and another level and more; it is the greatest carefulness and cleanliness there is in the world, in the service of Hashem, blessed be He, and cleanliness and alacrity and purity and kedushah. Therefore it will truly be understood why the tefillin are checked in this month, in the month of Elul.

28:19 There is great merit in checking the tefillin, for it is the custom of the pious and men of deeds to check the tefillin in the month of Elul. That — in a little while, perhaps; it is not connected right now. It is connected, but that is — what King David said. King David says: "Gracious and merciful is Hashem." So when he says "Gracious and merciful is Hashem" — the Torah says "merciful and gracious" — because what King David said is that if a person, Heaven forbid, is in trouble, then he said "gracious."

28:54 But it is not enough that he come out of the trouble; even for this grace that will be revealed in him, he will need mercy. That is why he said "gracious and merciful." Not so "merciful" — that is rescue before sin. But at the time that he falls, he will have only grace; it does not promise that it will take him out. As against that, that there be "gracious" — that there be, even when a person has fallen to that place, compassion revealed in him afterward — then it will be much greater, for surely he will come out of there.

29:21 Then there will be a revelation of the compassion. So that is why he said it the other way around; for in the Torah it is "merciful and gracious," but when we have gone so very far in the exile — and all his Tehillim are with ruach hakodesh — so he said "gracious and merciful." For with all the falls and the distancings from Hashem, blessed be He, in all the generations, there needs to be grace revealed upon the place where the Jewish people are, and after the grace is revealed, the compassion will be revealed.

29:46 For also in that place where they are found, the grace will be revealed, and then the compassion will be revealed in them, for that will not be enough. Therefore, the month of Elul — our master the Chida, Rabbi Yosef Chaim David Azulai, writes in Tziporen Shamir, in siman 8 — in siman 243 — siman 8, se'if 243 — he writes: one should be careful in this holy month — it is a holy month, for he says it is the completion and end of the whole year — it is the end of the year — to make a cheshbon hanefesh in it, an accounting of the soul; and if he cannot, at least let him be like the "masters of the accounting" — he brings the Zohar, Korach, page 148a, side b — that people need to be careful, as "masters of the accounting," to make a cheshbon hanefesh every night;

30:26 and before a person goes up to his bed, he should shed tears and weep. And in se'if 246 he writes: let him take heed that he is summoned to judgment before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, Who knows all his schemes and his deceits. The Holy One, blessed be He, knows. You are summoned before the judgment — He Who knows all your schemes and all your deceits. The Holy One, blessed be He, knows, and you are summoned before the One Who knows all his schemes and all his deceits; and this one will come before Him on Rosh Hashanah — and how will he know what to do?

30:55 And he does not yet know before Whom he stands. He knows all his schemes and his deceits — Hashem. And this is only a little, in the nearness, as one draws close to Him, before Hashem. And so, this he writes — this he writes in siman 246. He also writes there that a person should be careful not to read everything in a rush, but to read everything calmly, and with a pleasant countenance, as one should, with kavanah. 246 and 244 — let him think that he is summoned to judgment before the Holy One, blessed be He; and in siman — se'if — 247, and then he continues the whole siman, because it ends after that.

31:28 In siman 247 he writes that each one should increase tzedakah according to his ability, and increase Tehillim and [unclear], and one whom Hashem has graced with wealth should give — "Redeem your sins with tzedakah" — he should increase tzedakah, for it is a very great thing; and whoever can, should redeem — let him pay off everything, with all that he can, in tzedakah — for what he did and sinned and thought, and all that passed during the year, and all that he did.

31:52 For through tzedakah, through the revelation of tzedakah, the mercy of Hashem is revealed, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals it upon the Jewish people, and then the great mercy is revealed. That is why it is a month in which one must increase tzedakah and mercy. And then, through this, a person will be able to subdue the yetzer. In the Beis Yosef, in siman 1 — the conduct of the morning — se'if 5, it is written that subduing the yetzer is through saying — having kavanah in — the passage of the Akeidah; that one says the passage of the Akeidah and has in mind to slaughter his yetzer; and so he says that with the passage of the Akeidah, when one has kavanah and reads it, one can nullify the yetzer hara. In the Maggid Meisharim, in Parshas Behar,

32:32 he writes that he told him to be careful with tevilas Ezra — to be careful on Monday and Thursday, to immerse on Monday and Thursday, to be particular about this, about immersion. And also Rabbi Yaakov of Marvege — Rabbi Yaakov says, in Responsa Min HaShamayim, in siman 1 — he says that the whole length of our exile is because people are not careful with tevilas Ezra, and especially that the chazzanim, the shluchei tzibbur, be careful — that they take care and be careful with tevilas Ezra. At least they — that they be careful with tevilas Ezra, to be holy, pure and clean — at least the chazzanim, that they go up holy and pure and clean.

33:03 Now, after we have explained — and if a person does these things as one should, especially those of tefillah — being careful, with many supplications, as he explains — in the Maggid Meisharim, that he said to him, to the Beis Yosef — he said to him: be careful with tefillah, with immersion on Monday and Thursday — immersion on Monday and Thursday — and let him burn up, in his thoughts during the tefillah, all the stray musings and all the thoughts, and pray with kavanah — then surely the yetzer too will be nullified, and a person will be able to slaughter his yetzer and draw close to Hashem; and then the revelation of the compassion — the revelation of the mercy will be very, very great before the Master of heaven and earth, and then surely it will bring him back to Hashem.

33:40 Now, in that same place and at that same level where a person returns to Hashem with all his heart, in that same place where he slaughters his yetzer and puts his mind to the purpose, and has mercy and reveals the compassion of Hashem — the month of Elul is revealed, which is the month of all the Jewish people together. It is the month of unity, a month in which everyone is united. The Rambam writes, in Hilchos Tefillah, chapter 8, halachah 1 — the Rambam explains that the prayer of the congregation is always heard.

34:17 Every time a congregation prays before Hashem, the Holy One, blessed be He, will hear them, as it is written in Iyov — "Behold, G-d is mighty" — chapter 30, verse 5 — "Behold, G-d is mighty and does not despise" — as they expounded in Berachos, page 7b, page 8a — that the Holy One, blessed be He, hears and responds to the prayer of the congregation. So the Kesef Mishneh writes, in chapter 8, halachah 1, that at the least one should be careful to pray at the time the congregation is praying — to say that the Holy One, blessed be He — even though there are transgressors among them, and even though there are those who sin before the Omnipresent — the prayer of the congregation is always heard before the Holy One, blessed be He, and there is nachas ruach and great delight before Hashem when people pray together, as a congregation.

34:55 There is a great elevation for the whole congregation, and everything — and everything is rectified, and everything — everything; there is great merit in this, and then the yetzer is nullified completely, especially as we explained, that the Responsa Min HaShamayim says that at least the chazzan should be pure and should be holy, so that the tefillah will go — that they be particular about this — as the whole length of the exile is only because of this. So it turns out that praying with the congregation is something that, if we bring the Jewish people close so that they pray with the congregation, it will also cause them to return in teshuvah.

35:21 For when the Jewish people are brought close to pray with upright chazzanim, then the length of the exile will be annulled, and this will be the main bringing of merit to the many: that they pray with upright chazzanim and come close to upright people. That is the greatest bringing of merit to the many there is, because not everyone is able to turn people back from sin. For when a person tries to bring another close, perhaps there is something not good in that person — he can become attached to that thing. And therefore one needs prayers and very great mercy, so that that tzara'as and that affliction do not cling to a person here, so that it does not bring him, Heaven forbid, to distance from Hashem, to contention and [unclear], and all these things in which there is no good and no salvation.

35:57 But then the light of teshuvah will truly be understood, which is revealed — for it is not for nothing that there is a thought in teshuvah that is revealed; for before a person does teshuvah, it is impossible to know who he is and what he is. And teshuvah — its meaning is to reveal the person hidden within this person.

36:21 It turns out that if there is no teshuvah, one does not know who a son of Israel is, who the Jewish people are. The preciousness and the splendor of the Jewish people are not revealed. And the meaning of teshuvah is to reveal the glory and the beauty that is in each and every one of the Jewish people. That is the meaning of teshuvah. When I say to bring merit, or to bring back in teshuvah, my meaning is to bring out, from potential into actuality, the good that is found in each one.

36:48 And then, when one does teshuvah, the good that is in every Jew is revealed, and then he returns to the Holy One, blessed be He. And the good that is hidden in a person rises to its root and draws close to Hashem. So this person has returned to Hashem. That is to say, the meaning of teshuvah is to reveal what is hidden in him. As we explained about Elazar ben Durdaya, who did not leave... ...that he did not go to, and so on — and what happened with him? That in the end he had a thought of teshuvah, and then he merited and acquired everything [unclear].

37:16 All of it only because of one thought of teshuvah. And there was a story of the same kind about Onkelos. Onkelos. Onkelos the convert. In Tractate Gittin, page 56b, it is written that he performed a raising and raised up that one, may his name be erased, whose name it is forbidden to say. It is written in the Book of Shemos — "and the name of gods" — chapter 23, verse 13: "And the name of other gods you shall not mention; it shall not be heard on your mouth" — as they expounded in Sanhedrin, page 63a — that there is a severe prohibition in the mentioning — even to cause a non-Jew to come and vow and swear by the name of an idol.

37:48 It is a name that is impure. Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz says, in Midrash Pinchas, Sha'ar HaKedushah, that a person who says that one, may his name be erased — says his name — all of him has become impure; he must immerse. All the limbs and the sinews have become impure — everything, all of him has become impure — just by mentioning this name. It is so impure that this name makes him impure. Also Shabtai, the second one, whose name it is forbidden to say — "Shatz," by the initials — and also that one, may his name be erased — that these two — one who says them, the person becomes impure, all of him, and they do a Tikkun for this, if he does not go to immerse.

38:17 One must become pure from this impurity, of having mentioned with his mouth these impure names, through which he became impure. Also to be careful about mentioning [unclear] — not to say it to the end, unless it is a verse or things of that kind; it can bring a person to impurity, [unclear]. These are all kinds of levels of kedushah that one must be careful about, so that a person does not come, through them, Heaven forbid, to something not good. The meaning of teshuvah is to reveal the good that is in him. Now, with Onkelos: after all, how did Onkelos — he had the teshuvah.

38:46 He raised them up, and then he saw that they are falsehood in Heaven, and they have no rectification and no elevation, and only the way of our Torah is the right way, and to it one must go and to it one must return. And then, when he converted, he brought them all back. So the emperor of Rome — as it is written in Tractate Avodah Zarah, page 11a — sent all the Romans to him, so that they all might bring him back; each one — he brings him to teshuvah; he converts them all.

39:11 He cannot stand against him; he does not know what to do. Each one that he sends — he begins to prove to him, with da'as and straight reasoning, how much falsehood and smallness there is among the Romans, that there is no da'as in them and nothing at all, and it is all falsehood and vanity, and all is vanity and a chasing after wind, and there is nothing in any of it. There is no understanding in it, no hope — what is there, that one should go over to [unclear] of theirs? There is no hope and no remedy in them. That was [unclear] — every day that the Targum is read, shnayim mikra — and siman 285, Orach Chaim — that there must be shnayim mikra v'echad targum — the verse twice and the Targum once; that is, as it were, with da'as.

39:44 Also [unclear] — everyone is obligated — a blind man, [unclear] — everyone must read shnayim mikra v'echad targum. What is this da'as? It is the da'as of the Torah. Targum is the da'as of the Torah. It is its explanation, it is its contemplation, it is its da'as. That is the meaning of Targum: it is the da'as of the Torah. It is to know how to connect to it — that is the meaning of Targum. The Targum is a bonding with the Torah. If there is no bonding with the Torah, it has no understanding, it has no — it does not arrive in da'as.

40:12 When we say teshuvah, it is that the things should rise into the person's da'as, and in his da'as they will bring back Israel, and cause everyone either to turn back from sin, or to reveal in them the good that is in them, or to bring them back from the place where they are to a higher place, to a place much farther than where they are. For each one is in the place where he is, and the Torah does not shine in him, and the holy Torah is not revealed in him.

40:38 And the way to reveal the Torah is only by revealing to a person, in da'as, its words and its closeness. And then the person returns to his Maker, returns to his Creator as he should, and there comes about a revelation and a drawing close of the person to his Creator. For then a bonding comes about, and then a joining comes about, and so on. That is the meaning of teshuvah in general — to bring back. Now, the way of bonding for a person, to Hashem, blessed be He, is through tefillin, right? As is known — how to bring people close — with Shabbos, to the signs — to bring them back to Hashem, that they keep Shabbos — now it is the month of Elul — to awaken them about family purity, which is very important,

41:17 about Shabbos, for it is very important [unclear] regarding Shabbos and regarding the tefillin, which is a bond to Hashem. Now, the Rav wrote — the Mateh Ephraim, in siman 581, se'if 10 — that it is of the custom of the pious and men of deeds to check the tefillin in the month of Elul, and there is in this — this custom is a good thing — to check the tefillin in the month of Elul. Now, what is there in checking the tefillin in the month of Elul?

41:48 Here I will explain, perhaps — we shall see — the contemplation, to think: that the tefillin are the bond of a person's da'as, which are on the arm and are on the person's mochin, the mind. On the mind — it is to bind the mind and the heart to Hashem, blessed be He, which corresponds to the teshuvah that we explained. Teshuvah means to return in da'as and to return in the heart. This corresponds to the tefillin of the arm and to the tefillin of the head.

42:16 When I say to bring back to Hashem, blessed be He, the meaning is to return both with the arm and with the mochin. That is called teshuvah in completeness, which is only the select few, the great ones of the generations, like Yaakov Avinu, like Avraham Avinu — they brought about teshuvah for us. When Avraham Avinu made converts, Yaakov Avinu took all the Jewish people, to bring them back in teshuvah — teshuvah is drawn from them, from the great ones of the generations, from the tzaddikim of the generations.

42:43 They left us teshuvah; they brought teshuvah. Now, if the merit of checking the tefillin is a great thing, then here, in fact, let us try to think what the course of the checking of the tefillin is, at its source — in the Talmud Yerushalmi, in Tractate Eruvin, chapter 10, halachah 1, and also in Eruvin in the Bavli, page 96a. There it is taught — Rebbi: tefillin, a person does need to check them. There they expound the verse "And you shall keep this statute": every twelve [unclear] one must check the tefillin.

43:16 Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says that one does not need to check the tefillin, and Hillel the Elder says that one does not need to check — why? "These tefillin are of my mother's father" — so he says — of my mother's, of my mother's father — here are these tefillin, tefillin [unclear] — these are my tefillin. So he expounds. So there is a dispute in Menachos, page 36b, between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yosi HaGlili: "And you shall keep this statute at its appointed time, from days to days." So "And you shall keep this statute at its appointed time, from days to days" — Rabbi Yosi HaGlili expounds it about the putting on of tefillin: from the day — the time when one must put them on; that there are days — "from days" — there are days when not,

43:47 when one does not put them on, like Shabbos and Yamim Tovim — one does not put on tefillin on them. Rabbi Akiva expounded it about Pesach. But we have a rule that the halachah is like Rabbi Akiva against his colleague — in Tractate Eruvin, page 46b. So like whom is the halachah? Like the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, not like Rabbi Yosi HaGlili. We take this from Tosafos in Menachos, page 43a; in Berachos, page 44b — that they would bless "Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos and commanded us to keep His statutes" in the Land of Israel, like the opinion of Rabbi Yosi HaGlili — in the West — that is how they would bless.

44:15 Rabbi Akiva — in Bavel they did not make the blessing; they held like the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, that the time of tefillin is at night too — like the opinion of Rabbi Akiva. And the time of tefillin at night — this also corresponds to all the darknesses and the exiles that the Jewish people go through; for the opinion of Rabbi Akiva is that it is the time of tefillin — that is, a person's mochin — it is at night too. Also in the darkness of the exile and the troubles — that is like the opinion of Rabbi Akiva. And it is interesting that this is also the opinion of the Shulchan Aruch — what the Shulchan Aruch ruled in siman 39, se'if 10 — and so the Rambam brought in Hilchos Tefillin, Mezuzah and Sefer Torah,

44:44 in chapter 2, at the end of chapter 2 — it is halachah 11, perhaps the last halachah — that if a person has tefillin, he does not have to check them, ever. So wrote the Orchos Chaim, by Rabbi Aharon HaKohen of Lunel, Hilchos Tefillin, siman 29; so the Rosh brought, like the opinion of Rabbi Akiva — Hilchos Tefillin, siman 16; also regarding the meaning of tefillin, [unclear] on the opinion of the Shimusha Rabba — the Pri Megadim brought this too. All the Acharonim brought that a person needs to check the tefillin. What the Orchos Chaim, by Rabbi Aharon of Lunel, wrote — that is the meaning, that one needs to check them. He says: even once in fifty years one does not need to check the tefillin.

45:19 He says: why does one do the checking? If a person did not put them on — because he, Heaven forbid, did not put them on all the time — then perhaps, Heaven forbid, there could be mold — as the Knesses HaGedolah wrote, and the Beis Yosef brought it, and so the Magen Avraham brought, and so the Pri Megadim brought: if there is some mold, or something in the air, or something not good, or sweat, or today, when people immerse in the mikveh and come out of the mikveh wet, so perhaps they put on the tefillin without drying the head — then perhaps such people need to check their tefillin. But one also sees that it is not an obligation by the letter of the law, and it is a fine custom that one may rely on; one who has tefillin in a kosher state may rely on that.

45:55 But it is certain that today, in our days, it is good to check the tefillin, at least once in three and a half years, as the Be'er Heitev on the Shulchan Aruch brought; but if a person can, he should check the tefillin; and it is good in our generation to check, for it shows extra kedushah and a greater level, and especially since people sometimes leave their tefillin in places that can cause them to become invalid — through there being heat in the car, or hot places, where there could be, Heaven forbid, a bursting, or damage to the batim, the tefillin boxes.

46:25 That is, the Rambam explains that if one sees that the batim are whole, then surely they are in their kosher state, and one does not need to check them. But the meaning of the tefillin, as we explained, is that, like the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, that night-time is the time of tefillin, it is a revelation of emunah and a revelation of da'as, which is also in the darkness of the exile — like the opinion of Rabbi Akiva. Not like the opinion of Rabbi Yosi HaGlili, for in the Land of Israel they blessed "to keep His statutes." There was a blessing [unclear] "to keep His statutes," when the tefillin are taken off — that's it, now one does not put on tefillin — night, it is night-time.

46:56 Now, if we hold like the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, and we come and say that night is the time of the revelation of da'as — for the time of tefillin — it is only, as they say, it is only because of the honor and the kedushah of the tefillin. Because of that one does not put on tefillin at night: because of their honor, because of their kedushah. With us it is because of the honor and the derech eretz and the kedushah of the tefillin; because of that one does not put on tefillin. So if so, it will be understood that a person's da'as, his mind — a person's da'as, which corresponds to the tefillin of the arm and the tefillin of the head — at least what is revealed in it — its time is at night,

47:29 which means that a person's doing of teshuvah is also at night; but because of the holiness of the tefillin, they are not put on at night. So it comes out that the level of teshuvah, precisely in the darkness of the exile, is so great that we do not even have a grasp of it — like the tefillin, according to the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, not according to the opinion of Rabbi Yosi HaGlili. Now it will be understood, now it will be understood, as we said, that if the level of teshuvah is so — is so great — right? The level of teshuvah is so great, and we have nothing above teshuvah, for it is the highest level there is: to return to Hashem and to bring back to Hashem.

48:06 So if so — according to the Rambam, in the Laws of Teshuvah, chapter 1, halachah 1, the Rambam holds that it is a positive mitzvah. The Chinuch does not hold like him; he does not hold like him — the Minchas Chinuch did not bring it like him. So if the Minchas Chinuch says that it is not a positive mitzvah, and according to the Rambam it is a positive mitzvah, seemingly — [unclear] — this is a question that has already been asked; it was not I who asked it. There is the holy gaon, Rabbi Yitzchak Yehudah, son of Rabbi Shmuel Chaim — son of Rabbi Chaim Shmuel Schmelkes.

48:39 It is two hundred years — I wanted a picture of him; all sorts of rare pictures that are in the album of [unclear] — perhaps you have seen him in the album. I have many pictures of their family. And Rabbi Yitzchak Yehudah Schmelkes, son of Rabbi Chaim Shmuel — he was a disciple of the author of the Yeshuos Yaakov. The author of the Yeshuos Yaakov, Yaakov Ornstein, was also one of the tremendous geonim in halachah, a tremendous posek. Rabbi Yitzchak Yehudah Schmelkes has the Responsa Beis Yitzchak, and in part 2, on Yoreh De'ah, in siman 168 — and we asked, in effect, the matter of the question: why — what it means — if teshuvah is on such a level.

49:17 There is also, roughly, in the words of the Rashba, who explains about mitzvos, that there are mitzvos on which a blessing is made, and there are mitzvos on which no blessing is made — as there is a distinction in this: on which mitzvah to make a blessing, and on which mitzvah not to make a blessing. As in the Responsa of the Rashba, in part 1, siman 18, siman 254, and part 3, in siman 283, where he expounded on it. What is the distinction, really — why should we not make a blessing on the mitzvah? So all that the Beis Yitzchak explains is that it is impossible to make a blessing on something that comes through a sin.

49:47 Now, a person does teshuvah — he commits sins; how can he be given to bless Hashem? It is like returning a stolen object, where it does not apply to come and make a blessing on returning a stolen object: a thing that came about by way of a sin — we cannot make a blessing on it. How shall we bless Hashem over a thing that came about through a sin? This thing came about through a sin. How could I make a blessing? Now I will want to bring people back in teshuvah. So let us say we bring people back in teshuvah — I will give them the merit of blessings; but how could I make a blessing on a thing that comes to be caused by the sin? So that will not work out.

50:14 It is impossible; I say, not to make a blessing — [unclear]. He also says a second thing: that it depends on the will of the other person. If perhaps the other person — as with the mitzvah of honoring parents, as with the mitzvah that a person show honor to a man of hoary age, an elder, from the Torah — then seemingly on all these things we would need to make a blessing; but on this, too, it is impossible to make a blessing. And why? Because it also depends on his will: if he does not want to receive the honor, we turn out to be making a blessing in vain. Anything that lies in the will of the other — no blessing is made on it.

50:40 It depends on him, on his will, so I will not make a blessing on it. How could I make a blessing? Perhaps he does not want to receive it from me. He does not want it now. Shall I come and make a blessing? No — he will not agree. He will not want to take it. So on what am I making a blessing? So it comes out that I do not make a blessing. So his grandson brings, in his Birkas Aharon — chiddushim on Tractate Berachos — there he brings a chiddush, that in his view, the reason no blessing is made is: how can one come to make a blessing on teshuvah, when the Holy One, blessed be He, has to accept it — and perhaps the Holy One, blessed be He, did not accept your teshuvah?

51:12 This is the view of the Alter Rebbe, in Iggeres HaKodesh: that if a person does not believe that Hashem will forgive him for his sin, then he should not make the blessing, because it is a blessing in vain — "the Gracious One, Who forgives abundantly" — for certainly the Holy One, blessed be He, forgives abundantly and pardons. Then we would not be making a blessing. That one, one does say — right. But that is something else. The Holy One, blessed be He, heals everything. In matters of this world, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives everything.

51:39 But as for an assurance in a matter of Heaven — that already depends — at the end, the Yerushalmi, chapter 1, the end of halachah 1, the Yerushalmi says so too: it all depends on the will of Heaven. That is it roughly, more or less. Now, regarding what we are explaining, it is that here there is a chiddush, a very tremendous one, in what he says: that certainly a person's teshuvah — the Holy One, blessed be He, accepts it. But as for what he says, what he explains is: how will you come and say that the Holy One, blessed be He, accepted the teshuvah? For it is certain that a person, in his lifetime, can never know whether his teshuvah was accepted or not.

52:11 Never. As long as a person is alive in the world — to know with certainty — there is no source for this at all, and no sefer in existence that says there is a sure sign by which to know that the Holy One, blessed be He, said in Heaven: "Your teshuvah has been accepted." There is none. Search — let them bring all kinds of sefarim — for a source that says that by such and such, your teshuvah has been accepted. Who can testify to this?

52:36 Who can say, "Your teshuvah has been accepted"? Only the Holy One, blessed be He, knows. He can. Yes — only the Holy One, blessed be He, can say it. How is that? What does the Rav say? That the Holy One, blessed be He, will testify.

53:01 That the Holy One, blessed be He, will say — "He Who knows hidden things will testify about him." That is to say, it implies that a person can never know this thing. So never — never can we come and say, "I have turned many back from sin." For who knows that I turned them back from sin? Only Hashem, blessed be He, knows that. And this — all the rabbis, the world today, hold that they bring people back, that they do it; but in actual fact only the Holy One, blessed be He, can turn a person back from sin.

53:51 All right — but what does it mean? But the meaning is: from Heaven. It is a thing that depends on the hands of Heaven. A person has no testimony and no proof that he is the one who did it. After all, only the Holy One, blessed be He, can know that. We rely on Him, we lean on His mercy, that He has certainly had mercy on the person. Yochanan Kohen Gadol served as Kohen Gadol for seventy years, and in the end became a Sadducee — in Tractate Berachos, page 29a — eighty years.

54:23 He was Kohen Gadol on a great level, and in the end he became a Sadducee — he became the complete and absolute opposite. That is to say, someone could come and suppose, about his level, about the place where he stood, that perhaps he has assurance in his mind; but the Holy One, blessed be He, showed that the matter is not so — that is not how this matter turned out. How is that? Elisha — Elisha too, Elisha Acher and so on, as in the Yerushalmi.

54:50 But one — a student, sitting — [unclear]. That is to say, every thought of a person, whatever it may bring him to — before it there is only the testimony of the Holy One, blessed be He. That is to say, a person's whole life requires submission and humility, that he not lift his head and think that the Holy One, blessed be He, has accepted his teshuvah. Let him rely on Him and trust in Him, and do everything in his power to return to Him; but Heaven forbid that he already think that what is on his hands has already been wiped away for him, so that he adds yet more sin upon transgression.

55:19 For that already points to haughtiness. And from where do you get to add more sins? From where do you have it — have you attained that what was until today has been wiped away for you, that you have got hold of this report? Who revealed this to you? Who told you this? Who informed you? King David, right? King David did not know — he did not know. Yes — he asked of Hashem: "Rescue my soul from the sword, my only one from the hand of the dog." He asks of Hashem to give this a way and to bring him back, and all of Tehillim is greatly in supplication over this.

55:49 And he asks of Hashem that the Holy One, blessed be He, arouse mercy upon him in this matter; and then there will be a complete revelation, in compassion, until he has a complete teshuvah, one that returns to his da'as as well. Did you hear this from him? What a merit.

56:22 He explains that the meaning of the words is — this is what the holy Baal Shem Tov explains in Tzava'as HaRivash, which Rabbi Yeshayah of Yanov wrote. He wrote a testament, which is practices by which a person should conduct himself. He explains that emunah and bitachon, faith and trust, are traits not to be cast upon material matters, but upon spiritual matters: that you trust in Hashem that He will forgive you; that you trust in Hashem that He will help you to fulfill the mitzvah.

56:51 Trust in Hashem that He will give you siyata diShmaya to obtain a beautiful esrog; trust in Hashem that He will grant you to finish the whole of Shas; trust in Hashem — it is for this that bitachon is. That is what the holy Baal Shem Tov explains. So according to the words of the Alter Rebbe, what he means is that you should have complete bitachon that He has certainly forgiven. And with such a mind, we certainly make the blessing, and Hashem certainly forgives. That is the meaning of bitachon: that a person trust in Hashem regarding this thing.

57:17 For the meaning is that Hashem's mercies are great, and the Holy One, blessed be He, pardons and forgives the entire world, all created beings, all of them. The whole world sins, and the whole world is far from Him and is on the lowest level; we are in a generation that is down, down, down below, where there is no possibility of drawing near, of lifting one's head, for all the impurity and the filth — all the madness of the world, and the crooked views, and the thoughts, and the falsehood, and everything there is — where there is no point of truth at all, and the whole world is awash in filth.

57:51 And by the time one finally finds the point of light, our holy Torah — that too — people do not guide, they distort, and all of that happens as well. And one needs such caution with the Torah — it is so frightening to expound from it, so frightening to speak from it. It is the Holy of Holies, it is the fear of fears — that is the Torah. How does it say — it is written — after all, there is — after all, one can say: "against the enemy who oppresses you, you shall sound a teruah on the trumpets" — as is written in Tractate Taanis, page 14a, which the Ritva brings in his chiddushim on Nedarim, on page 10: that Rosh Hashanah is a time of distress.

58:32 When Rosh Hashanah comes, the reason for the trumpets that are sounded is that it is, as it were, a sounding — a teruah of the Jewish people in the time of distress. And since Rosh Hashanah is, as it were, a time of distress, it is the time to sound the trumpets. That is what is written in siman 581, what the Rema brought: that for Ashkenazim one begins on the Sunday before it, and for Sephardim one begins from Rosh Chodesh Elul. Then the shofar is blown — as in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, which the Tur brought — in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, and it is in chapter 46 — what the Tur wrote, in siman 581.

59:01 That is to say, he brings, of the Jewish people — [unclear] went up the mountain, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, said: "Sound a shofar throughout the whole camp." And then, in effect, there came a revelation of the shofar, so that the Jewish people would have fear and trembling, and set their minds on the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah. That is the meaning of it. I think that the teshuvah — that, as it were, the shofar that is sounded — the shofar is meant to awaken them to teshuvah. So if the shofar is blown, it is being blown in a time of distress.

59:27 And if Rosh Hashanah is a time of distress, then it implies that every day one sounds the trumpets ahead of the rescue from the Day of Judgment, which is a time of distress — that is Rosh Hashanah. For then it is decreed upon a person — for life, for death — who knows where he will go. It is impossible to know. So if that is so, then which will be of greater worth? The gaon Rabbi Chaim Palagi writes, in Kaf HaChaim, siman 3, paragraph 33 — he brings that Tikkun Chatzos is greater in its worth than Selichos.

59:55 That is how they held then. But if we say that Selichos — in 581 too — the Shaarei Teshuvah also brings this, right? He adds to the words — 581, the Shaarei Teshuvah. That is to say, if that is so, then which will be of greater worth: is it Selichos, or Tikkun Chatzos? So let us look at it; let us give a reason, a further support: that if Selichos is for a time of distress, Rosh Hashanah, then the blasts — that will be from the Torah, that one must sound a blast ahead of a time of distress.

1:00:22 And Tikkun Chatzos is from the words of Kabbalah. It is from the words of Kabbalah, Tikkun Chatzos. What is de'oraisa, from the Torah, is more than the words of Kabbalah. So what now? But if we say that Tikkun Chatzos is of greater worth — well, one can say why Tikkun Chatzos is of greater worth; this is a chiddush of ours — this is how one can reason. Tikkun Chatzos — we say it [unclear], over the fact that our Beis HaMikdash and our glory was destroyed. In Tractate Yoma, page 9b: it was destroyed on account of baseless hatred.

1:00:51 The Beis HaMikdash was destroyed. The Beis HaMikdash was destroyed for nothing other than baseless hatred. It is written in the Yerushalmi, chapter 1, halachah 1, in Yoma: as long as the Beis HaMikdash has not been rebuilt, it is counted against him as though he destroyed it. That is what the Yerushalmi says. As though you destroyed the Beis HaMikdash. If it has not been rebuilt, it is as though you destroyed it. And in Derashos HaRan, in the tenth derush, he writes that every sin a person may commit — be it bloodshed, [unclear], idolatry — he commits one time.

1:01:21 And the sin of baseless hatred is found in him every single moment — that one he transgresses. If so, the main point of Tikkun Chatzos, and its essence, is over the sin of baseless hatred. I, when I say Tikkun Chatzos, am weeping over a destruction that came from the baseless hatred that exists. So it comes out that if it is about baseless hatred, this is the greatest teshuvah there is; therefore Tikkun Chatzos is of greater worth than Selichos. For the whole essence of Tikkun Chatzos is not over the House; it is over the baseless hatred that is among us, it is over the lack of love and unity — that we do not love one another, that we do not gird ourselves together, that we do not unite together; that each one thinks of his own four cubits, and we do not think to unite together, to act before Hashem.

1:02:02 So because this one is for his own four cubits, and that one is for his own four cubits, and yet another for his own four cubits, and no one thinks about the Kingdom of Heaven the way one ought to think about Hashem — that is the main thing holding back the geulah, and that is the main point of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. Therefore one must do teshuvah over this. That is the meaning of Tikkun Chatzos. That is what he says. Now, the Holy One, blessed be He — it is written in Iyov, in chapter 9, [unclear], that is verse 10 [unclear], we will speak of it with the Yerushalmi.

1:02:32 It is written in chapter 9, verse 12 — it is written — the words are frightening. These words are fear of fears — what is written in Iyov, when there came to him Bildad the Shuchite, Tzofar the Naamasite — when they came to him, to Iyov, and tried to comfort him, and to encourage him, and to strengthen him, and to explain to him about the decree from Heaven, everything that he was going through. Many think of mussar sefarim — there is no mussar sefer better than Iyov.

1:03:00 It is a mussar sefer that is full of all the questions a person has toward Hashem; it is all found in the Book of Iyov — all, all, all of it. If a person does not learn the Book of Iyov, from where will he have fear of Heaven? From where will he have fear of Heaven? There — that is the fear and the great dread. Look at chapter 9, at what words he writes about Hashem, blessed be He. So it says there — it says, "Behold, He snatches away" — Heaven forbid — "Behold, He snatches away." What is "Behold, He snatches away"?

1:03:27 If, Heaven forbid, the Holy One, blessed be He, snatches someone away — after all, Hashem takes a person suddenly. When a person is alive in the world, in one moment Hashem can snatch him away. "Who will say to Him: What are You doing?" Is there anyone who can come and say to Him, "What have You done?" No one. "Behold, He snatches away." If, Heaven forbid, the Holy One, blessed be He, snatches away — then when does He snatch away? On Rosh Hashanah. So it will be understood, truly, why the Ritva says that it is a time of distress: because, Heaven forbid, "Behold, He snatches away" can come true — and "Behold, He snatches away" would come true, Heaven forbid, on Rosh Hashanah.

1:04:01 So that is why it is a time of distress; therefore one must sound the blast, pray to Hashem — for a person does not know what will be decreed upon him on Rosh Hashanah. Who knows what he will go through. And only teshuvah that is in a person's da'as — that a person return his da'as to Hashem, and that it be in his da'as, upon Hashem, blessed be He — only then will he truly be able to return in complete teshuvah and annul all the judgments and the troubles. This is called teshuvah of the da'as.

1:04:26 And therefore, as we explained, that in Kiddushin, page 49b, they said that she is betrothed — "on condition that I am a tzaddik" — for perhaps he had a thought of teshuvah in his mind: it is only in his da'as. For only when the teshuvah reaches the da'as — only then is it possible to repair and to bring everything back in teshuvah, for everything will depend on the person's da'as. For when it does not depend on the da'as, then it is not teshuvah. For as long as a person has flawed views, or he, Heaven forbid, thinks about people odd and crooked views, or his mind is not wholly in the Torah — he has not returned in teshuvah.

1:04:57 There are many who will draw near to Hashem, to the Torah, but will hold in their minds that perhaps honor for a person who does not keep Torah and mitzvos is due him more than for the way of the Torah; or they will hold that they have in mind to give money not for the sake of Torah or for the sake of Torah scholars. They will hold in their minds that this is to be preferred — and that too; both this and that, there is no difference between them. But in their eyes the Torah will not come first in the order of priorities — that is called a flaw in the da'as.

1:05:24 So his da'as is not in the Torah and in completeness, for in his eyes the Torah is not above. It is as if he were to sit on a chair and put a Sefer Torah next to him: So what is the difference between me and the Sefer? Tell me. All together. They would sit as a chavrusa, a study partner, with the Sefer Torah. So that is called a flaw in da'as, in the mind, because he disgraces the Torah. As long as he disgraces the Torah, his teshuvah is not — he is not in teshuvah. The meaning of teshuvah is that a person returns the letter Hei to its first place.

1:05:51 That is called "tashuv" — "tashuv Hei," the Hei shall return. What is "tashuv Hei"? The Hei is that da'as which was lost — that people do not set their da'as on the Torah, they do not give the Torah its honor, they do not lift up the Torah. The Alter Rebbe explains in Likkutei Torah, in what we explained, in Parshas [unclear], on page 32, side a — he explains: look in the Zohar, Pinchas, page [unclear], side b — that one needs to study this Zohar a great deal in order to understand what dread and fear fall upon worlds that are covered, hidden and concealed.

1:06:23 The fear of Hashem falls upon them too on Rosh Hashanah. The fear of Hashem is also upon worlds that are stored away, hidden and concealed. There, the fear of Hashem and His dread fall upon them. And it turns out that the fear of Hashem falls only when a person brings back into his da'as the greatness of Hashem. When he brings back the greatness of Hashem — he knows how great Hashem is, and he understands how exalted Hashem, blessed be He, is, and he sets his da'as on this — then certainly the Hei will return to its place. And when this Hei returns to its first place, then, in fact, the geulah will be able to come.

1:06:53 For that is what is called teshuvah: that the Hei returns. And then, when this Hei returns to a person, everything that was hidden in him comes out of him. That is why, with Onkelos — we did not know what would come out of him. Who could have known what would come out of Onkelos? The Targum. Who would have had it in mind? But when he returned to da'as, what came out? The Targum came out. And we are obligated to fulfill the Targum, in order to bring it back into our own da'as. It will be the reverse.

1:07:19 So it turns out that teshuvah — its meaning is to bring back into the da'as; for as long as you have not brought back into your da'as where the Torah is, where this world is, where you are, you have not done teshuvah. If you have honor and esteem before a person who does not keep the Torah and transgresses it, and you feel important and esteemed because you have his closeness, and you do not feel more honored, and take more pleasure, than that when you are beside holy ones and geonim — that shows you have a flaw in da'as, because with you the honor and esteem go to wealth and to honor, and not to the Torah and to [unclear].

1:07:49 So that is called a flaw in da'as, because you do not truly honor the Torah. That is called a flaw in da'as; that is called the Hei not returning to its place. And when this Hei returns to its place, then all the precious stones and pearls in a person are revealed. All the [unclear] that is in him comes out. And here is the proof: what comes out of Onkelos? Who could know, and put his mind to this matter — that the Targum would come out for us, which is the secret of secrets — to understand it at all.

1:08:16 How many awesome secrets there are in it, in the Targum. As whoever has read — our chiddush in the sefer that we wrote, Degel Machaneh Yehudah, in the parashah, on Balak: "Vachaza Balak bar Tzippor" — "And Balak son of Tzippor saw." And there we spoke about vision, the vision of the prophets, in Parshas Balak. We explained only on the Targum, only on Targum Onkelos — how he rendered it: "Vachaza Balak bar Tzippor." That in Onkelos it reads "vachaza," "and he saw." And how many interpretations there are that can be expounded just from each and every word of the Targum.

1:08:46 In Targum Yonasan, Targum Yerushalmi, Targum Yonasan ben Uziel — all kinds of secrets that there are in the Targumim — and this, in general, is also a segulah for a zivug, for finding one's match: those singles who want to be helped — learning Targum Yonasan ben Uziel is a segulah to bring their zivug closer. At least to learn — as we also said in the name of the Pri Megadim — to learn Tractate Kallah Rabbasi, which also has the power to help in the matter of the zivug, and also to say the tefillah that we composed, three times a day, for singles — morning, noon and evening — and it is a great salvation for singles.

1:09:12 There is a tefillah that I composed for a single man or a single woman. With this tefillah, we thought a great, great, great deal about what to write, so that it would be simple, so that it would touch the heart — for if a tefillah does not touch the heart, it is not accepted. So we thought about it a great, great deal, and then we composed a tefillah that has in it a great many of all kinds of good things that have an effect in Heaven, that is founded on the words of our Rabbis. And in this tefillah, in fact, there are many good Names and many things that have very great kedushah in them, and just when one reads them, a person feels his heart — he feels that this is exactly what he needs in order to be helped, and everything he is going through.

1:09:51 And on the simple level, that is what he feels; but inside there is much more in it than that, which he cannot understand. And we made it that way so that it would be easy for a person, and if he says it morning, noon and evening, he will have a very great salvation in this matter of the zivug. It is "A Tefillah for a Single Man or a Single Woman" — that is what it is called. This composition — say it in the morning, at noon, one time, in the evening — after the Shacharis prayer, Minchah and Arvis.

1:10:16 or at another time that is a time of favor for a person, or at the graves of tzaddikim, holy places — an awakening that a person has — there he can pray this tefillah. Now let us go back to the chiddush. To the chiddush. We see that what everyone expounds — "I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine," which is written in Shir HaShirim, chapter 6, verse 3: "Ani leDodi veDodi li," "I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine" — and everyone expounds from it: Elul, Elul, Elul.

1:10:45 And the beginning, from Rosh Chodesh until the end — and about the forty; this corresponds to this Mem — I will explain about it, about these forty days of the month of Elul. And this is also the answer to what you asked: what is this meaning of bringing merit to the many in the month of Elul? The meaning of bringing merit to the many, as we have explained until now, is to cause the Jewish people to bring back into their da'as, with a complete and absolute understanding, the preciousness and the worth of the Torah, which is above everything.

1:11:20 It is as we explained: that this, in fact, is the greatness of the Torah and its worth — and that is also how a person will have salvation, for a person will never be able to be saved through the Torah if it is not, in his eyes, above everything. If it is not above everything in your eyes, how do you want it to save you? It will not save you. But if it is above everything, then the Torah will save you above everything. By way of measure for measure. Certainly the Holy One, blessed be He, will save you above everything, because the Torah is above everything.

1:11:49 Yonah HaNavi went — when he went to Nineveh, he began to cry out. He cried out: "In another forty days Nineveh will be overturned." In the Book of Yonah, chapter [unclear], verse 4. "In another forty days Nineveh will be overturned" — and he cries out, and no one understands what has come over him, when he cries out that in another forty days — another forty days. This is the source, as we see, already from the beginning, that there is a secret of bringing back on the fortieth day. Why "another forty days"?

1:12:16 Because the Holy One, blessed be He, established that there is an awakening of forty at this time, when a revelation of mercy is revealed — when the attributes of mercy can be revealed — and there one can bring people back to da'as. So what do we find and learn here? That it is impossible to bring a revelation back into the da'as in less than forty days. Why? Because there is a secret in forty, which can cause everything to be brought back, to start with, from the beginning.

1:12:41 And what is the proof? This is the proof: that he says forty days — right? That means that the Holy One, blessed be He, is saying that there is a time, in forty days, to bring about — to bring the da'as back to a person. In less than forty days it is impossible. It is impossible to cause the da'as to be in a person in less than forty days. That means that if I want to cause them to do teshuvah, at least forty days are needed of being in that same da'as.

1:13:09 That is how it will be understood. Now it will be better understood what is written in Tractate Yoma, page [unclear], side a: It was taught: from where is man created? From his head, and from his navel — a dispute between Abba Shaul and Rav Pappa. Abba Shaul says: from his navel. But he concedes that even so, there is here "And He blew into his nostrils the breath of life" — that the Holy One, blessed be He, placed a neshamah in man — his life-force too, he concedes, is in the nose.

1:13:38 For if there is in a person "kista dechayusa," a little life-force — when one sees — a heap of stones fell on him, the Gemara says there — and they see at his nose that there is breath in it, then that means he is alive. They see it at the nose. So Rav Pappa says: from above — from above downward, and from below upward. What is "from above downward, from below upward"? What is this meaning? And what is the intent of "from his navel," when Abba Shaul also concedes this — that it is from his head?

1:14:03 For this is the proof that it is from the nose. So what is the chiddush? If we see — Abba Shaul, who says from the navel; Rav Pappa, also from his head — then from where is man created? From the head or from the navel? For there is a practical difference in this: because when a person does teshuvah, he returns to his root, he returns to the beginning. Like the law of forty se'ah, like the law of forty lashes less one — that is forty. There is a secret of forty in this — the Holy One, blessed be He, fixed in the Torah the secret of forty: "Forty he shall strike him; he shall not add," and so on — the whole secret of forty.

1:14:32 The forty se'ah that purify. All this — according to the Chazon Ish it is about 570 liters — for immersion in the mikveh. So now [unclear] comes to immerse. Oh — the fetus, forty days; correct. Tractate Niddah, page 31 — the three partners that are in a person. Page 30, side [unclear]; Tractate Menachos, page 99b — there the Gemara says that the formation of the fetus — I think it is there that Rashi says it — is forty days.

1:14:57 In Tractate Bechoros, page 21b, there too it is said — also that the formation of the fetus is at forty days; that is Rashi as well — something about the formation of the fetus. In Tractate Yevamos, page 69b: there she is a Kohen's daughter, of a Yisrael — [unclear] — that she was pregnant and her husband died, and if, in the formation of the fetus, she has at least more than forty days, then she is pregnant. That means there is a proof — correct, you said it well — pregnant is forty days.

1:15:25 There is a proof here of a pregnancy of forty; that means there is some secret here in forty. That means there is a meaning here, because in terms of the meaning, it is forty. Now I see that from what begins until the end, the formation of a person is forty. So if he returns in teshuvah, he returns to what his beginning was. So when I speak of bringing a person back in teshuvah, the meaning is that one must return him to the beginning of his creation, which is from his head.

1:15:53 When I return him to his creation, which is from his head, only then is it called that I am bringing him back in teshuvah. When I return the person to the beginning of his creation — then the dispute will not be between his navel and his head. For if it is from his head, then it is from his da'as. So it will be understood that truly he is created from his head. For everyone agrees — so the Gemara also says — that Abba Shaul too concedes it; one sees the proof: "And He blew into his nostrils the breath of life." If there is a heap of stones and they see breath in the nose, even if it is "kista dechayusa," the little life-force in a person's nose — he is alive.

1:16:25 That is the nose — it is his nose; it is his head. So that means that teshuvah depends on da'as. That is the head — the head. From the head, or from the navel. Whether it is from the middle — whether it is on account of what the world does, with everything that one sees in the world — that this will bring one back in teshuvah, perhaps that will bring him back, perhaps the person will be strengthened by something — or whether only when a person has da'as in completeness will he return in teshuvah.

1:16:53 So we find and learn from here a proof that true teshuvah — as we explained the Gemara in Kiddushin, page 49b — depends on his da'as: in "she is betrothed" — "on condition that I am a tzaddik" — "perhaps he had a thought of teshuvah in his da'as" — that it depends on a person's da'as. So it turns out that whoever needs to bring him to teshuvah needs to bring him da'as in completeness. And this da'as is acquired in at least forty. At least — that it be acquired in forty. How did you put it?

1:17:19 - A fetus — a fetus is forty. - Ah, a fetus is forty. Very good. Good — you have already moved ahead like that. One moment — listen. Now — good, that is forty days. The Flood, forty days — all right. Forty years, all of it — yes, correct.

1:17:45 Correct — they said forty and not thirty-nine; correct. ... Rabbi Shlomke of Zvhil. How? I should say it? Correct, correct.

1:18:19 That is Tractate Nedarim, page [unclear] — correct. "A person does not..." — that is until forty years. Yes, but let us explain. The eating — what the Rav already said — and it is written in the Tzetl Katan of Rabbi Elimelech, in section 15. Rabbi Elimelech writes: through eating in kedushah, a person's life-force, too, becomes sanctified. A person's life-force becomes sanctified. That is called sanctifying the animal nature; when one needs to sanctify a person's animal nature, to raise up his animal nature — then it is in the power of his eating.

1:18:51 Like Eliyahu HaNavi, Yonah — all those who merited great levels: it is on account of their sanctifying the body, sanctifying the animal nature, so that they have no physicality at all of the world. Only then can one merit a revelation of Eliyahu. A person who is not pure, clean of materiality — Eliyahu HaNavi cannot come to him. Only when a person is pure and clean, and he has trembling and alarm, and dread and fear of Hashem in completeness, then he can come to Eliyahu HaNavi. For if a person does not have this, then Eliyahu HaNavi — if he is revealed to him, he could die of the fear — of the fear of the revelation.

1:19:23 That means: only when a person is purified of materiality will the revelation of Eliyahu HaNavi not kill him from the fear of Hashem. Forty days — that is the practices, yes. How does he say it? To go with one trait and learn it, and in that way to keep moving on. It was the way of many great ones, who were accustomed to keep this practice in this way.

1:19:48 Now, there is, in Tractate Rosh Hashanah, chapter 1, mishnah 5 — the first of Tishrei — there is a dispute over when [unclear] the ma'aser, the tithe. Ma'aser beheimah, the tithe of animals, is on the first of Elul, or as the opinion of Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon, who expound — in Yoma, on page 8a — when was it? Let us [unclear] — page 8a — when is ma'aser beheimah? What is ma'aser beheimah?

1:20:13 Ma'aser beheimah is different from the other offerings. It has no semichah, the laying of hands, and no nesachim, libations, are brought with it, because it is lower, in the secret — above the secret of the altar — and there is a dispute in Zevachim, page 37a, whether the blood is done by zerikah, throwing, or by shefichah, pouring. What practical difference is there whether it is throwing or pouring? And when is the ma'aser brought? Now, if a person is tithing animals, then there are fifteen days before Pesach, fifteen days before Shavuos, fifteen days before Sukkos, and he cannot sell and cannot slaughter — nothing at all — until the time.

1:20:43 Why? It is forbidden to separate from one year for another year — [unclear] — it is like with produce, the same thing, the same separating as with the tithes. So if that is so, what does it hint at? It hints that a person cannot — after all, what are the festivals, these times of Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos? It is a revelation — that there is the going out of Egypt, in which one goes out of impurity, goes out of evil. And a person cannot slaughter or sell his animal until he does ma'aser beheimah, once he has reached these times.

1:21:15 And to tithe the animal — to tithe it is the letter Yud; to tithe it — that is the Yud. The Yud is a person's chochmah, his wisdom; that means he must raise it up on high, raise his da'as up on high. That is the Yud — one must take it up on high, raise it to a very high da'as, and only then, in fact, when it has its offering — then, as we said, the offering is brought and there is no semichah with it, and no nesachim are brought with it. That is the offering of ma'aser beheimah.

1:21:43 Now, whether the blood is applied by throwing or by pouring — now, the dispute over throwing and pouring: what is the practical difference between throwing and pouring? For if I say that it is throwing, then it is from above to below, and if it is by pouring, then it is from below — from below to above. The opposite — whether it is throwing or pouring. But according to what we will explain, now it will be better understood. For after all, those who in fact do teshuvah are only the great tzaddikim.

1:22:13 They are the ba'alei teshuvah. It is written in Tractate Berachos, page 34b, and in Tractate Sanhedrin, page 99a: "In the place where ba'alei teshuvah stand, complete tzaddikim cannot stand." What does it mean, that they cannot stand? Why can they not stand in it? For what reason? King David says in Tehillim, chapter 1, verse 1: "Fortunate is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, and has not stood in the path of sinners."

1:22:41 So it comes out that the "standing" is the path of sinners, and only when a person is holy and pure, the materiality that is in sins, and in its level — of the world — will not bring him down. And ba'alei teshuvah, who were in that same place — they do not go back there anymore, so that is why their level is greater. That is to say, when are they called ba'alei teshuvah? When they have walked in that same place and will never fall in it, as the Rambam explained in Hilchos Teshuvah.

1:23:09 This is what is called the teshuvah of [unclear] — the Rambam explains this, chapter 2. Now, if so, now it will be understood — now this will be understood: that a person, with his level — that from the fifteen days that are close to the festival, when there is a revelation of the fifteen days that our Rabbis, of blessed memory, established — that the revelation of these fifteen days — that only then, at this time, is the revelation of the ma'aser beheimah made — when a person takes from his animal nature and raises it up on high — that he takes from his animal nature, and he does not only break desire and remove it, but he takes the eating, and with the power of the eating — as the Rav said — Eliyahu could go, Yonah could go — he can go with this eating,

1:23:58 he can go with this material, because he took from the animal nature, from the body, and raised it up on high, to Hashem, blessed be He. So that is why it does not come with the korban — there is no semichah on it, because the semichah — there is no need to do anything with it for some flaw; there is nothing here from the root of the flaw, because his da'as was not damaged, so there is no semichah with it. Because semichah — when there is a flaw in the da'as, one has to make confession with the semichah, when he leans with all his strength.

1:24:23 So he leans with all his strength, because he reveals the flaw — that he damaged his da'as — and when he leans with all his strength, only then is the da'as repaired. Now, with ma'aser, with the completeness of the Yud, it does not in practice have the flaw, so there is no need for semichah. So there is no semichah with it and there are no nesachim with it. Now, from where does one bring back the Hei? That we just said. So the chiddush is that the first of Elul is the time for ma'aser beheimah.

1:24:50 It is a dispute — Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon — now, whether it is the first of Tishrei or the first of Elul. So what is there here? There is a very, very, very great revelation here: that when Rosh Chodesh Elul arrives, there is a possibility for the whole entire year, as we learned. It is not specifically Elul; the chiddush is that at every time and moment and season of the year there is a revelation that everyone can truly return to Hashem. But where will he truly return? Only when it is in his da'as — when it is in his da'as, in his knowing, he will return in completeness to the Holy One, blessed be He.

1:25:30 And the moment he returns, everything will be repaired. Now, those who can bring about these tikkunim are only those of the great levels, the holy ones — for we have not found that there could be a ba'al teshuvah as great as Avraham Avinu, or a ba'al teshuvah as great as Yitzchak Avinu, or a ba'al teshuvah as great as Yaakov. They are the ba'alei teshuvah — the greatest ones. Theirs is the power, and theirs is the teshuvah, and theirs is the authority and the awakening, so that they can repair everything.

1:25:59 Now, how did Yaakov Avinu repair? Yaakov Avinu repaired by taking two letters. He took the Yud and he took the Hei. Right? He took Yud and Hei. And why did Yaakov take the Yud and the Hei? When Yaakov Avinu went down to Egypt, this descent to Egypt corresponds to the ten "kelipin dimesa'avusa" — the ten impure kelipos — what came out from Yosef HaTzaddik — and corresponding to the ten sefiros in kedushah there are the ten "kelipin dimesa'avusa".

1:26:30 Now, how did he repair them? He repaired them through Yosef. Yosef was holy of holies in the bris, the covenant, so it comes out that the seed of Yaakov was not damaged. If the seed of Yaakov was not damaged, Yaakov Avinu repaired the Yud. He had the Yud in completeness; he had completeness. And his da'as — the letter Hei — that is the da'as that he gave to the world. He drew it down from Yaakov; after that there were Kehas, Levi, Amram and Moshe Rabbeinu.

1:26:57 So he passed this Hei, the da'as, on to Moshe Rabbeinu. And Moshe Rabbeinu — he gave the Torah, because he revealed the da'as in the world; he passed it on, one to the next. And therefore it is written in the Book of Tehillim, chapter 135, verse 4: "Ki Yaakov bachar lo Kah" — for Kah has chosen Yaakov for Himself — and then "Yisrael lisgulaso", Israel as His treasure — the initials are Yud and Lamed; that is forty. "Yisrael" is Yud, "lisgulaso" is Lamed.

1:27:23 So: "For Kah has chosen Yaakov for Himself, Israel as His treasure." It comes out exactly. Yes — corresponding to [unclear]. Now — as Rabbi Zeira said, Rabbi Chanina said, in Tractate Sanhedrin, page 98a: that the son of David does not come until the arrogant in spirit are gone from Israel, as it says: "For then I will remove from your midst those who exult in your pride." And "ga'avah", pride, comes to the number 15, exactly like the number of Yud-Hei. So it says "Ki Yaakov bachar lo Kah" — that Yaakov chose for himself these two letters, to repair all of the Jewish people, all of them — that the teshuvah that will come is only through drawing close to the tzaddikim and leaning on them, for however much there is closeness to the tzaddikim, that will bring the geulah.

1:28:03 That is to say, those who can bring about the geulah are only those who truly understand, in their da'as, the greatness of Hashem, blessed be He. Only they can bring about the geulah. And one who does not understand in his da'as the greatness of Hashem, blessed be He, cannot act to bring the geulah; he cannot bring the geulah closer either. For the meaning of closeness to Hashem, and of bringing about the geulah — it is only one who understands in his da'as the greatness of Hashem, blessed be He. David [unclear] — "Great is Hashem" — how does he say it? The whole world says it.

1:28:30 The meaning of thinking at such a great level in da'as — that can cause everyone to be brought back to Hashem. Now, the difference between the da'as and the heart — which are two levels, as we explained — with Yaakov Avinu, his heart and his mochin, his mind, were one, and it was not divided as it is with the world, because with him, his heart was his mind. Now, if we look and think: Yaakov Avinu — toward whom was his heart the most?

1:29:01 Yisrael loved whom? Yosef. That is to say, the revelation of love — toward whom was it? Toward Yosef HaTzaddik. That is to say, Yosef was his heart, and Yaakov Avinu — what was he? He was the da'as, he was the mochin. That is why, when Yosef saw the image of his likeness, he did not sin, because he says: if I sin, I separate the Yud from the Hei. And then a Hei was added to him — "He set it as a testimony in Yehosef" — meaning, if he had sinned at the moment the image of his likeness was revealed to him — if he had sinned now — so he says: I see the Yud; now, I am the Hei; so if I sin, I put distance between them; so I must not sin.

1:29:38 So he did not want to sin; he wanted the Yud and the Hei to be joined. And then, when the Yud and the Hei were joined, it is written: "Ki Yaakov bachar lo Kah." For then the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "For Kah has chosen Yaakov for Himself, Israel as His treasure." Because then, what happens is that the tzaddikim are the ones who do the teshuvah, and they are the ones who bring about the geulah and everything, and each one according to his level. As we said, there are levels, and there is distinction and difference. At the great level of Yaakov Avinu — for Yaakov Avinu is Yisrael — and because of the great and exalted tzaddik, as Yaakov Avinu was, he reveals the tiferes, the splendor, and the Jewish people, and then the splendor and the beauty and the glory of all the Jewish people are revealed.

1:30:17 Because — if one were to make the distinction and the difference: in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu, when there was Moshe Rabbeinu — everyone would have gone with Korach. What would have remained of the Torah? And because whoever held on to Moshe saved the Torah, it comes out that the saving of the Torah depends on da'as. For the more they put their da'as on the Torah, the geulah will in practice come. That is why it says: "For Kah has chosen Yaakov for Himself, Israel as His treasure."

1:30:41 Because then it is revealed that the Jewish people are faithful to Hashem. This is what Yeshayahu said, in chapter 49, verse 3: "And He said to me: You are My servant, Israel, in whom I take glory." Because then the preciousness and the splendor and the [unclear] of all the Jewish people are revealed. Because then, in all of them, their goodness is revealed before Hashem. And what would have been — if Korach had risen, there would have been, Heaven forbid, darkness, and they would not have revealed this. That is to say, Moshe Rabbeinu — that the Torah has to light up for us the hope and the good that there is in each one, and teshuvah means that my da'as returns to its place as at the beginning, where I reveal all the good that Hashem brought down with me into the world.

1:31:23 When a person is born into the world, he is born with a great deal of good; the sins throw this good away. But for this he needs to [unclear] — as Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl writes, [unclear], a nephew of Rabbi Tzvi, a nephew of Rabbi Nachum [unclear]. There is the sefer Me'or Einayim, and Yismach Lev, chiddushim on the Shas. He writes in the sefer Me'or Einayim, Parshas Matos: he writes that the Holy One, blessed be He, sends into his heart sparks of kedushah, to [unclear] them — sometimes in a food, sometimes in a far-off place; he has to go and [unclear] sparks — he goes from here to there, he travels from here; he has sparks in his heart, he has to sift out sparks of kedushah; he has a tikkun.

1:31:59 He lost everything through his sins, through iniquities, so he had to sift them out in every place. But if he had not sinned, everything would have come to him; he would not have had to sift out anything. So it comes out that sins bring a person to a distance in which the good that is in him is not revealed. So how will he be able to do teshuvah by himself, and also reveal all the good that is in him? For according to the real truth, if one flaw in da'as is revealed in a person, then in practice he already loses everything.

1:32:26 It creates all the distance that is in him. That is why the drawing close to the tzaddikim and the leaning on them — as we said — so when a person brings his animal nature, which is the ma'aser beheimah — in it there is no semichah. There is no need to lean, because you are already leaning, in your da'as. There is already the Yud, the chochmah, and then it becomes Yud and Hei — "Yaakov bachar lo Kah." And then, from these two letters, they are repaired, and then "Yisrael lisgulaso" — and then it is revealed that the Jewish people are a treasure, and the splendor of the Jewish people.

1:32:56 The holy Rav, Rabbi Shlomke of Zvhil, said — the one you mentioned — Rabbi Shlomke, may his merit protect us. Rabbi Shlomke is the son of Rabbi Mordechai of Zvhil — he came to the Land of Israel. He would tell all the Admorim that his father, Rabbi Mordechai of Zvhil, sat with the Rebbe of Ruzhin, sat with many tzaddikim of the generation, sat with many holy ones, because he was truly from the earlier generations. His son was the holy Rabbi Gedaliah Moshe of Zvhil; he is famous for his kedushah. And Rabbi Shlomke of Zvhil had a firstborn brother, older than him, Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zvhil, named after the grandfather, Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zvhil. His father was Rabbi Moshe of Zvhil. The father of Rabbi Mordechai of Zvhil — son of Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zvhil, son of Rabbi Moshe, son of Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zvhil,

1:33:35 son of Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych, son of Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych, son of Rabbi Moshe of Zvirzh — that is the whole lineage. After all, the holy of holies — the level in kedushah — it is something holy in the bris, to such an extent that they say that in Heaven everyone who damaged the bris passes through him, and everyone who was not careful about falsehood passes through — was not careful about the truth — he passes by Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz. So, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov — Rabbi Avraham Roth wrote, in Zichron Menachem, at the end, stories about the Rebbe of Rimanov, about the greatness of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov — they saw that he was a spark of the Rif.

1:34:07 The Rebbe of Rimanov would learn eighteen pages every day, and [unclear]. Now? Who? Rabbi Avraham Roth? Ah, so who? Rabbi Avraham Chaim Roth. The son, yes. May his merit — may their merit protect us. The Holy One, blessed be He, [unclear] of Rimanov. So he said about the Rebbe of Rimanov that he switched them, because in Heaven he was so exacting — the Rebbe of Zlotchov — about the bris, and the Rebbe of Rimanov said that it is impossible — people do not get through.

1:34:41 And the Rebbe of Koretz was strict about the truth, so there too they do not get through. So he switched the watches between them, and from then until today, he said, everyone can get through — so he says. That is how he told it. So this is what we learned: that in truth, real teshuvah — so that we know, before Rosh Hashanah, which is drawing near and is close — that real teshuvah is in a person's da'as. And we brought all the proofs for this, also the reason that no blessing is made on teshuvah, and we brought support for these things.

1:35:08 And from here we see that to do teshuvah, or to bring merit to the many — but to bring others back in teshuvah will be only when they reach that same point that I said just now, at the end. So if a person has this, it is a sign that he has brought others back in teshuvah, and that he too has been brought back in teshuvah. - I don't know how one can get to doing teshuvah; it is just complicated in itself, to return. One has to know the greatness of Hashem — and there is no searching out His greatness.

1:35:35 As much as... - Although this is something else, and I will explain why. There is a connection in it, but there is something in it that is a little far from this.

1:36:01 We are speaking about knowing. To know the greatness of Hashem — today it is impossible. It is impossible to know His greatness. No one can understand it. People do not know [unclear] about Whom they are speaking. It is awesome... If there were a revelation of yirah, of awe, in the world, people would not be able to move their limbs from the fear — from the awe, from the fear, from the terror; they could not move themselves.

1:36:28 What does it not do? But because there is such a concealment, which the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals, He tells us to be at a level of knowing that such a level exists. So He says: "And you shall know today, and bring it back to your heart" — that you should know the greatness of Hashem. But what we explained is, as it were, something else: that yes, let there be what the Rav says — but what we meant, what we came to, is that it should be, in a person's teshuvah, in his da'as — at least.

1:36:58 How does one say it? "You shall know" — that the teshuvah, to return to Hashem in truth, should be in your heart, in your da'as, as it were. That at least you bring the teshuvah back — that, as it were, people should understand that the greatness of Hashem — they do not know whether they will bring it into their da'as, or the love — one does not know how much each one will arrive at — but at least the teshuvah — where he stands in his da'as — that this he should bring back to the heart. And only then, who knows — perhaps with the Holy One, blessed be He, we will merit to arouse mercy, and we will bring it about with the Master of mercy, that the end will come, and the geulah will come, and the building of the Beis HaMikdash.

1:37:34 Good, so this is just to conclude. What we learned is the true splendor and beauty of each one of us — for when the geulah comes, the splendor of each one and the beauty of each one will be revealed, and not that, Heaven forbid, someone was more than another, or something more — but the splendor of all Israel. And we will see how this one toiled for the sake of the geulah, and how that one worked and toiled and labored, and how much good and light shines from each one, from every Jew.

1:38:02 And this is called "Yisrael lisgulaso" — that they are His segulah, His treasure. Rabbi David of Lelov once said — he said: "And you shall be to Me a segulah" — that every Jew has an amulet — there is the salt, there is some amulet that they give out to people — every time, amulets — but Rabbi David of Lelov said: the amulet of the Holy One, blessed be He, is the Jewish people — "And you shall be to Me a segulah." So, as it were, Israel is [unclear]. The segol — that is what he also said, right? — turn the segol to any side, and it is still [unclear].

1:38:33 Good. May the Holy One, blessed be He, grant us merit, that we merit the complete geulah, that there be good tidings, that the Beis HaMikdash be built, that there be nachas ruach before the Master of heaven and earth. "Blessed are you to Hashem, Maker of heaven and earth." May there be good tidings. Now a little music, if possible. Let them wait a few minutes — a little music, in honor of the holy days of teshuvah, to be awakened to Hashem. If possible, a little music. With the forgiveness of the honored Rabbis — a few niggunim. The shiur has not ended yet. Please remain seated until the niggunim are finished. Please.

2:05:56 Thank you, everyone; much success. The honored [unclear], the son-in-law of the Baba Sali, this story — that the Baba Sali made a match with Chabad, right? The story — whoever knows it. The standing of a son-in-law with his father-in-law is a closeness greater than that of a son to his father. [unclear] greater. After all, it is all the dispute of Shaul and David — for if they had been together, it would have [unclear] the Mashiach, because the son-in-law and the father-in-law are at a greater level than between a father and a son. There is a greater level.

2:07:03 [unclear] — a son-in-law is a choice.