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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 1,109 words · 5:19. Press a time to hear it said.
0:01 What is true faith in Hashem, blessed be He? That a person should think in his mind how he is in the middle of the sea, and there is a great storm in the sea, and it is nighttime, when nothing can be seen, only the sounds of lightning and thunder. A person is in the middle of the sea, and of course they know the height of the waves, and they also know the stormy wind there is. Let everyone imagine, and the roar of the waves.
0:30 Let a person think in his mind of all the thunder in the middle of the sea, and the lightning. In the flashes of the lightning one can already see the wild beasts in the sea too, so that everyone can understand what these wild beasts are. And in the midst of all this, let a person ask himself: whom does he call at this moment? Will the person call out to flesh and blood, or will the person lift his eyes to the heavens, before the great, mighty and awesome G-d, in the middle of the sea, and call to Hashem, blessed be He, to answer him?
1:05 And from here begins faith in Hashem, blessed be He. Just look at the heavens, at nature, at Hashem's creation, at the letters of the holy Torah that shine, at the beauty of the trees, at the beauty of the flowers - how many wonderful things there are in this holy world that He created before us, all the things, good trees, good creations, for people to enjoy. Hashem, blessed be He, wants so much for us to see and look at the beauty of His creation, so that we come close to Him, that we lift our eyes to the heavens. This is what Yeshayahu said: "Lift up your eyes on high and see Who created these."
1:39 Hashem, blessed be He, wants them to gaze at His creation. Hashem, blessed be He, says: why did you set your eyes on evil? Is it because you don't love Me? You don't love Me? Hashem, blessed be He, loves us. We must give Him our eyes, because we love Him. Because we love Hashem, and Hashem, blessed be He, loves us - to sanctify our eyes, to sanctify our hearts, to love Him more than anything, that there be no lowly loves for a woman, that there be no lowly loves for a man, that everyone have love only for Heaven, only for the great, mighty and awesome G-d.
2:14 Our love shall be only before G-d, before Hashem, blessed be He, for this is what Hashem, blessed be He, wants from us: that we give Him our heart. Hashem, blessed be He, very much loves it when we lift our eyes to the heavens, to lift our eyes to the heavens all the time. Hashem, blessed be He, loves this very much. It is written in the book Sha'arei Hasagah by Rabbeinu Chaim Vital, in the name of our master Rabbeinu the Arizal, that one of the things, if a person wants to sweeten the judgments upon himself and to bring about salvation, abundance, wisdom and good, is to lift the eyes to the heavens, to look up.
2:42 To lift the eyes, to look to the heavens all the time. Therefore, one who merits this and comes to love Hashem so much that he merits to fall in love with Him, blessed be He, and feels with all his heart that he is in love with the Creator, blessed be He - that he is truly in awe of creation and contemplates His greatness, blessed be He, in creation and in all that the Creator does. His connection to the Creator - that Hashem, blessed be He, knows that he loves Him, then Hashem listens to him, and Hashem will do his will. To bless Hashem for everything, to contemplate all the good He does, every good abundance, to be attached to Him, not to take one's mind off Hashem.
Read the whole shiur in English (4 more parts)
3:20 To think only of Hashem, blessed be He, all the time. To think only of Hashem, to lift the eyes to the heavens, and love will come. This is how the love of Hashem comes. To truly feel that a person is in love with his Maker, that tears can truly come down from him out of his love for his Creator, that he loves Hashem so much, that out of the love of Hashem alone he will not desire any of the matters of this world. It will not be something that makes any impression on him at all, and he will have no bad thought or anything bad - not by overpowering himself, but out of his love for his Maker, it will not be a test for him.
3:52 The love of Hashem is the path to all the gates of serving Hashem, blessed be He. It is the path to everything, for a person living in the world. So pay attention to what will happen to a person who has foreign loves, and suddenly the person has love of Hashem, that he discovers that there is Hashem in the world, and his heart fills with love of Hashem, so that he will be in love with Hashem, blessed be He, then of itself his lack will be filled, and all his desire will be to know the Creator and to follow Him. And therefore the Torah commands us: "And you shall love Hashem your G-d" - this is the Shema, which one must recite every day.
4:31 The main thing is that a person always thinks of Hashem, blessed be He. When the mind always thinks of Hashem, blessed be He, all the time, every moment and instant, to think of Hashem. Think what will happen to the mind after it is attached to Hashem all the time: it will already begin to be a different mind, and the heart will begin to be a different heart, and the hands will begin to be... The body will begin to nullify the skin of the serpent, the filth of the serpent, and then a person will be clean, completely clean, of all the appearances of this world, so that it will not rule over him. May it be His will that we merit His love, the love of Hashem, blessed be He, and to give Hashem, blessed be He, satisfaction,
5:04 and that the kingship of G-d, blessed be He, be revealed in all the world, that Hashem, blessed be He, redeem us with a complete redemption, speedily in our days, amen and amen.
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What’s said in this shiur
The opening of this shiur, in The Yanuka — Rav Shlomo Yehuda’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.
What does it mean to really have faith in Hashem (God), blessed is He? That one picture in his mind that he is in the middle of the ocean and there, in the ocean, there is a great storm and it's at night when nothing can be seen just lightning and the sounds of thunder and he's in the middle of the ocean and, understandably, he sees the height of the waves and he knows about the stormy winds everyone should imagine the sounds of the waves and imagine the sounds of the thunder right there in the middle of the ocean and the lightning and in the reflection of the lightning one can already see the vicious sea monsters Everyone can understand what types of ferocious creatures they are and while all this is going on he will ask himself who is he going to call at that moment? will he call out to a human being? or will he lift his eyes Heavenward to the Almighty, Great, All-powerful and Awesome One there in the middle of the ocean and he will call out to Hashem, blessed is He, to answer his pleas This is the strating point of faith in Hashem, blessed is He Just look at the heavens, at nature, at the whole of creation at the letters of the holy Torah that radiate on the beauty of the trees and the flowers there are so many remarkable things that exist in this holy world that Hashem created for us all these things: the magnificent trees and creations to bring pleasure to people Hashem wants so much that we look and gaze at the beauty of His creation, so that we will come close to Him
Jump to a moment
- 0:01What does it mean to really have faith in Hashem (God), blessed is He? That one…
- 0:31the sounds of the thunder right there in the middle of the ocean and the lightning…
- 1:01there in the middle of the ocean and he will call out to Hashem, blessed is…
- 1:33that we lift our eyes Heavenward This is what Isaiah the prophet said "Lift up your…
- 2:03to love Him more than anything else not to have lowly lusts for a woman not…
- 2:33one can do to sweeten the strict judgments against him, and to trigger salvation, abundance, wisdom…
- 3:03that Hashem, blessed is He, knows that he loves Him Then, Hashem will listen to him,…
- 3:33from his great love for Hashem that he loves Hashem so much that only from his…
- 4:03who has a love for other things and then suddenly, he'll have a love for Hashem…
- 4:34that his mind will always think about Hashem, blessed is He all the time: every moment…
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