הינוקא הרב שלמה יהודה - סוגיית המידות והמסתעף - צאנז - The Yanuka - Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda

7:05 There was a shiur in the time before the Days of Awe And when that time ended, then Yom Kippur and Sukkos begin And now, to this time of Cheshvan it is a month that stands between the middle of a year, of the end of a year and the beginning of a year That is to say, this very month is a good sign for the whole year as the 'Moreh B'Etzba' explains in siman 9, paragraph 298 Maran the Chida writes this He explains that it is a good sign to learn Torah in this month because it is the beginning of the whole year that one learns in this month of Cheshvan And this needs to be explained After all, we know that everything is important according to measures (And maybe sit down - there is room here, no? There is a little room

8:19 so there won't be distress and crowding - a little more room to make maybe the door - open it a little, the door Here Also The door maybe a few more people here or something, so it won't be crowded maybe a little here, maybe there is a solution?) Noah's ark held them - not much, but...

9:06 We ask forgiveness from everyone, before all the rabbis, all the Torah scholars each and every one - forgiveness for every push, every distress... I ask forgiveness and pardon from each and every one that no person should have any distress; it is forbidden to push anyone All of us - Hashem, blessed be He, loves all of us, and rejoices in all of us And the Torah was given to us so that we love it, and be together and in unity not to cause distress and to push; everything with a settled mind and with thought...

9:50 I explained that this is about the measure of the place Continue. The measure is the important thing in our Torah When the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, as everyone knows, there was light And after the sin of Adam HaRishon was committed, the hidden light had to be hidden away because the hidden light was an abundance, and it had to be hidden away so that there would be the ability and the vessels to receive from this light in measure...

10:46 When there is too much light, and there are no vessels to receive the light then through that comes the 'breaking of the vessels' How did you bring it?

11:49 'Great is Hashem and very praised, and His greatness is unsearchable' We find that every place where there was a revelation of the light it was in abundance they had to contract that matter, so that the vessels would contain the light In the creation of the world when there was the hidden light, the Holy One, blessed be He, hid it in the Torah then immediately after that, immediately after Parshas Bereishis we read Parshas Noach, and it is a hint to the ark of measures It is written about Noah in Bereishis, chapter 6, verse 15: 'Three hundred cubits was its length, fifty cubits its width and thirty cubits its height' that there was a need for the measure of the ark that it would contain not only for the continuation of creation but that it would contain from the light that was before the sin of Adam HaRishon

13:25 so that this light would pass also inside the ark May the merit of these holy objects protect us the holy writings of our Rabbis a holy manuscript of Maran the holy Rashash, from three hundred years ago After there was a need to pass on this light that the Holy One, blessed be He, created the whole entire world, there was the sin of Adam HaRishon and from the sin of Adam HaRishon the light had to withdraw and this light passed into the ark; after the ark, this light went out In each and every generation, we see that we have measures and quantities the measures that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave [unclear] Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Chiya b'Rav Ashi in Tractate Eruvin, page 4a that measures and quantities are a halachah given to Moshe at Sinai

15:05 We have a kezayis, a kebeitzah, a kakoseves, a kortov, a lesech, a beis kor, a beis se'ah all that is needed - the measures of length, width sit, zeres, amah, a full sit all the measures and quantities of the Torah that a person who drank a revi'is of impure liquids or ate the amount of eating a peras, two eggs, and so on that one in impurity becomes second-degree impure...

15:34 all these things will decide his impurity according to what he did, according to measures and quantity so impurity will be contained in him, and according to measures and quantities forty se'ah will raise him from impurity to purity through his eating a revi'is, and a kebeitzah through this he becomes obligated in that blessing, and in the after-blessing The measure and the quantity will obligate a person to closeness to Hashem, blessed be He and the measure and the quantity will make a person impure, to distance from Hashem, blessed be He So we find that in measures and quantities there is the light of Hashem, blessed be He and when a person transgresses the measures and quantities in which the Torah was given through that he spoils the abundance, and through that he is pushed outside And all the sufferings, and the troubles, and the problems, and the exiles

16:26 and why is there pressure, and crowding, and density in this whole exile? Because we are not in the measure and quantity of the House of Hashem, blessed be He If there were measure in the House of Hashem, there would be no distress in Jerusalem The reason for the crowding and the pressure of the generation, of the whole world is only because we do not have the House of Hashem for the House of Hashem would spread out, and the light of Hashem would shine in it and through that all created beings could draw close to Hashem, blessed be He and there would be no distress and no crowding in Jerusalem...

17:02 The measure and the quantity - here there is an importance above everything that as much as a person will draw close to Hashem so much as he keeps the measures and quantities in which the Torah was given the measures and quantities - they will obligate the person to closeness...

17:27 And when there is no proper measure and quantity that they do not keep measure and quantity properly then this light goes outside, and through that it is pushed to the kelipah And when it is pushed to the kelipah, damage is done in nature and when damage is done in nature, harm is done in the world And there can be harm, as there was the Flood - as everyone knows, the Flood...

17:52 and as there is in every generation Everything there is in the world - troubles, and problems, and sufferings is because the measures and quantities of the Torah are not kept The quantities in which the Torah was given, as is known for this time that 'a person should not sit before the barber close to Minchah' and 'he should not enter the bathhouse, nor the tannery' The Mishnah in Tractate Shabbos, chapter 1, Mishnah 2 about the importance of prayer - that one should not do work before his prayer And likewise on page 9b, 'They will fear You with the sun' about praying at sunrise, that it is the choicest way of the mitzvah and if he prayed when dawn rose which is the time close to offering the daily offerings, then it is valid as the Shulchan Aruch ruled in siman 89 of Orach Chaim, se'if 1

18:42 So we find there is a special quality to the time of prayer and an obligation, in order to obligate the person The obligation of the Torah is found in time, and in mitzvah, and in quantity that every quantity, every mitzvah, will have a quantity in it and every place will need a measure in order to obligate the person in an area - whether it is a beis kor or a beis se'ah - and a beis lesech all these things are for the quantities of the Torah, by which created beings can be judged in order to obligate a place, in order to hold people, to hold created beings In every place everything will be judged by the land - how much it will hold how much measure it will have, so that it can hold more

19:31 And at the time there was the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, Hashem, blessed be He, revealed from the hidden light and there was room for all created beings, and there was no need for quantity and measure because Hashem, blessed be He, shone a light in which everyone could be included And therefore, when our Beis HaMikdash and our glory was destroyed at the time the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed then harm and damage came about in nature; the attribute of judgment did harm in nature to such an extent that it is written in the Pesikta Rabbasi in Parashah 29, letter 2, and in the 'Midrash Shocher Tov' on 137 in the name of Bar Kappara, who said that 'the Euphrates River killed more of the Jewish people than Nevuchadnetzar killed' The Euphrates River killed more of the Jewish people than Nevuchadnetzar

20:26 And how can this matter be conceivable that Hashem, blessed be He, who made nature and such a crime and such wickedness came about through Nevuchadnetzar and everyone remembers to this day that Nevuchadnetzar the wicked killed among the Jewish people because they spoke of the suffering - that the Chaldeans killed among them and they died there of hunger on the way and about the Euphrates River, that its waters killed among them because they would drink from the water, from the springs, and from the rains And when our Beis HaMikdash and our glory was destroyed, and they went on the road Rabbi Yochanan said that because they were walking on the road so Rabbi Yochanan says that that Euphrates River killed among them more than Nevuchadnetzar the wicked killed among them So here we find that damage came about in nature

21:11 because before there was damage in nature there was light, and this light was in measure and this measure shone in all created beings And when a sin was committed, that they did not guard the House of Hashem, blessed be He damage came about, and harm came about, and then the abundance went out of the vessel And when the abundance goes out of the vessel it becomes a light that keeps spreading, and outside forces come and draw from it and through that damage comes about in nature, because the light keeps flowing into nature and nature does not have the vessels to contain the light only the Torah has the vessels to contain the light therefore the Torah was given in measures and quantities and nature was not made in measures and quantity because when nature goes above its quantity, it cannot hold it

21:57 So when the vessel and the quantity were made for nature then it cannot stand, only at the time when the Beis HaMikdash will be... So therefore measures were made for the Mishkan, the House of Shiloh, the Beis HaMikdash measures and quantities were made in them so that the Holy One, blessed be He, could rest His Shechinah for that is why Moshe needed to receive measures from the Holy One, blessed be He for the Menorah, and for the Beis HaMikdash, and for the Tablets and for everything a measure was needed And seemingly, why did He decree in His wisdom, blessed be He, to give a measure to each and every thing?

22:28 Rather, only so that nature could connect to the measure and from the measure comes a vessel, and from a vessel comes an outpouring of blessing and then the light can remain in the vessel And when the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash comes about, and when the holy is desecrated then the vessel departs, and an absence of light comes about it has no vessel to rest in and then the light departs, and harm comes about and then damage comes about in nature, and nature can do harm Therefore from this it will be understood that the Euphrates River killed more of the Jewish people than Nevuchadnetzar the wicked And we find the connection that is written in Devarim, chapter 20, verse 19 'For man is the tree of the field' And there is a hint in this - what is the meaning that man is the tree of the field?

23:16 For what is the connection, that a man is a tree? After all, if they are all trees, we do not find trees that grow [unclear] like this... because that would be kilayim, forbidden mixtures - that there should be a distance of a tefach and more So what - how can it be? After all, we find that they are all in unity, all together So what is the meaning of 'man is the tree of the field'? So there is a story in Gittin, page 58a: 'Why was Beitar destroyed?'

23:46 So there was a story that the people of Beitar would plant a cedar tree when a boy was born and plant a pine tree when a girl was born and this is a hint to this, that man is the tree of the field And when they needed to marry them off, they would cut down the tree and they would make, from the cedar and the pine of that couple they would make them a chuppah and marry them with it So we find that 'For man is the tree of the field' has a connection to that story in Gittin where it is told that they would plant a pine and a cedar tree in order to contain the measure and the quantity in nature because afterwards they would gather the trees, and they would make...

24:27 And why was Beitar destroyed? Because they needed to take care of that noblewoman, the queen, whose carriage pole broke and they needed to cut from the tree and then Beitar was very pained at how they had done such a thing... this crime, to cut away in nature - for it is forbidden to cut down a tree, as is known And because they cut down the tree, distress came about and they fought with those who then made war on them and then they went and destroyed Beitar, and because of this Beitar was destroyed because of those cedar and pine trees that were cut down that they struck at the place where the light was found, inside a vessel And that is why they were wise, the people of Beitar and when their tree was cut down, and they cut the tree, then Beitar was destroyed

25:13 This is what the Talmud says; this may connect to what we explained that about the measures and the quantity - it will be better understood why this is because when the measure and the quantity are not together then harm comes about, damage comes about In the Torah there is the light of Hashem, blessed be He... After all, within the Torah we have the inner dimension of the Torah The inner dimension of the Torah is only for those who know, who know the hidden wisdom who received it mouth to mouth, who received it from the mouth of Eliyahu, remembered for good and to receive Torah from his mouth - that is level upon level for it requires refining the material and stripping off physicality in order to...

25:57 It is impossible, a body cannot contain it it is only by stripping off physicality... So at the time one receives the Torah, one needs to contain its light Because of this King Shlomo says in Mishlei, he says in chapter 6, verse 23 'For a mitzvah is a candle, and the Torah is light' for the Torah is the light and the mitzvah is the candle, because the candle is a vessel for the vessels and the measures and quantities and the mitzvos were given in measure and quantity but words of Torah have no set measure, because one needs to learn all the time So a mitzvah has a set measure for fulfilling it; there are positive mitzvos that are time-bound but for Torah study we have no set time one needs to learn day and night, because the Torah is without measure, it is light

26:39 Therefore Shlomo says that Torah is light, but a candle is a mitzvah and a mitzvah needs to 'command' - to be 'b'tzavsa', joined together in order to join the person to Hashem, blessed be He So we find that in measures and quantities - when one finds a measure and a quantity one needs to draw close to Hashem, blessed be He, through the measure and the quantity And when there is pressure, and a place that does not hold enough, when there is crowding or a person feels cramped - he has a small place of four cubits or he has a small house or a small place that he cannot be in it, or that he feels cramped then he needs to think about enlarging his spiritual vessels When the spiritual vessels grow, then he will have no distress in the physical

27:28 And it is like in learning, and like in the beis knesses and beis midrash when learning together, the crowd does no harm On the contrary, let us rejoice in this, that we are all together, and the crowd does no harm that we are all together, closely packed, like trees in the field for one sees all the trees in the field together, clinging to one another and the branches into one another, and the forest, and all the trees, and all of creation all of it glad and joyful to do the will of Hashem, blessed be He But in order to continue this matter in order to receive this light So this requires Vayikra Rabbah It is written in Vayikra Rabbah, in Parashah 31, paragraph 4 and likewise in Devarim Rabbah, in Parshas Re'eh, the same matter

28:30 What the Midrash says - 'The Holy One, blessed be He, said: If you guard My candle, I will guard your candle and if you put out My candle, I will put out your candle' If you light up My candle, I will light up your candle if you darken My candle, I will darken your candle It will be measure for measure that if a person lights up the Torah, then the Torah will shine and if a person does not light up the Torah, then the Torah will not shine And it is like in the study of the Talmud that any question that was not resolved for them in the Bavli but was resolved for them in the Yerushalmi - we go after the Yerushalmi because the Jerusalem Talmud is holier in its level it is at a level of holiness much higher than the Babylonian Talmud

29:13 And the Babylonian Talmud - what one receives one feels the holiness of the Land of Israel and receives everything but the Jerusalem Talmud, which is still light which has not yet come down into vessels as with the Bavli, which has already come down into complete vessels from which the halachah is ruled Therefore the study of the Talmud, which is very important - the main thing is to draw the halachah out of it because 'halachah' in gematria comes to the number of 'kli', a vessel halachah - the two letters hei join into a yud, and with the kaf and the lamed it becomes 'kli' because all the learning that one learns...

29:45 The Yerushalmi is a great light because it is the first Talmud, a hundred years before the Bavli the Jerusalem Talmud was made by the Amoraim of Rabbi Yochanan and the Jerusalem Talmud - that is a hundred years; it became a great light and this light of the Jerusalem Talmud needed to be clothed in vessels The vessel of the Yerushalmi is the Bavli and the vessel of the Bavli is the Rif and the Rambam and the Rosh and all the Rishonim and Rabbeinu Yerucham and Rav Saadia Gaon, and all the Rishonim that are learned these Rishonim are the vessels, and then from there it comes down and descends to the Shulchan Aruch from the Shulchan Aruch to the Acharonim and the poskim until it comes down to bringing the teaching to its halachic conclusion where one learns the settled halachah

30:26 This corresponds to the vessel and the light that flows down from above until it rolls on and descends below And for this reason, that Hashem, blessed be He, gave us the Torah He required us to learn it, and learn it, and learn it so that we learn the Torah so that we connect to the light that is inside the Torah and connecting to the light that is inside the Torah is through learning halachah Learning halachah - that is the light for before the halachah is ruled there is an abundance of light, an abundance of reasonings and opinions and learning halachah is a narrowing of all the opinions together until one halachah is ruled which is, in practice, the quantity and the measure by which one must fulfill the mitzvah as we explained, that one who drank a revi'is of liquids becomes impure

31:19 and if he ate two eggs, the amount of eating a peras, then he becomes second-degree impure and His wisdom, blessed be He, decreed that a person who immerses in forty se'ah goes up from impurity to purity This the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed in His wisdom that His wisdom, blessed be He, decreed measure and quantity and measure and quantity will lead to this: that Hashem, blessed be He, gives such-and-such and such-and-such is the halachah to fulfill And before one learns this, it is only light without a grasp And therefore the study of halachah is a study that receives the light found inside the vessel and through this a person can attain closeness to Hashem for it is a study that is greater than all studies And this is in fact the secret of the dispute between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon

32:03 that Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon and elders sat in the house of Nitzah (the name of the man) in Lod as written in Tractate Kiddushin, page 40b that Rabbi Tarfon and elders sat - they sat and they had a dispute about what is greater - is study greater or is action greater So Rabbi Tarfon says that action is greater and Rabbi Akiva says that study is greater, for study brings to action Study will bring a person to reach actual action and will bring him to the vessels...

32:35 In Tractate Shabbos, page 138b 'Our Rabbis taught: When our Rabbis entered the vineyard at Yavneh, the Torah was about to be forgotten' The prophet Amos - it is written in chapter 8, verse 11 'Behold, days are coming, and I will send a famine in the land,' and so on 'not a famine for bread, and not a thirst for water, but to hear the word of Hashem' 'The word of Hashem' - this is halachah; and likewise in Kerisos, page 13b, 'The word of Hashem - this is halachah' This is how His wisdom, blessed be He, decreed: 'to hear the word of Hashem' means to hear halachah because the speech of Hashem, blessed be He needs to be for us vessels for the light, so that through it we can draw close to Him, blessed be He

33:19 for the more halachah a person knows so he will know more and more closeness to Hashem, blessed be He, and will attain His wisdom, blessed be He This is what was with the Rabbis and Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who disagree in Horayos, page 14a, at the end of the tractate 'Which is preferable, Sinai or the uprooter of mountains?' Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and the Rabbis disagree about Rabbah, the uprooter of mountains, and Rav Yosef, Sinai for Sinai and the uprooter of mountains are two different things Sinai - that is receiving the Torah; and the uprooter of mountains - that is sharp debate in the Torah And Rav Yosef and Rabbah, who are awesome levels that a person cannot stand within their understanding, nor at all grasp their wisdom in order to call it this way, or to compare between them, or between their levels

34:07 only the levels are for us, to explain to us: who can take hold of the vessels? Who will give us the Torah? Where are the vessels for receiving the Torah where can one receive, to draw close to Hashem how can one grow to draw close to Hashem, blessed be He how can each one draw close and grow more toward the Holy One, blessed be He, and make His Name great That is what the dispute is about The importance of the learning is so that he knows in every matter...

34:36 As they say in Tractate Shabbos, page 114a in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, who says that one is appointed a leader over the community this is one whom they ask halachah in any place even in Tractate Kallah, that he can answer In Tractate Sotah, page 21a about a person who walks at a crossroads and has reached nighttime and he is in great fear, as in this world for this world is full of gloom and darkness, and he does not know which road to take he was afraid of the thorns, of the pits, of the thistles of the bandits, of the wild beast, of the bandits until a torch of light came his way he was saved from the thorns, from the pits, from the thistles until dawn rose - he was saved from the bandits, from the wild beast

35:22 once he reached the crossroads, he was saved from all of them Zutra said: for this is a Torah scholar once the teaching comes out for him according to the halachah, he is saved from all of them he has reached the crossroads, so he knows what to do in the world because this whole world is full of confusion, and people do not know... whoever is in the world does not know what to do So we have explicitly what to do - preparing vessels, preparing vessels toward the light that Torah scholars and kohanim sit and learn, engaged in Torah especially to advance and to guard the way of halachah for this is the important thing, and the learning that is above all learning At the level of this man - much, much in the poskim (they speak of this)

36:04 There are several places (Does everyone have something to drink?) In the Jerusalem Talmud there are Chizkiyah and Rabbi Yosi in Tractate Moed Katan, chapter 3, halachah 7, in the Yerushalmi on Moed Katan So Chizkiyah says that in fact the Torah scholar however great he is, he needs to learn the laws of the Torah Rabbi Yosi says there is breadth of knowledge in the Torah - that is a great thing, breadth of knowledge in the Torah But the way the Yerushalmi explains there are many differences between the Yerushalmi and the Bavli, in the Zohar, all kinds of things and among them there are matters where each one will state a different opinion.

36:54 One can see this. Whoever learns can see their views, that there are real opinions among them. Perhaps in a little while we will see, if Hashem grants it. Like this, for example: that it would be enough for a person to have the learning of halachos for this already to be called a 'Torah scholar', and there would be no need at all for the dispute of 'Sinai' and 'uprooter of mountains'. That alone would suffice. As they showed in the Pnei Moshe and in the Korban HaEidah, to see what he explains: that this alone would suffice - only the learning of halachos alone can suffice to bring a person to a very, very great level.

37:25 As it concludes in Tractate Berachos, page 8a, that 'Hashem loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Yaakov' - the gates distinguished in halacha. Where they learn the halacha, Hashem, blessed be He, has satisfaction. In this there is a level, and the greatest closeness to Hashem there is. It is also written, in Niddah at the end of the tractate, and in Megillah on page 28, about 'Whoever studies halachos every day is assured that he is a member of the World to Come.'

37:54 What is the meaning of 'halichos' together with 'a member of the World to Come'? What is the connection to 'a member of the World to Come'? Because the World to Come is light without a vessel; it is light without vessels. Therefore there is a stripping away of physicality. So the learning of halachos will bring one to the World to Come. Because seemingly, if you extol and speak of a learning that is above all other learning, then it should have to bring a person to vessels, so that he will have joy and elevation in learning. And why would it tell us, about the learning that is greater than all learning, that it corresponds to the World to Come? To give it for the sake of the World to Come?

38:25 Rather, the meaning of 'whoever studies halachos' being set against the World to Come is to tell you that learning halacha brings him to a light that cannot be grasped, to draw down the hidden light. Therefore this is needed for what is called 'whoever... is assured that he is a member of the World to Come': that if you learn the halacha, you will attain the hidden light, which has no grasp in it and nothing that can contain it, only through learning the halacha.

38:50 When a person learns the halacha - halacha, halacha - he draws down the chain of descent of the light, and it flows. And therefore Hashem, blessed be He - when the attribute of judgment and harm come about in the world, what do we say? As it is written in Parshas Eikev, in Krias Shema, chapter 11, verse 17: 'And the land will not give its produce.' that Hashem, blessed be He, says that the land will not give its produce.

39:15 The land will not give the produce. What? What is the novelty? After all, even if Hashem, blessed be He, will hold back the heavens and there will be no rain, and the land will not give its produce - it is certain that the land will not give its produce, because Hashem, blessed be He, did not send us rain from the heavens. Certainly there won't be; so what is the meaning?

39:39 Rather, 'the land will not give its produce' - the meaning is that they will not be able to put into practice the measures and amounts of the Torah; they will not be able to receive the vessels of the Torah. Because, as we explained, 'for man is a tree of the field', and the person will not receive the light of the Torah, so that they will go about in the world and feel emptiness, and not feel the light of the Torah, and love for the Torah, and joy in the Torah, and cleaving to the Torah.

40:05 That is 'and the land will not give its produce': the land is land, but it will not give its produce; it will not sprout. And therefore this learning of halacha is greater than all other learning. The Zohar says, in Zohar Va'eira, page 27a: 'And whoever strives in the Torah' - whoever strives to engage in Torah and strives to engage, that whoever understands the learning of Torah study, and all day - 'How I love Your Torah; all day it is my conversation.'

40:33 So Rabbi Shimon says that whoever tries to learn the halacha in order to draw it down and understand it, Scripture regards him as if he learned it all day - 'all day it is my conversation.' The love of Torah will be revealed only through this, that all day he tries to learn the Torah; that is his love. That is the novelty of Rabbi Shimon: that a person who learns the Torah this way, in thought - how to resolve a halacha and how to draw it down into the world - then all day he is learning Torah, because this learning will count for him as all learning.

41:00 In Midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah, parshah 1, section 2, about Rabbi Nechemiah and Rabbi Yehudah and the Rabbis, where the Rabbis say 'Whoever learns (the Torah) - the Holy One, blessed be He, says - their longing is upon Me.' Their longing, their mouth, the breath of their mouth, which speak of Me, of My halacha, of My light - I long for them to pass away with the death of a kiss. That is what the Rabbis say: that they will pass away with the death of a kiss.

41:25 The Holy One, blessed be He, will take them with a kiss, so that they will not taste any suffering of this world. That is the meaning of a kiss: that there will be connection and thought and cleaving, to receive the vessels, because they will speak about the vessels - how to draw down the Torah, how the Torah will spread and enter into vessels, so they can receive it. The whole meaning of the vessel: when there is a vessel, it will be permitted; when there is no vessel, it will be forbidden. And so in every single thing in the Torah, every single thing in our Torah rolled along through a vessel - from a vessel to permitted, and from permitted to forbidden.

41:55 As we know about the 'Beis Yosef': the 'Beis Yosef' says in siman 242, se'if 30, he explains that this learning of halacha - whoever learns halacha in order to learn the depth of the halacha and the analysis of the halacha and his own thinking, in order to learn the depth of the halacha - comes before all other learning, all of it, and he comes before a Torah scholar who only engages in pilpul and is not one who issues rulings; he comes before him.

42:22 He brings it from the responsa of the Maharik, shoresh 170 - that is how he brought it; in the 'Beis Yosef', siman 242, se'if 30, he brought it: 'And what you have already written on the matter of the one who engages in pilpul' - whoever already writes on the matter of the one who engages in pilpul, who think the main thing is to do pilpul in Torah - 'I do not say so', that this is the way; it is not the way, just to do pilpul, but rather in order to bring out the halacha from it.

42:46 This is what the essence of the rabbinate depends on: whoever learns the halacha and guards the halacha, its thorough knowledge - not only for the sake of the pilpul, but for the sake of learning the Torah, in order to guard it, so that it 'will not be forgotten from the mouth of his offspring.' That is the meaning of the Torah, as the 'Levush' writes. The Levush writes an awesome, awesome, awesome thing. He writes in siman 246, se'if 5, sub-section 5.

43:10 The 'Levush' writes - he brought the 'Derishah', he brings it - No, it was the Shach who brought the Derishah. He brought learning the Rosh and the Mordechai in siman 242 - that is something else. He brings that learning the Rosh and the Mordechai and the Rif - he says, 'I have written to you that this is the main thing of all learning, and it surpasses everything, and this is the essence of Torah learning.' But what he brings in general - the meaning of what he says is: 'This, where the teacher engages in pilpul with his student and the student engages in pilpul with his teacher - this teacher is not called his teacher, and this student is not called his student, and would that he had never learned Torah from him.'

43:47 So says the 'Levush': 'And I have already written in the introduction to my book, see there.' And he did not want to elaborate on it, on the meaning: that there is no connection between them, because he does not teach him the purpose. The purpose is the learning of halacha, which comes before all other learning, all of it. And the Chayei Adam wrote in the introduction, on the matter of Torah study, about 'give and take': he says one needs to learn somewhat with sharpness, in give and take, he says, but in order to learn the halacha - only for that is the meaning... The 'Mishnah Berurah' wrote in siman 155, he also brought, about one who has no time to learn halachos: the main thing is learning halachos, which comes before all other learning, all of it.

44:17 The learning of halachos - whoever has no time should learn the halacha, because it is of very great importance. The sons of the Gaon of Vilna, in the introduction to the Gra's glosses on the Shulchan Aruch, wrote that he warned them against too much pilpul. He warned them against too much pilpul - only in order to learn the halacha, 'to arrive at the teaching according to the halacha.' That is the meaning they received from their father, our master the Gaon of Vilna. Everyone knows the greatness of the Gaon of Vilna.

44:42 In order to learn the Torah, in order to guard it, in order to bring out truth from it, in order not to swerve to the right, not to swerve to the left, in order to bring out the halacha from it - that is the meaning... Because when one does not learn for the sake of halacha, then harm comes about, Heaven forbid, that this is a potion of death; so they say that this is not a potion of life. So say the sons of the Gaon. That this corresponds to the Tosafos on page 7a, Pesachim page 50, in Yoma on page 72, about this becoming a potion of death and harm, Heaven forbid.

45:11 It can be not the potion of life but the potion of death, when they do not learn for the sake of halacha, when they learn for the sake of something else, not 'to arrive at the teaching according to the halacha': how do I draw close to Hashem, blessed be He, by this path? Then harm comes about, Heaven forbid, because this is not the way of our Torah. The way of the Torah that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us is so that they draw close to Him, blessed be He, so that they bring Him satisfaction, that he rise from the book and know how to draw close to Hashem, and how the light that is inside his vessel can contain it and bring him close to Hashem, blessed be He, to the point that our redemption will come.

45:45 That is the meaning of the learning of halacha: that its light will flow into a vessel. Therefore halacha is called the counterpart of the vessel. Our master the 'Pnei Yehoshua' - the Pnei Yehoshua wrote in the introduction to Kesubos, he brought Rabbah, in Tractate Shabbos, page 30b. So he says that Rabbah would tell a humorous remark. So he says that it is regarded as something foreign to explain it so.

46:09 So writes the Pnei Yehoshua: 'it is regarded as foreign to explain it so,' 'and it is far from reason to think that he said a humorous remark.' It is far from reason, he says. The Pnei Yehoshua says: this is far from reason. It cannot enter the mind that a sage would tell a joke at all. It cannot enter the mind. How can it be that he would take the light of Hashem and say - at a time when there is the Torah of Hashem - say a humorous remark? The 'Pnei Yehoshua' writes that this is 'far from reason'.

46:34 Such a thing could not be in Rabbah's mind at all. So he explains it: that this is a word of aggadah. In the introduction to the Pnei Yehoshua he writes that he finished the Shas 36 times, and because of the incident he had, of a fire, in which harm came to his wife and his household - all the suffering that passed over him - so he took upon himself, with self-sacrifice, the learning of the Shas and to give all these explanations of the topics, the 'Pnei Yehoshua', which has a special power for joy, and much depth, as everyone who knows...

47:01 There is nothing as wondrous as what he did. Our master Yaakov Yehoshua, grandson of the 'Meginei Shlomo' - all his defense against the questions of Tosafos on Rashi - what the 'Meginei Shlomo', in the way of his grandfather... So he writes: how can one know to think... He says, 'it is regarded as foreign to explain it so.' Who can think and say, Heaven forbid, about great ones who did not occupy themselves with such things, to think that they explained other things?

47:31 So he says, it is regarded as foreign to explain it so. The thought is to explain it: that all their thought was only in order to draw close to Hashem, blessed be He, through the halacha, through this learning, to draw close. And the 'humorous remark' is words of aggadah that he says, and the intent - something to lighten the mind, so that it would be close to their understanding, and what is closer to the mind is rather aggadah, which draws a person's heart more.

47:58 But the halacha requires a great deal of effort in order to reach the root, the correct intent from before the Holy One, blessed be He: what He decreed in His wisdom, and how the measures will be and how the amounts will be, and according to whom the halacha is decided. That is why there are Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel and all this, all the disputes there were - only so that everyone would clarify the halacha and the right way, so that the hidden light that was at the creation of the world would pass through all the vessels until it reaches this vessel; and when it reaches this vessel, then from Heaven it will roll down and it will appear upon that person who is able, at his level - each one according to what he attains.

48:38 So this is what we explained, that the Shach wrote in siman 246, se'if 5. So the Shach writes, he says - he brings the Derishah, who explained to learn the Mordechai and the Rosh. In the time of the Rogatchover they needed to learn the Rambam a lot. Before that, everyone used to learn the Rif. The Rogatchover said that they should also learn the Rambam; it is even more condensed than the Rif.

49:05 Because learning the Rif was very hard, and they had no order for the Rif. But this is the main learning: to learn the Rif and the Mordechai and the Rosh, to learn all the Rishonim, all the Acharonim. The main learning is in order to receive the hidden light that is within the poskim, within the halacha, which rolled down from the standing at Mount Sinai. And the hidden light is in every ruling. And therefore, because of this, this learning comes before all other learning, all of it, because of its level, and its learning and its level, and its depth, that it can come before all other learning.

49:37 The 'Chavos Yair' writes in siman 124 - so he writes: that this learning of halacha is double and redoubled beyond all the virtues of all other learning, all of it. However much a person learns the matter of halacha, it comes first, double and redoubled, before all the halachos, all of them. However much more he learns of this - this learning comes before everything. And however much everyone learns, and everyone thinks about the way to learn - this is the way to learn: to learn the halacha, because it is a learning that will bring a person to every benefit, to all good things; all the thoughts, everything, will depend on this learning.

50:08 Our master Rabbi Meshulam Feivush Heller, author of 'Yosher Divrei Emes', writes - the Gaon was a disciple of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Premishlan; he mentions Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov a great deal in his books. He was holy of holies, a tzaddik, holy of holies, awesome and fearsome. A book that is a way to Hashem, blessed be He - he says that halacha is 'halichah', walking: it is like going to draw close to Hashem; that the learning of halacha - however much they learn every matter of holiness - it is purity, and character traits, proper conduct, everything, everything, everything is closeness to Hashem.

50:43 Yes. - To everyone standing in the aisles, whoever cannot see or cannot hear: there is now already a screen and a loudspeaker downstairs in the garden; earlier it was not working, and one can hear from downstairs too. So we ask this, so that there won't be crowding. - Rabbi Meshulam...

51:26 Yes. So he says, this way and the learning of halacha indicates the light that will enter into the vessel. Here, perhaps now, suddenly there has been talk about the vessels; there has come a place to learn, another place to learn. Forgive me for speaking before you; I am not worthy to speak before you.

51:53 Everyone is holy and pure and knows everything; what are we to speak before you? This is all only to do the will of the people, each and every one. Whatever they tell us, we will do: 'and you shall do according to all that they instruct you.' How much the Holy One, blessed be He, loves the Jewish people, that He gave them this Torah with love and desire, and so many virtues upon it, upon the halacha and upon the mitzvah and upon everything, to command this and to cleave to this.

52:42 And one can explain this, as I explained before, that 'and the land will not give its produce' is the continuation of the verse, in chapter 11, verse 17, in Krias Shema, Parshas Eikev, where we say, 'And the wrath of Hashem will flare against you, and He will hold back the heavens.' So, 'and He will hold back the heavens' - as I explained before, then certainly there will be no rain. And why does the Torah - Hashem, blessed be He, emphasized 'and He will hold back the heavens', so 'and there will be no rain'?

53:09 Because if He certainly held them back, then certainly there will not be. What is the meaning of both 'He will hold back the heavens' and 'there will be no rain'? Rather, one can explain that the rain needs to come down into a vessel. Because all that the light... as in a place where there will be an increase of light: the larger the place, if they light it with a torch, the less it will light.

53:37 A small place will be lit by the light of the torch; a large place will not be lit by the light of the torch; they will need more torches, they will need a bigger fire. And if there is a big world, then a lot of rain is needed for the world. And Hashem, blessed be He, Master of heaven and earth, set that the Torah - when they learn it, then there will be dew and rain: 'He makes the wind blow and the rain fall.'

54:05 We ask for the dew and the rain, we ask; the meaning of the rain is not only that water comes down, but at the time the rains come down, all the good influences come down with the rains from Heaven. And now we see, as the generations grow distant, we see how much holding back of rain there is, that rain does not come down, and if it comes down, it does not come down in proper measure, and if it comes down in measure, it does not come down in the same place that needs the measure.

54:42 As there was the story of Choni HaMe'agel, in Taanis, page 23a, and it also appears in the Yerushalmi, chapter 3, halacha 9, in the Yerushalmi: that Choni made a circle - he went around, he made a measure. He said, 'Here the rain will come down; I am not leaving until Hashem, blessed be He, gives.' And a drop of a log came down - that is 350 cc - that had to come down, and all of Jerusalem could have drowned, and there was no place for any Jew, because harm was done in nature.

55:09 As we explained before, that there came about an abundance of light: that Choni HaMe'agel could draw down the light, he could bring down the abundance, he had the vessels to contain the light, but not everyone had (vessels) to contain the light that Choni HaMe'agel had. His level was awesome, his prayer awesome, his vessels awesome, so he could bring down the rain. So he brings down the rain, and they cannot...

55:33 So in a drop that is a log - that is 350 cc - in a drop it comes down at every point, so everyone could drown and there could be harm, and harm was done, until they asked Hashem, blessed be He; so he said to them - Choni said to them: 'It is not proper to ask for such a good thing to stop.' So they said in the Yerushalmi, chapter 3, halacha 9 - the Yerushalmi says that he asked that they bring him a bull, and he would bring a thanksgiving offering.

55:57 Therefore 'A psalm of thanksgiving: Shout to Hashem, all the earth' is halacha. 'Shout to Hashem, all the earth' - as is known, that is Psalm 100. 'Shout to Hashem, all the earth' is halacha. Therefore Choni HaMe'agel brought the offering so that it would stop: through the halacha, that this will rise up, then one can bestow the light into a vessel, and then a good influence comes about, and then what Choni brought about is set right. And this - this is how it will be understood: because of this there was this whole story with him, with Choni, that he asked that it come down in a measure, and he said 'up to here, in this measure, and it shall not add' - that from this measure it shall add up to here...

56:33 So that is the meaning of Choni HaMe'agel: that he knows how to ask before Hashem, blessed be He. And this is also as we explained, that the light needs to pass from Hashem, blessed be He, as I explained at the start, that the light passes from Bereishis, and afterwards it passed to the Ark, because the light must be present. Therefore it is called the hidden light, that it will be in every place, but it is hidden in every place; it is not a vanished light.

56:59 A vanished light is one that is not there, because now it is not revealed. But the hidden light is one that is present, but simply cannot be grasped. Therefore it will be called the hidden light. And on Chanukah it is present, and in the Shabbos candles it is only hidden. That is to say, it is present in the inner part of the candles, and the hidden light is called the inner part of the candles. So when it is within the flame, there one finds the hidden light, within the flames.

57:25 And therefore it is present on Chanukah: at this time, when one sees the candles, it is called the hidden light. And the Shabbos candle is called the hidden light because it exists, but one cannot grasp it, one cannot attain it. So one needs to pass this light along, and only when this light passes does a person merit to be at the level - he merits to draw down... So that is what was in Tractate Taanis, page 25b, with Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva.

57:51 Rabbi Eliezer said 24 prayers and was not answered. And Rabbi Akiva - only Rabbi Akiva begins to pray, and the Holy One, blessed be He, turns all the causes and nature, all of it for Rabbi Akiva, so that what Rabbi Akiva succeeds in effecting through the light that he received brings about an outpouring of rain and showers. Not Rabbi Eliezer - and he was disheartened. So a Heavenly voice came out and said: 'Not because this one is greater than that one, but because this one passes over his traits, and that one does not pass over his traits.'

58:20 So it will be understood: 'this one passes over his traits' - what is meant by 'passes'? Rabbi Akiva succeeds in passing the light over his traits. So he takes the traits and he passes the light. But Rabbi Eliezer does not pass over his traits. Not because he is great; he simply does not succeed in passing the traits. It is not connected to greatness. Rabbi Akiva could pass over his traits, but Rabbi Eliezer cannot pass over the traits, because we explained that the light needs to pass from the measure - that first there is a place - it needs to be fitted to the measure.

58:53 And then that same place that there was with Rabbi Akiva: that Rabbi Akiva took the light that there was, and this light passed over the measure, which went on and contained it, up to his measure. And this, in practice, can now be explained: here there is a difficulty on this Talmud. There is a Yerushalmi in Taanis, chapter 3, halacha 4, with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi and Rabbi Chanina: the same story, in Tzippori and with the people of the South, that this story was the same thing.

59:23 And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi succeeded in bringing rain for the people of the South, and Rabbi Chanina in Tzippori did not succeed in bringing out rain. So the people of Tzippori said: how can it be? Look, see - Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi brings down rain! So Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi came to the people of the South, together, and said, 'Let us all go out together to ask Hashem about the traits, to ask Hashem, the Holy One, blessed be He, to give us rain, to give us showers.'

59:48 And here Hashem, blessed be He, did not listen to them, and did not bring down rain for them for this - for the people of Tzippori. Rabbi Chanina expounded and said about the heart of the people of the South: the Southerners - their heart is soft, they receive words of Torah, but the heart of those who are in Tzippori - their heart is hard; it does not receive the Torah. Because their heart is hard, they do not receive the Torah.

1:00:13 So from here we see that the merit of the many - by the merit of the many, rain came down. Whereas in the Bavli it is by the merit of an individual, between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Eliezer. So we see that here it is by the merit of the light of the many: where there are many, it does not come down; here there is an individual, it does come down. So how will it be understood? So Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi continues, so, with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi - so he explains: how can such a thing be? It does not settle.

1:00:39 So he says that even in the time of Eliyahu the Prophet, may he be remembered for good, had the Jewish people not said 'Hashem is the G-d', fire would not have come down for them from the heavens. That is to say, according to the Yerushalmi - the Yerushalmi explains that the abundance of prayer will be answered only by the merit of the many; that is according to the Yerushalmi. That is to say, according to the Yerushalmi there must be light in the many, and according to the Bavli there must be light in the individual.

1:01:03 Because it is understood that with Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Akiva passes over the traits: Rabbi Akiva can pass light into his traits, and Rabbi Eliezer does not pass over his traits, over the traits. That is why they emphasized to us 'over the traits'. Whereas with Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Chanina, it was the heart: the heart of the people of Tzippori was hard, and in the South their heart was soft. The Southerners - their heart was soft to receive words of Torah, because whoever's heart is soft, then in practice the receiving becomes an outpouring, because an outpouring must come in the heart.

1:01:33 Therefore the Talmud emphasized that when there are many, the vessels of the many are their heart; the vessels of an individual are the light that he succeeds in passing over his traits. So when there are many, one needs to soften their heart. That is why on Rosh Hashanah a preacher goes up to preach before the shofar blowing, so that the heart will be fit to receive the light that flows through the blowing. Which is not so with an individual: an individual should strengthen himself in teshuvah, then he will be able to effect things before Hashem.

1:02:01 So for this we ask Hashem, blessed be He, to give us the rains. The Radbaz - our master David, the Radbaz, in part 5, responsum 2055 - the Radbaz discusses the law of asking for rain in the Land of Israel. As is known, everyone knows the 'Pri Chadash', the Maharam Chagiz, part 1, siman 74. Many poskim discuss the law of asking for rain: Rabbi Shmuel Vital and Maran the Chida.

1:02:29 In the Shulchan Aruch, siman 117, se'if 1, the law of rain: that an individual should ask for rain when it is for an individual's need, he should ask in 'Shomea Tefillah', not in 'Birkas HaShanim'. There needs to be settlement... and if an individual person needs rain - if a person is in the Land of Israel and he goes abroad, then what should he ask for? Should he ask for the rains or not? So the Radbaz says: because his livelihood is placed upon him - the livelihood of his household is placed upon him, and he needs to ask...

1:02:56 certainly he needs to ask for the rains. He left a wife and children; he left his vessels for receiving the abundance, who are at home in the Land of Israel. So he needs to ask according to the way of the Land of Israel - 'He makes the wind blow and the rain fall' - to ask for the rains, so that the abundance will come down upon the vessels he left. So rules the Radbaz, and so the Pri Chadash brings. Rabbi Shmuel Vital says not to follow this custom, but according to the custom of the climates, according to the climate, what changes with the weather; that is how one should go.

1:03:27 And the Chida said: one should not make a mockery and a joke of prayer - how one should go. But in the Land of Israel everyone knows that one asks according to the Land of Israel, that is, if the Land of Israel needs rain, everyone asks for the Land of Israel. Everyone asks for rain in the Land of Israel, that rain should fall. So it explains in the Beis Yosef, in siman 115; in the Beis Yosef it appears, and so in Berachos, page 33, side a, in the law of the rains of the..

1:03:54 Now, King David - the blessing of the years is corresponding to livelihood, and in the blessing of the years we ask, 'Bless for us... a good year, and may its end be...' Rabbi Shmuel of Brechovka, one of the great disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, says that whoever has intention in this blessing (the blessing of the years) will be saved from forbidden foods. So he says: it is certain and sure that he - he will not have forbidden foods. So it is received in the name of the holy Gaon Rabbi Shmuel.

1:04:18 He was very, very great and very holy, a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. So it appears in his name, that whoever has intention... So if they pray, if they ask for the rains... Corresponding to what was it instituted? So the Beis Yosef writes in 115, in siman 115, that it is corresponding to those who drive up prices, and these are the price-gougers, who make the grain expensive, at a high price.

1:04:43 Corresponding to this they instituted the ninth blessing. Therefore King David, in Psalm 9, also - corresponding to 'Break the arm of the wicked' - corresponding to those price-gougers who do not want there to be abundance among the Jewish people; they do not want there to be grain, they want there to be poverty, and everything expensive, and they want only to get rich, and there is suffering, and it is very painful about this. It is very painful for our Torah, that there are many Torah scholars in poverty, and the generation in poverty. May Hashem, blessed be He, help that there be no poverty among the Jewish people, that the whole Jewish people can learn Torah; abundance for all the Torah scholars, that there be blessing beyond measure, blessing beyond measure, that Hashem, blessed be He, give blessing beyond measure to each one, that everyone have wealth,

1:05:23 extraordinary wealth, in spirituality and in material things, without end, that there be no suffering and no... Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz says that if Jews do not ask for wealth, only for livelihood, the wealth goes to the non-Jews. A Jew must ask for wealth, not livelihood. So - one must know this: to ask Hashem for wealth, not to ask for livelihood. Everyone should always ask Hashem: 'Master of the world, wealth - give us wealth.'

1:05:47 That the Holy One, blessed be He, give wealth, give; it is important that people have an expanded mind. There are many things in this... levels of the service and of wealth.. Rabbi Naftali Katz - he says - the Rebbe of Ruzhin said that he is judged in Heaven every day over the golden pillow he had, that he would lean on; 'but since they see me, they already let him pass' - so. Because the Rebbe of Ruzhin had extraordinary wealth.

1:06:12 So he said that they judge Rabbi Naftali Katz, who had a golden cushion, a golden pillow that he would lean on. There were many great ones who held on to wealth. The Shach too had a golden bar like this, that he would hold, and it helped him settle his mind. There were many great ones who did so - our master the Turei Zahav. Our master the Magen Avraham had great poverty.

1:06:36 Most of the Magen Avraham's writings were taken from the walls of his house after his passing. Everything was written on the walls of the house, in all sorts of corners. He had great poverty; our master the Magen Avraham had great poverty. He wrote with self-sacrifice all that you see. The whole Magen Avraham is a self-sacrifice that one cannot even understand... Everything was with very great self-sacrifice, out of poverty and hardship. That is the Magen Avraham; 'Magen Avraham' is poverty.

1:07:01 He wrote while he did not have what a house needs, in measure and amount - everything in poverty. That is the Magen Avraham. Everyone who hears 'Magen Avraham' should know: the Magen Avraham is self-sacrifice. Every great one, every sage - it is all with self-sacrifice. Ah, yes - in siman 115, it is corresponding to the price-gougers, who want there to be high prices, so that the Jewish people will not be able to learn Torah, and they will not have.. Now, the moment they cannot learn Torah, then they will not have measure and amount; they will not be able to learn the Torah, for they will not have the peace of mind to learn the Torah.

1:07:33 So for this we ask of Hashem, blessed be He, in the blessing 'Who blesses the years', which is corresponding to livelihood, and the rain is included in it. For when rain falls, an abundance of livelihood flows too. Therefore one must ask Hashem, when the rains fall, to ask Hashem that livelihood also come down, to ask Hashem, to have intention that the flow of the light come down.

1:07:58 Therefore this hidden light, when it flows, when rain falls, comes down to a person according to his level; according to his level the rains come down. Therefore there is a merit in going out to receive the first rain, water that comes down from the heavens, to receive - a time of giving this abundance. The Baal HaTanya had a custom to go out wet, that there was water on him, and not to dry it. He says: this is abundance - I do not touch it; Hashem, blessed be He, gives.

1:08:24 There are great levels in this. Also the water of the rains that comes down from the heavens, the water that comes down - rainwater has no law of muktzeh if it falls in the house. If a person now has a leak in his house... 'They do not acquire a Shabbos resting place', for they move about and wander, and its clouds become narrow, and the Rebbe of Brisk had novel insights: how can this be, since it moves about and wanders?

1:08:49 So these are clouds that came after Erev Shabbos, so there is 'molid' (bringing something new into being) in this. How can this be? He has all sorts of questions and answers. And in Eruvin, page 46, side a, and in the Shibbolei HaLeket in siman 85, as is known, and in the Shulchan Aruch at the end of siman 310, the Shulchan Aruch ruled that there is no prohibition in this; these waters do not acquire a Shabbos resting place. There is no law of muktzeh at all in these waters. So what does he say? That if a person now wants to put a vessel - I have a leak, and a flow is coming down on Shabbos; I want to put a vessel into this water that comes down to me from the heavens, water comes down and enters the house from the heavens, the rain, on Shabbos -

1:09:26 may one put a vessel or not? So one may put a vessel, as the Rambam explains in chapter 25, halachah 24, in Beitzah, page 36, side b, as the Shulchan Aruch ruled in siman 338, se'if 8, but on condition that it be fit for washing, that he puts the jug in order to wash; that if I will have a use for the vessel, and I will make use of the water, that is to say, it will be permitted.

1:09:50 But if you will have no use for the water, it will be forbidden, because you are not using the light that comes down from the heavens, and it will be forbidden. The meaning of the light that comes down from the heavens - rainwater: only when one makes use of it will it be permitted. But if I do not make use of it, then why should I move this water? It is forbidden. So if I want to take it for washing, and I have some benefit to make from it, then there will be no prohibition, because I am using the abundance that comes down from the heavens.

1:10:16 Then the light can receive a vessel; but if I do not do so, then it is forbidden. Why should I move the water? There is no use in it, I do not want it. Then the thing cannot be changed. So for this one makes the thought, that everything has a root and a portion in the Torah, for the sake of the measure and the amount, according to what will be, for so His wisdom, blessed be He, decreed, in order to connect all the matters together, and so that the abundance will flow and rains will come down from the heavens.

1:10:43 And the Holy One, blessed be He, brings it about that this abundance comes down, that water comes down; it is so that the whole Jewish people will have abundance. And at this time, when rains fall, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives abundance, and rain comes down from the heavens. But the reason that the rains are not received and do not come down in measure is because the mitzvah is not done with joy - the vessel, the abundance.

1:11:10 We see that, as is known, in Tractate Shabbos, page 127, side b, that hospitality is greater than receiving the face of the Shechinah, that Hashem, blessed be He, prefers to bring souls - this was once a novel insight - that Hashem, blessed be He, prefers to bring souls into this world more than receiving the face of the Shechinah, than building His Temple.

1:11:34 For receiving the face of the Shechinah was in the Beis HaMikdash. But right now, this world is hospitality: He brings in guests, so that more souls and more souls and more souls will come, that, on the contrary, it be big enough for everyone, that there be room. 'Hospitality is great' - bringing in guests - 'more than receiving the face of the Shechinah'. He prefers that more and more come (into the world) than building His Temple and His glory. This is more... His wisdom, blessed be He, decreed that He prefers that 'hospitality is greater than receiving the face of the Shechinah'.

1:12:02 Now, how is it understood, if hospitality is greater? What is receiving the face of the Shechinah? We have several mitzvos that are a receiving of the face of the Shechinah, and receiving the face of the Shechinah in the time of the rains is only going to say the blessing of the moon. I now want to receive 'the face of the Shechinah'. A person who says the blessing of the moon - on that day he should say 'Tikkun Leah', he should not say 'Tikkun Rachel'; it is a festive day, it is joy, at the time that we received, that he received (the face of the Shechinah) that he received through the blessing of the moon.

1:12:35 There is, after all, a very great secret in this. Our master the Arizal - it is written in the Pri Etz Chaim, in the Gate of Rosh Chodesh, in chapter 3, in the Etz Chaim of our master the Arizal, that the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed on Motzaei Shabbos, so the Shechinah went into exile. Therefore there is a great merit in saying the blessing on Motzaei Shabbos. The blessing of the moon is done on Motzaei Shabbos. There are all sorts of merits in this. But in general, the matter of the moon is a very great secret.

1:13:02 The Tzava'as Rabbi Eliezer HaGadol writes, in section 25, he says: 'Do not sleep in the light of the moon' - so he writes - 'by day because of Ketev Meriri, and at night in the light of the moon, for there is great danger in it.' There is a source for this in general from the Zohar, for what it says in the Tzava'as Rabbi Eliezer, that there is great harm in it. From the moon there can be...

1:13:26 the Samech-Mem receives his power from the moon, and he can harm the small children or babies. Even fish can grow, for they have dominion in the water. In the Zohar Bereishis, page 34, side a, it is Rabbi Shimon who says there that they have power from the moon; at the time of the moon they can grow, and there is in this a secret of the moon, that the waters rise, and all that, at this time of the moon...

1:13:54 Now he explains that.. This makes it possible to understand what he says, that it is a danger, because in the Zohar Pinchas, page 248, side b, Rabbi Shimon says that the moon, when it is diminished - then the power of the Samech-Mem and his band can rise; he has more power. Now he - He says there - the Chinuch writes in mitzvah 403, which is the Mussaf offering - the Chinuch writes: it is already known to us, everyone knows it, young and old, that one does not cut down trees in the light of the moon, and one does not set sail in a ship, for it is harmful, and it is known that it is a dangerous time to go out in the light of the moon; they should not do this.

1:14:49 Everyone knows that it is dangerous; no one should sit in the light of the moon. Now, at this time, when there is moonlight, it is written in the Tzava'as Rabbi Eliezer, section 25, he says that one should not sleep in the light of the moon. What does it mean? That if there is moonlight and a person sleeps in a courtyard, and there is a shadow from the moon in that courtyard - there is moonlight and there is shadow - he should not sit in this shadow, or sleep in it. But if a person is inside his house, or in another place, then it is already another domain, where the harmful spirits will not harm.

1:15:17 But it can be that if he sits at the sides of the roads, then there can be a harmful angel or a demon, who can be there at this time, in that place of the moon, and they can harm him. So therefore he says not to sit in this place, a place where there is moon, between its shadow and its light, so that there will be no harm. And truly one could (be) of the view.. After all, when the Holy One, blessed be He, said - it is written in Tractate Chullin, page 60, side b, in Shevuos, page 9, side a, and in Beitzah, page 23, side b - 'Bring an atonement for Me, for I diminished the moon.'

1:15:51 So the Rif writes - the Rif, and also Tosafos - that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not bring this atonement - 'for Me' - it is not for Himself; it is for.. The Rosh says - the Rosh says: from here a master should learn that if he has a servant who offended, it is an obligation on him to appease him. That is why he says it; that is the reason. Now, you saw the moon; the Holy One, blessed be He, said: let the moon see - for this, learn from the moon: 'Behold, I pained her now; I said of her that she did not behave properly, now I diminished her, and now I appease her.'

1:16:23 In order to appease the moon - so from the Master we learn this. This is the view of the Rosh and the view of the Rif and Tosafos; so they say. But there is a Zohar of Rabbi Shimon that brings something completely different. It is written in the Zohar Acharei Mos, page 79, side b, Rabbi Shimon says: 'Bring an atonement for Me' - for Me, literally. So says Rabbi Shimon. What is 'for Me, literally'? Now, we learned that it is not..

1:16:47 So this cannot be - what is meant, that it is 'for Me, literally'? That the Holy One, blessed be He, says 'for Me, literally' - but we know that it is not for Him; it is for the Jewish people. The Maharsha, in the Chiddushei Aggados of the Maharsha, on Chullin, page 60, side b, the Maharsha also brings that it is so that a person should make himself small in this world, and not raise himself up. That is the meaning of this, that 'he should make himself small'.

1:17:12 So why - what is the meaning of 'for Me, literally'? So perhaps one can explain this: that the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, and we know that this light was hidden; this light went and shone in the whole world. But the measure of the moon is small, and negligible compared to the measure of the sun. The sun has fifteen million six hundred degrees inside the sun.

1:17:36 Its diameter - its radius - is six hundred and ninety-six thousand. That is the radius, only its radius. And to go around it - it is impossible at all to grasp the size. It is one million three hundred thousand times the Earth in size. One could take the whole size of the Earth, one million three hundred thousand times, and put it inside the point of the sun, of the size of the sun.

1:18:01 Whereas the moon is of a much smaller size, a quarter of that of the Earth; it would not contain the size at all. It would not have the same size and amount at all. So when He told her to diminish, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to diminish the light and to diminish the size. He did not only say to diminish the light; He said to diminish the light and to diminish the size. And when Hashem, blessed be He, said 'atonement', when He said 'for Me', it is not that Hashem, blessed be He, (said) 'for Me' in order to atone, rather 'for Me' means for My light.

1:18:28 For it did not sit right with me: how can one say - what, Hashem, blessed be He?... That is what Tosafos says, and they explained the most correct explanation, that the atonement came up from the Jewish people. Whereas Rabbi Shimon says 'for Me, literally'. So perhaps one can explain that this way it sits better: for he would not say 'for Me' literally, but rather - what Rabbi Shimon tells us is that it refers to My light, to the hidden light: that you, through your atonement, will attain the hidden light again.

1:18:57 For only when you do teshuvah and prepare the vessels will the hidden light return. So the meaning of 'an atonement for Me' is so that you will attain the hidden light again. When one does not do teshuvah, the hidden light goes and departs, but through teshuvah the hidden light returns. Now, in the Zohar Pinchas, page 248, side b, so it says - what is the moon? What does Rabbi Shimon say? 'Levanah' (the moon) - 'libuna dehilchesa' (the clarifying of the law); this is a novel insight of Rabbi Shimon.

1:19:23 How does this connect? For the moon is 'libuna dehilchesa' - Rabbi Shimon says this. By the way, what is the connection between the moon and the clarifying of the law? How is the moon connected to the clarifying of the law? It does not sit right. The moon to the clarifying of the law? The meaning of the moon: this will be the meaning - that through this moon there will be the clarifying of the law, that through the moon one attains the vessels for the light, in order to attain the root and the inner depth of the learning, of the halachah, of cleaving to Hashem, blessed be He.

1:19:52 That way it sits better. But it is written in Tractate Sukkah, page 29, side a, that the Jewish people count by the moon - we count by the moon - and when, Heaven forbid, the moon is eclipsed, it is a bad sign for the enemies of the Jewish people, that the moon is eclipsed. It is written in the Zohar Shoftim, page 281, side b, something different from the Bavli.

1:20:21 Rabbi Shimon says - in the Zohar he says - these are all sorts of different distinctions there are between the Zohar and the Bavli and the Yerushalmi, all sorts of... as we explained - that this is one thing and that is another thing. Rabbi Shimon says that if the moon is eclipsed partly - if it is eclipsed entirely, it is not a good sign; everyone will understand... [unclear] everyone will understand if it is eclipsed fully; but if it is eclipsed partly, lacking, then it is a bad sign for the Ishmaelites.

1:20:49 But the Bavli says that if it is eclipsed, if there is an eclipse of the moon, then it is already not a good sign. So there is no need at all to explain whether this says so and that says so, for it is not a good sign. But according to Rabbi Shimon, who says that if it is eclipsed it is a bad sign, then it is a bad sign if it is eclipsed partly. But if it is eclipsed entirely, the whole moon eclipsed, then that is what he means... not partly.

1:21:20 Now, perhaps this way one can now say something new about this, as a side note: that perhaps everyone says there should be no toothaches at this time of the blessing of the moon - so do they know what the source is? Rabbi Leib Sarah's - the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov say it, but it does not appear much, there is no...

1:21:45 After all, the whole blessing of the moon appears in the Jerusalem Talmud, chapter nine, halachah 2; this is known in Berachos. And it appears in the Jerusalem Talmud, chapter nine, halachah 2, and so it appears in Tractate Soferim, chapter 20, halachah 1, that the matter of the blessing of the moon appears.

1:22:26 Everyone knows the wording of the blessing, that everyone says this wording of the blessing at this time, that they say the blessing of the moon. So if one says the blessing at this time of the blessing of the moon, this time when they bless is not understood at all, for at this time when one says the blessing of the moon they would need to go out perfumed, as Tractate Soferim says, chapter 20, halachah 1, that he goes out, and his clothes fine, and goes out perfumed, and it is not understood at all, if there is, Heaven forbid, a sign when the moon is eclipsed, and if everyone must be careful with the moon that is eclipsed, then surely everyone will be careful about this, and will not, Heaven forbid, do any harm, for they will bless with awe, with fear and with love.

1:23:11 So this is what he told - this is all that the Radbaz writes. The Radbaz, in part 4, siman 133 - the Radbaz writes the reason not to bless, and so also in the responsa of the Rama MiPano, in siman 78, he writes - well, this is one thing and that is another thing, he writes. The Rama MiPano explains why not to say the blessing of the moon on Friday night: for then one is perfumed and fine, and all of him...

1:23:36 Why should one not say the blessing of the moon on Friday night, when he is all perfumed and fine? So he says, that there should not be techumin (Shabbos boundaries) above ten, in Tractate Eruvin, page 43, side b... and also, one does not mix one joy with another joy. But in the Radbaz, in part 4, siman 133, the Radbaz brings a different reasoning altogether. The reasoning of what he says is not understood at all.

1:24:02 He says that because on the eve of holy Shabbos a union is made with the Holy King on Shabbos night, at the meal, this intention, which they make on Motzaei Shabbos, will not help, for after all this is the Shechinah, and in level, that is the King; so the Kiddush and the Shabbos are, after all... of the King, so they should not mix joy with joy, for this is a greater level. So for this, the blessing of the moon is not done on Friday night.

1:24:27 So he also settled it, explaining it even more, and what the Radbaz explains in part 1, siman 341, about being able to tell, by the light of the moon, between a sela and a pundyon: that one must be able to discern by the light of the moon, by its light. That if there is something thin and faint, then the Chida says in Moreh BeEtzba, in siman 184, he says that one cannot bless facing it, for it is faint; for the Kabbalists do not bless if there is something that separates from the moon; even something thin and faint - they cannot bless.

1:24:53 The Magen Avraham, in siman 426, brings that if it is really faint and not seen, and it can shine through, one may bless; in a pressing situation it is always better to bless, as the Rambam and the Meiri and the Smag said, that if the time of the moon and its renewal has arrived, it is a great merit above everything, everything. So they should say the blessing of the moon; this is its time to say the blessing of the moon. And one must bless specifically after seven full days have passed.

1:25:17 This is a level according to the highest secret there is. So it explains in the Terumas HaDeshen, in siman 35, that one should come to Shabbos with ten days, for Motzaei Shabbos; then he will do the blessing of the moon when his clothes are fine, and then he will do it once Shabbos has passed, on Motzaei Shabbos, and then he will be able to say the blessing of the moon, for then its level is greater. The... says that one also must.. there he also writes that if it is on a weekday, then he should bless also in fine clothes.

1:25:42 The Terumas HaDeshen - that the Men of the Great Assembly rejected him; he said that one need not bless also in the middle of the week with perfumed clothes, and go out. What - in Soferim it is written, 'he goes out perfumed to the market', he goes out perfumed to receive the blessing of the moon. So it cannot be reconciled at all with the two things. But what I explained about.. this way it will fit better: if he says the blessing of the moon, then his clothes should be fine, everything...

1:26:09 for it will be in honor of Hashem, blessed be He, in honor of the Shechinah. For the whole meaning of the blessing of the moon, in Sanhedrin, page 42, on page 42, side a - there is the wording, also a blessing, also as in the Yerushalmi, chapter nine, halachah - and also in the Rambam, in chapter ten, halachah 16, as the Rambam brought for the blessing of the moon. There is also a dispute in siman 106, se'if 4, in the Mishnah Berurah, that women do not say the blessing, for there is the view of the Magen Avraham, who brings the Shelah, who said that they diminished the moon.

1:26:42 So the Chochmas Shlomo, Rabbi Shlomo Kluger, disagrees... So the Gaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein answered, in Choshen Mishpat, part 2, siman 47, that this matter can also be like the Shehecheyanu blessing, for the Chochmas Shlomo brings that it is like the Shehecheyanu blessing on a fruit, that the fruit has now reached its renewal; like the moon, which brings about wonder at the Creator, blessed be He. So on the wonder at the Creator - on that one blesses; one does not make a blessing on something else. So for this, a person who is blind - there is a dispute about this, whether he should bless or not bless, a dispute between the..

1:27:13 There is Rabbi Yaakov Kaftor, who also ruled that he should not bless, and so the Yaavetz brought, that he should not bless, because of 'a doubt in blessings', and so our master the Radbaz also brought, in the responsa of the Radbaz, which he wrote in part 4, siman 341, that he should not bless: a person who is blind should not bless. Against this, the Maharshal, as the Magen Avraham brought him in siman 426 - the Maharshal, in the responsa of the Maharshal, siman 77, brings that one must indeed make the blessing, and also a person who is blind must bless.

1:27:46 And so the Mishnah Berurah also ruled, that one must bless. If they can bless - a person who is blind can bless, because the matter of the renewal of the moon is the wonder at it, that all creatures understand that the moon is 'And nations shall walk by your light'. The prophet Yeshayahu - the prophet Yeshayahu tells us, in chapter 60, verse 3: 'And nations shall walk by your light, and kings by the brightness of your shining.'

1:28:12 For the moon is 'the glory of Israel'; it is the Jewish people. The meaning of the moon is 'to crown the Holy One, blessed be He, as King', that everyone sees her smallness and everyone sees her lowliness, that she sits in modesty and lowliness, and everyone blesses her and makes the blessing. This is what Rav Saadia Gaon and the Rambam - who left this out: 'facing you... touching you'; what we say, 'a good sign', when we say 'a good sign' - this is what Rabbeinu Yerucham writes in 'Sefer Adam VeChavah', in nesiv 11; he writes it in part 1, page 64, column 4, and on page 63; he discusses it in the column, in the fourth column.

1:28:55 He explains that one says, 'A good sign, a good sign may it be for us and for all Israel', for the blessing of the moon is connected with the whole Jewish people, all the vessels of the Jewish people; all the abundance of the Jewish people depends on the blessing of the moon. Therefore in this time of the rains, when 'clouds cover the eyes', and one cannot see the moon, then, when one cannot see the moon, it is impossible to bless.

1:29:19 Therefore the light of the moon must be shining, and there must be nothing that separates in front of the moon. And on this our master the Arizal and the Kabbalists were stringent, as we explained, in the Pri Etz Chaim, in the Gate of Rosh Chodesh, chapter 3: it is specifically on Motzaei Shabbos, after Shabbos, specifically after, when there was a revelation of the hidden light, and now the hidden light becomes absent, and no one knows now where the hidden light is, for there was a departure because of holy Shabbos, when the hidden light was there on Shabbos.

1:29:47 So, because the hidden light was there on Shabbos, He says the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed on Motzaei Shabbos, and the Shechinah went into exile so this is the time to say the blessing of the moon and then, when the blessing of the moon is said, everyone goes out everyone goes out, rejoicing before Hashem, blessed be He, saying - 'toward you'... So I had a new insight: why must one say the 'may we have no toothaches'?

1:30:14 What is the reason? What is the connection to toothaches? So now one can say - it is written in Tractate Shabbos, page 152b that the Gemara says, 'Look to the teeth and you will find it in the feet' if a person eats food with his teeth, eats well, he will have strength to walk on his feet 'Look to the teeth and you will find it in the feet' So we explained that the Jewish people - in Tractate Sukkah, page 29a - that the Jewish people count by the course, by what is done with the moon so the whole difference between the nations of the world and the Jewish people - we correspond to the moon, we go with the steps we go out to sanctify it the way one goes out before the king it is not blessed in a closed place - like a person who goes to greet his teacher

1:31:00 because a person who goes out before the king has to go outside it is blessed when one can benefit from its light, can tell a sela coin from a pundyon so we go out on our feet, outdoors so one could say, as a play on words: 'Look to the teeth and you will find it in the feet' - so look to the feet and you will find it in the teeth so maybe that is the reason one must say 'may we have no toothaches' maybe in this way, maybe it is like this, because nothing else would settle it What is the connection to teeth? Rather: 'Look to the teeth and you will find it in the feet' so that you should go out, outdoors, and say the blessing of the moon and remember the time of the blessing of the moon, which corresponds to the Jewish people

1:31:38 that we must be a light for the whole world, the light of the souls of Israel of every Jew - there is no describing a Jew, no describing the level of each one the level of each one is beyond measure and when one knows that the level of each one is beyond measure then one receives the hidden light within all the measures, which is the light and that is why the moon - its time when it begins to renew itself when one must pass... at this time when the rains fall, and they do not fall and the abundance goes.. and no rain falls as we explained, that 'the land will not give its produce' so at this time we take the rains we take and ask Hashem to bring down abundance so that the light can pass into the measure

1:32:19 and that is why we bless then - when we make the blessing of the moon, we do everything so that the abundance does not go, Heaven forbid, to the outside forces therefore one must be very, very careful with it as the Magen Avraham writes in siman 426 that it is a segulah for success in that month, that there will be success and it is certain that surely everyone who is careful to say the blessing of the moon will have success and will not be ashamed, and everything...

1:32:43 Now, corresponding to the moon, we explained that the vessel.. the great light was at the creation of the world and after that the Holy One, blessed be He, hid it away and brought the hidden light and the hidden light passed along through Noach's ark through the Urshina, the phoenix, which had to go and fly and it is alive and well to this day, etc. - the phoenix so this light keeps flowing and passes from place to place until it was hidden, and hidden, and hidden, through keeping the mitzvos in measure and amount so that within the measure and the amounts there will be the hidden light within the measure and the amount that they bless - then there is the measure and the amount within the measure and the amount the hidden light is hidden, within the measure and the amount

1:33:26 Now, I explained that Yaakov Avinu as is known, Rabbeinu Yaakov, who brought it in the 'Me'am Lo'ez' and many more who explained about the.. in all the Midrashim we have this great hint about Yaakov 'Your Former', 'your Maker', 'your Owner', 'your Creator' - that is Yaakov corresponding to what is done, corresponding to Yaakov, who corresponds to the moon corresponding to 'the beauty of Adam Kadmon', Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 55 the connection between Adam, the first man, and Yosef HaTzaddik, the whole connection between them the whole chain between Yosef and Yaakov, that they are one and the repair of the sin of Adam, the first man, and everything..

1:34:02 Now, the meaning of saying the blessing of the moon is as we explained that Rabbi Shimon said in Zohar Pinchas, page 248b this is 'libuna d'hilchesa', the clarifying of the halachah 'the clarifying of the halachah' is received by grasping the root of the halachah and when one grasps the root of the halachah, there, in practice, the hidden light flows so when the Jewish people go out to ask for the rains, the hidden light flows when one learns the halachah, the hidden light flows and when one says the blessing of the moon, the hidden light flows through the moon, through the rains, and through the halachah in which the hidden light is stored, as we explained the light without a vessel - that is through the Talmud and when the halachah was ruled, they acted 'as the teaching according to the halachah'

1:34:53 and a drawing-down of the revealing of the light took place and when we make the blessing of the moon, and everyone goes out and blesses, with joy and with life and all of Israel unite and become one, and bless Hashem, blessed be He then an influence flows down, and all the abundance, etc. And then at this time, when the Jewish people are careful to guard their mouth not to speak, Heaven forbid, lashon hara, and not to speak forbidden words and one must honor every Jew Our teacher the Chafetz Chaim writes in the Laws of Lashon Hara, principle 8, law 4 he writes that it is a big mistake in our days to think that a Torah scholar is only a great one who lived once because a Torah scholar is according to the generation - a Torah scholar is judged by the generation

1:35:42 if a person only read and learned halachos.. as the Yerushalmi says in the name of Rabbi Chizkiyah and Rabbi Yossi HaGelili in Tractate Moed Katan, chapter 3, halachah 7 says the Jerusalem Talmud this is only what is explained in the 'Pnei Moshe' and the 'Korban HaEdah' that one who only learned halachos is a Torah scholar - enough he does not need to know more Torah. Chizkiyah says: if a person learned more Torah no - Rabbi Yossi says only halachos, not more Torah, enough to be careful to guard the mouth, Heaven forbid because the mouth is the hidden light that flows corresponding to all the influences that is the way to receive...

1:36:18 and that is why the sin of Adam, the first man, was only in eating the whole matter of the sin of Adam, the first man, is the matter of eating where there is a dispute whether it was a fig or grapes.. it is only the matter of eating - that is the mouth that one receives life, and the departure of the soul, which happens through the nose this corresponds to practicing slowness to anger - 'length of the nose' for now it is Ze'ir Anpin; in the future to come it will be Arich Anpin and Kingship rises to the Crown of Ze'ir Anpin and there will be redemption and unity among all the Jewish people - that will be in the future to come, when the Holy One, blessed be He, will reveal Arich Anpin it is the attribute of slowness to anger, which will be revealed in the future to come

1:36:54 it will be revealed in the future, that 'and it will be... like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold' that the light of the moon will be doubled and redoubled, corresponding to the Jewish people loving one another because all that we see the moon like this is because they disgraced Yosef, Yosef HaTzaddik because Yaakov Avinu corresponds to the moon and the terrible fear the brothers had - look, this secret is awesome It is written in parashas Vayigash, in Bereishis - it is written in chapter 37, verse 9 It is written Vayigash Yosef HaTzaddik said 'And behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me' So said Yosef - and it is a great madness, how could Yosef HaTzaddik say such a thing and we know there could not be, Heaven forbid, such arrogance

1:37:50 with the holy forefathers and the tribes there were no such expressions (One must) understand what Yosef is saying and even if it was by way of a dream, and even if it was an actual matter how did he use a language of grandeur - and especially since it is not honoring father and mother and we know that he uses the sun and moon for his father and mother and Yosef HaTzaddik says 'the sun and the moon and eleven stars are bowing down to me' The meaning is that what is seen as corresponding to the hidden light is the sun and the moon as we explained, that the moon corresponds to 'the clarifying of the halachah' as Rabbi Shimon says, and halachah corresponds to the hidden light and to the rains that flow down Yosef said: the hidden light is with me - that is what he told them

1:38:34 he said, behold, 'the sun and the moon and eleven stars are bowing down to me' So the brothers say: are you talking madness? How can you say you want the sun and the moon to receive from you because their light is nothing next to your light? That your light? How can you say such a thing? It is unthinkable - how can you say this? And so it is written afterwards in parashas Vayigash, in chapter 45, verse 3 and in verse 4 - in verses 3 and 4 - where it is written that he told them 'I am Yosef your brother - is my father still alive?' Yosef says to them how - what would this matter of Yaakov Avinu be that he would say he is alive?

1:39:18 Rather, Yosef hinted to them; he told them: you were wrong about me that you thought I do not have the vessels for the light you thought that I - I do not have the vessels for the light so that is why the brothers disputed him, that is why they threw him into the pit they threw him into a pit that has no vessels in it because, after all, in Bava Kamma, page 30a it is written: one who pours out a pit in the public domain 'one who pours out a pit in the public domain in the summer and caused damage with them - he is liable and caused damage with them in the rainy season - the rainy season..

1:39:47 And why do I need both? The Gemara says: why do I need both? Why would it be - why do I need both? Rather, if he caused damage in the summer he is exempt and if he caused damage in the rainy season he is liable No, it is also the reverse, so that does not fit if he caused damage in the summer he is liable if he caused damage in the rainy season, he is also liable Why do I need both?

1:40:11 Rather, it is permitted to pour water into the public domain at this time of the rains that fall - when the rains fall The new point is that in the summer one cannot put water out into the public domain in the summer it is forbidden, and if it caused damage he is liable in the rainy season, if he put out water - he is permitted to put out water that is the new point of the Gemara that it is permitted to put water out into the public domain in the rainy season - permitted but the new point is that with them, if it caused damage, he is also liable, like in the summer that is the new point of the Gemara - lest you come and say you would be permitted to cause damage if you put the light out beyond the vessel, which is in the rainy season when abundance comes down

1:40:52 and caused damage with them - liable that is to say, the abundance came down and damage was done through the outside forces - he becomes liable so the Gemara says that if he caused damage with them, he is liable which is not so in the summer, which is not the time of rain - but he is also liable and in the rainy season, if you would hold that maybe he is exempt because you are permitted to put out water - the new point is that this too is forbidden because in the rainy season it is forbidden to do this - that is the new point So now, at this time when abundance comes down if, Heaven forbid, the brothers thought about Yosef that he throws water into the public domain in the summer because there is no rain, there is a drought, no abundance comes down, there is no abundance

1:41:35 they do not go down to buy food, there is sorrow - the summer days How do you say that you have water in you? How do you say that? That is why they said, 'and the pit was empty, there was no water in it' - what is the secret of the water? Because these waters were waters that flow from the Supernal Wisdom through Kingship, through all the holy sefiros, all... the highest level - that is the Torah of Yosef that is his guarding of the covenant and his holiness So they told him, 'how can you even hold that you are on such a level that you throw water in the summer and you say you are exempt? That is forbidden One who throws water into the public domain in the summer is liable both in the summer and in the rainy season

1:42:13 So what is your new point, Yosef? So he says to them: the sun and the moon and eleven.. all of you must.. This would not be understood, but now the thing will be understood that Yosef HaTzaddik told them: it was not my light he said, it was your light That is why, when Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, he told them 'I am Yosef your brother' he told them, 'I am Yosef your brother - is my father still alive?'

1:42:39 and after that he said 'I am Yosef' in verse 3 after that, in verse 4, he said 'I am Yosef your brother, whom you sold into Egypt' And why did he stress to them the sale into Egypt and why did he stress to them his father, Yaakov? Because he tells them: all that you sold me and all that you thought of me, that I am different from you that was the sin of the sale of Yosef that was the sin of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash that the Ten Martyrs had to be reincarnated and go down in strange deaths in order to be damaged in the bodies - damage to the bodies is in order to explain that the body is one, the flesh is one, and everyone is one because when one thinks it is not one, then damage is done, quarrel is made

1:43:21 when one thinks it is not one - that is the difference between Yosef (and the brothers) That is why Yehoshua - Yehoshua came from Efraim, Efraim son of Yosef Yehoshua - it is written in Bava Basra, page 75a 'The face of Moshe was like the face of the sun, the face of Yehoshua like the face of the moon' And why? How did it come out that Yosef - 'the face of Yehoshua like the face of the sun' (that Yehoshua came from Yosef) because there was no rivalry between them - the elders said, there is no rivalry between them because the rivalry at the very beginning that there was was between the moon and the sun, when it said, 'Go and diminish yourself' for the whole world is in rivalry - this one wants to be more than that one, and that one wants more...

1:43:57 but they do not know that there is one light - there is nothing to compete over because this light shines; everyone is within the hidden light, all the Jewish people And one must honor the Sages and the great ones of the generation and the Torah scholars Forgive me that I speak before you, before.. all of you holy and pure awesome of awesome; your servant, your servant - only because I was told to It is not fitting to speak at all - I am not worthy to speak I only do it - to do your will I desired that I may merit - if only, if only - to be a faithful servant to you maybe to be an attendant, maybe something - nothing, nothing at all with all this, I only try to learn, to see in the Torah its wonders

1:44:41 That is what Yosef was, what he told the brothers So that is why Yehoshua is from Yosef, Yehoshua is from Yosef and Moshe Rabbeinu corresponds to the sun and because Moshe Rabbeinu is the sun and Yehoshua the moon Moshe took the Jewish people out of Egypt, Yehoshua brought them into the Land of Israel that is to say, because there was no rivalry between them they could bring the deed to completion in practice after all, there is a difference between a deed in speech and a deed in thought after all, thought - it is written in the Zohar Chadash, in Zohar Ki Sisa, page 55a that in thought there is the whole impression that takes shape in Zohar Chadash Shir HaShirim, page 88a Rabbi Shimon says that it takes shape in a person's face his thought can be seen through the..

1:45:33 there is a revealing in the face of a person's thought through thought a revealing is made in the face - his thought is revealed Now, thought corresponds to what comes out in speech and speech rolls on into action; there is a difference between speech and action We will mention speech and action again in just a moment Now, this is very important Yosef rose to greatness through prophecy, through a dream as it is written in Bamidbar, chapter 12, verse 6: 'in a dream I speak to him' that is to say, the dream corresponds to speech, because the dream is speech and it is written in Berachos, page 57b that a dream is one sixtieth of prophecy that is to say, Yosef HaTzaddik rose to greatness through a dream and the dream corresponds to prophecy, and prophecy corresponds to speech

1:46:36 and speech is a vessel that is to say, Yosef HaTzaddik rose to greatness by attaining prophecy through a dream, and the dream raised him to greatness because by interpreting the dream of the chief butler and the chief baker Pharaoh was stirred, and he took him and he became ruler the dream brought Yosef to greatness, the dream brought Yosef to greatness but the dream brought Yosef to the pit because since he told them 'behold, the sun and the moon' they threw him into the pit but also, against that, the dream brought him out to greatness So when Yosef explained to them and told them, you held that my dream is my thoughts, it is the light that was with me that it is why I am not connected to you, that it is what cast me down

1:47:25 but you did not think rightly, because he told them 'is my father still alive?' because the father - 'bera kar'a d'avuha' = the son is the leg of his father because I came from the mind of Yaakov so he told them, 'is my father still alive?' - meaning, is there life in my mind? Does my father have life? Is my father alive? Is there a rising for the mind? What is the meaning, if...? Why did he ask them whether my father is alive? because if my father is alive, he will come to bow down to me and then my dream will indeed come true - and that is the first thing that concerned him Right?

1:47:56 Why did Yosef say to them 'is my father still alive'? What, that is what concerns you? After you say 'I am Yosef your brother'? Tell them something... Why does he say 'is my father still alive'? Because what was in his thought is how the dream would come true which is 'in a dream I speak to him' that if there would be a rolling-on - that through thought there would be speech and through speech there would be action because there are three levels: thought corresponds to the Name Ehyeh the voice is Havayah, and Adnus is speech and the three holy Names unite that is Yichud, Berachah, Kedushah (unification, blessing, holiness) - that is Ma'avar Yabbok that is the unification of all three holy Names Now, after all, it is known to us that there is a dispute between speech and action

1:48:37 that if a person speaks.. It is written in Gittin, page 66 according to what the Shulchan Aruch ruled in Even HaEzer, siman 120, se'if 4 that the Shulchan Aruch ruled, for a man who sent a bill of divorce if he sent by action, to bring a bill of divorce, then it is valid because in actual deed, that is sending a bill of divorce if he sent a bill of divorce by action, then the actual sending of the bill of divorce will be valid because it is an agency for action but if he was made an agent for speech, then he has no..

1:49:16 an agent is not made for speech, because an agent cannot be in speech a person cannot tell an agent to go and sign before two witnesses he can tell him to be an agent for action, to bring a bill of divorce but not an agent to sign before the witnesses - an agent is not made.. So the Shulchan Aruch ruled firmly, in Even HaEzer, siman 120, se'if 4 and it is written in Gittin, page 66 this will connect to that, because speech does not take effect on it as it would by action because action has permanence; speech is less than it and less than it, thought Now, with Yosef there was thought - there was thought alone so he did not speak at all, and when the brothers came there was speech so he told them 'is my father still alive?'

1:49:57 and after the speech there was action - in practice there was a union between Yaakov and Yosef so there was thought, speech and action Ehyeh - the Name Ehyeh, Havayah and Adnus and then the three holy Names united and there was - unification, blessing, holiness and an influence was made in which all the Jewish people.. And that is why it says, 'And Yisrael their father said to them if so, then, do this: take of the choicest of the land in your vessels and bring down a gift to the man' he told them, take this light in your vessels so that you bring it down to the man and bring it to him because he thought that he is below - he said, maybe the light of Yosef maybe - who knows if there is light

1:50:32 but he said, and he prophesied, and he explained about Yosef that he needs.. 'bring down a gift to the man, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds' he said, 'and bring down in your vessels', because the light must come down in a vessel because when the light is not in a vessel then it cannot enter into that place So for this, the brothers, who spread slander about Yosef and they spread slander about him, and Yosef was in pain, and they spoke evil talk about him and which blemished, through speech, the hidden light of Yosef that was in this speech so in practice, through this, a split and separation was made between the light and the brothers and exile was made and ruin was made, and that was the opposite of this

1:51:16 So this is what he says - Rabbi Yochanan writes in parashas Ki Seitzei in Devarim Rabbah, parashah 6, it says: 'You sit and speak against your brother you slander your own mother's son' - this is written in Tehillim, chapter 50, verse 20 So he says, what is 'you sit and speak against your brother you slander your mother's son'? What does it mean?

1:51:40 So he says, if you got used to speaking against your brother's son, who is not your mother's son then surely also against your mother's son... if 'you speak against your brother, you slander your mother's son' - in the end you will speak against your mother's son From here they learned not to speak lashon hara about a non-Jew not to speak lashon hara even about a non-Jew if he keeps the seven mitzvos of the children of Noach In the She'iltos of Rav Hai Gaon - there is the Netziv of Volozhin in She'ilta 28, the Netziv of Volozhin brought - in She'ilta 28 he brought Bava Kamma, page 113b Bava Metzia, page 59b he brings it on the matter of the prohibition to speak After all, in Vayikra, chapter 16, verse 17, it is written 'Do not go as a talebearer among your people'

1:52:17 and 'your people' is one who is of your people; he is not of 'your people', he is a non-Jew - what is there about him? Rabbeinu Chaim Vital writes, in Shaarei Kedushah, part 1, gate 5 he writes that there is a virtue even in loving non-Jews, in loving non-Jews and they do not love their own brother? Your brother and your flesh - you will not love him? and you will throw him into a pit and cause pain? It is not understandable And this is what it says, to love - even that he should love..

1:52:50 What does it mean to love a non-Jew? Not that he should love a non-Jew but that he should love the creation, that he should love with his heart that he should love with his heart the creation that Hashem, blessed be He, created How much cruelty there is in baseless hatred, how much cruelty how much cruelty there is All the troubles and problems - that they do not feel 'one' that is the root of the whole exile - that they do not love one another for so it began, from the first rivalry that there was between the sun and the moon and the ones who repaired it were Moshe and Yehoshua and that is why only Moshe and Yehoshua did speech, and action, and thought in practice for Moshe took the Jewish people out, Yehoshua brought them into the Land of Israel

1:53:30 Moshe took them out of the land of Egypt, Yehoshua brings them into the Land of Israel and the Holy One, blessed be He, was corresponding to thought that is why Hashem was revealed to Moshe in the bush He told him 'Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh' - this corresponds to thought He told him 'Ehyeh' - I am the thought Moshe - Aharon, 'he will be a mouth for you, and you will be to him in place of G-d' 'he will be a mouth for you' - this corresponds to speech because speech corresponded to Aharon, 'he will be a mouth for you' that is why He told him about Aharon, 'he will be a mouth for you' 'and you will be to him in place of G-d' meaning, you will bring it to actual deed and then there was thought, speech and action - that they left Egypt

1:54:07 Now, once they left Egypt, there needs to be action and who, in action, will bring them into the Land of Israel? Yehoshua brought them in - he is the action the speech of bringing them into the Land of Israel was Moshe Rabbeinu and the thought that they must receive the Land of Israel was the Holy One, blessed be He that He would bring them into the Land of Israel Now, the difference between the Land of Israel and Egypt is that in Egypt one cannot pray, since everything is full of idol worship So what is the flaw in idol worship?

1:54:40 that in the land of Egypt the mercy of Hashem, blessed be He, is not revealed the mercy of Hashem, blessed be He, is not revealed, is not revealed it does not come down all the way below and in the Land of Israel the mercy of Hashem reaches all the way below which is the secret of the rain of the Land of Israel as we explained, that the Radbaz ruled in part 5, in 2,055 that indeed in all the Land of Israel rains are needed - everyone asks for rains according to the view of the Pri Chadash, everyone asks for rain, why? The mercy comes down from Heaven, from above all the way below, it flows So Rabbi Shimon writes in the Zohar Chadash it is written in the Zohar Chadash, page 94a Rabbi Shimon says

1:55:18 that even upon a gnat the mercy of Hashem, blessed be He, is revealed beyond measure on a gnat. On a gnat there is the mercy of Hashem, blessed be He, beyond measure on a gnat - so that a person should understand in his mind.. so the mercy of Hashem is revealed beyond measure on a gnat So when can one receive the mercy of Hashem? In the Land of Israel, because in the Land of Israel they unite thought, and speech, and action In the land of Egypt there was thought; there was no speech and action because Hashem, blessed be He, was revealed to Moshe and told him: 'Ehyeh' so that is thought: I have a will to redeem them And Aharon came - he was the speech and when Moshe Rabbeinu arrived together with him they made thought, speech and action, and took them out

1:55:58 But the unity - that there was no rivalry between Moshe and Yehoshua that they were.. they repaired the rivalry that there was between the sun and the moon that there were the sun and the moon, with rivalry between them and that there was 'Go and diminish yourself' So this is what they expounded in Bava Basra, page 75a which is 'The face of Moshe was like the face of the sun, the face of Yehoshua like the face of the moon' Now, the flaw that there was with Yosef and the brothers is that there was not the love between them, there was not the love and through this, as the Rambam rules - that one must love everyone in the Laws of De'os, chapter 6, halachah 3 and so the Chinuch brings it in mitzvah 243, he also brings this

1:56:37 that one must love everyone, all of them, for the mitzvah of loving one's fellow Jew for they wrote that it is a great mitzvah to love every Jew to feel each one, to love each one Now, Rabbeinu Yonasan Eybeschutz says the greatest tikkun for a person who spoke lashon hara is that he should go and do kindness with the Jewish people a person who spoke evil speech about the Jewish people should do a lot of kindness with them that is the greatest tikkun for one who speaks lashon hara if he wants to rectify it, he should speak and do many favors in actual deed corresponding to his having spoken about them with bad speech he must quickly go down a level, below, to action, to rectify That is why there is thought, speech and action

1:57:18 you blemished in speech - rectify quickly in thought you blemished in action - rectify in speech you blemished in speech - rectify in action; you blemished in thought - rectify in speech one corresponding to the other, one in the other; this depends on that So, what there was, This is a novel insight of Rabbi Yonasan Eybeschutz It is written in Choshen Mishpat, siman 97 he writes in the introduction to the 'Urim VeTumim': there is a question, after all for it is written: 'If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you' What does 'If you lend money' mean?

1:57:58 for every 'if' - Rashi says every 'if' in the Torah except this 'if', which is an obligation, there is an obligation in it as brought in the Mechilta of Rabbi Yishmael, that it is an obligation to lend So Rabbi Yonasan Eybeschutz asks, he says: if it is an obligation to lend - Choshen Mishpat says so - then one would need to make the blessing 'Who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to lend to the poor' So Rabbi Yonasan Eybeschutz says it is not fitting to make a blessing over something that is a lack, that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not give your fellow do not make a blessing to Hashem - this is a novel insight Rabbi Yonasan Eybeschutz says Good Good.

1:58:38 Our master the 'Ketzos HaChoshen' - the 'Ketzos HaChoshen' brings the Rashba the Responsa of the Rashba, siman 18 that it is not fitting for a person to make a blessing on a mitzvah that depends on the will of his fellow A person cannot make a blessing on a mitzvah that... maybe your fellow will not want to accept? Will he want to accept a loan? Maybe he managed? Will it be a blessing in vain? No, fine. The Chiddushei HaRim says - the Chiddushei HaRim of Gur - perhaps there is deceit in him and he is deceiving you and so, if you make a blessing, then maybe he does not need to take and you are making a blessing... he will take from what you gave him he is not worthy, he is not really in need of it

1:59:13 And here one can explain this Chiddushei HaRim that if a person, Heaven forbid, suspects - after all, to suspect a person is completely forbidden it appears several times in the Talmud - it is written in Tractate Yoma, page 19b and in Tractate Shabbos, page 97a: 'One who suspects the innocent' once in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, once Reish Lakish 'One who suspects the innocent is struck in his body' What is meant by 'one who suspects the innocent'?

1:59:38 So our master the Chasam Sofer explains in his novellae on Shabbos, page 97, so he says so he says, What is this explanation? Why specifically 'struck in his body'? Everywhere in the Torah that a person is struck, he is struck in his money Why here should he not be struck in his money? So he says: here he was not careful to think to judge his fellow favorably, he was not careful to think so from Heaven they will arrange that he is struck straight in the body, not struck in money to be struck in money would be a merit for him - he should be struck in his body So that is why he says - the Chasam Sofer says, our master the...

2:00:13 it is a terrible and dreadful thing to suspect the innocent So how did the brothers suspect Yosef? This is a terrible thing - what would they suspect him of? So they were struck in that poverty came about but they were struck in their bodies, because poverty is hunger so there was harm to the body, and they had suffering from it There is a difference - the Rif says in Yoma, page 6b the Rif says that a person who suspects, a person who suspects a worthy person - you just see a worthy person, you suspect him, you hold back your teshuvah, the teshuvah is not accepted you hold back your teshuvah by suspecting a worthy person The Rosh writes in 'Orchos Chaim', the Rosh explains regarding suspicion so he says that if it is suspicion then he should go to that person and appease him and ask forgiveness

2:00:59 and bless him, because he suspected him - so the Rosh brings Our master the Rambam is stricter than the Rosh and the Rif more than the Rosh and more than the Rif The Rambam says in the Laws of Teshuvah, chapter 4, halachah 4 the Rambam says, chapter 4, halachah 4: 'A person who, Heaven forbid, Heaven forbid, suspects the innocent - this his teshuvah is not accepted, he will not merit to do teshuvah he is not given the means to do teshuvah' That is to say, according to the Rambam a person who suspects the innocent will not merit to do teshuvah According to the Rif it will hold back his teshuvah According to the Rosh he must go and ask pardon and forgiveness, and bless him That is the difference between them regarding teshuvah Now, as for the brothers, they suspected Yosef for nothing

2:01:50 and they had also already spoken about Yosef, and did such a severe thing How can one suspect? Who permitted this? Who permitted people today even to suspect the moment they come (to the synagogue) In the time of our holy master the Rashash our holy master the Rashash, the holy Or HaChaim - you know how the houses of Hashem were built; then, when they made the synagogues they would make the ark, and they would make the seats at a distance and they made them as far as possible (at a distance from one another) the synagogues were small, so that a person would not see his fellow and he would not see him they would darken the synagogue - dark - and light candles 'With lights honor Hashem' and this also on Shabbos and Yom Tov there is no issue in this of a candle lit for nothing in the synagogue

2:02:24 because it is 'With lights honor Hashem' but because of increasing the honor of Heaven, it is... so that no one would see the other There was a custom not to look at whoever enters the synagogue Don't look at anyone - learn, pray You are coming before the Master of heaven and earth - [unclear] a dreadful fear before the Master, before the Master of heaven and earth And how will you talk about this, and talk... how much lashon hara, Hashem...

2:02:52 May the Merciful One save us - where is the love between us, where is the unity between us? There is no need for competition anymore. Moshe and Yehoshua rectified them because between Moshe and Yehoshua there was no competition so Moshe took us out of the land of Egypt and Yehoshua could bring us in but if there had been this competition we could have been in Egypt until today When there is no competition, and everyone learns and is happy The 'Shevet Mussar' writes - the wife of Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen of Izmir - the Shevet Mussar writes in part 1, chapter 1, siman 13 he brings from Avodah Zarah, page 19a he says, what is written in 'Shir HaShirim', chapter 1, verse seven 'Tell me, you whom my soul loves' it says a person learns only what his heart desires

2:03:42 So the 'Shevet Mussar' says - so he says if a person comes and troubles you: 'Don't learn this'... because we said to learn halachah - learn all the subjects we simply explained that the main thing should be that most of the learning is halachah it should always come up, so that one does not forget So he says: do not weaken, if you came to learn so he says if you have a pull to the 'Zohar', to Kabbalah, to mussar, to something because you came to rectify your part He brought what is written - everyone knows Maran the Chida he has the 'Shem HaGedolim'; he composed it when he came back from the library for three hours he composed it on the ship he took a quill and composed the 'Ma'arechet Gedolim' he writes in Ma'arechet Mem, letter 101, about the holy Alshich

2:04:27 that he came before our master the Arizal he wanted to learn Kabbalah, he wanted to learn the 'Zohar', Kabbalah he wanted to understand it, so he said - the Alshich - 'You occupy yourself with your derashos, you do not need to learn this you already learned it in a previous incarnation, you learned everything you do not need all this' - blessed is Hashem - before Hashem so he blessed him: 'What you learn is good what you do is good what you learn, what your heart draws you to - it is good, continue' Only that a person should learn what he loves, what his heart desires it will draw him to Hashem, blessed be He because Hashem, blessed be He, wants people to love Him, to serve Hashem with joy this is what Hashem, blessed be He, wants - that is why there was no competition

2:05:05 and Moshe and Yehoshua rectified the competition and that is why the Holy One, blessed be He, redeemed us from Egypt and delivered us from the house of slavery Good, I don't want to disturb... There is another novel insight, but there won't be time anymore Good Good This novel insight, and Moshe and Yehoshua, and about the moon... good I ask forgiveness from everyone, from each one, that you took the trouble I will just say a siyum - I have a siyum The Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Pe'ah - the Yerushalmi here and also 'Kerisos' - we will also make a siyum; the novel insight here in the Yerushalmi it says at the end of the Yerushalmi, the Talmud says - look in Tractate Pe'ah in the Yerushalmi in Tractate Pe'ah: 'Rabbi Acha said in the name of Rabbi Chanina

2:06:11 anyone who needs to take and does not take - he is a shedder of blood and it is forbidden to have mercy on him; on his own soul' (to have mercy on him) Why not have mercy on his heart? the Talmud says: because on his own soul he has no pity (on himself he has no mercy) on others, all the more so?! Do not have mercy on him If you see a person who needs to take and he does not take, do not pity him he, this person, needs to take money and he does not take it so on his own soul he has no pity - so on others, all the more so?!

2:06:40 on them too he will have no pity, so do not have mercy on him know that he is a wicked man And anyone who does not need to take this person does not need to take, and he takes does not die of old age until he needs other people And anyone who needs to take and does not take does not die of old age until he supports others about this it is said: 'Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, and Hashem is his trust' There is a Yerushalmi in 'Berachos' - here in Berachos, chapter nine, halachah 1 in the middle of the halachah, it is written there in the Yerushalmi that a person - the difference between flesh and blood and the Holy One, blessed be He - is that flesh and blood, the more you trouble him

2:07:17 'I only want to forget this person who bothers me and wants...' but the Holy One, blessed be He - the more you trust in Him, the more He will rejoice in you that is 'Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem' But I have a question here on the Yerushalmi how does the Yerushalmi say earlier that this person who has no pity, who does not take, is a shedder of blood and you call him wicked, that it is forbidden to have mercy on him because on his own soul he has no pity (on himself he has no pity) on others, all the more so (that he has no mercy) And after that he says that today one who needs to take and does not take - he blesses him that he supports others - this is not clear -

2:07:51 on one hand, in the Yerushalmi he says that he is a shedder of blood it is forbidden to have mercy on him and a moment later he praises him and says that there is none like this person, and he will be blessed and most blessed This Yerushalmi is not clear - how can it be? On one hand the Yerushalmi will say - and so is the way of our Sages many times it will be like this especially in the Yerushalmi there will be many contradictions like this because it will not explain much...

2:08:16 So one can perhaps explain that - what is 'anyone who does not'... What is meant by 'he needs to take and does not take'? He needs to take and does not take? So he is a shedder of blood? After that you say that he needs to take and does not take - he will be blessed blessed and most blessed, and he will have a level... here you bless him, and a moment before you said he is a shedder of blood So we explained - perhaps this is what can be said: that if he needs to take and he does not take but he is full of anger, of bitterness, he does not trust in Hashem he has a complaint against the Holy One, blessed be He then do not pity him - this, this is a shedder of blood

2:08:55 because in the end he will come to murder because he will not connect it with Hashem, blessed be He But here he says - if he needs to take and he does not take then it is a sign that he trusts so that is why the Yerushalmi says 'Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem' this is the reason there, so one can... because then the Yerushalmi will be understood, because if not, it will not be understood - why is it why is it We will return to you, Tractate Kerisos We will return to you, Tractate Pe'ah of the Yerushalmi, and your mind is on us Oh, wait - one more thing to say, one thing There was one thing We will do a little singing in honor of the siyum of the tractate Just one thing.

2:09:51 I wanted to say - We ask forgiveness and pardon from everyone from each and every one, from each one according to his stature forgiveness from all of you; may the Holy One, blessed be He, bless everyone I want people to know - pray for us You - there are those who remember that we once gave a shiur in Jerusalem eleven years ago, twelve years ago, there were shiurim and I am not looking to do this, I am embarrassed to speak I also do not know how to speak I don't know how to prepare to speak with you, I don't know everyone is greater than me, I don't know how to speak I don't know, I don't know, I really don't know I ask forgiveness And over so many years there is some one person, or two, who constantly pursues and troubles me

2:11:10 I will not say the name but he is the one because of whom for many years they did not hear, and did not... So it is not that today I came - the shiur was for many years but no, I did not come, not for... I don't want noise and all this - only to learn, and that they should learn And I am dust and ashes at the feet of every person, every creature I am not worthy to speak before anyone, to stand here on the stage it is madness, I don't know, it is...

2:11:42 Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin, when he arrived in Heaven they began to honor him in the World to Come So he said: here, this is the World of Truth? I thought this was truth - what, here too there is falsehood? I thought that here they would already open their eyes and stop honoring So I understand that... I say - know that those people who... the shiur that was in Jerusalem, too, they tried to prevent and they did not want it to happen, and today's shiur too they tried to prevent and thank G-d, the shiur did happen I did not merit to find favor in their eyes may Hashem, blessed be He, help Thank G-d, I heard that they did teshuvah and asked forgiveness - I forgive but truly, thank G-d - that there should be no hatred, that there should not be...

2:12:29 I am happy, thank G-d, that the man loves and asked forgiveness, and we were happy but baseless hatred is not worth it, not worth it There is no competition between anyone, no competition at all is needed Hashem, blessed be He, blesses everyone, and everyone is beloved, everyone is precious Hashem, blessed be He, wants us to be happy - we are the people He chose the preciousness and the greatness and the glory of each one of the Jewish people has no measure each one is beyond measure How is it even possible to stand before each one, to speak before you?

2:13:03 it is something that cannot even be imagined Yes, yes, I mentioned it I only say: if you can, pray for me and that the Holy One, blessed be He, make everyone happy, that everyone have success in Torah that everyone learn, that they love the Torah It is very important that everyone know that everyone should love, and that there should be no more dispute that there should be no hatred between one and another this is what Hashem, blessed be He, will do so that we will be together - to redeem us What does Hashem want there to be in the generation, what does He want? What?

2:13:46 That there be competition? That there be hatred? That these be in dispute with those? That is not our Torah, that is not what we received at Sinai that is not what He gave us There is no competition - in the Torah there is no competition, the Torah does not have this not in Heaven either, no, there never was this is the mistake of the madmen - there is not One teaches the Torah in order to pass on a message in order to come close to Hashem through it not in order to become great, not for honor, not for kingship - it is not fitting, it is not the way of the Torah we have not found this with any great one with any of the Rishonim, with any of the Acharonim Our master the Shach was full of suffering; the 'Pnei Yehoshua'

2:14:28 all the great ones learned the Torah the way we explained the 'Magen Avraham' - writings on the walls of his house everything was with self-sacrifice, all the generations all the Sages, all the tzaddikim learned the Torah with self-sacrifice This is our Torah. Look, what will become of our generation? What will become of the next generation? What will be then with what follows? What will be? What will be? If there is no baseless love, it is not... if there is no baseless love, they will not stop speaking lashon hara they will not love one another a person will not be happy in his place, in his level - this, Hashem protect us this is the greatest transgression this is the greatest sin, it is more than anything Be happy in your level, in your portion There is no competition in the world, there is not

2:15:10 There was once, with the moon and the sun - and the moon, you have seen where it is it is struck, and every month one must make a blessing and each time be amazed at its renewal but the sun did not make a dispute never make a dispute do not make competition in this world each one should be happy in his Torah, in his gift, in his blessing he should not rush to get rich... he should not be in distress There is a big question - let us say one more thing It is written - after all, we know that Devorah the prophetess, Devorah the prophetess everyone knows how much holiness, and what a great level Devorah the prophetess - it is written in Tractate Shabbos, page 88 'Those who are insulted and do not insult... like the sun going forth in its might'

2:16:04 Who said this? Devorah said this It is written in the Book of Shoftim, chapter 5, the end of the chapter the end of chapter 5, the last verse, verse 31 it is written: 'So may all Your enemies perish, Hashem' and then she said: 'And those who love Him are like the sun going forth in its might' What does it mean? 'And those who love Him are like the sun going forth in its might' the meaning is that those who love Hashem will be like the sun going out to shine so they will shine, so their lives will shine with the light of the Torah just as the sun shines and heals, so will those who love Hashem shine those who love Hashem will shine in all the world That is the meaning of 'So may all Your enemies perish, Hashem' -

2:16:44 that they say all the enemies of Hashem, they will all perish but 'And those who love Him are like the sun going forth' that those who love Hashem will shine with the light of life their light will be seen going from one end of the world to the other Why is it 'like the sun going forth'? like the sun, which shines and everyone sees it and everyone is healed by it - so one who serves Hashem and loves Him he must feel, he must be happy he must be full of vitality and arousal and enthusiasm in prayer, in Torah, in good thought Look, as we learned today did you know that this is what the Rif would say?

2:17:18 about a thought of suspecting a worthy person - that it will hold back teshuvah? and the Rambam says that his teshuvah will not be accepted and the Rosh will say that one must go... How could such terrible things be imagined? and how is this hidden from so many? and even before one gets to the Chafetz Chaim at all even before one gets to the Chafetz Chaim one can see... And the meaning of loving Hashem and being 'And those who love Him are like the sun going forth in its might' is to see the sun shining and to say: 'I too shine, in me too there is light for the Jewish people' We do not know the benefit there is in each one we do not know how immense each one is each one is beyond measure - what is there to say?

2:18:03 it is awesome beyond awesome - can one say anything about the Jewish people? Can one say a soul, a portion of G-d above - say anything? What awe, what is this, this... it is beyond estimating and describing, it is awesome There is the Ra'avad in Tractate Tamid, page 28a the questions of the Ra'avad there - whoever knows that when the...

2:18:27 how they say that the men of the watch... Do you know the Ra'avad's question there?! Good, it seems to me it is already a mess... it is already not... It is written in Megillah, page 3a that it is forbidden to say shalom, to give a greeting of shalom at night and also in Tractate Sanhedrin, page 44a 'It is forbidden to give a greeting at night' - at night it is forbidden to give a greeting perhaps a demon - we are concerned that perhaps it is a demon So Rabbi Nathanson, the author of the 'Sho'el U'Meishiv', the Gaon, also asked in the approbation to 'Yehudah Ya'aleh' and in the approbation there he writes the question 'that they said shalom' that it is written about Shmuel the prophet, that Shmuel the prophet it is written in Shmuel I, chapter 3, verse 10

2:19:25 it is written 'Speak, Hashem' - that Eli told him, he told him: if you hear a voice speaking, say 'Speak, Hashem, for Your servant is listening' and he said 'Speak, for Your servant is listening' he did not say 'Speak, Hashem' Eli told him to say 'Speak, Hashem, for Your servant is listening' and he also did not say what Eli said, and also he is in the Mishkan he suspected that perhaps there was some demon, because it was night maybe the demon is calling him, so he said - he did not answer shalom we are concerned that perhaps it is a demon Now, what - you suspect that in such a place there may be a demon?

2:19:58 after all, a demon cannot be in such a place? So the Sho'el U'Meishiv answers he says that perhaps there was a demon behind the curtain and he heard it there, and its voice came inside so that is why he did not answer so because of this he said 'Speak, for Your servant is listening' and did not say 'Speak, Hashem' So here there was 'we are concerned that perhaps it is a demon' but Tosafos say that demons are not common it is only in a place... outside a settled area So don't they hold this way?

2:20:23 So if there are no demons, then all the more so the Jewish people you see a Jew - he is not a demon The 'Divrei Chaim' of Sanz, that... They tell that once someone came to the 'Divrei Chaim', may his merit protect us he said that he had merited a revelation of Eliyahu a few times So the 'Divrei Chaim' of Sanz told him: 'I have it better than you - I see a Jew every day a Jew is more than an angel - Eliyahu is an angel a Jew is more than an angel' - this is ahavas Yisrael May it be His will that the Holy One, blessed be He, give everyone help from Heaven blessing, joy, salvation, miracles, wonders, great success relief, rescue, success, blessing, salvation in all matters, all of them You are blessed to Hashem, Maker of heaven and earth

2:21:03 May the Holy One, blessed be He, bless everyone with great success, with help from Heaven! After the siyum, when the Rav makes the Hadran, there will be singing, and after the niggunim everyone will come in, down to the last one - so don't push and don't press, and first of all, at the head, the rabbis, the Torah scholars - so please don't make pressure and don't jump up here, because afterwards that creates chaos So the entrance is only from this side, not from the side of the doorway. The balcony is from here, and the entrance from this side.

2:21:51 So first of all, singing, after the singing, the receiving of the public begins. The Rav will receive everyone, the Rav will receive everyone. May I, one moment? A little back, if everyone can, a little back, a little back.

2:27:36 The Rav will receive everyone.