The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-מה ענה הינוקא לחסיד ברסלב ששאל אותו מי יכול להבין את כוונת רבי נחמן מברסלב זיע״א

2:42 'And you shall eat and be satisfied,' right? You need the measure of a kezayis; you need the measure of a kebeitzah. By rabbinic law it is a kezayis; if you're in doubt and you were satisfied, you go back and say it; a doubt in a rabbinic law — we are lenient. From a kebeitzah, you say the blessing; you go by 'with a Torah law we are stringent.' ...there is the measure, a kebeitzah. Now, you eat, you're satisfied. Think of it: you ate words of Torah — the soul received food. It received G-dly life-force.

3:08 Now, what is really being nourished? The body or the soul? In Torah learning. — Both. — The soul. — The soul. — Both. — Good. No problem, the body receives too. But the one that actually receives the strength is the soul. — It's the soul. Right. But on the other hand, what also receives the strength is the imagination. — Clearly. Meaning, I'm strengthening it too, along the way. Exactly.

3:33 Now what happens? Little by little, as you learn Torah, you build the intellect, and it grows along with it. And the imagination grows together with it. — And if I don't grow it? — Is it automatic? Right. It's automatic. The imagination has to be there. The imagination is there with it. Now, what is the imagination? The imagination causes you to learn something, to understand something, and to think that the other person is not okay.

3:58 'Here, I see him.' 'Here, look.' — Yehudah and Yosef, two kings. — Yes, Yehudah and Yosef. 'Here, I see that you are not behaving according to what I see here in the book.' And then I come out against you, and then I think that you are not okay. So we learn the Torah together with the imagination. Now, what is the imagination? The imagination lets us make use of the Torah. We use it, with the imagination, in several ways.

4:26 One: either we use the Torah in order to truly fix ourselves, or we use the Torah in order to fix the world. What does that mean? One person learns the Torah and says: 'Here I am not okay; here I don't understand.' And another person learns the Torah and doesn't see where he himself is not okay — he sees where that other one is not okay.

4:51 He uses the Torah in order to see where others are not good. That is the harshest imagination there is. It is truly the eyes of Bilaam. Whoever sees the not-good that is in the world — that is all the scorners here. To my sorrow, that is the whole world. Today we see in the other person only what is not good; we don't see what you are good in.

5:15 We look for where you are not good, where you are not okay. Now, who sees the not-good? The Satan. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, say about Iyov? 'Have you set your eye on Iyov?' What, you are looking at him? Is that what you see? What are you looking at? What is not good in Iyov? — Esav too. — What is not okay in Iyov? — Esav too. — Esav too. 'And Esav said: I have plenty.' Rabbi Nosson says this: that this was his eye, the way he looked. Instead of looking at the merit of Yaakov Avinu, he went and judged Yaakov unfavorably.

5:47 So therefore, look, see what Rabbi Nosson says in Likutei Halachos, in the laws of Nefilas Apayim. Pay attention. This is the advice for whoever truly wants to get out of the imagination; this is the advice. Because otherwise a person will learn the Torah, he will think that he is learning and that he truly — that he understands the Torah, and as for the Torah — the Baal Davar processes it for him with a mind and with eyes that are the most crooked there is.

6:16 And he can think that he is right, that he is correct, and so on, and from here you see how people see in the world. — 'These and these are the words of the living G-d' — like Hillel and Shammai: this one says this, that one says that; seventy faces to the Torah. — Right, but let me give you an example that explains a little more what I mean. Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel — that is a dispute for the sake of Heaven. Tractate Eruvin, page 13. The Gemara says they married into one another's families. — Yes. — I'll give you a different example. The Rav of Savran, the Rav of Savran, persecuted Rabbi Nosson to the point of knives being thrown at his son's wedding.

6:49 The Rav of Savran was one of the great tzaddikim; he was a great man, very great. He was not a simple person; he was a great man. How can such a great man, who learns so much Torah, see something not good in Rabbi Nosson? Explain it to me. — He didn't learn for the sake of Heaven. — Give me an explanation. — Maybe he didn't learn for the sake of Heaven. — What, he wasn't holy? What, he wasn't a tzaddik? — Maybe he didn't learn for the sake of Heaven. — The opposite: he learns for the sake of Heaven.

7:13 Tzaddikim, holy ones — they had levels. — That's not a dispute... — And the Shpoler Zeide. — That's not a dispute... — Who was a great man and all, and he opposed Rebbe Nachman and caused him pain and spoke against him greatly, and in the end, after he passed away, he said: 'The world doesn't know what they have lost.' And his grandson was a chassid who would travel to Rabbi Nosson, and travel to Rebbe Nachman, to his gravesite. So how do you really explain that? So it truly comes from the power of imagination.

7:41 The power of imagination is not really out of wickedness. It is not really that he is, Heaven forbid, from the side of evil. No. The power of imagination makes it seem to him that this truly is the evil and this is the good, and he is so sure and so settled in his mind that he even put out a letter, and he wrote: 'One may not eat from their shechitah — their shechitah is neveilah — and one may not join with them in a minyan, and they are banned before Heaven and banned before people.' The imagination brings a person to such a level, such a grip, that, as for the Torah — the Torah enters him, and instead of the Torah fixing him, the Torah is held in him, and the Torah turns against him into 'the flame of the ever-turning sword.'

8:21 And whatever he tries to understand in the Torah, the Torah does the opposite. Instead of leading him to the truth, the real truth, he goes and is led to other places. Why? Because with everything he learns of it, he is growing the imagination. Instead of growing toward the true thing, he grows the imagination. And why does this happen? Because of several things. — What's the difference? — How's that? — What's the difference? — You said that when he learns Torah, his imagination rises together with him. It's like with the yetzer hara.

8:49 — He grows the imagination, not... He grows the imagination. 'And Esav said: I have plenty.' What does Rabbi Nosson explain about this? — But it's like a power that is also... — ...yes... 'And Esav said.' — And isn't there some connection between the yetzer hara and the power of imagination? — Yes. — There's no connection? I'll speak about that in a moment — where it comes in from, yes? After all, the yetzer hara comes from somewhere; it comes from some direction. — From pride.

9:15 — That too. It comes from pride, but it also comes from adultery... You know what that is. Tractate Sotah, page 4 — the Gemara says: one who is proud, it is as if he had relations with all the forbidden relations. Meaning, it is a kind of blemish of the covenant. It is a kind of blemish of the covenant; it is the same thing. There is no difference between a person who is proud and a person who commits adultery, because in the end, whoever does not have the cry to Hashem immediately sinks in the waters of the mire and all the depths of illusion, until he can become confused.

9:46 He gets confused here in the world. He sees the world and he gets confused. If a person does not truly have da'as of Hashem, someone who is not truly on the levels — he falls here in the world. — So how is one saved from this? — From the desires, from pride, from grandeur, money — everything there is in the world. Limited people, usually lowly people. People who are truly great souls, who are — what is all that? It isn't even the dust of the roads to them.

10:11 And the advice... is only to judge every person favorably. — Only through that. — Only when it's not favorably... — And every person. — Exactly: every person, favorably. That is how one is saved from this. — Everyone. — Good. That's what I'm coming to say. When you judge favorably, first of all, you will always rise. Because when you judge favorably, you are judging yourself. That is in Torah 282. You judge yourself favorably. Meaning, you are not actually judging yourself — you are raising yourself up.

10:37 When you judge unfavorably, when you pass an unfavorable verdict, you bring yourself down, you hold back the geulah, and then you bring the power of imagination into yourself, and then the Torah goes against you. Because the Torah says: 'This one is not learning the Torah for my sake. He is learning for himself, because he uses me to see what is not good in my people. So I make it seem to him as though he truly sees well, for the Tikkun of the world.' But it turns over on him, and then he says of truth that it is falsehood, of falsehood that it is truth, of good that it is evil.

11:07 And you say: 'Woe to those who call good evil and evil good.' So you can see such people, who are seemingly upright and holy, and they can swear about a thing that is false that it is true, and think in their minds that the truth is with them, and that he is right, that it is actually even correct, and he is the one who understands, and he is the one who knows, and he is this and he is that, and he is truly sure and confident in his own kedushah, and believes it and lives it, and in fact he is exactly the opposite, because he is in 'the flame of the ever-turning sword.'

11:34 He is in the depths of illusion, of the imagination and of madness, because he does not understand at all — not even the very tip of the point of a yud — of the worth of the holy Torah, in truth, and of kedushah. Now, the holy tzaddikim — we are speaking of the holy tzaddikim, the early ones, who truly attained the ultimate attainment and level — it is only because they were constantly searching for Hashem, blessed be He.

11:59 They never said: 'Fine, that's it, we've arrived, that's it.' They are always saying: more toil, more toil, more searching, more seeking. Every moment they serve Hashem with the aim of revealing His will, without thinking about their own point of self — 'what is good for me.' They are constantly searching for Hashem, constantly speaking to Hashem and crying out to Hashem. If you do not cry out and you do not truly search for Hashem, and you do not see the favorable side, you immediately fall into a reality of illusion, and they can even send a person levels from Heaven, and he will be in the Chambers of Exchanges.

12:32 As if it's ruach hakodesh, as if he is this or that — he is altogether in illusion. He is not on a level at all; he is in illusion. And he can wear himself out for seventy, eighty, a hundred years, and waste the true, eternal purpose. And therefore, what does the Satan fight over most in the world? Over the most... He grinds his teeth over only one thing. — Illusion. — Tzaddikim.

12:57 That one should not come close to the true tzaddik of the generation. — And who are the true tzaddikim of the generation? You? You? You, you — each one here is among the true tzaddikim of the generation. Were you at the shiur where I spoke about Mashiach? — No. Can someone explain the story to me? Come, I'll give an example. Now, there is Rebbe Nachman.

13:24 What is Rebbe Nachman? What is Rebbe Nachman — and not who is Rebbe Nachman. — Mashiach. — Who is Rebbe Nachman? — It is impossible to say. What is Rebbe Nachman? — One has to speak about something of his general essence: finding the good point in every Jew. — Bitul, self-nullification. But again, that is not — you have not answered the question.

13:49 That is not the same aspect. I understand what you are saying. In general, that is certainly good. But when I say, 'What is it?' — Bitul. — After all, today, when you come to look... at this generation, at the oppressed souls of the last generation, the advice and the... — And how does it show itself? In traveling to Uman? In being at the grave? In love — fine? In saying the Tikkun HaKlali and... — No. Right. — Yes, the tzaddik's words, but that too is only a part of it.

14:14 — It is to nullify oneself to the tzaddik, to nullify oneself to the tzaddik. — Bitul is bitul. — Bitul. Bitul. To hold on to his advice. — Bitul. — First of all, the question is what Rabbeinu really meant when he said... I go to Uman every year, yes? But what he really said... — But I want to ask a question. What is 'My Rosh Hashanah surpasses everything'? Are people today really nullified to Rabbeinu? — They are not nullified to Rabbeinu. First of all, where does the bitul to Rabbeinu come from?

14:42 That is one thing. Where does this bitul come from? Why are you nullified to Rabbeinu? — There isn't; there is no bitul to Rabbeinu. — Hisbodedus. — And there are plenty of people who say 'only Rabbeinu, only Rabbeinu' and so on, and they talk in the middle of Kaddish. — Tell me, can there also be such a reality — it is as I am saying — that it could be that in fact there is no bitul to Rabbeinu here. And there are in fact people here who do not truly have emunas chachamim, faith in the Sages, and it is comfortable for them not to nullify themselves to the Sages, and they have, as it were, run away from their own point of self after someone whom they... Who says at all that, had they been in his generation,

15:21 they would have been nullified to him? — It's comfortable for them that it is a gravestone. — It's comfortable for them that it is, as it were... Meaning, it could be that altogether I have not even begun to learn from him the tip of a yud, and I have received nothing from him. Because who says that if I had been there in his lifetime, and I were going to him now, maybe I would have been one of the greatest of those most against him — scorning him, disgracing him, and saying that he is nothing, that he is mistaken, out of madness, and that he tells story-tales.

15:49 He tells about a rooster, and about a horse, and about a pump, and says things — and you would say: 'What is this? How can he act like this?' Or I would have seen him on the way to the Land of Israel, on the ship, doing those foolish acts and playing with the youths, and I would have gone and thought this and that. Who says? He would put you off. That is the truth. Today, when you read about him and say 'Rabbeinu' — meaning, you accept him because, first of all, you are under no authority from him.

16:18 He does not rebuke you, you have nothing at all, and you hang only on the power of imagination — that he is the greatest; on the power of imagination that you are truly nullified to him; and on the power of imagination that he is going to save you from the chaos and void. But it is all in the power of imagination. Who says you are truly there? Who says he will truly help you? — Again, that is me myself. I'm not there, I'm not there. — Not you; I'm not speaking to you. Right now I am speaking to myself, to each one of us. We are not speaking...

16:54 When I come to truly enter the inner root, understand how much we are — we are so deep in the imagination. When we talk about the imagination, understand where this imagination is found. Meaning, you can see many people today for whom it may be that their whole connection and their closeness to an awesome tzaddik, or whoever it may be, is not because he is the greatest tzaddik, to draw close to him, to receive from him the true foundation, but because of their imagination — because they are people of pride, and they cannot truly accept humility and true da'as Torah, and they must say that everything is false, so that they are the ones closest to the real truth.

17:36 In fact there is no clarifying here at all of the point of truth that is with them, because they think that they are the truth, and they already know what is truth and what is falsehood, and they have accepted upon themselves their teacher and rebbe. Now, this stems altogether from the fact that they do not see him, that they do not need to go to him, and once in a while they come, and they love him — what do they love? They don't know. What is it? And so on and so on. Good. One of the things that Rebbe Nachman said — and it is not for nothing that he warned about this; it is both in Sefer HaMiddos and in Likutei Moharan, in Torah 282.

18:07 This is the whole work of the geulah, which is also the story of the king's son and the precious stones. That is its whole work. What is the work? He was disheartened — that in every place where he saw the sore, he would see a precious stone peeking out. And what was the consolation? That not all of him was of precious stones, right? That was the consolation. But in the end it all peeled away, and he was entirely of precious stones.

18:31 This is the secret of the coming of the geulah. Meaning, the whole essence of what he revealed, in fact, is to see the good and the revelation of G-dliness that is in the whole world. Meaning, you cannot see a reality of evil, or a stain, in the Jewish people. If you already see even one edge of not-good in the Jewish people — and if you have already seen it, then you need to be a person of stature in order to fix it, like those who repair the souls of Israel, who would truly see and know: this is good, this is evil, this is good, this is evil.

19:03 And can I reach those levels of cleanness, in order to discern? — You know, today you come upon a person who says two things... It is so hard to see a person talking during Kaddish. What — fine, we will judge him favorably — poor fellow, maybe this or that. But no: his act is not good. — The act is bad, but there is also a good deed here: that he is in the shul at all at the time of Kaddish. — That doesn't show how you must...

19:29 I understand. True, you are right in what you say. That is certain. — Where is there a bit of that...? I'll explain something to you. We can look at everything unfavorably. And, going too far, one can even judge the Holy One, blessed be He, unfavorably. — In short, one has to search. — Yes. — Not to look at the bad deed. — Exactly. — To look for some other good thing that is there. — Right. With the Holy One, blessed be He, too, one can come — come with complaints — and say: 'How is it that the Holy One, blessed be He, still does not redeem us?

19:57 And why does the Holy One, blessed be He, leave us in exile? And what is this exile, and what...' — Now, that is in the dimension of time. The black points are seen to be points of light. Only afterward. The way of looking is within time — because above, perhaps, there is no time. — Clearly. — No, my way of looking: if I now see a bad thing, another bad thing, another bad thing happening to me in life, I say: 'Dear G-d, what are You doing to me?' But after the seven bad years go by, all those bad things brought me to where I am today.

20:25 And then I say: so that's it. If not for that, I would have been finished. So that's it. So today I bless over the bad even more than over the good. — More than over the good. Meaning, that is still... You haven't understood yet; you didn't understand what I said. This shows that we are still in the imagination — from what you said. Because the very fact that you speak about 'the bad' means that you see the bad at all. You need to reach the level where you do not see bad.

20:51 — I understand. Yes. I'll explain it to you with an example. I'll give you an example. Where in the year are we at the highest level, of total bitul? — Tisha B'Av? Yom Kippur? — No. — Tisha B'Av? — No. — Purim? Purim. Purim. What do you say? 'Until one does not know the difference between "Cursed is Haman" and "Blessed is Mordechai."' Meaning, you do not see a reality of evil. When you do not see the evil that exists — 'and you will look at his place, and he is not there.'

21:18 'A little longer and there is no wicked one; you will look at his place, and he is not there.' Meaning, you suddenly look, and you say: what is going on here? You suddenly see such a revelation of G-dliness, that... Understand — the argument, what you are saying — it is not an argument. I accept your insight and the things you say; I am glad, and I debate with you in G-dly philosophy, yes?

21:43 about Rebbe Nachman, about all these things. But I am explaining to you that there is a contemplation that needs to be in the truth of the point of the Torah: what is truly Hashem's will from us? Because you have the understanding that you learn in the Torah, and there is what the Holy One, blessed be He, truly wants us to take in and understand — that this is the real truth.

22:11 That is what Hashem, blessed be He, wanted. And not that there should be a reality today in which people can use the Torah to push the Jewish people away from the Holy One, blessed be He. Meaning, there is a reality today, with the Torah, in which the greatest and most exalted thing is used in order to be against the Jewish people, to push them away — or that people see the Torah and cannot come close to it, because it brings them dejection, or they are given... — How's that?

22:39 — People who see Torah — it makes them feel bad? — No, that is Torah 28 in Likutei Moharan: that the opponents and the revilers and the scorners of those who fear Hashem — that is from the 'shedin yehuda'in', the 'Jewish demons.' That is what you mean. That is because of those who say... Because of 'the power of the maker within what is made' — that is something else. That too can cause damage. But what I mean is: we need to see how we see the G-dly revelation of the good — complete, absolute — that everything is one.

23:13 So truly, in the end, each one of us has the key to bring the geulah. And the Satan grinds his teeth and rises up against each one of us, so that you will not reach this key. In the end, if you reach the key... then he will put the keys on the table. You are going to bring the geulah if you reach the key. The one who can find the key for you is only the tzaddik.

23:40 He can reveal to you where the key is, he can bring it to you, and through him you can open the locked gate, and act, and come close to the Holy One, blessed be He, and truly bring your own true part in the coming of Mashiach and in the geulah. — Is this the lost things? It is the lost things — very good. Here, the tzaddik has given us the explanation, the most beautiful one: that truly this is the lost things. The key is a lost thing.

24:05 Now, my path — the moment I find the lost thing... The Satan, most of all, does not want you to find the key. The moment you find the key — meaning that you take the... you receive the Torah with its true understanding, and you truly see in the Torah the root of your Tikkun, and you do not see the imagination in it. The very fact that we just open up the greatest and most exalted thing — it does not work in such a way that you just opened it and right away you can understand the mind, the face and the soul of Hashem, and of the tzaddik, and of all the holy ones.

24:35 Because the moment a person comes with his own point of self, with his desires, with his character traits, by the very fact that he is tainted by the world — he sees people who are far away, he sees the impurity that is in the world — he cannot immediately reach the highest place. He cannot. By its nature, this requires a great, great deal of cleanness and refinement, and hisbodedus, and clean Torah, and a clear da'as, in order to truly receive these pure waters.

25:02 And therefore, the holy tzaddikim — when a person is truly brought close to the right path, then he can rise and be elevated and reach the highest and most exalted places. And for this, one needs much tefillah and crying out to Hashem, blessed be He — 'From the belly of She'ol I cried out.' For through a person crying out strongly, strongly to Hashem, blessed be He — so pay attention to what he says here in Likutei Halachos about this.

25:32 'And in every single generation, Israel as a whole and each and every individual must always seek Hashem, blessed be He, in whatever place he is' — no matter where he may be — 'and cry out at all times to Hashem... "From the belly of She'ol I cried out"... and never despair of the crying out and the seeking, ever, until Hashem looks down and sees from Heaven.' May you be blessed. So that is the story.

25:57 With Hashem's help, perhaps later on, next time, perhaps we will explain many more things. I think I gave you today a little something of them. — Rav, this crying out is mainly in hisbodedus? And also... — Ah, could we have the continuation about Rabbeinu, about... who Rabbeinu is? — To be continued. — The way the Rav started with Rabbeinu? We did not merit it.

26:23 — To be continued. — Thank you very much, Rav, thank you very much.