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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 1,806 words · 7:57. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 Not to be afraid of anything. Always to be in joy, always. We are not afraid — not fearful and not dismayed by anything. It is forbidden to fear anything. You know, I told you that I once did hisbodedus, after I got married — I went to Bat Ayin, and there was a very beautiful place there for hisbodedus, among the... there was a place there, and it was next to an olive tree. I discovered that there is a cave of snakes there — full of vipers coming out... So I said: such a beautiful place for hisbodedus — and now, to leave this place?
0:28 Also a danger. There is no place like it, so beautiful... I would do hisbodedus there. I said: who is more frightening — the One who created them, or they...? They do nothing. I stand a few meters away and see snakes coming out... No — fear is the father of the fathers of impurity; it is forbidden to fear anything. Fear is the father of the fathers of impurity... Who can see? No.
0:54 Right or not? It is forbidden to fear anything; fear is the father of the fathers of impurity. Not impurity — it is the father of the fathers of impurity. It is more than the impurity of the dead; it is the most severe. Fear... - Did the Rav put his heel on it, like Rabbi Chanina? - Like Rabbi Chanina... Tractate Berachos, page 33. A protected space — that is an obligation. So this has the law of a leaning wall: one who stands outside when there is a siren — it is like a leaning wall; it is as if he is standing next to a wall that is about to fall.
1:22 - Rav, someone who is on the road in a car, to come to the Rav — what does he do? - What is that? - Someone who is on the road in a car to come to the Rav — what does he do... - There is no need to go to the trouble, no need to go to the trouble. When we pray, I have everyone in mind, from there. But it is very important to go to a place of shelter. One lowers his eyes, puts his head in a book, in Tehillim, prays, and goes out. Prays, guards his eyes, prays, reads Tehillim, and goes out. But it is really important; this truly is a matter of saving life, it is...
1:49 So — not to be afraid. It is very important to beware of fear. Fear is the father of the fathers of impurity. The moment a person is afraid of something, he becomes impure. Always contemplate the greatness of Hashem, who created this thing. Not to be afraid. Fear... people are afraid. When a person contemplates and has no fear at all, and he sees creation differently — the opposite: creation comes to fear him. Look at Nachum Ish Gamzu. See if we had such emunah today — see, there was no such thing.
2:14 Imagine what missiles those were — his arrows. Nachum Ish Gamzu — he went and said that everything is for the good — everything, everything is for the good. The teacher of Rabbi Akiva. You remember the shiur I gave, that 'Whatever the Merciful One does, He does for the good' — that is what Rabbi Akiva said. What did Nachum Ish Gamzu say? 'This too is for the good.' What is the difference between them? The difference of heaven and earth. Rabbi Akiva says: everything that Hashem does is for the good. That is, right now the reality is not good; it will be revealed as good.
Read the whole shiur in English (12 more parts)
2:42 But Nachum Ish Gamzu says, 'This too' — this itself; this is the complete good. Right now it is good. How can that be? This is good now? We would see Nachum Ish Gamzu... they would see missiles coming down on us — Is this good now? This is good. This is good. This is for the good, in itself. And Rabbi Akiva, what does he say? The good — that is for the time to come: you will see that it is good. That is, the teacher attained much more than the student. That is clear.
3:07 A teacher can always attain more than his student. But here, in this case, it is a chiddush of heaven and earth. And then, when he goes to that place, and they took his chest and brought him... they took out his gold, and so on — they took out his gold and put in dirt for him. And then he went to the king, and then, when they opened it, they see inside — what does he see? Dirt. Now, what happens to a person who brings the king a gift — a chest full of dirt? What do you think could happen to him?
3:32 What do they do to him? Woe — what will they do to him! Woe to him, woe to his soul. What does Nachum Ish Gamzu do? 'This too is for the good.' He did not say 'Whatever the Merciful One does, He does for the good'; he did not say 'what Hashem does...' If he had said, 'Everything Hashem does is for the good,' I don't know — it would not have turned into arrows; nothing would have happened... He said, 'This is for the good' — this, this. The dirt... The moment he said that the dirt itself is for the good, he turned it into good.
4:00 That is, if he had said that it would be revealed as good, it still would not have turned into arrows. Only because he revealed the reality of the good — this is a revelation of G-dliness upon the thing itself — that this itself is for the good, only then did it turn... He lived that way. But the moment he lived that way — the wisdom is to see it; but the moment you live that way, you also draw it down onto reality. That is, if he had said, 'Fine, it is for the good,' then something good would have happened thanks to it, or something.
4:28 But how did he turn it into arrows? Where is the power? What is it, a supernatural power? What is it, Names? The tzaddikim — it is not Names and not miracles... He saw everything as good — that this itself is the good. So he was able to really transform it, too: the evil itself he turned to good. And because of this it turned; and it was Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, and he said to him, 'Try this dirt; it is the dirt of Avraham their father.' He took this dirt — he would throw it in the wars, and it would turn into arrows.
4:55 It can be so now too: we finish the Iranians in a few moments, and say the song of the angels; the angels come down and the Iranians hear it — this Khamenei hears... the song of the angels — he becomes a dead man. That's it, finished. See — Bar Koziva said: 'Have You not, O G-d, forsaken us, and You do not go out with our armies.' And every time he went out to war, he would say to the Holy One, blessed be He: 'Do not get involved — do not grant success and do not harm — do not get involved...'
5:20 Right, but the Name of Hashem needs to be called upon what we do... To pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, to tell Him that He should wage the wars — He should make the reality. Today we live in a reality where already people... What happened with Gideon? 300 men go and fight — 300. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not want more than that.
5:45 There were twenty thousand, twenty-seven, fifteen, ten — nothing. 300. Bring 300 men — with that it is finished. That is the power of Hashem. Hashem does not need — on Chanukah we made war: a minyan came, going out to fight the whole world. The wisdom of the Greeks — the mightiest, the strong — each one is a monster in his strength, in his might; mighty, muscular men, strength, power — a minyan comes and takes them apart... - I am ready to come with the Rav. - With the breath of the mouth, with the breath of the mouth, with the breath of the mouth, [unclear].
6:14 There is no strength; there is truly no such reality as strength. King David, small, Goliath the strong — King David defeats him. The power of emunah, the power of tefillah, the power that Hashem does — one can defeat everything. When it is man who does it — there is nothing. Everyone needs to call on the Name of Hashem. It cannot be that people go about bareheaded and make of themselves 'my strength and the might of my hand,' and along the way say, 'Hashem does miracles for us.'
6:39 Do you understand? Everything, everything is Hashem. After that, what we do is the final hammer blow... as it were... one could say, It is not even the final hammer blow... not even that... What I even pray for at this time is that the Holy One, blessed be He, have mercy on us, that people not attribute to themselves any 'my strength and the might of my hand' — which is the thing that most angers Heaven... The Holy One, blessed be He, most of all does not like that people attribute to themselves the strength, and the might, and all that...
7:03 'We — we did, we acted, we struck...' That is dangerous... 'Yes, yes, we — yes, we — everything.' We need to say 'It is all for the good...' Rabbi Akiva said — Rabbi Akiva had not yet reached that level; he said, 'Whatever the Merciful One does, He does for the good.' See in the Shulchan Aruch, siman 230, in Orach Chaim: the Shulchan Aruch gave a siman to this saying. Truly a wonder.
7:28 Why did he not rule like Nachum? Yes... He said: surely not everyone can reach the level of Nachum Ish Gamzu. This — even if they are not at that level — if they do not say it, it can bring accusation against them. To strengthen ourselves in saying Tikkun Chatzos: to ask for the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple; to ask for the House of Hashem. People are already forgetting the House of Hashem. More hotels, another mall, another this... - Now the Creator of the world has closed everything, Rav. That's it — 'the wilderness has closed in on them.'
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