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The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 4,413 words · 21:29. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 Yes, now like this Tisha B'Av, in fact, is the destruction of understanding. Our understanding was destroyed for us, it was destroyed for us. We don't know what we need to cry about, we don't know what we need to be pained about, we don't know about what — what Sages we lost, what great ones we lost, what holy ones we lost, how many orphans and widows were afflicted, and women, maidens, who were afflicted, and elders, and holy and pure ones, and how many troubles and ordeals the Jewish people went through.
0:35 And the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, symbolizes that the place was cut off where we could come and see a revelation of G-dliness without pause. When a person would come to the Beis HaMikdash, he would see a place with a constant revelation of G-dliness that does not stop, a place with joy, with the affection of love from above, of Hashem, blessed be He, for the Jewish people. And when the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, suddenly we see that the joy, the gladness, was destroyed from us, the main splendor and beauty of the Jewish people, the House of Hashem, the Beis HaMikdash, the Chosen House.
1:09 And we, in fact, need to be pained, to understand that this is what was destroyed for us: the understanding we lost was destroyed for us. Torah, prayer were destroyed for us; everything, everything, everything fell down. Because when the Beis HaMikdash stood, it would atone for us, the offerings would atone, we would merit a level of holiness, we would merit closeness to Hashem, there was baseless love, there was peace, unity among everyone, then we merited the highest bond with the Creator.
1:38 And when the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, in fact all these things that could act for us were destroyed: the bond and the closeness to the Creator, blessed be He. So at the root, the Beis HaMikdash — it is the destruction of understanding. For 'Hashem is a G-d of knowledge'. 'Great is knowledge, for it was given between two letters,' like the Beis HaMikdash. So the Beis HaMikdash is understanding, it is the intellect.
2:02 When I ask for the Beis HaMikdash, I am in fact asking Hashem that He give me back my true understanding. 'I will carry my knowledge from afar' refers to the Beis HaMikdash; it was said about the Beis HaMikdash. 'I will carry my knowledge' — I will carry my understanding far: I want to know Hashem. And they say that when Mashiach comes, at that time there will be no evil there, and no jealousy, and no hatred and competition, 'for the earth will be full of knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea'.
2:26 'The earth will be full of knowledge of Hashem' — knowledge, knowledge is understanding. The Beis HaMikdash that will come — as the Rambam says at the end of the Laws of Kings, that when Mashiach comes, 'for the earth will be full of knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea', the meaning is that understanding will increase in the world. That is to say, the coming of Mashiach, the geulah, the Beis HaMikdash is supposed to give us understanding, understanding, and a revelation of G-dliness, to see the Creator, blessed be He, in every reality.
Read the whole shiur in English (35 more parts)
2:50 Now that the Beis HaMikdash is destroyed, we do not see Hashem, and we do not see a revelation of G-dliness in every reality. And not only that, but we, in these days too — pay attention — the closer we come to these days, to the days of Bein HaMetzarim, and come closer to the Beis HaMikdash, so, in fact, the things that clear the mind are forbidden to us. 'Wine and fragrance make me wise.' You can't eat meat, you can't drink wine, you can't listen to music, you can't do things that bring a settled mind.
3:21 The things that settle the mind are forbidden. Why? Because the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed. The closer you get to the destruction, and on the day of the destruction itself, then all five afflictions are already forbidden, which is, in fact, what sets a person apart and takes him out of his settled mind; his mind cannot be settled, you understand? (audience) - Yes, on Yom Kippur it is possible, on Yom Kippur it is permitted, and on Tisha B'Av it is forbidden, because 'wine and fragrance make wise', right, that is the new insight, because understanding — that he not be settled in his mind.
3:54 The closer we get to the day, after Bein HaMetzarim, and after I have reached the day of Tisha B'Av itself, then on Tisha B'Av itself... Now, the closer I come, near and in sight of the House of Hashem, the Beis HaMikdash, and I see it today standing in the destruction of the House, then immediately a person must tear. He tears the garment as the law is for his other relatives, exposing a handbreadth, like the Gemara in Moed Katan, page 26, that a person must expose the handbreadth, just as a person, not for anyone of the Jewish people, tears a handbreadth according to halachah.
4:30 A person who comes and says: 'Our holy and glorious House, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all our treasures have become ruins'. All this a person says, as ruled in the Shulchan Aruch, in siman 561, what our master the Shulchan Aruch ruled. Also in the Rambam, in the Laws of Fasts, it is in chapter 5, halachah 16, it appears there too, and in the Yerushalmi it is in the ninth chapter, halachah 2, in Berachos. And there is also a responsum of the Radbaz, who was asked about what they asked regarding the residents of Jerusalem, that the residents of Jerusalem are exempt from tearing.
5:01 That is not correct. Also our master in the Birkei Yosef, our master the Chida, brings as halachah the Radbaz, in part 2 of the Responsa of the Radbaz, I think in siman 646. He brings a responsum there, he brings the Yerushalmi in Berachos, in the ninth chapter, halachah 2. He brings there about Shimon, who came to Rabbi Chiya and said to him: We who are in Jerusalem — what about tearing? When a person goes to the Kotel or to the Beis HaMikdash, yes, when the Beis HaMikdash is already destroyed — it is like today, in our days, when a person goes up to the Kotel and he is a resident of Jerusalem — it is like in their time.
5:34 (audience ...) - No, that is still in doubt, because there are two sanctities, the sanctity of David and Shlomo and the sanctity... One really has to be near, really near and in sight. From a place like this I am still in doubt, even though it is near. We are still before the Old City, but already from inside the Old City seeing it is already possible, but that he really see the Temple Mount. Now, he writes there, he brings, based on the Yerushalmi in Berachos, that even residents of Jerusalem do need to tear, of course, if they have not seen it for thirty days, if thirty days have passed.
6:08 If a person lives in Jerusalem — that does not exempt him from tearing, according to this Radbaz. And so our master the Chida brought in the Birkei Yosef, also on 561. So therefore, from here we see that the closer one comes, the closer one comes to the time, to Tisha B'Av, or one comes close even to the place of the Temple itself, then there is a removal of understanding. Therefore the Beis HaMikdash itself — that we say, we weep over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash — the intention is to repair the destruction of understanding, to do teshuvah over understanding, the understanding that I had, that brought me to return to Hashem, the understanding that brought me to love the Creator, that I had a heart to love Hashem, blessed be He, that I had, that I had understanding
6:49 to know that everything is from Him, and I don't need to be angry at the other, and I don't need to be jealous of the other, and I don't need to hate the other. So this understanding was lost to us, and then, in fact, there increases, Heaven forbid, what is increasing today: the bad character traits, and the exile, and people take their own lives and despair. But the more... If the world knew what the Beis HaMikdash is, they would run to Hashem... Just by the act of a person asking for the Beis HaMikdash he brings the geulah closer.
7:17 It gives Hashem, blessed be He, immeasurable satisfaction. Look in siman 123 in the Shulchan Aruch, that one says right at the end of the prayer, one says: 'May it be Your will, Hashem our G-d and G-d of our fathers, that You build the Beis HaMikdash speedily in our days, and give us our portion'. Right away one joins the building of the Beis HaMikdash to the end of the prayer. Why? The main point of the prayer we pray is to show Hashem, blessed be He, that my whole goal and my involvement in this prayer was for Your House, blessed be He.
7:45 And when a person asks for the House of Hashem, asks for the Beis HaMikdash, then he is engaged in this for the repair of the Shechinah, with this he repairs for the Shechinah. Therefore, the greater the tzaddikim are, the more they will engage in the repair of the Shechinah, in repairing the sin of Adam HaRishon; they will engage more in these actions, in repair, and in these levels, and so it rises more and is elevated more and more. Therefore, when we ask Hashem, blessed be He, for the Beis HaMikdash, or Tikkun Chatzos that you do, at that moment, and also at this time — in the name of Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz — that one sits on the ground while saying the Kinos on the morning of Tisha B'Av, this is a very lofty time of favor,
8:20 that right after the Kinos, in which we asked for the Beis HaMikdash, a person may ask. Do it like this: ask Hashem, tell Him: Master of the World — it is more correct to say it like this, I will explain the matter. It is more correct that while sitting on the ground, after saying the Kinos on Tisha B'Av, one should remember that all my troubles, all my ordeals, everything that passes over me — to say to Hashem, blessed be He: this is the pain of the Shechinah, what passes over me is the pain of the Shechinah, it is a kind of... it is the pain of the Shechinah that continues from the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash.
8:55 And then to ask Hashem: Master of the World, make the Beis HaMikdash be built, and that there be no pain to the Shechinah, and that You free me from this pain of mine, which comes from this pain that is the pain of the Shechinah, and I don't want to have this pain and this and this, because it is the pain of the Shechinah, and I don't want to have the pain. For 'in all their affliction He was afflicted.' Say what I said, like this; this is what you should say about this understanding. Say it, intend it this way, this is more correct.
9:21 Because it is not fitting that a person sit on the floor, seek to say Kinos, and right after he says Kinos ask 'give us, give me, give me', as in Tikkun 6 in the Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 6, page 22. It is written in the Tikkunei Zohar that these people who say 'give, give' ask only for themselves: 'children, life, sustenance' — it is not fitting to ask like this, it is not nice, it is not proper conduct. One must ask for the Beis HaMikdash, for the purpose, for the holy Shechinah.
9:45 The more one asks for this, the more correct and more fitting it is before Hashem. So, with Hashem's help, this is what we, with Hashem's help, will remember to do and fulfill, for it is a great benefit, and that a person is alone with his Creator. This time of being alone with Him — of course also in taking on a few minutes, a few moments is what Tikkun Chatzos takes; one can say it. Tikkun Chatzos is something — Rabbi Chaim Palagi writes that a person will merit long days and years, he will not see the death of his children, he will merit length of days and years, and all the things, all the good bounty that comes from saying Tikkun Chatzos.
10:18 At the end of the chapter Chezkas HaBatim, page 60b, in Bava Basra, we see that one should leave an amah by an amah (in the house) in remembrance of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. So think: a person who says Tikkun Chatzos, at the time he says Tikkun Chatzos — saying Tikkun Chatzos is more than Selichos, it is more than leaving an amah by an amah, it is more than that, because you say Tikkun Chatzos, you actually mention the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, you are alone with Him. Therefore it is fitting for every G-d-fearing person to be pained and worried.
10:44 So the Sfas Emes of Gur says: If you are not pained and worried — it is a sign that you are not G-d-fearing. Pained and worried. One must see how I... what am I pained about, what am I worried about? The destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. Therefore one must remember all year this day, which with Hashem's help will turn into gladness and joy, into the geulah, into the complete geulah, with Hashem's help may it be, that, with Hashem's help, what we spoke about in Bereishis and Vayeitzei be fulfilled, and also the Yerushalmi in Berachos, may it be fulfilled, chapter 2, halachah 4, that we merit all this good bounty and all kinds of good, that the geulah come, and that Mashiach already come and the Beis HaMikdash be built.
11:26 But we will remember before Hashem, that we ask. - (audience) Why in the Kinos do we mention the destruction more and mention the sin of Adam HaRishon less, about these things which, in essence — true, these are two things, one depends on the other, but the large part is the sin of Adam HaRishon; it will not help that there be a second and third building or that the world truly reach its repair, that there be no further destruction — why do we focus more on between man and his fellow, which is a marginal part of the true repair?
12:05 - Nice. That Moshe Rabbeinu wanted to know the answer: why Rabbi Akiva went through what he went through, in Tractate Menachos, page 29b. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, say to him? 'Be silent, so it arose in thought first,' right? Be silent The appeasement Moshe Rabbeinu wants to know: well, here is the great Rabbi Akiva, so many ordeals, everything that passes over him — come, let's see his reward, and he sees what happens.
12:31 So the Holy One, blessed be He, answers him: Be silent, so it arose in thought first. There is also an explanation I made on this — an explanation, that is one explanation. I will tell you another explanation, I'll tell you another explanation. Rather, the meaning is that Hashem, blessed be He, tells him: there are things that we do not understand. We are, in fact, in a world that is complex; with Hashem, blessed be He, it is all a clear picture, everything as one picture.
12:59 And also Rabbi Akiva, who — Rabbi Akiva, in fact, could have killed them in an instant, in an instant, if he had said 'And you shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart', and its final letters are the Name Kaf-Hei-Tav. And his students — says Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli — said to him: 'Our master, this far?' He said 'Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One'. His students said to him: 'Our master, this far?' That is to say, this far: if you continue, then it will be as if this Name will be, and then it will destroy them.
13:25 That is to say, Rabbi Akiva could have done away with them by himself in an instant. He knew that 'so it arose in thought'. So I once explained it like this, I thought: maybe 'Be silent, so it arose in thought' — in Rabbi Akiva's thought, as if Rabbi Akiva gives up his life, and he, he is the one who stopped here, because he stopped at 'this far'. That is: 'Be silent, for so it arose in thought', because Rabbi Akiva stopped 'this far'. He did not want to continue with 'And you shall love', so he stopped at Shema Yisrael, because he had his intention in the first verse, so he said 'Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One. Blessed be the Name...'
13:55 and then he was silent, he stopped 'this far'. His students said to him: 'Our master, this far?' So Rabbi Akiva intended 'this far', and he did not continue to say 'And you shall love Hashem', whose final letters are the Name that can kill them in an instant. So therefore Hashem, blessed be He, said to Moshe Rabbeinu, in Tractate Menachos, page 29b: 'Be silent, so it arose in thought' — as if Rabbi Akiva intended... so if he had continued... So maybe this is the meaning; it is another explanation, maybe.
14:22 Who knows, it will find favor, that it be a satisfaction before Hashem. It is written in the Zohar, in Parshas — the Zohar, Parshas Shelach Lecha, page 174, that each time one needs to say a new Torah insight on Shabbos that is said before Hashem. So maybe this new insight now will find favor in Hashem's eyes, that it be a satisfaction before Hashem, about Rabbi Akiva, that his merit protect us, that everyone have good bounty, that we ask for the Beis HaMikdash, that we be full of hope and joy, and always remember that it is forbidden to be broken by anything in the world, by anything, and to be only in joy always and in hope always, and to shine the light of Hashem, blessed be He, and to remember that the true strength and overcoming
15:06 is to always be in great hope, because that is the greatest devotion there is. To be broken is the easiest, and to despair is the easiest, and to be in sorrow is the easiest, but constant joy is the greatest devotion. Someone asked me, 'What should I take upon myself?' I told him: be hopeful whenever you have a broken spirit, when you are broken, be hopeful; that is the time, that is the great hope, that is the devotion.
15:32 So don't be broken by anything in the world, and be in joy always, and be strong, and be 'mighty in strength, who do His word, to obey the voice of His word'. May you have all good bounty. I enjoyed being with you, hearing you. May you have all the good bounty, may you have a good life, and accomplish all good and from all good. 'Length of days is in its right hand, in its left wealth and honor.' 'Enlarge the place of your tent, the curtains of your dwellings.'
15:57 All the blessings, all the good bounty, and may we merit all good and from all good. May you have miracles and wonders, a good life. And may it be His will that Hashem, blessed be He, turn this, with Hashem's help, into a festive day, into the complete geulah, into the building of the Beis HaMikdash. Fortunate are you, Israel. May we merit to increase baseless love. In Tractate Yoma, page 9b, it says that the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed through baseless hatred. We will do all that is in our power to draw down baseless love, that baseless love increase, and we will shine the light of Hashem, and we will help one another: 'Each man will help his fellow, and to his brother he will say: Be strong.'
16:31 And we will overcome against everything, to be only in joy always, and to think good. May Hashem, blessed be He, save you in all matters, all of them. Fortunate are you; I was privileged. May Hashem, blessed be He, bless everyone, may He give the whole staff, all the Torah scholars, all those engaged in the work, may He give you blessing from Heaven and help from Heaven, to each and every single one.
16:55 May everyone be blessed with all the blessings and the good bounty, Amen, upon each and every single one, in good that is visible and revealed, with joy and gladness of heart. May Hashem, blessed be He, give you strength from Heaven with all the good bounty, and may we merit, with Hashem's help, the day on which His House, blessed be He, will be built, the Beis HaMikdash, speedily in our days, Amen and Amen. - With the permission of the holy congregation and with the permission of our teacher the Rav, we want to thank the Holy One, blessed be He, for the great gift that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us, a gift — Shabbos is its name.
17:29 And to be with the Rav on Shabbos is not something to take for granted; it is a gift of supreme self-sacrifice. Whoever knows, whoever does not know: the Rav makes days like nights with self-sacrifice for the holy Torah, for the public, for the Jewish people. And with all this, instead of Shabbos being a rest for him, Shabbos is even more toil in Torah, even more toil and devotion for each and every one of us, so that we understand a drop of what we merit here every Shabbos.
17:59 So tonight is the hilula of our master, 'the light of the seven days', our master the Arizal. And we merited that the Rav also merited to be a descendant, through his grandmother, to be a descendant of our master the Arizal. And this is a gift that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us in the world, that we understand. The Rav spoke earlier at Seudah Shlishis, the Rav spoke about the matter of the kavanos of the weekdays, of the Kabbalists, the kavanos afterward, at the coming in of Shabbos, and in Shacharis and in Musaf, all the kavanos of all the times, all of them.
18:38 And afterward our teacher the Rav said that a person who has the pain of the Shechinah and knows how to contemplate the Beis HaMikdash and to understand the meaning of what we are missing — with this intention a person accomplishes all these kavanos together. And this is something we see here, that our teacher the Rav truly gives us the contemplation and the right understanding: how much the Beis HaMikdash is connected to us, how much the Beis HaMikdash is connected to every single Jew, really, and how much it is missing for him.
19:15 And if there will be a Beis HaMikdash, then the life of each and every one of us will change. And let us say, in connection with this, what we read in the parsha, that Moshe Rabbeinu said to the Jewish people: 'Hashem your G-d is with you, you have not lacked a thing'. So one can understand, according to what we heard from our teacher the Rav on the matter, 'Hashem your G-d is with you, you have not lacked a thing': that is to say, that speaking, and needing to speak — that shows a lack, because the moment one understands a thing, one does not need to speak it.
19:47 He does not lack the speech; speech shows that there is a lack — so one needs to speak. And when a person merits to come to a tzaddik, then in the few words that he hears there is, in these words, 'Hashem your G-d is with you'. That is to say, 'Hashem your G-d is with you': that the Shechinah is with the tzaddik, the Shechinah is in his throat, for he is entirely holy and pure. So in the few words that we merit to hear there are so many, many things that afterward a person sees over the course of his life, that suddenly, as the Rav spoke, afterward the wellsprings of wisdom open up for him and contemplation in the holy books, that he merits to learn the Torah with greater ease, with greater strength.
20:27 So, Baruch Hashem, we bless the Rav, with Hashem's help, that the Holy One, blessed be He, lengthen his days in good and his years in pleasantness, in robust health and great light, that the Holy One, blessed be He, strengthen him and fortify him, with Hashem's help, that he merit to make Torah great, to glorify it among all the Jewish people, in the whole world. May he always merit to see, to hear of salvations and consolations, of joyous occasions, only of the Jewish people, that he hear no more sorrow and troubles, with Hashem's help, no pain and no illnesses, may he hear all day only good tidings, and praise and thanksgiving to the Holy One, blessed be He, and all with Hashem's help.
21:00 May Hashem, blessed be He, repay him his reward, with Hashem's help, in robust health and great light, and may he merit to see the salvation of all the Jewish people, Amen. Amen. First to Zion: behold, behold them; and to Jerusalem I will give a herald of good tidings. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; for I have fallen, I have risen; [unclear] Hashem is a light for me. The Jews had light and gladness, joy and [unclear]. And David [unclear] in all his ways, and Hashem was with him. [unclear]
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