The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הגאון הינוקא - ＂מעלת השפה הערבית＂ - דברי תורה מרתקים במגוון נושאים

2:40 If you too are within the four amos, you are counted as a sandak. So that counts as a sandak. Also if you are sitting, or you are holding a part. One can do this: if there is, say, a dispute between two — both want to be the sandak — or three want it, then you tell one: "You sit"; the second: "You hold the legs."

3:05 Seat one of them, and tell him: "Put your hands on the chair"; the second will hold the legs; the third, tell him: "Hold the hands." One stands here, one sits — that is three already. And for one more, a fourth — tell him: "Hold the chair." All of these count as being sandak. Now — 'sandikus.' In Midrash Shocher Tov, siman 35 — there is the source for the sandak. King David said — King David, a sandak. Where does the word come from?

3:31 Sandak is twice 'Eliyahu' in gematria. — That is 104? Eliyahu, twice; sandak is 104. That comes out... — How? It is also twice the Name Havayah. It is also twice the Name Havayah. — In the Midrash, I said, it is written about the knees. — Right. In the Midrash, in Midrash Shocher Tov, siman 35, King David said that his knees were a sandikus.

3:56 He used his legs as a sandikus. That is why the knees have a great standing. What kind of word — from what language is 'sandikus'? — It sounds like... There are several kinds of Aramaic. 'Esrog,' too. Esrog — where did 'esrog' come from? It has no source; the translation is Onkelos — that it is an esrog. 'Esrogin' — that is not what is written in 'pri etz hadar'; 'esrogin,' like that.

4:21 So that is the Targum of 'pri etz hadar.' In any case, Maran the Chida writes that it is a very great time of favor. When the baby cries, one should not quiet him. There are those who, the moment he cries, give him a pacifier — [unclear]. It is a great merit. [unclear] — It has the merit of... yes? — Yes. This crying — it makes one wise. And one also merits a very great thing — that at this time it is a very high time of favor, which breaks through all the gates of Heaven.

4:49 It can bring the Holy One, blessed be He, immense nachas. — Yes. Remember us, have us in mind. — Rav, [unclear] the great lineage — he mentioned the lineage, so... — You know, the Rebbe of Ostrovtza... — I have heard of the Rebbe of Ostrovtza. So he — his father was a baker. He was a baker. Once, all the Rebbes were sitting together, in some place — at some beis din they were all sitting.

5:15 He sat together with them, and each one said: "My holy grandfather says," "My holy father says," "My holy grandfather says." Then his turn came — his father having been a baker — so what did he tell them? "My father used to say: fresh bread is better than old bread." — Rav, the holy Ohr HaChaim there... [unclear] What does it mean? That a person has to begin with himself.

5:40 — Yes: to begin, to stop looking back. — It obligates. It obligates a person, right — to begin. You know, the Maggid of Mezritch was not of distinguished lineage. The Maggid of Mezritch — he was... he did have a kind of lineage, as they say [unclear], but through the other side, the mother's; but that was before — they were living in a house, and their megillas yuchsin, the scroll of their lineage, was burned. He said to her: "I will begin a new chain" — [unclear] — "I am not of distinguished lineage." — It can't be. [unclear] ...Rabbi Avraham HaMalach, "the Angel" — because the Tzemach Tzedek said that he was a parush, set apart, and did not touch this world.

6:38 And he said that if one were to take a spark of fire — a spark from a match — and put it to the garment of Rabbi Avraham HaMalach, from his fire, like the seraphim, it would be burned up. So that is why the name "Rabbi Avraham HaMalach" stuck to him. They say he would go everywhere at great speed; he would walk with a tallis like this, covering himself over the face, like this, so that no one would see him. He was [unclear] at a bris with Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl.

7:07 He sat down, and fear fell on the Rebbe of Chernobyl when he arrived. Fear fell on him, and then he said to him: "What is this? I mean — why are you making such awe, such fear?" So he said to him: "Hashem is so great..." [unclear] Rabbi Baruch and Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim, the Degel Machaneh Ephraim, when they were small, went into his house and stood at the window, looking to see him. And they saw him — how the chair was going from side to side — and Rabbi Baruch forgot his Tehillim there, out of fear, when he came close to the window.

7:38 Meaning, the fear of Heaven they absorbed just from seeing him go from side to side went into them for all the days of their lives. Rabbi Avraham HaMalach. Rabbi Avraham Mattisyahu of Shtefanesht — he was born on Chanukah. Named for Mattisyahu the Kohen Gadol; and he is 'Avraham' after him. Rabbi Avraham Mattisyahu is the son of Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Shtefanesht, son of Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin, son of Rabbi Shalom Shachna, son of Rabbi Avraham HaMalach, son of Rabbi Dov Ber — son of Rabbi Avraham HaMalach. Your lineage. You [unclear] Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin?

8:05 Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin said he could be a hundred years on a desert island and not turn his mind from Hashem, blessed be He, for even one moment. — Oy, oy, oy. — Not to turn his mind for even an instant from Hashem, blessed be He. He hinted about himself that he was a gilgul of the soul of King Shlomo. — Being alone is easier, no? Being alone is easier, right? — Being alone is easier [unclear], alone with no companion at all, but... — Rav, the Ohr HaChaim on "vayatzilehu miyadam," where Reuven saved Yosef. — About the lineage. About the lineage. — The holy Ohr HaChaim writes: why did he save him?

8:36 Because even though in the pit, too, there are snakes and scorpions, he stresses that there is man, who has free choice, and he has the power to kill even someone who is not liable to death. That, Rav, seems to overturn everything we are used to. We know that if a person has passed away, we say it was his time; that is how it was fixed for him in Heaven. According to the holy Ohr HaChaim — the Shelah writes this too — at "Zochreinu l'chaim," said several times, one should have in mind, at one of those times, that a person not be killed by a man with free choice. How, Rav, does that fit with everything we have been used to until today?

9:03 Yes, but what the holy Ohr HaChaim implies is that even when it was not decreed on a person, and he is not due to die, if a man — even a non-Jew — he has the freedom of choice to kill someone even if it was not fixed for him. What we are always used to: if, Heaven forbid, there is a terror attack, we know: those six who were murdered — that is how it was fixed for them, out of the hundred who were there. According to the holy Ohr HaChaim — no. It could be that, Heaven forbid, three — yes, and three only because that man chose that these be killed. How does this fit with all our emunah?

9:30 — A fine question. But those with free choice, too — that too is by the will of Hashem, blessed be He. You know how I resolve this for you? — Yes. There are stars in the sky, right? Mazalos. — Mazalos. — And Israel is above the mazal? — Yes. Above the mazalos. And sometimes we see the mazal ruling over Israel? How does that fit? Decide: either we are above the mazal, or we are not above the mazal. Sometimes the attribute of judgment accuses a person, and it may be that such a thing was set in motion from Heaven.

9:58 But if a person cleaves to the Holy One, blessed be He, and goes after Hashem, blessed be He, he has to be saved. As the Gra writes in his commentary on Mishlei — he writes that if a person wants to know from what he will leave the world: he will die from his desire. Because if a person breaks his desire, he will not die from it. Very hard — for it to kill him. If you want to know from what a person will die — from what he will die? Look at the desire he has. His desire is what will kill him.

10:23 That is, he will do some thing that comes about from his desire, to get to a certain place, and there he will die. There is a person, say, who craves climbing mountains, and views; he loves it, he is crazy about it. You see him go up the mountain one day, and he falls and dies. There is a person who craves diving with sharks. He craves it, he has the desire. He goes into the sea — the first time he comes out, the second time he comes out; the fiftieth time he goes into the sea — dead. Dead. His desire killed him. If he had not loved being with sharks...

10:49 — So how does that fit with the Ohr HaChaim? — You understand? Meaning, sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He, brings upon a person a certain wish. The Rebbe of Chernobyl writes, in Parshas Matos, that sometimes it comes to a person — "let's travel somewhere, let's go somewhere" — and it is set in motion from Heaven, and that brings him to that very place. "I considered my ways, and returned my feet to Your testimonies." I reckon my ways in the world, and in the end I bring my feet back to the place where all the sparks of holiness will be raised up.

11:16 That is "I considered my ways, and returned my feet to Your testimonies." So everything is by the decree of the Holy One, blessed be He. It makes no difference who passes by, or who says something, or who suddenly shows up — suddenly, in an attack or in any way at all. When a person has to arrive there, he will go. It is simply that sometimes it comes about through one who has free choice. Meaning, it comes about in a way where there can be a certain choice — he took this one and not that one; that is in the marking of the tav "on the foreheads of the men" — those people.

11:42 But at the root, everything is by the decree of the Holy One, blessed be He. Like, for example: Israel keeps Shabbos — the Jewish people keep Shabbos, and so they are saved from the star Shabtai, Saturn. The star Shabtai is the star appointed over destruction and ruin. All the destruction and ruin there is in the world — a tsunami, fires, collapses, earthquakes — where is it drawn from? From the star Shabtai. Now Shabbos comes — when does the star Shabtai rule? On the day of Shabbos. Why is it called 'Shabbos' — 'Shabtai,' from the word Shabbos?

12:10 When did the Holy One, blessed be He, do this kindness, that the star Shabtai should rule? On the day of Shabbos. So notice: disasters and pogroms that happened on Shabbos — they were the hardest. The Shabbos when there was that Simchas Torah — when was it? Shabbos. The blow was a hard one for Israel. When there is a calamity or a plague, a trouble, an earthquake, a trouble or any disaster at all — when it happens on Shabbos, it is more severe. Like fire.

12:37 — That was my question too. — It was created on Motza'ei Shabbos. If it comes on Motza'ei Shabbos, it is the very hardest. When a thing comes at the time it was created, then it is at its hardest. The star Shabtai — from the sense of destruction and ruin, 'shabbos.' Says the Holy One, blessed be He: now, you keep Shabbos — you are above the mazal; Shabtai does not harm you. And whoever desecrates Shabbos — "shall surely be put to death." Why "those who desecrate it shall surely be put to death"? Not only as an affliction. [unclear] you will be under Shabtai; "I am not responsible for you, for Shabtai will harm you." And then you say: how can that be? What — is there a star that will do something else? No.

13:06 Do not keep Shabbos — Shabtai rules over you. Keep Shabbos — you are above Shabtai. Cleave to the Holy One, blessed be He, and no one with free choice in the world will harm you. But a person who casts himself into nature — the Ohr HaChaim is precise — there it can be... That seems to me the answer for the Ohr HaChaim. — Rav, in the year of October 7th there was no blowing of the shofar. Is that connected? Not connected to our professions. There is a person who is a shochet, there is a person who is a mohel — a mohel too, a mohel too, yes, yes. So sometimes it is good for a person to work at that; such an act can remove from a person the dinim and this bloodshed, these things — [unclear] — the gevuros. Yes, that is how it comes out.

13:52 But there is no connection to the shofar. Look, it is always good — there were several years when they did not blow the shofar. True — and they always wrote about it; there are many explanations of it, and many sages wrote, that when it was Shabbos, that year was a hard one, when they did not blow the shofar. But again, that was for many great ones in their time, for whom that was the only thing missing; it was liable to bring pogroms. But today we are not on a level where what we lack is the shofar, so that in that year, if the shofar is not heard, then there will be...

14:21 In their time — true. In our time, the baseless hatred there is, the lashon hara there is among us, the splits, the disputes, these things — look. When was it? Exactly when there were all the demonstrations and all those things, when there was division among us, and we hate one another, and talk about one another, and fight one another all day, instead of fighting the nations of the world who are against us, and quarrel with one another all day.

14:47 And the result, as you see, is what this brings in the end — through the division. In the Yerushalmi, chapter one [unclear], it says: the generation of Achav would go out to war and win, and there were idol worshippers among them, and not one of them died in war — because there were no ba'alei delatoria, no informers, among them. — Psss! — One! One! No — do you know what that is? Who could come and say such a thing? What power is this, of Achav? Achav — idol worshippers?

15:11 Achav was a king, a mighty man, brave. When he fought in the war and Hadadrimmon shot the arrow at him, and it struck him, and he died, and he collapsed, and there was fulfilled in him "where the dogs licked the blood of Navos, the dogs shall lick your blood — yours too" — as he sat in the chariot and his blood ran, and the dogs came and licked his blood, like the prophecy — like the prophecy, for that is what Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, had told him. So Achav sat there and did not want to leave the battle, meaning, so that the people's heart would not go faint.

15:38 He sat on and held himself up strongly, so that everyone would see he was still fighting on. He was brave. And the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him another twenty-two years to live, on top of his life. He should have died long before that. Why did he live long? Because he supported the Torah. He supported Torah scholars. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: you will go on another twenty-two years because of your strength and this support of the Torah. — As the Rav says... [unclear] says that Shabbos is the opposite: there is no judgment, they do not write a judgment; it is a good Shabbos there. — Right. — It is good; it is better when it is Shabbos. — Right. — There is no beis din, and then [unclear].

16:07 — Right. Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbos is [unclear]. Also in anaf 3 — in Sidduro shel Shabbos, too — Rabbi Chaim of Chernovitz writes it. — Yes, yes. [unclear], yes. The Be'er Mayim Chaim. He would rise by a head on his Shabbos. Yes, by a head — he was taller, not as on a regular day. He would think that anyone who fell asleep on Shabbos was dead. Once he saw someone who had dozed off, sleeping on Shabbos; so he came over to him, took a bucket of water, and poured a bucket of water on him.

16:32 He jumped up and said to him: "What are you doing?" He told him: "I thought you were dead. I didn't know that you... Who can sleep on Shabbos? It says 'shomer Shabbos,' one who guards Shabbos — a guard sits up; on Shabbos one has to be awake." — Rav, the [unclear] in the heart — how does one get it out? — One cleans the heart. One cleans the heart through sighs. In Likutei Moharan of Rabbi Nachman, Torah 8 in Part 1: make sighs, clean out the heart. Do it: Oy — "Ahhh — how far I am from Hashem, blessed be He."

17:01 "Ahhh." Like that, right. Already you are coming close to the King. Now you are rolling it to 'Bereishis.' You are rolling it to 'Bereishis' now. No problem, no problem — do it like this. Do it like this, from here and from here. So who [unclear] here? Ah, he did [unclear]. Do it like this — come on. You almost got up there; it is short for you.

17:27 No — it doesn't go in; the house is small. We need a new house. A new house. Bring the grandson. Rav Halberstam, right? He is a grandson of Rav Halberstam. Rav Halberstam, Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man, named after Rav Shach — a real Litvak, this one. [unclear] — my students. I came there, I sat — there were all kinds like that, you know.

17:52 So at first we were looking for minyanim; we knew of some. Suddenly we came — [unclear]. They want to leave it, they want to come to the Land of Israel — [unclear] — they took on keeping Shabbos. You know what that is? Not one time [unclear] with them about a non-Jewish woman. At one of the seudos they told me: "Rav, this one left a non-Jewish woman, this one left a non-Jewish woman. This one was about to get married now." No — they had non-Jewish girlfriends. They were about to marry non-Jewish women. About to marry them.

18:17 And we reached the point where I had already counted eleven — he said more, but I did not count more. When I was already here, a message was already passed to me that it had reached seventeen [unclear]. — Wow! — And people took it upon themselves, people chose — really moving — they left non-Jewish women, and took upon themselves to keep Shabbos, and took upon themselves [unclear] and tefillin. Eleven years without putting on tefillin — he took on tefillin. — Oy. — It was really like that; it felt to me that it... They went to the mikveh; women took mikveh upon themselves.

18:45 Women took mikveh upon themselves. Women are going to the mikveh. — Oy. — The power of the niggun. I added a word for the French. — 'Jourambo'? No one knows it. I told them: this is a new word that I have put into their lexicon. 'Jourambo' is, like, everything — it is like a kind of kol-bo, an all-in-one; it is, like, 'Jourambo' is also thank you very much; 'Jourambo' is all the blessings; 'Jourambo' is thank you very much, 'Jourambo' is very nice, 'Jourambo' is feel good, 'Jourambo' is be healthy. 'Joie' too — it is 'joie' too. 'Joie' is joy — 'joie,' 'la joie.' Ah, I am correcting the Frenchman — did you see?

19:25 Did you see, with the 'joie'? 'Je t'aime beaucoup' — everyone said to me 'Je t'aime beaucoup' — I was full of bakbukim, bottles — 'je t'aime beaucoup, je t'aime beaucoup, je t'aime beaucoup, je t'aime beaucoup, je vous aime,' 'la joie' — [in French, unclear] [in French, unclear] — 'la France' — [unclear] What will happen when we travel to Morocco? I picked it up along the way.

19:50 We will go to Morocco, we will speak Arabic. Arabic is a language, it is the only language of all the languages that is a language considered [one word unclear]. Arabic, Arabic. Come, you will be amazed to hear. I will tell you something, since we spoke of it. Rav Saadia Gaon, have you heard of Rav Saadia Gaon? He composed his Tafsir and his commentary. In what language? — Like the Rambam.

20:15 But his commentary on the Torah, the commentary on the Torah... What the Rambam did was on the Oral Torah. Rav Saadia Gaon composed his on the Written Torah, the Written Torah, in Arabic. You know, that is not like writing on the Oral Torah: Mishnayos, novel insights, explanations, the things the Rambam wrote. Rav Saadia Gaon lived in the time of the Geonim. Back in the time of the Geonim; that is long before the period of the Rambam. In the time of the Geonim, and to write commentaries in Arabic: you see that the Arabic language is a language... What, what did you get? [unclear] The Arabic language is a clean language. Not a polluted language, like that of...

20:51 All of them... the Holy Tongue, yes. In Tractate Sanhedrin, page 21, in Sanhedrin, page 21, there it also speaks of which script the Torah came down in: Ivri script, this script, Ivri script, which script it was, right? But the Ashuri script, also because it is "me'ushar," approved from Heaven. But you see that these scripts were already ancient things, from days of old. They are not the scripts there are today, the foreign tongues and all those things, but... [a language, unclear] is an impure language. All the languages are not languages; all the languages are languages that are not good.

21:16 The one language, the only language that is esteemed for its cleanness, is the Arabic language, a very, very, very clean language, very clean. [unclear] there is the language that is the most a mixture, kilayim, of many things, of English, of German; whoever knows German understands Yiddish. Not always; there are many words there that are different, but it is a mixture, because it is a language that was spoken by the Jews in exile so that they would not mix with the languages of the non-Jews. They invented Yiddish. The Jews knew: you will be in this language, the non-Jews in that language; do not mix with their language.

21:50 So that is why it came out this way: it is a mixture of many languages. But the Arabic language is an ancient language, and it is a clean language. — There are digits [unclear], in the shape of those letters? — Right. There is the song, "Of David: Blessed is Hashem..." [unclear]. This niggun is the only ancient niggun, from the time of the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple. It is the only niggun. The only one. If you want to hear a niggun from the time of the Temple, it is this niggun, the only one. — Oy, oy. — From the house of the Levi'im. — Who adopted it? The Arabs? — No.

22:20 It rolled on through the whole exile. Every community. [unclear] a niggun there, yes? [unclear] the Sefer HaNiggunim, they brought it too. But it is a niggun, yes, yes, a niggun from days of old. But when you come and look at this and you say, wow, where is this from? After all, the whole culture of the Maghreb, that was in the West: look, for example, at Morocco, at all those places where they lived, the non-Jews there, the Jews and the kings there; at Saudi Arabia, and so on. Look today at the Saudis, at Saudi Arabia, at all the sheikhs and all that: they go about in modesty, they dress modestly; in their warfare they have no women, in war. They speak a clean language, Arabic.

23:01 Now, to get into politics, and "the Arabs are like this": I am not speaking about that, that is not... Let us speak for the moment in terms of the facts. The Arabic language is a learned language, lofty and clean. The Arabic language is a learned language, lofty and clean. Yishmael, yes. Yishmael: "Hashem hears," yes, Hashem hears. And not only that, and also too much. — What does that mean?

23:26 Because of the holiness of the self-sacrifice of Yishmael, that is what holds up their merit for them. We need to be, we need to be holy in the bris, yes. We need to be; we are holy, although [unclear] it is written, if you know: the Holy One, blessed be He, is grieved that He is grieved that He created... But never mind, that is a matter that needs explaining. Yes, it has to be explained; it is not something to say just like that. — So to speak. — Yes. — But how does one prevent the grief that... — We sanctify ourselves with the holiness of the bris. This one stands against that one: when this one rises, that one falls.

23:58 — [unclear] — Yes. We stand, as it were, opposite this. They subdue us when they... that is it, we are subdued, Heaven forbid; and we can rise and prevail against them. And about this too, to say: you see, they say "Allahu akbar." In Salmas Chaim, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld has a responsum; he writes in his responsa that this too is forbidden to say, because it is praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, in any language; it is forbidden to say, in a foreign tongue as well, the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He. Now, among them it is common that they say it a lot, "Allahu akbar." [unclear] Yes. [unclear] that this too is within the restriction, yes, they say it about everything, not because of [unclear].

24:37 We need to say "Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, for His kindness endures forever!" From our own sources. But look at the introduction to Tractate Sanhedrin, in the Rambam's Commentary on the Mishnah: our master the Rambam writes explicitly that their status is not that of idol worshipers. What they say. But you see from here that there is no... if you look, surely there is no problem at all. Their mosque: their status is not that of idol worshipers. In a church it is forbidden.

25:01 A person who entered a church by mistake: all his days he should keep that date and fast, all the days of his life, over having entered a church. — Wow. — All the days of his life. And if he does not remember the date, he remembers only roughly, he should have in mind a certain time, a set date [unclear]; and if he does not remember even that, he should have it in mind on Yom Kippur; he should add in the confession: "for that time that I entered a church," such and such. — Yes, we go into churches on trips; the courtyard. — Going into churches because of, I do not know what? Nothing. — The courtyard of a church? — Forbidden, forbidden. Nothing: not the courtyard, nothing at all. [unclear] — Which churches? [unclear] everything that is here, across the way. — Nonsense, no, that is nothing. That is not...

25:38 This is bowing toward Jerusalem, toward the Temple. What does it matter that they set up this high place here? Ah, right. Do you know him? Ah, let us see. He says there that it is [unclear], and that Gan Eden is there, and also this thing with Zimbabwe. Funny. Funny. That is funny. It is not there. It is a beautiful place, a nice place, but Gan Eden and all those places are here, in Jerusalem.

26:05 No, no, it is not... I saw it. Did you see his book? The book with the pictures and everything. It is a beautiful place, a place among the wonders of the world. A beautiful place, a place among the wonders of the world. Is Gan Eden there? Is that it? I have not accepted that yet. For me, Gan Eden, everything begins in this place; everything was created here, everything began here, and everything began here. — Where, where is it? Where exactly is Gan Eden? But still, all the trees, all the things, [unclear]. Where is Gan Eden?

26:34 And the whole world, [unclear]. Also, if you look here: the Even HaShesiyah, the Foundation Stone. This one here is a tzaftzafah. It is a tzaftzafah. It does not grow by the stream. Whatever grows by the stream is an aravah, a willow. But this is called a tzaftzafah; it does not grow there. But notice, [unclear], if they knew this plant: wherever it is found, it has roots in water. That is to say, there is water here under the ground; we would discover streams, waterfalls, hidden away; all of Jerusalem is over [unclear].

27:06 It could be that this is even the Shiloach, coming from here, passing through here. That is to say, Solomon's Pools, everything King Shlomo made: after all, the Temple is high up, and the other streams he would bring are low; how would he have to bring them from below upward? That is something that is... it is not logical. [unclear] — Right. The question is whether it was by wisdom or it was by Names. I think it was by wisdom and had nothing to do with Names.

27:32 King Shlomo, what he did was by wisdom, not by Names. He did nothing by Names. Only from wisdom; not a thing did he do by Names. Also when he planted the vines of gold, for he knew exactly about the... they are like veins. He said: "Plant this one here, this one here, this one here, this one here," and gold grew for them, upon them gold that was fruitful and multiplied. "Zahav shachut," gold that is drawn out like a thread, yes? "Zahav Parvayim," Parvayim gold: Parvayim because it was fruitful and multiplied, and also it resembles the blood of bulls.

28:00 There were several kinds of gold. Parvayim is because of the blood of bulls, for it was red, like the firepan, the firepan of Yom Kippur. In the Mishnah in Yoma it is written that the firepan was the color of red gold, and all year it was the color of greenish gold, it was not of red gold. — That is the same [unclear] that we have today. — Gold. Today all the gold we have is gold with copper, with lead; it is nothing. The gold of the time of the Sages, that was the purest gold. King Shlomo took a thousand talents... [unclear] Shekalim, on page 18, where the Gemara brings that he took a thousand talents of gold and turned them into one talent of gold.

28:30 He melted it down. Now go and reckon: how much gold! Do you know what that is? He took ten billion, yes, [unclear] in the Midrash. What it tells us, how many talents, [unclear] in the Midrash. Gold was created only for the sake of the Temple. In short, do you want me to go into the sukkah like this already, or should I go into the sukkah like this already? Come, let us begin reading the Torah, gentlemen.

28:56 Go ahead, please. "May Reuven live and not die, and let his men be a number. And this is for Yehudah, and he said: Hear, Hashem, the voice of Yehudah, and bring him to his people; his hands strive for him, and You shall be a help against his foes." Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, Who gave us His Torah, a Torah of truth, and planted eternal life within us. Blessed are You, Hashem, Giver of the Torah. — Amen. — By the way, you should know, now, the verse "And this is for Yehudah," right?

29:28 It is very important. I say this verse at the last "Yihyu leratzon." I say two verses, one for Shlomo and one for Yehudah; so I say this one. So it is very important that a person say a verse that has his name in it, but one that has a kind of plea in it. Not only that your name appears. Not that someone should say, for Avraham: "And Avraham was old, advanced in days," [unclear]. Say a verse where your name appears and there is in it a plea to the Holy One, blessed be He. [unclear] "...called his name Yehudah."

29:53 I decided to say that one: here, Yehudah appears. "Yehudah, you, your brothers shall acknowledge you." That is not the one to say. Look for a verse that has in it a plea and a request to the Holy One, blessed be He. Here: "And this is for Yehudah... Hear, Hashem, the voice of Yehudah, and bring him to his people." — For Avraham, the one from before, is it good? I say that one. What? — To look for something? — No, that does not come first. When a person passes on, in Heaven [unclear]... not to forget; that is what it is for.

30:19 So that a person should remember himself, that he be able to mention himself before the Holy One, blessed be He. From being so frightened up above, then... "Wait, this is your verse." It is worth saying; the verse, he will remember. This verse will speak well of him in the end, in Heaven, for he will remember it, and it will be a great advocate for him. Therefore, say a verse that is a kind of plea and request to the Holy One, blessed be He, and not a verse where only your name appears and there is no plea in it. And be exact about this. — And if there are several verses, and one of them is a plea?

30:43 — Then there is no problem; if one is a plea and the other is not, that is fine. But it is important that there be a plea, that there also be... — The one we said, yes? — That is good, you can say it. You can, but it is better to say one that is a plea, a supplication to the Holy One, blessed be He. And look for another verse that you connect to: better still. The Holy One, blessed be He, does not like gold; the color of gold He does not like.

31:08 It would remind Him of the sin of the Calf. — A Kiddush cup of [unclear]? Red does not remind Him. — The Temple, what about it? Gold, gold, the gold, the gold. [unclear] Gold, the pure kind. The Temple: there was a great deal of gold there. The Temple: it is allowed. The Temple. A Torah scroll and all that. The Temple: no problem. — A Kiddush cup, how is that the Temple? Silver. Silver too. Silver is always preferable; silver is kindness. Gold reminds the Holy One, blessed be He, of the deed of the Calf. But there is a difference between objects that a person puts on himself and objects that he uses to beautify a mitzvah. What is for a mitzvah: there is no problem using one of gold.

31:44 But what is on the body, an atarah for a tallis: better that it be of silver and not of gold. This is not only plating. — [unclear] Yom Kippur too, where there is plating. Is that a problem? — Plating is no problem, but it is preferable... — White gold? — [unclear] — Is it a problem for people too? — Only a woman, because she is reaching the ninth month, or one having a hard labor, or a sick person, should take the gold off, because gold accuses. — Rav, is a gold watch a problem? — A gold watch is a problem; it is "a man shall not wear." But any time a person puts on his body an object that is of gold, or if a woman is about to give birth, it is worth her taking it off in the ninth month of her pregnancy;

32:18 already in the eighth month she should take the gold off her body. She should stay in simplicity, with no gold on her, and that will help her not to have pain in the birth. She should not be seen with gold, because gold accuses. — Gold draws judgments? — It draws judgments. It accuses the person: is he worthy to have gold on him? Each time, a person has to face that. Silver is good. [unclear] ...whatever you want. Listen, there was a certain sick man, a sick man who came some time ago, and he was dressed all in gold, sick with the illness: a gold chain, a gold watch, all of him was gold.

32:48 I said to him: Take the gold off yourself, put it at home, keep it at home, do not put the gold on yourself. Take off the gold. [unclear] a month, it was gone. — Wow. — And if he has gold teeth, Rav? I am not saying now that the gold has to be pulled out. Sick people, or a person who is right now, you know, a woman having a hard labor. But whoever wants to go about with gold and it does him good, let him.

33:18 Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin went about with gold. You know, they made him a chanukas habayis, his mother was sitting there, and she sat and saw him sighing at the chanukas habayis, the dedication of the house. They had made him handles of gold, doors plated with gold, everything. So she saw him sighing, and she said to him: "Why are you sighing? What, is only this hard? Should the floor be of gold too?" He said to her: "What of it? Why not? Why not? Why?" And Rabbi Naftali Katz, the Semichas Chachamim, also went about in royal style.

33:46 He had a cushion of silver, [unclear]. And then he said, Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin said: "In Heaven, now that they see me, they have released him in Heaven. They busied themselves with me after that. He owes me a favor for my having saved him." Why? They were judging him in Heaven: "How did you lean on a cushion made of silver? How did you lean on a pillow like that?" For he was... you know, the Turei Zahav, when he wanted to understand something, would hold a piece of gold in his hand, and he would understand things.

34:12 [unclear] that is the Temple. There is no problem, no problem being with a gold watch, and whoever wants to go about with the watch and so on... I simply am strict and would not wear one; I have a simple watch, of plastic. I do not... As for the Rabbis: what a sage has is in his Torah and in his simplicity; he does not need to dress in gold or with such things. He still, he still took no enjoyment [unclear]. Right. Rabbeinu HaKadosh: you have no one who was as rich as he, and he did not... he did not touch this world.

34:40 But it is important, you know: all the wealth in the world, [unclear] it to the Holy One, blessed be He. We need to use it with purposes. With purposes; you should have purposes. Everything has a reason. There is a design in this world, and not everyone can understand the designs. But when a person conducts himself with royalty, it is as if too much, not what... That is for the Holy One, blessed be He: dressed in garments of gold, and everything gold and so on. Whoever wants to, whoever wants to. Right, so I said it is allowed. [unclear] Yes, but the question, once again: it depends who the person is. Who is he?

35:08 Who is he? Why? Because, is he doing it for himself, or is he doing it for the mitzvah? Yes, exactly. — For Hashem. — Exactly. If you are doing it for the purpose of a mitzvah, and for On High, then diamonds too, by all means. But if you are doing it for "See, see who I am. Here, look what costly vessels I have. Look how much wealth I have, look at my goblet," then you are not really doing it to beautify the mitzvah; you are doing it for your pride.

35:34 What a person does for his pride, attributing it to himself: better not. What a person does for the needs of a mitzvah: put even diamonds inside the Kiddush goblet, on the inside, and whatever is connected to a mitzvah, put them. — [unclear] — Yes. If you now received a watch of the Chozeh of Lublin's, cover it in gold and diamonds, go about with it. Why? It is the Chozeh of Lublin's. Understood. — It is already plated, Rav. Right? Just a small question.

36:00 Shalom, shalom, please. Length of days, length of days, and years of life, peace. There? There? — Is Arabic a corrupted Hebrew?

36:24 Yes, I, certainly it is... No, I did not think that you [unclear] or something. No, no, then it is the opposite. I... certainly [unclear]... yes. No, I did not come to say...; I am speaking, as it were, in general about the nation, like the Persians, who are modest. You see that they have modesty, and that they have the... — How did they merit this, Rav? What did they merit? What is their merit?

37:25 Yes. "And of Yosef he said: Blessed of Hashem is his land, with the bounty of the heavens, with dew, and with the deep that lies below; and with the bounty of the sun's harvests, and with the bounty of the moons' yield; and from the top..." When you make it heard.

37:57 If only we merit it. They all listened; really, they have no choice. All of them, they all listened. Exactly so. — Sir, may I? — There is nothing else. There is nothing else. There is nothing. Health: very important. [unclear] The Rambam, in Hilchos De'os, chapter 4, chapter 4, writes that one must keep his body healthy. [unclear] Come, on health, again. But this too, now, baruch Hashem, not that... It is healthy, it is good, it is good. [unclear] Wow, [unclear]. And did you know [unclear] about Shabtai? Yes? About the miracles of... right? [unclear] this week. How beautiful.

38:21 The miracles of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds; he spoke of fifty miracles. — Right. — [unclear] I also heard the questions. He said all the miracles. [unclear] — Ah, you heard all fifty? That is... — I am at thirty-seven [unclear], [unclear] the miracles, and then I got here. — Wow. We will continue. That was a miracle... But all fifty miracles: I explained all fifty miracles. — It is impossible to stop, impossible to stop. Right at thirty-seven.

38:46 Yes. Now go over it again; let us see once more. — No, I said [unclear]; I did not count either, [unclear] the miracles. [unclear] — Amen. [unclear] — Amen. "And peace be upon you, and peace be upon you..." [unclear] [unclear] A Torah scroll, yes. [unclear] is special. Come here. Very special. [unclear] So enjoy. Our sukkah is on the right side, down there. We are with [name unclear].

39:19 — Ah, right. [unclear] — Ah, nice. Asher ben Yehudis. And you, where are you from, sir? — I am from Jerusalem. Yaakov ben Shulika. Yaakov ben Shulika. Shulika: now [unclear] health upon you. — How did you know that he came from Netivot? Here? At four-thirty in the morning we had already spoken downstairs. — My grandfather's grandfather is buried by the Baba Sali, in the compound itself. — Who is that? The grandfather's grandfather? — Yaakov.

39:44 — [unclear] Dadon? — No, Malul. Malul, ah, [unclear] Malul. My neighbor above me is Rav Yaakov Getz. — You are Rav [unclear] Getz's? I do not know. [unclear] The main thing is who you are, not who your neighbor is, and not who your neighbor is. May the Holy One, blessed be He, watch over you; may you always [unclear], may you always have a heart, [unclear] clean, doing good.

40:17 May good things always be said of you, and may you do good things. — And the Holy One, blessed be He, repays me too, [unclear]. — You have merited: always beloved to Heaven and dear to Him. Applause! Look, what a heart, what character, what a heart, what [unclear]. Well done to you, sir; you strengthen us. — I was in a bidding for a house of four and a half million shekels; a certain Frenchman came from France, to live next to his son's house, [unclear] eight, eight and a half, no matter what it came to, [unclear]. One million six hundred, on Herzl Boulevard.

40:53 I go by the heart, and the Holy One, blessed be He, did not abandon me, Heaven forbid, for a moment; He gave me a better house. [unclear] great tzaddikim, we said.

41:27 May He, blessed be He, watch over you, [unclear] health, for everyone, for all the Jewish people. May you succeed, may you be happy. Amen. At joyous occasions; good tidings, [unclear], only good, sir. Sleep well. [unclear] the children, what are you saying? The soul does not settle in the body until one says Mishnayos. And especially the Mishnah "Bameh Madlikin": it is also a segulah for livelihood for the whole week. They said: "Bameh Madlikin" on Erev Shabbos is a segulah for livelihood all week.

41:53 And when you say the Mishnayos and this order, [unclear] in the morning, at Shacharis, you say it: the greatness of it is beyond measure. It awakens the soul, it rectifies the soul, it brings a person to great benefit; it opens the gates of siyata diShmaya, Heaven's help. When many gates are locked to a person, a person still before siyata diShmaya, Mishnayos open the gates of siyata diShmaya. What is livelihood? It opens gates. That already... this brings us [unclear].