How to Deal With Anger | The Gaon Hayanuka Pirkei Avot Chapter 4 Part 3

2:47 You have to go to it. "And do not say that it will come after you, that your friends will uphold it in your hand." Many times people think they can rely on their friends. "Fine, you're going to the shiur — tell me afterwards what the Rav said." "Then I'll hear it." He doesn't make the effort to hear it himself. "Tell me what the Rav said here, what the Rav said just now, what he thinks here, what he thinks." He doesn't want to learn by himself. He wants everyone to do the work for him.

3:12 So about this a person is told: be careful. You cannot understand these things on your own. "Write this as a remembrance in the book, and place it in the ears of Yehoshua." There is a difference between a person who learns by himself and one who hears from someone who heard. When you pass something on — all the more so lashon hara today — when a person says, "So-and-so spoke about you" — how false it is. There is a difference when a person heard the lashon hara himself. The person maybe said something good, and already one passes it on to the next, turns it into more than that, adds another word, adds something else.

3:41 There are many distortions and corruptions along the way. So all the more so in passing on a G-dly message from Heaven, it is not enough for a person to lean on his friends — "that your friends will uphold it in your hand." They will not help you. You yourself must learn and review and hear it from the mouth of the one who said it, and not rely on hearsay, but hear and learn Torah from the Rav himself. That is what brings you to the fulfillment and the learning of this Torah there.

4:08 "And do not rely on your own understanding" — a person should not seek to rely on himself, to learn Torah on his own. He says, "I rely on my own mind, I have enough sense, I'm smart, I know, I'm a talmid chacham, I can rely on myself, I know, I understand." It is not enough to understand. A person can never rely on his own mind, for his mind will mislead him. Do you remember that I also told the story about the Rogatchover?

4:33 He would test people for rabbinic ordination; everyone he tested did not manage to pass. Until he ordained one man. They said to him, "Who is this?" They went to question him — for the most part he knew nothing. And then he asked, they said to him — he said, "If I don't know something, I will come to you." He fulfills "Do not rely on your own understanding"; he doesn't rely on his own mind. He fulfills learning and hearing from the words of the Sages. He said to him: "If so, you will receive rabbinic ordination."

5:00 And the Gaon of Rogatchov gave the ordination precisely to that man, who wanted to hear and learn from the sefarim and to learn from the Rogatchover. He said, "If I don't know something..." The Rogatchover said to him: "Someone comes to you with a question and you don't know — what will you do?" He said to him: "What's the problem? I open a sefer, look, see what is written, read, search, and I say." "And if you don't understand the sefer either, what will you do?"

5:27 He said to him: "Of course — I will come to your honor." "He is worthy." He wrote a letter: "My hand ordains him." See what this is: "If I don't know, I'll open a sefer and search. If I don't know, I'll come to you, the sage." This one is fit to be a talmid chacham; this one is fit to be a Rav. Not one who is asked anything and answers. Is that wisdom? The wisdom is: even if you don't know, search in a sefer, go and hear from a sage who knows.

5:52 That is true greatness — not a person's knowledge. His effort to know. Like the Maharam Schick, who would review his learning forty times in order to learn it. All the more so when we learn Torah, when we fulfill what is in Tractate Berachos, page 7b, where the Gemara says, "Its service is greater than its study" — to learn the Torah from the mouths of the Sages. That a person receives Torah learning and learns from the Sages and doesn't rely on himself. As they learned in Tractate Berachos, page 63b.

6:18 There are many, many virtues in this, and very great importance, for a person who learns from the Sages and doesn't rely on himself. With this he fulfills "And do not rely on your own understanding." Don't rely on your own mind. Let's see. Rabbi Yannai says: "It is not in our hands — neither the tranquility of the wicked..." We don't know why the wicked have success and why it is good for them here in the world; we don't understand — as I explained to you about Shaar HaGemul of the Ramban — that reward in this world, we will not understand why — "nor the sufferings of the righteous" — "nor even the sufferings of the righteous."

6:53 We cannot understand why there is so much hardship for the tzaddikim, and their sufferings that they endure. Rabbi Masya ben Charash says: "Be first to greet every person." Every person — be first to greet him. Pay attention: it doesn't say, "Be first to greet every man of Israel," every Jew, every one — "Be first to greet every person." Even a non-Jew. Even one who is not Jewish. That is "every person" — greet him first.

7:20 Even every person. As the Bartenura says: "Be first to greet every person" — says the Bartenura — "and even a non-Jew in the marketplace." Do you understand? Even one like that. What's that? "A little longer and there is no wicked one; you will look at his place and he is not there." Part 1, Torah 282, of our holy Rebbe, Rabbi Nachman. Have you already decided who is wicked and who is a tzaddik?

7:48 We judge everyone favorably. We smile and show a shining face to everyone. Let's move on, we don't have much time. "And be a tail to lions, and do not be a head to foxes." Many times people want to lead the little ones, and they don't understand; they want honor, to make themselves great. It is better for a person to be a tail to lions, to come and receive Torah from a great talmid chacham, from great talmidei chachamim, and not be some rav unto himself, a neighborhood rav in some corner, and he is proud and thinks he is something, and that he already knows, because he teaches four laymen who don't even know which way to hold the sefer.

8:26 And that's it, he thinks he already knows. Don't be a tail... don't be a head to foxes; be a tail to lions. Go to the lion, because in the end you will be great. Be a tail to lions and do not be a head to foxes. How much wisdom and depth there is in this saying! It is simply astounding. How much of a person's life depends on this. When a person thinks about it — his self-nullification, the fact that he is a tail — it only makes him greater. When you are a tail you are the most protected, because the lion's mouth and the lion's body protect you.

8:55 When you are a tail you are always protected. But when you are a head by yourself and behind you are little foxes — when a real lion comes, he will devour you. Not for nothing did they say: "Be a tail to lions and do not be a head to foxes." Rabbi Yaakov says: "This world is like a corridor." Like a corridor — when a person walks through a house, there is the corridor to the rooms. In every house there are rooms, there is a kitchen, a living room and a corridor, right? In every house there is a corridor. There is no house without a corridor, right?

9:25 There is this small, narrow passage to the rooms. You pass through the corridor, you pass into the rooms. The Sages say — Rabbi Yaakov says — this world, what is it like? It is like a corridor. It's like when you pass from this room. It's like when you pass from this room to that room. "This world is like a corridor before the World to Come." What does this mean? This world — everything you see of it is like your passage from the rooms, from the house, to the exit, to the entrance, to the elevator.

9:57 What are those seconds? It's seconds, what is it? It's a corridor, it's nothing. Are you now going to start investing in this corridor? It is only a passageway. That's how this world is. This whole world is a corridor. All the desires of this world, everything there is in this world — honor, falsehood, greatness — everything you see in this world, it is all falsehood. All falsehood. Nothing, nothing. It's all falsehood. Nothing interests us. We need to focus only on Torah and cling only to Hashem. This world is like a corridor.

10:26 Because the World to Come is the true purpose. It is the true palace of the King. So it also comes, as it were, to tell a person: don't despair of this world either. Don't be broken and don't despair over it, because... it should not confuse you. "Prepare yourself in the corridor" — prepare yourself properly here in this world, really well, in this corridor, "so that you may enter the banquet hall" — so that truly, when the World to Come arrives, you will enter a good place.

10:56 There are many rich people here in the world, but when they go, they have great poverty above. They wear black, and worn-out clothes, and they have no honor or greatness, and they have no palace, and none of the royalty they had here — they don't have it; they are alone. And the opposite: there are many poor people who were here, who passed away, and above, they are settled and at peace, with palaces and greatness and happiness and honor such as never was.

11:27 "He used to say" — every time it's written "He used to say," it continues with the previous sage, who spoke just before. "He used to say" — Rabbi Yaakov says: "Better one hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world — on Shabbos we had hours like that — than all the life of the World to Come." "Than all the life of the World to Come" — it doesn't come close to this, to the moment you truly merit to taste the taste of the Torah. It is an eternal taste, a taste of vitality, of holiness, spiritual.

11:55 You taste this taste, the eternal taste, this spiritual holiness — that is better than all the life of the World to Come. "And better one hour of bliss of spirit..." Bliss of spirit is when a person delights in the radiance of the Shechinah. When he delights, he has bliss of spirit. When does he delight? When the Shechinah shines Her face upon him, he has bliss of spirit. He has contentment, tranquility. When the Shechinah is with him, he has bliss of spirit. He feels secure when the Shechinah is with him; that is why it is called delighting in the radiance of the Shechinah.

12:24 "Better one hour of bliss of spirit in the World to Come than all the life of this world" — than all this physicality a person has in this world. Give a person all the pleasures and all the delicacies and all the delights — it is not one brief moment of the Shechinah resting upon him. A person, the Shechinah rests upon him — there is no desire in the world that compares to this, to a person having the Shechinah resting upon him. Rather than boasting that he has this rich man, and this magnate, and this one and that one — but it may be that Hashem is not with him.

12:51 Therefore the greatest pleasure is that the Shechinah rests upon a person — it is a great thing. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: "Do not appease your fellow at the time of his anger." Not while a person is angry. There's a person — people see someone angry, right away everyone jumps on him: "Ah, calm down," they start appeasing him. No — wait, patience, give him a little. "My face shall go, and I will give you rest." Give him a little time to settle; appease him, calm him.

13:18 But from here we also see how important it is to appease the person, because from here you learn: "Do not appease your fellow at the time of his anger." So from here you learn that if he is not angry, all the more so — you must appease him. Do you understand? How important it is to appease the angry one, appease the one who was hurt. At the time of his anger, don't appease. So when it is not the time of his anger, all the more so you must appease him. Do you understand?

13:43 "Do not appease your fellow at the time of his anger, and do not console him at the time when his dead lies before him." Now you come before the dead has been buried, you try to console him — it is not the time. He cannot take in anything. He needs to be given peace of mind, so that his mind settles upon him. "And do not question him at the time of his vow." One has to find him the opening to annul the vow. Sometimes a person makes a vow and he did not know the reason for the vow he made.

14:14 He vowed it in a moment of anger; he vowed that if this sick person recovers, he will make a great feast and everything. And, Heaven forbid, the sick person passed on — he is exempt, because the request on which he vowed, that it should help, was not fulfilled. He is exempt from doing it. Many times people get mixed up with vows, with oaths; that is why a person must not vow anything. Like one who took on a practice: he thought he had to learn the whole tikkun of reading the entire Tehillim every day.

14:42 Every day, he thought. He heard a rav in the synagogue say there is a virtue in reading the entire Tehillim. He goes home and says: from today he says the entire Tehillim. He gets home, starts reading the entire Tehillim, the entire Tehillim, every day. See how hard it is. "What? So now that I've done teshuvah — the entire Tehillim every day? How hard this is!" You tell him — the Rav comes and tells him: "You didn't know. It's not a vow; you can stop saying the entire Tehillim." "Ah, really?" "Yes, you didn't know, you didn't know. You thought one must say the entire Tehillim every day, and you didn't know — so it is not called a vow."

15:15 So therefore one must also know when to open the opening, when one finds, when one opens an opening to find, to annul the vow. Each thing has its time, and one must know how to find the opening to annul his vow for him. "And do not strive to see him at the time of his disgrace." "At the time of his disgrace" means not appearing before a person at a time when he is ashamed, at a time when he has some humiliation, at a time when he has something not good, at a time when he has weakened in something and is doing it — some thing he is weak in right now, and you come now and appear before him at a time when he is in a ruined state. Why do you do that?

15:49 You could not appear before him now; you come anyway at the time of his disgrace. Maybe this is not the time to appear before him. You need to have derech eretz — when to appear before a person. Don't shame him when he sins. Don't come to him in such a way when his disgrace is before him. You know they are firing him from work now and throwing him out, out of the blue — this is the day they humiliate him and he leaves? "I'll go to him right now, right there." Why are you going there? Do you want to see how they humiliate him?

16:15 Do not see him at the time of his disgrace. One has to know where... What? "His disgrace." Why would you strive? Don't look — it is simply forbidden for us. Look, usually it is human nature to take honor in his fellow's shame. A person always loves to see himself above his friend. He wants to see that he is holy: "I know that he sinned just now, he's ashamed, no one sees him; I'll come now, I want..." People are drawn by their nature to see disgraces, to see... they love it.

16:48 The nature of man and of the world today: to see people's disgraces, to see people like that — this is what drives humanity today. The whole world loves humiliation, loves shame, loves the humiliation when people are humiliated. It gives them something. People love it. So at least a person should not strive for this thing, because there are people who exert themselves and pay a great deal in order to degrade people and to persecute people and to see their disgrace.

17:16 So here the Sages said — as Rabbi Nachman said — at least let the fat not drip onto your beard when you are eating the pig. This is exactly what it says: "Do not strive to see him at the time of his disgrace." Because there are those who even strive and pay and take the trouble to see their fellow's disgrace. Absolutely not. "Do not strive" — don't come to see him at that time, because you can...

17:44 because another person, when he hears of some humiliation, hears of something — try to avoid it. Why are you going there? Try to avoid it. The whole goal is to try to avoid it. Not to give... To turn around and not see it. "Do not strive," right? Yes. Look, now listen to something, here, for example: someone comes now, on Shabbos — someone already went outside — there is someone here smoking outside the window, and on purpose, on Shabbos.

18:19 Right away, what will happen to people? Everyone is curious to go outside. Everyone strives to see, to go outside. A person now hears from his friend that the neighbor has gone mad, gone mad, had some fit of madness — sometimes there are people who have an attack of madness, and they start doing strange things. There are such cases, where people go mad and suddenly do strange things.

18:44 So here he is told: "And do not strive to see him at the time of his disgrace," yes? Try to avoid seeing him at the time of his disgrace, because, you know, he will soon recover from it; there are those who have an attack of madness, too. Sometimes it is not necessarily about a sin. Sometimes it is not necessarily about a sin. If it's suddenly... there are those, there are people who are trauma victims.

19:09 No — each one continues the saying after him. So it's as if he continues with another saying after this saying; so he continued. And one could also say, as it were, that this is his saying. "He used to say" — as if it's... Yes, yes, like a kind of "margela b'fumei" — it's not "margela b'fumei," but it's similar; it's like some main saying of his. Shmuel HaKatan says — because of his humility he is called "the Small" — "When your enemy falls, do not rejoice, and when he stumbles, let your heart not be glad."

19:44 Pay attention: why, why shouldn't one rejoice? Why, as it were, why — what is so serious about this? Why? "Lest Hashem see, and it be evil in His eyes, The Holy One, blessed be He, does not like it when things are bad for people; He does not like it when things are bad for His creatures. He would want it to be good in the whole world. Do you remember that I taught you this reason — why there is no Hallel... On Chanukah there is Hallel, which is Rabbinic. But Hallel on Chol HaMoed Pesach — there isn't.

20:10 That is from the Torah — and the miracle of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds is the greatest praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. The sea split. What a great thing! Hashem says: "If they skip over the Hallel, then you bring Me great praise." Why? Because "The works of My hands are drowning in the sea, and you are saying song?" Because of the seventh day of Pesach — as the Beis Yosef brings in the name of the Shibolei HaLeket — in Megillah, page 10b, where the Gemara says: "The works of My hands are drowning in the sea, and you are saying song?"

20:34 "I don't want this song," says the Holy One, blessed be He. So therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: no need. "and He turn His anger away from him." That way, in the end, the Holy One, blessed be He, can — Heaven forbid, I don't want to say it, but — transfer the troubles, these problems, Heaven forbid, to the other side. So it's better not to rejoice. Yes — we only thank the Holy One, blessed be He, always, and always wish good for everyone. There is no need to rejoice in anyone's downfall, or in any enemy's.

21:04 Elisha ben Avuyah says — there are still sayings from him, from Acher. Elisha ben Avuyah says: "One who learns as a child" — a person who learns Torah when he is a child — "what is he like?" He is fresh and new. "Like ink written on new paper." You see, you take a blank sheet, you write, you draw lines, all clean; there is no imprint on the paper. The paper is clean, no erasures and pencil marks. "One who learns as an old man, what is he like?

21:32 Like ink written on erased paper." There is already an impression. He writes on it. But it's not like when he writes on a blank sheet where everything is clean and clear, orderly, ruled. It's not like when you write on a sheet — you write some essay on a sheet with margins and a mess... When you write on an orderly sheet of paper, all neat, where everything is clean, it is more settled, it is cleaner, clear to read, than those. Such is the difference with a person who did teshuvah in his old age, learns Torah in his old age: the impression of the Torah is not clean in him, because he has a great many opinions inside, and a great many preconceptions, and he thinks he understands; maybe he also understands things incorrectly, he interprets things in a distorted way.

22:12 But when a person learns Torah in his youth, as a child, then everything he learns — the things are engraved and also cleaner; the mind is clearer, cleaner — clean paper; it is all lucid and clear, like water. Listen — if Rabbi Akiva had come back at that age, with what he had on the... But with Rabbi Akiva, that too was "a child." A child? Yes. Because he threw away his own intellect. The meaning here is not age. The meaning is the essence.

22:39 In Tractate Kiddushin, page 30... In Tractate Kiddushin, page 32b, the Gemara says: "zaken," an elder — "this one has acquired wisdom." "Zaken" means "zeh kanah chochmah." Age makes no difference. Age does not come to symbolize anything. Age does not come to symbolize anything. Age is a number. It has no significance. The significance is in the seniority of the knowledge you have accumulated over time. The elder is one over whom many trials have passed.

23:05 As Tosafos say, that many trials have passed over him. An elder — say an elder, a non-Jew, an elder, it doesn't matter. Any elder at all who has gone through many years in life. The elder who has gone through many trials — it's like the Holy One, blessed be He, honors him. Now, when you come and say, what is such an elder — a person who has been through a lot, he learned a lot, he absorbed a lot, he has great life experience — his age doesn't matter. What matters is what he knows. "Zaken" — this one has acquired wisdom.

23:31 That is "an elder," that's how he said it. Now, Rabbi Akiva, "a child" — it means one who does not bring his own intellect. He learns fresh. So if you are now 60 years old, doing teshuvah, and you throw away your own intellect completely, you have the status of a child. Why a child? Because a child is small; he has no intellect of his own. He doesn't bring his own intellect, his own essence. One says, "But at university we learned that a star, the sun, can be bigger than the earth.

23:57 I can't quite take it in — so how can they fit..." No, no, no, sir. A child sits and learns; everything you give him, he says yes, yes, yes, yes. He accepts, he accepts, he accepts. So if you are now at such an age, 60, doing teshuvah — at 80 you do teshuvah, you want to learn — if you don't bring in your own intellect, then your status is "one who learns as a child." You are "one who learns as a child — what is he like." Do you understand?

24:22 And the opposite can also be: a person at age 20 does teshuvah and he is "one who learns as an old man." Because he comes with the university and with the knowledge he learned, after he learned Aristotle and learned all kinds of outside wisdoms. So he is "one who learns as an old man." It does not mean one who learns when old and one who learns when young, yes? Yes? So let's see. Yes, exactly.

24:50 When you receive clean Torah — now, when you come to receive Torah, to learn Torah, everyone comes with his own intellect. "And Hevel, he too brought." Everyone brings himself. He brings his own intellect, his own premise. By that he judges. Now, he learned a few things at university, and suddenly he hears about King David. Right away his university teacher comes to mind, he mixes it in, and he learns. So he doesn't accept things as they are. He says, "But look — but King Shlomo, who married so many, and David, who married so many..."

25:19 He comes with his own intellect. So his status is "one who learns as an old man." Even if he is a young man of 15 or 20. He "learns as an old man." But "one who learns as a child" is like Rabbi Akiva, who at age 40 decided to learn as a child — at age 40, when he decided that he is throwing away his own intellect. He learns as a child; he is completely clean, and through that he became Rabbi Akiva. He learned as a child. So may we all merit to learn the Torah only like "one who learns as a child." Clean — I don't come with my own intellect.

25:44 I write it all on a blank page. Whatever is written, I take in. Whatever the commentators of the Torah write, I take in; I put in nothing of my own. I don't bring my own intellect to the Torah; I nullify myself to the view of the Sages. Let's continue — we got held up here — and to bring us more than anything... I have to finish this. "And one who learns as an old man, what is he like? Like ink written on erased paper" — which becomes blurred like this. Rabbi Yosei bar Yehudah of Kfar HaBavli says: "One who learns from the young — the young — what is he like? Like one who eats unripe grapes, which are not yet ripe, "and drinks wine from his winepress" — wine that has not yet fermented,

26:26 the lees are mixed in, it's all like that. Wine from the press is not clarified, it is not clean, it is with the lees, it is not yet real wine, like so. "And one who learns from the old — what is he like?" A person who learns from the elders — as it says at the end of Kinnim, "With the aged is wisdom, and length of days is understanding" — "like one who eats ripe grapes and drinks aged wine." It is like aged wine, which keeps getting better.

26:53 There it is. That is one who learns from the elders, from their wisdom. Rebbe disagrees with him. Rabbeinu HaKadosh, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, disagrees with him. Rebbe says — pay attention — "Do not look at the flask, but at what is in it." Don't look now at the flasks — who is teaching you, who he is. Look at what he teaches. Pay attention too — one can also bring — after all, why does Rebbe here... one can also say something new now: that Rebbe here disagrees with the first Tanna.

27:22 Why? What does he bring here? That at the beginning it is Elisha ben Avuyah who speaks. So Rebbe says: don't look at the flask — it doesn't matter even that Elisha said this. Pay no attention to that. Because I even come to learn here from Elisha ben Avuyah, who said this. As if to say: Elisha ben Avuyah — look what a saying he brought here before me. So here is a reinforcement of the point — that even I... you come to teach me and explain to me that it's much more important from here and from here. Here he tells him: no — "do not look at the flask."

27:50 "He ate its inside" — exactly; "he ate its inside" reinforces the point. Right, it is said about Rabbi Meir — yes, I know. There is a difference there... "but at what is in it. There is a new flask full of old wine," that is what Rabbi Nachman says — "and an old one that does not even have new wine in it." That is, it is empty of absolutely everything. That is, it doesn't matter. So it doesn't matter how much a person learns or what he learned; the question is the quality and the content and the message in what he will pass on and give us.

28:28 Pay attention — let's see what the Bartenura says here. Rabbi Elazar HaKappar says: "Jealousy" — pay attention — "and desire" — "desire," says the Bartenura: he seeks to fill his desire in eating, and so on, and the like. The Bartenura explains: desire is all the pull toward physical matters and fulfilling them. That is, a person wants to depend on the physical, that the physical should give him life and being.

28:55 So he says: "Jealousy, desire and honor" — people who love... who are jealous — they are not happy with what their fellow has. Pay attention, he also began with jealousy. Why is jealousy so severe? Because jealousy says to the Holy One, blessed be He, in other words: "What are You doing in Your world? Why do You do this for this one and that for that one? You are not doing it right" — Heaven forfend, Heaven forbid. In jealousy, at its root, there is arrogance and denial and heresy against the Holy One, blessed be He.

29:23 For how can you ask why Hashem did this? "I decided to give to this one like this, to raise this one up, to do for this one and not to give. Who are you to ask? Who are you to disagree, and who are you to object? Who are you?" So that is why it removes a person from the world — because he does not truly believe that Hashem does everything. So that is why Rabbi Elazar HaKappar says: jealousy — a person is jealous of his fellow, of everything he has — and desire, and honor. When a person wants honor, honor, he truly craves it.

29:49 He cannot manage without being honored, the poor man — because when he doesn't have the honor, what happens? "They remove a person from the world." He will die before his time, because he can't bear it; without these things he lacks, it is very hard for him. He used to say: "Those who are born" — whoever was born — "are destined to die." Once a person is born, they already begin counting for him until when he... "And the dead" — those who die — "to be brought back to life."

30:14 As soon as they die, right away the count begins for them toward the Resurrection of the Dead. The count already begins — the Resurrection of the Dead. "And the living" — whoever lives here in the world — "to be judged" — to judge them. Their time passes in order to judge them. And then it will be decided whether for life or for death. "To know" — the whole world must know. "To know, to make known" — to publicize to all creatures — "and to have it be known" — that the whole world should know "that He is G-d" — Hashem, blessed be He, King of kings of kings.

30:42 "He is the Maker" — He formed and made all deeds, the entire creation. "He is the Creator," "He is the One who understands" — all the things in the world that people, the creatures, will do; every disaster, every scheme, every plot they will make — it is all He. He is the One who understands, "He is the Judge." It is all by His ruling, it is all by His decision. "He is the Witness" — He is the One who testifies about a person's deeds, if the person denies them.

31:07 "A stone from the wall will cry out." Everything — the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to it: come. "And he said to me: This is the table that is before Hashem." Come, speak. "He is the Witness" — the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring all the witnesses He has in the world. In Tractate Sukkah, page 53: "A person's feet — they are his guarantors." Even a person's feet — the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring them as guarantors, to take him to his place. They are his guarantee, and the Holy One, blessed be He, is his witness who testifies about him.

31:32 "He is the Litigant" — He makes the claim against the sinners for all the sins they did; He comes to judgment with them and makes His claim. "And He is destined to judge," blessed be He. Only Hashem, blessed be He, is destined to judge a person in the World to Come — "before Whom there is no iniquity." With the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no such thing as injustice, nothing of the kind. There is no such thing with the Holy One, blessed be He. "And no forgetting" — He remembers everything, every forgotten thing, every hidden thing. "And no forgetting, and no favoritism."

32:00 Do you remember that we spoke about this on Yom Kippur too, when we do teshuvah? Why? Because on Rosh Hashanah people always think — about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, in people's imagination — that the Holy One, blessed be He, judges them for the sins and transgressions of that year. From Rosh Hashanah to Rosh Hashanah. They are busy only with the sins done that year. And they don't know that the Holy One, blessed be He, brings up — suddenly some sin from 18 years ago can come up. Suddenly some sin from 40 years ago comes up. It accuses the person on Rosh Hashanah, it accuses the person on Yom Kippur — suddenly it comes to him.

32:27 It may also be that sins come from previous gilgulim, previous lifetimes. It's impossible to know. Why do we say "we and our fathers and the members of our household" in the Vidui? "We, our fathers and the members of our household" — those who come from the root of the soul levels, the NaRaNChaY, that are ours. Maybe I did a sin in a previous gilgul. So "we, our fathers and the members of our household" — who are they? All the parts of the person from previous gilgulim. One must have this in mind too. When doing teshuvah, one has intent in the teshuvah one does — one must have in mind "we and our fathers and the members of our household," making confession before the Holy One, blessed be He; making confession: "We are righteous and have not sinned" —

33:01 "we have done wrong, we have rebelled, we, our fathers, the members of our household. We have been guilty, we have betrayed, we have stolen..." — doing teshuvah, the intent is for the person, for all the sins he did in this gilgul and all the sins he did in previous gilgulim, and to do true and complete teshuvah. What? And for all those connected to him. When a person does teshuvah "through that Hidden and Concealed One, in the name of all Israel" — one must have this very, very much in mind when doing teshuvah, and especially in Nefilas Apayim; it rectifies a person's sins, a person's iniquities, a person's transgressions. And Rabbi Avraham Chamui writes in Yemalet Nafsho that this can bring a person to a change — a different spirit; to receive a new tikkun, a new spirit, and joy and salvations and blessings.

33:47 It's in this. What's that? That the sins were forgiven — a person cannot know in his lifetime whether his sin will be forgiven. Only once the Knower of secrets testifies about him. So — in Midrash Tadshe it is written about this. The Holy One, blessed be He, forgives a person, yes. It's as if they come... but it's like sins coming loose at a wedding.

34:14 For when a person gets married, they come loose, his sins. As if — that is — as for coming back, it comes back; it's as if it goes out and separates, but it comes back. It comes back — but what the Holy One, blessed be He, decides, only the Holy One, blessed be He, decides. He forgives the person. The true and great possibility is really to erase and repair from the root, with true teshuvah at the time of the Vidui — to do true and complete teshuvah. This is the great thing that can bring a person forgiveness.

34:39 And at the time a person does Nefilas Apayim, says Vidui, he does teshuvah — this is the highest moment at which a person can do teshuvah, for at the time he does this teshuvah, all his sins are atoned for. Who knows if it will be accepted? Who knows if he is doing it properly? That is the reason we do Nefilas Apayim. What? Can't hear? Yes, properly.

35:08 That is why we do it every day. That is why it is important. That is why one must also take care — it is said several times that one must be careful with this, with doing Nefilas Apayim: if one doesn't do it properly, it is dangerous. One must do teshuvah, and there is great virtue in it — the Zohar, Bamidbar, page 120b — doing teshuvah; and one must be careful with Nefilas Apayim — and also, as with falling on the face in Tractate Bava Metzia, page 59b, and Tractate Taanis, page 7, and at length, what it says there — in Bava Metzia, page 59b, at length; Kiddushin, page 81; Megillah, page 32; and more.

35:48 Good, tzaddikim, let's continue. So, "and no favoritism and no taking of bribes, for everything is His" — you cannot give the Holy One, blessed be He, a bribe, because everything is before Hashem. "And know that everything is according to the reckoning" — that "a mitzvah brings a mitzvah" — they add up for a person "a mitzvah brings a mitzvah"; everything is by reckoning. "And let your inclination not assure you that the grave is a place of refuge for you." Many times the evil inclination gives a person this: "Listen, you know that you'll go into the grave, you lie there, you're protected, you sit, you have... you have no worries, everything is fine."

36:29 Beware of this promise of the evil inclination. Why? You don't know that the grave is not a place of refuge for you. It will not help a person; the moment his death arrives — so people think they will escape into the grave; they will lie in the grave and be calm. There are those who want to take their own lives. They think they will jump off some roof or something, put something into themselves, and then they will have quiet or freedom — and they don't know that it all only begins.

36:58 The grave is not a place of refuge; one must know this, understand this. Here you can escape — the opposite: when you are alive you can escape. You can cover yourself with a blanket, you can escape; you have teshuvah, you have a remedy, you have a mikveh, you have the Kosel, you have holy places to flee to — truly, to be saved from the side of evil. But to escape to the grave? Is the grave a place of refuge for you? You think so? The grave is not a place of refuge. So therefore one must hold on with strength in this world, that whatever happens, a person sets it in his mind: "I will never harm myself."

37:28 Just as a person says to himself, "I will never harm anyone, and I will not dare raise a hand against anyone. Would I dare, Heaven forbid, to touch someone? Never!" — so too, I will not harm myself. That is what a person must say to himself. Just as a person is far in his thoughts from murdering, so too he must be far in his thoughts from harming himself, no matter what — because that too is murder. It is not for you to take and rob your own soul, Heaven forbid. "For against your will you were formed, and against your will you were born."

37:56 A person — an angel took his soul, and he found himself here in the world. "And against your will you were born" — that is why a baby is given fragrant spices at the bris, because he cannot bear the smell of this world. The moment the baby comes out, he cries. He says, "Where have I come to? Why did they bring me into the world?" "And against your will you live." What? He was born. The baby was in the womb, learned Torah, was being formed, and now they make a feast for him and rejoice at the bris, they make some celebration, something, because of "yeshua haben" — the joy of the son's salvation that they make for him.

38:32 For the pain he went through, for those birth pangs that he came out of and was saved from; both for the joy and for the sorrow that all his learning departed from him. So they make a celebration, and this is what Rabbeinu Tam says. So the great joy is that he now merits to enter the covenant of Avraham Avinu. Within a week, eight days, he comes out and suddenly sees someone with a blade over him like this — he is going to perform his bris.

38:56 The baby is afraid; within a week, eight days, he already has "tza'ara l'yanuka," the baby's pain. "The joy is in His abode" — now there is no "the joy is in His abode," because of his pain. Also "the baby's pain" — "the joy is in His abode." "And against your will you were born, and against your will you were formed, and against your will you were born, and against your will you live, and against your will you die."

39:22 A person cannot decide how long he will live, and how much he will live, and when he will live. "And against your will you are destined to give an account and a reckoning before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He." May we all merit to give our account and reckoning before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, to do teshuvah, to draw close to Hashem, to be in joy, and now, good thoughts. Amen. Salvations for everyone. And Yisrael — Rabbi Yisrael is making a siyum of a tractate for us. Please, go ahead.

39:48 Just do the last words for us. Thank you very much, thank you very much. "They asked: Rabbi Zeira and Rabbah bar Masnah — which of them is preferable?" There was a dispute in the yeshivah over who was better to be, like, the one in charge — and it was, like, either Rabbi... um... or Rabbah bar Masnah.

40:13 So they said, who is preferable? So they said: "Rabbi Zeira is sharp and raises difficulties, and Rabbah bar Masnah is deliberate and reaches conclusions" — like, he isn't as sharp, he's, like, more measured, but he gets us to an answer. So they asked, "What then?" So it said "teiku" — the Gemara was left at "teiku," unresolved. We will return to you, Tractate Horayos, and you will return to us. Our mind is on you, Tractate Horayos, and your mind is on us. We will not forget you, Tractate Horayos, and you will not forget us, neither in this world nor in the World to Come.

40:41 May His great Name be exalted and sanctified in the world He will renew, reviving the dead and raising them to eternal life, rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, completing His Sanctuary within it, uprooting foreign worship from the earth, and restoring the service of Heaven to its place; and may the Holy One, blessed be He, reign in His kingship and glory, and may He make His salvation sprout and bring His Mashiach near.