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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 2,366 words · 11:55. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 May the Holy One, blessed be He, give them strength, give them comfort from Heaven. "I, I am He who comforts you"; "and in Jerusalem you shall be comforted." It pains me very, very much to come and to speak and to tell and to try to comfort and to encourage. I have not merited to be a man of words.
0:26 I, the small one, truly only bless them that they should have strength from Heaven, that they should have safekeeping and protection. A very, very, very dear family — and you too, all the dear friends, who I heard helped and [unclear] him throughout all this time: yasher koach to each and every one of you. He needs this support, in strength, in body, in soul — to help and to support and to encourage.
0:57 Everyone — [unclear] anyone among the Jewish people — knows how very, very hard this period is. The soul is very weak. This generation — it is very, very, very hard to draw close to Hashem, blessed be He, and to serve Hashem, and to lift one's eyes to Heaven, especially when one goes through so many trials and hardships. I will give you just one beautiful story that happened with the holy Gaon, Rabbi Yitzchak of Skver.
1:24 They tell of him that he once heard from his father, when he was small — the grandson of Rabbi Yitzchak heard from his grandfather, from Rabbi Yitzchak himself, when he was small, that Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, would come to the fair. There was a great fair, and he said that Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, would be at this fair. So the grandson was a boy of six; he traveled to the fair and looked for Eliyahu HaNavi. He said: Grandfather said Eliyahu HaNavi will be at the fair; I am going to look for Eliyahu HaNavi.
1:56 He went there, he traveled with one of the chassidim of the Rebbe, of his grandfather, arrived at the fair, walked around there, right, left — he did not see Eliyahu HaNavi; he saw nothing. Afterwards, in the evening, he came to his grandfather, to Rabbi Yitzchak, and asked him: Grandfather, you said Eliyahu HaNavi would be at the fair? I saw nothing. Rabbi Yitzchak said to him: What did you see? He said to him: I saw only oxen.
2:22 There were lots and lots of oxen there, that all kinds of merchants had brought; they tied them to trees. That's it; that is the only thing I saw. And Rabbi Yitzchak said to him: What else did you see? He said to him: I saw that the oxen that were there, that did not move, were given a little to drink, to eat, and the oxen that began to move with force, like this, in anger — people seized them and struck them and gave them blows, and it pained me very much. That is the only thing I saw — but Eliyahu HaNavi I did not see.
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2:55 He said to him: My son, I will reveal to you what you saw. I said Eliyahu HaNavi is at the fair. Because we always say of Eliyahu HaNavi that, with Hashem's help, he will bring us the tidings of the geulah. We ask for Eliyahu to explain to us; when Mashiach comes, we will understand all that has been here in the world, all the events and all the hardest things, which cannot be understood. When I said Eliyahu HaNavi is at the fair, I meant that at the fair one can understand what will be in the time to come, and all the courses and all the upheavals that pass over a person.
3:26 Your seeing the oxen that are beaten and the oxen that are not beaten — that is a hint to what a person goes through in the world. Because it is written in Tanna D'vei Eliyahu Rabbah, in chapter 2, that a person who kicks at sufferings — his sufferings are doubled, Heaven forbid. Not only that — he can, Heaven forbid, receive more. Therefore one must never kick at sufferings; one must accept them with submission, as the decree of the King, and not bring a complaint against Heaven. So he said: it is the same with the oxen you saw. The oxen that were beaten — those are the people who kick at sufferings, and the oxen that passed quietly, and nothing was done to them — [unclear] who accepted the judgment upon themselves.
4:03 So he said to him the same: from here you shall learn — you shall learn, my son — so he said to him — always, all your days, whatever you go through, whatever a person goes through: to be silent in this world, not to kick at sufferings, to submit before the Holy King. You know that our master the Gaon of Vilna — everyone has heard of the Gaon of Vilna — had a young daughter named Chanah, and she passed away at a very young age. She became engaged, she was about to be married, and before the wedding she passed away — a sudden passing.
4:30 And the Gaon of Vilna wept much; he was in sorrow, and very broken over her — the Gaon of Vilna, that this daughter had passed away from him. And his mother, the Gra's mother, came to him in a dream from Heaven and said to him: Know that if you knew the greatness of having accepted this judgment with love, over the passing of your daughter, you would dance at her funeral more than at her wedding — so she said to him — so greatly would you understand your greatness in having accepted the judgment upon yourself.
4:56 For as long as a person is here in this world, he cannot understand anything. They say that his mother was a widow — she too suffered much, the mother of the Gaon of Vilna. She was a widow for many years, thirty years. One day she came in to the Gaon and said to him — she said to him: I merited to have a son like you, but what will I say in Heaven? Besides having a son like you, what can I claim? The Gra of Vilna said: Say that you were a widow for thirty years, and that will be enough for you in Heaven, that they will not judge you anywhere. Say that you were a widow for thirty years, that you suffered for thirty years.
5:26 That is exactly what a person goes through. When a person has gone through such an offering of sufferings — he lost a relative of his, lost a relative of his — a person who, Heaven forbid, buried his son — that alone — the sufferings alone — after that, nothing more in the world is needed. These are the greatest sufferings. And the sorrow and the anguish — that is all the offerings, all of them. And so, from here you will see — for truly I merited to see and hear a little of how much he sanctified Hashem's name, and how much he strengthens people, and how much kindness he does, even in these times, when he is going through what he is going through — how his thought is to help and to do good in the world.
6:11 It is simply a wonder of wonders, his thought. And I see the friends, everyone who came [unclear] to pray in the synagogue — it strengthens the heart, it truly brings warmth and hope to the heart, to see "Happy is the people for whom it is so, happy is the people whose G-d is Hashem" — to contemplate this, and to see — a wonder. It is impossible to explain at all this greatness. You know that Rabbi Aryeh Levin — with him too there was a story; he lost several children — I don't know, I think it was four children who passed away from him.
6:48 They tell that with the fourth son — already when he was a small child who passed away, he went through many sufferings — he accepted it with love, and said: "May the name of Hashem be blessed from now and forever"; "Hashem gave and Hashem took." He did not come with a complaint against Heaven, and he lifted his eyes to Heaven. And the Rebbetzin, his wife — it was on Shabbos — all that Shabbos she held herself back, and he himself too, to be joyful and calm on Shabbos, not to be in sorrow.
7:13 And as soon as Havdalah was made, they burst into weeping and wept over their loss. When we see the tzaddikim — how they conducted themselves, and how they contemplated, and how they thought, and how they gave us the way to look upon all the events there are in this world — the only conclusion is that we must be strong. We must not be broken by anything, and we must not kick at sufferings.
7:39 We must be strong and hold ourselves fast, fast, to the purpose — the true one, the true one in this world. There is one purpose and one truth, and it is drawing close to Hashem. This is our greatest merit: to be upright people, to pray to Hashem, to lift our eyes to Heaven, to serve Him, blessed be He, to pray before Him. Everyone can do something within his power to draw close to Hashem, blessed be He — everyone.
8:04 Have pity on yourselves, on your purpose — your true one — on your eternity, and lift your eyes to Heaven. There is a Master over all deeds. When a person draws close to Hashem — not in a time of trouble, and not at a time when he needs something from Him; he draws close to Him because he wants to be under the King's protection, to be in the shadow of the wings of the Holy King — afterwards, also when he needs something, much, much more can be eased. Have pity on yourselves, draw close to Hashem, lift your eyes to the greatness of [unclear].
8:33 I, the small and lowly one, bless you that you should succeed, that you should continue to do valiantly, that you should have good tidings. I bless the dear parents, all of this special family: may the Holy One, blessed be He, give you strength and hope from Heaven, may He give you comfort from Heaven, may He give you hope. You know — everyone knows — that in Bereishis, in chapter [unclear], it is written about Yosef: "and behold, a caravan of Yishmaelim."
9:01 What had Yosef the tzaddik to do with the caravan of Yishmaelim that came to him, that had begun to carry jars of spices that were on the camels? What was all this needed for? For what did Yosef have to be tossed about in so many wanderings? The Holy One, blessed be He, arranged spices for him. You know, there is so, so much to contemplate in this, to teach us that even in Yosef's greatest hardship and pain — let a person picture to himself Yosef the tzaddik, "of beautiful form and beautiful appearance," who finds himself alone, in danger of death, in mortal danger, without his father, without his brothers, without his mother, alone, alone, alone.
9:41 Only he, and Hashem, blessed be He. He is tossed about in hard wanderings, in danger of death, with murderers, with robbers who are selling him — and suddenly there come his way spices, fragrances of spices, simply from Gan Eden; he simply smells spices. And this the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged for him. It is written in the Midrash that the Holy One, blessed be He, saw his pain, and did not want that tzaddik to be in distress, for the portion of his pain was by measure.
10:08 So the Holy One, blessed be He, willed it and arranged the spices for him. From here we learn: everyone who is here in this world — the portion of sufferings he must receive, and the good and the contentment he will receive — it is all apportioned to him, but all is by the decree of the King, the Maker, the Creator, [unclear] — Hashem, blessed be He. I bless you that we should all merit, with Hashem's help, only good spices. "He will swallow up death forever, and Hashem G-d will wipe away tears from all faces." May you all have good tidings, may you all have salvations from Heaven, may you succeed in all matters, all of them. Amen.
10:41 May the Holy One, blessed be He, save you with good that is seen and revealed, amid joy and gladness of heart. May you bring about all good, of every good, before the Master of heaven and earth. "Blessed are you to Hashem, Maker of heaven and earth." Be strong, be strong, be strong. Hashem, blessed be He, [unclear] all the honored rabbis, all your holy congregation, all of you — may you succeed and do valiantly, and may you have blessing in the synagogue. Amen. To all of you, with all the blessings and good bounties — and to continue to strengthen the hands of Rabbi Eliyahu, may Hashem, blessed be He, strengthen him, and may He give them strength from Heaven, and joy and hope — to strengthen them with all strength, that they should have hope. And truly,
11:20 proud of him for the words and for the kiddush Hashem that he made and spoke. I merited — truly, we merited. May Hashem, blessed be He, strengthen you, and give you great strength from Heaven, and give you all great hope, and may you succeed. "Blessed are you to Hashem, Maker of heaven and earth." [unclear] as it is said: "Hashem desired, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify the Torah and make it glorious."
11:48 Magnified and sanctified be His great Name in the world He created according to His will. May He establish His kingship and make His salvation sprout.
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