הגאון הינוקא על מעלת הצדיק הקדוש רבי שמשון מאוסטורפלי עם הרב אליהו שטרית והרב שמחה אילן

2:48 And they wrote with his blood on the wall: 'G-d of vengeance, shine forth.'" I am asking... about Shimshon as well. Yes. Not only that - he also writes in the introduction to Karnayim - he composed the sefer Dan Yadin; he also has a sefer, Machaneh Dan.

3:12 Do you know about Machaneh Dan? He had a sefer, Machaneh Dan, a commentary on the Zohar - a commentary on passages in the Zohar, obscure ones that he gathered, all kinds of passages in the Zohar. Not on the whole Zohar; it is a commentary on various things in the Zohar - and he called it Machaneh Dan. He said why he gave it the name - Dan Yadin, everything about Dan - why? This is what he himself writes: 'I called it after my name, Dan - after my name, Shimshon who comes from Dan.' That a person can write such a thing about himself... he writes, 'Shimshon who comes from Dan' - he says, 'I called it after my name, Shimshon who comes from Dan.'

3:40 Every time I am amazed by what is written: "And the spirit of Hashem began to stir him in Machaneh Dan, between Tzorah and Eshtaol." The Gemara says there that the Shechinah rang before him like a bell. Like a bell - like a pa'amon, 'lefa'amo' - that is this bell. Yes, right. The Shechinah was there before his eyes... But afterwards it was taken from him, because he went after his eyes. And in Sotah, page 10, where the Gemara tells all the stories - page 9b, page 10a - that anyone who went after his eyes... of Shimshon: "He went after his eyes; therefore the Philistines gouged out his eyes."

4:11 That is, he said, "Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes." I want to see what is right in the eyes of Hashem. So there he puts the stress on 'in my eyes'. "They did not know... that he was seeking a pretext" - as though this was all... right, right, right. In the end, he wanted to come and rectify the root of the Philistines - to rule over them, as it were - just as Shlomo took the daughters of kings. He did not come to destroy them; he wanted them - he wanted to bring about peace in the world, for that was his aim.

4:40 But it was still, as it were, not meant to be. So he composed the Machaneh Dan - Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli - and he wrote, 'I called this sefer Machaneh Dan.' And this sefer was lost. Not a single copy is to be found - it is lost. Was there no copy of it before? And they say that the holy Baal Shem Tov said that if people would learn Machaneh Dan - that is, of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli - the chiddushim he wrote on Rabbi Shimon - Mashiach would come.

5:06 And this sefer was lost; it lay hidden away in one library... Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov said - he was a descendant of his - 'Whoever brings me...' - A descendant of Rabbi Shimshon? - Yes. Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli - by the way, Rav Shmuel Auerbach and Rav Shlomo Zalman said that they are among his descendants, through the Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Rabbi Yosef HaKohen of Polnoye. He was a great-grandson, a descendant, of Rabbi Shimshon, and the Toldos Yaakov Yosef is truly the forefather of Rav Auerbach - Rav Shmuel Auerbach.

5:33 Rav Shmuel said so, and he was a descendant of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polnoye, who is a descendant of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli. And Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov is also his descendant - Munkatch too. And Munkatch goes together with that; they have that lineage, coming down from Dinov. There were several sons, when they were small... So he - Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech - said, 'Whoever brings me the sefer Machaneh Dan, I will give him my entire library, with all my writings - everything.'

6:01 Everything. There was a certain rich man who loved money; he went, with real self-sacrifice, and went to fetch it from a library. It was in a certain hidden library of non-Jews, who were guarding it. He traveled out to bring it, and paid everything for it. And meanwhile, in that time - he had gone on a journey of a year and a half, two years, to bring this sefer - and meanwhile Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov passed on.

6:26 He passed away. When he came back, there was Rabbi David of Dinov, the son of Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov. So he wants to go in; he said, 'Let me come in.' They said to him, 'What do you want with him? What do you have?' 'Something important - it can make him happy.' He went in, and then he said, 'Here is the sefer - Machaneh Dan, the only copy in the world; there is no other copy like it.' And then he said to him, 'Your father made a deal with me: I bring him this, and he gives me all his writings and his whole library.'

6:54 So he said, 'My father has no use for it now, and I have no use for it. I cannot give you all of that for this sefer.' 'Will you give it?' He was angry with him, and he threw it into the fire - he burned the sefer, to spite him. And the sefer was lost from the world. They say that there was found a letter, one manuscript, that was found from within the sefer Machaneh Dan, and they printed it in the old edition.

7:19 I am still looking into it; the language is very similar to Rabbi Shimshon's. From the Zohar... I do not know whether it really is Rabbi Shimshon's, from the Machaneh Dan. After all, as I said, there is none - nothing of this kind exists. Interesting - it shows up on the computer, as 'Machaneh Dan'. Clearly... Interesting. But the Nitzotzei Shimshon - on Sefer Karnayim, by Rabbi Aharon of Kardina.

7:43 Nu? I will bring the Rav both Sefer Karnayim and Nitzotzei Shimshon. There are sefarim that people gave themselves over to explaining. Sefer Karnayim is an old sefer, by Rabbi Aharon of Kardina. He says that this sefer is from ancient days. A very lofty sefer of Kabbalah, on the soul of King David. A sefer of... there are secrets there, in Dan Yadin, about the geulah - the words of Rabbi Shimshon. I very much love the Kabbalah of Rabbi Shimshon.

8:08 I once said that people do not understand the writings of Rabbi Shimshon... - Yes? - Without Rabbi Shimshon, yes. To truly understand the wisdom of Kabbalah - Rabbi Shimshon... If one can understand a little of his language, then a person is given... Time and again I am amazed by his approach; I say, that is the thing. He says something beautiful - he says something beautiful about a Midrash Peliah, a wondrous Midrash. He says that in the Midrash - "For the conductor, on the ayeles hashachar, a psalm of David" - which is Queen Esther's; it is psalm 22.

8:39 When she was next to the idols, the Shechinah drew away from her, departed from her. But it should have said - I see it already. - "Eli, lamah azavtani", "My G-d, why have You forsaken me" - why 'Eli' twice? So he says that when, chas veshalom, the Jewish people do something not good, then the 'enemies of Israel' - a euphemism - become 'mach and rash', poor and destitute. As the Midrash Peliah says it: when there is judgment, chas veshalom, then the 'enemies of Israel' - chas veshalom, said by way of euphemism - become mach and rash.

9:08 For he says, 'and the matter is a wonder' - meaning, this Midrash is a wonder - that is, 'it is a wonder in my eyes': what is this expression, 'mach and rash'? Why put it as 'mach and rash'? And then he says, 'And this I resolved to explain, by the kindness of Hashem' - and then he begins to explain, and he says - he says: 'Mach' - that is when the Jewish people - first of all, they fall, and so on - but who is the heavenly prince of the Jewish people? Michael.

9:32 Michael, the Kohen Gadol - the prince and guardian of Israel. And, chas veshalom, when they fall and he does not protect them, and his letters are taken away, then his name, chas veshalom, becomes 'mach' - not Michael. And when the Jewish people fall, chas veshalom - said by way of euphemism - then they become 'rash'. But when... and Queen Esther was afraid that the Jewish people would become mach and rash, so she said, "Eli, Eli, lamah azavtani" - "My G-d, my G-d, why have You forsaken me?"

9:57 Exactly. She returned one 'Eli' to 'mach', and it became Michael; and the second 'Eli' to 'rash', and it became Yisrael. And he says, this is the meaning of the Midrash. Those are his explanations. Yes, and he says each time - in the letter too, the Rav will see that... he does not want to reveal more; it is forbidden to reveal the secrets of the Torah in the world. That is, they hid them away; it is forbidden to reveal them.

10:22 This is an interesting thing. Yes. Very interesting. He was always in seclusion like this - that is Rabbi Shimshon - and it would come to him, and he would rise to levels and heights beyond measure. Rabbi Shimshon... in the Zohar, Parashas Pinchas, page 219b, where it is written that when a person has a simchah or something of that kind, his forefathers come to him from Heaven - that the forefathers, the tzaddikim, come and arrive at that simchah.

10:48 They say that Rabbi Shimshon, at the time of his passing, became, as it were, like Yechezkel ben Buzi - like one who beheld visions of G-d; and he saw things that no one can see - Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli. This is what he left us. And the well-known letter - he said to complete it on Erev Pesach. The Rav will see that here the letter truly has a different flavor. They also added the commentary, set out in order with the notes - not like that one, which is condensed. I manage with it, but here there are truly beautiful explanations, and also the principles, and here the supplements, the explanations and the commentaries.

11:22 I gave many shiurim on this letter, and they also recorded it as it was spoken, and they brought wonderful things here - expansions on the points, everything. It is pure holiness - as Rabbeinu Eliyahu understands. You are a son of... - You are a human being. A son of... a human being. Among the princes of the generation... among these and among those. A person says he is no greater than any other person because of this. - You are great.

11:50 "Though you are small in your own eyes, you are the head of the tribes of Israel." You know, about the letter - what? Nu. I want the Rav to know - afterwards, when I read it... he revealed a few things there. I want, now, while there is time - about the letter: he told me to say it; he told me several secrets that are inside this letter. Yes, I know that he used to say the letter. He told me to say it every year. He told me to say it twice a year - that is what he would tell me.

12:16 How many times? Because it is written, on Erev Pesach. - Yes. Right, I also noticed that, in many places where it is said. When did he say it the other time? On Pesach Sheni. - On Pesach Sheni. He would say it twice a year: once on Erev Pesach, on the 14th, and once on the eve of Pesach Sheni - he would say it. And here he sat with me, and I wrote everything down. He told me - he said that his father had passed it on to him as well.

12:41 He went through it, and then he told me a few things in brief, and he taught me the whole letter, together. What was it? I want to hear. Because it is... it reveals everything. Do you have it in writing? I wrote it in a notebook. Make a copy for us. With Hashem's help. How many years did you learn with him?

13:07 How many years did you learn with him? - At least ten years, as his chavrusa. Every Monday and Wednesday. Monday and Wednesday, each time between three and four hours. It was the merit of my fathers; it was not... because my father - yesterday was his yahrzeit; my father passed away on the 12th of Nissan - he was a chavrusa of the Steipler. And when I got married, when we held the Sheva Berachos - the Steipler no longer went out, he was already ill - the Steipler came, and said, 'What gift can I give to my soul-friend - to the son of my soul-friend?'

13:47 I grasped what was happening and said, 'To be a chavrusa with the Rav's son.' That was forty years ago. He said to me, 'You have it.' He began - learning on Mondays and Wednesdays - and he set the times. The eyes that saw those eyes. That is to say... When one begins... it is a great thing.

14:13 We were neighbors of the Steipler. It was like being a member of the household at the Steipler's - my parents... But he was there at nine... Yes, the Steipler was - it was like... I will bring the Rav the picture there is of me together with the Steipler, walking with him. With Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky too - you know what I mean. The picture with Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky - the pictures with him.

14:39 Beautiful.