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The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 15,481 words · 1:16:03. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 You see its size — it is something that is beyond measure, and this is only a small part of the ocean — the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Black Sea. Look how many waters there are in the world. On the map they look to us as if they are a little, but their size is enormous. Now, 70% of everything you see here in this world, on this globe — it comes out that it is almost 70% water. These are the waters of the world.
0:26 There is a place in the world — it could be; many places have been discovered. There are many places that are hidden and concealed. The River Sabatyon — they called it the River Sabatyon. At first it was called Shabbatyon, Sabatyon, and then it became Sambatyon. Sabatyon is because it is a river that keeps Shabbos, through which the glory of Hashem is revealed, and it is also called the River Gozan. Sabatyon is from the expression — What's that?
0:54 No one knows where it is today, no one knows. It cannot be seen. I will explain: there are places that are fog. There are places that are fog, that it is impossible to reach. There is a book called Tzel HaOlam, by Rabbi Shlomo Delikart. Three hundred years ago and more there was one who composed — Rabbi Shlomo Delikart, he composed a book, Tzel HaOlam. It is a book that tells about all kinds of wonders of the world that exist. There are places where there is fog, that it is impossible to get to.
1:22 The Ibn Ezra also writes this, in Parshas Devarim. When he went to a place and he saw — for almost five days he saw fog there, so that he could not feel his way — [unclear] — at sea there is darkness. That is, darkness for five days, a fog in which nothing is seen. Even today there are places that are fog. I once tried to research this, to see where it is. I know roughly, more or less; I don't know exactly, but I can try to estimate where it could be. The Mountains of Darkness, for example — there are places from where they brought the shamir worm.
1:50 King Shlomo brought them from there. There is the phoenix, which roams. The phoenix today goes about in the Mountains of Darkness. More or less — wherever it goes about, it is in the Mountains of Darkness. All kinds of places like these that are hidden and concealed — that is where the lost tribes are. There is an island that is entirely full, full, full of snakes. Have you heard of it? An island entirely full of snakes — and that whole island of theirs is all [unclear] snakes in the world, and around this island there are sharks in the water, so that it is impossible to get to this island.
2:22 So it means that inside this island — if the Holy One, blessed be He, made it this way — it is hidden there. There are things there that are hidden, that people are not meant to see. Now, if you cannot get to this place, you cannot investigate it, you don't know what is revealed in it, beneath it, what is there, what is beyond the sea. There are things there that are hidden and heavenly. So no one can come and say that he has investigated everything here. There are a great many things that are dangerous. The Bermuda Triangle — everything that gets there is sucked into the water, disappears.
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2:52 There are places that are simply puzzling and concealed, sealed, and no one explains them. Especially in all the depths of the sea — what there is inside the abysses of the sea. It cannot be investigated. Look, we are only talking a little, a drop, about what exists — a drop, yes? But this is still not revealing — not even the edge, one percent of the edge of everything you can see, of everything there is on the whole globe.
3:17 It is something that is crazy for the mind; it is not human to encompass this or to investigate such a thing. So this is only a small and slight creation that Hashem, blessed be He, created. Now who can know a little of the stars, and of the heavens and of the galaxies? And then, now, a person can say that he knows Hashem? With the sun we cannot get ahead — we can know the greatness of Hashem? - [unclear] - What's that?
3:48 - To do... - Yes, right. - [unclear] right, which seems very [unclear], how can one attain the true revelation of the Holy One, blessed be He, without dealing with evil?
4:20 - Today, because of the grip of evil — that there is the affliction and the distance from Hashem, which is all the impurities and all the sins and the transgressions, or the spirit of impurity that is present — so you cannot truly attain a clean closeness to Hashem, or the knowledge of Hashem in cleanness, or closeness to Him in cleanness. There are many 'clouds that cover the eyes' — all kinds of clouds that cover the eyes from seeing the greatness of Hashem and where His existence and His Hashgachah are, and you cannot attain this in completeness.
4:48 So, with Hashem's help, in the time to come we will merit the revelation in which the Holy One, blessed be He, will remove this impurity — 'the spirit of impurity He will remove from the earth' — and then you will be able to see Hashem face to face. It does not mean that you will see Him; it is like what Moshe attained at Mount Sinai: he did not merit to see Hashem, as it were — what he saw — but he saw more G-dliness. The prophet Yechezkel saw in the prophetic vision, in chapter 43, the whole third Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, which has not yet been built — he saw the whole third Beis HaMikdash, how it will be built, and from there they learned the whole design of the third Beis HaMikdash.
5:20 You see that you will be able to attain real prophecies and levels without anything that would limit your attainment. You will attain the greatness of Hashem, but that does not mean that a person will ever be able to grasp the essence of Hashem, because Hashem — in the world you cannot understand Him, because you yourself — we ourselves are simply not separate from Hashem. Hashem is there, and He is here. He is here and there.
5:45 There is no distance from Him, blessed be He. The whole flaw and the denial is that a person cuts himself off from Hashem and says, 'He doesn't help me, He doesn't answer me.' That is the denial, because the One who answers and speaks from within you is Hashem. And the very fact that you pray at all — that is Hashem. And your will to ask for this, what you want — it is from Hashem, blessed be He. Even your will to ask Hashem for such and such and such a salvation is from Hashem, blessed be He.
6:11 When a person wants a livelihood and he needs a salvation, he prays with kavanah. The One who gives him the strength to pray with kavanah, the One who gives him the desire and the will for his request — that too is Hashem, blessed be He. So everything is from Hashem, blessed be He. - Rav, Rav, so how [unclear]? How [unclear]? - It remains needing further study. Whether there is free choice or there is no free choice — this matter, with Hashem's help — it is like the verse: 'And Yours, my L-rd, is kindness, for You repay each man according to his deed.'
6:39 When Mashiach comes, we will know the answer. I say: certainly there is free choice, but one needs to know that there isn't... The shamir worm exists, yes, but to know where it is — I can explain something to you. Is there anyone here who chose to be born? Against your will you live, are born, die, give an accounting — it is learned in Tractate Avos.
7:10 Is there anyone here who chooses to be born to his parents? No one. But once again, I need the knowledge. When you come and you ask a question about knowledge and choice, you want to ask whether there is an intervention of the mind here. Was there an intervention of the mind? There was no intervention of the mind. A person did not choose his life, did not choose his powers, did not choose his intellect and his knowledge. Everything that he will have, everything he will go through — he did not choose.
7:37 But once he is already born and has entered into the mold, from there the point of his will begins to be revealed, in choice. Just as a person in fact could not choose and control his life — where to be born and when — he also cannot control his passing. Right? Is there anyone here who can control his passing? Prevent it? What's that? In Tractate Sukkah, on page 53, the Gemara says: 'A person's feet — they are his guarantors' — a person's feet are guarantors for him, that whenever his time comes, and his hour, they carry him and lead him to the place where he will have to pass away.
8:14 So a person has no possibility at all of guarding his life. He cannot, because the One who in fact guards life is Hashem. But a person cannot prevent it from himself. That is, if a person's time comes — whenever the time and the hour come, he will go. Just as a person does not control his birth, he also does not control his death, right? So why does a person think that he controls the whole course of life? Is that your problem? You understand? Why do you think as if we control nothing? Our choice is more to choose the good and the evil, because Hashem gives you the way. He gives a person the right and the ability to do what he wants. He does not force His will on you. He lets the created beings go about here in the world and do what they want; He does not force His will on them. You will not see a person now desecrate Shabbos and he explodes. He does not do those things. He gives people
9:07 to choose — the right of choice, to come close to Him if they want, if they don't want — everything. He gives everyone the right of choice, but one needs to know that a person will give an accounting for it, because every effort with devotion that we have now made — and we sat here today at sunrise, we sat with self-sacrifice, and we learned, and we prayed, and early — sunrise at 6 in the morning, five thirty, praying, standing, and everyone — you get up, and there is one who is asleep altogether.
9:35 So what — you understand? You cannot come and say, 'this and that, there is no free choice, and he sleeps and I am with the same reward.' Each one has his own reward. Everything that you strive and toil for the honor of Hashem, and strive for the fulfillment of His will — Hashem, blessed be He, will give you a great reward for it, for every effort; and whenever something hurts a person, even here, it itches him and it is hard for him, and he makes the effort to go to the synagogue and he prays and it is hard for him, or he...
10:03 every toil, the smallest there is — that person will receive reward for it, and his children, and the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren, and in the whole world, and in the whole World to Come; and everything that he suffers, he will receive the reward for it. There is no such thing as Hashem, blessed be He, not giving to a person. Hashem pays. 'And Yours, my L-rd, is kindness, for You repay each man according to his deed.' So really, you see from this verse that there is in it a very great contradiction.
10:30 Because on one hand, what is 'And Yours, Hashem, is kindness'? 'For You repay each man according to his deed.' Do the reckoning: it is like a person who goes to a certain place and says to someone, 'Listen, what do you do and what is your work?' He says, 'I paint, I am a painter.' 'Good,' you say to him, 'paint for us here this whole big wall of the museum. We want the wall from here up to the top; paint this whole wall, all of it, in green.
11:00 Paint the whole wall, from top to bottom, so that this whole wall will be all green.' The painter comes, paints a whole day, several days, paints, sweats — paints everything green. He is owed a lot of money for it. He does a very big job. You come to him and say to him, 'Listen, I am doing you a kindness — take money.' How will he look at you? He will say, 'How have you no shame? I toiled and labored — it is mine. What kindness?'
11:26 That is exactly what Hashem says. 'And Yours, Hashem, is kindness, for You repay each man according to his deed.' Hashem on one hand does a kindness with us in that He gives us reward at all for the Torah and the mitzvos — which means that it is altogether a privilege to fulfill them. You see from this verse something that needs very great study regarding this matter of knowledge and choice. According to the Rambam it is certain that there is free choice, but the matter remains needing further study. Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin answers that it is more in the will of the person, and that a person needs to steer his will.
11:55 As for the deeds, there is no choice in that, because Hashem directs our lives, He alone. He decides for you when you will go. See the book Meor Einayim by Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl, in Parshas Matos. He writes that each one has a spark that he is drawn after. You see, there is a person where suddenly you say, 'What is this — where are you from?' He tells you, 'I am from Bangkok.' 'How did you get from here to Bangkok?' He has some spark that is there; he sifts it.
12:21 Hashem gives him a will and a longing to sift it in Bangkok. There are people who have the courage to swim with sharks in the heart of the sea. They have courage; it is their hobby, it is their enjoyment. You say, 'How is this person not afraid?' So really, it is not because he is not afraid. He has a spark that is in the depths of the sea, and he needs to travel there, and so Hashem gives him a desire, He gives him a will in order to sift this spark, and then he gets there and is there, inside the water.
12:50 Now, a person learns in such a yeshivah, this one learns in such a yeshivah; these young men each learn in different yeshivos; these learn here, these young men learn... - I have a spark to hear the Rav. - Now you have sparks to be here. Each one has his spark to be in this place; and that you set foot in this place — even that you sit here, and you sit here — you sit here: that is a spark that belongs to the root of your soul, and you are with it in this place, at this time; you sift it every moment that you stay; you have finished sifting — you have left it.
13:24 The difference is that... - Is that also against my will? - You too, you too. I do nothing, not a thing; I only read to you, teach, that's all. - Wait, Rav, can someone steal my spark from me? - No. What is yours is yours. I will answer you what you asked; it is a very important question. A person who sins, Heaven forbid — he scatters the sparks far away. The more a person sins and transgresses — what in fact is the spark, yes?
13:49 A spark — we call it a spark, but it is not a spark the way we see a spark of a lighter. A spark is a very high part that belongs to you in the spiritual part. Just as a person has — each one of us has at home precious objects. You have a very important letter that you received from your father. You have some bottle that was at the grave of a tzaddik. You have some expensive wristwatch that you guard.
14:15 You have some piece of wood that was by the holy Patriarchs in Chevron, and you keep this branch because your father and your grandfather and your grandfather's grandfather kept these spices that were in Chevron 200 years ago. Each one has objects; you have various garments, you have a walking stick, you have a long coat, you have a hat, you have clothes that you love — even a garment that you love and that already looks worn out, you don't want to part with it.
14:47 All this is because of sparks that belong to each one in what he has, including money. There is one who has money; he has money that is invested in such a place; coins, money, scattered coins, even a perutah, half a shekel, a few single shekel coins — it is scattered about his house, a little here, a little there — these are sparks. Just as you have, in the physical, parts and garments and coins and whatever objects that are in your house, and they belong to you — so too there are spiritual parts that a person has in the spiritual, which we do not see.
15:27 They are garments and lost things of that kind, which are scattered. Now, one who sins has, as it were, Heaven forbid, left the house breached and let people come and gather. The destroyers come and they gather from what he has, and then they snatch it; they take part of this lost thing to such a place, and part to here, to here, and part to here and part to there, until he is alarmed and confused.
15:53 Sometimes you see a person who is confused; he feels that he does not know what he is going through and he does not know what is the matter with him — it is because his parts are very far away, and so he is troubled. He feels that he is confused because he does not know that many of his parts — because of the sins, the walls were breached and he lost many of the parts of the soul that are connected to him, which fell and were scattered in very distant places. Now what does teshuvah do?
16:19 Teshuvah causes all these parts to return. What is teshuvah? That I do — 'return to me.' 'Return' — I do teshuvah; I want to bring back to me all the banished ones, everything that I lost. And why do people go to tzaddikim? Because with them there are a great, great many sparks of kedushah. Because around them gather many people who themselves have plenty of sparks.
16:44 So why do people come there? Because there the sparks are raised up. The spark is gathered in, and there it rises. Did you understand? [unclear] Rabbi Yochanan — what did he say to him? There is a holy Name that sifts the spark, and there is a Name that raises it. 'Levilti yidach' — what is that? Yud-Lamed-Yud, 'levilti yidach'. Yud-Lamed-Yud raises the spark, and Ches-Beis-Vav sifts the spark.
17:09 'He swallowed wealth and shall vomit it out.' That is why, when we do 'Sound the great shofar for our freedom,' there we have in mind Ches-Beis-Vav, right? Why? Because it corresponds to this exile and the geulah that we ask for in the exile. The Jewish people is scattered, dispersed among the nations, and most of Israel is not on its land. And because most of Israel is not on its land, we cannot attain our true and complete tikkun. We are scattered and dispersed among the nations.
17:34 'There is one people, scattered and dispersed among the nations,' as Haman said. So you see that we are scattered among the nations. So the teshuvah that we do — Ches-Beis-Vav in 'Sound the great shofar for our freedom' — returns the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. What's that? - Can one have the captives in mind there? - That is possible too, yes. One can have the captives in mind there. In 'Sound the great shofar for our freedom,' one can also have the captives in mind, who...
17:59 It is because of the root of a spark that is connected to you. You are drawn to a certain thing, to a certain place, to a certain food, to certain times — everything a person has belongs to him. - After the fact, against my will? - Yes. They gave this to you so that you would sift out the spark, so this desire clothes itself in you, so that you will go there.
18:29 Doesn't it happen to a person, for example, that a person who — say, for example, there are people who never, never, never were ever — for example, I'll give you an example — were never in Italy. They were never there in their lives. And suppose this person traveled there — they traveled to pray at the graves of tzaddikim; I don't know if there are graves of tzaddikim there, but they traveled to pray there somewhere — in Uman, in Europe, somewhere they traveled.
18:58 They passed through there; some person passed by on some street, stood in some place, and suddenly he felt a very great sorrow. He feels something not good in this place. Sometimes people who come to some place feel bad. He feels not good — a bad feeling, sorrow, sadness, grief. Or the opposite. A person arrives at a certain place and suddenly he has joy, he is happy, he feels good, he doesn't know. He feels joy in the place.
19:24 This one is happy in the place, and one is sad in this place. There is one who comes, arrives at some place, and two people know each other as if they had known each other from long ago. They really know each other, and a bond forms between them, they know each other. And there are two who never knew each other, and at once they are enemies to each other and hate each other. All these things are sealed things [unclear] — they are hidden things. The reason is that the person has a belonging in this place. Here he had joy, and where he had no joy, he has a small spark, for which he only needed to step there and leave.
19:57 So he needed to sift it out. When the spark is finished, then the desire, and the staying in the place, is already gone. So it is not good for him in this place. And that is why a person is more at ease staying where his forefathers were. Where his grandfather and his father were — say he had some kingdom, or a place, where they were — say they built themselves a synagogue, built some place of tefillah, did some thing. A person has more of a bond praying in a synagogue where his father prayed, or his grandfather, than in a synagogue that he now goes to on his own.
20:27 He will feel the home, the warmth, more. It is not because of home and warmth — it is because of this bond with the spark; that is where he arrives. Do you understand what I mean? - Can tzaddikim raise the spark for us? Say, if I light a candle in honor of a certain tzaddik. - Yes. - How do I know which tzaddik? - Wherever you are connected. There are those who are connected to this kind of path, to this kind of approach, to this kind of tzaddik. - Each day — one time I want this tzaddik, another day I want that tzaddik — it doesn't matter?
20:51 - No problem, that is excellent. Every time you can, whatever you want, it's... - It goes for all the exiles, really, the whole exile of Egypt, where they had to gather all of that — all the exiles, Babylon, and I think now, maybe that is also why the captives who came to Gaza had to sift out those things; it confirms all this. - Right, so one really should have in mind, in 'Sound the great shofar,' to have in mind that the sparks be finished and they come back at once already, and 'He swallowed wealth and will vomit it out' — that [unclear] will spit out all this holiness. - I read, 'He swallowed wealth and will vomit it out' — if a person loses some lost object, loses some lost object, he should say, 'He swallowed wealth and will vomit it out,'
21:28 because he is really separating the things he wants from what he does not want. And an incident happened at the Shabbos Chasan of Yaakov — they came, like, we were guests at someone's place, and they forgot the key to the house. He comes and says, 'What is going on here?' They do not have the key to the house to go back there. So they went back along the way, and suddenly they sat down, and the Rav, he said, 'Say: He swallowed wealth and will vomit it out.'
21:58 They said, 'He swallowed wealth and will vomit it out.' They got there, and suddenly they are sitting on a bench and see the key on the bench. And they went back. And I tried it in several places here, people at the Rav's — it worked. 'He swallowed wealth and will vomit it out' — it is a segulah for finding a lost object. - I have another very important segulah, a great segulah for finding the lost object: to be an organized person. That is the greatest segulah.
22:23 Now, regarding what he asked — he asked a very important question, yes. He asked, what about a person — how does he know his tikkun and his path in this world. So one of the important things, for a person to walk the path of this world at ease, is to always search and ask after the will of Hashem. 'Teach me, Hashem, Your way.'
22:48 If you, all your life, every day, ask Hashem to show you the way, and your tikkun — you will get there. If one day they tell you an answer to this thing, know that it is never the answer. The answer is always the searching. Until a person's last day, a person will always need to ask and search after the will of Hashem. Forever. It is never possible — if I give you an answer... The asking, the asking, the tefillah, it will direct you.
23:19 We will give you an example. They say that before the holy Baal Shem Tov passed away, the students asked him: Where shall we go? To which Rebbe shall we go after you? He said to them: If a Rav gives you — whoever you go to, ask him for advice against pride. If he gives you advice against pride, know that there is nothing real in him. If he tells you there is no advice against pride, only tefillah — he is a true Rebbe; cling to him. The question you are asking is the same story.
23:43 When you say, how will a person know his path and what to do in the world — if we give you an answer, then the moment you do it, you will already think that you are truly at the truth, and then you will not do anything else. So the moment you search, search all the time, and understand that the answer to this is searching, it is the seeking of Hashem, then you will find. King David prayed all his life. All of Tehillim is asking and searching after the will of Hashem. What can also help very much is music.
24:11 Listen to niggunim, listen to his niggunim. I'll explain to you why. Do you know why? I'll explain to you. Music is a sifting. Music is a sifting. A sifting of a good spirit from a bad spirit. When you hear music, the music draws you to what is being played. Did you notice? Did you notice that the niggun draws the person to what is being played? If I, in fact, put on a happy niggun, what happens to everyone at once?
24:43 They are happy. If I put on a sad niggun, people cry. The niggun steers the listeners according to what is being played. Now, a niggun of impurity leads people to a place that is not good. A niggun of kedushah leads you to holiness. That is, the niggun can very much incline your heart to a very holy place. So if you are asking me now, the answer is what I answered: one answer is about the searching, a second answer is the niggun.
25:11 A holy niggun can lead you to the root of your soul. - Rav, how can a person know, if he has a friend, that he is taking him to good places — how can a person know if you have a friendship that is a good friendship, or that the friend is not good? - That is a somewhat hard question, and I'll explain to you why. Because a friend, a friend is — the friend is really measured by your whole relationship with him.
25:42 If he cares about you — there is a friend who is, in fact, very good, he cares about you and loves you and helps you and supports you — but spiritually, he is not good. And there is the opposite: a friend who is holy, he is pure and everything, he learns and teaches you nicely and everything, but he does not care about you, does not think about you, nothing. So I'll explain.
26:08 Usually a friend is very, very important — good friends. And as a rule — Rabbi Nosson of Breslov once said a beautiful thing: 'Acquire for yourself a friend' — that the quill of the sefer, it should be your friend. The best friend is the sefer. You understand? The best friend is the sefer. There is a best friend in the world; it is called a piano. I play — it is my best friend. Playing together — that is the best bond, that is a good friendship.
26:34 The meaning of a true friend is connection. The friend is supposed to fill in for me what I lack. You understand? The friend is supposed to complete you and see the good in you; he is supposed to strengthen you and encourage you. Rebbe Elimelech, in fact, speaks in his Tzetel Katan — he has the practices, all sorts of practices that he composed, Rebbe Elimelech. At the end of the Noam Elimelech there are the practices of Rebbe Elimelech — all sorts of practices that he composed — and there he writes that a friend — there he simply rules and explains: only a friend like this, not another friend — a friend with whom you can talk over the point of your heart.
27:11 You can talk over with him even how far you are from Hashem, what strengthening and encouragement you want, what is hard for you in the service of Hashem — and he will know how to fill that lack for you. So that if you are growing distant from Hashem because of such and such a thing, he will tell you, 'Do such and such,' he will strengthen you, he will give to you. So that is a true friend: a friend who strengthens you and encourages you, he takes you out of your broken heart and he supports you. That is also how each one needs to be.
27:37 For you to be good friends, one must always strengthen. You need to notice in the other's voice whether he is broken. There is a bad friend — like, you tell him, 'I am so broken,' and — 'What do you think? Yes, give up, there is nothing you can do.' That is a friend who is not good. The good friend is the one who encourages you despite all the pain, despite all the brokenness and the hardship and the fog. And therefore one must cling to such a friend. Always encourage and lift up the souls, lift them up, so that people will be strong and not break, so that they always grow strong with strength from Heaven. That is the only thing that can bring a person upward. - There are sparks in sins? There are sparks in [unclear] and everything.
28:14 - There are sparks in [unclear] and everything; there are sparks that he has an attraction to, entirely, [unclear] - Listen, I understand what you are asking. There were many who erred in this. The spark is a holy thing. The spark — from the sins that a person sinned, it separated off to a place that is not good. Now, the true teshuvah — the true teshuvah is when a person comes to that same place, as the Rambam says in the Laws of Teshuvah, and does not return to it.
28:40 That is, the true teshuvah is when a person comes to what is not good, and subdues it and returns to his righteousness. That is, the greatest tikkun for a certain sin is to never do that same sin again. That is the greatest tikkun. When a person wants to rectify a sin and an iniquity, let him take upon himself not to do it anymore. More than that: to learn about that same matter.
29:06 You understand? There are those who... And this is called Torah lishmah. As I explained regarding Torah lishmah, which Tosafos teaches in Tractate Taanis, on page 7, which teaches — the meaning is the learning of Torah lishmah.
29:36 What is this learning of Torah lishmah? What is the learning of Torah lishmah? That a person learns in what he is lacking. If there is someone who stumbles in lashon hara, stumbles in lashon hara all the time, he does not manage to guard his mouth, then do not tell him, 'Learn now about the laws of Shabbos.' Learn the laws of Shabbos, and learn also the laws of lashon hara. A person's learning will be lishmah when the person learns in what he stumbles in.
30:01 If a person stumbles in forbidden sights, he must set aside some time in the day, and a sefer, to learn about the matter of guarding the eyes. Here there is the sefer Machazeh Einayim, which you know — it is a very, very great virtue to learn in this sefer. The sefer Machazeh Einayim, on the holiness of the eyes. Taharas HaKodesh — a person stumbles in the holiness of the covenant — let him learn about the covenant. This is important, because people learn, learn, learn all sorts of things around it, but about the covenant they do not learn.
30:31 So one needs to learn a little of this. To learn a little of this subject every day, so that a person will have the strength to overcome. Now, if a person does not learn about that same matter and of that same thing, then let him know for certain that at some point, Heaven forbid, he will stumble. Now, regarding what you asked — this thing is not accurate, it is not accurate. There is something close to it, close to it: that is when a person did teshuvah, after the fact, for all the places where he was.
31:01 Like, but that is not from the outset, like, there is no such thing as a person being thrown there; rather, everything he did is reckoned, if he returned in teshuvah, and then it is turned into merit for him. Do you know, like, what I mean? It is more, like, for a person who returned in teshuvah, and then, like, the teshuvah out of love credits him, as merit, with everything he did. So everything where he went backward, that comes back to him through the teshuvah.
31:25 But it is not that from the outset a person thinks, says, 'I have a holy spark in a place that is not good,' and goes to it. Such a person, Heaven forbid, can lose his soul, and this world, and his World to Come — and it is not true. Because there is no holy spark there. There is no such thing as a person being pulled to that place. A person must sacrifice himself so as not to come to this thing. It is reckoned only for one who did teshuvah, like Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya, and like those holy ones — Yosef Meshisa, who did not want to go in again for the menorah — the Romans were sawing his flesh, like this, until he cried out, 'Woe is me, that I angered my Creator once — I will not anger Him a second time.'
31:59 You see, say, a deed like this — it was a very great blemish, a very great sin — but he did not return to it anymore. He did not agree to do that not-good thing. Now you see, say — did he have a spark in the Beis HaMikdash, to take out the menorah? He had no spark there. It is, like — the spark was from the beginning. Now come, will you send him from the beginning again? That does not exist. - After the fact? - Yes? - There, yes — was he drawn there because he had some spark there, or was it simply his choice, to choose evil?
32:28 - Who? Whom are you speaking about? - In general, I'm saying — Yosef Meshisa, or any person who commits a sin — is he drawn to the sin because there is something there that he needs to rectify? - No, he does not need to rectify; he needs to rectify himself before he gets there. - Yes, but he is drawn. - The opposite. Sin and transgression — every sin and transgression distances the person beyond measure. And a person must overcome with all his strength, not to come to that place, no matter what. He must give himself up, like, to more than fire.
32:54 - But he is drawn. - Fire should be counted by him as water. And 'Fortunate is the man to whom Hashem does not reckon iniquity.' Fortunate is the man who reaches such a level — writes Rabbi Chaim of Czernowitz in the Be'er Mayim Chaim — that a person reach such a level that his not thinking of the Name of Hashem for one moment is counted for him as an iniquity, is counted for him as the most severe sin. That is a very great level — 'Fortunate is the man: not thinking of Hashem is, to him, an iniquity' — that is his level. That a person do teshuvah, and weeping, and fasting, over a thought that is not good.
33:20 Once, people would do teshuvah over this; today people permit themselves just the... things that are not good. That is not right. One must do teshuvah and sacrifice oneself, and whoever sacrifices himself for this thing — then Hashem helps him. There is no such thing. Every test is a step to reach immense and awesome levels. Every test is a gift. When a person has a test and a hardship and a struggle, it is a gift.
33:44 At that moment he received a gift, and a springboard to reach a much higher place. Now, if he sins, he simply goes backward. There is hope for everyone. He will not be lost forever. Let him do teshuvah and sanctify himself. He will purify himself until Hashem [unclear], that Hashem will accept his teshuvah. But the opposite: if he knew what sparks he would receive and rectify if he overcomes the sin, and does with all his strength, to sacrifice himself for this, and to sanctify and purify himself — then he will attain many times more, and can rise to awesome levels, awesome — and he will simply leap up the ladders, and it is like one who goes by the stairs, and one who goes up in an elevator.
34:23 He will simply go up in one moment, by elevator, to places. - Also with [unclear]? David, for example — [unclear] he had Bas-Sheva, and there is something, also about Zimri or something, like, that he also, it was something that he, like — I am trying to understand whether it is something he was drawn to because he really had some tikkun that he needed to do there. Is there, within the sin, something... - Look, I'll explain something to you. Regarding all these great figures, like David, Shlomo — he took many wives, all these things — how do you say — it is something that at some point needs to be explained in a shiur of its own.
35:00 Maybe at some point I will give you a shiur on this and explain to you just this subject. It is not so right to compare it, because we are speaking about the king of Israel, speaking about souls that, taken as a whole, are the greatest powers there are, and these are things that are not on our measure. And it certainly was not a sin, for 'whoever says David sinned is simply mistaken.' And it is [unclear] teshuvah for the individual, to show us teshuvah, for all of us — like the sin of the calf, rather, teshuvah for the many.
35:29 To learn from them and reckon, like, 'as it was for them, so it is for us' — that is not right, because that is his deed and this is my deed. We need rather to hold fast to the sefer, and not move one small millimeter from the Shulchan Aruch. Every halachah — to be exacting with a light one as with a severe one, and to guard — especially our holiness, and of course what Hashem commanded us in His Torah. But that does not apply. Regarding the teshuvah that a person does — when he returns in complete teshuvah [unclear] Hashem, then he will merit to sift out and rectify a great deal all at once. That is, he has an opportunity to reach awesome peaks, so it is a gift for him.
36:10 It is a pity that he, like, grows distant — the opposite. On the contrary: this distance, with the test, is the greatest gift. Every hardship a person has is an opportunity for him to reach great levels. There is a test that is not necessarily one of holiness. And if there is a person who has a test of sadness — sadness is also a test. A person has sadness, a low spirit, bitterness, hardship, sorrow, pain — just like that, for no reason.
36:34 And he overcomes it and tries to gladden himself, tries to be happy and not to break — he rises a level. For every hardship. This is a world of sorrow. This world is a world of hardship. It is not for nothing — the created beings develop the world for one reason. Everyone wants to get out of the sadness. Why did they build shopping malls? Why did they build bathhouses [unclear]? Why did they build magnificent places in the world? What is the reason for all the doing that you see in the world?
36:59 It is only for one thing: so that people will not break and be in sorrow. All the doing that you see was created because of sorrow. Human beings are drawn to sorrow and sadness, the created beings in the whole world. So they created all sorts of places, where, if you look — if we decipher and analyze the true reality that they made — you will see that everything they created in the world is vanity, it is all foolishness. All the magnificent hotels and everything — it is, all in all, a bed with a toilet, that's it, that's where it ends.
37:30 There is nothing in the world; and every most luxurious place — they do it with a sea and a pool, that's it. Those are the desires they have to offer the world, or some airplane in the sky — that's where it ends. There isn't anything real, something imaginary that they created here in the world. It is all the same thing, everywhere in the world. Every place a person goes — look, look, how this whole world, its whole purpose, what the created beings made — the non-Jews, as they built bathhouses, and everything they made, for themselves — of course, in the time to come we will merit to see how everything is turned into kedushah and all — but this whole reality: because they tend toward sadness, they wanted to develop a great many things that would pass the time for them
38:15 and would not distress them, because they do not have the Torah. So they created — all day long they create things like these, that will fascinate them, that will interest them. All the technology is imagination. All the films, everything there is in the world, is imagination. They draw the world into imagination in order to try to make it happy, or to make it sad — to control its emotions by means of the imagination. And if they had the Torah, they would taste this taste of the Torah.
38:41 What is there in the Torah? In the Torah there is everything, and there is a sharp truth — no imagination, nothing. Show me something that so many books have been written about, so many books! How many books there are, how many books; there is nothing that doesn't have a book. How many books, how many halachos, how to live and how to move in the world — the four parts of the Shulchan Aruch. The whole Shas, the whole Talmud, Bavli, Yerushalmi, Pesikta, Tosefta, Mechilta, Sifrei — how much there is to learn!
39:06 The whole Rambam, the Rif — how many great ones composed works for us so that we would know how to walk here in the world. And those do not have all this, so they have technology. Why? Because they have sorrow; they do not have 'The precepts of Hashem are upright, gladdening the heart'; they do not have this joy. So it comes out of the sadness and the lack. But when a person has true joy, he finds no lack, because he is happy with what he has; so he has no need to look for the feelings, all the thrills and the...
39:35 That is not what makes him happy. He can go out in order to settle his mind, he can go out in order to clear his mind, in order to draw close to Hashem, in order to be alone in seclusion — there is no problem with that. But does it give joy? Does it make joy? It does not make joy. Joy, it does not make. Therefore, everything you see, the progress there is in the world, is because the created beings are lacking, and they are sad and tend toward sadness.
40:00 And one who overcomes the sadness and is joyful with all his strength, not only does he come out of it, he also brings others out of it, and he gives hope. Do you know how many people who take their own lives there are in the world? How many people take their own lives, and do not want to live, and despair, and are broken, and die — how many, how many! How much sorrow there is, how many people fall into sins — it is all because of sadness. This sadness, know this, is the most dangerous thing there is.
40:26 Never be sad, never, about anything, no matter what a person has. Even if he saw the most frightening report in the world, that the doctor showed him that already everything — no matter what. To take it, to pay it no heed, and to be in joy always. To be in joy over every second and every real moment, now. Every day is like a diamond. It will never come back again. If a person truly contemplates this and is joyful, he will truly value himself, value the gift and the closeness to Hashem — that we merited at all, here in this world, just to lift our head upward.
41:01 I merited just to lift my eyes to heaven, I merited just to pray to Hashem, I merited just to draw close to Him. That is the greatest thing there is in the world, that is the greatest gift there is. What more do we have to ask for than this? Closeness to Hashem. You know, everyone here in the world, their heart tends to love flesh and blood. Flesh and blood, formed from clay. All the created beings love. This one loves that one, this one loves that one; a woman a man, the love of a man for a woman, all kinds of foreign loves, all the things there are.
41:30 But who loves Hashem, blessed be He? Who merits love with Hashem? King David was in love with Hashem, blessed be He; he loved Him. Only, all the time — look at the book of Tehillim, a book that is full of love for the Creator, blessed be He, all this love. And Hashem, blessed be He, loves David; Hashem, blessed be He, loves Avraham Avinu; Hashem, blessed be He, loves all the holy Avos, all the tzaddikim who came here to the world and knew that this world is not the main thing; it is only like a means to something in the future that is going to be revealed.
41:57 Because when Hashem comes, on that great day that we will merit, and He is revealed to us, then all the created beings will see that one needed to love Him, and all the created beings — that one needed to do His will, to love Hashem. And see now the greatest mitzvah: 'Hear, O Israel: Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.' 'Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.' 'And you shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.' This is the command we begin with right away in the passage of Krias Shema; the intent in it is 'And you shall love,' 'and you shall love' — the mitzvah of loving Hashem, to love the Creator more than anything in the world.
42:28 Even giving your soul; children, self-sacrifice, money, everything there is in the world, whatever there is — a person should love the Creator more than everything he has. For there is nothing that can compare with this love for Hashem, blessed be He. When people see you, they will know that you are in love with Hashem, blessed be He. When a person has a bond and a love with the Creator, and he loves Hashem, and he causes hearts to love Hashem. Also a woman who loves the Creator, and also a man who loves the Creator. It is more fitting for created beings to love the Creator Himself instead of loving flesh and blood.
42:59 - But how can one truly merit to love Hashem and to be [unclear]? I mean, lots of people try all their lives; they have trials, and they try to draw close and to connect to Hashem. How does a person — only select individuals truly merit to connect and to draw close to Hashem. How can a person know that he is going to merit, that he will truly merit, to be truly connected and attached to Hashem all this life? - Listen, I will tell you. A very fine question, what you are asking. I recommend just a few small, individual things.
43:24 One is music. Music draws one very close to Hashem — holy music, of course, not impure music — holy music that causes the heart to awaken toward Heaven, holy niggunim. If you say — I cannot say about my own niggunim that they are good and holy, but my music is good music. Listening, listening — only to listen; there is no need to play. To play music is bittul Torah, it is a waste of time. I am telling you, it is a nightmare, it is pointless, there is no need for it.
43:51 Don't get into it; it is pointless. Today I know how to play, a player, but what for? It is better to listen to niggunim, to just enjoy — someone already took the trouble for you and made it; enjoy it. So listen, enjoy. In the Gemara, in Tractate Berachos, page 5b, the Gemara says that one who rejoices in suffering 'will see offspring, will lengthen his days.' If a person rejoices in suffering, he will have length of days. That is to say, joy in suffering, when a person accepts it with love — he merits length of days. You hear? It is, like, a promise.
44:24 A promise from the Sages for length of days and years. When a person accepts suffering, but with love and with joy — every difficulty you have, every struggle you have, you accept with love and with joy, as I explained, and you accept it even more — then you merit length of days. It is a promise. The Sages, in Tractate Berachos, on page 5 — it is not a promise that somebody promised you; it is a promise of the Gemara, of the Sages. It is not something else.
44:52 It is a segulah for length of days and years. Without a reason. He says: I received suffering, and why am I happy? Happy? The will of Hashem — because Hashem desires. 'Whom Hashem loves, He rebukes'; anyone whom Hashem desires, 'He crushes with suffering' — 'anyone whom the Holy One, blessed be He, desires,' the Gemara says, 'He crushes him with suffering.' He desires him, He brings him close, He wants to rebuke him, wants to cleanse him, wants to bring him close. We will not look for reasons, no — to do the will of Hashem. That is the first thing, that is the second thing; the third thing is what the Rambam — Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, chapter 2, halachah 2 — to contemplate the creation. Music, niggun, to accept suffering with love and with joy — what he asked.
45:28 Rambam, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, chapter 2, halachah 2: to contemplate Hashem's creation, everything Hashem created — trees, sky, galaxies, stars — to contemplate the creation, the beauty of the trees, the flowers; to contemplate, to connect to the Creator, to connect to His creation, to look at this beauty, at [unclear] of Hashem — that awakens a drawing close to Hashem, a wonder, when you see it. A person who wants all this, but [unclear], he does not manage to keep certain mitzvos, he does not manage to overcome all kinds of certain trials, but he does all this — if he does this, I tell you with certainty that he will merit to go out from complete evil to the absolute good.
46:06 With certainty. With certainty, because it is something that, in the end, nothing will be able to stand against. And I am speaking, of course, of his having a basis of Torah, yes? Without Torah it is impossible to do this. Torah is certain; I do not even say it among the signs. Torah study — Torah study there is; but to add also holy music, to add also joy in everything you go through, and the third thing, which is the important one, is contemplating the creation.
46:32 You walked here; on the way, as you walked — how many beautiful trees there are. Did you see how many trees? What beautiful trees. What... look, even here, look at the trees. When did you ever look at a potted plant? You know, I think about this — I once said a nice thing. A person goes now and brings home a bouquet of flowers. He bought a bouquet of flowers, bought a potted plant, bought a bouquet of flowers. How much did he invest in these flowers? He bought several, bought for such-and-such money, bought it.
46:58 Now that he has bought it, he looks at it at home, right? Why did he buy it? Outside the house there are so many beautiful flowers, but those he does not look at. Why? Because he did not buy them. Meaning, one has to buy it — and he would imagine that this whole world is his, which is what the Sages say in Tractate Sanhedrin, on page 37, that a person is obligated to say: 'The whole world was created only for me' — to repair the world, to put the world in order. Think that everything you see here, all the trees and the flowers and what you see, is in your honor.
47:24 So contemplate the creation; see the trees, how they move, how they sing — contemplate the creation. What a gift this is; it is a gift to contemplate the creation. One can look at the sky. What is the sky? To look only at — to gaze upward, to look upward, to the sky — it purifies the heart. It will turn you into someone kosher, holy, attached to Hashem; suddenly He will also speak with you, everything will be, everything, everything; you will reach such a level that...
47:51 Simple. Everything you see here is simple. A person is complicated; he thinks that everything has to come — salvation from here, a request from there; he wants his salvation — complicated. [unclear] someone needs a salvation, comes to me, and I tell him the simplest thing to do. I tell him something simple, something like this — he asks it once again: What should I do? What else should I take upon myself? What else? What is not needed? This, this.
48:19 What else — this, not this, this. He does not believe. There was one — I told him something small, simple. In the end he sees salvation, because of that simple thing. Simple. Salvation is something simple. A request from Hashem has to come in simplicity. You cannot come to Him with a lot of intellect or with force and so on. You are nothing; we are nothing. From Hashem one needs to ask with innocence and with simplicity a request, and He will save. There is no need to come to Him with intellect and with everything around it, because that is not... - When you said [unclear] about suffering.
48:51 After all, when a person is in pain, it hurts him. How will he be happy? He accepts, he knows there is Hashem, he accepts everything. But how can he reach joy, believe that it is truly from Hashem, and overcome this thing and come out of this thing? - No, my brother. Suffering — I will tell you the truth: it is impossible to rejoice in suffering. That would be a lie; it is hard to say that. A person can rejoice in this: that Hashem desired him and chose him in order to crush him and afflict him.
49:27 This is the will of Hashem. If, Hashem, You chose me, to pain me and so to make it hard for me, may You have nachas from it; I rejoice in this, that You chose specifically me, so that it would be painful or hard for me. You say to Hashem: In this I rejoice. But to say to rejoice within the pain, within this sorrow, that a person should be happy — that cannot be said, that he should be happy. This can be said to Hashem: Take this from me, so that I will not be in pain. Why? Because 'in all their distress, He is distressed.'
49:52 I do not want to suffer this pain, because I know that You too have pain, for 'in all their distress, He is distressed,' and there is pain to the Shechinah. And I do not want there to be pain to the Shechinah; therefore take this from me, and I do not want it. This is a beautiful teaching that Rabbi Meir of Apta composed, at the end of the Or LaShamayim; on the last page he writes what you asked and what I said just now. - Isn't love of the tzaddikim really love of Hashem? - Yes, because in the end you love Hashem through love of the tzaddikim.
50:18 You travel now to Rabbi Shimon, you read the Zohar, the Idra Zuta; you love Rabbi Shimon. I am connected to Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes — what light, what kedushah in Rabbi Meir, what kedushah. Why do you love them? Because they revealed Hashem to you. Love of the tzaddikim is not as love of tzaddikim; it is that you are seeking Hashem, blessed be He, but through them the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, is recognized — through His servants — and then you draw closer to the Holy One, blessed be He. So there is no problem in that.
50:43 - This is my question: how can one — on the right side, one has to draw close to the tzaddik; on the left side there is the matter of 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man.' How can one do it, in the middle of the way? I have not managed to believe — that is the question. On the right side, one has to draw close to the tzaddik. I am a baal teshuvah. I understood — it took me a long time to come to believe that it is like the will of Hashem: the tzaddik decrees, Hashem fulfills. What is that?
51:10 That his will is the same thing. - Okay, I understood. To draw close to the tzaddik, okay. - But how can one draw close to the tzaddik without the curse of 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man'? How can one go to the tzaddik and not [unclear]... - I understood. Well, that is if you have a Rav who is a man, you understand?
51:36 'If the Rav resembles an angel of Hashem of Hosts, let them seek Torah from his mouth.' Those who have Rabbis who are human beings, they really need — they have a problem; but one who has a Rav who resembles an angel of Hashem, then that is not the question. [unclear] Did you understand? - Not to make the Rav, for yourself, that he is an angel like that, no... - I understood what you are saying; I will explain to you. You agree with me that now, to go to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and to sit in the Idra and receive from him, to trust in everything he tells you — that he can exempt the world, in Tractate Sukkah, page 45b, there he expresses himself about himself in terms that are very, very great — that he can exempt the world from judgment.
52:13 So now I rely on him, we trust in Rabbi Shimon, that he will save the world from judgment. Am I transgressing 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man'? Well — because it is the same thing, it is the same thing, it is the same thing. It is the same Hashem who is revealed through him. That is not a question. - The question is when someone goes to a Rav to ask him for a blessing, success, something like that — 'Cursed is the man' — 'It is better to take refuge in Hashem than to trust in man,' better to...
52:39 it is better to believe in Hashem than in the blessing from the tzaddik; but there is a matter of drawing close to the tzaddik. - This time, I understood this question. Okay. 'If the Rav resembles...' Did you understand? - Yes, I understood, I understood, I understood. - Explain it to him afterward. - I am telling you, about our prayer, about your will. - No, but there is: 'You are called "man," and the nations of the world [unclear] called "man."' - 'If the Rav resembles an angel of Hashem, let them seek Torah from his mouth.'
53:04 I go now to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai — that is not a man. This one leans on Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, because he is an angel. And [unclear] Torah from him. 'For in the image of G-d He made man,' which is written about him — now, in Pirkei Avos. It is every man [unclear]. Every man. The prohibition of 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal' — there is no 'your brother'; the Torah made no distinction, yes? Like the prohibition of robbery: robbery from a non-Jew is also forbidden.
53:30 It is forbidden, Heaven forbid, to steal from a non-Jew, because the Torah did not say 'You shall not steal from your brother.' From that you would have learned that robbery from a non-Jew is permitted. He has an image. 'You shall not steal from your brother' is not written; there is no such thing. 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery' — there is no distinction; the Torah did not attach 'your brother' to it, so everyone is in the same rule. And the image — that applies to all the created beings. It is the same thing — like, everyone is in the same image.
53:55 Also the non-Jews, also the wicked, also this one, also that one. They all have an image. Only, this one is an impure image, this one is a pure image, this one is a holy image; this one worships idols, this one is far, this one is [unclear]. But they all have an image. All the created beings — 'Beloved is man, for he was created in the image.' The Holy One, blessed be He, has pity on all His created beings, and you saw this explicitly in Megillah, page 10b: 'The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you are saying song?'
54:19 The Holy One, blessed be He, had mercy even on the Egyptians; He had compassion, in that He could not accept song over the work of His hands drowning in the sea. He has compassion on all the work of His hands. They were all created in this image. - If everyone is [unclear], why is it said [unclear]? - There is a question: how can a person quit cigarettes? - To quit cigarettes? - Yes.
54:44 - So I ask of everyone, with Hashem's help, to quit cigarettes — whoever has a friend or a relative who smokes — to withdraw from it. So I will give you a few important pieces of advice in order to be saved from a thing that is not good. No, leave off with a spark like that. A spark like that we do not want. It starts from this spark of the... So look, it is like this. First of all, any good practice — for example, a person wants to get up at chatzos, a person wants neitz, a person wants — anything a person finds hard, any difficulty a person has — the way to break free of it is, first of all, to begin to stop in a measured way.
55:24 A person now wants to stop smoking; he smokes, say, five — I don't know how many; people smoke a pack, packs. I don't understand the numbers of the pack, how many are in a pack, I don't know. But a person smokes twenty — twenty packs? - Twenty in a pack. - A person smokes twenty cigarettes; he starts to go one, one, one.
55:48 One week he brings it down to ten, half; after two weeks he will bring it down to five; three weeks — to bring it down gradually. A person wants to get up at chatzos; so he needs to start getting up, say — say he gets up — he wants to get up, let him get up for half an hour; he wants to be awake at night, let him get up from chatzos for half an hour, learn for half an hour, go back to sleep, even if it takes nine, two weeks after that he will be awake an hour, a month after that he will be awake two hours, two months after that he will be awake three hours.
56:22 Those who get up all at once and start turning their life over — they do not manage to hold on for long. They do not manage. Everything has to be gradual, gradual, gradual, gradual. That said, if there is a person who is strong and can make a decision and say to himself, 'I no longer touch cigarettes, and I am stopping smoking' — may blessing come upon him. I promised, without a vow, that I will make a small gathering for everyone who took upon himself to stop smoking. There are a few who brought me their cigarettes, the tobacco in a bag; I threw it out — everyone who took upon himself to stop smoking.
56:53 I took it all and threw it all outside; we threw it all out. So whoever wants to stop smoking, Whoever wants to stop smoking, we will make a gathering only for everyone who stopped smoking, for him. Only for him. Whoever does not stop smoking should not come. Only whoever stops smoking is invited. No, whoever never started, for you there is something else, but only for someone like that... - [unclear] - It's not by choice, we don't want to... - So you need to understand, listen, you don't know how much influence there is from all the big companies, for whom this is an industry of money.
57:32 They drill into people that it's impossible, they drill into people that it calms you, that it's impossible to stop, because there is an addictive substance in it. That's nonsense. There is no addictive substance in it, and it's not true, and it's just studies, and it's just nonsense. It's not addictive, and it's not anything. There is nothing that is addictive. There is no such thing in the world. For the body there is nothing that is addictive. Nothing. Except for Torah, yes. - Not caffeine either? [unclear] - Nothing, nothing. It's just talk. Scientists say it. Look, you need to know, you don't know how many strange opinions they have drilled into people here.
58:05 And it's all an industry of money. So what did they drill into people? Coffee is an industry of money all over the world. They say coffee is addictive, there's a substance in it and it addicts the body. It's not addictive, it's a substance the body is drawn to, like sugar, insulin. Two weeks after a person stops eating sugar, anything with sugar that he eats afterwards will be exaggeratedly sweet to him.
58:30 After two weeks the body can already clean it out. Two weeks a person needs to stay away from something that's not good; after two weeks the body begins to produce everything that was missing and begins to build itself up on its own, without it. It can manage without cigarettes, without sugar, without anything, nothing. - The brain gets hooked? - How's that? - The brain gets hooked. - No, the brain does not get hooked, that's just nonsense. Just nonsense. - What do you replace the effect of the cigarette with?
58:55 - To replace the effect of the cigarette? With clean air. Breathe, every time you want to, instead of taking a cigarette into your mouth, which brings pollution into the lungs, it's something that is not good for the lungs. Here, now you see air. Here, smoke the air. Is there anything better than... Do you know how calming that is? I'm not, I'm not joking. I'm really not joking. You are laughing; I'll explain it to you in the simplest way. Listen: take a person like that who smoked a cigarette, who chokes himself, he takes the lungs, which have no replacement. You know there is no replacement for lungs.
59:29 If a person - may it not come upon anyone in the Jewish people - has to undergo a lung transplant, that is something very dangerous. You have to wait in line to receive it, and once you've received lungs, everything new, they have to open him up, replace his lungs, put the lungs of someone else into him, and even that is in doubt, Heaven forbid, whether it holds. It doesn't always succeed, and even if it succeeds, it holds - I don't want to tell you for how long, so as not to break people and make them despair. I ask in every way, everyone who loves me, everyone who is connected to me in some way and loves me and wants to listen to me, take it upon yourselves to stop smoking, not to touch it, and I promise you, without a vow, I will make a small gathering -
1:00:09 I don't think many people will come, I don't know - that everyone who stops smoking should come to this gathering, but only whoever stops smoking, because it's - everyone who stops smoking, everything. Stop that electric one too; it's nonsense. Every time you want to smoke, I'll tell you what to take. You can take mint oil, a little drop, put on a little like this, or a little something, a strong smell of mint.
1:00:34 You sit like this, and here, you've taken a breath of air like this. Now you take another one. Five, ten of these. Every time you want to smoke, you do this. After that you want to smoke again. Say, 'I'm going out for a cigarette break.' Go out, take the fragrance again, see how lovely.
1:01:02 Why did Hashem make it, the fragrance? Why? - To stop doing sins - also little by little? Regarding sins, regarding sins one must stop immediately, at that very moment, in that very place, to give one's soul for it, no matter what.
1:01:34 I am speaking about habits of nature. Habits of nature are something different. I recommend to people, I recommend to people in every way, by every means, to wean themselves off this thing. I said once, I recommend all at once for whoever is strong; whoever is weak, to stop slowly, but I recommend stopping. And listen, the Satan saw that he cannot take control of the whole world, so he took arrows.
1:02:04 These cigarettes are the Satan's arrows. They are arrows, they are arrows. One must beware of it - in every way, with every request. I ask of you, you listen to me: the Jewish people need to live and have long days and years, and a person will have to answer for having used this thing, know that. A person will have to answer for it. They will ask him in Heaven: why did you transgress this prohibition, why did you not guard yourself, why did you damage this thing. True, it is indirect causation and it does not harm right away, and it harms after some time.
1:02:38 That is a responsum of Rav Moshe Feinstein about cigarettes and about things that are forbidden. Meaning, it is harm by indirect causation, it is not harm that is immediate, it's harm that is... As if you are taking something so that it should harm. It's not... if, like... if a person smoked and died on the spot, then they would [unclear] it completely; that would be called, like, some kind of. - Rav Moshe Feinstein [unclear] - All right, you know why.
1:03:05 They did not know. So that people... Like, no, you can't come, on the one hand, and stop it. It doesn't harm on the spot, it doesn't kill on the spot. On the one hand it is something that causes harm. It is a matter of [unclear], and those who want to smoke - there are some for whom it's a craving or something. In any case, one has to give them an answer, whoever has it.
1:03:30 So that's why I say: use fragrances, wean yourself off it. It really is important, because you don't know how harmful it is, and this body really needs to be looked after. To eat fruits, vegetables, to be careful about healthy nutrition - it's important - that a person eat a fruit a day, vegetables. Hashem hid away in His creation everything this body needs. This body doesn't need too much; He hid away everything.
1:03:55 Everything that's needed - health, vitamins, everything - inside the fruits, the vegetables. It also helps a person's thinking, it helps a person's memory, it helps, it's beneficial, it even helps with joy. One must guard the body very much, not make light of it and not put in things that are not good. And even if you don't smoke and someone is smoking next to you, that is dangerous too. So don't breathe in from the one who is smoking.
1:04:20 Of this too one must beware - simply keep away. A person who is smoking - don't breathe that air; go out, separate yourself and don't breathe that air, because it is very dangerous air. And sometimes it is even more poisonous than for the one who smokes himself. - What about - why are there rabbis who smoke? - It's not good. - What are they doing? - What do you mean, no? What does that mean? There are rabbis who do smoke. Rav Kaduri used to [unclear]. - Rav Kaduri, and also the holy Baal Shem Tov, and there were many holy tzaddikim who [unclear], yes? But...
1:04:48 In their time it did no harm. In their time it did no harm. - For them it didn't? They did not know what they were doing. - [unclear] - Look, the tzaddikim - look, we don't - let us learn from the tzaddikim the other things they practiced, and the matter of smoking we will not learn. It harms others too, it also harms oneself, it is something very dangerous.
1:05:19 So I say, in every way, in every form of request: separate yourselves from it, stop with it, and stop funding all this wealth that all these companies in the world that produce it have. All you are doing is funding them, right? You are funding them. It is simply funding it and also harming oneself, because according to the thought - in thought, it's addictive. It's nonsense.
1:05:44 They put it into people's heads that this thing is addictive, and then... Let's start now to publicize to the whole world that... holding this is addictive. I'm telling you, you'll start seeing people walking around with it in their hands, like this. Lots of people would start walking around like this with grass in their hand, walking like this, saying, 'It's addictive.' Publicize to everyone that it's addictive. Everyone talks nonsense.
1:06:09 It is very dangerous, very, very dangerous. One must be very careful of this thing, in every way, with every request. It causes a great many illnesses. I'm telling you this out of pain, because you see that people come to me during the week with problems, with illnesses. I also keep asking the sick, I ask them: what happened, what did you do, are you like this, are you like that - I ask them. Many of my conclusions are: poor nutrition, cigarettes. These are dangerous things; separate from them - in every form of request.
1:06:38 - [unclear] the answer about sadness. The Rav spoke about sadness: how can one really overcome it and be happy? I mean, a person has a lot, he has pitfalls, there are things from above, below, and he is sad, since a person is from the dust, he is sad by his nature, he leans more toward this. How can he come out of it and be a happy person, reach joy as the Rav spoke of? As he spoke. - So I'll explain. Look.
1:07:06 I'll say something. Look, you need to understand a very important thing. When you say joy, yes? Joy means, you know, to jump about, to be happy. - To come out of sadness and be in joy? - To come out of sadness and be in joy. Every person who tries to look for something in himself and rejoice in it will always find a lack in it. Some lack, yes?
1:07:31 When you rejoice in something that Hashem made, in that there is no lack. So let us rejoice in our Jewishness. Let us rejoice in this - like Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov, dancing all night over 'Who has not made me a non-Jew.' Understand, like, think that right now you could have been walking here in the world without a purpose - like, you exist as a reality and you say, 'I have no purpose.' What a thing it is that you are here in the world and you have a purpose, and this world, and the World to Come, and geulah, and Hashem is with you, and Hashem hears you, and everything is possible, and you can attain everything.
1:08:04 There is no greater joy than this: that I have Hashem, blessed be He. If I now said to you: listen, I'm giving you this bottle, anything you want, you'll be able to do. Whatever you want. You want to cross the sea - hold the bottle, the sea will be given to you. You want to go up to the heavens? Hold the bottle, you'll go up to the heavens. You want to go down into the depths of the sea and have some whale summoned for you to take you on a trip? Hold the bottle and go into the sea.
1:08:31 Would you jump and dance? You want billions, endless wealth? Hold the bottle and you'll have it. Would you be happy? You'd be overjoyed, right? So there is something that is called more than the bottle: emunah in Hashem, blessed be He. Emunah in Hashem, blessed be He, can bring you all of this. So this will bring a person to joy. If you have emunah and hope in Hashem, it will bring you to everything. - Rav, regarding hisbodedus, regarding hisbodedus, many times - I have been learning this for 15 years, even four months ago I started.
1:09:02 Many times I see that I want to speak with Hashem, I even have the book with me of what to say, but I can't open my mouth. I have no - what can I do? It's in the heart, but I can't open it. - Sometimes you don't need to speak at all. Sometimes you don't even need to speak with Hashem. You can be silent. Lift your eyes to the heavens and be silent, just think of Him. You don't have to. One does not serve the Holy One, blessed be He, in a way - I'll explain something to you. Look, you - whoever knows, students of mine who learned for many years know the whole path, and my outlook and my view.
1:09:37 And with Hashem's help we will yet learn from it. Rabbi Shalom - where is Rabbi Shalom? He edited many important things, and also Rav [unclear] - you are a tzaddik - may the Holy One, blessed be He, watch over him, a Torah scholar, he truly did extraordinary work, he truly did work - - Rav, he is here, Rav. - Yes? [unclear] You know, don't be shy. So he did work - he really took, over all the years, what I said, and he set out in an orderly, clear way my outlook, my view, truly, in a way that is truly something wondrous. With Hashem's help we will publish it too.
1:10:14 It's something very beautiful. You need to know that one of the things I explained is that serving Hashem is not as the world thinks. People receive Torah from all kinds of rabbis and people and so on, they gather here a whole collection of things and come, and they end up with a great mess. That's not right. One does not serve Hashem with panic, with pressure. One does not serve Hashem in a way that you must speak, and if you didn't speak then no...
1:10:39 One should serve Hashem calmly, lift the eyes to the heavens, ask of Him calmly, serve Hashem from the heart, not intellectually. Even hisbodedus they do by intellect. You don't do it by intellect, you do it by feeling and the service of the heart. 'Service of the heart' - that is tefillah, with intention. Everything should be in a good atmosphere, in kedushah, in joy. These are the things 'that a person shall do and live by them.' - Last question. - It is written that Rashi's daughters used to put on tefillin. Is there a source for this?
1:11:06 And if so - Rashi writes that this is bal tosif, adding to the mitzvos. So how did they find that? - Do you have someone there? - I heard, and in Tractate Eruvin, on page 96, the Gemara says about Michal bas Shaul, at the end of the side, [unclear], that she put on tefillin. - Correct. - They say that Rashi's daughters - is there a source for that? - I have not heard. - The wife of Rabbi Meir. Rashi also writes that this is bal tosif. - I have not heard. It could be. - Is there a prohibition on it?
1:11:32 - No, a woman does not put on tefillin, since they must be kept in kedushah; she has [unclear], she has things because of which she cannot keep them in kedushah. A woman can make the blessing of [unclear]. All right, but she does not put on tefillin, she does not keep them in kedushah. There are 21 mentions of the Name in them, of the Name Havayah, in the tefillin. She does not keep that in kedushah. - The wife of Rabbi Meir. - Look, there is also the Rebbetzin of Nadvorna, the daughter of Rabbi Chaim Mordechai of Nadvorna, as they used to see her put on - wrapping herself in a tallis. The wife of the holy Or HaChaim - they say that she was once seen with tefillin.
1:12:08 Whether she put them on or did not, whether Rashi's daughters put them on or not - it could be, I don't know. There is no [unclear] for it, as there is. No, [unclear]. That they put on tefillin - that I have seen - I don't know. The matters are sealed, [unclear], but the wife of the holy Or HaChaim - I have seen that she put them on. - Of the two wives - the second one or the first? Every day, or? Every day, or only in the periods when she was pure?
1:12:34 - What's that? - Did she put on tefillin every day, or only at the times when she was pure? - The matters are sealed, [unclear]. [unclear] whether she is clean, it's more a matter of cleanliness, but not... - Does the Rav believe it is better for it to be in a whisper? Or perhaps, since I brought the Rav's tefillos, with Hashem's help, that you should have gratitude, that perhaps a Likutei Tefilos could be made of the Rav, because he is in this time, he lives in this time.
1:13:01 And many times, even when I - [unclear] - when I can't speak, I open Likutei Tefilos. - That's excellent, that's excellent. - What is better? In a whisper, or Likutei Tefilos? - There's no time, we need to... that's it, it's... - I say to do both. One prays - it is a thing of the heart. 'Service of the heart' - that is tefillah. It must come from the side of feeling, from the side of the... You cannot come from the intellectual side; it must come from the side of feeling and the bond with the Holy One, blessed be He. If it's like that, it won't come.
1:13:34 If a person starts to come and plan it, it's not... You must come out of 'Pour out your heart like water before the face of Hashem.' Love and attachment. - One needs to believe in himself. - Yes. - We wanted to thank the Rav for all the years that we have merited the Rav, truly - over very many years in which we, a number of students, merited a little to know the tzaddik.
1:14:02 We truly saw how the Rav gives his soul for each and every one individually, truly - in material matters, in spiritual matters, in each and every thing. And besides the Rav's unbelievable engagement in Torah, truly in the sense of 'Who would believe what we have heard,' truly - that Hashem, blessed be He, had mercy on us in this generation, that Hashem, blessed be He, brought us such a hidden treasure, such a wondrous treasure that everyone benefits from, delighting in its light.
1:14:28 And truly, the Rav's holy Torah, the niggunim, the tefillos, the blessings, the knowledge, and above all, all, all - to know Hashem - as they asked here just now, 'Who is Hashem?' There is no one like the Rav, who teaches the whole world who Hashem is. And truly there are no words in the world with which we could even say thank you to the Rav, and show a little gratitude to the Rav for what he does, and all his daily self-sacrifice, which is something beyond grasp; it cannot be described in words at all.
1:14:56 The Rav has no rest, the Rav has no sleep, the Rav barely - truly has nothing for himself, only entirely for the public, far, far beyond the way of nature. And what people receive from him - there is no value and no measure and no words and no... truly wonder of wonders. Hashem, blessed be He, had mercy on this generation; He did not leave us and did not abandon us, and brought us such a great tzaddik. It is truly incumbent on us, each and every one, to show gratitude to the Rav, each one with whatever he can - whether in the matter of tefillah for the Rav, that Hashem, blessed be He, give him strength, and also to think, as little as possible, a bit - sometimes the Rav gives so much, and gives, and gives -
1:15:32 to pay attention that the Rav also needs his time, needs his quiet, needs his... - No, that's not right. Trouble me. - [unclear] - No, that I do not accept. Trouble me. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, [unclear]. Everything is fine. We love you. May you have good tidings, good lives. For everyone, salvation from Heaven. May He bless you, all of you, with all the blessings and good bounty, with good that is seen and revealed.
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