The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הגאון הינוקא - שיחה מרגשת שמסר בניחום אבלים (נמסר לפני מספר חודשים) The Yanuka - English subs

3:41 Of course he could have told her that you need no merit more than having a son like me. But the Vilna Gaon, in his humility, told her: Say that you were a widow for thirty years, and that is your merit. You don't need to say anything more in Heaven, because the fact that you were a widow for so many years, this pain — that is what brought you in up above, into the chamber of the Holy One, blessed be He. Sometimes, when people go through very great pain in this world, a lot of pain in this world, and it is hard to comfort and it is impossible to comfort — 'I, I am He Who comforts you.'

4:14 The Holy One, blessed be He, is the Master of consolations. It is impossible to comfort a person over a loss and over pain; it is only to pray for him, and as much as possible to give him hope. That is the task, and our duty is to do it, what we can, and a little of the little that is possible, a drop, to give a person comfort. There was a story with Rav Beroka, in the Talmud, in Tractate Taanis, page 22a, that Rav Beroka came, Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, was with him all the time, and he asked him: Are there people here who are destined for the World to Come?

4:52 So Eliyahu, remembered for good, told him that there are not, no: there is no person here who is destined for the World to Come. And meanwhile, as they stood together and spoke with each other, right away two came along, and Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, told him: These are destined for the World to Come. And Rav Beroka went and asked them: What are your deeds, that you are destined for the World to Come?

5:17 And then they told him that if they see sad people, they make sure to cheer them up, they make sure to give them joy, and if they see people quarreling with each other, they go and make peace between them. We see here that they also had the level of making peace, and they also had the level that when they would see a sad person, they would go and cheer him up.

5:42 Many times we see people who are sad and broken, and a person does not know how important it is to show a shining face, all the more so to judge favorably, and not to hurt a friend and not to hurt another. The tears that come out of an aching heart, and children who were left orphans, and a husband who was left like this in great pain — a passing like this is a loss that cannot be restored.

6:24 And the comfort and hope that one gives a person, and gives him strength — afterward, always — Hashem, blessed be He, did the kindness that there is the shivah, which supports and strengthens a person, but after that the world goes on, and the pain and the void — there is no one who will fill them. And on the contrary, whoever thinks in his mind more, and thinks, he is the one who will merit to be destined for the World to Come.

6:56 What interests Rabbi Beroka, in the middle of the market, at the moment Eliyahu, remembered for good, reveals himself to him — who would have thought that Eliyahu, remembered for good, is with him and is revealed to him, and what will interest Rav Beroka is who is destined for the World to Come? Perhaps it should interest you that Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, is speaking with you! Why should it interest you so much who is destined for the World to Come?

7:20 Rather, the whole explanation is that Rav Beroka understands that in order for Eliyahu to keep revealing himself to me, I need to search, to see how to learn and do good deeds that will acquire for me the merit of the World to Come, so that Eliyahu will keep revealing himself to me. And then it will truly be understood why it was so important to Rav Beroka to know who is destined for the World to Come.

7:45 Because his understanding, and what he revealed, was so that everyone would understand and reflect that to gladden one who is in pain, to gladden a sad and broken heart, is a merit — it is the merit of being destined for the World to Come. There are many broken people in this world, there are many ordeals in this world, and a great deal of suffering and a great many difficulties, and the thing that can give a person strength is good things that one gives him: it is great encouragement, it is a good word, it is great hope that one gives him.

8:22 You all know that in the Prophets it is told, in Melachim I, chapter 18, it is told about Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, that Eliyahu was alone. Against him were four hundred prophets of Baal. King Achav wants to kill him, with Izevel. And Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, goes against all of them, against their belief, and everyone follows the prophets of Baal, and the prophets of Baal do the opposite of Hashem's will.

8:56 And Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, says to the Jewish people: 'How long will you hop between the two opinions? If Hashem is G-d, follow Him, and if it is Baal, follow him.' You see who Hashem is — follow Hashem, blessed be He, to the end. If you say it is Baal — then go, let's see, maybe he can save you. And then, when they did the test, and Eliyahu took the offering, the bull, and said to the prophets of Baal — and of course they put inside everything that could be done, with all kinds of tricks so that they could produce the fire, and the prophets of Baal shouted and shouted, and nothing answered them from Heaven, nothing — no fire, and nothing happened.

9:40 And of course Eliyahu, remembered for good, was alone against four hundred prophets of Baal, and all the Jewish people are standing at the mountain, and watching and waiting to see what will be and what will come of it. And Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, stands before Hashem after he pours and brings the whole stream, all the water, onto his offering, so that it will be against nature, that the whole bull is all water, so that it is impossible at all to bring fire onto such a bull.

10:08 He lifts his eyes to Heaven and says: 'Answer me, Hashem, answer me,' and let them know that 'You, Hashem, are G-d, and You turned their heart back.' And they will see that You are Hashem, You are the King, You are G-d, You are the true G-d, so that all will see and the prophets of Baal will be ashamed. And immediately fire came down from Heaven, after Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, asked: 'Answer me,' and it consumed the bull, everything, and the fire licked up the whole stream, all the water, dried it up.

10:38 Not a single drop of water was left from the great fire that came down from Heaven. And all the people cried out and fell on their faces and said: 'Hashem is G-d, Hashem is G-d.' And from then until today we say it, this sanctification of Hashem's Name, seen with the eyes. The man of G-d, who is called 'good for Israel' — throughout all the generations Eliyahu HaNavi, remembered for good, was called 'good for Israel', for he would go and say: 'I am their atonement,' in all their dwellings, wherever Israel may be; 'I am their atonement in all their dwellings.'

11:12 So Eliyahu, remembered for good, would say, and he guarded Israel in all the generations, and he sanctified His Name, blessed be He, in all the worlds. And when one looks at this and sees the greatness of Hashem, how Hashem, blessed be He, answers whoever turns to Him, how Hashem, blessed be He, wants people to follow Him in truth, and to know that He alone is G-d. When one looks in the Talmud, there is something very frightening, in the Jerusalem Talmud, in Tractate Chagigah, chapter 1, the seventh halachah, in the name of Rav Huna and Rav Yirmiyah, in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak.

11:51 There the Talmud says that the Holy One, blessed be He, is full of mercy: He had mercy on the Jewish people over idol worship, over bloodshed, over forbidden relations — He forgave the Jewish people for them. But over their despising the Torah, that they left the holy Torah, for that He did not forgive.

12:21 It is written in the prophet Yirmiyahu, in chapter 19, verse 11, verse 12: 'And Hashem said': 'For what did the land perish? For their forsaking My Torah.' It does not say over idol worship, it does not say over forbidden relations, it does not say over bloodshed; it says 'for their forsaking My Torah', that they left the Torah. And Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said, he said to them, Rabbi Chiya bar Abba says that all this is because the light in the Torah...

12:49 that the Holy One, blessed be He, says: 'If only they had forsaken Me and kept My Torah,' for the light in it would bring them back to Me. So the Yerushalmi says: that the light in the holy Torah brought them back, that they would be close to Me. The Jerusalem Talmud teaches us that beyond a person learning Torah, beyond a person sanctifying himself or praying, there is very great importance in guarding that the Torah be part of a person's life, every day, never to neglect it, ever, that it be an inseparable part of a person's life, every single day, that he not neglect a single moment of Torah study.

13:36 Because the importance of Torah study is something the Holy One, blessed be He, does not give up on, that He even says, 'And Me they forsook, but My Torah they kept' — guard My Torah. The importance of Torah study is the most important thing. Our teacher the Rambam, in the Laws of Torah Study, in chapter 1, halachah 8, our teacher the Rambam ruled as halachah that every person is obligated — a rich man, a poor man, also one who suffers, whether whole in body, each and every one, whether old, one who suffers, all of them are obligated to learn Torah and to engage in Torah.

14:11 Each and every one must learn the holy Torah, and he does not have the right to neglect the Torah; a person does not have the option to leave it; he is obligated to learn it. And the Biur Halachah writes in siman 155, and so also wrote our master the Shulchan Aruch in siman 155, about the virtue of and the engagement in Torah study, that a person is obligated to learn Torah every single day, every day to learn the holy Torah. And the Biur Halachah writes that to our sorrow, the world does not know and does not understand this pain, that they do not understand the importance of learning Torah every day, of engaging in Torah every day, that even though the world is busy and they have the pressures of time and of livelihood, even if they will lose many good things or much money,

14:55 even so the Shulchan Aruch rules that even if he will lose much money, he will need to sit and engage in Torah and set times for Torah. So the Sages taught in Tractate Shabbos, page 31, so our masters the Baalei HaTosafos taught in Sanhedrin, page 7a, that the beginning of a person's judgment is over words of Torah. A person must take upon himself the best resolution: to learn Torah every day, no matter what happens.

15:21 There are many Torah classes today, a huge spread of Torah. One must learn Torah every day, connect to the Torah, hear Torah classes, become holy, become pure, come close to Hashem, have pity on the purpose, have pity on a person's purpose. Have pity — each one must have pity on himself, have pity on his purpose. What is the purpose of the whole life of the vanities of this world, of all that will pass over a person, of everywhere he will go in this world?

15:45 What is his purpose? It is only that a person merits to lift his eyes to Heaven, only that a person merits to find favor in the eyes of Hashem, blessed be He, to be in holiness, to be in purity. They say that the Chiddushei HaRim of Gur — they say that when he would just see the tefillin, he would just see the tefillin — he would cry. He would look at the tefillin, he would cry; it would remind him of the start of the day, that one must learn, that one must pray, to engage in all the holy services.

16:10 And he would say: how can one put such a holy thing on such a body? That is what he would say. He would hold the tefillin and he would cry before he put them on his body. He said: such a holy thing on such a coarse body? So the Chiddushei HaRim would cry. They say that the Ibn Ezra went through many ordeals in his life, and a great deal of suffering and a great many troubles, and the Chiddushei HaRim said about him that his fear of Heaven never left him.

16:35 In spite of all the ordeals that passed over him, he remained firm in his mind, and he was strong and full of fear of Heaven, to the point that he said: how can his shoulders hold up his head from so much fear of Heaven, how does he not collapse? That is how he would go about, full, full, full of fear of Heaven. That was the Ibn Ezra, one of the greatest commentators, whom everyone has heard of. And let everyone look and see how such holy and pure people conducted themselves in the generations before us, with what fear of Heaven they conducted themselves before Hashem, blessed be He, with what awe they learned and prayed and put on tefillin or fulfilled any mitzvah.

17:08 That is the greatest importance: that a person merit to gather a little of the little of what he can grab in this world, as much as possible. Know that everyone of course knows that as much as we can hold ourselves strong in this world, that is the true purpose: to come close to true Torah scholars, to come close to true tzaddikim, to come close to Hashem, blessed be He.

17:32 That is what a person has in this world. And we once brought, in the name of the holy Steipler, who says that a segulah for length of days and years is that a person be close to Torah scholars. So says the holy Steipler: and that he see to it that Torah scholars love him, because when a person is held dear in the hearts of Torah scholars and tzaddikim, he is fit to have length of days and years. And why? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, does not want there to be pain, Heaven forbid, to His servants, so through this He will not cause pain to that person, and He will guard him from all harm and damage.

18:02 And therefore there is in this great importance and a great and very mighty segulah. And therefore let everyone run to all kinds of Torah scholars and tzaddikim, and see to it to gladden them and to learn from their Torah and to rejoice, and to take upon himself the yoke of Torah, and this will be for him the great and wondrous shelter in this world. And all the ordeals there are in this generation, in this wondrous generation, where there are so many ordeals and so many tests — we need to hold ourselves strongest toward Heaven, before Hashem, blessed be He, that the lack of the Shechinah be filled, to ask for the holy Shechinah, to ask for the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple.

18:39 Ask for the purpose, ask for the House of Hashem. Strengthen one another, make unity among everyone, encourage every broken one, everyone who has a broken heart, encourage him, have compassion on one another, give charity, do kindness, shine the light in every place you can, and redeem the Jewish people from the exile. Know that these things — 'these are the things which a man shall do and live by them': to guard holiness, to guard prayer, that wherever one goes — to bless Hashem, to always be careful about uncovering the head, Heaven forbid, for this — Once Rav Ben Zion Yadler said that a person who walks around without a head covering — he compared it to a small bottle of perfume that is as if without a cork.

19:23 When the bottle goes without a cork, all the scent wafts out. So he said. A holy soul is like a bottle full of perfume; there must always be a cork to guard that good scent, that perfume. So also ruled our master the Shulchan Aruch, in siman 2, se'if 6, and so also the Mishnah Berurah brought, in siman 2, se'if katan 11, in the name of the Mahari Bruna, the Terumas HaDeshen, about the care and the importance of being careful not to uncover the head. Guard yourselves in holiness, in purity, that there always be a covering on the head, to bless the Name of Hashem, to feel the awe of Heaven, to feel the fear of Heaven, holiness and purity, to return to Hashem, to say Tehillim, to pray.

19:59 That is the greatest purpose in this world, whatever is possible, because all the life of this world and all the vanities that will pass over a person and all the ordeals that will pass over a person in this world are like zero and like nothing compared to one moment in which a person can lift his eyes to Heaven, come close to Hashem, blessed be He, feel the holy Shechinah, feel the sweetness of Tehillim, the wondrous book, the holiness, the psalms, the prayer, the praise.

20:29 Have pity on yourselves, have pity on the purpose, and awaken all the Jewish people, each and every one, that they have pity on the purpose and come close to Hashem, to separate them from what is forbidden. And even if it is hard for a person, let him be strong and let him be mighty and conquer his inclination, because that is the purpose in this world, and not to be broken by anything, and not to be weak, and to be full of hope always, and to be full of joy always, and to know that it is possible to overcome everything, and it is possible to go from one extreme to the complete opposite, and it is possible to come out of everything and every ordeal and reach the true and eternal good.

21:04 But the main thing is that a person have in his mouth and in his mind Hashem, blessed be He, and that he call to Hashem, blessed be He, always. I, the small and lowly one, bless you that you continue to shine the light of Hashem, that you continue with help from Heaven, that you continue to become holy and pure and to do valiantly. May the Holy One, blessed be He, give comfort from Heaven to all the holy family, to all the dear family, that they have hope and salvation and joy, and may Hashem, blessed be He, give them strength and might, to all the parents, to the whole family, that they have hope for the holy children, that they have all the good bounty.

21:43 And strengthen them and encourage them and support them, that they always have light and hope. 'I, I am He Who comforts you,' and in Jerusalem you will be comforted; 'He will swallow up death forever, and Hashem G-d will wipe away tears from every face.' 'Be strong and let your heart take courage, all who hope to Hashem.' May Hashem give you all the good bounty. that our Rav does not need to be the Rav of the city.

22:35 We are in a place [unclear], 12 years, and every Wednesday at our home. Noam, Noam. Always. Learn the Torah from him. Receive him, receive him. Encourage him, encourage him. Noam. This is it. This is from 20 years ago. Rav, Rav, Rav... One second, one second, [unclear].