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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 3,106 words · 14:04. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 Why don't we say Shehecheyanu on a new niggun? - In principle, in Tosafos in Tractate Berachos, on page 58, the Gemara says that the blessing of Shehecheyanu we say over a person whom we see — a new person. The Yaavetz says that one can bless Shehecheyanu even on a new sefer. If a person has a new sefer, he can bless Shehecheyanu. It is a dispute in the words of our Rabbis the Rishonim: that a person needs to bless over a joy, something that he...
0:25 there is a festival that comes, and there is joy. Look, if a niggun truly brings you joy, you can bless Shehecheyanu even on a tie. One can bless Shehecheyanu even on new glasses too — if it brings you joy. If a new niggun truly brings you joy, put on some new garment and cover it with that — that way you are out of any doubt. That is what I would do. Or a new fruit. Yes, or a new fruit, right. How is your honor? Very pleased... - Yaakov Shwekey. - Very pleased to meet you. - I was with the Rav on Hoshana Rabbah two years ago, there at... before the war.
0:55 - Right, right, at the Hoshanos you were with me, at the tefillah... - Right. - You did the Hoshanos, you sang beautifully. - Beautiful; and afterwards we did the Hallel together. - Right. Fortunate are we. Beautiful... - How does the Rav... After things like these (hearing troubles from people), it is hard... - Yes, it is very hard. It is really... I hear many troubles, baruch Hashem, many. - How does his honor the Rav...
1:20 Wow, very hard. - All of Judaism is with joy. - Right, right. - If there is no joy, there is no Shechinah. - Yes, the Rambam even says, at the end of the Laws of Lulav: 'Because you did not serve Hashem your G-d with joy' — that a person is destined to give an accounting for this — that he does not serve Hashem with joy. Look, I, baruch Hashem, am happy, because I also see much of Hashem's salvation — that He hears and He answers the Jewish people. It is truly hard, truly. I hear all kinds of troubles, and I also see hard sights; as you know, they show...
1:46 People come to me — a patient in the middle of an operation... organs, things... dead people they have shown me — what you, a person, cannot dream of — they show me. - And about the love of the Holy One, blessed be He, that He loves the most — how does the Rav look at this and feel that there is so much love there, more than any person? My parents passed away... now it is broken... so how do we take this and say it is from the mouth of the Most High, one must be joyful — it is... - What...
2:30 Look, I will tell you the truth. You know, when it hurts, it hurts... You know, when there is pain, it hurts. You know, I too have the memorial day of my father — already nine years since his passing, that he departed from me. And it hurts me. it hurts me. Simply, I cry — and I cried. I don't... I know, I always say — you know, when it hurts, it hurts.
Read the whole shiur in English (23 more parts)
2:58 Sometimes one needs— you know, when it hurts, it hurts. You know, look, to tell a person: one has to be strong, to believe — you know, not to be broken by anything. To look to Heaven and be strong. The Sforno, the Ibn Ezra, explain in Parashas Re'eh — there the Ibn Ezra writes, and also the Sforno — that the Holy One, blessed be He, loves us as children; He loves us — and everything He does to us is all by the decree of the King. You see, everything the King does — we cannot ask questions about the King. We, in the end — nothing belongs to us, nothing is owed to us.
3:32 And I always say: be genuine. You know, when a person comes to me, I tell him: cry. It hurts — let the pain out. One need not push it down and strain oneself, but one should know that what the King wants... - But should one ask that they come in a dream and so on... things like that — is that something to pray for? - I would not recommend it to people. Many say this to me about a child of theirs who is gone — to wait like that for him to come. Precisely when one waits too much for him to come, he does not come. I tell people to let it be.
3:58 You know, one of the great tikkunim of the soul is not to busy oneself with it too much. You know, there is Rabbi Eliyahu Suleiman Mani, author of Karnos Tzaddik; he was the Rav of Chevron. And he wrote that one of the things that are a segulah for the tikkun of Yesod is not to rectify it too much. There are those who busy themselves all day... you busy yourself with something, all day, all the time — like someone who prays for a match. And all day he does segulos for the match, all day. That is 'hope deferred' — it is too much... - 'We hope all day long,' it is written.
4:25 - Right, but 'hope'... the Yerushalmi, in Berachos, chapter 9, halachah 1 — it is written: 'Hope to Hashem; be strong and let your heart take courage, and hope to Hashem.' When you speak with the Holy One, blessed be He, you need to give the prayer, to hope that He will do your request — and to let Him. Sometimes you press on something and you do not let go — it brings a person, instead of to prayer and hope, to disappointment and pain. You know, in the end the Holy One, blessed be He, sometimes also does not answer a person — 'Hashem did not answer me, so I don't...' - He also answers after thirty years, if He wants.
4:57 - Right, He can answer whenever He wants. You know, today we come to the Holy One, blessed be He, with the attitude that — as it were... we pray to Him, so He is obliged to give what we prayed for. That we are most certain that this is the best for us, because we know what is good. But... 'The poor man speaks in entreaties' — you have to come with entreaties. - How do we know that He is happy with what we are doing? I am in music; I pray all the time that no stumbling block should come from this thing, that many people come, listen...
5:24 that they take it to come closer, and that it not be something... to pray about things like these, and that is it — or that we just continue... - What do you mean — that it should not do harm? - That no stumbling block should come from all these things. - Look, a stumbling block can come from anything. Even from a Torah shiur there can be a stumbling block. A person can rule a halachah improperly.
5:49 Tractate Horayos is about a beis din that ruled in error — by mistake. Sages can rule in error. One can err in anything. You know — that we only direct our heart to Heaven: that is the most important. The most important is that a person always directs himself to the King. The very request of yours to the King, to the Holy One, blessed be He — that you ask of the Holy One, blessed be He, from the depths of the heart, for Hashem's salvation — that is the greatest thing, which brings a person. Always: 'Teach me, Hashem, Your way.' You know, Rabbeinu the Arizal — one of his practices, every day after the Shacharis prayer, was to say Psalm 119, the letter Hei: 'Teach me, Hashem, the way of Your statutes' — teach me, teach me. - Ever since I heard it from the Rav, I say this every morning. - To ask Hashem all the time for the blessing, to ask Hashem all the time for the hope.
6:29 You know, when a person feels that he already knows — you know, there are those who always think that they know Hashem and understand, and they know what He hates, what He loves. Here is the mistake... Always to think: I do not yet know. - I ask all the time that the song should come, that... now we released "Guf U'Neshamah"; I truly see people who come closer from these things. Truly, I... The Holy One, blessed be He, sends messengers all the time.
6:54 - Your son is searching. You know, the most important thing in this world — know this — success: always remain searching. Someone once asked me: what is the way to fear of Heaven, how, truly... Always seek — exactly. And the Midrash says about King David — King David said in the psalm — in Shocher Tov, section 27, it is written: 'One thing I asked of Hashem, that I shall seek: that I dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of Hashem...' the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Liar, David — you ask one request, and you ask for many favors: 'One thing I asked' — 'that I dwell in the house of Hashem,' 'to behold the pleasantness of Hashem,' 'to visit in His sanctuary,' 'He will hide me in His shelter on the day of evil, He will conceal me in the concealment...' — how many requests are you asking?
7:28 But in truth it is one request: that you seek only the Holy One, blessed be He — then it is one. Right. That is the purpose: only to seek Hashem. When you seek Hashem, you include everything within it. If you are seeking and searching all the time — you too, when you engage in song — it is a tremendous thing. You are full of feeling, you are full of heart. I saw how you cried before; it moved me. To be full of heart, full of feeling. Music... that you are connected to music, to song — it is another world. The world of music is yet another world of its own.
7:58 May you truly succeed and do mightily, may you shine the light of Hashem; rejoice in what you do. The Holy One, blessed be He, gave you the craft; the Holy One, blessed be He, chose you and gave you the ability to play, to sing, and the world loves your singing, your music, baruch Hashem. 'Honor Hashem with your wealth' — do not read 'mehonecha', with your wealth, but 'migronecha', with your throat. Rejoice in what Hashem gave you — the blessing and the ability to awaken a thought of teshuvah in a Jew. Do you know how much... just a thought of teshuvah — who knows how great the merit is, of giving a Jew a thought of teshuvah.
8:28 Who knows how much music and song just bring thoughts of teshuvah. - Yes. - He had only thoughts of teshuvah, and at any moment — in Tractate Kiddushin, on page 49: she is betrothed, 'on condition that I am a complete tzaddik' — 'perhaps he had a thought of teshuvah in his heart.' So you are just bringing people to teshuvah with the music, with the song — there is nothing greater than that. All honor to you; fortunate are you. - Thank you, thank you. - May you do mightily, may you shine the light of Hashem, may the Name of Heaven become beloved through you, and may you have a long and good life, and joy and protection and shelter; and may you sanctify the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, in all the worlds.
8:59 - Amen. May I give my name to the Rav, to look whether there is something to do better... - Yes, gladly. What is your name? - Yaakov ben Rachel. - Yaakov ben Rachel. A moving name you have. Yaakov ben Rachel. 'Whoever marries a woman for the sake of Heaven, it is as if he begot her' — but here it is the reverse... the wife bore the husband. A beautiful name you have, moving. Everything, truly.
9:24 'The voice is the voice of Yaakov.' You have merited. May you truly be joyful. May your singing turn out beautifully, and the joy; always be in joy; may you succeed in all your work, and think good. I was very glad to see you, to get to know you, and may you succeed, that the Name of Heaven become beloved through you. 'And say: So may it be for life! Peace to you, peace to your household, and peace to all that is yours.' May G-d Almighty bless you and grant you mercy, and good bounty, in the good that is seen and revealed, from the goodness of joy and gladness of heart.
9:51 - Amen. Be strong, be strong, be strong. Thank you very much, your honor. Be strong, be strong. - May the one who blesses be blessed with all good. Amen. - How are you connected? - Good friends. As a child, I saw him at every performance... Everywhere I go, I... - You are a fan of his... - Yes... - The truth is, he sings truly beautifully. Let us do a song here: 'Have mercy, have mercy, please, Hashem our G-d, have mercy...' - I know this song, yes.
10:19 - That is what made him known. 'On Israel Your people, have mercy,' A beautiful song. 'and on Jerusalem Your city, have mercy...' 'and on Zion, the dwelling place of Your glory,' 'and on the kingdom of the house of David, Your anointed,' 'and on the great and holy House — have mercy, have mercy, have mercy.'
10:55 - The Rav sees a Sephardi fellow saying it in the Ashkenazi pronunciation. - But Mother is Ashkenazi, remember... Chassidic, Vizhnitz. - Yes... Yes. - Beautiful, amazing. You know, Rav Nosson Adler, the Rebbe of the Chasam Sofer, was an Ashkenazi and used the Sephardi pronunciation. - Ah, yes... - He studied a great deal to learn the Sephardi pronunciation. Rav Nosson Adler, the Rebbe of Maran the Chasam Sofer, says that the pronunciation has to be correct...
11:21 - Right. - The main thing, they say... you know, I say: these pronounce it this way, those pronounce it that way; the main thing is that one's heart is toward Heaven. That we always be one. You know, in Tractate Shevuos, on page 39, at the end of the page, the Gemara says: 'All Israel are guarantors zeh bazeh' — one within the other. What are the differences? 'Zeh lazeh' — one for the other — is like this. - Wonderful. - 'Zeh bazeh' is like this. - I heard this a few months ago [unclear]; I passed it on to people. - The difference between the two, in the Gemara: 'Zeh bazeh' — that is us, like this. But in fact it is written in the Gemara 'zeh bazeh'.
11:49 Well then, 'zeh bazeh' is like this. - So where is it written 'zeh lazeh'? So why do people say 'zeh lazeh'? - That we already added, the 'zeh lazeh'... 'Zeh lazeh' — that is us, like this. - If the Rav likes... 'You shall love your fellow as yourself' — I thought of this myself, I did not see it — 'You shall love your fellow as yourself; I am Hashem.' How... the sefarim ask: how can I love someone like... it is very hard. - Right. - It is 'I am Hashem.' I have the 'I am Hashem' too, and he has the same 'I am Hashem.' The 'I am Hashem' that is in me — the same thing is in him; so love that.
12:18 We look at people — and that is the magnet. You have 'Hashem', and he too — 'Hashem'. - There was a great Rebbe, Rebbe Moshe Leib of Sassov — have you heard of him? The first Sassover... So he said: How do you want to love the other? When you know what he lacks — when you feel what he lacks, his pain — then you know that you love him. If you do not feel the other's pain, then you do not love him... - But what do you feel first? The 'I am Hashem' that is in him.
12:42 - Yes... - I told the Rav a few weeks ago that I... not toward everyone, but I think that my love for the Rav I fulfill — I think — in the finest way. This is Rabbi Yosef, yes; Rabbi Yosef — I merited... Truly, Rabbi Yosef is... Rabbi Yosef is a gift. - May the Holy One, blessed be He, watch over you and protect you; I will bless the Rebbetzin too. Look at the Alter Rebbe: chapter 32 in the Tanya — Likkutei Amarim, chapter 32 — is only about ahavas Yisrael.
13:10 A whole chapter that speaks only of the greatness of the souls of Israel and the love for Hashem. - Something — a blood disease, that in America all the professors said he is the only case in all of America — America is rather big — they do not know how to treat it. He came to the Rav, and the Rav asked him how the liver and the kidneys are working. He said, 'Fine.' A month after that he goes back to New York, the child was hospitalized; the kidneys and the liver were not working... We went to the chief doctor at Tel HaShomer, at Sheba, because they did an MRI of his whole body: in the liver almost everything disappeared.
13:45 There is something small, not significant, so they said: come to me in another three months... - 'Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, for His kindness endures forever.' Be strong, be strong, Rabbi Yosef. Bring us good tidings. With Hashem's help, may it be a complete recovery, protection and shelter, a good life; may everything work out for the good, and may he have a complete recovery from Heaven. Amen.
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The opening of this shiur, in The Yanuka — Rav Shlomo Yehuda’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.
Why don't we say “Shehecheyanu” on a new melody? Tosafot in Tractate Berachot folio 58 on the Gemara which says that the blessing of Shehecheyanu we recite over a person whom we see a new person The Yaavetz says that one can say Shehecheyanu even on a new book if a person has a new book he can recite Shehecheyanu This is a dispute among our sages from the Rishonim period that one should recite a blessing over joy that is… when there’s an appointed time, and there is joy see if a melody brings you genuine joy... You can even recite Shehecheyanu on a new tie You can even recite Shehecheyanu on new glasses - if it brings you joy If a new melody brings you genuine joy Put on new clothing and it will also cover the song that way you avoid the uncertainty That’s how I would do it. Or a new fruit. Yes How are you, sir? It's a pleasure to meet you Yaakov Shwekey A real pleasure to meet you. I was with the Rabbi on Hoshanah Rabbah two years ago there at... before the war Right, right, you were with me by Hoshanot during the prayer… correct You led the Hoshanot; you sang wonderfully Then we sang Hallel together Right Ashreinu, beautiful… How is the Rabbi… After hearing such troubles from people is hard… yes, it’s very hard, it’s really… I hear many troubles, thank Hashem, a lot How is it for the Rabbi… Wow, very hard Judaism is all about joy. Right If there's no joy, there’s no Shechinah Yes; the Rambam also says at the end of Hilchot Lulav “If you did not serve Hashem, your Hashem with joy” A person will be judged for
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- 0:00Why don't we say “Shehecheyanu” on a new melody? Tosafot in Tractate Berachot folio 58 on…
- 1:01Then we sang Hallel together Right Ashreinu, beautiful… How is the Rabbi… After hearing such troubles…
- 2:34you know when there's pain, it hurts You know, I also have my father’s Yahrtzeit It’s…
- 4:05the author of "Kranot Tzaddik" He was the rabbi of Hebron He wrote in the book…
- 5:36what do you mean, when you say it shouldn't cause harm? that there shouldn't be any…
- 7:07King David said in a Psalm in Midrash Shocher Tov” Psalm 27 it says “One thing…
- 8:07and gave you the ability to play to sing, and the world loves your singing your…
- 9:39you should succeed that Hashem becomes beloved because of you it should be said of you,…
- 11:10He was Ashkenazi and used Sephardi pronunciation oh yes… he studied a lot to adopt the…
- 12:41the “I am the Lord” that’s in him yes… a few weeks ago I told the…
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