"מה פועלת השיחה לפני קונו?" שו"ת מיוחד עם הגאון הינוקא לאחר סעודה שלישית מול חומות ירושלים

2:59 so that the Jewish people could understand the greatness of the Torah that was given to them and merit to rejoice in the level they merited. Whereas Korach, who [unclear] who wanted, in order to enlarge his own four cubits - he did not want to make Moshe Rabbeinu great; he thought that Moshe's greatness was in order to rule over the Jewish people, and he did not understand that Moshe's whole purpose was to give light to the Jewish people.

3:23 A parable: to what is the matter similar? writes Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polnoye in Toldos Yaakov Yosef. A parable: to what is the matter similar? To a king who walks in a forest, and someone comes before the king and walks before the king with a torch in the forest. Would the one who walks before the king with a torch cause him grief? Heaven forbid! They will surely say that is the talk of ignorance, because the one who walks before the king with a torch does it to light the way for the king.

3:50 When they now see him walking with a torch, he is clearing the way for the king; and on the contrary, he takes on everything that will come along: if there are bears, if there are lions, if there are leopards, if there is a road - always, the true leader, the one who goes at the head, it is not in order to become great, it is in order to clear the way for us. And the opposite: a leader who is not true goes on the way in order to rule over the Jewish people and to make himself great over the Jewish people. So how does one know the difference between them?

4:19 When one finds a path of truth, like those holy ones throughout all the generations who cleared and gave us a path in the service of Hashem, blessed be He, and closeness to Hashem, blessed be He, and gave us the light to draw close to Hashem, blessed be He - that is the path they gave us, how to follow Hashem, blessed be He. And when there was a path they followed in order to become great, then in the end we saw what came of it. Dasan and Aviram and Korach in the end disputed with Moshe, because the path of truth - falsehood cannot bear it.

4:49 And today the world can only imagine that they walk in truth and know. So therefore, when one learns the Torah for the sake of Heaven, for the honor of the Holy One, blessed be He, then a person understands that beyond the fact that he is learning Torah, he is also changing the world. And this is the meaning of 'for my sake': a person must say, 'For my sake the world was created.' That you should feel that the world was created for your sake; because if you do not understand that this world was created for your sake, that you need to search and to repair, how you repair the world, and how you change the creatures, and how you change the opinions of the world - only then can you truly understand the Torah of Hashem.

5:26 For as we explained after the sunrise prayer today, that there are many wills of Hashem, but a person does not truly know what the will of Hashem, blessed be He, is - and that is what we said at sunrise: that the exactness of the will of Hashem, that you learn for yourself His will, blessed be He, in truth - that is called Torah lishmah. That is what is meant. - What is false prophecy? What is it? How can a person truly discover the will of Hashem in whatever he is facing?

5:55 - Look, the will of Hashem is revealed when a person nullifies his own will. The more you learn the Torah, what should shine in you is the will of Hashem. because in the end, in a person's intellect and wisdom, His will, blessed be He, takes shape. For what is da'as Torah? That a person learns the Torah, and His will, blessed be He, takes shape in his intellect and wisdom. And then, the more he learns the Torah, the closer his mind is found to His will, blessed be He.

6:22 When a person is asked a matter of halachah or the way of Hashem, then he teaches the way of Hashem, people follow him - that means he is close to the will of Hashem. How? One needs to be clean, and then the will of Hashem will shine in him; the more the level rises, until only His will, blessed be He, takes shape in the person. And in fact those were the holy ones and tzaddikim throughout all the generations who shone and gave us the path to draw close to Hashem.

6:49 And therefore the month of Nissan now - since we are close to the month of Nissan - is the month in which the will is revealed, and it is in fact the head of the months of the year. That is why it is called the father of twelve, the father of twelve, the father of twelve months. Why - what is 'in Nissan the world was created'? It is a dispute whether in Tishrei or on page 11 as well, that is page 11a, and this too.

7:15 What does it mean? As if - what is it, whether in Nissan or in Tishrei, Rabbi Eliezer or Rabbi Yehoshua, whether the world was created in Nissan or in Tishrei? Because in the Beis Yosef, in siman 429, it is written in the name of Tractate Soferim, chapter 2, that the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, is destined to be built - when? In the month of Nissan. So we find that the month of Nissan - in it is revealed the will of Hashem, because the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to redeem us - when?

7:45 In Nissan He redeemed us. 'Behold, I have redeemed you, the end like the beginning.' That is to say, His will, blessed be He, wanted to redeem Israel - when? In the month of Nissan. How? In Yechezkel. So what do you say?

8:18 Yes, good - both Nissan and Tishrei. But the Beis HaMikdash is destined to be built in Nissan. That is the reason we do not say Tachanun the whole month, for presumably, with Hashem's help, we will merit this: the Beis HaMikdash will be revealed, with Hashem's help. I think one needs both, both this and this: both to pray that the Holy One, blessed be He, have nachas ruach, and that He be revealed in the world, if there will be both this and this.

8:56 How? That he should make [unclear] for Hashem? Ah, to pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, that He make [unclear] for the Holy One, blessed be He. Yes. I will answer that. What did you ask?

9:21 - No, that it is as if the advantage is the prayer. There is [unclear] outside, let's say, or too much [unclear] outside. I don't think [unclear]. He is at home, and he has all kinds of things that trouble him - how is it all to be done? Still, to make time - how is it possible to make time? And still they speak [unclear], and to be strict about hisbodedus. - I said that the shortest time - in Yoreh De'ah, siman 17, in the laws of salting - that is 'chai minut' - 18 minutes, that one puts the meat in salt and causes the blood to be expelled from the meat.

9:56 Now, this: a person who cannot pray for an hour or seclude himself for an hour before Hashem. The whole matter of hisbodedus and the conversation between a person and his Maker, when a person speaks with the Holy One, blessed be He, is a very, very, very great level. It is not a practice only of Rebbe Nachman; already Rabbi Avraham, the son of the Rambam, writes about this, our master the Rambam writes about this, in the Commentary on the Mishnah, on Tractate Avos, and in the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, chapter 2, halachah 2, that a person contemplates the creation, looking at the beauty of the creation - that is the matter of hisbodedus in the field. 'And Yitzchak went out to converse in the field.'

10:33 You see that from time immemorial they would go to seclude themselves in nature and look, and this brings a person to love of Hashem and closeness to Hashem. It is not something where he came to say - now that everyone sees it, it looks like some practice of [unclear]. That is not true. It is a holy and very awesome practice that he revealed, and he himself also said this, that he did not come to reveal something new. It is an old thing; it is the path our forefathers walked.

10:59 And we see this from 'And Yitzchak went out to converse in the field.' You see that he went to the field to seclude himself before Hashem, to lift his eyes to the heavens - and I will explain to you simply what this means. The point is that in the Amidah prayer we do not always merit to pray with kavanah. It happens that you pray in the shul and your mind is not settled, and a person does not manage to pray with kavanah, maybe one way or another; it is hard for a person, because of the... sometimes the many people, sometimes sometimes a person does not manage; he was preoccupied or something, it is hard for him, a great many difficulties pass over him.

11:35 That is also the reason, in the Bayis Chadash, in siman 90, about the matter of the windows, that a person should have a view of the heavens from the windows, so that he can lift his eyes to the heavens and look; this too is what will bring about kavanah in prayer. Now, this way of the conversation between a person and his Maker is that a person reaches a state where he can also speak with Him about the prayer.

12:00 That is to say, when you speak before Hashem, blessed be He, you can pour out your words and say before Him that even the prayer - you want the prayer to be with kavanos, you want to pray with the kavanos of the Arizal in prayer, and there were a number of things that were hard on you in the prayer, and you very much want to pray with kavanah and calmly and to get through everything, and you want to have a settled mind in prayer. This kind of conversation is a kind of conversation that goes around all the rules.

12:30 It is the only time and moment in which you have no law or judgment over you; rather, you judge and sentence yourself. There is a very beautiful teaching in Likutei Moharan, part 1, Torah 15, of Rebbe Nachman; there he writes about this. It is truly very beautiful - about one who wants to taste the hidden light: that he should judge himself and pass judgment on himself, he himself. And then, when you speak before Hashem and you tell the Holy One, blessed be He, what you are going through, you can do it even for twenty minutes; it is not a matter of the hour.

13:02 The matter of the hour is like 'it is impossible to endure even one hour.' An hour is a moment; it is not obligatory, and it is a kind of being a pure person. Because when you set yourself a time in the day, when you know that at this time you are speaking with the Creator - because our prayer too is full of [unclear]; it is a kind of offerings that become disqualified; we do not merit to offer the offering as it should be. It is a kind of offerings, and there is some disqualification in it.

13:28 'For the sake of six things the offering is slaughtered: for the sake of the offering, for the sake of the one offering it, for the sake of Hashem, for the sake of the fires, for the sake of the aroma, for the sake of the pleasing aroma, for the sake of the sin-offering, for the sake of the guilt-offering.' Rabbi Yosef said: 'Even one who did not have in his heart any one of all these - it is valid, for it is a stipulation of the court, for the thought goes only after the one who performs the service.' After the one who performs the service goes the thought. When you want to come and give a thought before Hashem - you want to come and offer something before Hashem - you need the thing to be with all the heart,

13:51 the thing should be offered before the Holy One, blessed be He. Now we have no Beis HaMikdash and we have no offerings. 'And let our lips render in place of bulls' - Midrash Tanchuma, Parashas Tzav; Tractate Menachos, page 110 - you can pray, learn about the offerings; you can pray a prayer with kavanah: these are your only ways to bring an offering and a meal-offering to Hashem. This conversation, where you speak before the Holy One, blessed be He, in your own language, is a conversation that goes around everything and can preserve all this service.

14:17 Because when you converse before Hashem a few moments a day, then you will lift your eyes to Heaven, even for a few minutes. But the point is to lift your eyes to Heaven and to speak as a man speaks to his fellow. As you speak, you say before Hashem, blessed be He, that you have fear and that you have pain, and you are even afraid before Him, blessed be He, lest you stumble in a matter of halachah, and that He teach you His service, blessed be He, that He lead you on the path of truth, that you always merit to be kosher and never be a sinner, and that there be truth; and you ask of Him all the things you know are hard for you, which in the Amidah you cannot bring up - that is the problem.

14:53 In the Amidah you must keep to the rules. You cannot bring up things that are not the subject of the prayer. You can pray about certain things, but in 'Who desires repentance' you have repentance, and in 'You graciously give man knowledge' it is only wisdom - so each time you are limited to a certain subject; and in 'Who hears prayer' you can pray and ask for everything, but you are still within the prayer; you cannot turn it into a kind of conversation. So you are limited all the time, so you pray, making requests before Hashem, and the prayer is accepted.

15:17 The point of this conversation is that it takes you out of the... takes you out of everything and leads you to look from above at all of the service of Hashem, and this is like a kind of what I mentioned in the Zohar, Korach, page [unclear], side a: 'masters of the reckoning', which Rabbi Shimon says. It is a kind of 'masters of the reckoning' - that is how one can call it more correctly. It is a kind of accounting of the soul that you make every day; and you can do it in the day, you can do it at night, you can do 5 minutes in the day, 5 minutes at night.

15:50 The best is the 18 minutes. There is something to this, wrote the author of 'Sheiris Yitzchak', Rabbi Yitzchak Breiter - that there is something to this: in the 'chai minut', the 18 minutes, like the salting of meat: that if the [unclear] blood comes out in 18 minutes, so too the [unclear] blood will come out of the person. The view of the Shulchan Aruch HaRav: it is a minute for each prayer, for each blessing - that is as if he prayed 18 minutes; he prayed - there being only three prayers in a day: 20-20-20-20, Shacharis, Minchah and Maariv. Now, it is not always possible to manage it, because there is also the repetition, and sometimes there are a great many things, and there is distraction, and I am in favor also of praying with a settled mind, with kavanah, and briskly,

16:25 not to drag out the words and not to drag out the prayer. Even though Rebbe Nachman writes in part 1, Torah [unclear], and [unclear] that a person should pray slowly, slowly, slowly with kavanah, and gather, as it were, each and every word. There are times for everything. Today, because we are weak, and one must very much guard the kavanah of the prayer - for the most important thing is the thought - in order to fulfill the obligation, so that there be no disqualification or flaw in the prayer, in the offering.

16:49 I always recommend to people to pray in order, in order, with kavanah, to keep a clean thought, and to get through it as fast as possible, and not to linger and to stretch and drag things out, Heaven forbid, so that a person does not come to confusion and foreign thoughts. The main thing is to learn, to pray [unclear] and to learn, and so to move forward, and not let a lot of time pass with things dragging on. So the matter of this conversation - it can bring you to an inner and clean service, so that a person cleans himself from within, and then he can be truly, truly clean, clean, clean; he can truly, in the end, be a kosher person.

17:24 Through the desires. Through the desires being expressed through the conversation before Hashem. Because then, in the end, you will discover your own truth. For this was the service of all the tzaddikim. What, do you think the Gaon of Vilna did not have a conversation before Hashem? Imagine the Gaon of Vilna in his room, learning. Afterward he closed the book and he looks at the heavens, gazes through the window - did he not have a conversation with the Creator? What is called hisbodedus?

17:49 That is called hisbodedus. That is called conversation. What is the matter of hisbodedus? It is to nullify yourself from all the affairs of the world and to lift your eyes to Heaven and to bring yourself to judgment before Hashem. It is not some other particular enactment; it is the enactment of prayer. It is prayer; with it one even fulfills the obligation - our early masters, the Rambam; and if you are, moreover, in a time of trouble, then all the more so. But every conversation of prayer before Hashem, every raising of the eyes to Heaven, is a level immeasurably higher than that.

18:19 And especially as the Ramban explains, that we merit at all to pray before Hashem. The very fact that you merit to pray at all - for that you need to give thanks before Hashem, because it is a privilege for you to raise your eyes to Heaven, while the nations of the world bow to vanity and emptiness, they have no one to pray to; now he needs salvation, the poor man, he has nowhere to pray to, Hashem... they have no one who will help them.

18:45 We, in a time of trouble, raise our eyes to Heaven, and Hashem, blessed be He, saves us. We are the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Our mothers, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah, were barren. And what did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? Because they were barren, the Holy One, blessed be He, remembered them, and the Jewish people was created from prayer. A people was created [unclear], When you pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, and all of us pray to Hashem from the depths of the heart, then your essence and your inner self return to the root of our forefathers, of prayer for the Jewish people: Yirmiyahu the prophet, Yeshayahu the prophet, Yechezkel, all the visions, all the prayers, a prophet who would go into seclusion, how they would go into seclusion, how they would serve before Hashem, blessed be He,

19:32 all this was through the service of Hashem. And if you look at this, you can see that in the end you will be a great, holy, pure and righteous person. What did Rabbi Shimon do in the cave with Rabbi Elazar his son? They secluded themselves before Hashem, blessed be He. They learned Torah - that is a kind of conversation before Hashem. This conversation is something you can learn in, you can seclude yourself in it, but you need to have a certain time when it is you and the Creator, feeling the Creator.

19:57 Unless you can be 24 hours [unclear]. That is the conduct for always - the tzaddikim were in seclusion 24 hours. We think that this is... how? I will explain something to you. Katnus ha-mochin, smallness of mind, depends very much on the eyes of the beholder. I will explain what I mean.

20:22 When you look at something that is called smallness of mind - when do we see it in the year? There is a time of smallness and there is a time of greatness. The month of Nissan, for example, is called greatness. It is called greatness of mind, a month of greatness of mind, mind and greatness. There is a month that is smallness of mind, the opposite of it: Av. The month of Av is smallness of mind; therefore it is half of it. The month of Aviv, spring, is the month of Nissan, the month of Av is half of it, it is Av, therefore it is Av.

20:50 It is not Av with yud-beis; it is not like the month of Aviv. In the month of Av, in fact, there is in it - look a little - there is in it, on one hand, Tu B'Av, the 15th of Av, is a day - 'There were no days as good for Israel as the 15th of Av,' 'and Yom Kippur' - and the 15th of Av, which is the joy of Tu B'Av, And on the other hand, if you look, you go back a little, you reach Tisha B'Av and then the days of Bein HaMetzarim. You see a very great smallness, but on the other hand, Mashiach was born on Tisha B'Av.

21:19 You discover that in the Midrash, Bereishis Rabbasi, Parshas Vayeitzei, the whole story is told there at length - what there is in the Yerushalmi, the same story, but the other way around, as if there are additional new insights there - a very great insight that it brings. This is Bereishis Rabbasi, Parshas Vayeitzei, about the birth of Mashiach, that Mashiach was born on Tisha B'Av. And you find from here that precisely at the hardest and most closed time for the Jewish people, Mashiach was born.

21:48 Precisely the hidden mind and the smallness of mind that there were suddenly turned into greatness, greatness, greatness of mind - we are talking about the birth of Mashiach. Of course there is an immense secret in this, and there are very, very many explanations of it, and many kabbalists and great ones expressed that it means the revealing of the soul of Mashiach, for it does not mean the birth of Mashiach literally, because there are many things here that cannot be explained - how on a day when learning Torah is forbidden, Mashiach was born.

22:19 As if on a day when the mind is so much in smallness, it is smallness, of smallness, of smallness - that it is forbidden to learn Torah. You do not learn Torah on this day. The only day in the year on which learning Torah is forbidden - it is the law of a mourner, that learning Torah is forbidden, and on that very day Mashiach was born. Mashiach should have been born on which day? On the 14th of Nissan, on Pesach, on Simchas Torah; it should have been on Shavuos, the receiving of the Torah. The 6th of Sivan should have been the birthday of Mashiach.

22:46 We received the Torah, Mashiach was born - what power, greatness of mind in everything. The opposite. So first of all one needs very much to identify, in the smallness of mind, the greatness of mind. For in every smallness of mind there are very great diamonds, that if you are in smallness, and you are in a descent, and you are in darkness, a very, very, very, very great light is hidden there. There is a very great light there that at the moment darkens the person's life, that is, it seems to him that he does not see the salvation, and that he has no match, and that he has no cure, that he has no livelihood, and that he is driven away, and that he sees that he is far, very far, from Hashem, blessed be He - he needs to recognize:

23:22 'On the day of good, be in good, and on the day of evil - on the day of good and on the day of evil, see.' What does it mean, 'on the day of good and on the day of evil, see'? What is 'on the day of evil, see'? What is meant by 'on the day of evil, see'? What is this expression? Look at that very day itself, at that day which has smallness of mind in it, contemplate it, for on this day too you can find precious stones and pearls and an immense light that will turn everything around for you. And what do we find from this? That on the day of the greatest smallness of mind in the year, which is Tisha B'Av, the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself saw on the day of evil - 'see' - He saw the birth of Mashiach.

23:57 That is to say, this comes to teach us that in every smallness of mind you are in, do not try to remove it; do not try to look for the days of greatness of mind; do not look for the days of elevation - look for the hard days. The hard days - those are the days through which all our lives are built and saved; it is these hard days. All our lives, and all our troubles, and all our ordeals, and all the pain that every Jew went through from the day he was born until this day - all the hardships, all the troubles, all the ordeals, all the humiliations, all the bloodshed, all the hardships that each and every one went through - these days we always despise and throw away, we treat them as the bitterest days, and we look at the praiseworthy days, the good days, the wedding day, the day of salvation, as if that is the day.

24:40 But one must know: all these days are nourished and draw from those very days. That is to say, these hard days, the smallness of mind that we talk about - 'it is smallness of mind, how will I go into seclusion before Hashem?' If you have a lot of smallness of mind, it is a sign that you have many very great diamonds. The opposite. And whoever has a lot of greatness of mind, then he has greatness of mind, but he has no treasures, he has no quarries. To what can this be compared?

25:05 It is like a person who has a quarry of precious stones and pearls, and he hews out precious stones and pearls. Whoever has... and there is a person who has a shop of precious stones and pearls. Whoever has a shop of precious stones and pearls has greatness of mind; he already has precious stones and pearls. That is the shop; he already... it is known. The one who has a quarry - true, he digs, and he is still trying to bring things out, but he has much more than the one in the shop, because he is at work all day.

25:32 True, it is hard for him, but suddenly he can find a rock so big that it will be worth much more than that one who has the shop. The one in the shop - that is the existing merchandise; he sells from it, from it he made his living. He knows the price of everything; he knows how much what he has is worth. He cannot reach something else. The one who is inside the quarries and has a quarry and... So if they ask you what you work in, say: 'I have a quarry of precious stones'; say: 'I dig to find precious stones.'

26:02 And then suddenly you will look and you will see that these states of smallness of mind that you see, the days of poverty, the days of hardship, the days of sorrow, the days of humiliation, the days of darkness, these hard days of every man, of every woman - for a man and for a woman it is the same thing - suddenly you will see how these days, all these times, made all the good things and the wonderful fruits grow, for us and for the whole world. Because that is what makes the good grow, that is what makes the salvation grow.

26:37 And therefore, with Hashem's help, yes. I also hope, I hope, with Hashem's help, that Hashem will provide us our beis midrash here in Jerusalem, the Holy City. The whole goal is truly to give satisfaction to Hashem, blessed be He, and that we merit, with Hashem's help, that Hashem, blessed be He, [unclear] us, and everything is by His will, and everything before Him [unclear]. The main thing is only prayer, the main thing is that, thank G-d, our merit is greater - 'according to the pain is the reward' - when we learn the Torah out of hardship, we say, - A question: last week we read in Parshas Ki Sisa the matter of the calf, and it is written that the calf is the doing of Aharon, in writing, in the verses.

27:25 Can the Rav explain this - why specifically is the calf attributed to Aharon, when after all he had no choice? - Because in fact, it is not a matter of Aharon having had no choice. You need to understand that the act of the calf was a very grave act before the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Holy One, blessed be He... the Holy One, blessed be He, was very angry about the act of the calf. And on the contrary, Aharon came to atone and to cover up for the Jewish people, because, so to speak, if the Jewish people had done it without Aharon's doing - for in fact the women were not part of that sin, the sin of the calf. This is also the reason that today we spoke about the calf - that women

28:01 are not obligated in Parshas Parah. It seems it is in Tractate Megillah, page 32. But you see and you find from here that the whole act of the sin of the calf was in fact that they wanted something that would go before them; they wanted something to hold on to. And I, in fact, what I asked, which was much more of a question than this: that they wept for Aharon thirty days, 'and the Children of Israel wept for Aharon thirty days.' And Moshe Rabbeinu - that Moshe Rabbeinu, who gave them the Torah, and they saw the death of Moshe - how could they at all go and make the... So I said that, so to speak - I have not yet given an answer to this - but I said only about Aharon, what you asked:

28:41 that it is attributed to Aharon because perhaps Aharon was supposed to inform them of the matter of Moshe, and perhaps by this he would have saved them, because seemingly they would not have come to this thing, because if he had informed them... No, no - I think that is the answer. One can say that is the answer. Yes, because it is one of the interpretations, but the true interpretation is that the contemplating and the looking were not on Moshe at all, and therefore it is attributed to Aharon, because Aharon himself should have come and told them, the Jewish people, both the ingratitude and the matter of Moshe. But on the other hand, if this had not been, then they would also have killed Aharon, and the sin would have been much graver.

29:28 The Torah says that this is the calf of Aharon, [unclear]. Look, I will explain something. When we speak about idol worship, there is first of all one thing that needs to be understood and explained about it. When you speak about idol worship, we are not speaking about idol worship the way today there are people who worship idols. The Jewish people, in any case, had experienced wonders, had come out of Egypt, had seen miracles and wonders.

29:56 We are not speaking about a calf where they made some calf of gold and bowed down to some statue. This calf was an act of sorcery. This calf would make sounds, speak. It was a calf that was made with the forces of impurity. So the Jewish people in fact very much wanted a leader, and saw that Moshe was delaying to come down from the mountain, and of course they did not withstand the test of seeking what Hashem, blessed be He, wants from the Jewish people.

30:24 For instead of seeking the will of Hashem, they busied themselves with making the calf. And if they had nullified themselves and waited, then we would be living to this day, and there would be no death in the world, and death would not have entered the generations, and people would not die. because this sin of the calf - to this day it is installments, throughout all the generations: the Inquisition, and the Holocaust, and all the Crusades, and all the [unclear] of Spain that there were, and all the decrees that there were, and the decrees of Tach and Tat - all these things are installments, as Hashem, blessed be He, said to Moshe: 'Let Me be, and I will destroy them' - and to become a great nation.

31:02 Because there came out of Hashem's mouth this word, 'Let Me be, and I will destroy them,' so everything that Hashem, blessed be He, said must be fulfilled; it is impossible that it will not be fulfilled. So that is the reason Moshe Rabbeinu came before Hashem and said to the Holy One, blessed be He: let us do it in installments, because if You take them all at once, they will not multiply. So therefore, in every generation we have seen that there were many troubles upon the Jewish people, and many people ask: why is this nation in particular punished?

31:29 Why does this nation suffer so much and undergo so much affliction? Throughout the generations they wanted to kill them and to destroy them, and behold... 'And it is this that has stood for our fathers and for us', 'in every generation they rise against us to destroy us, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand' - all the time we say 'And it is this that has stood', 'And it is this that has stood', and we pray to Hashem. So the reason is very simple. Hashem, blessed be He - 'Let Me be, and I will destroy them' - and if He had taken them all at once, they would not have multiplied. So what did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He took them at every time - He took little by little.

31:57 Sometimes like this - there were those who died in a plague; and sometimes like this, by the sword; and sometimes through all kinds of strange troubles. There were reckonings upon reckonings. Yes. This of course - at some point they will decide to count, Heaven forbid. Yes, that is why Yosef said to them, 'pakod yifkod - He will surely remember.' Moshe Rabbeinu [unclear] of Yosef, that he comes to redeem you without, Heaven forbid, [unclear]. He comes to redeem you with a complete redemption, that they will not die, not by plague, not by anything, and you will go out to a complete redemption.

32:28 - Was it a mistake to accept the Erev Rav, the mixed multitude? Does this teach us today about our relations with non-Jews? And how does this fit with the matter of Moshe? - 'They mingled with the non-Jews and learned their deeds.' It is forbidden ever to mingle with them and learn from their deeds. We need to be the light to the non-Jews. It is not the non-Jews who need to teach us; we need to be a sanctification of Hashem's Name, we need to shine the light of Hashem, we need to come and teach and shine and bring the contemplation in such a way that it will bring everyone to love of Hashem and recognition of the Holy One, blessed be He.

33:00 But what I keep coming back to - the decrees of Tach and Tat and all these things - that the Holy One, blessed be He, took each time a certain sum, and this sum that the Holy One, blessed be He, took is what in fact atoned in every generation. So that is why I said, 'In fury You tread the earth': that one needs to remember every day Zechariah, the blood of Zechariah, whom we pained, the act of the calf, and how we sinned against Moshe. In every generation, in every generation this is a thing that accuses the Jewish people - 'In fury You tread the earth.'

33:27 What accuses us is that we disgraced Zechariah. That is why, when Rabbi Aharon Moshe [unclear] of Brody arrived, when he came to the Land of Israel, he went to the grave of Zechariah, he went to appease him and asked his forgiveness. One truly needs to come and pray at his grave and ask forgiveness, and over the act of the calf one needs to do teshuvah, for everything we sinned against the Holy One, blessed be He, with the calf, and for how we disgraced and pained Moshe Rabbeinu - 'the spreading forth of the Faithful Shepherd in every generation.'

33:56 In every generation the Holy One, blessed be He, sends us leaders who are equal to Moshe, and for every pain that we caused them - from this comes all the length of the exile, from this all the plagues, from this all the troubles. He forgives, Presumably, presumably he forgives. And also a sage who was strict - it is not because... truly, 'any Torah scholar who does not avenge and bear a grudge like a snake is not a Torah scholar' - one needs to cleave to him, [unclear] to benefit from him.

34:22 It is not because he takes revenge because he cares about his own honor. He is afraid about this: 'so that they will see and fear', that they will never again trample the honor of Hashem. The moment there will be forgiveness... why is the honor of a Torah scholar not forgiven? Because you have in fact disgraced and damaged the honor of the King, and the moment there is no forgiveness for this, then a person, forever, immediately he seethed - that is why he seethed, so that bloodshed would not come about.

34:49 But this comes to tell us 'so that they will see and fear', that for this there truly is no forgiveness, it is not... For the blood of sages, for the blood of tzaddikim that was spilled, there is no forgiveness for that. It is not something that one can... One must say: 'Whoever disgraces a Torah scholar, there is no cure for his wound.' It is not because you will now have revenge. It is because you disgraced the Torah; you cannot be healed from it. For when you will need healing - each one now - someone, Heaven forbid, disgraced a sage, disgraced Moshe Rabbeinu, afterwards he will need salvation, and the sage will not be able to help him, because you disgraced him.

35:23 So there is no remedy, right? But on the contrary, the moment we truly ask for teshuvah and we ask forgiveness before Hashem, then the Holy One, blessed be He, is ready and forgives. The more we pray and prepare more vessels, we will be worthy of the redemption. Vessels are prayer, the conversation before Hashem, uprooting the bad traits within us, the baseless hatred within us, increasing love of friends, and truly helping one another, and removing, distancing and separating from those people who are from the root of Haman - all the people of strife, all the people of division; to be clean, and to join good company, good people, to light up the eyes to Hashem and to seal the ears from all the glitter of this world - all the falsehood, and the eyes and the ears that hear all the falsehood of the world, all those voices; for today we learned what the way of Hashem is - Torah,

36:12 what in practice - why truly Moshe Rabbeinu was chosen as leader, [unclear] and it is very, very special in this, what is connected - [unclear]. Go on. I hope that everyone who heard this today writes it down - there are people here with a very great memory. - Now, how does one know that the will a person does, what he does, is the service of Hashem? How does he know that the will, his service, what he does, is the right thing? Perhaps he is failing, perhaps he is failing [unclear], perhaps he is in the wrong place, perhaps he is not doing the right thing. How can we - how can the simple man know that what he does is the service of Hashem, is the will of Hashem? That he is connecting to the holy place, to the pure place, to the right place?

36:54 - This, Rabbeinu Chaim Vital says: [unclear], that is, [unclear] 'Teach me, Hashem, Your way.' To ask the Holy One, blessed be He, all the time for the way of truth; if you do not ask Hashem, you will never arrive. The only way, truly, to know that you are walking in the way of Hashem, is all the time to ask Hashem. And it was a regular saying in the mouth of Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz, as written in 'the Gate of Truth'.

37:19 He said: 'Master of the world, lead me in the way of truth. Master of the world, lead me in the way of truth.' He would repeat it and say it, say it and repeat it, many, many times, all the days of his life, all the time, to ask Hashem to lead us in the way of truth. One must always ask the Holy One, blessed be He, to lead us in the way of truth. And if we do not ask, we can still go wrong. And worst of all is that we think, Heaven forbid, that we already know what truth is, and think what truth is. These are the battles there are in the world.

37:45 I must always think and pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, to lead us in truth, that we be proper people and tzaddikim. With Hashem's help. What is it, tzaddik? - Truly, this week we spoke about the 'mind of smallness', which the Rav brought up now. The Rav brought the Pri HaAretz and Rabbi Nachman, who say that the tzaddik truly does not see bad; he [unclear], that seemingly it is bad, but truly everything is good, as the Rav now understands. Yes. If it is possible to explain this: ...we want to understand how it can be that the Rav gives us the feeling that sufferings are sufferings, the people suffer from all kinds of sufferings, and you know that the tzaddik does not see it as sufferings, okay?

38:36 Akiva waited all his life to reach this moment, so the sufferings from the Creator of the world are only seeming. How can I reach this recognition, and ask the tzaddik not to bless me for livelihood or for health, that he bless me - I have no da'as? Things in which the Rav does identify with a person - that you have no livelihood - why bless him for livelihood? Let him have da'as - [unclear] - da'as, da'as, no... - So I will explain something to you.

39:03 When a person has livelihood, he will have da'as. When he has no livelihood, he has no da'as. And 'if there is no flour, there is no Torah.' So the very fact that you bless a person for material matters - that is a good thing. It is a good thing. I am in favor, with Hashem's help, of there being abundance. Moreover, I was born on the 15th of Iyar; it comes out exactly my gematria: when the manna came down to Israel - Hoshea chapter 3, verse 3.

39:29 The manna came down to Israel. It comes out [unclear] - the manna that came down to Israel. So I say: I pray to Hashem that people should have wealth, abundance, livelihood, salvations, good things. Why? Because when there is abundance for the Jewish people, there is good for the Jewish people, there are salvations; people say, 'Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good,' and praise His great Name and see the salvations of Hashem; people praise Him more, laud Him more, cling to Him more, want the knowledge of Hashem more, come closer to Him more, run after Him more, and then the da'as already comes by itself.

39:57 And the opposite: if you tell a person 'da'as', he will fall into smallness: 'You don't give me, I won't have any livelihood, you don't bless me for something good, so...' On the contrary, one must specifically - 'if a person asks you, Where is your G-d?, tell him: In the great city of Rome.' Specifically show the person that his materiality must be a revelation of G-dliness. One must turn materiality into a revelation of G-dliness. That is our whole purpose here in the world. We came down to this world in order to sanctify matter, in order to reveal the light of Hashem.

40:25 So don't try to despise it and throw it away. Take it and raise it up high. Sanctify it, and lift it, and raise it - and not to say to yourself, 'Hashem wants you to be in a shack, and [unclear]' - Hashem wants you to be a king, of the 'kings, the Rabbis', and that you have royalty, and that you all have abundance, that everyone have healings and wealth and abundance and the 'mind of greatness', and precious vessels and expansiveness of mind - that is what Hashem, blessed be He, wants; that is the goal. But we must accept it with understanding, and if meanwhile there is difficulty and pain, we must reveal within this pain the light of Hashem.

41:00 And more than that - you remember what the Ohr LaShamayim, Rabbi Meir of Apta, writes at the end: he asks a question there, and he asks - I will ask you again; whoever doesn't remember - whoever heard the answer, let him not say it. I am asking whoever... Whoever does not know the answer, let him answer. Whoever has not heard the answer, let him show me. Or whoever knows the Ohr LaShamayim - it is at the end. He asks there: who is greater?

41:29 There is a tzaddik who takes on sufferings and is a man of sufferings, and there is a tzaddik who says 'neither them nor their reward', who does not want sufferings, does not want to suffer, and wants abundance and expansiveness of mind. Who is greater? That's it. Whoever knows the answer [unclear]. No - whoever did not hear it from me and did not see it in the book. The book. - The one who has sufferings, who has sufferings, who has sufferings.

41:58 Rabbi Eliezer, [unclear], and everyone said that, as it were, only Rabbi Akiva laughed, who said: because, since Rabbi Eliezer [unclear] himself. He said: because [unclear], New insights. - The second, the second, because there is no sorrow to the Shechinah. - Nice, nice. That the Shechinah not be pained - we don't understand this, [unclear] today.

42:24 That the Shechinah not be pained. In short, you knew the answer - you, you, you - you knew the answer. Nice. - What is the answer, Rav? - Here, what they said. The greatest tzaddik is the tzaddik who wants neither the sufferings nor their reward. Why? Because he says: if I am pained, then it is written, 'In all their affliction He was afflicted.' So 'My head is heavy on me, my arm is heavy on me' - that is woe and alas. We do not want there to be sorrow to the Shechinah, so I say, I don't want this sorrow and don't want these sufferings - not because of me; I don't care for myself; I don't want there to be sorrow to the Shechinah, because if I am pained, the Shechinah will be pained together with me,

42:58 and I don't want the Shechinah to be pained. So that is the reason he asks the Holy One, blessed be He, that he have no sorrow and no sufferings; and therefore he writes there that the level of this tzaddik is much greater than that tzaddik. So therefore I say: always ask for much reward, abundance and a good life; and the main thing is to be full of emunah and trust. And I also have good news for you about the niggunim. Now, with Hashem's help, our niggunim - we - I added some more sounds and good things, something - new things are about to be done for you, some special things, with more strengthening and more novelty; and more niggunim will come out for you, like this, of closeness to Hashem. Listen to them. Music can repair the soul; music is a purifying thing,

43:38 it refines; holy music can bring a person to prophecy; it is a spiritual thing that repairs, immediately. When one hears the sounds, these are pure sounds. What is music? Why does it act so strongly on created beings? You know, now, at the feast of Achashverosh that took place, there was no music. There was abundance, a meal, wine, food, everything, all the delicacies of the world. But one thing - didn't you notice what there was not at the feast of Achashverosh?

44:02 It is not mentioned in the Megillah that there were musicians. There should have been: 'And the king made, at the feast of Achashverosh, a great feast, and brought all the musicians and all the violinists and all the [unclear].' And it is not written - no musical instrument is mentioned. Rabbi Yaakov, the Me'am Lo'ez, writes that why - because [unclear] the music: he said, 'If these hear the music, their heart will immediately return to G-d in heaven; they will do teshuvah.' How? Because the wicked say... Do you hear? Because the wicked say... So see: the Jewish people would hear this music but would return to Hashem - it makes no difference.

44:38 That was the Jewish people; but from here it comes to teach us how important music is to give a person. So therefore, when there is holy music, for the sake of Heaven, that one plays for the honor of Hashem, it is good; it influences the soul for good. If the musician is for its own sake, everything is fine. The boy wants to say something? No? So I'll explain, I'll explain. Who said - you? What did you say, tzaddik? - It was non-kosher music, so the Jews in general were like that.

45:08 He said that if Achashverosh had invited them, it would have been a non-kosher musician, and that could have harmed them. Teaching 3 in Likutei Moharan. - Rabbi Nachman. This little one... So truly, the answer is - so I'll explain to you: so there, one must learn Gemara at night, and then the wicked musician will not harm. Trust the Jewish people that they learned Gemara there at night, and the wicked musician would not harm them.

45:42 But I'll explain something to you. Any music that one hears, if we direct our heart to Heaven, it does not harm. Where would one be harmed by singing that rises for the sake of Heaven? There is a difference between a musical instrument and singing. A musical instrument is a second vessel. What happens if I am now playing on the piano and someone cuts the cable, someone breaks the strings - will anything help if I do like this? No. It won't do anything.

46:12 It won't help. And what happens when a person sings into a microphone? It won't help, whatever he does - if he is proud, the pride and the traits pass immediately through the voice, in the singing. Therefore, if anything - pay attention: first of all, this story of Rabbi Nachman was when he was in the city of Zlatipolia, and there were musicians there; there were chazzanim there who in their singing intended the honor of the people in the women's section, and sought to impress the congregation with their singing, and they were non-kosher musicians in their singing. And then he said this teaching, number 3, 'Akrukta', about the musician who is not kosher - he meant singing.

46:51 For example, Elisha Acher, who would hear Greek song. You hear - Greek song. Singing - both its words and its voice are severe, whereas, compared to a musical instrument, the musical instrument has the credit and the honor for itself. It is as if - it is its honor; the pride is given to it. That you know how to play it nicely - well done, but you also need to give very great credit to the musical instrument.

47:17 So therefore, certainly it is always better to have a kosher musician, also with a musical instrument, that is certain; but know that, if anything, the harm and the danger are much greater in singing, in the voice; it penetrates much more than instruments. And therefore, if you hear instruments too - good ones, from a musician who intends for the sake of Heaven - that is good. Okay, tzaddikim, we will need to finish; we won't need to go on long.

47:48 - I listen to the Rav's niggunim, I listen to the Rav's niggunim every day, and I have a very personal story that it [unclear]. There are a few witnesses here that after the army I [unclear] very badly, and the Rav's niggunim, to this day, I listen to them most of the day. And I always listen to the Rav's niggun, the niggun 'Adir Ayom'. It is a niggun that I really, every day - it is my alarm clock in the morning. To start the morning with something [unclear]. I truly feel it very, very much.

48:13 And what is the root of 'Adir Ayom', where did the Rav get it from, what is it - [unclear] - how does it really influence like this? - This niggun, the niggun 'Adir Ayom', is a very ancient niggun. It is dated to over 300 years ago. This niggun - they even say that the holy Baal Shem Tov sang it; Rabbi Nachman also sang it. This melody has a very great lineage.

48:38 It is not known who said the words, 'Mighty, awesome and feared, in my distress I call to You'; it is not known who the author of this niggun is, but it is very, very effective to sing it every Motzaei Shabbos - it is a segulah for a good week and for blessing. This niggun, one can sing it; that is why I played it. And the story - there is the story that some 150 years ago there was a certain Jew who was walking in the forest and singing this niggun, and he was very, very afraid; he was walking in the snowy forest, with the snow, and he was singing it, 'Adir Ayom VeNora', and then suddenly someone answered him, someone answered him, someone continues singing with him.

49:19 And then he stops, and he looks to the right - 'I don't see anyone.' He continues singing, and then someone continues the second verse with him, until he walked and walked, and walked and searched, and he saw a dead person - a mes mitzvah, a dead person with no one to bury him. He took care of his burial and everything, and he understood that there was something a bit frightening here. So it is a very lofty niggun. You see that music has - there are very holy niggunim, and there is a very great virtue.

49:48 Listen also to the niggunim that I composed; that is also good. - All of it, Rav - most of my phone is only the Rav's niggunim, I don't have anything else, like. But I'm not a calm guy, Rav, who listens - I was a DJ, I'm not... now I listen to this, Rav. - So listen to the niggunim, with Hashem's help, and I will try to put out more holy melodies for you and more niggunim that will benefit you, that you come closer to Hashem, blessed be He. [unclear], you know, this week it came - it was two weeks ago - that before sunrise I arrive, I come to pray, and right before the Shacharis prayer some man arrives who is standing outside; he says that he wants to convert, wants to be a Jew.

50:31 I said, what is a Jew - a person - doing at five thirty in the morning, standing outside, saying he wants to convert? He said that he and his wife heard the niggunim, and they want to be of this people. He said that it went into him; from the music he came to this, and he must be a Jew. Here, they saw it. They were with me. Rabbi David saw it - Rabbi David, right?

50:57 And [unclear]. He said that it did something to him; he said that he does not know what it did to him - it made him cry, and it made him want to understand something else, and he started to hear a little of the teachings, and now we referred him to you. He is supposed to help him, with Hashem's help, with the conversion, with Hashem's help. Yevamos, page 24, Rabbi Yehudah: we convert the converts. With Hashem's help, to find them something and to bring them under the wings of the Shechinah, with Hashem's help.

51:27 So with Hashem's help - we, with Hashem's help, have not yet begun, and with Hashem's help we will do more, bli neder, also - I want to make you also an evening of niggunim. I want to explain to you about music; I am building it now, I'll think about it, to see when. Let's prepare some beautiful things; we'll play for you all kinds of special things, and also niggunim that have not yet come out, and beautiful things, and we'll explain to you about music and everything; we'll make it something like a shiur and an evening about music.

51:55 - [unclear], Rebbe. - There, it is an evening of niggunim - just a moment - [unclear]. - We have a place where it can be done, Rav. - Yes. - In the place of the... - We'll do it in a nice place, yes, yes. We'll do it, yes; just let's see that there is room for everyone - we need a big place. Be strong - clearly, to strengthen you; we'll give you a good life, we'll give you joy. And I just want to tell you something small too, something small.

52:23 I say, you also need to judge me favorably; I'll explain to you what I mean. You know that I, baruch Hashem - if there is something that makes me happy, truly I tell you, it is that I see people who are happy and that things are good for them, and that you, baruch Hashem, are progressing and [unclear], and people tell me good things. You know, during the week I toil very, very hard. Whoever is near me sees - we deal with very hard cases, and a great many things that are not simple come to us, and I try to help with all my strength, and to hope for good news and good things.

52:55 And baruch Hashem - you have something good; always be happy. Don't be sad about anything; don't stay that way; be in joy. Whoever wants - I said, people ask me how to make me happy with something: remember me - be more joyful. Progress more in joy, be happier, don't break from anything, be strong, and pray for me that the Holy One, blessed be He, from Heaven give me strength, give me help from Heaven, and all that He gave me, and the task - that I succeed in doing all of it, that the Holy One, blessed be He, have pleasure, and that there be joy, and that I have strength from Heaven; for you know, sometimes I talk with you, I go and talk with this one and that one and that one, and from here and from there,

53:32 talking so much, from here and from there - the head sometimes doesn't... and I, baruch Hashem, try - yes, of course - also in prayer and serving Hashem, and Torah, and learning, and salvations, and remembering the pain of someone who needs help, and so many things and so much responsibility, and I try very hard to be responsible in everything I do, and also the music, and so many things to advance and to do, and it is not so easy; and baruch Hashem - also that Hashem provide us a place.

53:57 There are so many goals and many important things, and you know how much, with Hashem's help, the goal is much bigger, for we have not yet begun, and we will merit to do much more and to influence much more, because that is our way. You see that out of having no vessels we gave abundance and gave a lot. Without vessels. With Hashem's help, we hope that Hashem will also give vessels, and surely the abundance will be 'with greater dignity and greater power'. But you, with Hashem's help - as much as you can, be in joy, with Hashem's help.

54:23 Pray for us, be strong, always be united, strengthen and encourage one another, always think good thoughts, with Hashem's help, and we will win, and the Holy One, blessed be He, is with us. [unclear] the covenant of our fathers, and [unclear] the great Name of Hashem, blessed be He, may you have good news. I love you, and I pray for you, and remember you, and don't forget anyone. Everything you tell me to pray for and all - you remember that I told you that whoever tells me a name, asks for prayer or something, I pray for him at the Kiddush of Friday night.

54:53 Also when I go to the mikveh, always when I pray and immerse, I think of everyone; I really pray for everyone, and everything you asked for, everything you need for salvations - I don't forget anyone; I pray for you, and sometimes we don't get to talk much or to meet, to see each other, but baruch Hashem, I think of you and pray for you, [unclear] salvations in everything you need, in all matters, in visible and revealed good, [unclear].

55:17 [unclear], good news, and [unclear], and all the good families. Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says: 'The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to give merit to Israel; therefore He gave them much Torah and mitzvos.'