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The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 2,905 words · 14:05. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 With the permission of the honored rabbis, with the permission of all the holy congregation, may you have salvations, miracles and wonders. May the Holy One, blessed be He, bless all the holy congregation, and give you good life and good tidings, and salvations and miracles and wonders, and may you be only in joy, always. I will tell you something special and important, and may it be for the elevation of the soul of the Rabbanit Kochava bas Chasiba, may the spirit of Hashem give her rest in Gan Eden, for today is the shloshim of this holy woman.
0:32 May the spirit of Hashem give her rest in Gan Eden, her and all the daughters of Israel who lie with her, within the mercy and the forgiveness. So may it be His will, and let us say Amen. You know, one of the most important things in this world, the most important, is a person's tefillah. Each one of us has a tefillah. The Holy One, blessed be He, loves the tefillah of each one of us, because each one is precious and beloved to the Holy One, blessed be He. There is no one — the Holy One, blessed be He, has no favorites.
1:01 He loves everyone, He loves all the Jewish people, and all are precious and dear to Him. Last time, if you remember, we learned together the reason that the Beis Yosef gives, in the name of the Shibolei HaLeket, why we do not say the Hallel on Pesach, which is a miracle — and I explained about Chanukah, that it is a miracle of Rabbinic standing. Whoever remembers — so we will go back over it for you, just briefly: the miracle that is Chanukah is a miracle of Rabbinic standing, whereas the Exodus from Egypt is from the Torah.
1:32 Seemingly, on Chol HaMoed Pesach we should have said the full Hallel with a blessing. On Chanukah we say the full Hallel with a blessing, though it is Rabbinic, a small miracle of a jug of oil, whereas on Chol HaMoed Pesach, which is a far mightier miracle, from the Torah, we say Hallel with parts skipped. So in truth, the reason is what the Beis Yosef brings in the name of the Shibolei HaLeket: what the Gemara says in Tractate Megillah, page 10b: "The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you are saying song?"
1:57 The Holy One, blessed be He, did not want to hear the song of the Jewish people. But we see from here how beloved they are to the Holy One, blessed be He, how dear to Him — even the nations, the Egyptians. He did not want to drown them in the sea. See: the Holy One, blessed be He, did it in order to save the Jewish people, but still — "Do not praise Me, for the work of My hands is drowning in the sea. I am not looking for you to praise Me while the work of My hands is drowning in the sea." See how important every work of His hands is to the Holy One, blessed be He. And at the time a person prays to the Holy One, blessed be He, the greatest yichud that is made is his submission to the Holy One, blessed be He —
2:33 that he humbles himself before the Creator, which is what matters most to the Holy One, blessed be He. Not for nothing did the Sages teach, in Tractate Berachos, page 28b, and in Bava Kamma, page 16 — the Gemara says that a person who does not bow — there is a version in the commentators, it is seven years, in the words of the Bach — it is seven years, or seventy years, that the spine turns into a snake in the grave. Into a snake, specifically.
Read the whole shiur in English (22 more parts)
2:57 When does the person become a snake? When he passes from the world and lies in the ground, then his spine turns into a snake. Truly, why does it turn into a snake, of all things? The snake is the filth of the primordial Serpent. Because the Holy One, blessed be He — when a person does not bow to the Holy One, blessed be He, and does not humble himself before the Holy One, blessed be He, and does not reveal that everything that happens in the world is the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, then the Holy One, blessed be He, has pain: how does this person not humble himself toward Heaven?
3:28 For the thing that matters most to the Holy One, blessed be He, is that the created beings praise Him, laud Him — and that is the littlest of the little that they can give Him. Like the blessings over enjoyment, in Tractate Berachos, page 35, side a, where the Gemara teaches: "The Rabbis taught: A person is forbidden to benefit from this world without a blessing, and whoever benefits from this world without a blessing has misused what is sacred." And Rashi says: he has benefited from what is consecrated — that a person, as it were, takes something that does not belong to him. So he must make a blessing on his eating, on his drinking — and of course that is also a blessing.
3:56 "He will bless your bread" — do not read "He will bless" but "bless!" — "and I will remove illness from your midst." Every healing will come to a person because he blesses over what he eats and drinks. How great is the importance in food, in drink — everything a person eats and blesses over. The Chinuch writes, in mitzvah 430: "So I have received from my teachers, may G-d protect them: whoever is careful with Birkas HaMazon — his sustenance is found for him with dignity all his days." How important it is to be careful with Birkas HaMazon, which is from the Torah.
4:21 How important it is to the Holy One, blessed be He, that we glorify and praise His great Name. And see what a very interesting thing. It is written in the Talmud, in Tractate Kesubos, page 33 — the Gemara relates — you know that in the Book of Daniel there is the story, the incident of Nevuchadnetzar. There is the story that he built a very large golden statue. And Nevuchadnetzar was the king of Bavel. He was a very great king, and everyone who saw him was afraid of him, because he would ride on a lion with a snake — he had a bridle like a snake — in order to subdue. People would see Nevuchadnetzar and all would tremble with fear, for he was a king of very great cruelty.
5:00 There are many stories — about Chiram, king of Tzor, who went up to the heavens, and he would cut an olive's measure from him every day. And he had a large table, and he would see all the captives in captivity beneath the table. He had a magnificent table; beneath the table he had a grating, and his prison, too, was beneath the table. He would see all the kings he had conquered, and he would look at them in the middle of his meal, and throw them bones, like this, and humiliate them.
5:24 That is how he made his impression, tormenting them. He was a very wicked and cruel king. And Nevuchadnetzar destroyed the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple. And for whoever does not know — more than that: Nevuchadnetzar was of the seed of Shlomo HaMelech. This, people do not know — from the union with the Queen of Sheva. So he was of the seed of Shlomo, of Shlomo HaMelech, and that is why he had the power to raise a hand and destroy the Temple. This is how the story went. Nevuchadnetzar built a great statue of gold, very, very magnificent.
5:53 He built it, and called a great day, of feasting and joy, for everyone to come and bow to the statue he had built — the Gemara in Kesubos, page 33. What does it relate? He brought a great statue, and everyone came to bow to this statue. Everyone came to Bavel to bow to the statue, except for three. Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah did not bow to the statue. And there was someone who went and informed on them.
6:19 He said: Look, these ones are not bowing to the system — and he handed them over to the authorities. At once Nevuchadnetzar came. He said: Those ones — call them. They called Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah. He said: Throw them into the fiery furnace. Them themselves — throw them in. Everyone who took them was himself burned in the fire, just from taking them. See what heat there was. They threw Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah into the fiery furnace, and Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah were not burned.
6:48 Nothing happened to them, nothing at all. They remained whole. And in truth, Tosafos say something very interesting. Tosafos write that seemingly this was not a statue of idolatry; it was a statue made for the sake of honor. So seemingly they were permitted to bow and save themselves. But because Nevuchadnetzar would disgrace the Holy One, blessed be He, because Nevuchadnetzar did not care about the honor of the Holy One, blessed be He — he did not care about His honor — they said: We are not bowing to this statue.
7:16 And the Holy One, blessed be He, made a miracle for them, because they cared for the honor of the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. See what greatness, and what holy ones and tzaddikim they were, that they cared for the honor of Heaven, for the honor of the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. Remember Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah. See what greatness and what power. And so from here the Sages teach us that a person should take care to care for the Shechinah, to pray for the holy Shechinah, and to do everything he does for the sake of Heaven — for each one of us has the ability and the power to give the Holy One, blessed be He, nachas ruach, to bring the geulah, and to bring about before Hashem salvations and great things. But this is very important: the power of a person in tefillah. You know — a very beautiful thing for you:
8:00 in the Gemara, in Tractate Bava Kamma, page 3b, Rav says — what is "maveh"? There are several kinds of damage, but "maveh" — Rav says: "maveh" is man. Now, what does it mean that "maveh" is man? You know there is a verse in Yeshayahu, chapter 21, verse 12, where it is written: "If you will ask, ask; return, come." In practice, the desire and the power of tefillah flow from within the person, from inside.
8:25 In his innermost self, a person who speaks to the Holy One, blessed be He, prays — without understanding that he is praying — from the walls of his heart. Tefillah is a silent cry that slips out from within the person. Take "adam", man, with its letters spelled out. How do we reckon "adam"? Adam: alef, dalet, mem. Alef: alef, lamed, peh; dalet, lamed, tav; and mem, mem. The inner letters are "mispallel" — one who prays.
8:51 For "adam" spelled out is "mispallel". When a person truly wants to accomplish — the essence of a person here in the world is to be one who prays. And see something even more interesting and beautiful now: that "maveh" — do the same with "maveh", also the inner letters of "maveh". Take the mem; beis — yud, tav; ayin — yud, nun. Take this spelling-out: it comes to the number 515, exactly. And who prayed 515 tefillos?
9:17 Moshe Rabbeinu. "Tefillah" — what is its gematria? 515. So "maveh" — Rav says "maveh" is man. 515 is what "maveh" spelled out comes to. When Rav says "maveh" is man — that is 515. "Adam" spelled out is "mispallel", and "maveh" spelled out is the gematria of "tefillah". "Shirah", song, is 515 in gematria. "And I pleaded with Hashem at that time, saying" — "Va'eschanan", "and I pleaded", is 515 in gematria. From here you see this great connection: everything connects, one thing to the other, coming to instruct us, the Jewish people, to reveal to us that the power of tefillah is so, so great that it can turn things around for a person from the most severe thing there is.
9:57 And in Tractate Berachos, page 10a, at the end of the page, the Gemara says — Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Elazar both say: "Even if a sharp sword rests on a person's neck, he should not hold himself back from mercy, as it says: 'Though He slay me, in Him I will hope.'" Truly, when a person understands that it does not matter what he is going through — if he prays, he can come out of all the troubles. This is the greatest power in the world: to pray that Hashem turn everything around. Do you know why we say "Keil Adon al kol hama'asim" — "G-d, Master over all deeds"?
10:24 Has anyone ever thought — does anyone know what "Master over all deeds" means? What is this wording? We see in the tefillah: "G-d, Master over all deeds, blessed and praised" — right? What is "Master over all deeds"? Do you know what it is? Does anyone know how to explain it? I will tell you. Only the Holy One, blessed be He, alone can — when a person does something, yes? which could be the craziest thing there is in the world — he stands on his head with a banana peel, he just does something funny, or it is something that is not good — only the Holy One, blessed be He, can decide how that deed will be received in all the hearts, in all the hearts in the world.
11:06 That is to say, a person can be disgraced with the greatest disgrace, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will decide, in all those hearts, that it will not disgrace him — it will even bring him honor. And that is why He is called "Master over all deeds". That is to say, Hashem rules over all the hearts, over all people, so that even if a person has the greatest disgrace, Hashem, blessed be He, can take that disgrace, and honor him and lift him up out of that very disgrace. And with whom do we find this?
11:32 With Yosef HaTzaddik. Yosef HaTzaddik was in the pit. Potiphar's wife disgraced him and slandered him, and all of it. And Yosef HaTzaddik became king over all of Egypt. This is what we say: "G-d, Master over all deeds." One who is truly connected to Hashem, blessed be He, is not afraid of anything, of any disgrace. The Holy One, blessed be He, can do it. That is the meaning of "Master over all deeds": that the Holy One, blessed be He, can decide. And it also works the other way. A person can do a good deed, do a magnificent deed, be honored by it — but inside his heart he is proud: "Look how I do things, I donated, I did."
12:04 Hashem will put it into all the hearts that everyone disgrace him for the good deed he did. And then we suddenly see in the world: sometimes, when a person does something good, the world disgraces him for having done something good, and sometimes, when a person does something bad, the world encourages him. That is how we see it turned around. That is why we say: "G-d, Master over all deeds." So may we all always be strong, always in joy. We bless you, Rabbi Yaakov, that you continue to shine the light here in this holy synagogue, with all that you have done, the holy family, to glorify the Name of Hashem and to shine the light of Hashem, blessed be He, in all the worlds.
12:38 May the Holy One, blessed be He, give you health, joy, and length of days and years, to each and every one of you, all of you. May you have salvations and miracles and wonders, and closeness to Hashem, blessed be He — and to always be only full of hope, full of joy, and to always remember that it is possible to come out of anything in the world, for there is hope for everything — out of everything, in one brief moment, at once. Be strong, be strong — salvations to all of you.
13:03 No, no, no. Thank you, honored Rav. Last but not least, the rabbi of our synagogue. The rabbi of the synagogue, Rabbi David, Dr. David Ben Zazon — please, with honor. May all the blessings be fulfilled.
13:37 Amen. Amen. With a complete recovery. Amen. A good life — Amen — a good life, Amen. A blessing for the Prime Minister, Binyamin ben Tzila. The Prime Minister, Binyamin ben Tzila: may he have robust health, a good life, may he have robust health, a good life, he and all the Jewish people, our brothers, and the complete geulah, speedily in our days. Amen, Amen.
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