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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 2,111 words · 10:12. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 We are truly, truly in a very, very [unclear] time, when people truly [unclear]. [unclear] - what is a person to do [unclear], And we, because of such a very dark exile and a lack of knowledge... perhaps there is nothing to be done. Look, Rabbi Nachman says that Mashiach will conquer the whole world without a single [unclear], for his weapon is prayer; from there all his vitality is drawn.
0:29 Right? Rabbeinu Bachya writes on the passage of Yehudah - pay attention - that the letter zayin is not said there; it does not appear there, corresponding to his weapons, weapons of destruction. There is no zayin in his blessings. Why? It tells the Jewish people that all their strength comes from prayer, not from the strength of the arm. The Jewish people cannot do it.
0:55 We have no strength for anything. 'Fear not, you worm Jacob' - all our strength is in the mouth. 'All that Israel had done to the Amorites.' All the strength of the Jewish people is only in the words of their mouth. We - our only strength is only prayer. We are a people of prayer. Our mothers were barren: Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah. We were born from prayer, and because the Jewish people was born from prayer, all our strength and all our vitality will be only from prayer.
1:25 And when the biryonim, the zealots, came then to Jerusalem, and they came and said to him [unclear] - Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said: Can those who cook pots and draw water make war? You are cooks of pots and drawers of water; we are writers with pens; we cannot make war. We were not born for war; we are meant for prayer. The whole Jewish people - its essence is prayer, to pray to the Holy One, blessed be He. 'Hear O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.'
1:57 That is a prayer, that is a request. The more they accept the kingship of Hashem and pray to the Holy One, blessed be He - the Holy One, blessed be He, wages wars. 'Hashem will fight for you, and you shall be silent.' The Holy One, blessed be He, is a man of war. He wages the wars for us. But the moment that we - what did Bar Koziva, Bar Kochba, say? 'Is it not You, G-d, who has forsaken us, and You do not go forth with our armies.' When the one going out to war asks the Holy One, blessed be He, not to do anything, not to get involved, not to do anything to help, not to help him, and on the other hand not to make him lose either - he does not want Him involved.
2:29 Then the Holy One, blessed be He, does not like that. And He sent him a creature, a kind of creature that harmed him, and [unclear]. And so one must know: he was very strong, and whoever wanted to be accepted into his army had to gallop on a horse and uproot a cedar tree while galloping. That was his strength. Whoever could be accepted into his army - and they would cut off fingers, and could uproot trees and stop catapult stones.
Read the whole shiur in English (14 more parts)
2:55 He would stop catapult stones with his hands. Catapult stones that they would hurl, and he could stop them. The Yerushalmi in Taanis has many stories about him, about Bar Koziva. And he also erred about him - 'A star has stepped forth from Yaakov' - Rabbi Akiva erred about him in this. But we see from here that we - our strength is only in the mouth and not in the arm. And if we beseech the Holy One, blessed be He, and the more we pray to Hashem with intent - that is what will help us. Only prayer, only prayer, prayer, prayer to the Holy One, blessed be He. To strengthen ourselves in prayer: in Shacharis, in Minchah, in Maariv, in the three prayers, in the synagogue, with a minyan, and to pray to the Holy One, blessed be He.
3:37 And may it be His will that this, with Hashem's help, will be a help and a benefit to us, [unclear] - for the power of prayer is the most important, the most exalted and the strongest thing. For every person, for everything you need, whether in spiritual matters or in material ones, there is never any advice greater than prayer. For what comes from prayer will never [unclear] a person. And what comes not from prayer is always hanging in the balance.
4:04 For prayer is a kind of acquisition from the Holy One, blessed be He. In Tractate Berachos, page 30a, the Gemara says that a person is to make a blessing over every food. Before the food, before you make the blessing, it is 'The earth and all it holds are Hashem's.' After you have blessed: 'And the earth He gave to mankind.' That is how the blessing is, prayer, the bond with the Holy One, blessed be He, so it is with everything in this world. If you want to acquire it, you want it to be yours, that they won't take it from you, pray for it.
4:33 The more you pray for it, you will merit that it will be [unclear]. If a person does not pray, then he receives a thing without prayer - it is not the same. To merit 'And the earth He gave to mankind', that is after a blessing. You want to merit it - like the food you have and eat - without robbing the Holy One, blessed be He? Learn from this. Learn from this also to pray, not only over a big thing but over a small thing. For every single city, pray that the Holy One, blessed be He, will protect it.
5:01 Pray for the people of the city, pray for the city, pray for the Land of Israel, pray for the Jewish people, pray for everyone. The power of prayer will bring peace and unity and victory, for Hashem, blessed be He, [unclear] us throughout all the generations. In every generation they tried to annihilate the Jewish people, 'And it is this that has stood by us, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand.' And the power of prayer always, always saved the Jewish people - but prayer with intent, to guard prayer, and that we pray. Our strength is only in the mouth.
5:30 We are the 'worm Jacob'; we are the power of prayer. Prayer is victory. Prayer to the Holy One, blessed be He, is victory. When a person has trouble, says the Yerushalmi, chapter 9, halachah [unclear], in Berachos: 'Let him not cry out to Michael, nor to Gavriel, nor to Refael, to Me let him cry out, and I answer him immediately.' So says the Holy One, blessed be He.
5:55 [unclear] the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Pray to Me, pray, pray. I hear you immediately - and He answers. So therefore one must always pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, for prayer is victory, and one must always feel that we are praying to the Holy One, blessed be He, from the depths of the heart, that Hashem, blessed be He, wants to hear our prayer, and the power of this prayer is what will save the Jewish people, forever and for all eternity, with complete trust, for we have no one to lean on but our Father in Heaven - and only prayer.
6:23 'And their cry rose up to G-d.' The Jewish people was in Egypt and could not leave Egypt - only 'and their cry rose up': they cried out to the Holy One, blessed be He. There is a prayer by Rabbi Chaim of Chernowitz, the author of the Be'er Mayim Chaim. He composed the book Be'er Mayim Chaim, he also composed the book Sha'ar HaTefillah. That is a book that speaks only about prayer. He also composed Sidduro shel Shabbos, which is another book, on the greatness of Shabbos, branches and gates on the greatness of Shabbos. He also composed a book on the greatness of prayer, and on crying out, Look there at the [unclear], how many levels and expressions of prayer there are.
6:53 And crying out, in fact - as it is written, 'And their cry rose up to G-d' - comes from deep within them. A person prays, crying out to the Holy One, blessed be He: 'And their cry rose up to G-d.' 'Accept our cry and hear our plea, You who know hidden things' - that is crying out. It is like a prayer said with all one's bones; it is from the innermost, from the depths of our heart and from deep within us. One who prays at the level where he cries out to the Holy One, blessed be He - 'the cry of the poor' - look at the poor man, the poor, the destitute, the wretched: he prays from the depths of his heart. Why? Because he knows that he has no bread to eat, and that a person needs salvation; he calls to the Holy One, blessed be He, from his innermost being.
7:30 He cries out. 'The cry of the poor You hear' - for the poor man prays in a way that he relies on nothing but this prayer that is said. So if we reach such a level that we know that He does everything for us, and He can win everything for us - everything is over in a brief moment. Have you forgotten the miracles He did for us? Can we forget these miracles, the miracles and the wonders? Do you know what it means to strike ten plagues in Egypt? That Moshe Rabbeinu came to Egypt, to the greatest power in the world.
7:58 Pharaoh was king over all the kings who ruled in the world, king over all the idols, all the sorcerers and all the magicians were there in Egypt. Yochani and Mamre were their great ones and their magicians, of Egypt. And Moshe Rabbeinu comes and makes of them a laughingstock, simply, with the powers and the miracles and the staffs and the wonders, that he turns the whole world upside down, and everyone sees Hashem's miracles; and when the Jewish people leaves Egypt, he [unclear] the sea.
8:28 What absolute control over all of nature: with blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts, pestilence, boils - do you know what that is? The plague of the firstborn - who can know who is a firstborn? Only the Holy One, blessed be He, knows who is a firstborn. The Egyptians were steeped in immorality, and the Holy One, blessed be He, knew how to distinguish between a firstborn and a firstborn, between [unclear], Only the Holy One, blessed be He, can do that. Therefore, we sometimes speak, we marvel before 'the great, mighty and awesome G-d', that He rules over the creatures; He rules over flesh and blood; He rules over creation; He rules over the minds of the creatures. 'The heart of a king and ministers is in the hand of Hashem.' So how can one [unclear] this through anything other than prayer?
9:08 So when people ask me, this is my answer. I think: only prayer. I bless all the residents of Tzfas and the North and the Galil with protection and safeguarding, with salvations and miracles and wonders and a good life; may the Holy One, blessed be He, protect them, [unclear], and may the Holy One, blessed be He, protect them, protect the whole Jewish people, the whole Land of Israel, and may we have good tidings, salvations, miracles and wonders, and may the merit of the holy ones they have there in Tzfas, the whole cemetery, all the holy ones buried there, shield us, and bring the complete redemption, and protection and safeguarding.
9:42 Yasher koach to everyone, all the blessings and good bounty, with Hashem's help, and to Rav Aharon Heller, the tzaddik - siyata dishmaya, help from Heaven, and protection and safeguarding over all his work of bringing merit to the many, over all his activities, everything he does in the city of Tzfas. May he continue to bring merit to the many, to magnify Torah and make it glorious and to illuminate the Torah of Hashem, and may 'the will of Hashem prosper in his hand.' May there be good tidings for everyone, and protection and safeguarding for everyone, [unclear]. So may it be His will, and let us say Amen. Good tidings.
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