The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-מעלת הלימוד בספר התהילים הגאון הינוקא בדברי תורה עם ראב''ד תל אביב יפו הגר''מ בצרי

3:15 With every psalm there are also the regular sections, more or less, like we did here. There are always riddles at the end. For every psalm there is the structure of the psalm. What is the subject of the psalm? The number of verses, the number of words, the number of letters, the letters that are absent. For example, we have now reached chapter 42.

3:40 All the letters are there except the letter tes. What does that mean? And in the psalm after it, which completes it — for they say it is one psalm — 'Judge me, O G-d.' – Right, so there, there is a tes. In Tikkun Chatzos they are brought next to each other. – Next to each other, yes. The psalm for Sukkos. Yes. It recalls the Gemara in Bava Kamma, there, Rabbi Chanina ben Agil. It says: in the first Tablets there is no letter tes, and in the second Tablets it appears twice.

4:07 So you wanted to draw a parallel from one to the other. Yes. That the good is not there when we are missing the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple. And this whole psalm expresses Israel's yearning to leave the exile: 'When will I see the face of G-d?' So in the first psalm there is none, and in the second, twice. – Your honor's book — this is exactly it: King David asked that it be counted like Nega'im and Ohalos.

4:33 That is your honor's book. It is truly in-depth learning in Tehillim. People read, they read Tehillim. I say: if a person sits down once and learns it with the commentaries — there is a whole treasury of commentaries. Beyond the Me'am Lo'ez, there are so many who wrote, the work of Rabbi Yosef Chaim, and so many books, that it's a pity that... – And also the Shimush Tehillim of Rav Hai Gaon. In general, to see the context, the time for saying it — always, with every psalm, the time when it is good to say it, whether at daybreak, whether when the stars come out, whether in the evening; verses from within the psalm.

5:07 So that's it. So I say, I see this as a mission. For, baruch Hashem, I have books that I wrote — responsa, rulings, all sorts of things. I left it all aside. I said, it is important that every Jew... Who is going to learn the rulings and the things that I wrote? So with Tehillim there is the possibility of more people. Tehillim is something that touches every Jew. And when every Jew says Tehillim, let him say the Tehillim on a higher level, with more intent in the words, in what he is asking for.

5:35 Right. – So 'let this be our reward.' This, I think, is the more important thing. And I truly left the other books aside, and I said: first of all, I... Just to understand the... where it is written, 'The sound of Your thunder was in the wheel, lightning lit up the world' — that is at the splitting of the Yam Suf — the thunder shattered the chariots of the Egyptians. 'The sound of Your thunder was in the wheel': the thunder struck the wheels and shattered them.

6:01 An ordinary person who reads and says, 'The sound of Your thunder was in the wheel' — thunder in wheels? One doesn't understand the connection. Suddenly, when you see the plain meaning of the words and the connection between them... The Midrash Shocher Tov, where it is written, in section 1 of the Midrash Shocher Tov — there it is written that King David asked that Tehillim be counted for him like Nega'im and Ohalos. As Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin says, we do not know whether he was answered or not. Yes.

6:26 And he says, as it were, that we don't know. So I once said: the very fact that he asked — that shows that the Holy One, blessed be He, answered him. For it would not have been written had he not been answered. Otherwise, why is it there at all? So that is how we saw it. – The Shelah says so, yes. – The Eshel Avraham of Buchach wrote this too. The Rav of Buchach also wrote that it is counted, because the Midrash of the Sages, a student of the Gra — the Midrash of the Sages... he also writes that... – Right, it is counted. – So that is interesting with Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, who says that it is not... – Rabbi Eliyahu Deutsch too, in Pi Eliyahu, on the song of Creation.

6:54 He too writes, on the virtue of the song of Creation, that it says 'whoever engages in it,' not 'whoever says it' — meaning that he studies it closely and delves into it. And also, as an introduction. The Rav always comes with full hands. And then, 'The sound of Your thunder was in the galgal' according to the hidden meaning: what our master the Arizal says about the whole teaching of gilgul, reincarnation. – Right. All the gilgulim. I think that... 'For the horse of Pharaoh came.' A person comes back in the gilgul of a horse, to pay off — lifro'a — his debt from the previous gilgul. He has to make a Tikkun for what was. Everything is gilgulim.

7:28 People today don't understand how much everything is gilgul, how much everything is a connection between souls. Introduction 22, Introduction 21, of Sha'ar HaGilgulim, where our master the Arizal says that there are great souls — great ones and lesser ones. A great person begets a lesser soul; a lesser person begets a great soul — like Terach, who begets Avraham. It is all gilgulim; it is all hidden. Today we learned, with Rav Bergel, that even within a person's lifetime it can suddenly change. Even though the root of his soul is from a certain place at birth, it can still change over the course of his life; it depends, as it were, on what he does.

8:02 Clearly, yes. That is a tremendous novelty. Every moment there are new combinations... so it seems, and one can compare. – Yes? – It does seem so. I will tell you another proof of it. Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych. – This is the grandson of Rav Dugar. We come every week, on Tuesday, to Rav Dugar's shiur. At Birkas Avraham. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Nissim, and...

8:26 He fell ill with the illness, the known one, in the head, and the doctors told him it is chronic. May the Rav bless him that he get back on his feet, and so on. – Tractate Eruvin, page 54: 'One who feels pain in his head'? 'Let him engage in Torah.' Rav, my wife too — she needs a blessing now. May she have a complete recovery. You need to get him the tefillah for healing — pass it on to him so that he reads it. Thank you very much. Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, in Igra DePirka, writes about Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych.

8:56 Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych was one of the greatest heads of a beis din that there ever were, in the earlier generations. He was the head of a beis din and a tremendous gaon; he was one of the pillars of the world, and the Baal Shem Tov held him in such esteem that he would travel to attend on him. Now, when he attended on him, he would bring the dishes in before him — he would bring him the dishes and everything — and then he would also take them out and clean them.

9:21 He made a point that when he finished using them, he would take them, clean them and take them away — until the Rebbetzin, the wife of Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych, was, as it were, astonished. Fine — bringing the dishes in before him, attending on him, I understand. But even after he has finished with the dishes, to start washing and rinsing and scrubbing? That is to say: in the Temple, too, there was the removal of the ashes and all of that, and there were all the services that required some cleaning of the Temple, cleaning of the vessels — that too was there.

9:47 So with this he hinted to her that he is a Beis HaMikdash. And Rabbi... has the Rav heard of Rabbi Gedaliah Moshe, the tzaddik of Zvhil? Rabbi Gedaliah Moshe of Zvhil passed away in 1945, a little before they founded the State. That is his father. He was three years after him — 1948. – Yes, the one buried near Sha'arei Tzedek there. – Yes, Rabbi, he is in the garden of lilies... the Rose Garden there. – Yes, the roses, yes. – The Rose Garden next to the Knesset; there is a cemetery there.

10:16 Yes. There — that is Rabbi Gedaliah Moshe. Now, Rabbi Gedaliah Moshe is the son of Rabbi Shlomo of Zvhil. He is on the Mount of Olives. They buried him, I believe, on the Mount of Olives there, on the far side there. The famous Rabbi Shlomo of Zvhil — he was a descendant of Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin, of Rabbi Avraham the Malach, of Rabbi Yisrael Chaim of Ludmir — through Rabbi Yisrael Chaim of Ludmir — and of the Maggid of Mezritch, of Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz — all these tzaddikim.

10:42 He truly had the lineage of all the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov — Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin. Now, he, Rabbi Shlomo of Zvhil, is named after Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin. He bears his name. Rabbi Gedaliah Moshe of Zvhil, son of Rabbi Shlomo of Zvhil, son of Rabbi Mordechai of Zvhil, son of Rabbi Moshe of Zvhil, son of Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zvhil, son of Rabbi Moshe, the son of Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov, son of Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych, son of Rabbi Yosef Spravedliver, son of Rabbi Moshe of Svirzh.

11:10 He is one of the holy martyrs — the one who stood firm for kiddush Hashem, the sanctification of the Name. They drove a spear into him from one side and it came out the other, and he sat there. The students said to him, 'Don't you feel it?' He said: 'Now that you have said it, I feel it.' And they were wondrously holy in guarding the covenant — they were truly strict about it. The Rebbe of Rimanov said that in Heaven, when a person wants to enter Gan Eden, they don't let him — because the Maggid of Zlotchov sits there and is strict with him for having blemished the covenant, and he puts him out; he doesn't let him enter. And Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz is strict with anyone who did not guard his mouth and was not careful about speaking lashon hara and things like that,

11:40 so he doesn't let him in either. So what did the Rebbe of Rimanov do? He said: 'I switched them.' 'I put the Maggid of Zlotchov over truth, and that way, today, everyone gets through.' This Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych was the father of the Maggid of Zlotchov, the one from whom the great dynasty came — that is how great he was. And what does Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov say? That Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych received the lowliest soul in the generation. The lowliest. There was no one more so — there was no one who was more so than he.

12:08 He was the lowliest; he received the smallest soul in the generation, there was no one more so than he. Everyone, everyone was above him; he was the lowliest there is. Well, what does Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov say? He writes: by the power of toil in Torah, toil in tefillah, he rose, and he toiled so much in Torah that he became the tzaddik of the generation — he reached the level where he was the tzaddik of the generation. And understand what happened — to such an extent that the holy Baal Shem Tov went to attend on him.

12:35 Everyone talks about the famous Baal Shem Tov, the Baal Shem Tov, and they don't know that he served in holiness under Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych, that he was truly like a disciple to his Rebbe, and that he was one of the greatest of the tzaddikim — he was the tzaddik in the generation of the Baal Shem Tov. He was the tzaddik of the generation, not the Baal Shem Tov. He came after him; the Baal Shem Tov rose and was exalted — we don't want a contest now — but the Baal Shem Tov said that he was the tzaddik of the generation then, in his time. Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych — and he had received the lowliest soul in the generation — rose and toiled until he was considered the tzaddik of the generation, the greatest there is,

13:05 with none greater than he. How great he was, how immense! And all of it because he toiled — only through labor in Torah did he merit to be on that level. That is Rabbi Yitzchak. That is how far a person can get through toil alone. One cannot even begin to imagine the power and the might that a person can reach through Torah and tefillah. It cannot be imagined. That is to say, something else is exchanged for him, yes — or something he never received at all. – It never came to him at all; he never received it at all.

13:33 So you said — what you said was a novel insight. I only said: here is a novelty greater than that. Not only does a person receive something — he can receive the very least and can attain the greatest place, the highest. Why? Because the Torah actually changes it. That is everything. It rules over Creation. It changes everything — the levels, everything. Both Torah and tefillah bring him to the highest level. That is how great he was in Torah. That is Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobych. The whole holy dynasty of Zvhil, and all that Rabbi Shlomke of Zvhil was — that was the Maggid of Zlotchov, his son — and he passed away at the age of fifty-five.

14:08 He reached the verse, 'Behold — hen — your days are drawing near to die.' Hen — fifty-five. So he said, 'That's it. I am going.' He walked from one side to the other, and passed on. Rabbi Yechiel Michel ben Miryon — Miryon was the Rebbetzin, the wife of Rabbi Yitzchak. He was something great, great. We hear that once, the holy Baal Shem Tov... he came to stay as a guest with the Baal Shem Tov. He told the Baal Shem Tov: 'Another time I will come to you — for Yom Kippur.' The Baal Shem Tov made a great celebration that he was coming for Yom Kippur; he honored him and served him personally, giving him food.

14:36 At the seudah hamafsekes, the meal before the fast — he said — he ate. And he had a kind of silver plate bearing the Name of Hashem, and all the while he was looking at... he would eat and look at the plate. Eating and looking at the plate. And when they brought him a portion, he ate one portion while looking at the plate. Another portion, another portion, another portion — he says that he ate the amount of several meals. I mean, it was something not human. So the Baal Shem Tov said: 'If you don't take the plate away from him, he will not stop eating.' He doesn't realize that he is not...

15:02 In spirituality. – In spirituality. He is really making a Tikkun for the food through his eating. And he said that he ate an amount fit for a meal of several diners — he says, of all those seated there; an amount like that of everyone at the table. And when he finished it, he said the blessing with kavanah, went up to the prayer lectern and stayed there until after Yom Kippur, without needing to relieve himself. And so the Baal Shem Tov said — he marveled at him. He said that he was on such a level that, after all he had eaten, he did not even need to relieve himself.

15:31 He simply said — so he said: 'I prepared a meal for a man, not for a saraf.' He is a saraf, a fiery angel — he is not a human being. That is how it was. The Chasam Sofer too — they say he would eat, and right after that go up to the prayer lectern and not move from there until the close of Yom Kippur. Now, in the Temple there was one privy 'of honor,' he said. – Yes. As if all the waste... there was no waste, like the manna. – Right, the spirituality. For there it says, 'if he found it locked'... 'he found it.'

15:57 'Found' what? Yes, you see, it is as though it was absorbed in its place. Yes, those were miracles. Yes. It is our privilege, Rav. May the Holy One, blessed be He, watch over the Rav — a gift in our generation. The Rav is a gift to the world, baruch Hashem. – That you are in our generation is our privilege. May the Rav succeed in continuing to make the Torah great and glorious. 'May your wellsprings spread outward.'

16:21 I am always happy to see you, to receive from you the works and the novel insights, and to delight with you in words of Torah. May the Holy One, blessed be He, watch over the Rav — with robust health and clear light, all the blessings and good bounty, in good that is seen and revealed, amid joy. 'Length of days is in her right hand; in her left, riches and honor.' 'Enlarge the place of your tent, and the curtains of your dwellings.' May we merit 'and I will lay your foundations with sapphires.' Amen. – The Temple. – Amen, amen. – The Temple. – Amen, amen. – Rav David, the... – Yes.

16:48 And may Hashem watch over Rav David Shalom ben Victoria. – Rav David Shalom ben Victoria, Rav. And may Hashem send him a complete recovery, a good life; may He bring him out from darkness into great light, with healing. Baruch Hashem, with him a real miracle took place: he had a hole in his esophagus, and it healed. Baruch Hashem, now he can begin to eat. With Hashem's help, may he come out soon. – May he come out soon, to a good life and peace. – Thank you, Rav. Thank you. A great yasher koach.

17:14 A great yasher koach. Thank you, Rav. Thank you very much. Every Shabbos we sit and learn the Rav's Torah, and we connect so deeply to the words, to the ideas and to the messages. And with Hashem's help, may Hashem give strength and health to your honor. Amen. – And 'no weapon formed against you shall succeed' — all the accusers and all of that — may they all be 'changed like a garment, and pass away.' – Amen. – It is simply that they are jealous of kedushah. Wherever that is found, the opposing side tries to interfere with all of it.

17:48 But I told someone who asked me something — I told him: fortunate is the man about whom this is all they say. So truly, with Hashem's help, may your honor go on raising the banner of kedushah ever higher, and drawing the hearts of the Children of Israel close to their Father in Heaven, and together may we greet our righteous Mashiach, speedily in our days. – Amen. – Thank you. – 'Length of days is in her right hand, in her left, riches and honor.' – A good life, onward and upward, holy and pure. – Amen. – He received a new soul at his bar mitzvah. One is strengthened; one receives great levels at the bar mitzvah.

18:24 In Bava Kamma, section 37, on the bar mitzvah, he writes that the bar mitzvah surpasses all the festive meals. It is more important than the meal of a bris, more than a wedding feast, more than anything. The most important is the bar mitzvah meal. Apparently that follows the Zohar, that one receives this new soul. Go on and rise to great levels. With Hashem's help. – Wonderful.