The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-איך להתמודד עם חינוך הילדים בדורנו שאלות ותשובות עם הגאון הינוקא במוצאי שבת וירא

3:03 If a person became impure, Heaven forbid - especially if he is a chazzan. It is very important. Rabbi Yaakov of Marvege, in the Responsa from Heaven, in siman 3, writes that chazzanim who are not careful about the immersion of Ezra, they hold back the geulah. Chazzanim especially need to be more careful about the mikveh. It is not that the reward goes to the person.

3:37 Every good thing that one does, every mitzvah and good thing that one does, brings merit to the departed, yes? Rabbeinu the Arizal, in Shaar HaKavanos, page 15, says that even after a person has gone up and been elevated on high, the Kaddish helps the departed, to raise him to greater levels. It's not that now there is... Yes, it doesn't matter. - He donates for the elevation of the soul of Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes - does he give him the mitzvah?

4:03 - No. The mitzvah of the charity is yours, but its virtue and its power raise up the tzaddik, because in its merit and through it, he is elevated. That is to say, you did something like giving assistance. Just as there is a person who assists the hands of transgressors, Heaven forbid - in Tractate Avodah Zarah, page 6, there the Gemara says that a person - 'before the blind do not place a stumbling block' - that a person, Heaven forbid, gives something to a person by which he assists him in a transgression, so like that, exactly the reverse - this is a good trait.

4:34 Not only do you not assist a bad thing - if you assist a bad thing it is forbidden, assisting the hands - here you are doing a mitzvah, you give charity, you go to the mikveh, you learn Torah - the reward stays in your hands. You merit this reward, but the merit that you grant him - unless you say that you want to grant the departed even the actual reward for the charity, since he had no one who would give on his behalf, you want to give it to him - then he is elevated through this, and it may be that in this merit he will bring you many other great good things, more than... What is it?

5:17 - As if he now gave him a pidyon [unclear], right? A pidyon is considered something through which one can ask that it sweeten judgment, yes. - It is not exactly like a pidyon, because a pidyon is one thing and this is another thing. It is a merit that he grants him, and in Heaven he can be an upright and good advocate on behalf of the person. Certainly this brings merit, and this helps the person.

6:07 So I will explain. It does not mean, Heaven forbid, that something is hard for the Holy One, blessed be He. For the Holy One, blessed be He, nothing is hard, nothing at all. What we mean is, since the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, everything is done in order. There is a certain order that the Holy One, blessed be He, put in the world. Like water puts out fire, and water is good for drinking, and this food is good and that food is harmful - the Holy One, blessed be He, put order into creation.

6:36 And sometimes, to come and change it for a particular person - there is a certain root, and mazal, and things that depend on it - and to come and change that for him, one has to do the reverse, a change of nature. As if one really has to split the sea. Just as it is not the way to split the sea - 'Who makes a way in the sea', yes? But the Holy One, blessed be He - you won't now find a person - if you now find a hundred thousand people who need to cross the sea, I don't know if the sea will split again for them, yes?

7:04 That was the miracle according to what the Holy One, blessed be He, stipulated at the creation of the world, because His children would in the future pass through the sea. But that is the meaning. It is not that it is hard for the Holy One, blessed be He, to do it even a thousand times. But the meaning is that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not want to change nature. Also in the Beis HaMikdash, which is a place where there were great miracles and everything - still, they used, in the Beis HaMikdash, marble, and flooding - they would flood the Courtyard to wash away the blood and all the remains; and what there was would be swallowed into the ground - it was a miracle combined with physical effort. The Holy One, blessed be He, wants,

7:40 as much as possible, that we not [unclear] the Omnipresent and be built on miraculous deeds - that we make the effort of nature. So that is the meaning of 'they are hard for Him': because on one hand He can do it. That is why it is also 'as hard as the splitting of the Sea of Reeds' - because it is possible. It is simply hard; it is as if if the person is worthy, if he is such a one who trusts; but if the person will trust in Hashem and believe in Hashem to the end, with Hashem, blessed be He, everything is possible; one can split the sea endless times, but not to be upset by it if it does not happen; the main thing is that a person trust in Him, blessed be He,

8:13 and everything, yes. It is not a matter of it being hard, it is the way of the world; these are very, very complex things, it is the way of the world, it is everything there is in the world, this is a person's match, it is a wife - finding the person who will suit him, a person who will help him; and one has to work on one's character traits, and one has to work from the other side, and it is not always something that happens easily.

8:39 And it also depends very much on the person's holiness, on his prayer, and according to that, things are brought his way. And not everyone merits to find the match from the root of their soul, and there is a person who has several matches - each one has several souls connected to him. So... - He asked it of him - specifically then he did not consult; and specifically when He spoke to him about doing the bris, he consulted, he consulted, he consulted. - First of all, that is a mitzvah, and this is self-sacrifice.

9:23 He wanted to know, first of all, how he would do this mitzvah, in what way to do it and how to fulfil it - it is not that he would delay fulfilling the mitzvah. But here he understood that this is a trial in which he must offer a sacrifice, and in a trial one does not consult, because a trial - that is self-sacrifice. Avraham Avinu understands that he stands at the most exalted level, that the Holy One, blessed be He, is speaking with him. And truly, the pillar of truth, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, explains that you see from here a very beautiful thing.

9:49 Usually, a person who goes through some kind of revelation - picture for yourselves a person, anyone: at night Eliyahu the prophet, remembered for good, comes to him, says to him, 'Dovid, Dovid,' Eliyahu the prophet speaks with him, says to him: 'What's new? Come, hear secrets of the Torah' - speaks with him. In the morning, will he come to the sunrise minyan? If he comes to the sunrise minyan, he will walk around like this, with pride: 'Nobody knows who revealed himself to me at night.

10:16 Eliyahu the prophet, remembered for good, was with me, he spoke with me - nobody knows who I am.' Everyone thinks... they don't know. He comes to the rav of the synagogue, looks at him like this, with pride: 'If you want, I'll bless you.' But each one feels - And do you know what the great trial is? That Avraham Avinu, after the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to him, and after he stands the trial and binds Yitzchak, and an angel reveals himself to him from Heaven, and all this wondrous and awesome revelation of the event of the Akeidah - the greatest thing that happened: when in the end Avraham Avinu goes back with everyone, with the young men, he does not say, 'Fine, go back on your own, I can't tell you what I saw.'

11:01 He simply goes back to the beginning. Everything as simple as can be - he goes back down to the people. And also Moshe Rabbeinu, after the Holy One, blessed be He, is with him at the event of the burning bush, at the event of Mount Sinai - this is the greatness of Moshe: that he did not take credit for himself, and say, 'Now I am fit to be only in Heaven' - I will go down to this people. He made himself small for us, for the Jewish people. And this is the greatness of a leader: 'For He who has mercy on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.'

11:29 This is in fact the greatest virtue of a true leader: that he can also have mercy on the Jewish people, and also see the... and also be at eye level, despite all the things that... that happened to them. - Rav, there is a Midrash that says that Avraham Avinu really gave them [unclear] in the milk, like this, to give an answer for Moshe Rabbeinu when he would be... yes, that if they would accuse, it would be... when he would defend them with this. But meat and milk itself is also [unclear] - how can one say, how can the Midrash say that something earlier, that Avraham Avinu did, [unclear] meat and milk, or [unclear]?

12:06 - He did not actually prepare meat and milk for them. He gave them. Yes. It's not that he... but he did not cook meat and milk for them. He did not cook meat and milk for them. He gave them meat and milk. I did not see. Did you see that he cooked meat and milk? - No.

12:35 - Advice for holiness? Advice for holiness. What is it? Ah... Oh-ho, that's a hard story. Look, you know, the advice for holiness - we always think that rising up to the Holy One, blessed be He, means climbing a ladder alone to Heaven.

13:10 The Holy One, blessed be He, put us here - you see - among so many human beings, His creatures, the work of the hands of Hashem, blessed be He. The advice for true holiness: they once asked the Maggid of Zlotchov, and he said: it is 'and you shall love your fellow as yourself.' Not for nothing does Rabbeinu the Arizal say: when one begins to pray, then you begin - before you pray, you say, 'And you shall love your fellow as yourself.' In order to reach this level - many people laugh and belittle. You know, a person wants to be holy, so holy, but he does not keep proper conduct, he does not guard against lashon hara, he does not guard people's dignity.

13:44 And to our sorrow, these are the things that do not bring holiness. Just as you want to be holy and you want to rise up, you need a match, you want a livelihood - you need to pray for your friend, that he should reach holiness. If you have a friend or a brother who is very far away, you only want holiness - why do you want to be holy? Just as an example, does a person want to be holy because he wants to be holy, or does he want his friend to be holy too?

14:11 He wants his friend to rise too; he says to him, come, let's rise together. A person's desire - what a person wants - he should want it for his fellow too, for his fellow: this is the greatest thing, which in the end will bring him to the greatest and most exalted level. If a person will think about his fellow. You know, for example, many times a person now, let's say, for example, what you said - a blessing, yes? Now a person blesses: 'May it be the will - for you a good livelihood, a good life, help from Heaven, protection, safeguarding.'

14:45 He answers amen with full intention: he blessed me. Now people are called up to the Torah, a Mi Shebeirach is made - nobody answers amen. He needs a healing - nobody pays attention to it. Generally - just so you see - from the point of view of halachah there is a problem in this. But one does need to answer to it - not related, but - [unclear]. But if he were careful about this, that he took care to answer for his fellow - he wants his good.

15:14 He feels the holiness, the blessing of each one - these are the things. I tell you, this simple advice can bring a person to the Holy of Holies, to the holiest and most exalted level, if a person keeps this advice. There is nothing greater than this. If you will be careful, when you want for your friend all the holiness and all the blessings that he should have, as you want for yourself. He wants a match - pray for him to find his match, really feel his pain. These things will bring a person to ladders of holiness and purity such that have no they have no measure.

15:49 Beyond measure. This will bring a person to the greatest level. This is the greatest advice for holiness. All those who hate everyone and behave in an ugly way to everyone, to people, and push and don't feel, one tramples on the other to get a blessing from some tzaddik. That cannot be. You cannot receive holiness if - you need to feel that everyone is holy, everyone is a tzaddik. One must understand the preciousness and the holiness of the Jewish people.

16:15 And by the way, since we already mentioned this subject, say a person hears a blessing from his friend, you know that one must answer Amen to it, and it is an obligation, yes? Did you know that? If a person blesses you, the Aruch HaShulchan writes this in siman 216, that is something else, that is 'Love your fellow as yourself', that is something else. But if a person, if a person now blesses you, now let's say [unclear] now: 'May it be His will that you have blessing and livelihood and a good life, and salvations, and miracles and wonders' - and I say you must answer Amen to the blessing too.

16:54 The congregation must answer Amen when the chazzan makes a 'Mi Shebeirach' blessing. Our holy Rabbis - the Magen Avraham writes this in siman 215, se'if katan 3, that it is a complete obligation. How does he write it? 'A complete obligation to answer Amen to the Mi Shebeirach.' Brothers, that people trample on each other and want to be holy - to feel holiness without the Jewish people? That is not it. But the Ha'amek She'elah writes in siman 53 that one is not obligated.

17:19 There is no complete obligation to answer them. Each person - it is a custom. But it is worthwhile. How? 'Let not the blessing of a common man' - Tractate Megillah, page 15a. 'Let not the blessing of a common man be light in your eyes.' [unclear] There is a Yerushalmi in Berachos, chapter 8, halachah 8 - the Yerushalmi says that even if a non-Jew blesses you, answer Amen to his blessing.

17:48 If a non-Jew blesses you, you must answer Amen. Even if a non-Jew comes and gives you a blessing, you must answer Amen after his blessing, on a condition - which? 'Who hears the prayer of every mouth.' There is a beautiful new insight of the holy Baal Shem Tov who said: 'Who hears the prayer of every mouth.' That is, why isn't it written 'Who hears the prayer of every heart'? What is 'Who hears the prayer of every mouth'? That every mouth - the Holy One, blessed be He, hears it, even if he has no intention in his heart.

18:15 What is it? - We are talking about a non-Jew who serves idols? Every non-Jew - - Ah, no - if he does not, Heaven forbid, bring in his idol worship. If he says, 'My god will bless you', then I do not answer Amen. The Sefer Chassidim writes this in siman 427. In 427 he writes not to answer Amen after a blessing of an idol worshipper who blesses you and brings in the name of an idol.

18:49 That is forbidden. It is forbidden to answer. But if he blesses you without mentioning the name, if he blesses you for good, blesses you for your sake, blesses you, says 'May you have health, may you have a complete recovery' - that is how he says it to you, without bringing in the name of his idol. You say - so if you say this about a non-Jew, then all the more so, when you see a friend blessing you, all the more so a Jew who blesses you - Amen. These are the things 'which a man shall do and live by them'. Whoever wants to reach the most exalted levels and reach the holiest level, they say that the holy Baal Shem Tov testified about himself; the Maggid of Mezritch said that the whole level of my teacher, of blessed memory, the holy Baal Shem Tov, who reached levels of holiness

19:33 and saw from one end of the world to the other, it is the love of the Jewish people that he had; it is from this that he received all his holiness. So people must first of all behave today with proper manners, with cleanness, toward one another, always - these are the things; not to get hurt - a person is also forbidden to be touchy, to be touchy and to get hurt [unclear] - these are very bad things, because afterwards they will also judge the person. A person can say, 'I...' - they can judge you for the very fact that you got hurt, because the accusation comes through you; for being hurt because of you, it is as if you are accusing a Jew. So a person is also forbidden to get hurt, because a person must let things pass

20:09 and forgive and pardon and move forward. So this is what I am saying, this is what the Sefer Chassidim explains. If you say, if he mentions the name of an idol - no, if he says the name to you, then what is the name? - So you don't answer? - You don't answer Amen. But if it is a blessing in which he does not mention the name of an idol, and he blesses like that, you answer Amen, and you can be blessed by that blessing.

20:43 Yerushalmi Berachos, chapter 8, halachah [unclear]. - Just a question about teachers: what could be set before their eyes, so they'd know how to make fewer mistakes in what they do? - What do you mean? - I know, I started a little, but often, until they grasp what the child's problem is, they can sometimes hurt him [unclear]. Oh no, it is strictly forbidden, one must be very careful about this.

21:08 So what could we set, so we know a certain guideline that would be good to go by? - A guideline - for whom do you mean? For teachers? What's the story? [unclear] - they don't do harm, let's say. First of all, one may never reprimand a child, not to shame him, not to laugh at him, not to hurt him in a place, in a thing he is sensitive about. With a child who comes late - not to rebuke him in public; maybe he is hurt by it, maybe insulted by it, maybe there is a reason for it.

21:38 Also to check whether he has food, to see if he has food, if everyone has food - to check. There are things - these are the things, these are the things that... These are the things that bring a person to holiness, know it - not the mikveh. The mikveh will not bring a person to holiness now the way a teacher in a Talmud Torah checking whether this child has lunch to eat will, when everyone has and this child doesn't. These are things - these - you know, I will tell you a story so you understand it better.

22:05 The Divrei Chaim of Sanz, may his merit protect us, had a son called the Divrei Yechezkel of Shinova. He was one of the pillars of prayer and Torah of the generation; he has the sefer Divrei Yechezkel. He was a Gaon, holy and tremendous, a man of a very tremendous level. One day there was a group of chassidim who wanted to travel to him, to pray with him, to go to him.

22:31 And then he said - there was some old man there, he heard the chassidim saying they want to get on the wagon and travel to the Divrei Yechezkel, to pray with him. So he heard them and said to them, 'Why are you going to the Divrei Yechezkel of Shinova, and what is so special about him?' So they told him, 'You don't know? He is very holy, he is holy, he has a holiness like no other holiness.' So he said, 'Baruch Hashem, there are many holy people. He is not so - there are many holy people, he is fine.

22:55 What is so special about him? There are many holy people. He prays and prays at length - there are many who pray at length. He has Torah and knows the whole Torah - is that something special? What? Many know the Torah. What is special about him? Why are you traveling to him?' So they said to him, 'Listen -' they don't know - they did not know how to answer him. And then he said to them, 'I will tell you why you are traveling to him.

23:22 Once I was on the road and was coming back from the town, and there was great cold and heavy snow, and I saw him on the road, and he saw me. He took off his galoshes and put them on me, and walked on foot in his socks all the way to his town. That is why you are traveling to him.' All the holiness of the Divrei Yechezkel of Shinova is his compassion and his help to others. So you say, so you say that you sometimes seek levels of holiness - holiness can be found in galoshes, in boots. When a person wants to be holy and wants to rise higher, he must know what it truly is, what it truly is - the love, to love everyone and care for them, especially children, who are sensitive; they are like glass vessels.

24:08 Children - they can suffer their whole lives; the child can drift away, go downhill, stay distant his whole life, be very distant his whole life and marry late, and all of it, all of it, only because in his childhood maybe parents hurt him, people hurt him, parents - the parents belittled him, did not treat him with respect, did not listen to him. They always ask me - here, today, someone asked after netz: 'What is the way to bring close a son who has drifted away?' What did I say?

24:38 To show him great love, to show him warmth and love. Because why does a person drift away? He says, 'Someone else will love me.' Sometimes you don't give a person his love, and he looks for it in strange pastures. One must love, one must come with love. The Torah is love, it is compassion, and it is not hatred and it is not war. 'Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.' - But sometimes one shouts so that they will learn from it, and for all sorts of things like that.

25:05 - That should be saved for a time that is neither day nor night. That is Motzaei Shabbos - you may shout only on Motzaei Shabbos in the morning. Listen, I will tell you something. Listen, look, when you show love, even if you shout, it will be accepted.

25:33 The question is why you are shouting. Because you love the one you are shouting at? Or you shout because you are angry and other things are hard on you? If you shout because the pain comes from other things, that shout will not be accepted. If you shout at him because you love him and you are angry at him, he will hug you. You can be angry at the child, but you can be angry at the student. There is no problem being angry; it is not a bad thing, because you truly - 'he who spares his rod hates his son.'

26:03 You want to guide him on a good path. But the question is, when you rebuke a person in the synagogue, or when you rebuke someone, does it come because you are jealous of him? You hate him, you are out to get him, or because you truly have pity on him? If you hate him, are out to get him, are jealous of him, the rebuke, the shouting, the jealousy will harm him, and also the one who shouted in anger. And if it is because you love him and have pity on him, because you know he is going on a bad path, and because of that you rebuke him and are harsh with him, that is something that is permitted, because in the end it is to guide him, to bring him close.

26:40 This is the way that can bring a person - How can one reach this level of 'For I have known him, so that he will command his children and his household after him' - that the generation will walk in holiness, in purity, that the message will pass on, that it will be kept, that the Jewish people will be kept, [unclear], as it was in all the generations? - So I will tell you, I will answer him. The Sfas Emes of Ger says that once a Jew came to him whose son had drifted very, very far from Hashem, blessed be He.

27:07 The Sfas Emes said to him: it is written, 'And Hashem will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring.' First of all, circumcise your own heart, do true and complete teshuvah, and be sure that the heart of your offspring too will return [unclear]. That is what the Sfas Emes of Ger told him. And I think this truly is the answer. When a person truly sets an example on his part, he will be the finest, cleanest and purest example. These things are what, in practice, in the end will bring all of a person's offspring to the holy path. But when a person only tries to rebuke everyone around him - there are also those, the reverse, who correct the whole world, but their own children they don't correct.

27:47 He will correct this one in the synagogue, and that one in the synagogue, and that one, but if his son does something, he won't correct him. You see that really, even his rebukes - he doesn't truly care about the way of Hashem. So a person must first of all feel that he is genuine. What is the reason that I truly rebuke, or what is the reason - that I do everything for its own sake? Let him be sure that all his holy offspring will be upright and blessed generations, with Hashem's help, yes.

28:14 - [unclear] is it really right to go along with this, a gentler education, and not like the... - Education must be gentle and with love. The generation is very, very weak; the generation is in very, very great danger. It is a generation of danger. The emotional state of this generation is very hard. People are in situations, children today are in very hard situations.

28:46 'A son disgraces his father' - Sotah, page 49 - 'In the footsteps of Mashiach, brazenness will increase.' 'A son disgraces his father, a daughter rises up against her mother.' These are very hard things. - True, but because everyone says the generation is weak, in the end everyone says, yes, the generation is weak. But if everyone really gave the tough education like in the past, maybe that would be the solution?

29:17 - I don't think so. I will tell you why. In the past they did not have so many trials, and they did not have so many things to run after. The tough education held them to a certain line. Today, in our generation, the more you press, you know what will happen - when you grip a person hard, in the end he can run away to a thousand places. That is, not to one place. Today, in one moment, you get on a plane and move to another country. In the past that did not exist.

29:47 The chance that your students will run away from you, and you as their teacher, in a Talmud Torah, or a father to children - they can go right away and leave and go to the street. They will not want this path. So how? What is very much needed today, in our generation, is to be shepherds. Pay attention: all our leaders, Moshe Rabbeinu, King David, were shepherds.

30:17 The Holy One, blessed be He, had them deal with sheep. Yes? Also with Yosef. He never wanted to be alone with them, [unclear] the brothers, and you see from here how much one must always behave with silk gloves. And this form, and this way, will cause a person to be happy. - Also, [unclear] for the sick or for those around the sick?

30:48 - No problem. To bless the sick - what one does need to be careful about, the Chasam Sofer warned about it: not to mix the dangerously ill with the mildly ill. Yes. Not to mix the dangerously ill. Many times people mention in a blessing, they say, 'May He bless the sick one', and they say 'a dangerously ill person', and then right away someone who has some headache mentions his name. The Chasam Sofer, in his customs, was very careful about this.

31:13 Generally, the customs of the Chasam Sofer are very much Torah, because he was one of the great ones of the generations. And his customs are on holy mountains - everything he used to practice. And if he kept this custom, I think everyone needs to be careful about this; people are not careful about this, so always, when making a blessing, a Mi Sheberach, one must separate between a dangerously ill person and a sick person who is not in danger, and there is no limit on the number, only to separate - not a dangerously ill person with a sick person who is not in danger.

31:43 No - separate between someone with a slight ache and a person with the illness. Separate them. One must be careful about this. - Is there no [unclear]? - No, no problem. That is not needed. - In siman 700, of the Responsa Torah Lishmah, yes. You can put only tzaddikim who did not disagree with one another.

32:10 Do not light for David and Shaul with one candle. Do not light for David and Shaul with one candle. Do not put one candle with David and Shaul. - No problem. You think... he wrote Halichos Olam. That was - how? He disagrees in halachah, but he does not disagree, he does not disagree with the Ben Ish Chai. It is for the sake of Heaven. It is for the sake of Heaven.

32:39 David and Shaul - that was already about the crown, about the kingship. That is already something more fundamental, and here all of them speak of a dispute in halachah. That was already - [unclear] more effective, or... - Do you know who said that?

33:09 The Chozeh of Lublin said what you said. 'Fortunate is the man whose strength is in You; paths are in their hearts.' Fortunate is a person of such a level, who reaches such - such a great level, that he has the strength and the salvation from Hashem, blessed be He - whoever reaches such a great thing. But it is very great tzaddikim who can reach this level, and then they can make paths in their hearts.

33:33 They can put paths in the hearts of the Jewish people. That is, a person can sit here and give thoughts of teshuvah across the whole entire world. But those are tzaddikim. We today, the simple people, cannot rely on that. We do need to go and bring back the Jews everywhere in the world and speak to their hearts, to return to Him, blessed be He, and not to do what is evil in the eyes of Hashem. - Worse than [unclear], since it is in the soul, right? I would think everyone should pray for people who do kiruv in person, who come abroad, to have success. And I [unclear] - no, no, no - many times I see that they touch on this matter, you know why? Because... - I will explain. You are right in what you say, you are very right, yasher koach.

34:33 Truly, there need to be many more good people who think like you; what you say is beautiful. But I will tell you simply where the problem is today. You know, today anyone can say he is traveling abroad to do a little tzedakah, and along the way he says, I am also traveling to do kiruv. Do you understand the problem? I will tell you of a kiruv that Rabbi Aharon the Great of Karlin did. He once traveled to a community where there was assimilation.

34:58 He entered the community, gathered the whole town, opened the Sefer Torah and read all of Parshas Kedoshim with weeping. He wept, wept, wept. He closed the book and left the community. That's it. Everyone did teshuvah. You see, it is a matter of attitude and approach. If you truly travel to do kiruv because it pains you over the seed of Israel in exile and in assimilation, that is the goal, it will succeed.

35:24 But if a person travels for all kinds of purposes, sometimes... Whoever is appointed to go bring back the hearts needs to do it properly, to return, to bring back the hearts to Hashem, blessed be He, properly. - Rav, what is more important? To learn Gemara or to go do kiruv? - Both, in our generation. Do kiruv with the page of Gemara.

35:49 Take the Gemara to the distant one, learn the page of Gemara with him. - To understand: ten percent. A tithe, a tithe of Torah learning, yes. That is, his Torah learning in order to bring people close, but they say it is hard. Whoever does kiruv usually is not so... he learns less, and whoever does not learn - not that. Should a person sacrifice his learning, or the opposite - should he go do kiruv and leave off, he will learn less? - A Torah scholar too must give a tithe of his learning. Every person who has some kind of knowledge must give a tithe; if a person is a psychologist or a psychiatrist, or all the more so, he needs to give of his time, advice, and help people, or a Torah scholar - to teach; and everyone needs to give

36:32 and assist in the way possible for him, in what he will do and help. - But on the other side, we see Moshe Rabbeinu gave his whole self to the Jewish people, right? Rabbis I know give their whole selves to the Jewish people, and [unclear], pray, worry for the Jewish people. So how is it ten percent? It is the whole being. It is like Moshe Rabbeinu - how does that work? - Let us start with people giving the 10 percent, the Torah scholars, but in our generation one needs to give their whole selves to the Jewish people, to give everything, to help to the end.

37:12 There is no choice. But there are also tzaddikim who act from the power of their thought, from Kabbalah, from learning, not necessarily that they are actually with the Jewish people. They sit in their homes and do very lofty deeds for the Jewish people, without being physically with the people. Their kedushah. So one remains in exile many more years with tzaddikim like these.

37:40 I also know tzaddikim who prevent wars. There are tzaddikim who, through the power of their prayer, prevent wars. The time has already come to shine the light of Torah in the whole world, to bring the Jewish people back to their Father in Heaven. These are the most important things to do. Yes, tzaddik. - How is this generation so different from the generation of the [unclear] [unclear], and they [unclear] and all kinds of things like these? Now, we know this is such a bad spiritual state, but how is it so different from what we read in the Tanach?

38:22 - It is on its own level. Everything is on its own level. There are things that anger Heaven, that people do - it is a kind of anger toward Heaven, and the Holy One, blessed be He, has mercy on us. One should not think that only in the past was this possible. Today too, if there are bad things that people do, and there are things that are not right, you do not know what - no one knows what makes the measure overflow in the end.

38:48 As long as a person does some one thing, in the end he will lose, Heaven forbid, everything. It is dangerous. - Rav, what the Rav spoke about, that one needs to give ten percent - Which wisdom?

39:29 Yes. He asks a very beautiful question. He says: what is meant by 'wisdom among the non-Jews - believe it'? What wisdom do the non-Jews have to believe in this wisdom, right? That is what you are asking. So the wisdom of the non-Jews today is the wisdom of medicine, their wisdom of engineering, creation, the ability to build buildings, airplanes, all the things they can build, use - all these things are wisdoms.

40:03 The wisdom we can learn from them today is only the wisdom of music, playing. We do not need to learn the other wisdoms from them, because there is no benefit in it. The Holy One, blessed be He, gave them truly the wisdom to make and build and create, and they do it. Go to Japan - today it is as if you are 2000-3000 years ahead. There are spaceships there instead of buses. It is a very great development. Technology develops and advances very fast, in a very, very rapid and great way.

40:32 We need to learn - want to learn, to teach - music. That is a wisdom that can be learned. It too came from [unclear], this wisdom, the wisdom of music. The wisdom of music belongs to the Jewish people, but today the way to learn the notes, the do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, and all the guitar, and all the wisdom of the drums, and all the rhythms, all these things. These are wisdoms that can be learned. You can see that this wisdom is pleasant and it is sweet, and it is something possible. But the rest of the wisdoms, we have nothing to learn in them.

41:01 And these wisdoms - because it is not our way. We need to learn the Torah and not mix. Of course, to know that they have the wisdom of medicine. All the wisdom they have - they have very great wisdoms in the world. But the Gra referred to the wisdom that is the wisdom of music. The wisdom of music is the most important thing to learn. By the way, you know that the wisdom of music, playing, is something - as you know, I very much make an effort with niggunim and all.

41:33 Niggunim, music, are something very sweet. There is a novel teaching, there is a book, Maggid Ta'alumah, by Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov. He writes on Tractate Berachos, page 43a, he writes that before hearing musical instruments, because it is sweet, one should take the blessing 'Shehakol nihyeh bidvaro', and [unclear] the music. That is what he writes.

41:58 Because, after all, he says, anything that has pleasure in it, anything that has pleasure in it and has no blessing, Good, - What the Rav dealt with, that a person needs to go seek out, to make blessings, - I think that if they come to him and ask him, then he needs to respond. If they come... but if he sits in his own corner, he does not need to go looking. He needs to go and give of his time, yes.

42:23 - But [unclear] to go look for people? [unclear]? Yes. To go sit? - He can do it in any way at all, any possible way. or in writing, or in learning, or in helping, or in assisting, or in a kollel, or with kollel men, or in anything. - Rav, Rav, regarding the question of [unclear]. Rav, before this I wanted to [unclear]. What do we do? [unclear] with mussar and mussar? A little, a little, a little, a little. You were in yeshivah four years.

42:50 - Look, all learning is hard. 'He has set me in dark places' - that is the Babylonian Talmud, which is likened to darkness. The Talmud is not easy, and the way of learning is not easy. And learning the Prophets and learning halachah and Shulchan Aruch is hard. But one learns; if you learn a little and make for yourself a little, a little every day, in the end you will merit to reach greatness. But if you think from the start to finish everything - many people grow weak because they need to finish all of Shas and everything, wanting everything fast, and that is a mistake.

43:27 Nobody sits with anybody with a gun and tells him, learn. No one is pressuring you. Learn with a settled mind, slowly, slowly; take a tractate, review, learn with understanding, learn Shulchan Aruch, learn mussar, learn Torah; understand that you are engaged in the loftiest thing in the world, that there is nothing above it. If a person understands the value of the Torah, he will not want to leave it. I recommend that you learn the book Ma'alos HaTorah by Rabbi Avraham of Vilna, the brother of the Gaon, a book that gives a longing for Torah, to truly understand what the Torah is, how much its greatness and its power are important beyond measure.

44:05 And you will see that you, with Hashem's help, make an effort in this; you will see that you learn more. But the main thing is not to overload yourself in one day. Learn a little each time; you have time, learn a little, say, I learned five minutes, and now another ten minutes, and now each time a person will add, and so, so it is in every way too. It is better that you learn Torah, but whether to go to work or not - that is already a question one needs to ask a sage who knows your soul and truly knows what your limitations are and what your abilities are.

44:37 It is not a general answer. You understand, not every person who finds it hard is told right away go work. But and also not everyone can be told right away, go learn - that is the same thing too. One must one must see the soul and see what the tools are, and where the person gets to with them, and what his influence is and what his abilities are, and from that, with Hashem's help, bring him to the right path, with Hashem's help.

45:02 I hope that you will merit the sweetness of the Torah, and in the end you will be a very great Torah scholar, rising higher and higher in Torah. Because if it pains you and you want to learn, it is a sign that your soul longs for Torah. And on the contrary, whoever finds it hard - we know that the Maharam Schick was one of the greatest students of the Chasam Sofer, and he would review everything forty times until he understood. He said, 'I hold to account all those who said it was hard for them to understand the Torah.'

45:27 That is the Maharam Schick. And in the end, see what became of the Maharam Schick. He was one of the great Torah geniuses, the greatest of the students of the Chasam Sofer; they even say, to such an extent, that he was the only one who understood the Chasam Sofer. So one can know and understand that, on the contrary, exactly the opposite: when you rise and ascend and it is hard for you, that is precisely the greater virtue, that a person finds it hard and he stands firm on words of Torah unless he stumbled in them first. Sometimes the difficulty and the...

45:53 they are precisely what bring a person to the highest and most exalted level. May it be His will that, with Hashem's help, we all merit to cleave to the Torah. - Amen. - And may you always be in joy. - Amen. - I was happy to be with you this Shabbos. - Baruch Hashem, we missed you. - Yes. - So it counts as him learning, yes? So a person can go from siyum to siyum, he comes to the Rav's siyum - finished [unclear], finished Shas, finished learning, finished [unclear] - so he [unclear] all day, and he comes, does [unclear] and all, strengthening - everything is fine.

46:28 - So I will tell you, I will tell you, in the end, a person who takes part in siyumim a first time, a second time - in the end he himself will also want to finish. Because the desire for the Torah and the sweetness of the Torah will make him so that he too will want to finish. So that is the greatness of the siyum, that in the end a person himself will also want to finish the Torah.

46:54 May everyone have good tidings, Shabbos shalom, a good life, salvations and wonderful miracles.