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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 1,758 words · 8:41. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 Today, if we only knew that we have the Torah, just to rejoice in the Torah, we would see that it fills every lack. Why are people in sorrow, why is the world in sorrow? This one says, 'A match - why didn't Hashem give me one?' That one says, 'Children - well... that one has, I don't...'
0:25 Everyone tries to be in sorrow over what he lacks. The whole world is full of lacks - may there be no troubles. If we knew that the purpose, the root of everything, is the Torah, it is the Oraisa, the Holy One, blessed be He, looked into the Torah and created the world. The Torah is above everything. A person's head should be busy within the Torah, so that nothing of the world interests him, so that nothing at all, nothing, interests him, only the Torah.
0:50 If a person reaches such a level that he rejoices in the Torah, that he cleaves to the Torah, so that nothing in this whole world interests him, only to sink deep into the Torah... Know this: this world is not worth even one sigh, to be confused by it, to be alarmed... Don't be broken by anything. Don't let bad thoughts trouble you, to torment yourselves in spirit, over medical matters, over problems.
1:15 Be happy, first of all - be happy that Hashem made us of the seed of Israel. Rejoice in the holy Torah, that we have the Torah, we have the letters of the Torah, we have somewhere to run to - we can run into the Torah, we have Hashem, blessed be He, we have the Torah, it is above everything. What does the world have? The non-Jews... One must not envy them - what do they have? They have nothing, it is vanity and emptiness, there is nothing in them. We - Hashem gave us a gift, He gave us the holy Torah.
1:41 We merited to have the Torah. Do you know what a pleasure it is to learn? This is the joy a person should have in the world - the Torah! Nothing else matters, the whole world is vanity... A person should not be troubled with sorrow, over a livelihood, over all the matters of the world, not to be troubled, only to rejoice in the Torah, and then one feels the revelation of Hashem, the closeness of Hashem... Why does a person suffer, why does the world suffer so much?
2:06 Because they forget the Torah, its sweetness. So they sink into this world, and then all kinds of problems start popping up for them, they start paying attention to lots of lacks and problems. But if they were immersed in the Torah, and learned Torah, nothing would interest them, because this whole world is vanity - why go after it? Why go after this world, what is it worth? There is nothing else to do, only rejoice in the Torah, learn Torah, and know that this is the root of all joy, of all the good that flows down, this is the purpose!
Read the whole shiur in English (13 more parts)
2:34 This is the greatest gift, this is the most exalted thing, that a person should merit it... to pray for it, to want it, and to rejoice in it. And this is salvation for everything, and in its merit there will also be salvations. May Hashem give you good blessings and a good life. - Rav, may I ask a question about this, Rav, with your permission? - By all means. - The Gemara says in Shabbos - I saw it on page 33 - that Rabbi Shimon came out of the cave, looked at a man plowing and sowing, set his eyes on him, and turned him into a heap of bones.
2:58 After all, for what did he turn him so? Because really he was occupied... and knew of the purpose, that it is the Torah, and this one was busy with the life of this world. So why, really, when he killed him, did a Heavenly voice then come out and grow angry at him? First of all, on page 35b, Right? Really. Wait, wait, mountains, [unclear]. the Gemara says there, about Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon, that many did like Rabbi Yishmael and succeeded, like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and did not succeed. And why?
3:33 Seemingly it is like you are saying, so why come with such a grievance against that man who truly did not merit to reach that same level as Rabbi Shimon, and was busy with passing life - true, that this world... but what... - I also spoke about this yesterday. He also asked a difficulty, one student, when we learned about music, he also asked a question about Bar Kappara, about the displeasure he showed... and all that, fine, it doesn't matter.
3:59 I gave him an answer to it, we learned it, and I also explained it to him according to the Maharal of Prague. I also explained that 'he set his eyes on him' means that the tzaddikim set their eyes on him so that his true self will be revealed, his inner being. The tzaddikim do not really, Heaven forbid, destroy... And even if it really came around to his death, it is because Hashem, blessed be He, brought him to that, and then he was strict with him, and because of this... he was already liable to death before that, and then it came around to that one, and then it was decreed that he pass away, so it was not Rabbi Shimon...
4:35 So Pharaoh was already destined for the plagues, and Hashem, blessed be He, appointed him, he deserved plagues, and the Holy One, blessed be He, appointed him for it, this is what the Degel Machaneh Efraim explains - it doesn't matter. But I say, what is truly meant with Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon: truly to come, to reach this purpose of the Torah. Rabbi Shimon merited reaching the sweetness of the Torah, the purpose within the Torah, and not everyone merits that. In the Torah there are also the secrets of the Torah, the Kabbalah, the secrets, the inner dimension, and there is also 'to know Your way on earth': we learn the laws of washing the hands, the laws of the meal, we learn matters of the physical, how to live within this world, we remind ourselves that we are in the world,
5:15 that is the meaning of it all... But the Torah wants to tell us that even a person who is in earthliness - but the earthliness too, you need to connect to Hashem. So that is why, as Rabbi Yishmael did - Rabbi Yishmael also took up the conduct of the way of the world, the conduct of work too, the earthly matters too, what is called... The way of Rabbi Yishmael too - even if the greatest of the great comes, who could reach his level?
5:40 It is not something where one can now say he was a layman, yes. Simply to pave a way, that this way too should come, and bring about its elevation. The meaning is: Rabbi Shimon says - what does he say, what is the root, the inner dimension in this? Rabbi Shimon says: everything is G-dliness, be entirely in G-dliness, don't deal with this world, don't touch it, hover above it - that is Rabbi Shimon's view.
6:06 Rabbi Yishmael says: look, be in the world, touch it, and elevate it. Rabbi Shimon says: don't touch it, don't touch, be separate, holy, separate, don't touch this world, because with any touch of it you won't manage to get out of it, by touching it, it will confuse you. Now, people tried to go like Rabbi Shimon - in the end they fall from everything, they can't. But like Rabbi Yishmael, it's more... What is this matter of work, why do we need it?
6:31 Why do we need to talk with people? Why do we also need prayer with a minyan? Beyond the virtues and the levels, and 'I shall be sanctified', and that level, it is so that we keep our minds clear, that we talk with people, so that people will not be nullified out of existence by the greatness of Hashem. They would see Hashem's greatness... they could not live anymore, they could not live. If we merit a revelation like Moshe Rabbeinu, who went up, who was at the stand at Mount Sinai, they could not live.
6:56 That is why, in the Torah, we need to know how to go, each time according to the time. And where does Hashem do this for us? In the times, in the festivals. On Yom Kippur He makes us a fast: be like angels now, now all of you are like Rabbi Shimon, not touching the world, not touching. And here we are like Rabbi Yishmael: Purim, Kippurim - the day of Purim: joy, we touch the world, we drink wine, we make a feast, yes, we touch.
7:25 So ask the world today, what do they prefer more, Purim or Kippurim? Purim, like Rabbi Yishmael. And Yom Kippur is like Rabbi Shimon - it is hard for them to reach such a level of separation, and to withdraw from the world. So one must always know how to bring the Torah close, how to contemplate it, how to come close to it, but to know that the Torah is everything, because this whole world is one big vanity of vanities.
7:52 It is forbidden to go after it. Cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, lift your eyes to Heaven, pray, rejoice in every letter of the Torah, in every holy book you learn, rejoice in every book, rejoice in all the letters of the Torah, in every verse, in every saying, in every blessing we merit to say to Hashem, blessed be He. What a gift this is, what a gift that we merit to lift our eyes to Heaven, to praise the Name of Hashem, blessed be He, to praise His great Name, to sing before Him, to thank His Name, to tell before Hashem...
8:21 to contemplate... what a gift this is, to rejoice in the holy Torah, and to know that this is the purpose, and this is the main thing of all main things. And may it be His will that Hashem, blessed be He, grant us the merit that we be joyful only from the holy Torah. The Gemara in Pesachim, page 68, says,
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