The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הדרך לאהבת השם – איך באמת מתקרבים？ הגאון הינוקא בשיחה מרגשת בחול המועד פסח מול חומות ירושלים תשפ＂ה

3:11 That is why people learn Tractate Avos, and [unclear] vessels, and [unclear] the acquisitions of Torah - there is a preparation toward the great light. Like, for example, Bein HaMetzarim, the Three Weeks. Bein HaMetzarim, in the future to come, will be festive days. All of Bein HaMetzarim, in the future to come, will be festive days - days of Chol HaMoed. From the 17th of Tammuz to Tisha B'Av. And everything will be joyful; [unclear] a festival and [unclear], and everyone will rejoice and be glad and [unclear] in honor of Hashem, and there will be no distress in these days.

3:39 But always, beforehand, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives us the gift and the compassion. He gives us the time, He gives us the festival, and He lets us prepare the vessels, to rise and to increase and to grow anew every day. The more we prepare the vessels - when you prepare your vessels to receive the mitzvah, to receive a great light, so you will attain much more from keeping the mitzvah. The more you learn about it, the more you will attain in it. And in Pesach itself, look at the essence of the time. Among the festivals we have Sukkos, Shavuos, right? So we should have had "Pesachim".

4:18 We don't have "Chag Sukkah", "Chag Shavua", or [unclear]. It should have been Sukkos, right? Shavuos, and Pesachim. Because after all, "Pesachim" also includes Pesach Sheni, for the impure who could not bring the offering on the first - they bring it on the second. Just as we have Tractate Pesachim. So we should also have had "Chag Pesachim". Right? So why is it "Chag Pesach"?

4:44 That one is plural, this one is singular. It's like the same thing we spoke about on Shabbos. Zera'im - in the plural. Mo'ed - singular. Nashim - plural. Nezikin - plural. Kodashim - plural. Taharos - plural. But Mo'ed - that corresponds to Pesach. Pesach is THE festival. That is why everything entered into Pesach.

5:10 It is all "that we went out of Egypt". And the essence of this Pesach is not "Pesachim" but "Pesach": that the mouth should speak of the wonders of the Creator, blessed be He. So that is the novelty of this time, of this festival, and that is the reason Parshas Tzitzis was instituted for us and not Balak: so that the mouth will speak of the wonders of Hashem, blessed be He. The Holy One, blessed be He, has joy and exaltation when they praise Him and [unclear] Him. Think how much, in the whole world today, they praise flesh and blood - think, they praise this rich man, and praise that rich man, and praise this president, and this ball player, and they praise this singer, and they adore this singer - but there is no adoration for holiness,

6:01 there is no adoration for the One who created the world. Who stops and is amazed? How many go and are amazed by some painting? Is there some nice painting? When you see - look, in this gallery, this painting, it is a priceless painting, and everyone stands and says, "What is this painting?" They are amazed and publicize this painting all over the world; they see some statue, and the whole world talks about it, and along comes some rich man who, all in all, has a few more coins, and everyone acclaims him and praises him, or some head of state who is, all in all, dust and ashes, and everyone praises him and looks at him with adoration - who is here today and tomorrow in the grave, and everyone looks at him as the savior, that he can save them,

6:44 The Holy One, blessed be He, who created this world, and He forms, and makes, and will make all the deeds, and afterwards he looks up and tries to adore Him - until King David came and began composing Tehillim for us and praising the great Name of the Holy One, blessed be He. And it is not for nothing that these days are the important days, wondrous to the Holy One, blessed be He. Why? Because this is the answer to what we asked earlier. If it were "Pesachim", we would have to say "Pesachim".

7:12 But no, it is not "Pesachim". Because the main thing in this Pesach is to speak of the Holy One, blessed be He. And this is the endearment, and this is the reason that Parshas Tzitzis was instituted, and not Parshas Balak. Now this was the portion we need to read. And the Holy One, blessed be He, always wants us to remember His Name, and His kingship, and His might, His power and His strength and His wonders that He did in the world - without attributing anything to flesh and blood.

7:40 We must keep it pure - which is what the Torah came to teach us. [unclear] a beautiful thing, now, now on Pesach: every day we speak of what Hashem did; it is the mitzvah every day to sit and learn midrashim, and learn Midrash Tanchuma and Yalkut Shimoni, and look at the going out of Egypt, and learn about the plagues with the aggados, and "you shall tell your son" - it is every day. Now, to use every day for this; now the Seventh Day of Pesach is coming, to learn the Song at the Sea, to make vivid and explain to ourselves the wondrous miracles, the great power with which Hashem, blessed be He, took us out of Egypt.

8:14 You know that when this is read among the nations of the world, they call it "aggados" - legends. For us it is "Haggadah" with a hei; for them it is "aggados" with an aleph. They don't understand that there were such things in the world; they don't understand that our G-d, the G-d of Israel, the G-d of the world, who created this whole world, did so many wonders. He split the sea for us, brought the plague of blood, frogs, lice, [unclear] - He ruled over all the elements.

8:41 He showed them that He rules and governs all of creation. Everyone looked; they said, what is the Holy One, blessed be He? They looked; they said, well, there is Someone in Heaven. Will He answer us, won't He answer us, will He answer us - that is why He does not answer a person. A person is always in doubt. "Has Hashem made his way succeed, or not" - like Haran. Avraham Avinu... he doesn't decide where he stands, which side he is on. You go to Avraham - [unclear].

9:06 "Avraham, where are you going?" [unclear]. That is how he stood on the side all the time: "has Hashem made his way succeed, or not." All the time he is watching: let's see where Hashem, blessed be He, will make this way succeed, or that way. He never gives over his soul to follow Hashem, blessed be He. To follow Hashem all the time. And at the going out of Egypt, all the nations of the world - they all saw. They looked and saw how the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals Himself in the world.

9:32 Until then they were worshipping idols. [unclear] were worshipping idols. Everyone who was before them worshipped idols. Pharaoh, who said "My Nile is mine, and I made myself" - worshipped idols. And suddenly he finds himself, after he sees all the idolatry - that he thought he was a god - suddenly he sees that they are beginning to strike him. After all, think: until Moshe Rabbeinu came and began to stir up Pharaoh, all the Egyptians thought that Pharaoh was a god, and Pharaoh himself made them feel that he was a god.

10:03 They saw that he was a king, and he had the Nile; he would go and raise his palace - every day he would lift it into the air. We look and see Pharaoh's palace floating between heaven and earth, and the waterfall and the Nile keep raising it and [unclear] it, and it was all done by sorcery. You know that to this day in Egypt, these pyramids that you see - there they would bury the king, each one of the Egyptians, and [unclear] him together with all the gold, his treasures.

10:33 No one wanted others to use these treasures - with a jealousy very great, these kings. They did not want their treasures used - by anyone after them. They would [unclear] themselves with all these coffins, they did acts of sorcery there. Haven't you seen? Look - with the Egyptians there was embalming, because they do embalming, they do embalming; in this embalming they would use [unclear] and take pods of balsam oil.

11:00 [unclear] bring the pods of this oil - and today we don't have the balsam oil. They used pods of balsam oil; whoever swallows from this balsam - this is true. Today we don't have this balsam oil, which was fragrant in Jericho - it is found in Jericho. Why in Jericho? After all, Jericho is called Yericho after the scent of the balsam. It grew only in Jericho. Apart from Jericho, no one could [unclear].

11:25 The sages there prayed, praying there that whoever reveals the place of the balsam [unclear] - they would curse him. It is written there. When they curse whoever reveals the balsam oil, it was not something one could even talk about - where it is found, or what. To this day I have not heard of anyone who said he found the balsam - and these are stories.

11:54 And [unclear] - they would clean out the belly of the deceased of all the remains inside, they put the pods of balsam inside, they stuff it, wrap it, and the dead body would remain [unclear], and whoever would swallow from this balsam during his lifetime would stay young, never aging. Think what that is. You understand? Today someone could say he found such balsam - there is no such balsam.

12:20 This is the balsam oil that existed then [unclear]. they would do such an embalming with this balsam, with this [unclear] - they used it, and that is how it was. That is how it is used, and that is what they would do in Egypt, until Yosef HaTzaddik did it to Yaakov Avinu. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not like that Yosef HaTzaddik did the embalming of Yaakov Avinu. He did not like it: what do you need to guard him for? Who guards him? The Holy One, blessed be He, guards the tzaddikim, so that no worm has power over them - no maggot, nothing at all.

12:48 That is to say, you did this guarding, and to the Holy One, blessed be He, this deed was not dear. But of course Yosef HaTzaddik did it out of honor for his father, because he wanted to preserve his father's honor; he wanted to take care of his holy father, and to take care of the tzaddikim, to guard them - not that you should really do the embalming; but the Holy One, blessed be He, guards them. But in any case, Yosef HaTzaddik did it - he used this. You see that they used it and knew how to do this embalming in this way, each one as he knew how to preserve and do the embalming in this form.

13:22 So now, what happened - there came - who was the first who came and began to change this? Don't know? King David, no? King David - right, King David. King David comes here into the world and looks at the creatures, and everyone is starting to praise, praise, praise flesh and blood; King David comes and begins to praise the Holy One, blessed be He.

13:50 He begins to laud the Holy One, blessed be He. He begins to compose works for the Holy One, blessed be He, in Tehillim, in songs, in hymns, in praises to the Holy One, blessed be He, and he praises the great Name of the Holy One, blessed be He. And this gives the Holy One, blessed be He, satisfaction. "When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars that You established - Hashem, our Master, how mighty is Your Name in all the earth." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: David, all the kings are now asleep on their beds, and you are awake, sitting and occupying yourself with Torah every night?

14:19 And King David sits and occupies himself with Torah - look in the Zohar, Parshas Emor, page 91. Rabbi Shimon says: every night, it is important that a person - that is to say, we also know the importance of [unclear], but whoever sits and occupies himself with Torah and learns every single night, like King David, who sits and looks at the heavens while he is a king, and all the kings are sleeping on their beds like dead [unclear], and he is such a holy and righteous king who can do whatever he wants in the world - he decides to take off the crown and give it to the Creator, and to crown the Creator, and to compose works for Hashem, blessed be He; he praises Hashem, and all night he sits and prays.

14:59 The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: because of this you will reign over My people, because King David, every night: "When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars that You established." Did you notice? "When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars that You established, Hashem, our Master, how mighty is Your Name in all the earth." What do we learn from this verse? What do we learn from it? When King David would sit, says Rabbi Shimon, and look at the heavens every night, and exalt and praise the Holy One, blessed be He, and look at the stars and look at the moon, and praise the Holy One, blessed be He, every night, [unclear]: "This is what you do?

15:38 You will be king over our people." So the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him. This is one of the things for which the Holy One, blessed be He, chose David to be king over Israel. Look with contemplation at how King David sits and looks at the heavens, and all the time, the thing he cares about, and what he thinks about, is how to praise Hashem, blessed be He. We always need to think: when the festival comes, when our time comes, now, like Pesach or Shavuos, receiving the Torah, we need to commemorate the wonders of Hashem, so that we don't forget them, because we don't speak about it and don't understand it - how important it is to understand the miracles, and this immense and awesome power, the overturning of the order of nature.

16:19 The Holy One, blessed be He, touched the world and decided to take these waters and turn them into blood. You remember that on Shabbos they [unclear] me why it is - they asked why the plagues are called in the plural - "kinim" and so on - the plague of blood - [unclear], why was it "the plague of blood"? So I said why it was "makas dam" and not "makas damim". It should have been called "makas damim".

16:45 Why? Because within the plague itself, the Holy One, blessed be He, in that same plague, would give the other the cure. For if an Egyptian and a Hebrew drank - drinking from one cup of water - for this one it would come out blood, for the other it would come out water. From the same one, together. It comes out together. That is why it should have been "makas damim". It has to be "makas dam", because within the blood itself, from the blood itself, this one is water.

17:13 And this - look at the precision - how much the Holy One, blessed be He, had compassion on us, wanted miracles and wonders with us, and such an awesome overturning of the order of nature, and we need to come and believe in it and live it. You see with Gideon, who wanted to go out to war with thirty thousand, and the Holy One, blessed be He, told him: one does not come with thirty thousand to fight Midian. He did not want that. In the end, how many did he take to war? 300 men.

17:40 300 men. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not like that he came with an army and with might. It is not this that [unclear] in war. He, with three hundred men, to fight the army of Midian. Everyone was afraid - whoever is fearful and faint-hearted over his sins, let him turn back and leave - cannot go out to war. And he comes and fights the war with three hundred men. What power does the Holy One, blessed be He, show us in the world? It does not need numbers. It does not need anyone.

18:06 I need you to believe in Me and rely on Me, and let Me do all the wondrous miracles for you. But it depends on our emunah, on our trust. For Pesach - the whole essence of this time is emunah and knowing Hashem, blessed be He. To understand that this whole world is vanity and illusion, and see, this is what happened to Egypt, and see what happened to whoever did not believe in Moshe: he remained in Egypt.

18:33 But whoever believed in Moshe, as one who believed that this world is an illusion, in the end left Egypt, in the end won. To follow Hashem, blessed be He, to follow the Torah, and not to be lured after our own intellect and after the way of vanity. All the quarrelers and all the talebearers and all those who disputed Moshe remained in Egypt. And those who followed Moshe merited to be saved, to get through the plague of darkness.

18:58 It was not for nothing that it was in the plague of darkness. The Holy One, blessed be He - corresponding to their walking in darkness, that they were not following the shining light; they did not understand that Moshe is light. You did not understand that Moshe is light - so the darkness will strike you. So they walked in darkness. But whoever understood that Moshe was light - 'and the Children of Israel had light in their dwellings' - came out of this darkness and looked differently at [unclear].

19:22 This is a reflection we must contemplate and understand on every festival, at every time - that Hashem, blessed be He, gave us the Torah, and gave us the holy ones, and gave us the tzaddikim, in every generation - that we go and cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, and care for our true purpose, to cleave to Him and return to Him in teshuvah, to return to Him, to praise Him, to crown Him King, to love Him, to revere Him.

19:47 It is a disgrace. Think - a person goes through 70 to 100 years and uses his mind for all the filth there is. He uses his whole body for lusts, and from time to time lifts his eyes to Heaven. He calls himself some holy man while he is impure and defiled. Whereas a person's heart should be entirely Hashem's, and his mind should always think of Hashem, blessed be He. To always cleave to Hashem, and not to turn away from Hashem even for one moment of the heart; let the heart be only Hashem, blessed be He.

20:16 To be in love with Hashem, blessed be He, to love Hashem, blessed be He. There must be heart all the time. How many go around here in the world wanting the love of Hashem so that he will have love for a strange woman. He asks Hashem for his salvation, to love a strange woman, and does not love Hashem, blessed be He, at all. Where is the love of Hashem? Where is the emunah in Hashem? Where is the trust in Hashem? Where is the knowledge, to know Hashem? It is a shame and a disgrace for a person who stands before the One who spoke and the world came to be, while his heart and his mind turn to other gods.

20:49 This is the greatest shame. And woe to that shame and to that disgrace, on that day and that moment when a person will have to give this account. Therefore, have pity on yourselves, care for your true purpose, care for the true and eternal purpose, guard the holiness, guard the Torah, the purpose, the true path. This is flesh and blood, formed from clay, that everyone praises and strives after - flesh and blood, after vanity, and they become vain.

21:15 And to run only after Hashem, blessed be He, to look to Heaven, to gaze at Heaven, to see G-dliness, that there be no flesh and blood in the world that loves flesh and blood. To love only Hashem, blessed be He. 'And you shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.' The Divine command that we are commanded to say every single day. Look, what a [unclear] - what can one say after such a thing?

21:42 What can one say after 'And you shall love'? There is nothing more to say, nothing more to expound, nothing more; the whole Torah is condensed and drawn into one word: 'And you shall love'. 'And you shall love' with all [unclear] - to love Hashem with such a love that we merit to shed tears from our love for Hashem; that we understand that everything we love and everything we have, Hashem gave us - children, He gave a man a wife, gave children, gave a man a livelihood, gave him everything he loves so that he can feel what love is; and we must understand that the source of this love is Hashem.

22:21 So how fitting it is for you to love Hashem, to love Hashem! And what does the world do? They love this, and cut it off from [unclear]. They do not love Hashem [unclear]. Why - his teacher's lost object and his father's lost object - does his teacher's come first? Because his teacher brings him to the life of the World to Come. Why to the life of the World to Come? How do we reach the life of the World to Come? What, can't Father bring me to the life of the World to Come? After all, Father taught me the Haggadah, Father fulfilled 'And you shall tell your son', Father fulfilled the mitzvos, Father kept the Torah, taught me; in his merit - what is this?

22:54 Why specifically does his teacher's lost object come first? Rather, the reflection is simple. It is along the same lines: if the rav resembles an angel of Hashem of Hosts, seek Torah from his mouth - then such a rav can bring you to the life of the World to Come. Because if it is not such a rav, then how will he bring you to the life of the World to Come? He cannot bring you to the life of the World to Come, because this is a rav of the affairs of this world. But a rav who resembles an angel of Hashem of Hosts - then you seek Torah from his mouth, so automatically, such a rav - his father's lost object and his teacher's lost object: his teacher's comes first.

23:24 Why? Because that rav must reveal in my life His G-dliness, blessed be He, reveal in my life the light of Hashem, until we reach such a level that we will love Hashem, blessed be He, with such a love that we will want nothing else; we will reach a state where all the women in the world - women will love Hashem, blessed be He, and men will love Hashem, blessed be He, and all hearts will reach such a level that they love only Hashem, blessed be He.

23:50 That everyone will fall in love with Hashem, blessed be He; there will be no foreign love in the world, there will be no foreign loves, there will be no fallen loves. So automatically, there will also be no fallen fears. Because once there are fallen loves, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives fallen fears. What are fallen fears? Illnesses, disasters, accidents, wars, fears, harsh judgments - all the things you see in the world. This is called fallen fears.

24:16 And why do fallen fears come? Because there are fallen loves. But [unclear] there is a supreme love, What a shame it is for such a person. It is a shame. The greatest shame there is. This love must be only for the One who created the world. To understand that the purpose of this world is worth nothing. For time passes, and everything will pass, and everything will leave the world.

24:41 And the body is carried to the grave, and his soul mourns over him. One must love Hashem, blessed be He, and lift the eyes to Heaven, and to speak to Hashem, blessed be He, and to cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, and to be full of yearning and longing for Hashem, blessed be He, for our true purpose in the world. And now, this is the time, this is the time of 'To a mare among Pharaoh's chariots have I compared you, My beloved.' Now is Shir HaShirim, which the holy Ohr HaChaim explains - all of Shir HaShirim - this whole story of this great love - [unclear] love, fire - this love for Hashem, blessed be He, is between the Congregation of Israel and Hashem, blessed be He; so the holy Ohr HaChaim explains, that the whole story goes and revolves between the Jewish people and Hashem, blessed be He.

25:23 See how important and beloved this level is. To our sorrow, everyone knows how fallen love is. When people look at this world, and we want the love of Hashem, and want it, and speak of it out of desire, but do not understand that this is the true purpose. And for this one must always go and ask Hashem, blessed be He, to give us good counsel. Therefore it is not for nothing that the Satan - the thing he has always tried to do to us in all the generations: to take Moshe Rabbeinu from us, to take from us, to hide Moshe from us.

25:56 And the moment we err, and the moment we become confused, and the moment we go astray, we will go, and automatically [unclear]. There is no need to trip a person up with the evil inclination, no need to come at him with sins, no need. They let him keep all the mitzvos. We will mislead him and make him stumble away from Moshe, and automatically they will go in the plague of darkness. Do you think the Satan tries to make [unclear] sin today with sins and transgressions? He does not try.

26:20 He leaves them to keep fulfilling the mitzvos. He leaves them [unclear] Moshe, only so that they will [unclear] in the plague of darkness. This is the correct thing. I tell you, with Hashem's help, hold yourselves strong, care for the true purpose; let each one care for his own true purpose, for Hashem, blessed be He, is merciful, full of mercy, and thank Hashem that we merit to lift our eyes to Heaven, to lift our eyes to Heaven, to long and yearn for Hashem, blessed be He, to love Hashem, blessed be He, and to care for our true purpose, to do every day something that has in it of the true and eternal purpose, not to waste our time on emptiness, Heaven forbid, to truly care for ourselves, for the purpose, to care, and to learn the holy Torah,

27:02 to flee to Hashem, blessed be He, to keep the holy Torah, the mitzvos, to care and have compassion for every moment, for the holy soul that burns within us, how to lift the heart to Heaven, how to act and bring the geulah, not to leave this bad, dark and bitter exile, all the gloom and all the darkness that we see, and this will make us love Hashem more than anything, and run after Hashem and His words, and in this merit you will see that, behold, we will say to Hashem: not only did we leave Egypt - we are leaving Egypt now, we are living inside it now.

27:35 Think what tears our holy forefathers who left Egypt had, they look and see the wondrous miracles and the signs and the wonders and the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud and the sea split - what tears, what longing, what yearning for Hashem, blessed be He, what hope! And today, when we have only the Midrashim before us, if we do not live it, and do not read about it, and do not reflect on it, and do not understand what this Pesach is about, we are not in Pesach; we are in a time when bread is not baked.

28:06 This is not Pesach, this is not holiness, this is not a mitzvah from the Torah. One must feel it and live it, to live what the Torah commands, to live the mitzvos, to live the holiness, to keep them, to do them so that the heart, the mind, the limbs, all will testify and say, all as one: 'Hashem is One and His Name is One.' [unclear] - may we merit to strengthen ourselves and return to Hashem, blessed be He, and love Hashem, blessed be He, more than anything, and lift our eyes to Heaven, that His great and abundant mercy be aroused upon us, and we merit the complete and speedy geulah in our days.

28:39 How can one take the heart and [unclear], and truly be [unclear], so that a person will be connected with himself, connected with the Creator? Rambam, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, chapter 2, [unclear]. The Rebbe of Dinov writes about this, Rabbi Tzvi of Dinov.

29:04 And it was like his kissing of the tefillin - 'And Yaakov kissed Rachel' - as it were, the way he kissed the tefillin, Yaakov's love for Rachel, toward her, what the holy forefathers were - Avraham and Sarah - this was the bond and the revelation of the Shechinah, for they were holy and righteous women. They were women who had no materialism and no interest in the affairs of this world.

29:32 Anyone can understand that Rachel our Mother did not look to marry just someone in the marketplace, and was not taken with someone passing in the marketplace. She was Rachel; she looked for Yaakov, and Leah too. Not just anyone could merit to receive her heart. She looked for Yaakov - you know who Yaakov is; I don't need to tell you who Yaakov our Father is. You understand? It is the same thing, like Sarah our Mother - she looked for someone who would be like Avraham.

30:01 We always look at the holy forefathers, that they were great and awesome and mighty, but we forget that also the [unclear] women whom they married were women who themselves, on their own level, were on a great, lofty and tremendous level, with none above it. In Tractate Megillah, page 15, there the Gemara speaks about the beauty they had - that they had beauty - about Avigail, the wife of King David, and about Sarah our Mother.

30:32 Fine, good, it was beauty, but this beauty was not only physical beauty. True, it was there, but this special beauty of theirs was - they would not have been called by the name 'beautiful' if they did not also have inner beauty. They had the outer beauty, but they were worthy at all of being called beautiful because there was also something within them that was worthy of being in the king's embrace.

30:59 If Avigail had been a woman who was not modest, not holy, not pure, and not in the way of Hashem, so she is beautiful - could she then have been with King David? No. And if Sarah our Mother was the most beautiful in the world - Sarah our Mother - but had no good traits - were she a wicked woman who does witchcraft all day - and do you think there were no other beautiful women in the time of Sarah our Mother? There weren't? There were.

31:24 Why specifically Sarah? The beauty was also within. It was not a beauty that is external. It is outer beauty, yes, that's true, but the beauty was also [unclear] and corresponding to what was within them. And therefore the vessels were worthy to give, because these were hearts that loved Hashem. Sarah our Mother had a fire for Hashem, blessed be He, in her eyes. Love for Hashem, blessed be He.

31:49 And Rivkah, and Rachel, and Leah, and Rachel our Mother, Rachel our Mother. Mother Rachel, who weeps all day in the Shechinah, in the Beis HaMikdash, weeping over the exile, wants the geulah, wants the Beis HaMikdash, prays to Hashem, blessed be He, that He redeem us, with all her beauty, [unclear] 'beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance', and Yosef the tzaddik, who was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance. All these names and descriptions are because Yosef was a tzaddik.

32:16 Now, if Yosef had not been a tzaddik and not holy, would he have been anything? No. Right? Of course, it was because of the test, it was because of what happened when he was in Egypt, and this praise was specifically to teach us about the holiness of the covenant. But the true beauty is the beauty that comes from within.

32:40 This is the beauty the Torah puts the emphasis on - the Torah emphasizes about Rachel that she was beautiful, and the Torah emphasizes about Esther that she was beautiful; she was greenish. And what the Sages say in Megillah, page 15 - that the Gemara attributes beauty to women - it is not to come and tell you, 'Listen, this...'; surely they came to tell you: 'Listen, you see their beauty?' They had beauty; they took it to the side of holiness.

33:06 They did not take it to the side of impurity. You see the beauty of Rachel? Beautiful - Rachel took it to the side of holiness. You see the beauty of Yosef the tzaddik? Yosef took it to the side of holiness. So if you, and you, and you think that one can [unclear] beauty, or there is some monkey who boasts in the world that he is something important, then we tell him: look, you are like a monkey compared to him. He is much more than you; he takes his honor and his crown and crowns Hashem, blessed be He, King.

33:32 So who are you compared to him? You understand? This is to humble them. Rachel our Mother was so beautiful. Now along comes some woman who is like a monkey compared to her, and she goes against Hashem, and is proud and boastful - who are you compared to her at all? And where do we see that there was this thing that Hashem, blessed be He, did? Behold, Vashti. Vashti was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance, and [unclear], but she began to boast and boast, and was proud and boastful about what her grandfather did - he destroyed the House of our G-d.

34:06 And in the end, the Holy One, blessed be He, humbled her and brought her down, and Vashti fell, with all her royalty and all the honor that was given her - and who came from it? Esther. And Esther was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance - infinitely more than Vashti. And Achashverosh, until he chose her, had placed there a portrait of her, of Vashti; and every woman who came into the palace, he would look to see who is more beautiful, Vashti or this one before him.

34:32 He looks at the picture of Vashti and says, 'Vashti is more than you' - next, next, next. [unclear] Esther the Queen, as soon as he saw her - she is more beautiful than her. So he chose Esther, but not Vashti. So in the end, who subdued whom? Esther subdued Vashti. So Esther was beautiful. It already says that she was beautiful. Why does it come to tell us this? Here, please: this beauty went to this place and subdued this thing. So when the Torah tells us about beauty and such, it does not come to tell us this for nothing.

35:05 It comes to tell us this in order to subdue the bad thing. And not only that: to stress to you that the beauty was also within. Because these were not figures who were only beautiful on the outside, with nothing at all inside them. Because if not, the Torah would not tell about them. It comes to tell you, to say to you: you see, you see all this, and this, and this, and this, etc., etc., and in order to raise up and elevate holiness and to subdue the side that is not good. For this, Queen Esther was [unclear], And behold, 'Esther obtained favor in the eyes of all who saw her,' and behold, 'And Esther put on royalty' - the royalty and a crown - and she used it. For whom?

35:43 For the Jewish people. Imagine now what Esther might have done. That is: 'I am beautiful, I myself - Achashverosh wants me, what do I care about my people? Let's move forward.' She takes her royalty, and she risks her life, and risks them all, and gives her life in self-sacrifice in order to crown Hashem, blessed be He, to crown His people, to sanctify His Name, blessed be He.

36:08 She takes her beauty, her honor and her crown, and crowns Hashem. Yosef HaTzaddik takes his beauty, his honor, his kingship, his crown, his palace, and gives it to his brothers, to Yaakov Avinu, to his father. He does not say now, 'Let's take revenge on them. Here, the time has come, let's take revenge on them. Let's tell [unclear], Pharaoh, let's tell all of Egypt, and everyone will know what the story is,' and everyone comes. And Yosef could say to himself, 'What do I care? What - now perhaps the king of Egypt will discover this, he will say to me, what, you are like this?

36:43 What is this now - let's remove you from the kingship, go back there, perhaps, go back to them.' I don't know, he could have had lots of thoughts: 'What do I care?' What is this - it was a disgrace for him. Yosef HaTzaddik is a king; people come looking for food. They look: people come like beggars, and moreover he says that they came, they entered [unclear], straight on, to try to search, to get into Egypt, and after that, when everyone, all of Egypt knew, they suspected them. So Yosef HaTzaddik could have said, 'What do I have to do with them?'

37:09 But the opposite: Yosef HaTzaddik reveals it and says, 'Here, these are my brothers, this is my father, this is Yaakov Avinu.' You see here that he, Yosef HaTzaddik, does not care. Yosef HaTzaddik does give the honor. What - why? He comes for the honor of Hashem. Never did any of these figures take anything for themselves - and this is the sin: when you take something and attribute it to yourself, there is the sin.

37:34 We - nothing belongs to us. Not wisdom, not wealth, not intellect, not [unclear], nothing. 'But let him who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows Me.' Know Hashem - this is the greatest thing there is in the world. Not intellect, nothing. We have nothing here in the world. Only to praise His great Name. All day we will say Halleluyah, Halleluyah, Halleluyah, Halleluyah, Halleluyah, Halleluyah, Halleluyah, Halleluyah, Halleluyah, all day. Only exalt the great Name of the King, the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. And then lift your eyes to the heavens - the Holy One, blessed be He, will answer you, He will protect you. If you understand that He is all-powerful, He will answer you.

38:09 But if you look at the Holy One, blessed be He, and you say, 'Ah, how has He saved me? What has He saved me from?' you do not know who Hashem, blessed be He, is at all. And you are not clean enough, and you go after your [unclear]. So don't expect - what do you want to happen? Heart to intellect - this is what I explained, the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, chapter 2, halachah 2, in the Rambam: it is to contemplate the creation.

38:35 Contemplating the creation connects the heart and the intellect. You go out and look, and you see trees, and you see trees, music, for example - now you will hear a few niggunim. What happens with music? Music suddenly connects the heart, suddenly the eyes open. Suddenly a person begins to look at the heavens differently, suddenly he begins to look at the creation differently, suddenly he begins to contemplate, begins to look at himself: what is my true purpose?

39:01 What is my true purpose? What am I doing here in this world? What am I doing here in the world? And then he begins to think differently. When he begins to think differently, then the heart and the brain are already connected. This is the thought in the world. But when one does not think this way, then one remains in exile. [unclear] the plural form. Tehillim?

39:29 Once it was the book of Tehillos. Tehillos. Once they called it Tehillos, once. Yes, yes, it is possible. Once they used to call it Tehillos. Tehillos. Tehillos. Right. Have you ever seen? Because have you ever seen that in the book of Tehillim you have one 'tehillah'? You only have 145: 'A tehillah of David.' And there is also, in one song, [unclear] praises.

39:57 This is the book of David. And there is song, praise, melody, right? King David also sang praises to Him, also songs, also halleluyahs. Tehillos - what is tehillah? What is 'a tehillah of David'? What is tehillah? Tehillah is [unclear] that the King, that, so to speak, every person wants honor for himself, glory, tehillah.

40:21 This tehillah means that people [unclear], as it were, extol and complete the Hallel over him, as if it is something about which there is nothing more to say after it. This is already more than praises, more than everything - this is tehillos. It is as if you finish all your praises: you still will not finish, you will not say the word with which it is fitting to praise [unclear]. So therefore it is called the book of Tehillim: it is a book in which the praises and halleluyahs are awesome, above every praise and tehillah that can be said.

40:51 It is called the book of Tehillos. Once they called it Tehillos; today it is Tehillim. [unclear], yes. - Words of Torah: do they rise above all the songs and praises [unclear] today? What is it? Words of Torah - this rises above all songs and praises. - Words of Torah, yes. Words of Torah: 'For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.'

41:17 But of course, you know, if you also, baruch Hashem, occupy yourself with Torah and also praise the great Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, this combination together is the coming of Mashiach. When we talk about the Beis HaMikdash and we want the complete geulah, think what happens when we begin to praise Hashem: we also extol Him, also praise Him, also sing before Him, extol His great Name, learn it with love, with feeling, with enthusiasm, and learn Torah with feeling - this creates a reality that is called King David.

41:48 What did King David do in his lifetime? He occupied himself with Torah, learned Torah and praised Hashem; occupied himself with Torah and praised Hashem. All the praise of Halleluyah, and learning Torah; the praise of Halleluyah, and learning Torah - together, this is the coming of Mashiach, this is the geulah, this is the purpose, this is the Beis HaMikdash; there is nothing higher than this, and this is the highest thing there can be. And therefore now, at this time when Tehillim is said, when praises to Hashem are said all day, psalms and praise to the Holy One, blessed be He, are said - the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh says - this is the view of the Rokeach, the view of the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh - how many times the Exodus from Egypt is mentioned in the Torah:

42:26 some say 49, according to the Ohr HaChaim; some say, in the name of the Rokeach, 114, corresponding to the verses of Shir HaShirim. these are the times it is mentioned; but he counts, he numbers the Exodus differently, as if he counts the Exodus as 49, and nine, the Ohr HaChaim; and also, as if he counts more verses that are connected to this matter; it is as if another one hundred and fourteen with this matter. That is to say, you see that you give praise to the Holy One, blessed be He, like 'When Israel went out of Egypt', from which the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh learns: 'When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Yaakov from a people of strange tongue.' With us there are gematrias and very great secrets connected to this.

43:08 Praise to Hashem: 'When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Yaakov from a people of strange tongue, Yehudah became His holy one.' You see that King David begins to praise the Holy One, blessed be He, with praises like these, and in Tehillim everything is included. So you say 'When Israel went out of Egypt', you are saying praise to the Holy One, blessed be He, right? You are saying praise to Hashem by rabbinic law and by Torah law, by Torah law, because it is the remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. And on the other hand, I am saying praise to Hashem.

43:32 So I will both praise the Holy One, blessed be He, and also extol Him, and also make the remembrance that the Torah requires, and also the Exodus from Egypt. Within the book of Tehillim you have both praises to Hashem and also mentions that are weighed equal to the entire Torah, as King David [unclear]. And therefore in the Midrash Shocher Tov, in siman 1, in the first chapter, David asked that his [unclear] be weighed equal to Negaim and Ohalos.

43:57 From Heaven, you see that he received it: that it would be weighed equal to Negaim and Ohalos. The Eshel Avraham of Buchach writes that it was indeed received, [unclear]. The Eshel Avraham of Buchach, he writes that he the Nefesh HaChaim writes that it is as if it is not known: He did not answer - [unclear] say that He did not answer - but the very fact that King David asked, would He simply turn him away empty-handed? There is no need to expect that the Holy One, blessed be He, will answer, but the Eshel Avraham of Buchach writes that he was indeed answered.

44:23 We have a tradition that King David was indeed answered, and indeed from Heaven they answered him. 24 hours to learn Torah and 24 hours to learn [unclear]. Thank you very much, thank you very much. We will [unclear] many more good things. Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says: 'The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to grant merit to Israel; therefore He gave them much Torah and mitzvos, as it says: Hashem desired, for the sake of His righteousness, to make the Torah great and glorious.'

44:52 Thank you very much, thank you very much, thank you, strengthen us. - I have a very important question. - Yes. - It is written in the Gemara about 'Acher', he wants to say, isn't it [unclear] today in our generation, [unclear] Elisha ben Avuyah [unclear].

45:17 One of the tzaddikim I love most is Elisha ben Avuyah [unclear]. I see in him true love, [unclear] 'Acher'. I love Elisha so much, a person who went through a trial, What - for how long does he want to call [unclear]?

45:51 I [unclear], honored Rav. How does the Gemara write 'Acher' about him? One of the tzaddikim I love most in the world is Elisha ben Avuyah. And I go to Rabbeinu every year, honored Rav. I think they did him an injustice.

46:27 - You know, you have seen only the Bavli. It is the Babylonian Talmud that attacks Elisha; if you had seen the Yerushalmi, what it writes? The Yerushalmi - that is a whole mess. - I understood, Rav - from Heaven. - Fine; from Heaven you did not hear. - And I do hear all the students - talk here about 'Acher', with arrogance.

46:53 It is not because it was, so, because of the incident where he took a garden bed on Shabbos, he took it out, and then he... I know the whole story, honored Rav. So, like, it said: guys, it is not him. Like, it is not the same Elisha, you know... [unclear] one question. - Look, one has to understand that... - Isn't it [unclear]? - No, I will explain something to you. I understand what you are saying.

47:19 I think the opposite: that it is praise. [unclear] I'll tell you, I think it is praise. - How? - It is praise, and I will explain to you why. Look, they do not call him now by some term of evil speech or anything. They [unclear] him and say to him, guys, they call him by a gentle term. They do not say - I have not heard today that they call him like 'that man', of whom they say [unclear].

47:45 I have not come across any place where they call him by some harsh term. They say 'Acher'. Every place they mention him, they say, 'Return, wayward children - except for Acher.' He should have returned; all in all it was as if the doors were locked before him, but he should have learned from this to do teshuvah [unclear] himself. And certainly, when he was great, and he would ride on the horse and say to Rabbi Meir, 'Up to here is the Shabbos boundary,' and when he passed away and [unclear] came out of his grave.

48:10 He sees that, as it were, Rabbi Meir, everyone, there was here some kind of concern and some kind of great honor, and fire came down from Heaven and burned the benches. There is something here that you cannot ignore, but on the other hand, you do see that Heaven treated him with honor, and the Sages too; you see that there was consideration. And on the other hand, the Yerushalmi says that he heard Greek song, he heard songs with words in Greek that cause heresy, in things that are not good.

48:39 So the Sages wanted to tell us: look, such a way of a Rav - do not learn Torah from him, do not receive from him, so that the way of the Torah will always be kept for us. You have to understand: if you say that you enjoy me and you love me, imagine that I were doing bad things like he did. - Still? - That's fine, I understand. But if I did such things, then I could not teach Torah, and they would not learn Torah from me, and you too perhaps would not receive from me and not listen to me, and we would not meet, and you would not come close to Hashem.

49:14 In the end, one has to separate from people who did not follow Hashem, blessed be He. It is true that Elisha had Torah here, and [unclear] his reckoning is before Hashem, but one must know that someone who does not follow Hashem, blessed be He, all the way - we will not be able to give him the standing and the path of following him like one who kept it, like Rabbi Meir Ba'al HaNess, like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

49:40 You mean to come and call him, as it were, by name, of - like, how do we call him that? Gladly, like, it's all good. Maybe - look, you know what, you are right, because if there is someone who truly testifies and does not mean it, but people do not really mean to start disgracing him or anything, they are still careful with his Torah, and... One is very careful with him. Certainly - what are we saying, the teacher of Rabbi Meir Ba'al HaNess, yes?

50:11 No, I am not angry either, Heaven forbid, what are you talking about; I simply come to explain to you that you need to understand that we must go according to the Torah. - This is a point about Torah scholars, right, but you surely understand that the deeds [unclear] are not deeds that are... You understand that, yes? - Of course. So how do you reconcile that? - How, what? - So what does one do with it?

50:39 But I am not of his generation, and none of us are of that generation. - Right, yes. - I understand, yes. - Everyone [unclear] from all over the world. It is the gentlest term; that is what I mean to say. What? If a person did such grave deeds, and in the end, after everything, his punishment is that he is called 'Acher' - what is that? It is a gift, right or not? I think a person like that, who did such deeds, oh my, today in this generation they would say to him [unclear]... by his deeds, about what?

51:15 Everyone will come here to Hashem, one is [unclear] by his deeds, by his deeds, by his deeds, right. Right. Right. A person [unclear]. Right. Rectified. Right. I will explain. Because in any case, in the end, what is stated explicitly to us right now by the Sages, both in the Babylonian Talmud and in the Jerusalem Talmud, that is, Chagigah, it is his deeds that were not proper.

51:51 Once his deeds were not proper, he is called that, so that we will not learn from him; for if they called him by a name of praise, tomorrow another Rav will come, tomorrow another Rav will arise, they will say [unclear], 'let's already act following his deeds.' - [unclear], I see it as a bit of discretion. - Maybe discretion, but still 'Acher'. Not to call him... his deeds were 'other'. - How? - His deeds.

52:16 His deeds were 'other'. There is no problem, it is fine. No? Fine, [unclear] another, yes. No, no, ask the question; we are on Pesach, it is... If there is also the sunrise prayer, then let's finish. Yes. There is also the prayer at five in the morning, but [unclear] interesting questions, but I [unclear] keep the second question. Yes, yes. I want to save the second question.

52:41 Interesting - look at this. Sometimes such new insights come out of me. I love you too, tzaddik. No, you [unclear]; you just bring joy to all of us, truly you just bring joy to all of us. Ah, is this about Uman now? You are beautiful and a tzaddik.

53:18 - What, what about me, what Rabbeinu - who, who, who, who, who, who, who reached out a hand, really, [unclear]. Forget Rabbeinu - Rabbeinu, Rabbeinu, everyone says Rabbeinu; I travel to Rabbeinu every year. I still have not found anyone who [unclear] a hand, and I am truly on the way; I am a father of several - seven children, my life is not good. Who truly reached out a hand to bring me close to Hashem and [unclear] me?

53:44 - [unclear]. Come, do you want? Come, [unclear]. Come, bring him in, come, bring him in. I am reaching out my hand to you, ask me for a hand - do I not reach it out at once? Right or not? I reach out a hand to you at once; I am not criticizing this. Come, come, give me a hand, come, come, tzaddik - [unclear] him some song.