The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הגאון הינוקא - בהילולת רבי ישמעאל כהן גדול • שיעור התורה עכו תשפ＂ב

4:03 Please, G-d, please heal him; please, G-d, please heal him. May the merit of the holy Tanna protect him and his household for a good life and firm health, with length of days and years of life. In his days, with the help of Hashem, blessed be He, Yehudah and Israel will be saved, that we merit together the light of Mashiach our righteous one, amen, so may it be His will, amen and amen.

4:35 I want to say a blessing with Hashem's Name and Kingship: 'Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who has given a share of His wisdom to those who fear Him.' - With the permission of the Mara D'Asra, the immense Gaon, our teacher and master, the Rav, may his lamp shine and glow, and with the permission of all the holy rabbanim, and with the permission of all the holy and honored congregation.

5:19 This holy day of our master Yishmael Kohen Gadol, which the Rav toils and takes trouble over every year on the day of the hilula, and I merited a little to behold the radiance of his shining and holy face, and his holy mind, and the awesome and wondrous writings, and the immense responsa, a sea of wisdom, to taste a little of his Torah, of his wisdom.

5:51 And I, the small and lowly one, bless him and all your holy community, that Hashem, blessed be He, be at your help always, amen, and that the merit of Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha Kohen Gadol - for all that you mention his name and praise and glorify - this merit, this day, to devote this time to recalling his matters, and his holy name - that in this merit you will have miracles and wonders, signs and marvels from Heaven, and all good abundance, in good that is visible and revealed, with joy and gladness of heart, amen.

6:33 The matter of the Kohanim, that they say 'Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha Kohen Gadol', and that each one goes and is blessed. Today, as long as we are in exile, we need to recognize more in the holy Torah and to be careful that the blessing goes on and continues without end.

7:03 And when they say to merit the Priestly Blessing, and when everyone is blessed with the Priestly Blessing, then the Yerushalmi explains in Tractate Gittin, chapter 5, halachah 9, that a person should not say, 'Who is this that blesses me? This one is a shedder of blood, and in forbidden relations' - that person whom one looks at going up to the platform, and one sees that he is not a holy person, he is not an honored person.

7:30 Then the Holy One, blessed be He, says: 'Is it he who blesses you? "And I will bless them" - I bless Israel.' Who blesses Israel? 'And I will bless them.' And here the Yerushalmi explains; so too they learned in Tractate Chullin, page 49a, on the matter that the Holy One, blessed be He, it is He who blesses Israel, and not necessarily the Kohanim... And when one sees the well-known story in Berachos, page 7a, about Rabbi Yishmael, who entered the innermost sanctum, and Hashem, blessed be He, says to him, 'Yishmael, My son, bless Me,' and the blessing of Hashem, blessed be He, to him - this is to teach us: 'Let not the blessing of a simple person be light in your eyes.'

8:18 And so it is in the Zohar, Parshas Ki Seitzei, page 276a, which Rabbi Shimon taught on this - on 'Let not the blessing of a simple person be light in your eyes': to recall merit when blessing each and every one, that the blessing of a simple person not be light in his eyes. And there it is told: Rabbi Shimon says about Adam HaRishon, that they gave him the honor, and he lowered the honor they gave him, and then he said, 'I and the donkey will eat from one trough,' for he came down from his greatness and from his kingship that was given to him.

8:48 And within the time of the Priestly Blessing we return the kingship to Heaven. And this is what the Tur explains in siman 128: he brings the Yerushalmi in Tractate Sotah, chapter 7, halachah 2, about this - that His voice is heard, the voice of the Holy One, blessed be He, that the voice together... 'in a loud voice' - what is 'in a loud voice'? In a voice that is heard: that the Holy One, blessed be He, His voice, together with the Priestly Blessing - one hears the voice of Hashem, blessed be He, that the voice of the holy Shechinah is heard blessing Israel. This is the time that the Maharash of Ostropoli explained is an awesome and fearsome time of favor to be blessed before Hashem, blessed be He - at this time of the Priestly Blessing,

9:30 and especially when one recalls the matters and the ways of our master Yishmael ben Elisha Kohen Gadol, for all the blessings are handed down, they go to the root... for the greater a tzaddik is, so much more is he drawn, up to the Faithful Shepherd, up to Moshe Rabbeinu. And the first who blessed Israel with the Priestly Blessing was Aharon HaKohen, when they made... It is written in Tractate Shabbos, page 87b, that Aharon HaKohen blessed the Priestly Blessing first, at the very beginning, and this blessing went on and passed from generation to generation until the time of Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha Kohen Gadol, who merited that Hashem, blessed be He, told him through a holy angel that he should bless Him.

10:12 And we see from here how much one can learn, what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explains, that... there are several foundations to learn here, which Rabbi Shimon explains in the Zohar, Vayechi, page 228a: that 'bekadmaysa' (at the beginning) one must bless the Holy One, blessed be He - first of all one must bless the Holy One, blessed be He. This is what one can learn from the story of Rabbi Yishmael: that Hashem, blessed be He, wants first of all that they bless Him.

10:37 When a person blesses Hashem first, then his blessing will be fulfilled. Every blessing that one wants to be fulfilled, one must first say the blessing 'Blessed be G-d Most High', first of all to say 'Blessed is the Shield of Avraham', first of all to bless Hashem, blessed be He. 'Hashem is with you', 'May Hashem bless you' - first of all to mention the name of Hashem, blessed be He, first of all to bless Hashem, blessed be He, and then the blessing can take effect. For when one does not bless the Holy One, blessed be He, 'bekadmaysa' (at the beginning), then the blessing has nothing on which to rest.

11:04 And Rabbi Shimon explains in the Zohar Chadash, Parshas Bereishis, on page 12a, that at this time of the 'nehora', when the light shines in the morning time, it is a time when the blessings of tzaddikim are fulfilled, it is a time of blessings being fulfilled in the world. When one wants a blessing to be fulfilled, it is this time of the morning that is fit for a blessing to be fulfilled. As this time arrives, it is a blessing that can act and rise higher and higher before Hashem, blessed be He.

11:31 And what we ask before Hashem - that the prayer and the blessing rise up - each time we ask Hashem, blessed be He, that He bless us and bless the Jewish people and continue the blessing, that the closer one comes to holiness, the more one desires Hashem, blessed be He, then the more light shines in Heaven, and the mercy of Hashem, blessed be He, upon the Jewish people. For as the great tzaddikim were in the world, they shone the light that Hashem, blessed be He, shone for the Jewish people, to redeem us through His Torah and His mitzvos, to light the way for us.

12:06 For this is what all the tzaddikim do, all that they did through all the generations: to bless and to draw the blessing to the whole Jewish people, and all good abundance, in all that is seen, for this is what we ask of Hashem, blessed be He. And Rabbi Shimon explains that in order for a blessing... for each one of us wants a blessing to be fulfilled, so Rabbi Shimon explains in the Zohar, Parshas Shoftim, on page 271a and 271b - it is a whole page - where Rabbi Shimon explains the matter of blessing: that when a person blesses Hashem, blessed be He, the blessing rests upon him, and from him it spreads to the whole world, and that Hashem, blessed be He, longs for our blessings here in this world.

12:48 When we bless Hashem, blessed be He, Hashem, blessed be He, longs for our blessings with which we bless Him. Not for nothing did the Sages teach us, in Tractate Berachos, page 35a, that it is forbidden for a person to benefit from this world without a blessing, because Hashem, blessed be He, desires our blessing with which we bless Him. And therefore at the end of the prayer we say the blessing 'Who blesses His people Israel with peace', for the completion of all that the Jewish people accomplished, for the whole prayer... for the prayers were instituted corresponding to the daily offerings.

13:16 And right at the end of the prayer, corresponding to the daily offerings - immediately afterward the Kohanim would bless Israel: 'And Aharon lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them.' Therefore one places right next to it the blessing 'Who blesses His people Israel with peace', corresponding to the daily offerings, for the Kohanim would bless after the daily offering, and as the completion of the daily offering, after... therefore we do this after the prayer, in order to draw the blessing and the peace into the world.

13:42 And this is what the blessing upon the whole Jewish people was... as it was in the time of Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach, in Tractate Taanis, page 23, when it was in the time of Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach, in Tractate Taanis, page 23: they learned that in the time of Shimon ben Shetach the rain would fall on the eves of Wednesday and the eves of Shabbos, they learned that in the time of Shimon ben Shetach the rain would fall on the eves of Wednesday and the eves of Shabbos, and abundance came down in the world, very great, without measure, so that all the wheat grains were like kidneys in their size, and the barley like the pits of olives, and the lentils were like gold dinars... they would come down... because the abundance was...

14:10 and they would keep this for the generations to come, so that they would see the blessing that Hashem, blessed be He, made in the world. And this blessing still stands, only, the more we will be one, and will be one people, and will be united, and lift our eyes to Hashem, blessed be He, and help one another, and support the Torah and strengthen the Torah, Hashem, blessed be He, will be at our help, and may He give good abundance, and may He give a good life to all the holy and honored congregation.

14:38 May you have a good life, may you have miracles and wonders, may you have 'length of days in its right hand, in its left wealth and honor', that the merit of Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha Kohen Gadol protect, may there be good abundance for everyone, may there be a good life for everyone. I had a very beautiful new insight: that Rabbi Yishmael said to Hashem, blessed be He, 'Bless me' - that Hashem, blessed be He, said to Rabbi Yishmael - and the true and complete blessing, as we explained, when one says the blessing 'Who blesses His people Israel with peace', then the blessing flows to the whole Jewish people, just as the Priestly Blessing reaches the people in the fields (who are blessed by the Priestly Blessing).

15:33 And this secret - that each time we bless with Kohen, Levi and Yisrael at the going up to the Torah, that this is 'Who gathers the dispersed of His people Israel' - this is Kohanim, Levi'im and Yisraelim. I once had an insight: that the holy Name that was revealed to Rabbi Yishmael was Akatriel... as everyone knows... what appears in Tractate Berachos, page 7a, and I made the calculation that it comes to 'TaRSaB', which is 662; and 'Kohen Levi Yisrael' also comes to this number, exactly, to hint at why Hashem, blessed be He, wanted a blessing from Rabbi Yishmael: that there be blessing among Kohanim, Levi'im and Yisraelim, that they all be equal in one unity, and bless the whole Jewish people as one.

16:17 So this is what could be said as a hint about this: that Hashem, blessed be He, wants there to be unity among Kohanim, Levi'im and Yisraelim, and that there be love among everyone, and that there be blessing for everyone, and good abundance for everyone. Fortunate are you; be strong and courageous. We have merited this holy day. And I bless the Rav that Hashem, blessed be He, give him a good life, him and his sons and all that is his, amen, and all his holy community; that he continue and lengthen his days over his kingdom, he and his sons and all that is his, that they succeed, and that everyone help and assist you, and that you succeed in Torah, and make the Torah great, and continue to give Hashem, blessed be He, satisfaction.

16:54 May you have 'length of days in its right hand, in its left wealth and honor', length of days and years of life in health, with joy and gladness of heart. 'And thus you shall say: To life! Peace to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that is yours.' May G-d Almighty bless you and grant you mercy, good abundance, and all good, of all good, for everyone, and blessing for everyone, and a good life, amen. - Yasher koach to the honored [unclear], my masters.

17:26 [unclear]. Now there will be a set of niggunim. After that the Rav will give a general blessing to everyone. [unclear] the Rav - to let the Rav go out, [unclear]. You apparently do not understand the greatness of the occasion. You apparently do not understand. Sir, again - whoever does not belong on the stage should be...

20:44 [unclear] - it is coming there. Do you want a loudspeaker here?

21:16 The loudspeaker is there - it is not possible.