The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-״כל פעולה קטנה היא עצומה בשמיים״ הגאון הינוקא בליל הושענא רבה תשפ＂ה

3:31 Every time he comes with something that is not good. And we always come with this, and try to come with this all the time to Hashem, blessed be He - we do not disconnect from this evil. And instead of coming, and returning, and drawing close to Hashem, and walking in a good way - you know, it is written in the Rambam's commentary on the Mishnah, in chapter 2, in Mishnah 3, in his commentary on Tractate Demai.

4:03 The Rambam gives a beautiful explanation there. He explained something very beautiful. 'You who dwell in the gardens' - after all, it says 'chaverim' (companions). Today there is no law of chaverim, as the Rambam explains in the Mishnah. For 'chaverim' was the name for Torah scholars. And the meaning of chaverim - once it was Torah scholars, meaning that what is in them is the fear of Hashem, and they bring a person to draw close to the Holy One, blessed be He.

4:28 That is the definition of chaverim, that we see - Torah scholars who are chaverim. Today we do not have this definition of a Torah scholar who is a chaver - that is what they used to be called. As it is written: 'You who dwell in the gardens, the companions listen to your voice - let me hear it.' What is the matter of the chaverim? These chaverim are in fact the ones who carry on the faithfulness and the fear of Heaven in this world. And when we actually walk in their way and draw close to them, then the whole world would change.

4:55 So if you ask, to my sorrow, we can understand it from the fact that we do not listen to true opinions, we do not listen to a correct way today, we do not listen to true Sages, we do not connect to true and pure knowledge. So we suffer, we suffer a lot in the world. 'And he who increases knowledge increases pain.' Because the knowledge they add - they add corrupted knowledge. They do not add Torah knowledge, they do not add knowledge of truth, knowledge of holiness - false opinions, everything full of lies, so full of confusion.

5:28 And this creates the attribute of judgment, which is strained taut. But the Holy One, blessed be He, says: who truly comes in truth, and leaves evil, and draws close to Me? And that is more than all the tikkunim in the world. A person can now do lots of tikkunim, and he reads, and reads, and prays, and learns, and does, and does. But if he does not change in his essence, it will not help anything. Nothing will help, nothing at all.

5:53 Now we saw something very beautiful in the Rav's booklet (kuntres), that he brings a certain riddle. He said: how is it possible for a person to write 400 Torah scrolls in one day? What do you say? Maybe someone knows the answer? This is the Rav's riddle. A communal Torah. By a miracle - 400 Torah scrolls in a day?

6:42 Right, it makes sense. But that is still not 400 Torah scrolls in a day. He would write 400 Torah scrolls, What is that? No, that is our own chiddush, our own chiddush.

7:16 You see - you don't know the answer? Four hundred. How? Tzaddikim did this. Someone answered. But it was not heard, It can be seen.

7:43 It can be seen. Oh, beautiful. Well done. You are a wise one. Who - did your father tell you? Do you know which Gemara this is? Where is the source, where do they discuss it, which Sage?

8:11 How? Beautiful. Side a, side b. Give him a round of applause. Well done. Well done. A Torah scholar. Good, so your father too, Baruch Hashem, helps you. [unclear] the son, Baruch Hashem.

8:39 Both the father and the son, Baruch Hashem. Good, this is just like this - we had something like an idea: maybe we will read a verse from the Book of Devarim, and then it is as if we read the whole book, but... The first and the last. The first and the last - but we, bli neder, soon, with Hashem's help, we will read with a settled mind; we will read, and with Hashem's help it will do some good. Some have already started the book here, right?

9:04 Some have started? Yes. What did you say? What did you do? So we have all already finished, Baruch Hashem.

9:29 - How will we merit in the judgment? Today it ends, today it is sealed, today it goes, everything ends. Right, the Rav has said many times that there should be a Rebbe and someone who guides, that there should be a great man whose counsel we listen to, and how can we reach a state where we please the Holy One, blessed be He, that it will be good for us, that next year will not be [unclear], everything that happened this year - these are simply [unclear] things.

10:09 - Look, you remember that a few Shabbosos ago I asked, in fact, what is the judgment by which the Holy One, blessed be He, judges us. On what does the Holy One, blessed be He, judge us? On what? He judges us - on what does He judge us? On our will. That is to say, what can tip us to the side of merit in Heaven? It is our ability to come and say to Hashem, blessed be He, that we take upon ourselves to change, and to change our opinions.

10:44 Now, a person takes upon himself to change, even though he - as much as he knows, everyone knows his own blemishes, he knows where he is not all right, he knows. That is, if a person needs to stop this and take upon himself to change in his essence, that's it, this is the greatest thing. To talk with the Creator and say to Hashem simply: help me too, assist me in this thing, I want to get out of this place and reach that place, it is hard for me, I can't - to talk with Him simply, really like this, like a son who talks to his father.

11:20 This simplicity can bring a person to merit in the judgment. Simply like this - it can bring a person to merit in the judgment. I will tell you a story, I don't know if I told it to you - I told it, maybe some heard it, some didn't, but there was the very, very great story with the Av Beis Din of Apta, the Gaon, the holy one, tremendous, famous, Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta. He is actually buried in Mezhibuzh, but he was the Rav of Apta.

11:50 Why was he named after Apta? Because in his town - he had to leave the town, and the people of his town were very, very pained that he would leave them. So he told them: 'I will always be called the Rebbe of Apta; I will never leave you.' 'I will always remain with you.' He left, and his name always remained, but by Hashgachah, 'the Rebbe of Apta' - this name always stuck to him, even though he was not in that town for years, but that is what everyone calls him, remembers him - does anyone know him by another name? No.

12:20 Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta - that is his name. And they tell that there was then, in his time, a certain man who had reached the age of maturity - not really old age - but he had very great poverty, very great distress from his poverty, so much so that he could no longer - his poverty was really driving him mad, he could not bear life. And from this pain, from this distress, he looked at himself like this and said: 'All that I have attained - years, Torah, prayer, serving Hashem...'

12:54 He began to come at himself with complaints and thoughts. 'Well, here, now Rosh Hashanah has come,' 'Kippur - they judge me; what do they judge me for, why judge me?' He began to come with all kinds of questions and doubts about Hashem, blessed be He. Just as today we are in a generation where people have the questions, and here, now, Hoshana Rabbah - on Rosh Hashanah everyone is now in a kind of dread, and now judgment.

13:24 And so he asked himself, in the midst of these things he said to himself: what will all the Torah and mitzvos I fulfilled help me? What is it, how much is it worth, when I have nothing to eat? And then he decided; he said to himself: 'Maybe I can sell this.' 'Let's sell.' That is what he said: 'Let's sell my mitzvah, the Torah;' 'I learned something - let's try to sell it to someone.'

13:50 Someone also advised him to go out to the market; he told him: 'Listen, maybe you will succeed - do some bargaining,' 'sell the... come, you will have abundance.' Well, he went in the market and found a certain old man, this man, who was ill but was well-off. He said to him: 'Listen, do you want to buy?' He said: 'Come, buy - I have fulfilled such and such, Torah, mitzvos, this, years upon years.'

14:16 He knew that he was such a [unclear]; he said: 'You are selling everything - are you willing?' He said: 'Yes,' 'bring a document, bring witnesses, bring everything, write that you are transferring all of this, and you give me so-and-so many gold coins.' He took a sum of some 100 gold coins in a sack, a large sum - he sold him all that he had fulfilled, everything he gave him. He was happy, came home, from the gold coins - suddenly he feels like this, wow, suddenly such abundance.

14:45 It was a very large sum. With a few coins one could buy a house, so he took coins, bought himself a nice apartment, and furnishings, and everything, and joy, and he had wealth, and suddenly peace of mind, and he was happy, and all of him happy, and joy, and everything. And then there really came Yom Kippur - Yom Kippur came. He came and so on, and the Rebbe of Apta was giving a sermon in the synagogue.

15:13 The Rebbe of Apta looked at him like this, and called him afterwards. And then he said to him: 'What did you do with your mitzvos?' And he explained to him. He said to him: 'How will you enter these holy days - now Yom Kippur, or Hoshana Rabbah?' 'How - with what will you come?' 'On what will they judge you?' 'How do you face these days - you know, how to face them - you have, as it were, something to go through.'

15:38 'You have seemingly fulfilled nothing; you have no money,' 'here, I come with his money,' which he wanted so much. And then he explained it to him like this; he asked him: 'Tell me, Rav, what - now I really have nothing?' 'Certainly,' he said, 'you have nothing.' He says to him: 'And if I, Heaven forbid,' 'go and so on - what, nothing at all?' He was told: 'Nothing. What - everything, just like that - what do you want? You sold it to him.'

16:06 'Here it is - what, nothing is left to me?' He was told: 'You sold everything?' 'Fine,' he said, 'fine - what is the problem?' 'Now it's Kippur,' 'I'll go to the man, I'll give him half,' 'I'll buy back half as well.' The Rebbe of Apta said: 'All right, do what you want,' he would not interfere with him. He went to the man, to the old man, and said to him: 'Listen, you brought me 100 gold coins,' 'take fifty gold coins,' 'give me half.'

16:33 'What I sold you - give me half.' He said to him: 'What are you talking about?' 'I'm not selling you half.' He said: 'You want half?' 'Bring me the whole sack of the hundred - I'll give you half.' 'He gives me half -' 'give me half for what I sold you - how can you [unclear]?' He said to him: 'What is this? A deal is a deal. One bargains.' 'You want half? Bring a hundred coins,' 'I'll give you half.' He began to cry.

16:59 He said: 'What is this? He values my Torah,' 'mine, more than I valued it.' He really cried. That is, 'bring this half' - he began to argue with him, and he did not agree. After that he said to him: 'You know what?' 'I'm not selling you this half either.' 'For no fortune in the world - this half too I am not willing to sell you.' And then he changed his mind; so he said to him: 'Then give me 10%.' He wanted to start buying a little of the mitzvos from him - a quarter.

17:26 He began to bargain with him until it reached the point that he wanted to give him a tenth of everything he had, and he wanted all the hundred coins in exchange for ten of his merits, a tenth. Ten percent. He began to cry, and Yom Kippur came, now Hoshana Rabbah, all the holy days. He understands that he made a mistake; he did not know what to do, he began to cry.

17:51 He took all that he had, that he somehow managed to gather from what he had. He began to cry, and he came to him and said to him: 'Take,' 'bring me the... write that you give up a tenth of this, of what I sold you - that it is mine.' And he came to the synagogue, came before the Rebbe of Apta, and he began to cry. He stands at the ark crying: 'What have I done?' 'How did I sell one moment of Torah? How could that be?' He began to cry, and cried, and cried and cried - all of Kippur he cried.

18:21 [unclear] Kippur, the Rebbe of Apta did not look at him like this - they let him cry. After that came Sukkos - all of Sukkos he did the mitzvos, everything, like this; he was sad and he was happy. The night of Hoshana Rabbah came. The night of Hoshana Rabbah, the night of the greatest sealing of the year - everything begins with the sealing. This old man passed away to his eternal home.

18:48 The old man was gone. He passed away on the night of Hoshana Rabbah; the old man was gone. That man, immediately felt very great sorrow; he said, that's it, I no longer have, there's no longer anyone to bargain with. No, it's over, the old man is gone, now he is already taking his reward, receiving what he has, nothing is left for me. With the ten percent, that's what he had left; he gave everything.

19:14 And he really began to cry. He went and took care of everything that was there with him, with the deceased, and asked forgiveness, and all that. He comes to the synagogue, and begins to cry on the night of Hoshana Rabbah, the whole of Hoshana Rabbah he just sits and cries. Crying to Hashem. He didn't do this tikkun, didn't do a tikkun. Just crying to Hashem, blessed be He. How much, where he is in the world, and how he did such a thing.

19:41 Until he asked Hashem to forgive him for everything he did, and that he asks forgiveness for everything; he also told Him about this 10%, he said, also what I supposedly gave and did, that too, in truth, I did not do. It is all You who did it. And You decided so, and everything is from You, and everything is Yours, and from today I will value everything I do, and as for me, I will not sell a single mitzvah. And he did; he began doing mitzvos, and then he did netilas yadayim.

20:07 He did it with the greatest joy, and he suddenly said, I am actually turning to the Creator, I lift my eyes to Heaven, I have the privilege to speak to You, as the Ramban, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, explains, that the very privilege we have at all to turn to Hashem, that is the mitzvah, that is the privilege that a Jew is granted at all, to pray to the Holy One, blessed be He; that is the privilege itself, that you thank the Creator for the fact that you have the privilege at all to turn to Him at all, to lift your eyes to Heaven, to speak with Him.

20:35 And then he suddenly began to value it; he said, wow, I turned to the Creator, [unclear], and he made a blessing; then he was suddenly amazed that he made a blessing and that he came to the lulav; then he suddenly said, wow, I [unclear]; he suddenly began to understand that he has no mitzvos, and he is already old, and today is the sealing, so so he suddenly began to stir up amazement at every mitzvah; he began to treasure it. So now, 'I made the blessing, by Whose word all things came to be', so wow, he did it with such amazement.

21:00 And now the taking of the lulav, and now the Torah reading, so he is quiet, he wants to hear the whole Torah reading. So it was the whole of Hoshana Rabbah, and on Simchas Torah he jumped with the Torah scrolls, and [unclear] with every scroll, and everything is the main thing, and the main thing, and the main thing, really, really, really, until the night after Simchas Torah, after he had done everything, with such joy and everything, his friend came to him, the one who at the beginning, when he met him in the beis midrash, said to him, Sell, it's all fine.

21:31 So he said to him, he saw him like this, he said to him, what are you doing, Moshe, you're so happy like this, jumping and all, what? He told him how it was, and then the old man passed away. He said to him, you've already lost, that's it, what do you have to fulfill here? What are you, where, how much have you fulfilled here? 20 mitzvos, 30, how many? Where are you, [unclear], you lost, you no longer have any hope or remedy. He cried so much to Hashem, blessed be He, [unclear], until the Rebbe of Apta, his soul almost left him from sorrow.

22:02 The Rebbe of Apta came in to him in the beis midrash and said to him, The old man who sold to you came to me from Heaven to tell you that not only did you gain, you gained many, many times more than everything you fulfilled, double and redoubled. And then he was frightened. What is this? How can this be? He said to him, from Heaven: you did not value the mitzvos.

22:29 Now you began to value every mitzvah? You began to treasure every mitzvah? The moment you began to treasure every holy thing you do, how much it is something you would not sell for any fortune in the world? Do you understand what this value of holiness and Torah and mitzvos is? Now in Heaven they counted this for you as if it is many times more than what you fulfilled your whole life.

22:54 And that was the great story with him. And so it was, and that tzaddik, that chassid, in the end merited everything from a few things that he was amazed by. So from here you see, you learn, that 'in the measure a person measures, he is measured', that is to say, also, you can interpret this in many ways, but his interpretation was: it is how you value your mitzvah, how much it is worth to you, that is how you too will receive their reward from Heaven; that a person is amazed by the Torah he fulfills, that a person is amazed by something, that a person values this holiness, that a person is amazed that he is present; as you remember, we brought up the Pnei Yehoshua; we are now in the Land of Israel, everyone, thank G-d, here in the Holy Land, we are here in Jerusalem, facing the Beis HaMikdash.

23:39 The Pnei Yehoshua says, to receive the special qualities of the Land, in Kesubos on page 110, in his novellae on the Shas, so this means that to receive the holiness of the Land, to feel the holiness of the Land of Israel, fulfilling it is not one who fulfills the mitzvah of the Land of Israel as a commandment of men learned by rote: that he was born here on this balcony, next to this house, his father works here, the family lives here, he travels around in the Land. No, that is not the way one receives the holiness of the Land.

24:06 The holiness of the Land is that you are amazed, says the Pnei Yehoshua, and that you understand and contemplate: you are in the Land of Israel. You want to receive its special qualities, you want to receive its virtues, not as a commandment of men learned by rote. You need to value and be amazed by every moment that you are here, then you will feel all the blessings. Every person in the Land of Israel dwells without sin, he is like one who has a G-d, all the blessings, [unclear] the World to Come, all the bounty flows down. Why? You value it.

24:35 When a person values it, when a person is amazed by it, when a person contemplates it, then he takes the reward of them all. All the blessings [unclear]. So from here: when you are facing a holy place, you value the holy place, you receive its holiness; you are in the Land of Israel, you are amazed, you feel; you hear one verse from the Torah, you are shaken, you feel; you hear anything, you feel, you rise up, you draw close to Hashem, blessed be He; this is the way to reach the highest level.

25:08 As in the Yerushalmi, in Sanhedrin chapter 10, halachah 1, it says that a person who hears a Torah insight from a small child, from a young child who tells you an insight; a baby comes, a child tells you some insight, it should be in your eyes as if you heard it from the mouth of the Almighty at Mount Sinai, as the Holy One, blessed be He, gave it to you. That is how people need to be; suddenly you will hear anything, you will be shaken, you will see, then you will have a greater recognition.

25:32 Because people, with this, one hears an insight, that's it, he belittles it, he heard a small child; everyone like this is no longer amazed enough by the Torah. No: 'they shall be in your eyes as new.' Each time, to pray anew, to be amazed anew, to renew something in prayer, to feel the renewal, as if we heard it today. Why walk around here in the world with the feeling that we already know who Hashem is? Today a person comes, you tell him, explain to me. Yes, I'll tell you what it is.

25:58 This world here, [unclear], this is what we learn, this is the way, this and that. Everyone comes with some grasp, as if he knows who the Holy One, blessed be He, is. We don't know at all; from this, they also don't value enough the Torah and the mitzvos and the power and the holiness. So if, with Hashem's help, we merit to value this and to be amazed by every word and every utterance and every letter and every blessing, you will see that a person will have everything.

26:24 Everything. I'll tell you something beautiful, also such a beautiful insight, that truly happened with the holy Maggid of Zlotchov, a story of this holy man, that there was someone who was [unclear], and he came to him from several parsas away, a very far place, and somehow got in to him to be blessed by him; the holy Maggid took such a cup, a cup of tea, and blessed, 'Blessed are You ... by Whose word all things came to be,' [unclear], you don't need to speak with me, go home, you have all the good things you want.

26:59 He told him: if a Jew blesses with intention, 'by Whose word all things came to be', he understands what it is, before Whom he is blessing, and what 'by Whose word all things came to be' is, then everything you want, you will have. What do you want? 'By Whose word all things came to be', do you understand what that is? And truly, that man went and [unclear] from everything he needed, from everything there was. Only from this blessing that you say, 'by Whose word all things came to be'. You need to understand this and contemplate it, in the level of faith, in trust, the power and might of our Master, the Creator, blessed be He.

27:31 May it be His will that, with Hashem's help, we all merit to understand this, to contemplate it, to the level of faith, to trust in Him, blessed be He, to salvations, miracles and wonders, and to be amazed by every moment in Torah, and to feel the holiness, with joy, with hope, and that we have good lives and good tidings and salvations. And now let's see, we'll say Kaddish, and now let's see how, with Hashem's help, we'll prepare the Tikkun; regarding the prayer times, with Hashem's help: five-fifteen.

28:04 With Hashem's help, I believe people will already gather here from four o'clock. People will already gather here; with Hashem's help they will prepare themselves. The prayer will be, with Hashem's help, at sunrise. With Hashem's help, maybe we'll move it a little earlier. It is possible to move it a little before sunrise, according to the Mishnah Berurah in siman 89. [unclear] Berachos, page 30, [unclear]; people pray a little earlier; the Pri Megadim [unclear] that it is possible, a little bit to move it by a few minutes.

28:29 It is possible, about ten minutes, to move the Amidah earlier, it's not terrible, but let's see, with Hashem's help; it will be hard for people, that is what the problem will be, with Hashem's help. - The Rav said that one comes to renewal, but how does a person whose whole life is set in all kinds of thoughts and [unclear], how does he come to renewal? A person is, by a commandment of men learned by rote, the evil inclination bothers him all the time; he gets to the Shemoneh Esreh, suddenly he thinks about all kinds of things he didn't think about all day.

29:02 How does he come to renewal? How does he come to the service of Hashem, so that he truly comes to what the Rav spoke about? First of all, the Tur in siman 98 writes that when a stray thought comes to a person, he should immediately be silent. That is advice. The Shulchan HaTahor of Rabbi Yitzchak Eizik Yehudah Yechiel Safrin of Komarna also writes, in siman 98, concerning prayer, that so we have received from our fathers: any person who thinks about his business and his affairs at the time of his prayer, his plans will not come about; he will not succeed in anything.

29:31 As in the story of the chassid in Tractate Shabbos, on page 150b, about that man who thought of carrying out a plan on Shabbos and did not carry it out; immediately it succeeded for him, [unclear] the help of Heaven, blessed be He. A person who thinks like this on Shabbos, it did not succeed for him; this is out of stringency and piety, because in the Beis Yosef, in siman 307, regarding forbidden speech on Shabbos and labor, he did not mention the matter of thought. This implies that according to the plain meaning there is no problem with it, yes; but according to the hidden teaching it is forbidden even to think at all a thought of forbidden labor.

30:05 That is to say, when a person thinks a thought of forbidden labor, of forbidden labor, Heaven forbid, to do something, according to the hidden teaching it is, as it were, as if he did it. And if you remember, the Sfas Emes of Gur explained why, in fact, when Tishah B'Av falls on Shabbos, we push it off, so that it does not fall on Shabbos; we don't fast and don't mourn. It is pushed off to Motzaei Shabbos. What is the reason? That is to say, if the Jewish people cry over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash on Shabbos, they transgress the labor of building.

30:33 Because the tears and the weeping would be the labor of building. They would think, they would cry over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash on Shabbos. That is building, because how is the Beis HaMikdash built? What? The tears. What? The prayers. We would transgress the labor of building. So it is impossible. Therefore it is pushed off from Shabbos, always to Motzaei Shabbos, so that Tishah B'Av never falls on Shabbos; we push it off. The Jewish people would cry, would sit, the labor of building on Shabbos; we don't want that. So therefore, the simple way is always that a person should pray to the Holy One, blessed be He. This too he should tell Hashem.

31:01 If I want renewal, I want to say, tell me, Master of the World, renew me, give me strength, let me be renewed, let me value, let me rejoice in it; understand the musings of my heart. That is the bond of a Jew: prayer, the ability to speak with Hashem as with a father. Everything you need, to ask of Him, blessed be He, to turn to [unclear], to pray; that is what prayer is for. Prayer: one doesn't need to ask for livelihood and children; and it is written on page 22 and Tikkun 6, 'Give me, give me children, life and sustenance.'

31:32 One doesn't ask for that; that is what prayer comes for. Rather the opposite: I saw in Tzava'as HaRivash, of Rabbi [unclear], he writes, 'Cast your way upon Hashem, and trust in Him, and He will act'; he explains these words. He says that, on the contrary, a person who trusts in Hashem, 'he who trusts in Hashem, kindness surrounds him', he says, should trust in Hashem about spiritual things, not about physical things; on the contrary, Hashem will not give it to him, he says, in physical things.

31:56 Trust in Hashem that you will finish the Shas several times, trust in Hashem that He will give you trust, trust in Hashem that He will give you faith in Hashem, blessed be He, trust in Hashem that He will give you prayer and intention, trust in Hashem that He will give you renewal. But what do people trust in Hashem for? They use trust for this: that tomorrow they won't evict him from the apartment; he trusts in Hashem that at the end of the year he'll have money to pay rent; he trusts in Hashem, that is the trait of trust, for the grocery store.

32:23 Who uses the trait of trust for the grocery store? He says, not at all! On the contrary, He will not give to him, he writes. Trust in Hashem for... what does he say? For [unclear]: trust in Hashem that you will have a renewal like none that ever was and none that ever will be. Trust in Hashem that He will give you strength. Trust in Hashem that you will have strength; you will be, 'He gives strength to the weary, and to the powerless He increases might'; you will have strength, you will be able to be awake all night and all day and all night and all day, you'll sleep an hour and a half, you'll have strength from Heaven, and in this, trust in Hashem.

32:56 This is called the trait of trust, he says: not to use the trait of trust for groceries, for that is not what one trusts in Hashem for, an apartment and things like that; one trusts in Hashem about great and lofty spiritual matters, and after that, it will be; this is the main thing for the trait of trust; it is a tremendous thing, one uses it for the main thing, not for the trivial. One doesn't say about trust, trust in this for the sake of that; it is a disgrace to say that.

33:22 So if you do this, with Hashem's help, we'll trust in Hashem like this; with Hashem's help it will be; let's trust in Hashem that we succeed in all these matters, that we be attached to Him, [unclear], help from Heaven, closeness to Him, blessed be He, and [unclear], with Hashem's help. This was the essence of Simchas Beis HaShoevah: after all, they barely slept. And I see here that with the Rav, I'm telling you, they also finish late, and thank G-d [unclear], so there also isn't much time; but in itself there are the powers of the spiritual things around, which surround us, which give us strength to do the service of Hashem, amen; with Hashem's help all this is in the merit; we aspire, and all the time we hear the Rav's words, it gives us very, very much.

34:09 It is as if it comes from Sinai; these words come like that. The Shechinah speaks here; we feel the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, we feel the Chasan Torah, we feel the holiness, and I think the whole congregation and the whole world truly want, have a yearning, to hear all the Rav's words, because these are pure words, holy, true, which one doesn't attain in other places; and not, Heaven forbid, that I... sometimes I come and I ask, perhaps at all.

34:39 With all respect to the Rav, I shouldn't even have opened my mouth, I should have stood at attention, but on the other hand we so want and aspire and hear the holiness, these words, and it simply lights up the world. - Amen, yasher koach. Thank you for your words of encouragement, Rav [unclear]. We must. What is it? In principle, to intend: 'Let the year end with its curses,' 'let the year begin with its blessings,' to do teshuvah, as that is the most important thing, the teshuvah, at a new beginning, to do complete teshuvah, with thoughts of teshuvah before Hashem, to be clean; so wrote the Rebbe of Chernobyl, Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl.

35:25 That is the son, Rebbe Mordechai, in Likkutei Torah, that this is the main intention: to truly do teshuvah; we go in to immerse, to do teshuvah, 'let the year end with its curses,' 'let the year begin with its blessings,' to intend this truly, truly, for a new beginning, and that's it, that's enough. Of course, to be purified from all impurity, to receive purity, these are the simple things one needs to intend. The other things are for people who are more advanced.

35:51 One can take the kuntres, what there is about the intentions of the mikveh, which I wrote. More than that isn't needed; that's enough. Can one say it about this? Yes, one can intend it, yes. As the Chazon Ish said, that [unclear] the tithes, with the intention of what is written in the siddur: 'Terumos and maasros have been separated.' The Chazon Ish said that this helps. So one can also intend in this way too. Okay, what is it, tzaddik?

36:39 Let me make the question precise, if I understood correctly. When a person stands in a test, what are the blessings he merits? And what do they say about him in Heaven? That... So look, in principle, in guarding the eyes, for example, yes? In guarding the eyes there are a few important things one needs to know. When we speak about holiness, speak about the holiness of the eyes, there are levels in this.

37:08 But it is written in the Torah, 'And you shall not stray after your hearts and after your eyes.' The Torah did not say in the verse: don't see, don't look, don't gaze. It says, 'Do not stray after your hearts and after your eyes.' What does this say? That it starts from the heart, that the inclination desires, and then a person turns his eyes. That is to say, a first sight, when a person also saw something, it doesn't leave an impression like when a person goes back and does it again and looks a second time. For that a person is judged.

37:36 When a person gazes at a thing, it immediately harms his soul. And if he gazes a second time, then the prohibition is - the blemish actually begins more from the heart. And this is 'and you shall not stray after your heart and after your eyes.' Do you understand what I mean? Ah, okay.

38:05 And then, when a person guards his eyes like this, then they say: 'Your eyes shall behold the King in His beauty; he shall dwell on high,' about this it is said of Yosef the tzaddik: 'Yosef is a fruitful son, a fruitful son by a fountain (alei ayin).' Do not read 'alei ayin' but 'olei ayin' (rising above the eye) - that Yosef the tzaddik rises and is raised above all the eyes in the world. All the eyes in the world cannot harm him. He rises and is raised above all the eyes in the world. Why? He rises and is included in the eyes of the Supreme Hashgachah.

38:32 The secret of guarding the eyes: the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself watches over him, and whoever touches him is like one who touches the apple of His eye. It is promised that he will be a king, and will be holy and great, and his prayer and his blessing... And also the pillar of truth, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, said: 'And you shall not stray' 'after your heart and after your eyes, after which you go astray - so that you will remember.' He is promised that he will have memory in Torah. He will remember his Torah, because this is 'and you shall not stray after your heart and after your eyes, after which you go astray - so that you will remember.'

38:59 In this merit you will have memory in Torah. He will merit to remember the Torah. He will have great benefit; he will have closeness to Hashem, blessed be He. And there are many, many, many more virtues in this, which the Sages learned in Tractate Sotah, page 9b, page 10a: that Shimshon went after his eyes, therefore the Philistines gouged out his eyes, and these things that are not good. And in the end, if you go after knowledge, after the Torah, you will see that you will rise and be elevated above all of this world, and you will merit to behold the pleasantness of Hashem and to visit in His sanctuary.

39:32 That is the question. - It is really important that a person read something small and be shaken by it. Yes, right. We need to read everything, according to the words of the Arizal. Is it better that a person read it - let's say, for example, one portion - and contemplate it, or should he prefer to go through it all? - In Tractate Avodah Zarah, page 19, the Gemara says: 'A person should always go over his learning, even if he does not know what it says, as it says: My soul is crushed (garsah) with longing.'

40:12 That a person should go through it, whether he understands or whether he doesn't understand, he should go through the Torah - the main thing is that he goes through it. But the meaning of the words is not that a person should grab a book and start reading and going through it like this, in such a way. The meaning of 'going through' - the meaning is that a person should study Torah and keep moving forward, and not that a person should stop at something. If a person stops now, he will slack off, forget, go back. The meaning of 'going through' - the meaning is that a person begins to reach a state like an engine that warms up and brings him benefit, until he is stirred and draws close to the Holy One, blessed be He.

40:45 So first of all, you need to know what the intention is. If a person says to himself, 'I will read, I will read just one portion with intention and I will contemplate it, but then I will read another thing, and another thing, and another thing, and more, and that is what will draw me, and I will be awake all night' - that is the benefit. No problem, that's excellent. But if you say, 'Let's go through it all so we can go to sleep,' then certainly not.

41:14 Like, that is to say: what is the goal you want? Everything follows the goal. If you want to do it in order to get rid of it and go through it, in order to be done with it quickly and then go rest a little - 'Let's finish with it so we can go'? 'Sit and do nothing' is better. That is not how words of Torah are done. Words of Torah - 'The words of the wise are heard when spoken gently' - all the more so words that are from the mouth of the Almighty. This is the Sfas Emes of Gur, who would read all of Tehillim.

41:40 Someone came before him who had read all of Tehillim, so he saw him; he told him that he is accustomed to read all of Tehillim, he [unclear] it several times. So he said to him, 'How fortunate you are,' he said, 'when I read one chapter my head hurts.' I have not managed to read it. You know, from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur it is customary to read Tehillim several times. It is customary to finish all of Tehillim two or three times, in Chabad and all over. I, until now - from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, now - now we are already in Sukkos - I am only at chapter 6.

42:13 I read it slowly. Did you hear? Okay. And not because I haven't had time yet to read - it seems to me Tehillim is a book I have hardly finished at all, Tehillim. Because I read it slowly, slowly, contemplating every verse, and suddenly - wow, what words: 'Be gracious to me, Hashem,' 'Heal me, Hashem,' [unclear], 'Do not forsake me,' 'do not forget me forever,' 'How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul,' 'sorrow in my heart by day' - what words, what...

42:43 How is it possible to go through this at all - this book, I don't know. So all the more so [unclear]. So the main thing is to read with a settled mind, calmly, serenely, without pressure, without panic, without craziness, slowly, slowly, with a settled mind - read, [unclear], each one with his own strength, with his own intention, with his own ability, 'and the children shall return to their own border,' [unclear]. The main thing is to rejoice, to feel vitality and enthusiasm - that is the true Tikkun.

43:14 Trying to keep tight to the times, and to panic, and to choke, and to feel in some kind of race - that is not the way of Torah. That is how you can read a mathematics book. If you want to read that - fine, read fast and so on. But Torah is read with a settled mind, calmly, with contemplation. You can move forward, feel good, pray; you can also read it quickly - reading it is not the problem, going through it and all - but with enthusiasm.

43:39 The main thing is the intention of the heart, the enthusiasm, the joy in it, not to feel these things as a burden and pressure - just let it be over, and go to sleep. So if a person wants to read a little, he will learn, he will read Tehillim, he will be stirred, and he will look at stories, and learn some Gemara, or Mishnah; he has an order, and he wants to pray to Him, blessed be He, he wants to be occupied with Hashem - that is his whole goal - that is fine. Our master the Arizal would also be happy with this. Our master the Arizal, all in all, wanted - in his perceptions, he grasped that we should occupy ourselves with Torah, that we not come to idleness.

44:18 In the end, a person who goes to sleep too - in the end he would sit outside and speak idle words. It is like the same thing: there is no difference between a person asleep and a person who is awake and speaking idle words. So if the goal is to go through it in order to just waste time afterwards, no way, don't do that. Better that you read one portion, and read a few chapters of Tehillim, and read this, just stay awake, and occupy yourself with Torah, and pray, and go into solitude with Him, blessed be He.

44:44 That is the goal: stay awake, and understand the day of judgment, and serve Hashem calmly, pray, attain the lights in a settled way. That is how one must serve Hashem. With a settled mind, none of it - without panic, and trembling, and tumult, and bewilderment, and craziness. everything with a settled mind, calmly, gently, with patience, pleasantly, calmly, with wonder.

45:09 I also don't want to burden you, because it is also cold for people - it's cold here too, this is Jerusalem, we are not in the center, where they still have air conditioners in the sukkah. You are here; you are cold here, very cold. So with Hashem's help, we - each one will continue at his own pace, wherever you are up to in the book. There are some who have already read half of the book of Devarim, and now they - so each one will start reading, since some also want to read a little and continue.

45:38 Read according to your strength, according to your own order. I won't do it now and force it on everyone - that is a bit hard. So do - whatever you want, with Hashem's help, do it. Each one will do it, with Hashem's help. We will read the Tikkun - read, with Hashem's help. And also five hakafos. I, baruch Hashem, am here - I'm here, going, coming back, walking around, also reading what is needed.

46:03 And that's it. - Rabbi, the schedule of the yeshivos, the kollelim, is very [unclear]. What does that mean? There is one who needs to sleep more, another less; there is one who likes [unclear], there is one who likes [unclear], there is one who has none of this. But here it is one mold, it is a machine, which the fathers of the world created, the great ones of the world and the fathers of the yeshivos. And really, whoever does not fit, many times he is [unclear] and goes out to the street.

46:33 On the other hand, what the Rav says: that each one according to his strength, each one according to his understanding, each one according to his feeling, each one according to his own things - so this thing works, but it doesn't work. - Yes, but you need to know how to understand. If I spoke about something, I spoke about that moment, now. I spoke now about Simchas Torah, about now, Hoshana Rabbah: how one should behave toward this night, this moment, this hour, this day, and the hour - ten to 11.

47:10 I did not say it as a general practice now, that if it comes to you now - tomorrow morning - to learn this or this or this, one must learn [unclear] and in order, and be organized, and go through the Torah, and learn, and learn as much as possible, and of course toil in Torah. And this way is a blessed way; it is a way that guarded our Torah and our fathers. But for this there are mashgichim.

47:36 Here I would rather turn to the mashgichim: how the mashgichim can understand the soul of each child and know how to give him the right balance. This is more work for the mashgichim, and the mashgiach will know how to work with the souls, so that they will learn and keep standing firm. But the way is the toil of Torah, 'and man is born to toil' - either the toil of making a living or the toil of Torah. In the end a person will have either the yoke of making a living or the yoke of Torah - either this toil or that toil; he must toil.

48:05 It is just that, you know, in the times of the sealing, in the times of Rosh Hashanah, of Yom Kippur, of Hoshana Rabbah - these are very tense times. And a person also has a little fear: whether they take him into account in Heaven; he knows he is being judged, he knows that this has consequences. So a person needs to feel the King, turning to his lawyer - the Creator is our lawyer. Hashem, blessed be He, is the One who defends us; He is the One who...

48:31 We want the connection to Him; we want the connection to be good and pure, and we did not come, on this day and at this time, to show our strength and our wisdom before Hashem. It is a day that needs responsibility and a settled mind, and knowing how to serve, and how to turn to Hashem, and how to pray. So that is why the answer was on this subject. If you are asking about the way of learning, and the order of learning, and guidelines and rules and boundaries, and how to cope, and so on - that, with Hashem's help, is another shiur in itself, which I will give you, with Hashem's help, as you will want to hear.

49:06 But you know my opinions, how conservative they are and all. Baruch Hashem, there are such Torah scholars here, it did not come to them from... Baruch Hashem, there are holy and pure students here, Torah scholars. No, there is no need. - Rabbi, there is a Ramban on the mitzvah of sending away the mother bird.

49:35 There is something there very connected to Sukkos. May I ask? In the explanation, he says: 'You shall surely send away the mother, and the young you may take for yourself' - 'and the young you may take for yourself' - these are the seven days of Sukkos. - Rabbi [unclear], did you mention this? Basically, 'You shall surely send away the mother, and the young you may take for yourself.'

50:01 Did you see it? You didn't bring it. So what - what, like, I didn't understand: what didn't you understand? - What is the connection between sh... and the days of Sukkos? - I will explain. Basically, the whole matter of the mitzvah of sending away the mother bird, if you look - you surely also understand that on Sukkos we also look like the sending away of the mother bird, right?

50:28 We resemble the sending away of the mother bird, where the mother is crouching over the chicks, right? And the Shechinah nests over us here in the sukkah. The Ramban comes to explain that, as in this mitzvah of sending away the mother bird, which we actually come to see revealed in Tractate Chullin, page 139, which says that it is a mitzvah of length of days, and there, about that one who also went up and did not fulfil the mitzvah of honoring father and mother - that is to say, the virtue of this mitzvah of sending away the mother bird is that it brings the Jewish people to the greatest closeness, for the dove comes and brings her pain before the Holy One, blessed be He, saying: 'What about my children?

51:04 What about my children?' As if: my children... And the mitzvah of sending away the mother bird - it is as if we are now inside the sukkah for seven days. And this Shechinah, the mother, is simply above us, sitting over us for seven days, and we are truly the closest to her; we are really inside the s'chach, inside the nest. That is what the Ramban mentions, and this closeness is very great. And as soon as we go out of the sukkah, after the seven days, we, as it were - that is the sending away, that is Shemini Atzeres, that is Simchas Torah, that is the enormous joy that bursts out and rises.

51:35 [unclear], that is the Rambam. [unclear] - come on, good. Good, tzaddikim, so may everyone have good tidings, Amen, a good life, salvations, miracles and wonders, protection and safeguarding, and continue to... What did you want, tzaddik? The last one. - Like, as he goes along, a person can know his path in the service of Hashem only by drawing close to a Rav [unclear], who will give you guidance and lead you on the right path.

52:05 Right - 'all the rivers'... - Look, you feel you belong more to [unclear]. Look, there is no fixed rule in this. The Torah is one, the tzaddikim are one, one people, and the Holy One, blessed be He, is One. In the end, the way is to draw close to Hashem. And the mitzvos - 'do' and 'do not do' - you have to keep them, right?

52:33 And you need to know how to guard the Torah and fulfil it - that is the main thing. Baruch Hashem, to guard the Shulchan Aruch - that is the most important. Not to move, not right and not left; to guard the halachah. Chassidus, a path of hashkafah, can come after that to give you the diamonds, the joy, the light, and the way, and the hope. But the main thing, first of all, you need to know, is not to move right or left from the Shulchan Aruch.

53:00 To guard the halachah, to keep the halachah completely. Times come - festivals, Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, Yom Kippur, Sukkos, Pesach - you keep the Torah, the light as the weighty. Every mitzvah you keep, you fulfil it plainly, you know that you, baruch Hashem, are walking on the good path. After that, you want to walk in a path of hashkafah - choose for yourself. Learn this, learn this, learn this. See where you connect more, where your heart leans more, and go after that. But if you want to know that you are walking in the way of Hashem - Rabbi Meshulam Feivush of Zbarazh writes in his book Yosher Divrei Emes, at the beginning.

53:36 He says that halachah comes from the word 'halichah' (walking). When you learn the halachah, you already know: Shabbos comes - how to behave, how to behave; washing of the hands comes - the way to wash the hands; the festivals come, Chol HaMoed comes - you know, the laws of Chol HaMoed, what is permitted, what is forbidden; there are things that are forbidden to do on Chol HaMoed. So you simply know; you walk, you walk in the way of Hashem, you walk on the right path, and then you can know that you, baruch Hashem, are walking on the good path, walking on the straight path, walking on the right path, and the Holy One, baruch Hashem, hears you.

54:09 From here on, baruch Hashem, if you want more hashkafos and more knowledge and all, make yourself a Rav who will strengthen you. Mainly, the simplest rule: whatever brings you closer to Hashem, blessed be He, run to it; and whatever distances you from Hashem, blessed be He, run away from it. That's it. It brings you closer to Hashem - run to Hashem, blessed be He. This is the most important, because in this world one needs only to run to Hashem, blessed be He.

54:35 So may we all have good tidings, a good year, a good life, a good sealing, good tidings, a good verdict note, salvations and miracles and wonders. Yes, tzaddik? - I sat with [unclear] when he was alive, I said to him, 'Why didn't you [unclear] my hand here?' And until today I am in dreams.

55:06 He said to me, '[unclear] go to Rabbi [unclear].' - May you have siyata dishmaya, protection and safeguarding, a good life, good tidings.