The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-מהי דרך הנכונה ללימוד התורה - שו＂ת מרתק עם הגאון הינוקא

2:51 You'd see a person and see only the fur, the mask he has on his face. And that is seeing just one. Now think: millions more like that are surrounding Jerusalem, and King Chizkiyahu goes up to the roof and looks right and left — he sees torches, and amid the torches he sees a tiger, he sees a wolf, he sees the multitude of Sancheriv's army surrounding Jerusalem. How do you defeat such an army? What does he do, do you know?

3:15 He goes to sleep! He goes to sleep. "I am not the one who will fight. The Holy One, blessed be He, is here." That is "Hashem will fight for you, and you shall be silent." "You shall be silent" — be silent, be still. If we truly merited, we would see those miracles. But today we do see them — maybe not at that level. But at the very least one must know, when going out to war, this awareness: that the Holy One, blessed be He — He is the One doing it in the wars. Shimon HaTzaddik would go and fight for the Jewish people. You see? His image would go into battle. He does the whole war.

3:49 And the holy tzaddikim — you must always bind yourself to the sages and the holy ones, and believe in the Holy One, blessed be He. To trust in Hashem — "Commit your way to Hashem; trust in Him, and He will act." And to believe that only Hashem, blessed be He, wages the whole war. "You shall remember Hashem your G-d, for it is He who gives you the strength to do valiantly." It is forbidden to be afraid when going out to war — that too is a matter in its own right. Rather, be strong and attached to Hashem, and know that He works all the powers — everything — and you come out of it in peace.

4:16 And that, with Hashem's help, will give protection and defense. And Heaven forbid, Heaven forbid, Heaven forbid to say "my strength and the might of my hand" — not even a trace of it. Be strong, and let your hearts take courage. Thank you very much, my sweet one. Protection and defense — and take my blessing too: an abundance of salvations and good tidings, good tidings... good tidings, salvations, miracles and wonders. Come back in teshuvah.

4:43 Come back in teshuvah. - Wait... Little by little by little. Just about the saying of the Torah — if a person is tired anyway, does he gain anything from just saying the letters of the Torah? Can it be, for him — is there some share of holiness in it, for a certain time? Right. In Avodah Zarah, page 19, the Gemara says: "A person should always recite his learning, even though he does not know what he is saying, as it says: 'My soul is crushed with longing.'" When a person learns words of Torah, there is already a certain radiance in it.

5:11 But a person is learning now, he doesn't understand — he learns, he moves ahead, as far as he gets. - But it's a bit... Is there holiness in it? Is there something? - There is, certainly; there's holiness in it. - But Rabbi Nachman of Breslov says that the language of the Zohar is so holy that it can... And Shas, Mishnayos? I'll tell your honor what I think. I once explained why today, in our generation, it's not worthwhile to learn by girsa — just reciting the words. Why? Our holy Rebbe, Rabbi Nachman, may his merit protect us — in his generation — there is a difference between what was in his generation and our generation. In his generation there were very holy people; they were tzaddikim. They would marry at the age of — he'd marry around the age of putting on tefillin.

5:46 The rest of their days they sat and learned. They would recite, and they understood 70% of what they recited — that's certain. They knew Torah, they knew Aramaic. And what they didn't know, didn't understand — he would recite it. Still, a person understood — if not 100%, he understood 70%. Not 70%, then 60%. Didn't understand 60%, he understood 50%. In his generation, that's certain. Today, in our generation, give a person girsa to do — ninety percent of the learning, ninety percent he doesn't understand; ninety percent, he understands nothing. You recited for two hours now, you got up — what did you learn?

6:13 What did you understand? What he meant there was to tell a person: move ahead in your learning, even though you don't understand. - That's "even though he doesn't know what he is saying." Rashi: that means some percentage of understanding. - Exactly. He meant that a person should move ahead. That was the purpose of what he said — it was to say: Move ahead, even with mistakes; don't stop — even if you have no clarity of mind, you have no strength — just move ahead. That was his intent. Is that how the Rav learned, too? I don't learn by girsa.

6:37 - No? Forty percent, sometimes fifty percent? - No. It's always... - Tehillim too. - Tehillim too? Tehillim too, yes. Even though there is value in finishing the book of Tehillim, it's... Because the whole purpose — the whole purpose, when you're learning, say, Mishnah: instead of learning eighteen chapters of Mishnayos by girsa, it's better to learn nine — half of that — with understanding, with a commentary.

7:03 And what kind of understanding does the Rav mean? Understanding where a person understands — understands. Understands. He understands; he understands what he read. Not to say, "Listen, I understood nothing, but I made progress." No. Learn the Gemara, understand it. All this learning of two pages, like that, quickly and without understanding — read one page, with understanding; read one page with understanding — understand what you learned. There's no pressure. We're no longer in Egypt, with Pharaoh over our heads.

7:29 One should enjoy the Torah, enjoy the chapter. Read it again. The Maharam Schick would review his learning forty times. The Maharam Schick. Today, our generation... That was 150 years ago. So what do you expect? But there's the matter of having no patience; it's not... - Right. You know why? It comes from our panic. People here want it fast. "Let the work be heavier" — you have to understand — "let the work be heavier." It feels as if we're still in Egypt. No. One has to learn Torah, learn Mishnah, learn Gemara, and halachah — learn slowly, calmly. Stop the learning by girsa and reading all sorts of long things and all that — no, there's no need for it, no need at all. - How can one get there? Is there some advice for reaching that point of learning calmly, in depth,

8:12 out of closeness...? - It's only patience. - I don't know. But isn't there some starting point of avodah for it — hisbodedus, learning mussar? - First of all, hisbodedus — that, yes. Hisbodedus. And what is the point in the hisbodedus? - Asking for this, or is there...? - Asking of the Holy One, blessed be He; telling Him, pouring out your whole heart before Him, telling Him: "Grant me to learn, grant me to pray before You, to pour out my heart before You. You see everything I'm going through — look at my point, where I'm at, where I am in the world, Master of the world" — really lay out your whole heart. And try to connect, to search for something in the Torah. You know, we say — each one of us says: "Grant us our portion in Your Torah."

8:46 "Grant us our portion" — each one of us has a portion in the Torah. Take a Jew now, bring him close — leave Tractate Yevamos aside for him. That's not his portion right now. His portion will be there — but for now, give him "the chapter of the pious," in Tractate Taanis. Give him the chapter of the pious. Give him something that will draw him close; give him Tractate Berachos to learn. And not Tractate Shabbos? We need to know our portion in the Torah. What happens today? They take people to a place where they are not holding, which is not their portion, and put them in a portion that isn't theirs, and then a person says: "Listen, this doesn't speak to me; it does nothing for me."

9:19 - Give someone like that even Midrash — he's far away. - Ein Yaakov. Ein Yaakov, exactly. And then what happens? The person will find himself. He'll run and climb: "Listen, I want more; this isn't enough, I want more. Listen, this is easy for me." "Then come, move on to Yevamos." But when will a person take it in? When you give him his portion. What happens today? People are given a portion that isn't theirs. It happened to me, Rav, when I did teshuvah — with Tosafos. They pushed us to learn Tosafos, and it left me with a scar for a good few years.

9:47 - Right. Instead of it bringing sweetness and understanding of the Torah. - How does one know what the portion is, Rav? - What? - How do you know what your portion is? The portion? As I see it: first of all, you start learning. You start learning, you connect, you learn with a settled mind, calmly — which in my view is important. To enjoy every moment; to enjoy just the looking — it's a privilege just to look at the Gemara. What a privilege you have, to see this form — this form of Rashi and Tosafos — just to look at this page.

10:14 Even its very shape is ancient; its shape is holy. Just gazing at a page of Gemara rectifies the mind, rectifies the brain, the soul of a person. - Does the Rav enjoy Ein Yaakov the way he enjoys Yevamos? Ein Yaakov, say? - I enjoy even children's stories about tzaddikim. - Thank you very much. - I enjoy... I enjoy Yevamos — everything. Everything has a revelation of G-dliness in it. We need to know how to see, to seek and to find the revelation of G-dliness even in the smallest things. That is da'as — to contemplate. Rav Chana Bagdasa'ah — he's called Rav Chana Bagdasa'ah. Why is he called that? He is the one who said, "Blessed is He who gave you to us alive and did not give you to the dust."

10:49 He is called Bagdasa'ah because he was from the city of Baghdad — Baghdad — but also because of the... his Aggadah — that is what it means: "Agadata," the Aggadah. That is to say, you also have to know how to see, sometimes, the Aggadah — to know how to learn it, to know how to understand. Sometimes... that is what the commentator said about Rav Chana Bagdasa'ah. That's mochin d'katnus — a constricted state of mind — no? - What's that? - What you said about setting an order — that's mochin d'katnus.

11:15 Yes, there is. Look, sometimes there is. There are times when we are in mochin d'katnus. Sometimes we are in mochin d'gadlus, an expanded mind. Each time a person is in a different place. At times one serves Him this way, at times one serves Him that way. You know, I'll tell you something beautiful. There was once a sefer — I don't think it has appeared again to this day; maybe it has — the sefer Tikkun HaDerech. An old sefer, from some 170 years ago — not that much, not more; something like that.

11:44 And he says there — he writes: when a person sometimes suddenly finds himself thrown onto some hard path, let him not lose heart over it. Rather, sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He, wants to be served in this way, and sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He, wants to be served in that way. Suddenly — sometimes a person has a day like this: he got up in the morning at sunrise, immersed in the mikveh, came up, prayed with kavanah, learned three pages of Gemara. Suddenly he was full of light — he learned the Gemara, three pages; he was uplifted, in an exalted state; he learned mussar, did hisbodedus, Mishnayos, wrote chiddushim.

12:21 The next day he said, "I'll go on the same way," and so on. Instead of getting up at sunrise, he got up late. He didn't make it. Then there was the mikveh — he came to the mikveh, and the mikveh was closed. He went to start the car to get to davening — the car got stuck in the middle of the road. Now what does he think? That this day — that's it, it's no longer a successful day. "This isn't what we worked for. We worked — and that's it, it's not the same day anymore." But if he knew, and searched — "On a day of good, be in goodness; and on a day of bad, see" — on such a day too, search for where the revelation of G-dliness is hiding, in the hard times, in this obstacle, in this difficulty that holds you back. Hidden in it is a great light that you cannot grasp.

12:57 I won't say his name, but there was one of the holy tzaddikim, the disciples of the holy Baal Shem Tov, who once made a she'eilas chalom — a dream question — to Heaven, to know which day was the most beloved in Heaven, to the Holy One, blessed be He, so that he would know to emulate that very day all his life. That's the kind of request he made. As with the questions from Heaven — Rabbi Yaakov of Marvège, in the Responsa from Heaven, wanted to know the halachah, what one should do. You can't rule halachah that way — but one already learns from it the value and the importance of all kinds of things.

13:26 So this is what he wanted to know. Now, with a dream question — when do you make a dream question? When the stars come out — that is the time for a dream question. So, to receive an answer from Heaven, the exact time is when the stars come out. From when the stars come out. You don't do it at 12, one, two at night. - All kinds, Rav? All kinds of dream questions? It depends. For example, if a person wants a dream question, he needs to be in a ta'anis dibbur — a fast from speech — the whole day; and it's recommended to pray for three days in a fast from speech, and to withdraw from people and not speak with them. The more he withdraws from people and doesn't speak with them, secluding himself, the more precise the answer will be

13:59 and the closer to the truth. But one has to know how to do it, and how much... Do you ask plainly? Do you just ask the question plainly? - Yes. There are levels in this. - Without holy Names or anything? No, there are a few Names that are worth using, but that goes up in levels. There were tzaddikim who would ask the question and would be answered from Heaven with a reply on a note. All kinds of things. There was one who had such a note from Heaven, very many times. What?

14:24 ...if a person fell in such a way... - Wait — the Baal Shem Tov? From Heaven? From Heaven — everything from Heaven. How does the Rav explain these sefarim? Is it written like that in some sefarim? "Though I have fallen, I have risen..." — there's the story of Rabbi... Rabbi Yonasan Eybeschutz was once walking with a priest who was talking with him, and just then a Jew passed by and fell. So the priest said to the Rabbi: "He's a Jew — and he fell." Rabbi Yonasan said: "Perhaps — because he is a Jew, he gets up."

14:50 You understand? Since he is a Jew, he gets up. The strength, the might and the courage is to rise up from the place where a person fell. That is not the Jewish people's place. "In that day the sin of Israel will be sought, and it is not there." No sin at all belongs to the Jewish people. The Jewish people are holy; they are the greatest souls. They are the greatest souls — only, we exist as bodies, formed of matter, existing in physicality.

15:15 So it seems to us that we are coarse and physical, and the farthest away. There is a difference between the animal soul and the G-dly soul. You have to understand that our soul is exalted above this whole world; we are the most holy and pure. One has to work on this — in emunah, and in the vessels too. The dream — the dream of that disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, the dream question, yes. So he made his question. He said: "I'll find out from Heaven which day was the most beloved to the Holy One, blessed be He, and I will emulate that day."

15:45 He would emulate that day. And in Heaven they answer his question — and they answer a little each time, a little, according to how much you probe, as it were. One time they'll answer you — say, they might let you know a certain month. You have to ask for more each time, as it were. It can be that it comes out clear right away. Each one according to his level. I'm no expert in dream questions, or in having done it, but... it involves clarifications. - You know, that's how it is. That's it. - The Rav doesn't sleep.

16:10 The Rav doesn't sleep... By the Kaf HaChaim it comes to two and a half hours — the bedtime Shema. I'm looking — it's in siman 239, one of the... Most people don't go by that practice, right? So that's two and a half hours. And how long is Tikkun Chatzos? Yes, I want... The bedtime Shema with the kavanos, with all of those... Rav, after the geulah, will the prayers change? The main thing — someone once said... someone said to Rabbi Nosson, he said to him: "I dreamed this, I dreamed that, I dreamed such-and-such." He said to him, "What does it mean?"

16:38 He answered: "What does it mean? That you sleep a lot." The main thing isn't... The main thing isn't what happens while you sleep; the main thing is how you are in reality. - But what about my question? - Rav, the Gemara — I can't manage to open it. Really. Not even five minutes. Tell me now to haul blocks to build a building — it would be easier for me. Five minutes of Gemara and I'm done. Once again — Tractate Berachos, page 18a: "If you read it, you did not review it; if you reviewed it, you did not go over it a third time; if you did a third time, they did not explain it to you."

17:09 It's exactly the same thing; that's the problem. The Sages teach us — so we have to know to understand, to learn each thing calmly. Or he should look for a teacher. Do you learn the Mishnah well? First of all, learn the Mishnah well. The Mishnah. The Mishnah is the greatest treasure. I was to have five minutes with you, right? For me — five and a half minutes, and I've already opened it. How many "five minutes" do I owe people?

17:34 What? Everyone wants five minutes. That comes to a million years. If you take care of that for me, I'm all set. That's it. With the candies. - Yes... - Yes. Another million years — but I'm meant to say it. Ask a million more questions; time will allow. So what did they answer him in the end? We never said — right, Rav? This is really — with the Rav's self-sacrifice — the public audiences. There are weekly parshiyos here, from all sorts of the Rav's public audiences, and here, really, is when people come to the Rav with all their troubles, with all their problems — emotional too, of the soul too — and the Rav simply attributes everything to the merit of the prayers, the weeping and the pleading — and then, the Rav says, the Holy One, blessed be He, takes away

18:13 the terrible illness, the exile, the evil inclination, the decrees. What a beautiful thought. Very beautiful — very, very beautiful. "Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good" — where is "Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good" here? "Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good" — where is it? There's also someone here who's worn out from the shiur.

18:39 - Whoever dozed off, dozed off. - What about the story, Rav? Come, let me tell you the story. - You started a whole shiur here on the maamar. - There's time, there's time. - Wait, there's still the bris. - You got a shiur, not five minutes! - There was one who would come late to a bris. Once he was so late that the bris was almost at sunset.

19:10 So they said to him: "And Avraham rose early in the morning" — it's a mitzvah to be early! So he said: "That's true — but it isn't written how long it took him to saddle his donkey." So if people here are running a little late, it's not terrible. You have to leave time for saddling the donkey. Slowly, slowly. Now — - What did they answer him? - Rav, at the geulah, will the prayer change? Yes, with Hashem's help. We will merit to reach thanksgiving — the Tikkun of thanksgiving in its fullness, a very great Tikkun, with Hashem's help. There is much to say about this.

19:41 That is why Mizmor L'Sodah will always remain, in the future — because it is thanksgiving, praise and Tikkun. The Shulchan Aruch speaks of the importance of saying it with a melody. One should be careful to sing Mizmor L'Sodah. And also the passage "May the glory of Hashem endure forever; may Hashem rejoice in His works." Maran the Chida writes that one should press his knees together when saying this passage, and be very careful with it: he should press his knees one against the other and say it with awe and fear. In this passage, press your knees together when you say "May the glory of Hashem endure forever; may Hashem rejoice in His works" — which comes right after Mizmor L'Sodah.

20:11 Let's get back to our subject. What did they answer him? Well, he puts this question to Heaven, and they answered him from Heaven: the month of Elul. The month of Elul, yes? "I understand the answer, fine." After that he thought: Well, if the month of Elul was the most precious, then it must be the Selichos, the teshuvah, and so on. He went over some of the days in his mind and said: "This isn't clarified enough.

20:37 Fine, it was the month of Elul; I remember that I was doing teshuvah — but there were many things." He asked for still more detail. They answered him from Heaven: two days before Rosh Hashanah. Now he was even more sure of it, and he understood that it fit: surely there had been awesome teshuvah, and so on. After that, once again — he made another question. He said, "It's not clear enough to me."

21:05 He demanded of Heaven that they show him himself — he asked to see the person he had been. They showed him. What did they show him? I'll tell it briefly, yes? They showed him the day before Rosh Hashanah. They show him that he got stuck with the wagon and the horses — he had set out on a journey, and they showed him that he was stuck with no siddur and nothing to pray with, and that he prayed in a rush, like — he prayed as if to say, "You surely don't want my prayer," he prayed to Hashem in a way that... - "I saw an upside-down world." - Yes, "I saw an upside-down world." He wasn't so...

21:41 I mean, he had thought that... I mean, he had thought — all month he was in the beis midrash and so on — and suddenly he sees himself stuck with the wheels in the middle of the road, in the forest, stuck like that — and he cried out to Heaven from the depths of his heart. They showed him from Heaven that this was the day that was beloved in Heaven. - Why doesn't the Rav want to say who that Rav was? No, there's no need to say it, no need to say it. - Oy, oy. - Why? - Because you won't find it. - Let the Rav tell us...

22:06 Otherwise you'll say to me, "Where is there such a thing?" - "It's all your own words." - We believe you, Rav. - These are things from old editions. - What, it isn't the Baal Shem Tov? - No, it's someone who learned with him as a chavrusa — someone else. Connected to Rabbi Yaakov Koppel Chassid. Do you see what I mean? He's closely connected to him. - I can show it to you here in the room. - Rav, show us.

22:36 All right. And suddenly — by the way — Heaven answered him; there was also another small detail in this story, but Heaven answered him precisely. So if that's the answer, what do we learn from it? One doesn't really expect the Holy One, blessed be He, to tell a person, "Listen, be in the forest all day and don't be..." — but that wasn't the story here. The point was his broken heart — that he said to himself: "Surely this day is the worst; surely this day is worth nothing; surely — the wheels broke, I found myself in the forest, and the prayer wasn't as it should be — surely this is..." And then he understood the opposite: that the moment he was brokenhearted, the moment he was like that and cried out from the depths of his heart —

23:20 that is what the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted. "The Merciful One wants the heart." Hashem — He wants your heart, the... from that place that you feel. "From there you will seek Hashem your G-d, and you will find Him, when you search for Him with all your heart." From the depths, like that. - With the children — I push them, at age seven; I tell them, "Recite a tractate with your friends." - Fine, but that's not... - No, no, of course. - That's more... Fine, fine. For children it's good — to bring the children in, so they'll think well of themselves. But a person now who wants to learn — instead of reading ten chapters, learn five chapters.

24:00 I don't see it. You wanted to just recite it now? Don't just recite it. How does the Rav manage to cover so much, baruch Hashem? I make use of the time. But I don't know how to do anything else. But the Rav plays music, the Rav... Playing music, yes, but... - What about the violin? - Listen. - Rav, a short question. - I need to tell you stories. - Rav, at a young age, why... - I need to tell you stories. I need to tell you stories.

24:25 We see what we ask of the Holy One, blessed be He... in Berachos, page 15, he asks for...

25:01 he says to Him: "I have that too..." - Ah, the Rav has covered it. - Yes, yes. Life — oh, life — the things we ask for: length of days and years of life. They once asked the Chofetz Chaim: "What is meant by 'length of days' and 'years of life'? Why both?" ... I once saw this told about the Rogatchover.

25:26 It's told about the Rogatchover — someone there tells it about himself — but I think, from what I understood, it was told about the Rogatchover, Rabbi Yosef Rosen. He said: "Length of days and years of life — when he falls ill — that is, when that tzaddik, the Rogatchover, falls ill — you will understand what 'length of days' and 'years of life' mean." There is length of days, and there are years of life — they are not the same.

25:54 So when the Rogatchover fell ill, they tried to fill in for him. On the one hand he was the Rav here, and this, and that — he did a great many things in a day. So they filled in for him. They started with two people, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty men tried to fill in for him on that one day — and they couldn't. So when they really tried to understand what it meant, they understood: that is length of days — when a person is granted a long day.

26:25 That is length of days. Rabbi Nachman once said: "There's still a little — but good." ...but "there's still a little — but good." To use the time. One can use the time in a way that you don't even grasp how much the time can be used, all right? To dedicate that time, to take hold of that time and use the time. True, it takes tremendous self-sacrifice, but if... Is that how the Rav did it too?

26:52 Yes, yes — self-sacrifice. There's nothing else. To put your very soul to use — there's no other way. But to get through — to get through all the Torah there is — that takes 200 years. Fine — once again: what does it mean, to get through the whole Torah? No one demands of you to get through the whole Torah. No one is sitting next to you with a gun, saying, "Listen, learn the whole Torah or else." I explained this once too: there's a difference — a person who learns because he wants to be called "Rabbi."

27:19 In Taanis, page 7, Tosafos say: that is to be "Rabbi" — but then there is learning in order to provoke, to be arrogant; he wants to needle his fellow, so he learns: "so that I can needle him, so that I'll be greater than him, so there's no one greater." That is learning that is not lishmah — not for its own sake. That is not good learning. But true learning is when you learn out of searching — seeking Hashem, blessed be He. And then you learn more and more and more; then you already rise to a different place. You learn because you are searching for Who stands behind it all — out of desire and curiosity, you seek Hashem, blessed be He.

27:50 You learn more and more and more and more — you're seeking Hashem. That is different from learning because "I want to be a scholar and know the tractate." Then there's a different blessing too, a different da'as, a different settledness of mind, a different understanding. - Different things open up. - What's one to do? - What? There are many songs that the Rav composed, and the Rav's niggunim. They told me too: "You won't manage to learn it, you won't know it; it'll take time, it'll take time." In the end Hashem, blessed be He, helped, and it worked out for the good, this music. Although there are still a few things to improve in it, at least the playing — it's as though I had studied thirty years in a music school.

28:26 And what is the point of the music? The point of the music is also searching. It's an important thing. The niggun — how can one cleanse the heart without a niggun? - With the mouth too, or specifically with a violin? - Yes: with the mouth, in song, on guitar, on violin. The niggun cleanses a person — cleanses him; you can see it. Every person, through his seventy years...

28:53 You know, I'll tell you a story. He said that an instrument is more than speech. What's that? An instrument is more than speech, because the instrument is clean. Yes, the instrument more so — because no arrogance takes hold in it, as it does around a person. The moment a person speaks out of arrogance — "he's the one up there now, he's this, he's that" — then he... It was in Zlatipolia, with Rabbi Nachman — those chazzanim. Do you know the story of the chazzanim? That was in Zlatipolia. - Rabbi Nachman removed him. - He took one down, yes. That one had his mind on the singing and on the women.

29:22 He took one down; he said it's not good to hear it. But that is also when the dispute against him began, with the Zeide, the outcry and all that. That's a story that happened there. He was strict about the chazzanim, because chazzanim must be very worthy. After that he taught Torah 3 in Likutei Moharan — "Akrukta." One must be particular about chazzanim; they carry great importance — to do it for Heaven's sake, and also to be clean and to immerse. There's more — wait — all sorts of sources; the Rosh, siman 3: that the geulah is delayed because they are not careful about tevilas Ezra — the immersion Ezra instituted.

29:48 One must be careful about tevilas Ezra — Bava Kama, page 82. The importance of immersing in the mikveh and being careful about it. - Rav, Rabbi Nachman says not to listen to the songs of the nations — only so as to subdue the nation, to subdue their songs. "He saw their distress when He heard their song," he says. How does that work, Rav? It's like Napoleon's March, which Chabad sing. So is it permitted now to listen to Persian songs? What do you say? You want to listen to Persian songs? Nu... what songs? What do you do with Persian songs? What about my niggunim? And with playing music — isn't there pride for the one who plays? "How beautifully you play!"

30:18 They can say whatever they want. First of all, with me it has no effect at all, because you know that everything, everything is Hashem, blessed be He. Just as I once was not — just as 40 years ago, 50 years, 60 years ago I wasn't here, so too in another 100 years I am not here; I don't exist. - So how can I... - The resurrection of the dead, the resurrection of the dead! - We'll yet see Mashiach, and the Rav will be here. - On the contrary: the miracles make one far more attached — attached to Hashem, far more than you think.

30:44 - It's the complete opposite. Not only does it not lead to pride — every day I yearn and long, and I come to Him even more. - But Rav, all these stories of miracles that, baruch Hashem, Hashem brings about through the Rav... - No... No. The opposite: you draw closer, you cleave more, you understand more Who He is; you fear Him more, you're more in awe of Him, you tremble before Him more, you understand His greatness more — that He stands behind everything. This whole world... this whole world has a purpose — and the whole true purpose of all this world... What is this world worth?

31:14 You see that it is Hashem who does all these things. On the contrary, I am strengthened by seeing that people who could say, "Nu, where is the Creator, where is He?" suddenly say... This was a man who believed in heresy, a denier — I don't know, a certain doctor, who used to say such things, and so on. And he simply said to me: "You caused me to believe in the Holy One, blessed be He. I did teshuvah." A doctor — a person who wasn't...

31:39 So there's no need to say much. Who can argue with what I saw with my own eyes? After all, I saw — say a person saw one miracle. I saw a great many. Think of that one person, who was strengthened by a single miracle. I saw far more than what he saw. He saw one — he was strengthened, he did teshuvah. With how much I have seen — should I not do teshuvah from it? Wow, I've seen a great many. I mean, he saw one; I see a great many. Of course — Hashem is great. One must cleave to Hashem, blessed be He; know that He... love Him more than anything, believe in Him more than anything, grow strong with this strength.

32:10 It gives you the opposite. Not only is there no thought of pride and such — on the contrary, it gives more and more attachment. Understand how great Hashem is — there is such a G-d in the world! Can one really chase after vanity? What can anyone say about you? What is it? Nonsense. It's all vanity of vanities; nothing can shift my mind from this — the greatness of the Holy King. Now — Rav, as I asked: how does one seek Hashem in learning?

32:34 How... Hashem, in learning? Learn just my writings and you'll see; you'll hear, you'll learn well. Learn my sefer; you'll know well. What? Isn't it supposed to give light? - What, of course? - What does it mean to seek Hashem in learning? Isn't it supposed to give a person light? It depends — depends what. The question is how — how do you look at things? That is, right — so one has to search. It's not for nothing that there are also Aggados, that there are also Midrashim. Learn, say — in a sefer — look now, for example, at Purim: "Rabbah arose and slaughtered Rabbi Zeira."

33:05 You know, nowadays, say, in all the shuls, everyone is drunk — in the Land, around the world, drunk; people drink wine and so on, fooling around — right away they call the authorities: "He drank, he threw a chair, he did this." I said: What are you coming with? "Rabbah arose and slaughtered Rabbi Zeira" — you want... what did they do! And he revived him, too. I mean, he sobers up, sees him without a head, and says: "Oh no, what have I done?" Right. You understand? You understand where they were holding — and where we are today...

33:32 - A revelation of G-dliness. - You understand, there are many commentators who say it wasn't literal. Yes, but understand the idea — understand what you are being told. You ask: what does one do to have desire? How is there more desire? Sefer HaMiddos: why is there more jealousy? Why is there more jealousy? This will bring you desire for learning Torah — Sefer HaMiddos. Why the jealousy? Why? Why? Sometimes it can cause a person not to...

33:58 That's exactly it. Why be bad? Why does it bother a person when another person succeeds? Why? It happens every day — why? Be glad for others, and the desire will come to you. Let me just tell you one small thing. Know this: a niggun can bring a person back in teshuvah. There was a man who was very, very far from Hashem — the story was in the time of the holy Baal Shem Tov — who for years had not heard a prayer or its sound.

34:24 One day — it was the eve of Yom Kippur — he happened to be there, and he heard the niggun of Kol Nidrei. He heard the prayer, remembered some little shul, and he returned in teshuvah to Hashem, blessed be He. See what a single niggun can do to help a person, to bring him back. And music is important — to awaken, and to see Hashem. - So what blessing does the Rav give? To always be in joy... and to grow great, very great. I have a sefer that he — I'll tell you — a sefer, no, I think it's a sefer he wrote right before his passing.

35:10 - Excuse me, Rav? - Yes? - May Hashem watch over the Rav; thank you so much. - Salvations, a good and long life, good tidings. - Salvations. - The Rav's Torah is with us, baruch Hashem. Salvations to the Rav. Amen. May you have blessing and success. - He gives a shiur every day — Daf Yomi, Gemara — in Ashdod, every day. - Many students; may you go from strength to strength. - We'd like to see the Rav there once. - Keep going from strength to strength, and spread Hashem's Torah. This righteous woman married Rav Yoram Refael Nachman Chizkiyahu ben Ida, a great tzaddik who was here in this house, who passed away.

35:45 I knew him, I knew him... - When? - During the week. I used to come visit him. Every Erev Shabbos I would come and tell him "Shabbos shalom." Even for just a minute — I'd pass by and tell him "Shabbos shalom." Yes: I would come and say "Shabbos shalom." He was full of life, radiant. Their wedding was the most joyous, and everyone brought her joy — and she did not treat it as though she were doing a favor and a kindness.

36:41 All honor to her — a woman of such merit; she sacrificed so much of her life, this woman, this tzadkanis — sacrificed so, so much of her life, more than any of you can imagine — thirty years. What this woman did, this tzadkanis! She even gave this house over for prayers. - There's a bris here now — and there were prayers here: Shacharis, Minchah, Arvis, and even Rosh Hashanah davening; I heard they davened here, right? - Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos — we did it twice, two years. - You held Rosh Hashanah here and Yom Kippur too, right? - Yes, and Sukkos too. - When we were in Jerusalem some years ago, they held Rosh Hashanah here, Yom Kippur and Sukkos too — the minyan they opened here.

37:20 We strengthened this minyan, and they strengthened our minyan, and truly, I have no words. I bless the Rebbetzin with salvations, robust health, healing, length of days and years. - Amen. - "Many daughters have done valiantly, but you have surpassed them all." May you have protection and defense, and may people learn from you. Amen. May they learn what good middos are, what a woman is who looks at the inner self, at the soul, at what is truly important.

37:48 With Hashem's help, may we merit to be redeemed with an upraised hand, and may the Holy One, blessed be He, watch over you. And certainly — if our mother Rachel, who took that step, with her self-sacrifice for the honor of Heaven — the Holy One, blessed be He, looks at those signs, and to this day He is aroused toward us in mercy — so too the Holy One, blessed be He, looks at the great deed that you did: that you took for yourself such a husband — a tzaddik and everything, but one who had that lack, that hardship — and you took it upon yourself to be a help and a support.

38:15 These too are signs that the Holy One, blessed be He, sees. We take pride in you, among the Jewish people — that you took such a thing upon yourself. I bless you with salvations from Heaven, good tidings. Yasher koach — and yasher koach to you too, the hosts of the bris, who took the trouble to come at such a time of war, here, for this mitzvah of milah, for this simchah. Yasher koach to the honored Rav, Rav Emanuel — much help from Heaven, salvations, a good life. "Length of days is in her right hand; in her left, wealth and honor."

38:44 Yasher koach to all the bachurim and the congregation. Yasher koach to the father of the baby, to the grandfather, to the whole dear family, with Hashem's help. May you have salvations and such wonders. Did you know Rav Yoram? The Rebbetzin — what more wondrous deeds she does here! Rav, her grandson is here. Her grandson is here. You were at the bris, and you don't even know of the tzaddik who lived here.

39:12 A very great tzaddik lived here. Very, very great. Saba Yisrael — Rabbi Yisrael Odesser — have you heard of him? The one with the Petek — the note? Yes, yes. He was very close to him, and he stayed in this house — he slept here. Yes? What's that noise? Yes? He would come by here every day — not just every Shabbos. He lived here in the house; he was here, in this room next door, and the Rebbetzin too would help and assist in the holy work, and he stayed here for a long period — oy, oy, oy — I mean, more than 20 years ago.

39:50 He was here with Rav Yoram Refael Nachman Chizkiyahu, who was a great man, a real tzaddik — someone so laden with suffering; he so could not bear this world. What fear of Heaven! I would sit with him — truly, he loved us so much, and truly we him — it's endless love, truly; there are no words. I think of him often; often I think of him.

40:16 He was bound to our holy Rebbe, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, and when did he pass away? On the hilula of Rabbi Nachman. He'd come along quickly with his chair — that's how he'd come — and laugh about it.

40:52 The initials of his name are reish, nun, ches, yud — that is "Rabbi Nachman chai": Rabbi Nachman lives. Ah, beautiful. "Rabbi Nachman lives." Nach, Nachman, Nachman me'Uman! May you have salvations from Heaven! Yes! Good tidings, and all the salvations and good blessings. Amen!