Basi Lgani 1951 #2, chptr 3 - Number 7 is most beloved, why? 7th to the 1st - Rabbi Chaim Dalfin

So today we're learning the mimer basilani the first mimemer that the rebba said as the as a labeer rebby in 1951 January 51 on the night of uh yudat going into yudalat I believe and since that day every year for the next uh 40 years or So, um, he said a mimemer that night and he focused on one chapter of his of of his father-in-law's mimer and he analyzed it in depth. That's what we're learning. So, we're learning the first of like 40 plus such discourses. So until now he explained the the the the point was that God's home where God really enjoys this all metaph metaphorically speaking God really enjoys being is on earth although there's the heavens and the angels and the souls but on earth is where it counts. And what happened was that when God was here, his presence filled the earth. But through the sins and particularly the first of the seven sins, which was the sin of the tree of knowledge, eight had of Adam and Eve, that sin removed God from earth to heaven. Then the next sins beginning with cayenne and enosh which included idolatry and um immorality and things like that. Those were details and as the as the divine pres presence soared higher and higher away from earth. But the departure from earth to heaven that was called caused by the first of the seven sins. So then when God gave the Torah and when he gave the the the Tyra, Hashem comes back to the earth and and hence it's King Solomon says in in in Song of Songs, I've come to my garden. I've returned to my garden. And the Moshe the words that it that is used in the midrash uh in the verse in in song of songs is basi leani basil leani and that has become uh buzzwords in the kabad world and if you hear someone say will say did you did you start learning yet basilani what he refers to is did you begin learning a m the mimer of the year which the third side of the previous rebby is next um next uh Wednesday. Okay. So we're holding now um one chapter before the chapter threeb says my father-in-law continues in his discourse then after the departed from earth and went further up in the heavens there their rose those seven righteous people and they brought back below on earth. And the med says he descended from the sixth heaven to the from the seventh heaven back down to the sixth. The Reb says that my father-in-law um doesn't elaborate on all of this but rather uh you know makes it very brief and he concludes along he is the seventh of the and then he and he brings from another medish and he brings it in parenthesis and all no Sevens. Anyone that's associated with the number seven is most beloved by God, which he he'll explain later. And merited to bring the back from the last heaven back down on earth because the primary aspect of drawing down this the energy of Hashem into the world takes the it took to do it specifically descended it back on earth just as regarding the removal of the from below to above above as we said earlier the primary cause for the ascent was due to the tree of knowledge sin canal that it removed itself from earth as we mentioned earlier. So too regarding drawing it back down from upward up to bottom from above to below the primary aspect of drawing that drawing drawing it down. It's not in the heavens, but it's specifically on earth. That's the primary aspect of the ham. Again, he repeats the same idea that we ended off yesterday. In addition to the fact that what's most relevant to us is that it comes down back on earth to us because we live here. We're on earth. The Reb adds the the the caveat that this is the primary aspect of Ham. When you say Ham drawing down the what the Reb says, what you're really getting at is drawing down here. If if you draw it down from the from angels to souls, it's drawing it down from one level to the other or from souls to levels, whatever. But it's all in the realm of spirituality. Has nothing to do with us. And and therefore the the the primary aspect of is missing if if that were to be the only type of but given that the am here is from back lit below on earth. So it this this expresses the the primary idea it HAM IS ALL about that that's HIS POINT. BUT IRREGARDLESS IF WE BENEFIT OR NOT you understand that's the caveat here. THE FIRST POINT IS HEY WHEN YOU talk about drawing it down to us we're on earth. If you want to draw IT DOWN TO US YOU GOT TO BRING IT HERE. Second idea is even without us take put that aside is the concept of drawing DOWN COMPLETE IF IT'S just within the realms of spirituality the answer is no it's drawing down but it's not the that's what he says let's continue who is the one to cause this bringing back down of the from heaven to earth and the the says that my father-in-law quoting the midrash is is alluding to the reason why specifically is the one notic not specifically BECAUSE HE SAYS ALL SEVENTHS are most beloved. In other words, something there's something about the seventh. The seven shab seven midos is the seventh sadic. The seventh has that special spark of bringing it on earth. And let's see what he says further. the term of the it says all sevens are beloved. IT DOESN'T SAY ALL BELOVEDS are seven. The rebel analyzes this term of misproves disproves. Why? Why is the seventh? It's the seventh THAT MERITS TO DRAW IT DOWN. BECAUSE HE'S THE SEVENTH, NOT BECAUSE he's beloved. THERE ARE PLENTY OF PEOPLE WHO ARE BELOVED BY GOD. But they didn't merit to draw the back down. Ara was beloved. A it's called Ara is called my bel my lover. He didn't he didn't bring it down. And he continues because he's the seventh he merits to this and that is what cons that is the love that HE'S GIVEN IS BECAUSE HE'S SEVEN. The love that the seventh has is not because of his choice, right? He he wasn't show it happens to be he happens to be the seventh sad. He didn't earn it through his HE WAS BORN THE SEVENTH. HE IS THE seventh the fact that he's number seven. It's it it comes to him from birth. Nevertheless, all of this is expresses the concept of all sevenths are beloved. And therefore merited that he was the one that delivered to us because he is number seven. My father-in-law explained when he initially came to America in 1940 that even in the seventh was most beloved because he's seven one recognizes the virtue of the first of the seven. The idea of seventh means he's seventh to number one. Oh my father who explained then when he came to America my lo the virtue of the first which is that a earned his position and earned it because of a self-sacrifice my father-in-law doesn't doesn't suffice with saying this then he adds more after even though it's not relevant to the text that he's explaining over there. What is the ad the what was the content of it is that he DIDN'T LOOK FOR IT. HE DIDN'T SEARCH FOR IT. I WANT he didn't do that. This happens to be the difference. He searched for HE HAD A DESIRE FOR me and and and quoting the garra said WHEN WILL I HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY when will this opportunity come to me and I will fulfill it i.e. Conversely, Conversely, regarding his self-sacrifice, it was automatic. It wasn't like he said, "God, I need to fulfill now. I WANT TO FULFILL." NO WAY. And die for you. No way. Abra said, "I am yours. What do you want? YOU WANT ME TO LIVE? I'LL LIVE. YOU WANT ME TO DIE, I'LL DIE. YOU WANT ME TO JUMP IN THE FIRE, I'LL JUMP IN THE FIRE. YOU WANT ME TO TO WALK AROUND AND AND BE HAPPY AND MAKE PEOPLE happy and BE A RABBI, WHATEVER, I'll do that. There was NO MIDAS NEPHESH that he sought. THAT'S A MID NEPH with strings attached. A had no strings attached to. Let's continue. knew as it says in that his primary job was to call in the name of God says the not only did he himself call out God recognizing God but HE MADE OTHERS CALL OUT GOD he was a kabadnik he didn't just he wasn't what his father is there in the in the home in rehabilitation home and putting on filling himself WITH TALIS. HE ASKED SOMEONE ELSE, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO PUT ON FILLIN?" RIGHT? In Yiddish, it's beautiful words that the other person should also scream, "Mark, you're standing THERE IN THE SOUP KITCHEN. HAVE YOUR FILLING WITH YOU." AND MAYBE A JEW WILL COME BY AND SAY, "HEY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PUT OUR FILL IN? SAY A BLESSING." If he's a Jew, it means kosher. Say a blessing with him. In other words, HE MAKES THE OTHER PERSON scream is scream, BUT IT MEANS CALL OUT TO GOD recognizing nonju. For not, you're I'm giving you food. It's so NICE TO BE ABLE TO FEED YOU. YOU KNOW WHO MADE THE FOOD? GOD. SAY THANK GOD. That's all. You don't have to be Jewish to make A BRAHA TO SAY THANK GOD. THE WHOLE IDEA OF bringing godliness to humanity. Let's continue. If it happens to be that he WOULD NEED SELF-SACRIFICE TO ACCOMPLISH THE the objective which is recognition of God and it would also AND THAT WOULD REQUIRE SELF-SACRIFICE GIVING UP HIS LIFE. He has that too. I'm ready. God, you want ME TO TO DIE FOR YOU? I'M READY. YOU WANT ME TO JUMP IN THE FIRE? I'M READY. WHATEVER YOU WANT, you want me to live, I'll live. In other words, there was no strings attached. This is a very very deep point, a very important point that even in self-sacrifice, if it's a if the strings attached, it's good. It's holy, but it's not the essence because you have some vestage of ego there. What am I going to get from it? What am I going to get from it? I want to I want people to to to be read my tombstone, my epithet, and say, "Oh, he's such a great guy." So, I'M GONNA MAKE SURE I HAVE A WHOLE MCGILLAN WRITTEN ON my on my uh on my tombstone. And the excuse is I NEED MY KIDS AND GRANDKIDS to know who to know who I was. BUT REALLY, DEEP DOWN IT'S ABOUT YOU. How I want everyone to know what kind of great guy what I did, what I accomplished. And when you come across a tombstone and you read it and it says uh I'm so and uh my name is you know it's so and so and a date and there's nothing there. So you know taka's father was buried I believe in Kishov not in Russia it's out in you know Romania or whatever you right so they they they said >> yeah Muldova so they said they wanted to put they wanted to write that you know he married having a son like the balatana so they said those that need to know will know don't put anything on now you know today things of chains. I'm not saying I'm not I'm just just saying the concept the concept of like you know those that need to know will know. Anyway, so a said look if you want me to jump in the fire for you I'll jump in the fire no problem. You want me to live and and and and and help others live I'll do that. So that's the idea that the neph of a was not one that he sought. When you say he sought, he looked for this ego on some level associated with it. And that's the difference between Ara and Riaka. Now we're talking about both. Listen, anyone that's ready to jump at the fire for Hashem is a sadic. You know, it's so hot. You know what I'm saying? But if you're comparing the avod the service of a to the service of the breba says and the quotes it here in the mimer THAT A WAS ONE UP or or better said he was in a different category in regard to nephesh. He way out he he outdid way in a different category completely than than was raka the sage 24,000 students it's all gavaldic but if he could say when will I get an opportunity to fulfill there's some vestage that's what he says of of ego yes there let's continue and he says So great was his his says here, do you know why Moshe merited being the seventh sadic? BECAUSE HE WAS THE SEVENTH TO THE FIRST. So really MO BECOMES THE SEVENTH SADIC BECAUSE OF NUMBER ONE BECAUSE of that's why he made he he got that merit the med says a fascinating thing said to mo in the place of great people I a YOU DON'T STAND YOU DON'T GOT A CHANCE MOSES, MOSES, MOSHE GIVES US THE TA. Very nice. Moshe the you are the result of what a be of Ara BECAUSE ARAM WAS WILLING TO DO WHATEVER I WANTED LIVE OR DIE FOR HASHEM AND DIDN'T MAKE ANY WHATSOEVER. He had no strings attached. YOU BENEFIT. SO IF IF if you're looking to stand in at the plateau of of of of no way he's really a godo. That's a fascinating concept. Let's go. Although, as we said earlier, the the love that Hashem gives to the seventh is not because of the seventh's choice and not because of the seventh's efforts. He's born that way. You're born that way. You happen to be the seventh. You didn't earn it. It doesn't mean that it comes with a limitation for you to ARGUE AND SAY THAT this is wondrous and I can't accomplish it and it's only up to individuals. This a great point too. If you're telling me the SEVENTH IS YOU'RE BORN THE SEVENTH, RIGHT? And it happens to be that you're the seventh. So how can all of us HERE IF WE'RE NOT THE SEVENTH ACCOMPLISH IT? Says the wrong. It's not just for individuals like it says over there should call you so that every even a slave and even a maid can reach the place of accomplishing that the divine presence the holy spirit rests on and each and every single Jew not he can say he's obligated to say when will I accomplish through my effort and work that my actions will will be similar and reach the actions of so if that's the case this is a rhetorical point. SO WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT SAYS THAT EVER further nevertheless this is a piece of this one needs not to be one shouldn't be as a fool like don't be a child childish don't be silly by zik AND DON'T THINK THAT YOU'RE something you know like in other words like this every one of us can and must attain the highest level and work hard but at a CERTAIN POINT WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE YOU AIN'T NO Moses that's what he's saying here you're not working with and everyone must know that in in the place of in the place of great people don't stand. In other words, IF THIS IS IF YOU'RE NOT AT THIS LEVEL, this is not your place. And if you come here, you're out of place and repeats his point that the virtue the entire virtue of the seventh is that he's the seventh to the first. that he's able to carry out to fulfill the mission of the first which is as we said earlier Abra's mission was not only does he call to God but he makes others call. So the seventh has the the the merit to fulfill the mission of the first which is to to to disseminate monotheism and godliness not only by himself but by others. And this is why the seventh is most beloved as it says in the medish. It's because he merits to draw down the below on earth. Not only does he draw down the he draws DOWN THE THE PRIMARY ASPECT of the the and more so where is this drawn in the lowest of the low. SO UNTIL YOU TOUCH THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL you haven't accomplished a mission. And this explains why we go out to Venice Beach and to Las Vegas and to everywhere and anywhere to to to touch a Jew and to touch A NON-JEW ANYWHERE AND everywhere understandably there's certain places in go to according to we know that right but WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE concept okay you You know, I'm just saying this just the other day I was in Montreal. I told you I was there for lecturing and a lady introduced me a lady in her probably 70s to her daughter who's the principal of a a school and you know she must be a a young lady in the 30s or 40s and she came very close to me and and I felt very uncomfortable and and she's casidic you know fully modest and everything but she's close and like looking and speaking into my face I I just dropped my you know I didn't I just spoke to her but I dropped my eyes I you know it's like you have to know yourself and I and trust me I didn't have any desire that was inappropriate but there's certain times when you HAVE TO KNOW YOUR boundaries everyone and this is not something for you know and you know the person hearing what I'm saying now one person will say you're you're so narrow-minded what what are you a child you can't speak to a woman of course I can speak to woman but she's in your face and it's like caught AND I WAS CAUGHT by surprise. I had no time to prepare myself. So I I DID WHAT I WHAT I FELT at the moment was right. What I'm saying is that even in a situation where you need to reach out and you need to teach and you need to educate and you need to talk, you need to always remember that you know control yourself in every situation. And sometimes it means, you know, not looking in a certain direction. You know, again, if I were to, you know, bend down my head all the way to the floor, that would be like like, you know, nuts. I didn't do that. I I stood in my ground. I just lowered, you know, my eyes and head. And I didn't I'm just saying was saying over here that the the objective of the seventh is to fulfill the mission of the first. We have to know that it has to be done in all place in all times but also with in in a way that that the Jewish law permits you know there's certain situations you're not allowed to you're not allowed to be in okay I don't want to go into now let's me just finish the next paragraph the says this is what we demand of every one of us who's part of the seventh generation Okay. And we're all all of us here in the class are part of the seventh generation. That means we all sevenths a part of this generation are beloved. The fact that we are part of this generation is not due to our choice AND NOT DUE TO OUR EFFORT but rather because we fell into it. Mark and I, Mosha and I happen to meet each other and therefore we're sitting here learning this, right? He was raised in Newark and Maplewood. I was raised in Brooklyn. Like, you know, he was raised in one way, I was raised another way. Like we're, you know, in a way in a very distant from our backgrounds. Yet God from heaven made it be that we met each other and we became friends, right? Through my son, whatever, right? So that's not by our choice. That was not by our effort. We happened to meet and we we we we we we clicked and and we and we became friends. SO THE REB says the fact that we're all part of the seventh generation, this is the same thing. IT'S NOT BY OUR CHOICE AND OUR EFFORT. It's from GOD SENT. HASHEM MADE US ALL be part of this after the add. This is very touching words and maybe IN CERTAIN DETAILS WE'RE NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT. We don't WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS MISSION. I was listening to a podcast of another kabad person rabbi who lost his wife with 11 kids. You know, he he wrote a book called Why God? why right and who I know who taught me is a very very special person and I was thinking about it you know like I don't want this what do I NEED THIS GOD YOU YOU GIVE ME A WIFE WITH 11 kids I'm teaching people Torah I'm I'm building a a school I'm building a community and THEN AT 36 SHE MY WIFE DIES on me you take her back like why God why right so in certain things we're AGAINST IT. WE'RE NOT happy with what happens, right? Or this morning, someone who told me, I haven't seen him. He says, "I can't leave my house. My wife has 24/7. SHE HAS FIVE TUMORS in her head." I mean, it's like you want to just YOU WANT TO DROP DEAD. IT'S LIKE WHAT IS GOING ON HERE, GOD? WHY DO YOU BRING FIVE TUMORS TO A PERSON? WHY DO YOU LIKE WHAT DID THE PERSON DO? A nice fine woman. Do we know? We don't know. So in certain in certain way OUR WILL IS NOT THERE. WE'RE NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT. LET'S CONTINUE. And we say we are in the seventh generation. That means we are most beloved. We are now in the heels in the in in the era which is called the heels of the Messiah of the Messiah. And we're at the end at the edge of the heels and the ed end of the service to bring the Miachina to bring down the not only one aspect of the of divine presence but the main primarily aspect of the here below. So the Reb's answer is very simple. Sometimes we don't like it. But remember, we're part of the seventh generation and we have a mission and we do not understand God. We don't have an answer to why someone has five tumors. You know, we don't. And and IF YOU SPEND TIME ON THAT, YOU'RE GOING TO BECOME DEPRESSED and morbid, angry, and say, "I don't need you, God." And people have done that. And people do that. But we as believers in God and by the way even go non-Jews that there is a God and we don't understand him. We know we have a mission. So why spend time on what we don't understand? LET US SPEND TIME ON WHAT WE DO UNDERSTAND. AND that is a mission like you do Mark. You go out and you're volunteering a soup kitchen. You're helping. You know, you voice helped. I'm saying that we understand and you do it with with a godliness. You you you always have a mind whatever I'm doing the equation should be is is God here? Am I making God be here? And I think if we were all to think this way, we would be better people. We would stay out of trouble more and and and and we and we'll and people will gravitate towards us because the message because of the message that we're sharing. Pra, we'll see everyone tomorrow. Have a great day. All the best. Bye-bye.