Go to the Land I will show you ISRAEL לך לך גו׳ אל הארץ אשר אראך תשמ"ז Rabbi Minkowicz, 5784

Welcome to our class on we're going to be learning this week a beautiful discourse in the Reb the name of the discourse is called the Reb said this discourse on the on the night of Tuesday which that year was the seventh day of in the year 38 years ago so again theic discourse is based on the on the verse in this week's Torah portion where it says let means to go to you but it's the same letters from your land say it's known was brought down and explained in different cic discourses and at length in the classic discourse the in his work called and in of the and it's also mentioned in the uh works of the AL of the Al and they explain over there as follows this the Tora says to go and as it says double expression so there's two insights one is like the zor says that we're referring to a a a a traveling going from high down to low another Insight which is also hinted in the Z that the traveling is From Below going on high high below and then coming down from Below on high in other words what does that mean cuz generally speaking when there's a when someone is traveling when someone is going and even though in general what does it mean you're traveling you're not traveling in one spot you're going from one level to the next level there's standing and there's traveling traveling is moving forward and up to the point when you travel you're traveling you can't even compare where you started from in other words you don't just go from one place to the next place to be at the same level the goal is to go to another another level a whole different level but nevertheless even when you travel and you're traveling from one level to the next next level it's possible you can be going two ways in other words either you can be going from on high you're going down low or you're going from down low you're going on high and those there total two opposites in both cases you're traveling yes in both cases you're accomplishing and a p c it's next level but the question is which way are you going are you going up or are you going down now since the verse says and it doesn't spell out which way it's going so therefore you must say that because it doesn't spell it out it means both it know it means both going from high down below and Below going on high and you could say that this is the source of the insights of the different that they say that two the two insides because since it says and doesn't say which way obviously what it could be both ways and it is both ways and now was going to explain it more in detail he says like this later on the tah portion he talks about two different types of traveling one is where he traveled he went from a high down below which is called in in simple in Hebrew it's called the Yura as a downgrade and then is traveling from Below on high which is called an alyah upgrade now in the Torah where it speaks about traveling from on high below or below on high it's two different verses and therefore because it's different verses it's two different Journeys there's one Journey going down from a high below and the other one's From Below on high in other words first the Torah tells us how Abraham went down to live there in other words he went down um to the lowest levels what does that mean to the lowest levels he started out we in the land of Israel which we know Israel is the highest land physically and spiritually and the contrary more importantly on a spiritual level and because on a spiritual level Israel is so high that's why physically so high and he went down weird to the land of Egypt to the to to to the depth of the earth and it not only the but the the the the the the the lowest spiritual part of the earth the lowest place so that is referring to Abraham going from the highest place isra on a physical level and a spiritual level down below to the land of Egypt on a on a physical and spiritual low level afterwards that's one set of verses afterwards in different verses it speaks like Abraham traveled he went from the lowest place to the highest place like it says afterwards the verse says clearly he had an alyah he went up from Egypt in other words he he went up from the lowest place of the earth of Egypt and he went to the ER to the Holy Land of Israel which we said is higher than all the lands physically and spiritually and the verse also tells us that the elevation that he had after the downgrade in other words and because we know the whole purpose of going down is for an elevation and like it says when he left Egypt what do say Abraham and Abraham was C he was very very heavy he had a lot of cattle a lot of c a lot of silver a lot of gold and know was a tremendous upgrade forino which he didn't have before and like it says clearly in the verses and especially with all the commentaries Etc now so again so you have two different parts of this week's Torah portion one is referring to Abram going down physically and spiritually from Israel to the land of Egypt and then going up elevating Egypt and coming back to the land of Israel but that's two different verses so it's two different parts of the story but the Revolutionary idea in this opening verse Les the first verse in the Torah in this week's Torah portion and which is basically the theme of the Torah portion it means in you have both you have both Journeys from high down below and Below going on high and as one Journey has both components and opposite components besides the fact we're talking about two different Journeys but literally in the same Journey know either you're going from high down below or you going Below on high like we have the two stories of aam here we're saying in one Journey you have both components so the question is what how does that happen how do you have both in one sh is going to explain now the the the the first he's going to start off with the journey going going from high down below of this verse where it says explains like this and he says as follows it's known that AB ainu his before his name was changed to Abraham so it was a which is made up of four letters Al V which actually comes from two words what are the two words a which literally translates as father in the world of cabala we know a father is referring to r a very high level Ram comes from very high which means he was so on an intellectual level so high so deep it's beyond any human comprehension in other words Abraham's Soul was a very high soul of his was very very high and like it says in the in the classical book of that the attribute of told hem the attribute kindness told hem from when Abraham was in the earth I don't have to do my work anymore because Abraham is doing kindness off the charge so you see that abrah a very very high Soul both in both in and obviously source of a soul is very very high know like the expression is it's off the charts like like it's explained in lands and cabala this this high level now from this high level that Abraham was he didn't just stay there he actually brought down his soul down into this world and that's why it says to leave may your land the place you were born your father's house to the land that I'm going to show you and we know the famous cic teachings on this verse it says one second let's look at the verse what does it say it starts off leaving your land then your birthplace and then your parents' home so seemingly it's just the opposite first you leave Bas your your parents home then you leave the place you were born and then you leave the land so why is the T use an an opposite uh um expression of what happened and it's explained that when we say land is a physical land but then there a spiritual land are coming from the word of it comes from the will so first you have to leave your will and the place you're born is coming from the on a spiritual level is referring to the mid the emotions why because the emotions come from the intellect as we know that the intellect is the father and the mother a is and the and a is beina which give bird to cure their emotions and from your father's homes referring to a lower level let's explain elsewhere all these different levels now so again is referring to your will is referring to your emotions and is a lower level where are you going to you're leaving you're going to the land which is even lower what is that referring to in the SPH it's referring to Mal so know you're journeying from the highest level a lower level and know you leave R which is the highest level um on we have the way way it exists on the on in the in our world which obviously compared to the way it's on High and um as we know that R is the highest of all our powers that we have and we in the sphere what's the highest sphere in R is the highest power we have and then you go down to the level of understanding which is lower than lower than will and it means you understand you stand the will and then you go down even lower to the level of emotions and then you come down to the lowest level so that's the spiritual journey of why it says because you start into the intellect to the emotions even lower into malus now the same thing applied toino that his soul went down from the highest levels and is in where is soul from it comes from the r the will of hem and that level was revealed in his soul and it came down to which said is the emotions until it came down to Mal until the lowest levels so R went down from the highest levels down to the lowest levels now just like it's by Abu which he was the first Jew the same thing applies to each and every one of us that we when we we came down to this world we left from the highest levels we came down to this this low place and that is when when hasem says I'm going to take you to the land I'm going to show you that specifically when we went down this whole journey from the highest levels down into this level into this world hasem says I'm going to show you the power of the Soul I'm going to show you I'm going to reveal that you have the power that even though you're in a low place and you came down from the highest place the soul has the power to overcome it all now so the first is referring to again the L is going down from the highest level the way our souls are on r through intellect through emotion but nevertheless we have the power to overcome it the second Insight in the verse is is like like literally like the verse says Abu was on the lowest lowest place know he he went he went out fromon he was going fromon um to to the land of Israel and we know is referring to the lowest possible place like Rashi says that when it says with a final it's referring to the Wrath the Wrath of the world so from the from the from the uh intensity of the materialistic uh Angry and and and physical world and from here Abraham went from the lowest places until he went to the place that hem show showed him so that is on a physical level what do have to do on a spiritual level work to take the take the physical Wrath of the world and to elevate it to the highest level now and and and what and this applies to us in our spiritual service of hasem why because first you have to leave your land in other words we're going from from the lowest level to the highest level you have to leave so what is what did we learned before on the positive it's the higher higher will but then you have the will that we have but we have these Wills that are not appropriate we have Wills Wills for things that we shouldn't be doing so so what do we have to do when you have you want to do something so you b and and you want to do it strongly so the first level is to so to speak force yourself like like aler says specifically in Tanya where it says that all the revelations of what's going to happen Mia comes is dependent on and I'll say it in Hebrew I'll translate it our actions in our work know every time we force ourselves to do the right thing to go against the negative will we are actually creating powerful energy which we're going to get revealed mashia comes so first we have to do our work and like we know it says in the T that sometimes you force people to give charity they don't want to give it but why do you force them because sometimes we need to be forced to do the right thing now so when we force ourselves why do we force ourselves because the fact is we have sometimes our y our evil Incarnation that's very very strong which is which is it rooted in the in in the physical Wrath of the world uh and and up to the point the person say I don't want to do the will of hem so what happens when you don't want to do the will you don't want here's a key word you don't want to do the will ofm you have to force yourself and say no right I want to do the will of hem so it's basically the first level is a battle of the wills the animal Soul the evil Incarnation doesn't want to do the will of hem and then you say the first thing no I do want to do the will of hem and after you do the first level you leave you leave the will and once you leave that that you basically are wanting to do the will of hm against the will of the animal Soul you have to go to go to the next level you have to go out of your your your habits in other words things that you do habitually a lot of things that we do like just by wrot and um know you're doing it because because it's natural know things that you're doing from an natural perspective but to be to to do it more because you want to do it so the first level is you have to want to do it know a if you don't want to do you have to want to do it and B if you're doing right Road you should Inspire yourself that you really want to do it and afterward you go to the next level and you have to leave um the intellect And the emotions know that that don't want to do things that you want to do then you want to do it uh when when the intellect doesn't want to do it and the emotions don't want to then you go ahead and do it and then you reach the place the land hm is going to show you the true land know what is our true true true will and like it says why is it called um why is called because it comes from the word does want to do the will of not only that that you want to do the will ofm but ER comes from the word of R which means you're running to do it so know you're doing you not only do you want to do it you force yourself to do it but you do it you do it with aity you do it right away now these two components the will to do what hasem wants and to do it quickly and with joy and happiness we find these two components by why because we see that did things very very quickly as it says clearly in got early in the morning and he harnesses which means he was able to break all the Browns anything that was was holding him back um from doing it I'll do it later no he's doing it right now because the fact is that it's not appropriate himself to go ahead and harness Dunkey but nevertheless if he has to go MIT far he doesn't and the same thing also when to do it in complete way we find by Rino like the r writes clearly in the laws of trva in the 10th chapter that the a the spiritual work of every single Jew has to be done in the way of what love you have to love AEM and that is what learned from that called him that he's my lover and he served hem from love like it says in the prophets so AB what he did was he took the the where where the didn't want he did it but not only did he do it but he did it with W with with quickly and he did it with with joy and with love now this did but guess what once Abu did it that became our inheritance became part of our DNA now the even though sometimes we do things not necessarily for the right reasons as we do it because we want a reward for doing the and we want to have the world to come which is okay but the go that's the way to start but ultimately the the goal is to be like we're serving Hashem not because of the rewards not because of the world to come we're serving Hashem because we love Hashem our goal is that we should want to have a relationship because we love hem and that's what that's the meaning of that we we're we're going to the land that hm is going to show us and as we go from one level to the next level up to the point that we first we starting out we're fighting our will and then we're going ahead and trying to go against our intellect our emotions that don't want us to do it but the ultimate goal is to go to go to the land that hm is going to show us which means we're going to do things from a place of love now we explained before that these two insights of which means going from the uh transforming the world and bringing the ungodliness in the world is in the same verse the same two words in other words so obviously it's not a contradiction even though it's opposites even though it's opposites one is basically we're drawing ungodliness into world the other ones we're fighting and transforming the world it's not even though it's it is opposites but it's not a contradiction why because it's in one verse and according to the explanation way it's explained T and we know the T was given with all the commentaries so obviously has a connection and becomes part of the life of Torah which gives which helps us in leading our life that we live it so how do we do it we have two different opposites no explains like this he says as follows because what happens is when something says so in the toyra even if it's opposite it becomes one so you have right left but T puts it together right and left become one is one bringing down God is one one type of serving hem is another way of serving hem when the T puts it in in one verse it becomes one and there gives an example like we see where it says when God gave the Torah so the Ten Commandments says I am God your God and then it says you shouldn't have any other gods and it says those two Commandments were set in one one one utterance now the Commandment of of the Ten Commandments what is that including all the positive Commandments as we know that is a positive commandment the Commandment of Gods includes all the negative Commandments but nevertheless even though the two opposites they were set as one and like like like and that's why it says in kazal that God gave us 633 Commandments how do we know he gave us 63 Commandments because it says instruct us with to now to was spelled out the numerical value is how much 600 we're lacking two we need two more so is a 611 is the positive Commandments and is is a negative and those two we heard from hem so and the two Commandments we heard directly from God and the other 611 that's how we have 63 so you see clearly that from the Torah perspective the 61 then we have two more specifically divides it it's two different Commandments cuz you need to have 613 because there's 248 a positive Commandments 365 negative and we know you can't add or take off but nevertheless even though it's two separate Commandments it was said in one and like the Raman writes that clearly the first Mitzvah is to know God and based on based on the commandment and the first negative precept is is not to have any other guards but so even though two separate Mitzvah it's listed as two separate mitz but what does it say in that together because when when when something is in the t two opposites can become one so the same thing also know the same thing also applies when the two types of Journeys there a journey from going down bringing godliness down into this world and elevating the world which is which is similar to the positive Commandments and the negative Commandments because what the negative Commandments going away from Evil like staying away from anything negative which basically means transforming the world on the other hand the positive Commandments is doing good which is basically bringing down godliness into the world so be the fact that ter puts it in one verse you can have two opposites in one thing and that's the power of Tura tur can take two opposites and unite them and the same thing also applies to every single every single every person's spiritual service in this world as we know that we are one nation in the world like the alra explains that what's know it says we're one nation in the world what does that mean so explains beautifully he says what does it mean we're that we are we draw in Oneness even into the materialistic world when you see a physical you don't see godliness but our job is to bring godliness in there and know not only don't we get affected from the physical world on the contrary we bring in unity of hem into the materialistic physical world in this world we're it's solo and therefore what's our av our av is to unify not only the physical world but to unify the AV of and say he like to connect this with the idea of the seventh day of which what's the seventh day of that's the day the Jewish people finished the the the Journey of going to to Israel for for the festival and now it starts the the process of after the festival so now up until Z is part of our journey to and from Jerusalem and afterwards we going back home in other words so that's the day that connects it to what does that mean know that when we went up to AR when we did a we went to Jerusalem we went to the temple what is that we went to see godliness revealed like it says clearly in everyone is going to see godliness and like it says just like you came to see you're going to be seen and came to came to be seen you were seen in other words that the the vision and the will of every single person was the will of hem it wasn't just a physical thing y means that the the W the the the will our will our seeing is the will of hem and just like it's bym the same applies to us now so that is the time of before what happens to after when we we finish it's also the opposite in other words it's not anymore the time of we went and then what what's our job to to deal with the physical world darkness of the world so it's two different worlds before it's Vision closeness to God the will of hasem is real or very very clear and afterwards we're dealing with struggles and challenges after Z now that's in time the same thing applies to space as well because where were we in when we went up to to Israel oh reg we went to Jerusalem afterwards we were outside Jerusalem what's the difference between Jerusalem the B mikdash and the whole world in Jerusalem and the Mason we know it's literally a place of Holiness and compared to Jerusalem and the temple the whole world is is is weak day it's it's not holy and not only in the holy of holies and in the temple but the whole Jerusalem is a holy place and as we know one of the reasons that the Jerusalem was not divided amongst the tribe because Jerusalem is a place dedicated for the BET mikdash and the bet mdash is a public place where you bring public sacrifices and matter of fact the main service of the B mdash is by bringing the sacrifices every single day which is a community sacrifice and since Jerusalem is a place M it wasn't divided amongst the tribes and that's on a physical level and the same thing on a spiritual level just like the bdes what was it impact what was the net result the bdes accomplished Unity amongst all the Jewish people and therefore it accomplish it also in Jerusalem because Jerusalem comes it says in the verse it unifies everything it unifies the city it unifies the Jewish people that we should be a vessel for's hands are dwelling there which is basically it's a place where could dwell so in other words jerus on spacewise Jerusalem is one thing all holy however outside Jerusalem is weak day compared to Jerusalem so that will understand why the day of the seventh of which is the day which is the dividing between going up to to alel going up to Jerusalem and the time after going up to Jerusalem and between the the Jerusalem and the holy Place B mdash and the whole worlds because the seven the purposes to un to connect the two of the of before going up to is Israel and leaving and Jerusalem and the whole world and finish off and he says like this it should be the will of hem that these ideas should be fulfilled in a real tangible way in our actions in our work to bring in unity of hem into this physical world and since every one of us our souls come from the three Patriarchs the first we know is and we know he was one and the same thing also from every one of us are called we are connected to and and we know that Roman s were the first ones and it's and it's underscored specifically in reference to all the Converse that Abraham converted and S converted all all the converts as well and like it's brought down in the in the different m in the Torah and so what should happen is it should be fulfilled for every one of us we should go bring down the godl into world and transform the world world and we should go to the land that God is going to show us just like BYO that every one every one of the Jewish people including everybody together we should go in literally in one second in one moment to the land that God is going to show us we should with happiness and with gladness of heart so here we have another beautiful powerful discourse about bringing godliness to the world elevating the world that we can obviously do the we can do both because the Torah gives us the power as it's written in there and ultim says we all Merit where the world will be transformed then we'll have mhia we have mashia and God willing our next class will bees have a great and blessed week sh