Holding Back from Food & Drink, Fixes our Speech & Emuna to Spiritualize all - Likutei Halachos 3:5

So, we're in David's, again, it's Monday night. We're learning relationship flow focused in Rebbe Nachman's town. It's safer, beautiful safer Rebbe Nachman. It's also in Lano Al Kores well. We're dedicating the learning as we just mentioned in the davening for Marif in Nishmas my Zayde Yitzchok Menachem Kahan the outside and also dedicated to all the soldiers of Am Yisrael. Um before those who are going into Lebanon right now and all the hard work that's going on up there. Just saw a beautiful inspirational moment from Katz from the Maradassa here that he posted and I shared it as well. I might do the thing probably I'll use it to share here again as well is that there was a soldier going in with a beautifully made rucksack that had a safer Torah inside it. I don't know if you saw. But that's that's the kind of Am Yisrael of the survive of before Messiah comes. We're we're going into Lebanon with sifrei Torah and uh This is this is the sava Shem, you know, the army of Hashem. We dedicate to all those soldiers in that way and everyone else as well. The um as much as I can helping Am Yisrael win this war with shleimus. Um we're learning um right now about the inner war that we all have with uh just connected to the parsha Shmini as we mentioned yesterday in Tanya, the idea of ta'avas achila of eating properly and so part of that avoda of ashkamas boker which has been the focus. We've been mentioning it in the Tanya, the the first halacha that we should develop a more of a kavana of who we're standing in front of shiviti Hashem negdi tamid. Right at the bottom there on this this this part here right in here. Um Rebbe Nachman brings down goes right to with this concept of when you wake up in the morning, there should be some bechina of of of fasting because you're not you're not going to be eating. Yeah, and that to the level where you're not even going to drink if if you can, you know, we said already as we've made a lot of disclaimers of where most of the people are holding, but Rebbe Nachman, Rebbe Nosson is giving us the idea of the truth of really what's happening at that moment of Shacharis that we should try wake up and not eat or drink anything, go straight into Avodas Hashem. He goes on to say, where if you would listen to last week you'll get more of a clarification on that but let's just see what he how he explains it. That when a person's speech, the whole idea of Mitzrayim, Mitzah, Hagoren, we're going out of Mitzrayim and so on and so forth and throughout, you know, our Tefillos and the whole Kiddush on Shabbos and and throughout the, you know, this is something which I'm missos peshi'ah where after Pesach, a week after Pesach, you know, already in the sphere of Gevurah and we're talking about stibbur and the mouth and the whole avodah of parshas Tetzaveh. Tikkon ha'olam ha'tachtonus. So what, it's not just about what we put in our mouths, what we put out of our mouth, it all goes together but here I they ma'ariv etzmah. By the so so ma'ariv, sorry, etzmah is by depriving himself of food and drink, he conceals back the back of holiness. Nobody denies that this is a klippah associated with the throat. So apparently there's some sort of like a yonek the other way around that we were talking about being yonek from Moshe Rabbeinu yesterday, there's a yonika from the other side if we if certain things we do in the wrong time in the wrong way, so eating and drinking could be one of them. By dezem mamshichim sodem lachleach misad Hagoren. Instead through fasting he draws the waters of chassadim but not of benevolence. The might in the throat and to leave the Mitzah Hagoren. As we already mentioned the idea of Mitzah Mitzrayim, these these streets. We've been talking a lot about the streets of Hormuz, yeah? What's been going on over there in with this war and the whole big big trump card that Iran tried to use and now Trump's turned it back on them is that they're trying to hold back the oil supply in the world through, you know, not all of it but There's a amount, 20-30% and you know, Trump's managed to break through the street himself now just bringing his army there, his ships there so it's undo their control which is you know, part of the miracles of this whole war where they're constantly returning around these mates are in these straights that the enemy is trying to put us in like with all the borders around us as well and we're turning it around. The kind carb of going out toss toss off. This enables him to fill the the verse cry out from the throat, do not hold back and that's the possible in Yeshayahu. So there's a special avodah of bringing down Sodom. It's it's a concept in Penimiyut HaTorah that Hesed and Gevurah uh they they are Hesed and Gevurah that comes out. Hesed is kindness and Gevurah is judgments. We're trying to bring down through the vote of Tiferet and using the mouth there's there's the da'at that we we have through the understanding of what we're doing and the experience. So Kabbalah depicts da'at as Hesed and Gevurah. It's a force of expansion and constriction. Expansiveness of the Hesed is a characteristic of water while the constriction of Gevurah is a characteristic of fire. That's from the Etz Chaim. So nothing expands when a person fasts Hesed, the Hesed, the kindness whose origin is in the mind are drawn into the throat to relieve the constriction caused by the dryness of throat which would be more shaikh to the to like the dry like some of the nafshi like I'm thirsting for Hashem where he relates this to fasting also bring rain in the time of drought. That was the kind of powerful tefillah. Right now Hashem we're davening for tall and not davening for rain but but we are davening for Hesed, for Hesed. We want Hashem to reveal his kindness in the world. From the from the mates are the going is a constriction that goes on in the throat. The kind carb of going out toss off, that's the pasuk. You should cry out from the throat. Ask Hashem not to hold back. By the same the talking amuna bishleimus as a result of this his amuna is entirely rectified. He's able to eat in holiness and bring close broken the shkhinah into yichud through his eating. And what what happens by us doing the ashkamot boker properly and not eating and drinking and coming to davening with the proper kavanas and screaming out to Hashem with with even though it's difficult on some level physical level because, you know, your body's wanting the this food and the drink and you're holding back. That opens up the chesed and the kindness and brings us to a an amuna shleima level of amuna shleima, which is a madregah, you know, a high madregah. And then when we eat, we can have a yichud between the Hashem and the shkhinah and what we're eating gets elevated. My son uh is on bein hazmanim a little bit, one of my sons. So today he he asked if he could have like an ice like some sort of frozen yogurt thing. He doesn't ask for anything usually. Yeah, the sadik over here down in the I don't know if you've seen him. He doesn't ask for nothing ever, you know, any of this kind of stuff. Yeah. So he obviously, you know, wanted to be mechazek a little bit before he went off to go learning in Yeshivas Chaim. So uh we went we we went to the place and he he didn't he wasn't comfortable going in there and getting it, so I went in and got for him and I got for my other son as well while I was there. And um but then it could have was that, you know, he was worried that it's ta'avas achilah, he's just eating for the sake of enjoyment. And I said to him, "No, what you do is learn all day. So once you're in a state of Torah and you know, that's where he is, where he's holding, so everything you're doing and when you do physical things, it's it's it's there's a yichud like he says here. There's a yichud and you're able to eat in holiness. The Torah itself is mogen not just ourselves from our enemies, but it's mogen us from the negative effect that the physical world can have on us. So that he was able to, you know, get his achilah from it and he's happy to do to to, you know, do that for for my sadik son. Okay, as a achilah sh'kol demit filak he's speaking this right. As machon and tfilah. Therefore, it's forbidden to eat and drink before prayer because one needs to the primetime of food and drink before praying shacharis in order to safeguard his amuna. This is a b'chinat ta'anit sha'ot. This is akin to the concept in Jewish law that is known as fast of hours. So, this concept fast of hours. Fast of hours are voluntary fasts that an individual an individual undertakes for part of the day rather than the entire day. I don't know if you've heard about this in the general world. It's actually a concept that people hold of nowadays like gurus and you know, development. The person should try hold back a little bit sometimes of the day and it it um it gives a a clarity of mind somehow and that's that's how the world understands it. Let's see what Rabbeinu Tam says. Rabbeinu Tam says These fast of hours happen naturally all the time. So, one of them is daily daily people deprive themselves of food and drink before they pray. By doing so, they draw the spiritual illumination so through fasting or to conceal the back of holiness. Now, what does this mean? So, he says here that before man emerges in the morning is vulnerable to the attack by the other side by these like shells these cover-ups these clipers and this they draw sustenance from the heretical questions that undermine faith. This is the theme we've had in this Torah that we're trying to undo those heretical questions. We all have them, yeah? They come at us but where where where they coming from what's their goal? Their goal is undermine our emunah and they're coming from us bringing in a more physical like cover-up experience of spirituality in the day. So, at the beginning of a clean clean a clean feeling of emunah and and and yashrus they come and they sort of neonic they draw sustenance from from things that are half of emunah opposite of emunah. If a person eats or drinks for shacharis he empowers these clipers even more. Therefore, it is necessary to conceal the back of holiness by fasting until after prayer. So, then it's a concept basically you're focusing on the neshama at the beginning of the day, strengthening the neshama so then when you go into the physical, you go into eating and drinking, you've given it the hisuk. Like Tanya talks about also learning as well. It's a whole avodah in the morning to get yourself from the metzarim of sleep, you know, because it's also a mitzrayim a little bit. That's one of the reasons we say it every morning we're going out of the Tanya says we're going out of a little mini mitzrayim. And then you get to the point where you're in a more spiritual state. Now you can eat and drink. Now you're going to elevate it. That's why you don't start the day eating and drinking. You know these hotels people go to. I don't know if you've ever been there. But before you go down chakras you go to have a breakfast, yeah? It's not really the right thing. Yeah, I know that's how they do it in the hotels at times and people want to enjoy the hot fish and all that and that and that. But you know, I'm happy my wife can go there, my kids if the younger ones can go there. But to me personally I always try to just go The most I do is have a coffee, yeah? You have a coffee. Rabbi Nachman says you shouldn't even have a coffee. Yeah? That's what we're learning here. Shouldn't have anything. You just go and you you just come and strengthen the neshama. Then you can go deal with the world in an elevated way with a menuchas sheleima. There won't be any any younuk from these other forces. Okay, let's just read a little bit more. Um I deserve I'm shaking the beginning of Tanya Tanya David kedusha kedai deeper makes a going kashit amuna kedoshim is conscious of the whole boca. And that whole um aspect of enabling the faculty of speech to extract from the narrowness of the throat and also dawn. What's it adorning? Holy amuna. It's being renewed every morning. We've been learning this throughout the Torah. You're getting a a new level of amuna and you're bringing you closer to Hashem. And and and especially, you know, in our generation you have to understand when you're doing this this is you know, this is important to keep this in mind. When you're doing this holy avodah you're also now able to draw others into amuna. That's That's one of the important reasons. You know, I once asked I was having challenges in the sky and in the in when I first came to Shiva in the summer and all those years ago in 1999 and 2000. All those years ago and I was had a good love there and he said to me, "Remember everything you're doing is not just for yourself. There's thousands of nations connected to you." There's your wife, you know, we're learning relationship flow here. There's your wife, there's your children, there's a sham, there's your family around and around. And then there's all the thousands of nations on the national level that are connected to you. There's not There's not just the Jewish nations, non-Jewish nations. There's also the cuz we learn cuz I told him there's all the nations of and there's all the nations of the nations. And they're all depending on us to be all of going to be a to be lit up. So when we hold back a little bit from this world a little bit so we can be more spiritualized, then we'll have ability to elevate not just ourselves but the everyone around us. Everyone goes up. That's what we had to and it's a very when you think in that way throughout the way of we've been educated in the world these days, that's actually a very powerful motivation to develop yourself. Because a lot of people do want to fix the world, do want to bring the world to a better place and you start to be more optimistic and then once you're more optimistic, you have more motivation. So I would say that's an important thing and today was netzach and gevurah to be victory by holding back. Like gevurah is the idea of constraining yourself. And then you can come to hod, then you start to shine. You know, that's that's my my zayde used to say. Then you start to shine. The hod, the hod of gevurah, the the light of of holding back. So I'm just going to do a two-minute of gedaliah and then we'll reach our end of our 15-minute. Gedaliah fence that has a beautiful thing on relationships. We'll carry on with this concept of the shalom bayit concept. We'll see how it's connected. He says one soul, one journey. The Zohar, it teaches us that marriage isn't just a guy and a girl brought together by happenstance. I don't think it really says it that way. But the Zohar main focus is is and a wife are one soul. Separated only through their descendants to this world. When they're married, they're reunited again. So once again, if you're spiritualizing your day, now you can be more neshama dick. Now you can be more neshama with your soulmate. Understand why it's important to spiritualize yourself once again, not just for yourself, but for the people around you, especially if you have a soulmate. The more soul you are, the more you'll be soul full with your wife. And that that's something to think about that to look at them with this great respect that they're they're they're one soul with you. And this the greater something is, the harder it is to get. This is why most of us struggle in relationships, either finding the one or flourishing relationships. So if you're struggling, keep on going. When you feel like giving up, turn it up. So here we could say that says greatness comes with resistance. Relationships are no exceptions. You see like this whole avoda every morning are having a struggle with your growth, with your natural desires to eat and drink, and you're pushing the the avoda Hashem first. So too with your relation, that's relation with Hashem and your neshama. Your relationship with your soulmate is going to be a struggle then. It's it's inevitable. But it's it's it's worth fighting for. Whether you're searching for the right person or working through challenge in marriage, don't quit when it gets tough. Relationships, like anything great, require effort, patience, and a willingness to push through the challenges. This is whole meaning of gevurah this week. Gevurah is baal machsomis, time of war. It's a time when we're fighting with our own yetzer hara, our inclinations, our own inner struggles. Struggles aren't signs of failure, they're signs of something real is being built. Yeah, you hear this whole sphere is built of chesed and gevurah. We started off with chesed and gevurah. The struggle is part of the process. The moment you feel like giving up, turn it up. If the struggle feels overwhelming or unsafe, reach out for support. Okay, there's going to be times when you're going to need a tzaddik, like Rebbe Nachman, Rebbe Nosson, to give you the eitzos, to give you the advice, to help you overcome the challenges. You can't do it alone. You can't think, "I'll be all right." I don't trust myself at all. I I totally rely on son to be him, yeah. Anyway, so we should end off that we are in a time of Tefillah. Here he goes on to say that Tefillah is an aspect of Emunah, Kedusha. And the more we work on fixing our speech, it's the next thing. This is this week's Parsha. She I would just read the last few words. She should Shlamus I they ticking a dibbuk I Tefillah who could dibbuk dafka. He goes on to say that we know too that Emunah is perfected through the Tikkun of speech since the essence of prayers attains specifically through the medium of speech. Shlamus a dibbur I they Shmar v'Atzmo v'Taharos m'Shabbos v'Achila K'dusha. So, who would have thought the Parshas Tazria Metzora would one of the ways to get to Shmiras Halashon is to come fix our Achila, how we eat. So, Rebbe Nachman is telling us and we see this from the Torah. What comes first? Parshas Shmini, we will Kashrus, how we eat. And then comes Parshas Metzora Tazria Metzora, how we speak. And it it's all to preparing us for, you know, for the for Acharei Mos Kedoshim to come to more of a higher heiliger level after we hold back a little bit Acharei Mos, but then we become Kedoshim, holy. And then Emor. That's Parshas Emor. That's the seder of the Torah. Then you can speak. Only then once you worked a little bit on holding back, then you can come to the level of now you're ready to become a speaker and then speech is a massive part of Shalom Bayis. As you see at the beginning of Parshas Tazria, it's all about, you know, bringing down Nishamos with the husband and wife, the Yichud between them and first condition. There's a lot of remezim in the beginning of the Parsha about this concept. And we we said to the Tatzria to the Metzora. The main thing is to just understand that Hashem is giving us all the eitzos we need through the Torah Kedosha to help us fix up our speech and have more of a holy davening and more of a of a a Nishama dikedai that then we have a soulmate, then we're really one with our a zivug and we can be zocheh b'ezras Hashem to the ultimate day with Am Yisrael Hashem b'Shleimus, Amen v'Amen.