Likkutei Sichos, Vayishlach #1 - The Final Torah of the Maggid

Today we're going to learn a by the by the labb that he said on Shabas giml that's 1962 the end of 1962 and another part of the that he said onisl which would be the end of 1964. So and two years later it's published in parishes pages 100 through 108. Let's begin alf. It begins with a story about the last days of the Magged of Misrich. A little background. The Balsham was born in 1698 and he passed away in 1760. Tough was his birth. Kayell passed away. One of the greatest if not the greatest student of the Balmp was the maggot of Misri. whose name was Raenu bear and he was a mag in a city of Miz. He was actually a teacher a teacher of children and he was one of the gim of the generation both in Nigla in Nigla and also in Nistister. He came to the BMPv in the last years of the BMPv the whole story how he came but he became one of his greatest disciples and when the BMPv passed away in 1760 one year later the BMP of sonvi gave over the mantle of leadership to be who's known till today as the maggot or the micha mag or in some communities they call him the bear he led the fresh movement ofus for 13 years until his histoalus his passing on Utes Kislvmed Gimmel which would be 1772 the end of 1772 December 1772 he passed away and we don't know his age some say he was even older than the bos the year of his birth is unclear there's different opinions about it whether he was older than the bos or younger than the bos The bos was born in 1698. So the bos was 62 years old when he passed away. The mag lived another 13 years till of Giml and he's buried in a city called Anipoli. We had this you remember we took a lot of the from the Shia a and other people a few years ago we went to Anipoli which is in the Ukraine and over there the maggot is buried close to a river of Anipoli is there as well was a student of the magotusia the maggot's passing of course was created uh a tremendous uh sense of uh I don't know how to explain of pain and loss for all of his students known as the kavay kadesha and that's when really split into many different branches the students of the mag who each returned to their own region or cities and created their branch of the is the movement of the bal and of the maggot the last shabas before the petia of the maggot was shabas parish toklam And this of the is focused on something that happened on that chabas. Let's begin. My father-in-law told the following story and this is the talkingb. So he's addressing his own father-in-law which means the sixth lab who was of course a great great grandson of the balatana and who passed away himself on in 1950 in New York. So he says, "My father-in-law told the story and the Reb was actually present when he told the story because it was at Gimmel 1943 in New York." As he says in footnote one, the last shabas of the physical life of the mag of mis his life in this world and he says the last shabas of his life in this world because of course even the following shabas his life continued but just not in a physical concrete way in this world. So that last shabas the mid apparently was already ill and he was in bed and who was standing around him the which means the holy group his greatest each of them in their own right was a was a was a and you had their souls that were extraordinary it's one of the the py one of the ploy of that millu that's from tk the time of the bump over the next uh half a century or even century even more there arose nobody knew from where in in in countries where they didn't expect it where Jews were so downtrodden there arose a group of not just dozens but many dozens of of great nishamus lovers of humanity lovers of the Jewish people lovers of Hashem whose souls were overflowing with a hashem Is so they were called the of course you had their people like the oldest student of the mat people like people like the of these are all theish I'm just mentioning a few the youngest was the alterb the balat he was the youngest of the students they called him the litvak as we'll soon see the Lithuanian because he came from the region of Lithuania, Bellerus and Lithuania. Alterba came from a place called Lajna. That's the town where he was born and he grew up. So they called him the Litvak. Others didn't come from Lithuania. They came from other regions whether it's Ukraine or Poland. So I don't know that all these names were there at the moment, but there was the his close who were around the bed. So the mag turned to his students and he said the following the opening of parish is au sent malim he sent messengers to as to the city of se to the to the region of se initim in the region of today's Jordan and yakov sent a message with I have lived with love on all these years I have delayed my return until now and I am sending a message. I would love to find favor in your eyes. We all know that the response was not very kind. As of is coming towards you with 400 men and the continuation of the story. So Rashi says what does mal mean in medri? There are two opinions. Does mal mean messengers? A malik is really a a messenger. So now she says no mish literally. So the mag says it was the of the of the so to speak the physical substance of the malim that yakov sent to but the of the malim the adel kite the the spirituality the kadusha the rnus the transcendent dimension of the malim the ru of the malim the spirit that remains with Yakov to quote the story in Yiddish. I'll just say it because it's Gishmak to uh use the lash of the maggot and of the alterb who set it over and of theat who set it over and the rebba set it over. They all said it over in Yiddish. So the the language over there in giml is that it was the alterb said over the story at the z of his son that had three sons bear the atom of which was in the yearn would mean 17 1790. So at the said that the last of the in this world and I'm going to quote in Yiddish the So we read what does I mean Malim, I'm not exaggerating. I'm not being dramatic. It was really really Malim. He sent angels. He didn't send people. He sent angels. Comes to Mitch at his last Shabas and he says Malim Mameish. You know what he sends? He sends the mamoshas. Mameish in in in in Hebrew means like mameish like mameish literally. But really what does the word mameish mean? The word mamish comes from the word mimos, right? like to to touch something that you can touch a substance that you can feel that you can detect with your hands that you can touch. So he says the mamush of the malim the mish of the malim that's what he sent to as the of the that you don't send to as that that he kept with him that's the magh the is that he sent to the yeah but the didn't go anywhere that's that's was the The mag gets tight. that in the continuation of the story it says that the next day Sunday was that year was on Tuesday passed away on Tuesday. So the balba said that on Sunday myb told me that in the last three days of the last three days before you give back the deposit that hashem has imbued within you. In other words, the last three days before passing, you only see the divine energy in every material reality in all matter because the truth is that it's only the hashem, the divine DNA which is the core and the essence of all physical matter. So usually we see the physical matter and we may believe or understand or know that there is spiritual energy. He says in the last three days before you give away the nish you see the hashem and the gashi. This is what the mag tells during the last three days of his life. The reason he said the story of the was because he says that night my Reb told me about what happens the night before which is discussed at length over there in the of asks the div of the is from the but let's try to understand what the mag is saying here it's not you know throws out a m okay it's mute. Let's understand it. Let's understand something. Why did send as why did he send the Malik? He could have sent him messengers, right? Later we'll have in different events for example sends messengers also uses the word mal but they were human messengers why did yakov send the human messengers now you say why not if you could send mal generally you're not supposed to use mal it's forbidden just to use when you want to use but there was a reason that did this discusses here it's not so simple just to send even if you So why did he do it? The answer is because he wasn't just sending a verbal message. You know, you could send a telegram and today you could say he could have sent a WhatsApp to Asov, but it wasn't about sending a WhatsApp or a telegram or messengers. He wanted to really sublimate Asov. He wanted to inspire Asov. He wanted to bring in more kadusha to Asov, to elevate Asov. And therefore he sent Malim because they had the power not just to speak to Asov but also bring out from Asov his inner goodness, his inner holiness, what he calls the of Asov, the refinement of Asov, what's called the clarification, the removal of the negativity from the positivity. But if that's the case, why are you sending him only the of the external part of the mal? On the contrary, ace of needs the the of the ability to be to bring out the is of course more to the more transcendent dimension of the and in footnote number five he says and if for whatever reason as needed the mamish the the the more tangible dimension of the mal. So send people send people over there. The mamish is more mamish because it's it's physical malim. Even their mamish is not physical. It's more subtle. So send people and he says in footnote five and even though elsewhere we explained another look at the debate brings in that you're not supposed to send if you may be endangering his or her life. You have to be careful. So maybe Yakov was afraid that if he sends regular people, you know, they could be harmed and he will have to do chuva for that because it's his responsibility. And of course, he knew that as can hurt them. So that's why he had to send mal fine. So maybe he can't send people in a revealed way, but he could still send Margares like Yahushua did. He could send clandestine spies to tell him what's going on, and they won't know that they're of Yakov. They won't tell him that they're of say he needed them to tell to a to tell as about Yakov coming coming back from love. Okay, they could tell him the information without letting him know that they're of Yakov. they just know about you know there's ways around it but he doesn't do that for whatever reason he feels that we need to send mal why because the if that's the case so why the mach of the on the contrary you need to send the but let's go one step deeper besides questioning why would send what does it even Can we really make the separation and say the which means actually the goof of the like he says in footnote we say in he creates his out out of ear his servants glowing fire. So the Rambam explains that the malim have in them what's called the element of fire. But what this means is of course malam don't have the physical body that a human being has or a living organism on earth has but it means that in the malik itself there's something called the goof the body of the malik and something called the nephish of the of the malik the soul of the malik something that's more the mamish of the malik and something called the ruach of the malik the inner transcendent energy of the malik which would be compared to the of the person but how do you separate between the two you say the mish of the malik dispatched to The of the stayed by even by people and by animals, living organisms in earth. It's impossible means it's it's not it's it's it's not feasible. It's not possible. It's not possible that the body should function on its own and do anything without the soul because the body is completely subservient to the soul. The body is a conduit for the soul. The body is the physical conduit and facilitator of the soul. The soul is the electricity, the biochemical energy, the the the consciousness, the soul, the mind of the body that that vivifies it, that gives it vitality and animation. You can't separate between the two and say, "Okay, do this with your gof without your certainly it's so by angels. If it's even true by animals, you can't separate the soul from the body. The moment you separate the soul from the body, the body is a corpse. So what does the really mean? Again it sounds like he sends the but the stays with him. Can you make that separation? [Music] Now you might be thinking of what are you uh why is the rebba analyzing it so heavily? But the the truth is very often especially in the the world of you know there's what's called you know somebody throws out a from this from that from that. So sometimes you can hear a richness, a beauty in it, but was a so every ver he wanted to internalize. And in order to internalize it, you have to really get it. In order to really get it, you have to dissect it. Not dissect it in order to lose its flavor, but to dissect it in order to really breathe it in to to to be. What the mag wasn't just saying to amuse his students especially the last shabas before he passed away there's also another point to understand whenever you say a you can't be negating the entire message that they want to say But that's what's happening here at least at first glance. What's the point of when he says when you read the what's Rashi trying to say? Apparently Rashi is trying to negate the interpretation that he sent in there are two opposite opinions differing opinions if it was oral. So Rashi is choosing one point of view like he says in footnote number seven. the commentary of the mag. It's not just a additional spiritual insight. It seems to go against the very message that Rashi is trying to say. When Rash is trying to say, what does he mean? It's really when it says it means these were not humans. These were these were real. In other words, what's the emphasis? The emphasis is that he sent real mal not anything else and not anybody else. And therefore they captured they represented the true essence of what a malik is. What's the mid's perspective of Malik Mish? The exact opposite. Malik Mish means not really Malik. He sent the mish of the malim, the external, the external dimension of the malim, the superficial part of the malik, the part of the malim that's tangible that as can feel and detect maybe, but the real malik, the mus of the malik, the plemius of the malik, which is of course the inner core spiritual, the malik that he never sent. So you have somewhat of a strange a strange con. I don't know if you remember before Shabas beforeh we had a addressing the same the same question also fascinating the says that why is it called because you see the there's a vision yeah you remember you see sobb said you know how could the say such a thing the reason that we call it is because the of and begins It's the vision of what's the vision? The vision is that he saw pending destruction and catastrophe. So you want to say a nice you see the md it's the exact opposite. It's because you saw the and we learned then the whole of remember about the about the but it's a similar I'm just reminding myself here rashi says comes the mad and says what's the these are the three questions that the labb raises in order to try to understand what the maggot was saying based on all these three questions question number one if yak if as sending mal why sending mal just to have fun with only sending them to be able to help as soak should send the B question B how can you separate the two between the physical and the spiritual the even by people or animals you can't and number three it seems to be contrary to the message of that that he sent precisely and the mag is minimizing that based on all of this Fore speech. Fore! Foreign! Foreign! You have to be the art with with refined sensibilities. The mag he says didn't mean that Jacob split the malim in half and half remained by him and you know 5% he sent doesn't work that way. A malik is a malik. Malik is not a split personality. We have split personal don't have split personalities. That's why they're mal they're spiritual energies. First of all is you can't do that. Second of all, why would Jacob do that? Third of he says the exact opposite point. Of course, he sent the mal to As. And which Malik? The whole Malik, the goof of the Malik together with the neph of the Malik. When he says the mish of the malim he sent to say it's describing how the malim was sent to it's not saying that the malim was split and part of them were by as can detect the mish of the malim as was to pick up you know you need antennas to pick up energy to pick up reality right there are certain sounds I can hear there are certain sounds certain birds can hear I can't hear them you know there certain colors we can see. Our eyes simply our retina and the eyes don't have the kale to be able to sense that reality. Asov could sense the mamish of the mal the of course Yakov sent the whole Malik I he says he sent the mish he didn't he didn't split them up the mad is telling you how he sent the malik how he sent them he sent them in a way that even when they went to they still remained by they what do you mean They went to As they went to Asov to fulfill Yakov's mission. They didn't become as of dick. They didn't lose themselves in Asov. Their soul was still by Jacob. You know, you have an expression in English at his dart is I said in English in Yiddish. Of course, they went to Asam also went to. But it's not called there by who where were they? They were by Yakov. I there by there by to fulfill Yakov's mission. They never left Yakov's domain. They never left Yakov and Shu. They never lost touch and contact with Yakov. Even though Yakov dispatched them to Asov, they always understood they're on a mission from Yakov. They never got swallowed up and enthralled by the dynamics of Asov. So even though they're by Asov. Yes, they're by Asov, but their mamish is by Asov. Meaning they have to go to fulfill Yakov's mission. So they have to go to and they have to go to as with their and their neph and their and their spirituality and their core. He's sending Malim. He's not sending Moshas. He wants they should go. But because their soul, their p is still remains by Yakov. So the mag says you just realize their is by Yakov. The Moses went take a look in eight star footnote eight star. You see? Or if you have maybe a new addition, it starts off alpisa yumtuk. Maybe it's number nine. It starts off alpisa yumtuk. could be in the new I have the older safer but could be in the new ones for project is number nine but you'll see the language of the was in Yiddish he said from the there's something missing this expression. You would think the mag should say [Music] it would be it would be more appropriate. In other words, the mamish of the malim was by Asaf and the of the malim remained by like we'll say in English, it remained not with Jacob. It remained by Yakov. Yeah. That's not what the maggot says. He says, you see why? Because it wasn't by Yakov. Everything was by you can't split a everything was by in other words even when they were they were still together with that's what he says their their remained by they never left Yakov you have sometimes you send an a country sends out an ambassador an ambassador to a foreign country. They plant a flag of their original country in their home. They make sure to teach their children the language of the country where they come from. And every day they make sure to maintain traditions that tell the children, "We're here as ambassadors of that country. We're not natives. We're not citizens." because one day they want to come back to that country. In other words, they maintain a very distinct identity even when they are in a foreign land. I physically they're there and they have to go to those schools and they have to be part of the culture and they have to shop in their markets and drive their cars and use their gas stations and converse with the people there and learn the language. Also, where's their loyalty? What does what does Rashi say? I'm a but I became a citizen. Then she says there's another I live here but I'm a G. I come from somewhere else. I'm here but my soul is not stuck here. My soul is somewhere else. So he says they always felt this is not my organic place. This is not my natural place. Where is my place? My place is by that's where my soul is. He says in footnote nine said you know where you are you are where you want to be you are where you want to be that's where you are and the once said that everything is expressed in I heard this from the so he said you have it in many of you just finished last week last Sunday maz we did the long hat in part one part two could die to hear it if you didn't have a chance but I recommend double speed because it's a very long that said on we did the first was the part the second she was the and spiritual part what's that if you have a meal in a particular location even though you're not there it's considered as though you were present where your meal is so Friday night I put a me before Friday night I put a meal somewhere somewhere in the forest even though I'm not there it's as though I'm physically there because I have my food there and I'm and tomorrow I can go to that place and walk from there 2,000 outside of the I take a piece of bread and I put it in your home. So even though I'm not living in your home it's considered as though I'm living in your home because I have a meal in your home waiting for me and therefore the courtyard is considered the courtyard of one home. What do we see from here? because a person follows the food. We all know that we follow the food, the place of the bread. So therefore, what do we see from here? Because the want to be by Jacob, because they're living with Yakov, because they're thinking about Yakov, they're by Yakov. Their soul is by Yakov. My body is by Asov. My soul is also by Asov, but it's still by Yakov. or I should say it's still with Yakov. Not by Yakov, but it's still with Yakov. I there by he says that's that that's because they have to fulfill they're not they're not swallowed up by they have to fulfill and that's really what it means that their goof was by the whole concept of a goof is a goof is a facilitator for the nephesh. In other words, they're there by in order to fulfill the mission of Yakov. That's what the means. The is by the even when it was by for according to this all the questions are answered. Why did he send the mish? He sent How can you separate? He didn't separate the two. Why is the maggot saying and emphasizing a point that's opposite of now it's answered not only does the bag explain mamish in a way that undermines the literal interpretation. No, the point of is never to give a that is contrary to the soul and the real meaning. The point of the mag was to actually explain the n of what rashi is saying. What's the point of Malik Mamesh that Yakov really sent angels to Asov? He wanted Asov to listen to angels to hear the energy of the angels. So the mag is explaining it that the ability that Malim have to go into the territory of Asov who represents the ultimate density of m materialism and physicality and to try to elevate him. It's only when their souls have not left Yakov. The mag is not negating the he's explaining it is saying he really sent mal to transform as the ability for malim to go into such a place and not only not get lost spiritually but on the contrary try to impact and transform and metamorphosize as it's only if they do not get affected by the reality of as they remain unscathed unchanged why because their soul remains always in the of Yakov. So the pish of the mag that only the mish of the malim he sent to actually emphasizes more the literal interpretation of mamish that he sent the malim in a way that they remain malish. How can they remain mish mal by asov because they were not affected. So when says he sent them in a way that they were they were tal and they remain mal and that's why they can try to affect him. How can they do that? They're by the answer is because they weren't by they were physically by Asov but they were together with Yakov in life. We'll soon see what this means. You have to go into all types of situations. Sometimes you have to face an asaf. You have to know who you are. You have to know where your nama is, where your passion is, where your core are, where your values are. And that changes everything as we will see. Taste beer. this of the mag and also the lesson of it in our own because the maggot wasn't just trying to say he was trying to teach his students a way of life will be understood much deeper when we contemplate when he said this taida and in what situation it He's on his bed three days before his passing. Four days before his passing, it's he would pass away Tuesday. In other words, it's his last shabas on earth. This means when the mag is choosing to teach something to his students that shabas he's not just saying on the parish shabas have to say avart you have to say that this is the of the mag this is a of the that we have a of the mag it's the final will and testament he says you're not going to say this is a there may have been another I don't know but it's it was like a a final message, a general lesson that he was teaching his students about serving Hashem according to the path of for their generation and for for future generations because of course his main objective was to create students who will create students for future generations. What can this be? Why does why is this the of the mag from all the he could have said this is the ta he chose? Why? But then he takes it one step further. for one more idea. The mag had exceptional students but it's known other students of the mag testified that there was a special kinship and a special outstanding love that he had to the bal and he expressed it. Not only that, you have to understand as it says in the introduction of the that the maggot from all of his and he had he summoned the and he summoned him. He gave him the he charged them with a mission to write a one set. We all ate from one dish. But the litvak because that was the the name that the other students of the mag used to call the lit said the we all ate from one dish but the litfac the bal he took the creme is the best part the you know the cream on top that's what he took his point was we all ate from the same dish but there was something unique about the relationship ship of the alterba and the mag as he said learned specially with and even more than he did with other students as he brings in the footnotes there's also a letter from the footnote n or 10 you see by me it's nine starv you tell me about the author of prior this I didn't hear what I did hear is that he extolled the praises of the alterb in extraordinary ways the says this was a context there was a misa it's not for now the details but there were some of the students of the mag of kalisk who was um who was writing some things about that were challenging and had to do with the whole stucker fund of the k in wasn't in used to send wrote letters to the wrote says just know how great was in the eyes of the mag. If this is the case this means that when the mag is saying the the last shabas of his life first of all it has the of for generations to come but he says it also has something else is there. So this director of the mag right before his certainly has also special meaning for the sed of the alterb the balat who was the founder of because from all the students there was a special special kinship and we see this also in something the mag told them Fore the maggot told the which means is our wedding day. This is one of the things he told the balatana in the last days of his life. And what did he mean? He meant that there's a special unique event that will happen on Utuskisv in both of our lives. Of course, is the day the mag passed away. It's utasis years later is the day that Alba was emancipated from Tsarist imprisonment in the year which would be 1798. The stalkus of the magim 1772 of 1798 then he understood what hisb said a few days before his passing it's our day of celebration in other words there's a special relationship there about the day of the only intensifies more that when the mag gives that last statement on his deathbed to his students about not only is it at about in general Not only is it a connected specifically to the beloved of his students, but also since this is the one of the last or the last that he says publicly before his yula, it must be connected to the second to the second celebration which is the day of the gul of the ghoul of the and from now the second part of the the is going to go on to explain how this Malish captures all of these dimensions and also allows us to apply it to our lives. But we're going to take a break now and this we will continue based Hashem Wednesday morning 7:30. So remember tomorrow morning we have the women's class at 9:45 a.m. That's Tuesday morning. You can watch it on the yeshiva.net. Even men could watch it but don't tell anybody. Wednesday morning 7:30 we will continue this there will also be a Thursday morning 7:30 a.m. Shabas, we will have our first live event since the beginning of Corona. Big live event besides some of the Davening and the Shuraman Shabas yatis. There'll be a big grand faban in the tent 24 road here in Muny with hot food audas mitzvah sudasa live music. Everybody is invited. You can also watch it online the yeshiva.net but it will be 7:30 p.m. Shabas. Please tell your friends or acquaintances here in Muny or around. Everybody's invited, men, women, and children for the kagula of the alterba and the histoas of the mag. Wednesday night 9:30 p.m. there will be a class on the yeshiva.net with a zoom meeting to the community in Panama and the topic is achieving happiness during these crazy times. Last night we had a fewour session on marriage. Why are so many marriages failing? It was uh it was very very heavy I have to say was maxed out to a thousand people. The organizer said they had another thousand people who wanted to come on but they had it only on Zoom. But basic Hashem they're working on it. So it will be loaded today probably or tonight on the yeshiva.net so you can watch it. Very very powerful stuff to hear the questions and feedback and honest uh communication of people. was very powerful. Okay, I'm going to take some questions now. And remember, this sh this we're going to continue Wednesday 7:30 a.m. Eastern time right here on the yeshiva.net. Everybody is invited. Let's go to the questions. [Music] How is one going to send angels? How do you send angels? I guess if you're a venu, you know how to send angels. Uh I guess you know if you have angels with you and around you, you could send angels. How do you send people when they're around you? they could send people. It says that right when comes back the end of and encountered him on the way to he has a dream of angels going up and going down on the ladder on the way back the angels encounter him. So when somebody is hanging out with Malim he could send Malim. I should add that the Rambam says inim that we are all sending out angels because angels is also a metaphor for our emotions and our mental energy and our emotional energy are the the natural faculties of a person our faculties of mind are faculties of heart which means we are always sending out messengers feelers feelers our mental energy our emotional energy and the Reb once spoke about this actually was the before this one is before and he said that every single one of us sends out we send we send our mind and our heart we all send out emotional energy and and mental energy to check out every situation right and they come back to report. They come back to report. And the point is, it happens. It happens constantly. We're always sending out energy, our attitudes, our perspectives, our way of looking at things, and the way we we we we process things. But the point here is that you have to be in control of the don't let the just go out on their own. of he was a bos and what this means often that I have to look what type of energy I am actually projecting onto reality because the energy the attitudes the perspectives that I send out from me will come back and tell me what the reality is so this is actually a very profound insight that is alluded to in that s so this is how it applies to us we'll see later also other applications Why did the mag next question why did the mag choose to say this about that shabas? Well, it was Shabas. So, he said, but the point this is making is that if it was the last Shabas of his life, it wasn't just finding a vert. He could have said a lot of, but rather this would come to encapsulate and capture a major theme that the mag wanted to impart to his students for subsequent generations. And it's understandable because if it's the last shabas of somebody's life, any person, never mind the mag of misrich, never mind surrounded by his greatest and closest disciples, including a person like the balata. The maggot is not just going to, you know, say something that he thought about in the parish sha. Every moment is so faithful at that at that time. Every moment is so precious. It's timeless. It's every moment is like eternity. And he knew that he's about to give his nishama back. So it's very logical. This is not a far-fetched idea that when the maggot is saying something, he wants to share with them something that they will take away and take with them for the rest of their lives and bequeeve it to their students and their children and their disciples, which they did because generations later now it's more than 200 years since the passing of the Magade of Misri, right? Almost almost 250 years, not yet. And we still teach this to we learn this. So this is going to explain how this captures really one of the great and timeless messages of the maggot including its unique connection to the alter and tokis which is the hilula of the maggot and the hula of the balat. I wish you all a wonderful, meaningful and inspiring day accompanied by Malim Mamesh.