Maamar Mai Chanukah 5701 - How Your Animal Soul Wants to Hijack Your Divine Music

Welcome. You want to join us? Yeah, sure. Okay. Where are the copies in the bimmer? It's an honor to have you and a pleasure to have you. You don't even take me seriously when I say that, huh? But it's the truth. We learned in Tanya yesterday as the nefesh Let go of the part of you that thinks you're a Jew. That's what it means. >> [snorts] >> That Elisha ben Avuya, yeah? I think that Elisha is wise. That's what you heard about, but uh Okay. Okay, tip and tipping, yeah. No? Number two, no? Take a look. Your phone is working, you could check. You could check if it's good. Could you go to the yeshiva.net? No? Feature number two, no feature number two. Shivim, shivim. Huh? It is? Okay. Let me just ask the guy. Okay, you have copies? Hello? What did you say? Yeah, yeah. It's number two, feature is number two. Okay, you want to check? Somebody said here that's not working. On the website they said there's no link. He hangs up right away. Let me call him back. Yeah, somebody said on the website there's no link. I don't know. Could you check? Okay, let's begin and uh with the help of Hashem, everything will uh Okay, good morning everybody and a freilichen Chanukah. First of all, today's class is dedicated by the Ezra David Philip in loving memory of the Bondi kedoshim, the kedoshim of Sydney, who were murdered al kiddush Hashem yesterday at the Chanukah celebration, with hope that the light of kisslev and Chanukah will unite us all and dispel all the darkness and bring Mashiach now. Amen. Thank you to Ezra David. So, I was actually thinking what to learn for Chanukah and I was looking at different mymarim, different sichos, and truth be told in in the atmosphere of of of this horrific horrific massacre, it was like hard for me to feel out what to learn, like what would be just my own feelings. And then, I don't know, this morning I this morning I woke up and I remembered that there's a mymar from the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rebbe Rayatz, of Chanukah taf shin aleph. It's 1941, the beginning of 1941, the middle of the Second World War. So, I just I thought that would be a good mymar to learn. So, that's what I chose. Thank you to Chaim for making the copies on such fast notice. So, this is from sefer mymarim taf shin aleph. The Rebbe Rayatz, this is the father-in-law of the Rebbe, who was born Yud Beis Tammuz taf shin taf reish mem, 1880, passed away Yud Ches Vav taf shin Yud, 1950. So, this is already a few months after he came to the United States cuz the Rebbe Rayatz escaped Nazi-occupied Warsaw in 19 uh in 1940 and he arrived here at the shores of America, New York, tes adar sheni taf shin, in March 1940. So, this is taf shin aleph, the next year, a few months later, a mymar that he said Shabbos Mikeetz taf shin aleph, which was Chanukah. It's the beginning of 1941. So, we'll learn this mymar. >> [snorts] >> It was fixed, fixed. Refresh, I think, no? I'll make sure. My Chanukah, you see base hamikdash Shabbos parshas Mikeetz taf shin aleph. My Chanukah, this is quoting the Gemara in maseches Shabbos daf chof aleph beig b'mema madlikin. The Gemara says, "My Chanukah, what is Chanukah?" That's the question of the Gemara. The tanu rabbanan, the answer is the rabbis taught b'chaf he b'kislev yemei d'Chanukah tamanei yeinom. On the 25th of Kislev, today, begins the days of Chanukah, which are eight. As the Yevanim, the Syrian Greeks, went into the sanctuary, they contaminated all of the oils in the heichal in the the sanctuary in the chamber of the Beis Hamikdash. As the malchus, as the kingdom of the house of the Chashmonaim, prevailed and they were victorious, they searched and they couldn't find only one jug of oil, which was lying there, in the seal, with the seal of the It was only enough oil to burn for one day. And then a miracle happened there and they burned they kindled the menorah from it and it burned for eight days. Lashanah acheres, so the next year, kavum, they established these days, va'asum, and they turned them into yamim tovim, great days, days of festivity, b'halel v'hoda'ah, days in which we praise, we say hallel and hoda'ah, we give gratitude. This is all the quotes from the Gemara in maseches Shabbos daf chof aleph, the sugya of Chanukah, explaining "My Chanukah, what is Chanukah?" But so the Gemara asks the Rebbe Rayatz, we have to understand the ach she k'var lamdu kam alachus b'hilchos Chanukah, she'eilah "My Chanukah?" If you look at the Gemara there, there's already a whole more than a page discussing the laws of Chanukah. And then, after you discuss all the laws, by the way, let's go back to the beginning, "My Chanukah?" This should be the first thing. First, he discusses the laws of how to light the menorah, of what type of wicks you're allowed to use for the menorah, of which is Shabbos, cuz it's b'mema madlikin, so it talks about b'mema madlikin, b'mema madlikin, how you can light Shabbos candles, with what you light, with what you don't light, and then from there he goes into Chanukah, and then he goes into different alachus of Chanukah. And then, suddenly in the middle, by the way, my Hanukkah, what's Hanukkah? Excuse me. Every revelation, every light that comes from above and every revelation of redemption that Hashem does with his people, whether it's lights and revelations of miracles that are enclosed in nature or it's lights and revelations that go out of the light ways of nature, it has a time. It has a zman kavua, a fixed time. Yeah, we live in time, obviously. Like, what's the chiddush? Everything has time. Everything is in time. We have a clock. You'd see Mitzrayim happen on a certain day. Purim happened day. Hanukkah happened on a day. I mean, he says, "What I mean is, it's not a technical thing. You have to go out of Mitzrayim. Obviously, it's going to happen at some time." This zman is a chelek ikri, it's a fundamental aspect of the inyan. Right? So, not just technically it has to happen in time cuz we live we live in a life of time. This zman is part of it. Yeah, timing is everything or at least an essential part of it. Vahainu It's not just in addition to the fact that establishing the time is negiah to when you're going to celebrate it next year. You're not going to do it a whole year, every second of the day. So, you need to find a time. So, obviously, you choose the time when it happened. And now, you can make an event around it. You could celebrate it. That's obviously. The pshat is that in that time, there's a light similar to what happened the first time. So, when you say that the time is an essential part, it means if the time is an every time you have this time, you have a re-experience something of the aura of the light of the events of the first time. So, it's not just it's just we need a date. So, you need a technical date. So, it happened on this date. So, yeah, it's true. But rather, it's like almost a repeat. This zman This zman is essential to that energy. So, maybe there's a certain energy in a Yom Tov. It's not just a commemoration of something in the past. Yeah, the timing. And And why is that important? Cuz that means every year, when you have that time, even if you don't have the physical re-enactment of the event, we're not going out physically of Mitzrayim on Pesach, but the energy that was in the world that affected this experience repeats itself on that time every year. This is in the theme of the blessings we make. He has brought us alive to this time. So, it's not just this zman hazeh that we come to this time and we could celebrate together. Or this is a time bayamim maheim bizman hazeh that were miracles. But it means it's relevant right now that this zman hazeh is equally important. Just like Rosh Hashanah, we say in Mussaf, "Today is the beginning of your creation, a commemoration of the first day." And we say to Rosh Hashanah, the Every Rosh Hashanah is Because the objective of the creation, which was on the sixth day of creation, that's when the objective was fulfilled with the creation of Adam. Hinay kein who, so just like it's true Rosh Hashanah, Every Shabbos, every Yom Tov, all the festivals of miracles, a light is mentioned nishkarim and nasim, recreated every year that day when the miracle happened originally. So, that's true. That's one says, "This is in addition." In addition to the fact that this zman is negiah to establish the future. And what do we mean establish the future? Not just as a commemoration, but as a re-experience of that energy. And then v'al zeh is in addition to that, hazman atzmo she bayo haya davar hu b'pama rishon. Hinay hazman hu yesh l'shayeches l'atzmo davar. The time itself in which it happened, that time is connected to the experience itself. So, it's not just just like it happened then on that day, that's also going to be in the future years, which is also a big thing. But actually, the time is an essential chelek of the inyan. This thing had to be in this time. But according to this, you have to understand what's the connection to Kislev and the 25th day of Kislev. According to this idea, if you just say, "Well, it has to happen someday." But it has to happen sometime. We're saying not like that. That this zman is an essential factor. Another issue that needs understanding. The fee Hanukkah according to the what's seen The way you learn the Gemara, what was the main miracle? They found a jug of oil that was sealed in the or at least this was a major part. The Gemara says they contaminated all the oil in the Heichal. So, there was no oil left that was pure. And yet, this jug they did not touch. The fee, why not? So, says cuz it was was hidden in the ground. So, they didn't come to they didn't find it. Because what would be the tumah? What would be the tumah? The dinim of tumah and taharah primarily by a Jew. So, what's the problem? So, the Rishonim explain cuz they were already gozer, were already gozer on the non-Jews on the non-Jews to be metamei if they touch something, they should create tumah like a zav, just the halachas of a zav, which is somebody who has a certain fluid of illness and they're metamei whatever they touch. So, they were gozer on the non-Jews to have the same tumah. So, it may be it was a chiddush that it was in the karka and they couldn't find it. Rashi says that they recognized that the Yevanim didn't touch it. They could recognize that it was untouched. But the truth is, the main miracle was the war victory. There was no access to the Beis Hamikdash even to look for the oil if they wouldn't be victorious in the war. But that the Gemara says like almost when they won the war, they came to the Beis Hamikdash, they looking and they found a jug of oil as though that's the main thing. The main thing was that they they were victorious of the war. And why eight candles? The whole Hanukkah is established to commemorate the lighting of the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash. The lighting of the menorah had seven branches. Every night, they light seven candles in the menorah. So, here they made a menorah that has eight branches and it goes for eight days. What's the havana? Al pi pshat, So, you'll say, "Yeah, because that's what the The miracle is that they lit for eight days and they wanted to emphasize the number eight." So, not only does the holiday go for eight days, but it's with a with a menorah that has eight branches. But this itself needs to The Gemara says that there was enough oil for one day. So, that means the miracle essentially lasted for seven days. This is the famous question of the Beis Yosef. That miracle is seven days. So, actually, it works very well. Seven days and you have a seven-branched menorah. But here, they did it for eight days. But from the Gemara's lashon, they lit from it eight days, is mashma that the nes went for eight days. Vahainu So, you have to explain, as Meforshim say, that every night, an eighth of the jug was enough to fill the menorah. So, the nes really happened every single night. Even though there was enough oil for one night, but l'poel, every night was used up only an eighth of the jug of oil and that was enough to burn the night. So, that means all eight nights, there was a miracle cuz even the first night, there was a miracle cuz it used only an eighth of the jug. That's why it could be for eight days. That itself you have to understand. That the miracle went for eight days, not less and not more. But in general, this is not understood. When you talk about the war It's interesting. What were they looking for? The way we define their their victory, their war is that they went into the Heichal. And what were they looking for? To contaminate the oil. The Beis Hamikdash, are you The first thing, if you're an enemy and you plunder the Beis Hamikdash, what do you go for? You go for with silver and the gold. What do you think this little shallow lovers castle is over the yard? What do you What do victors usually do? When they win a war, they right away go for the booty. They steal your silver and your gold and all of your precious diamonds. The Hamas are you going to like this guy calls of the base of gosh? And a lot of richness there. There was a lot to steal. It's not mentioned. They will be Tommy the oil which is not even something tangible cuz when you something becomes Tommy It's not like you take it. It's not like you use it. It's like a spiritual thing. It's like a spiritual energy. And this is what's mentioned. They come into the hole. Nothing else but that they were the shaman. It looks like this was everything. So these are a bunch of questions that I never asked at the beginning of the mind. First of all on the tomorrow structure that my Hanukkah is asked only later after you discussed for a long time what Hanukkah is. That that seems a little strange. Number two, he went into the mind that the mind of a holiday is not something technical thing and it's not even that it repeats itself every year but it's essential. Part of the fabric of the miracle is the time when it happened. So what's the connection to kiss love and the 25th? >> [snorts] >> Why is the main story about the oil and not the victory of the war which seems so much more colossal and significant cuz if you would have lost a war there would be nothing. That's the main thing. And then they do good things happen after that. Let's say they would have won the war and they would have not found oil. Okay, they would not have found oil. They would make new oil and they would delay the menorah a few days. The main thing is that they won the war but that the tomorrow mentions that a guy off. The next question is if the menorah had seven, why do we light the eight branch menorah? The answer is cuz the nice was for eight days. Still they could have made the nice for eight days but in a menorah that has seven branches not eight branches. Yeah. So you're going to say no because it's all about eight but that itself is the question. What was the miracle for eight days? It was enough oil for one day. So you have to say that an eighth of the jug was used every single night so therefore it was for eight days. What's the deal in eight days? And then finally why the when they came in the ready to the base of what they were main what they what they wanted was to contaminate the oil. That was the main in you. Rather than the physical assets that they could plunder. Yeah, all about the oil. I mean you would explanation and all of this is the Yevonim and all of this. The home of the Yevonim even though it's translated itself into physical conflict and battle and violence but essentially it was a spiritual battle. It was an energetic battle meaning Initially their main agenda was not to touch to affect the goof of the Jew. The body of the Jewish people. And like we say in their main agenda was to make you forget to make them forget your and to take them away from your will from your from the from the laws of your of your will. Meaning the whole is a negative value and a negative value is bad. The main objective of their war the whole objective of their war was a position to the title of and the that are the the statues the laws of his will and he explains what this means. Doesn't stand mean that they want to obliterate religion. It's much deeper. The new This is a a very very fundamental idea. Turn it as a guy in the law. The intellectual brilliance of cycle is a beautiful cycle. It's a cycle of mine. The Yevonim were fine with that. You're talking about an enlightened nation. This is a cultured educated enlightened very very into ideas and reason and philosophy. They were into architecture and art and history and and human development and human prowess and beauty. They were they were philosophers. So far the elements of Judaism that are intellectually impressive gymnastics methodology mathematics formulas way of way ways of thinking that not only can they tolerate that they can even have a from that. They appreciate it. So what's so what was the opposition? Should be dinner What what perturbed them was the of the holiness of the The fact that it's an embodiment of the divine. It's his wisdom. This was the battle. The same is true when it comes to the ritualistic aspects. Every culture has its myths and its traditions and its things their world perspective can tolerate that. You have that are part of logic and my people respecting parents not to steal. Even that are testimonials. They're cultural testimonials to remember things. It says that it's not that it's not It says not that it's not not that it's that it's your day. Turn it as an intellectual exercise with different ways of looking at it. They're fine. It's just done as logical or even cultural or tradition of this family of this tribe. They're fine. They should have said I miss this. So he says the word is I have the come purity and impurity. That's not a cultural thing. It's it's completely spiritual. But I do shot is not The truth is even the and are also part of them. Cuz we don't only fulfill them you fulfill not only because rationally it makes sense. You could find a justification for it but essentially it's a relationship with the divine. It's a of the negative Yevonim. Should not assist us a fire. This element they wanted to uproot from the Jewish people. The personal relationship the intimate connection like the I'll try to write in that the philosophers who are the war. That's what he says in Hanukkah. What's the war? The war is the prophetic spirit of Judaism that that you're you're you're embodying the divine. There's a relationship. There's a What does mean here? It means that there is a real relationship with them. There's an experience of an intimacy of a relationship. The fact if you can measure what the Greeks introduced was what later would become Western thought. Everything is measured by the mind. The mind measures reality and the mind defines what's reality. Yeah. But reality itself that they didn't like. So is another way that this tribe deals with reality. Fine. They have all their methods and there's a lot of logic and all of that. The whole intellectual experience or traditional experience that they're fine with. But the the the the divinity of it the prophetic experience of it the relationship with them that they that they that drove them very very mad. The mother says Yeah, there's no control over there. There's no control. This is something you can't control. You define reality based on your mind and you strip it from its infinity. So whatever you measure whatever you whatever is in the laboratory you can prove whatever you can measure with your mind that exists. Whatever you don't it doesn't exist. The their cycle was a cycle. So if Judaism could be reduced to that that they're completely completely fine with that. >> [snorts] >> Okay, my man. It's like cutting off from the source of life. It's just we we we we replace God and even God even the word God is a Greek people don't realize that. God God as an idea in in the whole you don't have a name like called God. It's life. It's the life force. It's energy. It's alive. It's represented in everything in the world. Is this yeah is this is reality? Yeah. Yeah. And the truth is as we're going to see This is >> [panting] >> My son is very I have a son Mendel so he's very he's a holy soul. So he says things the way it is. So last night he says the Yevonim wanted you should learn without this. >> [laughter] >> Boom. >> [laughter] >> See why I was hesitating? I'm not so holy. What's [snorts] it has to not seem so good. But but the is That's what the mind is going to explain. In many ways the Greeks could the Greeks won. >> [snorts] >> The moment Judaism is an intellectual experience or even just a ritualistic experience even if it's intellectually rich and inspiring. That's the of the Yevonim. That they were fine with. They didn't forget God. They became God. We substitute God. >> [snorts] >> Huh? So so a lot of them didn't. In other words, a lot of them were very sophisticated and they really were getting rid of them. I mean, they had their stuff. But they were very very adamant against this idea that life is really infinite energy. It's an infinite relationship. And that's what Torah and mitzvahs are. Sechel is a tool. It's a vessel. It's a kaili. It's a tool to be able to understand things that God wants you to understand and say it's a beautiful tool like for mathematics, like to understand those in the Torah that are in sechel. But essentially, it's not a sechel experience. It's an experiential embodiment of the divine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuz cuz cuz an embodied relationship with God is all about bittul. It's all about all about surrender. That's what it is. Of course. Surrender is the hardest thing in the world. I want to be in control. Commandment, this is what the medrish says that they said Right on the keren hashoyr. On the horn of the ox that you don't have a ba'al issur. Call them neged hakadosh. The milchama was against hakadosh, godliness. Zohl men learn in Torah. Zohl men mekarem mitzvahs, he says in Yiddish. You could learn, you could do mitzvahs. He puts it in Yiddish to really bring it home. >> [snorts] >> You want to learn, you could learn. You want to do mitzvahs, do mitzvahs. But don't mention getlichkeit. Meaning, don't experience the godly flow in it, the godly love in it, the godly relationship of In other words, I don't even care if you light the menorah. You're not allowed to light a candelabra. Every culture has candelabras and torches and lights. But the main thing is it should be tamei oil. That's divine. So it's not against the gold and the silver. You can use the menorah and light the menorah, but it should be with contaminated oil. So the light is here. The physical What's the difference contaminated or not contaminated oil? The oil burns in both. It's not something you can measure. Right? It's not something you could measure. What's the difference tamei and tahor? What's the difference? What's the difference between the seventh day of the week and other days of the week? What's the difference shemen tamei shemen tahor, it's exactly the same physical substance. So light your menorah with tamei with with tamei kasher oil. Yeah, same thing. If a chicken was shechted this way or a chicken was shechted that way. If a beheima was shechted this way, what's the difference? In terms of the scientific method of everything is being measured in my laboratory and with my mind, there's no exactly the same. >> [snorts] >> What's the difference between a married woman and an unmarried woman? What's the difference? Biologically it changes. All these types of things. >> [snorts] >> Am nom. But in this whole war which we said is a spiritual war, why was it that the main thing was the oil? >> [snorts] >> This they already did in order to win. In other words, before they won, they already did this in the beginning. In ancient warfare, >> [snorts] >> one of the things that fighters would do is they would capture or plug wellsprings of water because they knew this is going to weaken the other side. If they don't have their water source, they won't be able to have water and then it's impossible to live. Right? The moment you hijack, you capture, or you eliminate the source of water, so this is you don't do it at the end of the victory. This is what leads to victory. For here and for here for them, what was equivalent to capturing the water sources? It was right away contaminate the oil. Go into the heichal. And this is this is the path to victory. What is it that they felt if we can only contaminate the oil, this will lead to victory? This explains why the whole miracle is around the oil. It's a strange thing. Because let's say there would be no story of the oil. The story is big enough without it. It's much bigger without oil as I told you. Let's say there would be no story of oil. There was no drug of oil. They didn't find oil. The oil was tamei. They didn't light the menorah. So for eight days nobody would light it. Nobody would even know. Fine. They didn't light the menorah for how many eight days? Okay, it's okay. The victory, that's everything. If they would have lost the war, there would be no Judaism, there would be no Jews left. That's almost in in agav. But now we understand if their main inyan was tamei shemen oil, so what's what's the nes? That's why he says the nes is the same thing. The main thing was the oil that they found a jug of oil. After the victory that they won, and there were amazing miracles. For example, the weak triumphed over the strong. The the few triumphed over the many. And in all these miracles, there's nothing concrete that they established to do for the victory. Only to say hallel, meaning generally to be grateful, to express gratitude, which we do on other yom tov also. >> [snorts] >> Where is the particular celebration of When they found the oil jug and they recognized that it was untouched by the Greeks, kavu had chashmonaim. Now they make the mitzvah of Chanukah which is lighting the eight candles. >> [snorts] >> The general take of the general strength came through the calling of Shema Yisrael and with this they were victorious. Al hamishmar. It's brought that the sword of Yehuda Hamaccabee, he had the name Maccabee. They're called the Maccabees. And Maccabee is rashei teivos mi kamocha ba'eilim Hashem. Who among mi kamocha, who is like you among the strong ones, Hashem? Mi kamocha, like we say in the shira, the Jews said it in the shira of the yam. The milchama ruchnis. Again, why did he put it on the sword, mi kamocha ba'eilim Hashem? Cuz he understood that this is essentially a spiritual battle. The truth is that this war, once you understand this, is consistent in every generation. And not just in every generation, in every individual. You have it in every generation collectively, but you have it in every individual within themselves. Commandment, like the Gemara says, the yetzer of a person prevails, essentially wants to prevail every single day. In other words, if you put your car on cruise control, default mode, the yetzer hara is gavar. It's not like sometimes you leave things on neutral and it just goes the right way. You know, if the highway is straight or you have a certain type of car, you could just take off your hand from the steering wheel and it's a gate. But it's not like that. Yetzer hara is gavar naturally. The yetzer hara is going to be strong every day. So that means there's a constant vigilance that's necessary. Although there's many different levels. Yesh mi. >> [snorts] >> You have a person that the animal consciousness makes the person stressed out in the inyanim of middos. In other words, their main challenge is internal emotions. All types of behaviors with the nefesh habahamis throws, shoots arrows >> [snorts] >> and damaging, dangerous rocks that would kill from the world. Velte zachen. >> [snorts] >> So you have somebody, their main milchama is inyanim of middos. Middos is my emotional reactions and responses to things. That's an internal experience. You have a person that the nefesh habahamis takes velte [snorts] zachen and throws arrows. He explains say gitem arayn gashmius achila ushtiya. So for example, one person becomes obsessed with a gashmius an addiction, a very deep sensitivity to food and drinks. The way they dress. Salsul besadeh. Salsul besadeh means to make sure my hairdo is perfect. She ekah amud habarah mikronis. Comparing himself to amud habarah, to people outside who sit in the corners. Corners, street corners. >> [snorts] >> The nefesh habahamis wants he should become arrogant through his Torah, too. In addition to that, that he should become arrogant through his Torah. So now the Torah is also used against him. He also blinds the mind's eye. Added to this ben Torah, so the time in the shvach zuchu for that. Because he's a ben Torah, so the hairdo or the clothes or whatever needs to be mamash more perfect. In other words, for that he uses the Torah for this. With this the nefesh habahamis so the adam, with this he captures the [snorts] person. Gets him into his net, his domain. With this he says >> In other words, his paradigms change. The person is now living from an animal soul consciousness perspective and sensitivity. So, the person's priorities, what matters, what doesn't matter, who they are, it becomes a different type of person. And then once you're in that domain, you can already slap you down. Another person, his struggle is completely when it comes to thoughts. >> [snorts] >> One person, he says it has to do with middos. It has to do with behaviors of the world. It has to do with food. It has to do with clothes. It has to do with arrogance. Another person, it's machshavos. Alien thoughts. He's davening, but his heart is not there. Just the minds capture him, and he's just everywhere else. Or he doesn't believe in what he says in his davening. That's not the situation. Who writes to this bottle? He wants to daven. No, ma'am, and ma'am is a He believes with faith what he says. And it's once in a while he'll even say something with with his heart. He'll even get emotional. Like once in a while he'll say something b'hartzig. But not suddenly machshavos will fall in, and sometimes it's in your from shtuss. It's just stupidity. There's no toichen. Sometimes you have thoughts I have an important appointment today. In an hour, in two hours I have an appointment where I can make a lot a lot of money or lose a lot of money. I understand. The whole Shmona Esrei goes on planning the appointment. Versteht? And if it's a serious appointment, you need also Birkas Kriyas Shema, P'sukei D'Zimra, all the way from Birkas HaShachar to plan the appointment. Versteht? So, even that that's one thing. He says sometimes it's not even a toichen klal. It's just machshavos. It's like anything. Anybody who has a normal mind, even a human mind, seichel enushi, which is gash, which is brut, which is physical, is not going to agree that when you're standing in front of the creator of the world you should talk about you should think about other things. You're standing in front of the one who authors everything, who's responsible for everything. So, why are you thinking about something else? It's like [snorts] I'm going to the most powerful person in the world, and I need something, and I start texting to some manager somewhere who's like, you know, 100 levels lower. B'klal, [snorts] people who have healthy minds, a person should be organized the way they live. You're [snorts] standing in front of a chacham, a great wise person, or a tzaddik, a great minister. It's not [snorts] similar to when you're speaking to somebody, let's say, on your own in your own level. Because that's even if you're thinking about something that actually should be thought about. I'm going to give a presentation. I should think about what I want to say, right? You're going to an important event. You should think about it. It's a toichen. But you have to know when. A mesudik person knows right now you're spending time with your children. Right now you're spending time with your wife. Right now you're talking to God. So, talk to God. That's called a mesudik person who lives in that way. But here, you're not even thinking about something that you should think about in the wrong time. It's something that's completely useless. There's no toichen at all. This is just a confusion of da'as. At that moment, if you look at yourself, there's like an insanity here. Like there's no da'as. The person is just anything going from one issue to another issue to another issue. And the mind wanders away, not even planning. It's not even strategic. >> [snorts] >> Part of being healthy in your mind is that your thoughts are also organized. In other words, there's somebody at the steering wheel. There's somebody who says, like a filing cabinet, these thoughts are now welcome, and we're going to go with these. This is just a distraction. It's not for now. Or b'klal not. What's the definition of insanity? He says. The first definition is that thoughts come in with complete chaos. Choser da'as means that you say somebody is choser da'as, unfortunately. >> [laughter] >> This is before the diagnosis. Yeah. There's absolutely no seder. And therefore it it takes it it it takes over. And then sometimes the animal soul gets more creative and throws in machshavos zaros of kfirah. Kfirah means denying who you are, denying Hashem, denying truth, denying reality. The reason for all of this, how does it have so much access? Because the person becomes accustomed to cheap words. They don't respect their words, their conversations. Varam b'talah means idle words. So, the brain just becomes an empty vessel. It's like a pustika cup. It's just empty. It operates on emptiness. So, everything could fill it. It doesn't have direction. It doesn't have an inner compass. Because the person just lets themselves go down rabbit holes in conversations where they're not present. They're not mindful. You don't respect your mind. V'yesh mi In other words, everybody has machshavos that fall in. You have an nefesh b'heimis. The question is how much I entertain them, how much they take control over me. Of course, like it says in Tanya, if you're not a tzaddik, there's going to be all types of machshavos. Machshavos just reflect what my nefesh b'heimis is into. The question is what happens the next step? You know, I'm walking in the street. I see something. Maybe something that's very very attractive, very powerful. I saw it. The question is do I turn around? You know. Do I ask for a telephone number? That's the question. Do you pursue it? The same is true with machshavos. What happens the next level? How much I entertain it? That depends where my head is. Another one, the nefesh b'heimis fights when it comes to speech, words. Till now we were talking about thoughts. Now it's words. Here there's also many levels. One person, it's pashut forbidden words. Rechilus. Rechilus is talebearing. You heard what happened yesterday here, here, here. Even if it's not lashon hara, it's just telling stories that are not negaya. Lashon hara is gossip, slander. Shkarem is you say a lie. Even if it's not a lie about somebody, but it's a lie. Hotza'as shem ra is like motzi shem ra is you're bad you're badmouthing somebody. It's not even true. Lashon hara could be emes. Lashon hara is emes. Lashon hara is emes. Motzi shem ra means it's not even true. V'heim b'dibbur shel ke'ur. And then there's other words. They're not varam assurim in terms like lies. It's ke'ur. Ke'ur means disgusting, derogatory. Flattery. And not even flattery, avak. Avak is the dust of flattery. Meaning it's like it has in it the aura of flattery. You're not being authentic. Yeah. It's fake words. Avak You're not lying. You're not saying lashon hara. You're not saying rechilus. But there's something inauthentic about the conversation. I'm trying to flatter you. And even if I'm not trying to flatter you, you know, I'm not telling you you're the most handsome person who ever lived and you're the you know, that you're the greatest you're the greatest man who ever lived, but it's avak. There's there's there's an avak of chnifa. It's like a There's a subtle manipulation there. Or cheap fun, mockery. Like it's all the connards. Gleichvertluch. Gleichvertluch here doesn't mean You have humor. Like it says you have a rabbi who would make a joke before you started a shiur to be mesameach oilam. Gleichvertluch is it's like a It's ins- insincere. Huh? Yeah. Like it says in my No, it's something inauthentic about it. Yeah. It It's It's a It's a cheap relationship. It's covering up authentic conversation. That's what it is. Yeah. So, you have small talk sometimes. Like it says Hashem said "Ayeka?" cuz he didn't want to scare Adam, right? You come to a person, you say "How you doing?" Okay, that's not uh Right? But But But the question is you know, does that replace something sincere? Sometimes the battle is seeing or hearing. In other words, what I look at, what I listen to. This is before there were smartphones. >> [laughter] >> But there were still things to look at. What I look at and what I listen to, it's also a question. What you listen to and what you look at. This could be from the nefesh b'heimis trying to capture you. Utchilas hakol, what's the beginning of everything? The main thing is he contaminates your oil. What's oil? Sho inyan ha'oneg. He hijacks his your bliss. Fascinating. The first thing he needs to do is take away oil. Oil represents the gashmak of something. The oil of something is the the fat of it, the gashmak of it. Not always healthy in terms of physical fat. Spiritually, what he hijacks is your oneg, your bliss. He says that's the beginning of everything. See, people don't realize this. Your oneg, you need He He captured your oneg. Once he captured your oneg, this is what we've been learning in previous mymarim. Now you need ta'anug in life. So, lashon hara is going to give me 10 minutes of a good juicy conversation. Seeing this, hearing this is going to give me fake oneg. The way I dress in order to be able to be impressive or flatter you or rechilus or lies, it's all to be able to feed the oil. Yeah, fill that gap. Yeah. And nemtzu b'aim adam dem He says in Yiddish, "And nemtzu b'aim adam dem oneeg >> That's what it is. The moment I take your oil, I contaminate your oil. In other words, you can ask a question. Come on, what I'm not human? What? When I doubt it, I don't have my shoulders and what? Well, I'm a robot, I'm a zombie, I'm artificial intelligence. This is called being human. Like what do you what do you what Yeah, we all have this who does who doesn't relate to this? Just like almost like you're coming with an attack. So now I'm going to feel more guilty and more shame and more negative. But this is really the home and could it know the question is where my is. When you're is take it in a relationship. For example, in a marriage, right? Nothing here starts until you're missing the neck. If there's a if there's a if there's a real joy in the relationship, you don't need to go to you're not going to other people. Not because you're a god, not because you're a saint. Because you're present in the relationship because it's filling you. >> [snorts] >> There's no room for anything. You got to be an idiot. I come to a wedding and there's this beautiful smorgasbord with the most delicious and healthy foods. I'm not going to the garbage. Right? To take a bone that somebody threw in the garbage like a dog and take off a little piece of meat. Why not? Why not cuz I'm a cuz I never ate from the garbage. It's like it would be such a mockery of yourself. But the moment first taste. >> [snorts] >> But the moment the shaman was hijacked. He says the moment the in the course which means the in your true presence and your true energy and your true reality was taken away. Now I need I need that now I need some oil. Now I need some oil on my flame. I want to be alive. I want to burn. I want to I want to have I want passion. People need passion in life. You must have passion in life. A person is passion. The soul is in the blood. So this is what he says. So the we're talking about this is not only in every generation. It's in every individual. This is a very internal space. The the oven inside of me. This is a very internal dynamic. And it's very subtle. And what for me is hard may for you not be anything maybe a breeze. And what for you is difficult for me is nothing. Right? The Bal Sham Tov once said it says in Azo give it a Yitzhara. So the Bal Sham Tov said it should have said Azo give it a Yaitzer. So there's no no no Yitzhara. It's easy for me to conquer your Yaitzer Hara. I don't have [laughter] that. Yaitzer Hara no no no Yitzhara. Everybody knows I have that you don't have. You have I don't have those things. I don't have time with alcohol. I don't have. I don't know if it's a weakness if it's a strength. It's not one of the things that turns me on. I don't come home at night. Let's drink. It's some people really struggle with it. I don't worry I have other stuff. I'm not going to get into all of them at the moment. But you have to know it's easy I was yeah. Some people have a terrible thing with rage and anger and screaming and hollering. It's a very it's a very serious thing for them. Other people don't relate to that. They're just their mind goes that works differently. Instead of exploding they implode. Instead of throwing it at the world they throw it at themselves. Instead of giving other people a heart attack they give themselves a heart attack. Causing other people to die from stress they die from stress. So it doesn't make it's not better or worse. It's about dealing with your stuff. Right? With with with with your Yitzhara. So these are all the examples he's giving here. He started off one the Indian of this. Emotional reactions. That's one thing. The other thing is taking paradigms of the world. And throwing arrows in you that now my focus becomes the meal the next meal. Right? The good the delicious steak that becomes there's a reason for it. What steak is evil? The moment that's the center of my life it means my is not anymore connected to my soul. If [snorts] this restaurant that restaurant this type of grill that type of grill. Yeah, of course you want to eat you want to you want it to be healthy. You need it to live to serve God. But the moment that's the mark. Cuz my real was hijacked. My divine was hijacked. So that's a then there's clothes. Of course you shouldn't wear dirty clothes. Of course a person should wear clothes and there's something called respect and so forth. But if that becomes the this is where you live, you know, he says this is already you are hijacked. The same is true there's been a person is There's something called cleanliness. It's part of it's something else. It's that perfect perfect hair do where it becomes a whole different Indian. And because I'm a these are sharp words. My has to do with cuz it's so now [snorts] you're manipulating itself besides being arrogant. So all these things then there's the whole that he spoke about. My shoulders are by diving or any other time but not only things that are important but at another time. Things that are sometimes completely completely important. And I'll be body if you're standing in front of and you believe you're standing in front of we're not talking about somebody who doesn't believe. You believe you're standing in front of him. So what does this mean? This means I have no control. It's doesn't want to he doesn't believe in it. He wants to he just has no control. Yeah. So you see the what they wanted was what they wanted. You could do everything. But I don't want the presence. I don't want the intimacy. I don't want the bliss. I don't want the prophetic spirit. You could do everything. I don't care if you do it. But I want to hijack it. >> [snorts] >> They did it one the internal energetic full embodied experience of it a full presence. >> [snorts] >> And then there's the there's the and then there's the words. There's and then there's and then there's words and there's and lies and then there's flattery. It's not a lie when you flatter somebody you're not lying necessarily. You may be saying something true. You may be using something that you know they like. They may have nice glasses. I don't know. Do I have nice glasses? You know. But there's something inauthentic here. >> [snorts] >> For somebody who's present with their inner soul it's the calls it disgusting. It's because anything wherever there's real energy if it gets hijacked by fake energy it's actually disgusting. It's nauseating there's something nauseating about it. Whenever there's a conversation that's not true there's something nauseating about it. That's the word means it's ugly. It's ugly. There's no better words for it. And then there's seeing there's hearing. So all of these things what is it that he took your he was what's the what's the neck? >> [snorts] >> Of the of a real relationship the of a real connection the of realness of authenticity. The of a relationship with the truth of yourself and of reality. Which sometimes is painful because it's real. It sometimes is a lot of pain there. Sometimes there's a lot of joy there. They work together. We live in a world of pain and in a world of joy. We don't have to explain that. But it's real. It's real. And instead it becomes hijacked. >> [snorts] >> And the the becomes replaced. That's what he says. Whatever I could find emotionally I want to satisfy you. Maybe control will satisfy you. Maybe validation. Maybe ego. Maybe anger. Maybe rage. Whatever the emotion is. Or or or these are all ways of filling the void of bliss of neck. And that's what oil is. The fatty of something which makes the fire burn. That's what gives the flame the heat the passion in life. The is which is. Above all the contaminates the oil in the what's what's oil? The he doesn't care if you do everything. You could do everything. You could learn. You could do everything. That's what he doesn't mind. The Yaitzer Hara and this. Not only does he abduct the neck the delight the ecstasy the bliss and the the divine life in this. There's a life there. There's an energy. There's a relationship. There's a relationship. Right? Just think again. When a husband or wife come home to each other and there's a vivacious beautiful relationship. Yeah, he's not going to go on his phone to look for other things. Why not? Because there's a in there. The same is true in this. If is a real experience there's a relationship. Of course I'm going to have of course things are going to fly in. This thing happened. That thing happened. I just got a text. I have an appointment. I have a flight. But you're present. You're saying I'm talking to my wife. I'm talking to God. Talking to my child. It's it's it's amazing connection now. Why would I now drive myself crazy about something that's going to happen in two hours or something that's never going to happen. It's just to create anxiety for no reason. But if that is taken away that's taken away the should be in the midst of this. Not only he he's means he cools off. He makes cold the whole of becomes cold. You're like a cold cold it's just a cold. Everything is like measured with rationality like a stuck frozen statue. Because everything has to be reduced to what I understand. So if I understand it, it works. If I don't understand it, it doesn't work. There's no element of ecstasy, of surrender, cuz there's no relationship. A relationship always means I'm open to your energy. Here, I'm just stuck in my in my own way of looking at it, and if it fits into my and so on, good, and then I'll even do it. I'll do everything. But everything is limited according to how much I understand, and I block myself off from anything that is real. There's no flow of life. And that's what they wanted. They loved the scientific method where you're completely in control and cold, and reality is measured. The problem is reality is infinite. Reality is divine. Reality is about a relationship. Reality is about a flow of life that you embody. That's what you do. And the mind is one beautiful tool through which part of reality comes through. That's it. That could be. That could be. That could be. Yeah. We're talking when sci when we see unity. But when science becomes divorced from that, it becomes an idea in and of itself. That's the point. Yeah. Okay. That's That's true. True science is divine. You're right. We're talking when science, instead of being a plug that channels the divine electricity, becomes its own reality that is worshipped. That's what we're talking about 100%. The best advice to what's the real to win this war I do this one. This is what it is. So avoid this Why this one? So he says fascinating. It's a void of this one. This one is not words. It's the void of the mind. It's a mindful experience of the mind to comprehend his oneness in the entire creation. This one is a daily exercise in meditating on the truth of The says why is the order of the way it is? The is from this one. The order of this one The order of this one should have been the first one if you're going in the order of the ones. Yet we do then the order of this one and then and then the order of this one. So the says cuz in the first of this one is till the end. You have the oneness of this one. The love to him The learning him. And this is This is the fundamental of everything. Everything is dependent on this. The one So the says it's not It's not three separate things. The oneness of this one, the love of this one, and learning about this one. It's one thing. That the way you learn about it should be with the oneness and the love. You don't grasp onto the words of literally meaning. You divorce them from their divine energy. So just becomes an intellectual experience. More gymnastics, formulas, methods, which may be very very nice and very very nice. But essentially, that's divorced from this one. The learning of the is an experience of this one. It's looking at the world from the perspective of oneness. And it's part of a love. It's part of a relationship. It's part of getting to know you. It's like when you listen to somebody and when somebody feels understood, it's probably one of the deepest forms in a relationship. You could try this in your relationships. When somebody really feels understood, not told what to do and what to think and how wrong they are. Obviously, that's a very important part to tell them how wrong they are. But to really really understand somebody, really listen to somebody, that's a very deep form of love. Maybe the maybe maybe the deepest form of love. It's really seeing them. Right? What's the wow? >> [laughter] >> No, no, it's so true. So that's what he's saying here. That real is We do it like this. If you look in the This is the in his words. See them in this one. See them in this one. The one before his death instructed them on the oneness of this one and on the path in which this one went. The one before this one The one before this one He says see them in this one. And on the of this one which this one went. What are these two things? The one you say The first one You need If not, you have to repeat it. But what's the that you need? You need The says the moment you have a one that you you coordinate above and below and all the four sides of the world. You don't need anything more. That's it. So once you have that, and the says what's the one I that hastened them on this one and on the of this one that this one did. What's this new outside of the What's he adding? When you speak about this one, there's a way how to unify him. The The says the ones with They were a chariot. Just like a chariot, if you have a horse, today you have a car, the definition of a good horse or a chariot is it's a channel for the rider. But you get into your car, you tell the car I want to go to But your car says no, let's go to Florida. That's not a car. And if the car does say let's go to Florida, get a new car. Or if the car says we're not going anywhere, you need a new car. In other words, doesn't have an ego. The definition of is I'm just a chariot. I'm channeling you. A good horse has a relationship with the rider. You get on the horse, the horse goes. It takes you to amazing places where you can't go on your own. But it's a It's a chariot. So it's The ones before this one. It means they were like this one. The one before this one The one before this one The one before this one. This one means it's a channel. It's surrendered. There's no There's no conflict. So like tell my horse I want to go here. The horse says let's go somewhere else. That's not a horse. That [snorts] means there's a issue here. The horse is healthy. The The chariot. What today we would call a car. He named me. I'm here. It's not like my car is struggling. Really, I wanted to be somewhere else. No, my home is to take you where you want to go. That's how a good car I told you. If your car is not doing that, go to the mechanic. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. The is a car is not a cuz it's lifeless. It's a A horse is already a bigger cuz it's actually an animal. But still genetically, that's how a horse is designed. It's its greatest pride. It's not like the horse says the guy is using me today. He's such a user, a manipulator. The horse is proud. The horse is happy. I'm happy We're going on a more on on a more steep slope. I'm happier. That's the fulfillment, so to speak, of the horse. It's not like this one is not like this manipulator is crushing my ego. That becomes his self. That's the one before this one. Yeah. He took his hand, and he took the sword to Of course, if you want to take a knife, you need You need to take your hand. So the one before this one. The one before this one. Yeah, you can't take a sword without a hand. So he says like this. The says you know that the ones did the whole before it was given. How did know the one? The answer is his body was so aligned with the source. The one before this one. Right? Like a chariot. He So he sent The sensed what the one is. It was like embedded in in in its DNA. So it was like It was by It was organic. It was automatic. So he says when it came to the The [snorts] one told him I wanted you should bring as a carbon. But he didn't really want he should slaughter him. So his hand wasn't going there. So the one before this one. He had to like take his hand. Come on. Come on. Take it. Cuz it wasn't really the The was not to slaughter him. The was just to bring him and bring him down. So the one before this one. Because he was So here like he had to like like slap his hand. That's what the one writes. So the whole of this one is The one before this one The one before this one The one before this one. Two words he says in The one before this one The one before this one. You know what that means? The one before this one means like a loyalty. Like You're you're loyal. The one before this one is surrender. The one before this one The one before this one The one before this one. There could be this one as a philosophical idea. That's not this one. This one could be a philosophical idea. A very interesting philosophical idea. Here we're talking about the one before this one The one before this one The one before this one. He's learning Torah, Torah speaks that Hashem is a God, so he's learning it. But he never allows himself to surrender, the experience of surrender, go into flow, let go of your ego, and become a channel. That he doesn't do. Everything is my intellectual experience of it. So this Hashem, I'm learning it, and I have a drasha on it, and I have shiurim on it, and I can give lectures, and I can do a miniseries on it, and I can write a hundred Torah on it, as long as I don't my ego. Forget I want feedback. >> [laughter] >> Tell me how it was. Tell me I explained good who God is. So Hashem God. Huh? That's what he says. It's not official data that's not the data of Roman that's why the number is my safe. I'll Hashem and the data there's a path that I've Roman created how much in America but. I did up I they show every Hawaii lucky is but you come in the he becomes arrogant because now he's also. On Evan he's a Evan Hashem he's be a good man. Over there now see yes I'm a CS. So male is ego becomes even bigger so he uses. He uses bitter. To become an ego maniac in a very subtle way. In a very subtle way. Look how healthy I am. Look how spiritual I am. Look what a room. Look what a small ego I have. Or look how much truth I articulate. So at the core there's a contamination. I love there's the says inside the God ain't no way you can love her. God says we can't coexist. We can't live together. So you're trying to teach Hashem but you can only teach it for the world cuz inside of you God actually can't live. Your very approach to it undermines the very experience of it. The arrogance pushes away the legs of the why is it cuz the definition of is oneness in Nevada. The moment my ego or my insecurity takes over. I can't be a channel for oneness anymore. So it's a contradiction in terms the of the men who are of the Torah. And what happens here is these are the words the inner light of Torah is becomes concealed and hides itself from him. So he has a relationship to the external stuff of Judaism. All the rituals, all the information, all the ideas, all the intellectual stuff, even about Hashem, but the inner me. The channeling of the inner light of Torah. What is the inner light of Torah? The divinity of Torah that becomes concealed from the person. I have no access to it. So it's like a body without a soul. I have all the information. I have the map but I don't have the territory. They would say the map is not the territory. The map of Italy is not the territory of Italy. The map of of of Moscow is not Moscow. It's a map. It's a very nice map and sometimes if you study the map you know more about the place than people who are there, right? Tourists who come to New York more more more about New York than people who live in New York their whole life. They go on the bus. They go through Manhattan. They go to all the beautiful landmarks. Most people who live in New York don't even know about these places. Huh? You never been a Statue of Liberty. Okay. Well Hanukkah trip. >> [laughter] >> But the map the map is not the territory. There's something about touching the soil, you know? You can only know that Italy is a boot if you look at it in the map. When you live in Italy you don't see a boot. On the map you see how beautiful it's a boot. But to touch the boot you have to go to Italy. That's called the inner the inner light of Torah. That's a relationship. That's an ecstasy. That's the shaman. That's the of it. So that's what the number is saying that Christmas is Hashem that the Talmud is part of Hashem. The Talmud is part of the of. And that's the data not just Hashem as a factor information but it's the path of the cover. When the person the only way a person can experience this is through surrender. That's what bitter is I'm not as he put it here which is loyalty which is surrender. Loyalty and surrender not from a place of inadequacy. That's also a ego from a place of openness from a place of truth from a place of alignment from a place of oil from a place of neck. He write he wrote this. He said it and then he wrote it. The God of the Sabbath makes. In 770 I I assume he was there and then he wrote it up. He wrote it up himself. The would write his own my mother. All the my money were till the end till the end he couldn't speak or it was very hard for him to speak. If he could speak a little clearer but later years it was even harder but he wrote every he wrote everything. At least most things. Some of the he didn't write he edited but the my money I think almost all of them he wrote. I think even all of them maybe. >> [snorts] >> So you take for staying in this is the word. So you could Hashem so it's not it's not it's not a declaration of war against science of the Greeks. It's a declaration of war against science that's divorced from Hashem that's divorced from experience. You could look at sunrise, right? It's the most scientific marvel in the world. But it's an experience of Hashem. By sunrise we say Hashem Hashem God. Or I can divorce it from that and it just becomes a measuring stick to be able to define how this works how that works how that works and I may be right about a lot of the information. What am I missing? I'm missing the inner me. It's like you know what what do they say? People today are reading more and more about less and less. You read more and more about less and less. That's what it is. You read more and more about the facts and you're missing the that's what he says. The same is true in Yiddish God. I could sometimes learn my whole life and I have so much information it's like I'm better than I'm not better than Google. It's hard to be better than Google but you could be a lot a lot there. But you know what? Google has more information. But when Google walks into the room there's no to stand up. Or when AI walks into the room there's no to stand up. Why not? Cuz it's not embodied. Unless you program embodiment. >> [laughter] >> But that's also programmed. So that's the word of the that's now on. This is why they have to have separate gods. For everything. I'm just reading over here they had a God of marriage, a God of wisdom, a God of music. They worshipped. The motion. Worshipped the Indian. The Indian, yeah. >> The Indian. It wasn't it wasn't those universal flows. Had a God for everything. Yeah. Beautiful. So what you're really saying is by the Greeks there was so much duality, right? So you have a God of the sun and a God of the moon, a God of the wind, a God of the water, a God of love, a God of war, a God of women, men they they were all yeah. And they were fighting with each other, you know? Love, God of war. They were they were the gods had its own life. >> Yeah. >> [snorts] >> Yeah. Did they really believe it? Oh that's why they were fighting against the Indians. So the prince actually the Greek the Greeks the Greeks were going away from paganism. So this is really the difference. The says that in the time of the beginning of which is right before Hanukkah. Um. I would have a desire was taken away. I would have a desire was obliterated. You have to have a desire. What is really I would have a desire? I would have a desire is paganism. What is that? That is basically attributing divinity to everything physical. Everything is God. You look at a tree. Of course you can worship the tree. It's God. And you look at a even a stone is God. The water, the fish you can worship a fish. You can worship a cow, holy cow. Of course stars and moon and sun everything you can worship. Everything is a representation of God. In many ways there's a secret of truth there cuz everything is a representation of God. The God said God is out and out is God. Ain't no way you can love her. The difference is that in Yiddish God it doesn't undermine that truth. What it's saying it's all oneness. Don't isolate the tree and worship the tree as a separate entity. It's all oneness. The tree manifested and every animal manifested and every blade of grass manifested and even a rock and a mountain manifested. But you don't worship the mountain. It's all one story. So they were attributing everything in the physical they saw the divine. That's how I desire. In by the it became opposite. That issue wasn't anymore. What happened was now I would have a desire was they saw spirituality and everything physical. Everything is God. By them they saw spirituality in nothing. Everything became an issue of reason. Even God became some type of thing you can debate you can discuss rather than you can experience. So that's the way that that's where the opposite happened. You understand? Instead of attributing all the divine in the physical everything physical was divine I would have a desire to the to the extreme. Here it became >> [snorts] >> that physical is completely physical. Yeah there there is no divine and even if there is maybe some concept. And here's the question what it is what it's not it's a it's philosophy. And therefore everything becomes measured by reason. And if you can't see it you can't you can't you can't accept it. So what happens is you cut yourself off. It's like pulling out the wire from the plug. You know you cut yourself off from the flow. And it's like I'm God and I decide what yeah what not what works what doesn't work. And the person is not anymore in the flow of relationships in the flow of reality. So science becomes an entity that substitutes reality when really it's the manifestation of reality. And that's what Hashem that's why he says that's the side. so daily meditation that there's a oneness in the whole the whole is one and that includes every law of nature, every idea in science or physics or astronomy or cosmology or geology or biography or topology, whatever it is, whatever you look at and of course biology, you know, your own body. You have this? What was the real issue? >> [sighs] >> Surrender is very hard. Surrender is very hard. Try. Try. >> [laughter] >> Huh? Um uh There was once a some so the little was bringing and he said in the middle of the circle so he said in the middle of the circle so is a swear to rework a meter inside of you is very difficult and then he looked at the eye and let me smile and he said proof that he is in try to do it and you'll see that I'm right. >> [laughter] >> So I'm saying surrender is hard. Prove this to them. I hear you want to know Yeah, it's very difficult. It's difficult. It's very threatening. It's very vulnerable. It's very it's difficult. It's difficult to step away from this. You see how difficult within ourselves to step away from old paradigms. It's very difficult. I'm sorry Rabbi, am I hearing some sitting near you so I can hear you? To be with you. >> [snorts] >> Just sit here. Sit here. It'll be better. Right here? Here is fine, yeah. No, that's even better. Even better, yeah. Mizrach. Mizrach. Right near the era. I know. It's a good. It's good to have you. Thank you. I you. I listen to you every weekend to your parasha. Okay. I come to the 5,000 and came to visit but I can't believe I see you here. This is like crazy. You thought I was a puppet. >> I'm getting scared. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So you see I'm a real person. It's not just on the video. It's not just AI. That's what scares me. Huh? Yeah, but even here here it's a good year. In other words, year doesn't mean like we say year and I am terrified because I hate you and then and and you're such a bad person. It's year more like war, respect, reverence. Well, like that says in Tanya the most beautiful definition of year is you're afraid to lose such a relationship. Like that's that's what beautiful year is. Like it's too good to be true. Like yeah, I'm afraid of damaging this relationship. Of course I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I I don't want to Yeah, I'm very very cautious. If I do this, I can damage the relationship and you know what I'm afraid of it because I could be destroying, you know, people could destroy in 10 minutes what they built in 25 years. Yeah, they built it. After the Six-Day War, they built it for how many years? 30, 40 years? And then the Israel comes and in a few days they destroy it. In a relationship, a person can have a beautiful relationship and in 5 minutes 10 minutes, they do something and they literally destroy what they built in 20 years. It's a sad thing. You're you're you're afraid of that. You're afraid of that. Imagine you've been practicing for the Olympics or you've been exercising in order to become whatever you want to become and then you know, you see one tempting thing and you destroy it. It's it's not fair to you. That's year. I'm afraid of that. So that's beautiful year. It's good year. Yeah. It's it's it's an or and it's even a fear but it's a fear of of of it's a good fear. Thank God. I don't want to jump off a building. Yeah, I respect myself. I like myself. I don't want to I like my I don't want to jump off a building. I mean, it's a good fear. Thank God. You don't want to jump off a bridge. It's not debilitating. It's it's it's it's human. It's healthy. Just like I don't go into a lion's den. Yeah, I'm afraid. So you have the Christian with the third line from the top 62 you have the Christian with the show that show us this. This is the Christian in the there's a path for it of and with it was there was surrender of the soul that was The beginning of this is with means accepting the yoke. In other words, there's an element of surrender. It's a real respect that I'm channeling something that there's a hierarchy. There's a true reality here. That's why they come so the commission says in why does come before the show my cuz before you accept first accept the oil the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. Behind you the is the way that the Christian in the show the Christian interesting. We said before Christian is the way that the show my is tuning in the mind to a truth. But the beginning of it is so what does this mean? The knowledge that one needs to know for it starts off with so I know we are going to fight. That means the person really needs to tune in their mind and sometimes it's hard work to be able to truly to truly internalize and to truly comprehend The person needs to actually work hard to be able to be open to this and to work again and again and try to understand it and comprehend it and internalize it. The man begins his whole mission of the foundation of foundations. The pillar of wisdom is to know that there's a first and primary existence and he brings into existence all existence and every existence from heaven and earth and anything in between. Did not emerge only from the truth of his existence. These are the classic words of the man with which he begins The man here puts down three fundamentals. The first thing he says is that is meaning the primary original existence the antecedent the source of all existence is in It's like that at the core of reality the beginning of all reality there is this reality here. Second is the second foundation is who is He doesn't just live in his own reality, whatever that reality is. He brings into existence every existence. Every single existence is a result is a manifestation is a consequence of this reality. The third thing he says is that they were all created from the truth of his existence. That means they all represent his truth. So he says three things. First of all, you say that you say that you say that you say that Second of all, you say that you say that There's a the first existence and he brings into existence every existence. And you already said it all. He says no and all existence from heaven and earth and in between to say that you say that you say that They did not emerge only from the truth of his existence. Well, you already said that he brought into existence everything. So he brought into existence everything means they come from him, not from anything else. If he's the one who brought them into existence, so yeah, turtle didn't bring them into existence. And Mount Olympus didn't bring them into existence and Zeus didn't bring them into existence and they didn't create themselves. Cuz if they weren't here, they couldn't create themselves to be here like the says. But the man says no. You say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that They did not come into existence only from the truth of his existence. What's the third you say that you say that you say that number two? Huh? Oh. That every is a reflection of you say that you say that You say that you say that you say that you say that you say that and there's like a distance. Yeah, he has this power and everything abracadabra could do which means abracadabra abracadabra could do. You say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say They [snorts] did not come into existence only from the truth of his existence and it's a continuum of you say that you say that What's Why is this this the whole thing that's the in me? That's what this is. It's the that you're embodying. That's the prophetic That's the prophetic experience. You're embodying it. There's no separation. For that you need to be That's not an intellectual experience. You say that you say that you say that you say that means that you're channeling now the truth of his existence. Every in its own way is channeling the energy. That's what it is. It's not just a scientific truth that has to be a creator. So there's a creator and here I am. But now my ego is big. It's even bigger cuz I figured out that there's a creator. You understand what happens here is and you just cut yourself off from the flow of life. You're just like a dead entity. Even if you intellectually you're right and you got it and you can explain it and they're beautiful. But at your core you just detached yourself. It's a very It's a very deep here. You become a yes and that's what the Greeks wanted. I don't even care if your culture agrees that there's a God and you want to make it one god, I don't care. It Right. There's a Richard Dawkins Richard Richard Dawkins said Huh? He said I don't know if it's self-aggrandizing one of his books or maybe I heard it on but he said once I think he actually likes saying he's very proud of it. He said in the beginning paganism believed there's many many many gods. Then came monotheism, Judaism and you know Christianity Islam all derivatives of Judaism. And they said instead of you know thousands of gods or millions of gods or hundreds of gods or dozens of gods they reduced it to one. He says in in a few years we'll get rid of that too. So it's beautiful the world is a evolution is working. They started with 10,000 gods they went to 1,000 they went to 100 they 10 the Jews got it into one. Okay, so now you just get rid of him and you're done. Beautiful right? From a million dollars I got you down to $1 now you get rid of $1. You understand how this guy is toifus achdus Hashem? >> [laughter] >> Huh? Yeah. So what's this So you see this is achdus Hashem that's also with the Yevanim. Your philosophy is that there's one god. He believes in a hundred you believe in one fine. He believes in polygamy you know you can have 40 wives and you have one but it's the same nekudah. You just you reduced it to one for your philosophy it works as one. But the common denominator is not like nimtzu el amita simatsai. It's that you're one. It's that the whole world is one. He understood one god means why cuz his whole paradigm is Yevanim's his whole paradigm is detachment. So there's 10 gods a thousand gods and then there's one god. So god is here and you have one and they have a thousand so what's the difference? What he's not toifus is that everything is one. That's what he said that krias shema means that the briah is one. Achdus is about briah kolah you're one. I'm one we are one there's oneness. It's cosmic oneness and that means you are that energy you are that energy. That's what the Baal Shem Tov meant got is also not got. And that's the milchamah that's a very deep milchamah. So this means a person could learn Torah their whole life do mitzvahs their whole life. I mean the mind is very very sharp and essentially the Yevanim have been victorious. They have been victorious. Not b'pnimius because every mitzvah is divine and every word of Torah is divine but in terms of the human experience of it it can be lacking the shemen. And that milchamah [snorts] continues cuz it's a very deep internal space. It's going into a place of ego and stuckness which includes insecurity rather than going into merkavah eibelech gebenkeit un avekgelechkeit loyalty and surrender. The erpnimius concealed it's like a corpse everything is there and I measure it but as he puts it before there's achidus there's a kaltkeit. The kedushas haTorah u'mitzvos achdus everything is reduced to the way I see it the way I understand it and it I completely live in my comfort zone. And my comfort zone is like a statue I turn my mind into a statue. The mind it's dead even for the mind cuz a live mind is a mind that's in flow a mind that is creative creative comes in the word creator. A real mind is when it's channeling the creator creativity comes in the word creation. When your mind is creative it means you're channeling the creator amita simatsai that's actually a good mind. But when the mind becomes a god you actually destroy the mind. You cut the literally cutting the plug like you take a mind that can channel cosmic intelligence divine intelligence and what do you do you cut it up and you say my mind will figure it out like poor mind your poor mind you just you just killed it. You just nipped it in the bud you just took away from it its energy. Yeah. You're going against the flow and it's very torturous. So the Rambam this is the third inyan in the Rambam. Let's finish here. V'eema yoisim y'sodos klalei inyanim atzmi'im and even though the Rambam calls them y'sodos what does y'sodos mean? They're fundamental so they're inyanim atzmi'im they're essential. What says inyanim atzmi'im? D'vei inyanim atzmi'im had elai yippol b'inyan achirah v'drishah. Interesting inyanim atzmi'im essential truths there's no shayach investigation and research. If it's an inyan atzmi it's in the essence. D'var shekor im achdus k'vei hasaychel yippol b'mechkar v'drishah. Aval b'inyan y'sodi she'hu atzmi einu shayach achirah v'drishah. Something that by definition is mechudash it's it's it's new it's novel it's something that you create like saychel an idea so you research it you investigate it you debate it's true it's not true. But something that's y'sodi meaning it's an atzmi so what's achirah v'drishah going to help? On the contrary the whole achirah v'drishah is based on these paradigms. If you don't have these paradigms you can't have any achirah v'drishah. So l'choidah those things is not shayach achirah. Al zeh v'al zeh omer haRambam achdus Hashem. Still he says it's y'sod hay'sodos v'amud hachochmah. He doesn't just say it's a foundation. He says it's also the pillar of wisdom. D'y'sod hay'sodos she'hu mosif b'atzmuso baderech inihu atzmi amud hachochmah as li as hu v'chochmaso echad. So here's a chidush. Not only is he y'sod hay'sodos which is the essence of Hashem but he's also the pillar of wisdom. That is also the search of all investigation. This gives investigation its infinite power and luster. This gives the mind so much more power. So he's not only y'sod hay'sodos and it's off limits cuz it's just an inyan atzmi it is what it is like define you want to define reality define reality. You can investigate from today till tomorrow it's not shayach. An idea that I introduce or a theory or hypothesis we investigate. You could prove it you don't prove it you investigate a shaylah a s'varah there's a lot of things that were established in science for thousands of years and then they come and they say kaput it's not true. That's normal that's how it's supposed to work that's called the scientific method. Somebody says I have a scientific theory and it's absolutely true that's the most unscientific statement. But when you talk about a y'sod an inyan atzmi it's not shayach achirah v'drishah. Comes the Rambam and says y'sod hay'sodos v'amud hachochmah. That atzmus Hashem is not only the foundation of all foundations it's also the pillar of all investigation of all wisdom of all scrutiny of all intellectual creativity. So it's not negating the idea it's not negating saychel that's his chidush. It's amud hachochmah it's the foundation of all chochmah of all creative wisdom investigation scrutiny and logic it's also the foundation of that it's the pillar of that too. Y'sod hay'sodos v'amud hachochmah. He who atzmi amud hachochmah as li as hu v'chochmaso echad three words. The Rambam says he and his wisdom are one. So b'maila you don't have to strip away chochmah from hu. So the hu doesn't have to remain divorced from chochmah. Hu v'chochmaso echad the chochmah is also infinite the chochmah is also atzmus. Hu v'chochmaso echad so maila the hu becomes a source for chochmah too. So all knowledge that you'll ever have in the world any knowledge authentic knowledge is an experience of atzmus. Yeah. Y'sod hay'sodos v'amud hachochmah. Yeah. True knowledge is surrender to atzmus yeah that's what real knowledge is. All knowledge leads to atzmus and comes from atzmus. So it's not like okay y'sod hay'sodos I don't know there's god there's somewhere it's beyond. No the Rambam says y'sod hay'sodos the foundation of foundations and the pillar of wisdom is laid as she yeshem atzureishon. Why is it the pillar of wisdom? He's beyond wisdom. The answer is because hu v'chochmaso echad. So maila all chochmah that comes into the world is ultimately a trickle from hu v'chochmaso echad. So maila he's not only the foundation of foundations that's true. That's beyond scrutiny beyond definition like it says in Isaiah v'tisa beis. But then the Rambam says it's also the pillar of all wisdom which is what I do grasp. Chochmah is something that we talk about we we try to understand everybody in their own way it's limited but still. So he's not only y'sod hay'sodos which is like intangible invisible infinitely transcendent but he's amud hachochmah the pillar like a beam on which the whole house stands. The pillar on which all chochmah stands is matzureishon. The reality of the infinite Ein Sof. This is the unbelievable unbelievable idea. You know there's no chochmah in the world if you want the chochmah to have a pillar the pillar that holds up all wisdom in the world that's going to be genuine authentic productive real real chochmah is you need the amud. You can't have a house without a pillar the whole house is going to fall down. Chochmah without this is going to be like wandering in outer space you know as like you you there's no compass. It's not real chochmah it's fake chochmah it's manipulating chochmah. Real chochmah if you want the pillar of foundation the foundation of wisdom the pillar of wisdom is matzureishon. Here he's explaining this is real science this is real chochmah this is real physics or any chochmah in the world including of course first chochmas haTorah. It's matzureishon. It's all leads to Ein Sof cuz it's from Ein Sof from atzmus Ein Sof. You toifus? >> [clears throat and snorts] >> You're not toifus but you like it. It feel it feels good. It's true it's true. >> [snorts] >> That's very good. Intellectual property in the world is really a form of avodah zarah. Now I know it works that way cuz we live in a world you know if I write a book and you plagiarize or I plagiarize but really intellectual property is a joke. Belongs to Hashem. I told you when somebody once wrote creativity is eavesdropping on God. All creativity is eavesdropping on God. So, just because you violated the rules and you eavesdropped on God, now suddenly you own it? >> [laughter] >> You know, you listen to you put a bug in my in somebody's office. You heard their scientific revolution or the the the patent that they created or the breakthrough that they created and they got the Nobel Prize and then you go to town and you say it's yours and then you get the Nobel Prize? You're it's a real ganef. The truth is it's a in a minyan of course he's also a ganef. So, the point is that you you eavesdropped. So, the first thing when you eavesdrop is humility, okay? You you heard it you heard it from the other side of the door. Okay, beautiful. Humility. Now, don't go walk around and say, "Wow, you see what I came up with?" That's the real truth. That's the idea. God. But the but the but the the American dollar in God we trust. They said there was a store in Borough Park that had a sign, yeah? In God we trust everybody else pays cash. Right? But the American dollar does say that American dollar. So, and that's the truth that all chachmei essentially is eavesdropping on Hashem. That's the point. If it's real chachma you're eavesdropping on Hashem. That's that's that's the reality of it. There's nothing else. That's what chachma is. If it's going to be real chachma. And if the chachma is not that, it's a deviation of chachma. It's a distortion of chachma. It's turning chachma your own chachma into a God instead. And that this is the issue of achdus Hashem versus the Yevanim. And he finishes here he says The fact that Atzmus emanated chachma, this itself was giving permission and empowerment to every creation to comprehend God. If Atzmus wouldn't emanate chachma, it would just be yesod hayesodos. There would be no relationship. But because he emanated chachma in himself so therefore he became also amud hachachma. Look at it there what God is an intellectual reality because and he emanated chachma in Atzmus, this itself created the permission and the empowerment for every created being to comprehend him. Because anything you comprehend, if it's real, you're comprehending him. You comprehend how a tree is created, how a tree grows, or how a cell replicates itself, or how DNA works, or how a neuron in your brain develops, you're comprehending him. And of course if you comprehend something in Torah, it's it's in a revealed way. This is his chachma. This is his idea. And because he emanated chachma in himself, therefore we can all know these three fundamentals. What? So, we number two we could know these three things of the Rambam because he's amud hachachma. Because he became amud hachachma, so therefore later now we could know these things. We can actually know them. We don't only mean know that you can understand it meaning you can explain it, we can grasp it intellectually. Not just that you could know it, it's actually this is the obligation of life. Not only is this knowledge the foundation of foundations and the pillar of all wisdom, the Rambam says and by the way it's also a mitzvah. If it's the yesod of everything and it's amud of chachma, so that's that's enough. Knowing Torah is a mitzvah. What's the shiyur of the mitzvah? What's the shiyur of the mitzvah? Mitzvah has to have a shiyur. What's the shiyur of esrog? What's the shiyur of tzitzis? What's the shiyur of staka? What's the shiyur of fill? What's the shiyur of yedias haTorah? The answer is that your mind should understand the halacha you're learning or whatever you learn. The mitzvah of yedias haTorah is mitzvah in a sefer or mitzvah in limud haTorah. There's two mitzvahs. There's a mitzvah of learning and there's a mitzvah of knowing. The shiyur mitzvah so person could be saying Torah shebiksav even if they don't understand the meaning it's a mitzvah of talmud Torah. There's no yedias haTorah. Torah shebiksav could be yotzei the mitzvah of learning even if you're just saying the words. The yedias haTorah shiyur mitzvah dafka be yedias hapirush. Yedia means you push it know, you know you you got it. What's hiddur? Hiddur means if you know it better, you know it more. It's like mehadrin you do a mehadrin in Chanukah. This is a general mitzvah no difference what you're learning. You could be learning you could be learning it's all mitzvah and yedias haTorah. Not yedias haTorah. This is an individual mitzvah. When a person therefore learns pnimius haTorah so there's three mitzvahs. Limud haTorah. The first thing is you're learning Torah. Second thing, yedias haTorah. If you understand it, you know Torah. The third thing is yedias haklaliut haTorah al al haklal. What rises above everything is if the mitzvah of the Rambam says of yedias haklaliut. Appreciating the chiyus of the world. What's the inner reality of everything of Torah and of mitzvahs and of the world. This is the jug of oil. This is the oyneg of Torah. This is the oil of Torah. So, the Rambam is not only saying that it's a foundation and it's a pillar of wisdom and you could say, [snorts] "Okay, it's it's foundation of everything. It's a pillar of wisdom. I'm not a smart guy. I'm not a scientist. I'm not a philosopher. It's fine. Let the scholars understand it." So, the Rambam says, "No, it's a mitzvah asah." Right? You could say yesod hayesodos amud hachachma. If I have to figure out reality, I'll come back to God. So, the Rambam says, "No, that's true. But the yedias it's a mitzvah asah just like the mitzvah of limud haTorah and yedias haTorah. This yedias haklaliut. And and that's how you win the Yevanim inside of you which is the animal consciousness that he said the way to win everything we spoke about before was through Krias Shema. That's the whole of the maamar. So, this is the way to win it. This awareness, this meditation, this surrender, this is how you deal with everything that nefesh habahamis tries to hijack in you. We spoke before the machshava, the dibbur, the eiyah, the shmiyah, everything we spoke about before. The nefesh habahamis starts with taking away your oil. And now you replace it, this is what gets healed through the Krias Shema. And he finishes now we'll understand why Chanukah. It's not just a technical question why Chanukah what happened? Because assuming we assume the people knew what Chanukah was. The Chanukah who rosh hayesodos chanuch kaf hey. It says in sifrim Chanukah is chanuch kaf hey. They rested on the 25th. Kaf hey is sfiras malchus. It says [snorts] in Kabbalah kaf hey koy koy thus this koy amar Hashem represents the sfira of malchus. So, [snorts] chanuch kaf hey means that it rests in kaf hey meaning it reaches all the way till malchus 25. In sfiras malchus represents the end, the last one. Every sfira you have like idea and then you have it in experience. What is malchus in experience? Listen to this. You know, we have chesed. Chesed is love, gevurah is discipline, boundaries, tiferes is harmony or compassion, glory, netzach is victory, hod is gratitude, humility, yesod is connectivity. What's malchus? Not everybody is a king. Not everybody is aristocratic. Not everybody is Dovid Hamelech. So, what's malchus in avodah? What is the seventh emotion malchus in avodah? So, he says I'm mamlich al atzmi. That you actually you feel internally like a king. You're a king on yourself. It says about Avraham Avinu the Gemara says in the darom he coronated Hashem on all of his limbs. Sometimes that's the hardest place to coronate God. I could coronate God on the whole world besides on my limbs. Amshol zain amshol al atzmi. Can you be a king over yourself in your own life? We're not talking about a king over others. That's step two. That's that's that's easy if they agree especially. >> [laughter] >> The real malchus says are you an internal king? What do you mean? Do you have an internal compass? Where there's actually a king, there's a royal essence in you that makes decisions or it's basically whoever catches me first. There's a good breakfast, let's eat breakfast. There's a good piece of cake. My phone is available, let me go with that phone. There's no A melech means there's somebody who's running the country. Is there somebody who's running your life inside of you? That's a very important question. Is there a king inside your life who's running the show or maybe not. Maybe whoever catches the steering wheel. There's a car with a bunch of people and whoever grabs the steering wheel grabs it and then I throw you away. So, we have all these different parts that are all competing over the steering wheel. A king means right? There's a chef in the house. There's a teacher in the room. There's an adult. There's a parent. There's somebody taking responsibility. It says about Yosef. Yeah, Yosef who ashalit. He took responsibility. The economy of Egypt is under my control. Pharaoh told him, "You're the man. Under me you're the man. You're the king." The buck stops here. Is there somebody that whenever a decision is made inside of you the buck stops here? Let's go to the king. Do you have that part in you? Do you know that part in you? And who is the king in you? Who is that king? That's what it means to develop sfiras malchus. So, malchus is a very deep people don't realize. Sfiras malchus essentially what is it? It's not a specific quality. Chesed, gevurah, tiferes, netzach, hod. Chesed is love. Gevurah is is is discipline, structure, boundaries. Tiferes is empathy. Or the glory of life. Right? Netzach is the ability to win, ambition. Hod is the ability to back off, surrender, gratitude, humility. Yesod is connectivity. What is Malchus essentially? Malchus is not a specific quality. Malchus is that there's somebody who governs the system. There's somebody in charge. There's somebody who could look at what's going on and say we're going to make a right, we're not going to make a left. I know that everybody wants to make a left, but there's a tati in the house and he's responsible and he's loving and he really cares about everybody and therefore there's going to be a decision. That's what it means. He says Yeah. I saw a vort in the Me'or Hashiloach. The Ishbitzer, he says he says that the shvatim told Yosef in parshas Vayeishev when he had his dream, "Hamolech timloch aleinu? Hamashol timshol banu?" Why twice? "Hamolech hatimloch aleinu?" You're going to be a king over us? "Hatimshol aleinu?" Why twice? "Hamolech timloch?" So there he said like this, what they were saying is if you want to become a king over us, the first person you have to be a king is over yourself. The hardest job to be a leader is to really be a leader internally. Right? The leader doesn't start with, "Oh, there's a 10,000 people under me, there's a million people under me, I'm the leader." No, no, no, that's going to be a disaster. >> [laughter] >> The question is are you really are you a leader internally? Did you figure out all your parts and do you know how to control? Are you coming from that space? Then your leadership can be trusted. If not, your leadership will be chaotic. It'll just be what do you want? Whatever I need validation, I want popularity, I need money, I want power, I want ego, I want influence. "Hamolech timloch aleinu?" Moshe, Yosef, before you timloch aleinu, have you become a king yourself? "Hamashol timshol banu?" And indeed Yosef had to go through a lot of stuff until he became the ultimate king himself. He went through everything, everything. At the time when they bowed down to him, he was already a different person. He went through such a crucible. He went through such a kur habarzel, he was already a different person. He knew what it means to have self-control. He knew who he is, who he's not. Like we spoke Shabbos, the inyan of Yosef. In any case, so this is the vort of Malchus. Fizel, "Mai Chanukah?" So what's Mai Chanukah? "Eihu sheyiya adam moshel al atzmi." You hear a question. "Mai Chanukah?" How do you reach this place of Malchus? How do you reach Mai Chanukah? What's the mechanism to come to Chanukah? It's not a technical question. They knew what Chanukah is, that's why he does all the halachos of Chanukah. Before this, the first question of the maamar, "Mai Chanukah?" It means in the beginning of the sugia. "Mai Chanukah?" After we learn all the halachos, how does a person come to Chanukah? "Chanukah peh." "Hinei zeh l'vadei ha'avodah." So he says, "This doesn't happen on its own. This is through avodah." So he says, "Mai Chanukah? Let me tell you." "B'chof hei b'kislev yemei d'Chanukah tamnei inu." It starts chof hei kislev, we have eight days. "B'chotzei hakayitz or choizer." The summer months is known as or yashar, direct light. The The winter months is called or choizer, the light that bounces back from struggle, from opposition. In the summer months, Sivan is the third month, Matan Torah, that's when Torah is given from above. Kislev is the Torah that comes back from below. It's or choizer, it's not or yashar. Matan Torah was given from God, that's or yashar. That's the summer months, there's a beautiful shining in the world. Kislev is the cold, cold, we all know it's cold and it's dark. The nights are long, the days are short. So it's the time that the or doesn't come from above. The sun is not shining. So you have to reveal the light from within, from the darkness, from the cold nights, from the from the cold nights, the long nights. It's the or that comes back, that bounces back. It's the or that's created from within. The or hits. It hits opposition and from that position the defiance, you create a different energy that comes from within. It's not given to me on a golden platter. It's a whole different inyan. It's illuminating the darkness, that's the or choizer, that's the avodah of Kislev, that's the third month. Tiferes is the third month, or yashar. And then you have chotzei hakayitz, it's the inyan of Torah versus tefillah. Torah is like the gift from above. Tefillah is the person's search for God. It's the search from within. It's finding the light from the darkness. It's the darkness reaching out and saying there's something off, I want to find my light. And that's the difference. He says in or choizer, it's not tiferes, it's netzach. Tiferes is Matan Torah. It says in Kabbalah that Chanukah is connected to netzach, the victory. "V'lachein in chodesh Kislev shuv svivah d'netzach b'avodah d'mesirus nefesh." This is the third month, Kislev. And by the way, that's why it's brought in chassidus, Yud Tes Kislev is also Kislev. Right? It's the or choizer. There's the or yashar of Matan Torah that was given from above and then there's the or choizer of k'li mesiras Torah that comes from within. "Mesirus nefesh hinei b'chof hei al the day of chof hei." Like we said, the time is essential to the Yom Tov. So you have Kislev, the third month, and you have chof hei of Kislev. "Kai nitzchu es hayevanim umenagdim es haTorah u'mitzvosav u'mitzvosav baruch." That was the day when they were victorious over the Yevanim who opposed not just the Torah and the mitzvos, but the Torah of the divine and the mitzvos of the divine. A freilichen Chanukah. May we see the victory completely in our days and our Chanukah. >> [clears throat] [cough] >> I tell you, in the morning I woke up, I didn't know what maamar to learn. And then I felt, I remembered that this maamar the Rebbe said in the middle of the war. Tashan Aleph. So I thought it's a good maamar to learn today. It just felt better to learn this maamar, that's it. Yeah. This is one of the few maamarim I saw that he teaches what Malchus is in avodah. Usually they just mention, you have to figure it out on your own. But here he actually says what Malchus is in avodah, to be a king on yourself. Yeah. Five. And then there's vavins. It exactly It's integrating everything. What does it mean a king? He's not He doesn't develop his wisdom when he becomes a king. He integrates everything. Like there's somebody take There's somebody There's somebody in charge. That's why it says Malchus lesh lemei gamar kulam, it doesn't have anything on its own. It doesn't have anything to contribute. On the other hand, it channels everything. If I'm a melech, I can use chesed and gevurah and tiferes. And if not, it's just whoever whoever runs the show. Aw. People don't know who he was. This one? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You finished the whole Likutei Torah? In English? You did it in English? Like six books, no? What is it? Four? It's unbelievable sichos, huh? It's It's uh I got it when I was in Ukraine. I bought it in Mezhybizh. We went to Mezhybizh a few years ago. The problem is it was shatnez. I didn't know it was shatnez. Then I gave it in, somebody mentioned it's shatnez, it was full of shatnez. So you can't just wear it. This guy had to work hard to clean it up. It's full of shatnez. Huh? It's real avodah. Character, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm not here Thursday and Monday. Tomorrow there's a women's class, but I'm not here Thursday and Monday. I'm going to be away for a few So there's no shiur Thursday or Monday. You'll chazer chazer over what? You chazer. This shiur chazer 20 times and it'll still be enough. No, not here Shabbos. There's a women's class tomorrow, but Thursday and Monday there's no class, yeah. Yeah. There's what? Yeah. Yeah. Let me just shut it. Let me just shut one second. Wait one second.