Only When You Transcend Your Mind Can You Discover the Spark in Haman

Good morning everybody. Today's class will dedicate of course to our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine. Our hearts are with you. Our souls are with you. Our minds are with you. Strengthening you. Sending you all the love and blessings dvening for you. May Hashem protect all of our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine and all of the good people there and the world over. May we experience I shared yesterday we had a session with London about the war in Ukraine and about um serenity inner serenity during uncertain times was with some communities in London United Synagogue communities So I shared some of my about my conversations that I had with five of the five of the war in Ukraine. Sunumi and Chargov and Odessa and Maropil and Kiev. So this is a very obviously a very very intense time and since the Jewish people are like one organism, one body, one superorganism. So as we know when it comes to exercise and physical health when you when you uh stretch or when you repair or when you enhance or when you strengthen one part of the body every part of the body benefits because there's a singular circulation system and therefore one part of the body directly affects the other part of the body and there's a central nervous system in which the entire body is integrated. And the same is true spiritually with the Jewish people. So whenever a Jew anywhere in the world or Jewish community empowers itself in the United States of America or anywhere else in the world by osmosis consciously and unconsciously by ways we know in ways we don't know it strengthens the entire organism. It strengthens the entire body. So our learning today, we'll dive in today in their merit and in their and may we see a Yeshua and a very speedily in our days. So we are now in the month of one. We're soon entering into the month of two. So today we're going to start something new. If you haven't opened your source sheets, please open your source sheets. If you're on Zoom, you can go to chat and you'll see that the link to the source sheet is there. You can also get it on the yeshiva.net. And as you see on the top which means with God's grace purim this is a mimeridicad discourse that was said presented by the labb on purim during the fabangan which would be 1957 that's how many years ago That's exactly 65 years ago. Somebody's asking for the source sheets. If you just go up a little bit, go up a little bit in the chat. Scroll up a little bit and you'll see a link to the source cheats. It says in parenthesis mime b the second mimer. And what that means is that u usually usually just a little bit of a history introduction. Usually the kabad rebas their the way they communicated their was through two avenues. One was called and one was called especially by the by theb when he would have his fabans his public large Torah gatherings on chabas or on yum or middle of the week special days special occasions holidays of course most of the fabbran was made up of sikas and then there was one section that was made up of a mimer what's the difference a mimer is a discourse that focuses on explaining and revealing a concept and an experience of so a mimer could go anywhere from 15 minutes to a half an hour to an hour or somewhere in between. The Reb would usually close his eyes. They would sing a special melody before people would stand up in the middle of the niggan. He would tie a handkerchief on his hand as the previous rabbis would do and there was a an ambiance of intensity in the air and then the reb would begin the m with a special song like it would start with a p or with a kazal with a statement of our sages and it would go in to really explore a theme a major fundamental theme in Jewish spirituality Jewish mysticism kabola It could be focus on the purpose of creation. It could focus on what a soul is. It can focus on the spiritual chemistry, the spiritual signs of the universe, for example, the spheres. It could focus on the human personality, dissecting the human personality, understanding the conflicts within a person, understanding the various parts of a person. It could focus on explaining a certain aspect about Tyra or about mitzvah or about daing or about learning or anything as part of Judaism exploring the spiritual dimension of it. That's a mimer. And the Reb would finish it. He would open his eyes, take off the handkerchief. There was a song afterwards. But most of the fab was made up of sikas. Yeah. You want to ask something? Mo most of the fabangan most of the fabangan was made up of sikhis. What are sikhis? Sikhis means talks and here there was less of a formal structure. The sikhis could encompass and discuss almost everything. It could discuss a rashi on the para could discuss a z on the parish. It could discuss a semium of a tractate in in g a had on the shas. It could discuss something about education or something contemporary going on in the world or going on in Israel or the future of Judaism or Jewish continuity or Jewish education or a particular crisis in the world or a particular dilemma among the Jewish people. It can explore issues in hashkafer in Makava in contemporary Jewish life. It can talk about it could be a state of the state of the of of the Jewish people address literally it talk about the themes of the parish. talk about a theme in a a pilp so most of the rebans were made up of and usually there was one section that was reserved for a mime and this is how it was by most fabian there were a few times that he said more than one mime in one and 57 is one of those times and that's why it says pimemer base because earlier in the there was another mime there was a a mime that he said earlier now why at this did he say a second mimer So later I hope at the end I'll tell you a little bit of the history of what happened before the second but let's now begin this is just an introduction like every mimer beginning with the balat it always begins either with a pik thank you or with a statement of our sages this starts with a p and of course a very famous pik that comes from parishes and of course it's the verse that's read right before purim what's called shambak the Shabas of remembrance and the reason it's called Shabas of course is because that's the Shabas when we read when we read that special section of parasi the book of Deuteronomy which tells us about remembering remember what Amalik did for you and in fact much of the celebration of Purim is that in fact the reading of the Tyra on Purim is again about the war of Amalik against the Jewish people and Hashem telling the Jewish people they should always remember what Amalik did in paral And uh you know when we read the migill and they mention hmon or hmonas everybody clapsum ba the graggers come out it's also part of remembering what amalik did for us since as our sages say hmon was a descendant of amalik of the original amalik and of the nation called amalik which came and was originated by the man named Amalik who was a grandfa a grandson of Asov. had a son his name was Alifas and Alifas had a son whose name was Malik remember what did did to you again this is a verse in Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse1 17 as you see in footnote number one medish on this verse there is a medish a teaching of our sages in the oral tradition known as medish where is this medish if you look in footnote You see every source, every statement here, every reference is sourced in numbers. So on the bottom you could see the source per meal the famous medish known as the chapters of Rabi Alzar that comes from the great Rabbi Alzar. Rabbelzer Hagel Rabzarbin Hinus who was the Rebi of Rebi Aka lived during the first century after the common era during the era of the destruction of the second Bikto and afterwards and his medish is called the chapters of Rabza chapter 44 and there's also other sources what does the medish say it's a fascinating medish The Jewish people turned to their master and they said, "We have an issue. We have a major problem. One verse in the Tyra says remember what a malik did to you. Another verse in the Tyra says remember the day of Shabas to sanctify it. Of course we know where these two are. The first one I just mentioned is in Kis. The second one is part of the ten commandments. It's part of the sadus and paras. Remember the day of Shabas so that you can sanctify it. We say it in the kdesh in the preparation of the kdesh. Shabas morning. How can they both coexist? This one we have to remember and this one we have to remember. There is a conflict of interest. They seem mutually exclusive. You're telling me remember what a malik did to you. You're also telling me remember shabas. The Jewish people say, "Musha, our teacher Moshe, they cannot coexist. Either you remember one or you remember the other. How can they both exist together? Remember this and remember this?" Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "What's the question, right?" Very good. The Reb is going to address that. But let's hear the medish responds. We don't compare a cup of wine to a cup of vinegar, even though they're both cups. Wine fills the goblet and vinegar fills the goblet. They're both cups, but they're completely non non-comparable. Shabas the two remembrances are very different. When it comes to Shabas we remember Shabas in order to preserve it in order to sanctify it in order to confer upon it a sense of holiness and serenity and tranquility a sense of festivity. Shabas is a day that we protect Sh by enga by disengaging by by staying away by abstaining from the various labors of Shabas various labors that would compromise the sanctity of Shabas Shabas in a positive sense we imbue the day with kaduca with sanctity in addition to its own sanctity here we also remember our malik but don't remember our malik to protect amalik to sanctify a malik to confer a special holiness in Amalik. On the contrary, it's to penalize Malik lo it's to it's to penalize to punish Malik. That's the medish. Now, here is a classic example. You read a medish and you don't understand. Medrashim are not created, God forbid, just to entertain people because the Tamak is not enough. So, we need some extra entertainment. The medish is here to bring out the nuanced intricate depths depth of each pik. I discussed this with you many times about different medash. You may remember the class about what our sages in the medish and gumar talk about bata coming to visit coming to bathe in the Nile and she extends her hand to fetch and retrieve the basket in which baby Mosha is present and our sages say her hand extended. That's a famous medish. Like where did they see it in the verse? Why would they go there? Every medish as we discussed numerous numerous times is here to fill in the gaps to give us the deeper layer of meaning of significance to allow the ultimate message to resonate with us and to give us the full harmony of the ballot of Torah. Now when you read this medish they tell you you said remember Shabas you said remember our mullik they can't coexist impossible so says no there's a cup of vinegar there's a cup of wine they're both cups and they could both exist over here remembering shabas to sanctify here remembering ask in this need we need to understand this I don't understand their question. Why can't we maintain in our mind both of these remembrances? I want to ask you a question everybody who's listening here. There's only one thing in your life that you remember. We could remember various things and sometimes we remember great moments and sometimes we remember difficult moments. That's how memory works. When you go down memory lane, you don't only have one memory even consciously. There's so many things that we constantly bring to the four every single day. How many memories do you have? Memories come up. Some memories we repress. Some memories we suppress. But there are memories that are part of our lives and we can hold in our brain. more than one memory, more than one remembrance. I don't understand. He says they're telling sorry they're mutually excl exclusive. I don't understand why can't you have both? In fact, there are other items in Judaism, other pieces of history, other truths, other fundamental ideas that we have an obligation to remember every day. in in the code of Jewish law in quoting the he says in footnote five he discusses the obligation every day to remember either four things or six things in fact some people have a custom after doning to explicitly mention the six things that we're supposed to remember every day the first thing is a remember asks us to remember every single day the exodus of Egypt The second thing the asks us to remember is the moments we stood at Mount Sina to receive the third thing is remember what a malik did. The other thing is to remember the ael the fact what we did we created the calf. There's another remembrance. The title wants us to remember what God did for Miriam. And then there's the remembrance of a malik. Six things. So why don't they ask well one second if we're remembering Shabas how could we remember the agel how could we remember mount si how could we remember Miriam and the answer is people could remember more than one thing so why can't say remember shabas and remember they say no what's the question now let's analyze the answer what was answer what is the novelty that Mosha brought to them in his answer. What did he tell them? Don't get confused. Hey, you're remembering Shabas in a positive way. Hey, you're remembering Malik in a negative way. Shabas is a positive memory. You remember Shabas. In other words, you focus on Shabas. You tune into Shabas. You think about Shabas. You prepare for Shabas. You turn Shabas into a special day. Amalik, you also focus on Amalik. But for what? For penalization. What's the Misha? What did the Jews think before that Shabas should be remembered as a horrible day that should be blotted out of our memory and a malik should be glorified and celebrated? What exactly is Mosha communicating to them and answering their question? First of all is what's their question? Second of all, how is Mosha answering their question by saying by the way you're not remembering the same thing and what's his what's his novelty? Certainly when Moshe gave them over the mitzvah, remember the day of Shabas, what did they think that he means? Remember the day of Shabas to destroy it, to penalize it, to blot it, blot it out of your life, to kill it, to desecrate it. Obviously explain to them, remember the day of Shabas to make it holy. As our sages explain and interpret that verse, remember what a Malik did. We remember Shabas. What do say on that? Sanctify it with special food, sanctified with special beverages, sanctified with beautiful clothing, sanctify it with a clean garment, with a with a tablecloth, with m creating a festive meal and a festive home. Sanctify it through a cup of wine, which is what we do. We make kdesh. And the kdesh that we make is a direct fulfillment of the mitzvah. You take a cup of wine, you make that is the mitzvah. When he gave them the commandment to remember what a malik did to them, he right away explained, "You should blot out the memory of a malik. You should delete and obliterate the memory of Malik." Suddenly, it seems like he's telling them a big novel idea. you remember in a good way a malik you remember in a negative way and through this the question of how they can both coexist is answered the question doesn't seem to make sense and the answer doesn't seem to provide any novel idea and also doesn't answer the question whatever the question is from this whole discussion of the medish we can deduce So we have to conclude as follows. There is some fundamental contradiction when it comes to these two remembrances. remembering Shabas and remembering Amalik. There is something that embody there's something here that is uh that creates an internal conflict and it made the Jewish people feel that they cannot maintain both of them in their minds in their bodies they cannot harbor both of these memories and the only way it's possible and this is what Mosha was telling them is only when they understand that this memory is in order to preserve serve and sanctify Shabas and this memory is to penalize our malik. So that's what it's it's clear. But what does this mean? Another question asks this is an amazing and a fantastic and such an important question. Teaches you how to learn, how to think, the methodology of learning med. Why does Misha give this metaphor about a cup of wine and a cup of vinegar? And he says this is a cup and this is a cup. Whenever our sages or the ta introduces a metaphor, a parable, an allegory, it's not just, you know, why not? There's a reason for it. There's something that is explained or clarified through this metaphor. Mosha could say his message very very clearly without discussing cup a cup of vinegar versus a cup of of of of rich uh exotic and delicious wine. He could say there you remember Shabas in the positive sense and you remember in the negative sense. So Misha says no let me give you a metaphor and the metaphor is there are two beverages and they're both in goblets. They're both in kis. They're both in cups. One is wine and one is vinegar. What? But they're both in cups. This is a cup and this is a cup. This is a glass or this is a glass. This is a goblet. This is a goblet. But they're very different. Okay. How does this add understanding into his message? What would be misunderstood without this? This is the first chapter of the mime where the rebba presented his question. So the summation of this chapter is he quoted the verse. He quoted the medish explaining the verse and he raised three fundamental problems with this medish. Number one, the question doesn't seem to be understood. We don't understand what's bothering them. Number two, even if we even if you figure out what's bothering them, we don't understand's answer. How does his answer respond to the question? And what's the novelty in his answer? He seems to be saying something obvious. Number three, he gives this metaphor which seems to be completely superfluous, excessive and unnecessary. Okay, before I go on, let me take a question. If I could just clarify something, you mentioned that most of the rebangans were comprised of talks and usually there was one mimer which focused on a sug on a theme in does that mean in the sikas there were noidic themes? No, no, no. Sometimes he could dedicate a or two foridic themes as well. I told you the sikhas could discuss and they spend and they covered almost any topic within within yiddesh and almost any topic under the sun literally. But the mime was focused on a on on a what about these were the spoken words but what about the unspoken nonverbal eye contact singing yes between talk and talk the rebbble would take a break the break could be 5 minutes 10 minutes or sometimes 20 minutes or more and they would sing a song sometimes they would sing more than one song and that's when people would say the rebba would look at the crowd sometimes people would come over to talk or ask something etc. Question. Remember to blot out Amalik. Remember to blot out the name of Amalik. Yes, they find that to be a contradiction with Shabas. But I have another problem. If you blotted out the memory of Amalik, how could you remember him? There's nothing to remember because you blotted him out of your memory. Okay, great question. So, literally the answer is it doesn't mean you remember him and you blot him out so that you don't remember him. It means you should like Mosher Rabenu was saying you should always remember the toxicity of Amalik. You should always remember the danger of Amalik so that you could be on alert not to allow a Malik to infiltrate your ranks not physically and not spiritually. It's it's it's that heightened alertness to the danger of a Malik. You ask why Mosha used this metaphor of the cups, the two cups. But we know many people who use long lists of synonyms which basically are repetitive and they don't add anything. Aum aum. Okay. Guilty as accused. Okay. First of all, Rabenu was not just any person. If Rabenu is giving a metaphor, there's a meticulous reason for it. It's not just for why not. That's number one. Number two, even not even a professional communicator on a much lower level than if you're telling if you're giving a metaphor or a parable, there's a reason for it. You need to justify it. It's not like this dramatic metaphor that may lure the crowd into your uh charisma mele. It's like a you start with a story or you start with with with some dramatic uh event or episode or joke etc. Here it's a very parable about two cups of wine. So it's obviously something we're not getting in his response. Now of course the third question is a direct continuation to the first two questions because if we have the answer to the first two questions then we'll understand the third and we'll see that for his message he has to introduce the concept of the cups very good questions B let's go to section two to understand this we have to introduce first and foremost be your explanation to what our sages pages saying track date page 7b the Gmorra says a person is obligated to become inebriated on Purim as Rashi says there to become inebriated to become drunk on wine on the day of Purim him to the point that he does not know. He becomes unaware. He does not know anymore the difference between cursed is Hmon and blessed is Mardai. And Debb says what's the connection to this issue? Because as we know Hmon was a descendant he was from the progeny. He was from the seed of Amalik. In fact that's why many commentators explain he's called aogi. What is aogi? So the tarum sheni for Esther migillous Esther Periml explains Hmon comes from Aog was the king of Amalik who came from Amalik and he is the king that shame hundreds of years before the story of Esther and Hmon shame the first king of the Jewish people king Saul captured Aog killed him the prophet killed him so Hmon came from his seed so our sages tell us on Purum you're obl obligated to be inebriated until you don't know the difference between cursed is and blessed is which at first glance and even at second glance is very difficult to fathom very difficult to comprehend because number one why would you not want a person to know the difference between that which is cursed and that which is blessed isn't that the function of all good education teaching your children wrong from right teaching them the difference between that which is cursed and that which is blessed. Teaching them the difference between those pathways in life or those behaviors in life that are toxic, that are destructive, that are counterproductive, that confer curses upon the world to those pathways in life that produce blessings in the world. Isn't that what we hope for every person? If I would tell you that you're living in a community or you're living near neighbors or you're living among people who don't know the difference between Hmon and Mai, that's moral relativism where there's absolutely no difference between the two. That's scary. And yet on Purim on Purim that day when we celebrate the victory of Mardai Kazal say you should get so iniated until you don't know the difference. What does this mean? And of course there's a bigger question here. If you don't know the difference and why you're celebrating. The whole reason we celebrate Porum is because Mardukai was triumphant and Hmon was defeated. If there's no difference between the two, then you're pulling the rug out from the entire zeitgeist from the entire of Purim. So if you don't know the difference between the two, then stop the party. The celebration should cease. So one explanation and this is based on what's explained in the writings of the Arizal was stands for it's an acronym rau our master because name was Laura so they call it luranic kabala who of course lived in for two years the last two years of his life until his passing shin 1572 at the very young age of 36 buried invas and one of the writings of the Arizal the raisal has many books that were transcribed by his students but there's one famous section called hakavon shavonus means the portal to meditations and that's where theel goes through the various prayers and festivities and holidays throughout the year and discusses the kavan is the appropriate medit meditations for each holiday including purim and in the section of purim at the end this is what tells us the meaning in these words is literal that you should actually substitute you should actually become so confused so to speak that instead of saying cursed is h and blessed is mikai you should say the opposite blessed is ho Unlike we explained earlier, this is a very interesting parenthesis. What does he mean in the first in that in 1957 as I told you the said two very rare that he did so but he did so a few times. One time he said three myar on a shabas but usually was only one mime but there were times that he said a second mimer. By the way, one of the first time was purum 1953. Purum 1953 it was already close to dawn at 3 around 3 in the morning 3:30 3:30 and the Reb suddenly started to say a second about and alapur it's a whole it's amazing story I heard from Khan and uh it was the time that Stalin Stalin died or Stalin fell ill and the mime was connected to that okay but that's not for now just thinking about Russia Ukraine etc. The point here is that in the first mimer of that the mime was so theb explained there confusing not knowing the difference he explained it from a different angle from a different perspective. So now he's saying that doesn't accept it. He says literally you should exchange you should substitute you should instead of saying cursed is hmon you should say blessed is hmon. You shouldn't know the difference. Usually we say blessed is and curse to someone you should substitute. There should be you should you should exchange it because you're inebriated. You could say blessed is that's what says unlike we explained in the earlier a spiritual explanation here. It means literal but it's only one way not the other way. It doesn't mean you should be inebriated to the point that you say cursed that doesn't happen. All that can happen is says instead of saying cursed is you should say blessed is Hmon. That's what the gammorra means that even hmon gets a even hmon gets a blessing. It doesn't mean the other way around that god forbid gets the opposite of a blessing. It works only one way. Because even when a Jew is inebriated, he or she is connected and explains and this is going to be the major theme of this m what he means. But now he's quoting the cabalistic mystical words of so if you don't understand it that's fine. These are profound cababalistic concepts from the teachings of the thatidis comes and enlightens and elaborates and explains and most importantly applies viscerally to our physical and daily lives. Explains the meaning in this is always within cliper. Clipper means a shell, a husk. That's what kipa is. Clipper in in Yiddish clip is a shal. A banana peel is called a clipper. An orange peel is called a clipper. A walnut, an ego has a very dense and thick shell. You got to crack it, right? You take a nutcracker and you crack it. Within the kipa, within the husk, there's always a spark, a fire, an energy. I mean spiritual energy. I'm not talking here energy in terms of, you know, a scientific energy. We're talking about a spiritual energy, a spark of holiness which is mayor, which is manifested in her. It shines in her and it actually vivifies her. It gives your it animates it gives her life says that's why the Jew ought to be able to instinctively say blessed is incredible words in order to draw down light to that spark in every clip in every shell. There is a spark of kaduca when the Jew says bor blessed is hmon. He brings forth or she brings forth light that is drawn that is gravitating that is directed towards that spark which is in the kipa in the husk and hence says the only way you can say this is without premeditative deliberation only after One is inebriated, one is drunk. And the person has left his das. He went out of his rational senses. He he's he's beyond his das, his rational mind. So the regular priorities and reckoning and choices are gone. the person is drunk because if God forbid you're going to say with intention with meditative preparation in other words with deliberation means I'm intentionally saying blessed is then o you're going to draw down the light not just to the spark that's embedded within the husk but also to the husks themselves to themselves. Heaven forbid. This is a quote from Means till here is the quote from now begins the Reb's explanation. What is thy reason telling us here? When our sages are saying that I'm putting, you have to be so inebriated that you don't know the difference between cursed is and blessed is. It means not just words. The Jew should be drunk. Blessed is Hmon. Blessed is Hmon. It really means you're blessing, you're sublimating, you're elevating, you're accessing, you're you're you're bringing up, you're extricating the spark of kadusha that is buried, that is embedded in the kipa in the shell of Hmon. You want to excavated. That's the This is similar to what's explained in various works about what the Gmorra says in the fifth chapter of Ghanak. The Gammorra says from the grandchildren of Hand were those who learned to and taught to in public and the Gmorrah identifies the city of In fact there's another Gmorra it didn't make it into all the prince but you have that one of those descendants one of the descendants of Hmon you had some of the great sages that came ultimately from Hmon what does this mean It means why why are first of all how can it happen. Second of all, how can why do the sages tell this to us? So the Reb says it's the same point. There is some nits. It's very this is very heavy. There's some there's some spark in obviously covered over eclipsed [Music] is to draw down light into that spark. I can only do this when I'm inebriated. We're still going to see what that means. If I do it with deliberation with kavana, with my das, oh you're not good a whole year. You don't say blessed is in that state you could say blessed is h that's what he's saying. The only way you could bless is if it's in a way of you don't know. You don't know that you're blessing. It's very very subtle interpretation. He's not just saying you bless Hmon. You become inebriated and until you don't know the difference. He says the person has to be in a state of of not knowing. Only then can they bless someone. Because only when a person graduates and leaves, emancipates himself or herself from their das, from their cerebral understanding only when they stop wrapping their brain around reality, defining reality in terms of something that one can comprehend and understand. And the person elevates himself or herself to a state of consciousness that is that is higher that is deeper than knowledge awareness and understanding. Only then am I in a position where I can select where I can separate and where I can sublimate the holy spark of But if I say blessed is before I reach the state of when I'm not in a state of when I'm in a state of that's when I say blessed hon says then the blessing can reach hmon himself not just the spark of holiness that is buried in hmon that you want to excavate but it can reach hmon it himself the outer hmon and if that happens it's not good because Hmon is a dangerous person. Hmon is an evil person. So the only way you could reach that place says Daral is if you're inebriated and here inebriated as we're going to see is much more than okay I'm drunk. I don't know what's happening with myself. It's a deep deep avoid as you know purim is the deepest day. Purim is not some people think purim is you know it's a lightaded day. No, put him as a day of put him as a day when I can go beyond das. Ah, when you go beyond your das, it doesn't mean you don't know the difference because you're so drunk. You don't know what's happening with yourself. He's saying you elevate yourself to a place of not knowing. Then you could say the only way a Jew could say blessed is for it to really be a blessing is if it's not with if it's coming with. In other words, if it's coming with my conscious deliberation and intention, I could make more problems. I could become part of the problem, not part of the solution. It can only happen as Darel says when he's a which the Reb explains doesn't means mishuga in a very very deep way where I go beyond self-consciousness where I go beyond dos as we will