Journey To Tzfas: The Tzfas Legacy Library - The History of Tzfas and the Development of Kabbala

This Torah class is brought to you by torahanytime.com. Okay, Baruch haba'im. Welcome everyone. The bishop of connect leader. Um, about a year ago my dear friend Rabbi Rosen asked me if I'm coming to Tzfat. So I said, "Yeah, that was the plan." And when we met in Tzfat, I had the good fortune firstly to meet my good friend Rabbi Rosen and he said, "I want you to meet a friend of mine, one of the rabbonim in the in the community, Rabbi Kenig." And since then we've become chaverim. And really in the course of our very short conversations um, I've learned so much about the history of Tzfat and the history of Kabbalah in general. And before I tell you about the background for this particular shiur, I'm going to take you to the Five Towns for a moment. I know you've come to hear about Tzfat and not the Five Towns. But if I'm going to start off in the Five Towns, actually I'm going to start off in the suit store in the in the Five Towns. Um, I needed to get a something and as I'm walking out, the owner of the store said, "I hear you're going to Tzfat." I said, "Yeah." He said, "Was there a Rabbi Kenig there?" I said, "Was? Of course there was Rabbi Kenig there. That's where I'm speaking." He said, "You know, I just had a baby boy and I named him Elazar Mordechai. And his bris was on the day that Rabbi Kenig passed away and I never heard of Rabbi Kenig. And right after the bris, somebody came over to me and said, "Do you know Rabbi Kenig because did you name your son after him?" He said, "Well, really you know, we're not connected, but I guess we did name our son after him." So this was my preparation for for today's shiur and so tonight's shiur we hope should be l'iluy nishmas in honor of Rabbi Kenig, the rav of the Kehilas Breslov here in Tzfat. And today's shiur is sponsored by the Breslov Moises here. The truth is obviously by by looking at me, you could tell I have a very strong connection to Breslov. And and I do actually, yeah, I do. Because my grandfather in Poland grew up in Yassum. And he had a he had an uncle, Reb Eilenberg, who raised him and actually taught him Likutei Maran by the time he was bar mitzvah. So, um, we have a very warm feeling to the Torah of Nachman. And, uh, now developing my relationship with Reb Kenig with and, uh, we'll have to with, um, Reb Meirvis, so gezunt sein, so it's really an honor to be here. Um, over the last few weeks, so I was, uh, asking, uh, Reb Meirvis, what could you tell me about the development of Kabbalah, about, as you mentioned, the Tof Rach Nayaros, which we're going to speak about very briefly, and about some of the other documents that were unearthed. And in the course of our conversations, I realized that this is such a vast subject and such a a wide topic that I'm going to veer off a little bit, maybe speak about the history of Tzfat, um, its role in the really the redemption of Klal Yisrael going back to the 16th century, um, the seeds of redemption, and along the way discuss how how this has affected the development of Kabbalah. Um, let's speak about the first time Tzfat is mentioned in the Tanakh. Uh, the truth is, in Sefer Shoftim, and you have it on your sheet over here, it says, "Yehuda went with Shemain Vayakum Yoshev Tzfat, they smote the Kenaanim, the residents of Tzfat, Vayacharimu and they condemned it." So, the first mention of Tzfat is in Sefer Shoftim, where Yehuda and Shimon came, and actually this is the first city conquered upon the demise of Yehoshua bin Nun. They condemned the city, they basically outlawed the city, they prohibited any use of the city by Yehoshua Shema and they changed the name to Charma, city of devastation, a city of excommunication. This is the the first mention we have of Tzfat and one of the only mentions of Tzfat. Now, the question is, is this hilltop city, this magical mystical city, is this the same Tzfat as in mentioned in Shoftim? Last year I was here, it was it was warm in the morning but when we came to Tzfat the wind was howling and we thought the ruach would carry us ad ha rakia. Right? I remember that day we were davening mincha upstairs. It was a very windy day. And in the Sefer Kaftor Vaferach, Kaftor Vaferach was written by Rabbi Ashtori HaParchi. He was a talmid, a disciple of the Rosh. The Rosh once were in Tzfat, the Maggid, we know the Beis Yosef had a a Maggid, a malach who came to teach him. One of the things that the Maggid told the Beis Yosef, he says, I want you to know about the Rosh, the Rosh is Asher Kadishi, Asher my sanctified one. That's what the malach told the Beis Yosef. So, he had a student Kaftor Vaferach who wrote about the topography and history of Eretz Yisrael and he writes that the city of Tzfat today is not the same city of Tzfat that's mentioned in the Tanakh. Says the Kaftor Vaferach, the city of Tzfat today is a new name. It's not an ancient city, says the Kaftor Vaferach. And the city of mentioned in Sefer Shoftim, that city is in Chelek Yehuda and Shimon. While this Tzfat, the new Tzfat, is all the way up in the north and therefore it is not the same city. So, all we know is that there is a city named Tzfat mentioned in the Tanakh and the Rishonim tell us that this city right here is not the same city as mentioned in the Tanakh, but we will soon come back to maybe connecting the two. I want to share with you something that I was very moved by and something that really resonated with me and this could explain on a very simple basic level why Tzfat is such an important city to us. This comes from a Tshu va and I'm sure there's a beautiful edition here in this library, Shaalos Utshuvos Avkas Rochel, literally the dust of the peddler. This was where the responsa of Rabbi Yosef Karo in the Beit Yosef. And in his very first Tshu va, he describes very movingly about how after 1,500 years of Jewish people in the diaspora, away from Eretz Yisrael, in the galos, God had mercy on us after we were we were storm-tossed from one nation to the next, says the Beit Yosef, if you look at number three on the third line, "Zocher lohem bris avosam." He remembered the covenant of our forefathers, "V'shava shvusam." He gathered us, "V'kibtzam me'arba kanfos ha'aretz." He collected us at the ends of the earth, "Echod me'ir." One from each city, "Shnayim mishpacha." Two from each family, "Tzvi el eretz hatzvi." To the land of the deer. Now, what's the land of the deer? We know the Gemara in Gittin tells us that the land of the deer is Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael is called the land of the deer because when we're not in the land, the land contracts, but when we are in the land, the land uh expands. But the Beit Yosef, by calling Eretz Yisrael Eretz hatzvi, he's not just referring to Eretz Yisrael. It seems that the Beit Yosef is specifically speaking about the city of Tzfat is called Eretz hatzvi. Look what he writes, "V'nisyashvu b'ir Tzfat." After 1,500 years, the Jewish people settled in Tzfat, "Tzvi hi l'chol ha'aratzos." The city of Tzfat is the desire of all lands. Not only referring to Israel in general, but the city of Tzfat is the desire of all lands. What we would like to endeavor to explain is why is the city of Tzfat specifically called the land of the tzvi? Not just Eretz Yisrael. Why is Tzfat called the land of the the tzvi? Um let's uh review and maybe say over something that we've said many times, the famous comments of the Khesed L'Avraham, Rav Avraham Azulai. Rav Avraham Azulai was the great-grandfather of the Khida. And he writes uh very powerful things about the city of Safed. By the way, you know, we have a tradition that there are four holy cities in Eretz Yisrael, right? Of course, Yerushalayim. And we have Chevron. And we have Tiberias. And then this new city, the new city of Safed is one of the four um mystical and sanctified cities. I saw a beautiful remez. What does Hashem tell us when He's undesiring of us? He says, "Mi bikeesh dos miyadkhem ramos remos?" Khatseirai. Who desires this of you, you who trample khatseirai in my courtyard? The word khatseirai is a rashei teivos for the four mystical magical city sanctified cities that are God's courtyard. Khes is Chevron. Tsaddik is Tsfat. Yud is Yerushalayim. And resh, of course, is Tiberias. Why? Because what does the Gemara tell us about Tiberias? What's the name of Tiberias? Rekes. Rekes. So, khatseirai are Chevron, Tsfat, Rekes, Tiberias, and Yerushalayim. Well, says the Khesed L'Avraham, there is no city in the world that is predisposed, that is um prepared, says the Khesed L'Avraham, "L'mar'os she Tsfat mukhenes u'mezumenes l'hasig ba sod oimko shel Torah." There is no city in the world where the air is so pristine that it prepares the mind to understand the secrets of the Torah. "V'ein avir zakh b'khol Eretz Yisrael k'avir Tsfat." Nowhere is the air as pure as in the air of Tsfat. Now, that's a very dangerous statement. That's a very sensitive statement. Because while we all sense the beauty, the pristine quality of the air of Safed, yet on the other hand, what about Jerusalem? And the Khesed L'Avraham seems to be going out on a limb and saying, "There is no city whose air is as pristine as the city of Safed." Moreover, says the Khesed L'Avraham, "Shekol Hadar One who lives in Safed has an advantage over living in any other city in Israel. One who passes away in Safed because it's so high up, their neshama flies straight up to the Me'aras Hamachpelah to Gan Eden Ha'Elyon through Gan Eden Ha'Takhton." So this is the famous statement of the Khesed L'Avraham. Now once I'm on the subject of the Khesed L'Avraham, Rabbi Mervis um gave me a lot of very important information regarding the great discovery of the Khesed L'Avraham. Uh Rabbi Mervis mentioned that there are basically two uh stages in the writings of the of Rav Chaim Vital. We have the Madura Kama, Madura Kama, and the Madura Basra, the final edition. So regarding the Madura Kama, as Rabbi Mervis alluded to and uh uh there was a certain episode where there was an individual by the name of Rav Yehoshua ben Nun, who we know Rav Chaim Vital was very protective of his writings, and he gave very stern admonitions that nobody could copy over his written word, and he was very careful to whom he taught it to, to the point where um we've discussed and we've given shiurim on the subject that there was actually a association of students of Rav Chaim Vital who committed that they would not disseminate the teachings of Rav Chaim Vital. There was actually a kherem of the sages of Eretz Yisrael not to allow the teachings of the Ari to leave the confines of Eretz Yisrael. However, however, as much as Rav Chaim Vital safeguarded uh his writings, we have a record from Rabbi Shlumiel uh what what what what would uh how do they pronounce it here in the city of Tzfat? That b'chasdei Hashem, the word got out. So, on the one hand, Rabbi Chaim Vital was very protective. One would think that if it got out unauthorized, it would perhaps be looked down upon. And yet, Rabbi Shlumiel, who by the way, I believe was the son-in-law of Rabbi Yisrael Sarug, because uh he writes about how he was able to get into the holy association. He got in, so to speak, through marriage, because the the Ariza's one of his earliest talmidim was Rabbi Yisrael Sarug, whose son-in-law, by dint of the fact that he married Rabbi Yisrael Sarug's daughter, got into the holy association. He writes b'chasdei Hashem, Rabbi Chaim Vital fell ill for a year. His brother, Rabbi Moshe, so to speak, was uh had a certain authority over the writings of Rabbi Chaim Vital. And this Rabbi ben Nun bribed Rabbi Moshe, Rabbi Chaim Vital's brother, to have access to Rabbi Chaim's writings. He then got a hold of, as Rabbi Mervish speaks, 600 pages of the original writings of Rabbi Chaim Vital. This is referred to as the Tofresh Niyarice. He then hired 100 scribes. Each one copied over six pages. And from these 600 pages, we have our access, so to speak, to the Madura Kama of the writing of Rabbi Chaim Vital, as Rabbi Mervish uh pointed out that he has over there two large volumes, um Sefer HaLikutim, Sefer HaDrashos, Sefer HaKavanos. These are the three volumes that were made from the 600 Niyarice. And that's our access to Madura Kama. So, realize our access to Madura Kama is unauthorized. And now we come to Madura Basra, which is even more unauthorized. And that is Abraham Azulai. And actually, if you look in the writings of Rabbi the Hida, the great-grandson in the Shem HaGedolim, there are discrepancies as to exactly where Rabbi Abraham Azulai found these documents. Some At one point, the Hida says that they were buried with Rabbi Hayyim Vital. But historically, we know they were found before Rabbi Hayyim Vital passed away. And um according to another location in the Shem HaGedolim, they were actually found many steps down, down, down in the ancient Beit Akbara in Safed. And this is where the um Madura Basra of Rabbi Hayyim Vital was found. And I found it interesting I was learning the Sefer Kesuvot of Rabbi Yaakov Hillel, which is the historical account of the development of Kabbalah. And he brings over there incredibly a machloket that he has with the earlier Mekubalim as to why Rabbi Hayyim Vital buried these this Madura Basra. And now I'm really getting off on a tangent, but the main difference between Madura Kama and Madura Basra is when Madura Kama that Rabbi Hayyim Vital was very loyal to the precise wording of the Ari and the exact ideas of the Ari. And anytime Rabbi Hayyim Vital would have a question on it, he would not put it in the main text, he would write it as a gilyon on the side or as a footnote, giving loyalty to what the Ari said. And any additional comments that he had, he merely put additions on the side or on the bottom. By the time Madura Basra came around, "Heruv nafsho ba'oez", Rabbi Hayyim Vital girded his soul that when he had perushim or hosafot or questions, he already incorporated into the main text. And he had charatah after he wrote it. And therefore, he buried it. And there's a machloket Mekubalim. Now, this is not a Kabbalistic issue. This is a historical issue. But it's a historical issue that the Kabbalists debate. Why did Rabbi Hiyya Vital have Harata? Rabbi Meir Paparish says Rabbi Hiyya Vital had Harata because he felt what he wrote was oynik bi-oyisar, too deep. Too deep. It was too deep than the Ari authorized. Rabbi Yaakov Hillel feels that he had Harata cuz he felt he wasn't being loyal to the methodology that he was adding on his own. That's a very interesting Machlaqes. But be it as it may, the bottom line is Rabbi Hiyya Vital buried it and Rabbi Avraham Azulai unearthed it and here we have the statement of Rabbi Avraham Azulai who says that basically as great as Yerushalayim is, Tzfat is the highest, most elevated city to live in to understand the secrets of the Torah. To keep a long matter short, comes the Chasam Sofer in the famous Teshuvah in Chelek Yoreh De'ah Siman Rishon Mem Gimel and he basically says Chalilah to say what the Chesed Le'Avraham says. Chalilah to give precedence to Tzfat over other cities. Then it should come out, says the Chasam Sofer, that if somebody would travel to Tzfat, he should tear Keriah and then when he gets to Yerushalayim, he wouldn't tear Keriah if Tzfat is greater than Yerushalayim. And yet we know La Halacha that if you come to Tzfat, you don't tear Keriah and when you get to Yerushalayim, you do tear Keriah. And therefore what the Chesed Le'Avraham means is that at Tzfat is a wonderful, beautiful, mystical, sanctified city, but it's second tier to Yerushalayim. And this is the famous Machlaqes between the Chasam Sofer and the Chesed Le'Avraham. But yet we do have the statement of the Chesed Le'Avraham and I believe Mitzvah Le'Yashvei it is a it would be meritorious to try to add some explanation for what the Chesed Le'Avraham may mean. In fact, the Chasam Sofer goes so far as to say, famously, that in 1837, when the city of Tzfat was devastated in an earthquake, and the gedolim were trying to determine what was the sibah, what was the cause of this, the Chasam Sofer, as only the Chasam Sofer could, revealed that it was the jealousy of Yerushalayim to the city of Tzfat that shook up the city of Tzfat. Because, says the Chasam Sofer, everyone's running to Tzfat, everyone's touring Tzfat, everyone's learning in Tzfat, everyone's clamoring to Tzfat, and Yerushalayim, the Sha'ar Hashamayim, is, so to speak, neglected and relegated as a second-class citizen. So, like a jealous co-wife, Yerushalayim came along and shook up the city of Tzfat. The Chasam Sofer says, "Kin'as Yerushalayim asisa zeh." In fact, I found in the Sefer Eretz HaTzvi that, so to speak, in order for Tzfat to show deference to Yerushalayim, Tzfat became known as the city of the Tzvi, because Tzvi is rashei teivos "Tzfat bas Yerushalayim." In order to, so to speak, show humility and deference to Yerushalayim, it became known as the city of the Tzvi to show anivus and a hachna'ah bifnei Yerushalayim. That's brought in the Sefer Eretz HaTzvi. By the way, there are lots of deer all around Tzfat, even till today. Really? Lots of deer. There you go. That just um endorses our point, okay? So, but I will share with you, and um I'm sure you know better than I do, that when the Arizal was asked why he chose the city of Tzfat, he said an incredible, and this is brought in the Sefer Etz HaChaim. Etz HaChaim was written by one of the great Sephardic Avinim, Rav Chaim Palagi, and he quotes his son, Rav Avraham Palagi, who brings this down, and this is well known that the Arizal said, when the Arizal was asked, "Why did you come to the city of Tzfat?" The Arizal said, "Even even though God selected Zion, Eva." We know there's a principle in Rashei Teivot, in Gematria of Atbash, the word Eva could be transposed. Aleph is a Tav, and Vav is a Peh, and Heh is a Tzadi. Eva becomes Tzfat. "Eva l'moshav lo." Even though God selected Zion, but Eva, Tzfat, l'moshav lo is, so to speak, God's Kisey Olam Haba. So, we have this dual relationship, that on the one hand, Yerushalayim is the Sha'ar Hashamayim, and on the other hand, Tzfat does have a certain unique quality and a certain special quality. So, I've said this before, and maybe this will give us some some insight into the Kisei Avraham. They bring down from Rav Meir mi Premishlan, and actually this is brought in current Tshuvas Sefarim, that you know, in Hadass should be meshulash. Should be three branches at a time. But, there is a hidur that the branches should not be too wide, that they should be very delicate and very thin and very fine. In fact, the Hadassim in Tzfat are some of the most beautiful in the world. And Rav Moshe Sternbuch in his Tshuvas brings that there is a hakpada to specifically get the Hadassim of the city of Tzfat. And the remez is, Hadassim are called Anaf Eitz Avos, Sofei Teivot, Tzfat. That Tzfat are alluded to in the end letters Anaf Eitz Avos, and therefore there is a hakpada, even in the in the Piskey Tshuvas, he brings down there is a a hakpada, there's a hidur to get specifically the Hadassim of Sfas as these are the some of the most beautiful Hadassim in the world which got me thinking. And I we discussed with Rabbi Mervis You know, the the four minim represent four different parts of the body and the Hadassim represent the Einaim. So if the Hadassim in Sfas are considered the most mehudar, that means there's a special of a so Einaim perhaps in the which is the beauty of the Hadassim of Sfas. But after you. And so I want to share with you the following thought. So there's a Can I just say I knew of a house of an artist who was who was injured in the 1948 War of Independence and the doctors in in Tel Aviv said to him to heal your eye you should go to Sfas because the air is not as humid and it'll your healing will take place in Sfas your eye. Okay. The pshat. I hear. When Rabbi Vadia Rabbi Vadia yourself when he was having a sakana with his Einaim he came to be mispallel here by the kever of Rabbi Yosef Caro. And he was actually had a miraculous he was able to restore much of his vision. Okay, be it as it may. So just share with you a very brief thought. You know, when Avraham Avinu didn't know what to do about the bris milah Rashi says he consulted his on and school of Mamre and Mamre ultimately gave him the advice to do the bris milah. Apparently the medrash says told him don't do it. Eshkol told him don't do it. Mamre said do it. And the question is presumably if the Torah lists Eshkol and Mamre probably was the most of the three. Usually the Torah lists people in the hierarchy. So why was it that Mamre was the only one who gave Avraham Avinu the advice to to the milah if and Eshkol were or even greater than memory. This is the question of Rav Moshe Wolfson and he uses the idea we're about to introduce to answer this question and I think this will be relevant to to the city of Safed as well. There's a famous episode in Sefer Yehoshua where Yehoshua comes and he conquers much of the land and then there's a certain area where they could just couldn't conquer. There's a certain city in Israel they were not able to conquer and then the name of that city was Dvir. They couldn't conquer it. And the Navi goes on to tell us that the city of Dvir Lifanim was called Kiryat Sefer. The city of Dvir was called Lifanim in the past Kiryat Sefer which immediately begs the question, why do I care what the city used to be called if the name of the city is now Dvir? The Navi continues, there was a man Caleb didn't know what to do. So Caleb said, "Whoever conquers the city of Kiryat Sefer." What do you mean that's not the name of the city? The name of the city is Dvir. Whoever conquers Kiryat Sefer, I will give them my daughter Achsah as a wife. Now I don't know about you but if you had a daughter and you were offering your daughter, you would say whoever finishes Shas first, whoever is able to dig into the Tosafos better. But the last thing you're going to do is whoever conquers a city, I mean the qualities needed to conquer a city are not necessarily the qualities you're looking for for a husband for your daughter. And yet Caleb says whoever conquers the city of Kiryat Sefer, I will give them my daughter Achsah as a wife and the Gemara and the pasuk says Othniel ben Kenaz conquered Kiryat Sefer and he marries Achsah. And the Gemara Temurah turns the whole episode on its head. The Gemara says there's no Kiryat Sefer and there's no conquering. The story happened that as Moshe Rabbeinu was about to pass away, he turns to So he said, "Yehoshua, you have any kashas? You have any questions?" Yehoshua said, "No. I've been with you for my whole life. You tell me everything." And Hashem said, "No, you don't talk like that." And because Yehoshua didn't ask, 10,000 halachas were forgotten. 700 Excuse me, 1,000 halachas were forgotten. 700 he had safekos about, and 300 he forgot entirely. And therefore, Caleb said, "Whoever reminds us of the 300 halachas forgotten during the morning from Moshe, I will give them my daughter Achsah as a wife." And Othniel ben Kenaz didn't conquer Kiriath-sepher, he reminded כל ישראל of the 300 halachas. So it's interesting. You have a story in the Navi, and you have a story in the Gemara, and they're at complete opposites. The Navi says there was a warrior named Othniel ben Kenaz, and they couldn't conquer a city, and Othniel conquered it. And the Gemara says they forgot Torah, and Othniel ben Kenaz reminded us of the Torah. But it's like you read the the the Navi, you get one picture, and you learn the Gemara, you get another picture. So in the Sefer Ahavat Nachal, Ahavat Nachal is from David Eibeschutz, who's buried right here in the ancient cemetery, right next to the bus. Bus Ion, yeah? David Eibeschutz wrote us a super commentary on the Magen Avraham. And he also wrote Levushei Serad. And he wrote the Sefer Ahavat Nachal. And this is an idea that's found also in the Sefarim of Pinchas Koritzer, and it comes from the Maggid of Mezeritch, and that is Eretz Yisrael is no ordinary land. And by the way, Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev writes about this in the beginning of Parshas Shelach, that Eretz Yisrael is the land of Torah. In order to conquer Eretz Yisrael, you need to figure out what component and part of Torah corresponds to that area in Eretz Yisrael, and by mastering that place of Torah, you will thereby conquer that area of Eretz Israel. That's why we find throughout Nevi'im, the night before the battle, Yehoshua was vayolen Yehoshua the toich ha'emek, the Gemara darshen shalom bayis k'shel Torah. Now, if you're a general in Israeli army, and we catch you being ma'ayin into a sugiyah the night before a battle, that's negligence. You know, that's gross neg- you need to be strategizing and scheming the night before a battle. That's Yehoshua bin Nun doing uh learning Torah the night before a battle. The answer is because Yehoshua bin Nun was privy to what component of Torah corresponded to what city? So, he would master the that component of Torah, and then the city would go like uh like nothing. It would be very easy to conquer. The problem was there was a city named Devir. Lifnim, the internal quality of the city was Kiryat Sefer. It corresponded to a sefer. Which sefer? The 300 halachos that were forgotten during the mourning of Moshe. The reason they couldn't conquer the city of Kiryat Sefer is because the part of Torah that corresponded to Kiryat Sefer were the 300 halachos that were forgotten during the aveilus of Moshe. So, Othniel ben Kenaz came along. He restored those 300 halachos, and thereby he conquered the city of Kiryat Sefer. But, it was called Devir Lifnim means the pnimiyus of the city was the sefer, the 300 halachos that were forgotten during the aveilus of Moshe. And basically, Rav Moshe Wolfson developed an entire theology and philosophy and a sefer based around this concept of explaining what component of Torah corresponds to which city in Eretz Israel. So, for example, let's take a let's give one example. Beit Lechem Yehudah. You know what Beit Lechem Yehudah corresponds to? Let's take the words Beit Lechem Yehudah, yud, beit, lamed, yud, vav, It corresponds to to the Torah of yovel. Yovel v'shavtem ish el achuzato. Every man returns to his heritage. That's why David Hamelech was born in base lachmi Yehuda. Who else was conceived in base lachmi Yehuda? Ruth conceived in base lachmi Yehuda. What happened when Ruth conceived? Yulad ben lina ami yovel. There are many many examples of this. This is just a mashal. Therefore, Wolfson explains that what city in Eretz Yisrael corresponds to bris milah? Chevron. Chevron is the city of bris milah. And we don't have the the opportunity now to go through all of the proofs that the Torah of bris milah corresponds to Chevron. But that would be the reason why Mamre, who was the resident of Chevron, was able to give Avraham Avinu the advice to do the milah. Because Aner and Eshkol did not live in Chevron proper, only Mamre did. And therefore, by living in Chevron, he had additional insight into the mitzvah of milah that others perhaps were not privy to. This is the concept we're bringing out that every area in Eretz Yisrael has a unique quality. Every area in Eretz Yisrael corresponds to a different aspect of Torah. The same way we all know that the Zohar teaches us So how do I know the Zohar? It's the play Yeshua ben Sira to Kadushin brings down the Zohar that Yisrael stands for yesh shishim ribo osiyos laTorah. There are 600,000 letters in the Torah and every Jew has their unique connection to one particular os. So I might be connected to one letter and you may be connected to another letter and that's why you will have a deeper insight perhaps into what you're connected with than than my insight into that particular letter. Well, I might have extra insight into another connection to the Torah because every Jew has their unique deveikut to the Torah. Well, we could say the same thing about Eretz Yisrael. The residents of Chevron have an additional enhanced appreciation of Brit Milah. You ever notice how on Shabbos we say HaPores Sukkat Shalom Aleinu Ve'al Kol Yisrael? Ve'al Yerushalayim. On Shabbos we talk about Yerushalayim. Why do we talk about Yerushalayim on Shabbos? It's not Yom Yerushalayim. It's Shabbos. Why do we talk about Yerushalayim? Because the component of Torah connected to Yerushalayim what Shabbos is to the days of the week, Yerushalayim is to the cities of the world. That is why you we mention Yerushalayim throughout the tefillos of Shabbos because Shabbos is the Yerushalayim of the week. Well, using this philosophy and theology, if every city in Eretz Yisrael has a particular uh connection to a different chelek of Torah, so if Chevron is the Torah of Brit Milah and Beit Lechem is the uh Torah of Yovel. By the way, what day is uh what day of Sefirah do we um did we receive the Torah? The 50th day, the day of the Yovel. That's the day what carbon do we bring? Shtei HaLechem, Beit Lechem, Beit Lechem. There are many, many different uh proofs to this. But then let's come to the city of Tzfat. What is the city of Tzfat's connection to the Torah? What is the unique status of the city of Tzfat? Perhaps we could say it's the Anaf Etz Avos, it's the Einayim. As Rabbi Avraham Azulai says, "Chas VeShalom, we would not elevate Tzfat above Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim is the the Sha'arei Shamayim. That's where the Akedah was. That's where Yakov Avinu slept on the Har HaBayit. That's where the tfilos go up. But it is not a contradiction perhaps then still to say that there is still an area in Eretz Yisrael that has its unique contribution and connection to Torah Hashem. And Sfas's unique status is in its Avira d'Kedusha to understand and to prove and to appreciate the the wisdom of the Torah. And maybe that is what the Chasam Sofer means that there is no city in Eretz Yisrael that is more designated to appreciate the secrets of the Torah than the city of Sfas. But we could explain just going back on a very simple level, on the most basic level. As we mentioned, the Jews were in exile for 1,500 years. We were in every country in the world. We were in Italy. We were in Spain. We were in Morocco. We were in France. We were in Germany. And we were not in Eretz Yisrael. Which was the first city so to speak to open up its arms and greet the Jewish people upon their return to Eretz Yisrael? It was the city of Sfas. That's what the Bnei Yisrael writes that after 1,500 years of the galus, and as we know that the Arizal says and the Zohar says in Parshas Naso, "U've'ginu asidin Yisrael l'mitanei l'nei Yisrael Yusef Azayar Yifgun min Galusa b'rachamei." That it will be the taste and the flavor of the Zohar which will cause redemption of Jewish people. So it's amazingly historically that the role that Sfas has played was it was the first city to open up its arms and embrace the Jewish people upon the return from the galus. So this is what these this is where the sparks of redemption began. And therefore on a very basic level, our appreciation for Sfas was it embraced us after almost a millennia and a half of the galas. So, I want to share with you something that I came across. Um, it's quite interesting. The name of the safer is if you look at number 17, Mincha Chadasha from Rebbe Yechiel Merabchik who lived in the time of the Beis Yosef and the Rama. And also, he takes note of the fact and he was a um a godol who lived in Poland. And he takes note of the fact that of all the cities of Israel, the first city to be built up and the first city to be populated and to be thriving again after the galas was the city of Tzfas. He says, "Halo Yidovaru." And he says the following very novel approach. That after Yeshua bin Nun died, the first city that was utterly decimated and destroyed because Hashem said, "Lo sa'chayu kol neshamah. You cannot leave a vestige of the Kena'ani min Eretz Yisrael." And the first city conquered and then obliterated and destroyed and razed so that nobody should be nene from Eretz Kena'an was the city of Tzfas like we read in Sefer Shoftim. And as a merit that this was the first city where that they were mekayem the dvar Hashem bechol yidurah, it was zocheh to be the most built-up city in Eretz Yisrael. It's so interesting because we started off this year with the concept of Afarah. That the city of Tzfas that was razed in the time in Sefer Shoftim is not this city of Tzfas. That city was be'arei Yehudah u'veishimon. This is in the north. By the way, this incredible safer, the Mincha Chadasha, says u'mishi yesh biyadai meaning this is my best shot. This is my best suggestion. If you have a better reason, I'm all ears, he says. But, this is the best I could come up with, that this was the first city and maybe the only city where they were mikayem the inyan of lo yisa chai el haneshamah, and they raised the city. So, it suggested somehow that because this city borrowed the name Tzfas from that city, it also was able to tap in to its zechusim and its kedushah, despite the fact that it's not the same city. So, there here we have it. We have another a number of rashei teivos and remezim to the city of Tzfas. Of course, we mentioned Tzfas bas Yerushalayim. We mentioned Anaf Etz Avos is rashei teivos Tzfas. And even the Minchas Chadashah, he says Tzfas is rashei teivos tzion per tiferes or tzion bemishpat tipadah. But, uh some of my favorite, after I left Tzfas last year, when I returned home, I got a beautiful email from Rabbi Mervis. And uh he sent me the hesped that Rabbi Shmuel Salant gave upon the uh devastation of the city of Tzfas in 1837, where um he writes that Tzfas, unfortunately, it's Tzfas pisam tacharavi. Tzfas was Tzfas was suddenly destroyed. Tzfas pisam tamusi. Tzfas pisam titsaki. The terrible tragedy that occurred to the city of Tzfas suddenly. Of course, these are all rashei teivos of the city of Tzfas. But, he ends it off with the hopeful message and um a message and and a prophecy that we see being fulfilled in our days, that Tzfas pisam tikadem. Tzfas Tzfas pisam tibaneh. That Tzfas uh will suddenly be rebuilt up. And uh just coming back here after 1 year, I remember the library was in a some of the earlier stages last year, and now we see the library is even flourishing uh more and more. Um I always say in life, you always have to be careful who you invite because they may take you up on their invitation. Only make insincere invitations, right? Because you never know the person might take you up. So I remember saying, "You know, the Reb Glatstein, you might want to come here and take a little vacation here and do some writing here." And little did he know that's the danger when you invite someone, they might bring their whole family. So So I brought my family, I brought my boys, I brought my fam- my friends, my cousins. And the city you didn't from all over the world and it's a great honor to be here with you in one of the four holy cities of Eretz Yisrael and to re-strengthen our bond with the the Eretz Yisraelis and the Yishuv Eretz Yisraelis. And we should be zocheh b'ezrat Hashem next time to come together to for the Geulah Shleimah, to be as Kol Yisrael tzedek and with the rebuilding of all the cities in Eretz Yisrael bimheira v'yameinu, amen v'amen, selah. Reb Glatstein Yeah, of course I know. Yeah, right. This is the city of music. L'cha Dodi was written here. Oh, you're born in the neighborhood, right? So Okay, you want to Can you put this on here? Come stand in the front so everyone can see you. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by torahanytime.com.