The Power of Priestly Blessings. כה תברכו את בנ״י A New Kabbalah class by Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz

Welcome to our class on we're going to be learning a beautiful discourse in the Reb the name of the discourse is called theb said this discourse on which was the second day of the month of in the year exactly 40 years ago so again the discourse is based on the verse in the Torah portion this week where it says where commanding the priest to bless the Jewish people and you should tell them God is blessing you God's going to shine his light upon you God's going to elevate you I'm going to put my name on the Jewish people I'm going to bless them now this verse and this idea there's many many discourses from the different it butb says we find many of them on this verse and in this concept specifically from the Reb marash the uh the fourth who who when discourse 40 years ago it was 150 years of his birthday so now it would be 190 years um from from his birthday and 150 at that time is three times 50 and we know 50 is the Jubilee year in other words so that the the ideas of the Reb marash came into this world already three times in the idea of ju Jubilee and especially after he passed away as you know there when s passes away everything that they done the whole life goes on high and it comes back down in the world to do and accomplish great ideas now one of the uh uh sayings and teachings the the main teachings of the Reb marash is known as is known as he would always say that the world says that you can't go under then you have to go higher but he says that to begin with you go higher and every quotes in you can't go below so you go on high his line was is the famous song from the marash in other words just like his General work that after he passed away was there to to trans to elevate the world so the same thing also this teaching of to begin with go over the top that obviously exists in a very very strong way and especially after he passed away now what is the idea of this saying so it's not only when you deal with worldly ideas but even when you're learning Tyro and on the contr there says since we know that the expression is always that looked in the Torah and he used the Torah to create the world so obviously everything that exists in the world is sourced in the T so obviously the idea of to begin with go over the top it's obviously also in the Torah one second we have to understand in worldly ideas we can understand why you're saying go over the top like the famous teaching in ital it says when a person prays don't pray to to to to a human being pray to the one that the wealth belongs to so we understand why you want to go to the top why go to the middle man if you can go to the source but when it comes to learning to we know it says clearly you got that you have to put in the effort and if you don't put the effort then you're not going to succeed and the one that puts in the effort and he was successful that's the one you believe so now what do you see that when it comes to learning to you have to put the effort in so what's this whole idea Sit down you're going to want to learn and say okay over the top what do you mean sit and learn you got to sweat it out so what does it mean when it comes to learning explains that the truth is even when it comes to learning you have to learn in a way of off the charts jump to the top and that's the that's the lesson that's the message that not only it has to be a river over and those besides but it has to be you have to start off over the top you don't start off okay I don't understand oh I get it it's amazing let's get it let's go deeper you start off and after you reach the completion of this idea where you're over the top and you were successful um it's not only a test that we want to test you to work in this way but this is the way you operate and this is you operate you operate over the top and even though the whole world says that if you can't go it's not working out through the struggle then go over the top or like says it again River but what does the tell us he tells us to begin with not it's not plan B plan a plan a is over the top and since marash was a leader of the Jewish people so it applies to all the Jewish people and not only his generation and future Generations so if that's the case I mean you have to start over the top and after you're over the top then you put in the effort and even in in the even in the next level you have the promise you're got that that that you're you're going to put an effort and you're going to find much greater than you're finding okay so the recap so we learned so far is that um that on this verse of the all the blessings brings a teaching for and by introduction he says taught us everything is over the top so if everything is over everything's over the top so that's in the world we understand how how does it work with Torah and says no even with Torah you have to go over the top and once you over the top then you put in the effort and then obviously you find tremendous gifts now in these cic discourses from the who taught us his powerful teachings the re points out and he says one second it says God shall bless you watch you what does what does it mean he should watch you so Rashi brings from this from the safre that what does he should watch you he should watch you from the demons maik from the demons so it says one second what is the connection hasm is going to bless you and he has to watch you from the demons if there's demons it's before the blessing as well here it comes out H is going to bless you and now all you have demons he has to watch you from the bless from the demons if he has to watch you from the demons what does it do here it's like making a connection Hashem is blessing you and all he's blessing you now you have to watch you from demons says he'd like to add this is what he says that from the demons we have to understand because the fact is the Torah talks about reality on the ground and the rabbi always talking reality now the fact is demons the tal says clearly in in in a place where people are living people are there's no demons there demons are only when you go down to the cellar when you go down to a secluded area but in in a in in a civilized area there's no demons so what does it mean that hashem's watching in demons when in a civilized area there's no demons okay also points out what the verse continues on to say I'm going to put my name on the Jewish people I'm going to bless them says a famous argument in the talud says as follows how do we know so the blessing is that the priest has to bless the Jewish people so how do so where did where did the P where did the priest get the blessing from so the question is how do we know that the the priest that's blessing the Jewish people gets blessed there's an argument like every like like classic in the tal there's always different opinions raka comes along and he says where did the priest get blessed from because in in the Genesis where God told Abraham that he's going to bless him and he says whoever blesses you will be blessed so where did the priest get blessed from Genesis where God says to Abraham that whoever blesses you will will be blessed that means since the priests are blessing the Jewish people so therefore they're going to be blessed from the blessing that hem told Abraham that's the opinion of who RAB AKA comes WR says no how do you know the priest are going to get blessed CU in this verse where hasem says to bless the Jewish people so the last last part of the verse says I'm going to bless them and so therefore once is going to bless the the priest are going to bless the Jewish people and afterwards I'm going toess bless bless the priest and it says in the tal that according to I'll say it in Hebrew I'll translate itah that the priest helped the priest what does that mean because because the priests are blessing the Jewish people so therefore they're getting the blessings from so the question is one second the the fact is even according to Rea they're also getting they're also getting blessed because they blessed the je the Jewish people the only difference Isa learns it out from from the from Genesis where it says and learns it out from over here where it says so what's technically a difference and the answer is that coin the priest bless the Jewish people from this blessing where did they get blessed from from a different blessing from one that God told Abraham according to is the priest bless the Jewish people and from that same blessing they get blessed with and know BR they saw the same blessing as the Jewish people says one second what's the what's this powerful idea that that rishal is trying to bring out that they get blessed from the blessing that they bless that they're blessing the Jewish people from from this verse versus from the one that hasm is blessing the one that he told Abram he's going to bless those that bless him okay so to order to understand all these ideas is going to give an introduction and we're going to go into the the difference between blessings and prayer in other words what's the differ between a blessing you bless someone and what's the between prayer so the explains that blessing is Con from the word of M it draws down and know like it says like it says in the Mish which you're drawing down um water for the vineyard what does that mean so in other words when you're drawing down you're not creating any anything new but what you're doing is you're revealing the blessing from its source into into the place where it has to go to so again so a is what's a blessing a blessing is almost like you have a pipe and you're just taking the the the water and flowing it through the pipe you didn't create the pipe the pipe was there you just brought down the blessing from the beginning of the pipe to the end of the pipe that's what a blessing is however prayer is something to totally different prayer is there's no pipe there there's no pipe to go from point A to be point B so prayer does is prayer creates the pipe and like we know many many prayers what do we say it should be the will of have hasem so the goal is to create a new will a new pipe and the same thing applies old prayers prayer is creating new energies that didn't exist before now in these two ways every know a prayer we're basic you're creating a new energy versus blessing you're just bringing down the energy from point A to to point B so each one has a has a pro and each one has a con what is the quality of a blessing you don't have to create anything new because all you're doing is you're taking leadership and you're drawing down the blessing from from point A to point B point B so that's very easy it's like you have to create the blessing all you have to do is deliver the blessing from its source to where it belongs that's a blessing so again you don't have to create anything new you take it from its source and you bring it down where it belongs on the other hand prayer what's the quality of a prayer the quality of prayer is when there's nothing in its source and there's nothing allowing you to bring it from point A to point B so prayer accomplishes that you're creating a whole new channel a whole new energy of of of a blessing which didn't exist before so again so the pro of a of a blessing is you just got to bring it down it exists the con is you can't create anything new a prayer the pro is you're creating total new blessings total new energy and the con is it's not there you have to work hard to create it now so based on this explanation the difference between blessing and prayer says we're going to understand something which is very very difficult to understand when the intera in the interaction between yak and his son y Ys when when ysep brought his children that y should bless them so what does it say in the Torah that Masha is the older one Ephraim is the younger one so y brings his two his two his two children to yakob the grandfather to bless them what does yakob do he puts his right hand on AIM the younger one and his left hand on Ma manasha the older one and Y says one second dad manasha is the is the older one put the right hand of manasha and his father didn't want to do it he says that's true he's the older one however the younger one of FR is going to be is be much greater than him him and he's going to cut he's he's getting much more successful and that's why he put the right hand on arim and the left on Masha says one second y sadic was asking of his father to bless his children so guess what I'm not I'm not asking to predict the future I'm asking to bless them so you're telling me that FR is going greater bless manasha he should be greater he's the older one andan will get his Blessing but why don't you bless Masha he should be the greater one so that's the question on Yakov why didn't Yakov do that on the other hand if you're GNA say that Yakov could have not couldn't bless a manasha with a greater blessing so what was y's question and in fact as We Know that y was a sadic he knew the future and he knew that AR was going to be greater than him and especially like it says in the Torah a told us Yakov y that y was connected to Yakov in a very very deep way and matter of fact Yakov gave him over all the Torah and all the teachings that he knew so therefore he knew that AR is getting greater than manasha so what was y's question even to Y so says based on we learned before now we're going to stand it beautifully the reason why Yakov could not bless manasha more than was in store for him and therefore he Basha was only able to receive the the smaller blessing and Yak saw that a frim has the greater blessing so therefore all Yak was doing he's like a delivery boy he was bringing arim's big blessing down to aim and masha's small blessing to manasha what can he do that's that's what was in store for the blessing but Yu came along and he says yob I know yes correct manasha has a smaller blessing and has a bigger blessing and that's why they're going to be he's going to be greater but I'm asking you to pray for them in other words I'm asking you to pray because the fact is we know prayer in cabala is called feminine water and Y therefore Yu was trying to accomplish that yak should pray that Masha should be the older one and through prayer he could have accomplished something very very big so nevertheless yakob tell tell him but I hear you you want me to pray but the fact is guess what the be is going to be the greater one but you could have change you could change it through prayer because the fact is that yakob was in the zone of blessings he wasn't there he wasn't there praying he was in the zone of blessings he wasn't in the zone of prayer so because he was in the zone of blessings he was right now he he wanted he he there to give blessings in the source Ephraim had the bigger blessing and that's why he put the right hand onim and Manas had the small one that's why he put the left one could he Theory Chang it through prayer possibly but the point is he was not in the zone of prayer at that time he was in the zone of Blessings Now based on this that will now will understand the power of the Priestly blessings cuz the Priestly blessings has both qualities it has the quality of blessing and it has the quality of prayer which means again blessing means he's you don't have to create it it's coming from its source and prayer means you can do you can create something new in other words even though it's a blessing and you don't need to do anything new to come to create something but guess what it comes the PRI blessing comes in even a higher source in the regular blessing and even comes higher than prayer higher than all the levels of the way things come down to the world so again there's blessing there's prayer with the two qualities the Priestly blessings is even higher than both that means you have you have readymade blessings from a higher source and you can bring down the greatest blessings to the world and that's why it says that should bless in other words the blessing should come down from where from Which is higher than all the levels of the way things flow down the world and that's why the verse continues on is on to say should should shine his face upon you and this is like where it says that is basically so favoritism to the Jewish people and why because it's it's it's above it's above levels of of of of uh of above any level and also comes an expression to elevate the head means you elevated it higher because you you elevate the person that's be receiving the blessing to hire from any level of the way things flow down from all the levels of the world and that's why the verse says tell them in other words that God is making the priests emissaries to bless the Jewish people and like literally what is what is the Priestly blessings that the the Jew that the priests are blessing the Jewish people as a as an ersary of hem and because of this it's irrelevant what level the priest is the priest is just a delivery boy and know unless he obviously he has a a a certain uh part that disqualifies himself to to make give the blessing but any level whatever that he's holding spiritually mentally emotionally physically whatever the priest is holding he can give the blessing and that's why the the blessing is spefic in in lash KES in the Holy tongue because he's only he's only a delivery boy he's only delivering the the blessing from the highest hir and prayer down to the reality and this blessing comes from off the charts and in here you have many many levels in other words the the literal Mitzvah is like it says in the r the AL wres to bless the Jewish people matter of fact every single day but obviously you can't compare a blessing during the week to a blessing on Shabbat and a blessing on yam and high that a blessing which took place in the temple and even higher that when they would actually say hashem's name okay so this to recap so what do we see from here that the blessing of is a blessing means it's guaranteed it's a prayer which you can create something new and it comes even from higher than blessing and prayer and that's why the the the blessings are so powerful So based on this D is going to explain how beautifully that's why when hem says which means you're getting this powerful blessing so it says what does Rashi say from the demons what's well how demons all of a sudden here and ser says we know that anytime something comes from very very very high it goes down to the lowest places so therefore this powerful blessing goes down to the lowest places even with there's demons and over there within the demons it affects affects security and want protect protection and like and like the the the literal idea of a protection is that you don't um you don't take out the person from the place where where there's demons but wherever the person is and even with there demons there we watch him right there that's the powerful blessing So based on this now they was going to explain beautifully the the the the essence of the argument between and and we know the both there's expression in in in when we learn they're both they both both correct in other words we learned learns out the blessing for the where's it come from from where told Abraham whoever blesses him will bless him in other words the blessing that hasem is blessing to the priest so doesn't have the quality of the Priestly blessings it's from different blessings it's a regular blessing like all the blessings which means it's a blessing you bring down from its source down here so according to Rea you're bringing it from its source you're bringing it down here it's not the priest of blessings however comes says no no no where did the priest get blessed from we learn it out from we learn from the Priestly blessings and like it's explained it says referring to will bless them in the same idea of the priesty blessings that is the letters of a means nothing which is the ultimate nothing which is according to hem and was it referring to the sphere of Mal the way it's on a level of K malus the crown of malus which is above all the levels of and in other words the the Priestly blessing is the source is that's the place that they bless the Jewish people and the the the blessing that the priests receive come from the same place it's the same same source of the blessing for that the Jewish people receive and that's why we say because according to the drawing down the blessing for the priest is also comes from higher than all the levels which is basically the same level where it comes down to bless the pleas PR priest themselves never finish off and he says this should be the will of hem that should be fulfilled with us that that we that the all the Jewish people get the blessings from its original sours the priest gets from the original source and if we know that himself is a priest like it says is a and he is going to help to to the Jewish people which are a kingdom of priests and he's going to help us in everything that we need up to the ultimate the most important help which is where every struggle and every challenge we have we're going through hasem is we with us Hashem is there in Exile with us and therefore since Hashem is going to be with us in Exile we're going to go out of Exile very very soon because we know the they do things quickly and should be done in a way of of of of ality very very quick and like the r gives a ruling the right away we're going to go out of Exile and we're going to come to the to to the to to to we're going to light the candles in the temple and like the verse says is going to show us the candles of Zion when is that going to happen with the Third Temple which that's the temple that Hashem created with his own hands and we're going to go with the Clouds Of Glory and we're going to go with with with with the coming of Mia and like finishes off so beautifully M very very quickly in our days literally so again here we have another powerful beautiful discourse in the Reb about the powerful blessings that we receive from like finishes off when we receive all these powerful blessings God willing we'll all go toes so thanks so much for joining us for our weekly class on and let's hope our next class will be have a great and blessed week sh