To Live In the Present and to Live in Infinity

The Yeshiva.net First of all, I want to uh thank our hosts, the Tzemach Tzedek Kehilla, the beautiful Kehilla here, tomorrow the Astra of Lesches Shlita, and the entire board of directors and all the haveerim for putting this beautiful day together. And Reb Zalman Leib ben Markowitz for giving me the privilege and the invitation to address you, and all of those who were involved in the arrangements and in the coordination and organization. Thank you for the privilege, and thank you for bringing us all together on this auspicious day to delve in, to learn, and to explore the Torah of the Baal HaYahrzeit, of the Baal HaYahrzeit, the Alter Rebbe, Baal HaTanya, Baal Shulchan Aruch. I'm going to begin the discussion, the sheer, with a little story. The story seems like a simple story, like many stories, and it is a simple story. But as you know, in simple stories, you sometimes have the profoundest stories and messages. There was a famous wedding known in Chabad history as the Zhlobiner Chasunah. The Zhlobiner Chasunah means the wedding of Zhlobin. Zhlobin is a city in the Ukraine. Who got married in the Zhlobiner at the Zhlobiner Chasunah? A grandchild of the Alter Rebbe, the Baal HaTanya, with a grandchild of Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. Berditchev is a city in the Ukraine. Some of you have been there. Liadi, where the Alter Rebbe lived Alter Rebbe lived first in Lyozna, a little town, and then he moved to Liadi after his second arrest and liberation. We don't know exactly why he decided to leave. There are different theories. And that's where he lived for the most of the end of his life till he escaped Napoleon, and he escaped to the Ukraine, where he's buried. Liadi is a little town, a little city in Belarus. Berdichev is in the Ukraine. It's a far distance. So, they chose Zhlobin, which is more or less midpoint between Berdichev and Liadi. So, it makes sense for both sides, the Berdichever and the Balatanya to come there to celebrate the wedding of their grandchildren. The wedding took place Erev Shabbos Parshas Nasso. I think tough kuff samach zayin. 1807 in the summer after Shavuos. We have many mymarim that the Alter Rebbe said over that weekend, Friday, Friday night, Shabbos, Shabbos day, Motzei Shabbos, Sunday, I think even Monday. Including in the famous mymar in Likutei Torah Shir Hashirim Keitz os Mirachten Tonu Rabonon Keitz os Mirachten Lifnei Akala. The argument of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel came from that wedding. The mymar Nossie os Rosh in Likutei Torah. A lot of mymarim from that week. The chuppah was on Friday. The entrance to the chuppah, so they say, these are stories that came from chassidim over the generations. Are they accurate, mymarim? I can't say. I was not there physically. But this is one of those stories, one of the traditions. The entrance to the chuppah was narrow, very narrow. There was a door, and only one person could walk in at one time. So, the Alter Rebbe and his mechutan, Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, who were, by the way, beloved friends for decades. They both were students of the Maggid of Mezritch, and they remained very, very close friends. to the extent that when the Bardichever passed away after Sukkot 1790 18 1810 a few months later the Alter Rebbe traveled to Bardichever to express his condolences to the widow. This is before WhatsApp. So we didn't go for shiva. He went months later and she she told him she won't be able to celebrate Pesach without her husband. The Rebbe of Bardichever every day was every day was heavenly but Pesach by the Bardichever it was beyond. So she told the Alter Rebbe she won't be able to tolerate Pesach without her husband. And he stayed Pesach in her home. The Alter Rebbe did not go home. He remained Pesach in her home to be there with her with the widow of the Bardichever for Pesach. Um There's a story there was a fire in Lyady and the whole house burned down and Bardichever didn't have a rov. So they wanted to get the Alter Rebbe to become the new rov of Bardichever. Bardichever was a big kehilla. It wasn't Lyady. Lyady was very small. Bardichever was a big kehilla. The point is the Alter Rebbe went back to Lyady for another 2 years till he escaped but Bardichever never appointed another rabbi official like Bardichever. So they're going to the chuppah and the entrance is very narrow and there's only one person could walk in first. So the Rebbe of Bardichever turns to the Alter Rebbe and he says, "Mechutan, you go first." So he says, "No, you're older than I am. You go in first." So the Bardichever says, "But you're greater than me." And you were the favorite student of the Maggid and you're a gaon oilam whatever he said. And the Alter Rebbe said, "No, you." And it's back and forth back and forth. Poor chasan and kallah are waiting under the chuppah wherever they're waiting and they're arguing who goes in first. He wanted he should go. He wanted he should go. So at some point the Rebbe Ditchever says to the Alter Rebbe, and he meant it, Lomir gehen durkh der vant. Uh sorry. Lomir gehen durkh der vant. Why don't we walk through the wall? If we go through the wall, then there's no issues. If we go through the wall, we can go together. Lomir gehen durkh der vant. There are different versions of what the Alter Rebbe said. The response according to one version was nein. Zol der tier verden breiter. We're not going to go through the wall. We're going to go through the door. Let the door expand. Zol der tier verden breiter. Okay. Seems like, as I said, a small story, a response here and there. Don't ask me what happened at the end cuz I don't know. That's the story I want to open with. We'll get back to it. There's a very interesting safer and a complex one called Likutei Levi Yitzchak. Likutei Levi Yitzchak, as its name indicates, was authored by a man named, I believe, Yitzchak Schneerson, who was the father of the Rebbe and the chief rabbi of a city called Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine. It used to be called Yekaterinoslav before the Communist Revolution. But after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the Communists obliterated any name that resembles Tsarist history. Yekaterinoslav was named after Yekaterina, Catherine. So, that became muktsa machmas mi'us. You know, they used that name, and it had to change to Dnepropetrovsk. That's the city where the Rebbe's father served as chief rabbi for many years until his arrest during the Stalinist purges a few days before Pesach 1939 and his death in exile in Kazakhstan in the middle of the war 1944. Some of his writings, most were lost or we still I don't know if they're lost, we don't have them, but some of his writings, mostly of what he wrote in Kazakhstan in exile, survived. What also survived were letters that he sent to his oldest son who was in Europe. The Rebbe lived in Berlin and then moved to Paris and his father would send him from the Ukraine from Dnepropetrovsk letters usually before Yom Tov during the 1930s. 1939 he was arrested but till then he would send letters. Those letters are very, very intense letters and many of them were printed in a safer called Likutei Levi Yitzchak Igros. All letters. Here there's a letter that he writes on Chof Daled Teves or about Chof Daled Teves, this day. And the Rebbe Yitzchak points out the following. Now, please don't shut down when I get into this discussion. It's going to be mystical Kabbalistic terminology. He was a great gaon and a great mekubal and his letters are filled with Kabbalah. But we're going to explain it, but I'm telling you sometimes you hear these words, especially the younger ones among you and they're here we go again. So stay in, stay the course. If you stay the course, you'll make it to the end. You'll be good. You'll be proud of yourself, you'll feel good and I'll be good. Chof Daled Teves, he says, is not just a date. It has profound significance. What's the significance? For this he introduces what I'm going to say from Rebbe Yitzchak, he says in maybe three lines, maybe five, six lines from a letter of nine or 10 or 15 pages, I think even longer. I'm literally plucking out one small idea from a very long letter about Chof Daled Teves and Alter Rebbe and different topics. The Arizal says in Jewish mysticism, I'm going to explain everything in English so that everybody can understand. So those who understand the terminology in its original, please don't get offended. Not because I don't respect your genius. It's simply I want everybody to understand. Your foot is a my name kutsah. In cabalistic understanding, every letter is an energy. Every oice of olive base, not just a letter. You have A B C D E F. Olive base gimel dalid represents an energy. In fact, it's the energy through which Hashem created the world with Lashon Hakodesh as explained in Shaar Yichud ve'Emunah by the Alter Rebbe chapter 1 and chapter 12. And chapter 10. So therefore, the letters are energy. Every letter mayim mem yud mem. Why is it named mem yud mem? Why is fire aish? And mayim water is mayim? And a donkey is chamor ches mem vav reish? And an axe is sore? And a camel is gamal a camel? What if we would call a donkey a gamal and a and a camel a chamor? Adam Harishon named every creature. He gave the name of every animal. And the midrash says God said, "Look at his wisdom. He could name every animal. I could also name every animal." Call a rhinoceros a buffalo and a buffalo a rhinoceros and a hippo a giraffe and an alligator a crocodile and a lion a bear AND A WOLF A HYENA. MY MY BIG DEAL. YOU NAME NAMES. Webster can make up words. I can't make up words? I always do. For those who listen to my shiur. Why can't I give you Webster? Why is why why inferior to Webster? But we see from here the Maggid of Mezritch explains, a name in Hebrew is very serious. The name is actually the energy that channels it channels the chiyus the divine energy the spiritual chemistry the DNA of any particular object. I use DNA as a borrowed term is channeled through these letters. A molecule of water is made of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen, right? Anybody here didn't skip chemistry? Is there anybody who didn't skip chemistry? You You didn't skip chemistry, that I know. Right? Did I get it right? Okay, cuz you know about my education. But if I'm not mistaken, two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. Why? Mem Yud Mem. Mems are two atoms of hydrogen. The Yud is an atom of oxygen. Together, you have the molecule of water. If you wouldn't have these atoms coming together, YOU CAN'T HAVE A WATER MOLECULE. The very letters of Lashon Kodesh represent the spiritual and then the electrical energy that creates and sustains and makes up every single creation. Which is a fascinating idea and which explained in Shaar Yichud Vehaemunah of the Alter Rebbe, as I said in the first chapter, among other things he explains there. Adam Harishon had to have wisdom. He had to be able to identify the core of every single creature, to be able to trace it back to its spiritual source and to its biological source. He had to be able to understand the DNA, and here I mean literally the DNA, the proteins, the amino acids, the very makeup of every single existence so he can identify the proper name. What are the channels of energy for this? And that's why sometimes somebody falls ill, they'll add a name. Why do you add a name? Because the name is a channel for energy. You want to open up new channels for chiyus for this person. That's the concept of adding a name sometimes, lo aleinu, if somebody falls very ill. If this is the case, says the Kuntres Levi Yitzchak in his letter to his son the Rebbe, who would later become the Rebbe, the Arizal teaches us that there are exchange in the Hebrew alphabet. There's something called Gematria. Right? Two words that are not the same, but they have the same numerical value, they're connected. We have something called Atbash. Aleph is substituted with tav, bet is substituted with shin. We're learning on Maseches Pesachim, we learned daf hey, ach cheilek, ALEPH CHOF BECOMES CHES TZADIK. RASHI introduces a formula of Kabbalah of Sefer Yetzirah in Maseches Pesachim daf hey, Maseches Shabbos kuf dalet. A lot of different formulas of how letters work. One of them is every letter could be substituted with a subsequent letter and with the preceding letter. Just like somebody will come over to me and say, "You look just like your father." Did anybody ever tell you you look just like your mother? YOU LOOK JUST LIKE YOUR SON, YOU LOOK JUST LIKE YOUR DAUGHTER. WHY? Because parents and children are sometimes interchangeable. Sometimes not, but sometimes yes. I know some of you don't like to hear that, right? You try to run far, far away. But the fact is tati is always tati. Kabbalas Avicha v'Simcha. Sometimes you look like your father, you look like your mother. The Mishna says Av Zocheh l'vanav, l'ven b'shisha d'varim in Maseches Eidus. Parents and children are interchangeable because their energy is so tightly connected. In Kabbalah, aleph could be substituted with bet, bet could be substituted with aleph. Why? Because bet comes from aleph. Bet is a child of aleph. It evolves from aleph. And aleph is the progenitor of bet. Dalet could be substituted with gimmel, gimmel could be substituted with dalet. Because they're so close. Grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents, there is more remoteness and distance biologically and also spiritually, of course. The Ariza says, "We do this with every word, including with the name Elakim." Aleph lamed hey yud mem. In Pri Etz Chaim, he speaks about substitutes going backwards and going forward. If we take Elokim and we substitute it with the previous letter, what happens? Aleph, there's no way to go back. Number one, it starts with aleph. So, we skip aleph. Let's go to lamed. We're doing this with God's name, Hashem's name Elokim. Stick with me. Lamed, if we want to substitute lamed with the preceding letter, what does it have What happens to lamed? Becomes a chaf. Hey Yud becomes a tes. So, lamed became chaf, hey became dalet, yud became tes. So, we have chaf dalet tes. Now, we have a shlosha mem. Shlosha mem mem sofis becomes a mem. But, can you have a regular mem at the end of a word? No, it defies grammar, Hebrew grammar. So, the mem goes back to shlosha mem. So, ALEPH AND MEM DON'T CHANGE. AIM, the mother. Mommy doesn't change so fast. Aleph and mem, that's my addition. Aleph and mem, don't try to CHANGE YOUR MOTHER. ALEPH AND MEM DON'T CHANGE. Aleph is in the beginning, mem is at the end. What changes? The three middle letters, lamed hey yud. Cabalistically, there is a shame in the Arizal's writings that's called aleph chaf dalet tes shlosha mem, ach da tam. Those who are familiar with the literature OF KABBALAH ALL KNOW KNOW VERY well this shame. It's when Elokim goes backward, goes back, it's traced back. You have aleph chaf dalet tes shlosha mem. The middle three letters are substituted from lamed hey yud to chaf dalet tes. What happens when you go forward? What happens when you take lamed hey yud and you go forward? The lamed becomes mem. The hey becomes vav. And the yud becomes chaf. So, what do you have? You have lamed and chaf and vav. I'm sorry. Sorry. Lamed becomes mem and the hei becomes a vav and the yud goes to the next letter, which would be chaf. Says the Lubavitcher Rebbe, if you understand what this means, now you understand why by divine providence the histalkus of the Alter Rebbe was chaf dalet tavus. Because chaf dalet tes is chaf dalet tavus. Representing the transformation of lamed hei yud of Shem Elokim into the preceding letters. He says there's one more day that's connected to chaf dalet tes. And that is of course the numerical value of chaf dalet tes. Chaf is 20, dalet is four, tes is nine. So, 24 plus nine is what? 33. lamed gimmel There was another GREAT SAGE WHO PASSED away on day 33, lag. Who? Reb Shimon bar Yochai. REB SHIMON BAR YOCHAI, HIS HILULA, HIS HISTALKUS IS ON LAG BA'OMER. ON THE 33RD DAY OF THE OMER. THAT'S WHAT WE CALL IT LAG BA'OMER. AN INTERESTING THING, THIS IS THE 13TH OF AV. There's a machlokes in poskim, do we say ba'omer or lo omer? Hayom yom rishon, lo omer. Hayom yom rishon, ba'omer. Hayom shiva yamim shem shavua echad, lo omer or ba'omer? But everybody says lag ba'omer. EVEN THE CHABADNIKS. AND EVEN THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE SIDDURIM THAT SAY LO OMER, LIKE THE siddur of the Alter Rebbe, when it comes TO LAG, IT'S BO'EIMER. SO, ONCE I GET A SMACK OF WHAT THE REBBE SAID, Lag Bo'eimer is the Yahrtzeit of one more person, the Rama. Rabbeinu Moshe Isserles, passed away in the 16th century, the Rabbi of Krakow, who's buried in the cemetery of Krakow, passed away around the age 42 on the day of Lag Bo'eimer. The Rama paskens that you say Bo'eimer. SO, ON HIS YAHRTZEIT, KLAL Yisrael says Lag Bo'eimer. It's a tribute to the Rama. Sha'arei Meshiach writes, "V'chol b'nei Yisrael yotzei'in b'yad Rama." Certainly can apply to Ashkenazic Jewry in Eastern Europe, which followed the psak din of the Rama, that would be the Sha'arei Meshiach writer, Rabbi Yosef Shaul Nathanson, the Rav of L'vov and Lemberg. 33, Rashbi is the author of Zohar. He's known as Mori d'Pnimiut haTorah, the one who revealed Kabbalah to the world, Pnimiut haTorah, the world Torah's a mister. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, he passes away lamed gimmel, 33. Also the gematria of chof dalet tes. Now, you read these words from Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, the Rebbe of Dnieperpetrovsk, writing to his son who would become the future Lubavitcher Rebbe in the mid-1930s. I think it's a letter from '37 or '38, a few years before the war. And you wonder, what does this mean? What is the significance of this? Okay, very nice. Aleph kaph mem became chof dalet tes. Avra Kadabra Kadou. Chof dalet tes, Lag Bo'eimer, Yahrtzeit. What does this mean? This is classic Kabbalistic language written in code language. Written in code language means it's mysterious. Unless you know how to If you're not l'havdil, if you're not a programmer, did you ever see what a programmer's back end looks like? I remember when I went to my programmer's back end and I asked him to show it to me. I said, "This is what you do all day? Gibberish? Such narishkeit, a slash and another slash, and a period, and an S, and a hyphen, and you sit, and you toil, and you haravening, you steik. This is what you're producing for me? He says, "No, no, no, no, no. For ignorant people like you, we show a nice, elegant front screen. But, this is where it's really happening, but you have to know the code." And I am not a computer programmer, not in this gilgul. I don't think I was in a previous gilgul. I don't know about future gilgulim. But, if you live in that world, you know what I'm talking about. You live in that You don't even understand other worlds. And if you don't live in that world, it's a whole different universe. Let's now change the subject completely. We still have to get back to the door of the Shulchan Aruch HaShulchan Aruch I didn't forget. We still have to get back to Havdalah test. I'm going to change the subject completely. So, even if you already shut down on me a few minutes ago, cuz you hate numbers, you can have chiyus ha'meisim and come back for resurrection. One of the great One of the great works of the Alter Rebbe is known as Shaar Yichud VeEmunah. The portal of unity and faith. It's the second section of Tanya. It's very short. It contains only 12 chapters, in contrast to the first section of Tanya, which is also short, contains 53 chapters, but this is even shorter. And it's known as the portal, the Shaar, the door to entrance to enter into Yichud, unity, and Emunah. The Alter Rebbe had a beloved student whose name was Reb Aharon of Strashela. He writes that his Rebbe never finished Shaar Yichud VeEmunah. It's an incomplete work, and he tried to complete it. There's a famous work of Reb Aharon of Strashela called Shaarei HaYichud VeEmunah, the portals of unity and faith. Reb Aharon of Strashela was one of the great talmidim of the Baal HaTanya, and also a gaon. He came from the city called Strashela, and he One of his works is called Shaarei Yichud among other works that he wrote Shaarei Excuse me. Avodas Halevi and others. He was a Levi. Shaarei Yichud veEmunah is very brief, but it's very very complex. It's very very intense. And in that little section of Tanya, small in quantity, but infinite in quality, the Alter Rebbe unraveled or conveyed or revealed some of his fundamental teachings in Torahs of Baal Shem Tov in the areas of Yichud, the oneness of Hashem, and the Emunah of Hashem. In other discourses, he would elaborate and expound on the themes of Shaarei Yichud veEmunah. His successors, the six subsequent Rebbes of Chabad, who each built all of their teachings on the previous one, all developing the Alter Rebbe's teachings, one of their main themes in their teachings is developing Shaarei Yichud veEmunah of the Alter Rebbe. All the way down. The Mitteler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Maharash, the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe, and the Rebbe Rashab, the fifth one, and the Rebbe Rayatz, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, and the Rebbe, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. Which was one of the unique things that set apart the world of study of Chassidus Chabad. On one level, the system of the Alter Rebbe was unique because he wanted Chassidus to be understood according to the capacity of a person. That's why he named his shita Chabad. Acronym Chochmah, Binah, Daas. I went to a Chanukah lighting a few years ago and there was a mayor who was addressing the city. And he said, "I want to thank Shabbat." It took me time to realize that he couldn't say the cha. Chochmah, Binah, Daas, because he wanted that it should be understood, internalized, experienced within the person. The Alter Rebbe felt that Chassidus is not really really understood, ultimately the relationship with it is much more superficial. It's not deep and it won't be sustained over generations. As long as you may have great great tzaddikim who inspire the people, so they don't need to be self-sufficient. But when you'll have a generation where you're not going to have such great saints whose holiness can infuse everybody else with revealed holiness, the Alter Rebbe felt it will be critical for people to be able to find the infinite light within themselves and for this you have to explain. You have it needs to come in with a pnimiyus. It has to be internalized within people's souls and that's why all other Chassidic groups guided and led by extraordinary great spiritual giants, mostly they'll have one or two books. The Alter Bachya Kodesh S'lavi The Rebbe of Melech, the Melech of Lizhensk, the Noam Elimelech Reb Baruch of Mezhbizh, Butzina Dinaura Reb Pinchas of Koritz, Yefei Mar'eh Shamash Reb Chaim Cheynevitzer, L'Bein Mayim Chaim The Baal Shem Tov himself, you have Kesser Shem Tov, Tzava'as HaRishonim, the Maggid, Maggid Var of Mezritch, Yaakov The Kodesh HaSiddur, Maggid Avodas YISRAEL REB YAAKOV YOSEF OF POLONNE, the first Chassidic work published, Toldos Yaakov Yosef. EVEN THE SFAS EMES, later generations, IT'S STILL VERY very brief. It's almost impossible to understand Sfas Emes if you don't have a good good understanding of the whole world of Chassidus. The Alter Rebbe on the other hand said long ma'amarim. And that's why there's 30, 40, 50, or 60 works of his. They were long and elaborate and explained them. He also was the first one to write AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WHAT THE BAAL SHEM TOV TAUGHT. ALL OTHER CHASSIDIC WORKS ARE BASICALLY VERTLACH on the parsha. You'll open up Kodesh Sovei Levim, you'll have insights on the parsha or on Yom Tov for short paragraph or a few paragraphs. Now, the Rebbe decided to write A SYSTEMATIC WORK, NOT ON THE PARSHA, explaining in an encyclopedic way what is the shita of the Baal Shem Tov in serving Hashem. That's called the Tanya. IN WITHIN THAT ITSELF, HERE IS SOMETHING ELSE that happened. When the Alter Rebbe passes away, there are six subsequent generations of scholars who are all building their ideas on him. So, it's like the seven branches of the menorah. And each one of the Chabad Rebbes was a genius. Each one was a genius par excellence. So, you have here a very fascinating reality that you don't have its similarity much in Jewish history. And that is a man, the Alter Rebbe, produced ideas that he developed and taught and explained. And then six generations OF GONE OILAM DEVELOPED it further and continued TO BUILD AND EXPAND this mansion in height, in length, in breadth, and in depth. That's an extraordinary phenomenon. Unfortunately, many Chabad Chassidim remain with two, three books. And even if they know those, it would be a nes min hashamayim. Never mind a book that with a different name. So, they tell a story. I actually I remember hearing the story from the Rebbe at a Purim farbrengen Purim 1983, taf shin mem gimmel. That the Alter Rebbe in his early years, he opened his window. It was a special day. And he saw a whole group of Chassidim coming down the block to come to his house. So, he shut the window. So, his wife, Rebbetzin Sterna, says, "Why did you shut the window?" So, he said, "What do they want from me? I am not worthy to be in this position. I am not a teacher. I'm not a Rebbe. I'm not a guide. I'm not a mentor. Tell them to leave me alone." And his Rebbetzin was a smart, wise lady and she understood that this is a moment of truth because he's essentially resigning. So, she told her husband, I'll say it in Yiddish, You think they're coming to hear WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY? DON'T DELUDE YOURSELF. They're not interested in that. They're coming to hear what you heard from your Rebben. Now, the Rebben said TO HIS WIFE, IF SO, IF THEY'RE NOT COMING TO HEAR WHAT I HAVE to say, if they're coming to hear WHAT MY REBBEN HAVE TO SAY, I WILL speak and speak and speak. I won't stop. And he opened the window, he opened the door. A wife in one moment could save a situation and change history. THAT'S HOW HE UNDERSTOOD HIS TEACHINGS, A CONDUIT for the teachings of of Torah, of course, a particularly Torah of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid, his Rebben, the Maggid and his Rebben, the Baal Shem Tov. If you study Shaar Yichud VeEmunah, though, there are two main points. I shouldn't say the two main points. THERE ARE TWO CENTRAL themes that pervade Shaar Yichud VeEmunah. One starts chapter one and continues the next few chapters, and the next one is introduced in chapter seven, and continues for the next few chapters. These are not the only two themes, but they're two of the very fundamental themes of Shaar Yichud VeEmunah. And let me define them briefly. Theme number one is Havaya Bechol Rega. Perpetual creation. Theme number two, Tzimtzum Eino KePshuto. The concealment of the divine not to be understood in literal terms. The first is introduced in chapter one, the second in chapter seven, perek aleph and perek zayin, and elaborated in the subsequent chapters. What are these two ideas that Alter Rebbe conveys to us in Shaar Yichud VeEmunah? Very profound, very loaded, very heavy. Extremely intense and can be studied not for weeks and not for months and not for years, but for decades and trust me for centuries, too. And will be studied for millennia as the Rambam says The great Rambam SAYS, WHAT IS EVERYBODY GOING TO BE DOING WHEN MESSIAH COMES? THEY'LL BE learning every day. I'm going to talk about but there'll be better speakers than I. WHAT'S HASHEM? And it's ilk, of course. Those issues, those themes, those categories. Divine awareness. As the Rambam concludes his entire Mishneh Torah, THE EARTH WILL BE FILLED WITH DIVINE AWARENESS LIKE THE WATER covers the sea. BUT VERY briefly and in a practical way, how do we sum up in brevity and kitsur the two themes of Shaar These two themes of Shaar Theme number one, creation every moment. What does that mean? So the Alter Rebbe quotes the entire chapter of Psalms Your word stands forever in heaven. What does it mean? It means that the original letters the original DNA that created the world 5,779 years ago are continuously recreating and revitalizing and resustaining the world. In other words, creation is happening every single moment anew. Because if creation wouldn't happen every single moment anew, it would cease, it would return to naught and nothingness. In other words, THE FIRST MOMENT OF CREATION is happening right now as well. Even though we live in a world of continuity, and we look for the past, and we look what time it is, and what time it was, and what time it will be, but that itself is being recreated every single moment anew. It's always a regular. That's theme number one. What does this mean in a person's life? It means a lot of things in a person's life. But one very practical one one out of infinite manifestations, but one practical expression of this in a person's life is how you relate to people around you every day. One of the things we do, and it's very common, I do it, and I suspect that there may be one or two or three people sitting in this room who may sometimes do it this, we put people in a box. Meaning, you already know your daughter. You already know your son. You already know your wife. You already know your husband. There's nothing new to learn. When you're going to come home, when you come home in the evening, you already have a tape recorder, or as they used to call it, or a CD, in your brain playing out the scenario. Good evening. Why are you so late? I texted you two hours ago. You said you're leaving in four minutes, right? Familiar? Anybody's familiar? Doesn't happen here, Monsey? I said one or two people. RIGHT? THE SAME SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME, HE SAYS, "I have been having the same conversation with my wife for 41 years. It's just the letters change." This time it's this, this time it's that. Why? I know you already. You know me. We just play out We play out the script. The script is pre-written, pre-programmed, and everybody is just following that program. You come home, you know exactly what your teenager is going to tell you. YOU KNOW EXACTLY THAT YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE IT. YOU KNOW EXACTLY HE KNOWS EXACTLY HOW TO GET TO THE FUSE. He knows exactly how to create an atomic explosion so that the house turns into Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Tati again feels like an idiot. Until next time around. We just follow the script. This child is this way, this child Even with yourself, you follow the script. Comes the Alter Rebbe and says, "Mistake." The world is created now. Never repeat. Never get stuck in the past. Open yourself up every moment to new possibilities. Life means always living in the now. Life is always what's happening now. People think the power of now is a Sanhedrin of the 21st century. One of the doctrines of the Baal Shem Tov, you can only connect to God now. You know why? Because if you're LIVING 1 MINUTE AGO, GOD IS LIKE, "HELLO, I'M TRYING TO CREATE YOU. NO, NO, NO, I WANT THE OLD ENERGY." IF YOU WANT TO BE ALIVE, IT means to be alive in the present. That's why it's called present. It's a gift. THAT'S WHAT LIFE MEANS. Not in the past I could learn from the past and prepare for the future, but I have to live now. What is the most important moment of your life? The moment you will find yourself in. What is the most important place YOU WILL EVER BE IN? THE PLACE where you are now. Who is the most important person you'll ever meet? The person you're speaking to right now. This is it. This is where life is at. Right now, that's where Hashem is. You're not going to find him somewhere else because the heartbeat, if you want to touch the heartbeat of life, you have to live in the present. Because if you're IN TOUCH WITH YESTERDAY'S HEARTBEAT, you're not in touch with the world. You're in touch with an old world that's gone already. To be in touch with life, with the pulse of life, it's to be in touch right now with this moment. So, this is my experiment to you, friends. When you come home this evening, actually today is vacation day, so you may come home earlier, right? Imagine that you never met your wife before. Those of you who are married, of course. Imagine you never This is the first time, the first meeting with your wife. The shatchen just set you up. New Year's 2019, it's a great day to go out. Chof Daled Teves Tash'nai N'Tes. You're meeting your wife for the first time. I you met her 23 years ago, 18 years ago. Doesn't matter. She was just created now. Don't put her in a box. DON'T PUT YOURSELF IN a box. And you know what? You're going to see new stuff. Allow yourself possibilities. Be open. DON'T GO BACK TO OLD SCRIPTS AND REPLAY THEM. FRESH. FRESH. DON'T IMAGINE THIS IS WHO MY WIFE IS, THIS IS WHO MY HUSBAND IS. WHEN I SAY THIS, OF COURSE SHE'S GOING TO SAY THIS AND GET UP. WE ALREADY PUT HER INTO A SCRIPT AND WE'RE ALREADY GETTING ANGRY AT HER BEFORE SHE SAID IT CUZ WE KNOW WHAT SHE SAYS, WE KNOW WHAT SHE MEANS, WE ALREADY KNOW WHAT SHE FEELS ABOUT US CUZ WE'RE LIVING IN OUR OLD OLD SCRIPT. And it works BOTH WAYS. I KNOW NOTHING. TEACH ME. HELLO. MY NAME IS YOISEF YITZCHAK JACOBS. IT'S A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU. WHAT'S YOUR NAME? WHERE ARE YOU FROM? PITTSBURGH? I LOVE PITTSBURGH. OR WHATEVER. LAKEWOOD, MONROE, MONSEY, CHICAGO, TORONTO, Mayashar and Bnei Brak, Tel Aviv, as you wish. Cleveland. The moment of now. I'll tell you a story in the Gamara Yerushalmi Masechta Peah Perek Khesh. Listen to this story. Those who want to do homework, Talmud Yerushalmi tractate Peah, I think it's chapter eight. Listen to a story in Gamara, boys. Remember this story. Reb Yochanan and Reb Shimon bar Yochai decide what we would call here in Monsey to decide to go to the shvitz. Where's the shvitz, the best shvitz in Eretz Yisrael anybody knows? Anybody knows the best shvitz in Eretz Yisrael? Chamei Tveria. THE HOT SPRINGS OF TIBERIAS, which Rashi says remain still from the days of Noach. That's what Rashi says. It remains from those hot springs, but not so hot, thank God. I went to Chamei Tveria. Reb Yochanan and Reb Shimon bar Yochai decided we're going to go. It's probably It was probably Friday afternoon, although the Gamara doesn't say it. And they decided to go a mikveh in Chamei Tveria. Reb Yochanan and Reb Shimon bar Yochai, two of the greatest Talmudic sages of the time, lived in the third century after the common era. Reb Yochanan is the editor of Talmud Yerushalmi, the first generation of Amoraim in Eretz Yisrael, and his brother-in-law, Reb Shimon bar Yochai, who he transformed into a baal teshuva, as the Gamara says in Bava Metziah Perek Dalet. WHO STANDS AT THE ENTRANCE OF CHAMEI TVERIA? Same people who stand at the Koisel. You know who? Called shnorrers. People like to ask me, "What's a shnorrer?" I say, "A guy who has a Harvard PhD in fundraising." Cuz what you learn in that world, you don't learn in Harvard University or anywhere else. The language of hard knocks. And so, there's a shnorrer there, a beggar. Probably he said, "I'll want them at my kinder. You saw him in the mishpacha with your son in the YOU KNOW HOW IT IS. EVERYBODY HAS a story." "Please, I haven't eaten. I haven't this." They're begging. Rebbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish tell him, "We're going to the schwitz. We'll come out, we'll give you a donation." They went into the schwitz. Are you shaming a payer? They come out of the schwitz. Yisgadal v'yiskadash, the guy is dead. Emaciated. He's dead. I'M GOING TO PAUSE THE STORY. What would you do and say and feel when you saw that? Anybody? What's the one word? GUILT, VERY GOOD. JEWISHGUILT.COM. And the guilt will accompany YOU FOR HOW LONG? TILL YOU'RE YISGADAL V'YISKADASH. YOU'LL GO TO EVERY THERAPIST IN MONSEY, NEW YORK. PSYCHIATRISTS, COACHES, GURUS, THERAPISTS, RABBIS. YOU'LL GO TIKUNIM, YOU GO TO MERON FOR 6 YEARS. YOU'LL WEAR KAMEYAS, YOU'LL FAST TAANISIM, TIKUNIM, TZEDAKAS PERHAPS 100 TIMES. GUILT, GUILT, GUILT. I just killed a poor man. He asked me for money, he was starving. I had to go do a schwitz. And how long did they stay in the schwitz? I don't know. An hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, half an hour. The Gemara doesn't say. I don't know how long they were there. They went to bathe. How long? They may have been there for a long time. And maybe not. Guilt, guilt, guilt. That's what I would feel. Now come back to the story. I would expect Reish Lakish to turn to Rebbi YOCHANAN AND SAY, "OH MY GOD! OMG!" REBBI YOCHANAN REISH LAKISH turns to Rebbi Yochanan and says these words, listen. We didn't have a chance to help him when he's alive. At least let us have the chance to help him when he's dead. He needs to be buried. We'll take care of the cleansing. We'll take care of the shrouds. We'll take care of the funeral. We'll pay for the burial. We'll pay for the tombstone. We will take on ourselves the responsibility to help this body go to the next world in the proper way. And that's what they do. Shocking response. Guilt. NOT A WORD. SHUVA. OH, YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THE WONDERFUL. YOU'LL MAKE A BIG FUNERAL. PROBABLY give a hospital. Like a woman once told me, my man makes me cry and then I send him to the best of the doctors. My husband makes me sick and he sends me to the best doctors. OF COURSE, MY WIFE, ONLY THE BEST DOCTORS. YOU MADE HER SICK. OF COURSE, SHE NEEDS THE BEST DOCTORS. SHE'S MARRIED TO YOU. Present company excluded. They used to say there was this kid who killed killed both of his parents and in court they wanted to send him for a life sentence. HE SAID I SHOULD BE AN ORPHAN. A LITTLE I'M AN ORPHAN. Of course, you're an orphan. YOU KILLED YOUR PARENTS. NO KIDDING, YOU'RE AN ORPHAN. COFFEE. NO, we want shuva, guilt, remorse. Coffee. What's going on? The story continues. The story continues. They take the body. Thank you. They take the body. They take the body. they prepare it for kvura. They have to cleanse it. They have to take off the clothes. And suddenly they find under his clothes, buried in his clothes, a treasure of golden rings, a treasure of golden coins. THE GUY WAS NOT RICH. THE GUY WAS FILTHY RICH. HE'S WHAT YOU WOULD CALL TODAY A MULTI-MULTI. HE WAS NOT STARVING. He was not homeless. He had everything he needed. In other words, they were not guilty. That's the story. Think about the story. Very often in life, we look at situations, and what do we do? We wallow in guilt. If only, if only if I would have known this, if I would have done this, if I would have been part A guy wrote to me an email. He says, "I listened to a few lectures of yours on marriage. MY QUESTION IS, WHY COULDN'T YOU POST IT 40 YEARS AGO WHEN I GOT MARRIED?" I told him, "CUZ I WAS 6 YEARS OLD EATING COTTON CANDY. That's why." I didn't think about shalom bayis. Well, now I still eat cotton candy, but I also think about shalom bayis once a year. And I talk about But, we think, "WHAT IF IF I WOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS, IF I WOULD HAVE DONE THIS, I WOULD HAVE BEEN SMARTER WITH MY CHILDREN, WITH MY GRANDCHILDREN, WITH MY SPOUSE, WITH MY HUSBAND, WITH MY JOB?" AND YOU'RE RIGHT. WHO DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES? BUT HERE'S the deal. There's learning from the past, and there's living in the past. What happens when YOU LEARN FROM THE PAST? YOU BECOME A smarter person. When you live in the past, you know what happens? You detach yourself FROM LIFE. RIGHT NOW, THERE'S LIFE. RESH LAKISH, I'M SURE, IF I FEEL GUILT but sure felt bad and maybe they would spend 30 years doing chuva. I don't know. Do I have to fix I have to fix I made a mistake after apologize true is a mitzvah. You made a mistake you have TO SAY I'M SORRY. BUT DON'T STOP LIVING NOW. If you're alive NOW IT MEANS GOD IS SPEAKING TO YOU RIGHT NOW. RIGHT NOW THERE'S A PERSON WHO'S DEAD. HE NEEDS BURIAL. SOMETIMES IN MY LIVING IN THE PAST IT TAKES ME AWAY FROM THE ABILITY TO FOCUS WHAT IS MY RIGHT HERE CUZ I AM NOT HERE. I'M SOMEWHERE ELSE. I'm in A SAD REMORSEFUL DEPRESSION. FIX WHAT YOU HAVE TO FIX BUT WHAT ARE SAYING WE MADE MAYBE A HORRIBLE MISTAKE. YES. WHAT DOES Hashem want from you right now? What is GOING ON RIGHT NOW? AND IF YOU DON'T focus on that you're going to lose. You're going to lose the moment and you know what happens when you do that? You know what usually happens? You often realize that you would have had guilt for no reason. You would have lived 30 years and as somebody once said Jews are a funny people. When a Jew makes a fist finally it's not easy but when a Jew makes a fist what's the next step? Others make a fist and you check your nose tomorrow by the doctor. A Jew makes a fist you would have lived 20 30 years in guilt for no reason. When they learn to live in the now when you learn to live in the now you often realize you did nothing. You thought you had such an impact you destroyed so many lives. It may be true it may be completely untrue. It's not easy to do this because our minds always take us back to the old patterns. This is who I am, this is who my spouse is, this is who my son is, this is who my daughter is, this is who my children are, this is my partner, this is my colleague. We already come to life prepackaged with a script and we're all reading off scripts. Can you meet somebody today after this year for the first time? Shalom aleichem, aleichem shalom. I may know your name, but I know nothing about you. As far as I know, you may have even changed your name. That feeling of freshness, of full presence, full complete presence right here, right now. This is WHERE LIFE IS HAPPENING. This is not a naive way to live. It's a fresh way to live. It's a divine way to live. In the present, realizing it's a present in the present. What application? Let's now go to the second principle. Let's see the contradiction. LET'S SEE THIS RECONCILIATION. LET'S SEE THE APPLICATION TO LIFE. LET'S SEE THE CONNECTION TO THE DAY AND THE CONNECTION TO THE DOOR. YOU HEARD what I just said? You have doubt with you, with me? Second principle. Tzimtzum What is this about? Now, this is really loaded and complex. I'm going to bring out one principle. The Arizal taught and we're learning this now in our morning learning via in our morning classes 6:45. We're learning the about this theme. The Arizal taught that for the world to be created there was a challenge. What was the challenge? Ain Sof Makom Makhol The light of infinity filled the entire space. There was no room for the world. In simple English, it means how can I exist in the place of infinity? If Hashem's light is infinite, it's fully present everywhere. Everything is part of it. There's nothing outside of it. So, how can there be space for a world, for identity, for ego, for yeshus, even for finiteness? And therefore, even the holiest spiritual world could not come into existence as a separate entity outside of the oneness and infinity of Hashem, but there was a tzimtzum. And what's the tzimtzum? Tzimtzum that Arizal says is the Ein Sof, so to speak, tzimtzum is atzmo, it had to restrict itself. Or withdraw itself. Or to put it this way, infinity had to denounce itself. It had to denounce its infinity, becoming finite, so to speak, in order to create space for the other. In Tanya perek mem tes, the Alter Rebbe uses for this a dearing term. Anybody knows what I'm talking about? It's a term from Bava Metzia. Ahava doy chekes es habasar. Love shrinks the flesh. Where did Alter Rebbe get this expression from? I'm not going to get very detailed here, but the Gemara describes certain Amoroim who physically were very, very large. And the Gemara wants to know how was it possible for them to have children? And the answer is ahava doy chekes es habasar. Love shrinks the flesh. So, the Baal Hatanya uses this term that the Gemara speaks about the Amoroim AND SAYS THAT AHAVA, THE LOVE THAT HASHEM HAS TO EVERY PERSON CAUSED HIM TO SHRINK his infinity. Caused infinity to withdraw to create space for you and me. Because if there wouldn't be dafka as a basar, there would be no space for anybody else. There would be no relationship. The purpose of creation was Hashem wanted a relationship. A melech belo aya. He wanted a marriage. Marriage needs two people. Al ken yazav ish es aviv ve'es immo vedavak be'ishto VEHAYU LEVASAR ECHAD. YOU CAN'T GET MARRIED TO YOURSELF. EVEN TODAY IN AMERICA, NOBODY GETS SUGGESTED TO THE SUPREME COURT THAT YOU SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO MARRY YOURSELF, WHICH ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE. MOST PEOPLE HAVE A SPLIT PERSONALITY. They say the definition of chutzpah is you go to the therapist cuz you have a split personality, and then you want a group discount. Right? Most people have A DICHOTOMY. WHY NOT GET MARRIED TO YOURSELF? GET ALL THE tax benefits, all the tax discounts. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? SHALOM BAYIS WITH YOURSELF IS A PRETTY BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT. I'm still looking for people who are on speaking terms with themselves. You know anybody who likes themselves, speaks to themselves, has a good relationship? You come home at night and you're nice to yourself. You know such people? IT'S HARD. NONETHELESS, EVEN IN TODAY'S WORLD, WE understand marriage necessitates otherness. The problem is, how can infinity allow for otherness? Infinity means it's ein sof. It's everything. IT'S ALL THERE'S NO OTHERNESS. AHAVA dechekesa basar. Tanya 49. The love The love was more powerful than than infinity. The love is more powerful than infinity. And with this, the Baal Shem Tov answers a big question. In Kesser Shem Tov, again, it's two, three lines. I'm not sure I understand it. I'll just say what the Baal Shem Tov says. It's good to think about this. The big question the Rambam asks in Hilchos Teshuvah perek hey is, how do you reconcile free choice with God's knowledge? If Hashem knows the future, so he knows what I'm going to do tomorrow. So I can't choose otherwise. And if I could choose otherwise, so then he doesn't know. BUT HASHEM KNOWS. THE MISHNA SAYS, Rabbi Akiva says IN PIRKEI AVOT, HAKOL TSAFUI V'HARASHUT NETUNAH. HAKOL TSAFUI MEANS everything is foreseen, but you have permission to do the way you want. How does that work? IF I PREDICT EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO do cuz I know you're going to do it, that means tomorrow when tomorrow comes, I took AWAY YOUR CHOICE. UNLESS I'M NOT CERTAIN. I say maybe, but it may not happen. Can you surprise God? And the Baal Shem Tov says something very intense. And I'm not going to explain it or try to explain it. I think these are things that you have to feel. You have to feel. My father used to use a word in German, Spitzengefühl. Spitzengefühl. The feeling at the edge of the finger. We call it in English the sixth sense. But there's nothing like Spitzengefühl. And the Baal Shem Tov says, there is a paradox. God is infinite. He knows everything. But there's one more aspect. God loves you. And love means trust. A relationship means there is you. If I program you, if I force you into the relationship, it's not a relationship. It's a relationship with me. If I program you and I tell you what to do, you're an extension of me. A relationship with somebody else means you have to choose the relationship. If not, I'm just relating TO ME BECAUSE I TURNED YOU INTO ME. YOU KNOW, THERE'S a t-shirt that reads like this. And some people live by this t-shirt. I'm very easy to get along with once you learn to worship me. And there were a lot of people who live this way. Yeah? A woman once told me she stopped dating because the last date, 3 hours he spoke about himself. Can you imagine? From 7 from 7, 3 hours only about himself. After 3 hours he turns to her and says, "You know what? It's enough of me talking about myself. Let me hear, what do you have to say about me?" SOMEBODY ONCE ASKED ME, "HOW do you drown a narcissist?" I said, "Put mirrors on the bottom of the ocean." He'll stay there. But some people live in that world. The whole world is a mirror. You haven't met anybody like that? THE WHOLE WORLD IS A MIRROR. EVERYTHING is a mirror. THERE'S NOBODY ELSE. THERE'S NOTHING ELSE. I DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND IT ANY other way. You really think you exist OUTSIDE OF ME? THAT'S IN YOUR IMAGINATION. SOME PEOPLE IT'S CALLED narcissistic personality disorder. It's a serious thing. Unless you know you have it. If you know you have it, you can heal. If you don't know you have it, the ice it. IT'S NOT SERIOUS THING. BUT LET'S UNDERSTAND THIS. SO A RELATIONSHIP MEANS THERE'S YOU. It's not me. IF IT'S ME, IT'S NOT A RELATIONSHIP. SO IT'S LIKE THE SHEM TOV. God is infinite, but he loves. EVEN THOUGH HE KNOWS EVERYTHING, BUT BECAUSE HIS LOVE TO US IS INFINITE, it causes him to allow us to have free choice as though he wouldn't know. As though he wouldn't know. I have a sense of self. Love shrinks infinity. Tzimtzum. To create space for the world. Comes the Baal Shem, comes the Alter Rebbe and says in Tanya that the Kabbalists got into a debate what the Arizal meant. Meant. Did he mean it literally? Did he mean it not literally? And the truth is tzimtzum ain k'pshuto. It's not literal. It's concealed. It's concealed, but it's not in his words shasilaik mahusai v'atzmusai, and he says the word chas v'shalom that he actually removed his essence from this world, and he's not present like some people understood. Now, today it's surprising for any of you sitting here that there were Jews who actually thought that God was not present in this world. Doesn't Uncle Moishe teach us Hashem is here, Hashem is there, HASHEM IS TRULY EVERYWHERE. UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN. THE ANSWER IS THAT UNCLE MOISHE BELIEVES THAT TZIMTZUM IS NOT KIPSHUTO. You thought Uncle Moishe was simple. It's not so simple. But the reason Uncle Moishe believes it is because the shitas of Baal Shem Tov in tzimtzum has has penetrated all of Klal Yisrael. SHOW ME THE GREATEST LITVAK OF ALL LITVAKS WHO CALLS HIMSELF TALMID HAGRAH AND KNOWS THAT HIS SCREAM YISGADAL V'YISKADESH UNTIL YOU CAN FEEL IT IN THE WHOLE MONTH SEE because he follows minhag haGrah. THE GREATEST JEW SAYS, "I'M A REAL LITVAK. DON'T CONFUSE ME WITH SPIRITUAL CHASSIDIC STUFF. The kugel maybe, but nothing else. And that also not really toxic. I mean, Hashem, Hashem is everywhere. No one even doubts that, but it's not so simple. In Jewish history, there were different perspectives. Less asar ponim ain ay. Some interpreted there's no space devoid of his providence, but not of him. Es ashamayim v'es aretz onimalei. I am in charge. I supervise, but I could supervise as some of you know, you're sitting here in your room and with your iPhone, you could supervise your company, you could supervise your security system. You have those new securities Mishigasen in the house. You go to Florida and you're looking who came in, who went out. It's good for your teenagers. So, if your iPhone of Steve Jobs can do it, the Ribono shel Olam can't do it, you think? He could ALSO SIT IN PALM BEACH, FLORIDA AND GIVE A cook what's doing in Monsey. COULD ALSO DO IT. IF GOOGLE IF GOOGLE KNOWS WHAT I'M DOING THE HADREI HADORIM HASHEM DOESN'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING THE HADREI HADORIM. EVERYBODY KNOWS GOD DOESN'T. There was a time with Reb Pinchas Koritzer and he said one of the told me about something and he had a Mona. Why he was in a lot of pain and he didn't know does God know that I'm in pain? So he decided to go to the Pinchas KORITZER TO FIND OUT IF GOD KNOWS THAT HE'S IN PAIN. HE WALKED INTO THE PINCHAS Koritzer's door YOU KNOW WHAT HE TOLD HIM? HE SAID "ICH WEIß UND DER EIBISHTER WEIß NICHT." I KNOW AND HASHEM DOESN'T KNOW. SO IT USED TO BE ABSTRACT TERM. THERE'S AN EYE THAT SEES AND AN EAR THAT HEARS. TODAY THIS IS BASIC TECHNOLOGY. EVERY TEENAGER THAT GREW UP IN THE LAST FEW YEARS DOESN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT. I TRIED TO EXPLAIN TO MY CHILDREN AND THIS IS MY GENERATION I'M A BABY. I'M A BABY AND I TRIED TO EXPLAIN WHAT'S SHAT a telephone that you have to stand near the wall remember? You have to stand near the wall AND DIAL AS I AND WAIT 10 MINUTES TO GET THROUGH TO MELBOURNE. AND ALSO PAY HALF YOUR MORTGAGE. But the mortgage was also a little cheaper. AYIN RO'AH V'OZEN SHOMA'AT. RIGHT NOW I'm speaking. I KNOW WHO'S WATCHING ME. I SAW IN THE SHEER GEMARA 18 PEOPLE FROM BAGHDAD. I THOUGHT IT WAS ISIS. I WANTED TO CALL the FBI. What are they listening to Maseches Pesachim in Baghdad? Who's interested bitul dikka? And somebody calmed me down don't worry there could be some people there. Kind of Jewish people who Yidden that find business opportunities in oil advice. I AIN'T ROYAL VOICE AND SHAMASH. SHIKOYAH. BEMAYLA. TZIMTZUM. Already became accepted by Kla Yisrael is NOT KIPSHUTA. EVERY CHILD KNOWS Hashem is here. Hashem's essence is here. But understand this was not a simple idea. THIS WAS A BIG ARGUMENT IN JEWISH HISTORY. Not porshit. And some great great Jews held otherwise. Didn't take away Shaar HaYichud, didn't take away Torah Or Lishmah, didn't take away Ma'amar HaSechel Chass VeShalom. But this idea, Hashem in his full essence is right here in every space and every MOMENT AND EVERY TIME, IN EVERY NOOK AND EVERY CRANNY, IN EVERY EXPERIENCE AND EVERY ENCOUNTER, 24/7 IN SMALL THINGS AND BIG THINGS. IT'S NOT KIPSHUTA. It's not literal. Not literal means the presence is fully here even if you can't perceive it in your own finite senses. Not because it's not here. But what's here? If you say Tzimtzum is not Kipshuta, what does that mean? What is here? Pre-Tzimtzum reality. What is Pre-Tzimtzum reality? Full infinity, Ein Sof. It's just I don't perceive it so I could be I. Here we now have a paradox. And due to time constraint, I have to be brief. And I hope you grasp it. And if not, you could revisit it. And the following idea is called and based on the Kuntres Sichos volume 25 Parshas Vayeishev Yud Tes Kislev from a talk delivered by the Rebbe Yud Tes Kislev Tav Shin Mem Alef, the 19th of Kislev, Chag HaGeulah of the Alter Rebbe, the Yahrtzeit of the Maggid, 1980, the end of 1980, printed then in the Kuntres Sichos Chelek Chelek Chaf Hei Parshas Vayeishev hyphen Yud Tes Kislev. For more reference and more detailed intricate reference the two doctrines and Sharia Mona really pose a subtle contradiction and let's explain why. When we speak about creation every moment what does it mean? It means Hashem recreates the world every moment on its terms. Every creature has its own DNA. Every creature has its chemistry. I am I, you are you. What did the cuts give ever say? I didn't do anything to do with anything to do with anything to do with anything to do with anything TO DO WITH ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING BOYS, you got it? All right, Rosenbloom, you want to translate? If I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I then I am not I and you are not you. BUT IF I AM I BECAUSE I am I and you are you BECAUSE YOU ARE YOU, THEN I AM I AND YOU ARE you and now we can begin to smooth. WITH ONE LINE THE CUTS GIVE UP A COVERED HUGE AMOUNTS OF LITERATURE DEALING with codependence, SELF-ESTEEM, BOUNDARIES, RELATIONSHIPS. THE DEFINITION OF A CREATURE IS IDENTITY. AND THEY FIGHT FOR IDENTITY. YOU TRY GOING INTO A BEEHIVE. YOU EVER TRIED? THEY WILL FIGHT YOU TO THEIR deaths literally. Did you ever see how bees protect THEIR BEEHIVE? THEY KNOW THAT WHEN THEY STING YOU THEY'RE GOING to die, but they do it. Identity. The mosquito has its identity and the lioness CUB ITS AND THE elephant every mammal and every insect and every bird and every fish AND EVERY SHRUB AND EVERY BUSH AND EVERY PLANT AND EVERY MINERAL, EVERY PLANET AND EVERY STAR, EVERY PROTEIN, EVERY CELL FROM THE 37 TRILLION CELLS OF YOUR BODY HAS ITS IDENTITY, ITS FUNCTIONALITY, ITS PURPOSE AND THAT MOMENT IS BEING CREATED, ENERGIZED, DESIGNED BY HASHEM ANEW. The world is LIKE A ONE BIG GOOF. IT'S ONE BIG ORGANISM. It's being re-sustained EVERY MOMENT. BUT, HOW? WITH AN air that we call in Chabad terminology the hisslapshes. It got to be custom-made to the unique identity of the creature. That is what creation every moment means. You're being created as you. That's why I'm created with memories. That's why I don't feel like I was just born, even though I was. That's why you don't FEEL THAT I JUST BEGAN MY SPEECH, even though I did. Very good. It took you a moment. Somebody once said, "I don't speak long. It just seems that way." You better believe it. How does he create you every moment? As you. Tailor-made, custom-made to your identity. In other words, he is invigorating a world that has being, that has existence, AND INDIVIDUALITY. YOU ARE YOU, AND I am I, AND IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THAT WAY. CHAIM LO YOMAR DEMISHLINS ANEDON L'MAZAEN Bishvili Nivra Olam. The world was created for me. This is not arrogance. BOYS, TEENAGERS, IT'S NOT ARROGANCE. WHY IS IT NOT ARROGANCE? The world was created for me. It sounds like a narcissist. The answer is this is not about narcissism. It's about understanding the dignity of a person and the responsibility of a person. There's something at stake in me. That for this the whole world was created. THERE'S SOMETHING I HAVE TO GIVE THE WORLD THAT NOBODY CAN GIVE THE WORLD. THERE'S SOMETHING THAT EACH OF YOU HAS TO GIVE THE WORLD THAT NOBODY IN THE PAST, PRESENT, OR FUTURE CAN GIVE THE WORLD. NOT BECAUSE THERE WERE NO GREAT PEOPLE, BUT because you reflect Hashem's light in your own unique, individual, and indispensable way. I have to tell you I was in the car. So, a lot of you when you go to the car, if you hang around Rabbi Dovid Kaplan, you're forced to take my CDs into your car, and whether you like it or not, you're listening to my Shiurim until you shut down. But, I am allergic to listening to myself. I was once in a car and somebody put says Somebody says, "I want to hear a good Shiur." And he put me on. I'm like, "Do me a favor. I have a hard time being me. Now I have to listen to me also? You know what I mean? THE THIS ENTERTAINMENT YOU'LL DO FOR OTHER PEOPLE, not for me. I need other entertainment. So, who do I listen to? None of YOUR BUSINESS. BUT, WHAT? BUT, SO, sometimes I listen to myself, but not speaking. I listen to myself thinking. You ever do that? It's not such a bad thing to do. Listen to yourself. This doesn't GIVE YOU YOU'RE NOT SUCH A BAD GUY. I KNOW YOU EVERYBODY THINKS YOU'RE BORING, BUT AT LEAST FOR YOURSELF YOU shouldn't be so boring. Okay? So, I put on the radio one day, and Michael Savage, the famous radio talk show host from California, Jewish fellow, who's in his 80s, is talking. And I kid you not, these are the words that came out of his mouth. He said, "Somebody sent me today an email with A QUOTE FROM RABBI MENACHEM MENDEL SCHNEERSON, THE LUBAVITCHER REBBE, and I heard read the quote, and I said, 'These are quotes that come not only from s- wise people, but from godly people.'" What's the quote? He quotes the Lubavitcher Rebbe as saying, "Birth is the day that God declared that the world is an incomplete place without you." That's the definition of birth. He said, "That is called holy wisdom." BIRTH IS NOT JUST YOUR MOTHER DECIDED YOU HAPPEN TO COME INTO THE WORLD. NO. BIRTH IS GOD declaring this world is incomplete without you. And this is the remedy for most, if not all issues of self-esteem and people looking at themselves as schmatas and victims and traumatized. It may be true. You may have challenges. But birth is God saying there's a light in you. And as we know now, birth is happening right now. Every moment is a birthday. Every day is a birthday. We say it every day in Shacharis, "Hamachdish betuvo b'chol yom tamid ma'aseh bereishis. Hamachdish betuvo b'chol yom tamid." And as the Tanya says, it's b'chol rega, not only b'chol yom. So, what does creation every moment mean? Tailor-made, custom-made, individualized. That's theme number one in Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah. WHAT DOES TZIMTZUM NOT KIPSHUTO MEAN? YOU SEE? WHAT DOES TZIMTZUM NOT kipshuto mean? The full infinity is present. ONLY FROM MY PERCEPTION WAS THERE A TZIMTZUM. BUT IN TRUTH, GOD IN HIS FULL INFINITY IS PRESENT RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, IN EVERY NOOK AND EVERY CRANNY AND EVERY MOMENT AND EVERY SPACE. AREN'T THESE TWO themes conveying paradoxical truths? Where the first theme conveys the power of the I HERE IN THIS MOMENT AS AN INDIVIDUAL? AND IT'S SO POWERFUL CUZ IT'S BEING CREATED NOW. IT'S NOT OLD. INDIVIDUALITY IS NOT OLD, IT'S NEW. AND THE SECOND theme in SHAAR HAYICHUD IS WHAT? Tzimtzum is not k'pshuto. If tzimtzum is not k'pshuto, IT MEANS NOW IS LIKE BEFORE THE TZIMTZUM. WHAT WAS BEFORE TZIMTZUM? WHAT DID THE ARIZAL SAY? THERE'S NO SPACE for I. There's no space for anything outside infinity. Isaac, I GET THE SHAILA? DID THE HASHEM HAVE THE SHAILA? IT'S NOT A SIMPLE QUESTION, THIS. This is oimek. This is the You're touching here the DNA of existence. IF THE IF THE TZIMTZUM IS NOT LITERAL, SO IT'S REALLY FROM A REAL PERCEPTION FOR THE PERSON WHO HAS GLASSES OF TRUTH. FOR THE PERSON WHO HAS IF THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION WERE CLEANSED, everything would appear as is, infinite, one with the source of all infinity. There's no distinctiveness. THERE'S NO WORLD THAT THE HASHEM IS PROUD OF THE TZIMTZUM. ARE THESE TWO PARADOXICAL? THE truth is, these are the two polar ideas that are the pillars of the portal of Yichud and Emunah in Tanya, and become two ideas that are rooted in one that manifest themselves IN THE WELTANSCHAUUNG, IN THE HASHKAFOS OLAM, ARTICULATED AND EMPHASIZED BY THE BAAL SHEM TOV IN CHASSIDUS, AND ELABORATED, EXPOUNDED, AND EXPLAINED, and brought down by the Baal HaYichud, by the Baal HaYilula, Rabeinu HaGadol, Baal HaTanya, Baal HaShulchan Aruch, the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, whose soul should have a long life. And what are these two approaches? What are these two points? What are these two truths? Are they polar opposites? ARE THEY PARADOXICAL? CAN THEY CONVERGE? And he puts them together in Shaar Yichud Ve'emunah. And for this, we come to the final point that brings it all together, and that is not only do these two ideas not contradict each other, really they complement each other. Why? Because Tzimtzum Shela KePshuta Tzimtzum not being literal redefines how we look at creation every moment where every creature is independent, autonomous, and self-contained. When you appreciate that Tzimtzum Shela KePshuta, you understand that the self-containment of every creature is not detached and isolated, but rather it's the way infinity is expressing itself through the finite individual story of this creation. Meaning, even within my very identity, EVEN WITHIN MY VERY LIFE, I SAY GOD IS CREATING IT EVERY MOMENT, SO IT'S REAL. AND THAT REALNESS IS essentially an expression of Tzimtzum Shela KePshuta, which is pure Ein Sof, which is pure infinity. Now, what do What am I talking about? What does this mean? It sounds so abstract. And one illustration he gives He gives two illustrations. It's two people. The Yosef Hurad Mitzrayimah. Yosef went down to Egypt. He didn't go down, he was sent down. He was sold as a slave. Says the Medrash Rabbah, Hurad comes from which word? V'yered miyam ad yam. What does V'yered mean? He will rule. Uredu bidgas hayam, rule over the fish. So, Please. He sold as a slave, that's called RULING OVER EGYPT? THAT'S CALLED RULED OVER EGYPT? SO YOU SAY, WELL, IT MEANS ultimately in 12 years and 13 YEARS HE'LL END UP THE RULER IN PARSHAS VAYECHI. BUT THAT'S NOT THE WORD HURAD. THE Midrash gives another interpretation. Hurad has doesn't have nakudas. You can read in the sefer Torah hoyrid. Yosef hoyrid Mitzrayim. He brought down to Egypt. Who? Es hashchina, he brought down the shchina to Egypt. We have a principle we know from shatnez, all interpretations on one pasuk are always connected even if they're different. WE HAVE THREE INTERPRETATIONS. HURAD? HE was lowered, HE WAS SLEPT DOWN. HURAD, HE RULED. URUDU, YERIDU, AND HURAD, HOYRID. It's all the same. There's two different perspectives of how to look at every challenge in life. And I want you now to think about this in personal terms. In personal terms. Everybody is lowered into situations. You may have a challenge with your health. You may have a challenge with your mental state. You may have a challenge with your children. You may have a challenge with your spouse. You may have a challenge with yourself. You may have a challenge with your past, present, physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual. We all carry baggage. Somebody came to JFK Airport the other day, three pieces of luggage. He says, "Please send one to Tel Aviv, the other to London, the third to Chicago." They said, "Sorry, it's against the law. We don't do this. He says I'm asking YOU TO DO WE DON'T DO THIS. HE SAYS LAST TIME YOU DID IT WITHOUT ASKING. WELL, we got A LOT OF LUGGAGE AND SOMETIMES one piece is in London, the other piece in Chicago, the other piece in Tel Aviv. And you don't know if you're coming OR YOU'RE GOING. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT I KNOW PERSONALLY WHO ARE PERFECT ARE THE PEOPLE I DON'T KNOW. THE ONLY marriages I know that are perfect are the marriages I don't know. Present company excluded. AND IF YOU ARE PERFECT, YOU CAN LEAVE THIS YEAR RIGHT NOW. NOBODY? WOW. Somebody once told his wife shkoyach I knew I knew a guy like you was going to leave. Just joking. Just joking. We're all in the same boat. A guy once told his wife A guy once told his wife he says I never made a mistake, only once. His wife said really? WHEN DID YOU MAKE A MISTAKE? HE SAID BACK IN '61 I thought I made a mistake. That joke is over. BUT IN ANY CASE, IF YOU THINK YOU'RE perfect a human being, we face challenges. Some of those challenges we face are not so easy. Some of you deal with addiction. Some of us deal with deep deep profound struggles on different levels. Sometimes with ourselves, sometimes with loved ones. How do you deal with it? How do you look at it? There are different approaches. One approach I'm going to talk now three approaches and then the third approach is what we want to address. One approach is you surrender. You become a oysgeklapte hoy-shana. You get beaten by life. YOU KNOW WHY? CUZ YOU'RE PART OF LIFE. YOU EVER SAW WHAT THAT ARAVA LOOKS LIKE ON HOSHANA RABBA? YOU EVER LOOKED AT IT? IT GETS BEATEN. Life beats you up. Life beats you up. Somebody once said life breaks all people and then some know how to live in broken places better than others. There is another approach to life. You know what the other approach is? You detach. You run away. You become aloof. You become oblivious. You can't deal with the pain. There's another approach which is dysfunctional and that is you numb your pain. Which is basically running away. But even people who don't numb, they just live in the heavens. They live in the clouds. You know they're always smiling. Everything is perfect, of course. Yeah. Everything is perfect. Always perfect. Where's your heart? Where's your emotion? Do you feel the pulse of life? But for some people it's easier to retreat into a beautiful perfect world. Your son may be going through difficult stuff. Your daughter may be going through difficult stuff. But I want to remain in heaven so that life could be paradise. Both paths are paths in life. It's not about judgmentalism. Here is Joseph's path. For Joseph who rocked, Joseph went down. He wept. He cried. He suffered. He experienced pain. He went down. But for Joseph who rocked, Joseph ruled. Cuz when he went down, he never saw himself as a victim to the challenge. He saw himself as an ambassador sent by the source of life to transform and bring the light into the darkness. He never had to run away from the reality. But he was also never beaten by the reality. Because he saw himself as an ambassador. Creation every moment means THE WORLD IS REAL. TZIMTZUM SHE LIKE HIM SUITAI MEANS THE WORLD IS NOT REAL. IS IT REAL OR IS IT NOT REAL? AND THE ANSWER IS when you UNDERSTAND THAT IT'S NOT REAL, IT COULD BECOME REAL WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND THAT INFINITY IS WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. SO THEN YOU WERE SENT INTO THIS INDIVIDUAL SITUATION TO REVEAL THE LIGHT OF INFINITY WITHIN THE FINITE. So you don't have to run and you don't have to surrender. How can you I have to do both? HE GOES DOWN, BUT HE'S really going down as a king, NOT AS A SLAVE. HE'S A KING. WHEN HE GOES DOWN, HE'S A KING. YOU KNOW HOW? Cuz the third interpretation I do this as you know. Because I represent the divine. SCHLUCH THE REFLECTION OF INFINITY THAT GOES INTO EVERY SINGLE SITUATION WITH COURAGE AND DETERMINATION. YOU NEVER HAVE TO FEAR, NEVER SHUT YOUR EYES, NEVER BE AFRAID. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE IN DENIAL. DON'T be naive. Go in. Experience the pulse of it cuz if you don't experience the darkness, you can't transform the darkness into light. If you want to run away, you could, but you will not be able to transform it. When I was a little kid, very little, the president of Israel, Schneur Zalman Shazar, who was a left-winger, secular Jew, but his name was Schneur Zalman for a reason. He was named after the Baal Tanya. His grandfather was a chassid of the Alter Rebbe, great-grandfather. He came to visit the Rebbe. January '73. Dalet Shvat Tav Shin Lamed Gimmel. Who was it cold THAT NIGHT? WHO WAS IT COLD? YOU KNOW WHAT A NEW YORK WINTER night is like? With the wind it gets eight below zero. You know those nights? The freezing bloody nights in January. Shazar came from Israel. Israel doesn't get to He meets the Rebbe. The president of Israel tells the Rebbe these words. He says, "In Israel this winter, a bitter COLD IS TOO GOLDEN." THIS COLD CUTS THROUGH YOUR BONES. IT PENETRATES AND I CAN'T DEAL WITH IT. AND WITHOUT SKIPPING A HEARTBEAT, the Rebbe says, "No." To make from the frost ice frost. That's why Hashem sent the soul of a Jew into this world to transform the coldness into warmth. You look at life AND YOU SAY, "IT'S COLD." NO KIDDING, GENIUS. THAT'S WHY YOU'RE HERE. THAT'S WHY IT'S COLD. THERE'S SO MUCH POLITICS, CORRUPTION, PROBLEMS. THAT'S WHY YOU'RE HERE, GENIUS. THAT'S WHY YOU'RE NOT A GOING TO EAT THEM TO TRANSFORM IT. OF COURSE IT'S COLD. SO YOU EAT IN PITTSBURGH. I KNOW HIS NAME is Estrin, Label Estrin. So he told me when he was young, he lived in Rhode Island. There was a chazan and one of the old American chazans. If you would talk in the middle of chazans chazans, he would stop. He would turn around and give a speech in the middle of chazans chazans. So he wants to hold them that in 1927, he was in a car accident. You know one of those Henry those Ford cars with the rubber tires on the four corners, dollar pin ice. He was one of 1927. He was in a car accident. And he was out. He was in a coma and they didn't have the instruments they have today. The police came, they declared him dead. They took him to the morgue. He's in the morgue. The freezers, thank God, were full. So they left him on A TABLE AND LATER WHERE THEY WOULD OPEN THEY would put him in a freezer. After a few hours, an African-American morgue attendant comes in and starts wheeling HIS STRETCHER TO THE FREEZER TO PUT HIM IN. AS HE'S WHEELING HIM, HE WAKES UP. He wakes UP AND HE WAS DRESSED LIKE OTHER MEN Hava before the AIDS had us. A little white sheet he was freezing and he wakes up and he looks and he sees this big holy African-American brother wheeling him to the freezer. AND HE'S TREMBLING. AND HE TURNS to the African-American HE SAYS, "I'M COLD. I'M COLD." AND THE MAN SAYS, "YOU AIN'T COLD. YOU'RE DEAD." COLDNESS IS DEADNESS. I'M COLD. THAT'S WHY YOU WERE SENT DOWN. SO YOU'RE NEVER A VICTIM TO THE INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCES. YOU'RE AN AMBASSADOR OF INFINITY TO REVEAL THAT THE FINITE IS ALSO INFINITE. AH. So when the Alter Rebbe visits Reb Boruchl of Mezibush, Reb Boruchl of the Rebbe Reb Boruchl, and the Berditchever, they ask him one question. You had to go through what you went through in Petersburg? He was arrested. He was put on an island. He was almost sentenced to death. They investigated him for weeks. They persecuted him terribly. The Alter Rebbe had to go COMPLETELY THROUGH THE SYSTEM AND REB BORUCHL SAID, "WHY COULDN'T YOU TAKE YOUR hand and put it over your forehead and destroy all of the challenges in Petersburg?" And the Alter Rebbe said, "Nisava Kodesh Boruchu leas wanted that the world should be transformed into a divine abode. The velt zol zein a dirah betachtoynah. Dos kemen ish durach makifin. Dos darf men durach pnimim. YOU CAN'T DO THAT BY RUNNING INTO INFINITY. You have to transform the system. So, the Rebbe took a magic chef says, let's go through the wall. But the Rebbe says, we don't go through walls. We go through the door. But the door must become wider. The world want to be transformed. Every nook and cranny OF THE WORLD, THE BODY, THE ORGANISM, YOUR PHYSICAL LIFE, ALL PHYSICAL CIRCUMSTANCES. EARTH ULTIMATELY MUST MIRROR HEAVEN. The two must become one. Shem Elokim. The name Elokim represents what? The Pardes says Elokim is the gematria hateva. 86. Aleph, lamed, hay, mem, yud, shin. Hateva is 86, nature. Elokim is the source of nature. Elokim is midas hadin. MIDAS HATZIMTZUM. ELOKIM REPRESENTS TZIMTZUM, RESTRICTION, CONCEALMENT, DISCIPLINE, GVURAH. HELLO, THAT'S WHY THERE'S NATURE. THE WORD TEVA COMES FROM THE WORD tovu v'yamso, drowned. You know why? The divine energy is under the water. It's under cover. It's covered. We don't see the divine here. Tovu v'yamso gave all the cover to the Alter Rebbe. You know the word? Teva from the word tovu. It's drowned. The divine energy is submerged. We don't see it. Like when you come to the ocean, you don't see what's going on under it. It's a whole world, but you don't see it. All we see is the outer surface of reality. Teva, Elokim. What happens when you take Shem Elokim and you bring it back to its source? What happens when you take the lamed and you go back? And you take the hay and you go back? And you take the yud and you go back? In other words, you reveal the source of the tzimtzum. YOU REVEAL THE SOURCE OF the world. YOU REVEAL THE SOURCE OF NATURE. YOU GO BACK TO THE MOTHER. YOU GO BACK TO THE PROGENITOR. YOU HAVE CHOF DALET TES, which is 33. RASHBI, REB SHIMON BAR YOCHAI, who revealed pnimiyus haTorah. What's the essence of pnimiyus haTorah? To reveal the essence of the world, the essence of the soul, THE ESSENCE OF THE COSMOS, THE ESSENCE OF TORAH, THE CORE, THE PNIMIYUS, the holiness, the kedusha in the world, the kedusha in the neshama. When does he pass away? Lamed gimmel. Because the role of Zohar, Zohar means light, is to reveal the source of Elokim. Gal einai va'abitah nifla'osai mitoresecha. Gal, open up my eyes. Lamed gimmel IS GAL, REVEAL. GILUY ELOKIM IS HELEM, CONCEALMENT. But when you trace back Elokim to its source, you see it's not a real concealment. It's cold so that you should be able to warm it up. It's cold so that Yosef should be able to bring in light here. It's cold for you to be able to transform it. You're not a victim, YOU'RE AN AMBASSADOR. YOU WERE SENT HERE TO BRING THE INFINITY INTO THIS SITUATION. AND IF YOU WERE SENT HERE, IT MEANS YOU HAVE THE POWER. YOU'RE A KING. YOU'RE NOT A SLAVE. YOU'RE INSIDE, but you're ALWAYS CONNECTED. BUT RASHBI IS KABBALAH. KABBALAH IS STILL ABSTRACT. SO THE CONNECTION OF RASHBI to 33 is clear, LAMED GIMMEL, LAG BA'OMER. BUT ITS CONNECTION TO CHOF DALET TES is through gematria, numerical values, which is a mystical connection. Kabbalah is a MYSTICAL DISCIPLINE. THE ALTER REBBE, WHOSE ROLE WAS to take PNIMIYUS HA'TORAH AND BRING it into chochma and binah and da'as, that should be ABLE TO BE INTERNALIZED, HIS YAHRZEIT. When did he complete his work? Chof dalet tes. Here, the connection to chof dalet tes is not only through numerology, 33. It's visible in the WORDS THEMSELVES, CHOF DALET TES. CHOF DALET TEVES. BECAUSE HIS LIFE STORY AND TEACHINGS WERE TO TRANSFORM ELOKIM, TO REVEAL THAT HAVAYA HU ELOKIM, EIN OD MILVADO. THAT THE WHOLE WORLD WANTS TO PLACE ITS MOUTH ON THE MOUTH OF THE JEW AND DECLARE "YOU IS GOD OVER YOU SCOTTISH MAY RABBA." THAT WHEN YOU TAKE A LOOK IN THE MIRROR, YOU SHOULDN'T ONLY SEE FLESH. MIPSARI EX ALECHA, WITHIN YOUR FLESH YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE HOW THE BODY IS A REFLECTION OF THE SOUL AND EARTH IS A MIRROR OF HEAVEN AND PHYSICALITY IS A CONTINUUM OF SPIRITUALITY. AND THAT THERE IS ACHDUS AND ONENESS. NEVER SEE YOURSELF ONLY FROM AN EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVE. BE ABLE TO SEE THE HAVDALA TEST "HASHEM WHO ELOHIM" BECAUSE THE ELOHIM IS TRACED BACK TO ITS SOURCE. AND WHEN IS THIS? IT'S THE month of Teves. But you look at Esther and Melech by chodesh ha'asiri WHO CHODESH TEVES. ESTHER MEANS CONCEALMENT, SHEM ELOHIM. ACHASHVEROSH, ACHAREI SHAVOI, the end of the beginning is his. Yud Kay Vav Kay haya hoveh v'yiyeh. When was Esther reunited with Achashverosh, Elohim with Havaya, in the month of Teves? Chavdala test, YERACH SHEHA'GUF MENUMA'NAGOOF. 33, galinai v'bitnei floysim Torah shecha. If you go the other way around, what happens if you go to the subsequent letters, not the preceding letters? What happens? Lamed hey yud became Chavdala test is 33. Now if you go the next ones, so lamed becomes mem, so it's 40. Hey becomes vav, so it's 46. Yud becomes chaf, so what do you have? 66. That's twice 33. What's the word for that? Galgal. When you look at the The as Einstein once said, either nothing is a miracle or everything is a miracle. Either it's just a galgal, random, around and around and around, no purpose. If you take a kim and you go back to the source, you see a world that's vibrant with the divine. And if you go to the subsequent letters, meaning you just allow nature to take its course WITHOUT SEEING THE SOURCE, IT JUST BECOMES A GALGAL. YOU KNOW WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP? LEGAL LEG. WHAT does legal leg mean? Legal leg, anybody? Cynicism. You become a cynic. Anybody here knows any cynics? Why do people become cynical? Cuz life is painful. So, they make fun of everything. Life becomes too painful, so you have to BECOME CYNICAL. WHAT DOES THE GAMORAH SAY ABOUT TALMID? LEGAL LEG OF TALMID. THE TALMID LAUGHED FROM YOCHONAN. NO SON ain't of, but he LOOKED AT HIM. VENASA? Gal shel atzmoi's. What does it mean? That's what a rebbe does. You look at your students and you turn them into a heap of bones. Ay ay ay ay ay. Legal leg. He lived in the world of cynicism, of mockery. He didn't believe in anything. He was LIFE WAS TOO PAINFUL TO BELIEVE. HE HAD TO MAKE EVERYTHING INTO A JOKE. HE'S CORRUPT. EVERYBODY'S CORRUPT. IT'S ONE BIG CORRUPT WORLD. AND THEN YOU SAY, IF YOU'VE BEEN HURT, you don't want to love ever again. Cuz you don't want to be backstabbed. Legal leg. What does a rebbe do? No son ain't of, boy. He gave him perspective. Venasa gal shel atzmoi's. He helped him turn his legal leg into gal ainai, into lamed GIMMEL KAF DALET TES, GAL SHEL ATZMOI'S BY HELPING HIM REVEAL THE ETZEM, THE ATZMIUS, THE CORE OF EXISTENCE, the core of life. And thus, and thus, when a person looks at every single moment of his or her life. We live within every moment. We touch the texture of every moment of every experience without fear. And yet you know you're never ever to allow yourself to be beaten, SURRENDERED, CRUSHED, AND DESPAIRED BECAUSE ULTIMATELY, WHEN YOU REALIZE WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE YOU'RE AN AMBASSADOR OF INFINITY, YOU ARE in the situation to rule over the situation. To reveal right HERE AND RIGHT NOW the truth of the oneness of thank you very much. This class is brought to you by the Yeshiva.net. Please help us continue the classes. Make even a small contribution at www.theyeshiva.net/donate.