LM 14.2 — L'Hamshich Shalom, Part 2 of 4 · תורה י״ד

תורה י״ד, we are going into אות ד', and hopefully we'll go as far as we can into the מאמר of Rabbah bar bar Chana. Just to give ourselves a little bit of a lead-in, we had started with the תורה להמשיך שלום בעולם to bring down shalom. We said that shalom is one of the names of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, to create a shleimus, but not only to create a shleimus, to draw down a shleimus. One one powerful concept is that we're not trying to create something that's not there, we're trying to tap into it.

In order to be ממשיך שלום into the world, to create a shleimus, we have to be מעלה כבוד לשרשו. We have to to to elevate kavod, the malchus, right? Malchus we said is לית לה מגרמה כלום. We have to elevate the kavod to its שורש, we'll explore this idea soon. In order to have the greatest גילוי of כבוד השם, we explained that there has to be a גילוי from those that are farthest away. This is baalei teshuvah, and this is even gerim. The way that this is done is either through if you could picture, let's say, a a source that, I mean, picture the knots of tzitzit even, let's say, where things come together in one place, and then they they come out separately.

So if you wanted to affect something else, the two ways that you could do that are either is by direct outreach, or what you could do is you could like shake the rope where you are, it'll reverberate all the way back to the source, and that will create a bigger הארה that will create a different impact to everything that's stemming from the source. So the way to create this גילוי we said is through learning Torah in one of two ways: either תורת חסד, direct impact, outreach, maybe that's even just being a shining example, but the other way is through learning תורה לשמה, which can reverberate and create a הארה, התנוצצות back to the source, now will create a הארה that will also create an impact.

Your teshuvah, your מעשים טובים, your הארה, התעוררות can have an impact on on on people and the world really, wherever they are. Totally can change the balance. Once we create a הארה at the source, we discussed the idea of creating נשמות for gerim, and now we'll go vayter. Just to mention very briefly, a couple of the ideas that we've seen in general that we've been exposed to. We spoke already in תורה ד' of the בחינה of החזרת המלכות לשרשה, the idea of connecting things back to the source.

So we've seen this idea in Torah in תורה י'. We discussed this idea which we spoke about here also, the עיקר גדולה של הקדוש ברוך הוא הוא שגם העכו״ם ידעו שיש אלוקים שליט ומושל, the idea of of a גילוי coming from those who are far away. We spoke about it in the context of Yitro, the idea that the kavod, that the kavod of הקדוש ברוך הוא is in גלות now. We spoke in Torah א', Torah ד' also, and Torah ד' אות ב' we said, זו בחינה אי אפשר להשיג אלא כשמעלה בחינת מלכות דקדושה מגלות בין העכו״ם, the idea of taking the גלות, the the מלכות of הקדוש ברוך הוא, that the שכינה is in גלות, that we have to elevate the kavod, align it back

to its to its source. And the idea that the נשמות of Yisrael are related to the 600,000 letters, which is, if you count them it's not exactly 600,000, we said last time, but the the ניצוצי נשמות we spoke about it in in Torah ב' actually. Maybe other places as well. Where was it? We said in אות ו' or ז', וכל התורה שאדם לומד לשמור ולעשות, כל האותיות הם ניצוצי נשמות, ומתלבשות בתוך תפילה. And then we went on over there, so about the נשמות and תפילה נקרא כבוד.

So the Torah, a lot of the concepts that we're talking about really are all tying together. So now we're going to go further and discuss another idea of this, that through this הארה, those who are learning are also zocheh or also can be zocheh to בנים that are תלמידי חכמים. The נשמות are a חלק אלוק ממעל, they're all coming from from הקדוש ברוך הוא, not talking about exactly how that works, but the נשמות are are have a מלבוש coming down into this world. There's three partners in every person, right?

A father, a mother, and הקדוש ברוך הוא. And we look around, and as much as on one hand we could say that נשמות all have a certain קדושה, but there is a certain מלבוש that's brought down, and some נשמות are easier, as it were, the Baal HaTanya talks about it also in his own way, but just in a very simple way we could say that depending on the מלבוש, right, people have different characteristics, different physical characteristics, different middot, even just in a in a circumstantial way that the way that they grew up, and it's easier for some to to get in touch with their with their true self than others.

So we'll leave it at that for now. אות ד', וזה the idea that through learning Torah with kavanah to be to be מאיר the the the source, to to like we said, reverberate the rope and have it shine back at the source, שאמרו חכמינו זכרונם לברכה: מפני מה תלמידי חכמים אין בניהם תלמידי חכמים? Why is we see that a certain phenomenon that very often people that are learning, they're engaged in Torah, and yet we don't necessarily see this translate, you would think that על פי דרך הטבע, a person's children should absorb and have certain similar characteristics, similar values to them.

Why is it that sometimes we see that a people's child, you know, a person's child is not going on the same route? Now, obviously there could be a lot of a lot of questions. We see in the alternative as well that there are people that do not seem to be either at a stage of גדלות or even worse, and yet their children do become tremendous תלמידי חכמים. So, this does not mean that it's that that it's the last stop. But nevertheless, we should see that things should flow forward so that תלמידי חכמים, generally speaking, their children should be following in their path.

And he says, מפני שלא ברכו בתורה תחילה. Because they did not make ברכת התורה תחילה. I think I I didn't find it. I actually, I think I saw בשם Rabbi Akiva Eiger that it's a zechut that a for a person's children to want to go on the right way, they should mamash say ברכת התורה like they're saying like they're saying Shemoneh Esreh. But anyway, this is this this is discussed sometimes it's, I think it's a Gemara in Nedarim. It talks about the reasons for the churban, and the general פשוט פשט way of relating to this שלא ברכו בתורה תחילה is the way that one relates to Torah is they're are they relating to Torah as you have to learn הלכה, you have to know what

to do. It's in a certain way we could say it's like a means to an end, or do they relate to Torah as as an end in and of itself? We are engaging in the Torah itself. By way lehavdil, by way of let's say an analogy, a person can let's say read instructions in order to know what to do. They can read, you know, the tax code if they're an accountant in order to know, and then they're going to be certain corners to cut, not even necessarily in terms of being illegal.

But let's say that there are certain things that can be that can achieve to the same end or to substantially the same end. There's nothing inherently holy, or there's nothing inherently substantial about the instructions themselves other than that they're telling you how to accomplish something, and you could either figure out another way or another way that it'll be substantially the same and avoid a lot of effort, you could do it in a different way. But let's say, lehavdil, let's say you're playing a crossword puzzle or Sudoku or, you know, for that matter you're you're you're investigating, you know, investing in an intellectual exercise or playing a game, right?

So, you're not you're not doing something in order to achieve a purpose. What you're doing is whether it's, you know, to be שעשוע, so to speak, whether or not to have fun. But in other words, you're doing it for the game itself. So if you're playing Sudoku and you cheat, you don't achieve anything by getting to the end quicker. You've cheated in the game. There's no purpose. Now, lehavdil, I hope that the mashal might be potentially helpful. So if you're if you're playing a game, if you if you cheated then you didn't win.

It's the winning is not what you're after. It's only winning through playing the game. So over here also, if you relate to something as as something it's an end in and of itself, that's a fundamentally different way of relating to it as something towards an end. So that's one way of relating to שלא ברכו בתורה תחילה. Why were they not making berachot on the Torah, or how do we relate to not making the berachot on the Torah itself? That they didn't have an appreciation for the Torah as what to make a berachah on.

The Torah was something to achieve to achieve to understand the הלכה, to know the correct practice is, but the relationship with the Torah was lacking. It's one way of understanding that Gemara. But we're going to understand the way that the Rabbeinu is going to go into in the פנימיות, שצריך כל אדם ובפרט תלמיד חכם לברך. Every every person, specifically a תלמיד חכם, has to make a ברכה, ולהאיר בלימוד תורתו בשורש הנשמות. And to bring, again, we use להאיר, literally translates as light, something that's radiant, but what we will translate להאיר בלימוד תורתו to be able to create this light, this radiance in his לימוד התורה, in the שורש נשמות.

Again, Torah, we saw the אותיות, but it's all coming from from the same source. היינו במחשבה תחילה, that the נשמות, the Torah was created before the world, but the נשמות of כלל ישראל, we said last time, also was במחשבה תחילה, כביכול by הקדוש ברוך הוא, כי שם שרשנו, because that's where that that's where we said that's where, כי שם שרשנו, that this is where the כלל ישראל was עלו במחשבה תחילה. We'll quote we'll quote just Rav Chaim. Rav Chaim Kramer has a very nice note over here that he says that what does it mean מחשבה תחילה?

That when Rabbeinu looks at this Gemara, he says that they did not look to awaken to the beginning of Torah, the source and upper thought, that when when they were connecting, so if Torah is essentially us relating to Ratzon Hashem, so a relationship, again, if I have to just push a switch, so then I push the switch regardless of what I'm thinking, but if if Torah is essentially tapping into Ratzon Hashem, it's a relationship issue, there is a certain raw power in the words and the דיבורים and so forth, but when when I tell you something, let's say להבדיל, if I tell you thank you, I give you flowers, relating to something being on the same page as you, putting my mind into your mind

and creating this this alignment, that's only going to be as strong as my כוונה is. And when they didn't say ברכו בתורה תחילה, they didn't when they were learning, they weren't trying to tap into the source of רצון השם במחשבה תחילה, the place where the שורש הנשמה is, without that type of an attitude, that beginning, so their their children who are now going to be coming the from this source, in other words, the נשמות are בעצם הקדוש ברוך הוא is taking from this from this, so to speak, the שורש, this repository, that's where the נשמות come from, and they are going to there's going to be a לבוש, and they are going to be put into the world.

So without this type of a beginning, without tapping into the source, the תלמיד חכם when he draws down this נשמה, we actually saw in Torah י״ב an an idea about how a person's כוונות בשעת תשמיש, that that could actually draw into certain כוחות, certain תכונות, certain תאוות into the נשמה of their children. Again, the נשמה itself is pure, but the מלבוש could be affected also by the parents. And since the תלמידי חכמים did not awaken from this source, the repository where the נשמות of their offspring are drawn, so then the way that those נשמות are going to come down is they're going to be, we'll see in a second, darkened in a certain way, but it'll be harder to access, we'll say, that הארה.

But when a person says a bracha, what is b'etzem a bracha? The the a ברכה, בריכה is a could be a knee, ברך is a knee, it's like when a person has has ענוה and שפלות, so they're מכניע themselves to something else, then they're able to take themselves out of the picture. The the the the less individual kavod that a person has, the more that they could be מרבה in כבוד שמים, right? Like the first line we said in Torah, in תורה ו׳, כי צריך כל אדם למעט בכבוד עצמו ולהרבות בכבוד המקום.

But a בריכה, which is a spring, what we're doing when we say a bracha is we're taking something, whether it's physical, spiritual, but we're accessing like the ultimate spring where הקדוש ברוך הוא injects שפע into the world, and we're able to take something, even if it's a piece of food, that we're we're able to connect it by through us eating the food, it's not just that we're limiting it to us eating the physical. When we eat that piece of food, now we're connecting it back to the source, we're thanking הקדוש ברוך הוא for it, we're recognizing that there's השגחה פרטית, every single seed, everything that הקדוש ברוך הוא choreographed and coordinated in the world so that we could have it, and now we're going to

take this piece of food, we're going to eat it, and now this food is going to generate energy that we're going to use for a mitzvah, that that and that that's why when a person eats not kasher, chas v'shalom, so there's a besides for the fact that they did an עבירה, it creates a טמטום הלב. Whatever whatever the influx of energy into something is, that's going to manifest, that now becomes the food that he ate generates nutrients, that becomes part of his bones and his muscles. So when a person creates a, says says a bracha on something, that's going back to the beginning.

They're they're acknowledging, they're attaching something to the influx of energy, they attach it to the true source, and and that that's where they they can create a קנין. That's where when when a person makes a bracha, then they're able to take that piece of food instead of it being מעילה, they make it theirs. So when a person learns the Torah, also they connect, as it were, the Torah to the source. It's not just that I'm learning about שור, בור, מבעה, הבער, I'm learning about an ox in the Gemara, I'm learning about a story, but no, what I do when I make the bracha, a בריכה, I attach it to the שפע, I created, I align it back with the source, the influx of energy coming

into the world. So now, that source is similar, and there's a a a a shared aspect of the ניצוצי נשמות that are aligned with the אותיות of the תורה במחשבה תחילה, the שורש of where נשמות come into the world. So now, when this תלמיד חכם brings נשמות into the world, he will be able to access a נשמה that has a higher access point and a higher a a closer attachment with this הארה. נמצא כשמביא הארה וברכה לתוך תחלת מחשבה, when the תלמיד חכם, as it were, is learning, like we said, he's reverberating the rope down here, and it creates these vibrations going back up, and it creates a light at the source, the repository where the source of the Torah is, and it's the source

where the נשמות come from as well, ועל ידו מסתנוצצין ומזדככין הנשמה, so the neshamot are going to shine brighter, as it were, נמצא shine brighter הארה, it's it's more of an expression of this כבוד השם, so to speak, נמצא כשממשיך נשמה לבניו, so when he will have access to bring a neshamah down to into the world that he's going to have his child, his פיקדון, he's going to bring the neshamah, he could take care of it, he brings it into the world, בוודאי הוא ממשיך נשמה בהירה וזכה.

So you could say it's almost like midah keneged midah. Because he did this, so he's going to be able to bring into the world a neshamah that's also going to shine brightly as it were, ועל ידי זה גם בנו יהיה תלמיד חכם. אבל כשאין מאיר ומברך את התורה תחילה על ידי לימודו, when he doesn't as it were line up his Torah with the source, אז כשממשיך נשמה לבניו, so then when he's drawing down a neshamah into the world, הנשמה תהיה בבחינת אני ישנה. It's going to be a bechinah of as it were sleeping, like covered up, dark, harder to access that הארה.

ואינה מאירה, and it will not be ניכר, it won't be shining, its attachment to the כבוד השם that it brings into the world, right, you say יהי כבוד השם בעולם, וכבוד נקרא, כבוד is called אור. We said that והארץ האירה מכבודו, we quoted a pasuk in Yechezkel last time, מפני זה לא יהיה בניו תלמיד חכם. Now again, could anybody break out of that? Could there be teshuvah? Could people create their own autonomy and their own decisions? Yeah, 100%, but עד כמה that we are, I guess my suggestion, it's not that a person can't become a talmid chacham on their own, but we're asking a person everybody wants that whatever comes after them should ride on their shoulders.

So it's true a person can create their independently become a talmid chacham, but עד כמה that a person worked towards something, and now they want that their child should ride on their shoulders, they should come in with that extra leverage towards become a talmid chacham, yes, to work on themselves also, but have this relationship with Torah, and that really comes via the father, right, we're all happy to give as a so to speak a נחלה to our children that they should that they should have this element of becoming a talmid chacham, being able, sometimes more people who already have money they can become richer, they have more money to invest, right?

So it's true, the person will have to invest on their own, but the more that they start off with, the better that they can become. So perhaps over here, obviously the person could become a talmid chacham in their own right, but over here, the reason that we don't see necessarily this linkage of becoming a תלמיד חכם, זה מפני שלא בירכו בתורה תחילה, היינו שורש הנשמות. They didn't create this berachah, line up the בריכה, line up the wellspring in their Torah, they didn't access, they didn't they didn't align it with מחשבה תחילה, בבחינת ישראל עלו במחשבה תחילה, that this is where the שורש הנשמות comes from.

As we go into the next piece, I'm just going to remind us, sometimes it's nice to just make these make these connections. The next piece is going to talk about the way to access Torah is through shiflut, anavah, through through through humility, and that that's how a person is able to access a higher madregah. So we actually discussed this idea in Torah י״א, if we remember. We were talking about even now we're talking about creating zivugim between תלמידי חכמים, התנוצצות של הארה that we said can create the neshamah of gerim.

Torah י״א had started off that every single person has to create ייחודא עילאה, ייחודא תתאה, and every single person ישראל צריך שיהיה נעשה זאת על ידו, and in doing so, that's how יוכל לבוא לתבונת התורה לאומקה. So a very similar concept, the idea of being able to create zivugim and tap into into Torah and Torah with a deep understanding. We said that a person who is on a low madreigah, so how is he able to tap into that? Through dibburim. Dibbur by the way is is malchut, but you'll see why I'm quoting this in a second.

And we said that through dibbur a person's able to be מאיר to enlighten all the place where he has to do teshuvah, he can tap into himself at the source. Yochani and Mamrei had gone to Moshe and said, how are you going to bring תבונת התורה לאומקה to people that seem to be on a on a low level? And Moshe Rabbeinu said that through speaking, through saying dibburim and the the dibburim of Torah will be מאיר where a person needs to do teshuvah. But here's here's what we said, that this dibbur, how does a person access the dibbur, the type of speech, to tie the malchut back to the שורש?

How is a person going to see where he has to do teshuvah, come closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu through these dibburim? We said in אות ב׳ over there, כי על ידי כבוד, היינו שיראה שיהיה כבוד השם יתברך בשלמות, literally what we're talking over here, להמשיך שלום בעולם צריך להעלות כבוד. Over there, we said that how is the dibburim going to be מאיר? Through kavod, through שיהא כבוד השם יתברך בשלמות, שיהא כבודו לאין נגד כבוד השם יתברך, that a person has to have zero skin in the game.

To make Hakadosh Baruch Hu as a shleimut, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is 100%, then you have to be zero. By the way, being a zero doesn't mean that you can't accomplish anything. Being a zero means that you're a shaliach of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. If you're a total soldier in the army, so then you could you could have a tremendous amount of kavod, you could be the highest level, the highest ranking member of the army. The way that you achieve the highest-ranking member in the army, we just had Parashat Korach, right?

Is to have total התבטלות. When it's from the wrong reasons, when it's for your own kavod, when it's because you want it for yourself, even if it's 1%, sometimes much greater than that, then you're essentially saying that Hakadosh Baruch Hu only has 99%. 99 is not a שלמות. How does a person elevate kavod Hashem? By By having shiflut, anavah, by making himself אין לנגד כבוד השם יתברך, ענווה וקטנות, and therefore כי עיקר בחינת הדיבור הוא מכבוד, and we said that מי הוא זה מלך הכבוד, מלכות is פה.

So this aligns very much with what we're talking about, and on the comment that a person doesn't do that, he's we said that he actually creates almost a הגשמה in the Torah. He says the Torah, but the Torah is not aligned with the source. The Torah doesn't become an expression of the infinite. When he when he says words of Torah and he's saying it through his perspective where he has his own kavod, so then he's shining the Torah through a lens of his own prerogative, and it's almost it almost it creates a הגשמה in the Torah.

The Torah doesn't become an expression of the infinite; the Torah becomes an expression of him, which is the שכינה in גלות. We spoke in Torah י״ב how to get the שכינה back out of גלות, and we said that that's why you have to have the ו' in kavod. Without the ו', a person becomes כבד פה, he can't have the דיבורים. We said that the ו' is שמירת הברית, and so forth. But okay, so now with this is now that we're familiarizing ourself again with what we're talking about, says Rabbeinu over here, ואין אדם זוכה לתורה אלא על ידי שפלות.

The way that we're זוכה to Torah, these דיבורים that are going to be מאיר, they're מאיר all the way back to the ניצוצי נשמות to bring talmidei chachamim into the world, that's through anavah, through shiflut, through being ממעט his own kavod, right? Like Torah ו', תורה י״א, כמו שאמרו חכמינו זכרונם לברכה, וממדבר מתנה, שישבר גאוותו מארבע בחינות, that a person has to break his gaavah in four different aspects. Now we know that gaavah is we've already compared many times to avodah zarah. This is certainly the total opposite, anti כבוד השם.

So we're going to say that a person, in order to get to this level, needs to break their gaavah in four different four different levels. שישבר גאוותו בארבע בחינות שפלות, כי צריך אדם להקטין את עצמו לפני גדולים ממנו, those who are greater than him, which would not seem to be a big deal, because if the people are legitimately greater than him, then why does he have any גאווה כנגדם at all? Although, to the extent that somebody is on a lower level, ironically, sometimes they think more of themselves.

The people there's a there's a saying, I don't know the source, איסתרא בלגינא קיש קיש קריא, right? When there's only a couple of coins in the box, when you're shaking the tzedakah box, those are the ones that make the loudest noise. ולפני בני אדם כערכו, a person has to break his gaavah through people who are on the same level as him. ולפעמים, one second, גדולים ממנו ולפני אדם כערכו ולפני קטנים ממנו, those who are smaller than him. If you learn Pirkei Avot on Shabbos, actually we just had a we just had a Mishnah, right?

ט״ו, פרק פרק ד' ט״ו, רבי אלעזר בן שמוע אומר: יהי כבוד תלמידך חביב עליך כשלך, your תלמיד who is lower than you should be you should treat as as like you, כבוד חברך, the one who is your חבר like you, כמורא רבך, ומורא רבך כמורא שמים, so always always kind of a level, you know, one-upping it. So the there's these Now if you look in Iggeret HaRamban, he really ties everything to to anavah. At At the end all of the middot, all of the middot, he says אפרוש לך איך תתנהג במידת הענווה, he goes on how a person should be בענווה, וכל אדם יהא גדול ממך בעיניך.

But all of the middot, it's worth looking in Iggeret HaRamban, all really be'etzem tie back to anavah. Now these three types of anavah, a person, at basic level, whoever you perceive as being greater than you, certainly, somebody who's on your level, but by the way, being on your level might mean that some some things they are they might be worse than you because they have challenges that you don't have, but in other areas they might be greater than you. So even if they balance out to being on your level, the things that you do wrong that they do wrong that you don't, they have challenges that you don't have, and the things that they do better than you, why should you not acknowledge it?

Anybody who's honest and really knows where their thoughts go, and, you know, the things that they do wrong, doesn't really have any excuse that they should necessarily think that they're better than another person. Again, he's not fleshing it out in this way, but whatever whatever התבוננות helps a person, and again, Iggeret HaRamban is is worth going through, but the the anavah and the way that you relate to others greater than you and on the same level as you, and ולפני קטנים ממנו. Now this could be very hard avodah, especially if you're looking at somebody and they seem to be on a lower spiritual level, but we can also relate to these things in another way as well.

People that seem to be on a higher or lower just stature, whether in social terms, let's say a person has less money. If I had the challenge of having less money or rachmana litzlan other types of challenges, would I even be doing as good of a job as he does? Maybe I give much more tzedakah. He gives half as much tzedakah, but he has 10 times less money. Would I even be able to, or or or having guests at a table, right? If he I have a lot of space, but he has very little space, would I be able to have guests and invite people into my home when they needed it if I had as little space that as he did?

So, regardless of whether a person If a person is holding in a higher level than you, certainly then you should respect their accomplishments or you know, whatever it is. But when a person's holding on a lower level, they demand They demand a tremendous amount of respect, also. Now, the fourth one Now, interestingly, some of the notes over here point out that there's different types of קליפה. There's three types of unredeemable קליפה as it were, and then there's There's a middle level called קליפת נוגה. Without Without kind of unpacking the entire concept, we're going to see that this fourth one is a little bit different.

So, let's say a person has achieved these these first three types of anavah, of being able to relate to those who are on a higher level or a lower level or the same. And again, the truth of it is that the same is really never exactly the same. No two people are exactly identical. If a person's on the same level as you, what that really means is that they're probably a mix of a little higher and a little lower, but be that as it may, certainly you have what to learn from them.

ולפעמים הוא בעצמו קטן שבקטנים. Now, this could be read as one of two ways. This could be I am on a super, super low level, and therefore even I have to have anavah and relate to myself even lower, even lower than I'm at, right? In other words, to to relate to to not relate to a station in life greater than where I'm at, that's just not having ga'avah. But anavah means to even not acknowledge or at least not acknowledge for myself my accomplishments. Even what I have I I got from HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

So, one level it could say קטן שבקטנים is a person who has not accomplished a lot. But let's say it the other way. Let's Let's learn it, he brings over here, who says that from Likutei Halachot, that what we're talking over here, a person is קטן קטן שבקטנים is actually by an אדם צדיק גדול מאד, meaning a person who really is views himself as קטן שבקטנים, that he literally has achieved a tremendous amount of anavah. So, he seems to have achieved it. Why is this a fourth level that even בעצמו קטן שבקטנים צריך להקטין את עצמו כנגד מדרגת עצמו, even k'neged himself now he has to have a further level of ענוה, וידמה בעיניו שהוא למטה ממדרגתו?

Just read the pasuk and then we'll speak out one idea. בבחינת שבו איש תחתיו, the pshat of the pasuk is actually talking about HaKadosh Baruch Hu is warning Klal Yisrael by Shabbos that they shouldn't leave their area to gather the מן, and each one should stay in their makom. But the language שבו איש תחתיו, that that a person should be תחתיו, even under where he's at. But one idea that we that that get spoken out over here in the notes is: So, all of us, no matter what level we've achieved, if we are relating to ourselves vis-a-vis HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the אין סופיות, the infinite, so we're infinitesimally small.

Now, by the way, you know, it's like the baalei mussar used to say, I'm everything, I'm nothing. To the extent that you make yourself that you have hitbatlut to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that to to a pool, as it were, right? We said a בריכה that's infinitely large, and you make make yourself into a total a a channel, a hose, a tzinor, right? In other words, you're not a keli, you don't hold anything of yourself. You become just totally a pipeline from HaKadosh Baruch Hu, so then you be'etzem have infinite capacity as well.

The less kavod that you have or that you attribute to yourself, the more capacity you have to align yourself with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and then you can ultimately become the greatest of the greats, משה רבינו, שכינה מדברת מתוך גרונו, the ענו מכל אדם, right? It's only when you make yourself into a keli. To the extent that you are a pool, you have You can have 10 gallons, 100 gallons, a million gallons, but you're still limited. When a person becomes a channel to the infinite, then they have אין סופיות capacity, right?

Then we tap in, we have we we have tefillah, we've spoken תורה ז, that tefillah is a בחינת נס, a bechinah of miracle. We're not limited by teva at all. So, this קטן שבקטנים, what's the problem? Lemaaseh, he's achieved a tremendous level of anavah. But even so, even if he's a קטן שבקטנים, but it could like what you said in terms of a צדיק גמור who is able to relate to the רשעים, when if a person still has something, even if it's latent, it could still awaken.

There's still some sort some sort of a even if it doesn't manifest in terms of being self-centered, but there is still a self over there. there, and therefore that person also, who is the קטן שבקטנים, that's like that level of קליפת נוגה, we said, it's not the unredeemable. He's there. He's, he he he's literally in the middle. He's doing avodah, but there's a tikkun that happens at that level also. Not because not because he's holding in a bad place, he's קטן שבקטנים, but in order that this latent koach doesn't come out and manifest itself into gaavah and still have an expression of the self, he also has to say, even where I am, vis-a-vis the אין סופיות, the infinite, so then I also recognize my

my anavah, and again, to the extent that you that you do that, to the extent we said before, what one nice vort the the holiday of simcha, right, שמח בחלקו, that what's the ultimate holiday of simcha? On Sukkos, and then ניסוך המים, that's when we're screaming out, הושע נא למענך אלקינו, we're we're screaming out in desperation, right? Why are we screaming How could you have that the holiday of simcha is literally the holiday where you're screaming out hoshanos in desperation? Because to the extent that you recognize that you are nothing, you have zero capacity, you don't have that strength, you can't rely on yourself, you're totally במקום הושענות, that's where you can come to ultimate simcha, because that's where you have the ultimate security.

When you take yourself zero out of the picture, then then then you're ultimately holding at 100%. That vort I heard from Rav Yitzchak Berkowitz. So just to take stock where we're holding, going through Rabbah bar bar Chanah, we explained that in order to be ממשיך שלום into the world, we have to elevate כבוד ה׳ to its שורש, which is יראה. This is done through being מקרב those who are farthest away, baalei teshuvah and gerim. This can be done through either a direct outreach or contact or, alternatively, just through the עצם לימוד התורה לשמה.

This can also be גורם that there should be an הארה back at the שורש, which will ultimately have that impact and bring those farthest away from HaKadosh Baruch Hu closer. We quoted the the Chazal by Yisro, and this is going to elevate the the כבוד ה׳. This will be the greatest גילוי כבוד ה׳. How is a person זוכה to this Torah, which is able to elevate כבוד ה׳? Through שפלות, and we we just explored that. וזה שאמר רבה בר בר חנה, now we'll see where these concepts are expressed through the מאמר רבה בר בר חנה Bava Batra דף ע״ג: לדידי חזי לי to I saw אורזילא בר יומא, a mountain goat or something like that, בר יומא, דהוי כהר תבור, it was as large as

הר תבור. והר תבור כמה הוי? ארבע פרסי, which is four פרסה. Each פרסה is approximately four kilometers. ובמשכא דצואריה, and the outstretched neck of this mountain goat, תלתא פרסי, the the length of the neck was three פרסה, ובמרבעתא דרישיה, and the resting place of its head, when it was lying down, was פרסה ופלגא. So there was a very large mountain goat, the size of הר תבור, which is, again, every number will relate to something important, which was four פרסה. The outstretched neck is three פרסה. The resting place for its head is a פרסה ופלגא.

ורמא כופתא וסכרא לירדנא, and when it expelled waste, so that stopped up the ירדן river. Rashbam: אורזילא בר יומא is ראם בן יום אחד, a this ראם, very large animal, but also it's like a goat, one one day old. דההוא יום נולד, it was born on that day. כהר תבור כן היה גדול, this is how large הר תבור was. במרבעתא דרישיה, the resting place of its head, מקום הנחת ראשו כששוכב על קרקע, the resting place, not of the whole animal, but of its head when it lied on the ground.

רמא כופתא: הטיל רעי, it expelled waste. וסכרא: הראי לירדנא לפי שעה, and this waste stopped up the ירדן for a period of time, עד שמסמוהו, until המים מעט מעט, until the water dissolved it or washed it away. אורזילא בר יומא, so this ראם, this mountain goat that was one day old, היינו בחינת כבוד. This is representative of the kavod of ה׳, שהוא בעכו״ם, that for the time being, we explained that the kavod of Hashem, the Shechinah is in galut. The עיקר כבוד is found by the goyim during this period.

בזילותא, which is in a state of being degraded, שפלות. Either number one, because כלל ישראל still has to do teshuvah, a very important point we've mentioned many times, that הקדוש ברוך הוא is, so to speak, ready, willing, and able to give. It's us that has to come around to be able to form that connection. Or alternatively, we're talking about the בעלי תשובה, the gerim that did not that are not yet נתגייר, that it has they have to that piece has to come into place in order for there to be this expression, this giluy of כבוד ה׳.

וזה, this אורזילא, this mountain goat, if you break up the word, is אור זילא, it's that the light, that the כבוד ה׳ is בזילותא, it is in a in a down cycle, right? אור, היינו בחינת כבוד, that or, like we explained before, is bechinah of כבוד, כמו שכתוב, we link to the פסוק, והארץ האירה מכבודו, that the earth was illuminated from kavod, but we see that or and kavod go together. And אור זילא that it's now that this כבוד השם, the Shechinah is in galut. ולמה נקרא, why is or called kavod?

ביממא, so it's אור זילא ביממא, why is this idea that we're saying that the that the kavod of Hashem is in galut at this point and it's ביממא? כי לא יתגלה הכבוד, because when will the kavod end up being נתגלה, when will there be a revelation of כבוד השם? אלא בביאת משיחנו, the ultimate giluy is going to be in ימות המשיח, that's when the כבוד השם is going to come out of galut. וכתיב ביה, and with regard to Mashiach, there's a conversation in the Gemara between Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi and Mashiach and Eliyahu, and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked, אימתי אתי מר, when will Mashiach come?

And the answer was Eliyahu HaNavi explained, היום. היום אם בקולו תשמעו. This day, or any day, if you will do your part, you will listen to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, כמו שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה, which means that really when will Mashiach come? Any day, today. Today is the day, potentially, it's up to us, but therefore this idea of ביממא is a reference to the day, which could potentially be any day, ובכל יום מוכן הכבוד לצאת מזילותא. Any day is the day when the Shechinah is ready to come out of galut, it's up to us.

והוה כהר תבור, and this the this ראם, this goat was as big as Har Tavor, this ראם that's called an אורזילא because of the כבוד, שהראה שהעלאת כבוד, that to raise the kavod of Hashem, to take it out of גלות, תלוי בזה שאדם משבר גאוותו. We said that it really links back to Torah, that the Torah is the way that we can ultimately bring bring the כבוד השם out of galut, and that's what brings ultimately that the talmidei chachamim, if they learn the right way, they can have children who are talmidei chachamim, and that they can bring the baalei teshuvah and the and the gerim closer, but he says, תלוי בזה שאדם משבר גאוותו, how is a person zocheh to this Torah?

Through breaking gaavah. כפי השתברות גאוותו, כן הוא העלאת הכבוד, according to the breaking down of one's gaavah, which, by the way, gaavah is really a form of avodah zarah. In a certain sense, you could almost say it's it's the greatest, more subtle, but the greatest form of avodah zarah. Avodah zarah a person is instead of really linking to the source, then they link to the the intermediaries, and they attribute power. But is there any bigger statement of of putting oneself farther away from HaKadosh Baruch Hu than looking at oneself, one's own prerogative instead of having hitbatlut and realizing that he has a tachlit, and he is a soldier in HaKadosh Baruch Hu's army, he has hitbatlut to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that he has a tachlit

in life, and all of a sudden having his own prerogative and putting himself as the center? Right? In other words, even we've we've mentioned before that a person davens b'kavanah, are we trying to bring ourselves closer to הקדוש ברוך הוא, or are we trying to bring הקדוש ברוך הוא around to our prerogative? So over here, a person is meshabeir their ga'avah, they get rid of avodah zarah, as it were, this element of avodah zarah, so that's how a person can raise הקדוש ברוך הוא's kavod, by taking themselves out of the game, right?

By raise הקדוש ברוך הוא's kavod, be zocheh to תורה, כי כבודו נעלה על ידי תורה, כנ״ל, that that הקדוש ברוך הוא's kavod is ultimately raised through Torah, that's how we're able to bring gerim closer as well, and through Torah we do again direct contact or learning לשמה, ואין אדם זוכה לתורה אלא על ידי שפלות, and it's through the shiflut that a person is zocheh to תורה, כמו שאמרו חכמינו זכרונם לברכה: ממדבר מתנה, when one makes himself into a midbar, and that that is when they their תלמודו מתקיים בידו, the that's the Gemara brings.

וזה הר תבור. So what's Har Tavor? That that we reference that the אורזילא, this mountain goat, was as big as Har Tavor. So הר תבור is הר, לשון גדלות, כמו שכתוב: העמדת להררי עוז, made my it's pasuk in Tehillim, made my strength like a mountain. So we see that הר and oz, strength, is linked together. What's Tavor? In Aramaic, there are certain letters that are that switch around, right? A ד and a ז, that's why דהב is the Gold Coast, right, זהב. But over here, a ת and a ש also.

So what's תבור? Is שבר, that's where that that breaks, לשון שבירה. So Har Tavor is a breaking down of of ga'avah. That's how we can get כבוד השם out of galut, to raise the כבוד השם לשרשו through Torah. But how are we zocheh to תבור through to Torah through הר תבור? Through breaking down ga'avah. והר תבור כמה הוה פרסי? והר תבור כמה הוה? ארבעה פרסי. הר תבור was four פרסות big. What does this mean? That how is one break their ga'avah? היינו ארבע בחינות שפלות הנ״ל, this was the last piece that we did right before the Rabbah bar bar Chana, that how does a person break their ga'avah?

שצריך להקטין לפני צדיקים, those greater than him, בינונים, the ones who seem to be his חברים, on the same level, רשעים, ולפני מדרגת עצמו, which we just explored, ושידמה בעיניו כאילו לא בא עדיין לפני מדרגתו שהוא בה. Even when he relates to himself, that that he relates to himself really as as one level before, even where he's holding, he takes he takes a step back and he doesn't give himself complete complete credit for where where it is that he achieved. Perhaps perhaps we can say it. In other words, if a person gives himself, he owns his accomplishment.

So again, a person has to be able to appreciate his strengths, appreciate his accomplishments, go forward. But my accomplishment is only worth as much as as I I שטעל צו to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. In other words, you you give me a million dollars, so $100,000 is my ma'aser. I I I can feel good that I owned up to my God-given task, but ultimately that was my responsibility. If I wouldn't have done it, so then it's not that I did somebody a favor, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, like the Chazal tell us, I should feel so good about a mezuzah, who gave me the house that I put a mezuzah on?

I should feel so good about putting on tefillin, who gave me the arm that I put tefillin on? So a person has to take take pride, I guess, or or understand their accomplishment that they're owning up to their obligation, that they're doing the right thing. And again, once they link to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then they're linking to the infinite, that's בעצם that that's the greatest accomplishment. But as far as where I'm holding, so a person takes a step back. Am I really sure that I've owned up to my obligation?

I could relate to myself as one step before that there. Could Could I have done more? Are any of us really 100% perfect? None of us are 100% perfect. And this aligns also with the way that we explained this idea before of וזה הר תורא ארבע פרסי, ששבירת הגאוה שהיא על ידי ארבע בחינות הנ״ל. So this idea, how is zocheh to Torah through שפלות in the four different בחינות. ומשכא דצואריה תלתא פרסי, now the outstretched neck of this of this mountain goat was three פרסאות, הבחינות הדברים שבדרך בני אדם להתגאות בהם.

So we're talking about breaking down ga'avah, so we relate to ga'avah in a in in the dynamic of three, a צורה of three. There are three things that a person generally feels ga'avah about, והם שלשה דברים, וצריך לשמור את עצמו מהם, כמו שכתוב: אל יתהלל חכם בחכמתו, or also גבור בגבורתו, ועשיר בעשרו. These are things, by the way, if we look in Avot, so these things specifically which a person, I think I mentioned one time I was talking with Rabbi Reuven Feinstein, I was I was someplace where he was sitting, by a hotel actually and it was by breakfast and people were crowding around asking him different questions, and he remarked that it's very interesting that people tend to take credit by the things that

Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives them, and the things that they should take responsibility for, they don't. So a person feels all gaavadik that he's rich, or smart, or good-looking, or whatever it is, these are things that come from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Meanwhile, if you ask him if he's lazy, or if he's, you know, if he's בזריזות, you know, these things, he says, "Listen, nobody's perfect." The things that he should own, he wipes away. The things that that come straight from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, a person feels ga'avah over.

That's the Mishnah, we redefine, who but who who's a real chacham? As far as you're concerned, Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives the chachmah, the wisdom, but if you want to know if you're a chacham, that that's on you. איזהו חכם? הלומד מכל אדם. איזהו עשיר? השמח בחלקו. These happiness is a choice. If you look in Gateway to Happiness, beautiful Rabbi Pliskin book, old classic, happiness is totally a choice. So these are the way that we relate to these things. But in a certain in in the God-given sense, wisdom, עשירות, these are things that people tend to feel ga'avah over, very counterintuitive in a certain sense, והם שלש בחינות: חכם, גבור, עשיר, והגדלות גאוה נקרא משכא דצואריה.

And this ga'avah is called an outstretching of the neck, בבחינת, there's a pasuk, the beginning of the pasuk is אל תרימו למרום קרנכם, don't raise your horns, but the end of that pasuk says תדברו בצואר עתק, like speaking from a haughty, an outstretched neck. So we see that the צואר, the outstretched neck is linked to ga'avah. So people feel ga'avah over these three פרסא links to the chacham, gibor, and עשירות that people tend to feel ga'avah over. ומרבעתא דרישיה, and the resting place of its head was פרסא ופלגא.

זה בחינת, what's מרבעתא? We've had this before actually, זה בחינת זיווג הנעשה בראשית המחשבה, is a בחינה. Now the entire we've we've spoken about before, I keep on referencing that, but because it really it just builds into such a beautiful structure. You know, there's a fine line between wanting to unpack every single concept every single time, or understanding that we're on a journey and, you know, like the sefer itself, עשיר במקום אחד, עני במקום אחר, or the reverse. But the that that that certain points we have an opportunity to explore more concepts, but the entire structure of the world, שמים וארץ, זכר ונקבה, מים נוקבין, מים דכורין, but the the entire structure of the בריאה is literally created in in such a way that there

is the giver and then the recipient, and that's what forms a שלימות, and when there's a שלימות, so then it manifests into a zivug, it manifests into productivity. The the the the world is made for פרו ורבו, the עולם לשבת יצרה, but this this idea of there being a giver and a recipient is that, and we we the the way that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave us to to be the biggest the the biggest ability to give is to give somebody else the ability to give, right? In הלכות צדקה that manifests.

So HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives us bechirah, so that the the greatest giving that HaKadosh Baruch Hu can give us the ability that we can that that we can be a creators, that that we could have the צלם אלוקים. But okay, but I digress, but we the the way that the world is structured in order that there should be that there should be productivity, and in the physical sense, there's a zivug, and then there's children that come from that, so this is a בחינת זיווג הנעשה בראשית מחשבה that this is the shoresh of of the neshamot of Yisrael.

So this idea that we're referencing, and we spoke about it also, different people learning that there's a הארה from one neshamah to the other neshamah when they engage in Torah. מרבעת לשון זיווג, כמו שכתוב אורחי ורבעי, so we're talking about this process of a zivug. Chazal explain in Niddah: אורחי ורבעי is going on the טיפת הזיווג, but Rashi explains אורחי is tashmish, coming from pasuk in Mishlei: דרך גבר בעלמה. ועל ידי זיווג הזה, and through this zivug, through this zivug these neshamot are created. It comes either in we could say in the in the general process we talk about how the olamot are structured with a zivug, or we talked about the idea of also of learning words of Torah, of letting them of letting

them shine, of letting them, and we said that when tzadikim learn Torah, so then where does where does that koach go? That can create the neshamot of the gerim. נעשה פרסא ופלגא. So through this dynamic process, this process of learning, this process of creating a shelemut, so there are two things that come from that. We will reference that as פרסא ופלגא. So again, in the language of Rabbah bar bar Chana, we said מרבעת, the zivug, the the zivug that's going to take place through bringing מכח אל הפועל, but through the the learning of Torah, through the הארה that's created, it comes in two ways: פרסא ופלגא.

פרסא, זה רמז על המשכת הנשמות, that's talking about bring down the נשמות when the תלמידי חכמים, they learn appropriately, they learn that they link it back to the source because we had spoken about two forms of learning: one is in terms of the outreach, in terms of having an interaction directly with the ba'alei teshuvah, the gerim, but the other one is the תלמידי חכמים that when they when they learn and they learn lishmah and it links back to the שורש, to the מחשבה תחילה, so and from their point of view they are able to draw down המשכת נשמות, and that that will extend them.

They will end up having children who are תלמידי חכמים, לבניהם, זה מכונה בשם פרסא, which is שלימה, there's a certain שלימות to the נשמות of תלמידי חכמים. והתנוצצות, now that's complete. The the, you know, there there's a there's a statement, people say במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים, even צדיקים גמורים do not stand. Now there's there there's true, I'm just digressing for a half a minute, still when people fly to Eretz Yisrael, they tend to go to גדולים for the berachah, they're not necessarily looking for a ba'al teshuvah in the middle of the streets to ask for the berachah.

So the the way that I think we understand this is that it's not a linear scale. When we say a ba'al teshuvah, the Chovot HaLevavot discusses in his own way, but the the way that when we say that the ba'alei teshuvah are standing where צדיקים can't reach that place, that doesn't necessarily mean higher or lower, it means that there's a certain tikkun, everybody has their own job in the world. But when we look at those greater than us, should we feel a should we First of all, all of us halavai are ba'alei teshuvah, but should we feel a חלישות הדעת: there are things that I will never there there are places that I will never reach, what's the point, there are people so much greater

than me, let them learn, what's my avodah worth? No, because there are going to be certain things in the בריאה, a certain כבוד that can be brought about from a point of view of a צדיק, of a Rebbe, they can help do outreach, they can help learn in such a way that it will bring others close, but for those that come close, there's a certain כבוד of הקדוש ברוך הוא that will light up the world, that's in such a way that that that's in such a way that the that even the צדיק גמור will not be able to get that.

On the other hand, somebody who never put a certain שמוץ into their eyes, into their brains, they are still on a level of טהרה, a level of purity that at the end of the day they have not sullied themselves. So and and and as much as we appreciate the the גדלות and the unique qualities that ba'alei teshuvah and gerim can bring to the world, we also have to appreciate somebody that that was in a position whether they themself were in that position, or maybe they were there because their parents and or those who came before them, were a gift from הקדוש ברוך הוא, set them up in such a way that they were in the position that they never that they never had that downturn.

So, still, even though the kavod will come from Hashem from the baalei teshuvah and gerim, we do appreciate the talmidei chachamim and the children of the talmidei chachamim of being par excellence, of having a certain level of completeness and taharah, that they can access and a closeness to הקדוש ברוך הוא, that we do appreciate. And we do we do understand them, and wherever their challenges are, everybody has their own challenges. You know, they to the extent that we can grow a hundred steps in life, they grow a hundred steps in life also.

They have their own challenges. It's not just that we have challenges and they don't. But okay. וניצוצות שהנשמות מנצנצים מאירים ומעוררים את פושעי ישראל בתשובה. Again, so wait a second, וניצוצות שהנשמות מנצנצים, and these lights, this הארה that נשמות initiate ומאירים ומעוררים and then they cause a הארה as the פושעי ישראל בתשובה, that that that that this this what we said that the for now we're talking about פושעי ישראל, we're not yet talking about gerim. So, פושעי ישראל also have an אות in the Torah, but it has to be lit up.

It has to be caused to resonate. Again, that could be through direct direct interaction, or that could be when a talmid chacham learn לשמה, and it lights up the source which shines back down. But that's caused by another, and this התנוצצות, it causes a זיווג. Every action has this this reaction, a giver and a recipient. When people learn Torah and it causes a הארה, that causes that these נשמות that that also have their own letters in the Torah, they will be חוזר בתשובה ומולידין נשמות גרים. And also, when when tzadikim learn, so not only will it cause that there'll be הארה for teshuvah, but sometimes that energy, where is the תולדה of that going to go?

That will go into those will be the נשמות that the gerim are made from. זה מכונה בשם פלגא, but when we talk about the baalei teshuvah and the gerim that end up coming closer, so this is going to be called פלגא, which is לשון of a part or a half. Why? כי עדיין רחוקים מקדושה מאד ויכול להיות להם מניעות רבות. There are people that are good, they have a head start, they have a head start. I mean, right? You know, sometimes it takes money to make money, it's it's wonderful.

Sometimes a person is self-made, but sometimes when a person has a large investment, they're able to accomplish even more. So, that that's one thing. But the people that are coming from far away, right, it's like new money and old money, they're still they're still coming from a place where even though on the surface now they're going in the right direction, but at the end of the day, it's not always so easy to rid oneself of all of one preconceived תאוות. We even actually had in Torah י', אות ד', we had talked about people who are מריקן שקיהם וניערו כו', as we said that even though a person might fast, they empty out their שק, they empty out the the שק, which is a בחינה of

a גוף, but nevertheless, ingrained in them until they can until they can work on and get rid of and purify themself, there's still the תאוה. There's still certain things, and some of those might have even come from their parents. We talked about in a Kabbalistic way, but even maybe just in terms of circumstances, surroundings, and culture. And therefore, inasmuch as a person is now moving in the right direction, but there are certain certain garments, there are certain things that are that are part of their associated personality, things that might be dormant, but that could be awakened, that could be חוזר ונעור, that they still have to rid themself of.

So, he says, because they're still far away from kedushah, even once they decide that they're going to be moving in the right path, they still have to be very careful. They're still רחוקים מקדושה מאד ויכול להיות להם מניעות רבות וצריכים להם יגיעות רבות כדי להפשיט מהבגדים הצואים, and they have to work very hard to take off their בגדים צואים. Avodah zarah is generally referred to as כי צואה, but but besides for the fact that בגדים צואים we said is avodah zarah, part of that is also gaavah, kavod, our reference to avodah zarah.

There's things that are ingrained שלבשו that they enclothed themself in that they have to rid themself of, כמו שכתוב: הסירו הבגדים הצואים, that through that through it's based on a pasuk in Zechariah, but it's talking about in terms of teshuvah, that we see that these that these bad behaviors and so forth are referred to as בגדים צואים, as soiled clothing, כי אלו הבגדים הצואים, these soiled clothing that these gerim are wearing, or the baalei teshuvah because of their sins, הם מונעים אותם מלהתקרב להקדוש ברוך הוא. These end up, even though they have now they're they're trying to move in the right direction, they still have certain things that are that are acting as barriers, והן מפסיקים כמו נהר המפסיק, like now we're referencing Eretz Yisrael.

Eretz Yisrael is really representative of that full direct connection, that flow, that shefa from הקדוש ברוך הוא, they want to get there, but they have this preventative, there's a the Yarden is the river, water also, taavot are are the יסוד מים, but there's still this thing that's separating them from coming close, שאי אפשר להלך דרך דרך אותו הנהר, they still need to pass by and they have this מניעה, they need to rid themselves of the clothes, וצריך להשליך הבגדים הצואים, they have to remove their soiled garments in order to be able to pass through this barrier that's preventing them, not getting to Eretz Yisrael as we're talking about, but from preventing them from getting to this this totally close relationship with הקדוש ברוך הוא.

And through, yeah, as we'll see vayter in a second, but one of the reasons, we'll he speaks about it in a second, but he talks about this in the notes, Rabbi Atia, that that it's so important to understand to understand the part of the process of doing teshuvah. So often we we work on ourselves, we have a hit'orerut, we we're mechazek ourselves and all of a sudden we're blindsided, especially in the beginning we feel all excited about it, then we take a step back, some of that new initial enthusiasm subsides, and we we feel, you know, maybe a little bit chalishut hadaat, maybe we compare ourselves to others or we just start settling into certain behaviors that we thought that we had we thought that

we had conquered. And understanding this idea that a person has hit'orerut, but there are lemaaseh things that are ingrained, and those things are going to come back at us. And the fact that we seem to be focusing on, let's say, emptying the sack, but then we have to deal with the sack itself, and then each time, you know, we grow and then we take a step back, we realize what we take stock, we realize what's still there. Sometimes it blindsides us, sometimes we're more or less prepared, but understanding that this is the the process is is really is really very important, so that a person number one doesn't doesn't think perhaps that just because they had a good day then that means that they've already

totally conquered and that they can let their guard down, and when a person does dip and a person does have a certain yeridah, that they don't think that they haven't accomplished anything, but that they understand that that's that that's part of the process. Okay, although little by little it does it does build up, and then ultimately it does solidify, and a person will be able to, you know, first they will see in a second, we stop up the river and then it washes away, we stop up the river, but then ultimately we will be בעזרת השם יתברך able able to cross.

At the end, through the shiflut, through the Torah, the כבוד השם will be revealed, and we'll be able to have that path in. וזה רמא כפתא וסכרו לירדנא. So this idea of of expelling the waste, what we're trying to get rid of, this stops up the Yarden so that ultimately we can The Yarden in our case is the barrier into ארץ ישראל, the the represents the ta'avah, the the the יסוד תאוות מים, על ידי שמפשיטין ומשליכין מעליהם הבגדים הצואים, through taking off the soiled garments, through ridding oneself of the waste, of the of the bad middot, of the things that are holding him back, נתבטלים כל המניעות והמסכים המבדילים בינם לבין הקדושה, through a person being able to, it's it's initiated through Torah, and then

ultimately being able to shed oneself of these garments that he is inclothed in that are his bad character traits, that's what ultimately will stop the other things that are preventing him from reaching kedushah. It's those that the taking off of the garments and the waste itself, which is what will stop off the water, that's those בגדים צואים that he removes and he takes off of himself, that's what's going to ultimately stop the other things from coming at him and he'll be able to go into ארץ ישראל.

וזה וסכרו לירדנא, it stopped up the ירדן, כי הירדן, this barrier, מפסיק בין קדושת ארץ ישראל לחוץ לארץ. And therefore, he will be able to have that path in, take off these בגדים צואים. After after he has this hit'or'rut, he realizes that there are still certain things holding him back, he works forward to get rid of those soiled garments, and then he'll be able to move forward to have this relationship with הקדוש ברוך הוא. ובשביל זה נקראים בשם פלגא, that's why it's called like a half, a portion, it's something that even after the ba'alei teshuvah the gerim are coming closer, there's still more work to be done, כי עדיין צריכים להשליך מהם הבגדים הצואים, כדי להסיר המסכים המבדילים בינם לבין הקדושה, they still have to

remove themselves of the garments, אבל אלו הנשמות של תלמידי חכמים ממשיכים לבניהם כנ״ל, but this is in contrast to the ones that are holding the the tzaddikim gemurim so to speak as it were, the talmidei chachamim that are working towards making good better, but they don't have this again on their level they have what to work on, they have the barriers that they have to overcome, but they don't have have these בגדים צואים that they have to rid themselves of, זה מכונה בשם פרסה שלימה, that's more בשלימות, כי אין להם מסכים המבדילים, they don't have, in that sense, the same the same meniyot.

Although, when a person does have meniyot, sometimes they appreciate things more. It's brought down that meniyot, if you rearrange the letters, translates into ne'imot, into sweetness. So, again, there's ma'alot and chesronot to wherever a person's coming from, whatever their God-given avodah is, or sometimes we've put ourselves in a place where we have to do certain avodah, there's a there's something that can be accomplished. וזה, now this this idea that we're talking about, we're getting rid of the בגדים הצואים, the pasuk by Shabbos says קראת לשבת עונג לקדוש ה' mechubad and it says וכבדתו מעשות דרכיך.

So, a person should be mechabed Shabbos, and we learn from the word וכבדתו, כבדהו בכסות נקיה, with clean clothing. So now what we're doing is we're linking the kavod to כסות, to clothing, to garments, כמו שדרשו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה על הפסוק "ולקדוש ה' מכובד" וכולי. This is in reference to Yoma, Yom Kippur, where there's no אכילה, there's no שתיה. So how is a person מכבד? Through כסות נקיה. And the רמז is כסות נקיה היינו להשליך הבגדים הצואים, so that's what we're saying that the כסות נקיה is when a person removes his soiled garments, that's linked to כבוד, כי זה עיקר כבוד השם יתברך, אם תוציא יקר מזולל.

Taking something precious out of something that's in a down state, that's degraded, להשיב בני אדם בתשובה, ולהמשיך נשמת הגרים. Again, the people that are in the position to come closer, that brings about a tremendous גילוי. The people that are in a position to help bring those people closer brings about a tremendous גילוי, and that brings the כבוד השם out of גלות. וגרים שמתגיירים הם באים תחת כנפי השכינה, and the גרים that are מתגייר, they come under the כנפי השכינה, ובשביל זה נקרא that it's brought, כמו בהקדמת הזהר, בשביל זה נקרא גר צדק.

So this is a little bit of really a kabbalistic tie-in, we might not get every piece of it, but suffice it to say, Rabbeinu is going to link the idea that גרים elevate the kavod of הקדוש ברוך הוא by coming closer and linking that to the idea that we say that they come under the כנפי השכינה. So we'll just we'll just speak it out. It's brought over here that when Jews are born, so then when they get their ברית מילה they come into the פנימיות of מלכות.

When גרים, who do not get their מילה right away, but when they ultimately get their ברית מילה, they come into חיצוניות הספירה of מלכות, again, whatever exactly that means. The חיצוניות of מלכות is called צדק, so they are a ger tzedek, that's going to be when they get their ברית מילה they come they're going to be coming under the into this into this בחינה of מלכות. וזה שמובא בזהר, it's brought in the Zohar, כסות נקיה דא כנפי מצוה. That is in relation to the מצוה of tzitzit, but again, we're talking about people that are shedding their soiled clothing, that's a bechinah of a כסות נקיה.

The כסות נקיה, having clean clothing, is בגדר כנפי מצוה. And מצוה, היינו שכינה דנקראת מצוה בבחינת כל מצותיך צדק. So the Shechinah is related to is related to צדק, which is brought in the הקדמה of the Tikunei Zohar. The Shechinah is aligned with mitzvah, mitzvot are כסות נקיה, so that when the ger sheds his, or the baal teshuvah, but when the ger, we're talking specifically about gerim, when the ger sheds his soiled clothing and has a כסות נקיה, clean clothing, that's בגדר כנפי מצוה, which is now, and he's a גר צדק, so that's בגדר כנפי שכינה, because the Shechinah is בגדר מצוה.

וזהו וכבדתו, and that is when, and how when does the ger go and he sheds his soiled clothing? That's בגדר when he comes closer to הקדוש ברוך הוא, and the וכבדתו, that he's מכבד השם with this כסות נקיה by coming close by shedding his soiled clothing, זהו עיקר כבודו, שיכניס גרים תחת כנפי השכינה כנ״ל. And the gerim, through doing this, come under כנפי השכינה. So again, it's a little bit of an association which is pretty amazing, might be beyond some of us, certainly beyond me. And we'll Be'ezrat Hashem Yitbarach continue next time discussing this idea that through a person who has reached in the four different areas of of שפלות and ענוה is able to access this Torah to bring about that gerim and baalei

teshuvah will come closer to the greatest expression of kavod, elevating kavod to the שורש, to יראה. So what about the rest of us? What about people that are not יחידי סגולה? How are we going to go about elevating kavod to the שורש? Again, we had some tie-ins to certain תורות, specifically Torah ו' to a larger degree in the beginning, that talked about being ממעט כבוד עצמו and and moving towards כבוד אלוקים. But but we will move forward Be'ezrat Hashem Yitbarach and move vayter in Torah י״ד. Amazing, amazing.

Everything is amazing Torah, but Baruch Hashem, this is the one that we are now involved with. Until next time.