LM 16.1 — R' Yochanan Mishtaei · תורה ט״ז

Likutey Moharan, we will be starting Torah ט״ז. So this is, we are now moving on, in a certain sense, I guess, to the second section. The first 15 Torot were coming off the מאמרי רבה בר בר חנה. The next three will be certain statements, not all from the same מאן דאמר. Ours is going to start רבי יוחנן משתעי, and then ט״ז, in our Torah actually, the מאמר comes at the beginning of the Torah, it's not a long one. Torah י״ז is going to ultimately be explaining רב ספרא משתעי, and then י״ח will be רבי יונתן משתעי. We will give a little bit of a הקדמה just to paint a context for our Torah. I'll use the R'' Chaim Kramer note, and then we will dive in.

We should be able to do this entire Torah in one session, because it's relatively short. Likutey Moharan, this Torah was taught on Shabbos morning, this the note that I'm using, although there's a similar, there's a similar note from the verbatim note also, it's quoted in the Chayei Moharan discussing, but over here it says that the Torah was taught on Shabbos morning during the summer of 1803 or 5563 in the Jewish year. There was a number of Rabbeinu's followers that had come to Breslov to be with him, and it seems that there were certain times of

the year that Rabbi Nachman wanted that his, that his Chassidim should come, and this particular Shabbos, it was not one of the specific times that they would come, and it seems that he initially, that Rabbi Nachman, that is, initially expressed some displeasure that they had decided on their own to come, to come and have a gathering. On Shabbos morning, he gave over this Torah, and he mentioned that there are 70 nations that are ultimately divided, we'll see in our Torah, 35 and 35, the ones under the general dominion of Esav and the others under Yishmael, and discussed the idea that a tzadik encompasses two, the two Mashiach's, Mashiach ben Yosef and ultimately Mashiach ben David, these are included, were encompassed within a tzadik.

Many people were pressing around him to hear what he had to say while he was speaking this over, and the table at which Rabbi Nachman was sitting at broke, and he remarked, "How can it be that there are Gentiles sitting around the table? Are these the times of Mashiach when even the Gentiles are trying to draw so close to tzadikim to fulfill, to fulfill the pesukim in Yeshayahu, which we will see is part of the pesukim?" And it seems that this was part of his way that he would relate even in the sichah, even in the casual conversation when he made a remark, something about the Torah in which he was involved. So interesting.

Again, one of the differences in this Torah and some of the previous ones is that we, over here we're going to introduce, the רבה בר בר חנה's came at the end or towards the end of the other תורות, over here they were going to start out with a מאמר of רבי יוחנן משתעי. And another, another point that he makes at the outset is that man is put into this world so that rising above the material, he's able to come even closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

In a in a certain sense, I heard actually, I don't know who he was quoting, R'' Ben Tziyon Twersky was talking just about the idea of getting close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and the idea of the benefit, so in a certain sense, the reward, what we get out of our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So, coming closer to Rosh Hashanah, we all have our ideas of what we want, but to the extent that the entire physical world is meant as a vehicle to come closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and Hashem put this world into physical

terms, which is, in a certain sense, a darkening, it's like a it's a tzimtzum, it's much it's much more גס, and much less abstract than the spiritual worlds, just so that there is a playing field for us to grow, then it can't be that the reward that we get is going to be in physical terms. The physical terms, you know, the gashmiyut is really just a heichi timtzi so that we should have a universe within which to operate, the entire thing that we're supposed to do is to to rise above it and to gain in that way.

And therefore, any, you know, and any reward or anything like that that would be stated in physical terms, on one hand, it's something that we can relate to, and on the other hand, by definition, it's something that's that's far below what we're shooting for. We're trying to use this world in order to come out to to rise above it, and the ultimate reward is, by definition, something that we can't specifically relate to. So over here, he says that man is put into this world to rise above the material. Through that, he becomes closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And the tzadik is the one who rises to the to the upper level possible.

We'll see, we're going to bring in some of the ideas that we've discussed in the תורות until now, and the the tzadik, again we talk about the tzadik in different ways. Sometimes we could talk about a tzadik in terms of the level that a that an individual's reached, that's how many of us think about a tzadik. The other The other idea, the way that we talk about a tzadik, is is it's a role. It's a particular role in the in the the the Jewish nation.

Every person, there's a צורה of an אדם, a צורה of a human being, there's also a צורה of a nation, and the a tzadik sometimes we talk about a tzadik, the terms almost seem interchangeable, but when when the תורות talk about a tzadik and talmid chacham, but the the tzadik plays a particular role in terms of the individual's coming to do teshuvah and in terms of, in a כללותדיק way, being able, one of the examples we said is when assembling the Mishkan, there's a lot of pieces, everybody has their own role to perfect their piece, but in terms of being able to, we can't just, you know, pile them up and put them into a structure.

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and that's the role of the tzadik to help coordinate this, so that, you know, it's like a a good coach or a good manager, so every person can play their position, but there's a different role to be able to put them together into a cohesive whole where where they accomplish more than than the than than the actual parts. So, but in order to play this role, so a person also has to, in a certain sense, you know, so to speak, be a tzadik. He has to be a a perfection perfect himself as a human being.

And when the tzadik does this, he's able to rise above the gashmiyut towards ruchniyut, and it is certainly understandable that that's where we're all trying to get to as individuals, as a nation. And then at that point, once you're you you reach this level of hitbatlut, so do you want to still be stuck in the mud? So the the what we we will will explain that it it's it's a little bit counterintuitive, our whole avodah is to rise above the physical, and yet Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that He should have a דירה בתחתונים, within within human beings, at the the stage in which the human beings are able to achieve this closeness to through contrast, through choosing tov over ra, through through able to be moser nefesh is specifically in this world.

And therefore, since avodah is here, therefore the person can't just rise above this world and stay there. In fact, and this is my my my two cents, but even if a person as an individual can reach tremendous heights and get close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, if Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us the benefit of having this individual, this tzadik, this person who rose above, so to speak, so that the rest of us have this attachment point and have So that means that if an individual is able to withdraw from society, withdraw from from what's going on in order to be at the highest possible level, well, then they are not fulfilling the role that that that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants from them.

In fact, as we as we go towards Rosh Hashanah, you know, maybe I'll I'll save that for the end, I'll give I'll give a nice thought of something that that we can focus on, that will maybe help us prepare during the times of Elul. So there's there's one reason that a person has to engage in in in the world around them, that's where that that's where the that's where the growth is, right? Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we were all in the spiritual realm before we came down to this world, we didn't have to come in into this world at all.

The the the avodah's over here, we have the opportunity to bring about a גילוי שכינה, and the גילוי comes about through contrasts, so that that is much more If I If I tell you something, and that's true, then there might be a certain beauty to it through the contrast, when you realize that I'm not just telling you something that makes sense, but you realize that that what I'm telling you is the only expression of truth, it's a truer truer expression and, in fact, even the only expression of truth than anything else, and you see that in the contrast of other things that might have seemed to have otherwise had their own value, that's a much greater that's much greater expression, that's really where the avodah is.

We actually discussed that, I think, last time, the idea about the גילוי, the כבוד שמים that's brought about when people that are specifically distant from Hakadosh Baruch Hu come close, as opposed to when people that are going in the right direction try to increase their avodah and come closer, but there's there's different ענין in that. Now, there's another side to that coin: besides the fact that this is the stage for avodah, davka down here, even insofar as our avodah is to come closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and rise above, once if you have a small

flame that kind of jumps over to be if you hold a small candle next to a larger flame and it jumps over, and once it one I The entire avodah is to break free from this world and come closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but once there's total התבטלות and something loses its identity, well then it can no longer I I can only have התבטלות and step away from myself and come close to you insofar as I have a perception of self and I have something to break away from to come close to you. So avodah necessitates that it happens in the universe of this world.

And now in line with that, we're going to be talking about this idea that that even a tzadik who really is holding, he's he's striving and certainly as an individual and then he has his role as a tzadik is is coming above and he his avodah really is on a very lofty level, there are times, so so even in our terms, a yeridah she-hi letzorech aliyah, there are times that a person has to step away, step away from what they're doing, but really really that it's it's going to enhance, enhance when they come back.

So somebody told me recently that they were dieting and when they hit a plateau, what they do is they had like, you know, a big steak or a big dinner, you know, they they shook their their themselves up a little bit and that helped them overcome it, okay? Maybe that's true, or may- maybe a person who's, you know, they're they're going for a jog, they're going for a run, they become very tired and they need to take that break. When they take the break, they're ultimately able to go even even faster than before. There's, you know, interval training.

Interval training is became popular, that that instead of just trying to run as fast as you can or maintain a speed for a long time, you sprint and then you take a break in order that you could sprint again. You ultimately have much more benefit at the end, you'll reach higher heights and go faster. So let's see in in the way that Rabbeinu brings it, the way that the way that we're going to apply and what we'll be able to take out of it. So this again is לשון רבינו.

And then here we're going to start with the Gemara again, Bava Basra: רבי יוחנן משתעי, רבי יוחנן related: זימנא חדא הוה קאזלינן בספינתא, one time we were going in a ship, in a boat, going in the ים החכמה, we could say, we'll see that, וחזינא האי כוורא, we saw a fish, דאפיק רישיה ממיא, that it took its head out of the water, ודמיא עיניה כתרי סהרי, the eyes of this fish were like two moons, each each one of the eyes was like a moon, was like a לבנה, ונפצי מיא, and water was pouring out, מתרתי אושייה, from the two nostrils, כתרי מעברי דסורא, like the two rivers of סורא. The Rashbam says נפצי is ושפך, נפצי means to pour, אושייה is נחירי, nostrils, מעברי דסורא, נהרא שבסורא, the two rivers.

And now we'll explain this maamar. I did did just want to mention, I meant to say it before, that the one of the ideas what we were just discussing is in Torah ד' אות ט'. He says זאת הבחינה, this idea of התבטלות, צריך להיות רצוא ושוב, has to be like flashes of lightning, come closer and then step away, כדי שיתקיים ישותו, so a person can preserve their their existence, that they maintain their own their own ability, their individuality which gives them a heichi timtzi for avodah. And then we explore that concept a little bit, so that's towards the end of the Torah, you can go back to Torah ד' if you if you haven't learned it yet.

Okay, so in our in our text, we're going to try to explain why הקדוש ברוך הוא put it into the teva. He he put it into this is part of the system that every person, even a tzaddik, is מוכרח to step away from dveikus when he has this, again, this idea that we mentioned in Torah ד', he he has a total dveikus, a unity with הקדוש ברוך הוא, he has a hitbatlut of self, and and yet, part of part of ultimately the avodah has to be to be able to step away from that and also to be עוסק in in the needs of this world.

In other words, not just as a not just as a although in a certain sense you could say so to speak quote, you know, quote unquote a necessary evil because in the times of Mashiach we're going to say that we won't need this chelek of avodah, but as far as the avodah as it's presented to us today, it can become very confusing when when things are not when things do not seem to be operating as they should, when we don't understand the the chelek of avodah that is presenting itself to us. וחזינא האי כוורא, so Rabbi Nachman explains, we saw this fish, שהוא צדיק, המכונה בשם דג.

A tzaddik is nicknamed, sometimes referred to as a דג, כידוע, like we know, we actually had this in Torah ב' אות ח' by the מאמר רבה בר בר חנה. Also, וחזינא להאי כוורא, we saw a fish, הוא בחינת צדיק הדור הנקרא דג. And there's some explanations, maybe we spoke about it over there, some of them are beyond us, that that a a דג contains a certain kabbalistic reference to the sefirah of yesod, and יסוד, צדיק יסוד עולם, יסוד is aligned with tzaddik, and also דג, a ד' and a ג' is seven in gematria, and there's

seven שמות that if you put them together, the the four ways that you can write out the י-ה-ו-ה with the different spellings, ע״ב, ס״ג, מ״ה, ב״ן, which we've discussed already, we won't go through all now, and also the the three שמות of אהי-ה, which also we discussed we discussed it over there, but different ways that it can be written out. So those seven names together are are פורת, end up being בן פורת יו- יוסף, and יוסף was tzadik, so there there are certain kabbalistic allusions to a דג. It's not just like, you know, arbitrary we're saying it, there are certain kabbalistic allusions as to why we say that a דג relates to a tzadik in in in this language and this way of understanding things.

And the the other the another two things that might be a little bit more accessible to us in terms of why a דג relates to a tzadik is, first of all, that we know that water, like the ים החכמה, one of the one of the ways that we relate to Torah, we say that Torah is like mayim, and a fish cannot survive out of water, it's its very lifeblood, and so also a Jew, certainly a tzadik, his his lifeline is Torah, when you take a fish out when you take a fish out of water, so

it's it's not a matter of when it's in the water, like Rabbi Akiva's mashal, maybe it will get caught by the trap and maybe it won't, but if you take a fish out of water, then it can't live. Another idea that it says over here, also perhaps a little bit a little bit based on kabbalah, is that that דגים don't need shechitah. The עיקר שחיטה is to take off a certain זוהמא of the נחש and that that that applied or that that was impacted more the creatures that were on the land, but since דגים which

grow in water, and the this זוהמא, this like filth, this spiritual filth from the נחש, does is not does not have as much of a grasp on the fish, therefore they don't need shechitah, the mayim itself is מטהר them from the tumah, and therefore, once you're able to to gather them from the water, so it's as if they already had their their exposure, their tevilah in the water. Okay, again, there's there's a lot of different, the only reason I even mention it at all is just because it seems like arbitrary. You know, you accept that, okay, well, the you know, a דג a דג is like a tzadik, so there's there's a lot of a lot of concepts that intertwine over here.

I looked at some of the notes in our Torah, some of the notes in the other Torah, but in any event, the so this fish, which we're saying is like the צדיק, דאפיק רישא ממיא, took its head out of the mayim, it took its head out of the water, we said that the water, water is like Torah. So this fish, this tzadik, took a step back from his thoughts being in the Torah. ודמיא עינוי כתרי סיהרי, and it's as if his eyes were like two moons. ונפצי מיא מתרי אוסיוהי, and water came out of his two nostrils. כתרי מבועי דסורא, like two rivers of Sura. What does this mean in pnimiyus? כי אי אפשר לצדיק להיות מחשבתו משוטטת תמיד בחכמה עליונה.

It is not possible for a tzaddik to constantly have his thoughts always being absorbed in the higher level chochmah, which you would say maybe a person can live in this world, in that world, or in a certain sense out of this world. כי לפעמים צריך לצאת לחוץ לעסוק בדברי העולם, there are times that a person has to be, generally we talk about his bitul of self so that we can move towards deveikus of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Even if a person is there, in order to engage in this worldly avodah, sometimes a person has to take a step back from deveikus and engage in this worldly things.

There's a famous Gemara, I think by Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, that it said in Berachos that he he had to daven for something, he put his head between his knees to daven. And the I think it's a Kedushas Levi, I'm not sure, that the the reason he did that is because he was almost living in the heavens, and in order to in order to be able to to help daven for whatever they had asked him to daven for, I think it was for the health maybe of Rabbi Yochanan's child, but he was in a sense where everything was so, not just Gam zu letovah, but everything was tovah.

In other words, we say Gam zu letovah, I heard of David Gottlieb one time say, that doesn't mean everything is good, we live in this world, Gam zu letovah I say everything is going towards the end of tovah, the way that I see it, not everything is tovah. But if but if you're living if if you're living so with such a bitul, such closeness to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, you can't see any bad, you're already seeing the divine plan. He had to take his head out of the clouds in order to be to engage in the avodah that was that was in front of him.

Over here also brings a note of the from the Chayei Moharan, that when that that sometimes a person's head, his moach is נתייגע מלימוד, he's he's spent, he can't he can't think clearly. There are times a person has to has to be able to have a conversation with somebody about appropriate topics, not getting carried away. If you have to if you if you want to take a 10-minute break or a 20-minute break, that doesn't mean going to take an hour break or a 2-hour break, perhaps one of it's one of the the challenging things about

when people engage in entertainment, you know, whether it's a a novel or you know, something else, again, even assuming it's appropriate, a movie as well, if you needed a half-hour break, you didn't need a 2-hour break, and all of a sudden that totally grabs you away. But there are times that a person, for good reason, needs to, you know, or making before you make the final strong push against something, what you do is you don't you you kind of like pull back and then you make the push. So there's times that a person has to pull back. And this שיחה הזאת, it's language coming from Chayei Moharan, this conversation is like sleep, which is like sleep for the mochin, right?

Sometimes a person is engaged in something and they have a raging, a raging yetzer hara, so if they would go to if they would go to sleep, well, they're not going to be able to engage in the positive activity, the that they wanted to engage in. But while they're sleeping, the yetzer hara that was coming against them because they were engaged in that activity will also calm down. I mean, we could see it, I believe the Baal HaTanya talks about it almost in a tefillah context, I don't remember exactly, that let's say a person is davening Shemoneh Esrei and all of a sudden things they never thinks about before are sneaking into his mind, right?

So that happens one context, when the person is not engaged in the ruchniyus behavior that's attracting a particular type of yetzer hara, then that yetzer hara might not try to get him. Again, there's a time and a place for everything, but there is a time when a person wants to be learning, he's but his head is not he's having a difficult time for whatever the reason is yetzer hara, and therefore, in order to further their avodah ultimately, they need to take a step back. And similar to to sleep in a physical sense, they need to sleep from from thinking, engaging in these types of behaviors. Maybe they need to have a a a conversation with a friend. They need to to relax.

And but this שיחה is not called דברים בטלים, חס ושלום, כלל, he says. Actually, totally the opposite, this conversation that he would be having is a mitzvah gedolah. He has to take a walk, he can look at נפלאות הבורא, he could look at a beautiful sunset, that's not called דברים בטלים, that's then and he quotes a Gemara that says ביטולה של תורה זהו קיומה. There are certain times that in order to be mekayem something, you need to take a step away from it. Like he brings a pasuk in Tehillim, famous פסוק, עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתך.

It's actually two ways to read the the the the pasuk, but the way that he seems to be learning it is עת לעשות לה', it's a time to do for ה', הפרו תורתך, I need may for the Torah I need to step away from it, and that ultimately is because it's עת לעשות לה'. That is doing for ה' as well. כי אם לא יתבטל קצת לפקח דעתו בשיחה, אזאי חס ושלום יתבטל מכל וכל. Because if he wouldn't take a step away back, the whole thing would become batel. So over here, he says that, and we're going to read this into the maamar as well, that it's impossible that a tzaddik can always have his head in the חכמות עליונות, כי לפעמים צריך לצאת חוץ לעסוק בדברי העולם.

There's times, again, that he needs to engage to step away from the דבקות, כמו שאמרו חכמינו זכרונם לברכה, פעמים ביטולה של תורה זו היא קיומה. And we just we just explained that. Now, the just to bring from Likutei Halachot, he brings also I'm I'm reading a little bit, again, it's a short Torah, so I'm just exploring, I'm bringing a few extra of the notes, he writes עיקר קבלת התורה הוא על ידי התמימות והפשיטות. The עיקר קבלת התורה is through simplicity. The bechinah of ביטולה של תורה זהו קיומה, בחינת אין התורה מתקיימת אלא במי שממית עצמו כאילו אינו יודע. That he this is another element of it. Sometimes when you're learning something, you want to really have the benefit of of of understanding the depths of something, you know what you have to do?

You have to learn it again for the first time. It's you have that takes a second to even appreciate that idea, but we have so many preconceived notions, or if we have exposure to topics, sometimes when you're proofreading somebody else's material, you find like an either either an obvious mistake or a way to maybe reorder the paragraphs, and something that's much more clear. But the person who's writing has already gone down a certain path and and this is the way that they think about it. So he says over here אין התורה מתקיימת אלא במי שממית עצמו כאילו אינו יודע. Sometimes you have to make yourself totally some like you don't even know. That's another way, take take a step back.

Pretend you never learned the sugya before, you're already 10 10 out of 12 steps in where you're trying to get to, maybe you won't you have a something blocking you from reaching that 11th or 12th step, you have to start again from step one, and then you'll be able to see something, that piece that you didn't see before. There is tremendous ידיעות that were that were that we're seeing in this Torah that could be applied to to everyday things. So he he brings he brings that over there.

Also, another thing that that R'' Chaim Kramer brings was that that sometimes a person sees a family member or a neighbor behaving improperly and he's about to do something, and by taking time to speak to him or her, he's able to help out his friends or family become more knowledgeable. And he will have a hand this person will actually have a hand in קיום התורה. But what what do you mean? Maybe he should stay in the Beis Midrash, all of a sudden he has to go take somebody out for dinner, he has to go form relationships over seemingly mundane things so that he can go and and bring it up, is that what is that what he's supposed to do? Somebody has to do it, but should he do it?

And he says over here, again, a person needs a Rebbe, a person needs to make cheshbon hanefesh to decide when to do this, says this is advice that Rabbi Nachman gave his brother Rabbi Yechiel, encouraging him to speak to others about serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Rabbi Yechiel was complaining that he would have to spend a lot of time, seemingly wasted time, speaking about mundane matters in order to come to that point where he can have that effect. And Rabbeinu responded that Chachamim, Chachamim were going to suppress the book of Kohelet because it had seemingly contradictory statements, and they said it starts with words of Torah and it ends with words of Torah, and therefore they let it be.

It's based on Gemara in שבת דף ל׳ עמוד ב׳, and therefore Rabbi Nachman advised his brother to cleverly introduce the words of Torah into his casual conversation with people. It's starting with Torah, it's ending with Torah, but sometimes in order to achieve that goal, you have to you have to discuss things that that are not like that. And this way, not only would it be binding, not only would it be binding them to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, but this would be בגדר this idea of stepping away from the Torah, of setting it aside in order, in order to preserve it.

So back back in our text: וחד אפיק רישא ממיא, this fish took its head out of the water, היינו כד מפיק את עצמו מחכמות עליונות, when this צדיק takes his head out of the חכמות עליונות, אזי ודמי עינוי כתרי סיהרי, then it's as if his eyes are like two moons. כי פקיחת עינים מכונים על שם החכמה. Now first of all, this idea of eyes, this idea of opening eyes, we we just spoke about this in the last Torah in אות ח׳, right? We said over there עיני בנאמני ארץ, עינים זה בחינת דעת, like it says ותפקחנה עיני שניהם. So this idea of eyes, of open eyes, doesn't mean to see in a physical sense, like seeing metaphorically, "I see the idea." כי פקיחת עינים מכונים על שם החכמה, כמו שכתוב ותפקחנה עיני שניהם.

So we just had this in the last Torah. וכשעוסק בחכמתו, when this צדיק is עוסק in the more lofty ideas, he's he's engaged in the in the higher realms of חכמה, in the ים החכמה and תורה, אזי עיניו בבחינת שמש. That's where his eyes, which are engaged in this חכמה, are בבחינה of שמש. We talked about this in Torah א׳. We were talking about certain types of Torah, how to get one's tefillah accepted, and and to engage in Torah. And when we were talking about חכמת אדם תאיר פניו, the חכמה of a person will light up his face, and we said over there that's a בחינה of יעקב, כי יעקב זכה לבכורה שהוא ראשית שהוא בחינה of חכמה, etc., זה בחינת שמש.

So this idea is of of having this חכמה, of opening one's eyes, it's a בחינה of שמש, of direct revelation and exposure. This person, when he steps away, so his eyes are not going to be in the בחינה of of ראשית, of חכמה, of שמש, but rather it's going to be something that's going to be reflective of that. We want to be able to take our avodah even when we step away and have it made, even though we can't always be on that higher level, that it made a רושם within us so that we could take that back. I think we said that in Torah in Torah ד׳ also. Well, the moon's job is not to introduce new things, it's to perfectly reflect.

It's a hint of the שמש, but it's perfectly reflecting the שמש, right? דלית ליה מגרמיה כלום, the לבנה is like מלכות, when it's it's not holding by שמש, but it's reflecting the שמש. So when this person steps away, but he's מסלק from חכמה עליונה, הווה זה כמו ביאת שמש. That's like the sun setting. I will say a vort that I heard from my from my grandfather alav hashalom, Rabbi' Ephraim Fishel ben Rabbi' Shimon Wolf. But but he said there's a Mishnah, it's his pshat I think, but there's a Mishnah that says אלו דברים שאדם אוכל פירותיהם בעולם הזה והקרן קיימת לו לעולם הבא, כיבוד אב ואם וגמילות חסדים, and it says at the end, it gives a list of things, and it says ותלמוד תורה כנגד כולם.

So there's a I think it's a Gemara in Peah that gets quoted that תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם, it's talking about שכר, that the שכר for one word of Torah is כנגד everything. But another way of of perhaps addressing that is the Mishnah is giving a list of priorities. When you encounter anything, these are the things: you have to go to a wedding and you have to go to a funeral, what comes first? הכנסת כלה, לווית המת. But when a person engages in anything, how do you engage in it? What is the appropriate way to go to that wedding? What's the appropriate way of knowing what כיבוד אב ואם is? תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם.

The way that you engage in any particular behavior, that is תלמוד תורה כנגד, opposite, facing anything that you do, the way that you engage in that behavior, is it mundane or are you bringing kedushah into the mundane, or are using this world as a היכי תמצי for avodah? תלמוד תורה כנגד anything that you do. So over here we're saying the person steps away from the direct חכמה, from the שמש, but so he's going to be, his eyes, his דעת is going to be like the moon. וכשבא השמש, אזי נשארים עיניו בבחינת סיהרא.

Now his eyes will be remaining like the moon, כי סיהרא אין מאירה אלא כד נסתלק, because the moon is not going to be giving light, אלא כד נסתלק השמש, the only way Otherwise, it would be like a candle that's lit during the day. The only way to appreciate the stage that he's at, the stage of the לבנה, this avodah that has to take place as well, that that that avodah is when the sun goes down, and that's where that's where there is this this avodah of him taking a step away, and his he's his eyes are like the moon at that stage and not like חכמה.

Similar to the note that we just read from Rabbi Chiya, there's a certain time that a person has to be able to take a step away and to be able to relate to somebody on their own level, to bring them up. In order to do that, sometimes you have to seemingly take a step back, go down go down a level in in in practice, however we relate to that. וזה בחינת, and this is what we say in נשמת, ועינינו מאירות כשמש וכירח. Now what does it mean? What, I should light it up like a 1,000-watt bulb and like a 10-watt bulb? What does that mean? Once you have a 1,000-watt bulb, you don't need the 10-watt bulb. It doesn't give off light, it's subsumed within it.

But rather, לפעמים מאירות כשמש, there are times that a person is engaged in this direct חכמה, with this direct revelation and appreciating appreciating the בגדר the שמש, כד אנחנו דבקים בחכמה, and that's when a person is engaged in this חכמה. ולפעמים מאירות כירח, there are times when the avodah is no, to step away. The way that he's relating to the חכמה is not directly, but rather but rather it's going to be בגדר the ירח, כד מסלקין את עצמנו מלשוטט בחכמה, when he steps away from always from always engaging in this חכמה. Of course, a person does have to be does have to be careful. You know, we know that a person let's say is not supposed to go to go to extremes. All extremes are unhealthy.

But there are times that, it's מפורש in the Rambam, even if a person is trying to get to the middle, but he's already on one end of that spectrum, the way to bring himself back to the middle is to go towards the other end of the spectrum, and then he'll balance out in the middle. But what happens when the particular מידה that you're engaging in has its own grabbing power? For instance, you know, let's say a person there's one person who just abstains from anything. He he just never wants to enjoy anything of the sort, no no food, he doesn't dress well, you know, he's just totally withdrawn. And another person is engaged very much in in רוח- in גשמיות type of ideas.

He's very concerned with the food and the appearance and things like that, let's say. So the person who's very engaged, he can for a week say, "You know what? I'm just going to totally withdraw, I'm not going to care about anything, I'm going to live very simplistically," and then he'll balance out towards the middle. But the the simplicity is not going to grab him. But the person with simplicity, if all of a sudden he just starts, you know, eating everything in sight and something might awaken a certain תאוה and that'll trigger, and all of a sudden he can get trapped by something.

So a person has to be careful also when they step away from חכמה or they step away from the positive end of it, not to do so in a way that's going to be trapped. But having said that, there are times when the only way to engage a person, they are not interested in they're not interested in, you know, learning Torah, משניות, Gemara with you. So what you do if you want to express a certain value, not learning directly from the מוסר ספר, but maybe clothing it into a story.

We saw this actually in in in Torah ה', you know, sometimes when a person has to daven in a straightforward way, and then sometimes a person engages, we know that Rabbi Nachman had the תפלות ומעשיות, but we talked about this idea in Torah ה', whether it's before the גזירה, after the גזירה, that there are different times that necessitate different types of tefillah, different types of avodah. ונפקת מיא מתרין אוסייא, and the water pours forth from the two nostrils, בפנימיות הם בחינת תרין משיחין. This is a בחינה of two Mashiachs. The two the the two Mashiachs. Over here the the note in the English version says that there are going to be two Mashiachs, the Mashiach ben Yosef will ready Klal Yisrael for the future redemption that will come from Yosef. Yaakov had two wives.

Yaakov we said is חכמה, the שמש, the ultimate tzadik, it's where we're trying to get to. Yaakov had two main wives, Rachel and Leah. Yosef comes from Rachel, Yehuda, ben David, comes from Leah. The first Mashiach is going to come from, and they were both bechors by the way, Yosef was the bechor from Rachel and Yehuda ultimately took the malchut, though Yosef had a bechinah of malchut also, there was a melech of Efraim, Yosef, Yehoshua came from from Yosef, the Mishkan was in Shiloh before Yosef. There's a dynamic that threads throughout a lot of the history of Klal Yisrael, and that gets spoken about of Yosef and Yehuda in Mitzrayim, when Yehuda comes to Vayigash, when Yehuda comes to challenge Yosef. So, but there's there's a certain dynamic that exists between Yosef and Yehuda.

But the first Mashiach is going to come from Yosef. However, he is not going to see the redemption's completion, which will ultimately be brought about by the second Mashiach, who is going to be Mashiach ben David, which is going to come from Yehuda. And he adds in over here the malach, which brings that Mashiach ben Yosef represents the sun, the the upper wisdom, because Yosef was in a certain sense received all of his all of his wisdom, we spoke about that earlier in the second Torah, maybe touched on the first also, from Yaakov, that that that the Zohar brings he says that Yaakov and Yosef are considered one. I think Yosef's appearance was like Yaakov's as well, in different ways we we speak about this idea. And Yaakov himself corresponds to the sun.

So this idea of being a bechina of shemesh is Yosef and Mashiach ben Yosef. Mashiach ben David, on the other hand, represents the moon, and and this is why we say דוד מלך ישראל חי וקים. He brings from by when we have kiddush hachodesh by the moon, but ultimately he is the one that's going to bring about the final the final geulah, something which can only happen when the lower when the lower wisdom has been rectified, and then ultimately things will be brought up, so that everything is going to be able to fulfill its potential. At that point, there won't be a need to have to step away. So over here there's two meshichin, Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David. And these come from the two nostrils of the דג.

These are both encompassed really within the within the tzaddik. These are These are both these are both be'etzem encompassed within within the tzaddik, different elements that it unfolds. The tzaddik is, like we saw at the end of the second Torah, we we all mentioned before, we all bring our pieces of the משכן, we all we all bring our tefilot, we all work on ourselves. The example that I that I've been using lately, which really was in a context came from Rav Aharon Lapiansky, I don't remember the context he said, it was not so much of

building a building which is 99 floors complete before you finish the 100th floor also, but it's an arch that you don't really see, the arch might even be a much much stronger structure than a building, but it's it holds absolutely zero until the last piece is put in. So us working towards Mashiach is really much towards an arch. We might be 99% of the way there in terms of the pieces that need to be in place, but we're all waiting, and it could be the smallest piece that's going to be the final the final keystone,

maybe it's called, but whatever it is, the smallest piece might be that last one that gives the that creates the integrity of the structure, and now we're able to step away, and it and it's complete, and it's the tzaddik's role to be able to assemble to assemble those pieces. So these Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David that are able to bring us to that ultimate geulah, that ultimate redemption, these are really encompassed within the צדיק, שעליהם העכו״ם ידרשו.

And the but these two Mashiach's when they come, we mentioned this in the introduction to the Torah, the the the the goyim will be drawn to the two Mashiach, to the to this idea, וימשכו את עצמם עליהם לעתיד לבוא, they're going to want to learn דרך השם, כמו שכתוב: ונהרו אליו כל הגוים, that the goyim are going to flow towards towards the Melech HaMashiach, right? With the with the pasuk of ונשגב השם לבדו ביום ההוא, ונהרו אליו כל הגוים. Then the pasuk says: והלכו עמים רבים ואמרו לכו ונעלה אל הר השם, אל בית אלקי יעקב, ויורנו מדרכיו ונלכה בארחותיו, כי מציון תצא תורה ודבר השם מירושלים. It's a pasuk we might be familiar with. So this was already what Rabbeinu had mentioned. We We again, we quoted it during the introduction.

So the the it says that these two nostrils representing the two Mashiach's, which are encompassed within the tzaddik, which were encompassed within the within the דג, they come and they flows, because at that time the the goyim, we say all the people, all of humanity is going to flow towards towards Mashiach. וזה תרין נהרין דצורא, these are the two rivers of צורא, כי צורא, זה בחינת עכו״ם, צורא alludes to akum. Goyim are like nicknamed צורא, על שם עבודה זרה, כמו שכתוב: סרו מהר מן הדרך. Saru, לשון of saru means to turn away, סור מרע ועשה טוב.

It's lashon of like avodah zarah, the akum, the goyim are nicknamed צורא, and therefore, when we say that the rivers are flowing are flowing from the nostrils, but this idea is that צורא is representative of the goyim, and we're saying that the goyim are going to flow actually to Mashiach. והנה נכללים בשתי אומות, now this the these two the goyim themselves are really fall under two umbrellas, either Esav or Yishmael. We're not going to get too much into the difference specifically between them. They're both distorted. Yishmael was a distortion of of chesed, right, it's a distortion of chesed, Esav is a distortion of gevurah, Yitzchak was a positive gevurah, Avraham was a positive a positive chesed, and the קליפות from there manifest in Esav and Yishmael.

ועל ידי אלו תרין משיחין, through these two משיחין, שהם תרין אוסיא, that they're the two nostrils, בחינת רוח אפינו משיח השם, על ידם יגאלו וימשכו כנהרות אצלם ללמוד דבר השם. Through these Mashiach's, the כלל ישראל will be redeemed and the אומות will be flowing to them to learn דבר דבר השם. We actually talked about this, this just to just to make the reference point a couple times, but the first time we saw I think was in the first Torah: עיקר כלי זיינו של משיח הוא התפילה שהוא בחינת חוטם. The ikar weapon of Mashiach is tefillah, and that is bechinah of חוטם. So we're already seeing this idea of nostrils, of ruach representing representing tefillah, which is which is the כלי זין which will bring Mashiach. So we we saw that.

We also saw it in in Torah in Torah ט, where was it? צריך כל אדם לקשר תפילתו לצדיק הדור, and the tzaddik will arrange the tefilot, because every tzaddik is Moshe Mashiach, and כל all the tefilot, etc., כי התפילות הם בחינת חוטם. And that that was in Torah ט. So all of these ideas literally come together, we address them, we address them in different ways, but as we as we start seeing the repeating points, we're really starting to understand that that it seems all over the place, but it's really just just coming together where there are there are certain there are certain principles that shine through in different ways, but it's all it's all really one central idea.

Now these תרי אומין, these these two nations, Esav and ישמעאל, אינון תרי עננין דמכסיין על עינין. These are like the the clouds that cover over the eyes. We we we definitely discussed earlier on in Torah ב, עיקר מחשבות, we're talking about problems in tefila, right? Tefila is a כלי זיינא דמשיח that brings about the geula. The עיקר מחשבות זרות, which mess up tefila, קלקול המשפט, משפט is a בחינת עינין, and משפט is a bechina of eyes, where we're talking here, right? Eyes, כי פקיחת, that eyes are daat, כמו שכתוב: "ויבוא עלינו משפט," that's Ein Yaakov, we said Yaakov is shemesh. What are the things that cover this up? This is the קלקול משפט comes through עננין דמכסיין על עינין, that was in Torah ב אות ה.

So if you want to go back and and and learn Torah ב, might be worthwhile. Also, we say תרי אומין, these Esav and Yishmael, they're like the clouds that are covering these עינין, these ideas, this these kelipot that are coming from the גוים, שאין יכולין להאיר תמיד בבחינת שמש, that a person can't constantly be in a bechina of שמש, ובשביל זה צריך הצדיק לבטל את דביקותו כדי שלא יתגברו האומין, עשו וישמעאל, על העין, ולא יתבטל, חס ושלום, חכמתו לגמרי.

Now the there's in this particular version that I'm using, he actually has a kind of a long a long note that's based in a in a lot of ways on on on taking ideas from from the development from HaKadosh Baruch Hu investing שפע into the world, and צמצום, and שבירת הכלים, and understanding why this is, but I think for our purposes, we'd rather keep it simple, in the mashal that we used before, when when a person is engaged in certain spiritual behavior, then they're going to have certain challenges and certain yetzer haras that present themselves,

and there's that means that it's also bringing kelipah into the world, and so there's going to be certain place certain times when a person is is engaging at a very high level, and yet there's certain yetzer haras that are going to be manifest, and that's going to be strengthening their positioning as well, and there are times, because this is the system, it's hard it's hard for us to understand. I think that this is a this is this is a very deep concept, that that the the person who is engaging at this at this high level

needs to take a step away so that, similarly like we said before, a person is they go to sleep, on one hand, they're not consciously engaging in positive, but it also it also puts to bed any any of the other challenges that they that they have as well that are bothering at that point in time, that that they're at that point in time as well. אבל על ידי תרין משיחין, through the two Mashiachs, שיפוצו מעינותיהם חוצה, that ultimately will burst forth, והפך לכולם שפה ברורה, and then all of the goyim will call בשם השם, and יעבדו שכם אחד, and the klipot are going to become batel, and everything that we're discussing is not going to become an issue.

So at that point אז יתקיים והיה אור הלבנה כאור החמה, that there's going to be everything will have fulfilled its potential. The the the moon will be, so to speak, the perfect moon. In other words, when you talk about things in a linear sense, you can say that one thing is objectively higher. If you were to talk of things in terms of, let's say, fulfilling their potential in like a horizontal way, in other words, it's not one is objectively higher. You exist in your place on the on the on the line, and I exist in my place on the line, and we're both holding at 100%.

There's going to be a time when when the however we think about it, the לבנה the the the לבנה will be its own מהלך, similar to the to the אור החמה. Exactly how that takes place, again, is beyond the scope of of this idea, but for for our purposes, we're saying that the שמש, that the לבנה is not really in its full force, what the לבנה is, it's like a hint of the שמש, and the reason that sometimes we have that over here is as the tzadik pulls away from the שמש, what's left is its reflection in the לבנה.

Really, you would think that a person would want to be at the level of שמש the entire time, but they pull away so that ultimately the, because engaging in the שמש full-time also leaves open the door for klipah to strengthen itself, and therefore, because of the avodah at this stage, they have to pull away. But in the future, that dynamic will not exist, and therefore we're expressing this, והיה אור הלבנה כאור החמה, everything will be able to shine in full in full force in its own way, right? Doesn't mean that there's going to be two two suns, there's still going to be a לבנה, whatever role that that plays, but the לבנה will be shining.

For our for our purposes, the לבנה will be a full לבנה, and the לבנה will be fulfilling will not be a hint of anything in terms of its avodah, but it'll be it'll be it'll be shining in full in its full strength. ואז לא יצטרך לבטל מדבקותו, and therefore, tying into our Torah, the tzadik will not have to be mevatel from his deveikut to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. מסימן ט״ו, עד כאן לשון רבינו ז״ל. So this is this is our Torah. What I'm mentioning now is not coming from Rabbi Nachman, and I guess you could say it's a little bit of a freebie, but it ties into one of the ideas that I mentioned before, that the avodah that the avodah is in this world. So just a thought to prepare for Elul.

It's actually coming from a discussion we were having when we're doing the Alei Shur, which are posted also, based on on an idea from Rav Yisrael Salanter. In a general sense, he says, if you were running a company, then and there are two individuals, one of them is one of them dresses nicely, you know, comes to work, he's respectful, does everything, but his role is not an essential role in the company. You'll pay him, you're not going to punish him, you'll do everything he's going to get. And then there's another person whose role is absolutely essential in the company.

The person's not perfect, they need to brush up around the edges, and there are things to work on, and they acknowledge that there are things to work on, but from the company's perspective, they play an essential role. And there's obviously turnover, people come, people go, and you have a limited amount of resources, and you're deciding where within the company do you want to invest your resources. From the כללותדיק perspective, you're going to certainly, a person has to clean up their act and you want them to do, but you're going to, you know, the security guard in a safe neighborhood, whether they come or go is not necessarily as essential as the person who pays the rent or, you know, puts together payroll.

So if you're going to, let's say, invest in IT, nobody ever wants to invest in, you know, computer systems, the systems and the areas that you're going to invest in are going to be in the more essential roles of the company. So Rav Yisrael Salanter says זכרנו לחיים, we're all focused on זכרנו לחיים, this is my understanding of it. Rosh Hashanah has its ten days of עשרת ימי עשרת ימי תשובה is ten days. The most powerful days of the entire year are the first and the first and second really days of עשרת ימי תשובה, and that is Rosh Hashanah. And yet, 20% of עשרת ימי תשובה, there's no vidui in the davenen, we almost don't focus on that at all.

And we say that the avodah of the day is malchut, and then people ask, "Can I make personal requests? The personal requests aren't really in the siddur. Well, yeah, at the level that we're holding, we're not holding on the high enough level for malchut." But when we take a step back, I think that there's an idea that will help us understand how to think about Rosh Hashanah, and it's also it's also very empowering. If we Hashem does not owe us anything. Obviously, He doesn't owe us life. We didn't do anything in order to deserve life. I think the pesukim talk about when Jews were left Mitzrayim, it says because they're going to receive the Torah on Har Sinai, right?

When a person doesn't isn't owed anything, they can't justify what they get, the whole thing is למענך, the whole thing is so that. What you ask for is you ask for somebody to invest resources in you, not because you've earned them, but because your plan justifies those resources. So if a person, you know, has eyes and they work on שמירת עיניים, well, Hashem is giving you the eyes every single second of the day as a new second, מחדש בטובו מעשה בראשית. So if you are 80% good, well, that's not good enough, right? And it becomes depressing, and you work on the same Ashamnu every year, and you see the same things I did right and things I did wrong.

If anybody's interested, by the way, on a little bit of take on the Ashamnu that I think fits this approach, you can shoot me an email, mrubin, m r u b i n 214, 214@gmail.com. I'll give you a clip, we actually went through the Ashamnu, it's like 15 minutes, but maybe it's a new way of looking at them a little bit. But we go through a lot of these lists of viduim and for the most part, especially if you're self-aware, it's either either good way, you're just focusing on things that you're not really working on

or that that that you long ago put to bed, but but even if it's things that you work on, generally whatever character issues you're working on tend to be the same, and you tend to have be successful and and mess up, and and that just goes in cycles, and it's hard to get really worked up about it. But this the the what we're going to discuss now really gives an entirely an entirely new approach, because what you're going to Hashem is saying, "I I can't ask for life. Listen, even if I end up even, so I don't deserve death, but I don't deserve life. Why why why on what basis am I asking Hashem for the things that I want just so that I could be here?" Hashem created the world.

Hashem has a company, and that company has a purpose. So, what am I really doing? I'm asking Hashem I'm I'm taking stock not to figure out my weaknesses, I'm taking stock of my strengths. I'm taking stock and saying, "השם, למענך, right?" In order for me I I take a step back, I evaluate what Hashem's purpose of the world is, and I say that I am an essential worker. I've identified the resources that you've given me, and I understand that comes with a corresponding opportunity and responsibility and accountability to use those, and therefore I'm asking you to invest in me because I am going to further your purpose in life.

Doesn't mean everybody has to be a community worker, but wherever a person stands, maybe at a certain stage of life that's to take care of family, whatever it is. Now, let's say a person though is a you know, he decides he's going to be a good teacher, but he has a problem. He has a little bit of a patience problem. He doesn't have patience. So now he says, "Listen, first two days, Rosh Hashanah, Hashem is giving out the resources." He says, "I have determined I understand I have a good way to articulate things. I have a good voice. I can be a chazan, right? But but the problem is I can never get to shul on time because XYZ is bothering me. I have no yishuv hadaat.

Something is keeping me up at night." Well, so now I say, "Hashem, I am totally committed to the process. If you give me the resources and with the wherewithal to do it, I am totally זכרנו לחיים למענך אלוקים חיים." The למענך is the much more key word. I'm asking for the so that. Now that all of that's in place, there's something that's holding me back. I have certain obstacles holding me back. The patience is holding back from accomplishing my purpose, my ישוב I don't have yishuv yishuv hadaat, I need some money, health, wealth, happiness, whatever it is.

So well, no, those aren't character traits, but there there are things there are things that are holding me back, and and therefore I say on the First, I said, "Hashem, please clean up all of those things that are stopping me from accomplishing my purpose. Give me the money, health, wealth, and happiness so that I can engage in purpose." Now Hashem looks at you and says, "That's what you're worried about? What about your patience problem? Forget about coming to, you know, coming to to davenen on time. The reason that you're not davenen for the amud is because you're sitting there, you know, maybe eating and drinking too much on Friday night, and then you're not waking up for davenen on time.

So you're you're you're asking me for the to to make sure that nothing holds you back. You have to work on the things that are holding you back, and then you can clean that up. But that comes second. You don't deserve resources because you're going to clean up the mess. The the reason that you deserve resources is because of the למענך." You don't have to be perfect to make that type of a request, right? In other words, you have to clean things up and ask for siyata d'Shmaya to the best of your ability, but the the money comes, so to speak, the the the chayim comes, the resources come because of the למענך.

And so so therefore, as we get for and that enables you to have a different Rosh Hashanah every year, because the stage of life that you're holding in now, if you're 25 instead of 20, you're 35 instead of 25, maybe beforehand you didn't have a person wasn't Now they're married, before they weren't married, whatever they're going through in life, the ability that they think about things a certain way, they can relate to people in a certain way, even if they've gone through very difficult times, maybe they could help out other people that have had difficult times, that is a totally new year with totally new resources that you have an ability to ask for for Hashem from as long as you're committed to invest.

And now the Rosh Hashanah this year is not the same as last year. You're in a totally different place. And and and now that you're in a totally different place, those אשמנו, the things that you're doing wrong, are holding you back in a different way, because they're holding because because the למענך is different. And and I just it triggered in my mind because of the, you know, we're talking about the avodah taking place in this world, the clarity you need to achieve, the רצוא ושוב, but the way when you come back, the avodah happens when you come back. It's the application, because that application is the tikkun. That's really what we're here in the world for.

So we have that flash of lightning, but the avodah is really in the world as we see it. The world we see it is not b'diavad. We're not in a b'diavad situation. The world as we see it is the היכי תמצי that we need. That's the tikkun that we need to apply those ideals that we those חכמות that we have and now to come apply to us. If you're interested, the last four our shiur shiurim are actually on Elul preparation, but shoot me an email anyway or or just in general, feel free to touch base if you're if you're kind of enjoying the shiurim. Now that we're we're moving on to the second stage, would love to would love to hear from you, even a brief note. Have a fabulous day.

day, and hopefully we will meet again before כתיבה וחתימה טובה. And yeah.