LM 17.4 — Vayehi Hem Merikim Sakeihem, Part 4 of 6 (para. 5) · תורה י״ז

תורה י״ז, ויהיו הם מריקים שקיהם. I would like very much to to have this up before Rosh Hashanah. We will be doing אות ה' just to give a little bit of a summary. For us, I will use the help of the Kitzur Likutei Moharan. I will not read the entire thing inside, but just to use the the the order and the tzurah to bring it forward. He starts off: yirah and ahavah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is אי אפשר לקבל כי אם על ידי צדיק הדור. The question that should be jumping to all of our minds is we all have our own individual relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Yirah and ahavah are emotions. Why is it necessary for a tzaddik to bring a giluy of yirah and ahavah?

What even does that mean that there's a giluy of yirah and ahavah, and what does that have to do with me? Why is my emotion or my response of yirah and אהבה כלפי הקדוש ברוך הוא תלוי in the tzaddik? And the next paragraph he starts off, and this was all spoken out at length, very worthwhile to hear the first two even though we try to make every piece stand on their own, is that there's two ways to look at the briyah. You can have a briyah, you can have a world, a universe, as exquisite as it is, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu created an entirely unbelievable world, and then we were put into the world, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu instructed us what to do in this world.

And a person can come to appreciate נפלאות הבורא in that sense, and we can come to to to look into the Torah and try to figure out what our job is and how we can give Hakadosh Baruch Hu nachat. There's another way to look at the briyah. There was before the briyah, there was Hakadosh Baruch Hu and that's it, kivayachol. These are obviously incredibly complicated concepts, but ratzon Hashem was that he that he should create a world, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu therefore created a world for a purpose, not just stam.

Which means that every single thing in the briyah, right, every single thing in the briyah, if you can imagine, lehavdil, you can have a you know, a portrait where the shading of something that's far off in the corner of the portrait is all designed in terms of framing whatever the focus of that portrait is going to be. Or somebody who's designing a computer program, a video game, which is going to have, lehavdil, a person, you know, the main character of that video game who's running around, sometimes it could be because he's supposed to go after

certain things, sometimes it could be to try to stay away from certain things, there might be challenges, there might be things there might be things that are just in the scenery of the video game that are meant to be able to frame out, but everything is calculated, because when you're programming something, otherwise it could just be, you know, a white background. If there's something in there, then it's programmed with seichel towards what it is that you're trying to accomplish. The a tzaddik is able to So that that's not a a there's a world and we find ourselves in the world type approach.

That's Hakadosh Baruch Hu had a tachlit for us, and therefore Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world with all of the different facets of the world, spiritual, physical, but even in this physical world, you're going to have mountains and rocks, you're going to have vegetation, you're going to have animal life, you will have human life. Within different types of animals, there'll be different types of animals, and even within any particular type of an animal, there's going to be fins and scales. Within people, you have a right arm and a left arm. On your right arm, you have different fingers and the way that the the certain the four fingers interact with the thumb. So, everything in life is meant towards a particular purpose.

Maybe the reason that our hand is shaped a certain way is because part of the purpose of the world be accomplished through קמיצה of korbanot, and our hands are shaped uniquely shaped so that we we could accomplish a קמיצה, the the way that the the flour offering was offered, and any any number any number of different things. And the tzaddik is the one who looks at the world through the lens of רצון השם, coming to appreciate coming to see רצון השם through the world.

As a person relates to the the the existence of the world and himself and everything around him in this way, that is going to bring about a yirah and ahavah, because we're we're coming together to especially going into Rosh Hashanah, but when every individual and as a klal come together to use their mind to relate to the world, to understand that their any תאוות that they have, all of their faculties, mental, physical, everything is all relating to bringing out the רצון of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in this world, to being to to manifest it, to say everything around me and with me itself is literally meant to to create with a purpose. We we said to we're not focused on זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בחיים, we're focused on למענך.

When we realize that every single element of our life we were created with a tafkid, with a mission, and if we are committed to the mission, wherever we are on our own personal journey, once we are committed to the mission, mission, so therefore Hakadosh Baruch Hu, who gave us this mission, will give us the resources to fulfill it. That might be ישוב הדעת, that might be shalom bayit, that might be parnasah, money, health. We're not there to ask for all of the individual things as it relates to us. We're not there for Hakadosh Baruch Hu to crown us king and give us what we want, so that, yes, we'll do what we want, and we end up also wanting to to be spiritual people because, you know, we feel better that way.

No, we want למענך. What we're doing is we are making a commitment to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I am making חשבון הנפש. I see where I am, I see my strengths, I see my weaknesses, I see the resources that You've given me, I see the culture, the the surroundings that I'm in, and I'm able to say that I have a particular thing that I am uniquely suited to accomplish in this world, as I stand here today. Last year might have been a little bit different, tomorrow next year might be different, but as I stand here today, this is this is my tachlit in a general sense, a specific sense, and therefore, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, למענך.

Once I say למענך, as R'' Yisrael Salanter says, then Hakadosh Baruch Hu will give you the resources to support your commitment. Otherwise, everything is is to the side. When a person does למענך, Hakadosh Baruch Hu has a התפארות, which, again, is a difficult concept, and we explored it in, I think, the first the second shiur, but when a person is committed to this, he's he's going to give התפארות, pride, nachat to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, fulfilling Hakadosh Baruch Hu's רצון השם and Hakadosh Baruch Hu's tachlit in the world. So then, רצון השם will be fulfilled. When we look at the world through this lens, that brings about a tremendous yirah.

When the tzaddik is megaleh this, that that is it's it's it's all but paralyzing that every single earthworm and blade of grass is there so that we could accomplish our tachlit, that for כלל ישראל, בראשית, בשביל ישראל, בשביל תורה, ישראל is the כלי for Torah. That that that we should live in a world like this is is there's no words. Now, all of a sudden, we relate to Hakadosh Baruch Hu as such, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes, He comes over you, He gives you a matanah, He gives you a little knip on the cheek, and He says, "יאנקי, מוישי, מענדי, whoever it is, you're exactly I put you exactly in the place where you are.

You're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing." And and He gives you a matana, and He says, "I'm having nachat from you, where you are, with your challenges. You are in the world that you're supposed to be in. Don't look to your right, don't look to your left. Some people seem to be accomplishing more, some people seem to be accomplishing less. I'm looking at you kivnei maron, and you're going to be judged kivnei maron, all on your own. Don't don't still don't think that you're doing okay just because everybody else does something wrong, so you're doing it, too, and don't think that you're doing things right and with just going with the flow and you never thought about it. Appreciate the right that you're doing.

You are a unique individual, and and I am I'm focused on you. You're not just one of a number," and you have this tremendous warm feeling, "What I do matter, I matter," right? Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave names to the stars, as it were, and you have a name. "And I matter, I am substantial, and the world could" I think it's ר' Nachman, I think Lubavitcher Rebbe also says, "The day that you were born, Hakadosh Baruch Hu decided that the beriah could not go on without you. You are fulfilling an essential function." It's just as essential as anybody else.

Sometimes in our terms, some people have a bigger part in the play or a smaller part in the play, but without any part in the play, without any part in the puzzle, the puzzle's not complete, and we're moving towards a shleimut, hopefully in the ימות המשיח soon as well. But but so that now bridges the gap from yirah to ahavah. Now the question becomes, so, okay, so the tzadik is the one who brings about this gilui. Through our attachment to the tzadik, he looks at the world this way, we come close, we had in prior torot doing vidui in front of the tzadik, etc.

So now this ahavah and yirah in the world is revealed and it's able to be spread to us and it gives us a whole new way of relating to Hakadosh Baruch Hu through yirah and ultimately through ahavah. Why is it that some of us don't seem to have this? It's because we are we're we're we're caked up with stuff. We're not able to receive it. The צדיק טאקע has this light to give, but we're not able to receive it. Why? Because of a פגם מזבח, and we explained that this relates to a a פגם in the way that a person eats. ר' Natan says over here, "על ידי אכילה בכשרות"—he talks in the positive sense—eating moderately, not gulping down one's food.

He says, "אוכל במתינות ואינו אוכל דרך הלעטה, על ידי זה נתתקן השכל ונכנע הכסילות." He explains that how one eats can impact his sechel, and in turn, the degree to which he's receptive to the light to the light of the tzadik. We spoke out a little bit the avodah of eating, separating the nutrients from the waste material. It effects a certain birurim. This world has this nutrition that's that's residing within the physical, so maybe a person can only eat vitamins. If they only eat vitamins, maybe they don't eat the food, a person would would drop dead. On the other hand, a person can't just eat empty empty food that has no nutrition, so that has no nutrition at all.

Therefore, what happens as a person eats is a person, it's a particular idea of birurim and separating the positive and the negative and and relating to to things appropriately as such, and things that are in the world understanding the value of what they are and the purpose to which the the טפל serves. In other words, the the physical food contains the nutrition and you're able to factor to kind of factor this out, and that's similar to the mizbeach where we have the the mizbeach and then certain things, the dam goes on the mizbeach, certain parts of the animal are burnt. So, we relate it to the A person's shulchan is like their mizbeach as well.

Now, if person has this פגם אכילה, how how does a person bring tikkun, besides for eating appropriately, which obviously also has to be in place at this point. It will be, like we said in אות ד', להשלים פגם המזבח על ידי גרים, through bringing gerim. Because עבודה זרה, אין להם כח כי אם מפגם המזבח. The עבודה זרה, when you shift, you you take other things and you make them into אלהי, you you you view them as having their own substance, that's what what what the opposite of what we were just discussing in terms of בירורים, so that's really like almost like directing attention, it's giving spiritual strength to the other side, to the קליפה, to the סטרא אחרא.

And therefore, by bringing gerim, and this could also relate to doing תשובה within oneself, that can that can be מתקן this פגם מזבח, this פגם in אכילה, enabling one to relate with clarity to the הארה of the צדיק and also to be able to attach himself to the אהבה ויראה, which is where we started this Torah. So now, we go into אות ה'. אך איך אפשר לעשות גרים? How is it possible to make gerim? How can we win over converts? והלא הם רחוקים מאד מקדושת ישראל. These gerim are very far from קדושת ישראל. We can we can discuss this in different ways.

We can say either proximity-wise, whether location or in terms of not having access, you know, practically, how do we break in to to gain access and receptivity to to gerim, and also ideologically, people have a different a different value system. So how do we break into that, how do we bring people close to קדושת ישראל? מאין בא זו שיבוא להם על דעת שיתגיירו? What will prompt them to even think about How will it be יבוא על דעת, how would they even think about wanting to convert? The Rabbi Chaim Kramer note over here points out there's a little bit of a difference.

There is a general rule, this is from Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Rozin, there is a general rule that in Rabbi Nachman's teachings, wherever the רבי speaks about converts, he's always he's also speaking about baalei teshuvah. On the other hand, it's interesting to note that when we were talking about Klal Yisrael, we're talking about members of the Jewish nation already, their their soul root, so to speak, their נשמה, חלק אלוקי ממעל, regardless of what their actions are, regardless of how much they may have descended, at its source, at the core, if we can tap into that, and we can we can allow that that חלק of them to resonate, be'etzem, there's some piece of them that's that that's aligned totally with הקדוש ברוך הוא.

On the other hand, if we're talking about gerim, talking about people that don't have that root of their נשמה at that level, how are we going to draw them into holiness? So we're we're going to be juggling a little bit these two different ideas in the back of our in the in the back of our mind, but you know, perhaps perhaps you know, I don't know if if he's going to go this way, we'll have to see together.

Perhaps we can say that even even gerim, in other words, they're שבע מצות בני נח, maybe on a personal level, there's not we're not going to be able to tap into that חלק of their נשמה, but ultimately, הקדוש ברוך הוא is is כולו טוב, because of הקדוש ברוך הוא's plan for the world, so הקדוש ברוך הוא made that there should be רע, that there should be a perception of רע, that there should be בחירה, and that there should be different different forces in the world that we can choose between, so that there can be a גילוי, that can be there can be a revelation of the טוב.

In principle, therefore, טוב in general, alignment with Hakadosh Baruch Hu in general, since טוב is Hakadosh Baruch Hu is אין סופיות, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is infinite, and and טוב is infinite, and אמת is infinite, right, truth is truth, 2 plus 2 is 4 will never change. Even if there can be a perception, if there's a lie, there's a perception of truth within a particular context, if the context changes, then that lie will fall over. It will it will lose all of its כח, it will lose its perceived truth as such. Right, a lie has to adapt to a particular situation. If the circumstances change, it will be clear that whatever it is that you're putting forth doesn't really exist.

So when we're dealing with coming close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that alone is a much deeper truth, and there's a much more of a קיום of something that's בעצם true than something that has that has false you know, than something that's false, and that would that would that would include the gerim, also. Non-Jews as well, non-Jews as well, one of the שבע מצות. בני נח is עבודה זרה, but certainly, kal vachomer, this is going to be true for a member of the Jewish nation, where something within their neshama is also at a higher root. So going back to our question, for those elements that are the farthest away from the Jewish from the Jewish people and קדושת ישראל, how are we going to access it, how are we going to bring them close?

אך דע שזה נעשה על ידי בחינת הון יוסיף רעים רבים. Wealth brings a lot of friends. What does it mean that what on on on the surface, it seems clear what does it mean that wealth brings a lot of friends, but we're going to have to see how this applies to our Torah. היינו על ידי צדקה שנותן לתלמיד חכם. A person gives tzedakah to a תלמיד חכם שהוא כולל מקבץ נפשות ישראל, that the talmid chacham incorporates נפשות ישראל, and through giving tzedakah to a talmid chacham, that will increase רעים and אהובים with this כח of tzedakah, like we're going to explain going forward.

Once again, I'm going to mention the the Reb Kramer notes, he brings an Ari from Shaar HaGilgulim that says that every talmid chacham is a root soul encompassing many other souls. We're going to clarify as we go through the Torah. But therefore, giving tzedakah, giving charity to a talmid chacham is similar to giving charity to many other people, because since the talmid chacham relates and incorporates the neshamot of of many other people. Now in our one of the ways that we've discussed this before is even though every person, every person is a full structure, every

person has a a head and two hands, a right and left, and a a midsection, and two legs, this is the structure of an אדם, the Jewish people also have have a structure, and it follows a similar structure. So if I were to tell you that in the brain everything stands on its own, at a at a DNA type of a level, I don't know that what you would pull out of a pinky toe is different from the brain, although they they they come forward to, you know, to be part of to be part of different parts of the body, some more important, some less important. So similarly, every single person stands on its own, has his own role, has his own relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

But when it comes to the organism of the Jewish people and bringing ישראל ואורייתא והקדוש ברוך הוא חד הוא, besides for every individual, but also as a Jewish nation, this nation that has this structure, if the tzadik is at the rosh, so if I said, well, the this incorporates all of the other parts of the body, you wouldn't brink blink. If I told you that incorporated within the brain, when you move your you close your eyes, you're not looking at anything, not touching anything, you can move your your your pinky finger, that that within the brain is something that relates and incorporates all other parts of the body, that would make sense. In this context, some of it is beyond us, but we relate to it on our level.

A tzadik, a talmid chacham incorporates the the the the souls of other people. He mentions further Rashi from Mishlei that wealth does not only mean giving one's money to tzedakah, but also giving one's Torah knowledge. Both of these types of wealth are dispensed to those in need, and therefore, a person giving charity sustains the scholar who in turn nourishes those hungry for knowledge. So by giving by by us giving tzedakah, we're opening those that that flow, where distributing the tzedakah and giving Torah knowledge are not, you know, not exactly analogous. If I give you of my Torah knowledge, I don't have less Torah knowledge than I before I gave it.

In fact, it might even increase because by virtue of teaching you and by virtue of having to speak it over, maybe I even have a further clarity. On the other hand, I might have given you of my time, maybe to teach a somebody who is at a much more junior level than I'm at. If I was learning myself, I could go faster, I could delve into things that are more complicated. On the other hand, now I've had to to give over, to give over of my time, my energy to something that I might not have, I might not have other engaged in in that way myself.

When it comes to tzedakah, in principle I guess I'm not I don't really have anything less if if I looked at my the $10 in my pocket as Hakadosh Baruch Hu giving me nine for me and one to give over. And if I wouldn't give that one over, then maybe Hakadosh Baruch Hu would give me less. If I was only wanted to give 50 cents to tzedakah, so next time Hakadosh Baruch Hu would only give me $5. So I'm not necessarily, and that's in the context of maaser, so but but there's different considerations perhaps when we're talking about tzedakah and Torah knowledge. But this idea that he's bringing over here is it's in the same vein, it's in the same bechinah, giving over tzedakah, giving over money, and also giving over Torah knowledge.

And therefore, when I give over tzedakah to the talmid chacham, that the talmid chacham in turn is the one he's being supported, he's able to give over Torah knowledge to those who are in need. Certainly, they're similar from the point of view Torah nourishes, Torah is water, we can't live without Torah, from the point of view of somebody who is in need, and now they are sustained by that, that that's tzedakah. And therefore, we're starting this process, a person's giving tzedakah to the talmid chacham, and the talmid chacham is giving over Torah knowledge.

And a deeper understanding therefore, coming out of this pasuk, according to the way that Rav Chaim learns this, is when we said the translation of the pasuk is that money wins many friends, although the end of the pasuk says that a poor man and his friends part ways, friends over here would be Jewish souls. Jewish neshamot, so and the many would be even the Gentile nations, even the goyim, so what we're saying is that money, which is going to be the tzedakah, giving over the Torah knowledge, is able to win over many friends, people who are far away, whether to the point of being gerim or even maybe baalei teshuvah as well, and we're going to have to explore how this happens and what this has to do with us.

Back in the text: כי באמת, איך אפשר לעכו״ם לבוא לאמונת ישראל? How is it going to be possible, how is it going to be possible, the process itself, that the those far away from אמונת ישראל, the gerim, will be able to come close? Now this question seems to be a repetition of what we just said, but the notes that we were reading point out that very often the the the Rebbe will do this. First he will ask a question, and then he'll go back and ask a question as he starts to flesh it out from

a different perspective, so that the opening question is from the perspective of what Jews, the Jewish nation, Klal Yisrael can do to win over converts, to win over gerim, and over here the question is from the perspective of the process itself, lema'aseh, how is it going to be that somebody far away is going to come close to to Klal Yisrael? והלא הם רחוקים מאוד מישראל, these people that we're addressing, they're very far away. איך אפשר לדבר להם שישמעו ויבואו? How is it going to be that they're going to hear, they'll be receptive, and they're going to come close, ויבואו לאמונה לאמונה הקדושה?

אך כמו כשאחד רחוק מאוד מחברו, similar to when one is far away from his friend, ואי אפשר לדבר אליו שישמע, and there's no way that I can speak to you in a way that you will hear. The world, even whether in a spiritual way or in a physical way, the entire world has parallels, so we're going to look at the way that sound travels, and I'm able to communicate with you in a way that you're going to be able to hear and be receptive, and that that process will also reflect itself in a spiritual way. How can I communicate with you when you're not able to hear me? צריך לכתוב לו כתב. On one hand, you could say maybe that a letter is less personal, but why?

When I speak to you there's a certain tone, it's it's me to you, I can whisper, I can yell, how I speak it over, the tone I speak it over, the words that I use, there's a connection, you can see my face. On the other hand, when something is written down, it seems to be a little bit more farther removed. On the other hand, when something is written down, you can you you can you it's visible, you can see it, you can relate to it in a different way, and therefore while there might be מעלות

or חסרונות I guess to seeing something written in written form, I can review it, I can also look at the paragraph and see the introduction and where you're going and how you fill it in, the point that you're making and how you support it, whereas when I'm speaking, it's going to be, you know, point A to point B to point C, it's it's not going to be sitting there in front of me. So there are different elements to written word and and to speech, but one of the things that we're going to say is sometimes when one mode of communication won't work, another mode of communication will work. שאי אפשר לדבר אליו שישמע, צריך לכתוב לו כתב, what will I do? I'll write you a letter.

כן צריך לשלוח בבחינת כתב להם, and therefore we have to give it in a way that the gerim will be able to be receptive to what we're saying, עד שיוכלו לשמוע, until ultimately they can have a שמיעה, a בינה, ultimately the the that's where the the higher degree of communication will be, but in order to open that door to bring it close, I'm going to have to start off with I'm going to have to start off with written word.

Further, we're now talking about trying to figure out a way that tzadikim will be able to have a mode of communication that gerim or gerim-to-be will be receptive to, those who come to be megayer, and we're going to have to explain why is it that the dibbur cannot be heard from far away, and how the mitzvah of tzedakah is able to be metaken this. כי עיקר חוש השמיעה הוא מחמת שהאותיות הדיבור נחקקין באויר. Very practical, we're literally talking about sound waves. The the sense of hearing, of שמיעה, is because the letters of dibbur are carved into the air somehow, and that's what the the note over here brings, he talks about sound waves, there has to be air air moving.

In fact, he's going to bring he brings from the Sefer HaBrit in the notes that points out that even if a bottle, you know, some sort of a container is sealed shut, the noise will resonate, whereas if you have a vacuum, you're able to remove all of the air, then it won't make a sound. So there needs to be air, there's something that's transmitting through the medium of air. והאוירים מכין זה בזה עד שבא לאוזן השומע. There's something, again, in our in our example of or understanding of sound waves, this makes sense, when when something is vibrating, it's going through the air, one thing is knocking into the next thing, so to speak, until it reaches the ear of the listener.

ועל כן כשהאויר נח וזך וצלול, and therefore, when this medium is clear, there's no interference between me and you, אזי כשמדבר אחד שיכול לדבר, then one who has the koach to speak. Over here he points out that maybe the reason it says אחד and not the word מי, in other words it could say אזיי כשמדבר מי שיכול לדבר, anybody who's able to speak. Over here there's something unique about the word אחד. The first thing that has to be in place before you hear is that whatever is being spoken is is, you know, fulfilling its function. So therefore we're talking בדוקא about the tzadik, the one who has words that are capable of being receptive.

אזיי נשמע הדיבור למרחוק, כמו שרואין בחוש, the same way you see if I yell at towards you or I speak towards you, I can speak quietly towards you, I can whisper towards you if it's a very silent, non-turbulent environment. If it's a windy day, then that's going to change. אבל כשי-, even if it's not because of the sound of the howling wind, when it's very windy, then you're not going to be able to hear the words that come out of my mouth. אבל כשיש רוח סערה, when there is a a storm wind, this is not the first time that we discuss רוח סערה.

Interestingly, the last time that we were talking about it in a different context in תורה ח, we discussed that רוח סערה is גדול ותקיף לפי שעה, as in תורה ח אות ג, totally different context, go back and and learn over there. We said that a רוח סערה, כמו רוח סערה שהוא גדול בשעתו, a רוח סערה is something that's very turbulent. It might have a lot of koach, but it's like a whirlwind. It's like you mix something up very quickly and it seems to be going much further, much much more than let's say something that's dripping out of a an open faucet, but the open faucet will continue to to drip. Even if you plug it up, you stop the momentum, it's going to continue to flow, it's attached at the source.

But something that's a רוח סערה, it's it's much more forceful, but it's also short-lived. It's not attached at the source. So over here, he says when there's a storm wind, it's very strong, אזיי אי אפשר, although it's not rooted to life, it's not rooted to emet. In principle, a person We just had We're in the middle of Yomim Noraim now. קול דממה דקה, right? What What What ends up getting heard? The something that's very subtle. It says by I think by Eliyahu Hanavi, that קול דממה דקה is what's going to be heard. אזיי אי אפשר לחבירו לשמוע, כי הרוח מבלבל ומפריד חלקי האויר ונפזרים. Because the wind disperses the air, so then a person is not going to be sensitive to subtlety. This This idea can be taken in a lot of different directions.

Certainly distraction and, you know, things going on in one's life will make it that a person doesn't hear what he's supposed to be hearing. He won't be sensitive emotionally towards what other people are going through. He might not be sensitive to the messages that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sending him. One of the things that the yetzer hara does, Mesilat Yesharim points out, is makes a person very very busy. The more noise that's going on in a person's life, the less settled he is, the less receptive he's going to be. עד שאי אפשר לחבירו לשמוע אפילו הקול, מכל שכן הדיבור בעצמו, until, in that situation, a person might not hear the sound of another person's voice, let alone let alone the actual words. Right?

Sometimes a person is Something is going on in one's life, and they say, "Why is Why is Hakadosh Baruch Hu yelling at me? What did I do?" And the answer to that might be, don't worry about why Hashem is yelling at you, maybe the first step towards understanding why Hashem is yelling is trying to listen to what He's saying. If you are yelling at somebody that doesn't understand the language you're speaking, then the first answer is not to yell louder, it's to try to speak in a way that they can understand. ועל ידי צדקה, now we're going to connect this to צדקה, הוא לוקח נפשות. Through tzedakah that a person gives, the talmid chacham is going to be לוקח נפשות, כי לוקח לעצמו רעים אהובים.

Because, well, first, when a person gives tzedakah, that aligns when I when I give you and you take, so that creates a relationship. I'm mashpia and you are a mekabel, or vice versa. We're creating a dynamic, we're closing a loop. A person that has what to share, a a vort, a word of wisdom, an emotion, and there's nobody who's receptive, then it's it's hanging in the air. Sometimes the best thing that you can do is to actively listen, to show a person that you understand. When you create a connection through tzedakah, that's לוקח נפשות, that's gathering נפשות. כמו שאמר מונבז, like Monobaz Hamelech said, it's coming from it's coming off of a Gemara in Sukkah דף ב. It says that Monobaz Hamelech was distributing money.

He was taking money out of the out of the storehouses, the royal storehouses, and people came over to him and he said, "Why are you distributing, why are you going through all of the royal wealth?" And he had a list of responses: "My parents were able to store things in this world, and I'm storing things for the next world. My ancestors, those who came before me, stole stored things in a place where hands can reach. I am storing things—" He was distributing money to tzedakah to those people that need it.

"I'm storing things in a way that nobody's going to be able to get." And one of the responses that he gave is that "My My ancestors stored things that they had אוצרות ממון, ואני גנזתי אוצרות נפשות, and I am storing lives, I'm storing souls. אבותי גנזו ממון ואני גנזתי נפשות." Because through the tzedakah that he gave, he saved lives. Certainly, when it comes to, you know, people in kiruv, when you think, "Where can my time best be spent? My resources best be spent?" Everybody has to use, make a cheshbon hanefesh and see what he's best suited to plug into Hakadosh Baruch Hu's plan.

But over here, a person that maybe gives of his time, or or an ear, it's not just what you give in terms of, but sometimes that could save a person's life. You know, if you see somebody walk in, fix fix their collar. You know, somebody's having a bad day, and you say, "Oh, I noticed that," you know, they felt bad because they woke up late and they came late to shul, maybe Yomim Noraim, something was going on at home, and you say, "Oh, you were missed. I hope everything is okay. Don't worry, let's get back into it." And you give them a little bit of chizuk, a little bit of encouragement, you can save lives. You can give lives. That tzedakah might be more more more more valuable than tzedakah.

This is, by the way, also not the first time that we had this idea that a tzaddik is is is מלקט נפשות. We had it in Torah י״ג, אות ה': "עכשיו כשבא זה האדם לחכם הדור עם נפשו ורצונו," a person comes to the צדיק הדור, "והחכם הדור לוקח כל הרצונות," the צדיק הדור is able to take, with this person is coming, he's coming with his רצונות, and the צדיק הדור is able to take these רצונות, "ומלקט אותם אחד לאחד," understand each one in its place, help people understand their own role, "כדי להעלות אותם, ואז מלקט גם כל הרצונות והנפשות שנפלו." He's going, people end up being despondent, they have ye'ush, they have their own, they get caught up in their own lives.

Now they come to the חכם, in Torah ד' we said what happens when a person says וידוי in front of a חכם, and they want to do the right thing, they need help, they need to help attach themselves to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. They need a vehicle to do that, and they come, they bare themselves in front of the talmid chacham. And the talmid chacham, the tzaddik is able to take these, right, a person goes to his Rebbe, sometimes the answer is, "Now it's time for you to sit and learn." Sometimes the answer is, "Now it's time for you to to go out to work." He's able to clearly define his role to connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to know that he has a place within that that macro system.

And the tzaddik is מלקט נפשות, and he's able to be מעלה those נפשות. So over here, נמצא, back in our text, שכל מה שנותן צדקה ליותר אנשים, as a person gives tzedakah, they extend themselves to more people, those people in need, על ידי זה הוא קונה לו רעים יותר. He's increasing his loved ones, his friends. ועל ידי זאת האהבה שקונה על ידי צדקה, through this ahavah that comes through the tzedakah, recognizing what a person needs. If a person if a person is, you know, tremendously hungry and then you go give them something that they're allergic to, part part of tzedakah might be understanding a person's needs. Even just being sensitive to the person's needs, besides for what you give them, might be might be a tremendous idea.

If a if a person, I remember years years ago I was working in a particular office, and people around certain time of year would give would give gifts. And a particular person knew that I was frum, and he he worked around that he he he got instead of just giving me a bottle of non-kasher wine or chocolates or whatever it was, he got something that was that was that was kasher that I was able to eat. And it really it made an impression on me that he took the time. I'd met people, they just used to give the same gifts to everybody in the office.

So, people who had met me knew that you know, if they if they understood the significance that I that I wore a yarmulke and that I, you know, I looked like a like a frum Jew, and this person took the time to say, you know, what the dietary restrictions are, and he got something that that that I was able to eat, and it really made an impression. So over here, there's there's an ahavah that could be created through giving tzedakah. ועל ידי זה נזדכך האויר. Now that you open up those connections, you open up the connections between the משפיע, the מקבל, between you're giving tzedakah, you're filling a חסרון, you know what you're doing? The air is becoming clearer.

Again, if a if a person's not used to this limud, it sounds it sounds a little bit funny, but the the way that the way that we're learning it, everything that הקדוש ברוך הוא made a beriah where everything there's a parallel, there's a connection, everything makes sense. And therefore, by creating these connections, you're you're clearing up the air. Once you clear up the air, it also allows the another person to be more receptive. וכל מה שנותן ליותר אנשים צדקה וקונה אהבתם יותר אנשים, the more that you give tzedakah and it's received and you're קונה אהבה with more people, ועל ידי זה נתרבה יותר האויר הנח והזך, and therefore you're clearing up the playing field for people to become more receptive, even if it's going to be in the context of kiruv, right?

So maybe, how how can I spend time doing mundane things? I have to only I have to only to to drag people to the Beit Midrash, I'll give them a shiur. Well, maybe if you know that a person is a is a baseball fan, maybe the right thing, every person has to figure out what they have to do, maybe make an event around a a a a baseball game or something, or if a person likes a particular type of food, you know, have have or have it have it in a restaurant. There there might be different ways, different access points where you can open up those connections, give a person what they feel that they're lacking maybe, and clear the air to make them more receptive, each thing in its place.

כי האהבה הוא הדבקות רוחא ב רוחא. What is what is love? It's it is דביקות רוחא ברוחא. We discussed this a little bit in the context of נשיקין, of of a kiss in Torah י״ב in אות ד', but there's really in terms of one you know, people throw around the word love. What is love? I'm going to suggest one thing based in part on something I heard from Rav Noach Orlowek shlita, very big, very intuitive understanding, very sensitive to a lot of chinuch ideas, and this is what I understood. People talk about love all the time, but what is the definition of love?

If I if I am me and you are you and I am mevatel my ratzon, I I have what I want and I'm willing to be machnia myself to do since you're more important, I want you to understand what I'm saying, for whatever the reason, I'm able to take what I say, I would rather A and but I'm going to do B anyway because I recognize who you are and it's important to you. Well, that that creates one type of relationship, it's a responsive relationship, but I still want what I want, it's just that I'm willing to put my my own needs aside for you. What's ahavah? What's, Rabbi Dessler says hav is to give, when you're invested in something.

Let's say in a in an example that maybe maybe will resonate, let's take two two things where one of the person one of the items is not even capable of an emotion. Can you love something like that? Let's say I paint a painting and I put my heart, my soul, or I write a book, I write a manuscript, whatever it is, I put my heart, blood, sweat, tears into whatever I'm working on and all of a sudden this this this painting, I had to go get a certain shade, they didn't even have it, it took me, I had to wait on hold for two weeks so I can get the shade of colors that I needed, I did research what colors I can mix, and somehow it becomes ruined.

Somebody splashes paint all over it, it falls off the wall, it becomes soiled, and somebody says, "Don't worry about it. I did made the exact same painting or I have a print of it and I I will repaint it off of that print." That is not going to do the job. I'm personally invested in it. It says there's a lashon by Chana, I don't remember the lashon offhand, that there's a question whether I think the Gemara brings whether Shmuel Paskant in front of his Rebbi and I I believe the conversation when he told told Chana, Eli, I think, told Chana, "Don't worry, you'll have a a child that's even better than that one." She said, "This is the one that I prayed for.

My tefillot are in this child." And I'm sure there's other pshatim in there as well, but when you're personally invested in something, now I'm aligned with that, there's a deveikut, right? The when when it's not that I want A and you want B, but I, my pleasure, my real pleasure, is is not that when I get what I want. When I see the smile on your face, that gives me more pleasure than what I would have got to begin with. So, I'm not putting aside what I want in favor of you, it's that I'm aligned with you to the point that your pleasure is my pleasure. It's one and the same. And that's the same vort as hav is to give.

When I'm invested in a relationship, I'm invested in a process, that means that I am now part of that process. Like what I've said many times because it's something that stayed with me by the Chashmonaim, the Chashmonaim say to הקדוש ברוך הוא, "You fought our wars. You fought our battles." It should be the other way, we fought Hashem's battles. No, because that was their priority. It was important to them. That that is where love is created. That's why it says "ואהבת לרעך כמוך". If the more that that you have a sense and they are aligned, a person has self-love, not to go totally off topic, then I can bring somebody into my into my into myself. I can bring somebody into my sphere, into my concept of love.

If a person doesn't have self-love, self-respect, what whatever exactly that would mean, right? Different, I don't know, what self-hatred is, self-loathing, but you know, this is beyond us already. But if if I don't treat myself a certain way, can I can I truly love somebody else? A person has to understand that they themselves are a חלק אלוק ממעל. A person has to has has to respect their own chashivut. So, over here, he says, what is love? That's our vort, is דביקות רוחא ברוחא. It's when the ruach, my my ruach, my chayim combines with yours, it's coming together. Again, yirah might be a response to something on the outside, but ahavah is something that's that's inspired from from within, it's the positive. דהיינו רוחא אוהב ברוחא נאהב, שזה בחינת אוויר הן אוויר אוויר הנח.

This is a bechinah of a clear air. It's where I'm we're able to form a connection, שרוחם נוחם זה מזה, that one person's ruach is נוח, it's at peace, it's at rest with the other. Otherwise, there's going to be a friction. If I have my own priorities and you have your own priorities, we might have a common goal for now so that we're able to to coexist or work together, but that's only insofar as you serve my purpose and I serve yours. If our one ruach is נוח with the other, they're at rest with each other, they form a there's a shalom, there's a there's a shleimut over there. It's right, generally speaking, I heard b'shem the Maharal one time that that there's differences.

Sometimes you say that birds of a feather flock together, I think Rav Aharon Lopiansky pointed this out, says, "When do birds of a feather flock together or when do opposites attract?" And his answer was, I think again based on the Maharal, that generally speaking, people who have similar ways, similar approaches, those two things go together. Birds of a feather flock together. The only exception to that, when do opposites attract, when they form a shleimut, right? When the two things together form one, like we said, a mashpia, a mekabel. What are you going to have if you have a water with no cup? The water itself will get all over the place, the cup itself is empty.

Or if you have the the filament with a flame without a wick, then the flame will just combust and, you know, be there for for a second, but the wick without the flame. When two things come together to form a shleimut, they can fill a fulfill a purpose together, so then that that that's where it it creates one one thing together, כי אין רוח רעה, that there's no רוח רעה, שהוא שנאה שיעבור ביניהם. What שנאה? שנאה is going to be the opposite, it's going to be division, כי השנאה היא בחינת רוח רעה. שנאה is going to be a רוח רעה, שכתוב וישם השם רוח רעה בין אבימלך ובין אנשי שכם.

He brings a from Tanach, the note over here points out, Reb Chaim Kramer's note gives a little bit of background that Gidon had saved the Jews from the Midyanim and afterwards his son Avimelech killed all of his brothers to take leadership for himself, although the inhabitants of Shechem originally supported him. Because of Avimelech's shameful act, Hakadosh Baruch Hu created a hatred between them, and they rebelled against Avimelech, no longer listening to Avimelech. He lost his rulership and his life. But over here that this שנאה, this רוח רעה is likened to a storm wind that prevents people from hearing one another, it creates that division. This hatred causes separation between people, which is the opposite of the tzedakah, the charity that brings people together.

So inside the text over here: וישם השם רוח רעה בין אבימלך ובין אנשי שכם, פירש רש״י: שנאה, נמצא שהשנאה הוא בחינת רוח רעה. שנאה, if if if ruach, if we're defining in our terminology that ahavah is when there's a deveikut, a cleaving between one ruach and another, נשיקין, it's mamash it comes together like a kiss, and ruach is חיים, so our lives are literally intertwined into one integrated idea. So then sina is going to be the opposite, we're going to frame it as ruach ra'ah, we're going to frame it as division, בלבול האויר. At that point, you know, there's a there's a difference if me and you are arguing.

Sometimes you'll have two people arguing, and you understand that you're not even really listening to me, you're listening to me only to see how you should respond. Well, then it's impossible that you're ever going to be receptive to what I'm saying. The more the more that I say something that makes sense, the more it gets your juices flowing, especially if it becomes like an emotional response, you become dug into your position. The real way, I believe Rav Noach Weinberg points this out, the real way if you want to get over that hump is to switch positions. Allow me to argue your side and you to argue my side. That way I can become align my own self, I'm trying to prove the other side.

If you have a lawyer, depending who hires him, then he will make arguments for the other side. And then you can see, do you really understand the other person's position? If at that point, you don't have to agree with it, but if you can't structure the other person's argument, then maybe you never really understood it to begin with. So over here, the sina is where a person becomes invested, I'm invested in my position, I'm not receptive to you, we're creating that that that that noise in the air, that static in the air, בלבול האויר שעל ידי זה אין יכולין לשמוע הדיבור, so that the the message cannot be heard.

ולהיפך, אהבה ורעות הוא בחינת אויר הנח והזך, and אהבה ורעות is opening up those channels of connection so that there can be a deveikut of רוח ברוח, שעל ידי זה נשמע הדיבור למרחוק, then a person would be able to be sensitive. I could be very close from you even if we're very far away, right? Then it makes no difference. You'll be sensitive to to to my message, to my sensitivities, even if we're far away in whatever whatever the context is, right? I'm sure that people have have have very meaningful relationships where this person, if they ever really needed something, then that would become the most important thing.

A child, that would become the most important thing in your life, and that would legitimately, not just prioritize itself over whatever else you have going on in the day, it would become the most important thing that you have, even if proximity-wise you're farther, even if you have other things going on in your life, you haven't spoken in a long time. וזה נעשה על ידי צדקה, בחינת הון יוסיף רעים רבים. This idea of משפיע, מקבל, this idea of tzedakah, this idea where I'm opening the channels of giving. I'm giving and you're not taking, but you're receiving, right? Although we all want to be a giver, we all want to be givers and we don't want to be takers, well then how can you have a community?

You can't have a community where one person is only on the receiving end. There would be there would be something fundamentally lacking in the reciprocity of that relationship. But if you don't say, "I'm a giver and you're a taker," "I'm a giver and you're a receiver, you're a recipient," well, sometimes you can be the giver and I can receive. Somebody somebody one time was was in my house, and they noticed I guess I bought a case of wine before Shabbos, they said, "How is that?" So, you know, I said, "You're more than welcome to take

a bottle." And they're a person who is always very giving, and they said, "No, I, you know, I don't want to." I said, "Well, well, if you don't allow me sometimes to give you, then I don't know that I I would feel comfortable, you know, when the next time that you want to give me something." But in that case, actually taking something from me was actually giving to me. It made me feel comfortable, even if I was on the receiving side of that relationship more often, but it allowed me to feel comfortable.

שעל ידי צדקה לוקח לו רעים אהובים, and through this tzedakah, through clearing out the air, that makes a person more receptive, that's where there can be רעים אהובים, that's where we can be מקבל גרים, that's going to be the tikkun for this פגם אכילה, like we're attaching it all back to the to the previous shiurim. שעל ידי זה נעשה בחינת אויר נח וזך כנ״ל, the air becomes clear. וכל מה שמרבה ליתן צדקה יותר ליותר אנשים, the more connections like this that you establish with more people, נתרבה ביותר בחינת אויר נח וזך, and the more the air becomes clear. It becomes a flywheel, right? The more that the more tzedakah I give, the more the air becomes clear. The more the air becomes clear, the more people become receptive.

The more people become receptive, the more that I can give in a meaningful way. כי כשנותן צדקה לאיש אחד, נמצא שקונה לו אוהב אחד, I give one person, I created a relationship of ahavah between me and one other. ואז נתדבק רוחא ברוחא, and now we're aligned. ונעשה שטח קטן של אויר נח וזך, and now there's one area where I'm creating this this dynamic of clear air, of of a meaningful giving and receiving. וכשנותן צדקה לשני אנשים, נעשה שטח יותר גדול של אויר נח וזך. By the way, that doesn't mean that I give people, again, to give in a meaningful way, I have to be cognizant of what you're lacking. If I can give you extra, giving extra is not always meaningful.

Sometimes a person, okay, you want luxury, you give something a night a nice present, but on the other hand, you know, if you eat sweet things and you're not in the mood for it, it might make you nauseous. What what's really the most giving? Something that might not even have a flavor, right? So if I give you water to a thirsty person, but he's thirsty for it, if he's not thirsty for it, he'd rather have soda. A person who's thirsty for it, I'm filling a void, that that that could be the most. So maybe over here, if I give two people, it doesn't just mean giving one thing to two people, it means I'm establishing this relationship with two people.

וכן כל מה שמרבה ליתן ליותר אנשים, וקונה לו רעים ואהובים יותר, בבחינת הון יוסיף רעים רבים, wealth adds to this relationship of רע and רעות and אהבה, ונתגדל ונתרבה ביותר ויותר השטח של אויר נח וזך. What that means is I'm creating areas in the world of clarity, of receptivity, of open relationships of giving, and ultimately the ultimate giving is giving over from HaKadosh Baruch Hu, make myself into a vehicle for emet, a vehicle for Torah, a vehicle for relationship to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that's really the only true emet.

Everything everything after, so to speak, down the line from true emet and Torah and טוב and HaKadosh Baruch Hu and עולם חסד יבנה, all these other things were HaKadosh Baruch Hu developed a system that included, you know, סטרא אחרא and other things, and רע, and תאוה, and things in this world so that we have a world as a מקום for avodah, etc., etc. However, when I'm able to connect them to הקדוש ברוך הוא, that's the ultimate giving.

ועל כן העיקר, that if the segulah of tzedakah is to make this air clear, העיקר ליתן צדקה לצדיקים אמתיים ולעניים הגונים is to give people to tzaddikim amitiim, people in a position that they are going to be able to open up these channels for the real good, and also to עניים הגונים, to ראוי עניים, people that are yirei shamayim, people that need the money also, but people that are עניים הגונים, the the people that are the rightful recipients of this relationship, שכלולים מכמה נפשות ישראל, these people, these tzaddikim are are include, they're inclusive of many נפשות of ישראל.

The note over here talks about that because every talmid chacham is a is a separate root soul encompassing many souls, the true tzaddikim are greater, so they have a broader reach, they're higher up towards, in our analogy, the head right at at the center, that the really the the life center of the brain, so that's going to accomplish encompass something from every area of the body. So the higher you are, the the more of a tzaddik a person is, the more that they're encompassed and touching all of the all of the other נפשות.

So when when a person is able to give and establish this open this open relationship of ahavah, of דבקות, רוחא ברוחא with a tzaddik, with a talmid chacham, with somebody who encompasses all of the נפשות של ישראל, כי בזה, because he gives the צדיקים אמתיים, הוא מגדיל מאד השטח של אויר נח וזך כנ״ל, then that's going to have a very broad, wide-ranging reach of how much air, so to speak, in our terminology, of air is going to become clear, and that's going to be able to have impact on on every person, on every נשמה, because every נשמה is being touched by the tzaddik and we're opening up at that root a relationship of דבקות, אהבה באהבה אהבה רוחא ברוחא.

כי בצדקה שנותן להם לבד קונה לו רעים רבים מאד, כי הם כלולים מהרבה נפשות, שעל ידי זה נתרבה ביותר בחינת אויר נח וזך כנ״ל, and therefore by opening up a relationship of of ahavah and דבקות with with somebody who themself has a has a a relationship who's going to touch all of the נפשות of כלל ישראל or the most נפשות of כלל ישראל possible, so then there's going to be something how it might be a little bit down the line, so to speak, but you're you're hitting something at the at the root. It's like, by way of analogy, the Maharal uses this analogy in the context of of something else, but if if a person wants to water a tree, that's going to affect all of the leaves on a tree.

You might not see it right away, but that could provide nourishment, whereas if a person, let's say, kills a leaf of a tree or does something good for that particular leaf, it won't affect everything else. So, because the talmid chacham, in whatever way, the tzaddik, this is one of the concepts that we're spending a lot of time trying to develop, touches all of the נפשות, by opening up this ahavah, this דביקות, this this הון יוסף רעים רבים with with talmidei chachamim, tzaddikim, with עניים הגונים of this caliber—עניים הגונים we're going to translate more in terms

of yirei shamayim, not necessarily just people that are entitled to the that need the money—by opening this up, we're therefore benefiting and opening up this relationship, this dynamic, this receptivity, this clear air with with with many, many people. So, now that we spoke about how to how tzedakah is able to open up, to clear the air, to make people receptive to a message coming from the tzadik ultimately, how is this going to reach the goyim, the people that are not Jewish at this point in order to cause them to be מגייר?

ואזי כשנעשה נח וזך, אזי כשמדבר זה שיכול לדבר דבור הישראלי, now that the air is going to be tranquil and pure and at rest, at that point, אזי כשמדבר זה שיכול לדבר דבור הישראלי, this tzadik, this one that's capable of speaking the דבור הישראלי at the at the highest sense of it, היינו דבור הקדוש, this is the tzadik. אזי זה הדבור, again, you can't receive more than is spoken, so we're talking about somebody who has the capability, the capacity to speak that language, אזי זה הדבור נכתב ונחקק באויר. Now, this speech, this this devarim kedoshim, these dibburim kedoshim is going to be initiating the process, resonating sound waves, בבחינת לשוני עט סופר מהיר. It's a pasuk in Tehillim.

In the peshat it says that that my lashon is so clear, it's like a עט, like a pen in the hand of a סופר מהיר, of a sofer who's a of a skilled sofer. So that's the pasuk in Tehillim, that the dibbur will be like transferred to a סופר מהיר, like a pen in the hand of a סופר מהיר. Isn't that what we said before? Again, this is the penimiyut of of understanding it, even though you might not be receptive to speech, in this context context sometimes written word will be able to accomplish even even what speech can't, and therefore my tongue it will accomplish like the pen of a skilled sofer.

ואזי הולך הדבור ונשמע למרחוק, it will be able, the words will be able to be heard very far away, בבחינת ושמעו ושמעו הולך בכל המדינות, it's a pasuk in אסתר, פרק ט. It says that the fame of Mordechai in the house of the king was able to be heard very far, the the dibbur of Mordechai, which is the dibbur of a צדיק באמת. He saved Jews, by the way, the ultimate charity, and his his words were his words were heard. It says in the, what we'll see in a second, כי מחמת שהאויר נח וזך, יכול לשמע למרחוק, ואזי זה הדבור of the צדיק האמת נכתב בספריהם של העכו״ם.

At this point, the the we're going to go to the next step, now that the tzadik is is converting his message into words, he's converting his message into a way into a place that even spoken word would not have been receptive, that's going to be so far-reaching that his words will be נכתב בספריהם של עכו״ם. At that point, his words will be written even in writings that would be the goyishe writings. מדינה ומדינה ככתבה, we have to explore this, each medinah like its writing, meaning even in the words and the letters that are written in other sefarim, sefarim that are not Torah related, but there will be such a clarity, everything is ultimately coming from Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

So even though these things were written with intention that was not for Torah, a person will will end up, there will be such a clarity in the world, such a a connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu coming from the tzadik where everything, every element of the בריאה is connected to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, there will be and the air will be clear, there will be such a a force and a shefa in this world of where everything is be'etzem connected to Hashem that somebody would be able to look even into writings which themselves are expressing something that might not be a תורה'דיק concept, and a person would somehow have a hint of of of a message coming from Hakadosh Baruch Hu and they'll be receptive, they'll be receptive to it.

It seems that the there was a Rabbi Chaim brings from from the book tzadik number 133, that the most, we'll see later also, the most famous of these converts was Count Valentin Potocki, who was said to be in line for the Polish throne, who was studying in a Catholic school in Lithuania, troubled by what he saw as an obvious contradiction to the Catholic depiction of Jews and Judaism, and as a result, he was looking really in their sefarim and he ultimately converted.

So when when the tzadik is giving his message and it's through clear air, there is the sensitivity to an attachment to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to the true emet will be so much that all of a sudden you'll be looking at a math book that says, and this is the example I use, 2+2=5. And something is going to strike you so wrong about that, or that from what's wrong, you'll be able to see what's right. So from the way that things don't fit, the truth will come out.

And once the air is clear, once you initiate this, once one initiates this through tzedakah and the air is clear, the message of the coming off of the tzadik is going to be so clear that even מדינה ומדינה ככתבה like its writing, it is going to be an attachment and it's going to inspire, might not have even been the direct intent, it's going to be able to inspire people to convert. ואז ימצאו העכו''ם בספריהם הפך אמונתם. They'll find even within their writings the opposite of their אמונה. כמו שמצינו כמה גרים שנתגיירו מחמת זה, מחמת שמצאו בספריהם הפך אמונתם. Now we find many people were מגייר because of this, because they found in their sefarim something that just didn't jive, it didn't make sense, like we just quoted from this about this person, Count Valentin.

ומאין בא זו? Where does this come from? שימצאו עתה מה שהוא נגד אמונתם, that they're looking in a totally different place and something just doesn't fit until they they struggle with it and ultimately do actually come to the truth. אך זה בא על ידי הדיבור של צדיק. This is really be'etzem coming from the tzadik. The note over here points out that in virtually all editions of Likutei Moharan, that's what it says over here, דיבור של צדיק. In the manuscript, it actually says because of the words of Yisrael, but because everything is in ערכין, because the the the tzadik to Klal Yisrael is as Klal Yisrael to the nations, right? If you're you might be a recipient כלפי me, a giver כלפי me, but you're a recipient כלפי somebody else.

A teacher might teach a student, and then the student gives over what he heard, depending on a particular dynamic. So where you draw that that frame, so things take on different roles, and they might have parallel, analogous roles. So the tzadik to Klal Yisrael is like the Yisrael to to the goyim, to the world. עם כהנים וגוי קדוש. We bring we we bring the on Sukkos we're we're bringing korbanot as a as a tikun for the the 70 nations.

אך זה בא על ידי הדיבור של צדיק, שנחקק ונכתב באויר, that's creating these sound waves, is generating this speech, ובבחינת לשוני עט סופר מהיר, and my tongue is like a pen of a skilled סופר, והאויר הוא זך ונח על ידי בחינת הון יוסף רעים רבים, and the air becomes clear through this idea of wealth, money generates love and friendship, עד שהולך הדיבור בבחינת ושמעו הולך בכל המדינות, until it becomes so clear that the emes, the words that are generated by the person that's able to generate those words, that's a tzadik, will be heard, people will

be receptive to it even בכל המדינות, even ונכתב ונכתב בשם בספרים, even that they'll be able to somehow come to the truth through their sefarim, their writings, ועל ידי בחינה זאת, and through the words of the tzadik that are נתלבש in their ספרים, מצאו בספריהם הפך אמונתם, they'll ultimately something will will will jump out at them, ועל ידי זה נתגיירו, they'll come to be מגייר, כמו שמספרים מכמה גרים שנתגיירו על ידי זה, which we we just quoted before, על ידי שמצאו בספריהם הפך אמונתם, they're those who looked in their sefarim and they found the opposite from their beliefs, וכל זה נמשך מבחינת הנ''ל, כנ''ל. וזה בחינת: וימצא כתוב אשר הגיד מרדכי. It says that it was written in a sefer that which Mordechai told.

The pesukim say: בלילה ההוא נדדה שנת המלך, ויאמר להביא את ספר הזכרונות. Achashverosh wanted to bring out the the book of of זכרונות, דברי הימים, ויהיו נקראים לפני המלך, and they were read before the king, וימצא כתוב אשר הגיד מרדכי על בגתנא ותרש, and it was written the maaseh of Mordechai with Bigtan and Teresh. But the way that we're drashening it, the kavanah is נמצא בכל הספרים שלהם באותו הזמן הפך אמונתם, there there was a point and clarity that was inspired by Mordechai that in all of the sefarim was written was written or was able to be received what the the words of Mordechai, וזה שגרם, and this is what caused in the end, ורבים מעמי הארץ מתייהדים, in פרק ח' in Esther it says that many people from the goyim ended up converting.

So this is a reference in the pnimiyut of those pesukim that it wasn't just the the words of Mordechai and the maaseh of Mordechai that happened in one particular book at one particular time, it was this dynamic was changing where due to Mordechai Hatzadik, the all of the sefarim ended up causing that people, that the other nations would look in their sefarim and they would see they would see hefech of their emunah and see the truth. מרדכי הוא בחינת הכפירה בעבודה זרה.

Tzaddik, a Yehudi, Mordechai Yehudi is is the denial of avodah zarah, of anything other, כמו שכתוב איש יהודי, כמו שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה, that the reason that Mordechai was called Ish Yehudi, he brings from from a Gemara that רבי יוחנן אמר, לעולם מבנימין קאתי ואמאי קרי ליה יהודי על שום שכפר בעבודה זרה. שכל הכופר בעבודה זרה נקרא יהודי and brings a pasuk. So Mordechai was Ish Yehudi, was kofer ba'avodah zarah, all of these other ideologies. כל הכופר בעכו״ם, everybody who is kofer in עובדי כוכבים נקרא יהודי. Anybody who is kofer in avodah zarah, they are going to be called a Yehudi.

היינו שהדיבורים שהגיד מרדכי שהם דיבורים של כפירת עכו״ם, these words that Mordechai spoke, words that were he was the he was the the tzaddik, the the words that were that were that were lema'aseh ultimate truth, הם נכתבים באויר, they generated something that was now in the air, עד שנמצא כתוב בספריהם כנ״ל, up until the point that one could even look at sefarim that were written they were they were writing hefech of this, and nevertheless the truth would jump out at them. וזהו וימצא כתוב אשר הגיד מרדכי, and that's what the pasuk is telling us, that the דיבורים אשר הגיד מרדכי, the words that Mordechai spoke, שהם דיבורי אמונה של הצדיק האמת, these are these are the words of a true tzaddik.

A tzaddik that seeks, like Rav Chaim says, to reveal the התפארות that Hakadosh Baruch Hu takes in the Jews collectively, as individually, in in every detail of our lives. This tzaddik is the concept of Mordechai that totally rejects anything other, any avodah zarah, and wherever the Torah mentions the greatness of Klal Yisrael, it's not only the tzaddikim that the Torah is talking about, it's every single member of Klal Yisrael. It's the it's the organism, the dynamic, the the beriah of Klal Yisrael in a macro way, in a micro way, בני בכורי ישראל. I remember it again as a nation, and this tzadik, this Mordechai, he he was speaking these words of emunah. נמצא כתוב בספריהם, and this came out, this jumped out from their sefarim.

כי דיבורו של צדיק הולך מירחוק עד שנכנס בתוך ספריהם, because once the tzadik said these words, it literally was found in their sefarim. שעל ידי זה נמצא בספריהם היפך אמונתם, כי נמצא בספריהם הדיבורים קדושים שהגיד מרדכי שהוא בחינת הצדיק כנ״ל. This is summing up just what we've been speaking about. There was such such a clarity that even reading something that was expressing other ideas, beliefs, ideologies, all that did maybe is highlight what's wrong with it because it just didn't fit, until the those who were reading it were able to reflect and see the actual truth. Sometimes it's an even bigger giluy about the truth being actual emet, once a person realizes that this is not just a true statement, this is the only possible truth.

We've already seen at least in two תורות that the greatest Kiddush Hashem is when people are מגייר, when those who are far away come to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. וזהו וימצא כתוב אשר הגיד מרדכי כנ״ל, and this it says, it was found it was found written that Mordechai had told, ואז כשבאים אלו העכו״ם ומוצאים שם היפך אמונתם, when these goyim come and they find contradictions in their religion, in their belief system, מזה נעשים גרים בבחינת ורבים מעמי הארץ מתיהדים, that many people from the goyim were מגייר, and all of this is because of the דיבורי אמונה קדושים of Mordechai Hatzadik. And this was a somewhat of a little bit long, but a very yesodos'dik response to our question of how to initiate the גרות process, how do we bring gerim close?

And the reason that we got into this is that we had explained that one can only be מקבל יראה and ahavah through the צדיק הדור, and how could a person be close to a צדיק הדור and ultimately not be receptive? It was through his מעשים רעים, which came from a a פגם באכילה, which is associated with פגם המזבח, and the tikkun for that is to make gerim. And then we had to ask a question, how do we make gerim? And we are marching on in Torah י״ז, as we are also hopefully in the process of increasing our ahavah and yirah in our attachment to the tzadik.

Many many of us has been zocheh to be in Uman for Rosh Hashanah, but Be'ezrat Hashem we'll have a Gmar vechatimah tovah, and we'll be zocheh to continue to learn Likutei Moharan together, hopefully in ירושלים במהרה בימינו.