LM 8.2 — Menoras Zahav, Part 2 of 4 · תורה ח׳

Okay, good morning. We are going to continue on in תורה ח, and we are up to אות ה. We'll give a brief introduction just to kind of bring us up to speed, whether we listened, didn't listen, haven't thought about it in a week. We started off saying that the essence of life, the essence of the בריאה, of an אדם, of everything is the בחינה of רוח חיים, and a חיסרון in anything is going to be a lacking in רוח חיים. And perhaps we could suggest that this is, it says, it's clear again, והיה אם שמוע תשמעו אל מצוותי, when we are aligned with the source of life, when we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, we're שטעל צו הקדוש ברוך הוא, to the רבונו

של עולם, ונתתי מטר ארצכם בעתו יורה ומלקוש. And as far as anything going wrong, when things are misaligned, when the שפע is not coming direct, the גמרא tells us that any lacking shouldn't necessarily be there, right? What's the שיעור for ייסורין? Even if a person puts his hand into his pocket to pull out three coins, he ends up pulling out two coins, that's already going to be the שיעור ייסורין. How if how if we have a חיסרון, how are we able to replace, how are we able to get רוח חיים?

So we spoke about the power of a קרעכץ, of the the inhale of the רוח, the קרעכץ of תורה and תפילה. We're broken over the fact that we have to do תשובה, but we intake רוח חיים with a כוונה of replacing, of attaching ourselves to הקדוש ברוך הוא. And this רוח חיים, בעצם, is by the צדיקים. So we have to we have to be מבטל ourselves, we have התקשרות with the צדיקים, of taking their advice, of having אמונה in the צדיקים. Why? Because a צדיק, we explained, is essentially a living ספר תורה.

The גמרא said, I think maybe even we've quoted it, that it's a it's a it's a טיפשות that people will stand up for a ספר תורה, but that they won't stand up for a תלמיד חכם. This is a person who who we relate to, and we've already discussed in many of the תורות already, at least two, four, six, maybe, but many of the תורות, we're developing already the role of a צדיק, that the fact, even though we all do התבודדות, we have our relationship with הקדוש ברוך הוא directly, but we're and we're going to explore this concept a little bit more also, that sometimes there's a conduit that that, from where we stand, we we have a a vehicle through which we are able to

relate to הקדוש ברוך הוא and get close to הקדוש ברוך הוא. And over here, when we are able to to be מבטל ourselves to the צדיק הדור, so then that's where really the רוח חיים, that's the connection with the רוח חיים, the world, the living embodiment of רצון השם, and that's where we are we're able also to replace our רוח חיים individually. Spoke about already the צדיק as a as a as a leader in terms of in context of of when משה רבינו was handing over the leadership to to יהושע.

And but so now the question is: what about רשעים? What about people who are not connected to that source? So where do they seem to have their חיסרון filled, because they also have some measures of success in the world? And if we're saying that all measures of success, whether רוחניות or גשמיות, are all filled based on our attachment or a filling up the חיסרון in the בחינה of רוח חיים to the source, so somebody who is not trying to do that, where do they where do they where do they get the energy, the influx of energy into the world from?

So we explained that רשעים have their own source, and we're going to explore this more, but for the רשעים, it's called רוח דקליפה. Their רוח חיים is a רוח סערה. It is it is coming from it would be like the difference between, let's say, a a steady stream of air, right? Or if if you could imagine, let's say, some sort of a a a a current that's being generated into a pool of water, so you can you can splash very quickly and the water will go in the other direction, but ultimately it will calm down because it's not attached to any actual מים חיים.

It's not attached to a living source. The צדיק is attached to אמת, it's attached to the actual influx of energy into the world and to הקדוש ברוך הוא and to the תורה. The רשעים have, and we will explore this, it's it's as if their their attachment to something that is not that that is, as it were, within the בריאה, it's everything comes from הקדוש ברוך הוא, of course, but we're going to see that the the ד' יסודות that are that are the reflection and the manifestation of the building blocks that הקדוש ברוך הוא put into the world, so in this in this world, in the עולם העשיה, as we're down here, they're also going to be, especially post post חטא ראשון, there are negative manifestations

of that, and that become distorted. And a רשע is getting his source of sustenance, yes, from the ד' יסודות, but from the קליפה, from the סטרא אחרא, from the negative side of these manifestations. And therefore, while you can, like you know, stir that pool very quickly, it becomes it becomes, you know, very powerful for a short period of time, you know, something could be intense, but it won't it won't last. And therefore, not only won't it last, because it's not attached to the true אמת, so that actually will be what what what folds in on itself, that will end up being the רשעים's destruction as well, right?

The the peel of of a of an orange might look more vibrant than the fruit, but when it's not it's not בטל to the task, it's not it's not part of the process process, so then it comes off the fruit, and then even though it might look much brighter, it's ultimately going to wither away, that'll be the part that spoils first, it doesn't have any חיות, and therefore the רשע's success might be very, very powerful and very intense, however, it also will be short-lived. But this idea that הקדוש ברוך הוא gives access to the צדיקים of the רוח חיים, that itself is a רחמנות and a חנינות that הקדוש ברוך הוא allows himself, as it were, to be related to even in this world, and

we spoke about that in the context of the thirteen מדות of רחמים, that that we can use חסד, נוצר חסד לאלפים, that the צדיק, we can ultimately use this חסד of הקדוש ברוך הוא, that we're attached to הקדוש ברוך הוא, to go against the אלופים of עשו, to put down these these this רע דקליפה. And not only that, we said that also part of the חסד that the צדיק is able in order so that we can become a כלי, that we can become a receptacle to the רוח חיים, the צדיק is able to help us gain a כפרה and take out all of those blockages so that as we attach ourselves to the צדיק, איש חכם יכפרנה, I think we said the פסוק was, and

therefore we are able to attain and achieve a כפרה so that we can we can intake the רוח חיים and attach ourselves to הקדוש ברוך הוא. אות ח: So now we are going to say, but we also there's an element the גמרא asks in ברכות about a צדיק להתגרות ברשעים, to contend, to put down the רשעים, you know, we can ask why do we have to do that at all? You know, a little bit of light chases away a lot of darkness, so we'll mention in a second, but as far as this idea of of putting down the רשעים, what does the גמרא say?

Okay, anyway, so so not anybody could do that, and not even any צדיק can do that, it has to be a צדיק גמור, and we're going to have to explain why. והנה, כשמתאנח ממשיך רוח חיים אל החסרון שמתאנח עליו. So we said that when a person has this intake of air, this influx of air associated with this אנחה, this groan, this קרעכץ, so he takes in רוח חיים that is able to be משלים the חסרון, whatever lacking he has, and because he now fills the void with actual with from the actual source of life, ומשלימו, and through this, he is able to make himself complete, and attachment to the צדיק is able to achieve a כפרה, like we said.

אך להתגרות ברשעים, אי אפשר. However, it doesn't mean that he's in a place where he can contend with רשעים. The ביאור הליקוטים asks why we'd want to do this, and I think that one way of explaining this perhaps is, you know, in different places we say that every מצוה or every עבירה creates a a מלאך, a spiritual force, an accusing angel, however it is that you relate to it, and in terms of perhaps a צדיק גמור in terms of the in terms of himself, so he's holding what he needs to be holding, however, the universe in which we find ourselves, the arena for עבודה and how we relate to הקדוש ברוך הוא, so we are dealing with the stage in which we find ourselves, and

the more רשעות and the more רע in the world, those create spiritual realities, those create detachment points to הקדוש ברוך הוא, and it makes it the the spiritual environment can be easier or less easy for עבודה for כלל ישראל as a whole. And therefore, if we have this, you know, still even even when you have if we're using the you know, the terms of like a קליפה, even to get to the פרי, you have to get past the you have to get past the קליפה. So if it's attached to the fruit, then it's a function of the תכלית, so then we relate to it as such, but if it's going to be a blockage, and it seems to be relating to itself as being independent

and not בטל to הקדוש ברוך הוא, so now there's going to be this negative spiritual energy that kind of dampens and makes more difficult and creates blockages for כלל ישראל as a whole to be able to relate to הקדוש ברוך הוא. We spoke last time about אמונה and תפלה being able to like anchor itself above that. But in any event, in order to contend with רשעים, and even we'll see with the רע in general at its source, so only a צדיק גמור can do that, and we might expand that a little bit later on.

כי כשמתגרה בהרשע, when a person contends with a רשע, והוא מתאנח, וממשיך הרוח מהרע שלו דקליפה, and then the רשע will go, and he intakes this air, so now he is going to take in, again we said it's not the same from רוח חיים, it's coming from a רוח סערה, but he is now going to have an influx of energy from his own terms, so then הרוח שלו גדול בשעתו, it'll be his time for הצלחה, as it were. It'll create, even though it might be temporary, it'll create this big enthusiastic burst of energy on his terms.

ועל כן, כל צורריו יפיח בהם, כנ״ל, and that's why the פסוק in תהלים says that he'll be able, דוקא this לשון of like יפיח, of snorting as at his enemies, that the רשע will be victorious at least in temporary sense. ויוכל להזיק לו, חס ושלום, and this רשע will be able to be מזיק the one who's coming against him through this. albeit temporary strength. ועל כן, לאו כל אדם יכול להתגרות ברשעים. Not everybody is going to have רשות to contend with the רשעים, because they won't accomplish, they won't be able to put the the רע down, and we'll see even more why from a from a technical sense, אם לא מי שהוא צדיק שיהו צדיק גמור, וצדיק גמור הוא So what is a צדיק גמור?

כשהוא בבחינת לא יאונה לצדיק כל און, that that a צדיק is a person that is is רע is incompatible with him, he's not going to come to sin, he won't even come to sin בשוגג. He's not in a category of being able to sin, and that's the type of person, דהיינו שכבר גירש וביטל כל הרע שלו, because he was מבטל all of his רע, ועד שבטוח שלא יארע לו שום מכשול עבירה, that he's not going to be subject to, he's not going to be going to make himself subject to any sort of עבירה, because he's not even going to have this רע בכח.

And all of these terms and the way that I'm kind of setting it out, I think will become clearer as we unfold the piece. Now just one question that is brought down over here: we say that אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא. So if a person is in a place where he's not sinning at all, so what's his function over here? So one way perhaps to look at it, I'm trying to look at who he who he quotes over here, but in any event, one way to look at it is that every there's a spectrum of עבירות.

Some people, some people are going to, are going to have certain challenges, and other challenges to them, they don't even relate to at all as a challenge. They might have more רוחניות challenges, whether or not they, they talk, you know, they talk during davening, or they look in the סידור, or they put their finger in the place. Wherever it is that a person is holding, that person does not As far as he's concerned, to eat a cheeseburger on יום כיפור, and whatever it is, it's not it's not even something that occurs to him, it's not even something that he walks by and it doesn't even resonate at all that it's something that I wish I could do.

So the the idea of it could be at least perhaps we could talk in a micro way that when we talk that that in an element of relating to either רע in a specific sense, or to a particular challenge, when we talk about who is able to relate to that specific thing, it could be that they have very that the יצר הרע is also a מלאך. In other words, it could be that they're contending with the יצר הרע either on a very spiritual level, and more coarse challenges to them, it's not something that they are contending with and victorious, it's פשוט not something that they're contending with.

But in any event, we just wanted to mention this idea that אין צדיק בארץ אשר לא יחטא, so how is could it be that we even relate to a צדיק? Because a צדיק is somebody who almost has zero יצר הרע, that not not even something that they're conquering. However, what is it that we mean over here? והענין כי יש ארבע יסודות. This idea of what a צדיק גמור is, is that let's take it a step back: there's four יסודות: אש, רוח, מים, and עפר. We discussed this in the fourth תורה, I think, ע״ח.

ולמעלה בשרשן הם ארבע אותיות הוי״ה, and these correspond to the אותיות יו״ד ק״א וא״ו ק״א. Now when we talk, we we don't have the terms to relate to things that don't have any sort of כלים in this world. So when we talk about הקדוש ברוך הוא's relationship with the world, we use either a משל of אדם, some ספרים, and it could be very dangerous, they relate to things that almost sound like anthropomorphisms, as as parts correspond to a human body, because really an אדם is an עולם קטן, because we're a microcosm of creation.

We're going to see that תורה also has, we say that there's רמ״ח positive מצות and שס״ה negative מצות that correspond to the limbs, to to to the the אברים and the גידים. So we also have this this corresponding. We reflect the structure of the world, and therefore, sometimes we talk about the spirituality terms of אדם. However, sometimes we also use as a משל אותיות. We're going to see we say we talked already about יו״ד ק״א וא״ו ק״א and ע״ב, ס״ג, מ״ה, ב״ן, the different מילואים of the name of הקדוש ברוך הוא.

There's the יו״ד ק״א וא״ו ק״א and the קוצו של יו״ד, or sometimes we'll talk in terms of תגין, נקודות, טעמים, and אותיות, the different parts of the letters. And we use this to describe הקדוש ברוך הוא's הקדוש ברוך הוא's התחברות with the world. So we say that in at its שורש, it corresponds that we have that that we have הקדוש ברוך הוא, so to speak, the the the the the name of הקדוש ברוך הוא that we relate to as the most essential expression of it, and the way that as it relates to the world, so this ends up corresponding and manifesting in different building blocks of the world that we call אש, רוח, מים, עפר.

And as they come down, ולמטה הם מעורבין טוב ורע, and as those interact in the physical world, they find a positive and a negative expression. Now this really is in in part, it happened, I think we talked about in the fourth תורה, that that it comes from post post-חטא ראשון, when when really, as it relates to the גוף האדם, it's the positive expression, and when we relate to the negative physical part of that is the four מרות, the four biles. But in any event, רב חיים ויטאל in the שערי קדושה, I have a note over here that that mentions it, so not that I'm familiar necessarily, but but it says that he talks about that these are being the אבות, like there's אבות נזיקין, there's

there's different אבות of things, the אבות of the מדות, of the personalities, of the drives, the way that they express themselves in that in our world. So אש could be גאוה, כעס, something that's explosive, something that's upwards, and it could come up as קפדנות, so a person who's very you know מקפיד on something, כבוד, he wants to have he he wants to be expansive, he wants to have honor. רוח is something that that is it's emptiness, it's a רוח, but there's nothing substantial there, שיחה בטלה, empty conversation, or חניפות, is flattery, lying.

מים is is is תענוג, it's something that grows plants, it's something that nourishes, it's a lush garden. There could be jealousy, חמדה, and גזל ממון, עריות type issues, things in that that nature. And עפר, we're not going through it totally, but עפר could be עצלות, something that's heavy, lethargy, things of that nature. And on the other hand, the positive מדות also will will also going to be expressions of this things. A person a person has ענוה, and התבטלות, or שתיקה, he could be מואס in anything that has that that that's a תענוג of the גוף, or something that's שמח בחלקו.

But in any event, the point that we need over here is that the building the the there's אבות, there's there's a core מדות as they relate to things in this world as far as the human personality, the אדם קטן. One of the things we said earlier is that is that as a person relates to a צדיק, so they say וידוי in front of a צדיק. A צדיק is able to help them find what what their נשמה is נוטה to and find their area for growth, what they have to work on.

So these are the expressions, and they find positive and negative. Now, והצדיק גמור, a צדיק גמור, שהבדיל והפריש הרע מן הטוב לגמרי, that he is able to separate out the the טוב and the רע, we'll just have patience until we unfold this, עד שלא נשאר לו שום רע מאחד מארבע יסודות הנ״ל, until he relates to the positive מדות and he doesn't relate at all to the negative expression of that מדות, meaning that you know a person even let's say jealousy, so there's many things people talk in general, I'm jealous of my friend who has the same job as me, but he has a higher salary, right?

Two people are looking for a שידוך, and they're both in the same, one gets a שידוך. People aren't jealous of, you know, the richest man in the world, or people are they because they don't they don't relate to it. Jealousy in general it is a לשון of like קנין, it's something that should be mine. קנאה is jealousy. Is it But let's say I'm a carpenter, I'm not jealous of the jeweler's hammer, right? In in a certain sense, so let's say I refine my שמח בחלקי, so then I'm not going to have this I'm not going to be jealous of somebody else, I'm not going to be outward looking, because if I can relate to myself as as attached to the source, that הקדוש ברוך הוא

gives me everything that I need, then I'm not go I'm not it's not not just that I'll be jealous, but I'll say, "You know what? השם gives me all my need." I פשוט won't relate to anything outside of me. It's something that doesn't relate to me, it's something totally independent. I'm not jealous of the cow, because let's say a person needs פרנסה or food, but look at the cow, I'm so jealous, the cow has grass all over the place, it's something that doesn't pertain to him. Therefore, a צדיק, when he relates to the the the the these core elements of his personality and of the בריאה at the source, so then even though it's true when a person is lower down on the scale it

seems to be that he's mixed in טוב and רע, and he gets all tangled up in it. But a person who's attached at the source, so then he separates it out, and he to him it's not even a challenge, שהם כל המדות כידוע, that this is that that he's that nothing bad is going to happen to him because not just that he's going to overcome it, but that it won't even be a challenge to him in this element. ובבחינה זו מותר להתגרות ברשעים. And that this person over there will be מותר will be מותר to fight with, to be able to to to contend with רשעים.

And you know you know, just to just explain, you know, on on one hand, you know, a person thinks that when a person fights in the dumpster, you know, they get dirty too, even if they're even if they're successful. But on the other hand, and this is similar to what we said, a a person who's who's totally a a person can walk by an area with something inappropriate, they're working on שמירת עיניים, and they can טאקע close their eyes and think about something else. Or they walk by a non-kosher restaurant, and the food smells so delicious, and they wish they could, and they remember back in the day, depending where they were holding.

Nobody walks into a pet shop and says, "This food smells good," or walks in you know, walks into a zoo and says, "Oh, you know, there's there's all sorts of animals that are telling לשון הרע," or whatever it is that these animals It it it it פשוט it פשוט doesn't speak to him. So, you know, in our you know, which which rabbi is it, let's say, you know, just למשל, is supposed to go into a restaurant to go, you know, hang out with the kids and bring them back out?

The one the the the the person who's not going to be sitting and thinking, "Wow, you know, the music here, the food here, the hangout here, I remember when I was a teenager," and kind of resonates with him a little bit. The person who's able to go into that into the dumpster to go pull somebody out has to be somebody where he's not only that he's going to be successful over the challenge, to him, it's not going to be a challenge. It's only the צדיק גמור that is able to go in to to that he's the the appropriate person to go in and bring people out, where the רע ultimately if he brings everybody out, then the רע has no more has no more people

engaging in it, it doesn't have its own source, the רע only exists at the level of people engaging in it, where where where people take these distortions, and then the רע will fall away. Yeah, והענין כי כל רשע ההכרח שיהיה לו צנור. Because a רשע needs also, a צדיק is attached at the אמת, a צדיק is attached at the source what's above the world, he's coming from the true source of everything. But a רשע needs some sort of a pipeline for also his source of energy and his his seeming success in his endeavors.

שיקבל דרך שם הרוח שלו להשלים חסרונו, so that he can fill his lack. והצנור הוא דרך המדה הרעה. So where he gets it is the מדות רעות. We'll mention later on why, maybe he should just get it from someplace else. So why does it why why do we relate in a certain way to the רשע also getting his חיות from something that seems to be the negative side of a positive thing? Maybe it should just come from something separate. So the the the the one answer is, or the the the true answer is just because everything is really the energy of הקדוש ברוך הוא, it's only the the רע and the קליפה is only the the things that we relate to in this world because

הקדוש ברוך הוא made the world like this so that we have source, so that we have בחירה, so that we have choice. Everything is really coming from הקדוש ברוך הוא. But we'll speak a little bit more later. והצנור הוא דרך המדה רעה מארבע יסודות שהמשיך והגביר, הוא הדרך והצנור שמקבל דרך שם הרוח חיים שלו להשלים חסרונו. So again, the the the the רשע is getting these negative expressions of these ד' יסודות. We see that the מגילה, or if we're learning דף יומי, מגילה points out by המן, he had גאוה and כעס.

It's coming from, you know, כעס is is is אש, גאוה is an right? So he had he had these things. But but but the but but this is the where the רשעים are getting it from and this is giving them this energy is giving them their חיות. Yeah, so it says, וכשהצדיק, okay, וכשהצדיק רוצה להשפילו, so when the צדיק wants to come to put down this רשע, הוא מוכרח, הוא מוכרח לירד להמדה רעה ההיא. So the צדיק goes at the source of this מדה of where the רע, so to speak, is is coming into the world, right?

ושהגביר עליו הרשע, that the רשע is strengthening it, he's attaching to the negative expression of this, להכניע, and the the צדיק comes to to crush it, to put it down, ולקלקל הצנור ההוא של הרשע, to address it at the root, שמקבל משם החיות שלו, where the רשע is getting his חיות. And however exactly this works, the ליקוטי הלכות discusses that אסתר went into the בית המלך, that שרה went into the בית פרעה, and and and אברהם ended up coming out from מצרים, and and and מרדכי was attached to to אסתר, that she was, says the, that he was able to guard her because מרדכי was מר דרור, that that it says that he was a זך and צח, he had this purity, and therefore he

was able that אסתר, who was עצם מעצמיו, that she would not be impacted, that he was able to to to keep her as she should be, that she wasn't going to be impacted by this. But and I'll just tell you one nice thing if you are if you are holding in these סוגיות, that מרדכי, so we saw that המן goes to אחשורוש and he says, you know, מיהו איש, and he dresses מרדכי up, he parades him around in the king's in all of the king's clothing and so forth even to the עד כדי כך that that and this was המן's מדה, this was המן was גאוה, that מרדכי is going there and literally dressing up in the king's clothing and המן's daughter poured the bedpan

all over him. And then what does it say afterwards? I forget the לשון, that מרדכי right after went back into his שק, he went back into his sackcloth doing the תשובה. So one thing which is not what we're talking about, is you just see, you know, a lot of times things are going difficult and we strengthen, we do תשובה, תפלה, and all of a sudden it gets a little bit better, and then we rest on our laurels a little bit, we think it's okay. The truth is that if הקדוש ברוך הוא is giving us a little smile, we're on the right track, that's the time to to double down.

מרדכי went right back to the שק. He didn't to the sackcloth. He didn't he didn't convince himself that it wasn't like that. But the second idea is over here you see that המן had this גאוה that, "Everything I have in the world is not worth anything if מרדכי doesn't doesn't bow down to me." And all of a sudden, comes מרדכי, he goes at that he literally dressed in the king's clothing, his crown, on the king's horse, with המן himself doing, at the point of גאוה, you'd think that מרדכי would have a little bit, to go straight back to the sackcloth, straight back to the ענוה, to go straight back, right?

We saw that that because the גמרא also says because of the צניעות of of שאול, so they had had had מרדכי, right? מרדכי had this this ענווה, he wasn't impacted בכלל by the גאווה. It didn't even impact him. It didn't it wasn't a chink, it wasn't a challenge. He did what he had to do, and that was that was what הקדוש ברוך הוא placed him, and then he went straight back without it impacting him one iota, because he was the right person, he was the צדיק הדור, certainly in this regard, that was the right one to contend with המן at the שפיץ of גאווה.

So, you see ממש clearly, I think, this this idea that we're talking about. ועל כן מוכרח שיהיה זה הצדיק צדיק גמור שאין בו שום רע למען לא יהיה כח לרוח סערה, so that there shouldn't be any כח to this רוח סערה, to this storm wind that's swirling around. Again, even if it's not might not be as strong, there's a steady source, a steady flow, right, a steady flame, and even if somebody, you know, blows it and all of a sudden it looks like it dissipates, but no, it's attached to the source, the flow the flow of air keeps on coming, or this storm wind that has its own created momentum, and once the momentum is interrupted, or it's it doesn't impact the source at all,

right? If the gas is coming out of the line, you know, the wind is coming in and somebody blows against the current, so for temporarily it'll look like it dissipates, but then it comes back that that the source it was not impacted at all. שהוא רוח חיים של הרשע, but that's the רוח חיים of the רשע that's temporary, לשלוט ולהזיק חס ושלום להצדיק. בעת... sorry, again: מוכרח שיהיה צדיק גמור שאין בו רוח רעה למען לא יהיה כח לרוח סערה שהוא רוח חיים של הרשע, that there shouldn't be any כח of this storm wind לשלוט ולהזיק חס ושלום להצדיק, to impact the צדיק at all, בעת שיורד להעמיד הרשע או רשע לקלקלו, at the time that the צדיק is descending as it were, he's involving himself

with the negative מדות of the רשע, so you're going to have this point of conflict, and the צדיק who is attached to the true source, to the אמת, will ultimately be victorious, and he'll be able to put down the רשע to help out all of the other Jews who, again, so they don't get lost, are ultimately getting their רוח חיים via the צדיק. However, it has to be a צדיק גמור who is able to do this, כי אין להרע שום תפיסה ואחיזה בהצדיק גמור ואין לו מקום לאחוז בו, because there's no point of attachment, right?

If you're building something, if you want to glue two things together, you have to sand it down. There has to be a point of attachment for things to stick. Otherwise, there just won't be any way for it to take hold. And it says over here there's like a little addition that ר' נתן put into the תורה, וגם וגם this idea that the רשע doesn't have any כח, any כח in himself מהמידה רעה בעצמה, וגם המידה רעה בעצמה שיורד להכניעה אין לה שום תפיסה חס ושלום, that there's no מקום for תפיסה.

He's speaking out I think we spoke out some of these ideas. רק מה שיורד לשם הוא להכניעה ולהשפילה בבחינת ויעל אברם ממצרים. So, he makes this he makes this reference that I read into it before. Now, back to רבי נחמן. וזהו, now the the background over here, my note points out from חיי מוהר״ן that that there was somebody in the in the place Nemyriv, which was this רשע, which was a group of רשעים that were contending with רבי נחמן at this time, and right after שבת חנוכה, shortly thereafter, they saw their downfall after he said this תורה.

And he he said at this time, "If anybody asks you what we accomplished over here, you're going to tell them that we accomplished רוח," right? But but this is what we see that that again, via the צדיק is how the רשעים ultimately their substance just dissipates. They're they're no longer there. The רע is not there in the world, and therefore, via the צדיק who is able to contend with this רשעות, therefore that's where every individual כלפי their needs and חסד דמחסירא or כלפי whatever our שלמות, our חסרון needs to be filled into a שלמות, like we saw last time by משה and יהושע that he saw that there was a leader, he's able to fill the שלמות כנגד every single person individually, in order to

to make our attachment to הקדוש ברוך הוא to strengthen that. וזהו משפיל רשעים עדי ארץ, and that's where we see that that that one who is משפיל רשעים who lowers who lowers the רשעים, so ראשי תיבות of מ״ר ע״א are אש, רוח, מים, עפר, שהם כל הארבע יסודות, that the person who is going to contend with the רשעים is the one who is going to address them. Now, interestingly, the really טוב or or שלמות, right, attachment to הקדוש ברוך הוא, it's only once it gets to the expression in this world that we have כלים, we are finite individuals, and therefore it's like light through a prism, we need attachment points.

So, a person who is attached to הקדוש ברוך הוא, the truth is, בעצם they're attaching to the source that goes beyond where the light has to get broken up through the prism. We're attaching to something above really the distinct expressions of it, even though we have to relate to it through a vehicle. of how הקדוש ברוך הוא gives us a התדבקות with Him and התקשרות with Him, the רשע, רע doesn't isn't really part of a שלמות. Right, if something is a complete circle, but if if something is lopsided, so where there's רע, that's where it goes to one side or the other.

You can break it up and you can address these negative מדות at the source. When there's a leak, it's leaking from one place. But if something is totally totally has a שלמות, so then you're really attaching above this. So the צדיק הגמור, so he's the one who for him, he's not lopsided. He's not he he is not going to get impacted by any one of these elements. It's the רשע who's really not in line with הקדוש ברוך הוא. The the רשע is the one who's getting his חיות from from these these individual expressions of חסרון.

So when the צדיק comes and he's able to identify the area of the lack, and the צדיק coming comes because of a of a בחינה of שלמות and תורה, so he's the one that can fill the lack, and therefore שיהא כלול כל המדות, that the as as as you're כולל all of these expressions, these ד' יסודות, those are a an the complete expression of all of the manifestations of the מדות in this world, שצריכים לבררם לגמרי, and what the צדיק does is because he's really an infusion, an expression of the שלמות, that only at that level we're only relating to the ד' יסודות in their in their positive expression, right?

If a person relates, מה נגיד, למשל, I don't know, if a person relates to nourishment, we need to nourish things, right? So that means that when I look at food that let's say is for a person, that is nourishment. If I look at animal food that could be poisonous to a person, not just to say that that's food I don't want to eat, that's not nourishment. But if a person is on the bottom level and they say, "I just want to fill my belly and have it feel full," so then they might want to eat positive food and they might want to eat food that's going to be harmful to them, and then their brain has to kick in and say, "No, don't eat that.

That's going to be bad for you." But they'll relate to both things as things that they can fill their belly with. The צדיק is coming in from the top end. He's relating to things at the source. For him, he doesn't even relate to these, like we said, these negative expressions as as being there. They're they're not They have no substance, עד שלא יש שום אחיזה משום רע שיש בארבע יסודות הנ״ל, so that nothing It doesn't even resonate within him, ואז היה צדיק גמור כנ״ל. ואז, דייקא, and therefore specifically כשמבדיל הרע מארבע יסודות: אש, רוח, מים, ועפר, when we're able to be מבדיל, to clarify, to separate out, to distinguish the positive expression to the negative, it's not just that we're כולל, everything is food, and

there's positive and negative, no. Nourishment only relates to one idea of this, there's only the positive expression of it that's relevant as far as we're concerned, אז הוא משפיל רשעים עדי ארץ, so then the negative expression, the negative expression of this falls away. מה שאין כן צדיק שאינו גמור. Now what happens when you have a צדיק שאינו גמור? So for now, the way that we will relate to this, the person is The בעל התניא has his own way of addressing this, but the צדיק שאינו גמור is a צדיק who, not only does he only do the right thing, he doesn't do any עבירות, the truth is is that he only wants to do the right thing.

He doesn't really want to do the the the wrong thing. However, there because there's something It doesn't find expression in his actions, it doesn't find expression in his speech, and it might not even find expression in his conscious thoughts, but he doesn't reject it. There are certain things that if a person, you know, eats, they'll they'll vomit it out. Their body will reject it. And there are certain things that a person is not going to be מואס ברע. They won't they won't reject it. Personally, I don't think that דאווענען is nice when people are talking or looking on their phones or doing whatever it is, but does it bother me?

Do I do I do I find it revolting? Or is there something in it that resonates against me? I hear the non-Jewish music outside the car window, I hear a person quit smoking for years, and then they get a puff and, you know, it kind of goes in their face and they kind of remember with some sort of nostalgia, even though they would never do it in a million years. Okay, I don't know, this משל might not be exactly on the mark, but you have this צדיק שאינו גמור, and he doesn't sin, but there's something in him that's בכח.

It's in the potential. It doesn't find expression, but there's something in there that could resonate. He's not the right person to go contend with the רשעים. When he's going to go into the bar to get the guys out, and he's going to have this little like thing, you know, in the back of his mind, right, that even if it doesn't find expression, אף שאין לו שום עבירה, אף על פי כן עדיין לא הבדיל הרע לגמרי, but it's not something that's divorced from his personality. It's something that just doesn't find expression, maybe even in his thoughts, והרע עדיין בכח, but it's there potential.

When he comes into contact with רע, now it's going to light him up just a little bit, but from the inside, right? And therefore, על כן אסור לו להתגרות ברשעים, it's going to be אסור for him to contend with the רשעים, כי יש מקום להרע לאחוז בו, because there's a place where the רע can can grip him. You know, that we we we said, if you listen to the עלי שור שיעור, and we had a whole chapter on the מוח versus the לב. There are things that I know, right?

Let let's say you tell me, I know the combination of a door, and I know that it's never going to change, or whatever it is, and one person, two people, 10 people, a kajillion people tell me, "No, you just didn't realize there was an emergency, somebody changed the code," whatever it is. At some point somebody, you know, they'll they'll they'll gaslight you to death. You know, by the time they're finished trying to convince you, it might be a piece of information that you know, but it's not necessarily who you are.

This this person's like he knows that he has to do the right thing, and he relates to it 100%, and it's a 1000%, but is it is it part of his identity? But let's say there's something somebody says that the sun is what has light, and the moon is what comes out at night. If you read a thousand research books, and no matter, and a billion, kajillion people come and tell you 2 + 2 = 5, whatever it is, that's not information that you know. That's something that's part of your building block of consciousness, right?

A a person who has amnesia might forget, you know, certain things, they're not going to forget that it's your that you're not supposed to walk on your hands and eat with your feet, right? That I open my mouth, and my mouth is what I breathe in. Maybe I'll just forget to open my mouth. It's it's you can say it's on it's the subconscious or whatever it is. It becomes who you are. A person who is able to contend with רשעים, it's not just that they know, it's not it's not external to them at all.

The the the the אמת, it's who you are. Once you know the truth, you cannot be misled anymore. Let's say a person has a, a certain woman comes to try to to to try to entice him, and he heard a recording, he knows that she's planning on getting close to him so that she could steal all of his money from his bank account. He is not going to be attracted to this person, right? The attraction will בעצם fall away, you won't be able to convince him otherwise.

Once you know the אמת, so something that was an external point of attachment פשוט doesn't exist. ויוכל להזיק לו, חס ושלום, and therefore and therefore the the צדיק שאינו גמור, though, he's going to have a there's an attachment point for the for the רע to attach itself to him, because he has in him at least in the רע in the potential, בכח, ויוכל להזיק לו, חס ושלום, אריכות רוח של הרשע. That's this אריכות רוח של הרשע, this energy, this influx of energy that the רשע is living on, even though it's not really attached to אמת at the core, but because the צדיק שאינו גמור also he aligns himself with it, he wants it, that's the direction he wants to go, but he doesn't it doesn't

become part of his core being to that point, so that this influx of energy can also resonate something in the צדיק שאינו גמור, שהוא גדול בשעתו בבחינת ס״א, because the the the רע is so powerful in the in the moment. And therefore, again, going back so we're not lost, the the רוח that we are trying to attach ourselves to the source that we part of that comes through our attachment in this world through the vehicle of a צדיק, who's the embodiment of אמת, has to be a צדיק גמור.

וזה שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה, והכתיב אל תתחר במרעים. This is the פסוק in תהלים, but this is a גמרא in ברכות, it says don't engage in conflict with רשעים, and the גמרא says, I'll just read it in, אל תתגר ברשעים. תני עולא, so if somebody says, sorry, if somebody says that they're not that they shouldn't they shouldn't go against רשעים, so what do you say? מי שלבו נוקפו אומר כן. Only somebody whose heart is unsteady, that that's the type of person who say this, because that's a person who's scared to contend with רשעים.

However, אל תתחר במרעים, what it means is להיות כמרעים, don't be like the מרעים, don't do actions like the רשע, but a person, only a person whose לבו נוקפו, who's unsteady, he's the person that shouldn't contend with רשעים, is one of the answers given in the גמרא. And רש״י says, מי שלבו נוקפו אומר כן, זהו who is it? Back in the text over here: הירא מעבירות שבידו. Now the either, the פשט way of learning that is that the עבירות are in his hand, they're עבירות that he's done, but that's not the way that we're going to be learning it in the פנימיות.

A person could say, "Well, do you have the כח?" And I could say, "It's בידי. I'm a very strong person. I can bench press, you know, 300 lb, but right now I'm not doing it." And somebody says, "Are you strong?" I'm not lifting it right now, but it's בידי. It's in my hand, it's in my כח, it's in my power. I have the potential to do it. שבידו דייקא, so that's what it means that it's בידי. It doesn't say מעבירות שעשה, רש״י says it's מעבירות שבידו, it's בידו לעשות.

זהו שאמר, that's that's the person that for sure a רשע shouldn't contend with רשעים, a person who's sinning. The person that shouldn't contend with רשעים is the is the person who has עבירות בידו, that it's even בכח, it's in the potential. כי באמת אין לו שום עבירה, it's not that he has any עבירות, not in action, not in speech, not even in thought, רק שהוא ירא עדיין מעבירות שבידו ובכחו לעשות, but it's just that he's scared from עבירות that are that are in his potential to do it, because כי הרע עדיין בכח, כי לא זכה עדיין לבחינת לבו חלל בקרבו, and he hasn't, the בעל התניא points out that a person, even, you know, could have been years since you were נכשל on a certain

עבירה, a person should always think that who says that I'm a צדיק גמור? Maybe I'm a צדיק שאינו גמור? Before I relate to myself as having literally slaughtered that part of the יצר הרע, maybe it's just because I've I've I've accustomed myself in such a positive way to really not be, you know, so now I don't do it and it's not, but to put myself into a situation like this, a person has to be very careful. A person has to always, you know, before you think that you yourself are this צדיק גמור, a person should always question himself and think that maybe, even if I haven't, you know, I don't relate to those types of actions, thoughts, and and and speech, that that that that

I haven't fully conquered it to this degree. But over here, this person ואינו בטוח עדיין שלא יארע לו מכשול עבירה חס ושלום, so this צדיק שאינו גמור is not able to contend with רשעים because he still has something that the רע is going to resonate with, that the energy, the רוח, when the רשע groans, that that's going to attach to him on a personal level, ועל כן אסור להתגרות ברשעים כנ״ל, therefore he can't get involved. Further also in this idea, וזהו תחרש, a פסוק in חבקוק, השם is quiet, as it were, כבלע רשע צדיק ממנו, when the רשע swallows a צדיק.

How could a רשע swallow a צדיק? It's not a צדיק, it's a צדיק ממנו. The צדיק גמור, the רשע won't swallow. We're talking about a a רשע who is a צדיק who's relative to the רשע, but he's not a צדיק גמור. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה, צדיק ממנו בולע. Nothing would happen to a צדיק גמור, but this צדיק, who's only a צדיק relating to the רשע, but truly he's a צדיק שאינו גמור, so he will be בולע דייקא, that he will be swallowed by the רשע, right? When a person swallows, כי בולע, also ממש, באריכות הרוח שלו, there's an influx of air, so to speak, but he's able, he the רשע incorporates him, he gets at him from the inside, the רשע is going to swallow

him up, he will become one with the רשע even in that little נקודה, שהוא גדול בשעתו, because the רשע is גדול, is גדול בשעתו. אבל צדיק גמור אינו בולע, כי אין לבו נוקפו מחשש מכשול עבירה כנ״ל. But the צדיק, there's no attachment point and he won't be affected, impacted at all, כי כבר ביטל הרע לגמרי מכל המדות והתאוות של כל ארבע יסודות. He has totally extinguished out the רע, and he relates only to the positive expression, to the to the positive מדות at their source. Now obviously, the positive מדות at their source are the true source, they're the אמת, it's only a much lower, as it even though it's an expression of the same ד׳ יסודות, the source for the negative expression of those is,

if you think, much lower down on the pecking order than the positive. The positive expression is י-ה-ו-ה manifesting itself down as in four different בחינות and categories that that that find themselves expression in the בריאה and in human personality, and so forth. The negative is, you know, finds itself much lower. But but but it says over here, ועל כן הצדיק גמור וכל הנלוים אליו, so this line already is interesting, we always say the צדיק גמור, but other people can't contend with רשעים, over here it mentions כל הנלוים אליו.

So what exactly that means, the באר ליקוטים explains that people, that sometimes the צדיק there are other people who literally, like בשעת מעשה, are attached to the צדיק, the צדיק operates through, they're literally a שליח, so there could be times that a person who are literally escorting the צדיק and they're בטל to him בשעת מעשה and in their actions and how they're operating, so they at that point can contend with with רשעים, but in any event, in any event, מותרים להתגרות ברשעים, the צדיק גמור can contend with the רשעים, כי זה הצדיק יכול לירד לתוך כל הצינורות של כל המדות רעות שלהם, because he can get, attach the רע at the source, שיתגברו על עצמם ולשברם ולבטלם.

Now this is interesting because we don't just say that the צדיק is putting down the רשעים, he's putting down, he's putting down the רשעות itself, and this is in line with the way that we explained it because the positive expression has the flow of air coming from the source, so that's really coming from an influx of energy by י-ה-ו-ה, by הקדוש ברוך הוא, the true אמת, there's no way to interrupt, to to to to undermine that source. But because the רע itself, when you put down רשעים, what's רע, right?

If there's if a person has a positive a positive yearning for something, I don't know, a positive yearning for for for רוחניות, and and alternatively a person is going to be, why do I want to, I want to do it for the כבוד, so I I want, so that's not, that's really a distortion, as it were, of the אמת. If there's nobody to attach themselves to that distortion, then the distortion doesn't exist, you know, almost like if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it.

If if if if הקדוש ברוך הוא has טוב בכח, עולם חסד יבנה, הקדוש ברוך הוא is creating the world, חק הטוב להיטיב, so then even before the world is created, that existed in the potential, but the רע is really a distortion in this world of the way הקדוש ברוך הוא set up the world, it's a distortion of these of these characteristics. So if there's nobody to engage in this distortion, the רע itself, once it doesn't find expression, doesn't truly exist, and therefore the צדיק who attaches, who who addresses the רע at the source, not Only do the רשעים fall away, the רע itself becomes בטל, right?

It says, כעשן תכלה, we say in ראש השנה, ועל ידי זה הוא משפיל רשעים עדי ארץ. אות ו'. ולבוא, so now how is it that we're able to do this? Now, I'm just going to as a point perhaps of of introduction, we're we're we're going to say you know kind of mentioned before that the רע finds itself really in a certain sense as an expression or as a negative expression of these four יסודות of you know we'll see even a person who distorts תורה, right? A person who takes principles of תורה and then instead of using them הלכה למעשה, finds negative negative expression.

When we talk about, for instance, ליצנות, so I heard of I think it was based on the מהר״ל, but probably Rav Noach Biansky, but he said you know in the הגדה we say we don't חכם, רשע. No. We say we don't we say we don't say חכם, טיפש, smart or stupid, and we don't say צדיק or רשע. We say חכם, רשע. What is it about the רשע that relates to the חכם? So, he said when we talk about a רשע, we're not talking about somebody who stands around telling you know like dirty jokes.

That person is סתם a סתם a lowlife. When we talk about a רשע, we talk about really a person who's coming to counter the חכם. And the חכם, how can anybody counter the חכם? The חכם is holding by truth and you're holding by by by by a stupid lie, a stupid manifestation of שקר. What are we talking about a true לץ? We're talking about somebody that takes a חכם להשחית, I think was quoting the מהר״ל's language. קורח didn't come didn't come to to משה and just say don't do.

קורח fooled a lot a lot of really really really great individuals went along with קורח. He had arguments. If the point of a מזוזה is that that going into a room that there's שמע ישראל, so what about a room that's full of ספרים, why do you need a מזוזה? If a point of ציצית has one string of תכלת, what if the whole and that's reminder of כסא הכבוד, etc., what if the whole בגד is made of תכלת? It's using points of truth and distorting them is a much deeper.

A person's a לץ who who takes distortions of principles of אמת is a much greater a real מושחת. It's a real מושחת. אברהם אבינו was exactly the opposite, right? He took that that תרח had the the idols, and he literally, how did he show that the idols have He took the idol itself, and he took the stick, and he smashed the idols, and then he put it into the king idol, and he said, "Well, if they can do anything, then what happened? They got into a fight." To take the principles, a true לץ is not just somebody who makes a joke.

It's somebody who takes the principle with which you're operating on and distorts it to take it and incorporate it into your message. So, we're going to see that רשעות is not just סתם negative ideas. Real רשעות at its source is a distortion of principles of truth. ולבוא לזה להפריש ולהבדיל ולבטל הרע, we're in אות ו' in the תורה, comes the צדיק who's able to separate and be מבדיל and be מבטל the רע מהטוב הוא על ידי תורה ותפלה. The תורה and תפלה come together, this we'll expand on a drop, that תורה and תפלה come together, ולימוד התורה יהיה לעיון לעומקא של הלכה.

That that what is תורה? When we talk about תורה, we mean to engage in the עומק, to distinguish the ד' אמות של הלכה, to have clarity in תורה. היינו ללמוד פוסקים, that a person רבי נחמן says in שיחות הר״ן that every single day, right, people tell you חסידות, you're davening, תהילים, and ולימוד הפוסקים הזהיר this is a quote from שיחות הר״ן הזהיר מאוד מאוד ביותר מכל הלימודים that a person has to learn הלכה, וראוי ללמוד כל ארבעה שולחן ערוך כולם מראשם עד סופם כסדר. Go beginning to end.

He says if a person can't do this, learn one of the shorter ones, shorter of ספרים on הלכה. Beginning to end, a person has to engage to be מברר the הלכה, to bring you know to get שמעתתא אליבא דהלכתא. That's where the money is. That's where that's where the person takes these principles of truth and grounds them in אמת as he relates to it. כי יש בתורה אחיזת הטוב והרע, because a person can take תורה and they can distort it, they can come out with the wrong הלכה, they can come out and that can be a a a a השחתה שנאחזין בבחינת איסור והיתר, טמא וטהור, כשר ופסול שיש בתורה.

That there's all these seemingly, when we we discuss the ideas behind the principles of truth, and if a person doesn't have a דרך and he doesn't he doesn't relate to them in the correct way, he can relate to them in such a way where the תורה is pure energy and he he diverts the energy to end up being in a negative expression, which is a billion, gazillion times more destructive than anything else. This is the the וכל זמן שאינו מברר ההלכה, as if a person does not clarify, הוא מעורב טוב ורע, then he is mixing up טוב and רע.

That is this until he clarifies, you bring once you bring out the truth, right, once you see that arrow in the FedEx truck, you can never unsee it, right? Once you know, we can argue you know if sometimes my a kid will take a math test and you say, "Did you get it right?" And he says, "I think so." They say if you think so, then you got it wrong unless, I don't know, I guess it was pure luck. If you know that two oranges and Two oranges are four oranges, then you're not unsure.

When a person is מברר טוב ורע, the רע falls away. ומעורב טוב ורע על כן אינו יכול להפריש ולבטל, so earlier גירסא of manuscript says לברר הרע מן הטוב, and therefore until when it's mixed up, until a person learns הלכה he's not able to make it to be מחלק and distinguish, right? The the משנה ברורה, you know, it comes, he quotes all this הלכות, he's מכריע, until until a person can can line it up with clarity with with the such you know, many people can bring all of the שיטות.

There's other ספרים there there's other ספרים that that are משנה ברורה style in other areas of הלכה that were written, but what the משנה ברורה wrote is the the גדלות is not what he wrote, it's what he didn't write, that he was able to take אורח חיים and put it into six volumes with clarity. You'll see on איסור והיתר, certain things, to to to write a a couple of סימנים in a שולחן ערוך you you end up with you you end up with, you know, thick volumes.

To be able to cultivate to be מכריע with a clarity is where the רע falls away. And it says, והוא בבחינת ודורש רעה תבואנו. The פסוק itself the פסוק itself says that a person who's who wants to do רע, so in the end the רע will come back on his head. But over here we're learning that דורש רעה, that a person דרש's the תורה and in a way that it's mixed up with רע, he doesn't clarify out the הלכה, the טוב, then then then תבואנו, then that's what's going to come on him.

But a person, when he learns he's he's דורש, he has to דרש the טוב, he has to ground it so that there's no מקום for the רע to make an אחיזה, to have any attachment for it. על כן כשאדם מעיין ומברר פסק הלכה ומברר אסור ומותר, and he clarifies what's what's correct, what's incorrect, what's אסור, מותר, טהור, טמא, דהיינו על ידי לימוד פוסקים, אז הוא מפריש הטוב מן הרע. That's where a person is מפריש טוב מן הרע. Just mention, חב״ד, you know, the ליובאוויטש people have a very having a סדר in רמב״ם, right?

So the the what the I mean the שולחן ערוך quotes modern-day הלכה. If you look at a רמב״ם who goes through כל התורה כולה that that that that in a like a like a שולחן ערוך, you know, to come instead of back and forth, if you just go in a linear way, point by point. Yeah, so there're things, do we פסק like the רמב״ם every time? Okay, so each person and in their דרך, you know, how they פסק and their נושאי כלים on the שולחן ערוך. But to be able to take the סוגיות and ground them into a הלכה brings a clarity in כל התורה כולה.

And that that's בעצם the עבודה. אך לזכות לזה השכל, but to אך לזכות לזה השכל שיוכל לעמוד בעומקה של הלכה, to purify the שכל, the way that we relate to חכמה, to תורה, to to to be to delve into the עומק of הלכה, הוא על ידי תפילה. That though has to happen through תפילה, כי משם נמשך השכל. Okay, go on drop one. I just want to do אות ז also to keep us on track. Maybe we'll see, but in order to be to to purify the שכל, maybe maybe we'll stop over here, actually, but I want to flesh out this one point.

The שכל that has to happen על ידי תפילה. Now this is not the first time that we have that we have had this. If we remember, see, this is where it come together beautifully. If you remember in תורה ב, I think it was אות ז, I'll look back, I'll quote. It says that that that כל התורה שאדם לומד, just quoting, לשמור ולעשות, so the תורה we said is an expression is is an expression of רצון השם, right? Over there it said, and the תורה has, the תורה has רמ״ח שס״ה, positive and negative מצוות.

A person has רמ״ח אברים שס״ה גידים, that that every person aligns is an expression of רצון השם. ישראל ואורייתא וקודשא בריך הוא כולא חד הוא. That the תורה that a person learns, כל אותיות הן ניצוצי נשמות, the same way that there's every letter of the תורה, there's a corresponding, as it were, there's a נשמה of ישראל also that aligns as an expression of רצון השם of הקדוש ברוך הוא, והם מתלבשים בתוך התפילה, we said earlier on, that these are מתלבש in תפילה ומתחדשים שם בבחינת עיבור. Because post-חטא, exactly what we're discussing now, there was a distortion, as it were.

The טוב became mixed with רע, the עץ הדעת טוב ורע. What we want to do is we want to attach ourselves back to the עץ החיים, right? But over here it came with the עץ הדעת טוב ורע, the טוב became intermixed with the רע, and there was a negative expression. And through the תפילה, there can be there could be an it's like a לשון of of עיבור, of of pregnancy, until it until it comes out where the זרע goes into the into the woman until she is able to cultivate it, and it develops into a into a living life.

כמו גולם בם בתוך המלכות בבחינת עיבור ומתחדשים פה, fine. And it says this is the תורה that comes בתוך התפילה, כבוד אל, etc., והנשמות עם התפילה. נקרא כבוד, and the נשמה with תפילה are called כבוד because it enclothes it, etc., etc., okay. I'll just continue on, it says: הנשמות תלויות בתפילה, בבחינת העלאת מ״ן, מי נוקבא, תפילה, מעורר הנשמה. So you see that the, that even though at the core the principle of truth is the תורה, post post post the חטא, he goes on and he says that it's almost like the תורה is, if there's קליפה, the the principles of truth have to be clarified, and it's תפילה comes together, which is able to allow the positive expression, the ניצוצות, the of the נשמות to be

able to to come out and and and resonate. We had it earlier in this תורה where we said that the רוח blows on the harp strings which represent the תורה and those allow it to resonate. I wanted to speak out a little bit this idea about תפילה and תורה. A person, what is a person? A person wake up, you wake up in somebody else's body. A person is בעצם his רצון, a person is בעצם his thoughts, like that that's my ambitions, right, that that the אדם כפי מהללו, what I praise, what I look up to, what I want to be, the way I think.

A person, what's the תורה? The תורה is an expression of רצון השם. למשל, if the תורה has a principle called a קל וחומר. When I go through life, I say, if it's 10 if 20 degrees outside I'll wear a sweater, for sure if it's 10 degrees outside I'll also wear a sweater. That's a קל וחומר, that's common sense. Why is it common sense? Because I have a נשמה, and my נשמה is aligned with principles of תורה. The קל וחומר is a principle of truth, it's a principle of הקדוש ברוך הוא, and therefore, when I relate to it, that becomes me, that means that my mind becomes a principle of truth, my mind becomes one with הקדוש ברוך הוא, I'm דבוק to הקדוש ברוך הוא when

I learn. But what's the problem? The problem is, let's say I would go and I want to know chemistry, so I go and I talk to a PhD in whatever it is, and and I have no point of attachment. He could talk to me in formulas all he wants, unless I have some sort of a התחברות with him, maybe a משל in my terms, whatever it is, unless there's some sort of a conduit where I can relate to him, I can learn it by heart, I can quote the formulas, but it's it's not going to be a meaningful experience.

תפילה! When I have תפילה, I heard this רב אהרן Lopiansky talking about this, he says, "What's the point of שומע תפילה? The ברכה of שומע תפילה." So, what happens? Let's say you have mortgage documents—his example, not mine—at the end of the mortgage documents, there's one document, after I sign 100 documents, that it says that I read every single thing that I signed. Okay, so what's the point of that document? If I read everything, then I don't then then I read this one too, but it's unnecessary. And if I didn't read anything, I didn't read this one either, and it's irrelevant.

What's the point of this document that says that I read everything else? And he says, "What's the point of שומע תפילה? If הקדוש ברוך הוא is listening to the other ברכות, He's listening to this one also and I already דאווענד. And if He's not, so but what's שומע תפילה going to do?" And he explained it beautifully. He said that הקדוש ברוך הוא, the truth is, yeah, we דאווען for things, הקדוש ברוך הוא is going to, a lot of things we're going to get anyway whether we דאווען for it.

Maybe I maybe I need something, maybe my wife needs something, so I'll be זוכה to it. There are people that don't דאווען that get that get things also. What what is what does תפילה do? When I come to be שומע תפילה, so then what it does is it creates a relationship. Meaning, you can have a person that eats good catered food and it's delicious, it's probably better than his mother's home cooking, but the same thing is served for everybody. But if you have, you can have a a person that has a few children, and everything This one likes it sweet, this one likes it hot, this one she takes out earlier because the this one the hot dogs shouldn't look black, so they come off

the they come off the grill first. There's a Even if it's not as good, right, but there's a point of attachment. שומע תפילה is like what we're talking about, רוח, where you're ממלא חיסרון, where you create a relationship with הקדוש ברוך הוא, not just סתם that I want it, that I ask, דאווען, that not just that הקדוש ברוך הוא should give me You know what the biggest ברכה is? That הקדוש ברוך הוא should give you what you're missing in a way that you feel that He answered your תפילות, why it wasn't like that until now, that He that He's that He's corresponding to you.

The I was talking actually to Mendy Rubinson, so if he listens to this, he can hear his name, and he told me that he spoke at a שבע ברכות or something along those lines. And he said, "There's there's givers and there's takers. A giver, somebody just wants to throw things all over the place, so then he doesn't really need somebody to accept it, he's just going to just give for the sake of giving. And a taker doesn't need a giver, he's entitled, and he's looking to benefit wherever wherever he or she can." But there's a difference between a relationship where there's a נותן and a מקבל, there's a recipient.

A person who makes himself into a כלי קיבול for הקדוש ברוך הוא's ברכה, not סתם that you're a taker, that you're interacting, that you want to come together, that there's like like we say a בחינה of a זכר and a נקבה, and then there's a זיווג which is מוליד something, that brings something into the world. That you that the תפילה is where you create that point of that that point of attachment that you make yourself into a כלי קיבול, and once you do that, once you have a point of attachment with our PhD, our friend, our our good old PhD in chemistry, now, once you have that, you're able to incorporate it, now it can come alive in you.

Now there can be a full expression, and you need both. The תפילה creates this point of attachment. There's a נותן and there's a מקבל. I'm able to relate to הקדוש ברוך הוא. The תורה is where it becomes מכח אל הפועל, the תורה is where it becomes actualized, right? I had just I was talking with with יוסי קסנר, so he one of the things we said was, you know, there's two people who appreciates things more? Also wasn't my משל, but it might have been the same shiur listening from the other one, I don't remember, but who appreciates things more?

You have a person that wakes up and everything is good, he has money, he has שלום בית, he has a house, everything ברוך השם is good. And then you have a person whose car breaks down, it's dark, it's middle of the night, he doesn't know where, it's raining, all all the מעלות, and he's walking by, and all of a sudden he sees off in the distance, you know, a a house 50 yards away where that people are up, the lights are on, and there's a מנורה in the window, and he goes in, and he says, "I'm going to be able to go in and get a warm change of clothing and something hot to eat." Who relates more to this feeling of הכרת הטוב, that

there's going to be filling a lack? The person who has everything And the truth is you need them both. The person now who has like that's why when we have יציאת מצרים, you know, you'll have these משלים of a person who is poor, and everything was terrible, and then all of a sudden he came out of it, and then once a year he'll have a סעודת הודאה where he remembers that. The appreciation and the relationship comes when you feel the חסרון being filled. At that point, once you have an appreciation for every single little thing, then when you have a million of those things, you don't appreciate a million things, you appreciate one thing a million times.

All of a sudden, you feel the ריבוי. The actualization of the טוב is the the תורה is is is יוד קיי ואו when we have the the תורה and הקדוש ברוך הוא and we're able to relate, and our דעת is דעת השם, and רצון, and חכמה, that's where that's where we have it. But where do we create an attachment to it? We create an attachment via via the תפילה. And therefore, and therefore, that's what we say, that the תורה and the תפילה that the תורה and the תפילה have to come together.

Yeah, we did ו', I think, right? That's what we said. Yeah, right. There's a level of להבת שלהבת comes really through תורה and תפילה, that that it comes בעצם through תורה and תפילה together. And the truth is is that we're going to see, probably quote it probably quote it next time, we had a we we had a statement where we said that the עיקר- hold on, let me just see if I can find it quickly. Yeah, in in תורה ח', earlier in this תורה we said, כי עיקר רוח חיים הוא התורה.

However, if you look back at the very start at at the very start of אות of תורה ב', so we also said, עיקר כלי זיינו של משיח הוא התפילה, right? תהילתי אחטם לך, ומשם עיקר חיותו. So we see that it's now, one has to be מחזק the other, the תורה and the תפילה, and really the תפילה that we're talking about is for clarity and attachment in תורה, but the that that's why we would say. And therefore, as the תפילה and תורה come together, that's where בעצם we attach ourselves to הקדוש ברוך הוא, that's where the צדיק גמור is able to clarify the ד' יסודות, that's where he's able to bring the רוח חיים, that's where we attach ourselves to the צדיק, that's where we inhale

and we קרעכץ, and therefore we're ממלא ארכסראינוס in a way that we're that that the that the רשעים are not getting involved, so to in the צדיק, but we're able to that we're able to do this, and we will continue on, I thought this was into the next אות, but we're going to continue on next time, and then read this into the פנימיות in מאמרי חז״ל, and so forth. יישר כח.