Yayin Nesech 3 – Potential to Actual – Thought, Word, Deed – Free Will – התלהבות – Hislahavus – Enthusiasm – Sipurey Maasios – The Rabbi’s Only Son – Shoresh Neshama – Rabbi Yechiel Michel Dorfman zal – Speaker: Rabbi Nasan Maimon.
Hilkhos Yayin Nesech 3 is based on 2Likutey Moharan 26.
00:00 – Machshava, dibur, and maaseh.
01:13 – Deep in machshava – thought/intention – every Jew wants to do the mitzvos of the Torah.
01:39 – The Rambam explains the legitimacy of forcing a reticent husband to give a get – divorce document. Even though a get has to be given willingly, the Rambam reasons that every Jew wants to fulfill the Torah, whether they realize it consciously or not.
03:00 – Moshe Rabbeinu is embodied in the 248 limbs of a Jew at the level of machshava. But each mitzvah must come to the stage of dibur before it can be accomplished as a deed.
03:50 – All things that are in potential must go through a process of thought, word, and deed to become actualized (Likutey Moharan 66).
04:13 – Likutey Moharan 38: speech originates from the “left side” – gevuros as in כְּב֣וֹד מַלְכֽוּתְךָ֣ יֹאמֵ֑רוּ וּגְבוּרָֽתְךָ֥ יְדַבֵּֽרוּ – “They will tell the glory of Your kingdom, and they will speak of Your might” (Tehillim 145:11).
04:46 – חַם־לִבִּ֨י | בְּקִרְבִּ֗י בַּֽהֲגִיגִ֥י תִבְעַר־אֵ֑שׁ דִּ֜בַּ֗רְתִּי בִּלְשֽׁוֹנִי – “My heart is hot within me; in my thoughts fire burns; I spoke with my tongue” (Tehillim 39:4).
06:02 – In the process from potential to actualization, at the stage of dibur the negative forces of the 70 Nations arise in the blood that originates from the “left side” of the heart.
06:50 – This opposition is the arena of the expression of free will. Not only does a person have to use the power of his will to rise above the negative impulse, but he also needs to overcome the negative forces in the blood and then convert them into positive.
*07:15 – Free will gives a person the ability to convert the fire of opposition into the fire of התלהבות – enthusiasm. Where does enthusiasm in doing a mitzvah come from? The “left side” – the side of negativity.
07:46 – It’s not enough for a Jew to do a mitzvah – he needs to do the mitzvah with fire.
08:46 – אֵשׁ לְפָנָ֣יו תֵּלֵ֑ךְ וּתְ֜לַהֵ֗ט סָבִ֥יב צָרָֽיו – “Fire will go before Him and will burn His surrounding enemies” (Tehillim 97:3). True service of HaShem calls for התלהבות – enthusiasm, energy, life.
10:06 – Only when this passion to do a mitzvah is present is the mitzvah complete.
10:30 – כִּ֚י נִגַּשׁ֙ הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה בְּפִ֚יו וּבִשְׂפָתָיו֙ כִּבְּד֔וּנִי וְלִבּ֖וֹ רִחַ֣ק מִמֶּ֑נִּי וַתְּהִ֚י יִרְאָתָם֙ אֹתִ֔י מִצְוַ֥ת אֲנָשִׁ֖ים מְלֻמָּדָֽה – “Because this People has come near; with their mouth and with their lips they honor Me, but their heart they draw far away from Me, and their fear of Me has become something common which has been taught [by rote]” (Yeshayahu 29:13).
***10:48 – A person can acquire fiery passion for mitzvos through overcoming obstacles.
12:22 – וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָֽבְךָ֥ – “And you shall love the HaShem, your Master, with all your heart…” (Devarim 6:5, VaEschanan). Why is the word “heart” plural when a person only has one heart? We are commanded to love HaShem with both the yetzer hara and the yetzer tov. Serving Hashem to the fullest requires transforming passion for sin into love for HaShem.
13:37 – נִפְלְאַ֚תָה אַהֲבָֽתְךָ֙ לִ֔י מֵאַהֲבַ֖ת נָשִֽׁים – “…your love was more wondrous to me than the love of women” (2 Shmuel 1:26). The friendship between Dovid HaMelech and Yonason ben Shaul was stronger than the physical desire for women. Rebbe Nachman explains that this is the kind of love a person can have for the tzaddik.
14:00 – Accomplishing this transformation of the yetzer hara is true service of Hashem, described as “serving HaShem with both inclinations” (Berakhos 54a).
14:40 – Sipurey Maasios – the story of “The Rabbi’s Only Son”.
*NOTE – Reb Yechiel Michel b’Rav Yehoshua Dovid HaLevi Dorfman zal observed that Rebbe Nachman usually ends his stories on a positive note, so he added: “But then came Rav Noson zal – who didn’t let anything stop him from reaching the Rebbe. It seems Rebbe Nachman and Rav Noson were the ‘two lights’ in the story, so it will have a happy ending when their students merit.”
20:42 – Q&R – Rimzey Masiyos by Rav Nachman Tcherin zal: “This story shows how the baal davar tries to come between a person and the one unique tzaddik who is the hope of Am Israel. The greater the person, the greater the obstacles. Even a person accomplished in Torah and mitzvos needs the tzaddik in order to learn how to serve HaShem with true joy and hislahavus.
24:04 – NOTE – Rabbi Maimon’s autobiographical account of his introduction to Rabbi Rosenfeld zal.
25:23 – Q&R about how even a great rabbi has challenges. The concept of shoresh neshoma – root of the soul (Likutey Moharan 66). The tzaddik emes is the trunk of a tree with many branches that include all the other tzaddikim. Rav Nachman Tcherin zal explains that there is only one central tzaddik – the yisod olam. All tzaddikim are not equal. Each tzaddik’s followers are connected to his “branch” as leaves and smaller branches, and for those followers, he is their shoresh neshama. But the ultimate shoresh neshama of Klal Yisrael is the central tzaddik emes.
26:46 – Studying the life of Rav Noson of Nemirov zal can help a person understand the process of finding the tzaddik who will benefit them the most.
27:18 – NOTE: שלהובין דרחימותא – “flames of love” – the expression used in this paragraph, is brought in the Zohar Hakodesh with reference to Shabbos preparation. By bathing in hot water on Erev Shabbos, the klipos of nogah are either purified or shed.
28:27 – כִּֽי־עַזָּ֤ה כַמָּ֨וֶת֙ אַֽהֲבָ֔ה קָשָׁ֥ה כִשְׁא֖וֹל קִנְאָ֑ה – “…for love is as powerful as death, envy is as strong as the grave…” (Shir HaShirim 8:6).
*31:25 – Q&R – Are emotions under our control? Rebbe Nachman teaches that both our thoughts and our emotions can be harnessed to serve HaShem. Pretending to feel enthusiasm is a big step toward ultimately achieving it. Another word for התלהבות is שמחה. Mitzvos bring joy. Feeling sad? Don’t let the feelings stop you. Just do a mitzvah. Any mitzvah!
33:11 – The heart broadcasts joy to the rest of the body. By learning about the lives of the tzaddikim we can come to feeling more deeply about serving HaShem.
*33:47 – “Where’s your yetzer hara?”
34:01 – Q&R – “How much of this fire of holiness is shown on the outside?” The state of profound joy and enthusiasm is not always obvious but can be constant in the heart.
***35:00 – BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE about Reb Michal Dorfman ז”ל. His mother passed away when he was a young child, his father was buried alive by the Nazis, his only brother was also killed by the Nazis. He was imprisoned in Siberia for six years and seven months, was a refusenik (someone denied permission to leave the Soviet Union) for 38 years. When he and his wife were finally released from the Ukraine so they could make aliya Eretz Yisrael, it was on condition that their children could not go with them. Subsequently their three daughters came to live in Israel, but two of them passed away in Reb Michel’s lifetime.
35:57 – Sipurey Maasios – The Prince of Gems. As a descendant of Dovid HaMelech (through his mother’s family) Reb Michel zal had deep feelings and was easily moved to tears. Rabbi Maimon said of him: “My observation was that he [Reb Michel zal] didn’t have blood in his veins, he had tears in his veins”. Even through all his difficulties, Reb Michel always radiated a gentle stream of joy and good nature. For example, Reb Michel’s quip when, on an extremely hot day, he smiled pleasantly and said, “Fein varm deroisen!”
38:24 – Rav Noson of Nemirov zal held his father and father-in-law in tremendous esteem. Even so, when he sensed something was missing in his avodas Hashem he sought out Rebbe Nachman.
38:54 – Rav Noson zal described serving HaShem with enthusiasm instead of indifference as “the difference between a hot knish and a cold knish“.
39:46 – Chazal’s concept of eyver chai in bringing children into the world. The Baal Shem Tov HaKodesh applies this principle to performance of mitzvos – if the mitzvah is done with life – it bears fruit.
40:48 – Q&R – What about people who don’t have a connection to a tzaddik yet seem happy and passionate about serving HaShem? Response: The connection is often hidden.
41:22 – כִּֽי־עַזָּ֤ה כַמָּ֨וֶת֙ אַֽהֲבָ֔ה קָשָׁ֥ה כִשְׁא֖וֹל קִנְאָ֑ה – “…for love is as powerful as death, envy is as strong as the grave…” (Shir HaShirim 8:6). What does death have to do with love? When a person can bring the Yetzer Hara – the Angel of Death – into service of HaShem, this is truly serving HaShem with love (Likutey Moharan 2 – Torah 49).
44:00 – CLOSING NOTE about the Three Weeks. [This shiur was given on the 16th of Tammuz.]
*45:41 – Announcement that a book about Rabbi Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld zal will be available in a few weeks.
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