Likutey Halakhos, Yoreh Deah 1, Yayin Nesech 4, Para. 22-23. This halakha is based on Likutey Moharan 36. Speaker: Rabbi Nasan Maimon. Topics: Hashem is With Am Yisrael in Exile; Every Path of Teshuvah is Different; Binah and the Yovel – 50th Year.
00:00 – PARAGRAPH 22. Hashem is With Am Yisrael in exile, as is stated: עִמּֽוֹ־אָֽנֹכִ֥י בְצָרָ֑ה – “I am with him in his suffering” (Tehillim 91:15).
02:23 – וְהֽוּא־אָס֚וּר בָּֽאזִקִּים֙ – “…and he was bound in chains…” (Yirmiahu 40:1). A person cannot free himself from prison (Zohar HaKadosh).
05:00 – Drawing the light of Hashem into the constricted consciousness of exile is an aspect of “imprisoning” His light.
07:31 – Reference to 2Likutey Moharan 60.
08:44 – מֶ֖לֶךְ אָס֥וּר בָּֽרְהָטִֽים – “…a king bound with straps” (Shir HaShirim 7:6).
11:00 – NOTE from the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh about Yosef HaTzaddik and his brothers. Why is Reuven credited with saving Yosef’s life? Snakes and scorpions will not harm a person unless Hashem permits, but people are granted free will – even to the point of being able to cause harm against the will of Hashem.
14:09 – People who stir up machklokes – conflict – twist the light of truth, as in מֶ֖לֶךְ אָס֥וּר בָּֽרְהָטִֽים – “…a king bound with straps” (Shir HaShirim 7:6).
19:15 – The essence of teshuvah – return to Hashem – is honest self-appraisal, as in נַחְפְּשָׂ֤ה דְרָכֵ֨ינוּ֙ וְֽנַחְקֹ֔רָה וְנָשׁ֖וּבָה עַד־יְהֹוָֽה – “Let us search and examine our ways, and let us return to Hashem” (Eicha 3:40).
24:08 – Every path of teshuvah is different because it corresponds to the ever-changing, unique potential of the individual.
27:04 – פַּלֵס מַעְגַּ֣ל רַגְלֶ֑ךָ וְֽכָל־דְּרָכֶ֥יךָ יִכֹּֽנוּ – “Measure carefully the path of your feet and all your ways will be established” (Mishlei 4:26).
*31:38 – Parshas VaEschanan – בַּצַּ֣ר לְךָ֔ וּמְצָא֕וּךָ כֹּ֖ל הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֑לֶּה בְּאַֽחֲרִית֙ הַיָּמִ֔ים וְשַׁבְתָּ֙ עַד־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ וְשָֽׁמַעְתָּ֖ בְּקֹלֽוֹ – “When you are in distress and all these things happen to you in the end of days, then you will return to Hashem, your Master, and obey Him” (Devarim 4:30, VaEschanan).
32:17 – All paths of return are rooted in Hashem Yisborach. By attaching oneself to Him in tefilah, one’s unique path is always going toward Him.
32:44 – NOTE about the spiritual progression from keser (closed, nekuda of kamatz), to chokhmah (opening, nekuda of pasach), and then to binah (freedom, nekuda of tzeirei). Binah is related to the number 50, as in “the 50 Gates of Binah“.
34:19 – Binah is the root of all freedom. The Yovel – the year when property is freed from temporary ownership and returned to it original owner – is the 50th year.
34:40 – Return to text.
37:51 – Q&R about tzaddikim going to prison.
38:44 – NOTE about Rabbi Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld ז”ל saying to Reb Zvi Aryeh Lippel ז”ל at tashlich: “Instead of throwing your aveyros – sins – away, put them in a bag and give them to me. I’ll trade my mitzvos for your aveyros.”
40:24 – Q&R about other belief systems and the concept of intermediary.
*43:53 – Q&R about not throwing away parts of the Torah just because other religions distorted them.
46:41 – Rav Noson of Nemirov ז”ל wrote part of the Likutey Halakhos in prison.
47:34 – Closing blessings, preparing for Rosh Chodesh Elul.
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