Likutey Halakhos, Yoreh Deah 1, Avodas Elilim Akum 2 – Introduction, Para. 1-5a. Speaker: Rabbi Nasan Maimon. Topics: Nitzavim; Chukas; The “Treasury of Free Gifts”; The Hidden Torah; Purpose of Creation; Purpose of Man; A Jew is the Soul of the World; Man and Woman as Soul and Body; Sipurey Masiyos – “The King Who Decreed Conversion” (“Story of the Bull and the Ram”).
Hilkhos Avodas Elilim Akum 2 is based on 2Likutey Moharan 78.
00:00 – HALAKHA 2. INTRODUCTION. Two halakhos will be discussed: 1) An idol made by a Jew can never be nullified (Yoreh Deah 157) and 2) There are only three prohibitions in the Torah for which a Jew sacrifices his life rather than transgress: idolatry, forbidden relations, and murder. However, when the Torah is under public attack, a Jew sacrifices his life rather than transgress any mitzvah whatsoever (Yoreh Deah 157).
03:00 – PARAGRAPH 1. מתנת חנם – The “Treasury of Free Gifts”. Through התורה הנעלמת – the “Hidden Torah” – the world was able to exist before Matan Torah.
*06:00 – The entire Torah is hidden in the ten statements of Creation. The 620 letters in the Aseres HaDibros – the Ten Commandments – parallel the 613 Mitzvos DeOraisa – Laws of the Written Torah – plus the seven mitzvos DeRabbanan – Laws of the Oral Torah. Everything in the world has Torah hidden within it.
*07:58 – Bitul Torah: pausing in avodas Hashem allows a person to renew and strengthen their ability to serve Hashem. During the break, the person is sustained through מתנת חנם that are streaming from התורה הנעלמת. This is an aspect of שביטולה של תורה זהו יסודה – “The [permitted] nullification of Torah is its foundation” (Menachos 99b).
08:58 – The sanctity and infinite value of a Jewish life. “Desecrate one Shabbos so he will observe many …” (Yoma 85b, Shabbos 151b).
09:28 – The entire world was created for the sake of Am Yisrael. Yom HaShishi – the Hey alludes to the sixth day of Sivan, when the Torah was given and Creation was then completed.
*11:30 – Am Yisrael is the life and the soul of all of the worlds. קדשא בריך הוה ואוריתא וישראל כלא חד – “Hashem, the Torah, and Yisrael are One” (Zohar Vayikra 7).
12:27 – NOTE: Parshas Nitzavim. The ten divisions of Klal Yisrael.
13:20 – The purpose of creation is mankind’s recognition of Hashem (Zohar, Bo 41).
14:30 – PARAGRAPH 2. Everything in creation has two aspects: physical and spiritual. All the functions of the body were created to serve the soul.
16:00 – נפש means רצון, as in אִם־יֵ֣שׁ אֶת־נַפְשְׁכֶ֗ם לִקְבֹּ֤ר אֶת־מֵתִי֙ מִלְּפָנַ֔י – “If it is your will that I bury my dead from before me” (Bereishis 24:8, Chayey Sarah). When the body is subservient to the soul, it becomes part of the soul. Example: a cat that belongs to a kohen can eat terumah.
20:00 – The mitzvos are performed physically to nullify the physicality of our body and our world and thereby purify it to the point that its inner spirituality is revealed.
23:00 – וְצַדִּ֖יק בֶּֽאֱמוּנָת֥וֹ יִחְיֶֽה – “…but the righteous shall live by his faith” (Chavakuk 2:4). Emunah is the foundation of the Torah and the purpose of creation.
25:00 – PARAGRAPH 3. Nothing takes precedence over the life of a Jew except for the three mitzvos for which a Jew sacrifices his life. Every minute a Jew lives, his performance of the Torah’s 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments reveals the spiritual root of creation. The Jewish Nation – and the individual Jew – is the soul of all worlds.
*27:50 – Chukas – זֹ֚את הַתּוֹרָ֔ה אָדָ֖ם – “This is the Torah – Man…” (Bamidbar 19:14, Chukas).
30:00 – A Jewish soul is the “battery” of the world. When the Seventy Nations attack the Torah, a Jew sacrifices his life for all the mitzvos.
32:30 – NOTE: וַיִּֽהְיוּ֙ כָּל־הַפְּקֻדִ֔ים שֵׁשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת אֶ֖לֶף וּשְׁל֣שֶׁת אֲלָפִ֑ים וַֽחֲמֵ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת וַֽחֲמִשִּֽׁים – “The sum of all those who were counted: six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty“ (Bamidbar 1:46). This number (six, then three plus five plus five) hints at the 613 mitzvos and the fact that Klal Yisrael, the Torah, and Hashem are one.
*33:20 – Every single individual Jew, through his faith in Hashem, is a microcosm of the entire Torah and has the ability to elevate the entire world.
35:40 – PARAGRAPH 5. The importance of Tikkun HaBris. Why a Jew sacrifices his life rather than transgress the prohibitions of גלוי עריות. Man and woman as soul and body.
37:50 – NOTE: The son of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Rabbi Elazar ז”ל – celebrated his wedding during his Bar Mitzvah seudah. The father of the kallah told his daughter “Go and humble yourself to your husband.” A spiritual framework for marriage: the wife as body and the husband as soul. אֵֽשֶׁת־חַ֖יִל עֲטֶ֣רֶת בַּעְלָ֑הּ – “A virtuous woman is a crown for her husband…” (Mishlei 12:4).
40:30 – When Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his students saw women walking in front of them, Rabbi Shimon said, “Don’t turn to idols” (Zohar VaYikra 19:4).
42:20 – The more Torah-observant Jews in the world, the better connected the world is to its spiritual Source.
44:48 – A person can only achieve true faith in Hashem through שמירת הברית. Reference to Likutey Moharan 31.
45:30 – Q&R about the Jews who were forced to convert. Sipurey Masiyos – “The King Who Decreed Conversion” (“Story of The Bull and the Ram”). Biographical note about Rabbi Yisrael Abba Rosenfeld ז”ל before and after the Russian Revolution. He left all his wealth and fled to America in order to secure the Torah observance of his family.
49:30 – Q&R about husband and wife as aspects of Keser and Malkhus.
54:30 – Closing blessings.
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