2023-09-21 – LH5 – YD2 – Shiluach HaKen 4 – Para. 2b – The Ten Sefiros – Process from Thought to Action – Mother Bird as Eym Kol Chai – Dealing with Distracting Thoughts

Shiluach HaKen 4 – The Ten Sefiros – Process from Thought to Action – Mother Bird as Eym Kol Chai – Dealing with Distracting Thoughts – Speaker: Rabbi Nasan Maimon.
Hilkhos Shiluach HaKen 4 is based on Likutey Moharan 72.
*00:00 – This shiur is dedicated l’ilui nishmas Rebbetzin Zipporah bas R’ Rafael Eliezer ע”ה, gracious wife of Rabbi Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld ז”ל – devoted mother and grandmother, pillar of the Breslov community. Her Yahrzeit is on Yom Kippur.
11:42 – Q&R about the relationship between Binah and Malkhus. Examples: Leah is Binah, Rochel is Malkhus. Naomi is Binah/Noam HaElyon, Rus is Malkhus.
13:27 – All ten Sefiros are holy at their Source. The three uppermost Sefiros are called Kulo Tov – there contain no Midas HaDin. Binah is not Din, but Din emanates from Binah. Below those three Sefiros, the Light of Hashem spirals down to form Dinim, and Dinim can result in impure thoughts which activate the Yetzer Hara.
*17:08 – לַפֶּ֖תַח חַטָּ֣את רֹבֵ֑ץ – “…Sin crouches at the door…” (Bereishis 4:7). When a person wants to generate holy words, the power of sin is always ready to ambush by causing mental confusion that results in misguided speech.
*22:00 – Important practical advice about dealing with negative thoughts: Don’t fight them or engage with them, ignore them. Instead of entertaining the confusion, focus on using speech in a positive way, and doing whatever Mitzvah is at hand.
25:35 – Q&R about Eym HaBonim as speech, as in Likutey Moharan 78.
26:30 – Q&R about psychological methods for fighting negative thoughts.
27:23 – Every time a person does a Mitzvah, he is elevating fallen souls. This is related to taking the chicks from the nest in the Mitzvah of Shiluach HaKen. Reference to Likutey Moharan 11:8 – Rabbah Bar Bar Chana presents an analogy of a bird standing up to its ankles in water.
29:30 – וּבַ֥עַל כְּנָפַ֖יִם (כתיב הכְּנָפַ֖יִם) יַגֵּ֥יד דָּבָֽר – “…and the winged creature will tell the matter” (Koheles 10:20). Birds represent the power of speech.
36:00 – הֵן־בְּעָו֥וֹן חוֹלָ֑לְתִּי וּ֜בְחֵ֗טְא יֶֽחֱמַ֥תְנִי אִמִּֽי – “Behold, with iniquity I was formed, and with sin my mother conceived me” (Tehillim 51:7).
41:00 – Q&R about the process of dealing with negative thoughts. Review of the thought process passing through the ten Sefiros.
43:20 – Shiluach HaKen – the nest must be located in a Hefker place, not belonging to the person doing the Mitzvah. Once the mother bird was sent away and the chicks were taken, it’s not possible to do the Mitzvah again by placing the chicks back into the nest (Bava Metzia 102).
43:57 – “Don’t look back!”
*44:38 – When in a state of confusion “Don’t think!” [about the confusing thoughts]. Instead, disconnect entirely from the thought process that is generating all the confusion, and proceed with speaking words of Torah and Tefilah with simplicity.
46:09 – גַּם־צִפּ֨וֹר | מָ֪צְאָה בַ֡יִת וּדְר֚וֹר קֵ֥ן – “Even a bird found a house and a swallow her nest…” (Tehillim 84:4).
49:30 – A Tzaddik is permitted to accept foreign thoughts to rectify them, but most people are not capable of doing this, so it’s advisable to simply ignore foreign thoughts and proceed with words of Torah and Tefilah in simplicity.
54:00 – In performing the Mitzvah of Shiluach HaKen, even if the mother bird returns incessantly, she is sent away again and again, until the chicks are taken. Every time a person is attacked by extraneous thoughts, he needs to be stubborn and to stand his ground by focusing on the Mitzvah at hand. Reference to Likutey Moharan 48, 49, 50, and 51. Dealing with negative or confusing thoughts is an ongoing battle and a person needs to stubbornly persist and simply ignore them, even if these thoughts return a hundred times.
54:48 – Q&R about the Possuk “His thoughts went out with his speech”.
*55:10 – Dibur is a form of Mesiras Nefesh.
55:34 – Closing blessings – this week is Shabbos Teshuva, when it’s important to review the Halakhos of Yom Kippur.

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