Sichos HaRan 1 – Sichos HaRan 2 – Introduction – Tzaddik Emes – 4 Worlds – Bitachon – Confidence – How to Start Connecting With HaShem – Speaker: Rabbi Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld zal. (Lesson rw11a. Recorded in 1976.)
00:00 – INTRODUCTION. Introduction to the concept of Tzaddik Emes. וְ֜צַדִּ֗יק יְס֣וֹד עוֹלָֽם – “…and the tzaddik is the foundation of the world” (Mishlei 10:25).
02:06 – The Four Worlds, from lowest to highest, are: 1) Olam HaAsiya (the physical universe), 2) Olam HaYetzira (the realm of spiritual beings), 3) Olam HaBeriya (throne of HaShem, origin of souls), 4) Olam HaAtzilus (unknowable realm of HaShem).
05:40 – Olam HaBeriya.
06:53 – Olam HaAtzilus.
07:39 – The Tzaddik Emes can visit these higher spiritual realms.
13:27 – SICHAH 1. כִּ֚י אֲנִ֣י יָדַעְתִּי כִּֽי־גָד֣וֹל יְהֹוָ֑ה – “For I know that HaShem is great…” Tehillim 135:5. Each person’s perception of HaShem is unique and impossible to communicate.
27:00 – SICHAH 2. How to begin connecting with HaShem.
TRANSCRIPT:
We continue the shiur about Rabbeinu zal. That is: today we begin the sefer “Sichos HaRan”, which means, “The Sayings of Rabbeinu zal” – as recorded and written by his talmid muvhak – his greatest of all talmidim, Rav Nosson zal. These are the wise sayings of Rabbeinu zal on diversified topics, which we’ll try to expound on, as much as possible. There are a total of 308 paragraphs – discussions, topics – in this sefer alone.
Now, it is very fitting that the first topic, the first short paragraph deals with something that only Rabbeinu zal can speak about. Rabbeinu zal is the Tzaddik Emes. And the Tzaddik Emes, according to the descriptive sefirah [spiritual attribute] is יסוד [foundation]. צדיק יסוד עולם – “The tzaddik is the foundation of the world” – the foundation of all of creation – and also known as כל. כל means “all” or “everything”. One that encompasses everything. We find this word כל expressed by Dovid HaMelech who saidכי כל בשמים ובארץ (דברי הימים א – כט, יא). The Tzaddik Emes is one who contains all that is in heaven and earth. But that is only HaShem Himself!
And yet the Tzaddik Emes is mestameh, he is the closest to his Creator – to HaShem Himself. What is the meaning of he has “all that is in heaven and earth”? Rabbeinu zal explains that to mean that the Tzaddik Emes is so great he can rise up – he can actually rise up to the heights above our universe, above this earthly part of creation, to the Next World.
Now, there are Four Basic Worlds. We’ve discussed this many times, but just as a very brief synopsis: Four Basic Worlds. The names are, first, Olam HaAsiya – which refers not just to this earth, but this earthly, material creation, which means the earth and all the planets around it – the sun, the moon, all the stars, all the other planets – something which we would call the universe – the entire universe.
This would include even the heavens, or rather: the sky. The sky as we see it – that is part of Olam HaAsiya. Remember: the sky is actually part of the earth. Or part of Olam HaAsiya, this material creation. The sky is not spiritual. The sky we see is material. It is the shemayim of Olam HaAsiyah – of this earthly world – earthly universe.
Above this part of creation, this universe, we come to the next world, which is purely spiritual. That is called Olam HaYetzirah. This is the world of the angels. This angelic world, where the angels are found, is not a world where you have one size, or one type, of angel. Just as on earth you have different types of beings, from the lowly worm to the mighty elephant, or from the lowly animal to the intelligent human, so too, in heaven, in this part of heaven, the Olam HaYetzirah, this other world…
You have angels of different levels, different sizes, different greatness. But the lowest one of them is far greater than anything that exists on earth. To be more clear: in stature, in comparison, the Gemara says (we don’t even have to go as far as the Zohar HaKodesh for this) the Gemara says that if you take this entire universe, not just the earth – the earth is a small planet compared to the other planets.
That means, take all the thousands or infinite number of planets that we have in this universe – all of them combined. They are all, with these millions of light years and so forth in between – this entire space panorama – is smaller than the toe of the smallest angel in the next world.
Imagine, then, the size of the rest of this angel. And this is the smallest angel, who is very tiny compared to the larger angels. This will give you some idea, a very small chance of conceiving what is meant by size then, what is doing in the next world – the spiritual world.
Of course, you may ask, if this is spiritual, what’s the difference whether the size is a mile or a million miles? The answer is, if you’d understand more about the spiritual world, you’d understand why there is a vast difference, very much of a difference. As we said, so different, that even the smallest part of this angel is larger than the entire universe.
However, going up to the top of this world – there are ten spheres in every world – ten sefiros – going above this world – we get to the so-called – כִּביָכוֹל – we’re using a term which we are forced to use because we are forced to utilize something which we can understand in our mind though it is not actually so. We are forced to use a physical term for something spiritual.
There is a roof on this world. And going beyond that roof – above it – we come to the next world. The next world is the Olam HaBeriya, which is a world which contains the, כִּביָכוֹל – the Throne of HaShem. Which is above all the angels beneath it. So that the largest, the greatest of the angels are still below, beneath, this Throne of HaShem.
The Throne of HaShem – which is the Merkava – which is held up by the four great names, spiritually: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and Dovid HaMelech. The four parts of the Merkava, of course, also represented by the Four Chayos of the Merkava – four different beings – in a sense, too, a form of angels.
Above this world, we come to the so-called, again so-called top world – the Olam HaAtzilus. The top world as far as we are concerned in speaking about worlds. Olam HaAtzilus is above anything mentioned. Above our conceptions, above our imagination, which cannot be described.
These Four Worlds correspond to the four letters of HaShem’s Name. The letter Yud is the Olam HaAtzilus, the top world. The letter Key – the first one – the Hey is the Olam HaBeriya – Throne. The Vuv is the Yetzira – the world of the angels. And the final letter Hey represents this lowly part of the world, this creation.
Of course, without going into it at all, Rabbeinu zal says – Again, we said – we get back to the point that the Tzaddik Emes is one who has the power of visiting – not anything as silly as a trip to the moon or a trip to Mars, which is infinitely small – which is infinitesimal – it is nothing compared to a trip to the upper, heavenly world of the angels.
All this, as we said, pales away compared to just a tiny toe of the smallest angel. The Tzaddik Emes can travel beyond this, to this world of the angels – through this world of the angels, go through the top, go through the roof of that world, where no angel can tread, and go into the next world, the world of Beriya, the world of the Throne of HaShem. And then the Tzaddik Emes can go beyond that, into the Olam HaAtzilus.
This is testimony by one who has made this trip: Rabbeinu zal himself, who was not alone. Because we know that the Baal Shem Tov, and the Arizal, did this too. So that the Tzaddikim Amitiim have the power of going up to these heavenly worlds. Only Rabbeinu zal said that he did not stop at the Olam HaAtzilus. He did not stop at this world because there is much more above and beyond that world.
We cannot even discuss this top world Atzilus. Rabbeinu zal was so great he could go into this world and above, go through the top, into the worlds that are above it.
These worlds, of course, exist because, as Rabbeinu zal says, very simply: HaShem is infinite. HaShem is endless. There is no such thing as saying there’s a limit, chas veshalom. These Four Worlds are still four.
There is above this an endless, an infinite amount to get to HaShem, which of course is impossible, because that is the infinite. Infinity Himself. Or above this it is called Ein Sof – HaShem Who Is Infinite.
Now, therefore, the Tzaddik Emes, who has this power – כי כל בשמים – who goes above all that is in heaven. Heaven, of course, means plural – the heavens above.
This Tzaddik Emes going above to these heavens, it would seem to us, is performing the greatest act possible. Rabbeinu zal says that is not the greatest act possible.
One can go – crash through these heavens into the upper auras or areas of kedusha – of holiness – There is something bigger than that. Greater than that.
The Tzaddik Emes has the power of going down that’s greater than going up. He can go down to – how far? To no matter how far a rasha – wicked person – has descended. A person committing a sin has lowered himself away from his closeness to kedusha, his closeness to HaShem. He has estranged himself from HaShem. By committing a sin, by performing an act against the will of HaShem he has fallen.
This is called a nefila, or a yerida – he descended. By committing more sins, he goes still further down. The lower he goes down, the more difficult it is for him to come back. The more distant he finds himself from kedusha, from a feeling of closeness to HaShem, and the less of a chance that he feels within himself to go back.
Now, of course, the more he goes down the more he is driven down. He’s propelled downward at a much faster pace, because if one commits a sin he is assisted, he’s helped. If you want to commit a sin, the door is open for you – go – chas v’shalom [HaShem forbid].
A person who’s gone down, way down, could still, by reminding himself of the mitzvos of the Torah, reminding himself about the fact that there is a day of judgement. There’s going to come a time when a person will have to pay for his acts. A person knows, no matter how little faith he has, he knows he’s not going to live forever on this earth. No one has done it yet.
He reminds himself ultimately that there must be a day when he will have to pay, he’ll have to give judgement. And this could draw him back to reality – to realizing the truth, and thereby crying out to HaShem from the depth: מִמַּֽעֲמַקִּ֖ים קְרָאתִ֣יךָ ה – HaShem, I am very far, very low, I call you from this deep pit. From this depth I call upon You to help me. Elevate me. Bring me back to You.
But there are people who have fallen so far, Rabbeinu zal calls it the hastora betoch hastora – so far that he ceases to realize that he has left kedusha. He doesn’t realize that there is such a thing as kedusha any more. He thinks he is living in a “normal world” where there is no faith, there is no religion.
A person like that is so far down that no one can help him. It is impossible for a normal person on this earth to help him any more.
This can be done, it can be accomplished only by a tzaddik who can rise so high up into the upper heavens that he has the power, too, to go down to this low, base point of descent by this rasha, to descend to this person and to bring him up again.
This is the meaning of כי כל בשמים ובארץ – There is no limit to the heights – “shemayim” – the tzaddik can reach, and “aretz” – the depth, the bowels of the earth to where the tzaddik can descend to elevate, to bring back a person who’s gone so far.
And therefore Rabbeinu zal now begins this sefer, Sichos HaRan, with these words – words that are fit, that encompass both. The words of Dovid HaMelech who says: ‘כִּ֚י אֲנִ֣י יָדַעְתִּי כִּֽי־גָד֣וֹל ה – “Because I know that HaShem is great.”
“I know that HaShem is great.” What is meant by “I know”? What does a person know? This is King David speaking. And this is a sentence that we say in Tehillim, which means that every single person says this possuk [verse]. Every person says it, telling the truth.
What is meant by “I know that Hashem is great” ? And why the word “I”?
אני ידתי – which means “I, and no one else”. Each Jew says this in truth. The answer, Rabbeinu zal says, is that every person says it because each person says, “I know and I cannot transmit this knowledge. I cannot pass it on to anyone else.” Because a person can say that he knows HaShem, but his words are meaningless. If he thinks, if he begins to meditate, if he begins to ponder over his knowledge of the existence of HaShem, he’ll find that the thought that he reaches, that he achieves, is something that cannot be brought out into words. It’s impossible to transpose his thought to words.
So, “I know, but I cannot speak about this.” This point that “I know” means that I am unique, because to the degree that I know, it is only I that knows this. There are no two people on the same level. So the more a person has performed mitzvos, the closer he is to HaShem, the more he can say to himself, “I know to a greater degree”.
Each person, in knowing, knows only a limited amount. As we said, we say we know that HaShem is great. What could we say about the greatness of HaShem?
As the Gemara says, if we speak about HaShem’s greatness כביכול if a person would say, “I know HaShem is so great, that He’s even richer than the richest man on earth. He’s richer than the country of the United States.”
And that is a compliment? It is not. Because to say it about HaShem is a very base statement. To say about HaShem that HaShem is so strong He can destroy the mountains, He can uproot mountains, he can destroy the world, that too is a very low statement to say about Hashem.
So how would you speak about HaShem’s greatness? King David says the way
The greatest compliment is silence. Because any word you say will detract from His greatness. So silence is the only tribute possible. If that’s the case, then, we understand why כי אני ידעתי – “I know” but I cannot speak.
If I say anything, it comes out in a physical form, which will detract from the true praise of HaShem’s greatness. I can only think it, but I cannot speak it.
Now despite this fact, so we come to the point where we say that HaShem is so great that it is unmentionable. Even the greatest tzaddik will say “I know, but cannot speak about it.”
Then this means that we get to the point of beyond conception. It is beyond our conception. Rabbeinu zal says, despite this fact, or in addition to this fact, HaShem is so great, so far above the ordinary, lowest type of creatures in this world, so far above the angels in the upper heavens where, as we said, the toe of the smallest angel is larger than the entire universe with all its planets.
And the leg of that angel is larger than the toe plus this universe.
And the torso of the angel is still larger, and so on. We get to the next angel above him, that angel’s toe is larger than this entire angel below, plus this universe, until higher and higher, above and above, is called gevoah mei’al gevoah, to an extent that it is unmentionable.
Above all this, reigns supreme, HaShem Himself over all this, over such a might host of heavenly angels. It’s so wonderful to have an unlimited number of such angels in heaven. Yet of all these mighty angels HaShem derives no pleasure from their service.
HaShem’s pleasure כביכול – if we can use that term – is derived from the service of this lowly little human being on earth. Why? Because the pleasure is, when you have one who has free choice and elects, on his own, to serve HaShem, to believe in HaShem, it is much greater than the mightiest of angels who has no choice. Why does he have no choice? Because the angel sees that which we cannot see.
If we were given the privilege of seeing for a moment, if the heavens could open up and we could see what’s doing in heaven, if we could see Gan Eden – Paradise. Gan Eden – that’s the place of Jews – The Garden of Yidden.
If we could see the marvels, the wonders of heaven, then of course we’d have no choice either. We’d know that’s the truth. However, the fact that we elect to serve HaShem without seeing this, through faith alone – this is truly serving HaShem.
So HaShem derives His pleasure כביכול from the lowly mortal – the Jew – who puts on Tefillin, who davens to HaShem, who says a brakha, who goes to shul, who avoids the temptations that are forbidden. This is the service to HaShem that HaShem desires. So, the fact that HaShem is so far exalted, above and beyond all these levels of creation, still HaShem wants the service of the mortals on earth. And therefore the, again, we cannot speak about the greatness of HaShem. We cannot speak about it. But we could, in mind, in heart, serve HaShem.
How? By serving HaShem with desire. With ratzon. With cheshekh. The desire to come closer to HaShem. And this burning desire is the true service to HaShem.
Rabbeinu zal says that a Jew should strive to be Oved HaShem. Avodas HaShem. If you recall the life story of Rabbeinu zal, all his hisbodedus and tefilos were, “HaShem, Karveini l’avodasecha. HaShem, I implore you, I beseech You, I beg of You, bring me closer to Your service. Bring me closer to You. Elevate me higher and higher.”
The life of Rabbeinu zal kept on rising higher and higher through these heavens, crashed through these levels of heavens because he became holier and purer. And this should be the service of every Jew. We don’t expect to go above the moon and sun to the higher heavens, but at least we should try to serve HaShem in purity. In purity means that when we say כי אני ידעתי this point at least, at least this point.
When we are taught that the Torah is the word of HaShem – that every word in the Torah HaKadoshah is the word of HaShem. If you believe in HaShem, you must believe that His word is the word of truth. HaShem is true, His word is true. Every single word of the Torah is pure, is holy, and is true.
No one can ever dare, no matter how great he thinks he is, no matter how big a scientist he is, or a medical expert, he cannot ever dare to contradict one word of the Torah. And if he does, automatically we know that his word is sheker and is false. Because there is only One Truth, and that is the Word of HaShem.
And therefore, too, we find an item that is so dangerous, the Gemara says that its danger is above all other acts. If there is punishment for an act of sin, none can compare to this punishment. And that is the simple act of making, or cracking, a joke. It’s a mitzvah to be b’simcha, to be happy. It’s a mitzvah to rejoice. It’s a mitzvah to avoid sadness, a mitzvah to avoid depressive state of mind.
It is a very big mitzvah to be b’simcha at all times.
But cracking a joke, and making fun, and making jest – if, chas veshalom, this jest is about HaShem, chas veshalom, if, chas veshalom, this jest is about HaShem, chas veshalom, or about the Torah – the sin, the crime is so serious that, the Gemara says, nothing a Jew does can erase something which he creates. “Creates” means he performs a mitzvah, an angel is created through his act. A mighty angel created by this Jew’s act of doing a mitzvah.
That angel is the Jew’s, and nothing can destroy that angel. Because that mitzvah remains with him throughout. If he commits a sin, he is punished for the sin. But his mitzvah still remains. An aveyra, a sin, cannot erase, cannot extinguish a mitzvah. There’s one thing that can. And that is: making fun, joking about something which is holy. This sin is so serious that it can actually erase … mitzvos.
I must say that, it is written of course, but I recall from my very, very young years, literally as a child, a small child, I recall my father, alav hashalom, who was very stern. Very stern and very pure. The countenance of a true tzaddik, and especially at the Shabbos table, he looked like a true prince. And his words were always, when talking about anything joking, he would say, “Be careful: no קאטאוועס – “catavos” is the Yiddish word for jokes – about anything pertaining to close to HaShem, chas veshalom.
That was ingrained, taught, from childhood, to know the danger that is involved. So that if a person does act frivolously, in a lightheaded sense, he must be very cautious, very careful to avoid the fatal hazard of making a joke about HaShem or HaShem’s word.
And that is one thing that must be kept serious at all times. And therefore, again, this holds true according to the rules of Kabbalah, according to the ten sefiros.
אני ידעתי means ידיע [ knowlege]. Remember that the sefiros, there are three upper sefiros, that pertain to the brain, to the mind, to the sekhel, to the wisdom – chokhmah, binah, vedaas.
The seven lower ones that pertain to action. Now, the seventh, the lowest of the seven, is called the Malkhus – Malkhus Peh. The Power of Speech.
The three upper ones are very different than the lowest ones. The seventh one that is speech is also called Malkhus and Emunah.
The lowest of the seven, or the tenth one of all ten, is called Emunah. Between Emunuah and the top one there are ten sefiros. Ten levels.
There is no connection between them in the actual sense. No connection means that they are not the same. They are very, very far – one from the other. The entire gamut has to be crossed before you get from one to the other. You never can claim a similarity between Chokhmah and Emunah. One is derived from the other, one is reached through the other, but they are completely different.
Chokhmah, or yediya, yedati – knowledge means a person actually knows. Emunah – faith – is something that a person does not know. If he knows it, it is no longer faith. So here he says, כי אני ידעתי כי גדול ה – “I know”. This part that I know is only in my mind. I cannot speak it. Why can I not speak it?
Because Peh [speech] is Malkhus is Emunah. So we understand the words of King David, as Rabbeinu zal brings it,
אני ידעתי is, as the Zohar HaKodesh says, an item which each person can appraise, evaluate, only in his heart. In his heart and in his mind. It is impossible to transfer it to someone else, to discuss this. But a person should strive to increase his knowledge of HaShem, Which means they go higher and higher through the stepping stone of Emunah. The first step must be faith, from there a person can into the next levels to reach this yediya.
The second paragraph, the second topic, is actually related in a sense. Rabbeinu zal says, “How would a person serve HaShem, knowing that HaShem is so great far above our conception. How do you serve HaShem Who seems so distant – so far? We could understand serving, lehavdil, a human king. He is one of us. He’s closer to us. But how to you serve One Who is far above all the heavens and all creation? What type of service could we give to HaShem? How can we fulfill the mitzvos properly?
Rabbeinu zal says, the simple advice, very simple, clear, pure advice is – it is true, of course, that HaShem is so far above the conception of any single human being, yet, all we have to do is, in serving HaShem, to say:
“HaShem, You have asked us, You have ordered us, this day, to get up, to go to shul, to daven.” The first order is to go to shul and daven tefilah b’tzibur and there to say the tefilos of Shacharis to You. Put on the tefillin, the tzitzis – this we do, without understanding completely how we are actually serving You.
But, how do we do this? We do this by transferring the entire responsibility to You. HaShem, You know what the mitzvah is, actually, and so we say, we believe firmly, faithfully, that You are the Creator. You have commanded us with this mitzvah, and we hereby give You the responsibility of seeing to it that the mitzvah we perform is done properly. We have complete faith in You, complete bitachon – confidence – that You are the One, the Only One That can perfect our mitzvah. We [have the] right to say, “HaShem. You gave us the mitzvah. You can’t take it back. You do it.”
The answer is that Rabbeinu zal said, it is very good – טוב מאוד – it is very good – it is excellent for a person to cast himself upon HaShem, and say, “HaShem, I believe in You implicitly. Take me. Watch over me carefully. Not just with putting on Tefilin. Not just with davening. I get up in the morning and I say ‘today I must go to business. I don’t know if I’ll have any customers come to the store to do business, or make any sales today, if I’ll earn enough to bring home enough money or food for my household. It’s a big problem. But I will not worry about it.” Why? Because today הַשְׁלֵ֚ךְ עַל־יְהֹוָ֨ה | יְהָֽבְךָ֘ וְה֪וּא יְכַ֫לְכְּלֶ֥ךָ
The Torah says [Tehillim 55:23]: “Cast your worries to HaShem”.
“HaShem, I have problems. I have bills today to pay today. I have creditors. I have other things coming up. You know what? I give all this to You HaShem today, and I will cease worrying about it.”
How can I stop worrying when I have people coming and demanding money?
Very simply because my faith in HaShem is so solid and so pure, I know that HaShem is very wealthy. How wealthy? Very wealthy. Wealthy enough. If I need money, HaShem has enough to provide for me, in addition to all the rest of the needs in the world. And I have confidence that HaShem will provide for me. I have a right to have this confidence because this is serving HaShem.
To have bitachon is the true service of HaShem. “Betach b’HaShem” is a mitzvah. To have bitachon in HaShem and have confidence “veAsei tov” – and you perform your mitzvos as you have to, leave the worries, the problems to HaShem.
If you think that this is a wrong move, Rabbeinu zal says it’s a much worse move if you don’t do this.
Look at the gray hairs and the ulcers of the person who does not do this. What do you lose if you give your worries over to HaShem?
If throughout the day you don’t bother worrying, you have confidence in HaShem, the result is, inadvertently, inevitably, in most cases you’ll find that the day comes out fine. A person comes out of the day fully alive, he has what to eat, there’s a difference, though. One person comes out with all the worries on his mind and all these worries were for nothing. It turned out that there was enough earned that day. The problems were solved to enough of a degree.
The second person who said to HaShem, “Here are my worries. Here are all my concerns and cares. I give them to You to take care of for me. And I am free. Free to serve You with a clear mind.” This person has gained a day of – a worry-less day, a carefree day, at the same time, his entire day was spent in true, pure service of HaShem. Because there’s no greater serving HaShem than having faith and confidence in HaShem.
Here you have a mitzvah with schara betzida – the reward is right there on the side of it. Doubly so.
And this, Rabbeinu zal says, refers to – in a time of stress – to serve HaShem with simcha. If a person is worried, he’s not happy. The Torah says “Ivdu es HaShem besimcha” – “Serve HaShem with a very happy frame of mind, with a carefree attitude but a degree of simcha, in the midst of this bitachon. Confidence with simcha.
Of course, this must be coupled with the obedience to the mitzvos. Each day you have the mitzvah of tefilah, which supersedes all of the mitzvos because the Gemara says avodah – serving HaShem – avodah beLev, zu tefilah.
Serving HaShem with your heart means the act of davening.
When we had the Beis HaMikdash we had the act of bringing sacrifices, today the act is done through tefilah. So we have this mitzvah of tefilah, and this perfects a person. Because if he serves Hashem with simcha – confidence – he has the simcha, and the bitachon, combined, merging this, serving HaShem in tefilah he now has simcha, bitachon, tefilah – he has the peace – the true peace – which makes up the Shabbos – Shabbos menucha.
Simcha, bitachon, tefilah is the same as Shabbos. This, Rabbeinu zal says too, that this combines to make up the Shabbos because the Shabbos itself…
A normal Jew, a religious Jew – when it comes to Shabbos, he’s very rested. He’s at peace with the world, with himself. He forgets about his problems during the week.
The Gemara says שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִים֘ תֵּֽעָשֶׂ֣ה מְלָאכָה֒ – Six days you should work, when it comes to Shabbos you will have finished all your work. How does a person finish all his work in six days? Because when Shabbos comes, he drops every thought about work as thought it’s all completely finished.
This is a good manner of observing the Shabbos. Drop everything, all your worries, and rest completely on the Shabbos. This is a very good solution to a person who has problems during the week. A very good means of enjoying the Shabbos. At the same time, the more religious a person is, the more observant he is, again the more worried he is. Because if you understand the importance of Shabbos, and the importance of Shabbos is one that is above all other mitzvos. If we had to put all mitzvos on a scale, in value, in importance, there’s no question that Shabbos is the most important of all mitzvos.
The Zohar HaKodesh says, Bereishis – Bereishis means “In the beginning” – Bereishis means ‘the first’. The very first, the most important, above all, Bereishis is the letters “Yoreh Shabbos” – respect the Shabbos – fear the Shabbos, and if you do, the Arizal says, “Im shabsosai tishmoru …
“Im shabsosai tishmoru, mikdashei tira’u, Ani HaShem”. You should observe the Shabbos. Then, if you do so, if you really observe the Shabbos right, “mikdashi tira’u – you will see My Beis HaMikdash built. Ani HaShem – I promise that”. Because the future of a Jew, as one who will see the coming of Moshiach is dependent upon the Shabbos Kodesh. That’s why the only statement made there, the Gemara says, is that if the Jews would observe two Shabbosim or even one Shabbos according to the Yerushalmi, Moshiach would come immediately. Because for those Jews, Moshiach would come.
The Shabbos is the key to “Mikdashi tira’u” – you will see My Beis HaMikdash built – Mikdashi. Therefore, since the Shabbos is the most important of all mitzvos, it is above all mitzvos, the Jew retains his title as Jew if he observes the Shabbos. A מחלל Shabbos loses that title. Of course, a Jew who commits sins is still a Jew, the Gemara says… Although he has sinned he is still called a Jew. But he is a Jew with the laws – dinim – of a goy tacked onto him. Dinai c’akum lechol devarim.
So Shabbos, being the most important of all mitzvos, the most pleasant of all mitzvos, the Gemara calls it matanah tova, at the same time, it is the most dangerous of all mitzvos. Because Shabbos, too, is called a mountain. It is a mountain of mitzvos that hangs by a slender thread, a thin strand of hair which holds up this entire mountain. “Thin strand” refers to the very few words in the Torah which give us the dinim of Shabbos.
Yet there is a mountain of halakhos. A mountain of laws about the Shabbos. So many that it is the most complex set of laws in the entire Torah. We have a whole Gemara called Mesechta Shabbos.
We have a whole section of Shulchan Aruch – Hilkhos Shabbos, and this, too, branches out into many more facets.
A person who breaks one of those laws m’doreisa, has committed a sin that is so serious, the penalty for it is death. The worst kind of death – death of stoning – skilah. And which person is a complete baki – completely clear in knowledge of all the laws of Shabbos – where he says I know I’ve done nothing wrong, when it’s so simple to break the Shabbos.
If you have a plate of food in front of you, and you have vegetables on this plate, three different kinds of vegetables and a piece of meat, what harm are you doing – if the food is kosher, prepared for Shabbos in a perfectly kosher manner? And a person could be sitting there and breaking the Shabbos by just moving one piece of vegetable the wrong way, breaking a law of borer, and for this there is a penalty of death, chas veshalom.
There’s a lot to learn about the Shabbos of course. Or going to a clothes closet and picking out a coat or a suit. There are so many laws that a person’s hair would stand up, at just the dread, the thought that he’s breaking a law that has penalty worse than if a person commits murder, and it’s so easy to break these laws.
So what happens to a Jew who is observant, and Shabbos comes, instead of being relaxed and happy, he’s very nervous. How am I going to fulfill the laws of Shabbos completely and come through it unscathed? I’m supposed to obey the Shabbos – Yoreh Shabbos bereishis – above all else – and I might be breaking ten or more different laws during the day.
In this case, Rabbeinu zal say, too: a person is not an angel. A person’s supposed to observe the dinim to the best of his ability. Of course he is required, it is incumbent upon him, he’s obligated to learn the dinim of Shabbos. That is a must. Especially on Shabbos itself.
As the din says, the word Shabbos has the letters Shabbos, B’Shabbos, Tomid. The laws of Shabbos should be learned especially on Shabbos, the best time to learn about, to know about the dinim of Shabbos. At the same time though, a person can feel that as much as he learns, which is true, there is still so much more to learn, he might be doing things that are wrong en route.
Now about this, Rabbeinu zal says, when Shabbos comes, Rabbeinu zal said it, when Shabbos comes, “I’m filled with happiness and I say to HaShem, I have problems on Shabbos too. About the obedience, the compliance with the laws of Shabbos. HaShem, I hereby present You with all my problems. They’re Yours now, I’m free.” A Jew can do that.
Give your problems of the weekdays to HaShem. Give your problems on Shabbos to HaShem. And especially Yomim Tovim.
When Pesach comes along, it’s the most dreaded holiday for women. A woman fears Pesach from Isru Chag shel Pesach. When Pesach is over, she begins to fear the next Pesach, because of the cleaning problems and transferring the dishes and so on.
And of course, this is not a light thing. It should not be taken lightly by any man. Because the issur of chometz is so serious that the tiniest mashehu – the tiniest drop – can make the whole house traif, chas veshalom.
And the issur of chometz is not like another issur. Not even like chazer. Chazer is a lo sa’asey – malkus 39 lashes, whereas chometz is koreys. Again, a death penalty from heaven. How can a person, who is not an angel, avoid the tiniest mashehu, less than a crumb, a pinhead of chumetz?
No matter how hard he tries, there might be a piece left yet, chas veshalom. A tiny pinhead. For this, a person can worry, can destroy the whole simcha of Yom Tov.
Rabbeinu zal said when Pesach comes I say to HaShem, “I’ve cleaned my house to the best of my ability. I sold my chumetz properly. I’ve done all the laws preparing for Pesach. I’m going to buy the best shmurah matzah. Now my problems, HaShem, I give to You. All the problems about chumetz, mashehu, theses dinim – HaShem – for You. I’m free now to celebrate with simcha Yom Tov Pesach.”
The same thing with Sukkos – the various laws of Sukkos. The rest of the Yomim Tovim, especially when you have the day, the awesome, fearsome Day of Judgement. Rosh Hashanah – Yom Kippur. A person’s supposed to come before HaShem filled with fear and awe, on that day, too, a person should be filled with simcha also.
“HaShem, I come to You on this day when You are about to judge me, a day of life and death. The Book of Life and Death is open. And my life now is hanging in the balance. Should I worry about it? I am filled with simcha because I know that the door is open for me to come to You and say, I want to come back. I want to repent, to erase my past. And You want me so say it, and You want to write me in the Book of Life, because …. YD HaPM.
And therefore, I come again to You and I say: I have problems again, this awesome day. It’s a fearful day. You take the problems of mine, I’ll be free – a free mind to be able to serve You today properly, by listening today to the shofar with a clear mind, by davening with a clean heart, without worries about the past. These worries I give to you.”
We recall the case of the Berditchiver zal who once said on Yom Kippur, “HaShem, this is Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgement. It’s a holiday, all business is closed. Especially the stock market, where they trade stocks.
However, HaShem, You can do everything. You could even trade stocks today too. I hereby make a deal with You Hashem, because You have something which we need, we have something which You need – which you want us to get rid of. Fine. We’ll make a trade with You.
We have we’re stocked up a lot of, whole warehouses full of sins – all kinds of sins – every type. You have an otzar – a treasury room – full with slicha, mechila, kapara, forgiveness. You give us Your treasury, we’ll give You ours, and we’re even. Take away our sins, give us Your slicha, and this is our deal with You.”
And of course, if these words are said sincerely, we know that Rabbi Levi Yizchak of Berdichev zal’s people were forgive. They came out pretty clean then.
Anybody with a sincerity can do this. And this is because he follows with emunah the words of the Tzaddik Emes. Rabbeinu zal said טוב מאוד – it is very good to do this. Do it with bitachon, do it with simcha, and HaShem will erase all a person’s problems, both physically and spiritually.
We should be zocheh b’emes [merit] to become truly attached – mekushar – to the Tzaddik Emes, to Rabbeinu zal, and thereby serve HaShem with all our might, with all our power – be zocheh that HaShem should bring us closer and closer to His avodah, and then to ultimately deserve seeing the yeshuas HaShem c’heref ayin, the geulah sheleyma with the coming of Moshiach,binyan Beis HaMikdash b’meheyra, amein v’amein.
Transcribed by S.Y.Wurtzel (c) 2024 by R’ Nasan Maimon)
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This shiur is dedicated by Tuvia Aharon Scher in honor of his family and all potential olim to Eretz Yisrael with a prayer to HaShem that regardless of the situation in the world we will be able to make aliya successfully as soon as possible.
