Making Davening Meaningful - Part 2

2:35 The Torah considers it. It's like you're attached to God Himself. Now, some people get very nervous when they hear this, because they say, Rabbi, that sounds a lot like Christianity. It sounds a lot like Christianity. I can't connect to God, so God made a son in the world, and we connect ourselves to His son, and then we're connected to God. No. The Atar Rebbe is going to explain that that's not what the Gemara means. So what does it mean that attaching ourselves to Atar Mechachem is like attaching ourselves to the Shekhinah. By the way, you guys know what Shekhinah means? Shekhinah means the indwelling of Hashem's presence in this world. Shekhinah is something we find in this world. The indwelling of God's presence in this world. This is the Gemara in Kisubas. Kufir Aleph HaMed Beis. Bozeh. Oh, we're going to see. Ki al yedei tfika b'tam midei chachamim, the Altar of the Rebbe explains, through attaching ourselves to a tamo chacham, kshuros, nefesh ruach neshama, shalam mea aretz. Guys, why does it say nefesh ruach neshama? You should know this by now. The three parts of our soul. So when it says nefesh ruach neshama, what does it mean? It means the total, the totality of your soul, right?

3:50 That when we are mekasher, when we connect, connect nefesh ruach neshama of the Amo Aretz. Who's the Amo Aretz, guys? The Kal Shabbat Kalim, not necessarily. Amo Aretz is somebody who doesn't know a lot. You probably know much more than an Amo Aretz. Okay? U'miyu chados b'mahuson harishon v'sharsham shabakhach me'ila, shihu yisbarach v'chachmaso echad, v'hu ha'madah. Recall, we said this, see, this is one of the things, just a brief introduction. Remember I told you guys in the very beginning of Tanya that you have to make sure to be here every single day. because it's cumulative. Everything you learn is based on knowledge that you had before. Let's go back. So now we said as follows. The soul, well, no, let's go even further back. The soul emanates from God's wisdom, right? Remember we said that? The highest point in God. What was the difference between a creation in this world, like a table, and the soul? The table was created through Hakadosh Baruch Hu's speech, right?

4:52 Which means what, guys? The table experienced itself as other than God, right? But the soul, because it was created from Hashem's thought, it feels connected. Remember we said the Rambam? That God is one with His wisdom. So God does not think like a human being thinks. Because when a human being thinks from both sides, what does that look like? I. think. It's an action that I do. But because God is one, His thoughts are one. with Him. Right? So, one sec, one sec, let's just finish it up. So when we say a soul comes from God's thoughts, what do we mean to say, guys? A soul is one with Hashem. Just like God's thoughts. Is it part of Hashem? Correct. And that's what the, if you recall, not part physically. It's one part. Right? It's not part, right, exactly. It's not part physically. It's a manifestation, right, of the oneness of God. So, wow. Wow, what a surprise. Hang on one sec. One sec. I gotta hit pause. Okay. Back to it. I gotta recalibrate myself. So exciting to see.

6:07 Hever, when you see an old Talmud, you have to understand, when you guys leave, it's like an amputation. We spend so much time thinking about you guys and working with you guys and teaching and learning and it's such a beautiful relationship that when you leave, it's like an amputation. So imagine if an amputated part comes back. It's like, ah, greatest nachas in the world. Can't believe I have you back this year. Okay, so, we said that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is one with his thoughts. And because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is one with his thoughts, what does that tell us about the soul that comes from his thoughts? The soul is also one with G-d. So what's the feeling of the soul? The feeling of the soul is the connection to G-d. So, let's say a person feels distant from G-d. Intellect is only going to help you partially if you feel distant from G-d. But what do you need to do to connect to G-d? You need to cultivate the talent of the soul. What does it mean to cultivate the talent of the soul? That we're going to discuss. But the soul is your connection to God.

7:10 Every one of us has a portal within. That's our connection to God. So now, when the soul of the Amaharetz, which shares the same root, this is what's critical. On the level of a root, is the Amaharetz any different from the Tamachachem? Just like the Tamachachem comes from Chachma'ila, comes from the highest point in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's wisdom, which is to say that it's one with God, the Amaharetz also shares the same exact root. His soul also is one with God. His soul also comes from Hakadosh Baruch Hu's Chachma'ila. Okay, so what happens? So now... Let's see. On this I want you to look inside over here. I'm going to read fast now, but look in the words. Just like every part of your body, even your hair, even your fingernails, all need to be connected to your brain. However, why does your hair grow? Why do your fingernails grow? It all comes from where?

8:12 It all comes from the source. If there would be a split, if there would be a divergence between the mind and the hair, or the mind and the fingernails, what would happen? It wouldn't work, right? Like if you want the light to work, it has to be plugged into the electricity. You have to flip the switch. But the electricity is constantly running. That's what makes the light go on. The life force of a person. comes, meaning into your arms, it comes through the mind. Spiritually speaking, it comes through the mind. so too in the parable. how does the life force come into the body all of Klal Yisrael's one body, this is what's critical if you hate another Jew what happens what are you really doing you're cutting off a part of your body it's an amputation if you look at a Jew and you look askance at that Jew and you think oh that Jew is lower than me and they don't do as many mitzvahs as me.

9:13 and they do more avirs as me and they don't know as much as me and you think that you're better that gaiva, who's that gaiva against it's against yourself, that's your brother that's your sister terrible to do such a thing so just like the life force and the physical aspect comes through the mach comes through the head who are the tzaddikim they are the mind of our generation they're the ones that know the most Torah they're the ones that have the clearest understanding of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in this world. because they know exactly what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants those tzaddikim, are the Roshay b'nei Yisroel. They're the Moach. And therefore, If you want your soul to come alive, if you don't feel your soul, if you want your soul to come alive, one of the things you might need to do in your lives, attach yourself to your source. Because if your source, right, if you're a little brain damaged, right, in spiritual sense, if you're a little brain damaged in the spiritual sense, what happens, guys? You're cut off from your source. So when a person attaches themselves to a tzaddik, and this is what the Gemara means, when you attach yourself to a tzaddik, and...

10:25 You're shut out. Correct. Now, my soul, his soul, they're all one, and that connection is built. And I'm learning from the tzaddik, right? It's not just sitting next to the tzaddik. But I'm learning from the tzaddik. And the tzaddik is looking, he's peering into my soul, and he says, this is what I can help you with in your life. So what happens, Reb Osai? You start to shtayg from that. You start to grow. You found your source. You found your Rebbe. That's... That's the importance of finding a Rebbe. When you find a Rebbe, find a Rebbe, your soul lights up on fire from it. Why? Ah, I'm connected to my source. If you want the godly life. to be, to illuminate, to be felt in the Nisham of Klal Yisrael, then you need to be, Rav Yisrael, you have Rebbeim. You have Rebbeim in Yeshiva. Rav Yisrael, you gotta attach yourself to your Rebbeim. As my Rebbe, Rebbe Yaakov Bender used to say, you gotta put your Rebbe in your pocket. You gotta put your Rebbe in your pocket. When you go somewhere, you gotta put your Rebbe in your pocket because that's your connection to your life force. Okay, skip now to page Kuf Yud. We'll go back into the Tanya.

11:32 But if, Chas V'shalom, somebody, attacks or denigrates a Tamar Chacham, so they're still going to be sustained but this is a critical difference stay with me now this is a critical difference the Talmud Chacham is going to support everybody, because remember that's his job in the world his job is to bring life force into the world so what about the person that turns their back on him, so Kaviyachel if you're going to attack the Talmud Chacham. then that's the relationship you have you have a relationship not with the front of the Talmud Chacham not face to face, but to the Talmud Chacham's back so you're attached to the Talmud Chacham but not in a beautiful way which means as follows, when we say Achorayim and Kabbalah and Chassidus what it means is as follows, let's say I want to give a gift to Mikey so let's say, well let's put it like this let's say I want to give a gift to Mikey I want Mikey to know.

12:36 Not how important the gift is. What do I want them to know? How important he is. Isn't that what's important? Because if you only care about the gift, then you don't really care about the person. So when you give the gift, what do you do? So you'll write a letter, go along with the gift. And when you give it to them, you're going to give it to them in a way that lets them know you're important. So maybe you'll put it on their pillow. So when they come into the room, they see it, it's there, it's all wrapped up nicely with an envelope. A beautiful letter that you wrote. Or maybe if you're giving it to them, especially if it's a really important gift, you get down on 1D, right? You show them, you look up at them, but you're facing them. That's what's critical, right? But if they're not important, if the package is important, like if you're a UPS delivery guy, which you may remember that story, if you're a UPS delivery guy, so then... You just hand them the package and you go, sign here. You don't look at them. Why don't you have a face-to-face relationship.

13:39 with the person? Because I don't care. So did the package arrive? Yes. But that's called me b'chinas. You're not directly leading to that. Right. You're a messenger. Right. In that case, our relationship, right, the relationship between the UPS guy, this is what's critical, the relationship between the UPS guy and you is nothing. There's no real relationship. What is there? There's just a feeling of, I got to get the package there. So it's necessary, but unimportant. That's what's critical. Guys, you got to get that down because we're going to come back to this many times over the course of the year. Whenever we say something is me b'chinas achorayim, it's from the back. What we mean to say is it's necessary, but ultimately it's unimportant. Clear? So imagine if somebody had a relationship with their UPS guy. That would be weird, right? Not because, let's say, let's say they developed a relationship with their UPS guy. I'm not talking about being nice and giving them a tip. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a relationship. Like, from delivering the packages, you got close.

14:45 It's the same guy in the game. I mean, the mailman. I worked in a store. Right. What relationship do you have with your mailman? Do you open up and tell the mailman your deepest secrets. Actually, there's... He might know your secrets for a different reason, but that's not what I'm talking about. If you have... If you develop a relationship with your mailman, some might think that might even be inappropriate. That might be a situation where maybe you have to wonder what's going on behind the scenes. As... Or he's smiling because he knows one case that I am aware of, Ezra knows as well, is I know, unfortunately, a woman, who fell for her UPS guy. Married woman. And all I know, made bad mistakes. Because what's important there is the package, the delivery system, not the actual person. So, that's called achorayim. What's your relationship with the tzaddik.

15:40 The connection is the package, not the person. Right. The difference between an important relationship versus a necessary relationship is if it's important, the person is what's critical. If it's necessary, the package is what's critical. Right? So, when you give a gift to your wife, it's not a package. It's a gift. Right? But when you get something from the mailman, maybe you even got that gift in the mail. It's not called a gift at that point, right? Between you and the mailman, he didn't give you a gift. He gave you a package, which you turned into a gift when you gave it to your wife. So we don't want to lift up the person, we want to lift up what they're doing for us. Why don't we lift up the clinical package that the psodic is giving us? Are we supposed to love him as a person because of who he is or because of what he does for us.

16:31 No, because of who he is. Because when we look at the Talmud Chacham, we say, he is my Rosh. The same way that my Rosh is connected to my fingernails right now, the Tzadik is my Rosh. And that's why it's so... Why are you making the Tzadik your Rosh. No, no. Not why am I making the Tzadik my Rosh. The Tzadik is my Rosh. You have to make that constant decision to go and find yourself a Tzadik, to make him your Rosh. I mean, that's not... Not that he is. When you find your Tzadik, you'll realize you didn't make him your Tzadik. He always was. That's why the connection feels so right. When you find your Rebbe, you'll feel like, ah, it clicked. Like when that Rebbe speaks, it speaks to my soul. Could be. Now, again, we don't know what's going on inside of a person, but in my mind, like those people, those are my Tzadikim, those are my Rosh. That's why, I'll tell you, an unbelievable dvartar that I heard from my Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Bransh, who should be Zechad or a Fushilem,

17:32 unfortunately, he has Alzheimer's right now. But he told us an unbelievable dvart. It's a critical dvart. On Purim, Rabbi Esai, we didn't listen to Mordechai at Tzaddik when he told us, not to go to Ahashverosh's Suda. Logic dictated to us, go to the Suda. Imagine if the massive ruler invites everybody to the Suda. Chavar, did they have kosher food at the Suda? Glot kosher food. Glot kosher food they had at the Suda. So what was the problem? Every nation in the world is going to go. The Jews aren't going to go. Mordechai is out of his mind. He doesn't understand politics. Mordechai has lost touch, right? He doesn't know what's going on with Chaim Kanieski over there in Bnei Brak. He doesn't know what's going on, right? Mordechai is out of touch. So they went. And they didn't listen. And as a result of not listening to the Tzaddik, a terrible gzardin came upon Klal Yisrael. What was the rectification? What was the tikkun? What was the tshuva that we did? We had to listen to our Tzaddik. So Mordechai told us,

18:32 you have to fast. Tainas Esther, you have to fast. Rabbi Esai, does anybody know when the first Tainas Esther was? The first time the sester was on? The 15th of Nisan. That's correct. That means that they did not eat matzah that year. Chavra, matzah is the oraisah. The Chachamim have the power to uproot something from the Torah if they need to. Mordecai said he understood that the Avera that they did. was because they did not attach themselves to the Tzadik. So he did an extreme thing. Now you have to listen to the Tzadik even when it goes against not just your logic, it goes against the Torah's logic. What did everybody do? Everybody fasted. That was the Tshuva and that's why we were Rezaicha, Barash Shiva said, to ultimately having the victory of Purim. You can make fun of the Tzadikim of the generation, but when you make fun of the Tzadikim of the generation, your relationship with your Rosh, you'll still be sustained by it, but now you're unimportant.

19:33 You're one of the, like, just necessary pieces, but ultimately unloved. Chap? Make sense? Roy? What's the. What's the punishment about it. What's the punishment. You know, you're full with the Rosh, with your tzaddik, without your rabbi. Ah, so that's why when we didn't listen to our Rosh on Purim, we were going to be wiped out. Because a body without a head is dead. So since we didn't have a relationship to our Rosh, we were going to be killed. So you're right. Even though it could be that in this world you're still alive, but ultimately because you're not kashur to the tzaddik, what are you really doing here? Yeah, last question, then I'm going to go weiter. Rabbi said that tzaddikim have the path. Yesh k'ach b'yad ch'cham lak'otav ma'atach. Yeah. So how can the world, how can the highest law make that differentiation in terms of where do we get pushback? How do they know.

20:44 We don't know. Only the greatest tzaddikim of the generation were capable of doing something like that. Me, I'm a blata on the floor. I could never decide to do something like that. But if the greatest tzaddikim of the generation, tell us that we have to do something that's uikr davar min atar, we listen to them. But not every local orthodox rabbi, is ghafam to be uikr davar min atar. Who's to decide who's the... Klaal Yisrael decides in the sense that we always have had people that were the established tzaddikim of the generation. It's always been. Rav Moshe Feinstein was always the established tzaddik of America. We've always had... Now sometimes the tzaddikim argue, but they never argue about things like that when it comes to being uikr davar min atar. In fact, I'll tell you. I think I told you guys this once already, but it's good to repeat. Rav Moshe Feinstein, Asard, having an Eiruv in Brooklyn. You guys know this? Rav Moshe said, you're not going to have an Erev in Brooklyn. Yeah, I hear it, but that's the halacha. Because Ocean Parkway makes it impossible to have an Erev. After Rav Moshe passed away, there was a vad meeting in Brooklyn, and one of the rabbis got up and he said, I disagree with Rav Moshe Feinstein, we should be able to have an Erev in Brooklyn. And one of the people that felt differently, he said to this rabbi,

21:57 he goes, tell me, how many prachim are there in Erev? How many blot are there in Erev? How many words are there in Erev? And the rabbi said, I have no idea. He goes, that was the difference between you and Rav Moshe. Rav Moshe didn't know just the amount of prachim, he didn't know just the amount of blot, he knew every single word in Erev. And that's why Rav Moshe says it's Aser, it's Aser. Yeah. In a spiritual sense. your soul comes alive. The feeling that your soul has of its godliness is directly connected to the tzaddik in this world. And that's the job of the tzaddikim. It's true. but the relationship is diminished. That's what Roy was asking before. Because to the degree that the relationship is diminished, I will be able to feel my soul. The person who's connected to the tzaddik has a greater relationship with the soul. The feelings that come in are alive. They're not dead. Okay.

22:58 Lack of direction. That's right. It's practical, right? As we go to the tzaddik, the tzaddik, now again, you're not, I want to be clear, chassidus doesn't tell you not to be a thinking person. That's the worst, if you walk away from this thinking that, that's the worst thing in the world. You're not going to the tzaddik and saying, I don't know what to do in my life, I'm not putting in any thought, you just tell me what to do. No, not at all. When you came to your tzaddik with a shaila, it was a shaila, you had a shaila, you thought about it in multiple ways. I don't know, should I go this direction, should I go that direction, so you don't know what to do. So the tzaddik would talk to you about it. and the answer would become clear. What would be the best way to serve Hashem? No different than if you were thinking to your own mind. Kilo, that's the level of connection that tzaddik has with the mind. Okay. Weiter. I want to finish, basically we have very little left, but let's just make sure we finish it. Okay. Masha koset bezoar, bezoar chadosh, sheha iker tolu yishyei kadesh atzmo b'shash tashmish dafgo, mashayin kein b'nei amayaritz. We're going to have an awkward conversation, but we're going to deal with it maturely like adults.

24:02 The Zohar says as follows. The development of a soul is not accidental. And we're going to see that it's not the soul itself, but it's the lavush of the soul. But the development of the soul, we're going to say the clothing, literally means the clothing, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. The development of the soul is a function of the way it was created, which means Tash Mishamita. Tash Mishamita means the usage of the bed, which means Bia, which means having sex. So now, there's something called Snias. Snias means there are things that are appropriate, there are things that are inappropriate. Without getting into what those halachas are now, there are halachas that guide us in the bedroom. Difference between Sfardim and Ashkenazim. I highly recommend at the end of the year, the Rosh Yeshiva gives a dating and marriage shir. And one of the things he covers is some of the halachos of tznias in the bedroom. Highly recommended that come post-Pesach, you take the Rosh Hashiva's dating and marriage shir.

25:05 Okay, so now. When a person acts, here's the critical word, when a person sanctifies themselves, what does sanctify mean, Rabosai? Because sanctify is a word that nobody knows what it means. What was that? It means it makes us holy, nobody knows what holy means. It means transparency. Separation is close, there's truth to that. Transparency is the word we're going to use for this entire year, make sure you get this down. Whenever we use the word kedushah, what we mean is transparency. It's a place where God's presence, is clear, you understand? So if in the act of Tashmish Hamita, the parents are thinking appropriate thoughts, behaving in an appropriate way, that reveals godliness, then the soul that comes down into this world will be a particular type of soul. Now, we're going to clarify in a moment exactly what that means. It doesn't mean, as we're going to see, that just because the parents are tzaddikim, the child will be a tzaddik, or, if the parents are Rishayim, that the child will be a Rasha. Because we've seen throughout our history that some of our greatest tzaddikim came from parents that were Rishayim.

26:17 Not just what they think. The general following of the halachos, which thought is part of it, the general following of the halachos of tz'niyus. For example, there's a halacha that when you're engaged in tashmashamito with your wife, you're not allowed to think about any other women. That's obvious and appropriate, right? Because if I'm thinking, thoughts are very powerful, right? And if I'm thinking about another person, it's a corrosive thing in the relationship. You should be with your wife, right? She should be with her husband. So that's some of the halachos of tz'niyus. Make sure you're focused on intimacy. Intimacy means the creation of oneness, right? So we want to focus on the person, not just on the physical act, right? Tovia. The Zohar says that the way you're sold depends on the tz'niyus. Correct. Snias in general is important But here we're speaking about Specifically in Tashmash Hamit.

27:16 That's what will influence. The development of the soul And we'll see what that means in a moment. I feel like I have this concept That I've learned before That all souls Or whoever makes up the soul Was created when Hashem created the world, Good, good, good. It's going to be answered right now Hainu, let's answer his question. I'm not going to keep repeating this guys What does Nefesh Ruach HaNeshama mean? The totality of the soul You guys, if you don't know it by now You're not going to know it for the rest of the year. This is what's critical. We're introducing a new concept now, Which is that a soul Is not just a soul, But it also has clothing. Also has clothing What is clothing? Clothing is what allows us to interact with each other. Clothing means an expression. So we're going to see that the levushim of the soul, which are going to be, as we're going to see later, machshava dibor v'maisa, the way we think, speak and act. Not the soul itself, because the soul itself has nothing to do with the tashmish of the mother and the father. The soul is already whatever soul it is. So sometimes even a great soul could come into a family of Rashaim.

28:38 Who's an example of that, Rabosai? You should get this quickly. Avram Avinu, whose father was Terach HaRosha. So it's not the soul that's impacted, it's what? The soul's capacity to express itself in its levushim, in its machshava dibor v'maisa. Bensi? Where do? Like genetics. That's part of the levush. No, but it may impact the way my soul expresses this. Look at the next line, it'll become a little bit more clear. But let's just make sure, let's clarify this line. Every single soul is impacted, from its parents. Yeah? No, it shouldn't. You're going to see why in a second. Meaning, the lavush is what you get from your parents. So you're a soul. It doesn't matter if your parents behaved appropriately. or inappropriately. Your soul is your soul. So the soul of a tzadik could come into a family of Rishoyim. But, now the soul has challenges that it needs to overcome. And, overcoming those challenges is an amazing opportunity for the soul. So if you're sitting there thinking to yourself, I don't know if my parents were a maqbid in these halachos, right? It doesn't matter. Ad rabba. If your parents were a maqbid, great. You might find it more easy to connect to G-d in Makhshav Adibu V'maisu. But, if not, it also doesn't matter.

30:07 Because just like a person could change their physical clothing, so too a person can change their spiritual clothing. Which is why they're called levushim. Because you could think one thing one day, and think something else the next day. Correct. You could constantly change your levush. It doesn't matter what you wear. Because it changes from one day to the next. change. Exactly. And that's, by the way, remember I told you guys on the very first day, what did the Alter Rebbe say? What was the purpose of Chassidus? Not. not to change your character traits, but, you could even change your nature. So you were born one way, you think one way, doesn't matter, you could think a different way. You speak one way, a guy says to me, Rebbe, I have such problems with cursing, I can't stop cursing, I'm constantly cursing. No problem. Yes, yes, it's exceptionally hopeful. Yes? Yeah, it's the way, meaning all of your characteristics are the way that you think, speak, and act.

31:08 You're not going to find any characteristics out of that, outside of those three. They don't come, that's the point, they don't come exactly from your soul, right? Because my soul expresses itself in a particular way. Some people have coarser speech. Some people are born with, it's more difficult for them to say beautiful things. They're more naturally going to say the negative thing. It's okay. You can work through that. You can change your lavush. But if you're wondering why, if you're wondering what the value is. in being appropriate, when you guys, Beis Hashem, get married, you should know, Tashmash Hamita is a serious moment of sanctification because the soul that's produced from that is going to have certain utilities in this world. It's going to have certain things that it wants to do. So you've got to have appropriate Tashmash Hamita. Yes? Your soul by itself... It's okay, it's okay. Your soul by itself... Rabbi, say, remember,

32:12 the Malchum of us was able to get him just from one moment of Bithelter. Let's stay stark. Your soul by itself would be like you... Like, I'll give you an example. I had a Talmud many, many years ago. This is when I was still in college and I was doing my master's degree. So part of doing your master's degree is you have to do student teaching. So I was doing my master's degree in special ed. So I was teaching special ed. So one of the boys in the shir was a great kid. But unfortunately, when he was young, he had fallen down the stairs.

32:43 as a very young baby. He smashed his head. And as a result, he had language delay. It was very, very sad. Because here's a boy who's bright, but you ask him, like, a question, he knows the answer, he just can't get it out. So in shiur, so I would like ask a question and he'd be like, ooh, like you would see he would know the answer and I would say, and he'd be like, and I would always say, it's okay. I'm going to continue on. When you're ready, you'll tell me the answer. And I wouldn't let other people answer. And literally five minutes later, I could be in the middle of talking about something else. He would blurt out the answer to the question from five minutes ago. I would stop the shiur. I would go back five minutes because I wanted him to feel dignity because he got the answer.

33:28 But it could literally take him five minutes to travel from his brain to his mouth because he hit his head when he was young. That was a terrible thing. Now you should know from that, I have a pachaneur of kids falling down the stairs. In my house, I put carpeting, even though it's Israel and everything here is tile, I put carpeting on the stairs. The soul is the same way. The soul has something to say, but it has to travel through the deborah of a person, through the faculty of speech. So it requires, you understand? to your soul. Because the point is right. The soul's characteristics don't need to change, but the expressions need to change. Right? Okay. V'chol ha-mitzvah she'oisa ha-chol ha-idei oisa ha-levush. Every single mitzvah that you do, this is what's critical. Ultimately, how do you do a mitzvah, guys? All mitzvahs come down to one of three things. The way you think, right? Talmud Torah. The way you speak, and the action that you do. So is there such a thing as doing a mitzvah without a levush? No. Which means, how important are your levushim? Very important. What if you have a guy.

34:30 who says... What was that? We're going to discuss at length. Right now we're just being introduced to the concept. Right. It's the expression of the soul. Like each one of us have a personality. Somebody could be very funny. Right? That might be in their soul. But is it appropriate humor or inappropriate humor? That would be the levush. Right, it's the expression of it. Just the same way when a person wears clothing. Right now, Rafi, you're wearing clothing. The clothing expresses something about you. Everybody says, I wear clothing because they're functional. Liar. Nobody wears clothing because they're functional. And there was a movie that came out about this. It was called The Devil Wears Prada. I don't know if you've seen this movie or heard of this movie. But the movie spoke about the fashion industry. And the fashion industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. And the heads of this industry are deciding what color, what patterns, things you think you have control over. Believe me, you have no free will when it comes to these things. I see all the time, every one of us on some level, we're all choosing to wear certain things because it gives us a particular image that we like. There's nothing wrong with that. Right? Because the lavush expresses it. It should be an appropriate lavush. Yeah, Ezra.

35:31 When the Torah refers to Al-Khalba, it's not wearing clothes on Hashem. Very good, very good, very good. That's a very deep sugya. Exactly what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu do when He clothed them? Because there is a difference between Kasnas Ar with an Ayin or Kasnas Ar with an Aleph, as your mayor said. Or there's a difference between the way they covered themselves with a fig leaf or the way they were covered in the initial point of creation, which is to say they were covered with fingernails. A very deep Torah, very big, not for now. But an excellent question. By the way, that's the site. If you learn over there, the Chassidus over there in Pashas Beresh, there's massive sugyus about what does it mean that they were ashamed of their nakedness and what does it mean to clothe yourself in that. Big, big stuff. Beg-edits from Al-Shanah, Bogaid. I'm getting ahead of myself, but big tires over there. Yeah.

36:24 So can we say that when Tana says that... What happens during sex is what forms the clothing of the soul. Can we use that as a microcosm of really just saying the way that somebody's... It's kind of like, what do they call it in psychology. Nature versus nurture. Nature versus nurture. Correct. It's not just what happens during sex. It's what happens throughout the entire child's... You could say that. Or if the time is not saying that, it's very specifically saying... Here he's speaking... I think the time you would agree with what you're saying, but right now we're saying something specific. Like, this isn't an example. This is a specific thing. Right. It's even before the baby's born. Right. It's about the soul. No, he's saying the nature. In that regard, it's the nature of the soul. Not of the soul itself, but of the lavush of the soul is impacted. Well, it makes sense, right? Because think about it. If you... Anything you do in the beginning, right, is going to have an impact at the end. Right? So, like, if you're driving a car, you turn to the right, you're going to turn. That's what happens, right? So, if you're inappropriate in the beginning, the development of the soul is going to have certain qualities. That are going to be inappropriate. now the soul will have to work through.

37:33 now your parents. no no that's what I'm saying your parents by being inappropriate they don't affect you because your soul is always going to be pure but the way that your soul has its levushim that comes from the parents, so therefore because that's the way it is the moms is a complicated parasha I'm going to ask you to hold a very complicated parasha but we will answer it eventually. is that all the genetics the facial structure that's right. which means the way you think speak and act, that's right that's exactly right, exactly now you got it. a really really probably something that was not thought about when the time was even ready what happens, scientific like artificial insemination and stuff like that. say that again that's not the what's called that's not that's not the. is that a perfect I'm saying. it's no it's not a kasha because because the Tanya is not speaking the Tanya is not speaking, Physically. He's speaking spiritually. Meaning he's saying, You're saying if there was no act of Tashmashamita what's called appropriate and inappropriate.

38:33 No, I'm saying that there is I mean there are such things. Today there's such a thing as fertilization without Tashmashamita. Right. So there's still halachos that guide that, right? So that's still defined as appropriate. Meaning it's not. You mean like what? Don't curse on the way to the clinic? No. That's not what I'm saying. He was saying. there's appropriate means following halacha. Even within artificial insemination there are still halachos. That's correct. Exactly right. Okay, last line and we'll finish for the day. Not only does the levush impact the way the soul engages with the world and does every single mitzvah, but also the shefa. What does shefa mean? The energy that's brought down into this world. How is it received. by the soul? Through its levush. So it's two ways. Correct. The shefa. that comes into the world from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is giving, energy into this world. How each soul receives it also comes through those channels. So now we have it on two levels. It's the soul's ability to express itself. It's the soul's ability to receive God. So they're impacted by the levush. How important is it to take care, to be Mekadosh ourselves in the time of Tashmashamita. Ve'em yekadosh etza atzmo yamshech levush kadosh lenish basmano. If we will be Mekadosh ourselves,

40:02 meaning if we will make our bedroom a place of transparency, meaning a place where God is present, because God should be present in every aspect of our lives, so then our children will be born with levushim that are kadosh. Even if it's a big neshama, nevertheless, its levush is not dependent on the size of the neshama. Even if it's a levush, I'm sorry, even if it's a soul of Avram Avinu, it still requires what type of levushim? Heilig a levushim. It needs levushim that are kadosh. So it doesn't matter if the soul is very big, it could have very coarse levushim. Sometimes you have the biggest people in the world. Sometimes they come from the lowest people in the world. Like we said about Avram Avinu. Avram Avinu was one of the biggest nishamas that ever came into the world. Right? Where did he come from.

41:06 Wasn't there a tzaddikis that was described as the rose among the storms. Yes. We're not going to get into it now, but very good. But that's the point. You could be born to very, very low families. My parents weren't keeping shahas. My parents weren't keeping kosher. Nobody went to mikvah. What are you talking about? How could such a nishama come into that family? That's what happens. The nishama, it doesn't matter who your parents were. Your nishama could be amazing. Was that? Different case. But, when it comes to what's called? When it comes to levushan, even the big souls need appropriate levushan. And that's what it says, If you go look over there, and the Arizal is brought down, from the Altarebim, you will see all of this. We'll see you, Bezer Hashem.