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G'Day marks Yutesh Kuechlech the Chagag Yulah of the Yaterebe, the Chagag Yulah of Chassidus, the Chagag Yulah of Judaism Bechlal. I always tell guys we've been learning Chassidus our entire lives but we just don't know it. Chassidus has impacted Judaism in ways which we can't even fathom and hopefully tonight with our guest speaker we're going to speak a little bit about the anion of what Chassidus is and what that means to us in 2019. Rabbi Bird first of all is a Rebbe of mine and ever since I started learning Torah by him in his NCSY Kolo, night-sater Chaburah, the trouble Chaburah. I was a madrech but the trouble happened... and we had a lot of fun and there I learned a lot about Torah, I learned a lot about myself and I learned a lot about Rebberg and from there on it's only... His light keeps on shining throughout the world, he's going around the world, he's doing amazing
Thank you. It's a big shostabir. There's a big machleikis. Many of you know this. There was a big machleikis amongst the disciples of the Magrit of Mezrich. Tarech hachazidos should be spread in a public way. The Altar Rebbe took a very strong position that there should be achat so that there should be spreading of the Baal Shemthav's Torah throughout the world. It's hard to really think about what that position meant back then, especially when there was such a snagdos, there was such a movement that was so anti-chassidos bichlal to come It's common to say that we're going to be spreading this Torah everywhere. It's really unfathomable to think that the Altareba had that vision. But there were talmidim of the Magid that were very against the Altareba in this area.
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Even though everybody understood who the Altareba was. They said we spread these concepts to the masses such deep such lofty such holy concepts people are going to end up trampling on these concepts they're not going to understand them going to end up becoming lost and one day they found in the garbage writings of the teachings of vad Vashemtos . There was a big uproar. You see, the Altair Ebbe said, see that it's got to be what you want it to be. You're going to find teachings of Chazidis in the garbage. And the Altair Ebbe said exactly the opposite. And he gave the following Bashchel, it's a well-known Bashchel, but you can't have a Yud Tewse spider would have this Bashchel. So you may as well say it. He said it was once a king and the king had The crown jewel was the most prized possession of the king and it was priceless.
Unfortunately, the king's daughter became ill. All the doctors from all over the place, they couldn't heal her. One doctor said, I know how to heal her, but you're not going to like this. You're going to have to take the crown jewel, you're going to have to grind it up, mamish it into dust. You're going to have to put it into water and pajos just feed her. Of course the king was distraught to hear this, that he was going to lose his crown jewel. But it got to the point where his daughter, she couldn't swallow. It was the end. She couldn't eat. There was nothing to talk about. And so they began to pour this water with the ground up dust of the crown jewel into her mouth. And of course not everything made it in and some of the water spilled out onto the side because she could barely swallow.
Chassidus Tuk The deepest concepts in Kabbalah and it made it accessible to us. And of course, whenever you're sharing the deepest, the loftiest, the holiest concepts, of course some of it is going to get lost along the way. Of course there will be people that will use it inappropriately. Of course there will be people that will not understand these things in the correct way. But it's necessary to save Klal Yisrael. It's necessary to save Klal Yisrael. Because whatever gets in, it mamish works. As a person thinks about the history of Klal Yisrael and B'fraat today, there has never been a time in history where it's been so clear to the entire world that now more than ever these teachings are not just necessary but they're mission critical. And if you look in the world today, we mamish see that it's being Mechaiah Mason, these teachings.
We see boys that are in high school and girls that are in high school, and their mamish struggling so much with their Judaism. We'll discuss exactly what it is that they're struggling with. And we see that a person opens their heart and opens their soul and shares with them the teachings of chassidus. We see that it mamish has the most incredible impact on a person. It's hard to imagine that the Baal Shem Tov, that the Magir, that the Altareba and all of the Talmudim of the Baal Shem Tov, it's hard to imagine that they knew that this door was coming. But they spoke about it. They spoke about there's going to be a door in Iqvis in the Mashiqah that's coming and we're writing for that door. Rebbe Nachman himself said most people didn't understand what he was talking about in his time because people weren't suffering from anxiety and depression in the way that they are today and Rebbe Nachman said you'll see that in the door that's coming before Mashiach, this Torah is going to make perfect sense and it's an amazing thing. Today Uman is filled with tens of thousands of Jews.
Not a month goes by when some random person will come over to me and say, you go to Uman, you go to Uman. I don't go to Uman, I have to be in Yeshiv Roshan. You have to go to Uman. It's random people coming over and I have to go to Uman. I have to be an Eretz Yisrael. It's an unbelievable thing the way it moves people. When the outer ebbos was put in jail, it was clear to the outer ebbos. It was clear to him that there was a kitrig in Shamayim that was stopping him from spreading chassidus. It was clear to him that there was a dintara going in on Shamayim and it wasn't posh that he was going to be able to spread chassidus. After Rebbe spent 53 days in jail in Petersburg, 53 days in jail, what was he doing? They were interrogating him as to what exactly the teachings of chassidus were.
He was sitting with these jailers, with these interrogators, and he was teaching them chassidus. Because the criminality of what he had done was he was using chassidus to overthrow the Zar'est government. In the outer ebb's world he understood that the Zar'est government was just a muscle for the Rebbe Nachal. And so the outer ebb explained why it was necessary, what the teachings were. And in a miraculous fashion, mamish in the most miraculous fashion, nobody walked out of that jail. 53 days in he walked out and he understood, the outer rebel understood that this was a siman mishamayim, that there should be a hafazah, that the Torah should be spread, the Torah sach Chassidus b'frat should be spread in a way that had never been spread before. 53 pracham of Tanya were written, connected the 53 days that the outer rebel spent in
Daltareba came out of jail. Why? Daltareba did the hardest thing in the world. I saw once a marshal brought down pichassudos that there was a professor who was teaching doctorate level classes and one day he walked in to his class and he said next week's class that's scheduled to take place on Monday we're not going to have I was given a very big honor. What's the honor? My grandson invited me to his third grade class to speak about what it is that I do for a living. So classes cancelled come next Monday. But you're all invited. If you'd like to come to my grandson's third grade class, if you'd like to see the presentation on astrophysics, I'm going to be presenting it to third graders. So of course all these doctoral students are going to be here. He went to the elementary school and walks into the 3rd grade class on the day of his professor presenting.
The next week all the others meet him in the shirah. They say what did you learn? He went to a 3rd grade class, It was by far the most masterful class that the teacher has given the entire year. So how could that be? When he's giving class to us, when he's saying over the lecture, he's speaking out the highest ideas. It's so difficult to comprehend. You have to know so much background information in order to understand and to review. And it's so difficult that I find myself reviewing the class five or six times just to get 80% of it. You're telling me that the third grade class was the greatest class he gave all year? He said yeah, because he took the same material that he's teaching us and he boiled it down all the way until the essence and then it was capable of being given over to a third grader.
It didn't have all of the details, but the essence was the same and the brilliance to take something from being these exceptionally lofty ideas and making them for a third grader. I had never seen brilliance like that before from our professor. And so too when it comes to the teachings of Chazados. The Altar Rebbe took the deepest, the loftiest, the highest concepts and he boiled them down to their essence and he gave them to us in such a readable fashion, in such an understandable fashion. But I want to harp on one the kudah and then we'll go back to singing for a couple of minutes. To boil something down to its essence does not mean that it's not sophisticated. What it means is that you're touching the soul of the matter. This is what's missing in Yiddish Kay today. This is what chassidus provides us.
This is why people are flocking to these teachings. It's because the Black Gemara is a beautiful and amazing thing. And all of chassidus is to get us back to that Black Gemara. It's not Chasosholm in any way to replace the Black Gomorrah. And to finish Mesachthah's Be'ih and Ambechias. I shouldn't have to say that, but today if you say something that's positive about Chassidus, all of a sudden people get very nervous that you're saying something anti-Gomorrah, and it's B'chlal, not sure. The whole Yisrael Eretz Chassidus is to get us back to that Black Gomorrah. But not to the externality of the Black Gomorrah Chassosholm. Not just, not to the intellectualism of the Black Gomorrah. That's what's destroying people today. Because you could learn today at Black and Morah, like you could sit in a biology class, like you could sit in a math class. That it's possible for a Jew today, it's a hard thing to even say it out loud, but it's possible for a Jew today to be sitting in a high school classroom, or to be sitting in a base magigary teshuv, and to be a professor of Rashi, and to be a professor of Abiyyah and Ravel.
But that it in no way impacts his Davening, that it in no way impacts the way that he makes Brachis, that he wakes up in the morning, that he speaks to his wife, that he speaks to his Chavrousa, that it's a giant game of Gaiva of who's going to be the top guy in this year, and who's going to be the biggest moshmin, and who's going to be the last guy in the base measures, that they could say about him, ah, without getting to the soul of the matter, without getting to the essence of the thing, you could lose the forest for The whole Yisoid of Chassidus is to reintroduce Hakadosh Baruch Hu into Yiddishkeit. Because as we all know in this room, even if you yourself haven't suffered from this, but you know people that are suffering from this, it's possible to wake up and put on tfilen.
It's possible to wake up and say all the words of Davening. It's possible to shackle. It's possible to be a Massmid. And at the end of the day it has nothing to do with Yershamayim. It has nothing to do with Avasashan. And you'll walk in the same way that you came in, you'll walk out the same way 12 months later, whatever it is, two years later, three years later, you'll walk out knowing tremendous amounts of Shas. But it won't have made a kihuzav in impact because it was missing the ebechthir. The outer Rebbe gave us, I'm focusing on the outer Rebbe because it's the outer Rebbe Chag. But it's whatever chassidus moves you. He is reintroducing Hakadosh Baruch Hu yintar yiddishqayt. That we shouldn't be satisfied and we're not satisfied. That we shouldn't be satisfied coming out of a year in Shaalvim and not being able to fundamentally say my Shabbos table is not going to look the same.
That my Shabbos table is going to be a place where the Rebbe Nachman is present. The diphry Torah, the singing, the feeling, the conversation. My davening is not going to be the same Not because I'm putting on a show for anybody else, but because every time I open my mouth to talk, I'm talking to the abisht. Because I have kavana, because I have intention. Over the next, whatever it is, over the next couple of minutes that we're going to spend together, singing, dancing, and trying to get close to the Ribono Shel Olam. The goal for tonight, however long you're going to be here, I know there's right from people that need to leave. However long you're going to be here tonight, the goal for tonight, for those that are here, Is to have a night that is not just stom another night of singing, it's not just stom another night of Ruach and Yeshivah.
It's a night of introspection. It's a night of asking ourselves, Ayyak, where am I holding in the relationship with Urvaneshlam? Yeratzim e'ebbe a kolosh baruch uzwil that were zaocha, in a serious way, that were zaocha to really ask ourselves a very deep question. We have here, who wasn't introduced, a very special friend of mine, of Josh Goldstein Shleeta, who I've had the privilege of working with for many years. He's a Balm Manag'in par excellence. He knows how to touch the soul in a very deep way. Every time he picks up an instrument, Jews' souls just open up and mamish fly out. So we should be zaycheh to sing together, and you should bless us all with your music, that we should mamish go leilu'elu.
Chaz tov, chaz tov, chaz tov yomua kaibach Tov meinabbanein hatlva neinat.
Nothing in Chassidus that's new. If there was something in Chassidus that was new, then Moshe Rabbeinu didn't say by Arsenai, and then of course, the Mesnadim would have been right. There's something in music called a covering, covering a band or covering a song. Every Balmainagan, when he sings somebody else's music, he sings it in his own way, which of course has his own unique flair. The notes of the music could be the same. The words could be the same. But the niggin itself is something totally Andarish. And so too, when it came to the Baal Shem Tov, Maged and the Altareba, they were saying the same thing that had been said for generations but saying in a totally new way. So where was the subtle difference? Where was the nuance? It was in Magish and Pashos, not so, that the Altareba popularized. This to me is the foundation of all of Chassidus.
When you ask somebody why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu create the world, if you ask somebody who knows a little bit about Yiddish Kaif, so you're going to get a lot of different answers. The answer of the Ramban, the answer of the Ramchal. Mevzir Shepachos Nasso gives an answer to this question. The answer goes as follows. Niss ava kodosh Baruchu Leo Sloy Yisbarach Dira bitachtoinim God desired to have a dwelling place in the world down below. Niss ava gad ataivah Niss ava kodosh Baruchu Leo Sloy Yisbarach He wanted for Himself Dira bitachtoinim Dira means a dwelling place. The Taftaina means in the world down below. There's a couple of questions that we need to ask on this magish that the elder Rebbe himself addresses. First of all, what does it mean at Taiva? What does it mean at Dira? What does it mean to have a dwelling place? And what does it mean Taftaina?
Many years ago, I was taking a walk in Los Angeles down Pico. I was walking With a person who was going to the following year become a Talmud in the Yeshiva and he said I Don't do anything until I understand the reason why which is a very 17 year old thing to say Okay, not gonna do anything until I understand the reason why. There's something exceptionally beautiful about understanding why. But the truth of the matter is there's something that comes before understanding why, and that's the thing that you can't possibly put into words. Atyvah comes before an explanation. Atyvah is irrational. It's beyond rational. It's before rational. And we all understand this intuitively. That there are things that cannot possibly be put into words. For example, if somebody would ask me why it is that I love my wife, what answer could one possibly give them?
Because anything you say is going to end up sounding horrific. I love my wife because she's a good cook. So if you love your wife, if you love your wife because she's a good cook, then you don't love your wife, you love food. Or even if you do love your wife, what happens if Chasvashalom, your wife, forgets how to cook? My grandmother, Alayah Shalom, by the time I met my grandmother, her cooking was horrific. It was horrific. It was the worst thing in the world. We would go down to Florida. I remember as a kid saying, okay, I'm not gonna eat for a week. She made hamburgers in a toaster oven It was mamasha disaster on every single level My father I come from a family of big men. I said to my father. I'm like dad What happened? when did like She doesn't know how to cook my father said it's a crazy thing when I was growing up your grandmother was the best cook in the world Semper along the line, ShImam has just made a hard left and she totally forgot how to cook.
Nobody understands it. I used to go to her house. I used to eat, you know, those stelladoro swiss fudge cookies. I would eat them by the package because I was so hungry. I'd eat them by the package if I wasn't hungry. But I'd eat them miso. So, she pushed out, forgot how to cook. Could you imagine a man who's married to her for fifty years and he says, the lady forgot how to cook. I'm out. Do it with your children. There's no possible reason that you could give. There's nothing that would fit into words. So the truth of the matter is that anybody... And then it won't be the same legacy. There's no possible reason that you could give. There's nothing that would fit into words. So the truth of the matter is that anybody, anybody that's had a child when they hold their child for the first time, they're holding that beautiful little baby.
You can't explain. You'll have to see it for yourself. You can't explain the overwhelming feelings of love that you have for that child. It's not shire to the world of words. And the truth of the matter is that other people see the baby and they don't think that that baby is the most beautiful thing in the world. Especially if the baby's mom has just been born. This is like crinkled skin and it's like more or less looks like an alien. And you see the parents are holding the child as if it's like the most beautiful, most precious possession they ever had. Especially if it's the first. When we had my first daughter, I was like, I can't tell you how beautiful she was to me. Years later I saw pictures I was like, ooh, mamashiroth. Very worn off. But in that moment, what could the child possibly have done for me that I should love that child?
Nissava Hakadosh Baruch Hu liyos ley yisbarach dir bitach tainim starts with the following premise. If you want to talk about why God created the world, you're going to miss a very fundamental premise. Because you think it could be put into words. Hakadosh Baruch Hu did this because Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world because he wants you to do a mitzvah. That means Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't love you, he loves a mitzvah. And that means by extension he doesn't love you if you do a veiras. In fact he's not interested in you bechla. So the whole Yisra'it is don't try to understand this in a way that a human being cannot comprehend. There's logic of the mind and then there's the chachma of the soul. The chachma of the soul is where it begins. Person has to be able to look inside of themselves to find the place where they say, I have no idea why in the world the Rebbe Nachman wants me. But that's the tayvah the Rebbe Nachman has.
The Rebbe Nachman has a tayvah to have a relationship with me. That's the beginning. Adira Absolutely comfortable. I don't know if any of you in your lives had to move from one house to another. I remember when I was in 10th grade we moved from Farakahweh to Lawrence. For those that know, that's a big move in many ways. We went from Barak Hashem, a very beautiful and very warm, a little bit smaller house in Farakahweh. Barak Hashem, a little bit of a larger house in Lawrence. My whole life, my whole life that I can remember at least, I lived in 707 on Affilish Street in Farakway, New York. And then one day, you're living in Lawrence, New York and it's something totally different. And the house is much more beautiful and the driveway is much longer and there's a basketball hoop at the end of the driveway and there's a big backyard and there's a beautiful grill off of a beautiful patio and the house has many more rooms
And when you first move in, you feel like an absolute stranger. Feel like this is not my house. It's not my house. It's not my place. I don't know this bed. I don't know this room. Everything is more beautiful, but it's not mine. I don't feel comfortable here. And it takes years until you transition, until it becomes yours. Even now. Baruch Hashem, I've been living in Eretz Yisrael for 12 years. The biggest gift in the world that the Rebbe Nachal gave us is that we have the opportunity to come. Shabbat Teshuva I'm not allowed to get to the place I need to go. Because my Gersedee Ankusas, the place where I am comfortable. What is the Ribono Shel Olam desire? The Ribono Shel Olam desires to be comfortable. Right now our world is a place that's not comfortable for the abishthir. Because he's hidden. When somebody is hidden, that's the most painful thing in the world.
And I'll tell you a true story. It's a very painful story and it's a story I'm not proud of, But I believe in the power of authenticity. So I'll share with you a story. It was a young man who we grew up with, who was a fine person. He was a wonderful kid, but he wasn't a cool kid. Today they would have given him some diagnosis. I don't know exactly what the diagnosis would have been, but he was a socially awkward kid. So he was a kid that got picked on. And I'm not proud to tell you this, but we were children. And children don't necessarily know that you shouldn't pick on kids that are different. And so we had a chevra of kids on our shul in the young Israel for Akawai that we would pick on this kid Avi Who was the nicest the sweetest most wonderful person, but he would get picked on so one time I remember That we were playing hide-and-go-seek in shul and we made up. I don't know whose idea it was, but I know that I was a part of it We made up We're gonna play hide-and-go-seek And Avi is gonna go hide and we'll all tell Avi that we're going to hide
Shabbos Yom Tov Yerushal Mamesh the sweetest man in the world, never had a bad word for anybody. They refused to take any kibudim from the shul. Every year at the shul dinner they tried to honor him. They told him under no circumstances would he be honored. Finally after like 30 years they presented him with an award without asking him. Mamesh at Sadik of the guy. And of course he had a sensitive beautiful wonderful son who was a little bit older than myself, a little bit older than Myshevra. And Tuesday night that week we had Tuesday night groups. It was like our wedding party.
Todrudov in my mind is like a joke, like he'll come out after 20 minutes and realize nobody found him. How long does it take to find kids? He goes to Farakweh, the whole thing is smaller than the size of this room. Like how long could it possibly take? Himamish stayed in there for hours. Is there anything more painful than being right there hidden in plain sight and nobody is looking for you? The Rebbe Nachman has a tivah. The tivah is to be found. The tivah is to become comfortable in our world. The tayva is that we should look for him. And where? Where does the abishter want to be found? Bitach tayna. What does that mean? Tuch havayram of mine. A chassidim of a certain Rebbe. I don't want to give any details because it could be that some of you know at least one of these guys.
So they were by their Rebbe and they were walking in the forest together. And they're deep, deep into the forest. And the Rebbe says to them, how long have you guys known each other? Now these Chaverim, they were like the closest, closest Chaverim in the world. They said, Rebbe, we've known each other our whole lives. Our parents, our friends, we were mamish born together, we're the same age, we went to school together our entire life. We're mamish best friends. And the Rebbe said, not only are you not best friends, you're not even what I would call friends. And both of them were mystified. He said, Rebbe, what are you talking about? And he said, you know, you both come to me to talk to me about your issues And you keep telling me there's nobody in the world that you've ever told us to before. Rebbe, you're the first person I'm ever sharing this with He said you guys are best friends and I've been talking to you for years And you posh don't know these things about each other. So you're not best friends. You're not even friends Where's the authenticity?
Why aren't you willing to admit to each other your deepest flaws, the things that you're so not proud of? See these guys were blown away. They thought they were mamish the closest to friends The Rebbe said to them I'm going to give you a gift. I'm going to leave you in the forest. Walk back by myself Stay here in the forest and talk to each other So I'm friends with both of them But admittedly I'm much closer with one of them. The one that I heard this from is the one I'm much closer with He told me they stayed in the forest for hours and they were mamish it was like his baid All of the things that they had never told anyone except for the Rebbe. They never told anyone in the world the most embarrassing things And they spent hours doing this and at the end of that Sichas Nefesh at the end of that just pouring out their hearts to each other They said it's manage the craziest thing We've known each other for so long and we feel like we never knew each other until right now And the most amazing thing happened, the gift of that vulnerability, the gift of that authenticity, is that they shared a common humanity. That there was something that both of them were struggling with and that both of them were so embarrassed to admit that they were both struggling with
and once they were able to say, oh you're struggling with this too, it lightened the load. And that's exactly what this Rebbe was trying to accomplish with them. If you have a relationship with somebody and you only show them the best parts of yourself You're not in a relationship with them because there's no you There's no presence. There's no tachtenim. When we say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants Derep and tachtenim We mean all the way down the worst parts of yourself Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to be present in your mitzvos, of course Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to be present in your avayris. That's what's called teshuva Coming to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and admitting like the Rambams is even without getting to Chuvvah Yilah and Chuvvah Tatah without getting into that Just a simple Rambams Chuvvah, which is not a simple thing to do at all But even just a regular thing of coming to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and saying I did something I'm not proud of I deeply regret it Being able to acknowledge that you did something in the relationship that wasn't good for the relationship It brings Hakadosh Baruch Hu into tatanya It brings him into every facet of our life and of course the deepest one the most difficult one is to find that kadosh baruch on our Yisrael and to find that kadosh baruch on our pain To bring him into the places that were mamish so not proud of
That we think sometimes the worst things in the world That when somebody that we love is going through something so tragic and it's so difficult to watch them in pain And you push it don't have language even to share with a friend sometimes even to go to a friend and to say you know So this relative of mine is sick and I'm scared and I blame Hakadosh Baruch Hu and I'm angry at Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Mamish don't have the capacity to say these things. Couldn't say them to a friend but to open up a siddur, to open up a tahillah or to go into a forest just by yourself and scream to the Rebbe Neshlam. I know that you're as present with me now in this moment as you ever were. Even now. To say that is to bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu into Yisrael. I'll tell you Amaisah with my Rebbe. Shibizechatir Rofur Shelemah. Can I know how he's 90 years old. He's Parnish shleetah.
Many years ago there was an illness in my family. When there's an illness in the family it's like... It tears your whole bones apart. Like, you feel so helpless. You're so not in control. It wakes you up. So I couldn't sleep one night. And I'm not embarrassed to tell you that I woke up. I don't even remember the dream that I was having, but I woke up. It was 3 o'clock in the morning and my face was stained with tears. I had already made alliyah, so I called Merebe in America, I said I don't even know what to do like I don't even know what to think. My whole life is upside down, I don't even know how to hold this. Shmoozing... And Merebe said to me something that healed me in a very deep way and I didn't even realize it at the time, but it's something that I've taken with me for so many years.
Mevseret Tanya Rebbe said to me, Mordechai, it's important that you understand that as much pain as you're in right now, the Ribono Shel Olam is with you in that pain. Like Hakadosh Baruch Hu went down to Mitsrayim with Klal Yisrael. You can bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu into that pain. I didn't even understand the godless of what he was saying when he said it. But years later I have to tell you it's the only thing that kept me going. Tammidir Amchal Sey. And when you put those three things together, mitzvos, teshuva and Yisrael, and it spells out matay, it spells out wen. As in ad masay, wen will mashiach come? When we're willing to bring our Kadosh Baruch Hu into our mitzvos, when we're willing to bring our Kadosh Baruch Hu into our teshuva, when we're willing to bring our Kadosh Baruch Hu into our Yisrael. That's what it means to have a relationship with your banishlam. It's It's not enough, it's not enough just to go through the actions.
It's our Ahraiahs to bring our Kaddosh Baruch Hu into the lowest aspects of our life, into all the things that we're so not proud of. That's the deepest desire. Only then will our Kaddosh Baruch Hu be comfortable when he truly knows us and our Kaddosh Baruch Hu won't know us until we introduce ourselves. We should be Zaycheh over the coming months, especially now as we're in Kislev with Chanukah We are coming up in the deepest darkness of Kislev to be able to shine a light below Tentvachah in the places that you're mamesh not so proud of, to bring Akhadosh Baruch Hu into all the struggles that you're having. struggles with Shm struggles with inadequacy, struggles with authenticity, whatever struggle you're having. to mamesh come and say to the Rebbe Nachman I'm bringing it to you I want to be honest
Tanya is the story of you. So Tanya is. Tanya is the story of you. It was a radical shift in the way that the Altaraba presented who we are as people. The Altaraba shifted from speaking about Yeh Tzohara and Yeh Tzotoyr, and the
Shaft in the way that the Altareba presented who we are as people. The Altareba shifted from speaking about Yitzahara and Yitzotoyf to Neffesha Bahamis and Neffeshelechis. Even though it doesn't seem at first glance like such a radical shift, and you really understand what the Altar'ebo is trying to do, it's a massive reforming, reframing of what we are all about. When a person speaks about Yezar'ah versus Yezart'ayev, and the battle between the Yezar'ah and the Yezart'ayev, so that's like saying, this gun was fighting against this gun. But it doesn't describe the person that's holding the gun. That's why the Altar'eba didn't speak so much about Yehzahara and Yehzah Tov. He spoke about Nefesha Bahamis and Nefesha Lokis. Everything in Chassidos, especially by the Altar'eba, everything was to get to the essence of the thing. The Altar'eba was not satisfied, like a Lambden. He wasn't satisfied with the descriptive terminology.
He wanted definitive terms and the outer rabbis said there's two nefashos, two life forces in a person. Not merely inclinations but two definitions of who you are. One is called the nefashah bahamas and the other is called the nefashah elikis. Many years ago I had the privilege of learning Tyra from Holy Brother of Noam. How many years ago Rebbe is it? 21 years ago 22 years ago on a bus in Poland And I still quote the things that I learned from you So what's the difference between the Nefesha Bahamis and the Nefeshele Kis? And why is that different than Yehitsuhara and Yehitsutoh? So listen very carefully the Nefesha Bahamis
Nefesha Bahamis Nefesheh The Nefesheh Bahamas will never have enough because the moment it's born is the beginning of its process towards death. And so everything, the way the Nefesheh Bahamas looks at it is, I just have to cop as much as I possibly can. The Nefesheh Bahamas is willing to trample on any person in order to get where it needs to go. And the Nefesheh Lekis is exactly the opposite. The Nefesheh Lekis, the altir Rebbe describes not just as a cheleke lakami mal, because Chaylek Elakam Yimal the Paslukarti says the altar of the ads in a word he says Heilik Elakam Yimal Mamish what does it mean Heilik Elakam Yimal Mamish obviously the outer rabbit did not mean literally because that would be kfira to say that literally there was a piece of God that's not what the outer rabbit meant if you look in Tanya it's clear that that's not what he meant the outer rabbit meant to say that the relationship between the Nefeshal Eikis and the Rebbein Shelem is
Is essential. It's like trying to separate a ray of the sun from the sun itself. They share the same essence. And so the Nefeshele Kiss has an abundance mentality. Because the Nefeshele Kiss is not worried about death, because the Nefeshele Kiss is as immortal, so to speak, as God Himself. So the Nefeshele Kiss is not worried about what's going to come tomorrow or the day after that. And the Neffeshele Kiss is willing to forgive, and the Neffeshele Kiss is willing to give in, because the Neffeshele Kiss is not afraid. The Neffeshele Kiss is selfless. It's not narcissistic. The Neffeshele Kiss is looking for opportunities to serve others. The Altareba says that the Neffesh ha-Bahamis of a Jew doesn't come from Shlesh Kleipos Atmaos, which would be totally without the revelation of goodness or godliness. The Nefesha Bahamis comes from Kripas Noga which is the secret of the Eitzadah. It's an Irbuvya, it's an admixture of Toyvira which means the outer Rebbe says that a Jew even in his animal soul, even in the soul that animates his body, it's natural and it's possible for him to be a selfless and a giving person which means that a Jew by
Our definition is conflicted but even within our conflict both sides of ourselves both the side that's godly and the side that's non-godly have the capacity to serve. Why is this such a revolution? Many years ago, Abacher and Yeshiva came to me with the following problem. The year was moving on, it was deep into Hishenah Aleph and the guy was sitting in Beis Medrash pounding. Wake up for Davening, Shachris, right after Davening a Seder. Then he went to learn one of the top chabrusas in Yeshiva during the break. He would play ball, afternoon Seder, Stark sitting 60 minutes in an hour and not wasting a minute. Night Seder, Ashtakamayrev and then he would go to town and do some of the most vile, disgusting things. And he was mamish two people. And he came to me and he said, he was so broken. He's like, I feel like I'm mamish a liar.
Every day I wake up, I'm into it now. I love learning. This guy was an awesome basketball player. He was an awesome basketball player. He was the coolest kid. He was learning Bechavruzu with a guy who in a million years in high school he never would have spoken to. The guy who he was learning with was a great learner. The fact that they were learning together, the Rebbeim were laughing, it was almost comical. The coolest guy in Yeshiva and the kid who was like, nah, I don't know how to say that nicely. Mi'kotz el kotz. And they were sitting and learning and it was wild to see them working out of sofara and sitting and both very smart. And they would come to Sheer, and he said, Rebbe, I don't know who I am. I don't know who I am. Which one am I? Am I the guy who sits all day and I'm learning in Yeshiva and I'm doing so well in Yeshiva or am I the guy that's doing things at night that are mamish unspeakable? Which one am I?
So I shared with him this exact idea. Sometimes we think of ourselves as like I'm one person and I have a Yeatser Ha'ra and I have a Yeatser Tawif. So I must be the biggest liar in the world. Because I'm one person with two totally different inclinations. And the Altar Rebbe says, you're not one person. You're two totally separate Nefashos. One wants one thing and the other wants something completely different. And there's a battle being waged for the Irketana, for the small city of our lives. There's a battle being waged. And the question is, which one of these two lives will you choose? And that's an amazing revolution, because now he's not alive. He's not one person who's leading two lives. He's two people who's leading two lives. And now the avoideh becomes, which life will you choose? I'd like to finish tonight by sharing with you what I feel is probably the most important thing that I've learned from chassidus.
I hope that in the coming months and in the coming years you'll learn Chassidus and hopefully you'll gain this lesson also. If you're two people with two totally disparate lives, so how do you know which one to choose? Because there are going to be days in your life where you mamish feel like I can't do it. I can't be that base-majors Jew today. I can't sit through that shear. I can't work on that tais. I can't break my teeth over anymore. I'm finished with this. And I can't sit there and go to Davening and just say the words and I just can't choose that life anymore. I need to stay in bed. Because it feels so ridiculous for me to be doing this other life that I know is true, that my Nefeshe Lukis is yearning for. But I can't do it anymore. And so the greatest lesson that Chassidus teaches us, in my opinion, is the lesson of loyalty.
If you want to know who you're really in a relationship with, don't look at it when times are good. Look at it when mamish everything is falling to bits. If you want to know if the relationship is real, when all of the reasons have fallen away and you're still in the relationship and you're loyal to the relationship, that's when you're really serving the other person. And the altar of this is as follows. There's a story that everybody knows. Everybody in this room knows this story. The story is that Avadya, the Navi Avadya had passed away. And unfortunately he left behind a massive amount of debt. You know this, yeah? Left behind a massive amount of debt. And so Eish HaSavadya went to Elisha Anavi. It's appropriate for Kislev, this story. Avdich Ha'ishimes Your servant my husband has died V'atia dati ki yariel ha'kim ha'isel You know he was a God-fearing Jew He didn't die because of his aviras And now we have no money left and the creditors are coming after us, what should we do?
And so Elisha asks Eishin Savadya, so what do you have? She says, I mamish only have one jug of oil So he says to her, this is what I want you to do. I want you to go around. I want you to collect from every single person in the town. Empty vessels. Kaelim Reichen Altamiti. Don't minimize the empty vessels. Get as many empty vessels as you can. V'at'ubanayech tichyiban usor Tanakh because by us the Torah is lebedek, the Torah is for every generation equally relevant. It's a nice story, it's a nice miracle, but the Torah doesn't just tell us nice miracles. Torah doesn't tell us, for example, about Orchazim, only b'dar echmash, only b'dar gremes. So why is it fitting, why is it appropriate that this story be included? Comes to Al-Dureb and he says the most incredible vart, and it was worth it to come tonight just to hear this vart.
The story takes place really as a muscle, a conversation between the soul and Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The soul is always feminine because it receives from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So that's Eish HaSavadia. Elisha is Haileisha, the God who listens. And so the soul comes to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and says, Avduch, I used to serve you. Before I was born, I mamish served you. Ishi and I had this Ishiyut I had this holy fire this passion that I served you with and mace now It's all dead All of the service and all of the love that I had I mamish feel none of it for you Vatia dati kiyari ala kem haisa you know that I used to fear you the two primary emotions in chassidus are love and fear Ishi mace my my ahava is dead. I used to fear you now. I feel nothing So, Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes to the soul and Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to the soul, so if you have no hava and you have no yer, what do you have left to serve me with?
So the soul says, the only thing I have is a jug of oil. In Yiddish Chait we have three liquids. We have water. Water is of course the alm of the iskalya. It's revealed. It's everywhere. Then there's wine. Wine is a little bit more concealed but it's easy to get out. All you need to do is stamp on the grapes. And then there's olive oil. Oil has to be extracted from the essence of the olive. That's why you see these things. 100%, 200% pure virgin olive oil. It means it's extracted from the essence. So the soul is saying, the only thing I have left is my essence, namely that I'm a Jew. And listen to what the Revanishah says. Go gather together, kalim rekim altamiti. I want you to do mitzvos with no passion. I want you to do mitzvos with no ahava and with no yerba I want you to show up to a chakras of mincha amayrv I want you to show up to Seder because you don't want to be there There's nothing about you that wants to be there. But why you there just because you're a Jew Not because you're inspired on that day. You're not inspired at all But just because you're a Jew and Kaelim Rechim Altamiti. I want you to live that way 10 mitzos, 20 mitzos, 100 mitzos, 1000 mitzos, with no feeling whatsoever.
Because Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to this all, now we're going to find out who you really are. In Shammai'im it was possible to serve me with all the ahabah and all the yerba because it was pristine, it was perfect. But the question is will you be loyal to our relationship when everything is messed up? When you feel so hidden, when you feel so far from me, will you still be loyal to the relationship? Because if you want to know what I really want from you, I want to be served by you for real. Not because of what you get from it, but because of what you're contributing. You see in every relationship, it feels good to give. It feels good you're gonna get married, Rabbi Sike, and you're gonna give to your wife, and you're gonna feel like, Geshmak, I'm such a good husband. I love my wife so much, and she's so appreciative when I do these things.
When you feel hurt, when you feel in pain, when you feel pushed away. Kaelim rekim al-tamiti says the altar eppah. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to know, do you enjoy davening? Are you davening because you enjoy davening? You know, there are people that love davening. People that love davening. And in a certain way when they daven, they're serving themselves. Of course, they should still daven. But in a certain way, they're serving themselves because they walk away after a good davening, they feel like, that was an awesome davening. There's some people that they love the black emara, Rav Giffter said of Mises an unbelievable Mises that when he was in TELLS in Europe, he saw boys dancing. One of the boys that was dancing was younger. Rav Giffter thought to himself, it must be that this boy is dancing as he got engaged. And in those days, to get engaged when you were younger was considered arrogant.
You know enough to get married used to be that Yeshiva Bach and then would get married in their late 20s early 30s because they were sitting And learning and so if gifta looked and he was like with a little bit of like a like a Tzarez eye And he looked a little bit and he was like you like you're dancing you get a lot you get a mazel tub You got engaged you're so young like sit and learn And if gifta when he was walking outside and he saw these boys dancing he said we guys dancing about And this young boy said it was whatever not so young in his early 20s. He said Shebir Givter said, dancing because we just answered a shvair Ramban. And Givter said, that's what we lost on the Holocaust. We didn't lose 6 million Jews. We lost dancing over a shvair Ramban. But even today Baruch Hashem, the Yeshiva world is built back up, perhaps in many ways it's built back up, bigger than it ever was before in Europe. More people learning Torah today than ever before.
You think 100 years ago, they had thousands and thousands and thousands of people sitting and learning the way we have today? It's not true. The elite were learning, everybody else was doing whatever they were doing to make it. We're tired today, we have in a way that we never had before, but dancing over a Sh And yet there are people today that they'll say, they'll hear an amazing shear, an amazing shear of Nitzbaq they'll say an amazing Chitashan Rambam. That was unbelievable. Doing Chazzara that night, you can make a brochah, you have to make a brochah, you have to make a brochah on the Gishmak that you're getting. You have to give Mysar on it, it's like the Hanah that you're getting is like somewhat unbelievable. Seder. But with that level of Hanah it's possible to ask yourself a question. Am I doing it because it's Sogeshmak or am I doing it because Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to be in a relationship with me because he asked me to do it. Kaelim Reichem Altamiti says the Eivishter. Go pour those empty vessels, keep piling them into your home and just pour into them. I'm doing this because I'm a Jew. I'm doing this because I'm a Jew. I'm doing this because I'm a Jew. And then he finishes V'atupa NA'Yech tech hi banoosr V'atupa NA'Yech tesh hi banoosr V'atupa NA'Yech tesh hi banoosr
V'atut badi sonu g drills, HE LOVES Mevaseret chazin bebeim Baruch chassidos Mevaseret chassidos But you don't feel inspired by my Ashgofr. I didn't know what to respond to him. Rebbe is a Gedelba Terre in every sense of the word. At the time that we were having this conversation he was in his late 70s. It's very uncomfortable to look at Yerebe and say, yeah it kind of doesn't work for me. But I was appreciative that he said it to me. He saw. And it's not that I didn't appreciate the intellectual rigor of the Shemuzin that he was giving. They were amazing but they didn't speak to my soul. It's true. And Merabbe Sathri Murcha I think you need to start learning Chassidus.
And so I found myself going to be by Rav Weinberger in Ishkodesh in Woodmere. And I'll never forget a story that Rav Weinberger told. And he said it many times. If you ever listen to him he says it like maybe it's once a shiur. And he says this story all the time. It tells the story of a couple that comes to sit with him. And a couple is having marital discord. It's not going so well for them. So Weinberger asks, okay, who wants to go first? So the husband says, I'll go first. And the husband says, Rebbe, I don't know what she wants from me. I do everything she asks. I change the light bulbs. I'm a little league coach. I make a parnasah. I take out the garbage everything she everything everything a wife would want I do The whole time that he's talking and describing all the things that he does and how much he kills himself for his wife His wife is sitting there with her arms folded just shaking her head And he says Rebbe you see even now it's not enough even now. It's not enough. It's never enough for her and if Weinberger turns to the wife and he says Sounds like he's a pretty good husband What's going on?
So she looks at Rav Weinberger and she says, Rebbe do you think I married him to take out the garbage? Do you think I married him to change the light bulb? I didn't even marry him to make a parnassah. I married him because of the way that he looked at me under the chuppah. And when's the last time that he looked at me that way? And it's such a powerful thing if you think about it, if you just open your heart for a second, it's the most powerful thing to think about. Because what is the wife really saying? It's possible to do so much and not to be. It's possible that you're doing a tremendous amount of things, but where's the feeling? Where's the reggish in the relationship? So many of us are asking that question. That we're showing up every single day and we're asking ourselves, where's the feeling? Where's the Gishmak?
Yeah, it's good to have a beautiful Yeshiva Davining on a Friday night where everybody's dancing. And it's good to come for a Yat Kislev Fabrengen and everybody's having a good time. And the food and... But tomorrow we're gonna wake up and it's gonna be the same shachars. Tomorrow we're gonna wake up and it's gonna be the same black tomorrow. So where do I find that ragesh? Where do I find that feeling? Nal ter Abba tells us, kalim rekim altamiti. Stay loyal. Serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Don't serve yourself. Don't let your narcissism get in the way. Don't ask yourself, how can I be inspired? Don't do it because you're a good guy. I'm resume building. I'm a good guy. I've always been a good guy. I was always in that top shear. I was always in the... I mean, I'm a good guy. Of course I'm gonna do it. You do that, you're serving yourself.
Irbana Shom wants to be tachtoinim. Irbana Shom wants to be in the deepest crevices of who we are. And in the deepest crevices of who we are, we're only one thing. Ich bin ayid The only thing we are truly is we're Jews. So pour that oil. Just keep pouring that oil. Over and over again. Tomorrow you may not have the most gishmakadavining. But if you daven anyway and you mamish think to yourself, if it was up to me I'd be in bed. If it was up to me I'd be in bed. My Nefeshah would love to be in bed. But I'm loyal to the Abishter. I find the godliness and the goodness inside all aspects of myself. Mein Nefsha Bahamis In that way, Va'akubanayech tichy banayzer, vishitakibizaycha, bakar av mamishtivu mashiach, tehchuvum yad and every sense of the word which is only going to happen if we're loyal to the Abunishalmen dark times.
And that's where we're mamish-holding, in the darkest of times. Really I should end right now, but I want to tell you a very quick ma'isa. I was in America last week for the Jersey City shooting. I was there. Unbelievable thing. This is dark times, Rabbi Sey. We're growing up in a door. I didn't grow up in this door. Anti-Semitism wasn't real to me. It wasn't real to me, Bechlal. It's dark times. It's dark times to be a Jew. Twenty-two percent rise in anti-Semitism. It's coming again. Vazir Hashem, we're going to head it off at the pass this time with Ahtos. It's dark times. It's hard to be a Jew a little bit. So those who hold on tight, we're going to be the ones to greet Mashiach. Those who hold on now in those final moments, and it's not even minutes anymore, it's final moments before Mashiach comes. The loyalty that we have with Yevishter is going to be the schus that we have to greet Mashiach Zuk came to together.
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