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The Legacy of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev with Rav Shlomo Katz is a warm, luminous journey into the teachings and stories of the Berdichever—“Sanegoran shel Yisrael,” the loving defender of the Jewish people. Through accessible shiurim and living Torah, Rav Shlomo opens Kedushas Levi with heart and clarity: why the Torah calls the holiday Chag HaMatzot while we call it Pesach; how our tefillin speak Hashem’s praise and His tefillin speak ours; and how to use our eyes, ears, mouth, hands, and feet for holiness.
Expect soulful tales from the chassidic masters, practical avodah you can live with today, and the Berdichever’s signature lens of radical compassion by finding the chamber of merit in every Jew and every moment.
Ai, rai, rai, rai, rai. Ai, rai, rai, rai, rai. Bam, ba, ba, bam. Ai, rai, rai, rai, rai.
Ai, rai, rai, rai, rai. Ai, rai, rai, rai, rai. Ai, rai, rai, rai, rai. Ai la da dai, la da dai, dai rai dai rai da da.
La da dai, la da dai, dai la da da la la la. La da dai, la da dai, dai lai lai lai lai lai lai lai lai lai. La da dai, la da dai, dai la lai lai lai. Lai la da dai, la da dai, oh.
La da dai, la da dai, lai la lai lai lai lai. La da dai, la da dai, dai lai lai lai lai lai. La da dai, la da dai, dai la la lai lai. Ai, la la lai.
Da, la, lai, la lai. Ai, lai, lai, lai lai. Ah, ah. Ai, rai, rai, rai, rai.
Ai, rai, lai. Ai, rai, rai, lai, lai, lai. La da da da da la la da. Ai ai, ai, rai, rai, rai, rai.
Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, ba. La da da da la da da da la da dai, la da dai, la da da la la da la da dai, la da dai, ah la da da da da. La da dai, la da dai, rai rai rai rai, la da da da da la da da da, la da dai, la da. Ah la da da.
Rai rai rai rai rai, da da la la da la la da, mai lai lai lai lai, ah la la ma ma. Lai lai lai lai lai, da la da da da da, mai lai lai lai lai, ah la da da da da da. Mai la la di da dai, bam bam bi bam bam, bam bam bam bam bam. La ra ra ra ra ra ra ra.
La la dai lai lai, ai lai lai la la da da, mai la la di da da da, ah ah.The air on?You went back on.
ישר כח.
ישר כח. Okay, חברה, we're going to do one more ניגון today.
And today, as as many of, most of you know, today's a special day. Today we're going to be doing something a little bit different. Today is the יארצייט of רבי לוי יצחק מברדיצ'ב. There's no way in the world we can just go through, go through life without stopping and really digging deep with with someone who is our defender, with someone who is עם ישראל's best friend.
And you all know his ניגון. I'm going to sing his ניגון one time, and then we'll, we'll we'll speak about him and learn a short piece of רבי לוי יצחק מברדיצ'ב on פרשת בראשית, okay? Di da da, מה היא, מה היא, יה. Di da da, מה היא, מה היא, יה. Ah, yah, yah, yah, ah, yah, yah, yah.
Di da da, מה היא, מה היא, יה. Di da da, da da, lai lai lai lai lai. Ah, lai lai lai lai, ah, lai lai yah. Di da da, מה היא, מה היא, יה.
Di da da da da, lai lai lai. Ah, lai lai lai, ah lai yah.
אמא. דיי דיי דיי איי, דיי דיי איי, לה לה.
איי יאמא, אמא.
דיי דיי דיי דיי איי, דיי דיי איי, לה, דיי לה.
איי יאמא, מאמא, יאמא.
איי איי איי, אמא.
דיי לה דיי, איי איי יאמא, יאמא.
דיי לה דיי, לה לה לה לה.
איי יא, איי איי יא.
איי.
דיי לה דיי, איי איי יאמא, יאמא.
דיי לה דיי, לה לה לה לה.
איי יא, איי איי יא.
איי.
דיי לה לה לה לה, איי יא יא.
דיי לה לה לה, דיי לה לה לה, איי איי איי יא.
דיי לה לה לה, איי איי יא.
איי.
דיי לה לה לה לה, איי יא יא.
דיי לה לה לה, דיי לה לה לה, איי איי איי יא.
דיי לה לה לה, איי איי יא.
איי.
דיי לה לה לה לה, איי יא יא.
דיי לה לה לה, דיי לה לה לה, איי איי איי יא.
דיי לה לה לה, איי איי יא.
איי.
אוי יוי יוי.This has become one of the main ניגונים out there. I credit רב שלמה with it, he was the one that would sing it everywhere, every בדחן, every דאווענען. And ברוך השם it's crossed over the whole universe. So a little bit about רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב.
A little bit. What could we say about רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב? I think that one of the funniest things you could say about him is how in his life and in his death, there was a, there's a, there's something that he's telling us all the time. There's a famous story that I think many of you know already. But just to give a taste of רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב, the ברדיטשובער לא החזיק מעצמו בכלום.
It means he didn't hold of himself with nothing. We call it an ענווה, you call it ביטול. It's a different program.
רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב is a different program, a different world.
And maybe that's the reason why all the צדיקים hold of רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב. He was best friends with the בעל התניא and best friends with רבי נחמן. He crosses over everywhere. The famous story is one time רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב was walking down the street in ברדיטשוב and he had a few students with him, and a מתנגד came up to him and saw him and spat in his face, in רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב's face.
רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב doesn't do anything, he just keeps on walking. The תלמידים, they could, this they couldn't, they saw their רב'ה do a lot of far-out things, this they couldn't take, they couldn't stand this. So they come up to רבי לוי יצחק, they said, "רב'ה, יש גבול, right? There's a, come on, how much? How much בושה? This is already כבוד שמים, כבוד התורה. This is, we can't let this go.
How could you didn't say anything to him?" So רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב looked at his חסידים and he said, "Listen, I know this guy. This guy has no שלום בית. He has no friends. He comes to shul, no one wants to talk to him.
His children aren't interested in anything he has to say. He hates his job, and he has basically zero שמחת החיים. But did you see how much שמחת החיים he had when he spat in my face? You want me to take that away from him too, you know?" "I get it." I'm not gonna ask you which part of the story you get. But רבי יצחק, he, now why am I saying also in his death? We've been to ברדיטשוב many times, but we were basically standing on top of רבי לוי יצחק and not next to his ציון.
As you all know, that he's buried in the old cemetery in ברדיטשוב. And that place still looks like, you know, a lot of places in the Ukraine, they look like, they don't look like they used to look like. But that place ממש looks like it used to, what what it must have looked like back in the time of רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב. And as the חבר'ה that were that are running the בית עולם there, the ציון of רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב, were renovating the ציון of רבי לוי יצחק.
I don't know how many years ago this was, maybe six, משהו כזה. So they realized that wait a second, like the whole area where people would go and דאווענען was just a cover. There was a whole room like a cave beneath that area where רבי לוי יצחק's ציון was. And they cleared the floor, and then they looked down, and like I don't know how many feet beneath, maybe twenty, 30 meters beneath, 20 let's say 15, 20 meters beneath is the actual קבר of ר׳ לוי יצחק בערדיטשעווער right next to his two sons, which means that even he was okay with us coming and standing on top of him.
You know, we're coming and דאווענען and it wasn't the actual, it wasn't really his קבר. He was, he was totally beneath it. Now if you go back there, you see they redid the whole thing and it's an amazing, it's just an astonishing thing. There's a whole story behind why it ended up being like that.
It has to do with World War II. We're not going to get into that right now. But ר׳ לוי יצחק בערדיטשעווער, just to say his name, to have his ספר, is a very important ענין. The בעל התניא would say every child should have, should should should should know how to say the name לוי יצחק בן שרה ששא.
The צמח צדק, the צמח צדק, the third רבי in לובאוויטש, the third נשיא would would always say that you know, there's a, ר׳ לוי יצחק בערדיטשעווער created a היכל in שמיים. He created a chamber in שמיים and it's called היכל הזכות, the chamber of merit. And and when you when you go into that chamber of merit, on the door of that chamber of merit, it says לוי יצחק בן שרה ששא. And whenever we mention his name, learn his תורה, tell stories of him, it opens up זכויות for us that we're even that we're not even, you know, aware of to a certain extent.
And ר׳ לוי יצחק בערדיטשעווער's זכות crosses over all all worlds of יידישקייט.There was a famous story that in the time of the חפץ חיים in his ישיבה in ראדין, there was one אלול where the ישיבה was was jam-packed, jam-packed, and there were a lot of students that tried to get into the ישיבה. And two boys came and they came to in אלול to try to see if they can get in. And they were simply told, אי אפשר. The admission is, it's it's it's it's full.
There's no room for you here. They understood, they were מקבל, they didn't take it personally. They understood. But they just said, "Can we just, you know, see the חפץ חיים once and before and bid farewell, if we could see the צדיק?" So they said, "No problem." And they go and they meet with the חפץ חיים in ראדין.
And right after the חפץ חיים met with these two boys, he runs right into the הנהלה's office or whatever it looked like back then and to the admissions office and he said to them, "Whatever needs to be done, these two boys are are here, no matter what. They're staying in ישיבה." So they asked him, "What is it?" "No, אין מה לעשות, I don't, we do whatever you have to do, but these two boys are staying here. There's no way they're not going to be here in the ישיבה." And they said, "רבי, you know it's it's jam-packed here. There's there's barely any room." And the חפץ חיים said, "Listen.
These two boys are אייניקלעך of ר׳ לוי יצחק of בערדיטשעווער. It's חודש אלול. Right? We we need these two boys. The I need these two boys to be here during the ימים נוראים and ואידך, the תלמידים of the ישיבה need these two boys to be here during יום טוב to have the great grand, the great-grandchildren of the סנגור, of the defender.
We need him, we we need these two boys here with us."There's a lot of different stories about the, I'm not even sure where where to go to. There's a lot, a lot of stories about ר׳ לוי יצחק בערדיטשעווער, but I'll tell you really fast, just to give us a little bit of a taste. We have a short piece to learn so it's okay. More of a taste of a little bit of how ר׳ לוי יצחק בערדיטשעווער came into this world.
ר׳ לוי יצחק בערדיטשעווער, his father, they they were, they were, the parents were childless. And the father was מקבל on himself to always have a מזונות and a לחיים ready in his house to be מכניס אורחים, always, no matter what. And anyone that would come by knew that they can come and find a little bit of מנוחת הנפש by the home of ר׳ לוי יצחק בערדיטשעווער's אבא. I don't remember his name, it could be רב מאיר because one of his son's name was רב מאיר.
And eventually this חסד and this open heart led to the father having a גילוי אליהו in the year 1740. And אליהו הנביא told him, "You're going to have a son who's going to be a shining, bright light in the world." וכך היה, later that year in 1740, ר׳ לוי יצחק בערדיטשעווער was born. The day he was born, the בעל שם טוב was still, right? The בעל שם טוב was still alive. And he already was, the מגיד ממזריטש was with him already, and he turned to the מגיד and he said, "לחיים, לחיים, לחיים.
A great, great light came into the world today that the whole world is going to benefit from." So what happened was is that the בעל שם הקדוש and ר׳ לוי, and the מגיד ממזריטש were traveling, and they wanted to be at the ברית of this boy. And they showed up in the father's house the night before the ברית, but they were disguised as merchants. They didn't want to reveal their true identity. They were disguised as merchants.
A father opened, welcomed them up so peaceful, so beautifully. They had, they had again, there was a לחיים waiting, there was a little bit of מזונות waiting for them, and they were saying such sweet words, but they again, they revealed who they were. They kept it private. And it's getting late and the בעל שם טוב הקדוש and the מגיד of Mezrich tell, give ברכות.
They say each one gives him ברכה for their דרך עוד למחר. Tomorrow everything should go good, וכולי. The father was so drawn to them and he begged them to stay. But the בעל שם טוב said, we can't stay, we got to, we're merchants and we have to go to the fair tomorrow.
And that's the whole purpose of our traveling over here right now. So the father was so drawn to him, he said, listen, I'm willing to pay you anything you think you'd make at the fair.
רבי לוי יצחק's father said, I'll pay you and you stay here. Be here for the ברית.
They said, no, no, we we we really can't. And he was begging and begging. The בעל שם טוב looked at him and said, okay, we're going to stay on on one condition. He said, I'm going to be the סנדק and he, the מגיד, is going to be the מוהל.
Normal, right? That's what he said, that's, that's, that that's how I'm going to stay. So, the father already gave out those כיבודים to other people, but somehow he he he said, okay. And the בעל שם טוב was the סנדק of רבי לוי יצחק of Berditchev, and the מגיד was the מוהל of רבי לוי יצחק of Berditchev.Next day, when they're about to, when they leave, the בעל שם טוב tells the מגיד, he says, listen, look out for this boy. He's going to be a big, big, big one.
So the מגיד, not knowing how much longer the בעל שם would be alive, he turned to him and he said, בעל שם הקדוש, how am I going to know who this, who this boy is? He said, you'll know. One day, he's going to make everyone wait for him to come back from the מקווה before they continue, before they do הודו. That's what he said to him. Okay.
Years later, the רבי לוי יצחק of Berditchev gets married. Doesn't get married into a חסידישע family. He himself wasn't coming from that world. But he married, gets married and he heard about the מגיד of Mezrich and he has a fiery burning desire to go and meet the מגיד and be by the מגיד in Mezrich.
So his father-in-law said, you can go. Remember back in those days, you lived by your father-in-law. Your father-in-law generally was the one that took care of of you for the first few years. And the father-in-law said, you could go, but בתנאי that you don't, you don't go, you don't stay for too long.
That that really didn't work out that well, that one, but. So he he gets to Mezrich, רבי לוי יצחק of Berditchev, and he's looking for the שול in the morning and he comes to the בית מדרש of the מגיד, and he sees that the ציבור is they're in קרבנות, they're saying קרבנות, right? So he, I don't know where he got the audacity to, but he went up to the to the גבאי or the שליח ציבור and he said, listen, I I must run to טובל. I have to go to the מקווה. Wait for me until I get back to start הודו.
Meanwhile, the מגיד of Mezrich comes to the בית מדרש and he sees they're just, they finished קרבנות and they're sitting around and they're not, they're not continuing with דאווענען. So he asked, what's going on over here? And they told him, listen, this this young man, he came here and he looked us in the eyes and begged us and said, I have to go to the מקווה and we should wait for him until he, until, until he comes back to continue with הודו. And then he goes, oh, wow. Wow.
It's him. You know? It's him.וכן הלאה והלאה והלאה והלאה, הסיפורים עד בלי די. There are stories how the זכות of רבי לוי יצחק of Berditchev saved people during the Holocaust. By by just knowing that to utter his name, לוי יצחק בן שרה סאשא.
Such, whenever רב שלמה would sing this ניגון, he would always start, he would always say, אלקא, דרבי לוי יצחק בן שרה סאשא ענני. And that's an ענין to say that. So today is a, you know, today is the 25th of תשרי, כ״ה בתשרי. Still תשרי.
רבי לוי יצחק of Berditchev זכותו יגן עלינו should continue to be a protector, a defender of עם ישראל, בשמים, and a בהיכל הזכות should be a place that we truly take advantage of. So how could we not learn a שטיקל תורה? One short piece of תורה from פרשת בראשית.
קדושת לוי is one of the most beautiful ספרים. It's not one of the easiest ספרים.
קדושת לוי goes back and forth between like. Sometimes very flowing תורות where it's like a beautiful idea, a beautiful concept that he builds on. But sometimes the teachings in in in קדושת לוי are are very kabbalistically systematic as well, where you have to be, you have to be holding. There's a beautiful, I think I told you this last year, a beautiful three volume set came out of קדושת לוי in English a few years ago.
Did any of the חבר'ה ever get it? Beautiful. I don't remember, I I tell I'm embarrassed because I don't remember exactly who put it out, but I must have been in touch of the person that did it because I must have been in touch with them because one day it showed up on my door, the volumes. And then I remember that one of the חבר'ה asked sent me a a snippet of it to look at and to write something וכולי. I don't think it ever got into the whatever I I think I wrote back, I'm not sure, but it is it is amazing.
It is amazing. You you to really for our דור that we have access to רבי יצחק בערדיטשובער, you know רב וויינבערג שליט"א told me that many years ago, maybe like 35 years ago, maybe even 40 years ago, someone he was in he was in כולל, someone commissioned him to write a page, not to write, to write a translation of רבי יצחק, of קדושת לוי. He see, he told me that he's, huh? Even Artscroll did. No, I'm saying now, now the Artscroll, but 40 years ago, so he said that he's he actually started, I don't know, I don't know where he was exactly, but he started writing it.
And he said after like one or two תורות he says, what am I do- how could I ever, you know, how could it was it was נורא ונישגב. Of course he could do it, but he said this is, you know, beyond, how could I continue doing it?So but but we have it now. We have it now. So this piece, this short piece from for our פרשה, פרשת בראשית, to come into the תורה anew with the זכות of רבי יצחק בערדיטשובער, I really think is a beautiful thing, a very special thing for all of us.
And we're talking about the פסוק בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ והארץ היתה תהו ובהו.
והארץ היתה תהו ובהו.
ובאופן אחר על פסוק. This is רבי יצחק has three or four פירושים in the beginning just on this.
So you see over here ובאופן אחר על פסוק והארץ היתה תהו ובהו.
דע כי בפעולותינו ובמעשינו הטובים אנו מעוררים המידות העליונות להשפיע שפע רב לכל העולמות העליונים ולכל המלאכים ולכל הנשמות ולכל היכלות עליונים. What is what is רבי יצחק basically telling us in this first line over here? You must never underestimate the power of your עבודת השם, which is one of the main things the יצר הרע works on all the time to belittle in our eyes how important our עבודת השם is, to always belittle it. Whether it's someone that asks us what do we do, you know, when someone meets us and we say, what do we do? We would never tell them a list of our עבודת השם, but we would tell them what we do to make money, just as an as an example.
But that רבי יצחק is saying in our פעולות, with our actions, we are arousing these supernal מידות. What are what are what are the supernal מידות? What do you what do you think he's referring to here? Yeah, חסד, גבורה, תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד. We're arousing these מידות to have השפעה not just on our world, but what worlds are he speaking about?
עולמות עליונים. All the worlds we're we're even unaware of.
Just stop for a second and think. Right now we just came out of דאווענען. We put on תפילין, we put on טלית. We said God's name, we said so many ברכות the last hour.
We were מקיימים a number of מצוות עשה already today, and now we're sitting and learning תורה. So רבי יצחק wants us to understand that it's bigger than what you think. It's it's much bigger than what you think. It brings about many more greater things than you could ever imagine.
And the word השפעה on עולמות עליונים is a very interesting לשון. It has an influence. It literally influences worlds that we have no we generally don't have any access to. But you must believe that every action you do is truly doing something in all worlds, including the higher worlds.
ו ואנחנו. Second paragraph, במעשינו הטובים ובקיום מצוותיו ובלימוד תורתו, with our good actions, with keeping מצוות and by learning תורה.
אנו הגורמים שפע בכל העולמות. We are the ones that are creating this this abundance in all worlds.
והעיקר, and the most important thing is is that it should be done with בדחילו ורחימו. What's בדחילו ורחימו? love and fear. Love and fear.
בדחילו ורחימו.
כמו שהזהירנו הכתוב, like we were, it seems like just last week but it was already a few months, two months ago.
ועתה ישראל, מה ה' אלוקיך שואל מעימך?
כי אם ליראה את ה' אלוקיך. What is ה' asking of you, but to fear Him. That's what ה' is asking.ועל ידי אהבה ויראה, through דחילו ורחימו, through love and fear, through the way that we are our מצוות are done, our lives are led through love and fear.
ובכוח מידותינו הטובים, and when I activate the חסד in me, לטוב, and when I activate the גבורה in me, לטוב, and the הוד, and the יסוד and everything and all the מידות, when I'm working through these ספירות, אנו מעוררים we are awakening and arousing המידות עליונים והעולמות. We're arousing the higher worlds, the higher attributes and the worlds above, אשר מהם באה בריאת שמים וארץ. Reb Levi Yitzchak says, how do you think the heavens and the earth were created? What do you think?
בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ. How was the heaven and the world created? What came right before the heavens and the earth were created? What did God do? What do we know?
איסתכל באורייתא וברא עלמא.
God looked into the תורה and he created the world. The תורה is the blueprint for creation of the world. So, this is very, it could be learned on a very high level. I want to draw, I want to draw it down as much as we can.
He says before the heavens above and the earth below were created, הקדוש ברוך הוא, act, כביכול through his מידות עליונות, through those מידות, the worlds were created. So when you tune into the מידות in your heart, which mirrors the the מידות that are up there in the שמים, they're re-creating heaven and earth. They're re-enacting, they're re-invigorating, they they bring about a tremendous amount of שפע into these worlds that we think we have no שייכות to. But it's not true.
Because when you keep תורה and מצוות, and you're learning תורה, and you're doing it בדחילו ורחימו, you really are not just keeping the world alive, you're helping the world to be recreated all the time.So again, third paragraph.
ועל ידי אהבה ויראה ובכוח מידותינו הטובים, אנו מעוררים את המידות העליונים והעולמות, אשר מהם באה בריאת שמים וארץ.
אשר נאצלו ונבראו קודם שמים וארץ. The מידות of השם were created before the heavens and the earth were created.
כאשר ביארנו בטעם על שמים, as it was explained in a previous teaching in פרשת בראשית. Let's try to explain this and try to put extra attention and hopefully I will try to give this over.When we tune in to our מידות, we speak about all the time תיקון המידות. What world are we connecting to? A world that came before the creation of the world. Only after the the מידות of השם were established in the world was the world created.
So every time that I tune in, that's why תשובה קדמה לעולם. Every time I come into my heart and I try to purify it, and I try to work through every מידה to make sure that I'm really clean and that I'm לשם שמים, and that what I want to do in this world is all through fear and love of השם. And when people look at me, what do I want them to see? A שליח, a conduit. A conduit that's what? That's operating on a much higher realm than what seems to be in the world.
So what Reb Levi Yitzchak Berditchever is saying over here, that through this love and awe and the כוח of המידות, we're re-awakening everything that happened before the world was even created. Because the world was created through the דיבור of השם, and the דיבור of השם was created through all the מידות עליונים. Is it is it come is it Is it a little bit שטימינג? I know it's pretty far out stuff, but yeah. It's the all world song.
It really is. Which one? All worlds. It really is. What's all worlds? from the album.
Oh, Lord you fill all worlds and surround all worlds. It's connecting everything that can be there for you at that moment.
בדיוק. יפה מאוד.
You just want me to play that ניגון right now.No, no, no, no, no. We're all good, we're all good. I I hear what you're saying. Yes.
This is the סוד of ממלא and סובב, which are again like I began the שיעור saying the terminology, the kabbalistic terminology throughout throughout קדושת לוי is more or less a must in order to really feel like you're holding with this ספר. But to bring it down to like very, very פשוט terms is that רבי לוי יצחק loves you enough to tell you, you must believe that when you're doing something with love and fear that you are doing things that are far greater than what you think you're doing. Because most of the time when I keep תורה, when I learn תורה, when I keep a מצווה, let's be real. What do I think I'm doing? Checking a box.
Or, right, checking a box or responsibility. My responsibility. What do I think is going to happen from from from learning תורה and keeping מצוות? Satisfaction from me. No, yeah.
What's that רבי דוד?
דבקות השם. Of course, that's what you think but. Showing off. And the פנימיות and the פנימיות, of course, that should I'm you're speaking utopian right now.
I'm saying other חבר'ה, us פשוט'ים, when we're doing, when we're keeping תורה and and and מצוות, let's let's face it. What do we think? We'll get rewards. Yes. Participation.
Yes. Yes, why are we so. I won't get פאטש today or I'll clean up the mess from yesterday.
רבי לוי יצחק's saying get out of there.
Think big. Get think get out of there. You think how shallow do you think God is? How much of a school teacher do you think השם is? How much of a principal do you think השם is? How much of an officer in the army do you do you see השם to be? Think bigger. He's all of that then infinitely more.
Much, much, much, much, much more. And he gives you through giving us the תורה the ability to attach to him on the level of before creation?That's תורה and מצוות. Get come out of קטנות. So of course, רבי דוד, that ultimately forms the word דבקות, yes.
Yeah, אביחי. Is it think big or is it stop thinking small? What what are you what are you what are you feel it is more? I mean because he's trying to stop, you know, if you if you really don't. It's such a you have to know. Yeah.
If you're cause cause naturally, right, you know, checking the box, right, checking the box. Right. Getting a pat on the back, I'm you know fixing something. Yeah.
I'm thinking small. Yeah. Forget about big. What am I doing for real? Like this is not like a וורט.
No, it's not a וורט. Try giving this over tonight, it won't be. I am, you know. Yeah.
The way the way he's presenting is like this is so basic, it's such a fundamental, such a יסוד. It is such a יסוד. It comes right in the beginning of the תורה. Exactly.
It's a foundational תורה. It's a foundational piece of תורה. Second to bottom paragraph.
ואלו המידות אנו מעוררים על ידי מעשינו הטובים.
These מידות we awaken through our good actions.
כנודע, באובדא דלתתא, אתער אובדא דלעילא. As we all know that when there's an arousal from below, it causes an arousal from above.
והשם יתברך ברוב רחמיו וברוב חסדיו in השם's infinite mercy and compassion and חסד on us, לימד אותנו המידות הטובים, שידבק בהן האדם.
God didn't just create the world and say, hey, good luck. No. God gave us the תורה on הר סיני. What did God do by giving us the תורה on הר סיני? He taught us how to have good מידות that we should stick to, שידבק בהן האדם, ושיעוררו המידות העליונים and for these מידות עליונים to be awakened again.
ולימד אותנו המידות הטובים and he taught us the good traits. Now he says like this, that's בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ but then what comes right afterwards? When I'm plugged into everything we just said before, when I really begin to comprehend that that's the life of a Jew, that this is the foundation of my עבודת השם. You know what the rest of the world looks like?
תהו ובהו.
תהו ובהו.
And this is what it means, והארץ היתה תהו ובהו.
שכל התאוות הגשמיים יחשובים אליו כאין וכאפס. All the ארציות, the תאוות, all the earthly, all the the things that usually look so important stop being important. They seem to us to be absolutely nothing.
כלומר, שתאוות הארציות הם התאוות הגשמיים. The earthly תאוות which are the materialistic תאוות become תהו ובהו, יהיה תהו ובהו, כלומר אין ואפס. Then everything else really becomes טפל, and the עיקר is עיקר. When what? When I approach every morning and saying I know I know I'm I gotta do this, I gotta do this, I gotta do this, but what am I doing when I wake up, נגל וואסער, when I wake up, I put on my shoes, when I wake up and I and I do all these things already in the first few hours of the morning, what am I doing at that moment? I am awakening tremendous things in worlds I'm not even aware of because השם taught me how to work on myself.
השם gave me the תורה. He taught me how to he taught me what's, you know, he told me what what he wants. He told me what he wants. And when I do what he wants with love and fear, right?
שמים וארץ, which is a different תורה, then what ends up happening is that all other things that aren't important become not important.
When I was 30, someone gave me a, I remember like this ברכה, my I think my 30th birthday. Someone gave me a ברכה that I, I try to then pass it on to to to everybody else all the time, that to give you a ברכה, he someone told me that all the things that are important in life should either become or continue to be important in your life. And all the things that aren't important in your life should either stop becoming important or never show up at your doorstep. And it's such a fascinating way of like of thinking about who's a lucky person.
Like who's who's a rich person? A rich person is מכיר את מקומו, that I know. I know where I'm at. I know what's important, and I know what's not important. And חס ושלום that it shouldn't take catastrophes for us to realize what's important.
We're seeing awakening in עם ישראל, unprecedented territory. This is something we we we don't have the כלים yet to understand what it is, but חלילה that it should take, you know, God forbid a catastrophe for us to to know what's important and what's not. These חברה that just came back from עזה, they they know exactly what's important, and they know exactly what's not important. Our עבודה, our תשובה that could come from witnessing the times that we're in should be to take רב לוי יצחק ברדיטשוב's word for it to continue with our עבודת השם with love and with fear, with love and awe.
And בעזרת השם ככה, the טפל will become טפל, the not important will truly take up no space. And בעזרת השם, that which is important will become more and more important in our lives in the זכות of רב לוי יצחק בן שרה סאשא.
זכותו יגן עלינו.
אמן.