רב יואל משי זהב שליט"א - סיפורי מעשיות א' חלק י' - כולל נחל חיים

We are now already at the very last lesson of the first act. It is fitting to have a drink here in honor of the conclusion. With God's help, we will finish today. We are leaving right at the end of the story where the King's second-in-command was looking for the King's daughter, and he went through what he went through, fell, got up again, fell again, and got up again.

In the end, he found a person in charge of the animals, and he rejected him. Afterwards, a person in charge of the birds, and he rejected him once more. Afterwards, one in charge of all the spirits; each one is already more spiritual. Animals are the most physical .

Birds are already much more spiritual. And the spirits are truly a spiritual matter, and each one tells him, "There is no such thing, you were just deceived , they told you nonsense." But he persisted, through the power of his persistence. Our Rabbi says that the essence of persistence is in the will. Even when a person sees that it isn't working out, as for the will—no one can hinder me.

There is a saying—it is not written in the Sages, everyone thinks it is written somewhere, but it is not written anywhere. "Nothing stands before the will." That is a wise man's saying. So people think that it means: "Nothing stands before the will" means if you want it, you will achieve it. That is not exactly how it is; there are things that people want but do not merit achieving.

And Rabbi Natan explains that "nothing stands before the will" means that even if you don't succeed in doing it in practice, as for wanting—who can stop you? "Nothing stands before the will"—one can be delayed from reaching a certain goal . But as for wanting to reach the goal, no one stands in the way; at the beginning, one must be stubborn. One must be very stubborn in work; the essence of stubbornness is in the will, in prayer, to want, to long, to yearn, and to pray, and that is the main thing .

In the end, if a person is strong in their will, they truly arrive, because as we discussed, all the obstacles are only to increase the desire, to increase the will. Once you have reached the maximum level of will required for this matter, then you don't need obstacles anymore, and you can arrive. That is what happened in the end; he persisted so much, and with power, he broke out and said, "It certainly exists," and cried and yearned and collected himself , and so it turned out that

each one truly helped him move forward. The obstacles turned into pleasures; thanks to the fact that the one in charge of the animals called all the animals, then he referred him to his brother who is in charge of the birds, and then he also persisted, and then he referred him to his brother who is in charge of the spirits, and then he also persisted, and then in the end, thanks to him, some spirit arrived who had been delayed, and he led the King's daughter to the

Mountain of Gold and the Pearl of Pearls So in the end, everything that happened and all the obstacles and all the searches, it all joined together to reach the goal.

As we can see, just as we discussed last week, we see that it only arrived, only then, when he persisted and cried, the spirit brought the King's daughter to the Mountain of Gold and the Pearl of Pearls. And he was very happy, he was very happy that this joy is what he was lost for— he found the joy. So here we are, at the one in charge of the spirits. What is precious there?

What things are there of great value and importance? What is precious there by the Princess in the Mountain of Gold and the Wall of Exile, what is precious there? And he told him that all things there are of great value. Usually, from the perspective of this world, it seems that this isn't precious and that isn't precious.

There are important things, all the advertisements, all the billboards—yes, it’s written that on every street corner , all sorts of other things are advertised, like these desires, Coca-Cola, the taste of life. Heaven forbid, and even worse desires, claiming that this is the most beautiful, the most precious, and the most important. It is a world of falsehood that exists here, trying to pull the human soul to follow it. But when you have the Princess, when you have faith, it’s the opposite; all these things are nonsense, just vanity of vanities.

Kohelet said everything is nonsense; it doesn't satisfy, there is no pleasure or fulfillment in it. The main value, the main importance, is the Holy One, blessed be He; it is what brings pleasure to Him. Every commandment, every Torah study, every chapter of Mishnah, every page of Gemara is a diamond; every single thing is another diamond and another, the most precious, the most important. There is a teaching in Likutey Moharan, Torah 52, Part Two, where our Rebbe says that when a person lacks faith, they have to perform difficult labors.

The Rebbe says: Know that the people of the world are of little faith, therefore they need fasts and difficult labors, for it is certainly known that one can serve the Holy One, blessed be He, in everything. This is a foundation from the Baal Shem Tov, this thing; a known foundation that it is possible to serve the Holy One, blessed be He, in everything. Not just in certain things; that is one of the innovations the Baal Shem Tov introduced. It is at the beginning of the book Keter Shem Tov, I think, or Tzava'at HaRivash, one of those two books.

Almost at the very beginning, he writes that without this path of Hasidut, people think that serving God only happens if one fasts, performs penances , or breaks the body. The path that the masters of Mussar had before the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov introduced to the world that, in essence, the Holy One, blessed be He, is in everything, the whole world is filled with His glory, He is just hidden. You don't see Him.

And the work of the Jew is simply to find the Holy One, blessed be He, in everything. So, for someone who has this, if he can—the Rebbe also says this in Torah 54—that certainly a person should not say that because one can serve God in everything, he shouldn't study. He says it is possible to serve God in everything. The Rebbe says in Torah 54: That While it is true that one can serve God , one who knows and understands this can look at the hints that exist in everything.

So he can serve God in everything, and if so, he might want to engage only in this, to engage only in the pleasures of this world because he can serve God in everything; truly, there is no argument. A person should do only what is necessary in this world. Because of two reasons. The first reason is that the holiness vested in this world is a low level of holiness.

Meaning, since it is a holiness vested in a low place, there are shells ( klipot) in that low place that surround the holiness. So it is a dangerous place . He might stand up and say, "I will go in, eat, drink, and elevate the sparks. " In the end, he will fall into the lust for food and desires, and he won't actually be serving God there.

And another reason, a second point, is that there is a higher service than this, a higher form of holiness, which is Torah and prayer—all service of God in spirituality. Therefore, one must serve the Almighty through holy services that are higher than this. Even someone who has a great mind, even a righteous and wise man who can understand how to serve God in all worldly things, even in worldly matters, and knows the secrets within them, is still forbidden to increase his involvement in the worldly because of these two reasons. One must suffice with little.

So we are not saying now in a sweeping manner: "Go, eat, sleep, be in this world and elevate the sparks." Certainly, our inclination —and we see this with Reb Noson, who was the disciple of our Rebbe, and the Rebbe guided him, and Reb Naftali too, the Rebbe kept pulling him out of this world . What did he say to Reb Naftali? "You need to be in the shop every day; once a week your wife will work in the shop, once a week you will come and do the accounts.""You will be able to study all day." After that, he told him once a week, then once a month, sit and do a summary. Slowly, little by little, he would pull him out.

We also see that Reb Noson, if one reads "Yemei Moharnat," constantly pulled himself away to be as little as possible in this world, to the point that even at home, the curtain was always closed. And he would say, "One less look at this world." As little as possible to see this world; even in the street, he would run. These are the greatest of the righteous , who are truly detached and entirely devoted to clinging to God, but we also have these matters, especially us, even more so, since we are truly physical, we certainly need to pull ourselves away as much as possible, to pray and study and fill the time with Torah and prayer. But a person is obligated to be in this world.

A person who doesn't eat is liable to death. He will die. Why? Because he isn't rectifying this world.

A person who doesn't marry, won't have children, will not fulfill the commandments of the Torah. A person must . What does one do in these areas? Without the light of Hasidism, it seems like, "Fine, what can I do?" There is the service of God.

There is the part where I must go out, because it's necessary, it's a compulsion. But according to Hasidism, one can serve God in everything. How? Our Rebbe says, through faith (emunah).

If a person has faith— He is not small in faith, so he doesn't need hard labors. When there is a flaw in faith, then hard labors are necessary. Our Rebbe concludes the Torah, for there are even righteous people who are small in faith, as our sages expounded on the verse "Who has despised the day of small things,"[asking] what caused the righteous. So when Reb Noson heard this Torah, he really did not understand what our Rebbe meant.

It is in some discourse. Kov, I think. When our Rebbe said this Torah, when he told me the matter printed in section 86 that when there is a smallness of faith one needs difficult labors, I stood before him astonished and my thoughts were impure regarding this matter. Because it seemed to me that I have a little faith.

He understood that our Rebbe was referring to him, that there are also righteous people who are small in faith. Our Rebbe said to him in a rebuking tone as if to say, if you have faith, you do not have faith in yourself . And he immediately mentioned the saying of our sages, "Who has despised the day of small things," what caused the righteous to have their table diminished in the time to come. Rashi says and brings it there, the smallness that was within them, that they did not believe in themselves.

That is the smallness. The smallness that was within them, that is the literal meaning, the smallness that was in them. They did not believe in themselves. The commentator asks, asks, asks, what is this?

That they did not believe in the Holy One, blessed be He, that He is good to all and that they are important and great in His eyes, may He be blessed . And because of this there was smallness in them, and that was the essence of their smallness of faith, that they did not believe in themselves . So he concludes, and the rule understood from his words is that a person must have faith in himself that he too is beloved in the eyes of God, may He be blessed. For according to the greatness of the goodness of God, may He be blessed, he too is great and important in His eyes, may He be blessed .

It has already been explained this matter several times that it is not humility to be in states of small-mindedness, God forbid, God forbid . And once again, what our Rebbe mentioned this. This was truly our story . And what was hidden here?

As we saw at the beginning of the story, that the king's daughter was hidden. At the beginning, he sat in the king's palace; everything was wonderful. What was, what was the thing that was in the king's palace and then it was hidden? So we saw at the beginning of the story that when he sat in the king's palace, what was the king's daughter?

What was, what was the story of the king's daughter? And he says like this: that daughter was very important to him, and he loved her dearly and would delight in her greatly This is called the king's daughter in place, what is written here, that a person knows he is beloved in God's eyes , God prides Himself in him, God delights with him, and he is truly great and important in His eyes, may He be blessed. This is almost the exact same wording. And one day, it was explained on some day, a speech was thrown from his mouth: "Let the evil one take you." We said, a person just says, it is some day, just today is just such a day.

What is "some day"? Every day is a holiday. You serve the King, the great King, the King of Kings of Kings prides Himself in you, and you say, "It's just some day," so an evil word is thrown out, for the evil one is the opposite of this. That everything is not good, no longer precious or important, "I am not good in God's eyes," only, only "all day" is the final letters of Amalek.

These are the forces that overcome a person. So here, when we return to the part where they have already brought the King’s daughter to the mountain of gold, arriving by way of this wind, he is about to arrive, he is already starting to find it, so he asked, what is valuable there? And they tell him that there, everything is of great value, which hints at that thing mentioned in parentheses as value and importance. For when you have faith , when you find the King’s daughter, when

you know you are important in the eyes of God, then everything there is valuable, everything is important, every small thing you do, conversely, precisely because of the difficulty, precisely because it is such an important world, he passes through these life transitions, and you still persist , which was the whole point of the story we saw—that he goes through it and he fell and ate the apple, and drank from the spring, and slept for 70 years, and yet he still had some movement the whole time; he

did not remain stagnant, he did not despair.

As Rebbe Nachman says, there is no despair in the world at all ; he truly persisted the whole time, and wanted, and yearned, and prayed, and he did progress. Even when they are constantly telling him he is doing nothing, it still has more importance; that is what is most valuable. This is the mountain of gold in essence, as we said, a mountain of gold is a reality of a mountain; it does not let you pass. It is a mountain, it is an obstacle, it is the numerical value of "Elokim." And then a person says, every obstacle is a place where I can gain something.

The obstacle does not come because God wants to cast me away. There are people who look at God as if He is waiting with a stick around the corner, "Go on, commit a sin already, I’m just waiting to give you a beating." That is how people are. From the room, such a picture of reward and punishment already enters, a form where they are just waiting to punish you. It is exactly the opposite; God so wants to bestow good upon every Jew, to give him all the Paradise in the world; He wants to give him the mind of the Vilna Gaon, the heart of the Baal Shem Tov, and money like Baron Rothschild— whatever you want, He wants everything for you.

But, but, but He waits for you to be close to Him, just as we see that in the end, they really gave it to him; in the end, they gave him money, they gave him everything. This faith, that a person believes in himself, is a great foundation in the service of God; it is not just someone having no desire, so the head of the Yeshiva comes and gives him a pat on the shoulder, "You are an important guy, go study." It is not that ; it is the essence of our connection to God. This is called: God loves us and He wants us to love Him as well. He wants it, and how do we love Him?

By knowing that He loves us; this knowledge of how much God loves us, how much God takes pride in us, this puts love into our hearts. The Rambam asks—because the Rambam says that the essence of the love of God is for a person to contemplate the greatness of God—so everyone asks, how can you command someone to love? How is it possible to command someone to love? Only when a person contemplates the greatness of Hashem and sees how much Hashem loves us, giving us abundance, choosing us—when he sees that love, then, as water reflects a face, so does the heart of man.

When a person sees Hashem’s love for him, believes it , lives it, and breathes it, then his heart automatically fills up. It’s the same when a person sees someone else, smiles at him, gives him kind words, gives him money from time to time, gives him a hug, gives him love—then I automatically love him. That’s how it is , that’s how Hashem created his creatures. This is called When a person believes in the love Hashem has for him, he believes in his own value and importance in Hashem's eyes in every small deed; that is the rectification, and that is when he finds the King’s daughter.

Here, here is where you begin to find the King’s daughter. So it is written, and all the things there are of great value, this is what will be revealed here. And the overseer of the spirits said to the second to the queen: Since this is such a great time that you have been seeking, and considering the labor you have endured, perhaps you will encounter obstacles due to a lack of money. It’s interesting that he appreciates his efforts here, right?

He could have just said, "Here, I'm giving you a vessel, you’ll have money." No, he appreciates him and says: Because you sought so earnestly and endured such labor, and perhaps now you will have obstacles due to money, I will give you a vessel; put your hand into it and receive hundreds from it. We see here that all this business of removing the obstacle of money is specifically because he asked and exerted himself. In other words, a person who is not searching for the King’s daughter—who is not searching for enthusiasm in serving Hashem, for joy, for closeness to Hashem , as King David says, "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good"—then he truly is burdened by money. And he constantly asks questions: What will I do?

I really want to serve Hashem, but what do I do when I have to pay bills? The 20th of the month is coming, money needs to go to the bank, rent is due, a mortgage, charity loans—I don't know, everyone has their own thing—what do you do? You didn't tell him a long story, but it’s all fine and well, yet I am stuck with money. So indeed, if a person isn't searching for the King’s daughter , then he is stuck with money.

But if a person searches for Hashem Himself, as the Rambam says regarding the tribe of Levi, then Heaven truly accompanies him and provides him with what he needs. It’s possible to see this; I have been following this for years, and I see it. I have seen it in my own family and among other people, where those who sit and study in the Kollel actually manage just fine. They marry off their children , I don't know how, but they manage; they don't carry debts.

Usually, yes, not without exceptions, sometimes there are various other matters, but generally speaking. And people who work hard from morning till night, they are the ones who have such expenses, such failures, and they enter, invest, and have nothing , suddenly they go bankrupt, and suddenly the difficulty is much greater regarding money, many more obstacles because of wealth than someone who does always dwell in the house of the Lord, yes, to serve the Lord, and to be close to the Lord. The Rambam says that it is

the Tribe of Levi, the Tribe of Levi, yes, they are set apart, that they have special providence. Whoever wants to truly serve the Lord, I don't mean now whoever sits in the Kollel or whoever goes out to work, it can also be someone who sits in the Kollel and his mind is always scattered outside.

It can also be someone who is outside all the time, but his heart is always in the service of the Lord. I mean where your heart is, where you are, what your thought is, what your inner self is. So, whoever is truly set apart for the service of God, and with all his heart wants only to serve God, has special Divine assistance . He says, "I cannot, I am truly dependent on God; I have no power other than Him," and so God must help him.

If a person says, "I will manage, I will go out, I will do this, I will do that," he forgets God, blessed be He; he does not fulfill "And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power." So God tells him, "Manage on your own, you know, manage." Then the person cannot manage on his own, and he goes through whatever he goes through— all the difficulties and obstacles regarding money. Then He says to me, because you truly seek and toil—right,

you fall; we aren't talking about a person who doesn't fall, but rather one who has money—it is written, "He who trusts in the Lord, kindness shall surround him." It is written in the Midrash Shocher Tov, even a wicked person. People think, "How can I trust in God? Maybe God doesn't want to give to me?" That is not true.

God wants to give to whoever hangs himself upon Him, whoever says, "I cannot manage, only You must help me." He wants to give to him. But whoever wants Him—whoever says, " God, give me money so I can have pleasures, so I can have..."—that, too, is not given to him. But whoever truly seeks and toils, even if he fell many times in the middle and even if he went through whatever he went through, because his point is that he is searching for the true point, searching for

God, blessed be He, then perhaps you will have an obstacle regarding money, but they will remove the obstacle for you. He says, "I give you a vessel." It is a wonderful vessel; I wish we had this vessel, that you reach in and receive money.

I am reminded now that it is written in Shomrei Emunim, where he writes that whoever has trust can experience true miracles. It is written that he knew someone who, for a period, had such strong trust in God that every time he put his hand in his pocket, he would find money. And it is written in the introduction there by his son that he once heard from his father that it was he himself, only out of humility he did not want to write in the book that

it was him, due to the great trust he had in God. Also regarding our Rebbe, there is a similar story in Chayei Moharan; there is a story that there was a period when he had no money in his youth, truly when he began to serve God , and then he went to the field and found actual prepared food inside, inside a kitchen, grains—I don't know exactly what—and it was considered a very great thing in his eyes, that due to the magnitude of his trust, he merited

to actually find prepared food in the field, in the forest, not in a place where people pass by.

So first of all, one must believe that such a thing exists. But it doesn't necessarily have to be in the form of a vessel where you insert your hands and take out money. Everyone who wants God, blessed be He, and wants to be of the tribe of Levi can recount—I am sure everyone sitting here can recount miracles and wonders, truly beyond the natural way, how God sends to him. He has this calming element.

This is the matter of the vessel—that I just... Whatever I need, I put my hand in my pocket and I have the money. There is such tranquility. Whoever trusts in God , the people who learn say that this vessel is trust.

This is the vessel. It is written explicitly in Likutei Moharan that trust creates a vessel. In Torah 76 , it says that the Almighty is constantly sending abundance. There is never a moment without abundance.

The flow of abundance descends from above at all times. But what happens? The abundance that descends from above has no time constraint. It has no time or place.

Abundance descends, but it could arrive at a place where you need it now, it could arrive yesterday, tomorrow, or in ten years. In order for the abundance to arrive at the right time and place, Rebbe Nachman says this is the virtue of trust; when one looks and focuses their eyes solely on the Almighty, trusting in Him, as it says " the eyes of all look to You," through this, they create a vessel. This is the intention behind the continuation of the verse, "the eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in its time," meaning at the time and moment they need it. For trust creates a vessel.

It creates a vessel, meaning it delivers it within limits and in due time. Whoever looks only to the Almighty and focuses only on Him, it is effective, and it’s not just a "segula" as people say; you are simply creating a pipe so that the great abundance arriving doesn't fall here or there, but reaches you exactly where you need it, at the very moment you need it. Therefore, someone who trusts in God does not worry beforehand about what will happen when I need the money. For example, I have children to support, and in a year I need to marry them off, right?

Six months from now. So what will happen? To marry them off, the hall costs 20,000 shekels, catering another 10,000, the band another 10,000, invitations, and so on; it costs a lot of money. But do you need it right now?

No, I don't need it right now, I need it in six months. So, according to the level of one's trust, a person doesn't worry about it until later; I mean, not until later. There is someone who says, "Fine , I'm waiting for God," but two months before the wedding comes and they say, " What am I going to do now?" So they already go to a loan society; they can no longer wait. Why are you running to the loan society?

Why are you pushing the hour? Wait, the time hasn't arrived yet. There is someone who worries a month before the wedding. There is someone who worries two days before, but there is someone who has such trust—we are talking about someone who has reached the end of the story, who has endured the trial and says, "I don't know." I need the money when the caterer arrives in the middle of the wedding and asks me, "So, are you enjoying yourself here?" "How is the food?""Are you doing okay?"

"Where is the money?""Pay up." And then I will have the money, and I know such stories; I'm telling you, I don't want to argue with stories, I know stories— there are people who can enter a grocery store without money, fill a cart in honor of Shabbat, reach the checkout, and someone hands them money right in line at the register.

There are stories like that. We are not talking about the high levels , we don't want to overextend, but surely there are levels that belong to us too, so don't worry so much, don't worry, trust in God, don't rush the time , it will come, it will come, especially in Breslov this is known, that in the end, salvation arrives. Perhaps later on, at the end of the story, we will elaborate on this more, but there is such a thing as a vessel, I heard a little bit of a murmur, it is written, "when we hoped for You," how is it written? >> Let Your kindness be.

>> Let Your kindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped for You; "as we have hoped for You" is an acronym for a vessel. As we have hoped for You—the more you hope for God, the more of a vessel you have. May Your kindness be upon us, you recall God's kindness, as we hoped for You, you created a vessel of trust. The more trust a person has, the more salvation they receive from above without any interference from them.

If you have 10%trust, then you have 10% salvation from God and 90%you have to work for. If you have 80%trust, you only work 20%on your own. So, if you have 100 %trust, which is the level of the righteous, then there are the many sayings that you don't even have to work at all. It will come right to your door , it will tell you what you need.

A story from a holy talk, a famous story he heard from one of the disciples, a simple Jew, but sincere, a righteous man He heard from the holy Alshich that working is pointless, one needs trust. So he said to himself, "Why do I need to go out to work?" He used to walk with his wagon outside and would— Dig for clay and bring it to the city. "If working is for nothing, I can trust in God," and he went into his house, got under the oven, started reciting Psalms , praying, and studying—why go crazy? So a day passed, days passed, no money.

The essence of trust requires passing a test . It doesn't work like that; anyone who works on trust can always see it. You have to stand the test, and then they provide for you. His family thought he had gone crazy, what had happened to him ?

He absolutely hadn't; he was strengthened, he had heard it from the holy Alshich, and he believed him. In short, three days passed, the gentiles arrived, knocked on his door, and said to him, "We can't manage without you.""You will give us your wagon, we will pay you," I don't remember the story exactly, but something like that. They came to him— there is a famous story from one of the students of the Baal Shem Tov that the horse went, and a gentile took it, then he found a

treasure, put it inside the wagon, and covered it with the clay. Then he died, the clay collapsed on him and he died there, then the horse returned home and the treasure was there inside the wagon, and he became rich and didn't have to work anymore.

There are many stories like this, and in our generations, we have Divine Providence; whoever wants to can see wonderful stories there as well. People who strengthen themselves, study*Chovot HaLevavot*, the Gate of Trust. And by strengthening one's trust, one can truly see salvation openly before their eyes. That is the vessel.

So, we know that at the end of the story , they tell you: even after all the awakening and strengthening, are you afraid about what will happen with money ? Do not be afraid, it will be alright. Trust in Hashem. Whoever desires the Almighty, He will provide for them; this is a remedy for livelihood.

A remedy for livelihood is to trust in Hashem and desire Hashem, and then you will have light. And he decreed upon that spirit that it should take him there. And a storm wind came and carried him there. It is interesting that it is called a storm wind.

So, first of all, we see that he decreed upon that spirit to take him there. Simply put, one could say that there is a king’s son here looking for the king’s daughter. So he walked his whole life searching and searching, until finally he arrived at a place and found her. The story does not end like that; the story ends with a spirit finally arriving, and the spirit now brought the king’s daughter to the mountain of gold.

And he cannot get there; there is no chance he will reach it. He must decree upon the spirit to take him—not by plane , but by wind, which is faster—at record speed, beyond the ways of nature, to reach the king’s daughter. What does this mean? It means that, in the end, to merit the service of Hashem is only a miracle; it is something that comes to describe itself.

It means that a person sometimes sits in his situation, not yet having merited entering the gate of holiness, and he calculates: "How can I merit this?" According to his calculation, it doesn't add up; even if I do everything I can, I won't be able to finish [the task], and I won't be able to practice hisbodedus ( seclusion) every day as I should, and I won't be able to guard my eyes as I should. I have a difficult nature, I have bad traits, I have hardships, I

have heaviness. I have a wife who bothers me, parents who bother me, neighbors, all sorts of things—how, according to the way of nature, will I pass this barrier? It is true that I want to, and it is true that I will even show self-sacrifice, but there are things that are not within my power, so he calculates that, by his calculation, it doesn't work out.

They tell you here in the story: know that in the end, when you come to describe it, there is a miracle called a spiritual miracle; just as there are physical miracles, as the early sages wrote, there are also spiritual miracles. The Exodus from Egypt was, on one hand, a physical miracle where they struck Egypt and Pharaoh agreed to let them out; blood, frogs, all of these are physical miracles, but there is also a miracle in spirituality. That the People of Israel were sunken in the 49

gates of impurity , and in one moment such light descended from Heaven; the Almighty revealed Himself, not by an angel and not by a messenger—the Holy One, Blessed be He, Himself illuminated them. It is written according to the secret of "mochen de-gadlut"(states of greatness), which is a miracle, and therefore it is called "Pesach"(Passover), from the word "skip ." They skipped over steps; they did not arrive by way of one step after another , climbing the rungs until reaching the highest place.

It's like an elevator, not even an elevator; an elevator is still natural, this is a miracle, a spiritual miracle that is above the way of spiritual nature. So it is when a person persists and wants to serve Hashem, they reach a point where, by their own nature, they truly cannot move forward. There is a spiritual miracle, a spirit that carries them there. In the end, Hashem will lift you up, He will skip over all the obstacles, and simply, without understanding, you will attain the things you longed for and couldn't figure out how to reach.

One must trust in Hashem, the storm spirit carried him there. Seemingly, this spirit is a spirit of holiness, the spirit that was with the one in charge of spirits who arrived at the last moment, the fiftieth gate, a high level, but the whole story is built on the idea that from the bad, from the not-good, the good is revealed, which is our work in this world. In this world, all our work is that Hashem placed us in a not-good place, the fortress of the not-good, where

there are foods and all that is pleasant, beautiful, and sweet, which are the three desires we spoke of And a person there needs to find a holy spark; Hashem is there, hidden within. If a person does their clarification and persists because they truly want to be close to Hashem, even if they aren't succeeding, that one point where they manage to overcome turns the storm spirit into a spirit of holiness that brings them to their purpose.

So that is the whole story, that the storm spirit actually carried him there . It is specifically from within this world that one can attain Hashem. It is impossible to attain Hashem from another world. It is precisely from this world that we want to attain Hashem; it is written in all the books that Hashem created this world because this world has the attributes.

There is love, there is fear. In the higher worlds, it is spiritual; it is impossible to attain Hashem through such an abundance of light. Specifically, when a person descends into this world and suddenly feels fear of something, and they strengthen themselves with the fear of Hashem, feeling pulls of all kinds, they are drawn to Him; so from this world, from the darkness, from the storm spirit , they can attain Hashem. And he brought him to the gate, and soldiers were standing there who wouldn't let him in, they didn't allow him to enter the city.

Meaning, he is already very, very close to holiness, already at the gate of holiness, and yet there are soldiers standing there who won't let him enter. Actually, in the fortress, it is written that there were soldiers who didn't recognize him, so they let him in. That is what is written there. Afterward, he came to the fortress and the soldiers were standing around it, and he was afraid to enter, but they let him in and didn't hinder him at all.

He went from room to room without any delay. Because truly, to enter this world, no one stops you—to enter, to eat—but when you want to sanctify yourself, to break a desire , to get closer to Hashem, that is where they won't let you in. But right at the end of the story, there is still a gate that won't let him enter , and there is a teaching in Likutey Moharan that our people call "The Rebbe's Letter," because it is written like a letter. It is highly recommended to study it; it is the strongest source of encouragement found in Likutey Moharan.

It is in this Torah teaching. It is Torah 55 in the second part of Likutey Moharan. So, I won't read the whole Torah, every word here is a diamond. But he says, he says here in the middle , that sometimes there are people who have already walked and walked, and have already reached right up to the very gate of holiness, yes?

When he is close to the entrance, the " Sitra Achra"(the Other Side) and the adversary overcome him, God forbid, and they do not allow him to enter through the gate. And then a person becomes discouraged and turns back. For such is the way of the adversary; when he sees that a person is close, really close, right at the threshold of holiness, almost entering, he overcomes him. And indeed, great encouragement is needed to stand against it.

To be strengthened. So, here too we see that a person is already right near holiness, he has already been illuminated, the spirit has arrived, yet there are soldiers still standing there who won't let him enter the city. There is also a matter of " Emunah"(faith) here, which we saw, that a person wants to enter holiness with faith. There is also another thing found in Likutey Moharan in a Torah teaching.

Which Torah is it? Torah 4, I think. Sign, Torah 4. So there, the Rebbe says that a person already reaches the highest level, which is called " reaching and not reaching,""reaching and not reaching." There is a very high level of attaining the Infinite Light, which is the ultimate knowledge of not knowing.

It is impossible to attain it. The attainment is as if you reach it, you fall back, you reach it and you fall back. They won't let you attain it completely. So there is a power there, there is the thought that pursues to attain, but there is a hindering power that does not let you attain.

The intellects pursue to attain the Infinite Light, and there is a hindrance to the mind, as the "Crown" actually hinders you. "Crown"(Keter) is from the expression written in the verse, "Wait for me"(Keter li). "Crown" means wait, be patient. You cannot.

The Rebbe says that this thing—that you want to and they won't let you—fixes the settler and organizer of the mind. It creates a settled mind. If a person wants—there are people who burn, burn, burn, and because they burn so much, they cannot do anything. It is like what Reb Noson, or his daughter I think, said, that when Elul arrives everyone burns to repent, but because they burn so much, they do nothing.

It is like when you light some —you can light a fire with some spirit, there is, it is called, you light it, and it becomes extinguished immediately. The secret of a good fire is that a person can sustain a contained fire that you light, but you don't let it burn too much; you contain it. Yes, a fire with a small wick that slowly, point by point, candle point by point; it is that a person wants to serve God, but on the other hand, understands that one

must serve God simply, with patience and a settled mind , not trying to swallow the world at once. Serving God is built point by point, conquering another point and another, for the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to perform it.

You aren't asked to be at the highest level right now. You are asked for the level closest to you; move forward another wick and another wick, slowly. Our teacher speaks about this a lot, warning against an excess of light. A person wants to recite Psalms and thinks , "Only if I recite the entire Book of Psalms will I feel good." No, if you recite all the Psalms today, tomorrow you won't recite any at all.

Start by getting used to saying one chapter every day, then you can say two chapters, then ten. "I want to finish the entire Talmud ." No, start with seven pages a day. Maybe for a month or two you'll keep up with seven pages, then you won't study at all. But if a person starts today with one chapter, tomorrow with another , slowly, a person serves God with patience and a settled mind; it organizes and stabilizes the intellect.

On one hand, yes, our teacher said to aspire to the highest, but not to fall because of the smallest things. In my mind, I want the greatest thing, but I know that to get there is a long road, and I have the time for it. So, there is this delay; what is at the end is what builds the person. He reached his hand into the vessel, took a few, bribed them, and entered the city.

I was just studying Proverbs, I'm at a place in Proverbs where King Solomon says to bribe the Holy One, blessed be He—I don't recall the exact words. To bribe Him. Rashi says you bribe Him with Torah, or with prayer, or with repentance and good deeds. There is a bribe of holiness.

There is a bribe that , even so, Rashi says, even if one fell into sins, even if one failed, if one comes in repentance, each time, Rashi says if you come to appease God, then he bribes Him. Even if you fell, even if you weren't right, you come and speak words, you appease, and that bribes God So the bribe here is, as if there is a point where a person has already reached a certain place, and they still won't let him in. So there is a

bribe of words here, and I think that a person should say these words to the Almighty: "Master of the Universe, don't You know how much I truly want?""How much I truly want to draw close to You?""You know how much I suffered for this, how many times I started and fell, how many times I started again and fell again, but I didn't despair and I wanted once more." These words that a person speaks to the Almighty are a kind of bribe, so that a person succeeds in

finding favor in God's eyes and he enters inside, he conquers, he enters. This is the bribe.

There is another point here that Rebbe Nachman says in Likutey Moharan, in Torah 4, Part Two, which is very relevant here. The Rebbe says that when a person wants to enter the gate of holiness, sometimes the gate is closed. The beginning of entering into the service of God is very, very difficult; opening the gate, going inside, and reopening a path is very hard. If there is a doorway and you need to enter, it is easy, but to open a doorway is difficult.

Rebbe Nachman says there is a remedy in the power of charity, for when a person wants to start entering into the service of God, if he gives charity —it is written regarding charity in the verse, "You shall surely open." When a person gives charity, that charity opens and widens the opening; it opens the doorway. Even when the opening is narrow, the charity widens it so that one can enter. So here, when he stood at the gate and wanted to enter, he gave charity. Truly, it was very much a custom of our people to always have charity coins in their pockets like that —not many, just a few coins of a shekel or half-shekel.

Before they went to pray Shacharit, it is written by the Arizal to give charity, right? To give charity to widen the opening. Before they went to eat, they would put a charity coin into a box so they could eat in holiness . Before they rose for Chatzi, went to sleep, before the Bedtime Shema, before every task—when you want to enter a gate , there is the difficulty of the beginning.

All beginnings are hard; when you give a coin to charity, it has a remedy of "bribing," as it were, a remedy that opens the gate and lets you go inside. "And there was a beautiful city." Let us notice that until now, he walked in deserts, in places where there is no human settlement. He searched and searched; he was in a state of searching , but he did not find. He did not see the beauty of the Princess; she had disappeared.

And now that he has arrived at the Princess, it is a beautiful city Now one can already see the city, the beauty, the splendor, the true grace, and the importance of holiness. So he sees the splendor and the beauty of it— of himself. This is called a beautiful city, where he actually starts to see that he is within a settlement, and what beauty, what splendor, what Hashem be praised is with him. "And he went to a wealthy man," a Gvir, which means a rich man, and he hired himself out for food.

Because he needs to stay there. Still, all the time, there is the matter of waiting. The Gvir, apparently, alludes to the matter of the Tzaddik. Until now , until here, when a person is not within holiness, one does not see its value.

I have now the weekly Torah portion, Jacob and Esau. When one rises , the other falls. Today, one sees the greatness of Esau, one does not see the greatness of Jacob. In the world, people do not see the value of the righteous; they see the value of those who know how to make noise about themselves, not the righteous.

But when he arrived at the mountain of gold and found the revelatory scrolls there and found the King there, one sees the value of the Tzaddik, that all the abundance arrives . The Rema says that the Tzaddik is the conduit for abundance; that is what the Rema writes. And all the work of this world, when it ascends above, it must ascend, ascend the "Man," ascend the awakening from below. The Ramak says in his book, Sefer Elimah, that it rises through the soul, spirit, and breath of the righteous, and all the abundance that must come from above through the unifications brought about by Israel's work descends through the soul, spirit, and breath of the righteous.

The righteous one is a conduit; Hanina, my son, for you, Hanina, my son, the conduit of abundance that the righteous create. So when a person enters the Holy Torah, he begins to see that we need a Moses our Teacher here to accompany the people of Israel, so that even when they fall into the sin of the Golden Calf, he will go and plead before God, and the sin of the Golden Calf will be atoned for. And every time some salvation is needed, Moses our Teacher—the whole Torah is built around the righteous one . Whoever pays attention, the entire Bible really starts with Moses our Teacher, and Joshua, and the Prophets and Judges, and all generations of Israel are around the righteous, around geniuses, around someone who leads the generation.

A generation cannot just behave; a person cannot receive the Torah directly from the blessed God. The Torah passes through the righteous, and also in material terms, the abundance. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says, as written in the Zohar, he dispels all the judgments. "If I were not in the world, the whole world would burn from the judgments," says Rabbi Shimon.

"I stand all the time for the world I am in, I and Rabbi Eleazar my son, even just I alone." We need righteous people. So when a person searches for the blessed God and draws near to the blessed God, he finds the master, and then he sits with him and eats from him, he receives abundance from him, he sends it there; so he is already sitting in the place of the six sons and the beautiful daughter and everything, the King. But one must place—no, why? Because one must place— that is not correct here, one must place intellect and wisdom to extract it; this is the perfection.

This is what is called finding the King's daughter truly in perfection. This is the matter of understanding the first Torah lesson in Likutey Moharan, and the weekly portion , also the matter of looking into the intellect of everything. Rebbe Nachman says there that an Israelite must always look at the intellect of everything and connect himself to the wisdom and intellect that is in everything, so that the intellect that is in everything will shine for him, to draw near to the blessed God through that very thing,

because the intellect is a great light and shines for him in all his ways. And this is in the aspect of Jacob—Jacob took the birthright from Esau, which is called taking out the daughter, the blessings, and the birthright; he extracted the holiness from within Esau , from within this world.

This world, as we read in the weekly portion, "two nations are struggling within your womb ." This world is a mixture of good and evil. And the evil covers the good. There is good in everything and there is evil. Since the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, this has become the case, and in everything, there is good and evil.

The essence of all service of God is this very thing; you need intellect and wisdom to extract it. This is how one serves God. That what? That whenever you approach anything, you must know that there is a King's daughter found there.

There is faith here, there is something hidden, there is some inner depth, some great light that can bring you closer to God. Not only will it not distance me from God, this thing can bring me closer to God. This food can bring me closer to God. This trip can bring me closer to God.

The work I do now, the livelihood, can bring me closer to Hashem, not distance me from Him. It is good; there is wonderful good here. There is nothing that does not contain good here. There is nothing that does not have a divine spark within it that gives it life.

Nothing. That is the vitality of the thing. Without that divine spark, the thing would be dead; it would not be alive. Everything found in this world— inanimate, plant, animal, speaking—has a point of vitality, of divinity, and if I find it, I cleave to it, I illuminate the place with a great light, I am close to Hashem.

But there is also evil that covers it. The evil is forgetfulness, nature, concealment, desires in the permitted, and all the more so in the forbidden. All these things are the evil that covers the good. How do I clarify the good from the evil ?

How do I find the good? Rabbeinu says, if a person looks with intellect and wisdom, meaning even with physical eyes, he says this is Jacob and Esau. And about Esau, the verse says, in the portion it is written "this red, red ," why does it say "the red, the red"? " Feed me from this red stuff." The verse comes to hint that he looks at the exterior, he sees the red, what shines to him, those lights that shine to him, "here, come to me, there is something here." But Jacob our father looks at the inner dimension; he does not see "red, red" here.

He made some lentil stew for mourning, to remember that this world is not life forever. Is that the hint of it? Everything that is within this inner dimension of the lentils. This is the war between Jacob and Esau.

But Esau arrives first. Esau is always born first, he is the firstborn. And Jacob must arrive and take the birthright from Esau. This world, the* Kelipat Nogah*(the shell of radiance), always arrives first.

A person wakes up in the morning, the first thing you see is them. If you succeed through intellect, through wisdom, to move it aside and believe that here, the blessed Hashem is present here. I don't know how yet, but I believe. There is holiness here.

There is some purpose here, there is some goal here. Reb Noson says even if a person doesn't know what the wisdom is that is here, he believes that there is wisdom here. There is nothing that hides Hashem, that is faith. Nothing.

Wherever I am, whatever place a person finds himself, " There is no place void of Him, and the whole earth is filled with His glory." The blessed Hashem is here. Therefore, I already pray to Him and rejoice with Him and believe in Him, even if I do not see yet. If a person strengthens himself in faith, this light shines for him, and suddenly there is light. "And the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn , that shines more and more unto the perfect day." Like the sun that rises, a point becomes more light.

A person enters a room, the room is dark, so every chair trips him, everything; he turns on a small light and that's it, he no longer falls, he knows how to walk. That is called "you found it." And how he extracted it, he did not tell . But in the end, he extracted it. It cannot be told, it is interesting.

They tell a long story but don't tell you what happened. Because it cannot be told , it is the redemption of every person. To each their own, each one with their own story. And also, Messiah hasn't arrived yet, so the complete redemption hasn't happened.

But you should know that in the end, it will be brought out . Meaning, the point isn't how you will find it, or how exactly you brought it out. The point is the search. Search, search, in that you have found.

The very fact that you are searching means in the end it will be brought out. It says "in the end"(basof) has a gematria of 148. That is the name of our Rabbi, Nachman. That our Rabbi brings it out in the end , our Rabbi brings it forth.

The hint in this is also, as we said before, that " in the end" means—I just want to finish quickly for my part, I don't want to start again, I want to start the second story next week. Just one more second. So, one must always know that there is an end to every trouble, there is an end , and eventually salvation comes. If a person pushes for the end, they bring troubles upon themselves.

When a person asks, when will there be salvation? And why hasn't God helped me yet? You are stretching the end and then you fall into the end of all flesh, into a different end. A person must know there is an end to every trouble and eventually salvation comes, and in the meantime, I trust in God, I search for God, and I don't ask questions.

In the end, there will be salvation. May God help that soon there will be complete, perfect salvation, and may it come speedily in our days.