Transcript
Alright, so on פרשת תולדות Parshas Toldos. So in פרשת תולדות Parshas Toldos, we have the, towards the end, we have the ברכות brachos that are given. So the says the following. See where we are, page קע\"ט Kuf Ayin Tes, נתיבות שלום Nesivas Shalom. ויתן לך האלקים מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ V'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim m'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz, ורב דגן ותירש v'rov dagan v'sirosh. Hashem should give you from the dew of the heaven and the fat of the land and great grain and and wine, oil, all the blessings of גשמיות gashmiyus, all the ברכה bracha that you should kill it in גשמיות gashmiyus. May the stock market go up, may your business increase, may your profit margins grow, may your customer base grow. מאמר חז\"ל Ma'amar Chazal, the מדרש Medrash, ויתן לך v'yiten l'cha, ויתן ויחזור ויתן v'yiten v'yachzor v'yiten. So the מדרש Medrash says about these words that the ברכה bracha is given, ויתן לך האלקים מטל השמים v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim m'tal hashamayim, Hashem should give you, pass me that חומש Chumash right behind you. On top, not on top, the little pamphlet. That's it. That's תולדות Toldos. So the מדרש Medrash says on these words, ויתן לך האלקים v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim, may Hashem give you, the מדרש Medrash says, יתן ויחזור ויתן yiten v'yachzor v'yiten. May Hashem give, and return, and give again. Who are these ברכות brachos given to? It's not a trick question, guys, פרשת תולדות Parshas Toldos. Don't have to be shy, are some more little כולו kulo here. יתן ויחזור ויתן Yiten v'yachzor v'yiten. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is giving יעקב Yaakov the ברכה bracha. We have the struggle, יעקב Yaakov takes the ברכה bracha from עשו Esav. This is that פרשה parsha. So, just to catch everybody on board. So, so יצחק Yitzchak gives this ברכה bracha to יעקב Yaakov. יתן לך מטל השמים Yiten l'cha m'tal hashamayim. May Hashem give you all the, may there be a flow, an overflow of ברכה bracha, which the מדרש Medrash says, יתן ויחזור ויתן yiten v'yachzor v'yiten, should give and return and give again. The question, the מדרש Medrash asks is, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, יתן ויחזור ויתן yiten v'yachzor v'yiten, I understand when it comes to, בשלמא בשר ודם שהוא מוגבל, יש גבול ליכולת נתינתו bishlama bosor v'dom shehu mugbal, yesh gvul l'yecholos nesinaso. A human being has limits, has boundaries to what he could give. So I can give you now, come back later, I'll give you again, I can't give you it all in one shot. Or it reminds me of you go to the ATM machine. So there's a maximum amount you could take out. So you take out, then you go to the other ATM machine, then you take out the other credit card, then you take out your wife's debit card, you take out more, because you need more cash but there's a maximum cash you can take out. So יחזור yachzor, יתן ויחזור ויתן yiten v'yachzor v'yiten. Give, come back again. I'll give you more later. I can't give it to you in one lump sum. אבל הקדוש ברוך הוא, הרי יכול לתן בפעם אחת בלי גבול Aval Hakadosh Baruch Hu, harei yachol l'tein b'pa'am achas bli gvul. The רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam is infinite, omnipotent, and perfect. Nothing is beyond Him. He can give the entire thing in one lump sum. מה אם כן המשמעות Mai eim kein ha'mashmaos, ויתן ויחזור ויתן v'yiten v'yachzor v'yiten. So what does the מדרש Medrash mean when it interprets that the ברכה bracha came from Hashem incrementally? He'll give and then he'll return and give again. ובעצם הברכה שבירך יצחק צריכה ביאור U'v'etzem ha'bracha she'beirach Yitzchak tzrichah biur. מדוע הברכה היא על ענינים גשמיים ולא ברוחניות שזה העיקר Madua ha'bracha hee al inyanim gashmi'im v'lo b'ruchaniyus shezeh ha'ikar. It's also very, very peculiar. You go to a גדול בישראל Gadol b'Yisrael for a ברכה bracha. I was privileged to take my kids around New York to different גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael to get a ברכה bracha before their wedding. So nobody said may you have the most beautiful apartment and the nicest car, and may you have the greatest income and may you get, not one of the ברכות brachos included that. Included, may you have שלום בית shalom bayis, may you grow in תורה Torah, may your home be a place of חסד chesed, may you have אמונה emunah, may you both realize your potential. The great יצחק Yitzchak, who is the lineage, who is the next generation to build the legacy of אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, and his ברכה bracha is not רוחניות ruchiyus. He doesn't say may you have יראת שמים yiras shamayim, may you grow in חסד chesed, his ברכה bracha is, may you kill it in the stock market. I hope your business grows exponentially. יתן ויחזור ויתן yiten v'yachzor v'yiten. עוד יש לומר, למה בברכה שבירך יצחק את יעקב כשהיה סבור שהוא עשו, כתיב ויתן לך האלקים Od yesh lomar, lamah b'bracha she'beirach Yitzchak es Yaakov k'she'hayah sovor shehu Esav, k'siv v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim. ובברכה לעשו נאמר רק משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך U'v'bracha l'Esav ne'emar rak mishmanei ha'aretz yehiyeh moshav'cha, ולא נזכר שם אלקים v'lo nizkar shem Elokim. If you look, the ברכות brachos that are given to יעקב Yaakov and to עשו Esav are really similar, they're awfully similar. They're just formulated in a different way, but they seem to be a very similar ברכה bracha. So יעקב Yaakov is given the ברכה bracha of יתן לך האלקים yiten l'cha ha'Elokim. May God, and specifically with the name אלקים Elokim, may God give you from the fat of the land. And to עשו Esav the ברכה bracha is, משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך mishmanei ha'aretz yehiyeh moshav'cha. May the fat of the land be your dwelling. Left out God's name. But really, essentially the same ברכה bracha. What's going on? So those are the Slanimer Rebbe's several questions for this week. Number one, רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam God can give in one lump sum. So why does the מדרש Medrash interpret that he's going to give, go back and give again? Number two, why is יצחק Yitzchak giving these ברכות brachos all together? Give יעקב Yaakov a ברכה bracha that he should be a גדול בישראל gadol b'Yisrael, he should grow in תורה Torah and יראת שמים yiras shamayim and חסד chesed and so on. She'll have נחת nachas from the kinder. And number three is, he gives עשו Esav essentially the same ברכה bracha, but the only difference is he mentions אלקים Elokim with יעקב Yaakov and leaves it out with עשו Esav. Why? But the return is definitely not like if it's you, return it to Hashem and then I'll give it to you again. No, it's not not not you'll give it back to me, it'll cycle. It's I'm going to give you but what I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you in increments. Why is Hashem giving it in increments? The יש לומר הנה בא בא עוד מדרש Yesh lomar, hiney ba, ba od Medrash. The מדרש Medrash continues, ויתן לך האלקים v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim, ויתן לך אלקותא v'yiten l'cha elkusah. We're misreading it. We just read the פסוק pasuk, ויתן לך האלקים v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim. God, may God give you, מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ m'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz, from this list of ברכות brachos. May God give you the car, the house, the God, the clothing, the גשמיות gashmiyus, the latest technology. But we're מדרש Medrash says don't read it that way. Read it, ויתן לך v'yiten l'cha, may you be given, האלקים ha'Elokim. May you be given a connection, a closeness, a feeling that Hashem is in your life. ויש בספרים הקדושים, דהכוונה שבירך יצחק היה בראשית כל V'yesh b'sfarim hak'doshim, d'hakavanah she'beirach Yitzchak hayah b'roshis kol, ויתן לך אלקותא v'yiten l'cha elkusah. The first ברכה bracha you could give anyone is may you have a relationship with your creator. May you feel connected, may you feel close, may you feel everything that's happening in your life is not random, is not chance, but it's for a reason and it's by design. May everything you have realized come from Hashem and realize whatever you have is what you need. So the very first gift, the first ברכה bracha that יצחק Yitzchak is giving יעקב Yaakov is ויתן לך v'yiten l'cha, אלקים Elokim. May you be זוכה zocher, because how many of us in life go through the motions. Go to shul, we learn the דף Daf, we do the, write the check for צדקה tzedakah, we do the חסד chesed, we light the candle, we blow the שופר shofar, we sit in the סוכה sukkah, we shake the, the חנוכה Chanukah candles. And yet, we don't have ויתן לך אלקים v'yiten l'cha Elokim. It's just empty actions. It's just rote, it's just motions. It's our to-do list, because either that's the way we grew up, or socially we feel pressure, or we're hoping our children will feel more connected, so we're doing it to put them on the right path. People have all kinds of motivations, but עיקר חסר מן הספר ikar choser min hasefer, what they're missing is the core, what they're missing is the centerpiece of it all, which is a feeling of a connection that what I'm doing is building a relationship. I'm in a relationship with Hashem. I speak to Him and he speaks to me. As Rabbi Soloveitchik said, we speak to Hashem when we daven and he speaks to us when we learn Torah. Or he speaks to us when we experience life, when we're out in the world, and we see his miracles, the chance, the coincidence, the things that worked out that were never supposed to work out. Yesterday, right, our speaker who who flew to bomb the nuclear reactor in Iraq who talked about the יד ה' Yad Hashem, the miracles that happened, right, that what's his name was on his yacht? Hussein I think? Yeah, Hussein was on his yacht and and phoned in six airplanes just went over us but it did the message didn't get through. All these things. So people go through the motions but we need to find ויתן לך אלקותא v'yiten l'cha elkusah. Begins the first ברכה bracha, the greatest ברכה bracha we can give our children is that you wake up in the morning and you feel the love, you feel the guidance, you feel the support, and you feel that everything is for a reason. And then everything else falls into that template, falls into that paradigm. שיהיה דבוק תמיד בשם יתברך, שזה תכלית כל תרי\"ג מצוות She'yehiyeh davuk tameed b'Shem Yisbarach, she'zeh tachlis kol ha'Taryag mitzvos. That you should always be clinging to Hashem, because that in fact is the essence of all מצוות mitzvos. The מצוות mitzvos are not given there randomly. The מצוות mitzvos are not given there to prove our obedience. The מצוות mitzvos are given as means to cling to and to feel connected with Hashem. כי יש בספרים הקדושים, תרי\"ג מצוות הם תרי\"ג עצין למצוות ובא למצוות ובא תדבק Ki yesh b'sfarim hak'doshim, Taryag mitzvos heim Taryag eitzin l'mitzvos u'vo l'mitzvas u'vo tidbak. It's not 613 separate מצוות mitzvos. We don't have 613 independent separate commandments. Of course, we do. The גמרא Gemara in מכות Makkos derives how we get 613. And all our ראשונים Rishonim debate, how do you calculate, סמ\"ג Smag, and סמ\"ק Smak, and the רמב\"ם Rambam, and the רמב\"ן Ramban, and the, everybody tries to calculate. How do you categorize what is much more than 613 into 613? One of the driving principles that allow you to characterize. So the ספרים קדושים sfarim hak'doshim, the חסידישע ספרים Chasidishe sfarim say, we don't have 613 מצוות mitzvos. We have one מצוה mitzvah. We are alive to fulfill one mission, ובא תדבק u'vo tidbak. To cling to, to connect with Hashem. That when I'm at the red light, or I'm running late for the flight, or things didn't work out at work, or I'm getting anxious, I'm getting worried, I'm getting nervous, ובא תדבק u'vo tidbak, I stick with Hashem. Like the משך חכמה Meshech Chochmah of Meir Simcha says, ובא תדבק u'vo tidbak, דבק devek is glue. Hashem says, I got your back, stick with me. Stick with me. And that's our one מצוה mitzvah. That's our one mission. We have 613 mechanisms, mediums, chances, channels to fulfill that one מצוה mitzvah, ובא תדבק u'vo tidbak. So how we tie our shoe, to making a ברכה bracha before we eat, to how we daven, to what we say, what we look at, what we listen to, where we go, how we conduct ourselves in business, it is all a platform for, ובא תדבק u'vo tidbak. It's all a platform for feeling Hashem and clinging and sticking with him. שזה התכלית של כל יהודי יהיה דבוק בשם יתברך Shezeh ha'tachlis shel kol yehudi yehiyeh davuk b'Shem Yisbarach. וזה בירך אותו יצחק, שיתן לך אלקותא בכל דבר U'zeh beirach oso Yitzchak, she'yiten l'cha elkusah b'chol davar. So it's not that יצחק Yitzchak went right to the גשמיות gashmiyus and skipped over the רוחניות ruchiyus. יצחק Yitzchak only gave him the ברכה bracha of רוחניות ruchiyus. ויתן לך V'yiten l'cha, האלקים ha'Elokim. May you wake up and feel Hashem in your life. Know that you're loved, know that you're special, know that you're individual, know that you're inimitable, know that you're here for a reason, know that he has a mission for you, know that you can give him נחת nachas. One moment, where you didn't look at the thing you weren't supposed to look at. One moment where you made the ברכה bracha. One moment where you showed the patient, patience. At that one moment you're giving נחת רוח השם nachas ruach Hashem, you're giving him joy and pride. And that's everything. יתן לך Yiten l'cha, may you feel in your life, האלקים ha'Elokim. Know Hashem loves you and love him. That's everything. That's everything. וזה בירך אותו יצחק שיתן לך אלקותא בכל דבר U'v'zeh beirach oso Yitzchak she'yiten l'cha elkusah b'chol davar, שיהיה תמיד דבוק בשם יתברך, בבחינת שיויתי השם לנגדי תמיד she'yehiyeh tamid davuk b'Shem Yisbarach b'vchinas shivis Hashem l'negdi tamid. Feel it always. ולכן נאמר כאן אלקים ולא שם הוי\"ה שהוא שם החסד, לרמז על ענין ויתן לך אלקותא V'lachein ne'emar kan Elokim v'lo shem Havayah shehu shem ha'chesed, l'ramez al inyan v'yiten l'cha elkusah. And that's why it doesn't say ויתן לך י-ק-ו-ק v'yiten l'cha Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei. It's ויתן לך אלקים v'yiten l'cha Elokim, the name אלקים Elokim. לאור זה יש לומר, אז כל תוכן הברכה שנכלל בהם כל עניני עבודת השם L'or zeh yesh lomar, az kol tochen ha'bracha shenichlal bahem kol inyanei avodas Hashem. It wasn't י-ק-ו-ק Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei the name of חסד chesed. Don't just feel Hashem when he's showering you with חסד chesed. Don't just feel Hashem when everything's going right, and everything is well, and everything's the way you want it. ויתן לך האלקים, אלקותא V'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim, elkusah. אלקותא Elkusah. ענין ויתן לך האלקים מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ Inyan v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim m'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz. That's our ברכה bracha. Why? Because you think it would be the opposite. Right, so it's not may you feel מידת הדין midas hadin. May you suffer יסורים yisurim. May you feel Hashem's judgment, strict and harsh judgment. That's not the ברכה bracha. What he means by אלקים Elokim is אלקותא elkusah. אלקותא Elkusah means his providence over you. His י-ק-ו-ק Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei is the name of חסד chesed specifically. אלקותא Elkusah is more broadly, broadly, Hashem's providence. May you feel Hashem's role, his presence in your life. the master of the world. May you see him behind everything that's happening. May you feel his presence broadly as the dominant force, his providence in the world at large. ויתן לך האלקים מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ V'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim m'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz. היינו שיתן לך אלקותא בכל הענינים הגשמיים הנכללים בטל השמים ומשמני הארץ Haynu she'yiten l'cha elkusah b'chol ha'inyanim ha'gashmiyim ha'nichlalim b'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz. And now we understand the continuation of the ברכה bracha. ויתן לך האלקים V'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim. May you feel Hashem. Where? How? When? מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ M'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz. The dew that falls from heaven and the fat that rises from the land, that's all from Hashem. You go to work, you think that you're the one who did the great, who did the great procedure, you're the one who did the successful surgery, you're the one who diagnosed the patient, you're the one who killed it in court, you're the one who made the business deal, you're the one who read the echocardiogram correctly. I think we covered everybody. You're the one who, you're the one who gave the great דרשה drasha. You think it was you? Right? You think it was you? You think it was your wisdom and your acumen and your hard work? It was. And you should be proud of your initiative that you took. There's no question, have pride. Hashem gave you the tools, you utilize those tools. You didn't have to. There are plenty of people who waste their tools. Their tools rot and get rusty and they're not used properly. Be proud, use the tools. But know in the end of the day that the success, the senior partner in it all is the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. So when ויתן לך האלקים v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim, when you have a relationship with Hashem, then מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ m'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz. Whether it's falling from the sky or it's coming up from the land, see that Hashem is behind it all. The ברכות brachos, the ברכות brachos in life. We woke up this morning, we're healthy, we're alive. We're still davening for our friend Rabbi Mike Stern, who needs a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah desperately, יוסף אלימלך בן יהודית Yosef Elimelech ben Yehudis. We're still reeling from the loss in Pittsburgh, our own personal loss here. All of this confronts us with a sense of mortality and vulnerability and how fragile we are. So we have, ברוך השם baruch Hashem, wonderful גשמיות gashmiyus in life, a nice car and a nice house and nice clothing and nice opportunity and nice, we have all the גשמיות gashmiyus. It's all worth nothing if you don't have the rest. If you don't have good health, if you don't have a life to live it. And how, how do you have a life to live it? ויתן לך האלקים V'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim. To realize, don't take it for granted, what a ברכה bracha, and the gratitude that we have to have. And then to see Hashem's hand within this גשמיות gashmiyus. שעל ידי זה יעשו הכל לשם שמים וישתמשו בכל הברכות הגשמיות מתוך כוונה לשם השם She'al yadei zeh ya'asu hakol l'shem shamayim v'yishtamshu b'chol ha'brachos ha'gashmiyos m'toch kavanah l'shem Hashem. So both to feel, ויתן לך האלקים v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim, when you have an אלקותא elkusah, when you feel Hashem's presence in your life, then מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ m'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz, you'll see it all coming from Hashem. But not only will you see it coming from Hashem, you'll feel a responsibility to direct it to Hashem. Why do you have the טל השמים ומשמני הארץ tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz? What's the point of the money, the bank account, the income, the killer גשמיות gashmiyus? Why do you have that all? It's all there to advance Hashem's vision for his world. It's all there to push his platform forward. This Ramchal quotes Mesilas Yesharim, shetachlis ha'yehudim, shechol bas ha'olam, hu liyos davuk b'Shem Yisbarach u'l'hisaneig al Hashem. Our mission, our mandate in the world, our purpose and existence is to cling to Hashem and to get high on God. In the words of Rebbe Shlomo, oh Lord, get me high. ושמה הקדוש ברוך הוא, סם הקדוש ברוך הוא במקום שרבים בו המרחיקים אותו ממנו יתברך, והם עניני החומר ותאוות עולם הזה, שאדם שואב בהם ביותר בעולם הזה, שכל אלו מרחיקים אותו משם יתברך V'samah Hakadosh Baruch Hu, sam Hakadosh Baruch Hu b'makom she'rabim bo ha'marchikim oso mimeno Yisbarach, heim inyanei ha'chomer v'ta'avos olam hazeh she'adam sho'eiv bahem b'yoser ba'olam hazeh, she'koleilu marchikim oso m'Shem Yisborach. As the רמח\"ל Ramchal writes, Hashem deposited us in a world of distractions. He deposited us in a world where it's hard to uncover Hashem, to see Hashem, to connect to Hashem. Because you know, the great steak, the delicious bottle of wine, and the imagery of the magnificent, beautiful women, or the temptation of money or fame or social media. There's a million distractions and temptations that confuse us and that cause us to think they're the reason we're here, that fleeting, temporal pleasure. That's what it's all about. They distract us. And our mission, our mandate is להתענג על השם l'hisaneig al Hashem. Is to say, no, the food, the drink, the גשמיות gashmiyus, even the the physical intimacy, the interaction, the love, the pleasure, it's all there as expressions of להתענג על השם l'hisaneig al Hashem, to see Godliness within it, to use it to connect with Hashem, to see Hashem in it, and to use it to connect to Hashem, to transform the גשמיות gashmiyus to רוחניות ruchniyus. We just took off our תפילין tefillin, we just davened. תפילין Tefillin is the ultimate expression of that. תפילין Tefillin are designed by definition, they are entirely physical. Every component of the תפילין tefillin come from an animal. The leather box, the leather parchment, the leather ink, or the ink from an animal, the sinews that are used to sew up the boxes, the leather straps. Every part of תפילין tefillin is from an animal, a base, mundane animal. And what do we do? We say, I'm going to take these animal parts and fashion them into a holy vessel, which you can't drop. We kiss it when we take it out, we kiss it when we put it away, we kiss it during davening, which has a holiness and a sanctity and it can't be brought into a bathroom. And if it ever gets, gets ruined or grows old, you have to bury it and treat it with the ultimate respect. So there's a cow roaming in the field, the cow could be my shoes, they could be the leather in my car, it could be my belt, it could be my dinner. That's the mundane use of the cow. But we take the cow, we turn it into תפילין tefillin. תפילין Tefillin among the holiest objects that we have, because our mission in life, תפילין tefillin is just a symbol, and that's how we start our day with that symbol, is to engage the physical world. Go to work, kill it in business, kill it in life, enjoy the גשמיות gashmiyus, but the גשמיות gashmiyus is there in order to make contact and have access with the רוחניות ruchniyus, to transform it just like the תפילין tefillin into a means to connect with Hashem. ובברכה זו של יצחק, ויתן לך אלקותא, ועתה יתברך, וזה הוא שאמר, יצחק ליעקב, יתן לך אלקותא, יען כי אתה צריך להתרחק מחמת כל המרחיקים U'v'bracha zu shel Yitzchak, v'yiten l'cha elkusah, v'atah yitbarech, v'zeh hu she'amar Yitzchak l'Yaakov, yiten l'cha elkusah, ya'an ki ata tzarich l'hisrachek machmas kol ha'marchikim. He says to יעקב Yaakov, my little יעקב Yaakov, he's not so little then. My יעקב Yaakov, you're about to go into the world. Because where is יעקב Yaakov heading, by the way? He's heading out of the house. He's been in the house. And he's going now to the ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem v'Ever for 14 years, and then from there going to the house of לבן Lavan. So you're about to engage a very complete, complicated, confusing world. I think Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky is the one who says, why did יעקב Yaakov need 14 years in ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem v'Ever? He just had his whole life in the ישיבה yeshiva of יצחק Yitzchak and the ישיבה yeshiva of אברהם Avraham. You don't have a better בית מדרש beis medrash than the בית מדרש beis medrash of your זדה Zaideh, אברהם Avraham and your father יצחק Yitzchak. You had to go to ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem v'Ever? I think it's Rav Yaakov who says, they're two different בתי מדרש battei medrash. The בית מדרש beis medrash of אברהם Avraham and יצחק Yitzchak is the בית מדרש beis medrash of כולו שקוע בתורה kulo shakuah b'Torah. You're sitting, you're fully immersed in Torah, there is nothing else. You're protected from the elements of the world, from the people of the world. All you're doing is sitting and learning. שם ועבר Shem v'Ever, if you understand their lives and the generation in which they lived, they have a different בית מדרש beis medrash. Their בית מדרש beis medrash was preparing them, how do you go live with a לבן Lavan? How do you go into a business world that's going to come up with tricky situations? How do you maintain your ערליכקייט ehrlichkait? How do you maintain your faith when you're invited to eat non-kosher at a non-kosher restaurant with a business partner, or the business partner wants you to go to a bar or some other venue which may not be for a בן תורה Ben Torah? Or how do you do it when he says, pay me under the table and we can leave off the taxes, or pay me the thing and let's cut the deal on the side or, how do you live in the home of לבן Lavan? That's a different בית מדרש beis medrash altogether. So before יעקב Yaakov, who is this pure innocent יושב אהלים yoshev ohalim, this איש תם יושב אהלים ish tam yoshev ohalim, this pure innocent יעקב Yaakov who's grown up in the בית מדרש beis medrash of purity is about to go live in the house of לבן Lavan, you gotta make a pit stop in ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem v'Ever. It's a different ישיבה yeshiva that prepares you in a different way. And I'm not gonna give you my whole tangent right now, but it's one of my hang-ups is that I think our ישיבות yeshivos in Israel should be preparing amazing בעלי בתים balei batim of tomorrow. Right? Not to prepare in a vacuum as if you're in a pure ישיבה yeshiva and this is the way you're going to be able to live the rest of your life. Maybe שנה א' Shanah Aleph can be that, and שנה ב' Shanah Bet is, and now you're about to go, and you're going to go to college and graduate school and enter the business world and have to learn to balance and juggle all kinds of things in life, responsibilities, obligations, temptations, how do we create the ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem v'Ever, the בית מדרש beis medrash? And and our children need both. They need to know, they need to have experienced that there is such a thing as a ישיבה yeshiva of אברהם ויצחק Avraham v'Yitzchak, there is the ישיבה yeshiva of purity, of תמימות tmimus, but you also need the ישיבה yeshiva of שם ועבר Shem v'Ever. You need to know that how do we train the בעלי בתים balei batim of tomorrow? Because too many we see, what happens? They when they're in ישיבה yeshiva, so they live a ישיבה yeshiva lifestyle. They make it to מנין minyan, they're learning and so on. Excuse me. And then they become בעלי בתים balei batim, with quotation marks. And you become בעלי בתים balei batim, I'm past the growth phase and בעלי בתים balei batim don't make מנין minyan as often, and בעלי בתים balei batim cut corners and בעלי בתים balei batim come late, and בעלי בתים balei batim talk in shul, and בעלי בתים balei batim go to the קידוש קלאב kiddush club and בעלי בתים balei batim, I'm a בעל בית balabos now. So now I have a license to do all the things בעלי בתים balei batim do. Who says? So the fault, the mistake was, we weren't in the בית מדרש beis medrash telling you how to become the best בעל בית balabos. We were telling you right now you're a ישיבה yeshiva student. I know a ישיבה yeshiva in Israel, it's a more חרדי ישיבה chareidi yeshiva, but it has the boys not dress in white and black in ישיבה yeshiva, and has them wear their blue shirts in ישיבה yeshiva. Why? Because it says what's going to happen? While you're in ישיבה yeshiva you're wearing your white shirt and your hat and jacket and you're a ישיבה בחור yeshiva bachur, and so you're going to behave and live a certain way. And then you're going to go back and you're going to enter the workforce and it's a heter because you're in the workforce. You're going to wear colored shirts. And now because you're dressed differently, your mentality, you're going to think that you're now you're just a בעל בית balabos. It's okay to go to that place. It's okay to take the ירמולקע yarmulke off. It's okay to eat there. It's okay to, you got to learn what you're going to wear, you got to do when you're. So, this הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu deposits us in this עולם של מרחיקים olam shel marchikim, this world of things that are trying to distance us from him, distractions, obstacles that need to be navigated. How do we find him, how to connect with him, despite these obstacles that are put in our path? How? So that was the ברכה bracha יצחק Yitzchak gave. תקע'ס Taka, it's the ברכה bracha we should be giving all of our children. ויתן לך האלקים V'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim. First thing is, may you have a sincere, authentic, close relationship with Hashem. Feel him in your life. Let may you hear him talking to you and may you talk to him. Be דבוק davuk. And how do you do that? Now, now how do you execute that? מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ M'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz. When you're cutting a deal, when you're going to work, when you're shopping, when you're at the gym, when you're in the street, when you're the בעל בית balabos, now מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ m'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz, go kill it. שיכניס אלקותא יתברך בכל מצב, בכל עניני עולם הזה ותאוותיו, שכל יהיה לשם יתברך She'yachnis elkusah Yisbarach b'chol matzav, b'chol inyanei olam hazeh v'ta'avosov, she'hakol yehiyeh l'shem Yisbarach. כי כל אלו הדברים המרחיקים הרי בעצם הם ממאמרי השם יתברך הקדוש Ki kol eilu ha'dvarim ha'marchikim harei b'etzem heim m'ma'amarei Hashem Yisbarach hakadosh. אין רע יורד מן השמים Ein ra yored min hashamayim. The truth is all these things, there is nothing that's categorically bad. None of these things are bad. אלא כל עניני הבה ועניני הגשם ניתנו כדי שיודע ירים אותם לעבודת השם Ela kol inyanei hava v'inyanei ha'geshem nisnu k'dei she'yehudi yarim osom l'avodas Hashem. They're all there for us to mold, to shape, to transform. Nothing, just like the animal, the cow. Is the cow categorically good or bad? Yes, it's both. The cow can be bad, can give you high cholesterol and clog your arteries and kill you if you eat too much of it. The cow can be transformed into a pair of תפילין tefillin. The cow can be turned into a ספר תורה Sefer Torah, מזוזה mezuzah. אז אם רואים בזה את טובתו, שאינם דברים המרחיקים אלא דברים המקרבים אותו לשם יתברך Az im ro'im b'zeh es tovaso, she'einam dvarim ha'marchikim ela dvarim ha'm'karvim oso l'Shem Yisbarach. So let's say you're eating a healthy life, you're on a diet, and you see a piece of chocolate cake. So the piece of chocolate cake can be your greatest enemy in the world, it's your biggest obstacle. I'm dying for the chocolate cake. How do I navigate the chocolate cake? I'm struggling with the chocolate cake. I have tension with the chocolate cake. I have conflict with the chocolate cake. Chocolate cake could be your biggest enemy, the biggest source of רע ra. But the chocolate cake is your friend because you say, chocolate cake, you're here to test me and I'm going to pass that test. And I'm so happy that you think you can get me because I have no interest in you, chocolate cake. You, chocolate cake, are a springboard for me to express my discipline, my free will, my sovereignty over you, to realize my potential to say no. And now, chocolate cake, you didn't become my enemy, you're my greatest friend because you've helped propel me to a whole new level when I say no to you. So that's a silly example of the chocolate cake, but that's the מרחיקים marchikim are really מקרבים m'karvim. The things that we think are in this world that distance us from Hashem, they're obstacles, they challenge us, they're wedges, in fact, they can draw us closer when we engage them from a perspective of ויתן לך האלקים v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim. על ידי זה יהודי מתגבר על תאוותיו, ועל אלה הדברים המרחיקים, הרי הוא מלא בזה את כל ישוב השם יתברך המתקיימת בברכה ויתן לך אלקותא בכל עניני הגשמיים Al yedei zeh yehudi misgaber al ta'avosov v'al eileh ha'devarim ha'marchikim, ha'reihu moleh b'zeh as kol yishuv Hashem ha'miskamyes b'bracha v'yiten l'cha elkusah b'chol inyanei ha'gashmiyim. Ah, you're trying to present yourself as just גשמיות gashmiyus to me? No way, גשמיות gashmiyus. I see the רוחניות ruchniyus in you. I'm going to reveal the רוחניות ruchniyus in you. I'm going to use you for רוחניות ruchniyus purposes, רוחניות ruchniyus growth, because I have ויתן לך אלקותא v'yiten l'cha elkusah. כי יש בספרים הקדושים על הפסוק, השם מספר בכסבה מם, שהקדוש ברוך הוא כביכול סופר את מעשיו של אדם שכותב בספר החשבון הנקרא ספר העמים, שאם כותב הרבה אפסים, אין עם אלא אתם כלום Ki yesh b'sfarim hak'doshim al ha'pasuk, Hashem mispar b'chashba amim, she'Hakadosh Baruch Hu k'viyachol sofer es ma'asim she'adam she'kosev b'sefer ha'cheshbon ha'nikra sefer amim, she'im kosev harbei efesim, einam ela atem klum. כשמוסיפים לפני כל האפסים, את המספר אחד, הרי זה נהפך לסכום גדול K'she'mosifim lifnei kol ha'efesim, es ha'mispar echad, harei zeh nehpach l'schum gadol. It's a great חסידישע ווארט Chasidishe vort they like to say. If you put a lot of zeros in a row, it's nothing. When you put a one in front of all those zeros, you get a very, very, very big number. So all these things are zeros. All these temptations of the world are zeros. When you put a one in front of them, you put the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam in front of them, they become enormous things. So having the big house or the car or the גשמיות gashmiyus, enjoying food and drink, enjoying physical pleasure, all of that is a big zero. It's a big zero. But when you put the one in front of those things, put the one, השם אחד Hashem echad, the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam in front of them, you turn that one into a billion, a trillion, a gazillion, whatever number Glenn Gallish is up to. You turn it into a a huge number, huge, huge billions and billions and billions. And that's the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. על דעת זה, כשהיהודי עושה פעולות שאין כדוגמת אפסים, שאין להם ערך Al daas zeh, k'she'yehudi oseh pulos she'ein k'dugmas efesim she'ein lahem erech. So when a Jew does activities and actions which are a big אפס efes, they're a big zero, הרי במשכלות פעולותיו הגשמיות, עושה הוא לשם יתברך, מרומם בזה את כל פעולות האפסים שעשה Harei b'mishklos pulosav ha'gashmios, oseh hu l'shem Yisbarach, m'romem b'zeh es kol pulos ha'efesim she'asah. All the zeros that you did when you put a one in front of it, now you've elevated it. הוא מה ענין המובא בספרים הקדושים לגבי ענין תאוות עולם הזה, שאם יהודי מכוון בראשית הפעולה שהוא ניגש לעשות לשם יתברך, אז אפילו אחר כך במשך פעולותיו שוב אינו בדרגה זו, מעלה מחשבתו הראשונה את הכל Hu me'inyan ha'muvah b'sfarim hak'doshim l'gabai inyan ta'avos olam hazeh, she'im yehudi m'chaven b'roshis ha'pulah she'hu nigash l'asos lishmo shel Hashem, az afilu achar kach b'meshech pulosov shuv eino b'dargah zu, ma'aleh machshavto ha'rishona es hakol. כיון שבטכילה מכוון דעתו לשם יתברך, הרי השם מספר בספר עמים, ומסעמים כל האפסים Kivan sh'b'techila m'chaven da'ato l'shem Yisbarach, harei Hashem mispar b'sefer amim u'm'sa'amin kol ha'efesim. So this is a big חסידישע Chasidishe perspective. This is one of the contributions of חסידות Chasidus was to tell the world that was enjoying the physical world. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not only found in the בית מדרש beis medrash over the ספרים sfarim, the גרא Gra, the נפש החיים Nefesh HaChaim, that the key, the core, the essence of of of a Jewish life is is תורה, תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם Torah, Talmud Torah k'neged kulam. But חסידות Chasidus said is absolutely, חכמה בינה דעת חב\"ד Chochmah Binah Da'as, Chabad, ספר תניא Sefer Tanya is all about the primacy of learning Torah. People think that they're either or. They're not a binary choice, they're not mutually exclusive. ספר תניא Sefer Tanya is all about endorsing learning Torah. But in addition to the תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם Talmud Torah k'neged kulam, an additional parallel means of connecting to הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is this עבודה avodah of seeing Hashem in the world of גשמיות gashmiyus and elevating it to רוחניות ruchniyus. So the notion of a פרברענגען farbrengen or a טיש tish of taking the food, the idea of לחיים l'chaims of transforming through the use of a לחיים l'chaim, taking away inhibitions and connecting to Hashem. The idea of the שיריים shirayim of the Rebbe, that once a person connecting to the צדיק Tzadik, the doctrine of the צדיק Tzadik, that the צדיק Tzadik who engages the food and who has successfully turned, he had a little piece of fish, and when he ate the fish, he wasn't thinking, I'm satisfying my בויך boych with the fish. Oh, it's him. He was in the עולמות עליונים olamos elyonim with the fish, transforming the fish. So now when I eat that fish, first of all, it's disgusting. But second of all, when I eat that fish, it's the one piece of שיריים shirayim I skip. I took a pass on the fish. But when I eat the fish, yeah, yeah, it's pretty nasty. When I eat the fish, exactly. Okay, well we didn't have the fish. What did we have? I don't know, whatever we had. So, so, but when you have the שיריים shirayim, so now you're making contact with the object which is no longer a physical object, it's transformed, it's been imbued with with spirituality. This is this doctrine, this is this mission. So it's understandable that the is interpreting this, ויתן לך אלקותא, ויתן לך אלקים v'yiten l'cha elkusah, v'yiten l'cha Elokim. This is not a Vilna Gaon vort. This is a Slonimer Rebbe vort. ויתן לך אלקים v'yiten l'cha Elokim. And how do you find אלקים Elokim? מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ m'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz, at the פרברענגען farbrengen, and with the לחיים l'chaim, and at the טיש tish, and during the barbecue, and with the at the געשמאק קידוש geshmak kiddush, שזו תכלית העבודה, זו תכלית הדרך כל עניני עולם הזה she'zu tachlis ha'avodah, zu tachlis ha'derech kol inyanei olam hazeh. כי יש בתורת אבות Ki yesh b'Toras Avos, this is the different. Other religions say how do you become holy? By escaping, by transcending, abstinence. Take a vow of abstinence and a vow of celibacy and a vow of silence and a vow of fasting. And we say you're just going to be hungry and have a lot of things to say and be very, you've been recorded so I won't. You you're going to we believe you find holiness how? Get married and there's a מצוה mitzvah of תשמיש tashmish. You say eat, but have a make a ברכה bracha and have it be kosher and have הכרת הטוב hages at that table. We believe that holiness is not found in escaping, holiness is found by elevating. כי יש בתורת אבות, הפסוק כשם אלקיך עמך לא חסרת דבר Ki yesh b'Toras Avos, ha'pasuk k'shem Elokecha imach lo chosarto dovor. כשם אלקיך עמך, when Hashem is with you, לא חסרת דבר lo chosarto dovor. If you take Hashem with you, you're never missing anything. He's always with you. You have what you need and you can elevate what you have. וכן פירשו הפסוק כי הצא כי יהיה אלקים עמך, העצה בכל ענינים היא שיהיה אלקים עמך, שמושב אלקיך עמך, יהודי מכוון בכל ענינים לשם השם להיות דבוק בשם, אז לא חסרת דבר בכל הענינים V'chein peirshu ha'pasuk ki ha'eitzah ki yehiyeh Elokim imach, ha'eitzah b'chol inyanim hee she'yehiyeh Elokim imach, she'moshav Elokecha imach, yehudi m'chaven b'chol inyanim l'shem Hashem, l'hiyos davuk b'Shem, az lo chosarto dovor b'chol ha'inyanim. והברכה זו שייכת דוקא ליעקב, ולכן אצל עשו נאמר רק משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך, ולא אמר ויתן לך אלקים, שהרי גם הוא, שגיהנום פתוחים מתחתיו, היודע כבר שהברכה זו אין לה שייכות אליו U'bracha zu shayachas davka l'Yaakov, v'lachein eitzel Esav ne'emar rak mishmanei ha'aretz yehiyeh moshav'cha, v'lo amar v'yiten l'cha Elokim, she'harei gam hu, she'gehinom psuchim m'tachtav, ha'yodeia kvar sh'ha'bracha zu ein lah shayachus eilov. יצחק Yitzchak understood, even though he was being tricked and fooled, יצחק Yitzchak knew he was giving this ברכה bracha to עשו Esav. עשו Esav doesn't live with an אלקים Elokim. For him גשמיות gashmiyus is all about the גשמיות gashmiyus. There is no רוחניות ruchniyus. וכן בברכה של יעקב כתיב בטכילה מטל השמים, ואחר כך משמני הארץ V'chein b'bracha shel Yaakov k'siv b'techilah m'tal hashamayim v'achar kach mishmanei ha'aretz. With יעקב Yaakov first it says, the dew of the heaven, then the fat of the land. דהיינו שטל גמטריא הוי\"ה אחד, שזה גם כן מורה על ענין אחדות השם יתברך, אצל עשו נאמר בתחילה משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך, אחר כך מטל השמים De'haynu she'tal gematria Havayah echad, she'zeh gam kein morah al inyan achdus Hashem Yisbarach. Eitzel Esav ne'emar b'techilah mishmanei ha'aretz yehiyeh moshav'cha, achar kach m'tal hashamayim. לעשו אין שייכות לענין זה, שיצר החומרי הוא העיקר L'Esav ein shaychus l'inyan zeh, she'yosher chomat ha'iker. עשו Esav, our enemies, or עשו Esav lives in a world, גשמיות gashmiyus is just גשמיות gashmiyus. What you see is what you get. There is no higher purpose, no higher power, there is no ability to transform, there is no ability to imbue. What you see is what you get, it's just a physical world. Indulge, have pleasure, enjoy. So it's the same ברכה bracha. We said, why is he giving יעקב Yaakov and עשו Esav the same ברכה bracha? It's the same ברכה bracha. But it's not. Three words make it an all together different ברכה bracha. יתן לך האלקים V'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim. When he, when יצחק Yitzchak tells יעקב Yaakov first, יתן לך האלקים v'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim, may you have a relationship with Hashem, now the rest of the ברכה bracha is entirely different. It's the one before all the zeros. יצחק Yitzchak gives יעקב Yaakov and עשו Esav a ברכה bracha of lots and lots of zeros. מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ, ומשמני הארץ יהיה מושבך M'tal hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz, u'mishmanei ha'aretz yehiyeh moshav'cha. Lots of zeros. The difference is, he wrote a check. יצחק Yitzchak wrote a check to יעקב Yaakov and עשו Esav with a lot of zeros. The difference is on יעקב's Yaakov's check he put a one before all the zeros, and he turned all those zeros into an enormous, enormous inheritance. ויש בזה בחינה גבוה מעל גבוה בעשה טוב, כמו שכתב הרמח\"ל במסילת ישרים, שיש בזה ב' מדרגות טהרה וקדושה V'yesh b'zeh v'chinah gavoah me'al gavoah b'asei tov, k'mo she'kasav ha'Ramchal b'Mesilas Yesharim, she'yesh b'zeh beis madreigos tahara v'kedusha. טהרה היא רק שמירת הטומאה, שנזהר בטומאה, אבל קדושה למעלה ממנה Tahara hee rak shmirus ha'tumah, she'nizhar b'tumah, aval kedusha l'maalah mimena. On the one hand we have טהרה tahara which is to be pure, which is to avoid being impure contamination. But we also have holiness, קדושה kedusha, sanctity which is even higher. עניין הגשמיות Inyan ha'gashmiyus. מעט מעבודת השם יתברך, עד שעושה סמוי בילתי לשם לבדו, והרי הוא נהפך להיות כהיכל, כמזבח, שמקריבים בהם קרבנות לשם יתברך, כל ענייניו הגשמים כקרבן עולה על גבי האישים me'at me'avodas Hashem yisborach, ad she'oseh samui bilti l'Shem l'vado, v'harei hu nehpach l'hiyos k'heichal, k'mizbeach, shemakrivim bahem korbanos l'Shem yisborach, kol inyanov ha'gashmiyim k'korban olah al gabei ha'ishim. That we have the capacity not just to avoid טומאה tumah. We don't just avoid being contaminated by the impurities of this world. We also have the capacity to attain קדושה kedusha. We turn our lives, we turn our tables into altars, into a מזבח mizbeach. And we offer Hashem קרבנות korbanos. בזה נכלל בי יתן לך אלקוסא, המדרגה הגבוהה של קדושה שלא רק את הראשית אלא כולם לשם השם B'zeh nichlal b'yiten l'cha elokusa, ha'madreiga ha'gevoha shel kedusha shelo rak es ha'reishis ela kulam l'shem Hashem. It's not just the beginning, אלא כל פעולותי בילתי לשם לבדו ela kol pe'ulosai bilti l'Shem l'vado. So, we're not just religious in shul for שחרית Shacharis and then we go to work where we're like עשו Eisav, that we say משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך mishmanei ha'aretz yihyeh moshevecha. We take that אלקותא elokusa. יתן לך אלקים Yiten l'cha Elokim is not just in shul, it comes with us, to work, to the gym, to the office, to the street. We're not בעלי בתים baalei batim to the exclusion of being בני תורה bnei Torah. We are בני תורה bnei Torah who happen to be בעלי בתים baalei batim or בני תורה bnei Torah in a different stage in our lives. יתן לך אלקותא Yiten l'cha elokusa, יתן לך אלקים yiten l'cha Elokim is the one before the zeros. So we don't, there's not a one in shul and then when we go out, it's all zeros, because all the zeros amount to nothing if you don't put a one in front of it. פרש יתן ויחזור ויתן Peirush, yiten v'yachzor v'yiten. Now we can answer this question and end.What does it mean? Hashem says give and go back and give again. We said, well הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu can't give it in one shot, he's got to give it incrementally? No one lump sum? יש לומר עניין הם במדרגות הגבוהות בבחינת עשה טוב בספרים הקדושים מראינו בזה מקור עבודת השם מדעת Yesh lomar inyan heim b'madreigos ha'gvo'os b'vchinas asei tov b'sfarim ha'kedoshim moreinu b'zeh mekor avodas Hashem mi'daas. As it says, דעת אלוקי אביך ועבדהו da'as elokei avicha v'avdeihu. שדעת היא מקור התענוג She'daas hi mekor ha'taanug. Where is the greatest pleasure? The greatest pleasure is in the intellect. It's not in the stomach, it's not in any other part of the body. The greatest pleasure is in the intellect, is in the דעת daas. כשיש ליהודי החכם דעת במוחו בגדלות, אז יש לו התענוג האמיתי בעבודת השם K'she'yeish l'Yehudi ha'chacham daas b'mocho b'gadlus, az yesh lo ha'taanug ha'amiti b'avodas Hashem. When you have this idea, when you have a breakthrough, when you're able to understand something, capture something, when you're able to experience intellectually something, that is the greatest, greatest high. נודע שהתענוג תמידי אין לו תענוג Nodeh she'ha'taanug tamidi ein lo taanug. על כן מסתלקים לפעמים מיהודי השגתו במוחו, בזה בעצם מתחסד מן השמים כדי שאחר כך יגיע למדרגה יותר גדולה, והוא הנקרא גדלות השני שלאחר ההפסק מצאה עודיה יותר גבוהה Al kein mistalkin l'fa'amim mi'Yehudi hasagaso b'mocho, b'zeh b'etzem mis'chased min ha'shamayim kedei she'achar kach yagia l'madreiga yoser gedola, v'hu ha'nikra gadlus ha'sheini she'l'achar ha'hefsek matzah odeha yoser gevoha. So, when you experience, when you have that breakthrough, when you make that חאפ chap, when you experience that pleasure, whatever pleasure it is, once you experience it continually, continuously, so it's no longer pleasurable. So you break through and you have this incredible. You found the place that has the greatest steak. And you go one night for the steak, and the next night for the steak, and the next night for the steak. At some point, it's no longer the greatest steak. The תענוג taanug, the pleasure, the joy is gone. What's true physically is true emotionally, is true spiritually, is true intellectually. It's true in every which way. So by by יתן yiten, I want to give you that capacity to connect to me in that way. But it's going to wane, it's going to wane, it's going to die out. And that's good, that's healthy, because then the pleasure renews itself, ויחזור ויתן v'yachzor v'yiten. You'll have the capacity to feel that sense, that pleasure once again. כדיתא במדרש על הפסוק ואלקים ניסה את אברהם K'deisa b'midrash al ha'pasuk v'Elokim nisah es Avraham. נס עשה לו נס על נס, נסיונות גדולים ועצומים בגדלות, כנס הזה של ספינה Nes asah lo nes al nes, nisyonos gedolim v'atzumim b'gadlus, k'nes hazeh shel sfinah. The purpose of the test is like a banner on a boat. הוא כדעתו בשעת מעשה כדי שיבוא בשבילו אלוקים ניסה את אברהם, היסע אצלו הסתלקות הדעת והמוחין Hu k'da'ato b'sha'as ma'aseh kedei sheyavo bishvilo Elokim nisah es Avraham, haseia eitzlo histalkus ha'daas v'ha'mochin. When Hashem tested Avraham, it suspended all of his rational thinking. על ידי זה נעשה לו נס על נס Al yedei zeh na'aseh lo nes al nes. And that was the banner he gave him. שעל ידי הסתלקות הגיע אברהם למדרגה עוד יותר גבוהה שלא היה לו עד כה She'al yedei ha'histalkus higia Avraham l'madreiga od yoser gevoha she'lo hayah lo ad ko. Because his intellect was suspended, he was able to tap into himself and achieve levels he had not been on until then. ועוד יש לומר מה שמועז יתן ויחזור ויתן בעניין סור מרע V'od yesh lomar mah shemu'az yiten v'yachzor v'yiten b'inyan sur mei'ra, or another interpretation in the opposite direction, in the notion of avoiding the bad. מאמר חז\"ל ה' ה', ה' קודם שיחטא, ה' לאחר שיחטא Ma'amar Chazal, Hashem, Hashem, Hashem kodem sheyechta, Hashem l'achar sheyechta. זה יתן ויחזור ויתן, שיתן לך אלקוס קודם שיחטא, ויחזור ויתן לך אלקוס לאחר שיחטא Zeh yiten v'yachzor v'yiten, sheyiten l'cha elokus kodem sheyechta, v'yachzor v'yiten l'cha elokus l'achar sheyechta. יתן ויחזור ויתן Yiten v'yachzor v'yiten. Hashem is giving you the ability to have a relationship with him. Hashem is giving you the ability to feel דבק davek, to feel connected with him. Hashem says, \"Stick with me, I got your back.\" And what happens when you let go, when you're not sticking with him? What happens when you make a mistake, when you violate his trust? What happens when you leave? יחזור ויתן Yachzor v'yiten. He's willing to come back again. Certain relationships, that if you violate them, they're over. You can never make them the way they were. When we say the י\"ג מידות הרחמים, ה' ה' אל רחום וחנון yud gimel midos ha'rachamim, Hashem, Hashem, Keil rachum v'chanun. Why do we say ה' ה' Hashem Hashem? Why do we say Hashem's name twice? So the גמרא ראש השנה Gemara Rosh Hashanah says, ה' קודם שיחטא, ה' לאחר שיחטא Hashem kodem sheyechta, Hashem l'achar sheyechta. Unlike a human being who I violated their trust, I hurt them. So even though we make up and even though we reconcile, it's never the same again. It's hard to ever be the same again. But Hashem, he's willing to restore and return things exactly the way they were, better. ה' Hashem before is the same ה' Hashem after. So that's `יחזור ויתן ויחזור` *yachzor v'yiten v'yachzor*. Hashem gives us that capacity for that relationship and even when we fail, even when we drop it, he gives it to us a second time. כמאמר מרן הקדוש מקרבין, שהיהודי שעבר עבירה חמורה ביותר ברחמנא ליצלן, אחר זה אינו מסוגל להתייצב לתפילה לפני השם יתברך, הרי שלא דרך המתנת חסידותו. וכל זה הוא רק שאף על מצוותינו עדות לא דרך דרך K'maamar maran ha'kadosh mi'Krubin she'Yehudi she'avar aveira chamurah b'yoser rachmana litzlan, achar zeh eino mesugal l'hisyatzev l'tefillah lifnei Hashem yisborach, harei shelo derech matnas chasiduso. V'chol zeh hu rak she'af al mitzvoseinu edus lo derech darach. כי יהודי אף על אחר שחטא צריך שיוכל לעמוד בתפילה ושבח ולומר לפני השם יתברך, בזו היא תכלית עבודת השם Ki Yehudi af al achar she'chata tzarich she'yuchal la'amod b'tefillah v'shevach v'lomar lifnei Hashem yisborach, b'zo hi tachlis avodas Hashem. יהודי תמיד דבק בהשם קודם שיחטא ולאחר שיחטא Yehudi tamid davek b'Hashem kodem she'yechta v'l'achar she'yechta. ויתן ויחזור ויתן לך אלקוס תמיד V'yiten v'yachzor v'yiten l'cha elokus tamid. The key is to go back again. Go find Hashem again. Hashem's giving himself over to us again. In fact, this is how we begin שמונה עשרה Shemoneh Esrei. ה' שפתי תפתח ופי יגיד תהילתך Hashem sefasai tiftach u'fi yagid tehilasecha. Those words come from תהלים Tehillim, I think it's נ\"ב nun beis, where דוד המלך Dovid HaMelech after he sinned with בת שבע Basheva, which he said he sinned, you're not supposed to say he sinned, but דוד המלך Dovid HaMelech says חטאתי לה' chatasi l'Hashem. So he says, ה' שפתי Hashem sefasai, Hashem, open my lips. Hashem, I've so violated your trust, I've hurt our relationship, I don't even know what to say. I don't know how to start this conversation. Hashem, open my lips, give me what to say. And we begin our שמונה עשרה Shemoneh Esrei, our עמידה Amida the same way. Hashem, I messed up, I violated the relationship. I don't even know how to start this conversation. I'm not sure what to say. ה' שפתי תפתח Hashem sefasai tiftach. Put the right words in my mouth. יתן Yiten, you gave me a chance and I blew it. יחזור ויתן Yachzor v'yiten, give it to me again. זו היא ברכת יצחק ויתן לך אלקים, שאין כאן שהיהודי אוחז במדרגות הקטנות, בסור מרע, התכלית הוא ויתן לך אלקוסא Zo hi birkas Yitzchak v'yiten l'cha Elokim, she'ein kan she'ha'Yehudi ochez b'madreigos ha'ktanos, b'sur mei'ra, ha'tachlis hu v'yiten l'cha elokusa. When a person makes the effort to avoid the רע ra, Hashem gives himself over. בהם מדרגות הגבוהות ביותר תמיד, זוהי תכלית היסור יהודי Ba'hem madreigos ha'gevohos b'yoser tamid, zo hi tachlis ha'yesod Yehudi. כל סדר חייו של יהודי הוא תמיד נופל ומשבה ועולה Kol seder chayav shel Yehudi hu tamid nofel u'mishaveh v'oleh. This is the entire essence of the Jewish life, is that we advance and then we regress. We take a step forward, we take a step back. Our life is with rhythms and cycles. We feel close, we feel distance. יתן ויחזור ויתן, יתן ויחזור ויתן, אלקוס Yiten v'yachzor v'yiten, yiten v'yachzor v'yiten, elokusa. וברכה זו אמורה היא בעניין עבודת השם בין בתורה ובתפילה, ובין בכל ענייני הגשמיות, שבין ענייני תורה ועוד, ובין ענייני סור מרע שיעשו להביא יהודי אל תכלית ויתן לך אלקוסא U'vracha zo amura hi b'inyan avodas Hashem bein b'Torah u'b'tefillah, v'chein b'chol inyanei ha'gashmiyus, she'bein inyanei Torah v'od, u'bein inyanei sur mei'ra she'ya'asu l'havi Yehudi el tachlis v'yiten l'cha elokusa. שתתכונן באלקות, ותחיה בהרגשת אלקותו יתברך, וברכת ויתן לך אלקים היא ברכה כוללת כל חיי היהודי, שיתן לך אלקותו יתברך She'titkonen b'Elokus, v'tichyeh b'hargashas Elokuso yisborach, u'virkas v'yiten l'cha Elokim hi bracha koleles kol chayei ha'Yehudi, she'yiten l'cha Elokuso yisborach. The ברכה bracha Yitzchak gave Yaakov, he gave to us, is יתן לך אלקים yiten l'cha Elokim. This incredible gift. We don't have to feel alone, and we don't have to feel unloved, and we don't have to feel invisible. Hashem gave us the greatest ברכה bracha. He gave us Hashem. Yitzchak gave us the greatest ברכה bracha. He gave us Hashem, the capacity for a relationship with him. And even when we blow it and we mess up and we drop it, יתן ויחזור yiten v'yachzor, we have the ability to come back. And where do we find him? טל השמים ומשמני הארץ Tal ha'shamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz. You have an income, you have a livelihood, you have a roof over your head, you have a car. You woke up this morning, your eyes work, your feet work, your ears work, your hands work. Hashem has given. That's where you find him. And now use it towards serving Hashem, elevate it, transform it, and when that wears off and it grows old, יתן ויחזור ויתן yiten v'yachzor v'yiten, come back again because there's cycles in life and it's never over.
