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This shiur has been
dedicated in honor of:
Mr and Mrs. Yisroel Abromovitz of Baltimore, Maryland
by Menachem Kalwitz
Shlach I. Getting
Prayer heard
1. 'They ascended in the south and he arrived at Chevron.' (Bamidbar*
13.22)
Rashi* explains that only Caleb went [to Chevron] to pray at the graves of the
Patriarchs. There is a tradition [related to this verse] from Rebbe* Shlomoh
of Karlin ZT'L that Rav* Chaim Liberzon of Chernoble heard from his father Reb*
Yeshaya.
[This tradition is] that if a person goes to the grave site of his ancestors
or to that of a great Tzaddik*. He should stand by the gate of the Beis
HaChaim* and say:
'If the soul of the Tzaddik for whom I am coming to visit is not now by his
grave, then I will light a candle at the time of prayer because of the first
soul that will relate (to my ancestors or) to the Tzaddik, that I, Ploni ben
Ploni* have come to pray by his grave.'
Then all the souls will hurry [to relate this.] Each one of them will desire
to be the first to tell the Tzaddik who is the person who has come to his
grave to pray. (p. 71 sefer
Shema Shlomoh teachings of Rebbe Shlomoh of Karlin HY'D a talmid* of Rebbe
Aharon of Karlin.)
[There is a well known story where Rebbe Moshe of Ohel sent a messenger to the
grave of the Rebbe Reb* Elimeilech of Lizensk to pray for his son who was
sick. He instructed them that when they would arrive there they should make a
similar statement as is here
related.] * * *
II. A Humble Land
2. 'The land is very very good.' (Bamidbar 14.7)
The midah* of humility has a strong relationship to the land of Israel. The
verse says: 'The land is very very good.' [This can be understood] according
to what Chazal* teach: 'You should be very very humble.' [The words 'very
very' in both places show that there is a relationship.] The land of Israel
has the quality that it brings one to the midah of 'very very' [i.e. humility]
(p. 105 sefer Toras Avos teachings of the Rebbes of Lechovitz, Kobrin and
Solonim. This is from Rebbe Mordechai of Lechovitz a talmid of Rebbe Aharon of
Karlin.) * * *
III. Serving HaShem completely
3. 'In this desert [Heb. bamidbar] shall they be
ended and there they shall die.' (Bamidbar 14.35)
Whenever a person says any holy words of Torah or prayer, he needs to enflame
himself [with a desire for holiness] until he will reach the level where his
soul will desire to leave his body. [There is a remez* to this in this verse.
He should serve HaShem with a greater and greater desire.] Until 'they shall
be ended and there they shall
die' because of their mesiros nefesh* in their service of HaShem*. (p. 105
sefer Toras Avos teachings of the Rebbes of Lechovitz, Kobrin and Solonim.
This is from Rebbe Mordechai of Lechovitz a talmid of Rebbe Aharon of Karlin.)
* * *
IV. Freedom and the kingdom of heaven.
4. 'You shall see them and remember...' (Bamidbar
15.39)
The Talmud* says: See this mitzvah* and remember another mitzvah that depends
on it. Which mitzvah is that? The mitzvah of Krias
Shema*. As it is taught, From when is the time for the reciting of the
Krias
Shema? From when one can recognize the difference between the color of the
blue wool and white wool [of the tzitzis*.] Another teaching: See this mitzvah
and remember another mitzvah which appears near to
it. Which mitzvah is that? [The mitzvah prohibiting wearing] mixtures [of
different types.] As it says, 'Do not wear mixtures of wool and linen
together. Strands you shall make [on the four corners of your garment. The two
verses appear in the Torah next to each other. Right after the prohibition of
'mixtures' is the command to wear tzitzis. Chazal tell us this indicates that
the Tzitzis can be made from 'mixtures.']
We can explain the simple meaning of this discussion. The main point of the
mitzvah of krias
shema is to completely accept upon yourself the yoke of the kingdom
of heaven. This is not possible to do unless you have first accepted upon
yourself all the four types of death sentences that a beis din* is able to
hand down. This is the idea of
"dinah d'malchusah dinah" [The laws of the kingdom are laws.] When one
completely accepts upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven he enters
the 'world of freedom.' [By being willing to give up his life he is no longer
tied to this physical world. He is no longer a slave to this physical world. ]
I heard from Mori*, the Holy Rebbe Shlomoh of Karlin on the verse, 'My beloved
sent forth his hand from the portal.' The word 'portal' [Heb. HaChor] is
similar to 'freedom' [Heb. cherus My beloved refers to HaShem who sends us
'freedom.'] It is also called 'blue wool' [Heb. techeilus.] This is because
the 'blue wool' is similar in color to the ocean, and the ocean is similar in
color to the heavens and the heavens to the Throne of Glory [of HaShem.
Through looking at the blue wool, we have in mind these things which leads to
the acceptance of the kingdom of heaven.] That is the meaning of the
verse, 'To every purpose [Heb. techlah] there is an end.'
For all [of these ideas] there is a remez in the mitzvah of tzitzis. This is
because the tzitzis are supposed to have two strands of blue wool. For this
reason the time of saying krias
shema is when you can distinguish between the blue wool and the
white wool of the tzitzis. [All these things come about when one can
distinguish the 'blue
wool.']
Another teaching: See this mitzvah and remember another mitzvah which appears
near to it. Which mitzvah is that? [The mitzvah prohibiting wearing] mixtures
[of different types.] The reason for this teaching is that all things are
prohibited to be made of mixtures, except the garments of the priests and
tzitzis, which are allowed to be made of mixtures. This is represented by the
second view in the Talmud. 'When you can distinguish between blue wool and
green wool.' [Heb. karti. This word] 'karti' has the letters of the word
'crown.' [Heb. keser] For this reason it is allowed to have mixtures in the
garments of the priests and the tzitzis.
There is a remez to all of these ideas in the mitzvah of tzitzis. This is
because when a person completely accepts upon himself the kingdom of heaven,
as we have explained, then he can recognize the difference between blue wool
and green wool. (p. 28 sefer Beis Aharon teachings of Rebbe Asher of Stolin
and his son Rebbe Aharon (II) of
Karlin. This was from Rebbe Asher of Stolin the son of Rebbe Aharon of Karlin.)
* * *
V. Difficult beginnings
5. 'Make for yourself Tzitzis' (Bamidbar 15.38)
The Midrash* says, '[The verse says] "His left hand is under my head." This
refers to [the mitzvah of] Tzitzis. "And his right hand embraces me." This
refers to [the mitzvah] of tephillin. Another view: "His left hand is under my
head." This refers to [the mitzvah of] Krias
Shema. "And his right hand embraces me." This refers to [the mitzvah] of
tephilah.
We need to understand how it is that 'his right hand' is associated with
tephilin. [The Midrash should have associated tephilin with the left hand
because] the tephilin are placed on the left hand. The explanation is that it
is the right hand which binds the tephilin to the left hand. [This teaches us
that] in all things we should include the left side [the side of stern
judgement] together with the right side [the side of chesed*.] Through this we
turn the left side into the right side.
The Talmud tractate Brachos*, explains [the reason why when teaching about the
mitzvah of Krias
Shema the Talmud first teaches about the time for the evening and then the
time for morning.] One Tanna* explains that it is because the verse says 'When
you lie down, and when you rise up.' Another explanation is that it is
compared to the creation of the world. There is says, 'And it was evening and
it was morning, one day.'
Every generation starts with evening and ends with the morning. [Evening is
associated with the left side, the midah of judgement, and morning with the
right side, the midah of chesed.] As the verse says, 'I will call to G-d [Heb.
elokim] and HaShem will help me.'
[The name 'G-d' usually refers to the midah of judgement and 'HaShem' to the
midah of chesed.] It is also written right after this, 'Evening , morning and
afternoon I pray...' [The verse] has evening first and then morning.
The explanation [for the idea of evening coming before morning] is that the
word 'evening' [Heb. erev] has three meanings. The first is 'mixture.' [Heb.
taruvos] The second is that it is a language meaning 'sweeten.' And there is
also a third meaning to 'evening.'
It is the same with everything [in this world.] First comes 'evening'; a thing
which is not good. The beginning of everything is fear. [As the verse says,
'The beginning of wisdom is the fear of HaShem.] It is the same with regards
to the life of a person. When he is born there comes to him his Yetzer HaRah*.
Later the 'morning' comes, when he is 13 [and he gets his Yetzer Tov*.]
This is what the Midrash means: '"His left hand is under my head." This refers
to Tzitzis.' The reason is that Tzitzis have blue wool, which is a thing that
is not as good as white wool which has no color at all and is pure and
completely good. Likewise with tephilin we first bind them to the left hand,
then we come to the tephilin that are placed on the head, which is the level
of 'right.' One needs to start [ones service of HaShem] with the level of
fear. Then [progress to] the level of love, which joins the two together.
Even though in things of this world it is not possible to have two things
together as one. The one who has fear [of something] cannot love it at the
same time. The one loves something cannot have fear of it [at the same time.]
However when it comes to things that are related to the Will of HaShem it is
possible to have both at one time. (p. 233 sefer Beis Aharon teachings of
Rebbe Asher of Stolin and his son Rebbe Aharon (II) of Karlin. This was from
Rebbe Aharon (II) of Karlin the son of Rebbe Asher of Stolin.)
**************************************************************
Copyright (c) 1997 by Moshe Shulman
(mshulman@virtual.co.il)
All rights reserved.
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