“And You Shall Be Holy to Your God” | Zohar Shelach 5786 (Auto Translated)

Shiur 2 on Zohar – The Topic of Kedusha

Erev Shabbos Parshas Shelach

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Introduction: The Second Shiur in the Series

Today is Erev Shabbos Parshas Shelach, and this is the second shiur in the series of shiurim on Zohar, on the topic of kedusha. The topic that in the Zohar is certainly called kedusha, and in our previous shiurim, in the shiurim on Rambam, one must say that it’s called kedusha according to the Rambam, it’s called prishus or zehirus, different names for this midah.

But let’s say, as the Rambam explained it, which we learned yesterday, the midah that has to do with the proper conduct, the proper measure, the proper midah, the proper way, how to conduct oneself with ta’anugei haguf (physical pleasures).

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Chapter 1: Reishis Chochma Sha’ar HaKedusha – The Foundation of the Series

The Sefer Reishis Chochma and Its Virtues

So let’s learn in such a way that our shiur is built primarily on the sefer Reishis Chochma Sha’ar HaKedusha. The next few shiurim, the first part of the series, will be built on the sefer hakadosh Reishis Chochma Sha’ar HaKedusha.

And Reishis Chochma is a sefer that everyone knows, we began to speak about it at the end of last week, and I started again here. Everyone knows that according to Chassidus one must learn Zohar, one must learn Kabbalah al pi avodah (according to the path of service).

Kabbalah and Kol HaTorah Kulah – Everything Must Be Learned Al Pi Avodah

In truth, everything must be learned al pi avodah, it’s not only Kabbalah. Kabbalah is only the wisdom that brings forth yedias Hashem (knowledge of God), yedias yesodei haTorah (knowledge of the foundations of Torah), in the clearest way, in the most Jewish way, and all the virtues. We spoke last week a bit with language that one can express.

That’s why one speaks about Kabbalah al derech ha’avodah. One must learn kol haTorah kulah al derech ha’avodah. One must not only learn Kabbalah al derech ha’avodah, one must not only learn Kisvei HaAri al derech ha’avodah, everything must be learned al derech ha’avodah, because “al zeh nikra Torah,” as the Baal Shem Tov says, that it’s simply translated in lashon hora’ah (the language of instruction), and to learn something from this.

The Mesorah of Chassidus – Living the Chiyus HaTorah According to the Mekubalim

So, all Jews, but especially Chassidus and the mesorah that came to us from, was built on this, on living the inyanei hakedusha, on living the chiyus haTorah according to how the mekubalim explained it.

And in truth this is not their chiddush, the mekubalim themselves held this way. Many times people say that Kabbalah is different, and it’s not truly different. The mekubalim themselves held this way.

Sefarim That Bring Out the Inner Jewish Life

And among the most fundamental sefarim that were published in order to bring out, to bring out and show what Jewish life looks like from the inside, not from the outside, which one can say in halachos, which we learned last week. From the inside, which they bring out what Jewish life looks like. Among the most fundamental sefarim in this genre is the sefer Reishis Chochma which was written by Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas, a talmid of the Ramak, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, who is among the gedolei ha’eshkol, perhaps the rebbe of all the mekubalim acharonim, including the Arizal.

Reishis Chochma – The Version of Chovos HaLevavos According to Zohar

And he wrote a sefer Reishis Chochma which is like his version of Chovos HaLevavos, so to speak. Yes, one must understand, Reishis Chochma is a very fundamental sefer in the sense that in every generation and every time there is a different sort of approach, a certain language, perhaps not exactly a different approach but a machlokes, a different sort of language in Yiddishkeit how one speaks.

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Chapter 2: Different Paths in Sifrei Avodah

Sefarim That Give Out the Inner Path of Jewish Life

There are mussar sefarim, sefarim that give out – let’s not use the word mussar, I don’t like the word, it sounds bad – sefarim that give out what Jewish life looks like, what the inside of a Jewish neshama looks like, according to the order.

Chovos HaLevavos – Built on Rav Saadia Gaon

For example, the Chovos HaLevavos divides itself into Sha’ar HaYirah, not Sha’ar HaKedusha, I got mixed up, Sha’ar HaPrishus it’s called there, yes? Other she’arim that give out according to his havanos. He is built very much on Rav Saadia Gaon, according to that derech, and very much on other yesodos, one can call them philosophies or hashgacha, hashkafos, that the Chovos HaLevavos had, and he gives out the inner hanhagos hanefesh, the inner way what life looks like according to that derech.

Sefarim Built on the Rambam’s Way

And so there are sefarim built on the Rambam’s way, I mean Shemonah Perakim of the Rambam and other sefarim that are in that vein.

The Beis Midrash in Tzfas – Learning Zohar with Seriousness

And so the same way when it came out, when Jews began to learn Zohar and other various sefarim that had been hidden. The Zohar itself is full of inyanim mitoras hamussar, and I mean mussar again, inyanim of telling the story of what Jewish life looks like.

So that was when people began to learn Zohar, there was the beis midrash in Tzfas where they learned Zohar with such seriousness. There are people who devoted themselves to the theory of it, understanding every piece and so forth.

Sifrei Hanhagos Built on Derech HaZohar

Afterwards there are the sefarim that wrote mussar, which are called sifrei hanhagos, sifrei hadrachim, built on the derech haZohar, that’s called Kabbalah. There’s a machlokes here, whoever wants, the most prominent ones according to the wisdom of whoever wants to do avodah al pi haZohar, among the first fundamental sefarim that one must learn is Reishis Chochma.

A Shame That People Don’t Know This Sefer

It’s very sad that people don’t know what a beautiful sefer it is. One knows from it two little pieces, in the end he had a maseches Gehinnom, and a few certain things that people consider it frightening, not that it’s not frightening, it is frightening, but that’s a different conversation.

But in general, the entire sefer Reishis Chochma is simply a Chassidic sefer. That is, he brings out, he collects from the Zohar the inyanim regarding all the great topics of avodas Hashem, the topics of tikun hamidos, the topics of shemiras hamitzvos but with an inner chiyus. And this he brings out, this is the mesorah al pi haZohar, according to how it’s collected and learned that one should learn Zohar in this way. That is, the darchei iyun are in the Zohar, and it’s simply a command from Rishonim, from Raboseinu Chazal, not only from Zohar, this is the sefer that one must learn.

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Chapter 3: Reishis Chochma and Tanya – The Takanah in Lubavitch

The Takanah: Only One Who Learns Reishis Chochma May Learn Tanya

The idea that when the Tanya came out, so they say in Lubavitch, there was a takanah that only one who learns Reishis Chochma may learn Tanya.

What This Brings Out – Tanya Comes to Solve Problems

What this brings out, it says in the hakdamah of Tanya, what it brings out is, the Tanya comes to solve certain problems, it comes to add certain kneytchen (refinements) in the inyanim of avodas Hashem, as he says in the hakdamah, problems that people had in his generation, and to illuminate it, to bring it out, and to solve it, according to the teachings that he learned from the Maggid, from the Baal Shem Tov, and his chiddushim in the derech.

One Must First Be in the Parsha

But one must first be in the parsha. The Tanya is not an introductory sefer for people who don’t know about Chassidus. It’s used that way today, but it says explicitly in the hakdamah that it doesn’t work, and one must examine whether it works. But in any case, it wasn’t originally written for the masses.

Someone whose Yiddishkeit, whose life, whose inner life of avodas Hashem is not yet built on the darchei haZohar, not yet built on Reishis Chochma, he doesn’t have the problems that the Tanya solves, one must simply teach him something.

Only After Living with Reishis Chochma Does One Come to Tanya

After you lie in Reishis Chochma, you live a bit with Reishis Chochma, and you get stuck with certain problems that Reishis Chochma doesn’t solve, that’s the claim of the Chassidim, that Reishis Chochma doesn’t solve certain problems, one must emphasize certain points more, and one must answer certain claims and so forth, there are certain chiddushim that Chassidus has that they don’t have, one must add this, but someone who is not in the parsha at all is not bothered by this at all.

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Chapter 4: The Topic of Kedusha – One Must Begin Broadly

Why One Must Learn Reishis Chochma

As we learned last week, one must learn this way because this is the rosh l’chol hamekubalim ul’chol hachasidim, so specifically in the topic of Chassidus which is to bring out the chiyus haTorah, chiyus haYahadus, roughly so, among the rashei hasefarim is the sefer Reishis Chochma. There are other sefarim, but Reishis Chochma is certainly among the earliest and also most successful sefarim, that people learned Reishis Chochma very much.

The Tzettel Katan of Rebbe Elimelech – Learning the Last Chapters

That’s one thing. Afterwards there’s another thing that they began to speak about kedusha. So, every Chassidic Jew knows that it says in the Tzettel Katan of Rebbe Elimelech and other such sefarim that one should learn the end, the end of Sha’ar HaKedusha there is perek 17 I think, 15, 16, 17, the last few chapters speak about the two-three main topics, as we learned in the Rambam, two-three main topics that one speaks about when one speaks about the topic of kedusha, about the topic of ta’anugei haguf. Ta’anugei haguf is roughly eating and zivug (marital relations).

The Last Chapters – Eating and Zivug

And Reishis Chochma at the end of his entire explanation of what kedusha is, he came to speak more practically regarding the topic of eating and zivug, how a Jew should eat, how a Jew should perform zivug. And because of this, because it’s one of the great gates to being an inner avodah is to be involved in this, to have a proper way how to do this, the Chassidic sefarim guided that one should learn these chapters, or even review, as Rebbe Elimelech says to review before a zivug perek 17 of Reishis Chochma.

The Problem – People Only Know About This

I want to tell you, and here there’s a problem, because people only know about this, and people think… First of all, because one doesn’t know what it says there, it doesn’t say there either, even there it doesn’t say what people think it says.

What Actually Says in the Chapters

But people have gotten such a picture, okay, Reishis Chochma is the sefer where it says that one must conduct oneself with strong prishus, something not enjoy, not enjoy ta’anugei haguf, and that becomes like the picture that one has.

But it’s not the picture, not from that perek itself, whoever has learned it knows that it doesn’t say that there, it says Chassidic things there, it says how to elevate it, how to make ta’anugei haguf elevated, but it doesn’t say any of the things that people say that people think it says.

One Cannot Begin with Halacha L’Ma’aseh

And secondly, that it’s only the end, as we always say, one must begin with a broad view of the entire life, of the entire Torah. One cannot begin with halacha l’ma’aseh, one must do this way, because it begins this way, it has no taste and no smell. The entire idea of having a taste is having breadth.

Sha’ar HaKedusha Begins with a Broad View

Reishis Chochma said, I must be involved in kedusha. I wrote an entire sha’ar, seventeen chapters, explaining the concept of kedusha. In the first chapter itself, he went through all kinds of kedushos that exist in the Torah: kedushas Yisrael, kedushas HaShabbos, kedushas haMo’adim. This is all part of Sha’ar HaKedusha.

Sha’ar HaKedusha Doesn’t Begin with Shemiras HaBris

Sha’ar HaKedusha doesn’t begin with shemiras habris, with not being motzi zera levatala, or the things he speaks about already in the last two-three chapters. It begins with what kedusha means. Kedusha is a great yesod in the Torah, a broad thing.

The Greatest Application Is in the Two Ta’anugim

It turns out, as we said, that in a certain sense, the greatest application of it is in the two ta’anugim, that there one must conduct oneself with great kedusha. Very good, but if you don’t yet know what kedusha is, you only begin there, one cannot fulfill the Rambam’s halacha that says one should learn perek 17, if one doesn’t learn generally thoroughly, one learns all the chapters until then, that one has a view of Jewish life, how one understands kedushas Shabbos, one has a feeling in it.

One Must Remember When One Is Involved in Ta’anugei HaGuf

And afterwards one comes in and remembers, and since one is involved in ta’anugei haguf, where there’s a concern that one can forget, then one must make something to remember. One made a review before eating, the chapter to know how to eat. Very good, but one cannot begin there, it’s not a way.

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Chapter 5: Beginning of the Study – Parshas Shelach and Mitzvas Tzitzis

So baruch Hashem, this week is Parshas Shelach, and it comes out very well. This week is Parshas Shelach, and at the end of Parshas Shelach stands the mitzvah of tzitzis, to put on tzitzis. Let’s hear the mitzvah. I want to say the simple meaning of the mitzvah, and how Reishis Chochma also in his opening, right in the hakdamah of Sha’ar HaKedusha, begins with this parsha and with the Zohar on it.

So let’s learn what it says first in the parsha, and if we’ll be able to go further, we’ll be able to go further, but first let’s learn what it says in the parsha.

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[End of Part 1 – Awaiting Continuation]

Parshas Shelach and the Mitzvah of Tzitzis: The Problem of Distraction and the Torah’s Solution

Opening: The Parsha of the Week

Very good, but one cannot begin there, it’s not a way.

So baruch Hashem, this week is Parshas… it comes out very well, this week is Parshas Shelach, and at the end of Parshas Shelach stands the mitzvah of tzitzis to put on. Let’s hear the mitzvah, I want to say the simple meaning of the mitzvah, and how Reishis Chochma also has in his opening right in the hakdamah of Sha’ar HaKedusha he begins with this parsha and with the Zohar on it. So let’s learn what it says first in the parsha, and if we’ll arrive further we’ll arrive further, but first let’s learn what it says in the parsha.

The Simple Meaning: All Mitzvos and the Problem of Doing Them

In the parsha it says like this, I’ll say the simple meaning, and I’ll bring out how the simple meaning brings us to where I want to arrive. The Ribbono Shel Olam gave Jews many mitzvos, as it says, as it says before the parsha of tzitzis:

> “Kol hamitzvos ha’eileh asher tzivah Hashem b’yad Moshe, min hayom asher tzivah Hashem vahal’ah l’doroseichem”

That is, for a long time the Ribbono Shel Olam gave mitzvos to Moshe Rabbeinu, the entire dor hamidbar continuously gave mitzvos, okay, perhaps exactly in the beginning forty days, a long time gave mitzvos, and the mitzvos must go on in the generations, forever, Jews should be able to become people, to be Jews through doing all these mitzvos.

The Difficulty of Doing All Mitzvos

Now, whoever has ever tried to do all mitzvos knows that it’s not so simple, you have all the mitzvos, do it. But it doesn’t go that way.

The Connection to the Story of the Meraglim

One can see, and perhaps that’s why it’s actually connected with all… with the story of what it says before, the meraglim, one can see that in the world it doesn’t always align well with what one tells a person to do. They told the meraglim to go into Eretz Yisrael, to see “ha’aretz mah hi,” and they somehow didn’t see well, they became “distracted,” yes? “Vayasuru es ha’aretz,” they went to spy out the land, somehow the land remained stronger than them. It says “vayechezku mimeni,” they were drawn, they saw different things, and they became confused, distracted, began to think maybe not, maybe yes, maybe this way.

The Same Problem by Every Jew

The same thing, everyone who tries to be a Jew, notices that it’s very clear, the entire 613 mitzvos stand very beautifully in the Torah, be holy, “Kedoshim tihyu ki kadosh ani Hashem Elokeichem,” “Viheyisem li kedoshim ki kadosh ani,” if you do all these mitzvos it’s wonderful.

What’s the problem? You know what the problem is? What then don’t I want? Don’t you want to be holy? Certainly everyone wants to be holy, kadosh kadosh laHashem. That’s not the question.

Kedusha Comes Through Action, Not Through Speaking

The problem is that the Torah says that one doesn’t become holy from saying that one is holy. One becomes holy through conducting oneself in certain ways. “Im,” yes, if you will do “es kol hamitzvos ha’eileh,” “viheyisem kedoshim.” “Ushmartem es kol mitzvosai,” then “viheyisem kedoshim.” One doesn’t simply become holy from dreaming about it.

Things that a person’s soul desires: The tendency to become distracted

And regarding doing all these mitzvos, specifically, let’s speak specifically about the mitzvos that are discussed regarding “devorim shenáfsho shel odom mechámdetán” [things that a person’s soul desires], things that when one sees them, like the spies, they saw Eretz Yisroel, they saw some problem, the natural tendency of human nature, the natural tendency of a person, is to become lost.

When a person sees a beautiful piece of meat, his tendency is to become lost. “Liznos achareihem”, as the verse says, “asher atem zonim achareihem”. “Zonim” means to deviate from the path, to go off the way, meaning to become distracted, yes? A good word. Become distracted. He no longer knows what he wants, he no longer knows what his intention is.

The condition: One must first see what one wants

If he doesn’t yet know what he wants, he hasn’t yet learned Torah at all, as I said, one cannot start from just being a Jew, from chapter ten. If he doesn’t yet know what is wanted from him, he still doesn’t know, he has never yet seen any picture of what it looks like, the beautiful life of Torah that one wants to sell him, the Olam Haba – we will yet see a drasha on the spies, that this was truly their job – one cannot have complaints against him. Certainly he becomes distracted.

Side remark: Critique of the “OTD” discourse

As someone said, “Yes, people go OTD [off the derech: gone off the path] because they have desires.” Nu, and what’s wrong with desires? Do you have some reason why desires are bad? The most you can say is that desires are a distraction, yes, you say, we understand it.

When one says, “Ah, he became a wild one, he had desires,” the simple meaning is you understand that it’s not right. Nu, he also should have understood that it’s not right. There’s a part that became innocent, “lesuro, made to turn away, acharei levavechem ve’acharei eineichem”. Very cute. This is only good after one sees, one sees clearly that good is good, yes? One sees that sur mera is good, and one sees what is good. He says, “im kol zeh”, you’ve become so confused, to such an extent you’ve become confused that you no longer know what is good either. Okay, but first one must see.

Tzitzis: A mitzvah against distraction, not a mitzvah of the ideal

If one hasn’t yet learned all the mitzvos until here – it’s not the first mitzvah, it’s the last mitzvah. If one hasn’t yet learned all the mitzvos until here, “kol mitzvosai asher tzivisicho”, I have already told you, yes? If one hasn’t learned until here, it’s not interesting.

But after you have already seen, a person has already understood – this is the main work that one must do is that. Let’s say a person has already understood, he has already seen the entire beauty of how beautiful it is to be a Jew, how beautiful it is to be a person, he has already seen this. Nevertheless, he has already learned Torah, this is what Torah wants to do. Torah tells you all the mitzvos, and it shows you a picture of what it looks like, what a good life is. In practice I try to do, I say, “On the contrary, let’s start doing it, let’s go.”

Human nature: One becomes distracted

Immediately he becomes distracted by all kinds of things. This is human nature, he becomes distracted, especially by devorim shenáfsho shel odom mechámdetán, he becomes distracted.

Ah, he says, here comes Torah and says, “I haven’t forgotten about this either, don’t think that I forgot about it. I haven’t forgotten, and you’re right. One must indeed make an extra campaign, an extra type of mitzvos, which didn’t come out to tell how it should look ideally – that’s not the topic. One must open an extra type of mitzvos, extra behaviors, extra guidance, which is to solve the problem of distraction itself.”

Side discussion: The chinuch problem – from below or from above?

And one must be very very careful. It could be that in chinuch one will start from this, because if one will start… Let’s understand, because I say this as a critique, a person often goes into… There are certain, at least certain Chassidic rebbes who say this very clearly, they say I don’t want to, I can’t sell you deep matters, sof dovor hakol nishma. First, stop lying in foolishness, stop being distracted by all the pleasures of this world, it should be that kedusha brings to tahara, tahara brings to prishus, it should be pure, it should be separated, so that one can speak with you about Chassidus.

Critique: This doesn’t work

The truth is that as far as I can see it doesn’t work, because a person doesn’t know why, even if he knows that he is indeed good and he indeed follows what is told to him, he is separated from all kinds of pleasures of this world, he still has no taste in life, because he never arrives. And it doesn’t happen by itself that one says tahara brings to prishus, because prishus brings to kedusha, or one says that guarding oneself from physical pleasures one can feel better taste in the holiness of Shabbos.

This only helps for one who already knows the holiness of Shabbos, there’s a certain contradiction, whoever doesn’t lie in this lies in that, but simply from not having pleasure from eating one doesn’t suddenly start having pleasure from Shabbos, in my opinion, this is not true.

But chinuch must have boundaries

Nevertheless, but chinuch must have a certain such aspect, because human nature, the nature of people, if one leaves them without any boundaries, without any chinuch, they will not only be distracted, he won’t even be distracted. Such a one already holds by “velo sosuru acharei levavechem”.

The structure of Krias Shema reflects this

We do this every day by Krias Shema, yes? First one explains “Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echod”, afterwards one speaks of “ve’ohavto es Hashem Elokecho”, “vedibarto bom beshivtecho bevesecho uvelechtecho vaderech”, everything wonderful, one gives full help. “Ve’im lo, im yifteh levavechem vesartem va’avadettem elohim acherim” etc. etc.

Afterwards, after all this, achar kol hadevorim veho’emes veho’emuna, one says what about “levavechem ve’eineichem asher atem zonim achareihem”. Then you merit the level of “asher atem zonim achareihem”, because it’s not zoneh, it’s actually your wife, it’s actually yours. As someone says, it’s not foreign thoughts, it’s your thoughts.

Back to the main point: The advice against distraction

Nevertheless, there’s a certain reason why chinuch starts from below. Why? So that he shouldn’t become completely distracted, he should start nothing. Okay, in any case, let’s return to our topic.

One must have a certain advice, a certain guarding for this point, for the point of how will one solve the topic of distraction? One constantly becomes distracted. One must have a segula, one must remind oneself, one must have something that directs the person when he is engaged in the world of distraction, that he shouldn’t completely forget.

The gates of distraction

And on this one thinks, and one sees that there are certain gates, there are certain openings of the person, where he becomes distracted. This is very interesting, let’s be very simple. I want to think all day about intellectual matters and matters of Torah and wisdom meanwhile, this is the meaning of kedusha itself, this is true kedusha itself. The problem is, and it’s often, one becomes distracted. Can a person say, strengthen yourself, you know very well how good it is, and not be distracted. Not the point. Here you have a topic of distracted, one must speak about the topic itself.

Two ways: Externality and internality

I can in this itself say two things. I can speak in externality, and I can speak in internality. And I can show how the externality means the internality. What do I mean to say? Two points.

First: The internal point

First, let’s speak first about internality, because it’s better, more tasty. That which I become distracted, or let’s not speak of one who already knows completely, or even one who knows a bit that he becomes distracted. Why is it?

Because although he sees, he has heard, he has already heard all the mitzvos, he already knows all the mitzvos, but he doesn’t feel them. This is the first main thing, the internal thing. He doesn’t feel them. He understands, he sees that it would be a better life to celebrate Shabbos, it would be better. He has heard, he has heard about it, but he doesn’t feel it, he doesn’t truly love it.

In other words, this is the meaning of “levavechem”, “acharei levavechem”. His heart, his… what is tasty to him, is still very tasty to him. He, as a person, is a type of person to whom physical pleasures are tasty. This is what is tasty to him. You tell him, “Okay, but guard yourself, only do it permissibly, don’t do it forbidden, certainly don’t become distracted by it too much.” He will indeed become distracted, because what should he do? He actually loves it.

When you tell him, “Hold yourself back,” okay, perhaps he can a bit with force, perhaps he can a bit not with force. One can do various things, this is the externality. When one does with force it’s called externality. But in practice he has a problem here.

He has already heard that it’s very beautiful, it’s very beautiful to… the life of Olam Haba is very beautiful, but he doesn’t love it. That which is called his internality, his love, his desire is not there. One must extra deal with this, one must extra deal with this, make that you should indeed love it.

External advice – check the holes

On this there is an externality, let’s say, on this there is an externality. The externality is to check where the holes are. Not check where the holes shouldn’t come in, but let me hear this better. I check where the holes are, where does it become that one starts loving and doing not those things. Through not doing those things, this is gradually actually not loving.

These are both not the essential things. Let’s understand, the essential kedusha, the essential Torah, the essential good, is when one does the good, not when one doesn’t do the bad, when one doesn’t love some foolishness. This is not good, this is only prevention of evil, sur mera.

But since there are problems, there is “asher atem zonim achareho”, one must deal with the two things: with that which one loves evil, that one loves physical pleasures too much, and the way that distracts, and with the places where this comes in, with the places where it is drawn.

The temporary advice of “acharei eineichem”

So one external advice would be, as one says “acharei eineichem”, don’t look at things that arouse the heart, that arouse ein ro’eh velev chomed, there is no lev chomed. But this is a temporary advice, because I want indeed, I will indeed look at you, or we live in a world, or it’s only an external advice.

And the external advice is made that since there are ways that arouse the heart, arouse the heart differently. Make that you should start gradually to actually love this. And this is truly what we call kedusha. That is, let’s try to speak this way.

The definition of kedusha – not just guarding the eyes

What I want to first bring out here, because I saw from the power, but it’s indeed, what I want to mainly bring out here is this, that it’s not, it doesn’t say, the kedusha, the “velo sosuru”, doesn’t consist of the not looking.

Why can’t it consist of the not looking? Because this is, the question is why. A person is such a type of thing that does things for why, yes?

A person is not a creature that works by natural law

As much as one can say to a person, do by natural law, there are other disputed whys. I understand that this is a good thing, I won’t understand every detail. As the Gemara says, there can be a few details that you don’t understand, a few laws that you don’t understand, but it cannot be that fundamental things for a person should be a law.

A person is not such a type of creature that works this way. Whoever is a person knows that he is not a creature that works this way. People do things for a reason. People don’t do things without a reason. He says the reason is because I believe one can be killed from this, okay, that’s a bit of a reason. But people do, even that one must worry how much it works. But people do things for a reason.

When boundaries work – and when not

I can say, let’s say this way, if someone, let’s understand perhaps one can say this way, if there is someone who already indeed loves this, he more or less loves what to be good, but nevertheless sometimes he becomes lost, one should tell him don’t go in the street that makes you lost. Okay, it’s almost solved the whole thing, because there are certain practical, as one says, certain openings of the body, certain places like senses, yes, like many places where stimuli come in, problems come in, things from outside come in, and it’s ultimately closed, close the doors already.

But on this itself I must ask a question, why should I be closed? Ah, because you already know that it’s not good, so why do you love it? You have a choice, you know that you hold that it’s not good, so don’t hold that it’s not good.

The true meaning of “velo sosuru”

And the truth, for what I want to say is, that truly, that which one speaks of being careful, of not looking at things, not going to places, not “velo sosuru acharei levavechem”, yes, in the verse it doesn’t say one shouldn’t look, yes, let’s hear, it doesn’t say in any verse, all the preachers say “velo sosuru” says the mitzvah of guarding the eyes.

There is no mitzvah of guarding the eyes

There is no mitzvah in the Torah of guarding the eyes, there isn’t. It says “velo sosuru acharei levavechem ve’acharei eineichem”, not to be drawn after the things that the eye sees and the heart desires. It doesn’t say one shouldn’t look, there is no mitzvah to look, where does it say in the Torah one may not look? Someone brought me in Shulchan Aruch how one finds a verse, but I want to bring out the definition of it.

To speak of the, like the reasons, there is no essential prohibition, there is no essential topic, one cannot make an essential topic from this. One must focus on it, but why do we focus on it? Because this shows you, this is what shows that you have some certain desire for it, you have some certain love for it, some certain taste in it.

Uproot the taste, not the looking

Now, the human taste that exists in being drawn after things, one must at the place where there is a taste, one must see to uproot the taste, not uproot the looking. One must uproot the taste.

How does one uproot the taste? Through not looking can be this is a way of uprooting the taste, because it’s chinuch, this is how chinuch becomes, one starts when one doesn’t feel it until one feels it. But it must be that in the end you shouldn’t feel.

It says “lo sosuru”, it doesn’t say “don’t look”, it doesn’t say “don’t look”, it says “don’t love”. “Lo sosuru” means “don’t love”, “don’t desire”. However one wants to translate it precisely, “don’t spy”. I already know how one translates “lo sosuru”. “Don’t spy”.

Become such a type of person

It’s you must make, you must become such a type of person who is not… In other words, if someone… Let’s say this way, the structure of the sin, the structure is there are two things that are truly the same thing, not three things.

There is doing things that one may not, doing transgressions. This one may not. Afterwards one would have said, okay, don’t do any transgressions, but looking one may, it’s not the actual deed itself. Or one can say, hirhur, thinking, loving one may. It doesn’t say in the Torah that one may not love to do transgressions.

Two things that are one

And where do both things say? There are two other things apparently, which apparently have no connection one to the other. One says not to love transgressions, hirhur, let’s call it. And one says not to look at things that bring to, it’s a megareh es hayetzer, that brings to transgressions. Two other prohibitions. Two other things that are not the actual deed itself. Two other things that are not the actual deed itself are simply extra things.

And one can say that this is indeed two other things. One is a matter of external boundaries and safeguards, and one is a matter of internal work, not loving. I already know how one can at all demand from a person such a thing. Perhaps it’s only not thinking too much and the like.

Both speak of the same thing

Blue Thread, Divine Presence, and Fear: Holiness as Guarding the Entrance of the Temple

Blue Thread as a Symbol of the Divine Presence and the Attribute of Fear

“And You Shall See It” – Seeing the Blue Thread and the Divine Presence

The Zohar says this: “And you shall see it” – this is the blue thread (techeles). The blue thread, this is the thing that one must look at, about this it says “and you shall see it.” Yes, if one doesn’t have blue thread, it’s necessary but only a reminder of it.

The Zohar says this: tzitzis, the blue thread, is a hint to the Divine Presence (Shechinah). “And you shall see it” means the Shechinah – this is what one must see. “The blue thread is the primary support for the House of David.” The throne of David is called blue thread, and the place of the Shechinah.

The Shechinah is also called another word: “Fear of Hashem” – to fear the Tetragrammaton. This means the Shechinah, as it were, has fear before Tiferes, this is the meaning of fear of Hashem.

The Connection Between Blue Thread, Shechinah, and All the Commandments of Hashem

And about this, since all the commandments have to do with Malchus, or with honoring the Malchus with the Holy One Blessed be He, therefore “and you shall see it and remember all the commandments of Hashem.”

Through looking at the blue thread, at the throne of glory – yes, the blue thread resembles the throne of glory – through this one remembers. “And you shall remember” is from the language of remembrance, from the language of memory, one remembers the higher levels: “all the commandments of Hashem.”

This is the simple meaning, perhaps the Shechinah itself is called the commandments of Hashem. In any case, and the Zohar explains, this is the place of fear.

A Gezeirah Shavah: Memory, Amalek, and the Bronze Serpent

The Connection Between “And You Shall See It and Remember” to “Remember What Amalek Did”

And so Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explains, the Zohar explains this, that the Zohar also says there, that the remembrance – and further in the next piece of Zohar it says: what does it mean one remembers? What does it mean one remembers?

He says that there’s a connection, so, he makes a gezeirah shavah from “and you shall see it and remember all the commandments of Hashem” with “and you shall see it” and “and you shall remember.” “Remember” is “remember what Amalek did to you.” Amalek is “the Name is not complete and the throne is not complete until the seed of Amalek is wiped out.”

The Parable of the Whip – The Way of Remembrance

What he says is this – he says a parable. So the Zohar says a parable: The Zohar brings, presents another place in the next portion, Chukas, it says “and make yourself a bronze serpent and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”

The Zohar says this: what is the question? Yes, we see that the commentators ask the question, how does this help?

The Zohar says, a parable:

Parable: There was a boy who was once beaten with a strap. He committed a sin, he transgressed, so the father beat him with a whip. But the father doesn’t want to beat with the whip, the father actually wants – ah, the boy should be good.

But there’s a problem. This is the problem we spoke about earlier, right? Sometimes the boy gets distracted. The boy wants to be good, the father wants him to be good, but he gets distracted.

So the father made a solution: he hung on the wall, he hung the whip with which he beats the boy. And when the boy passed by there, and when it made him want to become distracted, he saw the whip hanging there, he said: “Ah, this is what happens when I sin.” “And they shall see it and repent” – he saw what happened, he did teshuvah, the boy did less.

Application of the Parable to Tzitzis and Shechinah

This is the way of remembrance. He says, you should know: “you shall see it and repent” means, that you know that the attribute of judgment, the Shechinah is the attribute of judgment, you see what happens when one goes out from the boundaries of holiness, when one goes out from the will of Hashem. Through this “and you shall repent,” you come to Hashem, “and you shall not stray after your hearts.”

Reishis Chochmah: The Connection Between Holiness, Fear, and Repentance

The Gate of Holiness Precedes the Gate of Repentance

What do I want to bring out here? I want to bring out a very interesting thing: that it’s very different how the Zohar and the Reishis Chochmah – as the Zohar says, so says the Reishis Chochmah.

There by the first thing, connected with repentance, the Reishis Chochmah says: he wrote first the Gate of Repentance, and afterwards he writes the Gate of Holiness.

He says: what is the connection of holiness with repentance?

He says: fear. Holiness has to do with fear, as it says “fear of Hashem is holy.” Whoever is holy must have fear, in order to have fear one must have fear.

The Place of Fear – The Throne of Glory and the Attribute of Judgment

As we just said: that the place of fear, the beginning that you know about fear – the throne of glory about the attribute of judgment – this is what helps for holiness, this is what brings to holiness.

The Baal Teshuvah and the Need for Separation

And he says why? Because a baal teshuvah is someone who… everyone is a baal teshuvah. A baal teshuvah means someone who still loves bad things – in this he is a baal teshuvah. He must be separated from it.

The advice of separation (perishus), the advice of fleeing from it, is the holiness – which means to remember the fear, to remember the thing that stands as a guard, the whip as it were that beats whoever goes out.

The Great Difference: The Parable of the Zohar Versus the Parable of the Ramchal

Two Completely Different Parables

What I want to bring out from this is this: that the story he tells here is very different, very different from the story that the Ramchal [Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto] told as a parable.

One can bring out the difference through the letter lamed, the lamed that appears “to Hashem your God,” “and you shall be holy to Hashem your God.”

Simple Understanding: Holiness as a Personal Quality

If one learns simply, one says that a person, in order to be a complete person, shouldn’t be too immersed in pleasures, he should be holy or separated, or however one calls this quality – not be too much in this. Okay, he has work to become such a type of person.

The Zohar’s Understanding: “Holy to Hashem” – Holiness as a Relationship

But in the Torah it doesn’t say “and you shall be holy” – you should be such types of people who are holy, a type of person who is holy. No, it says “holy to Hashem your God” – be holy to your God, for your God.

It doesn’t simply mean that a person should be holy. One can derive it simply also, but this is what I mean is the Zohar’s way: it doesn’t mean that you will be such a type of thing, that you will be a holy person. It perhaps means something completely different.

What does it mean? It means that you will be holy – that is separated, distinguished, or connected to your God.

Holiness as Guarding the Entrance – A Completely New Story

The Levels of Holiness and the Shechinah as a Gate

In other words, what the Zohar says it like this: there are levels in holiness, there is about how one is connected with the supernal realms, one is connected with the Almighty. Afterwards there are levels that are not holiness.

The last level of holiness, one before – yes, in whichever world one speaks – one before the sitra achra, let’s say, is the Shechinah. Shechinah, the attribute of fear, this is the gate, this stands at the door of holiness. Afterwards is sitra achra.

The Parable of the Temple – Standing at the Entrance and Repelling the Enemies

So the Zohar says it very differently. There is a Jew who says: “Yes, I want to be good, but I get distracted.” One can say this is the fences and safeguards.

But the Zohar adds to this a very interesting story. The Zohar says: “Think of it this way: there is the Almighty’s house. The Almighty’s house is all the Almighty’s sefiros, all the commandments of Hashem – all the commandments of Hashem, this is the Almighty’s house.

Outside of the Almighty’s house, at the entrance – ‘sin crouches at the door.’ Outside there are all kinds of impurities, all kinds of evil, all kinds of wickedness, all kinds of badness. This is outside.

You are a Jew, you are from ‘you shall keep My covenant,’ you want to be in the Almighty’s bond, in the Almighty’s house.

Fences and Safeguards – Standing at the Entrance

When you make fences and safeguards, are you separated from forbidden relations or not from forbidden relations? We’re not just talking about forbidden relations – forbidden relations itself is very far from the door – but you’re still standing at the door. You are separated from a thought of forbidden relations, or from seeing forbidden relations, from something that arouses forbidden relations.

And what is the meaning? The meaning is this: you can say this, you stand at your father’s house at the door, and you push away his enemies. Like “Arise Hashem and scatter Your enemies” – this is what the lights of the Shechinah do. “Arise Hashem and scatter Your enemies” – this is the work of holiness. This is called holiness, as much as there is in the “turn from evil” part that I said.

A Living Story, Not a Static Story

It comes out that this gives a much more living story. It’s not simply that a person must be such a type of person. It’s that the person – and from this in the Zohar it came until the end – and when one speaks of holiness one says guarding the covenant (shemiras habris).

Guarding the Covenant – Not a Parable But an Actual Event

Why Specifically “Guarding the Covenant”?

What does it have to do with? It’s just a parable, no, can’t you say it normally? No one calls it guarding the covenant, only the Zohar.

What is the meaning? “And you shall guard My covenant” means – but the meaning is because the Zohar understands the depth of the matter. “And you shall guard My covenant” simply means a Jew should keep all the commandments, keep the Torah.

The Depth of the Matter – An Internal Connection

But the Zohar looks at it, and it fits exactly like an actual event. It’s an actual event. A Jew is something that is internal. He should be connected. To go out – but one must find ways.

And for this he says: here there is tzitzis, here there are special attributes, the attribute of fear.

The Attribute of Fear – Guarding the Entrance

The attribute of fear is not simply being afraid of the Almighty. The attribute of fear is the thing, the guarding of the entrance, the thing that stands at the door and pushes away, or makes sure that there is a distinction: “to distinguish between the holy and the profane and between the impure and the pure.”

It’s a completely different perspective, it’s a completely different story.

Application to the Baal HaTanya – The Beinoni as Guardian of the Entrance

A New Story for the Beinoni

And it’s understood that a person should have in his mind the story, that yes, he must be a tzaddik and he must be separated, he mustn’t look at bad things – he has a new story. He has a completely new story.

He is there specifically for the Temple. He goes for the Temple. And outside the Temple there are all kinds of nations who want to break down the door of the Temple.

The Work of Tzitzis – Repelling External Things

And his work of tzitzis, the work of “and you shall not stray after your hearts,” is not – when one is already inside it’s not this. The work is the one who stands at the door, he should push away the external things.

The Excellence of the Guardian – Not Pitiful But a Hero

It’s a completely new thing in the Baal HaTanya that he adds: the one who adds fences, for example, or who works more on the internal matters – this is what I said earlier, the two things that are connected – it’s perhaps a bit harder to think that he is better.

He’s not simply because he is pitiful – yes, pitiful, he has an evil inclination, he must make more fences, I don’t know what. No, he is engaged, he is the guardian of the entrance.

The Commandment of Guarding the Temple

There is a commandment of guarding the Temple, guarding the Temple. He makes sure that they shouldn’t come in, people from inside shouldn’t fall out, those from the outside arrogant ones and the kelippos shouldn’t fall in.

It’s a completely different story than we have.

Summary: “Holy to Hashem Your God” – Separation for the Sake of Connection

Not a Type of Person But a Role

It’s “holy to your God,” because a person must be special, a Jew must be special, a Jew must be separated and distinguished.

Why? Why must he be? In order to understand God. There are other types of things that are damaging, that are terrible, terrible, that take away from this.

The Main Point

He doesn’t go to all the things that take away. This is the point that I want to bring out.