📋 Shiur Overview
Memory from the Shiur — Sparks of Holiness, Money, and the Divine Spark in Everything
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Introduction: The Challenge of Speaking About Money
The shiur was given at a fundraising campaign (called “Behirus”). The starting point is: how does one speak about money to wise people (chachamim), when money feels like a low, cheap thing? The approach was — not to speak about money explicitly, but to speak about a different topic, and rely on the chachamim to catch on “to the hint” — between the lines.
The word “behirus” was associated with “nitzotzos” (sparks) — and this became the central topic of the shiur.
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Nitzotzos HaKedusah — The Foundation of Toras HaChassidus
The Philosophical Dispute: Creating a World or *Being* the World
In Chassidic sefarim — the Baal Shem Tov and his students — there is an entire Torah about nitzotzos hakedusah (sparks of holiness): in everything, even the lowest, darkest, most negative thing, lies a spark of holiness. The avodah (service) of every person is to find that spark — to see the Creator in it, to see the good, and to incorporate it into life.
This is based on a fundamental dispute between the misnagdic world and the Chassidic world:
– Before Chassidus / Misnagdim: “Bereishis bara Elokim” — the Creator *created* a world, and the world must serve the Almighty. The world is a separate reality.
– The Baal Shem Tov / Baal HaTanya: The tzimtzum (contraction) is not literal. The world is *not truly* a separate reality. Everything is the Almighty. Even in unholy, negative places — there too is the Creator.
The practical outcome: one must in every situation and every circumstance find the nitzotzos — find the way to connect with the Almighty. When one does this, even a “buried world” becomes a holy world — everything one does, everything one encounters, becomes a part of Godliness. The difference is only that in a positive thing the spark is easier to find, but one must also seek it in what appears negative.
Nitzotzos in Money
Money is ostensibly a negative, low thing — but one must also find sparks there. The Ropshitzer Rebbe is mentioned with the story: “Va’evkeh ani al kevod — also money. Va’evkeh ani al tzaddikim — also money. Va’evkeh ani al pachdecha — also money.” Even *not wanting* money requires money! One cannot have tzaddikim, fear of Heaven, wisdom, without money.
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Example 1: Nitzotzos in Sin — Tzidkas HaTzaddik
The Tzidkas HaTzaddik (R’ Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin) writes: sometimes the Almighty sends a tzaddik a sin — not a test, but a sin that he falls through. Why? Because the Almighty wants to give him a gift of humility (anavah). The person does mitzvos, learns Torah, does chesed — and he becomes full of himself. Through the sin he receives a “dose of humility” — he is no longer so great in his own eyes, and can continue.
Broader Thought: Desires and Self-Nullification
The entire matter of desires (ta’avos) — also in the entire world, not just in the religious world — is a negative thing. People feel: “something controls me, I can’t control myself.” But one can look at it differently: it is what keeps us humble — makes us less preoccupied with ourselves, more open to the world, more open to the Almighty.
Chiddush: In the deepest, darkest, most difficult place a person can find the ohr Elokim (Divine light), the spark, and see there the positive.
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Example 2: Nitzotzos in “Leil Nishmas R’ Yeshaya’le” — R’ Yoel Roth
The Story
R’ Yoel Roth was sitting at a Rosh Chodesh Iyar seudah with his students. A student asked: what does the Rosh Yeshiva say about all these “Leil Nishmas R’ Yeshaya ben R’ Moshe” seudos — they serve steak, they spend money, they fly with helicopters? Is this avodas Hashem?
The questioner (and any person) expected that R’ Yoel Roth — who at a wedding only gives kugel with gefilte fish — would sharply criticize this.
The Surprising Answer
R’ Yoel Roth answered the opposite: yes, the person sits down to eat steak and convinces himself it’s for R’ Yeshaya’le. But meanwhile they slip him a story of a tzaddik, he receives something in emunas tzaddikim (faith in the righteous) — without him noticing it. And that is a positive thing.
Proof from Gemara Berachos — Shortcut Through the Beis HaMidrash
He brings a proof from Maseches Berachos: a person may not make a kapandaria (shortcut) through a beis midrash. But if he must, he should say one verse: “Ach tzaddikim yodu lishemcha yeshvu yesharim es panecha.”
The person thinks in his head: “I’ve outsmarted the Almighty — I say a verse and use the shul for a shortcut.” But the Almighty laughs — because He has tricked a Jew who would never have said a verse of Torah, and now he has said it. The Almighty has pleasure from it.
The same principle with R’ Yeshaya’le: one must find the spark even in things that don’t appeal to me, that are “negative” in my eyes — because everything is the Almighty, everything is Godliness. One just needs to find the spark, the positive.
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Example 3: Is Heresy Also Godliness? — Baal HaTanya
The Question
The Baal HaTanya asked: if everything is Godliness, how can heresy (kefirah) be Godliness? It is the opposite of Godliness!
The Answer: Heresy is Godliness When It Comes to Others
When *you* don’t have money, you say “I have bitachon (trust) in the Almighty” — good, that is your avodah. But when *someone else* doesn’t have money, the Almighty created heresy so that you should not say “rely on the Almighty,” but you should yourself give that person money. Heresy in this context serves as a tool of HaKadosh Baruch Hu to motivate people to help others.
Chiddush: Heresy was created for the purpose of chesed — so that one should not stop at “bitachon” when someone else needs practical help, but one should actively help. This is an approach of how one sees a spark even in something that appears negative.
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Personal Illustration: Coffee Shtibel and the Acquaintance with Yitzchak (Levi)
As a personal example of this principle of nitzotzos, it is told how the acquaintance with Yitzchak (Levi) came through Coffee Shtibel — a website that, looking back, had content that one doesn’t agree with everything, and certain things would not have been written so publicly. Other people certainly view it in a negative way.
But the divine spark in it: there one became acquainted with Yitzchak Levi, twelve years ago. At the first meeting — as a young, fresh-after-get person — the impression was that this is someone expert in nigleh, nistar, kabbalah, philosophy, with an incredible breadth for such a young age, and he spoke with a simplicity and respect, as if one were his equal, even when one understood nothing.
The Almighty made Coffee Shtibel so that people would become acquainted with Yitzchak Levi — in America specifically, because in Eretz Yisrael people had known him earlier. This was not a mistake. This was Godliness.
The Essence of Learning: Not New Knowledge, But Fresh Dimensions
Twelve years later — “nothing has changed” — Yitzchak knows all nigleh, nistar, philosophy, science. But the art is not to learn something new, but to take the same learning and learn it with a fresh dimension. The same piece of Zohar — again with another dimension. As an example: Ari Klein learns in beis midrash Moreh Nevuchim the second time — the same words, but with new questions: how is it relevant psychologically? Philosophically? In my life? With money, without money?
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Conclusion-Call: The Practical Outcome
The Godliness consists in what we can reveal and bring out the lights that have emerged from this. The practical conclusion-call: everyone should give money, raise money, open up and help out so that this can continue leshem yichud shamayim (for the sake of unifying Heaven).
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Sources That Are Mentioned
| Source | Topic |
|—|—|
| Baal Shem Tov / his students | Nitzotzos hakedusah in everything |
| Baal HaTanya | Tzimtzum; kefirah is Godliness with others — to motivate chesed |
| Tzidkas HaTzaddik (R’ Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin) | The Almighty sends sins for anavah |
| Ropshitzer Rebbe | “Va’evkeh ani… also money” |
| R’ Yoel Roth (kuntres from students) | Nitzotzos in R’ Yeshaya’le seudos |
| Gemara Berachos | Kapandaria through beis midrash; saying “Ach tzaddikim yodu lishemcha” |
| Zohar | Learning with fresh dimensions |
| Moreh Nevuchim (Ari Klein’s shiur) | Example of learning the same with new questions |
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Main Chiddushim
1. Money itself is a spark — even not wanting money requires money.
2. Sin can be a gift — the Almighty sends falling to give anavah.
3. R’ Yoel Roth’s surprising answer — instead of criticizing “Leil Nishmas” seudos, he finds there a spark of emunas tzaddikim.
4. The Almighty “tricks” people into Torah and holiness through ostensible shortcuts — and has pleasure from it.
5. Kefirah was created for chesed — so that one should not stop at “bitachon” when someone else needs practical help, but one should actively help.
6. The spark of Coffee Shtibel — an ostensibly negative platform served as the vessel through which people became acquainted with Yitzchak Levi and his shiurim.
7. Learning with fresh dimensions — the essence of learning is not new knowledge, but the same learning with new questions and deeper layers.
📝 Full Transcript
Sparks of Holiness: Finding the Almighty in Everything
The Challenge of Speaking About Money
My challenge was that we had gathered regarding money, and how does one speak about money to people who are wise scholars (chachamim)? And to them, money is such a cheap thing, should we go talk about money? Who needs money? We’re not here for money, we understand better, we’re not just ordinary people who run after money. It seems like a very low thing to talk about.
So I decided I’m not going to talk about money at all. I’m going to talk about some other topic, find some topic that’s interesting to talk about, try to make it interesting. And I relied on the fact that we’re speaking here with a room, with a room full of wise scholars, that they’ll catch on to the hint, they’ll understand between the lines what we want here, and we don’t need to speak about it openly and crudely.
From Behirot to Nitzotzot
So, the campaign is called Behirot. I thought, what is this word Behirot? I have no idea what the word Behirot is supposed to mean. To me it sounded like something in the family of nitzotzot (sparks). I don’t know why, I thought Behirot, nitzotzot. So let’s talk a bit about nitzotzot.
The Foundation of Nitzotzot HaKedosha in Chassidut
In Chassidic books, in the Baal Shem Tov and his students, there is an entire Torah on nitzotzot, that in everything there are holy sparks (nitzotzot hakedoshot). And no matter how low or how negative or how dark it is, the work of every person here in the world is to find that spark in it, in other words, to see the goodness, to see the Creator in it, to see the positive spin on it, and to actually incorporate it into their life.
The Philosophical Dispute: Creating a World or Being the World
And this is based on a philosophical dispute that exists between the Mitnagdic world and the Chassidic world, or Chassidim and before Chassidim, which is whether the Creator created the world or the Creator is the world.
It says “Bereishit bara Elokim” – He made a world, and the world must serve the Almighty. Says the Baal Shem Tov, a tzimtzum (contraction), as the Baal HaTanya explains, the Baal Shem Tov says that the world is not really a world. There isn’t really anyone who can serve the Almighty. Everything is the Almighty. To such an extent, that even in places that are not holy, in degradations or in negative places and so forth, there too is the Creator.
And Torat HaChassidut is based on this, that one must in every situation and in every circumstance find the nitzotzot. Find the path, find the way how to connect with the Almighty. And if it’s something that you’re involved in, it’s to connect yourself through it with the Almighty. And what happens is that you live in a kind of, let’s call it, buried world, but with the Almighty. And it becomes a holy world. It becomes your life, and everything that you do, and everything that you encounter, everything that you see, becomes a part of the Almighty.
Nitzotzot in Money
So, let’s take a few examples of a few things where we see the idea of nitzotzot hakedoshot and of the Almighty. And it’s self-understood that money is part of that. Money is a bad thing, money is a negative thing, but one must also find nitzotzot there.
I know, there’s the story of the Ropshitzer Rav, I don’t remember the details exactly, but basically, “Va’evkeh ani al kevod” [And I will weep for honor], also money. “Va’evkeh ani al tzadikim” [And I will weep for the righteous], also money. “Va’evkeh ani al pachdecha” [And I will weep for Your fear], also money. Even those who don’t want money, one also needs money for that. You can’t have tzadikim, and one can’t have any fear of the Almighty, one can’t have any life of wisdom and of betterment, where one doesn’t need any money, without money. Everything needs to have money. So, these are the nitzotzot in money.
Example: Nitzotzot in Sin – The Tzidkat HaTzadik
Let’s start with somewhat extreme situations. It says in Tzidkat HaTzadik he writes in one place, that many times there is a person, a tzadik who serves the Almighty, the Almighty sends him into a sin, that he should fall into a sin. Not a test, a sin. He should fall into a sin.
And why does the Almighty send it? Because the Almighty wants to give that person a gift, and you know, give him a dose of humility. Because the problem is, that the person does mitzvot, he serves the Almighty, he learns Torah, he does kindness (chesed), and he becomes full of himself. He has indeed accomplished with his Torah and with his chesed, well. No, you feel like a piece of crap. You’re no longer, I don’t know who, with all your service and things. Now you can go further.
So says Reb Tzadok, he doesn’t say the words exactly, but he says exactly the idea. He says exactly the words, that the Almighty sends it so that the person will be able to nullify himself (mevatel), a person will not be arrogant (ba’al ga’avah).
Broader Idea: Desires and Nullification
In other words, let’s speak about it a bit more crudely, speak a bit for the type of listeners. The entire matter of desires (ta’avot), or holiness (kedusha), or sin, it is actually a very negative thing in the world. When I say, in the world I don’t mean only the religious world. In the entire world, it’s a negative thing, it’s something that a person feels like, there is something controlling me, there is something that for such things, for such desires, I give in to and I don’t go to work, or don’t do something more holy, or cheat on my loved ones, or whatever it may be, I can’t control myself. It’s such a… in the entire creation it’s a negative thing, and the world… that’s what, the world looks at it in a certain sense.
And Reb Tzadok says what the point is, no, it’s not. It’s meant to make us humble, you can look at it, oh this is the terrible thing that drags down the entire world and turns everything over and controls everything. Or you can look at it, it’s the thing that keeps us humble, and lets us be a bit less about ourselves, and more open to the world, more open to the Almighty, and so forth.
This is one idea that I thought of from the nitzotzot, where you find, in the deepest, darkest, most struggling place a person can find, and the creation can find the divine light (ohr Elokim), the divine spark (nitzutz Elokim) in it, and see in it the positive thing.
Example: Nitzotzot in “Leil Nishmat R’ Yeshayele” – R’ Yoel Roth
Another idea I saw this week, I’ll say it in the name of the one who said it, I opened a booklet from R’ Yoel Roth’s students, and I saw a very interesting thing that I was truly impressed by.
The Story
He was sitting at a Seudat Rosh Chodesh Iyar it was, he was sitting with his students at a Seudat Rosh Chodesh Iyar, and one of the students called out, “What does the Rosh Yeshiva say about all these seudot Leil Nishmat R’ Yeshaya ben R’ Moshe, they’re smoking steak with I don’t know what, R’ Yeshaya ben R’ Moshe?”
Now, obviously the one who asked the question, and I also would have thought so, that whoever knows R’ Yoel Roth, where at a wedding, which is the most celebrated event in a person’s life, he gives there a kugel with gefilte fish, of course he’s going to say, “Are you crazy? Eating steak and spending money and flying with helicopters to R’ Yeshayele and I don’t know what? This is service of God (avodat Hashem)? This is Leil Nishmat R’ Yeshaya ben R’ Moshe?”
The Surprising Answer
But the answer was completely different. He answered, yes, that one had explained the question, he answered, “I’ll tell you what I think. I think that the person indeed sits down to eat steak and to smoke, and he talks himself into it and means it for R’ Yeshaya ben R’ Moshe, but meanwhile they’re pushing into him a story of a tzadik, and he gets something in faith in tzadikim (emunat tzadikim), and they’ve pushed into him this way without him noticing that they’re pushing into him a bit of emunat tzadikim, and that’s a positive thing.”
Proof from Gemara Berachot: Shortcut Through the Beit Midrash
And he brings a proof from where? He brings a proof from the Gemara, he says, that this is a positive thing. The Gemara says in Masechet Berachot that a person may not make a shortcut (kafandarya) of a Beit Midrash, that if you have a Beit Midrash, you may not use the shul for a shortcut. It’s a desecration of God’s name (chilul Hashem), it’s the Almighty’s house and you’re using it for your own purposes, because you need to get there to the other corner of the city to buy something at the grocery, you’re using the shul. If you’re learning, you go in from one side, you go out from the other side, fine, but you may not use it for a shortcut.
Says the Gemara, what should a person do if he indeed needs to? He should say one verse, he should say “Ach tzadikim yodu lishemcha yeshvu yesharim et panecha” [Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name, the upright will dwell in Your presence].
He says, imagine, the person now wants to make a shortcut, he runs through and he says “Ach tzadikim yodu lishemcha”, what is he thinking in his head? He’s laughing, I’ve outsmarted the Almighty, I say a verse and now I was able to use the shul for a shortcut. It’s the same thing, I’m not holding by saying the verse and that’s it.
But actually, the Almighty is laughing, because the Almighty says, I have here tricked a Jew who would never have said a verse of Torah, and I’ve now tricked him, and this is my way of getting him to say a verse of Torah, and the Almighty has pleasure (hana’ah) from this.
The Same Principle by R’ Yeshayele
The same thing he said about R’ Yeshayele ben R’ Moshe. And I saw here another place where one sees the idea of finding nitzotzot in everything, finding the positivity in everything. That even something that looks, and I’m using the parable precisely because the previous parable, many people are okay with it, to find a spark in holiness (kedusha) problems and so forth. And R’ Yeshayele ben R’ Moshe is smarter than that, right? But one can also find a spark there.
One must find the spark in the thing that I don’t like, that’s negative to me, because everything is the Almighty, yes? R’ Avrahamdel is the Almighty, R’ Motele is the Almighty, everyone is the Almighty, everyone is Godliness (Elokut). One just needs to find the spark, the positive thing.
Example: Heresy is Also Godliness – The Baal HaTanya
What else did I think of? There is, the Baal HaTanya once said, he also spoke about the same topic that I’m speaking about, everything is Godliness. So he asked, how can one say that heresy (kefirah) is Godliness? How can heresy be Godliness? It’s the opposite of Godliness, right? That’s a good question.
So the Baal HaTanya answered that the answer is that when it comes to the other person, heresy is Godliness. The other person, when you don’t have money and you say “I have faith (emunah) in the Almighty,” okay, you need to have faith in the Almighty. But when the other person doesn’t have money, then…
[Continues in part 2]
But the art is not to learn something new. The art is to take the same learning and learn it with a fresh dimension. And again, you learn the same piece of Zohar, and you learn it with another dimension.
An Example: Ari Klein Learning Moreh Nevuchim
You know, we’re in the beis medrash (study hall), Ari Klein is learning the Moreh Nevuchim (Guide for the Perplexed). He learned it the second time. You learn the same piece of Moreh Nevuchim, the same words, and he didn’t change his knowledge, but he learned it from a fresh dimension. How is it relevant psychologically? How is it relevant philosophically? How is it relevant in my life? How is it relevant without money, with money, and so on and so forth.
You know, we’re in the beis medrash, Ari Klein is learning the Moreh Nevuchim [Guide for the Perplexed]. He learned it the second time. You learn the same piece of Moreh Nevuchim, the same words, and he didn’t change his knowledge, but he learned it from a fresh dimension. How is it relevant psychologically? How is it relevant philosophically? How is it relevant in my life? How is it relevant without money, with money, and so on and so forth.
Conclusion: The Divine Spark of Kave Shtibel
I’m saying this just as a side thing, but I just wanted to bring out that the spark is, and rightfully so, from a certain point of view one can look at Kave Shtibel as a very negative, dark thing. But there is a spark in it.
I’m saying this just as a side thing, but I just wanted to bring out that the spark is, and rightfully so, from a certain point of view one can look at Kave Shtibel as a very negative, dark thing. But there is a spark in it.
Hashem made Kave Shtibel so that people should become acquainted with Yitzchak Levi. People here in America, in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) people already knew him before, there are people who knew him from the Holy Land. Here in America people became acquainted through Kave Shtibel.
Hashem made Kave Shtibel so that people should become acquainted with Yitzchak Levi. People here in America, in Eretz Yisrael people already knew him before, there are people who knew him from the Holy Land. Here in America people became acquainted through Kave Shtibel.
And this is the spark, it wasn’t a mistake that there was Kave Shtibel, and may Hashem give strength that we should be able to use it to make, to fix the things that came out of it. But this was made, this was Godliness, and the Godliness is, how we can reveal and bring out the lights and the certain things. We came out of this, and so on.
And this is the spark, it wasn’t a mistake that there was Kave Shtibel, and may Hashem give strength that we should be able to use it to make, to fix the things that came out of it. But this was made, this was Godliness, and the Godliness is, how we can reveal and bring out the lights and the certain things. We came out of this, and so on.
One can go sit a whole night and discuss further all kinds of sparks and all kinds of things. The bottom line is, everyone should give money and create money and open up and help out so that it can continue to go forward for the sake of the unification of Heaven (l’shem yichud shamayim).
One can go sit a whole night and discuss further all kinds of sparks and all kinds of things. The bottom line is, everyone should give money and create money and open up and help out so that it can continue to go forward l’shem yichud shamayim.
Thanks for listening to me.
Thanks for listening to me.
[Audience: Yasher koach, yasher koach, yasher koach. Yasher koach, yasher koach. Yasher koach. Yasher koach. Yasher koach. Yasher koach.]
[Audience: Yasher koach, yasher koach, yasher koach. Yasher koach, yasher koach. Yasher koach. Yasher koach. Yasher koach. Yasher koach.]
You didn’t disappoint me.
You didn’t disappoint me.