Why Must We Travel to Uman?

Why Bring Pure and Innocent Children to Uman?

And What About the Two Days of Torah Study Lost Going and Returning, When They Could Have Been Learning?

All this is explained in the Shaar HaKavanot on Yom Kippur, where it is discussed why one must specifically travel to Uman. The Chatam Sofer said, "For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have slept; then I would have been at rest" (Job 3:13), the Rambam says I slept then for 8 hours..., all are tzaddikim, all are beloved, all do not sleep, all study Torah day and night, so why must one specifically travel to Uman? In the Shaar HaKavanot, the Ari says there are two types of tzaddikim, there are tzaddikim of the aspect of Leah and tzaddikim of the aspect of Rachel, these are two types of tzaddikim as distant as heaven and earth.

Truly all are beloved, all are clear, all are holy, all are pure, but the Ari says there are tzaddikim who are of the aspect of Leah, about whom it is said that complete tzaddikim are written and sealed immediately for a good life already on the first night.

The tzaddikim of the aspect of Leah reached everything through weeping

The Rambam says there is one tzaddik in every generation, there aren't several tzaddikim of the aspect of Leah, and the whole secret of Leah was hidden from Jacob until after Rachel's passing. The secret of Leah of the tzaddikim who are of theaspect of Leah, is Leah's soft eyes that only cry and pray, pour out your heart like water before Hashem, they do not achieve any understanding without prayer. The Rebbe says why is it called tractate "and my expectation is in weeping I have woven" (Psalms 102) - that the tzaddikim weave their study with tears by the rivers of Babylon. How did they come to compose the Babylonian Talmud? By rivers of tears! These tzaddikim who are of the aspect of Leah do not approach anything, any side, any movement before they shed rivers of tears, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept" (Psalms 137), the Babylonian Talmud was written by the Tannaim and Amoraim who poured rivers of tears, and therefore even the smallest among you can revive the dead.

The Ari explains in Shaar HaKavanot that not every tzaddik reaches the aspect of Leah, it is true that all are tzaddikim and all are beloved and all are holy and pure. And our Rabbi says "Your righteousness is like the mountains of Tabor" (from the piyut for Motzaei Shabbat) that Mount Tabor is to break the pride in four aspects, 4 parasangs. The first level in breaking pride is to believe in the tzaddikim first and foremost - Breslov is not, God forbid, to deny any tzaddik, Breslov is to believe in all the tzaddikim, but there is one tzaddik who is of the aspect of Leah which is something entirely different, that whoever comes to this tzaddik, says the holy Ari, is immediately sealed for a good life, already on the first night.

Anyone who is with this unique tzaddik on Rosh Hashanah is written and sealed immediately

On this, the Gemara says (Rosh Hashanah 16b) that complete tzaddikim are written and sealed immediately along with all who accompany them. Anyone who comes to such a tzaddik who is of the aspect of Leah, the aspect of Leah's soft eyes, that all he achieved was with rivers of tears, all of Likutei Moharan is rivers of tears, it is pour out your heart like water before Hashem. A person usually cannot cry unless he has some trouble, he cannot shed tears for the pain of the Shechinah, for the pain of Hashem. As it is brought in the name of one of the great tzaddikim that after he finished the Tikkun Chatzot he said now we need to say another Tikkun Chatzot, what is Tikkun Chatzot? Is this how you cry?! So he said another Tikkun Chatzot until morning, he said Tikkun Chatzot three times. This is called crying for the pain of the destruction, for the pain of the Shechinah.

This tzaddik who truly feels the pain of the Shechinah, the destruction and the exile of the Jewish people, the troubles of the Jewish people, this tzaddik who is of the aspect of Leah. The Rebbe says I feel all the troubles of Israel even before they are decreed. The Rebbe already spoke 24 years before the decree of the kidnapping of the children, the decree came out in 1827 and the Rebbe spoke in 1802, he said I delayed it for 20 and some years. The Rebbe says, I feel the troubles even at their root, even before they begin to arise I already feel that there is going to be a decree on the Jewish people - and a million Jews were kidnapped and half a million jumped into the Volga and committed suicide, and all that is found of the Righteous Among the Nations is always from the descendants of these children.

The tzaddik, even though sealed immediately, continues to care for all of Israel

The holy Ari explains in Shaar HaKavanot that these complete tzaddikim who are written already on Rosh Hashanah immediately for a good life, they and those who accompany them receive the seal - the seal is in the foundation of Leah. So why don't we say on Rosh Hashanah "you will be written and sealed immediately"? He says that even though they are written for a good life, but what kind of good life can there be if there will suddenly be exile? If there will suddenly be a decree? If suddenly Jews will go into captivity? True, the tzaddik will remain alive, but he will go with everyone, he will not hide in some basement, in some bunker, in some cave until all of Israel is written. So true, he will enter a good life, but now we need to care for all of Israel as well. After on Rosh Hashanah we prayed and we all merited already on the first night to be written and sealed immediately for a good life, the foundation of Leah, now we need to pray for all of Israel.

And this, the intermediates who are sealed on Yom Kippur, and the seal of Yom Kippur is not yet enough because we now need to make the third seal which will be on Hoshana Rabbah, the final seal, so even the wicked are sealed for a good life, because if there will be a decree on the wicked then permission is given to the destroyer not to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. Because until all the wicked are also sealed for a good life, they too are given to live another year, and the intermediates are among the wicked, so even the tzaddikim will be included in the decree.

After Building the Level of Leah, We Must Sweeten the Judgments by Building Rachel

The holy Ari explains that immediately on the night of Yom Kippur Rachel ascends, because we need to reach Rachel, the unification of Rachel will only be in the crown during the Musaf, all the unifications now are only in Leah. On the first night already the correction was in Leah, the tzaddikim who are of the aspect of Leah on the first night already all the correction was done in all the worlds, but there is also the level of Rachel, Leah is the complete tzaddikim and the rest of all Israel are called Rachel. Therefore on the first night we built the crown of Rachel, on the second day we built the wisdom of Rachel, on the third day we built the understanding and then Gedaliah was killed, because the judgments of the crown and wisdom are sweetened by the blowing of the shofar, since there is no blowing of the shofar on the third of Tishrei, so there was nothing to sweeten the judgments on Gedaliah son of Ahikam.

Because Gedaliah son of Ahikam was the great of the generation and he was of the aspect of Leah, he was the greatest tzaddik of the generation and he was left alive with all of Israel. But since on that day terrible judgments are awakened, and he did not succeed in sweetening the judgments of the community, the judgments of himself he did sweeten, but the judgments of the community he did not succeed in sweetening. So even though he himself was of the aspect of Leah, and he already passed, but he did not succeed in sweetening, says the Ari thattherefore Gedaliah son of Ahikam was killed, because then because then the sefirah of understanding.

On the fourth of Tishrei it is knowledge, on the fifth it is kindness, on the sixth it is strength, on the seventh it is beauty, on the eighth it is eternity, and on the eve of Yom Kippur we need to correct 3 sefirot, the glory, the foundation and the kingdom. Rachel begins to ascend - after we built the level of Rachel we in 9 days need to correct 11 sefirot. Leah was corrected immediately on the first day, Leah received the correction and all the tzaddikim of the aspect of Leah and those who accompany them were sealed immediately for a good life, but now we need to bring into a good life all the tzaddikim who are of the aspect of Rachel.

Until Yom Kippur all the ascents are only of Rachel

On the eve of Yom Kippur it remains to complete the glory, the foundation, and the kingdom, and then Rachel begins to ascend, in Kol Nidrei she ascends to the head of understanding which is the lower female aspect of the father. In the evening prayer we raise her through our prayers to the aspect of the kingdom of understanding. Because first she ascends to the head of understanding, after that in Maariv when we say Baruchu, and after that in the Amidah she ascends to the kingdom of the higher understanding, which is the higher female aspect of the father. In the morning prayer of Yom Kippur Rachel ascends to the chesed, gevurah, and tiferet of understanding, in the repetition of the Shemoneh Esrei she ascends to the knowledge of understanding, the ascents are only in Rachel, they are not at all in Zeir Anpin.

The Ari asks why do men need to fast at all, since now only Rachel is being raised?

If so, the women should fast and not the men! And he answers, simply to not distinguish between men and women so the men also fast, but really the prayers of the women are what raise everything, the female alone is the one ascending. And although we are already in Musaf, Zeir Anpin is still below its place, it has no ascent, all the ascents are only in Rachel, and all the unifications are only in Leah. The ascent of Zeir Anpin begins in the Mincha prayer when Zeir Anpin and Leah ascend to the head of understanding, and then ascend to the chest of the upper understanding, and in the Ne'ilah prayer they ascend to the head of understanding.

And Rachel ascended slowly, first in the knowledge of understanding, because Zeir Anpin always ascends according to the measure of its stature, and now Zeir Anpin, Leah, and Rachel are already equal, because they ascended to the crown of understanding. And in the return of the Ne'ilah, all three ascend to the higher mother, and then they cry out Hashem is the God, Hashem is the God, because now all are at the same height, all are included in the beard of Arich Anpin. Therefore, we needed to say God is Hashem, what is the meaning of Hashem is the God? Because Hashem, Hashem is the God is the holy ancient one, because they ascended to the ancient one. That even Rachel and Leah who are called God ascended and are included in the ancient one, and therefore all are called God.

The Corrections of Sukkot - No Sin is Considered

On Sukkot on the 18th of Tishrei we reach the sefirah of eternity, because on the 11th we corrected the kindness in the glory the inner lights, the inner lights go from bottom to top. On the 12th we correct kindness in eternity, on the 13th kindness in beauty, on the 14th the eve of Sukkot kindness in strength. And when we reach Sukkot it is kindness in kindness, now the sukkah is surrounding lights and therefore no account of sins is taken, the sins are not considered in these days, because only kindnesses are drawn. Internal kindnesses go from bottom to top, from the kindness in glory to kindness in kindness which is on the first day of Sukkot, and this day is the highest, because then also kindness of kindness internal lights, and kindness of kindness surrounding lights is the sukkah the surrounding lights.

And from then we begin to descend, on the 15th it is kindness in kindness, on the 16th in kindness in strength, on the 17th we are in kindness in beauty, on the 18th we are in kindness in eternity the sefirah of our Rebbe. On the 19th kindness in glory, on the 20th all five kindnesses are included in the foundation, and on the 21st on Hoshana Rabbah all the kindnesses are included in the kingdom and then there is a unification on Simchat Torah, the complete correction. Because in the crown there is a unification of Zeir Anpin and Rachel, andif this unification is done completely it can bring the building of the Holy Temple, this is the unification of Simchat Torah.

The Secret of the Tzaddik Who Builds Both Holy Temples

The grandson of the Sma was a great Kabbalist and he incorporated all of Kabbalah within the Psalms, in chapter 11 he explains the whole secret of building the Holy Temple. He says that always the tzaddik of the generation who is of the aspect of Leah has the power to build both Holy Temples, one Holy Temple of precious stones and pearls, and the second Holy Temple of fire. The Zohar in Pinchas on page 220 says this is the secret of the verse "The place of Your dwelling, You have made, Hashem; the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established" (Exodus 15:17), "The place of Your dwelling, You have made, Hashem" is the stone Holy Temple, "the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established" is the Holy Temple of fire.

Our Rebbe says I can do everything that Mashiach will be able to do, only the generation is not ready to accept. Until the generation believes that the Rebbe is the tzaddik of the generation, until a person knows the difference between this tzaddik and that tzaddik, all the songs are holy, but there is holy of holies. All the tzaddikim are only of the aspect of Rachel, the greatest tzaddikim can only be of the aspect of Rachel, but of the aspect of Leah only one tzaddik can be, and this tzaddik is the only one written and sealed immediately for a good life.

These are the questions that a non-Jew asked Rabbi Eliezer the Great (there), what is the meaning of "the glory of the latter house will be greater than the former"? So he set his eyes upon him and made him a heap of bones and immediately began to cry, for the non-Jew asked a good question, and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai himself asked what is the meaning of the latter house? It is written "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former" (Haggai 2:9), Haggai says, this house which you see was made of planks, go up to the mountain, bring olive wood and cedar wood, and everyone began to cry. It is written in Ezra that the sounds of weeping rose above the sounds of joy, what is the Holy Temple? After all, only 70 years before was the previous Holy Temple built. Whoever was 20 years old at the first Holy Temple is now 90 years old, whoever was 10 years old is now 80.

Those who rejoiced and danced tried to overcome the sound of weeping and did not succeed, because all of Israel who still saw the first house which was all gold, built by King Solomon, and here they took some planks and made a Holy Temple - In every generation there are those who can see the Holy Temple.

And this is what the elders of Athens asked Yehoshua ben Chananiah if he is the tzaddik of the generation who can build the Holy Temple. The can you build a house in the air? Can you bring down a Holy Temple of fire? So he showed them a Holy Temple of fire! Yehoshua ben Chananiah was the tzaddik of the generation who defeated all the elders of Athens and brought them to the king. They were the greatest heretics of the generation and he succeeded in killing them all, just as the Rebbe brought close the three heretics and returned them in teshuvah (repentance). Yehoshua ben Chananiah who was the tzaddik of the generation took the greatest heretics in the world, 60 elders of Athens, and brought them to the king of Rome until he completely destroyed them.

He showed the elders of Athens if you want to be Jews now convert, I am showing you a Holy Temple of fire. The tzaddik of the generation can see in every generation a Holy Temple of fire, he can bring the redemption to the Jewish people in every generation.

On Simchat Torah we reach the unification of Jacob and Rachel, Zeir Anpin and Rachel and then the Holy Temple will be built speedily in our days in the blink of an eye.

Amen