Man is Responsible for the Works of Creation | Parshat Vayechi from the Gaon and

"And he saw that rest was good… and he bent his shoulder to bear" (Genesis 49:15)

Through the Torah, you activate all the cells that have already been damaged, weakened, and have already begun to wither; the study renews them, activates them, gives them mochin (intellectual maturity/divine consciousness), the Torah builds you and makes you into a new person.

Issachar is the only soul among all the tribes that had no connection to this world! Issachar is the soul that has nothing in the world except for Torah study. This is the soul that everyone needs to serve; every single tribe does something—Zebulun engages in commerce, "Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out," Judah wages wars, Levi serves in the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple), but Issachar is the soul that has nothing in this world... only Torah study! Issachar is only Torah, because Torah study is greater than the service of the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple), as it is written, "It is more precious than pearls (Proverbs 3:15)—greater than a Kohen Gadol (High Priest) who enters the innermost sanctum."

A mamzer (child born of a forbidden union) who is a Talmid Chacham (Torah scholar) is greater than a Kohen Gadol (High Priest) who is an am ha'aretz (ignorant person). If he studies Torah day and night, he is greater than a Kohen Gadol, because it is impossible to escape the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination) except through Torah study in iyun (depth), and specifically when a person toils himself, even unto death, until he wants to die—"A person who dies in a tent." One must exert oneself in Torah, to kill oneself over it, not to study Torah out of weakness or ease. Perfect Torah study is not done out of ease! A person has all kinds of desires, and he also has a desire for ease (nachat). All desires are hinted at in the Aluphi Esav (chiefs of Esau), and one of them is "Aluph Nachat" (the Chief of Ease). A person loves to walk with ease, to be at ease, to study at ease, but in truth, the real ease, the real rest, is only the Torah—"And he saw that rest was good… and he bent his shoulder to bear"—the yoke of Torah (Rashi). True rest is the rest of the soul—through Torah study, one polishes the soul, cleanses it, scrapes away all the filth, throws all the filth outside, and merits rest of the soul.

A person must know that he is responsible for the Ma'aseh Bereshit (Works of Creation); every day he must create the world anew. The world is conducted according to those who study Torah; through Torah study, they create the world. "For all the innovations of the Ma'aseh Bereshit (Works of Creation) that Hashem, may He be blessed, renews every day constantly—that on this day there is much rain and on this day there is dryness, and at this time it is cold and damp, etc., and similarly other changes—everything is through the Torah..." (Likutey Halachot, Yibum 3). Reb Noson explains that you create the world. If you were negligent in study and slept, a disaster occurred; if you dreamed and spoke with someone during the study, a disaster occurred. A person must know that there is no reason to read newspapers and no reason to know what is happening in the world; if you are interested in the world for even one second, a disaster happens. A person must believe that the moment he neglected the Torah, a disaster occurs! You must know that all the changes in the world follow your Torah study. When a Jew studies, then the whole world begins to love us, because all the nations sometimes love us and sometimes they hate us. Anyone who has studied history knows that one year they love us and one year they hate us and want to destroy all the Jews, because everything depends on our Torah study, not on politicians or anything else.

When a person studies Torah in iyun (depth), and he puts his intellect into the Torah, he creates new worlds! He creates a new reality! Suddenly, new laws are made for him! He has money to travel to Uman! And suddenly he has abundance in spirituality, abundance in physicality! Because he created a new world; before he was in a world where he had no money, and now he is in a world where he already has money! Because a completely new world has already come into being, for every moment a person creates new worlds. If a person studies Torah in iyun, then every second he creates new worlds. The Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) brings in Lesson 101: "And when a person commits an aveira (sin), G-d forbid, then the aveira and the iniquity are engraved upon his bones, as it is written (Ezekiel 32): 'And their iniquities shall be upon their bones.'" The Rebbe says, do you want to atone for your sins? Do you want to erase your sins? It is difficult! For your sins are engraved upon your bones. The sins made the bones broken; all of a person's bones are broken—it hurts here, it hurts there—it is all from the sins. Every single aveira (sin) makes an engraving on the bone, "And their iniquities shall be upon their bones." The bones are hollow; they are already engraved, they were broken from the many engravings. If a person wants to reconnect the bones anew, to build them anew, to escape from "their iniquities upon their bones," it is only through study in iyun (depth), to take tests, to be tested, to study Torah in iyun. For teshuvah (repentance) does not help for the blemish because the bones are already broken and engraved, so how is teshuvah relevant? One must now draw new mochin (intellect/divine consciousness) into the bone, to renew the bone, and this is through Torah study in iyun. Through the Torah, you activate all the cells that have already been damaged, weakened, and have already begun to wither; the study renews them, activates them, gives them mochin, the Torah builds you and makes you into a new person.

A person looks for advice on how to escape bad character traits, so he has Hisbodedus (secluded prayer) and Chatzos (Midnight Lament), and everything is wonderful and good, but if he doesn't have Torah in iyun (depth), nothing will help him. Because if a person does not study Torah in iyun, then the main thing is missing from the book, for there is no brain at all, because the brain is received only from Torah in iyun. If a person does Hisbodedus but has no mochin (intellect) at all, then Hashem wants to give to him, but there is nowhere to draw the abundance! A person prays with kavanah (intention), and after the prayer, he runs away to eat, he runs away to talk with his friend. They say about us, he is already taking off his Tefillin (phylacteries), he is already talking with his friend. So Hashem says to him, "I want to give to you after the prayer, just say some verse, say some 2 or 3 halachos (laws), study a few lines from the Gemara, then you will have a wonderful intellect and you will understand everything." Because after the prayer, a person asks, "And put into our hearts understanding to understand and to discern, to hear, to learn and to teach, to observe and to do," and Hashem wants to give him all the mochin (intellect) now, but he immediately starts talking to his friend, and here he runs away before Aleinu (the closing prayer), and he is already taking off his Tefillin, and he is already outside, he is already talking, and already arguing, and already eating, and Hashem says, "I wanted to give you wonderful mochin, where did you run away from Me?"

So the Rebbe says that without Torah in iyun (depth) there is no brain, and in everything a person does, the main thing is missing, for the main thing, the Rebbe says, is Torah in iyun. Therefore, the Rebbe brings in Sefer HaMiddos (The Book of Traits, Study section 33): "The habit of study surpasses the fulfillment of all the commandments." One must get used to studying. Therefore, we ask immediately in the morning, "And accustom us to Your Torah," that we should get used to Torah study. And the Rebbe says that getting used to it is not enough! So a person will say Gemara like Psalms—that is not enough, it needs to be "accustom us"! To study in iyun is called "accustom us"! To take the Rashba, and Ramban, and Ritva, and Shita Mekubetzet, and the Rosh, and the Rif, and the Ran, and the Nimukei Yosef, everything there is, and the Maharam Schiff, and the Maharsha, and the Bach, and everything possible. And if the Maharsha is difficult for you, take some easier commentator, but in this way, your head must be in iyun (depth) all the time, it should always stand in iyun.

If a person studies in iyun (depth), "one who delves and understands the wisdom of the Torah, then he merits that the yoke of the government and the yoke of worldly concerns are removed from him." And this is only through study in iyun, where one delves and understands the wisdom of the Torah, and then he merits Anpin Nehirin (shining countenance). Then, when a person's entire thought is only in Torah in iyun, to understand the Gemara well, to understand the sugya (topic) well, to understand all the Rishonim (early commentators) and all the Acharonim (later commentators), and to summarize it, and to write it, and meanwhile to innovate a few more chiddushim (Torah insights), then at that moment he merits such Anpin Nehirin (shining countenance) that the whole world returns in teshuvah (repentance). He receives such Anpin Nehirin that the whole world returns in teshuvah from his face—"A man's wisdom illuminates his face." "And through this, the yoke of the government and the yoke of worldly concerns are removed from him," and then there is no yoke of government in the world—no Russians, and no Arabs, and no gentiles, there is nothing, no yoke of government. For the sake of one person who puts his head into the Torah in iyun, Hashem is willing to remove the yoke of government from the world, all the yokes of government, to nullify the kingdoms so that only the People of Israel will rule, only the Torah will rule.