Prayer - Templates for Prayers

A class delivered on the great day of Lag BaOmer, Motzaei Shabbat Emor. We did not manage to finish writing the entire class.

Today is Yom Kippur, the very essence of Yom Kippur. We are still in Yom Kippur. Lag BaOmer has the same power as Yom Kippur. On Lag BaOmer, all sins are forgiven just like on Yom Kippur, for anyone who does true teshuvah (repentance). The Netivot Shalom writes this, and this is the secret of the shofar blasts: Tekiah, Shevarim, Teruah, Tekiah. Tekiah (the long, straight blast) means they announce to a person and inform him of all his flaws all day long. That is the Tekiah. Then he begins to break his heart—that is the Shevarim (the broken blasts).

Because the Tekiah represents self-nullification. The Tekiah is nullifying oneself to Hashem, beginning to recognize one's sin. After he recognizes Hashem and breaks his heart, he then begins to wail and cry, "groaning groans and wailing wails" (the Talmudic description of the shofar sounds). He must start to cry and wail, to scream with cries and tears like Esau: "He cried out with a great and very bitter cry" (Genesis 27:34). Not like Mordechai, about whom it says, "He cried out with a great and bitter cry" (Esther 4:1). Regarding Esau, it adds the words "very [bitter]."

"And he wept." A person needs to cry, otherwise, we are worse than Esau. Esau started to cry; he understood his mistake. "And he wept"—he wept terribly, screaming such horrific screams that all of Hebron came running. They thought there was a murder, or maybe someone fainted. What do they see? They look through the window and see the chief of the robbers, the head of the murderers—the one who murdered Nimrod the wicked, stole his coveted garments and all his gold. And he is sitting on the ground like a baby, crying. If only I could cry like Esau! Esau cries and says: "What will be? The tzaddik doesn't want to bless me. The tzaddik despises me. The tzaddik rejects me." He cannot stop crying, and therefore his head is buried in the Cave of Machpelah, because his head was fine—he cries, he screams. He says, "He has deceived me these two times" (Genesis 27:36).

What is the meaning of "He has deceived me [using the root of the name Yaakov] these two times"? The Maggid Meisharim explains that only with Yaakov do we continue to use the name Yaakov. We don't just say Yisrael; we say Yaakov. All day long we say Yaakov, Yaakov, Yaakov. But with Avraham, if you call him Avram, you violate a positive commandment. You must say "Avraham"; you are forbidden to say Avram. "You chose Avram and brought him out of Ur Kasdim, and You made his name Avraham" (Nehemiah 9:7). From then on, it is forbidden to say Avram; one violates a positive commandment. You must say it with the letter 'Heh'—"Avraham." The Maggid Meisharim asks: Why do we say Yaakov today? We only say Yaakov, but didn't You give him the name Yisrael? The answer is that Yisrael is his name in the World of Atzilut (the highest spiritual realm of Emanation), "For you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed" (Genesis 32:29). But here in this world, everyone is in this world, in the World of Asiyah (Action), and here his name is Yaakov.

Because Adam HaRishon (the First Man) saw that if there were no World of Asiyah, there would be no free will. Adam HaRishon had his head in Atzilut, his navel in Beriah (Creation), and his hands reaching the Keter (Crown) of Yetzirah (Formation). His hands were in the Keter of Yetzirah, and his heels were in the Malchut (Kingship) of Yetzirah. There was no Asiyah! If there is no Asiyah, one sees Hashem face to face, and it is impossible to sin. Sin is not applicable; you cannot sin when you see the King. Therefore, on Yom Kippur, before the Yishtabach prayer, we say, "The God in the vastness of Your power, the Great One in the glory of Your name, Who sits (Yoshev)..." What is the difference between HaYoshev (The One Who sits) and Yoshev (Sits)? All year round we say HaYoshev on a throne, etc., but on Yom Kippur we say Yoshev. I never knew this; now I see it for the first time in the Maggid on Parashat Chayei Sarah. Yoshev means all the time. HaYoshev means sometimes yes, sometimes no. If we do teshuvah (repentance), it is Yoshev; if not, it is HaYoshev. Yoshev means all the time! Every moment! Every second! On Lag BaOmer, Hashem Yoshev (sits constantly). We need to say Yoshev. HaYoshev is sometimes yes, sometimes no, but Yoshev is every second, every minute. We crown Hashem as King; Hashem reigns over us, Hashem desires us.

Esau cries, weeping such tears that all of Hebron comes running. "What will be? The tzaddik doesn't want to bless me." Are you lacking money? Are you lacking gold? You murdered Nimrod! Is Yitzchak exactly what you are missing?! Is that what you lack?! You lack a tzaddik?! You thief, robber, murderer, what happened? Have you lost your mind? He says: "Without Yitzchak, everything is worthless. Without the tzaddik, who is the head of the house, who is the 'Bereishit' (the Beginning), for whom 'Let us make man' was said—everything we work for is worthless."

Because on Lag BaOmer, we rectify the sin of Adam HaRishon. Only Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai merited to completely rectify the sin of Adam HaRishon. Adam HaRishon begged Cain: "Have mercy on me, I can't take it anymore. Cain, have mercy on me." All of this is brought down in the Sefer HaPartzuf. He begged Cain, crying to him: "Cain, do you know what happened? I placed darkness between the Cause of Causes and Adam Kadmon (Primordial Man), between Adam Kadmon and Atika, between Atika and Arich Anpin, between Arich Anpin and Zeir Anpin. Have mercy on me, have mercy on me! Draw down the lights for me, restore the lights that I lost. Eve had 3.7 million lights, I had 1.5 million lights. Everything went dark, there is nothing. Back then, the apple of my heel would outshine the sun. You don't know what it was like before you were born, what kind of light filled all the worlds. I made a mistake, have mercy on me, cry for me." Adam HaRishon continues and says to Cain: "Now there will be Gevurah of Gevurah (the strictest severity). Now it will be Sefirat HaOmer." According to Rabbi Yehoshua, Cain was born on Pesach, or on the night of Sefirat HaOmer. "Now, rectify me. Draw down the light anew. You are Gevurot (severities); you can fight against the entire Sitra Achra (the Other Side/evil forces)."

This was the secret of Yaakov, that he fights with the Sitra Achra. "And his hand was holding onto the heel of Esau" (Genesis 25:26). Yaakov does not give up. Yaakov grabs Esau by his heel and brings him down. Just like Samson, about whom Yaakov said, "Who bites the horse's heels, so that its rider falls backward" (Genesis 49:17). Samson grabbed the Sitra Achra by the heel. Just like Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher), who jumped ten cubits, and the axe was another ten cubits, and he himself was ten cubits tall—where did he reach? To the heel of Og, King of Bashan. Rebbe Nachman says that the ten cubits he jumped, the ten cubits of the axe, and his ten cubits of height represent the ten types of melody. With these ten types of melody, one ascends from the World of Asiyah to the World of Yetzirah, and then from Yetzirah to Beriah, and then to Atzilut. When Moshe reached Atzilut, he could subdue Og, King of Bashan. It is all done through the ten types of melody, because only through the ten types of melody is it possible to subdue evil. Therefore, "Then Moshe and the Children of Israel sang" (Exodus 15:1)—after he subdued Pharaoh and his armies. The Rebbe says, "Sing, O Maskil" (Psalms 47:8), because all wisdom is drawn from melodies. Even the wicked among the nations of the world, after they play music, they come up with new ideas. Without melody, there can be no innovation! The more a person plays music and sings, the more novel insights he has.

When Lag BaOmer arrives, which is Hod she'b'Hod (Splendor within Splendor), we reach the heels, which is the secret of Yaakov. We reach "He has deceived me these two times" (Genesis 27:36). We reach the aspect of Esau, "You have made them drink tears in great measure" (Psalms 80:6), where he cries. This is the secret of the blowing of the shofar—groaning groans, and then wailing wails. Esau understands that one needs to cry; he understands better than we do. That is why he is buried in the Cave of Machpelah. His head is in the Cave of Machpelah, in the bosom of Yitzchak. He is buried in the Cave of Machpelah, where Adam and Eve, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivkah, Yaakov and Leah are buried. All these four couples never stop crying. "Rachel weeping for her children" (Jeremiah 31:14). They never stop crying over the destruction, that there is no Holy Temple. It is already another Lag BaOmer, already the year 5777 (Tav-Shin-Ayin-Zayin), which has the numerical value of "U'Viat Mashiach" (And the coming of Mashiach). Today should have been the revelation of the King Mashiach, the coming of Mashiach, seven, seven, seven.

Lamech lived seven, seven, seven—777 years. The Likkutei Rabbi Levi Yitzchak says that this is the numerical value of Ohr (Light - 207), Mayim (Water - 90), Rakia (Firmament - 380), which equals 677, plus the letter Kuf (100), totaling 777. Lamech rectified the light, drew down the light, rectified the water, and rectified the firmament. Through what? Through the one hundred blessings, which corresponds to seven, seven, seven. This is the entire spiritual work of a person when the year 5777 arrives—seven, seven, seven. But Lamech passed away seven years before the Flood, because he did not succeed in drawing the light down to the world. If he had drawn the light down to the world, everyone would have done teshuvah (repentance) and there would have been no Flood.

And Adam says to Cain when he is born: "Now it is Sefirat HaOmer according to Rabbi Yehoshua. We are reaching Gevurah of Gevurah. Elevate the Gevurah (severity) to Binah (Understanding). You are the Gevurah of Zeir Anpin; elevate the Gevurah to Binah. All the murderers come from you, all the criminals come from you, all the Nazis come from you—they are all called the children of Cain. Take the severities and elevate them to the Gevurah of Binah, where it transforms into Chesed (Loving-kindness). Then we will be able to pierce the screens of the World of Asiyah and ascend to Yetzirah, pierce the screens of Yetzirah and ascend to Beriah, pierce the screens of Beriah and ascend to Atzilut, and after that ascend to Adam Kadmon. Atzilut begins from the navel of Adam Kadmon, and after that, we must ascend to the Chesed of Adam Kadmon, to the Da'at (Knowledge) of Adam Kadmon. And from the Da'at of Adam Kadmon, we must ascend higher and higher, to Binah, to Chochmah (Wisdom), to Keter (Crown)! And after that, we ascend to the hairs of Adam Kadmon! This is the secret of: "I looked on until thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His garment was like white snow, and the hair of His head was like clean wool" (Daniel 7:9). These are the garments of Adam Kadmon, 'and the hair of His head was like clean wool.'

Abel, seeing that Cain, instead of rectifying, instead of returning the Gevurah to Binah—what did he do? The Gevurah descended to Malchut, to Asiyah. The Gevurah turned into murders, jealousy, and hatred. Just as the Nazis said: "It is true that the Jews are the chosen people. It is true that the Jews are the supreme race." That is what they said in the end. At first, they said, "They are merely slaves." They repeated this to themselves every hour, every moment. But in the end, they said that the Jews are the strongest race in the world. "It is enough if one Jew remains, one child, one baby, and we have accomplished nothing. There is no race as strong as this." And then they said, "If someone comes to kill you, rise early to kill him! If someone comes to kill you, kill him immediately! Don't wait for them to kill you." There is a Halacha, a law in the Torah, "The law of the land is the law." One must follow the law.

And then they held the Wannsee Conference and said: "Specifically because they are the strongest race, specifically because they are the chosen people, specifically because they control the whole world, we have no choice, because otherwise, they will annihilate us." And then they held the infamous Wannsee Conference. The bottom line was: If one Jewish child remains, one baby, and he knows he is a Jew, we have accomplished nothing. Six hundred thousand will rise from him, just as six hundred thousand rose from Yaakov during his lifetime. "And it would be a shame if they take over the world and annihilate us. Why? Because we are evil! Because we are Amalek!" That is what they said. "We are the seed of Amalek, and 'You shall blot out the memory of Amalek' (Deuteronomy 25:19). We are destined for annihilation; we must be destroyed. Who can destroy us? Only the Nation of Israel. So let us rise up against them, 'lest they multiply' (Exodus 1:10)." Just as Pharaoh said: "And it will come to pass, that when any war occurs, they also will join our enemies, and fight against us, and go up out of the land" (ibid.). The exact same thing Pharaoh said was essentially the bottom line of all the Nazis. They said, "They are just bacteria, they are just slaves." But the final conclusion was that if the Nation of Israel remains in the world, in the end, no trace of the Nazis will remain! Nothing will be left of them. "And one moment earlier is better than one moment later." As Pharaoh said, "Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when any war occurs, they also will join our enemies, and fight against us, and go up out of the land." This was the bottom line of the Wannsee Conference among the Nazis, may their names be erased.

We came to say all this to show that Cain dropped the Gevurot (severities). Instead of elevating the Gevurot to the Gevurah of Binah, where it transforms into Chasadim (loving-kindness) and thereby builds the world, Cain reversed the order. The Gevurah fell into Asiyah; it fell into a place of darkness and gloom, and it strengthens the darkness and gloom in the world. The Jews are the light. As Job says, "They are among those who rebel against the light" (Job 24:13). "Those who rebel against the light" refers to the Nazis, who received the Gevurah of Cain. They received all the severities of Cain, for 5,770 years ago, Cain dropped the Gevurah into a place of darkness and gloom, into the Asiyah of Asiyah, into the Malchut of Malchut. And this is the power of all the enemies of Israel.

And then Adam HaRishon asked the question, "Master of the Universe!" Adam HaRishon had a profound question, not just a simple question. "So what will happen here? Will the end of the world be the annihilation of the Nation of Israel? Will the end of the world be that the children of Cain rule over the world? Will the end of the world be that the children of Cain kill millions of people every year?" Because all the murders in Africa and everywhere else amount to millions of people a year. "So will it continue like this? Is this why You created the world? Is this why You said, 'Let us make man'?" Adam HaRishon walks around with a terrible question. He wants Hashem to explain it to him, for Hashem to answer him. He knows that Cain did teshuvah (repentance). "You did teshuvah, but what will be with the future generations?"

Menashe did teshuvah, but what did it help? The Holy Temple was destroyed. After twenty-two years of slaughtering a thousand people every day—which altogether is eight million thirty thousand, more than Hitler—after twenty-two years, a hurricane came and blew him away, twenty-two years into his reign. And he screams, "God of Edom!" "God of Moab!" "God of the snakes!" "God of the scorpions!" For half an hour he cries out to every type of idol in the world. And when he is literally about to be roasted—they call it shawarma—and they are going to cut him into pieces just as they cut Rabbi Akiva into pieces, and feed his flesh to all the ministers of Babylon (because that is how they used to act), one minute before he is completely roasted, he says: "Oh, I remember that at age five my father taught me that there is a God of Israel in the world, and His kingdom rules over all. He is the strongest of them all." And then Menashe says, "Master of the Universe, either You answer me, or I become a heretic." Heaven forbid! Who needs you? Who are you anyway? You have thirty seconds left to live, twenty seconds. So you'll be a heretic, you won't be a heretic—who cares? What, are you now going to establish a platoon of heresy, become a member of the Knesset, and fight against the religious? Who needs you at all? Who cares about you? You are a non-entity. In another fifteen seconds, you will be completely roasted. And then all the angels block the windows of the firmament! But Hashem says: "No! I will show everyone that even a person like Menashe, who has already committed all the abominations in the world, if he begs Me to save him, I will save him! I will save him!" And then Hashem digs a tunnel for him, "And He was entreated of him" (2 Chronicles 33:13), and accepts his teshuvah. He truly accepts his teshuvah! And a wind comes and blows him back to his kingdom, and he did teshuvah for 33 years.

But the Nation of Israel was already steeped in it. After twenty-two years of idolatry, it was impossible to stop. Yoshiyahu (Josiah) sends people to search every house. He comes to the door, "Behind the door and the doorpost you have set up your memorial" (Isaiah 57:8). The doors were folded; they would draw pictures of idols on the doors—half a picture on this door, half a picture on that door. They hid the idols in the closets, covering them with clothes. Therefore, David prayed twice, "For the conductor, on the Sheminit (the eighth)" (Psalms 6:1; 12:1). He directed this toward the eighth generation: once until Yoash, who was the eighth generation from David and was killed; and a second time until Yoshiyahu, who was the eighth generation from Yoash and was killed—they pierced him with three hundred iron spears! Because he did not eradicate the idolatry!!! He did not investigate where the idolatry was! He did not prevent the destruction! Therefore, three hundred iron spears were thrust into him.

And Adam HaRishon says, "Master of the Universe, will this be the end of the world? That there will be destructions? A terrible Holocaust the likes of which has not been seen since the creation of the world? And the Spanish Inquisition? And the destruction of the Second Temple? What is the purpose?" Hashem says to him: "This is not a 'Holocaust' (Shoah), this is 'Salvation' (Yeshuah). Jews enter the Garden of Eden directly. 'This is the gate of Hashem; the righteous shall enter through it' (Psalms 118:20). Jews go straight into the Garden of Eden! Without judgment, without anything. And these—the Nazis, the Inquisitors, and the Romans who burn them, who torture them—'that they may be destroyed forever' (Psalms 92:8). I only leave them because Avraham Avinu asked Me to exchange Gehenna (Hell) for the subjugation of the exiles! Avraham asked this of Me, My promise to Avraham: 'And He said to Avram, Know for a certainty that your offspring shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years... and afterward they shall come out with great wealth' (Genesis 15:13-14)." Hashem says to Moshe, "Look, I am already going to free them. We are done, it is over." Moshe says, "Four hundred years haven't passed yet." Hashem tells him, "Two hundred and ten is also enough."

Job had a terrible question for Hashem. Everyone has questions. Job had questions, Moshe had questions, everyone. Moshe asks why You diminished the moon. With Tzitzit, it is possible to rectify Shatnez (the forbidden mixture of wool and linen)—so why is Shatnez forbidden? All of this is brought down in Likkutei Halachot. The fact that you don't study Likkutei Halachot is not my issue. Moshe comes to Hashem: "Why did You diminish the moon? Why did You say, 'You shall surely blot out the memory of Amalek'?" Moshe Rabbeinu has a million questions; he has questions about everything. And Hashem answers him. "Hear (Sh'ma), Hashem, my voice (K'oli) when I call (E'kra)" (Psalms 27:7)—the acronym spells Kushya (Question). A person asks Hashem, and Hashem answers him. But if he is a person like Korach, who comes to incite against Moshe, then you will be left with your question; on the contrary, you will be swallowed by the earth. You are among the carriers of the Ark; you get arrogant instead of feeling humility. As Rabbi Natan brings down in Hilchot Arev, Halacha 5, the whole point of the carriers of the Ark is to attain humility. You are flying in the air with the Ark, you are the first pilot in the world, and you already have arrogance from this. Moshe walks with his staff, leaning on his staff, walking bowed and bent over. Korach is flying in the air at the height of arrogance.

As Rabbi Natan says, Korach was one of the carriers of the Ark, and this led him to dispute Moshe. He says, "I fly in the air, Moshe walks on foot. I precede the camp of Israel by three days," because the Ark would precede Israel by three days. Korach argued against Moshe and Aharon, "For the entire congregation are all holy, and why do you exalt yourselves over the assembly of Hashem?" (Numbers 16:3). There was no Yetzer Hara (evil inclination); their impurity had ceased. "Why are you exalting yourself? Do you think the impurity only ceased for you?" There was no longer any lust, it was over. There was no menstrual blood, there was no lust whatsoever, everything was finished. Reish Lakish says that if not for the sin of the Golden Calf, we would not be in the world at all. Now Korach comes with all the questions about Tzaraat (leprosy)—why is a person with a small patch of Tzaraat impure, but if he turns completely white from the Tzaraat, he is pure? About the Mezuzah, as Rabbi Natan says, why do we need to make a Mezuzah, and then take the Mezuzah and fold it up? Let's make a beautiful Mezuzah, spread it out, put it in glass, in a beautiful frame, and everyone will shout, "Hear O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One!" Let them see the Mezuzah. Why fold it? Why?

Rather, the Mezuzah is an internal matter. Rabbi Natan is just continuing the questions. But the Mezuzah is an internal matter, which is placed inside the wall, deep within the heart. You can shout a million times, "Hear O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One!" What will it help? A person shouts, "Hear O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One!" and after that, after he shouts "Hear O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One!" he commits all the sins. "Hear O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One!" did not stop him from any sin! I have yet to see a person whom "Hear O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One!" stopped from committing a sin. For that, he needs to cry, to go to the field to do Hisbodedus (personal prayer in seclusion), to cry all night, so that at the very least he learns from Esau.

We light a candle for the elevation of the soul of the Maharam of Rothenburg (19th of Iyar, 5053), for the elevation of the soul of our holy Rebbe. I just read in the book Sefat Emet that when one lights a candle for the soul of a tzaddik, it effects all salvations. We bring them down—we bring the tzaddik down, and the tzaddik effects all salvations just as in his lifetime. We should light for every tzaddik, every day, on his yahrtzeit (anniversary of passing). And one can light a hundred candles; there are those who light a hundred candles. There are a hundred yahrtzeits a day. The more candles we light, the more the tzaddikim come down. Rabbi Hirsh of Rimanov would dance throughout the entire prayer. Once he grabbed a butcher—he would always dance with someone else, it's hard to dance alone. Once he had no one to dance with, so he grabbed a butcher who weighed two hundred kilos and started making him dance, making this butcher jump. And that is how he would pray for six hours, dancing, only dancing. He couldn't stand in one place. This was the author of Be'erot HaMayim, Rabbi Hirsh of Rimanov. He would just dance the entire prayer, dancing, grabbing people and making them dance.

Like the Berditchever, he had no idea what was happening with him. The Berditchever would dance the entire prayer. So the Chassidim thought he was doing it to get money. People said, "Why is he dancing? So that people will come look through the windows and see him dancing." One day, what did they do? They placed a blazing hot oven there, and he grabbed the oven and danced with the oven. He lay sick for half a year; he was completely burned. He danced with the oven! He would grab something, a shtender (bookstand), a Gemara, and start dancing with it. So he grabbed the oven and danced with the oven.

Like that one man who, after arriving from all his business travels, said, "I am going to see the tzaddik." The Berditchever yells at him in the middle of the Yotzer Or blessing, right in the middle of the prayer. He yells at him as soon as he arrives. The man was startled, he was in shock. "This is the Berditchever? Who talks in the middle of the prayer? And he even yells at me! What did I do to him? What does he want from me?" Right as the Berditchever reaches, "May You be blessed forever, our Rock, our King, and our Redeemer, Creator of holy beings. Praised be Your name forever, our King, Creator of ministering angels; and whose ministering angels all stand at the height of the universe, and proclaim with awe together aloud, words of the living God and King of the universe." Suddenly he starts yelling at him: "'They are all beloved, they are all pure, they are all holy!' What will the angel Michael say? What will the angel Gabriel say? What will the angel Nuriel say? What will the angel Tzadkiel say?" He brought up all the angels to him, twenty-six angels. The man was terrified. In the middle of the prayer, he starts screaming at him. Fine, he saw what he saw. He caught him red-handed, as they say. He will publicize this on television, in the newspapers. He will make sure to publicize this, so the world knows the truth about who the Berditchever really is.

After he was in Berditchev on Friday morning, he continues to Medzhybizh. It's not such a great distance; he continues from the Berditchever to the Medzhybizher. On Friday night, the candles are about to go out, there is no electricity. Suddenly, before Grace After Meals, Rabbi Baruch of Medzhybizh shouts: "Anyone who has Lashon Hara (derogatory speech) to say about the Berditchever, let him stand up and say it! Do not be afraid, and I promise him a portion in the World to Come!" Not only is it not Lashon Hara to speak about the Berditchever, you even get the World to Come for it! You get the World to Come! Who wouldn't speak Lashon Hara? Here he has fresh, fresh, fresh Lashon Hara, from just twelve hours ago. Now it's ten at night; at ten in the morning he saw how he yelled at him in the middle of the prayer, yelled at him and shamed him in the middle of the prayer. He stands up. "Rebbe, I have sweet Lashon Hara! Wow, so juicy, something fresh, fresh, just out of the oven, it's still hot." All the Chassidim pounce on him. They already knew all of Rabbi Baruch's secrets. You have to understand Rabbi Baruch—when he speaks, it is the sweetening of judgments, it is secrets. "Are you crazy? Do you want Gehenna? What do you want?" "But he promised me the World to Come! Instead of Gehenna, he promised me the World to Come." Everyone forces him to sit down; they forcefully sit him down on the chair. The poor guy is broken. How do people behave? How can they violate the words of the Rebbe?

During the day, again at two in the afternoon, before Grace After Meals, Rabbi Baruch announces! "Whoever speaks Lashon Hara about the Berditchever, and reveals his dark deeds, I promise him the World to Come!" The man is already standing; he is practically standing on the table. Once again, the students pull him down. "Sit, calm down. The Berditchever is the Holy of Holies. You don't understand secrets, you don't understand the intention. There is some sweetening of judgments here, there are secrets here. Sit, calm down." Fine, he doesn't understand why students violate the word of their Rabbi. How can they disrespect their Rabbi like that?

Shalosh Seudot (the Third Meal of Shabbat) arrives. That's it, there are no candles, no electricity, complete and total darkness. And once again, before Grace After Meals, he doesn't give up. Rabbi Baruch doesn't give up; he repeats it again. He has no despair—a person must never despair. Once again, Rabbi Baruch shouts, in the pitch darkness, at Shalosh Seudot, before Grace After Meals: "Anyone who has Lashon Hara about the Berditchever, let him stand up and say it! Do not be afraid! I promise him the World to Come. I will sign it for him with a lawyer, a notary. I guarantee that he will have the World to Come!" That is how he testified about himself.

Pitch darkness, people cannot see each other. He gets up, runs to Rabbi Baruch, and stands next to him. "Rabbi Baruch, I have brand new Lashon Hara, just from yesterday at ten in the morning. The Berditchever attacked me in the middle of the prayer, right when he was saying, 'May You be blessed forever, our Rock, our King, and our Redeemer, Creator of holy beings. Praised be Your name forever, our King, Creator of ministering angels; and whose ministering angels all stand at the height of the universe, and proclaim with awe together aloud, words of the living God and King of the universe. They are all beloved, they are all pure, they are all mighty, they are all holy.' He suddenly jumps on me! He says these words, in the middle of Yotzer Or, when it is even forbidden to say Amen! Only between the sections is it permitted to say Amen. And suddenly he jumps on me, and yells at me in the middle of the prayer. What, is this a tzaddik? Is this the behavior of a tzaddik? Is this how tzaddikim behave? I will publicize this, I don't care. On television, on the channels, Channel Two, Channel Ten, I don't care. I am going for the sanctification of Hashem's name! I go with the truth, I am a man of truth! I will go with the truth to the very end! Rabbi Baruch, first thing in the morning I am going to publish this in all the newspapers. You promise me the World to Come."

Rabbi Baruch answers him: "Yes, certainly, certainly. And what a World to Come you will have! I guarantee that you will have the greatest World to Come in the universe. Go and publicize it. And now I will explain to you what happened here. Look, when the Berditchever says, 'Creator of ministering angels; and whose ministering angels all stand at the height of the universe, and proclaim with awe together aloud, words of the living God and King of the universe,' the Berditchever sees from one end of the world to the other. There is nothing he does not see. He sees me, he sees that I am sitting in the innermost chambers, he sees everything. You hide from him in the innermost chambers, but the Berditchever sees everything! He advocates for everyone. A person commits a sin, the Yetzer Hara attacked him, took away all his sense, placed temptations before everyone. He sees six hundred thousand Jews."

Today it is fifteen million. They say that back then it was only two million, in the time of Rebbe Nachman. He sees every Jew, every Jewish woman, every child. He sees all the sins they commit, the mitzvot, the sins. In one second, he sees everything. Everyone passes before him like a flock of sheep, just as Hashem judges the entire world in one second. He sees everyone on Yom Kippur. Today, on Lag BaOmer, Hashem counts everything in a single counting, and He sees everything. There is no boy, girl, woman, old man, or old woman that he does not see. He says, "Master of the Universe, this one is poor, this one is old, this one is sick." He sees someone who stole money, broke into a bank. "He is poor, he has ten children to marry off, he cannot bear to see the sorrow of his children." And this is how he advocates for each and every one. Thieves, murderers—why did he murder? "Because the other came to murder him, he provoked him." And he only advocates for them.

"And when he reached you, you were standing right behind his back, and he sees you. He searches for merits in you; he wants to judge you favorably. You know what you did the day before, you certainly know. 'What did I do? What did I do? On the contrary, I am a good Jew, I am a kosher Jew. I don't commit sins. I don't go to pubs, I don't go to discotheques. What sin did I commit?' The night before, you sat at the home of a very wealthy man, and there were gold spoons there, and you put one spoon in your pocket. 'Ma'aser (tithe), I don't know what.' Do you need to marry off a daughter? Do you lack money?! Do you have an Agunah (chained woman) at home?! A bride at home?! Do you have no food?! I searched for you on all sides, to advocate for you. Because it's true you had no donors, you had no one to support you, but thank Hashem you manage wonderfully on your own. Why did you need to steal the gold spoon? Maybe you can explain it to me. That is what he asked you. All the angels come to me and shout: 'Look, this one has no merit, this one is already lost, this is no merit. He is a rich millionaire, he has a billion dollars. Why does he need this gold spoon?!' And Michael comes to him, and Gabriel comes to him, and Nuriel comes to him. All the angels come to me and ask me. It is only when I advocate for them that they can advocate; without me, no one can advocate. They ask, 'Rebbe, explain, explain. What is this deed? What is this madness? What is this insanity? Is he crazy?' No, he is normal, he is truly normal, more normal than all of us. He said to you, 'Tell me, explain.' That is what he is asking you. Maybe you can explain it to us. I want to judge you favorably. Explain! You didn't grasp what he was saying to you. You will return the gold spoon, and you will have the World to Come. Very simple. Tomorrow morning, return the gold spoon, put it in an envelope, in the mailbox, and you will merit the World to Come, and Rabbi Baruch's promise will be fulfilled." (The end is missing).

Now Adam HaRishon asks—just as the Berditchever had questions, and Rabbi Baruch had questions, and Moshe also had questions: Why did Hashem diminish the moon? Why doesn't He judge the wicked favorably? Now, the question of Adam HaRishon. He sees that not only did Cain corrupt the Gevurah, he brought the Gevurah down lower and lower. From this, the Nazis, the terrorists, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda are drawn; they all suckle from the Gevurah that Cain brought down lower and lower. How do we elevate this Gevurah? How do we rectify this Gevurah? How do we transform it into the Gevurah of Holiness, so that we can pray with enthusiasm, so that we can break the screens, pierce the firmaments—pierce the firmaments between Asiyah and Yetzirah, between Yetzirah and Beriah, between Beriah and Atzilut? How do we pierce these screens? Only Yitzchak Avinu merited this. You, Cain, have no merit to rectify the Gevurah.

Therefore Sarah said, "After I have withered, shall I again have smooth flesh (Ednah)?" (Genesis 18:12). What is going on here? Sarah's entire question was about the word Ednah (youthful flesh/pleasure). "Hashem is making it so that I will give birth at age ninety. Let Him leave me at age ninety! What does Hashem care if He leaves me at age ninety or if He makes me a thirteen-year-old girl? What does Hashem care? I think it is better that He leaves me at age ninety, and I will give birth at age ninety to a pure and pristine child, without lusts, without flaws of the covenant. You want to return me to age thirteen?" All this is asked by the Heichal HaBerachah. He says, no, youth represents the Gevurot. There must be Gevurot here, and afterward, to transform it into holiness. And then everyone can transform these Gevurot—these are the hardest Gevurot, and every person can transform them into holiness. Every person in the world has the power to transform the Gevurot into holiness. The moment Yitzchak transforms the Gevurot into holiness, he will bring the Geulah (Redemption). The Geulah will only come through someone who can transform the Gevurot into holiness.

Sarah asks, "And my lord is old" (ibid.). "Why me? Why am I the sacrifice? Why am I the scapegoat? Make Avraham twelve years old! What?" But Avraham cannot be made twelve years old; he would die on the spot. "If I lower him a thousandth of a degree, a hairsbreadth from his level, he will die on the spot." Avraham can no longer descend. He is in Atzilut, he is in Dveikut (cleaving to God). He cannot go back to being a twelve-year-old boy like he once was; it is impossible. Someone is needed who will break the Yetzer Hara, who will transform it into Gevurot of Holiness. Yitzchak succeeded in this. Yitzchak succeeded in transforming the Gevurot into holiness; he will bring the Geulah.

And all this, Adam HaRishon wants Cain to rectify. For Cain to transform the Gevurot that Adam HaRishon corrupted, to transform the Gevurot into holiness. With this, one ascends, and with this, one prays. With this, one wakes up in the morning. If a person does not have Gevurah of Holiness, he cannot wake up in the morning. He will lie in bed until one o'clock. Then he will get divorced from his wife. "What, I get up at five and you get up at one?" What is this? No wife, no prayer, no children. If a person does not have Gevurah of Holiness, his wife divorces him; she cannot tolerate it.

Adam HaRishon saw that he could no longer rectify the Gevurah. The attribute of Gevurah fell to the Klipot (husks/evil forces), it fell to the Sitra Achra. He wanted Cain to rectify this. All this is explained in the Sefer HaPartzuf. And Cain, instead of elevating the Gevurah upward, brought it downward. This is the Nazis, this is the terrorists, ISIS, Al-Qaeda. And then comes Abel's turn. Now Abel says to his father, "I will rectify this." Abel "also brought" (Genesis 4:4). First, Cain brought the offerings, the flax. With the flax, he depletes the field for seven years. Not only did he not rectify the flax—the Gemara in Bava Metzia says that flax depletes the field for seven years—Cain cut off all seven Sefirot. He created darkness in all seven Sefirot, which are Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut. There was darkness in all the Sefirot. All the Gevurot fall to the Klipot, to the wicked, to the Arabs, to ISIS, to the Cushites; everyone murders each other. Adam HaRishon asks what the end will be here. Hashem says, "That they may be destroyed forever" (Psalms 92:8). "I will destroy all of them, do not worry. Because this is part of the rectification for everyone, that they must undergo rectification through the Nazis."

Now comes Abel's turn, and Abel also wanted to rectify Cain's corruption. What happens to Abel? Why doesn't he succeed? After all, he is Chasadim (loving-kindness). He ascends to the hairs of Adam Kadmon. He succeeds in ascending not only to the Gevurah of Binah, he ascends to Abba (Father/Chochmah), and from Abba to Arich, and from Arich to Atik. He ascends, ascends, ascends. Suddenly, he gets a thought of arrogance. "And Hashem paid heed to Abel" (Genesis 4:4). The Arizal says he gets a thought of arrogance. Even though he ascends, ascends, ascends, one must arrive each time at the peak of humility. "Who am I that I ascend? Hashem is lifting me up. I am not doing anything. How am I ascending? How am I ascending?" This was because he gazed at the Shechinah (Divine Presence). Suddenly he saw the Shechinah, and it was forbidden for him. "For no man shall see Me and live" (Exodus 33:20). You cannot look at the Shechinah; you do not yet have the vessels. You do not have the vessels of humility and lowliness. You do not have the vessels. All this is explained in the Sefer HaPartzuf. It emerges that when it is written, "And it shall come to pass at the ingatherings, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own" (Genesis 47:24), Pharaoh represents the Sefirah of Binah, and all lights are revealed and redeemed from it. "And it shall come to pass... a fifth to Pharaoh," and the four parts are the Gevurot. If we elevate a fifth to Binah—to Pharaoh—there will be a rectification of the world. But Cain not only failed, he brought the Gevurah down to the Malchut of Malchut, to the Asiyah of Asiyah, through which the wicked murder us and kill us.

Adam HaRishon asked, what will happen here? "When the wicked bloom like grass, and all the workers of iniquity flourish" (Psalms 92:8). Hashem answers him—this is Hashem speaking—"That they may be destroyed forever." They are part of the rectification. After a person already falls into the hands of the Yetzer Hara and commits sins, then part of the rectification is that Nazis will come and atone for his sins, and he will enter straight into the Garden of Eden, without the River of Fire (Nehar Dinur), without any detour. And Avraham also achieved this, when he told Hashem that he takes it upon himself to rectify the four generations, which are the Generation of Enosh, the Generation of the Flood, the Generation of the Dispersion (Tower of Babel), and the people of Sodom. They would all be reincarnated into his children, and the Egyptians would subjugate them with crushing labor for four hundred years, and through this, the world would be rectified. (And the reason the world was not rectified is ostensibly because, in the end, they could not remain in Egypt any longer, and Hashem brought them out before the time, as is brought down).

But the true tzaddik can do everything without any burn, without any River of Fire. The tzaddik has the power to rectify everything. As the Heichal HaBerachah says, when a person puts his hand in his pocket and cannot find a piece of paper, or his nose runs, he has already received all four death penalties of the Beit Din (Rabbinical Court). A person puts a paper in his pocket, he cannot find the paper, the paper is in another pocket. His nose starts to run, and people see, and he now suffers humiliation. They see his nose dripping, or his child's nose dripping. All this, through the true tzaddik, is considered stoning, burning, beheading, and strangulation. In that moment, he feels the pain of all four death penalties of the Beit Din, and everything is atoned for him! All the sins he committed his entire life. The Heichal HaBerachah says, every time he puts his hand in his pocket and cannot find a piece of paper, a coin, he cannot find it, he has to search in another pocket, and another pocket. Maybe he forgot it at home, maybe it's in his bag. He is now receiving a million times the four death penalties of the Beit Din. Every drop of sorrow a person has is like a million times the four death penalties of the Beit Din, and thus everything is atoned for him. He does not need to go through the River of Fire, and he does not need to go through another Auschwitz, and they do not need to put him in a crematorium, because he has already been burned. Out of sheer embarrassment, he has already been burned, he is already being burned. Everything is atoned for him; the tzaddik atones for him.

Rebbe Nachman says, "I have brought you a gift: controversy." And Rabbi Chaikel asked the Rebbe, "Rebbe, I have a question—a kushya—but I am afraid you will say, 'Chaikel, you will die.'" The Rebbe said to him: "Gut az du host zich bavorent (It is good that you protected yourself). It is good that you were careful. You will not die, you will not die. And it is good that you warned yourself." If the Rebbe says someone will die, woe and alas! So Chaikel asked the Rebbe, "Don't say that I will die. Don't say it, have mercy on me. Rebbe, farvos ir tzit oif aich machlokes? (Why do you draw controversy upon yourself?)" The Rebbe said, "Chaikel, gut az du host zich bavorent. In order to finish my task, I need people to oppose me even from bench to bench, from shelf to shelf, from fence to fence. Every step I take, I want them to oppose me, and then with every step I continue to ascend higher, higher, higher." The Unknowable Head (Reisha d'Lo Ityada), "No eye has seen it, O God, but You" (Isaiah 64:3). This is Lag BaOmer, where one only ascends. We are now in Neilah (the closing moments). Now, the essence of Lag BaOmer is literally Yom Kippur. Just as it is said regarding Yom Kippur that the essence of the day atones, so too on Lag BaOmer, the essence of the day atones, so that a person only ascends, ascends, ascends, and never stops ascending.

The verse asks, why didn't Abel succeed in nullifying the Gevurot? After Cain failed to nullify them, Abel came, representing the true tzaddik who rectifies everything. But the true tzaddik receives humility every time. The true tzaddik, with every spiritual attainment he receives, he receives more humility, more humility, and more humility. Every attainment brings him to greater humility. But Abel peeked at the Shechinah. You cannot look! Therefore, the rectification is only found with Moshe Rabbeinu, who did not look, as it is written at the Burning Bush, "And Moshe hid his face" (Exodus 3:6). After him came Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who is the soul of Moshe. They all attained the Yechidah (the highest level of the soul)—the Nefesh of Yechidah, the Ruach of Yechidah. After that came the Arizal, who is the Neshamah of Yechidah. After that came the Baal Shem Tov, who is the Chayah of Yechidah. The King Mashiach will already be the Yechidah of Yechidah, and then there will be the rectification of the world. With Hashem's help, all sins will be atoned for, and now we will merit the complete Geulah (Redemption), speedily in our days, Amen.