Parshat HaShavua Miketz – We have no grasp of what the mind of the Tzaddik is: If a person does not know what a Tzaddik is, if a person does not internalize what the Tzaddik is, then he can fall away from the Tzaddik!

"One must search for the True Tzaddik": In all three portions—Vayishev, Miketz, and Vayigash—the Tribes are searching for the "Tzaddik Yesod Olam" (the Tzaddik who is the foundation of the world)! The True Tzaddik! Yosef HaTzaddik. In Parshat "Vayigash," the Tzaddik cries out, "I am Yosef"!! – the True Tzaddik is revealed! The brothers were all true Tzaddikim, supreme holy men, but they did not believe that Yosef was the "Tzaddik Yesod Olam." The brothers were mistaken about Yosef; they thought Yosef HaTzaddik was like them, only that he served Hashem more than them, studied more, guarded his eyes more. Each of the brothers was certain that he himself was the True Tzaddik, but they did not know that the Tzaddik Yesod Olam is something else entirely—Yosef HaTzaddik illuminated from one end of the world to the other.

"We have no grasp of what the mind of the Tzaddik is": If a person does not know what a Tzaddik is, if a person does not internalize what the Tzaddik is, then he can fall away from the Tzaddik! If a person follows the Tzaddik without Da'as (spiritual understanding), he can fall from his Emunah (faith) in the Tzaddik! One must understand in depth what a True Tzaddik is! One must understand what the soul of the Tzaddik is! One must understand what kind of mind the Tzaddik possesses! The holy Ari zt"l says in Sha'ar HaPesukim that the Tzaddik has such a mind... such a mind! That Hashem will perform Techiyas HaMeisim (resurrection of the dead) using the mind of the Tzaddik! Hashem will use the mind of the Tzaddik to bring the dead back to life!! The mind of the Tzaddik is a life-giver to the dead! We have no grasp of what the mind of the Tzaddik is!! But whoever merits to be connected to the True Tzaddik, whoever merits to bind himself to the mind of the Tzaddik, will merit the resurrection of the dead!

He will merit the splitting of the sea for him! He will merit miracles and wonders.

"I want everyone to be redeemed": The Tzaddik can resurrect the dead! The Tzaddik HaDor (the Tzaddik of the generation) is not just some ordinary righteous person! Hashem will resurrect the dead with the mind of the Tzaddik! The Tzaddik HaDor is not called the Tzaddik HaDor because he has ten thousand Chassidim! Or if he has twenty thousand Chassidim... then he is twice the Tzaddik HaDor! The Tzaddik is not just a righteous person who studied well or prayed well; the Tzaddik is something else entirely! He can resurrect the dead, and he doesn't even wait for people to believe in him! Moshe (Moses) did not wait for them to believe in him! The Rebbe did not wait for them to believe in him! The Tzaddik does not wait for them to believe in him! When Hashem sent Moshe to redeem the Jewish people, Moshe argued with Hashem: Why should someone who doesn't believe in me have to die?! If someone doesn't believe in me, must he die?! I am not willing! I am going! I want everyone to be redeemed! Moshe was not the kind of Tzaddik who would come and say, "Come! Believe in me and there will be redemption! Enough... do me a favor and believe in me so there will be redemption!" Rather, Moshe possessed Ahavas Yisrael (love for the Jewish people)! He said to Hashem, "I am not willing! I want everyone to be redeemed! I am not willing for Jews to die!" So Hashem said to him, "There is no choice, you must go and redeem the Jewish people!" The Geulah (Redemption) will happen! There is no way to grasp the Tzaddik! There is no way to comprehend the Tzaddik! The Tzaddik says there will be a Geulah, and he redeems!! And whoever merits to follow him is redeemed! Whoever believes in him jumps into the sea, and the sea splits.

"The Tzaddik reveals that Hashem is in the world": Because the True Tzaddik comes for only one thing—to reveal Hashem. The True Tzaddik comes to reveal that Hashem exists in the world, so that a person should not think he acts by his own power, that he can walk, that he can do things alone, run alone, act alone, without Hashem. Because even though he gets a blow to the hand here, and a blow to the leg there, he still thinks: "I am walking, I am running, I am doing." A person thinks he is the ruler of the world, he walks, he breathes, and therefore they show him in a single second that if something small in the body moves even a thousandth of a millimeter, then it's over! Immediately he needs surgeries, tests, X-rays, and then he finally sees that he is not G-d, he is not an angel, he is not the ruler of the world.

"Only the Tzaddik can show that Hashem exists": Life teaches us slowly that a person is built "hollows upon hollows, cavities upon cavities... it is revealed and known before Your Throne of Glory that if one of them were to be opened or one of them were to be blocked, it would be impossible to exist and stand before You even for one hour" (from the Asher Yatzar prayer). When a person reaches the age of 60, a vertebra starts to shift here, a tendon starts to move there; at age 60, the leg dries out, the tendon dries out. Until age 60, a person can deceive himself into thinking he is something, that he is all-powerful, but at that age, he sees tangibly that he is truly nothing—here I fell, here I can no longer walk. But who can open our eyes and show us while we are healthy, strong, and robust that everything is Hashem!! Health is from Hashem! Strength is from Hashem! Everything is from Hashem!! This is only the Tzaddik, who is the aspect of Yosef! Only he can show us that Hashem exists in the world.

"To see Hashem in every step": The whole reason we came into this world is to know that we do nothing. We came to know that Hashem leads the world; we only need to see Divinity, to see Hashem, to see Hashem in every step, to see Hashem in every movement, to see Hashem in every thought and word. A person moves a hand, moves a leg—it is all Hashem. Hashem moves the hand! Hashem moves the leg! A person lives in the world, a "tough guy," building buildings, building Yeshivas—if he doesn't know that Hashem did it all, then it is all the Tower of Babel! As Shlomo HaMelech (King Solomon) said, "I have surely built a house of habitation for You." Immediately Hashem said: "I have built?! You built? If so, it is decreed upon the House to be destroyed." Say that Hashem built! Hashem did! The Maggid of Mezeritch, in the famous story, forbade saying the word "I." Tzaddikim were careful not to say the word "I."

"It is not 'One' at all": A person says the word "I"—woe to him! The Tzaddik is the Spirit! The Tzaddik is "a man in whom there is spirit" (Numbers 27:18)! There is no Ruach Shtus (spirit of folly) in him! Therefore, he can nullify pride! For there is no other counsel against pride! None! The only advice to nullify pride is to draw close to the Tzaddik! Only through the Tzaddik is pride subdued! Only through the Tzaddik is a haughty spirit humbled! One must find such a Tzaddik in whom there is spirit! Who is complete Ayin (nothingness)! More humble than any man! For a person has pride from everything! From every word he has pride! From every thought he has pride! Whatever he does is full of pride! He will study, he will pray, and he will get a thought of pride! But the Tzaddik, who is a man in whom there is spirit, who has no spirit of folly in him—he extracts all the spirit of folly from everyone! The Tzaddik is a vacuum! He subdues the haughty spirit, the idolatry, and turns "other" into "One"! Hashem is One! Without the Tzaddik, it is an "other god"—pride. If you don't have the Tzaddik, then it is an "other god"! It is not "One" at all! You scream "Hashem is One!" but Ishmael also screams "Hashem is Great!!" Through the Tzaddik, one merits Oneness.

"First, one must know upon what the world stands": All of the Torah, the Gemara, Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, all the prayers—it is all so that we know that Hashem does everything, that Hashem exists in the world. We do nothing—we don't move a hand, we don't move a leg, we don't breathe. "Let every soul praise Hashem"—every single breath is from Hashem. A person's entire work for 120 years is to know who the Tzaddik is through whom the life-force passes to the whole world, in whose merit the abundance comes to the world, as the Gemara tells of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa: "The entire world is sustained in the merit of Chanina my son, and Chanina is satisfied with a kav of carobs." The first thing a Jew needs to know is upon what the world stands, in whose merit the world is sustained. One must search for who this Tzaddik is in whose merit the world is truly sustained, to search for who these Tzaddikim are who maintain the world, who are the Tzaddikim who protect us.

"He only sees the good in everyone": The proof for a person that he has reached the Tzaddik is when he begins to hate his own evil! He begins to hate his impulses, he begins to hate all the physical things that surround him! He only hates the body! The bad things! All the lusts! At the very least, he doesn't make an ideal out of them; he doesn't take pride in them. The moment a person draws close to the True Tzaddik, he only searches for the good things, he sees only good in everyone, he doesn't speak about anyone, he begins to love the Jewish people, loves them with his very soul, sacrifices himself for everyone, he only wants to leave all his bad traits, and merits to return in complete Teshuvah (repentance) to Hashem Yitbarach.

"More life and more life": A person's entire work is to search for the True Tzaddik, to discover who the True Tzaddik is. In every generation, there is a True Tzaddik, and the moment a person knows who the True Tzaddik is, he can draw down all the healings to the world, all the salvations to the world, because all salvations are in the hands of the Tzaddik. Therefore, one must constantly search for the Tzaddik. The entire work from the day a person is born until the day he passes away is to search for the Tzaddik! He must know that no matter how much he has discovered in the Tzaddik, he has still discovered nothing! And only when the Tzaddik is something new to him, and he searches for the Tzaddik with all his strength, then they will give him more life and more life. One must be careful in this! And know that this is why he came into the world! This is why he was born! Everything he learns, everything he does, is only to request and search for the True Rebbe.

"One must go on his hands and knees": A person needs to receive "Nefesh," "Ruach," "Neshamah," "Chayah," and "Yechidah" (the five levels of the soul). The Ari zt"l says that through the study of Shas (Talmud) and Poskim (halakhic authorities), Rishonim and Achronim, one receives the "Nefesh." It is possible you have already received the Nefesh through Torah study—this is wonderful, because without Torah there isn't even a Nefesh! But you cannot progress! If you do not search for the Tzaddik, you cannot receive the "Ruach," you cannot receive the "Neshamah," you remain at the same level! Because only through the Tzaddik can one receive the "Ruach." This is what the Ari explains—that there are Tzaddikim who pass away at a young age because they studied Torah and merited to receive the "Nefesh" but did not search for the Tzaddik and remained at that same level (Nefesh); therefore, they had nothing more to do in the world. Thus, one must always search and request very much for the Tzaddik in whom all salvations, all healings, and all blessings reside, and he will give you the "Ruach" and the "Neshamah." And Rebbe Nosson says that one must go on his hands and knees, to request and search for the Tzaddik with all his strength throughout the entire world.

"The True Tzaddik has the power to rectify the whole world": Because this Tzaddik can bring the whole world back to the good. If people would draw close to him and believe in him, they would leave all their evil and become completely refined, because the Tzaddik who has already transcended the four elements (Arba Yesodos), who refined all four elements, who is already clean of every lust—he can take all the people of the world out of their evil, out of their lusts. This is what the Gaon Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk (author of the "Ohr Somayach" on the Rambam) says regarding the Gemara in Sotah (13a) on the verse "And they lamented there with a very great and sore lamentation" (Genesis 50:10): "It was taught: even the horses and even the donkeys [lamented]." Rabbi Meir Simcha says—"They lamented a great lamentation"—even the horses lamented for Yaakov Avinu! There was such a great lamentation, such a heavy lamentation that the horses cried!! The donkeys cried!!

Everyone cried over the Tzaddik!! The horses felt that the Tzaddik had disappeared! The donkeys felt that the Tzaddik was gone! "The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider" (Isaiah 1:3). The horses acknowledge the True Tzaddik! The donkeys acknowledge the True Tzaddik! It is truly a shame and a disgrace how people do not see the Tzaddik! How people are blind!

They wander the world and do not know who the Tzaddik is.

"Even horses and donkeys felt they were lost without the Tzaddik": A person with his pride, with his impulses, does not want to believe in the Tzaddik, he does not want to know who the Tzaddik is. But the horses and donkeys felt they were lost without the Tzaddik—who would hold up the world! Who would protect them! Who guards horses!? Who guards donkeys? Who protects the world!? They know in whose merit they live. If the Tzaddik is not present, there will be famine! There will be a Holocaust in the world! There will be wars! This is what Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen says—start seeing the Tzaddikim! Start following the Tzaddikim! Open your eyes and see who the Tzaddik is in whose merit you live...