"Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your gates" (Deuteronomy 16:18)

Our Rebbe says in Torah 286, "For the main delight of the Garden of Eden is the attainment of Godliness, which is the higher wisdom and the lower wisdom, which are the aspect of the Garden of Eden as mentioned. However, to merit this is only possible through the gates, which are the aspect of the gates of the Garden of Eden, through which one merits to enter the Garden of Eden... But these gates are hidden and buried in the earth, the aspect of 'Her gates have sunk into the ground,' and for this, one needs a master of the house on the earth, who will rule the earth, who can extract, establish, and set up the gates that have sunk into the earth: And know that through studying the legal decisors, one merits to be a king and ruler on the earth, and then can establish and set up the gates that have sunk into the earth."

"Through studying the decisors, one merits to be rulers on the earth"

When reaching Parshat Shoftim and Shotrim, one can merit to enter the Garden of Eden, and the delight of the Garden of Eden is the attainment of Godly wisdom, to see Hashem eye to eye, to know there is none besides Him, and it is impossible to reach any attainment of Godliness except through studying the decisors, studying the halachot. The Rebbe explains in Torah 287 that one must persist in studying the decisors. If we want the gates that have sunk to be revealed, if we want to merit the attainment of Godliness, to enter the Garden of Eden, then we must persist in studying the decisors. "Her gates have sunk into the ground" – one must raise the gates of halacha, one must be proficient in halacha in depth and detail, through studying the decisors one merits to be rulers on the earth, merits to be "judges and officers," and this is what is written "Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your gates" – you need to build the gates, you need to know the gates of halacha, you need to build the gates yourself, for there are gates which are the gates of the Garden of Eden through which one enters the Garden of Eden, enters the attainment of Godliness, and after the destruction of the Holy Temple they are hidden and buried in the earth, so how do we raise the gates? Establishing the gates is only through a person studying the depth of halacha, studying decisors, studying Rambam, Tur, Beit Yosef, and all the commentators.

"Emunah is when a person directs every word in prayer"

The Rebbe says in Torah 62 – when a person does not direct in prayer, it is a sign that he has no emunah, it is heresy, every word a person says quickly, without intention, is heresy. When a person knows with a full heart that the whole earth is filled with His glory and he feels Hashem, and feels that Hashem stands over him and sees him during prayer, this is called emunah, and then he prays calmly, says the letters slowly, if a person directed one word in the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, said it slowly and calmly, then he is truly called a tzaddik and deserves all the rewards in the world, but our Rebbe says that directing one word is very good, it is very nice that you directed! But do not think you are a Jew with complete emunah, directing is wonderful, it is marvelous, but it is still not called emunah, emunah is only when you direct every word in prayer, emunah is when you can speak to Hashem at least like you speak to a friend.

"The work is with the heresy within us"

A person hates the heretics, he wants to throw stones at them, he is ready to go out against them with sword and spear, in fire and water, our Rebbe reveals to us in Torah 62 that all our work is with ourselves, with the heresy in our hearts, because if a person does not pray with intention, it is called heresy!. There is enough heresy in myself – there is no need to fix the heresy among the secular. If we fix the heresy within us, then there will be no secular people in the world, everyone will return in teshuvah. It is told about one tzaddik who said in prayer "Give thanks to Hashem, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the peoples" and after the prayer, he took his bag, all his belongings, everything he had and said to everyone, I am now going to fulfill this verse, I am now going to shout throughout the world "make known His deeds among the peoples" I will shout in the streets – know that there is a God in the world, I will fulfill this verse! He took a few steps and quickly returned, everyone asked him "why are you returning, why did you come back" that tzaddik said "I remembered that there are enough heretics within me, I need to make known to my 248 limbs and 365 sinews that Hashem is the God, I have enough work with myself, so how can I make known in the world the essence of emunah that still does not burn within me?"

When a person speaks with a friend, he does not speak just into the air, he directs every letter, every word, he does not even need to direct because he sees he is speaking with someone, he can speak for 10 hours! Because he sees before him a face, hands, feet, and especially when he speaks before a king or an important person, then he is very careful not to be caught in any mistake, in any illogical thing he speaks – and Hashem is alive and exists and stands before us and we do not feel Him, it simply shows that we have no mind, we have no intellect, it shows that we have heresy in the heart.

The Rebbe revealed that when Mashiach comes, the heresy will flow from the sleeves of the "chassidim". If a person cannot stand in prayer before Hashem, it shows that heresy is flowing from his sleeves, we do not see Hashem because we simply have no mind, the intellect is hidden from us, the intellect is not developed, if we had intellect, we would not miss a prayer, we would not miss a word, not even a letter, and this is what the Rebbe says in Torah 62 "and know what to answer the heretic" to the heresy in your heart. If you want to answer the heretic in your heart, it is only through studying the decisors. The Rebbe says "Shalom – an acronym for 'and know what to answer the heretic'" – because through studying halachic decision, which is the resolution and peace, one merits to know how to answer the heresy in his heart." It is imperative to study clear halachot every day! A person will see that the moment he studies the decisors, the evil inclination in his heart will be nullified, the heresy will be nullified within him. Through studying halacha, the gates of the mind simply open, and therefore our Rebbe says it is a great mitzvah to sharpen the mind, only through studying Gemara and decisors does one sharpen the mind, only this purifies the brain, only this cleanses the brain. A person cannot reach anything in the world, he cannot reach emunah, to pray with intention, only through studying the Gemara and decisors, because all the sharpening of the mind is only so that we can reach emunah to pray with intention.