The Baal HaTanya Says: Every Step a Person Takes

Presented before you is a summary of the daily lesson as delivered by our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – yesterday after the Maariv (evening) prayer, Tuesday night, the 14th of Shevat, Parshas Yitro:

Everyone should study Daniel, chapter 5, where it is written "alfa chamra" (a thousand measures of wine). After he drank a thousand bottles or barrels, he saw the writing on the wall: "Mene, Mene, Tekel, u-Pharsin." No one knew the script of the Luchos (Tablets of the Covenant). Anyone who would read it would be burned; it is written in Chagigah 13a that two young students studied the "Chashmal" (divine fire/energy) in Ezekiel and they were burned. After drinking a thousand barrels, he had to leave; he had a secret entrance. After he cleaned himself, he had to enter through the main entrance, and Cyrus and Darius were waiting for him. They were Persians and everyone else was Chaldean, so as soon as he arrived, they threw the Menorah (candelabra) at his head—they wanted him to have an "open head" (a play on words for being receptive) so he would understand the Gemara (Talmud) and the Mishnayos. It is written that Shapur Malka (King Shapur) knew Gemara; they told him the Torah insight regarding "two garden beds." A "Higher Tzaddik" merits 310 worlds, and a "Lower Tzaddik" also merits them, but one must pour dust over their desires. Once, kings knew the Shas (the entire Talmud); they knew Gemara. Sennacherib wanted to give two thousand horses; he said we will delay the war for half a year so they can learn to be horsemen. Everyone should study the books of Daniel and Kings. The argument between Ahasuerus and Vashti was about how many steps Nebuchadnezzar took when he ran after the messenger who wrote, "To the honor of the King, to the honor of Jerusalem, to the honor of the King of the World." He [Nebuchadnezzar] said that it must be reversed and written "To the honor of the King of the World" first, and in the merit of those three steps, he merited three generations of kingship. In the Torah Ohr—the Baal HaTanya says that every step a person takes, even a gentile, he merits kingship over the entire world. This is what Vashti said, that he [Nebuchadnezzar] took four steps, and thus it is written "Queen Vashti" (putting her title first), while Ahasuerus said the kingship is mine and he only took three steps, which is why it is written "Vashti the Queen." She said, "Do not call me, I am in the middle of mourning for my father." It is written in the Haggadah, "getting drunk with the holy vessels." In Shuvu Banim, we do not get drunk, even on Purim. The New Year for Kings is the 1st of Tishrei, and they started the feast on the 3rd so the Jews would come. 180 days brings us to the 3rd of Nissan; six missing months (lunar/solar adjustment) brings us to the 8th of Nissan, plus another seven days is the 15th of Nissan—she was in mourning for her father. In the end, a tail also grew on her, as it says "which was decreed (nigzar) upon her," meaning they "cut" (gazar) her tail. In another forty days it will be Purim. Tomorrow, everyone should buy a basket of fruit [for Tu B'Shvat]. Now is the New Year [of trees], and one can receive all the tikkunim (rectifications). It is written that he did not sleep; we do not sleep. Therefore it is written, "And Queen Vashti refused." She said, "I am a queen," like Queen Elizabeth, where Edward was the husband of the Queen. But in the end, the entire kingdom was in the merit of Esther. In truth, the intellect of the mother is infinitely greater than the intellect of the father. It is written in Rashi, "And among these there was not a man," meaning that no woman died in the desert. The men died like flies—15,822 every year. They would cry every year, they would wail; the women would scream and cry truthfully while digging a grave for the father. In the final year, they did not die. But the women did not sin—not with the Golden Calf, not with the Spies, and not with Korach, who said, "Will you gouge out the eyes of those men?" [Korach said to Moses] "You are just a fraud, it's all a mirage (fata morgana). Stop gouging out people's eyes." And regarding the Spies, they were simply afraid that the giants would kill the infants. [Hashem said] "You will stay here forty years." [They asked] "Why? What did we do?" Rather, there was a prophecy that Moses would die and Joshua would lead them in. You [the men] want to stay alive! [The women said] "We are going up now! Stop with your lies." The women said, "We are not leaving Moses." The wife of On ben Pelet did not let him go out; he was the main speaker [of Korach's rebellion]. She gave him wine to drink. He said to her, "What about Tefillin (phylacteries)?" She said to him, "It is better that you live a hundred years and miss one day of Tefillin [than die now]." At a quarter to twelve, Chatzos (midnight), one can finish the book of Daniel regarding the thousand barrels of wine and the writing on the wall, and the book of Kings with the two thousand horses that Sennacherib distributed. Also Isaiah chapters 37 and 38. The women say Tehillim (Psalms), the boys study four pages of Gemara, Chagigah page 13. The boys wake up at five, the girls at eight-thirty. And through this, we will merit the complete Geulah (Redemption), speedily in our days, Amen!