The Secret of Holiness: The Power to Revive the Dead and Bring the World to Repentance
Shiur No. 248 | Cassette 248 Wednesday, Parashas Shlach, the eve of 19 Sivan 5760 - Gathering for the Shadarim Kollels, Zvhil Hall, Jerusalem, may it be built and established - Part 2 Sunday, Parashas Chukas, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Tammuz 5760 - Admos Yishai neighborhood, Tel Rumeida neighborhood, Hebron, may it be built and established
A person is tested first and foremost in guarding their eyes, through which they merit holiness, humility, and the power to revive the dead. In our generation, the Jewish people are thirsty for truth and there is no genuine opposition among them. Therefore, the obligation rests upon us to go from city to city, to draw hearts closer, and to bring everyone back in teshuvah (repentance).
When a person walks in holiness and is meticulous about guarding their eyes, everyone sees this and loves them. They see that this is a holy person, someone who truly fulfills what they preach. After all, everyone knows the verse:
"And you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you go astray" (Numbers 15:39).
The entire test of a person in this world lies in the eyes; that is where the true battle takes place. The mission is to refrain from seeing and hearing forbidden things.
The Level of Reviving the Dead
If a person guards themselves, neither seeing nor hearing forbidden things, they can reach the spiritual level of reviving the dead. It is possible to walk and live with guarded eyes in any situation. Even a driver can drive while guarding their eyes—when there is a red light, they do not look to the sides; rather, they wait for it to turn green, for someone to honk at them, and when everyone else drives, they drive too.
We must know: Whoever walks in holiness and guards their eyes will merit to bring the entire world back in teshuvah (repentance) and will be able to revive the dead. A person can reach this tremendous level, as the Gemara states:
"In the future, tzaddikim will revive the dead" (Pesachim 68a).
This is also brought down in the words of Rebbe Nachman (Likutey Moharan, Part II, Torah 72), that if a person possesses true humility and lowliness, they will ultimately merit to revive the dead. A person must have humility and lowliness in order to achieve this.
The Generation is Thirsty for Emunah (Faith)
The first fundamental principle we must know is that in our generation, there are no truly "secular" or "free" people. The Rebbe says that there are no secular people, except for a few individuals who will also ultimately do teshuvah (repentance). Today, we do not have phenomena like what Rabbi Akiva testified about himself before he became a baal teshuvah: "Who will give me a Torah scholar so that I may bite him like a donkey." No one says such things today as an ideology.
Today, people just say, "Let us live in peace." They misquote the verse, saying, "A person shall live by his faith," instead of "A tzaddik shall live by his faith," and they ask that others not interfere in their lives. But in truth, everyone today respects religious Jews, respects rabbis, and does not degrade Torah scholars.
Ultimately, everyone believes in tzaddikim and goes to them. Even the person who seems the furthest away secretly goes to a Chassidic Rebbe to receive a blessing. We have seen that even Prime Ministers, before being elected, went from Rebbe to Rebbe to ask for blessings and to hear if they would be elected. Deep down, everyone knows that the world does not run according to nature.
There is No Nature in the World
Even the most distant person knows that the world does not run according to nature. There is absolutely no nature in the world! When a person gets sick—that is not nature. A car accident—that is not nature. A person can be the most careful driver, and suddenly someone crashes into them. A person walks down the street and gets hit, exactly when the driver didn't see them—there is no nature in this whatsoever.
People are beginning to see and understand that there is no nature. When a person starts getting a stomachache, they immediately understand that there is no nature and they see that Hashem, God, is guiding everything. From this realization, the mission is cast upon us to bring the entire Jewish people back in teshuvah (repentance).
The Jewish People are Thirsty for Teshuvah
We must know that every Jew has the power to bring the entire Jewish people back in teshuvah (repentance). We need to go day and night, from city to city, from village to village, and enter from house to house. We will sit with them, eat a bourekas, drink a cup of juice, and simply bring them back in teshuvah.
The moment we walk in and recite a blessing, they immediately show respect. When they see religious Jews, they immediately dress modestly. On their own, they already say, "Register our children for a Talmud Torah, we want to come live in Jerusalem." The Jewish people are simply thirsty for teshuvah!
They tell a story about a Stolin Chassid who arrived at a certain village, and the people there cried out to him, "Where have you been for twenty years?!" Wherever we go, we are received with respect. Every Jew who truly goes out and brings the Jewish people back in teshuvah (repentance) is received with the honor of an Admor (Chassidic Rebbe). We must know that everywhere, they are waiting for us.
The Responsibility to Go Out to the People
It is brought in Tanna D'Vei Eliyahu about a war in which seventy thousand Jews were killed. The Midrash asks: Who is to blame for this? The answer is that the Great Sanhedrin is to blame. Why? Because they did not go out to bring the people back in teshuvah (repentance). Everyone sat under his vine and under his fig tree, and they allowed the people to deteriorate.
A person is composed of a soul and a body, and the soul alone cannot contend with the desires of the body. Therefore, the Rambam rules that a person is forbidden to live alone; he must have friends and tzaddikim to strengthen himself with. When a Jew lives alone in some distant moshav (settlement), slowly the body overcomes him, and the soul simply flies away and escapes.
But when we come to him – the soul returns! Therefore, it is our obligation to go and visit everyone. To go and bring back in teshuvah the father, the mother, the brothers, and the sisters. Not to leave any Jew alone in the battle.
Part 1 of 4 — Lesson No. 248
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