The subject of this shiur will be a continuation to the shiur about ז' Cheshvan. We explained that ז' Cheshvan is the day that is called אחר הרגל after Yom Tov, because up to ז' Cheshvan, people still didn't return from their עליה לרגל in Jerusalem at the time of the Beis Hamikdash, and therefore, up to then, it's still, the Shach says, as if the Yidden were involved in the inyanim of Yom Tov. And even though this seems to be something concerning the time of the Beis Hamikdash in Eretz Yisrael, or even after the חורבן בית המקדש, but only in Eretz Yisrael, but not in chutz la'aretz, nevertheless, the halacha is that if a person writes in a שטר אחר הרגל, even in chutz la'aretz, it means 15 days after Yom Tov, as the Shach explains. There's another way that we see that this date of ז' Cheshvan is significant not only in Eretz Yisrael, but also in chutz la'aretz, because the din is that even in chutz la'aretz, if a person by mistake said the saying טל ומטר לברכה, which normally you have to say Shemoneh Esrei over, but if it was done after ז' Cheshvan, you don't have to say Shemoneh Esrei over. So this shows that the date of ז' Cheshvan, which is a special day because that's the day when the עליה לרגל finished, is not only for Eretz Yisrael, but also for chutz la'aretz. And we explained that it would seem, on one hand, that this is a date that shows a yeridah, a date when the עליה לרגל is finished, and the time when the Yidden were in Jerusalem and had the עליה לרגל, they were in a much higher madreigah, and now when ז' Cheshvan represents the date when the Yidden finished with the עליה לרגל and had to enter into the daily life, into their work in the field, etc., this is a yeridah. Or even nowadays, since this represents the end of the Yom Tov, the end of Sukkos, which is the end of all the Yomim Tovim of Tishrei, that means that this is the time when the Yidden change over from being involved in the Yomim Tovim of Tishrei into their daily life, which is also a yeridah. During the month of Tishrei, they were involved in all the special mitzvot of Tishrei: the mitzvah of shofar and sukkah and lulav and all the other mitzvot that we have in Tishrei. As it says also in the Midrash, in Vayikra Rabbah פרשה כ״ט, that the reason Tishrei is called חודש השביעי is not only because it's the seventh month, but the word שביעי also comes from the word שבע, which means satisfied, full, it's a full month, שהוא מושבע בכל. It says גתות בתוכו, and it says סוכה בתוכו, לולב בתוכו, all the different things that we have in the month of Tishrei. So the month of Tishrei is a time when the Yidden are involved in more spiritual matters. And since we say that the Yom Tov is still continued till ז' Cheshvan, so it comes out that up to ז' Cheshvan, we still have this high madreigah that we're involved in during the month of Tishrei. But when ז' Cheshvan comes, which is the date when the Yom Tov is over and we start getting involved in our daily life, this is a yeridah. Nevertheless, we explained that this is a yeridah l'tzorech aliyah. Even though it seems to be a yeridah, but nevertheless, in truth, this yeridah brings a person to a higher מדרגה. And we explained it by quoting what it says in Chassidishe sefarim concerning the מרגלים, that the טענה of the מרגלים why they did not want to enter Eretz Yisrael was because they said it's better to be in the desert, because in the מדבר they didn't have to get involved in all these physical matters. Mimela they were able to sit and learn all day, daven all day, be b'dveikut in their connection to Hashem constantly, while if they would enter Eretz Yisrael, they saw that the way they would be able to make their parnasah and be able to live was only if they would get involved in working in the field, החריש והזריעה, by plowing and planting and doing all the other things which would take up much of their time, so they wouldn't be able to get involved so much in ruchniyut. And that's why they didn't want to go into Eretz Yisrael. And as the sefarim explain that this is what they said, that this is an ארץ אוכלת יושביה, they said it's a land that eats up its inhabitants. Now, pshat pshat it means, as Rashi says, that wherever the מרגלים went, they saw funerals, so they said it's a place where people constantly die, and Hashem did this really for their benefit, so people shouldn't pay any attention to them, they should be involved in other things. But in the sefarim it says that what does the pasuk mean that they said ארץ, it's a land, and it's an ארץ, ארץ represents the earth, which is a low thing, אוכלת, it eats up its inhabitants, the people get involved in this that they could actually be eaten up by the land, they could become, as we call, am ha'aretz, a person who is constantly involved in the ענינים of ארץ, or as we say, ענינים ארציים, low things, and they can't stay in this dveikut to Hashem and their connection to Hashem constantly as they were able to do when they were in the מדבר, where they didn't have to get involved with these things, because they had the מן and they had the water from בארה של מרים, and they had ענני הכבוד, etc. Nevertheless, this is considered a chet, because since Hashem said He wants them to enter Eretz Yisrael, so obviously they should have understood That no matter how much they think that being in the desert is greater, is in the spiritual sense a higher מדרגה, nevertheless if Hashem wants them to go to Eretz Yisrael and get involved in this in these things, this is for their benefit and this is better. Which would mean that even though on one hand it is a yeridah, but if this is what Hashem wants, it's a yeridah letzorech aliyah. Through this yeridah, you have an aliyah, you reach a higher madregah.

The reason for that is, because this is actually what Hashem wanted. Hashem created a world, a physical world, and put the people into the world, and especially Klal Yisrael into the world, in order for them to elevate the world, in order for them to bring kedushah into this world. The world in itself is a place where you cannot see kedushah. The world in itself is a place where you cannot see that Hashem is the one that created it, and the job of the Yid is to bring kedushah into this world. And this is done through many ways. Through doing mitzvot with the physical inyanim of the world, that's one of the ways we bring kedushah in the world. If a person takes a physical fruit which is an etrog, and he uses it for the mitzvah, this is one of the ways a person brings kedushah into the physical world. Takes physical flour and physical water, and makes matzah out of it, and eats it on Pesach because Hashem commanded him to do it, this is the way he brings kedushah into the world. Or any other mitzvah, like tefillin and tzitzit, most mitzvot are with physical inyanim. There are also mitzvot, some mitzvot, which deal with a person's heart and a person's mind, but most mitzvot deal with the gashmiyusdike part of the world, and this is what Hashem wants. He wants us to bring kedushah into the gashmiyusdike part of the world.

The truth is not only through doing mitzvot do we bring kedushah in the world, but there is another part to עבודת השם that a person is supposed to do. And that is what it says in the פסוק, בכל דרכיך דעהו, in all your ways you are supposed to know Hashem, which means not only when a Yid is involved in a mitzvah, but also when a Yid is involved in his own things. He eats, or sleeps, or drinks, or goes to business, he is supposed to know Hashem in that, too. Or as the other expression that we find in Pirkei Avot: כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, that all your actions should be לשם שמים. And this does not refer to mitzvot. Mitzvot are not called ma'asecha, your actions, they are מעשה השם. Just like the other pasuk we mentioned, בכל דרכיך דעהו, refers to the ways of the person, because the ways of the mitzvot are not called דרכיך, they are דרכי השם, they are the ways of Hashem. When it says בכל דרכיך דעהו, it means in all your ways, meaning when you do things of your own, still you should know Hashem. And here too, כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, it means all your maasim, your actions. Not when you're involved in a mitzvah, but when you're involved in other matters, which seems as if they are physical matters, just for the physical need of the person, nevertheless they have to be l'shem shamayim. When a person eats, he has to eat with the intentions that he will use the koach that he is going to get from the food to serve Hashem. He should be able to daven and learn. When a person goes out to make money through working, he is supposed to have in mind that all this is l'shem shamayim. Why is he working to make money? So he should have money to give tzedakah, he should have money to do the mitzvot, to buy an etrog, to buy tefillin, to buy matzah, etc. He should have money to send his children to get a Jewish education, which is the will of Hashem. So when he does that, so then even though he is involved in his own physical things, but that physical thing is l'shem shamayim, so there that is the way he brings kedushah into this physical world. This is what Hashem wants of Klal Yisrael. The מרגלים, what they wanted was not to get involved in gashmiyut, but to be completely ruchani, and in that way they would serve Hashem. So as far as they are concerned, they would be in a much higher madregah, but this is not what Hashem wanted. Hashem wanted that they should get involved in דרכיך and מעשיך, and that it should be בכל דרכיך דעהו and כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. And that would be done only by them entering Eretz Yisrael. And if we say that this is the will of Hashem, obviously, even in the spiritual sense, it would be an aliyah for them. Because the aliyah, the higher level a Yid is able to reach through his constantly being דבוק in Hashem, is still limited. Because after all, being that he is the one that connects himself to Hashem through his understanding, through his mind, through his heart, etc., and it is limited to his madregah. Because since he is a human being, and human being is limited, so as much as he is able to connect himself to Hashem, that's the connection gonna be. But if he connects himself to Hashem not through through his own understanding. His connection to Hashem comes because he does what Hashem wants, so then the connection is from Hashem's side, not from his side. And therefore, it is not limited, because it is not limited to how much he understands in his mind he is able to be connected, because the connection comes not through his understanding. The contrary, in his mind, he doesn't see how this will make a connection between him and Hashem, because he's getting involved in gashmiyut, he's lowering himself. But being that he's doing it because Hashem wants him to do it, and Hashem says that by doing this you do My will, נחת רוח לפני שאמרתי ונעשה רצוני, it gives Me pleasure if you do this, so it's Hashem that wants him to do it. So the connection that he gets to Hashem through doing that is not a connection that comes from his side, from his understanding, from his limitations, but it comes from Hashem's side, so therefore it is unlimited. So the connection he gets to Hashem is in a much higher level, deeper level than the connection you get to Hashem through being involved in ruchniyut constantly. Even though you might not feel it, but the connection is there. And this was the mistake of the מרגלים. The מרגלים were looking for the benefit of Klal Yisrael to see that they stay closer to Hashem, so they thought the way to do it is by staying in the מדבר and being involved in ruchniyut constantly. But they didn't understand that since Hashem wants them to go into Eretz Yisrael, Hashem wants them to get involved in gashmiyut, He wants them to bring kedushah into the world, and since that He wants them to do that, by doing that, it means they'd be doing the will of Hashem, by doing that, they will connect themselves to Hashem even more than they would through staying in the מדבר and having this deveikut that they would have through their own actions, not through doing it exactly the way Hashem wants.

The same is concerning the inyan of ז' Cheshvan. Hashem wants us to enter into this world, so to speak, get involved daily with the world, and do all our ma'asim, all our דרכים, בכל דרכיך דעהו, and בכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. So during the ימים טובים, when the Yidden were in Jerusalem and they were completely involved in ruchniyut and kedushah, at that point, they weren't able to fulfill the mission of bringing kedushah into the world, into the physical world. But after they left Jerusalem, and they came home, and they started their daily life involved in gashmiyut, and this yeridah is represented by the date of ז' Cheshvan, as we said before, then they were able to start to fulfill their mission of bringing kedusha into this world, which is the will of Hashem. And the same is nowadays: during the month of Tishrei, with so many Yomim Tovim and so many mitzvot, we are in a higher madreigah. We are not involved so much in the physical needs of this world. After Tishrei, after ז' Cheshvan, when this yeridah takes place, when we go down again, and we get involved in our daily life, and we get involved in gashmiyus, now we are able to fulfill our mission of bringing kedusha into this gashmiyus. This doesn't chas v'shalom mean that when the Yidden were in Yerushalayim they didn't fulfill the will of Hashem and therefore we don't have the proper connection to Hashem. Chas v'shalom. The pshat is that the goal is that we should bring kedusha into this world. In order to be able to bring kedusha into this world, we have to be fully absorbed of kedusha, and that's why the Eibershter made that the system works as follows: for a time we have to be completely absorbed with kedusha, completely involved in ענינים רוחניים. So then we are full of ruchniyus, then we are able to continue later on of lowering ourselves and bringing the kedusha into this world. If we would not have this first amount of time where we are completely involved in ruchniyus, we wouldn't be able to, we wouldn't have the koach of bringing ruchniyus into this physical world. So therefore Hashem said, \"I want you to go up to Yerushalayim, and for a time you should not have a shaychut to gashmiyus. For a time you will be involved completely in ruchniyus, so then you will take kochos that later on when you come down, come back into the world, so to speak, you have the yeridah, you will be able to fulfill the mission of bringing kedusha into this world.\" And the same is with the month of Tishrei. Hashem says, \"I give you in the beginning of the year a month which is full, חודש השביעי מושבע בכל, a month which is full of all kinds of רוחניותדיקע ענינים in all קווים, in from all angles. It's a month which has ruchniyus as far as yirah is concerned, which is Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Yamim Noraim. It has Yemei Simcha, the ruchniyus of simchah. It is a month which is full of ruchniyus, and we're involved completely in ruchniyus.\" When we have that, afterwards, we have the koach of starting our daily life from ז' חשון and on, and bringing kedushah, the ruchniyus that we have, that we took from the month of תשרי, and we bring it down back into this physical world and fulfill the mission that Hashem put upon us to make this world, which is a gashmiyusdike world, into a מקום קדוש, into a a holy place.

And the truth is we see the same system every day, the way Hashem set up the system, the daily הנהגה of a yid is that in the morning the first thing you do is you daven, as it says a person has to go in the morning to the בית הכנסת to daven, ומבית הכנסת לבית המדרש, after davenen you have to have a shiur in learning, and then it says הנהג בהם מנהג דרך ארץ, you're able to go out into the world and do the worldly matters. And the pshat is that the first thing in the morning we have to get involved in ruchniyus. When we have the enough ruchniyus from the morning, then we're able to continue later on during the day of getting involved in gashmiyus, but not גשמיות לשם גשמיות, but גשמיות לשם שמים, that we should be able to bring kedushah into the הנהג בהם מנהג דרך ארץ. And the truth is as we see, this is also bichlal in the lifetime of a person. The first amount of years a person learns Torah, is in the yeshivah, and he gets absorbed of ruchniyus completely by being completely involved in Torah. By every person it's different. Some have to do it to a certain age, some need more, but everybody needs a certain amount of time where he is completely involved in ruchniyus, has nothing to do so to speak with the world, where he learns Torah, and only does avodat Hashem. But afterwards, a time comes when he has to go out into the world and, as we say, find a פרנסה, ריחיים על צוארו. Even though there are some people who sit and learn, have the zechut of sitting and learning, but as it says in the Zohar, that there are two categories of yidden: the מארי תורה and מארי עובדין טבין. The minority are the מארי תורה. Those have a zechut. But most people, על פי תורה, go out and after the time when they finish with the yeshivah or the Kollel, they go out into the world. So the reason for this is because first you have to have a time when you're completely absorbed in Torah and kedushah and ruchniyus, but then Hashem says, \"I want that the world should become a מקום קדוש.\" So you have to take this Torah and this kedushah that you have, and you have to bring it into the world, into business world, so to speak, getting involved in all these gashmiyusdike things, but making sure that the gashmiyusdike things are על פי תורה, which automatically means that you bring kedushah into those gashmiyusdike things. So even though on one hand this is a yeridah, because you are not completely involved in ruchniyus, but you're involved in gashmiyus, but on the other hand, if you do this, then you reach a higher madreigah, because when you're only involved in ruchniyus, so it is according to your level, and it is only ruchniyus, but when you're able to combine the two, you're able to bring ruchniyus into the gashmiyusdike world, so then you fulfill the ratzon of Hashem that he wanted this world to become a מקום קדוש, so then this is also for the ruchniyusdike benefit of the person, that the person reaches a higher madreigah. He might not feel it, but the fact is that a person reaches a very high madreigah by bringing kedushah into the world.