Yeah, the topic tonight is Akedat Yitzchak. As we just said, we know that considering the akedah, there is a lot written, many ספרים and many מפרשים discussing all the different pesukim and all the different things that happened at the time of the akedah. But there is one place where the Rebbe explains the meaning behind the akedah, what really is so special about the akedah in a way that most ספרים, we don't see that explanation. And this is all based on the way Chassidut explains it, but the way the Rebbe brings it out, it sheds a different light on the whole concept of the akedah. We know that the akedah is one of the most important things that happened in Jewish history. We always talk about the akedah. Every morning, actually, in davening, we say the whole parashah of the akedah. ויהי אחר, we say the whole parashah of the akedah, and before that, we say a few lines, and after that, asking Hashem that in the zechut of the akedah, that Hashem should help us. So obviously, the akedah is a very, very important thing that happened in Jewish history. We know that Rosh Hashanah there is a chiyuv, there's an obligation that in the מוסף שמונה עשרה, we have to say malchuyot, zichronot, and shofarot. That means we have to say pesukim that bring out that Hashem is the melech, Hashem is King. And we have to say pesukim that talk about shofarot, that Hashem blows in the shofar, and what the shofar is all about. And then we also have to have pesukim that talk about zichronot. Zichronot means remembering. And there are 10 pesukim that we mention with other parts of the tefillah about zichronot, that Hashem remembers. But what is the most important one that we talk about, is that Hashem remembers the akedah. Actually, the bracha that we say at the end of that section, at the end of the section of the zichronot, we say that the Akedah, \"You shall remember to His children.\" The Akedah of Avraham, Yitzchak, You shall remember to His children. That is actually the whole end of the bracha, because the whole concept of the zichronot is for the Akedah. So obviously, the Akedah is something that is very, very important. It says even more. There's a pasuk that says in Bechukotai, it says וזכרתי את בריתי אברהם ואת בריתי יצח- I'm sorry, בריתי יעקב ואת בריתי יצחק ואף את בריתי אברהם אזכור, which means Hashem says, \"I will remember My covenant I made with Yaakov and with Yitzchak, and I will remember the covenant with Avraham.\" So here we see that the word vezacharti, to remember, is mentioned by Avraham, \"I will remember the brit with Avraham.\" And then by Yaakov, it says again opposite, starts off with Yaakov, then it says Avraham, but in both places, it says the word \"I will remember,\" and by Yitzchak, it doesn't say the word \"remember.\" It says, \"I will remember the brit with Yaakov and Yitzchak,\" but it doesn't say the word \"I will remember.\" So Chazal say, Rashi says also that Avraham's greatness has to be remembered by Hashem. Yaakov's greatness has to be remembered by Hashem. But Yitzchak doesn't have to be remembered, because Yitzchak was by at the Akedah, and when they brought the korban, there were ashes of the korban, like every korban that's burned there are ashes, those ashes are always there in front of Hashem. Which means, in other words, that the Akedah is something that Hashem always, always remembers. Now, the question is, what is so special about the Akedah? Well, obviously the answer is going to be very simple: it's a very, very great level of mesirut nefesh. Imagine a father being ready to shachat, to slaughter his own child because Hashem told him to. So I mean that's a very a great thing. The question is not really what's so special about it. We all know that it's special. The question is there were many, many great tzadikim throughout Jewish history that went on mesirut nefesh, that gave up their lives for Hashem. So they're also special. So why is the akeidah more special than them? When we say that mesirut nefesh is very special, that's understood. Mesirut nefesh of Avraham, mesirut nefesh of Rabbi Akiva, mesirut nefesh of other great צדיקים. But here we don't say that. We say that the akeidah is a special mesirut nefesh. And the question is there were so many צדיקים, so many קדושים, and we know a person who goes on mesirut nefesh is called a קדוש, a holy one, so many קדושים, and throughout all generations, and they also went on mesirut nefesh. What's so special about Avraham? The question is even deeper: Avraham heard it directly from Hashem. The other צדיקים who went on mesirut nefesh did not hear it from Hashem. Hashem didn't speak to them. They just knew that this is Hashem's will, and they went on mesirut nefesh. Now, who wouldn't do it if Hashem Himself would come to him and tell him, \"Please do it\"? That makes the nisayon- The test, much easier. So the fact that Avraham went on mesirat nefesh seems to be a lesser level of mesirat nefesh than the mesirat nefesh of the other צדיקים. So why is the mesirat nefesh of Avraham Avinu so special? Some might answer that why is it special? Because here he was ready to sacrifice his child. We all know a person would give up his life faster than chas veshalom of a child, and therefore this is something special because he was ready to give, to give up his child for Hashem. But this doesn't really answer the question, because we find throughout Jewish history there were many people, צדיקים, who not only gave their own lives up for Hashem when it came to a question of שמד, of converting, of bowing down to idols or converting to Christianity or other religions, and not only their own life they gave up, but they also gave up the lives of their children. We find many stories like that. The one, the most famous story is the story of Chana v'Shivah Baneha, Chana and her seven sons. A famous story that the king, Antiochus, called each one separately and asked him to bow down to an idol. And she encouraged the child not to do it, knowing that penalty would be death. And it went on to the first, to the second, to the third, till finally the seventh, who was the youngest, a small boy. And the king said to him, \"You know what? I see that I can't win, so you know what? Don't bow down. I'll throw down my ring on the floor, and you just bend down to pick it up, and it will be in front of the idol. People will think that you bowed down to the idol.\" And she, the mother, encouraged her son not to do it, knowing that he's going to be killed. And he didn't do it. And when he was led away to be killed, it says in the מדרש, she turned around to her son and says, \"Do me a favor: when you go up now to שמים, go to Avraham Avinu, and tell Avraham Avinu, 'You built one מזבח for Hashem, ready to sacrifice one child; I built seven מזבחות, I sacrificed seven children to Hashem.'\" And also Avraham was ready to do it, but didn't do it actually. He would have done it, but Hashem told him not to. She said, \"I actually sacrificed seven sons.\" So here we find a story that a mother gave up her children for the sake of Hashem. And this is not the only story in history. We find stories from the later generations, time of the Crusaders, the time of Spanish Inquisition, that people actually killed, Rachmana litzlan, their own children not to fall into the hands, to have to worship idols. So here we see that there were tzadikim that did that. So why is the Akeidah of Avraham Avinu so special? Now, the Sefer HaIkkarim, there is a sefer called Sefer HaIkkarim, he says that Avraham Avinu really didn't have to do it. He says that Hashem said to Avraham, \"Please do it.\" נא, which means please. Didn't say \"you have to\", He asked him to do it. Didn't really have to. And the best proof is because it says that Avraham Avinu said that, \"I could have had an excuse not to do it. I would have said to Hashem that You told me כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע, that from Yitzchak will have, will continue the children, and here You're telling me to שחט him, that mathematically means that I will not have any children and grandchildren.\" So Avraham Avinu says the Chazal say that he had an excuse not to do it based on Hashem's words Himself. So the Ikkarim says what it meant was Avraham Avinu was not forced to do it. And if he would this like to use this logic, he would have gotten away with it. And that is the difference. That's what comes out from the Ikkarim. That Avraham Avinu was not commanded, didn't have to do it. And nevertheless, since he knew Hashem liked him to do it, He asked him, \"Please do it\", he nevertheless did it. While other tzadikim, when they went on mesirat nefesh, they had to do it. They went on mesirat nefesh because there is a halacha that you have to go on mesirat nefesh in certain cases. And that's why Avraham was special. But the truth is, it is not so simple. First of all, it's hard to say that Avraham Avinu didn't have to do it. When Hashem asks you to do something, even if He uses the expression \"I ask you to do it\", it's definitely called that you have to do it. But besides that, what the other tzadikim did, we find in many cases they went on mesirat nefesh for things they were not commanded, they didn't have to. And I'll explain it in detail. What is the halacha of mesirat nefesh? When does a person have to give up his life? So we know that פיקוח נפש דוחה כל התורה כולה. A person's life pushes away the whole Torah. If it's a question of life or death, then you're allowed to do every aveirah, except the three aveirot which is עבודה זרה, גילוי עריות, and שפיכות דמים. Idol worship, adultery, and murder. For those three there is an obligation upon a Yid to go on mesirat nefesh. You have to! If a goy comes and says, \"Bow down to the idol, if not I'll kill Everything else, you don't have to go on mesirat nefesh. Unless, just to mention, unless it's called ערקתא דמסאני. ערקתא דמסאני is an expression in Gemara which really means the color of the shoestring, that if the goyim make a gezeirah, a decree, forcing the Yidden to do something that's against the religion, whatever it is, if they do it specially because they want the Yid to go against his religion, then you have to go on mesirat nefesh. See, if a goy tells a Yid, \"Cook on Shabbos, if not I'll kill you,\" and the reason he wants to cook on Shabbos because he wants to have cooked food, so the din is that you don't have to go on mesirat nefesh. But if a goy does it not because he needs the food, he just wants you to do an aveirah, he wants you to go against, then the din is you have to go on mesirat nefesh. But otherwise, you don't have to go on mesirat nefesh. That's the halachah. But there is a machloket, there is an argument in the rishonim, in the poskim, the commentaries and in the codifiers. What does that mean that on the other things there's no din of mesirat nefesh? Does it mean that you don't have to go on mesirat nefesh or it means that you're not allowed to go on mesirat nefesh? But the Rambam holds that you're not allowed to. Everything but these three, or at a time when it's called ערקתא דמסאני, the Rambam says you're not allowed to. A person is not allowed to give up his life for keeping Shabbos. And if he does it, according to the Rambam, it's considered suicide. Most poskim don't hold that. Most poskim hold that you're allowed. And it was done throughout history many times where Yidden gave up their lives for other than the three aveirot, for Shabbos, for other things. People put their lives on the line and got went on mesirat nefesh, for kashrut, there were people who went on mesirat nefesh for kashrut. Now according to the Rambam they couldn't do it, but obviously they פסקנ'ט not like the Rambam. But still, even not like the Rambam, they didn't have to do it. There was no ציווי. There's no command, and nevertheless they did it. So the answer that we gave, according to the עיקרים, that the specialty of the Akeidah was that here he didn't have to do it, according to the עיקרים that he was just asked to do it, he didn't have to, while what other people did is because the halachah says you have to, it is not true. What other people did also were things that you didn't have to go on mesirat nefesh, and nevertheless they went on mesirat nefesh. So the question is back: why is he so special, more than them? Now there is another answer which is written in Tanya, and he says the specialty of Avraham was not so much the fact that he went on mesirat nefesh, but he did it with zerizut. He was happy about it, he ran to do it. וישכם אברהם בבוקר, אברהם woke up in the morning and couldn't wait to go and shachat his son. Why? Because Hashem said so. So it's the zerizut, the great the the this the runningness, that's what is the specialty of Avraham. But that doesn't answer either, because there were many tzadikim who went on mesirat nefesh later on, also did it with zerizut. Let's take Rabbi Akiva. When Rabbi Akiva was killed, one of the עשרה הרוגי מלכות, one of the ten great tanaim who were killed by the מלכות, by the government, so when Rabbi Akiva was dying, he said to his תלמידים, כל ימי הייתי מצטער מתי יבוא לידי ואקיימנו, all my life I pained for this, I was waiting with pain for this moment: when will the moment come that I will be able to give up my life for Hashem? And finally the moment came, and he was happy about it, smiled. So here, he also did it with zerizut. He didn't run, because you're not allowed to run, but when it happened he took it with the greatest simchah and the greatest zerizut. And many other tzadikim throughout all generations that went on mesirat nefesh with great zerizut. So that is also not one of the things that is so special by Avraham. So we're back to the question: what is so special by Avraham? The real answer is that Avraham Avinu was the first, and that's what we call פתיחת הצינור. פתיחת הצינור means opening up the pipe, that's an expression that's brought in Chassidut and Kabbalah, that there are certain things that as long as it wasn't done yet, it's very, very hard to do. After it was done already, then it's much easier. We see it even bagashmiyut, that when there are certain records and you can't beat the record, running or whatever it is, lehavdil, after one guy breaks the record, you hear the next next day someone else broke the record, this guy broke the record. I don't know why, I don't know the gashmiyutdike physical explanation for it. How does it make it, but that's still, maybe it's psychological, I don't know what it is. But in ruchniyut, the peshat is that to do mesirat nefesh, it's very, very hard to go on mesirat nefesh. So for the first one, that's the hardest. After the first one breaks through and does it, he opens the up already. Now, other people can do it too.

That's called פתיחת הצינור, we call it, opening the pipe, just like in a pipe of water. When the pipe is closed, no water comes. Now when you open the pipe, now the water comes by itself. You just open it up and it continues coming. And we find that a lot of times in inyanim of ruchniyut, not often this, the concept of פתיחת הצינור. Says in Chassidut, that's why in the Zohar, a lot of times when it quotes the statement of a certain Tanna, like Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai, who is usually quoted in the Zohar, it says, פתח ר' שמעון ואמר, Rabbi' Shimon opened up and he said. So, Chassidut said, what's that he opened up? Should have said אמר ר' שמעון. In Gemara, we don't find that expression, he opened up, and in the Zohar we do. So, says Chassidut because the things that it says in those things that are mentioned in the Zohar are very deep. The world is not a kli, not really a vessel to receive it. But after it's opened up already, now the world could do it. So, Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai had that power of opening up that vessel. I always tell the story with the Beit Yosef, I'll tell it again, that he was once learning a piece of Gemara of something, and he couldn't understand it, a very big kashya, he didn't have an answer. And he worked very hard. He fasted, I think it goes he fasted 40 days, and finally this answer was revealed to him, and he got an answer on the on the question. A short while later, he once passed by a shul, and he walked in, he saw a melamed, wasn't the biggest gaon in the world, a melamed was teaching Gemara, and he happened to be teaching that piece of Gemara. And one of the children asked the question that he asked. And on the spot, the melamed answered that answer. And he felt very, very bad. He worked on it for 40 days, he fasted, he davened, and he went to whatever, all kinds, and how come this melamed can do it? So, he asked, I think that's what it says, he asked his maggid. We know that the Beit Yosef had a maggid, which means a malach, who used to come and malach used to come and teach him Torah. And then he made a sefer of a lot of the things that he was taught called Maggid Meisharim. So, he asked this malach the peshat. So, the malach told him, the answer was a very deep answer, and the world didn't have it yet. That's why it was hard to figure out. After you figured it out, and you got it, now it's here, now anybody could pick it up. Now that it's in the air, so, any small, any person could just pick it up because you have to open up the צינור. We find that by other things also. Says with the Maggid of Mezritch that there were sometimes that he would say something, he would sit and start mumbling, and say something, and no one heard. So, they asked him, what did he say? He said, well, he said the inyan in Kabbalah. So, they said, well, why didn't you say it louder that we should hear? So, he said because you wouldn't understand anyway. Says, then why did you say it? So, don't don't say it. He said, I said it so it'll come into the air of the world. Now that it's here, eventually, you will be able to learn it and understand it, but if I wouldn't say it, it would remain, he said, in the עולם המחשבה, in the world of thought, and it wouldn't come down בגלוי in the world, so you wouldn't be able to have it. The same thing we say בנוגע to Avraham Avinu, he was the first. But this is not a good answer either. Because the opening of mesirut nefesh was not like the Akedah. It wasn't the first time Avraham Avinu went on mesirut nefesh. The first time was in Ur Kasdim, when he was thrown into the furnace. He went and broke all the idols of his father, and he was sentenced to death, and he was thrown into the earth furnace, and he was ready to do it. He knew what would happen, and he went on mesirut nefesh. And that was the first time. So, basically, the פתיחת הצינור, the opening of the צינור of the pipe of mesirut nefesh did not come from the Akedah. Akedah was the second time. So then what is so special about the Akedah again that we don't find in Ur Kasdim and we don't find in other types of mesirut nefesh? What is here? Now, the answer is it is the first, the answer is because it is a פתיחת הצינור. But we have to know the first in what. If the first really was Ur Kasdim, there must be something else in which this was a first. So, to understand that, and this is the explanation the Rabbi gives, we have to understand what is the whole idea of mesirut nefesh. We say, we always know and we learn in chasidut, and it says in many sefarim, not only in chasidut it says, that the whole koach of mesirut nefesh, the koach of giving up one's life is only by Yidden. By goyim, we don't find that kind of mesirut nefesh. And we have to understand what that means because in truth, we do find. We find there were goyim who gave up their lives for their ideals. So, they did give up their life, they went on mesirut nefesh. We find goyim went on mesirut nefesh for somebody else. I mean, other people they we do find such things. So, what is the pshat that the goyim don't have mesirut nefesh? So, they say that the Rabbi Rashab once said that what they do is not mesirut nefesh, but it's hefkerut. Hefkerut means uh a person just doesn't care. He's a hefker, a hefker yung. What's that? I don't even know how to say it in English. Somebody is just uh doesn't care about life, doesn't care. So, he gives up his life. That's why they told a story that once in in when the Rabbi Rashab was in Rostov, it was a time when you had the different groups in Russia after they threw over the Tsar, so there were different groups controlling. One day, these called the Whites and the Red, and they used to fight in the street. So once, the Rabbi Rashab, going from shul, coming home, stood for a long time watching two soldiers fight. And one of the chasidim was with him, tried to rush him, it's dangerous, every moment in the street was dangerous. And the Rebbe stood there, and he asked him, \"Why, what are you standing, what are you watching?\" So he says, \"I want to be hitbonen, I want to see what is the difference between mesirut nefesh and hefkerut.\" That these people ready, one of them is going to die. I mean, they were fighting with swords and one or the other will die. So each one was ready to give up his life, was giving up his life for his country or whatever it was. So he says, \"I'm looking, I was looking how they're fighting, I want to see the difference between mesirut nefesh and hefkerut, between giving up your life and being hefker, just being nothing.\" But this is not an explanation, it's just a fact. We don't know what that really means. The explanation is like this. Now let's explain what the real inyan of mesirut nefesh is, and that's why we say it's only by a Jew. Mesirut nefesh means giving up yourself, giving up your being, your whole metziut, your whole being. Like this, a person, why is it that a person will do anything sometimes, give this up, he won't give up his life? Normally, a person won't give up his life, because other things are not that important. But your whole being a person will never give up, because that's him, that's his whole metziut. There is a rule that says כל דבר רוצה בקיומו. Everything wants its own existence. That's it. Everything wants, even things that don't have seichel. As far as this object is concerned, its being is here and it wants its own being. Certainly, a person with seichel wants his metziut. To give up your metziut and disappearing is against nature. It's against the nature. Naturally, a person would never do that. A person will never give up his metziut. The whole concept of briyah, we say when we say nature, nature is the creation. The whole concept of the creation is that Hashem created things. And the nature of things is that the things exist. To go and do something against its own existence is against nature, it's against teva. And therefore, that's something it can't be. The fact that we see that there are goyim who go on mesirut nefesh, which seems to say that they're giving up their whole metziut, they're not giving up their metziut, they're giving up their life, but not their metziut. Why would a person go on mesirut nefesh? Well, sometimes it is he has an ideal, and the ideal is so important for him that he's ready to give up his life for the ideal, because the ideal is important for him. So he's doing it again for himself, but he feels that in this situation the best that will be for him is to give up his life. So what is important for him will gain. Sometimes a person will go on mesirut nefesh because he wants to have Gan Eden. They tell him if you do this, you go on mesirut nefesh, you give up your life, you'll go to Gan Eden. So he feels he'll gain. Here he is in this world, when he'll go to Gan Eden, when he gives up his life and he dies, he'll go to Gan Eden, he'll have more. What do they tell להבדיל ימח שמם the terrorists when they have the suicide bombs? What do they tell them, how do they get them to do it? To go and they tell them that if you're going to do this, you'll get killed, you go to Gan Eden. And they give them all kinds of descriptions and they brainwash them, all kinds of descriptions, \"You'll go to paradise and there you're going to have this,\" and all the biggest ta'avot that they imagine in this world, they tell them, \"Over there you'll have it a hundred times more and you'll have everything.\" Oh, so it's worth it! So all they're doing is they're not giving up their metziut, they're giving up their life for a better metziut of themselves. Sometimes, a person would do it because he feels his life is so bad, rachmana litzlan, that he's ready to give it up. So again, he feels it's better for him. The way it is, I have so many tzaros. What's the seichel behind someone who commits suicide, which is a terrible thing, and he gives up his life because he thinks it will be better for him? Now he has so many tzaros, he won't have these tzaros, he won't have these problems. There's an expression in Chumash, קצתי בחיי, I'm disgusted with my life. So sometimes a person feels that way and gives up his life. It's not giving up the metziut. It's like an investment. When a person invests money, so the pshat is you put in $100, you give it away. The pshat is you're giving it away? You're giving it away hoping that you'll gain more. So even though for a time being you're giving it away, you don't have it, you had $100 in your pocket, now you don't have it, but you're doing it to gain more. When you plant a seed in the ground, you're taking a seed which is perfectly good and edible and you could use it, and you're putting it in the ground, throwing it away so it'll rot. That's not giving it up, that's because you know that from that you'll gain more. That's adding to the מציאות of that seed. So the same thing with these people who do it, it's for their own מציאות, they feel that they will gain. And that's not mesirut nefesh. The real meaning of mesirut nefesh is when a person would give up his life, not just giving up his life because he'll gain more, for no reason, no gain whatsoever. Why would he do it? Because the Aibershter said so, because Hashem said, \"I want you to do it.\" And for that, he will give up life knowing that nothing, he will gain nothing. That's real mesirut nefesh. And that's something that's not natural.

And that's why, what we said before, there has to be a first time, I'll explain why the Akeidah was the first time, but you have to have a first time to bring that koach into the world, because otherwise, without that special first time, it'd never be, because such a thing doesn't exist in the world. It's against the nature of the world. So, such a thing of mesirut nefesh, of really giving yourself up, and completely giving up, no מציאות, that doesn't exist in the nature. And that, you need a special koach to be brought into the world. When did that koach come into the world? In the world, means in a way that the world could see it, was not by Ur Kasdim. It was only by the case of the Akeidah. By Ur Kasdim, what happened there? Avraham Avinu was ready to be thrown into the fire, and he was thrown into the fire. For what reason? Because he had an ideal, a philosophy, a good philosophy, a right philosophy, the truth about Hashem, truth of Hashem, and he was spreading that idea. To him, the idea, the spreading of that idea was so important that he was ready to give up his life for the ideal. So, it's similar to those people who give up their life for their ideals. And what would happen? Other people would be impressed by it, saying, \"Oh, if this great person,\" everyone knew Avraham was great, \"if this great person felt that it's important for this philosophy to give up his life, maybe people would start thinking about it. It would help this philosophy spread.\" So, he's doing it for a reason, a very good reason, I'm not saying it's chas veshalom a bad way, it's a good reason, the reason of spreading the philosophy of השם אחד. But it's for a reason that he feels is important. So, again, it's for back to his own מציאות. By the Akeidah, what happened? By the Akeidah, had the Akeidah taken place, nobody would have known it. You can't say it would show how much he gives over himself over to Hashem, he's ready to kill his son for Hashem. No one would know it. No one was there. Even the two that he took along, שני הנערים, the two lads that went with him, Yishmael and Eliezer, were also not there. We say it every day in davenen. What he told them was, \"Wait here,\" and we they went further themselves. Had the Akeidah taken place, they wouldn't even have known what happened. They He would come back by himself, and they wouldn't know, maybe he got lost someplace, they wouldn't know what happened. So, there was no way that this would show the world how important the philosophy of Avraham Avinu is. More than that, this would ruin his philosophy. Who was the one that continued the philosophy of Avraham Avinu? His son Yitzchak. And the Rambam explains it, actually uses that lashon, Avraham Avinu established a certain philosophy, a certain עיקר הגדול he calls it, עיקר, a certain very important idea, and it was carried on later by his son Yitzchak, then it was carried on by his son Yaakov, then it was carried on by the other Jews till they came to Mitzrayim. And in Mitzrayim, it says the Yidden were that way, then later they forgot, all kinds of things. But it was Yitzchak who was the one that was supposed to carry on his philosophy. Had he שחט'ד יצחק, that would have been batel. It would have been no more philosophy of Avraham in the world, and no one would have seen anything that would have shown the greatness of his philosophy. So, then had Avraham killed Yitzchak, had the akeidah taken place, there would be no gain for Avraham Avinu at all. There would be no gain. What could he have gained? But he was ready to do it just because Hashem said so. That's a gain. How can you feel that it's not a personal gain? Yeah, but that's It's a personal gain? It is, spiritual... Sure, but that's not anything else for his מציאות, because if Hashem said so, that's it. I'll I'll explain in a minute with a mashal. Hashem didn't tell him that you will get Gan Eden for what you did. And as far as he was concerned, maybe he wouldn't get anything. He wouldn't gain anything that he would feel a gain. This is the right thing to do. When we say we gain by doing the will of Hashem, it means this is the right thing to do. So, he would do it because it's right, but not because he's gaining. It's similar to what the Rambam writes concerning someone who does avodah, serves Hashem lishmah. Lishmah, he says, not for Gan Eden, not for any any reason, but he says עושה האמת בגלל שהוא אמת. You do the truth because it's true, and that he says is called lishmah. That's not called a gain. That's the real level of lishmah. And you taka don't, you do what the right, you do what Hashem said. But that's called doing it שלא על מנת לקבל פרס. When a person does that, does a mitzvah, just because Hashem said, that's considered in Pirkei Avot that you do it not in order to get reward, which means you don't gain anything. Like the famous story of the Baal Shem Tov, that he once gave a berachah to somebody to have children, and he heard a voice from heaven say that he lost his Olam Haba completely, because that couple could not have children. And since the Baal Shem Tov gave that berachah, in shamayim they felt they have to listen. But he made Hashem, so to speak, change everything around, the whole סדר השתלשלות, in order to take, to make that happen. So they were very upset at the Baal Shem Tov. And because of that, they said that they took away his whole Olam Haba. The Baal Shem Tov smiled. They asked him, \"Why did you smile?\" So he told them, \"This is what I just heard, and I'm so happy now. Now I can serve Hashem lishmah, שלא על מנת לקבל פרס, not for Gan Eden, just because Hashem said so.\" Then a voice came out from heaven and said, \"You got, you just got it back.\" Because if you, ah, that's what, you want, you just got your Gan Eden back. But that's the peshat that you do it for no reason but because Hashem said. If we would have been commanded to chop wood, we would do it also. So the Alter Rebbe explains it, what's the chidush? Why would that be different? We're commanded to keep Shabbos, we're commanded to put on tefillin, if Hashem would want us to chop wood, we'd chop wood. I mean, why is what what's so special about that statement to say we'd be commanded to chop wood? So he asks, he answers what the peshat is. If we would be commanded to chop wood, and chopping wood, being a mitzvah, would accomplish the same thing chopping wood accomplishes now. Now when you put on tefillin, you accomplish all kinds of great things. When you do other mitzvot, you accomplish great things. Someone chops wood now, nothing happens. Nothing spiritual happens. If we were commanded chop wood and nothing will happen, השם would say, \"I'm telling you, nothing.\" If Hashem would say chop wood and no changes will take place, nothing spiritual will happen, we would also do it. Why? Because we should do mitzvot not because of the gain that we gain by the mitzvot, but we should do mitzvot just because this is what Hashem wants. And this is what happened by the Akeidah in a way that you could see it. In truth, after the Akeidah, when we look back, we understand that Avraham Avinu did it by the Ur Kasdim also. But we would we don't know that. From Ur Kasdim itself, we have no proof. In other words, it's not seen, not revealed to the world that this is the same type of mesirut nefesh, because over there it's very possible he did it for his gain. By the Akeidah, it was obvious that there was no gain there, but just because Hashem wanted him to do it. And that's why the Akeidah is the first, and because of the Akeidah now all the Yidden could do that too. So what I'm saying now is, it doesn't mean that by Avraham Avinu he did it he did mesirut nefesh, pure mesirut nefesh, and all the generations later don't have it. On the contrary, all the Yidden throughout all generations when they did mesirut nefesh, we don't know if they're all like that, but many of them went on mesirut nefesh not because of the gain. But where did they get that koach from? They got it from Avraham Avinu. So really it comes out after this whole discussion that what is the answer to the question? What's so special about Akeidah? It's the first! But the first of what? Not just the first of mesirut nefesh, that was Ur Kasdim, the first of the real mesirut nefesh! The mesirut nefesh that is just for the reason of Hashem, no other gain. And because of that, later on the Yidden throughout later generations are also able to do that. And that's what we say is the difference between a Yid and a goy. It doesn't mean that every Yid who goes on mesirut nefesh holds at that level. Sometimes a person goes on mesirut nefesh because he wants he feels he'll get Gan Eden. But by a Yid, it's possible to go on mesirut nefesh for no gain. By a goy, that is impossible. It is impossible to go on mesirut nefesh for no gain. And we're not saying that the gain is a bad gain, that doesn't mean it's for gaining bad things, it could be for a good thing. But when a goy will go on mesirut nefesh and help another Yid, person, and put his life on the line and sometimes he will lose his life because of that, it's all because he felt that he wanted to do it so he will express his feeling, he will express his humanity, he will express it's all for him. Otherwise, it can't be. And it's not because we're trying to say something knocking down other people, we're not trying to do that. I'm just saying the opposite: what is by goyim is normal; it's we who are abnormal! When it says in the end of Tanya, the end of the first perek of Tanya, and that's one of the famous places where people feel maybe they shouldn't say that, and that's why when they printed the Soncino Tanya there was a suggestion to the Rebbe not to translate that paragraph. They were claiming that this brings anti-Semitism, etc., etc. The Alter Rebbe says there in the end that whatever a goy goy does is only for himself. That's what I want to know. Only for himself. Only for his own gain, even the greatest things he does is only for himself. And a Yid could do things because it's right, because to help another Yid, let's say, because you have to help the other Yid, not because it's for yourself. So they said, \"How could you write such a thing? And that'll that's the cause of anti-Semitism.\" They say, \"Look how the Jews look at us.\" So this was in England, and the Rebbe asked them that they should Not only they the they wrote to the Rebbe, somebody wrote in the English newspaper, what's it called, the English-Jewish paper, The Chronicle, I think, the London Chronicle, English Chronicle, wrote a whole letter against, when the Tanya was printed, wrote a whole letter to the editor, or an article, against the Tanya based on this paragraph. And they sent it to the Rebbe, so the Rebbe said that somebody there should answer that letter. And they answered, and this is what they said, this is and it's a true peshat. We're not knocking anybody. We're not saying that a goy is bad. It's not possible naturally that a person should do something that he should not feel it's for his gain. It's impossible. It's against nature. It's always for yourself. You always feel it, \"I'll have, I'll express my middot.\" Just to use a a very elementary, low example. You could have a person sometimes that he will see someone fall on the street and bleeding, and he'll stop and help the person, and the reason he would do it is because he can't stand blood. Which is good, halavai everybody should be like that, but you know, you can't stand the blood, so you're doing it for yourself. But that's a very low madrega, you have higher madregot, because you feel you want to help the person, but it's all To say that you're giving up of yourself completely without any we call a שמץ, any drop of ישות of your own, it's impossible. So all it says in Tanya, that's what actually a lady wrote this answer. This is long thoughts because All it says in Tanya is that goyim are human, are normal people. It's Yidden who are not normal. We claim, we say, because it says in the Torah, that we have this possibility of doing something which is not human. But that's not knocking anybody down, just saying that we have that koach. Same question, I think he in the same article gave an example, it says that you're not allowed to take interest. A Yid is not allowed to take interest, and it says goyim are allowed, and from a goy you're allowed to take interest. This is also a source of anti-Semitism. \"Look, look at your Torah!\" That's what they say, look, all the Jews, all the generations were always, you know, the ones that took the money from the goyim here. You take interest from a goy, by a Yid you say you can't take interest because it's going to cause him a lot of a lot of היזק, a lot of a loss, but from a goy you could? Oh. The answer is, the whole commerce of the world is based on interest. Interest Taking interest is a normal thing. What Hashem wants of us, we should not be normal, that we should be higher than normal and be able to be different and not to take interest. So we're not saying that for a goy to take interest, \"Oh, the goy is bad, and from him, shlep, grab whatever you can grab from him, get all the money from him.\" That's not the peshat. With a goy, you behave normal like one goy to another, one person to another, you behave. But a Yid should has to elevate himself a little higher, not to have himself involved. And that all started from Avraham Avinu by the akeidah. By the akeidah he was ready to give up his life, the life of his son, not his own life, the life of his son, for something that would seem he wouldn't gain. Which means it wasn't because of his nature or whatever it is, it's against nature bichlal, and he did it.

And all this fits, just to finish off, with the famous peshat it says by the akeidah at the end of the akeidah, Hashem said to Avraham, \"עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה. Now I know that you fear Hashem.\" And sefarim ask, \"Now you know? Till the akeidah, Hashem didn't know with all the great things that Avraham Avinu did, with the gemilut chasadim and hachnasat orchim and the great thing and all the other things that he did? Now Hashem knows?\" All the other things were not as great as the akeidah, true, but doesn't mean that, \"Now I know you're a you're a yerei yerei Elokim, you fear God.\" So Chassidut answers that it's possible for a person to do things, very good things, but it's all a result of his nature. Because that naturally likes it. And therefore, when you do so many all these things, it could be you're takeh doing it, they're good things for Hashem, everything, but there is still your nature involved. When do you see that it's really for Hashem? When you do something which is against your nature. Avraham Avinu's nature was chesed. Everyone knows that. Chesed, kindness. He did hachnasat orchim, and it's a great mitzvah, but it's an expression of his teva. So it doesn't prove yet. Now that he was ready to do the opposite of chesed, he was ready to kill for Hashem, oh, that shows, \"עתה ידעתי, now I know that you're great.\" And which expression does Hashem use? \"עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה, you are afraid of Hashem.\" Because we know the middah of Avraham was chesed, which is ahavah. We know Avraham is referred to in Chumash as אברהם אוהבי, אברהם who loves me. Yitzchak's middah, it says, was yirah, with the pasuk that says פחד יצחק, the fear of Yitzchak. And the pasuk here says עתה ידעתי, now I know כי ירא אלקים, you have yirah too. It's against your nature, and nevertheless you did it. That shows that you are great. Which is similar to a story, I think I once explained it in one of the classes, a story in Gemara that somebody asked Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon, yes, I I'm sure I explained it once, that Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon once asked one of his fellow תנאים, מה אני לעולם הבא, what do you think? I will have olam haba or not? So he asked him, \"נו, אדרבה, tell me. Do you know of any incident that took place that you feel might give you olam haba?\" And he answered, \"Yes, a maaseh, money of Purim. I once had extra money and I was supposed to use for Purim and there was a whole question what to do with the money. Anyway, I added my own money and I straightened things out.\" So he said, \"Oh! Now I know you can get olam haba.\" So, in Likkutei Torah, he asks a kushya, you know Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon was Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon was one of the עשרה הרוגי מלכות, one of the ten people that got killed by the government. Why did he get killed? Because he was מקהיל קהילות ברבים. He went around against the decree of the government and learned Torah in public. And they warned him. Finally, they caught him and they killed him. All that was not enough for him to know he has olam haba? He had of some maaseh with the money of Purim and he laid out some money, oh, now I know you have olam haba? So it's a double question. Number one, what was his own question? He didn't know that he's that what he didn't know what he did? And that's not called anavah. You can't say, \"Well, he was a big anav and that's why he didn't know he can get olam haba.\" A anav, a humble person, doesn't mean a liar or a fool. The person knows whether he does the right thing or not. He knew that he went on mesirat nefesh and he was doing the right thing. And he knew that for that he deserved olam haba. So what was his question? And the second part of the question is, and when the other tanna answered him, he should have told him, \"What are you talking about? You will get, sure you will get olam haba. Look what you're doing.\" He didn't answer him. He asked him, \"adrabah, tell me a story.\" And he told him some a funny story there and from that he got it. So, the Alter Rebbe explains what Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon was worried. He says, \"I know I do all this, but maybe that's my nature. You know you have some people who have a nature of adventure, and they like to take risks, and they jump and they do. Maybe I'm that same nature, that's what I do. And that's why, certainly it's a good thing, and I will get, but that's not really olam haba for doing something for Hashem. Tell me, do you know if I can you...\" He asked him, \"Can you evaluate my situation to see if I'm doing it for Hashem or not, because I'm not sure.\" The truth is it was, but he didn't know because he was an anav. See, here humility fits. In fact, humility doesn't fit you're an anav and that's why you don't know what you're doing, you're a fool. But when it comes to evaluate your level, then you're an anav, you think, so he said, \"I'm not sure, I don't know, maybe this is not for the sake of Hashem.\" So, he says, \"You're right, good good question. Tell me, is there anything that you did once which is an opposite nature, not adventurous, which is gevurah, in nature of chesed?\" So, he said, \"Yes, I once added my money.\" \"Oh! So you had the other direction, too. Now I can tell you you have olam haba, not just for that story that you did. That proves that all the things that you did, the great things, for that you will have olam haba.\" And this is by Avraham, too, עתה ידעתי shows that now I know. And this all fits to what we were saying before, that the whole inyan of akeidah is mesirat nefesh, full full mesirat nefesh, pure mesirat nefesh, not have anything in it. And that is against the nature of the world, and by Avraham, it was certainly against his personal nature of chesed. And it's only after the akeidah that Hashem said עתה ידעתי, now I know. And this akeidah opened the tzino r for all generations later to be able to go on mesirat nefesh. And that's why we always mention the akeidah, in davenen, many times עקידה, Rosh Hashanah many times akeidah. The whole mitzvah of shofar, one of the reasons for it is a remez for the akeidah, remind Hashem of the akeidah, all akeidah, because akeidah is the epitome of what a Yid is is the akeidah. The fact a Yid is able to be close to Hashem for no personal gain, just Hashem, which is the nekudah, the point of what really a Yid is, that's in the akeidah, and that's why the akeidah is such a special thing. Okay? You wanted to ask something. Yeah, you you say that the the part of Tanya the that's brought down that part of the of the text it says that the that the good of the nations of the world is sin. Yeah, because How how's that brought down? Okay, okay. I'll explain you that. He's asking that in Tanya, quotes a pasuk that חסד לאומים חטאת, the kindness of goyim is a sin. So, the way I just explained it, it's not a sin, it's just natural. The fact that a person cares about his own metziut is called a sin in comparison, relative to the level of a Yid, that's called a sin. Plus, the word chatat has another meaning. It doesn't only mean sin. Chatat means missing. The word chet means missing. There's a pasuk that says והיו אני ושלמה בני חטאים. So when Bat Sheva came to come when when when when she came to to David Hamelech to say that Adoniyahu took over the kingdom and you promised my son, and if that happens he takes over, me and my son will be חטאים. Now, normally you would translate חטאים means sinners, but sinners is not חטאים, it should say חוטאים, sinners. What, me and my son will be sins? So the mefarshim say it doesn't mean sins, it means missing. The word חטא means missing. חסד לאומים חטאת, the chesed that the goyim do is missing. What's it missing? The Godliness that's there, that's what it's missing. They could be the top, best human beings, but since they don't have this neshamah which has this special power, then they are still human beings and they're limited. The moment you get the neshamah, it puts into a Yid Godliness that you could forget about gashmiyut and care only about Hashem. And that doesn't mean every time a Yid does a mitzvah, every time even goes on mesirat nefesh thinks about it, but it's possible. To us, not only is it possible, even if a Yid doesn't know it, he thinks he does it for a personal gain, hidden in it is that his neshamah does it because he'll get closer to Hashem. Sometimes a person does things and he thinks he's doing it because of a different reason, like the famous vort of the Baal Shem Tov that when a person eats because he's hungry, what does he think? That his body is hungry for the food. It's not true. Well, I guess it's true, but it's more than that. It's the neshamah that's hungry for that ניצוץ אלוקי, that Godly spark that will be elevated that's in the food. The neshamah is hungry for a berachah. And that's what makes the body hungry. So the person might think that he's eating because he's hungry, the neshamah knows better. And the same thing when a Yid does a mitzvah, and he might do it for a personal gain, his neshamah knows better that he's doing it because only because of Hashem. And that could only be in a Yid, only in a neshamah, because that's against all laws of nature. Yes. What if someone does something, it's not someone does something only because the Eibershter wants it, commands it, doesn't that person have some kind of a hana'ah that...? Yes, by some people. You could reach a level where you don't even have that hana'ah. Means you have hana'ah, but not personal hana'ah. The hana'ah is the Eibershter's hana'ah. What you're saying is usually to be I have pleasure from the fact that I made the Eibershter pleasure. But I have pleasure. And some people, tzadikim, are so batel to Hashem that their their own pleasure is not counted here. It's Hashem's pleasure. What they feel is really Hashem's pleasure, so this is נחת רוח ליוצרו, it's the Eibershter's pleasure that is expressed, manifests in their feelings, which for us it's very hard to understand because these are things that we can't understand, we just have to feel it. And since we're not at that level, so we don't know. It's like the Frierdiker Rebbe once said when they asked him, in one of the maamarim he spoke about different levels in אהבת השם, different types of loving Hashem. You could love Hashem like fire, and you could love Hashem like water, and you could love Hashem like this, all kinds of levels. And it's very hard to understand the exact differences between the levels. So they once asked him the pshat, so he said, \"I'll tell you the truth,\" he said, \"To understand this, you have to be one of the two: or a very big baal madreigah, or a very big baal taavah.\" A very high level or a very, very low level, because in a very low level you can experience these different levels of love in gashmiyusdike things, in low things. If you're a big baal madreigah, a high level, you experience in Hashem. But what he would meant to say is you have to experience it in order to understand, because it's not something that we could understand with sechel. The same thing with this. But there is a thing of the hanaah, that pleasure that you have in the mitzvah is not your own pleasure. It's Hashem's pleasure that you're feeling. And in in your mind, in your heart, there's no gain of your own. What about when a person people were killed because they were Jews, but they chose...? It's not the same level, but it's still kiddush Hashem, definitely. Mesirat nefesh? It's mesirat nefesh, but it's not that level of mesirat nefesh. Be'etzem it is, mitzad the neshamah, but mitzad their guf, again, they didn't... Yeah. A person who was killed because he's a yid is called a kadosh, that's for sure. But if it wasn't their choice, then they don't have that same level, the gilui as the real mesirat nefesh. In other words, there are levels in mesirat nefesh. There's one bottom line, he gave up his life, and that's the greatest, but still, in that gufa there are different levels. Yes. When you use the term mesirat nefesh for a self... how proficient can self-sacrifice express itself? Yes, okay, you're bringing up a point which probably is important to mention. When we talk about mesirat nefesh and one of the reasons that we say the akeidah every day is, it says in Shulchan Aruch, so we should realize that we also have to go on mesirat nefesh, doesn't mean only that you have to give up your life when your life is in... danger for mitzvot and things like that. We hope it never comes to it, but there is another meaning in mesirat nefesh. The word nefesh also has a meaning of ratzon, which means will. The word nefesh means will, giving up your will, which is basically the same idea in essence, just you don't go to that extreme. Because we said before, mesirat nefesh means giving up of yourself, giving yourself away. So, a person who wants something, and he doesn't do it because he knows it's wrong, that's also mesirat nefesh. It's giving up, giving up yourself. It's not the same level, but it's the idea. And when we take a lesson from the akeidah, things of same similar things in our daily life, it doesn't only mean that the lesson is that we have to remember that if Hashem will tell us to do something like that, we'll do it, or if a goy will come, want us to convert, we'll go on mesirat nefesh. Not only that. What it means is, more than that, that in our daily life we have to have mesirat nefesh, not do what I want. And that's It's It's not easy. Not an easy thing because if there are certain things that I want, then that's my מציאות, so not to do it, it's It's It's not easy. But that's what mesirat nefesh is. And there are other levels in mesirat nefesh. There are certain things that for one person is not a mesirat nefesh, it's very easy, but for another person, that same thing is hard. So, you'll have both people doing it, this person will get for that a 10 and this one will get a 100 for the same act! Because this person didn't want and went on mesirat nefesh to do it, went against his own will, and for that Hashem will give you the highest reward. And the other person didn't have to fight. But there are things of mesirat nefesh with the other person, certain things with the other person, everyone in our level has things that we don't want or we want, which is wrong, and everyone, so there could be mesirat nefesh of something else. But this is one of the things, the foundation of Yiddishkeit is the concept of mesirat nefesh. Hopefully, not in the extreme of giving up your life, but in the level of giving up your will.

And that's why the Akedah is like the foundation of Yiddishkeit, because the foundation of because it is mesirat nefesh. It does always Yidden had to go on mesirat nefesh, and by us, we know there are a lot of things that each one could feel in himself which is hard to do, hard for whatever reason. Sometimes they're really hard, sometimes they're imaginary hard. A lot of times, they're imaginary. We find it interesting it says when Mashiach will come, it says when Mashiach will come, it says we'll look at the yetzer hara. So, it says tzadikim, to them the yetzer hara will look like a big mountain, and for the reshaim, yetzer hara is going to look like חוט השערה, like a little hair. What does that mean? That the tzadikim who overcame the yetzer hara, Hashem will give them reward, \"Look what you did! You fought such a big mountain!\" But them who didn't fight the yetzer hara, Hashem will show them, really, the fight was nothing. It was all imaginary. It was all you thought that you have a big stumbling block and something blocking you, it's a hair! It's nothing, it's a little, little tiny hair! How How thin is a hair? And that's the whole yetzer hara. But when we're in it, we don't realize it. But later on when we look back, we'll say, \"Ugh!\" And the the rasha will look back, say, \"Couldn't I fight the yetzer hara? I had to be a מחלל שבת? It's so easy! I thought it was hard, it's not!\" And the same thing, not this is talking about the reshaim, the same thing everyone in our level that it's only it's a small thing. But whatever it is, whether it's an imaginary thing or it's a real thing, it's hard. It's said when Avraham went to the Akedah, just to finish off, Avraham went to the Akedah, the Satan tried to stop him. So, it says in Midrash the Satan made a water, and Avraham couldn't go. All of a sudden, he knew that place, there is no water. All of a sudden, he saw a river. But he didn't stop. He went, and it says he went and went till his throat, his neck in water, and all of a sudden, it disappeared! It disappeared, wasn't there! Then he went, and there was in the desert was sand and he couldn't walk. He continued walking, and all of a sudden, it disappeared. So it says, because the yetzer hara try to the Satan try to stop him, but it's also a lesson to us. Since the Akedah is the foundation of Yiddishkeit, it's a lesson to us that when we see that we're drowning in water spiritually, and we can't it's something we can't we can't do the will of Hashem, Hashem says, \"In a second you'll see. Do it, and you'll see there's no water. It's an imaginary thing, there's nothing, nothing stopped you. You'll see it's better than you thought. And you thought it's going to be hard, it's it's easy.\" And that's the foundation of Yiddishkeit, and that's how we have to go, behave. Okay.