put it together because that's the whole, a long, long diyuk in Rashi, but the יינה של תורה, the Chassidus part is pretty big also, and that's why I left it. In הפסוק ראשית עריסותיכם חלה תרימו תרומה, that in the beginning of your dough, that means when you make a dough, so the first part of it you have to take off challah. You have to take off a little bit of challah. And it says כתרומת גורן כן תרימו אותה, like the terumah of the grain, so too you have to take off from the dough, which is, as we know nowadays, the mitzvah of taking off challah when you make a dough, when you're baking bread, you have to take off a little piece first and make challah. So Rashi מפרש, כתרומת גורן, so Rashi explains when the pasuk says that this is like the terumah of the grain, שלא נאמר בה שיעור. This means that challah has no shiur from the pasuk, from the Chumash. There is no shiur how much challah you have to take off, just like by the grain. And the pasuk tells that this challah is like the terumah of the grain. By the grain also, when you have grain, you have to take off to the kohen terumah. How much terumah do you have to take off? Mid'oraita, from the Torah, there is no measurement. The lashon is אפילו חיטה אחת, you can take off one wheat, פוטרת את כל הכרי, that takes care of the whole, whole pile. So here too, the Torah says there is no shiur. And לא כתרומת מעשר שנאמר בה שיעור. There is a different type of terumah where the Torah gave a measurement. תרומת מעשר, maaser is a tenth that you give to the Levi. The Levi has to take off a tenth of that tenth, and that becomes terumah. So there there is a shiur, but regular terumah has no shiur. So the pasuk says challah also has no shiur. אבל חכמים נתנו שיעור, but the Chachamim, the rabbis, the sages, did give a measurement how much challah you take off. What was their shiur? לבעל הבית אחד מעשרים וארבע, a בעל הבית means a private person who bakes has to take off 1 of 24, 1/24th. No, the Torah did, no, from the Torah there is no shiur. You take off a small drop, and you're yotzei. Yeah, you can take off, just like by terumah, take off one piece of wheat, you can take off 1,000 pounds. You take off one drop of dough, and that's enough. No, no. No, no. The dough has to be something raui, that you should be able to eat it, that's all. So, but it doesn't have to be a shiur. And the Chachamim, in other words, you could take off one little piece that's raui to eat, and you could take off from a big dough that could be 50 pounds of flour. But the Chachamim did give a shiur: a private person who bakes, אחד מעשרים וארבע, 1 out of 24, 1/24th, and לנחתום, a baker, commercial, אחד מארבעים ושמונה, 1 of 48. This doesn't apply nowadays because nowadays the kohen doesn't get the challah anyway. Those days when you would give it to the kohen, so the Rabbanan wanted that the kohen should get something substantial. But nowadays that we burn it anyway, so you take off a kezayit and then that's enough. But here we're talking, so two things Rashi says, that from de'oraita, from the Torah, there is no shiur how much challah you take off. Came the Rabbanan, and they gave a shiur, and they divided the difference between a private person, בעל הבית we call him, or a commercial or a baker. Right, right, that's a different she'eilah. How much dough, how big is the dough have to be that obligates you to take off the challah, that's a different story. No, this has, no. No, we learned it from different pasuk, from עשירית האיפה then. This is the פשט דער רש״י. פון יינה של תורה אין פירוש רש״י, there is a חסידישע פשט, a deep idea, besides the simple peshat of Rashi, there's something deeper here. שטייט אין מדרש,

there is a Midrash that says, למה נסמכה פרשת חלה לפרשת עבודה זרה? Why did the Torah write the whole parashah, all the laws of taking off challah, right next to the laws of idol worship? Obviously there is some connection, the Torah put them together. ללמדך, to teach you, שכל המקיים מצות חלה, anybody who fulfills, who keeps the mitzvah of חלה, כאילו ביטל עבודה זרה, as if you nullified the idols. וכל המבטל מצות חלה, anybody who nullifies the mitzvah of challah, doesn't keep the mitzvah of חלה, כאילו קיים עבודה זרה, as if he's allowing the avodah zarah to continue existing. Exactly what he's going to explain. איז לכאורה אינגאנצן נישט פארשטאנדיק. So we don't understand at all. וואס פאר א שייכות האט די מצוה פון חלה? What kind of connection does the mitzvah of challah have? And specifically, וואס איז פארבונדן מיט אן איינפאכע פעולה וואס א ייד טוט מיט אן עיסה? What the connection of חלה בכלל has to avodah zarah, especially when it's a very small thing. Maybe you would say a major mitzvah, someone will tell you Shabbos is like avodah zarah, okay, Shabbos is so important. Challah is one small out of all the תרי״ג מצות, one small mitzvah. So why, what the connection of that, by just a small פעולה, small act of a ייד taking off something from the dough, what kind of connection does it have מיט, number one, ביטול עבודה זרה, that by keeping mitzvot challah you're as if you're destroying avodah zarah? And not just because עבודה, what the connection between two things, וואס איז יסוד האמונה? See, when you say that one thing is like the other, there must be a connection between the two. So whether avodah zarah is so important or not, you still have a question: what's the connection between the two mitzvot? This The two mitzvot seem to be two separate mitzvot. So what's the connection? And not only two separate mitzvot, the second mitzvah is such a great mitzvah, it's the foundation of our belief, and the יסוד כל התורה כולה, it's the foundation of the whole Torah. So he's like making two points here. One point is, what's the connection of this mitzvah with this mitzvah, and the second, this one is the mitzvah of avodah zarah, and the second is, a small tiny mitzvah should be connected to such a great mitzvah which is the foundation of the whole Torah. A chiyuv of a woman only? No, it's never a chiyuv of, it's a chiyuv of everybody. Just the women are in the kitchen, so they they do it, that's all. A chiyuv of a woman? Well, I always say cause we learned that it's They say the three mitzvot because these are the, and you think lighting the candle is a mitzvah of the woman? I guess if they're not there we have to. Not because if they're not there we have to. The house has to have candles, and whoever is, the huh? Niddah is. Niddah is, it's also, to keep Niddah, but the issur of Niddah is on both. The issur is on the man also. But lighting candles is the woman, she's in the kitchen, she's in the house, and she lights it, that's why we call it the mitzvah, the three mitzvot of the woman. But that's a mitzvah on everybody. If the wife's not around, you have to light stuff? He just said that. Yeah. No, it's not what he said. If you if she can't do it, you do it. Lechatchilah the mitzvah is on both. And we say she does it, but the mitzvah is on the house. Okay. There's you don't look to have to do challah, only if you don't Only if you have the shiur, the amount. הכנסת יום טוב, no? What's going on here? There's a shiur of how much dough you make in order to be מחוייב חלה, that's something else. We're talking about the shiur of how much you have to take off. So we say there is no shiur, that's to get off it, and then he says the Midrash says that this has to do with עבודה זרה. Keeping the mitzvah of challah is connected to עבודה זרה, that by doing that, you're destroying עבודה זרה. And if you don't keep the mitzvah of challah, you're allowing the עבודה זרה to exist.

איך איז דאס מובן? Another question: פארוואס שטייט דער לשון: כל המקיים מצות חלה כאילו ביטל עבודה זרה? Why is the לשון like this? If you keep the mitzvah of challah, it's as if you destroyed עבודה זרה. כל המבטל מצות חלה, if you don't keep the mitzvah of חלה, כאילו מקיים עבודה זרה, as if you allowed עבודה זרה to exist. וואס פון דעם איז משמע, and from this it seems, אז מ'רעדט דאך וועגן אן עבודה זרה וואס איז שוין פאראן פון פריער. We're saying an עבודה זרה is there. You know what would have made sense to say if it's connected? Should have said, if you don't keep the mitzvah of challah, you're making עבודה זרה! If you don't keep challah, it's as if you're admitting to עבודה זרה. If you don't keep מצות חלה, as if you're allowing the עבודה זרה to exist, which means עבודה זרה is there! If you keep challah, you're destroying the עבודה זרה that's there, and if you don't keep it, you're allowing it to exist. Mashma that עבודה זרה וואס איז שוין פאראן פון פריער is there. און דורך קיום מצות חלה איז מען עס מבטל. If you keep the mitzvah of challah, you're destroying this עבודה זרה. און דורך מבטל זיין מצות חלה, by not keeping חלה, איז מען מקיים! We allow it to continue existing. Lichora, you ask questions, אויב אפילו די צוויי ענינים האבן א שייכות צווישן זיך, even if we'll say that there's some connection between the two, פארוואס שטייט דער לשון, it should have said כל המקיים מצות חלה כאילו כפר בעבודה זרה. If you keep challah, then you're denying in עבודה זרה. כל המבטל מצות חלה כאילו מודה, עובד עבודה זרה, כיוצא בזה. If you don't keep challah, then it's as if you admitted to עבודה זרה, as if you're worshiping עבודה זרה. But not saying that if you keep challah, you're destroying the עבודה זרה that's there, and by not keeping challah, you're not only not destroying it, you're allowing it to continue existing. Which עבודה זרה is there that we're saying that it exists? די הסברה אין דעם, so the explanation is like this: איינע פון די ביאורים אין דעם טעם פון מצות חלה, ראשית עריסותיכם חלה תרימו תרומה לה',

one of the explanations why did Hashem give us this mitzvah, that the beginning of the first part of your dough you have to take off challah to Hashem is the reason, one of the reasons is as follows: היות אז בכדי דער מענטש זאל באקומען זיין פרנסה און אלע צרכים, since in order for a person to get his livelihood and all his needs, וואס בכללות ווערן זיי אלע נכלל אין דעם מושג עיסה, they're all included in one expression: dough. דער לחם ומזון וואס איז די עיקר פרנסה, בכלל whenever we talk about a person getting his needs, we always refer to, 'you get your food.' But food doesn't mean only food. We find it in many places in Rashi that this includes all the person's needs. In Gemara a lot of times we even use the word parnasa, and and it's called mezonot, the food, and really it means support. We say when a husband is mechuyav to feed his wife, it doesn't mean only feed, it's also to give her all her needs. So when we talk about the dough, which is the bread, represents the needs of a person. Call money dough. Huh? Call money dough. Yeah. For that reason? That's what I'm thinking. Yeah, I don't know. You ask Tucker? Yeah, it goes with, yeah. It's called, interesting, never thought of that. So in order for a person to get all his needs, which would mean in order for a person to get his dough, to get everything he needs, דארף ער טאהן די עבודות פון חרישה, זריעה, קצירה, you got to work for it. It doesn't happen by itself. You got to plant, and you got to plow, and you got to then cut, and then you got to grind, and A whole process of hard labor in order to get your food. As it says, תנא סדרא דפת נקט, and when we have the list of the thirty-nine types of work on Shabbos you're not allowed to do, it goes in this order. It says you're not allowed to plow, you're not allowed to plant, and it goes all the order of the way it comes to make bread. זאכן וואס זיינען מוכרח על פי טבע, things that naturally you have to do. And this is just an example he's giving, anything a person needs, you don't get it like that. You need clothes, you got to work for it. You got to work, you got to make money. Everything you have to do naturally to get it. And this that you have to work on it naturally, is גלייך ביי א אידן ווי ביי א ניט אידן, ביי א איד, חס ושלום, ביי א גוי. This is nature of the world. It's nothing to do with whether you're Jewish or not. It's the nature of the world that you got to work hard in order to get all your needs. כיוון דאך האט דאס א פעולת הטבע, כיוון דאך האט דאס א פעולת הטבע, a person could make a mistake and think, number one, he could think, אז דאס איז חס ושלום נישט פארבונדן מיט דעם אויבערשטן. Since he feels he's putting in the work, has nothing to do with Hashem. What do you see Hashem here? I'm working, I'm planting, I'm plowing, I'm doing everything, I'm getting food. So it's all me. און ער קריגט די פרנסה דורך זיינע עבודה בדרכי הטבע. You get your parnasa, you get your livelihood by your work through natural means. That's number one one mistake a person could make. ב, the

second mistake: אפילו אם תמצי לומר אז דער אויבערשטער האט אזוי איינגעשטעלט דעם הנהגת הטבע, even if someone does understand that even though naturally you're doing it naturally, but who made this nature? Hashem made this nature, aber בשעה סתם מענטש איז חורש וזורע וכולי, וואס קומט ארויס די תבואה, if a person puts in work, gets his needs, so, even if a person believes that, he can still make a mistake. You could think is aber נאר דעם ערשטן מאל איינצושטעלן, די השפעה גופא איז נאר די השפעה גופא נישט פארבונדן מיט דעם אויבערשטן. It's true Hashem set this in motion, he set up this order that you have to work, and if you work you get food. So, really looking back, it all stemmed from Hashem, he made it so that if you work, you get food. But that's the first time he did it when it happened. Now, after the it's already set up, now, if I work, my work will bring me my parnasa, my livelihood. That Hashem decrees, and then we have to make the keli to everything? Yeah, Hashem make the keli, but he's not making a keli. If I work, I'm making it happen. Hashem put something in motion, and now, every time I work, I'll get If I work less, I'll get less. If I work more, I'll get more. It all depends on me. So it could be a person בכלל forgets about Hashem. He thinks him, and that's it. Another person thinks knows that it all stems back to Hashem, but at this format this point, if I work, I get. And then come the יראו in the מצוות חלה, and the lesson that we get from חלה, that's where the point of מצוות חלה is, ראשית עריסותיכם חלה תרימו תרומה להשם, the beginning of the of the dough, you have to give to Hashem. Which means, נאך איידער ער געניסט פון די עיסה, before you yourself have any benefit from your own dough, אנערקענט ער, you're supposed to recognize, אז, און דאס קומט אראפ למעשה, not only recognize in your mind, but you got to do something about it to prove it, אז די ראשית, the beginnings, the גאנצע התחלה פון די עיסה, the whole beginning of the dough, ובכלל זה, alle סארט, and not only the dough, this means the beginning of everything that you get is תרומה להשם, it's given to Hashem, which means it's a terumah from Hashem. ס'איז ניט דער אויפטו פון זיין אייגענע ארבעט אין דער הנהגת הטבע. It's not something that he got because of his own labor that brought it, נאר הוא הנותן לך כח לעשות חיל. He gives you the power to get all this, און ברכת השם היא תעשיר. The pasuk says that the bracha, the blessing of Hashem, makes the person rich. If a person has money, because Hashem wanted to give him the money. If a person doesn't, because Hashem didn't want to give it, has nothing to do with what he does. נאך מער, goes even further: ביבאלד אז ער מחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית, like we say in davenen, Hashem renews the creation constantly. דער אויבערשטער איז מהווה די בריאה מאין ליש עדי רגע, every second, we know Hashem recreates the world. It's not that Hashem created the world once, 5,773 years ago, and now it continues. Every second, he recreates, and recreates יש מאין, something out of nothing. קומט אויס, so it comes out, אז נישט נאר איז די ברכת השם נתלבש אין טבע, that not only is the bracha of Hashem, the power of Hashem, put into the nature, און אין זיינע מעשים, and into his actions, נאר alle עניני הטבע, all things of nature, און alle זיינע פעולות, and all his actions, זיינען מצד עצמם אין גאנצן קיין מציאות ניט. On their own, they're nothing. When I'm doing something now, it's Hashem making it happen now. זייער גאנצע מציאות נעמט זיך, their whole being, their whole existence is there, מחדש בכל רגע פון דעם אויבערשטן וואס ער איז מהווה ומחיה ומקיים. Hashem gives it life, Hashem gives it its existence, it's all from Hashem. This is the truth. And this is what we see in challah. ראשית עריסותיכם חלה תרימו תרומה להשם. No, he knew, he knows what he's going to do, but לפועל he's doing it now. So therefore, the beginning of the dough you have to give to Hashem. ער גיט דאס ניט פאר קיין צדקה, it doesn't say you have to give tzedakah. What does tzedakah mean? Tzedakah means something that's mine, and I give away something that's mine, I'm doing a favor to somebody. No, we have to show that it's not mine to begin with, it's לכתחילה השם's. און פאר דאס דער פסוק האט נישט קיין ווארט וועגן נתינה לכהן. The truth is, what do you do with it? You give it to the kohen. The pasuk at this point is not even mentioning who to give it to. That's another point. When you take off the challah for the sake of Hashem, what do you do with it? You give it to the kohen. The point here is the first, what it does for the person who takes it off. See, we think challah, you know why you give challah? Because the kohen needs food. Those days he didn't have a land and share in Eretz Yisrael, he needed challah and he gets terumah to to support him. So the main point is he should get it. That's all, that's a true point, but there's a point before that, the main point is, I should know that I give away the first to Hashem because that's really who gave it to me, and it's His really. Do you think the one twenty-fourth has something to do with the twenty-four gifts for the kohen? No? No. חלה תרימו תרומה לה', we have to know we're giving it to Hashem. נאר ער גיט דאס צום אייבערשטן. Why does he give it to Hashem? So he says it's not that just he's talking about giving to the kohen, no, it's talking about giving to Hashem. You give it to השם, וואס באמת באלאנגט עס צו אים, because in truth, the whole thing belongs to Hashem. So Hashem says, you know what, I'm doing you a favor, I'm letting you keep the most. Most of it you could keep, my thing, it's His, but you have to recognize that. So we have to know that everything comes from Hashem and if I work it makes no difference, but then someone could ask a question, I don't know if the Rebbe will go into the sichah here, then why do I have to work? Right. If everything comes from Hashem, why do you work? So the question the question is asked in the Sifri. The

Sifri, which is like a midrash, is written on the Chumash, brings this pasuk. The pasuk says that וברכך ה' אלקיך בכל אשר תעשה, השם will bless you in everything that you do. So the midrash breaks up the pasuk in two parts. Starts off with the first half, וברכך ה' אלקיך, השם will bless you. Hashem will bless you, so the Sifri says, so don't don't work. If anyway Hashem will bless you, it makes no difference what you do. If Hashem wants you should have money, He'll give you whether you work or not. If Hashem doesn't want you to have, you won't get even if you work. It your brain and your work doesn't make a difference, as a pasuk says, לא לחכמים לחם, it's not because you're smart you think you'll make money, you have so many fools who make a lot of money and so many smart people who lose money, and it's not that. So the Sifri says, but then why do you have to work if it's Hashem? So he says תלמוד לומר, there's a second half of the פסוק, אשר תעשה, בכל אשר תעשה, you got to work. So the reason we have to work and we have to work naturally is because Hashem wants it. If not for this pasuk, there would be even the possibility to think we're not allowed to work. What do you mean you're going to work? You believe you don't believe Hashem gives you? Hashem can't give you if you don't work? So really in truth, in theory, you shouldn't even work, but Hashem said, I want you to work, oh, so you got to work. But when you work and you

see your work brings in the stuff, because you made a כלי דרך הטבע, don't forget the truth. You might forget that you think you're working and everything that you're doing is the one that's causing it to happen, it's not true. Okay. So, if you forget, Hashem is not going to give you if you forget? Maybe not, maybe yeah, I don't know. Well, what is the sichah telling us? Sounds like we're not going to get it because we might... Did he say not get? No, I guess. So, why are you saying it? He didn't say not getting, he says don't think, don't forget, don't think that it's your work brings it, the Aibershter gives it to you. Now, could the Eibershter punish you? I don't know if we forget, maybe, I don't know, but it doesn't say chas v'shalom the Eibershter will punish you, but you never know, I mean this, but the fact is whatever a person gets is from the Eibershter, you have to keep it in mind, you shouldn't forget it, and that's the meaning, this is the point, the meaning of מצות חלה. You take off the first to show Hashem that I know that this is all yours. Okay. This will explain the connection between חלה and עבודה זרה, because when the Rebbe is going to explain what really the true meaning of עבודה זרה is, you'll see that it's connected to this. והנה, דער חטא פון עבודה זרה, אויך עפ\"י נגלה, the sin of עבודה זרה, even in simple peshat, not only in על פי חסידות and kabbalah, there's even according to simple halachah, what is the, what is עבודה זרה? באשטייט נישט נאר אין דינען עבודה זרה ממש חס ושלום. See, people think, you know what's עבודה זרה? Idol worship. When you have the statue and you bow down to the statue and you say, \"You're my god,\" that's what עבודה זרה is. That that's surely עבודה זרה, but that's not it only. און אננעמען אים חס ושלום אלס אלוקות, you accept him as godly. נאר אויך אין דעם וואס מען מחשיב די כוכבים ומזלות, it says if a person gives importance to the stars, to the constellations, כלל כחות הטבע, any power of nature that a person believes that it has its own power, that, in essence, the concept of עבודה זרה. אז זיי האבן אן אייגענע שליטה והשפעה, if you believe that they have their own control and their own השפעה, כאטש ער ווייסט אז בתחילה האט דער אייבערשטער זיי באשאפן און זיי געגעבן כח, even if you believe it all came from the Eibershter. You see, the the reason like says the Rambam, the Rambam writes that since we got time, the Rambam writes, how did עבודה זרה start?

Why did people start believing in עבודה זרה, in idol worship? So he said it started like this: People saw, the beginning of the creation, the first generation, they saw there are stars that we get certain things from the stars, there are constellations that they have all the the things that they control the world. You have the sun that gives heat and the sun gives light and the sun makes things grow, and they all, so they said to themselves: Where does this all come from? So they believed in God. They said God gave it the power, but you know what they thought? God gave the power to them and removed Himself, and now they have their own their own power. It all came from God. They might even believe that Hashem has the veto power. Hashem wants decides and He says no, don't give. He could stop the sun from giving. But otherwise, it's in the hands of the sun to decide who should get, not to get, the sun. And therefore, what did people do? They started praying to the sun. They started bowing down to the sun, saying, oh, you you give, since it's in your hands, please give me. And if a person had a good day and the sun was good for it to the person, what did he do later? Come, thank you, sun. What happened later? And this and this is a mistake. Why is it a mistake? They believed it all came from Hashem. Hashem made the sun. But it's a mistake. Why? Because it's not true. The sun doesn't have its own power. Nothing. The example given is, the

sun is like the ax. Has no choice and nothing. The sun is like the ax in the hand of the chopper. Imagine if a person chops down a tree, so who did it? The ax. So someone's going to come to the ax and if he needs tomorrow another tree chopped down, you walk over to the ax, please ax, chop down my tree tomorrow. You got to be nuts! You go to the person, and what do you say? Please, take the ax and chop down my tree. And then when you finish chopping down the tree, don't go to the ax and say thank you. You say thank you to the man. Same thing, you got to say thank you to Hashem, even though So He's using the sun as a tool, how He gives us the the the heat, how does He give it to us? Through the sun, so the sun is a tool. So he says here that עבודה זרה, and that's עבודה זרה. That's how עבודה זרה started. You know how it continued? What happens if a person wanted to pray to the sun at night? The sun isn't out, so they made an image of the sun. What happened the next generation? They even forgot what it meant, that this is an image of the sun, so they Oh, my father prays to this little thing here, so he prayed to it, too. That's how it got developed, it evolved into עבודה זרה. But in essence עבודה זרה is the belief that there is something else in the world that has a power. דער אמת איז, the truth is, אז אלע כחות הטבע, that all the natural powers, און די כוכבים ומזלות, and the stars and the constellations, זענען נאר כגרזן ביד החוצב, it's only like the ax in the hand of the chopper. און זיי האבן קיין שום כח נישט מצד עצמם, they have no power on their own. אייך ניט קיין בחירה צו משנה זיין די השפעה, they have no free choice, no choice at all to make any changes. זיי זענען נאר לבושים דורך וועמען עס גייט דורך די השפעה פונעם אייבערשטן, they're only garments through which Hashem's power comes through. So this is avodah zarah. So avodah zarah is if you believe that the sun has a power to disperse. נאך מער אין א דאקערן אופן פון עבודה זרה, there's even a more refined level of avodah zarah, which is also avodah zarah. נישט נאר אז מען מיינט אז עס זענען פאראן כחות חוץ מן אייבערשטן, not only if you believe that there are other powers besides השם, נאר אויך אז עס איז דא עפעס א מציאות חוץ פון אים. You see, till now we were saying that if you believe that something else has a power, that's avodah zarah. Now he's saying even more, if you believe there is another metziut, another being besides Hashem, there is no other being. Want דער אמת איז, the truth is, אז אין עוד מלבדו, there is nothing but Him. ס'איז ניטא קיין שום מציאות חוץ דעם אייבערשטן. There's nothing besides Hashem. די וועלט איז, און די הנהגת הטבע מצד עצמו איז אבער נישט ניכר. If you look at the world and you look at the nature, you can't tell the truth, you don't see the truth that it's all from Hashem. וועלט און טבע זעהן זיך אן, the world and the nature looks as if כאילו זיי זענען א מציאות, it looks like a metziut, this looks like a metziut. Does this table in any way show that it's really, its whole being is because Hashem makes it happen, but otherwise it's nothing? So if you look at the world, and it looks like it has its own power. נאך מער, more, עס איז אפילו נישט ניכר אן... אן התבוננות אז עס איז דא א בעל הבית אויף די בירה זו. You can't even see unless you meditate and contemplate that there is even a boss to this world. When you start thinking about it, you come to a conclusion, everyone if you think, like Avraham Avinu. That's where the expression comes from. Avraham Avinu says saw a mashal, he saw a big, big building, big palace, and he saw all kinds of things going on there, and he looks at himself, who who made this happen? Is it possible there is no- no one in control here? And he was wondering and wondering till he figured out, yes. Such a mashal to the world, he looked at the world, he said it can't be, somebody must control this, and he came to a conclusion that it must be Hashem. But if you don't think about it, person just looks at the world and doesn't and you don't see anything, you don't even see there is a אז דער אייבערשטער פירט אן מיט דער וועלט, און מיט אלץ וואס איז אין איר, that Hashem runs the world and everything that's in it. So you could even forget. See, I'll even go a step further which doesn't טייטש אויס here. When he says that a person believes in other powers, does it mean he believes in other powers like the sun and the moon?

What happens if he believes in his own power? I have power! I am going to work, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, and I'll make money, I'll do this. That's avodah zarah! So believing in that I am the one that, my koach brought brought my livelihood, to a degree, that's avodah zarah. Now right away we'll see the connection between challah and avodah zarah. So in the world you don't see it. Sorry, I have to go. Don't feel guilty about guilty about, but Ami's on the phone. Okay, good. It's part of him. I'm not saying kedushah. Yeah, yeah. און דעריבער בשעת a Yid is מקיים מצות חלה, therefore when a Yid fulfills the mitzvah of challah, what does that mean as we said before? אז ער אנערקענט און איז מגלה, that he recognizes and he reveals, אז די עיסה, that the dough, which is the parnasah, the livelihood, וועלכער ער באקומט that he gets through his work, קומט אינגאנצן פון דעם אייבערשטן. By giving the challah you are expressing your belief that Hashem that everything you get comes from Hashem. איז ער דורך דעם מבטל עבודה זרה. Through this he destroys avodah zarah. One of the questions was, what do you mean he destroys? Which avodah zarah is there that he's destroying? He should have said avodah zarah is there before anything! The world itself has avodah zarah. There is an existing avodah zarah. Since avodah zarah in a refined level means the thinking that there is another metzius, something other than God, that's there. The world itself is there. When you do the mitzvah of challah, then you're destroying this concept of avodah zarah. ער איז מבטל דאס וואס עס זעט זיך אן די וועלט אלס א מציאות. You destroy this, that the world looks like a metzius. און אפילו אלס א כח המשפיע, the world looks like a koach, as a power to be mashpia. By doing challah, you are showing that you don't believe, you are destroying that avodah zarah. Doesn't tzedakah do the same thing? Huh? Tzedakah? Challah... it said by challah, terumah, maaser. See, but here the point is even more. By tzedakah it doesn't say ראשית. Here's the ראשית, to show the first. Before, like I said before, before you even get to it yourself, you've got to show It's like saying a berachah in a certain way, because you show that I believe it comes to the Aibershter and everything else. ראשית הגז is also? Yeah, sure. Those things that are ראשית have that point, yeah. What's ראשית הגז again? The shearing of the wool. So that also says the first. מאידך, on the other hand, בשעת ער איז מבטל מצות חלה, when you do not keep the mitzvah of חלה, אויב ער אנערקענט נישט אז כל פרנסתו שייך צו באקומען פון אייבערשטן, if you don't recognize that everything that you have, your whole livelihood comes from Hashem, איז ער כאילו מקיים עבודה זרה. He allows avodah zarah to exist. He's not making an avodah zarah. Avodah zarah is there from before! ער איז דאמיט מקיים דאס וואס די כוחות הטבע, he continues this that the powers of nature האבן זיך אן און זעען זיך אן אלס א מציאות פאר זיך אליין. He continues this fact that the nature looks like it's a metzius for itself. How does he continue that? היות ער הייסט ער נעמט אן אז די השפעה איז פארבונדן מיט זיי אליין. Since he feels that the hashpaah, that everything he has comes from nature, so he's continuing what the world says in itself. נאך מער, so even more, אפילו ער איז מבטל מצות חלה בשוגג, even if he doesn't keep the mitzvah of challah by mistake, unintentionally, דאס הייסט ער פארגעסט אפשיידן חלה, if a person forgot to take off חלה, איז ער אויך avodah zarah זרה. He also continues avodah zarah. ווארום שכחה שייך נאר ביי א זאך וואס עס זעט זיך נישט בגילוי. Forgetting is something that you do not see. You can't say, \"This is in front of my eyes, I forgot there's a cup standing here.\" If I walk away and is somebody's cup there? I forgot. Something that's clear to you, you don't forget. אזא וואס עס זעט פאר זיך, something that you see in front of you, איז נישט שייך ער זאל פארגעסן, you can't forget. די באלד אז ער האט פארגעסן אפשיידן חלה, if a person forgot to take off חלה, דאס הייסט ביי אים הערשט נישט אז אלץ אז ער ווייסט נישט אז אלץ קומט פונעם אייבערשטן. He doesn't feel that everything comes from the אייבערשטער, איז ער דאמיט חס ושלום, איז ער דאמיט חס ושלום מקיים די מציאות פון עבודה זרה. Even if it's by mistake! How do you make such a mistake? How'd you forget? That means you forgot that the Eibershter is the baal habayis! So then you're keeping the avodah zarah! דאס וואס ס'איז אין דער אין דער וועלט אלס זיך אליין, which is in the world for itself. Don't you have some have to have some kind of thought, or machshavah that that's that you're doing avodah zarah? Yeah, no, that's what that's the simplest pshat of avodah zarah. But in the refined way of avodah zarah, the refined pshat of avodah zarah is if you believe in anything as other power or even another metziut. Or in yourself. In yourself which is also a metziut other than God. You have to believe in it, so But you believe! If you go work and you think that what I'm going to do, that It's not that you forgot to do it, you didn't, you know, believe. No, but it shows you, but it shows if you forgot to take off challah, which means you forgot that everything comes from the Eibershter. That's avodah zarah. Where did the challah come from? You know, they asked somebody once, \"What do you think when you say שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד?\" He said, \"I think that God is Hashem is the only God. The other gods are nothing.\" He said, \"You idiot! That's what you think, the other gods are nothing?\" He said, \"I'm nothing!\" He said, \"The other gods are nothing? That's just...\" Don't say, \"Hashem is the true, but Christianity, oh, that's not, and Islam is not. I'm nothing!\" That's that's the real meaning. Isn't that what the Alter Rebbe said to the atheist, something: \"The god that you don't believe in, I don't believe in either\"? Never heard that? So this is the pshat that even b'shogeg, I think it's a vort of Rav Chaim Brisker. If a person doesn't know about Hashem, is an apikores, but because he wasn't taught, does he have a din an apikores? So he said a lashon, like today they say, \"nebech an apikores iz oych an apikores.\" Nebech an apikores, nebech he doesn't know, but he's, apikores is not, not something that you're you're at fault, apikores is a fact, is a certain belief. If you don't believe in God, you're an apikores. Now sometimes you're at fault because you decided not to believe, sometimes no one told you. But it's still, so all the dinim of an apikores apply. So here avodah zarah you forgot. Can't forget something that you see, the famous story with the Ruzhiner when he was a kid, when he's learning the Gemara in in Shabbos, it says melamed, and it says there that if a person is going in the מדבר in the desert and forgot which day is Shabbos, so what do you do? So there's a machloket, you count six days, you know, machloket. So the Ruzhiner said to his melamed, \"I don't understand the Gemara.\" So he told him again, he repeated again, \"I don't understand.\" A few times, he says, \"It's a simple Gemara, I don't know what's hard.\" He says, \"What's hard to my understand, how could you forget when is Shabbos?\" So he says, \"Well, maybe a few days, a few a weeks in the desert, you get mixed up.\" \"Can't you see Shabbos the sky is different? You just look at the sky, you see it's Shabbos.\" Something you can't forget, something that you see. So if a guy forgot taking of chalah which in theory in in in essence means that he forgot the concept of chalah, then you're also avodah zarah. Conditioning. Ah? Conditioning. על פי זה יובן דער חילוק השיעורים פון מצוות חלה. This will explain why there are differences in measurements of chalah. We said there's a bigger measurement that a baal habayit has to give, and a smaller measurement that a a a a baker gives. אַזוי ווי עבודה זרה איז אסור במשהו, just like avodah zarah we know there is no shiur, what avodah zarah is, אַזוי אויך איז נתינת חלה מצד עצמה אין דעם פרינציפ, קיין שיעור. That's why to take off chalah is no shiur. אויך אַ משהו בכמות, it can be just a drop, it's enough, because this is supposed to counteract avodah zarah, avodah zarah is a mashu, this also a mashu. ולהיפך on the other hand, אַזוי ווי עבודה זרה האָט זיך אָנגעהויבן, און איז דערנאָך פֿאַרבונדן מיט שמש וירח כולי, פסל וכולי, after all the פועל ממש, the the the the involvement of avodah zarah turned into worshipping the sun and the moon and and an image and things like that. על כל פנים זקף לבנה והשתחוה לה, the Gemara uses an expression, someone put up a a a brick and bowed down to it. So, the the real avodah zarah is is something tangible, אַזוי אויך בּמצוות חלה, האָבן חכמים נאָך אַ שיעור בכמות. So, that's why there's another level. So, in

essence from the Torah there is no shiur for chalah, because avodah zarah is no shiur, so to get rid of it is no shiur, but since avodah zarah also has a simple, some some involvement, so by challah there was also an involvement because it's the opposite of avodah zarah. דער הסבר אין דעם, it explains the פשט, מצד עצם הנפש, ענין אמונה, as far as the neshamah of a ייִד, the עצם הנפש, when it comes to emunah in believing in the אויבערשטער, it is an איסור פון עבודה זרה במשהו. The prohibition of avodah zarah is any any drop. דאָס הייסט, אַז אין דער אמונה טאָר ניט זײַן קיין שום תפיסת מקום פון א מציאות חוץ פונעם אויבערשטן. A ייִד's emunah, you can't believe in anything, a mashu, a drop of something other than Hashem is already no good. אפילו בדק שבבדק, even in the most refined level. דער עיקר איז אויך אַזוי, על דרך זה, therefore also on the good side, אויך די מצוות חלה, די נקודה פון אמונה, so the belief in Hashem which is expressed in the mitzvah of challah also has no shiur. דאָס הייסט it means, עס האָט ניט קיין שיעור בכמות, it has no shiur in quantity, עס איז נאָר חלה, it has אַ שייכות, שיעור איז באיכות, באיכות, in other words in quality this is challah. די נקודה פון אמונה מצד עצם הנפש איז באיכות ניט מוגבל אין קיין הגבלה. The fact that you have emunah in עצם הנפש is not limited to a shiur, it's there and that's belief in Hashem, just like the opposite is the problem, in the good side also. אָבער חכמים האָבן געגעבן אַ שיעור, the fact is that the chachamim did give a shiur, what does chachamim mean? No, it doesn't make sense. But so is the other way around. Yeah. But the chachamim gave a shiur, what does it mean the chachamim gave the way the רבי טײַטשט here, ווי עס קומט אַראָפּ אין חכמה, בשכל הנפש, but after this is the emunah, the point of emunah, now when it comes to develop the emunah, which is referred to as chochmah, now you take the emunah and you think about it with your mind, that's called חכמים, איז פּונקט ווי עבודה זרה האָט אַ שיעור מסוים, וויפֿל זײַן כּוח איז אין דער מציאות פון עבודה זרה, by avodah zarah the the little bit, the the most small amount is no good, but nevertheless there are more, sometimes it goes even further, not only do you have that point that you're not believing in everything in Hashem, you could even go worse and you could even bow down to avodah zarah. אַזוי דאַפֿיר, מצוות חלה, the ביטול בשלימות פון עבודה זרה, so the challah which is the opposite of עבודה זרה, ווי עס קומט אויך אַראָפּ אין שכל, a person has to always come down, has to have, at least a, שיעור מסוים, has to have a certain shiur. Just like avodah zarah, in essence of avodah zarah is the smallest belief in another מציאות, but then there are ways it comes down that you think about it in avodah zarah and you believe in... this and believe in that. So on the good side, you have the עצם of the emunah, that's no shiur, but the chachamim, which means the חכמה, when it comes to חכמה, it does get a shiur. וויבאלד דער ענין פון עבודה זרה וואס מצות חלה באקעמפט, since avodah zarah,

which challah comes to counteract, מיינט עס נישט נאר עבודה זרה כפשוטו חס ושלום, it doesn't only mean simple עבודה זרה, נאר דאס וואס במחשבה עס קען זיין בדקות, עס גיט מקום פאר די דרכי הטבע. It means also that in a person's mind, you could think that there is something important to teva, to nature, וואס צוליב זיין איינגעוואוינטקייט, say because you're so used to it, קען מען מיינען אז עס זאל זיין א סיבה פאר פרנסה, say you get so used to it, you can think that's the cause of your livelihood. דעריבער איז דא דער חילוק צווישן א נחתום און א בעל הבית. Now we'll see, because of this, we see the difference על פי חסידות between a baal habayis and a baker. וואס דער חילוק? We'll see how it affects. Okay. עס איז מבואר אין חסידות, it says in חסידות, אז א בעל עסק זעט השגחה פרטית מער ווי א יושב אוהל. A businessman, a person out in the world, sees more Divine Providence than a person who sits and learns all day. א בעל עסק דארף טאן פאסנדע פעולות צו פארדינען פון דעם עסק. A בעל עסק, a businessman has to do all kinds of things to make money, to make a livelihood. קויפן סחורה, you have to buy merchandise, און פארקויפן, and then you have to sell. און דאס אלץ איז אפהענגיק פון תנאים פון זמן ומקום, it depends on the time, sometimes it's a better season, a worse season, the place where you sell, פון די עליות וירידות פון שער, prices go up, prices go down, it's so many things. און מען זעט אפט די גילוי ווי דער מסבב הסיבות שאפט און ברענגט די הצלחה אין זיין עסק. Many times a person, and you hear that from many people, not davka from sefarim, that they see hashgacha pratit, how they were supposed to do this and this, and the market was bad, and what their merchandise, and all of a sudden when he came, when he had to do the business, something happened, the אייבערשטער made it and he made money. And they see hashgacha pratit much more than when you sit in Yeshiva and learn Gemara all day, so where do you see hashgacha pratis? דעריבער זעט א בעל עסק השגחה פרטית אפטער. A בעל עסק, a businessman, a worker sees more hashgacha pratis more often, און אין א מער אפענעם אופן, in a more revealed way, ווי א יושב אוהל, than somebody who learns. וואס ער קריגט פרנסה, עס איז צוזאמען און מן המוכן. You learn and you get כולל, or you got a job in Yeshiva, and you get paid. You don't see, there's nothing that's to do with anything else but your learning. So we see the difference between a בעל הבית and a baker. דאס איז דער חילוק צווישן א בעל הבית און א נחתום. This is the difference between a בעל הבית and a baker.

א בעל הבית'טע, he says, a בעל הבית, here's a בעל הבית'טע, a regular woman, וואס דער עיקר קיום מצות חלה איז צו איר געגעבן, who is the one that mainly does מצות חלה? She does it. באקט חלה און ברויט פאר איר הויז, she bakes challah and bread for her own house. איז זי בדרך כלל נישט אזוי באקאנט מיט די פרטי הסדר ווי אזוי פון וואנעט מ'איז באדינט צו באקומען די מעל? זי האלט... A woman who bakes, a regular בעל הבית'טע, she doesn't really see how did she get this flour. She knows her husband brings home the flour or she gives the money, she buys the flour. She doesn't know what kind of work went through this, she doesn't see it. צו איר קומט עס שוין מן המוכן, she gets it all ready. ממילא פילט זי נישט, על כל פנים נישט אזוי פיל ווי דאס איז פארבונדן און אפהענגיק פון די השגחה פון דעם אייבערשטן. She doesn't see so much how much this is dependent on Hashem. See, a person who goes out in the world and has to work and do this, a person who works on the field even, today the wind could come and could blow everything, this could happen, this that, could rain, could not rain, he constantly sees how Hashem makes things happen, and if it doesn't rain, he davens to Hashem. She doesn't see it. דעריבער דארף זי געבן א גרעסערן שיעור, אחד מכ\\"ד. Who gives a bigger שיעור, who gives more? The בעל הבית gives 1 out of 24, the baker gives 1 out of 48. When you give more, it means you need more to give you a pinch, to tell you listen what's happening here. So this is similar to when it says a person who doesn't work doesn't see hashgacha pratis so much, so the same thing a regular בעל הבית, a בעל הבית'טע who's in the house doesn't see it so much. So the Chachamim say, in order for you to see it, the more you give, you think about what am I doing here? ווארום ביי איר פאדערט זיך א גרעסערע ווארענונג נישט צו פארגעסן אז דאס אלץ קומט פון אייבערשטן, not to forget it all comes from Hashem. א נחתום אבער, but the baker, an איש וואס ער איז א בעל עסק, a baker is a בעל עסק. You know, and a baker many times also, he starts off in the beginning, he goes and makes again, plants and then he gets the flour and then he bakes it, he's the businessman. ער טוט עס פאר זיין פרנסה, he does it not just for the house, he does it for business. און אין אן אופן וואס ער איז פארבונדן מיט קויפן און פארקויפן און אלע אנדערע תנאי המסחר, he gets already involved in business, he buys and sells and gets involved in all kind of prices go up, prices go down. The woman in the house doesn't have that, so she doesn't see that hashgacha pratis, but he, זעט ער דערין

מער דער ענין פון השגחה פרטית. The baker sees more hashgacha pratis in his work. אז דער אייבערשטער שיקט אים צו זיין פרנסה, he sees that the אייבערשטער brings, cuz many times he sees, he thinks, oy vey, I'm losing money this, and all of a sudden, everything gets it, he thinks the Eibershter. דעריבער איז ביי אים מספיק א קלענערער שיעור, so him, to give him this feeling, is a smaller שיעור, אחד ממ\\"ח, 1 out of 48. ווייל אויך דער שיעור פארהיט אים פון דעם טעות, also this shiur will make sure he doesn't make this mistake אז דאס קומט על ידי פעולתו והנהגת טבע, it comes through his work and his through natural things. און דורך קיום מצות חלה, and through keeping the מצות חלה, איז מען זוכה, עס זאל זיין להניח ברכה אל ביתך, we're zocheh that Hashem gives the brachah to our house. מען ברענגט אריין דעם אייבערשטנס ברכה אין אלע ענינים פון הבית, we bring Hashem's brachah in all all the things of the home, אז עס איז ניכר אין אלע עניני הבית, ווייל מען פילט ווי דער אויבערשטער וויל. What it means that Hashem comes into the home and gives His brachah? That the house is built in such a way that everyone feels that everything comes from השם, און דעמאלט איז דא די ברכה כפשוטה, then you get the simple brachah. First is a brachah that you start feeling that Hashem is in control, and you get the simple ברכה, אין כל עניני הבית, all the things, ובבני, in children, חיי, in life, ומזוני רויחא, and in a proper livelihood. Oh yeah, sure. First of all, how's it that old age, doesn't come home, she's waiting to. Really, when he bakes, he should give, he should give a little small amount. I bake, I'm going to bake challah anyway. Then you have to give a small amount. Yeah. No, I'm saying it should have been זה ח׳. It's the second half of the sichah. It's an amazing sichah. Amazing, it is. That's why I took out, I didn't, the first part is pashut a diyuk in Rashi, so I took out just the Rashi and then I went straight to Rabbi, interesting that they picked on ראשית for challah. What happened to tzedakah? They didn't pick on ראשית. Maaser, they didn't pick on ראשית. No, maaser is not ראשית, but it is like, it is like ראשית, because you can't eat, otherwise it's טבל. I understand, but it's, it doesn't use the word ראשית. It doesn't use the word ראשית, but it is also. A geshmak, huh? Fresh challah. Not giving maaser is

According to the Midrash, challah really represents the whole life, everything. I understand. Food, and that's not Because it's all, yeah, this is only what it represents. So, it's not So much, there's so many other things that you have to give that are not, you know, pounded into everybody, but challah when... Challah when... Okay, but because challah is I just found, it's just interesting. Because challah you eat, everything else you earn, I guess, huh? Well, no, the challah that we call challah, it's not the real word for it, it's bread, it's not challah, we call it challah because you take off challah, it's dough, and dough is the mainstay of a person's food, is always bread, and that's the foundation of everything. And that's why, when you want to show it, you show it by bread. So, we don't have a chiyuv to make challah. You only have a chiyuv No, to make the berachah and take off the challah. We don't have the chiyuv, necessarily. If what? If you don't bake bread. Only if you make the five pounds must we do that, make Right, that's something else, there's a shiur of how much No, I'm saying, but do we have to davka make the five pounds? Do we need this emunah? We don't have to, that's what, so how are you going to get it if you don't do that? If I make two pounds of challah every, and I don't have, I don't take off, I don't make a berachah, therefore I don't fulfill this You do take off. No, if you make, you don't take off. You don't take off either? No, from a drop not. There's a shiur, from like You don't take off unless you make five pounds. Five you take a berachah, for three pounds you take off without a berachah. Oh, you take off without a berachah. Right, but if you make one pound, you don't take off anything. You don't take off at all, right. And what happens if you don't bake at all? Then you certainly don't take off. Now, if you buy stuff, that's not a she'eilah. What do you mean it doesn't matter? I'm asking the question,

should we davka do this in order that we should instill more of this? Should we have a house in order to have a mezuzah? Yeah, okay. Should we eat meat in order to have to shachat? Don't eat meat and don't shachat, there's no chiyuv. There's no chiyuv. Huh? So then, then would we say you might lose out in this idea to strengthen the emunah? Okay, ein hachi nami, ein hachi nami, there is something, if you do it you get, yeah, it's good. Is this a chasidut