Hillel, what's the story with Hillel? אמרו עליו על הלל הזקן, they said about הלל הזקן, שבכל יום ויום, okay, היה עוסק, he would work, ומשתכר בטרפעיק. All he would make every day is a טרפעיק. A טרפעיק is a very, very small amount of money. I was stuck in traffic, yeah. He made a טרפעיק. חציו היה נותן לשומר בית המדרש, half of his earnings he would give to the guard of the ישיבה, because they wouldn't let you in unless you paid. So, he would pay half of his salary, וחציו לפרנסתו ולפרנסת בני ביתו, and half, which is so little, he would use for his פרנסה and for his family. פעם אחת לא מצא להשתכר, one day he didn't make any money. Couldn't find and he didn't make anything. ולא הניחו שומר בית המדרש לכנס, so the guard of the שול, of the ישיבה, didn't let him in. But he wanted to learn. עלה ונתלה וישב על פי ארובה, so he went and got up at the skylight, כדי שישמע דברי אלקים חיים מפי שמעיה ואבטליון, so he should be able to hear the godly word, the Torah, from Shemaya ve-Avtalyon. אמרו, they said, אותו היום ערב שבת היה, it was Friday, ותקופת טבת היה, was middle of Tevet, yeah, freezing. וירד עליו שלג מן השמים, he lay down on the skylight to listen, and it was snowing on top of him, and it covered him. כיון שעלה עמוד השחר, this was at night, it came early morning, אמרו ליה שמעיה לאבטליון, so Shemaya said to אבטליון, אבטליון אחי, my brother Avtalyon. It's an expression. Even though in קבלה it says that Shemaya and Avtalyon actually were brothers, but peshat they weren't. But he called him, you know, my brother, my friend. בכל יום הבית מאיר, every day at this time, it's light here, והיום אפל, today it's dark. שמא יום מעונן הוא? Maybe it's a very cloudy day? הציצו עיניהם, they picked up their eyes and they looked, וראו, they saw, דמות אדם בארובה. They saw it's a shape of a person in the skylight. עלו, they went up, ומצאו עליו, and they found on him, רום שלוש אמות שלג. Three אמות. The minimum amount of three אמות is is four and a half feet of snow on top of him. According to other שיטות, it might be six, up to six feet of snow, or four and a half snow, feet snow. How many אמות? Three amot. Three amot. Three amot. If an amah is 18 inches, then it's four and a half feet. פרקוהו, they took him off, they took him away, ורחצוהו, this was Friday, ורחצוהו, they washed him, וסכוהו, and they smeared him, והושיבוהו כנגד המדורה, they put him by the the fireplace, ואמרו, they said, ראוי זה לחלל עליו את השבת. In other words, his life was so in danger, he deserves, he could be מחלל שבת, פשוט, yeah, he was going to die. If they wouldn't find the figure, if it would be at night and they wouldn't realize that it's supposed to get light and they wouldn't look, he could have died. So, he deserves to be מחלל שבת. So mimela, this shows us he was very poor and he still learned Torah. So, we

tell the poor man, your תרעומת is, you are poor, you couldn't learn Torah, it's no excuse. Look at you, you're not as poor as Hillel, and Hillel still learned Torah, so you can also learn Torah. This is a story, reminds you of the story of the Tzemach Tzedek, a similar story. The Tzemach Tzedek by the oven, yeah. When the Tzemach Tzedek was still a little boy, and there was a time when the Alter Rebbe said a maamar, a few maamarim, and he would say it only to certain adults and they wouldn't let him in. And the room that the Alter Rebbe was saying the maamar, there was a wall, and in the middle of the wall, there was an oven for the fireplace. So, one side was in this room, the other side was in the other room. So, the Tzemach Tzedek wanted to go in, he was a kid still, and he couldn't get in, they wouldn't let him in. So, before the time, he went into the oven kedei he should be able to come to this side of the oven, and from the oven he should be able to hear. People didn't know that. It was cold. So, somebody came, put in wood in the oven, on the other side of the oven, and put in, lit it up and started, it started to warm up. And at, it's in the Alter Rebbe's house, and it started getting smoke and this, and I guess he started making noise or something and they realized he was, they went and took him out, and he was already unconscious, I think the story goes. And they revived him, and that's when the Alter Rebbe gave him a berachah, I forgot already what he said, something that the Alter Rebbe said, I have to remind myself what he said. But, the same story like this, he was... The Rebbetzin, the Alter Rebbe's Rebbetzin, she comes like, yelled at the Alter Rebbe... The Rebbe, yeah. Why... Yeah, yeah, that part, that's true. She came, she gave the Alter Rebbe mussar. יפה חלקך, why didn't you allow him, look what you caused the boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So Hillel put himself in this... Hillel put himself in a position to force them to מחלל שבת on his behalf? He didn't put, he didn't know, want that. He went to learn Torah. He didn't even realize that it was snowing, I can guarantee you that. No, he didn't realize that it was... No, but he didn't realize it was going to snow. He went there and he was listening to the Torah, and it snowed on him and he became cold and he didn't even feel it. So, finally, finally, he fainted and finally he became... How do you know אחי is not that in the sense that how you call your own brother?

Why do we assume that? Because the fact it says אחי doesn't mean brother. A lot of times the Gemara says אחינו. We learned a Gemara before. That's fine. If they were not brothers, that's fine. It's just an expression. But if we learn a Kabbalah that they are brothers, it's no raya. Not a raya to this. This is not a raya. But is that any ראיה על פי פשט that it's that that they're not brothers? No, no, no, no. But this is not where a Kabbalah is getting it from. No. Could be. They say על פי זה, this it seems the פשוט פשט, this is אחי. This is for a poor man. לעשיר, for a rich man, when he comes למעלה, אומרים לו, they say to him: מפני מה לא עסקת בתורה? Why didn't you learn תורה? אם אומר, if he says, עשיר הייתי, I was rich, וטרוד בממוני, he was busy, he had such so many so much business. אומרים לו, we tell him: כלום היה עשיר יותר מרבי אלעזר בן חרסום? You think you're richer than רבי אלעזר בן חרסום? What's the story? אמרו עליו על רבי אלעזר בן חרסום, it's said about רבי אלעזר בן חרסום, שהניח לו אביו אלף עיירות ביבשה, he actioned from his father a thousand cities on land, on dry land, וכנגדן אלף ספינות בים, and a thousand ships in the ים full of loaded, I guess, with stuff. ובכל יום ויום היה נוטל נטל קמח, every day he took like a jar of flour על כתיפו, on his shoulders, ומהלך מעיר לעיר וממדינה למדינה, went from city to city, from country to country, ללמוד תורה, to learn תורה. And he took along some food for himself and learned תורה. פעם אחת מצאוהו עבדיו, once his servants, his slaves, saw him. They didn't know who he was. They knew that they was they're working for רבי אלעזר בן חרסום, but they never saw him, they didn't know who he was, so they see this guy drains over there, forced to bring אנגריא, so they said, they started making him work. They didn't recognize him, so they said: you're you're obligated to work for the for the master. אמר להם, he said: בבקשה מכם, I beg you, הניחוני, let me go, שאלך ואלמד תורה, I want to learn תורה. אמרו לו, they said: חיי רבי אלעזר בן חרסום, we swear by the by the life of רבי אלעזר בן חרסום, שאין מניחין אותך, we won't let you. הלך ונתן להם ממון הרבה כדי שיניחו אותו. He went, I'll pay you money, let me go. He gave them a lot of money, but he wouldn't tell them who he was. ומימיו לא הלך וראו אותו. He never saw them again, but he gave them money. אלא ישב ועוסק בתורה כל היום וכל הלילה, he sat and learned תורה all day and night. So, they tell a guy, you're rich, you think you're richer than him, and he sat and learned Torah. He became a kohen gadol, so Huh? He became a kohen gadol. Yeah. Yeah, he's one of the names that numbers. Rasha, for a רשע, אומרים לו, they tell a rasha: מפני מה לא עסקת בתורה? Why did you learn Torah? אם אומר, he says: נאה הייתי Did he buy his way in? No. Okay. No. נאה הייתי, nice, וטרוד ביצרי הייתי. He says: what's that, do I'm not a rasha, you know, a big yetzer hara, and I'm busy I was busy with things that the yetzer hara wants me to do, and I couldn't help myself. אומרים לו, they say to him: כלום נאה היית יותר מיוסף הצדיק? What, you were more handsome? Because since I was handsome, so I had all this yetzer hara. You're more handsome than Yosef?

אמרו עליו על יוסף הצדיק, said about Yosef HaTzaddik: בכל יום ויום, every day, היתה אשת פוטיפר משדלתו בדברים. Every day she bothered him with words. בגדים שלבשה שחרית לא לבשה ערבית, she made sure that he's getting dressed nice. She gave him clothes, whatever he wore in the morning, he didn't wear in the evening. ערבית, whatever he wore in the evening, She She dressed? No, she gave him. No, לבשה. לבשה herself. Walked for him. She dressed herself? Yeah, I thought she loved him. She she לבשה. לבשה בשבילו. לא, היא בשבילו. She dressed so he should have a תאוה. ערבית לא לבשה לשחרית, and whatever was night didn't wear didn't wear in the morning. אמרה לו, she said to him: השמע לי, listen to me. אמר לה, he said to her: לא. No. אמרה לו, she said to him: הריני חובשתך בבית האסורים, I'll put you in jail. אמר לה, he said to him: ה' מתיר אסורים, ה' releases those that are in jail. אמרה לו, she said: הריני כופפת קומתך, I'm going to bend your your I'm going to cause you to be bent over. ה' זוקף כפופים, ה' makes the ones that are bent over stand straight. She put a she placed something so that he bent over. Beat him up, so that he gets hurts him. Put a knife, right? Like this, through, right? Hold the knife to his chin That's bent this way. so that he'd look at him. Oh, but bent, that means I'll make you bend it backwards? What do you mean, why? It's in the Midrash, no? I just saw such a thing there. It's in the Midrash, I mean no one would make that up. He would lower his head, and she would hold a knife to his chin She would do that. to force him to to look at him. Want to look at that? She loved him so much. הריני מסמאת עיניך, she said: I'm going to blind your eyes. ה' פוקח עורים, ה' makes the people who are blind, makes them see. נתנה לו אלף ככר כסף, she gave him a hundred ככר כסף. אלף. A thousand I'm 100 cuz a ככר is a hundred. Sorry, a thousand ככר כסף. ולא בא אליה לשכב אצלה, and he didn't come to be with her. Heinu d'chtiv, that's what the pasuk means, says: ולא שמע אליה לשכב אצלה להיות עמה. It says in the pasuk he didn't listen to her, לשכב אצלה, to lay next to her, להיות עמה, to be with her. So Chazal say: לשכב אצלה means olam hazeh, to lay next to in this world, ולהיות עמה בעולם הבא, didn't want to be with her in olam haba. So, we tell this rasha, you're telling me that you had yetzer hara out, no no excuse. A yetzer hara could be very big, but you're not worse than Yosef, he had all these things, and nevertheless, he עמד בנסיון. What does it mean to be with her in olam haba if she's gone to Gehinnom? He could answer. Is that what it means, you know, that he didn't want to be with her in Gehinnom? He got an answer. Because she's not going to be in olam haba. I don't understand, how could Yaakov come to him at all? No, mistama Yosef was about to do it, Yaakov Yeah, mistama why did Yaakov come to him, nachon, because he was so strong that when it came to a point where he was almost breaking, so Yaakov came, but had he not done all that before, Yaakov probably wouldn't come to him either. He had to put his fingers into the ground. In the ground, yeah. No, but that would be because he did all these hachanot, that's why he was zocheh that Yaakov came to him. And then נראה לו. You know the other pshat that the the world says? It says נראה לו דמות דיוקנו של אביו, he saw the face of his father. So now some say, נראה לו doesn't mean he saw. When he says נראה לי, Rashi says, \"I like.\" It felt נראה לו, ס'איז געפעלן געווארן, in other words, ס'איז אויסגעלייגט באמת דמות דיוקנו של אביו. So that's another pshat. I have another pshat. Yeah? I don't know where I heard it. Pshat is he never looked in the mirror, because he was a עניו. For some reason, he looked in the mirror that time. And we know that He looked like Yaakov. קלסתר פנים of the father. So he looked in the mirror and It's another pshat. He never looked in the mirror? I don't know, he looked in the mirror this time. He says he never looked in the mirror. I don't know, he combed his hair without מסלסל בשערו. Doesn't say he looked in the mirror. Doesn't Doesn't say he looked in the mirror. Combed his hair without a mirror? The last point has nothing to do with learning Torah. Yeah, but Yosef did learn Torah. Someone could always answer, simple, someone could No, but they're trying trying to say your teirutz of your yetzer hara is not a teirutz. But m'meila, he could learn Torah. Someone could always answer you, why, you expected me to be Yosef HaTzaddik? You expect me to be Hillel? You expect me to be Yeah. And then that's where they go, okay, I want, I'm not even a tzaddik, I'm not Right, with Reb' Zusha, yeah. Someone Someone heard the story? Reb' Zusha said, Oybershter, I'm not afraid that they're going to come למעלה, they're going to tell me why you're not like Moshe Rabbeinu, because I'm not Moshe Rabbeinu. Why you're not like Baal Shem Tov, I'm not Baal Shem Tov. But I'm afraid they're going to ask me why aren't you Zusha? So the rasha says I was rasha. No, that's I was myself. See, the way he said פשט, עולם הבא פה means Gehinom. Where is she going? She's not going to But נמצא, it comes out הלל מחייב עניים. Hillel, he's מחייב the poor people, that they have no more excuse, and רבי אלעזר בן חרסום מחייב the עשירים, the rich people, and יוסף הצדיק מחייב את הרשעים. She was l'shem Shamayim, if she didn't then she would have died. And it was twisted, she thought she'll go to Olam Haba because she meant l'shem Shamayim, according to one pshat. She didn't go about it the right way. Huh? She didn't go about it the right way. Exactly. Clear. Yeah.