דא האלט מיר ביי א מעשה towards the end of סימן קמ, before קמא. The middle of the line here: Rav Sheshet. The line starts with Rav Sheshet. Yeah, the line starts with Rav Sheshet. רב ששת סגי נהור הוה. Rav Sheshet was blind. הוה קא אזלא כולי עלמא לקבולי אפי מלכא. Everyone was running going to greet the מלך, the king. וקם אזל בהדייהו רב ששת. Rav Sheshet got up and went along with them. אשכחיה ההוא מינא. A certain מין, a certain apikors, met him. אמר ליה, he said to him, he used an expression, חצבי לנהרא כגאני למיא? חצבי לנהרא means when you have כלים, כדים, jars, whole jars, you take it to the river. But broken jars, why would you take broken jars to the river? You can't fill them up anyway. Same thing, regular people who see the king have a reason to run to see the king. You can't see anyway, so why are you running to see the king? You're blind. אמר ליה, so he said to him, תא חזי, come see. תדע טפי מינך. You'll see I know more than you. I don't see, but I know more than you. חלף גונדא קמייתא, so the first group was passed through, you heard a noise. כי קא אוושא, they were making a lot of noise. אמר ליה, so this מין tells Rav Sheshet, Rav Sheshet couldn't see, he says, \"Oh, חלף מלכא! The king is coming!\" אמר ליה, he said, \"לאו, no, the king is not coming.\" חלף אחריתי, another group passed, אמר ליה, so now he tells him, \"חלף מלכא, the king is passing.\" אמר ליה, he said, \"לאו, no.\" אתאי תליתאי, came the third group, דהוה שתקא, came very quietly. אמר ליה, so the מין said to him, \"אתא מלכא, the king came.\" אמר ליה, he said, \"אין, yes.\" And takeh it was true, the third one was the king. אמר ליה, so he said to him, \"מנא ידעת? How do you know? You couldn't see.\" אמר ליה, so he said to them like this, \"

מלכותא דארעא כעין מלכותא דרקיעא.\" The מלכות down here is similar to the מלכות by the Eibershter. What does it say by the Eibershter? דכתיב, it says, ואחר הרעש אש. It says like a malach, first thing came with a רעש, after the רעש, the tumult, came fire, לא באש ה׳. It says לא ברעש ה׳, it says, ולא באש. ואחר האש, it says after the אש, קול דממה דקה, came a whole, quiet, small noise. And that's where he says, \"Oh, now the Eibershter is coming.\" So just like by the מלכות up there, it's not in the רעש, it's quiet, down here also. So when it was the first few groups came, they came with a tumult, I knew it wasn't the king. When it came quiet, I knew it was the king. How can you compare מלכותא דארעא כעין מלכותא דרקיעא? How can you compare אלוקיות to מלכותא דארעא? No, it's not the kavod, because there's no עקולס, but everything down here, if you'd learn the first, fourth perek of Tanya, he says there, doesn't say about this, but everything down here is a השתלשלות of למעלה. Everything, so whatever is down here is comparable in different levels, obviously, but it's comparable to למעלה. Even גופא דאדם. Huh? Even גופא דאדם. He speaks there about גופא דאדם. He speaks there about the מדות, why do we have ten מדות, three of שכל, חכמה, בינה, ודעת, and seven of מדות, because למעלה by the ספירות, in אצילות למעלה, there is חסד, חכמה, גבורה, בינה, דעת, and חסד, and everything that is. It says the sun is a השתלשלות from הוי׳. So שמש ומגן הוי׳ אלוקים. The שם הוי׳ and שם אלוקים are a השתלשלות of שמש ומגן, and therefore, I mean, the שמש ומגן is a שער of הוי׳ אלוקים. And therefore, there's a lot of things that we find that are similar, parallel, אלא מאי, in a different מדרגה, but in that higher מדרגה it's the same thing. Why did it say he ran after the first group and made a tumult? Who ran? The blind, the Oh, the blind man. They tried to fool him. No, he turned around to Rav Sheshet and said the king is here. Rav Sheshet couldn't see. He wanted to show Rav Sheshet you don't know what you're talking about, so he tried to trick him. When the first group passed by, didn't Rav Sheshet go after the first group? No, he was waiting for the parade. He was standing there and he saw the groups coming. Didn't see, he was waiting. He heard a group come, so the guy standing next to him says, \"You hear that? That's the king.\" All right. So he says, \"No, it's not. That's the king. No, it's not. The third one is.\" But this thing is a long maaseh of the Alter Rebbe of מלכותא דארעא כעין מלכותא דרקיעא. What did he say? I'll tell you. I'll make the maaseh b'kitzur of what it said. Maaseh b'toch maaseh.

This is a maaseh how Rav Meir Rafaels became a chasid. Rav Meir Rafaels was the biggest chasid of the Alter Rebbe. He was the פרנס חודש in Vilna. Now, Vilna was a stronghold of the מתנגדים in those days, and he was the one and he became a chasid. How did he become a chasid? The story goes like this, just a b'kitzur. What was his name? Rav Meir Rafaels, that was his name. His father's name was Rafael, he was called Rav Meir Rafaels. What happened was there was a lady who was an עגונה. Her husband left her, she came to the Alter Rebbe and the Alter Rebbe said to her, \"Go to Vilna, go to Rav Meir Rafaels, and he'll help you find your husband.\" Vilna from Lyazna was, whew, hundreds, it's hundreds of miles. But she got, and she didn't have money, they got together some money, they, she went. She comes there, she comes to the house of Rav Meir Rafaels, knocks on the door, the wife opens up. \"Is this the house of Rav Meir?\" \"Yeah.\" \"He's not home. He was in whatever he's doing.\" \"I have something to talk to him about.\" \"What?\" \"That I was by the...\" She called him, I don't know, the ליאזנער מגיד, the Alter Rebbe, \"and he sent me to here to find my husband.\" She looked at her like she's nuts. Anyway, \"Wait here, he's not here.\" He comes in, she walks over to him and she says, \"This is what the Rebbe sent me to you to...\" \"I should find? How do I know your husband?\" You know. So, he said to him, he was that time still from the, you know, staunch מתנגדים. So, he says to him, she says to her, \"Probably, you know, you asked him for to help you. He can't help you, so he sent you to Vilna so at least you're all away. Like it says, הרחיק מן השקר ירחיק עדות. So, you know, instead of How could I help you? It's משוגע'ס.\" He started arguing with her. And she said, \"No, the Rebbe told me, and I'm staying here.\" So, he saw, \"I can't I stop\" whatever, and he can't get rid of her. So, he says, \"Okay, meanwhile you go wherever you're staying, and we'll I'll look into it.\" Every day she would come back to his house, \"Nu, did you find my husband?\" And he says, \"I'm not, it's a crazy lady, what does she want from me?\" She was there, she wouldn't, \"Come back tomorrow.\" Anyway, after a few days he was a פרנס החודש, so whenever there would be prisoners, Jewish prisoners, that they would have some reason to bring there in the police station, they would notify the פרנס החודש, the Jewish leader of the community, maybe he wants to help and give him kosher food. So, one day he gets zinc and he gets a list of the prisoners that are they were passing by and he sees the name that she said. So, right away he called her, \"Is this?\" \"Yeah.\" \"Would you recognize him?\" \"Sure.\" He brought her to the police station, she recognized him. And they And finally they went to the Beit din. The Beit din, they got a get. So, he saw that it's not so pashut, the Alter Rebbe is not such He said, but he's not sure. Could be it's a coincidence, you know. He thought to himself, \"If another story will happen and we'll show, then I will know it.\" So, he waited for an opportunity. קיצור, פורים חדשים, this a certain Yid came came to Vilna, and he was in the sitting No one, in those days, if people are galut, people are not get into the house, he wouldn't go to eat. Shabbos, a guy invited him, begged him, \"Come to my house.\" \"Said good.\" So, he came to guy's house to eat. Friday night Shabbos morning, he saw during Shabbos that the guy is very צובראכן, very worried. Worried. So, he didn't ask him, after Shabbos, he says to him, right, to the baal habayit, \"Why are you so worried?\" \"Ah, you can't help, anyway.\" Finally, he nudged him. \"So, I'll tell you what it is. I am have a partner, we're both in business. And somebody מסר'ט on us that that we evaded taxes, and anyway our matzav is no good. In court we're we're arrested, and this, now we're supposed to have a court case. And the lawyers all say that it's not going to be good for us and we'll be sent away to Siberia. Each one has a little big family. What should we do?\" He thought, \"Here I have an opportunity.\" No, so that's what he tells to this to this guest. So, the guest says, \"Now I'll tell you who I am. I'm a chassid of...\" He was afraid to say it in Vilna, to say, \"I'm a chassid.\" \"So, I am telling you now, and I'm on my way to the Rebbe, and I advise you to come and and get ask for an etzah.\" \"Please, meshuga, I mean to all the chassidim.\" So, finally they decided, he started telling stories of the Alter Rebbe. \"Let's go ask the פרנס החודש.\" They came to Rabbi Meir Rafael's to ask, \"Should we go or shouldn't we?\" He didn't tell anything, he, but in his mind he said, \"Here is my chance.\" He said, \"Go. Don't tell anybody I sent you, but go. But I beg you that when you finish, at the end, whatever happens, come back and tell me, I want to hear what happened.\" By that this Yid was very happy because they were rich, so they had a wagon and they traveled with a wagon. I guess he was walking, he traveled to the Alter Rebbe. They come to the Alter Rebbe, they come in, they tell him this problem. Doesn't react, he just says to them the the Rebbe z''l says to them, \"You know how to learn?\" \"A little bit, we know.\" \"I want to ask you a kashya. It says, Gemara in Berakhot, this Gemara he quoted, it says, מלכותא דארעא כעין מלכותא דרקיעא. The מלכות down here is like the מלכות up there. What does that mean?\" And he asked, \"Well, how is the מלכות down here and then?\" So, they didn't know what to answer. He says, \"I'll tell you an answer. It's like this: Just like there by the אויבערשטער, He has a name, י-ה-ו-ה, but we never call Him by His name. We call Him Hashem, א-ד-נ-י. The king also, every king has his name. No one calls him by his name, you call him king. And here you see a similarity between them.\" And then he says, \"זייט געזונט, פֿאָרט געזונטערהייט,\" and he walked out. \"What meshugas is this? He wanted to show off he knows a peshat in the Gemara. He didn't help us. We came to ask...\" So, obviously, what everyone been talking about the chassidim, it's takeh true, he doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just tried to get rid of us. \"So, what do we do?\" They're there in Liadi. Someone advised them that, \"You have no other עצה, but in the court, you're going to lose. The only way, you could go beg, not the king, go beg the minister. Go to Petersburg and there, you find the Minister of Justice, and maybe beg him, he'll do you a favor.\" So, they came there. How do you get to him? So, someone told them there's a park, I know which park it is, I was there, a park that used to be specially just for government officials. And there he comes every day, or so he comes there from time to time, so go there and and you No one's allowed to go there, so they bribed the guard of the park, and they made up with him that when the justice, the minister of justice, comes in, we'll look at Where the guy could, you'll motion to us that that's him, and we'll run over to him, and we'll catch him. A guy walks in, a very chashuver guy, and they looked at the guy. The guard made from far, no, it's not. But they didn't understand. It looked to them that he made, yes. So they ran over to him, and they said, they started falling to his feet and begging, please, we have families and we... Okay. He listens and listens and he says, you guys, you got the wrong guy. I'm the minister of education. I have nothing to do with this. Oh, sorry, sorry, and he walks away. A few minutes later, the guard comes over to them and says that that guy who we spoke to called, wants to speak to you. So they got scared, mistama he's going to captivate us or else what are we doing here. Anyway, they come over to him, he says like this, I told you I have nothing to do with this, with courts. But I have an appointment with the czar tomorrow morning. The czar, last time I met with him, asked me a question and tried, told me I should find the answer. His question was, he heard that in the Jewish Talmud, it says that a king down here is like a king up there, what does that mean? So they remembered what the Alter Rebbe told them, and they told him the answer right away. And he liked it, and he said, oh, I'm going to tell it to the king tomorrow. Here's my card, I'm going to visit the king at 10:00, 12:00 come to my office. Next day, 12:00, they came to his office. He says to them, I saw the czar, I told him, and when I told him the pshat, he asked me, who told you this? So he said, so I told him the whole story that happened to be two Jews who came, this, and they're in a problem. The king said, okay, I'll sign off. He signed off that they're patur, and he gave him the paper. They ran back, when they finished, they came, they came back, they told Reb Meir of Apta, the first thing Reb Meir of Apta did, took his horse, went to Liadi and became one of the biggest chasidim of the Alter Rebbe. Never turned back. Never turned back. Okay, let's go vayter. This maaseh was enough. That's true enough. Okay. Yeah. So here he says that so the Eibershter, just like the Eibershter comes, but it's quiet, so he comes also the מלך.

כי אתא מלכא, when the king takeh came, פתח רב ששת וקאמר, so רב ששת got up and he said, ברוך, he said the bracha. אמר ליה, so this מין says to him, וכי לא חזית היכי מברכת, if you didn't see, how did you make a bracha? And he didn't answer him. Obviously, he didn't have to see with his eyes. He knew he was there. And not only that, probably he felt the the king. Besides that, you feel it. There's also a story with the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe was in jail, they came a lot of people came to interrogate him, different... Once the king, the czar himself heard about it, he wanted to go and visit him. So the czar disguised himself and came to the Alter Rebbe into the cell. The Alter Rebbe stood up for him and gave him the greatest kavod. He says, why are you giving such kavod? And he said to him, your majesty. So he said, what? He says, because you're the czar. He says, how did you know? You never saw him. So he says, I felt that I think could be he quoted the same Gemara, I don't know. He says that when for the Eibershter you have a pachad, when every other interrogator came in... When you walked in, I had such a feeling of pachad, I knew you must be the king. So he says, anyway, Is only a level tzaddik that could, could make the bracha when he couldn't No, I think if you're told, someone else told... Huh? You don't have to see. The bracha is not, but it's when you see. The לשון is הרואה מלכים, but anyway.

מאי הוה עליה דההוא מינא? The Gemara asks what happened to this אפיקורס that bothered him? איכא דאמרי, חברוהי כחלינהו לעיניה, some say that his friends poked out his eyes. Not because of this, but that he got his punishment. Eventually, for something happened and they poked out his eyes. איכא דאמרי, some say that רב ששת נתן עיניו בו, רב ששת looked at him, ועשאו גל של עצמות, and he became a pile of bones. Even though he couldn't see, he looked. He looked at him, yeah, exactly, he looked. Even though he couldn't see. Yeah. Why do they use the expression, pile of bones? Gemara last time says this לשון. Gemara says it many times. Withered away. Maybe, maybe takeh, that's what happened. He became a pile of bones. It says the flesh became pust and post. Yeah.

זאגט די גמרא ווייטער, רב שילא נגדיה לההוא גברא דבעל מצרית. Rav Shila gave malkus to this guy who had relations with a prostitute, with a goyishe woman. אזל אכל בי קורצא בי מלכא, he went and maser to the king against Rav Shila. אמר, he said, איכא גברא חד ביהודאי, there's a Jew דדאין דינא בלא הרמנא דמלכא, he's judging, he's doing cases, judging without the permission. He doesn't have a license, without a permission of the government. How could you do that? שדר עליה פריסתקא, so they sent the police to him. כי אתא, when they came, אמר ליה, they said to him, the police, the officers, the the, מאי טעמא נגדתיה? Why did you give that guy malkus? What a right do you have to to give him malkus? אמר להו, he said, אמר להו, he said to them, משום דבא על חמרא, because he had relations he had relations with a donkey. It's called a מיתה. אמרו ליה, they said to him, אית לך סהדי? Do you have עדים? אמר להו, he said to them, אין, yeah, I have עדים. אתא אליהו זכור לטוב, אליהו came, אידמי ליה כאינשא, and he looked like, disguised as a human being, ואסהיד, and he testified that he saw him do it. אמרו ליה, so they said to רב שילא, אי הכי, בר קטלא הוא, he deserves to die. That was even in the laws I guess of the government that was for such a thing you have to kill him. Lashing, but he said, אנן מיומא דגלינן מארען, that from the day we were exiled from ארץ ישראל, לית לן רשותא למיקטל. We have no reshus to kill. אתון, you, מה דבעיתו עבידו ביה. Whatever you you feel you want to do, do with him. Now, they were going to kill him. עד דמעייני בדינא, when they were looking into his case, פתח רב שילא ואמר, רב שילא just got up and he said, לך ה' הגדולה והגבורה והתפארת והנצח וההוד כי כל בשמים ובארץ, he said this pasuk. אמרו ליה, so they said to him, מאי קאמרת? What are you saying? You're mumbling, what were you saying? אמר להו, so he said this is what I said, הכי קאמינא, this is what I said: בריך רחמנא, thank God, דיהב מלכותא בארעא כעין מלכותא דרקיעא, that He made the מלכות down here, your guys, your government, like the government by the אייבערשטער, ויהב לכו שולטנא, and He gave you control, ורחמי דינא, and He gave you the the ability to do you know to have רחמנות בדין, cuz he didn't want them to kill him, a Yid. He was, he was what, as a moser? Wait, but he Yeah, but he didn't want them to kill him. Suffer by... You see he gave him lashings. He gave him the lashings. But he didn't want him to be killed because of him, cause of him. Yeah, yeah, right. Even yeah, also a חייב מיתה is, yeah, before, okay, even after, anyway he didn't want that it should be because of him. So he wildly he said that you have rachmanut and by that telling them that you know you guys have a rachmanut like the Eibershter, it Is moser for for somebody who is not doesn't have the capital punishment? Huh? Is moser only that it is doing house so to get him? Yeah, if someone says \"I'm moser your money to the to the to the goyim\", you could kill the guy. Just for money? Yeah. אמרו ליה, they said to him, חזינן דחשיבא עלך יקרא דמלכותא, oh, I see how much kavod you give to our government, 'cause you told us how happy you are about our government, ליהוי הילך קולפא ודינא, oh, you got permission, I gave you permission to be דן. יהבו ליה קולפא, they gave him this stick. אמר ליה, he said to him, דון דינא, now you could judge, you could become a judge. כד הוה נפיק, when he left, when the guy left, אמר ליה ההוא גברא, so that guy said this guy told him, עביד רחמנא ניסא לשקרי? You lied, the Eibershter made a nes? What was the nes? You said a lie, you said, \"I did it with a donkey,\" and the אייבערשטער made a nes that Eliyahu came for a lie? אמר ליה, he said to him, רשע! Aren't the גוים called donkeys? What was the lie? He said he was בא on a donkey. Was not that? No, it was a זונה. Oh, that's what he said, okay. So he says, but the גוים are donkeys. כתיב, it says, אשר בשר חמורים בשרם, their flesh is like the flesh of donkeys. So when he told this to him,

חזייה דאזל למימרא להו דקרינהו חמרא. So now this guy, Rav Shila saw that he's running to the officer to the master that he called the גוים donkeys. אמר, he said, האי רודף הוא. Oh, he's a רודף. He, by him doing this they would kill Rav Shila. So he is trying to kill me. והתורה אמרה, the Torah says, הבא להורגך השכם להורגו, if someone wants to kill you, kill him first. מחייה בקולפא, so he took that stick that he was given, hit him over the head, וקטליה, and he killed him. And אמר, he said, הואיל ואתרחיש לי ניסא בהאי קרא, since a nes happened by me saying this פסוק, לך ה' הגדולה, דרשינן ליה. השגחה פרטית, it just, I guess the pasuk just came into his mouth, he just wanted to say a pasuk, the guy should see him mumbling something and it is this pasuk. So if this pasuk, a siman I have to say a דרש, so he started דרש'נינג this pasuk.

נפק לבי מדרשא, he came to the בית מדרש, ודרש, and he דרש'נד like this: לך ה' הגדולה is מעשה בראשית. When it says Hashem has, you have הגדולה, greatness, is מעשה, creation of the world. כן נאמר, like it says, עושה גדולות עד אין חקר, by creation of the world that He makes the tables. הגבורה is יציאת מצרים. שנאמר, like it says, וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה, he saw the big hand, and it's a hand of גבורה. It's punishment, the judging, killing the מצרים. תפארת is חמה ולבנה שעמדו לו ליהושע. The beauty is that when the sun and the moon stopped by יהושע, שנאמר וידום השמש וירח עמד, the sun stopped and the moon stopped, and that's, that brought תפארת for Yehoshua. הנצח זו מפלתה של בבל. Netzach, it's menatzeach. Victory is the mapalah of Bavel. כן נאמר, like it says, ויז נצחם על בגדי, it says when Mashiach will come the Aibershter's בגדים will be will be full of blood because He's going to be מנצח אדום. וההוד זו מלחמת נחלי ארנון. Fight by נחלי ארנון when it says in in in Chukat that they crossed the river and then the Eibershter made a nes that the the two mountains came together. So that's what we usually hear, yeah. Yeah. שנאמר, it says, על כן יאמר בספר מלחמת ה' את והב בסופה, it says about this story, and that was the הוד. כי כל בשמים ובארץ זו מלחמת זה מלחמת סיסרא. It says the Eibershter is great as in שמים war, that's Sisera. היינו, like it says, מן השמים נלחמו. It says by Sisera that מן השמים they are they fought. לך ה' הממלכה, זה מלחמת עמלק. S'iz Amalek. שנאמר, it says, ויאמר כי יד על כס י-ה. So it says after Amalek, by מלחמת עמלק, that's when the Eibershter's chair is great, is full, and the chair is מלכות. והמתנשא, זה מלחמת גוג ומגוג. והמתנשא that it'll be elevated, finally, in the future, by Gog uMagog, שנאמר, like it says, הנני אליך גוג נשיא ראש משך ותובל. Gog it's Gog is going to be the נשיא, and here it said והמתנשא, so that's the word. ולכל לראש, that everything, all heads come from Him. אמר רב חנן בר רבא, אפילו ריש גרגותא, א- גרגותא, גרגותא מן שמיא מוקמי ליה. That means every leader, no matter what position, what job it is, the Eibershter appointed him. Even if what they have that the who's in charge of the well, so if someone is in charge, it's מן שמיא that he became the charge. מתניתא תנא משמיה דרבי עקיבא. In a ברייתא it says a different derash, in name of רבי עקיבא, לך ה' הגדולה, to you ה' the great is קריעת ים סוף. הגבורה, it's מכת בכורות. תפארת, it's מתן תורה. נצח is ירושלים. והוד, זה בנין בית המקדש, יהי רצון שיבנה במהרה בימינו. Amen. Yashar koach. A maaseh. What about... wait, what about Gog uMagog? That's what he said, Gog uMagog. What does he say? Gog uMagog.