אליהו בהר הכרמל. Concerning the story with Eliyahu HaNavi on Mount Carmel, the reason I chose this topic is lately I've been trying to connect it to some connection to the parsha or anything that's in the week or the week before or the week after. This past Shabbos, the haftorah spoke about the story of אליהו בהר הכרמל. So, I thought to discuss it to bring out some points about some of the details, not everything and not all the details, but about some of the points that we have in the story of אליהו בהר הכרמל. The general story, we all know what happened. That was a time, it was a time when the king was Achav, and many Jews were following the Baal. The Baal was a name of a certain idol, and the Jews followed the Baal. And then finally, Eliyahu HaNavi said, \"Let's have some let's let's have it out.\" And he said, \"Let's have a some kind of dialogue, but in the dialogue in a way that we will prove who's right, whether God is Hashem is is the true God, or the Baal is the true God.\" And he gathered them all around on הר הכרמל, Mount Carmel. That's a mountain that's known and we know where it is now in ארץ ישראל. He gathered all the Yidden around by הר הכרמל, and he said to the נביאים of the Baal, and there were many, many of them, hundreds of them, and he said to them, \"You know what? Let's do this. Let's have this test. We'll take two פרים, two bulls, and we will bring them as sacrifices. You will try to bring a bull as a sacrifice to your god, and I will take a bull and use it as a sacrifice to our God. We will not put any fire on the altar, on the mizbeach, and we will both ask our gods to bring down a fire, and whichever one will manage to bring the fire down, we will that'll prove that his God is the true God.\" And Eliyahu HaNavi said to them, \"You get your first choice. You be first. You're many.\" They were so many; he was only one. Plus, he said to them also, \"You could take the better one of the two פרים.\" There were two פרים, one was better, one was worse. He says, \"You could choose the best one, maybe that'll help you, and do what you want, and you try to get your god to get put in put a fire on the mizbeach. And then, when you finish, I'll try, and we'll see what will happen.\" They came up to the mizbeach, and they started praying and trying to get, and nothing happened. אין קול ואין עונה. Nothing happened, no fire came down, and they started cutting themselves. That was a form of prayer by the worship idol worshippers, and started cutting themselves and doing all kinds of things, and nothing happened. And Eliyahu started even making fun of them and he said, \"Well, maybe you scream louder. Your god might be an old god. Maybe he's sleeping. Maybe he's out on a tour. Maybe, so you may call him, he should hear.\" And they tried harder and harder. The truth is they knew nothing's going to happen. They even prepared for it, and that's why what they did was they hired a person and put him under, hidden under the altar, inside, they made it hollow, that from inside he should light a fire and it'll look like a fire all of a sudden appeared. And a snake came and bit him and killed him. And nothing happened, and they were screaming for hours. Finally, it says when it came to עלות המנחה, time towards Mincha time, towards the evening, Eliyahu HaNavi said that, \"Now it's my turn.\" And he turned around to Hashem, and he said, \"Hashem, please help me. Show the Yidden the right path, and this is your this is the chance to do it.\" And he said, \"ענני השם ענני.\" Hashem, help me, and he used the word help me twice. And the Gemara says the reason he used the word aneini twice is because first he said, \"aneini, help me, שתרד אש מן השמים, that a fire should come down from heaven. And then aneini, help me that they should not say that this came from black magic, because they could have later said it's not from God, you're just a great magician and you caused the fire to come.\" So he said, \"Help me that they should not claim that.\" And as he was davening, a fire came down from heaven and burnt up the korban, and then all the Jews realized that God, our God, is the true God, and it says they all fell to their face and they screamed out, \"השם הוא האלקים, השם הוא האלקים.\" God is the God. When he spoke to them and he said to them, \"Listen here, this is going to be your test,\" he used the term \"עד מתי אתם פוסחים על שתי הסעיפים?\" How long will you be jumping on both sides, at both ends? And he said to them, \"אם השם להשם, אם לבעל לבעל.\" Because they weren't only worshiping avodah zarah, they mixed, they worshiped God and avodah zarah. So he said to them, \"Decide! If you want to go to Hashem, come to Hashem. If you want to go to the Baal, go to the Baal, but עד מתי, how long will you be פוסח על שתי הסעיפים? How long will you be jumping back and forth?\" And then he said to them, \"This is going to be the test, etcetera, etcetera. So I want to explain, not the simple peshat, and not the halachot, a little bit in halachah, but some of the details of what took place in the story.

The first and foremost question is: How was Eliyahu Hanavi allowed to bring a sacrifice on Har HaCarmel to Hashem, on this mountain? We know that originally, before the Beit Hamikdash was built, there was a halachah, a din that you're allowed to bring a קרבן בבמה, you're allowed to bring a sacrifice on a private mizbeach, which was called a bamah, and it could have been anywhere you wanted. A Yid could, in his backyard, put up a bamah, put up a mizbeach, and bring certain sacrifice on it. You couldn't bring קרבנות חובה, those korbanot that a person is obligated to bring for whatever situation is. If it's an obligation, you couldn't bring. But a קרבן נדבה, if it was a donation to Hashem, you could bring on a bamah. But this was all only till the Beit Hamikdash was built. The moment the Beit Hamikdash was built, the Gemara says, and I'm quoting the lashon, words of the Rambam: נאסרו כל המקומות כולם. All other places in the world are forbidden to be used as a place for a korban, besides one and only place and that is the mizbeach in the Beit Hamikdash, in its proper place. But any other place, if you bring a korban any other place, it's a great sin! As a matter of fact, the punishment is so great, the punishment is karet. There are different levels of punishments when it comes to transgressing doing things which you're not allowed to do. Karet, which means a person dies at a young age and his neshamah gets cut off from Hashem to a certain degree, karet is a punishment only for severe aveirot. There are many, many aveirot which you don't get karet. There are very bad ones you get karet. Then you have worse, which is מיתת בית דין, this capital punishment, but that's very few. But there are aveirot which you get karet. And for שחוטי חוץ, we call it, or העלאה בחוץ, if you shachat a korban outside of the בית המקדש, or you bring that sacrifice outside of the בית המקדש, that's called שחוטי חוץ. Doing it חוץ means outside of its proper place. The punishment is karet. It is forbidden. Now, Eliyahu Hanavi lived in the time of the בית המקדש. And this story happened in the time of the first בית המקדש. So how was he allowed to bring a sacrifice? It was an aveirah to bring a sacrifice on הר הכרמל, which is not the מקום המקדש, it's not the place of the בית המקדש. The answer to this seems very simple. The Torah says that you have to listen to your navi. There are pesukim, and it says a pasuk: אליו תשמעון. If there is a navi, a navi that is established to be a נביא אמת, a true prophet, and we will not go into now what makes a person realize that this is a true prophet, how we know, but whatever it is, if a navi is a נביא אמת, and he comes and says that Hashem told me that we have to do a certain aveirah, and he wants us to do it, so the din is like this: If he would come and say Hashem said to me as a navi that a certain mitzvah changed, from now on you have to do it differently than until now, or he comes and says that Hashem said a certain aveirah from now on is allowed to be done, you automatically know that this is a נביא שקר. You know he's lying, it can't be. There's no such thing, a navi cannot come and change any mitzvah. However, the halachah is if a navi comes and says that as a הוראת שעה, that means only in the temporary situation, I as a navi am telling you I got a prophecy that Hashem wants us to do a certain thing which is normally forbidden, אליו תשמעון, we must listen to the navi. The Rambam even gives an example: If a navi will come and say that Hashem told me from now on we don't have to keep Shabbos anymore, we know that he's a נביא שקר, it's a lie. But if a navi comes and says that Hashem told me that this Shabbos he wants us to transgress and do aveirot or do certain things you're not allowed to do, אליו תשמעון, we must listen to him. So in this case, being that Eliyahu was a navi, and Eliyahu came and said, and he said it as a navi: I, as a navi, as a prophet, I'm telling you that in this case we're supposed to bring a korban on הר הכרמל, which is normally forbidden, but I am telling you now as a hora'at sha'ah, as a temporary situation we should do it, he has a right to do it and you have to bring the korban. And that's the answer why he was allowed to do it. And as a matter of fact, the Gemara Gemara, when it wants to bring an example that if a navi tells you to do an aveirah in a temporary basis, you should listen to him, the Gemara gives this example: כגון אליהו בהר הכרמל, like Eliyahu HaNavi, as a navi, said to bring a korban on הר הכרמל even though you're not allowed to. But as a navi you're allowed. But this goes a little bit deeper than that, because according to the way I just said it in simple peshat, simple peshat of the Gemara, it means like this: that even though the navi told you to do it, it's still an aveirah, but you have to listen to the navi to do this aveirah. In other words, it's essentially not that we're not allowed to do it, essentially it's a wrong act. But if a navi tells you to do something wrong, then you have to do it even though normally it's a wrong act. And that's the case here. Eliyahu HaNavi told us to do something or he himself did it on behalf of all the Yidden, even though it was be'etzem, essentially a wrong act, you were not allowed to do it, nevertheless, because he was a navi you're allowed to do it. The truth is, in this case it goes a little bit deeper. I'll explain what I mean. Not to bring the proof to this idea, but in the case of a navi telling the Jews to bring a korban outside of the Beit HaMikdash, which we just said is allowed if it's on a temporary basis, is not the same as if he would tell us to be מחלל שבת or to do any other aveirah. If he tells us to do an aveirah, we have to listen to him. But we have to understand that this is a wrong act, but it's pushed away because of the importance of listening to the navi. By a korban, it's different. When we bring a korban on a bamah in a time when you're not allowed to, because the navi said so, it really means that at that moment there is no issur in bringing korban on a bamah. Just like before the Beit Hamikdash was built, when we are allowed to bring a korban on a bamah, it doesn't mean that bringing a korban on a bamah is no good, but Hashem says, \"It doesn't matter if you're going to do something wrong.\" That's not the peshat. Before the Beit Hamikdash was built, the halacha was that you're allowed to bring a korban on a bamah. This is a regular korban. When a navi tells you to bring a korban on a bamah because of his being a navi, it reverts back. This was never included in the prohibition. When we say that at times there was a bamah was allowed, and there are times bamah is not allowed, so someone will ask, \"When was the time when bamah was allowed?\" So, normally we would answer: till the Beit Hamikdash was built. The answer is more than that. A bamah is allowed till the Beit Hamikdash was built, or anytime the navi will come and say to do it. In other words, in the case of a bamah, this is in itself a real korban. It is not that it's not a korban. According to the simple peshat, it is not a korban. It is doing something that is essentially wrong, but you have to do it because of the navi. What I'm saying now is that this is a korban. This is part of the halacha of a bamah that you're allowed to bring a korban. And this is what happened in the case of Eliyahu. And that's why Eliyahu, when he said, he said to Hashem, \"עשיתי כדבריך, I did like you told me.\" So, the simple peshat means, well, he got a prophecy that he should do this, \"So I did as you told me. You told me to bring this korban.\" But there are some that learn a deeper peshat: \"I did like you told me in the in the halachot of a bamah, that since you told me that I should bring the korban, automatically there is nothing wrong. This is, to begin with, a din of a korban.\" And this is what Eliyahu Hanavi did. So, this is just to explain first how Eliyahu Hanavi had a right to bring this korban on Har Hacarmel at a time when there was a Beis Hamikdash. So, this is just to explain that he was allowed because you have to listen to the navi even if it means to transgress. And in this case it was even more than just listening to the navi against the Torah, but this is part of the halacha of a bamah, that if a navi says, you're allowed. But

I want to get to some of the other details of the story of Eliyahu on Har Hacarmel, some simpler and some much deeper. The simpler one is also a question that mefarshim ask, and the Rebbe elaborates on this point, and the question is, when he rebuked them before he did this test, he said to them, like I mentioned before, \"Why are you jumping from one side to the other? עד מתי אתם פוסחים על שתי הסעיפים? Why are you jumping from Hashem to the Baal and from the Baal to Hashem? You keep both. אם להשם להשם, or go to Hashem, go completely to Hashem. אם לבעל לבעל, go completely to the Baal if you want, but don't mix the two. Seems very strange. Why would he tell them, \"Go to the Baal\"? He should have said clearly to them, \"How long are you going to get involved with this Baal,\" which is the name of the idol, \"Go to Hashem and finish, Hashem is the God.\" But that's not what he said. He said to them, \"אם להשם להשם, or go to Hashem, but go to him 100%, or go to the Baal 100%. You want, go to the Baal, but go, don't mix the two.\" Why did he do that? Obviously, doing what they did is worse than going to the Baal. And he said had you gone completely to the Baal wouldn't be so bad. It's terrible to go to the Baal, terrible to worship idols, but it's not as bad as jumping back and forth and mixing up the two. Why? And there are many points here why it's worse to mix the two than to be completely in avodah zarah. When a person is completely in avodah zarah, I'll tell you what's avodah zarah, and we learned that constantly, because Chassidus talks about it. Avodah zarah is when you believe that there are other powers that give you your sustenance. That's what it is. You believe that the sun has the power to give you heat and light, the stars could give you whatever the stars gives, the moon. You believe in another power. That's what the Rambam says is the whole concept of avodah zarah. That's how it started. How do people bow down to idols? Because it all started that they see the sun and the stars and the constellations give us everything that we need, and they started praying to them, they started thanking them, and they started giving them kavod, honor and respect. So it's all because they wanted to get their gashmiyus through the avodah zarah. That's what they wanted, they wanted to get their gashmiyus. And they were mistaking, but they thought that they will get it by worshipping these idols, כוכבים ומזלות, the stars and the constellations or whatever, they will get gashmiyus. So we're talking here about גשמיותדיקע people, people who are involved in gashmiyus. It's a great pity on them. They don't have any understanding in ruchniyus. They care only about gashmiyus, they care only about their materialistic things. But that's where they're standing. A person that jumps on both sides, you know what he's doing? He's a person who understands that there is such a thing as spirituality, because he believes in God too. And nevertheless, he takes the spirituality and mixes it with the gashmiyus as if saying that he wants to get involved in gashmiyus in spite of the fact that he knows of spirituality. If you know of spirituality, of God, then it's worse that you're going and jumping to the עבודה זרה. If you don't know, and this is what you think, that's it. But if you know the truth, and at the same time you're jumping trying to get gashmiyus, you involve yourself in the gashmiyus knowing that there is the truth of ruchniyus, that's worse. It's worse on itself, it shows that you're in a lower level, but besides that, it'll be very hard to get away from it. It'll be very hard to do teshuvah. A person that worships an idol, and then realizes that ruchniyus surpasses gashmiyus, when he realizes that, he'll automatically turn away because he'll see his mistake. But a person like this that goes back and forth, even when he'll realize the importance of ruchniyus, it's not new to him. He know that, he knew that from before, and still he was involved in the gashmiyus. So it's going to be much harder for him to tear himself away. Besides that, looking from a psychological point of view, a person who jumps back and forth will hardly ever do a real teshuvah, will will hardly ever regret his previous behavior. If a person does something which is clearly wrong, and then he realizes that it was wrong and he wants to do teshuvah, he feels very bad, he did something wrong, because he knows it's wrong, and he will do teshuvah, he will regret. A person like this, you know what'll happen? When he realizes that he's wrong, he won't really regret regret his previous behavior, because he's going to say to himself, \"You know what? I never really was so terrible. After all, I was always connected to God.\" Person who realizes the importance of God, knowing that before that he was connected to an an idol, he feels so bad, \"Imagine, I left God and I went to an idol. I left, as the פסוק says, the true living, living water, and I went to to search for broken, it says, broken, all kinds of broken things.\" So you regret. You could imagine how a person, I mean people who are baalei teshuvah know it better than I would. Imagine before you did all kinds of terrible things, and then you become a baal teshuvah and you start realizing how terrible it was, some of the people sometimes when you look back, you start shivering, \"I did this,\" you're learning Gemara how terrible this is, \"and I did this aveirah and this aveirah and that aveirah.\" You start, which meant, you regret. Very good, that's how it's supposed to be. A person who is jumping back and forth, a person like that won't regret. Every time he regrets and he remembers, \"I was connected to an idol.\" \"Yeah, but you know, it wasn't so terrible, because after all, I was mixed, I also had a good side to me, I also had at the same time, I believed in God also, so I really didn't go away.\" This is similar to a famous, actually it's a famous Rabbeinu Yonah. He doesn't say it on this, but something else. Rabbeinu Yonah writes, he asks a question: When we look in the הלכה, it says when it comes to bring a קרבן, he talks about two types of sacrifices. There is a קרבן חטאת and a קרבן אשם תלוי. A קרבן חטאת comes for, if a person does a certain category of sins בשוגג, by mistake, but you did a clear עבירה, so the דין is you have to buy a חטאת and bring a חטאת, a קרבן חטאת. Then there's another type of קרבן called אשם תלוי. אשם תלוי means if a person did something which might be an עבירה and might not be. For instance, example the Gemara gives, there were two pieces of fats laying on the table, and a person came over and ate one of them, and later he found out that one of the two was not כשר. Now, had he eaten clearly a non-כשר piece of fats בשוגג, unintentionally, he would have to bring a קרבן חטאת. But he doesn't know if he ate it. He ate one of the two, and he knew one- now he found out one of the two was the non-kasher fats, but he doesn't know if that's the one he ate. And there's no way he could find out. So you don't bring a חטאת, because you don't know if it was really non-kasher fats, but you bring a קרבן אשם, it's called, an אשם תלוי, an אשם תלוי. The halacha is in Gemara that an אשם תלוי has to be worth at least, when you buy it, it has to be at least it costs you two זוז, two מעה, certain amount of money. A חטאת could be worth one דנקי, which is one forty-eighth less than an אשם תלוי. And the Rabbeinu Yonah asks, I don't understand. A קרבן חטאת is for an aveirah that you certainly did. An אשם תלוי is for an aveirah that you might have done. Which one is worse? Well, obviously if you certainly did an aveirah, it's worse. So why is the קרבן אשם תלוי have to be more expensive, which means that you have to put more effort into it and more of yourself and spend more money than a קרבן חטאת? And he answers, it's like this: A קרבן חטאת, when you did an aveirah for sure, when you bring a קרבן חטאת and you realize you did this aveirah, you will certainly do teshuvah. Imagine you realize you did an עבירה בשוגג, unintentionally, true it's by mistake, but you still did it, so you will certainly do teshuvah. We don't need any extra things to push a person to realize his problem and to realize to do teshuvah. But an אשם תלוי, which is brought for an aveirah that you're not sure, you will not really do teshuvah. Because every time you start thinking, \"oy vey, maybe I ate this non-kasher fats,\" right away will creep into your mind, \"Yeah, but probably it wasn't, maybe it wasn't.\" It won't really bother you. Part of what a korban is supposed to represent is that together with the korban comes the feeling, comes the teshuvah. So in order to make sure that a person realizes that yes, you have to do 100% teshuvah, the Torah says you have to buy an expensive korban. You must spend more money to show that this is really in need, your korban is needed. The same thing here also: If a person is laBaal, all the way to the עבודה זרה, it's terrible, but when he'll come to do teshuvah, he'll realize his mistake, he will do the proper teshuvah. But if a person is פוסח על שתי הסעיפים, jumps back and forth, he will not do the proper teshuvah, because he'll always think, \"nisht gefarlekh, nisht gefarlekh, after all I was laHashem.\" And then there's another point here. A person who's laBaal all the way to the avodah zarah, less chance that other people will follow him. Who's gonna follow a person that does avodah zarah? Who's gonna wanna do it? But if a person who jumps back and forth, it's misleading. Some people think, \"Well, he's this this guy the way he behaves is not so bad. After all, he is following Hashem.\" So it's nisht gefarlekh. And therefore, it is worse because not only are you a chote, you sin yourself, but by doing פוסח על שתי הסעיפים you're a מחטיא את הרבים, you make other people do aveirot. This is, being very practical and in a crowd like here we could talk about this, this is the difference between Conservative and Reform. Reform is basically zero. Reform has nothing to do with yiddishkeit. It's zero. Conservative, unfortunately, has to do with yiddishkeit. Conservative is when they have 50-50, certain things you're allowed, certain things you're not allowed, and that people could think, \"Well, I'm following yiddishkeit.\" A person that follows Reform knows he doesn't doesn't wanna follow yiddishkeit. Fine, he chose that. It's wrong, but that's it. But a person like here, a person who wants to follow yiddishkeit will never go to Reform, but he will go to the Conservative, thinking that this is yiddishkeit. So what movement could pull more yidden away? The Conservative movement. And that's basically, to use a modern terminology, this is what Eliyahu said to them. He said to them, \"Or be frum, or be Reform. Don't be Conservative. You're Conservative, you're in the middle. And what you're gonna do is gonna pull away more people. Why? Because they're gonna think there is some truth to it. So, number one, your own teshuvah will never be complete. And number two, you're gonna pull away more people.\" And this is the reason why Eliyahu HaNavi, when he rebuked them and he told them we're going to do this test to show Hashem is Hashem, he said, \"What I want, the worst thing that you're doing is not the fact that you're going to the avodah zarah, it's the fact that you're jumping on both sides.\" So that's to explain that point.

Then I want to go to another point of the story of Eliyahu HaNavi, a point that the Midrash tells us, it's not written in the pesukim, but the Midrash learns it out from the pesukim. It says in the Midrash that when Eliyahu HaNavi told them that you could go, we will have this test and you take one par, one bull, and bring him as a korban, and and I'll bring the other one, it says the one par that was supposed to go to the נביאי הבעל, to the prophets of the Baal, didn't wanna go. He ran to Eliyahu, and it says he hid behind, he took his kapote, it says behind behind his כנפות, and wouldn't move, and didn't wanna move, didn't wanna go. And he said to Eliyahu HaNavi, that's what it says, it says he said to Eliyahu HaNavi, and the Radbaz says what does it mean, the dispute, the discussion I mean, was not with the par himself, but it was the שר, the malach that is set on top to take care of everything, so the malach that was from this שר of this par, said to Eliyahu Hanavi, \"I don't wanna go. Why should it be that my friend, the other par,\" and he says, \"we both were raised in the same place, we both came out from the same mother,\" that's the expression he used, \"we were from the same mother, why is it that he is going to go with you and become a sacrifice to Hashem, and me, you want I should go to be a sacrifice to the avodah zarah? I don't wanna go.\" So Eliyahu Hanavi said to the par, he said, \"I want you to know, כשם ששם שמים יתקדש על ידי זה, just like Hashem's name will be sanctified through this par that I'm going to bring, כך שם שמים יתקדש על ידך, so too will the שם שמים be sanctified through you.\" And the way it says that he still didn't wanna go, till Eliyahu Hanavi took him and gave it, pulled him away and gave it to the נביאי הבעל. Now, the way we learned, the simple peshat in this this discussion, this dialogue here, is that what did Eliyahu Hanavi mean to say? That just like the one that I'm going to sacrifice will bring a kiddush Hashem by becoming a korban, you will also bring a kiddush Hashem by the fire not coming down. By you being the korban and the fire not coming down, then they will see how their avodah zarah is nothing, and you will also bring a sanctification of Hashem's name. But the Rebbe says that the wording doesn't seem to fit to this, because the way Eliyahu Hanavi said, the way the Midrash says, he said, כשם, the same way that this one will be mekadesh Hashem, the same way you will be. It's not the same way, they're in different ways. One is brings a kiddush Hashem in a positive way, and one in a negative way. The one Eliyahu Hanavi brought is in a positive way, the fact that it was a korban and the fire came down, and the other one is a negative way, the fact that the fire did not come down, is by showing how avodah zarah is bad. So it's a negative, it's not the same way. It also brings a kiddush Hashem in a certain way, but a different way than this one. What does it mean כשם, the way, the same way this brings a kiddush Hashem, the same way you will bring a kiddush Hashem? And also, didn't the malach that's ממונה that's appointed on this par know that himself? Didn't he understand that by using this par knowing that the fire will not come down will bring a kiddush Hashem? So what was the question to begin with? Why did it need Eliyahu Hanavi to explain him, explain to him you should know that this will also bring a kiddush Hashem by them seeing nothing will happen? Obviously, this wasn't the dialogue here. He knew lechatchilah, he knew beforehand, the שר knew that by this par being brought as a korban for avodah zarah and it will not work will show a Kiddush Hashem. But to bring a Kiddush Hashem in a different way than this one, this one will bring a different type, this one will bring a positive Kiddush Hashem of showing what is right, and that's going to be a Kiddush Hashem by taking away the bad or which is showing up how that is no good. This is much better, and that's what he said, that we're both the same, we both were raised in the same place, why should he get that type of Kiddush Hashem and I should get a lower type? And Eliyahu Hanavi answered, \"No, it's the same.\" And that's what we have to explain, how. כשם, just like this one brings a Kiddush Hashem in a positive way, this also will bring a Kiddush Hashem in a positive way. Now, how will it bring a Kiddush Hashem in a positive way? In truth is we find this concerning another inyan, and it's connected to this. It says in Midrash that before Matan Torah or by Matan Torah when Hashem said the different mitzvot in the עשרת הדברות, by the Ten Commandments, it says that he expected the Yidden to answer whether they accepted or not. And it says Hashem spoke, וידבר אלקים את כל הדברים האלה לאמר, Hashem spoke these words לאמר, saying. And the question is, what does saying mean? Whenever it says in the Chumash לאמר, השם וידבר השם אל משה לאמר, spoke to Moshe, saying, what does that mean? Always the word לאמר means telling Moshe to say it to somebody else. He spoke to Moshe, you say it to the Yidden. But here it can't be. Here, God spoke to all the Yidden, so everyone was there to hear. So who are they supposed to tell it to? Now sometimes it says לאמר because it you should tell it to the next generation, and this doesn't apply here either, because all the Yidden from all the generations, says all the gerim, all the converts from all generations, everyone who has a neshamah, all the neshamot were there. So what does it mean Hashem spoke to Moshe, I mean spoke to the Yidden, the עשרת הדברות לאמר, to say? So the Midrash says in this case לאמר means something else. לאמר means, he says, \"I want an answer. After every dibbur, I want you to answer me, will you accept it or not?\" Fine. What did they answer? So there's an argument between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael. Rabbi Yishmael says they answered על הן הן ועל לאו לאו. They answered whenever there was a commandment Hashem said yes to do, so they said, \"Yes, we will do.\" When Hashem said this and this don't do, they said, \"We won't.\" For yes, they said yes, and for no, they said no. And Rabbi Akiva says על הן הן ועל לאו הן. When Hashem said do something, they said, \"Yes, we will do.\" And when Hashem said don't do something, they also answered, \"Yes, we will do as you say.\" Now it seems like an argument superflu- superfluous, it's nothing, there's no reason for the argument, what's the difference how they answered? There is a big difference in the way Rabbi Yishmael looks at it and the way Rabbi Akiva looks at it. And I'll explain why. When we talk about negative things in the world, we know that there's nothing but Hashem, and even the negative things which seem to contradict Hashem are also not a contradiction. It says אין עוד מלבדו, there's nothing but Hashem. That's Obvious. And the Gemara says אין עוד מלבדו means nothing but השם, אפילו מעשה כשפים, even the fact that there is black magic, which means עבודה זרה, idols. So אין עוד מלבדו, nothing but Hashem, even concerning the idols. What does that mean? It means that the unity of Hashem goes down all the way, penetrates all levels, even the lowest level, the level that's against Hashem. How does it penetrate there? How is it that we're saying the unity of Hashem is so strong that even though there is עבודה זרה, there is still the unity of Hashem? But there is עבודה זרה. How could you say there is unity of Hashem when there is an idol which denies Hashem? And there are people who worship the idol that is against Hashem. How do we say that there is nothing but Hashem? So here there are two ways to look at it. One way is by realizing that the idols are nothing. You say it's an illusion. They have no power. They're nothing. And anything that's negative against Hashem is in truth nothing. We'd call it in Hebrew it's העדר. It's nothing. When you realize that, then that's how you realize that the אחדות השם, the unity of Hashem, is all over, even in the level of עבודה זרה, because עבודה זרה in truth is basically nothing. It's nothing, so it's only Hashem. But then there is a deeper way to understand it. Not only is it nothing, it itself can be used for the benefit of Hashem. Not only is it nothing and it doesn't contradict Hashem, it itself has certain things that could be worked for the sake of Hashem, and that's its true מציאות, its true being. Now, what is that? That's where teshuvah comes in. We know that במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים צדיקים גמורים אינם יכולים לעמוד. The level of a בעל תשובה, a צדיק can't stand. What is the level of בעל תשובה that even a צדיק can't stand in that level, can't be in that level? So it says because זדונות נעשו לו כזכיות. A בעל תשובה has this power of taking עבירות, taking negative things and turning them into positive, turning them into mitzvot, into serving Hashem. Just to use as an example, a person who ate non-kosher food, and the non-kosher food gave him his life. So basically it's terrible thing. A person is alive and healthy based on טריפה food. His whole existence is based on non-kosher food, terrible. But when he realizes his mistake, the fact that for such a long time he ate treifah food gives him a much stronger connection to Hashem. Says the Zohar, בחילא יתיר. It's a mashal like a person who you have water always, so you drink it with a certain feeling, a certain taste. Person who didn't have water and is very thirsty, and then finally gets water, the water is much tastier to him than regular. A baal teshuvah, because he ate chazir, now he serves Hashem much better. So he elevates all that non-kosher food that he ate before is elevated now for the good, which a tzaddik cannot do. A tzaddik could only elevate kosher things. He can't elevate non-kosher food. How is a tzaddik behave when it comes to non-kosher food? Pushes it away, doesn't eat it. A baal teshuvah, who's a person who ate the non-kosher food, and now that made him stronger in his connection to Hashem, that's how his aveirot turn into mitzvot. So he has something that a tzaddik doesn't have. A tzaddik can only push away the wrong things, and a baal teshuvah can elevate the wrong things. There is no way a tzaddik could elevate the wrong things in a positive way because you're not allowed to do an aveirah. האומר אחטא ואשוב, if someone says, \"I will do the aveirah and then, because I know I could do teshuvah,\" אין מספיקין בידו לעשות תשובה. No, he won't be able to do the teshuvah. So a tzaddik, just how does he, so to speak, work? What's his avodah? What's his service of Hashem in connection to non-kosher things, to negative things? Pushing it away. But a baal teshuvah who did it, and now he is elevating it, is able to elevate it in a positive way. In other words, looking from the perspective of a tzaddik, all the things, the negative things don't exist. That's how he will look at saying that אין עוד מלבדו is nothing but Hashem, including negative things. How is there nothing but Hashem including these things? Because they're nothing. We don't have anything to do with them, they don't exist, they're not a being, they're nothing. There's only Hashem. A baal teshuvah looks at it different. A baal teshuvah looks different: there's nothing but Hashem including the negative things because the negative things also worked as part of his service of Hashem to bring him closer to Hashem. And that's the difference between what Rabbi Yishmael said and Rabbi Akiva said. Rabbi Yishmael said that when Hashem said to them the mitzvot, they answered על הן הן ועל על לאו לא, על הן הן ועל לאו לאו. Those things that you're supposed to do, there's a positive connection to God, and that's what happened. The positive things, we will be positive and we will be positively, in a positive way bring us closer to you. Those things which are lav, negative, they answered not, we will not do it. In other words, the way Rabbi Yishmael looks at it, in the negative things, how do you see it's connection to Hashem? By saying no, pushing it away, it does it's not it's not it's not important, it's not a being, it's nothing. Rabbi Akiva, he looked at it deeper. Rabbi Akiva was able to see in the negative, how in truth, the negative itself is part is in a positive way could be used, is there to be used in a positive way to serve Hashem. And that's why he said what did they answer? They answered al hen hen, the positive things they said positive, yes, and on the negative things, they also said yes. Meaning that he saw in the negative thing not only that it's a negative thing to be pushed away, it is created and it's there because this could bring the people in a higher level. You can't go out and do it, but its creation, its being exists in order to be able to bring the Yidden higher in a higher level, so it's also in a positive way. And we find this, why did Rabbi Akiva say this, why is it Rabbi Akiva specifically? Because see Rabbi Yishmael was a great tzadik, always a tzadik. Rabbi Yishmael was a kohen gadol, a high priest, he was from the greatest tzadikim, so he looked at it as a tzadik looks at it. When you ask a tzadik, what's with the negative things in the world, is that a contradiction to the unity of Hashem? He says, \"No, it's nothing. It's not, לאו לאו.\" Rabbi Akiva was a baal teshuvah. Whether literally a baal teshuvah or not, there's an argument in the Tosafot, in the Rishonim, there's an argument. Some say that he was actually a real baal teshuvah, that till he was 40 years old, we all know the story of Rabbi Akiva, he didn't learn any Torah, he was a shepherd, he was 40, and he started learning when he was 40, so some say till he was 40, not only was he an am ha'aretz, which means an ignorant person in Torah, he was not frum. Some say, Tosafot says according to one opinion, צנוע ומעלי, he was a frum person, a quiet, simple person, but he wasn't a scholar. But whichever way we learn, if or he's a real baal teshuvah or he is at least from being an am ha'aretz, changing to becoming a talmid chacham. So Rabbi Akiva looked at it as a baal teshuvah looked at it, as the higher level, that you're able to look at the negative as also being a positive thing that connects you positively to Hashem. And we find other places where Rabbi Akiva specifically looked at the negative becoming positive. As a famous story in the end of Gemara מכות, when they came to the place of the בית המקדש, once Rabbi Akiva was traveling with other chachamim, and they came to the Yerushalayim, and they happened to be standing not far from the place of the בית המקדש, of the קדש הקדשים, and they saw a fox come out from the place of the קדש הקדשים, and they all started crying and he started smiling. And they asked him, \"Why are you smiling? What's so funny here? Why is...\" it showed like he's enjoying it. So he said to them, \"Why are you crying?\" I mean, why are we crying? A place where it says that even if a stranger, a Yid comes in will die, and now you see fox a fox walking there. So he said, \"You see? For that reason I'm smiling, because now that we see that this prophecy was fulfilled by Hashem, that he will destroy the בית המקדש to the lowest, furthest degree, now I know that the other prophecy will come true, that he's going to rebuild the בית המקדש.\" So he also saw the destruction, but to him right away when he looked at the negative thing, he says the destruction is really just a stepping stone, a means to get another בית המקדש, because we couldn't get the third בית המקדש, which is a much better one, if the first one and the second wouldn't be destroyed. So the other chachamim looked at it, it's a negative thing, and they looked at it from the negative part, and it's negative. They realize that even though it's negative, but we don't care, but they looked at it as a negative thing. But the Rabbi Akiva, he looked at it as a positive thing, and that's the whole approach of Rabbi Akiva. And this is the same thing concerning getting back to us, when the פר that Eliyahu Hanavi wanted to give to the עובדי הבעל, to the נביאי הבעל, to the prophets of the Baal, said, \"I know that when you're going to give me and they're going to try to make this as a קרבן, it won't work, it'll bring a kiddush Hashem, but it'll bring a kiddush Hashem in a negative way. Negative not bad, negative means by not, by showing how it's no good, by showing how avodah zarah is no good, which is fine, which is a great thing, but it's not as great as your פר which is going to be used as a קרבן which will bring a kiddush Hashem in a positive way. So why should I miss out? Why am I the loser? Why will he have... we're both together.\" He said, \"We both raised together, comes from the same\" mother, that's what he said, \"Why should he have more than I have?\" So Eliyahu Hanavi answered him, \"Look at it deeper. In the lower level, the negative is connected to Hashem, and there's a unity of Hashem even though there is negative by pushing away the negative. And that's how this פר, the מלאך in this פר, looked at it, and therefore it's not the same as the positive.\" So he told him, \"I'm going to tell you it's not like that. כשם ש ששם שמים נתקדש על ידי כך שם שמים נתקדש על ידך, it's exactly the same thing. Because he's telling him in truth that when you look at avodah zarah, for instance in this case, and you bring out how avodah zarah is wrong, and that could be used to help Yidden to serve Hashem, so it's not in a negative way. So here we see that the purpose of avodah zarah is not just to be pushed away, but that itself has a positive purpose, that because of that, the Yidden will serve more, will serve Hashem more.\" So that's what he answered him, \"Don't feel bad. You're both the same. כשם, because the negative is not only by pushing it away, but that itself helps in the positive.\" So this is what he told him, and this is actually what Eliyahu Hanavi brought out to the Yidden. That through avodah zarah, it's against Hashem, and on the other hand, its whole being is only to help Hashem. Which is the real way to look at all gashmiyusdike things. Some people think that when you look at gashmiyus, in order to stick to, to be close to Hashem, you got to push it away. Because it's not spiritual. It could disturb you from your connection to Hashem. The deeper way is to realize that the gashmiyus itself, which seems to be negative, could be utilized to serve Hashem in a positive way. And that's a higher level. And that's why after this whole thing happened, what did they scream out? השם הוא האלוקים, השם הוא האלוקים. What did they mean to say? Hashem is י-ה-ו-ה. י-ה-ו-ה is Hashem's name the way he is beyond nature. We all know that. Havayah. Elokim is the way Hashem is in nature, in the gashmiyut. And the whole thing was to realize that Havayah and Elokim, כולא חד, are one. So it says in the Zohar. Havayah, Elokim, they're one, meaning to say that like this we think that Havayah represents the ruchniyut, that's how you represent Hashem in the positive way. Elokim, which represents Hashem the way he is in the nature, how do you show the greatness of Hashem through nature? By pushing it away, the gashmiyut. We say, no. השם הוא האלוקים, just like Havayah represents or is the idea of Elokut in a רוחניותדיקע way, which is a positive way of achdut of unity of Hashem, so is the gashmiyut that way, that the gashmiyut could be in a positive way, not only a negative way. And this is basically the whole shittah of the Baal Shem Tov and Chasidut, not to fight the gashmiyut, but to utilize the gashmiyut to serve Hashem. They used to say it's it's more important to eat l'shem shamayim than to fast l'shem shamayim. It's easy to fast l'shem shamayim. You don't eat, for because it's a special day not to eat, you fast. But to eat l'shem shamayim, that's harder, but that's more important. So you take the gashmiyut and show how the gashmiyut serves Hashem. To not only to push away the gashmiyut, but take the gashmiyut and use it for the sake of Hashem.

And one more point, this is connected to, it says, at what time of the day did Eliyahu HaNavi accomplish what he did? It says, ויהי בעלות המנחה, Mincha time. And the Gemara says because of that, לעולם יהא אדם זהיר בתפילת המנחה, a person should always be careful with מנחה, שאליהו הנביא לא נענה אלא בתפילת המנחה. Eliyahu HaNavi's answered with Mincha. Mincha is special. What's so special about Mincha? So it says in Chasidut, the specialty of Mincha is that that shows how you take the gashmiyut and you use the gashmiyut for Elokus. How? Shacharit is davenen at the beginning of the day. Before you get involved in your gashmiyut of the business and all other things that you do there, before you eat, you wake up, you're still spiritual. You connect yourself to Hashem spiritually. Maariv is when you're finished with your day. Come home, the day is over, you daven Maariv. Again, you're away from the gashmiyut. Mincha is in the middle of the day. When people are still involved in their business and you break away, and at the time when you're involved in business, you show how that is not a contradiction to Hashem, and you bring kedushah into your business. When you daven Mincha during the time when you should be involved in your business, this is how you bring the kedushah into your business. That's what Eliyahu Hanavi accomplished. So at the time of Mincha, he accomplished what he did and the Yidden said השם הוא האלוקים. And it's all based on what he told this פר, that you should know shem shamayim could and should be nitkadesh through the פר, that for עבודה זרה, the negative things could be utilized for the good. And this is the lesson to us, that we have to take the gashmiyut, not throw it away, keep it, but the gashmiyut have to be used for kedushah. The gashmiyut have to be used l'shem shamayim, and that's to a certain degree higher even than kedushah in itself, because here we transform the lower things into the higher things, which is basically the avodah of a baal teshuvah, but what I'm trying to say is that really we should all become baalei teshuvah. They say a story, I don't know, some say it by the Rebbe, someone told me that it was by the Gerrer, I don't know, that that cuz I somebody once came by dollars, that's what they say, somebody told me, no, he heard it happened by the Gerrer, I don't know. They say he came by dollars and he said, he introduced himself, he took a dollar, as the story goes, and he introduced himself and he said, \"Rebbe, I learn in Or Sameach, but I'm not a baal teshuvah.\" So the Rebbe looks at him and he says, \"Why not?\" So, this is it. We all have to become baalei teshuvah. Yes? When you say ה' הוא האלקים seven times, they say it twice, seven here twice, no, two times and one, two times, first of all, makes it stronger. And it says by teshuvah the expression is teshuvah is כפלים לתושיה. Teshuvah is double. So by a tzadik, normal way, ה' says אנכי ה' אלקיך. So it says once. Teshuvah, it's twice, הוי'ה הוא האלקים. But in order for that teshuvah to penetrate into every part of the person, which is basically made up of seven emotions, so we say הוי'ה הוא האלקים. The מנהג מוצאי יום כיפור is to say it very loud. And as we all remember from last Yom Kippur and all Yom Kippurim, the first time you say it loud, and then you say it louder, and then you say it even louder, and then you say you wanted to penetrate deep deep down through all the seven heavens, but mainly not in the seven heavens, but the seven parts of ourselves, to show to bring us to realize that הוי'ה הוא האלקים, the truth of הוי'ה הוא האלקים. Yes? I didn't understand the thing about Or Sameach. No, Or Sameach is a בעל תשובה ישיבה. But he wanted to tell the Rebbe, \"Even though I learn in Or Sameach, I'm not a baal teshuvah.\" So the Rebbe said to him, \"Why aren't you a baal teshuvah?\" In other words, everyone has to become a baal teshuvah. In other words, he was trying to say, boasting, he's not a baal teshuvah. So the Rebbe said, \"You should be, even though you're not literally in the category of a baal teshuvah, you should still be a baal teshuvah.\" Because every Yid has to do teshuvah. We all have what to do teshuvah for. Didn't the Rebbe want to call the חסידים בעלי תשובה? Yeah, before the name chasidim became, there was a point that they thought to call them baalei teshuvah. The chasidim would be called baalei teshuvah instead of chasidim. But we have a problem nowadays, what would we call the baalei teshuvah? They'd be no different than us, the Yidden that are baalei teshuvah. Okay, right. Somebody once came to me on a Motzaei Shabbos, he was trying to, thank you so much for joining us tonight, but you still had to grind it and make it into flour. And the Gemara answers, for tzadikim, no, no, I don't mean that. Are you from a frum family? I said, \"frum family, not frum family, everybody's supposed to be a baal teshuvah. If I'm not a baal teshuvah, what am I doing?\" Exactly. They had to first grind it. So, they all collected the mon. And when we say here Beinonim, tzaddikim, beinonim, reshaim, we don't only mean a beinoni from Tanya. Tanya, when it talks about a beinoni, that's a pretty high madregah, high level. Even a simple beinoni or a simple rasha also collected the man. And when these people ate the man, what they really had was the man, they took into themselves spiritual food which had a spiritual effect on them. It elevated them. Imagine eating spiritual food! That means that even though the man came down into this world as a gashmiyusdike, tangible food, nevertheless, it was spiritual, and that had an effect on the person. Now, that doesn't mean that the reshaim, for instance, who ate the man became baalei teshuvah overnight, because it would seem that if they ate the man, that should bring them to higher madregah, they should become baalei teshuvah. It doesn't say that. The best proof is that the next day they again had to go out someplace far to collect. If they would become baalei teshuvah, then now they're tzaddikim already, they could have the man next to the door. It says throughout all forty years it happened that they had to go out. But nevertheless, it had an effect on them that when the time came when they did do teshuvah, or when they became better, the man definitely had an effect. Because the man was a spiritual food down here in this world and did not lose its spirituality. That's why all these different qualities of the man were the way the man was down here. And this is the reason why it says that the ones that were able to learn the Torah the best were those that ate the man. Because through eating the man, it made them much more spiritual, through eating the spiritual food, and digesting the spiritual food. And that spiritual food becoming their energy and their life, so automatically they were higher. And therefore, the learning of the Torah by them was in a higher madregah, they were the real ones that were able to learn. Not just because they ate the man, as we said, the simple pshat, so they weren't busy, and they had no worries, so they had time to learn, they had a a kop to learn. That's not the pshat. They were in a higher madregah, that's why they were able to learn. And this is one of the connections between the man and Shabbos. Because concerning Shabbos, we find exactly the same thing. Shabbos has the same quality as the man. And Shabbos nowadays, even though the man we don't have, but we have Shabbos now. What is the idea of Shabbos? The idea of Shabbos is that the whole world is in a higher level. The whole world, it says in Chassidut and in Kabbalah and other ספרים, is elevated. When the פסוק says on Shabbos, ויכלו השמים והארץ, which simple pshat means the heaven and earth were finished, Hashem finished creating the heaven and earth before Shabbos, but there's another meaning: ויכלו comes from the word כליון. כליון means an oys-gang, a desire, an elevation. So Shabbos, שמים וארץ, the heavens and earth are elevated on Shabbos. Not only that, it says ויכל אלקים ביום השביעי. Now the simple pshat is it means Hashem finished on the seventh day creating. But there's another pshat: ויכל אלקים, on the seventh day, אלקים is finished, no more אלקים. What does that mean, no more אלקים? Yes, then we have הוי׳. We have two names of Hashem, the higher name and the lower name. During the week, being that the world is in a lower level, therefore what shines, the level of אלקים, אלקים is Hashem the way He is put into nature, without revelation. And Shabbos, ויכל אלקים! אלקים is finished, because Shabbos is מאיר, shines, שבת להוי׳, Shabbos is the day that we have הוי׳. On Shabbos, the world is in a higher madregah. But when we say the world is in a higher madregah, it's not that on Shabbos we're completely away from the world. What it means is, the world the way it is with its גשמיותדיקע needs and things become higher. Therefore, we see an interesting thing on Shabbos, it's a mitzvah to eat. Now eating is not a holy act. Eating is a physical act. On Shabbos, the physical act of eating becomes holy. That means that the holiness of Shabbos comes מן השמים, and comes down here that while it's down here in the physical world, the physical world accepts the kedushah. Which is exactly like the mann. The mann was godly, and not godly the way it was in its source, and by the time it came down, it changed, and it wasn't godly anymore, or it was godly, had no connection to גשמיות. The mann was גשמיותדיקע food, and the גשמיותדיקע food remained godly, was a godly food. Shabbos is a day that the gashmiyus of the world is godly. That eating, which is a physical need that we have because of our physical body, becomes kedushah. But not only that is a mitzvah to eat on Shabbos, the pleasure that we have in the food is a mitzvah. Imagine, during the week, if a person wants to reach a higher מדרגה, he shouldn't have pleasure from his food, you shouldn't eat because of the pleasure, you have to eat because Hashem wants us to be healthy, so we should be able to learn and davenen and serve Him, but not because of the pleasure of the food. We have to eat because we have to eat. If a person eats because he enjoys the food, then this person definitely is not in such a high מדרגה. I mean, it's not for us, for us it's okay, but the real ultimate level is not to enjoy to eat, not to not enjoy, but not to eat because of your enjoyment. Shabbos, it says, it doesn't matter. Shabbos, it says, to use the terms of חסידות, אכילת שבת איז נישט מגשם. Like this we know eating food makes you, I don't even know the English words for it, makes you פארגראבט. You know what פארגראבט means? Coarse, yeah, but coarse is a, yeah, but that's that's not the real word. ס'איז אויף אידיש קען מען דאס זאגן. So it makes you פארגראבט. It says in Tanya that a בינוני, who according to Tanya is a very high מדרגה, as time passes, he gets more פארגראבט, more פארגראבט, just from eating food. Because food is gashmiyus, and the more you have connection to it you get פארגראבט. Like I asked somebody, someone someone told me once he's not like he used to be in his spiritual levels, so I said, \"Why?\" So he says, \"What? ס'איז פופציק יאר עסן פאטעיטעס.\" It's 50 years eating potatoes, so you get פארגראבט. And it says during during the week when you eat, you get פארגראבט, מגשם. אכילת שבת איז נישט מגשם. Shabbos, if you eat, it says it's not מגשם. It doesn't make you, Yom Tov, yes, Yom Tov it does. That's why there is a minhag Many people, used to be by everybody, that after Pesach and after Sukkos you fast בה״ב. You would fast three days: Monday, Thursday, a Monday, the first one after Nisan and the first one after Tishrei. The three three days in in a week and a half. Now what's the reason to fast בה״ב? So it says, because on Yom Tov we eat a lot, ווערט מען מגושם, you become פארגרעבט, so you have to fast, and you have to get rid of that הגשמה. But Shabbos, it says, that doesn't happen. There's a pasuk that says Hashem is upset about פרש חגיכם. פרש means the waste, and in this case it means the פארגרעבטקייט of your ימים טובים. Yom Tov is fine and good and it's a mitzvah to eat, אבער מע ווערט פארגרעבט, עס ליגט, עס ליגט אין דעם עסן. So the Zohar says, פרש חגיכם קאמר, פרש שבתכם לא קאמר. It doesn't say that there is any פרש, any waste, spiritual waste when it comes to Shabbos. So that's even bichlal regarding the eating, concerning the food. But more than that, even the geshmak in the food. Even eating food with a ta'anug, which is definitely the part that gets the person פארגרעבט. We know bichlal it says what makes a person get fat bigashmiyus is not the food, but the geshmak in the food. It says when you eat with a geshmak, that makes fat. שמועה טובה תדשן עצם. Good news, feeling good about something, geshmak, תדשן makes you פשוט דשן, makes you fat. And it's מגשם ברוחניות and מגשם בגשמיות. Shabbos, it says, the mitzvah, the oneg, the pleasure that we have in the food is holy. So what do we see from here? That Shabbos is a holy, there's holiness that's נמשך and it comes down, and it comes down into the gashmiyus of the food, and while it's in the gashmiyus of the food, it remains with the quality of spirituality of kedushah. The gashmiyus of the food is holy, which is exactly like the man. The man was spiritual food that came down in a גשמיותדיקע form, and the גשמיותדיקע food they ate was spiritual food. In the gashmiyus, you had the spiritual food. And just like by the man, we say that those people who ate it were affected spiritually by it, and were in a higher level. And I always said, it doesn't mean that everybody started doing teshuvah through the man, but it affected them. The next day, they again were not the way they should be, and again they ate the man, it had an effect. We find by Shabbos the same thing. There's an interesting thing by Shabbos. It says in Yerushalmi, I don't know if I I'll go through the halachah. Like this, there's a din that you have to take off maaser from all the grain that grows, you have to take off a certain amount, and you give it to the kohen, which is called terumah, and you have to give off take off a tenth of maaser and give it to the Levi, etc., etc. In the time of the Gemara, there were people who were under the title had the the title עם הארץ. An עם הארץ, not like we call an עם הארץ now, a person that didn't learn, that's a different. עם הארץ they weren't so careful with mitzvot. So the chachamim said that if you buy grain from an עם הארץ, even though he tells you that \"I took off maaser,\" we don't believe him. We're not sure, and you have to take off again, and that's called demai. And you have to take off again. But the din is that if