As you all know, the topic tonight is the significance of Kiddush Levanah, the sanctification of the moon. Not to confuse this with קידוש החודש. קידוש החודש is the sanctification of the month. That refers to the time when the Beit Din, the Sanhedrin, the High Court, would establish the calendar, not like we have it today that we have a calendar set already for years and there is a regular cycle that goes on and on, but every month, the Beit Din had to decide which day would be Rosh Chodesh. There was always a question, will it be the 30th day of the month? Will that day be day number one of the next month or will that be day number 30 of the previous month and the next day will be the new month? And it would depend on the witnesses coming to say that they saw the new moon and many other things, but when the Beit Din would decide, when the court would decide when the new month is, that we would call קידוש החודש, the sanctification of the month. But what we're talking about now is Kiddush Levanah, this that we do once a month when we go outside and we say the berachah, the blessing, over the moon. Really, the name is ברכת הלבנה, the blessing of the Levanah. We bless Hashem in connection to the Levanah, in connection to the moon. But it is also known, and many places in siddurim it's printed, as Kiddush Levanah, meaning that it's the sanctification of the Levanah, even though we don't do any kedushah, but it is a reminder of the קידוש החודש that the Beit Din used to do. It's a title that we use to remind us that there used to be a time when the Beit Din used to decide the chodesh. So, we wait for that time because we want that to happen again, and therefore we use the title. But in truth, what it really is, is ברכת הלבנה, it's the blessing of the Levanah. And this is something that we do once a month, once a month after the Levanah starts shining again, as I will explain soon in detail. There are many segulot said concerning Kiddush Levanah, many good things that come out by us fulfilling this mitzvah, this commandment of the חכמים of blessing the moon. For instance, it says that if you bless the moon, it's a segulah to live through the month, it's a segulah to live long, it's a segulah that nothing bad should chas veshalom happen to a person. They even say it's a segulah for a good shidduch, all kinds of things that it says concerning being careful with the mitzvah of Kiddush Levanah. But first, before we get into the side things of Kiddush Levanah, we have to talk about the essence, the essential part of what is the significance of Kiddush Levanah. What is the meaning of this mitzvah that רבנן made that we have to say this blessing over the Levanah once a month? What is the meaning behind it? First, what is the simple meaning? Then, what is the kabbalistic meaning? And then we could, as a side benefit, also discuss what are the side benefits that we gain from doing the mitzvah of Kiddush Levanah. So, let's start just from the beginning, from the simple part of what Kiddush Levanah is. We know that Hashem has set up the system of the universe that there are cycles. There are cycles of the sun and cycles of the moon. The cycle of the sun takes 365 and 1/4 days till it comes back to its original place. The cycle of the moon is 29 days and 12 hours and 793, 90, 3 chalakim, תשצ״ג chalakim, 793 parts of an hour. An hour is divided into 1,080 parts, and this is 793 parts. So, it's 29 days, 12 hours, and a little bit into the next a little bit more than half of the next hour. That's the cycle of the moon. And according to the cycle of the moon, the position of the moon changes. The moon doesn't have its own light. The light that we get from the moon is only a reflection of the light of the sun. And therefore, depending on the position of the moon, it will pick up the light of the sun. And throughout the cycle, there is a time when it is blocked. And therefore, the sun does not reflect off the moon. And it goes to a point where it becomes dark completely and doesn't have any reflection at all of the sun. Then, as the cycle continues, it starts changing, it comes to a point where the reflection of the sun, the light of the sun that reflects off the moon, starts a little bit. That point is called the מולד הלבנה. birth of the לבנה. And as the cycle continues, as the לבנה continues its cycle, the moon continues its cycle, the position goes more further and further that the sun shines more, it reflects more and more and more, till it comes to a point where at it the whole moon reflect the light of the sun, that's called a full moon. Then, as it continues its cycle, it gets less and less and less till it comes to a point where you don't see the reflection of the sun at all, you don't see any light, and then it starts over again. And that goes on every month, which is every 29 and a half and some חלקים, it happens again and again. The bracha that we make over the moon is the bracha for what we call the חידוש הלבנה or the renewal of the לבנה. It's the bracha for the fact that the לבנה, that the moon, started its renewal of receiving the light of the sun again. That's what we make the bracha for. And making that bracha is very, very important. It's a very, very important din. How important? The Gemara says in Sanhedrin, which we actually learned not long ago, that כל המברך את הלבנה בזמנה, anybody who blesses the moon in its time, כאילו מקבל פני השכינה. It's as if you receive the face of the Shechinah. That means going out there outside and saying that bracha is the receiving the face of the Shechinah, that's receiving talking to the Shechinah, getting the light of the Shechinah. And actually in Kiddush Levanah we say it. We say אלמלא לא זכו ישראל להקביל פני אביהם שבשמים פעם אחת בחודש, דיו. It's taken from that same Gemara, but we actually say it in the Kiddush Levanah, which means, I'll translate it into English, that if we would be able to receive the face of the Shechinah just once a month, it would have been enough. Which means that what we're saying is that by saying Kiddush Levanah we receive the face of the Shechinah, and if we would not have any other mitzvah, but just that, it would have also been enough, we would also have had something very, very special. That's how special this is. And then we continue saying קידוש לבנה, אמר אביי, הלכך נימרינהו מעומד. And Abaye said because saying this blessing is receiving the Shechinah, that's why we have to say it while we're standing. Because imagine you're talking to the Shechinah, you're receiving the Shechinah, you have to stand, and we actually say this. So saying this blessing for the renewal of the moon, saying the blessing for the fact that the moon started getting its light again, is so important that the Gemara says that this is מקבל פני השכינה, you receive the face of the Shechinah. Why? So number one, it says in sefarim that this expresses our belief in the fact that Hashem created the world. This takes place every month, it's a normal cycle, it's nature. The fact that the moon has its cycle, and it starts getting its light again, and continues getting its light, is a natural thing. It's not something that's beyond nature. And we come and make a blessing to Hashem about the cycle of the moon. In other words, we're recognizing, acknowledging that Hashem is the one that makes this happen. So this is a way we show to Hashem that we really believe that He is the Creator of the world, and not only 5,761 years ago He created the world, but now every movement is through Him, and the cycle of the moon is because He makes it happen. So by this acknowledgement, obviously this is something that shows that we are mekabel the face of the Shechinah. But that's one general thing.

The Maharsha in the Gemara explains it a little bit further. And I'm going to elaborate, I'm not going to quote him, I'm just elaborating on what he says. We all know that the Yidden are compared to the moon, the goyim are compared to the sun. The reason the Yidden are compared to the moon: first of all, we count by the moon, our calendar is a lunar calendar, while the calendar of the goyim is a solar calendar, by the sun. So we go by the moon. Number two, we are like the moon: just like the moon does not have its own light, all it is is that it receives the light from the sun, we too feel that we have nothing, all we have is what Hashem gives us. We are the ones, the Yidden are the ones that feel we are not a metzius, we are not a true being in ourselves, we are only receivers from Hashem. So we are like the moon that only receives. Another thing: just like the moon has its ups and downs, there's a time when the moon is full, light shines, and then there's a time when it doesn't shine, so too with us. Till the חורבן בית המקדש, we shined, we were on top. After the destruction of the בית המקדש, we are down. So we are like the moon, while the goyim, the goyim, number one, they their calendar is a solar calendar, number two, they don't feel that they are not a metzius, they are nothing, and they're only receive from Hashem A normal human being, other than a Yid, feels that he is something, and he whatever he has, it's to his credit, and he gains, and it's him, and it's I. So they are like the sun, which has its own light. And number three, they are not down, they are up. They are constantly up. The goyim have the upper hand. They are strong. From after the חורבן בית המקדש the goyim are always the top, and we are on the bottom. It doesn't mean that the individual nations are always up. That's not true. They change. There's the Romans, and the Syrians, and this, and that, different countries. But looking goyim versus Yidden, the Yidden in galut are always down. And therefore, we Yidden are like the moon, and the goyim are like the sun. The fact that the moon is renewed and starts shining again after the time when the moon was dark, and then it came and it starts renewing itself, and it starts shining again, that's a reminder of the time of Mashiach, when we Yidden will again start shining. We will again from darkness come to light. That's when we will receive the Shechinah. When Mashiach will come, we will be מקבל פני שכינה, we will receive the Shechinah. Now, when the moon starts shining again, that's a representation of the fact that we will start shining again. And we are so sure that this is going to happen that we actually make a blessing on this that this the moon is starting to shine again. And the the Maharsha says that therefore now, when we feel this, it's as if we are mekabel the פני שכינה now. We are now by looking at the moon and seeing that the moon starts shining, and this reminds us that we will start shining again, and we start feeling it, and we really believe it, and we really behave that way, we already now start receiving the Shechinah that will happen when Mashiach will come. The real קבלת פני השכינה, the real receiving of the Shechinah, will be when Mashiach will come. But now, by looking at the moon and feeling what it represents, this is the beginning of the feeling of the Shechinah. And the Rema in Shulchan Aruch says that that's the reason why in קידוש לבנה we say דוד מלך ישראל חי וקים. David, the king of the Jews, is alive and well. Why do we mention it in קידוש לבנה? What does that have to do with קידוש לבנה? Because when Mashiach will come, that's when we will have the return of מלכות בית דוד. And the whole concept of a berachah of making קידוש לבנה, saying this brachah, is to remind us, tell us that this the moon starting to shine again represents the coming of Mashiach. So it represents the fact that מלכות בית דוד and David Hamelech is still around and it will come back. And besides the point, the Rema says that the מלכות בית דוד, the kingdom and kingship of David Hamelech, in a pasuk is is is written as called the moon. כשמש יכון, it says, וירח יכון לעולם, I think that's the pasuk. So it's compared to the moon. So being that קידוש לבנה is talking about the coming of Mashiach and tells us what's going to happen and tells us to feel that way now, so now already we feel דוד מלך ישראל חי וקים. And the Rema, interestingly, the Rema doesn't usually do this in Shulchan Aruch, the Rema just has to bring halachot, says that when Mashiach will come, then we Yidden will be connected again to Hashem, and it'll be again like our wedding, our simchah, our chatanah that will come again. And קידוש לבנה reminds us of our wedding. And he says that's why the custom is to sing and dance by קידוש לבנה, because you're singing and dancing for your chatanah, because it reminds us of the chatanah. Which is all connection to the idea of קבלת פני שכינה that the Gemara says that you receive the Shechinah when you do קידוש לבנה. It's the Shechinah that will be received when Mashiach will come, which we start now, which is our wedding, which is the establishment again of מלכות בית דוד. This is the halachic, this it sounds not like halachah, like נגלה, but this is the halachic explanation of what the Gemara means that קידוש לבנה is קבלת פני השכינה. That's why it's so important, even though it seems like a minor thing. Small a small halachah, what's the big deal? A big thing here to go out to say קידוש לבנה. It says that this is something that's very, very special, and this is the simple peshat. When we go to the kabbalistic and chassidish explanation and we go a little further, and I'll give a few points of what it says in Chassidut and Kabbalah, some things we'll have to explain, some things it's not to explain, anybody who is familiar with the terms of Chassidut and Kabbalah will understand.

It says in Chassidus that the renewal of the moon, which means the fact that the moon starts shining, that's really what it is, represents the general purpose of a person, a Yid, being created and put into this world. That's how important it is. I'll explain in a moment why. But the importance of by Kiddush Levanah, which make means making a blessing for the renewal of the shine of the moon, represents not just one little small, minor detail. It represents the whole purpose of a Yid being put into this world, or, better said, it represents the whole purpose of why יידן בכלל were created and put into this world. why Hashem created the world and put us here. All that is represented in this little thing of us blessing the moon for it starting to shine again. And this is what Chassidus says. Says Chassidus that the sun and the moon represent the two names of Hashem, שם הויה and שם אלוקים. We know that Hashem has two names, Havayah, יו״ד-ק״י-וא״ו-ק״י, and שם אלוקים. That's the sun and the moon. As the pasuk says, כי שמש ומגן הויה אלוקים, that like the sun and its cover is הויה אלוקים. Now usually in Chassidus it says that Havayah and Elokim are represented by the sun and its cover. There is a cover over this, a shield. But it also says, what the pasuk also means to say is, that the sun and the moon are like Havayah and Elokim. Because the idea of the shield is to take the light of the sun and block it out and just have a little bit of it. That's exactly what the moon is. The moon takes the light of the sun and reflects it, so when we look at the moon, we have the light of the sun, but a very little bit of it, and just a reflection, which is like the Magen, like the shield. So, the sun and the moon again represents שם הויה, the name Havayah and the name Elokim. What is the difference usually between the name Havayah and Elokim, and that's something we're all familiar with. שם אלוקים, which is Hashem's name, but it represents Hashem the way He is in the nature. The word Elokim itself is the gematria, the numerical value of Elokim is הטבע, the nature. We also know Elokim is לשון רבים, it's plural even though Hashem is one. So how can we say Elokim plural as if chas v'shalom we're saying gods? So it says because it refers to Hashem the way He already put Himself into the world which is many. The world has many, many aspects to it, so Hashem in the world is Elokim. On the other hand, the שם הויה, that represents Hashem the way He is beyond nature. The word Havayah is היה, הוה ויהיה כאחד. It's made up of three words, היה, הוה ויהיה, which is past, present, and future, and it's all in one word. And naturally you can't have past, present, and future together, so it's Hashem the way He's beyond nature. Now the truth is that הויה הוא האלוקים. Havayah and Elokim are one. The Zohar says הויה ואלוקים כולא חד, because even though in nature we do not see Hashem, Hashem is covered, that's why nature is called teva, which means nature, but teva also means something that sinks in, something that sinks in the water, is there, it's completely there, you just can't see it. Hashem is in the world, but you can't see Him, but that's what Elokim is. But Havayah is not In truth we don't see Hashem in the world, but what we have to do is try to work hard to bring Havayah into Elokim, that the world, which covers up on Hashem, on the truth of Hashem, which is שם אלוקים, should in it have Havayah, which is beyond nature, where you could see the truth of Hashem. And that's הויה הוא האלוקים. The sun and the moon, the sun which has its light, that's Havayah. Havayah shines. Havayah is not a he'elem, not a cover-up on Hashem. שם הויה represents Hashem that's not covered by nature. While Elokim, that's like the moon. The moon doesn't have its own light. The moon is dark, and therefore it's like the world. This world is a world of he'elem, of cover-up, of darkness. What we have to do is bring שם הויה into שם אלוקים, bring the light into the darkness. When the moon is completely dark at the end of the month, that represents the spiritual level of when there is no light of שם הויה shining. When the moon starts receiving the light of the sun, that represents the level where Havayah is starting to shine into the world. The אור אין סוף, this godly light which is represented by Havayah starts shining into the world, that's when the moon starts shining. And as it grows, as it shines more and more, it means there is more light that comes in. Now the true concept that Havayah will shine into the world completely, that's going to happen when Mashiach will come. When Mashiach will come, what's going to happen like we say in קידוש לבנה here, to quote a pasuk, it's based on a פסוק, והיה אור הלבנה כאור החמה. When Mashiach will come, the sun of the moon, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. Which means that שם אלוקים, when Mashiach will come, שם אלוקים which is represented by the moon is going to have its own light, because the שם אלוקים which is the world will shine completely because there will be the revelation of Hashem. So just like you have the sun which represents Havayah, Elohim will shine as much as Havayah. So when it says in the Zohar that הויה ואלוקים כולא חד, Havayah and Elohim are one, when Mashiach will come it'll happen. That's how it'll be. There will be no more what we call מיעוט הירח. Now we have the מיעוט הירח. The ירח, the moon, is smaller and less, and it has no real no real light. When Mashiach will come it'll happen. Why will the sun the moon then have complete light? Because spiritually the world will have its true Now it doesn't have. Now it can't, because Mashiach didn't come yet and the revelation is not there. But nevertheless, as much as possible, we have to try to bring as much of light of שם הוי׳ into the world as much as we can. That fact that we as Yidden, each individual as an individual or Klal Yisrael as as a whole, their job in the world is to bring the light of Havayah into the world, which is שם אלוקים, that is represented in the fact that the moon reflects the light of the sun. The moon's reflection of the light of the sun means that Elohim, the moon which is שם אלוקים, reflects and shines with the light of Havayah. So when I said before that the fact that the moon shines, starts shining, that represents not one detail, our general avodat Hashem, what we are here for, our purpose. If someone will ask somebody, \"Give me in a nutshell, in one word, one sentence, what is our purpose in this world, us as individuals or as a whole?\" The answer is לעשות לו יתברך דירה בתחתונים, to make a dwelling place place for Hashem in this world. In other words, to bring Havayah into Elohim. That's our job. Where do we see that? In the fact that the moon starts shining. That's why we make this berachah. When the moon starts shining over again, starts shining, that shows that the light of Havayah is coming into the world. That represents our avodah. That's why this is so important. And then Kabbalah goes on more details along the same lines in what is so important about this moon starting to shine again, and therefore we make a berachah and there's קבלת פני השכינה, etc., etc. Another detail: it says in Kabbalah that the חטא עץ הדעת, the sin that Adam Harishon veChavah ate from the tree, which is the source of all evil, is all source of all darkness, the fact that there is evil and darkness in the world, all is because of that. So it says that the source of the חטא עץ הדעת, its roots, was the מיעוט הירח, was the fact that the moon became smaller. Because when we look in Chumash, it says in Chumash like this, ויעש אלקים את שני המאורות הגדולים, השם made two big luminaries, the sun and the moon. And then as the pasuk continues, it says המאור הגדול, the big light, should shine during the day, המאור הקטון לממשלת הלילה, and the small one at night. And Rashi brings the Gemara asks, \"First you call them both המאורות הגדולים, two big luminaries. Now you call one big and one small?\" So the Gemara says like this: first Hashem created them both equal. There were two, there was the sun and the moon. Came the moon, and the moon complained. That's called קטרוג הלבנה, the complaint of the moon. And the moon said, \"אין שני מלכים משתמשין בכתר אחד, you can't have two kings use one crown. How can you make us both equal?\" So Hashem said, \"Okay, you're right. לכי ומעטי את עצמך, become smaller. You complained, you become smaller.\" Then the Gemara continues, the moon said, \"Because I said I gave a good idea, I should be the one?\" So Hashem said, \"Because of that, I'll compensate you, so because of that I'll bring the korban,\" all kinds of different things the Gemara says. But it says in Kabbalah that that מיעוט הירח, that minimization or whatever English word, I don't know the English word, of the moon was the cause that as a השתלשלות, from that, as a cause and effect, turned out that down here was the חטא עץ הדעת. And really, this is a complete השתלשלות starting all the way from the beginning. It says in Kabbalah that it all started really with the צמצום הראשון. It says in Kabbalah first there was only אור אין סוף, light of Hashem all over, there was no place for a world. So Hashem contracted the light, that was the צמצום. That צמצום, that's the source of all evil, of all thing. Hashem wanted it, but that's the source, that צמצום contraction. That contraction, it says in Chassidus, caused that in many levels down the road was שבירת הכלים דתהו. In the level of תהו, the world of תהו, there was what we call שבירת הכלים, the breaking of the vessels, it's a Kabbalistic concept. And that's the next. That שבירת הכלים of תהו caused the מיעוט הירח, caused eventually that the moon should become smaller. And that מיעוט הירח caused that down here there should be a חטא עץ הדעת. So in other words, the fact that the moon became smaller, and smaller doesn't only mean smaller in size, smaller means that it doesn't have any light, because originally it had light. That is the source of the חטא עץ הדעת, of the sin, and that's the source of our darkness. The fact that this world is such a low world, a dark world spiritually, is because of the moon becoming smaller. Now, when Mashiach will come, as I quoted before, אור הלבנה כאור החמה, the moon again will become the size of the sun, which means it will get its own light, because that מיעוט הלבנה, that קטרוג, that complaint that was there will be fixed when Mashiach will come, and therefore the moon will get back to its size. And Chassidus, Kabbalah says that the light שלפני ה- צמצום, that light of Hashem that was there before the contraction will come into this world. This world will have that light. Now, that concept is going that inyan is going to be when Mashiach will come. Till Mashiach, that's not gonna happen. So, till Mashiach, the moon doesn't have light, and there is a צמצום, and all that will happen. But whatever we are able to do, we still have to do. In other words, we can't change that fact that the moon is still the moon and there is a darkness, and the world is still a world with a העלם והסתר, and the חטא עץ הדעת is still around, the effects of that sin is still around, but as much light as we're able to bring into the world, we have to. So, when the moon starts getting its light, when the moon starts getting renewed and starting to shine again, that represents the fact that whatever darkness we have here is being taken away to a certain degree, because the light is shining. The light of the moon was taken away, and therefore we have a world the way we are, we have it through the חטא עץ הדעת, now the light is starting to shine. Because the truth is our job is to bring that light back. Hashem, the world became dark through all that, and we have to bring the light back. Where do we see the fact that we bring the light back that's missing in the moon? That starts when the moon starts shining. Now, true, it'll never come back even when it comes to its fullest, it doesn't come back to the original state. It doesn't become the size of the sun. It doesn't get its own light. But at least to a certain degree, it gets some light, which eventually, what will happen is it'll get its complete light and it'll come back. But here we see that על פי קבלה, the fact that the moon is small, that shows the fact it's small and dark, shows that this world is a dark world. Our job is to bring the light, and that is when the moon renews itself. And that's why we make this berachah, that's why this is so special. That's why this is called קבלת פני השכינה. We receive the שכינה because what we're doing is we're bringing back this light that was there originally, and we're taking away this קטרוג הלבנה, this fact that the לבנה was מקטרג, that the לבנה had complaints. And this is the other part in קבלה concerning the specialty of the moon starting again. And then קבלה goes on, and קבלה finds another aspect concerning the idea of the moon getting its light again. We know that it says in קבלה that the sun and the moon represent the ספירות of the higher worlds. And when we talk about the higher worlds, we usually mean אצילות. In אצילות, we have besides the three parts of the intellect, חכמה, בינה, דעת, then we have the seven מדות, the seven ספירות, which is חסד, גבורה, תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד, and then מלכות. The sun represents what you call it ז״א, the six מדות. The moon represents מלכות. And I'm not gonna get into this to explain, that's an ענין for itself, but it says, ספירת המלכות, which is the last last ספירה, the last level of אצילות, is the level that through that started the השתלשלות of the lower worlds. And it says that the מלכות does not have its own light. Every one of the ספירות has its own Godly light, because the אין סוף, the Godly light of Hashem shines in אצילות. And it shines in חסד, and in גבורה, and in תפארת, and נצח, הוד, and יסוד. מלכות does not have its own light, they say. מלכות has light that it takes from the previous six ספירות. So מלכות is exactly like the moon. The sun has its own light, and those are the שש, the six ספירות. Then we have מלכות, מלכות which is the seventh, that doesn't have its own light. And because it doesn't have its own light, even though it takes the light from above, it's the source of the creation which is dark. The creation up to our world shows on darkness, spiritual darkness. We don't have the light of Hashem shining here. Why is it possible that we should have a world like this? It all started with ספירת המלכות, because מלכות doesn't have its own light. So מלכות is the source of the darkness of this world. What we have to do is bring more light, this is according, this is pure Kabbalah, according to Kabbalah, we have to bring more light into ספירת המלכות. And when מלכות will get its complete light, that's when we'll come to the end. That's when we will have accomplished our mission and that's when Mashiach will come. Now, the moon that represents מלכות has no light. When the moon is completely dark, that shows on its lowest point, so מלכות has no Godly light from above, very little. But when the moon starts shining again, that means that we're giving back light into מלכות. So that is the beginning of what's going to happen in the future, that מלכות will get its complete light. And in the future, it says מלכות will be so great, it'll be greater than even the higher ספירות, that's how much light מלכות will get. Not to get off the point, a man and a woman, the man is like the sun, is is like the other ספירות, ז״א the six ספירות, it says in Kabbalah, like the man. מלכות is like the woman, because the woman is also the receiver, the man is the giver. And now the man is the giver, and the woman is the receiver, as if saying, I hate to say this, I don't mean what I'm saying, but as if to say, she doesn't have anything of her own, she receives. I did mean it. But when Mashiach will come, it says נקבה תסובב גבר, the נקבה, the female will be higher. She will be like like the לבנה will become big and get its own light again, ספירת המלכות will get its own light, in Kabbalah it says it's going to get connected to the highest, because it's the lowest, it'll get עצמות itself, we're not going to get into Kabbalah here now. And the same thing is with the woman. The female will be in the highest מדרגה. But as a beginning to that is now, when we see that moon starting to get its light, that's the beginning of already ספירת המלכות getting its light. מלכות בית דוד is connected to ספירת המלכות. If you learn Chassidut, we see that David HaMelech his level is ספירת המלכות. So when we talk about מלכות, ספירה of מלכות getting back its light, it's מלכות בית דוד coming back. That's why kabbalistically why we say here דוד מלך ישראל חי וקים, we get the light back, because בכלל דוד המלך and his dynasty, his מלכות represents the מלכות of Hashem. When Shlomo HaMelech became king, David's son, it says, וישב שלמה על כסא השם, שלמה sat on the throne of Hashem, because the מלכות of Shlomo, which is the continuation of the dynasty of David, is the מלכות of Hashem. When Mashiach will come, we will have the מלכות of Hashem again, we will have the מלכות בית דוד, we will have the moon again shine, shine completely like the sun. That's why the beginning of the shining of the sun is the fact that it starts shining again represents the beginning of that מדרגה that's going to happen later on when Mashiach will come. The Alter Rebbe himself in Likkutei Torah explains why we have to wait for seven days, and he says because Kiddush Levanah, which is the blessing over the sun the moon getting its light again, represents the giving of the light, the adding of the light into ספירת המלכות, מלכות, when do we really see that מלכות got its light? If it got all seven ספירות. If all seven ספירות start shining in מלכות, then מלכות has the light in a complete fashion, in a bit not completely complete, because that will happen when Mashiach will come, but at least in this level it has a complete fashion. So מלכות has to get the seven ספירות, and the seven days represent the seven ספירות, we know that. Similar to what it says that עשרת ימי תשובה, the seven days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are special seven days. Why are there seven? So, because there's every day of the week, it says seven days, whichever day it starts, you always have you have all seven days of the week. So the simple peshat is that every day of the week of the עשרת ימי תשובה, you have to do teshuvah for that day of the week for the whole year. The Sunday of עשרת ימי תשובה you do teshuvah for the Sunday of the past year and prepare yourself for the Sundays of the coming year. The Monday of עשרת ימי תשובה is this for the Monday. But deeper than that, if you have the seven days in עשרת ימי תשובה, you have all the ספירות, and על פי קבלה we want to gather all the ספירות. And the same thing here. When we say Kiddush Levanah, which means we recognize that this renewal of the moon represents the renewal of the light of Hashem that's going to happen when Mashiach will come, but now it's through a beginning in a form of מלכות getting already the light, which means coming down to us that we will get the light down in this world, we have to have seven days, because we have to have the seven ספירות to shine. And we have to have the seven days, the seven ספירות to take care of the problem. You see, we have here both: the positive and the negative. This shows on the receiving of the light of שם הוי׳, the light of of of the sun, the light of the ספירות, it also takes away the problem of the קטרוג הלבנה. The קטרוג הלבנה is when the לבנה complained, and there was the the לבנה became small, מיעוט הלבנה, so we have to take away the negative, the fact that the לבנה is small is a cause of darkness, and we have to bring the light. And we have to have all seven sefiros to counteract the problem and to bring the light, which is, by the way, one of the reasons why women don't do קידוש לבנה. Because since קידוש לבנה is connected that we want to be metaken, we want to fix up the mistake or the problem of the לבנה having less light, which is connected to the חטא עץ הדעת, and you know that the woman is the one that's blamed for the חטא עץ הדעת. When I go home, I see like on one car always stands there, there's a bumper sticker, it says, bumper sticker: \"Eve was framed.\" Anyway, but the fact was that she was the one that ate from the עץ הדעת first, and therefore she's not the one to make the קידוש לבנה, which represents the tikkun for the חטא עץ הדעת, the tikkun for the מיעוט הירח, for the ירח, for the moon becoming smaller, and therefore also not connected to the other part. But the truth is when the men do it, they represent the women too, and they have a share in it, and it's not that we exclude them chas veshalom. But the main ones are the men, and they what they do is they're mamshich this light, and this is the קבלת פני שכינה. Even though when we're talking about Malchut receiving from the the sefiros, it's only six, because Malchut is the seven. Why am I saying seven? Well, the truth is, we want every one of the six sefiros to be complete. And the completion of every sefirah is if it has Malchut in it also. You have the chesed with all the sefiros, like we have in the ספירת העומר: chesed sheb'chesed, gevurah sheb'chesed, all through מלכות שבחסד. So even though Malchut as a whole is the one that's the לבנה, but each one has to have the Malchut in it, so therefore it's seven. And this is what we get through the this is what is represented by the לבנה starting over again. This is the reason why by קידוש לבנה we say shalom aleichem. What, all of a sudden, you ever think of it? Why at קידוש לבנה we turn around, \"shalom aleichem!\" I saw the guy a minute ago, I'm telling him, \"shalom aleichem!\" And he answers me, \"aleichem shalom!\" as if I didn't see him. Well, the truth is, some sefarim say yes. You just said the berachah, you were just mekadesh the לבנה, which means you were just מקבל פני שכינה, received the שכינה, you just expressed the idea that you're fulfilling your mission in this world, and the whole thing that when it will happen, Mashiach will come, you become a new person. And you say, \"shalom aleichem. Who are you? Look, a new a new face here!\" Say, \"Shalom Aleichem!\" It's There is a joke similar to this the negative side. There was once a guy davening in shul, and as soon as Shemoneh Esrei was over, his friend walks over to him and gives him Shalom Aleichem. He says, \"Why give me Shalom Aleichem? You saw me right before davening.\" He says, \"Yeah, you know, during Shemoneh Esrei, how many cities did you go to already? In your How many cities did you travel throughout your Shemoneh Esrei? Didn't you think of your trip to New York, and a trip to here, a trip to there? Now you came back, so I'm giving you Shalom Aleichem.\" So the same thing here. We give Shalom Aleichem because, yes, we became a new person now after קבלת פני שכינה. There are other reasons why we say Shalom Aleichem also, because since all this is supposed to fix up the complaint of the moon, what was the complaint of the moon? The complaint of the moon was: you can't have two people, two kings using one crown, you can't have the real achdus. So when we fix that up, we say, \"We will show you we could have achdus, Shalom Aleichem.\" And the guy answers, \"Aleichem Shalom,\" to show that we do have the proper achdus. There are other reasons given also that since one of the things we say here in Kiddush Levanah is, \"תפול עליהם אימתה ופחד,\" let His fear fall upon the goyim, fall upon them. Now, you have a few people standing around you. He might hear you say, and say, \"Hey! Cursing me? Saying let the fear of Hashem fall upon this guy?\" So you turn around and say, \"Shalom Aleichem, I'm your friend. I didn't mean you. I meant them.\" Well, that's simple reasons. But the main reason is because of קבלת פני השכינה, we receive the Shechinah, so now we're different, and that's why we say Shalom Aleichem. Which means basically that the Kiddush the idea of Kiddush Levanah is the fulfillment, the complete fulfillment of Hashem's mission to us, and elevation of the world. The לבנה, which represents the darkness of the world, the תחתונים, the עולם הזה, this world, the elevation of it the beginning at least of its bringing back to its source. Which is the reason why we say here, ברוך עושך, ברוך יוצרך, ברוך בוראך, ברוך קונך. We say blessed is the one that made you, the one blessed is the one that formed you, blessed is the one that created you, blessed is the one that acquired you. And if you notice, the way we say it, our nusach is: עושך, יוצרך, בוראך, and קונך. If you look in other nuschaot, if you saw looked in other siddur, you look later in other siddur, they have different. They say like this: ברוך יוצרך, ברוך עושך, ברוך קונך, ברוך בוראך. If you have it according to their nusach, the abbreviation, the first four letters of these four is Yaakov. י, יוצרך, and עושך is an ע, קונך is a ק, and בוראך is a ב, so it's Yaakov. And that's the reason they stay with that order to be the roshei teivos of Yaakov. And that makes sense also, because Yaakov is connected to the moon, again other ענינים על פי קבלה. The way we say it is the order of the worlds. Anybody who just tasted, touched Chassidus knows that there are four worlds. And if you go מלמטה למעלה, from down up, it's עשיה, then it's יצירה, then it's בריאה, and אצילות. ברוך עושך is עשיה, יוצרך is יצירה, יוצרך, בוראך is בריאה, and קונך is אצילות. And I don't think we have the time to go into why קונך is אצילות, but קונך represents אצילות, another time. So we, since the whole idea of Kiddush Levanah is to show the elevation of the world, how this world will become higher, it'll go up, so we say עושך, יוצרך, בוראך, and קונך, and we go all the way up. That's what Kiddush Levanah, this is it all about. Because all it is, it's the elevation and bringing the light in Hashem, which is represented in the idea of קבלת פני שכינה, receiving the Shechinah.

This is the reason why after Kiddush Levanah we shake our tzitzit. Not our tzitzit actually, shake, we shake, what's it say here? Let's read the words here: וינער שולי טלית קטנו, you should shake the edges of your tallit katan. There are different reasons given. One reason is because the Gemara says in Menachot, anybody who is careful with the mitzvah of tzitzit is zocheh, merit, to be מקבל פני שכינה, to receive the face of the Shechinah. So the tzitzit, which is receiving the face of the Shechinah, and Kiddush Levanah go together. But there are other reasons. It says in Pri Etz Chaim, which is Kabbalah, it says that you should shake the edges of your garment. It doesn't even say the edges of your tzitzit, the edges of your garment. It just says that the Arizal would shake the edges would shake his tzitzit. The reason it says is in Kabbalah is like this: because since what we're trying to do with Kiddush Levanah is to get rid of the מיעוט הירח, of the minimization, the smallness of the moon, which was the source of all evil, of all קליפה, we're afraid the קליפה is going to come, come to us. So by doing shaking our garment, we shake it away, we're trying to shake away the קליפות. And we do find that certain physical acts that we do have a representation of a spiritual act, similar. So when we shake it, we're shaking them away. Imagine you would have some little creepy crawl crawlers on your your, yeah? You'd shake it off. So we're shaking off, it says, the the חיצוניים. Which is this similar, it doesn't say about this, but I'm just using it as an example, it says we should fold our טלית מוצאי שבת. It says if someone didn't manage to fold his טלית מוצאי שבת, so Sunday morning when he's going to use his talis, before he uses it, he should shake it out. Because the the קליפות, the the חיצוניים get stuck to it. And some people even say that you shouldn't shake it out in your house, go outside and shake it outside. Because you shake out the, the same thing here, we shake it out. The Arizal connected it to a mitzvah. If you shake already your garment, might as well shake it with the tzitzis, so for the sake of a mitzvah, so to connect it to a mitzvah, but the idea is shaking it out. Like we shake our garments like by Tashlich, we do the same. Some people think you have to throw food for the fish, it doesn't say anywhere. It's shaking out the same thing, because we want to shake away our aveiros, shake off. We find in Nechemiah, in Tanach, Hashem, there's a certain prophecy that Nechemiah said, a נביא, and Hashem said to him, shake out your garments which represents that Hashem is going to shake away all those that are no good, that are doing the wrong things. So we see that the representation of shaking away. There are other reasons why we shake the garments, the tzitzis. The Kamarna writes, one of the big פוילישע צדיקים writes that the reason we shake the the tzitzis is because after we finish Kiddush Levanah, it sounds as if we're chas v'shalom praying to the moon, worshipping the moon. So we say, no, we're not worshipping the moon, we're blessing Hashem. Look, we're doing the mitzvos. So we point to the tzitzis. Then there are other reasons, not to go into every single reason, there are other reasons why we do that. But the main reason is because by doing this, I know the main reason, but one of the reasons is because since we're מקבל פני שכינה, we connect the ציצית מקבל פני שכינה. Now, after we know all this, that Kiddush Levanah represents such a major thing, we can imagine that Kiddush Levanah, being careful with Kiddush Levanah is a source of all of the טובות, that it's a source of all good, because if it's such a great thing. And that's why we find in many places segulos concerning Kiddush Levanah. It's getting late, so we'll just finish it off. There's segulos concerning Kiddush Levanah. One thing it says in Midrash Talpiyot, and they brought down in in Be'er Heitev, different places, that it's a segulah that if you מקדש the לבנה, it's a guarantee that you're going to live through the month. That's why you notice a lot of old people are very careful, really, I know old chasidim, to do the Kiddush Levanah, make sure to do as soon as you can, because that's guarantee for that. It says in the Chida that if Kiddush if you do Kiddush Levanah, you will be guaranteed that you nothing bad will happen to you that month. It says in Midrash Talpiyot that if you do Kiddush Levanah, it's a segulah that if you take a trip, you shouldn't fall into danger, it should be successful, that's what it says. The Chatam Sofer writes that if you're careful with Kiddush Levanah, it's a refuah for a sickness, if you're sick. Being careful with Kiddush Levanah is a segulah for for to have a refuah. Imagine. The the Beit Yosef, famous Beit Yosef, had a had a malach that used to learn with him, and he wrote a sefer of what he taught him called Magid Meisharim. He writes the malach told him that if you're going to be mekadesh the לבנה and there'll be a clear moon, that's going to be a sign to you that you're going to be matzliach this month. So it's like a source of hatzlachah. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov writes that Kiddush Levanah, if you're careful with Kiddush Levanah, it's a segulah for a shidduch, for a good shidduch. And he says the remez is, Masechet Ketubot, the Gemara Ketubot starts with four words: בתולה נשאת ליום הרביעי. A girl gets married on the fourth day. So the time of the Gemara used to get married on Wednesday. The four words: בתולה נשאת ליום הרביעי is a roshei tevot, abbreviation לבנה: ב, נ, ל, ה, which are the four letters לבנה. So he says that this will, it's a segulah for a good shidduch. It says in sefarim that Kiddush Levanah is a segulah if you have a toothache, against a toothache. And it even says in some places that when you say some of the words here you should say, add these words in the middle of Kiddush Levanah, not in the middle of the berachah obviously: ולא יהיה לי כאב שיניים, I shouldn't have a toothache. And we always notice, people who are careful notice, that the Rebbe would always touch his teeth in the middle of Kiddush Levanah, it says, would touch his teeth. When he would go, you can look at the videos, look at the videos where you have the Rebbe by Kiddush Levanah, you'll see that at one point he goes like this, it looks like he's doing his mustache, but with this finger he would put into his mouth, he'd go like this and this finger put into his mouth, whatever teeth he had. Later he didn't have any teeth at all, but he had toothache. He had one tooth for a toothache. He, for eating he didn't have any teeth, but to have a toothache, he had. So he would do this because it says it helps to כאב שיניים, it helps for toothache. And it says, and I don't know if the Rebbe said it or not because we couldn't hear, but I believe that he did. And I know he wrote to people who wrote to him about toothache, he says, you should be mechaven in Kiddush Levanah, it should help you for a toothache. In other words, Kiddush Levanah is a segulah for אלע גוטע זאכן, for all kinds, you should be matzliach, everything good. The main thing of Kiddush Levanah is that it's a reminder of Mashiach. It's not a reminder, the whole concept of Kiddush Levanah is the idea of Mashiach, the idea that we are going to have the light of the לבנה, which represents the darkness of this world, come back again. This is the greatness. And that's why Parashat Noach תשנ\"א, which is just not long, a few weeks, two months before the Rebbe had a stroke, he spoke very strongly about being careful with Kiddush Levanah. That was the time when the Rebbe spoke so much, Mashiach is coming, Mashiach will come. And he said, I see that there's one more thing that we still have to accomplish in order to bring Mashiach: we have to be careful in Kiddush Levanah. And he explained some of the things that I'm say said tonight. He explained what the meaning of Kiddush Levanah is, and he said we should do it. And when you dance by Kiddush Levanah, which maybe we should make that minhag here, it's like the Rema says, it's like dancing by a wedding. It reminds us of the wedding that the Yidden are going to have with Hashem, and you dance, that's the dancing at Kiddush Levanah. That's one of the most important things of Kiddush Levanah, that this reminds of Mashiach. So therefore, we should keep in our mind that even though it seems like, what's Kiddush Levanah? Out of all the mitzvot, Kiddush Levanah doesn't have to be the most, it's not one of the mitzvot from the Torah, it's not from the תרי\"ג mitzvot, it's not the biggest thing. And and if a person doesn't manage to do Kiddush Levanah, doesn't do an aveirah, but nevertheless, we see from this how important it is. And let us be careful, and let Hashem send us, takeh, what the Kiddush Levanah represents, the coming of משיח, במהרה בימינו. Yes.

You mentioned that women don't do it because it's part of their fault that we have all the problems with the לבנה's light. See, I didn't elaborate in that subject, but you are. I don't want to elaborate, my question is, don't they have the particular mitzvah of lighting Shabbos candles in order to? Yes, yes. Well, they have not only Shabbos, they have all three. and the other and other things, yeah, right. So they fix it up, but still, the one that directly important, see, the Shabbos candles is only a remez. She didn't do anything to candle, she didn't have nothing to do with fire. But we say since it was the fire or the light of the world. Here, it's direct. The moon, first of all, a woman is represented by the moon, so that's her. But the moon, the מיעוט הירח, is the is the source of the חטא עץ הדעת. It's too close, I mean it's almost like אין קטיגור נעשה סניגור, I would imagine, so. Okay, there you go. The mother should come and be mekabel for her, for the baby. The mother, not herself. No, I'm saying, it could be somebody else, because I would say here, let the husband come and fix it for her. Yes. How do you, that's such an important thing, how do you fulfill the whole thing completely? I mean, you can't say every single word. Well, the main the main thing is the bracha. The main thing is the bracha. The main thing is the bracha. Still, we're born and bred with. Yeah, that's all additional things that we should say, but the main thing is the bracha. That's, and in the middle of a bracha, I want to say, in the middle of a bracha you can't be mafsik, you can't interrupt. If someone says Shalom aleichem to you if you're holding in the middle of the bracha, don't answer. Just show him. You don't need two No, you don't need, because the bracha you're doing yourself, so you don't say Shalom aleichem. If you have another one person, you say Shalom aleichem three times to the same one person, because it's part of the nusach. But the main thing is the bracha, and by saying that bracha, we are מקבל פני שכינה. And it says, another thing that because it's such an important thing, that's why it says we shouldn't say it under a roof. Shouldn't stand under a roof. Says if it's hard or it's hard for you to walk out, you open the window, under your roof. But really, you should, cuz if you make a special place for it, it shouldn't be like it because it's such a such an important thing. Yeah? How do you say that a single woman will be יוצא קידוש לבנה? How can a single woman be יוצא קידוש לבנה with all these segulot? A single woman? She's yotzei with her future husband. We hopefully could say teshuva, yeah. We hope so, yeah. Can a person be yotzei if the person couldn't say it? No, there's no din that she has to be yotzei. I'm just saying the spiritual accomplishments a woman should want to make קידוש לבנה, she could, but I don't, but it's not done and it's not an inyan to start things that are not, I mean like the Conservative, they start, women should get aliyot, they're trying to be better than we are. That better is not is not worth it. It does it does for the man, yeah, I never heard of it. I can't say what I didn't hear, I don't know, yeah. Okay, the last day is usually like by the 15th day of the molad. But the Chatam Sofer does write that still the night of the 15th of the month, bediavad you could say it. If you have no choice, if you didn't say till now. Through the 15th, through the night of the 15th. After that, you don't want to miss it, now what happens if you didn't see a לבנה or you weren't, so what we do is like this, to say the bracha is a שפיק שאלה because you shouldn't say it then because the whole idea is for the פגם, but you want to say it, so the bracha is written in the Gemara. The Gemara tells us see, so what we would do is take out the Gemara and stand in front of the moon and say the Gemara. So while you're saying the Gemara, you will have said the bracha, but not in the form of a bracha, so you didn't have a ברכה לבטלה, and you did have the bracha, that's the custom that minhag. Yes. צמצום הראשון, the first tzimtzum What came first as far as the order of the things I mentioned that No, no. The breaking of the, but before that came something, came the tzimtzum. The first contraction of the light, then came the שבירת הכלים, the breaking of the vessels, then came the the moon, the minimization or whatever, I don't know if that's English. Of the moon What is it called? Diminution of Diminution. Diminution. Diminization. Diminization, I of of the moon and then came the חטא עץ הדעת, but it's all a hishtalshelut and it's all one concept with hishtalshelut of one came after another, yes. Oh, sorry, sorry. Right. I guarantee you we ain't going to be in trouble. I guarantee you when Mashiach will come, all this will work out perfectly, exactly how, I don't know, but like the Tzemach Tzedek once said, sitting by a farbrengen, and it was a Shabbos and he said, \"Let's hope Mashiach will come now.\" So, one of the chassidim said, \"Wait, the Gemara says Mashiach can't come on Shabbos.\" So the Tzemach Tzedek said, \"You know what? It says when Mashiach will come, all the questions will be answered. Let him come, and then we'll ask him this question, and he'll answer it.\" Let him come. 1 second, there's another one more hand here, yeah. Oh, I thought your hand, yes. Okay. Okay, very good. Okay. Okay, so let me tell you, let me tell you. According to halacha, you could do it after 3 days. The main thing is, like I've said the whole time, is when the moon starts receiving the light. Now, in the beginning you shouldn't because you can't tell, it's very little. By 3 days, it's already, we call it נכר. You could tell. So, al pi din the ט״ז says to do it after 3 days. It's על פי קבלה that we should wait the 7 days, as I explained, is because of the seven sefirot. Most shuln don't do things of Kabbalah. It's chassidim that do things of Kabbalah, and Sephardim do a lot of things of Kabbalah. But the other shuln, we call them the בעל ביתישע שולן, or the מתנגדישע שולן, or the ליטווישע שולן, they don't do things of Kabbalah, so they do it after 3 days. We do it after 7 of the Kabbalah. Nevertheless, it says clearly that in the winter, you don't really have to wait, because you never know if you have a chance after 3 days and there's the moon clear moon, you could have snow and rain, and therefore, even the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rabbi Maharash would many times מקדש the לבנה before 7 days in the winter. But, it's very clear that Miami this doesn't apply. Very seldom do we should have a problem. Or, like says the best thing is to do it Motzaei Shabbos. Why is Motzaei Shabbos? Besides the spiritual explanation, in everything that I explained that Shabbos represents time of Mashiach, that's משיח כולו שבת, so Motzaei Shabbos is an appropriate time to take this לבנה. Besides that, it says because on Shabbos we dress with special clothes, and we are going now to מקבל פני שכינה, wouldn't that make sense? We should be dressed in the beautiful clothes to mekabel the Shechinah, so we should do it Motzaei Shabbos. But, nevertheless, it says clearly winter time, when if you're going to leave it for Motzaei Shabbos, and it's going to be closer to the end of the term, and you might miss it, don't wait. And again, in Miami, I'm not so sure. We have to make a cheshbon if the weather bureau says that, but that's what it is. But even the rabbanim would sometimes not wait because of this, but the reason they do it is Because they don't do על פי קבלה. Okay, yes. It says in the siddur we should put our feet together and glance at the moon just once, and isn't it also someplace about looking at the tzitzit and also you walk three paces? It says here that before you say the berachah you should look at the moon and don't look at it again. Only once? Yeah. It says bichlal you shouldn't look at the moon. אסור להסתכל, you're not allowed to look at the moon. And one of the reasons is because the moon represents the Shechinah, because when we bless the moon we talking about קבלת פני שכינה, therefore you shouldn't look at it. But it does say you shouldn't be mistakel. Mistakel doesn't mean look, mistakel means gazing, I guess that's the word. Look, araynkuken. That's what we shouldn't. So what we Here we have to look because you want to see the levanah in order to make the berachah. But to look afterwards we shouldn't, because then it's already extra and bichlal you should try to not look at the moon, you shouldn't look at a few things it says. And the reason we put our feet together is for the same reason like we stand שמונה עשרה. When we're standing שמונה עשרה, why do we put our feet together? Because then we're like a malach, and malachim it says their feet are like one. Then it says we're supposed to stand in front of the king without a movement. Stand like like like a Why does a soldier stand when he stands in attention, he puts his feet together and stands? Because he's standing in front of whatever, the general or whatever it is. We're standing שמונה עשרה. The same thing here, we're standing to be mekabel the Shechinah. Imagine, we're mekabel the Shechinah, so you have to put our feet together. So we look at the moon and we put our feet together and we say the berachah, and we start to say it with the proper kavanah, and then Hashem will listen to it and bring all the inyanim that the kiddush levanah kiddush levanah represents, and it'll come down bepo'al mamash. We hope it'll be soon. Amen. Please everybody