Geulah, which means from exile to redemption, which is a sefer that has a collection of different sayings from the Rebbeim, from Chassidus, concerning exile and redemption. What we do every week, we take a piece or two pieces that he quotes, and I read it in Hebrew, translate it into English, and then explain it in detail. We're holding here on page 39, and we're going to start from the second piece here. מבואר בחסידות, it says in Chassidus, which means in the books of Chassidic philosophy, שגם חורבן וגלות עניינם רחמים, that even the destruction and the exile, in truth, is really pity, mercy of Hashem. Why must we say that? שכן מפי עליון לא תצא הרעות, because it says in a pasuk in Eicha that from above, no evil can come. Now, that is concerning everything in the world, because everything comes from Hashem, so no evil that ever comes into the world in any circumstance can be really bad, because it comes from Hashem and it can't be bad. ובודאי שכן הוא בכל הקשור לישראל עם קרובו. So certainly it is so anything that's connected to the Yidden, who are God's nation. So if concerning everything in the world we say it's only good and it can't be bad, certainly when it's talking about the Yidden. So, therefore, even though it seems as if it is galut, it's exile, and it's churban, destruction, which is definitely superficially seems to be evil and bad, nevertheless, it must be good.

אלא שהם רחמים גדולים ביותר. They are very, very great, a very high level of mercy. למעלה מסדר השתלשלות, is higher than the concept called סדר השתלשלות. שאינם יכולים להתגלות אלא בלבוש של דין וגבורה דווקא, it could only come down, it could only reveal itself in a garment of strictness, in a garment of things that seem to be harsh. But in truth, it's only a garment. Inside this garment is hidden the real good. And the reason it comes down that way, because there's it is so great, the good is so great, that it only could come down with this disguise, a disguise of being harsh. וסיבת הדבר היא, what is the reason? מכיוון ששורר אז מצב של דין, we're talking about a time when what is strong is the concept of strictness, of harshness, that is really what is true in the world. שלכן יש צורך ברחמים גדולים דווקא, and, therefore, we need not just a small level, a normal level of mercy, we need a very great level of mercy, because normally the level is din and גבורה, אי אפשר שיתגלו הרחמים אלא בלבוש של דין, so it's impossible for that mercy to come down but in a garment, in a disguise of din, which is harshness. שכן אם יתגלו כפי שהם, תתנגד לכך מידת הדין, because if it'll come down in the form the way it really is, which is good, real mercy, then the מידת הדין, the attribute of din, of harshness of Hashem, will not allow it to happen, will not allow it to come down. Since we're talking about a time of galut, in the time of galut it is a time when din and gevurah, strictness, is stronger, that is what is the overpowering power. Therefore, it would not allow any rachamim, any mercy from Hashem to come down. So, therefore, Hashem has to send it down with a disguise, with a cover of looking as if it's din. זאת ועוד, there's more to it. מכיוון שבחיצוניות רחמים אלו הם בבחינת דין, being that superficially this great level of mercy looks like it's really דין, ניתנת בכך פיצוי למידת הדין. By doing that, we give we compensate to the מידת הדין, to the concept of din, that it should not feel bad, because like this, מידת הדין could complain, \"You're taking away from me!\" So, therefore, Hashem says, \"You know what? This is din,\" and gives it this a compensation for din. ולכן אפשר להשפיע רחמים ללא גבול, therefore, it can be mashpia, it can give unlimited amount of mercy, מפני שמידת הדין אינה מתנגדת לכך, because midat hadin will not fight it, and, therefore, Hashem could take advantage of it and send down as much rachamim as Hashem wants, unlimited amount. I will explain this in detail.

לכן נחרב הבית בחודש אב, therefore, the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash took place in the month of Av. המורה על רחמים, the month of Av, in truth, shows rachamim, mercy. We have an expression כרחם אב על בנים, like a father has pity, rachmanut, on his children, so we see Av, which means a father, represents rachamim. Or we have an expression אב הרחמים, the Father of Mercy. So we use the term Av, so we see Av is connected to rachamim. And here we have the חורבן בית המקדש in the month of Av. Now, the חורבן בית המקדש seems to be not rachamim, not mercy, but din, so why was it in the month of Av? The reason is, because כי לאמיתו של דבר because in truth יש בכך רחמים גדולים ביותר because in truth there is a great level of rachamim, of pity, of mercy in the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. And therefore, it happened in the month of Av which represents rachamim. This is a very general idea, let me explain it now. In truth it is not what it says here is not only concerning the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash and the galut, but it's bichlal concerning anything bad that happens in the world. As it says, מפי עליון לא תצא הרעות, from above no evil will come, so it never could be anything bad that comes to a person, because everything comes from Hashem. That's where the whole idea of gam zu letovah comes from. We know that

whenever whatever happens, you always have to say, gam zu letovah, this is also for the good. Or as the other statement of Rabbi Akiva that he said, כל מאי דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד, whatever Hashem does is for the good. I once explained in a previous shiur that even though superficially it seems that these two statements mean the same thing, one is this is also for the good and the other one whatever Hashem does is for the good is the same thing, but the Rabbi explains that they are two separate levels. They're the same idea, the idea of seeing everything with a good eye, but in that itself there are two levels. One is when you see that directly what happens is good, and one is that you see that it's going to turn out to be good, but at this point it doesn't look like it's good. And the Rabbi says we see it from the two stories. Where do we see the story of גם זו לטובה? The famous story with Nachum Ish Gamzu. I don't want to go through the whole story, but there there was a story that something bad happened, but in truth that bad thing that happened was good. And the story of רבי עקיבא, Gemara tells the story of Rabbi Akiva, there what had happened, it wasn't good, but what happened was later on he realized that if this wouldn't have happened, terrible things would have happened to him. So it was מאי דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד. But generally, they're both the same, that it means that whatever happens to a person, he has to know is for the good. Now, the question is, if it's really for the good because nothing bad comes from Hashem, why is it that it comes down in the form of evil, of bad? So here it

says in Chassidus that because it comes from a higher spiritual level. It is called the level of alma de-iskasya. This is really Kabbalah, and Chassidus explains it, and I'll try to explain it just briefly. In the spiritual worlds, we have two categories, let's call it, two kinds. Some are called alma de-iskasya and some are called alma de-isgalya. The word iskasya means hidden, worlds which are hidden, and alma de-isgalya means worlds which are revealed. The worlds which are hidden, and they're both spiritual worlds, the worlds which are hidden, the reason they're called hidden because the light of Hashem is so strong there that it's beyond revelation. Therefore, it's called iskasya, hidden, or actually covered up. The alma de-isgalya are lower levels, and therefore the light is not that strong, so it could be revealed. Sometimes when we say the light is covered, so to speak, is because it is a lower level and there is not much light there, so you don't see it. But sometimes it's just the opposite, because the light is so strong, it is considered to us as if it's covered. Like when we look at the sun, when it's very strong you can't see at all, because the light is too strong. So alma de-iskasya refers to the level of light of Hashem which is called the Or Ein Sof, it shines in a very, very strong fashion, which is a higher level. Alma de-isgalya is a lower level. When Hashem wants to give good which comes from the level of alma de-iskasya, which is so great that it can't come down into the world in the form of the way it is supposed to, because the light is too strong, the world is not a keli, not a vessel to be able to accept it, therefore it comes down in a form that we cannot see it. But in truth, this is very good. This is from alma de-iskasya. When Mashiach will come, it says that then all the things that seem to be bad, we will see how in truth they were really good, and not just plain good, but good from the level of alma de-iskasya. That's why it says in Tanya, he brings on it there is a pasuk that says, ואוהביו כצאת השמש בגבורתו. That means that when the sun will come out with its full strength, which actually means the time of Mashiach, it says in time of Mashiach Hashem will take the sun out of its cover. Now the sun is within a cover, and therefore the light is not so strong. There is a nartik, we call it, a shield. When Mashiach will come, the sun will come out of its cover. So it says that which people are going to be the first ones that are going to get the light from this strong sun will be ואוהביו, people who love Hashem. And the Gemara explains, a lot of people love Hashem. There must be a specific thing a person does that he would fall into this category to be the first one to get this light. So the Gemara says, you know who these people are? אלו השמחים ביסורים. These are the people who are happy with suffering, that when they suffer they say to Hashem, I believe that what you did is good, and I'm happy with it. We shouldn't confuse this to think, chas veshalom, we should ask Hashem for suffering, that we're not allowed. It says every time we daven to Hashem we say, \"Please forgive us for our sins,\" and we add the words, \"ולא על ידי ייסורים וחולאים רעים,\" not through any suffering. We ask Hashem not to give us. But when it does happen, if it does happen, and a person feels that it comes from Hashem and therefore he is happy because he knows that Hashem only does good and definitely this is good. And not only that, if he learned Chassidus he knows that not only is it good, but it's so good that it had to come down in the disguise of bad because it's too strong. So if a person feels that way, that means that this person actually has a connection to that great light. A person that doesn't understand that, doesn't feel it, actually is not sensitive to what's inside those yissurim, that pain. That's why he's unhappy about it. But a person who is happy and realizes, as it were, where it comes from, that means that this person is sensitive to that great light. Therefore, this person will be the first one to actually benefit from that light when Mashiach will come. So

when Mashiach will come, this will all be revealed, and the great light which we cannot see now, cannot be revealed now, will be revealed then. And who is the person that's going to get it? So the Gemara says, \"אלו השמחים בייסורים.\" And it brings in Tanya also, that those people who are מקבל באהבה, that they accept the yissurim with love, because the Gemara says, \"כשם שמברכים על הטובה כך מברכים על הרעה.\" Just like you make a blessing on the good, you make a blessing on the bad. And the Gemara says it's not true, we don't make the same blessing. For good we make הטוב והמטיב, שהחיינו, a lot of berachot for good things, and for something bad, chas veshalom, happens, there's another berachah, different berachah, ברוך דיין האמת. Why do we say we make the same berachah? So the Gemara says we didn't mean make the same berachah, it means that we have to לקבולי בשמחה, we have to accept it with simchah, with joy. And the way Chassidus explains, why do you have to accept it with joy? Because you have to realize that it comes from עלמא דאתכסיא. That's why it says that when we find in the Chumash in two parashiyot the תוכחה, those are kelalot, curses, God forbid, from Hashem. In Parashat Bechukotai, where Hashem says if you do not listen to me, then I will give you, and the Torah goes on and it says I think 49 different kelalot, terrible kelalot, terrible curses. Then we have another פרשה, כי Ki Tavo, where we again have the תוכחה, again kelalot, and there it's not 49, it's 98 kelalot. So in

Chassidus it says that really these kelalot are in truth berachot, but they're such great berachot that could not come down into this world in the form of berachot. They are too great. It's too strong. It comes from עלמא דאתכסיא, so it has to be covered, it has to be hidden. That's why they tell a story that, and I mentioned the story once before, maybe more than once, that one, when the Middeler Rebbe, the Middeler Rebbe was still a young boy, he his father, the Alter Rebbe, always used to read the Torah, but one Shabbos his father was out of town and someone else read the Torah. This happened to be שבת פרשת כי תבוא. When they read the תוכחה, the Mitteler Rebbe heard it and the kelalot, the curses got him so sick that he, pashut, was so sick that there was This was פרשת כי תבוא is always two Shabbatot before Rosh Hashanah. He got so sick that when it came to Yom Kippur, there was a question whether he's allowed to fast, that's how sick he was. How did he become sick? From hearing the kelalot. So someone asked him, \"This is not the first year you're you heard פרשת כי תבוא, why did you take it to heart this year more than other years?\" So he said, \"Because till now I always heard it from my father, the Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe. ווען דער טאטע ליינט, הערט זיך נישט קיין קללות. When my father reads, you don't hear kelalot, because he read it in such a way that what's hidden inside, that's what we get out.\" So he, especially he himself was a great tzadik, heard it from a father was a tzadik, so the two together sensitive to what's inside. But this year he said someone else read it, a פשוטער איד, so I heard kelalot and I took it to heart and I got sick. Because in truth, in these kelalot you have berachot. There are a lot of kelalot there, but certain kelalot are actually explained in Chassidut how they are berachot. For instance, there is a פסוק like one of the kelalot is, \"ואפו עשר נשים לחמכם בתנור אחד,\" that you'll be so poor that you will have to 10 women will have to get together and bake the bread in one oven. And they say it's a big kelalah when many women have to bake together in the same kitchen and work together and have the same bread and later they have to divide it. It's a terrible thing. So that's one of the kelalot. So in Likkutei Torah the Alter Rebbe explains, you know what that really means? 10, why does it give a חשבון of 10? Because we know that every person has 10 כוחות הנפש, 10 attributes: the three parts of the intellect, the seven parts of the emotions. חכמה, בינה, דעת, חסד, גבורה, תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד, מלכות, so you have 10. So when it says when it says \"עשר נשים,\" that means the 10 כוחות. You could have A person has these ten כוחות, and not always is is it absorbed with the true kedushah that it's supposed to. You could use it, God forbid, for other things. Not always is it baked in the proper oven. What it says here is that the ten כוחות הנפש will be baked in the oven of אחד. אחד is השם אחד. ואפו עשר נשים לחמכם, you will bake your bread, and bread בכלל, it says, refers to all person's needs, even though it means food that you eat, but it refers to everything, that all the כוחות הנפש will be, with all the needs of the person, will be baked in the oven of echad, in the oven of השם אחד. You can imagine what kind of brachah that is, if we would all, everything that we do would be involved and baked, absorbed, with the תנור of echad? So this is a brachah. Superficially, it's a קללה, superficially it says you're all going to bake it in תנור אחד, the ten women are going to bake in one oven. Or there's another place, just to use as an example, two out of 48 and 49 and 98, it says the last קללה in Parashat Ki Tavo, and the Rebbe says since it's the last, that must include a lot. So the pasuk says there, that the time will come that you will be sold as slaves to Mitzrayim. And not only that, ואין קונה, no one is going to want to buy you. You're going to be sold, you will be taken, it says, by boat to Mitzrayim, and be sold as slaves, and no one is going to want to buy you. That's how terrible it's going to be. So the Rebbe says, you know what that means? That means that a Yid is going to become a slave of Hashem. A Yid is going to be sold, he's going to sell himself and put himself to become an עבד השם, a true עבד. And what he's what he's going to do is, he's going to take all the ניצוצות הקדושה, all the holy sparks that we learn about many times, that are there in the in the world, and in the גלות, which is always referred to as Mitzrayim, and is always referred to as שם, שם means over there, some place in the evil part of the world, you will elevate all that by becoming an עבד to Hashem. And it says he will be going in a boat, because it says that a boat is a protection in the heavy, high seas. So it says in Chassidut that there's a פסוק, יורדי הים באניות, people who go into the ים, go into the river, the sea, with ships or with boats, so it says if you wouldn't have the boat, then you could sink. We in this world live in a world where we're in a very big storm in the river, in the ocean. It says, מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה, there's a pasuk that says that the mighty waters cannot extinguish the love, so it says it means, what are the mighty waters? The mighty waters of the world, the mighty waters of a person's involvement in his livelihood, in פרנסה, in the business and everything, those are mighty waters. They could swallow us us up like anything. But the pasuk says, but nevertheless the love of of a Yid to Hashem is still there. But how is it there? Because Hashem puts us in a boat. Just like a boat protects us, so Hashem protects us also. We have to work on it obviously, to do Torah u-mitzvot, it won't happen by itself, but Hashem gives us the power. Like Noach in his תיבה, he was in the מבול, but he was in the תיבה and that protected him. That's the concept of a boat. So in this world, we are an עבד השם, we are sold as an עבד, and we take out all the ניצוצות הקדושה from Mitzrayim, and we are in a boat. And then it says, ואין קונה, that no one will buy you. So the Rabbi says the pshat is, and we once I explained it in length, the concept of אין, that the word אין means no, but in Kabbalah we learned that the word אין is a certain level. There's a level in higher world which is called אין. I explained where we have different ראיות from pesukim where it says אין. There's a level called מי, if you remember, there's a level called אין, there's a level called אן, that's why it says הסתכל בשלשה דברים, it says that לפני מי, מאין באת, you came from the level of עין, I don't want to repeat the whole thing again, but it says מאין באת, ולאן אתה הולך, ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון, so it's all different levels. Anyway, so what it means here is, ואין קונה, that who is going to buy you? The level of אין. And I explained last time that the level of אין represents a very, very high level. It says הכל תלוי במזל, everything depends on mazal, everything depends on the constellations. And then it says אין מזל לישראל, there is no mazal to Yidden. How it says everything is dependent on mazal? So Chassidut says אין מזל לישראל means that what is the mazal of the Yidden? That high level called אין. אין מזל לישראל, not like we translated in simple pshat, אין, no, there is no mazal to the Yidden. אין, this level of אין, that is mazal לישראל. So there's a very high level called אין. So the pasuk here says, ואין קונה, אין will buy you. If you reach a very high level of becoming an eved Hashem, you reached the level of אין. This is just to give an example to show that klalot of the Torah seem to be curses, but in truth it is a brachah, and a very great bracha, it just comes on in a disguise of a klalah. And the same is with things that happen to a people. Well, what say touching on the first example you gave, ten women baking in one oven. Okay, I, you know, the drush I like, but the only question is how how does ten women baking in one oven manifest that? Now, that is the, that is, that actually is a klalah, but in this klalah there was, I mean how bagashmiyut it's going to be. But according to this pshat, the Torah never meant that. According to the pshat of sod, the Torah only meant lechatchilah that you will bake ten kochos in the, of of an oven echad. It is said in a form which seems to be saying something bad, but in truth it doesn't mean that, according to this pshat. I'm not saying the other pshat, the simple pshat doesn't account, אין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו, but according to this pshat, it has a deeper meaning, and it means only that higher level. So the

same is with anything that happens to anybody, to any person, certainly to any Yid, in truth, it is good. The source to this, that to explain what the Chumash means according to be it meaning good, we find in the Gemara. The Gemara says in Moed Katan a story that once there were two tannaim, two great chachamim that came to visit Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. And one of them was Rabbi Yehuda ben Gerim, and one was, no matter, no matter. Two תלמידי חכמים, two great tzaddikim. When they left, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai asked his son, Rav Elazar, did you take advantage and ask them for a bracha? Imagine, such great tzaddikim were here. He said, \"No.\" \"Why not? They just left, you still could catch up to them, go catch up to them and ask them for a bracha.\" So he ran, comes back after a while, very upset. So, \"What happened?\" Said, \"Instead of giving me a bracha, they cursed me.\" So he said, \"What did they say?\" The Gemara tells us all the details that that they said, and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explained how everything they said really was a bracha. It was just in a disguise of a klalah. Now,

why did they have to do that? Why didn't they give him a bracha? So here again Chassidus says, because the bracha was so great, from such a high level, the level of עלמא דאתכסיא, that it had to come down only in a form of a klalah. It had to be covered, disguised. But it's only a disguise, it's only as we call it a levush, but in truth the bracha is there. Also when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi gave his daughter a parting, also, it sounded like it was a kelalah. Yeah, a kelalah, and really it was a berachah, exactly. Now, sometimes when something bad happens to a person, we see later on how this really was a berachah. It happens sometimes, you see something terrible happen and you lost all your money, or you lost a deal, and later you find out that had that not happened, you wouldn't have had something better later. So you realize how it was a berachah. And sometimes we don't realize. And when Mashiach will come, we will realize. We will see how all that is really a berachah. But we know the truth, we know in our mind even if we don't see it, we know that it's all a berachah. Because really it's a higher level of berachah. Disguise is only a disguise. Certainly when we talk about words, sometimes you can have words that in one language it means one thing, and if you know another language, it can mean something else. In one language it might mean a kelalah, the other language it it's a berachah. Same here, the Torah says, if you know the language only the language of the פשט, it seems like a kelalah, but if you know the language of the סוד, then really this explains a berachah. And the same is with what happens to a person, that it could be sounds like a kelalah, looks like a kelalah, but really it's a berachah. And the

same is concerning the גלות and the חורבן as he's talking about here, that the גלות and the חורבן really is a berachah. Not only a berachah, it's רחמים גדולים, it's great רחמים of Hashem. But it's disguised, it came down in a form of דין, but in truth it's a berachah. That's why it happened in the month of אב. אב is a time of רחמים. You have here, it says, the expression כרחם אב על בנים, like a father has רחמנות, pity, on his children, or אב הרחמים, the Father of רחמים. And let me just explain that, we find two expressions, sometimes it says אב הרחמן, and sometimes it says אב הרחמים. The literal difference is, אב הרחמן means the pitiful Father, אב הרחמים means the Father of pity. So חסידות says the level of אב הרחמים is even greater than אב הרחמן. And if you notice in, I don't know in all נוסחאות, in נוסח האר״י for sure, only special times do we say in דאווענען אב הרחמים. In שמונה עשרה, see Shemoneh Esrei of Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur Shabbos, שבת to Mincha, if it comes out Shabbos by Mincha, that's when we say the word אב הרחמים, because then it's the higher level, the Father, which is the source of rachamim. אב הרחמן means the Father who is pitiful. That means that He is the level of rachamim. He is a person who's rachman. So when we say to Hashem, we're talking about Hashem as He is a rachman. When we speak to Hashem and we say אב הרחמים, we're talking to Him and even the way He's higher than that, He is the source of rachamim. So the month of Av represents not only אב הרחמן, but אב הרחמים. So it's a month of rachamim. How do we have Tisha B'Av and חורבן בית המקדש in the month of Av, which is complete opposite? The answer is because Tisha B'Av is the greatest rachamim. We don't see it yet. When we look now at the churban, to us it's a churban, it's a galus. We don't see anything good about it. But when Mashiach will come, we will see, because we've been learning till now many of the שיחות here or many of the quotations from the different ספרים, that the only way we are able to reach the level that will be revealed in the time of Mashiach is only through the galus. If not for the galus, we wouldn't have that great revelation when Mashiach will come. If the second בית המקדש would stay, and stay on and stay on, we'd stay with that level, which is not at all comparable to the level that's going to be when Mashiach will come. So how can we reach the level when Mashiach will come? Only by the חורבן בית המקדש. And really the חורבן בית המקדש is good, it's part of the building of the third בית המקדש. And we learned it once in detail, explained the mashal, when you buy an old house, you want to build a new mansion, and the way you start building is, first you knock down the old house, and then you have an empty lot, then you build. So where does the building start? Does it start from when you start laying the foundation for the mansion, or from when you start knocking down the old house? That's already the beginning of your building. So here too, the beginning of the building of the third בית המקדש is from the חורבן בית המקדש. So really, if you look at it, it's for the good. Even when we look at the churban as a result of our עבירות, מפני חטאינו גלינו מארצנו, because of our sins, we're chased out of our land, so there's a result of our aveiros. So then it's really not so good, Hashem punished us. But even that, if you look at that from that aspect, it's also good, because the punishment was not for the sake of punishment. The punishment was for the sake of us becoming better, and doing teshuvah, and therefore reaching the level of the third Beit HaMikdash. So when Hashem punished us, it was really an expression of Hashem's true love to us. That explains why when Mashiach will come, Tisha B'Av will be the biggest Yom Tov. The question is, mimela if we say it won't be a fast day anymore, a day of mourning anymore, we understand, we'll have the Beit HaMikdash again. Why should we mourn the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash? We'll have a better one. But why is it a Yom Tov? What's so special about Tisha B'Av? So it says, because what's a Yom Tov? A יום טוב בכלל means a day when Hashem reveals more of His light. That's, in truth, what the concept of a Yom Tov is. That's one of the reasons why on Yom Tov you can't work. You can't work on Shabbos, you can't work on Yom Tov. So it says, why? Because Hashem reveals Himself on that day, He's closer to us, so how could we work? You, be'emet the question is asked, we know that if you stand in front of a king, you can never work, you're not allowed to move, you have to stand with the greatest respect. The Gemara says anybody who just makes any motion in front of a king deserves to die. Now, מלא כל הארץ כבודו, Hashem is all over. How could we work? We're standing in front of Hashem! The answer is, yeah, we're standing in front of Him, but we don't see Him, He's not revealed. Shabbos, Hashem is more revealed. That's why we can't work on Shabbos, because on Shabbos we're standing in front of the King, and the same is with Yom Tov. And that's the idea of a Yom Tov. A Yom Tov means that there is a special revelation of Hashem's light, of Godliness into this world, every Yom Tov with a different form. Pesach it says clearly, נגלה עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא וגאלם, says in the Haggadah. Hashem revealed Himself. Every year Pesach comes, that revelation takes place. We unfortunately are not sensitive enough to feel it, but it's there. Sukkot is another type of revelation. Every Yom Tov is a revelation. Tisha B'Av is also a revelation of Hashem's, of Hashem to us. The fact that Hashem punished us was a revelation of Hashem's love. If He wouldn't love us, He wouldn't punish us. Why would He do it? So when Hashem destroyed the Beit HaMikdash, it's like a parent gives a patsh to a child, and the reason he gives a patch is because he loves the child, or she loves the child. And I'll tell you the truth, it's a stronger revelation of love than when you buy the child a present when the child is good. That's certainly an expression of love. I'll tell you why, because when you buy the child a present when the child is good, it's not going against your nature. Naturally, a parent wants to be good to the child. So your love doesn't is does you don't show that your love is so strong that it breaks through the barrier of your nature. But to give a child a patch is against the nature of a parent. And nevertheless, your love is so strong for the child that you'll go against your nature in order to express your love. So that's a stronger love. Isn't a love that breaks through the barrier of your nature? So that's a stronger expression of love. The child doesn't see it. Child, whatever he is, child is upset. When the child grows up and understands what happened, the child could look back sometimes and say, \"Well, the best day in my life was that day when my mother gave me a patch and that changed my life. I was upset, but because of that, I changed, and that's why I'm where I'm now.\" So the best day is that day, but you don't see it till later when you realize it. The same with us. The בית המקדש was destroyed, it's a patch Hashem gave us. We don't see how that's showing His love. When Mashiach will come and we'll look back and we'll say, \"The best day, when did Hashem really express His love to us? When was this great revelation of love from Hashem to us?\" is at that time. So that's concerning galut and churban. The same is concerning anytime a person, something bad happens to him, it's actually an expression of Hashem's love in a higher form. That's the meaning of the pasuk that says, \"את אשר יאהב השם יוכיח.\" The one Hashem loves, he's the person that Hashem punishes. Why? Because if Hashem, Hashem definitely doesn't want to hurt us. Definitely doesn't want. It's, so to speak, kivayachol, His nature. I mean, we can't use the word \"nature\" by Hashem, but as so to speak. So when Hashem showers us with all kinds of good things because He loves us, it's fine, that's going along with His nature. Hashem wants to do chesed, and טבע הטוב להטיב, the good that the nature of good is to do good, and He does good. When He has to show His love in a way that He has to go against this, so to speak, nature, that's a stronger level of love, that even goes beyond the barriers, the boundaries of His nature. That's a higher level. And that's what the galut and churban, that's what he says here, that the galut and churban is really rachamim. It's really the great rachmanut of Hashem, but it's rachamim that came down in a disguise of galut and churban. And meantime, the disguise is still there. We don't see what's behind it, but when Mashiach will come, we'll see. But then actually he says here something else, too. He says here that the reason it has to go through a disguise is because otherwise the מידת הדין, the attribute of din is not going to allow the goodness to come down. If Hashem would shower us with pity and kindness the way that we see it, the מידת הדין will fight it and will not allow it to come down. So therefore Hashem puts it in a box and closes it, covers it up with the disguise of of being din, so the מידת הדין lets it go through. And he says another point: this is like a compensation for the מידת הדין. You know, here they throw, they say by Yiddish, me varft dem hunt a beindl, you throw the dog like a bone, you take yours and then don't bother me, and then Hashem could give us the best and the most. This is another thing, that a lot of times why does Hashem not give us the good in a form of good, but disguises it, is because of מידת הדין. And I'd like to explain that point, too. What do we mean Hashem is afraid that מידת הדין is going to fight it? Hashem is afraid of מידת הדין? What is מידת הדין? מידת הדין is one of the attributes of Hashem the way He had set up. So He is afraid of מידת הדין, or He worries about מידת הדין? But the pshat is like this: Hashem set up the seder, the order of השתלשלות, the order of of how everything works, whether it's the order of the nature of מעשה בראשית, of the world, or the order of the way things happen from Shamayim, from heaven, coming down through all the other worlds, whatever it is. He set up a certain seder, a certain order. And He, k'vayachol, put Himself in a position, He put Himself, that's why it's not really binding Him, but He put Himself in a position that He will follow the order that He has set up. And He has set up an order that there is a מידת הדין, and there is a בית דין של מעלה, there is a בית דין above, and they have the right to judge and to see what will come down, what will not come down, how it should come down. And therefore, even though Hashem, if He wants, He could override them, but He doesn't go against His own established order that He made. So therefore, what He does is, He wants to go along with the order, to leave it up to the מידת הדין and בית דין של מעלה, nevertheless, to do what He wants. Now, it doesn't mean that Hashem will never, ever override them, even if it means going against His own order. It does happen at certain times. But generally speaking, it doesn't happen. That's one of the reasons it says why b'chalal there's a mitzvah to daven. Why do you have to daven, ask Hashem for what for your needs? What does Hashem need you to ask Him for it? If Hashem wants wants to give it to you, he'll give it to you. And if you don't ask him for it, he knows what you need. And if he won't want to give it to you, he won't give it to you even if you ask for it. I mean, what's the idea of asking? See, by a natural person down here in this world, if you don't ask him, he won't know. So you have to come and explain it to him and try to show him how much you need it, he'll give it to you. But Hashem, he knows all the explanations, he knows everything. So it says, because sometimes Hashem wants to give, and the מידת הדין will come and say, \"No! Hashem, you have you have given us certain rules and regulations, and according to these rules and regulations, this person doesn't deserve it.\" We find a lot of times that מידת, אמרה מידת הדין לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא, מידת הדין said to Hashem, this and that. Hashem wants that a person should deserve it, that מידת הדין should not be able to say anything. When you daven to Hashem, what is it? It's an expression of your trust in Hashem. You ask Hashem for something, that shows that you believe that it's in his hands. So Hashem wants a person to exercise and bring out, express his emunah, then Hashem says to the מידת הדין, \"This person does deserve it. You want to stop it because he doesn't deserve it, look, he has such great emunah, that itself makes that he should deserve it and Hashem should be able to give.\" Because otherwise the מידת הדין might stop. The same we find in many other times, that the מידת הדין could stop. And therefore we find some interesting things where Hashem disguised things, not only in this area that we're talking, the issues that the subject we're talking about here, but בכלל Hashem disguises sometimes certain things in order for the מידת הדין not to see it. The mashal that's given is that when you want to send a diamond someplace to somebody and you don't you're afraid of eyes that might look and find it and suspect and steal it, so the best way to send it is when it's covered up in dirt, in garbage. No one's going to suspect it's there. And the same thing here, Hashem covers it up so the מידת הדין won't suspect or won't stop it. But the example given is, considering another matter,

why is it that David Hamelech and Mashiach come from a lineage that seems not so 100% kasher? Avraham Avinu came from Terach, but here it's by Yidden, it's, here it's the story of Tamar. Yehuda and Tamar, and the famous story in the Chumash which was doesn't seem to be so kasher—I mean, in truth everything is fine, but doesn't seem to be—and that is the great-great-grandfather of David Hamelech, and then automatically of Mashiach. Why is it like that? So it says, for that reason, because in order for the great neshamah of David to come down, the מידת הדין would not allow it, and Hashem had to disguise it. We find by Moshe Rabbeinu an interesting thing. Moshe Rabbeinu was born from a marriage that had his marriage had that marriage been now, after the Torah was given, Moshe Rabbeinu would have been a mamzer. His father married his aunt, his father's sister. When the Torah was given, it says that if a person marries his brother's his father's or if a man, yeah, marries his father's sister, that's one of the עריות and the child is a mamzer. Now this happened before מתן תורה, before the Torah was given, so it's no problem. But on the other hand, the fact that later on this was forbidden shows that in truth it's not such a nice act. So why is it that Moshe Rabbeinu, out of all people, should be born from a marriage which is forbidden after מתן תורה, and the kind of a marriage that the child is a mamzer? So it says the same thing, because Hashem wanted to disguise it, cover it up so when it comes onto this world, it should not be seen as something special, and therefore the מידת הדין will let it go through, and it'll come through and come down into this world, and that's the neshamah of Moshe Rabbeinu. And the same is here also. Hashem disguises sometimes the greatest good that he wants to give to a person in order for מידת הדין should not stop it. Now, it doesn't mean that when it comes down, always is it later seen how good it is. Sometimes it stays in that disguise. And it's definitely good. We don't know how, Mashiach will come. He himself. That's another story. Right, and he thought that this was from definitely from that, the relations. Right, so it's another, so we see a lot of things. That's the one, yeah. They have to have קופה של שרצים. It's it's all the same because, for the same reason, because otherwise there is this problem. And what this, the Rebbe is trying to say here is that the same thing is concerning the galut, that in order for the מידת הדין not to stop this great rachamim that Hashem brought into this world through the galut, that's why he had to have it disguised. But in truth this is something very great, and that's why we are able to accomplish in the time of galut more than we were able to accomplish in time of the Beit HaMikdash, more even than we're able to be to accomplish when Mashiach will come. There's an expression from the Frierdiker Rebbe in a sichah where he says when Mashiach will come, וועט מען זיך רייסן די האר פון קאפ, we'll tear the hair out of our head why we didn't take advantage of the galut to do what's supposed to, because later on it'll be too late. But we just don't see how this is a special opportunity. So, we have to, but realize that since it's from Hashem it's definitely good, and the worse that it is, the greater it is, and the galut is the worst thing we could have, so this is רחמים גדולים. Still

have a few minutes, so let's maybe start learning the next piece. Unless there are questions that people want to ask, and we could go into that. הצדיקים הגדולים יכולים להשיג עכשיו בארץ ישראל, the great צדיקים can reach and grasp now in ארץ ישראל, יותר ממה שהשיגו צדיקים כמותם בזמן הבית, more than equal צדיקים in the time of the Beit HaMikdash were able to reach, the spiritual level. Vechmo haAri, like for instance haAri who lived in ארץ ישראל, שהשיג השגות כאלו שלא השיגו צדיקי הדורות הקודמים. He reached such great levels of understanding, spiritual understanding, levels that צדיקים in the earlier generations in the time of the Beit HaMikdash didn't reach. I mean, this is a very strong statement to make, that haAri reached higher levels than צדיקים who lived in the Beit HaMikdash time. We're talking about the תנאים, the great people, and haAri, we see, reached higher levels. He writes things that talking about such high levels that they never mentioned. Why is it? סיבת הדבר, he says the reason is, כי

בזמן הבית האירו בארץ ישראל בחינת המחשבה העליונה, which is עלמא דאתכסיא, עלמא דסתום וכו׳, ובחינת דיבור העליון, עלמא דאתגליא, עלמא דגליא. In the time of the Beit HaMikdash shined in the world, this is actually a hard kabbalistic piece, shined the light of Hashem in the world from the levels we called עלמא דאתכסיא and the level we called עלמא דאתגליא, the hidden world and the revealed world, which it says is similar to מחשבה and דיבור, to thought and speech. Thought is hidden, speech is revealed. When you speak, people could hear. When you think, people don't know what's in your mind; that's hidden. אלא שעיקר היה בחינת הדיבור, but that time, what was the main part was the lower level, which is compared to דיבור, to speech. המחשבה נתלבשה בתוך הדיבור והדיבור נתגלה. The thought, the level of thought of Hashem, which is the higher worlds, was put into the level of speech, and that was revealed in the world. לכן היה אז גילוי אור אלוקי בבית המקדש. Because דיבור is something that's revealed, so that time there was a revelation of godliness. So, that time people had the revelation, ולכן היו אז נביאים ובעלי רוח הקודש, you had a lot of נביאים, prophets, people who had רוח הקודש, because the level of דיבור, which is a revealed level, shined, and therefore they were able to have it. הרי שהצדיקים שהיו אז השיגו בחינת המחשבה כפי שהתלבשה בבחינת הדיבור. Therefore these tzadikim, there were greater possibility for people being such to become such great tzadikim. But which level did they reach? The level of דיבור, the lower level, because that's the level that shined. So, it has a maalah, something positive and something negative. On one hand, because it's the level of דיבור which is revealed, so godliness was revealed, so more people were able to get it. On the other hand, since that was a level that's revealed, it's a lower level. So, there is not as much revelation, or such a high revelation, as the level of מחשבה.

בזמן הגלות לעומת זה, on the other hand, in the time of גלות, אין בחינת הדיבור בגילוי, the level which is revealed is not there. ונשאר ההארה מבחינת המחשבה. So, what's left? The higher level, which is not revealed. אבל מכיוון שהיא בחינת עלמא דאתכסיא, אין גילוי אור אלוקי עכשיו בארץ ישראל כפי שהיה בזמן הבית. Because this is a level that's hidden, so the revelation that shines is a hidden level, and therefore we don't feel there is no godly revelation in Eretz Yisrael. והצדיקים משיגים בחינת המחשבה עצמה, but on the other hand, those tzadikim that do feel it, what do they feel? They feel the higher level than the tzadikim who used to be in the time of the בית המקדש, כפי שהיא נעלה מהתלבשות בבחינת הדיבור, which is higher than the level of דיבור. So in short, what he's saying here is that a tzadik in the time of the Beit HaMikdash, since the level was revealed, so many people could be tzadikim, because they felt this level, this revelation, but the revelation itself was a lower level. Now, the revelation is not felt, but whatever is there is a higher one. So those few tzadikim who do manage to feel it,