Fine. Yeah. Holding here on page 19 at the bottom, and as I do every week, I'm going to first read what he brings here, and then I will try to explain it. It says in פרקי אבות, גלות בא לעולם, that exile comes to the world, that means Hashem will bring exile, על עבודה זרה, as a punishment for idol worship, ועל גילוי עריות, and for adultery, ועל שפיכות דמים, and for murder, ועל שמיטת הארץ, and for not keeping the mitzvah of Shemittah, which is the Sabbatical year. That's what it says in Pirkei Avot, that generally exile will come as a punishment for these four sins. So the

Rebbe says here, במאמר זה מודגש, in this saying, this statement, is stressed, עד כמה מושלל ענין הגלות ממציאות העולם, how far really galut is not something that should be in the world. עד כדי כך, so much so, שרק כאשר עוברים על הענינים הכי חמורים שבתורה, so much so that only when a person people would transgress the most strictest sins in the world, the תורה, אי אז, only then, גלות בא לעולם, the galut will come. ולולא זה, if not for that, הנה אפילו אם יעברו על תר״ט מצוות התורה, even if people would transgress on 609 mitzvot of the Torah, chas veshalom, God forbid, עדיין אין מקום לענין של גלות, there's still no place for galut. In other words, he's taking out from this statement of the Chazal an opposite idea. Usually when you learn this מאמר חז״ל in Pirkei Avot, it seems to say, well look how terrible it is, for these terrible עבירות גלות comes. But the Rebbe could take everything and turn it around and say, well from here we see that in order to have galut, you have to transgress the worst the worst עבירות in the Torah. But all other עבירות, and there are 609 עבירות or me- I mean mitzvot other than these four, for that Hashem still wouldn't bring a galut. Because essentially galut, in order to get galut, Hashem should bring to put the Yidden into a situation of galut, you have to be terrible. But if it's not the worst, then you don't belong in galut. וטעם הדבר מובן בפשטות, and the reason is understood very simply, מכיון שזהו עולמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, being that this is the world of השם, לא יתכן שיהיה בו ענין של גלות, so it doesn't fit that we should have galut there. Galut is the opposite of Hashem, as I will explain. And since this is the world of Hashem, so in the world of Hashem, it's that you should have something which is against Hashem, and therefore only and actually it does say that the reason for galut in the first בית המקדש was because of these four aveirot: for people committing עבודה זרה, idol worship, גילוי עריות, adultery, שפיכות דמים, murder, and not keeping shemittah. Now let's get to the details of this part of this thing that we learned here from the Rebbe. When we look at this superficially, the reason why galut comes for these four aveirot is because the first three are the worst aveirot that we have. And therefore, in order for Hashem to bring galut, it's only if you do the worst aveirot. Why are these three the worst, and where do we see it's the worst? Because we know a halachah like this: פיקוח נפש דוחה כל התורה כולה.

When a person's life is in danger, then it pushes away the whole Torah, every aveirah. That means that you have to do any aveirah necessary if it means saving one's life. It means to be מחלל שבת, to eat on Yom Kippur, to eat chametz on Pesach, the worst aveirot if it means saving a person's life, with three exceptions: עבודה זרה, גילוי עריות, ושפיכות דמים. Idol worship is beyond a person's life. That means if someone will say to somebody, either you worship an idol, if not, I will kill you, you have to let yourself get killed. And the same is with גילוי עריות when it comes to committing adultery, and the same thing is with committing murder. So these three are the worst aveirot that we find in the Torah. Other aveirot, the din is that you have to you have to give up your- you have to do the aveirah and not give up your life. Now I said you have to, I really should take it back. There is an argument here in the poskim whether you have to or not. The Rambam, for instance, holds that by other aveirot you you're are not allowed to give up your life. If it's a question of giving up your life or doing an aveirah, you have to do the aveirah. You are not allowed to give up your life for Shabbos. And the Rambam says even more, that if a person gives up his life, he's actually committing suicide. Because since על פי הלכה you don't have to give up your life, you're not allowed to give up your life, so if you give up your life for that, it's committing suicide. On the other hand, other poskim hold that you're allowed to give up your life. When it says that only for these three aveirot, it means that for these three aveirot you must give up your life. For other aveirot you don't have to give up your life, but if you want to, you could. But for these three aveirot you must. Actually, the argument is the peshat in the Gemara. The Gemara says that for all עבירות יעבור ואל יהרג, you should transgress and don't get killed. So the Rambam says that what the Gemara means יעבור, transgress, you must transgress, ואל יהרג, and you're not allowed to get killed. And other poskim hold יעבור, you may be over, you may transgress, and ואל יהרג, you don't have to get killed. As a matter of fact, they say that if a person would give up his life for other aveirot, he's considered a tzaddik. He did lifnim mishurat hadin. But anyway, that's concerning other aveirot. Concerning these three aveirot, we know that these three aveirot are so terrible that as important as a Jewish life is, it is not as important as these three aveirot, and you have to give up your life for these aveirot. So that's the simple peshat when we see this מאמר חז״ל in Pirkei Avot. But why is it that galut will come for these three aveirot? Because these three aveirot are such terrible aveirot, so only for such terrible aveirot Hashem will bring galut. Galut actually

means He chases us out of our land, like a father would chase his child away from his table. When would a father do that? Only when the child behaves terribly. If he just doesn't behave so terrible, even though even if he does if he misbehaves, still wouldn't do it. The same thing for Hashem. When would He send us to galut? Only if we do these three terrible aveirot. The fourth one is also understood. The fourth one is a mitzvah that has to do with the land. שמיטת הארץ is the mitzvah of the land. The din is that when Yidden went entered Eretz Yisrael, they had to count six years, then the seventh year was shmitah. They weren't allowed to plow or plant and do anything with the land. For not keeping shmitah, that means he did not keep the mitzvah that has to do with the land, for that you deserve to be chased out of the land. And that's why galut will come because of the aveirah of shmitah, as we actually learned just a few weeks ago in Parashat Bechukotai, and Rashi even makes the whole calculation that the amount of years that they were in גלות בבל, 70 years of גלות בבל, fits to 70 shemitot that the Yidden did not keep. But we understand the connection, because shemitah is a mitzvah of the land. If you don't keep the mitzvah of the land, then Hashem says, \"Then you don't deserve the land,\" so He chases out of Eretz Yisrael. That's the simple way we learn peshat in this מאמר חז״ל on Pirkei Avot. But in truth, when we start looking deeper into it, it's more than that. These four aveirot, each one of these four have a special connection to being sent away from Eretz Yisrael. That means keeping these aveirot has a special connection to being in the land of Eretz Yisrael. And therefore, by not keeping these, all four, each one, we'll go through each one separately and we will see how each one of these has a special connection to Eretz Yisrael, to being in the land of Eretz Eretz Yisrael, and then for not keeping it, automatically, you don't deserve to have Eretz Yisrael. And

we'll start with the first one. The first one is avodah zarah. Now, avodah zarah is worshiping an idol. Now, that we understand right away, at first glance, why for not for worshiping an idol we don't deserve to be in the land, because worshiping an idol means not believing in Hashem, you believe in another god. If you don't believe in you don't believe in Hashem, and that automatically is connected to Eretz Yisrael. Because Eretz Yisrael, it says, is a land where Hashem is felt stronger than in any other place of the world. I mentioned it once before, there's a pasuk that describes Eretz Yisrael, and the pasuk says like this: Eretz Yisrael is ארץ אשר עיני השם אלקיך בה מראשית השנה ועד אחרית שנה. It's a land that the eyes of Hashem are there from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. And the question that's asked is: what do we mean that the eyes of Hashem are there from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, as if saying that Hashem only looks on Eretz Yisrael and doesn't look other parts of the world? We know that Hashem is משגיח בהשגחה פרטית, there is a divine providence to the whole world. So Hashem looks all over. What do we mean Hashem looks to Eretz Yisrael? And the answer is very simple: that in Eretz Yisrael it's easier to feel Hashem than it is in other places. Hashem is more revealed there, so it's easier to see the eyes of Hashem when you're in Eretz Yisrael, and especially in the time When we had the Beit Hamikdash, and as it will be even more in the time of Mashiach, it's a place where we're able to feel godliness, to feel the truth of Hashem. That's what you could feel in Eretz Yisrael. While when you're outside of Eretz Yisrael, it says we don't feel it so much. That's why the Gemara says, it's an interesting Maamar Chazal, the Gemara says like this: כל הדר בחוץ לארץ, anybody who lives outside of ארץ ישראל, כמי שאין לו, דומה כמי שאין לו אלוקה. It seems as if he has no God. כל הדר בארץ ישראל, anybody who lives in ארץ ישראל, דומה כמי שיש לו אלוקה, it's as if he has a God. What does that mean, if you live outside of Eretz Yisrael, it's as if you don't have a God? Or another statement, the Gemara says: ישראל שבחוץ לארץ, עובדי עבודה זרה בטהרה. The Yidden who live outside of Eretz Yisrael, it's as if they worship idols, but in a clean way. What does that mean? I will explain in more detail soon, but the meaning in simple words are that in Eretz Yisrael, you could feel Hashem more than you could feel Him in Chutz La'aretz. And therefore, when you're outside of Eretz Yisrael, it's as if you have no God, you don't feel God so much. When you're outside of Eretz Yisrael, it's as if you're worshipping idols, because you don't really feel that everything comes from Hashem. In Eretz Yisrael you're able to feel how everything comes from Hashem, and in Chutz La'aretz, not. Which is the concept of Avodah Zarah, and I'll explain it. When we talk about Avodah Zarah, we always think Avodah Zarah means idol worship. Idol worship means, you know, we imagine take a statue and bow down to the statue and you say: קלי אתה, you're my God. That's the pretty foolish part of Avodah Zarah. That's not really what Avodah Zarah is. The Rambam describes Avodah Zarah. He says in the beginning of Hilchos Avodah Zarah, how Avodah Zarah started. Where did this all start from? People started believing in a piece of rock? So he says that in the time of Enosh, in the beginning of creation, after a few generations, people started thinking and they said to themselves like this: we know Hashem created the world, fine. Hashem gave over a lot of power to many of His servants: to the sun, to the moon, to the stars, the constellation, they have power. And they felt that Hashem gave the power to these servants, that now they are able to do things on their own. And when the sun gives us light, the sun on his own gives us light. And therefore, what did they start doing? They started praying to the sun, asking the sun to give them light, or heat, or whatever it is. Then after it would finish, they would thank the sun, because they think the sun did it. The same with the moon, and everything else. Then it started, let's say you want to pray to the sun at night, and the sun isn't out, so how do you beg the sun to give you heat tomorrow? So they would make an image of the sun and pray to the sun. But all thinking that there is a power in the sun. Now they believed that God made all this, Hashem made all this, but they believed that Hashem gave over a power to the sun on its own, that now the sun and the moon and everything else could act on its own. And we know that's not true. We know that they're all, as I mentioned more than once before, we know that all of these are כגרזן ביד החוצב, it's only like the axe in the hand of the chopper, it's only a tool in the hands of Hashem. In other words, we know that the sun has no power. The sun gives us heat naturally, but there is no such thing as nature. It's Hashem doing it through the tool which is the sun, or whatever anything whoever else is there that we get through, it's only a tool. So basically, Avodah Zarah means believing in something else that has its own power, thinking it has its own power. And not believing in Avodah Zarah, believing in the truth, means to believe that nothing has its own power, it's only Hashem, and everything else is only a tool. From that, it developed that later on, people started making other images, like I said, they started making an image of the sun and bowing down, then other people came and said that we are Nevi'im, sent by the sun to tell you to do so and so, and they started building castles, and they started praying to others, and it continued and developed that people forgot the beginning. They forgot that they're praying to the image because that's supposed to represent the sun that's giving them light, etc., etc., which came from Hashem. As generations passed, they forgot, and to them it became that they're bowing down to the piece of rock. But the essence of Avodah Zarah is believing another power. When we continue a step further, believing in your own power is just as bad. Imagine if a person believes that he has the power to make a living, that's Avodah Zarah. It's a different form of Avodah Zarah, it's not the same as bowing down to a rock. But that we would call עבודה זרה בטהרה, in a clean way, avodah zarah. In truth, we have to remember that whatever we do to make a living is only a keli, it's only a vessel, In the hands of Hashem. When we forget about that, and we think that whatever we do counts because we have the power, if I'm smart, so I was able to be successful in business, that means I'm looking at myself as my own power, that's the same as avodah zarah. What difference does it make if I believe that the sun has its own power, or the moon has its own power, or I have my own power? And actually, the pasuk says that, that we have to remember that הוא הנותן לך כח לעשות חיל. He, Hashem, gives you the power to make your money. And don't think that כחי ועצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה, my own koach, my own strength, gave me all everything that I have. So that's avodah zarah, but it's עבודה זרה בטהרה. So it says like this, that

when the Yidden live in Eretz Yisrael, it's easier to feel that everything comes from Hashem. So when we work, it's easier to feel that what we get is from Hashem, even though it seems as if we do it, but we could get that feeling. Why? Because Hashem is closer to Eretz Yisrael. It's a holy land. It says Hashem chose the land, and He finds Himself there more than in the whole world, which means He is closer, He is more revealed. While when you're outside of Eretz Yisrael, it's harder to feel. That's why the Gemara says that if you're outside of Eretz Yisrael, it's as if you have no God. We forget. We go to work, and we think that we are smart, and we do everything, and we make the money, and we forget about Hashem, and it's almost we have no Hashem. Or the other statement where it says עובדי עבודה זרה בטהרה. Yidden in chutz la'aretz, it's as if they're worshiping עבודה זרה בטהרה. A clean way, not chas v'shalom in a bad way, but in a clean way, but this is it, because out here, we feel that way. That's the reason the the Chumash, when it describes Eretz Yisrael, it says, one of the specialties of Eretz Yisrael is that it rains. Imagine, it says it rains in Eretz Yisrael. And it says, לא כארץ מצרים, not like in Egypt, where it doesn't rain, the Nile overflows once a year, but says there, למטר השמים תשתה מים, it rains in Eretz Yisrael. What is the idea of rain? Who cares if it rains? Why is that so special about Eretz Yisrael? So it says in Midrash, when it rains, you always have to look up to to shamayim and wait for the rain. And sometimes it doesn't rain, and you have to daven to Hashem. So the fact that it rains is not just stam a maalah, Eretz Yisrael, it rains. It's another form of telling us that in Eretz Yisrael, you always have to keep Hashem in mind. And there, it's easier to feel it. So when the Yidden worship avodah zarah, that's the complete opposite of having Eretz Yisrael, cuz ארץ ישראל represents the recognition of Hashem, and עבודה זרה is the idea of not recognizing Hashem. That's why galut comes for עבודה זרה. Galut means to be chased out of ארץ ישראל, because we don't deserve ארץ ישראל, which is a place where you're supposed to recognize Hashem, and if the Yidden in ארץ ישראל did not recognize Hashem, then why be in ארץ ישראל? Why be in the land? So the Eibershter would send the Yidden away from ארץ ישראל for עבודה זרה. And as I said, it doesn't only mean for actual worshiping idols, but even just for feeling כחי ועצם ידי. Especially when there was a Beit HaMikdash. This is true in ארץ ישראל even without a Beit HaMikdash, even nowadays. But when we had the Beit HaMikdash, then it was even more. When the Yidden were in ארץ ישראל with the Beit HaMikdash, they used to go for Yom Tov to Yerushalayim, and in Yerushalayim, they would get to see actually Godliness. There's a pasuk that says that שלש פעמים בשנה יראה כל זכורך, three times a year, every male should be seen in front of Hashem. And the Gemara tells us two things: you see you they would go to be seen, and go to see. Hashem, hash- they would show themselves to Hashem by going into the Beit HaMikdash, and they would see Hashem. They would actually feel Godliness. That's one of the reasons why the name of the city is Yerushalayim. The simple reason is because it's a combination of two names. It says Avraham Avinu called it יראה. We say it in every morning in the akedah. It says when he, after the akedah, which was on הר המוריה, on the place of the Beit HaMikdash, so it says, בהר השם יראה, and then in Chumash we find that it was called שלם. It says מלכי צדק מלך שלם. Together it's יראה שלם, so it's Jerusalem. But what does that actually mean? יראה שלם means the complete fear, that that's where you have complete fear of Hashem. It says in Pirkei Avot that there were 10 miracles that were done in Beit Hamikdash. Not all actually were in the Beit Hamikdash. Some of them were in Jerusalem. For instance, it says a person never said, \"I have no place to sleep over.\" And this was not in the Beit Hamikdash. This was in Jerusalem, in the whole city of Jerusalem. There was never a scorpion or a snake, and other things. So we see that Jerusalem, the miracles that they would see would give them yirat shamayim. They would come to Jerusalem, see the kohanim do the avodah, see the Levi'im do their what they were supposed to sing or whatever they were supposed to do. They would see the Yisraelim standing in the Beit Hamikdash doing the, whatever they were supposed to do, and this would bring to them yirat shamayim. Even though, if we start thinking, what did they do in the Beit Hamikdash? They brought korbanot. What's korbanot? They took animals and they shachat'ed them and they, blood all over, and they took the meat and they put it on a fire, and they, looked like more like a restaurant

maybe than a place of worship, you would imagine your shul. But that's that's the way they served the, they served Hashem through bringing korbanot. And the korbanot was the highest avodah. Anything that we could imagine, any form or shape of serving Hashem doesn't come to korbanot. We know that the Torah, the world stands on Torah, avodah, gemilut chasadim. Torah and service and good deeds. What's service? What's avodah? So nowadays it means tefillah, davenen, but originally it was korbanot. And that's the real avodah. The greatest avodah of serving Hashem was through the korbanot. Together with the korban there was a lot of feeling that they used to have, they had to have all kinds of things in mind, but that's true, but the main thing was the korbanot. And that itself would bring people to yirat shamayim. They would get closer to Hashem, especially if they would see certain miracles happen. When you see a miracle, obviously you know it's from Hashem. For instance, they would see the menorah. It says one of the things was the menorah, it's not one of the ten miracles, but the menorah, there was one candle of the menorah that never was extinguished. Never. נר מערבי. And it says in the Gemara that that was עדות היא לבאי עולם. It was a testimony to all the people of the world ששכינה שרויה בישראל, that the Shechinah is there. So the yidden would come there actually and feel the Shechinah, and then they would come back to their cities after Yom Tov, and they would have that feeling till the next Yom Tov. One's explained that's why there was an inyan of מעשר שני and things like that, but it's all because at the time of the בית המקדש there was, we could call it using the terms of Kabbalah and Chassidus, גילוי אלקות. There was a revelation of Godliness. Now

עבודה זרה means not only not believing in Hashem, but עבודה זרה also means if you believe that there's another power other than Hashem. You could believe in Hashem, but if you believe in another power then that's עבודה זרה. That means that Godliness is not revealed to you. Like they say when we say שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד, they once asked a person, \"What do you think when you say שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד?\" So he says, \"I cover my eyes and I say, 'Hear O Israel, God our God, God is one.'\" So he asked him, \"What do you mean God is one?\" \"Well, God is one means that there is no other God, and all other gods like יאשקע or whoever it is, is not a real god, doesn't exist, is not true.\" So this guy answered him, \"That's what you think in השם אחד? That יאשקע is is nothing? Or מוחמד or whatever it is? What you're supposed to think in השם אחד is that I'm nothing. That there is no other being but Hashem. Not that there is no other God, there is no other being but Hashem. That I'm nothing, I don't exist. I am only here because Hashem put me here and wants me to do certain things, that's why I'm here. But otherwise, my metziut, my being is nothing.\" And in ארץ ישראל at the time of the בית המקדש you would feel it. When Mashiach will come, then we will really feel this. And as we've been learning the whole time that what is really going to happen when Mashiach will come: ונגלה כבוד השם, the glory of Hashem will be the honor of Hashem will be revealed, וראו כל בשר יחדו, all flesh will see כי פי השם דבר, that Hashem spoke. So the truth of the the real gilui, the revelation of Mashiach is the revelation of Godliness. So it's the complete opposite of עבודה זרה. Not only in the technical explanation of עבודה זרה, but as I'm explaining, even the the finer part of עבודה זרה. And that's the first thing he says here. Galut

comes to the world for עבודה זרה. Not only because עבודה זרה is such a terrible sin, because עבודה זרה represents the opposite of being in ארץ ישראל and having a בית המקדש and having or having Mashiach, that's why it fits with galut. So when you have עבודה זרה, we don't deserve the בית המקדש. Hashem sent us out. And when we will change our ways and we will start recognizing that there is nothing but השם, השם אחד, there is only one being, as the pasuk says, אין עוד מלבדו, there is nothing but Him. Doesn't say there's no other God but Him, that's also true, that certainly, but there is nothing else but Him. When we recognize that, that's when Mashiach will come and then we will feel it even more. So this is the first aveirah why that galut comes for. Then the second aveirah he says is for גילוי עריות. That's for adultery. Why davka that aveirah? So again, simple peshat, because it's a terrible aveirah, it's the worst aveirah, it's one of those three aveirot you have to give your life up for. So that brings galut. But it's more than that. The specific aveirah of גילוי עריות has a connection to galut, because it says like this, that there is something in גילוי עריות, there is a certain aspect in adultery that no other aveirah has. No other aveirah. Even not עבודה זרה, which on one hand עבודה זרה is the worst. Out of all, out of all three is the worst, cuz it's mamash going against Hashem. The real עבודה זרה, which means bowing down to an idol, is going against the foundation of Yiddishkeit, which is to believe in God, and here you believe in another god. But there is something in, in גילוי עריות that no other aveirah has. And that is that

any aveirah a person does, any sin, including עבודה זרה, only affects a certain part of the person. It doesn't affect the essence of the person. Let's say עבודה זרה, even עבודה זרה, when a person bows down to עבודה זרה, it affects his head, his body, part that bows down, or if in his mind he believes in another god, it affects his mind. Has nothing to do with his feet, has nothing to do with his hands. You do another aveirah, a person מחלל שבת, he writes on Shabbos, God forbid, so the aveirah is connected to his hand. Certainly, any aveirah you do with any part of the body affects everything. I mean, it's all connected and we're all one body, true, but still the aveirah was done with a certain אבר, a certain part of the body, plus with a certain koach, there's a certain aspect of the nefesh, of your life that's put into the hand, and the aveirah, chas veshalom, was done with that part, or any other aveirah that you do. Which there is no aveirah that the essence of the person is involved, which automatically means if the essence of the person is involved, then automatically it involves the whole person. The only aveirah is when it comes to adultery. The aveirah of forbidden relations involves the essence of the person, because that has the whole person in it. And as we see, Chassidut explains this, we see that from a relations will come out a child. The

child, it says, takes from the essence of the father. The child doesn't just take a certain, what we would call in Chassidut, gilui, certain detail or revealed part of the father, but the child takes the essence of the father. The proof is, the Gemara says that it's possible that יפה כח הבן מכח האב. You could have the child should be better than the father. It's possible. You find a lot of times the child is smarter than the father. You find a lot of times that a let's say a father who has a certain problem and the child wouldn't have that problem. Say God forbid a person can't see or whatever it is, the child will see. Now normally, it's impossible for an effect to be stronger than the cause. So if the father is the cause of the child, then how is it possible the child should have more than the father? So the answer it says is because the father gives his etzem, his essence. When a person is missing something, his essence is not missing. The person's עצם הנפש, the person's etzem, essence of his life, whatever deficiency he has, it's only in the way it's revealed, the essence always has it. Let's say, God forbid, someone who can't walk, the nefesh has the ability of walking, it's just that there's something wrong with the foot that can't take it. So the essence is has all the kochot, the essence has everything, it just doesn't come out. Now the child, since he takes from the essence of the father, so therefore the child will have it, even though the father doesn't have. And that's what the lashon of the גמרא, יפה כח הבן מכח האב, that it's possible that the koach, the strength, the power of the child should be more than the father. And then Chassidut has another, a deeper pshat here. יפה כח הבן, that when the the koach, the power of the child is strong, you know where it comes? מכח האב. It comes from the koach of the father. Because when it comes to this, the essence of the person is put in. So if it's done properly, then it's the biggest thing possible. It says when that time, the time of relations, that this represents the connection of in אצילות, of מלכות and ז״א, and all kinds of things that goes on, and the essence of the person is involved in such a holy matter. If it's in a forbidden way, then it's just the opposite. Then the essence of the person is involved in the aveirah, the essence of the person. When we say גילוי עריות, that the for for for adultery גלות comes, we we

look back and we see by גלות בבל, it wasn't just forbidden relations, there was one specific type that was more at that time, and that was marrying a non-Jewish person. A Jewish man marrying a non-Jewish woman is even worse, even though the Rambam says clearly, the Rambam says like this: marrying a non-Jewish woman, as far as levels of strictness of the aveirah, is not as strict as other worse aveirot, there are worse forbidden relations than a non-Jewish woman, but nevertheless the Rambam says there is something there that no other aveirah has. And he says like this, and the way the pshat is, no matter what aveirah it is, what forbidden relations it is, and we said that the essence of the person is there, involved in the aveirah, but nevertheless, it doesn't go across the border of Yiddishkeit. A child that's born from a forbidden relations, even if it's from the serious cases, the child is a ממזר. Child has a דין of a mamzer. It's terrible, the child can't marry, all kinds of things. The child is still Jewish. That means as bad as it was, and it went very, very far, it's the essence of the person that was involved in the sin, but it could not cross the border of אידישקייט. There's still a Yid. By marrying a non-Jew, or having a relation with a non-Jewish woman, the child is a goy. That means that the person takes his essence and makes a goy out of it. Imagine, it's not just an aveirah that you did, it makes a goy out of it. That means that here you're actually taking it away from the person himself, and putting it to a goy, changing it into a goy, which there is no way a Yid could

become a goy. We learned that always, a Yid could shmad zich, could convert, could go to church, could do what he wants, a Yid could never become a goy, it's impossible. A goy could be... First, a mamzer can never un-mamzer himself. Right, that's true, but he's still a Yid. Yeah, he's still a Yid. But there is a a Yid with a defect. It's a defect which you can't change. It's like a person chas veshalom is hurt, and nothing you could do about it, so he's a mamzer, but he's still a Yid. But a Yid could never become a goy. A Yid can't become a goy. A Yid could, can't... A goy could become a Yid. A goy could convert. That's what the Torah says. A Yid can't become a goy. You could do what you want. They make this, they make this joke that once a Yid decided to convert, so he became Catholic. I don't know, some one of the Fridays, I don't know, you can't eat meat or something, you have to eat fish, or something like that, I don't know, someone of those days that you can't eat meat by them. So once the priest walked into this guy's house, he sees him eating meat on that Friday. So he says, \"Hey, I thought you're a good Catholic, how do you eat this meat?\" So he says, \"You know what I did? I took some water, and I sprinkled, and I said, 'Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish', it turned into fish. Just like you did on me, you sprinkled on my head a few drops and you said, 'goy, goy, goy, goy, goy', I became a goy? I'm...\" There's no such thing! You can't become a... a Yid can't become a goy. How does a goy become a Yid? Hashem said. The same Hashem who gave you the Torah and said what a Yid and what is a goy, the same Hashem said that if you convert על פי הלכה, you're a new person. Hashem said so. But there's nothing Hashem said the other way, so it's impossible. The only exception is that when a person has relations with a goyah, the child is a goy. And the child is a goy, that means that you took a yid, part of a yid, and it became a goy. That's the only way it's possible. According to this, a goy who have a relationship with a Jewish woman is a good thing, because... It's forbidden, but for... Jewish child is coming from that, so... Yeah, yeah, but it's it's still forbidden. It's forbidden, but it's but it's not even be'erech for what what... Not le'erech, right, not le'erech. Yeah, yeah, yeah, in that way it's not it's not le'erech. It's an issur and it's with all, but it's not the same erech, it's true, it's true. It's much lighter when... Much lighter when a goy with a, right, than a yid with a goyah, 100%. That's lighter, but not light! It's lighter than that, true. But this has something... Instead of a Jew, the kids... kid is Jewish... Kid stays Jewish, right, right, right, right, which is a big a big thing, but it's... So I'm saying it's from goy, from from from something across the border, here we cross the border... The other way, but it's still done in a forbidden way. You're not... It's like elevation. But you're not allowed to. That's elevation. Just like a person who does teshuvah. Let's say a person who does an aveirah, and he does teshuvah, so you elevate the kelipah, which is a very great thing, great as possible, but we can't do it. You're not allowed to eat chazir and then do teshuvah. האומר אחטא ואשוב אין מספיקין בידו. You're changing chazir to good! אין מספיקין בידו, here we say right away that the kid will become Jewish. Right, right away, without even doing teshuvah. That's even more than just I... Yes, yes, but still not allowed to. I'm saying you're right. In that part, you're right, that that it happens and the child becomes Jewish, but it's not allowed. But the other way, it's it becomes a goy, and it means that the essence of a person is involved. There's another step here.

Giving birth, or causing a child to be born, it says in Kabbalah and in Chassidus, is the only, almost the only thing that a human being could do which is similar to Hashem. Hashem is the Creator. And Hashem created the world יש מאין, something from nothing. We can't do it. Whatever we do is יש מיש, we take something, and we change the form, but there is no way that we make something from nothing. One of the things which expresses the כח האין סוף, the infinite power of Hashem, is in a child being born. That's, so to speak, almost from nothing, and then child is born. There's another thing, the כח הצומח, when you plant something in the ground, also from a seed, and the seed rots, and then it starts growing in... to whatever, a tree or into other things, it's also כח האינסוף, but in the human being it says the כח השם that's there that a person uses, where we actually see that it's some special כח is in the כח of giving birth. Forbidden relations means that a person will take the special כח that was given to him by Hashem to be similar to the creator and he will use it to go against Hashem, which is worse than any other aveirah. Other aveirot, you also use Hashem's power. If a person cooks on Shabbos, Hashem gave him the power of cooking, how else was he able to cook, and he goes against Hashem. True, but here you can't see in a in a revealed way how the it's a power of Hashem. You cook, you cook, it's natural. But to give birth is not even natural, because naturally it's impossible it should happen. Up to today, they still don't know exactly how it's possible. Whatever they'll do, they never they could only take a a cell and from a cell they could rebuild, but to create something from the beginning is impossible. That's the koach of Hashem, a special koach which is beyond even the nature of the world, that Hashem put into us. And when you use that against Hashem, that's the worst aveirah. And that is why the second thing he says here, what that will cause galut is גילוי עריות, 'cause גילוי עריות is when you take your essence and you go against Hashem with your essence, and you give it away to to aveirah, that's essentially against Hashem. When Mashiach will come, what's gonna happen? Hashem will reveal, reveal himself, plus he's going to reveal the true connection that he has to the Yidden. It says that the Yidden will be very close to Hashem then. It says עתידים צדיקים שיאמרו לפניהם קדוש. When Mashiach will come, just like we say קדוש now to השם, קדוש קדוש קדוש השם, they're gonna say קדוש to the tzadikim. And it doesn't mean only tzadikim, ועמך כולם צדיקים, all the Yidden are called tzadikim. So the Yidden are gonna be united with Hashem. Which aveirah is the one that goes against it is is גילוי עריות, because that's where a person takes his essence and goes against Hashem. Every other aveirah, as far as you go from Hashem, but you don't affect your essence, so essentially we are still connected to Hashem. But what separates our essence from Hashem, that's only the aveirah of adultery or any other forbidden relations. And that's why that caused the galut. Before the galut, when we had a Beit Hamikdash, the Beit Hamikdash was supposed to show that Hashem is close to us. The Beit Hamikdash was Hashem's house. Hashem lived there. That means Hashem said, 'I live with amongst you, I am close to you.' When the Yidden would do something that would show that their essence is far away from Hashem because they did this, now Hashem said, 'Then I can't live with you.' And that's why he sent us to Galus, davka specifically this aveirah. And then when Mashiach will come, what's gonna happen? Hashem again will reveal his connection to us, which is the opposite of what גילוי עריות is, where you could you go the furthest away from Hashem, further than any other aveirah, because here, not only a certain part of you is away from him, but the essence of the person. Then we

have the third thing which is שפיכות דמים. שפיכות דמים is murder. And that also is a specific thing which is against the inyan of of of geulah, but it brings Galus. 'Cause שפיכות דמים means that you don't care about another person's life. A a Yid's's life is precious by Hashem. Hashem is very close to a Yid. And that's what, like I said before, when the Beis Hamikdash was there, he showed how close he is to us, he lived with us. And Mashiach will come again, he will bring us back and he will show how close he is to us. When a person takes away another Yid's's life, that means he doesn't believe or he doesn't keep the fact that a Yid is important. So Hashem says, 'If you don't believe a Yid is important, that's the reason, that means that you don't feel that a Yid is close to Hashem and it's important for him to live, then why would I be close to you?' And when we say the importance of a Yid, we don't only mean the Yid's neshamah. When we're talking about שפיכות דמים, which is murder, you don't murder, chas v'shalom, someone's neshamah. The neshamah is spiritual. A bullet does not affect the neshamah of a person. A knife does not affect the neshamah of a person, it's only the body. But the body of a Yid is also close to Hashem, is also holy. There's an expression גוף ישראל קדוש הוא, the body of a Yid is holy. It says in Tanya that when it says ובנו בחרת, that Hashem chose us, usually we say, when he says he chose us, what does it mean he chose us? Which part of us did he choose? Well, Yidden were chosen because we have a neshamah. The neshamah is holy. So it says in Tanya, no. The

concept of choice only fits when you have two things which are similar. If two things are different, you can't choose one of the one over the other, it's not choice. Whatever is better, that's what you take. That's not choice. Free choice means they're both equal and you just happen to choose one. The neshamah our neshamah is different than of a goy. So that's not choice, Hashem obviously took us, who else should He take? The neshamah of the goy, not the holy neshamah? But He chose our bodies. As far as our body is concerned, we look the same as a goy, and nevertheless Hashem chose us. So the choice of Hashem is in the body of a yid. That is actually the reason why if a question of one's life, you have to transgress all aveirot except these three, and save your life. Because the life of a yid is important to Hashem. That's why there is a mitzvah to take care of your health, ונשמרתם לנפשותיכם, to take care of your body. It's actually a mitzvah. They say when a person gets old, and he doesn't have a yetzer hara, so the yetzer hara comes and tells him, don't take care of your body, comes and says, no, be very frum, and you know, don't take care of your health, be mehader in the mitzvah, that's the yetzer hara telling him, because there is a mitzvah that a person should take care of his health, his physical health. Hashem wants it because the physical body is holy. So when someone chas v'shalom takes away someone's body, that means that he doesn't care about the kedushah of the yid, and he doesn't care that Hashem is close to the body of a yid, then Hashem says in that case, why should I be close to you? So then Hashem would bring us, send us to galut. The

fourth thing is which is שמיטת הארץ. The next aveirah for the reason of galut is shemittah, not keeping shemittah. Now that is actually similar to the first thing which is עבודה זרה. What was the reason of shemittah? Once in seven years you weren't allowed to work on the field. What was the reason? So it says that the reason of shemittah is similar to the reason why we have Shabbos. Why did Hashem give us the mitzvah of Shabbos? A lot of reasons, but the main point of Shabbos is that as we said before, a yid has to realize that everything comes from Hashem. His parnassah comes from Hashem, his livelihood, his money, his health, everything comes from Hashem. It's hard to feel it, because when you look around, it doesn't look that way. If you go to work you'll get paid, if you don't go to work you don't get paid. So it seems as if my work brings in the money. In truth it's not like that. It's very hard to feel that way. If you work in the field it'll grow, if you don't work it won't grow and you won't have any food. So it doesn't look like it comes from Hashem, it looks like it depends on me. So Hashem said, you know what, once in seven days, I want you not to work. Don't work, close your store, and you'll lose customers, and by doing that you'll start realizing that it's not your work that brings you the customers, but it's Hashem. Because you'll see you'll close your store and Hashem still will give you parnassah. After Shabbos, on Shabbos you feel that way, Shabbos the din is that you're supposed to keep in mind, you're supposed to feel as if you have no worries in the world, and you only have Hashem. And you feel that everything comes from Hashem. And then when you start working again Sunday, and Monday, and Tuesday, the feeling you had on Shabbos is still there. Shabbos is not just to feel that on that day, it's to take along that feeling for the week. But as the days pass, it's only natural that it wears off. You forget, as slowly time passes you forget. What do you need? Another injection. So there's Shabbos again. Comes the seventh day again, you get a new injection and then it's enough for seven days and then you need again, that's how it goes. But the whole idea of Shabbos is to instill within us the realization that everything comes from Hashem and we have nothing, and we are only kelim. Just like Hashem gave us a Shabbos which is once in seven days, Hashem gave us a year in seven years for the same reason. That for a whole year we should not work on the field. Especially those years people, the whole livelihood only came from working in the field. So

when people didn't work on the fields a whole year, and nevertheless they lived, and existed, and they survived, and they had food, this showed them, look, even without your working, Hashem said don't work and He said He'll provide, He provided. So then when you start working the year after that, you still have that feeling from the whole year. Especially it says in sefarim what did they do a whole year that they didn't work? They retired, three had sabbatical for a year. The yeshivot were full. Everyone went to the yeshivah to learn, so they spent a whole year learning Torah. Imagine what kind of kedushah they got. So when they went back to work, their work was full of kedushah. And it went on like that for another year, another year, but as time passed it wears off, so Hashem gave another time a year of shemittah. That's how shemittah went on. So it comes out that the whole concept of shemittah is to instill in the yidn the recognition of one God, which is what we said before, what ארץ ישראל is and the בית המקדש, a place where you could feel Godliness. By

not keeping shemittah, that means that the people did not want to have that feeling of recognition of Hashem, then Hashem says in that case I'll send you to galut, because you don't belong in ארץ ישראל, you don't need a בית המקדש. And when we Will do teshuvah on that feeling, we will start instilling in ourselves the feeling that everything comes from Hashem, then we will deserve the coming of Mashiach, which will bring back that feeling much more even than before, but it's certainly like before that we will again start feeling that everything comes from Hashem. So these four aveirot, the reason they are cause of galut, and keeping them, not doing the aveirot, is a cause of geulah, is not just because they're very terrible aveirot and that's why they cause the galut. And shemittah is connected to the land, and therefore it causes galut to be chased out of the land. Each one of these aveirot have something special why they are a cause of galut.