We'll read the piece that he brings down, and then I will try to go into some of the details. This is taken actually from a letter that was written by the רבי הרש״ב, which was the previous רבי's father. Goes back many years. So he writes like this: עתה הוא זמן הבירורים היותר אחרונים דעקבתא דמשיחא. Now is the time of the last בירורים of the time right before משיח. בירורים refers to the בירור הניצוצות. We've learned about that many, many times in this שיעור, that our job now in order to bring משיח is בירור הניצוצות. That's taken from קבלה, from the אריז״ל, that there are holy sparks that came down into this world, that השם put into this world, and our job is to elevate those sparks and bring it back back to its source. And when all the ניצוצות, when all these sparks will come back to their source, that's when משיח will come. And we learned that there were רפ״ח ניצוצות, 288 sparks that came down into this world, which means major, general ones. Each one has many details. Connected to a פסוק where it says ותתן טרף לביתה. She gave טרף. טרף means when an animal, you know, catches some, so it's called טרף. The word טרף is ט, ר, פ, which is 289. The word רפ״ח, 288, plus the word itself, which is one more, makes up טרף. So there is this טרף that we have to get back. So there are these ניצוצות that we have to be מברר. It says that when the יידן went out of מצרים, they took along, they took out 202 of the 288. פסוק says וגם ערב רב עלה אתם, that there was an ערב רב. The word רב is ר, ב, which is 202, that came out. We're left with 86 ניצוצות, but these are such major ones that still from יציאת מצרים, from when they left מצרים till now, we're still not finished with it, with 86 ניצוצות. And I

mentioned many times that these 86 are connected to שם אלקים. It'll have a connection to what I was I'm going to explain later on, but the name of השם, אלקים, is בגימטריא adds up to 86. 86 is also בגימטריא the numerical value of the word הטבע, which means the nature. So within the nature we have these 86 ניצוצות, and our job is to elevate these ניצוצות. And by doing מצוות and good deeds, we elevate the ניצוצות. And when we will finish with the בירור of all the ניצוצות, all these holy sparks, that's when משיח will come. So he says here that now is the time that we have to be מברר, purify, the lowest, the last ניצוצות that are left over for the end, at the time of עקבתא דמשיחא. We are in the time of עקבתא דמשיחא. עקבתא דמשיחא means the heels of משיח. And I explained before, it's called the heels of משיח, first of all, because it's so close to משיח, it's as if we already hear his footsteps, we hear his heels. Plus, it shows that we are already the last generation. Just like a body, the lowest part of the body is the heels, the bottom of the foot, so too, when we apply this משל to כלל ישראל from the beginning of when they became a nation, so it's like a body. The earlier generations were compared to the brain, and as generations went later and later, it went down and down till finally the last generation is the bottom, the עקב, the heel. That's why we who are very close to משיח are the last ones, so we are called עקבתא דמשיחא. So the time of עקבתא דמשיחא, which means in generations right before משיח, is the time when we have to be מברר the last בירורים, the last ניצוצות. And he explains: אנו רואים, we see, שהקדרה בגמר בישולה היא רותחת ביותר.

When you cook a pot, at the end, towards the end of its cooking, it starts boiling much more. ובעת הרתיחה, when it really boils, מה שבשולי הקדרה עולה למעלה, וכולי. What's on the bottom of the pot goes up. There are certain things that stay in the bottom, because they're heavy, whatever it is, they stay on the bottom, and you can't see them, they're not at the top. But when it starts boiling, towards the end when it's really cooking, when you're almost finished, that's when the cooking itself mixes it up, and things from the bottom come up to the top. כמו כן, so too, בתוקף הבירורים בזמן האחרון. That also applies to the strength of our בירורים in the last generations. כמה דברים שנראים לנו על פי שכל רחוק מאד שיתוקנו. So many things that seem very far from our שכל that we should be able to fix it. When we fix certain problems, spiritual problems, that is a בירור הניצוצות. That's a form of elevating these sparks. Now there are certain things which we can't see, we can't understand with our שכל that's possible to elevate that, too. In other words, they fell so low that it's almost impossible for us to elevate them. That means they're so low down But יתכן שהדבר קרוב לגמרי, but in truth it's possible that it's very easy, very close to us, כי אין עתה סדר הדרגה באופני הבירורים והתיקונים, because now there is no real order in the way we have to do the בירורים, we have to elevate these sparks. And the משל is just like at the end there are certain things that are on the bottom and they come up to the top and it's easy to take it, now too there are certain things which are so low, but and we can't understand, imagine that we should be able to even reach out to that area and bring up the ניצוצות הקדושה from there, but now, because it's towards the end, it's like the end of the boiling, when things come up on the surface, so we are able to be מברר even such ניצוצות that we were not able to be מברר before. As I

mentioned once before, that I think it's ר' נחמן, נחמן מברסלב that it says that before משיח there is going to be a צדיק who is going to lower himself to such low places to be מברר the ניצוצות even from there, that no צדיק earlier dared to go there, because it's so low. There are certain ניצוצות that fell very low. Certain ניצוצות are almost lost. Everything in the world has a holy spark. There's nothing that could exist without the ניצוץ הקדושה, without a holy spark, which is the Godly power that makes the things exist. But certain things are superficial, on the outward part, are so low ברוחניות, that it's almost as if we don't feel the spark, or as if we don't imagine that there could be a holy spark. The holy spark is almost like it's lost. In הלכה, in שולחן ערוך, there is a concept that's called חתיכה נעשית נבלה. That means that you could have a kosher piece of meat, and it could become טריף. And it's as if it's originally a טריפה piece of meat. If a kosher piece falls into טריפה things, then usually it's בטל בששים. If 60 times as much, it's בטל. Let's say you don't have 60 times as much, so the whole thing is forbidden. Now, how much do you need in order to make it kosher? Let's say you had a pound fall in to 50 lb of kosher, so you didn't have 60 times as much, you only had 50 times as much. So the whole thing is forbidden. Let's say 10 more fall in now, 10 more kosher. So now you have 60 kosher against the 1 lb of טריף. In many cases, we would say that this wouldn't help. After the kosher fell into the 50, what we have now is 51 lb of non-kosher. What you would need now to make it kosher, 60 times the 51. You can't just add 10 more, and now you'll have 60 kosher, because חתיכה נעשית נבלה. The all the kosher stuff that was kosher, because it got mixed with the טריף, and it didn't have enough to make it בטל, to nullify it, so the whole thing turned into טריף. And now you would need 60 against the whole thing. So that's an expression used in ספרים, that sometimes the חתיכה'ס כשר, the כשר חתיכה, the holy spark gets so absorbed in the non-kosher place that it's almost as if it becomes itself non-kosher. And now you need a much harder job to get it out. Just like in the משל, the example that I gave, that now you would need 60 times 51 lb. That means you would need 3,000 now in order to take it out to make it kosher, which means it's much harder. Sometimes you have ניצוצות which is much harder to elevate because they fell so low. Before משיח, we will be able to, השם will make it possible for us even to elevate those ניצוצות הקדושה. And he gave the משל, there are certain things that fall to the bottom of the pot, and you can't get to it, especially if it's a very big pot, it's hard to get to it. But when it really boil, at the end of the boiling, almost when it's ready, that's when it comes to the top, and then you could take it if you need it. Same thing here, השם, now that we are so close to the end of the גלות, השם brings it to the top that we are able to take it. Like to explain a little bit more in detail. Like I said before, the

whole purpose of the גלות is that we should elevate the ניצוצות הקדושה. It's similar to the way we find by מצרים. And I explained more than once, that when the יידן went into מצרים, השם promised ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול, they're going to go out with a great treasure. And it says that that great treasure spiritually is not just the physical gold and silver that they took out, it's the ניצוצות הקדושה, that those holy sparks that were in מצרים, in Egypt, the יידן took them out when they left. How did השם express it to משה רבינו, actually in last week's פרשה? He said go to the יידן and please tell them that they should borrow from their neighbors. So it says like this, ושאלה אשה משכנתה ומגרת ביתה, let a woman borrow from her neighbor or from the person that she lives with, and let him take these vessels, and these will be the vessels that you would take out. Now, when we say that when השם said you will go out with a great treasure with vessels of gold and silver, He actually meant they will go out with the spiritual treasure, which are the ניצוצות דקדושה, so what did He mean when He said let a woman borrow from her neighbor and the one she lives with? The

word אשה, a woman, refers to the נשמה. It says in קבלה, in the זוהר, that when it says אשה, it refers to the יידן. We know that השם and the יידן are like a man and a woman. We are always considered married to השם. We are השם's wife. When did השם marry us? The real marriage took place at מתן תורה. Well, actually, the real real marriage will take place when משיח will come, but to a certain degree it was at מתן תורה. And even before that, from the time of אברהם אבינו already, השם already had a connection to the יידן, so we already started the procedure of marriage. And therefore, we are considered the wife. השם is the husband, we are considered the wife. In שיר השירים, that's what we learn about. The whole שיר השירים is based on a feeling between a husband and a wife. Now, שלמה המלך did not just sit down and write a love story or a love song. This was a משל for יידן, כלל ישראל, and השם. And all the things that it says there that the man the wife says to the the woman says to the man or the man to the woman, it's all a dialogue between השם and the יידן. So we are considered the wife. What's the פשט we? Who are we? יידן. What makes us יידן? The fact that we have a נשמה. So the נשמה is called the אשה. The wife of השם is our נשמה.

When it says here ושאלה אשה משכנתה, every ייד, every נשמה should take, should borrow from a neighbor, that means that we have an obligation for the benefit of our נשמה to take the ניצוצות הקדושה out of those things we come in contact with. Whether we come in contact with very closely, there are certain physical matters that we come in contact very closely, that's ומגרת ביתה. ומגרת ביתה means the one you live with. And שכנתה is a neighbor. A neighbor is not as close, doesn't live in your house, a neighbor lives next door. So those are things that are a little bit further away from the person. But since the person comes in contact with it, that means that we have an obligation to utilize that for קדושה and take out the ניצוצות הקדושה. That means we know that when a person is sent down to this world, when השם sends a נשמה to this world, He sends it with a mission. The mission is, it says in תניא, in different קבלה ספרים and חסידות ספרים, that a נשמה came down to this world in order to elevate the person's body, the נפש הבהמית, our animalistic soul, and then חלקו בעולם. חלקו בעולם means your share in the world. The whole world, the whole universe, is divided into parts, as many נשמות as there are. And every נשמה has a certain share in the world that it's his obligation to elevate that part. And השם makes it so that those things that are our part, we will come in contact with. So whatever we come in contact with, it shows that there is a mission that we have specifically to that object, and there the ניצוצות הקדושה that lie in those things that's our, my נשמה has to do it. And השם has designated, every ניצוץ has a special נשמה that is connected to that ניצוץ. And the same the other way, every נשמה has a certain ניצוץ. Every ניצוץ has the נשמה that fits to that ניצוץ, every נשמה has a ניצוץ which fits to that נשמה. And it's important for the benefit of the נשמה to accomplish the mission. If we don't accomplish our mission, then our נשמה didn't do what it's supposed to. And the mission is that whatever we come in contact with, we should utilize that for קדושה and take out the ניצוצות הקדושה. That's why there is a מצוה called בל תשחית. One of the negative commandments, you're not allowed to destroy something that's useful. We're not talking about a holy object. I mean, obviously, you're not allowed to take some דבר שבקדושה, something that is holy, and destroy it. That's a separate עבירה. There's a פסוק that says לא תעשון כן לה' אלקיכם. It says, you shall destroy all the idols, and don't do that to השם, to השם's things. That's a special sin, a special negative commandment in destroying a שול, destroying a ספר, destroying holy objects. We're talking about regular secular things. So if it's עבודה זרה, if it's wrong, then there's a מצוה to destroy it. But otherwise, there is an עבירה, a לאו, it says בל תשחית, don't destroy. Therefore, if you take something, you take food that's edible, and you throw it in the garbage, you just throw it away, it's an עבירה. What's the reason for that עבירה? What does השם care? It's not a מצוה, it's not holy, what is it He cares if you throw it out? Because there is a ניצוץ הקדושה in everything that exists. And the the reason I have it is because I have to elevate it. And therefore, I have to use it. If I throw it out, it means I didn't elevate it. So I'm throwing away that ניצוץ הקדושה and not doing it. Now, that ניצוץ eventually will fall into something else and it will get elevated, but I'm pushing it off. And plus, if it if it came to contact with me, then I it shows that then I have the obligation to do it. If I throw it away, then I lose it, then I lose that opportunity to do what I'm supposed to do. That's why it says in the גמרא, צדיקים ממונם חביב עליהם יותר מגופם. צדיקים, their money is sometimes more valuable to them than their own body. Their money, their object, their things, since it's to them, it means they have an obligation of of בירור הניצוצות in those things. So it's very important to them, and they know it's important for their נשמה. And צדיקים who actually definitely complete their mission, so we know that any גשמיותדיקע thing, any physical object that belongs to a צדיק, we know he did his mission, so that has a special קדושה. That's how we know that any object belongs to a צדיק is holy. Physical object, not only the תפילין of a צדיק. The chair of the צדיק, the table of the צדיק, the silverware that the צדיק ate with is holy. That's why the whole thing you take money from a צדיק, you stand by dollars by the רבי and take dollars. If it's a dollar given by the רבי, then it's the רבי's dollar, then he used it for קדושה, and the ניצוצות were elevated the way they're supposed to, so they are something special, because there are ניצוצות הקדושה in all these things. It says by יעקב אבינו that he had a fight with the מלאך, because he was left all alone. So רש"י says, what made him stay there all alone? He had crossed the מעבר יבק, that river, took everybody over, all the children and all his possessions, and he came back all alone. It says he went back על פכים קטנים, he left a few empty jars there, and he didn't want to leave it. So he went all alone at night when it was dark, knowing that there's danger, knowing that עשו is someplace around here with 400 men, he didn't care, he went back all alone to take those jars. And that's when, טאקע, the שר, the מלאך of עשו came and had a fight. Why did he go back for those jars? Because if it was his jars, they were his jars, he had a mission of something to do with it, he couldn't just leave it there and not do it. So there are these ניצוצות הקדושה that are connected to the person, and השם makes it that the ניצוצות should fall into the connection and what anything that that a person has to be מברר, he should come in contact with it. And it's important for the נשמה. So again, it's important both ways. It's important for the ניצוץ which נשמה will elevate that ניצוץ. That ניצוץ has a certain person, a certain נשמה that was given the mission, and he's waiting for that נשמה. So it's important for the ניצוץ that this specific נשמה does it, and on the second hand also, it's important for this נשמה to get in contact with this ניצוץ. A נשמה will say, well, I have a certain amount, I'll do other ניצוצות. No, this was this came in contact with you, it's important for your נשמה. And in קבלה it says even more. Not only is it important for the נשמה, that's why it says there ושאלה אשה משכנתה, אשה, which refers to the נשמה, should borrow and take, it's important for the עצם הנשמה. We know in the

נשמה we have different levels. Five levels, basically: נפש, רוח, נשמה, חיה, יחידה. The first three and even the fourth are not considered the essence of the נשמה. These are parts of the נשמה which are referred to as the גילוי, the revealed part, not the essence. And these are the parts of the נשמה that actually enter into the body. The real, real essence stays in שמים. It's my essence, and therefore it's connected to me, and it has an influence on me. That's called, and I think I once explained it in a שיעור, that's called the מזל שבנשמה, the מזל of the נשמה. Why is it called מזל? Now, מזל means luck, מזל also מזלות also mean constellations, but there's another name, another meaning for the word מזל. The word מזל comes from the word נוזל. נוזל means liquid. It drips, because that part of the נשמה stays there, and from that part of the נשמה drips down into this part, because there is a connection. There is like a pipe that connects us. It says in חסידות, that's why a person sometimes just out of the blue gets an awakening to do תשובה. It's an awakening of to make a resolution to learn better. And you stop to think, where did it come from? Why in the world did that happen? I didn't just come from a שיעור, I didn't just learn, I just all of a sudden in the middle of my work or walking in the street, let me start becoming better. Where does it come from? So it says it comes from that part of the נשמה that's in שמים, that's your essence and it's trying to influence you, and sometimes it gets to you and it influences you. So that's the essence of the נשמה. When we say that it's important for the נשמה to be מברר the specific ניצוצות, to elevate those specific sparks that were given to that נשמה, it's not only important for these four levels which are the כחות הגלוים, the revealed part of the נשמה, it's important for the essence of the נשמה. Because when השם sent the נשמה down, He sent her down with the mission of accomplishing, being part of the general mission that השם gave כלל ישראל, and בכלל, general reason why He created the world. He created the world to make a דירה בתחתונים, to make make a dwelling place for Him in this world. He created the world and brought all אידן here to elevate the גשמיות. That's why He created the world. That's why we were sent down here. So it comes out that since this is what השם wanted, so it's essential in השם's will, so it's essential for us too. So it's important for the essence of the נשמה to be מברר. Just like it was by the גלות of מצרים, that they had a mission to be מברר the ניצוצות and they did. And משה said, השם said to משה to tell the

אידן, ושאלה אשה that the נשמה has to go to all the things they come in contact with and take out the ניצוצות. And we say that it's important for the עצם הנשמה, the same is with this גלות. That this גלות is here so we should be מברר the ניצוצות. And each person was given certain ניצוצות that he's supposed to be מברר. And that's how it was all the years. When it comes to the end, to the very end, that's where we have to finish up the job. So these ניצוצות that are very, very low, that went too, very, very far, obviously it's left for the end. First we got to do things which are easier. Those ניצוצות are left for the end. And therefore now, when we're very, very close to the end, now השם makes it possible for us even to elevate those ניצוצות. And he gives a משל: at the end of the boiling, that's when things from the bottom come up that you can get to it. So now these ניצוצות were brought to us in a way that we should be able to do it. And that's what he says here, that now we can't just wait in a normal order of things like they used to. Now we have to חאפ אריין, as we say, have to grab any opportunity we have, because now that it's the last ניצוצות, השם makes them come haphazard. Before, when things were still far away from the end, everybody was given a סדר and an order, things that you have to do in the normal order. But when it comes to the very end, you got to just see what's left over and the last few things and you grab it, that's how you go. How is it that when you pack to leave, I know, I pack every Friday to come here, so there is things you put an order and this you put here and this you put there, the food is there, and the clothes is there, and everything is in the proper place, and then right before you leave you give a look, "Oh, this is this is... this gotta be a חאפ here, a חאפ there, there's no ordering, you take it and that's all, now you're on the way." And the same thing here, we have the ניצוצות that everyone was given all these years, and now that we're at the end, so now all these ניצוצות come up to the surface, even the low ones, and now we can't wait for order and certain things which is connected to me, now we have to חאפ any good deed that we're able to do we have to do because we're right before משיח. And doing these things is important not only for bringing משיח, it's important for the welfare of our נשמה, and if we don't do it, then our נשמה is missing something. And it's possible, חס ושלום, that somebody who misses an opportunity of being מברר a ניצוץ, of doing a good deed or eating something that he would make a ברכה on, and sometimes it's bad that it will affect him forever, that even when משיח will come, since he missed that, that ניצוץ will not have the same type of elevation as it could have had. Forever that ניצוץ is going to complain and say, "Listen here, you know what you did? Because of you, I'm missing a foot." Like they say that when you, every מצוה we do, we create a מלאך, and if we do a מצוה not the way we should, 100%, so we create מלאכים with with with problems: you can have a מלאך with half a wing, a מלאך with one foot, a crippled מלאך. So these are מלאכים created, but since it's not so, you do it שלא לשמה. The same thing with these ניצוצות, we elevate these ניצוצות, and they could reach a very, very high level and that's where they're supposed to go, and if we don't do it properly, they will all get elevated eventually, that's for sure, השם wouldn't just leave it, but the way it's going to happen, that doesn't mean it's going to happen the right the same way it could have happened. And it could be important for all later generation, for all for forever that this ניצוץ will still be in a lower מדרגה. And it'll be our fault, and since our נשמה was supposed to do it, means my נשמה will be missing. That's why משה רבינו told before they went out of מצרים, remember, ושאלה אשה משכנתה that you should borrow, you shouldn't, cuz some people would have told משה רבינו, "I don't care about גשמיות, I don't care about this, I don't care about, you want me to borrow to go out with gold and silver? I don't need it." לכאורה, who cares? If he doesn't want it, why should השם care? No, because השם said it's important for your נשמה, by taking it out you are מברר the ניצוצות, so it's important for us too. Yes.

Can you give an example of a ניצוץ that's available to elevate in our generation that wasn't available in previous generations? There are certain, let's say, places where things are not done right, and in previous generations no religious Jew would ever enter into those places, and therefore what would happen? The אידן who are there, non-פרום אידן, would not have any contact with אידישקייט, and אידישקייט would, since it wouldn't be brought to them, so their behavior would remain the way it was before. And so many ניצוצות הקדושה that come along with them would have stayed. You mean like a place like the Vatican? Or like the Vatican, or like a bar! I'm saying. You're not allowed to go to a bar? Yeah. What about the רשעים like ירבעם בן נבט, and יאשקע, all that went down, down? Is those going to go up? Yes, if they're only יידן, they're going to be eventually elevated. Because that's a different reason. That's not only because of ניצוצות, that's because it says כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא. Every ייד has. Except, it says except, and there are a few people mentioned. And the ספרים say that even those that are excluded, it doesn't mean that they will not have a share. It just means it'll take a longer, and it'll be much, you know, it'll be later years, but at the end, eventually, every ייד. And it says that it it mentions them as an example. It says יאשקע is an example, that still he will have a בירור. It'll take a long time, but he will also have a בירור. ירבעם בן נבט and all these people, as long as they're יידן, so they have a נשמה. And since a נשמה is a חלק אלוקה, part of השם, השם is not lost, so the נשמה can't be lost. Only thing is that it'll take longer. A

ממזר has a נשמה also? Oh, sure, sure. You know. Like a ממזר for 10 generations, or he has... No, that's forever the ממזר generation, that's something else. So there is a פגם there. There is a פגם. But the elevation is there. As far as a נשמה and being close to השם, sure. He's a different, lower level, like you have כהנים and לויים and ישראלים. So those are in the גילוי part, that there are different levels, so a ממזר is one of the lower ones. But the עצם, the the idea of being a ייד with a נשמה, that even a first time ממזר, too. You were going to ask something? Yes, is this why we see the influx of, you know, increase of material goods? Very possible. That now right before משיח, that יידן have more גשמיות than they ever had, very possible, very possible, because there are more ניצוצות. I mean, not not that there are more ניצוצות, there's more needed now to elevate the last few ניצוצות, so השם gave יידן a lot of גשמיות, it's true. It's interesting you bring it up, I didn't even think of it. But we see that generations before, there were other people who were rich, but the general trend of the חכמים, of the גדולי ישראל, was that it's not good for יידן to be rich. That's how they always used to think, it's not good for יידן to be rich. They say that

there are two types of נסיונות, two types of tests: נסיון of עניות and נסיון עשירות, the test of poverty and the test of riches. And it says the test of riches is harder than the test of poverty. And that's why it's better that the יידן should not be rich. Even going back not long ago, I mean the time of the אלטער רבי, when there was the war between between Russia and France and Napoleon, there was a big argument between the אלטער רבי and ר' שלמה קארלינער who they felt should win the war. The אלטער רבי said he wants Russia to win, and ר' שלמה קארלינער said he wants Napoleon to win. And ר' שלמה קארלינער gave his reasons, because he knew for sure that if Napoleon would win and the יידן of Russia would live under Napoleon, they would have have it much better בגשמיות. He would give them freedom, as it as Napoleon did. But if they live under the Czar, they'll have a lot of problems בגשמיות. Therefore he said it's better that Napoleon wins. The אלטער רבי said that if Napoleon wins, they'll have it better בגשמיות, and because of that, they'll have it worse ברוחניות. They'll be assimilated, and as we saw, the השכלה movement started all based on Napoleon's philosophy. It just entered into Germany, but that was the whole base. And that's why the אלטער רבי said they should not be rich, they shouldn't have so much גשמיות. It's better that way. Let Russia win. The אלטער רבי actually helped Russia. Not only he דאווענט for their for their victory, he physically helped them. He sent spies. One of his חסידים, ר' משה מייזלס, was a spy for the Russian army. So he was so close, he was a spy, he worked in the office of the generals of the French army. He knew a lot of languages, so he got himself to become a translator. There's a whole story. I don't want to go into the story, but just just to short: He said that he was saved by learning the אלף בית of חסידות, which means by learning the fundamental ideas of חסידות, he was saved. His life was saved. And he said once while he was sitting there in the office doing his thing, and the whole time, whenever he used to sit there, he used to keep his ears open to hear what they're talking. And whatever any information he knew, he would pass on to the אלטער רבי, and from there it would go to the Czar. That's why the Czar later gave the אלטער רבי a medal. Anyway, so he once sitting there, and they were planning an attack, and they were sitting on the floor, the generals, over a map, and he was sitting on the side doing his translating, and he was watching what they're planning. And in middle, the door swung open, and Napoleon walked in. He always used to do that. He never walked in telling them he's coming, just to walk in. He walked in, they all jumped up, stood up, and he looks around, and he sees the stranger there. He looks at him and he says, "You're a spy!" And then as he said it he ran over to him and he put his hand on his heart to see if his heart is beating much harder. And it didn't. So he said, "Well probably he's not a spy because he's not nervous. He's not scared." And he let him go. So he said he learned in תניא that the foundation of חסידות is מוח שליט על הלב, that your mind should control your heart and he had trained himself to do it and therefore he controlled his physical heart. It didn't it didn't it didn't beat too hard. Anyway, just this is just by the way, the אלטער רבי helped davened and helped France and the אלטער רבי said the אלטער רבי and רב שלמה קארלינער knew that who is going to win will depend on who will blow שופר first on ראש השנה that year. רב שלמה קארלינער knew that the אלטער רבי, חב״ד used to daven very long, so he got up very early on ראש השנה, made a fast מנין and he blew שופר very early. The אלטער רבי got up and he knew that by the time he'll get to שופר it will be very long, so he blew שופר before davening and that year Napoleon was defeated. Now, what's the פשט? The אלטער רבי didn't want Napoleon to win because he said that the אידן will have too much גשמיות, it's no good. And בכלל we know that גדולי ישראל always didn't feel that it was important for אידן to have a lot of גשמיות. By the רבי, we saw different things. The רבי many times said that אידן, spoke שיחות and he speaks to ד׳ so to speak, the אידן have to have a lot of money and the אידן have to have גשמיות, the אידן have to have גשמיות. I know once he was sitting with one of the פוילישע רביים, the קאפיטשניצער רבי, this goes back many years, and he says to the קאפיטשניצער רבי, "I think you should give a ברכה that אידן should should have a lot of money." And he said, "Nah, what do אידן need money for? And the רבי started pressing him, you know, give the ברכה. I don't know at the end he gave or not, but the רבי kept on saying, "No." Once even by a פארברענגען the רבי said, "Whoever wants to become rich raise his hand." And nobody did and the רבי was very upset. As soon as he said it, as he was upset, a few people raised their hands and they one of them two of them did become rich and but it was already basically He said, what how bad is what? Yeah, but still he said you should have it. To be a rich, and usually it's harder. Yeah. But the רבי called those people that didn't raise their hand, he called it חב״דסקע שטותים. That's what he said. He said, and here comes with that you're using your you know your חב״דסקע style of not גשמיות in the wrong place. שטות doesn't mean bad, שטות means when it's in the wrong place. At this time when the רבי said it's an עת רצון now to become rich, had the whole פארברענגען, everyone raised their hand, ודאי they would be millionaires! But I'm getting back to the point. Why is it that now it's the רבי feel felt that it's very important for אידן to be rich? Because now that we have to take the last ניצוצות של קדושה to be מברר, where is it found? It's found in every גשמיותדיקע thing, but it's more found in money and money buys everything. So the more you could have you could use it. The more money you have you could elevate it by buying the most expensive pair of תפילין and building the most beautiful שול and giving money to to the greatest ישיבות and have ספרים. I mean, money you could with money money is the money could buy עולם הבא! Money could buy everything. You can't bribe ד׳, but you could use it for קדושה and now that every ניצוץ is important that's the last few moments before משיח, so now we need a lot of money. So, that's why you're supposed to get it. No, I don't mean that you should make a lot of money because you'll use a lot of time. Everyone should win the lottery and then the rest of the time, most of the time, all the time spend on learning תורה. Okay, let's go further here, next piece. במעילו של כהן גדול נאמר and in the מעיל which was one of the eight garments of the כהן גדול, so one of the the shirt, it says, פעמון זהב ורימון על שולי המעיל סביב, and the bottom of the מעיל they had pomegranates and bells and the reason the פסוק says you need the bells is ונשמע קולו בבואו אל הקודש, that when he's כהן גדול would come into the קודש into the בית המקדש, you would hear his voice. You not his voice, you would hear because he when he walked around it rang and made noise. So, the reason there were bells in the bottom of the garment so that it should be heard. So, it says here, ומכיון שדורנו זה הוא דרא דעקבתא דמשיחא, since our generation is the דור the last generation before משיח, לפי כל הסימנים שבסוף מסכת סוטה, according to all the signs that the גמרא gives in the end of מסכת סוטה, The גמרא gives a lot of signs when we will know that this is right before משיח. Truth is, the signs are not so good, but all these things are coming true. There'll be a lot of חוצפה, and the youth will revolt against the elders, all kinds of things. There'll be inflation, all kinds of things that we see are happening. So we know we're right close to משיח. So we are now בבחינת שולי המעיל. We are like the bottom of the coat. The coat is like all these generations from top to bottom, and we are the bottom of the coat. הנה כאשר עוסקים בפעולות להכניס כל יהודי תחת כנפי השכינה, so therefore now, when we work in bringing the יידן closer to השם, as the פסוק uses the term בבואו אל הקודש, when you come into the holiness, that means when you're bringing יידן to holiness, יש לעשות את הדבר בריש גלי ובפרסום גדול, we should do it with great publicity, open, like it says ונשמע קולו, the noise should be heard. ובכן, therefore is it is the right way to do it, יש להתעסק בהפצת היהדות מתוך קול רעש גדול. When we do now in spreading יידישקייט right before משיח, we should do it with a lot of publicity, לצאת לרחוב, to go out to the street, ולהכריז שם בקול רמה, to announce in a very loud noise, שיהודים יניחו תפילין, וכיוצא בזה, people should put on תפילין, etc., etc. In other words, the רבי says here that now is the time that we should bring יידישקייט into the open with the biggest טומל so that people should hear. Now the question is, why is it so? Don't we know that it says לא ברעש השם, השם doesn't come in noise, כי אם בקול דממה דקה, it says, in a small, still voice, that's where you have השם? It says a פסוק, that first came a רעש and then it says לא ברעש השם. And so where did השם come, it says? Comes in a still voice. And actually it says, concerning the לוחות, when משה רבינו gave the יידן the לוחות, the Tablets, so the first Tablets were broken. So he gave the second Tablets. So it says, why? So it says לוחות הראשונות שניתנו ברעש, the first Tablets were given with a whole רעש, with a טומל, with noise, with lightning and thunder and fire, and so there, לא נתקיימו, that didn't last. לוחות שניות שניתנו שלא ברעש, the second לוחות is given quietly, that lasted. So it seems as if the best way to go about יידישקייט is not with a רעש, not with a טומל. So what the רבי says here is that now, in this generation, being because we are the bottom of the מעיל, the bottom of the מעיל must have a רעש, must have the טומל. Just like we see by the כהן גדול, that the bottom of the מעיל had the bells to make the noise, we have to make the noise now. And let me explain why is it so. Why is it that now it's more important, or actually going back to the כהן גדול, why is it that the כהן גדול had to have these bells to make the noise? Now, the רמב"ן says a simple reason. He says because just like when you would come to a king, you don't just just suddenly walk in. Don't you first send a message, "I'm coming," and then you would come? Same thing here, you have to notify first that you're coming. Therefore, the כהן גדול, when he would come, so by walking before he entered, you could hear that he's coming. And he explains based on this why, now actually not the רמב"ן, the רבינו בחיי says according to this, why is it that יום כיפור, when the כהן גדול would go into the Holy of Holies, there were no bells? He didn't wear the same eight garments when he went into the קודש הקדשים. He wore different clothes, which did not have bells. So he says, why? Because when you walk into the בית המקדש normally, you have to notify first like you would send a messenger to tell the king that you're coming. But on יום כיפור, there is we don't need any messengers between us and השם. When the כהן גדול walked in, you go directly, you don't need any messengers, you don't need any intermediate, so you don't need the bells. That's what he explains. But חסידות explains the פשט a little bit more than that. When the כהן גדול walked in to do עבודה in the בית המקדש, he didn't do it on his own. He did it, but it was, he represented כלל ישראל. Everybody, the whole כלל ישראל. Now, we know כלל ישראל are made up of many different people, all kinds. Basically, it's made up of three kinds, which is the abbreviation of the word ציבור. ציבור means the community. The word ציבור is an abbreviation of צדיקים, בינוניים, ורשעים. צדיק, בית, ואו, ריש: צדיקים, בינוניים, ורשעים. The righteous, the צדיקים, the middle type of people, and the רשעים. And that's community. So when the כהן גדול did עבודה, he represented everybody. Now, when we talk about צדיקים, that's one thing. צדיקים do their thing, do their עבודה in the proper way. When we talk about רשעים, when the the כהן גדול did the עבודה, the service in the בית המקדש and also represented the רשעים, it meant that he represents the רשעים's service of השם. What kind of service of השם do the רשעים do? Well, the only time they do service if they do תשובה. So really, when he represented the רשעים, it meant he represented the idea of תשובה. תשובה means that you did an עבירה, people are bad, they're רשעים, and they did תשובה, they ran away from their previous lifestyle and they changed. Now we know that when a person walks normally, does everything right, there is not much noise. But imagine if a person is running for his life, he's in a place where his life is in danger and he manages to escape, there's a lot of noise. You run, and you don't care if it makes noise, and you make all kinds of, you know, things with your hand, your feet, but you don't care. You scream and you run. Running away from an evil lifestyle, fighting with the עבירות that you did, that is a way that that is something that makes noise. The משל that's given is that

when you take little thin pieces of wood and you you put it in the fire, it doesn't make noise, but if you take a big, heavy, thick piece of wood and you have to burn it, then the fire cracks and makes a lot of noise because you have to break through the גשמיות, the פאַרגראָב, the thickness. Same thing when a person has to break through his עבירות, then there is noise. He's running away from his from the danger that he was in, so when you run, it makes noise. And the truth is, it's not only concerning a רשע actually that has to fight with his lifestyle of עבירות and to do תשובה. You can have a person that's not a רשע, but still, since he has a יצר הרע and he has to fight with this יצר הרע, he's at a בינוני. בינונים, we learn in תניא, have a יצר הרע. They never did anything wrong, but they have a יצר הרע, they have to fight with the יצר הרע. See, a רשע doesn't only fight with the יצר הרע, he has to fight with his עבירות, he actually did עבירות, he has to change the עבירות. A בינוני just has to fight with the יצר הרע. But it's still fighting, still fighting with your גשמיות. Your יצר הרע wants to do something bad, so when you fight with something else, then you make noise. When you're fighting with somebody, then there is noise. Even צדיקים, sometimes there is noise, which means in in רוחניות it means that it could be a צדיק who does everything right, but still there is the self-righteousness that he feels, which is wrong, and you have to fight with that. So it's also fighting with something that's bad, and that's where the noise comes in. So the

כהן גדול, when he would do the service of השם in the בית המקדש, he would represent all those people who have to fight with their יצר הרע, or fight with the גשמיות, or using the terms of קבלה and חסידות, to fight with קליפה, with the evil forces, therefore he made noise. When he went into the קודש הקדשים on יום כיפור, at that time on יום כיפור, every איד is holy. You don't have to fight with any יצר הרע. So therefore he didn't have to make that noise, because then it represented the service of אידן that's quiet. So the difference is, when is there a noise and when is quiet? If you don't fight with the יצר הרע, if you don't have anybody to fight with, nothing to break through, you're just doing things normally, then there is no noise. But when you have to fight, then there is noise. And that's פשט. The פסוק says לא ברעש השם. Now which name of השם is used there? הוי׳ה. The name of השם הוי׳ה, יו״ד ק״א וא״ו ק״א, is the name that represents השם the way He is beyond nature, like we always learned, אלוקים is nature, the גימטריא הטבע, it's nature, and הוי׳ה is higher than nature. When you're at a level, when a איד is at a level that he's close to השם beyond having to fight through the nature, then it's לא ברעש, then there is no noise because that's like normal. But when it's אלוקים, when you're still on a level that you you have a connection to השם the way He's in the גשמיות and you have to get rid of that גשמיות, you have to fight with the גשמיות, then there is noise. And that's why the כהן גדול, when he went into the בית המקדש normally, representing even those אידן that have to fight with גשמיות, there was noise, but when he went into the קודש הקדשים, there was no noise. And that's what he says here. We, in this

generation, we are so low that we have a lot of גשמיות. We are not like people before who were איידעלערע people, finer people. The רוחניות, the spirituality, was stronger within them, so they didn't really have to fight so much with the קליפה, and therefore their way of serving השם, טאַקע, was in a quiet way. But now when it's close to משיח and we're much lower, we're עקבתא דמשיחא, we're in the bottom, so the גשמיות is very strong. The body is strong. The נפש הבהמית, our animalistic soul, is strong. The יצר הרע is strong. And in order for us to serve השם, we really have to fight. And we טאַקע see it. Now we have to fight the way not more than that אידן had to fight before. And therefore now the noise is needed. Plus something else. Being we're so close to the end, so we have to take care even of the lowest of the lowest, like we said before, השם left the lowest of the lowest for the end. So now we have to fight with the most coarse part of the world, and therefore now The way to fight it is when you do fight it, then there is a noise and there is a קול. And that's what he says here, that now we're at the שולי המעיל, we're at the bottom, and there you had the gold bells to make the noise, to show that we have to make a noise. And

it's interesting, it says there were gold bells, and there were also pomegranates there, רימונים.