writes, many times he writes his source for his argument. And sometimes he writes the source is, \"That's what I was told from heaven.\" Imagine. Now we have a whole ספר called, and I spoke about it once, שאלות ותשובות מן השמים. Questions and answers from heaven. There was a great tzadik. He was one of the Baalei Tosafot. He lived about six, 700 years ago. His name was Rabbi Yaakov of Corbeil. Before he would go to sleep, he would write on a piece of paper a question. He would put it next to his bed. He would do all kind of things, I guess kabbalistic things, and he would make what we call a שאלת חלום. He would dream and he would ask the question, and he would wake up in the morning and he would find an answer on that piece of paper from heaven written. And he compiled a ספר called שאלות ותשובות מן השמים. We have a person in mentioned in Tosafot, his name was Reb Ezra HaNavi. And this wasn't Ezra HaNavi, the one that built the second בית המקדש. We're talking about Baalei Tosafot which is, like I said, six, 700 years ago, and he called he called Tosafot calls him Reb Ezra HaNavi. The

Rambam in Iggeret Teiman, the famous letter, Iggeret Teiman, the Rambam writes that there is a concept of נבואה nowadays, and he says about a certain person, I mentioned it once in the shiur, who claimed people claimed he was mashiach, and he probably would have been, had the generation been worthy, but the Rambam writes that actually it turned out that he wasn't mashiach. But nevertheless, the Rambam says, הוא היה נביא ואין ספק. He was a נביא without a doubt. I mentioned last time that he prophesied that it was going to rain blood, and a few days later, red water rained, whatever that meant, red color. And the Rambam said he was a נביא without a ואין ספק without a question. So there is a concept of נבואה, especially from the time of the Baal Shem Tov on. So we know that the Baal Shem Tov with his ruach hakodesh and his saw the future, and his תלמידים, the Mezeritcher Maggid and other תלמידים, and then all their other רביים that we know that they were people who had ruach hakodesh. But he says here that we have at the time of גלות also people who have ruach hakodesh. Yes? I didn't want to go through it again. One of the times before I said that some of the commentaries, actually the Chida in his ספר Shem HaGedolim, that's a ספר where like a little biography of all the גדולי ישראל, so when it comes to this person, he has a whole thing there, what kind of right he had to פסקן שאלות from heaven. And he holds he says that there are certain ראשונים that hold that you're allowed to. And he happened to be one of those, and his opinion was that you are allowed to. The Rambam says you're not able to pasken, but he says you are. That's the one the famous one which is the י״ט כסלו that I mentioned, and on all the questions there never was a date. He asked a question and there was never a date on when this was answered. One question had a date, the answer. The answer, it said, \"Today is Tuesday, י״ט כסלו.\" Then it says, \"יום בשורה, a day of good news.\" It was written 700 years ago. And the one who printed the sefer writes in the bottom, he has his comments, he says, \"Well, we know of no other special thing that happened on י״ט כסלו throughout Jewish history, except that the Mezeritcher Magid passed away, it's his yahrzeit, and that the Baal HaTanya,\" he writes, \"was released from prison and by Lubavitch it's a big holiday. And already 700 years ago, מן השמים, they wrote that י״ט כסלו, and it was a Tuesday, too. The year the Alter Rebbe was released from prison, it was Tuesday. There it says יום ג׳ י״ט כסלו יום בשורה.\" And it has nothing to do with the question. The question happened to be concerning mikveh actually, of men going to the mikveh, and the answer is they should go. But the date has nothing to do, but it says there, יום בשורה. Anyway, what I'm trying to say here is that so we have these people who were like neviim at the time of of from then on, and even later on with the Baal Shem Tov and his talmidim and all the חסידישע רביים and all the people who were great tzadikim who had, so to speak, nevuah, which fits to what the Rambam says, especially up to that time, the Rambam writes that the nevuah will come back. I don't want to repeat it again. I mentioned it last time, once before, that he quotes the pasuk in the nevuah of Bilam. And he says like this: קיבלתי מאבא, I have a tradition from my father, ואבא מאבא, ואבא מאבא עד משה רבינו, I have a tradition up to Moshe Rabbeinu, that Bilam said in his nevuah, Bilam said, כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל אל. Pasuk. כעת יאמר ליעקב means, \"Like now, it will be said to יעקב ולישראל, and to the Yidden, מה פעל אל, what is Hashem doing?\" So he says what it means is that there will come a time when people will be able to ask Jews what is God doing. In other words, they will be prophets. When will that happen? So he said כעת. כעת means like now. And Rambam said like this, his father told him this tradition, it means that when the same amount of years will pass from that moment that Bilam said this, as had passed from the beginning of creation to his time, that's when it will happen. Now, he

said his prophecy in the year 2,488 from creation. And he says when a year, when another 2,488 years will pass, תחזור נבואה לישראל, the nevuah will come back. And Rambam writes it's around his time. And in connection to that he writes about that person, הוא היה נביא בלי ספק, he was a navi. So there are neviim, and later on, from then on we find Jewish tzadikim, gedolei Yisrael ישראל who had ruach hakodesh, and we actually saw in what they said that they had ruach hakodesh. Getting back to the point here. So he says we have people with ruach hakodesh, nevi'im, even though it says in the Gemara that, Rambam brings it, משמתו חגי, זכריה, מלאכי פסקה נבואה מישראל, מישראל. But when Chagai, Zechariah, Malachi, the three prophets, they were the three last official prophets that Yidden had. They lived in the beginning of the second Beit Hamikdash. When they died, paskah nevuah miYisrael. Nevuah stopped. Stopped. But the pshat is not that it stopped, that means that it's impossible to happen. It means that it's not common as it used to be. For example, the

Gemara says also that after the חורבן בית המקדש פסקה זכוכית לבנה. זכוכית לבנה is crystal. We have no more crystal. Don't worry, crystal we still have. But it was much more common before, and after that it's not as common. And then here it says the same expression. Paskah nevuah miYisrael means that it's still there, it's just not common, because you have to have a lot of preparations in order to be a navi. And not too many people follow those rules of preparation. Rambam says to be a navi first, before you become a navi, you have to separate yourself from this world, and you have to constantly think about Hashem, and if you have that, then sometimes you will reach nevuah, sometimes not. But there are not so many people who are on that level. That's why paskah nevuah, but there is still a possibility, and gedolei Yisrael, great tzadikim still have nevuah. So he says we have it in the time of the galut too. Amnam, but, to finish here, לא הרי השפעת הנבואה בזמן הבית כהרי השפעת הנבואה בזמן הגלות. The way the hashpa'ah, the influence came from the nevuah in the time of the Beit Hamikdash is not the same as we have it now. בזמן הבית לא היה הנביא רשאי לגלות נבואתו בלא ציווי מלמעלה. In the time of the Beit Hamikdash, a navi had no right to reveal any nevuah unless he was told, unless Hashem commanded him. A navi could sit and constantly get godly revelations. In most cases, he wouldn't even reveal it. You know how many nevi'im the Jews had? The Gemara tells a number that you would not imagine. How many prophets there were in history. We know, I believe, of 48. We learned Tanach from the beginning, about 48. You know how many actually there were? There were schools of nevi'im. Like you have school yeshivot where you study Gemara, they had yeshivot of nevi'im. And each yeshivah probably had thousands of students. Like the yeshivot of the learning had thousands of students. Rabbi Akiva had 24,000 talmidim, others had the same amount. When we talk about Rabbi Akiva, we always talk, it's great, you know, Rabbi Akiva and his talmidim, it's because they all died. That's the big fuss we make. It doesn't say anywhere a big fuss that he had 24,000 talmidim, because there were other yeshivot at that time. Like happen like the colleges now, you have thousands and tens of thousands, yeah? So the same way you have nevi'im. But

let us think, how many nevi'im were there from the beginning of nevi'im till till it stopped? The Gemara says there were 1,200,000, כפליים כיוצאי מצרים, there's double of the people that were in מצרים. The reason they're not written, and all we have is 48, the Gemara says in מגילה, נבואה שהוצרכה לדורות נכתבה. Any prophecy that will have any effect or influence on future was written down for the future generations to have it. Anything was just for that time was not written down. And the truth is, many nevi'im maybe didn't even say prophecies. They were at the level of a navi, and they had revelations, but it doesn't mean that they said anything. So the time of the בית המקדש, they have to wait for a tzivui, for a commandment, for a command of Hashem to reveal it. Like in, quote the pasuk by Yirmiyah, it says, הלוך וקראת באזני ירושלם לאמר. Hashem said, You shall go and call in the ears of Yerushalayim, in the people's ears, saying etc., etc. So Hashem told him. But otherwise, he couldn't say it. מה שאין כן בזמן הגלות, but in the time of גלות, הנה תלמידי חכמים נקראים בעמידתם בקודש לשכך רוגזו. Now, these nevi'im or

not official nevi'im, but these people who have רוח הקודש, or these תלמידי חכמים who are similar to the nevi'im who teach Torah, They're hired for money. And they get paid, they get a salary for what they do, for teaching Torah. וכיון שכן, if they get paid for it, מוכרחים הם להשפיע תורה ויראת שמים. They must teach. They must give over Torah and יראת שמים, אף בלא ציווי ממעלה, even without a commandment. They don't wait for being commanded, they have to do it. They're hired for it, and they have to do it. So, it comes out that now they do it without a tzivui, without a commandment. אך לאמיתו של דבר, but in truth, כשם שהציווי ממעלה להנביא בזמן הבית, just like in the time of בית המקדש, the command to the נביא, היה סיבה אלוקית לשפע הנבואה, was a the the spiritual, the Godly reason, cause, for the השפעה, for the giving of the נבואה, כן ישנה ציווי ממעלה לתלמיד חכם להיות מוכיח. Every תלמיד חכם has a command from Hashem, it's not that he's doing it without a command. He's told by Hashem that he must teach Torah and he must, he's a mochiach, he must rebuke and tell the people what to do. והוא על פי השם ממש. It's mamash from the mouth of Hashem, as if Hashem is commanding him, \"You must teach Torah.\" אלא שהציווי נתלבש בסיבה טבעית, but that command of Hashem is dressed into a natural cause. Then, it was a a higher than nature cause. Hashem said to him, \"Go ahead and say this nevuah.\" Now, it's in a natural cause. What's the natural cause? The salary that you pay him. But really, when you pay him a salary, that's Hashem put Himself into that money and Hashem is telling him, \"Go ahead and go teach it.\" וכך היא המדה. That's that's the the seder: כל שפע אלוקי המושפע לבני ישראל בזמן הגלות, anything that is given from Hashem to the Jews in the time of גלות, יורד ומתלבש בלבוש שק, is dressed into a cover. We call it in Kabbalah, we call it לבוש שק, into a cloth, into a dress, a garment of of of sack. ולכן מתלבש השפעת הנבואה בסיבה טבעית, therefore what a navi gives nowadays is put into a natural cause that covers up the revelation of Hashem. And this fits into everything that we've been learning till now, that in the time of galus, there is no Godly revelation. And therefore, whatever comes, even though it comes from Hashem, it is covered up, it is hidden. It goes through, we call it a התלבשות. התלבשות means clothes, cloth, being clothed in into other things that block it. But in truth it makes no difference, because what counts is what's inside the garment, not the garment. In Tanya, he uses an example for a similar concept. He says when you hug a person, or he uses the example if you hug the king, does it make a difference to you if he has one coat on or two or three or five? No difference, because you're not hugging the garment, you're hugging what's inside. The same he speaks about Torah, but the same is over here. It's all from Hashem, it's just covered up. Now, on one hand, the fact that it's covered up shows that it's a lower level. It's from Hashem, but it has to be covered up. In truth, to a certain degree, this has a maalah. This is something special. In order to explain that, let me go back a little bit. In truth, this idea that Hashem's words are covered started early, early, early, all the way from the time of Moshe Rabbeinu. Now explain: There are five books of Moses they call it, right? חמשה חומשי תורה. That's the Chumash. That's the תורה שבכתב, the written Chumash. Now, we have four, the first four, בראשית, שמות, ויקרא, במדבר. Then we have Devarim. Devarim is known as Mishneh Torah. Mishneh Torah means the repeat of the Torah. There, Moshe started saying, repeating to them what Hashem said before, etc., etc. Now, it says in the Gemara like this: that all the first five, four chumashim were said by Hashem. חומש דברים, משה מפי עצמו אמרו. Moshe said it on his own. Wait, that's common: on his own u'veruach hakodesh, it was on his own with his ruach hakodesh. Now, question is, how does this fit with the Rambam? The Rambam says, I don't want to describe what's an apikores. We always talk about apikores, and what's and what would describe an apikores? The Rambam says like this: If a person would say on even one word or one letter of the five books of Moses that Moshe said it on his own, that's an apikores. We know that every word of Chumash was said by Hashem. If a person will think, will believe that Moshe said it on his own, even one word of all five, that is an apikores or a min. How does that fit? The Gemara says that's a fit? Wait, in Mishneh Torah Moshe said it on his own! But Chassidus explains, the peshat is like this: It was all the words of Hashem. The difference is how did the words of Hashem come through Moshe. Everything went through Moshe, you know that. By Har Sinai Hashem spoke to the Yidden the ten commandments, so that's Moshe, He said, \"Now you come up to Me. The rest of the Torah I will give them through you.\" So there is no doubt in our mind that it came from Hashem, not like people would doubt, \"Well, maybe Moshe on his own.\" You're trusting one person. You see the עשרת הדברות we trust 3 million people, so there's no question Hashem said it. Later on, Moshe Rabbeinu went on his own, came back and said Hashem said this and so and so, and maybe maybe he made it up. And we always claim that the difference between what we believe or what we know, by the way I hate to use the word we believe because when we say we believe as if you know we believe, we don't believe, we know. The difference between what we know that the Torah was given by Hashem and other religions is because other religions starts with one person. One person said so. Maybe he's a meshugeneh, maybe he's a liar, maybe who knows what happened. You can't base the whole philosophy on one person saying this is He said that God said this to him, so big deal. What about other religions, Muhammad? Well, Muhammad came to 20,000 people and said, \"I just had a revelation.\" So the 20,000 people heard him say it a minute after. Who knows what took place? By us, we know there were 3 million people who witnessed a revelation of God. But once somebody claim, \"Well, that's good for the עשרת הדברות, the Ten Commandments. What about the rest of the Torah which Moshe on his own said?\" Truth is, Hashem said by Har Sinai in front of the 3 million people, \"Moshe, I want you to come to Me, and I will tell you what you should tell the Jews, and whatever I tell you, whatever you come and say to the Jews, you should know it's from Me.\" So therefore, when Moshe Rabbeinu came later and he said Hashem said this and so and so, you think you trust Moshe? We don't trust Moshe, we trust Hashem. And we couldn't care if Moshe did say the truth or didn't. Hashem said to all 3 million, \"Listen to what he tells you.\" So we're listening to Hashem. Anyway, just getting back to the point, so everything went through Moshe. The difference between the first four ספרים and the fifth, when Hashem spoke to Moshe, I'll I'll even use the first the kabbalistic terminology, then I'll explain it. The

way the words of Hashem went through Moshe in the first four, it went בדרך מעבר. The way it went in the fifth one, it went בדרך התלבשות. The first four, it went into Moshe's mind, Hashem said it to Moshe, and Moshe was basically a tape recorder. Moshe just went and the words Hashem said, he just wrote it down. Hashem dictated and he wrote it down. When Hashem said to Moshe the last ספר, still Hashem dictated, but what happened was Moshe understood it, and it went through his brain, and after he understood it, he wrote it down the way he not the way, the same words as he was told, but it already went through his understanding. That's called התלבשות. So here it seems as if משה מפי עצמו אמרן, as if he said it himself, so he did say, Moshe said yes, I understand this and this, but actually this is what Hashem said to him. While the first four, it didn't go through, it's like went through him just like like this tape recorder, it just went through and he just repeated what Hashem said. So this concept that the words of Hashem goes through a התלבשות of a certain level started so far back in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu. Yes? And it was not because it went through and he understood it with his mind, he just said what Hashem said and that's all. The second one is Hashem said and he thought about it and understood it, and then when he wrote it, it's as if he wrote a thought that came in that came from his mind. He used his own words to say it. No, it be and as it turned out it was the words of Hashem, but he said the words of Hashem after he already understood it on his own, and he said it as if something that he understood and he's giving it over, and in truth this was the words of Hashem that he understood. While the first did not stop, did not go through his mind that he should understand, it just went through him, passed through him, he was the one that brought from Hashem brought the words from Hashem down, while the second one it stopped in his mind, he understood it, and then he gave it over. Later on, all generations later, as generations go, tzadikim, talmidei chachamim, always also teach Torah based on the rules given to them by Hashem. So also there, actually every time they teach Torah, it's Hashem's words. If it fits to the rules, Hashem gave Moshe the rules and Moshe gave them over and we have the rules, and if you follow the rules and it fits, whatever comes out, that is the words of Hashem. The only thing is the words of Hashem come through the התלבשות of this person. As generations go, the levels are lower, tzadikim are not as great, chachamim are not as great, so the התלבשות seems to make be that it goes through a covering of a lower level. Imagine, Moshe Rabbeinu's mind, as much as it was a covering, but it's still Moshe Rabbeinu's mind. The covering of a talmid chacham of now is far far from Moshe Rabbeinu, so it's a much lower, further התלבשות. But this התלבשות is the same concept as the התלבשות of Moshe. By Moshe it was covered in his mind, which is one covering let's say, now it's covered in 30,000 levels of covering I'm saying, but the point is there, it's still Hashem's word. Now, to a certain degree, the fact that

it's covered has something special in it. Why? Why was it that Moshe Rabbeinu, the fifth sefer already Hashem wanted, made it so that it should go through his mind, it should come not directly, but it should be like an indirect thing? The answer is, because the Jews were getting ready to go to Eretz Yisrael. Moshe started speaking חומש דברים ראש חודש שבט, the first day of Shevat. Moshe passed away ז' Adar, so he had 37 days. So the whole last chumash was 37 days, from beginning to the end. And then afterward, a short while later, they went to Eretz Yisrael. The difference between the Jews living in Eretz Yisrael and living in the desert, in the desert, they were like angels. I mean, they didn't have to work, they didn't have to do anything, they just sat and learned all day. When it came to Eretz Yisrael, they had to start working, plowing and planting and working with the field. On one hand, it's because they lowered themselves to their level, they weren't as great as before. And that's the reason we learn why the spies didn't want not wanted to go to Eretz Yisrael, because they felt we'd rather stay here, who needs all that, get involved in worldly matters, let's stay here! But on the other hand, that's not what Hashem wanted. For that He has angels, He has plenty of angels up there, He didn't need that. Hashem wants a דירה בתחתונים, He wants a dwelling place for Himself in this low world. He says, \"Yes, I want you to work with this low world and in this low world you shall bring kedushah, you shall bring holiness into the world.\" That's why to go to Eretz Yisrael, get involved in worldly matters, and there if you behave the way I tell you to, you'll bring kedushah into the world. So and that's what Hashem wants, that's the goal. When they were getting ready to come into Eretz Yisrael, so the way Hashem's השפעה of Torah came already had to lower itself, just like He wanted them to be מתלבש, to get themselves into the lower levels, He made the Torah that will be given to them will also be being more מתלבש, not so revealed. In the desert, everything was revealed to them, they were in a higher level, so the Torah was given to them in a revealed way. As they got ready to go in, the Torah was covered, even though the Torah is still there, the word of Hashem is still there, but it's covered, because they were going into a place. And therefore, this has something special. Just like going into Eretz Yisrael and living a life of the way it was meant so is on one hand a yeridah, lower, but it's ירידה צורך עליה, that itself is to make him higher, that that's what Hashem wanted, so the Torah also, as the

generations go and it gets lower and lower, on one hand it's getting lower, on the other hand, it penetrates, since it's lower it reaches even lower levels. As it reaches lower levels, that's what Hashem wants. And right before Mashiach, that's when this will, you know, the level will be that it's, like he says here, it even goes through the level of being paid for it, the Torah that's being told, the נביאות, cause תורה, נביאות same thing, is being told to the Jews, goes through an hitlabshut of more גשמיות, so then what it really means it penetrates into the גשמיות, too. And the concept of Mashiach will be that when we actually bring kedushah into the world, then the world will start feeling it eventually. Slowly, slowly, we bring it in, the world doesn't feel it, when we finish with that work, the world will start feeling, that's what the coming of Mashiach is, the world will feel Godliness like I explained last week. So when the Torah goes to lower levels, it eventually will come that it'll penetrate into the world and elevate the world. But anyway, what he's trying to say in this piece here is that in the time of the בית המקדש, the נביא, his נבואה was more in a revealed way. He would come and say, \"Hashem just spoke to me and He said, said so and so, said so and so.\" And if Hashem wouldn't have told him, he couldn't say it. Later on, now, it is not so revealed, it is more covered. But on the other hand, you see, there is no limit to where this could happen. It could always happen, he could always teach, he could always bring these words. And it's more being mitlabesh, but that itself is more preparation for the coming of Mashiach, which will, which means that the kedushah will penetrate into the low part of the world. Let's go to the next piece here. I'll tell you, when we talk about the last few generations, they're really an exception. It's a point to make, actually. We know that it says that as generations go, it gets lower and lower. Gemara says, אם ראשונים כמלאכים אנו כבני אדם. If the

original generations were like angels, we're like human beings, lower. אם ראשונים כבני אדם אנו כחמורים. If the original generations are like people, then we're considered like donkeys. ולא כחמורו של רבי פנחס בן יאיר. And not even like the donkey of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair. Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair was a famous Tanna, he had a donkey. What happened to the donkey? The donkey was stolen and the robbers wanted to feed the donkey, and the donkey wouldn't eat, because you're not allowed to eat food before you take off מעשר in ארץ ישראל, before you take off all that you need to take off, and he not even You're not even allowed to feed your animals the food. So, the robbers did not take off מעשר, so the donkey did not want to eat the food. So we are like donkeys, but not even like that donkey, we're not even, we're worse than that. Okay. So we see that the generations are lower. Actually the Gemara says, פני משה כפני חמה, פני יהושע כפני לבנה. Face of משה shined like the sun. Face of יהושע, a generation later, is like the moon. We know always there is what we call ירידת הדורות, the generations go lower. But, but one thing is that certain times, in certain generations, there are individuals who are really borrowed from previous generations and they're put in by Hashem. Basically, these are people that have a special connection to Mashiach. Now

explain that. The רבי? All this, spoke about Baal Shem Tov, right? Now explain that: Before Mashiach comes, it says there is going to be a התנוצצות. Just like when something shines, there is a reflection that, it reflects back? Sparks. Sparks that come? This, the Mashiach, revelation time of Mashiach, the sparks reflect back, meaning into back generations. And therefore, there are people who they are the ones that open the way for Mashiach, or do things that are connected with the coming of Mashiach, there it works the other way. There it could be even work greater or greater. Because you could ask a simple question. We say as generations get lower and lower, go on, the people get lower and lower. Now, how in the world is it we're going to have Mashiach? Mashiach is going to be at the end of generations. He should be the lowest! And all of a sudden there will be a person that will be, it says in the pasuk: ירום ונשא וגבה מאד. Three, four expressions on Mashiach: ירום, he will be high, ונשא, you know, וגבה, and מאד. The Gemara says like this. I don't remember exactly which one corresponding to which, it means he'll be greater than Avraham, greater than Moshe, and the last word, מאד, is the same letters as אדם, א ד מ, greater than Adam HaRishon. So, how does that fit? It will be at the end, as generations will be lower, and all of a sudden it'll be a trip. Because the truth is, Mashiach will be that way, there will be a recreation. So those people that have a connection to the revelation of Mashiach are people who actually are, could be greater than people in generations before. Who do we really find that they say such things about them? Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is as great as Moshe Rabbeinu. Actually it says in the Zohar, to a certain degree it says he was greater. What does it say there? It says many things, but one of the things it says that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said, it says by Moshe Rabbeinu: ולא ידע משה כי קרן עור פניו. משה did not know his face shined. ואנא, I quote the Zohar, this is רבי שמעון בר יוחאי, ואנא ידענא דאנפי נהירין. I know my face shines. That's even higher. It says that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai had a certain, actually it says that the neshamah of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was the neshamah of Moshe, it was a ניצוץ of Moshe Rabbeinu's gilgul. Did he have anavah? Yes he did. You think Moshe Rabbeinu didn't say things that sounds like he's not an anav? Anavah doesn't mean that you don't know who you are and you can't say it. You could say it. Anavah means that you feel that had someone else had all the background that you have, and all the neshamah and things that you had, he would've did better. That's what it is. You think Moshe didn't know that, it says Moshe was the biggest anav, and Moshe didn't come and receive the Torah? He didn't know that he was the one that went to Hashem, when he, wasn't that gaavah to stand all alone and everyone was behind him, he was by Hashem? I mean, but that's that's his level. That's nothing to do. So when he, an anav does not mean a liar. You say if you ask a person, so let's say if a person wanted to say, \"I'm an anav,\" so I'll say, \"You know, I'm not religious, I'm an anav.\" That's anavah? That's a lie. I mean that's not, and that's not even nice. So if a person says, true, it says that just like a person has to know his chesronot, his faults, you have to know your maalot. Sometimes a person wants to act like an anav, and not to acknowledge his maalot, that's a cop-out, because he doesn't want to take responsibility. He knows his maalot: \"I know I have a good head, I know I'm smart, I know this, I know that, whatever it is. Mimela I have to do more. I'd rather say I'm stupid, so no one will expect anything from me, and Hashem also.\" But that's not anavah, that's a cop-out, that's a lie. Anavah means that you can know your maalot, and you could behave with great, with as a leader, every leader has to behave as a leader, and still be the biggest anav. With sense, should have. I think so, you don't use it for the wrong reason. You don't use it for the wrong reason, right. You feel that it's not you that gets credit, it's your parents, your neshamah, your upbringing, everything, Hashem. That's why it says about Moshe. Moshe thought, had any Jew in the world in history had everything he had, he definitely would have did better than me. That's called anavah. Anyway, so Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai was like Moshe. Who else do we find expressions so great that shows that they were as great as people in previous generations?

Rambam, Arizal, Arizal, al Arizal it's said that thing. So we have, these are all people that are connected to Mashiach. Baal Shem Tov, we mentioned the Alter Rebbe, the Rebbeim, because Chassidus, it says in בפירוש'דיקע ספרים, not even ליובאוויטש ספרים, from other chasidim, that the Baal Shem Tov was that he sniffed the sparks that came from Mashiach. It was the beginning, because before something happens, years before, already he starts, you start getting the feeling, and the, so that's what the Baal Shem Tov found. So all the Rebbeim, we say it, by the Rebbe. Why? Because these are all people that are connected to the inyan of Mashiach, therefore they are not in the regular order. That's what they said about the Alter Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek said about the Alter Rebbe: Had the Alter Rebbe been in the generations of the Rishonim, he would have been a Rishon. Had he been in the generations of the Tannaim, of the Mishnah, he would have been a Tanna. Had he been in the generation of the Nevi'im, he would have been a Navi. He even said had he been in the generations of the אבות, he would have been like one of them. Imagine: אברהם, יצחק, יעקב. Why? Because these are special people. But normally, as it goes, it goes lower. But nevertheless, I'm saying in one way it goes lower, but it means that the Torah, as these people teach, if it's taught properly, I mean according to the foundation of Torah in the right way, and a person said a sevara, an idea in Torah, which is true because it fits to the rules of the Torah, that this person brings the word of Hashem, but it's covered up in a much lower level. But that's because we need the kedushah and the Torah to penetrate even into the lower levels before Mashiach. Maharal of Prague is part of that. Right. Exactly. They were, like it says, לא יסור שבט מיהודה, from David Hamelech. All the leaders, the real leaders, come from David Hamelech, and it's all connected to Mashiach, true. For sure, it's right from Torah. Now these don't know. They don't know, nebech, you know, unfortunately. בזמן בית המקדש נמשכו בני ישראל בטבעם לעבודת השם. In the time of the Beit Hamikdash, the Jews naturally were pulled to serve Hashem. וברצונם ובחפצם האמיתי, with a true will. ואילו בעניני עולם הזה, matters of this world, היו עסוקים רק בהכרח, but only because they have to do it. You're a human being, you have to eat, you have to sleep, you have to do everything else, but that's not because we wanted it. בדרך עראי, in a temporary form, ובקרירות, in a cold way. מה שאין כן בזמן הגלות המצב הוא הפוך. In the time of galut, it's opposite. האדם נמשך בטבעו אחר צרכי הגוף ועניני עולם הזה. Naturally we will pull for the needs of our body, needs of this world. ואילו עבודת השם, but the service to Hashem, and the love of השם, באה רק על ידי יגיעה ועמל, we have to work very hard. So this we don't really have to elaborate because I elaborated last week, right? In this whole idea of Elokut not being so close, and therefore we don't feel it. This is really, I'll repeat it again, what the Berditchever said, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev once turned around to Hashem, and he was known to be the מליץ יושר, always would find good words about the Jews to say to Hashem, so he turned around to Hashem, \"I don't know what you're complaining about against your children, against the Jews. If you would take all the spiritual matters, the Gan Eden and the Gehinnom, and all the spiritual things surrounding Torah u'mitzvot, and you would put it in front of their eyes, and all the physical desires you would put into a ספר that they have to learn about, then you could complain, how come they are the way they are. What you did was like this: the גשמיות and the תאוות and all these physical things they see and they feel, you don't have to work hard to get it. About Gan Eden and the Gehinnom you put into the books, and you're still complaining? You better be happy that the way that they are the way they are, because it's hard.\" Like it says here, naturally we are pulled to what we see. In Beit HaMikdash, they saw Godliness, they came to the Beit HaMikdash, they saw the miracles, things were different, but now it's not like that. Why is it important to know that? To know that when Mashiach will come, it'll change again, and even more than it was in the time of the Beit HaMikdash, and it will be much stronger, we'll have a revelation of Godliness which is stronger. Now

let's go to the next piece. בזמן הבית, in the time of the בית המקדש, שאז האלוקות שרתה בגילוי, that Godliness rested in a revealed way, היה בירור והעלאת הניצוצות שנפלו בקליפות בדרך ממילא. Then the elevation, the purification of the holy sparks that fell into the evil forces, into the klipah, was automatic. הקליפות נתבטלו מאליהם, the evil forces got were nullified by themselves. והניצוצים ניצוצות נכללו בקדושה, so the holy sparks were included into the holy forces כנר בפני האבוקה, like a candle in front of a torch, where the small fire is also pulled by the big always pulled by the big fire. וכן היה לבני ישראל תענוג והרגשה בעבודתם, the Jews also had a great pleasure and a feeling in their service of השם, דנתעלה גילוי אלקי הגדול שהיה בבית המקדש, from this great Godly revelation of the Beit HaMikdash. והיו נמשכים ברצונם לעבודת השם, so naturally they preferred to serve Hashem. מה שאין כן בזמן הגלות, in the time of גלות, שזהו זמן של הסתר פנים, it's a time when Hashem covers His face, ודרך רשעים צלחה, the way of the רשעים is successful, the evil people, they're the one that are successful. עיקר העבודה דבחינת נצח, now the main job we have is the job of, we call it the middah of victory, victory means to fight. להלחם, to fight, to go to war, ולהתחזק, and to strengthen ourselves כנגד המניעות הרבות against all the obstacles מבית ומחוץ, from the outside and sometimes obstacles from within. לכל הבא להתקרב אל השם, anybody trying to get close to Hashem they always have obstacles, they have to fight. שכן מידת הנצח נתעוררת דווקא כשיש מניעה ועכוב. When do you have this middah, this feeling of power of victory, when there is somebody against? So now there is we always have to fight for maintaining the קדושה. וכן בכלל מידת הנצח וכו׳ And generally what is the idea of מידת הנצח, which it says in Kabbalah, shines in the time of גלות? שהוא שאפילו כשאיין לאדם שום תענוג והרגשה בעבודתו, even if a person doesn't have pleasure in his service of השם, הרי עובד עבודה עבודתו בבחינת מסירות נפש שלמעלה מטעם ודעת, so you serve Hashem even beyond your understanding, beyond your feeling. So basically what he's saying here that in the time of the Beit HaMikdash it Godliness was more revealed, and therefore the בירור הניצוצות, the purification of the Godly sparks were much easier or actually happened by themselves, while in the time of Galut we have to work harder, to fight the קליפות and that's how we elevate the sparks. I think I will take this opportunity and explain a little bit, what is this idea of these sparks we talk about, the holy sparks, what are they, what where did they come from? And in Kabbalah we learn constantly about it, Chassidut. And it says, as a matter of fact, that the whole purpose of the Galut is to elevate these holy sparks. It says, for instance, that by Mitzrayim, the purpose of גלות מצרים was to elevate the the sparks that were in Mitzrayim. Before I will explain the sparks, I just want to show where it says that the Galut is for that reason. It says that Hashem promised Avraham Avinu that your children by the ברית בין הבתרים, that they're going to go to Galut, ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול, and then they're going to go out with a great treasure. And before the Jews left Mitzrayim, Hashem said to Moshe, \"Please, please, go tell the Jews to take, borrow gold and silver. Why? Because I don't want that Tzadik Avraham Avinu to complain and he'll tell Me, 'Listen, You promised two things. The first part You kept. You promised that they're going to be slaves in a land, strange land, that You kept. Then You promised me that ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול, they'll go out with great treasure, that You didn't keep. So please tell them.'\" Now the question is, wouldn't The Gemara says actually, that when they came to the Yidden and they said, \"Go borrow gold and silver,\" know what the Yidden said? \"We're mochal! We don't care! Let Take us out already!\" And he gives a mashal: A person comes to a person who is in jail, in terrible place, and you tell him, \"You know, in a week we'll take you out from here and you'll get a million dollars.\" Many times he would answer, \"Get me out today and forget about the money.\" So the Yidden wouldn't care, and Avraham Avinu wouldn't complain either, because Avraham Avinu cares for them, so if the Yidden wouldn't care, why would he care? So why is it so important that they should go out with a great treasure? So Chassidut says this great treasure does not mean a physical treasure. It means the spiritual treasure. By going out then, they would take out this spiritual, Godly spark that's there, and they would take it out of Mitzrayim, because the whole purpose of Galut was to take out those sparks. And it says when the Yidden went out of מצרים, וגם ערב רב עלה אתם. A simple peshat means a whole mix-up of people, many people who went along with them. The Arizal writes in Kabbalah that ערב רב, the word רב is ר, ב, 202, because it says that there are 286 sparks in the

world that have to be elevated before Mashiach comes. Out of the 280, 8 I mean, 88, so 202 were taken out through גלות מצרים. רב, ערב רב עלה אתם. We're left only with 86, and we're still working on it. From then, 86 ניצוצות קדושות. What I'm trying to say is that the whole purpose of Galut is take to take out the sparks, and that's what took place in גלות מצרים. The Ari z"l also writes, what is the reason why there is an issur, or a lav, a prohibition against moving to ארץ מצרים? There's a Chumash, don't go back to Mitzrayim, because it's very simple why. The whole reason why a person lives in a place is to elevate the sparks, and no more sparks left in Mitzrayim, so why should you be there? That's why there is an איסור not to go back. How come the Rambam lived there? Well, not only the Rambam, there was a big Jewish community in Alexandria, the Gemara talks about it. And great tzadikim lived there. So, there are heterim. One opinion is that it's only if you go the same derech, the same derech where the Yidden left, that's the way you can't go back. The Rambam used to sign his letters sometimes, before he would write he'd sign his name: משה בן מימון העובר שלש לאוין בכל יום. Moshe ben Maimon who transgresses three aveirot every day, and then he would sign his name, because there are three times in the Chumash where it says don't live in Mitzrayim. But obviously he didn't go and not do it willingly. So there are in halacha a lot of explanations how they were allowed to. But it's not even only the Rambam, the

Gemara talks a story about the shul, the famous big shul, the Gemara says it was in Alexandria in Mitzrayim, there was such a big shul and they couldn't hear the chazan in the second half, they didn't know when to answer amen. So they had in the middle of the shul a bimah, and the shamash would stand with a flag, and every time they would say amen, he would wave the flag and everyone in the back of the shul would answer amen. So we see that Alexandria in Mitzrayim had a big Jewish community at the time of the Gemara. So obviously there are ways to answer it. But the reason for the original prohibition is because there are no more sparks there. So there's no reason to move there. That's the whole idea of galut is to take out the sparks. What are these sparks all about? You say רפ״ח ניצוצות, Kabbalah always talk about it, רפ״ח ניצוצות, 288. To explain that, it's very hard to explain, but I'll try my best, in short, in a nutshell. And here we will just have to get into Kabbalistic teaching that are mostly beyond our understanding, but we have to put it into words. One of the problems in talking or learning Kabbalah is we describe matters in physical terms, and it's possible for a person to take it in a very physical way. What Chassidut tries to do is take these concepts and explain it in a very abstract way so we won't make it physical, to show, contrary, even the physical part of the world, we have to look into spiritual, not, chas v'shalom, to take the spiritual matters and make it physical. There's an

expression somewhere in sefarim, it says the difference between Kabbalah and Chassidut: Kabbalah made from Hashem a person, and Chassidut makes from a person a God. Kabbalah takes Hashem, Godliness, and talks about it in physical terms, sounds like it's a person. And Chasidut came and took the person and explained how in the person you have Godliness, and but anyway, to use the Kabbalistic terms, we have to start just in short go through what we call the סדר השתלשלות. Creation of the world. Physical world doesn't start here. There are many, many levels that the light of Hashem went and came down, contracted itself, and went down from one level to another level to another level, and it became less spiritual, less, till finally it got turned into a physical world. And it starts like this, just in b'kitzur I'm going to say, very short: What Rabbi Chaim Vital writes in the name of the HaAri zal in Etz Chaim and in Otzrot Chaim, like this: There is only Hashem, essentially there's nothing but Hashem. Now Hashem wants to create a world. There was nothing but Hashem and His light. Spiritual light, let's not You can imagine a sun and then there is light coming out all over. But we are human beings, physical human beings, and we can't imagine anything beyond what Dirt from the palace of the king. And while he's cleaning the dirt, he's singing. Why are you singing while you're cleaning dirt? So he says, \"I'm not singing because I'm happy with the dirt, I'm singing because I'm happy to clean the palace of the king.\"