Why this is the topic that was chosen? Because in the parashah of the week, we learn about Avraham Avinu buying the מערת המכפלה for the burial place of Sarah. So this is the best time to discuss the מערת המכפלה. The מערת המכפלה is something that everyone knows about, and doesn't seem that there is like much to say about it, or something that one could be mechadesh, say new ideas in the מערת המכפלה, but nevertheless, it's worthwhile to discuss a little bit the way it's simple peshat and what it says in different sefarim concerning the spiritual meaning of the מערת המכפלה. Now we all know the מערת המכפלה is the burial place of Adam Harishon and Chava, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivkah, and Yaakov and Rachel, and Leah, I'm sorry, not Rachel, but Leah, Yaakov and Leah. So basically this is the burial place of the avot, and this is a very, very holy place. Just like we know that a kever of a tzadik, the burial place of a tzadik is a holy place, so the burial of the avot, which were great tzadikim, and the imahot, great צדקניות, so certainly it's a very, very holy place. So it's, on one way, similar to all the kevarim or the, some of the the graves of tzadikim which are very holy places, and it's a special place where it's good to daven. And actually, we do find, the first time we find in the Torah of somebody going to a kever of a tzadik to be מתפלל, to daven, or as it's called להשתטח, להשתטח really means to, what's the English word for it? The to prostrate on on the kever, is concerning is concerning the מערת המכפלה. It says that when Moshe Rabbeinu sent the twelve spies, one of them was Kalev, so it says that Kalev on the way when he realized that they're not really going in the right direction, he took a detour and he stopped off at the מערת המכפלה, it says, and he was משתטח, he davened that Hashem should help him not fall into the trap of the מרגלים, of the other spies. And this is actually hinted in the Chumash. It's not just, sometimes things are outright in תורה שבעל פה, outright in the oral Torah, which is just as good, but still it's not written in the Chumash. Here in the Chumash it says that when the מרגלים left it says ויבא עד חברון, he came to Hebron. And Rashi asks: What do you mean he came to Hebron? There was a whole group going, it should have said they came to Hebron. So Rashi says it means one person and that is Kalev. He went to Hebron, he specially went to the מערת המכפלה to daven. So the מערת המכפלה is a place where tzadikim and צדקניות are buried, and therefore it's a holy place. But the truth is, it's not just that. It's not just like any kever of a tzadik, plus being a big tzadik, big tzadikim, but it's more than that. It says in Magaleh Amukos, which was brought down in a letter of the Mitteler Rebbe, that all the tefillos that Yidden daven wherever they are in the world has to go through the מערת המכפלה before it goes up to שמים. So it's not only that it's a place to daven, all the tefillos go through the מערת המכפלה. And the reason it says is because the gate of Gan Eden is by the מערת המכפלה, the gate to Gan Eden מערת המכפלה. It says in the Midrash that Hashem showed Avraham Avinu all the seven gates to Gan Eden, and he saw that the first gate to Gan Eden is by the מערת המכפלה. So therefore all the tefillos go through the מערת המכפלה. Now it seems to contradict the fact that we know that all tefillos go through the Beis Hamikdash. We know in halacha we have to daven to Mizrach side, the east, because it's facing the בית המקדש, and in the בית המקדש you have to face the קדש הקדשים, and even though we don't have a בית המקדש now, it says that it goes through the כותל המערבי, because the כותל המערבי, that wall, still has the Shechinah in it like it used to have, as the Midrash says: שכינה לא זזה מכותל זה, the Shechinah never left this wall. And therefore all the תפילות go through the כותל המערבי. So it seems to contradict the fact that here we say that all the תפילות go through the מערת המכפלה. So the pshat is that it's both they're both true. It first travels, wherever you daven, it first travels to the מערת המכפלה, and from the מערת המכפלה it goes to Yerushalayim, to the מקום המקדש, בית המקדש, and it goes up למעלה. It's similar to what it says concerning the gates of גן עדן, as I mentioned before, that the gate of גן עדן is the first gate of גן עדן is by the מערת המכפלה. This is taken from the Zohar, actually Zohar Chadash. So There it says that there are seven gates I think of גן עדן, so it says when the נשמה leaves the body, it goes through all these gates. So it says that the first gate is by מערת המכפלה, then there's a second gate, and the third gate is by the בית המקדש. In other words, when a נשמה leaves, it first goes through the מערת המכפלה, that gate, goes through another gate, and then continues to the מקום המקדש, the place of the בית המקדש. So the same thing obviously is concerning the תפילות, that the תפילות that we daven first go to the מערת המכפלה, and from the מערת המכפלה it goes further and it goes to the מקום המקדש. That's what the Rebbe writes. Davenen is just a remez, it's not because a tefillah has to have the line in the road that the highway goes that way, that's to show that it goes through there. But לפועל, in order to get to the בית המקדש it takes a detour first, it first goes to the מערת המכפלה and then goes to the מקום המקדש, and goes up l'ma'alah. So that shows how important, how great it is, how the מערת, how great the מערת המכפלה is. So we can imagine, that's what the Mitteler Rebbe writes, we can imagine how special it is if we actually go to the מערת המכפלה and we daven there. So obviously it's not just like davenen at a קבר of another tzadik, even of a great tzadik, the biggest tzadikim, the avot, but this is very special. This is a place where all the tefilot go, this is special.

Now, what is the reason takeh that all the tefilot go through the מערת המכפלה? So one of the reasons is because it's the קבר of the avot, and not because they are such great tzadikim, but for another reason. Because being that they are the avot, that means they are the forefathers of כלל ישראל, ממילא all of כלל ישראל is included in the avot, they are the foundation of כלל ישראל. So all the Yidden are within the avot. So what the avot do, they combine all the Yidden. So the real concept of achdut, of unity amongst Yidden, is found by the avot. Because the way the Yidden are within the avot, they're really, really one. See, achdut that we have like this is that we all get together, somehow we're close. Here we're all really one. And it's very important for a tefilah, in order to go up l'ma'alah, the concept of achdut of Yidden. There's a famous story we know that on the day of the bar mitzvah of the Frierdiker Rebbe, his father, the Rebbe Rashab, said to him, \"Ask a question. Ask something.\" And he said to him that on the day of my bar mitzvah, my father, the Rebbe Maharash, asked me to ask a question. And the day of his bar mitzvah, his father the Tzemach Tzedek asked him, and on the day of the Tzemach Tzedek's bar mitzvah his grandfather the Alter Rebbe told him to ask something. So the Frierdiker Rebbe said, \"I have a question that always bothered me, that's what I want to know. Why is it that it says,\" and this is our nusach, and other people also have the nusach, \"that before we start davenen in the morning, before מה טובו, we say הריני מקבל עלי מצות עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, that I accept upon myself to fulfill the mitzvah of love your fellow Jew. Why, it's a very important thing and we should do it, but why is it important to do it before davenen? Why is that the place it was put in? And it was put in there by the Arizal, why did he do that?\" So the Rabbi Rashab tells him the answer is like this: Before we start davenen, we want to do something that will help our tefilot go up and be accepted by Hashem. And he says, he gave a mashal, when a father has different, many children, there is no greater nachat, no greater pleasure that a father could have than seeing all his children living in unity and in achdut. There's no greater greater pleasure for Hashem than to see that all the Yidden live in achdut. And therefore, before we start davenen, we tell Hashem that we're ready for achdut, ready for אהבת ישראל, and then, since Hashem has pleasure from you, there is a greater chance that your tefilot will be accepted. Because if Hashem likes what you're doing, He will accept your tefilot. So here we see that achdut of all Yidden is a reason for the tefilot to go up למעלה and be accepted. And therefore, the מערת המכפלה, which contains the burial place of the אבות and the אמהות, which is the the the body or the bodies that contain all the Yidden in the form of achdut, therefore this is the best place for the tefilot to go up. And we see also that the מערת המכפלה is in Chevron, and it says in sefarim that Chevron is a place that has the segulah of bringing unity amongst Yidden, as it's hinted in the name. The word Chevron comes from the word חיבור, חיבור which means connection. So this is a place where the connection can take place. Chevron was also one of the cities of the Levi'im. We know that the Levi'im were given 48 cities to live in. The Levi'im were not given a place, a part of Eretz Yisrael like all the other shevatim, but they had to live someplace, so they were given cities to live in. One of the 48 cities was Hebron. And it says that the Levi'im represent אחדות of Yidden, cuz the Levi'im, Shevet Levi, not only Levi'im, whole Shevet Levi, Shevet Levi were the leaders of Yidden, Shevet Levi were the teachers of Yidden, they were the ones that brought Yidden together. So Shevet Levi represents אחדות. So Hebron is אחדות, Levi'im is אחדות. Then there's another thing here, that Hebron was one of the ערי מקלט. Hebron was one of the cities of refuge. And the cities of refuge are cities that a person who killed somebody could, by mistake, could get a kapparah, could be forgiven for his sin. That's what it was for. The greatest act which is the opposite of unity is obviously murder. And here it was a kapparah, this was a way to forgive for the aveirah of murder, b'shogeg, by mistake, but still it was murder. And this city had that quality of accomplishing this. So ערי מקלט represents unity, Shevet Levi represents unity, Hebron represents unity, the Ma'arat haMachpela which are the Avot represents unity, and that's why the tefilot, all the tefilot go through Hebron because this is unity of Klal Yisrael and that's the best place for the tefilot to go.

Then there's another thing why the tefilot go through the Ma'arat haMachpela, which is another, what I'm going to say now, is in itself something very special besides as a reason why the tefilot go through there. The Ma'arat haMachpela was the first physical, actual ownership of the Yidden over a part of Eretz Yisrael. We know that Eretz Yisrael was given to the Yidden at the time of the Brit Bein HaBetarim, when Hashem said to Avraham Avinu, \"I'm giving to your children.\" And he didn't only say, \"I'm giving the land to your children.\" He said, \"I gave the land to your children.\" And the Chazal tell us that at the time when Hashem said it, actually at that time the Yidden became the ba'alei batim, became the owners over the whole land of Eretz Yisrael. Nevertheless, physically, in actuality, realistically, they did not own Eretz Yisrael. Realistically, when did they get Eretz Yisrael? When they went into Eretz Yisrael many years later with Yehoshua, they conquered Eretz Yisrael. But there was one place that they got before and this was actually owned by the Yidden, paid for, and that's the מערת המכפלה. The מערת המכפלה was bought by Avraham Avinu, so the מערת המכפלה was given to Avraham Avinu legally, even from the standpoint of the goyim, he sold it to him, and this was the first hold, physical hold that the Yidden had on Eretz Yisrael. So basically, we say that the מערת המכפלה is the foundation of the all of Eretz Yisrael. It is the part which contains the whole ownership of what future, in the future later on, turned out to be a whole big land. But originally, it all started with this one little place, the מערת המכפלה. So the מערת המכפלה represents the whole concept of the Jews' ownership of Eretz Yisrael. And that in itself is something very important. So if we look at it from that standpoint, so this shows how special the מערת המכפלה is besides being the resting place of the avot and the imahot. The fact that this contains the whole בעלות, ownership of the Yidden of Eretz Yisrael as a beginning, and the beginning always is what counts, so this itself is important, but this is also a good reason why all the tefilot go through, because if this represents Eretz Yisrael, this is what Eretz Yisrael is. The spiritual meaning of Eretz Yisrael is that this is a place where there is גילוי אלקות. It's a place where Godliness is revealed. It says in pasuk that 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. Now, what does that mean? That means that Hashem looks and checks and takes care of Eretz Yisrael. And the question that's always asked is, isn't there hashgacha pratit on every part of the world, on everything, on everybody? There is divine providence, Hashem takes care of everything! So what do we mean Hashem looks at Eretz Yisrael? And the answer is that in Eretz Yisrael, Hashem's connection is more בגילוי, is more revealed, which physically means if a person is in Eretz Yisrael, it's easier for him to feel gilui Elokus, to feel a revelation of Hashem. This is all over Eretz Yisrael. Now imagine if this is all over Eretz Yisrael, the Me'arat HaMachpelah, which is the first, the first beginning of the ownership of Eretz Yisrael, so obviously this has the foundation of Eretz Yisrael, how How much more it's possible to get gilui Elokus when you're in the Me'arat HaMachpelah. So if the Me'arat HaMachpelah represents or is a place where there's a great revelation of godliness, this is the place for tefillah. All tefillot are connected to the Me'arat HaMachpelah. Why? Because the whole purpose of tefillah, the deeper purpose of tefillah is gilui Elokus, is revelation of Hashem. Tefillah we know is not just a time when we ask Hashem for our needs, which is true, and this is the mitzvah of the Torah for tefillah, but tefillah means a time when we connect ourselves to Hashem. It's a time when we communicate to Hashem, it's a time when we feel the gilui, the revelation of Hashem. At least that's what we're trying to accomplish when we daven. As the word tefillah represents, the word tefillah which we all know comes from the word הטופל which means connect, that tefillah is not just a time when we pray to Hashem, but a time when we connect ourselves to Hashem, a time when we're able to feel the gilui of Hashem. And the truth is everyone feels it in his own personal avodah, that when you really daven the way you're supposed to, which doesn't happen too often, but if sometimes you sit down and you really daven with great kavanah, and you really decide, you actually feel at that time close to Hashem, you physically feel close to Hashem. That's what tefillah is. So tefillah is the revelation of Hashem. And since Eretz Yisrael is the place in the world which represents the revelation of Hashem, and the Me'arat HaMachpelah, which is the first and foremost, the foundation of ארץ ישראל, which represents even more the revelation of Hashem, so there is a very great connection between tefillah and the מערת המכפלה, because tefillah is the time when we are able to connect to Hashem, the מערת המכפלה is the place where you're able to feel the greatest connection to Hashem. So all the tefillot, in order to accomplish what they're supposed to, connect, go and connect to the מערת המכפלה, and from there they go up למעלה, they get this, they draw this כח from the מערת המכפלה which represents this great גילוי אלוקות. So this is another reason why the tefillot go through the מערת המכפלה.

Now let's get a little bit more technical into the מערת המכפלה. Why was it called מערת המכפלה? Now the מערת המכפלה, the literal translation means the cave, המכפלה, of the doubles, of the doubling, or something like that, the double cave, doubling. So Rashi in חומש on the פסוק מערת המכפלה gives two perushim, the two interpretations what that means. One peshat is בית ועליה על גביו. So translated literally, a house and a second floor on top. And the second פשט, שכפולה בזוגות, it was doubled with pairs. And again, the simple peshat means since we had, phew, four pairs buried there, so it's doubled with pairs and that's why it's called מכפלה. And the first peshat is it's a house and a second floor on top, which the פשוטער פשט is, as we simple, pashut learn, that means that the way the cave was made, that there was a cave on the bottom and there was a cave on top. So it's house, a room and a room on top of it, בית ועליה על גביו. And another peshat is because it had a double, a lot of pairs. The truth is, in פשוטער פשט in Rashi, the way Rashi says it, the רבי has a different peshat. The רבי learns completely different. The רבי says what Rashi says בית ועליה על גביו, it doesn't mean that the מערת המכפלה was made with one cave and a cave on top of it. And he says, why would Rashi use the expression בית ועליה על גביו, a house and a second floor on top? He should have said מערה ועליה על גביו, a cave and a cave on top. Why is a house? A house and a cave are two different things. A cave is in the ground, in the mountain. A house is on top of the ground, they're two different things. Why would Rashi use the lashon? Now the Gemara uses that expression, but Rashi is more peshat, so Rashi has to make it very clear, very simple. So the Rebbe learns a different peshat, that בית ועליה על גביו means that at the time when Avraham Avinu bought the מערת המכפלה, not far from the from that cave, stood a house with two floors. And that was the siman, the sign of what cave he meant. And that's why he says the לשון בית ועליה על גביו. Besides, the Rebbe says for a different reason, when we say there is one thing and there's something on top, there has to be a connection between the two. So in a house, when we say there is a room and a house and there's a room on top, second floor, there's a connection. If not for the bottom floor, the second floor couldn't stand. So therefore, you say there's one on top. In a cave, which is in the ground, there is no connection between the two. The top one doesn't need the bottom cave. As a matter of fact, if anything it makes it worse. If the bottom is hollow, then it's easier to fall in. If it wouldn't be hollow on the bottom, you could have the cave on top, too. There is no connection. There are two caves here, but not a cave on top of a cave. And besides that, the Rebbe says if you look in the pasuk, the pasuk calls the whole field שדה המכפלה, the field of מכפלה. If the cave was called מערת המכפלה because the cave was double cave, why is the whole field called that way? So, therefore, the Rebbe says, as far as Rashi is concerned, in simple peshat and what Rashi means is that מערת המכפלה was a cave, but as a cave standing in the area where next to it was a house that had one floor and on top a second floor, and that's why that was a landmark, exactly, and around the whole the whole field was called the field of the מכפלה because this was the landmark of that field, and he mentioned it to tell him exactly which cave he wants, which is next to the מכפלה. And the same thing with the second peshat that Rashi says, that it was doubled with pairs, with zugot. So, we learn פשוטו של מקרא like I said before, that it means that it had four pairs: אדם וחוה, אברהם ושרה, יצחק ורבקה, יעקב ולאה. So, the Rebbe says you can't say that either, because the expression מערת המכפלה in Chumash was used in the dialogue between Avraham and Efron. Now, how would we say that Avraham told Efron that this is the מערת המכפלה because these four pairs were buried there, that they weren't buried there yet? So, how does he call it? See, if the Torah itself calls it מערת המכפלה, so the Torah writes it because that's what is going to happen eventually. So, the Torah calls it, we say sometimes, על שם העתיד, for the future. But how would Avraham say it to him? And even concerning the first pair, the Rebbe says אדם וחוה, which were already buried there, probably, the Rebbe says, that Ephron didn't know about it. And Avraham Avinu wouldn't tell him, because if Ephron would know that in this area Adam HaRishon and Chavah are buried, believe me, he would never have sold it. And certainly not for that price, for the price of the value of the land, of the real estate. The land was worth 400 shekalim. He would have sold it knowing that Adam and Chavah are buried there, when everyone knew that Adam and Chavah is the first are the first human beings, these are the this is the the ancestors of everybody, he wouldn't have sold it. So, obviously, probably he didn't even know about it. So, why would Avraham Avinu call it מערת המכפלה when to to to Ephron it wouldn't mean anything? Why is it מכפלה? So, the Rebbe says what it means is not these pairs that are buried there. מערת המכפלה means a cave which has place for a few pairs, a few couples, but regardless of who was buried there. But this is, anyway, the way the Rebbe learned the simple peshat in Rashi. But if we don't go with the simple simple, very simple peshat the way it's learned in the Gemara, the way we understand it, that it actually means בית ועליה, עליה על גביו, means that the מערת המכפלה was double, had two floors, a cave on the bottom and a cave on top. And the second peshat, why is it called מערת המכפלה? Because it had four couples buried in the מערת המכפלה, special couples, these four couples that we mentioned. This is in simple peshat. But we know everything has a רוחניותדיקע explanation, חסידישע explanation, or a Kabbalah explanation. So, there must be something deeper here in the inyan of why it's called מערת המכפלה, what the meaning behind the מערת המכפלה, what it represents in Chassidus and in Kabbalah. And actually, this is what we try to do in this class, try to go a little bit more in Chassidus and Kabbalah. So, we do find in Chassidus brought down, based on Kabbalah, brought down the meaning, the spiritual meaning of the מערת המכפלה, what it represents. And all starts with a Midrash. It says in Midrash that when Avraham Avinu wanted Sarah to be buried in the מערת המכפלה and he himself wanted to be buried in מערת המכפלה, it's because, I don't know if it says or Hashem said or they knew, that anybody who will be buried in that place, שכרו כפול ומכופל, his reward will be doubled and doubled, כפול ומכופל. And therefore, it's called Me'arat haMachpelah because the ones that are buried there, or if you're buried there, then your schar is double, is כפול ומכופל. So, it's called המכפלה. Now, what does that mean spiritually, the schar will be doubled? Now, schar is reward. We know it says in תניא, משכרו נדע מהותו, if you want to know the contents of a mitzvah, if you look at the reward of the mitzvah, that will tell you what the mitzvah is all about, because always things go middah keneged middah. So, here we see that the schar for being in the Me'arat haMachpelah is כפול ומכופל, is double, whatever double shall mean. So, obviously, the Me'arat haMachpelah itself represents concept of double, There is something in ruchniyut, something that's there in the avodah of what happening there or the people that are there, which is double, and that therefore the schar is double. What is it?

So it says in Chassidut, taken from the Zohar, that the word Me'arat haMachpelah, המכפלה means ה מכפלה, ה doubled, two ה's. That's what it means. המכפלה means two ה's. What are the two ה's? Where do we find a concept of two ה's? So right away, what comes to our mind, that's what the Zohar says: the שם הויה, Hashem's name, has two ה's. And Me'arat haMachpelah is connected to both of these ה's. The ה עילאה and the ה תתאה, we call it, the higher ה and the lower ה, the first ה and the second ה. It's similar to another pasuk where it says that Lavan had two daughters: שם הגדולה לאה, שם הקטנה רחל. The name of the big one was Leah, the name of the small one was Rachel. So Chassidut says, also taken from Kabbalah: שם הגדולה means שם ה גדולה. The ה, the big ה, which is the first ה, is connected to Leah; שם ה קטנה, הקטנה means ה קטנה, the second ה, is connected to Rachel. So we have the two ה's. So here, too, we have the two ה's. So the מערת המכפלה represents the two ה's of שם הויה. Now, what does that mean? So let's understand, what are the two ה's of שם הויה, and then we'll see what it means that the Avot had connection to this שם הויה, and why it's connected to the מערת המכפלה, to the place where they were buried. What are What are the two ה's of שם הויה? So we learn in Chassidut, that the שם הויה we know has four letters: י-ק-ו-ק. The four letters of שם הויה represent the eser sefirot. All 10 sefirot are hinted in the four letters of שם הויה. How? Yud is Chochmah, the yud is Chochmah, and the reason is because Chochmah represents the part of the person's intellect where he just gets the point of sechel without being able to elaborate and before you are able to to to to come to all the depth and the width of the sechel. So that's Chochmah, so Chochmah is like a yud. ה, it says, represents Binah, which is when you take that yud, that Chochmah, and you develop it, and you broaden it, that's Binah. The vav represents the six middot. Vav is six, six middot, plus vav is a line, that means there's hamshachah, it comes down from שכל into the מדות. And the last ה represents ספירת המלכות, the ספירה of מלכות. And when we talk about שם הויה, we usually refer to the 10 ספירות the way they are in this high, great world of אצילות, עולם האצילות. Even though there are עשר ספירות in the lower worlds, but the real עשר ספירות is in אצילות. So basically, the four letters of שם הויה represent: חכמה, the יוד of אצילות; ה, the בינה of אצילות; ואו, the six מדות of אצילות; and ה, the מלכות of אצילות. And מלכות of אצילות is the last ספירה of אצילות, which is already the ספירה, the part of אצילות which is the part within this special, Godly world, which is already the last level, which is going to create עולם הבריאה, as it connects itself already to עולם הבריאה. So ה is בינה, and the second ה is מלכות. And when we say that מערת המכפלה means that we have the double ה, that means that this represents the fact that we have the בינה and the מלכות. That's one thing. We'll get back to that in a moment. Then it says also that sometimes it says that the two ה's represent מחשבה and דבור, the thought and the speech. And it's connected to the two things we said before, בינה and מלכות, because מחשבה, thought, is the לבוש of the שכל. We know that machshavah and dibbur, and also maaseh, thought and speech, are the three לבושים, the three garments with which all the different attributes of the person express themselves. Machshavah is that garment in which the שכל of the person expresses itself. And what's the real שכל of the person that you could express? It's not חכמה, it's בינה. So machshavah is the expression of בינה, that when you understand, you have to use your machshavah, that's the way it comes out. Dibbur, dibbur already that's the expression of the מדות, because that's the לבוש of the מדות. So מלכות is connected to dibbur, it says, because that comes right after the six מדות, and that's the way the six מדות express themselves. So when we say that the first ה is בינה, and the second ה is מלכות, and we say the first ה is machshavah, and the second ה is dibbur, it is connected. And in חסידות it elaborates on the connection between the two. And what it means is this: that there are two ways of a person We're talking about the ספירות in אצילות, but as far as we're concerned, there are two ways of bitul, of self-nullification that a person is able to be mevatel himself to Hashem. There is a form of the bitul which comes through machshavah, is similar to machshavah, and there's a form of bitul which is similar to dibbur. And I'll explain what I mean. We know that machshavah of a person, the thought of a person, is united with the person himself. It's so much so united with the person himself that therefore it's impossible a person should not think. A person could not speak, could not do, could not look, but it's impossible a person's mind should not think. And it says why? Because machshavah is so united with the nefesh of the person that just like the nefesh is constantly there, so the machshavah has to constantly be there, because machshavah and nefesh really are one. So therefore it has to constantly be. Dibbur, when you speak, it's also connected to the person, it comes from the person, but the connection is not the same as מחשבה. It's not always there, there's a time when a person doesn't speak. Besides, מחשבה is in the person, in the person's brain, so it is comes out of the person's mouth, so it's him, it's not something outside of him. And it also says a פסוק, נפשי יצאה בדברו, your נפש comes out when you speak, so it represents your נפש. But it represents your נפש as it's already outside of you. So it's connected to the person, but not really connected. So it says in חסידות that these two, מחשבה and דיבור, represent two forms of bitul, of connection of a Yid to Hashem. There is a lower level of connection that a Yid could feel himself as an entity for himself, and nevertheless, as a as a being, as a yesh, we would call it, he connects himself to Hashem. We would call that ביטול היש. And then we have a level called ביטול במציאות, where you're completely בטל, that you're as if you don't exist. And these two are hinted, represented in מחשבה and דיבור. מחשבה is one thing with the person, so when you are on the level of מחשבה that means that you are completely בטל במציאות to Hashem. When you're on the level of דיבור, you're not completely בטל, but you are בטל because דיבור is not an entity in itself, but it's called ביטול היש. The two words mean: ביטול במציאות means when your whole being is nullified, as if you don't exist, your whole being is one with Hashem, and ביטול היש means you're still a yesh, but nevertheless you're בטל, you're something and nevertheless you're בטל. Other terms for it in חסידות is ייחודא עילאה and ייחודא תתאה. There's the higher level of ייחוד, the ייחוד, the unity between a Yid and Hashem in the higher level, that's called ביטול במציאות, and the lower level is ביטול היש. It's hinted, just mentioning just short that it's hinted the difference between שמע ישראל השם אלוקינו השם אחד and ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד. שמע ישראל is ייחודא עילאה, when a person is able to reach a level of feeling close to Hashem in the highest level, completely self-nullified. And the other one is ביטול היש, is when you're a מציאות, you're something, and you're בטל. Which of the two levels are greater? Well, at first we think that ביטול במציאות is greater: you're completely nullified, so you're no מציאות at all. But it says in Chassidus that that from one aspect that's greater, on the other aspect ביטול היש is greater, that it shows that even though you're a יש, you're בטל. See, ביטול במציאות means you're no מציאות, you're nothing. But here we want to show deeper that even though you're something, you're בטל. So there is a מעלה in ביטול היש and a מעלה in ביטול במציאות. So what would be the greatest? The greatest would be to have both: to have the level of ביטול היש and ביטול במציאות. And so when Mashiach will come, it says, that's when we'll have both levels. There are all kinds of Pesukim that prove this point. But this is the two levels, and that's the level of מחשבה and דיבור as far as a Yid is concerned, and that's connected to the level of בינה to the level of מלכות, because they are connected and not to go into the details, but this is what it means. When we say Me'arat HaMachpelah, HaMachpelah, the double Heh. Now the double Heh means it has both: the first Heh, which is the מחשבה, that shows the level of ביטול במציאות, the higher level; the second Heh is the lower level. When you have HaMachpelah, you have both Heh's, that means you have that level. And the truth is, the אבות had both of these levels. It says in Midrash the אבות, הן הן המרכבה, they were the the chariot of Hashem, and Chassidus in Tanya it says, what does that mean? It doesn't mean just that the מרכבה that's in Yechezkel, it means that they were so nullified to Hashem, like a chariot is nullified to its rider. A chariot doesn't have its own מציאות. It goes, and you see a car driving and it passes by, but the car doesn't go anywhere unless there's a driver driving it. So the אבות were completely בטל to Hashem. In which level were they בטל? Were they בטל ביטול במציאות or were they בטל ביטול היש? They were בטל both! They had both levels. So the Avos had ה' מכפלה, the double ה'. So the מערת המכפלה means, if you go to the מערת המכפלה or your connection to מערת המכפלה makes it that it gives koach to a Yid to be able to reach these two levels of ביטול. And it's hinted in the word מערה also. The word מערה means cave, but the Tzemach Tzedek says that the word מערה also comes from another shoresh, another meaning. There's a pasuk that says, יערה עליו רוח ממרום. יערה עליו רוח means that there will be a spirit awakened upon him from above. מערה comes from the same root as יערה. That means it's an awakening, it's a revelation. So מערת המכפלה means the revelation of the double ה', which means the revelation of the ביטול a Yid gets to Hashem in both ways. But, as we said before, that the Zohar says that you get, that the Avos being in מערת המכפלה got is כפול ומכופל. What does כפול ומכופל mean? It means double double. So it means not just double the two ה's, but that itself doubled. So it says again in Chassidus, because each one of these two levels in itself has two levels. The level of ביטול, each one has the two levels the way it's מלמטה למעלה, the way it's מלמעלה למטה, meaning the way it's from the Yid to Hashem and the way it's from Hashem to the Yid. The level of ביטול היש you become בטל to Hashem, and then Hashem responds, He connects Himself to you the same way. ביטול במציאות means you connect yourself to Hashem in a higher level, and Hashem responds and He becomes connected to that same level. So each one of these two in itself has two. And that's the כפול ומכופל, the double double. And that's the real meaning of מערת המכפלה. It's the place where the Avos lay, and they reached that level, and it gives us the koach to that level. And it's connected to the fact that the Avos were buried in that place, because when did the Avos really reach that great level? As long as they were alive, they still didn't reach the highest. When they passed away, that's when they fulfilled their mission, they completed their mission in this world, that's when they reached it. Besides, there's another point here along the same lines: It says that the reason a neshama comes down into this world, so it says to reach higher levels and to be able to overcome problems and to elevate the gashmiyus, but in some place it says one word: the reason the neshama comes down is like this. When the neshama is in heaven, it's a tzadik. It comes down here in order to become a baal teshuvah. That's what it says, baal teshuvah. What does that mean? A baal teshuvah is somebody who had to overcome problems, hardships. So the neshama coming down becomes a baal teshuvah. When we, the word teshuvah is made up of two words: תשוב ה'. You return the ה'. And in Chassidus we learned there are two levels of teshuvah: תשובה עילאה and תשובה תתאה, the higher level and the lower level. And it says in Igeres Hateshuvah in Tanya that it means תשוב ה' תתאה, where there's one level of teshuvah which connects you back to the lower ה', and then the higher level of teshuvah connects you to the higher ה'. Which is basically what I said before, that the lower level of teshuvah means it brings you to the lower level of connection to Hashem, ביטול היש, and the higher level of teshuvah connects you to the higher ה', which is to the higher level of bitul, bitul b'metzius. But that is the real level of teshuvah. And since a person, a neshama comes down to this world to become a baal teshuvah, so that means to accomplish these two levels of teshuvah, these two connections to Hashem. When does a person fulfill this mission of becoming a baal teshuvah when he comes down, when he finishes his job. So the Avos when they finished their job in this world, their mission in this world, that's when they reached the two levels of תשוב, תשובה תתאה, תשובה עילאה, תשוב ה' עילאה, תשוב ה' תתאה, have the teshuvah, the return of the higher ה' and the lower ה'. And that's why their burial place is the place, which is the place where they came, where they were put after they finished their mission, that's the Me'arat HaMachpelah, that's the ה' מכפלה, has the double ה'. So this is what the Me'arat HaMachpelah represents b'ruchniyut. It's hinted actually in the two pshatim: one pshat is that it was בית ועליה על גביו. Our weakness, our I mean the our government, the Israeli government's weakness, that's all. Sure, sure. Huh? Because it was the answer to the because of the Shabbos of the Me'arat HaMachpelah, yeah, yeah. Did you ever say is anybody else there? I am here. How about Esav, no? Esav's head, yeah. They have a place there where it says that this is where Esav's head is buried. Times that there was some once somebody who wanted to go down, he went down and as soon as he went down there was a great... No, no one goes down there. Kever Avraham, Yitzchak they claim, I don't know if they... Yeah, they have inside... outside wall. Yeah, yeah, I mean these are just what people say, we're not sure. When the Frierdiker Rebbe came to Eretz Yisrael, that a Jew was not allowed to go more than seven... None of the Rebbeim went to Eretz Yisrael. He said he went to his father, and since he can't, he was out of Russia, he can't, so this will be substituted to the Ohel of his father. So Me'arat HaMachpelah and the is is place of the Ohel of his father. How about Rachel? Nu, Rachel. Yeah, she was a great tzadeket, I mean people go for berachot.