Okay, thank you. And we'll start. Now, the topic tonight is, I don't even know how to call it, it's basically similar to the idea of the power of the tzadikim to do miracles. I don't want to call it miracles because we once already had a class on miracles, so this will be the same idea, but from a different angle. So, it's basically the concept of the power of being able to reach into the supernatural, because that's really what a miracle is. A nes is going beyond nature. Naturally, there are certain rules and regulations how things work, laws of nature. And then, a miracle means that you do something that will cause it to be not the way it should be or it normally would be according to nature, according to the rules of nature, the laws of nature. And we know that there are tzadikim who have that power to be able to bring, do miracles and make, as we say, ma'asim, nisim, which are beyond nature. So to explain a little bit, what is this concept of having the power of reaching into the supernatural? But in order to understand and discuss the supernatural, let's first discuss the natural. First let's understand, what is the concept of nature? And then we'll be able to go further and see what is the concept of being reaching into the supernatural, and then we'll be able to go further and see what is the power, how is there a power in some people to be able to do that? Nature basically means a set rules, that things run in a set way, a certain form. Actually for the English word of nature, I really don't know what the root of it is, but in Lashon Kodesh, in Hebrew, the word nature is teva. But teva, the root of teva comes from actually from the word מטבע. The same word מטבע means a coin. But what is the meaning of it? That there is a certain form that coins things and it comes out in a certain shape, and it stays in that shape. So the word teva comes from the word מטבע, which means a certain form as it is formed and this is the way it is supposed to be. We find that expression not only concerning nature and concerning a coin, we find that also in other things, in other cases where we speak about a certain set form with certain set rules. For instance, the Gemara uses the term that you are not allowed to change from a מטבע שטבעו חכמים בברכות, that you're not allowed to change from the form that the chachamim set in the brachot. You can't make up your own bracha. We know that when, before you eat you have to make a bracha. So one might say, \"I'll make my own bracha. I'll make up my own words. I'll thank Hashem, the main thing is to thank Hashem, I'll thank Him in my own way.\" So there is a law that you cannot do it. You cannot change from the מטבע שטבעו חכמים בברכות. So here we see also the word טבעו, the word מטבע, which means it is set. This is the way it is. So when we talk about nature, the Hebrew word which is teva, means that this is a set way. This is the way it set up, and this is the way it's going to happen. And as we see, that's what nature is. Nature is that certain things happen, they're set and that's how they're going to happen. The sun rises every morning from the east side and goes on in the west, and this Things happen naturally with a certain order that was set. Now, the moment we say that it's teva, it's set that way, automatically it seems, at first glance, that if it's set that way, that means that's the way it's going to be. If that's the way it's going to be, it can't be changed, because if it was set, it was מטבע. Just like a coin is set, and if anything that you'll put into that machine that coins the coins will come out that way, that's the set. So when we talk about changing the nature and looking into making it in a supernatural way, at first glance, it would seem as if it's impossible, because if this is set, then this is the way it's supposed to be. On the other hand, the fact that we say that it was set—I'm going to get a little philosophical here—that when we say it was set, that itself shows that this is not essentially how it is supposed to be. Because if it's essentially the way it's supposed to be, then we wouldn't use the word it's set that way. Set means it was set by somebody. That means it was put into motion, it's set by somebody. But if this is the way essentially it has to be and this is it, be'etzem as we would say in Lashon Kodesh, then we couldn't use the word teva, and we couldn't use the word that it was set. It's not set. It is. It is that way. So it comes out that even though simply the word teva, which means set, seems to be saying that it cannot be changed, set, this is the way it's set up, this word itself shows that in essence it could be changed because this is not the way it's supposed to be. This is not the way essentially it's supposed to be. To use an example, a philosophical example, we know that the Rambam refers to Hashem as מחוייב המציאות. I'm not giving an example of nature, nothing, just an example of this of the concept of it. We know that the Rambam refers to Hashem as מחוייב המציאות. מחוייב המציאות means He is a being that has to be, and creation He refers to as אפשרי המציאות. It's a being that can be and cannot be. So the world is something that could and could not. If we look at it and we say that Hashem made the creation, so what do we say? Why did He make it? For a certain reason Hashem made it. The fact that He had a reason to make it, so to us, the way we speak naturally, normally, if there is a reason why a certain thing has to be should be, so we're used to calling it, \"Does this have to be? Sure, there is a reason. Because of this and this reason, it has to be.\" Something that has no reason why it has to be, why it should be there, we would refer to it, it doesn't have to be. If there is no reason for it, then it doesn't have to be. Now, in truth it's the complete opposite. Why? If we say that there is a reason why something has to be, that means that if you wouldn't have the reason, it wouldn't be that way. That means it really doesn't have to be. On the other hand, something that's there and there is no reason why it has to be, then why is it there? Because that's the way essentially it has to be. The moment you say that it is there for a reason, obviously it's not essence. It's not essentially there, because if it's essentially there, then you don't need a reason and there is no reason. This is how the essence is. The moment we give a reason why, automatically it shows that it doesn't have to be. Which is the complete opposite of what we're used [to]. We're used to saying that something that has a reason, \"Oh, this has to be this way, because of this and this reason, it has to be.\" But something that doesn't have a reason, well, if it doesn't have a reason why it should be, then maybe it doesn't have to be. And in truth, it's the opposite. There is no reason why there is the existence of Hashem. There is no reason. Someone asks, \"Why is there Hashem?\" Can you give a reason? There is no reason. Why not? Because He is essence, He is the be'etzem. In Kabbalah, Chasidut we refer to Hashem as the עצמות אין סוף. The essence of being, the essence of existence is Hashem. That's essence. So we can't say there is a reason why He is there. There is no reason. We don't for that we don't need a reason. The word reason means that it doesn't really have to be, but because of a certain reason it's there. So the existence of the world is there for a reason, whatever the reason is, Hashem had His reason why He wants it. So because of a reason, we would think, \"Oh, there's a reason why it should be, it has to be that way.\" Nevertheless, the Rambam says the world is אפשרי המציאות, it could be, could not be. But Hashem's existence, who doesn't there is no reason for it, is מחוייב המציאות, has to be. So here I'm just trying to use an example that sometimes the way we look at things, in truth when we start thinking about it a little bit deeper, it's the complete opposite. When we talk about nature, on one hand, the fact that we say it's teva, which means it was coined, it was set this way, we'd think, \"Oh, if it's set this way, then this is the way it's going to be.\" On the other hand, the fact that we say that it's set this way, so that means that someone set it. If someone set it, it means it didn't have to be. If it didn't have to be, that means that it's there because of a certain reason it's there, but essentially, in essence, that's not the way it is supposed to be. And therefore we cannot say that since it's set this way, it cannot be changed. What I'm trying to say is we're talking about the koach, the power of changing nature and bringing it up to being supernatural, changing it. So the fact is that it can be changed because this is not the way it essentially has to be. Something that is there essentially because it has to be, that cannot be changed. But anything that is there because of a reason, or it's set through somebody for something, then it shows it's not essentially it has to be. And therefore nature could be changed, because essentially the does the way the nature is is only there because it happens to be there, because Hashem happens to, whatever reason He had, to decide to make the nature in a certain way, but essentially doesn't have to be that way. The whole creation is that way. When you talk about nature, you talk about the whole creation. The whole creation is only there because Hashem made it. He had his reason, he decided, whatever it was, why he wanted to make it. But not that essentially the world has to be. The only thing that essentially is there, and therefore I'm afraid to use the word essentially has to be because the moment I say it has to be, it sounds as if I'm saying, oh, for a certain reason it has to be. There is no reason why he has to be. He is there because this is the essence of existence, while the world is not there because this is the essence of existence, it's there because he made it. Which is, by the way, the reason why we always learn that Hashem has to recreate the world every second. המחדש, we say in דאווענען, המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית. Hashem with his kindness, with his goodness recreates, renews the creation every day. And it doesn't really mean every day only, but it means it renews the creation every second. It's constantly, Hashem constantly has to renew it. As the Alter Rebbe brings from the peshat that the Baal Shem Tov said on the פסוק where it says in Chumash in in תהלים, לעולם השם דברך נצב בשמים, which means forever השם your words are standing in the heavens. So the Baal Shem Tov said, what does that mean? That when השם created the heavens, he said יהי רקיע, let there be a heaven. בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם, השם created the world with ten statements. One of them was יהי רקיע. So the פסוק says לעולם השם דברך נצב בשמים, forever your words are standing there. השם's words have to constantly be resaid, and resaid, and resaid constantly in order to make the world exist. If Hashem would stop for a second, there would be no more existence of the world. That's why they say, and Chassidus explains how it is. But before we get to the explanation, they say that someone once asked a person who doesn't learn Chassidus, and he said, what would Hashem want have to do if he'd want to destroy the world? There shouldn't be no more world. He said, what did he do? He'd put the world on fire, and the whole world, the earth would burn up. Put it on fire, but there will be still ashes left. Well, he'll spread it out in the seven seas and there'll be no more ashes. But they asked him, but you know the ashes are going to be in the water. Good, so he made a whole למדות, it'll be בטל בששים. So you know, 60 times as much, it becomes בטל, it doesn't exist. The guy told him, what are you talking about? If Hashem doesn't want the world to be, he just stops creating it! He just doesn't do anything, he sits back and doesn't create the world and there won't be a world, because Hashem has to recreate. Now, what's the proof? Why does Hashem have to recreate the world every second? What's the reason that we must say that? And not only there's the question is what is the reason, but there seems to be a proof against it. Just like when a person makes, a craftsman makes a vessel, for instance you take a piece of silver and you turn it into a cup, it's a becher, it's a silver cup. Does the person who made the silver cup have to constantly hold it so it should stay up? He makes it once and it stays there. So too, why can't we say Hashem made the world, the universe, created it, and now took a back seat and is going on by itself? And the answer is very simple, you can't compare the two. Because when Hashem When a person makes something, he doesn't make it יש מאין, it's not something from nothing. He took a piece of silver that's there from before. He didn't make anything new. All he did was he shaped it differently, he changed the tziyur, the shape, the tzurah, the form, but he didn't make anything. But when Hashem created the world, he made it something from nothing, which means in other words, essentially the world should not be there. Essentially there is no creation. So automatically what he's doing is going against what the essence of existence stands for. The essence of existence is only one thing: Hashem. And this, which is a separate entity, kivayachol, so to speak, such a thing is against, I hate to use this word because it's the opposite of what I'm trying to say, but it's against the nature of true essence, essential existence. I'm just using the word nature because we have no other word, but it's against against what the essence of being is. The essence of being, it shouldn't be there. And therefore in order for it to continue being, they constantly have to hold up. And the Alter Rebbe brings an example, an example of קריעת ים סוף, he says. By קריעת ים סוף, when the Jews crossed the sea, Hashem split the sea. So it says in pasuk what happened, he brought a very strong wind that blew and held the water up to the side, רוח קדים עזה כל הלילה. And that's how the water stood up. And he had to have the wind blowing the whole time. Had he taken away that wind for a second, the water would come down. Why did he have to constantly hold it up? Because the nature of water is to flow down. So what he was doing is fighting the nature. The nature is is that to flow, to fight it, so you can't just say I'll push it up. You'll push it up, but the nature is still to flow. The moment you stop, you take it away, it'll come back. The truth is we don't even need a proof, which by the way that's the way the Alter Rebbe learns pshat in קריעת ים סוף. Other mefarshim learn when it says there was a רוח קדים, that means a spiritual wind, ruach of Hashem. But the Alter Rebbe says simple pshat in pasuk is there was a wind actually blowing and held it up. But the truth is you don't even have to have a proof from קריעת ים סוף, I could prove it to you from this cup of water. The only way the water is standing up is because there are walls holding it up. And you have to have the walls constantly. We can't say, \"Well, now I put the water in here so now the water took a shape. Let me cut the cup and the water will stay in that shape.\" It won't. Why? Because the nature of water is still there to flow, so you have to constantly have something holding it up. So too, the creation essentially shouldn't be, is not there. That's not the essence of creation. The fact that a creation exists is because Hashem now is doing it against the way the essence of its nature is, and therefore the only way it could stay up is when Hashem will constantly give it its existence by saying the עשרה מאמרות all over again. What's Hashem? That's nothingness? Nothingness in our eyes, the true יש. See, we say that the creation of the world was yesh me'ayin, something from nothing, that's in our eyes. In truth, it's אין from יש, it's nothing from something. The real something, the יש האמיתי, the real something is Hashem, and this is really nothing. But looking at it from our perspective in our eyes, we have something that is being created against the nature of true existence, and therefore it constantly has to be held up. But all I'm trying to bring out here is one point: that nature is not something that has to be. Nature is something that's there because it's there, but not something that is מחויב המציאות, something has to be, because there is somebody who created the nature, somebody who formed it, who coined it, and that's why it's there. But in truth it doesn't have to be there. See, when we say nature, whether we say teva or nature in English, this doesn't explain where it came from, why it's there. It only is a description of what happens, because sometimes we're getting in another subject, but just to mention it, sometimes when you tell a person, \"Well, how did all this happen? Who created all this?\" Must be Hashem. So you hear the answer that people give sometimes: \"Who says? So where did this come from? Well, from Mother Nature. Nature made it. It's natural.\" What kind of answer is that? Nature is not an explanation how it happened. Nature is just using one word that describes all the things that are coined and set up. Instead of going through every detail saying, \"Well, the sun has to rise, this has to happen,\" so we use one word for it: nature, which includes everything that happens. But is that an explanation? It doesn't explain anything. It's just telling us that this is a set way of things. Now, being that this is a set way of things, obviously it doesn't essentially have to be, if it was set, and therefore it's self-understood that there is this concept of beyond nature, because this is not something that's essence. And when we say a tzaddik does a miracle, the pshat is that he has the koach to go into, reach into the supernatural and automatically draw down the kochot to change things that seem to have to be in a certain way, and he could change it. So you're able to reach in things which are beyond nature. And when we say beyond nature, we're talking about things which are really beyond nature.

There are certain things which are sometimes not even beyond nature, we're just not used to it, so we think of it as beyond nature. There are certain what we call secrets of creation that are there, but that's not a miracle. We just might not be aware of it being there. Like there's a famous vort of the Baal Shem Tov, he said on the פסוק ואתם תהיו לי ארץ חפץ נאם השם, השם says to the Yid, \"You're going to be to me like a land, the earth that's beloved.\" So the Baal Shem Tov says what it means is just like in the ground there are so much powers in the natural ground, so too hidden in every Jew are such spiritual powers. But in the meantime, why does the Baal Shem Tov say there are so many natural powers hidden in the ground? If you would tell somebody 300 years ago that there is such a thing as electricity, he would tell you, \"Oh, that's a nes, that's a mofet!\" That's just a power of nature that people weren't aware of. But that's not supernatural, that's not what we're talking about, that's a power of nature. Actually, that's what the R'' Yechiel of Paris, the famous story of R'' Yechiel of Paris said. And R'' Yechiel of Paris lived 700 years ago, he was one of the Baalei Tosafot. So, it was known that it became known around his area that he had a candle that burns without oil, and a candle that burns for a whole week. And people used to come to him to find out what it is, and he was being bothered. So, he invented something that when people would knock on the door, and he didn't want to let them in and they would bother him, he would push a button, and the floor would open up, and the people would fall in. And then they would run away, obviously, he didn't want to be bothered. So, once the king heard, the king of the area heard of this phenomena that he made, so the king came, disguised himself, knocked on the door, and he looked and he saw somebody bothering him, so he pressed the button, and boom, and he fell in. But he didn't fall in all the way. When the Rabbi' Yechiel of Paris saw he didn't fall in all the way like all others, he understood that something He ran over to the door, and opened the door, and says, \"Come in, Your Majesty.\" \"How do you know?\" So, he told him, \"I saw from what happened that you're a special person, I understood you're the king. What do you want from me?\" So, he said, \"I heard that you have some magical powers, that you have a light, a candle that burns without oil, some kind Where do you get this power, these supernatural powers?\" So, he says, \"There's nothing supernatural about it. It's a natural power that exists in the world. And the world is not ready for it yet, in the future it will be invented, and people will find this out.\" Now, exactly what that was, maybe it was a power of electricity or something like that, but this is a natural power. This is not something that's beyond nature. If you would tell somebody hundreds of years ago that you would be able to have a plane fly, \"Oh, this is a miracle!\" Actually, the Rambam says, the Rambam writes in one place: וכי מצינו ספינה פורחת באויר? Can you find ever a ship flying in the air? Now, someone showed it to me once, and said, \"You see, the Rambam this is he made this a stirah. He didn't know exactly if this is true, then how could he write such a thing, when we see now that there is such a thing as a ship flying in the air?\" It happened to be that I once saw somebody who gave out this Rambam with nekudot, with he'arot, with comments, and every thing had a number, and look in the bottom. So, I saw this guy gave out, and on these words where the Rambam says, \"Do we ever find a ship flying in the air?\", there's a number, and I look in the bottom, and he writes: בלי מכונה, without a motor. Without a motor! That's what the Rambam means! In other words, without having a special power pushing it. So, I told the guy, \"You know, I have a better kushya on the Rambam. I have a habit, it's a crazy habit, that when I get a little piece of paper for my kids, I make little ships. I made a ship, and I threw it, and it flew from one end to the other. How could the Rambam say that he never saw a ship flying in the air? I saw a ship flying in the air!\" \"Well, you threw it, you pushed it.\" \"Ah! The Rambam means without being pushed, without a special power making it happen. Yeah, that's exactly, without a motor!\" But that's by the way. But people that time, if you could tell them this would happen, they'd say this is a miracle. So, there are certain things which are not really miracles, they're not supernatural, they're part of nature. But the truth is we're going a step further: there's a possibility for a tzaddik to be able to actually change the nature, to do something which is completely beyond nature. Where does this power come from?

Now, that the one that's able to change the nature and is not limited to the laws of nature, because that doesn't have to be, is the one that created the nature. The one that created the nature is not limited to what He made. If that's something that He made, He is obviously beyond it. So, Hashem is definitely not limited to nature to say that Hashem could only do things which are natural. He is the one that made the nature! But the question is: tzaddikim, who are human beings, what do they do? So, the answer is very pashut. When a tzaddik is batel to Hashem, a tzaddik that is so holy, meaning that he is so close to Hashem, a tzaddik is a person who has purified himself, has purified himself to such a degree that he lost basically his own metziut as a separate entity. That's a very high level. But there is a possibility for a tzaddik to be that way, as the Rambam explains in the halachot of nevuah. The Rambam explains: who's a navi? So he says the first thing a navi is, in order to be have nevuah, to have prophecy, he has to be a person that obviously keeps all the mitzvot, a person who completely killed, he says, ויתגבר על יצרו, he overcame his yetzer hara completely, a person who doesn't have any desire to gashmiyut, a person whose whole desire is only to Hashem, that's his whole being and his whole life. A person like that was given the power by Hashem because what he does is not really he himself, but he does it because he feels that he is nothing, and all he is is nullified to Hashem. It's similar to what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says in the זוהר, אנא סימנא בעלמא. I am only a siman of Hashem. I am only a sign of Hashem's existence. Well, the truth is we're all like that. We're nothing. All our whole being is only the fact that we are created by Hashem. We only express Hashem's being. The problem with us is that we don't feel it. We think we are something. And as much as we try to understand we're not, we could understand it in our mind, but to actually behave that way and actually feel that way, we don't. A tzadik is a person who actually reaches a point that his whole being is, all גשמיות'דיק being, he feels the fact that he's nothing without Hashem. And therefore, sometimes tzadikim say certain things which sound like ga'avah, like arrogance, which we wouldn't expect them to say it. But that's only if a person thinks of himself as a separate being, then if he says something about himself, then he's a baal ga'avah. But if he realizes how he is nothing, so then if he is nothing, everything he has is nothing but what Hashem gave me, nothing but the expression of Hashem. So then it's not a ga'avah. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai himself said something in the Gemara, the Gemara says, which if someone else would say it, we'd look at him. He said like this: If the world has two great tzadikim, you know who they are? The two greatest tzadikim in the world is me and my son. ואם אחד הוא, start over again, ראיתי בני עליה והן שנים, אני ובני. If you see בני עליה, great people, it's me and my son. ואם אחד הוא, if it's one, אני הוא, me. Now imagine, how could someone say that? That I am the greatest I'm the greatest person. The answer is you could only If If you feel that you are something, then who's great? Me, I'm great. I? Who's the I? There's no such thing as I. But if you realize that you are not an I, the I of you is nothing but an expression of Hashem's creation, and you're only the expression of Hashem's will, that's all you are, because Hashem wanted you to be, and you feel it, then what you say about yourself is not really about yourself. But a person like that, in this person dwells the power of Hashem because he becomes a vessel to the power of Hashem. Just like it says by Moshe Rabbeinu that he says שכינה מדברת מתוך גרונו של משה. The Shechinah spoke from Moshe's mouth. When Moshe spoke, it was really Hashem speaking. Now what does that mean? How do you imagine? You think when Moshe spoke words of Torah, when the Yidden listened to him, it was a different voice than his own? It was like some tape recorder in him which was Hashem's voice, and that was different? Hashem spoke through him? I can guarantee you, it was Moshe's voice, that's all. But Moshe's voice, his own personal voice, was nothing personal, because he reached the madregah where he was such so much batal to Hashem that it was when Hashem all what he did and what he said was only from Hashem. It's similar to other stories you find about tzadikim. For instance, the famous story with the Rabbi Rashab, I told this story many times, that the Rabbi Rashab was once by an אסיפה that the government called, and it was there all the גדולי ישראל from that area, from Europe, from Russia, were there. And there was something that the government was pushing, certain they called it a גזירה, against something, they wanted that the רבנים to learn, to study secular stuff, whatever it was. And the Rabbi Rashab spoke out very strongly against it, very strongly. And he urged everyone to vote against it and not to give in even though it meant all kinds of dangers for the רבנים. And after that session, R'' Chaim Brisker came to the Rabbi Rashab and said to him, ליובאוויטשער רבי, you're right, it's a terrible thing, but I don't know how why is that that terrible that we have to go on mesirat nefesh for it? That we have to push and give up our lives, because it was dangerous what we're doing, and I don't know this. And he asked him these words: Where is your מקור? Where is your source that that this is wrong, that terrible, so terribly wrong. So, he answered him: אזוי האט זיך ביי מיר אפגעלייגט. My source is that's what I think. So, he said to him, ליובאוויטשער רבי, איר בויט אזוי פיל אויף אייער אפלייג? You build so much on your own What's the word used in English for אפלייג? Feeling or something where you just comes into your mind, that's what you think? You build so much that you're ready that we should all go on mesirat nefesh? So, the Rabbi Rashab tells him, I'll tell you. From the day of my bar mitzvah, I trained my body, my body, not the neshamah, my body, that my body should only want and feel things which is the will of Hashem, and not to want things which are against the will of Hashem. And I think that since this is the way I feel, I think it's right. And R'' Chaim Brisker said to him, ליובאוויטשער רבי, if that's what you feel, if that's how you be, I'll back you. And he went for the next session, there was a whole bunch of רבנים and it was a whole debate how they should vote. So, R'' Chaim got up and said something which he would never say, wasn't his style, he got up and he said, מורי ורבותי, I want to tell you something. You know who I am? I'm the famous R'' Chaim Brisker. I'm the famous person that all people all over the world send me שאלות, and my word means a lot. Story with the Rabbi Rashab that he once somebody's brother came to America, and after half a year he sent a letter to his brother that you have a son, maybe you send him to me and I'll teach him a trade here and it'll be good for him. So, he came to the Rebbe, and he asked the Rabbi Rashab, and the Rebbe said, let don't, he shouldn't go. So, he didn't send him. Came a second time, few months later he had another letter, he came again, he said, don't send him. So, he didn't. But then he got a third letter. So, this time he didn't ask, and he sent him. And on the way, nebech, the ship sank, and he drowned. He came running to the Rebbe with טענות: Obviously, you knew what's going to happen, so why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have sent him. So, he said to him: גלייב מיר אז איך האב נישט געוואוסט. Believe me, I didn't know. אבער אז מ'זאגט דארף מען פאלגן. But if I told you, you have to listen. Now, why is this also for the same reason? The reason is because this is a person that is completely batel to Hashem, so he is a vessel through which Hashem could work that his berachah should come, like it says in the Gemara: צדיק גוזר הקדוש ברוך הוא מקיים, the צדיק says, Hashem listens. Now what does that mean? Who's the baal habayit over Hashem? Nobody is the boss over Hashem. But what it means is, because you are so batel to me, so your words express what Hashem does. So, really if a tzaddik says, it happens because this is the expression of what Hashem because he feels himself as nothing but an extension, I mean, the word extension is wrong, but as an expression of Hashem's will. That's all it is. Now, there are other, some other times, it works specifically through Torah. We know the story with the Baal Shem Tov, that once somebody came to the Baal Shem Tov and asked him, my father lost his oxen, where are they? Can you tell me where they are? So, the Baal Shem Tov opened up a Zohar, looked into it, and he said, go to the city of Breslov, and there this and this place, you'll find it. And the guy went, yes, and he found it there. Reminds us of the story in Tanach with Shmuel, but anyway. Someone asked the Baal Shem Tov, but obviously you had ruach hakodesh, you see. Why did you have to open up the Zohar for? Why didn't why didn't you just say so? So, this is what he said. He said when Hashem created the world, it says: אור שנברא ביום ראשון, the light that Hashem created on the first day was so powerful, that a person אדם רואה מסוף עולם ועד סופו, a person could see with that power from one end of the world to the other. That's how strong it was. ראה הקדוש ברוך הוא שאין העולם ראוי לזה, Hashem saw that the world doesn't deserve such a strong light. So, what did Hashem do? גנזו, He hid it. That's what it says. גנזו לצדיקים לעתיד לבוא. He hid it that in the future it'll come back. And then it says: והיה אור הלבנה כאור החמה, ואור החמה שבעתים כשבעת ימי בראשית, the light is going to be back. So, in the meantime, Hashem hid it. In Midrash, it asks: Where did he hide it? If you hide something, it has to be hidden someplace. גנזו בתורה. It's hidden in the Torah. So, in the Torah, you have that light. So, the Baal Shem Tov said, in order for me to see far away, I had to switch on the light. So, he opened a sefer, he opened the Zohar, and he looked into it, and he said the light shined to me, and I was able to see. So, this is another way, because Torah is one of the ways and from one spective it's the most strongest way how a Yid becomes one with Hashem. When you do mitzvot you become one with Hashem. Actually, the word mitzvah is from the word צוותא וחיבורא, which means connection, so you become one with Hashem, but not the same as with Torah. When a Yid learns Torah, the union he has with Hashem, the unity, is so strong that it says in תניא, אין יחוד כזה נמצא כלל. There's no other type of union of two things to become one as it is when a person learns Torah. And he explains it because when you learn Torah, the the the concept that you're learning is one with your brain. Because what is the brain? The brain is a When a person understands something, his brain, which is part of his body, and the concept he learns are really one. So you are one with the Torah. And what is the Torah? The Torah is חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, the wisdom of Hashem, and the Rambam says by the wisdom of השם, הוא וחכמתו אחד, השם and His wisdom are one. So really, you become one with Hashem. If a person actually feels the Godliness, Hashem in the Torah, then he physically feels the unity with Hashem so strong. So, how is it possible for a person to become one with Hashem, as we're saying, that way, that he should be the vessel through which he should be able to reach into the supernatural because you're not limited to the nature which was made by Hashem Himself, so you're not limited? So, the main way is through Torah. Has to be through mitzvot, doing good deeds, all great things, but the main way is through Torah.

Then, besides all that, there are certain things that a person, when you learn certain things, there are ways that you could use it, I would use the word maybe formulas, that you could use, with that you're able to play around with the laws of nature and change it. For instance, what sefarim explain peshat in the story with Rav Chanina ben Dosa, with the story with the oil and and the vinegar. He once needed a candle to be lit, and he asked his daughter to find oil to light a candle. But she looked and looked, and she didn't find any oil. She said we don't have any oil. All she found was vinegar. So he said, well, put a wick into the vinegar, and light it. ומי שאמר לשמן וידליק יאמר לחומץ וידליק. The one that said for oil that oil will burn will say that vinegar will burn. Same Hashem. Who said that you have to have oil to make a fire? Hashem said. The same Hashem could say that vinegar should burn. So in the sefarim, it says in sifrei Kabbalah, that the reason oil burns because in the tzirufim, in the name of the oil, which is shemen, and all kinds of things in that inyan, that brings about the power of light. A tzaddik knows how to change the tzirufim and work with these things to bring out that in the chometz, in the vinegar, the word chometz should also have that power somehow. That's like the story with the Baal Shem Tov, which once he needed light, the Baal Shem Tov loved light. He didn't like, whenever he came in, he would put candles upon candles, he couldn't stand darkness. The gashmiyut. It's obviously because ruchniyut he wanted light, so but the gashmiyut also. Once there was a time they didn't have many candles, and it was dark, so the Baal Shem Tov said, where are the candles? He said, we ran out of candles. It was in the middle of the winter. And in Yiddish, an icicle, you know the icicles that hang? We don't know about it, but some places they knew, they do know. So the icicles were hanging. In Yiddish, they are called eiz licht. So the Baal Shem Tov said, nu, take some of the icicles off and light the icicles. Let them be the candles. So they brought in the icicles, and they lit it, and it burned. And the Baal Shem Tov said that this is similar to what the Gemara says by Chanina ben Dosa, that just like Hashem said that oil should burn, He could say that vinegar should burn. He said that paraffin should burn or whatever, chalav, fat, should burn, so He could say the icicles should burn. So it says in sefarim the whole idea of changing around the tzirufim. So this is another way of doing it, but I don't know if that's what the Baal Shem Tov did. This is basically connected to the concept of קבלה מעשית. Just so I get into this for a second, we know what Kabbalah is. Kabbalah is a chachmah, that study of, to learn, which is the depth of the Torah, the secrets of the Torah, talks all about the spiritual worlds, and all kind of great things. But then there's another section in Kabbalah which is called קבלה מעשית, that with these kabbalistic things, you're able to do things, you're able to do, basically, tricks, kivayachol, so to speak. You have certain shemot, certain names of Hashem that you're able to use, and with the changing and the putting in the shemot, you're able to create certain things. Actually, the Maharal mi-Prague, when he created the golem, he created the golem by using shemot. But the Baal Shem Tov said that this should not be done, that people should not It's dangerous, And this is not the way a person should reach into the supernatural. Now obviously, even to do this, you have to be a special person. If an ordinary person who's not holy and not close to Hashem, he will take the shemot and it won't work. You have to be a special person, but even then, Baal Shem Tov said this is not the way to perform the miracles. This is use using or actually abusing the Torah, it's abuse of the Torah, that's not what the Torah is for, to use it. He says it's with being close to Hashem, that's the way to do it. The Baal Shem Tov said once he sat down once on a on a handkerchief, and he swam, sitting on a handkerchief, across the river. And he said that he didn't do it with any shemot. He did it with pure emunah peshutah, with true emunah in Hashem. And actually the story goes that there was another simple Jew, a very very simple Jew, saw the Baal Shem Tov do it, he took a handkerchief, sat down, and he also went across. And the Baal Shem Tov said because he had this emunah peshutah, with this a true emunah in Hashem you're able to do things, because if you have that true emunah, true, really true, then you are one, become united, then there is no limit, Hashem has no limits of nature, so why should you have a limit of nature? But when you use the shemot, then you're already you're abusing, you're doing things not because of your emunah peshutah. Baal Shem Tov said he once in his lifetime used shemot for a miracle, and all his life he regretted it. And these are shemot that you could use of Hashem, שמות of malachim, and you call malachim and they come, and this is this is holy, these are holy things, but these are things that you shouldn't use. Actually the story goes the Baal Shem Tov used to give kameiot, amulets, and used to write things in it to give a person for a shemirah, for a protection. The known way of writing kameiot was by writing different names of malachim and different things. If you ever find old kameiot, you find all kinds of names and things, you know, that the mekubalim wrote. So there was a great tzadik in the time of the Baal Shem Tov, his name was Reb Itchele Drabitcher, the greatest tzadikim. So when he heard that the Baal Shem Tov gives kameiot, he said, \"Oh, he shouldn't do that, he shouldn't be using the shemot.\" And he said they shouldn't work. And for a whole year the Baal Shem Tov's kameiot didn't work because of Reb Itchele Drabitcher. Finally, finally once a kamea came to his hand. \"Ah, finally, I'll open it up and see what it says there! Which names of malachim is he using?\" You know what he found? It was the Baal Shem Tov's name and his mother's name. That's all he wrote. So he said, \"Oh, in that case, it's a different story.\" So he took off his kapeda, and the Baal Shem Tov's kameiot started working. But this is another form of being able to reach, which also comes from kedushah, but this is not something that a tzadik would do in normal circumstances. Unless the Maharal of Prague, which was for a special emergency case that he had to, for the blood libels, he did it, but normally not. But the main thing is, with the emunah peshutah, with the connection to Hashem, you have that power. And the Baal Shem Tov said any Yid who has emunah peshutah is able to do it.

We know that זה לעומת זה עשה אלקים, I'm going to finish in a few moments, זה לעומת זה עשה אלקים, השם made a balance of power. There's a side of kedushah and there's a side of kelipah of the evil forces of the world. Because through kedushah, through being one with Hashem holy with holiness you're able to reach into the supernatural, we find the same thing that there is a such thing as כחות הטומאה. There are powers of tumah, of impurity, that they also are able to perform miracles, which is basically kishuf. This is what black magic is. They do perform miracles. It says obviously it's not the same thing as as the regular that tzadikim do, but they are able to reach into the supernatural. Why is that? Because Hashem made a balance of powers זה לעומת זה. If there's a koach through kedushah to reach, a koach through emunah in Hashem to reach, a koach through being one with Hashem, so the same thing Hashem gave that by being separated from Hashem completely, cuz this kishuf is connected to avodah zarah, it came with idol worship, which is the complete opposite, the kefirah, the denial in the true existence of Hashem, so they also Hashem gave them the power that they should be able to do it. This is one of the reasons it says, it says in the Gemara that there was a Sefer HaRefuot, sefer of of medicine, that was in the time of of Chizkiyahu Hamelech, that had a cure for every possible disease in the world. And it says the chachamim Chizkiyahu and the chachamim hid it, they shouldn't have it. Why? So it says one of the things that many of the things that was there were cures that have to do with kishuf, have to do with shedim, which is from the evil forces of the world, and that's why they hid it. See, when you make a regular medicine, that's part of nature, but that's beyond nature, it is supernatural, but it's a supernatural in the side of tumah. Now, in truth, tumah doesn't have the power, so tumah can't perform any miracles. Hashem gave it power. Hashem gave kishuf power, Hashem gave the possibilities that they use שמות הטומאה, names of tumah, that they should be able to use. So really this is also an expression of Hashem's koach. That's why the Gemara says אין עוד מלבדו and the pasuk where it says there's nothing but Hashem, the Gemara says אפילו למעשה כשפים. Even magic. Why? Because even magic is there, which comes because these people are doing everything against Hashem. It's avodah zarah. It also is because the koach of Hashem. Because Hashem is so unlimited that He could even give His power, if He wants, to those who are against Him. And not only this shows the true infinity of Hashem, the fact that He's not limited to work only through those who are with Him. He has the power to penetrate with His koach so far, even all the way down into the worst kelipot. And that's the pshat, and with this I'll finish, the pshat in the Gemara. The Gemara says like this: Why are the Anshei Knesset Hagedolah called Anshei Knesset Hagedolah? אנשי כנסת means the members, the people from the Great Assembly, great tzadikim. But why did they get such a great title, the Great Assembly? So the Gemara says, because החזירו עטרה ליושנה, they brought back the original crown to the way it was before. What happened? Originally, they taking from the נביאים they used to say הקל הגדול הגבור והנורא, the God who is big and strong and fearful. But then when the goyim started overtaking over the בית המקדש, they stopped saying it, because they used to ask a question: איה גבורותיו? Where is His strength? איה נוראותיו? Where is the fear from Him? עכו''ם מרקדין בהיכלו והוא שותק! The goyim are dancing in His בית המקדש and He's quiet! Where is His strength? So the people stopped saying הקל הגדול הגבור והנורא. Came the Anshei Knesset Hagedolah and they said, \"No.\" They brought it back and said, \"We have to say it.\" But then when they asked them, \"But our question is a good question: איה גבורותיו?\" So you know what they answered? הן הן גבורותיו, this is His strength. הן הן נוראותיו. עכו''ם מרקדין בהיכלו והוא שותק, the goyim are in the בית המקדש dancing and He's quiet, that shows His strength. That He, who gave them the power to do it? He did. In other words, that shows that He is able to give a power wherever He wants, even as low as it can go. Because otherwise, see, by a regular human being, let's give an example, and you're very strong, but you're strong and you're able to give and help, but to help somebody that's against you, you're limited, you just normally wouldn't do it. Hashem is not limited to anything, He can go as far, and even those that seem to be against Him, He also gives them power. So the power that they have is only because of Hashem. So Hashem gave power to kedushah, and because there's power in kedushah He had to make a balance of power, He gave power to kelipah, but it's all from Him. And the truth is, since it's a balance, when the powers of kedushah were stronger, when you had more tzadikim and more people who were in those מדרגות, the powers of tumah were stronger. But when the power of kedushah is less, and it says as the generations go the power of kedushah gets less, so the power of tumah also gets less. It's like the story, the Gemara tells us they once asked Reb Reb Yehoshua ben No, Reb Yehoshua ben Chananiah, they asked him, he used to be the one always to answer all the apikorsim with all their questions. I'm not sure if Yehoshua ben Chananiah, Yehoshua ben Chananiah, I'm not sure. They used to ask him all the questions and he used to answer them. But then before he passed away, the chachamim came to him and said, \"מה יהא עלינו מן האפיקורסים? What are we going to do now? The apikorsim are going to ask questions, and you're not around, who's going to answer them?\" So he quoted a pasuk or another pasuk, the basic point of what he answered was, \"If I'm not going to be around, they're not going to ask questions. If there's no one to answer, Hashem won't have them ask questions. Because the only reason there are people who are able to come up with these good questions is because there is the kedushah and there is someone to answer. If there won't be, there won't be anyone to ask questions.\" So there is a balance, and when there is more kedushah, then there is less then there is more in the klipah side; when there is less kedushah, there is less. But basically, even when we have them both, one thing is clear: that kedushah is definitely stronger than the klipah, because their whole being is only as a יניקה, nourishment from the kedushah. So kedushah always wins. And as we find many stories about against the Baal Shem Tov and recounts about the Adam Baal Shem where they actually had fights, showdowns with מכשפים, with כישוף מאכערס, with magicians, and always, no question about it, always the Baal Shem Tov and all these different stories and the Adam Baal Shem and all the other tzadikim they came out with the upper hand. Because after all, kedushah is where Hashem is בגלוי, where He is revealed, and there it's also through the power of Hashem, but it's hidden, and that's what this is. And we find many stories, even one story, I forgot which which Rebbe this was, not Baal Shem Tov, it was one of the big פוילישע רבי'ס, that when he was a young man, his father was still a Rebbe, I don't remember which one it was. And his father was still a Rebbe, and he's once walking in the street with his tzitzit out, and this goy, this פריץ, I think, this goy came over to him and he said, \"What are these?\" And this goy was wearing a sword. He says, \"What is that?\" He says, \"This is my sword. This is my ammunition. This is my my כלי זין, my weapon.\" So he says, \"And this is my weapon.\" Said, \"Yeah?\" Says, \"Yeah.\" Says, \"Okay, let's see whose weapon is stronger.\" So he said, \"Okay, let's make up a time and we'll meet and we'll see whose weapon is stronger.\" But then the chasidim heard about it, and they got in they intervened and they stopped it. They said, \"Don't, you shouldn't start up and this.\" And anyway the goy didn't gave in, and they didn't come through. Later on, when his father passed away and he became Rebbe, he told his chasidim then that, \"You made a big mistake, because had this happened, it would have been the greatest kiddush Hashem to show the power of tzitzit, the power of our weapon, the power of kedushah over the power of klipah.\" Anyway, so kedushah always is stronger no matter what, even if there are equal, מצד זה לעומת זה. So that's the main thing. The bottom line of after all this is that the whole idea of reaching into the supernatural is by us being close to Hashem, and then we have the koach of Hashem within us. Now, the great tzadikim could definitely do it, but even simple Yidden, with the power, when you really really, when there's a problem and you really want to reach into the supernatural to overcome these problems that are there from the natural part of the world, if you really unite, concentrate, and you clearly come to a point where you realize that everything's from Hashem, that itself will cause a miracle. As the famous expression of the Tzemach Tzedek, when they asked him, he said, \"Tracht gut, vet zayn gut.\" Think positive and it'll be positive. What does that mean? Just thinking positive will do it? But it means if you think positive, really meaning thinking with the true bitachon and emunah in Hashem, and that itself will bring the miracle to happen. Eibershter should help we shouldn't need the miracles, because everything should go smooth to begin with, but if we ever need, Hashem should give us the all the miracles that we need, and the biggest miracle, the coming of Mashiach. Yes? Four questions. Pesach almost. פיר קשיות. I don't understand why, if Hashem could could put the creation on automatic, why he has to constantly create? Secondly, if he's supposed to rest on Shabbos, is he also creating on Shabbos? Yes. A different form of creation, but yes, that, yeah. Why does it have to be a balance between evil and good? For free choice. For free choice. Otherwise, there won't be free choice. How would that man have displayed the power, by killing? Who? With tzitzis, killed? I don't know what he would have done. I don't know, we didn't we didn't see it. But the first question of why didn't Hashem put it in automatic, if you put it in automatic, you know what that would mean? That there is a being separate from Him, and there is no such thing. It can't be. It can't be. I'll tell When I give an example of throwing something, when you throw a ball, right? You throw it, and it goes because of my koach that I put in, the כח הזריקה, the power of throwing. Now, the reason it's traveling by itself is because my power is still there. So it can't, if my power would stop, it would fall. So the same thing with the world. Hashem put in His power, and it's going, you could call it automatic. But being that it's His power, and there is nothing separate from, then that means that He is doing it. That is, He put it in, and He constantly His koach is constantly happening. Why? Because on its own, it wouldn't happen. Just like the ball, the nature of the ball is to fall. In order for the ball to float, fly, against its nature, there has to be the special koach pushing it, and that's what the same thing with the world. No, He rests from one level. Now that it says, He rests from dibur, and He goes to machshavah. It's a different In Kabbalah it says, yes. Hashem. It's Hashem. It's Hashem. You can't make the mistake of thinking they're doing. They have no power, they're human beings. They have no power. It's Hashem. Since they're so batel with Hashem, and it's doing in Hashem. That this this this story, once somebody came to, I forgot, I think it was the Chozeh of Lublin, or maybe not, I think it was the Chozeh of Lublin, came to him and he said, he was sick or someone in the family was sick, and needs a berachah. And he saw, the the Rebbe saw, I think it was the Chozeh saw that he really thinks that he, as a human being, can do the trick. So he says to him, \"You know what? I'll tell you what to do. Go to this and this town,\" I think I once told you this story, \"go to this and this town, go to the professor of that town, and he will help you.\" Oh, to the far town, but he traveled all the way down there, and he came there, and he asked, \"Can I see the professor that's in this town?\" And they told him, \"There's no professor in this town.\" A small shtetl, and no professor. \"Okay, maybe not such a big professor. Maybe a plain doctor.\" There's no doctor in town. Not a doctor, maybe just, you know, a pharmacist. They used to have a shtikl doctor, half a doctor. Yeah, chovesh. So, he said, \"No, there is no no nothing here. There's no no pharmacist, there's nothing here.\" He didn't understand, the Rebbe sent him here, what should he do? He didn't know. So, he came, traveled all the way back, he came to the Rebbe, and he said, \"nu,\" said the Rebbe, said, \"nu, what happened? What did you do?\" \"I came to town, and he says there's nothing. Why'd you send me there? I mean, there's no you tell me professor, there's no professor, there's no doctor, there's no there's nothing there.\" So, he says to him, \"So, tell me, what do people do in that town if they get sick?\" Says, \"Well, they have no choice, they have to rely on Hashem.\" \"Oh, so He's the professor from that town. That's exactly what I meant. I meant that you should realize that you coming to me, it's not me, it's Hashem. If you know it's Hashem, you have the real professor, then you come to me, you know that I, so to speak, have a certain פרוטקציה by Hashem, so I could help you, I could daven for you, I could, but if you think it's me, then I can't help you.\" So the tzadikim, it's they with the koach that Hashem gave them, but they on their own, they're only human beings. Okay.