Thus tonight, topic is going to be the prohibition of גיד הנשה, and actually we're going to touch upon the special hashgachah pratit, divine providence, that exists concerning Yidden, which is connected to the גיד הנשה. But the official topic, the name is גיד הנשה, the issur, the prohibition of eating the גיד הנשה. The גיד הנשה is a certain vein, or membrane, or whatever it is, in the thigh of the animal. And in this week's parashah we learn that על כן לא יאכלו בני ישראל דאס גיד הנשה, that the Yidden are not allowed to eat this part of the animal, and when you shecht an animal and you going to eat the meat, one of the things that the butcher has to do is to make sure to remove that גיד הנשה. There are other things you have to remove also, which is the chelev, certain fats which is forbidden, but one of the things you have to remove, which in Yiddish they call treiberen, when you treiber meat, it means you take out the parts that you're not allowed to eat. So you have to take out the chelev, certain fats which is forbidden, and also this vein, or whatever it looks like, called the גיד הנשה. The reason why we're not allowed to eat the גיד הנשה is in this week's parashah, that's why actually chose the topic for this week. The parashah tells the story of Yaakov Avinu. Yaakov was sent, the beginning it says וישלח יעקב מלאכים אל עשו אחיו, he sent malachim to Esav to see whether Esav is still angry at him or not, and the malachim came back, you know that he's still angry at you, and he's actually coming with 400 men to fight you. And Yaakov Avinu was going to run away and do all kinds of things to prepare to meet Esav, and he was carrying all his possessions over over a certain river, and he remained, came back for some leftovers and remained there all by himself, and that's when the sar of Esav, the malach who was the malach of Esav, was wrestling with him, and he wrestled all night till he touched him, he wounded him, so to speak, at this area, that vein of his body. And the pasuk says על כן לא יאכלו בני ישראל דאס גיד הנשה, because of that, the Yidden are not allowed to eat the גיד הנשה, because of what happened to Yaakov Avinu. This is a mitzvah that's written in this week's parashah Vayishlach, but we know that any mitzvah that we do now, whether it's a positive mitzvah or a negative mitzvah, is only because Hashem told us at Har Sinai, by Mount Sinai, by Matan Torah, to do those mitzvot. We do not do any mitzvot because it was done in the time of the Avot. We do not do any mitzvah because of something that happened in the time of the Avot and the Avot were commanded to do it. For instance, the mitzvah of milah was given to Avraham Avinu. The Rambam makes it very clear that we do not perform the mitzvah of milah nowadays because Avraham Avinu was commanded to do it, because this was before Matan Torah. When the Torah was given, things changed. The reason we do the mitzvah of milah now is because Hashem told us by Matan Torah to do the mitzvah of milah. And actually, the mitzvah of milah is written again in the Torah, besides the time of Avraham Avinu, in the Torah later on in Parashat Tazria, it again says that you have to do the mitzvah of milah, which is after Matan Torah. The mitzvah of גיד הנשה, the negative mitzvah of גיד הנשה, is not written anywhere else in the Torah besides here at the story when it took place with Yaakov Avinu. So one might ask, so if the Torah just tells us at the time of Yaakov Avinu that you're not allowed to eat the גיד הנשה, why does it forbid us from eating the גיד הנשה? So the Gemara says that this pasuk, where it says that the words therefore על כן לא יאכלו בני ישראל דאס גיד הנשה, therefore the Yidden are not allowed to eat the גיד הנשה, was actually said after Matan Torah. Hashem took the pasuk that He said after Matan Torah and put it back, put it into the parashah where the story takes place, for us to understand the reason why we shouldn't eat the גיד הנשה. So the reason we can't eat the גיד הנשה is because of the ma'aseh with Yaakov Avinu, but the prohibition we have is given later, but it was put back earlier in order for us to understand the reason. So again, what is the reason? Because the malach, the malach of Esav touched him, wounded him in that area of the thigh, the פסוק says על כן, therefore the Yidden forever are not allowed to eat this part of the animal. Exactly, the פסוק doesn't say that because the malach touched Yaakov, hurt him in that area, that's why we can't eat that part. What's the connection? He hurt him there, so therefore we can't eat it? Why shouldn't we be able to eat it because of that? So the Chizkuni, one of the sefarim, the mefarshim called the Chizkuni, and also in Da'at Zekenim Ba'alei Tosafot we find that what the פסוק means is that this is is like a fine. It's a fine for the Yidden. How was it, why was it that the malach hurt Yaakov in the גיד הנשה? Because he was left alone. Had they not left him alone, he never would have wrestled with the malach. Because he was all alone, the malach was able to come. So the children of Yaakov were basically responsible for what happened to Yaakov Avinu. So therefore, as a knas, as a fine, Hashem said, \"I will not let you eat that גיד הנשה, so you will always remember that you should not have done it. You should not have left your father alone.\" And that's what the פסוק means, because he was hurt by the גיד הנשה, therefore the Yidden can't eat. Another reason given in the mefarshim is that when this happened to Yaakov Avinu, his children took upon themselves not to eat the גיד הנשה, as to remember the suffering of their father Yaakov. And because they took upon themselves not to eat it, so Hashem also commanded them, continued this minhag, so to speak, that they took upon themselves, and He said, \"Yes, so I command you not to eat it.\" But the main reason, the main accepted reason for the issur of גיד הנשה is this that the Rashbam writes in this week's parashah, and that is: for us to remember the miracles that Hashem did to Yaakov Avinu when He saved him from Esav and from the malach of Esav, saved him from Esav and from the malach of Esav. Because normally, when the malach of Esav wrestled with him, in normal situation, the malach of Esav would have won. We talk about a malach against a human being, obviously the malach is stronger, especially the malach of Esav is a very strong malach, he's known as the ס״מ, very strong. So it was a special miracle that Yaakov Avinu was protected, and then he was protected from Esav. So to remember this protection that Hashem gave Yaakov Avinu from Esav, He gave us the mitzvah of גיד הנשה, which when by doing it, we always remember the miracles that were done to him.

Now, one might ask, this is not the only time Hashem protected Yaakov or one of the Avos. Hashem saved Yaakov Avinu from Lavan, He saved Avraham from Paro, I mean, so many times that the Avos were protected, why did Hashem choose only this protection that He gave Yaakov Avinu, this should be the one? So we understand it from what the Chinuch writes. The Sefer HaChinuch writes that it's not only to remember the protection that Yaakov Avinu got when he was in trouble with Esav and the שר of Esav. Hashem knows, knew that we Yidden, the children of Yaakov, the Bnei Yisrael, are going to be in the hands of the children of Esav for many, many years, and Hashem wants us to know that we will be protected. Hashem will take care of us. Hashem is משגיח בהשגחה פרטית, Hashem is mashgiach, looks with hashgachah pratis, with Divine Providence on the Yidden that He will protect us. So this is not just a one-time thing, something that happened to Yaakov, he was in trouble and Hashem saved him, so we make a zecher. We don't make a zecher for every time one of the avos was in trouble and was saved. This is a כללות׳דיגע ענין, this is a very general inyan that's נוגע to the whole future of Klal Yisrael, that we will be in trouble, we will be in the hands of Esav, of the children of Esav, we the children of Yaakov, and Hashem said, \"Have this mitzvah. By doing this mitzvah, it will always make you remember that I will protect you. I will watch over you. I will be mashgiach behashgachah pratis.\" But the question that's asked: if the reason, and the main reason for the mitzvah of גיד הנשה is to remind us of the protection of Hashem, why was the mitzvah chosen in such a minute detail of the story that happened with Yaakov? This is one detail that happened to Yaakov, that the malach happened to touch him, happened to hurt him at the גיד הנשה. One small point. This is not the whole idea of what took, the whole thing that took place at that time, the protection that Hashem gave him. We know that when we make a zecher, a remembrance, when there's a mitzvah or a minhag or a דין דרבנן for to make a zecher for something that happened, the zecher always is done to the, in the general aspect of what we're trying to make the zecher about. For instance, Pesach is a זכר ליציאת מצרים, פסח is to remember יציאת מצרים. So what do we do? So it says in Shulchan Aruch, the Gemara, that כל מעשי לילה זו צריך להיות דרך חירות. Everything that we do that night is supposed to be in a form of freedom. Because we're celebrating the freedom that took place that we went out of מצרים, so the din is that we have to behave in a free way. This represents, this is a zecher to the freedom that took place. When we want to make a זכר למעשה בראשית, זכר that Hashem created the world, so you say Shabbos is a זכר למעשה בראשית. So what is it? We are not allowed to work on Shabbos, and that reminds us of the concept of Hashem creating the world six days and seventh day rested. So the zecher is always done with a general thing that represents the general concept of what we're trying to make a zecher for, but we don't pick one little detail of the story. See, according to the other reasons, let's say the reason that it's a קנס, it's a fine why the the sons allowed him to stay alone, we understand it: the mitzvah is connected to exactly what we want to show. We want to tell you, \"Don't eat this because you caused this to happen,\" or they took upon themselves not to eat it because they felt bad that their father got hurt in that area. So the mitzvah is not to eat that part. But if the zecher is the way the Chinuch says, and the way the Rashbam says, that it's to remind us of the protection Hashem will give us, and the protection Hashem gave Yaakov Avinu, how does this little detail that he got hurt by the גיד הנשה represent that? Especially that it's not even a reminder of the protection, it's a reminder of the problem. It's a reminder of the little bit that he did get hurt. Why did Hashem choose that? But the main question is: why didn't Hashem choose a general concept, something generally נוגע to the protection that Yaakov Avinu? It's similar actually to a question concerning Chanukah. On Chanukah, we know that the main reason for Chanukah, especially the way the Gemara says, is for the miracle of the oil. They only had oil for one day, lasted for eight days, a miracle. And the question that the Rebbe, Mitteler Rebbe asks and other sefarim: why would they make from the ikar a tafel, and from the tafel ikar? Why would they make from the main important part a secondary, and from the secondary part as the main part? The main part of Chanukah should have been the fact that we were saved. The גוים wanted to kill us, and there were רבים, many a few against many, weak against the strong, and Hashem helped us. That should be the main Chanukah, that Hashem protects, saves Klal Yisrael. Nevertheless, the whole the main part of the Yom Tov is in connection to one small detail which was a miracle, but one small miracle. And the answer is given that it this represents the whole Chanukah, whatever. I'm just using it as an example to the question here too. Why would Hashem choose one small, minute detail when he wants to really teach us, tell us that we have to remember that Hashem protects us and takes care of us, is משגיח בהשגחה פרטית, divine providence over us, so we should, and that like he did to Yaakov, we should have the mitzvah with something more general?

In order to understand that, we have to look into השגחה פרטית. We're talking here about the mitzvah of גיד הנשה is the concept of השגחה פרטית of אידן, the השגחה פרטית that Hashem has over Yidden. He watches over us, he takes care of us. What's hashgacha pratis? Hashgacha pratis means that Hashem takes care of everything. So here, this is supposed to be a zecher, a reminder to understand that Hashem is משגיח בהשגחה פרטית, Hashem has hashgacha pratis over us. But the truth is hashgacha pratis not only over Yidden, hashgacha pratis is over everything. But obviously there is something special in the hashgacha pratis over Yidden, and I'll go explain it. At first glance, should be all the same. We know that Baal Shem Tov said, teaches us that everything that happens in the world is hashgacha pratis. Everything is taken care of by Hashem himself. Nothing happens by accident. Everything is Hashem specifically has in mind, takes care of it. Everything including, meaning דומם, צומח, חי, מדבר, whatever happens to any individual thing, whether it's in the category of human being, or in the category of animals, in the category of plant life, or in the category of of דומם, every little detail. Not like other חכמי ישראל actually, who believed that not everything is hashgacha pratis. They said whatever happens to Yidden is השגחה פרטית, Hashem takes care of every detail that happens to a Yid. But to other creatures, to goyim, or to animals or to other things, Hashem only takes care of the כללות המין, of the whole species, so to speak. For instance, Hashem will take care that there should be a million fish in this ocean, this water. And when you catch fish, Hashem will want that there should be left a half a million, whatever it is. But exactly which fish should be caught and how it should happen, that Hashem doesn't take care, Hashem doesn't bother with that. Baal Shem Tov said it's not true. Baal Shem Tov said even a leaf, any leaf that falls off the tree, Hashem makes it fall, and then the wind comes and blows it over, Hashem makes sure, Hashem himself took care of that and made that this should happen. That's what the Baal Shem Tov says. Actually, it's a famous story that the Alter Rebbe, when after he was released from prison the second time one of the people that helped him get his release was one of the misnagdim, and he said, \"I'm going to have,\" because he had some kind of connection to the government, he said, \"I'm only helping you on condition that you go visit afterwards three of our greatest tzaddikim and גאונים, תלמידי חכמים from the misnagdim.\" And the Alter Rebbe promised him, and he did, and he went to visit him. And he came to one of them, one of them asked him, \"Where did the Baal Shem Tov get this that everything is hashgacha pratis? Every little detail.\" So he said, \"Well, it says this sefer that sefer.\" He says, \"We don't We can't pasken from the from Zohar, we can't פסקן from We need the Gemara, if it says in Gemara.\" He says, \"It's an open Gemara.\" He's thinking, \"Which open Yes, it's open Gemara.\" And he quoted a Gemara in Chulin. The Gemara in Chulin says that Rabbi Yochanan, whenever he would see a שלך שלך is a seagull, I think, a bird that flies over the water and sees a fish and then just jumps and catches the fish. So when Rabbi Yochanan would see a שלך, he would quote a פסוק. He would quote the פסוק משפטיך תהום רבה, which means your judgment is all the way in underground, under the water. Rashi says, what he meant to say, that you judge under the water which fish should be caught and which fish should not be caught. So he says, \"Here you see the Gemara says that there's a judgment of Hashem not by human beings, not by Yidden, by fish.\" And the guy was mitpael. He said, \"Wow.\" But anyway, the Baal Shem Tov says that every little thing that happens to anything in the world is hashgacha pratis. Then the Baal Shem Tov adds another point. Point is, not only does Hashem take care of every detail on its own, because Hashem wants it to happen, every detail of everything in the world is taken care by Hashem in a form that it's important for the master plan. Hashem has a master plan of everything that's supposed to happen, and every detail in every aspect of the world of דומם, צומח, חי, מדבר is taken care in a form that it has its place in the master plan. So you might think that Hashem takes care of everything. Everything on its own has its cheshbon, has its reason why it happens, Hashem makes it happen. Not only it has its reason, it's part of the master plan. And the Rebbe actually gives an interesting mashal to this. A mashal of a baal habayt'teh of a housewife who's a mesudar, who's does everything accurate and proper, so everything is put in the right place. Every dish, everything is has its cheshbon where it belongs. A real smart one not only takes care of everything that this belongs here because I think it looks nice here, each individual thing according to its individuality, more than that, she has a cheshbon that everything fit in its right place for the overall master plan of how the house is supposed to look. It's all part of the whole plan. So if a regular baal habayt'teh does that, we can imagine that Hashem certainly does that, that he's mashgiach behashgacha pratis over every little thing for its own purpose and as part of the master plan. Now at first glance, if everything is important to Hashem and he takes care of it, and everything is important to Hashem as part of the master plan, it would be equal whether it's concerning דומם, צומח, חי, מדבר, all kinds of the species of the world, and Yidden also. That Yidden would be the same. Hashem takes care of the Yidden with their cheshbon. He puts them in their place, and he takes care of them according to their needs, according to what he wants for them. But it's not so. The Baal Shem Tov says, after he explains that everything in the world is b'hashgacha pratis, even the the the leaves and things like that, and he explains that everything is important for the master plan, he adds, but the hashgacha pratis that concerning Yidden, that's something, he says the lashon, we can't imagine and we can't understand. מיר קען זיך נישט פארשטעלן, מיר קען נישט פארשטיין, he says. We can't imagine what the hashgacha pratis is when it comes to Yidden. Now if we would be talking according to the opinion of the others who claim that only by Yidden you have hashgacha pratis, we understand, by everything else there's no hashgacha pratis, it's only hashgacha klalis. There's only general hashgacha. He takes care generally, like there's a war, Hashem makes makes the war and Hashem makes sure that wants that 10,000 soldiers on this side of the this army should be killed. Exactly which person of the goyim Hashem doesn't take care of that. So according to them, we understand that hashgacha pratis of a Yid of Yidden, that's different. There Hashem cares about every little bit. But we're talking now according to the Baal Shem Tov shita, which is the real shita, the אמת׳ע שיטה, which we know this is the truth. And as I once mentioned before, that after the Baal Shem Tov taught us this and it's accepted, now if someone doesn't believe it, It's hard to say this, I would term the guy an apikorus if he doesn't believe that everything is hashgacha pratis, everything in the world. Even though there were some great people before that that believed that way, but now that the Baal Shem Tov taught us, this is known and this is the truth. But anyway, we're talking according to the Baal Shem Tov, what does it mean that the hashgacha pratis of Yidden is so different and so great, אז אין לשער ואין להבין, you can't imagine and you can't you can't understand it. Now we might think that it doesn't mean how the hashgacha pratis takes place, but what the Baal Shem Tov means is how much it's revealed. And we find that in chassidus, in different sefarim, that there are levels in hashgacha pratis as far as how much it is seen, how much you could see that it's hashgacha pratis. For instance, in chassidus we find that there's two pesukim. One pasuk says, עין השם אל צדיקים, the eye of Hashem is on the tzadikim. Another pasuk says עיני השם, the eyes of Hashem, plural. So it says there are different levels. To some people, sometimes it is more revealed. The hashgacha pratis of Hashem is more revealed, you could see it. Sometimes it's not so revealed. You can't really see it. Sometimes it's revealed that you could even see miracles happen, and you know it comes from Hashem, so this shows בגלוי, in a revealed way, how Hashem took care of it. And sometimes you don't see it. So there's no difference in the fact that Hashem takes care of both of them equally, just sometimes you see it and sometimes not. Another example: says in pasuk concerning Eretz Yisrael, what's so special about Eretz Yisrael? That's ארץ אשר עיני השם אלקיך בה מראשית השנה ועד אחרית שנה. It's a land where the eyes of Hashem are on it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Now, when we say the eyes of Hashem are on it, it means that Hashem looks after it, His eyes are on it, He takes care of it, He looks after it, which put in simpler words, there's hashgachah pratit in Eretz Yisrael. But the question is, only in Eretz Yisrael hashgachah pratit? We just said that everything in the world, wherever it might be, is hashgachah pratit, Hashem takes care of it. It doesn't happen by itself, and there's not מלאכים, Hashem takes care of it. So what sefarim say, what it means is in Eretz Yisrael it's more בגלוי. In Eretz Yisrael, you could feel it more. And if you want, obviously if someone doesn't want, Hashem doesn't take away free choice. You could be in Eretz Yisrael and you're not ready for it and you don't care about it, you don't want it, you won't feel hashgachah pratit. But if a person is tuned into it, you could feel more hashgachah pratit in Eretz Yisrael. You could feel more the presence of Hashem, how Hashem takes care of everything. So one might say that this is what the Baal Shem Tov meant. When the Baal Shem Tov said that everything is hashgachah pratit in its own right, that Hashem cares about every little detail for itself, plus not only for itself, He cares about every little detail as part of the master plan, every detail of a leaf is נוגע to Hashem as part of the master plan. And then he adds that concerning Yidden it's different, special, you would think he means special means by Yidden you could see it more. You could see more, you could feel more, it's more revealed. But when you look in the wording of the way the Baal Shem Tov says it, where the Frierdiker Rebbe quotes the Baal Shem Tov's lashon, it seems that it's not only how the hashgachah pratit is received or felt, what the Baal Shem Tov means that in the hashgachah itself, in the individual hashgachah that Hashem takes care of Yidden, it's much different, much stronger than the way He takes care of the hashgachah pratit of everything else in the world. He says the lashon that the hashgachah pratit of ישראל עם קרובו, he says, because we're so close to Him, is so strong that it's something we can't imagine. But he's talking about the way Hashem is משגיח בהשגחה פרטית, the way He takes care, not only how it's perceived. Now, what does that mean? What does it mean, according to the Baal Shem Tov, everything is השגחה פרטית, how is it here? So the Rebbe goes into this and has a deep explanation in explaining what the Baal Shem Tov meant when he said there is a special type of השגחה פרטית when it comes to Yidden. And this is what the Rebbe says. He says we know the most famous maamar Chazal, Rashi brings it, in the beginning of Chumash, on the pasuk בראשית, בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ, Hashem created heaven and earth, Rashi says the word Bereishis means ב' ראשית. There are two things which are called ראשית, and the world was created because of these two things. And what are they? Israel and Torah, the Yidden and the Torah. And the whole world was created because of the Yidden and the Torah. In other words, Hashem wants the Yidden and He wants the Torah, that's what He wants. So He wants us, and that's why He put us here. Everything else in the world is only there בשביל ישראל, because the Yidden. Which basically means באמת, באמת Hashem doesn't really want all, He wants it only because that's the way it'll help us. Hashem wants that that should be for our sake, בשביל ישראל. The Gemara says, כל העולם כולו לא נברא אלא לשמשני. We Yidden are supposed to say the whole world was created to serve us. ואני נבראתי לשמש את קוני, and I was created to serve my Master. Or there's a different girsa, a different version in the Gemara: not ואני נבראתי לשמש את קוני, I was created to serve my Master, אני לא נבראתי אלא לשמש את קוני. I wasn't created for any other reason but to serve my Master. So here the Gemara tells us very clearly that the whole world was created to serve the Yidden, for the purpose of the Yidden. The Yidden were created for their own purpose. Everything else in the world is only an emtza'i, is only a means to an end. It's a means for the Yidden. The Yidden are not a means to an end. The Yidden are there because the Eibershter wants the Yidden. So Hashem wants the Yidden, so His ratzon is the Yidden. But other things, He doesn't really have His ratzon there. What do you mean doesn't have His ratzon, doesn't want it? Certainly wants it, the best proof He wants it, He made it. But we find a lot of times that there are two levels of ratzon, two levels of will, that we call חיצוניות הרצון and פנימיות הרצון, the superficial will and the deeper, the true will. For instance, the example always given is: you ask somebody, \"You want to go to work?\" \"Sure I want to go to work.\" \"Why do you want to go to work?\" \"Because I want money. I need money.\" So going to work is not really what he wants. If you tell him, \"I'll give you the money without going to work,\" he'll jump. But he needs the money. So money is what he wants, that's פנימיות הרצון, that's really what he wants. He wants the work also, the best proof he wants to work, he goes to work, if he wouldn't want to he wouldn't go. But that's not really what he wants, but he needs that for something else. You can go a step further really, that you need money, what are you going to do with money? Well, I need food, I need clothes. So you don't really want the money either, you want the food. So the פנימיות הרצון is the food, and this is chitzoniyut, one in comparison to the other. But the bottom line what I'm trying to bring out, that there is the real ratzon of a person, something that you really, really want, and then something that you want only because you need it to fulfill your real ratzon. And that's what it is concerning the Eibershter and Yidden and the world. The real ratzon of Hashem is the Yidden. That's what Hashem loves, loves and wants. And the whole world He wants only because of the Yidden and the Torah, which goes together with the Yidden. Now we know when it comes to ratzon, you have to halt kop though because this is not such a simple ענין, it's a deep thought. When it comes to ratzon, to want something, as much as there are certain things a person wants, one is more important than the other, but if you look at it from the aspect of will, they're all the same. Because we're talking about this is what I want, so from the concept, not from the accomplishments that these different things will accomplish, some will accomplish more, some will accomplish less, some will accomplish more important things, less important things, but the concept that this is the ratzon, will, all details that are the ratzon of the person, and we use that as a mashal to Hashem too, is all the same. And this is like it says בנוגע the ratzon of Hashem concerning mitzvot. We know whenever we talk the will of Hashem, it's always referred to mitzvot. Mitzvot are רצונו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, the will of Hashem. And we know when it comes to mitzvot, there are many levels. Some mitzvot are more important, some are less important. The expression used by the חז״ל is: some are called קלות, some are called חמורות, some are light mitzvot, some are strict mitzvot. Some are even קלה שבקלות, the lightest of the lightest, some are חמורה שבחמורות. Nevertheless, the Chazal say, אל תהא יושב ושוקל במצותיה של תורה, don't weigh the mitzvot. קלה שבקלות כחמורה שבחמורות. You have to fulfill the lightest, the easiest of the easiest like the strong, strictest of the strictest. Why? If the Chazal themselves refer to this is קלות and this is חמורות, this is easy, this is light, this is not so important, this is, so why don't they always say, no, this you should be careful more, this you should be less? The answer Chassidus gives is, because looking from the details of the mitzvot, true, some are worse, some are more, less. Looking at it from the aspect of ratzon Hashem, the will of Hashem, it's all one. This is the will of Hashem. Anything that's not the will of Hashem is already against When someone, a ger wants to convert, has to accept the whole Torah. And if he skips, he says, \"I accept everything, except one little detail, small detail, such a dikduk, also דברי סופרים, one small דין דרבנן,\" he's not a ger. You would think, you see he doesn't accept an important thing, that's really what Hashem really wants, but a small, small minor, big deal, it's not so, no. You did not accept the will of Hashem, and it's all the same, it's all the same. The Rambam says an interesting thing: If someone doesn't believe in one word of Torah, one word of Torah, he's an apikores, he's a kofer. And the Rambam says it makes no difference which word, whether he doesn't believe in the word \"אנכי השם אלקיך\", the most important pasuk in the Torah, or \"שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד\", or he doesn't believe in the pasuk where it says, \"אחות לוטן תמנע\". \"אחות לוטן תמנע\" is one of the, I think the אלופי עשו, one of the family members of Esav, that this Lotan's sister was Timna. I could care less what her name was. It's Esav's's daughter, granddaughter, I don't remember what it is exactly, but it's in the Torah. So if a person doesn't believe in that one word, he's the same apikores, the same, not less apikores, he's the same apikores as he doesn't believe in that word of שמע ישראל. That's what the Rambam says. Why? Because when we deal with the ratzon of Hashem, everything is the same. Everything has a nekudah, this this point of ratzon. Just like by a human being, everything has a point of ratzon. And this is the difference between the hashgacha pratit of the Aibershter on everything in the world and the hashgacha pratit of the Aibershter on the Yidden. Since the whole world, we said, is not really the ratzon of Hashem, He wants it, but that's not His essential ratzon that He wants, He only wants it as a means to something else, to the Yidden, so He takes care of every detail. And not only He takes care, as I said before, the Baal Shem Tov says every detail is important to the whole master plan, the whole structure of the whole thing that Hashem has in mind. Nevertheless, everything is it's according to its own level. Takes care of it, and it's important according to its own level. It's for similar, a complete human being is made up of many, many parts, and every part is important for his human being, and you have to be take care of it. A person has to be healthy, you have to make sure that your heart works properly, your brain works properly, your toenails work properly. You have to take care of everything. Nevertheless, when you take care of your toenails, it's the toenail the toenails of your or your fingernails, their importance of how you take care of it is according to their own level, and their level is important to the whole picture. It's important for the whole person that his every part of him should be healthy. A person, a complete, healthy person is even if his nails are healthy, and if not, then the whole person is missing something. But still, what does he take care of the nails according to the level of the nails? So when Hashem takes care of everything in the world, hashgacha pratit, and it's part of the whole picture, but He takes care of it all, each according to its level. But when Hashem takes care by hashgacha pratit of the Yidden, every detail of every individual Yid is as important to Hashem as the most important detail. Because if we are the ratzon of Hashem, and our existence is what Hashem wants, and Hashem with His hashgacha pratit continues our existence and makes us happen, and He wants us, so as far as His will is concerned, it's all equal. And that's something special, that every minute detail of a Yid is important to Hashem equally to the most important detail, every smallest detail. And that's something completely different than the hashgacha pratit of a goy. So, it's not that by goyim or by דומם, צומח, חי, and other things in the world there's no hashgacha pratit. There is, and it's part of the plan, and it's hashgacha pratit, but each one according to its level. And by Yidden, every detail is equally important.

Now this will explain the question that we started with: why is it that when Hashem wanted to give us a zecher to the fact that He protected Yaakov Avinu from the שר of Esav, which as the Chinuch says is for us to know that He will protect us, He will be mashgiach by hashgacha pratit on us, He will take care of us throughout all the years when we are persecuted by Esav, we are under Esav, why did Hashem pick such a small, minute detail of the whole story? He picked the גיד הנשה, which is one detail of the whole thing that happened, of the whole protection, that he was touched by the גיד הנשה. Why pick a certain detail? He should have done something which picked a mitzvah, make us remember through something more general, like on Pesach, it's more general that because of Yetzias Mitzrayim we remember cheirut, freedom, so we have to behave בחירות. But here, to remember and to know that Hashem takes care of us just with one detail. The answer is for this reason: Hashem wants to tell us that the hashgacha pratis that He takes care of Yidden, the smallest detail is as important as the most important detail, as the most important part. So He specially chose a small detail, and the small detail is important for the mitzvah. We see in halacha that the mitzvah is connected to that small detail that he was hit, he was hurt by Sar of Esav in that area. Because there's a whole machloket in Gemara, for instance, is it on the right side, is it from the both the left side, which גיד הנשה is forbidden, or is it both? And the Gemara says it's all dependent on the different opinions which side the malach hurt Yaakov. So we see that the mitzvah is connected. It says that it's only if it looks that way like it looked by Yaakov. By a bird where there is no כף, whatever, then there is no issur of גיד הנשה. We see that that detail is is the important part of the mitzvah. Why? Hashem wants to show us that since this is a mitzvah to remind us and to keep it in mind, for us to keep in mind the hashgacha pratis Hashem will have on us, He wants us to know that the detail is important, every detail. There's no such thing as a small thing. Because to Hashem, because we are the ratzon of Hashem, that each detail is important.

Now the truth is, this doesn't really answer the question completely. We understand how it's possible that through the detail we have really it teaches us how important the details are by Hashem, our details. But wouldn't it still be better if the mitzvah would have been in something more as a klal, to remind us of the klal? But you know what? Maybe both! Should have been one thing in the mitzvah to remind us of this general protection that Hashem gave Yaakov Avinu, which means He will give us, and then also pick a certain detail to tell us that that protection is in the details, and every detail is important. Here we see that He only chose a detail, and He completely left out the klal. Why did He only chose the detail? Because what I explained before, it goes even deeper. I said before that the hashgacha pratis of a Yid is so that it's every detail is as important as the others. It's even more than that. And this is also a deep, very deep inyan, but I'll try to just in very few moments to explain it. We know that Yidden have a neshama, so that's why we're Yidden. And what is a neshamah? It says in Tanya, right in the second perek, a חלק אלוק ממעל ממש. A neshamah is a chelek of Hashem. Actually, it's not a pasuk in Tanya, I mean a a a line in Tanya, but actually it's a pasuk in Chumash. The Chumash, a pasuk in Parashat Haazinu says כי חלק השם עמו. His nation is a chelek of Him. All these words, חלק אלוק ממעל ממש, is not the Alter Rebbe's. It's a pasuk in איוב, כי חלק השם, eh no, חלק אלוק, כי חלק אלוק ממעל ממש. The word חלק אלוק ממעל is a pasuk in Iyov. The word mamash actually is added in a Kabbalah sefer, it says Shefa Tal, it says the lashon that it's a חלק אלוק ממעל ממש. But in the pasuk it says, כי חלק השם עמו, that amo, His nation, is part of Him. So the Yidden are a chelek of Hashem. The neshamah of a Yid is a chelek of Hashem. Mamash part of Hashem. We are part of the etzem of Hashem. Now the Baal Shem Tov said In the name of Rav Saadia Gaon. Not exactly where, how he heard this from Rav Saadia Gaon, maybe it's written in one of the sefarim of Rav Saadia Gaon, I don't know if we know such a place where it's written. Or maybe the Baal Shem Tov heard it from Rav Saadia Gaon. The fact that Rav Saadia Gaon lived about 800 years before the Baal Shem Tov makes no difference, Baal Shem Tov heard it, that's where he heard it, from Rav Saadia Gaon. But he brings in the name of Rav Saadia Gaon that עצם כשאתה תופס במקצתו אתה תופס בכולו. In a etzem, in something that's the essence, if you have a little bit of the essence, a chelek, a part of the essence, you really have the whole thing. There is no more essence in a bigger part than a smaller part. And I explained that once in the previous shiurim, the idea, it's a deep thought, but when we're talking about kamut, we're talking about quantity, so this is bigger than this. But if we talk about an essential thing of something, the fact that this has more than this doesn't have more of the essence. For instance, just to use the same example, a piece of wood, so you have the size of the wood, and the color of the wood, and the weight of the wood, all kinds of things. And then you have the concept of this is wood, or as you would call it in Yiddish, di haltsikayt, the concept of this being wood. That you have in the small piece and in the big piece, the same thing. You have more kamut, you have more space, you have more pieces of it, but when you're holding on to a little piece of wood, and you say, \"I have wood!\", and if I have a bigger piece, I don't have more of wood, I have a bigger piece, but I don't have more. So when you take something and you cut it in pieces, and you have a chelek, a part of it, what happens is you really have the whole etzem. You don't have the whole size, but you have the etzem. Take an apple, and you cut a quarter of an apple. In the quarter of an apple, you have the same etzem as you have in the whole apple. And we supply that, when you say Yidden are a chelek of Hashem, that means that we have the whole etzem of Hashem, we have in the neshamah. And in etzem, you have the whole thing. We find that in halachah, also. All mitzvot we know is one etzem. There's a הלכה, עוסק במצוה פטור מן המצוה. If a person is involved in one mitzvah, and the time comes to do another mitzvah, you don't have to do the second mitzvah because you're involved in this one. So some people think the peshat is because since you're involved in this one, you can't push away one mitzvah for another. The Rogatchover says, and Chassidut learns that way too, that that's not the reason. The reason is because in every mitzvah you have all the mitzvot. So when you do one mitzvah, you really have the other mitzvah, because it's etzem, everything is a piece of the etzem, so it contains the whole etzem. I think the best example would be a cell. Nowadays they could take a cell of a human being, a cell from his nose, and they didn't do it yet with human beings, but they will do it, or they did with animal, and clone, and make a whole new animal, because in that one cell you have every part, even though it's a cell of the nose, but the cell is the etzem which contains the whole thing, every part has the whole thing. And in the mitzvot we say the same thing, when you do one mitzvah, you have every mitzvah, and that's why you're patur from the other mitzvot. So if in every part you have the whole עצם, by yidden, every detail of a yid, every yid and every detail of a yid contains everything, the whole thing, the whole עצם of the Aibershter and the whole עצם of all other yidden. And we find that in an interesting halacha, this is one of the reasons for a halacha, there's a funny, a strange halacha. Halacha is if goyim come to a group of yidden and they say to the yidden, \"You know what? Give us out one person, we'll kill him. And if you don't give us one person, we'll kill you all.\" The din is you're not allowed to give. Strange! And we know the, and even in a case where we know they're gonna do, it's not just a threat, they're gonna do it. So how come you can't give out this one? That one person will be killed anyway! So why not give out one person? Cuz if you don't, they'll kill everybody, him and together everybody! So it says because every yid has the whole עצם, so one person is not less than the whole Klal Yisrael. In every single yid, and therefore giving him out is like giving up the whole group. In theory, giving, so one yid contains all the yidden. It's all one עצם. And everything that happens to a yid is all part of the עצם. So it comes out here that when we're talking about a small detail of what happened to Yaakov Avinu, which means what happened to a yid, that is not just one detail. And what we said before was that even though it's a small detail, it's one detail, small detail, it's as important as the big details. That contains the whole thing, because the עצם contains everything. So Hashem specially gave us the mitzvah of גיד הנשה, which is to teach us that השגחה פרטית פרטית of Hashem, which means the connection that we have to Hashem. He wants to show us, I'm not giving you a mitzvah in connection to the klal, to the whole story, because then you would think that the detail is one thing, the klal is greater. This is very important, as important as that, but doesn't contain everything. Hashem said, \"No, this detail contains everything because this is the עצם.\" And it happened by Yaakov Avinu, and Yaakov Avinu, we know, contains all the yidden. We know that Yaakov Avinu was the נשמה כללית of all Klal Yisrael. The Gemara says that שופריה דיעקב מעין שופריה דאדם הראשון, that the beauty of Yaakov is similar to the beauty of Adam Harishon. So Chassidus says, what does that mean? Adam Harishon was the neshamah, the one neshamah that contained all the neshamot of all the generations later. Yaakov Avinu was the same. Chassidus says that this is what a Rebbe is, is a neshamah kelalit that contains all the neshamot of his generation. That's why the word Nasi, says in Maleh Haro'im, the word Nasi is a ראשי תיבות, ניצוצו של יעקב אבינו, cuz he's like Yaakov Avinu. But Yaakov Avinu was the neshamah kelalit of Klal Yisrael. So what happened to him, the smallest detail what happened to him, is not just as important as the biggest detail, but it contains all the details, contains everything, because every little aspect of a yid is part of the etzem. And this is the reason why Hashem specially gave the mitzvah only in the detail, and not in anything else, to show us what it is. But from all this, we have two things: we have an explanation in the mitzvah of גיד הנשה, but we also come out with a deeper understanding in the שיטת Baal Shem Tov of hashgachah pratit. Cuz without this, we don't have the real, real understanding that hashgachah pratit is by yidden, and let's just review in in in one minute: There is hashgachah pratit on everything in the world, and hashgachah pratit means in everything in the world, every little detail, that Hashem takes care of everything, makes it happen the way He wants it, plus that itself, the way He wants, is part of the master plan. Whether the leaf turns over or not turns over is part of the master plan. When it comes to yidden, by yidden He's משגיח השגחה פרטית, but every detail is as important as the rest, as the greatest one, which by goyim, by the world, it's not. It's important to the plan, but as as much as it's important. By yidden, every is important, and plus, not only is every detail important, every detail contains the whole thing because this is all part of etzem. And this is all based on the fact that we have a neshamah which is part of the etzem of the Eibershter. And עצם, כשאתה תופס במקצתו אתה תופס בכולו. When we touch etzem, a חלק מן העצם, we have the whole thing. So in every single yid we have the, kivayachol, the whole Eibershter, because the neshama is a part of the Eibershter. And every single yid reflects, contains גאנץ כלל ישראל. So it shows us what Yidden are, what the neshamot of Yidden are. And this is the way it is בעצם, regardless of what kind of a yid he is, whether he does, that's all in the giluy. He does the right thing or not, then he'll get more sachar, less sachar, Hashem will be upset with him, not. But the עצם there, it's all one. And this is what really what a yid is. Yes. Well, as as you often do, you make this disclaimer like what is the most important law or something. Yeah, should have given an hakdamah. When we start explaining, asking why is the they picked the mitzvah in this detail, that detail, be'emet you can't ask such questions, because it says the Tanya brings it down, that בכלל we have mitzvot which we don't know the reason, chukim. Most of the mitzvot we do know the reason, but he says there that we know the reason of the general mitzvah. The details, we don't know. Every mitzvah has hundreds and maybe thousands of halachot. Do we know the reason for every single halachah? We know the reason for tzitzit, but so many details in tzitzit: tzitzit is to remind us of the תרי״ג mitzvot, fine, now is the ענין הבגד, why does it have to be davka four corners? Why is it eight strings? Why does it have to be out of wool? Why does I mean, there's every mitzvah has all kinds of details. Do we know the reason? We know the reason for tefillin. Tefillin, it says it's שיעבוד המוח והלב, why does it have to be square? Why does it have to be this? Why? So it says the reasons for the pratim we don't know. So in this case also, be'emet, it's hard to ask, why did He give it in this way, why not in this way? So if there is a prat that we are able to understand that gives us an, so then we say it. The fact that there are other pratim that we don't understand, you say, why didn't He do it some other way, the same idea some other way, I can say there are so many pratim, how would I know? I mean, we we don't know. The chidush, the fact that I can't answer you is no chidush. The chidush is that I could explain the other parts, but this why takeh could have been that some other way also, sure. And it's also something that doesn't happen often, and we're not to every person, only to a shayach is I mean where do you, anyway, but the general point of this part that we do understand, this is the reason. Okay. He was first, yeah. But does does he say that as the reason for the mitzvah of גיד הנשה? Okay, we're talking about the mitzvah of גיד הנשה, we're talking about the reason. The Chinuch says the reason for גיד הנשה is this, but it's to remind us that he will protect us while we're in galut, by Esav, he will protect us. That's another, that's another part. That's yeah, that's also true. I mean, that's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's happens, that's yeah. Made him, made him stronger. It says, it's yeridah letzorech aliyah. If it a little bit hurt, so later on and you get you suffer a little bit, you're able to go even higher, yeridah letzorech aliyah. So in order for us to have a real aliyah, there has to be a little bit of a yeridah. Not always do we see how the protection is, that's true, but Hashem says he does. We don't always see it with our own with our physical eyes, true. Overcome, yeah, yeah. This this, yeah, because of that he he reached higher levels. Yes. All the mitzvot, all תרי״ג mitzvot will continue, yeah. There it probably won't be for us to remember for the future, it'll be to remember the past, cuz the future we won't have to remember, there won't be any problems, we won't have Esav on our head anymore. But. Well that's for sure, that's gonna continue, yes. Well this is not, this is no, we will still, this will still remain. Yeah. Yeah. Split. Yeah, there one part, and in other words is there another place where a pasuk is put in before? Yeah, you'll have to remember, there are, there are. Yeah, the Gemara gives other examples also. No, because it's a story. It's not the whole it's the whole pasuk, but the story of Yaakov is told here, and then there's a פסוק, על כן בני ישראל, is a pasuk for itself. That pasuk was said, because he wanted it to put it together with the reason, though. When the story took place, right then he says that's why you shouldn't eat. Then he'd have to add extra words. This when the story is told, so right away he says, he could have said later, don't eat the גיד הנשה, and then he would have to repeat the story why. So here when the story took place, right away he put it in. Hashem said it. Yeah. Together with all the mitzvot, because if he wouldn't say it later, we wouldn't have to keep it, because we only keep the mitzvot that were told by Matan Torah, not the mitzvot given to the avot. There's a famous Pirush HaMishnayos in Chullin, where the Rambam says this. Okay. Yes. Mitzvah won't change, a mitzvah won't change. Oh you mean that? No, it's just the opposite. It's not holy, it's something that's that's bad. Yeah.