Today's topic is the next step of davening, prayer, and that is the second bracha of ברכות קריאת שמע. As I explained earlier, davening is made up of different stages, different steps. We all know that in the Zohar it refers to davening as the סולם, it's a ladder on which you go. And it says that a ladder usually has four steps. So we have, the first step is פסוקי דזמרה, which we discussed in the earlier shiur, and I explained what it means, the inner meaning, not the halachot of it, and not the simple peshat, but the deeper peshat according to Kabbalah and Chassidus of what פסוקי דזמרה means. And then we have the next step, after פסוקי דזמרה we come to ברכות קריאת שמע, those are the berachot that we say before we say the Shema. And those are the two berachot which start off, right after Barchu, we start off with ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם יוצר אור ובורא חושך, and we finish off with ברוך אתה ה' יוצר המאורות, and then we start the second ברכה, אהבת עולם אהבתנו ה' אלקינו, which is the ברכה that finishes with ברוך אתה ה' הבוחר בעמו ישראל באהבה. And last week I explained the meaning of the ברכות קריאת שמע, but basically I only explained the meaning of the first beracha. And in short, what I explained was that in this first beracha, we talk about the malachim, about the angels, and we talk about how the angels praise Hashem, and how the angels always say השם, קדוש קדוש, השם is holy and separate, etc. And as I explained, what that is supposed to do is bring the person to the feeling that if the malachim are able to praise Hashem, and if the malachim are able to realize that they are really nothing, and they are all batel, nullified to Hashem, so too can we, and not only we, but as I explained, our נפש הבהמית, our animalistic soul. Because the problem that we have is that our animalistic soul, which really is us, not our neshama, but us as our body, not looking at the neshama, looking at ourselves as being part of the creation, we're like an animal, we have our own desires, and we have what we want, and what we're supposed to do is try to get that even ourselves, the way we are with our own physical desires, and this is what Chassidus calls the נפש הבהמית, our animalistic soul, should also love Hashem. That's what we're trying to reach, because in the קריאת שמע we say ואהבת את ה' אלקיך בכל לבבך, you shall love Hashem with all your heart, and the Gemara tells us that the word לבבך is written with two ב's, that means בשני יצריך, with both יצרים, with the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara, which means also with the yetzer hara which is the נפש הבהמית, you have to love Hashem. And I explained that when we start thinking about the מלאכים, and realizing that the מלאכים are really the שורש, the source of our נפש הבהמית, because the מלאכים are also called sometimes בהמות, חיות, there's some מלאכים called חיות הקודש, they're like animals, and I explained why they're like animals, and they are basically the שורש, the source, the root of our נפש הבהמית. So when a person realizes that my, the root of my נפש הבהמית is close to Hashem and wants to get close to Hashem, that makes it possible that my נפש הבהמית should get close to Hashem. That's the first first part of the ברכות קריאת שמע. And then I explained is the reason why these brachot are called the brachot of Kriat Shema, because the question that the Rishonim ask is, when we say there is a bracha of something, the bracha has something to do with the thing that you're going to make the bracha on. For instance, if you make a bracha on a mitzvah, make the bracha of tefillin, in the bracha you say אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו, we thank השם להניח, that He gave us the commandment להניח תפילין, or for tzitzit, or להדליק נר של שבת קודש, whatever the bracha is, it's connected to the thing that you're making the bracha for. Even when you eat and you make a berachah on food, in the berachah you talk about the food. Why is this called ברכות קריאת שמע? What is the connection between these berachot to קריאת שמע? You know what the berachah should have been? The berachah of קריאת שמע should have been אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לקרוא שמע. The mitzvah is to say שמע, so we should have made a berachah like that. So the answer is that this is an introduction to the שמע, just like any berachah to any mitzvah is an introduction to the mitzvah, these berachot are berachot which really are an introduction and they help us reach what שמע means to us, what we're supposed to reach when we say שמע. And that's what I explained last week, that the first berachah which deals with the malachim, and explains how the malachim say קדוש קדוש קדוש השם is holy, and ברוך כבוד ה' ממקומו, they bless Hashem, all this, by a Yid realizing that, that makes it possible for a Yid that his נפש הבהמית, his own animal that's within him, which is him, should also want Hashem, as I explained in detail last week. But that's the first berachah. Now today, tonight, we are going to discuss, as a continuation to that idea, the second berachah. What is the second berachah? The second berachah starts off with the words אהבת עולם אהבתנו השם אלקינו, that Hashem loved us, loves us, an eternal love, חמלה גדולה ויתרה חמלת עלינו. He's bestowed upon us an unbound amount of bound abundance of mercy, and we go on with the fact that Hashem gave us the mitzvot, gave us Torah, gave us mitzvot, and we ask Hashem to help us be able to get close to Him and do the mitzvot, and we mention ובנו בחרת מכל עם ולשון, that Hashem chose us from all nations when Hashem gave us the תורה במתן תורה, and we finish off ברוך אתה השם הבוחר בעמו ישראל באהבה, that Hashem chose the Jews, His nation the Jews, באהבה, with love. That's the basic idea of this bracha. Now the the nekudah, the point of this bracha fits to the general idea that we spoke about before as an introduction to the Shema. Because when we realize that Hashem loves us and He gave us mitzvot, gave us the Torah u'mitzvot, that brings about within us a love to Hashem. And that's what we're trying to get to. We're trying to get to ואהבת את השם אלקיך, to love Hashem. When we realize that Hashem loves us, in other words, after we come talk about the malachim, and we say that the malachim are so great and nevertheless they praise Hashem. But when we start thinking about it, you know what their praise is? They keep on saying that Hashem is far, far removed from them. They realize how great Hashem and He's far removed. And you know what they say? Where is really Hashem found? קדוש קדוש קדוש השם צבאות, השם is holy. Now what does the word holy mean? Holy really means separated, Rashi in Chumash says. That means Hashem is separated from them, they realize that Hashem is so far beyond them. But מלא כל הארץ, מלא כל הארץ כבודו, the ארץ, they themselves agree that where is the kavod of Hashem? Down here in this earth. Down here in this world, to us, Hashem gave us. So as much as realizing the level and the the way the malachim feel about Hashem, and that brings us to have the love to Hashem, now we go a step further, and we say there is something even more than that. As much as they are דבוק, close to Hashem, but Hashem is removed from them. Where is Hashem even closer? That by us, when He is in this world, when He gave us the Torah and He gave us the mitzvot, by doing that He became close to us. And Hashem showed His love to us, and gave us the Torah u'mitzvot.

Now the rule is, it's a pasuk, but it's a in the logical rule, כמים הפנים לפנים כן לב האדם לאדם. As water, as the face reflects in water, so too does the heart reflect the heart. That means that just like when you look into the water, your own flake face is reflected exactly as you are. If your face smiles, then in the water you'll see a face that's smiling. If your face is sad, you look in the water, you'll see a sad face. It is a reflection of you. So too is the heart a reflection of another heart. If one person shows love to another person, that itself brings about that the other person should show love to him. So the same is with Hashem. And it says, כן לב האדם לאדם, so too is the heart of man to man. So chasidut says that Hashem is called in the מרכבה called אדם, שעל הכסא. He's not chas veshalom a person, but we refer to Him as the adam, the person that's on the chair. He is called the אדם העליון. So the same is when the אדם העליון shows His love to us, and we realize that, isn't that enough for us to reciprocate and also have the feeling of love to Him? That's exactly what we're doing here. We're trying to reach the level of love, so by realizing how much Hashem loves us, automatically this makes that we love Him. And this is actually brought out in Tanya. He says, he quotes the pasuk that I just said, and listen to what he says here even further. This is I'll read it actually, I'll read it in English. That when one person shows love to another, then automatically the other will show love to him. This way is to take to heart the meaning of the verse, and in water face answers to face, so does the heart of man to man. This means that as in the case of the likeness and features of the face which a man presents to the water, the same identical face is reflected back to him from the water, so indeed is also the heart of a man who is loyal in his affection for another person, for this love awakens a loving response from him in the heart of his friend also. And then he continues and he says, such is the common nature in the character of every man, even when they are equal in status. How much more so when a great and mighty king shows his great and intense love for a simple person who is despised and lowly Amongst men, imagine, a low person, a disgraceful creature cast on the dunghill, yet the king comes down to him from the place of his glory together with all his people, and raises him and exalts him from his dunghill and brings him into his palace. Imagine, the royal palace, in the innermost chamber, a place which such such as no servant nor lord ever enters, and there shares with him the closest companionship with embraces and kisses and spiritual attachment with all the heart and soul. Imagine! So it's not two equals, but a great, great king would come down and elevate, bring up a low person that's wallowing in garbage, laying in garbage, and bring him up to him. How much more will of itself be aroused a double and redoubled love in the heart of this most common and humble individual for the person of the king, with a true attachment of spirit, heart, and soul, and with infinite, heartfelt sincerity! Even if his heart is like a heart of stone, it will surely melt and become water, and his soul will pour itself out like water with soulful longing for the love of the king. So this is what really we're saying here in the second berachah of Keriat Shema, that we're saying, \"Look, Hashem, Hashem, You love us so much, and You lowered Yourself so much to us, that automatically brings us to have the love to Him, because this is not just Hashem who is like someone equal to me and loves me, so automatically I love Him. It's much more. This it brings out a love of much greater level and much stronger love, and that's what we say here.\" And we have to remember another point here, that even in the mashal, in the parable of the king, who is the greatest person that we could imagine in the country, lowers himself to the lowest person of the country, so that's something special, but nevertheless they are both human beings. So as far apart as they are, there's still, we call it in חסידות, בערך. Be'erach means they're within comparison. The greatest human being with the lowest human being are still comparable. They're both human beings. This guy is very smart, this guy is very stupid, this guy is very great, this guy is not, but it's all details. But in essence, they're the same. We're talking here about Hashem, who is infinite, אין סוף, and for the infinite Hashem to lower Himself to us, and bring us up to a level where He gives us the Torah and the mitzvot, what kind of love does that have to bring out within us to Hashem? Unimaginable! Basically, this is the peshat in the Rambam. The Rambam says in the end of הלכות לולב, and I mentioned this more than once, how important it is to have simchah shel mitzvah, to have the simchah when you do a mitzvah. And he says, שמחה של מצוה, עבודה גדולה היא, it's a great service of Hashem. Now why is it so great? Why is it so special? To do the mitzvah is special, but why is it so special to have the simchah when you do the mitzvah? And the Rambam uses these words, because the simchah shel mitzvah has to come as a result of אהבת הקל שצוה אותנו, the love of Hashem who commanded us. If a person will just sit down to think, to meditate, and realize what kind of love Hashem has to us with the fact that He commanded us to do a mitzvah, then you must jump from joy! Because when we start thinking about what we just said before, how great Hashem is, how high He is and how low we are, and nevertheless He lowered Himself to us, gave us a mitzvah, that should bring out in a person the greatest joy. I think I mentioned this last week. Imagine the greatest person that you could imagine, the president, or lehavdil the Rebbe, will come over to you and ask you, \"Do something for me.\" This would bring out in you the greatest simchah possible! For weeks and weeks, you'd walk around, \"Imagine, I was asked by the president to do something, or lehavdil by the Rebbe to do something for him!\" And if a person would not be besimchah, that shows that he has no idea what the Rebbe is, or he has no idea or he's not normal, doesn't understand what happened. But a normal person with normal seichel, knowing this, would have to have that feeling. So just the feeling of knowing that Hashem commanded us to do a mitzvah, and that shows what great love He has, that itself is supposed to make us have a simcha. And therefore, simcha shel mitzvah is very important, because if a person doesn't have that simcha, that shows that he doesn't know what's going on, he doesn't know what's flying, he doesn't know what it means to do a mitzvah. And if you start thinking a little bit further, we can say Hashem lowered Himself not only to a normal human being, which is as far as we can imagine in a form of אין ערוך, not comparable at all. But further than that, one of the mitzvot Hashem gave us is the mitzvah of teshuvah. Now to who did Hashem give the mitzvah of teshuvah? Not to a regular person. A person who is normal, doesn't do any aveirot, doesn't have a mitzvah of teshuvah. So the mitzvah of teshuvah which Hashem gave to begin with was to people who went against Hashem, who are very are even lower than a regular person. And to him Hashem lowered Himself, \"And I'm going down to you,\" which is like he says here, to the person that's in the garbage, person with aveirot, and gave him the mitzvah of teshuvah. So, if we think about that, certainly this brings out a love in us to Hashem. And this is the point that we bring out before we actually get to the Kriat Shema. When we get to Kriat Shema we're supposed to get to ואהבת את השם אלקיך, to love Hashem. So before that we go through Pesukei DeZimra, as I explained, and then we go through the first berachah of Kriat Shema with the מלאכים, and that makes it easier for us to get to the ahavah. And then we get to the next berachah, which brings out the love of Hashem to us by lowering Himself to us and giving us the Torah and giving us mitzvot, and showing His love, that will bring out within us the greatest love. And if a person would say Ahavat Olam with great kavanah, there is no question that he will reach the level of loving Hashem, actually feeling a love to Hashem. And then when he would say the next part, which is the Kriat Shema, and say ואהבת את השם אלקיך בכל לבבך, love Hashem with all your heart, and with all your with all your soul, with all your might. He would really mean it. He would really love it. This is the general idea of this part. But, this doesn't take care of the whole thing. I'll tell you why. Because I'm sure we all remember, I said last week and the week before, that what we're trying to reach is not just to love Hashem, but we're trying to reach that love Hashem with our נפש הבהמית. That's a different story. See, we're saying the whole time that we're trying to reach בכל לבבך בשני יצריך, with all your heart, with the two with both, with the יצר טוב and the יצר הרע, which means the נפש אלקית and the נפש הבהמית. That means what we have to do here is we have to explain how this berachah, like the others, contain an idea that even our נפש הבהמית, our animalistic part of ourselves, which normally has a desire to גשמיות and to all these things, should also have the love to Hashem. So when we're trying to explain what the connection between the berachah of אהבת עולם is, we have to find not only generally speaking, like I said before, showing Hashem's love to us and mimela we will love Him too, where do we see here the special stress on the fact that even our נפש הבהמית, our animal part of ourselves, were is going to love Hashem? Where does that say? So let me explain what Chassidus says concerning this berachah. The berachah starts with the words, אהבת עולם אהבתנו, השם אלקינו, that Hashem our God, You loved us a love forever, an eternal love.

Now those that daven other נוסחאות know that some נוסחאות don't say אהבת עולם, they say אהבה רבה. And the word is אהבה רבה אהבתנו השם אלקינו, which means a great love Hashem our God loved us. Generally speaking, these two expressions mean mean the same thing. It's just different ways of expressing. Olam means forever, eternal. So what we're saying, you translate that how here, you have loved us with everlasting love, right, everlasting. So what does that mean? We're trying to show how Hashem loves us with such a great love that that love will last forever. And that shows how strong the love is, because when we say something is everlasting, it doesn't only mean that it lasts for a long time, forever. But it shows that even now it's a stronger love. You see you have a love that, let's say will last for 10 years, then you have a love that will last for 1,000 years. So it's not the difference is not only that this lasts for 10, and this So during the first 10 years they're both the same. Here you have love and here you have love. The difference is that one will go on for another 990 years. That's not the pshat. If it's an everlasting love, if it's a longer love, then why is it longer? Because it's stronger. So obviously even the first 10 years that they're both there, this one is stronger. So when we say Hashem loves us with an everlasting love, אהבת עולם, it shows it means that Hashem loves us with a very, very strong love, and therefore it'll be everlasting. When we say אהבה רבה, a great love Hashem loved, the same thing. Rabbah means great, great, very special, very great. So basically, these two expressions mean the same. Nevertheless, in נוסח האר\"י, the choice is אהבת עולם. Technically, it's based all on the Gemara. The Gemara whether we should say אהבת עולם or אהבה רבה, and seemingly from the first glance at the Gemara, it seems that the other נוסחאות are right, that you have to say אהבה רבה, but then there are other explanations to explain the Gemara differently. And the decision of the Alter Rebbe in נוסח האר״י is to say אהבת עולם. So that's the technical part. But there is a deeper part why we say אהבת עולם. Because when we compare the two loves, when we talk about Hashem's love to us, and we compare the two, אהבת עולם and אהבה רבה, let me explain you the difference. Because simply they're both the same, just different expressions, but they're not so. אהבת עולם has another meaning. עולם here means forever, everlasting. Like we say le'olam, le'olam means forever. But it has another meaning. עולם means the world. Everyone knows the word עולם means the world. אהבת עולם means the love that Hashem has to us is a kind of love that is brought down into the world, into us as being part of the world. אהבה רבה means a great love of Hashem that is so great that it beyond being coming down and penetrating into the world, it's so great it can't come down. And as a matter of fact, it's an unlimited love that cannot be limited to being felt in the world, in the creation, while אהבת עולם is a level of love that Hashem has that could be felt. Now which of the two are greater? Well, it's obvious that אהבה רבה is greater than אהבת עולם. אהבה רבה is such a great love of Hashem that He has to us that is beyond any any limitation, anything. While אהבת עולם is the love that Hashem has to us which is limited within the world, which could come down in the world. The fact that it's able to come down and be felt in the world shows that it's much less than the אהבה רבה. And there are these two levels of love by Hashem. Hashem loves us essentially very, very deep with such a love that cannot be limited to anything. And He took that love and channeled it, limited it in such a way that should come down and come down to us. So the אהבה רבה of Hashem to the Yidden is a greater love than the אהבת עולם. On the other hand, there is something in the אהבת עולם that אהבה רבה doesn't have. The fact that this is אהבת עולם, this is a love that is felt in the world, this is the love that could take a human being that has an animal within him, which our we are the animal, and bring out in in return back to Hashem also a love. While when there is only the אהבה רבה, as great that the love is, but that will not affect us that we should feel it because it's not limited. Now giving an example, a very simple mashal to explain this. Let's say a father shows his love to a child, or a mother shows her love to a child, and the father hugs and kisses child, kisses his child, or gives the child a present, that will bring out within the child to reciprocate, to work to the same way. That'll make the child feel the love, and he will also start loving his father. The more you show love to your children, the more they will show love to you, because they feel the love. Now you have another case of a father, let's say, who didn't see his child for many years, for twenty-two years, let's give an example of this week's parsha, when Yaakov Avinu did not see Yosef for twenty-two years. So when a father does not see his child for twenty-two and imagine when they meet. When they meet, the father looks at the child, there's no way he could express his love. It is so overwhelming, it is so deep, that usually what happens is, at least in the beginning, he will stand there and look at the child, quiet, not being able to move, not to do anything. Why? Because this is such a deep love, the expression of such a deep, of essential love that cannot limit itself and be channeled into one specific thing. The other love of child father when he kisses a child, it's channeled to a specific act. He kisses him, he hugs him, he does something. Why? Because it's not overwhelming, it's not so deep, it's not from the depth of his heart. It comes out, it all stems from the depth, obviously, but it comes out into a level of love which could be channeled, which could be limited to doing something. But the other level is a level of love that is not channeled because it's so great that it can't he can't do anything to show it. Now which of the two loves will affect the child that the child should show his love back to his father? The first one, not the second. Because the first one he feels. But you could ask the question, what do you mean? But the second one is a much deeper love, and if it's a much deeper love, that should affect more. The answer is, just because it's so deep. It is so deep, it's beyond him, and it's beyond affecting him, that's why he doesn't do it. While the lower level of love, which is channeled and limited, that does affect. And that's exactly what we're trying to do here. We are trying to do here by ברכת קריאת שמע, in this bracha, as a continuation to the previous bracha, as a continuation to Pesukei d'Zimra, all leading up to one thing, to ואהבת בכל לבבך, with the נפש הבהמית, that our animal, the way we are as creatures, not the way we are because we have a neshama and we are connected to Hashem as far as the neshamah is concerned. We're trying That's one level of love. We're trying to reach a level where we, our our human part of ourselves, should love Hashem. For that, the אהבה רבה would not be fine. If we would express here אהבה רבה, that wouldn't happen. It's such a great love from Hashem that it's overwhelming, and that has less chance of affecting us that we should in turn love Hashem. That's why the choice of the Kabbalah, based on this explanation, was אהבת עולם, that Hashem loves us in a way that he brings it down. Now, it's a lower level of love, it's not the essential, but what the whole thing we're trying to do here is do that to bring it into us. Now, the two levels of loving Hashem, from Hashem's side, whether whether we're talking about his essential love, which is beyond the limitations, or the love that's limited, and the אהבה רבה is a higher level, and the אהבת עולם is a lower level, the same is when it affects us: what kind of love do we have to him? So, if we think about the אהבה רבה, we will have a greater love to him. אהבה רבה, which expresses the real, real love of Hashem to us essentially, beyond limitations, will awaken within us, too, a love to Hashem beyond limitations. And if we talk about the אהבת עולם, the lower level, it will awaken within us, too, a lower level. True. But we're talking to human beings like we are. When we talk about great tzaddikim, who are able to have a feeling of love to Hashem beyond limitations, beyond anything, for them אהבה רבה would be the one to talk about, because they are able to get that connection because of their essence, and besides that it would be connected to their neshamah. We're talking here about human beings like we are. Most people that daven are not great tzaddikim. And the tefillah was established according to the majority of Yidden, of human beings, Yidden, and that is people who are not at that level. And besides, we're talking about the love affecting us as a נפש הבהמית. So, that's why we have here the אהבת עולם. And what are the things that bring about in the Yid to have these two feelings of אהבה? We're talking about there's a possibility of אהבה רבה and אהבת עולם. Now, we know that the Rambam says היכי היא הדרך לאהבתו ויראתו, how can a person reach to love Hashem? And the same is with fear. There's a mitzvah to fear Hashem, too. But we're not talking about that, but there is a mitzvah. It says את ה׳ אלקיך תירא, you shall fear Hashem. So, the Rambam says, what can a person do to reach that those emotions towards Hashem? So, the Rambam says, לכשיתבונן, you have to think about it. It won't fly into your into your heart. The natural thing is that מדות, emotions, cannot come unless you have the brain, the intellect, bring it about. That's why in Tanya, in חסידות בכלל, in all sefarim, the three parts of the intellect are called the parents, and the emotions are called the children, because the parents give birth to the children, the intellect gives birth to the emotions. The way for a person to have an emotion is you have to understand it first. And that's in everything. Even in simple things like a piece of cake: the only reason you like a piece of cake is because in your mind it's registered it is good. If you never tasted it, and you don't know it's good, you won't like it. So, it comes from your brain. The only difference is it doesn't take long to find out it's good, you just taste it. To find out that Hashem is good, that takes pretty long. But the procedure is the same. The procedure is that when you have the intellect, you will get to the emotions, and it works both ways: you cannot have emotions without intellect, impossible. Sometimes the intellect is very you know, you don't need much work and you understand it in a second, and some things take long, like spirituality, godliness, which is hard to understand, you've got to work hard to understand it. But there's no there's no question that the emotion can If you have the intellect, you'll get the emotions. And on the other hand, without the intellect, you'll never get the emotions. You can't have emotions without intellect, and if you have the proper intellect, you will definitely get to the emotions. Now, sometimes it will take a little longer. I always tell over the vort, the Rabbi Maharash said this many times in this class, but I'll say it again. The Rabbi Maharash said that if a person thinks a lot about Hashem and the greatness, it'll make him have a love to Hashem, it'll have to happen. And he says, similar to when a person will drink a lot of mashke, he'll have to become שכור, drunk. And if a person has a lot of money, he has to become crazy. So, he said, \"How come,\" he said, \"we see sometimes a person thinks a lot of mashke doesn't get drunk, because he didn't have enough. How come we see a person have a lot of money, he's not crazy? Because he doesn't have enough. In his level, he needs more to get crazy. How come we see a person had a lot of time to think about Hashem and doesn't have love? Because he didn't think enough, he doesn't have enough understanding. But if you have it, it must get there. So what we're talking about here about the emotions we have to have to Hashem, so if we think about Hashem from the perspective that Hashem is beyond the world, completely beyond the world, which He really is, and the world was created by Him as a not as a small thing, as nothing, and He is beyond. When you think about that, what kind of love do we think about Hashem? The fact that His love is also beyond the world. It's an essential love that's there in Hashem. And that will bring out within us also a love that's not limited, and therefore, unless you're a big tzaddik, you won't get there. But if you think about Hashem the opposite, like we explained when we spoke about Pesukei D'Zimra, how Hashem created the world, and how Hashem gives the world its life, and of everything that's there, look how big the world is! All that comes from Hashem! מה רבו מעשיך השם, look how many creations, creatures you made, how many great things you made! And the more we see of the creation, the more we see how great Hashem is. So the more we think about the creation, how all of it is Him, then the love that we feel of Hashem to us is also that level of love within the creation, which is the Ahavat Olam, not the Ahavah Rabbah. And that comes the continuation to Pesukei D'Zimra, where we talk about how the how the stars and the and the moon and the star, the sun, they all praise Hashem, and all. So we talk about that. And then we come to the malachim, how the malachim praise Hashem. And then we come to Ahavat Olam, we say how Hashem is lower lowered to us, not of how Hashem is away from the world. Which is true, Hashem essence, the essence of Hashem is far, far removed, but that's not what we stress here. We stress the opposite, how Hashem is within the world, how Hashem came to us. And that is supposed to bring us that we, who we are, in what we want, we want what what's good for us physically. Our body wants what's good for us. And normally, what did what does the body feel is good for him? A nice piece of cake, something that's tasty, something that's good. That itself should be changed into what's good for me will be Hashem. And that comes from understanding Ahavat Olam. That is why there's another point that's mentioned here in Ahavat Olam.

One of the things we mention here is Hashem's choice. Hashem chose us. כי בנו בחרת מכל העמים, השם chose us, because us He chose. And then we finish off, ברוך אתה השם הבוחר בעמו ישראל באהבה, that Hashem chose the Yidden. What does choice mean? And we'll see exactly what I'm trying to get to. When we say choice, and when we speak about real choice, which is called in the sefarim, bechirah chofshit, free choice. Free choice can only be done when we talk about two equal things. When one thing is better than the other, that's not free choice. Free choice means that the only reason I chose this is because of me. It's nothing to do with the thing. It's all because of me. But if there is something in the object that I chose that pulled me to choose, that's not real free choice. That means that there is something there that made me choose it. I always use this example. If I have an apple and an orange, and I happen to like an orange and I took the orange, that's not choice. I had no choice, cuz I only like an orange, I don't like an apple. So that's not, it's not, we might refer to it, he chose the apple over the orange or the orange, that's but that's not the real meaning of choice. Choice means when you have two things which are exactly the same. When you have two apples, and they are exactly the same, the same size and the same color, and they look everything the same, and I pick one, that's free choice. Why did I take this one? Was there anything that pushed me to do that? Was there anything in this object that pushed me to do that cuz it's better? No. So then why did I do it? Because I chose. That's what real choice is. That means it's not because of any side reason besides my choice. It's not because of my seichel that I understand this is better. It's not because my emotions, I like this better. There is nothing there but choice. When we say Hashem chose us, we're using the word choice. And when we use the word choice, we really mean choice, the true meaning of choice, which is free choice. What does that mean? Does that mean Hashem chose our neshamah? Our neshamah, there is no choice. Imagine Hashem looks down and says, \"I see the goy's neshamah, and I see the Yid's neshamah. Now who do you think He should choose? Does He have a choice? Who else should He take?\" Like there's an expression in one of the sichos of the Rabbi Rashab, he says, \"What do you think, Hashem would choose איוואנקע?\" He should choose, like we say, he would choose Jack over Yaakov? I mean, look at this difference. This is a Yid and this is a I mean, he has a neshamah, he doesn't. So the expression choice doesn't fit there. We would say we have a holy neshamah and Hashem likes us, but the word choice does not fit when we compare the neshamah of a Yid with the neshamah of a goy. So how come we use the word choice here? So he says in Tanya, I think I'll read it inside, because it sounds very strange, but if I read inside, you'll trust me. He speaks of actually about the berachot of Kriat Shema. I mean, this perek, this is perek מ״ט, 49th chapter. If you want to read it, you'll get the gist of everything that I've been explaining today and last week and the week before, this one one of the perakim is this, perek מ״ט, look it through. But I'll read you the words I'm trying to read I'll I'm explaining about now, here: \"This is also the meaning of with great and exceeding pity, no, not that verse, and us hast thou chosen from every people and tongue, ובנו בחרת מכל עם ולשון, which refers to the physical body, which in its physical outlook is similar to the bodies of the of the gentiles of the world.\" So the bechirah, the choice, was not the neshamah, the choice was on the guf. Hashem chose the Jewish body! Imagine, and that's something so special. Everyone knows, what's the difference between a Jew and a goy? What's the difference? A Yid has a neshamah and a goy doesn't. And that But as far as the body, he says בחיצוניותו, בחומריותו, in its chomeriyut, in its materialistic part, it's like the goyim, like the אומות העולם. And that's what Hashem chose. Because that was similar. We have two eyes and a nose and a mouth, and we have the same body. The body seems to be the same, and this is what Hashem chose. And when Hashem gave us the Torah, who did He give the Torah? See, because He chose us at the time when He gave us the Torah. When was ובנו בחרת? When did He choose us? So in the Shulchan Aruch it says you have to when you say these words, you have to keep in mind Matan Torah. So who did He give the Torah to when He chose us? To our neshamot? A neshamah can't do the Torah. To our bodies! He said, \"You, yidden, I want your body to do the mitzvot. I want you to put on tefillin. I want you to keep Shabbos.\" That's a bodily thing. 95% of the mitzvot have to do with physicality, with our body. Very few have to do with emotions, and even those are physical, they have to do with the physical heart, which you should physically feel. So ובנו בחרת, that we say here, and we speak about the choice, we're speaking about the body. That all fits along the lines that I've been trying to explain the whole time, that the berachot before and this berachah is not talking about Hashem the way He is completely beyond the world, and the truth the way Hashem is, but what we have to think about in order to make our nefesh habehamit, our animal this is our animal, our hands and feet are like animals, this is animalistic. And if not for the neshamah, this would be similar. And this is that's supposed to love Hashem. And that's what we say at the last connec- introduction, preparation to the Shema, which is supposed to be בכל לבבך, with the nefesh habehamit loving Hashem, is ברוך אתה השם הבוחר בעמו ישראל, that Hashem chose us, which means He chose the body. Which means that we, from as far as our body is concerned, have to realize that Hashem loves us and chose us, the body, so therefore automatically in turn, what will we do? Not our neshamah will love Hashem, our body will love Hashem! We physically are going to love Hashem, and we're going to have בכל לבבך בשני יצריך with the nefesh habehamit, too. So this is the introduction of this berachah. So here we have the two ברכות קריאת שמע. The first one is to explain how the malachim praise Hashem, which I explained last week means that to show the nefesh habehamit that your source, your root, loves Hashem and is connected, but Hashem is not close to them. Then comes the second step and says, the second berachah, that we, yidden, Hashem is close to us, to our body, and therefore we're able to love Him more.

But now I just want to add one more point for another two, three minutes, that the two berachot, which one talks about the malachim and one talks about Hashem loving us, is there's another point here, not necessarily 100% connected to what I'm saying, but another point why these two berachot are a an introduction to the Shema. In Shema we have two parts, basically. We call it the פרשה ראשונה and the פרשה שנייה, the first פרשה of קריאת שמע and the second. First פרשה is שמע ואהבת, which speaks about, \"Hear, O Israel, Hashem is one,\" and then love Hashem with your heart. Then we have the second part of שמע, which is והיה אם שמוע תשמעו, if you're going to listen to the mitzvot, and talks all about mitzvot. So the Gemara says, why is the order that first comes ואהבת, the שמע ואהבת, then והיה אם שמוע? It says like this: because first First you have to accept the yoke of מלכות שמים, of the kingship of Hashem, and then you accept the yoke of the mitzvot. קבל מלכות שמים תחלה, first you accept Hashem, and then you accept the fact that you do his mitzvot. It's similar to what it says by Matan Torah, why is it that first dibbur, the first one of the Ten Commandments was אנכי השם אלקיך, I am Hashem your God, and then started telling us commandments. Why did he have to give an introduction: I am your God? So the Midrash gives a mashal, a mashal of a king who conquered a country and he comes in and then when he after he comes in, the people greet the new king and he says the people say to the king, \"Now that you are our new king, give us גזירות, tell us laws, rules, what do you want from us?\" So the king says, \"Listen here, תחלה קבלו מלכותי, ואחר כך אגזור עליכם גזירות. First accept my מלכות, accept me as your king. Make sure that that is, then we'll talk about the next step.\" So Hashem said the same thing, first of all, אנכי השם אלקיך, I'm your God, accept me as your God. I'm And then he started telling us the mitzvot. The same thing with the two פרשיות of שמע. The first one is we talk about accepting Hashem, how important is to accept Hashem, and how how much we have to give ourselves over to Hashem, up to mesirat nefesh, that's what the first thing, up to mesirat nefesh. It says in halacha that when we say השם אלקינו השם אחד, we close our eyes, and Hashem is one, and what why do we close our eyes and cover our eyes with our hands? Because we're supposed to meditate. What are we supposed to think? So there are different things we're supposed to think, and one of the things is supposed to be we're supposed to think of mesirat nefesh, of giving up our lives. Baruch Hashem, we don't have to do it in actuality, bafoal, but b'koach, in potential. Basically, what it would mean in simple words, this is not the the this is very elementary. You're supposed to close your eyes and think to yourself, if a person would stand now with a gun to to my head and say, \"Or you bow down to an idol, or I shoot you,\" would I be ready to say shoot me rather than do it? And I'm supposed to bring myself to the decision, yes, I will say shoot me. I'm ready for mesirat nefesh. And it's also hinted in the next one, בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, love Hashem with all your nefesh. What does that mean? With all your life, that you have to give up your life to Hashem. That's the first one. The second one, that's not קבלת מלכות שמים, that's not accepting the yoke of Hashem, that's accepting the mitzvot. שמוע תשמעו, you will listen to the mitzvot that I command you, and if you don't, Hashem will punish, and talks about mitzvot. The difference is the first one is the feeling of mesirat nefesh to Hashem, and the second one is the feeling of doing the mitzvot, that we accept Hashem's mitzvot. As an introduction to these two, we have these two brachot. By the malachim, what is their feeling? The malachim have a feeling constantly of longing to Hashem. Basically, it's mesirat nefesh. They don't have mesirat nefesh because they are not alive, but basically that's what it is. They have the concept of always looking out to Hashem, wanting to get closer, feeling Hashem is far from me, קדוש means he's far, far from me and trying to get to Hashem. The second one, which is the אהבת עולם, doesn't talk about that. Talks about how we have Hashem down here through doing the mitzvot. So these two parts are the introduction to the two parts of the Shema. The part that we talk about, the malachim have this longing and wanting to go to Hashem, that helps us also feel the same way, that we long to Hashem, we want to get go out of ourselves to Hashem, give up ourselves to Hashem, give up we call it in chassidut, כלות הנפש, the the the giving up of your nefesh, and that is comparable to what the malachim do. And then the second part of Shema is talking about the fact we have mitzvot, that is where comes from the second bracha, that we say, you chose us and you love us and you gave us the mitzvot. In chassidut, these two levels are called רצוא ושוב. רצוא means the running and שוב means the returning. A Yid is always always supposed to run towards Hashem, run away from all the obstacles, run away from all the limitations, run away from his body, and wanting to Hashem, that's called kelot hanefesh. But you're supposed to know at the same time, as much as you're supposed to want that, you're supposed to realize Hashem wants not you to go away, Hashem wants you down here. That's what the Or Hachaim Hakadosh explains was the sin of the children of Aharon. בקרבתם לפני השם וימותו, they got too close to Hashem and and and they didn't realize to come back. But what what we are need is the ratzo, and at the same time, the shov. And that's the malachim's part is the ratzo, and then we realize that we have the Torah, and that's the two parts of Shema. That's why as an introduction to the Shema, to the two portions of Shema, we have these two things. But that's one specific point, but the general idea, as I explained before, that this is all part of the process, part of the ladder, the way we step on the ladder to reach the highest levels. So we start with פסוקי דזמרה, and then the ברכות קריאת שמע, the first berachah and the second, and all that will make us reach that finally we will get to the Shema, to love Hashem even with the נפש הבהמית. So the next step that we have to discuss is: so what is the Shema? And that will be, im yirtzeh Hashem, next time.