Okay, so we're back again, and tonight's topic, as you just heard, is, as Hersh called it, the mystical element of the leap year, or as I called it, the secret of the leap year. And the reason I used the term secret, because in the Gemara, the leap year is referred to as סוד העיבור, the secret of the leap year. The Gemara and Chazal call it the secret of the leap year. The simplest reason why they call it the secret is because it's complicated. The chachamim, when they had to figure out the leap year, whether there should be a leap year or not, had to go through many calculations, and it wasn't so easy, and there are a lot of hidden things to understand, so they called it a secret. But the reason we're referring to it as a secret, because, as our class is always, we try to explain the more mystical dimensions of these different topics. So it'll be the mystical dimension of the leap year, which means the spiritual explanation, according to Kabbalah and Chassidut, of the leap year. And the reason I chose this as the first topic of the year is because this year is a leap year. And we all know a leap year by Yidden is not like lehavdil a leap year by the goyim. A leap year by the goyim means that February has an extra day, so instead of the year having 365 days, it has 366 days. A leap year by Yidden is that we have an extra month. Normally we have 12 months a year, and a leap year we have 13 months a year. The second Adar is the month added, added month to the leap, for to the year, which makes it into a leap year. Now the mitzvah, there is a mitzvah actually for the Beit Din, for the Sanhedrin, for the high courts in the time when we had the Sanhedrin, to calculate and figure out when there should be a leap year and when not. It is actually part of one major general mitzvah, and the name of the mitzvah is the mitzvah of קידוש החודש, the mitzvah of sanctifying the month. And that mitzvah includes many details. It includes calculating every month whether the month should have 29 days or 30 days, and also עיבור השנים, to calculate whether the year has to be a leap year or not. We had once a class on the general idea of קידוש החודש, on the mitzvah of קידוש החודש. Today's class will be specifically to explain the significance, the spiritual significance, of that specific detail of the general mitzvah of קידוש החודש, the concept of having a leap year. This is a very important mitzvah. Actually, as I said before, this is part of the mitzvah of קידוש החודש, and the mitzvah of קידוש החודש, Rashi says, is the first mitzvah in the Torah. Imagine, the first mitzvah in the Torah! Rashi writes this in the beginning of Chumash Bereishit. Actually, in the first Rashi on the whole entire Chumash. Rashi writes that, ask the question, why does the Torah start with Bereishit, with the story of the creation? Really, the Torah should have started with the first mitzvah, since the Torah is to tell us what we have to do, mitzvot, it should start with the first mitzvah. And Rashi says, which is the first mitzvah? The mitzvah of קידוש החודש. Why is that the first mitzvah? Because the first mitzvah that the Yidden were told at the time when they were supposed to leave Egypt and become a Jewish nation was the mitzvah of קידוש החודש. So that is actually the first mitzvah given to the Jews as a Jewish nation. We have earlier mitzvot in the Torah, but given to the Jews as a Jewish nation is the mitzvah of קידוש החודש. The fact that this is the first mitzvah obviously shows that this is a very, very important mitzvah. And we explained in detail in the other class concerning the general mitzvah of קידוש החודש, why that is the first and why that's so important. Today, we'll explain what is the importance of the specific detail, which is the mitzvah of calculating the years to figure out whether it will be a leap year or not. Now, as I will explain, the whole reason why we have a leap year is in order that Pesach should always come out in the spring. And I'll explain it in a moment. But because of that, every once in a while, every few years, we have to add another month to the year So, Pesach will always be in חודש האביב. The Torah says Pesach has to be in חודש האביב, in the month of spring, and if we wouldn't have the leap year, then eventually it wouldn't be in the spring anymore. So, that's why we have the leap year. So, it would seem as if the mitzvah of calculating the years and figuring out whether it should be a leap year or not should not be a mitzvah on its own. It should be a detail in the general mitzvah of Pesach. Pesach has many details. One of the details of Pesach is that it has to be a certain time of the year. So, the mitzvah of עיבור שנים, which is the calculation of the leap years, should have been a detail in the general mitzvah of Pesach, and it's not. It's a mitzvah in itself. It's part of the mitzvah of קידוש החודש. The mitzvah is that we have to calculate the months and the years. So, obviously, there is something there in the leap year itself without just being a format of how to figure out or how to get that Pesach should be in the spring. There must be something in the leap year itself. And that's what we're going to explain, the spiritual meaning of what a leap year is. But first, let me explain why we have a leap year once in a while. We know that there are two cycles. There's the cycle of the sun and the cycle of the moon. The cycle of the sun is 300 takes 365 and a quarter days, which, by the way, this is the reason why once in four years the year has 366 days, because after four years you have the extra quarter four times, so you have another day. Normally, it's 365. That's the 365 and a quarter, that's the cycle of the sun. The cycle of the moon is 29 and a half days, and a little bit more, 793 חלקים we call it, above the half day. Now, our calendar is a calendar according to the moon. It's a lunar calendar, so we go by the months. There is no such thing as a year when we talk about this the moon. There's no such thing as a cycle of a year. The moon just has the cycle of 12 of 29 and a half days, it goes over and over and over again. There's no such thing as months in the cycle of the sun. The sun just goes 365 days and a and a quarter, and that's that's its cycle. It just, it happens to be that about 12 months will fit into a year of the sun. 12 cycles of the moon will fit into an about into a complete cycle of the sun, because if you have 12 times 29 and a half days, you'll turn out to 354, 355, it depends when, days a year. So, 355 is divided by 12, 12 months, that is about how much months, which means how many cycles of the moon, fit into the year. Now, we go according to the calendar, the cycle of the month of the moon. On the other hand, the seasons all come from the sun. When Hashem said that He wants us to make Pesach in the season of spring, so that'll depend on the sun. If we would not have a leap year, and we would just go on with the 12 months a year, it would come out, let's say let's start with the first year, you'll have 12 times 29 and a half days, which will mean 354 days. We will be missing 11 days. We will the year We will call that a year, even though there is no such thing as a year in the moon, but 12 cycles of the moon, compared to the cycle of a year of the sun, we will fall behind 11 days. Not so bad. But another year will pass, and we will fall behind 22 days. And another year will pass, and we will fall behind 33 days, and then we'll fall behind 44 days, 55, and what'll turn out that when we get to the month of Nisan, we will be behind the cycle of the sun with so many days that it won't be in the spring anymore. First, it'll be a little bit before the spring, it'll be in the middle of the winter, and the Torah says that it has to be in the spring. So, in order for that to happen, we have to, once in a few years, add another month. So, the moment we add another month, we fell back, let's say, after two years, 22 days. We add another month, so we added 30 days, let's say, 29 to 30 days. So now, we're ahead. Then we let three years pass, and we fall back, and we go ahead, but it straightens out. The whole idea of having the leap year is in order to straighten out, to even out the year of the sun with the year of the moon. That's basically what it is.

Now, this is something natural, but everything that we have in the world must must have a spiritual meaning, and also must be a lesson for us that we are supposed to learn from what's happening. We know that nothing in the world is just for no reason, as it says מקרה נקרה, it's not a coincidence, it just happens to be that way, it's all made by Hashem, and there is a good reason for everything. And and certainly, when it comes to things like this, which is not just something of nature of the world, but something that's very much important in Jewish life, as a matter of fact, this is not just a little bit, a small part of Jewish tradition or Jewish life, this plays a very, very major role. Very, very many aspects of a Jew depend on the calendar. So many important mitzvot, like shofar on Rosh Hashanah. When do you blow shofar? Well, it depends when Rosh Hashanah will be, well, it depends on the calendar. When do you eat matzah? Every Yom Tov, so many things. A big part of our life depends on the calendar. And Hashem gave the chachamim a mitzvah that they have to sit down and calculate to figure out the months, that's one thing, but we're not getting into that, and also to figure out whether you should make a leap year. Now originally, the chachamim every year would sit down, and based on different calculations, and different things they would see that that are going on, and based on that they would decide whether this year should be a leap year, or not. Eventually, it would all work out that every 18 years, it would even out. But sometimes they would make two leap years in a row, sometimes they would make four years simple, plain years, and then a leap year, but eventually it would all work out that at the end of a big cycle, it would straighten out, but they would check every year. When we stopped having the Sanhedrin, we have no more Sanhedrin, to be mekadesh the chodesh, to be able to verify and sanctify the months and establish the months and the years, now we do it according to the calculations that they had set up. In other words, there was this great chacham who lived in the time of the Gemara, a little truthfully a little a little bit after the Gemara, his name was Hillel, not to confuse him with Hillel Hazaken, he was a great-great-grandson of Hillel Hazaken, of the original Hillel. His name was also Hillel. He was called Hillel Hanasi. And Hillel Hanasi saw that this is coming to an end. The Beit Din will not be able to do it anymore. So he established, at that time, calculated, and established, and sanctified all the months, and all the leap years and things that have to happen, all the years till the year 6,000. And therefore, every month when we have this question of Kiddush Hachodesh, it's all sanctified already then. And all the years, which year should be a leap year, not Actually, he didn't sit down and write down that the year תשס״ג will be a leap year. He gave a whole cheshbon that every 18 and then 28 years, different cycles repeats itself. And there are a whole old charts and things, the way to figure this out, but it's set up already. So now it's set up that according to the cheshbonot, it comes out once in two years and once in three years, and it skips a year, but then eventually it evens out. But the whole purpose is for one reason, again, to get to the point, the purpose of all of having a leap year is to even out the year of the sun with the year of the moon, that the year of the moon should not be behind, should not be ahead, they should be even. That's what happens, every time there's a leap year, it gets evened out, more or less. At one point, it gets evened out completely, almost. Like this, it gets evened out more or less, a little bit behind, a little bit ahead. But that's the idea, to even it out. But there must be some spiritual explanation to what this means. Now there are two aspects here. First, I would like to explain what Chassidut tells us concerning the concept of having two types of years. You have a plain year, and then you have a leap year. And this needs explanation, what is the meaning behind a simple year and a leap year? Then we have another aspect in our discussion is to understand the significance, the spiritual significance, of the idea that we need to straighten out, even out the sun and the moon. And these are the two points that we're going to discuss tonight. And let's start with the first point, and that is the idea that we have two types of years. Certain years are simple years, the in Hebrew they're called שנה פשוטה, פשוט means simple, simple, regular, plain year, and then there are certain years which are called שנת העיבור or שנה מעוברת. The literal translation, I must tell you, is not a leap year. I don't know where how they got the word \"leap year\", it's a pregnant year, that's really what it's called. It means a year that has extra. Now I'm going to explain what is the meaning behind the two. The Gemara in Arakhin, in Gemara in Arakhin, in the Mishnah, actually, it quotes a פסוק, where the פסוק refers to a year as שנה תמימה. שנה תמימה means a complete year. The word tamim, we know what the word tamim means, tamim means complete. In Chumash we find many times concerning korbanot, that the sacrifice has to be, the בהמה, the animal has to be tamim, complete, a temimah if it's a female, a temimah, complete. But in and the Gemara says what does the pasuk mean when it says שנה תמימה? It could have said שנה, a year, we know what everyone knows what a year is. What is the additional word שנה תמימה, a complete year, a full a a gantze yor? But the Gemara says that when it says שנה תמימה, it's לרבות חודש העיבור, it comes to add the extra month, the 13th month of the leap year. And from this Gemara we see that a leap year could be referred to as a שנה תמימה. Now what does that mean? The word tamim we said before means complete. But there are two explanations or two types of tamim, of being complete. Normally complete is translated as nothing missing. When is something complete? It's nothing missing. If something is missing, it's not complete. Complete means there is nothing missing. It's not 90%, it's 100%, there's nothing missing. Like we say by korbanot, by korbanot when it says you should have a בהמה, an animal which is temimah, tamim, it means it shouldn't have a blemish, that's exactly what it means in halachah. It shouldn't have a blemish. If it doesn't have any blemish and there's nothing missing, it's tamim. But on the other hand we find other places that the word tamim doesn't mean just not having a blemish, not missing anything, which means not being 90% but 100. Tamim could mean more than complete. Without it you are 100% and tamim means that you have extra, more than you have regular. Not that if you're not tamim you are missing something. Without being a tamim you are complete, and this is a different level of completion. Similar to what we find by Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu was told by Hashem to do the berit milah and Hashem told him התהלך לפני והיה תמים. Through this you will go in front of Me and you will be complete. What does that mean? Avraham Avinu was complete before he did the berit milah. He was 100%, there was nothing that he was lacking that he should have had. Nevertheless Hashem says now you will be tamim. What does that mean? Now you will have not only 100%, you will have extra, you will have beyond that. So that's the real meaning of tamim. Like the other word which is similar to tamim which is shleimut, completion in Hebrew is shleimut. Now shalem means complete, complete, not broken. If you have a vessel that's complete it means it's not broken, there's nothing missing there. But then we have the word shleimut also means that it's not just not missing anything, but it has beyond what it really needs. An example we find concerning tzedakah. The pasuk says that you have to give the poor man enough צדקה אשר יחסר לו, you have to give him whatever he's missing. So the Gemara says you have to give him whatever he's missing, ואי אתה מחוייב לעשרו, but you don't have to make him rich. And the Gemara says giving him whatever he's missing means whatever he was let's say he was used to, Gemara gives an example, used to having someone an an eved, a slave walking in front of him, he used to be rich. Part of tzedakah is to give him that he shouldn't be missing. But you don't have to make him rich. In other words, if he's missing something you have to fill that void and make sure he's not missing anything. Then there is a concept of making rich. Rich is you have 100% what you need and then you have more than that. And that's what the real inyan of tamim is, that it's more than being complete, being extra. It says in Kabbalah that there is this גילוי אלוקות, the great godly revelation and light that comes into the world normally, and then there's a possibility for a Yid or for a tzaddik to bring extra light of Hashem into the world. Now the light that comes in before that is also complete. Hashem brings enough light into the world as much as is needed, there's nothing lacking. And nevertheless there's a possibility to go beyond that. So when we say that the leap year is called שנה תמימה, what it means is that this is a year that it's not only not missing anything, but this is a year that has extra, that has more than regular. Which means to a Yid, a Yid is able to serve Hashem and do everything complete, to be 100%. But then there is another level a Yid could be, that he not only serves Hashem 100%, but he could serve Hashem even more. And in a year that's the difference between a שנה פשוטה, a plain year, and a leap year. In a plain year a Yid is able to serve Hashem completely, full. But in a leap year, a Yid has extra koachot, and I'll explain in a moment what I mean. A Yid has extra koachot in a leap year, that he's able to serve Hashem in a form which is not only 100%, but beyond the normal, beyond the level where he's full, and has everything, and not missing anything, but you could go further than that. Which, by the way, might be the reason why it's known by Yidden that people were always afraid of a leap year. A leap year many times brought along, during the leap year, problems. And it was known by Chassidim that the Rebbeim had fear of what the leap year could bring. If I'm not mistaken, this is my own observation, you remember by the farbrengens of the Rebbe, I think that in a leap year, at the end of the sichot, when the Rebbe would finish, and usually would finish with a bracha, in a leap year he would, in addition to the bracha, like he'd finish Mashiach should come or whatever the bracha was, he would add three words: אמן, כן יהי רצון. And it was basically said, and I can be sure in this, on a leap year, extra bracha, because it says in Chassidut that a leap year you got to be worried about. Why? Because in a leap year there is extra koachot for a Yid to serve Hashem more than normal, and if chas v'shalom he doesn't, then that's a kitrug and Hashem is upset. When you serve Hashem other years to your best level that you're able to, no problem. That's all you're expected to do. In a leap year, that's not enough. Hashem wants you to do more. What does it mean that you're able to do more than the normal? Saying, normally, you could serve Hashem fully, 100%, and here we want you to serve more. If it's 100%, what's lacking? What What is the meaning of more? So we find like this: we find in the Gemara in Berachot, it says, what is the difference between the first parsha of Kriat Shema and the second parsha of Kriat Shema? The first parsha of Kriat Shema is שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד, ואהבת את השם אלקיך, you should love השם, בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך, with all your heart, with all your soul, ובכל מאדך. The second parsha of Kriat Shema starts off with והיה אם שמוע תשמעו, if you listen to השם, ולעבדו בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם, you'll serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. And the Gemara says that the first parsha of Kriat Shema is referring to the time when the Yidden are עושים רצונו של מקום, they do the will of Hashem. The second parsha of Kriat Shema refers to a time when אין עושים רצונו של מקום, the Yidden don't do the will of Hashem. And the question that the mefarshim ask, what does that mean? If you look at the second parsha, it starts off with the words והיה אם שמוע תשמעו, you are going to listen to my mitzvot with all your heart and with all your soul, how does the Gemara say that this is a time when this refers to a time when the Yidden are not doing the right thing, not doing the will of Hashem? So the Maharsha says the problem of the second parsha is that it doesn't say בכל מאדך. In the first parsha it says you will love Hashem with all your heart, with all your soul, and בכל מאדך, and I'll explain in a moment what that means, and the second parsha just says בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם, and doesn't say בכל מאדך. And because it doesn't say מאדך, that's a much lower level, that's called not doing the will of Hashem. What does that mean? It means like this: בכל מאדך, the word מאד means very, very. טוב מאד means very good, גדול מאד means very big. Now, what does very mean? Very good, very big. In truth, as long as there is something bigger, this cannot be considered very big. It's relative. It's bigger than something else, something else could be much smaller, so this is very big in comparison. But it's not truly very big, because there's something bigger than that. When we say very, it means in truth a level where you are beyond limits. And that's what it means. There are two ways of serving Hashem. You could serve Hashem completely, but still being within the limits of your nature. And you can do everything completely, as much as it's possible within your nature. And that is בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם. What does בכל לבבכם mean? You serve Hashem with all your heart. Imagine, all your heart! Your heart is full completely with the service of Hashem. And it says בכל לבבכם with two בית'ן. And the Gemara says when it says two בית'ן in the word לבבך or לבבכם, it means the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara. So what it means really is that you're serving Hashem with your yetzer tov and even with the yetzer hara. Imagine! Imagine how much that is. Then you have בכל נפשכם, with your whole soul, your whole soul is immersed in serving Hashem. What can it be? What How better can you get? And the Gemara says on the word בכל נפשכם it means אפילו נוטל את נפשך, that means that you're serving Hashem, you love him so much, even if someone will take away your soul, if someone will take away your life, you won't care, because you love Hashem so much, and you'll go on mesirat nefesh. So that's fine. And that's the furthest could go. But nevertheless, all this is still, being that I'm doing it, I'm full of loving Hashem and serving Hashem, I am a limited human being. So all this is limited, which means you're serving Hashem in the highest level, but within the framework of limitations. And that's called complete. You are doing everything 100%. בכל, בכל means with all, with your whole heart, your whole soul. But there is a possibility to go beyond that, and that is ובכל מאדך. A Yid has a neshama, and because he has a neshama, which is a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, part of Hashem, and the neshama doesn't have any limitations, because Hashem doesn't have any limitations, and the neshama which is part of Hashem doesn't have any limitations. So because the neshama has no limitations, and every Yid has a neshama, every Yid is able to serve Hashem beyond even these limitations. He could serve Hashem beyond the limitations of nature, because even mesirat nefesh, we said before that ובכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם without ובכל מאדכם is also mesirat nefesh. Mesirat nefesh means you give up your life. A person, imagine, what could be more? That's beyond any limitations. It's still not 100%. It's possible for a person to give up his life for an ideal, and it's not really giving up yourself, you're still limited. להבדיל להבדיל, rachmana litzlan, you have these ימח שמם וזכרם these suicide bombers also give up their life, but they're not giving up their life. They convince them that they're going to have this and have that, and they're doing it for personal gain. In their crazy mind, they think there is going to be a gain, but they're not giving themselves up. They're giving up their physical life, but it's all within the limitations of themselves. It's not going out of their limitations. They're just crazy. They're they convinced them, they brainwashed them in stupid things, but according to what they think, that's what's going to happen. And when a a yid goes on mesirat nefesh, it's possible to be the same way. He goes on mesirat nefesh even for a mitzvah because he feels he's going to get Gan Eden. And that is true, they are ימח שמם וזכרם משוגע, we know we'll get Gan Eden, but that's not really, it's not giving up of yourself, that's doing something so you will gain more. A a yid is able to go beyond that, to go real mesirat nefesh, to give yourself up completely, to give up your life or whatever it is, for what reason? Because that's what Hashem wants, not because I will gain, and if I give my life up, I will have more, I will have olam haba. That's still for yourself. A a yid has the power of giving himself up without gaining. Not even thinking of gain. If I gain, I don't gain, it's not my business, this is what Hashem wants, I'm going to do that. That's not within the framework of the limitations of the human being, because it's against nature. Naturally, everyone, there's nothing that doesn't care about itself. Look out for number one, you always care for yourself. And even people who care for others, it's many times because they care for themselves. I heard once from a person, he said that he saw, rachmana litzlan, an accident in the street, and he went and said he helped the person up. And he said, you know why I did it? I saw the person laying there in blood, and I couldn't, I can't stand blood. So he helped the person, but why did he help him? Because he can't stand blood. So it's very good deed, and we should all do that, but that's still there. Some people, which is a very good middah, they can't stand when someone suffers. I mean, imagine how good that is for a person to feel I can't stand if someone suffers. But if you help somebody because you can't stand that he suffers, you're doing it for yourself, because I can't stand that that person suffers. So I'm doing to make sure that I should satisfy my feelings. And it could go even for mesirat nefesh, give up your life. Some people say, I can't take it anymore, it's better for me so that I give up my life. But a a yid is able to give up his life for Hashem completely without caring, without caring of any benefit, just because Hashem said. And that's called ובכל מאדך. That's very, beyond limitations. Very means very much without anything higher. And that is temimut. We have simplicity, simple, completely simple, but you're complete, you do everything right, but that's not going out beyond. It's a 100%, but not a 110. And temimut is going a 110. And that, what it says in Chassidut, is the difference between a plain year and a leap year. In a plain year, a a yid is expected to do his avodah 100%, like a full year, a full year, not one day missing. It says, every mitzvah every day has to be full of mitzvot. It says by אברהם אבינו, ואברהם זקן בא בימים, this week's parashah. בא בימים, he came in his days. What do you mean he came in his days? Yes, every day of his life was full, not like he passed through the days. A lot of people are old, they pass through the age, they pass through the days, so the days pass. But if a person fills his days with mitzvot, then they don't go away, He comes with the days, he takes the days along. That's why you can have an old person who is really young, and you have a young person that's very who's really old. Young person, I'm saying you could have a person who's old on his passport, the Frierdiker Rebbe said, age is not counted by your passport where it says the day you were born, because you can be born a long time ago, but if you didn't do many good deeds, you could be a year old. In your passport you could be 80, but really you're not more than a year. And you can be a young person that is so full of mitzvot that it's as if this person lived 80 years. So a person, a regular year, a full year means you do everything 100% and every day is full. And a year of a leap year which has an extra month, that is a higher level, that's בכל מאדך. And that's what it says in Chassidut that in a leap year you're able to reach easier. You always a a yid could reach that level because we always have the neshamah, but in a leap year, it's expected and a a yid is able to reach that much faster. That's one aspect of the leap year, the aspect of the fact that we have an extra month which means more than a complete year. This is complete over complete, and that's a higher madregah.

But now let's get to the second part which is the idea that, this is a little bit more, this a little bit harder, a little deeper, the idea of evening out the sun, the cycle of the sun and the moon, and straightening them out that they should be together and they should fit. And to explain that, according to Chassidus and Kabbalah, the spiritual meaning behind it, everything that happens in this world, that we have in this world, is a השתלשלות, which means a reaction, a what a, a chain of descent, that's probably the right word, of things the way they are in the higher worlds. For instance, it says in Tanya, why is it that every person has 10 attributes? Three parts to his intellect, seven parts to his emotions. So he said, you think that's where it starts? שנתשלשלו מהן, because in higher worlds, in אצילות, in the higher spiritual worlds, you have 10 ספירות: חכמה, בינה, דעת, and then חסד, גבורה, תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד, מלכות. So as a השתלשלות from the higher worlds, down here we have the same. And everything that we have in this world has a counterpart in the higher worlds, which this is a השתלשלות from. Here we're talking about the sun and the moon. The sun and the moon are a השתלשלות of certain things the way are they are in the higher worlds that come down here in the form of the sun and the moon. The sun, we know, represents the great, great light that comes from Hashem. We know that in Kabbalah, all the influences and things that Hashem gives is always referred to as light. We call אור השם, the light of Hashem, not that God forbid it's physical light, but we refer to it as light. It's called אור אין סוף, the infinite light of Hashem, or the light of the infinite, we refer to it as light. A lot of times in Kabbalah we use the לשון, the the expression אור השמש, the light of the sun, meaning the light of Hashem. Because there's a פסוק that says, כי שמש ומגן הוי' אלוקים. The sun and its cover is like הוי', שם הוי' Hashem, and שם אלוקים. So the sun, really, it says, is a השתלשלות, representation of Hashem. And the light that comes out of the sun is a representation of the light that comes from Hashem. The moon is also a representation of the light that comes from Hashem, because everything is השתלשלות. The difference is the moon doesn't have its own light. That's a that's a fact. The light of the moon is only a reflection from the sun. And that's why sometimes we see more of it, sometimes less, because it depends on the position how much the sun reflects on the moon. So the moon doesn't have its own light. The Zohar uses the term that סיהרא, the moon, לית לה מגרמה כלום, doesn't have anything of its own. So the light that the moon has is a מקבל, receives it from the sun, and then it gives light to this world, very little light. And we see the difference between the sun and the moon that number one, the sun is a much stronger light, and the moon is a much weaker light, smaller, lesser light. The sun is the giver of light, and the moon is only the receiver of light. And then it gives what it receives, it gives it to us. But it doesn't have its own, it's only a receiver. So the sun is a משפיע, the moon is a מקבל. We also see, based on this, that the light of the sun is always there. Doesn't change. You say, sometimes you see the sun, sometimes you don't. At night, when the sun is the other side of the world, you don't see. But like this, there is no שינוי, the sun is always the same. The moon changes. Sometimes you have more of the moon, more of the moonlight, sometimes you have less. At the beginning of the month you have the least, then it gets bigger, then finally it gets to the full moon, then it gets smaller. There are שינויים, there are changes, while in the sun there are no changes. But as I said, these two represent the light of Hashem. So obviously, just like we have in the sun and the moon, we have two types of light. You have the real strong light that comes directly from the sun, and then you have that same light the way it's reflected off the moon, which is much less and comes into the world. This represents two types of light that come from Hashem. We know that Hashem gives to the world, and we call whatever he gives to the world אור, light, and it's all called אור אין סוף, the light of Hashem, and the light of Hashem is what gives chayut, what gives life and existence to the world. And we learn in Chassidus and Kabbalah that there are two levels, two types of light that comes from Hashem into the world. And the two types of light are referred to as אור הסובב כל עלמין and אור הממלא כל עלמין. אור הסובב כל עלמין means there is a light that comes from Hashem which surrounds the world, and אור הממלא כל עלמין means a light from Hashem that fills, comes into the world. Actually, the difference is is there is a one level of light that comes into the world, but doesn't come into every aspect of the world or the different levels of of spiritual worlds, it doesn't come in according to that level. There is one light that is all over the same. Why? Because this light does not really come in in a פנימיות, internalized into everything specifically. Because if it would come in specifically into everything, there are so many things which are not כלים, vessels, for such a strong light, so they wouldn't take it. But this is a light that comes generally, it's called סובב כל עלמין. It surrounds the world, it's there in a general form. Then we have the level called אור הממלא כל עלמין, the light that fills the world. That's the light of Hashem that comes into the world, into the worlds, because there are all kinds of spiritual worlds, then we have this physical world. And the light comes into the world, every world gets the amount of light that according to that level, which means the first level of light is a light of Hashem that's not מצומצם, that's not concentrated and not concealed according to the level of how much the world could take. It's the full light as it comes. The אור הממלא כל עלמין is a light, a much lower level, it's light of Hashem when it's already contracted, becomes less, and it gets contracted to every level according to the how much this level could take. And these two lights are represented by the sun and the moon. The level of light of סובב כל עלמין is like the sun. It's strong light, it's full force, it's not contracted, it's full force, and it doesn't there are no changes. It's all over the same. The moonlight, that is the אור הממלא כל עלמין. That's a much lesser light, like the second level of light which is already a contracted light, and it's a light that's basically a reflection of the other light because the other light is the full light and this is already contracted, and there are changes because it depends where the light comes. In different places, the light comes more, it comes less, the spiritual depends. For instance, in a shul, we don't see it, but in a shul, godly light is more than in in in your home. And in, God forbid, other places which which are evil, then there is very little light of Hashem. But that's only in the אור הממלא כל עלמין. The אור הסובב כל עלמין, the higher level light, is all over the same. Now, which of the two is better? Or which of the two are more important? Which one of the two is is is the one that we would think about more? Well, there is a maalah in each one and a chesaron, there's positive and negative in each. The first level, the level of סובב כל עלמין, is a light that's very strong, the full light of Hashem. Well, obviously, that's much better and stronger than the other level of light, which is a very little light, just contracted and a reflection of the other light. But, on the other hand, because this is so strong, it doesn't penetrate into the different things in the world. And it only remains, we call it סובב, it only surrounds it, meaning it's not there in a specific way that it enters in every object. On the other hand, the אור הממלא כל עלמין, it's the lower level of light because it's only a reflection of the higher light, it's contracted, it's changes depending on different times and different places and different things. But, on the other hand, it's a type of light of Hashem that is absorbed into the object, it is penetrates into the place where it comes. So here you have a stronger light, but it's מקיפדיק, it doesn't get internalized, and here you have a lower level of light, but it gets internalized. So, which one? Well, this has a maalah of being stronger, this has a maalah of being of internalizing. What would be the best? If we'd have both, if we would be able to have the אור הסובב כל עלמין, the higher level of light, the strong light, and that should be and get internalized inside, that would be the highest level. Actually, it says this is what happens every time you do a mitzvah. By the way, every time you do a mitzvah, it says what happens, it happens יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה. Look in the siddur. Before ברוך שאמר, we say לשם יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה. Someone asked me the other day to mention it, to talk about it. קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה, that there is a union of קודשא בריך הוא and שכינתיה. And this happens, it says in Kabbalah, every mitzvah we do. And that's why many people, most Chassidim, not others, but Chassidim, every mitzvah, before they do a mitzvah, they say this: לשם יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה, you commanded us to put on tzitzit. So before they put on the tallit, they say לשם יחוד, before tefillin, they say לשם יחוד, before matzah, every mitzvah they say לשם יחוד, because through every mitzvah happens a yichud of קודשא בריך הוא, a union of קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה. We, in our נוסח האר״י, we don't say it. Not because we don't agree with it, chas v'shalom. It just there is the, the Alter Rebbe put it in once in the morning, and that once before ברוך שאמר has to have an effect on the whole day. But the basic thing is that every mitzvah you do, there is a יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה. What does that mean? There is a yichud, a union of קודשא בריך הוא and שכינתיה. קודשא בריך הוא is Hashem. What's קודשא בריך הוא? קודשא בריך הוא is the Aramaic version of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Hashem. שכינתיה is another Aramaic version of the word שכינה. Who's שכינה? שכינה is Hashem! And what does it mean there is a yichud, a union of קודשא בריך הוא and שכינתיה? What do you mean? There is Hashem and Hashem. There is a yichud, a union between Hashem and Hashem, what does that mean? So there are all kinds of explanations, but to the simplest form of an explanation, there are two levels in the light that comes from Hashem. There is the level which is called קודשא בריך הוא and that's, to a certain degree, called סובב כל עלמין, the higher level of light. שכינתיה is the lower level of light, ממלא כל עלמין. Actually, it fits to the word שכינה, because the word שכינה comes from the word שוכן. שוכן means to rest. It rests inside, because the lower level of light is a type of light that rests inside, it comes in. So, יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה means that when you do a mitzvah, there is the union of this light called סובב כל עלמין with the light ממלא כל עלמין. And what do you get? You have both positive מעלות. You have the strong light and it's together with the ממלא, so it goes in. That's why every mitzvah. A leap year, what happens in a leap year? A leap year is there in order to straighten out, to even out the sun and the moon. The light of the sun and the light of the moon should be together. Which means other years they're different. That means that there are two separate lights: there is the light of סובב כל עלמין, light of ממלא כל עלמין. Each one has its מעלה, each one has its חסרון, and they're separate. In a leap year, the fact that down here we have a leap year, this is because that up there we have a leap year. And up there a leap year means in the spiritual sense, that up there we're straightening out the two lights, the lights of the sun and the moon, just like down here we're straightening it out. We're straightening it, it being straightened out there, that means that there is the סובב כל עלמין and ממלא כל עלמין come together and we have the strong light that's absorbed in us. So, this is the spiritual meaning of what takes place during a leap year. This is in the spiritual worlds in שמים.

Now, everything also has to have a reflection in our own service of Hashem. So, we have the concept of a leap year, which in this idea of strictly, not like I said before the fact that there is an extra month, but the straightening out of the sun and the moon, also every person in his way of serving Hashem. And we have to try to see what Chassidus tells us to apply what is the meaning of the sun and the moon as far as we are concerned in us. Just like we said there is the sun and the moon in שמים, in the higher worlds, which is different types of אור אין סוף, we have in ourselves, too. And we have the best proof to it. We say in davenen, in Nishmat every שבת, ״ועינינו מאירות כשמש וכירח״. Our eyes should shine like the sun and the moon. And the question is just why like the sun and the moon? The moon is much less light than the sun, so we should say our eyes should shine like the sun! Why like the sun and the moon? Obviously, there is something which is the some- something that's represented in the sun and something in the moon and both we need, and that's why we say. What does that mean? Well, as we said before, what is the difference between the sun and the moon in simple in simple words? That the sun is much stronger light, and the sun has no שינויים, has no changes, and the sun is a משפיע. While the moon is a much lesser light, and it is a מקבל, it receives, and there are changes, there are differences. So it says there is a difference between tzaddikim and average people. A tzaddik is a person that the light of Hashem shines in him, and he is a משפיע, and the light shines always. A tzaddik is always close to Hashem and always serves Hashem. And it with full force. There are no changes. You don't say a tzaddik, well, one day he's close to Hashem, one day he's not so close. That's not how it works, then he's not a tzaddik. A tzaddik means that the light shines, and he's a person that's משפיע to others, gives אור to others, and the light is always there. A A simple person like we are, we also have a neshamah, and we also get close to Hashem, and there is a certain light, but we have to fight with our yetzer hara, and we have to overcome it, and not always do we succeed, emol besser, emol erger, one day more, one day less. There are changes. The light of the neshamah is not so strong by us, first of all, to begin with. And second of all, it's not always there, and we are basically a mekabel, we are the receivers. Which of the two is greater? Well, it says in Kabbalah, Hashem has pleasure from both. Hashem has, obviously, pleasure from the tzaddik. The tzaddik, imagine the tzaddik's avodah, always strong and always having the light of Hashem. But it says in, the Mezeritcher Maggid writes, there's a problem: being that he's always so strong and close to Hashem, we have a rule: תענוג תמידי אינו תענוג. A constant pleasure is not a pleasure. When it's not constant and you have it something from time to time, then you enjoy it. So, the tzaddik doesn't have that great ta'anug, that great pleasure in serving Hashem like a simple person. People like us, one day we're down and we don't really serve Hashem properly, but the next day we get back to it, so it's a geshmak! The tzaddik doesn't have a geshmak, he doesn't have the idea of changes. So, there is a ma'alah in what he does, there's a ma'alah in what we do. What is the greatest ma'alah? Imagine if we'd combine the both together, if we'd be able to have the neshamah so strong, and that should also be in a form that he always has the pleasure, he should do have it in a form that there should be changes. The tzaddik can also have changes. It says: בכל יום יהיו בעיניך כחדשים, we have to look at the Torah every day as if it's new. When it's new, you have a new pleasure. So, the combination of the sun and the moon, the the straightening out, the evening out of the sun and the moon means the combination of these two, the combination of a tzaddik, who is always like the sun, should have a little bit of the moon in him, which means the moon there are changes, he should have changes, but not sometimes missing something, but he should constantly look for more and have more, and even us, simple people, should try to work on ourselves that the the little that we have, the low מדרגה that we have, it should be firm, it should be strong. It shouldn't fall sometimes. And that's the combination that we have to have between the two, and that's the spiritual meaning in our service of Hashem of the straightening out of the sun and the moon. Plus, there says a very simple lesson that we take from here, or meaning, and that is, every Yid should be both, should be a mashpia and a mekabel. Every Yid should be a mashpia. Whatever he has that someone else doesn't have, he should give, whether he has more money, he has more knowledge, even if he doesn't have much, but if there's somebody that has less than him, give him. At the same time, every Yid should always be a mekabel, always want to learn more, always try to get more. As much as you have, you want to have more. We're not talking about having more money, but being a mekabel receiving more Torah, trying to get more yirat shamayim, to grow. That's why we know in the Gemara when it talks about a scholar, what's the title of a scholar? A talmid chacham. Talmid means a student. Why a student? We're talking about great people who are teachers, they're called talmidei chachamim! Because as much as he is a chacham, he always looks at himself as a talmid. You always have to learn. You always have to be a mekabel, always a receiver. So, every person has to take both, the sun and the moon, the giver and the taker and the receiver, and have them both together. In a year that's a leap year, when we have this straightening, it's easier to combine the two. And the same is with the other point: that the sun has no changes, and the moon has changes. We have to have both. Every Yid has to straighten them out, have to have both. A Yid should be firm. We always have to be firm in our avodat Hashem. Straight, never never giving in, compromising. If it's something that's principle in Yiddishkeit, not to compromise, like the sun! The sun doesn't compromise, sometimes it's less, sometimes it's more. The sun is strong. But at the same time, we have to know that we shouldn't stand in one place. We have to always change. We always have to grow. Like the Rebbe once explained, a קביעות like this year when Nitzavim and Vayelech comes together, so the Rebbe explained Nitzavim and Vayelech, the name Nitzavim and Vayelech are two opposites. Nitzavim means to stand firm. The word נצב is even stronger than the word עומד. עומד means to stand. נצב means to stand firm. Stand firm means you're standing in one place very strongly. Vayelech means to go. So, when we have the two together, it's a contradiction. Is the lesson to stand firm or is the lesson that you constantly have to go? The truth is, they're both emet. A Yid has to have both. You have to be firm and strong and not to give in, never to change. A Yid could never change his connection to Hashem and never change his mitzvot and Torah ways, and at the same time, he always has to keep on going. Always has to have changes, not to be the same like before. It says: תלמידי חכמים אין להם מנוחה, never have peace, they never stand in one place. And when it comes to a leap year, we have that special ability of combining the two. Other years, well, you're one of the two. Some people have more the strength of standing strong, some people have more the fact that they're moving and making changes, but in a leap year, we're able to have both. And this is the specialty of a leap year. And getting back just to sum up, number one, the specialty of a leap year is that that's the year when we're able to have the temimut, the completion, not completion in the first level that you're not missing anything, but completion that you have more extra than you need, that has the level of תוספת מרובה על העיקר. And then we have the leap year that it shows מן השמים that Hashem, who sends down the light, אור אין סוף, the אור הממלא, סובב כל עלמין ממלא כל עלמין, and usually they're separate, and in a leap year, there is more chance and more possibility for it to be together, we should have the strong light penetrating and being absorbed into everything. And the other thing that we, in our service of Hashem, have to have the changes and not change at the same time, being mashpia and being mekabel. And when we have that, that will bring us to Mashiach. What does it say when Mashiach will come? It says when Mashiach will come, והיה אור הלבנה כאור החמה. The sun of The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. What do we care about the moon? It should have said Mashiach will come, the sun will be very strong, we'll have the sun always, we'll only have the sun. Why is it important to say, well, the moon and the sun, the moon will be like the sun? That's exactly what it means. When Mashiach will come, we'll have both ma'alot. We'll have the ma'alah of the strong, godly, spiritual light, and it'll be in a level of the moon, which means just like the moon's light is absorbed, this will be absorbed. So the light of the moon, which is absorbed and penetrates into everything, will be like the sun, with the same strength of the sun. But all that depends on what we do now, because the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya that everything that's going to happen then depends on our avodah now. And the more we do of it now, the faster it'll happen that we will be zocheh to Mashiach, to this thing of this level of והיה אור הלבנה כאור החמה.