Excerpts from a lesson given by HaRav Eliezer Berland, shlit"a, Parshas Mikeitz.

      It says in the story, "The Rabbi’s Son": Once there was a Rabbi who had no children. Finally he did have a son, who when he grew up…would learn and pray constantly. He would study and pray twenty–four hours a day. He would study and pray to the limits of his endurance—every Shemoneh Esrei would take three hours. Yet he felt within himself that something was missing, and he didn’t know what it was. He was learning and praying—what could he be missing? He had already squeezed himself for all that he was worth, what could possibly be lacking? 
     In truth, this was the error of the brothers: they could not understand in what way Yosef was greater than them--what Yosef possessed that they lacked. They thought," In what way is he greater than us? He only wants to “lord it over” us, and furthermore, he is getting in our way." This is similar to the explanation of the Pelach Rimon, that this is the meaning of what they said, “Will you indeed have dominion over us (literally, ‘among us’)?” (Bereishis 37:8). The use of the word, banu ("among us") instead of aleinu (“over us”) hints to their claim that Yosef was behaving insidiously, and getting in the way of their own service of Hashem. This is why they sold Yosef for nothing more than the price of a pair of shoes. 
      A wicked person is literally forbidden to walk on the ground; it is forbidden that his foot should touch the ground, since, if it does, it defiles the earth. In the story, “The Cripple,” Rebbe Nachman brings the verse, “but the way of the wicked will perish.” [Tehillim 1:6] He says, that when a wicked person walks in the Land of Israel, the dust from outside the Land is strewn beneath his every footstep. Conversely, even when the Tzaddik walks outside the Land, dust from the Land of Israel is strewn beneath his every step. This is so that he should always walk on the Land of Israel, and so that the wicked will not defile the sanctity of the Land. The sanctity of Yerushalayim surpasses that of the Land as a whole, as the Pirkei D'’Rabbi Eliezer says, that all of Yerushalayim is literally situated beneath Hashem’s Throne. [Pirkei D'’Rabbi Eliezer, chap. 35] 
       The brothers had no idea who Yosef was, as the Heichal HaBeracha explains the verse, “and they did not recognize him,” that they did not recognize his level, [Heichal HaBeracha, Parshas Miketz, p. 215b on Bereishis 42:8]. This is why the verse has the word hekiruhu (“recognize him”) written missing a vav. Hekiruhu without the vav is the numerical equivalent of two hundred and thirty-six; that number alludes to the two hundred and thirty-six thousand parsang height of the Shiur Komah (the height of Hashem). The Komah of Hashem is two hundred and thirty-six thousand parsangs and Yosef had already attained this level. If it could be said, he had already become incorporated into Hashem, so how could they possibly comprehend him? Just as it is impossible to have any understanding of Hashem, so too is it impossible to have any understanding of the Tzaddik, for the Tzaddik has, if one could say such a thing, come to the level of Hashem. Even when the Tzaddik is already incorporated in Hashem, he does not just maintain his position but continues to rise from level to level. The potential for growth is limitless. 
       Hashem said to Moshe at the time of the splitting of the Reed Sea, “Why are you crying to me?” (Shemos 11:15) “the matter is contingent on Atika,” (Zohar II:52b) i.e. and you have already attained the level of Atika. This is similar to that which the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Ta’anis relates, that the left hand of Moshe was victorious over the right hand of Hashem. (Aggados Yerushalmi, Tractate Ta’anis chap. 4:3 with the commentary “Yifei Mar’eh” found there.) At the very moment that Hashem was handing over the Tablets to the hands of Moshe, while both Hashem and Moshe were grasping the Tablets in the upper world, at that very moment, the Jewish people completed the Calf down below. Hashem then regretted giving them over and wanted to take back the Tablets. Moshe, however, already had a hold on them and was unwilling to yield. At that point, a real struggle took place, between Moshe and Hashem, an actual power struggle. Each one pulled the Tablets to his side, Hashem to one side, and Moshe to the other. The Tablets were six tefachim long—the upper two tefachim were in the hands of Hashem, the lower two tefachim were in the hands of Moshe, and there were two tefachim in the middle. Each one struggled to take for himself the two tefachim that were in the other’s hands. The Semichas Chachamim explains that this is the meaning of the Mishna at the beginning of Bava Metziah, “Two are holding onto one tallis.” Who are the two? Hashem and Moshe who are both holding onto the Tablets, and each one wants them in their entirety. (Semichas Chachamim, Introduction, p. 103). Ultimately, the hands of Moshe were victorious; he grabbed the Tablets from the hands of Hashem and descended with them to the world. The Yerushalmi says that Hashem praises him for this in the end when He says, "...and in all that mighty hand” [Devarim 34:12]—that the left hand of Moshe was victorious over the right hand of Hashem. (This is what is written at the end of the commentary of the “Yifei Mar’eh.”) 
       Moshe had already attained such a level that he could, so to speak, fight with Hashem. What Hashem decrees, the Tzaddik can nullify. When the Tzaddik decrees, Hashem upholds it. It seems as if the Tzaddik is sometimes actually going against Hashem, and, moreover, that Hashem consents to it. So what really is the clear interpretation of the idea that the left hand of Moshe was victorious over the right hand of Hashem? How could there be such a thing? There is the general rule: whenever it says “the Holy One”, it means Zeir Anpin. The Torah and the Tablets were given from Zeir Anpin, and Moshe was then at the level of Atika, and since Atika is on a higher level than Zeir Anpin, even the left side of Atika will be victorious over the right side of Zeir Anpin. Moshe was insistent on bringing down the Tablets, both to show the Jewish people what they had lost, and also so that they should not say that he had never ascended to Heaven at all. He knew that Korach could easily come and claim that Moshe was never in Heaven at all: he simply hid himself in some cave for forty days—he ate there and slept there—and claims to have been in Heaven. 
     This is just like the Arabs that claim to be fasting all during Ramadan, and eat when no one is looking. There are those Arabs who do fast, and those who employ them during Ramadan see how that in the afternoon they no longer have energy to carry loads. But most are just putting on a show (they just hide and eat) like the story that happened during the time of Chayim Parchi who was the treasurer of the Pasha in Damascus. There was an Arab sheik in Damascus who was a hater of Jews. He spread a rumor that, every Friday, he would fly to Mecca using a Divine name. All the Arabs there believed this rumor, and every Friday he would close himself off in his cellar from morning until night. He would eat there and smoke his hookah pipe. One time, some Jewish children were playing beneath his window and disturbed his rest. He became incensed over the Jews’ chutzpah and got up and threw them into prison. The mothers heard that their children had been imprisoned. They came and cried before him, and begged him to release the children but nothing helped. They then went to Chayim Parchi, and he said to them, “No problem. I will take care of it, with Hashem’s help.” He went and took out a valuable string of pearls from his safe. The Arabs cannot just stand and pray--it’s too boring for them--so they bring strings of beads to the mosques and play with them during the prayers. Anyone familiar with their customs knows that there are only three possible permutations, there can be either thirty three, sixty six or ninety nine beads on the strings; it is forbidden that there should be any more or any less. The beads can be made of any type of material; the poor make them from wood, the more well-to-do from metal, the wealthy from silver, the more wealthy from gold, and the most wealthy make the beads from pearls. So Chayim Parchi took out a string of ninety–nine pearls and removed one pearl from the strand. He brought the string of pearls to the Pasha as a gift, and the Pasha was overjoyed at the valuable present. He counted the pearls and saw that there were only ninety-eight. He became downcast—he was upset that he would be unable to use it during his prayers—it’s unfit, missing a pearl. Chayim Parchi, when he saw that the Pasha was upset, asked him why. The Pasha answered and explained that it was missing a pearl from a count of ninety–nine, and where could one get a replacement? Chayim Parchi answered that it is possible to get a replacement pearl in Mecca, and he gave the Pasha the exact address of the store in Mecca. The Pasha asked him how it would be possible to get there, who would make the trip, surely it would take so long to go and return. Chayim Parchi said to him—What’s the problem? Our sheik flies to Mecca every Friday. Just give him the money and he will gladly do it for you. While he’s there, he will run over to the store for a few minutes and buy the pearl. The Pasha was very happy with his idea and sent the string of pearls to the sheik asking that, this week, when he flies to Mecca, would he please do him the favor and replace the missing pearl for him. He included the address of the store. The sheik heard the request and immediately understood what sort of a trap Chayim Parchi had laid for him. He ran straight away to Chayim Parchi, that he should save him. Chayim Parchi said to him, if you will free the children, I will give you the pearl. He went immediately and freed the children, received the pearl, and brought it to the Pasha as if he had brought it from Mecca. 
      The brothers had no understanding of Yosef. He had already merited to the kesones passim, the “striped coat.” The letters of the word  passim, signified his attaining the level of the angels PSKON, SGRON / SNDLFON, YOFYOFYA, and MTTRON. (The Rav repeated the order twice. The first time, he said on the letter samech, SGRON; the second time, he said SNDLFON.) The angel PSKON, is the one that has the final decision—his is always the final word. Yosef then merited all these levels. 
       The Asara Ma’amaros says that one of the reasons that people oppose the Tzaddikim is that they come from the soul of Adam HaRishon himself. Because Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge, the Tzaddikim are pursued. Everyone senses that the Tzaddik caused their mortality, because the Tzaddik is literally Adam HaRishon himself. 
      Yosef merited to receive a double portion from Yaakov, as we read in the Haftara of Parshas Vayishlach which, this year, we merited to read before Chanukah. (That is to say, immediately before Chanukah. This is not the case in other years where also Parshas Vayeshev is before Chanukah, causing the Haftara of Vayeshev to immediately precede Chanukah.) Next year will be the same, Rosh Hashanah will be on Shabbos; Rosh Hashanah and Sukkos will be like this year, but Chanukah itself will be different because they removed days from the months (that is, Cheshvan and Kislev are twenty–nine days and not thirty days). We read then in the Haftara, “And the house of Yaakov will be fire, and the house of Yosef flame.” (Ovadya 1:18). “Flame” is double the intensity of “fire” as Reb Nosson discusses in Likutei Halachos, Hilchos Hoda’ah 6:34. This is the secret of Chanukah, for Chanukah is the secret of Yaakov and Yosef. The two names, Yaakov and Yosef, together are the numerical equivalent of thirteen times the Name HaVaYaH—which parallels the thirteen attributes of mercy. The days of Chanukah are the aspect of the thirteen attributes of mercy, and every day during the lighting of the candles, one must concentrate on one of the thirteen attributes, and on one of the permutations of the Name HaVaYaH. At the lighting of the first candle, one must concentrate on the attribute Kel, which is the first of the thirteen attributes, and also on one permutation of the Name HaVaYaH. At the second candle, the second attribute Rachum and a permutation of the Name HaVaYaH. At the third candle, the third attribute veChanun and a permutation of the Name HaVaYaH. This continues through the seventh candle, which has the attribute of Emes. All of the seven days and the corresponding seven attributes through veEmes parallel Yaakov, as in “You will show truth to Yaakov” (Micha 7:20). 
      After completing the seven permutations of HaVaYaH, which is the numerical equivalent of Yaakov, there is one candle left, the eighth candle which parallels Yosef. This candle includes all the other attributes from Notzer until Nakei and all of the six permutations of HaVaYaH that are the numerical equivalent of Yosef. That which Yaakov does during seven days, the seven candles, Yosef does with one candle. This candle includes within it the seven preceding candles as well. With this one candle, Yosef completes everything. We do not light more than eight candles, (for in truth, we could light the Chanukah candles the whole year round, because the light continues and intensifies,) because beyond this we do not have the vessels required to contain that light. One can no longer light candles, but the light continues to expand all year long, from day to day, until the next Chanukah. Every year, during Chanukah, the light is completely different from the past Chanukah. It is a much more elevated light. 
      All this light, that lasts the entire year and for which we have no vessels to contain, is from Yosef, and Yosef merited to receive all of this from Yaakov. The student is always double what his teacher is (see the lesson from Parshas Vayera) and Yosef was the student of Yaakov. “These are the generations of Yaakov, Yosef” (Bereishis 33:2). The double portion that the student merits, he receives from his teacher himself. Through the fact that the student merits a double portion, this raises the teacher himself, who then merits not merely double, but an infinite expansion. 
    From this we can understand the Gemara Bava Basra 16a, “Rav Levi said: The Satan and Peninah both acted for the sake of Heaven, in causing sorrow to Iyov and Chana respectively. The Satan, when he saw that Hashem favored Iyov, said, "Heaven forbid that the Merciful One should abandon Avraham." The Satan suspected that Hashem would abandon Avraham and choose Iyov in his place. People would then bless Magen Iyov instead of Magen Avraham. Could it be that the Satan could have so much love for Avraham Avinu? Surely he would prefer that Hashem should take Iyov in his place! This has always been the intention of the Satan—to show that the gentiles are also righteous, that they are also holy--not just the Jews. There is an awakening of great heavenly accusation against the Jewish people when there is a holy gentile, as in the story of the Ba’al Shem Tov and the priest (Shivchei Ba’al Shem Tov). So what was bothering the Satan here? It was that Iyov attained his level through the merit of Avraham Avinu, and if Iyov would receive a double portion from Avraham, then Avraham himself will expand infinitely, and this is what the Satan doesn’t want. 
       Iyov was a reincarnation of Terach, the father of Avraham Avinu, and because Terach served all the idolatries, Iyov had to undergo all of this suffering, so that he might be purified from all the spiritual impurity that had clung to him. However, Terach worshipped idols in simple naivete—he didn’t do it to anger Hashem, or to encourage the world to rebel against Hashem--but just conducted himself like everyone else, as everyone in the entire generation served idolatry. For this reason, he was worthy of this rectification. Avraham knew already during his father’s lifetime of all the reincarnations and all the suffering his father would have to undergo. From that time, he began to prepare for him all kinds of rectifications to help him during his reincarnation as Iyov. This is alluded to twice in Parshas Vayera. The entire parsha is involved with the rectification of Terach. This is, Vayera eilav YHVH BiEilonei Mamrei.--“And Hashem appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamrei” (Bereishis 18:1). The first letter of the first four words of the parsha spell “Iyov”. Later, in Bereishis 18:6 it says, “And Avraham hastened into the tent to Sara and said: Make ready, quickly, three measure of fine meal.” Three measures is equal to an eifah. This is what it says in Iyov, “Where [eifoh] were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Iyov 38:4). “Where was [the placement of] your eifah in [the body of] Adam HaRishon" (Shemos Rabba, Parsha 40:3). Avraham and Sara were both working on both their father and their grandfather. (Terach was Avraham’s father and Sara’s grandfather.) The two of them were working out how to prepare him for his rectification in his reincarnation as Iyov. Terach still had another thirty-six years to live, and they were already preparing rectifications for his coming reincarnation. This happened at the time of Avraham Avinu’s circumcision, when Avraham was ninety-nine years old. When Terach died, Avraham was one hundred and thirty-five years old. These thirty-six years parallel the thirty-six lights of all the eight days of Chanukah—with the lights of Chanukah, it is possible to rectify everyone, even a Terach. 
      Because Iyov was the student of Avraham Avinu, he truly merited to perform double the acts of kindness that Avraham Avinu did. This is what Iyov relates about himself (Iyov 29:11-18): “When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, that had no one to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I went to every widow in the city and helped them, I made them happy. I also would say to them that they should call out in my name—that they should say that they are my relatives so that men will want to marry them. I put on righteousness and my justice clothed me, as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I did not know, I searched out. And I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and plucked the prey from between his teeth. I would fight with the judges, break their teeth; anyone who did not have a lawyer in the court, I would be his advocate. Then I said, I will die in my nest, and I will multiply my days like the sand. I thought that, in the merit of my deeds, I would merit to live a thousand years” (see Rashi there). Iyov did his acts of kindness with his body, he himself ran every day to perform acts of kindness, but Avraham Avinu, although he did indeed do acts of kindness, did not do them with his body. He had servants, and they did everything. He himself sat and learned the entire day. He provided hospitality in Be’er Sheva, “And he planted an eshel in Be’er Sheva” (Bereishis 21:33). The Oheiv Yisroel says in Parshas Vayigash that there is special holiness in the town of Be’er Sheva. 
     So Iyov did not understand what he was missing, he is the greatest ba’al chessed, he has already surpassed Avraham Avinu, so what else could he be missing? He did not understand his own lack, just like the only son of the Rabbi (mentioned at the beginning of the lesson) did not know what he lacked. What he failed to understand was that in whose merit was he able to perform all of his acts of kindness. Iyov did not know that everything was from Avraham Avinu. This was also what the only son was missing, that he did not know in the merit of whom he learned, in whose merit he prayed. 
     Rebbe Nachman says (Chayei Moharan 205) that it is proper that the Tzaddikim should know in whose merit they pray. This is also what the brothers did not understand: in what way Yosef was greater than them. They also serve Hashem like him, why should he “lord it over” them? What they did not understand was that everything they were doing was by virtue of Yosef: he was acting from within them. 
      This conflict can also be seen in the difference of opinions between the Rambam and the Geonim, which is manifest in an argument between the Rambam and the Ra’avad. The sons of Leah made servants of the sons of the handmaids; they called Dan, Naftali, Gad, and Asher slaves. They wanted to sit and learn without having to attend to any this-worldly concerns. However, there were no Jews in the world other than themselves, so there wouldn't be anyone who could make wine for them--who could press the grapes for them. They were the only twelve Jews (with Yaakov thirteen) in the entire world. If they would hire someone to make them wine, it would be yayin nesech. Similarly, their oil would be considered food cooked by a gentile. 
     Nowadays there are, thank G-d, millions of Jews. For two thousand dollars a month, you can hire a Jew to do whatever you want for you, but at that time, they were the only Jews in the world. Therefore, the son's of Leah decided that the sons of the handmaids were Jewish slaves, and that they were legally bound to do all their work for them. This is according to the opinion of the Rambam (Hilchos Gerushin 19), that a man who bears a son with his handmaid, if he doesn't express clearly that his relations with her constitute a marriage, then she remains a handmaid and the child is a slave. The Geonim differ in their opinion and argue that even if he did not express it clearly, this is also called marriage, and the child is legitimate, and not a slave. Yaakov certainly did express his intention to marry the handmaids clearly, only the children of Leah did not know this, so they formed their opinion on what happens commonly--that he did not express it clearly. This is even more so the case with Zilpah, for there is a Midrash that Leah brought her into Yaakov without his knowledge, in which case he certainly wouldn’t have thought it necessary to express explicitly that he was intending her to be his wife. This was what the tribes claimed, but Yosef did not accept their argument, and complained that they were enslaving their own brothers. 
      The Rambam and Ra’avad have a similar difference of opinion regarding the issue of eating from the limb of a living animal—as to whether gentiles are forewarned from eating the limb of a live fowl. The brothers reasoned, like the Rambam, that regarding a fowl there is no prohibition for a gentile to eat the limb of a living animal. Yosef reasoned, like the Ra’avad, that a gentile is prohibited from eating from the limb of a live fowl as well. 
       Then we read the Haftara of Vayishlach, “And the house of Yaakov will be fire, and the house of Yosef a flame, and the house of Esav for straw, and they will kindle in them, and devour them and there will not be any remaining of the house of Esav, for Hashem has spoken it” (Ovadya 1:18). The Chanukah candle nullifies all of the wisdom of Esav, the wisdom of Greece. There is also a verse in Zechariya 9:13, “…and raised up my sons, O Tzion, against your sons, O Greece.” This verse shows that a small candle, the Chanukah candle, is victorious over, and topples all the wisdom of Greece. Greek wisdom is not necessarily heresy—it is all the technology and development of the world. The cellular phones and cars, even when there isn’t anything intrinsically evil about them, and they help to make life more comfortable, can influence a person to believe more in technology and have less faith, ultimately leading a person in the direction of rebelling against Hashem. This was like the generation of the flood, about whom it is written, “Therefore they say to G-d: Depart from us; for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways” (Iyov 21:14). Metushelach wanted to bring the Torah down to them, Noach wanted to bring the Torah down for them, but they resisted and said, “Depart from us; for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.” 
     And so, a few hours after lighting the first Chanukah candle, a spaceship exploded. This is already the second spaceship—the first one exploded on Erev Sukkos, and now the second one on the first night of Chanukah. They sent two, so that if one exploded, the other would get there. And now the second blew up precisely on the first night of Chanukah. This little Chanukah candle blew up the spaceship—it stands opposite all of the wisdom of Greece. The world is now in mourning over the spaceship. This is like the generation of the dispersion, as the Pirkei D'’Rabbi Eliezer says in chapter twenty–four. The tower was seventy kilometers high, seventy mil, and if a brick fell, they would all sit and mourn and cry over it, but if a person fell, no one cared in the least. Today, it is the very same thing. The entire world is in mourning over the spaceship that fell, but that they are killing people every day—this, no one cares about. Millions of people are killed in different places all over the world every day, and this doesn’t interest anybody. At most, it gets a line written about it in a newspaper. Half a year ago, all the fish that came from the Nile were removed from the stores, they took them off the shelves as a health hazard because the fish had fed on all the people who had been drowned in the river. Now, America is in an uproar over thirty whales that were beached, everyone was worried that the whales should not die on the shore. They brought trucks and brought the whales back to the ocean—this is what worries them. 
      The world was also silent during the Holocaust—who was interested that they were killing Jews? It was only in Denmark that the Jews were saved. They didn’t allow them to be sent on the trains. It must be that they bribed the Nazis, otherwise it couldn’t have been. All those who saved Jews, it has to be that they themselves were from Jewish stock. There is no such thing as a gentile who will save a Jews if he doesn’t have some Jewish blood flowing within him. Either he had some Jewish grandfather or he is a descendant of the Anusim, (those forced to convert,) or the Cantonists. The Danes are descendants of the tribe of Dan, and that’s why they are called Danes, because the Tribe of Dan was the first one to leave the Land as far back as the days of the Judges. During the war with Sisera, they fled from fear as the commentators say. The Targum says this on the verse, “and why did Dan remain by the ships?” (Shoftim 5:17) that the tribe of Dan went into ships and left the Land of Israel due to fear of the war. They settled all along the sea and filled the shores—the shores are filled with Jewish tribes. In the histories of Greenland, as well, it is written that the first tribe to live there were called “Danan”, after Dan, and after many years, they intermingled with the gentiles there. Jews also settled in Yemen as far back as the time of Shlomo HaMelech—that is why the Yemenites have the most ancient tradition. Yemen is the land of Shva to which Shlomo HaMelech sent Jewish workers who would import to Israel gold and spices. Jews were settled there from that time. Similarly in Jerba, there is a synagogue with a stone that bears the seal of Yoav ben Tzruya. That from the days of David HaMelech, there was a Jewish community there, to which Yoav visited. Today, this stone is already here in Israel. They are going to build a synagogue and incorporate this stone into it. Many Jews left the Land during the time of the Judges for fear of the gentiles. 
      The Pilover Rav, the great-grandson of the Kotzker Rebbe, writes in his book that, today, everyone is obligated to immigrate to the Land of Israel: there is no longer any dispensation to live outside the Land. All the excuses and rationalizations that once were, are no longer valid. Once there were no roads, and a danger of highwaymen, but since his time (the book was written in the year 5681), there is no longer any justification for leniency—all the possible reasons have fallen away, since by his time, they had already set up a guard over the Jews of the Land, so that no one should harm them. True, they didn’t set up more than three guards to cover one hundred thousand Jews, but in that time, they felt confident that it was enough. And the Lev Ivri already in 5633, put out a public call for mass immigration, as he writes in the introduction to his book. He relates that he put out a public proclamation that everyone is obligated to immigrate to the Land of Israel, and he got his father-in-law, Rav Hillel of Kolmaya, to sign it, and he signed it as well. They ran to find a third who would join together with them and sign it, but they were unable to find a single Rav who would agree to sign with them. Because of that, the matter came to nothing. 
      Rav Moshe Chagiz wrote an entire book about this three hundred years ago, this was in the year 5460, which makes it exactly three hundred years ago. This book is a response sent to one who asked him whether, in that time, there was a mitzvah to live in the Land of Israel. He answered him : "I am certain, if you can ask such a question, that you are from the Erev Rav. I am almost without any doubt about it, but even so, perhaps other people led you astray. That is why I am prepared to answer your question." 
      Yosef tried to bring the sons of the handmaids closer, he would lower himself and draw everyone close and bring people to repent. This is also the significance of the Chanukah candle, that its light penetrates everywhere, reaching every Jew wherever he may be. With the Chanukah candle, it is possible to bring the entire world to repentance. One lights them “until the foot of the Tarmudim have ceased from the marketplace,” (Shabbos 21b. The Tarmudim used to be out later than the general population, selling lighting materials.) It is possible to bring to repentance even someone who is on a level as low as the Tarmudim, who are described as having "bleary eyes." 
      Every Jew has a Divine spark, one must help that spark to become a flame. This is what the Chiddushei HaRim says about why Eliyahu did not kill Izevel. He could have reduced her to a heap of bones with one glance; it was only that in Izevel too was a soul, and she also had a Divine spark in her, despite the fact that she was the princess of Tzidon. Achav had converted her before her married her, so she had a Jewish soul. Hashem did not want that even this wicked Izevel--about whom the verse testifies, “But there was none like Achav, who gave himself over to work evil in the sight of Hashem, who was incited by his wife Izevel” (Melachim I:21-25) that they should punish her, for she too could repent. Hashem doesn’t want that even the greatest evildoer should have to be punished. As the Gemara says in Sanhedrin, “Rabbi Meir said: At the time that a person suffers, what does the Shechina say? ‘My head hurts, my arm hurts.’ If so, Hashem suffers over the spilled blood of the wicked, how much more so over the spilled blood of the righteous.” “My head hurts, my arm hurts.” Every Jew is the tefillin of the Holy One—the tefillin of the arm and the tefillin of the head. Even the greatest evildoer, for it says in the tefillin of the Holy One, “And who is like Your nation Yisrael, one people in the earth” (Shmuel II:7:23). 
      The Kedushas YomTov in Parshas Pinchas explains a Midrash Pli’ah which says, “From what textual source do we know that the Holy One loves the wicked? It is written, ‘There is no peace, says Hashem, for the wicked’” (Yeshaya 48:22). This is difficult to understand—does Hashem love the wicked? On the contrary, it would seem that the fact that they have no peace is a sign that Hashem does not love them. The Kedushas YomTov, who was the grandfather of the Satmar Rebbe, explains that when a wicked person does a sin, it has no “taste” for him. Even the greatest evildoer, when he does a sin, feels tormented by it: he doesn’t truly enjoy it. This is the meaning of  “no peace”—he doesn’t feel at peace within himself. In Hashem’s love for him, He gave him a soul that cannot bear any sin. Over every transgression, the soul torments him, afflicts him so, even to the point where there are some who lose their minds from all the suffering. They literally have to be committed. Every Jew has a Jewish soul. 
      I heard a story about a Jew who was in India for several years, and had already forgotten his Judaism completely until he reached a point that he even forgot that he was Jewish. One day, he began to feel terrible stomach pains and he didn’t know what it was. He went to all types of doctors and nothing helped him, until he found out that there was a certain doctor whose approach was energy healing. This doctor maintained that pains sometimes arise because the body’s energy collects in a certain spot and the excessive amount of energy there causes pressure, that is, pain. He knew how to disperse the energy with his hands out to the rest of the body, and in this way, he was able to heal people. So this Jew went to him and he began to treat him with his approach. He tried and tried, and nothing would help. The pains remained the way they were and the doctor did not know what to do. Suddenly, he looked him in the eyes and began to shout at him, “Tell me, what people do you come from?! Are you not from this people, from that people...?” The doctor didn’t know how to say, “Jews”. He became confused by the doctor’s shouting, and didn’t understand what difference it made, what people he comes from. And the doctor continued to shout at him, “Tell me, what people do you come from?” And this Jew had already really forgotten that he was Jewish, but the shouting made him remember—shouting gives birth to mochin--the inner-mind--and he answered, “Yes, I am a Jew. So what?” So the doctor said to him, “You are a Jew, that is why I am not successful in my attempts to heal you. A Jew is something different entirely. Listen, patients come here from all over the world—Americans, Austrians, British, Germans—everyone is the same. There are two different reason why a person becomes ill. Sometimes the illness comes from a physical cause: the body hurts and I know how to heal it. And sometimes, the pain comes from the nefesh--the emotional soul--a person experiences some tragedy—for instance his father, his child, or his friend to whom he was very connected, died—and he gets ill from this. This is an illness sourced in the nefesh, and this I can also heal, for it is possible to encourage him and strengthen him and, in this way, he can be healed. But you are a Jew. A Jew is something else entirely, a Jew has a neshama, his pains come from his neshama, and this I cannot heal. Your pains are sourced in your neshama--the upper soul--you don’t give her what she needs. Go and seek what your neshama wants and be healed.” So he returned to Israel, since a gentile had already told him that he is a Jew and that he should seek what his neshama wants. A gentile does not have a neshama, as it says on the first page of the Tanya, a gentile has only a body and a nefesh, but a Jew also has a neshama that torments him over everything. 
      It is possible to bring the entire Jewish people to repentance. There is no such thing as a Jew that can not be brought to repentance, one must merely reveal his Divine spark. But how can one do this? How can everyone be brought to repentance? Rebbe Nachman says in Likutei Moharan I:14, that you don’t have to go out and give lectures. You just have to sit and learn, through the letters of the Torah that emerge from your mouth, you can bring the entire world to repentance. When a person learns Torah for the sake of heaven, with the intention of connecting his learning to the soul of every Jew, he brings people to repentance with every letter. As he learns, he reveals the Divine spark of one Jew after another. 
     Rebbe Nachman said this lesson on Shabbos Chanukah 5564 (Chayei Moharan 59). It was his eulogy for Rav Gedalya of Linitz who died during Chanukah of that year, on the twenty-ninth of Kislev 5564, Erev Rosh Chodesh Teves, which is also the anniversary of the death of Rav Avraham b’Rav Nachman. Rebbe Nachman said about Rav Gedalya of Linitz that he was foremost in the bringing of people to repentance in that generation, even though he never gave lectures and only sat and learned all day. Through his learning alone, he would awaken the souls, and this is what a person has to intend while he learns. Someone who did not have this in mind is punished that his son will also not be a Torah scholar. This is how Rebbe Nachman interprets the statement of the Sages, “For what reason are the sons of scholars not scholars? Because they did not make a blessing over the Torah first.” This means that every person, and a scholar in particular, must bless and illuminate with his learning the roots of souls, that is, that which arose first in thought, for that is our source. They were punished because they did not make a blessing over the Torah first, that is, the roots of souls, in the aspect of  “Yisrael arose first in thought .” 
      The Bach offers his interpretation of their not making a blessing on the Torah first (Orach Chayim 47) that they learned the Torah academically, like any other wisdom. But Rebbe Nachman explains that they did not intend to awaken the roots of the souls of the Jewish people with their learning. Through having proper intentions in learning, it is possible to bring even Izevel and Achav to repentance. Even Achav who set up idolatry in every corner of the land, even he has a Divine spark. When they wanted to take the Torah scroll from him, he went out to war with his “choicest possessions” (Melachim I:20:6) meaning his Torah scroll. None of the treasures that he had, nor his wife and children, were called his “choicest possessions.” He was willing to relinquish all of them and not to go to war. But when they said to him that he had to give up his Torah scroll… this he was unwilling to relinquish, and so he went to war. 
      For this reason, the evildoers of times gone by were not like the ones of today, they were not heretics—they believed in Hashem. It was only that they served idolatry as a segula. Just like people go to the doctor, they believed then that the idolatry could influence them with an abundance of success and healing if they would worship it. The Ramchal says that if Achav would have repented, he would have become Moshiach ben Yosef. Similarly, Yeravam ben Nevat could have merited to be Moshiach ben Yosef. This is what the holy Arizal says in Sefer HaLikutim, Parshas Vayeshev, page 24, column 2, that Yeravam ben Nevat could have merited even more than David HaMelech. As the Gemara in Sanhedrin 102a, says: Hashem grabbed him by his garment and said, “return, and I, and you, and the son of Yishai will stroll in Gan Eden.” Hashem placed him even before David (ben Yishai) for a ba’al teshuva merits more than one who never sinned, because he had to fight so hard against his evil inclination. This is similar to what Rav Menachem Azaria of Pano says in his Meah Kshita 93 on the verse, “If a man should have two wives, one beloved, and another hated” (Devarim 21:15). He explains that there are two types of souls. “Beloved” is the soul without an evil inclination—born a Tzaddik, without a yetzer hara. “Hated” is one who is born with an evil inclination—he has his battles to fight and he goes through many struggles. Then, “the firstborn son will be hers that was hated.” It is precisely the son of the “hated” one who is the firstborn, he merits the double portion. For the one who is born with an evil inclination and fights against it, is preferable to the one who is born without an evil inclination. 
     The Arizal explains here (in Sefer HaLikutim) and also in his comments on Melachim (page 77, column 3), what the issue of the grabbing of his garment is. It says that Hashem grabbed him by his garment. Why did He grab him by his garment in particular? Why not by his arm? The Arizal says that the truth is that Yeravam had the soul of Yosef HaTzaddik, when he was born he had an actual ibbur of the soul of Yosef. It was only when he split the kingdom, and even before that, when he raised his hand against the king--when he rebuked Shlomo HaMelech publicly--that the soul of Yosef flew away from him, and left him with only the garment of Yosef. The garments of a Tzaddik are souls, and from Yosef’s garment alone, Yeravam was able to say innovative Torah concepts the likes of which no one had ever heard before. Just as the Gemara in Sanhedrin 102 says, that he clothed himself in a new garment—that he innovated Torah concepts that had never been heard before. All this was because he had the garment of Yosef. He was left only with this garment, which was the garment that the wife of Potiphera had taken hold of, and this is why he went through what he did. 
      Yeravam ben Nevat made two calves—one was set up in Beis El and one in Dan—and people would go out of their way especially to get to them. They would go from Be’er Sheva to Dan, from one end of the country to the other. Even though, in the middle they had the calf of Beis El, they would go out of their way as far as Dan. Until today, the place is called the Calf’s Gate. But, at that point, if Yeravam would have said, “I made a mistake”, the soul of Yosef that flew away from him would have returned to him, and he would have become Moshiach ben Yosef. If he would just have admitted to the entire Jewish people and said, “I led you astray, there is no place but Yerushalayim, the calves are worthless…” For he led them astray and explained to them that there are two aspects. There is Yerushalayim, which pertains to David, the tribe of Yehuda, and there is an eagle there which parallels the eagle of the merkava (the heavenly chariot). But we are the tribe of Yosef, and Shechem pertains to Yosef, and Yosef is the ox of the merkava, “The firstborn of his ox, grandeur is his” (Devarim 33:16). Therefore, there must be the image of the ox of the merkava here. Yerushalayim and Shechem are two unifications—Yerushalayim is the unification of Shema Yisrael, and Shechem is the unification of Boruch Shem. This is because bi’Shechem is an acronym for Boruch shem kivod malchuso li’olam vo’ed. [Note: the words, “Do not your brothers feed the flock in Shechem?” (Bereishis 37:13), were said by Yaakov to Yosef. It is his portion, and he is also buried there.] So if Yeravam had only admitted and said, “I made a mistake”, he would have merited to be Moshiach ben Yosef, just as Yehuda merited with his admission that he made by Tamar, as the Gemara in Sota says. [The Gemara in Sota 36b explains Yehuda merited to have all the letters of Hashem’s Name in his name.] 
      This issue also was the distinction between David and Shaul. Shmuel HaNavi came to Shaul after the war with Amalek and Shaul said to him, “I carried out the instructions of Hashem” (Shmuel I:15:13). So Shmuel asked him, “What is this sound of sheep in my ears?” So instead of saying right then, “I sinned,” he begins to debate with him and say, “I heard the voice of Hashem and I went in the path that Hashem sent me.” Shaul argued over Shmuel’s words altogether, as the Gemara in Yoma 22b, says, “If the people sinned, what sin did the animals do? If the adults sinned, what sin did the children do?” What cruelty, Hashem didn’t command such cruel acts to be done, to destroy sheep and babies innocent from sin, for nothing. This is David’s greatness: when the prophet came to him and says, “you sinned,” he immediately beat his breast al cheit and says, “I sinned.” Even before he clearly understood what his sin was. This is all the difference between David and Shaul, which is why one sin ruined Shaul's kingship, and though David sinned twice, he remained king. (Yoma 22b) 
      It also says in this Gemara that Shaul was punished for not being strict enough regarding his honor, as it says, “But some base fellows said: How will this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no gifts. But he held his peace” (Shmuel I:10:27). And yet David, who was silent in the face of Shimi ben Geira’s insults, was not punished for this. On the contrary, by doing so, he merited to become the fourth leg of the merkava. As it says in the Zohar (Parshas Mishpatim 107b). David understood that he was being punished because of his sins, and he accepted a reprimand upon himself. He took off his shoes and went barefoot from Yerushalayim and didn’t allow anyone to stand in his four ells, like a person under a reprimand (nezifa). At that point, Shimi ben Geira came out… The Zohar says, “That which Shimi ben Geira did to him was worse than all the suffering that he had undergone up until that day.” It was an even worse suffering than the fact that he was fleeing from Avshalom, his own son. The reason is that Shimi was the gadol hador, (the greatest Rabbi of the generation.)  David had even taken him as a teacher for his own son, Shlomo. Then he came out and cursed David and threw stones and dirt at him. [Apparently, David’s suffering was so acute because it struck his spirit down, as if he no longer has any hope of repentance since even the gadol hador is driving him away this way. As when he accepted nezifa upon himself for his sins, which is why it was worse for him than all the other suffering that he experienced in his life.] So why was David silent? The Zohar says that David saw that a spirit from above entered into Shimi. For surely it is not appropriate that the gadol hador should throw stones and dirt. On the contrary, this would be shameful for him. It could only be that it wasn’t him at all, it was some spirit that entered into him, as it says, “that Hashem told him to curse”. This is the difference: by Shaul it says, “base fellows.” For that reason, it was forbidden for him to be silent. But with David, it was Shimi ben Geira, who was the gadol hador, and so, obviously, it had been decreed from above.

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