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

       The Rav quoted from the story of The Seven Beggars: “On the third day, the couple once again began to reminisce, and they wept and yearned. ‘How can we bring the third beggar who had a speech defect?’” It is the very highest spiritual level, to conduct oneself as if he had a speech defect, i.e. to speak as little as possible. “All of a sudden the beggar appeared and said, ‘Here I am!’” Throughout the seven days of  the Sheva Brachos, all the Seven Shepherds, (Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Yosef, Moshe, Aharon and David,) accompany the groom. They arrive at the Chuppah, and it is, at that time, possible to be worthy of all their unique levels of greatness. At the Chuppah, all sins are forgiven. The wedding is a new birth, the groom is completely reborn. From the time of his birth until the time of the wedding is one long pregnancy, everything begins from now. Everything that happened previous to the wedding is canceled out. Until the wedding he is still not considered a complete human being; he is just like half a person, just half a body. That is why his sins are not taken into consideration. Now that he has merited to become a complete person, from now on he will be able to guard himself from sin. Through his wife, he is completed, as Rebbe Nachman says (Likutei Moharan II:2:4), that through finding his marriage partner, he receives truth, and only then are the ten measures of speech completed for him. 
     The main unification of the groom and bride is the unification of their souls, for the groom and bride are a single soul. As the Rebbe says (Likutei Moharan I:265), “For these souls of the couple are one above.” This is the single soul that was split into two parts. They were always separate—each one was born in a completely different place. In truth, the further the couple start out from one another, the more true the match is. Regarding our couple here today, it wasn't only that the groom and bride did not know each other—even the parents did not know one another. This is a sign that this match is a true one. As the Arizal says in Sefer HaLikutim, Parshas Eikev, on the verse, “And He humbled you, and starved you, and fed you with the manna which you did not know. Neither did your fathers know [the manna]; that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone” (Devarim 8:3). A wife is called bread, “…but for the bread that he did eat” (Bereishis 39:6). So he says here, “And how can we recognize and know that she is his mate? For this it says, ‘And He humbled you, and starved you, and fed you with the manna.’ When a woman is suggested to you from the other side of the ocean, that neither you nor your father knew, then she certainly is your destined match.” 
     At the wedding, all of a person's sins are forgiven—it is Yom Kippur. The unification of "Boruch Shem kavod malchuso li’olam v’ed" is revealed. We say "Boruch Shem" aloud on Yom Kippur, the same as the angels, and are not afraid of them [to use their words of praise with which they praise Hashem]. "Boruch Shem kavod malchuso li’olam v’ed" is such a unification, it shows that the entire universe is Divinity. This unification raises all the material plane, and the Degel Machane Efrayim says that a wedding is even higher than Yom Kippur. The sins of not only the groom are forgiven, but even those of all those who accompany him. [He also said that the groom is the aspect of the Kohen Gadol who enters into the innermost sanctum and absolves the sins of the entire nation.] 
     Every Chuppah is another standing at Mount Sinai, we receive the Torah anew. [Perhaps the Rav is alluding here to the matter of the groom's sins being forgiven, since the time before the Chuppah is similar to the time before the Torah was given.] As the Gemara in Brachos (6b) says, a person who gladdens the groom and bride merits being given the Torah. He merits the five voices/sounds of the giving of the Torah. At the wedding, we hear the sounds of the giving of the Torah—the music is the voices, and the candles with which they accompany the groom to the Chuppah are the torches of Sinai. The groom has to focus on all of this in his mind. 
     Rebbe Nachman also discusses in Sichos HaRan (86) that the wedding is this aspect of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. This is why people come to a wedding from all over the world, from America, from Australia. They spend thousands of dollars just so they can come with the entire family to a wedding, as if they never saw a wedding in their lives. “Even if he doesn't see, his mazal sees” (Megilla 3a). The soul feels that this is the giving of the Torah, so they run to receive it. 
     And all this begins from this Shabbos, for now the groom has been called up to the Torah. As Reb Nosson says in Likutei Halachos (Tefillas HaMincha 7:93), when the groom is called up to the Torah, he ascends to Mount Sinai to bring down the Torah. Following the wedding, the groom and the bride are worthy to be in Gan Eden for seven days. For seven days, they will make the blessing, “as your Creator gladdened you in Gan Eden before.” The two of them merit to shed their physical selves and be in the state of Adam and Chava before the sin, when they were still in Gan Eden. [This also alludes to the forgiveness from sin.] For it is important to know that all the desires of the body, aren't really part of a person at all; they come from the body, from the skin of the serpent. Just as the Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer says (chapter 20), “Rabbi A. ben Yaakov said that the Holy One fashioned garments of honor for Adam and his helper from the skin that the serpent shed.” His helper is his wife, Chava. After the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, the serpent shed its skin, and the Holy One made bodies for Adam and Chava from it. It is simply that this body is not me at all, it is the skin of the serpent. He says that Hashem made “garments of honor.” What honor is the skin of a serpent? It means that all the desire to seek honor comes from the skin of the serpent. People do everything for honor: they learn for honor, and pray for honor. Today people put such an effort into marrying with honor. They go around to collect money to marry with honor. They travel abroad to marry with honor. They get a heart attack to marry with honor. The main thing is that they should marry with honor. (Here, the Rav turned to the groom with a question.) Did your father travel abroad to raise money for your wedding? What, he isn't marrying you off with honor? I am going to be traveling abroad this week for two weeks to collect money. Anyone who wants to go can join. It will be a jumbo jet, specially chartered for the yeshiva leaving on Thursday. Anyone who knows how to collect funds gets a free ticket. 
     One should at least know that all these desires aren't really me, it's the serpent. I don't want it—the serpent wants it. As Reb Nosson said, “The entire world is insane. I'm also insane, however I did once know someone who was completely clear-minded and sane.” A person should at least know that he is crazy [apparently he is referring here to the parable in Kochvei Ohr], to know that all our chasing after our desires is totally ridiculous, and to be somewhat ashamed about it. A person should be ashamed of his yearning for wealth and money; it is the worst trap there is. Even though there are other lusts, at least a person feels ashamed by them. A person doesn't want to eat in front of others so that they can see how he devours the food, and how it drips from the sides of his mouth, drips on his beard. He prefers to eat alone so that no one can see. Rebbe Nachman said that a person must eat as though he were sitting at the king's table. So it is with all other lusts, for which a person feels ashamed. But the desire for money–is the very opposite; a person doesn't feel ashamed of this at all. On the contrary, the more he has, the more arrogant he becomes over it. “I have a million. I have a billion. I have two billion.” Rebbe Nachman says that, in the future, money will be the most shameful thing there is. [This is as brought in the story of  “The Master of Prayer.”] There won't be anything more shameful than this. When people will want to embarrass someone, they will say to him, “You have money in your pocket. You have a few lira.” And if they will say to someone, “You have a billion dollars,” he will be ready to literally bury himself from shame. One should at least feel ashamed of the lusts, to know that they come from the skin of the serpent. 
     The Zohar also says the same thing as the Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, that the body is the skin of the serpent. The Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer is the source of the Zohar, for Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was the student of Rabbi Eliezer, and Rabbi Eliezer was the student of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai received his secrets of the Torah through him. It is possible to find all that is written in the Zohar in the Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, it is only that the Zohar is more expansive. What takes one line in the Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer is a page in the Zohar. On every line in the Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, there is a full page in the Zohar. 
     The Zohar says in Parshas Kedoshim (III:83a), “There was nothing this–worldly about Adam HaRishon.” He had no connection with this world, he had no iota of physicality. They only received bodies after the sin, these are the “garments of skin” [Bereishis 3:21]. Before the sin, Adam and Chava gave off light that reached from one end of the world to the other, their light made the sun's light seem dark. This is brought in the Gemara, in the Midrash, and in the Zohar. Their light made it impossible to look at them, and the Zohar says about this that Chava’s light was even greater than Adam HaRishon’s. Even Adam was unable to look at Chava’s face because of her great light. For the woman illuminates more than the man, she has more intelligence than the man. 
     Similarly, Rivka saw more clearly than Yitzchak, and she did not agree in any way that Esav should receive the blessings. She forced Yaakov to go in to receive the blessings, as the Midrash says (Bereishis Rabba 65:15) that she said to him, “If you don't go in, I will go in and tell him ‘Yaakov is righteous, Esav is wicked.’ I will not allow him to bless Esav.” Here is the answer to the deed of Sara, that she banished Yishmael from the house. People would say about this, “If it was her son, she wouldn’t have sent him away. He is Hagar’s son, so she sent him away." But now, Rivka’s preventing Esav from receiving the blessings, even though he was her son, reveals that which Sara did when she banished Yishmael from the house was not because he was not her son. Sara also saw better than Avraham who Yishmael was. She understood what his arrows were. Avraham did not understand why Sara is making a big deal out of Yishmael’s shooting a few arrows. So he wasn't so careful, and they passed close to Yitzchak. Baruch Hashem, nothing happened to Yitzchak; for this, one has to banish him from the house? The bottom line is that Yishmael shot a few arrows, he didn’t mean to do anything. He was just playing a little with arrows. It was some Tzaddik’s yahrtzeit, so he shot some arrows, in the same way that people have a custom to shoot arrows on Lag B’Omer, on the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. It was the yahrtzeit of Mesushelach then, and Yishmael shot some arrows in honor of the yahrtzeit. The yahrtzeit of Mesushelach is the tenth of Cheshvan. Mesushelach was a Tzaddik; he cut off and destroyed the demons from the world. His father, Chanoch, gave him this name—Mesushelach from mes-shlach [“dead-send”]. He had a special sword with which he would kill the demons. 
     The Pri Eitz Chayim brings this in the Sha’ar Krias Shma Al HaMita chapter 11. “He writes this in Sefer HaRazim and these are his words: When Adam separated from his wife for one hundred and thirty years, he fathered spirits, and male and female demons, and they would destroy the worlds. The Holy One gave permission to Mesushelach the Tzaddik and he wrote the ineffable Name on his sword and killed twenty million every moment with it until he got to Agrimus the first born of Adam HaRishon—he is the firstborn of the demons, the first demon to emerge from Adam HaRishon. He [the demon] bowed down before him [Mesushelach] and begged him not to kill him, and he accepted his pleas. He gave over to him [ Mesushelach] the names of the demons and she-demons and all their kings and ministers.” 
     As Rebbe Nachman brings in Sippurei Ma’asios (“The Cripple”), the king of the demons brought to the wise man a book of the names of all the families of the demons, tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of families. The remainder fled and hid in the hiding-places of the ocean.” From that time, the demons accepted upon themselves to not be in civilized areas. Their place would, instead, be in the caverns underneath the ocean. And this is the secret of the Bermuda Triangle, that they do not know how to explain how it is that ships and planes disappear there. It is the demons; they grab them. They come out every so often from the caverns and sometimes grab a ship, sometimes a plane.
     In the previous shiur, we said that this happened because of the conference that took place there in 1943 between five of the world’s countries, including America. They gathered there to discuss the Nazi Holocaust, whether or not to prevent the Nazis from killing the Jews. This was still before they murdered Hungarian Jewry, and in the end they decided not to intervene. Now, the Germans decided that they want to improve the image of that man [Hitler], and they had planned to make a special memorial in his name on the twentieth of April, showing pictures how he was, in reality, a nice person. They would show his love of his fellow man--how he would kiss children. He loved them so much--he would eat them. In the end, there was protesting and they were forced to cancel it. Now they will have to do it in secret. “ 
     "And Hashem Elokim built the rib” (Bereishis 2:22). This teaches that he placed greater insight within her, so that the man should not say that he is unique among the lower worlds. [See Rashi on Bereishis 2:18, “It is not good." In order that people should not say there are two jurisdictions. The Holy One is unique in the upper worlds and He has no partner, and this one in the lower worlds also has no partner.” The Rav qualified the “people should not say” by saying that this refers to the man himself, that he himself would have said this.] Therefore, Hashem divided him into two parts, and also gave the woman more intelligence than him, as the Eitz Chayim says on page 94 (Sha’ar 19, chapter 88), “And because Imma is infinitely greater than Abba in three respects. One is, that he is half of the Binah of MaH, and she is the complete Chochmah of BaN.” There are two Divine Names—MaH and BaN. “Abba” is the Name MaH, and “Imma” is the Name BaN. Abba is only half of the Binah of MaH, but Imma is the complete Chochmah of BaN. The second advantage is, “For he is Chochmah, and she is Binah.” Abba is only Binah of MaH, but Imma is Chochmah of BaN. The third is, “For he is MaH, and she is BaN, which is greater than MaH.” A man and a woman are Chochmah and Binah, Abba and Imma. “And Imma is infinitely greater than Abba.” He doesn't say here “a million times greater” or “a billion times greater” but, “infinitely.” This is more than a million, more than a billion. This is a type of intelligence that the man will never attain. The man is Chochmah and the woman is Binah [as is known, and as was mentioned above, “And Hashem Elokim built”—that He placed greater insight (Binah) within her], different types of intelligence. There are things that only a woman understands. Only a woman understands how to run the home, which is why a husband must allow her to run the home the way she wants, and not to interfere at all. The Chochmah of the man is the study of Gemara. The intelligence of the man is only in the study of Gemara. 
     The groom must now invest all of his mind only in the study of Gemara day and night. “Yomam va layla” (“day and night”) is the numerical equivalent of “Gan Eden”. If he will learn day and night, he will feel the taste of Gan Eden. And the groom now is in Gan Eden, “As your Creator gladdened you in Gan Eden before.” During the Sheva Brachos, the groom receives new mochin (wisdoms), so that all the secrets of the world are revealed to him. “Gan Eden” is also the numerical equivalent of “Emunah U’Bitachon” (faith and trust); if he will sit and learn day and night and not worry, “Where will my livelihood come from.” If he will only have faith and trust, he will be worthy of Gan Eden. He will merit wealth—he will have millions and billions. [The Rav then asked the groom jokingly] What will you do with all this money? You can invest it in my account. 
     The entire matter of the wedding is the unification of the sefiros, the unification of Abba and Imma, Chochmah and Binah. The main thing is the unification of the souls, and not the unification of the bodies. The young man is getting married now. He is in great danger, who knows what will happen to him? He will now have a home of his own, good food, a comfortable bed, a good wife who will prepare cakes for him every day. It will be possible for him to eat cakes and sleep all day long. Until the wedding, the groom was an unfortunate fellow, he didn’t have what to eat. They gave him crumbs to eat and he didn’t have anywhere to sleep. Suddenly, he gets everything. Now he will receive the Torah anew; he has to accept upon himself only to learn Gemara. We have to institute a rule here in Shuvu Bonim, that from now on everyone goes to all the Chuppas. This is the giving of the Torah. We’ll make it so that only those who travel in the jumbo jet will have a permit to go to every Chuppah. 
     The man’s issue is the study of Gemara. When it comes down to it, the man is the head and the woman is only the rib. That is why “ish” (“man”) is an acronym for the words “eretz, yam, shamayim.” [Which is not the case with the woman, for she is missing the yud. The main element of her name is rooted in the word “ish,” “for this one was taken from the man.”] He encompasses all of creation. The woman’s issue is the running of the home, for the home pertains to her. As the Zohar says (Bereishis 49), “The entire house is hers, and he must get permission from her. He must get permission for her over everything in the house.“ And about this we explained what is written, "And he entreated at the place and slept there over night" (Bereishis 28:11). He asked permission first. From here we learn that one who wants to connect with his wife must ask her permission and gladden her with words. A man who marries must learn to speak nicely to his wife, to appease her and sweeten her with words. “And if not, he shouldn’t marry.” If he doesn't know how to appease her, to speak nicely—he shouldn’t get married. 
     The Zohar continues here about Yaakov, explaining how the Shechina led him when he was on the way to Lavan’s house to get married there. Today, there are guides/counselors for grooms, but then, there weren’t. Then, the Shechina led him and she was his guide. “And he took from the stones of the place and placed them around his head.” We learn from here, says the Zohar, that even if he has a golden bed and just then her father or her brother comes to stay in their home, and his wife says, "Give your bed to my father or my brother, and you sleep on the floor," that he should obey her instruction. He should leave his golden bed and sleep on the stony floor. So too, if he has golden pajamas and she says, "Now give the pajamas to my father and you sleep in your clothes," he should give the pajamas to her father. “Come and see what it says here, ‘And the man said: This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.’” These are the words that a man must say to his wife. “You are bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, this one is called woman. You are the only woman in the world, there is no other woman like you in the entire world.” Usually people say the opposite: “Why aren't you more like my sister? She is much better than you.” He says here exactly the opposite, that he must tell her, "You are the best woman in the world, and all the rest are like apes compared to you.” 
     The unification of Abba and Imma are called “Arnon, ” as in “...and the Arnon streams” (Bamidbar 21:14). “Arnon” is the highest Divine Name in the Torah. "Arnon” is “ohr-nun”; “ohr” (“light”) is Abba, and “nun” (“fifty”) is Imma, the fifty gates of Binah. In the merit of the unification of Abba and Imma, the mountains came together there [see Rashi on Bamidbar 21:15]. At the Arnon streams, the mountains joined together like a groom and bride, and this alludes to the unification of Abba and Imma in the upper worlds. 
     When the Ba’al Shem Tov would go to do hisbodedus in the mountains, he would walk along the edges of the cliffs without paying attention to where he was going, he was in such deep attachment to Hashem. The mountains would then join together and he would continue to walk. In Turkey too, the mountains also joined together because of the earthquakes. Everything was transformed into a plain, everything was covered in earth. One of my students worked there helping to extricate people from the rubble. He pulled out one young girl. They were a brother and sister lying in their beds and the entire four-story building collapsed on them. They were left on their beds beneath a load of earth. She saw her brother dying in front of her and she held on for four days without food. That is ninety-six hours. When they unearthed her, there was a cameraman standing there to film how they were getting her out. When they reached her and uncovered her from the dirt, they asked her what was the first thing that she wanted. She said one word—“Cola”—and passed out. She got up out of the grave and the first thing she asked for was cola. How embarrassing! 
     People will get up from their graves at the Resurrection of the Dead and the first thing they ask for will be, “Cola.” For an eight-year-old girl, the word is appropriate, but what will be with us, if we are still behaving that way after one hundred and twenty years? At the very least, one should feel embarrassed about this, and know that the lusts are not me—it is the skin of the serpent. 
     In Turkey, there were excavation crews. But in the Arnon streams, there were no excavation crews. The well of Miriam was the excavation crew there. In any event, in 5760, all the things that were written in the books are coming to pass; there were earthquakes, and now there were such extreme hurricanes in Europe. In Versailles, ten thousand trees that have stood for four or five hundred years fell. They fell and disrupted the entire infrastructure of the country. 
     And this is the issue of today, the first of Shevat. The month of Shevat is the month of the revelation of the Torah. As it is written, “Moshe began to explain this Torah” (Devarim 1:5). Rashi says that he explained it to them in seventy languages. He explained the Torah to them in all the languages, and “it was in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month” (Devarim 1:3). [It is possible that the Rav wanted to especially emphasize also that it was the first of the month, which was on that Shabbos.] Eventually, forty years later, Moshe wanted to again bring the Torah down for them anew, with thunder and lighting, and that was the issue of the striking of the stone. He wanted to unify Yaakov with Rachel [see Sha’ar HaPesukim, Parshas Chukas], and through this to bring the Torah down to them. This is explained by the Chiddushei HaRim, that Moshe intended to bring the Torah down to them with another actual giving of the Torah, but they did not have sufficient merit for this. This is the issue of the fifteenth of Shevat, for Tu b’Shevat is literally like the fifteenth of Av, at which time the Jewish girls would go out dancing in the vineyards. The Kochvei Ohr explains this—not the Kochvei Ohr of Rav Avraham b’Rav Nachman—a different book. He summarizes the Sha’ar HaKavanos, makes tables and summaries, for the Arizal says in Sha’ar HaKavanos (Rosh Hashanah, discourse 1) that the months of the year break down into two parts, masculine and feminine. The six winter months are masculine, and the six summer months are feminine, which is why the fifteenth of Shevat parallels the fifteenth of Av. [One is the fifth month of the winter, and the other is the fifth month of the summer.] Winter is Abba, and summer is Imma. 
     And this is the meaning of the controversy between Rabbi Eliezar and Rabbi Yehoshua as to whether the universe was created in Tishrei or in Nissan. Their controversy is over which light Hashem created the universe with—the light of Chochmah, or the light of Binah. Rabbi Eliezar says that the universe was created in Tishrei—he reasons that Hashem created the universe with the light of Chochmah. Rabbi Yehoshua says that the universe was created in Nissan—he reasons that Hashem created the universe with the light of Binah, which is a more revealed light. It illuminates more than the light of Chochmah. 
    There is no difference of opinions at all regarding the order of the sefiros. The order is Keter, Chochmah, Binah—the sefira of Chochmah is before the sefira of Binah. The question is only which light Hashem revealed first, with which He created the universe—the light of Chochmah, or the light of Binah. Just as we see in the Torah, “these are that Aharon and Moshe…these are that Moshe and Aharon” (Shemos 6:26-27). One time Aharon precedes Moshe, the other time, Moshe precedes Aharon. There is no debate over the fact that Moshe is the greater one. Moshe is from the sefira of Netzach, and Aharon is from the sefira of Hod, and Netzach always comes before Hod. It is clear that they are arrayed in order of descending significance. It is only that sometimes one is made to precede the other, and other times the opposite. This is also the case here, in terms of revelation [that is, just like with Chochmah and Binah, that the light of Binah is more revealed]. People saw Aharon’s light more than Moshe’s light. We see that regarding Moshe it is written, “And the children of Israel wept over Moshe” (Devarim 34:8). When it says only “the children of Israel”, it means the Tzaddikim, the ones who had some understanding of Moshe’s greatness. But regarding Aharon it is written (Bamidbar 20:29), “And all of the children of Israel wept over Aharon.” The entire nation wept for him; everyone saw his righteousness. [See Rashi’s comments on the verses. He explains that “the children of Israel” are the males alone, and “the house of Israel” are the males and the females. This is precise wording, because just as the light of Binah--which is feminine--is lower than the light of Chochmah-- which is masculine--so too, the light of Binah is more revealed and seen. The light of Aharon, as compared with the light of Moshe, was more revealed. This explains why the females also saw this more revealed light upon him.] 
     With Moshe, for forty years already, no one saw anything particular about him. “True, forty years earlier, he ascended to heaven to bring the Torah down for us with thunder and lightning. [Remember that the Rav mentioned the Chiddushei HaRim previously, who says that Moshe wanted to bring down the Torah anew for them at the end of the forty years. It was their fault that they lost this opportunity, but they took out their anger on the Tzaddik.] But, they surmised, "Since Sinai, he has fallen from his level. 'Nowadays' there are already younger ones, with new abilities.” Likewise, with Nadav and Avihu it says, “But let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, weep over the burning which Hashem has kindled” (Vayikra 10:6). In a revealed sense, they were even greater than Moshe and Aharon, as the Arizal says in the Sha’ar HaPesukim. It is brought in the Midrash Pli’ah, that when Nadav and Avihu were burned, the sea cried before Hashem. It asked, “Why then was I split?” The sea understood that it had split specifically for them. [See Sha’ar HaPesukim, Parshas Shemini. He says there that the root of Moshe and Aharon is in Yesod. Abba is enclothed and covered from Yesod, but Imma is not like that. Nadav and Avihu, whose roots are in Netzach and Hod of Imma, are revealed. Because their hold is in Imma, their light is more revealed than the light of Moshe and Aharon. Also see there how he explains the matter of “these are that Aharon and Moshe...these are that Moshe and Aharon.” See also Rashi’s comments on Vayikra 10:3, opening verse, “This is that which he spoke"—that they are greater than you and I.”] 
     This is also the meaning of the controversy between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, as to when Rosh Hashanah for the trees is—on the first or the fifteenth of Shevat. According to Beis Shammai, it is the first of Shevat, and according to Beis Hillel, it is the fifteenth of Shevat. In the ultimate future, the law will go according to Beis Shammai and the new year will really be on the first of Shevat. The reasoning behind the controversy is that the sap rises in the trees on the first of Shevat, and it spreads out to all the limbs, branches, and leaves. After fifteen days, on the fifteenth, the flowers begin to emerge, the flowering is on the fifteenth. “The almond tree is already blooming.” She blooms the earliest, as it is written in Yirmiyahu (1:11), “I see a rod of an almond tree.” A person who goes to do hisbodedus in the field always sees this, how the almond tree blooms before the rest. So Beis Shammai says that we go according to the sap; when the sap goes in, it is already the new year [of the trees]. Beis Hillel says that we go according to the flowers, and that determines when the new year [of the trees] is. 
    This has the same source as the controversy over when to establish Rosh Hashanah—whether it is according to the light of Chochmah, or the light of Binah. The sap is the light of Chochmah—the point of Chochmah is a small point as yet unseen. The flowers are the light of Binah—a revealed light that one sees with the eyes. According to Beis Shammai one goes according to the light of Chochmah, and according to Beis Hillel, one goes according to the light of Binah. Ultimately, however, the point of faith is within Chochmah, and this is above all the lights of Binah, which are all the wisdoms. For the greatest wisdom is to make oneself as simple as an animal. As Rebbe Nachman says, “I tried all the wisdoms and in the end I saw that the greatest wisdom is to conduct oneself with simplicity and straightforwardness.” 
    This is what is written (Likutei Moharan II:104), that Rebbe Nachman severely disapproved of anyone who was wise in his own estimation and therefore did not sing all the Shabbos and Motzei Shabbos songs, or did not spend a long time in prayer. And this is the mystery of Bereishis—the groom and the bride are the mystery of Bereishis. The Beis of Bereishis, the dot inside the Beis, is the groom, Chochmah. And the Beis itself which surrounds the dot is the bride, Binah, that encompasses and is more revealed than the inner point of Chochmah. As the Tikkunei Zohar speaks about this in Tikkun 5, he says there that, in truth, “Mereishis Bara Elokim” was written originally. It was written with a closed mem and the point was inside the closed mem. The entire creation came to be through this closed mem being opened. And this is the mem of  “For the increase of the realm” (Yeshayahu 9:6). For this mem closes up again every day. Chizkiyahu was supposed to open this mem, and if he had succeeded to open it, he would have become the Moshiach and the redemption would have come immediately. Because he did not sing his thanks to Hashem over his miracle, the mem closed up again, and the opportunity for redemption was lost. 
     This was the meaning of the argument between Moshe and the Tzaddikim in Egypt—that without song and dance, the redemption would not come. This is that which the Noam Elimelech says in Parshas Vaera. He asks on the verse, “Behold, the children of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharoh hear me” (Shemos 6:12). What sort of inference is this? The Jewish people didn’t listen, as it says, “because of anguish of spirit, and because of cruel bondage” (Shemos 6:9). The Jewish people are immersed in harsh labor—raising up stones that weigh many tons, to the height of the pyramids. By losing concentration briefly, such a stone could fall and crush them—obviously they don't have any time to listen. But Pharoh sits on his throne in his palace—why shouldn’t he listen? And, what’s more, he feared Moshe’s staff, as the Midrash relates (Shemos Rabba 9:6-7) that, at first, when Moshe threw his staff and it turned into a snake, Pharoh simply burst out laughing. He couldn’t understand how an elderly man, eighty years old, wasn't ashamed to play a game that little children play. This was child’s play in Egypt, to throw a staff and it becomes a snake. Pharoh immediately sent for little children of four or five years of age. They brought preschoolers to the palace, and all the babies, each one of them, threw a staff and it became a snake. Pharoh also called his wife, and she also threw a staff and it became a snake. Pharoh didn’t understand how Moshe Rabbenu was playing such games. If he, at least, would have known what Rebbe Nachman says about milsa d’shtusa (joking around), that it is completely impossible to come to joy without milsa d’shtusa, he would have understood that this is the milsa d’shtusa of Moshe Rabbenu. Afterward, however, when the snake turned back into a staff and began to swallow one staff after the other, it swallowed twelve thousand staffs and stayed the same size, he began to be afraid. [See the Midrash there, “The staffs that were thrown there were enough to make from them ten omerim.] “What will be if it suddenly swallows me and my throne together?” 
     So what is this inference, “Behold, the children of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharoh hear me?” I saw from the Belzer Rebbe that Moshe Rabbenu already merited to have the Shechina speak through his throat, that all his words were the actual words of the Shechina. [The Rav did not finish, but it is self-evident that he was referring to that which was brought in the pamphlet published by the Belzer Chassidim, “Alim Li’Terufah”, in the name of the Ralbag. The holy children of Israel were not able to understand Moshe because of their inadequate grasp of the Shechina that spoke through him. How much more so Pharoh the uncircumcised—he wouldn’t have any hope of listening to the voice of the Shechina.] But the Noam Elimelech explains that when Moshe reached Egypt with the tidings of the redemption, the Tzaddikim that were in Egypt argued with him. There were Tzaddikim in Egypt that fasted from one Shabbos to the next, and who mortified themselves over all the suffering of the Jewish people. Moshe suddenly arrived, some healthy and powerful man comes from the desert, “his eye did not dim, nor did his natural force abate” (Devarim 34:7). He was ten amah tall—the Megale Amukos says that the height of ten amah was ten times MaH, the name of Hashem. So the Tzaddikim argued with him, what do you mean Hashem revealed Himself to you and not to us? To such a strapping, healthy man who you can tell never fasted a day in his life? What do you mean, Hashem revealed Himself to you? If Hashem had revealed Himself, He would have revealed Himself to one of the Tzaddikim among us—we who fast and afflict ourselves. Let’s make an accounting, and really see how much Moshe Rabbenu would usually eat. How many sheep he would eat a day, how many whales, how many fowl. Like they wrote about me in the article in the newspaper—that I eat meat every day, and tell my students that they should fast. If they haven’t written it yet, then they will in the next article. The Midrash HaGadol tells us exactly how much Moshe ate. It wasn't for nothing that he got so fat. As the Vilna Gaon says, “I don't understand how a gentile gets fat. In his life, he never answered up a Rambam. From answering up a Rambam, one can get fat, but can one get fat from food?” Food only brings on disease—ulcers, diabetes. The Tzaddik, even in his food, he only sees letters, because everything is letters, and the Tzaddik sees the letters. The table is letters, the chair is letters, the food, the drink—everything is letters. Just as Rebbe Nachman said, that he literally eats letters. 
     The Midrash HaGadol comments on the verse, “Now Moshe kept the flock of Yisro…and he led the flock far away into the desert, and came to the mountain of Hashem, to Chorev” (Shemos 3:1). On the words, “far away into the desert,” Rav Avraham, the son of the Rambam says in his Sefer HaMaspik Li’Ovdei Hashem, that he was searching there for the farthest away desert. A desert so far afield, so that he could do hisbodedus there undisturbed. A place to which no caravan would pass, no camels—not even another person would pass there. In that book, he has an entire chapter on hisbodedus. He says there that the Arabs also do hisbodedus; one must learn from the Arabs to do hisbodedus. The Arabs who do hisbodedus are called sufim. It is impossible to reach any level without hisbodedus. It’s a pity that we didn’t bring that book here; perhaps, next time, we will bring it. This is the meaning of “far away into the desert.” And what is the meaning of “the mountain of Hashem, to Chorev?” The Midrash HaGadol says that we learn about this from Mount Sinai. Just as at Mount Sinai, when he ascended to receive the Torah, Moshe Rabbenu fasted for forty days and forty nights, so too, when he came to the mountain of Hashem, to Chorev, at the vision of the bush, he also fasted forty days and forty nights. Moshe went with his sheep for forty days and forty nights, and from his great attachment to Hashem, he didn’t eat or drink. [With this, one can understand why the Rav brought the words of Rav Avraham, the son of the Rambam, before the Midrash HaGadol. According to Rav Avraham, the matter of Moshe’s walking with the flock was hisbodedus. We can then understand the level of attachment to Hashem that he achieved, and his forty days of fasting that the Midrash HaGadol describes.] And not only did he fast for forty days and nights; all of his flock that went with him did too. They also fasted forty days and forty nights. They also did not eat because of Moshe’s great attachment to Hashem. It had such an influence on them, that they too did not need to eat. It wasn't that Moshe meant to fast—it was only that, from his great attachment to Hashem, he simply forgot to eat. 
     So the Tzaddikim that were in Egypt took upon themselves the task, of fasting and afflicting themselves, in order to mitigate the awesome judgments that were on the Jewish people, both materially and spiritually. And this was also the reason that Amram divorced Yocheved. He saw the deterioration of the nation, that they were already nearly at the fiftieth gate of impurity. He then divorced Yocheved, he decided not to bring any more children into the world. Who knows if they will be able to withstand the awesome challenges of the fifty gates of impurity? But, on the contrary, it is just at such a time that a Moshe Rabbenu will come, who will take the nation out of Egypt. He will take the nation out of all these impurities for it is precisely when such incredible impurities descend into the world that Hashem, to counteract them, sends down such holy souls. Awesome souls that will be able to stand up against all these impurities. 
     Just as now, in 5760, impurity has so intensified in the world that there are such evildoers in the world, and the computer plague--there is nothing worse than it. It is possible to see with it all the evil in the world. A boy gets some program from his friend, his father doesn't even know about it, and the boy inserts it into the computer and he already wants to toss away his yarmulke and cut off his peyos, may Hashem save us. The computer is a thousand times worse than the television; the television is at least a public concern. It must undergo some supervisory control. It is irrelevant that the supervision is worthless, at least there is some restraint. But the computer has no restraints. So, to counteract the terrible impurities that are now coming down into the world, to counterbalance them, holy souls are now coming down that will be able to stand against all of this. 
     Which is what the Galya Razya says, that in 5760, during the two hundred and forty years remaining to the sixth millennium, souls from the family of Ram like Avraham Avinu will descend into the world. And Amram, the gadol hador (Sotah 12a) at approximately the age of one hundred and twenty, fell from his level of faith. His age was somewhere between one hundred and thirteen, and one hundred and thirty because he had also seen Yaakov Avinu. (Bava Basra 121). He was, though, not counted among the seventy souls that descended to Egypt. If not, he must have been born as soon as they arrived, or during the seventeen years that Yaakov lived in Egypt. Regarding the matter itself, it is somewhat possible to mitigate this description of Amram’s falling from his faith, for he knew that the decree was that they would be in exile for four hundred years in Egypt. All told, they were in the one hundred and thirtieth year. Yocheved, who was born as they entered Egypt, was one hundred and thirty years old at Moshe’s birth. He did not know that the Holy One would hasten the end, that they were standing on the verge of redemption, and that the redeemer was about to be born. [How much more so, in light of the words of the Rav further on, that Amram saw that Moshe would be drowned in the sea.] 
     So let’s say that he was then one hundred and twenty years old. He saw such harsh decrees that he fell into despair. He had never been so tested in his life. A person cannot know what will be with him during his one hundred and twentieth year, for new challenges come every day. And the challenges only get more and more intense, they only get harder. Amram possessed the spirit of prophecy—he certainly also saw that which Pharoh’s astrologers had seen. He also saw that Moshe would drown in the sea, as the Toldos Yitzchak says, that there really was such a heavenly decree that Moshe would drown in the sea. The astrologers saw accurately. It was only that Miriam, with her prayers, mitigated it. Amram saw all this and he fell into despair, and Miriam, a girl of five years old, encouraged him. Father, what happened? Where is your faith? There is no decree—who is Pharoh, anyway? There is only Hashem in the world. 
     The Noam Elimelech says on the verse, “Behold, the children of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharoh hear me”, that Moshe argued with the Tzaddikim in Egypt. “The children of Israel” are the Tzaddikim, for the rest of the nation believed in Moshe—as it says in Shemos 4:31, “And the people believed; and when they heard that Hashem had remembered the children of Israel.” The Jewish people are believers, the children of believers; just as they discovered in the polls, that ninety–three percent of the nation fasts on Yom Kippur. This statistic is also imprecise—sekerim (polls) / shkarim (lies). All of the Jewish people believe in Hashem. “But they did not listen to Moshe because of anguish of spirit, and because of cruel bondage” (Shemos 6:9). These are the Tzaddikim who undergo the hardest spiritual work—fasts and self-mortification—they did not want to listen to Moshe. Moshe argued with them that there is no need to fast any fast. With these fasts, you won't bring the redemption. One may fast: it is a good thing, for it brings joy. "Gladden us according to the days that You afflicted us.” One feels lighter from fasting, but it won't bring the redemption. You won't bring any redemption this way. You want the redemption, start singing, start dancing. This is the only way to bring the redemption. And this is what Moshe said to Hashem, “Behold, the children of Yisrael have not listened to me.” If they did not start to dance and sing, then, “how then will Pharoh hear me?” How will I succeed to subdue Pharoh? Because the subduing of Pharoh is only through song and dance, it is only possible to bring the redemption through joy. [This connects back up with the beginning of the discourse, with the story of the third beggar who is not willing to speak any word in the world. His entire matter is that he only speaks words of praise, singing to Hashem.]

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