What Is Emunas Chachamim?
R' Yakov Danishefsky LCSW - 1st Shiur - Likutei Moharan Torah 61.
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Transcript
Okay, Bezos Hashem, we have the zechus of learning a new Torah of Rabbi Nachman together.
Speaker A:Spent a nice amount of time on the previous one.
Speaker A:And as part of this Kol Torus Chayim worldwide initiative, we have this tremendous opportunity.
Speaker A:So we're learning the Torah of Chadi Rabi Shimon, which is Torah Samach Aleph in Likuta Moran.
Speaker A:In the first section of Likuta Moran.
Speaker A:And Rabbi Nachman quotes, before he starts his Torah, he quotes from the Tsar.
Speaker A:And this is in a section of the Zohar known as the Idra Rabba.
Speaker A:And in it is actually one of the more famous lines from which he doesn't quote here.
Speaker A:This the line I'm about to tell you, but it's from this context.
Speaker A:I only know that because of a sefer that I'm looking at that has gives you some of the context, not because I know Ijraba.
Speaker A:So Rabbi Nachman quotes from the Zohar in Idri Rabba, it says like this, Khadi y bishimin v' amar b' Shimon was happy.
Speaker A:He was smiling, he was happy.
Speaker A:And he said so he was talking to the.
Speaker A:To the chavrayah, to his chevra of Tzadikim.
Speaker A:And he was happy, he was smiling.
Speaker A:And he said to them, quoting from a pasuk that says, hashem shamati shimacha Yaresi.
Speaker A:The pasuk says that Hashem, when I hear, When I heard your voice, when I heard you speaking.
Speaker A:This is a pasuk from Habakkuk again, not something I know offhand, but from Habakkuk Hanavi, that he said that when, when I heard your voice, I was afraid.
Speaker A:I was afraid.
Speaker A:I was afraid.
Speaker A:So Rabbi Shimon said to them, Ammar Shimon said to them, hasom, one second.
Speaker A:Okay, Hasam there.
Speaker A:Meaning by them, Rabbi Shimon said to them, by them, when they said, Hashem shemat Shamati Shemacha erased that when we hear your voice, we're afraid.
Speaker A:Hasom yas have le Mitchel.
Speaker A:For them, it made sense that they were afraid, that they were afraid when they heard Hashem's voice.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Because as is explained, they at that time, their avodah was an avodah of serving hashem from a place of yira, from a place of awe, from a place of reverence, from a place of fear.
Speaker A:And therefore hashem shemati, shemacha yaresi.
Speaker A:But the Zohar goes on to say that B' Shumim turned to the Chevrayim and said, but we don't have that avodah anymore.
Speaker A:That's not where our neshamas come from.
Speaker A:That's not what our door.
Speaker A:What our times avodah is.
Speaker A:You already see in this something very, very important.
Speaker A:It's not our topic right now, but you already see in this Zohar the concept that.
Speaker A:And the reality that different generations in different times have a different form of avoda.
Speaker A:So b' Shimon Yochai is saying, it made sense for them back then that they said, hashem shemati, shemacha yeraisi, that I hear your voice, and I'm afraid that's good for them.
Speaker A:He wasn't criticizing them.
Speaker A:He didn't look back and say there was something wrong with that.
Speaker A:That was a low level.
Speaker A:That wasn't good.
Speaker A:He said, no, for them, it was good to be afraid, to be trembling.
Speaker A:But for us, for us, that's not the case anymore.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:Why.
Speaker A:And here's the famous line of he says, for us, our avodah, our talia milsa, our.
Speaker A:What we need to do is bechavi vusa.
Speaker A:It's with love, it's with ahava, not with yaresi, but with chavivusa.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:That's Ibn Ahman's quote from the Tsar that introduces the following Torah.
Speaker A:So now Rabbi Nachman says, al yede yamunas chachamim, yecholin lahotzi mishpatenu la, or through emunas chachamim.
Speaker A:Through believing in chachamim, Emunas chachamim.
Speaker A:It's a very big, big topic.
Speaker A:And what that means, Emunas chachamim, faith in chachamim.
Speaker A:We talk about emunah, talk about faith in hashem.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:We have with us one of the core contributing members to the worldwide movement of spreading emunah bitachon through the sefer chovas la vavos.
Speaker A:It's emunah.
Speaker A:So what does emunah mean in that context?
Speaker A:The muna means that I can place, that I have faith in something.
Speaker A:Faith in something I can't even see, can't see.
Speaker A:Hashem, I have a muna.
Speaker A:Emuna means faith.
Speaker A:It means reliability, trustworthiness.
Speaker A:But it's that I can see something else as reliable, as trustworthy.
Speaker A:So I have emunah nashem.
Speaker A:But here it's.
Speaker A:They go right hand in hand together.
Speaker A:The aminu b' hashem, uvimosha avdu.
Speaker A:It's a radical.
Speaker A:It's a radical phrase that you would think like, okay, at least separate them.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:You know, the aminu bemoshe Avdo, right?
Speaker A:But Vyaminu bashem uvimosha avdo.
Speaker A:It's like.
Speaker A:It's one thing.
Speaker A:They're almost like on equal.
Speaker A:It's almost as if they're on equal.
Speaker A:Equal levels, equal significance of emunah.
Speaker A:It's the same Emunah vaminu bashimu vamosha avdo so al yaday emunas chachamim through having emunah in chachamim.
Speaker A:So we have to know what emunah means.
Speaker A:We have to know what Chachamim means.
Speaker A:But through Amunas chachamim, Yechol and Lehotzi, mishpateinu la are, we can bring our mishpat to light.
Speaker A:There's something that can come into being, that can be surfaced, that can come into view specifically through emunah.
Speaker A:Stracham.
Speaker A:What is that?
Speaker A:Mishpateinu.
Speaker A:Our mishpat laor to light ki mishpatu amuda dam tsaisa.
Speaker A:Mishpat is the middle pillar, the middle path.
Speaker A:It's interesting.
Speaker A:You have, on the one side you have chesed, that's the right side.
Speaker A:That's kindness, that's generosity.
Speaker A:Then on the other side you have gevurah, which is strictness.
Speaker A:That's on the left side.
Speaker A:And in the middle you have tiferas.
Speaker A:And so in the middle you have mishpat, you have.
Speaker A:What's just.
Speaker A:It's interesting to think, like, chesed would be like, you know, charity would be giving something that's undeserved.
Speaker A:What's the difference between what you would think of as gevura, which is on the left side, which is justice.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker A:Gevurah is not being overly harsh.
Speaker A:I don't think.
Speaker A:It's not being mean.
Speaker A:Gevurah is not meanness.
Speaker A:It's what's right, what's correct.
Speaker A:Letter of the law.
Speaker A:So what's gevura, the left side, and mishpat, which is the middle?
Speaker A:Like, why isn't.
Speaker A:What I'm really asking is, like, why why isn't mishpat seen as gevurah?
Speaker A:Why is mishpat the middle?
Speaker A:Okay, we have to see.
Speaker A:So mishpat is a muda densa isa.
Speaker A:It's the pillar of the middle.
Speaker A:It's that which stands in the middle.
Speaker A:It's the middle path, the center, the balanced path, Sheinu, not the Liam and velismo.
Speaker A:It doesn't stray.
Speaker A:It doesn't lean to one side or the other.
Speaker A:It doesn't sway to the right or to the left.
Speaker A:It stays centered.
Speaker A:And this Ability to be centered, to be in amr a pillar, to have the strength to be a pillar, to not be easily bent and to be with that strength in the middle place that comes through Amunas chachamim, it's very easy to get swayed, to get moved, right?
Speaker A:There's trends, there's cultural influences, there's moments of inspiration, moments of the opposite of inspiration.
Speaker A:There's all sorts of pressures and counter pressures, and a person can easily be moved.
Speaker A:Yamin usmo.
Speaker A:But mishpat, which is the muda deim saisa, the ability to be centered, to maintain that balance, that's specifically through Amunas chachamim.
Speaker A:Shahubachinas lo sasr min hadavar asher yagidu lukhayomun usma Amunas chachamim.
Speaker A:In the Torah is the pasuk lo sacer min hadavar ashaya gigulocha yamin usmo.
Speaker A:Don't stray from that which they tell you, meaning the Chachamim.
Speaker A:Don't stray from that which the chachamim tell you.
Speaker A:To the right or the left.
Speaker A:I think that the pashup shah and the pasuk typically is when they tell you to go to the right, you go to the right.
Speaker A:When they tell you go to the left, you go to the left.
Speaker A:So don't stray from what they tell you to go right or go left.
Speaker A:I think I have to look at it again, but for some reason, that's my.
Speaker A:That's my recollection.
Speaker A:I could be totally wrong, but Rabbi Nachman's learning it that it's don't stray to the right or to the left.
Speaker A:Rather, you have what they tell you right.
Speaker A:Don't move from what they tell you.
Speaker A:Yamun is small to the right or the left Valkayin.
Speaker A:And therefore when you have this.
Speaker A:When you have this ability to not move to the right or to the left, you have the ability to be steadfast, to be consistent, to be reliable, to stay straight in the middle, to be the pillar.
Speaker A:When you have that, then.
Speaker A:Then you can have your mishpat come out clearly.
Speaker A:You can have true mishpat, true, true judgment or true conclusion, true direction of.
Speaker A:Here's what you're supposed to do.
Speaker A:Here's what you're not supposed to do.
Speaker A:Here's how much.
Speaker A:Here's when Hainu kikol halimuddim shaha adam lomaid.
Speaker A:Everything that person learns, everything a person learns, they need to draw out of it, they need to receive from it.
Speaker A:Mishpatei emes true mishpat shalo Yihiyaba b' hina's mishpat m' ukal.
Speaker A:It shouldn't be bent or crooked what they receive from it.
Speaker A:Dahainu.
Speaker A:This means shayk habel v' yilma, mikol halimudim shalomin mishpatei hanhagos.
Speaker A:So he's saying something here, very important.
Speaker A:The first thing he's saying is before he even gets to what kind of thing you learn from it, he's just emphasizing that in everything a person learns, they're supposed to be receiving something from it.
Speaker A:There's supposed to be a mishpat of hanhaga that emerges from it.
Speaker A:In everything a person learns, whether it's in Torah, it's in life, whether it's in something that's halach la maisa in a classical way, where, you know, you learn something that tells you what to do.
Speaker A:So then of course you have mishpateh han hagos.
Speaker A:It tells you what to do.
Speaker A:But he's not saying that.
Speaker A:I mean, he's saying that, but he's saying more than that.
Speaker A:He's saying from everything a person learns.
Speaker A:From everything a person learns.
Speaker A:So a person's learning a theoretical lambdashe hakira, a brisker Torah in something in Gemara.
Speaker A:But that's supposed to lead to a mishpat hanhaga, A person's learning the parsha that's supposed to lead to a mishpat hanhaga, a person is learning.
Speaker A:You might even be able to say, when he says mikol halimudim, maybe it doesn't only even mean within direct Torah, but it means anything A person learns.
Speaker A:A person learns from experience at work.
Speaker A:A person learns from experience in their marriage, in their parenting, in their conversation with someone on the street.
Speaker A:There's limudim from everything.
Speaker A:Eizu hachim hallomaid mikoladam.
Speaker A:So in everything, mikol halimudim, that a person comes out with mishpete hanhagos, something that you're learning from it, it's teaching you something, you're changing from it.
Speaker A:There's something that you're gaining of what I'm supposed to be doing in my life, from everything that I experience, not in a neurotic way, not in a way that I have to drive myself crazy, in a natural way, in a way that's flowing, that's healthy, that's open, that there's a curiosity in it, not I have to make myself crazy.
Speaker A:What do I learn from this?
Speaker A:What I learned from that?
Speaker A:No, the opposite it's so natural to learn from everything, meaning the moment that I'm learning from everything actually makes it that it's less pressure, because it's not that I have to learn something here.
Speaker A:Everything can teach me.
Speaker A:Everything has the possibility of giving me a mishpah tahaga, that everything I'm learning can lead into me changing as a person.
Speaker A:So the first thing that he's saying here is that we have to make sure that all our limudim are not just as the Altar Rebbe writes in Tanya.
Speaker A:They're not just dimyonos shav, they're not just illusions, they're not just kind of empty intellectual concepts, but they're something that I'm mekabel.
Speaker A:As Rabi Nachman here says, I need to receive and draw out of them mishp't emes.
Speaker A:They need to lead to mishpal han haga.
Speaker A:So continuing inside, you have to learn from there how to lead yourself for yourself.
Speaker A:How do you lead yourself?
Speaker A:How are you a manhig over yourself?
Speaker A:How do you drive yourself?
Speaker A:You are both the rider on the horse and the horse, right?
Speaker A:You're holding the reins and you're the one being led.
Speaker A:You are the guide and the guided, the shepherd and the sheep.
Speaker A:We are guiding ourselves.
Speaker A:And if we're not, then we're just a sheep, right?
Speaker A:We're certainly not just the shepherd.
Speaker A:We're a shepherd and a sheep.
Speaker A:Or if we're not doing this, then we might just be the sheep, we might just be the animal.
Speaker A:But what we're trying to do, when we focus on learning a mishpat han haga from everything is shy de ech lehisnayg, hein la' atzmo for ourselves, how do we guide ourselves?
Speaker A:And for others, those who go and conduct themselves based on what we tell them, each person in their way, on their level.
Speaker A:Meaning he's referencing here something he writes about in a different Torah in Likute Imran, one of the more well known Torahs, where Ibn Ahman talks about that we are all amam, leches, kohanim, we are all manhigim, we are all leaders.
Speaker A:Some people are leaders, Sarai, laugh him, etc.
Speaker A:Some people are leaders of multitudes.
Speaker A:Some people have a real position of being a mashpia of some sort.
Speaker A:And some people are leaders over their friends.
Speaker A:They're influential in their friend group, in their shul.
Speaker A:And some people are leaders just over their own family, maybe their family of origin, maybe they are the child in the family that kind of has more say.
Speaker A:More influence, or maybe just of your own family, just of in your marriage, in your family, maybe your children.
Speaker A:You lead your children, you guide your children.
Speaker A:And some people just over themselves.
Speaker A:But everybody is a leader in some way.
Speaker A:Each person, each person in the role of being a moshel and a rav that they have.
Speaker A:Hey, larav olamaat.
Speaker A:Whether that's a huge crowd or.
Speaker A:Or it's just very small.
Speaker A:All of this we come to all of this capacity to be mekabal and motsei mishpetei Ms.
Speaker A:From everything to learn, from everything, to grow, from everything, to develop, from everything, all of that, both for ourselves and for others, all of that.
Speaker A:We are zochetu through amunas, chachamim, Shubachinas, lo sasser, the Az Yuha lahoti mishpateh, hanhagos yisharos, the.
Speaker A:Then we have number one, we can actually learn from everything.
Speaker A:And number two, what we learn will be yashar and not maukal.
Speaker A:It will be straight and not bent.
Speaker A:When we have that which we learn will be yashar.
Speaker A:True mishpatim, shey' nu note liyomin usmal kanal.
Speaker A:It doesn't bend to the right or to the left.
Speaker A:We'll read one more line, continuing into the next paragraph.
Speaker A:But when Rahman al islana, a person is pogaim, a person creates a blemish.
Speaker A:They blunt, they poke a hole in a munas chachamim in their faith in the chachamim, then Azaynidon, then they become judged by Yigiyas Basr, the.
Speaker A:The affliction, the toil of basar, of flesh, meaning with extra ness, with being weighed down by excess of our materiality, of our physicality, of our body, our bodily ness.
Speaker A:It becomes excessive when we don't have a munas chachamim or we're pogamin amunasach.
Speaker A:We then become bogged down by an excess of basar, of fleshliness.
Speaker A:A person who goes against chachamim, they are judged by experiencing this boiling excrement.
Speaker A:Okay, so we're gonna pause here.
Speaker A:We'll just recap on a more positive note than the last sentence, but he's going to continue next time.
Speaker A:Amir Tashem to explain what this means and why that is.
Speaker A:And why is that Mida connected me that and what that means.
Speaker A:But Rabbi Nachman is telling us is he's introducing the essentiality of a munas chachamim, how important it is to have a munas chachamim, that it's specifically through a munas chachamim, that we can find our groundedness, we can find our anchor.
Speaker A:The world is constantly changing.
Speaker A:It's constantly moving us in one direction or another.
Speaker A:And we need to have something that anchors us, something that keeps us rooted and grounded on the straight path, in the middle path.
Speaker A:Now, I think what's.
Speaker A:Just to add one final point.
Speaker A:I think what's interesting is I pointed out before that the Zohar he quotes that introduces this piece is a desire that specifically talks about how things change.
Speaker A:Haravi Shimon himself said that back then, it was a time of avodus hashemi yira and now anun bechavi vusa taal yamilsa tzavodus hashem me ahava.
Speaker A:So the idea of amuddem tzi isa, the idea of mishpetei emes, of being anchored and grounded and centered and consistent, which means that now that now you're not going to stray to the right or the left.
Speaker A:Just because the cultural tides and winds have shifted, that doesn't mean that things don't change.
Speaker A:There's kind of like a.
Speaker A:There's a.
Speaker A:There's a tension here.
Speaker A:Things do change.
Speaker A:But maybe because things do change, that's specifically why it's all the more important to have a monos chachamim.
Speaker A:If nothing changed, then what do you need a monim for?
Speaker A:Nothing changes.
Speaker A:But if we do believe in the fact that there's change, so now that becomes very dangerous because, well, how do you know when it changes?
Speaker A:How do you know when you go to the right, you go to the left?
Speaker A:And that's where in and when gives us the anchoring, it gives us the path to stay, to be that pillar we should all be.
Speaker A:Zocha will continue next week.
