Emor - Iyar, 5773 - VOL 178 ד“בס

He was one of another world entirely, everyone

knew this. He had a flute, yet a sound from it had

never emerged. The flute was constantly clasped

in his hands, hesitantly, as if in just a moment he

would begin to play. Whenever he raised the

carved wooden instrument to his lips he would

begin to hear the melodies resonating in his

mind, yet when he attempted to bring them to

expression with his flute it would evade him and

once again his fingers would be loosened and the

flute would remain silent.

He doesn’t remember much from back then, just

some sounds, scents and a few words.

Sometimes the evening wind would bring with it

flashes of the past. He would try to escape them,

he did not want them to come; he desired to

forget what once was and is no longer. Yet they

would arise each time his hands grasped the

instrument.

Once, before he became a strange and solitary

man, he had a family. On the edge of the village

they had a house, small and humble, and from

within it each evening, the sound of music could

be heard. They had an elderly grandfather, who

was entirely unique, filled with a spirit from far-

off times. They would gather around him, the

entire family, for hours on end, listening to his

words that were played in a whisper.

The grandfather passed away and at his grave

the group was separated, each one going on his

own way.

One day, as he sat alone on a large rock in the

field, his thoughts fluttering between reality and

dreams, appeared the figure of his old

grandfather. He gazed with shock as memories

from the past flooded his mind. He rose and

made his way towards the cemetery. The

tombstone was fading yet the writing upon it was

still clear - that day was the date of his passing.

He looked around and saw them standing there,

the entire family, each one had made his own

way there. Walls built by years of distance

crumbled in an instant. Once a again the words

could be heard and the sounds rose up again.

The old secret had been revived and a new spirit

began to surge through his clasped hands.

Once again the sound of the flute was heard, and

as its heavenly melody was played, it conquered

the hearts of all who heard it.

nnn

That which Rashbi guaranteed, everyone knows

to recite, even the simple masses believe in it.

Tens of thousands of the people of Klal Yisroel

flood Mt Meiron throughout the year and Lag

Ba’Omer itself is the greatest testimony to this.

It can be said that we were raised with this, with

the guarantee: ‘for it will not be forgotten from

the mouths of his offspring’. Everyone knows

that “with this zohar (radiance) they will go out

of exile” (Introduction to the Zohar) - these

awesome words resonate and echo throughout

the world. Specifically now in the last

generations before Moshiach, this ancient

statement has taken on significance like never

before. The book of the Zohar is no longer

hidden in the attics of mystics, it is not even

necessary to shield the cover with ones hand,

everyone agrees that it is at least permitted to

read it.

The book of the Zohar can be found in almost

every Jewish home yet the light that he who

authored hid inside, is still waiting behind many

closed doors, peeking anxiously through the key

hole. The Zohar is not a book, it is a light, the

light that Hashem hid away for the Tzaddikim in

the future. It is no wonder that this composition

was hidden away for hundreds of years. What is

astounding is that it was revealed, and even

more amazing is that it was written down at all.

The Zohar is a composition – a creation that

allows an awesome light like that of the Zohar to

be revealed in a physical world.

We are in the midst of the days of the Sefirah. It

is not so difficult to envisage the feelings; we all

have roughly the same expectations. We look

back and see Mitzrayim - no one has a desire to

return there. Before us, on the horizon, is Har

Sinai shrouded with fire and smoke; it is hard to

believe that we will make it there. Every Jew

desires to receive the Torah but the reality

around us exudes an entirely different spirit. We

know

ourselves well,

like the ground

upon which we

tread; we are

aware of what goes on in the

street and the atmosphere in

which our children are growing

up. This ‘symphony’ doesn’t

add much to the belief that something

will change in the near future. It is not

that we have given up hope, God

forbid; we just prefer to be realistic…

This is exactly the reason why the

guarantee of ‘it will not be forgotten’

serves as a last escape for us from the

flood. We would desire to cling to it and to

place our shattered hopes upon it, yet it is

not so clear to us exactly how to grab hold of

it. We have no doubt of its power, of its

eternal and awesome strength. We would

give everything to find respite in it amidst the

raging waves, but … it’s not so nice to say it

out loud, it seems to us that it doesn’t

actually exist in reality. Sometimes, when

Rebbi Shimon’s ark comes near to our

whirlpool, we gaze at it with desperate eyes,

yearning to enter inside, and at the last

moment we are deterred. It seems as if there

is no way, one moment it is way up high, the

next moment down below, peeking out from

amidst the waves, appearing and then

disappearing.

Truthfully, where is the entrance to the

wondrous ark?

Actually, this is not where the question

originates. It is much harder to understand

how a work like the Zohar could be written

with ink and a quill. How can a lofty and

awesome light be written in a book that can

be purchased in any book store? How did the

heavenly personas mentioned in the Zohar

like Eliyahu Hanavi and Rayah Mehimnah

appear time and again in fields, on pathways

and in houses of stone? How did tens of

thousands of fiery angels and divine chariots

constrict themselves into this physical world?

The answer too, can be found in the Zohar.

One doesn’t have to leaf through too many

pages to find it - it appears in almost every

“IT ALL DEPENDS ON OUR FRIENDSHIP”

This Week’s Publication

is Dedicated in Honor of

the Hillulah of

Rabi Shimon Bar

Yochai z"tzkl

Revised and translated from the lessons of Rabbi Nissan Dovid Kivak shlit”a

By Rabbi Micha Golshevsky shlit”a

[Kitzur Chapter 120:7] “…According to both customs,

all of the prohibitions of sefira are permitted on Lag

B’Omer…”

According to the Chasam Sofer, zt”l, one reason

why we celebrate on Lag B’Omer is day #33 of

the sefira count transcends the thirty-two

different major types of defilement listed by the

Rambam in his introduction to Taharos. Appar-

ently, each day represents working through a

different av hatum’ah and from day thirty-three

onward we are done with the spiritual roots of

impurity. This is the concept of the verse: גל עיני

Uncover my eyes and I .ואביטה נפלאות מתורתיך

will see the wonders of Your Torah.” The He-

brew word gal is the inverse of the number

33—lag. The word niflaos, wonders, can also be

read nun–plaos, which means “fifty wonders.”

This is why we are joyous and experience great-

er dveikus on Lag B’Omer.

Rav Nosson, zt”l, also explains another way in

which lag (33) corresponds to gal. Lab B’Omer is

the gal (monument) that was erected to sepa-

rate Yaakov and Lavan. This monument repre-

sents the barrier that a person must erect to

keep out illicit thoughts. It is only fit, then, that

we should pray on Lag B’Omer for pure

thoughts and our moral improvement!

The Sifsei Tzaddik, zt”l, cites the following ge-

mara: “Rashbi said, ‘I can discharge the whole

world from judgment.’” (Sukkah 45b) This is

actually true for all generations. Each year on

Lag B’Omer, when we make a resolution to

change our ways, Rabbi Shimon effects an

atonement of all our sins and all our prayers are

answered.

One time, a Jew from Eretz Yisrael was in Ru-

zhin, and was spoke with the famous Rebbe

Yisrael Ruzhiner, zt”l, about Lag B’Omer in Mer-

on.

The Rebbe asked, “So what do you see in Mer-

on?”

The chossid answered, “Inside the cave it is

Yom Kippur, and outside it is Simchas Torah!”

He meant that the heartfelt prayer near the

grave itself has the sincerity and intensity of the

teshuvah of Yom Kippur, and the enthusiastic

and lebedike dancing outside has the joyous

fervor of Simchas Torah.

The Rebbe took great pleasure from the man’s

answer and said, “If so, one sees good!”

teaching. Before, after and in the middle of

every Torah revelation we find the

‘Chavraya’ (group of disciples), sometimes they

are traveling together on the road and

sometimes they are lodging in a wayfarer’s

hotel. Sometimes they meet spontaneously and

other times they are heading to meet each

other. The love between friends whispers

beneath the words, it burns like the ring of fire

that surrounded Har Sinai.

The holy Zohar does not spare words and

descriptions; it mentions again and again the

endearment, the unity and the fiery love that

burned with every gathering of this sort. Before

one is even able to be astounded by the lengthy

descriptions, one understands that the Zohar is

built entirely on the love between friends.

Rashbi is a light, and for a light of this sort there

is no room in the entire world. Only a

wondrous connection between loving friends is

able to form a vessel for the Ohr Ha’Ganuz

(hidden light). Only amidst a true and honest

connection can the light of the Zohar appear.

The Zohar was written with the love between

friends, and it is into that vessel of love that

Rebbi Shimon poured the Yam Ha’Chochmah

(sea of wisdom). When we desire to receive

something from this light, even today, we must

prepare a fitting place for it.

Through the book of the Zohar we will exit the

exile; there is no doubt about this. However, it

doesn’t end with the new set of books we

recently purchased, nor with the new editions

that come to print each year. The Zohar is meant

to take us out of the exile of forgetfulness, and

only when we merit to activate our awareness

and memory will we leave the exile. This can

definitely take place today, even this very

moment. And if somebody asks you what this

forgetfulness means, give him a clear sign. As

long as there is any place that one cannot find

the holy Torah, as long as Hashem is hidden

from any single aspect of one’s life, then one is

still being engulfed by this forgetfulness. If, in

your mind, food is something that is detached

from the service of Hashem, if a step in the

street is considered by you to be a hopeless

downfall and if the difficulties of earning a living

are seen in you’re eyes as a problem without a

solution, then this is – forgetfulness.

How can we cope with the problem of

forgetfulness? The Answer to this was also given

by Rebbi Shimon, however, in order to receive it

ל“נ משה חיים בן יונה ז“לע

ל“נ יצחק בן משה חיים ז“לע

ל“נ ביילא בת שלמה גרשון ז“לע

ל “נ ראסה בת משה יצחק ז“לע

ל“נ מאיר ניסן בן אברהם הלוי ז“לע

ל“נ רחל בת ראסה ז“לע

ל“נ יונתן בן ישראל הלוי ז“לע

DEDICATED IN HONOR OF THE YAHRZEITS OFDEDICATED IN HONOR OF THE YAHRZEITS OF

here, within our lives, we need friends.

The love between friends is not a just a saying, it

is a love that he who has tasted it understands,

and he who has not can only imagine it. Such a

love can only be formed by something we have

in common, something that unifies us, by the

hidden secret that no one wants to loose. When

there are such friends, who believe in the

treasury that has been entrusted to them, who

desire to remember it, to share it together and

to live amidst it always, they are guaranteed to

never forget it.

When each person is submersed in his own

world, whether it is an enlightened world or a

dark one, there is no chance to continuously

remember. Every one has good times of light,

but in exile, the story is long and tiring, and

when the holy Sages in the vineyard of Yavneh

foresaw it, they knew – no one will survive it

with constant remembering and awareness. But

Rebbi Shimon promised … yes, he did, but on

condition that there be love between friends.

Rebbe Shimon’s Hillula is the time to be

reminded. It doesn’t really matter where we

come from and where we have been until now,

everybody desires that something should

change. We want to remember, to live more

appropriately around the shared treasury, to

taste from it and to be constantly inspired. Then,

in the middle of the Sefirah, Rebbi Shimon

invites us, calls out and declares in the ears of

every Jew ‘come up and gather for the Hillula of

Bar Yochai’ – come and be reminded. Even if

true love between friends seems to us to be

somewhat unattainable, even if we have been

disappointed more than once and decided not to

try anymore, we have an old grandfather, whom

we all share, and he is entirely comprised of love

and mercy; each one of us has a warm place

saved for him in his heart. When we ascend to

him we are all one family, it doesn’t matter how

close we are, how much we know and how much

we want, when it comes to family we are all

partners.

Lag Ba’Omer is the day that the thin strands that

were once woven together in good times will

begin to be woven together again. The old

memories will be aroused and the ancient

melody will begin to play, and through the

beautiful garment that will be woven from us all,

the personal redemption of each soul will

appear.

SPIRIT OF THE LAW

FAQS

Question:

What is the most important thing to Daven

for by the Tziyun of Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai?

Answer:

Chazal teach us that Rebbi Shimon is worth-

while to rely upon in pressing times. It’s pos-

sible to achieve salvation for everything you

need in Meiron. Many segulos concerning

this holy place have become famous. But this

still doesn’t explain what the immense tumult

about the day of Lag BaOmer is and what the

great rejoicing then is all about.

You should know that the most important

holiness of this site, and especially on Lag

BaOmer, is that the holiness of Rashbi is a

preparation for Kabbolas HaTorah.

All the trials which we endure in faith and

trust in Hashem, and lack of enthusiasm in

Avodas Hashem, and the fanciful thoughts

which deceive us with all types of desires,

depressing thoughts, etc., etc., are all be-

cause we are missing the light of Rashbi.

Since the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, the

light of Torah and Mitzvos has been hidden,

and we don’t feel the sweetness of Yiddish-

keit. Even someone who has already merited

to overcome his desires a little, to pray with a

little concentration and study Torah with a

little vigor, it’s still sometimes with a lot of

bitterness, and almost never with experienc-

ing the wonderful taste of it.

And here comes along Rebbi Shimon and

declares loudly that through his great power,

he will stand and ensure that the Torah will

never be forgotten from Klal Yisroel.

Anyone who merits drawing near to Rashbi

and to the holy Zohar sees that it is possible

to break out of all the trying situations, and

he tastes the sweetness that exists in Avodas

Hashem, in awe of Heaven, and in holiness of

the Bris. Rashbi testified on himself, that in

the merit of the Zohar we will go out of exile

with great Heavenly compassion, and we will

taste from the Tree of Life, and we will be

saved from the test of the Tree of

Knowledge.

We have heard from Breslover Chassidim,

that the Zohar contains such sweetness, that

anyone who tastes it already doesn’t feel the

trying experience of his trials, and goes out of

his personal exile.

Every year on Lag BaOmer, Rashbi ascends to

higher spiritual levels in order to reveal new-

er flows of Divine Mercy and to renew us so

that we should taste the light of Torah.

Therefore, the main thing to try to accom-

plish by the Tziyun of Rashbi is the actual

attachment to him, the aspiration to be from

the student of Rashbi. Awaken within your-

self desire and longing, to receive from the

Tzaddik a new light in the holy Torah, and to

leave the bitterness and to start to taste the

wondrous sweetness which is contained in

prayer, Torah study, and every single Mitz-

vah, and conversely, to understand how dis-

gusting and bitter everything that contradicts

Torah is.

While in Meiron, offer a lot of prayer about

this, that you want to taste from the light of

the Torah. Say Tehillim, Likutei Tefilos, and

mainly compose prayers in your own words.

Express your spiritual wishes openly in front

of Hashem.

In the midst of this you can enter into a

dance and you can rejoice in the joy of the

Tzaddikim, and the joy of all the worlds. You

must be very careful to remember there, that

Rebbi Shimon very much wants to rejuvenate

you in your Yiddishkeit, and today he has

brand new abilities through which to encour-

age you. This is why it’s called the ‘Hilula’ of

Bar Yochai, the ‘wedding’ of Rebbi Shimon.

This is his time of rejoicing … strengthen your

resolve, you’re now dancing together with

Rebbi Shimon, great, new, divine compassion

is flowing onto you, the likes of which have

never been before - you’re entering into the

Gan Eden of the holy Torah …

This is the main Avodah of the day, the

strengthening of your attachment and con-

nection with him.

Question:

What should I do that there usually isn’t so

much clear-headedness in Meiron?

Answer:

The main light which Rashbi wants to shine is

that you should stop thinking about yourself,

and start thinking about Hashem, and the

enjoyment which He has from you [this is the

main sweetness of the connection with Ha-

shem and the which in Yiddishkeit.] There-

fore, you should know, that sometimes this

light shines only when you are between many

other Jews from all different stripes of Yid-

dishkeit, everyone on his level, and you look

upon them and say to yourself, ‘here is an-

other son of Hashem, here is someone else

who is giving Hashem pride’ [even if he isn’t

exactly like me] etc., etc. Thus, you can ele-

By Rabbi Avroham Kletzky shlit”a

vate your thoughts a little above yourself, to

think about the Shechina dwelling here. You

will see the true grace of Klal Yisroel.

With this thought you enter a circle of danc-

ers, with or without clear-headedness; the

main thing is to be part of this holy nation.

This is really the light of Rashbi, who said,

‘We are dependent upon friendship’. From

here comes forth the great rejoicing in

Meiron, and throughout the rest of your life.

(See Likutei Moharan I, the end of Lesson 61)

Question:

What practically is the connection with Rash-

bi, if I don’t understand the Zohar? How can

the Zohar accomplish that Torah not be for-

gotten from Klal Yisroel?

First of all, you have to know that the holy

Zohar is relevant to you also. The Rebbe said

that even to recite Zohar helps bring a person

to diligence in Torah study, and the wondrous

language of the Zohar arouses a person’s soul

very much, as it discusses the importance of

Klal Yisroel and the greatness of every Mitz-

vah.

Moreover, you should know that the Torah of

Rashbi is very exalted, and in order to under-

stand the intention of his Torah, you need to

search in the books of the great Tzaddikim

who go in the path of the Ariza”l and the Baal

Shem Tov. They searched and toiled very

much to understand how in the light of Rash-

bi the Torah will not be forgotten from Klal

Yisroel, and they brought into the world the

pleasantness and sweetness of Avodas Ha-

shem and the connection to Him.

In order to understand the practical ways of

Rashbi’s Avodah for you, it would be proper

to start anew studying Rebbe Nachman and

Reb Noson’s works every day, which teach us

how to persevere in Avodas Hashem in every

situation. On one hand to kindle Rashbi’s fire

in your heart, to run from level to level by

connecting to Hashem in love and awe, and

conversely to remain strong in every fall, and

to remember the pride which Hashem takes

in one and that He’s with you and by you, and

to always talk to Hashem like a man to his

friend.

This is the Avodah of the day, to be strength-

ened in connection to the Tzaddikim, to re-

new ourselves in studying the holy books,

and to search and to bring into our minds

their holy teachings, so that the light of the

Torah should never be forgotten from you.