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[00:00:00] Hey, wow. Erev Tov, Chodesh tov. So exciting to be able to share some Torah on Rush Kodesh. Such a beautiful day. This should be a beginning of a month of for us, for all of Claudio.
[00:00:16] I have to thank you, Andrea, because if I hadn't, you know, been given this topic to speak on, I don't think I'd know much about this topic at all. My connection to yalaviya, when we're going to be looking at yalaviya inside together, my connection to Yalava vovo over the years has been somewhat knowing the halachas of what to do when I forget yovo, I skip yovo what to do in benching if I've overrun and I forgot my yovo. I think I really never understood what the words of this toila mean at all. And after having sat and prepared this share over the last few weeks and said y this morning in my sh, it has a whole new level of meaning. So I hope I get to share and pass of these ideas on. My plan is to start off by looking at just the words of Yaleviyeva, going through the language of the tefilla, try together to pick up some of the themes in the tefilla, try to deepen some of these themes and ideas and see generally what the tefilla is about, and then end off by picking on a few different words so that we can leave off with a little bit of a kavana focus on certain words.
[00:01:23] Okay, with that in mind, we'll just start Yaleva yovo is placed by Hazal in the Shemina Esre. And in benching at the part called ritui, at the part of the avoda, at the part of the tefilla, we'll start really with Shmone esre, the part of the Tefilla and the Amida where we finished asking for all of our personal needs, we finished asking for all of clarity Israel's needs. And now we get to the place called the Avoda and here in Retse, in this beautiful tefilla where we show Hashem how really and truly we're just yearning for a relationship with Hakadosh Baruch hu. Really and truly, we're just yearning for the base Hamikdash back, really, we're just yearning for the time when all of Klali Israel can gather in Yerushalayim and the whole world knows there's a Hakadish Baruch hu. And it's in that tefilla that Chazal chose to place this Beautiful, beautiful Tefilla of Yaleviyevo.
[00:02:12] I had a beautiful story that I think will illustrate a little bit about what Yalevayavo is supposed to be doing. And it's a true story. The BAAL Shem Tov was once invited to speak in a different community. I imagine he did that many times in his career. The BAAL Shem Tov was asked to speak in a different community and as he gets up to speak, imagine the hush number of people in the room waiting, wow. Zachos of having a BAAL Shem Tov addressed them. And he looks around the room and he starts off and says, wow, I see all your tefillos in this room. I see all the prayers in this room. And there's this moment where everyone around is like looking at each other and thinking, wow, go ask. Like he can see artaphylus in this room. And after a very long moment of silence, the BAAL Shem Tov looks round at the room and says, this is not a good thing that I can see all your tefilos in this room. Your tefillas should have left this room and gone up to Shamayim. Your tefillas should no longer be in this room. Yaleva yavo is that tefilla. Yalevijavo is the tefilla that is supercharged, that is meant to take all of our tefillos and push them up into Shamayim. To give a very modern day example with WhatsApp. So we know when we send a WhatsApp we have one tick. We know that it's left our phone. When we see a few minutes later, a few seconds later, depending how good our network is, we see two ticks, which means hopefully it's reached the other party. And if you're allowing others to see and receive, you know, messages, you'll see that it's gone blue, which means that they have now read your message again. This is Yalavayovo. It's taking our tefillas and it's supercharging them, pushing them up out of the space and into Shamayim. Let's begin by looking at the words of the tefilla. Do we have the source sheet that we can place up? Thank you so much, Andrew.
[00:04:06] Let's start by looking at the words of the tefilla itself, going through the language of Yalevayovo. And let's see as we go through it if we can pick out a theme or a word that seems to be reoccurring. Elokenu, velocia voceino our God, a God of our fathers.
[00:04:23] Ravi Shamavi.
[00:04:26] We have eight words here. We're going to get back to these eight words. May they ascend, come, reach, appear, be desired, heard, counted and recalled, and remembered and reckoned.
[00:04:39] May the remembrances of our fathers, remembrances of Mashiach, the son of David, your servant, the remembrances of Yerushalayim. I've continued reading in the English. The city of your sanctuary, and remembrances of your entire people.
[00:04:57] May the remembrance of your tiny attire, people, the house of Israel before you, for survival, for well being, for favor, kindness, compassion, for life and peace. On this day of when we insert the day and then we continue to fill away. Thank you so much.
[00:05:11] Gosh, I guess I left off the Hebrew over here. But remember us, Hashem, our God on this day for well being. Be mindful of us on this day for blessing and deliver us for life in accordance the promise of deliverance and compassion.
[00:05:23] Spare us and favor us, have compassion us, deliver us. For you to our eyes are directed because you are the Almighty, who is king, gracious and merciful. Really, in the Hebrew reads better. But what would be the word that keeps occurring over and over again? I think we would agree it would be the word zecher or Zikaron. We go and go back to the beginning of the tefilla. We can say, we can see there's a lot of Zikaron, a lot of memory remembrances going on over here. And the question we have to ask ourselves is what? What are we asking hakad shbaru to remember? Why is there something about rash chodesh and not just rash chodesh every day, the days that we say yalevi avo, what remembrance is there supposed to be that we're asking Hakadosh Baruch hu to invoke on that day?
[00:06:16] In order to understand that, let's look at the next source on the sheet, which is a posse from. Thank you. It's a posse from Bamidbar and to posse, talking about the Yemen tovim. And here the Torah tells us, on your joyous occasions, on your fixed festivals and on your rosh chodeshes, you should sound the trumpets, the chatzosros, as you offer up your carbonos for Al Zivheshal Michem and your burnt offerings and your wellbeing offerings, and they shall be for you again. We have this word as a Zikaron, as a reminder.
[00:07:02] Before your gods, I am Hashem, your gods. What Zikaron are we talking about over here? And you'll notice here, this Pasak is referencing all the times that we say Ya Levi Yavo. We say Yavo on the Yomsam Hashem of Amadichem. That's a reference for the Yamim Tovim of Rosh Hashanah, Sukkos Pesach and Shavuas, and the Roshay Chad Shechem on Rosh Chodesh. These are all the times that we say that we offer up extra carbonos. And there are all the times that we have some sort of zikoron in front of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And again, the question we have to ask ourselves is, what is this Sikharan? Because it's certainly the Sikharon that the authors of Yaleviyovo were referencing.
[00:07:46] What common denominator is there between all of these particular Yamam Tovim, the Shadash Regalim, Rosh Hashanah and Rosh Chodesh? And I think one answer is that each of these are days in our calendar where we are very much elevated, where we come very close to Hakadish Baruch. We have an opportunity to feel very, very close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu in different ways. But there is another common denominator, and that is that each of these days on our calendar are days of din, are days of judgment. And if you look in source 3, we can see the Mishnah tells us in Rosh Hashanah there are four times a year that the world is judged.
[00:08:34] We are judged for the coming grain of the year. But Seras on Shavuis would judge Alpera Sailam on the fruit for that year, the fruit of the tree Barosh Hashanah, which is the obvious one.
[00:08:47] Over in the Fana of Kivni Maron, we know that every person passes in front of a Kadish barhun. Everyone is judged, which is Sukkos Nidon Alhamaim. We're judged for water. So it's very clear these days on our calendar are days of judgment. They're beautiful days, they're elevated days. They're days of intense closeness, but they are also days of judgment. And Rosh Chodesh is the same. We say it in Musaf in source 4, we can see that in Musaf on Rosh Chodesh, we say, I gave you these days as Hakadish Baruch Hu, these days of Rosh Chodesh, Zaman Kapara. They're actually a day of Kapara, a day of forgiveness for all of your generations.
[00:09:34] These are days when you draw close to me. By bringing up offering sacrifices of ratsum siiri hatos. But you also bring up sin offerings to atone Zikaron it again, these are days of memorial. These are something that's going on again with Zikarum and the commentary the Lavish, who is a contemporary of the Maharala Prague living in the 1500s. He writes on his commentary on the Shulchan, Arach and Arachaim that the reason that we don't say a full hallow on Rosh Kodesh is because. And we can read the words that he says because these days of Kodesh have a. A sense, a feeling of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
[00:10:20] These are days of judgment. So we see that all of the days that we say ya Levi yavoan. These are days of tremendous closeness to Hakadish Baraku. But they are also days of din of judgment.
[00:10:35] And therefore, what are we asking Hakadish Baruch hu to remember when we keep repeating this word in our Yaleviyavo?
[00:10:46] I saw the most incredibly beautiful idea in the Sefer of Schwab on prayer.
[00:10:52] And this is Source five.
[00:10:54] He tells us that we all know and we're familiar with the Mishnah empiric base, Mishnah Aleph. That tells us, and we'll just look at the end of the Mishnah, the bolded part, when we say the take care, look at three things which will prevent you from sinning.
[00:11:16] Who's above you? I in Roev, Oz and Shamas know that there is a listening ear, sorry, a watching eye and a listening ear.
[00:11:28] Every single act that you do is recorded. And again, in today's world, with technology and with everything that we have, it's not hard for us to imagine what it means that everything that goes on is recorded. But actually, the mission Avos was getting this from a pasak in Malachi. And we're going to lay in this pasak as part of the Haftorah and Shabbat Hagadal. Here the Navi tells us in this vein, have those who've revert Hashem been talking one to another? Vayakshave Hashem Vayishma vay Kasav Sefer Zichronov.
[00:12:07] Hashem's heart Hashem is noted. And a scroll of remembrance, a Sefer Zikaron is written by Hashem and those who revert Hashem, sorry, the behest of those who revert Hashem and esteem his holy name, reminding us again that there is no deed, no mitzvah, no tidy thing that we do in this world that isn't somehow recorded and seen by Hakadish Baruch Hurt. We're familiar with a beautiful story. It's worth repeating because I think it illustrates it so well. It's a story told by the family of Rav Chaim of a legend. It's a story concerning the Gras wife. And the Gras wife and her friend were known for going around and collecting tzedakah for the anim in their area.
[00:12:57] And the two women made a pact between themselves. Whichever one would leave this world first would come down to a friend in a dream and would reveal to her some of what went on upstairs in Shamayim, the second woman died first, and she came to the wife of the Vilna Gaan in a dream. And she said, shamayim doesn't really allow me to reveal what goes on up here. But because I promised I'd come to you, they gave me permission to tell you one thing. Do you remember that we once went collecting stuck at a woman's house and she wasn't home? And then we were walking on the street and you saw her. You picked up your finger to point across the street and said, there she is. We both crossed the road and gave, and she gave us the staka. You should know in Shamayim the merit of stuck, it is written down for both of us. However, there's an added merit recorded just for you, since you lifted your finger and pointed to where she was walking. Every single mitzvah, every single tiny act is recorded in Shamayim. However, there is a problem, because whilst we might do many, many, many, many mitzvahs and many good things, there is something preventing them reaching up to Shamayim. And this Ro Schwab says, is the gemara and Sota 21 Aleph.
[00:14:17] And I've just taken a little tiny piece of the Gemara. It says the Avera Mahaba Mitzvah. The Tanavira can extinguish a mitzvah, which means we may have done a tremendous amount of mitzvahs, expecting that all the tiny details of all the good things that we've done should be written down and there should be a beautiful reward waiting for us in Shamayim. But somehow these mitzvahs are trapped and they're not able to reach up and be fully recorded in the Sefer Zachronos. And that's because of the other that we've done that have trapped somehow these mitzvahs down here.
[00:14:57] What are we supposed to do every single time we say Yale Viovo on each of these days on the calendar, Pesach, Shavuas, Sukkos, Rosh Hashanah, and all the Russia Russia Hadashim, these are Zaman Kapara. These are specific times of din where we have an opportunity to do an extra toshava and daven and ask our Kaddish Baruch Hu to forgive us for all of these average that are preventing our mitzvahs from really rising up. And once we've done that, says Rav Schwab, we can say ya Allah. Now that I've asked for Kapara, on these days, ya'llah, let all of these mitzvahs that I've accumulated that have been trapped now, let them rise up and go to Shamayim.
[00:15:48] So I think that's the first level of understanding what Yale Vayeva is all about. It's a beautiful tefiller gifted to us by Hazal, specifically reminding us that on these days when we say Yale Vivo, there is a time of judgment. This is a young din going on. It's time of tremendous closeness and Kirvat Hashem. But it's also times during the year where we can ask for forgiveness and allow all of the trapped, so to speak, mitzvahs be able to go up ya'llah up to Shamayim and be fully placed, remembered and placed in the safer Hazikaron.
[00:16:29] That's level one. But we can take this a little bit deeper.
[00:16:36] Let's take a step back as a beautiful, beautiful medicine. I apologize. I didn't put it on the source sheet. It's a little bit of a long medrash and it's a medish that comes up in Shir Hashiram. We'll come back to the source sheet in a few minutes. It's a medrash that comes up in Shir Hashiram. And I'm going to read some of it. Inside it says that quoting Apostle and Boris Hale Bagan. And they heard the voice of Hashem going about in Gan Eden. And Hazal Omar of Abba, he asks the question, what does it mean?
[00:17:13] What is this word meant to teach us? He says, you should know.
[00:17:20] Came down to the walls and it was felt in Ghanaiden. But it's mishalikh. It doesn't just stay there. It stays there only if we deserve it. It comes and goes, comes and goes. And he continues and he writes what happened. So initially, the shchin of Hashem was really strongly felt in Ghanaiden. But then Adam Harishon Sinson, Adam Sins and Hakadish Baruch Hushchina rises up out of this world and goes up to the first level of Shamayim Kayin Sins and this style color Hasheni Hakadish Baruch withdraws even further back to the second level of Shamayim and then goes back a third level.
[00:18:09] At the time of Dar Hamabul Hakadishbara who pulled back even further to the fourth level.
[00:18:16] At the time of the Migdal Bav El Hakadish Baruch withdrew even further.
[00:18:22] The time of the people of Sodoma, Kadishbach withdrew to the sixth level and Avraham and the time of Avraham, the time of the Mitzrim. They sinned and Hakadish Baruch Hu withdrew even higher up.
[00:18:37] And then what happens? In accordance with these seven levels that Akadish Baruch has gone up? Akadish Baruch allowed seven Sadiqim in this world to bring back his Shekhinah to be felt back in this world. And he continues. A beautiful, beautiful Medra. He says, Shiva Tzadikim, Baharidu, Hala Aret. There were seven Tzadikim who brought Hashem's Chinna back down to this world. Zacha Avraham, Harida, Mishvi, Elashishi, Avraham Avinu comes around and he brings it from the seventh to the sixth level.
[00:19:13] And he continues on and says, until when? And this is so beautiful that we're reading this medrash today. The Shekhinah of Hakadish Baruch Hu is brought down, down, down, back into this world. When does it fully enmesh and come back into this world? I'll read you the line because it's. It's amazing that we're saying this today. He says, Ahmad Moshe, Moshe Rabbeinu brought it down to this world. What day was, was on the day when the Mishkan was fully completed and the Avoda started. That's today. That's on Rashodesh Nisan. So we know how Kadish Baruch initially placed his Shekhinah in this world. But due to the sins of the people earlier generations, up until the time of Abram, pulled back level after level after level. Then our Kadish Baru gifted us with seven Sadiqim who brought back his Shakina into this world until the time of the Mishkan. But we know, and I don't have the rest of the measures to read, but we know when we speak about it in Tisha that throughout the generations, through the sins ofel, through the sins of Hama Ragim, through the sins that were committed in the time of Bayish Rishon, Hakadish Bar again withdrew and withdrew and withdrew until it came time of the Chorbon. And Akadish Baruch Hu then again withdrew back to the seventh level of Shamayim, where he allowed a part of the Shechina to stay hovering over the Makam Hamikdash. Which is why when we go to Daven at the Kotal, we feel some extra presence of Akadish Baruch Hu there. So we have this idea that there's these seven levels of Shamayim that sometime in history Hakadosh Baruch Hu came down and we felt his presence. But now we know that Hakaddish Baruch Hu is back, so to speak, on the seventh level of Shamayim. There is of course, a period of. During the year where we're able to pull or Hakaddush Baruch himself comes and brings his Shechina back and we feel a closeness to him. And that's during the period of Elul and Tishrei. And I have to say, the Tefilla that usually, I think it's unfortunate for me, that hits me the most through the Elultishri period is actually the tefilla that we say at the ends of Yom Kippur. And it always, since I was young, this is a tefilla Nothing wish something else made me cry. But it's always this tefill at the end of Yom Kippur that really evokes something in me. When we say Shema and then we say Bar Shame three times, and then we scream out together, Hashem hu Elo Kim. And we say it seven times as we accompany Hakadosh Baruch Huskina that is felt so close to us for the last month, month and 10 days. We accompany a Kadish Baruch China back up through the seven levels of Shamayim.
[00:21:53] I have to say, actually, on a personal note, I just came back less than a week ago from a trip in Erit Yisrael. I was.
[00:21:59] I was able. I was. I was lucky enough to help lead a Khizak mission to Eret Israel. And I. I landed in Eret Israel, and I knew it was on a very tight schedule. It was very shortly after permit and I was meeting the group by the Old City. They had landed a few hours before me and I was meeting them by the Old City. And I was in Desperate need of some kizak. The whole trip was going to be visit widowers, visiting bases, visiting places connected to October 7, hearing very, very difficult, very uplifting stories, but very, very difficult stories. And the one piece of the whole mission was going to be going to the old city, and I was going to be leading the women in a tour of the Kotel Tunnels. Like I said, I just landed, and I was in desperate need of some kizik myself. As we finished the Kotel Tunnel tours, and for people who are familiar with that area, there is an area in there that where there's an Ezra Nashem, a small shul that women can go into and daven in a covered area by the Kosal. And I don't usually take groups to that part. After we finish the tour, I usually lead them back out to the sunlight, back out to daven at the Kotel itself. But I felt something. I felt like, wanted to show the women at least where this area in the space was. And as I came towards it, and it's usually very, very quiet there, there's a few women davening, and you can see down into the men's, and there's usually also only a handful of men standing there davening. But as I came in and I brought the ladies with me inside, there was a thundering sound of tefillah, hundreds of voices. I looked down, there was hundreds of Hasidim standing there. And it took me a minute or two to decipher what they were saying, but I realized that they would be Makabel Omar Shamayim. They were screaming at Shema. They screamed at Baruch Shame. And then I stood there for about five blissful minutes as they screamed hashem huelokim with more kavanah than I'd ever heard. It was unbelievable. Hashem Hu Elokim, my Mamish, felt at that moment Hakadosh Baruch hu's presence. I felt they had managed somehow to bring hakados Baruch Hu from the seven rakias, from the seven heavens, right back there.
[00:24:06] So we know that hakadosh Baruch Hushchina is there. But it's hard. It's hard to reach up to it seven layers away from us grass.
[00:24:15] The grass has something phenomenal. He says, Yale vovo is our opportunity to reach ourselves up through these seven levels and find ourselves in front of the kisehakavot. And we'll read. If we go back to the source sheets, you can see I put two sources. One is from monks Safer World of Prayer. He says that b'nai yisrael b'nai Israel find themselves so distant, so far away, so so far from Hakadosh baruch hu'ula sav b'toheniro's odl enehem b'tsuray galuya we wish so much we could see Hakadish baruch hu was so close, but we're so far away. Ach bimir rash chodesh of omoadim. But during the time of Rosh Chodesh Uva moradim at these specific Yomim, tobim, Pesach, Shavuas and Sukkos and Rosh Hashanah kaasher hem hashim biyoter.
[00:25:13] When we have this extra measure, this extra closeness to Hakadish baruch hu, mitpalim zikran, havas v'zichron kalavan, that our own Zakaron, our own, the Zakaran of the Avos, the Zakaran of all of their merits, will allow us to jump with force through these eight. He puts eight over here, levels of Shamayim, kadila, hagiyala mal that will come so close, jump, so to speak, through the hoops, get up all the way to the top level of Shamayim and feel more closer to Hakadish bar. We'll come back to the second part of Rav Monk in a moment, but if you jump down to source seven, you can see I've placed just one line of the vilnagon's parish, and again we're going to go through it. I do not claim to understand it, but I thought it was so beautiful that I'm going to share it here. He says his gear shmona mine, hagashos vit carvas, k Shiva rakim. He says we're going to read in yalavi yavo eight expressions, and they are k the sheva rakim, the seven levels of shamayim, ashe bachatainu al saha, Shamayma, lamala, mizayan rakim, that through our own sins, Hakadish baruch hushchina has gone up through these seven levels of the rakiya. And us, we here, through this tefillah, at certain specific moments of the year, are able to rise ourselves up and pull ourselves up through these seven levels of shamayim and come very, very close to Akadesh Bar. What I'm going to do is I'm going to go through each of these different levels, each of these different rockies. I'm going to share what the Vilnagon calls Each of these levels, again, I do not claim to understand what they are. And then I'm going to add in ideas and thoughts, some taken from rev left sefer and some taken. Taken from others. For him, that could maybe bring alive a little bit about what we're meant to be thinking and feeling, as we say, and reach out through these different levels. Okay, we'll start with ya'll is kanegad, the level in shamayim. The lowest level in shamayim, which is called the villon, which is a cotton. In modern Hebrew. It's a cotton. And the grass tells us that it's from this place, this low level that hakadish baruch is that this is from. From here. Hakadish baruch hu opens up, so to speak, through like a curtain opens up shamayim. And every day gives us back the sun, gives us back the moon and renews the world.
[00:27:46] So what is the level of growth? What is our stepping stone of coming close to our kadish baruch hu over here? What should we have in mind that the stage one of guru, the ya'llah level of growth that a person must want to grow, that a person must prepare themselves and be open to opportunities of growth. We say bederach sha adam rotzelech bo molech and oso chazal tell us that a way a man wants to go, he is led. If we want to reach up, hakaddish baruch will help us. And with the word ya'llah, we daven that we are open enough to taking that first step to come closer to hakarishbar.
[00:28:26] The grass says that the word vayavo is connected to the second level of shamaim, which is called the rakiya. Here, he says, is the yeshiva shamala. This is where the heavenly courts, the heavenly yeshiva sits. And it's where neshamas arrive first after they leave this world. The first thing that each nishama will be art or we said to each ne is baruch haba welcome from haba welcome.
[00:28:55] This is where we will reach after we leave this world.
[00:28:59] Stage two of growth on the second rung of reaching up is the idea of peeling away the gashmius that surrounds us, pulling back the things that are preventing us and looking at what we have, taking stock of what we do have in the gashmi as well, and figuring out how to use it to bring ourselves and to bring it closer to kadish baruch hu, the third level on the rungs of yala biyoga, on the rungs of the ladder reaching up to Hakadish Baruch Hu through these levels of Shamaim is viagia. And this is connected, says the Grat, a level in Shamayim called the Shahakim.
[00:29:41] He says this is the place in Shamayim where the man is ground up. The heavenly food that was given to B'naishral through the years in the midbar, the man, this was where it was ground up. Again, I don't claim to understand what this means, but I think the idea behind it is very, very beautiful. He says every person would receive the man in accordance with a level of greatness, in accordance with the level they have pushed themselves to develop a relationship with Hakadish Bar who that would be reflected where the man would fall for that person. For a person was very great in the midbar, someone who'd worked and tried and developed in a relationship with Hakaddish Baraku. That person would open up his tent in the morning, step outside and find his man freshly placed right outside of his tent. Somebody, on the other hand, who hadn't pushed and worked on his relationship with Akadishwa would have to go that bit further to retrieve his man.
[00:30:36] The word yagiya is the same as the words yaga effort. It is also the same as the word to reach. Hazal explained that through our effort, through our own efforts, and pushing ourselves to develop our relationship with Hakadish Baruch, hushing ourselves even through the difficult periods, even through the times when it's very hard to understand why certain things are happening to us, what a Kadish barahu wants from us, us, but pushing ourselves through yagia, through our own toil, nonetheless, we will arrive at a destination of closeness to Hakadish Baruch Hu and Stephen Covey Tams. I think this is the idea of beginning with the ends in minds. If we push ourselves, if we remind ourselves that all my efforts, every speck of effort that I make, even through the challenges, are some day going to be rewarded.
[00:31:35] That's the level of vayagya next level, the Ira.
[00:31:42] We should be seen or the tefilla should be seen. This, says the Velnagan, is connected to the level in Shamayim called the Ma'on quotes. A posse that hashkifa mimoun khachah.
[00:31:54] And this, he says, is the place where the Malachi Hasharis exist.
[00:32:01] We know that Malachim, what we're told, malachim have only one foot.
[00:32:06] We mirror this when we daven shmone ESRA with our Feet together, we mirror Malachim with only one foot. And again, what does this really mean? One of the ideas is that Malachim have only one mission and they're solely focused on that one mission.
[00:32:22] So stage four of our growth of reaching up is reminding ourselves that we must develop a focus that we are working lashem Shamayim that the our entire goal in this world, with every action that we do, is just to bring us closer to Hakadish Baruch hu is just to bring about covered Shamayim is just to act in the service of Hakaddish bar.
[00:32:50] The next level is the level of Vaye Raptor, which is that artifila should be willingly received.
[00:32:59] There should be a willingness to have them be received. And this says the Gan, the Vilna Ghan. The GRA is connected to a level in Shamayim called the Zavol.
[00:33:09] The zaval is also the name given to the base Hamidash.
[00:33:14] And the grass says this level in Shamayim, this fifth level is the level where that Yerushalayim shalma Allah exists. We say that there's a Yerushalayam shamala and there's Yerushalayam shalmata. So the Yerushalayim shalmala according to the Gura, exists in this fifth level of Shamayim.
[00:33:35] The growth idea on this fifth level is that person must try to keep his intentions very pure. Just like a kohen walking into the basa Migdash was very was only and had to concentrate fully on his act at that moment of bringing a carbon of coming closer to Hakadish Baruch hu, us too must try throughout our day, throughout our life, to be to be trying to act every moment in full service of Hakadish Baruch hu with not just our body, but also with our intentions.
[00:34:12] The sixth level is the word vayishama. And the tefilla should be heard. And this is connected to the vilnagon to a level called the Mahon Mahon Shiftacha passage from Debri Hayamim. It's the abode of the Shekinah.
[00:34:28] And this, says the gra, is a place of cleansing in Shamayim where neshamas will go to after they've arrived. They'll be pushed up to this level while they're experiencing a cleansing in Shamaya.
[00:34:40] And here the seem to understand that this level of Shamayim in our growth is that a person must want to make the service of hashem a complete and stable part of himself. He must commit ongoingly every single day, every single moment, to.
[00:35:03] To feeling and connecting more and more to hakadish bar with everything that he does.
[00:35:10] And the last level, the seventh level, where, which is vay Pocket and vay Zacher together, says the vulneragon. This is the word to be remembered. And this is the place in Shamayim that is just beneath the kissiha kavod. This is the place where neshamas came from in the first place. And this is the place where the neshamas will go back to eventually, afterwards. And the last and final level, this growth level number seven, is that a person must work to achieve throughout his life. A total, total devicus to hashem, a total clinging, coming back completely and utterly to hakadish baruch hu.
[00:35:48] So we see, according to the vulnergan, that these seven words of Yale, yavov, yagyavi, ravi ratavi, shamavi, pakir, are not just seven words where we're pushing our tefillos up to shamayim. These are seven words that remind us to push ourselves up in our own avodus, hashem, reaching up through seven levels of shamaya him, so we can stand right in front of hakadish, baruch hu on these specific days of the Yom Hadin, but also yom yume kirva, days of tremendous closeness to hakadish Baraku, that we reach past all seven levels of Shamayim and find ourselves right in front of Hakadish Baruch, who's kissing and talking to him. I think it's so, so beautiful, the imagery, when we stand and we say ya leviyaba, just to remind ourselves that these seven words are really seven levels that we're pushing ourselves up. It sort of supercharged my essay this morning when I was saying Yale, vavo ravlev notes though, that Yale, yavo, yagya, ye, ra, these are words that are in the singular and straight after that. If we go back to the beginning of the source sheet, we'll notice that. Thank you. That right after we say these words, you can see on the top line, all of a sudden we switch to the plural. We start off by individually imploring hakadish baruch hu to allow us to come close to him, to judge us. And now we switch into davening together with amishra, zechroneu, ficto, neinu. Please remember and record all of us, us allow the remembrance of our fathers, the remembrance of mashiach, the remembrance of your shalayim.
[00:37:45] All of a sudden we switch into talking about.
[00:37:49] And we have these three different levels of Zikarum of memory.
[00:37:58] Let's go back for a minute. Let's go down for a minute. Scroll back down on our source sheet, back to the beautiful piece of Rav Monk. And let's read the second part of what he says over here. Thank you. He says, when we say Zichron Avoseinu, we are talking about Havar the past.
[00:38:20] We remind Hakadash Baruch Hu that we are coming from somewhere. That me standing here today, I am linking myself to the memory of what came before me, the time of the Avos. And then he continued and he says, this is the acid. This is talking about the future.
[00:38:41] This is a reference to the future that we Daven and Weya for the ultimate goal, the ultimate time period called Mashiach and Zichon. Yerushalayim Hahove is the present time Hakodeshanitri. We link ourselves to Yerushalayim of the presence, which right now is a destroyed city. But we know that one day we hope for it to be in the future restored with Kedusha, with Hakadish Baruch Hu's Shechina.
[00:39:15] Why is this so incredibly beautiful? And I actually, to really illustrate it, I want to share a story. And it is a childish story, I must admit, but it's a story that my father and mother Law would tell every single year to the participants at his Seder night. And we continue to share every single night to the participants at our Seder night. And whilst it's a childish story, I think the message is unbelievable.
[00:39:38] Story is as follows.
[00:39:41] There was a group of scientists working on a special spaceship. They'd found out that on one of the planets of Mars. Becoming more realistic today to get to Mars. But one of the planets of Mars there existed some sort of mineral that if it could only be brought back to planet Earth, would save hundreds and hundreds of lives. However, to get to this particular planet was at least a journey of 500 years. And therefore the six families of scientists decided that they together would design a spaceship that would be able to exist in space for 500 years. Whatever the time it would take to get there and whatever the time it would take to get back, it would have whatever it needed on board. Food, supplies, fuel. I'm not sure how this works, but the story. But this is what they had in mind.
[00:40:29] And the six families decided they're going to live on board the spaceship. They're going to say goodbye to planet Earth, their children, and they're going to make a new life for themselves with the hope that obviously that the children would marry into each other and eventually the generations will continue and the mission will be passed down. So they leave planet Earth.
[00:40:48] They all know, every single person, certainly the adults on board that spaceship understand that pressing the red button is going to take us in that direction. Pressing the blue button is going to take us, us in that direction. And they leave with a very beautiful book, a book of photos, a book of pictures of what the house looked like, what a blade of grass looks like, what a tree looks like, what a street looks like, all the pictures of planet Earth that they would ever need to remember, where they come from, atlases and maps. And they also have a book of instructions reminding them of what their mission was and how to use the spaceship. All aboard 1098 and off they are hurtling through space. And the, you know, years roll on and it's a lovely life up there. And every so often, you know, they'll get together and they'll take out their photo album and they remind themselves, oh, do you remember what grass looks like? And do you remember the color green? We haven't seen much green up here.
[00:41:35] And time rolls on and the children do start marrying into each other. And everybody remembers that there's a mission. And as the parents of the first generation are about to leave this world or leave that world or leave that rocket, whatever they're about to pass on, they remind their children, they say, listen, you were five, six, seven, you were young children when we left planet Earth. But do you remember what we did when we got on the spaceship? Do you remember that we had a mission, Remember we came from. Do you remember why we're going to Mars? And before they passed away, they gave their children instructions on how to continue the journey. And this goes on for the next generation and the next generation. But after a couple of hundreds of years, there are very few people on board who even have a memory of what the red button was meant to do, what the blue button was meant to do. And that photo album with a picture of Earth, it was somewhere, some room on the spaceship. No one could remember where it was.
[00:42:22] And they're hurtling through space and nobody has any idea of what they're doing up there. There's nobody to ask and nobody questions. And they just continue living. And every so often somebody makes mention. Does anyone know what our mission's about? And there's no one to answer the questions. They continue living on until one day this strange beeping starts happening. Alert Alert, alert. And everybody runs, panic. We've never heard that, that before. What's going on? What's going on? And they're trying to run around the spaceship, figuring out what it is. And there's one small boy as they're looking everywhere on the spaceship, he comes across these two very dusty books shoved into a corner. They clearly haven't been looked at for a very long time. And he opens it up and picture of pictures. And he has no book of pictures, no idea what he's looking at. And he brings it to the adult, says, look, I found this book. Can anyone explain what this is about? And with it, there's this other book. It's got a book of, like, instructions. And no one's opened this for years. And they sit down together and they open it up and they go through it and they realize, oh, this is what one of us heard from our great great great grandfather. And this is what's passed on, apparently, from the generations that started on this mission. These are the pictures of where we come from, this photo album of planet Earth. That's where we all started off. And this other book, this book with all those instructions that tells us about how to use the spaceship and gives us instructions and reminds us what our mission. This is the instructions to tell us where we're going to.
[00:43:45] This is what we call in our family the rocket story. Marshall. But really it's a mushle for us. Really, it's a mushroom reminding us that as am Israel. There's a starting point. We started at the time of Avramitza Kanyakov. We started the time of the Avas Nimahus with a mission. Our mission was to be in our lagoy and be a light unto the nations. Be the receivers of the Torah bring Hashem's Shechina presence into this world. And ultimately working towards the period called Mashiach, when the whole world will know of the existence of Hakaddish Baruch Hu. There are times when we're caught and distracted and, you know, fall off track. And actually, the reason why we do tell this to our family on Seder Night is because we remind ourselves that Seder Night, this moment of sitting down as a family, is that moment when we sat on the spaceship and we opened up these albums and pictures and reminded us of where we're coming from and where we're going to to. And this again is what's going on in the Tefilla of Yaleviyavo. We say, I come from somewhere.
[00:44:50] I come from the scene of A and I'm going somewhere. I'm part of a messor. I'm part of a mission. I'm part of a destiny that is leading us to the Zman Mashiach.
[00:45:08] But right now, I exist over here. I am in this world right now. And I have to be the link in the chain of what went on before me. What's going to happen in the future. With that in mind, I'd like to read a story. I would like to read a letter. I hope I can get through this without crying. I haven't managed to yet. It's a beautiful, beautiful letter that was written by Ravaran Lapia Lansky.
[00:45:32] It's he entitled A letter to my child on Seder Night. My dear child, it is now a quiet moment late at night after an exhausting day of Pesach cleaning. You have sunk into the sweetest of sleeps, and I'm sitting here with a pile of how God is preparing for Seder Night.
[00:45:47] Somehow the words never come out the way I want to. And the Seder evening is always unpredictable. But so many thoughts and feelings are welling up in my mind, and I want to share them with you. These are the words I mean to say at the Seder. When you will see me at the Seder, dressed in a kittle, the same plain white garment worn on Yom Kippur, your first question will be, why are you dressed like this? Because it is a Yom Kippur, a day of reckoning. You see, each one of us has a double role. First and foremost, we are human beings created in the image of Hashem. And on Yom Kippur we are examined if indeed we are worthy of that title. But we are also components of clal Israel, the Jewish people. Links in a chain that started over 3,000 years ago will make it to the finishing line at the end of time times. It's a relay race where a torch is passed on through all the ages. And it is our charge to take it from the one before and pass it to the one after.
[00:46:37] Tonight we are being judged as to how well we have received our tradition and how well we are passing it on. It is 3, 300 years since we received that freedom in Egypt. If we imagine the average age of having a child to be about 25 years of age, there are four generations each century. That means there is a total of 132 people stretching from our forefathers in Egypt to us today. One hundred and thirty two people had to pass on this heritage flawlessly, with a Devotion and single mindedness that could not falter. Who were these 133 fathers of mine? One had been in the Nazi death camps. One had been whipped unconscious by Cossacks. One had children stolen by the sa. And one was the laughingstock of his enlightened brethren. One lived in a basement in Warsaw with many days passing with no food in his mouth. The other ran a stupendous mansion in France. One had been burned at a stake for refusing to believe in the divinity of a flesh and blood. And one had been frozen to death in Siberia for continuing to believe in the divinity of the eternal gods. One has been hounded by a mob for living in Europe rather than Palestine. And one had been blown up by Palestinians for not living in Europe. One had been a genius who could not enter medical school because he was not a Christian. And one was fed to lions by the Romans. 132 fathers. Each with his own story. Each with his own test of faith. And each with one overriding and burning desire that this legacy be passed unscathed to me. And one request of me that I pass this unto you, my sweet child. What is this treasure that he had given his lives for? What is this precious packet that 132 generations have given up everything for? There's a great secret that man is capable of being a lot more than an intelligent primate. That the truth and of almighty God does not depend on public approval. And no matter how many people Jerry, you, truth never changes. That the quality of life is not measured by goods, but by the goods. That one can be powerfully hungry and yet one can forgo eating if it is not kosher. That a penny that is not mine is not mine. No matter what the temptation or rationalization that family bonding is a lot more than birthday parties. It is a commitment of loyalty that does not buckle in a moment of craving or lust and so much more. This is our precious secret. And it is our charge to live it and to become a shining display of this is what it means to live with Hashem. 132 people have set seder night after seder night year after year with every fiber of their heart and soul made sure that this treasure would be mine and yours.
[00:48:57] I'm the 133rd person in this holy chain. And at times I doubt if I am passing it on well enough. I try hard, but it's hard not to quiver when you are on the vertical shoulders of 132 people begging you not to disappoint them by toppling everyone. With you swaying in the wind. My dear child. May God grant us many long and happy years together. But one day in the distant future, I'll be dressed in a kittle again. As they prepare me for my burial. Try to remember that this is the treasure that I passed on to you. And then it will be your turn. You'll be the 130 forth with the sacred duty to pass on our legacy to number 135.
[00:49:33] Beautiful.
[00:49:35] This message is as well the message of Yovo that each of us individually are superpowering ourselves to reach up through the levels of shamayim. But each of us collectively are part of a bigger picture called Am where we're journeying from somewhere zu. And we're journeying to Zichor Mashiach bin David and I only have a couple more minutes. I'm going to end with something a little bit more practical if we jump back to the source sheet, back to the end lines of Yavo and actually, I apologize, I don't. For some reason I didn't put it in the Hebrew. You know, actually we'll go with source number eight. I'm going to.
[00:50:16] Yeah, thank you. I'll read the Hebrew app from Y because I apologize. It didn't come out. Over there. We say the ends of Yalavi, hashem alokenu remember us. Hashem bo latova.
[00:50:32] Please hakadishbacho remember and save us. Fatova bola tova bo liveracha.
[00:50:40] We have these three bows, tova bracha and chaim, that we ask our kadish barku to remember us for. And if we quickly take a glance at source number eight, it's the Rambam where he tells us that hayom vahalila kaftala church shavs the day and the night together is 24 hours.
[00:50:58] You should know that a man should really sleep at sufficient really for a man to sleep eight full hours.
[00:51:09] We can leave it there that basically our our night should our sleeping time or our time investment in our physical side, our physical self should be eight hours long. And this has been sourced in a number of places. I particularly saw this in a parish of the Bab of a Rebbe on Yaleva Yavo. And he says that if 24 hours, eight of them are given up to being our physical needs, taking care of our physical needs. We have 16 hours left. That two can be divided into two sets of eight. One of those sets of eight should be used for Parnasa. And one of those sets of eight should be Used used for talma. Torah and anything in the spiritual realm, davening mitzvahs, avodus hashem, anything in the spiritual realm. And that way we have a 24 hour period and he plugs, he's not the only one to do it, but it's so beautiful, plugs it back in to this idea of bo la tova. Tova is a connection to Torah bo liveracha. This is a connection to Parnasa. Bracha is Parnassa and Bo lahaim chaim is taking care of, of all of our physical needs. We have three bows and the gematria of bow is eight. When we daven in this bracha, one of the kavanas that we can have as we say rabuna, I so badly want to live a life of connection to you. I so badly want to bring every aspect of myself closer to you. And I dove in that I should use bola tova. Eight hours of my day I can use to be focused, focused on all of the things I need to do in the spiritual world.
[00:52:50] I can dedicate eight full hours of my day somehow to Torah, to mitzvahs, to tefilla, and I can dedicate eight hours of my day to parnasa, to all that I need to do to earn money, save me and allow me that I can use the last eight hours of my day to work and invest on all the physical side of myself. And with that, we have in mind that our entire 24 hour period should be one that is used appropriately to bring ourselves closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that sums up this incredible tefilla of Yaleviyavo. It's a tefilla both of din, where we remind ourselves that the things that have trapped us from allowing our, our mitzvahs to go up, we now open up the gates of Shamayim and push our mitzvahs right back up. We remind ourselves through these eight words of our desire to reach out through the seven levels of shamayim, remind ourselves where we're coming from and where we're going to. And we remind ourselves that on our 24 hour period we should use each set of eight the shame Shamayim, be it physical, be it spiritual, or be it parnasa, to come closer to you Hakadish barako. And that is a taste of yaleviyavam. Thank you so, so much for listening and I hope that we all have more kavana and enjoy more this beautiful, beautiful tavela, which we certainly have coming up in the next few weeks. Plenty of opportunities to see.
[00:54:22] Wow. Thank you so, so, so, so, so much. That was really beautiful. I'm gonna unmute people now. If there are questions. I already received questions. Esti, if you don't mind, you could. It's possible to send me that letter from rabbi lopianski and I'll send it out 100. I'll try to place the link. I'll send you the link and people could have it.
[00:54:43] Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. I needed you last night. Really.
[00:54:52] Hashem, lots of yalavi yavas to come. Yes, that's true. Please, God, please. Thank you. Thank you. Certainly change the way we're gonna daven. That's right. That's right. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:55:09] Thank you very much.
[00:55:12] Yes, so much. Have a great night, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Andrea. Thank you, Esther.
