I think we're up to vizehu inyan hasossa? Yeah, vizehu inyan hasossa. וזהו עניין הססה הכתובה בתורה במעשה דפוטיפר ליוסף. וצריך להינצל כמו שהציל עצמו יוסף.
I don't know whether it's d'Potifar or whether it's supposed to say d'Eshes Potifar or if there's some kavannah as to why it doesn't. I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure he's about to reference what Chazal say about with Eshes Potifar and Yosef, so I don't know. וצריך להינצל כמו שהציל עצמו יוסף. V'amar mori zal, the Mezritcher Maggid, ma she'amru zal, when Chazal say, right, that Yosef hatzaddik was on the verge of cheit, and then נראה לו דמות דיוקנו של אביו. So the Maggid says a gevaldige p'shat. משום שבגדים שלבשה לשחרית לא לבשה לערבית. Chazal say that in order to be m'fatteh Yosef, so Eshes Potifar was constantly wearing different outfits to look to constantly be m'gareh hayetzer hara. V'hayta mispaeres bahem, and she was making herself look splendid in these outfits. And Yosef hibbit, so again the yesod that the Me'or Einayim has been teaching about m'aleh hamiddah nefulah. ויוסף הביט על שורש היופי וההתפארות מאין בא. So again, he recognized obviously that in this crude form it's a midda nefulah. So hachacham einav b'rosho, so he looked to see what this midda is in its pristine form. כי עיקר ההתפארות הוא חיות השם שהוא מידת יעקב תפארת.
The real beauty in something is when there's nothing, or as little as possible, that clouds the chiyus which comes from Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the person, because that chiyus is, that's beautiful. ושהוא מידת יעקב תפארת. זהו דמות דיוקנו של אביו. So when he sees דמות דיוקנו של אביו, again, each of the avos is associated with a different midda and the midda of Yaakov is tiferes. So what it means, זהו דמות דיוקנו של אביו, is he saw דמות דיוקנו של אביו, meaning he saw the elevated form of the midda of tiferes to which he was being exposed in its crude form as a midda nefulah. And that's what it means, that he saw דמות דיוקנו של אביו. ונמצא כל אחד צריך לעשות כן,
and that's the same strategy that we all have to employ. ונמצא כל אחד צריך לעשות כן. וזהו אסתר קרקע עולם הייתה.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin asks why wasn't Esther muchyeves to be moser nefesh al Kiddush Hashem? And the Gemara answers וזהו אסתר קרקע עולם הייתה. So again, in its p'shat, in its halachic context, it means that because she was passive in the, again, the Gemara doesn't seem to be classifying it as arayos, the Gemara seems to be classifying it as sha'ar aveiros, but leaving that aside for now, since she was passive, that's what it means karka olam. Says the Meor Einayim, what does it mean on a deeper level? והנה אסתר מלשון הסתר, kema'amaram zal, אסתר מן התורה מנין דכתיב ואנכי הסתר אסתיר. Chazal say there's a remez to Esther in the pasuk of Ve'anochi haster astir, right? That everything bi'mei Mordechai ve'Esther, everything that happened was nes nistar, no nes nigla. Ve'zehu Esther, again, who represents hashtara, hiddenness, concealment, ve'zehu Esther, retzoni lomar, ההסתרה היה עד סוף המדריגות קרקע עולם. נסתר ונעלם ונסתמצם חיות הקדוש ברוך הוא.
So Esther karka olam means just how hidden, how concealed, how deeply buried the חיות הקדוש ברוך הוא can be. As it were, all the way, if you sort of imagine things metaphorically in a spatial metaphor. So the חיות הקדוש ברוך הוא comes from le'eila u'le'eila and that chiyus can be so concealed, can be so hidden, that it's hidden deep in the karka of olam hazeh. But here something lich'ora, I think this gives and illustrates something remarkable. When you see this kind of interpretation, so how does it relate to the pshat of what it means? Right, to the pshat context, to the halachic context? Again, which we just reviewed of what אסתר קרקע עולם היתה means. So the vort is like this rabbosai. Not only does it not contradict, but it's not even totally separate. It's not detached either. Because basically what the Meor Einayim is saying, this is gevaldig, the Meor Einayim is saying is like this. Okay, so let's begin again on the pshat. So what happens? So Esther is taken forcibly to the beis ha-melech and she's involuntarily chosen and crowned as queen and she involuntarily is with Achashverosh and that's what the Gemara is explaining since she's passive at every stage, so that's why there was no chiyuv mesiras nefesh. That's the pshat context. Now, what was the outgrowth of this? What was the result of this? What did all of this ultimately lead to? Hatzala of Klal Yisrael. Hatzala of Klal Yisrael, right? This was going to be the instrument for the hatzala of Klal Yisrael. Because when Haman tries to destroy, so Esther goes and she intercedes and she gets Achashverosh to kill Haman and she gets Achashverosh to send the igros shnios which allow the Jews to defend themselves. So here in the, again, what on one level obviously is the ultimate tumah of Esther with Achashverosh, but there was a chiyus in it. And that's the vort that he's saying is, it's not something, it's not even, again, it certainly doesn't contradict, but not only does it not contradict, it's not that it's sort of totally separate from the pshat. No, it's a deeper dimension, it's a deeper level of the pshat. The deeper level of the pshat, again, אסתר קרקע עולם היתה, and again, and from the pshat you see that there was a chiyus in that because that was the source of the ultimate yeshua. Ve'zeh she'amru, again, this pshat of recognizing that karka olam, karka represents sort of the ultimate in the chomriyus, so that carries over just as that's the הבנה על דרך הנסתר in the Gemara of אסתר קרקע עולם היתה, it carries over also coming back to Yosef. So Chazal say again on the pshat level that Yosef was about to succumb and na'atz tzipporno ba-karka. And the way he avoided cheit was na'atz tzipporno ba-karka, literally he dug his nails into the ground. U-tzonam lomar, u-tzonam lomar, nichnas bine-itzah again since ne-itzah means to penetrate, right, if you dig your nails into the ground, so you're penetrating the ground. It's not just on the surface, but na'atz again means to dig in, to penetrate. נכנס בנעיצה אל תוך חיות הגנוז בקרקע. Na'atz tzippornav bakarka again, it happened on the peshat level also. But how was he able to overcome again this incessant giruy, this intensive hasasa? So again, so physically what he was doing was na'atz tzippornav bakarka, but what gave him the fortitude to be doing that physically? What gave him the fortitude to be doing that as opposed to succumbing to cheit? That's what the Maor Va-Shemesh says, no, 'cause it's also telling you what's happening on a deeper level. On a deeper level, נכנס בנעיצה אל תוך חיות הגנוז בקרקע. That eina-chonami again he-chacham einav be-rosho, if you just look at the surface so then you don't see the again the chiyus she-bo and the person can just be overcome with the chomriyus. However נכנס בנעיצה אל תוך, the inner core, הגנוז בקרקע וציפורניו הם מותרות. Right, nails are sort of are I think they comment that this is from the Arizal. That when you think about it, nails don't really, I mean, if you compare them to limbs, they don't really have any function. Again, so we use nails to scratch something or something, but if you sort of compare to the type of functioning that limbs play, so then nails don't do anything. Nails and hair don't do anything, right? They're things which sort of seem to be extras in the human body, right? Ve-tzippornayim hem mosaros. From the Arizal. Ve-hu nichnas be-mosaros. So he again, so mosaros is sort of the I guess it's the ultimate in again on the in terms of the externalities and the superficiality אל תוך חיות הדבר הגנוז במותרות. Again all the same the same midah, right, the same tzuras ha-avodah. וזהו ויבוא הביתה לעשות מלאכתו. Right, the pasuk says that on that day again when Eishes Potifar tried to be machshil Yosef be-cheit, וזהו ויבוא הביתה לעשות מלאכתו. So the pasuk describes that Yosef, again, so the peshat in the pasuk is that Yosef came home la-asos melachto. אמר בזוהר עובדתא דקודשא בריך הוא דא ייחודא. Avodas Hashem is yichud, again, דהיינו שיחד המדרגות תחתונות בעליונות. So you hear what he's saying that based on the Zohar the peshat in va-yavo ha-bayisa is, again, the peshuto shel mikra is he came home, but bayis is let's say you have in Parshas Noach, mi-bayis u-mi-chutz titzpennu. So bayis means inside, right, bayis is a house and bayis also means inside, mi-bayis u-mi-chutz titzpennu. Right, Noach is told that he should coat the teivah both inside and outside. The wood of the teivah should be coated both inside and outside. So va-yavo ha-bayisa says the Maor Va-Shemesh it means he entered in to the tochiyus ha-devarim, right? He-chacham einav be-rosho, that's what it means. וזהו ויבוא הביתה לעשות מלאכתו, and that's what the Zohar is commenting, giving with that understanding of ha-bayisa, that's what the Zohar is commenting that the melachah is yichud. What does it mean yichud? דהיינו שיחד המדרגות תחתונות בעליונות. When a person encounters the midah in its nefulah condition, in as expressed in chomriyus and he again elevates that midah, he recognizes the... ואמרו אסתר ירקרקת הייתה. So again, Esther represents, again, the actual historical real person Esther also represents because it was a time when Hashgacha was nister, so Esther represents what's nister, right, when the chiyus is nister. So Chazal comment that Esther yerakrokas hayasa, that then Esther wasn't really attractive. She had a greenish complexion. That she wasn't attractive. So why is it that the Megillah, so how can the Megillah say that ותהי אסתר נשאת חן בעיני כל ראיה? We all react to outer appearances, we all react to physical appearances. Ella, Chazal say, חוט של חסד משוך עליה. Right, we use that phrase, right, someone has chein, right? So she had a chein that made her appear beautiful even though sort of objectively, as it were, she had a very unattractive complexion. Esther yerakrokas hayasa. So what is what is that physical, what is that physically manifesting? What's the idea that's being physically manifested that way? כי דברים שהם בסוף המדרגה מעצמם מאוסים. When you look at something only on the physical level, again, not the chiyus shebo, not in the context of avodas Hashem, just on a purely physical level, right, שהם בסוף המדרגה, so meatzmam heim me'usam. There's nothing more mo'us than that. So again, kol zman that you only see the hester, so then it's yerakrokas. It's very unattractive. על דרך אשה חמת מלא צואה. Right, when Chazal sort of depict how irrational the yetzer hara is that men experience for women, so they say that they depict the woman, again, it's not people who like to find fault with Chazal you know think that this is a misogynist comment, it's not, it's just depicting sort of how just animalistic the yetzer hara is as opposed to anything which is rooted in if they were interested in saying the same thing about how animalistic the yetzer hara of a woman is so then you would depict Al derech pshat, you would depict a man the same way. על דרך אשה חמת מלא צואה. Chemas is a kedeires. Ella שהקדוש ברוך הוא משך חוט של חסד. What does that mean? It means again, it means that the purely physical really from is something which is mo'us, but it's only when you have the chiyus shebo, that connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that it's beautiful. And that's what Chazal are expressing when they're saying that Esther as it were objectively was yerakrokas, she had this greenish complexion, but שהקדוש ברוך הוא משך חוט של חסד, so people saw, it's when you see the toch, when hachacham einav berosho, then even the physical appears beautiful. נמצא לעולם ידבק יותר בהקדוש ברוך הוא שהוא חסד כל החסדים ותענוג כל התענוגים על דרך קל וחומר.
So a person should think, a person finds himself, again, due to the yetzer hara, a person finds himself naturally attracted to the chomriyos, so a person should stop to think that kal vachomer, אם מפני חוט של חסד שמשך בדבר מאוס נמשך החשק,
if as it were just Hakadosh Baruch Hu dangled a chut shel chesed and that totally transformed the yerakrokas mo'us into what's really beautiful, כל שכן למחיה חיים, if a person, again, he elevates that midda and instead of being mis'aveh... settle as it were to being misaveh to chomriyus when he can redirect that taiva to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, chesed kol hachasadim, taanug kol hataanugim. Okay, we'll stop here.