Okay. Last time we finished Perek Daled, but without the Hagaha. We skipped the Hagaha. Let's come back to the Hagaha. כמשכן והמקדש העולמים כל התקרות והמעמדות וכל הסדרים וקדושת חולן כבאור דגניזא אוצר גנזים עלי יוסף וכדומה וכל קודש קודשים כולם היו דוגמא עליונה צלם דמות תבנית עולמות הקדושים וסדרי פרקי המרכבה.
Meaning the Mishkan and Mikdash were literally a microcosm, or a microcosm of the entire beriah and the different, all the different areas, chambers, etc., the kelim, corresponded to the architecture as it were of the macrocosm. המה יסדם דוד ושלמה הנביא הכל מיד השם עליהם השכיל כל מלאכת התבנית.
As the pasuk says that what the Beis Hamikdash means is that's why everything with the Mikdash had to be על פי רוח הקודש in order for the Mikdash to be structured in such a way that it really was this microcosm that everything, the way everything is arranged and the way everything is interconnected in all the olamos, that was all that was symmetrically represented and present within the Mishkan and Mikdash. That could only be accomplished מיד השם עליהם השכיל. ואמרו ז"ל פרק איזהו מקומן מאי דכתיב וילך הוא ושמואל וישבו בנויות ברמה וכי מה עניין נויות אצל רמה אלא שישבו ברמה ועסקו בנויו של עולם. ופירש רש"י למצוא מקום לבית הבחירה מן התורה.
So what does Reb Chaim want with the Gemara in Zevachim? That's apparently Noyo Shel Olam. Let's say, I'm not sure if this is what he intends, but let's say you say this phrase in English: "You want to go see the beauty of this world," so go to Yerushalayim, go to the Beis Hamikdash. So the phrase "the beauty of this world" can mean either of two things. It can mean "the beauty of this world" meaning this is nicer than anything else you're going to see anyplace else. Or "the beauty of the world" can mean, no, the entire beauty of the world. You want to see the entire beauty of the world, you want to see it concentrated, you want to see it all concentrated in one place, so go to the Beis Hamikdash. In dugma, that's how he's saying pshat in the Gemara in Zevachim. זה שכתוב בתנחומא שהמשכן שקול כנגד בריאת העולם. ומונה שם כסדר כל העניינים שהיו בבריאה שהמה היו גם כן במשכן. ולכן אמר הכתוב בבצלאל ואמלא אותו רוח אלוהים בחכמה ובתבונה ובדעת.
So Betzalel had to be endowed with chochma, bina, and da'at. Why? כי באלו ג' נבראו עולמות כמו שכתוב השם בחכמה יסד ארץ כונן שמים בתבונה בדעתו תהומות נבקעו. ועיין זוהר ובזוהר חדש עיין שם באורך. ולכן אמרו ז"ל יודע היה בצלאל לצרף אותיות שנבראו בהם שמים וארץ. ולכן האדם מעם הקודש,
and we'll come back to this phrase in a bit, the same way in the opening line of the perek, וזאת תורת האדם כל איש ישראל, that the tzelem Elokim, though it's only present among Jews, is basically a tikkun enoshus. ולכן האדם מעם הקודש שכלול גם כן מסדר בריאת כל העולמות כולם. סדרי בראשית וסדרי המרכבה כל הבריאה כולה וגם כן דוגמת ותבנית המשכן והמקדש וכל כליו.
Here too mechuvon b'seder מכוון בסדר התקשרות פרקי אבריו וגידיו וכל כוחותיו, everything about the physiology and the anatomy of the body corresponds to the briyah. וכן מחלק בזוהר על תבנית המשכן וכליו שהם רמוזים כולם באדם אחד באחד יוקשו כסדר. ומזאת הרי כיוון דעיקר עניין הקדושה והמקדש ושריית שכינתו יתברך הוא האדם שאם יקדש עצמו כראוי בקיום המצוות כולן שהם תלויים גם כן בשורשן העליון בפרקי אברי השיעור קומה כביכול של כל העולמות כולם עשו עצמם המקדש ממש.
So says the Nefesh HaChaim, the ikar the Ribbono Shel Olam's main interest k'v'yachol in having the Beit HaMikdash, he's going to elaborate this a little bit further in the hagahah, is really to show, to demonstrate for us the capacity that we have within ourselves to induce a hashra'as hashkhina. If you just skip to the next page for a minute, u'ldarkenu yesh lomar, again I'm using this edition, it's the bottom of page 116, u'ldarkenu yesh lomar still within the hagahah, אל תחשבו שתכלית כוונתי בעשיית המקדש החיצוני. Don't think that my ultimate goal is the physical Beit HaMikdash standing on Har HaBayit. אבל תדעו שגם כל תכלית רצוני וטעם עשיית המשכן וכל כליו הרי רמזתי לכם שממנו תראו וכן תעשו אתם את עצמכם.
What one of the main reasons that we tend, and so many of us underachieve, is because we don't have any hasaga, we don't have a correct hasaga of what we're really capable of achieving. If a person is convinced, let's say we have a student in school, and the student is convinced I'm a 70 student, I'm a 75 student, so that will certainly be a self-fulfilling prophecy, he won't be more than a 70 or 75 student even if he really does have the capacity to be a 4.0 point 4.0. If he realizes he has the capacity to be a 4.0, that doesn't guarantee that he's going to be a 4.0, but then maybe then he'll work at it and he'll takeh will be the 4.0. Says the Nefesh HaChaim, this is oyom v'nora, he says the whole reason there was a Beit HaMikdash standing on Har HaBayit, the whole reason there was and there will be a Beit HaMikdash standing on Har HaBayit is not because that's the ikar place for hashra'as hashkhina. That's to show us what we're capable of. That's to show us what our potential is. To go to the Beit HaMikdash and see and experience the hashra'as hashkhina, so that's to give us a sense of what we're capable of. הכל רמזתי לכם שממנו תראו וכן תעשו אתם את עצמכם.
Oyom v'nora. שתהיו אתם במעשיכם הרצויים כתבנית המשכן וכליו כולם קדושים ראויים ומוכנים להשראת שכינתי בתוככם ממש. וזהו ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם,
again, as he said earlier, we've already noticed as opposed to betocho, davka. What a person doesn't recognize that he can achieve, he doesn't achieve. It doesn't mean it was sort of a delusion, perhaps. But so while we're not supposed to underestimate ourselves, that's the whole point of the Beis HaMikdash. The ikker point of the Beis HaMikdash is that we should know you walk in and you feel the Kedusha, you experience the Kedusha and the Yiras Shomayim and the Yiras Hashem Elokecha that inspires, all that is to remind you, you know what? That can be you. Back to this paragraph of V'zos here on page tes. וזאת שכיוונתי עיקר ענין הקודש והמקדש והשראת שכינתי יתברך בהאדם שנתקדש עצמו כראוי בקיום המצוות כולם
etcetera. So there's an emphasis here on kiyum hamitzvos kulam. So what the Nefesh HaChaim here is explaining to us is, again, we because we don't know, because we don't understand correctly, we make a mistake. How do we recognize that a person can't pick and choose amongst mitzvos? A person doesn't have the reshuso to be m'kayeim some mitzvos. And the Gemara in Bechoros that a ger comes and says that he's wanting to be mekabel all mitzvos except one, so ein mekabelin oso. And then the Tosefta says even if he says דקדוק אחד מדברי סופרים, even if it's just one d'rabbanan that he refuses to be mekabel, ein mekabelin oso. So you can't pick and choose. But that recognition on our part notwithstanding, we still sort of think of things of okay, but l'ma'aseh l'ma'aseh, certainly retrospectively we think this way, and maybe subconsciously prospectively we think this way also. L'ma'aseh l'ma'aseh, if you kayeim most mitzvos, then yeah I'm going to get an A on the test. You answer most, even if the professor doesn't give a choice on the test, l'ma'aseh you answer nine out of ten questions, you're going to get a good grade. Nefesh HaChaim says but whatever errors they make in that reasoning, a different error follows. But let's say if a person wants to be healthy, wants to be physically fit. For whatever reason, let's say he has weakness in many of the limbs. Got a bad back, got a bad knee, he's got a lazy eye, v'chulu v'chulu. Okay. His arms are weak. So he'll go to the gym and so the doctors, the orthopedist, the physical therapist gave him all the exercises that he needs to be mechazek all the limbs. I don't have time for all this. So I'll go, I'll go to the gym and I'll lift the weights, you know, my curls, right? So I'll do my curls and strengthen these muscles and maybe I'll do the sit-ups for my back muscles. So I'm doing 80%? So how come my vision isn't improving 80%? How come my lazy eye is improving 80%? No, because the way the exercises work, they sort of work atomistically, right? This exercise is mechazek this, does nothing for my back. Maybe the sit-ups do something for my stomach and back, and does nothing for my arms, my shoulder muscles, my ankles, and all the other joints. You want to be physically fit, you've got to do all the exercises. Not a question of you did 80% of the exercises. Each exercise is gonna mechazek one part of the body. There's gonna be one exercise to mechazek the wrist, and one's to mechazek the arm, and one's to mechazek the shoulder, and one's to mechazek my back, and one for my eyes, and and maybe for my hearing, I need something else so. That's the way the mitzvos are m'kadesh the person. So the the in addition to whatever other mistakes we make when we sort of have this lo po k'pulo, okay, so I'm gonna get a ninety on the test, it's it's nisht geferlach. No, I don't think the person is gonna be happy with the fact, ah, my back feels so much better, my shoulders feel so much better, but I can't see. The lo po k'pulo, the ninety percent is not not much consolation in in, you know, when the orthopedist gives him a ninety on his, you know, on following the directions. That's what the Nefesh Hachaim is emphasizing, שיתקשר עצמו כראוי בקיום המצוות כולן, because that's the way again the within the again, if you imagine the human body corresponding to, which it does, and containing within it all these different spiritual kochos, so every mitzvah is a different exercise for a different part of the body. So lifting weights doesn't do anything for for your bad ankle, doesn't do anything for for your vision. If a person wants to be physically fit, he's gotta do all the exercises, not lo po k'pulo. שיתקשר עצמו כראוי בקיום המצוות כולן. ואז הוא עצמו המקדש ממש ומושב השם יתברך, כמו שכתוב היכל השם היכל השם המה, וכמאמרם זכרונם לברכה ושכנתי בתוכם, בתוכו לא נאמר אלא בתוכם. וזהו שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה גדולים מעשי צדיקים יותר ממעשה שמים וארץ. דאילו במעשה שמים וארץ כתיב אף ידי יסדה ארץ וימיני טפחה שמים, כביכול הקדוש ברוך הוא
created the world with one hand, ואילו במעשה צדיקים כתיב מכון לשבתך פעלת השם מקדש השם כוננו ידיך. ובית המקדש הקדוש ברוך הוא כביכול
uses two hands. פתחו במעשה צדיקים וסיימו במקדש, דהיינו מעשה צדיקים היינו מקדש.
Says the Nefesh Hachaim, כי כן באמת הצדיקים על ידי מעשיהם הרצויים לפניו יתברך הם הם מקדש השם ממש. ויתבאר על דרך זה הכתוב ועשו לי מקדש ככל אשר אני מראה אותך וכן תעשו. ורבותינו זכרונם לברכה דרשו וכן תעשו לדורות.
That's what Rashi learned there about the what's the v'chein ta'asu l'doros? The Torah says v'asu li mikdash, so what's v'chein ta'asu l'doros? What did Rashi say there that that if one of the kerashim gets lost or something, so v'chein ta'asu l'doros, so you'll replace it and and you'll make it along along the same along the same lines. And the Nefesh Hachaim says no, v'chein ta'asu l'doros means v'asu li mikdash, וכן תעשו עצמכם לדורות, meaning in all generations, that this element of the mitzvah is even when you won't have a Mishkan or Mikdash. We go to the next paragraph. וכן אמר הוא יתברך לשלמה אחר גמר בנין המקדש הבית הזה אשר אתה בונה אם תלך בחקותי ותעשה את משפטי ושכנתי בתוך עם ישראל ולא אעזוב.
And again, b'soch am Yisrael, the Nefesh Hachaim says doesn't mean that B'nei Yisrael live around the Beis Hamikdash, so by my Shechina being in the Beis Hamikdash I'm amongst am Yisrael. No, ושכנתי בתוך עם ישראל. ולזאת כשקלקלו פנימיות המקדש שבתוכם אז להדיא המקדש החיצוני ונהרסו יסודותיו רחמנא לצלן. וזהו שאמר השם ליחזקאל הגד את בית ישראל את הבית ויכלמו מעונותיהם וגומר, ונכלמו מכל אשר עשו צורת הבית ותכונתו ומוצאיו ומובאיו וכל צורותיו ואת כל חקותיו וכל צורותיו וכל תורותיו הודע אותם וכתוב לעיניהם וישמרו את כל צורתו ואת כל חקותיו ועשו אותם. והוא מבואר כתרגומו ואם יתכנעו מכל די עבדו ויחזון צורת ביתא.
Person looks to the Beis Hamikdash and sees it's supposed to be like looking in the mirror, what a person could be, what a person should be. Okay, let's begin Perek 1. ומה שעשה ברצונו יתברך שמו להגביל אדם התחתון בראשי עולמות עליונים שנסתדגו על ידו.
To understand a little bit more the dynamic according to which it's our actions that really control, that we're on top and that our actions control everything, כידוע בזוהר ובכתבי האריז"ל ובספר השתלשלות והתקשרות עולמות שכל עולם הוא מתנהג בסידור מצבו וכל פרטי עניניו כפי נטית כוח העולם שעליו.
Every world is conducted by the world above it. So משל למה הדבר דומה, let's suggest within our physical world. Right, it's the conditions up in the sky that determine whether it's going to be rain, whether it's going to be snow, and then that's what we get down here. So what we get down here is what's going up, what happens in the atmosphere so that trickles down and that affects what we have and what we experience and what happens in our world. So that happens in a spiritual sense. So when it rains in the higher world, so then it rains in the lower world. When the sun shines in the higher world, then the sun shines in the lower world. שכל עולם הוא מתנהג בסידור מצבו וכל פרטי עניניו כפי נטית כוח העולם שעליו שמנהיגו כנשמה לגוף.
The relationship between worlds one to another is that a higher world to the lower world beneath it has a relationship of a neshama to a guf. Again, just as the neshama animates the guf, and just as after yetziat neshama, Rachmana Litzlan, so then the guf is like an even domehm, it's like something inanimate. And it's only through the neshama that hashpi'as, so that's the relationship between every world and the world below it. וכן הולך על זה הסדר הגבוה על גבוה עד הוא יתברך שמו נשמת כולין.
Ayin Zohar (with the brackets the translation), וכל עולם עליון ותחתון מראשית סוד נקודה העליונה עד סוף כל הדרגות כולם הם זה לבוש לזה וזה לזה זה בתוך זה וזה בתוך זה.
Again, the same way when does my sleeve move? When does my sleeve stay still? So when my arm moves, then my sleeve moves. When my arm is stationary, so then my sleeve is stationary. So again, that's the same metaphor for the olamos. Right, the lower olamos are like each olam is like a levush for the olam ha-tachton, just like our malbushim don't have a mind of their own, they don't move around independently, everything is just a reflection of the koach of the guf inside the malbush. So that's what the metaphor of each world being a levush to the world above it is. U-v'Idra, וכל האורות אחוזים אור זה באור זה ואור זה באור זה ועם זה בזה אור מתגלה המתגלה מגו לבוש המוח והאור הפנימי שבפנים.
Okay, ופרטי העניין מבואר בעץ חיים שער פנימיות וחיצוניות דרוש ב' ובדרושי עץ חיים לאדם שער ז' פרק ז' פרק ט' ושער ה' פרק כ"ד.
And of course, we have the famous descriptions, we have this especially from Mendel of Vitebsk about the eimah v'pachad that befell anytime you would go into the presence of the Vilna Gaon. I have a famous description of when Mendel of Vitebsk was young, Mendel of Vitebsk said to him once with azus d'kedusha he said that. And as they begin to get closer to Vilna, so Rebbe Chaim Volozhiner begins, he sees Rebbe Itzele's father begins to turn pale, in fact the color is draining from his face, and he begins to shake, and he says, "Do you still want to go to the Rebbe?" and Itzele says, "Yes." and they get a little closer and Itzele is even more pale, he starts to shake even more, he says, "You really want to go?" and at the last minute Rebbe Chaim Volozhiner held back. I don't think you can catch Rebbe Chaim Volozhiner on anything in the Kisvei Arizal or anything in the Zohar or anything in Shas or in the Siddur, and he was ke'avda kammai marei before the Vilna Gaon. ופרטיות הענין מבואר בעץ חיים שהפנימיות והחיצוניות דאיתא בפרי עץ חיים דאגב בשער השלום פרק ח' ובשער השלום פרק כ"ד שהחיצוניות של כל פרצוף ועולם מתפשט ומתלבש בהפרצוף ועולם של תחתיו ונעשה לו פנימיות ונשמה.
So that's the relationship, right? That each world, the higher world is, this world is like the guf to the world above it and the neshama to the world below it, and that's the sort of the interconnectedness of the chain of the beriah. וכל העולמות נכללים ונחלקים ודאי כידוע שאין האופנים והחיות וכיסא הכבוד והאצילות קודשא בריך הוא
in ascending order. ונשמת כל אחד הוא העולם שעליו כמו שנאמר ובהנשא החיות והחיות הן גב האופנים,
right? So when the chayos are elevated, so Yechezkel sees that veyinnasu haofanim leummasam. Why? כי רוח החיה באופנים. So that's right, based on what Nefesh Hachaim explains, so now we see that's exactly the posuk is describing, right? That when the chayos move, so then the ofanim, the ofanim move, right? When you move your arm, so then your shirt sleeve is moving also. Why? כי רוח החיה באופנים. Because the chaya is the higher, is the world above the world of the ofanim. The spirit, the neshama, the chaya, the neshama of the chaya is in the ofanim, and therefore belechtam yeileichu, when the chaya moves, so then the ofanim move, uv'omdam, and when the chayos are stationary, so then the ofanim are stationary as well, ya'amodu. And in turn, והחיות גם כן ננהגים על ידי עולם הכיסא שעליהם כמו שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה שהכיסא נושא את נושאיו.
That's what it means, that the throne carries or supports those who, when you just look at it sort of superficially, you would think by their position are the ones who are really carrying the throne. החיות נוטלות וניטלות להון והחיות נושאות את נושאיהן והכיסא הקדוש נושא את החיות.
So here this is again the context in which Nefesh Hachaim is teaching us this idea and presenting the idea is sort of the scheme of the beriah. The yesod is that when the famous Gemara in Pesachim talks about how some of the chachamim had, I don't know what they'd call it, I guess we would call it they were clinically dead and then through CPR they were revived, so they beheld certain visions of Olam Ha'emes. And they said that in Olam Ha'emes everything is hafuch from what you see here, olam hafuch ra'isi, and then elef zimnin you can see olam hafuch, right? This world, what we see in this world is an olam hafuch. So it's according to what Nefesh Hachaim is telling us, that's such a major, major yesod in the beriah, dehainu... Again, so he's explaining in terms of just ontologically, in terms of existence, but it's so true and in so many ways. משל מה הדבר דומה: let's say a bona fide nitzrach, a bona fide ani comes and asks for money. And we give him. We think we're doing him a favor. So we experience that we did him a favor. Okay, so we try to do the same from ourselves, and we try to be aware of the shemonah ma'alot of tzedakah and the v'chulu v'chulu. But the bottom line is, I was doing him a favor and I tapped myself at least figuratively on the shoulder for doing him that favor. In the Olam HaEmet, where everything is hafuch from here, so what happened in Olam HaEmet? So what did I give him? I gave him ten dollars, fifty shekel, whatever, I gave him ten dollars. What did he do for me? He mezakeh me with zechus min hashamayim. So who was mehana who? Who was mehana who? Remember Monobazos? When Monobazos HaMelech opened the royal treasuries and gave away everything. And they said to him, what are you doing? You're giving away all your money. He says no, aderaba, he says, all my ancestors who didn't give away the money for tzedakah, he says, I give away the money so I'm investing, he says, every silver coin, he says, I'm investing. Every time we engage in a chesed, so we think that we're doing someone a favor. And lema'aseh, whenever we receive a chesed from someone, that is the way we're supposed to see it. We're not supposed to say, hey, I'm mezakeh you, so I'll give you twenty, I'll give you fifty, I'm mezakeh you more. No. When we're on the receiving end, so that is the way we're supposed to see it, and that is the way we're supposed to be makir tov, but when we're on the giving end, when we're the benefactor, so then a person has to know, the same thing is true of the chesed, the same thing is true of the chesed. A person always always always gets... I don't know what the factor is. Me'ah, eleph, ribo revavos from what he gives. Things are not the way they appear. Things as a matter of fact, things are almost always just the opposite of the way they appear. And that's what this is a yesod again, a yesod not just in this mystical presentation of how the briah is animated and how chiyus comes down to our world from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but mameila it affects, it affects everything. If when we're provoked, let's say, but generally provoked. But generally provoked. Unfairly, and certainly from our vantage point, unfairly, unnecessarily, without any justification. So we feel that a person always has to answer, not taking it, because otherwise I'm getting mocked and insulted, and no, I'm not that, I won't take that, because otherwise, otherwise I'm getting at least verbally beat up. And that if we don't answer, so then we're being defeated. If we answer, so then we're prevailing. Lema'aseh, Chazal say דכל הבולם פיו בשעת מריבה. So the schar is indescribable. So when a person keeps quiet and doesn't say anything, so he loses or he wins? Loilam hazeh, it looks like he loses. But the emes is farkert. This is such a such a big yesod. So many things in life are the exact opposite of what they seem to be at first. And the exact opposite of what they say in the world. Let's look into it for a little bit.