Aseres Yemei Teshuvah and Yom Kippur - the avodah of teshuvah with the yechidah of the soul

00:00 Speaker 1 The Gemara says that the verse “Seek Hashem when He is to be found; call upon Him when He is near” refers to the Ten Days of Teshuvah, beginning with Rosh Hashanah. The Gemara says: “Here it refers to an individual; here, to a congregation.” There is also the verse “Like Hashem our G-d, whenever we call upon Him,” and at first glance the two verses seem to say different things. One says, “Seek Hashem when He is to be found; call upon Him when He is near”—that there are special times. The Gemara explains that throughout the year, one needs to be part of a congregation; with a minyan, one can accomplish something. But during the Ten Days of Teshuvah, an individual can accomplish what a congregation can. There is a well-known explanation from the Alter Rebbe, quoted in the book Chanah Ariel by the renowned chossid Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac of Homil, who was among the Alter Rebbe’s early chassidim. He writes that he heard the Alter Rebbe say: What does “Here it refers to an individual; here, to a congregation” mean? “Here it refers to an individual” means the yechidah of the soul, while “here, to a congregation” means serving Hashem with the soul’s ten faculties. In other words, throughout the year, a Jew’s avodah must involve the ten faculties of the soul. During the Ten Days of Teshuvah, however, the avodah of teshuvah is connected to the yechidah of the soul. As explained in Chassidus, during the Ten Days of Teshuvah, the yechidah of the soul shines within every Jew. This is expressed in the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe’s son, the Mitteler Rebbe, in Derech Chaim. The Rebbe Rashab cites this

01:44 Speaker 1 in Kuntres HaAvodah: During the Ten Days of Teshuvah, the luminary draws close to the spark. In other words, the luminary—Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the source of souls—draws close to every Jew, who has a Divine spark within him. Ordinarily, throughout the year, a Jew must seek out Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is a person’s avodah throughout the year: through his efforts, a Jew must serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu and seek Him with his intellect, with his emotions, with the ten faculties of his soul. But during the Ten Days of Teshuvah, the luminary draws close to the spark. A light shines within every Jew. The luminary, Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, shines into every Jew’s soul, igniting the spark within him, kindling his soul. We can see this in the physical world: When a large torch is burning, a great flame, and there is a small spark, the small sparks are drawn toward the great torch. More than that: When a great flame burns near a spark, the spark flares up. It was almost extinguished, but when it draws close to the luminary—when the luminary draws close to it—it grows stronger and becomes a greater flame. The same is true during the Ten Days of Teshuvah. When Hakadosh Boruch Hu is “to be found” and “near,” this kindles

03:24 Speaker 1 every Jew’s spark, the yechidah of his soul. So the avodah then is on a much higher level. The question is: What is the avodah called “Here it refers to an individual”? What does serving Hashem with the yechidah of the soul, the avodah of the Ten Days of Teshuvah, mean in practice? What is the meaning, the substance, of this avodah—“Here it refers to an individual,” serving Hashem with the yechidah of the soul? This is relevant to all the Ten Days of Teshuvah, and especially to Yom Kippur, when it is even more pronounced. Even before that, regarding Shabbos Teshuvah, Chassidus explains that on Shabbos Teshuvah, within the Ten Days of Teshuvah themselves, the primary avodah is teshuvah ila’ah, higher teshuvah. As the Alter Rebbe writes in Tanya, in Igeres Hateshuvah, Shabbos is a time for higher teshuvah, and all the more so Shabbos Teshuvah. Shabbos Teshuvah is on a higher level than all the Shabbosos of the year. And the Rebbe adds: For this reason, all the Shabbosos of the coming year are connected to it. The primary avodah of Shabbos is joy; and on Shabbos Teshuvah in particular, the avodah is higher teshuvah. All the more so Yom Kippur, when the soul’s avodah is higher teshuvah, as explained many times in maamarim of Chassidus. When Yom Kippur arrives, it is the highest level of teshuvah, and the avodah there comes from the yechidah of the soul. It is said of Yom Kippur that it is a day on which we were commanded to say five prayers. What do these five prayers correspond to? The five levels of the soul: nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, and yechidah. This extends throughout Yom Kippur. It is a day on which we were commanded to say five prayers, and it is the

05:14 Speaker 1 fifth prayer that is connected to the yechidah of the soul. In general, then, the entire avodah of Yom Kippur is the avodah of the yechidah of the soul. Within that, when the time for Neilah, the fifth prayer, arrives, that is when the yechidah is revealed most fully, as explained. At the time of Neilah, the yechidah of the soul is present in every Jew, even the least observant Jew, whether hidden or revealed. That is when the main avodah takes place, because the innermost essence of the heart awakens then. This is the yechidah of the soul, the innermost heart, within every Jew, and this is the essence of the teshuvah of Yom Kippur. The question is: How do we explain this? What does it mean? How do we understand, in a person’s avodah, teshuvah connected to the yechidah of the soul? And more generally, what is higher teshuvah in the avodah of a person’s soul, especially teshuvah connected to the yechidah of the soul? As is said many times in maamarim of Chassidus, these are the same idea: teshuvah is connected to higher teshuvah, and teshuvah is connected to the yechidah of the soul. Maamarim of Chassidus often give explanations that bring out the central point of the avodah. And they tell a story. As is his way, he tells a Chassidic story, a story originating with the chossid Reb Avraham Razov. He lived in Montreal, and I knew him; he was a chossid, one of the few remaining from that generation, who told me this story, and it comes from him directly. He said that in Russia, in the days of the Rebbe Rashab, there was a Jew, a very wealthy man, named Leizer; I do not remember his surname. He was very wealthy, one of the most prominent people around the Rebbe Rashab in those days. He was a Jew, but he was very distant. This was a Jew who was estranged from

07:20 Speaker 1 all of his Yiddishkeit. His home was very far from Torah and mitzvos. He desecrated Shabbos, did not keep kosher, and so on and so forth. Even Yom Kippur had no effect on him. But he did have one fixed custom: Every year on Yom Kippur, he traveled to the large synagogue. He would go there especially for Minchah, enter for the Minchah prayer, and buy Maftir Yonah. It is well known that Maftir Yonah has several special benefits, particularly the benefit of wealth. He would travel—not walk, but travel by horse and wagon—to the large synagogue, a modern synagogue. He would go in, pay for it, receive Maftir Yonah, and read it as soon as he was called up. He used to cry while reading the maftir; he read it with tears and sobs. That was his routine. The moment he finished reading Maftir Yonah, he would leave, climb onto his wagon, and ride back home. He would not even stay for Neilah. That was his situation—a difficult one. Once, this came up in a conversation at the table in the presence of the Rebbe Rashab. They spoke about this Jew and his conduct. A question arose, and people argued: How can they give him Maftir Yonah? A Jew who desecrates Shabbos and Yom Tov, and who desecrates Yom Kippur at every moment as well—he does not even stay until the end of Yom Kippur—and they give him Maftir Yonah? [unclear]

09:08 Speaker 1 And the Rebbe Rashab said then: They gave it to him. He said: The fact that he reads Maftir Yonah, and the fact that he bursts into tears while reading it, is not an act; it is not false. It is because the yechidah of the soul shines within a Jew, and on Yom Kippur the yechidah awakens within every Jew. In his case, it expresses itself this way. In other words, when he reads Maftir Yonah, the spark of his soul awakens. A light shines within him, and that is a stirring of teshuvah for him. The Rebbe Rashab said then that eventually, after one time and another and another, the yechidah of his soul would prevail, and he would become a baal teshuvah. And indeed, I heard Reb Avraham Razov tell how, after quite a few years, this happened: He read Maftir Yonah and cried, and after Maftir Yonah he returned to his wagon. He was about to climb aboard when suddenly he cried out to himself: “Leizer, where are you going? To sleep? You’re a Jew! How can you leave here before Neilah?” He went back into the synagogue and said the Neilah prayer in tears. In time, he became, as far as I know, [unclear].

10:29 Speaker 1 He came back to himself, began once again to put his Judaism into practice and reconnect with it. This is the story of a Jew whose yechidah, the innermost level of his soul, was revealed on Yom Kippur. When we look at serving Hashem, what is the role of the yechidah in the work of teshuvah? As we discussed here, Chassidus offers several explanations. We reviewed the explanation in the Rebbe’s maamarim from Tishrei 5719. During that period, the Rebbe delivered quite a few maamarim. Tishrei 5719 was a rich Tishrei: the Rebbe delivered far more maamarim than in previous years. There were many maamarim of Chassidus, and they dealt extensively with this subject. Throughout that Tishrei, the Rebbe spoke about doing teshuvah with joy. I once heard—I was [unclear]—that, given the circumstances at the time, this was especially striking: throughout that Tishrei, the Rebbe [unclear] spoke in the maamarim, and the series of maamarim from that Tishrei dealt extensively with teshuvah performed with joy. The point made was that, generally speaking, every mitzvah should be done with joy. After all, we know that one must “serve Hashem with joy.” Our entire service of Hashem should be joyful. All the more so teshuvah, which is a mitzvah that encompasses everything: it certainly must be done with joy. But within teshuvah itself there are

11:56 Speaker 1 several levels. There is lower teshuvah, which, as explained in Chassidus, generally involves bitterness. In lower teshuvah, a person reflects on his conduct, pictures what he did throughout the year, takes stock of the wrong things he did, and considers how he distanced himself from G-dliness. In Igeres Hateshuvah, chapter 7, the Alter Rebbe explains that when a person reflects on his thoughts, speech, and actions—on how he distanced himself from G-dliness and [unclear] from Hakadosh Boruch Hu—it arouses tremendous bitterness and deep compassion. It involves bitterness. Nevertheless, the Rebbe spoke then about how even lower teshuvah must be done with joy alongside the bitterness. As he explained, since teshuvah is a mitzvah, and a mitzvah that repairs all the mitzvos, it certainly must be done with joy. What is more, this is especially true of this mitzvah, through which he also repairs the entire world. That is lower teshuvah. But when it comes to higher teshuvah, it certainly must be accompanied by joy. Higher teshuvah means that a Jew draws close and bonds with Hashem, that there is deveikus rucha b’rucha—a joining of spirit with spirit. A person bonds with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and the Alter Rebbe explains the nature of higher teshuvah in Igeres Hateshuvah: higher teshuvah

13:26 Speaker 1 must be accompanied specifically by great joy, the great joy of deveikus rucha b’rucha. A Jew reconnects his soul and its powers to their source and root. For the soul, above, was “literally a part of G-d above.” As the verse puts it, “And the spirit shall return to G-d Who gave it.” The soul descended here below, and it

13:50 Speaker 2 and it

13:50 Speaker 1 fell asleep within the body and the animal soul. Nevertheless, when the time for teshuvah arrives—the Ten Days of Teshuvah and Yom Kippur—and the essential bond is revealed, the connection between the yechidah of the soul and the yechidah above, his bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu awakens. He returns and reconnects his soul to its root and source, to “G-d Who gave it.” This reunion is accompanied by great joy, like a king’s son returning to his father the king and reuniting with him. In the maamarim of Tishrei, the Rebbe also addressed another point: What is teshuvah as it comes from the yechidah of the soul? What is the difference between teshuvah as it comes from the soul’s ten faculties in general—which is lower teshuvah—and teshuvah connected with the yechidah? As is known, the soul comes from G-dliness. The soul that descends below has five levels: nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, and yechidah. The ten faculties of the soul have their source in the Ten Sefiros above. The soul’s ten inner faculties are drawn from the Ten Sefiros. The Rebbe says in Tanya that they are drawn from the Ten Sefiros above. But the transcendent faculties are drawn from the transcendent levels above. The soul’s transcendent faculties, known generally as chayah and yechidah, are drawn from the transcendent levels above, from the sefirah of keser. Keser has two levels: the outer dimension

15:31 Speaker 1 the outer dimension of keser and the inner dimension of keser, called Atik in Chassidus, which is relevant to the yechidah of the soul. For the yechidah is the soul’s inner, essential bond with G-dliness. It is drawn from the inner dimension of keser, called Atik, Atik Yomin. This is the highest level of G-dliness. What does “Atik Yomin” mean? Why is this level of G-dliness called “Atik Yomin”? Because atik comes from a word meaning removed and separate—disconnected. In other words, Atik is the level of G-dliness entirely removed from the whole order of spiritual descent. It precedes that entire order: the worlds, the sefiros, and everything within it. Atik Yomin, the inner dimension of keser, is removed and separate—entirely disconnected, distant, distinct. Yes, atik means having moved or leaped beyond. Likewise, Atik Yomin is described here as, so to speak, leaping beyond: it is higher than, disconnected from, and separate from the entire order of spiritual descent. That is the level of the inner dimension of keser. We say that a Jew has a yechidah within his soul. What is the yechidah? The Atik within the soul. It is that aspect of a Jew’s soul which is completely disconnected and separate from all matters of reason and understanding and the order of spiritual descent. That is the yechidah of the soul, which is entirely above all

17:17 Speaker 1 the soul’s faculties. And this yechidah shines in one thing alone: G-dliness. So, in the soul’s service, what is teshuvah as it comes from the yechidah? It is the service of Atik. The Rebbe explains what the service of Atik means. Atik means to detach oneself; and similarly, in one’s service, it means to detach oneself, place oneself in a new position and state, break away from one’s previous state, and not go into every detail of the dirt and mud, of all the ways one has failed to conduct oneself properly, and begin correcting oneself detail by detail. Rather, one places oneself in a new state. One moves into a new, higher mode, connects with what is above, connects with G-dliness. One detaches oneself from one’s entire past and places oneself in a new state. That is teshuvah as it comes from the yechidah of the soul. In other words, there are two ways to do teshuvah. In one, a person corrects one detail after another. He works on himself and corrects another detail, and another, and another. He reflects on the ways he has not acted as he should, and he corrects and puts right each detail. By correcting all those details, he becomes a baal teshuvah. That is teshuvah as it relates to the order of spiritual descent, which is entirely

18:46 Speaker 1 Here the yechidah of the soul comes in and gives a Jew the strength to place himself in a new state, in the manner of Atik. He detaches himself from his entire past and adopts a new mode; he gives himself over to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and sets himself aside for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is the strength a Jew has during the Ten Days of Teshuvah, especially on Shabbos Teshuvah, even more particularly on Yom Kippur, and still more particularly during Neilah. Then a Jew reveals the yechidah of his soul and can place himself in a new state, in a bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Then the entire past will be erased completely, without a trace; indeed, his deliberate transgressions become merits for him. In one of those maamarim for Yom Tov—I think it was a Rosh Hashanah maamar—the Rebbe cited a saying. It is brought in maamarim of our earlier Rebbeim, including those of Reb Hillel of Paritch; this expression about the service of lower and higher teshuvah appears in the maamarim of our earlier Rebbeim: “When you cannot get through from below, you must go over the top.” He explains its meaning in one’s service: when you cannot get through from below—for example, a person begins with lower teshuvah, but lower teshuvah, with all its details, is not working for him, and he skips over things and falls into

20:06 Speaker 1 In the midst of despair over the work he needs to do, the Rebbe comes and says in the maamar that we are given the strength to go lechatchila ariber—to place ourselves, from the outset, in the mode of “ariber,” the mode of the yechidah of the soul. This is the work of “ariber,” of the atik of the soul: to lift oneself out, to break away, to tear oneself away from one’s entire past, and to place oneself in a new frame of mind, a new reality. That itself takes a person out of all his difficulties and makes him a new person. This is the kind of teshuvah connected with the yechidah of the soul, teshuvah ila’ah. That is what the Rebbe discussed in the maamar. Afterward, in the sichos, the Rebbe cited the well-known saying of the Rebbe Maharash, who added one word: The world says that if you can’t go underneath, you go over. Interestingly, what “the world says” already appears in a maamar of Chassidus. Yes, it appears in a maamar, even in a maamar of the Alter Rebbe, in the maamarim of the earlier Rebbeim. But the Rebbe Maharash said in his saying: Yes, but I say—lechatchila ariber. And afterward, at the farbrengen, the Rebbe spoke about “lechatchila ariber”: placing oneself, from the outset, in another reality, in the atik of the soul. He said that this is not something meant only for tzaddikim, lofty souls, or great chassidim. It was said

21:29 Speaker 1 to every Jew, without exception. For Yom Kippur is a day given to every Jew, without exception. He cites the wording in the siddur: “Out of Your love, Hashem our G-d, for Your people Israel, and Your compassion, our King, for the children of Your covenant, You have lovingly given us, Hashem our G-d, this Yom Kippur, for pardon, forgiveness, and atonement, and to forgive us on it for all our sins.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave us this day, on which the revelation from the luminary shines upon the spark; the luminary, Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, the Atik, is drawn down to the spark. This illuminates the atik of the soul in every person and gives every Jew the strength to pull free, break away, tear himself away, and place himself in another reality. Through this, the yechidah of the soul is revealed; this is the true meaning of teshuvah. He also says that this is connected with what is said about King David. What is said about King David? The Gemara says, as Rav Shmuel bar Nachmani taught: “The utterance of David son of Yishai, the utterance of the man raised on high.” There are several interpretations of this, and one interpretation the Gemara gives is: “He established the yoke of teshuvah.” David son of Yishai was the one who established, who set up, the yoke of teshuvah. What was King David’s innovation in “establishing the yoke of teshuvah”? He revealed this kind of teshuvah. “Established” means he set it up, raised it up. The very idea of teshuvah was not King David’s innovation; teshuvah is written in the Torah. Rather, King David

23:05 Speaker 1 revealed the depth of teshuvah—“he established the yoke of teshuvah”—the level of teshuvah ila’ah. For teshuvah ila’ah, this level of teshuvah, is connected with the yechidah of the soul: a person can place himself in another reality in a single hour, in a single moment, by revealing the yechidah in his soul, the atik in his soul, tearing himself away from his entire past, breaking free of it, and placing himself in another reality. And this is what is meant by, [unclear], and it transforms his entire being, to the point that his deliberate sins become like merits for him, and he becomes a new person. In 5748, on Shabbos Teshuvah, the Rebbe delivered a short maamar. The Rebbe said it at a farbrengen, and immediately the next day, I believe—or a day or two later—he edited the maamar. That was something new. It was the maamar “Mimaamakim,” a short maamar; the Rebbe said it very briefly. But that comes in here [unclear]. And the Rebbe edited it the very next day. Quite remarkable. In that maamar, he also discusses this point. He cites “Out of the depths I have called to You, Hashem,” the work of “out of the depths,” and also cites [unclear] from the Frierdiker Rebbe, from fifty years earlier, 5698. This was in 5748—fifty years.

24:42 Speaker 1 From the teachings of Chassidus. The Rebbe once spoke at a farbrengen about those maamarim. In a maamar of Chassidus, the Frierdiker Rebbe spoke at length about the distinction between the process of teshuvah and the essence of teshuvah. He explained the point: The process of teshuvah is work on individual details, correcting one detail after another, one matter after another, one thing after another within oneself. In this way, a person becomes a “complete person,” until he reaches complete teshuvah. But the essence of teshuvah is a leap: a person leaps from one reality into a new state and condition. This brings about a complete transformation and a new reality. That is the essence of teshuvah, and that is “out of the depths”—the depths of the yechidah of the soul, through which one reaches the “depths” Above. [unclear] And an entirely new reality comes into being. That is the true meaning of teshuvah. Following this, at the farbrengens of Tishrei 5748, the Rebbe spoke about the essence of teshuvah—placing oneself in a new state and condition. In that connection, the Rebbe said something beautiful and rich in meaning concerning the Rambam. As is well known, the Rebbe followed the daily study of three chapters of Rambam. At farbrengens and in sichos, he would take a law in the Rambam and explain it in terms of serving Hashem. For the Rambam himself writes that every law in the Torah is meant “to set one’s views straight.”

26:23 Speaker 1 Right? “To correct one’s views and set all one’s actions straight”—meaning to help people develop better character traits, better views, and better conduct. That is the purpose of every detail of every law. And we saw this with the Rebbe: he took laws and explained them in terms of serving Hashem. During that Sukkos of 5748, the daily Rambam study was in Sefer Nezikin, and they were learning the laws concerning a tam ox and a muad ox. The Rebbe spoke about a law brought in the Rambam, based on the Gemara in the chapter “An Ox That Gored.” The Gemara says, and the Rambam rules accordingly, that a tam ox and a muad ox—a tam ox is one that has gored once or twice; for a tam ox, the owner pays half the damages. When it causes damage three times, it becomes a muad ox, and then all the laws stated by the Gemara and brought in halachah apply to it. The law is brought that all this is when the ox remains with the same owner. But if “ownership changes,” if “the owners change,” and the ox has a new owner, it reverts to its tam status and becomes a tam again. All this raises the question: What is going on here? Right? Because “ownership changes,” because the owners change, its legal status changes. Why does its legal status change? Why does a change of ownership change the law? There are a number of explanations for this according to the revealed dimension of Torah. Right? There is the Meiri’s explanation, that because it has new people around it and new patterns of conduct, and so on.

28:00 Speaker 1 There are several explanations. But at that point the Rebbe was not speaking about the issue according to the revealed dimension of Torah—the sicha is printed, and you can see several such explanations there. Rather, the point the Rebbe explained then in terms of serving Hashem, continuing the theme of the maamar, was this: For an ox to become a muad, it must first be a tam, and there are two ways this can happen. One way is, as the law says, that it goes from one incident to another, and when it does the same thing again without changing its behavior, it becomes accustomed to it. That is the usual path. The second way, which the law introduces, is that when the owners change, it immediately becomes a tam again, without going through the whole sequence, the whole process. And these are two approaches in serving Hashem. There is the work of teshuvah in which a person corrects one detail, then another, then another, until he becomes a complete person in holiness. And then there is, as mentioned, the second approach: the owners have changed. He gives himself over to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A person decides, “From now on I have a new master; from now on I belong to Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” He gives himself over completely; he devotes himself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He lifts himself out, breaks away, and places himself in a new state and condition, something entirely new. This is the yechidah of the soul, which connects with the One and Only of the world. Because of this, he becomes a new reality, a new person, and so he is no longer a muad; he becomes…

29:27 Speaker 1 a new person, and the whole matter starts over. This is the main work of these days, during the Ten Days of Teshuvah, on Shabbos Teshuvah, and especially on Yom Kippur. So that is the work then. I had the privilege of hearing the Rebbe on Erev Yom Kippur 5750. After Minchah—the Rebbe’s practice on Erev Yom Kippur was to give a blessing to the entire congregation after Minchah. Afterward, there was a special blessing for the Temimim, the yeshivah students. In the blessing after Minchah on Erev Yom Kippur 5750, the Rebbe spoke about the work of teshuvah during these days. He said that, as explained in the teachings of Chassidus, there are several levels of teshuvah, but right now the work of teshuvah is specifically teshuvah ila’ah. He then said that in general, in our generation—those were the words the Rebbe used then—and especially in our generation, after what happened, may Hashem have mercy, across the ocean, when so many Jews perished there al kiddush Hashem, and so on, our generation is not a generation to which teshuvah tata’ah applies. The whole matter of bitterness and teshuvah tata’ah is not relevant to our generation. In our generation, the work is to begin specifically with teshuvah ila’ah. And what is

30:58 Speaker 1 Higher teshuvah? That is what the Rebbe spoke about in that sicha. And what is higher teshuvah? Higher teshuvah is, as the Rebbe says in Tanya, the avodah of Torah study: cleaving, spirit to spirit, studying Torah with awe, reverence, and great joy. That is the avodah of higher teshuvah. And that is what is demanded of us in our avodah: to place ourselves, from the outset, in a state of higher teshuvah. This comes from the strength the Rebbe gave us in [unclear]. The Rebbe also spoke then about [unclear], which [unclear] all the members of his household. But one can move immediately, from the outset, into a state of higher teshuvah, particularly in the avodah of the Ten Days of Teshuvah, and even more so in the avodah of Yom Kippur. When the avodah comes from the yechidah of the soul, it is higher teshuvah with great joy—the great joy of cleaving, spirit to spirit, through which a Jew connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This grows stronger until Ne’ilah, when a Jew calls out “Shema Yisroel,” the verses proclaiming Hashem’s oneness, and “Yisroel and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are entirely one” is fulfilled in him. As the Rebbe explains, the meaning of “Ne’ilah” is that all the gates are locked and the Jews are inside: “Yisroel and the King alone.” From there we move into the joy of “the season of our rejoicing,” all the way to the

32:22 Speaker 1 joy of Simchas Torah. And that is the greatest joy, when he and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are one, as we said. May we indeed merit a good final sealing, true teshuvah, higher teshuvah, with joy. And may it be a blessed year, a joyful year, and a year of Geulah and deliverance for all the Jewish people.