Explanations of the Prayers - Halleluyah, Halleli - Part 4

00:00 First of all, on the plain level, this is certainly “Blessed are You.” Yes, we’re talking about how Hakadosh Boruch Hu cares for orphans and widows. He cares for all those who are vulnerable and has compassion on them. But then, according to the deeper meaning, we explained that this is about refining a spark, a spark of holiness. We explained what “Hashem protects converts” means. We explained that “converts” can mean sparks of holiness that have been scattered. What does “convert” mean here? The Torah and our Sages say, “The Jewish people were exiled among the nations only so that converts would be added to them.” So the Rebbe asks: How can we say that the entire purpose of exile is to bring about converts, when we don’t find a mitzvah to make converts? There is a positive commandment to put on tefillin or to immerse in a mikveh, but there is no positive commandment instructing us to make converts. There is no such mitzvah. Why? Because we are not required to make converts. So how can we say they were exiled only so that converts would be added to them? In other words, that the reason for exile was to bring about converts. So the Rebbe explains: Here, “converts” means sparks of holiness. Sparks of holiness are in places where they don’t belong. They are inside kelipah, and so they need to be “converted.” That is, they need to be taken out of where they are and brought into a place of holiness. “Converts” are the sparks of holiness found in everything. A person eats food. In that food there is a spark of holiness within kelipas nogah. Even kosher food has nogah in it, and we need to take the spark out of there. By eating it for the sake of Heaven, we refine and release the spark. That is what it means for “converts to be added to them.” That is the meaning: that converts would be added

02:20 to them—to refine the spark. This applies to all food and drink. There are also sparks within the three impure kelipos, not only sparks in nogah. A spark of holiness can be found within the three impure kelipos, and it can be released through teshuvah, when “deliberate sins become merits for him.” Then even sparks that fell into something utterly negative can be taken out. A spark involved in a sin, something that seemed lost—even that can be transformed through the work of teshuvah. According to this, the meaning of “Hashem protects converts” is that “converts” refers to all the sparks of holiness. After a person has refined a spark, it still needs protection because it was previously within kelipah. We discussed this in the previous class: [unclear]. This is especially true of a baal teshuvah. As we said, “converts” can also refer to a baal teshuvah. Even when a baal teshuvah turns away from evil, he may still feel drawn to things of this world because he was once within kelipah and knows them. So he needs special protection. We say, “Hashem protects converts; He uplifts the orphan and widow.” He protects the baal teshuvah and protects the spark so that it does not become a source of nurture for this world again. That is the idea. Then we say, “He uplifts the orphan and widow.” If this passage is speaking about refinement and the work of teshuvah, what does “He uplifts the orphan and widow” mean? These are two kinds of distance, two situations that sometimes call for being drawn close. What is an orphan? What is a widow? There are

04:17 two ways of explaining this, if you like. We can explain it in a simpler way. The author of the Tanya explains it in terms of [unclear], but let’s explain it more simply. What does “orphan and widow” mean? An orphan is someone without a father. We spoke about this—I don’t remember whether we did or not. But to bring out the idea, let’s consider sight. A person who stumbles in what he looks at or listens to is called an orphan. What does that mean? An orphan is someone without a father, without a mother, or without either parent. What are father and mother? Father and mother are chochmah and binah. Among the faculties of the soul, these correspond to sight and hearing. Sight is connected with chochmah, with taking in an insight; hearing involves breadth and working through a subject, which is binah. So sight and hearing correspond to chochmah and binah. The author of the Tanya explains in Tanya that these are father and mother. When a person, for example, stumbles in what he looks at and looks where he should not, that is a form of being an orphan. It creates distance within him: the chochmah of his soul does not shine. If a person is lacking in hearing, that impairs binah. So this is the idea of an orphan: someone lacking a father or a mother, one or the other. That is the definition of an orphan. And a widow? What is a widow? A widow is a woman without a husband. Her husband has passed away, may we never know of it. [unclear] What is the woman? The woman is the soul, and her husband is Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

06:15 The point is that the soul is a vessel for receiving from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The soul is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, through binah and all the faculties that bring about that connection. Husband and wife represent a way in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed. A widow is someone whose husband is no longer there. In other words, the flow of G-dliness is lacking. These, then, are the two aspects of orphan and widow. We say “orphan and widow” even when a person has stumbled in sight and hearing in the literal sense. Imagine that he has also become like a widow: by committing transgressions, he has become separated from G-dliness, separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He has lost something as well. The meaning of “widow”—the Gemara says that the Hebrew word almanah can be read as al maneh, “without a maneh,” missing a maneh. The Gemara in Kesubos says that a virgin receives two maneh, while a widow receives one maneh. So almanah means that a maneh is missing. How much is a maneh? A maneh is one hundred zuz. The significance of a maneh is that it is one hundred. What do the hundred zuz represent? The ten faculties of the soul, each encompassing all ten. So al maneh means that the soul’s faculties do not shine within him. The faculties of his soul are not illuminating him. That is the idea of the orphan and widow. The verse tells us that even a person who has reached the state of an orphan and widow—Hashem our G-d, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, uplifts him and gives him the strength and the opportunity to emerge from exile once again. That is the explanation. There is much more to this, if we want to understand it more deeply.

08:16 Yes, so this is why he is called an orphan. There is such a concept. Yosef was an orphan. His mother passed away when he was a young child. Yosef and Binyamin were both orphans, but here we are speaking mainly about Yosef. Yosef is called an orphan from his mother, because his mother passed away when he was an infant, leaving him an orphan. The deeper meaning concerns the sefirah of yesod: it has no mother. That means binah is not drawn down into it. Yesod needs to bestow. For yesod to be able to bestow upon the world, binah must give it the strength. For the sefirah of yesod to bestow upon malchus, for its flow to descend below, yesod must receive from binah. Generally, yesod receives the aspect of binah. That is why the verse says, “For all that is in heaven and on earth”: yesod is called kol, “all,” whose numerical value is fifty, corresponding to the fifty gates of binah. That is the idea of the sefirah of yesod receiving from binah. But when binah does not shine within it, that is a state of exile, and yesod becomes an orphan. The sefirah of yesod is called an orphan because it lacks the garment it receives from its mother. This is the state of exile. That is why it is written that the Hebrew initials of “handsome in form and handsome in appearance” spell yasom, “orphan.” This also refers to Yosef. The verse says of Yosef that he was “handsome in form and handsome in appearance,” which alludes to this idea of an orphan. Being handsome in form and appearance points to various kinds of completeness, and so on. But “orphan” means that he is in a state where his sefirah does not shine, malchus does not shine, and from this comes the state of exile. That is the idea of exile.

12:21 And an orphan—Yosef was in the position of an orphan. This became part of the state of galus. The same applies to a widow. A widow refers to Malchus in galus: Malchus is left without the influence of Yesod. In other words, the orphan and the widow are two things, one causing the other. When Yesod does not receive influence from Binah, it cannot pass that influence down to Malchus, so Malchus is left without her husband. Her husband is Yesod. So Malchus is left without the influence of Yesod and becomes a widow. That is the state of the time of galus. This is the meaning explained in Chassidus. I’ve said this several times before, and the Rebbe also brings it up many times in his sichos. The Zohar asks: What is the difference between the time when the Beis Hamikdash stood and the time of galus? When the Beis Hamikdash stood, there was a garden, and the garden had a gardener—the person who tends it, plants in it, and makes things grow. This refers to the tzaddik. But during galus, “the gardener does not enter his garden.” The gardener does not enter the garden. The gardener is Yosef, who corresponds to the tzaddik. Yosef brings Divine light into the souls, which are associated with Malchus. During galus, “the gardener does not enter his garden”: Yesod is not present in Malchus, and so the souls do not receive the Divine influence they need. This gives rise to everything that happens during galus, when the souls themselves are in galus. How do they live? They do not have the influence of Yesod; the tzaddik does not shine within them. The maamar explains, though, that even after the histalkus, he still

14:04 continues to exert influence. This is what is meant when we say that even during galus there are aftergrowths. That is the meaning of “He encourages the orphan and the widow.” Even during galus, when they are in the position of an orphan and a widow—Malchus being the widow—He encourages them through the aftergrowths. As Rashi explains, even when a field is not sown, things grow from what remained there from before. Similarly, even during galus there are tzaddikim—our Rebbeim—who continue to exert influence. By the ordinary course of nature, there should not necessarily be influence coming from outside, but they act beyond the ordinary course of nature. This is the idea of aftergrowths: even during galus, help for the soul can come from outside. That is the meaning of “He encourages the orphan and the widow” according to the deeper interpretation.