Episode 215 - What is the Power of Yesh?

00:01 Let us tell stories about the chassidim of the Mitteler Rebbe. A young man among the Mitteler Rebbe’s chassidim came to him for yechidus, asking for a way to correct what he called his “sense of self.” The Mitteler Rebbe asked him, “Do you know what a sense of self is?” “No,” the chossid answered, because he wanted to hear what the Rebbe would say. The Mitteler Rebbe told him, “But you are asking for a way to correct it. You need to know what a sense of self is, and what is wrong with it.” Still, the young man did not dare answer, so the Rebbe said to him: “You know that G-d made one thing opposite the other. Just as on the side of holiness there are endlessly many levels of holiness, so on the opposing side there are endlessly many levels of impurity. The two forces, good and evil, stood before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, each asking, ‘What will my task be in the world?’ The Creator answered the side of holiness that its task would be to reveal to the world the truth: there is a G-d who forms and creates everything, and every created being must do the will of its Creator. The other side, too, received a command from the Creator: to reveal to the world the exact opposite—the lie that there is no G-d on earth, and everyone is free to do as he wishes, G-d forbid. The other side said to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, ‘How can I come to the people of the world with such lies? Will they listen to me?’ The Master of the World told it, ‘I promise you that they will listen to you just as they listen to the side of holiness.’ ‘And what will my name be?’ asked the other side. Hakadosh Boruch Hu told it, ‘The primordial serpent.’ The other side said before the Master of the World, ‘The very name alone will frighten anyone I approach to entice.’ ‘Do not worry about that,’ the Master of the World told it. ‘I have promised that you will succeed.’ The primordial serpent came to Adam, but Adam would not listen to it. The serpent went to Eve, and she

02:33 listened to it and enticed Adam, too, to do as the primordial serpent had instructed. But after Adam and his wife regretted what they had done, and Adam fasted until his teeth darkened from so many fasts, the other side came again and said to the Master of the World, ‘Please take my life, for now Adam will no longer listen to me. Why should I go to him for nothing?’ The Creator told it, ‘Do not be afraid, and do not sin. I will change your name. From now on you will be called the Angel of Death, and with that name you will succeed.’ And so the other side did, until Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, came and began to spread awareness of G-d in the world. The other side again came before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, claiming that it now had no hope of succeeding: Avraham Avinu and his wife had made such headway against it that it could do nothing against them. The Creator told it, ‘I will change your name again, and then you will be able to work as before. From now on you will be called Satan. People will not understand at all what Satan is—whether it is something harmful or something good.’ The other side went by that name and succeeded, until Moshe Rabbeinu came and brought the Torah down from above. He showed everyone in the world that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is G-d, and there is no other power in the world—no Satan and no evil force at all. Then the other side again came before the Master of the World and said, ‘What am I to do now? My work is over. I have no hope left.’ The Creator told it, ‘I will change your name again. From now on you will be called yesh—self-existence.’ That name found favor in all the study halls and yeshivos, among the scholars and the great Torah minds. Under that name, the other side spread its wings over all who studied Torah, and it succeeded greatly. Then the holy Baal Shem Tov came, along with his holy disciples and their disciples, with their books of Chassidus. They revealed to everyone that this notion of yesh is an absolute falsehood, for Hashem, blessed be He, is the true existence, and everything else

04:54 truly counts for nothing. The other side again came before Hakadosh Boruch Hu and pleaded through tears, ‘Take me from the world, for there is no work left for me here.’ The Creator told it, ‘Do not be afraid. I will give you a new name: “a sense of self.” Even the chassidim will not recognize or understand this name. But in truth, it is all one and the same: it is the sense of self, it is yesh, it is Satan, it is the evil inclination, it is the Angel of Death, and it is the primordial serpent.’” The Mitteler Rebbe concluded, telling the young man, “Now you know what a sense of self is. Now you know what to guard against. Drive the scoundrel out of your home—your life depends on it.” Rabbi Hillel was a chossid of Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl. But then he heard Chabad Chassidus and decided that he wanted to travel to Lubavitch, to the Mitteler Rebbe. He told his wife, and she innocently told her father. Her father hurried to Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl and told him that Rabbi Hillel was about to become attached to the Rebbe of Lubavitch. Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl said, “Ask him to come to me at once.” Rabbi Mordechai asked Rabbi Hillel, “Is it true that you are thinking of leaving me?” Rabbi Hillel said, “What can I do? A burning longing for Chabad Chassidus is within me.” Rabbi Mordechai told him, “Know that your father’s soul belonged to my father’s soul, and your soul belongs to mine. If you leave me, you will be cut off from your root, and you will end up lying with your belly button facing upward.” Rabbi Hillel said, “Whatever will be, I will not change my decision.” Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl asked Rabbi Hillel’s father-in-law and household to watch him and not let him travel to Lubavitch. But Rabbi Hillel was not deterred. He was accustomed to rising early in the morning, going to shul and staying there until nine or ten, when he would study with

07:28 two or three young men. It did not occur to them that Rabbi Hillel would set out at night, especially on a winter night. One morning, Rabbi Hillel took his tallis and tefillin and went to shul as usual, but this time he continued on his way. He left the town and went on to Ratsitsa[?]. He did not stop there either, but continued to the next town. He entered the shul while it was still dark and asked the worshippers to collect money for his journey as far as Bobruisk. Thank G-d, there was no one there who knew him, so they collected the money he needed and he continued on. When Rabbi Hillel reached Bobruisk, it was nearly midday. Throughout the journey he had urged the wagon driver to hurry the horse, because he feared that someone might come after him. And as they hurried, the wagon suddenly overturned. Rabbi Hillel lay beneath it until the driver set the wagon back on its wheels. Then they continued on until they reached Lubavitch. As soon as he entered the Mitteler Rebbe’s presence, the Rebbe said, “He who told oil to burn can tell vinegar to burn. Vinegar, too, can burn with a beautiful flame.” Rabbi Hillel said to the Mitteler Rebbe, “But I am afraid of the curse of the righteous Rabbi Mordechai.” The Mitteler Rebbe told him, “Either way, there is no need to be afraid. He is a good Jew, and a good Jew cannot do anything bad. And if he curses, his curse has no effect.” But Rabbi Hillel told the Mitteler Rebbe, “He said I would lie with my belly button facing upward.” The Mitteler Rebbe said, “The wagon already overturned on you, and you already lay with your belly button facing upward. That has fulfilled it. From now on you have nothing more to fear, because his curse has already come to pass.” From then on, Rabbi Hillel remained attached to the Mitteler Rebbe.