Why is the Shin at fault?

00:00 Speaker 1 Let’s move on. The letters reish and kuf, these two letters, [unclear]. On the one hand, when we speak about tzimtzumim, it’s possible to derive from these letters [unclear]. But ultimately, these letters cannot endure. So the question is about the shin: what exactly is happening here? Good! About the shin, [unclear]. Because the letters kuf and reish, if we take this as straightforward, [unclear]. Even when someone tells a lie, he puts a little truth into it. The letter shin represents three lines. Three lines are completeness: chessed, gevurah, tiferes. Three lines represent the three Patriarchs. So the shin in itself is a proper, straightforward letter. But the letters kuf and reish—the word sheker, “falsehood,” is made up of kuf, reish, and shin. The letters kuf and reish [unclear]. Simply because otherwise falsehood could not endure. But what is the shin doing here? Kuf and reish alone cannot stand; that’s clear. Even with the shin, [unclear].

01:45 Speaker 1 [unclear]. But on the other hand, it’s difficult. To understand the point a little more easily: there was once the great chossid Reb Berel [unclear]. Reb Berel Tayer—someone asked him [unclear] about young men. [unclear] But the chassidim of old didn’t just study a maamar; they also thought about it, contemplated the maamar. A person could spend all those hours, but his contemplation would be on that subject. That’s how it is with Torah. [unclear] Someone asked: that’s all very well; perhaps we’re talking about a soul [unclear]. But you can’t expect someone to spend the whole davening praying while contemplating the subject. Everyone davens more quickly; they just pause for a moment, pause at night [unclear]. But look, people point a finger and say: “Ah, that great chossid—he davens at length” [unclear]. That’s clear [unclear]. But perhaps [unclear] the idea, that he should daven at length and think Chassidus. Reb Berel Tayer answered the question: the yetzer hara, the animal soul, won’t take a risk like that. It won’t push a person to think about a maamar all the time, what do I know, [unclear]. If he thinks Chassidus all the time, he won’t be under its sway at all [unclear].

03:54 Speaker 1 He won’t obey the animal soul at all. It won’t take a risk like that.

04:00 Speaker 2 The investment isn’t worth it.

04:02 Speaker 1 You understand?

04:03 Speaker 2 The investment isn’t worth it.

04:04 Speaker 1 If it isn’t worth it, well, [unclear]. The animal soul won’t push a person [unclear] to think Chassidus all the time [unclear]. Because the little dollar it might lose there [unclear] billions of other dollars, [unclear]. But unfortunately, we don’t really recognize this. And that’s what happens when the kuf and the reish bring the shin into their midst. Falsehood needs the shin; without the shin, kuf and reish could not stand. That’s also why the shin comes at the end. That’s what the Rebbe says. I don’t know whether we understand the [unclear] Midrash. I mean that word, but I still want to [unclear] the point about the shin. But perhaps that’s how it is. You know, that’s the shin, so to speak. Now, it may be that the Rebbe [unclear], but we can use this today. That in itself is no longer correct in that way. [unclear].