The power of Machshavah

00:00 But the bittul that [unclear] among chassidim [unclear]. It says: “And Hashem saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.” What does “but Rachel was barren” mean? Rachel is malchus. Malchus is the world of speech. Speaking—speaking isn’t hard. She doesn’t want to think. Leah is thought. Bittul doesn’t mean: I have been [unclear] on the Rebbe’s shlichus for more than twenty years. I studied at the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva [unclear]. After all, I could have stayed in kollel and studied [unclear], and that way have bittul, but instead I travel on the Rebbe’s shlichus. What would I do all those years in kollel? [unclear] give whatever is wanted. About this it says: “And Hashem saw that Leah was unloved”—she doesn’t want to think; she doesn’t want to work on her thoughts. Thought is left wide open: everyone thinks whatever they want, whatever comes into their head. You have to hold on to your thoughts, be in control of them, so you don’t get drawn into things you shouldn’t be drawn into. Then, as a result, you don’t do things in speech and action that are contrary to what is right. Thought is the first garment, and it is the foundation for speech and action. Everyone knows that what a person thinks eventually finds expression in speech and action. And when a person sinks deeper and deeper into thoughts about undesirable things, that path draws the whole person into things that are the opposite—the opposite of what a person should be. He damages himself; not spiritually—in a physical sense, he damages himself.

01:46 He stops being a human being. Everyone knows: if a person is too immersed in thoughts that are contrary to what is right, you may not be able to see it, but he is immersed in those thoughts—what happens in the end? He loses his sensitivity; he loses his humanity. But she doesn’t want to allow herself [unclear] thought. Thought is [unclear]. I say that bittul begins when you study at Tomchei Temimim. That is where you learn to set yourself aside, to have bittul, to have bittul. When she truly wants to place limits on herself, when she wants to think—and to refrain from thinking—and to stop an improper thought, that is “And Hashem saw that Leah was unloved”—she doesn’t want to [unclear]. It becomes [unclear]. Speech, speaking: yeshiva students talk among themselves about good things, about chassidic things. They talk about what the Rebbe did, about what the Frierdiker Rebbe [unclear]—very good, very good. But do you know what they talk about? They talk about what happened among chassidim [unclear]. We used to tell a story like that among the Temimim. And [unclear], and why [unclear]. For students to talk about these things—very good, very good. But that, that is not the ultimate point. The one who truly succeeds more on shlichus is the one who, while he was in yeshiva, [unclear] set himself aside. Bittul—that is the point. Even a lower level of bittul has its root in the first bittul.

03:35 Bittul. [unclear] is the root of her ascent. The bittul of something lowly is that same [unclear].