האם יש מקום לפחד ביהדות?

00:01 This is Igress, and today we are going to shift gears a bit, leaning away from practical advice from the Rebbe for the moment, and leaning today into the Rebbe's approach to an idea. It's a big idea in Hasidus that I don't think gets enough press. Uh, you've heard this a lot from me lately. If you've been listening to my other stuff or attending my farbrengens lately, this is something I'm hot on. So, you've heard of love of God and awe of the glory of God, but when was the last time you thought about basic fear of God, also known as yiratata, the lower level of fear? This level of fear is defined in Tanya chapter forty-one as fear to rebel against the King of all Kings, and is generally understood not as fear of punishment, which is a much lower level, but as fear of the gravity of sin itself, uh, yiras chet. It is also in most places in Hasidus synonymous with that dirty word, uh, Kabbalist O, accepting the yoke of heaven, not out of deep thought or conviction, but simply out of recognition that God is real and right and the King, and I do what he wants not because it feels good, like love or like awe, but because that's just what one does when one serves the King of all Kings. For our, uh, Hasidus scholars listening in, this level of yiratata is also closely associated with bitul hayesh, the idea that I exist and retain my individual identity, but

01:06 my will is entirely subordinated to that of God Almighty. Uh, practically speaking, yiratata is the last line of defense and also the foundation of our Judaism. It is the decision that even on my worst day, a day without inspiration or love or awe, I won't violate the will of the King. It has been claimed that it is somehow not part of modern Hasidus, which is all about love, and it has been claimed that it is somehow not part of Elul, this month we're in now, as we currently understand it, because now Elul has been tied ever since the times of the Alter Rebbe to a king being in the field smiling at us, and yiratata has therefore been canceled. Uh, w-- today we're going to un-cancel it with the Rebbe's help. Uh, we're going to explore yiratata in the Rebbe's letters in my-- and my Ma'amam and Sichas. And as usual, this is an enormous topic. We're not going to do it justice. There is so much more to see than what we're bringing here, but this should be a good start at least, uh, creating a foundation in the Rebbe's Torah for making yiratata a integral part, and I would say the basis, of the entire Hasidus. Without further ado, I have a couple very-- I have one very early letter. This letter is from the year Taf Shin Yud. It's labeled Taf Reish Yud Ches. This was written a year before the Rebbe assumed the Nasius, and it is a, in classic form

02:11 of these early letters, a more scholarly letter and a slightly more cryptic letter. But with the rest of what we see, it's going to all be very clear. So we're just gonna read it to start off. Why not work chronologically? The Rebbe sense-- The Rebbe says, um, regarding the commentary of the Megala Mukes that says that us Kenomer, we're told that we're supposed to be like certain animals in certain ways, right? We should be brazen like a leopard. I think that's what a nomer is, some sort of brazen animal. And that corresponds to learning Torah. Kal Keneshi, you should be light like an eagle. And also, nesher is probably an eagle. Uh, Rachmani Ava, that means you should have love for God. Rat Ketsi, you should run like a deer. Uh, that's mitzvahs, that you should do mitzvahs in that way. And Gibor Ka'ari, you should be strong like a lion. That would be yirah because aryeh, which is the word for lion, has the same letters as yirah, which is fear of God. So the level of being strong like a lion, which seems to be the foundation of all this and also the culmination of all this to some extent, is yirah, fear. U'mekubad l'da latzia Shem Havayah and Megalah Mukes links those to the four letters of Shem Havayah, Yud and He and Vav and He. Now, the Rebbe continues, "Hine, yiratata," this lower level of fear, "tra le'al l'chomat reges eimu." That is the gate through which you can go up

03:13 to every one of these levels. That is that one ascends through the gate of yiratata, this lower level of fear that we keep on talking about, and through that gate, one ascends to the level of love, to the level of mitzvahs, to the level of Torah. But the entrance fee is yiratata. That language that you're seeing there in Aramaic is tra le'al means that it's the gate that allows you to go up. Yesod, and it also is the foundation of all of these things. The foundation of Torah, the foundation of mitzvahs, the foundation of love is yiratata specifically. And yirei la, meanwhile, that higher level of fear, which is usually associated with awe of God and with bitul hamitzios, hi tachlisam. That is, of course, the point. That's where we're going toward. That's the goal. But the gate that gets you in, the price of admission to anything in Hasidus, whether it is love, whether it is inspiration, whether it is awe, whether it is Torah, whether it is mitzvahs, the gate and therefore the admission ticket, the cost of coming in and beginning your avoda, beginning your divine service, according to the Rebbe here, is yiratata. You're going to see this occur again and again in the Rebbe's writings, but that's our first taste. I have here another letter. This is from much later. This is from the year Taf Shin Yud Ches. This was eight years later. The letter is labeled Vav Reish Yud Zayin. We're only going to read the PS. I

04:13 will remind you, as I always do, that all of the action is always in the PS. If you ever see a Nun Beis at the bottom of a letter, read it furiously. That's where all the fun usually happens. Um, I want to see, uh, you know, save this letter in the back of your head because I wanna see if eventually we can roll this into its own episode because, uh, I didn't even realize there was something here. The Rebbe says, "Halashim dil el sh'sidura chasid yirei shamayim v'lamdan." If you have little kids and you are in Lubavitch, then you certainly have heard this one before. Uh, we, we, we, we wish children the blessing, and adults to some extent the blessing, that they should be a chasid yirei shamayim and a lamdan. They should be a chasid, one who fears heaven, and a scholar. We wish this to boys and girls alike. And of course, the words chasid yirei shamayim and lamdan have the roshei teivos. They spell an acronym that forms chail, which means a soldier in God's army. So it's a fantastic thing. It's a fantastic blessing to give people. It's a fantastic thing to ask God to give your children, that they should be chasidim yirei shamayim and lamdanim. The Rebbe says here in this PS why the phrase is used in that order. Why chasid, then yirei shamayim, and then lamdan? And the answer is not, as I assumed, because when you put it in that order, it spells chail, which

05:11 means soldier. It's for another reason, which is you can only serve God in that order. First one must be a chasid, then one can become a yirei shamayim, and only then can one be a lamdan. We'll read it inside. The Rebbe says, "Halashim dil el sh'sidura chasid yirei shamayim v'lamdan." This language of chasid, yirei shamayim, and lamdan, "sheshamarhu," is upon him, which you've heard about many times. "Yesh levarer di et piktima b'ichor." I want to explain, says the Rebbe, why they're in this specific order. "Sh'l'chal dereish tzarch li yes inina chasidus." Because first and foremost, there needs to be chasidus. That's the, that's the beginning. "Ki bira rabenu," I was not going to say it now. "We've guard-- as the apt Rebbe explained, 'Shem evatal atsmem b'shvil hazulus ad kidei sh'lei lachshesh l'chezak atsmem b'shvil teves azulus.'" And if you would like to know what it means to be a chasid, the apt Rebbe, who is the founder of Hasidus Chabad, explained what it means to be a chasid. This is his explanation of what a chasid is. A chasid is someone who is "mevatal atsmem b'shvil hazulus." That is someone who is willing to disregard their own well-being in favor of taking care of someone else. "Ad kidei sh'lei lachshesh l'chezak atsmem." So much so that he doesn't worry about damaging himself in order to have "teves hazulus," in order to benefit another person. That is what a chasid is definitionally. As the author Rebbe points out, as the Rebbe says in this parenthesis

06:15 from the expression from Chazal, that somebody who takes their fingernails, um, away from a place where they could be dangerous. If someone cuts their nails, they drop them on the floor, they could hurt somebody. It is the very bare minimum. You have to make sure that they're away, and they're not dangerous, and they're not gonna hurt anybody. But a hasid is someone who burns their nails. That is someone who's willing to damage their own body out of fear that their body could hurt somebody else. That is somebody who takes their own physical and mental and emotional wellbeing and makes it secondary to the needs of other people. That's the definition of a hasid. "Umi et yeshes atzme v'tziyas atzmi." This is someone who doesn't think very much of their own yeshes, of their own, um, I don't know, yeshes. Ego, if you will. That's a bad translation. "Umi tziyas atzmi," and their own existence. "Nesen smach um yiras shamayim." This-- Once a person lives that way, and they don't prioritize themselves, this creates room for yiras shamayim, and now yirah can come in, fear of heaven. "Ke'das Chazal, kol hamishag leish bagas seruach, har emek hash'vacha nimlu yachem lidor belemulemin em lu meksasa." As is said in Masechet Sota, in Tractate Sota on daf he, that God says, "I can't be in the room with somebody who is egotistical and thinks of themselves first." So this is an order. First, you have to decide you're not the most important person in the world. That is

07:16 being a hasid. After you've decided you're not the most important person in the world and other people matter, there's room to move from there into yiras shamayim, which is that I fear God, and I consider God more important, or God's will more important than my will, but that's hagadah. So first one must be a hasid. They can't be so full of themselves. Two, they can begin with yirah, and only after yirah, as the Rebbe is going to explain, can they rise to the level of a lamdan. The Rebbe quotes the Friediker Rebbe from Yutas Kisov tav heh tzadik gimmel, uh, gimmel, Teress Ben Ozaken, who quotes the Alter Rebbe in turn. "Dikei shel liba sh'lamim rachav lamit hadasa." When a person has a big heart from his and from his origins, that means he's full of himself. "Ve'einei zeig ve'chasidis," and he does not spend time in chasidus working on himself in chasidus l'var bi'dissa to fix his negative traits or even his positive traits to make them better. "Af hilu Shechina einei chashuva kenegdei," then ultimately, even the Shechina, even the divine presence won't matter to him so much. Somebody who is not working on themselves through chasidus, which means there's a lot of people that learn chasidus. There are not a lot of people, unfortunately, who use chasidus to be mevar their middos, who use chasidus with the intent of actually making themselves better people all around, of having better good middos and getting rid of their bad middos. That's what chasidus is

08:17 ultimately there for. A person like that, they don't even really think of the, the Shechina as being a big deal. You could show them the divine presence, and they'll go, "Eh, whatever." "Uvshita d'aza ein bakam liiras hash'china." So certainly there cannot be yiras shamayim for someone who has not learned and applied chasidus. "Ukeshi yesh yirah, dai zu akapanim yirat ata." And when a person has yirah, at the very least, says the Rebbe, "Yirat ata," this lower level of yirah, the conviction that they're not going to do a sin because the king is in the room, "azai yesh gam chachmah," then he gets a little bit of chachmah. He gets some wisdom. "Sha'ari ein ein yirah, ein chachmah," as the phrase goes, if you don't have fear, you can't attain divine wisdom. "V'adam kashe mechadesh kedushah b'hadru hu rak mesit tipshus. Ayin sham Teress Ben Ozaken mash ein kemef nimusei d'varim." Somebody who has yirah, who has at least yirat ata, when they come up with new ideas in Torah, they have a chance of that being chachmah. Someone who-- Of some being true divine wisdom. When somebody does not have yirat ata, this lower level of yirah, and they come up with, uh, new ideas in Torah, says the Rebbe, they are increasing the idiocy in the world. Use the word tipshus. They're increasing the stupidity in the world. They're not increasing the wisdom in the world. "Mazai nas al lamdan," and only at that point, once they have the basis of yirat ata, a

09:17 basic, uh, subordination to the will of God, at that point, they can become a lamdan. So the Rebbe says that the order of hasid, yiras shamayim, and lamdan is very specific. A person must be a hasid first, which means they can't be so full of themselves, and they can't think that they know everything, and they've gotta use chasidus to make themselves a little better. Then they can begin their divine service. The beginning of their divine service is yirat ata. And once they have yirat ata, then we can talk about them becoming a lamdan and being a knowledgeable person because somebody who doesn't have yirah can't have chachmah, and someone who does not have this basic fundamental baseline fear of God, anything that they add into the world of Torah intellectually ends up not being wisdom. It ends up being idiocy. I have another letter for you. This is labeled gimmel tav reish hei tzadik. I guess that would have been reversed had it been a different, uh-- We didn't want to spell a bad word. Tav shin tes vav. It's from Menachem Muv tav shin tes vav, and it is written to the Anheler of Tziyriyah, Gur Hasabad in, uh, Yirakei Yeshu Shalaim Tivenu Vesekenin. And the Rebbe begins by complaining that they do not write enough. Uh, that's what he writes in this top paragraph here. He says, "I'm very happy to receive your letter from Chaf Gimel Tamuz, but I'm shocked because I've already told you many times before that you only write

10:19 very short things to me, and I want longer letters. You're only giving me the basic points, and I would like you to explain what you're doing at length." And the Rebbe spends the first paragraph berating them for not sending him longer letters. I assume they sent him shorter letters out of consideration, but, uh, the Rebbe does not want that kind of consideration. The Rebbe says, "I want details, and you're not sending me details. I've told you many times to send details. Please start sending details." Then the Rebbe continues. "El atzar lifshmer al hanekudah." But we do need to focus on the main point. " Nekudah ve'echalah." The point that is inside the tent, which usually refers to the letter He, and, uh, just as a fun sort of aside here, almost certainly what the Rebbe is referring to, at least I think, is that the lower level He is the one that is associated with yirat ata, as we'll see in a moment. In any event, the main point is, "Kedeshel ayel chub derech ach lasayim," so that a person won't end up in a crooked path. "Vehanekudah hi inyan yirah vekabbalas ol achdus vetachlis sidrin ba'avodas Hashem." That is, what is the main point that prevents a person from ending up on a crooked path? That is the yirah, the fear, kabbalas ol, the acceptance of the yoke of heaven, achdus vetachlis with a fundamental oneness, achdus among Jews. "Yesodim ba'avodas Hashem," which is the order of, uh, divine-- of service of God as

11:19 a person does it. "Afshi yirah na al pi yirat ata." And even though we're clearly talking about here yirat ata, the lower level of yirah, we're not saying that this is a higher level of yirah, so you might think that that's a lower level of fear that you don't have to do or that is not shayech to you, and you're already on the next level. "Arim avur vekam kemeshichus le'yirah ilah." It's explained in many places. The yirat ata and yirah ilah, this higher level of awe of God, are very intimately connected. And as we will see in a moment, with God's help, in one of our upcoming sichas or maamarim, whatever's coming next on our screen, uh, we're going to see a bunch of proof that a person cannot reach yirah ilah without starting off in yirat ata. So the Rebbe says, if you're looking for a higher level of inspiration, you can't even hope to get there without the baseline of yirat ata. "Ve'hakabbalas ol bayin l'achdus," and you can only come to love your fellow Jew and have achdus and unity among, among the Jewish people if there's kabbalas ol, if you accept the yoke of heaven. "Kovuk beTanya pereg lamah beis," as is explained in the thirty-second chapter of Tanya. People don't talk about this very much, I don't think, but in the thirty-second chapter of Tanya, which we talk about a lot, which is all about loving your neighbor, it does open by saying that as long as you think you're

12:15 a big deal, and as long as you're the center of the universe, and as long as you don't have basic fear of God and bitah to God and kabbalas ol, i.e., acceptance of the yoke of heaven, how could you ever come to love someone as much as yourself? You'll always be looking out for number one. So that's what the Rebbe is saying here, is that we can't hope to have unity if we don't-- among Jewish people, and we can't hope to have any sort of divine service. We can't hope to have higher inspiration. We can't hope to have awe unless we begin the conversation for all of these points with simple good old yirat ata. The yirat ata is the beginning of Jewish unity. Yirat ata is the beginning of service of God. Uh, the Rebbe then adds, I just decided I'd throw in this paragraph because it is so shocking just how firm this is. Look at this. The Rebbe says, um, "I hope that you're going to, uh, spend your free time now." It's the summer. It's Menachem Av. "I hope you'll spend it in a healthy way." And then the Rebbe says, "אך בכלל ידוע שקפתי שאין זה מה אט לי מכף בכלל." Even though it is well known my position on this, which is that the summertime is not supposed to be free time at all. "להיפך דווקא" and to the contrary, "לכמה טעמים" for many reasons. "ולואי אשר הייתי" if I had the ability, "הייתי מבטל בעובר," I would retroactively

13:13 cancel the idea of summer vacation. "להיפך גם בקמפייבה. עשיתי" I certainly would cancel it in the present and in the future. So Rebbe just throws in as an aside, I'd like you to use your free time in the summer wisely, but people know that it is my opinion that if we could cancel the idea of free time in the summer entirely, I would be into that. I just thought you'd find that interesting as we are still in the summer. I have here a Maimer for you. It's from the year תשמז. Abayim, uh, Habayim from, uh, yeah, תשמז. So it's one of the later Maimar. I specifically chose later stuff so that nobody would come around and tell me that the Rebbe somehow, uh, canceled יראת אתת later on in his career. So I have here some of the later materials. This is from מז. I don't think much has happened since then. Obviously, tons has happened since then, but you know what I mean. And the Rebbe writes here, "הנה, עניין זה יש נגם פרטס ועבדס הנשמה למטה." This thing also applies that we're talking about to the עבודה of a person down here and נשמה down in this world. "שכך מאלס העבודה היא בעבע והעבודה הכי תחתנה בכנס יראת אתת וכבלס עול." That is that the main מאלה העבודה, that is the main advantage of the work that we do down here in this world as defined by the Rebbe is the lowest level of service, which is יראת אתת and כבלס עול. That

14:15 is that a Jew could be deeply inspired, they could be humming on a mountaintop, they could fly through the higher worlds in their mind. What is the main point of being here in this world? What's the main service that we do for God? יראת אתת and כבל and כבלס עול. Come over to Tanya. "שירא כבלס עול היא ראשית עבודה וכלי הש Arsha." As Tanya explains in chapter forty-one, that יראה and כבלס עול, the acceptance of the yoke of heaven and this fundamental lower-level fear is the beginning of service, and it is its root, and it is its basis. "והסלמת דשריאם בזה יפה זה נאמן על עשם ובד זה שי שרה שמקה שמיזן שחם כל פרטים. הנה גם אחר כך ששריקר כל פרטי העבודה יראה היא עיקר וחלה העניינים." The Rebbe says that tells us since it is the root which continues to nurture the entire service of a Jew, that would mean that even if you've reached a much higher level of divine service, even if you happen to be tapping in at a level of love or at a level of higher love or at a level of, of awe or one of these very high levels of service, even then, "דיראה היא עיקר וחלה העניינים," you will find that the יראת אתת, this baseline fear, remains the foundation and the root of every single thing that you do. That is that no matter where you come in into the discussion, you have to come in, once again, as we said in these earlier

15:14 letters, through the gate of יראת אתת, and you can't leave it behind once you've reached a higher level. When you reach a higher level, you still need to have that because that's the thing that nurtures everything else that you do. That at the basis, the foundation, and the root of everything that a Jew does is based around יראת אתת, and that's not something that can be, uh, that can be-- i-its importance cannot be overstated. Just gonna jump a little bit. "כנסת לעזה שכל הגוי ביס יראת למטה יסע הרי דוא שכל הדארגש יראה כשורו זובזו." This is a recurring theme in a lot of the Rebbe's work, that all of the דארגש in יראה כשורו זובזו, which means that the two levels of fear, the higher level of fear, which is awe of God and the sort of lofty inspirational idea that's given as a gift from on high, versus the fundamental fear of doing a sin and violating the will of the king, they are very deeply connected, these two kinds of יראה. These two kinds of fear are connected to each other. "פינצה שנקודה פנימית של יראת אתת, יראת אתת, היא בכנס יראת אלה, יראת אלה." And that is that you dig down into יראת אתת, what you will find inside it is all the advantages of יראת אלה because יראת אתת leads to יראת אלה. I want to unpack that a little more with whatever time we have left, so I'm gonna show you a Maimer from-- This is-- Oh, no, I don't

16:12 have the Derah Maschal because I cut off the top of the page, but it is from Shabbos Parshas Vayigash of Tes Tavis of the year תשמ"ו, and I don't have the Derah Maschal on the page. I apologize. Anyway, the Rebbe says in this Maimer, "הסלמת ביד הזאת אפיים מבור בדרוש של חסידיש יראת אלה ויראת אתת שתיים כשורו זובזו." To continue this idea that we started earlier in the last Maimer I showed you, the idea of יראת אלה and יראת אתת are connected to each other, this lower-level fear and the higher-level fear. "דפיידר שדבר הוא למעליון סה," and this is an advantage that the two of them are connected. "שירת אתת יש בה מאלס יראת אלה." That is to say that in יראת אתת, in the lower level of fear, you have all of the advantages of יראת אלה. So anything you were hoping to get out of awe and inspiration, you actually already have buried in יראת אתת. "ולא להפך," and this does not apply to the opposite. "שיראת אלה קיימא יראת אתת." That is not to say that if somebody attains one of these higher levels, they automatically get the lower levels, but if they attain the lower level, they automatically get the higher level, which is the opposite of what you would think. What he's saying here is that if somebody attains awe of God, that's no guarantee they get all of the advantages of the stuff below awe of God, which would be love and would be lower-level baseline fear. But if

17:13 someone establishes this baseline fear that we're calling יראת אתת, they are guaranteed to have within that all of the higher levels, which means that if you had to pick one very clearly, you'd pick יראת אתת because יראת אתת includes יראת אלה, but יראת אלה does not include יראת אתת. So when the Rebbe says back here and in a lot of places that the two of them are connected, it's a one-way connection. יראת אתת feeds directly into יראת אלה, but יראת אלה does not feed back into יראת אתת. The Rebbe says this in many Maimarim. I'm showing you just two as an example. Moving a little more quickly now because we are running out of time. I thought I, I thought you might find this interesting. This is a sicha from the Rebbe from Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan. It is from the year תשמ"ב, and the Rebbe quotes here, he quotes his father, Reb Levi, and he explains that, uh, we put on our tallis before we put on our tefillin. I might just say this one outside, but the text is on the screen if you'd like to read it inside. We put on our tallis before our tefillin, and the reason why we put on our tallis before our tefillin is because the tallis is יראת אתת, corresponds to כבלס עול and יראת אתת, and tefillin corresponds to using our minds and using our energies and using our passion and inspiration to get somewhere. That's tefillin, using our mind and using our heart. And

18:13 obviously, a person cannot begin to use their mind and heart efficiently if they have not first established a יראת אתת. So the same way that you would not put on your tefillin before your tallis, a person-- it's unthinkable that a person could put on their inspiration, their mashava, their thoughts, their actions, their, uh, their feelings, their tefillin before they put on their tallis, before they put on their יראת אתת. I don't know how well I said that, so I'm gonna say it one more time just to get it for the record. I think I might have gotten it backwards somewhere in there. So here's to say it. The same way that a person puts on his tallis before his tefillin, a person must put on their יראת אתת, their יראת אתת, this lower level of fear, before they put on their inspiration, their feelings, and their thoughts. Once again, that is a ma'amar from, excuse me, a sicha from Tuv Shin Men Beis based on the works of Reb Levi. I have a classic ma'amar here. This is Machar Chedosh, I believe. Yes, it is. We have Reb Levi Yitzchak Machar Chedosh. It is from the year Tuv Shin Lamed Vav, and we're actually not going to do that paragraph full of the word yiratata. We're going to do paragraph gimel because it gives us another little angle that I thought we might find interesting. None of these angles are little, shouldn't call it that, but you know, another direction that you might find interesting.

19:17 I'm making noises. Let me close that. Sorry. There we go. The lower level of learning Torah is the yiratata. And what is yiratata in learning Torah? That is that I'm learning Torah because I'm afraid that if I don't know what to do, I'm going to violate the will of the king by mistake. That is, a person learns the laws of Shabbes because they don't want to violate Shabbes. That is a yiratata way of learning Torah. There's also a yireh elok way of learning Torah. The yireh elok way of learning Torah, the higher level fear, is that I learn it because it's God's Torah. And while it is wonderful to learn Torah because it's God's Torah, you are expected to begin from yiratata. Through-- this is the language of the Rebbe that I just read. The exact words are that through the yiratata, that I learn Torah because I don't want to violate the will of the king, you do attain the main point of learning Torah. That is, no one would tell me that someone who learns the laws of Shabbes, but they don't violate Shabbes, is missing out on the main part of Torah. There's a higher level. The higher level is learning just because it's God's Torah, but this isn't missing out. This is not shel olish ma, God forbid. This is somebody who's not yet learning at the highest level, but they have done the entire idea of learning Torah. And as a matter of fact, as the Rebbe goes on to

20:21 explain in this paragraph, the basis of what will ultimately become a higher level of learning just for God begins with opening a book because you want to know what to do because you want to serve the king properly. Moving along a little bit, this is a sicha from Vav Tishrei, from the year Tuv Shin Men Beis. We're staying firmly in the eighties today. And the Rebbe says here, just to connect this, in case you were wondering whether this connects to teshuva, it does connect to teshuva. Teshuva tata is yiratata, and teshuva elok is teshuva elok, and similarly is yireh elok. And similarly, the two of them, generally speaking, should happen in order. The Rebbe says here, that is that teshuva meira, repenting from fear, that is that I repent because I'm afraid of my sins, that is bekayach es avedus teshuva meira. This includes in it teshuva meira, repenting out of a sense of love, out of a se-out of a sense of wanting to be one with God. The lower level teshuva, that is the simple level of teshuva where I decide, as if it's a chet, I'm not gonna do a sin anymore, this includes the higher level of teshuva, which are all these loftier things that are mentioned later on in Yigres Teshuva and Tanya. Even the very highest levels of teshuva attained by the very top baalei teshuva who rise even above the level of the great tzadikim, it's all included in the basic decision of azivas chet to decide you're

21:31 not going to do a sin anymore. That is, when somebody does the basic act of teshuva tata, which means sur meira, that is that I used to do an avera, I used to do a sin, and I'm done with it, or I used to skip a mitzvah, and from now on, I'm going to get that. When a person makes that decision, they automatically have in that decision all of the eloyim, all of these very lofty levels of teshuva elok. And the Rebbe says, if that sounds familiar to you, and it certainly should by now, it sounds familiar for a reason. This is exactly the same as what is brought in many places regarding yira, regarding fear of God. Even though there are many levels in yira, from the lowest one, yiratata, to the much higher one, which is like an awe of God, yireh elok hulul. They all have one name. And similarly, all of the higher levels of yira are included in the baseline yiratata. So the same way that teshuva tata, the simple decision to stop doing sins and start doing mitzvahs, includes in it all of these lofty levels of teshuva, the simple decision of yiratata, which is that I don't violate the will of the king, and I'm a servant of God who has kabbalistic and accepts the yoke of heaven, includes inside it all of the higher levels of yireh elok. And I have one more thing to show you, so I think we made it. Although we are rushing,

22:34 I think we made it. This is from the year Tuv Shin Men Beis. This is a sicha from Parshas Re'eh on the of that year. And the Rebbe says, uh, in a nutshell, that there is more than one way to do teshuva. There's more than one way to do teshuva. There is the teshuva that is described as the teshuva of Reb Elazar ben Dordaya. Reb Elazar ben Dordaya skipped the lower level of teshuva. He went straight to the higher level of teshuva, and he skipped the lower level of fear and went straight to the higher level of fear. So it seems there is a savior. There is a, there is a, uh, a track you could get on that would allow you to skip yiratata. And in that case, maybe we could cancel yiratata. But the Rebbe says here that's only for a very specific time of year. I wanna direct your deten-- your attention down to Yud Gimel. That is, there's two ways to do teshuva. There's doing teshuva in order. You start from yiratata, and then you go to av, av, and then yireh elok. You start from the lower level teshuva of I'm not gonna do sins anymore, and you jump all the way to this incredible kalus nefesh love for God. That's the orderly way of doing things. And also, there's a way to jump where you just go straight to the top. It depends on where you are in the time of year. That is, that's the difference between the

23:39 teshuva that is done on the fifteenth of Av, on Tu B'Av as they call it in some cultures, and the teshuva that is done in Elul, in the month that we're in right now. And the Rebbe specifies. Once again, he's specifying this in the year Tuv Shin Men Beis. He specifies in the year Tuv Shin Men Beis, when a person does teshuva in the middle of Av, they can jump the line. They can go, they can go straight to teshuva elok. They can go straight to yireh elok. They can skip the earlier stages and jump. They're given that incredible ability to jump because of Reb Elazar ben Dordaya, through his incredible act of teshuva, opened that door for them. But , but the teshuva in Elul must be done in an orderly fashion. That is, in Elul, a person begins with yiratata, and the Elul will begin-- in Elul, a person begins with teshuva tata, and these lower levels not only lead to the higher levels, but deep down inside them, they include the higher levels. I don't have much time to conclude. I do have to run off to a meeting right now, but I do wanna conclude our discussion by saying teshuva tata is not just still a factor in Hasidism, it is the basis of all Hasidism. It is the thing that allows a person to become a lamdan. Uh, that's the yira before the lamdanus. It is the thing that allows a person to, uh, approach God with a way of

24:40 love and fear. It's the, it's the thing that enables the emotion of tefillin and the passion of Yiddishkeit. Uh, yiratata is very well established in the Rebbe's work, through his letters, in his sichas, in his ma'amarim, as being something that is not just the basis and the launching board from which you go into higher levels of avoda, but at an even higher level, since all yiras are, as the Rebbe says in many of these sources, kshuros ev ezeter, connected to each other. This lower level of fear, in fact, includes all of the higher levels as well. And if you had a choice of choosing just one, it is my very strong vote that you would choose yiratata. But I say, why choose just one? Start with yiratata and build something incredible on top of it. Anyway, thank you all very much. Got to run.