Parshas Mishpatim ''The Catch 22''

Shemot 21-22 "And these are the Ordinances That you shall place before them";

These laws were given close to the giving of the ten commandments and the laws of the altar to give us insight into Judaism, it is not just a religion it applies to all areas of life and to be holy one must conduct himself from within the frame work of Halachah no less in our business dealing than in the areas of purity or matters of ritual. This the civil law, the Tort, these were to set up zedek justice, equality, fairness. these are the laws regarding the Jewish bondsman, the sale of a daughter, murder and manslaughter, killing of a slave, penalty for bodily injury, negligent death, whether by your animal or a pit laws of property damage, and responsibility of a borrower, seduction, sensitivity to the helpless and abandoned, theft of livestock, self-defense, payment for theft or damages by livestock and the laws of custodians,... and now to the point which I wanted to get to,

The commandment to extend free loans.

Why? Perek 22 Pasuk v24; ... אם כסף תלוה את עמי "When you lend money to my people, to the poor person who is with you, לא תהיה לו כנשה, do not act toward him as a creditor, do not lay interest on him." I want to explore the likutey Halachot that Reb Nosson connected to the this parsha. it is found in Choshen Mispat chalaha haloah Hashem [otiot; א, (A) ב (B) l'phei ozter Hayirah mamon and parnusha פה, #85]. on the verse, אם כסף תלוה את עמי- 'there are days of good and days of bad these are the aspect of; "ביום טובה היה בטוב וביום רעה ראה" On the good days go with the good and on the bad days look. Ok it is pashut, on the good days, but what this, on the bad days... look? what does it mean to Look?
Thus one has to, see and to look very deeply and very well to find the good inside the bad days, thus a person will find the good even inside the bad days. Why? "because the whole world is full of his glory", כי מלא כל הארץ כבודו, Even in the the tongues or the languages of the nations. Because enclosed and cloaked in them are the letters of the Torah. And they are the aspect of 'Good days' It is only because they are so cloaked, covered with the bad days or they are so many more of them, and it makes it hard to find them or to see them. For nothing even the evil can exist for it is sustained only by the good that is cloaked inside of it.

However, the one who merits, he who has so destroyed his Yeitzer HaRah, or one who has attached himself completely to a Tzaddik who has completely subdued His Yeitzer HaRah. which by the way is the easier of the two, then that person can and will be able to find all of the letters of the Torah that have been cloaked in the languages of the nations. ie.'the bad days'. From this aspect of 'that person is able to find and extract all the good in these bad days', and if a person can do this, 'to mamash' to find the good from amidst the bad days he will never have a problem with or be lacking in parnusha. why? Because he by his being attached to the Tzaddik or by subduing his Yeitzer HaRah, has brought down for himself Bracha and Shefa Tovah. And he is about to receive spiritual bounty dafka though the letters of Torah which he was able to discover and uncover though his finding of the good in the bad. Because the letters of Torah are the building blocks of everything. And as such the Torah is source of all Bracha and all Shefa! That means when a person is able to attach himself to the letters of Torah, when he has found the good in the worst he therefore has attached himself to the source of all blessing and bounty!

Now when a person has not merited to this because the bad days have become so strong or numerous that they completely hide and cover over the good days he cannot find any letters of the Torah, which are really hidden in all of his day to day actions, and his business dealings. And now the Bracha and shefa can only come down, through a Tzimtzum gadol, a very very great and powerful constrictions and difficulties, thus this person will be forced to take loans to live. Because when he is not seeing the good in even the worst of days, and only seeing bad he then is 'not' connecting to the source, ie. 'the Otiot ha Torah' for they are source of all Blessing and Shefa.

For the whole idea of taking loans is from the concept or aspect of that there are 'good and bad days'! He says to himself "I'll barrow on the bad days 'today', and hope to pay it back when the good days come." the whole reason a majority of people take loans is because they have a lack or Hashem forbid no parnusha. 'Ain Lo Attah' he dos not have right now but he hopes to have in the future. So instead of praying and T'shuvah where he would reconnect with the Torah, he instead wants to short cut Hashem and barrow his way out of this situation. He just puts himself in a worse situation, then by complaining, and focusing on the negative, its a catch 22, because by focusing on and speaking about the negative we increase the covering and we distance and detach ourselves further from the Bracha and Shefa. its a vicious cycle because if he does not see the good on these days he brings more bad on himself Hashem forbid! He must stop and find the good before its covered to deeply. that why we should all live by the klal "Ain shum y'ush b'olam klal" there is no such thing as despair in the world at all!!! But instead we live by this klal 'the lie'... how is it usually said? This is the "normal" way we all say it "I'm going through rough times". Because he feels he is having bad days he goes to his friend and barrows for now and hopes that his friend will wait til the good days return. the only reason a person barrows is that he feels he is in a period or having bad days thus he cuts himself off from the blessing and shefa.

Once a person comes into the situation where he takes loans it's very hard for him to come out from this. and the majority of people can not pay them back on time. It is like the Rabbis o.b.m. teach that "the giver of the loan says to himself "ha la vie, I hope he'll pay me back on time" the gemorra asks ha la vie? why doesn't he say v'die, surely! he should pay me back on time" But because the giver knows that after he the borrower does not have Emunah sh'leima, and he cannot see, 'that even in the bad days there is really good', he asks himself how will he ever reach the good days? How if he never sees the good, how will he ever have the money to pay me back the loan?

Because the truth is! good days and bad days are in every single day! to the extent that a person is able to overcome the Yeitzer Harah and strengthen the good over the bad.

It is only by a person overcoming his Yeitzer Harah and or by attaching to the Tzaddik, that he can see! "That the whole world is full of his glory" and that he whole world is full of good! by this he will be able to look very well. This is the only way for him to bring about the good days. once a person can do this and focus on the good, When he has come to do this he will certainly be able receive his parnusha each and everyday and we will never have to come into debt or to take loans.

But the person who, was forced to fall into debt and take loans, because he has damaged his Emunah, and it is only because he could not find or see the good in the bad days, because it also works in the reverse Hashem forbid, that if person chooses to see only the bad he will bring on more and more bad days. And it will become very very difficult to come out of the debt/loan cycle. The reason is because he can now only focus on the bad so that the bad get stronger and stronger everyday. The truth is, it is because a person is not making the effort to find the good in the bad days. as explained above, 'to see that" the whole world is full of his glory"!!!

Therefore in truth a person has to be very very careful not to fall into debt, specificality a person who has already sinned and he has caused damage and has not overpowered his Yeitzer Harah and has let the the evil overpower the good, and now! This person he wants to return to Hashem in T'shuvah. And what is the main part of T'shuvah? It is precisely in finding the good that is concealed in the bad. He has to believe in himself, and that there is for sure a measure of good letf inside himself. And that there is still hope for him to return to Hashem. Like it says, "you requested, 'from there', Hashem your G-d, 'mi sham dika' from there! what does it mean from there? from all the places where you were pushed amongst the Goyim, not just where he lived, but where one has fallen, and from and mainly from the mindset of the Goyim! which comes about through sin that damages the Emunah.

Therefore someone who wants to be a Baal T'shuvah he needs to be very very careful not to fall into debt because when he falls into debt he cannot possibly see the good! It becomes very hard, but it is possible if he will work hard. "l'veh rasha... any time the rasha is doing evil, 'he is escorting the evil' ie."me-'laveh' hamalka" to escort the queen, the"lo'veh to lend so "lo'veh rasha" can also mean 'he barrows evil' The main source of evil comes from your allowing the aspect of the bad days to overpower the aspect good days. this is how we come to this level of debt and of borrowing. Therefore the pasuk warns if you loan a person money do not run after him! If the poor person cannot pay we have to have Rachim and chessed on him to take him out of being a baal choev.

In short we have to help him see the good!

May it be that the K'dosh one bless us, that we see and can focus on the good, and attach ourselves to the 'otiot ha torah', the source of all blessing and bounty and to be able see the letters of Torah in every thing, and all the chessed that Hashem does for us each and everyday, even in these the darkest of days in this world for if we can see the light in the darkness, for the light sustains the darkness there is no darkness with out light may it be that we can enable the overpowering of the the bad, so we can attach ourselves to the light and to the source of all speedily in the these days at our time Amen!

Gut Shabbos Reb Nati

Parsahas Yisro

We are told this week that, 'the Benei Israel arrived at Har Sinai in the third month after the Exodus from Egypt, 'on this day' they arrived... and encamped in the wilderness, opposite the mountain'.

They had attained the level fit for revelation of the Torah.

'Moshe ascended to kEL, and Hashem called to him from the mountain, saying, "So shall you say to house of Yaakov and relate to the children of Israel.'

Moshe is being given instructions on how to relate what Hashem is saying to the Nation he is to speak gently to the women and firmly to the men. (Mechilta) in this manner he was to relate the commandments in a manner which suited the compassionate nature of the women and to the men in a firm manner to reach the them in a manner which suited the nature of the men.

'You have seen what I did to Egypt', this is to the women, 'and that I have born you on the wings of eagles', is to the men, 'and brought you to Me'. These two statements were directed at two aspects of Emunah, the female and the male aspects. I have seperated/removed you from the heresy of Mitzrayim, And have drawn you to Myself. in essence Hashem is telling us that He has removed the concealment from our hearts and our eyes. "Revelation"

'And now, if you will hearken well to me and observe My Covenant', this is to the men, This a warning about Tikun Habrit, Sexual purity 'THE EVIL URGE', Our YeiTZeR HaRah. "You shall be to Me the most beloved treasure of all the peoples, for Mine is the entire world. you will to Me a kingdom of ministers and a Holy nation."

Excuse me please I'm sorry, I need to digress a moment I feel compelled to discuss something so here goes. it's all tired together you'll see.

We all wonder why we suffer so in this world. While there seems to be no good answer, but this I none the less know that no person escapes it. We all suffer! For while no two people are alike and our sufferings are different, it is still possible to make comparisons, and everyone is equal in this, that each of us as people must endure suffering very, very much each day.

We are taught by chazal that in the future, that each and everyone of us will receive an explaination for every thing that we under went and all that we went through in minut detail of everyday. If this is so then apparently each person must endure a great deal. We may ask why?
We may like it, but it is for our best.

But we have been fore warned, that it would not be easy.

Hashem was telling us from the beging that we would have to endure much in this life espeacally in This realm of the Animal, 'with our urges'. He also told us that if we could endure this, that there is a great prize waiting for us. You may say it's not worth it? We believe that Hashem is supervising everything and that everything is for the best. And certainly Hashem is behind everything, His thoughts are wonderous and His wisdom is very great.

A person can see Hashem's miracles in everything everyday, if he but looks for them. Aside from what we believe, 'that miracles occur every day'. "It is impossible for a person to understand anything, that is happening around him for Hashems ways are very deep". ASHREINU!!! How fortunate we are to have seen and heard all this! But we only see a small segment, if we could but see the whole then we would galdy volentree for the task at hand of the. 'Retification of the world'

We also see that we are not alone in this. 'We can still encourage ourselves in this very fact that in at least we feel the "Woes" The rabbis, OBM. said on the verse, And He formed... vaYITZeR (berakhot 61a), Woe to me from my maker YoTzRI and woe to me from my evil urge YiTZRI." It emerges that the essence of the Evil Urge is contained in the fact that a person is compelled to suffer this harassment and war everyday, this "Woe to me from my maker and woe to me from my Evil Urge!"(Reb Nosson, Alim l'rufah) The Yeitzer HaRah is the Urge to serve the other g-d, 'Self!'

Yisro Had been the master of Avoda Zarah, he was the priest of paraoh 'to the other side'. But he heard and then saw what Hashem had done for Israel, and converted and thus served Hashem.

We are told that to come close to Hashem, that we must do two things we must draw close. and we must and must seprate from the the other side. for it is impossible to serve both, it is one or the other.

We must form an attachment to KeDuSHa and seprate ourselves from the TuMaH as we can not hold on to both., they can not exisit in the same realm. It's simple it's white and black there is no grey. We are told that our suffering is when we try to hold on to both, the only suffering is when we are in the grey. You see when we draw close to the white 'KeDuSHa' then we receive DaaT, we receive Divine understanding, the concealment is removed, and thus there is no suffering. And Hashem forbid, when we draw close to the black 'HaTuMaH', the concealment itself is concealed so that we do not even know and thus we longer feel, therefore no suffering.

'This is the second Woe For there are people who longer feel even the slightest, and those hearts no longer grieve over all that happens to them.' The Rebbe, Rebbe Nachman said explicitly that a person ought to feel encouragement that at least he is feeling his pain, for this the second concealment has been lifted as it is written in Likutey Moharan (II, 48:1) Thank Hashem, for if we feel then we are aware that we are alive and should be grateful for this very fact!

It is impossible to explain all this in one writting each individual will understand it differently according to his own perceptions. Through Hashem enormous compassion, The Rebbe placed in us this teaching in which we need everyday no matter where you have fallen, "In other words, HASHEM"S GREATNESS IS UNFATHOMABLE AND PEOPLE KNOW NOTHING AT ALL". Thus there is hope for our final out come, even for the worst of people. The main thing is that a person never give up crying out and pleading to Hashem for everything (Tzaddik #565).

We need to but remember all this everyday!

I had not intended to write you about all this right now, But your enormous desire and your heart's burning for the truth compelled me. May Hashem illuminate your eyes and the eyes of all those who desire truth, so that my words of truth enter their hearts. for these words are awesome and great, beyond all estimation!

May the Holy One Blessed Be He the cause of all causes, cause even our suffer to come to a end, by the removal of the concealment that covers our eyes at present. And may we merit the redeemer speedily in our days Amen! Your friend Reb Nati

Gut Shabbos

"Bo"

Parsha sh'vuah, this was my first shabbos and my the first aliyah I had in Israel in 1995 in Elon moreh.

Hashem spoke unto Moshe, "Come to Pararoh, for I have made his heart and the heart of his servants stubborn so that I can put these signs of mine in his midst; and so that you may relate in the ears of your son and your son's son that I made a mockery of Egypt and My signs that I placed among them- that you may know that I am Hashem."

The first plague of the sidrah, introduces a new element. Hashem informs Moshe that He intends to make a mockery out of Egypt; flattening the pride of, and fully crushing the ego of Pharaoh and his ministers, so that not only Egypt but also the Jews would know that I Am Hashem. The inclusion of the Jews in that category implies that even believing people are often imperfect in their emunah.

That Pharaoh had resisted the evidence of the divine origin of the plagues is not a surprise. But even though the Jews were people of faith their faith, was not shalem perfect, 'as is now the case', it was not til the 'creas yam Sof' splitting of the red sea that the Torah testifies of Benei of Israel that they had Emunah in Hashem and in His servant Moshe. With the war that we just went through, we still want to explain away all the nesim that openly happened. I spoke with the tank crews yesterday and they told story after story of mirciles

"And so that you may relate", this is the of aspect of Emunah the belief to such a degree that we would continue to tell of these events, "to our sons and son's sons" forever. You see Emunah is increased as we speak of the deeds of our Father in heaven, all of those who hear us, and ourselves as well is increased. Emunah is gift we can give to each other that can't be refused, when I speak to you and tell that Hashem is great He really becomes great in our heart and in our minds, this is what we call 'Hoda'ah' we elevate all of creations as a result.

Hazal teach us that the words we speak create, if we speak with Emunah then we repair and draw closer the world to Hashem but if we complain and vech, or explain away every detail as natural, then we distance and damage the world. You see the Jew really is the most powerful individual in creation as we can change literally the whole world for the good or the bad just with our speech. We need to understand this and begin to exercise this and repair all the damage. every letter is a building block of creation.

(Perek 14:4) the Fourth aliyah, Rebbenu's aliyah for he always was called to rev'eevy

Likutey Halachot:
Moshe said, "So Said Hashem ' At about midnight I shall go out in the midst of Egypt. This statement is ambiguous, There's a famous gemorra that discusses this.

There they ask the question? "What Moshe didn't know when Chatzot was? We understand from Rabbi Natan in Likutey Halachot, That this is not speaking of the middle of the night 'geula Mitzraim'. It's speaking of the final geula and this is covered or closed, even Moshe didn't know exactly when it would come.

"KaChatzot Halailah ani yozeh" This is a secret Moshe didn't know the point of Chatzot this is why it say KaChaztot, About Midnight. Also Moshe couldn't tell when was Chaztot, but Dovid knew exactly when it was/is, for it says that he would raise at exactly Chatztot and sing praise to Hashem. Like hazal say in the gemora Brachot etc...v'chuleh Moshe knew that the Ikar was the the final redemption, and that it would come in the zuchut (merit) of Dovid and all the zaddikim that followed who have and still get up for Chaztot, and mourn the destruction of the Beis HaMidash (the Holy Temple) and cry out to Hashem. and all of the zadikim that are in Gan Eden... and what will come out from this the coming geula is an aspect of .... like the our rabbi's have said "all those who mourn for yerusalem... it is impossible to know the exact time of when will be coming of the End, because it's very very hidden and closed. And also from the first geula, we find a remez a hint, from the words, "Kachatzot halialah Ani yozeh", At about midnight I will go out. Because in the first geula when He sent Moshe to take out the Jews , And from the beginning Moshe refused the mission unless Hashem would reassure him that he would carry on til the end. Moshe said 'I won't do it unless you tell me also of the time of the final redemption'. example I will only watch the movie if it has a happy ending. and also in the words saying, "Kachotzot halialahani yozeh b'tok miztrayim ect... Like there in Hazal that's why it says 'Kachatzot' About approximately.

Because the time of End, the final redemption is very very concealed matter. and only Dovid who is himself Moshiach can say with certainty "chatzot lialah I will get up etc..."that's why Moshe said "koh amar Hashem". Because this revelation is an aspect of Chatzot and only in the form of remez, hints, because she is very far from us the matter is concealed and it is impossible for us to comprehend it and that is why he used the word "koh' because he didn't know precisly. And we get from Tikun Chatzot only in the form of a remez, a hint and understanding of the end.

You see we can not use our intellect to calculate and predict the final redemption we can only rely on Emunah as Moshe our teacher had to trust the word of Hashem in this matter. all the parsha's contain material for us to understand and also that which we must trust without understanding, in this way Hashem is teaching and leading us to this very day. Until then it is very important to get up for and to say Tikun Chatzots as it is in the merit of those who get and say it that the final redemption will accrue an it will come at about chatzot. And certainly with all that is gonig on in the world we should make alittle more effort to help bring The Redemption before it's time.

So get up look up and cry out for we are getting closer everyday.

Gut Shabbos
Reb Nati