Rabbi Moshe Tzanani shlit"a | "The Tzaddik Can Give a Person Everything in One

A talk of encouragement and wonderful knowledge of faith delivered by the Gaon Rabbi Moshe Tzanani shlit"a to the Shuvu Banim community in Miami.

The lesson by Rabbi Moshe Tzanani shlit"a was delivered via a Zoom call to the Shuvu Banim community in Miami.

"'And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.' The vitality of a person is the light of the tefillin. If one puts on tefillin every morning, one receives vitality from it, because we were born with a natural brain, like a computer—it is very developed—but the true brain is received every morning when a person puts on tefillin. Therefore, it is impossible to pray the Shacharit prayer without tefillin; it is not a prayer at all."

"What is vitality? After all, Rebbe Nachman says that there are many types of life; even the nations of the world and the animals live. But true vitality is when a person feels the closeness of Hashem every day, when a person merits the love of Hashem, yearnings, thoughts of repentance and teshuvah (repentance), humility, and lowliness—this is vitality. Also, a person merits to draw closer to Hashem every day."

"What Hashem orchestrates in the world every day so that one more person and another person will draw closer—the garments one wears in the morning are not the garments one wears in the evening."

"What are garments? It means that all the worlds are changing; every day is a new day that has not existed since the creation of the world. Every day, Hashem sends hints on how to draw closer to Him."

"How close Hashem is to us, how much He is with us at every moment. When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, they were terrified of him. In the future, Hashem will reveal Himself and say, 'I am Hashem.' How will a person be terrified? He will see how close Hashem was to him: 'Where was I all this time?'"

"Just as the holy Rebbe would hitboded (seclude himself) at every moment, every moment was full of yearnings for Hashem. Sarah Imeinu, along with all the holy Patriarchs, did not have a single moment in vain. Yaakov Avinu never spoke an idle word; once he said one word and Hashem already rebuked him: 'Why have you dealt so evilly with me?'"

"Yaakov said: 'His way was hidden from Hashem, why have you dealt so evilly with me...' The holy Patriarchs were full of yearnings for Hashem, and therefore they merited. Abraham was a chariot for the supreme kindness, Yaakov for awe and strength, and Yaakov for Zeir Anpin... Sarah was constantly renewing herself."

"A person must see from day to day how he is renewing himself, how he merits the light of that specific day. Every day a new light descends, and one must see how to receive the light of that day. The main thing is the holy speech. Speech is the gate to enter into the lights, into the mochin (intellects); it is the sea into which all the rivers flow—this is the speech with which a person merits to cleave to Hashem and this gives him vitality at every moment... to overcome everything one goes through by way of desires and yearnings, to yearn for Hashem every day, to awaken the desire, especially before the coming of Mashiach... Light was always descending, but people would use it for nonsense, for lusts, for ideologies."

"The Ramchal writes that before the coming of Mashiach, there will be a spiritual darkness that has never been before... From the destruction of the Temple, Hashem peers through the lattices, and the light goes and closes until, at the coming of Mashiach, the door will be closed for a very short time, and then a tremendous light will descend upon the people of Israel."

"And this is the time when a person strengthens himself when there is not much feeling, and not much light and vitality, and nevertheless he does not leave Hashem, because Hashem fills the whole earth with His glory, and even though there is darkness, Hashem is there. A person must see how to break through this darkness. With everything he goes through, he continues to search for Hashem, and then He will reveal Himself to him double-fold."

"One must know that in this generation, in Heaven, they boast about everyone. A person thinks to himself, 'What am I? I barely move, I go through such lusts,' but everything is according to the reality in which the person is found... From Heaven, they see all the obstacles that a person goes through... There is a hall in Heaven where the eyes of Hashem are, there are the angels who see everything that happens here... They also see all the obstacles."

"They see which evil inclination is overcoming him, and against it, his yearnings... Our generation is in such darkness; one must believe that we are not given obstacles that are impossible to overcome... A person must strengthen himself in the knowledge that Hashem is with him, and to turn everything he goes through into words to Hashem, into desires and yearnings, because every descent is for the sake of an ascent."

"Every descent gives us new desires, because the Father cares for all His children, and for the children who struggle, He has special treatment. The Rebbe writes that those who are below, when they ascend, they raise everyone with them... When the soul is bitter, a person can pierce the heavens with warm words that come out of him—just do not despair."

"Sometimes from above, they intentionally put a person into such situations so that he will receive yearnings he never had before... A person cannot know anything. Sometimes in an ascent, a person has a lot of pride; it turns out that the descent is actually an ascent. On the contrary, now they want you the most in Heaven; strengthen yourself in your work now."

"A person must strengthen himself and know that Hashem is with me, Hashem is here. The Rebbe writes that Hashem desires to dwell with man, only He wants true words from a true heart. Hashem is close to all who call upon Him... When a person speaks true words, Hashem dwells within him."

"There is a level where a person merits to be a precious stone, true words in which Hashem is clothed. And there is a level of a dream in which the tzaddik shines within him, there is a soul that shines within him. In any case, through words of truth, he merits to receive light."

"One must know that we are the moon, which has nothing of its own. One must remember all of life that we are the vessel, the moon, and I need the tzaddik to shine within me. The tzaddik shines into a person the light of faith, that Hashem is with him. Without the tzaddik, there is no light; the person is without a heart."

"In the merit of his tremendous work, the tzaddik merited to refine his body; there is no scent of this world in him. Reb Noson writes that he merited the leather of the tefillin. The leather of the tefillin is the Name Havayah, the light of the tzaddik. A person feels that there is a Hashem in the world, he merits yearnings; the soul feels this light—yearnings for Hashem, for Torah, for prayer."

"One must know that in Heaven, this is the highest that can be. The Rebbe said: 'Who can say that he can serve Hashem?' But the main thing is the desire. Elijah the Prophet revealed himself to the Rashbi and told him the virtue of desire and yearnings, that the garments of the Upper Garden of Eden are of desire and yearnings; these are the garments of the soul, that the soul's place is in the Upper Garden of Eden."

"The nefesh and ruach are in the Lower Garden of Eden; the soul is initially in the Lower Garden of Eden and then ascends to the Upper. The garments of the nefesh are the mitzvot, the garments of the ruach are the words of Torah, the garments of the soul are the yearnings. Therefore, the Rebbe merited his tremendous levels; he did not stop yearning. The Rebbe was all fire, but so are we, because a person who is close to the tzaddik, the tzaddik is impregnated within him and shines within him desire and yearnings—this is the gift that the tzaddik gives to a person."

"A person asks, 'What do I get from being close to the tzaddik?' He thinks that slowly he becomes more holy, more wise, but he receives a gift that a person not close to the tzaddik does not receive—yearnings, because yearnings are a very precious thing. As the Rebbe said, you see two people who look the same, but they are two completely different people. A person who is close to the tzaddik is something completely different; you receive an impregnation of the tzaddik that shines for you a heart for Hashem. The tzaddik has the light of awe and love; this is called Y-H-V-H. V-H is Torah and prayer, Y-H is the awe and love which are the yearnings."

"Yearnings are precious above precious. It is forbidden to give up on this, even if one is worn out from the trials of life, it is forbidden to cool down, because with the tzaddik, one can merit all the levels. As the Rebbe said: 'A person with his feet at the door knows that if he had fulfilled the words of the tzaddik and was connected to the tzaddik, there is nothing he would not have reached.'"

"The tzaddik guarantees that a person will reach everything he needs. It is impossible to imagine such a thing. Even a completely pure soul that has not sinned needs to go through 5 incarnations in order to receive all the nefesh, ruach, and neshamah, but when a person is connected to the tzaddik, the tzaddik can finish all his tikkun (rectification) for him in one time, atone for everything for him, cleanse him of everything, and merit him to all his tikkun until the end—this is on the condition that he does not cool down."

"A person, because of all he goes through, cools down. One must know that all the trials are rectifications; even the tzaddik plans the rectifications so that you can merit everything you need to merit."

"In truth, a person needs to go through many clarifications, as the Rebbe said that Hashem loves a 'fried' chassid; a person rectifies incarnations and receives parts of the soul that are missing for him. The tzaddik wants to merit you to more, so that you will merit all your tikkun in perfection, and this is not simple; one must go through many clarifications. In particular, before the Geulah (Redemption), this is done in a tremendous amount; what a person would go through in 70 years, today he goes through in one day."

"All the thoughts that we sinned with come to be rectified, and one must strengthen himself and continue to study Torah, to pray, to serve Hashem; this is how one destroys all the shells (kelipot) that we created. You collect all the sparks that you dropped into the shells. They do not want to send a person to all the ends of the world and put him through all kinds of rectifications, so they give him a thought, and everything is so that you will do all the clarifications necessary for you."

"A person must strengthen himself in holiness, because the matter of the tzaddik is to transfer the light of Hashem; he merited to be the conduit that transfers the light of Hashem, a chariot for the Yesod."

"The tzaddik merited this in the merit of his holiness, because all the character traits are important, but when the 'master of the matter' (the evil inclination) offered the Rebbe everything, only that in the guarding of the covenant he would be like a regular person—the Rebbe told him that he gives up everything, only that he would merit the guarding of the covenant. And he merited to come out of this completely and then he rectified all the other character traits easily."

"Holiness is a tremendous war, and therefore today the 'master of the matter' is overcoming in this matter more than anything—the flood that was, hints at the spiritual situation today."