Rav Moshe Tzanani Shlit”a

A CLASS WHICH RABBI MOSHE TZANANI SHLIT”A GAVE OVER TO SHUVU BANIM MIAMI FOR PARASHAT CHAYEI SARAH

“’The life of Sarah was 127 years; these were the years of Sarah’s life.’  The vitality of a person is the light of Tefilin.  If one puts on Tefilin every morning, from this one receives vitality, because we were born with a physical brain, like a computer.  It’s very advanced, but we receive the true brain every morning when [we] put on Tefilin.  Therefore, it’s not relevant to pray the morning prayer without Tefilin.  This isn’t prayer at all.

“What is vitality?  Here, Rabbeinu says that there are many types of “life.”  Also the gentiles and animals are alive, but the true vitality is that a person feels closeness to G-d every day, a person merits to love of Hashem, longing, thoughts of regret and repentance, humility, lowliness – this is vitality.  Also a person merits every day to get close to Hashem.

“What Hashem makes happen in the world every day so that another person and another will draw closer – the clothes that one dresses in the morning he doesn’t dress in the evening.

“What are clothes?  The intention in that all the worlds are switched around.  Every day is a new day which hasn’t been since the beginning of the creation of the world.  Every day Hashem sends hints of how to draw close to Him.

“How much Hashem is close to us, how much he is with us at every moment.  When Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, they were stunned by him.  In the future, Hashem will reveal himself and say “I am Hashem” – How a person will be stunned?!  He will see how Hashem was close to him; where was I all the time?

“Like how Rabbenu HaKadosh [Rebbe Nachman] every moment would do hitbodedut.  Every moment he was full of longing for Hashem.   Sarah Emeinu along with all the holy forefathers – not a single moment was idle.  Yaakov Avinu never said an idle word.  Once, someone [one of his sons] said a word and he already rebuked him – why did you do evil to me?

“The holy forefathers were full of longing for Hashem.  Therefore, they merited... Avraham was the Merkava [chariot] for supernal Kindness [Chesed], Yitzchak for fear and Strength [Gevurah], and Yaakov for the [Divine person of] ‘the smaller face’ [Zeir Anpin]…  Sarah would be renewed all the time.

“A person needs to check from day to day how he is renewed, how he [can] merit to the light of that day.  Every day, new light descends to the world and he needs to see how to receive the light of that day; the main thing is holy speech.  Speech is the gate for entering the lights, the supernal mentalities.  This is the sea which all the streams flow into – this is the speech with which a person merits to cling to Hashem Yitbarach, and this gives one vitality at every moment… to overcome everything that he goes through by way of desire and longing, to long for Hashem every day, to arouse the desire especially before the coming of Mashiach.  Light was always coming down, but they would take advantage of it for nonsense, for lusts, for ideologies.

 “The Ramchal writes that before the coming of Mashiach there will be spiritual darkness that there never was before.  From [the time of] the destruction of the Holy Temple, Hashem peers through the lattices; the light will be increasingly blocked until the coming of Mashiach – the door will be closed for a very short time, and then awesome light will descend to Am Yisrael.

“This is the time that a person strengthens himself when there isn’t so much feeling, and there isn’t so much light and vitality.  Even so, he doesn’t abandon Hashem, because the Kadosh Baruch Hu’s glory fills the entire world, and even if there is darkness, Hashem is found there.  A person needs to see how to penetrate this darkness.  With everything that he goes through, he continues to search for Hashem.  Then He will reveal Himself to him many times over.

“One needs to know that in this generation, in Heaven they are taking pride in each person.  A person thinks to himself: what am I?  With difficulty, I move; I’m going through such lusts.  But everything is according to the situation that a person is found in.  In Heaven, they see all the obstacles which a person goes through.  There is a chamber in Heaven where Hashem’s ‘eyes’ are; there, the angels see everything that is happening here… they see all the obstacles.

“They see what kind of evil inclination overcomes him, and opposite [this], his longing…  Our generation is found in such darkness.  One needs to believe that they didn’t give to us obstacles that it’s impossible to overcome.  A person needs to strengthen himself with the knowledge that Hashem is with him, and everything that he goes through [he should] turn into words to Hashem, to desire and longing, because every descent is for the sake of ascent.

“Every descent gives us new desires, because Aba worries about all of his children, and for children who are having difficulties, he has a special treatment.  Rabbeinu writes that those who are below, when they ascend, they bring up everyone with them.  When it’s bitter for the soul, a person can penetrate the Heavens with warm words which come from him – just don’t give up.

“Sometimes, from above they intentionally bring a person into situations such as these so that one will receive longing which he never had before.  A person can’t know anything.  Sometimes, in ascent, a person has a lot of arrogance.  It emerges that descent is really ascent.  On the contrary, in Heaven, they now want you the most – strengthen yourself in serving [Hashem] now!

“A person needs to strengthen himself and to know that Hashem is with me, Hashem is here.  Rabbeinu writes that Hashem covets dwelling with a person, only that He wants true speech from a true heart.  Hashem is close to all those who call Him, to those who call Him in truth.   When a person speaks true words, Hashem dwells within him.

“There is an aspect where a person merits to be a gemstone, where Hashem dresses Himself with him.  There is an aspect of a window where the Tzaddik illuminates in him, there is a soul which illuminates in him.  In any case, through words of truth he merits to receive light.

“One needs to know that we’re a moon – ‘that it has nothing [no light] of its own.’  One needs to remember all one’s life that we’re the vessel, the moon, and I need for the Tzaddik to illuminate within me.  The Tzaddik illuminates in a person the light of faith, that Hashem is with him.  Without the Tzaddik there is no light, a person is without a heart.

“In the merit of his awesome Avodah, the Tzaddik merited to subjugate his body.  He has no scent of this world.  Rabbi Natan writes that he merited to the light of Tefilin, the light of Tefilin is the name Havaya, the light of the Tzaddik.  A person feels that there is Hashem in the world, merits to longing.  The soul feels this light, longing for Hashem, for Torah, for prayer.

“One needs to know that in Heaven, this is the highest thing that can be.  Rabbeinu said: who can say that he can serve Hashem; however, the main thing is desire.  Eliyahu HaNavi revealed himself to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and told him the level of desire and longing, that the clothing of the Upper Garden of Eden is of desire and longing.  These are the clothing for the Neshama [upper soul], the Neshama’s place is in the Upper Garden of Eden.

“The Nefesh [lower soul] and Ruach [middle soul] are in the Lower Garden of Eden.  The Neshama at first is in the Lower Garden of Eden and afterwards ascends to the Upper [Garden of Eden].  The clothing of the Nefesh is the Mitzvot, the clothing for the Ruach is words of Torah, the clothing for the Neshama is longing.  Therefore, Rabbeinu merited to his awesome levels; he didn’t stop longing.  Rabbeinu was totally fire, but also us, because a person who is close to the Tzaddik, the Tzaddik is channeled within him and illuminates in him desire and longing – this is the gift which the Tzaddik gives to a person.

“A person asks, what can I receive from closeness to the Tzaddik?  He thinks that little by little he will be holier, wiser, but he receives a gift that a person not close to the Tzaddik doesn’t receive – longing, because longing is a very precious thing.  As Rabbeinu says: you see two people who appear the same thing, but they are two different people completely.  A person who is close to the Tzaddik is something else completely.  You receive a channeling of the Tzaddik who illuminates to you a heart to Hashem.  The Tzaddik has the light of fear and love; this is called Yud-Keh-Vav-Keh.  Vav-Keh is Torah and prayer, Yud-Keh is the fear and the love, which are the longing.

“Longing is very precious.  It’s forbidden to relent on this, even if he is worn down from the tribulations of life.  It’s forbidden to cool off, because by the Tzaddik it’s possible to merit to all the levels.  As Rabbeinu said: A person with his legs to the door [e.g. a dead person] knows if he fulfilled the words of the Tzaddik and is bound to the Tzaddik.  There’s nothing that he won’t reach.

“The Tzaddik guarantees for a person that he will reach everything that he needs.  It’s impossible to imagine a thing like this.  Even a soul [that is] completely pure and unblemished needs to go through five reincarnations in order to receive the entire Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama.   However, when a person is bound to the Tzaddik, the Tzaddik in one [reincarnation] can finish for him the whole rectification, atone for him for everything, cleanse him of everything, and let him merit to his entire rectification until the finish – this is on the condition that he doesn’t cool off.

“A person, because of everything that happens to him, cools off.  One needs to know that all that happens [to him] are rectifications.  Also the Tzaddik plans the rectifications so that you can merit to everything that you need to merit to.

“In truth, a person needs to go through many purifications, as Rabbeinu said, that Hashem loves a Chasid who is ‘fried.’  A person rectifies incarnations and receives portions of the soul which he’s lacking.  The Tzaddik wants to let you merit to more, that you merit to your entire rectification completely, and this isn’t simple.  One needs to go through many purifications.  Especially before the redemption, this is done in a phenomenal quantity; what a person would go through in 70 years, today he goes through in one day.

“All the thoughts which we blemished are coming to be rectified, and one needs to strengthen himself and continue to learn Torah, to pray, to serve Hashem.  In this way, [we] destroy all the forces of impurity that we created.  You gather all the sparks that you cast away into the forces of impurity.  They don’t want to send a person to all the ends of the earth, to put him through all types of rectifications.  So they give him a thought, and all so that you can do all the purifications which you need.

“A person needs to strengthen himself in holiness, because the matter of the Tzaddik is to pass on the light of Hashem.  He merited to be the channel which passes on the light of Hashem, the chariot of Yesod (Foundation).

“The Tzaddik merited to this in the merit of his holiness, because all the traits are important, but the Evil One proposed to [give] Rabbeinu everything, [if] only in guarding the covenant he would be like a regular person.   Rabbeinu said to him that he relents on everything, only so that he should merit to guarding the covenant.  He merited to get out of this completely, and then rectified all the remaining traits easily.

“Holiness is a massive war.  Therefore, today the Evil One is getting stronger in this matter more than anything [else] – the flood which alluded to the spiritual situation today.”