Given: August 24 2022
What I’d like to talk about today is something which I feel is being misinterpreted by—I hate to say it—everybody. They don’t understand the significance of what is happening in America, and in Israel. Most peoples’ views are those given by the media, all the outlets that attempt to analyze what is happening. They don’t understand that the only real meaning, the only intelligible analysis, is based on the Divine Plan itself, obviously. G-D follows His own Divine Plan. He isn’t interested in what the media says; that’s for man’s consumption and doesn’t represent what’s happening. What is really happening based on the Divine Plan? This will be a real understanding.
I’d like to talk about current events, about an event that is consuming America, the invasion—and that’s really what it was—Trump’s home in Mar-A-Lago in Florida. It was a spectacular invasion and people are stunned. It was his home, not the White House, not an office. It is the home of Donald Trump, where he lives. You don’t get more private than a guy’s home, obviously. An invasion of someone’s home is a statement. It is not the same as if they’d taken over the White House. That’s the first aspect to think about. People don’t understand that. I’d like to interpret that, what it really means. What does this tell us about what’s really happening in America?
Good and Evil: The See-Saw Relationship of Ya’akov and Esav
I have to begin with the basic information and then build from that. The basics information is what I’ve imparted over the years but wish to repeat; it’s very important. It forms the basis of the reasoning for what is happening.
We live in a country called “Esav,” or “Edom,” as I’ll explain. The Torah talks about that with the portion about Rivkah who was pregnant with Esav and Ya’akov. She had a tremendous battle going on within her so she went to the yeshiva of Shem v’Ever, who were the prophets in those days, to find out why. They interpreted what was happening to her. It wasn’t a medical interpretation. It’s not as though she went to an “Ob-Gyn,” a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology. She went to the right source, the prophets. They told her things which are incredible. They told her that there are two nations, two embryos representing two nations that will dominate the world, two nations contending with each other. One would seek to dominate the other. We’re talking about embryos, not full-grown people. What is the intelligence of an embryo? That’s what they told her. What would be the relationship between these two?—one nation will be greater than the other.
They will vie for dominion, power. The prophets were saying that they will never be equal. When one is dominant, the other will be subservient. Then it will reverse. It will be a see-saw, sometimes one side up; sometimes the other side is up. There would always be a tendency for one to be dominant over the other. They said that the relationship between these two is such that there will be constant conflict as to who has ascendancy, has dominance—interesting. Then, the Torah says that, ultimately, the elder will serve the younger, “Rav ya’avod tzair.” Whichever twin comes out first will, eventually, serve the twin that comes out second. That’s an incredible nevuah—prophecy. We’re not talking about an opinion in the New York Times. We’re talking about a Divine revelation. Most don’t understand the significance of that revelation. This is what I’ve spoken about and will do so again, something that’s occurring which many don’t realize.
What this ultimately means is that one of the two represents good, kedusha—holiness, and the other represents evil. That’s the contest. Is it the evil that dominates or the good? This is the ultimate battle of mankind; who is in the lead? It’s not just the lead; it’s a see-saw. When good is “up,” evil will be “down.” This is about the dominance of good so that evil isn’t eradicated but subdued, becomes recessive or the reverse. There’s a fundamental inequality.
What is the nature of the relationship between good and evil as represented by these two nations, Esav and Ya’akov, by Edom and Yisrael? What kind of relationship is that? Generally, one nation can be up and the other nations are also up. Why should these two be otherwise?
The answer is a very important idea. The nature of the relationship is “causation.” When good does good, it causes evil to be subdued. That’s why evil is “down,” because it’s been caused to be down. When evil is “up,” in a certain sense, it’s not that evil causes good to be “down.” Remember; good is the cause altogether! When good is “up,” the nation that is “good” is doing the good which we understand to be the Will of G-D, like the fulfillment of the mitzvos—commandments. This causes evil to be subdued, “down.” That’s why it’s “down.” Good is causing evil to be “down.” When good is “down,” it is because that’s what it is causing! It is not so that evil is causing it to be down—no! Evil is “up” because good is not doing its job. Therefore, automatically, evil rises.
What determines the madreiga—level of evil? What’s the current status of this world? It can be summed up with the simple question: where is good? That’s all you have to ask!
This is an entirely different understanding. When you look around today, bad news! Evil is the dominant force of this world. Most people don’t understand what evil is. It’s not merely that Jews are not doing mitzvos; it is mankind rebelling against G-D. That’s what it is and there are many levels of evil.
Take a look at this world. America has become a very evil country, as I’ll point out. Besides China, besides North Korea or Iran, most countries are evil. Why? Evil isn’t necessarily about doing sins. Evil is also due to the self-aggrandizement of man. When men seek to overthrow G-D, to catapult themselves into a supreme position, that’s evil. It’s not merely about doing sins against the Will of G-D; it’s having a distorted vision of oneself, to think you’re a “somebody.” That’s evil and we notice this tendency many times in history. That’s why G-D is always the focus of mankind.
History of Evil and Man’s Hubris
Adam ha’Rishon and Chava were tempted to sin because the nachash—snake told them, “You can be like G-D,” be an Elokim. Wow! Man dreams of being G-D, totally self-sufficient, totally independent, kaviyachol—as if it could be in this world.
Then we get to the next madreiga—level which is what?—the generation of the mabul—Flood, with their “prikas ohl”—overthrowing the yoke of G-D. They said: We’re not doing what You want; we’re doing what we want. That’s what the dor ha’mabul—Generation of the Flood was all about; I wanna do what I want.
Then comes the dor ha’flaga—Generation of the Dispersion. They’re building a tower because they want to kill G-D, basically.
Look at the evolution of this. Adam wants to be G-D. The Flood generation wants to fulfill its own will. The generation of the Dispersion, of the Tower of Babel, wants to kill G-D or subdue G-D. If they could only get a hold of G-D; what’s to do with Him? He’s a hard being to imprison, right? They wanted to eradicate G-D, get rid of Him, so they could do what they wanted.
Then you get to Pharoah who declares himself as G-D. Pharoah says, “I am G-D” so like, what’s your problem!
They’re all concerned with their relation to G-D. It’s always been this way. Everything revolves around man’s understanding of G-D Himself. We don’t realize how central that is to our unconscious. We dream about becoming G-D, defying G-D, killing G-D, or being G-D. We don’t understand how important that is to the psyche of man and there’s a lot to speak about on this topic. I’m giving you the fundamental psychological understanding of what we aspire to on some level. It’s the hidden agenda of the human psyche.
We now understand a very important principle; G-D is central to what we want and desire and, therefore, G-D wants us to subdue these inclinations, these feelings. Ultimately, what the mitzvos—commandments do is impart that you cannot defy G-D; you have to listen to Him. You can’t be G-D, obviously. He’s omnipotent. Whether you feel it or not, it’s responsible for all human behavior, ultimately. I don’t want to go into all of that now, but it’s fundamental, basic.
Now we understand. Rivka is listening to this prophecy telling her that there are two nations within her which embody the essence of this conflict. It’s not just about defying G-D, it’s about the aggrandizement of man. I’m it! says man who seeks to replace G-D. When a person does things because he feels entitled to his will—I can do whatever I want because my will is supreme, We must recognize the hubris.
G-D-centered Reality
A guy says to himself: I need a vacation, therefore I decide that I will go on a vacation. In our eyes, what’s the big deal? In the eyes of G-D, that’s—maybe “evil” is too harsh a word—but it’s against the ultimate authority of G-D. A person should say to himself, I need a vacation because I need a change of routine to energize myself so I can serve G-D better. There you are! You can take a vacation; no one says you can’t, but your motive has to be different because the motive is the ultimate expression of who you really think you are.
When considering a person who’s righteous, not even someone who is a tzaddik—thoroughly righteous person, somebody who’s an “oved,” who simply serves G-D, what’s his motive?—not himself. G-D has to be the motive, not you. That’s the classic conflict. G-D could ask rhetorically, who’s the motive, Me or you? I use this example of going on vacation because it’s so typical, to show you how even that can be an expression of defying G-D. The critical concept is the purpose for the vacation. What’s your motive? That is the essence of what G-D wants, that it be for G-D. G-D usurps all my time?—true. Do you know why?
Ask: why is G-D always interfering in what I want to do? I want to take a vacation, to eat in some really great restaurant, that new one that just opened that serves great steaks...
… and G-D says: no! no! no! First you have to check that it’s kosher and then, if it’s kosher, you have to make a bracha—blessing. Even then, don’t fill yourself up with too much gashmius—materiality. I have to be careful at real classy restaurants.
The idea is that G-D wants Himself to be the central idea in your life. Why? I’ll give you one idea. You don’t realize something: in Olam Ha’Ba—Future World, there is nobody else but G-D.
We look around and there are 7.5 billion people on the planet, right? So, besides me, you think, there are lots of people. G-D is not the only entity in existence, you think. But that’s only here, because G-D has allowed us the concept of “other” besides G-D Himself. There are “others” which, themselves, are created entities. The truth, however, is Ein od milvado”—besides G-D, there isn’t anything else. I’ll not dwell on that now but G-D has allowed an “other” to exist. In Olam Ha’Ba—guess what! All that is yanked; it’s out! In the Future World, there is nothing but G-D. There are no angels, no tzaddikim, and you can forget, mamash—really forget Moshe Rabbeinu. When you think of all the g’dolim—great scholars, that’s only for here! Mankind offers the illusion of greatness, that mankind is great in certain ways—there’s no question about that—but in terms of “being,” forget about it! G-D is the only One. Since He is the only Being and you’re experiencing that One; that’s the infinite pleasure, without getting into the why or the how.
G-D is saying, essentially: You want to experience Me and have that infinite pleasure, then you have to live as if you know that here In Olam Ha’Ze—this world. That’s right! Even here, I’m also the only One! It’s measure-for-measure. You begin to see the logic of this. As you wish to live in Olam Ha’Ba is the way G-D wants you to live now, here, except here we have to go through the motions. There, it just happens. Therefore, in a certain sense, we need to prepare ourselves. To the extent you prepare yourself, prepare your motives, you actions, your beliefs, all centered around G-D, is the extent to which you’ll get that infinite pleasure in Olam Ha’Ba. Isn’t it nice and logical?
Our problem is that we don’t really experience or know this. You have to believe it. That’s the test. Do you believe this or not, to the extent that you go through the motions, the actions?
This is what I mean about the relationship between good and evil. Lack of good causes evil or it causes “self”—to rise which is also evil. Good is the answer—important concept. The only question you have to ask about how the world is doing is: where’s good? That will automatically tell you where evil is. What a simple formula!
Example: Yosef Ha’Tzaddik
Just to give you an example—Yosef. Anybody heard of Yosef Ha’Tzaddik? You remember the family history, being thrown into a pit, kidnapped, sold to Egypt, imprisoned in Egypt—which put him in the lowest social class in Egypt—until suddenly, overnight—it’s astounding. That pasuk—verse which says they took Yosef out, cleaned him up and stood him before Pharoah, is only one, single verse! All this happens in one pasuk! In one verse, you have transformation to freedom. Why? Remember what I said; evil can only exist if good allows it to. What did Yosef do to deserve freedom and dominion over Egypt second only to Pharoah himself?
He resisted the temptations of Egypt. For thirteen years—imagine how difficult it must have been, resisting temptation, realizing that his family was against him—he lived ostracized, alone, in prison. His brothers kidnapped him, sold him, so he couldn’t go back to them, right? Here’s a person in prison and had to be a tzaddik—righteous person. That’s what we call him, “Yosef Ha’Tzaddik.” Why? Imagine being alone in Egypt, in prison, in a land full of temptations, and Egypt had it all; it was very promiscuous country and was the height of civilization for 3000 years—very interesting. And Yosef’s tzidkus—righteousness came to its zenith when he defied Potiphar’s wife, denied her advances. I don’t want to get into the whole pnimius—esoteric meaning of what that story is really about, but if you think you understand what that test was, you have no concept of what Yosef had to do not to be with Potiphar’s wife.
Because of that, the good intensified—unbelievable! We know the formula; it’s about what good does, not what evil does. Who cares about evil! See the difference? Since Yosef was such a tzaddik, had such dominion over his taiva—lust desire, enough to be able to worship G-D in a place of such terrible evil, it was decreed that Egypt would collapse. The angel of Egypt, which is the Satan—Egypt is called the Satan’s “firstborn”—invested all his evil in Egypt. When Yosef intensified good, Egypt collapsed. The Satan was starving because he “eats” from the abrogation of good, when evil ascends.
As I’ve spoke of extensively, once a person does good, he brings down kedusha—holiness, that force based on the sefiros—Divine emanations. When a person does good, he controls evil. Everything has to “eat” from that source of kedusha, that Divine force of which we are unaware. When a person does good, he brings that down to this world. When that happens, the Jews take that force for themselves and they become successful in being able to perpetrate more goodness. If, however, good sins or is dormant or ignored, that force comes down anyway because the only way the world can exist is by means of that force, that “shefa”—flow. If it goes to the side of evil, evil proliferates.
We give evil our force. We give enormous energy to the side of evil. If they have that power of dominion, they will become great. That is how we cause the proliferation of evil. We, the Jews, have the access. This is the “cosmic consequence.” The Jews control the Light, the energy of the sefiros, that force which controls, determines, all reality. When we do mitzvos, we bring it down for us, for the side of good. When we do aveiros—transgressions, we bring it down but it goes to the Satan. That’s all he needs. It’s like a million vitamins in one shot. That is how we cause evil to grow. The Satan needs us to give him our energy. That’s his condition. If we don’t “nourish” him, he dies.
So, Yosef, through his tzidkus—righteousness, took the force for himself. This, automatically, meant that the Satan would starve but—guess what! If the Satan is starving, so is Egypt! Egypt is the Satan’s bechor—firstborn. Egypt starved and that was the origin of the empowerment of the Jews and the diminishment of Egypt. Pharoah’s power was diminished so whose power then rose?—Yosef ha’Tzaddik’s. Isn’t that a simple formula? Joseph is the one who got himself out of prison. He didn’t hire a lawyer. He was his own lawyer by means of understanding the formula. If you do tzidkus, acts of G-D in the proper way, you bring down that force for yourself and that subdues evil. It subdued evil for Yosef to such an extent that he was subordinate only to Pharoah. That’s how great the force of good was—classic example of the formula in play.
Beauty and Might: Tiferes and Oz
Something else you have to understand is the repercussions of good, of kedusha; what does it provide? It gives us two things and these are expressed in the prayer we say every morning. The products are called “tiferes”—beauty and “oz”—might. What are these? We pray that G-D should crown Israel with these. Why? The result of the kedusha, from our good works, bring these; they are our property our yerush—wealth.
What is this tiferes, this beauty?—wisdom. That is why G-D crowns Israel with this, the incredible wisdom of the ability to see reality correctly. When we say “you’re wise” we mean that you know a lot, but it’s much more. Knowledge is knowing; wisdom is different. It’s the ability to apply knowledge for practical purposes. When you go to someone you consider “wise,” he knows a lot but also can advise you how to apply it. That’s “wisdom.”
Beauty is knowledge and wisdom, to know reality and also to apply it. That’s tiferes. It’s a natural consequence of kedusha. That’s why you go for advice to a chacham—a wise one. We don’t call him a “talmid chacham”—someone who’s knowledgeable, a scholar. We don’t call such an advisor that. The chacham—wise person is more than someone knowledgeable. He can advise you how to apply reality to your situation. It’s interesting that the Jews use this term, a “chacham.” So, tiferes, this term for “beauty” means a kind of “intellect,” the sum of knowledge and the wisdom to apply it.
“Oz”—might, is the ability to apply all this information, put it into practice, to implement that which we know. The modern-day term for these is—what? The modern-day term for the tiferes of America is science, the study of reality. It applies to any field you want to know, right down to ultimate causes—medicine, biology, physics, chemistry, economics, anthropology. But if I want to apply it, I need technology. “Science” is the wisdom or knowledge, and “technology” is the “might” which refers to its application. In the “real world,” we recognize that we can use this stuff, not just know it.
You go into a car dealer to buy a car. Do you realize you’re looking at one of the greatest displays of technology ever offered? Do you have any idea what goes into making a car—the electronics, the physics, the chemistry, the computerization. It’s amazing! They only charge about 30-grand ($30,000). I don’t wanna give em any hints, but they could charge a million dollars for the amount of chochma that goes into a car. What about a computer? What goes into making a computer!
That’s the science of the world—tiferes. The world has tiferes, and it has the oz, the technology.
We have to have that, what kedusha produces. What happens if we sin? We give existence of might to evil. What do we give them?—science and technology. That is why they have it. We gave it to them. Really, the kedusha should come to us.
Besides that, it’s also that the oz can be used for evil. That’s also their dominion. This concept of tiferes and oz being the product of kedusha and being given away when we cause evil to rise is the story of the domination of Esav.
Since Esav and Ya’akov were fighting it out, they were fighting for dominance of tiferes and oz. That’s why, by the way, we pray for tiferes and oz. That’s the consequences of kedusha and we bemoan the fact that tiferes and oz are in the hands of the Satan, the hand of evil. You’re looking at it. When you walk—I used to say this but you can’t say it anymore which tells you what’s happening—walk down 5th Avenue, you should see the shops. Each was a work of art, the shops, the restaurants, the malls, these places that look like palaces. That’s tiferes and oz. They got it, not us.
We live in New Jersey and, not far from us, there’s a college, Monmouth College. I don’t want to bad-mouth it, but it’s a “nobody” college. If you look at the roster of colleges, this one would have to be near the bottom. If you walk by the campus, check it out. That’s tiferes and oz. It’s a beautiful campus. Ever go to some of these campuses—Harvard, MIT? That’s tiferes and oz. That’s what we’ve given them.
Now, compare these to a yeshiva. It’s a place that has to be rented. They don’t even own the place. The aron—ark is probably broken, has to be fixed. You have to scrounge around for the herring for the kiddush. Compare the status of a yeshiva or a shul with a college, even a “nothing” college. The colleges, universities, are majestic, beautiful. Why? They have the tiferes and oz and we gave it to them. They didn’t get it by accident.
We say this in “Tachanun” every day. We say, “How long will Your oz be in captivity and Your tiferes be in the hand of the enemy?” The beauty and magnificence, the technology, is in the hands of goyim, not Jews. It was once in the hands of Jews in the time of the Beis Ha’Mikdash. The Temple during the time of Herod was world-renowned, apparent to anyone even looking at a model of it. The gold! I’m not even talking of the kedusha, its holiness. We had the tiferes and oz then. Who took it? Who did we give it to?—the Romans, Esav. That began the dominion of Esav, of Edom, of Rome. With that dominion went the tiferes and oz.
The Restoration, The Messianic Era
It all adds up once you understand the basic principles. Now we understand the consequence of doing the Will of G-D. Why do you think the messianic era will be so glorious? If you think you know what the mashiach’s time will be like, you have no inkling. I’ve spoken of this extensively.
It’s a time we cannot imagine, of such greatness. According to what is said of it, all the “kings,” the whole U.N., will line up to beg forgiveness from the Malchei Mashiach, ben Yosef and ben David. What? Russia, China, all these guys, all the anti-Semites, all will line up to beg forgiveness from the Jews. Then they will line up to be servants of the Jews because it’s better to be a servant, like Hagar, a servant of Avraham, than the Queen of Egypt, which is what she was. Pharoah gave Avraham his daughter. That is how great the mashiach will be, how great that era will be. Obviously, if that’s how great it is, imagine what the Jews will be.
Every Jew will have ten goyim who want to serve him, not due to enslavement. Nobody’s forcing anybody to do anything. The goyim will realize that having contact with a Jew will enable them to experience G-D. From the Jew issues forth the shechina—Divine Presence. When you feel the shechina, you’ll go bonkers. It’s a million times more powerful than drugs. It’s like these groupies who hang around celebrities. They’re hoping that if they hang around a celebrity long enough, part of the celebrity’s mazal will rub off on them. They’re hoping that, if they’re sitting next to their idea of success, they’ll get some of it.
Imagine what it means when the whole world recognizes that the Jews are the elect of G-D, the nation that did the tikkun—rectification of Creation! Imagine billions of people running to serve the Jews, not because they have to; they want to. That is the only way they can access the “drug.” The name of that “drug” is “shechina.” It’s the Divine Presence itself. Why is it so glorious? The messianic era is the restoration of the real tiferes and oz of the Jews. That’s it! You’re looking at what we could have had, should have had, would have had, if we’d done the Will of G-D. Ultimately, it all went downhill at the “Sin of the Golden Calf.” That was the pivotal moment. They destroyed the beginning of their tiferes and oz. What will be restored during the messianic era?—not just the mashiach. It is revelation of the Divine Presence.
It’s funny; I once went to France, a long time ago. One of the most beautiful places you can ever see in France is a place where you begin to realize what a king really is. I’m not talking about the White House; that’s an outhouse in comparison to what’s in France at Versailles. Ever go there? Besides the building, there are the grounds! What is this? Did mankind build this? The grounds, the palace…. It’s not of this world. It’s magnificent. There’s the “Hall of Mirrors.” Louis XIV brought dignitaries there simply to impress them. It’s stunning. I got a kick out of the fact that, when you take the tour, they take you to the king’s bedroom and—guess what!—he used to go to bed in front of people. They would watch the king sleep!—the insanity of such gaiva—haughtiness. This was the power of one guy who was a dictator. That’s tiferes and oz, isn’t it, except it’s that of one guy.
Imagine if each Jew would have that kind of “residence”! The tiferes and oz goes back to the Jews, shouldn’t it? That’s the consequence of the shechina being among men. The Beis Ha’Mikdash will be something we cannot imagine. That’s the era of mashiach and that is nothing compared to the time of Olam Ha’Ba—nothing. It is said that every Jew will have 310 worlds to call his own and this has many interpretations.
Some of our shuls are pretty but can’t be compared to the majestic halls of their churches and cathedrals. That is where Torah should be, a place that is the manifestation of the greatness of Torah. In the end, Torah is the only thing that goes on in Olam Ha’Ba. All of this is gone, all science and technology. It will be replaced by something we don’t understand. Imagine living 2000 years ago and walking into the abode of the emperor of Rome and thinking it majestic; it was what one would commonly see then. Comparing it to what we have today, it was a dump. What we have today will seem like garbage compared to Olam Ha’Ba, a spiritual experience, a very different type of “being.”
Manifest Evil: Tiferes and Oz of Galus Today
I’ve explained the concept of evil which would not exist without us. I’ve explained the products of good and evil being “tiferes” and “oz” and how they manifest. This is galus—exile. They have it, not us. What we begin to realize is that the gentiles have a lot of tiferes and oz, a lot we cannot understand. It’s their corporate might, the whole world’s might, the stock market, their “kingdoms.” These aren’t companies; they’re kingdoms masquerading as corporations. There are hundreds of thousands of people working for them. That’s a kingdom, an empire.
Look at Walmart; it’s an empire. Businesses have become empires. That’s the tiferes and oz of the galus--exile. If that’s the case, There’s something very bad here. The good is trapped. Remember the see-saw. It’s very bad for us. The greater they are, the worse off we are—much worse. That’s why we look the way we do. That’s why Israel is a tiny dot on the map. That’s where Israel is? Israel is in the news every day; it makes no sense. Israel has nine million people and the world has eight billion. Israel isn’t even one quarter of one percent of the world’s population yet, if you read the newspaper, there’s got to be an article somewhere about Israel, either pro or con. Why is Israel always “on the map,” always in the consciousness of the world?
Nobody understands this but we know. Everything is all about the Jews, about Israel, because we have the connection to the sefiros. We are the ones who control everything by our deeds. Of course! We’re the guys! The world knows this intuitively, that the neshama of the Jew is different. That is one of the causes of anti-Semitism. They intuitively feel, sense spiritually, that there’s a vast gulf that separates a Jew from a goy.
We begin to realize that we are in a bad position. Let me tell you something very important. The Satan is dying despite what you see out there. He is in the final throes. The Jews have taken back an enormous amount of the holiness—as I’ve spoken of extensively—so the Satan is dying. This is why the world has gone crazy.
Look at what’s happening in America. It’s not the same country we once knew, even four years ago. It’s astounding! Most of the Satan’s kedusha that sustained him has been taken back. He’s on his “last reserves.” It’s like a supernova star just before it explodes. He, like the star, is able to gather what is left of his forces before he dies in an explosion that can outshine a galaxy. He is desperate—desperate—for the sins of the Jews. The Satan has become crazy. He’s done things to this world which defy logic.
What do I mean? Consider America. America defies logic. It’s no longer “human.” In many ways, it’s led by those who are no longer human. Humans have an intuitive sense of what’s right and wrong, of how to survive. G-D gave us that. The first thing survival requires is basic logic that would dictate: don’t kill babies. Obviously, you don’t kill the future of mankind. Yet, America is all for abortion, especially for this mishigena—crazy president who’s a murderer. You don’t realize what Biden is and he has no concept of what will happen to him when he stands before G-D. Why? Biden is a Roman Catholic and they’ve just denied him and that other mishigena woman, Nancy Pelosi, sacraments which is, for them, the main way of getting their Olam Ha’Ba, their eternal life. They’re zealously pro-abortion. That means you can kill a kid, a human being, even after birth. First the baby is inside, then outside, so how do you just kill this kid? You can still kill a kid within the first 24 hours if you and your doctor decide. That’s murder. In this sense, they’re murderers.
This galls me to no end, that Biden got all upset when that guy in Texas killed, nineteen or twenty or twenty-one people—whatever, some crazy guy—who they finally killed, fine. Biden was so upset and was trying to outlaw guns. You can’t believe what a moron this guy is because guns don’t kill; people kill. Why not outlaw knives? A knife can kill too. That would be a problem because you can’t cook without a knife, right? You can cook without a gun, right? So, Biden gets all upset about the murders so he’s trying to blame the guns.
You’re concerned about murder? At the border, you have millions crossing back and forth across the border bringing in Fentanyl. It’s an anesthetic but has become a recreational drug used illicitly, a very powerful one. It’s being illegally combined with, or sold as, Heroin. A 2mg dose is enough to be lethal. Three hundred overdose on Fentanyl every day, 120,000 per year. Biden could stop it. The Mexican government can’t stop it. The cartels are infiltrating Mexican cities, so how to stop this? I’m surprised the cartels haven’t taken over Mexico. All you have to do is declare the cartels “terrorists.” That’s what they are. The law says that, when someone is branded “terrorist,” there’s no obligation to apply due process. There’s no court. You kill him. Then you send the U.S. army, navy, air force, and marines and kill them all—very simple. You don’t need lawyers, trials—nothing. But they don’t do it. This would solve the problem of 120,000 who die in a year. Many are teenagers fooled by the internet. There are many who masquerade as casual, recreational drug-use advocates. Imagine losing a child to this.
I once spoke to somebody who told me his son died of a drug overdose. I could hear the pain in his voice, his kid dying because of this. Ask him what he’d like to do to Biden, that he should go to the seventh, the lowest, level of Gehinom and stay there for an infinite amount of time. This indicates how many deaths this guy is responsible for. I’m not even addressing the destruction of the United States in other ways. So, Biden is a murderer, a criminal, taking bribes from China. Besides all this, he’s completely out of it in terms of crafting policy, and he’s an evil person.
How did he win the election? People don’t realize that this is what the U.S. deserves. You don’t get this unless you deserve it. G-D doesn’t give a country a Biden if they are righteous. Of course not! There’s a thing called “justice” or “appropriateness” so G-D decided that America deserves Biden. He is the appropriate leader. Leader?—murderer. Biden is one indication of what’s going on in America. America has the pits in terms of a president and his White House staff. They’re all like that—and the Congress and Nancy Pelosi and, tragically, a Jew named “Schumer.”
Besides abortion is the travesty of kindergarten education. It’s now legal, acceptable, when you send your kid to public school—which is the same as asking for monumental problems—for your child to be exposed to the benefits of transgenderism. They tell your son he doesn’t have to identify as a “boy,” and your daughter need not consider herself a “girl.” You can chop off or add on, depending on what you’d like. I’m sorry to be so crude but sometimes that’s the only way to understand this. A kid goes to second grade and the book says “Johnny loves Frank.” It’s not only legal; it’s compulsory. It’s required content to teach kids that biology doesn’t determine anything. What does a seven-year-old know?
What ever happened to America, the concepts of “reproduction” and “biology,” that G-D made human beings as either male or female? And that’s not enough for them, that being transgender is ok. A guy can say, “I’m a woman.” I heard on the radio that some guy walked into a woman’s shower room, sits down, and you can’t throw him out because he claims to be a woman. There was a woman who refused to take a shower in front of him and, still, he couldn’t be thrown out. To throw him out comes with the risk of arrest. A person could be hounded out of one’s job for using an “inappropriate” pronoun, one deemed inappropriate by the person to whom you refer. You can’t make this stuff up.
I have a student who went into a building in Manhattan looking for a men’s bathroom. He passed by a woman’s bathroom where a sign hung which said something to the effect of, “If you want to express yourself as a woman, please feel free to come in.” My student nearly fell over. He’s thinking: they’re inviting me into the women’s toilet so I have the freedom of feeling what I want to be. I’m waiting for a guy to walk into a woman’s mikveh—ritual bath.
That’s what’s next.
America is denying biology—huh?
Besides trying to kill babies and besides trying to destroy the youth and besides trying to deny biology, there are the colleges. In the last few decades, the college agenda has become liberal, “progressive.” The kids come out, the “future leaders,” and they’re inculcated with what they’ve learned as “socialism” or “communism.”
The next step along this path is mothers marrying their sons. Why not? If a guy can marry a guy, why not his sister? To me, this progression is logical. Muktzeh is muktzeh—that which is set apart as untouchable, not permissible. America has reached the epitome of depravity, immorality. Therefore, they are zoche—worthy of Biden but it’s more than Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer. They deserve the civil war that’s going on.
Esav, evil, in the Torah, has three expressions because Esav had three characteristics. He had tremendous gaiva—arrogance. Of Esav, it says that he despised the birthright, despised spirituality, which is what the birthright represents. He also was about mirma—fraud. He was an imposter. The third characteristic was his drive toward taiva—pleasure. He was hedonistic. That is why Western Civilization, which is the manifestation of Esav as Rome/Christianity, as Edom, displays these characteristics.
His arrogance was typified by Russia, particularly as it was under the Soviet regime. It was so bad that it was only permitted by G-D to persist for seventy years. It was the ultimate in tyranny.
The fraud is embodied most by Christian Europe; Christianity is a fraud. As I often say to illustrate this, they tell you to “turn the other cheek” but what they don’t tell you is that it is your cheek they turn—not theirs, yours. More people have been killed in the name of “Christianity” than all the world’s wars combined. Even if you combine the pogroms, holocausts, expulsions, inquisitions, even then we have little idea how many people Christianity killed. Then there was the Crusades against Arabs. Millions of Jews have been killed along with civilization itself. What it did, historically, makes it an evil religion. Islam too has perpetrated evil but Christianity was worse. If you didn’t believe in Christianity, they’d burn you at the stake. Imagine being burned at the stake, the heinousness of that crime!
America has been the taiva, the least treacherous. America is a country where you could enjoy any type of pleasure.
These are the worst aspects of Esav and how they’ve manifest: tyranny, atheism, arrogance, hedonism. Esav is back, but the Satan is not interested in Esav as America the hedonist. He wants the tyrannical “socialist.” When they hire 87,000 new IRS agents, it’s not just to raise additional money from taxes. It’s to enslave. They’re weaponizing the IRS. The Department of Justice has become the “Department of Injustice.” Nobody trusts the FBI anymore. This is Biden and his White House pets. “Progressiveness” is nothing more than “Esav” in its worst form. America is changing. It is changing from Esav at his most benevolent, as the hedonist, to his most tyrannical. Hedonism is about self-indulgence, whether it be “democracy,” or “freedom.” Tyranny is prikas ohl—casting off of the yoke of G-D. It’s the ultimate overthrow of G-D in its defiance of civilization. America is Sdom. Why did G-D destroy Sdom? He didn’t even do it in a natural way as He did with the Flood. He did it unnaturally, supernaturally, because Sdom had become unnatural. It’s no longer the “USA: United States of America.” It’s “USA: United Sodomites of America.”
Who’s doing this?—the Satan. America has gone from hedonism and pleasure-seeking, the most benevolent form of Esav, to tyranny and treachery, defiant of G-D, Esav at his worst. That is why it deserves what is happening to it.
The Meaning of the Raid on Mar-A-Lago
Fortunately, there is the tov she’b’Esav—good aspect of Esav, which is Trump. As I’ve talked about extensively, Trump is the Esav doing the teshuva—penitence that has been prophesied for the End of Time. As the Torah says, “rav ya’avod tzair”—the elder will serve the younger. At the End, this must happen. Esav has to do teshuva and Trump is Esav doing that. I’ve mentioned the gilgul—reincarnation of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and this is all in previous shiuirim—lectures I’ve given.
The civil war in America is the war between the good part of Esav and the bad part of Esav. The good part is at war with the Biden administration, the Democratic Party, and the powers they serve.
To show you how bad it is, how much ascendancy there’s been of such evil, and to understand the raid of Mar-A-Lago, the question is about Purim. Why are there two days of Purim? The war was between Persia, essentially Haman, against the Jews who were victorious. How many days of victory do you have to celebrate?—one. There was one enemy, Haman. Why two days? Why is there “regular Purim” plus “Shushan Purim”? We don’t celebrate it but they do (in Jerusalem). We have the 14th of Adar and they have the 15th. Why?—just because it’s Shushan? So what?
When you fight evil, there are two things you fight. One is the consequences, the “branches” of evil, such as the soldiers, but that’s not the way to win a war. You have to go to the enemy’s headquarters and wipe it out.
There was a legendary snake called “Hydra” in Greek mythology. It had multiple heads. As soon as you cut off one, two more grew in its place so it was a never-ending battle. Finally, Hercules did it somehow. He probably cut off the original head, the origin of all of them. The other heads were just a distraction.
You can battle soldiers here, battle soldiers there, but the headquarters will just dispatch another legion. You have to kill the headquarters. What was the headquarters of Haman?—Shushan. They realized: wait a minute! G-D not only gave us permission to destroy the enemy which is wherever they are, where Haman and his followers are in Persia. Since the headquarters are in Shushan, there’s an extra g’zeira—decree to destroy that. This goes to show how great the decree was, that permission was granted to wipe out evil so thoroughly that the good could achieve ascendancy. That’s where the palace was. So, chazal—sages realized that Purim deserved another day; it’s an add-on to the success of the g’zeira because the Jews did teshuva. They fasted for three days. That fasting was so great that G-D gave them permission not only to wipe out the extension of evil, but evil’s origin, and they did. Shushan Purim is a commemoration of wiping out all of “Haman” and that’s why, by the way, you never hear of Haman in history. He’s gone! Every notice that?
Now we can understand Mar-A-Lago. Evil is winning—no question about that. How does evil display its dominance?—by wiping out good. The evil is trying to destroy Trump. He is the tov she’b’Esav. Evil is trying, desperately, to get him. Everyone knows that January 6th was insanity and so were the two impeachment attempts. Now they’re after him with the tax and whatever else they can invent. But these are all about the power of Trump. It’s as if saying: We want to show you how evil we are; we are going into Melania’s bedroom, pulling out her undergarments. This is an invasion of the person, not his office, not his presidency. This is his private residence, where the guy lives! This shows you how great is the ascendancy of their evil. They’re invading not only his home but his bedroom, pulling out her underwear and even taking his passport! I’m surprised they didn’t go after Trump and pull his pants off. I’m sorry for being so crass but is this not an expression of total dominance, total victory, over goodness? Of course, it is. That’s Mar-A-Lago. It’s the absolute victory over Trump.
It’s not merely an invasion of somebody’s house. They could have negotiated with Trump for what they wanted. There’s a law from 1978 called, I think, the Presidential Property Act which says that a president has the right to keep his documents, even if they’re classified. This law doesn’t distinguish between classified and non-classified documents. Their invasion was illegal. They could have obtained a subpoena to obtain what they claim he had.
Imagine it’s 7a.m. and you hear banging on your door. This is what happened to Stone and—who’s the other guy?—whatever, then, all of a sudden, thirty FBI agents come in, with guns, into your house. Can you believe this? It’s terror. They have the governmental authority and billions of dollars for lawsuits. You’ll go bankrupt after a million dollars, maybe. You’d probably go bankrupt after $100,000. These guys have limitless cash. You can’t fight these guys. They come in with guns drawn. Are they crazy? That’s them saying: we’re the boss. We can invade your privacy at will, pull off your pants and your wife’s pants; it doesn’t make a difference. That’s how much control we have over you.
This is G-D showing America: this is how bad you’ve become, how much of the bad of Esav you’ve become. This is the ultimate and total victory for Esav and for Biden, the murderer. He’s your spokesman. Do teshuva! Are you crazy defying civilization, killing babies, destroying kindergarteners, defying biology? You’ve become Sdom. Bad news for America. This is why there is a tremendous kitrug—prosecution (in the heavenly court) against America. This is why China has been surpassing America, overtaking America. That’s China’s dream, to overtake America by about 2049. Yeah, that’s their dream.
I’ve tried to make it crystal clear what is happening and no one wants to think in these terms because it’s so despairing, so depressing. It hasn’t touched the Jewish community as much—yet.
Grandiosity of Evil at the End
Before G-D takes out evil, He makes it incredibly powerful. Why?—because it’s one thing to vanquish an enemy that’s weak—big deal! We think: of course G-D won; He’s much more powerful.
Ah! says G-D. You know what I’m going to demonstrate? I want to demonstrate how powerful I really am. I’m gonna make them Supermen and then I’ll wipe them out.
Why do you think G-D made Egypt so great? He wanted to wipe them out. Egypt, under Ramses, was incomparable. G-D’s not going to wipe out a weakling. G-D could say: Not only will I wipe out the greatest nation on Earth, I’ll do it supernaturally with blood, frogs, lice. Can you imagine having blood, frogs, lice, and wild animals as your soldiers? This is not a war of men. It’s a war of the Ribono Shel Olam—Master of the Universe! That’s what He does. Before, he takes out a nation, he makes it unbelievably powerful. That’s what he did to Rome. He made them the greatest nation on earth and then He wiped them out. By the time “C.E.” came along, they were gone.
But it’s not only Egypt and Rome; it’s all nations. The Soviet Union was a supreme nation and He wiped them out. What’s amazing is that America wants to become what the Soviet Union was. America wants to change its form as Esav because it is Esav. America says, ostensibly, I might as well become Esav in its worst form.
Like a Super-Nova
This is satanic. The Satan must destroy Trump because Trump is the greatest enemy the Satan has ever known, other than the Jews. These satanic forces want to take out Trump as the good part of Esav. As the good part of Esav, Trump’s whole purpose is to help the Jews do the tikkun—rectification of Creation. I’ve spoken about this at great length. The Jews, with Trump’s assistance, can take out the Satan. Trump was doing it with the Abraham Accords and other unprecedented advances he made for Israel.
In his capacity as the yetzer ha’ra—evil inclination, the tempter, the Satan, has affected the American psyche. What is the major dynamic within America? It’s not the policies of the Biden administration; it’s the hatred of Trump. Whoever heard of such a thing? Why do they hate the guy so much? There have been unpopular presidents but, c’mon! We’ve never seen anything like this in American history. It’s psychotic! He was an excellent president. He had excellent policies that helped the country. It was doing fabulously. So, can you tell me why you hate Trump so much? Trump stood up to all the bullies, all the foreign powers like China, England, Germany. He made European countries contribute to NATO. Trump was incredible.
The Satan must destroy Trump because Trump will, ultimately, destroy the Satan. He doesn’t realize this; I’d love to tell him. Anybody out there know Trump? I’d explain to him what he is, why they hate him, what is, spiritually, going on. You’re looking at satanic forces and why they are so powerful. There’s nothing to equal satanic forces. Half America hates Trump.
America has become irrational even though they’re not irrational or stupid by nature.
With the Satan, it’s existential, like Iran and Israel. Israel survives; Iran dies. If Trump survives, it’s over for the Satan. That’s the good news. G-D wants to show America what is happening and the way He does that is to show how much evil can do to Trump. You have no idea what an indicator this is. I can’t believe I’m the only guy recognizing this. They all say: it’s this; it’s that; it’s an attack on the presidency. Forget the presidency! It’s an attack on goodness, on the good part of Esav, an attack on righteousness, on holiness. It’s as if G-D says: I want to show you how far you guys have gotten! I’m doing this to destroy you! That’s what you’re looking at.
Hopefully, Mar-A-Lago is the end. Other than Melania’s underwear, you can hardly embarrass the guy more than that. We are witnessing an existential conflict. We don’t realize what’s going on with Biden who’s a perfect puppet. Do you think G-D kept him in business for 47 or 48 years, kept this murderer, this criminal, kept him in business to achieve what every politician would ever want, for nothing? He became a senator from Delaware—what kind of a state is that, Delaware?—then vice-president and then president; every politician dreams of such a career. This moron has done it. How? It wasn’t Biden; it’s G-D’s. G-D “needs” Biden, needs such a moron to be the puppet of the Democratic Party and other evil forces which are the evil of Esav.
I hope I’ve clarified what all this really means. The good news is that this is the End. Any questions?
Q & A
(inaudible)
R’Kessin: That is an excellent question and I will answer you. Who is the greatest enemy of the Jewish people at the End of Time?
Participant: The Eirev Rav.
R’Kessin: Right! Who is the Eirev Rav—Mixed Multitude? It is those Jews who want to defy G-D. They say that the uniqueness of Judaism isn’t the Torah and the agreement we have with G-D. It’s Jewish culture. It’s gefilte fish, Jewish literature. The Eirev Rav say: we are a nation like every other except we have our own unique culture. That’s the Eirev Rav.We’re Israelis, not Jews, they say. The essence of the Eirev Rav is to always defy that which is in favor of bringing mashiach. There’s Lapid, Bennett, Lieberman, for example.
Are they the only Eirev Rav? Wherever you have the battle of the Satan, you always have the Eirev Rav, even in America. The Eirev Rav has joined Esav. Who might they be?—Jerry Nadler—who I heard just won, unbelievable—Schumer, who is the “chief” Eirev Rav, Adam Schiff, and there are a couple other Jews involved. These are the Eirev Rav except that they’ve joined Esav There are always Jews at the hands of the enemy because they are the main soldiers of the Satan.
Participant: Are they reincarnations of the Eirev Rav from Mitzraim--Egypt?
R’Kessin: That’s a very good question. Yes, I suspect they are, yes.
Participant: Is G-D giving them a second chance to make a tikkun?
R’Kessin: The Zohar says that, at the End of Time, G-D will send back all the “good people,” Nebuchadnezar, Pharoah, all these guys that come and finish they’re job so that, then, G-D can destroy them. This is their “merit” to do their jobs. That’s why I believe Saddam Hussein was the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezar. He, himself, said that. He said he wants to take back Iraq. Nebuchadnezar was Iraq. At that time, in 1990, I said, “He’s right!” He’s come back to make war with Israel and then G-D destroyed them. These are the guys coming back.
(mostly inaudible, something about suing people and Trump saying that everything is being recorded illegally)
R’Kessin: You have to guess who these guys are. What they did was illegal. You cannot embarrass a person more than what they did. If you want to make a guy look like a shmate—rag (Yiddish), like a piece of garbage, you do exactly what they did. It’s no longer about the presidency; it’s about being human.
Participant: They try to break him (Trump).
R’Kessin: That’s the characteristic that makes him part of Esav, his defiance. That’s why Pence and all these other guys could never be what he is. He was chosen to defy the Evil of Esav.
Participant: There are some states that are shifting away from the stupidity, that you cannot teach these things in the nursery schools so there’s a change happening.
R’Kessin: The basis of America is still good but it’s being taken over and the effort is being made that it be transformed by the evil of Esav. They want to change the taiva, the pleasure-seeking aspect into the gaiva, the worst form of Esav, the tyrannical. They’re lunatics, but the correct title is “evil of Esav.” They want America to become like a Soviet-style dictatorship. It’s mankind’s ability to destroy and control man.
(Inaudible except for one participant saying something about her knowing Ivanka)
R’Kessin: I’d love to tell Trump this, to tell him “what you’re all about.” You know Ivanka? I could meet Ivanka and get her to…if you know her, take a copy of this shiur and give it her. Ask her if her father would like to hear this understanding of who he is. You never know….
Participant: You were talking about how, among all the generations, there were those who wanted to be G-D, overthrow G-D, kill G-D, then announced, “We are G-D,” so now this generation is really all of those in one, right?
R’Kessin: Right. That’s why it’s the worst, the mem-tet-sha’arei tumah—49th Gate of Defilement.
Participant: This is why Ha’Shem has to redeem us and that it must be miraculous because we’re so low.
R’Kessin: That’s why—remember when I gave that shiur “The Great Reset, Part 1”—G-D is bringing mashiach. We’re at that level, at the 49th Gate, when evil is so great that Mar-A-Lago can happen. That is indicative of the 49th Gate of Defilement.
Participant: If you’re doing the good, if we’re trying…
R’Kessin: We’re not all good. That’s the ultimate delusion of man. We all have sins; you know that. You know your life. Everyone knows what they do wrong and G-D has to clean us up. They are evil and they’re succeeding and then G-D can wipe them out. G-D’s actions are multi-deterministic. He has many purposes for one act. Their acts are, ultimately, to ensure their own destruction. Our acts are to get “cleaned up.” We are not the tzaddikim we think we are. Every time I listen to the news I think: boy, are we close! Who would have suspected a Mar-A-Lago. You can’t believe this! It’s never happened before in U.S. history. That this should happen, that such a bezoyon--disgrace could happen to a president, something of this nature, how obvious could it get? Biden signed off on it! It’s all part of the death of evil at the End of Time.
They hate Trump not only because he defies them but because he’s so popular and he defied all of them, defied the establishment. They can’t control him and he won’t do what they want, but the real reason they’re afraid of Trump is because he will go after them—revenge. Trump made a tremendous mistake, which I’ve said often. He underestimated the power and intensity of evil. He underestimated their resolve. He couldn’t believe they’d try to impeach him twice. One (impeachment attempt) was a complete fabrication invented by Hillary. That was his mistake. He figured he’s president and he didn’t want to create a rift within America. In the meanwhile, she got him! In the end, she hired this guy, this low-life, who lied about Trump and that destroyed his presidency. Could you imagine how much more good he could have done, extra, if he wasn’t busy fighting in court? Do you know what that does to a president?—destroys his authority, his ability to do the job. Trump underestimated evil.
Now you understand what the Torah says, the fundamental principle to destroy, obliterate, eradicate, evil from your midst. What is G-D saying? G-D says: you will no longer do evil. G-D is saying that you cannot negotiate with evil. You need to kill it, like an insect. You don’t negotiate with a hornet. Trump negotiated with them. That’s the mistake. He should have listened to G-D. You mustn’t try to understand, negotiate, with the resolve of evil, evil that never hesitates to do evil. Only good hesitates. That’s what destroys good. It’s like the British guy, Lord Harrington, said, “The only thing evil needs to succeed is for the good to do nothing.”
This is the problem. The good do nothing,
A comment is made expressing that many Democrats have begun to express that they don’t like what’s happening within their party.
R’Kessin: They realize that their party is no longer…. It’s not the Democratic Party; it’s a take-over. They have become a hostage to the evil of Esav. It used to be the taiva of Esav. Okay, fine. Hedonism has its own problems but it’s not dictatorship, not tyranny. That’s exactly what’s taking it over and why it’s so dangerous. Most people don’t realize that we’re looking at a tyranny. That’s what Biden and the Democratic Party are. That is why they will defy all logic to take you over. Why else would they have hired 87,000 agents? Do you know how many billionaires there are in America? There are 700 billionaires; that’s all. Can you tell me why we need 87,000 IRS agents to make sure the billionaires pay out? They’re crazy. Those 87,000 are to go after you and your money, to threaten you and intimidate you, to come in and bust up your bank account.
This November election…you know what the problem is with democracy? It’s a very bad form of government. Why? It’s true that it sounds great because it’s the “peoples’ voice.” The problem is that most people are stupid. You don’t realize how stupid people are. That’s number one. What do they hate Trump for? He made you rich. So many people were succeeding.
The second problem is not just because they’re stupid. They have no time to think about politics. They’re too busy struggling to make a living. Who’s got time to follow the nitwits in Congress? Half of these people are idiots. Most people have no time to check out if Congress is doing its job. They’ve no time to investigate Congress. They depend on the media which has completely turned traitor. There’s no media, only propagandists. You can’t realize the betrayal of these institutions from what they were. The media used to reveal what was going on. Now they’re just propagandists for the Democratic Party.
Instead of focusing on Trump’s policies, they focused on his character. So, he wasn’t the guy you love and he did Tweet a lot. Look, instead, at what he did! Do you think the other presidents had better characters?
If we don’t take back the House and Senate, it’s bad news. The problem with the Republicans is, as I’ve said, they don’t understand the resolve of evil. They’re very timid and weak.
She’s astounding, Liz Chaney. The whole of Wyoming is republican so how does she go out there and all she does is get upset over Trump. It’s as though nothing else matters. She never represented Wyoming at all. Stop obsessing over Trump! What’s wrong with you? She didn’t care because she wants to become a martyr: I went down because of Trump. That’s all America needs, Liz Cheney for president.
Inaudible comment having something to do with the idea of “interaction with each other….”
R’Kessin: I never said we should have no interaction with each other. What I said was that the center of everything is G-D. Of course, we can interact with each other, but it has to be about G-D because He dominates consciousness.
Participant: You were talking about tiferes and oz, and since tiferes is a serfira, what (sefira) is oz?
R'Kessin: Oz would be netzach, hod, yesod, and malchus. They are the feet which take you where you want to go. The hands perform; the feet move. These are the lower (sefiros), yes, and they’re all subservient to the upper ones.
Participant: During the messianic era, will we experience tiferes and oz personally? We’ll know what our mission in life is? How will they affect me, personally?
R’Kessin: Actually, it’s more than tiferes; it goes up to keser, the crown. The reward, the revelation of the shechina—Divine Presence is keser; we cannot even believe what that is. G-D will give us a glimpse—is that the right word?—give us a revelation of Who He is, the greatest imaginable, which is keser. That’s how high it will be.
Participant: All at the same level?
R’Kessin: Everything else will then follow proportionately. “Zeir Anpin” is what it’s called. That revelation is dominant; it fills your consciousness. There’s no explanation that I could give. I’ll offer an analogy. If somebody loves somebody….Think back to the time when you fell in love with your husband—I have no idea what it’s like for a woman—but that’s probably all you thought about for the first couple of days once it hit you, right? That type of consciousness will be that of Olam Ha’Ba. That’s the only metaphor I can use to describe it.
You’re in love with the person, especially when you meet them and it hits you and you can’t get the person out of your mind. More than that, if you want to move them out of your mind, it’s painful. (Human infatuation) doesn’t last very long and it’s not rational. Then, when he tells you, “Excuse me, please take out the garbage,” that’s the end of the love, right? (laughter)
It’s that devotion, that consciousness, that obsession—in a good way—in Olam Ha’Ba because there is nothing else. It’s more than that. There’s nothing else there. What else is there to think about but it’s more than not having anything else to think about; it’s that the only thing you want to think about is G-D. Anything besides G-D is butel—cancelled, nullified. What does an angel think about all day?
That is why I use the metaphor of “love.” It’s not that there’s nothing else but it’s painful to think about something other than that guy you love. It’s the only thing that has meaning and significance, the only thing that matters. Angels are not interested in thinking about anything else. G-D is intoxicating. Maybe that’s the right word. It’s like a drunk when he sees liquor; he goes out of his mind. Or it’s like the drug addict that has to have his “fix.” We can’t quite relate to that now. Halevai –if only that we should think of G-D for fifteen minutes a day.
In “Shir Ha’SHirim”—Song of Songs, as Rebbe Akiva says, that’s kodesh ha’kedoshim—holy of holies, that it’s the relationship that we have with G-D, but not because He forces it. It’s a reality He’s now hiding. If G-D revealed something more significant about Himself, we couldn’t go to work, couldn’t do anything but just sit and think about G-D. That’s all we’d do. It’s not out of compulsion. Everything else becomes irrelevant. That’s why I use the analogy of “falling in love.” It's probably biological too, I’d imagine.
(question is inaudible)
R’Kessin: The answer, as I’ve explained, is that G-D wants us to earn our own Olam Ha’Ba. We have to earn it; it’s not free. The way we earn it is by having a test—commandments, mitvos. He could have given it to us immediately, automatically, didn’t have to create this world with Biden and everything else. But He didn’t (do it that way). He decided that He wants us to deserve our Olam Ha’Ba because we caused it. We made it, not Him. He makes Olam Ha’Ba but we make our position in Olam Ha’Ba. The principle is called “Nehama d’Kisufa”—Bread of Shame. I have an entire shiur on that.
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