‫תשפ׳ד‬ ‫בס׳ד‬

‫מסכת גנן הנשמה‬

326.

Paroah made ‫ עבודה‬the essence of BNY. There was nothing more to their lives than work. And
their entire work was just listening to commands. They spent their entire lives exclusively doing
work for Paroah. So they don’t even have the conception that life can be something else. And
this is why we see them continue to not believe in themselves throughout the entire journey in
the Midbar. This is also why they don’t believe they have the ability to conquer Israel, and
instead they want to go back to Egypt.

330.

‫ דוד המלך‬woke up at midnight. People can not define themselves by their age and what is
expected of them. These are important metrics to consider, but they are not someone’s
definition.

331.

This story teaches that there are always two options, a quick path that ends up being really
long. Or a longer path that ends up being shorter. The main idea is that shortcuts frequently end
up becoming more difficult and complicated. So it is far more efficient to do things in the right
way from the beginning. This idea could not be more accurate.

335.

Building a future, and having a vision for the future is crucial. But abandoning the greatness of
the past and the present will destroy the future. In order to create a bonfire, we must first ensure
that the kindling and sparks remain strong. Only then, can we start to add more wood to the fire.
Since the goal is not to create something entirely new. The goal is to build upon the greatness
of the past. And this all starts with ‫שמור‬.

336.

The next step is to not be complacent with the successes of the past. The worst thing someone
can do is settle and just stop pushing themselves. Switching focuses is obviously very
necessary. But there is no concept of retiring and just stopping to work. The fact that you are
alive, means there is still more to do. So this is where ‫ זכור‬comes in.

340. ‫ ומרור‬,‫ מצה‬,‫פסח‬.

Why isn’t ‫ מרור‬first? Because redemption is not about removing ourselves from Egypt and our
bitter experience there. The essence of redemption is that we can change our perspective on
‫מרירות‬. That bad character traits aren’t inherently bad. Rather, they just need to be channeled in
a productive way. The back breaking labor wasn’t bad. It just needed to be channeled into ‫עבודת‬
‫ה׳‬.

341.

When eating very strong ‫מרור‬, it wakes up the whole body. Similarly, when interacting with
people with bad character traits, it wakes you up, and forces a perspective change. The reason
we must eat ‫ מרור‬is not about experiencing pain. The goal is to be aware and finely tuned into
the present situation. If we didn’t have ‫מרור‬, we would want to forget ‫מצריים‬. But Hashem
commands us to remember Egypt. Hashem is teaching us that we can benefit tremendously
from painful experiences. So instead of forgetting the pain, we are meant to reconnect with it
and change our perspective on how we view that pain. ‫ מרור‬forces us to become aware of the
depths of a person or situation.

344.

The man’s punishment is separating the relationship between man and the Earth. The women’s
punishment is separating the relationship between man and woman. The snake’s punishment is
separating the relationship between snake and mankind. And also with Hashem.

345.

If ‫ עשרת ימי תשובה‬is about changing our atmosphere, then why does Rav Yair talk about the
minhagim that people take on? I think the idea is that if it were about changing our actions, then
we would expect people to try to continue these minhagim after Yom Kippur. But ‫ תענית דיבור‬is
not an ideal that people should strive towards. The minhagim of ‫ עשרת ימי תשובה‬are not new
year's resolutions. On Yom Kippur, we think about our “resolutions.” But ‫ עשרת ימי תשובה‬is about
creating a new atmosphere that will be more susceptible for these resolutions to last and work
out. And maybe this is why new year's resolutions are never kept. Since people only make
plans, but they never change their atmosphere.

346.

Hashem is not in the loud sounds or big fire. Hashem is in the ‫קול דממה דקה‬.

347.

With ‫ מרירות‬and bad character traits, the goal is to connect to the essence of these traits. We
shouldn’t focus on how the traits are expressed. Rather, we must first connect to the deep root
of the trait, and only then can we think about how to express the trait in a constructive way.

359.
This is the same concept of the white fire and ‫תורה שבעל פה‬. And the same concept of ‫השתלמות‬.
The entire goal of our universe is for us to be involved.

360.

The problem with the ‫ חרדי‬model is that Hashem gave us a body for a reason. And we live in a
physical world. So if you are trying to separate from the physical world, you may as well not be
alive. And the problem with the ‫ חילוני‬model is that the physical world limits our abilities to grow
and become our best selves. Everyone has experienced moments where they made a plan to
workout, learn, or be productive in some way. But then when the moment comes, they have no
motivation and decide to be lazy. This is a result of the physical world. The emotions and
hormones disable us from living our best lives.

361.

We might think that the answer is balance. This is the weak answer. Since balancing really just
limits both sides. Rather, the answer is to use our ‫’נשמה‬s to uplift the physical world. Since in
fact this is our entire goal of life. We might think that the ‫ גוף‬is just another tool to uplift the ‫נשמה‬.
But this is wrong. We are born into this world as ‫בשר‬. We are neutral. We don’t have any
characteristics, we just are. But we are also given a ‫ נשמה‬so we can uplift this ‫בשר‬. And our
purpose of being in this world is to uplift the physical ‫ארץ‬.

364.

‫ יצחק‬represents ‫שבת‬. He represents the ‫נשמה‬. And ‫ יצחק‬is educating us on how to find the ‫נשמה‬
and how to connect to the world of ‫שבת‬. We need to remove the ‫קליפות‬, or any barrier that is
covering the ‫נשמה‬. This is the world of ‫שבת‬. But there are also ‫ששת ימים תעבוד‬. During the
week, the goal is to uplift the ‫גוף‬. But is it not also the same on ‫ ?שבת‬Why do we need ‫ חלה‬and
‫ יין‬on ‫ ?שבת‬The answer is that ‫ שבת‬is the opposite of the week. During ‫ שבת‬we are meant to
use the physical world to uplift our ‫נשמות‬. The essence of ‫ קידוש‬is not about the bracha on the
wine. It is about ‫מקדש השבת‬. We are using the wine to uplift ‫שבת‬. And so the teaching of ‫יצחק‬
‫ אבינו‬is that we need to remove everything that isn’t uplifting our ‫נשמה‬. This is where ‫מלאכות‬
come in. And so the goal is to take the physical world to uplift our experience of ‫שבת‬. We can
see this on ‫ דף לג‬of ‫שבת‬, with the man running with myrtle branches ‫לכבוד שבת‬.

365.

When Hashem created the world, everything was ‫כי טוב‬. And once we find this inner goodness,
we can then learn how the presentation of the ‫ דבר‬can be good as well.

368.

ADHD is seen as a problem. It is definitely difficult. But it is not a problem, rather it is a gift. All
‫ מידות‬are gifts for us to fulfill our ‫ תפקיד‬at the highest level. So we can’t neglect any character
traits that we have. We just need the right environment to allow us to learn how to utilize our
‫מידות‬.

369.

The ‫ שכל‬is always ‫טוב‬. But the ‫ דבר‬can be bad or good.

370.

With regard to relationships, ‫ חציצה‬is arrogance. The notion of being arrogant needs a ‫חציצה‬
from relationships with people. But there are also traits like laziness and motivation. These traits
need each other and therefore, they need ‫הבדלה‬. The root of laziness is that involvement is not
needed. And the root of motivation is involvement is heavily needed. Obviously, we must be
motivated. But the notion of laziness is not inherently bad. In fact, motivation needs an element
of laziness. Since when we are motivated, it often leads to stress and the belief that everything
is terrible and needs to be fixed. We must utilize our motivation to improve the world and
understand that the world needs us. But before this, we must utilize the ‫ מידה‬of ‫ עצלנות‬to
understand that the world has been running for billions of years before us, and will continue to
do so after us.

371.

Why does surprise work for stubborn people? Because stubborn people will close the door
when they don’t want to think about something new. So the idea of surprise is that an idea can
enter the door, before the person closes it. Therefore, it is the only moment where an idea can
actually be heard.

372.2.

An idea of ‫ נרות של חנוכה‬is that they celebrate the candles that burned for 8 days and never went
out. This is why Rav Yair is comparing them to stubborn people. The idea of channeling
stubbornness in a beautiful way is to be a ‫ חנוכה‬candle. A weak flame can not light up and
inspire the world. It will be blown out very quickly. Only a stubborn person can inspire the world.
The way to channel the energy of ‫ עקשנות‬is to make the goal to inspire the world. If someone is
stubborn, and their goal is self focused, then their ‫ עקשנות‬will consume themselves and the
world. But if their goal is to uplift the world, then inevitably they will be interested in other
opinions. And the root of the ‫ עקשנות‬will not be about self pleasure, but rather confidence in the
self. And this confidence is an essential character trait of ‫נרות של חנוכה‬.

375.

Rav Yair said that Halacha is from Hashem. He did not really mean this. Since he also says that
the Rambam and Rosh knew that their work wasn’t Hashem. Rav Yair is saying that the source
of Halacha comes back to Har Sinai which is from Hashem. But the development of Halacha
was not created by Hashem, it was created by man. And this is what makes Halacha so
beautiful. When ‫ רבי יהושע‬said ‫לא בשמים היא‬, he was explaining a foundation of the Halachic
process. That Halacha was created by Hashem. But Hashem is no longer the leader of the
Halachic process. And Hashem rejoiced when He heard this statement, because this is exactly
what Hashem wants. The reason many people don’t keep ‫ הלכה‬is because they think the core is
truth. And therefore, when a Halacha doesn’t seem to be true, it only makes sense to disregard
it. But if people would realize that the core of Halacha is ‫אחדות‬, then people would never
disregard any Halacha. ‫ אמת‬is an absolutely crucial aspect of Halacha, but the root is uniting the
nation under similar practices.

378.

We think that freedom comes from having no rules, and no guide. But the reality is that this
leads to the ultimate slavery. Since in this situation, you will certainly become enslaved to your
body and enslaved to your emotions. When people don’t have schedules and structures that
push them, they may be successful occasionally. But in the long term, it is not possible to
succeed. This is why my father said that when he retires he will wake up before 6am every day,
to make sure he is working twice as hard. Since he is aware that the nature of a human is to live
comfortably. So if nothing is pushing us to run, we will sleep. This is why the method to achieve
the highest level of freedom is committing to Halacha. The mental freedom that comes with
Halacha is indescribable.

380.

A true leader is someone who can take control when needed. But also makes room for
everyone to lead, and be part of the journey. The role of a leader is not to be the decision
maker. A leader is meant to be the flag that unites the many leaders. Hashem wants the entire
nation to be involved. So if the leader is making every decision, then his servants will merely
carry out his orders. No one will be involved except the leader. The goal is for everyone to be
part of the journey, and have a unique leadership position. This is when a nation will thrive at
the highest level.

381.

But Hashem started the universe with Gan Eden? This is because the goal is not to be in Gan
Eden. The goal is ‫השתלמות‬. So ‫ מתן תורה‬was part of the process, and enabled the journey to
continue. The goal is not to receive the Torah. The goal is to continue the Torah and be
involved. This is why it is ‫אין סוף‬.

‫הדרן עלך מסכת גנן הנשמה‬