Topics: 1. Tu B'SHvat; 2. the Month of Shvat as a whole

(Video screened on Sunday Jan 11 2015)

                                    Tu B'SHvat

·        In terms of parshat hashavu'ah, tu b'shvat is always between exodus and the crossing of the sea.

·         Shvat is mazal 'dli'.

·         dispute B. hillel/B shamai about whether it should be on 1st or 15th 

(AR: Theme: R Shlomo makes this clearer later on: what is needed, happens only when it absolutely needs to happen, the excruciatingly-right timing.)

·        it takes long until new things sink in.

·         A seed has to be inside earth 45 days til seeds begins to react, and from kislev(end?) it is 45 days to tu bshvat.

·         On tu bshvat the tree is about to die, only then does it begin to regrow.

• Needs something new otherwise won't continue. A tree grows again, not a vegetable; we are like tree not vegetable.

·         HAD WE REMAINED IN EGYPT ONE MORE DAY WE'D HAVE BEEN FINISHED, ON THE INSIDE.

·         If the sea had opened one second later, the egyptians would have been able to catch the jews. 

God always helps at the last minute, deepest depth: god doesnt help till actually need it. God knows exactly when need it.

·         Yid hakodosh: three days no food in house. His son R yerachmiel was crying, Yid HaK said if you had been as hungry as your cry god would've healed us, then he saw gold coin under the table, so he apologized, he realized that his son was indeed that hungry.

AR: The following is a new theme? or connected to previous?in other words: just when you think it is over, you are rescued, and realize that it is forever, can;t be extinguished?(and so won;t have fear[see below]?)

·         50th gate is forever: if you reach it on some particular aspect, eg keeping shabbos, it is forever, but you could still be only at the 1st gate of (stopping) anger.

·         Leaving egypt: at first the jews thought only for three days, but after egyptians drowned, Jews realized it was forever (freedom).

·         B hillel it is 45 days before nisan redmeption, according to b shamai it is 45 days before purim, bec ultimate of wiping out evil is wiping out of amalek who wanted to wipe out our deepest connection to god (?) (Haman wanted tree 50 amos, 50th gate..).

·         Yid hakadosh was talmid of chozeh melublin. Bshischer (talmid of yid hakadosh): “az yimale tschok pinu”: why laughter? Imagine moshiach at head table with all jewish functionaries and rabbis who are sure moshiach finally came bec of them; so they ask why he came now, moshiach says he came bec of moishele the schneider at the end of the hall. That's why laughter.

·         Deepest quesiton: on which day did eliezer meet rivka? E was "doleh umashkeh": M”R met tziporah at water, “doleh”. (AR: conneciton to Shvat, which is 'dli')

·         Sefer dvorim: On 11th month "Ho'il Moshe be'er es hatorah”: on r chodeh shvat til 7 adar. Be'er = means both "explain" & also means "a well".

·         When people think they understand something it is bec they don't dig deep enough. Month of dli = get your vessels ready to dig to deepest depth .

·         Deepest depth: what is torah she'b'alpeh: what rabbis teach and what i can originate myself: what avraham did was t shebalpeh, listended to god, what yitschak did is t shebalpeh,, listend to his father. Rivka giving water to him is t shebischsav, to camels is bal peh (AR: ie, adding a new teaching or action). Eliezer was adding this (stipulation) bec he knew yitschak wife will be mother of yakov, from whom came jewish naiton (AR: so ELiezer stipulated that RIvka needed to match Yitschak in this mida of t sheb'alpeh).

·         From Yakov on, cant stop being a jew. (AR: it is forever)

·         "Vayiboka hayom" same letters as yakov. Is forever. 

When god appear at last moment, when it seems god is late, bec god knows when really need it. [AR: At this point did R Shlomo return for a minute to the previous theme?]

·         Amolek wants to say torah was given but it is not part of your being. When i add to torah it means something sunk in, it is part of their being, that is sign it got in really deep. [AR: tying in the themes of taking time to sink in, and t sheb'alpeh; and dli is going in to the depth to retrieve]

·         Deepest depth: ish tam yoshev ohalim, plural two, t shebichsav and baalpeh. Esav did what father said but added nothing. B”Metziah, 100 pages but much more pages added over time. New sforrim digging deeper, bringing out new.

·         Deepest depth: think you are falling off, but 50th gate of holiness is forever. M”R had only 49 - but his 1st level was probably my 50th! After 50th , then start all over! Can be at 50th for one second, the last second of Ykippur.

·         On purim: "lanetzach", amalek is wiped out forever, but next day he can be back. That's why purim will always be. Amalek tells you it won't last.

·         In israel amaklek says, it won't last. (now about Israeli politics: Two behemos are selling israel. Not to be believed,)

·         EY is the 50th gate. Torah of MR is 49th gate, E Yisroel is 50th gate.

[AR: Is this the way the themes tie together?: When use the dli, go deep, get to the 50th gate, it is forever.]

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The month of shvat is about not fearing

·         what is the deepest redemtion? What is to be assimilated and what not, afraid, afraid to say i am a  jew, to wear yarmulkeh, to keep shabbos. Insteas, people say “I'm of Hebrew heritage" they are afraid to say the word jew.

·         Deepest depth: yetsias mitzraim we got out of egypt but we were still afraid of it.

·         Germans instilled fear, awesome. I was a little boy, when you saw a nazi walking down the street you froze. If i have a knife I can't fight a lion bec when see s lion, i freeze. Esav wanted us to be afraid, exile. We came out of egypt we were still afraid, but when crossed red sea we realized they are nonexistent? so we were not afraid.

·         In Israel, the army is at level of not afraid. But the governemt is afraid of everything. israel intifada, only person without fear is sharon, he should have been head, deport all stone throwers and their families. Reb shlomo gives his own opinion: should throw out all stone throwers and their extended families.

·         Next shabbos have to get out of fear

·         night of kriyas yam suf was biggest storm in world ever, God said to nachshon, one of your children will be moshiach, so he had no fear, jumped in

·        [AR; R Shlomo return to a previous theme> or is this r feear?] amolek says on erev yk "dont even go to shul bec last year you promised things and didn't keep them"

·         dovid hamelech was 9 years old when he fought the lion ..to save the sheep...[no fear]

·         I'm not afraid of the world, of..., of my own shortcomings. Greatest slave-driver in the world is my yetzer hara? Shortcoming is fear?

·         Yevusi on mountain, so strong, unconquerable, but dovid hamelech conquered ylm all by himself, it is his personal possession.ylm gives us the strength not to be afraid, that's why they (our enemies) want to take away a piece of it )of yerushalayim) from us.

·         The brocho we have is that God says “I'll take your fear and put it on them”

·         this shabbos we have to take out our fear.

·         Someone said? I'm not afraid of god I'm afraid of a person who is not afraid of god.

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Connecting some themes: On Tu B'shvat the sun tells the seed "don't be afraid of coming out.." It is about the strength to be who you are., a Jew without pretending you are something else..

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R shlomo-introduces-yidel-stein-of-miami

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Chodesh Shvat:   Video: Sunday Feb 8?

Shvat = stuffing, “le'ita":(an example of this word: esav says "hal'iteni"). An explanation of this idea is found in another Shlomo video.

Esav is afraid to come to us in months of yomtovim etc, so he comes in Shvat, Av & Tammuz.

He wants to divert our desire for the infinite into stuffing with nonsense. Our desire 'for more' is spiritual, animals don't have it, they are not obese. When we eat it is because of a spiritual hunger, and we are open to absorbing spirituality when we eat, so it is good to have learning with eating together (maybe not exactly at the same time though? :) )

[ie Esav tries to divert our desire for more spiritually into physical stuffing with food.]

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Contrasting the moon and sun. Desire is the key, not achievement, knowledge etc, and this is represented by the moon. So the moon gets small every time after it is maximal, sfter maximal stuffedness it gets smaller......The higher and lower heart, forever, the quality of the light of the moon at night, longing connects to the upper heart of god, not the knowledge itself.

Anecdote: Anti-chasidim criticising them for drinking after davening: misnagid saw and scoffed, chosid explained, you are full of yourself after davening, how good it was, whereas we are so despondent that we didn't reach the highest, and so we need to drink so that we don't die. (that's "desire for closeness")

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AR: I was thinking this: perhaps instead of being full of ego, the moon felt it couldn't be that it was fulfilling a mission if there were two doing the same, so it volunteered to take another mission, so God said I couldn't ask that of you, so the moon volunteered, so God said make yourself small.

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See someone's notes related to the topics above: http://rebshlomo.peacechannels.org/tag/shevat/

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Sweetest Of The Sweet: Reb Shlomo's Torah Teachings

The Day We Begin To Wipe Out Evil

~ Reb Shlomo Carlebach z"l

From Rabbi Shlomo Katz's Archives of Reb Shlomo.

How do we wipe out evil from the world?

The whole winter is a preparation for Purim to wipe evil from the world.

You cannot wipe out evil with anything which can be seen. Everybody knows that the roots are that part of the tree, which cannot be seen; if you can see it – it’s not the roots. The foundation of the house is that part, which you cannot see. If G-d forbid you can see the foundation - it stops being a foundation. The wind can blow it away. If someone loves you and they only love you as much as you can see it - that love won’t last. Everything has to be hidden.

When people get married the first thing is that the groom covers the face of the bride to tell her ‘if you think I love you only based on what you can see - that’s not my real love for you. It is that which you cannot see’. And then the kalla gives the chosson back a tallis to cover his face for when he prays, because I daven with that part of me which cannot be seen, which even I don’t know, which is so deep inside of us.

Winter is when, G-d forbid, my roots are just about to die. The saddest thing in the world is when you meet a Jew, who G-d forbid, his roots are dead. You can do everything right, but if the roots are dead there’s no hope.

The most unbelievable miracle is happening on Chamishah Assar B’Shvat. According to our holy tradition; 15th of Shvat is the day when the roots of the trees are dying and at that very moment new life is coming into the roots.

That means that on Chamisha Assar B’Shvat, G-d swears to us ‘I will never let your roots die’.

Chamishah Assar B’Shvat is the beginning of Purim. We already begin to taste the taste of Purim and are wiping out evil. How so? Very simple. People who are connected to each other’s roots; evil has no admission there. How do I connect to people on Purim? Shalach Manos. Shalach Manos is when I am sending a gift to my friend but it’s not face to face; to let them know how my roots are connected to your roots.

The way I receive the Torah on Purim is even deeper than the way we received it on Mt Sinai. G-d’s name is not mentioned in the Megilah because it’s all the deepest, deepest roots. When G-d’s name is written - I can see G-d. The way I see G-d on Purim is so much deeper, so much deeper.

But you know friends, there is another form of evil which is most hidden.

Do you know what Chamisha Assar bishvat is? On that day its clear to the tree that unless new sustenance is coming up from the roots - the tree will die, it will completely dry out. Do you know when the new energy is coming up? One second before the tree dies, not a second before.

Can an apple say to the tree ‘why couldn’t I grow from the water of last year'. So you know what the tree says? 'G-d doesn’t need old apples, G-d wants you to grow this year, from the energy which will begin to come up on the 15th of Shvat’. You see what it is, a lot of us say 'Ribbono Shel Olam, I don't mind… I'll be an old apple on an old tree.' We got to be new apples with new energy. There are some people who walk around saying ‘Do you know why us yidden have so much trouble? Because some yidden are not so good. Some eat ham, some don’t keep Shabbos.' You know what this is? It's old stuff from last year. these are not the apples G-d needs now. The apples which G-d needs today….

When the holy Belzer came to Israel, they told him that there are some people who have pigs in Israel. So the Rebbe said that everybody knows that when Mashiach is coming we will be permitted to eat pigs. Can you imagine how much they are waiting so much for Mashiach? You see, looking at people with these eyes… these are new kind of apples.

2014 01 15 Tu B'Shvat 5774 with Reb Shlomo Katz - YouTube