Selichos You Must Live: Yud-Gimmel Middos, Ayin Tovah, and Forgiving Others

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. It's Hashem, let's say Shabbos. Thankful on slichos. And we say slichos, b'Rosh Hashanah, and aseres yemei teshuvah until Yom Kippur. A little bit in a bissel of slichos. Vos is slichos? Vi me zol zogn, how do you say slichos? It's such an important part of the hachanah, the preparation to Rosh Hashanah. It's an important part of the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. As we spoke these days, Elul and Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, kol yemei harachamim v'haslichos. So we spoke, why is it called yemei harachamim? We mentioned it a little bit in the past few weeks. Let's talk a little bit about slichos. What is slichos? So slichos is based, lashon hakodesh, what we just mentioned, mevusas. It is based on a Gemara in Rosh Hashanah, daf yud-zayin amud beis. And that is the yud-gimmel midos: Hashem, Hashem, Kel rachum v'chanun. And the Gemara tells us the mekor of the yud-gimmel midos. Zogt the heilige Gemara, Amar Rabbi Yochanan, אילמלא מקרא כתוב. The Gemara, Rosh Hashanah yud-zayin amud beis, אילמלא מקרא כתוב, if not that the pasuk writes this clearly, אי אפשר לאומרו. We wouldn't be able to say it. The permission to say such a thing, the permission to be magdir, to explain the following situation, as the Rabbeinu Shleilam alone is giving us how to say sliches, Eli, mikra, mishpat, der pasuk, you would not be able to say it. What is it melamed? Shenisatev HaKadosh Baruch Hu k'shliach tzibur, v'hera l'Moshe seder tefillah. That the Rabbeinu Shleilam put on a tallis, and he was showing Moshe the seder of the tefillah, amar lo, and he told him, Kol zman sheYisrael chotim, klal Yisrael sins, ya'asu lefanai k'seder hazeh, v'ani mochel lahem. What is the seder that they should do? Hashem, Hashem, Hashem, ani hu kodem sheyecheta adam, v'ani hu lachar sheyecheta adam v'ya'aseh teshuvah, Kel rachum v'chanun, the Yud-Gimmel Midos. So the Rabbeinu Shleilam himself taught, instructed, gave a visual instruction to Moshe on how to say sliches, the Yud-Gimmel Midos with a tallis, and to say this seder hatefillah. And this is the mekor that our sliches is based on, that we ask, we say a few piyutim, but it's really Vaya'avor Hashem al panav, Hashem, Hashem, Kel rachum v'chanun. It's the Yud-Gimmel Midos. Now Rashi says, what should Yud Gimel Midos—what should you do with the Yud Gimel Midos? Says Rashi, Bris kerusah, because the Gemara says in a few moments, a few lines after this, says the Gemara, Amar Rabbi Yehuda, bris kerusah liYud Gimel Midos she'einan chozros reikam. It's a treaty. It's a guaranteed treaty. A bris kerusah has the Yud Gimel Midos. Don't come back empty. Says Rashi, the Yud Gimel Midos הללו, she'mazkirum Yisrael b'tefilas ta'aneisom, einan chozros reikam. If they're mazkir, if they mention it, it's not even the same. Tefilah v'zechirah, azkarah, b'mantas. Notice that Rashi didn't even say im omrim. Rashi says if they mention it, they make a zechirah, some mention of it. Bris kerusah she'einan chozros reikam. Many Rishonim, Acharonim learn that the Yud Gimel Midos is to say them.

Rashi, Rashi zogt doch, lazkiram. Yud-gimmel midos is to say. Sliches, Yud-gimmel midos, zogt men, you have to say it. And that's what gives us the bris krusah l'sfasayim. Zevi, the same lashon we have by talking, bris krusah l'sfasayim. Here it's a bris krusah al shlosh esrei midos of Zag. Az mezogt this, if you say it, it has a guarantee she'eina chozezes reikam. The Chida brings a very nice raya, and the Rishonim talk about it, and the truth is it's not to be ma'arech right now. It's not for to have a big arichus about it. But the lashon that we say, Hashem, Hashem, Kel rachum v'chanun, Hashem is not a midah that anyone could duplicate. When we say hisdabek b'midosav, that one should attach himself, to so to speak do and to replica the Rabbeinu Shlem's midos, mekandech nit zayn Hashem, and still Hashem, Hashem is one of the Yud-gimmel midos. So it's behechrech not more than saying it. It can't be more. The Yud-gimmel midos can't be more than saying it. Why? Because Hashem is one of them, and more than saying and being mazkir shem Hashem, you can't do. Azoi zogt the Chida, raya, and many mefarshim, behandling this proof. The truth is, there's a shlah, there's a reishis chochmah. The shlah, the reishis chochmah write, the reishis chochmah is a shaar hanavah, perek gimmel, os yud-daled, that the yesod of slichus is not to say the Yud-Gimmel Midos. The yesod from slichus is ton the Yud-Gimmel Midos. It's l'hisdabek b'midosav, to act, to act, to do hanhagos like the Yud-Gimmel Midos. The biggest raya to this is the lashon of the Gemara itself. The Gemara says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu ... b'talis k'shliach tzibbur, v'heira lo Moshe, said, 'Amar lo, kol zman sheYisrael chot'im, sheteitachnit?' What does it say in the Gemara? Ya'asu k'seder hazeh. Ya'asu, lifnai k'seder hazeh. Ya'asu means to do; you have to do it. So this is a machlokes rishonim, acharonim. Yud-Gimmel Midos is zogen Yud-Gimmel Midos, and I show you from Rashi, l'hazkir, even just to mention the Yud-Gimmel Midos she'ein genug. Rashi, l'hazkiran. Ader Yud-Gimmel Midos meint ya'asu, medavtan, they are Yud-Gimmel Midos. Zogt mir a beis hai, vos host az du's maskir Yud-Gimmel? So you mention Yud-Gimmel, now what? The Ribono Shel Olam veyst nisht az es iz a rachum v'chanun; He needs your haskamah of them. Vos hot... Vos hots es, der zogin epes a halfl a fela? A mensch hot shlug a halfl a fela. Iz vos? He says Yud Gimel Midos. He said the Yud Gimel Midos: Hashem, Kel, Rachum, V'Chanun. It's good. Bichlal by tefillah we find that the Ribono Shel Olam wants that we should be makir His shevachim and say them. It's good. I hear it in tefillah, but tzlib dem, Kel Rachum V'Chanun is memeila al aveiros, everything gets washed away because you say, Hashem, Hashem, Kel Rachum V'Chanun. Tameid ikara, bishleima. You learn, like the shlah, the reishis chochmah, that you have to do the Yud Gimel Midos. I hear. It's a change of a lifestyle. Piz yetzt tut men zeches, vos? Mit a mol aser shmei teshuvah, felt men mamash a ktele, oysgearbet a mentsh, a reine mentsh, az a Rachum V'Chanun, erech apayim, rav chesed, nosei chesed, halfl a fela. Ober zogin, unless you say, like every other tefillah, the loshon...

What is, הרי לאי למשה סדר? No, tefillah. It's no different than any else, tefillah. Slichos is tefillah. There's an interesting levush, Rabbeisai. Levush says, mizogt a kaddish tiskabel, a Kaddish Shalem nach Slichos. Why are we saying a Kaddish Tiskabel nach Slichos? Leifracht the levush a kasha. Sagt the levush, you know why? Says, ein shmoneh esrei. Slichos is ein shmoneh esrei. When azoi vi the halacha that we say a Kaddish Tiskabel after Shemoneh Esrei, ממילא darf men zogen a Kaddish Tiskabel nach Slichos. Mistama, vos farshteit, what's the levush understanding? That it's really tefillah. Yud-gimmel midos is tefillah, mamash ein shmoneh esrei. He's teaching him a mahalach in Shemoneh Esrei of kaparah. Regular Shemoneh Esrei is, mistama, rov rubo is bakashos and whatnot, un dos iz a seder tzi a special Shemoneh Esrei of slichah umechilah. Un iz der haftachah, there's a guarantee, she'einah chozeis reikam. I saw an interesting Chasam Sofer. It's so interesting. It's such a unique Chasam Sofer. Tell you a little secret. It's because of the Chasam Sofer I'm saying the whole shiur. I saw this Chasam Sofer, מוזס'ע פסוק. Zogt der heilige Chasam Sofer in the drashos l'Shabbos Teshuvah, daf yud-daled, page 14, tur beis. Second column. So I'm sorry if this goes with columns. Okay. L'cha Hashem hatzedakah. We say in Selichos, L'cha Hashem hatzedakah. What does that mean? Why do we start the Selichos, L'cha Hashem hatzedakah? So the truth is, the first thing you have to say, and we spoke about this in the past, tzedakah can have two interpretations. Tzedakah can mean that you do chesed. Tzedakah. It can also be the shoresh of tzedek. You're right. That tzel doesn't kutzk. They used to like to be kitzer. They used to—kutzk and Ger is alts bekitzer. They don't like to talk much. So, in Kotzk, ... L'cha Hashem hatzedakah. ... We sinned, you're right, and that's all. L'cha Hashem hatzedakah. A famous Kotzk maaseh. L'cha Hashem hatzedakah, ... What's it talk about? Once you admit that there's not much to add to the conversation. You're admitting that you did everything wrong and the Ribbono Shel Olam is fully right, and that's all. What's there to talk about? You're reflecting the ... Kotzk's Selichos. L'cha Hashem hatzedakah, ... Shein. The Chasam Sofer learns that it means a lashon of tzedakah, of giving tzedakah. Says the Chasam Sofer a mashal. It's such an interesting mashal. He also brought out the ways of the court system in the times of the Chasam Sofer. Imagine a person comes to the king. Let's say today we would say to the president, all right? And he wants something that the president should grant him, so he has no way to get to the president, right? The president is not available. In the Chasam Sofer's example, he happened to not be available, but the truth is the melech is never available. So you don't have a question why the king didn't answer you, right? You could call the White House, you're going to get a busy signal. The president is not going to answer you. But then he says there are times that you could get through. But what do you have to do? You have to write a letter to the president, right? A melumed, a briv, right? He calls it a shrift, a shrift. Has to write a letter to the... But guess what? If the letter is not properly headed, and it's not on a stationery, and it's not going to be with all the hagdaros of what a proper letter... you can't just mitfapatchken mit a pencil and schreiben that the melech should take it, right?

Zogt der Chsam Sofer, what happens where you taka have a time where a person's allowed to speak to the president, but he himself is not a literate. He doesn't know how to do it. So they have special public—when they put up for the public, like we have today, a public defendant, in case a person can't represent himself. So the government gives representation for free. Yeah? The Chsam Sofer gives this mashal. So in those days they had the same thing. If a guy couldn't write the letter, the government gave you a lawyer to write the letter for you, okay? Now, this letter can't be bad, right? Because it's government-certified. It's coming from the government. It's a lawyer. If the lawyer that the government gives you to defend you is נישט קיין גוטע lawyer, they have to give you another one. It doesn't work. They have to accept what the—Zogt der Chsam Sofer. So it comes out that it's a guarantee if the letter is written by the government itself. So he says that's the pshat in slichos, and with this he'll explain the words of slichos. Zogt der heilige Chsam Sofer: Dach b'seder, Racheinu v'nachkeira. We have to start thinking, zogt der Chsam Sofer, why is our teshuva not accepted? What's wrong? Why do we have yissurim? Betach by the king—the king has to grant us, and he said he would grant us. And the אי הלא ימיןך פשוטה לקבל שבים. You're giving us the ability to come to you—your right hand is outstretched to accept those who return. Suddenly the door is closed to the White House. No entry. Yes, entry, mincha pshuta. It's favos geit es. When the teretz is, if it would be, Banu lefanecha b'chesed uv'maasim, our writings, on our what we bring to you, that would be understandable, unacceptable. Aval, we kedalim u'keroshim defakta d'lasecha. We come that we can't bring our own defendancy. We can't bring our own. So we need that the government should supply us. Kedalim u'keroshim. When a guy says, I don't have money, so they point that the government has a—give me the right word—it is a public defender. Public defender, yeah? So, what's the public defender? The Ribono Shel Olam Himself wrote the letter. He wrote the Yud-Gimmel Midos. And that's what we say, Tamachti yesedosai b'Yud-Gimmel teivos. How can it go wrong? You were the one who wrote the letter. Vi ken ez zayn nit gut? How can it be unaccepted? The letter was written by the Melech Himself. He says that's the pshat. He says the only thing that you need is, though, if you would find this letter in the street, someone threw it out, you pick it up and you bring it to the Melech. It might be that the letter is from the government, the Melech, yeah, but it wasn't granted to you. You just picked it up and recycled it. So that's not going to work, right? Even if you use the letter from the melech. He says the same thing if a person comes with a siddur that he bought in the store. ... But it's not that he's taking the other guy's letter, the letter that he picked up a public document from the stationery store. That's not going to work. He says that's why. So it's a Chasam Sofer on this. In peshburg, ... fastlichos, no? ... So what does the Chasam Sofer say? Chasam Sofer is saying that the Yud-Gimmel Midos is written by the melech himself. It's an official, what do you call, notary, with a notary, that it's official and it has to work. The only thing is, it has to be yours. It's real. You have to put your... Okay? I want to show you an interesting Rabbeinu Bechaye. So I don't know if the Rabbeinu Bechaye is a raya to the Chasam Sofer, or it's a kasha to the Chasam Sofer. Rabbeinu Bechaye in Shemos, lamed-daled, vav, says that what's the inyan of the Yud-Gimmel...

Middos, tzarich atah lodaas, ki kol hameivin yud gimel middos. You have to understand it. Veyodin biuram, and you understand the explanation behind each one of the yud gimel middos, v'ikron and the shoresh of it, u'mispalel bahem b'kavanah, ein tefilaso chozeres reikam. So either the Rabbeinu Bechaye is what the Chasam Sofer ends with, that you have to at least be mechaven; it has to be yu'sor, you have to stam zogen. Mitz Hashem, we're going to speak about how one should say slichos. Yud gimel middos stam gezogt, yud gimel middos is not going to help you necessarily. I mean, it might be something; I'm not going to take away zeppes. But it's not this havtachah, it's not the slichos that the Gemara tells us. You must know, as the lashon of the Rabbeinu Bechaye: yodin biuram, ikran, u'mispalel bahem b'kavanah. To know what you're saying, you have to understand. Nosei avon v'over al pesha. So it could be it's with the saying yesoder Chasam Sofer, that the text is very good, the text is acceptable because it was written by the melech himself. But you have to put some kavanah into it. You have to understand what you're saying. Ad nisht stam gezogt. What is the ma'alah of the second sheetah? So one sheetah is you have to say it, and that's the Chasam Sofer. The ma'alah is it was written by the melech, but you got to understand what you're saying. What's the second shita that you have to do, you have to. You have to replicate the Yud-Gimmel Midos. There's a Gemara in Shabbos, daf kuf nun aleph amud beis. The Gemara says, Kol hamerachem al habriyos, merachamim alav min hashamayim. If you have rachmanus, the Ribbono Shel Olam will have rachmanus on you. And that's, l'choira, the pshat in yaasu keseida hazeh. Rachum, if you're merachem, yaasu, if you do it. You lose this ton. Slichus is nisgezogt, slichus is getan, the slichus. You have to do it. You have to do the Yud-Gimmel Midos. Why? Because however you behave, midah she'adam modeh, boi midah k'negedo. That's how we judge you. You behave this way, we'll behave that way. In Shamayim, they behave that way with you. So this, l'choira, is the basic machlokes: oder medavzog in the Yud-Gimmel Midos, and possibly you have to mechaven what it means, ikron, what the kavanos of every one of the Yud-Gimmel Midos are, or yaasu medafes ton. Zeide and my father, growing up, used to tell us a maiseh. I think they say it's from a meshes Sassovel, one of the Chassidei Chassidus sheRebbes. I don't know if it's a true story or not, veisech nicht, even if it's not, it's a beautiful mashal. I think Chassidus sefarim say it is an emese maiseh. My Zeide used to say it to us as a child, and growing up, my father would tell it to us. He would say a story of a Rebbe who did not wake up for slichos. No, this was candies for the Litvishe chevra in shtetl. And the rebbe, es shloft, es shloft achet. Hert nisht קיין שליחות, there comes this shluches, psst, psst, psst. Nu, imagine already. It was in every newspaper, shey. The gossip column in every newspaper, shey. They went to the Chassidim, and the Chassidim flaggen zogn, vas, אונזער Rebbe doesn't miss shlichus. Our Rebbe is saying shlichus in himmel. He goes to himmel, he goes to Shamayim to say shlichus. No, you think that went well over by the Litvish? Let me gelacht afilu mehr. It was even a bigger joke to them. Well, nitn a shloft, a great takkeh, geit in himmel, vos vas. So there was a Litvishe group of guys that said, We're gonna catch the Rebbe, mit dem shein chap, we're gonna catch him. They stood by the house, by the window, and they're gonna catch him in the act of sleeping during shlichus. Five in the morning, they see through the window, dreyt zikh in bed. Gate from ein zayt, you know, he's turning over in his bed, he's getting a better comfortable position. Stam ale lachen, it happens to all of us, all right.

A kol panim, no. That's not what happened. The Rebbe gets up out of bed, b'zrisus, and he runs to the closet and he puts on a kasketel, like the Polish farmers, you know. Puts on a greise parve, a big fur coat, sticks his beard into the coat, and he starts leaving the house. And the Litvakuk, the nezetos. Interesting, where is he going? Sliches geit nisht. Where is he going? As he leaves, he grabs an axe. Grabs an axe. He starts going out. It's pitch black outside. It's just the crack of day starting. It's wondering, where is the Rebbe going with an axe? Vos tut zikh? And he follows quietly behind him that he shouldn't be noticed. And the Rebbe goes somewald and he starts cutting the wood, hackt holtz, firewood. The Rebbe takes the wood on his shoulder and he starts walking to the end of town, in a cottage far away, out in the outskirts over there. Nobody's there. It's almost an abandoned cottage. And he gets a klop on the door, and the Litvak is behind him watching all this. Where is he going? Who knows? Maybe it's even a bigger story. Maybe he has a better story against the Rebbe. You know, where is the Rebbe going? Ooh, vos, vet vos tut zikh? Yeah. Kitza, from the house you hear a geshrei, kinder, they're cold and they're crying. It's cold. And the mother gives a scream out, Ivan! She knew who it was. Az lakumen tsum shtub, Ivan, as a poilisher goy. Ivan, I told you I don't have the money. I can't repay you. Stop bringing me the wood. I can't do it. I can't. I mean, I'm racking up a bill. No credit cards in those days. Racking up a bill. What am I going to do? Yeah? Kitza... I have a cup, maybe. Kitza. He pushes his way through the door. I'm sorry, I made him go downstairs. He pushes his way through the door. I don't want to... but I felt bad that I made him go downstairs. He pushes his way through the door. I'm going to stall a minute because it's only derech eretz if I ask someone to do a favor. He pushes his way through the door, and he comes in, and the shtub is freezing cold, and the kids are crying. He takes the stack of wood. He goes to the furnace, and he starts throwing the wood into the furnace. Nasi, I stole a little bit on purpose. You didn't miss anything. I'm sorry, Nasi. I apologize. Thank you very much, Nasi. So he takes the wood, and he starts putting it in the furnace. And as he puts the wood in the furnace, he begins to say the sliches, HaNeshama lach. Der guf palach. Rabbeinu Shlomo, metzius neshama, it's your guf, chutza. HaRachmanus al hamalach, created human beings, have rachmanus. Nu, zei zogt a sliches. The Litvak sees this, is taken back. Unbelievable. Wow. Hafla fella. Moved and touched and elevated, he comes back to his shtetl. Oh, they're waiting for the report. He says, Rebbe, I have to tell you, their Rebbe says sliches in heaven. It's true. Whether the story is true, I don't know. But the yesod of the story is the yesod of sliches. What is sliches? Sliches is ya'asu keseider hazeh. Sliches means to do. Zogin, chus al hamalach, ... Hashem, hatzdakah, mitrachem ... Stam zogin just to say it. It has to move you to behave b'rachmanus, rachum v'chanun. I was thinking maybe, you know, there's a piyut that we say at the end of sliches, Machnisei Rachamim, hachnisu rachameinu lifnei Baal HaRachamim. Machnisei tefillah.

Now it's a whole question if you're allowed to say the Machnisei Rachamim, the goyen and Anderem, gehalten mit tefilos. Because you're not allowed to ask malachim to mediate between you and the Ribono Shel Olam. You should talk directly to the Eibishter, to ask a malach, ki'ilu you're davening to him that he should be po'el something in Shamayim, taanis min nishton. And of those that say that you're allowed, it's because you're not asking literally for them to do it. All you're doing is that they should help on your behalf to bring the tefilos al tereitz. I don't have to tell you the tumul of Machnisei Rachamim. But l'choira the kasha is, what does it mean, Machnisei Rachamim, Machnisei Rachamei? What does it mean? It means tefila of rachamim could be, possibly, probably. And don't forget, rachamim is what tefila is. Hakol tzrichim rachamim. That's why we know that women have to daven, because tefila is rachamim, and women need rachamim, zogt the Gemara. So we see that tefila is named, is coined with the phrase of rachamim. But the question then is, so what's the next thing? Machnisei tefila, Machnisu tefiloseinu. It's the same thing. Machnisei Rachamim is tefila. Machnisei tefila is tefila, unless there's different types of tefila. There's tefila for rachamim, and there's tefila for, I guess, bakashos. I can give you a whole shiur just to explain Machnisei Rachamim. But in the context of what we're saying, ken zayn a yesod over here. Machnisei Rachamim, Machnisei Rachameinu, is the pe'ulos of rachamim. It doesn't mean that we're just saying and asking for rachamim. Hachnisu rachameinu could be, ken zayn efsher, means take our actions of rachamim and bring it lifnei Baal HaRachamim to be meilitz yosher for us. Malach meilitz, echad mini elef, you're a meilitz. Come and bring rachameinu lifnei Baal HaRachamim. I saw something interesting that Rav Hutner brings. To me, it's peledik. He brings a story. He says that the Alter from Slabodka—Rav Hutner learned in Slabodka in his early years—he says that the Alter from Slabodka began his shmues Elul, like all maggidim, like we spoke, baalei mussar, eitzes liskaz b'din, ways on how that people can merit, merit a good psak din Rosh Hashanah. And he said that one of the biggest yesodos is—the Gemara in Yuma, the Gemara in a few places as well, Gemara Rosh Hashanah, daf zayin amud aleph—is to be mevatel hamidos. And he said because l'maaseh, real teshuvah is almost impossible to do. You know, teshuvah means, the Rambam says that the yodea talumos, it needs to be such a thorough, such a deep teshuvah that even the Ribbono Shel Olam, who knows deep in the heart of the human being where he's holding, will have to be made, say testimony that he'll never do it again. How could the Rabbeinu say, Teshuva, we'll never do it again if we do do it again? So it's obviously a very big problem on how we do teshuva. For those that want, we could speak a long time about this. I once asked this question to a maggid shiur in yeshiva, Rabbi Karp, and he said to me that his zeide, Reb Leib Lopian — maybe I think it's his shver, could be Reb Leib Lopian, his shver — it's the son of the Leiv Eliyahu, was Rosh Yeshiva in Gateshead, that before he was niftar, he was sick, and he wrote a kuntres on Hilchos Teshuva before he was niftar. This was his tikkun of avodah of teshuva before he was niftar. And this is one of the big she'eilos he was busy with. There is no such thing as teshuva today, because we keep on repeating over the same aveiros, so then we never did teshuva. So how do we ever have a kaparah? This could go on for an hour, this discussion. But Al Koponim, the Alter of Slabodka said that because of this, he gives advice not to go the deep, difficult route of teshuva, but to find ways, quick fixes, if we could use that for a better term, on how to get a good din, and that is, Kol hamavir al midosav, ma'avirin lo al kol peshaav. A week later.

Reminds me of the shiur that we give here. I give a shiur one week, and the next week I come back, try to fix a little bit and add a little bit. He says, You know what? I changed my mind. Altas lavatkes, I changed my mind. Why did I change my mind? He says, To be mavra al hamiddos, it's impossible. And he says, I'll tell you why. First of all, he could look around and see that it's impossible, because almost nobody is able to do it properly or for too long. You do it for a minute, then all of a sudden it goes back to the same. Okay. But he brought a raya. What's the raya? He shomer mipanav. It says by the Amalek, He shomer mipanav u'shma b'kolo, al tamer bo, ki lo yisa lifshachem. So the Malach, it says clearly, right? He shomer mipanav u'shma b'kolo, al tamer bo, ki lo yisa lifshachem, which means he won't—your peshayim is not going to get wiped away like that. He says, Mah d'chamalach can't be mavra al hamiddos. A person is supposed to be mavra al hamiddos? Impossible. Forget it. That's an avodah, that's not—can't be. He said he decided that he's going to give a different advice, a more simpler advice, and that is to work on the inyan of ayin tova. That if you work on the inyan of ayin tova, you will have a good zar din. You will have a good din. Rav Hutner says he didn't understand the whole sugya. I mean, the Gemara says mavra al hamiddos, so all of a sudden he decided that ayin tova is good enough. So Rav Hutner writes a poetic thing. He says, I see the time, so I'll be b'katzar, but he says something very interesting. He says that the truth is you really need to be mavar al hamidos. But in order to get to the mavar al hamidos, it has to begin with ayin tovah. That's what the Alter meant. The Alter did not change the Gemara. He didn't change the recipe for the—what he did was he was giving you baby steps. How do you get? How do you get to mavar al hamidos? And the answer is that mavar al hamidos comes if a person has an ayin tovah. I see the time. I need two minutes, chabeis, just to show you something interesting and something we can walk away with, a limud. There's an interesting Yavetz. Now remember, we have interesting Gemaras here. On one hand, we have a Gemara that we're meikel if you mavar al hamidos. We have another Gemara that says that if a person is merachem al habriyos, merachamim alav min hashamayim. We have from the Alter of Slabodka that it begins with ayin tovah. So what's the pshat? I saw that the Yavetz on the Mishnah in Peirkei Avos, Mishnah tes and vav, says ayin tovah. We all know that there's different middos which are derech yesharah sheyavor lo adam. Says the Mishnah, one of them is ayin tovah. Says the Yavetz, why? Because ayin tovah brings to all middos, and what is an ayin tovah? Sheyireh briyosav shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu b'ayin shel chemlah, rachmanus. Ayin toivah is really looking with rachmones. And I want to tell you a story which really moved me. A story about All for the Boss. I don't know if it's in the book, because it was in a shmooze set over by one of the roshei yeshivas of the Mir. It's an interesting thing. He said that All for the Boss was a tremendous machnis orchim, tremendous machnis orchim. People came, machnis orchim, all types of people, the poorest. He had a brand new suit, which costed lots of money. Sitting at the table, not only was a machnis orchim, the orach went and spilled the full plate of food all over the brand new expensive suit. Didn't faze him. So the son asked him, Ta, I get, okay, but you're not a little bit moved, taken by it? Some reaction, something? I hear you're mevatel middos. Doesn't it at all affect you? And he said, No, and I'll explain to you why, because it starts with rachmones. I have rachmones on the person. And since I have rachmones on the person...

ממילא, a mavir midos also. So I think we have over here an interesting thing, that the yesod of rachum is really begins with ayin tova, and it concludes with mavir al hamidos. And that's, I think, is the pshat, l'aniyus da'ati. I'll be done in a moment, rabosai. HaMelech yoshev al kisei rachamim, misnaheg bachasidus. Beis Shlomo Avram de Butchatch asks, what does it mean, misnaheg bachasidus? And please don't tell me he wears a gartel, please. What does it mean, misnaheg bachasidus? What does it mean? He's yoshev al kisei rachamim and he's misnaheg bachasidus. Bekitzur, rabosai, Rabbeinu Mesilas Yesharim in Sefer Chassidus writes that the yesod of a chassid, the number one yesod of a chassid, is to have rachamim and to have chesed and to be mavir al hamidos. And he says that the word chassidus, the shoresh is chesed, ayin sham, I don't want to be ma'arich, and I believe that that's what it means. He's yoshev al kisei rachamim, he's misnaheg bachasidus, that what? Moichel avonos amo. He's mavir al hamidos also. In Torah dibur, rabosai, he explains how the Ribono Shel Olam is slated every day. The Ribono Shel Olam could have ta'anos, look what I give you and look how you return to me. Look what you're giving me back. And the Ribono Shel Olam is malei rachamim, he's mavir. I need this also. ... tremendous ... that's misnai b'chasidus, which begins from rachmanus. Yoshev al kisei rachamim, misnai b'chasidus, which is the chasidus that he's moichel even though we slated him ... al hamidos. Rav Sheps, and with this I'll end. Rav Sheps atzal, Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Vodaas, said a tremendous shmues, and he printed it in the Am HaTorah, and wherever he went he would talk about this in the days of Elul. He says, people walk around, Shegezagt sliches? Shegezagt sliches? Yeah, I said sliches over here. Said sliches is not to say. Ah, sounds familiar, huh? Zogen sliches? Ta beten sliches. Azoi flekt a zog. You have to ask for slicha; you don't say it. You look at the ... Avodah, he discusses this point, that you can't say sliches without teshuva, because it's stam gezugt. Okay. When Rav Sheps said this shmues in Torah Temimah, I went over to him afterwards. I said, Rosh Yeshiva, I know I'm a young bachur, and I don't have the ha'azah to correct the Rosh Yeshiva, but the Gemara says it's not even about zogen; it's yaasu b'davkan. B'davkan. You have to do it. So, Rosh Yeshiva, why did you walk around saying, Sliches zogt men? Sliches tut men. Gave me a big smile. Slichos, you do. You don't say it. Yaasu. Gave me a big smile, gave me a clip on the back. I don't think he changed the shmooze. I think he kept on walking around saying, Slichos. It's not about that. But I at least could say it. I have no problem saying that slichos. And what does it mean? Rachamim and slichos. That's a ton. And you know what ton means? Daf moichel zayn yenen. Slichos means you got to do slichos. You want the Eibishter to be someach you, and that's the yesod. Slichos, do it. Don't come to the Eibishter and tell the Eibishter, You know, I did this and this and this, the whole list of aveiros. Please be mochel me. If you don't do that to the guy next to you, chances better does from the Ribono Shel Olam. Mei rachamim means you got to behave with rachamim. Mei slichos means daf ton slichos. Zei seileich, be mochel, as hard as it is, Rabosai. Sometimes it's very hard, very hard. It's better than having a gzar din. It's better than having a din Shamayim on you. It's just not worth it. But a takke zech, zei seleich.

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