A Vort From the Rebbe Parshas Nitzavim, Rabbi Leibel Schapiro - 5786

The word from the Rebbe in this week's parsha. This week's parsha, parsha Nitzavim, the Torah talks about a person who might chas v'shalom go off the derech of following Torah mitzvahs. And the possuk says that what he could do is v'hisborer b'lovov leimor, he will bless himself in his heart, which really means he will be proud saying shalom yiyoli, peace will be unto me, ki v'shirirus libi eilech, because I will go on the desire of my own heart. The Targum Yonasan ben Uziel translates this possuk a little bit different. Instead of translating v'hisborer b'lovov that he will bless himself in his heart, which means he will be proud saying this, the Targum Yonasan says the word v'yiyashish b'libei, he will be m'yiyashish in his heart. Now, the word yiyush means giving up hope, and it's saying he will give up hope, and he will say shalom yiyoli, peace will be unto me, if I go on the way of the yeitzer hora, doing what my heart wants. And the question the Rebbe asks, what does it mean he will be m'yiyashish in his heart? Will be m'yiyashish in his heart, he will be proud in his heart. He will be proud by mistake. He will be proud thinking that it's good, and he will be misborer b'lovov proud saying, "Peace will be unto me, because I go on the way of my heart's desire." What does the Targum Yonasan mean that he will be m'yiyashish and he'll say shalom yiyoli? So, the Rebbe explains it according to what is explained in Chassidus and Kabbalah. Chassidus and Kabbalah it says, why is it we find sometimes that a Yid who follows Torah mitzvahs is not so successful in gashmius? Person who doesn't follow Torah mitzvahs sometimes is more successful. Should be the opposite. A person who follows Torah mitzvahs should be more successful than a person who doesn't. So, it says in Chassidus and Kabbalah like this, that the Yid could get his highest, his life, his sustenance in two ways. If he goes in the straight way, in the proper way, he gets his ashpa'a, his sustenance from the sources of the holy forces. That he gets from the sources of kedusha, he gets his highest. Because since he's following the right path, he deserves to get the highest, so he gets it from kedusha. But since he gets it from kedusha, because he deserves it, so it depends how much he deserves. So, if you're 100%, you get more success. If you're not 100%, you get less. So, sometimes you follow Torah and mitzvot, but you're not 100%, so you don't get the success 100%. But then there's another way. If a person leaves the derech of Torah and mitzvot, he loses his his chiyus of getting his highest from kedusha, from the holy sources. It's possible to get highest from the sources of klipa, of the evil forces of the world. Now, the If a person gets his highest from the sources of klipa, it doesn't depend on how much he deserves, because he's not following Torah and mitzvot. So, the sources of klipa sometimes give you more than if you would get it through the sources of kedusha. Sources of kedusha is limited to how much you deserve, but if it's not because you deserve, but just because klipa wants to get you involved, so they give you even more. And that's the pshat in the pasuk here, that the person will say, "Shalom li yiyoli, it'll be fine for me." That which means I'll succeed. Ki yishreirus libi elech, because I will follow the desire of my heart. As a person will know that if he follows the desires of his heart rather than Torah and mitzvot, he will be more successful. That's what it means, ki because yisborer b'vo'er leima, he'll pride himself saying, "Shalom li yiyoli, be peace for me, I'll be successful because I follow the desire of my heart, so I get my highest from klipa. And when you get your highest from klipa, you can get a lot more because it doesn't depend on what you deserve. You can be matzliach and successful a lot more in gashmius. But the Targum Yonasan is trying to tell you that as much as a person might feel that way, if I feel proud that he's following his heart's desires, and therefore he will be more might be more successful in Gashmius, deep down he knows that this is not good. And deep down, when he says he prides himself, he's happy about it, deep down it's not because he's happy. Deep down he knows that this is because he lost his connection to Kedusha. And he was Meya'esh himself. He gave up hope of Kedusha, but mainly he turned to the level of Klipa. And that's what the Targum Yonasan does. The Targum Yonasan doesn't only translate the words, the literal translation, but the Targum Yonasan also gives the deeper p'shat. So, here the Targum Yonasan says that when he the Torah says "His body will be with him", he'll pride himself that things will be good to him, he will be successful because he follows the desire of his heart, the Targum Yonasan says, "What's deep down? Ye'ush Belibi. He's Meya'esh from Kedusha. He gives up. He knows that this is not good. But sometimes a person Chas v'Shalom, gives up. He feels it's it's too low, and it's not going to help anyway, so he might as well do this and get highest from Klipa. But it's only because of his ye'ush. So, here we see that the Targum Yonasan describes the deeper meaning of what happens when this person feels good about what this is. Really, he doesn't feel deep down, he doesn't feel good. And that's why when the person thinks about it, he could come to do teshuvah, realize this is the wrong way, and he will do teshuvah and start getting his highest again from Kedusha.