GEHINOM Teachings of CHASIDUT (BAAL SHEMTOV, CHABAD, BRESLEV, ETC)

0:13In honor of Chassidut, in honor of the Gedolim that started Chassidut, the Baal Shem Tov mainly, and many of the Chassidim that followed him, the Maggid of Mezritch, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Tanya, and many, many others that we'll mention tonight, this specific section of the shiur is going to answer a lot of people's questions, but it's also going to create... A lot of problems for those that don't want to hear the truth. And this section is going to, once and for all, tell people what the Chassidim actually say about punishment. Now, if you notice, today, unlike many other days where I usually bring you Gemarot, today I have a few different sefarim. Today, I have the Tanya, which is the foundation of Chabad.

1:13And I have Likutei Moharan. I have a few of these here with me. So I'm going to show you from the book what it says, so you don't think I just wrote it. But also, you can have the page numbers. Because it's important for people to know that if they're hearing anything contrary to what we're about to say, or anything contrary to what we've said, the problem is on their end. It's not here. If someone is telling you that there's no such thing as Gehinnom, or that Gehinnom is not a big deal, or that everyone is absolved from it, or that maybe Gehinnom was shut down, there's all types of stupidity that's being said in the public and... Then, of course, you're never gonna make it. If you believe them, you're never gonna make a geder v'geder, you're never gonna make a fence around the fence because you don't even think there's something to protect. They're leading you to believe that everything is okay. So if they call themselves Chassidim, then they have to do what the original Chassidim did. So let's see what the Chassidim actually said. Chassidut

2:34Started by the Baal Shem Tov. I mean, obviously, there was chassidut already at the time of the Gemara, but chassidut as we know it today, or at least the image of it that we have today, was started by the Baal Shem Tov. And the Baal Shem Tov himself did not refrain from talking about Gehenom in his sefarim and his ma'amarim, and you'll find it in many places. Now it's important to know that Even if you would find somebody, some chassid that says something against it. For example, some chassid says that, no, Gehenom is not this, but it's something else. Then you should know that there are certain rules to the Torah that I mentioned earlier. Number one is that no one from a later generation could ever go against the previous generation. So none of us ever have the permission to cancel out what Chazal says in the Gemara.

3:36It's not possible, it's not permissible, it's not valid, but obviously many of the things that are said are being said by tzaddikim. So how could it be that a tzaddik said something that would confuse you into thinking that there's no Gehenom? It only means that you didn't understand what the tzaddik said. So you have to delve into it and understand word for word what they said by looking at much of their work, which also is part of the things that we did here, Baruch Hashem. to even explain the suffix and the doubts and the confusions and so on, to clear up once and for all, does Chassidut believe in Gehenom or not? Is there suffering? Is there a physical place of fire or snow? Is there a, you know, what we said in our whole shiur about Gehenom, where all the things happen, that we're not going to go into the details like we did already, because that you already can go to that other shiur. We're simply trying to verify, does Chassidut believe in a place of suffering or not?

4:44Does Chassidut believe that Hashem takes vengeance against the sinners or not? That's all we're trying to establish. The details, the gory details of what happens—whether they tear people apart, break their eyes, or other such things—I'll give you a little theatrics from time to time just to keep you awake. But I'm not going to go too much into it because we've done that already. Now, what do they believe? What do the Chassidim believe? How do we know what they believe? What they wrote. They wouldn't write it if they didn't believe it. So we're not going to go into one or two or three. We're going to go into a bunch, the greatest. Obviously, there are too many to cover all of them, but B'ezrat Hashem, we'll try to go into as many as possible to understand. What does Chabad actually believe? Not Chabad of today. Chabad meaning Chochmah, Binah, Da'at. The Tanya wrote in his beautiful, amazing book of mussar. What did he write? Here, I'm going to show you page numbers. I'm going to show you the page. I'm going to show you the words. What did Rabbi Nachman write? What did he say? Not what other people said in his name. What did he say? This is the only one. It's the only book he wrote. What did he say? What did he write?

5:57What did the Baal Shem Tov say? What did the Maggid of Mezritch say? What did the others say? I'm going to mention them by name, page numbers, book numbers. You're going to look for yourself. Double-check. Don't believe me. Double-check. Why? Because you need to know this. Because you're going to hear again after this shiur, somebody else say, no, there's no Gehenom. He's crazy. He's fanatic. He's not understanding it. Okay. So you have to check. Before Santa Claus comes to you with a beard and says, "Yes, he's a Jew," and he tells you, "No, no, everything's okay. Everybody gets presents, everybody gets along," you have to know for sure that, no, no, do not enter; you are a missionary. You're a missionary. You're a missionary. Why? Because you're not saying what you're playing. You're pretending to be Chabad, but in reality, you are a Christian. Chabad is Kodesh Kodeshim. Breslov is Kodesh Kodeshim. All Chassidut is Kodesh Kodeshim. It's the people that pretend to be them that are the problem. If you look at the books of the Chachamim, Kodesh Kodeshim. If you look at the pretenders, Shem Yirachem, it's Erev Rav. Because they say the opposite. How could they say the opposite? Because, Rabotai, there's a rule in our Torah. Shlomo HaMelech said, Reshit Chochma Yirat Hashem.

7:20beginning of wisdom is fear of Hashem. You look at every one of these people and every one of these clowns that say there's no Gehinnom, every one of these clowns that don't talk about punishment, every one of these clowns that say it's okay, you know, everybody's going to Olam HaBa. They don't talk about Hilul Shabbat, don't talk about going against the Torah. Everything, everybody just talks about the neutral subjects. Every one of these clowns doesn't actually know much. They can't mention a source for their life and They're not well-read at all. All they know is they can mention, "Yeah, but there's a letter from the Rebbe that something happened." Show me a page. Show me a number. Show me a book. Show me a sefer. Nothing. Why? Why? There's no chokhmah. How could I say? It's not a bold thing to say. It's not an arrogant thing to say. They have no chokhmah. What? I'm the smartest in the world? I'm not even a chacham. But how do I know? Because if there's no yir'ah, there's no chokhmah.

8:23The Chachamim Kol Adam said it. Shlomo HaMelech said it. If you have no yir'ah, you definitely don't have chokhmah. Why? Because reishit chokhmah yirat Hashem. The beginning of wisdom is yirat Hashem. If you're not afraid, petrified, terrified of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, you're not petrified. You're not sometimes crying because of how scared you are. You definitely don't have any chokhmah. If you're not scared of Hashem, you have no chokhmah. If you're not scared of sinning, you have no chokhmah. It's not possible to have chokhmah without fear. We also see it from this week's parasha. We see that Am Yisrael, after they crossed the ocean, saw the hand of Hashem. As we've said many times in different lectures, after Am Yisrael saw the great hand of Hashem inflict on Egypt, and the people feared Hashem, and they had emunah in Hashem and in Moshe. Why? Why is this order of words? What is this? What is this saying to us? Once we acknowledged, once Am Yisrael acknowledged the hand of Hashem, that He's responsible for running the world, immediately they feared. That's what it says.

9:44They saw the hand of Hashem and they feared. They saw the hand of Hashem and they believed. They didn't believe. No, no. First they saw, then they feared, then they believed. Why? Because as soon as you understand who Hashem is to your capacity, immediately you're afraid. Because you realize He's responsible for the air that goes in and out of your lungs. He's responsible for the sound that you hear or don't hear. He's responsible for the taste on your tongue, the taste buds, the vision you see, the money you have or don't have, the wife you have or don't have—all the things that you need. The bottom line is, He could just simply turn off the button just because. If you're not afraid of that, there's something wrong with you. That means you haven't seen the hand of Hashem. Because anyone that sees the hand of Hashem is immediately afraid. So anyone that tells you don't be afraid or fear is for fools, that means he's a fool. So now we have to learn from the Chassidim. What did they believe? The Baal Shem Tov HaKadosh says that

11:03when it comes to fearing Hashem, a person has to be afraid of, specifically, punishment. It says that the only fence that will stop the wicked Sinning is only if they're afraid of the punishment. This is the only thing that would overcome their desire that's in their imagination. He's thinking, "I want her," "I want him," "I want this," "I want that," all the things that he's thinking about himself, all that sin he's imagining, how delicious the sin is. The only thing that will stop him from actually committing that sin is realizing, "Wait, yes, I want that, but then I don't want what comes with it."

12:04The fire, the torture, all that stuff—I don't want that. As soon as a person knows there's a consequence for his actions, a horrible consequence that he cannot even imagine, he doesn't want it anymore. It's not worth it. But then they continue... B'Sefer Arvei Nachal says, but this is not just for resha'im. And not only for resha'im, but rather, it is for everyone. This is the straight path that leads from the beginning to the end of the world. B'Sefer Arvei Nachal, Bereshit, Derush Yud Gimel. It says that this fear of punishment is not just for resha'im. This is the straight way to get on the road to the house of Hashem. He has to constantly focus on the fear of punishment. Punishment meaning

13:18the gruesome, horrible things that we talked about in the previous Gehinom shiur, the worst things you can imagine, so bad that the Holocaust is a kindergarten next to it. Whatever you think the Holocaust was, the Holocaust was actually much worse than what you think, and Gehinom is a million times worse than that. When a person realizes that can happen to me if I do this, immediately. heat that he has cools off like ice. Why am I out of my mind? It's not worth it. For what? Five seconds of pleasure, five minutes of pleasure, five hours of pleasure. It's not worth it. It's not worth a lifetime of pleasure to get that kind of suffering. I And he writes that he has to get himself used to this constantly being on his mind, until he gets to a point where he sees in himself that he literally has no desire to even return to this sin because of how scared he is of the sin. And he continues in the book of Arvei Nachal, in Parashat Nitzavim, in the Rosh Bet, here I see for every person to do...

14:39he has to literally have in his mind what the sin looks like. He has to visualize it. He has to use the creativity that Hashem gave him. What is the sin? What does the punishment look like? You want a visual? Okay, just imagine, you know, you go to a butcher. They take a nice piece of cow and Okay, they take the cow. The cow was alive at one point. Then they cut it up. They killed it. Right after that, they salt it, they skin it, all that stuff. They skin the cow. They salt the cow. They bring it to the butcher. The butcher cuts pieces off. Then, after he takes the big pieces, he takes small pieces. Then some of them he makes into shish kebabs. Some of them he makes into steaks. Some of them he makes into something else. Remember that all that stuff you saw in the butcher—all of that—that's what happens to a person. But not just one time like the cow. Over and over and over and over and over again. You want another visual? Go to the butcher. Go to the butcher and say, "Can you show me what happens with this cow?" That's what they're saying to you. You need to have in your mind why. That's how scared we're supposed to be because what I'm describing to you is the best-case scenario. It gets much worse.

16:01If a person sins and doesn't do Teshuva. If he doesn't do Teshuva, he walks in Gan Eden with Hashem Yisborach Himself. He doesn't do Teshuva? What, like what? How do we get to the City of Hashem? The pure one, it's written in all of the holy books that in the beginning, a person gets himself used to constantly thinking about fear of punishment. What does he have to think about? Think about the things that scare you the most. That's the punishment. What are you scared of? You're scared of some bug? You're scared of some embarrassment? You're scared of homelessness? Whatever you're scared of, think of that magnified by a million. That's what a person is supposed to think. That's what he writes here.

17:14i have to look before the Melech Malchei HaMelachim, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that He is alive and exists forever, and in His hand is the soul of all life and the spirit of all flesh, and nothing can save from His hand. And there is also no place to hide from Him, as it is written, "If a man hides in the secrets, will I not see him?" He says here, you have to constantly visualize these things because you're dealing with a Melech Malchei HaMelachim, the King of all Kings, HaKadosh Baruch Hu. That everything is in His hand and nothing can escape it. As the prophet Jeremiah says in chapter 23 verse 24, is there such a thing that someone can conceal themselves and then I not see them, Hashem says. Somebody can hide from Me. That's what a person needs to constantly think in their mind. You're committing a sin. It's in a private room. It's in a hotel. It's in your house. It's in your business. It's in your bank. It's in an insurance policy. Whatever it is, Hashem sees it. He sees everything. In Masechet Shabbat,

18:31He writes, he says a person needs to have constant fear of the punishment and to be in fear at all times not to fall to evil because of the punishment that would happen and the suffering that would happen in this world. And in Gehenom, the Chassidim were saying that it was so real even for their generation three, four hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, and... that they write the following. He says the following. This is like the wishful thinking. He says, "I wish." What does he wish?

19:49He says, how great it would be, in so many words, how great it would be that the least of the nation of Hashem would simply be afraid of punishment. only fulfill the mitzvah because they want a reward. You're not supposed to fulfill a mitzvah because you're seeking a reward, and you're not supposed to live only because you're afraid. You're supposed to serve Hashem because you love Hashem, not just because you are afraid of Him. You're supposed to do the mitzvah because it's a way to serve Hashem, not because you want money, not because you want material things. But he says, no, no, go to the least, the minimum. You're only not committing sins because you're afraid of death, and you're only doing mitzvot because you want to get paid. He says, alvai this happens. that people do this. Just this, it's an alevai, 300 years ago. I wish this would happen. That people would simply just do this. Why? Because they would never make a sin, and they would just do mitzvot. Because they would stick to Hashem. In the book Menachem Tzion, Drashat Shabbat HaGadol,

21:19He says the following: "Word for word, it is impossible to get to the point of doing teshuva without fear of punishment." This is one of the greatest Chassidim that ever lived. He writes, literally, you want to do teshuva? It is impossible to do teshuva without being afraid of being punished in Gehinom. No teshuva. No, no, I'm doing teshuva because I love Hashem. You're living an illusion. You're probably on ecstasy or acid. You're not doing teshuva. Why? It's impossible to do teshuva without being afraid of Hashem. If you're not afraid of Hashem, that means you don't know Hashem. You think He's like you. You think He changes His mind. You think He's just gonna let things go. You think He's just such and such. You haven't done teshuva yet. You don't even feel bad for the sins you've made. You probably don't even know what sins you're making.

22:40A person needs to constantly think, to have in his heart fear of punishment, and constantly have in his heart this fear, this trepidation in his heart because of his knowledge that Hashem takes revenge against people that don't follow what He says. So far, I've said many of the things that I've said in other shiurim before this, but we'll get to some new stuff soon. I figured that if somebody only watches this one, I might as well put all of it here instead of just part here, part there.

23:42It says a person will get to joy and have different things that make them laugh and proud, but because of this, he needs to constantly have fear of punishment in his heart because of the sin that these things can lead to. in his heart because of the sin that these things can lead to. Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen MiLublin writes in the book Tzidkat HaTzadik 57 that the suffering that a person has

24:44over the sins that he's made, and over his fear that he has of Gehenom, this will help his teshuva. It says that a person who has this suffering, the agmat nefesh, about the sins that he's made in the past, he made sins so he started to do teshuva, But he remembers his sins. He used to do this. He used to do that. He used to do all these different things. So now he's sad about it. Then he's watching this shiur and he realizes that if he doesn't do teshuva for these sins, Hashem, what's going to happen to him? He's going to become a little steak on constant fire. So now, not only does he feel sad about his sins before the shiur, he feels terrible now because of what's going to happen to him if he doesn't succeed in his teshuva. He says this person is zocheh, is praiseworthy. Why? Because he gets a reward, what he has right now. Because from Shamayim, from Heaven, they're reminding him of all the sins that he's had in the past so he could suffer because of it in this world instead of the next. The actual crying that a person has and the suffering that a person has in this world

26:04Because if he thinks of all of his past, it is actually a reward from Shamayim, so you feel bad for it here and that takes away from Gehinnom over there. He uses the Gemara, Masechet Berachot, page 12b as one of the sources. So now we're going to go to Torah, more specifically, more precisely, like a missile attack of One after another, instead of all over the place. First and foremost, we'll start with the beginning, the Baal Shem Tov himself. Rabbi Yisrael ben Rabbi Eliezer was born in 1695 in the area of Ukraine and Romania. He had many students under him, and some of the great students who publicized his Torah and his Chassidut were names like the Maggid of Mezeritch, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonne, and other names that we're going to mention. And each one of these giants

27:17They had talmidim, and they had talmidim, and they had talmidim, and so on and so forth, all the way to the point where now it originally started with the Baal Shem Tov, but now it's broken off into many parts of Chassidut. You have Chabad, you have Bobov, you have Satmar, you have many different types of Chassidut, but all of them start there. So, in the book of Baal Shem Tov on the Torah, Parashat Vayakhel, The Baal Shem Tov says where it's written in the book of Exodus, chapter 35, verse 3, "Do not light fire on Shabbat." He says in the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says... He's using this as why you're not allowed to move the candle if there's no fire. But if there's fire, you're not allowed to move it. The Baal Shem Tov says

28:40So here, the Baal Shem Tov says, the neshama of a person, we have a makor in the Torah, in Mishlei, chapter 20, verse 27, that the soul of a person is also called a ner, a candle. A candle, ner, is a candle. but also what other things. So, what Hashem is saying to the person is, "Your candle is in my hand. My candle is in your hand." What is this candle, the Baal Shem Tov says? That candle is, "You have my Shabbat in your hand. I have your soul in my hand. You have my Shabbat in your hand." If you light my candle, I'll light your candle. And from there, the Baal Shem Tov asks the question, why? Why is Hashem specifically referring to Shabbat and not just a weekday? Why is He saying, "Oh, I hold your hand every day?" Why is He referring to Shabbat, not Wednesday, not Yom Revi'i? Why?

30:06The Baal Shem Tov says in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai He says the reason why we're mentioning Shabbat here is because just like a person is not allowed to letaltel, to carry the candle when it has fire on Shabbat, he's not allowed to move the candle when it has fire. From here we learn that Hashem says, "I have your candle in my hand. You're my candle, your neshamah, I have it in my hand." If you light my fire, you have my candle, you have my Shabbat. You violate mine, I violate yours. Meaning that just like the fire that's burned in this candle, I'm going to burn you in Gehinnom even on Shabbat. Because on Shabbat I shut off the Gehinnom. I shut off the fire in Gehinnom. But when you light fire on Shabbat, you're lighting your own fire. I'm going to burn you even on Shabbat.

31:26No break on Shabbat. Why? You didn't take a break. You light fire on Shabbat. You light my candle on Shabbat. I'm going to light your candle on Shabbat. As it says, "El nekamot Hashem, El nekamot hofiach." Now we're going to move on to some of the giants, students of the Baal Shem Tov. For the sake of time, we'll try to go a little faster. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen, he was one of the G'dolei Talmidei HaBaal Shem Tov, along with the Maggid of Mezrich. He writes in the book of Ben Porat Yosef, says that at one point the Yetzer Hara was like a hostage. The Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, the sages, did a special tefillah and they enclosed the Yetzer Hara, the Satan, put him in jail. They had that much power of Kedusha.

32:54The moment they contained him, the fire of Gehenom went out. The fire of Gehenom was put out. But then he broke out of it. As soon as the Yetzer Hara goes free, it went back to its place. The fire of Gehenom went back to its place. Just like by the hand of the fire of the Yetzer Hara, he gets his fire from the sins of the resha’im, and that fire lights the fire of Gehenom that burns those same resha’im that he gets it from. Then he continues in a different place. He says that just like a person who violates Shabbat

34:20he's gonna be burned on Shabbat, but if you ask where are they gonna get all the trees to make this extra fire on Shabbat to burn him? He says we learned that if he used the susim, his horses, and his carriages to violate Shabbat Then measure for measure. Hashem will use those same horses, those same carriages, those same trucks, those same cars, to carry the wood, so it burns him in Gehinnom with those same things. We also learned that Rabbi Akiva saw somebody running around, you know, completely in smoke, carrying wood. He said, "Who are you?" He replied, "I'm gathering wood." "For what?" Rabbi Akiva asked. "To make fire," the man responded. "What fire for?" Rabbi Akiva inquired. "To burn myself in Gehinnom," the man answered.

35:45He says a person, certain people that have, certain wicked people. They have a first trial, but some of these people have a punishment that's even worse than Gehenom. They go to Kaf HaKela, where the suffering is much, much worse, and it's for a very long time. Until they finally finish their sentence, and then they are told, after they complete their sentence: a thousand years in Kaf HaKela, five thousand years in Kaf HaKela, five million years in Kaf HaKela of getting hammered 24 hours a day, getting beat up constantly. After that, he arrives at the trial again. Okay, now we'll tell you what your sentence is in Gehenom. These Chassidim are fanatics, no?

36:57Kodesh kodeshim is what these people are. That's why they were Chassidim. That's why they were Chassidim. They were Chassidim because not only were they so afraid of Gehenom, they did extra. Okay, now we're going to go into Torah Breslov. We're gonna finish with Torah Chabad b'ezrat Hashem, but we're gonna start off with Torah Breslov. Help our Breslover brothers stop dancing in the street and start doing Teshuvah b'ezrat Hashem. Many of them are Tzadikim who do good and learn Torah like Rabbi Nachman of Breslov says. But many of them are confused and think that all they need to do is just grow peyot and dance and laugh.

37:57And they need to wake up because that's not what Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said. So Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said in Likutey Moharan Torah Yud Tet. Likutey Moharan, Torah 19, Ot Tet (19:9). And I'll just read in English to save time. First, he says, he mentions a Gemara from Bava Batra, page 74a. He says, this is the meaning of what Rabbi Bar Bar Chanah said. A merchant told me, "Come and I will show you those swallowed by the earth with Korach." So he mentions the whole ma'aseh with Korach. He says, "Let me show you where this is." I went along and I saw two cracks from which smoke was emerging. They went to the middle of the desert. They saw there was a crack in the ground. There were two cracks in the ground. There was smoke coming out of it. He said, "Let me show you." He took a piece of wool, soaked it in water, put it on the tip of a spear, and then inserted it in the crack of the ground, inserted it in the crack, and then he pulled it back, removed it.

39:21And it was completely scorched, like lava was on it. He told me, "Listen, listen, listen to what's here. Do you hear it? Listen to what he says." He goes, "You heard? Yeah. What are they saying?" he says. "They're saying, 'Moshe emet, Torah emet, va'anachnu baddim.' He goes, "Exactly. You know who that is? That's Korach. That's Korach, this is their spot." This is their spot that every Chodesh, every month, we hear this once a month. Why? Because this is part of Korach's Teshuvah in Gehenom. But even this Teshuvah in Gehenom is not helping him. He says this repentance comes down to all creatures, all people that go to Gehenom. This is part of their Gehenom. Happens in the new moon, Rosh Chodesh. Which is why Korach and his followers inevitably have some regrets on every Rosh Chodesh. Why? Because this repentance, this teshuvah that they're doing now in Gehenom, it doesn't help them.

40:36For the essence of repentance, teshuvah is only available in this world, he tells them. Whoever toils on the day before Shabbat will have what to eat on Shabbat. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov says, you see what Korach is dealing with right now, all the screaming—what the Gemara says—what is it here to teach us? It's to teach us that he's trying to do teshuvah now in Gehenom. He can't do it. Because teshuvah is only available now. He's being burned. And all the other resha'im, same thing, every Rosh Chodesh, they're all suffering even extra because it's that once a month that they actually have the ability to try to do something about it. Try to do teshuvah, but they can't. It's part of the punishment. He says, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov continues. He says, Gehinnom brings them back here. Gehinnom is a living thing. Gehinnom brings them back to this place, for they are not absolved. But nevertheless, Gehinnom in effect on a new moon is not the same as on other days. Because Gehinnom in effect on a new moon is only regret, regretting, confessing, and being embarrassed.

41:49This is the embarrassment that people talk about. This is another form of it. You know, people say, "Oh, no, there's Gehinnom, it's only embarrassment." He said, "Yeah, this is the embarrassment. They bring him once a month to the place of Korach, and they realize, 'Oh, what I did to myself. Look how I'm being burned.' And they're embarrassed because everybody sees that they're really a Rasha. They're exposed in front of everyone. And once a month, they come to this place, Hashem Yirachem." In order to confess their sins, but it doesn't help them, does not help them. That's Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, one part. We continue in Likutei Moharan, Torah Chaf Bet, Ot Yud Alef. In lesson 22, part 11. It says if a person is prideful, Hashem humbles him. As the verse says, "if they are bound in chains" in Gemara Masechet Megillah 13b. And it continues. He says later on, "they're paid, they're answered." How does He humble them? They let him pay t’marai as appropriate for damaging faith. What is this symbolizing? Rabbi Nachman of Breslov gives a commentary on this to save some time.

43:14And he says, he must pay, this person that had pride, he must pay a sixtieth. What does this sixtieth represent? It alludes to Gehenom, since the entire world is only a sixtieth of hell, a sixtieth of Gehenom. This is because the prideful person goes to Gehenom for punishments, for all other things were exchanged by Avraham, Avraham Avinu. into subjugation to foreign powers, but the punishment for gavah for violating the brit, for violating the kedusha, remains in Gehenom. So even Avraham Avinu can't take somebody out of Gehenom if he violates specific things like this with just gavah and the things that have to do with arayot. Thus, someone who damaged the holy audacity, the holy kedusha through... gava to his actions. He is on a realm of evil, and he must pay a sixtieth, which means sixtieth is referring to another name for Gehenom. This again, I mean, Rabbi Nachman Breslover in Likutei Moharan talks about Gehenom. I wish it would be a chiddush, but it really isn't something new. It's been available for a long time. It's just that people don't read.

44:37In Likutei Moharan Tinyana, which is part two of Likutei Moharan, Torah Tzadik, Rabbi Nachman Breslover reminds us of a minhag that they used to have in Yerushalayim. He says that in the time of the shidduch, when they would go to get married, they would take a piece of clay and break it in Yerushalayim. Where? In a place that they believed is Gehinnom. It's one of the gates of Gehinnom. There are three places, three entrances to Gehinnom in this world. One is in Yerushalayim, one is in the ocean, and one is in the desert. So the Chachamim would go to a certain place in Yerushalayim, and they would break this thing. Where? At the gate of Gehinnom. Why? This is to remind the chatan: Remember and know there is a Gehinnom. And don't go after your desires, you're a married man now. Make yourself holy like you're supposed to, because remember and don't forget.

45:56There is again no meaning; you will pay a punishment if you cheat on her, if you yell at her, if you do things that are against the marriage, if you violate the Ketubah. All these things instead of saying, "Hey buddy, you're about to get married, welcome to the club." There's a Gehinom, there's a Gehinom. You best believe you, right? You sign the Ketubah; it means something. It's not just a signature to put on your wall, and... All this they give as a hint of breaking this pot. Also, it says that in this world the suffering that people have is like... Something that you'd have in Gehinnom in some cases. Well, he's trying to give us a visual that this Gehinnom is not exactly a place that you want to go to. It's not like some of these, you know, these Smurfs rabbis visualize. He's telling us details that the suffering of Gehinnom is not suffering that anyone would want on themselves. עד כאן. We're gonna finish with Torat Breslev now. We're gonna go into the main event.

47:25Torat Chabad, Torat Chabad. Rabbi Shneur Zalman ben Rabbi Baruch, the Baal HaTanya, was born in 1745, about 300 years ago, in Liozna in Russia. But in 1804, he moved to Lyady. That's why he's known up to until today as the Alter Rebbe of Lyady. That was the city where he founded and started Chassidut Chabad. Chabad stands for Chochmah, Binah, and Da'at. Chochmah means wisdom. Binah delves between one thing and another, and Da'at is to know right and wrong. This Tanya is the foundation of Chabad. You cannot be a Chabadnik without reading the Tanya, no different than how you read the Tanakh. In fact, today, unfortunately, people are more likely to read the Tanya than they are to read the Tanakh. So how come they don't believe in Gehenom even though it's all over this book? Because they don't read the whole thing or they skip through it. If you read it and you don't have Yirat Shamayim, that means you don't know how to read. You don't understand a single word.

48:48you don't have to go into the small print at the end or anything like that. this is literally right in the beginning. i'm going to go over a few small things. i'm not going to go over the whole thing, just a few small things. we start off right in the beginning, chapter eight, chapter eight. In one paragraph, the Baal HaTanya mentions chibut hakever, kaf hakela, gehinom, laziness, and gehinom again. One tiny little paragraph. I'll read it in English just to save time. That is why the body must undergo the purgatory of the grave: the suffering that a person endures in the grave. This purgatory is where the soul is cleansed of stains that are acquired during a lifetime from sins in order to cleanse and purify it of the uncleanliness which it has received from the enjoyment of mundane things and pleasures which are derived from the uncleanliness of klipat noga and Jewish demons. So, there are different types of shedim and...

50:13Some of them are called Yehudim. Yehudim are specifically Jewish demons. You read about it in the Gemara in a few places. When a person enjoys the materialism of this world more than he's supposed to, instead of eating just enough, he eats enough for three people. Instead of working just to make a living, he works to make a living for ten generations. He misses Torah and so on. We're not even talking about him violating Shabbat here. We're talking about him just enjoying the world a little too much. He says this person will have a lot of suffering in the grave. Only one who has derived no enjoyment from this world all of his life, as was the case with our saintly master, the Rebbe, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, He was spared from this. Rabbi HaKadosh didn't enjoy this world. Even though he was a multi-millionaire, he didn't enjoy the millions. He was a servant of Hashem. But anybody else who has enjoyment from this world will have some type of suffering in the grave. Obviously, the more they focus on materialism, the more difficult that first part will be. And then he continues, as for innocent idle chatter...

51:37He goes into specific things. He goes, you just decided to talk about baseball. You know what? Talk about politics. What do you think about the wall? What do you think about the government being shut down? What do you think of the stock market? And you're not really in the business of the stock market. You just want to know what he thinks about the stock market. Idle chatter. Such as in the case of an ignoramus who cannot study. He must undergo a cleansing of his soul to get rid of the uncleanness of this klipah. through it being rolled in kaf hakela. You want to socialize for no reason? You want to just talk about chit-chat and chit-chat and chit-chat about the stock market, about Donald Trump, about his hair whether it's real or it's not, all that stuff, you want to do that stuff? Okay, you'll have a nice, nice, long sentence in kaf hakela. Enjoy. You get a nice tour from one end of the universe to the other. Shhh. Wow, gives the person plenty of time to continue the conversation about nothing. Maybe his friend is also flying with him. Where does he get it from? Waiting, he just came out of himself. No, he says in the Zohar, Parashat Beshalach, page 59.

52:59But what about if it's not just a waste of time talking? What if it's Lashon Hara? Like these clowns like to say about me or about other Jews. What about that? What if it's Lashon Hara? What about if it's Rechilut? What about that? Let's see what the Baal HaTanya, the foundation of Chabad, says. But in regards to forbidden speech, such as scoffing and slander and the like, which stem from the three completely unclean klipot, the Kaf HaKela alone is not enough for them to cleanse and remove the uncleanness of the soul. They must go to Gehinom. Baal HaTanya, the foundation of Chabad, literally says Gehinom. Not a place like, or maybe an embarrassment. No, no, no. The suffering of the other one, if you didn't think it was suffering, well, it was Gehinom, because embarrassment, then he told you, if you didn't think that was suffering, then he told you, nobody thinks it's fun.

54:10So too, he who is eligible to learn Torah, to engage in Torah, but decides to occupy himself instead in frivolous things. Kaf HaKela itself is not enough for him. He must cleanse his soul with severe penalties that are meted out for bitul Torah. In particular, apart from the general retribution for the neglect of a positive commandment, you must go to the purgatory of snow. It's not just the fire; there are two Gehinnoms: there's the Gehinnom of fire and then the Baal HaTanya says, "No, no, it's not just fire, relax, there's also snow for you." There's a Gehinnom of snow, and we'll explain a little bit later who goes to this Gehinnom of snow. Aside from what our friend over here... Moreover, the uncleanness of the science of the nations is greater than the profane speech. A person that likes to study all types of nonsense on the internet instead of learning Torah, for such a person, by learning all of this nonsense, he's defiling his middot. He's ruining his character traits, which emanate from the element of the Holy Ruach within his divine soul, and he's contaminating...

55:31this Ruach with Kelipat Noga, which is contained in profane speech derived from the element of the evil Ruach of this Kelipah. So literally right in the beginning, we haven't even touched the Tanya. We're already talking about Kibbuta Kever, which to me is the scariest. Then you talk about Kaf HaKela. You're gonna have a heart attack by the time you realize what it is actually Kaf HaKela, what they do there. And then he goes back. Why? What do you do for this? He says, what if you're lazy? What if a person is lazy? He doesn't feel like doing much. He goes, "Oh, he's lazy. Oh, he goes to Gehenom." Why? The person who's lazy? Oh, he has a place in Gehenom. Where? In a snow one. He tells you where else or where he goes. Not just you go to Gehenom. No, no. You have a room in the snow section. With no skis, though. No skis. So here the Ba'al HaTanya already scared us to death right from the beginning. Now

56:41Later on, the Ba'al HaTanya does what almost no Chabadnik does today. What does he do? He talks about Chilul Shabbat. In chapter 46, the end of chapter 46, it says, he says, They will understand the severity of the punishment for transgressing the prohibition of working on Shabbat, you know, doing a melachah, any type of melachah, lighting a fire, or carrying, and so on and so forth, or eating chametz on Pesach. For even in the soul of the uncultured, meaning even if somebody who doesn't know anything, you know, because today, the guy that wasted an hour and a half of my time, the rabbi, the so-called rabbi from two days ago, I told you I had a conversation with, he told me, no, no, but people don't know. People don't know. So if you read your own book, Mr. Chabad, if you would have read your own book, the Baal HaTanya talks about it. What if they don't know? He says, even the uncultured, the completely illiterate person,

58:04shines in the light of the sanctity of Shabbat or a festival. Hence, he faces capital punishment by karet or stoning for the profanation of the sanctity. Even if the person doesn't know any Torah, he doesn't know anything. Violate Shabbat and he gets punished. Who's staying on over now? Now you have a problem. You go back to the Baal HaTanya. Because I told them sources from the Torah, from the Chumash, that wasn't good enough. So I told them sources from the Gemara, that's not good enough. The Zohar, that's not good enough. The Sifrei Tzaddikim, that's not good enough. Now you have the Tanya itself. So now if you don't believe it, you can no longer call yourself a Chabadnik. Can't say that, no, no, he doesn't know much and therefore he's allowed to violate Shabbat. He's allowed to drive to the Knesset on Shabbat because he's okay. He doesn't know much. He knows to go to the Knesset. He knows there is a big Knesset. He already knows more than this person that the Baal HaTanya says gets karet. If a person knows to go to the Knesset and knows how to read tefillah, knows how to read a siddur, he already knows more than the person that the Baal HaTanya is talking about that gets the worst punishment in the Torah.

59:18gets karet because he's talking about a completely illiterate person, an uncultured person. He violates Shabbat, he gets karet. Baal HaTanya is giving us a chiddush that apparently many Chabadniks today do not know or do not teach, or both. You continue into the Tanya into Iggeret HaTeshuvah. The first few things that I mentioned were in Likutei Amarim. Now we're moving forward in the Tanya to Iggeret HaTeshuvah, Chapter 12. He says the reason for happiness in the afflictions of the body when a person has suffering Valentine says when a person has suffering in this world—he has backaches, earaches, throat aches, this ache, that ache, suffering constantly—you should be happy about it. Why? The reason for the happiness in the afflictions of the body is that they are a great and potent favor for the sinning soul, to cleanse in this world and to redeem itself from purification in the next.

1:00:40This is particularly true in our generation when it is not possible to fast in accordance with the prescription of the Arizal. So he's saying about his own generation 300 years ago... He says, we can't fast like the Arizal says. We can't do all the things for teshuva like the Arizal says. So if you get suffering, it's the best-case scenario. Why? It's going to clean your soul. Why do you need to clean the soul? It's imperative for cleansing of the soul to rescue it from the cleansing of Gehenom. Why do you need cleansing in Gehenom if Gehenom is only a place of embarrassing you, making fun of you? Obviously, it's not. As the Nachmanides (Ramban) said in his introduction to the commentary on the Book of Job, he writes that even the suffering of Job himself, if a person had it for 70 years—not just for one year like Job had it—if you had the suffering of Job for 70 years...

1:01:49is absolutely no comparison whatsoever to the suffering that the soul will have even for a brief moment in Gehinom. Anyone that wants to know the details of what Iyov (Job) went through has it very easy. It's not enough to just open the book of Iyov and spend a couple of hours. You'll understand what it means to suffer. After you understand what it means to suffer when there are worms coming out of the body of Iyov and he loses ten children—they all die on the same day—and he loses billions of dollars, becomes homeless, and all of his friends become his enemies—all the worst of the worst that could possibly happen to a person happened to him and... Ramban says, and the Baal HaTanya follows and confirms, that all of that—not for one year but for an entire lifetime—is not even a moment of suffering of Gehinnom. Does that sound embarrassing to anybody? It's embarrassing to actually have to justify this, but that's the reality.

1:03:00for the physical fire of here is only 1/60th of the fire of the lowest fire of Gehinnom. As he says, it is only that the world is built by kindness. And through mild suffering in this world, one is saved from severe judgments in the coming world. He said it's Chasdei Hashem. It's the kindness of Hashem to give us suffering in this world. Because it saves us from the real suffering in the next world. This again is the Baal HaTanya. There are many other places in chapter 45, I believe, 47, many other places, but I think you get the point that Chabad does not believe in no Gehinnom. Now, if somebody says no, but maybe it changed later on with other Chassidim that came later on because obviously people are a little bit stumim. They have a little problem in their brain. So we'll mention a few others briefly. Because it saves us from the real suffering in the next world. This again is the Baal HaTanya. There are many other places in chapter 45, I believe, 47, and many other places, but I think you get the point that Chabad does not believe in no Gehinnom. Now, if somebody says no, but maybe it changed later on with other Chassidim that came later on because obviously people are a little bit stumim—they have a little problem in their brain. So we'll mention a few others briefly.

1:04:01Rav Tzvi Elimelech Shapira of Dinov, he also was born in 1785. It says on the pasuk that do not light fire on Shabbat. He gives a commentary on it. What's the commentary? He says that the Zohar says that anyone who gets angry, anyone who gets angry, is like lighting the fire of Gehenom. So, why is it mentioned specifically by Shabbat? Yes, why Shabbat? He says, in the weekday, the fire of Gehinnom is already lit. But on Shabbat, Hashem shuts off the fire of Gehinnom. So when a person gets angry, he himself lights the fire of Gehinnom and gets burned in it himself.

1:05:17Why? You got angry on Shabbat? You lit a fire on Shabbat. Oh, okay, so we'll light you up back on Shabbat when you get to the next section. The next section of life. Rabbi Shlomo ben Rabbi Dov Tzviya Cohen Rabinovitch, he says in a The whole point of all of this, he says, there's a pasuk in the Torah, in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verse 24, that Hashem is a fire—He is a consuming fire and a jealous God. Why does it say that? It says, just like Moshe Rabbeinu says, also in Exodus, chapter 20, verse 17. The reason why Hashem is scaring you so that you don't sin is that after a person understands all the things that really happen in Gehenom, he's simply not going to want to sin. That's the point. It's not that anyone wants anybody to go to Gehenom.

1:06:42You need to know what you're dealing with in order to avoid it like the plague that killed 100 million people. But then Rabbi Tzadok HaCohen Rabinowitz, who was born in 1823, says in Pri Tzadik, he writes the following: He says there's two types of Gehinnom. He says there's two types of Gehinnom. There's a Gehinnom of fire. which is against the jealousy, the desires, the honor that it's based off of. That's what lights it. But then there's the Gehinnom of the snow. What's the snow? What is it for? This is against Amalek specifically. What's Midat Amalek? Those people that cool off the crowd. They tell them there's no Gehinnom. They tell them that everybody's a tzaddik. They tell them everything is okay.

1:07:49Oh, oh, you have a special place in Gehinnom. It's not even fire. It's the snow section all to yourself, all to yourself. Midat Amalek, just like the ice is cold, Amalek cools off the crowd—the same exact thing. Oh. Then he says even further that part of the fire that consumes the person is the fire of his own soul. Because the soul itself is fire, and his own soul burns itself. We'll speed up to the rest. Person that thinks about evil things, about immodest things, and so much and so forth, he must

1:08:58Think about all of the fire that's in Gehenom. He says that just for thinking all of these things, having a dirty mind, he's gonna end up suffering a thousand times worse than the pleasure that he got, and that's even before Gehenom. And a lot of disasters will surround him. But if he knows the truth about the suffering that you get in Gehenom, he himself will destroy this thought. As it says, just as it says something that comes to kill you, you kill it first. This thought that you have about someone that's not your wife, something that's not going to belong to you, all these things that are against Hashem, this thought is trying to kill you. The yetzer hara is trying to kill you; kill it first. Why? How? By knowing about the punishment.

1:10:15So another part of the busha, by the way, that Chazal explained here is that part of the tzaar and the busha that people get, the embarrassment that people get, is part of Gehenom. Rabbi Nachman m'Breslov actually says this, that they take them to Gan Eden, they take the resha'im to Gan Eden to go see all the tzaddikim and see what they could have gotten. This causes them much, much more suffering than they had before. The other thing is that the other reason why it causes them a lot of embarrassment is because the people that are in Gan Eden that see them, or even the people in Gehenom that see them in Gehenom and... They see them for who they really are. They see why they're in Gehenom. It's like, oh, wow, in the real world, you're a rabbi, you wrote like ten books, you were famous, you did all these things, but in reality, you were a noef, you were a criminal, you were looking at women the whole time, you were stealing money, you were lying to people, you were telling people there's no Gehenom. Ah, so that's who you really are. We thought you were a tzaddik, we had your picture on the wall. But in reality, you're a noef, you're a rasha.

1:11:32this embarrassment causes them suffering that is on the same level as the fire itself because mamash, everybody sees them for what they are, especially the people that they fooled. So they send them to Gehinnom; they make the other people see them for who they really are. But this is in addition to the fire and the snow and Hashem and all of the other horrible, horrible things. So up to here I think you get the point that if you want to be a part of Chabad, if you want to be a part of Breslov, if you want to be a part of any type of Chassidut, if you want to be a part of Judaism, you must believe in schar ve'onesh, you must believe in reward and punishment. Reward means schar, punishment means onesh. Reward does not mean you get a car, you get a house. Reward does not mean you get money. Reward means olam haba, that's good. Punishment doesn't mean you broke a fingernail.

1:12:59you get a little cold. No, that's not enough. There's Gehinnom. Gehinnom is a horrible, horrible, terrible place that is beyond our imagination, but it exists, it is physical, and unfortunately, there's a section of it that will never end. So, our Mishnah in Avot says a person that wants this Keter Torah, wants this crown of Torah, the minimum of minimum that he has to do is put a protective fence. Put a protective fence. Part of our protective fence is not to go to certain places. Part of our protective fence is not to hang out with certain people. Part of our protective fence is to watch our eyes. All of these things are obvious. But part of our fence is the Torah itself. The Torah itself is our fence. What Torah? Knowledge of what happens if we sin. That is the fence itself. Because if you know what happens, as the Chassidim, as the Baal Shem Tov and all of his talmidim said, if you know what will happen if you sin, you're not going to want to sin anymore. So it's in your own best interest to know as much as possible about the punishment.

1:14:18Because the more you know about it, the more you're going to connect to it, the more you're going to realize there's no sin in the world that's worth it. It's not worth it to wear a tight dress as a woman. It's not worth it to wear provocative clothes, a long wig, and make people look at you. It's not worth it to steal. It's not worth it to promise and not deliver. It's not worth it to lie. It's not worth it to do all of these things. It's just not worth it. a person that knows the consequences will easily determine it's not worth it. When they do, B'ezrat Hashem, they little by little become a tzaddik or a tzaddika and they get the Keter Torah. B'ezrat Hashem, this should be it for tonight. I think we took long enough, but this, this by itself, this fence, this fence by itself, I believe, should help a lot of people if we just simply listen to our sages, listen to Hashem Yitbarach, and actually put a fence around ourselves, to protect ourselves from ourselves, and B'ezrat Hashem, no one will end up going to Gehenom. The first part of the Mishnah that says that "Kol Yisrael yesh lahem chelek l'Olam HaBa" will actually come true. That all of Yisrael actually goes to Olam HaBa will come true. And not the rest of the Mishnah that details who doesn't.

1:15:40that all of Am Yisrael listens to this shiur, listens to other shiurim, and doesn't fall, doesn't listen to the Erev Rav that tells them to fall or tells them to ignore, but actually listens to the Torah of Truth, does Teshuvah, and with the help of Hashem gets to the next world, and with the help of Hashem gets closer and closer to Him. Any questions? I think you're all very, very tired. And I think we'll end it tonight. We have a shiur on Sunday night. Continuation, questions and answers. If you can actually have questions, it will be good. If you don't have questions, I'll ask the questions. Baruch Adonai le'olam, amen ve'amen.