Seven days with the Chernobyler Maggid

The verses are Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 9:11-12: "Who is the wise man who will understand this… for what was the land lost?" and then, "And Hashem said: because they left My Torah, which I set before them." In the Gemara (the Talmud, Nedarim 81a) Rav Yehudah says in the name of Rav that this question was asked of the sages and of the prophets, and they did not explain it, until the Holy One, blessed be He, explained it Himself, in the next verse. The Gemara then gives Rav's explanation of the verse's last words, "and did not walk in it": they did not first say the blessing over the Torah. The Me'or Einayim uses the Gemara's phrase, "until the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself explained it," and then takes the verse in the way of the Midrash (the Sages' readings of the verses), below.

The seven courts are from the Gemara (Gittin 88a). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says there that the land of Israel was not destroyed until seven courts had worshipped idols in it, and he names seven kings, from Yerovam ben Nevat to Hoshea ben Elah.

The words are from Eichah Rabbah, the Midrash on the book of Lamentations, in its second opening. On the verse "They left Me, and did not keep My Torah" (Yirmiyahu 16:11), Rabbi Huna and Rabbi Yirmeyah say in the name of Rabbi Chiya bar Abba: "If only they had left Me and kept My Torah. Through occupying themselves with it, the light in it would have brought them back to the good." The same passage says, in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Rabbi Yitzchak, that the Holy One overlooked idol worship, forbidden relations and bloodshed, and did not overlook the rejection of the Torah, since the verse says only "because they left My Torah." In the Jerusalem Talmud (Chagigah 1:7) the line reads: "the leaven in it would have brought them close to Me."

His words are chelek Eloki mima'al, "a Godly portion from above." They are built on a verse in Iyov (Job) 31:2, "And what is the portion of God [chelek Eloka] from above?" The Tanya, a Chasidic book by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, opens its second chapter with the verse's words, said there of "the second soul in Israel."

He opens with the words "And it was at the end of two years" (Bereishit, Genesis, 41:1) and turns at once to what the Torah was given for. He reads the verse itself further on.

He starts from a verse: "At all times let your garments be white" (Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, 9:8). Chaluka d'rabbanan, "the robe of the Rabbis," is a name used in the Zohar (the classic of Kabbalah, the hidden teachings of the Torah) for the garment in which the souls of the righteous are clothed in the next world (Zohar on the Torah portion Noach, 1:66a). "Soiled garments" are words of the prophet Zechariah (3:3-4): he sees Yehoshua the High Priest dressed in soiled garments, and hears, "Take the soiled garments off him… See, I have removed your sin from you." The saying about a mitzvah and a sin is Ben Azzai's, in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 4:2.

The Zohar on the Torah portion Vayikra reads the verse the same way: the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, wonder at it and say, "a soul, when it sins?" "A person does not sin unless a spirit of folly has entered him" is the saying of Reish Lakish in the Gemara (the Talmud, Sotah 3a).

The verse is Bereishit (Genesis) 39:12. That Yosef curled his hair is in Rashi, the classic commentator, on Bereishit 39:6: once he saw himself a ruler, he began to eat and drink and curl his hair, and the Holy One said, "Your father is mourning, and you curl your hair?" The Midrash Tanchuma (a collection of the Sages' readings of the Torah) tells it in nearly the same words.

His next words end: "…and drag another sin to him." In the Gemara (Berachot 19a) the teaching is from the school of Rabbi Yishmael, and it reads: if you saw a Torah scholar sin at night, do not think ill of him by day; perhaps he has repented. The Gemara asks: only perhaps? And it answers: rather, he has certainly repented. The Gemara adds that this is said of matters that concern himself. In a matter of money, it says, not until he has returned it to its owner. The verse in Kohelet ends: "…who does good and does not sin."

The verse is Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 9:8, which reads "let oil not be lacking"; the text of the Me'or Einayim on Sefaria (an online library of Jewish texts) has "shall not be lacking" here. In the Gemara (the Talmud) Rabbi Yochanan ties olive oil to wisdom: the people of Tekoa were used to olive oil, and so wisdom was found among them (Menachot 85b); and olive oil brings back learning that was forgotten (Horayot 13b). The verse the Me'or Einayim brings next is "For Hashem gives wisdom; from His mouth are knowledge and understanding" (Mishlei, Proverbs, 2:6).

"Even the empty ones among you are full of mitzvot like a pomegranate" is Reish Lakish's reading of a verse in Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs (Eruvin 19a).

The Shulchan Aruch (the standard code of Jewish law), Orach Chaim 671:6, rules that the Chanukah lamp is placed above three handbreadths, and that it is a mitzvah to place it below ten. "Below ten" comes from a statement of Ravina in the Gemara (Shabbat 21b): it is a mitzvah to place it "within ten." Ravina learns this from another law. The Gemara asks whether that law really proves it, and leaves the question there. The Shulchan Aruch rules this way. Rabbi Yosei teaches that the Shechinah never came down below. The Gemara asks from verses that say it did, and answers that it stayed above ten handbreadths (Sukkah 5a). The verse is Shmuel II (2 Samuel) 14:14.

"The Name of the Holy One" is what the Zohar (the classic of Kabbalah, the hidden teachings of the Torah) calls Shabbat, on the Torah portion Yitro. Just before this he calls Shabbat "a good gift" from Hashem's treasure house, given to bring a person close to his Creator. The words are from the Gemara (Shabbat 10b): "I have a good gift in My treasure house, and Shabbat is its name."

The Sages ruled out certain wicks and oils for the Shabbat lamp. Rabbah gives the reasons: on those wicks the flame flickers, and those oils are not drawn up the wick. The Gemara (Shabbat 21a-b) then brings three opinions about using them for the Chanukah lamp. Rav Huna: they may not be used. Rav Chisda: on weekdays they may, on Shabbat they may not. Rabbi Zeira in the name of Rav Matnah, and some say in the name of Rav: they may be used on Chanukah, on weekdays and on Shabbat. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 673:1) rules that all oils and wicks are fit for the Chanukah lamp, even those on which the light does not hold well. The Me'or Einayim quotes the teaching in that last form, and reads the wicks as people.

This page does not say who these people are.

In most years Parshat Miketz (the Torah portion of Miketz) is read on the Shabbat of Chanukah. The Me'or Einayim says there is a reason it is read then (Miketz 4), and much of his chapter on the parsha is about Chanukah. This day brings one piece of it.

Before this he brings a verse: "How long, lazy one, will you lie there? When will you rise from your sleep?" (Mishlei, Proverbs, 6:9). And he explains:

He goes on to give the cause, in a word for being preoccupied, taken up with things. And then:

In the lines before this he has been speaking of miracles that are hidden and miracles that are revealed. He closes the passage with them:

That sentence is his. The card above takes from this teaching only the picture of sleep. Whether a prayer said without attention must be said again is a matter of halachah (Jewish law), and it is not this page's to say.

His words here are only "the writings." Later in this chapter (paragraph 11), on another matter, he names "the writings of the Arizal," Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Tzfat, a teacher of Kabbalah (the hidden teachings of the Torah). "The day of Pharaoh's birth" is from Bereishit (Genesis) 40:20. Pharaoh in Hebrew is Par'oh. Its first letters, p-r-a, are a Hebrew root with the sense of uncovering: Rashi, the classic commentator, explains the word parua (Shemot, Exodus, 32:25) as "uncovered." The Zohar (the classic of Kabbalah), on the Torah portion Vayigash, reads "the house of Pharaoh" as the house from which all the lights are uncovered and revealed.

The Sages also tie a dream to health. Among six things that are a good sign for a sick person, the Gemara (the Talmud, Berachot 57b) counts a dream, from the verse "You restore me to health [vatachalimeni] and make me live" (Yeshayahu, Isaiah, 38:16). Hadar chalim is Aramaic for "it heals again"; Rashi uses the words in his commentary on the Gemara (Chullin 45a).

In Kabbalah (the hidden teachings of the Torah) these are names of seven of the ten sefirot (the ten divine attributes that Kabbalah describes); the first two are usually called chesed, kindness, and gevurah, strength. Here he speaks of them as traits in a person. "A person should always stir up the good inclination against the evil inclination" is taught in the name of Reish Lakish in the Gemara (the Talmud, Berachot 5a). His word for thanking, lehodot, also means to praise and to acknowledge.

He starts from the verse "Man and beast You save, Hashem" (Tehillim, Psalms, 36:7). In the Gemara (Chullin 5b) Rav Yehudah says in the name of Rav: these are people who are sharp in mind and make themselves like a beast. Rashi, the classic commentator, explains there: lowly of spirit. For the good in a person being from Hashem, the Me'or Einayim brings "For Hashem gives wisdom" (Mishlei, Proverbs, 2:6).

The verse is Bereishit (Genesis) 41:2: the cows "grazed in the achu." Rashi explains achu as a marsh, and English translations mostly say "reed grass" or "marsh." This page says "meadow" to keep it simple. Targum Onkelos, the classic Aramaic translation of the Torah, has be'achavah here, and the Me'or Einayim quotes the word:

From the Targum's word he goes straight on to hatred and love between people. "Brotherhood" is the reading of the Midrash (the Sages' readings of the verses), which this page uses. Bereishit Rabbah 89:4 reads the word that way: when the years are good, people become brothers to one another; "they grazed in the achu": love and brotherhood in the world. Rashi brings a reading like it on the words "fair to look at": in years of plenty people look good in one another's eyes, and no one begrudges his fellow.

The Torah's words are "Do not hate your brother in your heart" (Vayikra, Leviticus, 19:17). What counts as that hatred is a matter of halachah (Jewish law), and it is not this page's to say. The card describes a bad half hour and where, in his account, such a thing begins.

What it swallows, he goes on, is the Torah and the mitzvot. His words here are "the mitzvot that a person does." This page reads the sentence of the person in the list just before it. In the Torah the thin cows "ate" the fat ones (Bereishit, Genesis, 41:4); "swallowed" is the word for the thin ears of grain in the second dream (41:7). In the text of the Me'or Einayim on Sefaria (an online library of Jewish texts), the cows are cited with "swallowed." Kelipah means a husk or a shell. In Kabbalah (the Torah's hidden teachings) it is the name for the side that is not holiness, which covers holiness the way a shell covers a fruit.

When Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, retells the dream to Yosef (Joseph), he adds: "They came inside them, and it could not be known that they had come inside them, and their appearance was as bad as at the start" (Bereishit 41:21). The Me'or Einayim quotes the middle words, "it could not be known that they had come inside them," and goes straight on to teshuvah.

His words on teshuvah are in "Read it in his words," above. The saying he quotes there is Reish Lakish's in the Gemara (the Talmud, Yoma 86b), where the wording is that intentional sins "become for him like merits." The Gemara sets it beside another saying of his, that they become for him like unintended ones, and answers: "merits" is said of teshuvah out of love, and "unintended ones" of teshuvah out of fear. The Me'or Einayim gives the saying a reading of his own. The Mishnah (the first written code of the Oral Torah, Yoma 8:9) sets a limit: one who says, "I will sin and then return, I will sin and then return," is not given the chance to do teshuvah.

This is not from the Me'or Einayim's teaching. In the Gemara (Pesachim 50b) Rav Yehudah says in the name of Rav: a person should always occupy himself with Torah and mitzvot even not for their own sake, because out of doing them not for their own sake he comes to do them for their own sake. The Gemara also records a hard saying that Rava used to repeat (Berachot 17a). He speaks of a person who learns Torah and then scorns his father, his mother and his teacher, and ends: one who does it not for its own sake, it would have been better for him had he not been created. Tosafot on that page (medieval commentators printed beside the Gemara) explain that the two do not clash: Rava speaks of one who learns only to provoke his fellows, and Rav of one who learns so that people will honor him. This page does not place anyone's case on either side.

"To fear punishment" is on his list of what the yetzer hara does with the trait of fear. In the last paragraph of the chapter he gives the pairs again, and there the wording is "outer fear."

"The sleep of time" is his phrase from the start of this reading of the dream, where "two years," shenatayim, is read as sheinah, sleep. He explains sleep just before that, at the end of the second paragraph: a person who does mitzvot and learns Torah without his mind in it "is like one asleep."

He closes this paragraph by saying that a person should have no aim but Hashem alone, "not for this world and not for the world to come." This page does not cover that part.

The Mishnah is Shabbat 7:2. It goes on to list them, from sowing and plowing to carrying from one domain to another.

The teaching is in the Mechilta, an early Midrash (the Sages' readings of the verses) on Shemot (Exodus), on the verse "Six days you shall work and do all your work" (Shemot 20:9): can a person do all his work in six days? Rather, rest as if all your work were done. Rashi, the classic commentator, brings it on that verse: when Shabbat comes, let it be in your eyes as if all your work is done, so that you do not think about work.

"What is Shabbat? The Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, the Name that is whole on every side" is from the Zohar, in its section on the Torah portion Yitro (2:88b). "Is anything lacking in the King's house?" is from a parable of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai in the Gemara (Shabbat 153a), about a king who invited his servants to a feast and set no hour for it. Rabbi Chanina would say on the eve of Shabbat, "Come, let us go out to greet Shabbat the queen" (Shabbat 119a). The Me'or Einayim goes on, with the words "that is," to say what the "one" is: one of two Shabbatot. He ties it to the saying in the Gemara (Shabbat 118b) that if Israel kept two Shabbatot properly they would be redeemed at once; he quotes it without "properly." This page does not cover those lines, and they are printed twice in the text on Sefaria (an online library of Jewish texts).

The verse is Shemot 31:17. In the Gemara (Beitzah 16a) Reish Lakish says that the Holy One gives a person an added soul on the eve of Shabbat, and when Shabbat goes out it is taken from him, as it says, "He rested and was refreshed": once he has rested, woe, the soul is lost. Rashi explains there: woe for the soul that has gone. The Me'or Einayim reads the same words another way: what is lost is the woe.

On Sefaria, these lines stand among several short pieces on Shabbat in the Me'or Einayim's chapter on this parsha (Torah portion). The line about "woe" is a piece of its own, in the tenth paragraph.

The card describes a table. It does not rule on what may be thought or said at one. The Shulchan Aruch (the standard code of Jewish law), Orach Chaim 306:8, writes: "Thinking about one's affairs is permitted. And all the same, for the sake of the delight of Shabbat, it is a mitzvah (commandment) not to think about them at all, and let it be in his eyes as if all his work is done." The Mishnah Berurah (a later commentary on that code) adds there: all the more so if the thinking brings a troubled heart and worry, a person should be careful of it. The laws of speech on Shabbat are in Orach Chaim 307. What all this asks of you at your own table is a question for your rav (rabbi).