But Shavuot has changed the whole world in the most unbelievable way. Because on Shavuot G-d opened gates between heaven and earth. Until Mount Sinai there was no bridge between heaven and earth. On Shavuot heaven came down to earth. Each time we do something good, we bring more heaven into the world. So the closeness of us Jews is to fill the world with G-d’s heavenly light.

Our holy rabbis reveal to us that although the rest of the world didn’t show up at Mount Sinai, didn’t hear G-d’s voice, they all heard the echo. You know what a good Jew is? A Jew is someone who is the microphone for G-d’s voice. The real Jew is somebody who has G-d’s microphone in his heart to let the world hear the most most beautiful echo of G-d’s voice. Let it be clear to us that in spite of all the evil in the world that wants to disconnect the earth from heaven, our microphone is getting stronger by the minutes You know what the Six Million did in the gas chambers? They put new batteries into our microphones.

I have the privilege a little bit to see the world. There is an awakening in the world. People want more than to hear just G-d’s echo — they want to hear G-d’s voice. So the second day of Shavuot we read the story of our holy mother Ruth who is a messenger from the whole world to Jerusalem. She opened a bridge between the echo and the voice. I would like to be there — you, me, and all our children — when the whole world will come to Jerusalem. Then we’ll hear G-d’s voice again. But then it will be more than just hearing G-d’s voice. We will BE G-d’s voice. When you love somebody the most, when you see them you hear them, when you hear them you see them.

New York, Sivan 5752

Reprinted from Cong Kehilath Jacob News

How does a person know the taste of joy?   We are living between two worlds.

We live in the world of thinking and in the world of beyond thinking.

The Tree of Knowledge level means “everything is thinking”.

The tree of life level means beyond thinking (a first flash).

If you only live on a thinking level you never put your life together….

Beyond thinking goes much deeper.

Love does not come from thinking.

It’s so much deeper.

Doing a friend a favor without hesitation is also beyond thinking.

How much does a person have to work on himself to know when to think and when not to think?   Why does Rosh Hashanna come before Yom Kippur? Rosh Hashanah is like the tree of life.

It’s beyond thinking.

The whole value of doing teshuva before Rosh Hashanah is that something inside of me wakes up.

Yom Kippur is all thinking.

Every one of the six million Jews had a flash from God: LEAVE! A German person told me, “I was a spy for Russia.

One night at two am, I knocked on the door of my neighbors and told them “they are arresting you at three am.

He laughed in my face.

I had to tell this to another person.”   In 1967 we came back to the Holy Wall.

It was the awakening of Rosh Hashanah.

At this time we must cleanse ourselves from anger.

We are playing with our lives if we are angry.

G-d is building a new world and what are you doing — yelling! It’s of utmost importance that parent’s don’t yell at their children on Rosh Hashanah.

Yelling is destroying the world!   How do we cleanse our hearts from anger and fill our hearts with more joy? When we stand before G-d we have to stand straight.

Standing straight means my head is on top of my shoulders.

It means that I’m listening — my head is connected to G-d.

We hardly know what people are really saying to us! If we are CONNECTED TO ABOVE we know what to say to people.

We need to pay attention to the red lights and the green lights.

Whatever we need to fix can be fixed in one second if we pay attention to the moment.

To know the moment is so deep! Not every moment is meant for getting married — they call out in heaven the moment you are getting married.

A wedding is like the tree of life.

I don’t love you because I THOUGHT.

When you meet your mate you are beyond thinking — you become completely cleansed of anger when you get the first flash.
How can I make someone else dance at my wedding? If I’m really happy with my joy, others will dance at my wedding.

When the bride and groom are not happy, then there is no desire to dance when people are fill with anger.

Between husband and wife — if you think, you’ll never make it! Marriage counseling needs to be connected on a “beyond thinking” level to get rid of anger…

The Shofar doesn’t come from thinking: the Shofar has no words.

It comes from the deepest deepest depths…

The soul operates on the level of the first fig.

The Isbitzer tells a Torah of the greatest joy being to come back to the Holy Land.

It was the greatest thing to take the first fruit and come back to the Holy Temple.

Imagine Michele the slipper coming with his first fruit of one fig! Baron Rothschild comes with ten thousand figs.

Word gets around that Michele is coming with one fig for his fruit for the holy temple.

Baron Rothschild is also coming with his ten thousand figs to Yerushalyim.

Both are coming with their first fruits.

Michele thinks inside– “Baron Rothschild squeezed the blood out of poor shleppers like me to get his ten thousand figs– I won’t dance with Baron Rothschild.

Michele was not happy with his one fig.

(When people brought their first fig — you don’t know what jealousy was!) The problem of the world is people aren’t happy with their portion.

How much a person has to cleanse him self to know when to think and when not to think.

It must start with the first flash in your head — without thinking.

The soul operates on the level of the first fig.

People whose lives are not so good do not bring their first fig to the Holy temple.

What is the greatest ANTI first fig? The arch enemy of G-d is when you don’t listen to the first flash of your heart.

Imagine in Sanz do you think that people didn’t listen to the inner words of the Rebbe? The greatest thing is to teach each other to listen to the first flash.

You don’t listen when your heart is full of anger.

Anger destroys everything inside and you lose touch of the little holy prophesy.

The Isbitzer says we must cleanse ourselves of anger.

To cleanse myself from anger I have to start first to fill my heart with joy.

Only a heart that is full of joy can be void of anger.

Anger destroys everything in the world.

It is hard to tear out anger from your heart.

Imagine you wipe out Amalak, that you have cleansed yourself of anger.

When Michele with one fig and Baron Rothschild with ten thousand are dancing together! Gevalt! Israel is only given to us completely when we have cleansed ourselves from anger.

Anger is still evident in Yerushalyim.

Cleanse yourself from anger at the Holy Wall.

Everybody knows that there’s nothing wrong with the tree of knowledge, that it is okay to think and to use your brain.

Just know what comes first.

First Adam should eat from the tree of life — the first fig — then he should eat from the tree of knowledge.

Wishing everyone the sweetest and most joyous New Year.

Transcribed by Michele Garner for Connections Magazine Issue.

Fall 1988.

From a class given by Reb Shlomo in Chana Klemberg’s  home.

Shlomo and Neshamah Carlebach

But you know the way G-d, when we deal with G-d? G-d nebich gives me a little piece of cake, a little bit [shtain?] dinner. So I come to G-d with the holiest. I say, “U-v’nai Yerushalayim — can you please rebuild Jerusalem? Can you please bring the Messiah?” [Does G-d say,] “What is this Chutzpah?” You know? “I mean, really, because I gave you a little bagel, therefore you bother me right away about Yerushalayim?”

But now listen to the other side. I want you to open your hearts. Remember I told you I met this girl yesterday — can’t say on Shabbos — it was Shabbos — last night I went out, I met this girl. And she was very sweet, she was smiling. And we walked into this coffee shop, and I said, “Can I take you out for coffee?” She says, “Why not?” You know? We’re going in there, and I say to her, “Um…uh, you wanna give me the sugar, you know, for the coffee?” She says, “Okay.” And I say to her, “Listen, you know, you’re so beautiful. Maybe you can give me some more sugar. Would you like to marry me?” You know?

Now listen to this very careful. If she doesn’t love me, you know? “Listen, what kind of chutzpah is this?” You know? “I didn’t know you five minutes ago.” Right? “Okay, you’re taking me out for coffee, and I give you sugar, therefore? Chutzpah!” Right? If she loves me, do you know what she’ll say? “You couldn’t have asked at a better moment,” right?

Now listen to this, sweetest friends. If you don’t love a person after doing one favor, you say, “Really, I mean, really, take off, such chutzpah!” You know? “I just did you a favor — that’s it! Don’t talk to me for another year.” If you love somebody very much, it’s the other way around! If you do them one favor, you can’t wait till you do them another favor, right? ‘Cause it’s so beautiful to do somebody a favor, right? When you love somebody — Listen, my Neshameleh, when she’ll ask me, let’s say in the morning, she’ll say, “Daddy, give me apple juice.” Ten minutes later, she’ll say, “Give me this juice.” I’ll say “Chutzpah — I just — “? I’ll say, “I’m so glad, gevalt!” I’m jumping out of my skin, right? Can you imagine, ten minutes later, she’ll say, “Take me to Israel.” So I’ll blow my mind, my Neshama wants to go to Israel! Right?

So I want you to know, bentching is — bentching is, mamesh, that we are so close to G-d, we have just a little taste how much He loves us, that I can eat one bagel, and ask, “U-v’nai Yerushalayim. Please, Rabayna shel olam, bring the Messiah. Fix the whole world.”

But again, you have to realize — and here I just want to tell you this one very important thing. This is one of the top Torahs of Reb Nachman. You know, most of us think always of life in terms of, “What am I doing with my life? How much money do I make? What’s my future? What’s my past?” This is cute, right? It’s the outside of it. Inside — life itself is so deep, right? [Long pause]

Chevra, I don’t know what to say. Mamesh, my head doesn’t work.

Anonymous helpful person: Reb Nachman. Top Torah.

Reb Shlomo: Ah, it’s a gevalt! Thank you very much.

Same person: You’re welcome.

[Shlomo continues] Reb Nachman says, at that moment, when you put food in your mouth, if you want to you can receive life on the highest level. Listen, I can take a bite off an apple and receive eternal life, right? Or I can just receive the apple. It’s up to you.

So the story is that — all Breslov Chasidim were big shleppers, you know? Most of them. So Reb Nosson, the greatest pupil of Reb Nachman, was once invited by Reb Nachman’s grandson, who was very wealthy. He didn’t feel right to go there, but he was invited. The whole day he was crying inside, “Gevalt, my rebbe was so holy, and here this one is into money and everything.” So he says, “I came to the house,” and he regretted that he went. He wasn’t accustomed to this kind of riches. And then he comes to the food. And he says, “Oy vey.” You know? “With this kind of golden plates and golden spoons, you’re not gonna — who knows? Forget it!” But then he says, “Reb Nachman’s grandson walked in, and he made a motzi,” and he says, “the way he put the food in his mouth, I swear to you, I haven’t seen it since Reb Nachman.” Mamesh, the utmost — you know? With the utmost readiness to receive life on the highest level.

Gevalt, I’m keeling over. Yitzchak, can you start bentching? And I’ll just bentch fast, yeah?

Jerry: Time for you.

Shlomo: Yeah, but I want to answer back, yeah?

Yitzchak: Okay, say Rabbosai n’varech. [Shlomo leads the call and response at the beginning of the bentching. And the chevra begins to sing....]

Quick segue to the concert and the introduction by Rabbi Leo Abrami of Temple Beth Ami, the host congregation.

Rabbi Abrami: Now that Shlomo has brought you all here to our congregation for a lovely evening, and I would like to tell you, very briefly, that this concert and this workshop this afternoon, this gathering, would not have been possible if it had not been for the good will — and the faith — of one of our friends here — two friends — Jerry and Linda Strauss. And I would like therefore to introduce to you, Jerry Strauss. [Applause] I would like to mention also the fact that Mrs. Yudel — Serena Yudel — worked many hours this afternoon to prepare this lovely dinner we had tonight, so we want to thank Mrs. Yudel also [applause begins] and all the others for making this possible.

From the series, Reb Shlomo at Congregation Beth Ami, 4676 Mayette Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95405 . Sunday, November 30, 1980 (22 Kislev, 5741), Parashat Miketz. (Two days before Chanukah, the week of Parashat Miketz.)
Recorded and transcribed by Reuven Goldfarb.
Transcription dedicated to the complete refuah of Yitzchak ben Leah — Jerry Strauss, Shlomo’s great friend and supporter — who organized the concert and learning at which these teachings were given over.
Copyright held by the estate of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.

Shlomo Carlebach

Let me ask you, sweetest friends, how did King David conquer Jerusalem? Everybody knows that Jerusalem belongs to King David — it’s his personal property, did you know that? Ir Dovid — Sukkos Dovid hanofales. Why is Jerusalem King David’s own property? The answer is very simple. Everybody knew that — you know, the seven nations who occupied all of Israel — and then the Chiti Yevusi [Hittites, Jebusites] — they were such strong warriors, and they were living on that hill where Jerusalem is, and you couldn’t get close. You know, they were waiting for two hundred, for three hundred years in Israel after Y’hoshua, and nobody conquered Jerusalem. And do you know? Everybody knows — Hoshanah Rabbah, the seventh day of Sukkos, is the day of King David — right? If you remember. Why is this day, the seventh day of Sukkos — you know what happened on that Hoshanah Rabbah? King David decided, “I am going to take Yerushalayim all by myself.” One man — all by himself. Because really, if you trust God — does it matter to God if one man is going or if a thousand people are going? It’s the same thing, right? Hoshanah Rabbah, King David walked up to Yerushalayim, and he conquered the whole city, right? That’s a king, right? The king is not somebody who says, “Listen folks, let’s go. I want you to be killed, and I am sitting in my office, and I’m directing traffic.” Right? For that you don’t have to be Dovid HaMelekh, right?

So you see, I want you to know that two people who carried the burden of all of Israel on their shoulders — already: Yosef and Yehudah. You see, Yosef says, “Okay, you can go home.” So all the brothers say, “No, we’ll all be slaves instead of Binyomin.” Yehudah stands up, and he says, “I want to be the slave.” That means two people stood up, and they said, “We want to do it for all of you.” This is two kings, right? This is a king!

And maybe some of you know, according to the tradition, it’s called, “Ma’an malka? Rabbonim.” “Who are the great kings? Our teachers.” Why is it? Why is a real holy teacher supposed to be a king? (Always a king, hopefully.) It’s not someone who puts it on you, right? A real holy king is someone who says, “I’ll do it for you. I’ll take it off you.” L’chaim, l’chaim. [drinks some more milk].

So you see? Let me ask you something else. Why did Joseph tell the dream to his brothers? He couldn’t control himself? Why, he was a yenta — or was he in analysis, and one of his brothers was a psychiatrist, you know? I mean, what was going on there? The answer is very simple. You know, Joseph knew one thing. If I am supposed to be the slave — if I wanna do it — the saddest thing in the world is I have to separate myself a little bit from my brothers. You know? I have to go by myself, right?
So Joseph knew one thing: the moment I tell this dream to my brothers, they’ll be angry at me. But can you imagine? — I have to tell you one more thing, which is so beautiful and so heartbreaking. Let me ask you — what happened at that moment when the brothers saw Joseph? Were they laughing? Were they smiling at each other, you know, we’re finally getting rid of this disgusting Joseph? Without getting involved — because I have to daven Mincha — for whatever reason they decided they have to sell him as a slave, what do you think was going on at that moment? [Long pause.]

I want you to know something. Imagine you’d be up in heaven, right? Can you imagine if someone would have recorded the crying of the Jews when we went into exile? When the Holy Temple was destroyed when we went into exile? Can you just imagine it? Can you imagine the sounds of the crying? It does not compare to the crying of the holy tribes.
And here I want to share with you something which is so holy, that I just have to tell you, and I think if some of you remember — maybe Adina [Elana Friedman] remembers it. Okay, there are these two kings in the world. Joseph is the King of all the Tzaddikim, Joseph is the King of all the people who never did wrong in their life — and Yehudah is the King of all the people who went wrong — everything they did in their life is wrong. And they have the strength to fix it, right?

You see, Yosef is the one who gives you the strength not to do wrong, to keep yourself going all the time, and Yehudah is the one who gives you strength to fix it. And we need both, right? Those two kings [are] the pillars of all of Israel.

Now listen to this — and remind me to come back to it, because we have to daven Mincha. I just want to tell you this. Okay, the brothers decide — basically it was Yehudah’s decision — we have to sell him as a slave. Because they say like this: “We don’t know if he is a Tzaddik or not. We don’t know who he is. We give him a chance. If he goes to Egypt, and he remains a Jew, and he remains holy, he’s one of us.” Right? “If gets lost, then he wasn’t for real.” Right? Okay, they’re picking up Yosef from the pit, and they’re telling him, “Yosef, this is our decision. If you are real, if you are one of the holy tribes — ” You see, without getting involved, you know, they thought he is not one of the twelve tribes. Because if you’re one of the twelve tribes, how can you separate yourself from your brothers? How can you separate yourself from your brothers, right? And they didn’t know that he’s only separating himself because he wants to take off the burden of being a slave [from them]. But anyway, that’s what it was.

They said, “If you’re one of us, you’ll make it. But if you get lost — so you get lost.” I want you to visualize — it’s the deepest, deepest depths. But again, it’s so holy, it’s awesome even to think of it. How do you think the brothers said good-bye to Yosef? How do you think the brothers said good-bye to Yosef, right? Because deep down, can you imagine how much — how much love do you think was between the brothers and the house of Jacob? Unbearable, right? It was so deep and so holy, we have no concept, right?

Let me ask you, do you think, really, without knowing the depths, do you think there was jealousy between Rachel and Leah? Remind me to talk about it later. There [were] never two sisters in the world who loved each other more than Rachel and Leah, right? The deepest love, like Moshe and Aharon, right? Because everybody knows, Moshe and Aharon fixed the sin of Cain among men, and Rachel and Leah fixing jealousy between women and hatred between women until Mashiach is coming, right? The two pillars — Moshe and Aaron, Rochel and Leah.

Okay, the brothers saying good-bye to Yosef. Okay, so Yehudah, who’s the king, right? He says to Yosef, “Okay, we’re selling you as a slave, and you’ll have to prove yourself, if you remain a Tzaddik or not.” So you know what Yosef says to Yehudah? He says to Yehudah, “My holy brother, please bless me I should make it.” Right? “Bless me to be a Tzaddik.” Now listen to this unbelievable thing: Yehudah blessed Yosef to be a Tzaddik. And you know why Yosef remained a Tzaddik? Because of the blessing of Yehudah, right?
What do you think Yehudah says to Yosef? ‘Cause he’s selling his brother as a slave, as much as he knows “I have to do it,” so Yehudah says to Yosef, “Please bless me I should do t’shuva.” Right? So Yosef blessed Yehudah to do t’shuva, right? And Yehudah blessed Yosef to be a Tzaddik. Right? It’s mind-blowing. Mind-blowing is not the word, right? So the two pillars of Yiddishkeit, the Tzaddik and the Ba’al T’shuvah — they blessed each other. It’s unbelievable! Yosef is only a Tzaddik because of the blessing of Yehudah, and Yehudah is a Tzaddik because of the blessing of Yosef.

And you know, I want you to know something. L’chaim [sips]. You know — [someone stifles a sneeze] God bless you. [And again] God bless you. What’s the holiness of the holy wall? You know what’s so strange? It’s a broken wall. And yet, you can see with an unclear prophecy the holy Temple, right? When you stand there, you see, mamesh, the Beis HaMikdash, right? But again, if you would see the Beis HaMikdash clear, it wouldn’t be so deep. Because behind all the brokenness — like on a dream level — you see the Beis HaMikdash — therefore, it’s so holy. Right?
I have to tell you just one more beautiful thing. When was the day that the wife of Potiphera mamesh really made it strong with Yosef — she says, [either] you do it, or I take you to prison. Which day was that? Everybody knows, it was Rosh HaShanah. But listen to this unbelievable thing. It was in the morning ’cause everybody — it was a whole big thing — it was a little thing in their pagan temple — and Yosef stayed home. Okay, I want to — [responding to someone's importunity] I’ll daven in a minute — I want to share this with you. [Hebrew quotation] — it says, “he saw his father’s face.” [Sotah 36b] What — he saw his father eating breakfast? They [had been] living together. He saw his father waking up? What moment did he see? Which moment was revealed to Yosef?  Which moment he saw his father? So the answer is very simple. He saw his father blowing the shofar.
You know, friends, I don’t know if you have ever seen mamash Tzaddikim. I had the privilege of seeing the Lubavitcher Rebbe, I saw the Bobover Rebbe, I saw mamesh Tzaddikim the way they looked before they blow the shofar, right? When you remember that, it’s something else, right? So I want you to know, Joseph went into prison on Rosh HaShanah, and everybody knows, he came out on Rosh HaShanah. L’chaim, l’chaim [he drinks again].
You know, the Ropshitzer says the portions of the winter wear heavy furs — you know? It’s all covered up. It’s all covered up. And it’s such a privilege — you know, it’s very crazy. Before Mashiach is coming, in our generation, really, we have such holy books; it’s getting more and more open to us, and it’s really more and more accessible to us — the deepest depths of the Torah, right? Let’s say twenty years ago, nobody was sitting in Santa Rosa talking about Yehudah and Yosef, right? L’chaim.
[This the end of Part Two. May the tears that we shed over the Joseph story be transformed into drops of rain to moisten the parched land of Israel, fill her rivers, lakes, and streams, her reservoirs and aquifers. — RG]

From the series, Reb Shlomo at Congregation Beth Ami, 4676 Mayette Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95405 . Sunday, November 30, 1980 (22 Kislev, 5741), Parashat Miketz. (Two days before Chanukah, the week of Parashat Miketz.)
Recorded and transcribed by Reuven Goldfarb.
Transcription dedicated to the complete refuah of Yitzchak ben Leah — Jerry Strauss, Shlomo’s great friend and supporter — who organized the concert and learning at which these teachings were given over.
Copyright held by the estate of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.