THE AVODA OF KISLEV
Rav Itche Meir Morgenstern shlit”a

KISLEV
FROM YAM HACHOCHMA Parshas Toldos 5784

The First 24 Days of Kislev - Connecting to Tzaddikim

The days preceding Chanukah are alluded to in what we say after shema,
 ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד -
Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.
This passage contains 24 letters which correspond to the first 24 days of the month of Kislev preceding Chanukah.

Therefore the avodah of the beginning of the month of Kislev
 is the avodah of Yichuda Ta’taah (Lower Yichud)
Since the pasuk of Shema Yisrael corresponds to Yichuda I’laah (upper yichud)
and the pasuk of baruch shem corresponds to Yichuda Ta’taah.

However, the avodah of Yichuda Ta’taah must be elevated to the avodah of Yichuda I’laah. This is done through emunah in tzaddikim and connecting to tzaddikim, on any level.

The Avodah of Kislev is to Connect to HaShem even when One Falls

The month of Kislev is a month of ohr (light),
 a month in which the ohr haganuz shines through the 36 holy candles of Chanukah.

The secret of this month is the idea of the letter samach ס,
as in the pasuk of סומך ה’ לכל הנופלים
 - HaShem is close to all who fall,
as well as in the concept of
 סובב כל עלמין
that Hashem surrounds all worlds,
which each begin with the letter ס samach.

This is in order to support and watch over the letter nun נ,
which precedes the ס samach,
and this is the idea of the month of Cheshvan
which has the mazal of the akrev / scorpion.

The samach represented by the above mentioned ideas protects us from the scorpion.
A person’s main support is knowing that any downfall they have is not simple,
but rather is an aspect of nefilas apayim by tachanun,
 when we put our heads down,
which is the completion of the yichud from shachris.

Therefore, one has to go through a situation of falling on their face,
 a loss of mochin (spiritual consciousness and awareness),
which is the fall of the letter nun (which starts off the word נפילה - fall).

Therefore, there is no nun in the entirety of Ashrei,
on the contrary immediately following the supposed place of the nun,
we say the pasuk of סומך ה’ לכל הנופלים -
HaShem is close to all who fall, as Chazal teach us.

The main support a person gets is by connecting to the light of sovev kol almin,
which is an aspect of לא / no/ nothingness,
or the feeling that we are a
מציאות שאינו מציאות
 / a reality which is not a reality.

 The main warmth we can receive in life is from the Ohr Ein Sof,
the infinite light of HaShem;
there is no need to receive warmth from anything else in the world,
rather only from the Ohr Ein Sof,
which is a simple emunah in HaShem.
When a person receives warmth and closeness from this idea,
he won’t get burned.

By connecting to this idea of nothingness,
and strengthening oneself constantly and enthusiastically
to enter into a feeling that one is in fact a reality which is really no reality,
and that he derives pleasure from nullifying the sense of self to HaShem,
one can fix and rectify all the damages that the
Yevonim (Greeks) destroyed and continually try to destroy.

In truth, even if it appears to a person for a moment like they fell,
they should not lose their mind because of that,
or be weakened by thoughts of
“maybe I really cannot complete the yichud of HaShem, and properly connect to Hashem”.
For the truth is that the opposite is true,
and one must know that this idea is above everything;
for a person who knows the concept of לא,
knowing that they are a reality which is really no reality,
and who says to HaShem
“I cannot unify anything,
I cannot make any yichudim,
only you HaShem does everything”,

because this is something that everyone must know,
,לא that only HaShem can help them.
By connecting to this idea of specifically
then one can attain the light of the menorah and draw down
the 13 tikunim.

This avodah of לא is by no means a simple matter,
rather it is a high spiritual level.
One must search and strive for it in order to merit to acquire it,
 to connect to the Shechinah through the aspect of
being an existence which really does not exist.

One cannot comprehend this level unless they constantly search for it
at all other spiritual levels they reach.

The reason being is because the Shechinah is only revealed to a person
who seeks the Shechinah with their whole heart and soul,
and makes vessels to merit the light of the ס samach of the
סומך ה’ לכל הנופלים -
HaShem is close to all who fall,
and who connects to the support of the month of Kislev
and light of Chanukah.

Therefore, one must always see how they can connect to the level
of being a reality which is really no reality.
For as long as a person seeks externality,
both spiritually and physically,
 they are far from the truth.

However, one who connects to the pnimiyus
and realizes that HaShem is behind every fall
can receive the light of Kislev and Chanukah.

A Month of Pnimius

The Arizal taught that Kislev
is the month of the hidden Torah,
and the Chasam Sofer taught that Kislev
is related to Sukkos.

Just as the holy ushpizin
are revealed on Sukkos,
so too can one receive an illumination
from the ushpizin during Kislev
along with G-dly insights and inspirations.

The work of the month begins from the onset of the month

so we must look ahead to the lights of Chanukah
and create a yichud and connection to HaShem
in the most hidden places -
within our hearts.

Connecting to the Light of Chanukah before Chanukah

The main preparation for Chanukah is by connecting to the lights of Chanukah
already before Chanukah.

It is not enough for one to be aroused and to connect
to the lights of Chanukah only during Chanukah;
rather, one must connect to the great light of Chanukah
already from the onset of the month of Kislev.

During these days as we prepare for the light of Chanukah,
we have
ערכתי
to enter into the avodah of the yichud,
which is an aspect of
I have prepared a light for my anointed one
(the anointed -
נר למשיחי
one refers to Moshiach) (Tehillim 132:17).

On Chanukah, we must reveal the light of Moshiach,
and already now, before Moshiach,
we must awaken the aspect of the yichud and unification
which will take place in the ultimate future when he comes.

Even though this is merely an imagination of imagining the light of Moshiach
before the arrival of Moshiach, nonetheless HaShem has great pleasure from this.

Through this, we can begin to attain the light of the yichud and Hashem’s Oneness already now,
even though we are still in exile.

We can attain this through the power of bitachon as the pasuk
בטח בה’ ועשה טוב, שכון ארץ ורעה אמונה, והתענג על ה’ ויתן לך משא
says Trust in Hashem and do good, inhabit the land and be - לות לבך
shepherded with faith, take bliss in Hashem and He will give to you all the requests of your heart,

until we can attain and comprehend everything clearly with no confusions,
 with the coming of Moshiach.

Awakening the Trait of
Holy Victory נצח During Kislev

We are at the end of the exile.
The sefarim hakedoshim taught that the
geulah does not have to come through dinim (harsh judgments), chas v’shalom.
The whole concept of dinim exists and is awakened
only when there is no use of holy dinim -
meaning, a war for holiness.

The war for holiness is the war of the individual
who teaches himself how to focus on G-dliness and to open up and conquer all concealments, those which the Sitra Achra uses in order to block a person from dveykus.

One enters into holy victory in this war by deepening his Torah study,

breaking the evil, as well as learning Torah by himself in bekiyus, when he is alone.

There is also a general war that Klal Yisrael
as a whole needs to be fighting,
which is learning Torah with holiness.
When one learns Torah with a chavrusa or with his students,
he needs to learn it with holiness,
by discussing and pondering about the concepts being learned lishmah and with a connection to HaShem.

Then, there will be no dinim (harsh judgments).
It is the will of Hashem that Mashiach comes with mercy and kindness,
and without any harsh judgments whatsoever.
It is when we awaken the secret of holy victory, Netzach,
during the time of Hod.

The holiness of the month of Kislev
is that it contains both the lights of Netzach and Hod,
as explained in the writings of the students of the Arizal.
This is an aspect of Yosef, who was an aspect of Hod, and also of Netzach,
which is to fight against the Sitra Achra.

ביני ובין בני
The Jewish people have a covenant with Hashem
Between Me and between the children of Yisrael.
This -
ישראל
covenant is a treaty of love,
in which a Jew thinks about Elokus itself,
which is the main pleasure of a Jew,
who wants to enjoy the Torah and be attached all the time to Elokus,
and conquer all the concealments and be victorious
of becoming worthy to deepen his Torah learning.

Guarding our Achdus:
During these days, as we prepare ourselves for Chanukah,
the Sitra Achra tries with all his might to extinguish the unity between Jews.

The Sitra Achra wants us, and tries to get us to forget
how all Jews are a part of one larger soul;
he continuously tries to make one Jew have questions and complaints about another, thereby diminishing the peace between us.

The avodah is not to fall into this trap of the Sitra Achra,
and our ability not to fall into the trap is in the merit of the tzaddikim
who are involved in true connections and unification of holiness.

Constantly rising from a level of אדם - man,
to לא אדם - no man (from feeling a sense of self to losing their sense of self amidst feeling the true reality of HaShem's infinite existence), to the point where they feel an immense loving and pleasurable connection with Hashem.

The tzaddikim are connected to the highest worlds of pleasure in the essence of Hashem, and this brings about the highest levels of happiness. The unification taking place on these high levels is fulfilling the purpose of creation, which is that HaShem wished to create a dwelling place in the lowest places.

We must work on diminishing and nullifying
any form of disunity that exists between us;
we must wage a holy war for HaShem
so that there be peace between all Jews,
and that we all reach true unity in a way of kedusha.

We must strive to reach the level of the true unifications
of the lights of Shabbos,
about - נ“ר lights of Chanukah and the
נ“ר which it is said הזהיר בנ“ר -
one who is careful about the lights, (the lights of Chanukah and Shabbos),
meaning one who has the essence of the lights
of the unifications of these lights,
and lives with the light of the yichud and emunah.

Our lives must be completely filled with the light of these unifications.
We must strive to live on these high levels of the tzaddikim,
which is in a place above the tzimtzum.

In that place, only Klal Yisroel exist;
Esav and evil have no power or association there,
because there, only holiness remains connected, the holiness of true unity,
 because it is the place of HaShem's true unification.

HaShem should help us merit to live lives connected to these concepts,
even if we cannot fully comprehend them,
and connect to the light of Shabbos and Chanukah
with complete unity with others and HaShem.

Emunas Tzaddikim

The month of Kislev is the end of the rectifications which began on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.

Everyone wants to be able to complete the rectification and enter into the holiness of Chanukah. However, as long as a person does not believe in the greatness of tzaddikim, and does not believe in the greatness of their words and seforim, one cannot complete the rectification.

One needs to have strong emunah, and believe at all times when one hears something or reads something from a tzaddik, that that specific thing they read or heard is the specific thing they needed to read or hear inorder for them to reach their tikkun, and that it is a direct message from Heaven.

The root of the tzaddik is in the highest places of the general unifications, which descend all the way down to the lowest places and to all particulars of this world and all souls. Therefore, every person, no matter what situation they are in, can receive inspiration from the words of the tzaddik and the seforim of the tzaddik, they can receive true advice specifically for their soul, for their specific tikkun, in the specific place and situation they are in.

However, all this is dependent on the greatness of one's simple emunah in the holiness, greatness and power of the tzaddik; through this one can merit to receive this light from the tzaddik.