Part 1 · Introduction

Beginning the Series on the השתלשלות 0:02

We are now beginning a series explaining the השתלשלות based on the שערי יחוד of the מיטעלער רבי. Now, why are we doing this? The main reason that we're doing this is because the רבי said that our generation is the last generation of גלות and the first generation of גאולה. That means both the רבי said gave us the job of bringing משיח, of bringing the גאולה, and also the רבי said that part of that is that we should start living like the גאולה, and we have to start now the עבודה of the גאולה.

So, one of the main כלים, the רבי explains in different places, like קונטרס ענינה של תורת החסידות, that חסידות is the כלי for bringing משיח. And it even says more than that, that not only is חסידות something that brings משיח, but in a way it's actually synonymous with with the גאולה.

That the the idea of the גאולה within תורה is the idea of חסידות, and then when that's revealed, that level of the תורה is revealed, the פנימיות of the תורה, the אלוקות in the תורה is revealed, which is like bringing the אלף in the of the גולה into the גולה to make it גאולה, that's like the the the גאולה of the תורה. Then that affects also the world, and brings the גאולה in the world, and it brings the גאולה in the person.

So, this is why חסידות brings משיח in general, and why it's connected very much, it's called the תורה of משיח. Now, in חסידות there's a few things, a few difficulties that people tend to have. One of them is that it's very it's it's usually difficult to get a clear picture of the whole structure and the השתלשלות, and it's also very difficult to apply it to עבודה. If somebody learns קונטרס התפלה and קונטרס העבודה, how you're supposed to apply that understanding and התבוננות and and things like that, and to really see it in the world, it's a difficult thing.

Common Difficulties Understanding חסידות Structure 1:41

So, this is why that it's a it's a helpful to have at some point like an introduction, or that focuses on the the השתלשלות and to get a clear picture of at least the basic structure of the השתלשלות. This means both to like just know, like what people call like the map, just to know the all all the the different stations, and also when all the terms, to understand what the terms mean, and like the main משלים for each level, because it's kind of like חסידות has this language of the השתלשלות, and it's it's hard when you see it in a in a מאמר, people it's hard sometimes to understand what it means and how it relates to the מאמר if you don't Sometimes it doesn't explain it there what it means and how it relates, it explained it somewhere else, and so it just says the terms, so it's very helpful to have at least a basic understanding of each of the levels and understand what they mean.

Applying חסידות in עבודה Requires Full Insight 3:17

And this is also a big part of being able to apply it in עבודה, like it's explained in קונטרס התפלה and קונטרס העבודה, in different places, that in order to be able to apply חסידות and to be able to be מתבונן in דאווענען, to contemplate on God's greatness and to be able to arouse love and fear from this understanding, it has to be in a way where a person understands, I mean if it's going to be done properly, in the best way at least, it should a person should have a very thorough understanding of the השתלשלות with all the details.

There's different places where it explains these things, but the there's a special book, שער היחוד is a special book that was written for the this purpose.

And the מיטעלער רבי says that people were having trouble with applying חסידות to עבודה, and also in getting a clear picture of the השתלשלות from just the scattered מאמרים. And so he decided to write down a book that explains what התבוננות is, how to be מתבונן, what to be מתבונן on, and then he explains the whole השתלשלות from the top down, in short, just to give people like that basic structure.

So, this is what שער היחוד is about. Everything that's explained here is explained in other places, and a lot of and it's explained other elsewhere at length, but one of the main מעלות here is that it's all in order and it's all in one place.

Also, another thing מעלה of learning it from at least based on this structure is that sometimes in other מאמרים it will focus on a detail and explain a detail at length.

And so you don't know what's like the main explanations and what are details. Here, since it's it's all in one place, it's all at the same scope. It's all explaining the main points for each level. And anything that's a that's a side point, it just like hints at or mentions it in short.

So there's a unity of scope here that helps also. Now, the specialness of this book is mentioned in a few places, especially in a number of letters by the פריערדיקער רבי and also in the לקוטי דיבורים.

Special Status of שער היחוד in Rabbinic Letters 5:33

Most notably is the letter quoted in היום יום, where this is called the מפתח of חסידות, the key to חסידות. And there's also another letter, it's quoted in the back of קונטרס ההתפעלות by the מיטעלער רבי, there it's brought down from the פריערדיקער רבי's letters, and there it calls שער היחוד the פותח שער, that it opens up the gate to the השכלה of חסידות.

And in both of those places, in the letter quoted in היום יום and this other letter, it says that that שער היחוד among the the ספרים of the מיטעלער רבי, שער היחוד as well as קונטרס ההתפעלות and שערי אורה, are special because they are general books that were written for all kinds of people, whether they're a משכיל or an עובד, and whatever level they're on, they're they're like basic introductory books, whereas the other books are for maybe for specific types of people.

These were meant for like everybody as like an introduction. So שער היחוד, back to שער היחוד, it has two parts. The first part is chapters one through nine, and in these chapters the מיטעלער רבי explains what התבוננות is, how to be מתבונן, what to be מתבונן on.

Structure of שער היחוד: First Nine Chapters 6:58

Then, starting from chapter 10 until the end, until chapter 54, the מיטעלער רבי explains the השתלשלות from the top down, beginning with the the light, עצמות אין סוף, the essence of the infinite light before the צמצום, all the way down to the world of the קליפות.

For now, we're going to start with chapter 10, with the השתלשלות, and after that we'll go back to the first nine. The reason that we're going to do this is because it's the first nine chapters are telling you are, in a way, the main book. They're telling you how to be מתבונן. This this book, שער היחוד, used to be called, as he says in the introduction, קונטרס ההתבוננות, the book on on התבוננות, on contemplating.

But he says in in the first nine chapters, he says that since not everybody has a clear picture of the השתלשלות, in the beginning of chapter five he says, "I will explain all of the details that you need, the the main structure that you need to know, in a special קונטרס." And that special קונטרס is chapters 10 to the end.

So in a way, it's it what he's telling you to do in the first nine chapters is really it's hard to understand, and it's hard to appreciate, and and and it's really almost impossible to do, to apply, without knowing what he explains from chapters 10 to the end. So even though it's it's published like in this order, in in a way it's a logical order because he's explaining first how people should be מתבונן in חסידות, and then he says, "For those that are beginners that are don't know the השתלשלות well enough, I'm adding on this extra קונטרס also to explain them the details."

So in a way, this is really like an introduction to the first nine chapters.