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בס”ד אמור בס”ד

The fifth week of sefira is Hod, of which the Zohar says- תערין פתיחין, which means that the gates are open. This is the away it will be in the future- –

יתקע בשופר גדול ובא האובדים=1288=תערין פתיחין. טהרין פתיחין. On the first day of the fifth week, or חסד שבהוד is פסח שני. On this day there was a second chance to bring the קרבו פסח for the דרך רחוקה or the טמא, that couldn’t bring the קרבן oin the proper time, in Nisan. There is a message here, that one should never give up- אין יאוש as Hashem always gives us a second chance. There is a sort of extension of פסח till פסח שני. In this week, the דלתי שמים פתח, that is ie. Hashem opened the doors of heaven, which applies even today when the gates of tefilla are open. According to רב יהושע, the מבול began on the seventeenth17^th of Iyar (the second2^nd month), where the הארובות השמים נפתחו, the windows of heaven opened. If the generation would have done teshuva, the rains would have been גשמי ברכה.

The Zohar says that Noach was the נשמה of Moshe, and if the people would have merited it, נח would have given the Torah, which was given after forty40 days, like the forty40 days of the flood. The מן came down for the first time on the טז אייר, as the מצה that the yidden had to eat after יציאת מצרים lasted for thirty days. According to the חתם סופר, the mann מן fell for the first time on לג בעומר -–יח” אייר, the day associated with life, when the students of Rebbi Akiva רבי עקיבה stopped dying.

In שלחן ערוך, Purim and לג בעומר are related, known as פלג, that is ie. – פורים לג בעומר. Both Purim and לג בעומר always are on the same day of the week. The צבי לצדיק says that if he could choose a day for משיח to come, it would be לג בעומר, the day the secrets of Torah were revealed. The ר”שב”י emerged from the cave which was hidden, on לג בעומר. The בני יששכר says that Tthe thirty third 33

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^rd word in חומש is טוב, which Rashi says that this refers to the hidden light that was והבדילו לצדיקים לעתיד לבא. This light refers to the light of Rebbi Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai – שמעון בן שמעון בן יוחאי=553=לעתיד לבוא . . The רשב”י was able to exist like the yidden in the desert – תורתו אומנותו. The 33^rd pParsha in חומש is בחוקתי which speaks of all the Brachos given to a yid that lives a life of Torah, like the ר”שב”י, who lived a life of ימות המשיח where תורתו אמונתו. In the 33^rd pasuk of the 33^{rd parsha}פרשה , Rashi says that King Menashe did teshuva for 33 years. In דברי הימים ב פרק לג:יג, it saysויתפלל אליו ויעתר לו וישמע תחנתו וישיבהו י”ם למלכותו . There is a מחלוקת in the גמורה whether Menashe has a חלק in עולם הבא. Rebbi Yehuda says that he does- the fact that he returned to י”ם proves that he was forgiven. The רשב”י says על פי דין, he shouldn’t have been accepted, but ויעתר can be read ויחתר. Hashem dug a tunnel, bypassing the angels, to receive theתשובה של מנשה . .

לג בעומר is a visit from the future, where פסח שני is really an extension of Peasch-Nisan, and so both these days do not really belong here. Iyar is the month of Yissachar יששכר who excelled in the עיבור החודש והשנה,

עיבור החודש והשנה, as it says יודע בינה לעיתים. Rashi Rashi says that a leap year is proclaimed for those yidden that couldn’t make it to י”ם for the עולה רגל, resulting in giving them extra time.

The whole idea of counting sefira, is that we sanctify time, making every day special. פסח שני Pesach Sheni is also for those who were not able to make it on time, and so it’s a day “from the past”. The טמאים

טמאים a and the רחוקים cried out למה נגרע, ie. that is why should we lose out on the שער נ of קדושה, and so Hashem in his infinite kindness, gaives them a second chance to bring the קרבן on Pesach Sheni פסח שני.

Therefore פסח שני is a day from the past, and לג בעומר a day from the future. The שם ושמואל says that לג בעומר is hinted in the last pesukim of ויצא, when Yaacov Avinu made a heap of stones as a treaty with Lavan, in גלעד. Lavan is the greatest טומאה, where in טומאה there could also be a לב נתיבות החכמה and a- נ שערי טומאה . The Rambam in the his הקדמה to טהרות says that there are לב אבות החטומאה.

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לב אבות החטומא. The חתם סופר says that the טומאה could not reach לג-33. Lavan was מתגלגל into בלעם who was a master in כוחות הטומאה. Billam died at the age of 33 years (historians say also אותו האיש lived 33 years). Lavan לבן ביקש לעקור את הכל, striving to take away all the קדושה of כלל ישראל. Yaacov was running away from Lavan, who – וידבק אתו בהר הגלעד – לא:כג. This is where it ends, as Lavan left and was never heard from again. When it comes to גל, to level 33, Lavan has no understanding, and is forced to separate. In the first 31 pesukim of the חומש, the Torah speaks of מעשה בראשית, and uses theשם אלה-ים 32 times הטבע=86=אלה–ים. In the 33^rd pasuk, speaking of Shabbos, the Torah uses the word אלה-ים for the 33^rd time- ויכל אלה-ים. Rashi brings the רשב”י who says באת שבת באת מנוחה. We can also say that ויכל אלה-ים, the שם אלה-ים is completed or finished- that is there is no more טבע. When we reach level 33, there is only למעלה מן הטבע- למעלה מן הטבע=351=לג בעומר

The three אבות represent the three בתי מקדשות, where יעקב represents the third. The message here is that before the בית השלישי will be built, there will be a tremendous surge of טומאה, the קליפה של לבן,

Tthe highest level the טומאה could reach. Here was Yaacov’s personal לג בעומר. Lavan was trying to prevent יעקב from returning to א”י, as he knows בנימין has to be born to complete the שבטים יב, as בנימין

בנימין areis the letters מנין יב.

The first full complete day of the מבול was on יח” אייר or לג בעומר, counting days and nights. This day was the day that ננבקעו כל מעינות תהום רבה וארובות השמים נפתחו, which later was manifested in the day that רבי שמעון

רבי שמעון began to reveal wellsprings of Torah, the secrets of Torah. In נח ז:יא it says ביום הזה נבקעו כל מעינות תהום רבה.  

ביום הזה נבקעו כל מעינות תהום רבה, when itIt should have said ביום ההוא. By מתן תורה it said ביום הזה, meaning that the Torah should be as if it’s given today, and we cannot say the same for the מבול. The holy Zohar says that ביום הזה, that this opening of the heavens  

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will happen again, where there will be an opening of the windows of knowledge, where, if we merit, will be in קדושה. The Zohar says that in the year 1840, there would be an explosion of knowledge, and ithis was the year of the Industrial Revolution.

The opening of the windows of heaven, could possibly be interpreted today as the flood in technology, the computer programs called ‘windows’. Both פסח שני and לג בעומרר are days that are visited by the past and by the future. The בני שבט יששכר had the ability to change events, based on determining the זמנים that is ie. מקדש החודש. Also in the month of Iyar was מלחמת עמלק which the historians say was right after לג בעומר . Rashi says that Amalek used their knowledge of astrology in attacking כלל ישראל. כלל ישראל. HHowever Amalek didn’t know that yidden are not affected or governed by זמן. Iyar-אייר is the acronym of איבי ישבו יבשו רגע, ie.that is Iyar is the time we fight and subdue our enemies, which include all bad midos rooted in Amelek- רם=240=עמלק .

Amelek went to battle against the נחשלים, the נפלטים, the latecomers, the ones that people have given up on. This is why we have a פסח שני from the Torah,. andAlso לג בעומר which comes later in time, which meansing that a higher level of קדושה is needed. On לג בעומר, a י”ט associated with the future, there is a tikun תקון for all the yidden- לבלטי ידח ממנו נידח, where even the lowest Jew receives a tikun.

There is a story brought by the Munkatcher in 1923, of a child that had died and was brought to the tzion ציון of ר”ש in Miron, and miraculously came back to life שמעון בן יוחאי=553=מחיה מתים.

On Lag BeOmer לג בעומר we feel the light of Shavuos, where Hashem was in a state of revelation, and all yidden saw only Hashem. On לג בעומר there’s even more light of ימות המשיח, as since a י”ט revealed in later generations experiences more גילוי, that in order tocan light up suchחשך . a darkness.

The משנה Parshas in מגילה refers to אמור as the פרשת המועדות of תורת כהנים, as it contains all the Yomim Tovim. We read every י”ט –שור או כשב או עז כי יולד, where the purpose of sefira is not just counting, but to humble ourselves from the נפש בהמיות. We begin the עומר with a barley offering, which is animal food, and end on

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Shavuos with the שתי הלחם which is human food. We work on humbling our שור inside, and come to מתן תורה human and pure. כי יולד – we are all born איר פרא יולד, with wild animal traits, and the seven weeks of Sefira is a metaphor to our seventy years in this world that we strive to humble these base qualities. Then we come to the eighth week, referring to the future world, hopefully as an אדם שלם.

After speaking of the י”ט of Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos, the Torah speaks of the שמן זית זך, which the Rokeach and others say refers to Chanuka. The next topic is of the לחם הפנים, which refers to Purim, and then the pParsha speaks of the בן איש מצרי, known as the מקלל who Rashi says was לגלג or scoffed at the freshness of the לחם הפנים. The Rokeach says that this hints to לג בעומר. לג בעומר.We see that the hint to לג בעומר is connected to the רמז ofto Purim, ie.that is the לחם הפנים. Purim and לג בעומר are very much related, both being blasts of light from the future, and referred to as פלג, which stands for פורים לג בעומר. (as previously stated). It says in the Tur that both these high Yomimim Tovim fall out on the same day of the week – רבי שמעון בר יוחאי=915=ויהי בימי אחשורוש .

Lag BeOmer falls on the second part of the month, which is a time of מדת הדין, however its great holiness subdues the טומאה, similar to the י”ט of Chanuka, which also falls on the second2^nd half of the month. Some say that in Miron by the kever of קבר הר”שב”י, there is the קדושה of the בית המקדש, which we see and feel on Lag BeOmer לג בעומר. wWhen inside theקבר , kever, the yidden are עומדים צפופים והשתחוים רווחים, that ise. there is room for all. By the kever קבר of the רשב”י there is no אבילות , where yidden dance even during the nine9 days. Miron and Jerusalem are both very holy cities – ירושלים=596= כפר מרון

In pParshas Emor, we have the extremes of נפש זמן ומקום, both in kedusha (קדוש קדוש קדוש), and in טומאה. We have the kedusha of the Kohen, and more so- the כהן גדול, which is the holiest נפש. Our duty in this world is to be holier than all the nations. The holiest place in the world is the בהמ”ק, where it says of the Kohen Gadol- ומן המקדש לא יצא =677=רבי שמעון, the place where we take חולין and elevate to קודש (תרומה וקדשים). The רשב”י was compared to a  

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כהן גדול in רוחניות, as we sing on Lag BeOmer שמן משחת קדש., and we sing בר יוחאי – בקדש הקדשים . All the מועדים are sanctifying time -זמן, where a profane week day is elevated to קודש. Our עבודה during sefira ספירה is to elevate each and every day.. If we listen to the advice of Amelek, to push off till tomorrow -מחר, then we lose the blessingBracha- אברהם בא בימים –Hhe made lived each day countto its fullest. One of the messages of ימי הספירה, is that every yid counts, and is important, and we have to make each day count.

In the side of טומאה, we have the איש בון מצרי, the מקלל, who the Ari ארי הקדוש HaKodesh says was מתגלגל into ישו הנוצרי, the acrynom ר”ת of ונקב שם יה-וה , also ימח שמו וזכרו. He was in טומאה what the כהן גדול was in קדושה. They claim that he was their Messiah, however he was the exact opposite, a משיח שקר- המלך המשיח המלך המשיח בן דוד=524=ונקב שם יה–וה ה. משיח שקר.

המלך המשיח בן דוד=524=ונקב שם יה–וה. Yishmael is connected to the same טומאה, as ישמעאל and עשו are intertwined in this final galus-

והוא יהיה פרא אדם ידו בכל ויד כל בו=524=ונקב שם יה–וה . The Rambam writes that the צד הטוב is that because of the Muslim and Christian religion, the world is already expecting משיח. Because of him ישו there is a זמן that’s טמא that ise. December 25, and a מקום that’s טמא, as we are not permitted to enter a church. Moshe killed the Egyptian father of the מקלל, since he saw no good coming out of him. The בן איש מצרי was told by Moshe that he couldn’t pitch his tent in the camp of his mother’s tribe-Dan, since his father was a gentile, . and hHe ending up cursing Hashem, and because of this, was stoned to death. The מקלל was taken out of the camp, ie. out of י”ם, as it says הוצא את המקלל אל חוץ למחנה, where he was stoned. The מקלל made fun of the לחם הפנים, that ise. he mocked everything holy. He was full of ליצנות, and subsequently was sent out of ליצנות=586=ירושלם., and מושב לצים=518=נקב שם יה–וה .

The לב שמחה asks how could he scoff the freshness of the לחם הפנים, when it was able to be seen? He answers that the power of לצנות, making fun of something holy, brings a person to not see what’s right in front of him, the opposite of אמונה which is believing in what’s not seen. The מקלל laughed at the פנימיות (לחם הפנים) of Torah (לגלג- לג בעומר). He scoffed at the לחם which represents Torah, and the פנים which represents the פנימיות.  

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It says in Emor כד:י – ויצא בן אשה ישראלית והוא בן איש מצרי בתוך בני ישראל, meaning because the בן איש מצרי left the תוך, that is didn’t believe in the פנימיות, he was disconnected from his Jewish essence, and was taken out of all the מחנות of כלל ישראל.

The twelve loaves of the לחם הפנים represent the שבטים שתים עשר that remain fresh and are never wiped out. The מקלל He payedpaid no heed to the ppsak esak of Moshe Rebeinu, where the Gemorra says the punishment for this is being burnt in boiling צואה=הוצא. Because he denied the פנימיות, he was הוצא from כלל ישראלand punished with hot צואה, that which goes out of the body. There can be a tikun for this מקלל, only by the greatest of tzadikim – שמעון בר יוחאי=703=בן איש מצרי The greater the צדיק, the lower he could descend to rectify the lowest Jew – שמעון בר יוחאי=703=לבלתי ידח ממנו נידח The story of the בן איש מצרי All this wais rooted rooted in his mother speaking too much, as her name indicates — שולמית בת דבריי. , demonstrating a lack of צניעות. By the מקושש עצים it doesn’t say הוצא, as Tosfos in ב”ב says that this was צלפחד, who committed his sin לשם שמים, to demonstrate to all the punishment for transgressing the holy Shabbos. שבת.

There’s no coincidence that we read this subject in pParshas Emor, where every pasuk in the pParsha is under the title אמור or speak. With proper speech, yidden could accomplish so much. For example, with their speech, the חכמים sanctify the new month, and can proclaim a leap year. Also the mitzvah of sefira has to be done with the פה. On the other hand, we see how detrimental the wrong speech could be, leading toנצרות Christianity and all the pogroms and massacres that the yidden have suffered.

In the אגרת הרמבן, he writes that a person shpould always speak in a soft tone, which will help save him from the worst trait of anger, leading to humility and then fear of Hashem –

שויתי יה–וה לנגדי תמיד=1304=דברי חכמים בנחת נשמעים. The fool is always yelling. We read in the pParsha of the holiness of the Kohen, who must be free of any blemishes before prerforming the עבודה. We really are all supposed to be ממלכת כהנים, and thus must rid ourselves of our blemishes, the biggest being ישות or gaiva, as the Gemorra says thatof the בעל גאוה -the בעל גאוה-אין מום גדול מזה. The humble person is a תם, our goal during sefira

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being תמימות תהיינה, which is accomplished according to the Ramban by speaking softly. By ספירה the Torah uses this strange word תהיינה, a לשון של הויה, meaning we must become new beings – ועמך כלם צדיקים=480=תהיינה, which happens to be in the הקדמה to every perek of פרקי אבות that we read during the ספירה.

The first pasuk in Emor has the double language of אמירה, of which Rashi says להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים. One peshat is that the best way that adults could affect minors is to speak softly, as אמור is a לשון רכה. We must teach the גדולים to be קטנים, ie. that is to be humble. The first Mishne of פרקי אבות in the fourth perek, which is usually פרשת אמור isאדם איזו חכם -הלומד מכל, that is humility. The word להזהיר also means illuminate, teaching us that we must bring the light from פסח- -ניסן, referred to as גדול (שבת הגדול) into אייר, the קטן, and extend it into שבועות.

The Yahrtzeit of the רשב”י is the fifth5^th day of the fifth5^th sefir of Hod, and the Yahrtzeit of the ארי הקדוש is the fifth5^th day of the fifth5^th month of מנחם אב. The number five is associated with the fifth level of the נשמה, which is the יחידה, and also the fifth כוס של אליהו, and the fifth expression of Geula- משיח בן דוד=424=והבאתי. On חי אייר, Lag BeOmer all five levels of the נשמה are revealed – נפש רוח נשמה חיה יחידה=1099=חית יוד– אלף יוד יוד ריש.

Eliyahu HaNavi came on לג בעומר and informedרשב”י that the Ceaser had died, and he could leave the cave. There is an association between אליהו and לג בעומר. In pParshasיד:ח בשלח it says that בני ישראל יוצאים ביד רמה, literally meaning that כלל ישראל left (Egypt) with a high hand. The חתם סופר says that the Ashkanazim follow the רמה, whose Yahrtzeit was on לג בעומר. where tThe tTargum for ביד רמה is בריש גלי. The word בריש is the acrynomacronym for ררבי שמעון בר יוחאי – יוחאי, the רשבי-e שמעון בן יוחאי=553=ריש גלי and רבי יצחק בן שלמה -the ארי הקדוש, and רב ישראל בעל שם- the בעל שם טוב. This is such a clear message- that the revelation גלי of the משיח and the final גאולה, will be in the merit of the learning of Chasidus and פנימיות התורה. The angels complained and said תנו הודך על השמים that the פנימיות של תורה shouldn’t be given to man. However the רשב”י proved this to be a false claim, and on Lag BeOmer – הוד שבהוד, the Zohar which is full of the secrets of

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Torah, was revealed- מלך המשיח=453=הא ואו דלת

The הפטרה we read on Shavuos is from יחזקאל, speaking of the מעשה מרכבה, whereas in Parshas יתרו the הפטרה is from ישעיה also speaking of the מעשה מרכבהIn יחזקאל, the נביא sees a מלאך with four wings, whereas in ישעיה, he sees an angel with six wings- greater. Beside this, ישעיה הנביא came before יחזקאל and was greater, showing that the הארה of מתן תורה was greater in Parshas יתרו, than on Shavuos itself, as הקריאה מעורר הזמן and the Torah is above time. The Shiniver Rebbi heard קולות on שבת יתרו, which he didn’t hear on Shavuos.

The הפטרה of Parshas אמור is from יחזקאל. It says that we are going to bury ספר יחזקאל because there are many apparent contradictions to Toras Moshe. חנניה בן חזקיהו went into an attic and attempted to rectify all the apparent contradictions. One of them was the last pasuk in the הפטרה, which says that the Kohanim couldn’t eat נבלה וטרפה, which is forbidden to all yidden and not just the Kohen. This נבואה will be explained by אליהו.

We need the Torah of משיח to understand that which the רשב”י began to reveal on לג בעומר. The רשב”י was a בח” of Shabbos שבת=702=שמעון בר יוחאי and ביום השבת=765=רבי שמעון בן יוחאי, and שבת=702=לג בעומר לג בעומר. The whole story of Rav Shimon hiding out in the cave, where he was משיג the secrets of Torah and composed the holy Zohar is found in Gemorra- שבת דף לג.

There is such a שמחה like no other time on the Yahrtzeit of the רשב”י, whereas on the Yahrtzeit of משה רבינו we fast. Why? On the Yahrtzeit of Moshe, 3,000 Halachas were forgotten, however on the Yahrtzeit of the רשב”י Hashem lengthened the day so that the רשב”י would reveal the secrets, the פנימיות of Torah, that will be revealed when משיח comes, as we saidבריש =רשבי. The Zohar has the power to eradicate the רבי שמעון בר יוחאי=914=ארבעה אבות נזיקין

The first פסוק in Emor has the double expression of אמר and ואמרת. In Parshas כי תבוא כו:יז יח, there is also a double expression – את ה” האמרת and then וה” האמירך, where רשי was a little puzzled. Rashi says that it means that we distinguished Hashem, and He distinguished us, and then he says that האמרת is a לשון תפארת. In a leap year Parshas אמור usually falls in the week of

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תפארת. Our goal is to raise up the pride, the תפארת of כלל ישראל. After the חורבן בהמ”ק the תפארת has fallen, and so we must strive to turn the

אפר of אבלות into פאר. In every perek of פרקי אבות we begin with כל ישראל יש להם … and then מעשה ידי להתפאר.

It says the pasuk in שמות ג:יב – בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדון את האלה-ים על ההר הזה , where ספורים say that בהוציאך את העם ממצרים refers to Nisan- פסח, ותעבדום את האלה-ים refers to ספירה -אייר, and על ההר הזה to Sivan-שבועות . Iyar is the month that we toil in perfecting our midos – ראש חדש איר =1024=תעבדון את האלה–ים . The עבודה of sefira is to reach תפארת- על ספרת העמר=1155=מעשה ידי להתפאר. The Gemorra in ברכות נח says that תפארת is מתן תורה.

ספירת העומר=1071+10(letters)=1081=תפארת. The acronym of אייר is אני י-י רופאך, where the root of רופאך is רפא. We must fix our spiritual illnesses, and elevate our איר פרא that were born with, and merit a רפא by healing our מומי הנפש, and מהפך the אפר to פאר. The ארי הקדוש says Iyar is יששכר, who toiled hard in the study of Torah. It says יששכר חמר גרם, which can be read that, because our חומריות, that is- our יצה”ר is גרם that if we subdue it- יש שכר in עולם הבא. The first day of ספירה, the second day of פסח, we read of the שור, hinting that we have to rectify our ox, our animal traits, the goal being to be a מנחה חדשה – a new complete human being. At the end of the Parsha it says ומכה בהמה ישלמנה – if we beat our animal midos, this will lead us to becoming שלם. When we purify ourselves, this brings the world to a pure state, and we will merit משיח. Iyar has four weeks of ספירות that we count תפארת נצח הוד ויסוד. It’s interesting that – את רוח הטומאה אעביר מן הארץ=1350=התפארת הנצח ההוד והיסוד.  

On Shavuos we read from יתרו and also from רות. Both of them came from nations that were not interested in ידיעת ה”, as it says מי ה” אשר אשמע בקולו. By Ruth it was said to her- how she could go with a people אשר לא ידעת, but unlike the מקלל, who wanted to go back to his roots in מצרים, she chose Hashem – הוצא את המקלל אל מחוץ למחנה=1016=אשר לא ידעת.

Both רות and יתרו left the טומאה and removed the arrogance that they were rooted, bringing unity to כלל ישראל and preparing for

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Matan Torah – ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר=1222=רות יתרו