Zadok HaKohen

To life, she can respond by being responsible.

Rabbi Zadok HaKohen of Lublin, Rem Zadok in the 19th century, taught, that every moment a person intentionally turns towards God, every moment we intentionally awaken is a reshit, a beginning.

Here in the silence is where we make the choice.

I surrender and now I choose.

He said, you should daven a short davening on a road, but don't go and daven in a ruin.

Says Reb Tzadok HaKoin of Lublin something phenomenal.

Reb Tzadok HaKoin of Lublin says, I don't understand.

If this was a bad idea, why did Eliyahu Hanavi come before he walked in there and tap him on the shoulder and say, don't go in there.

That's a bad idea.

In fact, on Shabbos, the way that we enter Shabbos is we first make kiddush, we sanctify the day, but when Shabbos is finished, we d- again, we have a ceremony called Havdalah, and Havdalah is how we separate Shabbos from the rest of the week, and we make a separate blessing on Havdalah.

Rav Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin, the Hasidic thinker who animates so much of my own life, says something so remarkable.

"You know what Havdalah is?" says Rav Tzadok.

"Havdalah is the kiddush, is the sanctification we make on the other six days of the week." This is what this elderly man is telling Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

The idea that I live in a world that God is in charge doesn't have to only be scary, but it can actually give me tremendous simcha, give me great joy to appreciate the idea that indeed I do live in God's world.

It reminds me of what Tzadok HaKohen says very beautifully, because, of course, this idea of the sukkah, as you pointed out, it accentuates our sense of dependence upon God, right? That all the artificial means of protecting ourselves are stripped away.

And as you said, we are living as we did in the desert with divine protection.

And I would say for most people, feeling dependent is actually quite uncomfortable.

You just sit with the Haftara.

Because what happens, Rav Tzadok says, ki le'olam, always, we're in the second line, beshabbes hazman teshuva.

The Emes is Shabbes comes from the word teshuv.

Shabbes itself is a teshuva m- m- moment, right? Shabbes itself, just any Shabbes.

And that's where we start, by benching Hagomel.

It's also why you don't say it on Shabbes Chol HaMoed, because Chol HaMoed is not like regular Chol, so therefore we don't say it on Shabbes Chol HaMoed 'cause it's not Hagomel over there.

But that's, Rav Tzadok is basically saying this is what happens on Shabbes.

So that's true every Shabbes.

If Hashem trusts in us, if Hashem has faith in us, then we need to have faith in ourselves.

In fact, Rav Tzadok HaKohen B'Lublin, in his Tzikara Tzadik, this is an Ot Kufnon Dalet, he tells us the following, Just like you have to put your faith, you have to put your trust in Hashem, the Rashi approach to kill, you said that you're going to reward us and we believe that it's coming, even if it takes a long time, we believe in you.

So just like, says Rav Tzadok, just like you have to believe in Hashem, You also have to believe in yourself.

Why? It's a strange line.

Aggadata refers to the narrative, the stories, the theological ideas that are included in the Talmud, and every tractate has its own set of stories, its own ideas.

A teacher of Talmud who has had a big influence on my life is somebody named Rav Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin, who was a great Hasidic leader who lived from 1823 to 1900.

Genius of geniuses, mastered both the law and all of theology, and he says something very important, which is if you really wanna understand the central theme or central idea within any tractate, within any masecha, you really have to figure out the relationship between the passages of Aggadata, meaning the narrative, the stories, and the Halakha, meaning the actual legal debates that happen in there.

Now, this is absolutely crucial.

Chas v'shalom to say that.

And this is where Rav Tzadok HaKohen explains what we say to the Rasha by the Pesach Seder.

Remember the Rasha by the Pesach Seder? We hit him in the mouth, and we say, you should know, if you were in Mitzrayim, you wouldn't be redeemed.

Rav Tzadok says, we hit him in the mouth, we say, stop speaking this way about yourself.

There is no such thing in the ultimate redemption, in the ultimate geula, there is no such thing as a yid that will not be redeemed.

Every single Jew will be redeemed.

And Rav Sadek HaKohen explains in his piece on Erev Yom Kippur and Preach Sadek, Rav Tzadok HaKohen says, how come the halachas of the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash were in Masech HaZgitin? It sounds like it's in Masech HaZgitin because it's like we got divorced Chas V'Shalom from Hashem.

And Rav Tzadok HaKohen says, yeah, but what perek is it in? It's in the perek called Hanizakim.

A person that, that, that's very a...

Rav Tzadok Hakohen told me he was recently needed something very, very, very bad from HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

So he was, he was davening, and at a certain point in the davening, he was about to say, you know, "HaKadosh Baruch Hu, you know, I do a lot.

I do a lot for you.