Rabbi Avraham Lipskier — Shiurim

Opens on "Ki imcha haselicha lema'an tivarei" (Tehillim 130) — forgiveness leads to yirah; David's request for forgiveness; malchus & atzmus.

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The Rebbe's mashal of the debtor who can only half-pay — a forgiving creditor energizes him; the neshama descending into the guf becomes a baal chov (debtor).

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The Zohar's three knots (kishrin) — Yisrael bound to Torah, Torah to HKB"H; the soul binds back to Godliness through Torah.

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Breaking the animal soul's ta'avah through prishus (separation) — not fasting; abstaining from what the heart desires.

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The two levels within the nefesh habehamis — its mochin (intelligence) vs. its middos; why it is called an "animal" soul.

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"Ani L'dodi V'dodi Li" = the acronym of ELUL: is'aruta d'ltata (arousal from below, Elul) then hamshacha (drawing down, Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur).

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Why the order — first lessen the animal soul, then add power to the godly soul; the sequence of avodah.

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Parshas Ki Seitzei: gittin & kiddushin, the three opinions on divorce, and gerushin/nisu'in as a metaphor in one's spiritual service.

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The pasuk in Yeshayahu ("Seek Hashem when He is found") — Chazal: the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

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How the teshuva of Elul "confuses" the prosecuting angel so he has nothing to argue on Rosh Hashanah.

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The BeSHT's parable: a child lost, not knowing the language, cries out "oy!" in a simple voice — and the Father hears; the meaning of the shofar's cry.

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What the Baal Shem Tov revealed: the secrets of Chassidus in a way that reaches the emunah of every Jew — faith that gives life to everything.

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The Eitz HaDaas: the actual sin vs. the concept of the tree; Hashem's design that sin (and death via the snake's counsel) be possible.

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18 Elul as the birthday of both luminaries — the Baal Shem Tov (5458, “Nachas”) and the Alter Rebbe (5505, “Kahos”); why the birthday of a tzaddik is a day of joy, why the Mishkan was delayed so its joy would join the joy of Yitzchak's birth, and the sicha's core: a Jew is not an entity unto himself but the detail through which Hashem's will is carried out.

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Brief opening (167 words): making constant Torah study one's nature — and the paradox that serving Hashem must go beyond mere habit.

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A Jew's vitality transcends his nature — he can act against it; even one meticulous in all 613 mitzvos with excitement must go beyond.

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"Shoftim v'shotrim": judges, officers & advisors — when they are needed, and "Hashiva shofteinu"; self-governance and the future redemption.

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Continuation: in the future only judges (no officers) will be needed — everyone will listen; the prophetic vision of that era.

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Yechezkel 37: Melech (king) vs. Nasi (leader), the reversed word-order and "forever"; the Gemara's "kisa u'palgei kisa" — two aspects of Moshiach.

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A ~111-min farbrengen with a table of bochurim & returnees (a Marine back from Iraq, a shliach back from Grand Cayman). Three strong segments between niggunim: (1) "Wake up like a lion" — the Rebbe dividing the yeshiva into ~70 groups for 24-hour Tehillim during an early-60s Israel crisis, and the avodah of never oversleeping / being ready for 8 o'clock seder on the nose; (2) an extended give-and-take on free choice vs. hashgacha pratis — the bank-robber who only succeeds at the fifth (deserving) bank, Moshe Rabbeinu's "show me Your justice" (the money by the river), the accidental killer who falls onto a hidden murderer, the Holocaust question, and reincarnation; (3) obstacles as the sign you're on the right path, yetzer hara as prosecutor vs. defender, and Torah you can actually *use* in life vs. the emptiness of ICQ/Skype/Facebook. Best line (via R' Greenberg): people fear learning who they were in a past life — the truly scary thing is finding out who you are right now.

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