a day full of light

Today is the yartzheit/hillulah of Rebbe Yehoshua of Dzikov, I don't know much about him, but I do know that today is full of light and I'm not sure why--i don't think it has to do with their new year. Anyways I found this torah of his via Chassidus.net. (Eerily related to yesterday's post on kriat shema.)

5. 'And Yisro heard.' (Shemos 18.1)

There are three things, according to the teachings of Chazal*, that can help a person to counter the Yetzer HaRah. 1. Learning Torah*. 2. Saying Krias Shema* 3. Remembering the day he will die. With these three things one can overcome his Yetzer HaRah.

This is what it says [in Rashi,] 'What did he hear? He heard the splitting of the sea and the war with Amalek'. Some Midrashim [like the Mechilta*] add [he heard about] the giving of the Torah [on Mount Sinai.]

The splitting of the sea is the sod* of Krias Shema as is explained in seforim. Split [the word] 'sea' [Heb. yom] in two. Half [of the word 'sea'] is 25. This is the mystery of the 25 letters that are in the verse of Krias Shema.

The war with Amalek is a remez that in the future Amalek will be destroyed, which is a remez to the day of one's death. And [with regards to the Midrash] who says the giving of the Torah [we have learning Torah. We see that] there is a remez to all three of these ideas [in this verse.] And by overcoming his Yetzer HaRah, Yisro came
and converted. (p. 70b sefer Ateres Yeshua teachings of Rebbe Yehoshua of Dzikov.)

I'll leave the quote on it's own without any additions from me..

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