Transcript
Good morning boker tov, may it be a good morning, we should have besoros tovos, may we hear good news please God from our brothers and sisters in Israel, the hostages should come home, our soldiers should return to their families, we should have a sweeping victory over our enemies. The Emunah series is generously sponsored by Dr. Zavi and Bella Morgen in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Bella's mother, Dr. Ellen Shanser, we remain very grateful to the Morgens. This shiur is also sponsored by Ayelet Berkowitz in honor of the upcoming wedding of Devorah Berkowitz and Jacob Penn, may they be zoche to build a bayis ne'eman beyisrael. Amen. Okay, well done, well done. I appreciate everybody's flexibility with the time of the shiur today. Baruch Hashem just came from a bris, a big mazel tov to the rosh kollel of the Yeshiva Sfas Emes, to Rabbi and Rebbetzin Rosenfeld on the birth and bris of their son Meshulam Dovid, named for Rav Dovid Soloveitchik, Meshulam Dovid, he should grow to give them tremendous nachas. I had the zchus, I'm saying this not to flex but to give a bracha. I had the zchus to merit to be the sandek at the bris, and it's brought down that when you're a sandek you have the power to give brachos. There's a long line of people after. Now, I don't know how long the sandek holds the charge. I don't know how long the charge lasts. I'm not in the seat anymore, I'm certainly as a person unworthy, the chair and being the lap of the bris was, but I give you all and us all and anyone listening everywhere a bracha, we should all have good health and we should have longevity, we should have nachas from our families, we should grow in Torah and yiras shamayim, we should have peace in Israel and around the world, and Hashem should answer כל משאלות לבנו לטובה please God. From one simcha to the next, next week Baruch Hashem we have a wedding in New York, so the Emunah shiur is going to be on Thursday, not Wednesday. Pay attention carefully to the Emunah WhatsApp group and you will always be informed about when we are meeting, when we are learning, and where you can find us, im yirtzeh Hashem we should always have to reschedule because of going from simcha to simcha please God. Couple of Emunah emails and then we'll dive into a new limud, there are copies sitting here if you'd like, it's going to take us several weeks to learn it, you could keep it and bring it back or put it back on the table afterwards and we'll continue to learn a beautiful new piece by the Pnei Menachem. But first, a couple of emails. Dear Rabbi, I really enjoy listening to Living Emunah, I appreciate the words of wisdom, blah blah blah blah blah. I've been thinking of sending you an experience I had for a while and finally decided to write it down and send it. Several months ago, my father passed away at a ripe old age and after having lived a very full and wonderful life, he's still very missed. I did not grow up in an observant home, but Baruch Hashem I'm observant now. My parents and siblings always seemed to respect the religious observance that my husband and I and my children choose to follow. So when my father passed away and the funeral arrangements were made by my siblings, who are not observant, I was very upset. I so wanted to make sure my father was buried in the most dignified and respectful manner, as well as in a halachically correct manner. However, I was not consulted by my siblings. As much as I tried to explain the importance of having the burial ASAP, no one would budge. For various reasons, no one other than my immediate family understood the importance of this. I kept on talking and praying to Hashem to help me honor my dad and fulfill the mitzvah of respecting my dad with a proper halachic funeral and burial. Then, several days later, once the body of my late father was finally transported to New Jersey, I received a call from the local Rabbi of the Chevra Kadisha asking me to confirm my father's Hebrew name and which shroud to select for my father. The Rabbi explained the shroud that was selected is halachically acceptable, but the linen shroud is preferable because that's what the kohanim used and it's longer than the one that was originally selected. Baruch Hashem I felt Hashem really heard my prayers by allowing me the opportunity to honor my father with a dignified and respectful manner, burial according to halacha. I confirmed my father's Hebrew name, we selected the linen shroud for my father, to this day I have no idea how the Chevra Kadisha obtained my contact info since I had nothing to do with the arrangements, but of course Hashem has His ways. Thank you for help strengthening my Emunah, your Emunah emails really share help me keep my Emunah in Hashem strong at a difficult time, sincerely so-and-so. So again, person davened so badly to Hashem, help me honor my father, wasn't involved in the arrangements, no reason that she would have received a call, but she got the call that helped her honor her father. So never give up, a Yid never gives up, a Yid never gives up. Yeush shelo midaas, a Yid never has yeush, we never have despair, we never give up, we always daven, we keep coming back, Hashem has His ways and if the funeral director or the Chevra Kadisha is meant to find us, they will find us, and if they're not meant to find us and they didn't find us, then we also shouldn't feel bad. In life we can only do the best that we can, and then we surrender and leave the rest up to Him, we let go and we let God because He is the one in charge and He is the one in control. One more email and then we'll dive into our new limud together. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, I must begin by sharing your Living Emunah shiur is having a deeply spiritual impact on my life, in a time that feels very hard for me personally as well as... Intensely painful for all the Jewish people, I find solace, comfort, and safety in the shiurim. Thank you. The other day I was listening to episode 300 and I felt there was Ruach Hakodesh, a holy spiritual calling, where I felt many coincidental connections from the words of Torah you were saying to my own life. I don't think I shared this one last week. Did I? At the start of the shiur, you mentioned speaking with Maoz's parents, a holy martyr of the Jewish people, a paratrooper in Gaza who left us in such an untimely and tragic way, which, if you didn't hear, you should listen to the Behind the Bima a couple weeks ago where we interviewed Maoz's parents, who are extraordinary people in their own right, who described how Maoz lived and died the same way, which was Al Kiddush Hashem, and the candle that he kept burning through his life of learning and the way he left this world. It's well worth listening to them, incredibly inspiring. So the author of the email writes: Rabbi Goldberg, I have a six-degree of separation connection to Maoz. Without revealing too many details, his cousin is a profoundly important member of my own community. A few weeks ago, I hosted women in my home where we learned the Hakdama Mesilas Yesharim in his memory, Maoz ben Etam. Mesilas Yesharim was a very special sefer for Maoz, and it felt appropriate to begin with the quiet brilliance of the introduction to that sefer during this night of learning. Hearing you mention connecting with Maoz's parents felt very full circle, godly in fact, and not coincidental at all. May his neshama have an aliya from the beautiful Torah learned in his memory. Second part of my own emuna journey goes like this. A year and a half ago, I was hosting Friday night dinner in my home, beautiful, lovely, with good friends, delicious food. Outside, as the weather was magnificent, at some point during the meal, I looked across the table and my husband, who seldom complains, looked off to me. I asked if he was okay, and everyone stopped talking while he nodded slowly. Let's go inside, I suggested. He got up to go inside and was walking very, very slowly. I shouted, something is wrong, and the guests jumped out of their chairs and caught my husband as he collapsed and passed out on our patio. I work very quickly in emergencies, this is something I know about myself. I ran inside and called 911 as our dear friends carried my unconscious husband inside. We spent the night in the hospital and everything was okay, Baruch Hashem. No extensive testing was required. The doctors chalked it up to exhaustion, stress, typical stuff, but very scary nonetheless. Fast forward to this past December. It was Friday night again. This time we're at a friend's house for an oneg type of get-together, food, drinks, friends, lively conversation. My husband did look a bit tired that night and had shared with me that it had been a long week prior to coming to our friend's house. At one point during the evening, my husband left to get some water. Moments later, I heard a crash, and 25 people got up and raced around the corner. I knew without even seeing him that he had collapsed, and he had. Unfortunately, this time he hit his head very hard on a granite countertop, splitting open his forehead, gushing blood while passed out on the floor. This time I was not okay. The trauma from the first time had barely healed. Everyone jumped into action. I'll spare the details, but it was dire and traumatic. He continued losing and regaining consciousness, seizing and more. I'm shaking just thinking about the experience. We rushed into the ambulance. Unfortunately, it got worse at the hospital before it got better. Because he had hit his head so hard, there was a significant loss of blood and fear of concussion. He required an MRI and CT scan of his brain. This time we didn't leave the hospital unscathed. They found a small blip on the MRI, which the doctor shared could be fine, could be bad. We'll have to wait six weeks and see if there are any changes before we determine what it is. It was a grueling six weeks of waiting before the next scan. During those six weeks, our rav called to check in and said Basar Vadam can do all the scans they want, man, doctors can do all the scans they want, Hashem decides what's on the scans. Now we daven. The day of the MRI arrived. A top neurologist shared the results. The blip is a small cluster of enlarged blood vessels. Most likely, the cluster's only always been there since my husband was born. These blood vessels need to be monitored yearly with a brain MRI as they have the potential to burst, which, God forbid, could be very dangerous. Now that we know my husband has this, we have the knowledge and power to do everything we can to monitor the situation and treat it if needed, like if the size or location changes, which we'll know during the yearly MRI. My husband asked the doctor: Is this condition connected to my collapsing and fainting? The doctor said: Absolutely not. They have nothing to do with why you collapse. The collapsing was just bad luck. But Rabbi Goldberg, we all know there's no such thing as bad luck. I know with my whole heart that Hashem created an environment where my husband had extra tiring weeks so he would faint so that we'd get extra testing so we'd find the cluster of vessels so we could monitor them and God willing keep him from having something very dangerous happening. Thank you, Hashem. Thank you, Hashem, for seeing the whole entire picture with all of its intricate parts. Thank you, Hashem, for giving us something we can handle, for the opportunity to be able to monitor something with negative potential. Thank you, Rabbi Goldberg, for guiding me in seeing the little sparks of light and emuna in my life experiences. May we all know no more pain and tzaros. May Hashem bring the redemption of His people speedily and without delay. Wishing you a peaceful and beautiful shabbos. So again, a person, it's another example, could be miserable and bitter. Why do you have to collapse? Why do you have to split his head open? Why do we have to keep going back to the hospital? Why does he have to have this cluster of blood... vessels or you can say Hashem has a master plan. It's all orchestrated. It all comes, picture comes into, is a little clearer now and why things happen. So these emuna emails give us strength to live our lives and see Hashem in our life, like my daughter the other day, who when her daughter threw up everywhere, put in our hashgacha pratis group, thank God it happened while the help was still here and could help me clean it up. Hashgacha pratis. The timing of her daughter's vomit. If that's not hashgacha, I don't know what is. So, but we always say hashgacha pratis of the big things and the little things, from medical things and life-altering things and life-threatening things to someone was there. She watches three kids and her husband travels to New York so for work, so she needed that help. It's hard to watch three babies under two and clean vomit. So she said it's hashgacha that it happened when it happened. Her mother also thinks it's hashgacha because otherwise she probably would have been there cleaning the vomit. I don't think it's hashgacha because there was no way I was going to clean that vomit, even if there was no one else in the world. Maybe, maybe if there was no one else in the world and then, then it's a big maybe. But anyway, but that you have to have that hashgacha pratis WhatsApp group. You have to keep that family diary and journal. You have to look to see the hand of Hashem in everything, in the way the things work out. Nothing is a coincidence, everything is by design. And therefore that's the common peace that we can have, not to live anxious and worried and nervous and what will be. It's all part of the adventure called life and we'll see how it turns out. And that's hard to do when you're waiting for six weeks to the next MRI to find out what that blood clot means or blood cluster means. It's hard to say, oh, it's a fun adventure, let's see how it turns out. It's hard. But what's the alternative? To go crazy? To drive oneself crazy? We spoke about last week. והעיקר לא להתפחד כלל. Rebbe Nachman did not write that the main thing is to not be afraid. He said the main thing is not to make ourselves afraid, not to create anxiety and panic, not to create worry, to let go and let God and realize, I do everything I can and I do the best I can and after that I let go and it's up to Him because there is no alternative. Which brings us up to this piece in front of you, comes from the Otzar Drashos u'Maamarim, a collection of the sermons and the speeches of the Pnei Menachem. Who was the Pnei Menachem? Pinchas Menachem Alter, who was the previous Gerer Rebbe. He lived 1926 to 1996. And he was born in Poland, but then was in Eretz Yisrael. First he was the Gerer Rosh Yeshiva, and then he became, after his half-brother passed away who was the previous Rebbe, he became the Gerer Rebbe. We studied something previously of his, the Gerer, the, the Pnei Menachem. So this was אור לכ"ז טבת תשנ"א. This was immediately before the Milchemet HaMifratz, which is otherwise known as the Persian Gulf War. This was a sicha, a speech that he delivered shortly before the outbreak, but when we all knew it was coming. If you remember, the news was braced. It was a different world than the way we live in now. Now, before the news reports, there are videos that already come online of everything that happens because of the internet and WhatsApp and cell phones and cameras. But then everybody was hanging tight and holding tight to the news. My first cousin got married in Israel the night of the first Scud attack. My sister was in Israel for her year in Israel, her gap year. My father went for the wedding, which was a question, do you go or not go into what is possibly a war zone? What's amazing, do you remember how many missiles total were shot in the Persian Gulf War towards Israel? And it was under 50. I think it was under 50 total. And there were all these discussions of what a miracle it was. There were people who passed out from anxiety and panic and fear. I think there was one person who lost their life because of, they had a heart condition and the fear of the, of the Scud missiles. But if you remember, the world marveled and we couldn't believe and we spoke about the nissim v'niflaos, the revealed miracles of 50 or 60 missiles and nobody was directly killed. I think there were 50 missiles yesterday in the north and one person was killed in Kiryat Shmona from the missile in the north. How the world has so radically changed and what we defined as what we tolerate. Do you remember then also that Israel was ready to respond and America begged Israel, don't get involved, we've got this, we're fighting Iraq who, who invaded Kuwait, don't get involved even if they launch missiles. Israel had nothing to do with it. Why launch missiles at Israel because Iraq invaded Kuwait and America attacked Iraq, so you launch missiles at Israel? You remember, it was 1990. It had nothing to do with it. But because why not, Israel is and always was and sadly seems it will be the target no matter what whose conflict it is. And it was so relatively few missiles, less than an hour today. And the world said Israel you have a right to respond but don't we got it. Now everybody says and we saw the abstention in the UN, ceasefire even with a barrage of missiles like that in an hour and people getting killed. But if you remember everybody was tied to the news and is this war going to break out, will missiles come to Israel? The big danger was if they would have chemical heads, chemical weapons. That's why everyone was fitted for gas masks. The pictures of my cousin's wedding, they're all dancing with the gas mask around their arm. And that night was the first Scud attack and the couple spent that night in the sealed room with the rest of the wedding party as the alarms and sirens wailed and the Scuds, the first Scuds came over. So as we were bracing and the world was watching and the world was getting ready and Israel was preparing and distributing these masks, that's when the Pnei Menachem living in Yerushalayim, leading the Gerer Chasidus, that's when he delivered this sicha. That was the timing of this sicha and many of its messages and messaging are relevant to us right now, which is why I want to share it and learn it together as we now have Purim in the rearview mirror and we're looking through the windshield at Pesach. And it's coming quickly. Coming quickly. Let's start from the second paragraph. נקדים תחילה כדברי הגמרא. We begin with the words of the Gemara, the Talmud in Masechet Avodah Zarah, Daf Beis. לעתיד לבוא יביא הקדוש ברוך הוא ספר תורה. We're told that a prophecy, a prediction, that le'asid lavo in the future, the Almighty will come holding onto a Sefer Torah becheiko. ואומר יבוא כל מי שעסק בה יבוא ויטול שכרה. Kadosh Baruch Hu will be holding this Torah and he'll say, whoever learned it and lived it, whoever was promoting it and sharing it, whoever was occupied and preoccupied with it, come and receive your reward. Come and get your reward. That was the reason and purpose for my whole world was this Torah. This is the instruction manual and the blueprint and this is the value system and the ideology, this was what was supposed to guide the world. So if you were part of that plan, if you lived it and loved it and taught it and shared it, then come get your reward. שהרי כל מטרת בריאת העולם ותהלוכות דברי הימים הם עבור התורה. Whole purpose of the world is one big stage and one big platform for Torah. Torah's our guide. This is a world of interpersonal relationships, identity, appetite and cravings and drives. This is a world bound by time, this is a physical world with physical components. How do we navigate it? Your vacuum cleaner, which is infinitely less complicated than the world, comes with instructions. Right? Your food processor, which is infinitely less complicated than you, comes with instruction manual. So where's our instruction manual? How do you know how to use you? What's the manual to you? Who are you, how do you operate, what happens when something malfunctions and you have a virus and it's not working? Where's the instruction manual to us? How do we connect with others, how do we relate to others, how do we react to others, how do we build relationships, how do we have responsibility to have children? If you want to drive a car, you have to take driving lessons, you have to pass a driving test. If you want to be you, if you want to be married, you get a marriage license but there's no test that says are you selfish or selfless. Are you narcissistic or you have care about others? Are you only concerned with overpowering and micromanaging or can you be mevater? Do you have the ability to surrender to the will of others? Could you imagine, halevai we should have such a marriage, to get a marriage license, you should have to take a marriage test. But we don't. To get to become a parent, you become a parent, it should be that before you are entitled to conceive, you should have to pass a parenting test. Right? Are you a good role model? Will you show the selflessness to clean up the child's vomit even if the help is not there? And so on. But yet there's no test, there's no instruction manual not to be married, not to be a parent, not to engage a diet, not how to live related to time, not how to combat drives and instincts and impulses. So the answer is there is an instruction manual to all of that. Here's the incredible news: while the world wasn't given it, we have it. We have it. So everyone else got the vacuum cleaner with no instruction manual in the box. Everyone else got the food processor with no instruction manual in the box and no website that has a backup copy. We, we got the box. And we got the instruction manual in it. And that instruction manual is called the Torah. And Hashem says here it is, here's my guide, here's my instruction, here's the blueprint for life. And you can live the most meaningful and purposeful life, the most meaningful and purposeful life now. My brother shared, I don't know how he got it, my mother's first cousin, at his Bar Mitzvah, my mother's first cousin, Rabbi Soloveitchik zatzal sent his parents a letter wishing Mazel Tov. Sent him a letter wishing Mazel Tov. So he writes in the letter wishing Mazel Tov, you'll see why I'm mentioning this in a moment, he writes in the letter wishing Mazel Tov, please accept my warmest greetings and congratulations, it was handwritten and he didn't have the best handwriting, upon the Bar Mitzvah celebration of your son, may the Almighty bestow upon him blessings and guide him along the path of a creative and meaningful life. And then he quotes something, some Maimar Chazal in Hebrew that I can't read. Isn't it interesting when Rabbi Soloveitchik was giving a Bracha for a Bar Mitzvah boy what he wished was a creative and meaningful life? I don't think I've ever filled out a card that way. For a creative and meaningful life. Isn't that interesting? Meaningful, yes; mindful, yes; productive, yes; mission-driven, yes. But creative. It's a big insight into the Rav, into Rabbi Soloveitchik, into a Brisker. For a Brisker, the definition of a successful life is a creative life. If you weren't creative, if you weren't creative, that wasn't a meaningful life. Isn't that interesting? You don't find that nearly as interesting as I do. But I find that really interesting, that the definition of a successful and meaningful life for the Rav, for a Brisker, is a creative life. Creative. Okay, but a meaningful life. We have the instruction manual, Torah. Torah tells you here's how to relate to food and space and intimacy and time and marriage and parenting and everything. So Hashem in L'asid Lavo, the Gemara tells us, our Rabbis are telling us, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to hold up this Torah, he's going to say if you accepted and embraced my instruction manual and you lived according to it, come get your reward. תחילה נכנס מלכות רומי משום חשיבותא. So who are the first who are going to come try to get a piece of that reward, collect on it? You know who's going to come? Rome. The Empire of Rome. And why do they get to go first? Because of the Roman Empire, the great Roman Empire, because of chashivusa, their grandeur, their greatness. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to say Mai asaktem? What right do you have? What's your entitlement? Omru lefanov, so they'll say Ribbono Shel Olam, harbe shvakim tikninu. Do you know how many marketplaces we opened? Rome. Do you know how many malls and marketplaces, how much merchandise we produced? harbe merchatzos asinu. How many bathhouses we created? וכולם לא עשינו אלא בשביל ישראל כדי שיעסקו בתורה. Do you know why we made kiosks and malls? So Israelis would have a place to work when they came to America. We did it all for the Jewish people. You know why we made these bathhouses? So Jews could go to the Shvitz and then get back to the Beis Medrash. They'd be able to enjoy a good Shvitz and then they could go back to the Beis Medrash. We did it all for Torah. אמר להם הקדוש ברוך הוא שוטים שבעולם כל מה שעשיתם לצורך עצמכם עשיתם. Hashem says what do you think I'm a fool? Romans, you did it all for yourselves. You did it all for your pleasure, you did it all for your enjoyment. Who are you fooling, who are you kidding? You didn't do it for my children, for the Jewish people. You didn't do it for my Torah. Get lost. כלום יש בכם מגיד זאת ואין זאת אלא תורה. You have no right. יצאה מלכות רומי ונכנסה מלכות פרס אחריה. So Hashem kicked out the representatives of the Roman Empire and who came in next? Representative of Persia. Persia. Where's Persia? Iran. So the Mullahs and the Sheikhs and the Ayatollahs of Iran came in. Omar lefanov Ribbono Shel Olam, now I don't want to dismiss them so easily because the truth is there is an illustrious history between Persia and the Jews. King Koresh we can thank for having built the second Beis HaMikdash. He helped bring the redemption, this return of the Second Temple, the second Beis HaMikdash. So there is a positive association with Persia, not only what we think of today as the Iran of today. So Melech Paras comes in, the Malchus Paras comes in. Omar lefanov Ribbono Shel Olam, harbe gsharim gsharnu. Do you know how many bridges we built? And certainly we can appreciate today, כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד, after what happened in Baltimore yesterday. But you know, I don't know, maybe I'll speak about this on Shabbos. It should have taught us something in Surfside. It's not crazy that the building in Surfside... collapsed, it's a miracle every building that stands. It's not insane that a bridge collapsed, it's insane how many bridges we travel over regularly that stand. I don't want to make anyone panic the next time they go over a bridge. The point is, of course engineers should study it and we have to figure out what happened with that ship and the communication and what went wrong and was there interference, not minimizing the loss and the tragedy and we daven for all the families who were affected and our reaction should be empathy and sympathy and love and support, but also gratitude Hashem every time I go over a bridge I should bentsh gomel. What a miracle that engineers can cross a body of water and that we safely can traverse it. What a miracle! What a miracle! It's absolutely extraordinary. So Malkhus Paras, the Persian representatives come and they say, Hashem, your Torah, you know why we get a piece of that? Because we built all these bridges and why did we do it? Harbay krakhim kavashnu, we conquered many cities, harbay milchamos asinu, we started many wars וכולם לא עשינו אלא בשביל ישראל כדי שיתעסקו בתורה. You know how we built the bridges? You know why we conquered those territories? You know why we started and initiated wars? So the Jewish people could learn Torah. אמר להם הקדוש ברוך הוא כל מה שעשיתם לצורך עצמכם. Who are you kidding? You did it all for yourselves. You did it all for your ambition. תקנתם גשרים ליטול מהם מכס. You know why you made bridges? So you could introduce a toll. That's why you made bridges. It's a big simcha, the Atlantic bridge finally takes E-ZPass. Finally. Big simcha. So why do you make bridges? You know what it costs to go over the George Washington Bridge today? If there weren't enough reasons to move to Florida. Move to Israel, of course, but on the way to Israel, Florida. You know what it costs to go over the George Washington Bridge one way? Seventeen dollars? Seventeen? It's a lot of money. Your daily commute. Okay, whatever it is. Anyway, you know why a kid from Teaneck dated a girl from the Five Towns? That was called geographically undesirable. George Washington Bridge toll, the Triborough toll, gas. Also, you had to George Washington Bridge, Triborough to Manhattan, Triborough, cost of a restaurant Manhattan, parking in Manhattan, back to Five Towns, back to find parking where you couldn't at that hour so you left it and you got a parking ticket. Every date was like a mortgage on a house. Was she worth it? More than worth it. She was more than worth it. The shviger wants to know, was she worth it? Many times over. Many times over. You know why? Someone's got to clean up the vomit. I'm just joking. I'm just joking. No, that's not the reason she's worth it. That's not the reason she's worth it. Many, many, many more times than that. I would give everything and then some. I'd build bridges myself. So why were bridges built? Hashem says to the Malkhus Paras, you didn't build the bridges for the Jewish people. You did it so you can make a toll. כרכים לעשות בהם אנגריא. Cities because you wanted to conquer. Milchamos ani asiti. And wars? You didn't initiate wars, says Hashem. You know who created the wars? Me. השם איש מלחמה השם שמו. We say it in our davening. Hashem says, you think you started the wars? No war starts without my green-lighting it. No war starts without my pressing go. Ad kan, that's the Gemara. Strange Gemara. What a Gemara! Hashem's going to hold the Torah, He's going to say, anybody who took part in this come get your reward. Rome's going to come, give some argument, Hashem's going to say get out of here, get lost you fraudsters. And then Persia's going to come, Hashem's going to say get lost, you were in it for yourselves. But in the get lost, you didn't start the wars, I started the wars. Meforesh HaMaharal, says Rav Yehuda Lowe of Prague, the Maharal of Prague, לכל אומה יש מידה נטייה מיוחדת. Every nation has their inclination. Every nation has their nature. Every nation has their essence. Yetzer hara meyuchad. Every nation has their kryptonite. What's their kryptonite? What's that nation's Achilles' heel? Malkhus Edom Romi, the kingdom of Christendom, what we call Edom, which is the final galus that we still find ourselves in today. The longest galus by far. We spoke about yesterday at the Parsha shiur, that Zos Toras Ha'ola. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, who was suffering, he was only 1700 years into the galus, we're coming up on 2,000 years of this galus. Egypt was 400 years and the second galus was 70 years and this galus is coming up on 2,000 years. This is a long, long galus. And we begin to see the beginning of redemption, as-chalta d'geulah, the return to our land, and as we wrote about last week, Rav Aviner paskens a soldier when they put on their uniform in Israel makes a shehecheyanu. that after 2,000 years we have our own uniform shehechiyanu on getting their weapon because after 2,000 years we have our own tanks and we have our own guns and we have our own navy and we have our own air force and we have our own elite commandos. So that's a shehechiyanu, not because we embrace, not because we celebrate violence, but because the capacity to defend ourselves, that's all the beginning of a redemption. But if October 7th and until now taught us anything, it's that even as we've tasted the beginning of redemption, we are still in the deep darkness of exile. I was texting with a mother of a hostage yesterday and the way she ended the text was a line about how she can't breathe daily because of the pain that she's in and how hard it is to catch her breath on a daily basis. The darkness of the exile we're still in, this is the malchos of edom, of christendom that began in Rome. Why Rome? Because that was the capital of christianity and even though today, perhaps, jury's still out, there is a warmer relationship between christianity and judaism, for 2,000 years it was directly and indirectly responsible all the way through the holocaust as accomplices to mass murder and attempted extermination of Jews. And that's why this exile is still the exile of edom, of Rome. וכן כל הממלכות המאוחרות שבגלות turn the page and also all the later exiles, harevi'is haholeches bedarcheha, this fourth exile has many cycles and many oppressors. This fourth exile of christendom that began in Rome has many oppressors and persecutors along the way: Spanish Inquisition and expulsion, the Germans and the Poles, Ukrainians, there are no shortage of participants who were part of the oppressors of this fourth exile. נטייתם לעשירות ומוסרות לרווחה ונוחיות. And what's their achilles heel, their kryptonite, their yetzer hara? They want wealth and extravagance, they want indulgence. ועל כן עשו שווקים רחבי ידיים ומרחצאות גדולות. So they made bathhouses and colosseums and malls ורצו להכניע לשעבד את כל העולם לצורך תאוותם זו and they want the entire world to submit and surrender to this instinct of commercialism, of industry, of extravagance, of opulence. אך לעתיד לבוא שלא עשו כל זה אלא בשביל ישראל שיעסקו בתורה and they'll claim later that they didn't do it for themselves, they did it all for the Jewish people. ופרס נטייתם לכבוש ולהרוג, you know what Persians love? Conquering and killing. That's what they love. ulaharos ga'avasam ugvurasam, they're not tempted by introducing colosseums and the aesthetic and extravagance and opulence and ostentatiousness. You know what Persians love, their achilles heel? They love to conquer, they love to kill, they love to show their might, they love to control. פרסיים אין להם מנוחה כדוב, the Persians have no peace because they just want to conquer, they're just in conflict, there's tension, there's never peace. malchus yishmael, what about Islam? שנמשכת אחרי פרס ודומה לה בטבע הרציחה נחשבת עמה כמלכות אחת ורוצים הם להכניע את העולם לתאוותם זו and the child or the continuity, the offspring of Persia is Islam. And what is Islam? pere adam yishmael, just wants to conquer and coerce the world to observe them. That's why it's the religion that has jihad. jihad is holy war to force Sharia law on the world. Because it's not, even though the Jewish people, lehavdil, we, the Jewish people, have a vision and an image of what the world should look like. The Jewish people who are obligated in 613 mitzvos and the rest of the world who worship and embrace and accept the same God but are bound only by seven, שבע מצוות בני נח. In our vision, if we are successful, if we can transform the world in God's image, the whole world would be made up of two people: the Jewish people and everyone else. Everyone else also we're all worshipping and loving and recognizing and seeing and speaking to the same Hashem and they have seven obligations to him and we have 613 because we're the honor society, so we have extra obligations. That's our vision. But in order to achieve our vision, we have no holy war. Not only do we not look to conquer or coerce or force or initiate war with anyone. We don't even proselytize. We don't even promote. We're not even out there trying to conquer or coerce or educate or invite. So Ishmael is the continuity of Paras, and Ishmael also, holy war, Jihad, Sharia, trying to get the entire world to surrender to their vision for them. ולכן כבשו כרכים ועשו מלחמות ולהושיב את אדום ושעשו כן בכדי שישראל יעסקו בתורה. And they too are going to claim that their whole agenda in doing all of that is so the Jews can learn Torah. And the truth is, we do have a rich history even in the worlds of Islam. Speak to the Moroccans in our community. You could go visit still Morocco today, and the Jewish community in Morocco and under Islam, and at other periods of our history, there was, there were wonderful relationships and Jews had the ability to practice, and so Islam will say, we were fighting those holy wars and we did it for the Jews so they could sit in the Beit Midrash. ואמר להם השם יתברך מלחמות אני עשיתי ואני יודע לשם מי. Hashem says no no no. No no no. You made the theaters Rome, and you conquered cities Persia, but I started the wars and I know why I did it. So the Maharal is explaining what's going on in this Gemara is Hashem's identifying the Achilles' heel, the Yetzer Hara, the particular temptation and the drive of each nation. But now, the Pnei Menachem asks a series of questions, and we may not get past it today. Today might just be the questions and next week we'll begin the answer. Cliffhanger. והנה אמרם זה ישנם כמה קושיות. I have to keep you coming back. He says I have the following questions. Number one, מה שיאמרו הגויים שעשו שווקים גשרים כבשו כרכים כדי שישראל יעסקו בתורה ניחא. I understand why the nations of the world would, they weren't honest, but I understand why they would advance the argument that the malls and the colosseums and the bridges and the conquering cities was all done for the Jewish people. As the Mefarshim of Torat Chaim, שכל אלו דברים הם תיקון המדינה שהמלך משגיח צרכי עמו, because all these are responsibilities of a government. They're what those in leadership have to do to take care of their people. So even though they did it for themselves, they'll claim they were doing it to take care of the Jewish people. על ידם יכולים לסחור ולהרויח, you can do business and transact, יש מה תועלת גם ללומדי תורה, and that also benefits those who are learning Torah. As the Ra'avad writes, שיתכן שעשו את הגשרים כדי שיעברו ישראל ממקום למקום ללמוד תורה. Why were the bridges there? So Jews could go over them and make their weddings at the Sands. Why were the bridges there? So Jews could traverse them and go from Beit Midrash to Beit Midrash and learn Torah. But מה שיאמרו שעשו מלחמות בשביל ישראל שיעסקו בתורה, they started wars so the Jewish people could learn Torah, how does that make sense? Does a war help Torah learning or hurt Torah learning? אדרבה מונעת היא ומפריעה היא. Do you know the disproportionate number of casualties in this war are of Hesder boys? Do you know how many from the Mechina, the Yeshiva in Eli were killed? I think it's eighteen. In Eli, in Yeruham, in these beautiful Yeshivas, these beautiful beautiful budding Talmidei Chachamim, these Torah learners, because they disproportionately fight in combat units. Nobody's talking about it now, because you're not supposed to talk about it now because in the middle of a war you don't distinguish between soldiers or communities or where they come from. But when it will be over, please God today, when this war will end, there'll be a lot of articles and you'll see how the religious soldiers disproportionately volunteer and fight and are the best fighters and officers and commanders of combat units, because they're fighting for a mission and a cause. They're fighting for eternity and immortality. They're fighting for Hashem. I don't think it's forty percent of those who've been killed are religious soldiers who don't make up forty percent of the army or forty percent of Israeli society. I, my numbers could be off, but I believe it's that high. These boys who otherwise, these boys by the way, who you know that when you sign up for Hesder, it's to do half of your service learning in the Yeshiva and half in the army. And do you know many of them found out that the army needs them and so it's coming out of their learning time. That they won't be going back to learn or they won't be staying to learn before they have to begin their basic training. So a war doesn't help learning Torah, a war harms and hurts and compromises the learning of Torah. Batei Midrash are emptied out, are emptied out. So what's the argument that the Persians were saying we've started wars and we started all those wars only so you could learn Torah? What kind of an argument is that? Secondly, Hakadosh Baruch Hu answers everything you did you did just for yourselves. The bridges were so you could collect tax, conquering cities so you could expand, the colosseums so you could enjoy them, and the wars, that wasn't you, that was me. מודה שמטרת המלחמות בשביל ישראל. Hashem doesn't correct them and say you started those wars for yourselves. He says you didn't start those wars, I did. But it's as if Hashem is conceding for whom were those wars started for the Jewish people? Hashem doesn't correct them that the wars are not for the Jewish people. He says you didn't start the wars, I did. But it's ke'ilu implicitly conceding that the wars are for the Jewish people. Number three. מה פירוש בתשובת השם? What the Hashem answers, I made the wars. Hashem makes everything. There's no bridge that could be built without Hashem wanting it. So why did he only answer that and save that as his answer for the war? You didn't initiate the war, I did. Number three. Number four. And then as if it's not enough that Hashem says it, he has to quote a pasuk to prove it, Hashem. He says you don't start the wars, I do, as it says, shene'emar Hashem ish milchamah. What and if he didn't quote a pasuk, Hashem, then we wouldn't believe him? Then it wouldn't be true? What does the pasuk even mean? Hashem is an ish milchamah? God should be thought of as a man of war? The greatest bracha the Jewish people give each other and that we long for and wish for in the world, the biggest kli machzik bracha is shalom is peace. Peace is what we daven for every time we say our shemoneh esrei, we take three steps back and ask for peace. Every kaddish we ask for peace. Every blessing we give one another is for peace, every blessing we give our children is for peace. Nobody wants more, nobody's worked harder for, nobody's willing to compromise more for peace than the Jewish people. All we want is peace and we learn that from Hashem who's the God of peace. So what does the pasuk mean that God is Hashem is ish milchamah? God is a God of war? God is a God of war? What does it mean that God is a God of war? God is a God of peace. So these are the four questions the Pnei Menachem asks on this gemara. So far today all we did was read the gemara that tells us le'asid lavo when in the future Hashem's going to hold the Torah, come get your reward. The Romans are going to come, he's going to say get lost. The Persians are going to come, he's going to say get lost. Each one why why they should get lost, the Maharal's explaining why they each were advancing their argument because that's who they were, that's how their society was defined. Hashem says get lost. But the four questions, the four questions. Number one, when they said we made the wars so that the Jews could learn Torah, you don't learn Torah when there's a war, you don't learn more Torah. Number two, number two, why does Hashem say I made the wars? Hashem does everything. Number three, why does he not correct them that it wasn't for the Jewish people as if the wars are for Jewish how are wars for Jewish people? And number four, why would Hashem describe himself as an ish milchamah as a person of war? All of this we'll answer next week with the Shem MiShmuel, the Sochatchover Rebbe, about what war is all about and what it's meant to do for us, how it's meant to change us and transform us, how we're meant to connect to it and what we're supposed to do during it. Please God by next week and Thursday morning at the Emunah shiur we'll already be marking the end of the war and the success and the triumph of the war. Should hear besoros tovos today and every day. Amen.
