Transcript
Good morning, Boker Tov, welcome back to our weekly Living with Emuna shiur, so grateful that you're back together as we focus and concentrate in a time in which we desperately need a jolt, an increase, a boost of our emuna, our bitachon, our sense of faith, our sense of confidence that there is a Hashem, He runs the world and that even in difficult, troubling, painful times we can run into His arms. I want to thank our Emuna series sponsors for the year, Dr. Zavi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Ellen Schantz, thank you so much for your generosity. Today's shiur is also sponsored by Aggie Herzstein in honor of Keshet Starr her work for ORA, tremendous work in helping free agunot and prevent them going forward, and refuah shleima שמואל יחזקאל בן פייא גולדה. And today's shiur is also sponsored by Randy and Ed Reichenberg, our dear friends, in honor of their son Corey Reichenberg, his graduation from the University of Florida, Corey, we're proud of you, your classmates, what an achievement, we wish you only good health and success, strength, and tenacity in all your endeavors going forward. I also want to take a personal privilege and dedicate today's learning of Living with Emuna in memory of two very special people in my life whose yartzits are coming up, my grandmother, my Bubby, Ruth Abov, יענטא רחל בת שמואל, my Bubby Ruth Abov, Elizabeth, New Jersey, taught generations of students at the JEC, she was a primer teacher, she taught them to read and write, but she taught me and our family a lot about emuna. Her favorite pasuk, טעמו וראו כי טוב ה׳, even when she lay in the hospital, even when she was sick towards the end of her life she would say, Tamoo u'reoo, just taste and you'll see that God is good. If you think God is good it's because you're not tasting, you're not connected, you're not involved, you're not invested. But if you are invested in a life, a relationship with Him, Tamoo, if you understand, if you taste, ureoo, you would see ki tov Hashem, that Hashem is good. Also in memory of my first cousin who tragically passed away very young last year, Melissa Stein, Missy Stein, מתוקה שרה בת אידל, also a woman of tremendous emuna, she saw Hashem everywhere. At her funeral, her children described on the way to school she would see something, a butterfly, a view, and she would pull over and she would sing to Hashem and recognize Hashem on the way to school, it was everywhere in her life, so we dedicate our learning in their memory as well. We're continuing Rav Itche Meir Morgenstern, Rav Yitzchak Meir Morgenstern's Bayam Derechcha on dveikus, how we can connect, how we can cling. Now last week we spoke about the notion of seeing the light, that sometimes we have this breakthrough moment where there's clarity, where everything makes sense and everything comes together and everything's undeniable, where we have no doubt, we have only certainty, confidence that there's a Ribono Shel Olam, there's a Creator, there's an infinite Being, and He is orchestrating, curating our entire life and we feel that, we see a scene or we hear good news or something works out, everything comes together in such a way that we have a breakthrough, the clouds spread apart and the sunlight comes through. When we talk about emuna in the language of the Mekubalim in the language of Chassidus, when you talk about emuna, when you talk about faith and when you talk about feeling the presence of Hashem, it's described as or, it's described as a light, there's a light that comes through, it illuminates, it brightens, we have a clarity, we can see, we can feel the presence of Hashem. And last week was a time preceding this horrific catastrophe in Meron, in which we were focused on the light, beginning to come out of corona, the miracle of a vaccine, a gift from God, and make no mistake, it is an answer to our tfillos, the vaccine. Everyone should get it, it's the psak of Gedolei Yisrael and Poskim, we davened for a year, end the dying and the death, end the distancing and the pandemic and the quarantine, and Hashem answered, He said here it is, it's safe, go for it, and it's kafui tov, it's a lack of gratitude to Hashem to not take advantage when He answered our tfillah to be suspicious rather than to recognize and embrace. And so we were breaking through with a clarity, the light was coming in and Rav Itche Meir described, this is what we studied last week, that when there is a breakthrough of light, when the clouds spread apart and the light breaks through, shine it in whatever area of life we need it, whatever area of life we need to do avoda, shine that light. So if we want our eating to go from a physical mundane eating to a spiritual transformational experience, shine the light on the act of eating, find Hashem in the cup of coffee, find Hashem in breakfast, lunch and dinner, find Hashem in the act of eating. And Rav Itche Meir gave us several other examples, ahavas Yisrael, if we're struggling to love all Jews, to love all people, to connect, to see the godliness in them, when we have a breakthrough and we feel and see the presence of Hashem, shine that light, take out the magnifying glass and magnify it on the people in our life, see the tzelem Elokim, the godliness in them and feel that ahavas Yisrael, feel that great sense of ahavas Yisrael. And he gave in davening, we're struggling in davening and we're mumbling the words and they don't make sense and we want to get through it as quickly as possible, shine that light, that breakthrough of emuna on the siddur and connect to Hashem through davening. That was the advice, that's what we studied last week. And then none of us predicted and none of us would have imagined, none of us would have believed. that just a day later on Thursday night in Eretz Yisroel in Meron, on the cave, on climbing the mountain to be with רב שמעון בר יוחאי, all of a sudden a tragedy, a horrific, horrific tragedy. 45 people did not leave the mountain. Everyone else, 100,000 went home, 45 did not get on a bus, a car, 45 did not go home. Among them, very young people. Among them, Donny Morris, whose grandparents live in our community, whose family we know, how horrific, how tragic, how relatable to us, a young American yeshiva student in Sha'alvim for the year. It is absolutely devastating. Yesterday I held a Zoom call with our girls in seminary for the year, and a separate Zoom with the boys in yeshiva for the year. And the boys in Sha'alvim described one of their questions was they said, Rebbi, Rabbi, how can I concentrate on learning every time I'm in the Beis Medrash I look over and all I see is Donny's empty chair? 17-year-old boys. 17-year-old boys. A friend. They went to go and to learn, and to play sports, and to go to Machaneh Yehuda, and to eat out, and to have ice coffee, and to tour Israel, and to spend incredible Shabbosim. And now in a Beis Medrash they're asking, how can we concentrate and learn when we look over and all we see is the empty chair? All we see is the empty makom over where Donny used to sit. And the clouds are back, and they're blocking the sun, they're blocking the light. And instead of seeing the hand of Hashem, instead of having a clarity and a certainty and a confidence, instead of being overwhelmed with a feeling that everything makes sense and there's a Ribbono Shel Olam and He's in charge, the dark, dark clouds gather and they try to block that light, and they struggle, they challenge us where we have all kinds of questions and we can't make sense of it. And how do we understand why Hashem would run such a world? And is this Hashem or was this the negligence of people, and how did this come about and why? And why these holy individuals? Why these holy individuals? So I want to share with you something that I read before we go back into the sefer and continue with emuna. I want to share with you, one of the youngest victims of this tragedy in Meron was a 13-year-old boy. His 10-year-old brother and his father were with him, and they were injured but they made it out, and this 13-year-old boy nebach, nebach did not. And at his levaya, the father and the brother spoke. The 13-year-old boy was Yedidya Hayut alav hashalom, one of the youngest victims of Meron. And his father Rav Avigdor Hayut is 36, and the brother, his other son Shmuel Meyer, 10, spoke to the media after the levaya. And here's what the father said. He said, quote, we're here at the levaya of my son. As is known, he was missing from Thursday night until we found out that he was killed immediately and wasn't even evacuated to a hospital. Turning to his son Shmuel Meyer, who was sitting in a wheelchair next to him, he continued, this is my son who lay next to me when we were on the floor with bodies piled on top of us. This is the boy that yelled out Shema Yisrael, Viduy, Abba I'm dying, and here Baruch Hashem he's here. His ankle is sprained, but he's okay. Unfortunately, Yedidya did not survive. He was a tzaddik of a boy, his father said, a yeled kadosh. He wanted me to say something here. If he wanted me to say something here, it would have been one thing. We all have something in common. Right now we're not looking to place blame, we're ma'aminim and we know what Hakadosh Baruch Hu does. He knows what He's doing. It's very painful, but we know that He's running the world. And so if you're struggling and I'm struggling to make sense of it all and to find Hashem, and to have the light break through, listen to the father who lost his 13-year-old son. Listen to a father who went through this traumatic, traumatic Gehinnom. Listen to a father at a levaya with his other son who was injured and he talks we're ma'aminim. Hakadosh Baruch Hu even though it's painful, we know He runs the world. If Yedidya was here now in my place, he would have said one thing: rabotai, let's unite. It's the time, it's the place. When there are tragedies, no one checks which kippa the other one has, or if he has a kippa or not. Everyone helps the other one out. Let's unite. No Jew hate the other, we need to be united. And then the 10-year-old brother in his wheelchair Shmuel Meyer told the reporters the following, and listen carefully. He said, I remember I was in the steps there and I fell and I knew it could be that I wouldn't be here anymore. I yelled Shema Yisroel from my heart. Afterward when I realized that Hashem saved me, the first thing I did was to call to the rescue services to save my father. Afterward I told the police to search for my brother. A Channel 12 news reporter in Israel then asked this 10-year-old, 10-year-old, a 10-year-old boy, you know what 10 years old is? A Channel 12 news reporter asked the 10-year-old boy, what did you feel during those moments? When you were buried under bodies and you were yelling Shema Yisroel and you were fighting for your life, what did you think about, what did you feel during those moments? And listen to the words of a 10-year-old boy Shmuel Meyer. He said, quote, I felt bitachon and emuna. The gasps of the people surrounding him were audible. I saw the video of this interview. The news cameras that were around couldn't believe this 10-year-old boy whose brother was killed and he's being crushed. didn't know if he'd live, and they asked him what did he feel and he said, I felt bitachon and emunah. I felt that only Hashem could save me. There's no one else to believe in, only Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This ten-year-old boy obviously raised by extraordinarily special parents, when put to the test in that moment, Ein Od Milvado, all I felt was emunah and bitachon. And the father is at the funeral of his 13-year-old son says, this is unbearably painful but it's the will of Hashem who's perfect, everything is from him and everything is for a reason. I share this with you because it's very powerful and it resonates deeply for me but because also we can grab onto it, latch onto it, and when we struggle and when we stumble and we're at the risk of falling, when the clouds are gathering, those dark clouds are blocking that light from our belief, our clarity, our confidence that there's a Hashem, we latch onto ten-year-old boys and 36-year-old fathers and we latch onto Holocaust survivors still in our community, in our families and in our lives, and we latch onto those who've been through Gehennom and nevertheless maintained their emunah bitachon, nevertheless find the strength and the tenacity, the resiliency to recognize that there is a God and just because things are painful doesn't mean they're bad. Painful, unbearably painful, unfairly painful, and yet there's a Hashem, he runs the world. And so just last week, one week ago today in our living with emunah, it was all about clarity and light and it was all about how when that light comes through we take our magnifying glass, how we shine that spotlight on the areas of our life that need the avoda, that need us to grow. And this week it's about blocking the clouds and making sure the light can still come through. This week it's about eliminating and spreading the clouds and making sure the light can shine bright, the emunah, the faith, the bitachon, even in these moments when we're tested, even in these moments when we're tested as we spoke about on Shabbos, תמים תהיה עם השם אלקיך. These are Sheva Shabatot Temimot. These seven weeks of counting Sefira every day we're trying to improve and grow in emunah and bitachon. They are seven temimos weeks, seven weeks of trying to be more tamim, trying to be more faithful, more pure, trying to submit and surrender more to Hashem and trying to recognize that not only when it all works out and it all makes sense and it all comes together, when it's easy so to speak to see Hashem and be grateful to him, but in the impossible moments when there's an empty chair in the Beis Medrash, in the impossible moments when there's a child and a grandchild and a husband, a father, a grandfather who are not coming home. In the impossible moments when a group gathers in order to come close to Hashem and to mark the yahrtzeit of רב שמעון בר יוחאי with singing and davening. My daughter who was there described, she said during the singing of Ani Maamin, you have to see this video moments before the tragedy, she felt like Mashiach was imminent, he was going to walk in any moment. She said to Hashem, look down all your children are here, such diversity, they're getting along, we're davening so intensely, we're singing and dancing, Mashiach come. And a moment later, the piercing sounds of the sirens, the ambulances, the stretchers, the pandemonium, and then the casualties and the bodies. And she said Mashiach never felt like he was further away as she too was traumatized by this event. So we daven, we daven, we daven for the victims, they should have an ilui neshama, we daven for the families, we daven for those injured, they should recover, we daven for those who are so young who've lost a friend and are growing up way too quickly. But we also daven that this not, that this not, God forbid, be a stumbling block in lives of emunah and bitachon. We daven that we find the strength of these extraordinary people, the strength of Rav Avigdor Chayut and his son Shmuel Meir, ten years old, who says that in that moment and put to the test, Ein Od Milvado, all he felt was emunah and bitachon and all he has is gratitude to Hashem afterwards with that emunah and with that bitachon. Let's go back to Biyom Dorchecha Rav Itamar. ואם לא עבודה מסוימת, so let's say the light is shining through, let's say there is a breakthrough, let's say you hear these words, you watch the video of that funeral and you realize that even after tragedy one can not only lose faith, one can even grow and gain in faith when you see and latch onto the faith of these extraordinary people. So what do we do? אזי טוב להכנס לפי סדרים קבועים. ולמשל יחשוב בד' מדרגות הסולם. So the light is shining, the light is breaking through and there's no particular area to magnify it, to shine it on. We don't need to work in the area of achila of eating or ahavas Yisrael or loving all Jews or tfila. So what do we do with that light? What do we do with the fact that it's broken through the clouds, that it's shining so bright? He says set aside times for contemplation, for hisbodedus, talk to Hashem from the bottom of your heart. When I spoke yesterday on the Zoom to the young men and young women, I talked to them about three emotions: anger, sadness, and then channeling that into confronting mortality and action and teshuvah. And anger is okay. Anger, so talk to Hashem, hisbodedus. Hashem, I don't understand, because anger means that you believe he's there. We've spoken about this so many times. You're not angry at someone or something who's a figment of the imagination. You're not angry at a fantasy. You're not angry at someone you expect more from. Anger itself is an expression of emuna. Not obligated to get angry or frustrated with Hashem. It's not a mitzva, but if one does, they shouldn't feel guilty as long as they channel that and transform that into coming closer and realizing that just the very fact that you react with that anger means you really believe he's there. Now what? Are you going to talk to him? Are you going to accept him? Are you going to love him? Are you going to embrace him? Are you going to lean into that relationship with him? What do we do and how do we channel that? And the same is true with that sadness. I shared the Rambam in Hilchos Aveil talks about the mitzva that if a person is not sad, chayiv lehisabel and if not, it is middas achzariyus, it's cruel. Sadness is natural, it's real, it's what's warranted. And it's not a contradiction to emuna. You don't say if I really believe and I really have faith, and how could I be sad? This is the will of Hashem. I should be happy for the victims, for the casualties. They've gone upstairs to be with Hashem, I should be happy. No, that's misplaced, it's misguided. One should be sad and grieve and mourn and be broken. That is not in contradiction with believing that everything's from Hashem. We can experience painful things and cry from the pain. What we're not supposed to do is see them as bad. Painful things happen to good people. Bad things don't because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the only one from his perch, Hashem only from his perspective, the omnipotent infinite one only he can know what's good or bad. We know what's painful or pleasurable. And we daven and long for and hope only for the pleasurable. We don't want, we desperately don't want the painful. We know painful and pleasurable, but only he knows what's good or what is bad. So if a person, the light shines through and there's no particular area to focus it on, to magnify it on, then simply set aside time to talk to him. Even if it means you're sharing frustrations or gratitude or hope or protest or objection. ולמשל יחשוב בד' מדרגות הסולם. Set aside time to think about to contemplate the four rungs of the ladder. What are they? Kabbalas ol, accepting that Hashem is the omnipotent being, he runs the universe, fiers de velt. Ahava, love of him, yira, awe of him, dveykus and the effort to cling to him. Bittul hayesh vehishtokekus, to nullify ourselves that there is nothing and we are no one, there is nothing but him, ein od milvado. Bittul, to be mevatel, to nullify, to submit, to surrender, u bittul bemetzius. So these rungs of the ladder, set aside time. You particularly had a emuna growth spurt, you had emuna burst, you went on a trip in the summer and you saw one of the magnificent national parks, you saw incredible views, אין צור כאלקינו אין צייר כאלקינו, God is not only our rock, he's the greatest artist ever, and you have this growth spurt of emuna. Now what? What are you going to do with that? How will it change you, how will it transform you? Do you set aside time every day to think about, to contemplate who is he and who am I and how do I relate to him? Do I feel his presence? היינו שיטה במחשבתו הארת האור האלוקי שתחזק את קבלת עול באופן שתוך כדי שמרגיש את האור יחשוב אני מקבל על עצמי עול מלכות שמים. Person should tilt the light in order to strengthen our sense of kabbalas ol, to be able to מקבל עול מלכות שמים, to accept and to receive the yoke of heaven. Now when do we do קבלת עול מלכות שמים every day? We have a mitzva twice a day, קבלת עול מלכות שמים when we say shema, we take our right hand and we cover our eyes, shema yisrael it's the ir miklat, shema yisrael there are six arei miklat and I think it's the Ohev Yisrael, the Apter Rov who says, the six words of shema are the arei miklat. When we need to run to a place of protection and when we need to run to a place that will take care of us, we need to run to a place when we feel that we're being pursued by thoughts, by attitudes, by ideas, by painful experiences, we run into the six arei miklat, the six words of shema yisrael, we accept קבלת עול מלכות שמים, we recognize the role of Hashem in life, and even though that doesn't relieve the pain, hopefully it gives it purpose and meaning and it gives us confidence that it's not for naught, it's not random, it's not chance, but it's for a reason, קבלת עול מלכות שמים. So what do we do when we're מקבל עול מלכות שמים? When we say shema, what do we do? We're מקבל עול מלכות שמים, we take our right hand and we cover our eyes. Ask any child, why do you cover your eyes when you say shema? What will they tell you? The most popular reason given is that we cover our eyes when we say shema because we don't want to be distracted. We want to be focused. When you say shema, kabbalas ol malchus something so weighty, kabbalas ol malchus, you can think about, meditate and reflect there's a creator, there's omnipotent, there's an infinite being, I'm a gornisht, I'm a nothing, I surrender and I submit to him, he runs, he controls the entire world, I don't even understand him, I can't even describe him, that's how categorically different he is. I don't want to be distracted. So I take my hand and I cover my eyes while I'm doing it. Be'mori ve'rabbi Rav Asher Weiss quotes from the Klausenberger Rebbe who says that no, the reason that we cover our eyes when we say shema is sometimes in order to do קבלת עול מלכות שמים, you need to close your eyes to what you're seeing around you. How can you witness, how can you watch, how can you see the shiva for forty-five people murdered, died, shouldn't say murdered, died tragically in this catastrophe? How can you see that and say you... Yes there's a God and I love Him and I embrace Him. Sometimes in order to be able to be מקבל עול מלכות שמים, we have to cover our eyes. It seems so incompatible with the world that we live in. Sometimes it feels the presence of Hashem, His goodness, His graciousness, His gifts to us, it just doesn't make sense. It's incompatible with the world I'm watching, with what I'm seeing. So while we say Shma in order to do קבלת עול מלכות שמים, we cover our eyes. Sometimes we need to cover our eyes in order to remember that He's here and He's in charge. So when that light breaks through, we should shine it, we should focus it, we should magnify it on our effort for קבלת עול מלכות שמים. כי אני מרגיש כעת איך הכל זה רק השם יתברך. To lean in, to reflect, to meditate, to focus in this moment that all there is is you. Hashem, You're everything. That's all that there is. That's all that there is. Science, nature, data, statistics, people, everything is an extension, everything is an expression of you. ומציאותו ברורה לי בבהירות גמורה. And that I have a clarity, I have an ultimate clarity that He's here, I see Him, I know Him as much as I see or know anything. ואחר כך ירגיש אהבה מכוח האור. And afterwards feel the love from the strength of the light. ובאופן כזה האדם מתרומם באמת מהרגשת האורות. So therefore you can bottle and you can capture, you have that breakthrough, you have the emuna growth spurt, you have this light that's shining, that's breaking through the clouds, bottle it, capture it, shine it, and take a kabbala, take upon oneself a practice to be able to make it continue, to be able to make it last. We move on now to Perek Daled, on the fourth chapter, הדרכים לעורר הלב לדבקות. What are the ways that if we're not feeling it, how can we arouse, how can we awaken the heart to feel a sense of connection, of love, of clinging to Him? לפעמים אדם מרגיש יבש. Sometimes it's not even a tragedy which drives one away from a feeling of emuna. Sometimes it's just a feeling of being yavesh, spiritually dehydrated, burnt out, disconnected. Who's not at the end of Corona, at the end of Covid? Who's not feeling burnt out, dehydrated, disconnected, fatigued, tired of it all, struggling to focus, to connect? ורוצה לעורר ליבו להרגיש זו דבקות. But we want to wake up, we want to arouse ourselves, we want to wake up in order to see and to feel and to connect with Him. ויש לזה כמה דרכים. So Rav Itche Meir in Biyandecha here suggests several paths, several strategies in order to wake up the sense of dveikus even when we feel like we're dehydrated, we're dried out, we're burnt out. Number one is the power of music. Power of music and its role in emuna. יש כוח חזק בניגונים קדושים. There is an incredible power, an incredible strength in holy music, לעורר הלב להשם יתברך, in order to wake up the heart to serve to feel Him, וכמו שכל אחד יודע בנפשו. We all know that. Who hasn't heard a song that stirs the soul? Who hasn't been moved to tears? Who hasn't been transported in time and to a different place? Who hasn't felt something within themselves to know that I have a neshama? Now notice he says nigunim kedoshim. We're talking about holy tunes, holy melodies, holy words, we're not talking about the rock and the pop and the essentially Jewish club disco music, talking about the holy nigunim, holy nigunim that stir our soul, that open our heart, that make us feel alive. ולכן ראוי לכל עובד השם יתברך, everyone who serves Hashem, שיש לו כמה ניגונים ברורים, should have their go-to songs, ובכל פעם שירצה להיכנס לדבקות, should have that nigun that moves us, that tune, that song that moves us. Tried and true, tested, we know, it moves us. It can move us to tears, it moves us emotionally, can put a smile on our face, it makes our feet dance. יוכל לעורר הלב על ידי ניגון. How many times am I down and out, sad, in a bad mood, and you go to a simcha? And then all of a sudden the music comes on and everyone hits the dance floor, and you hit that dance floor and the music is moving you, and you lose yourself in that music, in that dancing, in that simcha. I often get choked up on a dance floor. I don't visibly start crying, I don't have to go to the corner and cower, but I will often get choked up on a dance floor. It wakes something up inside us. It moves us, it lifts us, it enriches us. The power of music. So you don't have to wait to get to the next simcha, you don't have to wait to be on a dance floor. What are your go-to songs? Who do you listen to? The contemporary great Ishay Ribo, the paytan of our time, put on his songs, they move you, they open up the heart. Eitan Katz, Shlomo Katz, Shlomo, there's so many, I don't want to leave anybody out. But whose songs open up your heart and they make the tears start to fall down your cheek? Who has that music? music. That's the playlist, the Emuna playlist, that when you feel dehydrated, disconnected, when you feel dried out and fatigued, you put on that playlist and it wakes up within ourselves that sense I have a Neshama. I have a Tzelem Elokim and it's longing, it's reaching, it's stretching for something higher, for something more. וגם בזמן התפילה ולימוד התורה הקדוש and also during Davening and while learning, אם רוצה לעורר לבו להשם יתברך if you want to wake up your heart to serve Hashem, ינגן את המילים הקדוש בניגון ראוי then sing the words with a Niggun. Sing the words with a Niggun. Sometimes in Davening you don't just say the words, you're humming, there's a melody, the words are moving you. Why is it that when we sing Hallel it moves us? We feel like it's Yom Tov, it's a different time. There are parts of Davening that we're accustomed to singing and those parts of Davening we're most connected to, we're most focused on, they have the greatest impact on us. When you're learning Torah, our greatest forever have associated the learning with a Niggun. First of all, it helps one remember what they're learning better, it embeds itself better if it's done בתוך שמחה של מצוה with the joy of singing, but it also opens up the heart and the Neshama while you're learning Torah. You don't just learn Torah but you give a Niggun, you give a little something that all of a sudden changes, switches it up, moves it, makes it real, makes it embed and plant itself inside us. ינגן את המילים הקדוש בניגון הראוי. Sing the words with a certain Niggun ובעזרת השם יראה נפלאות and with Hashem's help you'll see wondrous things. You go from being dehydrated, you go from being practically, practically expired to come back to life, to coming alive. End of a Ta'anis, you drink something, you feel it go down the pipe, but you come back to life. It doesn't take long. By the end of the Ta'anis, you're dehydrated, you're exhausted, you have no energy, you're passing out, you can't focus, you have a massive migraine. One cup of coffee, one cup of water, one Gatorade, one Powerade and you're back to life. So same with the Neshama. When a Neshama feels like it's teetering, it's hanging on the edge, the Neshama's struggling, it's being disconnected, it's dehydrated, it's fatigued, play that music. There's a reason that in Sefira until Lag Ba'omer, depends which Sefira you're holding, the first or the second, but there's a reason that when we are collectively mourning or private people individually mourning, one of the prohibitions is listening to music. Music gladdens the heart, music makes us come alive, music makes us happy, music moves us and you're not allowed to listen to music. The three weeks, the period of Sefira, the period of Aveilus, one can't listen to music. Now you could get into a Halacha. Technically, halachically speaking, the music you can't listen to is live music that makes you dance, happy live music. We all know there are Kumzitz on Tisha B'Av. NCSY has a Kumzitz at the Kotel. We know that there are the ability to sing and to be moved by Niggun even during the three weeks, even during Sefira. Slow music that's going to move and stir the soul while you're a personal private Avel or collectively a national mourning of the three weeks or Sefira, such slow moving soulful music is permissible. It's really live orchestra band music that makes you dance, that's what technically is prohibited. Some are strict not to listen to any music at all, fast or slow, live or recorded, but technically that is the Halacha. So even the mourner is able to tap into awakening and comforting and strengthening the soul with a Niggun, with a Niggun. At Adani Morrow's funeral they sang, his classmates, the Yeshiva Bachurim, the Yeshiva boys of Sha'alvim, they sang. They sang at Ari Fuld Hashem yikom damo's funeral while waiting for it to begin, the entire huge crowd was singing. I was at Rav Shlomo's funeral in Manhattan and there was a Kumzitz that was singing Rav Shlomo tunes. Even in those moments, especially in those moments in grieving, in loss, in pain, the music, the soul, the soulful Niggun can comfort, can strengthen, can open up the Neshama, can open up the Neshama. But not only then. When Davening, when learning, have that playlist. There's so many playlists. My wife has the best Apple Music playlists, she's shared it with half the community, she maintains it, she's like the DJ of Klal Yisrael. She's got a great playlist. So you need to have a playlist for the soul. There's a playlist for the Yom Tov, Shabbos playlist, a Yom Tov, a Purim playlist, a Chanukah playlist. There's the new songs playlist, there's the oldie but goodies playlists. There are countless playlists. We live in the generation, who ever heard of a playlist? When we were young you had to suffer through the entire record, you had to suffer through the whole tape because there were two songs you liked, you had to play the whole tape. Today it's a playlist. It's a world of playlists. You only do what you want. You cut and you paste, you eliminate that which is you don't want. Today it's a life and a world of playlists. So we have all types of playlists, you need an Emuna playlist, an Emuna playlist. What are the songs? What do we listen to? What do we turn on? What is it when our soul needs to be awakened, aroused, inspired, it needs to be reminded that we have a soul? What is our go-to playlist? What is the music we turn to? וזו עצה ידועה צריך להתרגל להשתמש בה בכל עת. Everybody knows this, says Rav Itche Meir. Everybody knows the power of music, the power of song. It's not novel, it's not new. Everybody knows it, everybody. Everybody's experienced it, but we need to be reminded of it because we don't always think of it as the salve for the pain. We don't always think about it as the antidote, we don't always think about it as the medicine that we need. We think about a lot of things to awaken Emunah. Learn this, or listen to that Shiur, or go to that place, or meet with that inspiring person. But we don't necessarily say, you know what you need to do? You need to listen to soulful music. You need to sit and just be moved and just listen and have it open up your heart. Have it absolutely open up your heart. So that is suggestion number one. Suggestion number one is Koach HaNigunim. The power of music, of soul, not Nigunim. The power of Nigunim Kedoshim. The power of holy music and holy song, of holy tunes and holy melodies to open up the soul. Im Yirtzeh Hashem, hopefully everybody should make that playlist. And the light should shine, the clouds should dissipate once again, and the light of Emunah, the light of Hashem should shine through. We should feel its warmth, and we should be able to see its brightness and have a clarity not only about Him but a clarity in our lives. Hakadosh Baruch Hu should bring strength to all those who so desperately, desperately need it. And we should Im Yirtzeh Hashem only have Simchas. Join us tonight 9 PM. We're going behind the Bimah with the great Reb Benji Levine, the grandson of Reb Aryeh Levine, the Tzaddik of Yerushalayim. And come to learn, how did Benji Levine end up growing up in New Jersey and going to YU? His grandfather was Reb Aryeh Levine, his uncle was Reb Elyashiv, his cousin was Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky, Reb Chaim's wife. How did he end up? And he used to spend summers and now he lives in Israel, he's dedicated his life to outreach and to Jewish unity. He's an amazing person with incredible stories. Can talk to him forever. I hope you'll join us tonight 9 PM on Behind the Bimah. If you'd like to sponsor an episode of a Shiur in Emunah or anything else, lee@biersonline.org, l-e-e@biersonline.org. If you don't yet subscribe to our YouTube channel, please subscribe, you'll be notified in real time every time we go live to learn together. And if you're listening on podcast, please rate and review. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.
