Transcript
Okay good morning boker tov as we always say it should be a good morning im yirtzeh Hashem it should be a boker tov may it be a day we hear בשורות טובות ישועות ונחמות we should hear good news and good tidings. I have to tell you though you know every shiur I every day since October 7th I shared this with you every day since October 7th I struggle with saying good morning gut Shabbos good day good night as if it's a statement of fact it's good. It is good, it's filled with good, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is tov u'meitiv he does good, he gives good, and there is so much good within the bad, around the bad, as a result of the bad, even the bad is good, but there is so much good we should acknowledge it, we should be grateful for it, and we should have the ability and capacity to say it's a good morning and a good day and a good night. But we've tried to transform what were ordinary mundane often really insincere greetings and to transform them into tefillos into prayers. So instead of just ritually saying to someone when you first see them in the day good morning, to turn it into a prayer it should be a good morning. May it be a good morning. Good night, may it be a good night. Rest well, sleep well, we should wake up to good news, it should be a good night. We can transform and elevate even the mundane pedestrian greetings and I say insincere not as a judgment of us but a reality nobody really means it or pays attention or has kavanah when you see someone you say good morning how are you you don't really mean the how are you you could really care less imagine someone would answer that question how obnoxious it would be how am I thank you so much for asking I'd like to tell you you know my mother my father the world is unfair at work this is going you say I didn't really mean it I didn't really mean it I was just passing you and that's what you're supposed to do so I was just saying good morning but I didn't really mean it so imagine the world we could live in if we can elevate and transform and be fully present and be mindful and all of our greetings we turn them into shtikel tefillos into little prayers it should be a good day gut voch you know make havdalah gut voch a mazeldika voch a parnassadika voch you wish him a gut voch until Tuesday Wednesday today this morning at the end of the shir shel yom some of you davened some of you haven't yet davened the end of the shir shel little spoiler alert the end of the shir shel yom on Wednesday has Lechu Neranena why because Wednesday's already erev Shabbos the truth is you know when erev Shabbos begins you don't want to hear this but you know when erev Shabbos begins right after havdalah motzei Shabbos Rav Itche Meir by Am Darkecha Rav Itche Meir by Am Darkecha says motzei Shabbos you sit down you made havdalah time to come up with the menu for next Shabbos time to come up with the guests for next Shabbos it's time to already start to work on because you know what happens at motzei havdalah it's already yom rishon you finished havdalah three stars are out Shabbos is over oy Shabbos you know what it is yom rishon le'Shabbos so you're already planning it's yom rishon le'Shabbos you're already planning it's the first day it's already erev Shabbos erev Shabbos begins on motzei Shabbos after havdalah but technically halachically erev Shabbos begins when on Wednesday yom revii le'Shabbos one could make havdalah until yesterday till Tuesday if a person for whatever reason couldn't make havdalah was exempt from havdalah our precious soldiers they're in tanks they're at battle they're in war you've seen some of the incredible images and videos of havdalah in Gaza motzei Shabbos kiddush in Gaza but let's say a soldier's fighting his battle he doesn't say to the enemy timeout put down the grenade the RPG I gotta make havdalah he can't make havdalah nebach and he can't till Sunday he's fighting Monday so you have till Tuesday to make havdalah Wednesday we say Lechu Neranena at the end of shir shel yom because what are we doing Wednesday morning we're starting Kabbalat Shabbos Lechu Neranena karbach non-karbach however you want to sing it but Lechu Neranena you begin you begin Lechu Neranena Kabbalat Shabbos begins on Wednesday morning so anyway we say gut voch until Tuesday shavua tov have a good week so that too don't just make it some mundane pedestrian empty mindless greeting gut voch gut voch gut voch say it should be a gut voch it should be a gut voch not just now because we're in the middle of a war but for the rest of our lives let October 7th have changed us and transformed us that when we say good morning and good night and gut voch we're not just saying some empty mindless greeting we're offering a shtikel tefila a little prayer it should be a gut voch it should be a good week she'yishama besoros tovos it should be a good week yesterday was a good day yesterday was a good day Hamas suffered two losses yesterday in Beirut we killed a commander and the president of Harvard Hamas suffered two losses yesterday two big losses so and Hamas should suffer even more losses today and tomorrow and we should eliminate them all together. It should be a Gut Voch. It's not just Gut Voch, it should be a Gut Voch. So why am I telling you all this? I gotta get to our sponsors, but why am I telling you all this? I think it can elevate and enrich us if we can transform our greetings, our interactions into Tfillos. But also, it doesn't happen by itself. Because you wish a Gut Voch doesn't mean it will be a Gut Voch. Because you say good day, may it be a good day doesn't mean it'll be a good day. What are you doing to make it a good day? What are you contributing to make it a Gut Voch, a Shavua Tov? You can't passively sit back as a spectator and wait for Hashem to bring that redemption, to repair the world, to bring hostages home, to change things. He's waiting for us. He's inviting us. Every day that is not yet the day that we want, we long for, that doesn't have the result that we're so desperately waiting for, it's because we're not adequate, we're not worthy, we haven't done what we need to do. I don't know if that's how you feel, that's how I feel. Every headline I read, every morning we wake up, every night in the middle of the night that we check and there's another soldier Chalila, Rachmana Litzlana lost his life? It's because our Tfilla is not done. Our efforts, our actions, our Achdus, our initiative, our unity, it's incomplete. So all of this is by way of announcing that at the end of Shiurim as we do every day, every Shiur, please stay, complete all of Sefer Tehillim. The more people that stay, the shorter it takes. You take a few Kapitlach and we finish all of Sefer Tehillim a few times in a few minutes. Do you know the impact that has? You know how that moves the cosmos? Do you know how that penetrates and pierces the heavens, the Ribbono Shel Olam? Do you know that's our part, that's our mission, that's what we do? So we don't just say oh, may it be a good morning, now I'm off to yoga. May it be a good morning, going to the supermarket. May a good morning, I'm going off to work. May it be a good morning, I have a manicure scheduled. Enjoy all those things, God bless, it's beautiful, it's great, enjoy. But may it be a good morning and I'm going to make it a good morning because I'm staying to stay Tehillim. I'm going to make it a good morning because I'm going to check in, I'm going to text somebody in Israel going through a hard time. I'm going to make it a good morning because I'm going to reach into my wallet and I'm going to sponsor another meal for a family whose husband is still in Miluim for the last three months. I'm going to make it, you can't just wait spectator, watch from the sidelines and hope that a good day will fall from the heavens. What are you doing to make it a good day? What are you contributing? How are you participating? What are you doing to influence it into a good day? Tehillim is one of those things. And that we have a Mesorah for. I'm going to get to the sponsors, we're going to get to Emuna, we're going to get to the emails. Just relax, just sit tight. We're going to get there in one second. But and I mentioned this yesterday in the Parsha Shiur too where we're beginning Sefer Shemos this Shabbos. Shemos. Sefer Shemos. This is a very auspicious time of the year. Shemos is when we begin Shovavim. Shovavim Tat this year is the Navi uses this expression Shuvu Banim Shovavim. Shovavim an acronym שמות וארא בא בשלח יתרו משפטים. The first Parshiyos of the Book of Exodus of Shemos, the acronym of the name, the first letter of each of the names of the first Parshiyos, the Torah portions of this book spell Shovavim, Shuvu Banim Shovavim. It's a time that we come back, it's a time that we come close, it's a time of tremendous growth spurt. It's a high intensity time. I told you before there an exercise was introduced a few years ago, the notion of the High Intensity Interval Training. That's the workout you skip, it's the hit, HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training. What does that mean? It means it's hard to maintain a high intensity all the time so you have spurts. You do high intensity and then recovery, high intensity and then recovery. When I first saw that, there's a whole, I haven't been there but a whole gym and a whole workout methodology that's based on this High Intensity Interval Training called I think Orange Theory. I wrote an article that in Yiddishkeit, in Ruchnius, we also have High Intensity Interval Training. We have periods where we are pushing ourselves and then we have recovery, we push ourselves and then we have recovery. Turns out it's a Yid, some Jewish woman who started that gym and someone showed her the article and she liked the Vort. I don't know. High Intensity Interval Training so Shovavim is a high intensity interval שמות וארא בא בשלח יתרו משפטים. It's a leap year so we also have Terumah, Tetzaveh. Shovavim Tat. High interval intensity. Push, push, push. We got it. We can do it. We can do it. I'm not like the spin teacher who's you know, whatever, you got it and push and we own it and who do you own and kill the day and whatever, I don't know where you go to school to learn all the things to yell to motivate people to keep it going and keep up the cadence and make it happen and I don't know how you do that for Tehillim and for learning and for Midos and for Shalom Bayis and for parenting, Chinuch, but you got it and we can do it and it's in us and kill the day and slay the day and transform your day and own the day and whatever all the all the motivational Leshonos and Shprach is. So apply it to spirituality, to Ruchnius. We got it. Shemos, Va'eira. says in the Shinover the Divrei Yechezkel, in all these sefarim, that you know what else it's an acronym for שמות וארא בא בשלח יתרו משפטים, Shovavim, this is a high interval, push, push, push, this is it. You were going to delete those apps from your phone, don't wait, do it today. You're getting off social media? Today, do it today. You were going to be a nice person, patient at home, you were going to work really hard and make a pledge and actually keep it this time, not to raise your voice, not to grow impatient, not to create a fight where there does not have to be one, not to prolong it when you can, not be in your and stand on ceremony. Whatever it is that you were going to work on, whatever pledge or promise you took, you're going to daven, you're going to add Mincha, you're going to look in the Siddur, not walking around, you're going to stand still for Asher Yatzar, you're going to drive carpool and never raise a voice no matter what's happening. Whatever Kabbalah you took on, whatever, this is it, this is the high interval, this is it, שמות וארא בא בשלח יתרו משפטים Shovavim, this is the time. But you know what else it stands for? Listen carefully, because then you'll stay for Tehillim. What does it stand for? The opening words of our parsha, Ayleh Shemos, these are the names, בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה of the Jewish people, not Asher Ba'u who came, Haba'im that are still coming, we're still coming, we're still going to Mitzrayim, Metzar, we're still in a tight and urgent and crisis place, we still have enemies who are trying to close in on us, we're still ba'im Mitzrayma, that wasn't a one-time event in history, it's not Asher Ba'u a long time ago, it's Haba'im, it is something which is ongoing. Yishmael and Yitzchak, Esav and Yaakov, this is something, it's our journey, it is our narrative, it is our ongoing story. But what is the acronym? אלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים, sof teivos, the last letter of each of those words spells the word Tehillim. Tehillim. The roshei teivos, the first letter, Shemos is a shin, Bnei is a beis, Yisrael is a yud, Haba'im is a hay, shivya means hostages. You know how you get out of captivity? You know how you bring hostages home? Tehillim. Tehillim. The first letter of each word is hostages, the last letter of each word spells Tehillim. How do you bring the hostages home? How do you end this war? How do we get out of our Mitzrayim, our metzar, our tight place, our closing in? Hamas on one side, Hezbollah on the other, Iran on the other, the president of Harvard, Baruch Hashem, out, MIT, one down, two to go, MIT left, how do we, how do we get it done? Tehillim. Of course it's our precious soldiers, of course there's advocacy and lobbying, of course I hope you listened last week and signed up to get Chaveirus status so you know who to write letters to every minute of the day, how to make that difference. But behind it all, what will be successful for all of it is Tehillim. Shivya, you want to end the shivuy, the shevi, you want to end the hostages, whether literally the hostages who we're still waiting to bring home, it can't get old, we spoke about this last week, for these hostages it's not old. One of the hostages who was released, this young woman who was interviewed, spoke about how hard it was to leave, how joyful she was knowing she'd be reunited with her family, but how sad it was to realize how many people she was leaving behind and knowing from her experience their ongoing and continued plight, being moved from being held in a house to going underground into a dark, do you know what it does to your eyes, to your orientation, to be in a dark place in a tunnel, not for hours, for days, for weeks, for months? Deprived of food, deprived of love, deprived of the ability to daven, to dream, to see light, to get fresh air. It can't get old, the plight of the hostages, until every last one is brought home. We have to keep saying the Tehillim, sof teivos, to be able to bring home those who are bishivya, the roshei teivos, אלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים. So embedded in the opening of our parsha is the formula, how do we bring them home, how do we bring home what are the first letter of each word with the last letter of each word? You bring home the shivya with the Tehillim. Please stay afterwards. I want to thank our Emuna series sponsors, Dr. Zavi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut, in memory of Bella's mother, Dr. Ellen Schanzer. This morning's shiur is also sponsored by Lenny and Tanya Peder in honor of the birth of their daughter, Lily Eve, she should grow up to be imbued with faith and inspired by the Living with Emuna shiur when she's growing up, i'm still giving the shiur? Wow. Okay. B'ezras Hashem, halevai, halevai, so mazel tov on that birth. Thank you for that generosity and for that sponsorship. So that's our Tehillim, it makes a difference, it matters, that's what we contribute. Contribute from your wallet, we need resources, we need to make a difference, contribute by texting or calling, contribute by going, those who can, but contribute by davening. Last week's parsha, the end of Sefer Bereishis, when Yaakov is giving brachos to his children, he gives brachos to Yosef's children and then he says to Yosef, and I am bequeathing, I am gifting... So I conquered Shchem, Nablus? Is that how you say Shchem? I took Shchem and I'm giving it to you Yosef, it's for you and for your family. Enjoy. Enjoy. Not everyone around Shchem got that memo that it belongs to us. Can't exactly go to Kever Yosef safely today. Sometimes you can. Every once in a while when I'm in Israel I get invited with an armed escort, a group of people going to Kever Yosef to Shchem. Not everybody got the memo that it's ours. We are the original owners. Yaakov conquered it. The Torah testifies that it was bequeathed, it was gifted to Yosef and we are the children of Yosef. It's ours. We are the indigenous people of Shchem. It belongs to us. We're not occupiers and we're not colonialists. We are the indigenous people of the city of Shchem. But how does Yaakov say that he got it? How did he take it from the Emori? Becharbi ubechashti with my sword and my bow. Sword and bow? Yaakov didn't conquer Shchem. Who conquered Shchem? Shimon and Levi. Not only that, Yaakov doesn't judge them so favorably for it. In our parsha last week, Vayechi, he says you impetuous people. My kinderlach, my children, you risked it all. You put us in danger when you went and started up with Shchem. Were you crazy? It worked out well. So not only did he not do it, he's critical of his sons who did. And now he's taking credit for it? That's rich. Asher lakachti that I took becharbi ubechashti. So the Onkelos the Targum translotes, translates, betzlusi ubivousi I conquered Shchem. You know how? With my prayers, with my tfillos. We won't take the time now, last Shabbos we quoted the Meshech Chochma of Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk. Why did Yaakov use two metaphors, two allegories? My sword and my bow correspond with two types of prayer. Just say, I was responsible. First of all, what was Yaakov saying? He was saying you might have been on the front line. You put on the uniform. You took the physical weapon. You went in and you fought. But you know why you were successful? You know what brought the triumph and the victory? My tfillos, my prayers. Anytime we do anything with our yadayim, it is the kol kol Yaakov which is responsible. It's the combination of the two. It can't be one without the other. Yaakov knows that if Yaakov sat back and davened, let Shchem magically fall in our hands. That's lemala min hateva, that's not going to happen. We don't daven for a nes, we don't daven for a miracle. We can and only should daven for things that can happen and be explained through natural means, through human initiative. So Yaakov understands it's the combination. You Shimon and Levi, you had to pick up your weapon and go and fight. But I, it was up to me, my tfillos behind it are what accomplished it. It was my tfillos that are what did it. And it's only that combination, betzlusi ubivousi. So similarly right now, our soldiers are on the front line, they're fighting. But we have to daven. We are giving them the energy and the koach. We are giving them the military advantage. The military advantage is not only because of the technology and the drones and the equipment and the generosity of this great country we live in that we should never take for granted, need to continue to work for the US support of Israel, 13, 14 billion dollars worth of military equipment. But you know where the real military superiority comes from? It's not just the scopes and the drones. It's not just the better guns and the tanks and the artillery. It's the tfillos. It's the tfillos. And the Meshech Chochma says tzlusi uvousi means there's what's in the siddur, there's what's in the Tehillim. There's the text, the liturgy, the template that you just recite. Fine, Goldberg guilted me in. What could I do? Everyone was watching. I had to stay. I want my kids to have shidduchim. I had to stay to say the Tehillim after the Emuna share. What could I do? He guilted me into it. But you know what? I mumbled it. I was really thinking about my shopping list or the manicure or the mall or the beach or the walk. My head was elsewhere. Okay, so even when your head is elsewhere, I could care less if I guilted you into it, that works for me. If that's the only reason. Your kids' shidduch, whatever other reason, that's fine. Peer pressure. But you could say the Tehillim, you open up the siddur and it works even if you're not focused and mindful. But says the Meshech Chochma, Rav Meir Simcha, that there has to be a second type of tfillah. The tfillah that comes from our heart, that we author from our heart. It's the ongoing conversation that we're having with Hashem throughout the day. הלואי שיתפלל אדם כל יום כולו. From when you wake up in the morning you say I'm opening Times of Israel or whatever you look at. Hashem, please, let there not be a bad headline. You close the Times of Israel and say Hashem, let this be the last headline reporting another loss. It's the tfillah that when you get in the car, Hakadosh Baruch Hu let me get the green light. Let me not kill my kid on the way to carpool. I don't mean because I got in an accident. I mean let me not kill my kid on the way to carpool. Hashem, let everything go smoothly and it's the conversation we're having with Hashem throughout our day. And that tfillah says the Meshech Chochma, there's That has to come from your heart. That has to be individualized, personalized, sincere. That's you. And that is likened not to a sword but to a bow because a bow, the tighter you pull it towards you, the closer it is to your heart, when you release it, the farther it travels. The more it goes on target. If we want those tefillos to hit the target that is Hashem, if we want it to go far to get all the way up to the heavens to penetrate Shamayim, then we have to pull it tight, tight, tight, tight, tight. And it's not easy. The archer who pulls back that bow... Once summer I went to camp and I got into archery. And I came home and I made my parents buy me a bow and arrow and I set up a target in the backyard and it lasted for like five minutes. And then it just took up space in the garage. And for the rest of my life, my parents and family made fun of me, then they handed off that mesorah to my wife and children. Then whatever I get into I get very excited about, I get very into it. And it may not all last until I get into the next thing. So now the mesorah of my family got passed to Baruch Hashem my amazing wife and children that they will say when I get excited about something, "Is that your bow and arrow? That's your bow and arrow." Anyway, as a former archer for about five minutes, I can tell you that when you pull back the bow, it's tight, it's taut, there's tension. It's hard. That's half of it. If it were so easy, anybody could do it. It takes muscle. It's hard to pull it, pull it, pull it, pull it back. It's hard to daven. It's hard. When you're getting in the car, when you're putting in the challah, when you're going to argue in the courtroom, when you're negotiating the business deal, when you're negotiating your marriage or a relationship, shidduch, it's hard. So you're pulling back the bow, it's hard, it's tense, it's taut. It's hard. But the tighter you pull it, the closer to your heart, the more sincere, the more present you are, the more personalized you make it, when you let go, the farther it will fly. The more it will hit the target of where we want it to go, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's rachamim, Hashem's mercy. That's where we want it to go. So that's our mission. בצלותי ובבעותי בחרבי ובקשתי, our tefillos. תהלים אלה שמות בני ישראל. You want to bring back the shivya, it has to be with Tehillim. We'll get into our text. But I mentioned on Shabbos that last week one of the soldiers that we lost tragically, Ephraim Jackman, Hashem Yikom Damo. 21-year-old soldier. Can you believe there's a Hesder Yeshiva, there's a city in the south of Israel called Yeruham whose name means Hashem's mercy. But it's experienced anything but mercy because that one yeshiva, a Hesder Yeshiva where bachurim, young men learn Torah and also go serve. Eight, eight soldiers just from that one yeshiva. Eight just from that one yeshiva. And one of them, Ephraim Jackman. So when my sister-in-law went to go pay a shiva call, he mentioned that the family listens to our shiurim including Living with Emunah, which I didn't know and of course touched me very deeply. So I reached out to connect, feeling a connection just by that fact. And he wrote me back the following, the father, Sammy Jackman. He wrote your shiur snippets have been giving my wife a lot of chizuk during the war. Thank you. Tefillah was very important to Ephraim. He worked on it a lot. He wouldn't talk while wearing tefillin. And listen to what he writes: In Gaza, he woke himself early every day so he could daven without distractions and learn Daf Yomi. Can you imagine? A soldier in Gaza. He had every excuse in the world to not daven at all. Hashem, I'll catch you another time. In this circumstance, in this place, how I'm living. They don't take their boots off to go to sleep when you're in Gaza. You don't eat normally in Gaza. You don't really ever close your eyes and fall into a deep sleep in Gaza. Enemies are lurking, snipers, roadside bombs, ambushes. But not Ephraim Jackman. He woke up early every day in Gaza so he could daven. Not just so he could daven, so he could daven without distractions. He was the embodiment of the Sifra Ve-sayafa, which means with the book and the sword. The whole Jewish way that we fight is with the book and the sword. With charbi u'v'kashti, the sword and the bow, which both means literally and figuratively, also the allegory of bitzlosi u'v'baosi with our prayers. He picked up the siddur, the weapon of the Jewish people and davened, and then he put it down and he picked up the IDF weapon and he went and fight and paid the ultimate price with that fight when he gave his life, Hashem Yikom Damo. The neshama should have an aliyah. Doesn't need an aliyah. It's in the highest place. These kedoshim, the neshamos are in the highest place. They don't even need an aliyah. They can't go any higher than where they are, than where they are. So that we don't pick up the other weapon. We're not on the front line. We can send the money. So soldiers have what they need, we can send the meal, make the barbecue, write the letters that they cherish and consider it to be their body armor. We're not picking up that weapon, but every one of us have this weapon. We have the weapon of Tehillim. We have the weapon of Tzulusi u’ba’usi, not only what appears in the words, the template, the text, but it comes from our heart, from our heart, sincere to cry, to scream, to yell. That's what changed things in Mitzrayim, what got us out of that first exile, the first galus. We were sick and tired. We didn't even use words. We just screamed. We just moaned and groaned and krechtzed and we just said it's enough, get me out of here, I can't take it, you're the only one, you're the solution. I surrender, I submit, you. Hashem said good enough. I don't need you to write a beautiful poem, I don't need you to write prose, I don't need you to write a Piyut. No problem. You screamed, you cried, you moaned, you groaned, it's real, it comes from your kishkas from inside you. Where does a groan come from? It comes from inside you. The breath, it comes from inside you. The words, they can come from the lips and beyond. That's surface, that's superficial. That can come from the lips and beyond. But the krechtz, the groan, the Zaka Gedola U'marah, that comes from inside us, that comes from the deepest places. And that's our job and that's what we're doing and that's what this is all about. That's what this is all about. Okay, let's finish this piece Rav Druck, you have in front of you. Hakol Kol Yaakov, hashgacha pratis story, I have emails, I'll tell you a quick one this morning. We had the zechus of hosting Rav Avraham Schorr the last three days. Rav Avraham Schorr, shlita, one of the greatest rabbanim of our generation, an enormous talmid chacham. He's written over sixty sefarim, gives forty shiurim a week in New York. Tremendous. The son of the Or Gedalyahu, Rav Gedalyahu Schorr. He's the Nezer Haparsheh in Beis Medrash. He's an incredible, incredible person. He was here the last three days. We had the zechus of having him in our home. He gave in three—it wasn't three days, he came Sunday evening, he left, he's on his way to the airport now. So he was here a day and a half and I think gave twenty-five shiurim in the day and a half throughout South Florida. Anyway, what's the hashgacha story? There's a lot of hashgacha stories about that. But someone text me this morning and he said, just sent me a text this morning. Here's a hashgacha story. What a story of hashgacha, he writes to me. He doesn't know I collect them and give them. That in itself is hashgacha. It's hashgacha he told me a hashgacha story the morning of Living with Emuna. I typically davened with the 8:30 minyan. Today I had the opportunity to go earlier. My wife was driving the kids to school. In the mikvah, coming out, I bumped into Rav Schorr. What an experience. So just today his wife was able to drive, so he was able to go earlier than he normally goes, so he was coming to the mikvah when Rav Schorr was leaving. Hashgacha. Again, he didn't say coincidence. Oh, what a coincidence. How random. What chance. Said thank you Hashem. A little moment. Hashem, you just orchestrated, you just orchestrated that perfectly. Thank you. Perfect. Shein. That's a hashgacha story. Every our day is filled with them. If you just look for them. If you just look for them, they're all over, they're everywhere, they're filled with them. Let's finish this piece by Rav Druck. We've been talking about ידים ידי עשו קול קול יעקב. When our voice is the voice of Yaakov, when we are proud, practicing Jews, when we're doing our part, the yadayim can't be yedei Eisav. Anti-Semites can't do their thing. Can't do their thing. And you know, you get feedback. I was joking, not really joking, yesterday that this major Hamas leader was killed and the president of Harvard for all intents and purposes was fired, finally resigned. That's a good sign. That means our kol is a shtikel Kol Yaakov. We're davening well. It's being heard. It's being received. We're doing our part. We're coming together. We're earning our merits. Then you get news of another soldier. Then you hear about a dirah in the Mir, the wall fell down. A bochur, killed. A young man. A wall, construction, just fell down on somebody. And then you say our kol is not Kol Yaakov. Our kol is not Kol Yaakov. We need to do more. So there's a barometer, there's a meter. Every day, so to say, the news, what you hear is a meter. A more Kol Yaakov. You can't ever let up on the Kol Yaakov. But when you see the yadayim are the yedei Eisav, it needs to be more kol Kol Yaakov. They can't go together. They're incompatible, they can't coexist, they can't overlap. They don't happen at the same time. If there's yadayim yedei Eisav, if our enemies are being successful with their hands, it means our voice is muted. Because if our voice was loud and clear, their hands would be incapacitated. So we have a direct correlation and we see it with our eyes. And this is our answer. This is our mission. This is our purpose. He quotes Rav Druck, ויזעקו בני ישראל אל ה' Zaka Gedola U'marah, that krechtz, that moan, that groan, that cry. That's our kol. That's our kol. That's our Kol Yaakov. וזוהי עצה היחידה לפתרון. We are about a little more than halfway down the second side. זו היא העצה היחידה והפתרון היחיד ואין כל פתרון אחר כפי שהוכיח לנו הקדוש ברוך הוא בהוכחות ברורות שאין לנו פתרונות אחרים. There is no other solution. There's no solution. There's no like who can you pay off to end this war? There's no who can we hire mercenaries to go fight this war? There's no who can we elect to be a diplomat to go represent us to end this war? There's no other pitaron, there's no other solution. There's no other solution. And it's only in that moment, it's only when we realize that, then He hears us. Because kol zman the whole time that we think, if only this elected leader, if only this person in a position of power, if only we had the money, if only we had the military, if only we had the connection, if only we had the intelligence, if only, if only, if only, if only, if only, if only, if, if, if. When you live life with if, the middle two letters, I told you, heard from Rav Twersky earlier this year, the middle two letters in English of the word life are if. In English, the life is filled with if, if I did this, if I if I got that job, if I married this person, if I had the money, if I had these children, if I had that opportunity, if I had that connection, if, if, if. In Hebrew, that same word chayim life, what are the middle two letters? Shem Hashem. In Hebrew, the middle of our life, central to our lives, is Shem Hashem. There's no if, if, if, if. There's no if, we don't look at our life with if. It is what it is. I hope I'm not violating anything by telling you this, but Rav Schorr Shlita is suffering in terrible, terrible pain. There's enormous health challenges with his back. He walks with a cane, slowly, struggling. The mesirus nefesh to have come down here for these three days, it's extraordinary. You see it, every step he takes, every time he gets up, everything he has to do, but it doesn't stop him or slow him down. Last night he was with a group of teenage boys after midnight in our backyard. This morning he spoke to our kollel boker that goes at 6:15 in the morning to 7:00 AM. It doesn't matter, it doesn't slow him down. But I was there yesterday, his son asked him how was he feeling. You know what his answer was? I don't know if any of us have ever answered this before. I feel the way the Eibishter wants me to feel. I feel how Hashem wants me to feel. Not I'm in pain, but that's what Hashem wants. Not it hurts. He didn't even register I'm in pain, I'm not in pain, healthy, I'm sick. I feel how Hashem wants me to feel. Like what a what a silly question. Or that's the definitive answer. I feel how Hashem wants me to feel. There's no other solution, there's no if. There's no if this, if only, if. If is English life. Shem Hashem is the middle of chayim. Our approach to life is Shem Hashem, central to our life, focus of our life, the centerpiece of our life, are yud and then yud, the name of Hashem. That pitaron says Rav Druck, that's it. So yes, we have to work military advantage, military equipment, American support, diplomacy. We gotta work, write letters, write, write, write. We gotta do it all. You gotta do it all. But how many people are busy writing letters, but they skip the most important letter? They're lobbying, but they miss the most important lobbying appointment. You know what the most important lobbying appointment you could have? Not your congressman, not your senator, not the president, not the ambassador, not the prime minister, not the United Nations. The most important lobbying appointment you can have is the easiest lobbying appointment for you to get. You don't need connections. You don't need proteksia. You don't have to fit in in a schedule, and you don't have to fly anywhere. The most important lobbying appointment you can have is the one with Hashem. And you have access to lobby Him anywhere, anytime, any language. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the most important lobbying appointment. When AIPAC used to have the policy conference, at its height 18, 20,000 people. It was an amazing experience to be with 20,000 people passionately caring about Israel, Jews and non-Jews. But I always I always would take a picture and post the davening over the years, many, many, many more observant people were attending, and the minyanim grew and grew and grew and grew. And I'd always take a picture and post, this is the most important lobbying event of any AIPAC policy conference. Is when we're standing and davening to Hashem. My friend Hillel Fuld puts a picture up often of himself in his tallis and tefillin, and he says most important appointment of the day, biggest lobbying of the day, is talking to Hashem. How many people they mumble the davening, they're cleaning the dishes and clearing the table and putting away the knapsack while they daven. They don't even open the siddur and daven, because they're running, you gotta write this letter, do this letter, go this letter, I got an appointment, you know who I'm meeting with, you know who I have to speak to, you know what I have to lobby, you know what I'm gonna advocate. You just skipped the most important appointment. What are you doing? Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Ein pitaron, there is no solution. Yes, we... Yes keep all the other lobbying appointments too of course. But the most important one? Like sorry Hashem I can't talk to you I gotta run to the doctor. Sorry Hashem can't talk to you I got a meeting with the lawyer about our big case. Hashem's looking down he's like... That's l'havdil l'havdil l'havdil you walked by the Oval Office and you say sorry President can't speak to you I'm meeting with the... I don't want to insult anybody, the secretary, the custodian, the driver, the newspaper boy. The President, I'm sorry, come again? I'm the one who can help you. Ah this is the office that has the solutions. You just walked right by me you made no time for me you you ended our meeting abruptly because you wanted to go meet with who? So Hakadosh Baruch Hu says yeah you got a you got a meet with the doctor you got a meet with the lawyer you got to have your newspaper delivered got to meet with him too. Don't forget give a tip and make a Kiddush Hashem. This time of year your garbage person your newspaper person your mail person. It's so easy you have such opportunity to make a Kiddush Hashem. Go get a Starbucks card or a mall card or an Amazon card and give a little tip. The cost of Kiddush Hashem? It's nothing. But the price of a Kiddush Hashem? 10 dollars 18 dollars and then you can explain why the number 18 make another Kiddush Hashem. 25 dollars I don't want to be cheap... 180 dollars whatever you want to give I don't want to be... I'd like it to be your amount but whatever you want to give. Make a Kiddush Hashem. So you got to... that's also important. But you're not going to walk by the President, the Oval Office, for your problem to go talk to someone else who doesn't have the nuclear codes. Hakadosh Baruch Hu has every nuclear code. Hakadosh Baruch Hu runs the whole world. Don't walk by His office. Don't don't ignore His phone call. Don't pass up that lobbying appointment to go run to do the other ones. That's the pitaron. That's the answer. That's the answer. ואין לנו על מי להישען אלא על אבינו שבשמים that's what we're singing and dancing. You know who's singing and dancing that? Not just us here 6000 miles away. Go to the army bases. Those of you who will be with us Yeshiva Week in Israel we're planning two incredible days. Just this morning I'm still working on it. Mirtzeh Hashem when we will sing and dance with soldiers to incredible musicians who are singing and playing אנחנו מאמינים בני מאמינים. We are people of faith children of people of faith. ואין לנו על מי להישען and there's no one for us to lean on אלא על אבינו שבשמים other than our father in heaven. That's who we can lean on. That's who we're leaning on. ואין לנו על מי להישען that's who we're leaning on. So that's the pitaron. So those soldiers what do they do? They turn in their guns they take off their uniform because they're singing the song that well if we have no one to lean on other than You guess we're not needed in our tank. Guess we're not needed in that F16. Guess we're not needed to fire off the artillery no. I have to do my hishtadlus got to take my initiative and also ואין לנו על מי להישען. We saw that ואין לנו על מי להישען ah he says it right now. ובדרך מליצה יש לומר שאדם שנמצא בחדר ורוצה להישען על הקיר אינו יכול להישען עליו שהרי הוא רחוק ממנו. If right now I'm sitting in the middle of the room but I want to lean against a wall what do I have to do? What do I have to do? I have to walk close to the wall. If I try to lean against the wall from here what's going to happen? I will fall flat on my face. Which has happened in this room. A few years ago I tore my Achilles. I was on a knee scooter. It was miserable. I had surgery and recovery. And we had a Pesach Seder right in this room right in this spot. And there was a matzah cover on the table too close to the candle lighting. And the matzah cover caught fire and because I'm a hero I jumped up instinctively and I grabbed the matzah cover to carry it over to the sink to leave it in the sink to burn out. So a shaila can you put it out only if it's going to spread just let it burn out. There was one problem. I forgot that I had surgery on my foot. So I pick up the matzah cover I took one step and I fell flat on my face and held the burning matzah cover up. It's on video somewhere I'm sure and for the right price we'll let you have it. Right donation to to Israel. Anyway so I have from personal experience if you're trying to lean on something but you're not near it you will fall flat on your face. צריך להתקרב ולהכיר כדי להישען עליו you got to get close to the wall in order to lean on it. Says Rav Druck listen to this so beautiful. We sing ואין לנו על מי להישען אלא על אבינו שבשמים. Hashem there is no one to lean on other than You. Hashem says that's nice but if you want to lean on me you know what you have to do? You have to come close to me. Because if you try to lean on me and you're far away you're going to fall flat on your face. So if you want to lean on me first you have to come close to me. You can't lean on me if you don't come close to me. אם אינו מתקרב אליו לא יוכל להישען עליו. So it's a nice song. Anachnu ma'aminim bnei it's a nice song. ואין לנו על מי להישען it's a beautiful song but do you mean it? Do you feel it? Do you live it? If you really want to lean on Hashem first you got to come close. Because otherwise the people who try to lean on him but they're not close they're going to fall flat on... So good, you want to lean on *Hashem*, you have to be close, you want to get close. How do you get close? *Ze'aka*. על כולנו מוטל להתחזק בזה ולא לפרוש מן הציבור. Cry out. Be part of the community who are crying out. Be part of those who stay to say *Tehillim*. Be part of those who are rotating in the *Tehillim* groups. Be part of those who attend the rally. Be part of those who are doing whatever effort, whatever campaign, whatever mission, whatever purpose. ובפרט שכולנו נמצאים בסכנה גדולה מכל הכיוונים. We are in a great time of danger from every direction. You think it's their problem over there 6,000 miles away, it's in our backyard. It's right here. ובשואה היה מצב שבמקומות מסוימים שלחו אנשים לתאי הגזים ובמקומות אחרים אנשים לא האמינו לכך ולא התפללו ונטלו מהם את כוח התפילה ואנו קיבלנו את האפשרות להתפלל. You know during the Holocaust there were people who got reports and they didn't believe because it was not believable what was happening. And because they didn't believe, they didn't *daven*. And who knows what absence or failure or lack of *davening* what that results in? And we too now, we don't have that excuse. We see and we know with our own eyes. This is a war that's being broadcast in real time. We see and we know too much. Things that we wish we could unsee and not know. There is no excuse. And that should be the catalyst that should awaken and arouse, that should cause us to scream, to yell ouch. When you get hurt, when you stub your toe in the middle of the night, you scream ouch. How did that help? That made it better? No. Why'd you scream? Because it hurt. You didn't stop and think, ooh that hurt, should I scream? Nobody says that. Child gets a shot at the doctor, they don't say, hmm should I scream? I get a double candy. No, you get a shot, you stub your toe, something hurts, you yell ouch. And if you're not screaming, it's because it didn't hurt. And if it doesn't hurt, you have to check your Jewish DNA. רצון השם יתברך שנתפלל ונזעק ונריע ועל כן חובה עלינו לנצל זאת לקרוע שערי שמים בתפילתנו כאשר יהיה קול קול יעקב לא יהיה ידיים ידי עשו. That is the only solution, that is the way out, that is the path forward. To take our initiative, but to combine it and couple it and complement it with *kol Ya'akov*. Let's just finish up. *Parshas Vayeira* נאמר כל השומע יצחק לי והביא רש״י מן המדרש הרבה עקרות נפקדו עמה הרבה חולים נתרפאו בו ביום. And *Sarah* said, anyone who hears they're gonna laugh at me. Pregnant at my age, are you kidding? I'll be the laughingstock. *Rashi* tells us from the *Midrash*, she wasn't the only barren one. There were many waiting to have children and we *daven* from the bottom of our hearts all those, primary infertility, secondary infertility, there are few things that are more painful. We *daven Hashem* should hear us, we're crying out and calling out that *Hashem* should help them realize their dreams immediately and healthy and all good news. But *Sarah Imeinu* wasn't the only *akara*, she wasn't the only barren one. There were others who were barren with her. And that day that *Sarah* received her good news, they were healed and got their good news. הרבה תפילות נענו עמה ורק שחוק היה בעולם. And that laughter all there was, all there was was laughter in the world. ולכאורה הקדוש ברוך הוא רצה לעשות נס לאברהם ושרה ונתן להם את יצחק לזקנותם. *Hashem* wanted to make a miracle for *Avraham* and *Sarah* and despite their older age and the natural impossibility of becoming pregnant, nevertheless she conceived *Yitzchak*. ומדוע הוסיף עוד ופקד עמה עקרות רבות וריפא חולים רבים מהו ביאור העניין הזה? Asked *Rav Druck*, what's going on over here? *Avraham* and *Sarah* were righteous, it makes sense, they were worthy, He made a miracle. But why with them? Was it like a BOGO, two-for-one deal? She became pregnant so might as well make everyone else pregnant too who's waiting. What was the deal? Why'd it work out that way? So reward *Avraham* and *Yitzchak*, they're righteous. Everyone else, earn it for yourself. What's going on? Concludes *Rav Druck*, אמנם הפירוש בזה הוא פשוט שאצל אברהם אבינו שיהיה לו בן ועקרה נמצאת סמוך אליו לא יהיה לה בן אזי לאברהם אבינו עצמו תהיה שמחה? Because *Hashem* wanted *Avraham* to be happy. But what if *Avraham* had a little *Yitzchak* but his best friend, his least best friend, doesn't matter, anyone in *Avraham*'s circle who is also suffering and they're not going to conceive, can *Avraham* really be happy? There's a saying within parenting. You're only as happy as your least happy child. That's right. So that's true for people, why? Because you care about your children more than you care about anybody else. For *Avraham Avinu*, he was only as happy as his least happy friend. He was only as happy as the least happy person he ever met. That was *Avraham Avinu*. Most people are like, good luck to you, I hope you're happy, that has nothing to do with my happiness. But my happiness, I'm only as happy as my least happy child. Now we're living in a generation where lucky if you have that. You have parents who say, you're an unhappy child, your problem, I'm happy, I'm out of here, see you later. It's a healthy thing. It's a healthy thing to be only as happy as our least happy child, that's what it means to be a parent. Avram Avinu took that a step further, he was only as happy as his least happy friend. אם יכול לשמח אליו הוא עצמו לא ישמח. אוקיי נפקדו עמו הרבה עקרות ונענו עמו הרבה עקרות כיוון שאמרו אבינו ושרה אמנו השתתפו בצער של כל אחד ואחד וכדי לגרום להם שמחה היה צריך לפקוד את כל העקרות ולרפא את כל החולים. Hashem said I want Avram and Sarah to be happy. Oh, that's a big ask. Cause for Avram and Sarah to be happy is not just to give Avram and Sarah. But Avram and Sarah can't be happy unless their entire community's happy. So I guess I have to make everybody healthy, give everybody babies, let everybody get married, cause if I want and I think Avram and Sarah deserve to be happy, they're only going to be as happy as their least happy friend, their least happy neighbor. So I have to make everybody happy. וכפי שהחפץ חיים לא היה ישן בלילה כאשר היו חיילים בחזית, the Chofetz Chaim did not sleep at night when there were Jewish soldiers in the field. And the Chofetz Chaim did not live at a time that we had a State of Israel and an IDF. He was talking about, he wrote a whole sefer. You know the Chofetz Chaim wrote a whole sefer to Jews conscripted to the non-Jewish army. That happened regularly. Jews, Baruch Hashem, we have an IDF. We talk about our soldiers. They're served kosher food. There's a shul on their base. They have the Rabbanut Tzvait producing spiritual literature. They were given a menorah on Chanukah. We're all tying tzitzis as part of their uniform. Today Jewish soldiers are fighting in Jewish army. Baruch Hashem. What a zechus to live in such a time that our destiny is in our hands. Chofetz Chaim lived in a time where the Jew who couldn't get out of it was conscripted into the Czarist army or whatever foreign nation's army. And he wrote a whole sefer about what do you do, how do you navigate, what do you eat, when can you davven, who can you kill, what do you do? What do you do? And when the Jewish soldiers were in the field, the Chofetz Chaim didn't sleep. ומרן הגאון מרן רב שטינמן ישן על הארץ בזמן מלחמת יום הכיפורים, in the six, in the Yom Kippur War, Rav Steinman slept on the floor. He wouldn't sleep in a bed. If there are soldiers who are sleeping on the floor, I'm going to sleep in a bed? Ay, we asked this already. And you're sleeping on the floor, that's helping win a war? אמר שאינו מסוגל לשכב על המיטה בזמן שהחיילים נהרגים בחזית ואנשים נאנקים מצער. Soldiers are getting killed and you're going and you're going to sleep in a bed? Rav Steinman said I can't, I can't live with comfort if they're living in pain. ואיננו מדברים על דרגות גבוהות כאלו אך מי שאינו זועק ומריע ומתחזק במשהו הרי הוא חלילה בכלל האומר שלום עליי נפשי ומחויב כל אחד להוסיף בלימוד התורה ותפילה שיאמר השם לצרותינו די ועל ידי כן נזכה לגאולה השלמה במהרה בימינו אמן. Says Rav Druck, nobody's asking you to give up your pillow. Nobody's asking you to give up your mattress topper. Nobody's asking you to sleep, sleeping bag on the floor. Nobody's asking you to give up. You don't even have to give up your chocolate. You don't even have to give up your manicure. You know what you have to give up? Your heart and your time. Davven, stay, say Tehillim. שמות בני ישראל הבאים ראשי תיבות שביה. You want to bring the hostages home? סוף תיבות אלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה תהלים. We gotta pour our heart a little bit more, dig a little deeper, a little deeper. We can all dig a little deeper. If Ephraim Jackman, Hashem yikom damo, in Gaza could wake up early and dig deeper to davven without distractions, then we can dig deeper. Can we wake up a little bit earlier? Can we davven without distractions? Can we do more? Can we scream out and cry and yell to reflect that we are in pain? Do we recognize that there's one pitron? There's only one solution. There is one answer. It's Avinu shebashamayim. Do we realize that there's no one else to lean on other than Him? And in order to lean on Him, if we don't want to fall on our face, we have to get close to Him. So how can we use this time to get as close as we can to Him? And Im yirtzeh Hashem, the only headlines we'll see will be Sinwar's head on a platter, that MIT president resigning, anti-Semites cowering in fear, our living in safety, security, and freedom, hostages home with their family, soldiers back living their lives. Im yirtzeh Hashem we should have besoros tovos. It should taka be a good day. A wonderful day. Amen. Amen. Amen.
