Transcript
Good morning, *Boker Tov*, good morning, *Boker Tov*. It should be a good morning, *Besoros Tovos*, for *Am Yisrael*, *Klal Yisrael*, we should hear good news. Our hostages should be returned home, the soldiers should be with their families, we should hear good things, *Im Yirtzeh Hashem*. *Amen*. *Amen*. Want to thank, we have a long list of sponsors, a very generous and very appreciated, very special, as always our *Emunah Shiur* series is sponsored by Dr. Zavi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut, in memory of Bella’s mother Dr. Alon Shanszer, and we remain very, very grateful to the Morgans for their generosity and sponsorship. This morning's *Shiur* is also sponsored by my beloved in-laws Dr. Robert and Judy Brookstein in commemoration of the *Yahrtzeit* of my *Shver's* father, my wife's grandfather, her *Zaidy*, ישראל נתן בן צבי, who was an incredible person of *Emunah* together with his wife, a survivor who built a beautiful family through his one son who was a *Talmid Chacham* and a person of *Emunah* and a person who was beloved and a person who was humble and very, very special. We’re proud and honored that our son carries his name and his *Neshama* should have an *Aliyah*. *Amen*. By Shlomo Rosenblatt for the *Refuah Sheleimah* of his sister טובה דינה בת ברכה לאה ית'ן in the *Zchus* of bringing back all the hostages. And by Laura Margulis for the *Refuah Sheleimah* for her mother משא חיה רחל בת קיילא, Marcia Jacobs, a complete speedy recovery, heart surgery this morning, please God we should hear good news. By רב שיעלה בן רב משה to the *Ain Od Milvado* *Zchus* *Lechol Inyanim* and in memory of אברהם אבא בן משה חיים, Abby Berkowitz, a big loss for Miami Beach, for Florida, for *Am Yisrael* this week, a very, very special person, Richie Merzoff’s father, whose *Neshama* should have an *Aliyah*. Also a person of tremendous *Emunah*, tremendous *Emunah* at the end of his life. He had such *Emunah*, he was scheduled to go to Israel and October 7th came and most others cancelled their trips, but he didn’t. He didn’t. He went anyway. They weren't able to go for health reasons, so after *Sukkos* they scheduled to go. Everyone was looking to get out on October 7th, but they looked to get in. And when people begged them not to go, he said, my parents didn't survive the Holocaust for us to not be able to go to Israel for their *Yahrtzeit*. So he was a person of a lot of *Emunah* and his *Neshama* should have an *Aliyah*. *Amen*. Okay. So we didn't mean to cancel the *Emunah Shiur* last week. I promise you, I promise you, I very much would have preferred to be with you than where I was, but I will tell you that the whole *Emunah Shiur* was worth it because the whole *Emunah Shiur* got me through what I had to get through last Wednesday, which *Baruch Hashem* was nothing, absolutely nothing, *Gornisht* in the big scheme of things, but what proved to be a very frustrating day. We went in for the Fly-In last week, we met with incredible people, was tremendous, putting together the video, was really amazing, stayed for a beautiful *Simcha*, the Flug wedding, was wonderful, *Mazel Tov*, *Mazel Tov*, supposed to come back 10:30 on Wednesday morning. Got on the plane at 10:00, got off the plane, got back on the plane, finally got off the plane at 5:30. Then made our way from LaGuardia to JFK, got on the plane that was definitely leaving on time with great excitement till three hours later it hadn't. By the end of the day, had sat on three planes for a total of eight or nine hours and had achieved getting absolutely nowhere. Got nowhere. I got from LaGuardia to JFK. So, but I got nowhere closer to Florida. I could have gotten to Israel in the same amount of time. Anyway, why am I telling you this? Not so that you pity me, don't have pity, it was not a big deal whatsoever, but I will tell you that you're sitting on a plane and they're making announcements and they're telling you things and you're hopeful and it's the *Emunah Shiur*. You just keep, in fact, the JetBlue flight attendant couldn't believe I was with two others who had come in for the Fly-In and stayed for the wedding and we were just so calm, cool and collected. She couldn't believe it. And *Baruch Hashem* I felt we made a real *Kiddush Hashem* with our not-to-miss *Yarmulke*. That's why we wear it, not to cover our bald head, but so that we can make a *Kiddush Hashem*. And just roll with the punches. Others were getting frustrated and angry and how dare you and how could you and why are you and the weather and what is and what will be and we're just like where we are is where we're meant to be. One of the messages that we heard on the Fly-In, and they were powerful, I'm going to share many of them as we go forward, one of them was *Rav* Ginsburgh. *Rav* Ginsburgh is a *Rosh Kollel* very close with Rabbi Moskowitz whose daughter was in Memphis in the hospital when the Moskowitzes were living in Memphis. He's a *Chassidishe Yid*, a *Satmar Rosh Kollel* from London, but open and broad and loving and united and incredible person, we met with him. His daughter Hindi passed away a couple of months ago and she kept a diary. She was a teenager, she was 17 or 18 years old when she passed away, but she kept this incredible *Emunah* diary thanking *Hashem* for everything as she went through this journey which they're going to publish because it's extraordinary. He shared some of it with us but he talked to us about how a Jew is never stuck. You are where you're meant to be. He told the story of some rebbe who a person had said I'm so sorry I couldn't be there I'm stuck wherever I am and the rebbe answered back a Jew is never stuck. It was the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He told the story of there was a Kinnus Hashluchos the Chabad rebbetzins were meeting somewhere not in Crown Heights I think they were in London and you know apparently the way he told the story many of these families kenaihoro are very large and these husbands are sort of lost without their rebbetzins and these kids are a little bit raising themselves and on their own and they're desperate for the wives to come home and it ended and they got to the airport and because of weather delays they couldn't get back and they called 770 as one is apparently wont to do and they spoke to the rebbe's gabbai the rebbe's shamash and said you know we're stuck in London please give a bracha to our husbands and our children they should be okay another day we're not back we can't get back and the rebbe through I don't know if it was Rav Groner or who it was said back to them a Jew is never stuck. If you're still in London it's because that's where you're meant to be get to work. And they decided there were more things that they could do in the community and connection and that was the message. A Jew is never stuck. You are where you're meant to be. You are where you're meant to be. And that's what he talked about Ginsberg being in Memphis and the other communities and hospitals and places in life. He quoted another incredible idea of the Baal HaTanya that he shared with us I'm telling you emuna stories and weaving in emuna divrei Torah even before we get back to our learning that connect to it. He said the Baal HaTanya says the Alter Rebbe says that the worst sin there is is atzvus sadness. Sadness despondency despair depression not the clinical type that's not a person's fault of course and that needs significant real treatment but meaning a general sadness is a sin. It's a grave sin it's an egregious sin. And why says the Baal HaTanya is choosing to be sad because it's a choice why is that a sin? Why is it the worst sin? So the Baal HaTanya says when you do other sins you know you've done something wrong. You know I hate the word sin but when you make a mistake when you come up short when you miss an opportunity you know you've done something wrong. You know you've done something wrong. You looked at the wrong thing you said the wrong thing you ate the wrong thing you dressed the wrong way you reacted the wrong way. You have regret you have remorse you have a healthy shame you know you did the wrong thing and you can work on it. But when a person gets sad they say I shouldn't be sad? I'm sitting in a hospital with a child I'm waiting for a biopsy report I'm disappointed about this job or the shidduch that didn't come through yet another month and I'm not pregnant when somebody hurt me or insulted me. When a person's sad they always have a reason and they feel justified. So if you don't ever feel shame for the mistake or the shortcoming you'll never improve on it. So the Baal HaTanya said because atzvus that sadness you'll always associate you'll always excuse you'll always explain you'll always feel justified you'll never improve you'll never fix and that's why it's the worst. It's the worst. But it's a sin atzvus. Chazal our rabbis tell us אין השכינה שורה אלא מתוך שמחה that Hashem can only dwell out of happiness. Nobody wants to be around misery and Hashem also doesn't want to be around misery. So if you're negative and you're complaining and you're farbiseneh and you're miserable and you're sad and you're despondent and you're a victim and you're a martyr and it's always woe is me none of your friends want to be around you none of your family want to be around you and you know who else? Hashem has no interest in being around you. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't have friends and family who going through a difficult time are there for you. We're not talking about again the extreme or the crisis moments. Of course a person going through a difficult time deserves to be able to unburden themselves and to share and to grieve and to lean into that sadness. I'm not talking about during shiva nobody wants to be around you you're so sad suck it up. We're not talking about that. Talking about generally. A person's sad because their Wi-Fi is slow. A person is sad because their I don't know their self-clean oven doesn't work exactly the way it's supposed to. Right? We're talking about that kind of sad. A person is sad because they nebech had to sit on three planes for nine hours and now they feel like the greatest victim and martyr the world owes them a subject of a hate crime you know of all time. Nobody wants to be around them including Hashem. אין השכינה שורה אלא מתוך שמחה Hashem only can dwell from simcha. So atzvus to walk around sad. He went on Ginsberg this is a person who just lost his daughter. You think he's not broken and sad you think he doesn't have his moments and cries? Of course he does. But he described to us how he chooses to be happy because he stops himself at every moment and he says. He described actually one very powerful moment where his daughter was undergoing a treatment and it was like they were supposed to get home for shabbos and last minute she had to stay in the hospital and he was just like at the end at the end. He felt so broken and ready to give up and he stopped and he said to himself if I'm sad if I despair if I'm broken in this moment will that make her better? No it won't. Will that make this moment better? Will that make this more bearable? It'll make it worse. And if I'm happy, will that hurt? Will that harm? Or will it help? Will it make us be able to get through this? So why wouldn't I choose to be happy? If you stop and ask ourselves in any given situation, the worst, and that is the worst situation, to the most inconsequential, negligible, who cares that you're sitting on a plane? You don't have a screaming baby with you, you're not missing a Simcha, you're not lacking important medications, the world won't come to an end. Because you're Jewish you stocked up on snacks at the airport so you're okay, you're going to survive. Should I tell you a great Mi k'amcha Yisrael? Someone else who was stuck at an airport that day, there was a terrible, terrible weather delay, said that there was a Yid who walked around terminal and he said, I'm putting in an Uber Eats order, and he went up to anyone who looked like a, like a Jew keeps kosher. And by the end, he put in an order for 50 people, was like a caterer of Uber Eats. But he could have just said, I'm going to Uber Eats for myself. Isn't that a Mi k'amcha Yisrael moment? Instead he said, anyone who looks Jewish and hungry—those are synonyms—I'm going to, I'm going to put in an Uber Eats order and if they could use food, I'm going to order, and for 50. Wow, Mi k'amcha Yisrael! It's amazing. It's an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing. So it won't make any situation ever, ever better, sadness. But Simcha will. Smile and be happy and be along on this adventure and figure out where. We finally got off the plane, it was after midnight, and the hotel at the airport had no rooms, I checked. No hotel at airport. And my sister-in-law was sleeping, but Baruch Hashem her daughter was awake, Yocheved thought to call us, so I found a place to stay. But you just say, Hashem, this is an adventure. I can't wait to see what happens next. And then they couldn't schedule to get home on Friday and then I thought, I'm going to miss the Riba weekend. Wow. I'm going to miss Ishay Riba eating at my house. Okay Hashem, if that's your plan. But then a travel agent got me on then JetBlue, whatever. Baruch Hashem, Baruch Hashem. I almost kissed the ground when we landed in Florida. I didn't. I didn't, because there's still only one place in the world you kiss the ground when you land. Only one. Only one. It's less, you don't climb down stairs anymore, it's not as, like, dramatic, whatever. Anyway, you could get corona if you kiss the ground, whatever, but it's, you know, all kinds of other things. It was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. And there's so much more to share. I'll tell you one other Emuna story from this. So we went on the fly and we left early Monday morning and I work hard to organize the fly and it's two days, 23 guys, we meet boom, boom, boom, boom. From Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi, Chasidishe Rebbe, community leaders, askanim, we go, we meet, we're inspired. It's all organized, it's all curated to the minute. And this year we get two people fly earlier, they could pick up the vans, they could pick up us, we could drive, we're good to go, all ready. Everything's amazing, we take off on time on the way there. We take off on time, we land early. We get off the plane, I had sent a message, if you pack luggage that you need to check, you're on your own. You're not coming with us. No luggage. We all get off, we're ready to go. Rental car place, there's a problem, there's a delay with the vans. We're sitting there at baggage claim JFK, we're all ready to go. Everyone because they had strict instructions had gone to the bathroom. We're ready to go, like ready to go. And we're at the car rental. There I'm sitting. Hashem, why? What do we, come on, we're going to be inspired. We're going to our first meeting, Yossi Zakutinsky, thank you Hashem, bevakasha Hashem, we're going to be inspired. Come on Hashem, what's going on? All of a sudden, a guy with a baseball cap walks up and he says, Shalom. So Mordy Goldberger says, Shalom. And the guy says, my name is Enrique and I'm at West Point, I'm a student, I'm joining the American army at West Point. I see you're all a group of Jewish guys. Yeah. He said, I never had a Bar Mitzvah. So Mordy says, you never had a Bar Mitzvah? And he channels his inner Chabad, takes out his tefillin and says to the guy, you're going to have one right now. And he puts tefillin on Enrique at baggage claim in JFK and we sing and we dance and we make a circle around him and everybody's watching and we realize why the vans were delayed, because Enrique needed a Bar Mitzvah. And he's going on Birthright to Israel for the first time and back to West Point, he's going to serve, and Mordy got his number and maybe they're going to learn, and Enrique had a Bar Mitzvah because the car rental place, because the car rental place was delayed. Was amazing. And there are 100 more stories like that on this trip, on every trip, on every day and every moment of our lives, if we look and watch and live with our eyes open, Hashem is incredible and He's carefully planning everything. And sometimes you find out right away, sometimes you have your Enrique moments where you find out right away, sometimes, and other times you don't. I still don't have the answer why we were delayed. I'm sure there's a good reason. But there's always a reason, there's always a reason, there's always a reason. So Baruch Hashem, Hashem organizes things. I'll read you a couple emails quickly and then we'll get back into our back into our learning. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, thank you for the Emuna shiurim, blah blah blah blah. I've contemplated writing to you a few occasions, but I felt this recent encounter was too important not to share. My wife and I have been on shlichut in a certain community for the past three years. We were fortunate enough to lead a mission of teens to Israel immediately after Purim. Our trip was extremely meaningful and inspiring, from a meeting with evacuees and going down south, to speaking with Hadass Lowenstern, it was of course filled with many Emuna moments as you well know from your trips. One of our first stops was the new rehab facility in Sheba Hospital. A friend of mine had set us up to meet with two injured soldiers, Moshe and Yaakov. We heard Moshe's incredible and miraculous story, which had our group on the verge of tears. He thanked us for our bravery and we waited for Yaakov to meet us. Our schedule was jam-packed, so after ten minutes with no sign of him coming, we were about to leave. Baruch Hashem, Yaakov showed up and shared his story with us. Yaakov, a husband and a father, had been called to miluim on October 7th to fill in as a commander. He joined a unit that was already badly depleted from the first few hours of the attack and was asked to rally troops whom he had never met to fight alongside him. He succeeded and fought together with the group for a few months until he was severely injured over Chanukah. He shared with us in his humble way that he was critically shot and although he was in extreme pain and bleeding out, he made sure not to scream to keep the morale of his soldiers high. Can you imagine? He was shot and bleeding out and had the mindset and the wherewithal to think let me not scream because that will harm the rest of the morale of the soldiers who are still fighting. He was airlifted out while paramedics and doctors worked miraculously to keep him alive. He's currently on a long road of rehabilitation and we daven that he's able to regain his former strength. After returning home from the trip, I decided to share Moshe and Yaakov’s stories, their Emuna and bravery with our teen minyan. After sharing the story, one of the boys who just happened to be there that week asked if I knew Yaakov’s last name. I did not offhand, but the boy filled it in for me. It was his cousin. Suddenly it clicked for both of us. Over Chanukah, we had received a message from the community asking us to daven for the cousin of this boy who had been severely injured in Gaza. We all did, but we never heard any follow-up or thought we never would hear more. Yet there we were, speaking to the person we davened for in rehab, hearing his story without even knowing that we had been davening for him during those critical hours. We never know the power of our tfilot, but in that moment Hashem was giving our community a tap on the shoulder letting us know that he was and always is listening. I love the tap on the shoulder. Sometimes Hashem taps us on the shoulder, sometimes Hashem winks. Those are those moments, the Hashem winking moments. Enrique is a Hashem winking moment. Turns out the person that you met is the person you had been davening for, it's a Hashem a winking moment. He winks. Sometimes he winks most when he knows you're wondering if he's there. So he reaches out. Shalom, Enrique, Shalom. And Hashem says I'm here, I'm here. Don't doubt, don't disappear, don't give up, don't despair. Here I am, I'm right here, I'm right here, I'm right here. Boy, so many emails. Okay, one more. Shalom HaRav, my name is so-and-so and I live in such-and-such, and I have to give the Rav Hakarat Hatov. Here goes the story. I manage tenants in a certain city. Five to six months ago, a tenant tells me he's not paying rent because I owe him money for work he performed in our building. I asked my only employee and he said he worked, got paid, and now he's just extorting us. As a basic blue state, it got dragged until yesterday. Finally, the big court case. I prepared, I spoke to my lawyers for hours, evidence up the wazoo that he was extorting me and also playing games about rent. On my way I get a message from a gabbai. He asks me how I'm doing. I explain in my broken Hebrew that I'm on my way to a six-month court case and I'm a bit nervous. I kept saying it's so sad I have to fight my truth against lies and we give legit criminals a tongue to speak in court. I said I'm white, I'm Jewish, I'm a landlord, I've lost this case even before it starts. The gabbai responds beshem the Rav that the great Rav Chaim Volozhiner said always remember Ein Od Milvado, Ein Od Milvado, Ein Od Milvado. We've learned this before, we learned this section in Nefesh HaChaim together, that there's a special segula that when a Yid feels their back's against the wall, you say Ein Od Milvado, there is no one and nothing else but you. And a famous story about the Brisker Rav who was on a train, the Nazis, they walked right by him, he was saying to himself at the time Ein Od Milvado. Keep thinking it. Look at their faces and see the words. It's all Hashem. I smiled and I said I can try. Before court was mediation. The tenant refused to work it out, only wanted more free rent and more cash. liberal state, Jewish landlord with tzitzis dangling, but I thought when better than now to take out a sefer on emunah. I go to Spotify and I search the word emunah. And here comes the confession. I've heard so much about the Rav. That's me. My father-in-law, in case you didn't know, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law listen to the Rav always. But I haven't ever gotten into it. I clicked out of the 300 plus shiurim, shiur number 197 from 2021. I listen and in the middle the Rav says, one thing to always remember, ein od milvado. I was about to cry because I knew I had already won. Not the case per se, but I had won my tafkid in the past six months to realize that Hashem is in charge, Hashem runs the world, and what's this pit in my stomach doing there if I have Hashem behind me? Why am I resisting Hashem? However one wants to see this coincidence, Moreh Nevuchim guy, Yeshiva guy, modern Orthodox guys, one thing to see it's something, ein od milvado. Lemaise, the judge paskened in my favor. He gave the tenant 10 days to move out and I owe him nothing. And we thanked the judge. My lawyer turns to me, stops me and says, Hashem must really love you. The judge has never not given three months free rent, you got 10 days, yasher koach gadol for being a shliach into a new starkeit and push. The Rav says, you're welcome. Okay. So again, beautiful emails. I love the email though, before the punchline. I knew I won, not the case per se. However the case would turn out. This case turned out well. Rav Ginsberg, it did not turn out well. His daughter, Hindi. And we'll share when we have these letters that this diary, these things that she wrote. It's unbelievable. But and even though his case it turned out well, but he says, I've won. Because for six months Hashem invited me to have a closer relationship with Him, to talk to Him, to lean on Him, to see Him, to rely on Him, to depend on Him, to see Him as the solution, to see Him as the solution, which is what He invites us to do regularly and always. ברוך אתה ה' אלוהינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו. Amen. We're expanding our line. You could still get these cups now, by the way. You could stop and buy from Lee or we'll send you a sleeve you can buy Caffeinate with Kavannah. Someone else sent me, maybe I'll put the picture in the Emunah WhatsApp group. If you're not part of the Emunah WhatsApp group, we're going to start posting the night before to let people know whether we're meeting or not. But somebody made a whole coffee station in their home based on Caffeinate with Kavannah. And every time you go for the coffee to remember the bracha, make it with kavannah. So the other night at the Ishay Ribo concert, if I sound obsessed, it's only because I am. So it was an amazing weekend. It was just incredible. I'm still on a high. Someone asked me this morning, have you recovered? I say, no, and I don't want to. It was just amazing. So in the middle of the concert, every concert he has a bottle of water and he makes a big bracha. It's not so impressive in the shul when the thousands of people say Amen. But if you go to a Ribo concert in Israel with that crowd, as people, no kippah, tattoos, piercings, the whole tapestry of Am Yisrael and they all scream out Amen. And that moment the Kiddush Hashem of making that bracha so publicly, it's amazing, it's amazing. So someone caught an incredible, Donnie Oppenheimer got a fantastic picture with the lighting behind him while he's drinking from the water bottle and the blue is coming through the bottle. It's an amazing picture. So I wrote on it, I took the picture and I put underneath it, shehakol niyeh bidvaro, right? Like with kavannah, shehakol niyeh bidvaro, which he did. So someone else gave me the idea, in between I wrote the word shehakol, the way he spelled, shehakol, everything comes about with his word, with Hashem's word. But the other shehakol with a kuf, kol with a kuf means a voice. shehakol niyeh bidvaro. His voice comes from his voice comes from Hashem, right? Fine. I sent him the picture. So I post that picture, Donnie Oppenheimer's picture, with the shehakol and the shehakol niyeh bidvaro, which Ilana Oppenheimer who designed these, Ilana Landau, thank you, Ilana Landau, who designed these cups, the Caffeinate with Kavannah, it's Quench with Kavannah. Ribo, now we have a new line, Quench with Kavannah. So I put it on, I put this picture up on my status on WhatsApp, the picture shehakol and the shehakol niyeh bidvaro, Quench with Kavannah. So Shulem Lemmer texts me, love that picture. And then he says, he says, I like to say to people that ask me where my voice comes from, עושה שלום ובורא את... *Oseh shalom*, he made *shulum* *uvorei es hakol* but again read it with a *kuf* and he made his voice and he made his voice. So anyway we'll put all this in the *Emuna* WhatsApp so you can see the pictures and the... so that's our new line. You got this, you're gonna love our new sport edition: Quench with *Kavanah*. Our concert edition: Quench with *Kavanah*. Unbelievable. Okay. We're not retiring off of it, I could promise you that. Okay, so we started last time the *Pnei Menachem*. The *heilige Gerer Rebbe*, the *Pnei Menachem*, who Persian Gulf War gives this *sicha*, this *drasha*, and we started with, it's been a few weeks so you don't remember. That's a nice way of saying I don't remember. We learned the *Gemara* in *Avodah Zarah* that in the future Hashem is going to hold the Torah and he's going to say anyone who occupied themselves with Torah should come and get a reward. Should come *mataras brias haolam* because the whole purpose of the world, the creation of the world, the world and everything in it is for the Torah. And the Romans will come and they'll say everything we did we did for the Jewish people. And Hashem will call them out and say you clowns, you frauds. And then the Persians are going to come and say everything we built, everything we did, we did for the Torah, for the Jews. You frauds, you clowns, absolutely not. Then Hashem says, *nichama*, the wars that you started, I made them, as it says Hashem *ish milchama*. So the *Maharal* asked all these questions and we and the *Pnei Menachem* asked all these questions. Number one, what's the *pshat* that these non-Jewish nations say we did it for the Jews and Hashem calls them out? And what does it mean Hashem doesn't say why do they say we started wars and we did it for the Jewish people? And why doesn't Hashem say you didn't start the wars? He says I started the wars and because I'm an *ish milchama*. For Hashem the biggest *bracha* Jewish people can wish and want for one another is the *bracha* of *shalom*, the *bracha* of peace. Then why would Hashem be described as an *ish milchama*? As an *ish milchama* everything Hashem does is for good. So why would he want to be *ish milchama*? So all of that leads to what we're up to, these questions. We elaborated much more on the questions and so on and so on. *Beshiras Yam Suf* we say Hashem *ish milchama*. We say about *krias yam suf*, actually let's finish this because this is what we're up to I think *daled*. *Daled*, the fourth question. *Od yesh lehavin*, מהו זה שאמר מלחמות השם אני עשיתי? What did it mean when Hashem answered them, the Romans and the Persians, I make what do you mean you started wars? First of all, who started a war for the Jewish people? You started wars against the Jewish people. And what do you mean and Hashem says no no I start wars because I am *ish milchama*. הרי השם יתברך הוא טוב ומטיב. Hashem does good, only good for us. ודרך הטוב להטיב לבריות ומסלק את הרע. Everything Hashem does is for the good. Sometimes we see it and understand it and other times we struggle for it, but Hashem is *tov umeitiv*. Hashem כל מן דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד, everything Hashem does is for our best, everything Hashem does is for our good. So if all that's the case, why would Hashem describe himself as *ish milchama*? ועוד דכתיב השם איש מלחמה, הוי' הוא שם של רחמים. Which name does Hashem use for *ish milchama*? *Yud-kei-vav-kei*, Hashem, not *Elokim*. *Elokim* is the name of *din*, judgment, justice. *Yud-kei-vav-kei*, Hashem, is the name of *rachamim*, mercy. So if it's *milchama*, it should be *Elokim* *ish milchama*. The judge, the judge of strict justice is a man of war. Why is it Hashem, compassion is the man of war? וכי בשם של מדת הרחמים הוא עושה מלחמה? In the name of compassion he's starting and igniting wars against the Jews? והנה לגבי קריאת ים סוף, when it comes to the splitting of the sea, which we'll be marking and celebrating a few weeks from now, *amru raboseinu* tell us the *Gemara Megillah*. בקשו מלאכי השרת לומר שירה, the *malachei hashareis* wanted to sing *shira*. אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא מעשי ידי טובעים בים ואתם אומרים שירה? We're going to speak about this the last days of *Pesach*. Please God by then they'll have Sinwar's head on a plate. *Amen*. Please God by then Sinwar will be hanging like *Haman* with his ten sons. So are we supposed to be overjoyed or are we supposed to say good, we're happy he's out of the way, but you know we only say half *Hallel* the rest of *Pesach*. And at the *Seder* we take the wine out of the cup. Why? Because אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא מעשי ידי טובעים בים ואתם אומרים שירה? Because even though the sea closed in on the Egyptians and drowned them, but Hashem says they're still my creation. So they're drowning and you're singing? Be happy you're free, move on, but don't rejoice. So is that a message for us? We heard yesterday another commander of Hamas *baruch Hashem* was taken out by a targeted strike. And the rest of them should be taken out as well too. So do we say *shkoach*, good work, move on, or do we make a... L'chaim? Do we celebrate? Do we sponsor a Kiddush for when Sinwar will go down? Sinwar will go down. You know when I went on these mini trips to Israel so far, please God we'll keep going, so people bring all kinds of things and they make barbecues. I buy cigars and give them out. Soldiers love cigars. And their cigarettes kill you but cigars not as if you're celebrating something. So each time I'd hand it, several of the soldiers would say I'm holding onto it till we get Sinwar. I'll smoke it when we have victory, it'll be a victory cigar. So מעשי ידי טובעים בים ואתם אומרים שירה, שאין הקדוש ברוך הוא חפץ במפלתן של רשעים. Hashem doesn't want the wicked to fall, he wishes instead they would return. וקשה שרישית שירת הים גופא, כתיב ה׳ איש מלחמה. And yet, where does that description of Hashem come from? Davka it comes from az yashir, the song that we sing to celebrate the drowning of the Egyptians where we're not supposed to celebrate is where it says Hashem ish milchama. ובתורת חיים פירש המלחמה נזכרת כאן עניין הגנה מפני האויב, hagana mipnei haoyev, hagana mipnei haoyev being guarded, secure from the enemy. ואולם עדיין קשה למה נקט לשון מלחמה? Milchamos ani asisi? Why does it say Hashem, why does it say Hashem says I started the wars? הלא למימר הגנה ומחסה, I protect you. I don't start wars, but I finish them. Not that Hashem starts wars, it should say Hashem says others start wars, I finish them, I protect you from them, I take care of my children, my people. שהרי השם יתברך יכול להשתיק את האויב ולהשקיט, ואינו צריך לערוך מלחמה. So what's going on over here? This chazal in Avoda Zara, the Gemara in Avoda Zara that Hashem answers the Romans, he answers the Persians, why would they be so audacious to suggest everything they do they do for the Jews? Hashem calls them out. Hashem says only those who live this Torah come get reward because the whole world is here to promote, to repair, to redeem, to mold and shape according to the values of Torah. And why is Hashem correcting and saying and besides you don't start wars, I start wars, so much that Hashem is described as ish milchama. וביותר קשה בהקדם מה דאיתא בשם משמואל. So the Pnei Menachem, the Gur Rebbe said, in order to answer we have to begin to introduce with something that the Heilige Shem Mishmuel said. Maybe we did get up to this. The Shem Mishmuel, who's the Shem Mishmuel? Rav Bornstein, the Sochatchover Rebbe. The Shem Mishmuel is the Sochatchover Rebbe, יום הילולא שלו חל זה עתה ביום כ״ד טבת, happened to be the Pnei Menachem gave this sicha, this speech, around his yahrtzeit. בתוספת ביאור נתתי טעם לשבח, שמקשה איך יאמרו הגוים כולם לא עשינו אלא בשביל ישראל? הרי דברי רמיה כאלו אפילו בעולם הזה אינם מתקבלים. How could they say and suggest, how could they advance and put forward something so absurd, so ridiculous? Understand it's the equivalent of a Hamas spokesperson going on The View, 'cause that's probably where they'd invite him, and saying just want to say October 7th we did for the Jews. We were doing it for them. We did it for them. By the way, I wouldn't put that past them to say it, and I wouldn't put it past the wonderful hostesses of The View to say we already knew that, we agree with you. But it's absurd, anyone with a normal head on their shoulders would say something so preposterous, so brazen, so absurd. וכל שכן בעולם הבא שהוא עולם האמת, and all the more so in the world to truth. Where is this? This is not The View. The View is in olam hasheker. I'll give you a little preview of the Shabbat HaGadol drasha. It's only a little preview because I only know a little bit about what I'm going to say. But so far I have this. I don't know about you, I feel more than ever in my lifetime we are living in an olam hasheker. We're just living in a world of lies. How could it be that Senator Elizabeth Warren says she has evidence Israel's doing a genocide? Genocide? The people who are the greatest victims of genocide in history, who invented the word genocide, who are going above and beyond more than any army in the history of the world to protect civilians, far more than America's ever done in any of its wars, and a sitting senator can so brazenly and freely use the word genocide? It's an olam hasheker. And many other examples, we're living in an absolute olam hasheker. Olam hasheker is galus. And you know what geulah, redemption, is? The world of emes. And our mission and our mandate and our answer, and if we want to bring in geulah, is to rededicate ourselves to emes. And this sits in the seder, we'll talk about the Shabbat HaGadol. ארמי אובד אבי וירד מצרימה. At the seder we'll talk about how did we get down to Egypt to begin with? We read the story of who's the arami, the Aramean? Lavan. And who's telling us he tried to trick me? Yaakov. 'Cause Yaakov had to navigate an olam hasheker, Lavan's home, Lavan's environment was this capital of lies. And Yaakov's an ish emes. By clinging to emes, to truth. Ein emes, Hashem is emes, Torah is emes. So here you have the Olam HaEmes. It's not on the view, that's an Olam HaSheker. Absolute Olam of Sheker. Sorry I'm ranking on them, I don't think I sit and watch them by the way, but you see clips from them. It's an Olam HaSheker. So but where are the nations, where are the Romans and the Persians saying we did it all for the Jews? They're not saying it on the on the set of the view, they're saying it to the בית דין של מעלה, they're saying it to Hashem in an Olam HaEmes. איך אתם יכולים לבוא בטענת שקר אלו לפני כיסא הכבוד? How could you say something that's such a lie in front of God Almighty? וכבר אמרו ז"ל הגמרא בסנהדרין כת שקרנים אינם מקבלים פני השכינה דכתיב דובר שקרים לא יכון לנגד עיני. Um'taretz, so the Shem MiShmuel's question was: how could they be so brazen to lie so openly? And how could they lie where they're lying to who they're lying, namely Hashem? Um'taretz, and he answers d'nei isa b'Sifrei. The Medrash says the following in Parshat Ki Seitzei. Hu b'Rashi, Rashi quotes it: שמאבד סלע ומצאו עני והלך ונתפרנס בו הרי הוא מתברך עליה וגם שלא נתכוון לכך. Somebody lost a dollar and a poor person finds that dollar and goes and provides for himself with it. So the person who lost it gets a bracha. Ay, you didn't lose the dollar on purpose. ובכל מקום כיוון שיצא מתוך כך פעולה טובה זוכה ומקבל שכר. אזוי זאגט די גמרא, that is what the Sifrei, what Chazal say rather, Rashi quotes it. You lost a dollar and a poor person found it, and the poor person bought a lottery ticket with it and won and provided for himself. You get reward as if you've sustained a poor person. Ay, you didn't do it intentionally. You wish you still had the dollar, you tried to hold on to it, you lost it. וכיוצא בדבר איתא בגמרא, so you have bra mizakei aba. בן צדיק מציל אביו הרשע. כאברהם אבינו את תרח. We have a tradition that a son, a daughter, a child can redeem or earn merit for a parent. A child who's righteous can help elevate the soul of the parent who was wicked. Where do we learn that from? Avraham Avinu on Terach's behalf. וגם שחינוכו של אביו לא רע ולא נתכוון לגדל טוב. Even though the parent educated the child negatively and certainly didn't intend positive. כאברהם אבינו שהכיר בוראו מאליו. Like Avraham, Avraham didn't get the tradition from his father there's a God. Avraham at a very young age looked up and said: 'Nah, doesn't make sense.' These stones, these idols, I don't buy it. Doesn't make sense. There's a Creator, the First Cause, we come from somewhere. Avraham discovered it on his own. עם כל זאת כיוון שהבן הזה יצא ממנו הרי הוא זכות. ומשום כך טוענים הגויים שגם להם יש חלק בזכות התורה. שבכל מקום על ידי גשריהם כרכיהם ומלחמותיהם היו לבני ישראל הרווחה וממון הרבה ויכולים על ידי כך לעסוק בתורה. That was the audacious argument of these nations. They said: 'We're like the person who lost a dollar, someone else found it and did something meritorious with it and I get reward if I lost it.' So you're right, we built bridges and bathhouses and we started wars. Of course we didn't do it for them, we did it for ourselves. But they benefited. In the end, the Jewish people built Yeshivas and Kollelim and girl schools and mikvahs and eruvin and kashrus and communities. In the end, they crossed those bridges to do chesed and bikur cholim. In the end, they did great things. So even though that wasn't our intention, you see, now it makes sense that even in the Olam HaEmes they were making this argument, because it's from the Olam HaEmes that we have this tradition that even if the person did the right thing for the wrong reason or had the right result despite the wrong reason, they get reward. So they said: 'Where's our reward? We get a part of this Torah because look at all the good that came out of it. Even these wars. Jewish people davened hard because of these wars. The Jewish people evolved because of these wars.' Can you imagine the chutzpah? Hitler's upstairs saying: 'There's only a State of Israel because I started a Holocaust.' So could you imagine the UN today voting to give a State of Israel? No. Anyone who doesn't think the modern State of Israel is a miracle just has to open their eyes. Would the UN vote for a State of Israel today? No. It's a miracle and it came in the shadows, isn't directly correlated. There was a big debate, discussion, Rav Soloveitchik and Rav Kook, רב צבי יהודה קוק, certainly the Satmar Rebbe. Do you correlate the Holocaust with the modern State of Israel? We've given shiurim on that in the past. They all wrote on this question. Is there correlation and a connection? Maybe it's a negative correlation, that's the Satmar Rebbe. So now we understand the argument at least because they're saying even you Jews, you Hashem, you have this tradition that when a good result comes out of a bad motivation the person still gets a reward. So where's our reward? We built the bathhouses, we built the theaters, we built the coliseum, we built the bridges, we built the economy and the stock market. We didn't do it for the Jews, but the Jews benefited. So where's our reward? ועל זו משיב להם הקדוש ברוך הוא, shotim sheba'olam. אני ה' בוחן כליות ולב, I the Lord Almighty I can see into hearts. I know what's going on inside you. ויודע אני שכל מה שעשיתם לצורך עצמכם עשיתם. I know that everything you did you did for yourselves. וגם שסוף סוף היה בזה תועלת לישראל and even though inconsequentially the Jews benefited, עם כל זאת חילוק יש בעניין זה בין ישראל לגוי. That whole tradition that if you got a positive result even though there wasn't the right reason there is a reward, that is a rule for Jews but not for you. כי בני ישראל אפילו אם אינם עושים לשם שמיים מכל מקום ליבם רוצה קצת because a Jew their heart is always in the right place. So that Jew when they later found out that they dropped the $100 bill but a poor person found it and was able to buy dinner with it, you know what the Jew says? Shayn, good, I'm happy. I don't mind. I'm not bitter. I'm not resentful. I'm not upset. I'm not disappointed. I'm happy. Good. אבל גוי למגרמיהו עבדינן but when you did all those other things, you didn't when you found out in the end the Jews benefited you weren't happy. You were miserable because the whole thing you wanted was to destroy the Jews kelashon hagemara שהיה מרגלא בפומיה של הבית ישראל like the Gemara says which used to be a pearl in the mouth of the Beis Yisrael. Who's the Beis Yisrael? The previous Gerrer Rebbe, the Pnei Menachem's father. גוי אדעתא דנפשיה קעביד. We have a tradition, not all non-Jews of course think this way. We have righteous Jews. The Gemara says, we spoke about this on the fly with Rabbi Reisman. The Gemara says that a non-Jew who learns Torah is like a Kohen Gadol serving in the Beis HaMikdash. It's a Gemara. A non-Jew who learns Torah and strives for righteousness has the status of the High Priest, the Kohen Gadol, in the Mishkan, in the Beis HaMikdash. There are righteous non-Jews and righteous gentiles and Yad Vashem has a whole lane of them and filled with them 100%. But this is not a critique of the non-Jewish world in a biased way. My understanding of it, the way I choose to understand it is that a world without Torah leaves people who are centered on themselves. Torah empowers and enables and drives us to have a different perspective and a different picture and a different sense of purpose and a different mission. And without it ada'ata denafshie ko'avid. That's what we're seeing now. We're not living in a world of ada'ata denafshie ko'avid? That a person is living in the world that they're designing based on their own boich, their own instinct, their own intuition, based on their own, right? New definitions, new attitudes, new approaches, new philosophies, new ideals. ואמרו ז"ל כל צדקה וחסד שגוים עושים חטא הוא להם דכתיב וחסד לאומים חטאת. ודבר זה מפורש במה דאיתא בגמרא שישראל אומר סלע זו לצדקה בשביל שיחיו בני ובשביל שאזכה בה לחיי העולם הבא הרי זה צדיק גמור. If a Jew says I'm giving tzedakah, you know why? And I don't care about Tomchei Shabbos or Kimcha D'Pischa. I don't care if everyone has food to eat for Pesach. I'm not giving because I don't care if the shul expands so it can continue to be the center of standing up for Israel and Torah learning and chesed and activity. You know why I'm doing it? I like my name in lights. You know why I'm doing it? Because I want my children to have the merit of it. You know why I'm doing it? Because I made a deal with God. If I give tzedakah, you'll heal this illness. That's why I'm doing it. So you know such a person is? Tzaddik gamur. They're doing the right thing for the wrong reason and you know what we call them? As long as the check clears. As long as the wire passes. As long as the cash is deposited, tzaddik gamur. ופירש רש"י ליבו לשמים וגם אם לא נתקבלה תפילתו אינו בא בטרוניה אלא תולה הייסורים בעוונותיו because that person even if the condition that they made that the daughter finds a shidduch, that the son has a baby, that someone's healed from illness, even if that condition is not met they still don't regret giving the money because their heart's always in the right place, heart's always in the right place. אולם בגוי אינו כן כמו שאמרו על כורש שהחמיץ אף שנתן רשות לבנות בית המקדש וסיפק את צרכיו על מנת שיהיה מציל לחיי המלך ובנו because Koresh, who was the king of Persia, who gave the Jews permission to build the Beis HaMikdash and provided its needs so that his son the king would live. There, if they do the right thing for the wrong reason, they don't get called this title. Why? Because if their condition is not met, they're filled with regret and remorse, they want their money back. וזהו כעין מה שאמרו שבישראל הקדוש ברוך הוא מצרף מחשבה טובה למעשה, aval lo b'goyim, כי איש ישראל כוונת לבו טובה וחפץ באמת לעשות רצון השם יתברך. אולם שפעמים יצר הרע אונסו כדברי הרמב"ם ולכן אפילו כשאין מחשבתו ראויה כל כך, אפילו בכרחו ובלא ידיעתו שנאבד ממנו מטבע ומצא עני נחשב לו לזכות, אבל גוי לבו רע ואם נודע לו מצטער בבקשתו איזה פוי צועק וחוזר בו. So we'll pick up with this next time because it deserves to be explained more. I'll just, I'll tell you this because we'll explain it more next time where we're going with this, where the Pnei Menachem is going with this. But I leave you with this question which has been very much on my mind. I was raised, my parents raised me with an enormous aversion to using the word goy and goyim to think in such a negative way, even though through the last 2000 years Jews have been persecuted and oppressed and had to live with, you know they say it's not paranoia if it's true. So the last 2000 years proved that it's not paranoia if it's true, how we were treated by our host nations who expelled us and exterminated us and tried to destroy us. And then for 75 years we said no no no, don't look at them that way. They're not. And since October 7th and since this enormous rise of antisemitism, I wonder whether the attitude that says be a little bit suspicious, that it's not paranoia if it's true, that there is an underbelly and there is a thinking and there is a groundswell and there is a movement and there is a world, and when we see the streets of America lined with protests and we see members, elected officials, people in positions of power, we feel see academia and institutions of higher learning and this enormous spread of antisemitism, maybe we should be reverting back to educating our children with a little level of suspicion. Maybe we're ignorant fools if instead we're saying no no no that was true it's not true anymore we're wrong. So this aversion and allergy that I was raised with to that attitude, maybe maybe that attitude was right all along. And maybe, now on the other hand we shouldn't then be suspicious of our next door neighbor and our mailman and our and our coworker and our friend at the gym, because goy, the non-Jew who learns Torah is like the Kohen Gadol. How do we strike that balance? That there are righteous and non-righteous. I leave that to you as a question and something to think about. I think it's a big question. We'll come back to explain this more. I gotta go arrange the sale of chametz, but it was wonderful to be back together again. Please stay to say Tehillim. Mrs. Kanner's class tomorrow, 9am. Don't miss Mrs. Kanner's on tomorrow 9am.
