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My friends introduced me to her. So it's not how I met Basara, but she ended up being my summer and really world famous figure. It's always a highlight to hear from her and get some inspiration. And it's a privilege for us to have her here tonight. Okay. I hope everyone's having a good summer. I know that the conditions in every show this summer are perhaps different than the conditions in previous summers. And hopefully we'll see tonight. I think in many ways that has the opportunity for us. A summer that's profoundly different and, in many ways, hopefully infinitely more meaningful. I want to ask two simple questions on this week's parsha. And then try to unpack a fundamental idea in Yiddishkeit—one that I find to be perhaps the most inspirational idea in all of Judaism. I hope you'll come with me on this. Where in the Torah do we find the concept of Mashiach?
Does anybody know where we find the concept of Mashiach? It's this week's parsha. And the nevuah of Mashiach is given over by none other than Bilam Harosh Which is, to say the least, unexpected. Mashiach is, as hopefully we'll soon see The transition from Olam Hazeh into Olam Habah, which means that Mashiach is arguably the most important moment in human history. A nevuah like that surely should have come from Moshiach. A nevuah like that should have come from an Eliyahu anavi, from an Eliezer anavi. It's it's not only strange; it's absurd that the nevuah of Mashiach, arguably the most important nevuah in the entire Torah Comes from the lowest possible rasha that we meet throughout the entirety of Hamishach Hamasei Torah. A man who has the spiritual capacity to destroy Polisro, and in the moment that he tries to destroy Polisro Is Misnave about to shiach to think?
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It's absurd. That's one obvious question. But if one is paying attention, if you're a deep thinker, and if you're here on the Kotel in the summer, I have no doubt that you're a deep thinker. Then you will automatically turn your head and say that if it's Bilam Harasha. That teaches us about Mashiach. That means that it had to be Bila. That there's no other person in the world that could teach us about Mashiach other than Bila Harosh. What is the inner connection? What's the inner point of connection between Bila Harosh and Mashiach to come? That's our first question for tonight. The second question, the final question for tonight. Before we get to the idea The Gemara tells us. That there's a moment every single day. There's a moment, and it's a split second, faster than you could possibly imagine. Where Hashem gets angry. And Bilam Harasha knew the moment that Bilam was that Avosaruf would get angry. That's what Bilam knew. The moment that Avosaruf would get angry And he was going to use that moment to curse Polyusim.
And what was the word he was going to say? Because if it's only for a moment, you don't have time to give an entire speech. So Chazal tell us that Bill was going to say one word. The word is Kalin. Kalin means to destroy. So think about this. Bill in Eretz Yisrael knows the exact moment that Akunot Shmuel gets angry. He knows the exact moment. He says, 'I'm going to prophesize about Klali and Israel in this moment, and I'm going to destroy them in this moment by saying one word, Kalin.' Instead, the words that come out of his mouth are utruas melech ba. Instead of the word kalein, he says utruas melech ba. We need to understand in a deep way. What does it mean that a kodesh baruch hu gets angry? What does it mean that Bel Ami Rasha can use that moment of anger to curse Klal Yisrael? And what does it mean that he was going to say kalein and instead he says utruas melech ba? That's all the questions for tonight. Now I want to talk about a nightingale.
And it's an idea that's deeply relevant to every person in this room and I hope will come with me. There's a question that every single person has. It's a question that's been asked time and again throughout history. The question is Why did our Creator create the world? There is no other fundamental question in Judaism that's more fundamental than that question. If there is a God And God created the world, the obvious question. Is why that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, and throughout the generations, many different answers have been offered to this question. I have no doubt that some of you have learned some of them before. If you learned the Ramchal You probably heard something like Hakadosh Baruch Hu is in his essence good, and he wants to share his goodness with the other, so he creates us to bestow upon us his goodness. There are a lot of different answers to the question.
The Gemara says that he wants to be mamlok himself in this world. There are a lot of different answers. Tonight, I want to share with you an answer that was popularized by the Balatanya, by the Alter Rebbe Roshner Zamen of Liadi. It's a medrash. It's a medrash of Parashat Musal. Well before the Alter Rebbe, there was a medrash of Parashat Musal that answered this question. Listen to the depth of this answer. It's impactful for every one of us. If you open your heart, you'll hear something unbelievable. Listen to what the Medrash says: "Nisaveh haKavush Baruch Hu Leoslo Yisparah HaDerev B'Tachton." Why did Hashem create the world? He created the world. Listen to the words; they're amazing words. Because He desired to have a dwelling place in the world down below. This is what Hashem wants. You can ask why Hashem wants this, but the truth is, we don't know why Hashem wants something. If Hashem wants something, it's totally internal. We can't really explain it. It's beyond logic. It's the highest point of desire. But that's not what we're here to discuss tonight.
What we're here to discuss tonight is a more fundamental question: What does it mean for God to have a dirobetatonim? What does it mean for God to have a dwelling place in the world down below? I'm not going to pick on anyone. I'm not going to call on you, but I'm asking you just to listen for a moment. When did you girls get here? When did you arrive? Nine days ago. Do you remember being on the plane and looking around at the other girls? And I'm sure not in a judgmental way But in a totally judgmental way. Do you remember that moment? Do you remember looking around and saying "What's this summer going to be like? Who am I going to be friends with? Do you remember looking at one girl right away and saying, "Nope, not going to be friends with that girl." There is some really uncomfortable laughter in the room right now. I want you to know, you're my favorite people.
The ones that are sitting there going, 'don't say that out loud,' but it's true. Many, many years ago, in 1998 I came to Israel for the year to a yeshiva called Nevaser. And I'll be very honest with you. I was very judgmental going into the year, and I'll tell you why. I shouldn't say this, but I'll tell you. Growing up, the thing I hated most in the world was preppy kids. I'm talking about really preppy kids. I was a five pants kid. I was a shorts and t-shirt kind of kid. Kids who had to wear a jacket to school. I'm talking about a davenport jacket. Because they have a school crest on their jacket, I hated those kids. I made the decision to go to this yeshiva called Mevaser And we had a basketball game against the school called Ramaz. Now I don't know if you know this, but back in the day, Ramaz had to wear this blue blazer to school every single day, and they had a Ramaz crest on their jacket.
I shouldn't say this at Levit; it's terrible. I was a kid. I hated Ramaz. Ramaz is a wonderful school. They never did anything to me. I hated Ramaz. And after the game, when everyone's chilling out, and I'll be honest, Ramaz won, I was already not feeling great. A bunch of guys came over, and we're all like, "Chewing midcourt, are you going to Israel next year?" And four out of the five starters said, "Oh, we're going to Mivatseder" And my heart dropped. I was like, "I don't want to be these shady guys." It's one thing to be nice, but at half court, I was like, "I don't want to be these." With a bunch of preppy guys, I want to be a chill place where people know how to have fun. I didn't want to be in one of these very preppy places, and I started to dread. I made up a story in my head. You ever do that? You ever make up a story in your head based on nothing? Where all of a sudden, I don't know. I heard that one girl's going to be flat, and that means every girl's going to be like that. I'm having no fun this summer. I just started making up a story in my head. By the way, those girls I left in the middle of the room.
I see. I know who you are. Now you know who I am, and we know each other. So I'm on the plane and I'm looking around the entire time. I chose the wrong yeshiva. And you get off the plane and you're exhausted. It's a long flight and you're jet lagged and you're smelly and you come into the hot and gory airport. At least back then it wasn't so nice. And I'm sitting there and I'm saying, I guess I'm going to switch to this other yeshiva that I was thinking of. I made the decision to switch in the airplane. And then. On the baggage carousel All the bags are coming around, and I'm waiting for my bag. I see that a guy has planted himself on the baggage carousel. And he's just going around in circles on the baggage carousel. Waiting for somebody to claim it.
So it's a funny joke. I'm thinking he's going to go around once, and then he's going to get off. This guy stayed on the baggage carousel for 15 minutes. And that's when I knew I chose the right shiva. I was like, bunch of morons! This is my place. I'm gonna feel comfortable here. It's not easy to feel comfortable. In five weeks' time, you're going to go home. And you're gonna go back to your bed, and you're gonna walk into your room, and you're gonna sit on that bed. And even though the Asian campus is gorgeous, and I'm sure everything is delicious, I'm sure everything is really nice, but in five weeks' time, you're gonna go back, and you're gonna sit on your bed for the first time, and you're gonna go. That's what it's like to be comfortable. I haven't been comfortable in so long. It's not easy to share a room with other people.
It's not easy to get to know other people. Your home is your place. You could walk around, say whatever you want, do whatever you want, and be yourself. That's the definition of comfortable. Today, people are so uncomfortable that we don't have even a moment. Where it's like if you're uncomfortable, you can't hold it. You're like, I'm uncomfortable. I have to do something. That's why people, as soon as they're uncomfortable, pick up their phone because they don't know what it's like to be comfortable with themselves. They don't want to feel any negative emotions. There's a famous comedian. I won't say his name. There's a famous comedian. He's not a Jewish comedian. He's not a good person, but he had a great bit. He said a hundred percent of people are texting and driving, willing to risk the lives of other people. Because I don't want to feel lonely in the car.
And he's right. It's 100% true. The craziest thing we have in yeshivas now—a bunch of yeshivas in Eretz Yisrael have this. We have something called a no-phone tayor. A no-phone tayor means that you go on the tayor, but you have to leave your phone behind. And at the beginning of the year, we didn't have it. Guys get on the bus in the beginning of the year, and they put on those like you know, like the Princess Leia style massive like Dr. Dre beats. Talking about. Like those dynamic things you put on your ears, you see it's a silent bus And everyone's just like plugged in and listening to the whole thing. Nobody's having a good time. When I was a kid, getting on the bus was the best part of the trip, and if the bus broke down, that's the best part of the trip, because then you get to be an absolute mishugna. When we have the no phone to you all, the bus is rocking, and every year same thing. Ed, when the guys come back, we need to do it again. Of course.
Because everyone wants to be comfortable, and if every time you start to get uncomfortable, you run to your phone. You're losing out on one of the most fundamental core aspects of yourself—the ability to be comfortable even when you're uncomfortable. This is what it's like for God in our world. God comes down to this world. Is this a place where we've made God feel comfortable? Is this a place where God is welcome? Is this a place where God feels like He could be Himself? I know it sounds like a funny thing to say because you say, 'Does God need to be comfortable?' You know what the answer is? Absolutely, he does. The same way we need to be comfortable. The same way when we go home in five weeks from now, we're going to walk into our bedrooms and we're going to go comfortable. The same feeling that you had a discomfort on the plane, going, "I don't know if these are my people."
We all desire to be comfortable. Where does that desire come from? It comes from God wanting to be comfortable in this world. He created a world because He wants us to invite Him into His world and to say, 'God, we bring You down into it's Your world. We're just living here.' We're making you feel comfortable. We're making this a place where God feels comfortable. How do we do that? It's not a simple thing to make God feel comfortable. So we have to answer another question. When it says that God wants a dwelling place in the world down below. How low does God want to be brought in? How low does He want to be brought in? Halfway, or does He want to be brought in all the way? Obviously, if it says 'deir b'tachtonim,' what does it mean? Hashem wants to be brought in how deep into the world? He wants to come to the lowest places.
I'll share with you a very sad story. There was a husband and a wife. And they loved each other very much. But something was wrong in their relationship, and they couldn't connect to each other. They were wondering why, as two good people, they couldn't connect. Why can't we connect to each other? I know both of these people; they're wonderful people. And I had the opportunity to speak to the husband. And I said, "Why do you think you can't connect there?" " And we spoke for like a long time, trying to work it out. Like, what's really going on here? And finally, we got to the bottom of it. You know what it was? He said, "I can't be honest with her." I said, "What do you mean you can't be honest with her?" He said, "She would judge me if I told her all of who I am."
She would judge me for that last. We all have that last ten percent, five percent that we don't show anyone. That was nice and uncomfortable watching. That last five, ten percent that we'll never say to anybody that we keep locked inside deeply. He's like, "I can't share that with her." So I said, 'Then of course.' You're not going to be happy in your marriage. You're terrified to be yourself. You're only 90% in the marriage. The last 10% is in the house, and she knows it. And this guy is incredible. I want you to know he's my hero. He made like a bleeder to himself. He said, "I'm going to work on my marriage," and he started to get honest. It wasn't easy. And there was a moment. He called me after this moment, crying. There was a moment where he finally told his wife everything.
And because he had worked on it so much She said, "that's your journey. I'm here with you." And he called me up and said, "I never thought she would be this supportive." And his marriage radically changed. And here was the big secret: not only was he holding back 10 percent She was also holding back 10 percent. There was no honesty in the relationship. They weren't all the way in the relationship. Bias issues begin when we can't be our full self. Tommy, have you ever been in a relationship with someone where you were able to be completely you? Where you knew you could tell that person anything And not only would they not judge you But they would be kind and compassionate and treat you with respect and dignity. Is that not the greatest friendship in the world? I'll tell you a big secret. You know why we don't want to tell our parents who we are? It's not because we don't trust them. It's because we don't want to disappoint them. That look that our parents have when you come back and attend future conferences.
You're on the chula for the summer. You're amazing girls. Your parents probably come back and attend future conferences and tell your girls you're amazing. I didn't have that growing up. The move when you're growing up if you know that it's going to be a dad attending a future conference. Your fate going to sleep because by the next morning whatever they're going to say to you it's already 12 hours later and then you're going to school. You know that move. You're on Chula Girls. You have no idea what I'm talking about. The best thing in the world is go to sleep. Then your parents can't talk to you the next morning. Then you go to school, and then if you're really smart, if you know it's going to be a really bad PTA, tell your parents you have a test the next day. You're sleeping over to a friend's house. By the time you get to it's 48 hours later, and they're going to be more relaxed. For years, every single parent-teacher conference that my parents went to, I faked being asleep. It wasn't because I didn't trust my parents. It wasn't because my parents didn't love me. I knew they loved me. I just didn't want to see the look on their face when they came in and sat down and pulled me in and they do this.
You know this movie? So your teachers say that you have a lot of potential. You know what potential means. Let's just say I'm an absolute doofus in class, and no teacher wants me. I was expelled in fifth grade. You know what I'm saying? Like, I know the story. You know the story. It's hard. It's hard to be your full self when you have that feeling of disappointment from somebody else, because you just want them to embrace you with your full heart. This is a big conversation in the world of cheder playing. Is there ever a situation where we should throw a kid out of yeshiva? It's not a simple answer. Some people say, look, there's got to be some point where you say this kid has done something that's so beyond the rules of the yeshiva that you can't keep the kid in the yeshiva anymore. And there are certainly reasonable arguments to be made. But very recently, Rabbi Daniel Kalish, I'm sure many of you have heard him.
The canal of Waterbury, Mississippi. Daniel Kalish came out and he said something radical. But there's a lot of truth to it. He said, just like we would never throw a kid out of our homes, we should never throw a boy out of yeshiva. Because a kid has to feel comfortable to be his full self in order to be able to shiur. And whether you agree or disagree with the radical, certainly reasonable people could find two sides of the argument. Everybody here, without exception, should be able to acknowledge that we only grow when we feel totally comfortable, when we feel like we can be our full self. A kodesh baruch hu doesn't just want to be in this world; he wants to be in every element of our lives. That means when we do something wrong. The first person that we should be running to tell is Hashem.
When we do an avera, when we do something we're not proud of Most of us have deep feelings of shame. The definition of shame means I'm unworthy of love and connection because of this act that I did. And so most of us are not willing to do tshuva. Most of us are not willing to talk to our magid chad or our teachers or the heads of the program here. We're not willing to talk to people about who we really are and what we're struggling with because we're afraid that if I really tell you who I am You're never going to look at me the same. And it's not true. It's not true. Ninety-nine percent of the time, a hundred percent of the time, if you tell the right person when you tell somebody this is what I'm struggling with. They have respect for you. They say, "Wow, that's a real person. Look at the vulnerability. Look at the courage. She's working on herself."
But how many of us are hiding? How many of us can't do tshuva because we can't admit to ourselves, to our lishvaru, to our rabbi, and to our teachers, to our machmirko, the things that we're struggling with And the things that we're struggling with. Everybody is struggling with. In my yeshiva, we have a musar kavu, twelve guys. And in that mussar kabura, there's only one rule: you have to tell the truth. You have to say what you're really struggling with and what you're really working on. And every single year of this mussar kabura, and it's been going on for a long time now, when the guys start to talk, in the beginning they're terrified. In the beginning they're terrified. I'm going to be the first guy to say this is what I'm struggling with.
And somebody has courage and they do it first. And you know what every other guy in the room does? Every other guy goes like this: Oh yeah, I'm struggling with that too. And then the next guy goes. And it's terrifying, because who knows what he's going to say? And then every other guy in the room goes, 'He's on drugs,' and other things like that too. By the time the seventh person comes around, it's the biggest joke in the world. We are all struggling with the same things. Every girl in this room, more or less, is struggling with the same things. Of course, everybody has their unique struggles. Of course, everybody's doing something a little bit different than somebody else. But we are all basically struggling with the same things. And who's willing to admit it? I'll tell you an amazing story. A kid that I loved a couple years ago on NCFL. There's like, I don't know if you know NCFL. In NCFL, the coolest thing is to be really good at ball. This was the best ball player in the camp, and every kid in camp wanted to be him.
This guy was the coolest guy, the nicest guy, the best ball player. He was sharp, like the nicest guy in the world. Everybody was looking up to him. And he was in my year. And I got the sense from talking to him. That he was living in fear. He was living in absolute fear. But I didn't want to call him out. I didn't want to be that rebel. Like, call him and go, 'You're living in fear, aren't you? Right? I don't want to be that rebel.' So you know what you do when you're a rebel like that? You give a sheer to everybody, hoping that this guy will hear. You ever know that move? Like when your teacher's actually talking to you But she pretends to be talking to everybody, and then you go over and goes, "You know, you're talking to me, right?" She goes, "No, I'm talking to everybody, but I'm glad that you heard." You know, she stops fear. So I gave this shit about the guys in the lower social tiers. All they want to be is cool.
But the cooler guys live in fear because when you're on the top of the totem pole, you know what could happen to you. You could fall. All it takes is one mistake, and then all of a sudden it's a bar drop from the top of that totem pole. And the kid came over to me afterwards, and he goes, "True, I've been living in fear. For years, everybody looks up to me." Everybody wants to be me. Nobody knows who I am. Nobody knows what I'm struggling with. You think I like walking around like this with everybody being hero worshiping me? It's miserable. I'm so lonely. It's ironic. Here you have the coolest kid in camp. Everybody wants to be him. You know what he's struggling with? The same exact thing as the kid who's socially not as a dad. They're both living in fear. They both want to be somewhere where they're not. It's an amazing thing. Everyone's struggling, but nobody can admit it. Why? A deep sense of shame. That's the world that we live in. If we want to be bringing a kodesh baruch hu into this world, we have to bring it to every aspect of our lives. Here's the point.
Everything in this year was to get you to this moment. I want to tell you a story before I get to the moment. I live in Ramat Shemesh. We're in Beit Shemesh right now. Ramat Shemesh is about 10 minutes from here. Ramat Echamesh is an interesting neighborhood. There are a lot of different types of folks that live in Ramat Echamesh. Some are Dati Lumi, some are Charedi, some are Charedal, some are Hiloni, some are religious, some are not religious. Everybody's different. When October started to happen The most incredible thing happened in my community. Nobody was Charedi anymore. Nobody was Dati Lumi. Nobody was secular. Nobody was religious. Everybody was just Jews. There's a family that lives about a block and a half away from me. An amazing family. A right-wing family, a real Haredi family Hardcore. And there was a woman whose husband went out to war. She had two young children, and she felt totally alone. Could you imagine?
Let's take a moment. I know. I'm sure. People have spoken to you about the war, but let's take a second. We can never become desensitized. I want you to put yourself in her shoes. A young 25- or 26-year-old woman with two kids And your husband is off at war. You know what that means? It means you don't sleep. It means that every single night you're sitting there and thinking, 'What happens if I'm the one that gets that call? What happens if there's a knock on my door?' None of us, Barak Kushner, have ever had to live in a reality where we're nervous to hear. And knock on the door, and not know who it is, and run to the door, hoping that it's not the people that are closest to you with a chaplain from the army saying, "Unfortunately, your loved one has passed away." It's impossible to imagine what these heroic women are going through.
Let alone the soldiers themselves. So here's this 25, 26-year-old woman. She's totally overwhelmed. She can't sleep at night. She lives in Euralonia, and she just reaches out, "I need some help." And she moved to Ramat Echanan. To a Charedi family's basement. A totally secular woman. A totally secular. She doesn't keep challis, doesn't keep kosher. A totally secular woman moved into the basement of a Charedi family's house in Ramat Echanan. Amazing! There were no more Charedi. There were no more secular. Everybody was just Jewish. It was the most beautiful time. And here you have a Charedi family with Baruch Hashem Alates. And all these kids are doing is taking care of her children so that she can get a raise because it's hard to live like that. And where's she eating her meals? Remember, she's staying in a basement apartment. It's not like she's staying in an apartment with its own kitchen. She's eating her meals with this Khareidi family.
And it's amazing. She feels very quickly she's part of the family. And one day she goes over to the mother of the family. Khareidi mother, and she says, "Please" If you don't mind Could you lend me a skirt and a shirt? And the mother said, "Why?" She said, "I've been living in your house for a couple of weeks already, and your family is amazing. You've done so much for us. I feel like it's not appropriate for me to be here and not to be dressed like more tzanuah, more maas. I feel like it's appropriate for me to be dressed like your family." And this charedi mother turns to the secular woman and she says, "Absolutely not." This is your home. You dress the way you feel comfy. Now that's a big deal in a Haredi home. Modesty is one of the most important things. But this mother, this Haredi mother, very wise woman It wasn't important to her that her kids shouldn't see a woman who was wearing pants. What was important to her?
That this woman should feel comfortable. And about a week after that, her husband came home from war. He got a shabbis lof. They didn't go back to shul on Erev Shabbos. She told her husband, "When you come home from war, when you get your Shabbos off, you're coming for a mafichamish. You have to meet my new family." And he walks in the door Erev Shabbos, and she said, 'Quickly, go get showered for Shabbos.' And she gives him a yarmulke, and he goes off to shul. It's the most amazing thing in the world. Why? Why is that so amazing? Here's the key. Because if you want to know how transformation takes place. Transformation takes place only under enormous amounts of pressure. This country, when everything is fine, we find the most creative ways to fight with each other. I don't know if you know that about Israelis.
We find the most incredible, and they're not shy to fight with each other, Israelis. I was in the fruit and vegetable store this morning, and there was a kid who went to buy a lahmaniya for himself. I walked into the fruit and vegetable store, and the store owner is screaming at me at the top of his lungs. What are you doing in the middle of work taking a tichel? The kid said, I just want a lechem aniya. Why are you killing me? I'm sitting there just trying to pay. I'm in between these two guys, and they're screaming at each other. It took me years to get used to this. Israelis are not angry at each other. They just like screaming at each other. They just that's the way they express themselves. They're fully present with all their emotions. We find the most creative things to fight about in Judaism. Is that not the craziest thing?
It's a story about the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Rassalavitch. You don't know that Lubavitcher Rebbe and Rassalavitch were Chabadroses. University of Berlin. All the way back in time, they were Chabadroses with each other. And at the Lubavitcher Rebbe's 80th birthday They invited Rassalavitch to come to the Fabranyan. The Rebbe had a big Fabranyan, and he had this very, very long table. He sat in the middle of the table, and the most important Hasidim were behind him. There were thousands of people pushing their way into 770, and they invited Rassolovich to come. You have to understand, Rassolovich is the exact opposite of Lubavitch. Rizk and Lubavitch are like oil and water; they have nothing to do with each other. Rassolovich came. It was old Kavunso; it was his old friend. And Rassolovich came, and they gave him a seat on the dais. But he said, "It's not appropriate for me to sit next to the Rebbe because the Rebbe was the Rebbe." So there's a picture. They see it online. There's Rosh Hashanah sitting right in the middle, and there's Rosh Hashanah sitting like 20 feet down that way, and all the older Hasidim are behind him, and all the thousands of Hasidim are packed into 77.
And after a while, Rosh Hashanah leaves. They had arranged for a limo to drop them off and pick them up. Rosh Hashanah is looking out and there's a reporter there. There's a reporter, and the reporter says jokingly to Rosh Hashanah, "He said, oh." I see now that the Bais Hamtob and the Vilna Gaon have finally made peace with each other. The Bais Hamtob and the Vilna Gaon had major disagreements, and the Vilna Gaon, in his time, put Chassidim in Chayyim and excommunicated them seven different times. But he said, "I see now because we have a sign of the Vilna Gaon in Roshalbechik and a sign of the Bais Hamtob in the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I see that they finally made peace." And Roshalbechik, without blinking, immediately said back to the reporter He said. The girls of Balshemtov and all of their disciples already made peace when they were burned in the same ovens in Auschwitz.
Hitler and Magshemov didn't care if you were Hasidish or Litvish, if you were Savor or Labavich, if you went to this yeshiva or that yeshiva, or never walked into a yeshiva at all. We were all the same to him. When they came through that fence on October 7, they weren't saying, 'let's go to this yeshiva and not that yeshiva, to this yeshiva and not that yeshiva.' They were just trying to kill Jews. That's all they wanted. And on October eighth, this country responds like it always does when we are under pressure. Total transformation. We're not the same people. It's not just that we changed our behavior. We're totally different people. It's the most amazing time of actus and togetherness. I feel bad that you weren't here on October eighth. It was the best of times. There was a car accident in Yerushalayim. A guy who was in the army got into a car accident with a Hasidic guy. It was the guy in the army's fault.
And the guy and the chassid got out of the car and he's so upset because his car just got smashed. The video went viral. The soldier walks out, and the minute that this chassidish guy sees that it's a soldier He just breaks out of a big smile and goes, "brother, don't worry about it." Forget about it. He gives him a big hug. Insurance will take care of it. It's the most amazing thing in the world that we transform under pressure. It's the only way to really transform. That's." Time and again, throughout history, our people have suffered enormously because only through suffering do you actually change. And people don't know that. People run away from pain. You would know that pain is your greatest gift because pain is what transforms you. We would make a bracha on it. We would say, "Thank God, our Kabbalat Shabbat brought this pain into the world. Look how we've changed."
I said at the beginning of this year, this could be the best summer of your lives, and I meant it. Every other summer, if you come to Miklele, you'll get to go everywhere, and this summer you won't. Every other summer you would have come, and maybe you would have thought something was going to happen. And this summer We don't know what's going to be. I don't know if you girls heard what happened in Valencia. I call. They went down to a lot. You heard about this? They went down to a lot, and then it was like there was like a terrorist threat, and everyone was like, "Oh my God, NCSY calls there." And then it turns out that it was because NCSY call was there and the king of all their sim cards And so there were so many foreign SIM cards, and there was some alert that went off. Or at least that's what the news is reporting. I don't know if it's true. It's pretty crazy. Nancy Pelosi creating a potential terrorist event. Who saw that one coming on that 2: 24 makeover? By the way, you should know my favorite part of any show is when I lose the audience like that. So thank you very much.
This summer will be different. It's true. This summer will be different. You won't be able to go everywhere. But you're experiencing this country and this people in the best possible way. This is what God wants from our world. This is why there's pain in the world to create transformation. Anybody here who's gone through pain knows exactly what I'm talking about. My best friend in the world is a guy whose name I'm sure many of you know. His name is Yitzi Haber. Yitzi Haber from the Five Towns. He's famous because he's one of the Shneur guys. And he's also famous because he lost a leg. To cancer complications when he was 12 years old. He's my closest friend in the world, and if you know him, he's hysterical. H. Dot com once wrote an article about him. The article began: Yitzi Haper is the type of person who wants to get stuck in an elevator. He's macho.
He lost his mother to cancer. He lost his father to Lou Gehrig's disease. He lost his leg to cancer. The man has suffered more than most people will ever suffer in a lifetime. And Yitzchak told me, by the way, the happiest person I ever met. Yitzchak told me that within sixty seconds of meeting somebody He can tell if they've been through something in their life. Because if you've been through something, it transforms you. Hashem says, "Invite me into your world. Make this world a transformed place where I'll be comfortable." And then He says. Here's tough times. Tough times create the opportunity for transformation. That's what it takes to bring Mashiach—a total transformation of this world. Let's go back. We're finishing up. Eight forty-five. Perfect time. Thank you. You have to be in the lowest possible moments to bring Mashiach. What is the lowest possible moment?
It's Bilam Harasha. The lowest person in the entire world with the most exceptional spiritual antenna ever. He knows the exact moments that he can destroy Kali Yisrael. He knows it, and he uses the word Kali. You know what Kali means? He said to destroy it, but it's not really true. Kali is Rosh Hashanah, Kaved Leiv Ma'och. Your liver, your heart And then your head. Because when you start with the lowest part. That's a Bilam orientation. He looks at this world and he sees the worst potential for this world. He sees all the depravity of this world, the disgustingness of this world. That's what Bilam does. He has the worst eyes. He can only see the negative in the people. But what comes out of his mouth? A prophecy about Mashiach. A prophecy about Mashiach comes out of his mouth. In the worst moments, that's where you find Mashiach.
Everybody's like, we have to make the world awesome in order to bring Mashiach. It's wrong. When the world is suffering tremendously, and you find God there, and you're transformed by it, that's when Mashiach comes. That's why one of the words that comes out of Vilum's now, Utrus Melech Bo Melech, Moach Leiv Havel. You start at the bottom, but then you flip the entire script. You start talking about a depraved world, and at the end, you're talking about a godly world. That's our job. That's why we're here in this world to transform this world. Girls, we're in. We're in. For sure, in my lifetime, the hardest period in the history of Palestine, October 7th, was the worst day since the Holocaust. And the greatest opportunity that our generation has been given. But you know, it's tragic. Doesn't seem to last. That's what's tragic. October 8th was amazing.
November 8th was amazing. December 8th was amazing. But here we are in July, and guess what? The pressure is not on us in the same way anymore, and the transformation wasn't complete. And that's why we see so much infighting there. And that's the tragedy of this whole thing. We are the definition of insanity. Do you know what insanity means? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We keep fighting with each other. We keep going to our lowest moments, but not really, truly transforming all the way. We've only sublimated. We haven't transformed. So there's still work left to be done. We have an amazing opportunity to find each other. I'm begging you to do the following. You don't have to do this, but I'm begging you to do it. You'll change your life if you do. I'm telling you that in this room right now, and I have no idea. I didn't ask any Madricote. I didn't ask Mr. Zim. I didn't ask Mr. Shryer. I have no idea if this is true, but I know for sure that it's true.
There's a girl in this room right now. I promise you, and she doesn't feel comfortable. I promise you. She might look comfortable. She might act comfortable, but she's not. I promise you. It's in every single room in the world. And there are girls here that feel more comfortable. There's girls that feel less comfortable. There's girls that came with their crew, with their chavra, and they hang out with their people. And there's a girl that sits by herself at lunch. Not by herself, literally. Do you know what I'm talking about? And there's a thing. I don't know why it is, but there's a thing that I always wanted to do this in yeshiva. I don't know why I've never implemented it. I want to make a rule. You can't sit at the same table with the same friends every meal. You have to switch tables every single meal. I should do it. I don't know why I don't do it. That girl who's sitting there lonely by herself and she doesn't feel comfortable—you have an opportunity to bring Mashiach.
Go sit next to her, ask her name. Where are you from? What are you like? Invite her to be a part of your covenant. It's a tragedy. I don't know why it is. It's a tragedy that every single year there are girls that come to Eretz Yisrael for the year. There are girls that come to Michalad at the end of the summer. How was your summer? They go, it was good. What was good about it? I learned my Connected, but like, what was bad about it? Because they're, they're sending something. I don't know. I just was never like part of that group. I wasn't from the five boroughs. I wasn't from Chicago. I wasn't from Los Angeles. I wasn't from New Jersey. I wasn't from those places. I came in not knowing somebody, and I didn't feel like I really made friends. And then there's always some girl that comes And she says, "It's amazing. I came in knowing nobody, and now I have friends all over the place."
And sometimes it's because that girl was courageous and she branched out. But most of the time, it's because somebody had the guts to be big enough to go over to a Jew sitting by themselves and say, 'Come with me. Be a part of my thing.' It's the greatest gift we can give to people. If we can make another Jew feel comfortable, we can make our Kabbalists Baruch Hu feel comfortable in this world. And when our Kabbalists Baruch Hu is comfortable in this world, then we'll be zokh to Mashiach and we'll be zokh to Binah Beis Amikush. Girls have an amazing summer. Thank you so much for having us.
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