Behalosecha - Leadership From Above, Leadership From Within.

2:26 A story that usually, for whatever reason, people just fly by. But it's a very beautiful story with a tremendous amount of wisdom buried within it. Klal Yisrael complains to Moshe. That's not new. That seems to be thematic for Yidden, not just in the times of Moshe Rabbeinu. That seems to be a part of our DNA. This time they were complaining that they wanted meat. They didn't have meat in the desert. And Moshe Rabbeinu becomes very frustrated by this. And he says, "It's not shyich for me to find meat in the desert. How am I supposed to feed these people?" And then he pivots in a very strange way And he says Leuchal anochi lavadi lasech kolam azeki kaved mimeni. All of a sudden, he says, "It's not possible for me to lead this nation by myself." It's a very strange move. Because a minute ago, the problem was that Klal Yisrael didn't have meat. If Klal Yisrael doesn't have meat, what's the solution?

3:28 Create a nace, give them meat. Moshe Rabenu says the problem is meat, but the problem is not meat. The problem is leadership. Which one is it? I can't do it by myself. So Hashem comes to him and he says, 'Gather together the Ziknei Yisrael. There's a whole lottery system. We don't have to get into the details there.' And bring these seven, these Ziknei Yisrael, into the Oal Moed. And Akol Shem Baruch Hu says, 'I'm going to take the spirit of Nivua that you have, and I'm going to spread it out. It's going to be on many people in Klal Yisrael. Now there's going to be the democratization of Nivua in Klal Yisrael.' Rashi says again, a little strange for us. Rashi adds, 'It's not exactly clear what Rashi's adding, but Rashi says it's like a Ner in a Menorah.' That you could take from that Ner and you could give it out to other Neiros. It doesn't diminish the first one.

4:18 It's not exactly clear what Rashi's adding with this marshal. He's doing something. And Eldad and Medad were supposed to go into the Olam Oy. They were part of the lottery. They won. They were going to be these neviim and klal Yisrael, but they don't go. They remain in the camp. Nevertheless, they start to have nevuah. Why didn't they go? They said we're not worthy of going. That's what Rashi says. Rashi says they didn't feel like they were worthy of going. And nevertheless, they start to have nevuah, and where do they have nevuah in the camp? Now When they start to have this nevuah So somebody comes and he makes this proclamation that Eldad and Medad are being misnave in the camp. Who does Rashi say it was? That it was Gershom, that it was Moshe Abenu's son. That's an interesting piece of information. It's not obvious. It's not clear exactly why it's Gershom that's bringing this information, but apparently it's chosher for us to know that it's Gershom.

5:27 And Yeshua gets very upset by this. Why is Yeshua upset by this? We know what Rashi says. What were they having nevuah about? They were having nevuah about the death of Moshe Rabbeinu. And obviously, who's going to be the successor of Moshe Rabbeinu? It's going to be Yehoshua. So it makes sense that Yehoshua is upset. But Yehoshua has a very interesting reaction to this. Yehoshua says, "We have to jail them." Now, Rashi gives two pshatim over here. What exactly does it mean to jail them? One pshat is it means literally to jail them. But another pshat Rashi says is get them involved in sarchet zibur Which, if you're cynical. It's a certain type of jail. If you ever see people who get involved in Tsar Chet Zibur But that's what Rashi says. We have to understand that deeply. What's that Hezra Machlokas over there? And then Moshe Rabbeinu says, no, you're getting this all wrong.

6:23 We're not upset at Eldad and Midad. It's awesome what Eldad and Midad are doing. Umi itin kolam Hashem neviim ki itin Hashem asrucho alayim. Moshe Rabenu says, 'Are you upset for me?' Don't be upset for me. Halavai, everybody would become a navi. That'd be the best thing in the world. That's what I really want. I want that the spirit of prophecy should rest upon all of Klal Yisrael. What's this machlokes between Yeshua and Moshe? What's Moshe Rabenu so excited about that Eldad and Medad are doing this? So we have a lot of questions. I want to share with you a fundamental insight into perhaps what's going on behind the scenes. It's a pasuk, I think That when somebody comes to complain about something You have to know that there's the overt presentation and then there's the covert presentation. The overt presentation is the thing they're complaining about. That's real.

7:32 But then you always have to know that when somebody comes to talk to you, there's always something behind the thing. There's the thing they're complaining about, and then there's the thing behind the thing—the thing that they're really complaining about. But it's not real. It's not being presented in that. A person comes into a rabbi's office and he says I'm not connecting to the limud that the Rebbe is. I'm not connecting to the darchalimud. I'm not connecting to the limud whatever he's saying. If you take even a couple of minutes to sensitively ask what's really going on here, in my experience a hundred percent of the time there's something else going on behind the scenes and if you gently probe. You can almost always elicit from them what's really going on. When a person comes and they're complaining to Meishar Abenu, and they're saying we pusher have no meat to eat Meishar Abenu, as the paradigmatic leader in Klal Yisrael, the ultimate teacher of Klal Yisrael, is savvy enough to understand that this is not what they're complaining about; there's some unmet need under the surface.

8:56 Now it doesn't have to take on the form of food. But it happens to be a very real thing in Klal Yisrael that we see there's a certain natural tendency that Yidden have to eat away their problems. I'm not saying I'm just saying if you know what I'm saying, but if you grow up in certain places, Marach Hashem and Eretz Yisrael, we don't have it the same way. But if you grow up in certain places today, the culture of food—it's wild. It's wild. I went to a chaver's house a couple of years ago for Shabbos. There was a regular Shabbos morning kiddush in the shul where he was a youth director, not for a bar mitzvah, not for a bat mitzvah, just a regular Shabbos morning kiddush. I've it was a chasna. It was a sudasach hashverosh. It was unbelievable. Carving stations and sushi. He told me my wife gets upset when I eat too much by the kiddush because she made lunch.

10:03 And if I come home and I'm not eating because I already ate two sudas by the kiddush, it bothers her. So what did he say? So you have to make sure to still eat at the suddah, meaning not to eat by the kiddush. But you have to be—it's a marathon. You have to be able to gorge yourself by shalshudas, which is all in one morning. Seems that this was a thing for Klal Yisrael even then—that the overt presentation of we're hungry for meat spoke to an unmet need, something that Klal Yisrael wasn't getting, and Moshe Rabbeinu is very savvy And Moshe Rabbeinu understands they're coming to me to complain about the meat. What they're really coming and complaining to me about is there's something that I'm not providing for them as the leader of Klal Yisroel. There's something that's missing, a disconnect here between Rebbe and Talmid.

11:06 Between father and son, between shepherd and sheep. There's something that's missing in our relationship, and that's why they're complaining to me. And I, Moshe Rabenu Feel in a certain sense that I'm lacking in my yachas to them Which is why Moshe Rabenu comes and he says to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, "I can't leave these people alone anymore. It's not possible for me to do the job not just by myself." But there has to be a democratization of the leadership of Klal Yisrael because there are needs that need to be met in Klal Yisrael as Klal Yisrael grows that I am not capable of meeting. Now this is very difficult for us to understand because Moshe Rabenu is a gadol in the truest sense of the word. There's a maseh about Rishlom of Freifeld Zecharzadik the Kadosh V'Rachah. Rishlom Freifeld was the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Shariyashiv.

11:59 Was an unbelievable Rebbe. Anybody here from the Five Towns? Not so many chaver. Interesting. The not a comment, just interesting. How many people from Jersey? Taka, this is very interesting. How many people here are outside of the New York, New Jersey area? Wow. That's a fascinating sociological reaction. You clapped for yourself from not being for the tri-state area. You're my people. I'm very proud of you. I'm for Florida. All the Florida people, a little too proud. It's poor man's Los Angeles. Ma'ish Rabenu saying It's I can't be leader anymore like this. This is what Refrayfeld said. Refrayfeld said when he went to Refrayfeld was founding Rashi of Shira Shuv. He was a big hashba in the five towns and beyond. Refrayfeld said when he went to visit the Chazon Ish He wrote in his diary, "A gadol is a circle." The bigger the gadol, the larger the circle. The larger the circle, the more people are contained within that circle.

13:26 It's true. It's true when you meet a real gadol b'taira, somebody who's so sensitive, it doesn't matter where they come from. Any Jew is welcome in that circle. If you really want to know the litmus test of if somebody's a gadol or not, just check out how big their circle is. If their circle is very small and very contained, even if it's a big circle within a specific community, that's not a gadol in the truest sense of the word. The biggest gadolim were the ones that knew how to encompass ganz klal Yisrael in their circle. There's amazing ma'isim about the Chazon Ish. Secular Jews, religious Jews from all shapes and sizes used to come to the Chazon Ish. He was a real gadol b'taira in the classic sense of the word. Meisharbenu was the ultimate gadol. Meisharbenu was the ultimate circle. He encompassed every single Jew.

14:14 What was missing in his leadership? As if Moshe Rabbeinu was the ultimate Rabbi of Klal Yisrael, is it possible that Moshe Rabbeinu, in some way, wasn't reaching a certain type of Jew? This seems to be what's going on beneath the scenes. Moshe Rabbeinu is saying, "Kill me." Moshe Rabbeinu is not saying, 'Kill me.' You have to understand how to read Pesukim. Moshe Rabbeinu is not saying, 'Kill me.' That's like a very childish way of speaking. Just kill me. What are you talking about? This is serious business. My shabim was talking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He's not saying just kill me. He's saying there's no point in me being around for this. I can't bear this burden. It's too much for me. There's people outside of my circle. How is that possible? Has to be understood in a deep way. Sometimes When you're learning a sugya You have to know that there's sometimes one or two pieces of information that break open an entire sugya. I want to share with you a targum Yonosam ben Uziel that I think breaks open this entire sugya.

15:25 Targum Yonosam ben Uziel says Who were Eldad and Medad? Eldad and Medad They were the half brothers of Moshe Rabbeinu. Did you ever hear that before in your life? I never heard that before in my life. Targum Yonosam ben Uziel says. How were they half brothers with my shabenu? Amram we know divorced Yochaved. When did Amram divorce Yochaved? Paro made a zera, and he said, "I'm killing all the boys." Amram said, "I'm not bringing any more children into Klal Yisrael." Like many Jewish women throughout history, said, "I'm not going along with my husband. I'm not following his decree." She went ahead and she married Elzaphon ben Parach. Alzafon ben Parnah, and in that marriage they had two children, Eldad and Medad. Now I'm not exactly sure how it works out that when Miriam went to Amram and said to Amram, 'You're doing a terrible thing by being divorced from my mother.' Did Yochved then divorce her second husband to remit? I don't exactly understand what happened there, but however it happened.

16:38 Yochaveh got back together with Amram, and then Moshe Rabbeinu was born. So Moshe Rabbeinu was half brothers with Eldad and Medad, according to Tzitzit Yonos and Menuziel. It's a fascinating piece of information. The personality of Eldad and Medad is represented in their birth. Moshe Rabbeinu is what happens after the brokenness. After Amram and Yochved get divorced, and after Yochved leaves and marries somebody else, there's a happily ever after moment where they get remarried and they have Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu is born from the end of the story. Moshe Rabbeinu is born in the state of completion. Eldad and Medad are born from the fracture. There's a difference between somebody who's born after everything has come full circle and somebody who's born in the middle of the brokenness. I read a Maisa many years ago in Mishbacha magazine, which means fifty if it's true. But it's a gishmak a Maisa that there was a young couple that they were dating They got engaged, their parents went meshuga on each other.

18:02 Stom a tip: When you're engaged It's not your job to be involved at all on any level with the actual preparation of the chasna. Let your in-laws and your parents deal with that directly. You do not need to be involved. But back in the day, it was a thing that people who weren't so psychologically sophisticated would triangulate their children in. And her parents were coming to her, and his parents were coming to him, and they were driving each other crazy. Lamaisa, the shiduf broke. They had a broken engagement. They each went on and married other people. 25 years later, her husband had passed. She had gotten divorced, and his wife had passed away. A shadchan came to her and said, "I have a great idea for you." She mentioned this guy's name, who she was originally engaged to. She laughed. She said, "It's a funny shadchan suggestion. It's been suggested before. We were actually engaged."

18:51 The shadchan said, "I know." I actually spoke to him. She said, "He would be willing to date me again after everything we went through." So the shachan said, "he originally was against it, but then he started thinking about it, and he said" 'Really, we only started fighting when our parents were involved.' My parents have since passed away. I don't imagine it would be much of an issue now. Making the chasna, we're also older. She said, "Taka, it's not so crazy." They ended up getting married. And she wrote about it in Mishpacha magazine. So fifty-fifty, if it's true, but if it's a gishmata story. I don't know if they had children or not at the end of that, but if they did, that's a different. That kid is like it's a kishmak story. After everything, my parents loved each other the entire time, and I was the product of that final union. It's a kishmak story. That's my shabenu. He was born at the very end. It's the happily ever after moment.

19:47 Eldad and Medad, what's the story you grew up with if you're Eldad and Medad? Hey, mom, where are you from? It's interesting. I was married. There's other kids. Aaron and Miriam are your siblings. What happened to you and your first husband? He decided he didn't want to have children anymore, so I left. I got married to your father. You two were born. That's a very broken story to be born from. Which means that the personalities of Eldad and Medad in the Torah represent something fundamentally different than the personality of Moshe Rabbeinu. The personality of Moshe Rabbeinu is the personality of Shleimus. The personality of Eldad and Medad speaks to the birth that occurs within the rupture. And that's no small thing Because the way that a person has nevuah, it comes from the navi himself. In fact, the Gemara says, "How does the nevuah turn out?" According to the way that the prophet interprets it.

20:51 The navi himself receives a prophecy from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but then that prophecy—it's like a living, breathing organism—and the way that the navi interprets it is what gives life to that organism. It's like Kaviyachol. There's a maseh I heard from my rebbe that there's a Rambam. I don't know which Rambam, but there's a Rambam that Rav Chaim Like there's a Shverer Rambam, and Rav Chaim gave an answer for that Shverer Rambam, and then they found. In, I think it was the Cairo Ginza that the Rambam himself deals with that kasha on the Rambam. The Rambam himself deals with that kasha on the Rambam And like So what do you do now? Was Rav Chaim wrong? Rav Chaim had a whole lumdas, so they asked Rav Salavechik, what do you do with this Rav Chaim? Rav Salavechik said, I heard this from my Rebbe. There is two shatim. There is Rav Chaim on the Rambam, and then there is the Rambam on the Rambam. And spoken like a true Brisker, but it makes sense because once something is part of the cheftz of Torah, it's given over to us to interpret.

21:58 And the Rambam isn't just saying the truth of what he meant. Once the Rambam was written, so now it's up to us to breathe chayus into that Rambam. And the way that we touch that Rambam, that's the Rambam for us. And the same thing with the Navi. The Navi receives a nivua and he interprets it according to his own lens. He brings it out into reality through the truth of himself. What was Moshe Rabbeinu missing in his leadership? I'd like to humbly suggest the following. At this point in Moshe Abenu's shlemus. Of course, it goes without saying that Moshe Rabbeinu had reached such a level of shlemas that his leadership reaches even the farthest flung member of Klal Yisrael. A hundred percent true. There's no way that it could be different because if Moshe Rabbeinu was really the Adam Shalom, if he's the ultimate ish emes that we have him to be, then it must be that he reached every single Jew.

22:56 That doesn't mean that every single Jew felt connected to him. Sometimes a yid. Looks at someone who's so big, and the feeling they have is I'm so awe inspired by this person that they almost can't be inspiring to me anymore. That they're so great that they can't relate to my struggle, but I can't bring myself to share my struggles with them. I can't come to them and say I'm struggling with something so coarse and so low because they're so enormous they couldn't possibly understand me. Even though of course they understand. I heard a story once from a Lubavitcher mashpia that there was a Lubavitcher chassid that couldn't have children. And so this chassid who couldn't have children went to this Lubavitch mashpia and he was crying. That I can't have children. I'm so broken by the fact that I can't build a family. So this mashpia said, "Did you go to the rebbe?" This is when the rebbe was alive.

24:00 Just to make sure we're on the same page. This is what this was when the rebbe was alive. So So he said, "No, I never went to the rebbe." The mashpia said, "How could you not go to the rebbe?" He replied, "The rebbe can't understand this." So this mashpia was bewildered by that. He said, "What do you mean the rebbe can't understand this? The rebbe himself doesn't have children." Who could relate to you more than the rebbe? The rebbe himself knows this pain. So the chassid said. He said, "No, you don't understand. The rebbe is so great." The rebbe is on such an unbelievably high level that I'm confident that because of the rebbe's emuna, he's not shyach to the world of pain of not having children. And this mashpia said back to him. He said, "It's just the opposite." Because the Rebbe is so great, he's deeply shyach to the pain of what it means to not have children, and your vision of what it means to be great is skewed. Because the greater you are, the more in touch you are with the lowest things, with the farthest flung things. And while that mashpia might be correct, I'd like to suggest that chassid was also correct.

25:06 Because to that Chassid, the Rebbe was so great that he couldn't bring himself to share. He felt disconnected in a certain way from the Rebbe. The Rebbe is so great, I can't come to him with my low things. And of course, it's not true. Of course, the greater the tzaddik, the more in touch he is. But that doesn't mean that our feeling around that tzaddik is that I could bring to them everything in my life. What did Moshe Rabbeinu understand when Klal Yisrael came to him and they were complaining about meat? Moshe Rabbeinu understood they're disconnected, they're minutak from me in a certain way. They don't know how to relate to me. They can't. There's something that they're not bringing up. There's a part of their life that they won't bring into my reality. So what good is my leadership if I can't? Get to the lowest member of Klal Yisrael. That's why Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't come and say, 'Fine, I'm going to make a nes and I'm going to bring you meat.' That's of course going to happen. But what's Hakadosh Baruch Hu's response? Hakadosh Baruch Hu's response is, 'So fine, let's get Shivim Zakenim together. There's going to be a lottery, and I'm going to take. Listen carefully. I'm going to take your nevuah.'

26:16 I'm going to take your spirit of nevuah. That's on you, Moshe Rabbeinu. And I'm going to divvy it up to the rest of the yishevim zakenim, so that when they're going out into the trenches of Klal Yisrael, they're bringing your message. This is what Rashi is saying. It's not just that your candle is not going to be diminished; it's your flame that's being passed from candle to candle. So these new neviim. It's all coming from you. It's the democratization of prophecy, but not instead of Moshe Rabbeinu Chas v'Shalom. It's the proliferation of the light of the tzaddik that's going to go into the farthest flung places in the camp. But there were two Jews that didn't go Two yidden that were absolutely worthy of going, but they didn't go. And why didn't they go? Rashi doesn't tell us why they didn't go. Why did these two yidden say it's not for us to go into the camp?

27:07 It's not for us to go into the almoh. It's for us to stay within the camp, because these two neviim They had a level of nevuah that was, in a certain way, the ultimate expression of this mission of Meishar Habenu. There's the tzaddik at the top, and then there's the tzaddik at the top who appoints the tzaddikim to go around and to be his tzaddikim in the world, and then there's the third level of tzaddik. The third level of tzaddik, they don't need to be appointed. They live b'toych amcha in the yosheves. They never go into the oil moid. They're leading from within. They feel the tsar because they're in the tsar. We're all in it together. I'm also broken. You're feeling broken. You're feeling like you can't relate to the ma'aser abenu. I also feel that way. Says El Dad and Ma'adad. I also feel the brokenness that you feel. My father was the one who married Yochaveh only after she divorced Amram.

28:08 I don't feel like I'm Moshe Rabbeinu. I'm the half brother of Moshe Rabbeinu. I'm related to Moshe Rabbeinu, but I'm not Moshe Rabbeinu. I'm not in that family. I'm in a certain way. I'm the second choice. That's the way Eldad and Meida. And by the way, that's why it's so chashuv that it was Gershom. Rashi says that brought the message because Gershom is the rightful heir. We don't think of it. It's like who should have been the next leader of Klal Yisrael? Should have been Gershom. That you would naturally think that would be the succession, father to son. And what does Gerashim come and he comes running and he comes and he says, Eldad and Medad, your half brothers, our family, they're being misnave in the camp, not in the Olam Oyd, in the camp itself, from the brokenness, from the fracture, they're bringing out a certain type of nivua, they're relating to the klal in a new way.

28:57 I want to share something. Maybe it's a little. I think it's nice what I'm saying. I think it's nice. I hope it will be understood in that way. There's a big debate going on quietly in Kallah Yisrael, but it's definitely happening right now. What precisely is the role of a Rebbe today? It's an interesting question. There are Rebbeim that are tremendous Talmidei Chachamim. They're leading from the top. The Talmidim feel very disconnected from them, but their Torah is amazing and inspiring. And then there's what we'll call a younger generation of rebbeim, also big talmidei chachamim, more engaged with the day to day struggles, willing to have the more coarse and low conversations. And then there are rebbeim today. I find them to be deeply inspiring, people who are also very big talmidei chachamim. But they're mevata themselves so much to their talmidim, so much their tzibur. That they're mamish living within the tzibur itself.

29:58 Ad kidekach that these rebbeim refer to their talmidim as their friends. It's a very special thing. I'm going to say his name. I don't think it's lashon hara. I think it's a wonderful thing. I hope it won't create any lashon hara. I only mean this in the most positive way. I'm incredibly inspired by Rabbi Daniel Kalish. Unbelievably inspired by Rabbi Daniel Kalish. It happens to be I grew up down the block from him. And I can tell you, he's the real deal. His father used to finish shas every single year. His father was a massive monster tamochachem. And Rav Kalish, when he was younger, we knew growing up. I knew growing up that Rav Kalish was going to be the next Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivah Rakhwe. He was an unbelievable masmid and a tremendous Flourishing tamochachem even in high school already. Today Rav Kalish refers to the tamidim in Waterbury as his friends, and he means it. It's not a show.

30:53 It's not a show. I've had the opportunity to sit with him. He's not putting on an act. He really means it. He's an unbelievably authentic person. Maysim, take my word for it. He's not putting on anything at all. He really means it. These are my friends. His hashpa comes from the inside. It doesn't come from on top. It doesn't even come from lower down. It comes from within the machana itself. He literally sits with these boys. He's not acting. Obviously, he's acting like a rebbe too. But he's mamish sitting with the guys. He's sitting with them wherever they are, and he's finding the beauty in them wherever they are. That's an unbelievable way of being mashpia. There's a debate that's raging in Klal Yisrael. Again, quietly, but it's definitely going on. What are the boundaries? What are the demarcations of where a rebbe should be? My personal opinion is every rebbe should be different. Each person, according to their own tchunas and nefesh. There are some rebbeim that are meant to lead from on high. That's the nature of who they are. If you're tremendous rishisheva tamuachim and you're sitting in the dorms and schmoozing with the guys, maybe that's ain't a lefrichado. But there are certain people that this is their. It's the nature of who they are. They can't help themselves. They're just mevatel themselves so much.

32:08 By the way, it is my experience that even within that camp of people that are totally mevatel themselves, there's levels to it. There's the people that are like More like madrichim, and then there are people that are very, very big tummy dechachamim. They mamish lower themselves. They say, "I'm with you." What do you mean? We're the same. I'm going through the same brokenness that you're going through. Maybe I'm going through it on my level and you're going through it in your level, but the empathy is there. This is the big chiddush of Eldad and Medad. The big chiddush of Eldad and Medad is that their nivu is not coming from Ohol Moed. The nivu is coming from within the Machane itself. It's a personality that knows how to relate to the brokenness of Klal Yisrael. But what are they being misnamed about? This is what Yehoshua is so bothered by.

32:56 They're prophesizing about the death of Moshe Rabbeinu. So Yehoshua has a taina. Bishlema, you want to say that there's going to be a type of nevuah that's going to come from within the brokenness But that nevuah in any way should indicate that there's a split between this nevuah and nevuah. As Ma'usha Abenu, that can't be. It has to all be from that original nair. And Yeshua was concerned. He was concerned. He said, if this is in any way going to be disconnected from Ma'usha Abenu, then it's very dangerous. And listen to what Yeshua says, because I think it's very chashuf. The simple explanation is jail them. But Rashi says an unbelievable thing. Rashi says get them involved in tsarchet zibur. The cynical pshat is that get them involved in tsarchet zibur means they'll be in jail from having to deal with all the tsarchet zibur.

33:52 But I think there's a deeper pshat. It's easy to criticize from within the camp. It's easy to come and bring out a nevuah. Things should be different when you're in the camp. When you're a guy who's struggling and you're relating to another guy who's struggling, and you've seen this before. Guys get up and they say, it's terrible what's going on, and why is the system like this? It's so foolish why the system is like this. We have and the system has to change. It's easy. It is easy to sit and pontificate about the things that should be different. Until you get involved Until you get involved, and then all of a sudden, when you get involved, Rabbi Say, the world looks very different. The world looks very different. I promise you, it's easy to be young. And it's easy to see the guy who's suffering next to you and rightfully calling out. That's the job of a navi. The job of a navi is to call out leadership.

34:56 That's what Nevi'im did historically. They called out a Melech. You're not behaving in the right way. It's easy to cry out from within the camp and say, 'How come our daughters aren't getting into seminaries? And how come our sons aren't getting into yeshivas? And how come people aren't getting shaduchim? And all the different crises that we have in Klal Yisrael. It's easy to talk about it until all of a sudden you have to start thinking about solutions and you take a leadership position. All of a sudden, it's not so easy to be critical. Because you see that it's not easy to make the changes, and maybe there are things in the system that have a negative impact or they may also have a positive impact. Yosho has a brilliant solution. Eldad and Medad, you want to be critical in a certain way. You're going to get disconnected from Moshe Rabbeinu. What you think? You think you have it all figured out? Let's put you in a position of now you be Eisik but Tsar Chitzibor. Let's see if you do any better.

35:47 It's a certain form of jail. And by the way, there's a real mussar here for us. Because it's very easy and a little pathetic for people to sit and write comments on Yeshiva World News. I think there needs to be a team of psychologists. The OU should sponsor. There should be like a think tank of therapists that they aggregate using AI all of the comments on Yeshiva World News and Voss is nice and whatever other. Narishkai websites we have where people can comment anonymously on why they think it's that anonymous comment in Mishpacha magazine or Ami magazine. Good for you, man. You took the time. I want to make sure I understand this. You took. Everybody needs to know what I think. And you took the time to comment on Yeshiva World News. You had nothing better. You had children. You have a husband. You have a wife. You have a job. You have minion. You have lima ratar. Everybody needs to know my opinion right now.

36:52 Lakewood Scoop Two Hundred One, like everyone, you with your anonymous screen name You get to call out that rub that at least had the courage to put his name on something. When Rabbi Bender made that comment, if you don't know what I am talking about, it doesn't matter. Rabbi Bender made a comment. I think it was a year ago. He spoke about Tohamel's. And he was critical of parents that drink too much. I don't think it's such a crazy thing. I don't know how that became controversial, but somehow that was terrible. It's like the worst thing you could possibly say. The comment section on Yeshiva World News when they posted his video That's your life? Your life was writing comments on Rabbi Bender's anti-drinking stance? That's the line you drew in the sand, Mila Hashem Eli? I'm going to fight to the death for my tovahel.

37:55 It's easy. It's easy, says Yehoshua. You want to be critical of my shabenu? You want to be misnave from within the camp? Let's see, you do it. Get involved with tzarchet zibor. You'll see your hands are tied. It's not so easy to make the changes you want to see in the world. That's a very profound lesson in the Torah. And my shabenu's response to Yehoshua is gorgeous and beautiful. He says, "You don't understand." This is exactly what we need. This is exactly what we need. Yehoshua, don't stand up to Eldad and Medad and tell them it's easy to be. It's easy to talk about the change. Go get involved. This is what I yearn for as a rebbe. I yearn for every single talmid to bring out his own nevuah. There's a There's a line. There's a famous story, and there's a particular line that's become famous from the story in the Balshemtov.

38:53 Wrote a letter to his brother-in-law, Geshen Kitover. He said that he went to the Heichal of Mashiach, whatever that means. I don't know. But he went to Shamayim and he went to the Heichal of Mashiach and he said, "Emosai koasimar" When will you come? When will Mashiach come? And he says, 'Kashia futzumayanosecha achutsa, when the well springs of your Torah overflow. " So the simple explanation, and I think this is how most people understand it. The simple explanation is. When Chassidus starts to be learned in the world Maybe that's true. Maybe that's one explanation of what he meant. And if that's the case, it certainly seems like Mashiach is coming. Everyone's going to Uman. Everyone's going to Kerestir. When I was growing up, I never heard of Kerestir. It was like maybe a couple thousand chaver from Montreal. Used to anyone here from Montreal? I knew it. You look. Don't think there's a certain look.

39:50 You know what I mean? There's like a Are you going to McGill? Gmar Chasam. Do you speak French? I just met a person tonight from Montreal. I knew right away she was from Montreal. So she said, "I said, where are you from?" She said, "Montreal." I just knew it. There's a certain like you have a there's like a hajjus panim from people from Montreal. It used to be there's a couple of Hasidim from Kerestir that ended up in Montreal. I promise you, I grew up in the Five Towns. There was not one Five Towns Jew that ever heard of Rosh Hashanah, let alone made a pilgrimage to Kerestir. Maybe I understand getting excited about free pizza. I'm all in on that. But Uman Kerestir, everyone goes to the oil now in Queens. Maybe it's true. Maybe that's what it meant. But I think it meant something deeper.

40:48 When we reach into our own well springs, and we, in a certain way, have our nevuah that we bring out into the world when there's a hafaza. Every one of us is a mayan. Every one of us has a tirah inside ourselves that's waiting to explode onto the scene. One of the most tragic things, and please tell Rav Horin that I said this. One of the most tragic things that happens in today's yeshivas is that we don't teach guys how to learn. And Rav Horin and I share a rebbe. We both learned by Rav Parnas, and I want to share with you the godless of what it meant to learn by my rebbe. My rebbe used to say When can you leave She'er? Used to say, "When you ask a hundred percent of the same questions and you give fifty percent of the same answers, and inevitably guys would ask." Why fifty percent Mima nefshach? Why not a hundred percent, or why not nothing?

41:55 So my rebbe would say, you have to know what not to say. That's the fifty percent. But I want to hear your own creativity. My rebbe would get excited when a guy would bring out his own chiddush into the sheir. And he would say, 'Ain based medish below chiddush.' He would quote that my merchazal all the time, and the sheir was a war zone. The shir was a war zone. It was my rebbe sat at a table. There were twenty five, thirty guys in the shir in like half circles around my rebbe, and it was like there was kima no gemara learned in the shir. It was an amazing gemara shir. Like there was one guy who used to my rebbe used to say he should read the gemara to be yotze the mitzvah of kriya. He would read the gemara on the side for like thirty seconds, and then we would jump right into the rishonim. And my rebbe would say, who wants to be mazber the machlokas?

42:42 And you know it was a war zone in there. You didn't want to raise your hand because my rebbe would tear you down if you said something foolish. When I say he would tear you down, I mean it. He had these half circles, and if you said something smart, he would tell you to move up. But if you didn't He would do that And you had to move back. I had a friend who said something so dumb that my rebbe said, 'You need to move back a row.' And nobody laughed, and the guy moved back a row. You had to be, my rebbe says, I need physical distance from that level of stupidity. This is what it was like. We didn't think it was abuse. We thought it was amazing because he demanded excellence of us, and he demanded creativity. He was excited when we would be creative.

43:30 Because he wasn't interested in creating clones of himself. He wanted to say over a derech halimud, and then he wanted us to employ that derech halimud. Which is why the talmidim of my rebbe became so creative in their learning, and they fell in love with it because they weren't just repeating a shiur. Today, again, I'm not knocking it. Everybody has their own style, and if that's what works for you, then gavaldik. But today, it appears to me that more people are interested in repeating the chiddush of their rebbe than actually thinking for themselves. What do I think about the sugya? I also have a kappy. I also have. I also have what to say. And there's a messara for this. How do you create talmidei chachamim? It's not just I'm going to repeat the same raid. You don't need a rebbe anymore. You could just get a masivta, learn how to read Hebrew, and just read. You're smart enough to know. It's a good chiddush.

44:19 But who came up with that chiddush? Kids just like you and me. They were once upon a time kids just like you and me. And by the way, I want to tell you a secret. They weren't all geniuses. It's not true. They weren't all geniuses. Yeah, there were the Rav Aaron Kotler's of the world. Rav Aaron Kotler was an unbelievable genius, But you should know—I won't say their names—but there were Gedolim that were known to not be geniuses. And if you learn their Torah, you could tell that they weren't geniuses, but they were creative, and it was their ideas, and their ideas inspired people. My Shabenu says to Yeshua, Yeshua, don't throw water on them. This is how change gets made. It's when everybody reaches into the depth of their own soul and pulls out their truth. That's how change gets made. When people say, from my state of brokenness, from my low state, I also have something to contribute.

45:12 And this is the ultimate leadership that Moshe Rabbeinu seeks to impart. It's all coming from Moshe Rabbeinu. He's the original mayor. But the inspiration of Moshe Rabbeinu's Torah is in every single one of us, and now it's our responsibility to lead from within. Over the last I'm getting a little older now. I think for the last 30 years This model of leadership Of young men just like yourself Who are deeply aware of what's going on in their own lives. Reaching into the depths of their own soul and pulling out their truth and sharing it out loud in the world, not in the comment section of Yeshiva World News, but in an actual, real way, in an authentic way. Whether that's in the dorms or in the Beis Medrash, or you have the opportunity to get up in front of a tshibor, or write an article and sign your name on it.

46:06 In every different way. For the last thirty years, the kids who grew up in our system have created the changes that we are seeing today, and it's going to get better and better if we keep going along this path. Today, rebbeim are deeply aware of what's going on with their talmidim, and I want to share with you: it was not that way 30 years ago. I heard a terrible ma'isa years and years ago. I don't think this ma'isa would be true today about a certain yeshiva that they were having a meeting in the summer. About how to make the yeshiva more academic And the rebbeim had gotten wind of what the agenda of the meeting was And in the agenda it was like we're going to give more tests and we're going to have more lesson plans and more curriculums. And this one rebbe was rolling his eyes because he was the rebbe. You always have this rebbe. In every grade there's at least one or two of these rebbeim. You have the rebbe that actually knows what's going on where the boys actually are.

47:08 So this rabbi came to the meeting early. Happens to be this rabbi is a friend of mine. He came to the meeting early And he went around the school. The meeting was happening in the summer. And he collected pairs of tefillin that were left in school over the summer. Kids who didn't bother to take their tefillin home for the summer. And he brought them. They were going to have the meeting in a certain room. He brought these, whatever it was, x amount of pairs of tefillin. I don't want to say how many it was, but it was not a small amount. And he put them on the table. And when the Rebbeim walked in, there was a pile of tefillin on the table. And the Rebbe got up and he said, "We're about to have a conversation about having more academic rigor. Our boys didn't take their tefillin home for the summer." Suffice it to say, the Rebbe wasn't there for much longer in that yeshiva. The Rosh Yeshiva did not appreciate that move he had made.

48:02 That story is a long time ago, Reni. I remember when Rabbi Adler Rashiva of TABC. I remember many years ago. I'm not here to talk about the other half of it. There was a time in SAR where Rabbi Hartstark had allowed two women who were in the school to wear tefillin, and Rabbi Adler got up in Rina that Shabbos. I know this because I was in Rina that Shabbos. Rabbi Adler got up and spoke about it in every single minyan. Because Rabbi Hartstock had gone to Rabbi Adler to ask him what to do, and Rabbi Adler was the one that said that the girls should wear the tefillin. And so he got up to defend Rabbi Hartstock in every single minyan in Rina that Shabbos, and I was there by Ashkam minyan. It doesn't matter. I'm not here to share my opinion on that particular issue, but I want to tell you what Rabbi Adler said. He said the whole world is going crazy because two girls in SAR wanted to wear tefillin. Halavai, our boys in our community should be putting on tefillin every day. He said this in Rina and every single minyan that Shabbos. And whether you agree with Rabbi Adler's decision or disagree with Rabbi Adler's decision, I think it took amazing courage for Rabbi Adler to get up and say your sons aren't wearing tefillin.

49:20 And when rebayim who are deeply engaged say chevra our children don't know Hebrew They're coming out of twelve years of an education in our community and they don't know how to make a laning on a blockamara. They don't know how to read psukim and chumashim. They don't know how to read reshonim. They don't know how to read Rashi. Some of them don't know how to read Rashi script. It takes courage to get up and say these things, but Baruch Hashem today the rebayim are really engaged. And the only way that we're going to continue to make the change for the better is where we're going to offer our kids a better future. By the way, you guys had it better than I have it, and your kids will have it better than you have it. The reason I know that it's getting, even though everybody talks about Yeridus Adoros, I don't buy it. I don't buy it for one second. Yeridus Adoros means the challenges are getting lower in the sense that they're becoming more ikroni. They're becoming more like from the deepest parts of the self. But it is absolutely a dar mitzuyam. I wouldn't last two seconds in your generation.

50:15 The nacionals that your generation grew up with is unbelievable. Any kid that grows up today and has some sense of dignity and some sense of frumkeit is unbelievable. Chas v'shalom to talk about kids and today's generation. You talk about yidden that way, terrible. But if it's going to be better for your kids, it's going to be because you guys decided. To be the change that you want to see in the world, and to talk about it, and to talk for real. Don't wait for the leadership from above to start talking about the problems down below. You guys know the problems. Halavai, this is what Moshe Rabbeinu is saying. Halavai, you want to create real change, Yeshua. Don't stifle them. The leadership comes from within. It's the best type of leadership. It's when you have all the eldads and meidads in the world, those that were born from within the rupture, from within the fracture, those that are not yet at the repair of Meish Rabenu, that talk about what it's like to live within that machana. They're not sitting in oil moed.

51:09 They're sitting mamish b'taich amcha aniyoshevus. That's the way we create real change. And I think we're getting there. I think it's good. It's an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing to see. Young men today that have the courage to talk about the real issues. And that have the authenticity to be able to say, "Yes, this is what our generation struggles with, whatever it is." And halavai, we would learn from you. The Lubavitcher Rebbe said about a chassidim of his time, "It's a generation that you can't tell them to do anything, but you could teach them to do everything." And it's true. It's a generation that you could teach. They're craving it. People want to understand deeply what is going on. And if you teach them, you'll see they respond beautifully. Everybody's looking for a connection with Hashem. It's our responsibility to create a culture where, Be'ezrat Hashem, the voice of every single yid will rise up from within the camp. There'll be a hafaza of a mayan that comes from the lowest members of Klal Yisrael, and that will be the ultimate change. Rabbi, I have a beautiful Shabbos. Yes.