Ki Tisa - Letting Your Light Shine Through

2:03 I think everybody in this room, including myself, would have said Mashiach is here. It is absolutely unbelievable times that we are living in, and yet this is in these final moments before Mashiach comes. It is a very dangerous time. And it's not enough to be like just hearing the news and yeah it happened in the world. It's happening to us. For those who are in America, for those who are in Europe, for those that are in Eretz Yisrael, this is all happening to Klal Yisrael. B'shvil Klal Yisrael nikrereshes. That's we're the first we're the tachlis habriya. And so this is happening not just to those that are living in Eretz Yisrael. It's happening to all of us. I unfortunately was, as Rav Kook said, a yid doesn't leave Eretz Yisrael. So I was unfortunately spit out of Eretz Yisrael. It appears al pider chateva that I have a flight back tomorrow at three thirty p.m. I am very blessed to be going back on an LL flight and not through Egypt or Jordan or any lunatic plan that people have to go in and out of Eretz Yisrael. It is interesting.

3:11 They're not serving any food on the flight. This is a very bad idea. There's no way to put a whole bunch of Jews on a flight that's going into an anxious situation and not give us a way to express our anxiety through food. This is the trauma of generations. It's going to be a miserable flight. And if anybody here has a hook up with Elal, they gave me a middle seat. So even though I feel like I'm going home, like a middle seat, shvach. So if you could help a brother out, help a friend out, I would certainly like some help. There was a comedian in the last war that said, and I feel very much this way: Israel is the only country that sends rescue missions to bring their citizens back to the war. So I'm Baruch Hashem being rescued. I'm excited for the security questions tomorrow. Did you bring a package with you that anyone gave you? I brought all the packages. Try to stop me from going home. There's nothing they can ask me tomorrow that's gonna stop me from getting on the plane.

4:13 But we have a couple of minutes, so let's learn some Torah. And it should be a schuz for all of our brothers and sisters and our families that are in Eretz Yisrael. That whatever evil they have, nothing left. They have nothing left to lose. These evil men have nothing left to lose, so they're going to fire whatever they have because what are they going to do to us now? They're going to take down the regime. The regime is already over. It says in the Yalkut that even the Arab nations are rising up against Persia today. Saudi Arabia has joined the fight. Iraqi Kurds have joined the fight. Qatar, which by the way is the it's the correct pronunciation. There's no place Qatar. It's called Qatar. It's just you know we say what we want, but it's called Qatar. Qatar joined the fight. So this is mamish the end of the end. In our lifetimes, we will bezoz Hashem.

5:07 See a complete fulfillment of the prophecy of Mashiach, that all the swords will be turned into plowshares, that all of the technology that's being designed today to destroy evil in the world will one day be used only for good. And so it should be a chos. It should be a chos that we should reach these final moments of Mashiach with as little pain as possible. As Hashem, we see the gula shleima. The pasuk in this week's parsha tells us that when Moshe Rabbeinu Came down from Har Sinai with luchos shneios. It says, 'Vayhi beredes Moshe me Har Sinai u'shnei luchos haedos biad Moshe. Abenu is coming down from Har Sinai. He's holding on to the two luchos. Moshe Rabbeinu is unaware that his face is absolutely radiant. His face is shining. Moshe Rabbeinu is unaware of this reality.' By Aaron, and Aaron and all of Klal Yisrael see Moshe Rabbeinu, v'hinei karen arpanov V'yiru mi'geshes elov.

6:10 They saw that his skin was radiant, that it was shining. And they were afraid to come near him. Before we get into kashas that we have on these pesukim, let's look at a couple of mamrei chazal first. When did this story occur? When does Moshe Rabbeinu come down? From Har Sinai, with his face being so radiant. Rashi tells us Keshehvi luchos achroynes biyom akipurim. Yom Kippur. It's the first Yom Kippur. Moshe Rabbeinu is coming down with the luchos shnios. The luchos rishonos were destroyed because of the chet ha'egel, and now Moshe Rabbeinu is coming down with the second set of luchos, and his face is absolutely radiant. What is this karan arpanav? What's this lashon of karan? Rashi tells us, lashon karnayim. Maybe you heard that this concept that Jews have horns. I was once in an airport in Texas, and I saw this guy checking me out, looking at me strangely. I was like, "Can I help you?"

7:09 He's like, "You're Jewish." I was like, "Yeah." He's looking at my head. What are you looking for? He's like, "Never met one of y'all before. You were looking for horns." I don't have. Maybe these guys, but it's not. I explained to him it's a pasuk. It means that Moshe Rabbeinu had rays of light that were shining off of him, but it does say like horns. That the light was protruding out of him like a horn. Where is Moshe's zaycha to these horns of light that are radiating off of his face? So there's two pshat. The Rashi brings one of them. Our rabbis teach us, based on a medrash, that it came from the cave. To copy, Moshe Rabbeinu asked Hakadosh Baruch Hu to be able to understand why bad things happen to good people. And when he passed by, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu passed by, Hakadosh Baruch Hu put his hand on Moshe Abenu's face.

8:18 And from the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu, his face was touched by Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so to speak, now he's radiating this unbelievable light from his face. These unbelievable horns. There is another medrash, Mr. Nama, you're familiar with this medrash. Another medrash tells us that it was from the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu had extra ink from the Torah that was smeared on his face when Moshe Rabbeinu was writing the Torah. He was writing the Torah with ink. There was a little bit left over, and Moshe Rabenu wiped that ink on his face, and that ink illuminated him. Now he became radiant. He has these karen arpanov. The Ruchai Hakadosh asked the obvious Kasha, famous Kasha. We know that when it comes to man-made things, sometimes there's a little bit extra. But by Hakadosh Baruch Hu, how could it be that there was any extra ink? Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave Moshe Rabenu the perfect amount of ink. So how does Moshe Rabbeinu have a surplus of ink that he wipes a little bit on his face, and that's how he has these karen arpanav?

9:16 And the Aruch HaYam Hakadosh gives the well-known answer that the ink is left over from an extra yud that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't write. What was the extra yud? When Moshe Rabbeinu was writing in the Torah that he was anav mikol Adam, the word anav is spelled without a yud. Really, Hakadosh Baruch Hu instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to write the Torah with the yud. And Moshe Rabbeinu on his own took out the yud. That accounts for the small drop of extra ink. Think about it. How much is a yud already in ink? But that small amount of ink, when Moshe Rabbeinu wiped it on his face, illuminated his face. So we have two pshatim. How Moshe Rabbeinu came to be so radiant. The first pshat is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu touched him on his face, and the second pshat is that it came from the leftover ink.

10:05 And what happened when Moshe Rabbeinu comes down with this? Unbelievable, illuminated face. Klal Yisrael is terrified of him. And Rashi explains, "Vor e kama gadol koychos halaverah" Come and see how powerful the power of an averah is. Shad shlo pashtu yedei ba averah mahu omer until Klal Yisrael did the chet haegel. What did they say? Umar e kved Hashem kei shaychelis b'roishah har laenei bnei Yisrael velo yireim velo mizdazim. Klal Yisrael came down Kibas Bay Ar Sinai and Hakadosh Baruch Hu was coming with thunder and lightning and Klal Yisrael is not afraid. Klal Yisrael is not afraid because they hadn't yet done the Chet HaEgel, but now that they've done the Chet HaEgel, uMisha Asu asa Egel af mikarno Hodosh Shem Moshe hoyu martim uMizdaz. Now because they did the Chet HaEgel, Klal Yisrael is terrified not of Hakadosh Baruch Hu by Ar Sinai bechvayu doy of Atzmai with thunder and lightning. Even a small amount of Hashem's light radiating from Moshe Rabbeinu's face is terrifying, and they are quaking from it.

11:16 So we have several questions. First of all The most obvious question is, what's the pshat in a horn? Of all the things for the Torah to express that Moshe Rabbeinu's face was illuminated Why a horn? Why is that the greatest imagery? If we were writing the Torah, we would have said maybe like the sun. That would have been a great way of expressing it. That he has carne, that he has horns of light coming off of his face, is very strange. Also, the Torah emphasizes that this happened dafka on Yom Kippur. That this unbelievable illumination is when Moshe Rabbeinu comes down with the Luchos Hashneios. I would have expected that Moshe Rabbeinu would have come down with the Luchos Arishonos. That would have had this unbelievable illumination. That would have been a great day. Because the Luchos Rishonos, those of course, came from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Moshe Rabbeinu is involved in the creation of the Luchos Ashnios. So one would imagine that if Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't come down from Har Sinai, illuminated from the first Luchos, certainly he's not going to be illuminated by the second Luchos. And yet we see that that's not the case.

12:25 Third question: Any time Chazal explain something from multiple perspectives, it's really all one. The job of a Jew is to put things back together to show the oneness of everything. So we have here two pshatim. How does Moshe Rabbeinu get this illuminated face? So one pshat is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu touched him, and that results in the illumination. Another pshat is that it comes from the yud that he didn't put in the word anav. What is the hezber hamachlokus? What is the understanding of this machlokus? How can we take these two seemingly totally different pshatim in Chazal and put them together? What do they have to do with each other? And finally What's the significance of the fact that Klal Yisrael is terrified of Moshe Rabbeinu? That's a very strange reaction. When a Yid sees a tzaddik, especially a tzaddik who illuminates, it seems to me that we're drawn naturally to such a tzaddik, the same way that a tree naturally gravitates towards the sunlight. That's why in Eretz Yisrael, if you've ever seen a tree, it has to be surrounded by trellises. You ever see those metal circles that go around those trees, and they all have like the ropes attached to them to make sure they go straight. Why? Because if we don't put the trellises around the tree, how will the tree naturally grow? It will gravitate towards the sunlight.

13:46 And therefore you'll have trees that are growing crooked. In order to ensure that the trees grow straight, we have to hold them carefully. Things naturally gravitate towards the light. If Moshe Rabbeinu is coming down from Har Sinai and he's illuminating and radiant. Wouldn't we have been attracted to him? Why are we terrified of him? That's a very strange thing. We see throughout history that those tzaddikim, especially those tzaddikim that shine, people would come from all over the world to be connected to them. I saw this myself with many gedolei, many tzaddikim in Yerushalayim. People come from all over the world to see Rav Itzhak Meir. People came from all over the world to see Rav Yishev Zeichut Zadik Lavracha. Sir Chaim Kaniewski, Zeches Tzaddik of Racha. People travel thousands of miles to learn Torah from the greatest Torah luminaries. So they were terrified. Rashi says, "They were terrified. Why were they terrified? Because they sinned."

14:41 Because they sinned, they were terrified. That's very strange. If they sinned and somebody comes down and they're so illuminating, who would not want to be purified in the light of such a tzaddik? If I find myself that I did a terrible avera, especially an avera as terrible as the Chet HaEgal, so then certainly I should have wanted to be by Moshe Rabbeinu. That would have been the ultimate time to draw close. We draw close to tzaddikim in our lowest moments, and yet we see that Klal Yisrael had the exact opposite reaction. Klal Yisrael was terrified of Moshe Rabbeinu, and why were they terrified? Because of their sin. Very, very strange. So the four questions are just to sum up very quickly. Number one: Why does the Torah use this imagery of a horn? Number two. Why does Rashi tell us that this specifically happened on Yom Kippur? Number three, what's the hezbra machlokas between these two pshatim? Did the illumination come from the fact that Akavish Baruch who touched Moshe Rabbeinu's face, or did it come from the extra yud? And what's the significance of the fact that Klal Yisrael are now afraid of Moshe Rabbeinu because they sinned?

15:47 I want to share with you something that I see happening in the world today. Everyone in the world naturally desires to be significant. That's what every one of us is yearning for. Everyone is yearning for a sense of significance. It's not obvious where we get our sense of significance from. Some people get their sense of significance from the home. Some people get their sense of significance from certain levels of achievement. There are two ways, it seems to me, that you can get significance in this world. Number one is you can attempt to shine And number two is you can do the exact opposite. You can try and become transparent. Either you can try to shine outwards or do something in your life to try and shine, or the exact opposite. You can create transparency within yourself and allow yourself to shine naturally. What does that mean to shine naturally?

16:56 A humble person shines. If you've ever met a truly humble person They're radiant. Everybody wants to be around humble people. Humble people, there's a certain sense of safety. There's a certain sense of dignity. There's a certain sense of majesty that a truly humble person has. We tend to think of humility as I'm nothing. I'm a nothing I'm worthless. Don't pay attention to me. That's not what humility is. Humility does not in any way diminish the self. Humility is not self-abnegation. The truth of humility is that we don't experience ourselves as self-generated. Almost everybody, when we have a sense of ego, what we're saying is. I created myself like Paro, liya oiriv vaani asisani. It's my river, and I made it. Meaning, I am the God that created myself. There's a large ego that comes along with Paro. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less as the source.

18:11 We are not the source. There's a Rabbinical element that's the source. There's a famous story from Einstein, Zecharia Saldikovrachel. That Rav Moshe was called upon to testify in the American court system And he was asked by the attorney who was cross examining him He said, "Are you one of the greatest rabbis of the generation?" "And Rav Moshe feinstein said, 'yes, I am.' And the prosecuting attorney said to him, How could you consider yourself one of the greatest rabbis of the generation? That's a lack of humility. So Rav Moshe responded, he goes, "I'm under oath." Meaning, Rav Moshe Feinstein was well aware of who he was. He was one of the greatest paiskem of the generation. The shilas that big rabbanim get require massive shoulders. I saw with my own eyes one time, Rav Yishuv Zechariah Levracha, when he was being rolled out of the bais medrash in his wheelchair.

19:11 He was a very, very old man at that point already, and people would ask shaylas again. I won't give any other details, but people would ask the craziest shaylas. People would fly from all over the world, and they would stand right outside of Rav Yashiv's beis medrash. And as he was being wheeled home, they would lean into the wheelchair and ask Rav Yashiv the shayla. And Rav Yashiv, just like it was nothing, would pasken the shaylas. Where does a person get such enormous shoulders to pass the shaylas? If any of you have ever had the opportunity, I imagine you have. We have in our midst today a A flourishing young gadol b'taira, Rav Aryeh Liebowitz, who's mamish holding in—I don't know—dare I say all of Shas and Peischem? And he's young, and he's accessible. He's a tremendous person. I myself go to him with my shilas these days because he's just so normal, and anybody can get them.

20:10 If you listen to Rav Liebowitz talk about the shilas that he gets, it's like the craziest shilas in the world are coming his way. And in ten minutes or less, he can give them over to everybody. It's a crazy thing to have shoulders to be able to pass these shaylas like it's nothing. That's not gaiva That's humility. The Rebbeinu Shlom gave me a brain. And the Rebbeinu Sholom gave me the opportunity to use that brain to learn Torah, and I have mastered a certain section of Torah. And if somebody comes and asks such a shayla, then the most humble thing that we can do is say, 'I have the shoulders to answer that shayla.' Not because I've accomplished anything great on my own, but because the Rebbeinu Sholom has put me in such a position. That is the true definition of humility. In today's day and age, humility is a very rare, very scarce commodity.

21:08 Most people in the world today are engaged in brand building. It's like this concept of building a brand. It involves social media, and when I say social media, I don't just mean Instagram or TikTok or Twitter or X, whatever you want to call it. Or WhatsApp statuses, which is Jewish Twitter People are curating the content of their lives so that they can have a certain brand. It's like if you remember Probably you don't But if you remember in high school, you go to a party Like a Passover. And you take one of those silly selfie videos to show what's happening at the party, but you have to shake the camera to make it look better than it is. It's like ten people at the party, but if you have the frame just like this and you shake it real good, it looked epic. What was that?

22:14 Exactly. What's Nah? For shidduchim purposes, I won't ask. But very good. Why are people curating the content of their lives? Because it's an attempt to build an identity. Because people aren't comfortable with their identity; they're not comfortable with what the Rebbeinu Shalom gave them. It's like, no, this is me. Look at how talented I am. By the way, there's a version of this that's spiritual. It was very beautiful. I came a little early tonight. And just sitting in the corner Trying to learn a little bit. How many girls are in the beis medrash? Seven. Fifteen at night, beis medrash is packed. Should tell the boys there are a lot of smart girls here. Maybe some of you can outlearn some of them if you went to MMY. I've heard your song. There's a version of this that's spiritual. The spiritual version of this is, look how much I daven, look how much I learn, look how much Chesed I do. There's a sense that we build our identity not around the very natural state of who we are, but it's like a look at me.

23:41 Look at me. This is who I am, as opposed to the very natural self that seems to come out in humble people. Moshe Rabbeinu refuses the description of Anav Mikol Adom. He has to write it down. He has to write it down. The Rebbeinu Shlom said that he has to write it down. It's a humble thing to write. I am the most humble of all men. He was under oath. The Rebbeinu Shlom said you have to write these words. But Moshe Rabbeinu says there has to be something, even though I'm writing these words, and the Rebbeinu Shlom tells me to write these words. In a certain sense, he has to hold back. Because to be on any level, the author of those words is to diminish those words. And that's the catch-22 that Meir Shabenu is in. He has to write it because the Rebbeinu Shalom tells him to write it. But if he writes it, then it's not true. So how does Meir Shabenu thread the needle?

24:34 I'll write it because you told me to. I'll leave out the yud. And in refusing to accept the moniker of Anav. In refusing to make that his identity, it becomes his identity. He becomes radically present in that moment Because when a person stops curating the image of their own life, that's when they actually start to live. That's the challenge. The challenge is the moment you stop trying to be for everyone else. The moment you stop trying to put on this show. The moment you stop trying to write your shidduch resume or whatever resume you're writing. That's actually when you start to shine through. That's the paradox of how we live. On the one hand, I want people to know who I truly am. On the other hand, the moment you want people to know who you truly are, it's already over. That's why Chazal say that where does a person find kavod? If you're bereach min kavod, kavod will chase after you. The challenge is for many of us that we're running away from kavod, going like this. Is it chasing me?

25:34 Because it's difficult to let go of kavod, we feel like we're letting go of our identity. But the moment you stop trying to expend any energy on your identity, that's actually when you shine. We're using our energy, and this is the craziest thing: we're using our energy in an attempt to shine, and it doesn't work. It's actually when you stop using your energy to try to create an identity that you naturally start to illuminate. The world itself says "I exist." That's the nature of the world. The nature of the world is arrogant. Everything in this world proclaims its own existence as if it had no God. This stender, if you look at it, you don't see the rebbeinu shalom. This cup of water, if you look at it, you don't see the rebbeinu shalom. The nature of this world is that it is opaque. It hides Hashem's presence in this world.

26:31 In contrast When Moshe Rabbeinu is onav mikol adam. What does he do? He becomes completely transparent. It's like you could see through Moshe Rabbeinu to the essence, like the Ramchal describes that in Yemaisa Mashiach the body will become so translucent that the neshama itself will shine through the body, the same way this light is shining through this light bulb. That the radiance of the neshama will shine through the body because the body is no longer coarse and thick. The body no longer hides Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence; it reveals Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence. It becomes a vehicle for ensuring that we can experience Hashem in this world. This is what Moshe Rabbeinu does when he becomes Anav Mikol Adam. The light is shining, not because Moshe Rabbeinu is attempting to shine his own light, but it's just the opposite. Moshe Rabbeinu has no interest in shining his own light. His material body becomes totally translucent, and the light of Moshe Rabbeinu shines forth.

27:36 That's the way that we are meant to live in this world. Humility changes the nature of your person. It makes you translucent. It allows you to shine in this world. The reason why we are living in a generation of people that are so deeply frustrated is because they're trying to figure out where they belong. Where is my kavod in this world? Kavod from the lashon of kaved. Where is my weight in this world? Everyone's trying to leave their mark to leave an imprint. It's really fake. If you're trying to leave an imprint, you're not leaving an imprint. If you're not trying to leave an imprint, that's where you leave an imprint. It's a beautiful story, one of my favorite stories. The altar of Slabodka. One of the greatest bale musar to ever live. The Rosh Yeshiva of Slabadka You could argue that Slabadka is responsible for almost all of the Torah that's being learned today.

28:34 The Gedolim that were—it's unusual. Gedolim in general were not made in yeshivas. Slabadka was one of the major exceptions. Rav Ruderman, Rosh Yeshiva of Negev Yisrael, Zeichutzadik Levracha, was a Talmud in Slabadka. Rav Aaron Cutler, Zeichutzadik Levracha, the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Lakewood, was a Talmud in Slabadka. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky. The founding Rashiya, or not founding, the Rashiya of Torah Vidas was a Talmud in Slabodka. Vviger Miller was a Talmud in Slabodka. All of the Mir comes from Slabodka. Today, hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions, have come from Slabodka. There was a wedding. And Ravan Kotler and Yevakam Kamenetsky, who were childhood friends, were at the wedding together. And one of the Bachrim, seeing the opportunity that he had, two Gedolei Hadar in front of him, two Gedolei Hadar who learned by the Alter of Slabodka. He wanted to ask these two gedolim what it was like to learn in Slabodka, so he went over to Rav Aaron and to Rav Yaakov and he said, 'How come the Alter of Slabodka never published a sefer?'

29:35 It's true, we don't have svarim from the altar of Slabodka. So Rav Aaron and Rav Yaakov started to crack up. And I don't remember which gadol it was. I think it was Rav Yaakov who responded to this bacher. The altar of Slabodka did not want anyone to know that he existed. His entire goal in life was that he should be hidden; that nobody should know that he existed. Why would he have ever written a sefer? That's godless. Perhaps you could say that's the reason why the author of Slabodka generated so many gedolei Torah, because he was not interested in himself. He was interested in hiding himself. It's not about me. Those that grew up in his presence became gedolem because they basked in the radiance of a tzaddik who did not want to be seen. That's the godless of humility. Light is blocked by ego.

30:37 Ego makes the body opaque. This whole personal branding, identity construction, content curating lifestyle that we use to define ourselves is actually the thing that's killing our generation. The reason why these kids are so frustrated today is because the more they attempt to build that brand The more they fail. And even those that quote-unquote succeed, those that become the social media influencers, everybody ridicules them behind their back. They have this unbelievable reach, but what is everybody doing? All they're doing is posting about their life. It's not working And it's our responsibility to teach the world about true humility, because that's the only way we will ever belong. Light is not something that you gain. Light is not something that you acquire from the outside. Light is what emerges when you remove all the opacity of your body, when you remove the obstruction and you allow your light to naturally shine through. You don't create light.

31:52 Your job is simply to stop blocking the light from shining into the world. Here's the paradox. The paradox is as follows: Moshe Rabbeinu tries to erase himself. And the more he tries to erase himself, the more luminous he becomes. As you refuse to speak about your own greatness The more your greatness becomes visible. Lemoshel I don't want to say any not nice things But I'm sure you've been on this end of this experience before. Have you been on an awkward first date yet? You don't have to raise your hand; I'll know just from looking. A number of you. You know that first date when the guy is trying too hard? A couple of you just went like this. I just want you to know you're my people. He's trying too hard, and it's deeply uncomfortable because nobody's talking, so he's just trying to fill in the space. It's like the most awkward thing in the world. So he has nothing to talk about. What does he talk about?

33:03 He talks about himself. And the more he talks about himself, the more you're like How fast can I get out of this date? I don't know where you are, Mr. Broadway, whatever you're holding. Is this? Is there still a CVS around here? There used to be a CVS. That's where everyone goes to meet their dates. I once had one awkward date in front of a CVS. I met this girl. It was the worst date ever. I'm not blaming the CVS. It was just a terrible date. Wasn't my wife. It's deeply unattractive. It's deeply unattractive to be with people that constantly talk about themselves. There's an irony that As we get older That cool guy. As you get older, it's much less cool. When you're young, it's like Like somebody like that, and then you get older, and you're like, no, definitely not someone like that.

34:14 Someone who's confident without being arrogant Someone who's mild-mannered, but yet in his soft-spoken way makes a massive impact. Someone that's capable of saying Chatasi Avici Pashati. I made a mistake and I'm sorry. As we get older, those are the things that we seek out in this world. Because I can't meet you as long as you're getting in the way of yourself. But the people that are truly humble actually introduce themselves in this world. Let's start to answer some of our questions. I know the hour is already late. Why a horn? A horn is something that rises from the inside and pushes outwards. A horn is not an attachment. That's like a unicorn. Those don't really exist. A horn is part of the skull of the animal. It's something internal that is shooting outwards. Moshe Rabbeinu's humility is something that's fundamentally internal. His light is internal, but it's shooting outwards like a horn.

35:22 That's why the gematria of the word Keren is the same as the gematria of Shame Yud. That Moshe Rabbeinu's name is that Yud that he erased. Moshe Rabbeinu is shining outwards because the last thing he's trying to do is shine at all. Why does this specifically happen on Yom Kippur? The first luchos come before any avera But the second luchos come after the rupture After things fall apart, that's where repair truly occurs. There's a secret in Yiddishkeit. The greater the rupture, the greater the repair. The greater the repair, the greater the revelation of self. Most of us think that an avera is the end. The truth is, an avera is the beginning. Chazal are very clear about this. Nasilok ischuyos that your avera can become a merit for you if you do tshuva me'ava. After we fall, that's when we find out who we really are.

36:32 The first luchos were given by God. The second luchos was a partnership between Moshe Rabbeinu and Hakadosh Baruch Hu. In other words, Moshe Rabbeinu needs to reach into the deepest recesses of who he is. Not just receiving from Hakadosh Baruch Hu in its perfect form But after the imperfection, after the avera, after the luchos are broken, Moshe Rabbeinu goes up to receive the luchos again, and he's a partner in making these luchos. That requires a massive level of humility to come up to the Rebbeinu Shalom and to say, 'I'm here to do this together with you.' That's not arrogance. That's humility. That's bringing out that self that resides within. It's making yourself totally transparent to the will of the Rebbeinu Shalom. And that's greater in a certain sense than the first luchos because it's digging into the recesses of who you are and expressing it in this world.

37:31 And this is the hezbra machlokas. How does Moshe Rabbeinu shine so brightly? Either Hakadosh Baruch Hu touches his face Or he erases that yud. He doesn't use that yud. What's the hezbra machlokas? The radiance comes from Hashem. That everybody agrees on. A person does not shine on their own. They can only shine the light that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives them to shine in this world. Either that radiance can come from above. When you're standing in the cleft of the mountain, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu passes by you, as you yearn to understand the Eben Hashalom. He'll touch you on your face, and you will begin to shine. That's one way of understanding how we shine. Another way of understanding how we shine is from within. That when we're willing to not write that yud, our natural radiance from Hakadosh Baruch Hu shines from within, and it shines out on the entire world.

38:28 But there is a catch. Authenticity is going to terrify those that are not in self. And it's going to inspire those that are. If you are truly authentic If you are shining a Kadosh Baruch Hu's light that is naturally within you There are people that are going to flock to you Real people. Others will be terrified of you. Others will be threatened by your light. They'll pull back in fear. Rashi tells us, what's the difference? It has nothing to do with you. It has to do with them. People who are in self, people who are transparent godliness in this world, when they see somebody whose light is shining, they go, I want to be like that guy. I want to be like that guy. But when you meet someone whose light is shining so authentically, and you yourself are a bit broken, you pull back.

39:23 You're afraid of them in a certain sense. You have to knock them off their pedestal. I want to share something with you. I don't know if I have the shush to say this publicly, but I want to say it publicly. So I'm going to. I don't know if it's right or not, but I'm going to do it. Matzah Shabbos. This past Matzah Shabbos I had the chance to sit next to Daniel Kalish on a panel. I barely said a word because I just wanted to listen to Kalish. And every girl that asked him a question on this panel I bet you nobody in the audience could hear what was happening. If Kalish took about 60 seconds, 120 seconds to think of an answer before he spoke, which by itself is already godless. But what probably people didn't hear is when he was closing his eyes and swaying back and forth to think about what answer he wanted to give.

40:18 He was singing to himself under his breath. I think I'm the only one that heard it because I was sitting right next to him. And it was like an avoda He wasn't just answering a question. He was so deeply present in that moment. He was singing to himself. And then when he opened up his mouth to answer, the words just poured forth from him. It was so unbelievably authentic. I was sitting next to him. I was so inspired. I was like, "That he's real." He's a hundred percent real. I have a friend who's a madrich in Waterbury today. He's an unbelievable guy. And I said I know Rev Kalish from when he was a kid in Yeshivah for Acway But I didn't know he was this real. I didn't know it. And I see what's happening in the world That he just comes. Has he come here yet?

41:16 Where he just goes places. His light is so radiant. And you see real people are attracted to him. Some have to take shots. Some take shots. People have to chirp. There are those that chirp. Everyone has the thing that they chirp about. Some people chirp about what real yidden are and what Yom Hadin is going to be. People chirp. I don't know why. Some people chirp. They see a thing and they need to take it down. But you see the way these kids are so attracted, like a magnet, to Rav Kalish. Why? Because he has the most sophisticated answers. Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn't. Because his Torah is the deepest Torah. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. But that light is shining, and kids today are real. People talk about Yerida Sadoras. I have no idea what they're talking about. This generation is so far ahead of where my generation was.

42:16 I never, in a million years, would have spoken to my rebayim the way that kids today are speaking to their rebayim. We didn't tell our rebayim who we really were. Today, kids come to their rebayim and they talk about anything because there is a yearning for authenticity. They're not tainted by averas in that way. They don't need to shoot it down. They see it and it's real, and they're running for it. It's deeply attractive. It's deeply attractive for those that are real deal people. When we meet real deal people, it's deeply attractive. I want to shift gears for one moment. We're in the final moments before Mashiach comes. Maybe even milla moments at this point. I don't know how close it is, but it's wildly close. There's a massive opportunity for us in Klal Yisrael today to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

43:15 We can be complex enough and sophisticated enough to say thank you to the vessels that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is using to wage this war. We can say thank you to every Israeli soldier. We can say thank you to the Medina Shel Chesed that is America, despite the rise in anti-Semitism. We can say thank you to President Trump. For standing with us and attacking Iran, we are absolutely capable of being sophisticated enough to have a karasatov to the instrumentation that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is using in this world to bring Mashiach. Period. Brand new sentence. Not at all as a negation of the first sentence We must be sophisticated enough. To see past the opaqueness of this world To see through the veneer of the ego of this world that hides Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and to be able to say Leiv Malachim Biad Hashem. That it is not any person that is making any decision that is bringing this world to its ultimate fruition And we are literally seeing this.

44:37 They had these forty fools. These forty fools who got together to decide who was going to be the next Khomeini And they got together in one room. And in one fell swoop, they were all gone. They never heard of Zoom. It's like COVID never happened to them. They must not have been makhud on social distancing. And now it was their death. Why would you get together in one room? Crazy! Why would they do that? Even Trump got on television. They asked him, "Who's going to be the next Khomeini?" He said, "We had a list. They're dead. Then we had another list. They're dead too. I don't know if we know who's going to be the next Khomeini." Because they're all dying left and right. It's it's it's a craziness. And the Arab world is joining the fight. Who saw that coming? Is the only people left in the world that are against the war people here?

45:41 They're all joining the war. Why? Why did Trump decide to do this? Leiv malachim bi'ad Hashem. How is it that the Hashgacha worked it out that Bibi Netanyahu in the '80s would become friends with Trump when he stayed in Trump Towers when he was Israel's representative in the UN? Wild Wild how the Hashgacha is unfolding. We can be. Infinitely grateful to the instrumentation that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is using in this world to bring Mashiach, and we can recognize that everything is the Rebbeinu Shalom. That's what humble people do. Humble people see the Rebbeinu Shalom within themselves. They don't outsource their greatness to their own ego. They recognize everything that I am is Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Like Moshe Rabbeinu said, "V'nachnu ma? What am I?" What am I?' So the Gemara in Brachos says that Meir Shabenu was even greater than Avram Avinu. Avram Avinu said, 'I am dust and ashes.' Meaning he had some small level of ego that was dust and ashes. Meir Shabenu couldn't fathom an existence that was his alone without any attachment to the Rebbeinu Hashem.

46:52 And that is our responsibility today. In the final moments, our responsibility is to point and say, "It's Hashem! It's Hashem!" You read the news. It's Hashem. You're watching all the talking heads. You just have to know it's all the Rabbanu Shalom. Everything is the Rabbanu Shalom. It was worked out perfectly. Trump won the first election. Lost the second election. We're on the same page. But his gaiva. I won the second election. So I'm going to run again, even though I'm an old man. And he runs again. Could you imagine? What would be if somebody else was in office at this time? Do you imagine they would have stood beside Eretz Yisrael the way he is? It was exactly planned out. Some people are not sophisticated enough to be able to say they can be thankful to Trump without worshiping him. And some people can't say thank you.

47:49 Some people don't know how to say thank you to an Israeli soldier that puts on a uniform and that puts their life on the line so that Yidden can live in Eretz Yisrael today. They don't know how to say thank you. If I say thank you, then maybe what's going to happen? If I say thank you, then I'm going to forget about the rebbeinu shalom. I know of no such mitzvahs that if a yid says thank you, we forget about the rebbeinu shalom. It's exactly the opposite. I had the opportunity to drive Rav Asher Veishlita in a car back from Mevaseret to his home a month and a half ago. We were talking about this exact problem that people today are terrified to do both at once, but we are. And I believe this Bamuna Shleima. We are complex enough to do both at once: radical levels of gratitude to the instrumentation that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is using in the world to bring Mashiach, and radical levels of humility to see ourselves through a humble lens and to see the Rebunissholim behind every machination that's happening in the world today.

48:49 Yiratam uchney avinu shabashamayim. These final moments before the child is born are the most painful moments. And these final moments are not just happening now. The final moments have been happening for a very long time. The Holocaust was very painful. The all the wars that Eretz Yisrael have had to fight are very painful. The rise in anti-Semitism around the world, from Australia to Pittsburgh to San Diego, is very painful. October 7th is very painful. Baruch Hashem, this war is going unbelievably well. We should be zeicher to see peace in our times. But we can't let our eye off the prize for one moment. Not for one moment can we forget everything is the Rebbeinu Shalom. Emuna, emuna, emuna is the order of the day, and in that s'chus we should be zaycheh that this war should end. That is the perfect timing. Every time we hear that noise, that hatra, we have to remember the Rebbeinu Shalom is watching over Klal Yisrael, and it's the Rebbeinu Shalom that's bringing our Yeshua. Have a beautiful Shabbos.