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Roshes Rashi Yeshiva Shliita, all of the Chasve Rabanim of Yeshivat Shalvim All of the Chasve Rabanim of Yeshivat Mevaseret. I feel. In a very real way, that over the last couple of years Some of the most precious days on our calendar have become so exceptionally complex that Simchas Torah somehow has become a taruvus with October seventh. That we could be saying to Hilim for Rebbitz and Hershel She should be zayicha to refuah shleima b'karav mamish And that in the next moment we could be dancing together at this beautiful hilula. There is no doubt Especially for those of us that have been living in Eretz Yisrael.
That Lag BaOmer is different now than it was seven, eight years ago, and certainly from when I was a child. To sit here with my good friend Rivayim Morris Shlitah and it is a privilege to call you a good friend. And to be here with Mrs. Morris. And to have the privilege of having a kiva in yeshiva for the last three years To sit on Lag BaOmer and dance and mourn all at the same time—it certainly feels like if we pay attention to all of the things that are going on inside of ourselves, it seems too big to hold. It seems too great to bear. And yet, this is what we're called to do. As yet, in living in these final moments before Mashiach To be able to hold all of the various emotions that we're having at once, and to try to find some unifying feature.
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Some way of sitting with this in a way that we actually accomplish something and bring more light into a very dark world. The Gemara in sukkah, emheya midbeis. Says that Chizkia said in the name of Reviyomi, who said in the name of Reishim Baruchai. Reishim Baruchai said about himself that he's capable of absolving the entire world from din, from judgment. From the moment I was born until today. The Ilmale Eliezer bni Imi And if my son Eliezer was with me Then I could pardon the entire world from Din miyam shenivra haraylam v'arachshav From Maisa Bereshis, from the very beginning of creation until now. We could absolve the entire world from Din. The Ilmale Yotam ben Uziyahu imanu And if Yotam ben Uziyahu was with us. Then we would be capable, the three of us Of pattering the entire world from din, miyayim shenivra ha'olam, from the very beginning of creation ad sofay until the end of creation.
It's a very strange gemara. What precisely is Rav Shimon Bar Yochai saying to us? What does it mean that somebody would be capable of absolving anybody else from din? There's such a thing called din v'cheshbin. If I do something inappropriate, then I'm responsible and accountable. How could Rav Shimon Bar Yochai and his son and Yotam Ben Uzi Yahu In some way Diminish our din v'cheshven? Rashi explains, "B'shusi ani sovel kol avon esayim u'poitren min adin." Rashi says that Rav Shimon Bar Yochai is saying, 'In my merit.' I'm able to carry all of the avonos, all of the various sins of Klal Yisrael. And I can get them off from judgment. But what does that mean? Rashi and Baruch Hai's merits belong to him, and my schuyos belong to me. How is it possible that the schuyos of Rashi and Baruch Hai and Rav Elazar Ben O and Yotam Ben Uziyahu can have any impact on anybody else in Klal Yisrael?
And Marsha explains a very strange Marsha, one that If not understood properly, chas v'shalom can be very deeply misunderstood. The Marsha says, "V'hainu she'soyvel avaynayseim." What gives Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai the ability to carry our avaynays, to carry our sins? Be yisurin vitzar shahayel lo ul v'nobem ma'ara Because all of those thirteen years. That Rishim Bar Yochai and his son Elazar were sitting in that cave. Suffering terribly. In some way, the Marisha explains that gives Rishim Bar Yochai the capacity to pattern the entire world from din. From the moment of creation until the very end of history. It sounds almost Christian that there could be someone who could suffer for somebody else's sins. This needs to be understood in a very deep way. I'd like to suggest the following: Who was Yotam ben Uzziyahu? Rashi tells us that Yotam ben Uzziyahu was a tzaddik And he was an anav.
He was tremendously humble, more than any other king. Rashi says And he was zeiche. To have unbelievable kivud av He was mechabit his father. How was he mechabit his father? Because his father Uziyahu was a metzora And Yotam was the shofet. Yotam was the one who went around Klal Yisrael judging Klal Yisrael. And Rashi says lo yilbash olalav kesar malchus b'chayof, that all of that time That Yotam was going around and he was the shofet for Klal Yisrael. He never took upon himself the crown of his father. And every p'sak halacha that Yotam pasked, he said it's from my father. What's the godless of Yotam Ben Uziyahu? Al pi chasidus They say the following: Marshal Two chasidim were once sitting and talking. And one of the Chassidim posed the following question to his friend. He said, "What do you think a king does with his crown at night?"
So the Chassid said back to him Mistama, he puts it on a shelf. The Chassid said, "It can't be." A shelf is not a choshuv place for a crown. So the Chassid agreed, and he said, "we have to think about this deeply." Where must he keep his crown? So he said. Maybe the king has a servant who wears this crown at night while the king is sleeping. So Chassid said back, he said it can't be. He said because if Chas v'Shalom that servant would start to think of himself as the king, and he would usurp the crown, it would be completely inappropriate. So Chassid said back, he said you're right, that's a big problem. And they thought about it deeply and came to the following conclusion: it must be. That there's a servant of the king who's so great that he wears the king's crown at night.
But not for one second does it enter into his mind to think that he's the king. The entire time that he's wearing the crown, he thinks to himself, "I am the hat rack of the king's crown. That's all I am." I'm ivato myself. I nullify myself completely to the king. This is the godless of Yotam Ben Uziel. Yotam Ben Uziel's father was out of commission at every opportunity. He's in a position of power. He has every opportunity to usurp the throne and pass it as if it was coming from himself. But at every single opportunity He says everything is my father's. This is bittle. This is the ultimate humility. This is what makes Yotam Ben Uziel so special. It gives us an unbelievable insight into what the Gemara is saying. Klal Yisrael is an organism. We tend to think of ourselves because there's an element of truth to it.
We tend to think of ourselves as we're all individuals. But the truth is. Like cells in a human body, every one of us is one And not for one second have we been anything other than one. And when Yotam Ben Uziel was mivatil himself to his father, you could look at Yotam, but all you would see was his bittil to his father. And there's such a thing that when you look at one Jew Who's mivatil himself completely to the Evedsher. He's mevatel himself completely to his father in heaven. He's mechabit aviv. If you look at that Jew, you see every single other Jew. That's what a real tzaddik is. A real tzaddik is somebody who's mevatel himself kolkulo to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He's an enormous circle, and he encompasses every other circle. In that circle, there is no disparity. Every single Jew is one. Rishim and Bar Yochai and Rav Elazar b'Noah were sitting in the ma'ara for 13 years.
And they were suffering unbelievably. But whose pain was it when they were sitting in the ma'ara When they had no clothing on And they were buried, and they were sitting and learning Torah yom and velayla with a smothered abba? Whose pain were they feeling? Not their own? The greatness of Rav Shimshon Bar Yochai and Rav Elazar Binao is that they felt the pain of every single yid in the destruction of post Beis Hamikdash. When they were sitting there, they weren't just feeling their own tzar; they were feeling the tzar of every single yid. Comes along Rav Shimshon Bar Yochai, and he says as follows: By myself I felt the pain of every yid in my generation. To the degree that in my world we are but one organism, and my schulios become their schulios, because when we're looking at every single yid, you're also looking at me, says R' Shimon Ba'Ochay.
Not we're brothers, we're one. Not we're siblings. Not we're standing next to each other. There's no chiluk between me and that other yid. So if you're gonna don that yid by all of his averes, then you're also gonna don him by my mitzvah. Says R' Shimon Ba'Ochay. And when you add Rav Elazar Beni to the picture We felt the pain of every single yid. We were mevatel ourselves, so kalkulo to every single yid. That from Maisa Beresheis until now Our schuyos belonged to every single yid. And when you add Yotam Ben Uziyo, the ultimate melech of bittel, the ultimate in keyboard av, the ultimate maachid of Klal Yisrael Our schuyos. Go from the beginning of Baruches until the final moments of Mashiach of Eilam Abba. Moments ago I said to my dear friend Mr. Morris The world is so much more complex than it ever was before.
To hold the Tsar of Klal Yisrael Rav Yamar Shlitah spoke tonight about those HaLei Gekadoshim. Elyonim, Tzahirim, Tzadikim, who died al Kiddush Hashem Fighting and protecting our nation in Eretz Yisrael. I was zaycheh to know one of those kadoshim very well. I considered him a brother. He spent twelve years of his life in my mother's house. The Tsar of Klal Yisrael has been unbelievable Unimaginable. How much have we had to hold? I have a friend here who I've known for a very long time. His name is Refish. We go back a very long way. Refish doesn't know. He doesn't know that every time he posts pictures of himself on his WhatsApp status in his uniform, protecting Klal Yisrael, protecting Am Yisrael. We're all zucking till him for you. Every one of us is with you. You're not by yourself—not for one minute. We know each other for many years. We've been brought together many times.
Every time, you should know I'm with you. We're all with you. All of Klal Yisrael is with you. A yid has to be, as I heard from my Rashi Shiveh Shlitter Rabbi Yaakov Bender, growing up so many times that when Klal Yisrael is going through tsara. We're emo, anochi b'atzar. We're noisy ba'olim chaveru. We're one organism. We're going through it together. I don't think it's inappropriate to say that in my life I know very few families like the Morrises who have somehow lived through unimaginable tsar. And somehow have turned holding that sar into achdos. I have no idea how you guys did it. It is beyond me to understand the strength that this family has to sit here tonight together. Our two yeshivas inim atovu manoim shavas achim gam yachad. We sit here tonight. Not as two distinct yeshivas who have come together for a Lag BaOmer event.
We sit here tonight as Am Yisrael, Guf Echad, one organism, different cells in one body. Inextricably linked. There is no disconnect between our two yeshivas. Rashiwa Mivaseret tonight mentioned it, and I'll just echo his unbelievable words. We make such a mistake. We use a word like competition. Yeshivas could be competition with each other. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because what gave Rav Shimon Bar Yochai the capacity to feel the tzair of every single yid was his dedication to Torah Because there are three things that are all just synonyms for each other. Kuchabrichu va'iraisa v'yisrael chadhu. To sit in that ma'ara and to be consumed by the fire of Tyra is to connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and to connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is to connect to His children. And a failure to connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu's children is a failure in our connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and it's a failure in our connection to Tyra.
There cannot be; it is inconceivable that there is a yid who is deeply connected to Tyra and is not deeply connected to Hashem. And a yid who is deeply connected to Hashem must be deeply connected to his children. We are one family in the truest sense of the word, despite the fact that we often forget that truth. And sadly, it takes time for tzar and amazing families like the Marses to remind us of that deep truth. And so, yes, we are living in the most unbelievably complex times. But a yid sees achdus, a yid sees oneness And beez Hashem If we can locate this truth Which is held firmly in the yichidus of a nefesh, in that point of connection that is unbreakable between a yid and Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and between a yid and another yid. If we can tap deeply into this truth, then be'ez Hashem We should be zayche to these final moments Where every single schus that each of us have becomes a schus for everybody else And in that way, we create a tidal wave of schuyot that will be'ez Hashem bring Mashiach Tzidkenu.
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