Lech Lecha - The Secret Kedusha of Yishmael

2:22 In order to understand this, we're going to have to travel back in time, and then in order to understand this even deeper, we're going to have to travel back in time again. So let's travel back in time now for the first time. What's the origin story of Riviyochan and Reish Lakish? Some of you may have heard this story before. I'm going to tell you the story again, even if you've heard it. It's worthwhile to hear the story again. Reish Lakish was a bandit. Reish Lakish was a thief. In fact, he was the head bandit of this very powerful gang of bandits, and they did very bad things. These people, Reish Lakish was a bal tshuva, but originally Reish Lakish was a person who did very bad things. One day, Rav Yochanan was bathing in the river, and Reish Lakish. I'm going to say this in a clean way, but you girls will understand what I mean. Reish Lakish jumped into the river to do Rav Yochanan harm. Because he thought that Rav Yochanan was a woman So he jumped. The Gemara says he jumped from very far distances. He was exceptionally powerful. He jumped into the river to harm Rav Yochanan, thinking that Rav Yochanan was a woman.

3:32 And Rav Yochanan's response to him was Chelchol Aireisa. You should use your strength for Torah. Reish lakish responds shuf rech l'nashim. I should use my strength for Torah. You should use your beauty for women. I thought you were a girl. Rav Yochanan responds to him, and he says, "If you would do tshuva, I would let you marry my sister, who is even more beautiful than me." And the Gemara tells us that Reish Lakish Says I'm going to do tshuva to marry your sister, who is even more beautiful than you. And then he goes to leap out of the river because he was very powerful. He leapt all the way into the river, but all of a sudden his strength had waned, and he was no longer able to jump out of the river. All of a sudden his strength was gone. What happened? Reish Lakish became the great Reish Lakish, the chavrusa of Rav Yochanan. And he ended up marrying Rav Yochanan's sister, and he became the great Reish Lakish that's quoted throughout all of Shas.

4:34 Many years went by And one day Rav Yochanan and Rav Shlakish were learning, and they were learning the sugya of when certain vessels are makabel tuma, like when are they completed? So Rav Yochanan said, these vessels, these like weapons, they are complete when they're forged in the fire. And Rav Shlakish disagreed. Rav Shlakish said, no. They're not complete until you pour water on them. You pour water on it after it's forged. It makes it have that very gleaming, shining look. So Reish Lakish responded. He goes, "I guess I should defer to you. After all" You are the one who knows weaponry. You were a bandit back in the day. And Reish Lakish, now who's very hurt by this, Says, "What actually did I benefit from becoming from? They used to call me Rebbe of the bandits. I was their leader." And now these people call me leader. Like, what actually did I benefit from this?

5:33 And Rav Yochanan says to him, "What did you benefit from this? I brought you tachas kanfei Ashkena. I brought you under the wings of the Ashkena. What do you mean? What did you benefit from this?" And after that, Rav Yehuda refused to learn with Reish Lakish. And Reish Lakish was sick because his rebbe would no longer learn with him, and he started to die. And his wife, Rav Yochanan's sister, she came to her brother, and she said, 'Please forgive him.' He's going to die. You're going to make my children into orphans.' He said, 'Don't worry, Hashem will take care of these children.' She said, 'You know, I think it's a good idea.' He said, 'Don't worry, Hashem will take care of you.' And Rav Shlakish passed away. And then Rav Yochanan was so broken because he didn't have his chavrusha And he missed Rav Shlakish. They brought him Rav Elazar ben Pedas, who was a great Talmud Chacham.

6:19 And Rav Yochanan said something, and Rav Lazar ben Pedas was very sharp. He said, 'I can bring you twenty-four proofs that what you said was right.' And Rav Yochanan looked at him and he said, 'I don't need twenty-four proofs. I miss Rish Lakish. He used to ask me twenty-four questions, and because of his twenty-four questions, it would sharpen the point until it was absolutely clear.' And he cried out, 'Hei chaat bar Lakisha! Hei chaat bar Lakisha! Rish Lakish, where have you gone? Rish Lakish, where have you gone?' And Rav Yochanan was driven so crazy by this that he lost his sanity, and the Chachamim davened for him, and he ultimately passed away. This is the story of the Gemara. It's a strange thing Because now we know the story of how Rav Yochanan and Rav Shlakish met. We know from the Gemara how Dovid was Rav Shlakish to his Rebbe. His Rebbe said, 'No more big laughter.' And from that day on, what did he do?

7:12 He didn't. He didn't do it anymore. So what was going on in that conversation that they had a machlokas about when the vessels are makabel tuma and not makabel tuma, and that created this whole breakdown that after that Rish Lakish died and Rav Yochanan went insane and then he had to die? It's a very strange Gemara. All of this needs to be understood. This is one of the most amazing tiras. I said it with the Shonav girls a couple weeks ago. I'll say it with you now. I like to learn Torah. Sometimes from the inside of the Torah, you can appreciate its beauty and its truth. You don't understand it if you're just looking at it from the outside. This is an inside Torah. This is when you're standing inside and you see how every single thing connects. This is an amazing shtickel Torah. In this week's parsha Avram Avinu daven's for Yisshmal.

8:06 If you look at this week's parsha, it says. Avram says to God, "If only Yishmael will live before you." And the Zayra Kadosh brings tainas Avram Avinu because you davened for Yishmael, you gave Yishmael power, and because Yishmael has power in the world, look what he's done with it. Look at all the terrible things that Yishmael has done throughout the world because you Avram Avinu davened for Yishmael. Now Yishmael has this power and he uses it for terrible things in the world. That's what the Zayir Hakadosh says. But obviously, now we have a question: Do you think Avram Avinu didn't know what he was doing? What did he daven for Yishmael? We're going to see in a second. Excellent question. What does it mean? Lo Yishmael Yechilah Fan Nachal. What does that word mean? That if only Yishmael will live before you. We have to see what it means. The Zayir has a tie on Avram Avinu. What was Avram Avinu thinking? Why would Avram Avinu daven for Yishmael? He knew who Yishmael was.

9:02 So what's going on over here? An unbelievable thing. And not only that. If you look, a couple of psukim later, you'll see. We don't have to do it inside now, but the pasuk says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu responds to Avram Avinu. I'll just read it in the English. And regarding Yisshmal, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him exceedingly, and he will beget twelve princes, and I'll make him into a great nation. So Avram Avinu davens for Yisshmal. Look what happens. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, Taka, I'm going to make Yisshmal great. What's going on over here? It's like people don't know that it happened in the Torah because we don't like most people just speed through it. Like Avram Avinu davened for Yisrael, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, "I'm going to make Yisrael great." Why? Why are we doing this?

9:50 It's an unbelievable thing. The Targum Yonasan Ben Uziel understands this pasuk that Hakadosh Baruch Hu said the words. He may be Rachti Oso. I'm going to bless Yisshmael. What does it mean? The Targum Yonasan Ben Zil says, "I will make him into a nation of thieves." Now that's very weird Because a moment ago, what did Avram Avinu daven for? Avram Avinu davened for Yisshmael. What tefila we haven't seen yet? And now Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes and says, "What?" "I will make him into a nation of thieves." Does that make Avram Avinu feel better or worse? What would you say? I would say worse. Very good. You girls get this. Avram Avinu comes and he davenes for Yisrael. It sounds like from the simple explanation of the pasuk that Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes to Avram Avinu and says, "I'm going to make Yisrael great." Somehow that makes Avram Avinu feel better. But now, what does the Targum Yonasan Muziel tell us? It's not a consolation.

10:50 Hakadosh Baruch Hu is telling Avram Avinu about Yisrael, "I'm going to make him into a nation of thieves." Why would that make Avram Avinu feel better? He said that he's going to make him great and into a nation of thieves. Meaning, the pasuk says, he ne berachti osav efrasi osav erbesi osav maod. I am going to make Yisrael very great. The Targum Yonos and Ben Uziel says that means I am going to make him into a great nation of thieves, which is local kachtof, not so good to be a great nation of thieves. In order to understand this, we have to go into the kabbalistic shirish of Yisrael. The kabbalistic shirish of Yisrael is water. Which is why if you look in the Torah Yisshmael is always identified with water. Does any of you realize that? If you think, if you look in the pesukim, I'm going to read to you now some pesukim.

11:45 It's okay. Also, it needs to be colder in here. It's good here. Pass it over. It's not. We don't need to do a Torah Devora moment about whether it's hot or cold. I understand that seminaries. You did great. The Yisod of Yisshmal is from water. Look in the P'sukim. Was that the foundation? Meaning his Shoras Haneshama, his root. Where does his root come from? It comes from the Mida of water. Where do we see this? Let's look at where Yisshmal's story starts from. Bereishis chapter sixteen, verse seven. It says, "Vayimso Malch Hashem." Hagar is told to name Yishmael where an angel of the Lord found her by a water fountain in the desert. That's where Hagar gets the name Yishmael from. Later, when we see that Yishmael is sent away by Avram Avinu, what does it say? By Ashken Avram b'bokeh, by ikach lechem, v'chemas manim. What does he give Yishmael? He gives him bread and a pouch of water. When Yishmael gets saved, why does he get saved? What's he dying of in the desert? He's dying of thirst. What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu send? By Yifkach Elokim as a neha, Hakadosh Baruch Hu opened Hagar's eyes. Vatere, what does she see? Be'er mayim. She sees a well of water.

13:02 The pasuk in Yov says he bitu archos tama. They look at the paths of tama. What does Rashi say? What is tama? Tehama is Eretz Yisrael. It's the land of Yisrael. Shehi Nemucha. It's a low land. The Hamayim Nigarim Sham, and all the water settles in that land. The land of Yisrael is a fertile land. Why? Because it's a land of water. So we see over and over again, Yisrael is identified with water. The question is, what's the nature of the relationship between Yisrael and water? Should I repeat all the questions from the very top so that we make sure that we're all following? Should I go from the beginning? We'll run through it real quickly. We started off by saying we quoted the Gemara between Rav Yochanan and Reish Lakish that Reish Lakish once Rav Yochanan taught him not to laugh all the way in Olam Hazeh. Reish Lakish never did it again. We asked ourselves a question and we said, of course he didn't. He listened to his rebbe once he knew that was the halacha. Reish Lakish was a great man. Of course he listened to his rebbe. What specific about this teaching that the Gemara highlights? That Reish Lakish listened to his rebbe. That's question number one. Question number two: the whole story with Reb Yochanan and Reish Lakish very strange.

14:09 He sees him in a river. He jumps in to do him harm. He says, "You should use your strength for Torah. You should use your beauty for women. You should marry my sister. I have a sister. If somebody jumped into the river to do me harm, I would not offer them my sister in marriage." Very strange story. Somehow he accepts it. He immediately loses his power. Why does he lose his power? And then the story doesn't end well. Even though Reish Lakish has this amazing Talmud, they have one falling out. I got him one little fight, and my mama got scared. And all of a sudden, everybody dies. You girls should not know that song. Doesn't matter. Exactly, very good. We don't have to get into that right now. Then we asked the question. That why did Avram Avinu daven for Yisrael? We have to understand that. And we said that the tefila was answered by Hashem, not by saying that Yisrael is going to become great, but rather that Yisrael is going to become a great nation of thieves. How is that a consolation for Avram Avinu? And finally, we see that Yisrael is connected to water. Everywhere we turn in the stories of Yisrael, there's always water present. What is the significance of Yisrael's relationships with water?

15:15 Now we will start to answer some of these questions because we asked a lot of questions. It's unbelievable how you'll see all these things come together. Mayim is Chesed. That's what Mayim is. Mayim is Chesed. When Avram Avinu meets the people that are traveling along the road, what does he offer them? He offers them water. Water is Chesed. Avram Avinu is appropriate Chesed. Yisrael is inappropriate Chesed. An interesting thing about the Avos is that Avram had Yismael and Yitzchak had Esav, right? Because since there was the zuama, since there was the poison from the time of Adam Harishon, and since Avram Avinu was mekabel on himself to rectify the sin of Adam Harishon, they had to expel through them some of that zuama from the Eitz Hadas. So Avram Avinu was the midah of Chesed, and therefore what was Yismael, unbridled Chesed, unchecked Chesed. Chesed without borders.

16:15 Chesed without boundaries. Esav, Yitzchak was the Mida of Gvura, so what was Esav? Esav was the perversion of Gvura. So we see that. That's for you. Thank you very much. Talking about Chesed, and all of a sudden she comes in with three cups of water. Exactly, and she came in with water. So Shemamish came in with Chesed. Yismael is the perversion of Chesed. And Rav Chaim Vital writes that Yismael is a torrent of water. Meaning there's like water, but what happens when there's too much water? What happens when there's a torrent of water? That's a flood. That's a tsunami. Do you know that if you drink too much water too quickly, you can get sick? You can get really sick. Water is amazing when it's in the right doses. Too little water and you can get sick. Too much water and you could be overwhelmed by the water. We daven for an appropriate amount of water. We don't want our lands to be flooded.

17:19 Yisshmael is a torrent of water. Where do we see this notion of unbridled chesed? We specifically see it in the realm of inappropriate relationships, specifically in the realm of gilei arayos. What does the pasuk in Vayikra say? The ish asher yikach es achoso bas aviv, obas imo, v'ra es ervasa, the he tira es ervas, ervaso chesedhu. A man who takes his sister, whether it's his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and he sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness. What does the pasuk say? Chesedhu. It's a disgraceful act. It's interesting the way the Torah uses the word chesed. Chesed could be beautiful; it could be sharing. But when chesed becomes inappropriate, that's called a disgraceful act. So the Mechtav Melech writes that chesed When it's appropriate, most beautiful thing in the world, you're giving. What happens when you turn it into an inappropriate relationship? It's chesed.

18:21 But it's the perversion of Chesed. So there's Chesed that's Avraham Avinu, and then there's the shadow Chesed of Yisshma. We have this concept. Listen what the Gemara and Kedushin says. Forty nine B. Remember we said that Yisshma is the midah of water, which means that Yisshma is the midah of inappropriate Chesed. And what did we say inappropriate Chesed is? Like the pasuk says, it means gilei arayos. The Gemara and Kedushin says asara kavim znuus yardula olam. There were ten measures of znos. What does znos mean? Licentiousness, inappropriate relationships. Ten measures of znos were sent down into the world. Tisha not la Aravya, and nine out of those ten went to the Ishmaelim. Meaning, what is the nature of the Ishmaelites? The nature is that they participate in inappropriate relationships. They don't know appropriate snios. By the way, that's why we don't believe in dressing that way. Rav Chaim Kaniewski says, 'When he was asked about the burka ladies, his response was, 'That's not sneis.' The notion of being kitzoni and sneis in this way means you have to be also. Whatever exists on one side exists in the other. If you're covering yourself to that degree, which is inappropriate.

19:35 You can be sure that inappropriate things are happening on the other side also. Sneis is something modesty is something that has to go right down the middle. So nine measures of zenus were sent. Ten measures of zenus were sent out into the world. Nine of them went to Aravu, went to Yisrael. Why? Or let me do one more. Zara Hakadosh says, Hakadosh Baruch Hu offered the Torah to every nation in the world. The Zara Hakadosh says that when the Torah came to the Bnei Yisrael, he said, 'Do you want to accept the Torah?' They said, 'What's in it?' Hashem said, "Lo tenaf." What does "lo tenaf" mean? Thou shall not commit adultery. And they said, the Zarah Kadosh says no. That's what we do. That's our bread and butter. Our bread and butter is adultery, meaning the nature of Yisshmal is inappropriate relationships. This, what I'm about to tell you, and I'm about to share with you from the Shvile Pinchas M'sukah Midvash for Neifes Supem. It was worth it to travel six thousand miles to come Shana Bet just to hear this one Torah. You're going to see how everything comes together now.

20:38 There's a great makubal. Back in the day, there was a great mechuba whose name was Rav Shimshon Maestropoli. And he revealed the following: the Netzots, the spark of Resh Lakish, the spark of Resh Lakish's soul Comes from Yismael. The spark of Resh Lakish's soul comes from Yismael. Meaning, because Yismael came from Avram Avinu, even though Yismael is the perversion of Chesed. Still, who did it come from? It came from Avram Avinu, and therefore there's a spark inside of Yisshmal that needs to be rescued. Just like we see the same thing by Yitzchak. Yitzchak Because he had Esav, even though Esav was the perversion of Gvura, he had a very special spark in him. Does anyone know the spark that came from Esav? The spark that was in Esav's heel was Rivakiva. That's why Yaakov Avinu, the Megale Amuko says, when held onto the heel of Rivakiva, he pulled out Rivakiva. He held onto the heel. Akev. He held onto the heel of Esav. He pulled out the spark of Rivakiva. That's why Yaakov was named Yaakov. Why is he named Yaakov for such a small, arbitrary act that held onto Esav's heel? Holding onto Esav's heel was extracting the nitots of kedusha from Esav. The same way that Esav had a nitots of kedusha and that became Rivakiva. Yisrael had a nitzotz of kedusha in him, and that nitzotz of kedusha is reshlokesh.

22:06 That's what the Rishim Shmash Terpoli says. Again, every single because these were tzadikim, because Avram and Yitzchak were tzadikim. Even though they gave birth to like rid themselves of the poison from the etzadas, and they have a child who's like ki bi Yitzchak ki kar l'chazara, the true son of Avram Avinu is Yitzchak. Nevertheless, he also has a Yisrael Yisshmal, which is the Zelu Umazeh. There's the opposite side of the coin. That's Yisshmal, but because Yisshmal came from Avraham Avinu, he has some kedusha in him. That kedusha is the spark of Reish Lakish that's inside of Yisshmal. Many years later, when he came into the world, Reish Lakish came from that spark from Yisshmal. Now watch this. We know the Gemara says Rishayim bechayim afilu bechayehim keruyim mesim, that a Rasha even when he's alive is called dead. You asked this question just a couple of minutes ago. What was Avram Avinu davening for when he was davening for Yisshmal? Listen now how you could read the pasuk based on what we learned.

23:14 Avram avinu said that Kadosh Baruch Hu. Lul Yisrael yichya levanecha. If only this were a way of understanding it now. If only we were able to, and this is what he was davening for, to extract the spark of life that's within Yisrael. Lul Yisrael Yichya Levanecha. Now it's not an accident that Avram Avinu davened lul. What is lul? Lul is lamet vav. Lamet vav is thirty six. How many hours did the Ar Hagonos exist in the world before Hashem hid it away? It was 36 hours. We have 36 Kanakaneiros, keneged the 36 hours that the Ar Hagonos was in this world. Then there's 36 Mesechtes and Shas, keneged the 36 hours that primordial light was originally put into creation, which is of course the 36 hidden tzaddikim that are in the world. So it's not an accident that when Avram Avinu daven's for Yisshma, what does he say? Lo, with this kaiach of the thirty-six that are haganas, with that taira of that light, the thirty-six mesefters and shas, I'm davening that we should be able to extract that spark of life that's hidden inside of Yisshma.

24:31 And what does Akedat Shemarukh respond: I'm going to make Yisrael a great nation. What does the Targum Yonasan of New Zealand say? Of thieves, of bandits. Who was the bandit that we've been talking about? Reish Lakish is the bandit. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu told Avram Avinu, 'Yes, one day there's going to be a bandit whose name is Reish Lakish, and your tefila is going to give kaiach for Av Yochanan to extract through Tyra. To extract the nitzotz, that spark of kedusha, from Reish Lakish.' Now we can start to understand the story a little bit. Let's do one more cool thing before we get there. Remember when Yishmael was named? It said vateled hager laAvram ben vayikra Avram shem beno asher yaldah hager Yishmael. Hagar bore a son to Avram, and Avram named his son whom Hagar had born Yishmael. If you look at the pasuk VaYikra Avram Shem Beno, that Avram called the name of his son, it's the same gematria as Shimon Ben Lakish.

25:39 So even Yisrael's name VaYikra Avram Shem Beno has an allusion to Reish Lakish in it. What was Yisrael? What did Yisrael do that scared Sarai Imenu so much? He was a Metzachik. He was a Metzachik. And Rashi brings three interpretations of what the word metzachek means. Either it means that he was involved in avodah zara, or it means he was involved in murder, or it means he was involved in gilei arayus. Let's go with gilei arayus for a second. That makes sense because what happened in our story when Reish Lakish jumps into the river? What does he intend to do, Tzvi Yochanan? He intends to involve himself in an inappropriate relationship. So it's not an accident that the setting of the scene where Rav Yochanan and Reish Lakish meet is water, because what does Rav Yochanan recognize? The moment Reish Lakish jumps into the water to perform that act of gilei arayus, Rav Yochanan looks at him and he says, "I know exactly who you are."

26:42 You're the spark of Yisshmael that we've been waiting to extract for all of these years. So he says to him: 'Chelcha lairaisa, use your strength for Torah.' How did he know to speak about Torah? How did he know that was the message he needed to tell Reish Lakish? Because he understood, Lul, Lul Yisrael. What did we say the lamet vav was? The thirty-six hours of the araganas, the thirty-six tzaddikim, the thirty-six Chanukkneros, the thirty-six mesechtas and shas. How do you extract? The nitzots from Yisrael, the way to extract it is through lima ratarba. So he says chelcha lairaisa And what is Reish Lakish's response? Reish Lakish's response is shuf rech lenoshim. Before you know, before we get his response, before we get this response I want to share with you an unbelievable gemara and kedusha. Tana debei Rabbi Yisrael. Do you think it's an accident that it was the study house of Bnei Yisrael that's about to teach us this thing? The Gemara in Kiddushin says, 'Tani debeir Yisrael, b'ni im paga b'cha menuvol ze' Mashcheu lebeis hamedrash. If you're fighting with your yitzahara, if you're fighting with your yitzahara Pull the yitzahara into the beis medrash.

28:10 Isn't that a strange thing to say? Why does it say pull? Why does it say pull your yetsarah into the beis medrash? What should it say? If you're fighting with the yetsarah, what should you do? What should it say? Push it away by going into the beis medrash. But it's an interesting thing. If you're fighting with your yetsarah, what does the zayra kadosh explain? What do you want to do? You want to introduce Tyra to the Yetsarah because by introducing Tyra to the Yetsarah, what happens? You're pulling into the beis medrash. That's how you reveal its kedusha. What does Reish Lakish respond? Is Reish Lakish sold yet? When Rav Yochanan says Chalchalai Reisa What does he respond? Shofreichenashim. You don't understand who I am. You should have been a woman, and if you had been a woman, I would be able to do the inappropriate thing that I wanted to do with you. What does Rav Yochanan respond?

29:00 He says to him, "Listen carefully, Yishmael." You can be part of this family. I'll bring you in. You can marry my sister. Meaning, what does Yisshmael feel all these years later? Yisshmael feels like he's the kid who was kicked out of the family. Yisshmael yearns because the ultimate power of Yisshmael is that spark of kedusha in him. What does Yisshmael yearn for? Yisshmael yearns to be brought back in. He says, "If I learn your Torah, it doesn't help me because you don't understand who I am. I am gilui arayus. I am inappropriate chesed." This distorted mead of water. Rav Yochanan says to him, "You don't have to be this way. If you'll learn Tiro, I can integrate the spark of kedusha from Yisrael back into the family." So Reish Lakish says, "Amen." And immediately, what happens? He tries to jump out of the river, but all of a sudden, he can't do it anymore. A moment ago, he was able to jump tall mountains, and now, all of a sudden, he can't even jump out of the water. What happened? Once Rav Yochanan took out the spark from Yishmael, that spark of kedusha, all of the power. Yishmael was very powerful. Yishmael was a physically very powerful man. As soon as the spark is extracted, there was no more klepa of Yishmael left, and Mamele he didn't have any power.

30:23 Now what happens? Now what happens? Watch this. Many years go by, and they have this unbelievable chaverusah, and he marries his sister, and everything is going great. And one day they have an argument in the Beit Midrash. Listen to the Tefkid of this argument. Listen to the depth of this argument. It's amazing when things come together. They're arguing about when weapons are complete so that they're Mikabel Tuma. Rav Yochanan says when they're forged in the fire. And what does Reish Lakish say? You have to put them into water. What does Rav Yochanan? That face is why I love these shirum. When a person goes like Whoa, right? You should know it's the most beautiful thing. When Torah starts to click together and you see how everything is actually one, it's the most amazing thing in the world. No? So now, Reish Lakish says, 'No, you have to put the weapons in water.' What does Rav Yehoshua say?

31:21 Rav Yehoshua says, 'Wait a second. Is your Shmalk meaning was I actually matzliach to extract?' The soul of Yisshmael, because I thought I was successful at extracting the nitzotz of kedusha from Rav Yisshmael, from Yisshmael, and making the great Reish Lakish. By the way, I didn't mention this; now is just as good a time. Why is it that Reish Lakish, before we talk about why Reish Lakish and Rav Yochanan fell apart, what was that halacha? Remember that Reish Lakish learned from his rebbe and then he never did it again. Why was that the halacha that Rav Yochanan taught him, and why was that the halacha that Reish Lakish had to listen to? Because he said Yisshmal is the midah of metzachik. Yisshmal is the midah of that inappropriate laughter, that shvichas damim gilei arayas avodah zara type of laughter. So once Rav Yochanan taught him, you specifically have to be very careful with how you laugh in this world. Reish Lakish said yes. Because I am the kedusha, that spark of kedusha that resides within Yeshma, I have to be very careful. And he was very careful. But Rav Yechonon Shmack, towards the end of his life, he said, "Wait a second. Why are you talking about forging these weapons in water? Are we back to that? Are we back to that inappropriate chesed?

32:36 Because that's what weaponry is. Weaponry could be, like you think you're being a bal chesed, but you're actually destroying something. And what's Reish Lakish's response? All of a sudden, he has a response that bothers Rav Yechonon very much. He goes: 'I could have been the king of the bandits, meaning I could have been Yisshmael. And I became Rish Lakish. Is there really a difference?' What does Rav Yochanan say? There's a difference. I brought you tachas kan fe hashchina. You have to understand. Most people, when they learn the Gemara, are like, 'What happened to Rav Yochanan? How could Rav Yochanan be so nasty? Where was Rav Yochanan's sensitivity?' Rav Yochanan, Alpi Kabbalah, Alpi Penimi Asatayra, understood that he was not successful in extracting. Reish Lakish was a tremendous talmid. We shouldn't be mazalzul in Reish Lakish. But Rav Yochanan, the reason he refused to forgive him is because he understood that he was still holding on to some of that Yisshmal. And it's not for us to judge was he or wasn't he. But perhaps that's what Rav Yochanan thought. And therefore, Rav Yochanan said, 'I brought you takas kampi aschino. You don't appropriate, you don't appreciate how valuable it is that I took you out from Yisshmal.'

33:41 After that, he said, 'We'll never speak again. We'll never speak again.' And that's why when his sister came to him and she said my children will be orphans and I will be a widow, he said Hashem will take care of you. But he cannot be part of our family like this. That's where Rav Yechonon was coming from. Of course, Rav Yechonon himself after that went crazy. Because Rav Yechonon understood that his tafkid in this world was to extract the nitzotz of kedusha from Rish Lakish, and after that he said, but where's my strength in Pirah? Meaning, when I was learning with Reish Lakish, and Reish Lakish was that spark of Yeshmaul, and I brought him Lul Yechia, I brought him into the thirty-six percent of Shas, were able to create such unbelievable Torah together. I would say something, and he would ask me twenty-four questions, and I'd have to work out the point until it was perfectly able to be expressed. It was from that mitzvot of Yeshmaul that were able to create volumes and volumes of Shas.

34:31 Revi Yochanan and Reish Lakish. Everywhere you turn in Shas, Revi Yochanan and Reish Lakish. He said, "Without the spark of Yeshmol, what's it all worth?" They brought him Rav Elazar ben Pedas. Rav Elazar ben Pedas would bring him proofs. He said, "I don't want proofs." He said, "I want to create new Torah, and new Torah only comes from questions, and questions only come from that spark of Yeshmol, from that darkness of Yeshmol when it's revealed. Mamele had lost his mind, and the Chachamim had to daven for Rav Yochanan to just die. How come the Chachamim didn't daven for Rav Yochanan to get better? Because there was no world where he could possibly get better Because he would come back to a world that was missing reish lachish, the spark of kedusha of Yisshma And he understood that his whole tafkid in this world was to be able to bring out that mitzvah.

35:19 We're living today in a generation of Yisshma. We're in the final moments before Mashiach. What battle are we fighting now? We're no longer fighting the battle of Asov. We're fighting the battle now of Yisshma. And there's a big question at the heart of the battle with Yisshmael, and that question is over Chesed. That's the question. That's the question of our generation. The question of our generation is how we will engage in Chesed? Will we engage in appropriate Chesed, boundaryed Chesed, modest Chesed, sneis Chesed? I mean actual sneis. Will we give in a way that's appropriate and boundaryed, like Avram Avinu, which is of course tremendously giving. His tent is all open on every single side, and people who come, he does whatever he can do for you. I want to give to you, but of course, stopping short of those inappropriate boundaries. Or it's not an accident that specifically in this generation And when I say this generation, I mean these final moments before Mashiach comes, starting already from the 60s and the 50s until now. Is it an accident?

36:28 That this inappropriate promiscuous chesed is spreading its evil throughout the entire world. The challenge today is such an interesting challenge, right? If you would know. If the girls would know that modesty is the most attractive thing to the boys, every girl would want to be modest. I don't just mean modesty in clothing. Every guy wants a girl who's genuinely modest. It's the most attractive thing in the world, and vice versa. When you meet a guy who's genuinely modest, how amazing is it? You meet someone who's really humble, who acts lefichvodo, who has like sophistication to him, and he like but with humility. Isn't that like an amazing person to meet? The second the guy opens his mouth and he's a balgiver, it's like ugh. He went from an eight to a six or less. So why is it so challenging for us? And we all know none of us want to be seen skin deep. None of us want to be seen on a surface level. So why is it so challenging? Why are we running around going? It's hard.

37:31 Why? What do you mean it's hard? It's a gift we give ourselves. Why is it hard? Dafka in this generation, we're standing at the crossroads of will we choose the true Chesed of Avram Avinu, bounded and appropriate, giving myself over completely to another, or will I be sloppy about my boundaries and share myself inappropriately with the world? It's not an accident that this is the challenge of our generation. Which type of chesed will we engage in? Amazing Torah, now. Okay.