Mishpatim - A Response to the Latest Evil of Hamas

2:20 But why does the Torah say if? You lend money. It should have just said it in a very clear way. It's obviously a very big mitzvah to help out those that are poor. So why does the Torah say it in a way that it sounds like it's a safek when it's really a vada? So I want to share with you that when I was growing up, I had the amazing opportunity to be in a yeshiva called Yeshiva Darche Torah in Farakway. You're from Farakway? Where in Farakway? Bayeswood. That's not Farakway. That's to the left of Farakway. I used to grow up telling people I was from West Lawrence. It was right next to Far, right next to Lawrence. You're from right next to Farakway. I was in Darche. Today Darche is like 2,500 kids like that. I was in Darche when there were 500 kids.

3:08 And my Rosh Yeshiva was Rabbi Yaakov Bender, who today is considered one of the great Rosh Yeshiva of the generation, and arguably one of the greatest Mechanchim of the generation. The things that Rabbi Bender was doing in Chinuch in the 80s are standard today, but back then they were revolutionary. And so the art that I want to share with you today Not only is it from my Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Bender, but also I think it's a good opportunity for us to understand that someone who can say a vort like this is someone who lives like this. Sometimes when a person is sharing a sh'tikl tayro, they can't share it if it's not them. I can't say that this is my shtickul taira, but I could certainly say it's my Rosh Yeshiva shtickul taira. So the Rosh Yeshiva said as follows: In order to understand this, we need to go all the way back to Parshas Vayera.

3:59 What happened in Parshas Vayera? Avram Avinu just had his bris mila. Vayera olav Hashem beeloneh mamre v'hu yashav pesach haol kachol myom, and he's sitting in the tent. He's sitting right outside the tent by the door, and it's blazing hot outside. Why is Avram Avinu sitting by the tent? We all know Rashi. Let's look at Rashi together. Keho my yom Hod ziyakodesh baruch Hu chimeh min artika. Kodesh baruch Hu took the sun out of its pouch. In other words, it wasn't just hot; it was blazing hot. There was no cloud cover. Shalol etricho baarchim Because Kodesh baruch Hu did not want Avram Avinu running around to try to find Achim, so he made it so hot outside that nobody would go outside. I live in Beit Shemesh. In the summer, it is ridiculously hot. You can't go outside in the afternoon. That's nothing compared to what our Kadosh Baruch Hu did on that day. It was so exceptionally hot that nobody came to visit Avraham Avinu.

5:07 And what happened? If he showed Rome, it's tired. Shalom hayu archim b'ayim. Hakadosh Baruch Hu saw that Avraham Avinu was so pained by the fact that he didn't have any archim coming to visit him. So having malachim alof, but demus anashim. So what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu do? He brought the malachim to visit Avraham Avinu. They appeared as people so that Avraham Avinu would have the opportunity to be machnas oreach to bring people into his home. Rav Moshe Feinstein, say Chetzadik Levracha, famously asked a kasha on this Rashi, on this Gemara. It's a Gemara and Babb Metzia. And he said as follows: Why was Avram avinu metzayir? Why did it bother him? Why did it bother Avram avinu so much? He was putter. There were no guests. Girls, we don't have a chiyuv to go looking for lost objects. If you find a lost object, you have a chiyuv to return the lost object to the one who lost it.

6:04 You don't have a chiyuv to run around finding people to be machnas oreach. If nobody's there, if you're potter, you just had your bris milah. You're mitztaer. It pains you. It pains you that you can't have an oreach. It pains you that you can't have guests. So what was Avraham Avinu so bothered by? So Rav Meir Shlomoh Feinstein gives an unbelievable answer. He says as follows: Avraham Avinu was not mitztaer. It didn't bother him even a little bit that he couldn't have guests for halachic reasons. It bothered Avraham Avinu because that was his nature. The nature of Avraham Avinu was chesed. The nature of Avraham Avinu was to give to somebody else. That's the nature of what it means to be Avraham Avinu. And when you can't express yourself, it is the single most painful thing in the world. Every one of us in this room has that.

7:02 Every one of you in this room has something inside of them that demands to be expressed, and if you can't do it for whatever reason, it's like you're an amputee. I remember I read many years ago a story that there was an artist who was choser b'tshuva. He became a b'tshuva, and he wrote to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and he said, "Now that I'm from Can I be an artist? And the Rebbe wrote back to him. He said, "I don't understand the question." If you're an artist, how could you not be an artist? If you're really an artist, there's no way that an artist can say, "I'm going to stop being an artist." An artist has artistry flowing out of them, and there's no way to stop it. It's a Mayan hamisgaber, a musician. We have a very talented person in the audience today. Later today, you're going to hear from my very close friend Seth Meza. Seth makes the most beautiful music. Seth, who's with you today? Just you and Simcha Leiner. I don't know so much about Simcha Leiner, but I can tell you that Seth Meza—I've heard of Simcha Leiner, but I know Seth Meza.

8:07 I want to tell you when Seth plays, you'll see a smile. I'm not here to embarrass him. And he's already married, so you don't have to worry about it. There's a smile that comes off of him like the music is flowing through, and I've seen it for years and it doesn't stop. Some people have something so close to their essence they just can't stop being that. Avraham Avinu and by extension every single Jew Avraham Avinu has Chesed flowing through him. He can't stop being a Bal Chesed. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes and he says, Avraham Avinu, I'm going to do you the biggest favor in the world. I'm going to make sure that you have no guests because you just had your Bris Milah and it's the most painful day after your Bris Milah. So I'm going to do you a favor. I'm going to take out the sun from its pouch. It's going to be blazing hot.

9:00 Avraham Avinu says to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, "To me, this is not a favor." I can't stop being a balchad. To me, it's not a favor. I want to share with you a story that our Rosh Yeshiva told us. One of the great gaanim of the last generation was a gadol ador. He was the posek ador. His name was Rav Chaim Meiser Grzeszinski. He was over here, Rav Chaim Meiser. Chaim Eisner was an unbelievable genius. He was the posek hador. And unfortunately, one of Chaim Eisner's children took very ill. And Chaim Eisner, of course, was distraught. His child is about to die. And when he realized that it was over and the kid was just moments away from dying Chaim Eisner, with unbelievable gevura He got up. He left his child's bedside. He was already unconscious. He left his child's bedside. He walked into his study and he started answering shilas. He sat and he wrote shilas and shuvas, because Rav Chaim Izer was the paisek adar. He was dealing with the biggest shilas in the world. He was dealing with agunas. He was dealing with people who lo aleni were going through terrible tzaras and they needed to know what the halachas were. Rav Chaim Izer understood that in just a couple of minutes, he would not be able to answer these shilas because he was about to be sitting shiva.

10:23 So what does he do in the final moments on this earth with his child? After his child is already out of it, if his child would have been within it, obviously he would have stayed at his child's bedside. That would be appropriate as his father. But after the child is already removed from this world, he's still alive, Ruchaim Eizer could paskenos shilus. That's what it means to live for another Jew. That's what it means to live for another Jew. You're not concerned with yourself. We live in a society today. That is so deeply concerned about ourselves, and it's such a terrifying thing to watch as we're raising children in a society that has distorted the words self-care. Self-care today, I'm sorry to say, has become a selfish terminology. Of course, it goes without saying that a person needs to take care of themselves. But why? Why take care of yourself so that you could take care of somebody else? Today, the word self-care is like take care of yourself, focus on yourself. Girls, I'm going to say something. I've said it publicly. I'm going to say it again today.

11:32 One of the most dangerous concepts in your year in Israel is that this is your year to be selfish. How could it be that this is your year to be growth-oriented? If you're being selfish, the nature of a Jew is not to be selfish. The nature of a Jew is to give to somebody else. How could we possibly teach a generation of girls come to Eretz Yisrael? This is your year to be selfish. What should we have said? This is your year to be inwardly focused. This is your year to build yourself so that you can build for somebody else. But Chas v'Shalom, the idea that this is your year to be selfish is against the very fabric of what it means to be a Jew. I want to share with you. It's a big schuz to be here today under any circumstances. But the MS is, I have a very special connection to daily giving And I don't know if I'm here because of that connection. Maybe I'm here because of Simcha. Maybe I'm just here to listen to Seth play some music. I'm not sure. But I want to tell you that I was one of the first phone calls.

12:35 Right after Dr. Donath had the epiphany of starting daily giving, he called me up. I'll tell you the story. Dr. Donath, before he was Dr. Donath, he was just John Donath, and he was my roommate in Mevaseret in 1999 and 2000. He was always the nicest guy. Different roommates. I don't know how to say this nicely. Some roommates are better than others. So that was a very telling laugh. Thank you very much for coming with me on this journey. For all of you that just looked at each other, I'm sorry. I know it's tough to go through. Dr. Donath and I, I don't think we ever had a fight. I don't think we ever had an issue, and I'll tell you why. Because the man would give the shirt off his back to help out anybody who needed it. He was always like that. I wish I could tell you that this was something that he worked on, that he went to a mussar vad and he sat and learned and he became this balchesed. It's not true.

13:35 Donath has chesed in his bones. He's from Minnesota. He's from Minnesota, a small town, out of town. People like each other there. You know what I'm talking about? It's not like people say good Shabbos in the streets to each other when they're walking by. It's a very beautiful place. It's very cold. Don't ever go there. But if you ever go there, you'll see it's a wonderful place. Dr. Donath has Chesed in his bones, so he calls me up one day and he says, "I had the greatest idea." I said, "What's the idea?" He says, "I was giving tzedakah today, and I put my dollar into the pushka." And I said, 'What's my dollar worth?' What's my dollar worth? It's not worth very much. But what would happen if we could get all of Klal Yisrael to give a dollar a day? Wouldn't that be unbelievable? I said, "Yeah, that would be unbelievable." And I'll be honest, because I was on the phone, I was rolling my eyes. I was like, "What are you gonna do? You're gonna get tens of thousands of people together. To each give a dollar." I've seen these shows before. How many times do people call me up with an amazing Chesed idea?

14:42 An amazing revolutionary idea? This idea is going to change the face of Klal Yisrael. We're starting this new yeshiva, this new seminary. I've heard it before, so I was cynical. That's because I'm from New York. He's from Minnesota. I was very cynical. And then he says, "Yeah, I'm working on a website, and I got Rabbi Kron on board, and I got this one on board." And I'm like, "Okay, this is going to be cute. You're going to get like a couple hundred people. What are you going to do?" And then I watched over the last how many years is Daily Giving around now? A number of years, not that many actually. It's pretty crazy. I watched as Dr. Donath gave his life to this organization, one Jew at a time. To get people to give a dollar a day. If there was an NCSY staff training event in Connecticut, he came on Motzei Shabbos, drove all the way out from White Plains, New York, came on Motzei Shabbos just to speak for five minutes about the value of daily giving. If he's going to Hask in the summer, a place where he worked when he was a kid, he goes to Hask just to speak for twenty minutes. I said to him, John

15:48 These guys are eighteen years old. These girls are eighteen years old. They're not going to give you a dollar a day. He goes, Yeah, but. Now they're going to know about daily giving, and when they know about daily giving, eventually they're going to become daily givers. And now, my cynicism, I never would have accomplished anything. Today, daily giving gives out over twenty thousand dollars a day to tzedakah. I think it's considered today one of the largest tzedakah organizations in all of Israel in terms of the volume of money that they gave out. And I'm telling you a secret: it's not because he's ambitious; it's because Chesed is in his bones. Chesed has to be in our bones. That's what it means to be a yid. In VaYikra, in the middle of all of the halachos of all of the mo'adim, there's a halacha that's spoken about. I'll read you the pasuk inside. When you're reaping the harvest of your land.

16:51 Don't remove the corner. Leave the corner over for who? For the aniyim. Leave the corner over for the stranger. What's the pshat? What's the pshat that a person in the middle of all of the yomim tovim? We're talking about the halach of leke. So Rosh Yeshiva said, Rabbi Bender said an unbelievable art. There's a Rambam. There's a Rambam. This Rambam is an unbelievable Rambam. You're making yontif. You're making yomtov. When you're making yomtov, I'm sure you saw it growing up in your homes. And blessed Hashem, if you didn't, then your children will see it in your homes. I know, at least for my wife, this is for sure true. When Yomtov comes, the cooking begins. They have. My wife always makes fun that she saw years ago when we were still living in America that there was a magazine that came out before Thanksgiving, and it was like a month before Thanksgiving.

17:45 And the article was about having guests over for Thanksgiving. You could start now preparing for Thanksgiving. You're having 10 guests over for Thanksgiving, and it's like talking about all the things that you can prep and freeze. And my wife's reading this article, dying of laughter. She's like, 10 guests? That's like a family by us. Talk to me when you're having 35 people for Pesach Seder and you started three days ago because your kitchen just got kosher. Like this is not a big deal for us. Because Chesed is in our bones. Imagine you're making all the meat, all the chicken, all the kugels, everything you're making for Yom Tov. What does the Rambam say? When it's Yom Tov and you're eating and drinking, it's not Simchas Yom Tov because you're obligated to give somebody else. There's an ani in your community. There's somebody who's a stranger in your community, and he needs achilah v'shtiya. He also needs what to drink.

18:47 Look what the Rambam says. The Rambam says you're chayiv to feed who? The stranger, the orphan, the widow, anyone who needs help. But let's say somebody closes the doors of their courtyard and he eats by himself. Him, his children, his wife. Ve'aino machal umashkel aniim lamari not nefesh And he doesn't feed those people who don't have and those people who are embittered souls. Ainzu simchas mitzvah elasimchas krayso. Don't fool yourself, says the Rambam. You're not misameach yamtiv. You're not having simchas yamtiv. You're having the simcha of your belly. You're feeding yourself. Today, Baruch Hashem, the Jewish community, we have unbelievable food. When I was growing up, Mr. Shanser, I don't know if it was like this when you were growing up. When I was growing up, Jewish food was not that good. It wasn't. I remember that a Shabbos morning kiddush, it was like this beer mayim chayim soda. You girls know what that is. I give you a bracha that you don't know what beer mayim chayim soda is.

20:01 Coca-Cola is delicious. Beer mayim chayim soda was like petel in a glass. And what was for kiddush? Sponge cake, kichel, herring. The old men were drinking schnapps. I don't think those old men had any blood in them. That was pure vodka running through their veins. I saw it every morning taking shots. I don't know how they lived forever because it was just vodka running through their veins. A Shabbos morning kiddush was not delicious. Today, sushi, kugels. I go to America sometimes when I go to a kiddush. It's like going to a bar mitzvah. I don't know how people have lunch afterwards, and I'm not a small person. It's like it's an unbelievable thing. Today we have amazing Jewish food, but ask yourself a question: Is it Simchas Mitzvah? Am I making this delicious food because it's Shabbos, because it's Yom Tov? Because I care about making it beautiful for my family so that we can say Zekeleve Anvehu, 'This is my God, and I will glorify Him'? Or is it just an opportunity to gorge ourselves?

21:04 What's the litmus test? Says the Rambam: The litmus test is. Who else is at your table? There's everybody who's walking around needs help. Every single community has people who need help. And by the way, if you look carefully at the Rambam, I think it's fair to add it in. If you look carefully at the Rambam, he doesn't just say the poor people. He doesn't just say the stranger. He doesn't just say the widow. He says all those that are mare nefesh, all those people that are embittered souls. Girls, I'm going to tell you a secret. Look around. Everywhere you look, people are mare nefesh. Everywhere we look People are having so much difficulty in life. It is hard to get through life. Do you know what a gentle hand on a person's shoulder can do for somebody? A Shabbos invitation. You just go over to them and you say good morning. Greet them with a smile. You could bring a person's whole face. There's a beautiful var from Rishlam of Freyfeld Zeichatzadik Levrachu, who's the founding Rosh Hashanah from Shiyashuv. There's a minig in Klal Yisroel that if somebody wishes you a good morning in Yiddish, you say a gutiar. You should have a good year.

22:13 Refreyfeld asked. He said, 'Just 'cause somebody wishes you a good morning, you should give them a good year.' " So, you know what he answered? Watch someone's face when you say good morning. They light up. Say good morning to people. They light up. People who are embittered souls, you wish them a good morning. It lights up their soul. I want to tell you a story. It's a crazy, true story. Some of you have heard of a man whose name is Rebbe Glanz. I need a Rebbe. Rebbe Glanz. I also need a Rebbe. I wish Rebbe Glanz was my Rebbe. I want to tell you a true story. It was a boy who came to yeshiva. And every single day in yeshiva He sat there during davening. He didn't put on his tefillin. He didn't open a sitter. He just sat there looking straight ahead. And every morning, Ruffglans wished him a good morning. And every single morning, the boy absolutely ignored him.

23:11 Didn't respond, just got up and walked away. September, October, November, December. Not one day did the boy ever respond to Ruffglans. One morning in January Ruffglans looks at the boy, says good morning, and the boy responds, good morning. And he walked off. Rav Glanz looked at me, and I looked at him, and I said, "It speaks." The next morning, Rav Glanz, "Good morning. The boy says, "Good morning," and he walks off. This goes on for a couple of weeks. One morning after davening, Rav Glanz looks at the boy and he says, "Good morning." The boy says, "Good morning, Rebbe. Do you think we could speak today?" He said, "Sure." Rav Glanz took him on a walk. He came back from that walk white as a ghost. White as a ghost. Ruf Glanz, just so you know, is a third-degree black belt in mixed martial arts. He's not a person. You look at him today, long frock, hat, chains wrapping. He is, and he's not someone who gets thrown very easily.

24:13 This young man had suffered a terrible trauma. And the reason he was in yeshiva basically was because he was going to commit suicide. And every morning, Ruf Glanz said good morning to him. And every morning he didn't respond. And every night he said, "I'm going to test Rav Glanz again tomorrow." If I say good morning, and he says good morning, and I don't respond, will he keep doing it? Because on the day that he doesn't respond, on the day that he doesn't say good morning to me, that's the day that I'm going to take my life. He said to Rav Glanz, "Rebbe, you saved my life." And the boy, Baruch Hashem He had a great time. He had a great two years in yeshiva. He grew tremendously. Rav Glanz saved his life with a good morning. He was a mar nefesh. He was a person who was very bitter. He was very hurt. How many people are walking around very hurt, and we have no idea. Everybody is suffering from something inside of them.

25:07 A Rebbe once told me many years ago. He said, "If you ever want to get a boy to talk, if you ever want to know what's really going on, just open up a sefer and sit down with him. He'll start pouring out his entire heart. He'll tell you everything in his life." It's true. If you just let people talk and give them space, they'll share unbelievable things with you. The Rambam says, "Who do we invite? Who do we invite to our Simchas Yontif? Who do we invite to our Sudas? You have to be a Balchesed. Otherwise, you're just feeding yourself. And if you're feeding yourself, don't fool yourself. That's not called serving Hashem. A person goes out, they spend thousands of dollars on Yontif. If you didn't have Arkhim, you didn't have Yontif. That's an unbelievable concept. This was the big line. Rabbi Bender quoted from Rabbi Itzchok of Vilozhener.

25:55 Ravitzl of Vilozhiner wrote the introduction to the Nefshachayim, one of the seminal Haskafic works in all of Chalal Yisrael's history. And in the introduction to Nefshachayim, Ravitzl of Vilozhiner writes, 'What's the tafkid of a person in this world? What's the purpose of a person in this world? Many answers have been given to that question. Listen what Ravitzl of Vilozhiner writes. I'll quote it in English.' A person was not created for himself. But only to help others as much as he is capable of. That's why we were created. We were created to be balechesed. And here was the line from my Rosh Yeshiva, girls: This line should be etched in every person's heart. It should be on the entrance to every yeshiva and every seminary. Rabbi Bender said, "If Chesed is the reason that we were created, then it follows that doing Chesed is life itself."

26:47 Chesed cannot be ancillary to our being. It has to be the fundamental essence of who we are. And so, with that in mind, I want to address the events that are happening today and yesterday. And be'ez Hashem, what we'll see. You girls may not realize this, but this was This last 24 hours, 48 hours, whatever you want to say. You girls are witnessing something that I'll be honest with you: in my life, I never learned before. I never knew. I did not know, not truly. I did not know that evil was a real thing. In your head, sometimes you play a game. And you say to yourself What would I say if I was on the other side? How would I feel if I was growing up in Gaza? Maybe I would also, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. You play a game in your head and you think to yourself Maybe I don't think we're wrong, but maybe I don't know.

28:08 The unspeakable cruelty that we've witnessed in the last 24 hours is something that I've never seen before in my life. To send back children in coffins. To dance To parade those children in that way. I hope that none of you saw the video. I only saw about three seconds before I turned it off. I couldn't bear to see it. To send a coffin of Mrs. Bibas with the words "arrested October 7th" 2023 as if she was arrested by an organization and not abducted by terrorists. To send that back, and then to find out afterwards that it wasn't even her. They sent back a different corpse. It wasn't even her. You imagine what it's like to be Mr. Bibas today. We can't imagine what it would have been like for him to bury his children and his wife. We can't even begin to imagine what that would look like.

29:14 But at least there's closure. At least the story's over. At least this is He'll have to go through a process that we can't imagine living with the horror and the tragedy that he lives with. But at least it could get started. And now he doesn't even have that. They robbed him of that. They had to bring the coffins through X-rays to make sure there were no bombs in the coffins. And on the day that they released the Bibas children They planted bombs in buses. And miraculously nobody was killed. I'm sure you saw the pictures of that burnt out bus. They say that if it had gone well, and it seems from the initial stories that they literally just didn't know how to set the Shabbos clock. That they put it as 9 p.m. instead of 9 a.m. They say it would have been the second worst. Terrorist attacks in the history of Israel, only second to October 7th.

30:21 On the day they released the Bibiash children's bodies This is evil the likes of which I have never seen in my lifetime. People are making the point and I think it's a fair point. In Nazi Germany, there were at least some Germans who were righteous Gentiles that saved people. That was a real thing. Not one Palestinian saved those children. Nobody called up and said, "Here's the tip. Here's where they are." These people were living amongst them. They were hostages amongst them. Not one person. We talk about chesed. We talk about chesed being in our bones as the children of Avram Avinu. You should know that without that A person has the capacity to live in unspeakably cruel ways. Evil is a real thing that needs to be eradicated from this world. Monsters Monsters. That's not a simple word to use. These are behaviors that are so barbaric.

31:24 That's the only way we could describe them. There's a medrash. It's being misquoted, so I'd like to share with you the medrash. I know that it was made into some poem, but it's being misquoted. I'd like to share with you the medrash as it actually is in Yalkut Shimoni. The Medrash says we know that in the times of Mitzrayim There was a xera that Paro was no longer going to give them the straw to make the bricks. And so there was a woman whose name was Rachel. She went out to the fields. And she was helping her husband make the straw into bricks. And she was pregnant. And she miscarried. And she miscarried. She didn't realize that she miscarried, and she miscarried into the area where they were making the bricks. Things were tumultuous, and somehow this baby got made into a brick. She cried out in anguish.

32:20 It's not exactly clear when this cry took place. Some suggest that this cry took place while Moshe Rabbeinu was in Midyan. This was the cry that our Kadosh Baruch Hu heard that made Him take Klal Yisrael out of Eretz Yisrael. What happened to that baby? Baked into that brick. So the Malach Michal, who's the Malach of Klal Yisrael Took that brick and he brought it up to the Kisei Hakover and he placed that brick in front of the Kisei Hakover. But the story is not over. Every nation has a Malach Including Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim's Malach is a Malach whose name is Uza. And as Mitzrayim is being destroyed Uza comes to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and he has a tanya. He says. Why are you taking Klal Yisrael out of Mitzrayim? It's not yet been 400 years. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu said Look, I told Avram they would be strangers in a strange land. It doesn't necessarily mean Mitzrayim. I'm counting the 400 years from the birth of Yitzchak. So now we're ready; they can leave.

33:27 And now it's Kriyas Yam Suf And the Mitzrayim are about to be destroyed. And the Malach Uza says, 'Why are you killing the Egyptians?' Girls, listen to what Uza says. Because it's eerily similar to what the world is saying today. Why are you killing the Egyptians? They didn't hurt or drown any of Bnei Yisrael. What? They didn't hurt or drown any of Bnei Yisrael? Of course they did. They murdered Jews by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, by the hundreds of thousands. How could the Malach Lusah say this? The Malach Lusah said, "Look, this was just business. We were keeping the slaves in line. That's what happens. That's what happens." Sometimes slaves die in Mitzrayim. That's what happens. And they shouldn't be killed just for enslaving Klal Yisrael. You want to enslave them, mita keneged mita, fine. But just because they enslaved Klal Yisrael means they're worthy of death, girls. Do you hear the parallels?

34:24 And they said Klal Yisrael already got paid in Makas Cheshek. They found out where all the money was. We paid them before they left. So why are you killing all the Egyptians? So Hashem called the Malachim to judge the case. All the Malachim gathered around. There's Hashem on one side. There's the Malach who's on the other. And Hashem responds and he says, 'I brought a famine to Mitzrayim and I sent Yosef a tzaddik to Mitzrayim and Yosef saved you. And what did you do? You enslaved them.' And who told Paro to enslave them? He didn't have to enslave them. It would have been bad enough just to be a stranger in a strange land. Do you remember how painful it was, girls, when you first arrived in this country? And you didn't feel at home and you didn't feel comfortable? It's a miserable thing to be a stranger in a strange land.

35:12 Not only that, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, but I sent Moshe and Aaron to you. I sent Moshe and Aaron to you, and you denied my existence, Paro. So yes, I believe that you're worthy of being drowned. And the Malachim pasquin, and they said we pasquin like Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So then Uza got up and he said I understand that I'm in the wrong. I understand that I lost the court case. But please have Rachmanes Have compassion, have mercy on Mitzrayim and the Malach Gavriel, whose name comes from Gvura. He took that brick that the Malach Michal had brought up to the Kisei Akvod and he handed the brick to Hashem. And then Hashem drowned all of the Mitzrim in Kriyas Yam Suf. You want compassion? Where was your compassion? You want us to be merciful? Where was your mercy? We have no mercy for people that aren't merciful. We have mercy for people that live lives of compassion.

36:19 So yes Absolutely. If you live a life of compassion, there's room for Lifnim Mishuras Adin. But if you don't, Chassidut is all in the opposite. We lead lives of Chesed. We do unbelievable Chesed. We're here at daily giving because we lead lives of Chesed. Girls, it's the biggest chos for us. It's not only how we're helping out somebody else. It's the biggest chos in the world for us because we can come to Akdam Shem Baruch Hu and we can say, God, I am not perfect. But when your children needed someone to help them out, to invite them for a meal, a kind word Whatever it was, I was a compassionate person. Be compassionate to me. You have compassion for another, you invite compassion into your life. If you're not a merciful person, you don't deserve mercy. And that's what we're dealing with today. They want mercy from us. They want to come over our walls. They want to come into our land and take our children and behave that way, and then turn around and say to the world, 'Have mercy on us.'

37:25 Where was your compassion? Where was your mercy? We are people of Chesed. We are people who have Chesed in their bones. We invite Hakadosh Baruch Hu's Rachamim upon us because we live with another. Said my Rosh Yeshiva, and we'll finish with this. In Kesef. Of course, you're going to lend money to another Jew. Somebody needed money, and you have money. That's perfect. That's the most unbelievable chesed you could do for somebody. Of course, you're going to do it. It's not an if; it's a when. So why does the Torah say it as an if? The answer is: we all know you're going to do it But it has to be your choice. You have to be able to stand up and say it's in my bones, and I'm choosing to express it. So Rashi says it's not if you're going to do chesed, it's when you're going to do chesed, but you got to choose it.

38:19 We are an unbelievable nation, Mika Amcha Yisrael. In our community, there is nothing that you lack. A guy once told me it's hard to go off the derech if you're an Orthodox Jew. It's hard because everything you have in our community is unbelievable. If Chassid v'Shalom you have a Down syndrome child, you know exactly who to call. You're going to call Ahavah. You're going to call Camp Pesk. If Chassid v'Shalom you have cancer, you're going to call High Lifeline. If Chassid v'Shalom you need to be rushed to the hospital, you're going to call Atzala. If you break down on the side of the road, some Chassidish guy from Chaveirim is going to come and he's going to be there in three seconds. You're going to be on your way. If you're in the hospital, Bechor Cholim. If you're stuck in a neighborhood for Shabbos and you don't know anybody there, you call your local Chabad. And somebody's going to take care of you. It's an unbelievable thing. We are an unbelievable community of chesed. We're such an unbelievable community of chesed that it's hard to go off the derech.

39:13 Because who would want to be anywhere else? But if we raise our children with this notion of this is your year to be selfish, if we bring selfishness into our educational system, then we are doing the exact opposite of everything we were brought here to do. The Rosh Yeshiva said Chesed is life itself. This is not a pitch for daily giving. I'm not here to get every one of you to sign up for daily giving. I'm sure you all have your own tzedakos. My pitch is much bigger than that. Somebody in this room has an idea in their heart Something that they need to express, just like Donath had to express daily giving. Everybody here has something to contribute to the conversation of Chesed. My plea My, I'm begging. Don't listen to the cynical voice of people like Mordechai Berg. Who, when you call up your friend and say, "I have an idea of how we could help out somebody else," don't listen to the naysayers.

40:15 Follow through. Somebody here is going to create the next great Chesed organization that's going to change Klal Yisrael. And I know it for sure because you came on a Friday afternoon, erev Shabbos, you raised money to be here. Why? So you could have a buffet. You could have taken that money and gotten a much better breakfast. I'm sure it was beautiful, but you could have gotten a much better breakfast at Cafe Ramon. You came for inspiration. I don't know. Sometimes it hits, sometimes it doesn't. You came because you're givers. It's in your nature to be a giver. Be'ez Hashem, we should be zeicher As a community, not just as individuals To really bring out that chesed and continue to bring rachamim shamayim on all of Klal Yisroel. Girls have a wonderful Shabbos.