Sefiras HaOmer - Heal The World

2:18 The only reason they're building these bathhouses is because they're obsessed with themselves, and the only reason they're building these bridges is for money. I'm telling you, everything they're doing is just—it's mamish. Not only shalol l'shem shamayim, it's terrible. It's a terrible thing that they're doing. Yehuda Ben Gerim, Yehuda was the son of converts. He heard this and he went ahead and told people in his household about this conversation. It got back to the Roman government. The Roman government heard about this, and they said, "Rav Yehuda is clearly on our side. He thinks we're awesome." They elevated him to be the head of the Chachamim. Rav Yosi, they said, "You were quiet. We're going to exile you to Tzipori." And Rav Shimon Bar Yochai, you're a threat. You're a threat to the Roman government. We're going to kill you. Rav Shimon Bar Yochai found out about this, and he ran away to the Beis Medrash. There's such a thing called being anonymous in a beis medrash. You go to Mir Yeshiva, you don't know who anybody is. You don't know anybody. Anybody could be anybody. You go walk into Mir Yeshiva, they go, "Who's Shimon Bar Yochai?" They all raise their hand. We're all Shimon Bar Yochai. Nobody's going to know who Rishon Bar Yochai is. There's a story: Menachem Begin, early on in the formation of the state of Israel, Menachem Begin, who later became the prime minister of Israel

3:40 He was wanted. They wanted to arrest him. Rav Aharon, where did Menachem Begin run? He ran to Mea Shearim. It's geshmack. If you ever need to hide out, try it. It's givaldik. You could become a burka lady. Nobody will ever know who you are. Rishemayochai ran to the beis medrash, but in the beis medrash he realized he was still vulnerable. They could get to him there because if they tortured his wife, who was bringing him food in the beis medrash, they would figure out who he was. So he ran away to a cave. He went with his son, Rav Elazar ben Oli. They lived on almost nothing. The Gemara says it was a miracle. There was a carob tree there. There was a stream there. They only had one pair of clothing that they were wearing. They literally ran away. They were mamish to steps ahead of the Roman government. All they had was the clothing on their body. They realized they would need this clothing for a long time. They took off their clothing. They hung their clothing. They dug ditches for themselves. And they lived in the ditches.

4:41 Covered themselves with dirt, which is very, very, very bad for your body. When they came out of the cave many years later, the bodies of Rabbi Yochai and Rabbi Elazar were destroyed. Rabbi Yochai looked gruesome; he had sores all over his body for twelve years. All he did was eat carobs and drink a little water. Came out of his hole only to get dressed to daven, and then he went back into his hole all day long. He was learning Torah with his son. This is what Roshim Baruchai did for twelve years. Nobody knew where he was. He was completely and utterly off the grid. His own wife didn't know where he was. There was no way for the Romans to kill him. Roshim Baruchai is sitting and learning Torah all day long. Unbelievable. Then the Gemara says a very interesting thing: the Roman emperor died.

5:34 Now there's a basic problem. Rishim Bar Yochai can now leave the cave. What's the only problem? Nobody can tell him that it's no longer threatened by the Roman government because the king died and nobody knows where he is. So who's going to tell Rishim and Bar Yochai that he can leave the cave? It's going to be none other than El Yoanavi. El Yoanavi, the Mevasser of Geula. El Yoanavi will herald the coming of Mashiach. Goes to Rav Shim Ba Yochai to tell him you can leave the cave, but he does it in the most fascinating way. Listen to what he does. Asa Eliyahu, I'm quoting from the Gemara now inside. Asa Eliyahu, Eliyahu a Navi comes. The come a pischa de me'arta. He does not enter the cave. I would have thought Eliyahu a Navi has good news for Shim Ba Yochai. Good news for Elazar Beno. You can come out.

6:26 He doesn't go into the cave. He stands at the entrance of the cave, Amar, and he says, "Man lole the bar yochai the mis kesar o bitogzar te." Who's going to tell Bar Yochai that the Kesar died and that the decree has been annulled? It's not an interesting way that Eliyahu and Avi tell or Shim Bar Yochai that he can come out of the cave. He doesn't go ahead and say, 'Hey, Reb Shimon, you can leave. It's awesome news.' He goes not into the cave. He stands outside of the cave. And he says, 'Who's going to tell?' It's like he says it out loud. Who's going to tell Shimon Bar Yochai that he can come out of the cave because the king is dead? Shimon Bar Yochai hears the voice of Eliyahu Hanavi. He leaves the cave with his son. He goes out and sees a man working the fields, plowing and sowing. And he says "This is what people are doing with their lives." They're not learning Torah. They're working the fields. The Gemara says that everywhere that Roshim Baruchai went, he would burn everything up. He would look at it; it would burn up. He would burn up the world. And a Bas Kol came from Shamayim and said, "Is this why you left the cave to destroy my world?"

7:42 Roshim Baruchai says, "I got to go back into the cave." He goes back into the cave for 12 months. He had already been in there for 12 years. Now he goes back in for another 12 months. Why? Because a person can go to Gehenna for 12 months. He says, "I got to go back into the cave for 12 months." Very interesting. We're going to explore every detail. After 12 months, a baskal comes out and says, "You can leave." He leaves. Interesting. His son still burning up the world. His son, wherever he looks, he's still burning up the world. But Rav Shim Bar Yochai, wherever Avulazar his son looks and burns up the world, Rav Shim Bar Yochai looks there and he heals whatever Avulazar destroys. Rav Shim Bar Yochai heals it. And he says to his son, "You should know the whole world is sustained by you and me," which is an interesting thing to say to his son.

8:34 Then they're going out and they see a guy and he's walking with hadassim. They say to him, 'What are you doing with these hadassim?' He says, 'I'm bringing them for Shabbos.' They say, 'Fine, you're bringing them for Shabbos, but you could have just brought one.' He says, 'I have to bring two. Zachar vishamor. You have to have two adasim for Shabbos.' That's the end of the Gemara for our purposes. It is a fascinating story. Probably a lot of us heard it before tonight. Again, as a s'chus for the Rifu Shalem B'kar of Mamish for Aryeh Lechava Baschan Amalca, I would like to explore this story deeply. I think it holds a very profound lesson for every one of us in this room. I know it holds a profound lesson for me. Let's go back again to the very beginning. When big rabbis are talking, when small rabbis are talking, you don't need to pay attention. When big rabbis are talking, you have to pay attention.

9:27 When great chachamim like Rav Yehuda, Rav Yosi, and Rav Shmuel Yochai are having a conversation, that's a conversation that you have to really pay attention to carefully because they're giving over yosodos. Big people, they talk about important things. Rav Yosi, Rav Yehuda, Rav Shmuel Yochai, they're having a very important conversation about how we see the world. Listen, what Rav Yehuda says. Rav Yehuda says I don't know. Anything about anything. All I know is this: I'm looking at the Romans and Lamechah. They're building. Lamechah, yes, destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. I'm just saying they're building stuff. They're building marketplaces. It's good to have marketplaces. It's good for people to be able to go buy stuff. It's important. It's important to have commerce. They're building bathhouses. Girls, we don't take bathhouses. We don't understand bathhouses today because we all have private bathrooms. We shower in private places. It used to be a bathhouse was a place that you went. You could wash yourself. You could cleanse yourself. It was an important place. You were like more disease free. People remember people died very young back then. He said they're building bathhouses. They're building bridges. We can get from one place to another. Again, today we don't really think about bridges too much because bridges are everywhere. But building a bridge back then, it wasn't like today. You have a Verazano bridge. You have Chashuvah bridges all over America. It wasn't like that.

10:54 The Golden Gate Bridge. Building a bridge meant it saved you maybe even days or weeks of travel if it was a very big expanse of water. It's very Chashuvah what they're doing. That's the way Rav Yehuda saw the world. Rav Yosi said a little bit differently than Rav Yehuda. Rav Yosi looked at the world and he said, "I don't know." I'm not sure what they're doing. I'm not commenting. That's Rav Yosi's Ashkafa. He says I'm not willing to say like you, Rav Yehuda, that what they're doing is good. I don't know what's going on deep. I don't know what's going on underneath the surface. I'm not going to say it's bad. I can't say it's bad. I don't know what their intentions are, but I can't say it's good either.

11:34 A lot of us do that. A lot of us ascribe intentions. You ever do? They ever have a fight with a friend, and now all of a sudden everything that she's doing is nasty. A girl walks into your room and she says, "Hey, I'm going out to get something from Mayan. You want me to pick you up some eggs while I'm going?" She walks out of the room. You turn to your friend and go, "She just knows that nobody likes her, so she's trying to get curry favor with people. All she did was offer to buy you eggs. Why do you have to do that?" Rviosi says, "We don't know what's going on in people's lives. We don't know what's going on under the surface." I'm not ready to say if it's good because it might not be good, but I can't say it's bad either. Rviosi is quiet. Comes along Rishim Bayochai and Rishim Bayochai says, "Chevre, you're making a very big mistake. This is an important conversation. When you're looking at the world, Rishim Bayochai says, you need to look deeply because what your intentions are, they matter."

12:27 "A person's intentions matter," says Rishim Bayochai. "You're looking at the world and you're seeing Ravihu. Do you think they're great? They're building marketplaces, they're building bathhouses, they're building bridges. I'm telling you, says Rishim Bayochai. They're trying to destroy our society. They're trying to destroy us. If you're not paying attention to their intentions, you're missing out. He says, "You think they're building marketplaces? They're building places for zionists. They're building a place where people are going to start destroying the fabric of a relationship." It's the worst possible thing in the world. You think they're building places for commerce? I'm telling you, pay attention to what's going on underneath the surface. You think they're building bathhouses? These are just places for people to pamper themselves. Girls, you have to know that when you build a society with certain values, those values will creep their way into the Jewish community.

13:26 This is what Rishim Baruchai is saying. He says, 'You think that we're not going to be impacted by the Zionists in the marketplace? You think we're not going to be impacted by the hedonism? You're looking at the world. I'm telling you, you're going to see it's going to get to the Jewish community soon. They're going to be building huge houses and driving the fanciest cars and taking the fanciest vacations because you're going to be impacted. And if you think this is just a bathhouse, you don't understand what's really happening here. If you think they're building bridges because they just are giving you the ability to go from one place to the next.' You don't really understand what's going on. They're just obsessed with money. What will happen to our nation? I know what I'm saying right now. I know what I'm saying. Pay attention. What will happen to our nation when we become obsessed with money? A beautiful line from R' Salavitchik. R' Salavitchik said, "Classically, Jews do well in poverty and poor in wealth."

14:22 It's true. It's a great line. Classically, Jews do well in poverty, poor in wealth. When our nation gets too much money, sometimes we don't always do the best things with it. Says R' Shimba Yochai. Pay attention, Chaver. You don't understand what's happening. This is going to be a society with no morality. They're going to destroy the fabric of relationships. It's going to be a society of hedonism of people who are just indulging themselves. It's going to be a society that's obsessed with money, and it's coming soon to a theater near you. Pay attention to what's going on. Yehuda ben Geraim is there. He hears the conversation. He says it to one person, who says it to another. Listen, what happened? The Romans. They saw Rev Yehuda said. They said Rev Yehuda likes us. That's kishmak. Let's appoint Rev Yehuda to be the head of all of the chachamim. But Rav Yosi, they were nervous about Rav Yosi. See, Rav Yosi was looking deeper. He said, "I don't know what the intentions are underneath the surface. I'm not going to say. I'm just going to be quiet."

15:24 They said to Rav Yosi, 'A person like that who's watching, he's dangerous. We can't kill him because he hasn't done anything wrong, but we got to be careful.' Where do they send him? They send him to Tzipori. Tzipori, we spoke about last week. What does Tzipori mean? To chirp like a bird. Ironically, they sent the guy who wouldn't speak. Tetzipori. Maybe we can tease out what's really going on inside of Rav Yosi. But Rav Shimbar Yochai, I'm telling you, I have no raya for this. I just believe it in my heart. You know what happened when Yehuda Ben Gerim reported this story and it got reported back to the Roman government. I'm telling you, the Romans went like this. How did he know? How did he know what we were secretly doing? How did he know what was going on behind the scenes? Rishim Bar Yochai had eyes to see. Big gedolei have eyes to see. They could see things. Sometimes we have very, very limited vision. Big people have big vision. They see a big picture. When Rishim Bar Yochai said this, the Romans said, "How did he know? How did he know that our marketplaces and our bathhouses and our bridges on the outside looked like one thing, but were really something else? We have to kill him. He's a threat."

16:29 Listen to Roshim Bayochai's response. On a simple level, what does Roshim Bayochai do? He runs away to the beis medrash. Beis medrash is a great place to fit in. Everybody's wearing black and white. Everybody's wearing the same black hat. Depending on where you are, I'm going to fit in. Nobody's going to know that I'm Roshim Bayochai. Except for his wife, who's bringing him food. Interesting. Say they're not going there. Now he's sitting in beis medrash. What does that really mean for us? Listen, what Roshim Bayochai was doing. He was following the Rambam. He was following the Rambam. He says when you have a corrupt society If you participate in that society, you're going to be impacted by that society. We are all impacted by our surroundings. That's why we look around. I'm not saying anything negative. I'm just saying. They have ways in the world today of communicating their values. Children who are growing up, we see how kids all sort of like adopt the TikTok language of that generation. It's very interesting. Even politically, right? If you're watching certain very left-wing thinkers, you see that people start to use the same words. They start to repeat the same concepts, and that's in a very overt way. These people saying these anti-Israel things, anti-Semitic things. It gets in the water.

17:54 We're impacted by our surroundings, but it's even deeper than that. The television shows we watch have values. They're communicating their values to us. You have to know what you're watching. Used to be, I'm just doing the when I was a kid thing. Used to be, Sesame Street was like, what could possibly be wrong with Sesame Street? You like C is for cookie. It's good enough for me. Today, Cookie Monster has to sing, "Cookies are a sometimes treat," because otherwise they're afraid that everyone in the world in America is going to be obese because of Cookie Monster. It's a crazy thing. They talk about today on Sesame Street. Today on Sesame Street, the values that are being sent to our children in Sesame Street in cartoons. In even the most innocent things. Again, I'm not getting into any details. Culture has a way of coming in. Rishim Baruchai says, "I'm out."

18:52 I'm not engaged with this world anymore. The world is sick. I'm not involved in the world. I'm out. I'm going to beis medrash. I'm going to sit and learn. And he's and he's. I'm doing the right thing. I don't want to be impacted by this. Except he realizes they can get to me, and even in the beis medrash, even in the haligah beis medrash. The Romans could get to me. Not only on a simple level, what's Rosh Hashanah nervous about? They're going to find out who he is. They're going to kill him. On a spiritual level, you know what he's saying. Even the beis medrash is not far enough away. Even in the beis medrash, the Roman culture could come in. Even a yeshiva might not be the most pristine thing. Somehow, the values are going to come in here. You know what he does? He says, "I'm going even further. I don't want to be even in the beis medrash. I'm going to a cave. Nobody's going to know where I am. Not my own wife."

19:41 Hashem will sustain me. It's going to be me, my son. We're going to be learning the chavrusa. Hashem is going to sustain me. There's going to be a carob tree. There's going to be water. I don't want them. I'm not interested in the physical world. I don't need your T-bone steaks. I don't need your penny alla vodka. I don't need your Goldies. I don't need your katsefet. I don't need your salad with sweet potato and chickpeas and corn and pickles. I need none of it. Carob tree, water. My clothing can be on a hanger on a tree. I'm just gonna sit in the dirt and learn Torah all day. Could there be a more pristine environment for a yid to connect to Hashem? Twelve years go by. That's pretty awesome. That is the ultimate kollel guy. Doesn't he go home to his wife? At least Rivka, his wife, knew where he was. Rishim Baruchai's wife doesn't even know where he is. Nobody knows where he is. He's totally—it's called minutak in Hebrew, cut off from the world. The Romans can't get to him for twelve years.

20:47 Just straight Rishim Baruchai and Hashem. Only one problem—he's not in the world. And the threat is over. How does Eliyahu the Navi come and tell Rishim and Baruchai? He can't tell him to go out into the world. You know why, girls? Because the transition is just too much to bear. It's a fascinating thing. This is a chinuch lesson. Sometimes you have a person Maybe a rebbe, a parent, a teacher, somebody who cares about you very much. Sometimes they walk into the cave of your life and they try to yank you out. They try to yank you out. It's a very dangerous chinuch ideology. They don't give you the space to think. They don't give you the space to explore. They don't give you the space to discover. They enter into your life. They don't stand at the entrance of your life. They enter into your life in a deeply inappropriate way.

21:55 And they tell you this is what you're meant to do. Sometimes you have people well-intentioned, no doubt. But the way they speak is very absolute. Have you ever met people like that? They tell you like this capital T, capital H, capital E truth, and anybody who thinks differently is wrong and they're idiots. And sometimes, again, I'm not saying anything specific. Chas v'shalom. I'm just saying sometimes it happens that you can have an impressionable young, 18, 19, 20 year old person. And I know eighteen, nineteen, and twenty-year-olds; those are already adults. What do you mean? They may as well be eighty. They know everything in the world. I'm just saying, you get a little older, you realize eighteen, nineteen, twenty—it's still little. It's still little. For sure, if a person is fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old, this type of chinuch could be very effective. You come in and you say, 'This is the truth. I don't understand how anyone could think any other way.' There's no complexity to their ideas. They just think this is the way, and they yank you out of your cave. They bring you to a place that you weren't even looking to go.

22:59 You were in your cave. You were happy. You were doing your thing. You were connected to Hashem. They say, Aroyis, get out of that cave. That's not the way you're meant to live. That's not the way that we are mechanech people. Eliyahu Hanavi is the ultimate deliverer of news. Girls, I want to tell you something. We talk about inspiration. Inspiration is a very powerful word. Inspiration means that your fire is ignited to go do something in the world. If you're inspired, you are a weapon. A person who's inspired can change the world. Inspiration is not a kumsitz. Inspiration is not a shabbaton. Inspiration is not like. Like I went to a rebbe's house for Shabbos and it was just beautiful. No. Inspiration is ideas. Inspiration is education. The way if you really want to change the world, teach people ideas. Teach it to them in a complex way. Put ideas before them. Let them think. As a rebbe, I'm telling you, I've learned. Chazal said it when I was younger. I didn't understand it. Now I see it's a hundred percent true. You're gonna learn the most from the people you teach if you listen to them. Because even the people that you're teaching, they have what to share. There's a great, great rabbi who lives here in Yerushalayim Yerakodesh. I'm going to say his name. His name is Rav Bridorowitz. Have you heard of Rav Bridorowitz?

24:25 If you haven't heard of Rav Bridorowitz, get on the Rav Bridorowitz train. A brilliant, sophisticated thinker, a genius, has a fascinating story. Worthwhile to spend some time in your life listening to Rav Bridorowitz. Rav Bridorowitz, I'm gonna tell you a maysa. Before he lived in Eretz Yisrael, he lived in America. There's a guy in my neighborhood who's about tshuva. He didn't grow up from a whole crazy story of how he ended up becoming from. He came to Eretz Yisrael on a trip. And Rav Bridorowitz, even though he lived in America, was coming to Eretz Yisrael to run this trip. Now this guy was a sophisticated guy. He had gone to undergrad. He did his undergraduate degree in University of Virginia. He did his law degree in University of Miami. He was a smart guy. When Rev. Bridewitz got up for the first time in front of the trip, if you've ever seen Rev. Bridewitz speak, you'll see he's exceptionally humble, very gentle person. He's very soft, not because he doesn't have what to say. He's soft because he's really the real deal. He got up in front of these guys and he said "I am so excited to have this trip with you. I have so much to share with you, and I have so much to learn from you." This b'altshuva, he told me, that was the game changer for him.

25:42 That was the game changer. He said, 'Every rabbi that was speaking to him in his entire life, these rabbis were coming and they're like, "I have Torah. You've never heard of Torah. Let me explain to you the way the world really is."' And this guy was sitting there going like, I think I've seen a section of the world that you guys haven't seen. I have something to share too, but nobody ever invited him into the conversation. Bradewitz was the first person that invited him into the conversation. It changed the game. When we are inspiring, educating, whatever we're doing, we have to make sure the way we do it is we put the information out there. We don't just enter into a person's life. You could have a rebbe like this. You come to your year in Israel. You come to your seminary year. You can have a person who's like, all right, I'm gonna fix this person. First meeting, tell me about your mother and father. Now I'm gonna become your therapist. Let me unpack everything that's happening in your life. It's like, dude, what are you doing, man? Stand outside the cave.

26:38 Stand outside the cave. That's not the right way to teach. We want to inspire people to see the world in a new way. This is what Eliyahu Hanavi is coming to do. Rashi Baruch Hu, you've been in a cave for 12 years. I want to share with you. The Roman emperor might be dead. The threat might be over. Maybe there's a new way of seeing the world. Eliyahu Hanavi doesn't come into the cave. He says, "Who's going to tell Baruch Hu that the Roman emperor is dead?" Rashi Baruch Hu hears it. That's the best way. You want to inspire somebody? Don't tell them. Do this. Offer it up. And you'll see people will think about it. When you get attacked, do you ever have this where you're arguing with somebody and you're defensive the entire time because it's like they're just coming at you? Aliyah Anavi is the ultimate in inspiration. He says, "Who's going to tell Baruch Hayy?" Shem Baruch Hayy goes, "Hey, sick! The emperor is dead. We can go out into the world, but listen how he goes out into the world because this is the critical point.

27:34 He goes out into the world. He sees there's a guy and he's farming the world, and he says, 'Ayeve. Look at what has become of Klal Yisrael.' I've been out of the game for 12 years. I went to yeshiva. I went to the cave. I knew it. I knew it was going to happen. People could be spending their time learning Torah. People could be spending their time saying Tehillim. This is what they're doing. They're working the land. They have one life to lead, and they're spending the 80, 90 years that their Rebbeinu Shlom gives them plowing the land. And everywhere, Shembar Yochai and his son look. What do they do? They burn it up. They burn it up. Does that mean spiritually they burnt it up? Physically they burnt it up? I think there's a certain type of great people. They're very. I'm not taking away from them. Chas v'sham. People who spent a lot of years really working on their relationship with Hashem. When they come out into the world, you'll forgive me for speaking this way. They're a little nasty.

28:31 They're a little nasty. Perhaps you've met people like this. They closed themselves off and said we're not involved in the world. They came out and they started burning down the world. They became that rabbi in my day. That kids these days. You read this hadirus. Everywhere they go, they're burning things up. They look at institutions and schools and everything is terrible. And how could this possibly be? There are people like this. I know a rav. I'm not going to say his name. I know a rav. He told me he was very hurt. And rightfully so. He was very hurt. This is a rav. He's a leader in the modern Orthodox community. He says, 'I'm very hurt. Girls, boys, they come back from their year in yeshiva, their year in seminary. I raised these kids. That was the lashon he said to me. He said, 'I raised these kids. I was there by their bris. I was there by their kiddush.' I was there when these kids didn't even know what was going on. When the parents were having shalom bias issues, I was the one that was involved. I was the one that listened to them. I was the one that found them the right therapist. He said, 'I was there by their bar mitzvahs. I was there by their bat mitzvahs. I was there for their family in every single life cycle event.'

29:44 I buried a grandparent. I was raising money behind the scenes. I was calling schools. I did everything for 17 years of this kid's life. Then they come back from their year in seminary. They walk into my shul, and now all of a sudden they have a measuring tape out and they're going, 'I don't know about the size of this mechitzah. I don't know if I feel comfortable davening here anymore. I don't know if I feel comfortable eating.' This rabbi, he's like a modern Orthodox rabbi. I learn from my very firm rabbis now. I don't hold of modern orthodoxy, right? And they're willing to just burn it up. There are people like this. They come into the cave, they come into the yeshiva, they close themselves off for twelve years or so. They come out all of a sudden. This rabbi said, 'They're tearing me down.' I gave you a community that raised you, a little hakaras atov.

30:31 A little hakaras atov. I felt so badly for him. He's a hundred percent right. It's so not nice. Beseder, we could all see the world in our different ways. I'm a big believer that Klal Yisrael has so many different types of communities. Each community is precious and beautiful in their own way. Each community is contributing something to the conversation. I like it when Jews sit down and fight. I do not fight Chassidut against each other. I like it when they sit down and have hard conversations. I miss Meron. I haven't been back to Meron. Obviously, since the tragedy of Meirón, I used to go every single year. It happens to be the year of the Meirón tragedy was one of the only years I didn't go to Meirón. Every year I would go with the yeshiva to Meirón on Lag BaOmer night. I miss going very, very much. I never went to the Tzion. I never went to the kever of Rishim by Yochai on that night. I don't like crowds. I don't like pushing. I don't like shoving. I don't like elbows. Sometimes in this country because it's a Middle Eastern country, they have a different culture. It's a little bit of an elbow culture.

31:31 I'm a five towns kid. I like my space. I want to sit on a bus and have the seat open next to me. It's like a certain way. I barely want to be on a bus, but if I have to be, I'm saying if for whatever reason I don't have a car, I'm careful about these things. I would go every year to Mayron. I had the best time. You know why? In Mayron, they had these massive tents. Who would come to Meron? Sfarim, Ashkenazim, Hasidim—I don't know what else. Everybody would come to Meron. Everybody would be there to see the different rebbeis lighting their madurahs, to see Jews dancing all hours of the night. It was beautiful. And then they would come to these tents where they were serving, because of course, three o'clock in the morning—if you're a yid coming to Meron—what do you want to be eating? Cholent, kugel, kishka. It was amazing. There's nothing so precious as watching Jews sit down at three o'clock in the morning and pounding cholent.

32:22 I don't know what happened in our lives that we got to this point in history, but it's beautiful. And the best thing is that they would all sit at the same table. You could sit at a table in Meron on Lag BaOmer night, and you could have Sfarim sitting next to Ashkenazim, and different sects of Hasidim next to each other, and Yeshiva Bacharim. Everybody sits at the same table. I loved it. I would go every year. They would have. I'm a big fan of free stuff. I like free stuff. I don't care if it doesn't look good. I'm wearing the LL socks. I wear only LL socks. It's true. I can't wear any other socks. These are comfortable socks. I could probably buy more comfortable socks. These are free. I love free stuff. They would give out T-shirts on the night of Lag BaOmer in Meirone. By the way, that did just happen. Later at night, when you're like, "That just happened." It happened. They would give out free T-shirts to anybody that volunteered to scoop out the cholim, to scoop out the kugel, to scoop out the kishka to people. I would have done it anyway. I like doing chesed. I like feeding Jews. I get that from my mother. I like feeding Jews. I want to tell you how much my mother likes feeding Jews. It's a very big simcha in my family today.

33:42 My sister's husband—he's a special person. My sister's husband—he's British, so he's but okay. But in general, he's a very special person. My sister's husband—he was in the army for many years. I think he was in the army over ten years, and then eventually the army moves you on. He went to work for a company called Mobileye right here in Yerushalayim, but he wanted very much to go back to the army to help. He's in intelligence. In a very interesting Hashgacha prat this way, he was able to get back into the army, and he's working in an intelligence unit. A year ahead of schedule, he was promoted to be a major in the Israeli army. Today, it happened. The official announcement came out at 12:30 this afternoon. The tekas where they were going to give him his new bars. It happened at 4:30 this afternoon. I told my sister, "I'm in. I'm coming. I gotta see this. It's gonna be amazing."

34:39 I drove to a secret army base, and we went in. It was a very small room. Only seven or eight people were being promoted. My brother-in-law was the first one to be promoted. Very few people were able to get in. Only immediate family. Really, you were only allowed to bring three guests. So my mother, my father and my sister were the three guests. The little kids are allowed to come; they don't count. I told my sister I really want to come. My little sister—I'm 16 years older than my little sister. I said to my little sister, "I really want to come." She called up her husband. Benji asked his mifakade, "Can my brother-in-law come?" They gave me a special dispensation. I came. I kid you not—you can't make this up. He got his new bars so beautiful. My two nephews and my sister were the ones that put it on him. And then Shlomi Ben Meir, who's running the base, gets up and they're speaking about Benji and Shlomi Ben Meir gets up and he goes, we also have a special thank you to Paula Berg and my mother. He goes she's the one that's been baking us all the food, and I'm like, is this really happening? He's becoming a major in the Israeli army and like a secret intelligence unit.

35:51 And they're thanking my mother publicly for the brownies and chocolate chip cookies. And then afterwards, all the chayyot that are there come. You make the best chocolate chip cookies, and my mother says, I have more. They say, no way. Everyone makes their contribution to Israel. My mother is giving some people that are very high up in the intelligence community diabetes. That's her. That's my mother's contribution. It was. My mom can't make this up. I have no idea how I got here. Anyone remember? Mayron. Thank you. By the way, all of you remembered, but I was playing charades with Ravarts. He's sitting there going like this. He's the scooping. Very good, Rabbi. Excellent. I like giving out food to Jews. It's in my genes to give out food to Jews, but they give you a T-shirt. They give you a T-shirt that says you're a volunteer in Mayron. You had me at T-shirt. I walk into Mayron every year. Again, before the tragedy, I haven't been back since. Every year, I would walk in. I would head straight to the tent. I don't need to go to the tzeon. I don't need to see any rebbe's light flyers. I like giving out food to Jews. I like watching Jews sit at the same table. We need to sit at the same table more. We need to have good, hard conversations.

37:07 I don't mind if we're yelling and screaming, as long as we're yelling and screaming for each other and not just at each other. I think there are hard conversations. We have different communities, but every community is precious. Rishimba Yochai comes out into the world. And he's burning up the world. It's not nice to go home and to look at the infrastructure that has supported you and to burn it down. There are some people that got the wrong idea. They came to Eretz Yisrael for a year. They came to seminary. They come back, and if they're from LA. They go, "Where are you from?" They go, "LA." It stands for Lo Alenu. I'm going back to Shemutz Laretz. Like everything in the world is bad. They're tearing it down. They come back into their parents' house. And they just said, mom, you should know I learned in halacha this year that really every single thing you're doing is wrong, and basically our house is treif, and we need to kasher all of your pots. It's not a way to come back home.

38:01 People tell me like I don't know, like I want to be fromer than my parents. Your parents are from. Your parents are plenty from. If you went to a yeshiva day school, if you went to elementary school, high school, if you went to camps, and you're here in Tomer Devora for the year. Just want you to understand, it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to raise you. That's not an exaggeration. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of your parents are from the wealthiest 1% of all the people that live in America. They don't have to be from. They could eat Burger King. It's dirt cheap Burger King. What our food is ridiculously expensive. I don't mind admitting this in public. Sometimes I like food reviews. I like it when a guy goes into a restaurant. He's got a delicious-looking burger. He goes, his burger has to be worth it. It's thirty-five dollars. I'm like, that's what Smash House costs. It's a Michelin-star restaurant that you're reviewing. I'm like, that's what Traditions costs. It's fascinating. It costs a fortune to be in our community.

39:04 And our parents put Hashem at the center of their lives. They did. You might not like it. You might not think about it like that. I'm telling you, it's true. Your parents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars raising you. That's a beautiful gift. If you're here for the year, you owe your parents hakarasatov like you can't imagine. I'm sure every one of you is constantly messaging your parents, calling your parents, telling them, 'I love you so much. The gift you gave me, I can never repay.' It's a famous Calvin and Hobbes comic. Shvachadar. Not everybody. It used to be we were all holding in Calvin and Hobbes. My wife loves Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin one time said to his mother, "I'll mow the lawn, but how much will you pay me?" And his father made an inventory of what it costs to raise him, and it's hundreds of thousands of dollars. And he looks at Calvin and he goes So is that a gift or a loan? Calvin's like, 'All right, I'll go mow the lawn.' Was your hundreds of thousands of dollars a gift or a loan? Don't you dare come back to the very people that raised you and burn it down. Do not go home and say, I think everything here is not kosher. That's not the way we do it. If you come out of your cave and you're burning everything down, listen what the Rebbeinu Shalom says. Powerful words.

40:15 For this you came out of the cave to destroy my world, says the Rebbeinu Shalom. Rishim Bayochai, you have eyes to see. You see so deep. You see what the Romans are doing. You understood their intentions. This is my world, says the Rebbeinu Shem. Living in my world is a good thing. It's a beautiful thing. If you can't see that, the problem is with you. If you can look at a gid who's plowing and sowing and working the world, and you are saying, 'he's not learning Torah,' something is wrong with you. If you are burning down the world, it's your perception that's the problem. Rishim Bayochai. He's a big tzaddik. What does he do? He goes back into the cave. Goes back into the cave for 12 years. Why? Gehennom is 12 for 12 months. He goes back into the cave. Why? Gehennom is 12 months. Gehennom doesn't mean it's not. We don't believe in Christianity. Gehennom is not there because you're a sinner. Gehennom is there because we have stains. Things get stained. A shirt that gets stained, if it's a good shirt still, if the stain is not too deep, we clean it.

41:14 I got on this shirt. I got avocado on Shabbos. For you should know, for a boy, this is for sure when you're dating. I just want to tell you, I know you girls like you stain things, but you wear colors. You like, dab when like, I'll clean it later. Nobody could see. If you're wearing a white shirt on Shabbos and you have cholent and kishka and avocado, you're a mess. You could tell what a Yeshiva boy ate after the meal. Just look at him; he's a mess. And some boys are worse than others. In general, I'm not so bad. I got avocado. I said to myself, "What's the worst? Avocado? It should come right out." I forgot. Avocado is an oil. And it was messy in the shirt. My wife was trying. My daughter was trying pre-treating. My daughter says to me, "You have to bring it to Safda. Safda can get any stain out." I brought it to my mother. My mother looked. I can get that out. This shirt, you can't see the stain today because there was a good Gehennim for this shirt. She worked it over. It's painful. She got the stain out. It's a good shirt. It's a twillery shirt. It's a chosh of a shirt. It's okay. I got it for free. The point is. By the way, I'm not even lying.

42:14 And also twillery pants, also free. The actually now that I think about it, come out everything I'm wearing is free. Even the cissy I'm wearing, where a gift from Charlie Braden. Everything I'm wearing is free. I paid for the yarmulke. The glasses were discounted. We're not going there. I might have a problem. He goes in for 12 months. He says, "I have to cleanse myself. I have to go back." Sometimes you have to go back into yourself to be able to work out your stuff. They come out. Rav Elazar is still burning up the world, but Rav Shimba Yochai is changed. Where Rav Elazar burns, what does Rav Shimba Yochai do? He heals. That's the right way to see the world. Some people are so aligned with Hashem, all they see is emes, and if it's at all sheker, they burn it down. Rishim Bayochai went back into the cave for twelve months. He was purified. He was cleansed. He saw deeper. He came out into the world. He says, 'I'm a person of healing now.'

43:16 There are people who tear down others. They burn them up. Then there are those rebbeim who know how to see deeply. They look at a yid and say, "I see who you really are." They're healing. They have healing with their eyes. They see you as beautiful, and that's why you are. Rishim Bayochai says to his son, "Rav Lazer, you should know the whole world is being sustained because of us." He's telling his son, "This is not the way. Our job as the great tzaddikim is to sustain the world, not chas v'shalom to burn the world. It's the Rebbeinu Shalom's world. Whatever we got in our lives, it's just to give out. The same way the Rebbeinu Shalom gives certain people money, he gives certain gevirim. They get a lot of money. That person, their job is to give a lot of tzedakah." Big tzaddikim, they get a lot. You know why they get a lot? Because it's their job to give it out. Sometimes a big tzaddik reaches a certain madriga.

44:08 Why? To help other yidden reach that madriga. He's giving it out like tzedakah. He turns to his son. He says, "It's our job to sustain the world. Don't burn it down. Don't be a tzaddik who burns down the world. Be a tzaddik that inspires people." And then, what's the very next story in the Gemara? There's a yid walking along with hadassim for Shabbos. And they said, 'For Shabbos, you were going to work. You wanted a paycheck. Why? Because you wanted a car? Because you wanted the fanciest house? Because you wanted the most lavish vacation? I want food for Shabbos. I want my home to smell delicious for Shabbos. I want to pay yeshiva tuition. I see the real reason. But wait a second.' If you're really L'shem Shamayim, why do you have two? If you're really L'shem Shamayim, and the only reason you're doing it is for Hashem, why do you have two? Wouldn't one have been enough? You're saying all the money you're making is l'shem shamayim, but if that's the case, why do you need to make so much? It would have sufficed to hear. Then you could have gone back to the beis medrash. What does this yid say back?

45:07 One for zachar, one for shomer. Everything I'm doing is for Hashem. Just because I'm out in the world, just because I'm working, just because I'm living out in the world. Some people are meant to be in beis medrash. That's beautiful. I love that. Some yidden are shavat levi Jews. They sit and learn all day. It's amazing. They're in the cave. But if you come out of the cave, don't burn people down. If you've spent a lot of time, Baruch Hashem, working on yourself, that's amazing. But see people and see their beauty; they'll surprise you. You think that's what they're doing with their money? It's all for Hashem. I want to finish with one story. I love this story. I've said it before publicly. My father, Baruch Hashem, he worked very hard. He built a beautiful vessel. The Rebbeinu Shalom filled up his vessel. Wasn't always that way. When I was born We lived on Mihan Avenue in Far Rockaway. A short while later, we moved to seven o seven on Appella Street in Far Rockaway. And when I was a teenager, we moved to one seventy two Harbor View North. If you're from the five towns, I'll tell you what that means. Far Rockaway in the eighties was poor.

46:12 Mihan Avenue was not a wealthy block. Neither was seven o seven on Appella Street. My parents bought their house. I think it was like eighty thousand dollars. Imagine you could buy a house on Far Rockaway for eighty thousand dollars. My parents lived in Far Rockaway. We were not a wealthy family. Later on, we moved to 172 Harbor View North. For those of you that don't know what that means, it's in Lawrence, New York. That's a different thing than Far Rockaway. Lawrence is like the Five Towns is the epicenter of the world. Lawrence is the epicenter of the Five Towns. Back Lawrence. That's already where it's at. 172 Harbor View North. My father, Baruch Hashem, he worked very hard. When I was in Israel for the year, there was a certain family that I would go to for Shabbos. At some point, I stopped going to this family for Shabbos. My mother started chapering me. How come you're not going for Shabbos? Your mother has that sister that you don't want to go to.

47:07 But you have to go because they're asking. How come she doesn't come anymore? My mother started chaperoning me. How come you're not going for Shabbos? I didn't want to tell my mother the real reason. I didn't want to tell her. It's a schlep. It's this. She wouldn't stop chaperoning me. Finally, I broke down. I told my mother the truth. I said, "Mom These people clearly have no money. I feel like I'm taking food out of their mouths by going for Shabbos. I feel like it's not nice. There's not that much in this home. There's no way they could afford to have me for Shabbos. So my mother, she didn't say anything. She was quiet. My father called me. In my family, there's two levels of conversation: my mother and my father. My mother, the trauma room just now. That was serious.

47:49 It's a safe space. Go speak to your mechanchot, your raka'zot. Go talk that out. I didn't mean it like that at all. I just meant my mother. Shepherds. When my father needs to say something, he needs to say it just once. My father calls me up and he says, "Listen, you should go for Shabbos." I said, "Dad, I'm not going for Shabbos. This is ridiculous. They can't afford to have me there for Shabbos." My father said, "Listen, I was never going to tell you this, but if you're not going to go, it's not nice. So I'm going to tell you just because you're not going." I promise you, you're not taking food out of their mouths for Shabbos. I pay for all their food. They don't know. My father was sending money to a neighborhood organization that was sending these people money. All the food that I was eating for Shabbos was my father paying for. My father eat whatever you want. I'll just send more money. I never knew how much money my father was giving to tzedakah. I'll tell you. When I was 16 years old, shortly after we moved into Lawrence, my father lost his job.

48:40 He was the president of a major company. We had he had clearly done well enough for himself for us to move to Lawrence. I didn't know what was going to be. I saw my mother was scared. He was out of a job for like three weeks. Baruch Hashem. Then he became the CEO of a different company. He was there for a couple years, and then he became the CEO of a major multi-billion dollar company. For a three-week period, it was a little scary. I saw my mother cry. She. When your mother tries to hide it, but you see it. I saw my mother crying. I went to my dad and said, "Are we okay?" I'll never forget. My father is not a frum guy. I don't mean Chassidish; he's frum. He's not like a frum guy. He doesn't say frum things. My father looked at me and he said When I was chosen to have money, I was chosen to give it away. And be'ez Hashem, the Rebbeinu Sholom will give me more so that I can give it away again. I never heard my father say something so frum in his life.

49:32 My father used to say when I was growing up, "A little learning never hurts, so let's learn as little as possible." This is my rebellion. I never heard my father say a frum thing. I never heard him say a frum thing since that day. That was the frumest thing my father ever said. He's a God-fearing Jew. I just didn't know. I knew he was frum. I just didn't know. If you have money and you have a nice house and you have all of a sudden—we were never fancy. My mother never fit in the five towns. She was like my parents live here in Beit Shemesh. Now my mother was wearing mitpachot in the five towns. She was like she's going in sandals. I'm like I don't think you understand where we live, Mom. You gotta level up here. I didn't know what money meant to my parents. In all of the mussar shmuzin that I've received in my life from every rebbe, it doesn't matter. Nothing has ever reached that moment.

50:22 My father taught me. You look at me, and you might think on the outside you have this money for indulgent vacations. He said, "I have this money to give away." I have this much. It's zachar v'shamar. It's not just for. It's for Shabbos. I buy steak for Shabbos. Like the Rambam says, if you don't have guests at your meal, the Rambam says that's not. That meal is not for Hashem. That meal is for your boych. Who is it for? Rishon b'Yochai says that he wants to tease it out of him. He says, if it was real, you see how Rishon b'Yochai teases it out. He goes, if it was real, why do you have so much? He goes, zachar v'shamar. That's you. That's a yid. That's a yid. Everything we have, we're using in the service of their banisham. Don't look it down at Yidden. And if you see people that are chas v'shalim burning up the world, be eyes of healing. Guys, have a beautiful Shabbos.