Shavuos - Restoring Hashem's Name In This World

2:13 In a certain way, like the nail in the coffin, so to speak. In other words, before Adam and Chava sinned, like the Ramchal says, the world was created in perfect balance. There was fifty percent good and fifty percent not good in the world at that time. But when Adam and Chava sinned, and it tipped the world into the side of hiddenness, and it tipped the world into the side of darkness, it's like now a person could walk in the world and believe and behave in such a way that it denies Hakadosh Baruch Hu's existence. That's the thank you so much I appreciate. That's the nature of creation. That's the nature of this current world. If that's the case, I want to make the argument today that the job of Klal Yisrael In a certain way. I'm going to use again two words here. We're going to change it in the middle, but you'll see. In a certain type of tchiasa meson The job of a Jew, in a certain way, is to revive Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence in this world.

3:16 In other words Up until now, there's an absence. There's a type of death, so to speak, of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in this world. His name is lacking, as we'll soon see. And the job of a Jew is not merely to be like a good person. It's not merely to learn Torah. But the job of a Jew fundamentally is to restore Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence in this world. But before we get into the Torah of it, I want to share with you. Have you heard of Irving Yalom? Irving Yalom. You ever hear of Irving Yalom? A great psychologist. So Irving Yalom had an idea that I think he was a hundred percent right about, although I think he took it too far. But the idea he said was as follows. This is a couple quotes from him, but just to put it in perspective, what we're going to learn today He says, "It's not easy to live every moment wholly aware of death."

4:07 It's like trying to stare the sun in the face. You can only stand so much of it. Because we cannot live frozen in fear, we generate methods to soften death's terror. We project ourselves into the future through our children. We grow rich, famous, even larger. We develop compulsive protective rituals, or we embrace an impregnable belief in an ultimate rescuer. Despite the staunchest, most venerable defenses, we can never completely subdue death anxiety. It is always there, lurking in some hidden ravine of the mind. And so Yalom makes the following argument. He basically says that all of us are aware of our death on some subconscious level, constantly. And everything we do, he took it even into the world of religion. Let's say, for example, the idea that I'm going to have children, I'm going to live on through my children. In a certain way, it's a fight against death. I'm going to have a big house. I'm going to have the fanciest cars. I'm going to have the security that comes with money or fame.

5:04 All of these things are basically the idea that we're terrified of death. Where does that come from? This is where psychology falls short, and a person needs Torah to finish up the equation. In the world of Torah It's not just Stam that there's a human fear of death, and therefore we need to conquer death. In the world of Torah, it goes something like this: the reason we fear death, the reason we all have this death anxiety, is because creation itself was a form of death. Creation itself is an idea of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence, which is lacking in this world. So you see, the intersection here is fascinating. What psychology came to understand, which is true But they didn't really know how to solve it. What psychology came up with was there's a fear of death. What psychology didn't understand is why that fear exists. Why do we have this primal fear that we're going to die? It's because creation itself is a form of death.

6:06 But if that's the case, there's an idea here that needs to be mined, and that's what the shiir is about today. Is so. What is a Torah response to that? In other words I love Los Angeles. I just want to start off by saying I love Los Angeles. The weather is beautiful. I spoke to my wife today in Eretz Yisrael. I said, 'How are you doing?' She said, 'There's a tremendous heat wave and there's a storm. There's like a desert storm of all the dust all over the place.' She asked, 'How is it in LA?' I said, 'What do you mean? Don't ask me questions. You don't want to know the answer. It's perfect here always.' It's bad. I was in San Diego once, and they reported on the Weather Channel that there was a light fog, because that's all they have to talk about. There's nothing for them, you know what I'm saying? There's nothing for them to talk about.

6:52 It's beautiful here. It's beautiful here. You have Baruch Hashem, you have beautiful houses and beautiful shuls. I was in a certain shul, I won't say which one today. I was in a certain shul, not in the valley, in the city. I was in a certain shul in the city today. Unbelievable. The mechaimus here. Everything is beautiful, and the food is delicious. I'm going to a new restaurant called Next Door. Is that a thing? Yes. I haven't been there yet. It's new. Is it good? Baruch Hashem. Los Angeles is a very special place. I only want to say, and not bederch knocking at all. But what if it's true that the reason there are just like these palaces here, the place that I'm staying is gorgeous. I'm staying in the Pico Beverlywood area. Is it true that This is what we do to avoid death. We build these beautiful houses and we drive these fancy cars. Last time I was here, I think I was driving a Ford Red Mustang like that.

7:47 But and you should know, my daughters ask me to like, Abba, what car did you get in LA? I'm like, nah, it was there was nothing in the there was nothing in the airport this time. I'm driving like a regular Ford, whatever. There has to be some sort of Torah response to this. There has to be a better response than just bigger houses, fancier cars, more delicious restaurants. There has to be a Torah way of looking at death and looking at this tchias hameson type of concept that's going to change the way we live our lives. That's the idea here. In other words, psychology says you build big houses to avoid death. We know that the whole reason we're trying to avoid death is because creation itself is a type of death. What do we do to avoid death? How do we deal with this in the Torah? So To run through very quickly, I don't want to spend a tremendous amount of time on this.

8:39 But if we actually think about this, we see this in the Torah. Where do we see this in the Torah? The first death. What's the first death in the Torah? Cain killed Abel. So the pasuk says, 'Hashoymerachiyanoichy.' Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Kayin, 'Where is Hevel?' And said, 'Am I my brother's keeper?' Right away, in the very beginning of the Torah, we already see this idea that there's a concept of death And there's a concept of those who don't take responsibility for death. That's the very first thing we see, and we're going to see this theme is basically true until the time of Avram Avinu. The idea that there's death, and that we don't take responsibility for death. Who took responsibility for the death of Hevel? It's a pasuk entire. Anyone know? It's a crazy thing. Does it say a mafurish a pasuk entire? Does anyone know how Shees was born?

9:26 Shees was the third child of Adam, Rivshon, and Chava. Does anyone know how he was born? It's an unbelievable story. I'll say it in two seconds. Cain was killed by his own grandson. Ultimately, Cain was killed by Lamech. Lamech was a hunter. He was blind. He had a son, Tuval Cain. The Medrash says he was an expert in weaponry. And he would take his father out hunting, even though Lamech was blind. And they saw what looked like an animal. It was really Cain. The Medrash says that Cain grew a horn. It was the mark of Cain. A horn. The Medrash says And Lamech Not knowing that it was his grandfather, not knowing that it was Cain, he shot in the direction of what appeared to be this animal. And he killed Cain, and then he was so upset that he clapped his hands when he found out that it was Cain. And Tuval Cain was in the way, and he killed Tuval Cain.

10:18 He came home and he told his wives. The Medrash says the pasuk says that he says, 'I killed a man and a child.' The Medrash explains who the man was his grandfather, who the child was his own son. And then he said to his wives that he wanted to procreate And the women said to him, Are you crazy? You brought so much death and destruction into the world that the flood is going to kill these kids. We're not bringing more children into the world with you, so the Medrash says. They said, we have a shayla. Who do you go to? Who's your rav if you have a shayla? The rav of the time was Adamarishon. So they went to Adamarishon and they asked Adamarishon, what do we do? Kayin said, I want to have more children. His two wives said, we don't want to have children with you. Adam said Have children. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu decides to kill them in the flood, that's God's business. But these were very, very smart women.

11:04 These were the. This might be the first time in history that you see women turning a man's argument against him. For those that are married in the audience, you know exactly what I'm talking about. For those of you that are not married in the audience, I want you to know your species has an unbelievable capacity to take male words and turn it against us. This is what it means to be right. You married now. I'm not going to call you out, but you know what I'm saying. You know exactly what I'm saying. He's a good husband, so he's not saying. You're a good guy. You're a good guy. He's always been a good guy. What was that? It's a very safe space. They said to Adam Rishon, "Yeah, you should have more children, even though you know the kids are going to be cursed." What about you? Because Adam and Chava separated from each other after the sin of eating from the Eitz Hadass. And in that moment, Adam Rishon was makabel the musar of these women. His words were used against him. The lashon of the medrash is fascinating. The lashon of the medrash is that they said to him, "Doctor, heal yourself. Take your own medicine. Mamish, take your own medicine." The powerful words.

12:05 And from that he had Sheis, and the pasuk says beferish. It says vayeda adam oides ishto vateled ben vatikre es shemo sheis kishas li alukim zera acher tachas hevel ihar gol kain. The first time that you ever see that there's a death and that somebody takes responsibility for that death and says I'm going to perpetuate the legacy is she And we all come from Sheis because all of Kain's relatives were killed in the flood. It's not actually a hundred percent true what I just said. Because there is a shita in the Medrash that Naama, who was the daughter of who was the daughter of Lamech, married Noach. But it's a machlokus in the Medrash. Either way, it's quite possible that Sheis all of us come from Sheis and not at all from Kayin. So you see, the idea in the Torah is that there's a type of death, but a person could, in a certain sense, replace the person who's passed on.

13:00 That's a very uncomfortable thing to think about. But this seems to be the Torah approach. What's the next time that we see death in the Torah? It's a pretty obvious one. It's the death of everybody. The next time that we see death in the Torah is the death by the flood. Every single person dies. Except for Noach and his family. And then what happens? There's a certain type of tchias hamesim, and then another type of death. Because what happens, we know that Noah's job is to basically replace all of humanity. So you see that same theme of everybody dying and then Noah has to replace them. He has to replace the entire world. We see the same theme again, except this time, what happened? The replacement never occurs because the Gemara says that Ham castrated Noah. And why did he castrate Noah? Rashi explains he castrated Noah because he said we're going to divide the world into even more people, the entire world. But if Noah has more children, we're going to keep having to divide up the inheritance of the world. So you see the same idea that Noah was meant the same way that Adam, Arishon, and Chava had sheis. Noah was meant to replace the entire world. There's an idea of a replacement world that exists. But the selfishness of Ham is that he destroyed Noah's capacity to populate the world.

14:28 And by the way, I don't think it's an accident. Who's Noah's most righteous child? What do Chazal say? Shame is the most righteous of all the children. What's shame? Torah doesn't tell us why Shame got his name, but perhaps we could theorize that the reason why Shame got his name is because that was the idea that he was going to perpetuate the shame. He's going to perpetuate the name, so to speak, of humanity. That's why he's the most righteous child. What's the next story in the Torah? The next story in the Torah, right after the Mabul is Megdal Bavel. What's Megdal Bavel about? Mam is the same. It's the same story over and over again. They say Vayomruhava Nivna Lano Iru Megdal Roshah B'Shamayim and Nasa Lano Sheim Penafut Zal Penekol Aretz. Again, what are they concerned about? Megdal Bavel. They're concerned. We're all going to die. That's fundamentally what's going to happen to us. There's going to be another flood. Why do we build Megdal Bavel to perpetuate our name? Literally, what the pasuk says: "V'nasa lanu shem."

15:27 And what's the problem with that? The problem is that sounds good. That's what everything we've been talking about. Continue to build your name. But this is the subtlety. This is the message. We saw this a moment ago with Chaim. Now we're going to see it in a more significant way. And after this, it won't be so technical. I just want to get this idea out. There's a level. It's not. This may not be the nicest thing to say, but there's a level of narcissism that can exist when it comes to perpetuating your name. I'll give you an example of this. The ultimate litmus test of whether or not you love your children is if you love your children when they're doing everything they can to go against the legacy that you've left for them. For example, let's say Chassvah Shalom, a child goes off the derech.

16:19 What's a mother or father's response to that child? So there's an easy litmus test for this. If the kid goes off the derech But the parent says Look, this kid is ruining my reputation in the neighborhood. I'll give you one that's a little bit more palatable. I'm concerned for my daughter's shaduchim because I have a son that went off the derech. Unfortunately, this is a real thing. What might a parent do if they see their child going off the derech, but they're afraid of the impact on the family? There's a tendency that we have to try to control that which we can't control. If you do that, what are you really saying about your relationship with your child? Who's serving whom? Are we serving the child, or is the child designed to serve us? It's an uncomfortable truth, but the reality is that when kids push our buttons.

17:18 That's the ultimate revelation of who you are in the relationship. Are your children there to build your legacy from your perspective? Are your children there to build your legacy, or are you there to serve them and memela their legacy for you? It's a very subtle distinction. The problem with Migdal Bavel wasn't that they built a tower to continue their name. The problem was that the purpose of the building of the tower was to perpetuate their name. You hear the difference? I don't want to get political and I don't like to say things that could be divisive in any way. And I don't think that it's a big stretch to say this. I'm not saying who a person should vote for. I'm not involved in these things. I live six thousand miles away or ten thousand miles away from Los Angeles. God knows we have enough of our own political problems in Eretz Yisrael. Having said all of that, how narcissistic is it to name a building after yourself? Because you could, I can't even imagine having the guts to announce I'm building Berg Towers.

18:21 I'm saying how do those words come out of a person's mouth? Giant gold letters. This is my tower. It's a type of a Migdal Bavel experience. If a person said the opposite, let's say if a person said I'm building a school. I'm giving this money to this school not because I want my name on the building. I'm giving the money to the school because education is an incredible way of passing on a legacy to another. Memela, they convince the guy: since you gave so much money, we have to put your name on the building. Regretfully, because of course we're talking about a big Baltzstucker here, this guy knows the Rambam. He wants to give the money matan b'seisir. He doesn't want to have his name plastered. The Jew who donates money matan b'seisir donates it anonymously and then he goes around telling everyone. I don't want to say anything I'm anonymous. How is it that everybody knows who gave that money anonymously? There are certain people that are chasing the kavod. Other people, the nature of what they're doing is they're trying to build something meaningful. Memela, it's a legacy for them.

19:26 But not that they're trying to build a legacy. It's a very subtle distinction. I'll share with you. Again, I'm careful to try not to say names, but I think in this case it's the mother. I grew up in the five towns in New York. Anybody here know the five towns in New York? You're from the where you from in the five towns? Lawrence. I'm also from Lawrence. That means that she and I believe that we're better than everybody else in the five towns because everyone knows Lawrence is the best of the five towns. That's what I believe anyway. And if you're from Lawrence, then you believe too. Same. And where in Lawrence are you from? Harborview. What's your last name? Rosenthal. So I was your neighbor. I grew up in 172 Harborview North. Your Harborview South is already a different level. So we had a neighbor in Harborview.

20:17 I never knew he was a wealthy guy. I was walking to shul one day with my father, who goes on a rabbi kallah from Encha. And there's an old man walking in front of us, and he's walking to Menchateu. He's an elderly man, so he's walking slowly. We're young, so we're walking fast. And this elderly man is walking slowly, and we pass by him and say, "Good Shabbos, fine." And as we walk by him, my father says to me, "Do you know who that is?" I'm a 16 year old kid in the five towns. I don't know who people are. So my father said to me, "He goes, that's Mr. Wolfson." So I said. That's like when you like Wilson Towers and Arizona, like that's Mister Wilson. I never in a million years would have assumed that was Mister Wilson. I said, where does he live? My father pointed to that house. That wasn't even the nicest house on the block. It wasn't even close to the nicest house on the block. There were much nicer houses than Mister Wilson's house. His was set back a little bit, but there were much nicer houses in Harborview South than his house.

21:09 There's a certain type of person that the legacy is not. They're not putting their name on the building because it's like Trump. There's a certain type of person that there's so much tzedakah coming out of them. Memela, there's a legacy. That was the problem with Megdal Bavel. Adkan. I want to switch gears for a second. Up until now, we've been talking about a certain type of tchias amesim. I want to switch gears just for a moment to talk about the following halachic concept: the mitzvah of yibum. Where do we see the mitzvah of yibum? Yehuda and Tamar, for sure. Where else do we see it? At least in concept, where do we see it? So we see it very much by who said By Shavuos, by Rosh By Rosh. What's the idea of Yibam? What's Yibam really in its core? Man dies, he's married, he doesn't have any children. So what happens? The halacha is that she marries the brother if the brother doesn't want to marry her. They do the whole chalitza thing, spitting in his direction, taking off the shoe. It's a whole fancy thing. What's the idea of the mitzvah of yibum?

22:16 So it's a pasuk in the Torah. We're going to discuss it a little bit deeper. It's a pasuk in the Torah. What's the pasuk? The idea of yibum is somebody died. That brother who died. What's his legacy? What's our responsibility to his legacy? So whose responsibility is it? It's a brother's responsibility. You're going to see in the mitzvah of yibum we have all of taira. If your brother dies and he has no legacy, what's your responsibility? Your response is not just a random halacha. Your responsibility is to perpetuate the legacy of your brother who passed away. In fact, the gemara in Yevamah tells us chafdalat aman aleph. The gemara in Yevamah tells us it's only a havamina, but the gemara suggests the possibility. That when a person does yibum The child that's born should have the name of the deceased brother, because it's the Gemara had an idea. It's only in the end for an inheritance, but the idea that you're literally perpetuating your brother's name.

23:23 The Ramban in Bereishis says an unbelievable thing. I'm just going to read you a couple of the words because they're amazing words. The Ramban says, 'Ha'inian sod gadol misoidus atayr.' He says the idea of yibum is one of the greatest secrets in all of Torah. What does the Ramban mean by that? What does the Ramban mean when he says yibum is one of the greatest secrets in all of Torah? What's the great secret here? The Ramban says that even pre-mat on Torah there was some sort of yibum concept, even if it wasn't the classic mitzvah, there was some sort of yibum concept over here. So what does the Ramban mean? What's the great secret over here? So there's a sefer achinuch. The Sefer Achinuch says again. We're getting a little bit into the world of Kabbalah over here. We're going to see a Sefer Achinuch and Abba Noachay in a moment.

24:11 The Sefer Achinuch basically says as follows: We know from Adam and Chava that Chava is literally considered the limb of Adam Arishon. So if the brother dies So look what the Sefer Achinuch says: You got to merge that brother. So where do you find that brother, the brother who just died? You find him in two places. In his own biological brother and in his wife, since the wife is etzem meatsmosai, since the wife is a chelak of the husband, so now when she marries, the sefer Achinuch says, when she marries the brother, it's literally a recreation of the marriage itself. That's an unbelievable type of idea. In other words, up until now, what would I have assumed? I would have assumed yivum is like a replacement of the legacy. It's more than that. It's more than that. The sefer Achinuch says it's an actual replacement of the person itself, and the Rabbeinu Bechaya says this. The Rabbeinu Bechaya says he quotes from the Mekubalim, and he says it's literally a Gilgal of the soul that was previously. In fact, the Arizal says that normally when you have a Gilgal, it's only a spark of that person. But listen to the lashon of the Arizal. The Arizal says in the case of Yibum, it's the entire soul being Magalgal itself into that child. It's not just a spark, but it's the entire soul itself.

25:32 And the Tzemach Tzedek explains, Tzemach Tzedek for me and you, the Tzemach Tzedek explains what's chalitza. Chalitza is when the wife spits; it's like she's spitting out the soul of her husband because the brother is refusing to marry her. And the reason why they take off the shoe is it's like okay, now the soul is free to reincarnate in another body. So you've taken off the shoe, so to speak. These are very deep mystical ideas over here. So we have the following concept: Yibum is not just a replacement of the name, but Yibum is a replacement of the actual person. How do we get introduced to Avraham Avinu? I'm going to take these two ideas now and put them together. The first time that we hear Av Avraham Avinu is not Lech Lecha. When do we hear of Avraham Avinu before Lech Lecha? So the Torah tells us.

26:28 I'm not going to read it inside, but this is the story the Torah tells us. The Torah tells us that Terach, who was Abraham's father, lived 70 years. He had three children: Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. And we know that the Pasuk says that Haran was the father of Lot. And when did Haran die? What does the Pasuk say? That Haran died early in the lifetime of his father. Who were the children of Haran? Lote. Who else? We have people that went to yeshiva here. Who were his children? Sarai was one of his children. Yisca, she was called in the Torah. And also Milka. The very first time that we're introduced to Avram Avinu, this is the story. The story is that Milka ended up marrying Nachor, and Avram married Sarai. That's the beginning of the story of Avram Avinu. And the Torah tells us that Sarai was barren and she couldn't have children.

27:38 I saw an unbelievable pshat that I want to share with you today. What was Avram Avinu doing? What's the Torah telling us? Avram married Sarai. So I saw an unbelievable pshat. The truth is that Haran already had Lot. So it couldn't have been a classical yibum because in a classical yibum there are no children. But what if Haran was meant to have more children, and the Torah puts an emphasis and tells us that Haran died in the lifetime of his father Terach? And what if Avram and Nachor said we're going to take on the legacy of our brother, a certain type of a pre-matantori yibum? You hear the concept? It's an unbelievable idea. So now you're Avram Avinu, and you married Sarai, and you find out Sarai can't have children. What's a normal response now? What would you do if the whole reason that you married Sarai was to continue the legacy of your brother Haran, and now Haran died?

28:41 What should you do next? You should divorce Sarai. And if you now start to think about the entire relationship of Avram and Sarah, it starts to make sense. What does Avram never do until Sarah tells him to do it? Not only does he not divorce her He doesn't take Hagar until Sarah says take Hagar. In other words, this is a wild idea. Avram marries Sarah, finds out she's barren, and does what? Nothing. He stays completely loyal to his wife, even though it's not possible for him to continue the legacy of his brother through him. And not only that, what's Avram sacrificing? This is the way the Torah really introduces us. Avram Avinu. Before we get to Lech Lecha, the legacy that Avram Avinu has is: I married my brother's daughter in order to perpetuate his legacy. It's impossible for me to perpetuate his legacy. And now, what's my response? Nothing.

29:41 If I'm meant to perpetuate his legacy, Hashem Baruch Hu will send a way for me to do it. But he stays completely loyal to his wife. That's an unbelievable idea. At what cost? As far as he knows, at the cost of his own legacy. The sacrifice of Avram Avinu is beyond comprehension. The sacrifice of Avram Avinu is that I'll never have children. I can't give away any of the details, and I have to be very careful what I say here. But I know somebody who was in a marriage like this. It became very clear to him Very early on in the marriage That they were never going to be able to have children. And he had a real not like a suffolk. He loved his wife tremendously. But he came to again. It wasn't like a thing that was hidden. They thought they were going to be possible for them to have children, and they were told.

30:42 There's no uncertainty right away in the beginning of their marriage. There's no kids here. You're telling me most of us wouldn't cut and run. You're going to spend the next sixty, seventy years of your life with someone, God willing. And never have children. That's an unbelievable level of sacrifice to make. It's an unbelievable level of pain that he'll have to hold. If Lo Aleinu, nobody here should know from this, but there are people that have trouble having children. The pain of not having children is beyond anything you could imagine. It's one of the most exquisite levels of pain that a person could ever experience. It's a very famous story on my block in Eretz Yisrael. I imagine a lot of people in this room heard this story. It's a very famous story on my block. A couple lived there who didn't have children for twenty years.

31:34 For twenty years, she was a ganenet. Do you realize how it's one thing you don't have children. She's like the most popular ganene in the neighborhood because since she doesn't have kids of her own, she can put a kid by her until three thirty in the afternoon. So she's super popular. But could you imagine the pain every single day of having all these beautiful little Jewish kids running around in your little house And you can't have kids of your own? It's a terrible pain. In fact, in my neighborhood, those who have been to Ramat Echamish. Each house is divided up into four. We don't have our own private homes. We have private entrances, but we don't have our own homes. So when her house was being made She only took. Everyone gets a quarter. She only took half of her quarter because she said,"I can't have kids anyway.

32:26 So what do I need an entire house for? Somebody else who had more money said, 'Fine, great. I'll get three quarters instead of having only fifty percent. I'll get three quarters.' She took twenty-five percent. The most painful thing in Ramat Bechemish is because we don't have backyards, so kids all play in the parks. So what does a mother do on a Shabbos afternoon? A mother sits on a bench, and all the mothers sit on the benches. You ever see this in Eretz Yisrael where parents don't parent their children? You seen this? You know what I'm saying? It's a reason that my culture is the way it is. It's because parents sit on the park and the kids run around and kill each other, and then they come complaining. And Israeli mothers, when a kid comes in and he punched me, they go, 'it's not good.' The kid has to go fend for themselves. That's how we create a culture of very strong people. That's at least my narrative around it. One thing we saw: this mother never went to the park.

33:13 It's too painful. How do you go to a park on Shabbos when everybody's? And of course, she wanted to sit with her friends. This was her friends in the neighborhood. She couldn't bring herself to sit in the park. Twenty years. Do you know the toll that it took on her? Do you know the toll that it took on her husband? To have to support her throughout all those years. The reason I tell you it's a famous story is because on my block there's another man whose name is Rav Pesin. Rav Pesin is a very big tzaddik. Rav Pesin was a very close talmuder of Rav Chaim Kaniaski. Rav Pesin brought this couple to Rav Chaim. After 20 years, Rav Chaim said to them, 'You should build a mikveh. It'll be a chesed for you.' And literally a year later, they had their first and only child. After they built the mikveh, an unbelievable meisah, famous meisah. It's a true story. Literally, it's on my block. It's not like one. It's not like a made-up story. You should know when she came home from the hospital, hundreds of people. You come home from the hospital; it's a big deal. Maybe your parents come to say hello to the baby. Hundreds of people were in the streets, balloons, music. People were going crazy. We greeted a child that we have been davening for 20 years.

34:15 But the toll that it must have taken on them The toll that it must have taken on them to not be able to have children for all that time. And Avram stays in the marriage, and he says, 'What will be with my legacy? Not my issue.' What's the next thing we see in the Torah? Why did our Kadosh Baruch Hu choose Avram Avinu? One very simple reason. Remember, we said in the very beginning that the mission statement of Judaism is to perpetuate Hashem's name. Who died, so to speak, in creation. Avram Avinu is the ultimate expression of Yibum. He says, "I will bring this child into the world, even if shalom al darchateva. I'm in this marriage, come what may. This is where I am. Amen." So Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, that's the person that I'm going to make into the first Jew Because it's only Avram Avinu that could possibly create my name in this world.

35:12 You hear the idea? The idea here is that because Avram Avinu engaged in yibum, so to speak, with his brother, even under impossible circumstances. That's what makes a Jew. We had this year in yeshiva boy. He's a very special boy. He's become a very fine bentaira. But in the beginning of the year He had he was not heading in that direction. Today, Baruch Hashem, he's a tremendous, tremendous person. In the beginning of the year, I gave a shir speaking about how we have to make the world into a godly place. And he's like a tough svardi kid. Like Ashkenaz kids, they go like, okay, we have to do it. Svardi kids, if you don't say something they agree with, they'll let you know right away. The boy looks at me in front of everybody. He's the sweetest boy in the world, and he goes, "That's ridiculous." I was like, "Okay, I'm up for a good fight." I'm like, "What do you mean it's ridiculous?" He goes, "Look at the world today. There is no way to make this world into a godly place. It's not shaykh.

36:06 And really, if I had to give an answer to him, it would be this. That's what it means to be a Jew. When there's no hope, when everyone else in the world says there's no hope, what does it mean to be a yid? Say, you think there's no hope? We have a certain azas punim. We have a certain brazenness to us that we can do what's impossible. We can carry out Hakadosh Baruch Hu's name in this world. And if you look around in the world today, the world is a mamish and meshugana place. This might be the most meshugana place within this meshugana place. I was here a couple months ago. And we were in a store. I was with one of the mevaser boys, and he said, "Rebbe, you can steal anything you want from this store up until nine hundred and ninety nine dollars." So I didn't know about this law.

36:51 So I was like, "What do you mean? Like I'm going to pay for this?" He goes, "You don't have to. They can't do anything to you." I was like, "I didn't know we were doing." I was like, "What do you mean you don't have to? Like, because I'm not—I'm Jewish. Like, if you tell me I don't have to pay, I won't." So he's like, "No, really. Like, you could just walk out. Like, they can't do anything to you." I was like, "That's the—that's like darhamabel. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. So it'd be very easy to have a chalisha sadas. It's very easy to look at kids today in the world. You hear this a lot. It's not a Jewish idea. You hear a lot from these rabbis. I'm like, what are we supposed to do with these kids with the cell phones? We can't reach them anymore. It's like first of all what a terrible thing to say. But second of all It's exactly the opposite of everything that Yiddishkeit is about. Yiddishkeit is about here's a kid. And it seems impossible that kid is going to be the legacy of Akavesh Baruch Hu in this world. And what's the yuside of Avraham Avinu? That kid is going to be the greatest legacy. That's the greatest possible legacy for a person.

37:53 The strangest thing, and we'll finish with this. The strangest thing is that Rus is on Shvuas. When the world does Rus have to do with Shvuas? Rus is a story that has nothing to do with Shvuas at all. Rus is a story of Eli Melech. Who was the leader of his community? Left was a traitor to our ultimate enemy, the most selfish people in the entire world. His sons Machlon and Kilion died after marrying Moavite women. And in the end, Nami comes back, bringing Rus with her. Rus marries Boaz, Melachamashiach. First of all, it's a wild story, but second of all, what in the world does that have to do with Shavuos? So there's an Indian gudel here that needs to be spoken again. We're not going to get into any of the details here, but just one basic idea. To be mekabel the Torah is not like.

38:43 Again, I don't want to say anything harsher. Salam, not nice, but I want to be clear. There's a certain thing that exists in the world today. It's called to be an observant Jew. To be an observant Jew means I follow halacha. And I want you to know, it's not a bad thing But a lot of kids are rejecting the idea of an observant Jew. They're rejecting the idea of an observant Jew And we have to try to speak to these kids about the value of being an observant Jew because every relationship has rules and regulations and practices and things that are important. But I want to tell you why they're rejecting it. They're rejecting it and they're right to reject it. And I'm sure you've heard this before, but how many kids have said over the course of the years to their rebayim, to their teachers, to their mechanchot, to their rakaizot, whoever it is, I'm not saying the words of the sitter anymore. There's no yachas to Hashem. There's no relationship to Hashem just from saying the words of the sitter. And I'm tired of saying the words of the sitter if it doesn't bring me closer to Hashem. Are these kids wrong or are they right?

39:43 They're definitely right. Now they're wrong because we should still daven even if we don't know why we're davening, if we don't know what it means, and it's our responsibility to figure out what it means, even when we can't figure out what it means. Say there, a husband has to be a good husband even if he has no idea why his wife wants what she wants. And I say that for all men. They say you're not allowed to speak on behalf of all Jews. You have all these people today, like the lunatics in UCLA. I'm talking about Jewish Voices for Peace. On behalf of Jews, and I'm an Israeli, and somebody who was there on October 7th. Please don't speak for me. I'm not speaking for Jews. I'm speaking for all men. We have no idea why you want what you want. You're mystifying to us. I've been studying your behalf of the species for the last 20 years. I have no idea why my wife wants what she wants. And yes, we do it anyway, even though we have no idea.

40:34 But it's a strange thing to participate and be observant in a relationship where you're not religious. Religious means to be deeply connected. These kids are right. They're saying I'm tired of a Yiddish kait where there's observance without religion. They deserve to be connected. What's the story of Rus? If you think about it, the story of Rus parallels the story of Avram Avinu exactly. Both of them are not born Jewish. Both of them become Jews. Both of them leave a land to go to a different land. Rus leaves her own homeland to travel to be with Nami. Just like Avram Avinu is married to Sarai and there's no possibility of having children, Rus follows Nami even when there's no possibility of getting remarried to one of her children. She's going to be completely on her own. She went from being a Moavite princess to being the poorest Jew in the world. And her sister did what was logical. Just like Nachor married Milka and was able to have children, Arpa did exactly what was logical. And by the way, what a child she had! Goliyas is the ultimate powerful child because she went al derech ateva. The godless of Rus is that she expressed fundamentally what it means to be a Jew.

41:45 I'm in with Hakadosh Baruch Hu even when it's completely illogical, and somehow I will figure out a way to perpetuate His name. There's an azus like that. There's an azus like that exists in Yiddishkeit. And again I don't want to say anything political, but you see it even by secular Jews. There's a dream that a Jew has to make something that's impossible happen, and somehow it happens. Again, say what you want about the state of Israel. There's a lot to talk about of what's good and what's not good. But one thing for sure If you told someone a hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, if you told them that this would exist, what would they have told you? It's impossible, and they would have been right. It was impossible. But the azas panim of a yid is that we say, and yet somehow it will be that we'll return home. It's impossible that Mashiach is going to come. How could Mashiach possibly come in this environment? What's the teretz of a yid? You say it's impossible. Somehow we're gonna make Mashiach come.

42:41 Somehow we're gonna do it. I'm the spawl from. I don't know why we don't have this in the entire Jewish community, but I'm the spawl from this. Do you know that these Labavitch kids go out at 14 or 15 years old in the summer? And they go, they send them. First of all, these kids have an awesome life because at 14, 15 years old, what do we do in the summer in LA? We don't go anywhere. We just stay. New Yorkers go to camp in the summer. What do you do if you're Labavitcher? You go anywhere in the world. Where are you going? I'm going to be helping out the shliach in Thailand. I also want to be a labavacher. A 15 year old running around in Thailand. It's an amazing life. Tell me, what in the world does this 15 year old kid have to do with kiruv? What does he know? How could he possibly get involved in kiruv? How could somebody say I'm going to Sri Lanka to start a Chabad house of Sri Lanka? In every meme today is like a Chabad meme because any time they discover a new planet, somebody makes a meme of like the planet with a Chabad house on it. These people, Mamish, go to the middle of nowhere.

43:40 Where do they get the azus from to say I'm going to go to a place in the middle of nowhere and somehow I'm going to find a couple of Jews and somehow we're going to put Tefillin on a couple of Jews? A chaver of mine is a Chabad shliach in the Caribbean. I understand being the Chabad shliach in the Caribbean. I also want to be the Chabad shliach in the Caribbean. I also want to open up a restaurant on the beach and picture of the Rebbe and put tefillin on them. He's a big tzaddik. But I want. How does the guy in Siberia? How's there a person who's like I'm the Chabad shliach of Siberia And everyone makes fun of Chabad until you're playing like has to have an emergency touchdown somewhere and you're stuck there for Shabbos. How do they build those communities? You know that Maysa a couple years ago that the plane landed in Greece, Arab Shabbos. Remember that? What came out of that whole story? The Chabad rabbi in Greece, in that community, there was no mikveh in that community. His wife had to get on a plane every single month to use the mikveh. He was trying to raise money to build a mikveh. He couldn't get the money together.

44:36 Then Hakadosh Baruch Hu landed that plane in Greece, erev Shabbos. He hosted the entire plane for Shabbos. Imagine, like we get a phone call. Imagine we get a phone call, five hours before Shabbos Ten Jews are coming for Shabbos. Wouldn't you? How much anxiety would we feel? Ten Jews. If you're Chabad of Greece and you get a phone call from Elal. 200 chaverim are coming for Shabbos and it's a couple of hours before Shabbos. You know what he does? Beseder, and he just pulls it all out. You know what they got? They got a mikvah because everybody who was on that plane that Shabbos donated money and he was able to finish the mikvah. See, he started a project. I'm going to build a mikvah. He said, the Rebbeinu Shalom, there's no money in this community to build a mikvah. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, don't worry, I'll send you a plane.

45:24 There's a story, an amazing story of the chabad of Billings, Montana. Did you know that there's a place called Billings, Montana? And did you know that they have a chabad? It's a crazy thing. There was a flight that went from Eretz Yisrael to Los Angeles, and it got grounded in Billings, Montana, because one of the engines went out. Billings, Montana, is not an international airport. So when they landed in Billings, Montana, they had to call the judge to ask him what to do, because on the one hand, if they let these Jews off the plane, they're criminals coming into the country without going through customs. On the other hand, they can't keep them on the plane because FAA regulations say you're not allowed to be on the tarmac in the plane for more than three hours. It's like a real gemara shaila. What do you do? So the judge pasken that they have to keep them on the plane until it becomes usurious for them to stay on the plane, and then they can illegally immigrate into the country, and they're going to be held in a type of jail in the airport. This is what happened. So there was a chaver of mine who was on the plane. He told me this whole mase. They took them off the plane. And they had an officer. What's an officer in Billings, Montana? It's a hick with a gun. What's he gonna do?

46:29 And they put all the Jewish chaver there in one section of the airport. The Chabad of Billings, Montana, found out that all these Jews were stuck in Billings, Montana, and it was going to take a while for them because they had to scramble a new plane to come. But not only a new plane, because FEA regulations say the pilot can only be involved for a certain amount of time, the stewardess can only be involved in a certain amount of time. They had to bring them a new plane with a whole new crew. So until they got there, it was going to be forever. So the Chabad of Billings, Montana, found out about this. He took a couple of chavra from Billings, Montana. A couple of Jews, he called them up. He said, "There's Jews in the airport, and they have nothing to eat." Because, of course, we're Jews. If you're stuck in an airport, you have nothing to eat. This is terrible. And they bought out. They spent thousands upon thousands of dollars, and they bought out every kosher food item in Billings, Montana. Chips, pretzels, this. The guy showed up with all these people who came with all of this stuff.

47:20 So there's a Rebbe in Mevaseret. His name is Rav Shultz. When he found out about this story, he said, 'Could you imagine? You're the Chabad of Billings, Montana. You have to be asking yourself on a daily basis, what am I doing here?' Who am I helping? And then one day a plane lands, and the Rebbeinu Shlom says, 'You're helping these people. What gives these people the koyach to say, 'I'm going to be marba kveid Shamayim. I'm going to bring Hashem's name into the world in this place.' You know what the Talmud says? A Jew is an illogical creature. We don't live within the realm of logic. Avraham Avinu didn't live. He's married to Sarah. She's not going to have children. No problem. I'm in. It's going to happen in some way, at some point there'll be a miracle. That's why he didn't want to marry Hagar until Sarah told him to. Rus, it's illogical what she did. Arpa did the right thing. The story of Shavuos is I'm connected to the Rebbeinu Shalom and I'm going to be Marba Klai Shamayim in the world through Torah in a way that makes absolutely no sense.

48:11 So that's what Rabbi Nachman meant when he said 'ain yush ba'olam klah.' What do you mean 'ain yush ba'olam klah'? You can't give up hope. Tell me, who doesn't want to? Maybe I'm speaking for myself here. Who doesn't want to give up hope? Who looks around today in the world and says this is a normal thing that we're living through? It's not normal what we're living through. It's not normal. You hear all these things now coming about Rafiach. You're in the news. All these terrible things coming out about Rafiah, and if you look on the news, I highly recommend not looking at the news, but if you look at the news, especially today and yesterday, they're going crazy bashing Eretz Yisrael because innocent civilians are dying in Rafiah. Why are they there? What are they doing there? Stom? They went in to kill? They went in to kill people? That's what they're doing there? Like it's a crazy thing. You're reading the news.

49:05 With without any context. This is childish. It's absurd. My daughter when she was little, I have three sets of kids. I have my two oldest, my two middle, and my two youngest. So my two middle, the older one of the two middle, is a very creative one. For those of you that have met her, am I exaggerating? She has all the letters. She has ADHD. She's all the letters. She's amazing. I love her too. She's my favorite. I have favorites. She's my favorite. And everyone in my kids knows it. One of my daughters, the second daughter from that pair, came downstairs when she was little and said Racheli hit her. So my wife comes downstairs. My wife calls Racheli downstairs. Racheli comes down. As she's down on the stairs, I'll never forget this. She looks at my wife. She's a little girl. She goes, Hashem made me do it. My wife goes, Excuse me. She goes, If she got hit. Obviously, it's because Hashem wanted it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to hit her. I think she was like eight. I'm saying a philosopher, yeah. She's a real chacham.

50:14 So my wife said, "And why did Hashem make you hit her?" So she said, "Because she hit me." So I was allowed to hit her back. Hashem allowed me to hit her back. So I said, "I see that." And why did she hit you? My daughter said, "No reason." So my wife called the other day. She goes, 'Why did you hit her?' She goes, 'Because she hit me.' And I'm like! So there was a context to this thing that Hashem allowed. This is what we do with seven and eight year old children. This shouldn't be what we have to do with adults in the world of news. The idea of news is you're supposed to give context to something. Eretz Yisrael sent soldiers into Rafiah and they killed innocent civilians. And what happened right before that? Why were they in Rafiah to begin with? This you hear no mention about. We're living in an insane asylum, and you would think a normal logical person would think to themselves, "There's no hope."

51:07 There's no hope. I saw what happened here at UCLA. I saw it on the news because apparently there were some Mevasser guys that went to the encampment to stand up to the encampment. So all the Mevasser guys sent me the videos of the lunatic Mevasser guys going to the encampment to fight against the encampment. I wasn't there going on. I don't know what any of you guys are doing over here, but say there. Is it possible for a person to have total yish over here? No. So how? So what does Rabbi Nachman mean when he says 'aini yish bo elam klal'? That's what it means to be a yid in the space where there's total absence of hope. A Jew says exactly. It's easy to have hope when things are good. It's real hope when everything is falling apart. The parents in the room know this. The parents in the room know that the real time to have hope is when there's no reason to have hope at all.

51:55 And that's the period that we're living in right now. This period of Yimosa Mashiach is exceptionally painful. And we're looking around and we're saying, how could it be that Mashiach is going to come? How could it be that all of this is going to be okay? Do you ever have that feeling in the last couple of months, like this is it's just not going to be okay? I don't like to be too dramatic But really this year. October seventh wasn't scary because by the time we found out what it was over. And then it was just okay. There's the work. But I want to tell you what the scariest time of this year was. You had Shabbos. You didn't even know it was happening here. The scariest night of my life was the night that Iran attacked. I had never seen anything like that in my life. At 10 o'clock, they released the videos of 350 cruise ballistic missiles and drones being fired on Israel.

52:46 And they you saw the videos. It was pretty wild. These are not Katyusha rockets. A big Katyusha rocket is this big. The rockets that they fire from Gaza are this big. These are the size of trucks. These are massive things. You see them and they're shooting them and they're reporting it on the news. I felt like I was watching a show, a TV show, but it was real because it was coming towards me. They announced that the missiles will be here somewhere between four and five hours. So this is 10 o'clock at night. I turned to my wife and said Iran just fired missiles at us. My wife said, 'What does that mean?' I said, 'It means they'll be here in four to five hours.' And she's like, "And then what?" "Like we I don't know. What does it mean? And then what?

53:30 And it's like, how much are coming? It's 100. It's 200. And then they're reporting Jordan scrambled planes and Saudi Arabia is on your side. The United Kingdom is scrambling planes. Because I live in Beit Sheanesh, which is right next to the air force base that doesn't exist, so the planes are going overhead, and you hear them. It's like, okay, fine, so something is happening. Then at eleven o'clock they announced it'll be somewhere between three and four hours until the missiles get here. At twelve o'clock they announced it'll be somewhere between two and three hours. I'm watching this, and all my kids went to sleep. And my wife went to sleep, and I'm like. You understand what's happening here. The kids see, they're regular Israeli kids; they're used to this. I'm not used to this. At one o'clock in the morning, they said it'll be somewhere between an hour and two hours. And at two o'clock in the morning, on the news, it said they're here.

54:20 And at two o three No sirens, My house started to shake because the explosions were so powerful that they rocked the entire house. It was the craziest thing. And my wife, who's this unbelievable balasamuna, she was sleeping. She had her tehillim on the bed. This was her reaction. I was sitting there downstairs, running around trying to get mattresses and water into the mamad to make sure that we have what we need. Because if a missile hits, there's no block. If k'tusha rockets hit, it hits your house. If the missile hits your block, there's no more block left. My wife rolled over. Said a couple kapilach tehillim, and then went back to sleep. I'm like, what in the world is going on over here? Where is this serenity coming from? And then it was over. The whole thing was over in half an hour. Then I was like, every single one of them was shot down. And it was all these rumors. Again, by the time Shabbos was out over here, it was over. But it was all these rumors. Did it hit? Did it not hit? There was one kid I think that first they said was killed, injured.

55:23 The whole thing was complete hopelessness. It made no sense. Iran is a real superpower. 350 cruise missiles, the size of trucks. What happened? Nothing. Nothing. It's unbelievable that Yidden can maintain their hope in the face of such adversity. That's what it means to be a Jew. It's a tremendous bracha to be a part of this special, holy nation. And even though And even though we're living in some of the most difficult times imaginable. You should know, for those of you that have come to visit Israel over the course of the last six, seven months. In the streets you don't feel it. In the streets, it's life as normal. They announced the night that the rockets were fired. There was a dialer calling us. There's no school tomorrow. They canceled school. And then in the morning, there was a dialer. School's back on. We're just starting late.

56:21 That's the craziest thing in the world. Tell me, what would the environment be here in Los Angeles if Mexico fired 350 cruise missiles on Los Angeles? Do you think they'd have school the next day? First of all, they'd have every single social worker in the world. They'd be talking about days off a fire that wasn't anywhere near. It's unbelievable. They had school the next day. I told my son, there is cheder in the end. It's just starting late. He goes, I thought I was gonna have a day off. The koyach of this nation is incredible. The strength of what it means to be a Jew in this man is an unbelievable strength, and it's the strength of Melech Mashiach. It really is. It's the strength of Avram Avinu. It's the strength of Rus, and it's not an accident that Megillah Rus ends by giving us the lineage of David Malchus of Mashiach. It's born of a person who went against all odds and had complete emunah in Hashem that somehow it would work out, and in that way she perpetuated Hashem Baruch Hu's name in this world. Thanks again for having me, and everyone should have a meaningful Shabbos.