Shemos - Identifying As Our Exile

2:52 What is the deeper Torah? Behind the words 'pakeid pakeidti,' what does it mean that just because Meisher Abenu says Hashem will surely remember you, how does that in any way mean that there will be a redemption coming? In order to understand this, we have to go back to last week's parsha of Parshas Vayechi, and the Torah that I'm telling you over today is a Torah from Rav Shalom Alter Shlitah, who's the Rosh Yeshiva of the Gary Yeshiva, a tremendous Talmudachem, a very big tzaddik. And the Torah that I'm telling you, this is not my own Torah; it's a very beautiful Torah. Rashi says as follows: If you go back to Parshas Vayechi So Parshas Vayechi is called a Parsha Stuma. Did you learn that last week? It's a closed-off Parsha. What does it mean to be a closed-off Parsha? Between every single Parsha, there are spaces. There are what we call Stumos and Psuchos. Stumos are parshas that start on the same line as the previous parsha, and there's a break of nine letters.

3:57 Psuchos means the next parsha starts on the next line. How do we count the parshios? We look for the break. If it's a parsha that's psuchos, if it's a parsha that's open, it means the next parsha starts on the next line. If it's a parsha that stuma, it starts on the same line. But there is a nine-letter break. There is only one parsha in the entire Torah that's called a parsha stuma, where there's no break whatsoever, and that is between Va'yigash and Va'yichii. The last pasuk of the word Va'yigash and the first pasuk of Va'yichii have no breaks in them whatsoever. They appear to be one long parsha. The obvious question is then: How do we know that there are two parshios? And what's the significance of the fact that Parshas Vayechi is a Parsha stuma with no break whatsoever? So Chazal tell us, the fact that Parshas Vayechi is called a parable That's completely closed, is because something else was closed in this time. What was closed off? What was closed off was the eyes and the hearts of Klal Yisrael at that time. Nistumu e nehem ve liban shel Yisrael. Why were they closed off? Mitzra sashibud because of the servitude that they are enduring in Mitzrayim.

5:29 So we have now in front of us several questions. Question number one is: How, in fact, do we know that Va'yigash and Va'yichii are two separate parshiyos? Normally, how do we know that something is two separate parshiyos? As we said a moment ago, there's a break. Either there's a break of nine letters, or there's a break to the next line. Here we have a parsha that appears to be just a continuation And not only that, there's an obvious question on Rashi. Rashi is saying, 'Chazal say, "Nistu mo'enei and beliban shal yisrael."' It's a reflection of the fact that their eyes were closed and their hearts were closed. Why? Mitzaras hashibud. Because of the tsar. Because of the anguish, the pain of the servitude in Mitzrayim. Girls, remember, this is all the way back in Parshas Vayechi. When does the tsara of Shibud Mitzrayim begin? Shmos, not in Vayechi. I think you meant Vayechi. Correct, in Shmos. What in the world is going on over here? We have Rashi telling us that the reason why Vayigash and Vayechi are sasum. Okay, but I'm not sure about that. Let me think. The reason why Vayigash and Vayechi are sasum is because of the tsara of the Shibud, because of the anguish. Of the servitude in Mitzrayim, when will the servitude in Mitzrayim begin? Not until Shmos. So why is the shibud already considered as having begun from Parshas Vayechi? Listen to what the Maral says.

6:52 The Maral says as follows: There's two reasons that we know that Vayigash and Vayechi are two separate parshios. There's two reasons the Maral says that we know that there's a difference between Parshas Va'yigash and Va'yichai, and that they're not one long parsha. The first reason is because we have a Kabbalah, we have a Mitzvah, we have a tradition from Ezra Ha'Sopher that they are in fact two separate Parshiyos. So that's the obvious, easy answer. You know how we know that they're two separate Parshiyos because that's the way it's always been taught. There was a tradition all the way from the time of Ezra Ha'Sopher that these are two separate Parshiyos. But the Maral gives a second answer, and it's a fascinating answer. The maral says because the themes of Va'yigash and Vayechi are two totally separate themes, and this is going to give us a tremendous insight into two things. Number one, how you know that Va'yigash and Vayechi are two separate parshios.

7:54 And two, why does the tsara of the shibud begin already in Parshas VaYish and not in our Parsha in Parshas Shmos? Of course, by understanding these things, we're going to answer our initial question of what is the inner meaning of Pakod Pakadti? Why do these words symbolize redemption? And Roshal Alter explains as follows: Let's go back to the very last psukim in Parshas VaYigash. You know, listen to the words. Va'yeshev Yisrael be'eretz Mitzrayim And Klal Yisrael lived va'yeshev. They settled in the land of Mitzrayim be'eretz Goshen. In the land of Goshen va'yachzuba. What does va'yachzuba mean? They grabbed onto it. Ve'yifru ve'yirbu maod, and they became fruitful and multiplied greatly. Says Rav Shaul Alter The theme of va'yigash. Is not that Klal Yisrael happened to be in Mitzrayim? Okay, the theme of the Parsha is Vayigash. This brings about the Parsha Hashtuma. This brings about the Necessity for the Nistemu Enei and Veliban Shal Klal Yisrael because of Mitzora Hashibud, because of the Tzoras of Mitzrayim, because of Vayeshev.

9:13 Not that they just happened to live in Mitzrayim, I mean, Mitzrayim, but Vayeshev Yisrael be'eres Mitzrayim, they settled the land. They didn't have a choice. They had to settle there. They didn't just live there. They identified as Egyptians. They became a part of the fabric of the land. Vayachzuba. What does it mean? Vayachzuba. It means they grabbed onto it. When does gullus begin? Listen carefully. Gullus, the shibat of Mitzrayim, does not begin when we have an Egyptian taskmaster. The shibat of Mitzrayim does not begin when we're being whipped. Or when we're being baked into bricks. Not great timing, but I am thirsty. The shibor of Mitzrayim begins when a person begins to identify as something other than being a Jew. They start to identify with the gullis. Why is that? Why do we do that? The outer Rebbe and Tanya explains as follows, and this is relevant to every single person in this room. I hope that your eyes and hearts will be open to this. Every single person in this room, including myself, experiences what we call a lack of belonging.

10:36 That's what exile is. Exile is, do I belong here? The feeling of I'm not at ease. I'm not at rest. I'm not comfortable. Because I don't know if this place is mine. There's a reason we say there's no place like home. Because when we go home, when we walk into our rooms, when we lie down in our beds, they're our beds. They have the contours of our body. Our stuff, uninterrupted by other people's stuff. We have our own space. It's a place of belonging. Lo aleinu, if a child feels uncomfortable at home. If a child feels when he walks into his own house that this is not my place of belonging, what will that child be experiencing? That child will be experiencing chas v'shalom, exile in their own land. That's why the job of a parent, more than anything, is to help our children feel that this is their home, that this is where they can show up and be real, that this is where they can bring their problems. If a child complains to a parent about the parent What is the child saying?

11:51 I care about you. I care about this relationship, and I feel comfortable in this relationship to express my frustrations, my disappointments, my anger, my rage against the way that I'm being treated. If a child gets angry at a parent, that means on some level you've been tremendously successful. A child who closes up. Who doesn't share? Who doesn't feel comfortable to say I don't like what's happening in this relationship? It's because they fail to see the belonging that they have in their home, and that is much more dangerous. It's normal and it's natural and it's healthy for teenagers to get frustrated and express their frustration. It's not comfortable for us as parents. Maybe we feel like it's a lack of gratitude for everything that we do, but given the choice. If a parent could choose between a child who expresses their anger and a child who bottles everything up because they say there's no safe place for me to be myself in this home We would absolutely every day of the week choose to create the space where our children feel comfortable, even expressing their anger and frustration and disappointment at us. Why?

13:06 Because ultimately, it means that the child has a sense of belonging, and that is redemptive. You can be yourself when you have a place of belonging. You are exiled when you feel like you don't belong. In the beginning of this year in Tomer Devora, every single girl in this room was in a state of exile. You walked in, and there was a question that you were asking yourself: Is this my seminary? Do I feel comfortable? Do I have friends? When you have drama in the dorms with your friends You pull back, and why do you pull back? Because you say. I think it's important to consider if it's your place. The first time you have, let's say, Chassar Shalom, a girl. I'm sure it never happened this year, but let's say it happened, and it definitely happens. Just to bring a couple of you back in.

13:56 Let's say you have a girl that gets into a fight with another girl two weeks into the year. The first thing she says is, "I'm thinking about switching sems." " A little too close to home for some of you. Why? Why do we do that? Doesn't happen in the same way with Shnabet. Why do we do that? The answer is Because I don't yet know if it's my place. And any time I don't know if I have a sense of belonging, my first feeling is to run. I have to run because I don't know if I feel anchored here. I don't know if I feel comfortable here. When we have a deep friendship and there's a rift in the friendship, there's enough belonging to go back and say, let's combine these sentences into fluid ones. Let's work this out because we both have a deep sense of belonging here. When we don't have a deep sense of belonging. As Klal Yisrael has not had throughout history, whether it was in Spain or in Russia or in Poland or in Czechoslovakia or even today in America, where a Jew is asking himself the question,"Do I belong? Am I loved by these nations? Will they allow me to be free to practice my Judaism?" You know what our response historically has been: Vayeshev, vayachsu.

15:04 The reason why we identify by our gullus is because by identifying through our gullus, we're saying that we're not going to be able to get the full value out of this. If I'm an American Jew and not a Jewish American, if I walk around and I proudly sing the Star-Spangled Banner, and I could just put in the front of my shul an American flag, and if we could pledge allegiance every morning, and if we walk around, then we won't make anyone uncomfortable with our Jewishness. If I could just be more American, then maybe I'll have a sense of belonging here. And it gets very frustrating. Because every single time throughout history that we identify through our gallas and we say no I'm a Russian I'm a Spaniard I'm a Frenchman I'm Italian I'm a Polish Jew I'm a Czechoslovakian I'm an American I'm a Canadian every single time it happens our host country looks at us and says this place doesn't belong to you the Shebet of Mitzrayim began at the very end of Parshas VaYigash.

16:06 When we grabbed onto the land and we said, "I am my exile" That's the way I became comfortable. That's the theme of Parshas Vayigash. And at that moment, Nistemu Enehem V'libon Shel Yisrael. I'll tell you a secret: if you want to have an open heart to your Yiddishkeit, if you want to have open eyes and be able to see Hashem. Then you have to identify as a Jew. Because that's what we are. America is a land that we live. It's a country that we've lived in throughout history, but it doesn't define our essence. We can be Jews in Russia. We can be Jews in America, Poland, France, Russia, Italy. It makes no difference. We can be anywhere because we're Jews wherever we go. To be an American is a location. Perhaps it's even to believe in a set of ideals, but it doesn't define the nature of your soul.

17:08 Gullus begins when you close your eyes to God and you close your hearts to God because you stop identifying by what you are. There's a tragedy that occurs in every one of our lives, in every single person in this room, including myself. At some point, we lose the courage to be ourselves because we're in exile. Maybe it happened in first grade. Maybe it happened in fifth grade. Maybe it happened in ninth grade. Maybe it happened this year, and maybe it's happening to you right now. But in some weird way, when we feel like we don't belong, we have to go. So I'm like everybody else. And you lose contact with yourself. The first grader that's precocious, that's got a big mouth, and she's lots of fun. And then one girl makes fun of her and could shut her mouth for the next 20 years of her life.

17:58 For twenty years, she could shut her mouth because somebody made fun of her. Because somebody told her,"You need to exile yourself. You need to be like every one of us if you want to have a sense of belonging here. That girl could show up on a date at twenty-two years old, and the reason that she's not able to be her fun gishmak out there self is because of what somebody told her when she was seven years old, 'You're such a nerd. Shut your mouth.' " And she does. She closes her heart and she closes her eyes. She loses a sense of connection to herself, and because of that, she loses a sense of connection to others. She loses the way in which she sees the world. Her eyes have been closed, and every one of us has a unique way that we see the world. But once we begin to identify with the exile, and we say no, vayeshev beretz mitzrayim, vayachsuba, you lose your sense of self. It's a tragedy to watch.

18:55 It's one of the worst things. You see, girls, they came in one way out of eighth grade into ninth grade. By the time they leave in twelfth grade, they're completely different. And I don't mean in terms of their behavior. I mean in terms of their personality. What happened to that fun, loving, dushmak girl? You know what happened? She got turned off. I don't mean turned off from Yiddishkeit. I mean they literally turned it off. They turned off the machine. They turned her off. You be like everybody else. You fit in. Don't be unique. It's a tragedy. It's a tragedy of epic proportions, and it's the responsibility of every single person, of every single educational institution, to foster an environment that's safe for people to be their unique and creative self. The reason why bullying is so damaging is because bullying takes a person and says,"Don't be yourself. You be what we want you to be.

19:51 " And people are bullied all the time. Some people are bullied with their fists. And some people are bullied much worse than that. They're bullied into losing their creativity, and it's a tragedy. What is the secret of redemption? The secret of the redemption of Israel, the key to the redemption of Israel. The secret of redemption. Listen to the words of Rosh Hashanah out there now. He says, "Unbelievably beautiful idea." In Vayigash, we went down to Mitzrayim, and Vayigash, we identified as the Gullus. In Vayechi, Yosef HaTzaddik, like Yaakov before him, teaches us the secret of redemption. What is the secret of redemption? Listen to the words of the pasuk. Yosef said to his brothers, "Anoichim es" I am about to die. Veelokim pachod yifkod eshem Hashem will surely remember you. The Ha'ala eshem and aretz asos, and he said, 'and he will raise you up from this land.'

20:44 Ela aretz asher nishba la Avram le Yitzchok ol Yaakov. He's going to raise you up from this land and bring you to a different land. What is the secret of pakeid pakeidati? Now I'm going to teach you a Gemara. Don't get nervous. It's going to be okay. We're going to get through it together. Let's say someone is tamei meis. And they touch a grape. All the girls who want to know what the boys are learning Gemara all day Now you know. If someone is tamei mase, thank you for that. If someone is tamei mase and they touch a grape, and now somebody takes those grapes that the tamei mase touched and squeezes those grapes and makes grape juice, there is a question in the Gemara: Are those is that grape juice tamei or is that grape juice tahor? And the Gemara has the following question: Muvla blii, opakad pki di Or is grape juice absorbed into the grape itself? And therefore, when the person who's tamei meis touches the grape, he's touching the grape juice, or maybe mifkad pki di, when he touches the grape He's touching the grape, but the grape juice that's inside of every grape is its own separate and extant thing. It's contained within the grape, but it's not the grape itself. In other words, says Rav Shalom Alter.

22:14 The secret of pachod pkiydi is you are contained within But you are not. You are contained within, but you are not. Listen to what Yosef HaTzaddik says to his brothers And this is Yosef HaTzaddik and Yaakov Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu in a moment. Speaking of which, speaking to every person in this room, mostly myself. You might be in Gullus, but you are not the Gullus. Pakod Yifkod. Listen to the words. Listen to the words of Yosef HaTzaddik. The words of Yosef HaTzaddik are amazing. The Hala Eschem in Aaretz Hazos el Aaretz Asher Nishba laAvram liYitzchok liYaakov. Hashem will surely remember you, and what? And he will take you out of this land to the land that was given to your forefathers. You know why? Because you don't belong here. Vayichi is a completely different theme, says the Maral from Vayyigash. Vayigash is the way you go into Gullus. Vayichi is the way you leave. Vayigash is you know, you know, I think it's important to understand that.

23:28 " You leave Gullus when you remember this land is a temporary space. I don't belong in this land. I'm here. I'm contained within it. I'm mifgad pakeid. I'm contained within it But I'm not it. I happen to be here. This my address right now. But I'm not the oxub. I'm not holding on to this land. You know why? Because there's another land that was sworn to my fathers Avram Yitzchak and Yaakov, and I will be raised up and brought out of this land. That's the secret of pakeid pakeidti. This what Yosef HaTzaddik says to his brothers at the end of the life. I'm about to die. You know what the brothers are saying, Yosef? If you die, how will we ever leave? Because we're already identifying with this land. You know what Yosef HaTzaddik says? There's going to be someone many years from now who's going to come, and he's going to teach you this secret. When you hear these words from his mouth.

24:25 You'll know that's the redeemer. What's the secret? I am going to tell you something. It's a big question. Moshe Rabbeinu gets up and he says,"Pakod, pakadati, pakod yifkod. All of Klali Yisrael goes wild. If everybody knew that these were the secret words What was the big deal that Moshe Rabbeinu said them? Of course, he said them. Everybody knew about them. Why is this like? Oh my gosh, he's the real deal. If we have a Maseiura, then everybody knew. Why was everyone going crazy? There are many different answers to this question. One of the answers is that it's not just about the content, but also about the way it's presented. One of the answers is that it was only Serach Bas Usher who knew that this is what Yosef HaTzaddik said to his brothers, and it was Serach Bas Usher who told everybody, that's the secret code. He's real, and then everyone went crazy.

25:21 Others say no. Everybody knew, but there was one person that didn't know because he didn't grow up in a Jewish home. Moshe Rabenu didn't know because he grew up in the house of Pharaoh. So when he said it, everyone was like, "Oh my gosh, I think this is going to be really interesting." Even though he didn't know, it must be he's real. Different people have different answers, but they're all very beautiful and beautiful answers. I have a third answer. With humility, I think this is true. It wasn't the words that Moshe Rabenu said. It was the feeling he created in every member of Klal Yisrael when he said it. There's such a thing as an inspiring personality. But an inspiring personality doesn't come from dynamism or charisma. In fact, what do we know about Moshe? He wasn't a dynamic speaker at all. He was very, very much the opposite of a dynamic speaker.

26:10 But you know what Moshe Rabenu had? He had the capacity to touch the hearts of Jews. He had the capacity. To whisper their names, and I'll explain to you what this means. The Balshemtov teaches that when somebody chas v'shalom falls and they faint So you could scream at them and they won't wake up. But the Balshemtov says sometimes if you whisper their name in their ear, because their name is their essence, all of a sudden they'll wake up. This says the Balshemtov is the secret of chasidus. It's whispering Hashem's name in the ears of Klal Yisrael to wake them up and inspire them. Listen to the godless of Moshe Rabbeinu. When Moshe Rabbeinu got up to speak, he was not a charismatic speaker. He was not a dynamic speaker. He didn't have the room. I imagine even in the times of Moshe Rabbeinu, there were people proverbially on their cell phones, sitting in the back, trying to avoid listening to what he said. That's not what made Moshe Rabbeinu great.

27:06 What made Moshe Rabbeinu great? When he spoke The people woke up. The words that he said restored their pride. You know how powerful that is. When Moshe Rabbeinu said, "Pakod, Pakadeti," God will surely remember you. Something happened inside the hearts of every single Jew. In Parshas VaYigash, Nistemu Enei Em Beliban Shel Yisrael, their hearts were closed because they identified as Egyptians. When Moshe Rabbeinu said, "I'm here to take you out," they believed him. There are certain types of Rebbeim that have a kayach. It's a kayach greater than any other kayach, and not every Rebbe has this kayach. There are rebbeim that are superior talmidei chachamim. There are rebbeim that are amazing speakers. They don't necessarily go together. But there's a third type of rebbe, a third type of teacher, a third type of mechanechet, a rakezet, whatever you want to call this person, a third type of mashpia.

28:08 Somebody that when they look at you And they say to your heart Wake up. This is not who you are. Somehow, when they say it, your eyes open up and your heart opens up, and you say, You reminded me of who I truly am. Every one of us in our lives has had moments where we saw those teachers and wanted them to say to us, "Wake up! This is not who you are." I know I did. I know when I was in high school, there were certain teachers that I was looking at and going, "You know, if you'll pay attention to me." And you'll tell me to wake up, and you'll tell me to start doing the right thing. But unfortunately, in my case, at least in high school, I didn't have those rabbis. They didn't know. They just looked at me and said, "Berg's a bum. He's not really davening. He's not really learning." So they put me in the back.

28:59 When I say the back, I don't mean the back of the class. They might have moved me to the front of the class, but they kept me very much in the back of the class. Some kids are invited to be in the front of the class, and it's just the teacher's way of controlling them. Other kids are invited into the front of the class because the teacher actually wants to hear what they have to say. I was always invited to sit in the front of the class, but I wouldn't do too much damage. The people that sat next to me were actually learning. Two very different people sitting in the front of the class. There was a time in high school where a group of kids, 11th and 12th graders, combined the class and said, "You know, you guys are 11 and 12C." You know what you do when you tell a kid you're in the market, I think 很好. We don't even have enough kids in one grade that should be in your class. We combine the lunatics from two grades and put you in a class together. They put them in the science lab. That was their class. That's not a class for learning. That's a science lab. So what do you think these boys did? These 11 and 12 C boys? First of all, what a terrible idea!

29:55 Why would you put the biggest lunatics in the school with the fire and the gas and the things that could break? So one day, one of the young men, a very good friend of mine, who today is a real bentara, but back then was only a budding bentara. He took a long piece of metal that he found in the science lab, and he took a long gas hose. They have those rubber hoses, one of those long rubber gas hoses, and he attached them and he made a bow. There used to be such a thing called a ruler. Girls, have you ever seen a ruler? You don't know about rulers. There used to be rulers, and rulers could even be foot long rulers, and that was the arrow. And he took the bow and arrow, and he shot the window of the science lab, and the principal Olvasham was a great guy. He walked into the room, looked at me, and said, "I want you to be my assistant."

30:43 And he sees the Rebbe And he looks at the boy who clearly did it. He goes, Shimon, not again. And they sent them down to the basement because at least in the basement there were no windows. And what did the boys call their classroom in the basement? The padded room. And there was one boy in the school again today. He was a very fine erlichah Jew, a very fine bentayer, somebody who I love very much. But he was a lunatic. He had all the letters. You know how they attach letters to your name to tell you what you are. This kid had all the letters. And there was a drink that they put in the machines in my high school. It was called Surge. You don't know what Surge is, but Surge is like Mountain Dew on steroids. A surge for a kid who has all the letters is a very bad idea. To the degree that it was known, they took surge out of the machines in my high school, because if this kid had surge, he could destroy the entire high school. In fact, one day he cut class and went to the local 7-Eleven, which was about 25 minutes away at the time, and he drove to that 7-Eleven because he heard that they had a surge Slurpee.

31:55 And he walked into school after having cut class, and he shows up in his rebbe's class with a Surge Slurpee, and the rebbe doesn't even bat an eye. He goes, Chaim out. And Chaim got suspended from school, and everyone in the school was talking about it. Did Chaim get suspended because he cut school or because he bought a Surge Slurpee? It wasn't obvious to us which one it was, but I want to tell you something. The school, I know they were well intentioned. I know that they were just trying to keep these kids out of trouble and I know they were trying to keep them in the school. But when you put a kid in the basement and you tell him, "Okay, you guys are in the padded room, and we don't have any expectations of you," what will happen to those kids? They start to identify by their exile. This is exactly who I am. But they were very lucky because they had a rebbe And that rebbe's name was Rabbi Axelrod, who today is the rabbi of the Young Israel of Woodmere.

32:45 And Rabbi Axelrod is a very special person. A tremendous person, and he loved these boys tremendously. And we saw in his heart that he really cared about them. And he would say to them, "Boys, pakod, pakaditi." He was saying, "Guys, this is not who you are. You guys could be great." Even those boys that were not completely at all shomer Shabbos or shomer Kashrus, he told them, "You could be great." And there was one boy in his shir who didn't believe him. And the boy went to Eretz Yisrael and he got thrown out of his yeshiva. He ended up in Sfat for the year. And I don't want to get into any of the details because I don't want to give any details away whatsoever. But unfortunately, his life was a mess and he went through terrible, terrible times. And he was completely off the derech.

33:33 And Rabbi Axelrod was there when he married his wife. And he was there when he had to bury his wife. He was his masader kedushin, and he also ran the levaya. And shortly after the levaya, this boy started sending me emails. One of my oldest friends in the entire world, he would say, "Matt, I found an article on H dot com. I'm telling you, you're going to use it for a shiur. It's a great article." And he starts sending me things from H, from Chabad. He's just all day long. He's sending me articles, and I had the opportunity to catch up with him. He told me that he was choser b'tzuvah. So many years later, his eyes and his heart were opened again. I asked him, being one of my oldest friends in the world, "How'd you come back? What was the secret?" He said the secret was Rabbi Axelrod.

34:20 Because he never gave up on me All those years. That's why I chose him to be my Masada Kedushin, and why it was appropriate for him to be there by the funeral. Because he didn't give up on me, I didn't give up on myself. He always told me I could be better. And unfortunately, for so many years, he didn't believe it. He lost so many years of his life. Nistem uyeinei em v'liban shel Yisrael because he was vayeshev be'eretz Mitzrayim. He said, "I am my worst moments. I am my gullis. I am a bum. I am a balaverah." But he had a rebbe who said, 'Pakay, pakaditi. You might be contained within this moment, but you're not defined by it.' Moshe Rabbeinu, when he got up and said it, everyone knew he was telling the truth, because all of a sudden their hearts started opening up. Because all of a sudden their eyes started opening up, there's a special quality to someone who we call Rabbeinu. He wasn't rabbeinu because he knew the most halacha. You could even say Rav Kiva knew more than him. He wasn't Meish Rabbeinu because he had the greatest level of nevuah.

35:19 He was Meish Rabbeinu because when he taught, people's hearts and their eyes opened up. They started identifying as Jews, and that's what every one of us is looking for. Every one of us is looking for someone who will come and open up our hearts and open up our eyes and allow us to be our true selves. Lo aleinu. We're living in Gullis today. And we're living in conditions where the entire world tells us that we don't belong. Look around. Look around on the news. The president of Harvard just stepped down. She just resigned. Did she resign for the anti-Semitic things that she said in Congress? No. That they don't get a resignation for. But she plagiarized her papers. You can't do that. You can't plagiarize your papers. You can't have ChatGPT do it for you and be the president of Harvard. But if you're anti-Semitic, if you refuse to condemn anti-Semitic things in Congress in public That's just a failure. But we don't make you resign for that.

36:30 How do we feel when there's a pro-Palestinian march in Teneck? How do we feel if we're paying attention to our feelings and not just covering them up with Netflix? We feel like we don't belong. We're in a bitter gullus today, but we're almost at the end of it. We need to restore Jewish pride. I know that sounds like a funny thing to say in an Orthodox seminary. But we need to restore Jewish pride. We need a Moshe Rabbeinu. We need a Mashiach Tzidkenu to come and open up our hearts and open up our eyes. That's why everyone in this room is very lucky. Because this year, even though it's not the Geula Shleima, this year we get to be in Yerushalayim Yerakodesh. This year we get to see what's happening in the world. Through the lens of someone who lives in Yerushalayim, with the heart that beats of someone in Yerushalayim, and we ask Hashem, we beg Hashem, Pakoid Pakarti Please remind me, please remember Please remember me by teaching me that I don't belong in this place. None of us belongs in Gullus. We have two choices: we can identify as Yidden, and we can leave. Or we can identify by the gullets, and we are trapped within. Yiratzom ne'avinu shabashamayim. We should all be blessed to remember that we're Jews first. America, england, canada, russia, poland, italy, spain, south America. Those are addresses. Addresses can be changed. The Jewish soul can never be extinguished. Let's have a good Shabbos.