The Darkness Before Dawn: Exile and Redemption

2:58 What exactly is this Mashiach? How does it work? The second problem is, today, really, somebody is going to come in on a donkey, and the Knesset will concede to his rule. Am I supposed to put my realism aside completely and try to find it in my heart to hope for that? In other words, what my dear friend is asking is how Mashiach is going to solve the world's problems. And even if Mashiach can somehow solve the world's problems, is it realistic to hope that the world will accept Mashiach that the world is actually waiting for redemption? And the reason he's asking this is because he's saying, in this time of Corona, I find myself saying let's have realistic expectations and then wondering is Mashiach a realistic expectation? So tonight over the next couple of minutes.

3:53 I hope to share with you an approach to answer, at least partially, some of these questions, and I don't think it's reasonable for us to expect that we're going to have a full shear on exactly the nature of Mashiach. It's a very complicated and deep issue, one that we really need to delve into. But nevertheless, I think we can make some decent headway. In order to understand this, I think the first thing we need to ask ourselves is, what exactly do we mean? When we say that we are in exile, what does it mean to be in Gollas? Because if we don't understand the nature of Gollas, how can we understand the nature of Geula? If we don't understand exile, how can we understand redemption? And so the key thing when it comes to understanding exile is the following: we need to understand that exile is the feeling of being out of place, that something is in chaos, something is not right.

4:50 There's something about my life that just doesn't seem to fit. An appropriate model for this, I believe, is as follows: Imagine you were born in a dark tunnel. And your parents told you that they too were born in a dark tunnel, and their parents before them, and their parents before them, but they have a mesora, they have a tradition, that all the way back, somewhere far, far, far back in the past. There was a time when the world was not in a state of chaos, when people lived with light. People were able to see clearly in the world. So imagine growing up as such a child. I imagine that it would be hard for that person to believe that there was actually a concept called light. It would sound mythical. It would sound made up. It would sound like the type of thing that if you believed in it, you were saying I'm not a thoughtful and intelligent person.

5:50 And I think so many of us struggle with that when it comes to the notion of exile because we're born into it. We have to ask ourselves, Are we really living in a state of chaos? In other words, when we think about the notion of redemption, what exactly am I being redeemed from? Or to put it as one young woman said to me this past week, and another young man just said to me today, I don't know if I'm really waiting for Mashiach. My life is good. My life is fine. I don't really feel like I need Mashiach. I don't really feel like I need to be redeemed. In other words, they're not experiencing chaos. But the truth is that the world is in a state of chaos. The very notion of illness and of death, of suffering, of injustice, these are all signs that point to chaos, and even more so, the fact that humanity.

6:48 Is trying to rid itself of these chaotic things, tells us that there's something fundamental about ourselves that believes in the notion of redemption. In other words, when we envision the world, we don't envision a world of chaos. We actually envision a world of order. So when we see illness in the world, we try to heal. When we see injustice in the world, we try to bring justice to the world. When we see suffering, we try to bring hope. We try to ameliorate people's suffering. We give tzedakah. We do whatever we can to live in a redeemed world, and that tells us something fundamental about the nature of redemption. Our soul knows that this world is in a state of chaos. Our soul knows deeply that this is not the way the world is supposed to be. Logically, that doesn't necessarily make any sense.

7:45 Because the world as we know has always been this way, why do we cry out to have a world of order? Why do we cry out to have a world that makes sense, where there is no suffering, where there is no injustice? It must be because implanted within the nature of our soul, there's a belief that it doesn't have to be this way, that many years ago in the past, even if we never experienced it, but millennia ago. There was a time when the world was in a more redeemed place, and so the world must return to its state of light. We can't live in the darkness. It doesn't make sense for us to live in the darkness, and so the child that's born into that tunnel of darkness, even though logically his parents, his grandparents, his great grandparents have all lived in the same condition he is, but he deeply believes in light.

8:43 Not because scientifically it was proven to him, but because there's a call from the innermost point of his being that says the world is not meant to be this way. And in fact, if we start to think deeply now about what we just said, we're going to come to the exact opposite conclusion. The mystery is not exile and redemption. The mystery is how could exile ever exist to begin with. In other words, if our godly soul yearns for redemption, if our godly soul understands clearly that the world is meant to be a place of order, that the world is meant to be a place of light, then how could it be that an infinite godly soul could ever be trapped in a state of exile? If the godly soul is a spark of God Himself, like a ray of the sun.

9:39 Then how could it be that a ray of the sun could be trapped in an unnatural condition? In fact, let's make the problem a little worse. The Gemara in Megillah says that when Klal Yisrael went down to Golus, Hakadosh Baruch Hu goes down with us. The Shechina is also in Golus. So not only is the godly soul in Golus, but the Gemara says that God Himself comes with us into Golus. How can that be understood? How could it be that God Himself enters into a state of gullus if gullus is chaos? If gullus is the feeling that things are not right, then how could it be that God Himself could be in such a position? How could it be that we, the souls that naturally know about redemption, could find ourselves in a place of exile? Could find ourselves in a state of chaos? Could find ourselves feeling like we don't belong? So the question is reframed.

10:38 We start off asking ourselves, 'Do I really believe in redemption?' And the answer to that question is, 'Of course we believe in redemption. Everything that humanity does is to get us to a state of redemption.' The question now becomes, 'If we deeply believe in redemption, if that part of our soul never loses that godly hope, it returns, it retains its emuna, it retains its faith in Yehoshua Mashiach.' So then, how could we ever be exiled to begin with? How could Hakadosh Baruch Hu come down with us into exile? Not only that, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu seems to make exile a part of the process. In the Bris between Abesorim, between Hakadosh Baruch Hu and Avram Avinu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells Avram Avinu that we are going to go down to Galus in Mitzrayim, and so of course exile exists because of our Chatayim.

11:36 Of course, Gullus exists because of our chataim, but in truth, Gullus existed even before our chataim. Hakadosh Baruch Hu promised Avram Avinu that we were going to go down to Gullus, and that is also something very strange. Why does Hakadosh Baruch Hu promise Avram Avinu that we're going to go down to Gullus when He's making a covenant with Avram Avinu? He says, "Your children will go down to exile." Why is that a part of the covenant? And furthermore, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, who promises us that we're going to come out of Mitzrayim with great wealth, why does Avram Avinu care? What would we rather, as parents? Would we rather our children be wealthy but having suffered immeasurably for hundreds of years, or middle class with less suffering, perhaps with no suffering? If I was in the middle of making a covenant with God, the last thing that I would want is for my children and my children's children to suffer.

12:35 And we do not even begin to understand what Mitzrayim was like in terms of the suffering. Mitzrayim was nothing compared to the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a drop in the bucket compared to Mitzrayim. The suffering that Paro brought on us for hundreds of years, not just for seven, but for hundreds of years, was immeasurable. It was the gullest to end all gullest. There was no exile like Mitzrayim. So why is that? What Hakadosh Baruch Hu is saying. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is saying in the middle of his covenant with Avram Avinu, I'm going to bring your grandchildren into Mitzrayim. They're going to suffer immeasurably, but don't worry, they're going to leave with great wealth. Avram Avinu must have stood up and said, 'No, I'd rather not go down to Gullus.' But we don't see that Avram Avinu objects. Why not? Where's Avram Avinu's compassion?

13:27 Where's the same compassion that Avram Avinu fought for the Rishayim Gemurim in Sodom, and he begged Hakadosh Baruch Hu not to do it? We don't find that Avram Avinu says, "Please don't send my children down to Mitzrayim." How come? And what's the value of this wealth? Obviously, there's something deeper, more meaningful than just walking out with physical riches. That's not a value that the Torah would share with us. In order to understand this, we need to go back to a fundamental reason as to why Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world. The Medrash in Parashas Naso says, "Nesave Hakadosh Baruch Hu lios loyis Barach dire b'tachteinim," that God desires to have a dwelling place in the world down below. And there's so much that has been written about these words. What does it mean that God has a taiva? What does it mean that God desires things? And that's a very deep question by itself. But not for now.

14:25 For now, we're going to focus on what it means that a kodesh baruch hu wants a dira, and what it means that he wants that dira bitachonim. What does it mean that he wants to dwell in the world down below? Let's start off by asking ourselves, what does it mean to have a dira? What does it mean to have a dwelling place? Imagine a very chash of a statesman, a president, and the president, of course, has to get dressed up. In fancy suits and with specific ties that work well for the camera, perhaps they wear pins on their lapels. They have to have their hair and makeup done, and when they go out to all of these grand balls and these functions that they go to, because they're representing more than just themselves, they have to dress up for the part. But in dressing up for the part, something is missing.

15:20 What's missing is they're not comfortable. If you ask a person who's wearing a fancy tuxedo and he's got his top button buttoned up and he's got a fancy bow tie on, are you comfortable? They say I'm not comfortable, but I'm dressed for the event. But when they go home that night, and it's just their family, and they're not worried about what anybody else is thinking, and they could just be themselves. So what do they wear? They undo their buttons. They take off their suit jacket, and perhaps they take off their shoes. Maybe they even kick off their socks. And what happens? Relaxed. I feel comfortable. I feel present. I feel like this is where I'm able to be myself. That's what it means to have a dira. A dira is a place, a dwelling place. A dwelling place means you can be yourself.

16:19 You don't have to worry about what anybody else is thinking. In a relationship, what does it mean to have a dira? In a relationship, to have a dira means I am exactly who I am, fully. I can share with you every aspect of my being. I'm totally present because I'm totally comfortable. This is who I am. I'm not afraid of rejection. I'm not afraid of abandonment. This is who I am. I am loved in all of my being. That's the beauty of creating a relationship, living in a dira with somebody. But what does it mean to have a dira b'tachtonim? What does it mean that God wants to have a dwelling place in the world down below? You see, God is not comfortable in our world. In fact, God is not comfortable in any of the worlds, even in the most spiritual worlds. God is not comfortable.

17:16 And the reason God is not comfortable is because all of the worlds act as levushim for God. They act as clothing for God. Each one of them hides God, just like a statesman has to dress up for the event, and so a little bit of himself is hidden because he's not totally comfortable. He's not totally present. To Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so to speak, is not comfortable in any of the worlds because all of the worlds hide his essence. So this is why the word olam is the same word as helam, because the world hides God. The presence of God is not felt in the world because of these levushim. Because the world acts as a beged for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It acts as his clothing. And the Rambam says that even in the highest worlds, even in the most spiritual worlds, even the highest level of the malachim, the chayos themselves, even they don't fully comprehend God.

18:15 Because to fully comprehend God means that He is comfortable, totally present. There is no levush, there is no hiding. All there is Him. So God has a desire to have a relationship with us fully. And of all of the worlds, which world hides God's presence the most? That would be our world. Our world is called tahtonim. Our world is so coarse and it's so thick that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence is least manifest in our world. Meaning, when we look at this world, we don't see God. Our world proclaims its independence from God. Our world says we don't need God. We're fine. This is who I am. And so our job as Jews.

19:10 It is to bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence into the world, to transform the world, to make the world a dwelling place for God, a place where God feels comfortable. If a Jew goes to a mountain top in Tibet and they sit there and meditate all day, have they done what God wants? The answer is no, because God is not more present in the world because of our meditations. So what can we do to transform the world? How can we make the world a more godly place? The answer to that question is we can learn Torah and do mitzvos. Why? Because our Kadosh Baruch Hu took His will and His wisdom, and He put them into the Torah, as the Balatanya explains. The Torah is the wisdom of God.

20:03 And as the Rambam says, God and His wisdom are one. Hu hamada v'hu hayodea, because God is the ultimate in oneness. So God does not think. A human being thinks. I can say Mordechai thinks because there's two things: there's Mordechai, and then there are Mordechai's thoughts. But I can't say about Hakadosh Baruch Hu thinks because God is one with His thoughts. God is one with everything. Hu hamada v'hu hayodea. So if the Torah is the wisdom of God, if this is the will of God, then this is the oneness of His will and His wisdom. It is God Himself, so to speak, is within the Torah, and therefore, by learning Torah, and by doing Hakadosh Baruch Hu's mitzvot, we bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu's essence into the world without any levushim. We allow Him to become present. The challenge for us is that we don't see it happening.

21:03 There's a faith that we have, an emuna that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has told us that by learning Torah and doing His mitzvos, there is something transformational happening in the world. But it's not nicher laayin; it doesn't appear to be happening in front of our eyes because of the state of exile that we exist in. Because the world is not yet a vessel to receive Hakadosh Baruch Hu's light, it appears to us that when we do a mitzvah, nothing happens. But in truth, when ultimately we come to that place of redemption, to that time of redemption, we're going to see that there's been a crescendo. All of the mitzvot throughout all of history have been building up, and slowly but surely, like water on a rock, have been making an impact until such time that the well springs just boil over, and the world is transformed into a fundamentally different place.

22:02 A good way of thinking about this might be as follows: When the early settlers came to Israel, they found themselves surrounded by swampland. This was not the amazing country that it is today. Today, Baruch Hashem, Eretz Yisrael has everything that you could want for, everything that you could ask for. Everything is here, but the early settlers were plagued by malaria because of all of the swamps, and so how did they drain the swamps? As I said that, I just realized the connotation in today's world of what it means to say 'drain the swamps.' But how did they drain the swamps in an actual way? There's two ways of draining a swamp. One way of draining a swamp is you take these massive industrial hoses, and you put them deep, deep, deep into the swamp, and you just pour tons of fresh water into the swamp, and then the swamp is overrun. All of the swamp water comes out.

23:01 All of the fresh water comes in, and then you just pull out all of the fresh water. That's one way of draining a swamp. The other way of draining a swamp is the way they did it in Israel, because they didn't have access to industrial hoses and because they didn't have access to fresh water. They needed to do the other way, and the other way is as follows: you plant eucalyptus trees all along the edges of the swamp, and there's something about eucalyptus trees that it secretes a certain nutrient into the soil. And you don't see anything happening for about a year or so. It appears as if nothing is happening, but then one day, and you have to be very careful not to be near eucalyptus trees when this happens. All of the water from the swamp gets sucked up into the eucalyptus trees, and then they just spray it out everywhere. And that's how you drain a swamp. And if you're driving in Israel, you'll see that there's many parks called Gan Eucalyptus. There's these eucalyptus parks all over Israel.

23:59 And if you see a eucalyptus park and you see these beautiful eucalyptus trees, what that means is that there used to be a swamp there. So it was all happening underneath the surface, but you didn't see it until it finally came to fruition. You had to have a moon for it to happen. There's something up. I know that there's something happening. I can't see it, but I know that there's something happening underneath. And so too when it comes to our world. Our mission is to build this world into a dwelling place for God, our coarse physical world that maintains its own independence. We want to get it to a state where it is a hospitable environment for Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence, where it's clear that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is manifested here, not in his levushim, but in his essence. This is the nature of redemption.

24:55 Redemption from exile does not simply mean, as we stated earlier. Of course, that's true, but that's just a very basic level. Redemption does not simply mean no more chaos. Redemption is much more fundamental than that. What redemption actually means is that the world is now a place where all of the illness, all of the suffering, all of the injustice ceases to exist. Why? Because Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence is now manifest in the world. This brings to mind a famous Gemara in Pesachim. The Gemara in Pesachim says that Klal Yisrael was exiled among the nations of the world in order to bring converts into the fold, in order to bring gerim to Judaism. And this is a very strange Gemara because we know that really we don't proselytize.

25:49 We don't try to get converts to come into Judaism. In fact, we do just the opposite. We push converts away. We don't want anybody to join our nation who doesn't really want to be a part of us. And so we do everything we can. We tell them, "Don't join." Why would you want to be a part of this suffering? Only if they're relentless. Only if they say, "No, I must join this nation." Do we actually let them join? So what does the Gemara really mean? What the Gemara really means is as follows: There are converts, which are these sparks of godliness that are all over the world, and our job is to take those sparks of godliness and return them to their source. In other words, in that independence that the world proclaims, the world says we exist without God, but all over the world there are these sparks.

26:41 These godly sparks, and it's our job to go out into the world to take the physical world, to take the mundane world, and to do a mitzvah with it. And by doing a mitzvah, we return these godly sparks to their source, and that's what makes Hakadosh Baruch Hu feel comfortable in the world. The world is a more godly place, and so as we are now in these final moments before Mashiach comes, one of the fascinating transitions. If you're paying attention, it's so obvious that this is going on. One of the fascinating things that happened is that we shrunk the world. Today, a person can go anywhere. A person can communicate with anyone in the world at the drop of a hat. I spoke to a Talmud in America less than an hour ago. When was that possible? A hundred years ago, that would have been unfathomable. We shrunk the entire world. We're on a Zoom call right now with people from all over the globe.

27:40 It's an unbelievable thing. We shrunk the world, which means that we go now all over the place, and in so doing, we have the opportunity to find those godly sparks wherever we go. Because today we go so far, and we have the opportunity to bring them back to Hakadosh Baruch Hu by doing a mitzvah. It used to be that a Jew stayed in the shtetl. A Jew, first of all, didn't have the opportunity to leave. The anti-Semitism in the world was rampant. How could a Jew leave? Who wanted a Jew to leave? We were told to stay in your stadtel, and not only that. Where would you go? To go anywhere took months. Today to travel what used to take them months takes us twelve hours. It's amazing how we complain, and I'm certainly guilty of this. It's amazing how we complain on an El Al flight.

28:33 From America to Israel, the Wi-Fi dropped in the middle of the flight, and I couldn't WhatsApp with my friends. A couple years ago, we didn't have Wi-Fi, and now everyone complains that there's no Wi-Fi on the planes. Today, Baruch Hashem, we have beautiful planes that they serve delicious food. Maybe the stewardesses could be a little bit nicer on some of these planes, B'seder, but overall, Baruch Hashem, we can go so many places. The question is, what is our focus? Are we focused on the mission at hand? Are we focused on making the world into a more godly place? Are we focused on redeeming the world? Why hasn't redemption come then? We've been in this state for thousands of years. Why have we not been zochet to redemption? And if redemption hasn't come yet, who's to say it's going to come soon?

29:31 If the Ramban and the Rambam and Rav Sadigon didn't experience redemption, if the Vilnogain and the Balshemtov didn't experience redemption, how are we going to experience redemption? The answer is because it's a cumulative process. Every single one of the Gullison, every one of the exiles, it rectifies the world a little bit more. By bringing us into this state of chaos, by spreading us out all over the world, a Jew has an opportunity. Each dimension, in its own new way, Yitzias Mitzrayim had a certain tikkun. Bavel had a certain tikkun. Parash Yavan had a certain tikkun. Each one of them, in their own way, they were able to bring about a certain rectification to the world. So after Yitzias Mitzrayim, we got the Torah. We got the Mishkan. We entered into Eretz Yisrael. We then had the opportunity to destroy a Malach. We had the opportunity to build the base on Migdosh. We had the opportunity to appoint a king. Every one of the exiles culminates with a taste, a little bit of redemption, but it doesn't last. It doesn't last because the chaos itself has not yet been ordered. There needs to be more, and so each exile, in its own way, brings about something new.

30:51 But make no mistake about it. We are standing on the shoulders of giants, and so it could very well be that when we look at our generation, we say to ourselves, 'Are we as great as the generation that came before us?' And surely the answer to that question is no. But we're living within our time, which means we have the opportunity to bring a certain final redemption into the world. The leaders that came before us, they did so much, but now it's up to us. And so, with this in mind, we can understand how is it that a godly soul could go into exile? How is it that God Himself could go into exile? The answer is because this is what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to have a dwelling place in the world down below. Our world is chaotic. Our world, the nature of the world, is in a state of exile, because it declares its independence from God.

31:48 But the amazing thing about our world is we refuse to believe that this is the way the world should be, and so despite all of the odds against us, we continue to work to bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu into the world. No matter how much suffering, how much torture, how much oppression, Jews have always done mitzvot. We've done every single thing we can, and even today, in the midst of a coronavirus, when Jews can't go to minyan, we want to go to minyan. We want to do a mitzvah. We want to help those that are sick. We want to go shopping for the elderly. We want to call our grandparents and check in. More than anything, we want to do a mitzvah, and this is what Hakadosh Baruch Hu promises Avram Avinu in the Bris Bein Abesarim. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes a covenant with Avram Avinu, He says to him, "Now, because we've made this covenant, because we've entered into this relationship, because we've made this deal."

32:47 You must go down to Mitzrayim. Your children must go down to Mitzrayim, not to torture them, but because only in that state of Mitzrayim, in that state of constriction and restriction, only in the chaos of Mitzrayim, can Klal Yisrael discover that they can continue to bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu into even the lowest places in the world, but they will leave with tremendous wealth, and that's why Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu, Da Ber Na Ba'as Ne'aham. When they're leaving, he says, 'Da ber na, speak please.' The Gemara highlights what's that lashon of please? Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, 'I don't want to look like a liar. I promised Avraham Avinu that they were going to leave with great wealth. What in the world is the Gemara saying? Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going is afraid that we're going to call him a liar. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is saying, 'Make sure they take out that wealth. The wealth was not only physical. The wealth was spiritual.'

33:42 Embedded in the physicality of Mitzrayim and the physical wealth of Mitzrayim, there were spiritual treasures to be had, and that was what we did in Mitzrayim. We took out those spiritual treasures. That's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu promised Avram Avinu. Though your children will go through terrible suffering in the chaos of the world, ultimately they will bring the world to its fruition by revealing the inner spark of godliness in everything. And so, to my dear friend who asked in the beginning, what does it mean to believe in Mashiach? What does it mean? Is there a man on a donkey who, all of a sudden, the Knesset is going to start to listen to? The answer is, it's absolutely realistic to believe that, because the world is getting tired of living in a state that does not have its redemption included. The world is tired of a state of chaos.

34:39 Democracy is wonderful. It's the best form of government we've ever had, but it's not Mashiach. It's not true Malchus. To yearn for Mashiach means to believe that the world could be a rectified and ordered place, and it's realistic to believe that. It's not that you have to be some far flung, living in a fantasy world type of personality in order to believe in redemption. The soul itself yearns for redemption, and that is the biggest proof that redemption is coming. And as we look around us today, the world is so chaotic. The world is mamish chaotic. And more than anything, people are talking about redemption from all sides. Some people are talking about redemption that they're terrified. I don't know if I can handle Mashiach. What does it mean? I want to get married. Does a person get married in the times of Mashiach? I don't know the answers to these questions.

35:31 The Rambam says that in the times of Mashiach, the physical world doesn't change, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence will be manifest, and we will spend our days totally consumed by the knowledge of God. I have no idea what that looks like, but I can't wait to see. Others are waiting for Mashiach with bated breath. They're saying, 'I can't wait. This has to be the end,' and I don't know if this is the end or not. But I know that a Jew does not ask when Mashiach is coming. A Jew knows Mashiach is coming. That every single moment of history is a process of Mashiach coming. It's all part of a process, and so everything that happens—the Holocaust, the state of Israel, everything that's happening in the world—is bringing us closer and closer to Mashiach. So what is the beginning of Geula? The beginning of redemption is the beginning of history.

36:26 The very moment that the Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, it was in a state of exile. V'ha'aretz ha'isa tov avo v'choshech alpnei ta'hom, v'ruach Elokim mirachefes alpnei amayim. Ruach Elokim—that's Mashiach. The world exists in a state of chaos. Redemption Mashiach is the culmination of that process, and because we have Baruch Hashem, hundreds of people on this call. I would feel remiss if I didn't share with you an amazing opportunity that we all have. A very good friend of mine, in fact, I'd like to brag a little bit. He was my roommate many years ago in Mivaseret. A very good friend of mine. His name is Doctor Jonathan Donath. He started a website. The website is DailyGiving dot org, not to be confused with DailyGiving dot com. DailyGiving dot org.

37:20 And he started this website because he started to think about the power of a dollar, not just the power of one dollar, but the power of all of the dollars combined. Instead of each person just giving one dollar to a random tzedakah, what would happen if we got thousands of dollars together? What would happen if every single day a person just gave one dollar, and we all gave that one dollar together? Wouldn't that be an awesome unifying, powerful voice for Klal Yisrael? For us all to take one dollar and to contribute together, wouldn't that be amazing? What type of impact could we have? And then he started thinking about the impact not only on Klal Yisrael but the impact on ourselves. Because if every single day we're doing that mitzvah, giving another dollar and another dollar, it has an impact on a person. And so this website, dailygiving.org. Every day you get an email, and it tells you here's where your dollar went today.

38:16 And here is how much we collectively donated, and Baruch Hashem, he's been zayecha to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to tzedaka, together with so many thousands of people. It's amazing what he's done, and I think it's such an appropriate tzedaka for us today in our time. First of all, Chazal say tzedaka tatzel mimaves, charity tzedaka saves a person from death. We're mamish living through a magefa. You will tell your children and your children's children what it was like to live through this. I was on the phone with my 90-year-old grandmother today, and my grandmother said, "I don't remember anything like this in my life. The closest thing was polio, and polio didn't come close to this because there were places you could go that didn't have polio. And there's nowhere in the world you could go today to escape corona. It's going everywhere, and my grandmother was nespelled by the sheer size of corona."

39:14 And unfortunately, lo alenu, there are so many people that need a refuah shleima. Chasheva rabanim, chasheva people, good Jews all over the world are suffering, and unfortunately, people are dying. Tzedaka tatzel mimaves, but more than that, tzedaka is an unbelievable opportunity to take a physical dollar. It's tachtonim, literally in some dollars, it's written 'In God we trust.' They put Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself on the dollar, so let's use that dollar to give tzedakah, and it's not enough for us to use that dollar to give tzedakah, but let's use that dollar together, because the base Hamikdash was destroyed because of sinas chinam. The first base Hamikdash was only destroyed because of gilai arayes shvichas damim and avod hazara, and yet it was rebuilt, and not so long afterwards, sinas chinam, to hate another Jew.

40:07 Is such a terrible avir that we have not yet rebuilt the Beis Hamikdash, and so what an unbelievable opportunity we have to be part of DailyGiving.org, where we could take that dollar, we could bring it back to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we could say here is a place where you feel comfortable, and we could do it together as a tzibur. Let's not let this opportunity pass. When we live in a time of crisis, a Jew has to ask himself not why is this happening, but how will I respond? And I'm urging all of us, including myself, let's make sure that our response is meaningful. People keep saying this time, all the changes we make are gonna last. I don't know.

40:50 I've there have been so many times where I said that's it after nine eleven I thought the world was gonna change there could be no more terrorism we saw the nature of what it does how could it be even New York came together as one I was living in New York at the time New Yorkers were nice not just nice New Yorkers were friendly and loving you walk down the street they were giving out bottles of water everyone was flying American flags it was amazing and then people forgot and people return to their old ways Will this change us? I hope I certainly hope it will Will I be able to hold on to the kabbalas that I've made? I hope But perhaps they won't And so what will be left? What will be left was the actions we took that hopefully changed ourselves and changed the world And dailygiving.org is one such an example And I don't mean to highlight one thing There are obviously many things you can do

41:46 And I'm only highlighting this one thing because it's a tzedakah that I'm so familiar with, and I think it's such an amazing opportunity for our times. So I want to ask everyone here, if you can, consider giving to DailyGiving.org. It's a dollar a day, and be'ezr Hashem, in the s'chus of giving tzedakah, in the s'chus of being ma'achid kliyos, of coming together as one, may we be zayich to bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu down into our world to make His presence a comfortable one. To take the great wealth that we had in Mitzrayim, and to bring it to the service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, may we be zeicher to see binyam bai shlishi b'mehira b'yamenu amen.