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Tells the story of the talmidim of Reviachna Ben Zakai Who came to visit their Rebbe when he was on his deathbed. And upon seeing his talmidim Reviachna Ben Zakai began to cry. He asked them Rebbe, why are you crying? So he says I'm going to meet the Melech Malchay Amloch and I'm going to meet the King of all Kings. I'd be scared if I was going to meet a mortal king, flesh and blood. Certainly The king of all kings, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And the Rebbeim Ben Zakei says an interesting thing. He says, "I'm not sure where I'm going." Maybe I'm going to Gan Eden. Maybe I'm not. Could riv eichonam ben zakai mean riv eichonam ben zakai The great leader of his generation Wasn't sure where he was going. What was he concerned about? So some of the commentators suggest that in order to understand
Rav Yehoshua ben Zakkai's concern. We have to examine another Gemara, the Gemara in Gittin. That tells us perhaps the most pivotal story in Rav Yehoshua ben Zakkai's life. The Roman army had already conquered most of northern Israel. They had laid siege to Yerushalayim erakaydash. And there was a group of people called the Biryanim Who had control of the city of Yerushalayim. They wanted to fight the Romans. The Chachamim wanted to negotiate with the Romans. The Biryanim couldn't attack because the Chachamim had some power. The Chachamim couldn't negotiate because the Biryanim wouldn't let them out. The head of the Beriyanim was a man whose name was Abbasikra. Abbasikra was the nephew of Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai. And Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai met with Abbasikra in secret. And he said to him, "This is not going to end well." Far from it. The Beriyanim, in an effort,
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To force the hand of Klal Yisrael to attack the Romans, they destroyed all of the food that they had stored up in Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim was a walled city. With enough food They could have outlasted the Roman army for years. The Romans, of course, far from home Would have been hard to maintain the siege. But the Binyanim wanted to attack, so they destroyed the food. Rav Yehoshua ben Zakkai met with Abba Sica and said, "This is a mistake." And Abbasikra said, "I know you're right" But I have no power here. If I were to change my mind The Biryanim are so strong that they would kill me. And so Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai devised the plan with Abbasikra that Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai would pretend to be sick. Rumors would spread throughout Yishlahim that the great sage Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai had fallen ill. And then a short while later, they would proclaim that Rav Yehoshua ben Zakkai was dead.
And they would take him in a coffin outside of Yerushalayim. That's what they did. When they got to the gates of Yerushalayim, the Beriyanim did not want to let Rav Yehoshua ben Zakkai's coffin pass through. They wanted to plunge their swords into Rav Yehoshua ben Zakkai's coffin just to make sure that he was dead. The Talmidim said, "How could you do that?" They'll say that you desecrated the body of Rav Yehudah and Ben Zakkai. Ultimately, there was a back and forth. But they let Rav Yehudah and Ben Zakkai in this coffin out of Yerushalayim. When he gets out of Yerushalayim, Rav Yehudah and Ben Zakkai go to meet with the general of the Roman army. Whose name was Vespasian. And when he meets Vespasian, he calls him the king. And Vespasian says to him, "You deserve to die." First of all, I'm not the king.
Nero was the Caesar at the time. And second of all, if indeed I am the king Why haven't you come to meet me until now? R' Yechonah Ben Zakai says, 'Surely you are the king' Because the Navi says that it will only be a king that's able to destroy Yerushalayim. Why didn't I come? I wanted to come earlier, but the bryonym stopped me. And at that moment, the messenger pulls up. The messenger says to Vespasian that the Caesar has just died, Nero has just died, and you have been appointed to be the Caesar. You've been appointed to be the king. So Vespasian was, of course, very moved by the wisdom. Of Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai And he says to him "Tell me what you want, and I'll grant it." Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai says very famously that he wants three things: Tainly Yavne veChachameha, a small town in the desert.
Not much was there. But there were a couple of wise people, a couple of Talmidei Chachamim. That lived in Yavne. Spare me, Yavna, and its wise men Dice Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai. Second of all Spare the family of Rabbi Namliyah We need a doctor for Rabbi Zadok. Because Rabbi Zadok had been fasting for so many years, he saw Beruah Kadosh that Yerushalayim was going to be destroyed, and he fasted for forty years. In an effort to ensure that your shalayim would not be destroyed, the Gemara says that Rav Chodok was so thin, so emaciated from all of the years of fasting that when he would eat You could see the food passing through him. This is what Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai requested, and the Sfas Emesian granted his three requests. Rav Yisef, and some say it was Rav Akiva. Said Rav Yechiel and Ben Zakkai, you made a terrible mistake.
You had an opportunity to ask Vespasian to leave your shalaimir, Hakadosh alone. You had an opportunity to ask him not to destroy the Beis Hamikdash, and he didn't ask. Rav Yechiel and Ben Zakkai said I thought he wouldn't grant that. I thought it was too much of an ask. So I took what I thought I could get. For us, we have to wonder What's this machlekes? We're going to assume for a moment that this machlekes was between Reviachan and Ben Zakeh and Reviakiva. What was this machlekes between Reviachan and Ben Zakeh and Reviakiva? Reviakiva said you should have asked for more. Reviachan and Ben Zakeh said I could only ask for this. And also, we have to wonder: what are these three things? What's the significance of these three things? The Rebbe Yochanan ben Zakkai asked for them. In order to understand this, we need to understand a fascinating tale: two stories that are almost identical.
One is brought down in Avos, the Rebbe Nasan. One is brought down in the end of the Gemara in Makos, which you all know. Novis the Rabbi Nasan in the fourth chapter, Novis the Rabbi Nasan, it tells a story that Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was walking near the ruins of the Beis Hamikdash with his Talmud, Rabbi Yosua, and Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Yosua. We were very moved by the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, and Rabbi Yosua began to lament. And he said, "Rabbi" Look at the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Look at the place where we were once able to get kapara, where we were once able to atone for our sins, and now it lies here in ruins. And Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai says We can still do gemilas chasadim As the Navi says in Hosea 'Ki Chesed Chafatzdi V'Lo Zavach.' What I want more than anything is your loving kindness, more than your sacrifices.
Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai does not seem Of course He was moved by the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. But he doesn't seem to be moved by what Rav Yoshua is moved by—the lack of the ability to bring a carbon. He says we have the opportunity to do chesed. It doesn't even seem like a b'di'ebit. Adur Av. It seems like a lechatchilo. It seems like, in a certain way, it's better to do chesed than to bring a carbuncle. Same exact story, but this time the Gemara in Makos. Rav Akiva and his colleagues, including Rav Yosua Amaleel, Lazar ben Azaria. Are walking along and they see the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, and of course, as we all know, Rav Akiva's colleagues are crying And Rav Akiva is laughing And they say to him, Rav Akiva, why are you crying? He looks at them and he says, Why you? He says, Rav Akiva, why are you laughing? Rav Akiva says, Why are you crying? So what do you mean? Why are we crying?
It's the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. Rav Akiva says But now I know that the Navi says the Beit Hamikdash will be rebuilt. Will ultimately come true because the Navi says that we're going to see Yerushalayim lying and ruined. Now we see a fox, a jackal coming out of the Macham HaKodesh Hakadosh Where even a regular person couldn't stand, even a Malach Hashem couldn't be there. Now we see that a fox or a jackal could be in that place. Look at the juxtaposition, Rabbi Sa'iv, Rav Akiva versus Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai in these two stories. Rav Akiva confronts the destruction of the base on Miktosh with laughter. Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai confronts the destruction of the base on Miktosh by talking about the value of gemilas kesef. How are we to understand this machlokes? Rabbi say. Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai When he said the words "Tain liyavne v'chachameh," he transformed all of Jewish history with just those couple of words.
I want you to try to appreciate the transition that Klali Yisrael went through until the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. How did we serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu? We experienced it physically. We didn't just learn about it. We didn't just talk about it. We saw it with our own eyes. You know It's not the same thing. Listening to the music and going to the concert. The truth of the matter is The songs that we hear on the radio. On Spotify They're much better than at the concert. Perfectly done. It's remixed and remixed until it's absolutely perfect. You know what it's missing? Live music. It's not just listening to the music. It's the experience of the music. It's a totally different game. When you go to the concert. The imperfection of the music is what makes it beautiful. It's the artistry, the rawness of the musicians as they're up there playing to the crowd, singing together, singing along, dancing along.
It's not academic; it's real. When Rav Yochanan ben Zakai said "Tain liyavne v'chachameha" We went from having a base on mikdash to a base on medrash. We went from having kaihanim to a Rashi yeshiva. We went from bringing Karbanos to saying Karbanos. We didn't go to the concert anymore. We just listened to the music. You want to know why our Yiddishkeit feels so empty? You know why it's hard to wake up in the morning and go to shachris? Why is it hard to learn a blockamara? You know why it's hard to cry today? It's because this whole thing has become an academic exercise. We've been listening to the music for thousands of years, but we've never gone to the concert. All we have is a legacy from our great, great grandparents that there was once a concert, and it was an awesome concert. Listen to the music they played us.
Try and remember the fact that there was a concert. If you were mechallel Shabbos by accident in those times, you know what you did. You brought a carbon chatos. You went to the Beis Hamikdash. You brought the animal in. And as the Rebbe describes As they were shechting that animal, you thought to yourself. You saw it with your own eyes. That could be me. That should be me. If it wasn't for Hakadosh Baruch Hu's compassion I should be the one on the mizbayach. Rabbi, say how real was Chol Shabbos? Saw it with your own eyes. We didn't just have a Pesach seder. We went. We traveled. From the north, from the south With traffic jams All the way up to Eshelayim. Every Jew, could you imagine what it was like? Every Jew in Eretz Israel is coming closer and closer Seeing each other, recognizing your neighbors, cousins, and relatives you hadn't seen in such a long time, talking about how excited you were to see the Karbiv Pesach, to eat the Karbiv Pesach, and to sit together as a family.
To have that barbecue together. They didn't experience Yitzias Mitzrayim just by talking about it. Of course they did, but it was more than that. They ate the Karb of Pesach. They did it as a family. They did it together. And now Shloish Shmyoim Karim Lachag, thirty days before the Yom Tov, what do we do? Let's learn the halachos. And since the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, the only thing that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has is Dalat Amashol Alach. When we lost the base of Mikdash, when Rabbi Yehuda ben Zakai said those words, "Tayliavna the Chachamel" Give me the family of Rabbi Gamliel Make sure we have a doctor for Rabbi Sadok We lost everything. They shut down the arena. The concert would be no longer. Rabbi Yehuda ben Zakai made a calculated decision, Rabbi Isaac. It was a decision that was pure genius. He looked into the spaceyan's eyes. He saw in his heart. He said, "He's not going to give it to me. He's not going to give it to me." And in that moment, in a split second, Rabbi said, "Put yourself in the shoes of Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai. In that moment, Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai had a decision to make.
And the question in front of him was, how does Judaism become portable? Because it had never been portable. From the very beginning, there was a mishkan. Right after Har Sinai, there was a mishkan And then from the mishkan there was a beis hamikdash. And now, Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai is faced with the task of asking ourselves, how are we going to gollus for thousands of years and make sure that we don't lose it? So he says three things. Give me that small town where there's nothing else. All there is limud Torah. Because the concert may be over, but the music never stops. And let's invest ourselves with our own unique talents at becoming the next generation of Torah Shabbat. Where innovation and learning will begin. Sometimes. When I'm speaking to guys about why they don't like Gemara They say like, Rabbi, what do you want? What do you want?
I'm gonna sit there and I'm gonna learn Abaya and Rava, Rashi, Taisus, the Rashba, and just memorize another Rabbi that said this, another Rabbi that said that. What's the value in knowing that? I agree. That's not what was supposed to be. It's supposed to be Torah Shabbat Pe. It's supposed to be the Torah that comes out of your mouth. It's your innovation. How do you understand the Baya and Rava? How do you understand the Machlekes with the Rashi and Tosfos? How do you understand that difficult Ramba? That's where Torah comes alive. That's where Torah becomes exciting. Your Shach Zeichitzalot Avrachas said, "You know how a person falls in love with learning when they fall in love with Kaya Chidish, when they start to believe Echaba Kepala, I also have a head. I also have something to contribute." The best part of being a Talmud of my Rebbe He didn't just tell us what Rashi says, what Tosafos says, what the Rambam says. He didn't just tell us what Rav Chaim says and what Rav Chanan says.
He challenged us to say new chevra and what do you say? And when we would say something silly, he would roast us sheer. Because it was kihem chayenu, Torah was alive in our she'er And there was vibrancy to it And it was real and it was alive. I think they say a quote from Rassalavitchik that it was the yard side of the Rambam, and I think somebody published something on the yard side of the Rambam, and Rassalavitchik said the Rambam is dead. Rambam wasn't dead in Ruzalivetschekshir. He was alive. He was alive. And Rabbi said, "We're part of that messiah. We're part of that dynasty." Rabbi Yechon and Ben Zack I knew that learning Torah wasn't going to be enough. The dynasty of David Melech cannot fall. That a Jew needs to know that he's Malchus, that he's royalty. And so the family of Rabbi Gamliel was spared.
Because they were the progeny; they were the offspring of David HaMelech. It's not enough to sit in the Beis Hamedrash. It's not enough to sit and learn a Rashi, a Tosafot, a Rambam, and the Shmitz till twelve, one, two o'clock in the morning, making suyumim and mesachdos, coming up with your own chedushim. Rabbi Sa. You need to know that you're royalty, the children of royalty. If we would know that If we would know that we're royalty How would we speak? How would we act? How different would we look? I imagine if we knew we were royalty We would dress the part. We would speak the part. We would act the part. It's not our fault. It's not our fault that we don't hold ourselves like royalty. Because how could we remember that we're the children of David and Melch? When we look around in the world, the world keeps telling us.
You're nothing. You're worse than nothing. You're evil. Look how you treat Look how you treat the Arabs. You're evil people for wanting to come back to your land. Where's the Aziz, the Kedusha? Where's our holy Chutzpah, Avoyse? I am saying I'm a king. A prince. The sons of royalty. It's not our fault. The Beis Hamedrash is alive. Where's the family of Rabbi Gamliel? We're sitting here today. You walk in. I don't blame anyone. You see the chevrin. It's hard to connect. It's so hard to connect. For me too. You see, Chaver on their phones Playing whatever Nairskat games they're playing. It's not their fault. They don't know what they lost. How could we expect them? How could we expect us to be aveilim today When has it been so long since we've been to the concert? And that was the third thing that R' Yerucham ben Zakkai said that we needed in order to make our yiddish more portable.
We needed to save the life of R' Tzadok. That there needs to be people like R' Tzadok in every generation. They yearn for Yishalayim Mir Akedash. That when they say the words Yishalayim, it's dripping off their mouth with yearning to be rebuilt. And not chas v'shalom like some people say today. Look how much we have. Look how much we've gotten. This morning Coming out of my hotel room Right outside of the hotel, there's a tractor. And they're rebuilding Yerushalayim. And I thought to myself for one moment They're rebuilding Yerushalayim. I'm sitting here on Tishavah, and they're rebuilding Yerushalayim. And maybe it is part of the process. We can't be satisfied with table scraps, at least. The kotel is table scraps. It's a wall. It's not harabayas. It's not Kodesh Hakadosh. There's no Kohanim. There's no Mitzvayach. We need to have those people in our generation that remind us that Yerushalayim is worth fasting forty years for.
To the point where if Tzadok was about to die We could see the food going through his body. When I made Aliyah There are certain things in America that I was so sure to. And then you make Aliyah and you miss those things, and it's like you're trying to find those things. For me Tishabov was in Woodmere In a basement In a shul called Eish Kodesh. Where the Rebbe of Weinberger would sit with us And he would cry with us And he would inspire us And we would sit there for hours listening to the Rebbe Darshan for many hours in a row. And I will never forget the way that Reb Weinberger said the word Yerushalayim. Some people say Jerusalem. I don't think I ever heard Reb Weinberger say Jerusalem. And I don't even think I ever heard him say Yerushalayim. He used to say like this. I can't even imitate it.
With such gaguim. It was with such strong desire. He would say Yerushalayim. And if you've heard Rav Weinberger say the word Yerushalayim, you know what I'm talking about. It's Yerushalayim. And it comes from Amka Deliba. It comes from the depth of his heart, from a place that I don't even I don't even begin to touch that place. But when Rav Weinberger would say Yerushalayim, I felt like I was sitting in the presence of Rav Sadok. Somebody who just his whole heart just wants to be. In that moment Vespasian looks at him and says to him, "Tell me what you want." He knew he couldn't have all of it. Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai knew a secret. This was the secret. The concert is amazing. But kichezed chafatzdi v'loy zavach. The base hamikdash was meant to inspire us to do. The base hamikdash in the world of Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai was not the end; it was the beginning. It was meant to be an inspiration to bring us to the service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, an inspiration.
That we can still have So it won't be watching kaihanim run around, but it will be hearing R. Sabolowski give a shir. It will be watching the tzitzis of R. Tworski. It'll be watching how at a hachnasah sefer Torah R. Shechter sat in the corner and learned Despite the fact that we were screaming at the top of our lungs. It'll be in the shiurim that we hear from our rabbim. It'll be in the chidushay Torah that we say. It will be in remembering that we are the family of David HaMelech, and that we are the children of royalty. When we see people like Rav Weinberger It reminds us that we too should yearn for Yerushalayim, and that will inspire us to do what we're meant to do—to keep Shabbos. To do Chesed. To give tzedakah. Rav Yechonon said we're going to lose the concert, but the music—that's the main thing.
And Rav Kiva disagreed. And Rav Kiva said, "No" We need that place. The concert is as important as the music. And in the world of Rav Kiva. The base of Mikdash cannot be destroyed. My four-year-old son said today. He was sitting on the balcony of our hotel. He was looking out and he said, "I can't see the base of Mikdash because it's broken." And then he looked at my wife. But I think I saw a crack. And we smiled. Because that's what a four-year-old says, and he doesn't know what he's talking about. That's where Rivkah was. Rivkah didn't see the destruction of the base of Mikdash. It was a temporary pause. In the world of Rivkah, there could be no such thing as a world without a base of Mikdash. It doesn't even make any sense. How could there be a world without a base of Mikdash? That's like saying I have a marriage without a home.
I have a marriage, but my wife lives on a different continent. If your wife lives in a different continent, you're not married. In the world of Rivkaiva, the Beis Hamikdash was never destroyed, and they would come and see the Beis Hamikdash, and the scholars would laugh, the scholars would cry, Rivkaiva would laugh. They would say, "It's coming back." It's construction. It's Sheputzim. It's not destroyed. It can't be in the world of Rivkaiva that it was destroyed. Which is why Rivkaiva said to Riviyachin and Ben Zakkai, 'What did you do?' What did you do? You had the opportunity to ask for the base of Mitzvah. You had the opportunity to ask for Yishalayim. You should have asked. Rav Akiva knew the same Mitzvah as Rav Yehuda ben Zakai. He also knew the chances were slim. But slim in the world of Rav Akiva. Rav Akiva didn't play the statistics game.
Rav Akiva said If you have an opportunity to have the concert. And that we shouldn't be sitting in this room right now With a soulless Judaism Where it's hard to say the words of the Havaney. Rav Kiva said to Rav Yechonab Ben Zakkai, "Oh, you missed it. You had an amazing opportunity in front of you" And you missed it. And now we return to our original question. Rav Yechonab Ben Zakkai is sitting on his deathbed. This Talmidim walk in. And now, Rav Yechonam Ben Zakei begins to cry. Why only now? Because Rav Yechonam Ben Zakei looked at his talmidim and he saw these kids will grow up without a bais hamikdash. And I made that choice. And he said to his talmidim, "I don't know where I'm going." In his humility He said, "Maybe I made the wrong choice." Maybe Rav Akiva was right. Maybe I should have asked for bais hamikdash.
So who was right Rav Yechiel and Ben Zackai, Rav Akiva? It's not for us to decide. Two great giants had an argument. The reality is that for us, we must live with both. Rav Yechiel and Ben Zackai made the fateful decision, so we're here in NCSY Kollel. We're spending our summer sitting and learning. We look up to our Rashi Yeshiva as royalty. We look up to the tzaddikim to remind us that Yerushalayim is something that we yearn for, but we must also have the worldview of Rivkaiva. This is not destroyed. We should not use those words. The Beis Hamikdash was destroyed. Broken, but we can see the cracks. There must be laughter too, and that's why on Tishavah we have both. After Chatsoyes, we get up, even though it's still Tishavah. Because it's not destroyed. Churban, Churban Habayis Churban Habayis. It's not obliterated. It's broken.
It's not for us to decide who's right. But what would the world have looked like if Rav Yehudah Ben Zakkai had had the world view of Rav Akiva? If you're like me If you're one of those Jews that has a hard time sitting and learning If you're one of those Jews who has a hard time davening. If you're one of those Jews who has a hard time Sometimes being proud of being Jewish. And a little too assimilated into the culture around us Just remember If Yehoshua ben Zakkai understood exactly what he was doing, but he also gave us the antidote, and it's our responsibility to do it differently. And if we listen to the prescription of Rav Yechonon Ben Zaka, then perhaps we will be zeichet to hear the laughter of Rav Yekuf.
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