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It is good to be back home. I just landed a couple of hours ago, but there's no way that I was going to miss Mivaseret Mishmer. Obviously, we're in the Zman of Yud Tzis Kisleiv, which I'm sure you all know. But just to repeat for those that may not know, the Alter Rebbe was put in jail in an island off of Petersburg. Now the Rebbe understood that he was in jail because his mission statement in his life was to spread the teachings of Chassidus, the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, and it wasn't obvious at the time. Not everybody loved Chassidus.
And even within the Hasidic world, there were those that were not so happy with the Alter Rebbe teaching to the masses the way that he was teaching. In the jail in Petersburg, the interrogators were interrogating him about different concepts in Chassidus. The Alter Rebbe understood that this was really a fight that was going on in Shamayim. If the Alter Rebbe somehow miraculously would be let out of jail, which everybody assumed that he was going to be killed, if somehow miraculously he was able to be released from jail, then he understood that was a siman men ashamayim, that he was going to be allowed to proliferate the teachings of Chasidus. And 53 days later, he was miraculously able to leave the jail, and from that the Alter Rebbe wrote Tanya.
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And the teachings of Chassidus have spread throughout the entire world, and there's a lot to say exactly on the nature of what Chassidus is, and it's hard exactly to pin these things down to say this is what it is—the exclusion of all things. Sometimes something is so broad and it's so vast that in order to appreciate it, you really have to attack it from so many different angles. Tonight, I want to share with you what could be one of the most fundamental and essential teachings of Chassidus for us in our time. Even though the Alter Rebbe is no longer with us, the teachings of the Alter Rebbe certainly live on. The influence of the Alter Rebbe certainly lives on, and it's certainly in our yeshiva. I think it's in many yeshivas, Baruch Hashem.
So tonight, just to say a small idea that's relevant to us in this particular moment, it's an amazing medrash in this week's parsha. I'm sure many of you have heard this medrash, and it's a medrash that, quite frankly, I believe is very misunderstood. The medrash says that if Ruvain would have known that his actions were being written down in the Torah, he would have carried Yosef a tzaddik out on his shoulders, and if Aaron Akayin would have known that the Torah was recording all of his actions, then he would have gone to greet Moshe Rabbeinu in the midbar with a marching band. He would have greeted him with music and celebrated his return. And if Bais would have known that his actions were being recorded in the Torah, then he would not have just given Rus a little bit of food to eat. He would have given her a fleisha gasuda. He would have treated her properly.
And now the medrash is messiah. Now a person has to know that everything that we do is being written down by Eliyahu Hanavi and Melech Hamashiach, and it's being stamped by the Rebbe Nachshon himself. This medrash is very misunderstood. Most people, when they read this medrash, it's an opportunity to talk about how would you live your life if someone was watching, and they tell stories. Different stories about cute stories. L'mashal, I once heard that there was in 2007 a man whose name was Dustin Hoffman who was working in a Dunkin' Donuts, and somebody attacked the Dunkin' Donuts, and as the cashier behind the register in the Dunkin' Donuts, Dustin Hoffman saved the day and attacked this person who was coming to rob the Dunkin' Donuts with a coffee mug, and he beat him senseless with his coffee mug.
And afterwards, they asked him, "Why did you do that?" And he said, "Because I know that I was being recorded. There's a video recorder in every Dunkin' Donuts, and I knew that the video was either going to show me running away like a coward, or stepping up like a hero. So I wanted to step up like a hero." And look at the YouTube video that we now have. That Dustin Hoffman was being recorded. You could see him on YouTube beating this guy senseless with a mug. Because he knew that somebody was watching. This is the type of mussar that's very often given along with this medrash. But as much as it's a beautiful story, and as much as it's obviously an appropriate mussar that a person needs to know that somebody is watching them in the world, this cannot possibly be the pshat in the medrash. Reuven was a tzaddik of epic proportions. In our lives.
We will never even have one moment where we touch the lowest level of Ruven. Arna Kain was a tzaddik like we can't possibly imagine. Boaz was a tzaddik like we can't possibly imagine. You think that these people would have behaved differently if they knew that the Torah was recording their actions? That's what it is. That they just didn't know it. Dustin Half, if Dustin Halfman knew it, Ruven certainly knew it. You are telling me that Ruven wouldn't have lifted Yosef Hatzadik out on his shoulders? Of course he would have. What do you mean? It's just because he didn't know that the Torah was recording his actions. It can't possibly be the pshat. What does the medrash mean? It's an amazing vart. I believe this vart is from Rav Kluger. He says as follows: We say ma hafti sarasecha kol hayom hisichasi. What are those words? Ma hafti sarasecha? How much do I love Torah?
Kol hayomi sichasey. It's what I talk about all day long. I'm just talking about Tyra all day long. Fractur of Kluger. Can we really say that, Chavra? Can we really say ma hafti sarasecha kol hayomi sichasey? Can we say that we're talking about Tyra all day long? Can we say that none of us battle and none of us waste any time? That we're talking in Tyra all day long? What type of arrogance would it say? For us to say, how could we say such a thing? We're really ready to say that. We don't take breaks. We don't stum shmooz around. Of course we do. So what does it mean? Sirv Kluger said something so unbelievable, so beautiful, so life-changing. You have to open your heart to hear this dvar Torah. It's the most amazing dvar. It's the Rebbeinu Shlomo speaking. Ma hafti soirasecha.
The Rebbeinu Shalom loves our Torah so much. Kol haYom he sichasi. What is the Rebbeinu Shalom talking about? He's talking about the Torah that we learn, like a proud father. When your kid comes home, Bezr Hashem, one day when your father's yourself, you'll see this. When a kid comes home and he says a Tzvar Torah, or he says I got a great mark on my test, or he's able to chazar a piece of Gemara and he knows it well. You know what a proud father does? He tells all his friends. You should hear the Dvar Torah that my son said by the Shabbos table. You should hear the way my son knows Shachar Lev Torah Bal Pe. You should see the way my son knows that Teshuvas. You should see how much he's studying in beis medrash. We have so much Nachas from our children. We can't stop talking about it. Ma hafti sarasecha? The Rebbeinu Shalom loves our Torah so much. Even you'll say, but what Torah do I know, Rabbi?
What I'm still struggling to break my teeth on this Gemara. I don't know how to translate a Baya and Rava. I'm not sure how to be Masber and Machlekas between the Rambam and Tosfos yet. I don't know. I'm not yet holding by Rav Chaim's. Does the Rebbeinu Shlom get Nachas from my Torah? The answer is absolutely. The Rebbeinu Shlom gets Nachas from us. From a Yid who learns the Rebbeinu Shlom's Torah. The Rebbeinu Shlom is sitting in Shamayim with all the Malachim saying, 'Do you see what my kinder are doing? Do you see what my kids are doing? They're amazing. Look how they're stiging.' Look how they're working so hard. Look how they're breaking their teeth. The Rebbein is so proud of every single moment of Torah that we're learning. This is pshat in the Medrash. Avada Ruvain was a tremendous tzaddik, but did he know what it meant to the Rebbein Shlomoh? He knew what it meant to him, but did he know what it meant to Hashem? Ruvain was a tremendous tzaddik, but who was writing it down, guys? Everyone has the medrash backwards. They say if Ruvain would have known that it was being written down, if Ruvain would have known that Hashem was writing it down, that it was important to Hashem what was happening, that's what was changed Ruvain.
It would have changed Reuven to know that every single action he was doing was being recorded in the Torah. Hashem, you love my meisim. I want to do my meisim on fire. If Aaron and Kayin would have known that it was important to Hashem that Moshe Rabbeinu was coming, then he would have said, this brings nachas to Hashem. I'm going to come with a marching band. If Boaz would have known that it brings nachas to Hashem, then he would have served the fleishah gassuda. He knew how important it was to him. When something is important to the Rebbeinu Sholom, it's important infinitely. When something is important to us, it's only important however much we value it. So if we value Kaviyach on a silly level, if we value something to a level five, so then we put in level five. If we value something to a level seven, we put it to a level seven. If something matters to the Rebbeinu Sholom, then it matters all the way every single time. It matters infinitely. It matters cosmically. And this is the end of the Medrash.
Every single day when we're walking around, we have to be aware that Melcham Hashiach and Eliyahu Anavi are writing down our ma'asim. That a yid who wakes up in the morning and he says, 'Mayda ani lefanecha, Melchayvakayim shachazartibinetsmasi bchemla arabu amunasach.' Eliyahu Anavi and Melcham Hashiach are going. Did you see that? Did you see that? Modani? Did you see it? Did you see that? Modani? And the Rebbeinu Shlom is standing there with a stamp. Did you see that Modani? That's my kid. That's my kid with that Modani. That's my kid. Like the father who shows up at that yeshiva league basketball game, not to yell at the refs, the good fathers, not to yell at the other parents, but when his kid scores, he turns to his chaver next to him and he goes, 'You saw my son? You saw that rebound? You saw my son drop twenty? You saw my son scored that goal?'
Something unbelievable about a father as Nachas. The only reason that we don't wake up on fire every single morning is because we don't know how important it is to the Rebbeinu Sholom. And that is what Chassidus came to teach the world. Chassidus came to teach the world that the Rebbeinu Sholom is obsessed with his children. In a time where people were making Yiddishkeit into something elite, and they were saying, "Who does the Rebbeinu Shlom get nachas from?" The Rebbeinu Shlom gets nachas from the biggest Talmidei Chachamim. The Rebbeinu Shlom gets nachas from the tzaddikim. The Rebbeinu Shlom gets nachas from the yeshiva guys. The Balshamtof came into this world to flip the entire thing on its head and to say, "The Rebbeinu Shlom gets nachas from every single one of his children." There's no such thing as a father who gets more nachas from one child over the next. You'll learn this when you're a father.
Everyone thinks that their parents play favorites. It's not true. You won't know this until you become a parent. A parent has an infinite amount of love for every single child. And when any child does anything that's good and positive, and that expresses their unique talents in the world, a father is so proud. Did you see what he did? Did you see what she did? That's what the Baal Shem Tov came to do. The Baal Shem Tov came to a world making Yidden feel worthless, and he said the Rebbeinu Sholom is obsessed with you. Kol hayoim hisichasi, he's talking about it all day long. That's where greatness comes from. Who's going to be the guy that goes back into the beis medrash tonight after night seder, tonight after mishmar? Who's going to be the guy that goes back to beis medrash? Who's going to push himself another forty-five minutes of chazara, another blot?
Another shnayim mikra, another mishnayus, whatever it is that you're doing. Who's going to be the guy that pushes himself when we're tired, when it's late? One of the rabbis came over to me tonight, and he's right. He said the guy who's cleaning the basement just after Maariv is cleaning it too soon. We shouldn't put the chairs up. It's too early. Thursday night is supposed to be a night where you learn late into the night, deep into the night, two or three o'clock in the morning. Of course, assuming that a guy's going to wake up for shachris. Don't stay up too late if you're not going to wake up and have a meaningful shacharos. But how does a guy come to that level? How does a guy come to say, "I want to go till two, three o'clock in the morning. I want to use every moment of my life to learn Torah. I want to use every moment of my life to do Chesed. I want to use every moment of my life to dive into the Rebbeinu Shalom." Who's going to do that? If it's only important to you, you'll only do it as much as it's important to you. And Chaver, lots of things in your life are going to be important to you. You're going to have to make a parnasa.
You're gonna have to be a good father and spend time with your kids. You have to be a good husband and spend time with your wife. Lots of things are gonna be important. How do you know that you're gonna be the guy that ten, fifteen, twenty years from now? How do you know that you're gonna be the guy that Torah is a part of his life, that Tefillah is a part of his life? It's not gonna because it's important to you. It's gonna because you know that it's important to the Rebbeinu Shalom. I want to brag a little bit. I want to brag. You'll forgive me for bragging. It's not about me, but I want to brag. I want to brag about my brother. I have a brother. He lives in Nirya. Baruch Hashem, has a beautiful family. I don't know if you know Chaver, but tonight is a sim on Baba Basra. Daf Yomi finished Baba Basra. Tremendous accomplishment. And my brother sent me a message. I'm so proud of him. He's my little brother, but he's in so many ways he's my role model, and I'm so proud of him. I'm so proud to be related to him.
I'm just so proud. He told me he's an MDY guy. You guys know MDY is Merkaz Daf Yomi. Rabbi Eli Stefanski, my neighbor. So my brother's a big MDY guy, and three of his children are also MDY kids, and they do Daf Yomi every single day. I have a nephew who's on pace to finish Shas at 17 years old. Did he know what they were doing when they were learning suvas? Did he know? Certainly not every sugu. Did he know what they were doing in Baba Basra? I don't know. But in my brother's house, there's teira in the air, and my brother said there's kema not a moment when the kids are home where Ellie Stefansky's voice isn't permeating throughout the house. It's constantly his voice is constantly in the house because like.
My brother's learning Daf Yomi, and three of his children are learning Daf Yomi. Ad ke dekach that my brother has a one and a half year old daughter, one and a half years old, she's a little baby. Every morning, Ellie Stefanski's Daf comes on, and he starts off. He goes, 'Good morning, Rabbeisai.' That's like his big thing. Whenever the Daf comes on, little Atara, little Atara Sara, one and a half years old, comes running over so that when Ellie Stefansky says 'Good morning, Rabbi Yisai,' she joins along and she goes '!' A one and a half year old little girl. You know what that means, Rabbi Yisai? Aside from the fact that it's damn cute, you know what it means? It means that Torah is permeating in the home.
It means that every kid is growing up, and they know that Torah is the Iger. Should know that if it wasn't for the Balshamtof, it wouldn't have been that way. It used to be that there was the people that were in yeshiva, and then there were the unlettered people. Those people they were Jews, they did whatever they did. But what chelik did they have in Torah? How did the Balshamtof come to inspire us? And he said, 'Call Hayoy Misichasi.' It doesn't matter what level you're on. Maybe you're Avad Ya'berg and you're ten years old and you're starting daf yomi and you think to yourself, what value is it for a ten year old to be doing daf yomi? You know what the answer is because Avad Ya'berg grew up knowing kol hayom hichasih, my actions are being written down. They're important to Hashem. Every day that I learn, signs sealed and delivered. Eliyahu Hanavi, Melech HaMashiach, the Rebbe himself. That's what we're trying to communicate to you guys in yeshiva.
Guy says, "I have trouble waking up for shachris. You have trouble waking up for shachris because you don't know how the Rebbeinu Sholom has gaguim for your shachris. You have trouble coming to mincha. You don't know the Rebbeinu Sholom is waiting for your mincha." We say in Yom Kippur davening, "Elohei Adshalom, Netzarti Eini Kedai, Va'achesha Netzarti Ki'ilu Adshalom." Rebbeinu Sholom, until you made me, it wasn't worth it for me to be created, and now that you made it, it's still not worth it for me to be created. Sounds like a very negative, very depressing tefillah. Says Rav Kook, you're reading it wrong. Until it was my time, it wasn't yet my time. Like an actor on stage, you only walk onto the stage when it's your turn to say your lines. You don't come before that. But now, Rebbeinu Shalom, it's my turn to say my lines. You created me in this moment to say these lines.
Ki ilu lo tarti, and I'm standing there mute on stage, not saying my lines. Why are we mute? Why are we on stage? Every guy in yeshiva should be on fire. Every guy in yeshiva should be screaming his lines from the depths of his soul. Every guy should be running to Minyan every morning. Every guy should be running to the bais medrash. Why aren't we screaming our lines? We're on stage. It's our time. The answer is only because we forgot that we were on stage. We forgot that the Rebbeinu Shalom created us, and that He's waiting for us to say those lines because He has so much nachas from the lines that we say. He's obsessed with us. That's why so many times in Yeshiva we try to communicate to you guys to be a community with each other, to be obsessed with each other.
Every guy in yeshiva should be obsessed with every other guy in yeshiva. Every guy in yeshiva should only see the beauty in every other guy in yeshiva. Every guy in yeshiva should be running to do chesed. Guys complaining about the roommates? Don't complain about your roommates. Give some grace, give some kindness to your roommates. Because if you start to see through to the essence of every single Jew, if you realize every single guy in this yeshiva is beautiful, then you'll see the beauty in yourself, and that's what the Rebbeinu Shlom sees in us. The Rebbeinu Shlom sees our beauty. We don't see our beauty. Say, Rebbe, does it really matter if I learn a little bit of Mishnayos? The Rebbeinu Shlom is obsessed with your Mishnayos. Rebbe, does the Rebbeinu Shlom really care if I do Shnayim Mikra? The Rebbeinu Shlom is thrilled when you do Shnayim Mikra. Does the Rebbeinu Shlom care about my little Chesed? Does the Rebbeinu Shlom care if I come to Mishmar? The Rebbeinu Shlom loves this Mishmar. Loves this Mishmar. Kol Hayom Misichasi. He can't stop talking about it.
And what chas v'shalom happens when a person thinks they're worthless, and a person thinks I have nothing to offer this world, and nobody cares? So that's already one of the earliest stories in the Torah. We know that Cain killed Abel. Why? Because the El Menchasso Lo Sha, because the Rebbeinu Shalom didn't turn towards his carbon. Because two people brought a carbon, and the Rebbeinu Shalom paid attention to Hevels and not the Cain's. And when a person says, "I don't matter to the Rebbeinu Sholom. My carbon wasn't accepted. My carbon wasn't loved," you could kill your brother that way, because if you don't see the beauty in yourself, then you won't see the beauty in your brother. If you don't think the Rebbeinu Sholom cares about you, a person could do anything. What's the tikkun for Kayin? Elisha Hanavi. Kayin said, "Ve'olmen chasoi loisha." The Rebbeinu Sholom doesn't pay attention to his carbon.
Elisha is Elisha. The Rebbeinu Shlomis paying attention to me. That's the whole story of Elisha. The whole story of Elisha is that he was a simple man. He was the son of a farmer, and he was plowing the land one day, and Eliyahu Hanavi walked by him, and the Aderis Eliyahu, the corner of Eliyahu Hanavi's jacket, touched Elisha, and he said, "That's it. I'm on fire. I'm on fire. What changed? Nothing changed. There was no secret sauce in Eliyahu Hanavi's jacket." The secret sauce was in Elisha himself. That he said, "Elisha, somebody's paying attention to me. My life matters to the Rebbe Nisholom." He was just waiting for that Rebbe that would give him the excuse. And that's what the whole the Hiliger of Levi Yisrochmi Berdichev says that when Eliyahu Hanavi was ascending to Shamayim, that Elisha said to him, "Rebbe, before you live, before you leave this world, give me pishnayim meruchacha," which literally means, "Rebbe, make me twice as great as you."
But the kedushas Levi explains it means, Rabbi, when I'm with you, I feel like I have two ruachos, two spirits. There's the person that I am, and Rabbi, you remind me that there's a person that I could become, because my life is important to the rebbeinu shalom. And Rabbi, when you leave this world, Elisha says to Eliyahu Hanavi, when you leave this world, who's gonna remind me, Elisha? Who's gonna remind me that my life matters? Rabbi, give me a bracha that I should have pishnayim me ruachah, that even when I leave the walls of yeshiva and even when I'm not around my Rabbi anymore, that I should always remember that my life is important to the Rebbeinu Shlulam, and there is so many stories we could go through a million different stories. This is a story of Reish Lakish and Revi Yechonon. That Reish Lakish he was a bandit, and he jumped into the river to attack Revi Yechonon. And Revi Yechonon said to him, Chelcha lairaisa, you should use your strength for Torah. And Reish Lakish responded, He says, Shuf rech l'noshem, your beauty is for women.
And he said, 'If you would do tshuva, you could marry my sister.' That's what Rabbi Yehudah said. Chaver, I have a sister, and if I'm in the mikveh and a guy jumps into mikveh with me, I'm not offering him my sister as a shiduch. What in the world was Rabbi Yehudah thinking? He was thinking Reish Lakish had so much power, but he never had anybody tell him in his life before you could be a part of my family. You're important to me. You're valuable to me. Rav Yochanan changed Rachlakish's life when he said to him, 'You could be part of my family, chevra.' It's not a joke. We're sitting here in yeshiva. If a yeshiva is not a place where guys are valued, where guys value each other, and where guys value themselves, not according to their own metric system, but according to the Rebbeinu Shlom's metric system.
Then it's an absolute failure. Guys always say, "How do I know that I'm going to be the guy that takes it with me? How do I know that I'm going to be the guy that when I'm in college is still going to be learning? How do I know that when I'm an accountant I'm still going to be learning? How do I become that guy?" I don't want to embarrass him. Looking around in the room to see if he's here. Can't see so well in the dark. There's a boy in this yeshiva. I want you to know I'm jealous of his father. I won't say it. I should say it. I'm not going to say it. I'm jealous of his father. His father's a businessman. I'm lucky I get to be in yeshiva. His father's a businessman. His father probably learns more than most guys in this room. Every moment he's chapping minutes, he's chapping seconds. How does he do it? He has a life. He has a business. He has a family. He has children. How does he run to Torah so much? Torahitzes. He's a real yari Shamayim. Yari Shamayim doesn't mean that he stands in fear of God in the sense that he dreads God.
It means he has yerush Shamayim. He knows that his actions matter, and that's an awesome responsibility that we all have. On this yotzes keslev, in this tufa of seeing all the light in the darkness, I want to bless everybody here, and I hope you'll bless me back. That we should be zayche to see how important we are to the Rebbeinu Sholom. That we should feel the Rebbeinu Sholom's love. That we should feel the Rebbeinu Shalom being obsessed with us. That we should see it not only in ourselves, but that we should see it in each other. That we should not Chas V'Shalom denigrate one moment of learning. Every moment, Kol Hayoy Misichasi. Every svara, every single word of Torah that you learn, the Rebbeinu Shalom is obsessed with that. If we know that, then for sure we'll be Mitzliach. For sure we'll stay Gavelt. For sure, we'll treat ourselves with kindness and compassion in our lowest moments, and we'll constantly be oriented and aspiring for our higher moments.
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