Rav Kook: Tolerance | Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider | February 25th 2026

All right. You don't have to leave >> in America. [laughter] >> Okay. Teaching at FR. I know. She goes, "Is that right?" Yeah. [laughter] >> This is the teacher. >> Wow. That's great. [snorts] Okay, just another 30 seconds. We'll let everybody find their seat. All right, great. Good morning everyone. Good morning. Great to see everyone this morning. A beautiful beautiful morning here in Shalim and thank you very much for for being here. We have um a number of sponsors for our share this morning. Uh the learning is dedicated lelo nishmas Jared Beenfeld Shalam Carol and Howard Beenfeld's son by the beanfelds and we thank the beanfelds for their uh dedication this morning for gold chhatter sponsored for the month of February by Bachva Caner in memory of her husband Dr. Ruben Cancer Ben Barl Le Halevi who passed away on the 27th of Sha two years ago a man with a pure heart Torah scholar is missed dearly by the entire family. The shar is dedicated by Hill Goldshshire my brother memory of Alicia Khadina Ben Ravaran Abraham and by Judy Goldshider memory of her grandson Alicia Khan Zoa. So we thank our sponsors this morning. Very very meaningful. And uh we continue with our very special learning of RVuk, the midoaya, the character traits of uh of RVuk and where he emphasizes and asks us to think about these own character traits in our own life. And we're going to look at a character trait this morning which I think is one that you will not find in the typical muser far. In a typical Musfair you will find the idea of Adamo a lot of the standard overcoming we spoke about that as well and here he has what is called savlanut now that's a word that we are all familiar with savlanut we use that here in Israel somebody's pushing us as we're getting on the bus and we say savlanut a little bit a little bit of patience but um Rkook is going to use this uh this term in a slightly different way and the word I think the best word to use to divi define the way the cookook is using savlanut is tolerance tolerance tolerance for others tolerance for other ideas savlanut and let's jump into the words of ravk and uh we have it on page one and by the way this morning we're going to begin with this uh this teaching around savlanut this me of sablanut and then we're going to segue because we are within in a week of uh of porum. Uh here in your shalam we'll celebrate Tuesday night, Wednesday. So we're already within the the week of Porum. We're going to uh we're going to touch on a couple of very special beautiful ideas related to Purim which relate to this idea of Savlanut. And actually as I was hearing the last minute or two of Rabbi Manning, I think he was quoting one of the uh one of the pieces from Rufkook that we'll we'll quote as well. Okay, but let's begin with the idea of savlanut of tolerance and I'll begin that in the following way and that is that this idea of tolerance is uh I would say an important one for for me in the sense that the world where I was educated the world of yeshiva university and studying smika at reithiva university this principle this idea of being open to others being open to the ideas of others is a principle that was very very important in that setting. A very important idea for Rabbi Salvichek. Even the sort of the tagline of Yeshiva University of Torah um where you have the idea of Torah, but also there's a there's a big world of of science and of wisdom and of understanding and appreciating different walks of life and different perspectives. That's something that that um that was very important in my education and in my outlook really based on that uh the world of yes I yes I yes university and RF cook is going to highlight this idea as well the importance of savlanut again not so much patience even though that's part of what it means to have tolerance for others but to be tolerant to the ideas of others and let's begin with the first paragraph from uh from RVuk on Savlanut and here we're up to the letter Sam by the way for Those that have been following us from the very beginning going through the alphabet, we've made it all the way to the samath. He has this one piece. This is the one one word, one principle um that he has on the letters. So when we speak about tolerance when it comes to thought when it comes to perspectives and the perspectives of others when it comes from a pure heart which is cleansed from any any wickedness in other words the openness that you have to ideas comes from a pure place. It's not from a wicked place not from a place that you just want to say well it's a free-for-all. we can all just, you know, choose any perspective and there aren't boundaries and you don't necessarily have to analyze. We can just kind of like, you know, in a in a free-for-all take from from everyone and every direction. That's not that's not the idea of savan. where it comes from a place of purity. It doesn't bring about it doesn't it doesn't um it doesn't bring coldnesses the fire of holiness that comes from or that's found in a place of pure faith. I think what Rafuk is speaking about here and this is something that I remember Rabbi Norman Lem the president of YU he would talk about you know sometimes it's difficult when you're when you when there is an openness where there is tolerance where there is tolerance sometimes it's challenging for there to be the same passion you know it's easier if you have one idea if you believe in one thing and you kind of shut out every other idea to be very passionate about that idea but how about if you have that tolerance and it and that openness to many ideas can you also have that same passion and I remember Rabbi Lamb said that even the moderate you know um orthodoxy or modern orthodoxy that we have to uh be passionate about that as well so I think that's what Rkook is referring to here as well it doesn't dampen right it doesn't cool off the amun that we have that which we believe in which is the very essence of the happiness of life. It actually broadens the idea of appreciating the godliness in everything. The truth is when we talk about tolerance, it is it's armed or it's equipped with an there's great faith in that as well. In other words, to be able to appreciate all the different positions, the many many different perspectives that actually requires great faith to the point to the point that you recognize that there cannot be a soul that is rake that is empty or that is lacking the holiness of the light of of uh the light of holiness. In other words, to appreciate many perspectives is to appreciate that there's godliness in many perspectives as well. So that doesn't diminish faith. It actually it actually is a uh is is an expression of great faith to be able to see that goodness to see the holiness in the many perspectives in the many walks of life because the life of uh the godly life the life or the energy of uh of God of holiness fills all of the world or fills all of life. So this is Rabbi Salvich, I'm sorry, Rav Cook. We'll get Ra Salvichek in a moment. This is Rav Cook speaking about the importance of tolerance. Tolerance to appreciate the other perspective to see the godliness to see the holiness not only in your perspective in your walk of life but in other walks of life as well. Um what comes to mind a couple of things come to mind just as a way of of elucidating this idea. First of all, the gamarra itself which is uh which is quite an astounding gamarra where it speaks about why is it that ille and shami that they argue so many times in the gamarra. Why is it that almost in every scenario in every case that we paskin like hilo? That's the question that the garam asks. It's a good question, right? They're both uh tremendous. The wisdom of Hill, the wisdom of Shamai. You would think it would kind of like fall out half and half like 5050 that we do Shami that we do Hill. But we know that Hill is always again I think there are just three exceptions. There about 300 different makin different arguments of Hill and Shamai and Bhil and Shamai and we're always go going according to Hil. So the Garra asked that question. Why is it that we go according to Hill? And here's the Gamarra's answer. The Gamarra says because Hillel whenever he argued with Shamai, I'm not sure if you've heard this, he would first restate the position of Shami. In other words, before he would give his position, this is what the Gamarra says. Before he would state his position, he would first restate the opinion of B Shamai. There was let me let me just restate that. Let me see if I understand that correctly. And only after stating Shamai's opinion would he state his own opinion. Now, that's quite an awesome thing and that's a great lesson for us as well, right? Sitting around the shabas table or maybe having a difference of opinion with somebody else and to say, you know what, before I express my opinion, let me just restate. Is this what you mean? Let me understand. Is this is this what you're saying? And by the way, by saying that, you have already taken a step to to elucidate the argument. In other words, you're not just restating what the person says, but you're trying to understand more deeply the argument. And this is what the Gumar says about Hill that every time this and the garb says this is why we pascin like Hill. So one way of understanding that is that was just like menite that was like a sensitivity that Hill did that. The other way of understanding why we pos like Hill is because maybe Hill was able to reach the truth the MS in that argument being that he heard the other side that he understood the other position. So this is what it means. This is what it means tolerance and to hear the other position to have the patience to hear the other position and the openness the openness of mind the openness of heart to hear the other position as well. I also think about Rabbi Salvetic and one of the positions in Rabbi Salvich's life in which he um in which he took a different position than his own family was on religious Zionism. And we know Rabbi Yseph do Salvichek that one of the great speeches that he gave and one of the great positions that he uh that he formulated for the Jewish people is the importance of error to Israel and returning to erat Israel and the importance of the religious Zionist movement. is the tradition in the brisk family and certainly going back to Salvichek is that they were anti-zionists. They were not open to the idea of Zionism, right? The modern Zionism of that time. And Rabbi Slavichek had that openness and rethinking and hearing the other side and reformulating the position which was not an easy thing for him to do. And by the way, that was a position that others, you know, for the most part, the the gdole, the fakame of America at that time, they basically were not on board with Rabbi Salvich. And he was sort of a bit outside of the camp because of that position. But that's part of what it means savanu tolerance of hearing the other side of reassessing of thinking about the issue. And Rufk says that this is something that that is essential. There's a very interesting book that um that came out a number of years ago by a Rabbi Dalin. He's a Kabad rabbi. He's written many books about the about Kabad and Kabad their relationship with others. He has about a 300page book about the Rebi's relationship with Rabbi Salvich, Rabbi Dalin. Um the Rebi and the RV. I believe that's the title of the book if you're interested. The Rebi and the RV. And one of the interesting points that he makes in the book that I found interesting, it's a very it's a fascinating book about their relationship. Again, they were, you know, in two different worlds, the litfish world, the Lithuanian world of learning and the kidic world. And especially in those days, there was, you know, a real uh a gap and a distance between those two communities. And he points out that at yeshiva un at yeshiva university over the years there were kabad students that would go up to Washington Heights and u they would have they would have little classes like they would come and they would study Tanya and that was something which was accepted at yu that you had you knowic young men that would come and they would have a little kabura like little classes and there was also yes university there was like a a kabad you could be part of the kabad club like they' all you know all the clubs in in a university in a college setting. There was a Kabad club as well, people that were interested, maybe people that were dabbling in Kabad. And he he points out in the book that that's something that's very special about YU that in that setting. And he said at 770, you know, the the base of of of Kabad Rebi, he said that would never go that you could have students coming from YU and teaching Rabbi Salvich. Like that's something that they they would never open their door to such a thing. And he pointed that out. I thought that was, you know, very honest and um very insightful and it says something about Yeshiva University. It says something about this idea of Sablan, the importance of tolerance, of hearing the other side. Yes, we're lit yeshiva. Students want to come from Lababich and and share their teachings and to be open to that to be open to, you know, to other other perspectives. We're open to it. Again, this is it. That's that's what makes Yeshiva University a very complicated very complicated place. uh Rabbi Salvation would often talk about that it's not simple you know that it's not a perfect you know a perfect synthesis between the two worlds but it's something that we believe in we believe in Torah study and we believe in a savanut a tolerance and openness to uh to the world and to different perspectives yes please >> does risk here do they believe Zionist >> I don't believe so [laughter and clears throat] I don't know that much about it but I no I think they they really follow the family tradition going back to Ram Salvichek and Relville who was here as well, the uncle of the RV that they were not open not open to Zionism and for that reason it was very challenging for Rabbi Salvich himself to break with his family tradition right that was and and to him family and the msora of the family he writes about that he speaks about that that's one of one of the ideas that was so important to him that carrying on the family tradition but on this issue of religious Zionism He saw he saw something else and he saw that we need to make a change and this was uh he broke away from his family on this issue. Yes, please. >> I want to understand that was one of the reasons that he didn't come to >> uh that that that's that's interesting. Yes, there's a whole discussion why he doesn't come to Israel. One of the answers that's given, you're right, one of the answers that's given that he does not settle in Israel doesn't come to Israel because the family that's here in Israel is uh is anti-Zionism and he doesn't want to kind of create that um you know that tension within the family and better just to stay in Boston, stay in New York and not to create family tension around that issue. Yeah. Very interesting. Some some have mentioned that. Yeah. >> Cook was very into dealing with the secular. >> Yes. uh Israelis would be uh ones who started the farming but raises attitude I think he would not discuss it would not be in an open forum was conservative and reform am I >> okay good so that's a that's a whole discussion but my understanding of Rabbi Salvich he said that on issues that were facing the Jewish people as a whole that we can work together but on issues of of actual religion that we should um that we should stay, you know, where we're not going to really find common ground that we we're going to kind of remain distant from one another. Okay. But that's a that's a more complicated >> um a distinction between Roy Salvich and RV Cook on that issue. I'm not I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I mean, this is this is where we kind of like get into the more of the nitty-gritty and kind of like the the boundaries of Savlanut um of tolerance. Rif Cook is speaking more in general and I think we'll we'll kind of keep it you know we'll keep it more on the philosophical side but these are you know sort of like the nitty-gritty the uh the technicals around it is is certainly a a uh it's a good question a very very challenging issues now how to implement this idea of tolerance okay let's share the following from Ravkuk on this issue of of savlanut and we'll see a beautiful explanation that he has for the following garra so Well, let's begin with a puk. This is on page one and the puk in the Torah says the following. This is this is towards the end of the Torah right in the middle of the page on page one. and Moshe and the Levim. They said the following to the entire Jewish people is hazal. So they say Israel and listen Israel. What does the word mean? So huske is not a common word but they're calling out to the Jewish people. I think if you look at the translation art school says be attentive and listen. That's the word huske. But look at what the gamarra says. The gamarra says that the word huske means the following. This is gamar in brahos gimmel on the left side. Haske. What does the word huscate mean? The word huscate you can break down to two parts. H like the word ass like to make make. And what's akat? Like a kita. Make small groups like we're familiar with the word akita. Make classes like we're doing right now. Bring people together. That's what it means. H. and come together and study Torah. In other words, that's the Gomarra understands that that's what the word huske means or maybe a deeper meaning to the word huske that when Moshe turned to the Jewish people along with the in levian and they were teaching them about the Torah well how to study Torah from a Jewish perspective study together study with others which by the way that's always been the way that Jews have studied that we studied the we study we study with a vad I mean we study alone as well but we always talk about the importance of of coming together I remember just talking about you know as I'm talking Beij University. So in the morning we're in the base matter you have hundreds of people right the loud colra that everybody is learning together and then you would go to the library in the afternoon and what what what do you find in the library? So everybody's going to their cubicle they're sitting quietly they're sitting themselves and that stark you know contrast between bish the way that we study Torah and the way that we study secular studies. So I saw that that was something that you know that that you would see every day at YU. So here the Garra says what does it mean? It means when you study study together as groups come together as groups when you study. Now here this is really a striking line. Not only is it a nice thing to do to come as a group to come together as a class but Gamar makes the assertion that Torah cannot be acquired. Torah nickname unless you're together as a group as a group that you come together. Now what does that mean? What does it mean that you can't acquire Torah unless you come together as a group? So this is the way that yes so how would we answer that? Rivk Cook says the following and I'll read a line or two from Rivk. RVuk says if you study alone so then you're just getting one perspective and are you really arriving at are you really attaining the truth of Torah when you're looking at Torah yourself if you're not sharing it with others if you're not sitting with a kabus with somebody else and and sharing your idea and hearing his perspective coming to a class and hearing perspectives of others and that's the way to arrive at truth look at Ruk and beautiful The perfecting the world that comes about through the study of Torah of those that come together. You have to come into study of Torah with a purity of heart. It has to be with awe of God. You need to address the Torah to study Torah to see its wisdom. And here you can underline it. Maybe I did underline it. what's necessary and here's this word he's used the word he's using the word here also in the you need again patience not so much patience you need the openness you need the tolerance you need to hear the other position as well famously talks about um at the as we say in that right they bring peace to the world. How do they bring peace to the world? Because they hear from one another. They study with one another. They hear the other perspective. We need to be open to the other perspective as well. Openness of heart, openness of mind, to hear the other side, to consider the other side. And that's how we are going to arrive at truth. Uh look at the top of the next page, page two. And here Ruf Cook adds one other element to the importance of of coming together as a group. And I think this is a very very beautiful idea. Top of page two and this is from Rifook's the Torah can only be acquired as a group. Now why is that? This is what Rafuk writes. We'll look at the first line. The Torah is a Torah of life. You know what life means according to Rafuk? that you're part of life, right? That you're not sitting alone, that you're not sitting in your room just reading and studying, that you're interacting with others, the joy of being with others, the joy of learning from others. Going back to the text, it doesn't direct a person to a life of nirut. What's nirroot? Nu means that we are separating or we're isolating ourselves from other from from one another like the Nazir does, right? Separating from the rest of the community. And a person that that sees the of the world as something that's that's below him or he belittles that. In other words, you are to enjoy, right? You are to enjoy. Get a get a cup of coffee, get a Danish, right? Sit down and learn, be together with others. what they say in Yiddish to feel the gishmach, right? Just to enjoy the company of others, to learn together, to share with others. That's what it means. That's what Torah study is about. Torah study is not something that we do that we do in an isolated way. And we don't do it. It's not about just trying to uplift or to elevate your own personal spirituality and just to be joyous in your own heart for your own accomplishments. It's not about your own accomplishments. It's not about only your elevation. It's about interacting. It's about sharing. And I'll just read there's a beautiful there's a Rabbi Danny man Daniel. He teaches at uh at Eritzkanda. And for a number of years, he wrote a summary or a bit of a translation for all ofaya. If you're interested in on the Eritkanda website, he has a he has all ofaya with translation adaptation. And this is what he writes. I just like like the way that he summarizes this piece. Um to withdraw into solitude solitude imagining that this leads to closeness with God is foreign to the Torah's vision. Right? This is Rkook and um there may be other communities that might emphasize a little bit more of uh of the solitude idea, but Rafuk is about coming together. The joy of coming together. Such a path runs so contrary to Judaism that even the pursuit of Torah wisdom which is not meant to be a solitary quest uh that even the pursuit of Torah wisdom is not meant to be a solitary quest. Here's a line that I like, but a journey we take together. That Torah study is a journey that we take together. That we're sharing in that journey. The sharing, we're sharing in the journey of growing from Torah, of understanding Torah, of understanding your perspective, my perspective, growing from one another. What a beautiful idea that is. There are communities that do not emphasize this. They emphasize that this is our way or the highway, right? This is our perspective. We're not really interested in hearing anything beyond that. We know that we have the MS that we have the truth and there's a lot that's you know wrong about everyone else. Rufk is coming from a very very different perspective and that is this idea this beautiful idea of savvlanut of tolerance of hearing from others hearing perspectives through that growing and through that actually arriving at the truth of Torah because only if you hear the many different perspectives and consider those perspectives can you um can you can you arrive at the at the truth. Okay, one other line from RV cook and then we're going to we'll take the the next 15 20 minutes to segue into into Purum which is a beautiful segue from this idea. Um here's just one line from RV Cook. This is like one that if you want to put it on on your refrigerator, I would recommend it. So he writes the following. One of my favorite lines from RV cook. It's in an igro that's in the letter. I'll just read it in Hebrew. If only I had arms the size of the world. My beloved brothers, I would love to hug all of you. Every one of you. I'll just read it in the nice translation. This is from uh Rabbi Schwarz has a beautiful collection of translations of material. Uh Arisv Schwarz. My beloved brothers, if only I had the arms the size of the world so that I could hug you with all I could hug you all with love. So that's Igro Raya from his from his letters. Actually, it was a letter that he sent to the Moshaim in the uh in the Golan in the Galilee in 1913. So yeah, we should all feel that way as we're walking down the streets of Shalahim and Tel Aviv and wherever we are and outside Israel as well. If only I could hug, you know, had arms big enough that I could hug every single Jew. Okay, so now we uh now we're going to segue and I think it's appropriate as we're um as we are making our way to the holiday of Purum and it's so beautiful. I was in Osher the other morning walking in and seeing seeing all of the candy and seeing all the baskets and to see all the wine and to see everything on display for Purim, how beautiful that is. And I think back to my days growing up in America and the seasons walking into the stores. It was always about the other holidays that were coming up, right? All the other holidays. And we were on that calendar and trying to like sort of we were half enjoying it, but we knew that's not really who we are. And we kind of had to had to take a step back and kind of look away. That's not our holiday. We shouldn't be enjoying it so much. But here as we walk into Oshad into our supermarkets into our maklets and see all the porum that is being displayed we can just enjoy it and feel a part of of amrael to feel a part of a nation that's celebrating here in the land. Okay. So what does Ruf cook? There are two two things that I want to highlight from Rufk um about Porum. What does what does Rufk have to say? What does he have to say about Porum? What ideas about Porum spoke to Ruf cook? There's a lot there's a lot. Hopefully people have been watching uh Rebson Shani Taragan's podcast on the migillo. Quite a beautiful amazing amazing teaching. There's so much to say about the migillo. There's so much to say about purum. But what is it that Rufkook highlights? So I want to highlight two ideas and uh you'll see this is very much the heart and soul of uh of RVuk. So he writes an article. I I I believe that it appeared you know he wrote in a lot of different ways. He wrote a lot of personal writings that he would just like write. I've mentioned that many times. He would just wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning and he'd be writing and we have notebooks of his writing the vatsim which were just personal thoughts and ideas and a lot of that has been collected and being analyzed and being taught today. He also wrote articles the way a rabbi would be asked to write an article for a newspaper. And I believe this was an article sort of on the more simpler the simple maybe is not the right word but for the hamonam an idea to share with the nation as a whole that people would read before Purum. And this I believe is an article that appeared a year before Rifk passed away. The name of the the name of the the name of the article is ado yada ado yada. And what is that? We're familiar with that terminology. That's that one should drink to the point that you no longer have cognizance that you no longer can recognize the difference between Haman and Bari. That's the name of his that's the title of his piece that he wrote. And of all the sukim in McGill Esther, what do you think would be his favorite pasuk? If you had to pick out one puk, where would where would RV cook which puk would stand out? Everybody has their favorite puk, I'm sure. >> Nice. Okay, good. Nice. That's a good guess. This is the PK that he begins with. Le koshin. Go and bring the entire Jewish people together. We need to unify. We need to come together. We need brotherhood. We need savanut. We need tolerance. We need to care for one another. We need to hear from one another. We need to be open to one another. That's the way that he begins. know and then he quotes from the garra which we just quoted from a moment ago. This is migill is the very top that every single person has an obligation to get drunk on to the point that you no longer know between wicked hamai and blessed mor. Okay. So what is what what is RF hook what is Rook going to uh where he's where is he going to take us with this idea. Let's open with the first paragraph. I always like to read a few lines from RF cook. Let's read a few lines the way that he begins and then I'll share with you the the uh the tied the essence of of what he shares in this article. Most of the article you have here and the next page as well we'll share that and then one other idea from Cook. Okay. He writes these days of Purima during these very very difficult times. This is 1934. And by the way, we'll see that what he says here, we could be reading it today. And here we are, Israel under threat again and the difficult days that we went through after the war. And now we're there's concern about Iran and a possible attack. these difficult days that suffering difficulty surrounds us that from the outside that there's a lot of concern right we're concerned with what's going to be with the Jewish people here again he's writing in the early years of the state but then he writes the following but you know what is more concerning or disconcerning is the inner s are the difficulties that we have within shalom that there's a lack of love that there's a lack of shalom within our people in other words we have concern from the outside but says you know what the biggest concern is if we do not have shalom bay within our home meaning the house of Israel b israel right if there's animosity if there's friction if there's fighting within the Jewish people. That's something that we need to be very concerned with. Shalom is >> this is 1934. What is he referring to? First of all, you have on the outside you have the rise of Hitler at the time. But on the inside, what he's referring to, and this is something that is a is becomes like the major battle and the the issue for Revk is how to bring the secular side of the country together with the religious side of the country. Are we still struggling with that today? Over 100 years later, we're still struggling with that. We we're struggling with that in a in a very very serious way. In a very serious way. So he writes, "We are to remember during these days what happened. Let's remember what unfolded in the story of Esther. Let's remember that that migill is written." Those what's there is not just a story for that time but the lessons that are there are lessons for 2026 they're lessons that are eternal that's a story those are lessons that we need to learn from in our day as well when you talk about that rises above it stands above the um no matter what time you are in no matter which generation all the developments, all the undergoings and that statement that was made by Esther that needs to be heard again. It needs to bring it needs to bring us to life to energize us. Those words we need to hear again how important it is for us especially when there is a threat to the Jewish people where there's danger that we need to be together. We need to be one. We need to be unified. But you can ask the question, what language is he using? He's using the language of the of the of the he says those that know how to ask and even those that don't know how to ask, we can ask the following question. Is it possible at this time? Is it really possible to bring everyone together? How do we unify? How do we bring a sense of brotherhood and love in the nation that we really do care for one another? >> Okay. So, Rufuk um that's the question that well that's the statement that he makes and the question that he asks. How do we bring the nation together? Yes, please. >> Unfortunately, generally we are attacked from outside and that >> okay. Oh, you know what? So, Rafuk is going to say that. Look at the following paragraph. Unfortunately, at times when we are attacked, when we feel that danger, we we it's a time that we come together. Look at turn the page to page three. And let me just read this one paragraph for the sake of time. Let's read it in English. It's translated. Um there's a book called Seasons of Celebration, which is a translation of many of RV Cook's teachings on the holidays. Let's look at this paragraph. And what you just said is exactly what RV cook says to some degree. We must therefore admit our error in identifying the essence of Judaism with its surface appearance, its outer baser side. For this self-image has made us fearful. We are conscious only of our dispersion and division. There was what we're focusing on unfortunately is the fact that we are dispersed that we are divided as a nation. Let's stop looking at that division. The hummons of every generation who strike at us with their poisonous hatred particularly in the transition period perceive our weak side for it is visible and recognizable. This is an interesting line because it says Hammon and the Hammons of every generation take note when there is divisiveness within the Jewish people and that's when they attack and a lot of people pointed out October 7th was a time where there was great division animosity within the Jewish people and people have have based on research and that kamas sensed that and they knew that that was a time that we were weaker and Rav Cook writes that the humans of every generation who strike at us with their poisonous hatred particularly in this in this transition period, perceive our weak side, for it is visible and recognizable. But precisely through these tribulations, we shall come to sense that we possess a previously unknown collective soul. But what happens when we feel that danger when we're under threat? We recognize how much we need one another. Now, we shouldn't wait for those moments, but that's what happened in the time of Purum. We need to recognize that as well. We need to recognize all the time, right? how much we are connected and interconnected that we're one soul and the way that we need to care for one another. A great national spirit whose existence we have forgotten it abounds with vitality and possesses sufficient power to renew our lives is old. So he calls on the Jewish people at times of threat but even when we're not threatened anytime to learn from the porm story how critical it is for us as a people to come together to be unified. So this is this is one of the highlights or one of the themes that highlights about porum the importance of unity. This is the story of Esther and it's a story that we need to learn from in every generation in our generation as well. Let's um one last just for just because we're short on time. If we turn to page four, one other really interesting idea that and it it it beautifully um segways from the previous um idea of Rafuk page four. So one of the one of the unique and one of the surprising parts of the holiday of Purum is the drinking that we do on Purum, right? It really is a a a surprising that the Gomorrah says that we are to get we never do that in Judaism for the most part is not in favor of getting drunk and even halically it's very problematic. You're not allowed to dab in the Garra says if you dab in that way it's like you're serving a zara because you're not serving God. You're not you're not cognizant of God in front of you. So even to bench and to dav and dav marb after you're drunk. So when you have all these problems it's a very problematic position in general. We know the Torah is not in favor. Noah gets drunk as he leaves the TVA. Right. Right away we we learn in the Torah how the the negative qualities of drinking. And here we have this idea that we're supposed to drink on Purum. And to such a degree that we don't know the difference between Hammon and Morai. That's not just a little glass of wine or two. That's serious serious amount of drinking which a lot of people do take very seriously. So Rufuk has the following teaching. Now let me just state Rkook also believes in the mitzvah to drink that there is a mitzvah again it's brought in and again there are different opinions in how to do it you can look at Torah tibbits we have an outline as part of the purum in the latest that just came out this morning addressing the issue of how to drink properly according to but Rafuk adds another dimension to the idea of drinking and and let me share the following top of page four and this is comes from a book called Moadaya who was a student of RVuk. He put together a lot of his teachings around the Moadim. And this is a line from the obligation. Now again, this is somewhat esoteric. Rafuk says if you look at the Gamar, it does not say that you are to get drunk on Porum. The bisum bora. What does the word bisume mean? It's like the word bisa mean fragrance. It means a smell. That the idea of means that we are to attach ourselves. We are to take take in the idea of a fragrance which is an elevated fragrance. That's what Rook says. We'll see what he means in a moment. And this is actually one of the dargo. This is one of the levels. This is one of the characteristics of the Mashiach that the Messiah has this characteristic of fragrance. And what is that based on? It's based on a that's found in the he smell, he's able to sense the fragrance of fear of God. Okay, I've just said a lot of things that don't add up, that aren't easy to understand. Let's look at the following. What is Rafuk referring to? He's referring to a inahu is pericuim. Have you ever heard this idea that when the Messiah comes, the way that he's going to judge is through a sense of smell? Not by looking at others, not by what he hears, but by the fragrance that he's able to assess. Look at what the says. When the Messiah comes, he's going to smell. He's going to be able to sense with smell the fear of God. Not based on what he sees. Is he going to judge and not based on what he hears is he going to determine. Now look at what the mikra writes. It's the way of many animals. It's true of people as well. when [clears throat] they want to when they want to assess a certain item, you smell it first. Have you been in the airport and you have your luggage and there's a dog that's going around sniffing your luggage. >> So, [laughter] so the dog has the ability to pick up certain scents. So, that's what he's that's what the D mikra is describing here as well. When the Messiah comes, the Messiah is going to be able to pick up on certain sense of people. He's not going to judge people based on their appearance. He's not going to base he's not going to judge people based on what he hears. He's going to base on something that's deeper to be able to identify something deeper within a person. I'm just reading the end of he's not going to judge. She's not going to determine the law based on what he sees the outer appearance what appears to his eyes. He's going to be able to go to a much deeper place and that deeper place is that place of scent of smell of fragrance of aroma. Now what does Rafuk mean by this? He means that what does porm represent libisume that we are to become more attentive to the fragrance of the other Jew of our fellow Jew meaning look for something deeper don't judge that person based on their outer appearance not on what you see and not on what you hear but to recognize that there's something deeper within that individual and that's the scent right the scent of that person right that there's something positive and what's the scent the scent is The nama right the scent is the potential. The scent is that light in that other person. And that's what it means. The gar does not say it doesn't say get drunk on porum. It says become a person of bisum that you're able like the messiah. It's a little bit of taste of a of salvation of redemption of a messianic of a messianic way of messiah to look at people to judge others not the way that they look. Stop looking at the kipah or how they're covering their hair or how they're dressing. Stop looking at the outer. Stop listening and start looking at something deeper. And what's deeper within every individual is the soul is a holy soul that's found in everyone. And that's how we're going to bring the um that's how we're going to bring people together. That's how we're going to bring the nation together. Just just quickly, I want to just hit on two more points. The two major figures of McGill Esther, what are their names? Both of their names are about their scent. >> Esther >> is about and okay. So what is the name of Esther? The very first time they were introduced to Esther and Migillah. >> It says Hadasa. And what is a hadas? A hadas is the myrtle. The myrtle is for smell. Mordeai. What's morai's name? The gumar actually asked the question. Where is the name of Morai? Where where do we find that in the Torah? And they quoted me dur that it's a combination of flowing myrr. It's fascinating that Esther again her real name had is the fragrance. Mortify is the fragrance. And maybe this is hinting this to this idea of fragrance. >> Yeah, sure. So it's it's the source. If you look at source number four, the source number four, where is Morai alluded to in the Torah? That's the Gar's question in Kulim in the verse marur. It's a combination of the words flowing myrrh which was the the spice that was used as part of the shemanha mish. Okay. So this is what when he speaks about purum he talks about unity and how are we going to have that unity how we're going to have greater sablanut for one another. How we're going to have the patience for one another and to hear one another. We need to see beyond the facade. We need to stop judging others on the outside and let's look beyond that. Let's look for something deeper. And that deeper is the bass is that that scent and the positive scent, the fragrance, right? The esther, the mortai, the beauty that's found in the other individual. Okay. I want to just conclude with the following. I'm sorry. I'm just I'll take a question at the very end. I I just want to I want to conclude with the following story. I see we're just we're just pressed for time. So these are you know of all the lessons of of porum this is what Rkook connects to and what RVuk wants us to think about when it comes to porum. By the way every mitzvah of Purim is about coming together right migillah is come together as a people. Mishlo manut is connecting with others. Matanim is connecting with those that are poor and suda mish is coming together. Every one of the is about how do we bring how do we bring people closer to one another? How do we bring the nation closer to one another? Okay. To conclude, a story from a book that just came out about a month ago. It's um by the way, if you look at the cover, you can't really see. It's an AI image of of of Cook dancing with the uh dancing with the pioneers. I don't think he wore he didn't really wear a Striml quite like the Striml. Um but this is yeah an AI image of uh yeah it was a little bit of a higher one. Okay. So this is an article that Rafuk wrote that he published. One of the first things that he published when he came to Israel in a book called Haton and the name of the articles is Hador. Hador the generation had the generation. And it's a beautiful article. We actually mentioned a little bit last week about that article is about how to appreciate this generation and especially those that have come to the land of Israel, those that were sacrificing even though they were not sham shabas, not keeping mitzvah, rejecting, rebellious. But we have to see the goodness in them. So that's the main message of Adore. Um and again this was just translated Raban Morrison just came out a couple of months ago. It's a little almost like a a pamphlet. But at the very end he has the following story about RV cook. And I just want to read to you the story. I don't think I could tell it as well as as he has it here. And it's a story of RV cook. And we've spoken about this together that I think it was either 1913, 1914 that he makes his way what's called the Masachu Chuva that he leaves Shalam and with a group of rabbis he goes to visit the communities and those pioneers the kalutim that are working throughout the land of Israel especially in the north and what a beautiful thing for a rabbi and this rabbitic delegation to say we're not just going to sit in our base mish we're not just going to sit in your shalim and teach we're going to come to you and we want to learn from you we want to interact with you Savlanut. We want we want to we want to have a conversation with one another. Okay, here we go. Pia Pia, a small farming community perched above the Sea of Galilee, was founded in 1912 by a group of young pioneers. 1912, there were barely 60 in number, 60 people that are living all the way up north, building a new community in a remote spot far from the rabbis, family, and familiar Jewish life. Yet one night in 1913, yeah, it was 1913, became a highlight of the Mosha's early history, a night none of them would ever forget. That autumn, the pioneers learned that Rafuk, chief rabbi of Jaffa, was touring their northern towns and settlements with Rabbi Zunnfeld, Rabbi Yadler, and Rabbi Harowitz. Their itinerary did not include the small farm, but the workers were eager for the rabbis to see their fleshling community. They sent two representatives on Shabbat to invite the delegation. So they came on Shabbat to the rabbis to invite them to come to their little farm. Priya, however, laid beyond the Shabba's boundary beyond the Shabbat. By Jewish law, the emissaries would not be able to return home until nightfall to avoid further desecration of Shabbat Shabbat. Rafuk gave no immediate reply. Instead, he told them he would announce his decision after Abdullah. He didn't want them to go back to be over on another ara of traveling a far distance and traveling on Shabbat. As Shabbat ended, Rafuk recited the blessings over the wine, spices, and light. He then turned to the messengers. The rabbis would indeed come to visit Korea the following evening. The next night, the workers gathered in their dining hall singing and dancing to lift their spirits as was their custom. Afraham Rosenblad, one of the guards on duty that night, later recalled how suddenly Rafuk entered the hall and joined the circle of the dance. His presence electrified the room. The youthful pioneers long estranged from religious life felt an unexpected warmth in the rabbi who had sought them out. Rosenlat was standing with his fellow guard Pinas Schneersen like the watchmen of Hashare. These were the the Jewish watchmen at the time. They dressed in Bedawin style. They wore Arab cloaks and Aia headdresses, rifles slung at their sides. Rafuk approached them and asked the two to escort him to the office of the manager, Eliu Israelite. As they walked, the rabbi glanced at Schneersen, the taller of the two guards, and asked whether he might borrow his uniform. Moments later, the three returned to the hall. The chief rabbi, Rabbi Cook of Yafo, now stood dressed as a watchman, a flowing cloak over his shoulders and a rifle across his back. The astonished pioneers cheered. The cloak and the kia Rosenlat thought was well suited for the rabbi. Rafuk lifted his voice in song. The taher lienu, purify our hearts so that we may truly serve you. When the singing faded, he addressed the pioneers with an urgency that stilled the room. And this is what Rafuk said to the group. Dear brothers, holy brothers, builders of the land of Israel. Just as I'm not ashamed to wear your garments, so I beg of you, do not be ashamed of the Torah of Israel. Keep its mitzvot, guard its holiness, and you will live long in this land in purity and strength. It is so difficult to be a Jew. In diaspora your homes were steeped in faith conducted in purity and observance. I'm sorry. He says is it so difficult to be a Jew? In the diaspora your homes were steeped in faith conducted in purity and observance. Okay. Now RV cook goes on. Then he surprised them. This is where RV cook. He turned to the whole group and he said I will not remove the uniform of your guard unless you promise me all of you with one heart and willing soul to fulfill my request. I want you to be shamim. I want you to be guards and to guard over your inner Jewish spark, your p your pinty. The pioneers rose as one and shouted, "We promise." Ravkuk's face broke into a radiant smile. Fortunate are those who witness such dances of holiness and chuva. And then there's the last line. For more than an hour, he danced with them, leading song after song, his joy matching the unbounded energy of the youth around him. The following day, the delegation remained on the farm instructing the workers in the laws of Kashroot and helping Kash the kitchen before taking leave satisfied with the visit. So that is his very beautiful story of Ravk how he changes his clothing that he puts on the the clothing of the uh of the guards of these shamim. And what's amazing is that there's actually there's a picture of Schneersen of this uh of this fellow. Again, you can't see it from where you are. is a 1909 photo of members of the Hashomeare organization and Pinfas Schneersen is standing in the middle of the second row from the top. So he actually has a picture of this young pioneer who he changed clothing with and uh this is RV Cook dancing with the dancing with the uh with the pioneers. So this is uh this is the way that Rivkuk sees um the importance of or one of the most beautiful lessons of Purim to hear that should reverberate in every generation in our generation in our own homes in our communities and amongst our people as a whole to to come together. And when we come together, when Hashem sees the unity, when Hashem sees the brotherhood, when Hashem sees our savan, that we have tolerance, that we're open, that we listen, that we hear from one another, then uh that Hashem will absolutely bring protection um and great success and braha to Amy Israel. So I want to wish everyone, we do not have class, that's going to be Porum morning next week, Wednesday. So we do not have our regular shar. So I want to wish everyone a purum s. You should have a wonderful porum and I look forward to you to seeing you in uh in two weeks time. All right everyone have a good day. Yes. If anybody I'm sorry if anybody has any comments or questions.