ALL TORAH LIVE! Rabbi Moshe Elefant | Zos Chanukah

Kana and I thank everybody for joining elephant taking some time out of his busy day and Josh Goldberg whose idea this was to have this gathering on the last day of Kaneka there are two important reasons why we're here on the last day of Kaneka one of the major themes of Kaneka is what we do every day we spend our time on all Torah promoting and sharing Torah and that is what the yanim essentially wanted to take away from us as we and the nce was that we another important point of is the say it's the last day of the anecdotally I was at a little this morning and the Gabi sells the alas so this morning he says that it's the last day of the and there's a big today I don't know if that's true or not there's a source to that he obviously wanted to make a few more dollars so he was selling that leas with that in mind so we thought who better than have by elephant join us to share a few words about what we should walk away from Kaneka with kanah followed by a brief question answer on some of the interesting questions in the cashus world today and perhaps a few daff questions and then to end off with Josh sharing a little bit about how we got involved in all Torah and what he's been able to do using the platform and then actually learning with people live in Anglewood a few times a week the elephant shalim it's a pleasure to be here even though it is quite a busy day but it's good to be able to reach out elephant on mute I'm not on mute I'm not on mute red do you hear me continue so it's a pleasure to be here particularly as you said on zah a day which is the most auspicious day where we could accomplish so much and we collect and we collect all of what kanaka brings to us and these last moments of the Yan just I I do want to begin by applauding you Rabbi sched for the the incredible incredible work you've done in growing our platform what we thought was just a dream something that we could never have imagined and now look where we are in number of programs that we have olda or mishna or par or it's incredible what we've accomplished it's incredible how many people listen to our programs and it's really you get a lot of credit we're very very fortunate that we have people supporters like Josh Goldberg on the call as well what he's done and continues to do we didn't know Josh he just showed up a Malik from Shay a Malik from Heaven showed up and said I want to be your partner and helping this wonderful project grow and and and we're so we're so thankful we're so thank thankful for him to be here with us and continue to be with us for many happy healthy years um you spoke about and T the say that when we look in the gar when the begins to speak about the says my asks the question what is Kan and the answers the the quotes a br that speaks about what the entire Y is about the many explain my what is Kana all about the t khah is a time to re-energize ourselves in T and the learning T and that remains with us for the rest of the year but I think that the message of Kaneka is a little more than that you know the is that if you're lighting Kaneka candles and you want to write an auka you want to light a torch you want to use a candle a big man big half dollar candle to light your manura so we would all assume that that's the best way to light your manur you're really going to have a good fire going the is that that is disqualified you have to look light a little candle and why do you have to light a little candle what's wrong with that big candle and the answer perhaps per is cu the Y of kanaka is to teach us that these little things the Small Things Are what count and a big torch is not what does it the little candle and that's really what happened then by the N of Kana where you have these 13 Kash who don't really count next to the Greek Empire but their little action goes so very very far and the I I recently saw most incredible story which I think is so related to this lesson of khaka and then we're going to tie together to what we do every day we who learn the dami or learn other things there was an individual there was a l there was a funeral in Israel in rovot and the person who was leading the levay was a regular individual not a rabbi and people came over to him and asked him since when did you become a rabbi that you're officiating at a funeral he says I want to tell you a story he says it was sukus and I my family bar hasem has grown and I wanted to build a new Su a larger Su and I but the place where I would build it I needed permission for my neighbors to be able to build a Suk over there and my building is a mixed building religious Jews and not religious Jews I thought that religious Jews will be happy to give me permission so I could do the Mitzvah I wasn't sure about the non-religious Jew so I went first to him see if I'll get his permission I knocked on his door his name was Saki and he answers the door he says what could I do for you I told him what I wanted and on the spot he says no problem I'll be happy to give you permission he says let me tell you my history my history is that my family originally lived in Poland and in World War I we immigrated to Bulgaria and in Bulgaria do we know yeshivas there wasn't much of an orthodox religious life our family became secular and then we ultimately move to Israel I really I'm totally irreligious I have two children that really one doesn't even live in Israel anymore and don't really have any connection and if you I see you I see your family I want to support that so this person says I see I saw I had a moment that this person wanted to come closer so I told him you know every Mitzvah that every Jew does is so so vital why don't you do one Mitzvah day says okay what do you recommend says I recommend that you sayma every day he says what is it all about and he brings a Sid and he teaches him what kishma is how it represents our relationship to God God's special feeling towards us our feelings to him he says you got a deal I'm going to say I'm going to say krishma every day he starts to and that that was it a couple weeks later this man gets a knock on the door early in the morning I know for people like us who learned it's never that early but for some people aren't up at 5:30 in the morning and he knocks on the door and it's this man's wife and she's completely hysterical and she says what's the matter and he can't get her even to talk but to make a long story short he goes into the apartment and and this person this person had passed away person passed away and she says to him you know the day after the night after you came you came to see my husband it came night time and he took out a Sid and he said kishma and he said you know it's a good idea I'm going to say krishma every day to affirm my relationship with God he said every night my husband who was totally religious and knew nothing started saying krishma and last night he went to sleep but he said K before he went to sleep and he didn't wake up this morning but the last thing he did before he left the world was said krishma to God when I thought of that story was such a powerful story I thought about it you know people talk to us about I learn the da I learn every day what am I accomplishing with learning the da do I really remember do I really need to do this and here we see what it means when a person takes out from their busy busy schedule the time to learn and a sheare whatever she you attended you attend wherever you attend and you connect yourself that don't think is insignificant that's that little kanah candle that burns and burns forever and that's why the gar says if somebody is constantly doing the Mitzvah of candles candles on chabas candles on Hanah the gar says hav will we have children will all have children that we have much from will'll have children that will continue in the way that we want them to continue and again the people not me but the people who are so supportive of us and help this happen you certainly will be blessed with wonderful children you have children and you yourselves will be and you'll bring the light of Torah to the world thank you Rabbi elephant let's jump straight to the questions that came in most of them are Cashers related so the first one what' you say why why they must be speaking to one of the leaders in the Casas industry so they want answers how does the OU decide which questions to present to which p is involved currently bki was involved is involved are there certain questions that go to certain Pim and how how do how do they get directed and how is that decided so I hate to bust anybody's bubble but most of the questions that come up here you know I tell people we in casus you might have heard the different tummel the different issues that come up I'm doing this so long I'm here at the OU 37 years that there's almost nothing that isn't a rerun every issue I'm dealing with we've already heard and we've already dealt with so I would say the vast majority certainly almost up to 90% % of the questions we got we get are questions we've all received many times and have studied those questions and have written decisions from Yos was most helpful to answering questions so 90% of the questions are not new the 10% of questions that are new we barem here in Casas have a very talented staff a staff of that do know how to answer questions and if not we bring the questions whether you know I often tell people that when R yosu was alive and I used to travel to Israel I used to travel then maybe even more often than I travel now every time I came to Israel I had no problem getting an appointment with Rebel Yash and giving me time and somebody told me they once asked you know's time was so so limited and it was so hard to get an appointment with him and even if you got there you were in and out before you walked in and somebody asked him why are you so generous to Rabbi elephant he says because I know he's not asking for himself when somebody asks a question from the OU he's asking for CLA and I feel a responsibility to help him and give them the answers that they need and we really barem have had that experience with almost anybody we reach out to in our world that when we have a question we these people will give us the time and the energy and the resources to get us the answer okay thank you next question when buying Frozen fruits whether it's strawberries or blueberries or vegetables that have an U certification and I guess a most common one is you walk into Costco and you can buy a bag of frozen strawberry with an OU does that mean that they are fully certified and there's no need for any checking afterwards for insects what's the process once you buy that bag with the U on it absolutely you know I I'll tell you you know I always have a story to answer the question so many years ago there was haa a certification that was certifying Roma lettuce now when you speak about vegetables probably one of the most complicated vegetables that that we speak about that have infestation issues are rain lettuce and they didn't have a special system in place for washing or for checking but there was this supervision on the bag and I called the rabbi and I asked him how do you put your symbol on that bag what are you doing he said I'm not doing anything he said so I say to him if you're not doing anything we know how problematic Romain lettuce is so what are you doing he says I don't certified insects I only certifi the vegetable so we don't have that attitude here at the OU when we put the OU on a bag or whatever unless we're expecting the consumer to do something and then we'll say so but that's very rare you could eat it because we say it's kosher and we're taking responsibility for all of the halakic issues that are involved including the insect infestation piggybacking off that I remember people have asked in the past they buy raw D with an OU do they have to take Kal afterwards I'm assuming the same answer applies the same answer applies if it if it's not a Jewish owned company it's not a problem and if it's a Jewish owned company we'll make sure the Kal is taken off as we do when weever we give as to bake Goods whether it's the Matas that you buy with the OU or if you go to a pizza shop that you're buying pizza and that makes a dough you have to take off kala of of course we're not just saying that the ingredients are Kosher we're saying you could eat the food the next question may not be so relevant to actual OU products or OU restaurants but it comes up in people's houses all the time especially those who have younger children what does the rough think about separate bottles of ketchup for dairy and meat you know I can think of situations in my home with little children perhaps they're not that careful and they may take the ketchup that's for meat you know and maybe touch it to the hot dog or the hamburger how crial does have to be with that would it make a difference if you're dealing with little children or not so it's a it's it's a better question than you make it sound I think it's a very decent question I know that the pisum say that every Jewish Home should have separate salt shakers for dairy and for meat so you know the Sal Shaker of the time of kazal is a battle of ketchup of nowadays you know maybe people don't want to eat salt because they're not supposed to eat salt but who doesn't eat ketchup and if you really feel that you're putting that somebody you know I didn't grow up in a world that you had to put ketchup on everything but I'm also an old man but if you live in a world where ketchup is needed to put onto every food and you're putting it on top of food that's hot and the steam going up from the food into the ketchup battle I could see a strong reason why you should have separate ketchup or whatever condiment for fesik and for mils these are the kind of things and and I and I speak about this often I'm sure not at this this time and place we could have a long discussion why it's not necessary you know no you could tell me that the food that you serving on your table is not that hat cuz it was that hat who could eat it and the steam that's coming out is not that hot and it's there's all sorts of reasons why it should not necessarily affect the cashous of the ketchup and I'm also certainly not saying that if I were to come to someone's house and I discovered that they only have one bottle of ketchup that they use for fesik ands I'm not going to not eat in the house that's just not true but you know part of the lesson of casis is is the lesson of and to train ourselves and to train our family to be thinking about these things could you imagine the of a child that sees that his parents her parents are so careful they buy two bottles of ketchup and one is dairy and one is meat that child sensitivity to Casas as they grow get older and as they will have their own home will be so much more serious than the person who father or mother had a heter had a reason to say everything is kosher and I think that's an important element in in training our children what hashas is all about okay last question before we get to Josh I'll it's really two questions I'll put them into one we got two interesting curig questions one is does a curig have to be toel and in fact the person wrote that he sees on the OU website that some say to sell it to a non Jew elant could explain what that process is the second question is an interesting more of aabas question there is something on the market it's a manual curig and the person even shared a link to it um is there a way perhaps to use it on chabas maybe if you're doing cliche is there a bishell issue is there a borer issue is there perhaps an issue when you plunge that needle into the foil on top of the C cup maybe you're ripping letters so elephant can comment on both of those and then we'll get to Josh in terms of the f c of a curing machine and it's great that you ask the question Rabbi because if you're following our on all which I don't know if you are you know that we're learning now so if we're learning most appropriate time to ask the question there are many reasons why one does not have to tile a curing machine it's primarily plastic and since it's primarily plastic we don't toal plastic most people don't say plastic is requiring to feel there are only two metal pins in the curing machine if you're able to take them out and tole them and put them back that would be great most people will take them won't figure out how to take them out and they certainly won't figure out how to put them back in and therefore it's not necessarily rebeli told us that we don't have to tal curing machine I learned by Goldston and he many times felt that any electric um uh appliance that you could only use when it's plugged in is considered connected to the ground and may not require F it's not something I would he said we should rely on by itself but it could be part of a consideration um if you could somehow make it nonusable and then make it usable so then many pis as we said on the shear would consider it a a Jewish manufactured vessel because you made it usable and if you want to be able to sell it to a non-jew and then let him use and give him he gives you permission to use it great I don't know if it's absolutely necessary your other question about the curug machine on chabas I don't know I would not recommend that anyone should Brew Coffee on chabas there are so many questions that come up with brewing coffee on chabas what how to make coffee on chabas clich clich leichi um I I I just don't think um you can you Comm I think that that's part of being a religious Jew and being a sham and shabas just not you could survive the shabas without the Cur machine excellent okay thank you bant for joining us and for the message what to take with us to focus on the small things and elephant called me out for not being up to date on that's a small thing that perhaps I have to follow better even though I'm administering the app but I am not up to date on the kids are learning so thank you RAB elephant and Josh are you there here he is he's still muted okay he's unmuted Josh first of all thank you for this idea wonderful to spend a few minutes on um I just wanted to say every beginning has some ups and downs so like if we didn't have the volume on right at the beginning and stuff this is our first project of trying to get more interactivity with the aloff app and the opportunity to speak to ream so this is just the first pilot project and what might be an exciting next few months ahead yes so joshh we could do an hour you and I discussing so many fascinating aspects in your life that would inspire people but we have a few minutes now so let's focus on the learning and da part of it when did you start doing daf yomi well it's uh it's been a long uh winding road I actually started um uh studying the do in college at the Wharton School where we hired a teacher from Lakewood to come in and teach with us uh hard to believe it was almost uh 28 years ago go and after that I started learning on the west side where I where I lived and uh went to different shum during uh during the day or in the afternoon um depending on my schedule um my uh my commitment to learning the do has increased dramatically uh over the last 10 or 15 years and I might I'm like a lot of people who are probably listening to this or are on the AL off regularly we use a shot Steen Tom most of our learning is somewhat self-taught we spend as much time on the English side as we do on the Hebrew or maybe even more and even with all that the alof app has added so much more so about 11 years ago I was offered the opportunity to teach the doomi one day a week uh at the Sho I was attending in Manhattan and I used to wake up at 4:15 in the morning on Tuesdays that was my day and if my kids weren't sleeping they remember seeing me learning at the table with a gamara which by the way I want to thank my kids for allowing me to always be able to give classes now I've started to teach on Sundays at 8:15 uh in the morning in Anglewood New Jersey and that started in 2020 so sometimes my kids don't know what's for breakfast that morning but yet they still let me uh get out and it was really then in 2020 as you know rabed that the alof became a much more frequent and more powerful tool for learning Torah as the new cycle of the D yomi just began so you've mentioned your family so I'm gonna get straight to that how has your commitment to daily T Torah primarily dafi how has that changed yourself and your family you mentioned a little bit but maybe elaborate a little bit on that sure so first of all obviously um what I tell people who want to start learning is that when you do in is your commitment to talking to to Hashem to God but when you're learning it's that God or Hashem is talking to you and in all relationships you want to have a two-way communication you want the ability to talk and to listen and I think that having that in my home has really changed the entire my entire home and the way my kids uh uh react and behave and and and focus on Torah learning as well as my extended family my parents my sister Etc but let me just tell you a little bit more about what I've done with the aloff so uh in 2020 I started using the aloff more frequently and for those of you who are not familiar the alof is a powerful app it's not just the amount of learning you could do but the ease of the app of the app all the shum there is nothing else online that I can think of that has made such a difference in learning like the OU All Off app and someone even mentioned to me a few months ago when I was traveling that out have the Arts girl doomi which was commissioned by the Shan Stein family there is no single gift to the Jewish people for learning like the OU alof app so starting in 2020 and until now since I give a Shear on Sundays on Saturday nights my kids know it's usually Pizza uh taking uh take out pizza bringing it back to the house and I listen to Rabbi Rosner RAB elephant and Rabbi lewts on Saturday night and then I finish off with Rabbi stefansky on Sunday morning so I listen to all four shum as well as other aspects of what's on the aloff app for me and for others I'm sure it's a complete Game Cher in terms of understanding the page and also being able to really uh review it and study it in a lot more depth really appreciate the support Josh one last thing which is something I'm passionate about and something you do very very well there are so many people out there who are working businessmen family men like self who have realized that they have the opportunity and the wherewithal to inspire others to learn as well could you just share with the audience how you've done that what you've done very briefly and how you do it and maybe others out there could do it do it as well they don't have to be a rabbi they could go to work and help others learn with their passion for learning well thank you Rabbi I mean um so I've been working uh since I graduated college it's been uh uh over two decades on Wall Street and what I found was that especially postco people in the communities uh around that I were involved in liked to go to shum to feel connected again there was a lot of uh loneliness during Co the inability to be part of a pod and since 2020 a group of guys in Anglewood which were affectionately known as the grumberg minion which was named in memory of Irving grumberg one of the fathers of the of the mini grumberg and this was really the be probably since the CM ofis we became this Band of Brothers and what I mean by that is that each one of us took a page or a day and we would commit to teaching it to the other people in the KRA and this learning has reel electrified a community the RAS and daily opportunities have increased dramatically the Torah learning in angelwood and it's not just the learning it's the banter it's the camaraderie and learning the do is infectious many of the guys in the group actually said they have not learned for over 30 years some of the people in the group said they haven't even learned for 60 years and the growth in the learning for this group of 15 to 20 consistent guys has been incredible there's also an angle tourist center at night which has 65 guys learning in Englewood all the rabbis in the community are supportive of all the learning that's growing on and the mid Shear that we have in our kbra really try to personalize the shear so for me I try to do three things and I try to start to get people ready for this year the first is the significance of the day happy birthdays and other events obviously RBI elephant talked about zonica in 1839 the first photo of the Moon was taken by French photographer lisis tagur and that's connected with a lot of the stuff we've been learning recently on the do of when the son hedin decides on when it's an eor Shana or when it's R Kesh we try to do a bibliography of a rabbi on the page today's do talks about R Bar and some of us know that in kadan he was born on the same day died we also know how much he spoke publicly Andis he was one of the rabbis I was known to pray for water and we also we won Rashi out loud as well but the reason why I decided on the alaf is because Tor learning online is the future anyone who's tracking any of the sites whether you're using the alaf which is the number one site all Torah all para all mishna or other sites like safaria or Yu Torah you will know that the online website is the growth of Torah learning and without being involved in that your head might be in the sand over the next 15 to 20 years it's as a high growth potential as any of the technology Investments that I would study getting involved in the alof today somewhat near still the ground floor can make a dramatic difference not just in your own learning but really for the entire Jewish people going forward thank you Josh see Josh didn't think that I invited him I mean I invited Josh on to speak about learning that me and here he's a paid commercial for old that I will tell appreciate it I've only known you for about five years and some people uh who might be on this because I told some friends I'd be on I'd be on the uh on the webcast today but truthfully the amount of learning that I have picked up has really been catalyzed by all and I speak among a lot of my friends and this is the site that people have gone to to Really uh solidify uh their growth and learning so I hope you don't realize it's not really a commercial it's really the truth of my life that without this site I certainly wouldn't be anywhere near the learner that I am today I really appreciate it the genuine feeling from your heart and had one question for my elephant do he still on I don't know if he still is or not is he on let me see I know he had a busy day is he still on I see Jacob ketki is here and I see Y is here thank you for joining I'll I'll mention one quick thing Rabbi which is thein is known as the only M that starts with a Greek word there are other masas that start with Aramaic words but there are only a few Greek words have been accepted in the Jewish language Sanhedrin AIT tropus gatria Etc why do we choose San hedin as the name rather than m it's even a stronger question today on where the fact is is that the Greeks were trying to ni Al have a stop learning Torah and yet we name one of our Mar on with with with a Greek uh with Greek background which means counsel and clearly there's two messages there one the more uh the more rational answer is that at that time when the gamar was being written you know the Greek was the accepted first language and son hedin was a right name for it but I really think it means more when you think about the history of the Sedin how that the key for the Sanhedrin is to really have all different languages understood and all sort of aspects of a bezden and therefore Sanhedrin might be a better way to describe what really happens in a Jewish Court rather than the traditional bezan which is what people uh usually would describe a qut of three or 20 or 23 or 71 and that's really something that I see in the OU all off as well many different shum different types that you can choose from all these aspects of it it's a it's sort of like a virtual Sanhedrin for people who want to learn the do that's an amazing VOR and analogy I appreciate it so let everyone get back to work it's it's day it's the first day of the new year so the people on Wall Street really have to pay attention to what's going on in the stock market so really thank you for taking of your time Josh and I see there only nine people on the zoom but there are many people the zoom was only for the people that Josh shared you know his inner circle and everyone else was on the YouTube channel so thank you everybody for coming whether you're on YouTube you're on Zoom you're on the olda platform and as Josh said let's hope this is the first of many and let's try to get together and talk and learn and grow and a great New Year there everybody thank you Rabbi appreciate it [Music] n [Music]