Amsterdam Yarchei Kallah 5784 - Building Upon Kosher Money, Empathy, & Happiness For Each Other

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com that good good uh toin and Mr wler as well thank you for coming thank you for rushing out of the door much shabas to catch the flight B you made it and we are very happy you made it over here then of course a big thank you to sh for hosting this yala and thank you so much and um there's one person over here I want to thank as well and he unfortunately is not here and that is nafty Elber and hope Mish will give our thank you to na na has contributed a great deal in making this yaka possible and he has gone through Straight lengths and he put in lot of effort unfortunately he has Corona so he is not here but um and um we wish him that soon he'll be able to resume his activities his learning everything he does for the community have been waiting for you for half a year since it's been last time I don't need to you don't need much more introduction so please go ahead hey thank you so much rats and all the it's real honor and pleasure to be with you in this community you know uh when you live somewhere you very often take for granted the special qualities of the place that you live I was just reading on chabas that through these streets here in Amsterdam the met with of Dam right here in the weeks before purm what an amazing encounter who could even picture such a thing that right here you see I I'm I'm a New York who is a New York I don't know Mickey mantel Joe dagio these are players on the Yankees there are no there were no sadik historical sadik in New York but here you had great luminaries who graced this city you don't know about the New York Yankees okay I'm going to give you a Shear on the New York Yankees you know Baseball Major League Baseball and I'm just joking we're not going to talk about that we're here this uh for this at thisa to elevate ourselves to grow to climb higher to come closer to the thing is that the way the human mind works we tend to conjure up and to picture up what Mitzvah and which will Elevate us and bring us closer to Hashem but that doesn't necessarily mean those are the main keys and those are the main Avenues to bring us closer to hem the who also graced the city he writes true piety true righteousness is very far from our Mind's Eye in other words the Yara likes to distort what real righteousness is so we have to examine some of the Personalities in The KES you know how did they get where they got how were they elevated that they became the alltime great luminaries let's talk about M Once Upon a Time there's a man by the name of M and he's shepherding his sheep perfect and he encounters a bush a thorn bush and it's engulfed in fire the bush is consumed in fire but it's not being burnt and moshu is not just looking at an unusual phenomenon this is a prophetic image moshu is encountering prophecy and then hears the resounding voice of God do you know in the history of the world no individual ever heard heard God say their name consecutively without any pause Mo nobody ever heard that notam there's an interruption there's a separation I knew you were bothered by that see the ladies were on to that they knew Abraham right no by Abraham there's aick there's an interruption butu had unfiltered un adulterated n we call this as according to many ma this first mhu was with a clear prism mashu is now experiencing the most powerful and intimate divine revelation in the history of the whole world nobody ever connected with Hashem on this level before so we have to ask ourselves so what did he do what the man do you know that means think about it nobody in the history ever of the world ever spoke to God so closely so intimately so face to face what Didu do that he was to this encounter isn't that an important question here it is this is a man who experience the highest level of communion withes what did he do did he go to the Mikvah 19 times did he sit and he learned for four days straight did he what did he give a lot of charity my heart tells me that Torah gives us no information about what did before this incident except for one p you know what the PK says he took his sheep and he brought it to the desert says Rashi you know the greatest treasures lay in the simple words of Rashi we often take for granted you know we study Rashi and we think it's simple comments the deepest and most powerful lessons lay in the simple words of Rashi says Rashi why did take his sheep out into the desert didn't want to steal money from somebody else that is the only information we are given from M we think you know you want to reach a very high level sit in the corner say theim go to the mik all kinds of you know how achieved the highest level of NAA by not stealing nickels and dimes and I'm sorry I'm using the wrong currency but he he did not steal money from other people this is sort of a eye openening uh Revelation mainu achieved the highest level of NAA by avoiding Gaza and then God called out to him here we've gathered this the next couple of days to try to elevate ourselves to try to study to try to learn to try to connect with Hashem what's important to do is we need to identify what are the most effective ways to elevate ourselves as a Jew what does a sadic look like you know if you wanted to know who's the sadic in the sh who's the in the SCH you go on a and you look in the SCH oh he must be the guy who has the Talis over his head or the the woman who's doing the longest is shuckling with the most you know the most uh vibrations you know who the biggest sadic is the biggest sadic is someone who doesn't take a penny that doesn't belong to them the biggest sadic is someone who could look at their bank account and be certain that every penny there belongs to them and they don't owe other people money the great sadic R salant very interestingly you know he if we could perhaps study what would he do in preparation for Yam Kipper you know that might give us some insight and you know how does somebody really become a sadic and rabis one year went to his son-in-law Ravid morno in the city of Kula and there was a certain Elder there a certain Zak there who wanted to observe the preparations of R salant for Yumer so he figured R salant he'd wake up in the morning and he probably would say the whole to and then he would pray and then he would learn and then he would go to the Mikvah but let me tell you he would eat the morning meal and then after daving he would Davin he would eat he didn't go to the B medish he didn't go to the Mikvah he went into the kitchen and what did he do in the kitchen he went to the toolbox and what did he take out of the toolbox he took a hammer out of the toolbox and he put the hammer under his coat and then rabis salant went on and he visited one Sho after another and in these old shoes in salant he went and he banged in the nails on all the benches so that the owner of the Shool would not violate damaging people's pants on the holy day of yum Kipper and then he went into the woman's section and he banged in all the nails in the chairs so that none of the women who came to the Sho would tear their dress so that the owner of the Sho would not violate stealing money from people who have to patch up their pants or their skirts and then rabis salanter spent the rest of the day visiting the nine other shoes in salant because more important than saying toim and going to the Mikvah for a man is not damaging other people this was the practice of rabis salant on of yum so you want Aliyah you want elevation be careful in other people's money you know rant would comment that he heard about a group of righteous perim Pim you know they wanted to separate from so they went and they secluded themselves and they began to study sh and they began to study and R said they were dead wrong it's a very nice idea to sit and to study Shas they were wrong in learning sh C in order what's wrong with learning Shas in order says why you learning for starters are mostly except for it's mostly RAB and then shabas AB is almost entirely da the is almost entirely D and Aran is almost so they say what should we learn what should you learn baba babah baba Basra monetary law Tor because all of these laws are biblical they're all it's more important says to learn are the laws of man law then to learn now that's something that's in our minds a little bit uh we don't focus on you know we're we're always very careful to make sure you know am I starting daving correctly am I coming on time am I saying the words correctly am I do I have a minion you know I I'll tell you I know people and you should be M on this I know people they're M on Minion like you can't believe if you go if they go to an airport they literally hire nine other people to meet them in the airport so that they don't miss a minion and it's a beautiful thing it's a wonderful thing but they're not necessarily so careful not to take money that doesn't belong to them and actually on the totem pole of the value of the tah as important as minion is and don't get me wrong person has to go to whatever length can to make sure they always di in with a minion I know my grandfather when he was in the camps he risked his life to make a minion I know what minion is I appreciate the value of a minion but still on the totem pole of the importance in Judaism it's more important to be careful with money than to be careful with Fila and that that sounds a little bit uh unusual at first you know that's not what we're used to hearing and um I was asked to speak about this topic you see look here I'm coming from New York the last thing I want to come and speak to my friends here in Holland who are were nice enough to uh the Netherlands that they're nice enough to bring me back you know I came here uh in the summer I'm not here to give musar you know because you're not going to invite me back if I do that you know but it's important to always recognize you know says who will Ascend the mountain who's going to ascend the mountain of spirituality you know what the first thing is are your hands clean are your hands clean not me somebody who never misses a minion that's beautiful never to miss a minion not me someone who doesn't eat g p it's very nice minog According to some the grud didn't think so but when it comes to other things when it comes to P how careful people are how many months in advance so many women there would be thousands of women here but they're they're cleaning for pesak already really the I heard the registration was uh thousands but then they found that we're ready within four months of PES but it's important to clean for pesak but more important than cleaning for pesak is making sure that every dollar is accounted for that you're confident that you're the rightful owner you know I want to share with you something when I was a b in Yeshiva so I learned in I'll give you a little uh a little little insight into the Yeshiva scene in New York you see there are a lot of yeshivas in New York a lot of them are in Brooklyn you ever hear of Brooklyn there's a country called Brooklyn no it's not a country it's it's a area in New York a lot of the yeshivas are there you have K Berlin you have taradas you have the Mir Yeshiva you have a lot of yeshivas over there um I grew up in Brooklyn I went to Yeshiva I started in Brooklyn there's a Brooklyn branch and then I was in what the call the mother ship that's like uh the nickname for it the main is in Queens in when I started it was in some a place called Forest Hills and then it moved to Q Garden Hills by the way oh this is a great story you know I didn't even think of it the he was renowned that look a lot of yeshivas they're looking for ways to supplement uh the income that comes in in you know tuition doesn't cover the cost of the Yesa so there are all kinds of government programs you could get to bring money into the ISA rhen did not utilize any government program unless it was 1,000% K you know he once had an opportunity to take money for the ISA he would got he would have gotten a very big donation if the Yeshiva would have made a Holocaust Memorial so you think that's a great idea why not make a Holocaust Memorial on the ISA he he would have gotten something like $100,000 and he said I'm not doing it so the Tam why not $100,000 for the Yesa he said the Yesa is not a museuma is not a museum the Holocaust is very important and everyone has to remember it but Yeshiva is not a museum it's not a straight way to get money for Yeshiva what it's not it's not like it's devious it's not like it's it's not like it's uh but it's not yashar he didn't feel it was yashar he didn't he didn't take it he would always say my books are open it's very rare by the way for Yeshiva to operate this way the problem was that yes more than other yeshivas they struggled bringing in the income because you know as they say nice guys don't always finish Finish First you know so a very big miracle happened to the Yesa problema had is in most of the go into see other yes you could become a rebi or aiva and if not so you become a businessman and you support the Yesa but like 90% of the went into which is great that's what the Yesa wants the problem is there's no one to support the Yesa so a very big miracle happened to the ISA I'm I'm just telling you it just came to mind the Yeshiva was renowned for 50 years you know every Yeshiva has like a mailer the Yeshiva gave out calendars the famous calendar you know you open it up it tells you candle lighting time and you know when I first became a this is I'm digressing when I first became a r so uh I was interviewing for for a post I was a kid coming out out of coo so they asked me are you a pisake so I'm like thinking to myself am I a p S I don't know I learned the Miss I know I can answer questions so I went to ask my Rabbi rbie said when they when the SCH asked are you a pisk they mean do you know how to read the calendar and let them know what time candle lighting is that's what a PC is anyway the Yeshiva would mail calendars to people to Jews Across America a homeless man received the calendar this homeless man lived in a the car he died he left over $20 million to be divided between yes and the disin orphan home the family had disowned their father because uh he was like a homeless guy they didn't know he was sitting on big bucks so they took it to court and they they said we're going to drag this out to court so settle with us they took 6 million yes took 7 million and the disc orphan home took 7 million and think about it I mean it it was a clear Miracle where the said this is Yesa that does things properly here's don't think yeah if I'm very honest then how am I supposed to make a buck there are many many ways God could get you the buck I want to share with you so when I was learning in I was in Queens I used to very often come home for shabas you're really technically supposed to be in the ISA for chabas I used to like to come home on chabas to Brooklyn I used to walk to harav AAR Miller you ever hear of rev Miller Show You R now my parents were on the other side of the neighborhood it was about a 50 minute walk and I used to do that every shabas I want to share with you something that I heard rev Miller say rev Miller would point out Yakov ainu he's running away from asav and he runs he starts off in Bava in the south he's running Northeast he passes by the Temple Mount he goes to Basel he's about to get to Khan and he says I passed by the place where my forefathers prayed and I didn't pray so Yakov makes an about face and he goes back down south and he heads to the harabas and he has a dream and in his dream he sees he sees Heavenly Angels they're going up and down the ladder they're going up and down the ladder so if Miller pointed out yakob sees Angels but they're in a dream they're in a prophecy fast forward 20 years what happens yakova is in the house of Lan he's coming back from Lan's house and he comes back to where he started and Yakov comes to a place called M and what does yakob see in yakob sees Heavenly angels but this time he's not dreaming this time he's awake he sees angels in a stake a state of being awake so Miller asked what happened to Yakov ainu why at first he sees the Angels only in a dream only in a prophecy and then 20 years later he actually sees angels in the real flesh while he's awake what did Yakov do in these 20 years that he elevated himself that now he's seeing Angels awake what did Yakov do in those 20 years was he learning in the Yeshiva in those 20 years no was he uh in a COO somewhere was he in a Mikvah somewhere what did he do in 20 years that he elevated himself to the level that now he sees Angels awake and rev Miller said you know what he did he went to work and he had a conniving Thief as a boss as his father-in-law and he put in a hard days work work and when he had a runny nose he didn't call the boss and say he has 102 fever and he's sick he went in anyway and even though love UNT tricked him and stole from him Yakov dealt honestly and working honestly brings a person in a certain sense greater Aliyah that before Yakov went to work he only saw malim in his dreams and now Yakov is seeing angels in the flesh you know we we don't think this way do we think of a sadic like that do we realize that MRA saw because he was careful from stealing that yobu elevated himself because he put in A Hard Day's work and he didn't cut Corners when when he had a un a dishonest boss did you know that in all the writings of the rambam you know the rambam wrote something called yaka the ram only refers to one person as a sadic that means it's not so easy to earn the title sadak there's only one person in the whole writing of the rambam referred to as a sadak these These are the comments of the r in the laws of rental says the r the same way the boss has to be careful to pay the poor man on time and not withhold wages the man the working man has to be careful not to cut corners of his responsibility you're obligated to work with all your strength says the r the righteous man said with all my strength I worked for love and think about it what made Yakov aad the ram could have said you know why yov is aad cuz he learned in the yes for 14 years and he didn't sleep at night the raham could have said Yakov was a sadic because he remained in Purity until his first Tri no yakob was a sadik cuz he worked hard and even though his boss was a thief he didn't repay in kind so we see some very important ideas here we learn that in a certain sense working honestly and ethically could bring a person the greatest alyah in their life maybe in a sense more than learning maybe in a sense more than you know writes an amazing you know where's we were just talking about uh the of was ones and then on the 24th day of that's your birthday right okay mark it on your calendar okay and we blow theer when do we blow theer we blow theer after daving writes why do we blow the sheer after daving isn't it supposed to uh awaken us to do chuva isn't the purpose of the sh to awaken us to do chuva so then shouldn't we blow the Sher before daving we should come to sh blow the Sher and everyone will DAV better or maybe blow the Sher before we learn says ra no you think the purpose of theer is to wake you up to DAV better like daving is the main thing the purpose of the Shar is to get you to do chuva and you know what we need to do chuva on more than anything else working honestly so we blow the sh before people go to work cuz that's the focus of the chuva not to D in I mean who ever heard of such a thing we come to comes the month of el everybody you know I have to start daving better and learning more and you do we do have to DAV better and we do have to learn more but more than that we have to be more careful in the money that's in our in our account so you say I know very nice I know about this already I know it's important to be honest but look business is business and nice guys finish last and this is not really going to be good for my work so I want to continue to read the words of the rambam the rambam then continues to report to us the exact portfolio of the avice you know the aice were very wealthy people abam was a guy was a wealthy guy does anybody know who was the wealthiest of all the so listen to this Rah writes by Abraham it says Abraham Abraham was very wealthy was very wealthy was very very wealthy why says the ra so it's not just honesty propels you to closeness to Hashem it's not just that it elevates you it's good for business it's good for business a person you know there's a rule in general it's important to know this you don't get paid back in this world there's no reward in this world you could do Mitzvah don't think oh I did a Mitzvah hash's going to reward me in this world there's no reward in this world reward is in the next World what you could get in this world is that if sees that a person is on the right path then the could so to speak give you more blessing in your life to allow you to continue to do mitv but it's not reward there's no reward in this world but there are certain Good Deeds that you're even rewarded in this world says the ram honesty is so powerful you could get reward even in this world and this was a topic uh R cats I think wanted me to speak about and then we're going to we're going to segue into another subject as well I'll tell you a story when I was in abris many years ago now I don't know how it is in Europe in Europe people are very polite and people are very uh courteous but there are other countries I'm not going to say we where it's not it's not like that not going to you know so you know in Europe at a wedding everyone sits very um politely and everyone's participating and looking at Thea and silent there are other countries west of here I'm not going to say where we're at AA everyone's on their phone and it's noisy and you know in Europe by Under the rabbi speaks yeah in America if the rabbi would speak he would be removed immediately no there's no speaking at a no no nobody's listening to that but at a bris there are still speeches in America but I can't say that people pay a lot of attention and especially when the grandfather gets up to speak it's like you know everyone's doing the grand father TOA you know let the old man get up and say a few words fine but and I can't say I'm always paying attention to uh every speech at a bris but at a certain bris something the Grandfather said caught my attention The Grandfather's was a a doctor Dr Berg and he was talking about his father who came over from Europe and he was saying that his father came from Europe he came to Canada and uh a lot of his father's friends came over to the states or to Canada and they didn't really see the nakas that they were hoping for not all their children or grandchildren sort of stayed on the straight and narrow and this Dr brigita his father felt that you know all of his children all of his grandchildren they they stayed on the straight and the narrow he saw nakas from all of his descendants and he once confided in his son that he feels he knows the reason for this he says it's because a lot of his friends they came over from America and in order so to speak to make ends meat they had to cut Corners a little bit in terms of honesty and this Dr B said his father said he was always careful not to take anything not to take a penny not to cut any Corners in terms of business ethics and he believes that the reason why he was is because of his honesty in business and um you know I tell you you could go to 100 speeches and if somebody were to tell you what their was why they had you know children grandchildren usually this is not a very glamorous and popular uh reason that that they attribute it to but I'll tell you the truth I looked around and I found a very powerful source of this in none other than the writings of the author of the Ben s in the and I tell you that had he not say this it would be impossible to say this he says I tell you had he not said this I would be scared to say this and I say it with great sensitivity because at least in America one of the biggest challenges of this generation are what they they call kids at risk youth at risk youth that you know don't stay with the fold don't continue in the path of their parents and it's it's very painful to talk about it's very painful to even give any reasons and again I'm not giving any reasons but to ignore the comments of the igra pera would also be a disservice so I want to share with you what he writes theka writes in the name of his great re he says the essential ingredient in raising children you hear this the essential ingredient in raising children is that you feed them with kosher money not kosher food he's not talking me about oh make sure you get badat and not the mahadin and not the raban no that's not that's secondary the essential ingredient in raising children is that the money with which you buy their food is kosher money and then I saw they showed this to raron Cutler R Aon Cutler right that it's beish in the Yi and in the Z so think about sort of you know how the Yahara sort of distorts our perception of what are the main things in Judaism and what are secondary in most people's eyes this has been relegated to uh like a secondary place this has been relegated to okay you know first learning daving T Kos and then this H you know it's a nice idea but some sometimes like says sometimes the most important things are often the furthest from our mind if I may I would like to segue into a little bit of a different uh idea um they very beautiful that the community comes together and uh dedicates time to learning to study for these couple of days as a community sometimes it's important to recognize aside from my personal obligation so we always have people who are ason people who do for the community they're involved in communal Affairs and some people are sort of that's their calling and they're cut out for it and other people are more private but even a private individual ual should have a certain recognition appreciation that even private people in the community have a very important rule a role as members of the community I want to talk again let's go back to but I would like primarily to come to this week's par you know we've been on many trips actually even when we came to Amsterdam on chabas we brought a tiny safer Toyo with us really it looks like a big Maza do you remember the satire that we had it's so small do you remember this I'm actually was our so we had taken it to Morocco it was par and is a par sua you know what par suuma means that usually between the end of one para and beginning of the next paraa there is space in the SE there's space so that even from afar the bori could say okay this is where the new para begins or sometimes it's on the next line it's completely sealed shut which means you don't even know it's a new it's the next word it's and Rashi says very powerful words Rashi says why is this par sealed shut because passed away the eyes and the Heart of the Jewish people were sealed shut because of the bondage okay listen very carefully that the Jewish people were in Egypt and because of the bondage our eyes and our heart were sealed shut so to indicate that our eyes and our heart were sealed shut is there is no there is no separation at all in between but let's stop and pause for a moment what do you mean it's that our eyes and our heart are sealed shut what's that supposed to mean our eyes are sealed shut our heart was sealed shut just say we were brutalized we were demoralized we were Pulver we were we were beat in what's the focus on our eyes and our heart are sealed shut you ever think about that and then Hashem gave me a great gift we go to and we read about and of course we know a very wellknown grew up he went out to his brotherr he saw their suffering remember what Rashi says he placed his eyes in his heart Le am to be distressed over them ah now I know why you need eyes now I know why you need a heart you need eyes to be able to see someone else's pain you need a heart to be able to to feel someone else's pain and now we understand what happened in MIM you know when a person cannot see and and feel someone else's pain when they're so caught up with their own sorus with their own lives with their own difficulties you know we all get like that sometimes you know how you feel when life is overwhelming I can't feel worried about someone else I can't even get myself together when a person is so self-absorbed that they can't see and feel the pain of someone else clao is a big trouble you know why because God deals with us quid proquo measure for measure and if you can look and feel someone else's pain then God says I know you're suffering but I cannot look see feel your pain because I have to deal with you measure for measure and then like they say in the United States Houston we've got a problem cuz how are we ever going to get out of Egypt if God will not look at our pain and God will not feel our pain because we are so self-absorbed that we can't see or feel the pain of someone else so what what's going to happen we're going to be stuck in Egypt so we need someone to break the cycle who's going to break the cycle comes the comes and he goes out to his brethren he opens up his eyes he feels the pain of someone else friends you know what happens when mhu goes out to see and feel the pain of is the next elim ESP elim says rash God says oh I feel your pain now hel I don't ignore you now once one man goes out to see and feel the pain of someone else God says I'll respond in kind the most basic duty of a member of a community is to have their eyes and heart open to be able to see maybe the person next to me in the next couple of days maybe they need need help help with their job maybe they need some help with their kids maybe they need help with a maybe I could do something maybe I could just listen to them at the very least to look around and to feel the pain of someone else that brings salvation to the whole Jewish people did you know that before mrao was a prophet what do we have a few more minutes before moso was a prophet does anybody know who prophesied before M ar ar how old was mosha when he started prophesying he's around 80 years old yeah but when God comes to MOS and he says hey mosha take the Jews out of Egypt say send the guy you usually send Rashi says who's that ar ar yeah Rashi says in peric B Hashem had already been speaking to AR that to tell the Jews to stop worshiping Idols anybody know for how long God had been speaking to AR before God spoke to M from the time that Aon was 3 years old Hashem had been speaking to Aon for the last 80 years that's why he hears the voice of God says me I thought you you know you're you're close with my older brother speak to him what did Arin do at 3 years old that God was speaking to him already what did he do when main was put into the water do you remember what the PK says main was put in the water and basio Bas Paro takes her takes the baby and the P says first the child is called the yed then the child is called a Nar the Batum says the Nar was not the yed listen to how the Batum reads the sees the kid crying she didn't know is it a Jewish kid a gentile kid the older child on the river Bank was crying by the way the excuse me the older brother was crying ah the older brother could cry for the younger brother must be a Jewish kid it must be a Jewish kid someone who could cry for their brother it must be a Jewish kidi he he's uh the brother of Usher areli he wrote um the reab agar very in depth he says one thing we know about AR that from three years old he had a heart for his brother he cried for his brother he cried for his brother he was at 3 years old however even though he cried for his brother and he was a prophet there's one thing he didn't do yet he wasn't yet to wear the the is the ornament of the that he wears on his chest that on it was the the and Hashem would communicate with the K through this you know why Aon didn't wear it yet cuz even though he had the ability to cry for his brother but he didn't yet reach the following madrea that when mha told a you know Aon I'm I have some news for you I hope you'll take it well Hashem selected me to take the Jewish people out of what was aon's reaction the purity of Heart of AR was that he felt joy for his brother's success see a lot of us have an easy time feeling empathy and sympathy if someone else is suffering it's much harder to feel happy when someone else is blessed and successful yet we all our heart goes out when somebody has a challenge but you need more generosity of spirit and more more purity of heart to feel happy on someone else's success do you know how long it took Aon to reach to climb the level from when he was crying for his brother till when he was joyous for his brother it took another 80 years but when he reached that level God blessed him his heart was so pure he now was Z to be eligible to wear the so even somebody quietly a member of the community it's so important that our eyes are open and our heart is open to see what is someone else experiencing what is someone else going through if I can't help them physically materially at least I could my heart could go out to them and the highest madrea of all is to feel happy for someone else and my BR to all of you is that you should have many many Sim in all of your families and happiness and success and even greater BR you should feel happiness for your friends and their happiness and their success thank you very much you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by Torah anytime.com