Rabbi Don Jarashow speaking at Mishmar at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim

Thank you very much for this opportunity to hopefully share some words of for the times we're in for Kazin. So, right before I came here, I was tucking my children into bed. And those are usually the best places, the best times to glean from to use those as springboards to practical. And as I was tucking my son in, my three-year-old son, there was a balloon and we were blessed with a baby a month and a half ago. Thank you. Thank you. And um there was one of the balloons that lingered from from uh the happy happy birthday get what get better soon and my son likes those balloons and he was hang on to it till now for a month and a half later and every night before he goes to bed he has bring it down until he's back on the ceiling and we bring it down and he brings it upstairs and it's all routine. Tonight I saw him playing with the balloon and he brought it to his crib and he tried putting it into his crib and I saw he was very hesitant to let go of the balloon and he tried holding it down and he eased off and the balloon had helium obviously and it kept on rising and he just took the balloon out and I said Alaz I said why didn't you let go of the balloon so just put it down in the crib and he said obviously not for three-year-old but what do you say he said because it's going to go to the ceiling. I said it's so interesting maybe the kid is trying to put it down but intrinsically cuz that's helium it automatically goes up. I think that is what we should all be feeling right now right before tishabove. Sometimes we can perceive we can associate tishab with negativity with being forsaken with being lost abandoned by but even at these times hashem never wants us to forget that we're intrinsically pure we have helium pumped into each and every one of us and no matter how hard and how forceful the kamas the come out against Hashem tells us don't forget you're innately pure. You're filled with you filled with you filled with and when you feel that you're about to hit the dust you're about to pop rise right back up. Hashem never puts us down. Hashem never lays us to rest. Even in times of even in times of destruction, times of pain and tragedy is looking down on us and he's saying, "You think you're going to go down? You think that the world is laughing at you? Politics, rockets, kamas, October 7th, tragedies. You think I'm going to let go of you? We're just like that balloon that the kid tries to put down, but it just fights back innately, intrinsically, naturally. That's just the mitas. And Hashem says that's just the mitas. Your mind, you're holy, you're pure and you're never going to go down. We're about to go into a par which always coincides with Shabas. And the lady asks, why is what was that prophecy? What was that nvoir? That was a nvoir of tragedy, of calamity that was going to be fall. So why do we call this shabas the shabas that's supposed to inspire us? It's supposed to try to ignite growth and why is that shabas called shabas? We should call it something else. But not because of the foresight they had of the tragedy of the calamities that's going to befall on Kisol. call something else and says the kadusha or maybe the kadushy over here. He says that the reason why we call is because has another type. It has another meaning. Means vision objectively means a vision means a path. It means a reality reality check. And as we go into tishab we have shabas to recheck to recalibrate to realize yes there was destruction to realize yes we're missing something we're bereft of the of proximity but at the same time it's a springboard it's a time for action it's a time of to see what we're really all about to check back in we all have helium within us we all have hashem's the always is going to keep us lifted keep was afloat. And yes, it was calamity, but there was also there's also a vision. Even when we're feeling depressed and down and negative and we're at loss, we also have to check back in with the vision where we're meant to be, where we're meant to go, even during this time of the year. So, the obvious question that we ask that we're thinking about consciously, subconsciously, is how could it be? How can we actually accomplish? How can we actually change? How can we actually do things that are meaningful for the mikdash the famous question if all the they couldn't and all the of they couldn't go through and we what are we going to do what can we do we seem so small a fraction nothing in compared to these to these people that lived these nishas in the past. How's it possible that we can even make a dent into the bin mdash? And the answer says Pinkis someone once posed this question to Pinkis and he answered that yes it's true the the previous had we don't have it these days but his words were they were never tempted with the of walking down Benudo and that's something that we're all confronted with probably multiple times on a daily basis. And it's a for all of us that whatever it is that we're dealing with, the previous generations did not have that. They didn't have to contend with that. And the kos the concentrated potential that we have is something they were not they didn't have access to. And every time there's an should I look, should I not look? All these were so far away from the source which makes every choice of doing right over wrong so much greater covered in Hashem's eyes so much more beloved and that is how says of Shashinkis how he can make a dent how he can actually implement true change and how he can actually build bricks mdash I want to share with you an incredible story you just heard this from a refined waxman mindboggling There was a big askin, a wellto-do asking for and he had to go to Europe to Schvitz to Switzerland to oversee an operation for a young boy who is deathly ill. He flies over to Switzerland with the family. He makes sure everything's okay. Gets him into the hospital. And after his job was done, he went, he had a hotel. He went back to his hotel, checked in. He was going to relax a little bit. It was a heavy trip and dealing with all the paperwork and the legal stuff. And his family, they didn't know how to speak. They didn't know English. They didn't know anything. So, he was there for them. And he finally was excited to go back to his hotel, relax for a few minutes, get a good night's sleep, and he was going to go a couple days later. He walks into the hotel and he meets this other couple from Israel. Not familiar, didn't know them, didn't know their name. And he says, "Oh, nice to meet you. My name is Schwarz from and uh I'm here on this mission to help this family." Say, "Oh, very nice." A little chitchat. He goes back to his room, goes upstairs. this meeting, this uh this encounter has happened at let's say 6 p.m. goes back up to his room in the hotel and hours later he needed to come back to the lobby to get a tea. Comes back 5 6 hours late, it's ready 11, 12 in the morning and he's perplexed. He sees this couple with their daughter still drains in the lobby and he went back and he said, "Are you the same people that I saw 6 hours ago?" And they said, "Yeah." He said, "What what are you doing here? You're sitting all tali. What are you okay?" And they said, "Well, truthfully, we're from we don't have any money and we push can't afford another night in the hotel." So, we figured we already were here for one night, couple nights, and we can't afford another one, but we're leaving tomorrow morning. So, we're just going to dre on the couches over here, and when our taxi comes in the morning, we're going to leave. But we have our bags ready, ready to go. And this asking Mish Misha Schwarz looks at this couple with their daughter and he said, "Are you crazy? You think I'm going to let you sit here for the next 5 6 hours alone?" He said, "Come to my room." He took them, welcomed them into his room. And he had food and drinks and he sat and fab with them danced and was mazic them. 6:30 7:00 the father gets a notification a call the taxi is here they part ways say months later the thisin goes back to the family goes back to this sick child gets better goes back and this ask gets a letter in the mail and it says dear Dear Mutton, I'm looking forward to seeing you at the So, he opens up the letter. He says, "Dear Mutton, I didn't marry off any of my kids." He opens it up. He looks at the invitation. He has no idea who this invitation is from. No makut. He thinks it's just a epic mistake. Some must have made. Day later, he gets a call. Shalom. Is that Moshe? He says, "Yeah." Who is this? He says, "You remember me? >> I was the Yid that you bumped into in the lobby in Switzerland." And he says, "Oh, of course I remember you." He says, "I just sent you an invitation to your." And he said, "You okay? You're well? What?" He said, "Let me explain to you." He said, "I didn't tell you why I was in that lobby. I told you that I was waiting for my taxi, but there was a backstory." He said, "Let me hear." He said, "What happened?" Um, he said, "I was invited in Switzerland because my daughter, who you saw in the lobby, I was with my wife and my daughter. My daughter was dating a guy. My daughter went off to Dak and wanted absolutely nothing to do with myself, with my wife, with the rest of the family to the point she was dating this guy and ready to get married. And all she wanted was for us to bring her some money to get the ready, make a few preparations, bring her some last minute possessions, she forgot. But after that, saying goodbye to us, says, "Nice knowing you for the 20 whatever years, going all into living in Switzerland and falling off the map. So what happened was you didn't even know but you came over you asked us our name you asked us what you're doing over here you showed you cared you don't understand the impression the indelible impression that you had on my daughter for a week we were J in Switzerland and nobody asked us how you doing what are you here for you an Israeli couple with a daughter what's going You were the first one to the point that we got on the plane and my daughter said, "Mommy Tati, if this is what an it is, I may have been tainted. I may have gotten beaten up over the past few years, but I'm signing back up on the plane. My daughter broke off the sh with this guy came back with us to resubscribed and a few months later right now she became a tora and she's ready to commit her life back to mitzvah and that is why I wrote on this letter dear mutton because without you there is no chance I would ever have this opportunity my daughter would never have Jewish of Jews and it's all in your and I'm forever indebted to you and I want you are the moral of the story there's hundreds but one is for sure we cannot underestimate the power of aum and let that person ask what can we do these days how can we break the Mdah didn't bring it. If the Rashid didn't bring it, the answer is one kind word, one overcoming with the we don't know. We can't underscore its value, its potency, its power. It can do anything. But we cannot belittle those moments. A kind word, a kind gesture, showing another person we care. And especially in this time of year, but if we work exercise the within each and every one of us, especially in this bet, bringing everyone together, but for ourselves, not just as a sh, but as individuals, our close network, our family, friends, our wives, our children, our neighbors. working on that and realizing that every small thing is registered and processed and meaningful by with that realigning back with Shabas as tells us looking at the vision look we're supposed to be and remembering that we all have never puts us down and even in times we're going to sit on the floor and cry and say we're going to say what happened and all these we're nation we have no leader no man We're full of the helium. We're full of fire. We're filled with the kimal. We can do anything. We can rebuild the base of mikdash because hashm put us. We're the door that's going to bring him. And if we rise to the occasion, we realize the kashivas of everything we do. The kashivas of every small action. There's no such. We erase that from our vocabulary, from our vernacular. And we realize that is there cares and he's waiting for us with open arms in turn with our collective actions with our collective mitzvah and especially during this time. Father in turn allevi alleviate us from our pain from our foes from our sorrow with the arrival of the bayishi mdash and mashu right now.