Celebrating Sukkot - Rabbi David Kaplan

Serkis calls ransom casino and the wonders give a little definition what what is the simpler that what is that we're celebrating there's a there's a saying they're saying ain't simcha catharsis acres and if you ever heard that expression it's not a phase out it's a a Mimer what's called my mer ha ha ha that's a saying from one of the hot comment in the about from about 200 years ago aint simcha catharsis Vegas it means that there's no simple there's no joy in life like getting out of a state of Suffolk and you know the their different opinions exactly what that's referring to but a common example would be that person whoever is you know if you ever taken a test and you're waiting for the results and you don't know how you did it could be a it could be a test in school it could be a medical test which is even worse and you're waiting for the results of how a person is waiting for the results they tossed and they turn ready for the results he can't sleep maybe I did get that one right maybe I didn't get that one right after you take a test of your people speaking about the test out in the hallway you get all nervous because they're talking about thing I think I wrote that I don't know if I wrote that I should have written that maybe he's right baby's drunk and when a person the state of Suffolk then then a person is rattled when a person is out of a state of Suffolk and a person is more in a state of at least I know what I have to deal with if the results were good great if there's all for not good so I'll deal with it but at least I don't have that knowing doubt and saints in Clark out tourists are Seca some types of life a person's got a Suffolk person know what are the results what's what's really going on so one of the one of the the ideas in circus the circus is called the hag had be tough on is this hag where we demonstrate our full trust in a core Oracle that we go out of the house we go into a circle which is a flimsy structure depending on what your financial standing is something it's not flimsy it also has a friend house of a hotel and all you do is slide open the roof so the structure itself is in there flimsy but but the the tsuki itself is a stack the stack and it's not to equals all we're all equal when it comes to the south and stock is a great equalizer and they ever moves ourself that removes our Suffolk because ultimately we're making a statement we realize that whatever effort we're putting in in life we realized that our efforts ultimately are futile and that we have full trust in our cottage workers alliance in casino is the cancer of be tough on the cancer that we trusted in Reba no Solomon we have no doubt there's no doubt that our life is in I coated rock was hand and the the there was a classic story of the in the Winter Olympics many years ago there was a Australian speed skater and in the finals he was running fourth behind there was an American and a Russian and a Frenchman sounds like the beginning of a joke I know there was American and referential in in Russia who have one two and three and this Australian was number four and just metres from the finish line one of them tripped the American trip trip the Russian trip the Frenchman they all fell and the Australian skated around them and he won a gold medal and they were so close to the finish line that that the next two crawled they crawled for silver and bronze and this guy was so surprised that he won he had never won a race he did everyone he didn't even know what you do when you win a medal he raised her hands up what he did what he how do you celebrate him what was really interesting was to qualify for the finals in the semi finals only two top three of each the semis qualify for the finals what happens in the semis he was also running fourth and the guy running skating third tripped and fell and this guy finished third in the semis to qualify for the finals within three of them tripped and he said afterwards a part of his strategy was hoping people would fall that was the strategy so she you know purses sometimes he may call the he she tablets in the world and you see that your your life is at the ends were cutters were who mayor cutters that saw was the much gifted with every new Shiva America dosh in 1920 in 1915 1915 he was in Russia and he got stopped by a group of Russian soldiers and they asked to see his papers and he didn't have any papers with him and in Russia was illegal to walk around without identity papers so they took him into a courtyard they put him against the wall they were gonna execute him with a firing squad they standing against the wall and accelerator all lined up as a sergeant there the Russian sergeant he starts hollering America does itself so much yes of every issue but he said that he was so terrified is about to die he couldn't stand up straight his knees were buckling and the Russian sergeant was upset with him he kept yelling at him stand up and take it like a man and he was trying to stand up he didn't to get the guy upset I guess he was trying to stand up and and he couldn't get himself to stay and afraid there's Russian guys hollering the sergeant is hollering and also in a window in the courtyard opens up Russian general sticks his head out the window and he's wearing a t-shirt he says I'm trying to take a nap and you guys are making a ruckus and you're bothering man when I have a whole bunch of you court-martial so the Russian soldiers immediately ran off that they left her Mercado standing there against the wall he said he knew from that moment done that his life is totally in our hands he will never forget it he said the field lasted for two weeks two weeks after two weeks it was back to the usual about 14 15 years later in 1929 he was in every wonder and famous Navarone massacre and the Arabs had come in they were stabbing people he was lying under a pile of bodies and the Arabs kept coming in and going out coming in and going out and they were looking for more victims or americ-aa - said about himself he was lying under a pile of bodies and the errors were coming in and out looking for more victims and he said at that moment he thought to himself I know now clearly that my life is a hundred percent and I cut her off his hands he wants me to live I will live he wants me to die I will die he survived and he said after that the feeling never left him the understanding the recognition that his life is totally in her cottage where his hands never left them till the end of his life it wasn't after what it was 91 so that's part of the concept of the - even casino is just the knowledge that we grapple with the Battle of beat Oakland that would grapple with all year of are we really where we holding over here what is going on in my life and the knowledge that whatever is happening in our life we understand clearly that there is we forget very easily but we understand clearly that's coming straight from our coders work well I had a guy a young man here in the yeshiva 1991 when we were under missile threat from Iraq for those of you who some of you weren't even alive those of you who were living in Israel at a time to remember that we were we had to have what's called sealed rooms so we all went to the hardware stores we bought scotch tape and we taped up our rooms because that scotch tape was going to protect us from the most sophisticated chemical war weapons that Iraq could possibly shoot in it's the obviously scotch tape in Israel you know it's double especially double thickness that'll do it and we all believe that you know and we taped up our taped up our rooms and we're in that room and Bronco sure we all survived the war we all survived the war to drink some time during that war in the yeshiva here all the bunker and all the boys hit they have their rooms had to be sealed off defense establishment said anytime there's a cyber and everybody together they're sealed room so Eddie one young man look into you shiver here at the time back in 91 this guy was a free spirit from California who looked like the he was the cover boy for free spirit California magazine I mean he could exactly what you're picturing that's what he was and he came over to one day and he said to me wants to know if the next time the siren goes off if instead of going up to his room if he could go stand in front of your own kodesh I said them no she asked me why not I said well first of all because if anything does happen we get in trouble did the stuff had to stay at the defense establishment we can't have it but I wasn't too worried I told them more importantly is because if you stand by the Aron Kodesh and nothing happens to you in front of your own kodesh then you'll be convinced that a Kurdish worker was watching over you your job is to go up to your room you're sealed room take all the precautions necessary and when nothing happens - you realize it's because I cut her off or sticky area that's your oh that's the test to be dumped in front of your own Co - we're all fro rather your cutters were all very very religious the trick is to go up to your room and in your sealed room you realize that what's happening to you up in that sealed room is strong is no matter what we have up there we had all the equipment we had tape in a radio and although you know they hear the instructions but at the end of the day that's what the betoken is it's the first level of Manson Casino there we know we don't have any doubt circuses the reminder we just came off of a Yom Kippur and we we defeated the tsaatan on Yom Kippur and now we come to a circus and we show we have no doubts because raw foods in our life very much in our life very directly in our life we have full trust and it goes well just as a side point by the way realize realize that what Ana common mistakes be talked on does that mean that everything will turn out the way you want it to turn out that's not what be tough I mean it doesn't simply means they're the realization that whatever is happening is for the best it's what's meant to be and that's our cars world is running his world that's why the host of all of us says that the test how do you know if you've truly got be tough on what's the true indication in the acid test to determine for president be tough on and the true determinant and determining factor is Manuka and nefesh of the botella no cuts inevitable about that is that you are totally yet in a relaxed state no matter what's going on you can be stuck in traffic on the way to a wedding could be your own and you're not rattled you're completely relaxed because you realize that whatever is going on is the minutest NFHS what are kotas were who allows for there's a girl who once right now there's nothing i could do for whatever reason i'll find out now later possibly in the ole of my ms whatever the reason is right now what's happening is the best that's the first idea of the of the of this man seemed to say no it's another thing aspect of i want to speak about a little bit in Chicago where I'm from where all of you should be from is they have a for a Jewish a very Jewish housing project Winston towers though so you ever been in Chicago called Winston towers Winston towers was probably about probably 95% Jewish and you know when it's a big Jewish shave several several buildings each building probably had probably had 40 50 60 units in it and there's a from a from guy Eric circus he went and he started building a Sukkot in the parking lot so an elderly Jewish woman anti-religious comes out she says you're not building that thing here we left all that stuff back in Europe and we're not gonna have you building that out there I saw out in our toys the Jews would object the most we're not gonna build that eyesore out in this parking I get that thing out of here and she called the city she called the city of cities inspectors came down cuz I'm sorry sir you cannot erect a Shack in the parking lot you're gonna have to take it dismantle right now if you use the usual argument I'll take you down in seven days no no you gotta get it out of here okay so the guy goes to a rental car company and he rents a flatbed truck and he drives this flatbed truck into the parking on he parks it right in a parking lot which is perfectly legal and on top of the flatbed truck he built a Sukkah which is perfectly kosher and I would assume he parked it right outside her window which is my hydrating me know my hydrant and that's the monsoon Casino so thinking myself what's really what's really bothering this lady what's really bothering us lady especially about us so I think that it's more than just the standard animosity that a person feels towards religious Jews in religion I think that what's really bothering her is that cyka is a reminder this okay is a reminder it's meant to be a reminder to us and it's somehow it's a reminder to her it's on this on the level as well the sukkah is meant to be a reminder to us that so you call the Circa as a DRS RI the arrests are a means it is a temporary dwelling the Circa is a temporary dwelling we go out there for seven days the seven days of circus represent the seven decades of a person's lifetime the average lifespan is seventy in big euros Schmo name Shauna if a person is really strong make all the way up to 80 that's why they use the expression guys is having a midlife crisis guys hey guys 50 55 60 years old as they have a midlife crisis do the math that's not midlife that's what they call in chess endgame that's not me it's that midlife it may be a 2/3 life crisis maybe a 3/4 like it's certainly not in midlife unless a guy who plans to live the 110 which statistically works against him that's not quite midlife crisis 70 years that's the whole thing 7 decades that's what the sucker represents something that games over the lifetime same thing I'd pace out to 7 days we search for the Comets on pace up to remove the comments symbolically that we're removing the evil inclination the y8 Sahara the evil inclination during the 70 years of our during the seven years of our life of our lifespan it's statistically been shown by the way women live longer than men did you know that women have been amending every lifespan I think we're men who live 273 women of 277 why that is I don't know and whether or not it's a good thing I don't know either I'm just quoting the statistics they also quote a statistic that married men live longer than single men I don't know if you ever heard that married men live longer than single men but that married men are more willing to die so why why there is why and again and again why there is and should it be I don't know I only I'm only telling you what the statistics show who did those statistics I don't know he's probably no longer with us but whatever it was so what happens is you have a sucker and the sucker really represents what we call it dear us all right irizarry means it's a temporary life is temporary so for a person who is a person who is really living life without a purpose without a focus and without a goal that could be very very frightening and disconcerting that a person understands that what they know and what keeps them up at night and what bothers and gnaws away at them the understanding that I'm not gonna be here forever I know that life life comes to an end man is mortal and to have a reminder like that's sitting right in your parking lot that's very very very nervy for the Torah Jew it's the opposite for a Torah do we don't see death as anything that should cause us any sort of sadness we understand that the concept of life and death is a reminder to us that we should take action while we're here to accomplish something with our life that's what life is really about that's what we understand this the perspective that we have undeath that we understand that a man does not live forever and that becomes the motivation for us to accomplish to take action and to do something can creat substantial and meaningful with our lives and when a person lives a life with in a meaningful way in a substantial way their person is living a life of fulfillment in spite of the spectre of death lurking somewhere in the distance so mashallah Mahadeva Dhamma what is this comparable to answered one of the ballet bustard is not my idea when a Bali muster says this imagine a woman goes in to buy a woman goes into a clothing shop because it's a mess if they got these massive clothing jobs now a woman in a clothing shop you know it could take a while you know she's gonna go shopping one outfit in a clothing shop it could take a while and she's looking around and she's looking around she can't decide you this is one of seventeen different items that she wants and she can't decide she's going back and forth they can imagine what state she's in a state of Suffolk right now what do I do she's rattled what am I gonna do all of a sudden the shopkeeper the owner of the store comes over to her and he sets a timer right next to her says lady I'm closing the store in fifteen minutes you've got 15 minutes to pick out an item and he sets a timer right next to her and he smiles and he says there is monsoon clothes say no because that's the true Suffolk you know what's gonna happen to her now she's gonna make a decision now she's gonna go and she's gonna finally make that decision because she understands I've got a limited amount of time that's the perspective we have the sukkah is a diverse array in this is man seam casino that's the reminder because we have a time limit now get busy and when we get busy that's what gives us a sense of fulfillment a sense of accomplishment and sense of symfon life the story I like to tell happened to me many years ago I've told it if you've been in the Shiva for any great length of time like about a week you've probably heard me tell this story but I was when I first got married my wife and I were driving from Chicago I'm gonna go from Chicago to Columbus Ohio now if you know me at the United States it's approximately Chicago's over here Columbus is over here it's basically one Highway about a seven-hour drive if you should be guys are driving it's about a three-hour drive but I was driving which would have been a three-hour drive except my wife was into cars I'd be given a seven-hour drive so how to go from Chicago to Columbus and we started driving now to get out of Chicago there about you got to hit this there's like a 16 lane interchange and my dad gave me directions how to get out and hit the right highway you got to catch the third right the third Lane on the right and quickly get into the fifth one from the left and they make it through one of those jobs so my dad's explaining it to me took about 10 minutes to explain it to me and I and I'm looking at it basically like you look when you're learning with your caboose ax and afterwards he said you got it I said yeah we both knew I didn't but I wasn't gonna make him repeat the whole thing okay we were young we get it to the car we start driving and as we leave Chicago you and I had that sinking feeling I don't think that I'm where I'm supposed to be but big deal so we started driving it's late at night Roy and I are driving and at a certain point we see a sign that says Detroit 235 miles now if you know a map of the United States Chicago is here and Columbus is here Detroit is over here so seeing anything at resembling Detroit anywhere in the vicinity was not a good sign so I realized we're going in a wrong direction so I got off the highway it's about midnight I pulled into a truck stop and it's midnight at a truck stop and I walk in and there's a lady behind the counter could imagine a lady working in a truck stop at midnight so I said there excuse me can you tell me how to get to Columbus she goes with one second she calls to the back Roy Roy comes walking up for our lawyer as a truck driver mutton-chop sideburns a beer in one hand a beer in the third or the other himself third one in his mouth with the Marlboro looks like he also stepped right out of truckers magazine and Roy comes over and she says can you tell this guy to get to Columbus so who I says to me he looks at me and he says well were you coming from so I said I'm coming from Chicago so he looks he goes Chicago Chicago boy are you messed up right and then Roy called all the other truck drivers Roy they're all named Roy he calls all the truck drivers come piling yet is this guy's coming from Chicago wanted to go to Columbus and I was sitting there not enjoying the humor under the circumstances and he gave us directions but I learned an important muster lesson which was that in life if you don't know where you're going you don't have a goal you don't know how to get there you get end up messed up and therefore this months ago saying who is this is all right this is gonna end one day fellas and since it's gonna end I really have to take stock and say well so what am I doing here and if I'm here then I have something to accomplish that's the greatest simpler in life the Guara in cyka says that in the future Warren deaf noon days in Seward afternoon bass named basil olive verse says that in the future a kurdish war who is going to share the eight sahara because what's gonna go I says what's gonna be the end of the evil inclination the eights are out so who are says that course Rocco's gonna chef the eights are hard God's gonna slick them whatever that means to chef D it's our and then the coroner says everybody's gonna stand around and cry that tsadikim are gonna cry and the roshaniya are gonna cry the righteous and the wicked are all going to stand around and cry but for different reasons the righteous are gonna cry they're gonna look at the evil look-alikes you're gonna say they a thin strand that that enormous mountain how were we able to overcome that enormous mountain call an evil inclination and when they think of the pain invested and overcoming that mountain they're going to cry it would not be unlike if you thought yourself have ever passed an exam you passed the dental boards or you passed your your finals your midterms and you think to yourself you think back to the three days and nights that you studied for that test right before the exam and when you think about it you could just cry and especially when on the second day a bunch of your friends said by the way we got front seat tickets to to a football game 50-yard line you say I can't go girl I got to study for this exam and you think of what went into that exam you can actually cry that's a deacon when they think about the fact that they overcame the evil inclination and the pain of scaling that mountain time after time they're gonna cry and the wicked are gonna cry they're gonna say they're thin strand of hair one thin wisp of hair how is it that we were tripped up time after time after time so the obvious question is well how could that be how could it be that the Yates ihara he has two different appearances either he's a mountain or he's a hair how could it possibly be that the ate Sahara twosome he looks like a mountain and the summit looks like a thin strand of hair so the answer is and I feel that this is something that of there are many pieces all of Casals speaks to us I feel this is something that every single person here has experienced at some time or other in any pleasure especially forbidden pleasures there are two stages in the forbidden pleasure the first stage of any experience the life could be a permissible pleasure as well the first stage is the imagination stage and then the imagination the pleasure is cranked up it's magnified and in our mind it looks like a mountain of pleasure for just a simple example on Yom Kippur when you were sitting here in the base mattress and right towards the ELA right around the ELA time a beam in that time the ELA time it's a little thought of what am I going to break the fast on and whatever it is that you're gonna break the fast on whether it's three slices of pizzas folded over 1/4 of a pizza fold it over and wedged in or whether it's a huge mountain of ice cream whatever it is in the imagination it's gonna be unbelievable that first cold cold cup of Pepsi is going to be probably the best drink I've ever had in my life that's what's going on in our imagination then after Yom Kippur we start eating we start drinking and it's good I mean is that the greatest thing it's nowhere near doesn't match our imagination when you were a little kid you went to the amusement park so there's always that ride that you couldn't go on because you were too short you had Co you could you didn't reach your head then reach the line or you were too young whatever it was and you finally managed to go on the supersonic dinner spinner or whatever it was that they call it and you went on the ride and you got off that was it magnificent was it as good as you imagined it to be it was good it might have been fun was it absolutely the be all and handled there was some sort of letdown some sort of disappointment this happens in all areas of life this is a universal I heard once about you have you ever been traveling people like the trail let's go traveling let's travel so you put on your boots in your in your what do you call your your you know now you're gonna be Rambo out in the wilderness and then you go and you know in the imagination stage it's gonna be great we're gonna walk around just like and we're gonna feel like real real rugged frontiersman so you get out there and you're bothered by the heat and by the mosquitoes and a certain point you're being chased by a grizzly bear and your tent blows away in the middle of the night and Anna it's just that what it's cracked up to be because the imagination plays with us in the imagination makes us feel and see it yes something that's going to be far beyond what it really is imagine a forbidden pleasure the evil inclination comes and he throws a temptation and this temptation is a mountain there's a mountain of temptation in front of us and a person is battling with his evil inclination and he overcomes the evil inclination what does he feel he's just lost a mountain there's a mountain of pleasure that I just sacrificed that's a Attic that sadek is the one who overcomes the evil inflation most of the time and on every acre every time it happens he feels I've sacrificed a mountain of pleasure and he cries when he thinks about that he cries because he realized you know there's a mountain over there I gave up a mountain of pleasure what is the wicked the Russia what is he he's the guy who faced the mountain of temptation he indulges and what does he walk away shaking his head thinking that's it that's all it was that didn't stranded here and I tripped at it again I tripped on it that's the two perspectives that sadek sees the evil inclination as a mountain because to him it was a mountain each time he overcame it the eights of the the evil man the wicked man the Russia he saw the mountain he indulged was disappointed and then he stumbled again the next time and a thin strand of hair it's a difference the two perspectives that illusion which he ate Sahara is the master illusionist better than all the illusionist they have nowadays who can make Empire State buildings disappear and all the famous illusionist the y8 Sahara can make the entire world disappear the answer Hara makes us think that there's an illusion of permanence that there's an illusion over here that this world is going to go on and it's gonna go on and there's gonna be endless pleasure in this world and in a person comes to the end the line hands up empty and here is regret for his entire life how did I trip and this thin strand of hair that is what I think was really bothering that's what's really bothering the the the this lady when she sees the reminder this is a temporary world and I'm not really accomplishing very much we once mentioned on circus that we're surrounded in this cyka everything that we build in the sukkah and the Dollard meaning that we take loo look the s hogan in that the Hadassah and her ovo's all these things that we take the common denominator between them is these are all things that were once alive these are all living beings or living living items and what the idea is again that we just came off of Yom Kippur and if you know as well as I do that on Yom Kippur within Iran kodesh was open and at Nagila and we said Hashem who Elohim we promised I could his work with the moon I'm gonna be good I'm not gonna be better and I'm gonna do this and I'm not going to do that I'm gonna do this and I'm not gonna say that we promised everything then we head into a circus what's the remainder of Circus we take things that were once alive in these things that were once alive the Lulu of the etrog the Sookie itself we're surrounded by life which is around or to reminder us these items grew you have an obligation to grow that's what you committed yourself to that's what you just promised that cutters bro who grow that's the commitment and that's what this sucker reminds us it's a dearest all right it's a temporary world what are you gonna do in a temporary world temporary world's gonna end grow that's your job as a Jew grow that's the remainder of Circus if you notice impartial arrow the Torah says by Eliezer ever have wrong they're on their way up to the akkada about The Selecter the the sacrifice of Yitzhak the Torah says the Avram tells Eliezer and he tells you smile by Omer have Rome illness or oath Shula and poem have come more van even arendelle Todd go stay here with the donkey and the lad young man and myself we're gonna go when East I'm gonna to believe him and Rashi says you'll accompany my thumb or stay here with the donkey why are you it's the emphasis I mean you just say stay here somehow I'm from Avene was connecting them up with very very closely to the donkey I'm hadou Malik homework you're a nation that's similar to the common work different opinions was he talking about Eliezer or was he talking about Ishmael but according to the before Shem it's certainly first to both Eliezer is an a madama local more I'm a dumb Elohim or Kimora's a donkey comes closely linked to the Hebrew word Homeric which is materialism what do we find by Eliezer three years later by Eliezer he's domestic Eliezer Dola Oh Masha me Taurus Rapoza he takes from our movie news Torah in he's the main Talmud he's the student teacher of a verbena teaching surest reading have Raveena's Torah within three years I mean he was three years ago he was in a module maloja more now he's done now he's the assistant brochure shiver by Praveen Izzy shiver but happened Eliezer the answers Eliezer took the motor off remove you said you're a navigable of tomorrow le as I said why he got to be a calm or I don't want to stay at home or and this I'm gonna live my life be at how mark and in three years he turns himself into Avril Medina's right-hand man in his Torah that he spread that's what a person is capable of a person who learns Torah is capable of incredible growth but he's got to be willing to try he's got to be willing to make the effort we had a Rebbe here in the yeshiva I'll tell you his name rabbi Shekar by my Chicago his brother is one of the Russian shivers of mirror reminds Karabakh was already here in the issue of a massive Tom McLoughlin he's written commentary and rib Akiva a Greece put out swarm on Rebecca Vega so if Carl Baugh was once I was sitting in a base vendors once and hear a different based vendors Rabat was there he was talking to somebody and while I was talking to my took his notebook you had a loose-leaf notebook with his Gomorrah notes in it I started leafing through his notebook and turning the pages of the notebook looking what he's got written there and the last page of the notebook I noticed he's got a picture got a photograph there's a picture of a giant you know those California Redwoods the sequoia trees in California I know they grow about 300 feet high they're massive they they even make they're so wide that they make a wedding off tunnel through them for cars massive massive trees and I took a look it took a look at his book and I'm looking through and I see this picture it looks like a picture the picture was taken from a angle somebody was lying obviously on the ground taking a picture of the tree upwards as opposed to a frontal view from the ground up so you're looking up at this massive tree so I said then what's this and why is it in your notebook they smiled at me and he said it's just a reminder I have to grow if they'll always grow right there in his notebook a man who wrote on Rebecca Vega you have to always grow there was a one of the things that we've done other groups have done as well we've taken boys from the yeshiva here on a visit to mere the mere yeshiva that upon Avicii Shiva often people who've ever had you know in the world at large when they hear the word you Shiva so many of them are picturing what we think of when we hear the word when we when you think of some sort of convent or or what's it called where the priests were two priests hang out a girl what was it called a monastery monitor what do you think of a monastery reward - err what do you picture picture kind of a dark damp you know hallway you know with with candles melting and burning off on the side of the walls and guys with black hoods walking around like that with quiet quiet like a library say you Shiva - your average person out there that's what they're picturing what say your Shiva was a morbid place people dressed in black quiet candles on the wall that's what they're picturing guy walks into ease Shiva and he's hit in the face with a burst of energy did they're left speechless we took guys once we've taken them to the mirror Shiva I once took in a group of guys I brought them up to the upstairs base matted we're only 350 people were learning and the guys are standing there with their jaw dropped over guys who are looking like this I said okay now let's go see the real base men - you take him into the main rear base one hundred six seven eight hundred people are learning over there so he taking guys into punna well you walk into the pun of it you're thinking punna that you've been a rocky of a--from you know it's gonna be good you open up the door upon of it and the energy that pours out from 600 800 people learning Torah so a group of Israeli soldiers completely secular they were taken into the bun of a Jew Shiva once also by an outreach organization and the soldiers come in and they're looking around the room and they're just you know speechless so one of the soldiers he's a little old man sitting in the corner so he walks over to me says excuse me sir could I ask you a question how long have you been here he says Oh about 40 years is if you feel you're making progress he's burnished em a little bit progress every day we grow a little bit every day turned out this little man was rich after that's all the money given Chloe's job yep for the pig he picked the winner he's got a good idea so he opened a picture of chef but there was roof shafts they had at thrift shops they edited was I have to grow what was I put here for there's a Russian Shiva here and Aaron sees throw one of the biggest hump eat at home I'm in Eretz Israel when he every time is use Shiva learns in Homosassa he starts writing notes on the pneuma SEF though he doesn't look at his old notes he prepares all the shoe room from scratch and then he looks after he's written his leadership his new ideas in his novel a that he takes a look at and then he compares him to his old notes and if his feels that the new ideas and concepts are not superior to what he had before that he bursts out crying because he feels I'm stagnating I'm not growing that's the reminder of circus the reminder of circuses grow that's what we were put here for so a person is in a world of illusion a person is in a world those of you have ever been away from home and you're on your way your honor you've been away from home for three months four months six months and you can't wait to get home and you're on the plane and the pilot announces fasten your seat belts are gonna land soon there's little thump-thump-thump soon you're gonna see your family we're all gonna be together and we're gonna be so happy and it's gonna be wonderful let me get off the plane and you're with your family and after about ten minutes of your parents being on you know your mother told your father be on your best behavior father told your mother don't know Jim the Robel and the best behavior after about ten minutes the old people come the old personality comes out he's making the same jokes she's the J and after about 10-15 minutes you're ready to turn around go back to the airport and fly right back where you came from because the imagination tells you this is going to be unbelievable it's a this entire world is that same world of imagination and circus is the reminder that there's a permanence the permanence for growth that's what we're here for but the rest of it is all temporary and that's announcing cuisine and a woman once told me some legal story woman told me that she was already getting a little older she was in her mid 60's which doesn't sound as old as it used to by the way and the woman said that she's had about enough of making Shabbos noise had guests and a friend and a friend of a friend enough of making all these show busts it for people she had enough and she was gonna pass the torch to the next generation she's gonna have a nice quiet relaxing Shabbos just her and her husband the kids are out of the house okay Thursday night she's sitting and reading a newspaper first time on a Thursday night and years that she's sitting and relaxing instead of cooking kögel's at meat chicken also in the phone rings got that ominous ring you know something the phone rings and you just know what it's gonna be picks up the phone it was one of the rib a him from this yeshiva calling her said there you know she was a woman living in Tulsa own this was just outside you're flying he said we have a Chaba tone this Shabbos I would like to bring some boys can you have a couple of boys for Shabbos these are the more the advanced level boys in the yeshiva the boys already Sherman Chavez already from summer in the base Manish could he have these boys and she said all right I have two boys I'll start my quite show Boston next week woman told me the story Arab shop is about three o'clock the rabbi knocks on the door and tells them to buff him come walking in both are wearing black hats jackets and one of the Bushmen walks into her house and he takes a look around he goes this this is the house this is the house so the Rebbe said what he said the house is not so exciting couldn't even hear that this house this house this house they said well what is it what is the time what is it he says listen I came to Israel three years ago and I was completely fry fries an egg as the expression goes and I was here and I was completely secular and we went on the show but tones of some small town outside usual line and I was there too Shabbos table it was a great Shabbos as one of the reasons I decided to stay in you ship and I never do the name of the town and every good name of the people I never know where it alls was this is the house where it all started this is out without I was a woman told me she dropped her plans to stack the cancel show bustle she said and she realized you know what there's still progress in life I'm still contributing I have something to give I have growing this her personal growth person never gets to a point where they could say no more growth I know another man who never learned in each other man never learned any show and it was not what they call Orthodox never learned in yeshiva not he was an accountant by trade never learned in yeshiva was that a Torah scholar by any stretch of the imagination a very very little involvement in learning when he hit about 80 years old he and his wife moved into a what's it called an elderly assisted living facility whatever they would think whatever they call it and his wife wasn't well he was fairly healthy so one Friday night they asked him to make kiddush for the old early people so he made the kiddush for them next Friday night they said make kiddush maybe saying it Vera Toro they said advertorial so each week he said advertorial for a few weeks as they said you know maybe give us a little partial class so every week for about 15 or 20 minutes he may give them a partial class after a few years the man compiled a safer compile a book I hid the book at home it's about four or five hundred pages thick not profound nothing nothing earth-shattering but he did it he wrote an entire safer and Himesh I have a friend who's who was also a alumni of or samac who was very from very influential and from community and he has the book also and I said to him did you see mr. pallone E's book he says yes I have it on my shelf it's my best Mooser safer and I don't even have to open it all I have to do is look at it that's my muscle reminder that a person is never too late for a person to grow and for a person to accomplish there's a Gomorrah that says like this the Gomorrah says that rebek Hanina Ben dosa was very poor Penina Meadows was extremely poor and he and his wife wife said to him how long are we going to go on and suffer from this poverty so ribbit Amina Mendoza the governor says he davon and he was given a golden leg of a table came down from heaven a golden leg of a table he'd take a golden leg of a table and you know legs of tables could be used for different things I was once when I first came to Israel I saw a little from kid on the Shabbos afternoon it was broken walking around well from kid in my neighborhood I just got in his right just look I was here about two three years that's a little from kiddies about nine years old he's running around the leg of a chair broken leg of a chair on Shabbos afternoon as it then what do you I was there I was on my way to meet her stuff they said what are you doing with their thing he said we're playing so what are you playing said police and protesters all right with her and I think in this in that game I think the protestors are the good guys they're the ones with the leg of the chair serviço Nina Mendoza gets his golden leg of a chair we go golden leg of a table which you could you know sell make money for that night his wife had a dream and saw that their table in the world to come is going to be missing a leg their table in the world to come will be missing a leg there before she would say three legs represent Avram it's like in Yaakov Torah Buddha you know sort of whatever it means but she was shown their vision and she said to her husband never mind I don't want it give it back so he handed up the chaired that Legree threw it up and in heaven they took it back the guar says that was a bigger miracle because in heaven they give they don't take back and here Abby honey number though so they gave him back the golden leg of the chair and they took it right back what's the Gemara telling us what's he were telling us you have a leg here's a leg but I'll be missing for the world to come what does that mean so of course you would say that the core is really addressing a very common ailment that we suffer from often you have people who feel if life circumstances were a little bit different I'd be able to study more Torah they had a little bit more money they had a better Karissa if I had a couch in the basement all sorts of things that people feel if life circumstances were a little bit different then I'd be to learn Torah right now I can't learn to her big Umar is showing us through the canina Ben dosa who is his poorest could be the guar says he subsisted and Caribes from air shafts Cabo Reuben mayor of shaveh sir of Shabbos you don't need more what's the proof cuz you don't have more if you had more if you needed more you would have gotten it you don't have it then you obviously don't need it I can't learn right now the Rambam says everybody's will you have to learn whether you're rich whether you're poor whether you're a bali su rim a person suffering physically you still have to learn Torah has nothing should we change our life circumstances certainly we can make each Tablas and it certainly doesn't hurt to dive in for a little bit of pernessa they have a rich uncle who leaves a little bit of Parana so that's all reasonable establish but it's not a prerequisite to torah it's not a prerequisite in a temporary world it's all temporary anyway it's difficult so that's what bits are me mash a little bits are one thing learned when it's difficult it's worth a hundred things learned when things are easy that's what the worst teaches where it's easy just you know what okay so the said ask them easy who said it has to be easy that's the rule should you try if you if you have an option between two chairs in the big one is comfortable well you don't have to sit on the uncomfortable chair but you can't say well it's a prerequisite if I don't have a comfortable chair I can't be in the basement fish that's what the guar is teaching this is your circumstance that's what the circumstances are meant to be use those circumstances and grow within those circumstances I think that everybody here especially in this basement all the basement issues you'll find I think that everybody here in this basement is his maid or is making more of a sacrifice than most of the base vendors you find anywhere in usually people a squares or so math or samantha's just seven minutes from mere no no got it wrong mirror is seven minutes from or Samantha or cement is where the people are really sir this is people who are fighting personal battles with parents with well-meaning but uninformed or misinformed relatives struggling financially struggling to cut their teeth on a piece of Gomorrah where you've had no experience and you have to watch some nine-year-old from kid who teaches you it's not so easy you go to somebody's house for Shabbos and he's got you know he's got seven kids each one younger than the next one and each one of them knows the parsha by heart and those homies where they father's testing them at a party you got to sit there and look at their and think there's oh my goodness what hope is there for me look at these little kids they're born in Aramaic you know I don't even know which way to ward off Bailey and some trouble in figuring out what that I might don't worry about it don't worry about it because that's your growth and that's all you have to do so of course Roja wines from you I heard about a little girl this week include a little girl who had some sort of emotional problems and in America it's very common they do what's called a suka hop I don't know if you know there where do kids get together to neighbor they go hopping from once look at to another and they walk in to go from suka one sucker to another and a bunch of little girls got together they started going from one suka they were once I could get a treat you get Sophie Elsa do you go to Mexico then he walked in there was one big road and he walked into his soak and they found uncharacteristically the circuit was not decorated there are no decorations in the sukkah so it was just four walls with the stock and one of the little girls turns them and she says to him this little girl with a little girl she said them it's a beautiful sucker but where are the decorations and he looks at this girl he says the people in my suka are the decorations especially you and the young lady who told me the story said from that day on the girls emotional state improved somebody told her that she decorates the suka I think gentlemen one of the things that you have to do let's take a good look in the mirror you've good look in the mirror look at who you were look at who you are and realize that you are the decorations and I gotta grow up with sugar don't look around at everything else you've been to all the all the tissues and all the from people who are dancing in the dishes you're thinking my goodness look at them and look how fortunate they are they're the ones that should be looking at you and think you're fortunate you are you're the circuit decorations and if you appreciate what a Sukkah is and that asuka represents growth which is something every one of you has embarked on a commitment to growth then you realize you are this Manson casino you are the definition of the Manson casino wave that's it because a no means that we're committed and understanding and in an RI world we are going to do the right thing we're gonna take on the responsibility we're gonna spend our life growing all right you