Celebrating Tu BiShvat

so uh first and foremost as a song I remember for now maybe 30 something years ago when I was a little kid used to sing this song I guess probably too young said good song at least not the oldest one so uh probably yeah this is different oh [Laughter] so to be to be a lot of people um like to be schwat why is very very little things to do as far as you know mitzvot you know in regards to obligation to go to synagogue normal like any other day trilogue normal like any other day you don't have to fast in fact you should eat extra food so people like those kind of holidays like Pauline like Hanukkah but to be is not really just about eating some fruits a lot of people like to eat the dry fruits which uh is not exactly the best idea for a couple of reasons uh number one the a lot of these fruits come even though they have obviously first of all you have to make sure that they're kosher because unlike a regular fruit that you buy from a store these dry fruits they put chemicals on them different things different added ingredients to the fruit so the added ingredients have to be kosher so you have to make sure that whatever you bought these dry fruits in is a kosher and the reason why is because the going do not have the same obligation like juice to make sure that certain things are clean that they don't have worms and maggots and all types of other interesting bugs in the food it's okay if you have if you find a fly in a uh in a hamburger in McDonald's just gonna tell you I'm sorry we'll give you a new hamburger you can't sue them for it and they're not going to feel bad but they're not going to go home accident happens okay there's a little bug usually there's buggers don't see it they cook it with the bug but you saw it this time we're sorry sir we're sorry that you ate the fly you saw the fly that you're about to eat you should have taken the bite instead you would have missed the whole thing but it's not it's not a against their religion to have bugs in their food and as a matter of fact some people all they eat is bugs you go to different parts different parts of of Asia they have entire dinners full of huge bugs sometimes they're alive sometimes they're dead depends holy people Hashem says be holy because I am Holy to be holy you have to act different from the rest of the world and we're not allowed to eat bugs bugs um there is a certain type of bug-like uh that used to be in which was the um it's not a grasshopper really it's a uh but it looks like a grasshopper but today only in the old yemenite kelot which I don't believe there's any really in America uh there are a lot of yemenites obviously there are yemenites in America and we have a few in the shoe but kilot of yemenites old-fashioned I mean it's really in Yemen they still eat it they still eat this uh this specific grasshopper like uh bug uh why are they allowed to do it because this bug is actually kosher kosher according to the Torah so how come we're not allowed to eat it because we can't tell the difference from a regular grasshopper to the coaster grasshopper we can't tell the difference and it's not part of your tradition therefore you're not allowed to eat it they can't there you go to Yemen they'll tell you which one is kosher which one is not but here in America or in Israel in different parts of the world we don't have that tradition in a lot to eat it otherwise there's no bugs that's allowed for a missile in fact it says in a Torah when you eat a bug when you when you eat a bug Vinita bum and you become impurified it impurifies your soul so the sages say what does it mean it says if you notice in the parashah the word there's a missing alif the word and it's made to him is missing aleph so you could also say when it comes you become stupid what's stupid the guy built a building how come he's stupid you're not stupid a guy can do math in his head five thousand divided by 3.675 in his head two seconds is that stupid no not stupid like that stupid meaning spiritually stupid you go to shoot 20 years some people are going to shoot throughout 20 years why they're still eating bugs still eating bugs every time a person eats a bug whether it's a worm or a maggot or a flight all the same it's five different sins the equivalent of eating five cups or five bites of pig five five bite you know tell a regular Jew that still has some level of some level of connection to Hashem you tell them you violate Shabbat yeah I don't keep Shabbat you tell them you uh go out with non-jews yeah sometimes you tell them you eat pig hey what do you think I am a guy relax relax well keep said that go I would tell them I go on Shabbat I do all the other things but pigs I don't eat that's that's that's that's uh typical Jew I was one of them I said same thing this yes this yes this zipper Pig so Amisa knows pig is ASU when you eat a bug you're eating big pig five times five times so it's not just one it's five so this means that you have to be very very careful with the vegetables and the fruits that you eat and you have to make sure that you clean them you have to clean them especially if you're eating salads there's a fool that calls himself a rabbi and unfortunately has a famous name uh uh and uh and people think he's connected to ravavadya but it's connected to maybe uh JCPenney more of these connected to rabovadia that's out but anyway he wrote that yeah you can go to any vegan restaurant even if it's not kosher he said he's a posseque now he made himself he just declared himself a sec declared himself a sec no one to declare him a sec he declared he's a prosec he declared he's a forsake he's going to write an article that you can go to any vegan restaurant even if it's not Kosher because it's only vegetables and if you can't see it don't worry about it meaning if you can't see the bug with your eyes you have nothing to worry about so that means you if you can't see anything you don't have to worry about it's a new law we just add a new law to the Torah so don't listen to such people you have to check in the books what it says the books do not say anything like this the books say something quite different books say if you eat a bug you have a serious problem obviously it's not we're not talking about things that are microscopic talk about things that if you check you'll find it you wash it right you'll find it a lot of people that like to eat Hamin if you're not cleaning your beans you are 100 eating bugs so you're not cleaning your beans if you're not cleaning your rice if you're not cleaning your vegetables especially if it's like um salads types of vegetables you are 100 eating just as many bugs as you're eating tomatoes at least so that's why it's important to wash the vegetables very carefully you have to put them into soap soap water you have to put them into salt water it's a process it's a process that's what it means to shim to you be holy be holy means we're not animals we don't just eat whatever's in front of us because we're hungry just because there's food doesn't mean you're allowed to eat it you have to contain yourself this is part of tikuna midot this is part of controlling your desires if you see food and by the time you realize that you have to check for a kosher stamp you already ate the food you have no you got your mind whatsoever you have no idea that you probably just ate a bunch of bugs and a bunch of things that you're not supposed to eat and if you know what you just ate not only will you do hatano avinu passano we probably throw up also is a very very important holiday but it's not important because of the fruits and vegetables [Music] let me know what you think and make sure to share it because other people need to learn too