Chanukah: Parsha Talk With Rabbi Avi Grossman - Rabbi Glatstein Discusses His New Sefarim

foreign for those of you who are watching and those of you in the recording uh I'm Avi Grossman this is Parsha talk tonight's guest is Rabbi Daniel latstein he'll be with us in a few moments we're just going to admit him we go if anybody has a problem please uh please send it to me in the chat and uh also for those of you who are having problem getting the transmission it's best if you kill your camera and also mute yourselves so thank you very much uh we're looking for Rabbi glastian he's here with us I think okay did I use the right uh good afternoon rabbi gladstein hi good afternoon thank you happy ghostman for the opportunity today how's everything well thank god it's already Hanukkah here uh I love Hanukkah I don't know since I was a kid it's uh good and I I especially like it because it allows me to continue with my regular Yeshiva schedule it's not so much of an imposition uh also I I'm surprised how every year it becomes that I see more and more people are marketed for what I was taught is the proper way to like Hanukkah candle to light at sundown uh most of my neighbors do so I see people even thank God there's a balabatum who are always hard at work they always get home they try to get home in time to light specifically at uh at sundown I remember growing up most people weren't mocked for that and maybe you could tell me what's going on there in the New York area or people do people uh have that hot puddle or they're still lighting at say Sir any time in the evening um look uh nowadays pursue ministers primarily for the people in the household so until people get home from work it ends up being well after it says but actually you know ramosha holds in America you like something like between 13 and 18 minutes after shkia and ravana Cutler holds even later so I don't know if there are any specific opinions to light at skill here in America but um most people come home from work so seven o'clock eight o'clock you know until everybody gets home from school so it could take a while I remember that was the case I also remembered Yeshiva there wasn't so much of a hakapada it only became something that when you start learning here on the Israeli side there's always a Russia Shiva tells you like the first time before Hanukkah we're gonna we're gonna light red it says among the Spartan they say we're gonna oh sorry right and there's fartum here they say we're light right it says 20 minutes after Sundown makbit and in Yeshiva days I remember we were lighting at Marv you know sometimes 637 so it was there was no uh there was very little uh like uh like the yetis have to do at a very specific time so it was it was a it was a big surprise coming here but now I guess I gotten used to that uh for first I'd like to welcome everybody every every minute someone else has been joining uh this is partial talk this is the first time we're doing this on Zoom uh normally we use other methods or we just record it so I'm happy that all of you are here I think maybe we'll just use this as the as the new method uh Rabbi glatstein is the Rev of Mahon magirakia in Cedarhurst from not mistaken yes that's one of the five towns I don't know where the lines between the five towns are so people tell me they're from Woodmere from Cedarhurst they're actually the lines are um in through my backyard half of the property is Cedarhurst and half a is Woodmere and it depends for what depends whether it's uh postage or you know uh there are different lines of demarcation so I'm straddling um over here okay so uh welcome Robbie gladstein I'd like to also tell our viewers Rabbi glasstein has some has a new safer out it's called the light and the Splendor it's published by Art scroll and it's available on Art school's website and we're going to talk about it in just a moment uh you know Rabbi glass can also put out a safer about Robbie mirabalones called I think if you check out Rabbi gladstein's website which is Rabbi DG that's r-a-b-b-i-d letters d letter g.com and you can see the details there for getting Rabbi Glaston safer now tell us a little about it what is uh elaco de mayoranini about so the cause of maranini is uh it's a book many years in the work um it's about the Tana Ruby mayor and primarily his shita that Bane Castle Bangkok and the Quran Bonham that regardless of what a Jew does they always retain their status as the children of Hashem and it basically traces between of course uh dispute system of the opinion that it depends how we act if we misbehave then we're not considered bun him if we behave properly only then Hashem deems us but him the it explores the idea that we never passed in like a mayor and uh the Raja says this is the one exception in China so we pass in like Ramirez why is this the exception where did the mayor get this shita from is this his own shita did he learn it from Israel did he learn it from his wife purya who is the mayor a gilgalov which may explain where this shita comes from and then utilizing the concept that word in its ramifications nearly to every single Mitzvah whether it's success whether it's fill in whether it's uh coming of mashiach whether it's amazing whether it's Bar Mitzvah whether it's Hanukkah so it really is a principle that has far-reaching ramifications throughout kalatarakula so uh how would we know who is assuming assuming there are such a thing I know that there are some old school robundum who are very much opposed even though every morning I sit and I hear the uh ashir on uh cavanos and gilgulum of the Ari how do we know who is a gilgore of who how can we possibly know even with regards to a great personages famous uh tanayem for example never came to you to tell you who who's a Google of who I'm surprised about that Robbie Grossman but I was getting aside yeah I'll tell you the truth my wife has met uh things in herzegus we have encountered Elio Novi twice he was at our at our vort and he was there to tell us about our the purchase of our house just a few years ago so I we've we've we've had that experience but I don't know how I would know if he wouldn't tell me how does anybody know about these things look Google is not something that anybody can make up but as you mentioned you would have to go to the very legitimate sources on the subject namely that reason the Golem the romanipano in the in his safer Golem okay and uh sometimes the outer rubeni will bring uh early kabbalistic sources so in this case when it comes to our mayor the Algood rouveni brings from that mayor was actually a nitsuts which is slightly different than the concept of gilgal of the malachron who is the one who records the Merit of the Jewish people so the commonality between matacho and ramir by the way an interesting thing is the word matatron is Memphis which corresponds to that which immerses about Romero their America come up with 49 ways to permit assurance and 49 ways to answer so that's one of the clues that Romero is connected to the Mahatma tachman and as Metatron was the Safra rabba he is the great recorder of the Merit of the Jewish people what greater Merit could somebody uh defend the Jewish people with then what ramayr did that were always the children of Hashem so there are certain commonalities between the mayor and the Mahatma but that's that's a minor chat that's a minor aspect of the safer what would you consider a major aspect of safer that that readers should know about um my my favorite chapter yes is uh and uh so you live in cochaviaco right yes so how far are you from tavaria oh well I I haven't driven there lately I think it's a two and a two hour drive on a good day north of here so interesting piece of information and I think many are not aware of it and the truth is it's an explicit Kumar in Rosh Hashanah you know where will mashiach reveal himself well they said there's there's an idea that that same place where the Sanhedrin last uh convened oh good it's reluctant to vary around those areas if right into the old city there's to very the modernity tavaria has greatly expanded Beyond uh classical tavario it's that we're already including other towns at the time we're familiar with but yes around there actually one of the one of the tour guides who writes uh in one of the Publications uh Frank Schwartz he just messaged me yes that the schlach started a shul in taveria where where their Legend has it that result was and then it turned into a a Greek Orthodox church and he was writing a whole essay on the on the connection between tavaria and the Greeks and Hanukkah okay but uh the gemara does say that the last stop of the Sanhedrin and the last step of the shrina was taveria and the gemara says that's where we're destined to be redeemed from it's an interesting thing that means mashiach will reveal itself in taveria even though the zayar says mashup will reveal himself in the Galileo sort of asked this stira between the zayara and the gemara and the says desire is giving a more general area is discussing a more specific location so and why would that be why would mashiach of all places reveal himself in tavaria and there's an amazing idea espoused by the safer Ms liaka written by rabiakov shaltiel Nino one of the early michoboam and it's quoted by the benihayada he says that from all the nations of the world and all the instigators are going to say what uh these people they do X Y and Z they're no better than us whatever whatever averos we do the Jews do and uh doesn't really have a good tarot other than the fact that I'm redeeming them because they're my children there might so the question is but the um otherwise what do you mean they're your children but Rabbi who the holds that when they don't do the will of God they're not your children so God's gonna have to say uh I don't know there's a law in Shelton that if you're of the muksuk if you have the presumptive status of something you could taina you could claim Kimberly meaning very nice you hold like a mayor I hold like Ruby Huda so the guardian will say look we have the Jews we have them in America we have them in England we have them in a lot of places in the world and we're holding on to them because we hold like okay so God has to come up with the following Ploy we got to go to a city where we definitely passing like right there now where do we possibly like we're mayor where he's the more of the Asura so the Emma sliyakov says in tavaria where a mayor lived and flourished and is buried and he's the asra there it's and there God could bring the mashiach and nobody could uh nobody could stand up to that so there's a there's a concept the the sparta here in Israel especially safe used to say the base Yosef is the Marda Veritas role still today you need to know you can make this claim yeah a living uh postek has to be around in order to address current questions so they're Mark the Asura of years past wouldn't count but this is Araya you're saying even though Robbie Mayer has passed away almost 2 000 years ago he is still there so he's still the martyrah and he'll still be the MARTA Astra God willing soon when uh when the mashiach has to be revealed that's it yeah that's the concept yeah that's the concept I was always surprised also going to tavaria finding that the rambam who had written that you're not supposed to uh certainly pray at even the the graves of uh and you're not even supposed to put uh matsavas you're not supposed to put monuments on their graves is buried right there next to the shla he was buried first but it's a big well-known place that people visit and it's certainly I think I think history and the Claudia swirl have have shown that they don't hold like the rambam in this regard uh so that even the rambam with his uh with his power as as as the most uh held of postsaken since the last Thousand Years even Robbie Mayer trumps the rom-bomb Robbie Mayer who uh who was out voted many times in his own lifetime uh and so everybody that I I now have to get I mentioned uh well because he mentioned the rambam's cover I believe the rambam's father Yes is uh buried next to him as well over there and um random's father has a safer safer um and they're actually footnotes on that safer by rabihood maimon who an interesting personality yes and there he he writes one of the reasons why this is the exception and chance that we pass in like Ramirez against rabihuda he writes very interestingly to typically of Mayor is known as the tanakama he's usually quoted first and this is brought second to indicate that he's the final word on this subject so that's uh of uh the rambam's father yeah okay we don't someone said uh I remember a joke the the fellow men the fellow who was the makoshis eidson was the father of the himself uh I need to ask you about Hanukkah though like I mentioned to to our viewers uh you put out a safer recently the light in the Splendor this one elacada mayor is in Hebrew it's a more classic safer and live in the Splendor is is uh by art school so it's in English and now it's about Hanukkah I guess the light refers to Hanukkah and the Splendor refers to tubishvat uh tell me something uh this is safer in Hanukkah when did it come out and why why should I uh well I know I I know I should I I should read it but how would you convince someone who's not interested to read it well rather Grossman the reason why you need to buy it because if you want me to promote you're safer on the hagada you know we have to have a it has to be two ways over here by the way I really enjoyed yourself and and for those watching um who who usually listen to my shoe room I gave an entire Shear on Rabbi Grossman safer on hagoda yes and this is not even part of the deal I don't have to be promoting uh a very Grossman looks like art schools around here I I don't know of a single English book in this uh Spartacus really cool ill and I like I said I haven't been to bookstores in a really long time the bookstores are supposed to be carrying hagarada PESA here in Israel were closed and every day they're threatening us with more closures I hope I'll be able to get to a safarib store soon I'll probably have to go to Mandy's for for the the light in the Splendor correct they had their characters yeah yeah but it's available in Israel a few people told me they've purchased it yeah that's interesting the light in the splendor you know I I always debate what should I focus on writing in Hebrew writing in English who should I be catering to are there more Jews who read Hebrews father more Jews who read English forum and surprising of last 24 hours yes I got calls from two very well-known renowned rabbanim in America in New York actually and they said they really enjoyed the safer maybe one of them I'll say who it was okay and I said Oh you mean they said what what's that they said they were talking about the art scroll oh wow so um actually I'll tell you the truth it took you know sperm have uh have um special High School process I don't know if this rub is going to want me to publicize his name but let's just say he's one of the biggest in America good now I'm not going to say that he went out and he bought the art scroll book in the store but what he told me he's really not he happens to be not well and uh he's not able to sleep at night and he found himself in an apartment without any sparm except for the light and the Splendor so I guess so you wanna be delivered it to him he called me up last night he said why didn't you respond to my email I said I didn't I didn't get your email he said um I wrote an email and I have three corrections to make on the light and the Splendor I said the rub red the light and the Splendor so he told me he was stuck somewhere and he was up at 1am he read the whole safer from 1 to 4 am so that's an example of you know you never know who you're gonna reach um actually the other Ralph told me he prefers the English because it's just easier to read even someone who's a very big town even someone who's well versed in chass an American who grew up in America you think in the English language I mean around the Grossman you're I assume you're born in America yeah I know you're fluent in Hebrew well thank you but when you think you probably still think in the English language that's my assumption uh yeah but I found it since moving here there's actually it depends on the topic ironically very ironically when I have to write about Hebrew grammar of which I do a lot and also we're gonna I have to promote this for the guys we have a I'm giving a one of these Zoom classes in Hebrew next week when it has when I have to write about Hebrew grammar I prefer English where writing about history I prefer English but I don't know I found that for certain things certain talmudic ideas it's actually better to write in Hebrew but then again uh I could I could figure that certain ideas certainly art school is not uh a compendiums of uh talmudic uh pill pool and uh and Analysis so it I I also if our school would approach me to uh to do something I'd probably write in English because that's what we think yeah I can't I can't separate myself from that so you know I I would have thought that the article would cater to more unlearned audience and I'm finding that it doesn't discriminate in fact even the most learned people in a way they they have a preference to the English and uh actually the the two's Forum are written in very different styles the English is just a smooth read it incorporates um one thing I I one of the uh the Indiana that I believe in very strongly is that when when you give a Shear or you have a presentation don't just sayifer says I want people to see the samsifer inside I want people to see the words learn it themselves take a degree of ownership over it see what he says what I'm what I'm gleaning from him and how I'm understanding him so uh I always side to sources to me I think it's a crime when people speak and they say it says in the Swarm English Forum Jewish Forum Judaism I you know I know this but I want to know we are what page what Edition and I'll see for myself if it actually says it so in the English I cite every Source but the the source and what I'm trying to do with the source is uh woven together however in the Hebrew I adopted the style from that in his Forum he quotes the the passage of the the Makar verbatim even in a slightly different size and font so you could see this is what Cohen is doing this is what the samsifer says this is what he's gleaning from it so in the Hebrew it's not as smooth of a read because there's an introductory sentence there's the Macar and there's what I take from it but you're able to learn it in depth and actually it allows you to learn the safer in two ways and this is how I personally learned about the coins Forum sometimes I want to see what's what's with David Cayenne doing with the my what's his minion what's his uh what's he trying to create and sometimes I I don't have time for that I just I want to see what are the different sources he brings and I'm not even going to read what he does with it so the safer could be read the same way you could uh you could open up a chapter and you could say okay what's Gladstone doing here how's he weaving everything together or forget the author you know I want to know what are the interesting Mara mccormos honor of Mayor on the subject of Hanukkah one of the interesting on the subject of rev mayor's possible yard side which by the way even though in uh traditionally in Israel uh and all over the world rev mayor's yard side is commemorated on pesachini but the beneshkai writes and falaji writes that one should light a narrow Lilo and nishmaster mayor on Hanukkah and there's uh a lot many who theorize that Ramirez said in fact is not on pesachini in fact the station says that it was made up that is see what happened was uh everybody Jews would come to Earth Israel for pesach and they would stay toshibous and they would have nothing to do in between so they visited the rashvian and they're pumping money into the economy in meron and Tavarius says you know you got to support us so the so my mom said why you know what do you what do you have to offer they said we have Romero they said okay but has a yard sign what about our mayor they said they said you could visit around mayor even if it's not his yard side they said it will never go you need an excuse to go so he said why don't you come on the way to the rasby so they said well if they come to a mayor people are going to think it's his yard side and they're not going to say tahn so we can't have that happen so he said no problem let them come and pay sakshini there's no tax done anyway and Mr Clement said that's how it developed but there's no basis that that's from there is the art side so the question is so when is Rev mayor's yard site so there is an interesting State Fair by somebody who suggests that Romero was born on Hanukkah that's why how he got the name mayor so in all probability he was nifter on Hanukkah because Sadiq and Hashem Isaiah and that's probably why the benefici says to light a Narrows and they he didn't want to disturb the economy of tavario where people were going on Pace of Cheney so he just said light in there but he didn't want to burst anyone's bubble and say it was his yard side but his real yard side is interesting that's also interesting uh side subject that's uh delved into on the safer yeah I need to give a word from our sponsor my father reminds me that his own father's yard side is pisakshani this is his memory of my grandfather who actually did pass away on pay sakshini and my great grandfather who's your side is tonight also it's in the this is in his memory so that's our Fiction two yard sites we have one piece of shiny and one tonight and they're both my ancestors um I need to ask you about your book about Hanukkah you told me about the style in there what interesting new ideas uh aside from of course we're going to be reading it so we can't get every idea there but what can you share with us from the book tonight regarding the yante of chanukkah yes please well the red mayor commonly prayed the god of Mayor answer me which is uh problematic how could you say the god of Mayor God doesn't associate with any one sadik in their lifetime that's question of the Marshawn and then Marsha and the second answer says Rabbi mayor did not mean him that God is the god of Mayor he meant the god that illuminated the Jewish people in the times of Chanukah he should always answer us so we see Romero had a particular connection with Hanukkah because he was always invoking Hanukkah Let The God Who lit up our eyes in the times of chanukkah please help us out so the connection between Romero and Hanukkah seems to be very clear because interestingly a very important observation in that Fila of which uh it's certainly of note who wrote that to love him right the call by that it was written by none other than it has 125 words the one who is the father of Matisyahu we're talking about the one who instituted for example demai and other uh takanas correct when we talk about who wrote this Fila yeah because there's a number of men who are yokono they're after the maccabean time mataseo was his son was yahood up and the yehuda's Four Brothers obviously and one of them was joking but he eventually like unfortunately like the other brothers he fell in battle and it was who officially was coinggoldo Next Generation also the first maccabean ruler of that generation he's sometimes called the opening is it a reference to him or someone else so there's a big dispute about them okay yes and uh okay I believe the grass says because the gemara says served for 80 years and then he went off okay so who went off was that the father of Matisyahu or was that the son of matisyah okay or or the or or the like I said where's somebody later or somebody later so the girl learns it was the son of Matisyahu but uh they say was the father of Matisyahu very interesting and yeah but he's so he can't be the one who wrote uh who wrote uh the ahanism the the mat it had to have been it had to have been a later you can't be writing about his own son right I think it's also a matter of dispute who exactly the ocean was okay either way yeah so if you look in the terminology there it says um why the the idea is one of the principles that the ivanim tried to uproot was the notion that we are the children of Hashem writes that's why they try to be moving and Shabbos which are Mitzvahs that demonstrate we are children to Hashem for example we know that observation is liable to the death penalty because Shabbos is the scepter of the king somebody who takes God's scepter the scepter of the king he's a more Demarcus only God's child is entitled to observe the Shabbos so Shabbos demonstrates where a child attack others and upon the restoration of these Mitzvahs it's specifically the caneja so this is something very connected to the ashita and the opinion of rabi Mayor well that's really his world view that's his uh outlook on life that bank wow and I never thought of it that way I never even considered I figured like most most most texts that we see within Chipotle s-ray I used to believe that it dates to the time of anche knesses but since then uh RAV Ariel who's the head of Mahon mcdosh and others have enlightened me and shown that the anshikana sakadola certainly couldn't have written uh the Alanis because they preceded the Hanukkah miracle and the rest of the text of shwanna esre they did not actually establish a text but just the order of the Broncos what has to be what points need to be addressed in every bracha but the actual text was something that was far more fluid and actually uh now they they dig up in Genesis all over the place uh texts that you and I have never seen before for the brothers things are completely unrecognizable to the we're familiar with the let's say the difference between the ashkenazic and the Sephardic sitter you you've seen them you can pick one up you open up you see that there's a difference in the s-ray right these texts that they're digging up and finding and reintroducing to at least the the I went through the academic role because these are people in the base matters looking at these they're finding texts for boneshinim and and uh refinu all the all the brothers with which we are familiar even the ones on Shabbos the Shabbos Brothers we have four different we have four different monasteries on Shabbos four different uh opening uh openings to those bracos even though they all end the same they have many more of those that we've never seen before so I wouldn't be surprised if there was other texts of Polynesian but this is something I haven't seen I've only seen a slight difference the spartic version is only slightly different but among all these texts are digging up we don't find that many different ones of ahanisim for for uh uh for Hanukkah that'd be a very interesting way for to know who finally who wrote this this idea is actually quite fascinating to me I'd like to see it uh Rabbi gladstein I'm sorry uh we're running out of time but uh I I have to thank you very much and I have to remind everybody especially those who came in that they could once again you have a number of books like we mentioned that's at your web site and the light in the Splendor on Hanukkah and tubishvot is available at the art school website correct and you have you have a series also Magid harakia series I have one of your farm I think there was a numbers Farm under that title am I correct there are a few sermons [Music] so okay so you have on pesoch Purim and the the Hanukkah on tubish one is not part of the series and are there more on the way yes and in English you have chanukkah Hanukkah and tubishvat as well as on the yamnaram and sukhis called the mystery and the Majesty okay and we're currently working on a safer on boracious on the on the book of on the book of the Torah the essay is uh um varied essays on the very on the parcels uh discussing important principles that and themes of safe vibrations that's in less than and in English working on something on uh Tish above in the three weeks so I could tell everybody that the books that English are available are they all available through ART scroll so the English books are all available on Art scroll and all the books are available on the website okay good so we have to check those out we're gonna have to uh I'm gonna put you on the spot now we have to have you come back sometime before tubishvat now which is I think I think a month from now or and a little bit more than that and I'd also like to thank you wish you a good Shabbos shabbat shalom to all our viewers and a happy Hanukkah and uh hope to see you sometime don't forget everybody uh you can't click the like button there's no like on Zoom I think but don't forget send in your questions or comments uh to me and uh don't forget to share with your friends if you know if you need someone if you know someone who needs recording please have them get in touch with me and I'll try to make it available to them and I would like a recording you like recording fine so just wait after I get off here we're going to try to package the recording and make it available to everybody and uh Shabbat Shalom and the happy Hanukkah for those of you who are already observing and those of you who are about to observe be well okay uh good and status and uh about Shalom all the best thanks so much you're welcome [Music]