From reb Levik's life to. 'American Mesiras Nefesh, Farbrengen 20 av #3 Rabbi Yossi Paltiel - 5785

Okay. So, we all know the where the speaks I mean there's a lot of comments from the Reb and stories from the Rebin told a story once maybe more than once that his they came from Russia. They came from Brash I don't know 1970771 I don't know exactly when and apparently the paid for the first time they came to the paid so he didn't come but he had an older brother who lives in I believe came with his father to the I don't know what the occasion was I don't know what the occasion was but he came they came together and you can imagine what it must have feel like to meet that they hadn't seen in 25 years. You know, they came from Russia in the early 70s and they met Anash that they knew from Russia. They hadn't seen since tough involved in stuff. And so there was a the the hugs and the kisses were extremely real and deep. And so he tells us the story that they came to 770. I don't know if you remember how they looked. They they they didn't know you have to wear black hat and a black suit. They whatever they were wearing in Russia they were here. They were not exactly in fashion, you know. Okay. So, um they were but and they didn't know they didn't know the protocol of 770. They didn't know the 770. The Rebe came apparently every day at 10:00 in the morning at least some days. And they were standing in front of 770 talking to an acquaintance who who who who knew the eb and flow. He knew the 770. So standing right in front of the steps going up to 770 and they're smoozing. And a minute before the Reb's car drove up, the the local checked out and he left them standing right there in the Reb's path. The the car drives up. They don't know whose car it is. They don't know what to expect. The comes out of the car and they push it in the deb's way. It was very uncomfortable for them. The gets out of the car and turns to the guy who just ran off. He didn't escape and he he says to him before he can get too far away. How impressed are you with how they grew up? In other words, you spent the last 25 years here. they spent these 25 years there felt it there was a lot of expressions from the rebba of what can I say I guess that's the nicest way to put it so in the of you have an expression the say it but the spoke about the as well that the the nef in Russia was unbelievable the neph was unbelievable and there's a lot of factors to the ms aside for the midfish itself The first is they never knew it would end. They had no idea it was going to end. And the second was what's the point? You have children. Yeah. You're going to raise them to be hidden. They're going to be from a yen in Russia. In other words, if you don't see an end to it and there's no way to get out and you're teaching your children ive, you're teaching your children about chabas, it can only cause them trouble to expect that they're going to grow up. It wasn't even a dream, but you got to do what you got to do. The the the hardest part of the was it was like pouring water into a co cup in a hole. You have to give your children what you could give them. There was no way to know then that that they could be paid for such things that it could serve any purpose other than sacrifice. It's this what was the requirement was they did and the third factor was the fear the hill walked out but Hila wrote a book but he wrote the book he said the book I got the audio version of the book and we all got audio he still says the audio version it's the same stories so he said to us once Stalin died in 53 they left Russia in the early 70s I'm I'm paraphrasing now He basically said it took us 10 years to realize that Stalin was dead. Stalin killed people. When Stalin died, they stopped killing people. They frightened people. The the Stalin survived Stalin for decades. They did they did big. If you've ever read Hilka's book, Rabbi Hill Zman's book or if you heard the stories, the audio version of the book, there was a yeided by the name of Mishka Friedman in Russia called me. He organized an organization called Kama in 1956. And Kama did things in the Soviet underground that were incredibly bold, incredibly courageous, and incredibly dangerous. They did. They did. Ask Hill. He has stories. All the stories are true. Emises. I give you one DMA. Just one DMA. They lived in Samarand and they had a business claim, right? Everything was government, but they had a business and they made the business go so slow that they needed a thousand employees. They it took a half a person to do the job. But they explained to the government no mistakes. So they to give jobs to people. Everyone was busy doing nothing. But people they realized, think about this. This is in the Soviet Union, the late 50s and 60s. They realized that if there's a by itself, the children don't stand a chance. They don't stand a chance. So the hill himself would travel all over Russia to look for And they would find one in a city. His was he was a nephew of the father's name was Fishell. He carried his name is named after Fishel whose name after fathers chose to live in a city where there was no other from why no one's going to bother him. Nobody but but but his children were grown. If if you had a mishb with little kids to to raise them through by yourself, it was impossible. So they would find these people mishb and they'd move the entire family to Samakand. So you have to give up an excuse why they're leaving. You have to give an excuse why they're moving to Samakand. This is all under a system that's controlled to get them an apartment, to find them a job, and to make it look all seamless. says cook and kash and they didn't do this once. They did this many times. They went looking for people. It was so bold. It was so it was so courageous. And they I mean he told me once that they found the mishba the oldest son was a communist but the family was not going to leave without him. So he had to move but he wasn't allowed to know why he wasn't allowed at he had a job already. He was already established and that he understood why they have to move to the whole thing was a smoke why they wanted that the children should get a chance to be around other from the stuff is unbelievable unbelievable. See, he said to me, he said to everybody to me that it took us so many years to realize that they're not killing people anymore. If we would have realized we would have done bigger things that the fear was the worst thing because the fear never goes away. Fear, in other words, if someone hits you, it hurts. But if you're afraid someone's going to punch you, so no one has hit you, but your whole life you think get my patch. It's it's the worst condition to be in. It's the worst. They live their whole life with this endless sense of gul raising generations of children that they invested to give them yiddish which was very very dangerous without a real appreciation of how it's going to end up good. They in their wildest dreams they didn't get out of Russia. When the left for years and years and years they lived this way then finally the doors opened they got out. I mean they came to the west. So the spoke about the fact that in Russia they had so much for so much time and when they came to America they became just like us. You know I heard that the said about the he he didn't he no one never he never got the memo that they left Russia and left one person. So the Reb speaks in the about what's what's the difficult of the difficult of the connected when you have a who's trying to destroy destroy your identity as a Jew it brings out your Jew right the famous lash of the medish which all the brought that a ye is compared to an olive when you press them you get the oil but there's nobody pressing the no one pressing the olive no one pressing the olive you come to America the government helps you so the the what we don't have is the you fall asleep you fall asleep you fall asleep for no reason other than there's nothing to keep you awake it's amazing it's amazing to to understand and to observe You know the famous verb repeated this many many times it's one of the famous vet that the the I don't know maybe but I don't remember he was became was very little whatever to read he was a young by the mid became he was an elid But he had been the the reb. So it gave him sort of a special access. So he had a grandson had mitzvah. So he brought his grandson to did not see children. It was not protocol. But he was a he was the M. He brought in his anle and he said it's very famous a famous famous from the his from the repeats it that he said to the maybe This is what he said to the give my grandson. He should listen well. He should hear well. So automatically he'll be sobbed answered. It's 50 years that my grandfather my father-in-law the I our whole ambition is to uproot the automatic the Jew by association the by association the and you're asking for the we face our children face is I have to work hard. What's going to happen? No one's gonna Nothing's gonna happen. This is the of America. You know needs a needs the the simplest way to get is to create an an antagonist. You know there's someone I'm I'm an a someone who's against you is a great motivator. I was sitting with my over here my my my so I was so we we do a lot of learning and we do a lot of so so this is one of the things that I talk about from time to time. I said to him, you know that if you understand the world and you look at what's happened since Gimmel Thomas, it's 30 years, 31 years. And the Takapella Lebavich is amazingly unified. Nobody could have dreamed this. The same they all wrote scripts of how many factions is one of but so I was saying to him excuse me there's There's no they're going to have about the so he said you don't understand that's the problem. He said there was more fights. It'd be more money for the you want the balabos to give money. Give him an enemy. Oh, now we have a cause to support the yeshiva. You support yeshiva. Oh, he's supporting the other yeshiva. So I got to support this one. It's you know but whichb is our daughter right was the generation of before the and the is the after the is how we understand it with a little bit of a license and the difference is even the daughter of the there was outside force that brought out the there's no outside force. So the to stay alive to stay awake is and I don't mean this in I mean this is to be what aid is meant to be who's fighting with the you know and every day you have a new fight why because yesterday's fight I won a new every day you find a new to to create enemies within yourself in your own life. Is a is a deep thing. It's a very very difficult thing. I I think I think I think I heard this directly. I think that he had to spend a night one time out in the cold in Siberia. He was outside. I don't know what the reason was. And you're going to freeze to death in minutes. There's no way. So he he asked himself, I think I heard it from him. I think I heard from him. I think I think I don't know. I think I heard from him. >> I think heard of him. He he he asked himself could he concentrate for five minutes focus his mind for five minutes because he knew that he has to keep himself awake on purpose because it's the most pleasant death but you just fall asleep and you freeze you become room temperature you have to concentrate so he asked himself if he can concentrate for 5 minutes 300 seconds not a lot minute so he told himself he could do He counted off five minutes. He was still alive. So he asked himself, can you count five more minutes? And in the morning he was still awake. He was still alive. How many times five minutes of that? You know how tough you have to be to do that? You have to tough. And he didn't have a the world in which we live. Thank God for our goals. It's it's say I heard once I was once sitting at a faban with withki he made a mitzvah and I came and believe it or not I know how to shut up so on occasion. So um soki told us amongst other things that when he got married, he got married here, got married in New York, he went back to Australia and before he went back to Australia and the Reb said to him about your is hard, but it's pleasant. In other words, you're not going to starve. You're not going to go hungry. about anb wanted there's no question about it and the said a person has to suffer. Yeah. So in Russia they suffer they have enough to eat. What's our suffering? The is so this this is m this at least this it's a pleasant but it's a it's a it's a so this is this is what the says ne in America is is creating a not when the enemy is outside of you when you have we all have an enemy inside of us. We all know exactly who he is and what he wants. But his best tool is he puts you to sleep. He doesn't fight with you. If you are to to go from being a all you got to do is stop working. You don't do any you have to just stop investing energy and you got to do it. You have to do it. You have to do it. You never graduate. There's no retirement. It's a whole different world. Now in theb says something very important, very very important. It's a and it's the more you in it, the more you appreciate how unbelievably critical this is. There cannot be the economist without there cannot be in America. Okay. If he's poor and he's suffering. So you know how do you say this nicely? Yeah. He has this that motivate. He should be but if your life is normal and you have what you need. So you have to constantly fight with yourself to be the way is supposed to be. So the says in the only way this could happen is from and the translates what does it mean you give yourself to and when you give yourself to it enhances the it explains the when people give themselves to so then the even when the sun is shining it's a go is the candle of the burns. This is you know if you want to find a parallel between the story of life and us which we don't have any we don't understand we don't understand we don't understand the the fear and the mid nephish and the sacrifice there's a story in my head that I want to tell so I'm going to tell it I really shouldn't tell it but I'm going to tell it anyway because I'm a bad person does anybody remember So I want to tell you one of his grandchildren I think Kaplan told me told me that their Z was of K. And him he knew they were they were both at that meeting in Kov. They all bottom of the Ukraine were there. They arrested at the same time. He knew that is not going to be able to do anything for himself. He wasn't in this world. So in Chile, I don't know how you pronounce it. I don't know how you pronounce it. Somebody knows Russian can help me with it. And this label Kaplan, you know, the the first label Kaplan was sent to a different city. Every week he was a prisoner. He was not about to leave the city. He was not allowed to leave the city. He would jump onto a moving freight train that was passing by Chile. He would jump off the moving freight train and he went ablik was living in the in there was a little house a cottage and the front of the house there was a porch with screens that was full of holes that's where the rabb's parents lived it it was their life was there wasn't a Jew for miles and he would prepare for food to so the's mother came about six months after she came to take care of And she shows up and this cougle and she knew that le did not make the cougle and the house of glass been out of business for many many years. He says every week comes and he brings me food. And a few days later she sees so she comes running back to her husband when she met his son she told him I still remember the taste of your father's but you know what happened to this label Kaplan he made a minion It was the middle of the you know it was easier. It was the middle of the war. He made a minion. They were so furious with him. The KGB he walked out of and they beat him to death. When I heard that story make fun of you imagine, you imagine made a minion in the middle of the second world war. Who cares? Who cares? They didn't care that they made a million. He cared the def the defiance. This was the life. We we don't we can't relate to this. But what we could relate to is all of us learned all of us were yes and there was a fire and it's not like nobody puts the fire out. You have to just stop putting fuel. That's all. That's all it takes. This is it's it's because it's hard. It's it's the real reason it's hard is because it's not hard. That's what makes it so hard. And the says in the for this you have to be connected to the means you have to do what the reb wants the way to bring out this is to give yourself to theb and from theb you draw the strength for the to be a living in our in our world it's no different than it was in the olden days And the has to come from the Reb. It always had to come from the Reb, but now especially. But theb says in order for theb to give us this we have to give ourselves to the and anytime we do something which is from theb but even to learn anytime we do anything because theb said that's and it creates the possibility for a little This is America. It's our test. It's our test. It's our test. It's our test. And our children will do what we do, not what we say. Can we do them before? You know, the kids watch us and whatever. You know, we we say to them they should be from they'll tell their kids they should be from also. But they tell hired a Muhammad for his daughters. And he asked the Muhammad, he asked the Mhammed if he's a So the Muhammad said, "I'm not the but I very much want that your daughters should be." >> Huh? So she said that my kids are going to grow up not being but wanting somebody else to be for me. That's not good enough. You understand? Our children are going to be what we are. And this is this is the the the in every person in their union. This is the the American equivalent. It's a different avoid. It's a different avoid. It's a different I heard once I used to take rid he used to pick up his kid. He would often time take me home. So he told me once I didn't see it that there were three countries. There were three countries. There was a country of there was a country of avoid and there was a a country of a country of and the said like this and he started crying in English I say the said there were three countries a country of country of And the said like this, the country of there's nothing left. He meant Poland. The country of we and the country of remained intact. He meant America Eden. So we should be alive. We should be alive. Huh? There's nothing left. La. What's your name, sir? >> Borome. >> Borovo. >> Where did you meet me? >> I I grew here earlier in the morning by Okay. >> It's the same stuff. >> Okay. You have my website. You're on my website. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Nice to see you. >> You guys should be saying the important things in software. >> Okay. I'm not so soft, but okay. I'll take it. Thank you. How are you? I la doo. How you doing? Wait, when are you giving us news? No, don't look Edward. Go down a little bit and you'll find girls. >> They're looking for you. >> A little lower than what you think you are. what your mother thinks. I give you amen. >> Thank you for singing. I appreciate it. I I want to give a special thank you to shout out Seak for singing so the rest of us could remain asleep. Tell your mama Yeah. Y you Yo, you do Oh yeah. You do. Oh yeah. D. [Music] Oh yeah. You don't d [Laughter] No. Come on. Hallelujah. LA la. I you do you [Music] n you know You know, you know you know I you know you you know you know I Da da da da da. You know, you know, you know. to let it go.