CHAZAQ lecture with R' Paysach Krohn on "Rebuilding the Mikdash Within"

I'm deeply grateful to the khazak organization and to Rabbi Oppenheimer and the Young Israel for inviting me to come to speak at this very important time of the year those of you who don't know kazak is one of the greatest kiru Torah learning organizations that exist in this country they have so many programs and so many people come throughout the day throughout the night it is just incredible Yaniv Hashem should Ben you to together with your brother AB and um Rabbi appenheimer I thank you for allowing me to speak at this Podium and of course I just want to put in a plug for one of the great organizations in claw Israel which is Torah anytime.com literally wherever I travel in the world whether it's Australia whether it's Mexico Switzerland people are always telling me that they watch Torah anytime.com they have literally thousands and thousands of shim men women R rash everyone for any type of Torah that you want to learn it's available on Torah anytime I had a wonderful wonderful friend in London his name was Sammy hamburger everybody in gold is green knew him and loved him he was Rabbi Dr Emanuel jacobitz his son-in-law unfortunately he passed away at a very young age he passed away he was only 40 he left a wife and many many children but throughout his life once I got to know him we became almost like brothers he was such an open gregarious person always learning with everyone and just the most wonderful person he was the president of the manur school which is a uh Primary School in London and he was very jovial and he would love to tell over this story now of course he would tell it over in an Irish accent because it happened with an Irish painter but I'm not even going to trust but just imagine this give and take with an Irish painter and Sami hurger Sammy hurger was repainting his home and he had this Irish painter come and Samy knew that there's a din in that not many many people are no and the Miss says we understand that not many people are no but still it is and it says like this from the time that the was destroyed decided that Jews forever should not build big ostentatious homes like palaces but rather they should keep their home simple and in every home opposite the doorway there would be an amama by amama that's like 2T by 2 feet or 1 and 1/2 ft by 1 and 1/2 ft which would not be painted which would be left alone so that it would be a a memory to the the M writes that there are some people that make a black box and in there they write the word and that's acceptable as well but Sammy decided he's just going to tell this painter just paint all around it just measure out an amama by amama right opposite the doorway so that when people come in they'll be able to see it and that's what we want want to do now this painter never heard of anything like that and he says to Sammy well why in the world would you want to make this wall not look perfect you know I can paint the whole thing for you at the same price and Samy said well unfortunately we had a temple that was destroyed and so we want to commemorate the loss of that Temple so the Irish painter says oh I'm sorry I I must have missed that on the news when did that happen so said oh about 2,000 years ago well this guy almost fainted 2,000 years ago he said why don't you let bygones be bygones I mean it's 2,000 years you imagine a goisha person thinking that way I mean so Sammy tried to explain it to him that by us there's no such thing as bygones and it's very interesting ravak once made a great statement and he said a Jew who is not tied to the past has no hope of being connected to the Future the second world looks at the future that's where it's all about but by a year it's not that way we look to the past to prepare ourselves for the future we look at the gum of the past we look to be inspired by those people who came before us to be able to prepare ourselves for the future and therefore there's no such thing as bygones especially when a comes to the B mikdash as a matter of fact what's frightening and what really makes us get together and think about it is theuma that tells us any generation that the has not been built it's as if the people of that generation destroyed it so this is a very very critical expression thei is telling us that if in 2013 the basa mikdash was not built that's because almost we destroyed it or we don't deserve it so how could you let bygones be bygones just the opposite we want the B mdash more than anything else we want mhia to come so we have to be connected to the past and we have to think what went wrong what is going wrong and how can we change it so let's begin right from the beginning of the month of a and I remember remember when I first became a speaker so my father he had been very close to rim and Schwab R Schwab before he came to Washington Heights was a rebi in n Israel he was a ro in Baltimore and he was a rebi in n Israel and my father was one of his T so when R Schwab came to New York my father would call him every once in a while and when my father passed away years later when I became a speaker and I needed some information on a top I would call Rab he would pick up the phone and he would talk to me for 10 or 15 minutes he said okay I think you have enough and he hang up and I remember one time I had to speak on the topic of sim and he told me a remarkable Insight in a gar which we all know but listen to how RAB was m in the gorah theor tells us the famous thing everybody knows that when ad comes it's the happiest month we all increase our and then said the same D tells us when the month of a comes you minimize your sim but Raab said doesn't say you don't have SIM it says you minimize your sim but a yid always has to have SIM very interesting even in the month of a which is the saddest of all months because we speak about and we say and about both that were destroyed is no such thing as a is totally without we minimize our Sim so the question of course is what is there to be happy about in the month of a it really is the saddest month and deals with this and he says isn't it interesting many of us know the gamar the gar also is in Titus and it tells us on the 15th day of there was no greater in like the 15th day of why girls would go out and that's what they found shim could you imagine if we had a day every year where all the girls could get shim that' be the biggest y of all I mean people will be dancing in the streets then that's what happened on tuba here Tes is the saddest day and yet on tuba of teaching us there was never a y that was as great as tuba of because that's when people were able to get shim so there is a touch of happiness in the month of a because in the time of kazal that was a day of shim however there's something else also do you know this Monday night which is going to be Tish just a few months ago Monday night was the first night of the Seder it was the first seder night and every single year without fail the first night of pesak whether it's Tuesday night Wednesday night whenever it is is the exact night that we lay a and Tish and we lament the loss of the B mdash isn't it incredible what is the connection between the first night of p and Tish and it's interesting some people have the minig to eat an egg and salt water before they actually start the meal and that's one of the reasons that we eat it at the PES because we know that that year whether it's Monday night or Tuesday night is going to be the night of Tish so we make a even at the Seder but to me it's a different thing Al together and to me one of the most moving petim that we have in the kinis is the one that begins a a fire of reation Rises within me when I think about how great it was when we went out of MIT and the men surely know that there was a certain niggan that most shs sing it all over the world and it is so haunting and it is so beautiful and then comes neb the next line K or Kim means Lamentations and sadness are awakened L manira when I remember remember bet when I went out of Y so in the kin we're comparing the night we went out of MIT with great joy and the sadness of when we went out of Yim with great sadness and so there is a connection between the both of them and what's the element of sim the element of sim is that last phrase the last phrase in that Kos tells us one day there will be joy and happiness and worry and sigh will go away when we come back to and so even on the night that we cry when we say and kinis we know that that night was a night ofus a night of freedom and one day that's going to be restored and once again Tish will be a and so therefore when we l the kinus we have to remember it's not only total sadness but that same night that we are crying about if we can only figure out what we can do to enhance CLA Israel to make ourselves better then that same night can be as the first night of pesak a night of Kus so I want to share with you something very touching and that will lead into something that I believe that each and every one of us can improve in especially in the month of a and how appro apprpriate it is in the month of a as you will see in a moment many years ago there was a little 10-year-old boy that lived in Gates head which is in the northern part of England and one day in Autumn he was walking with his rebi with his mamad and they were walking in a park and the leaves were gorgeous red and brown and green and orange and as they were walking a few leaves were on a park bench and the rebi said to the little boy you see these leaves here on the park bench these leaves they think they're free they think they can fly wherever they want but they don't realize that in two three days they're going to wither and die because they're no longer connected to the source it's only when they're still connected to the tree that they could Blossom and flourish they just think they're free but it's only a matter of time until they die and he says that's what T is and that's what Jews are all about the t is a tree of life to those who hold on to it those who go away from the T they think they're free and then the mamad said to the little boy my child I want you to know that as you get older you're going to meet all kinds of people and they're going to say we're free we can look where we want we can drive when we want we can eat what we want we're free and they don't realize that that's the beginning of spiritual death it's only when somebody's connect connected to T and its laws that's when he can flourish and that's when his family can grow properly but otherwise it's the beginning of spiritual death and that little boy told me that that message carries him till this very day and that little boy is RA Solomon the mash of Lakewood now today unfortunately he's not well and when I saw him two three years ago I asked him do you remember who that mammad was he says I no longer remember but I remember the message and it carries me till this day and that's the commitment we have to make it's not only mitz as we will see in a second but it's and you know in the early 1900s there was a great Ro that was here in New York and lately people are writing about him and going to his caver and his name is RAB Yakov some of you may know that he's buried along the interor the Jackie Robinson Highway and many thousands now go every year on his y site and over the last number of years I've taken people you know people think you got to go to Poland you got to go to Lithuania there are quite a few people here who went with me on those trips but you would not believe what's doing along to Jackie Robinson I'm telling you it's amazing RAB Yakov ketki is buried there RF p is buried there and his Ritson the second wife ruing gski R mahim many in the salic family ra laitz RAV leitz it's unbelievable what's going on literally 15 minutes from where we are tonight it's amazing but RAB Yakov YF when he came he came to be what was called the ra H the rav of many many different shs and unfortunately he was given a very hard time and one of the people who came to America and came to give him was a man who was known as theas his primary reason for coming to America was to raise money for a safer he was writing which is classic it's a parish on Yi it's called the rvas on Yi and of course he was a great sadic and he came to the low E side the Pike Street SH now unfortunately today if you pass in the Lowery side the Pike Street sh is a Chinese Bastion or I don't know one of these Asian shs or whatever you want to call it but in those days of course the Pike Street sh was the most prominent sh in Manhattan and many people came to hear him and listen to what wski said in the early 1900s he said as follows he said many years ago there were communities that were called mitah that meant they were not they certainly respected but what they did was they had such a love for mitz and in that way they were able to give it over to their children and grandchildren for example some communities excelled in Shir shabas they were so careful about chabas others were so careful about kasas others were so careful abouta never missed the minion always had and this love that they had for these Mitzvah they were able to give it over as Mitzvah they gave it over to the next Generation but as soon as the Winds of secularism came and the winds of immorality and the Winds of materialism then they couldn't pass it on to their children anymore cuz those winds were too strong soak DAV said the only way they could do it was through Li by learning T building K building isas building bakos and then he said a fabulous posk that we all know and listen to how he interpreted it he said thek tells us mitvah a Mitzvah is strong but it's only a candle if we would light a candle right now in this base medish and there's no windows open there's no wind blowing the candle could go until it just pet is out at the end there's no oil or there's no wax left but as soon as the wind comes that candle is going to be blown out but what if you would have a torch of fire and a wind comes we just saw what happened in Arizona we see every year what happens in California when there's acres and Acres on fire and the wind makes it stronger the wind makes the fire go even further and that's what he said a person a community has to know that as great as Mitzvah are it's only n it's only a candle and it could be put out by The Winds of secularism and materialism but when a community is steeped in learning Tyra and having sorum and having programs of Tyra when the secular winds come just the opposite it gives the person strength and the wherewithal to become stronger with that or and therefore then they be able to combat all those winds cuz the Torah and the or is much stronger than the winds and if that's the case now we can understand something brilliant that the benishai writes the benishai writes why is this month called a and he has numerous reasons and one of the reasons is amazing all of you can take a look at it's a f fasinating gamor to learn with children and grandchildren at the shabas table you know why because it tells us about the Jewish alphabet why is the Olive shaped the way it is why is the baz why does the gimmel have a leg that's running towards the dollar and the dollar has like part of its leg is going back and the gor explains it all and the gumar says you know what alive baz really stands for alive Bina Alf means to go learn Bina is understanding so so the Ben says you know what the month of a is all about Al learning Torah and he writes how sad it is that in the world most of the world the summer months are in a and that's when people go on vacation I just had the opportunity to speak in Landis College Friday morning I was so moved you can't believe how many guys they're on vacation they're coming to sit and learn nobody's forcing them they B High School boys they little boys I couldn't get over before B Mitzvah that come to learn you mentioned Rabbi brenberg as one of the people he's the mash he was there as well it's incredible and that's really what make the benai so proud because in the month of a when people are on vacation he says Alina make sure that you learn and you know something he brings of course the very sad gamorra the gorah tells us that what is one of the reasons why the B mikdash was destroyed the gamor tells us in they didn't say what does that mean and thean explains when people treat Torah learning as a subject there's math there's science there's English literature and then there's Torah you don't make a Braha before you learn math nobody's going to make a Braha before they read English literature even if it is a maged book nobody's making a bro about it right but the idea is if you treat Torah as a topic so when you make the it's not that's what thean says it's not that they didn't say not that they didn't learn but they they weren't enthralled with it they didn't think this is the ingredient of life so says of course they were involved in but it wasn't important it was just like a topic I'll learn for 20 minutes fine cuz I have to learn but they weren't enthralled with it they weren't excited about it so therefore maybe the first thing tonight that each and everyone must undertake in our lives that in this month of a we're going to learn a little bit more than we've been learning in the past we learn maybe one more mishna we learn maybe one more and for women it's the that are to them whether it's in AER or any anything that's NE to women but that's what the month of a is all about and you know what ra seel used to say don't undertake big things oh I'm going to say the whole till him every day I'm going to learn sh in the month of a it's never going to happen you know what he used to say and say you're going to do a little bit and then I say har then you'll do a lot and just last week I saw something so incredible I can't believe all these years how many times have we heard about RAB AKA what made him start learning cuz he saw the rock that had the hole in it and it was Dripping and dripping and dripping and then finally it pierced the rock it pierced that stone and he felt wow if the constant flow of that dripping could Pierce a rock so Torah could pierce my head so this saer which I just saw which came out n byal says an amazing thing how many drops you think were there count them up 10 gallons over the years 20 gallons 100 gallons let's say 500 gallons of water imagine if you took 500 gallons of water and you poured it on a rock nothing would happen would just flow right off the idea was it was one drop at a time one small drop constant dripping that's what made the hole and that's what we have to do not that we're all going to take a big thing no every day we never said to them before we're going to say one perck and it grows we never learned tanak how many people here learned tanak don't raise your hands okay when are we going to at what age do we start learning T I'm not telling you to learn but what about Yeshua and and and it's a story it's not that difficult every person should know T every God knows T maybe we should begin learning t or or Mish at what age are we going to start learning these things don't learn the whole no one a day twoim a day small things that's what the month of a that was one of the causes that hem was angry I'm giving you for the ingredients of life and you disregard it you treat it like math you do me a favor you learn 20 minutes a day what is that it has to be with an excitement that's why they make a to show that you really are thrilled with it we're all familiar with the story of Kamar but to me there's one line in that gamorra that to me is so penetrating and I believe B we can learn a great great lesson let's just go over the story very quickly kamza was a friend of the host and by mistake somebody invited baram barza comes and the host says get out he says please don't embarrass me get out I don't want to see you here please I'll pay for the whole meal get out and he's very embarrassed and the Rabon that are there nobody stands up to protect this from being embarrassed and he gets very angry so what does he do he goes to the goisha king and he says you know something the Jews hate you he says come on they they they appreciate me no no no he says watch you bring a sacrifice right the sacrifice of go all to bring a sacrifice to the B mdash you bring a sacrifice and you'll see they won't accept it he said it's impossible he says okay give me an animal King gets him a beautiful animal he says okay take it I would like to see if they're not going to accept it and look what happens on the way this year what does he do he makes a mo he puts in a flaw an imperfection but listen to what the gor says he put in a floor Ben in the lips or some say in the eye and here's the my expression by us that's a floor if there's something wrong with your mouth or something wrong with your eye by us that's a floor but by the that's not a flaw in other words of course the is talking about the that what is a by a go when he brings a carbon a broken leg a broken head a broken foot a hand whatever but if it's got a little split in the lip or a little split in the eye that's nothing that's not considered a Flor by go but I think there's a deep lesson here a go doesn't care what he says we have to care what we say with our mouth by us that's a flaw if you say something off color or if you cause M or if you get angry by us that's a flaw doesn't expect that from go he expects it from us if we look in a place where we're not supposed to look if we look at someone and become Jealous by us that's a flaw and maybe that's a second tickle that we have to begin worrying about our eyes let me tell you an adorable story you know raan was a tremendous tremendous sadic and he had yes in the northern part of is if you see the pictures of him because most of the pictures are when he was older already he's blind in one eye there's a very famous adorable picture I don't know if you've ever seen it he's holding a little pan of milk for a cat outside the yiva you got to get a hold of that picture it's beautiful anyhow one day a boy from a very modern family who was in the Yeshiva says to Rabel I would like to take a day or two my family they're making a so raia laan knew that this boy is from a very modern family and he was afraid that there might be mixed dancing there so he said to the boy there'll be mixed dancing so the boy said yeah but it don't it won't affect me so Rabel laan said I'm an old man I'm blind in one eye and when I go to a wedding and women are dressed the way they are it affects me if it doesn't affect you please give me the name of your mother so I can dve them for you imagine that he said the kid was sick of course we have to admit that sometimes there are things that are exciting to look at but they're improper to look at and perhaps that's one of the tun that we have to make in the month of a the eyes are something that's a flaw by us have by us it's a flaw maybe not necessarily by theim so they could look at any advertisements they can look at any media G it on it doesn't affect them and if it does affect them Hashem is not demanding such high standards from them but from us he demands these high standards and we have to be a little bit more careful what does it mean about niil PE you know it's a very uncomfortable thing to talk about I can't imagine that women are as n and as men are men are in the workforce they deal with people from the secular world and sometimes a person gets angry and he lets out a curse word or sometimes a person is angry at an employee and lets out a curse word or sometimes you want to show that you're in so you'll tell a joke that's not appropriate it's off color but I just want to tell you what to me is one of the most frightening goras take a look at it anybody who tells a joke that's off color or says something that's inappropriate or immoral and he brings out something that's a that's inappropriate from his mouth even if he was destined in sh to have 70 years of good it turn being an person that says these type of jokes or uses those types of words it's frightening it's frightening Whata telling us we're supposed to be on a higher raama the way we speak by us that's a m that's a Flor by go it's not they'll tell all those kind of jokes and again you come into the workplace everybody's laughing at those type of jokes you want to be on the Inc it's a big Nan I presume most women don't have the that men have in these things but we as men have to take it seriously what kazala teaching us I want to tell you something about makus I have a brother-in-law who today lives in Lakewood and I remember many many years ago he opened a camp with someone a summer day camp and for whatever reason then they decided to take a third person in and so the three of them were partners and you know how businesses go three doesn't work all the time so after a while those two decided they're going to run the business and they got rid of my brother-in-law he was devastated it was his idea the whole thing was his idea but you know he's a gutin you know he's a guy that people can roll over sometimes very honest fellow and he suffered terribly from it and he didn't know what to do should he go after them should he make a whole argu after all he was the one who started it and at that time R the M of was in America and so he went to R Shalom and he told him the whole story and he said listen I can make a bigus here because really I was the one who started the business and now they're getting rid of me it was incredible what R Shalom did he took out his wallet he said I want to show you what I carry in my wallet and he took out a very Fray index card and on that index card was part of a letter which is called Iger hamus a letter of from the son of the r now I'm only going to read one or two lines in Hebrew and then I'll translate the whole phrase and the whole sentences in English this is the English translation of the sentences do not defile your souls with arguments that destroy the body and the soul and your finances and what else is left I have seen light complexion people become dark I have seen families become Afflicted princes removed from their prominence large cities desolated groups split asunder respectable people embarrassed and humiliated because of arguments shom said walk away very difficult to do but the result of M eats away at Families how many families do we know where sisters are not talking to each other for years they don't even know anymore why they're not talking to each other they just know it's a m they're passing it on to their children and the children have the same Prejudice a person should be big enough and it's not easy to walk away from Maus and you know how you walk away from Maus the first time somebody says something to you don't answer back because you answer back then they answer back and it goes back and forth and back and forth and families are ripped the under shoes are ripped the under communities are ripped us under and Claw your RI the under this guy likes this rebber fine so he has this rebber I this rebber does something that your rebba doesn't like so fine don't use him as a rebba this Ro pin something that you don't like because your R pin's different all you have to do is have one r that you pin like you don't have to have the whole world pining exactly like you there's no reason to talkar to and to berate people because that rips a under CLA Israel and then people and families hate each other they take each other's sides we all know sect where there's two different rebis and they won't marry into each other it's awful what kind of lesson is that to the children and grandchildren when people do that there's no excuse for it whatsoever that's Whata telling us that's what the son of the ram is telling us big people when they're involved in is they fool from their prominence they lose their money they lose their reputation it's terrible so part of that floor of the mouth is causing arguments is C getting angry using Niel p as a matter of fact it's so interesting most people won't even believe believe this the first time my rebi rdav con showed me this I was speechless and for me to be speechless is a big accomplishment could you imagine you know if I were to ask you which Mitzvah in the T have no reason whatsoever everybody's going to say puma what else would you say shess right everybody would say shess listen to this med look it up tonight bous brought from the fruit of the earth which was linen Zer pishon the he he brought from the Sheep which was wool imagine that Ken brought linen he brought wool that's why that's why we can't wear shotas you know why because hasem says it doesn't make sense doesn't make sense that I should look at something that brought death into the world a combination of wool and linen which caused the conflict because of jealousy Ken was jealous of he and the first death happened why because somebody brought from wool somebody brought from linen and therefore there was an argument that's why we don't wear shotas could you believe that amazing so my rebi rabid said an amazing thing there's only one person who can wear shotless you know who he is who can everybody know I mean Yakov you surely know the K right the aate the aate is made out of wool and linen why because the was he undid incredible that's what that says so because of jealousy and because of that's why we don't wear sh but only the he can wear anate because that undo the of c and he that's why Hashem doesn't want to see shus that's why Hashem doesn't want to see that's why in the month of a we have to make sure not to get into arguments we have to make sure not to cause fights in a family fights in a business fights in a sh and fights in a community is a fascinating malam the malum tells us in the beginning of Pas truma mdash hasem says to make for me a MD and I will dwell in them it should have said I will dwell in it make for me a mikdash a holy sanctuary and I'll dwell in it that's not what it says it says I will dwell in them who's them so some of say it's both you know what the Mal says I'll dwell in the people and he says like this every one of us should build a BD in his own heart we every single person here is a walking talking B mikdash and I'm going to show you how the Mal shows us your head is the Ares what did the Orin carry the Orin Carri the T which is the ultimate wisdom as we said before so your head that has the brains is the AR Kesh your heart a person can't exist without a heart a person can exist without bread your heart is the upon him that's the bread the showbread as it's called that was brought from week to week so here you have thees here you have the upon him and your stomach is the just like the M consumed the food the carbonis your belly your stomach also consumes food so all of a sudden wait a second we're not just plain human beings we're are walking talking bdash here's the here's the him and here's the M if this is the m i want to tell you something but I don't want anybody to think about anybody else's family CU it's not right think about your own family and how you have to protect it I remember R seel used to say R seel used to say something from R Mel Rover who was the tal of the Reb Rabel the Reb RAB had many t one of them was Rael ROV and you know what he once said he said how come it is and we find this today so much more than ever you have kids that they're so wonderful until they're 12 or 13 years old they're Darlings right boys girls and then what happens they go off to Der they give their parents geham on this world the kids at risk they they went off to them what happened they was nice sweet kids and you know what rendal rova says and again this is not for every family and we have no right to think about this for any other family was just a way of protecting ourselves he said it's because they're eating non koser food now he doesn't mean oh you okay I'm okay you're okay he's not talking triangle K we're not talking about that R rova says that if a parent earns money dishonestly and buys food that food is spiritually trfe that food when it goes into the bloodstream of children causes children to go off the der we're not talking about kis standards of kasas bats and not bat we're talking about money that was earned dishonestly this food whether it's the Corn Flakes or the Cocoa Pebbles or the bagels or the steak or the chocolate mousse whatever you're buying with that money that you really shouldn't have earned it's not coming to you that is spiritually trfe and it has a terrible terrible effect and if that's the case when we're worried about the destruction of the B mikdash we have to worry about the destruction of our own B not to eat anything from money that was not earned properly and the same thing not to give out Children over in any such way I want to tell you something fascinating maybe some of you know this but every one of you take a look as you read a you'll see something amazing and you will be amazed if you never heard of this before when y wrote the first four parim out of five he made theim and according to the Al B the first p is the second is it goes on G Yehuda Olive B gimmel goes through the whole thing that works only in peric Olive in peric Bay gimmel and doad all theuk are in a row except two of them the same two in peric Bay per giml per do watch for it you'll see I have an underline in my own because it's amazing you know which suim are mixed up so to speak Aon and pay now normally we know the olive Bay s but in in peric B peric giml perad it goes s p iron why is it mixed up why is it in the wrong order and the gamorra asked the question and the gorah tells us theor says why is the pay before the iron after all in the yish alphabet iron goes before the pay and the gor gives a fabulous reason what does mean your mouth what does mean your eye the spies they spoke with their mouths they didn't really see that was that bad they went in with a preconceived notion they didn't want to go into Isel cuz they knew there would be new leaders and they would lose their jobs so they shot off their mouths before they really looked into it they use their PE before they use their iron and in my humble opinion that's why we have two eyes in one mouth you should look into something twice before you speak once and that's a great lesson for us to learn as we're reading a don't use your mouth before you look into something I got to tell you a great story I was once at had a dinner and after I finish speaking I'm walking to the elevator and a woman is running over to me and I'm waiting whoa what does she want she says Rabbi Crome you know the principal that I'm talking about I said what are you talking about he's your friend and he called my son garbage I said come on he's a wonderful person all of you know who he is but I'm not going to say his name because you all know who he is and I said it's impossible he's the nicest he's the most wonderful person I'm telling you he called my son garbage and she follows me into the elevator I couldn't get rid of her until I got into my car now I didn't know what to do to tell you the truth the next day I was driving and I was thinking this lady doesn't know me she saw me literally less than a minute and she's already telling me how awful this M is so she probably told the whole world so maybe I should call that M and tell him listen you know look it's not my business but I feel bad you know that I like you I respect you like anything maybe you want to call this woman and uh you know try to straighten it out because if she's telling me she probably told everybody I couldn't make up my mind what I heard his feelings what I not heard his feelings but I felt I had to look into it I called him up I remember I was driving on the Belt Parkway and I begged him apology I said you know I think you're the greatest and you're so wonderful but this lady you know I don't believe her I want you to know I don't believe her but just maybe you want to call her and he's laughing I said what are you laughing at he says you won't believe what happened she has a son in my school who's in the eighth grade she thinks he's a genius the kid needs help it's not that he's a genius just the opposite he's far from a genius she wants to put him into a very very high class High School I said to her please don't do it he's going to be refused and she thought he said he's refug could you imagine she's going around telling the whole world he said my son is refug which is garbage I said he'll be refused don't do it for the sake of your son so I don't know if he called her or not but the point is if I didn't look into it if I didn't call him who knows maybe in the back of my mind I would have thought you know principal's a nice guy but listen we all have our weak moments but I looked into it before I said anything to anybody else and why would I dare say anything anyway but even saying to myself a person has to use his iron before he uses his peir and that's what the Morag that's what their fault was here's another thing this amazing I was just in England and I heard this story again I heard it a couple years ago it's amazing there was a boy who was learning in Gat said the Yesa for three years and now he decided he's going to go to Israel so they made him a sudas pra sudas pra means like a goodbye party cuz everybody loved him he's a very popular kid and everybody knew that his speech cuz he was hysterical this kid his speech would really be something very special nobody would realize how special it really was and he gets up at this Su first to rash spoke and then the mash spoke and then this boy got up to speak and he said like this he said we all know that our rashash here in gur is a great sadic everybody knows he's a big but very few people know what kind of wonderful bid he is and I want to tell you a story that even he the rashash doesn't even know who was involved in this story but it's about him oh everybody wanted to hear what's happening he said I want to tell you what happened I came to Gat said three years ago I didn't know anybody two kids I knew in the school after two days me and those two kids we got into an argument and they started chasing me it was Lun time I figured I'll run into the Bas medish cuz nobody's in the Bas medish lunchtime I walked in there's a lot of guys in the Bas medish so where was I going to run so I ran to the back there's a library no windows I ran into the library slammed the door shut and locked it and these guys are banging let us in I said what are you crazy you're going to beat me up get out of here no we need a safer get out of here you don't need no safer you just want to beat me up so the guy says I figured I'll be there a few minutes and then they'll go away and I'll go out he says I was there for about 2 3 minutes and there's a knock on the door I say who is it and a voice says it's the rashash Shiva and I said the rashash Shiva my foot you're not the rashash Shiva get out here you just want to beat me up he says I need a safer yeah you need to say you guys don't know you just trying to imitate the rash sha you're not the rash Shiva he said I waited there a few more minutes there's another knock on the door I said who is it he said it's the rush Yesa yeah the r she come on guys you know how much you going to play this stick you know it's enough already come on I want to go out I want to eat lunch I need a safer Come On You Don't Need No Sa you can't even read a safer Okay the third time when the knock came on the door he said I got to think oh my Heavens it really could be the rashash Sha he said I didn't know what to do I opened the door very slowly and I see the rashash Shiva standing like this and he walks into the library so I should be able to to run out he never saw my face I never saw his face rash I want to tell you sh it was me and he said I want to thank you because if you would have seen my face that day I would have left the next morning I never would have had the three wonderful years that I had here in Gates head why did this kid shoot his mouth off because he didn't look into it he didn't think maybe it could be rashash he's using his peir before he used his iron and boy is he lucky that they had such a lovely sensitive rashash Shiva otherwise he would have been out of the would have been tossed out even before he even got there but that's again when somebody uses their mouth before they use their iron it's a very interesting gor about P about the letter pay now there are two pays again this is in the gamorra in shabas K which I told you you should learn because it's so fascinating about the Jewish Al and by the way I want to tell you one of the greatest books that art scroll ever published besides the maget books of course is a book called The Wisdom of the Hebrew alphabet you must get that book it's written by RAB Arya monk it is so classic every single page you will learn something about the Holy Jewish alphabet about the olive the baz the test every letter every page is precious so of course he brings this gorra which I'm going to tell you right now in shabas K there are two types of pays there's the small pay which is considered a pay s a closed one and then there's what my mother used to call the langa the long pay right or the end as some people say it however they say it okay so theor says there's two pays there's a peir that's open a pay that's open like the long one or the small one the one that's closed and the gor says you know why because sometimes you got to keep your mouth open and sometimes you got to keep your mouth shut and that's the right thing to do we have a long pay that's open p sometimes you have to stand up and say something but sometimes the wisest thing is to be quiet and I want to tell you a great story again this happened in England at Tom shabas all of us here know about Tom shabas one of the greatest organizations in CLA Israel so in Tom shabas in England they have a very interesting way of working no one can deliver a package in an area where they live you can only deliver packages in areas where you don't know who you're giving to you drop it off at the front step or at the apartment building on in front of the door and you leave you you no nobody should be embarrassed so they told me that they went to get money from a certain fellow who everybody knew had money and they come into him they said listen with the two fellows who represent kabas we'd like to get some money for you so he says okay I'll be giving you but just tell me one family just one family who gets some I don't like to give to organizations because then I don't really know who's getting it just tell me one family I'll feel connected to them and I'll give you I said what are you crazy we don't tell anybody Tomas is private no one knows only the two of us in the office nobody knows even when they deliver they can't deliver to the neighborhoods that they live in he says look I'll double my donation just one family one family tell me they said listen obviously you don't get it we're going to leave you know obviously you don't get it this is a private organization and they get up to leave and he says sit down please and he says put me on your list he says I lost all my money I don't have anything anymore I can't even put bread on the table but I was afraid that if I would call you that somebody in the office would find out and everybody would say wow look who's on the shabas list but now that I see that you guys are quiet and even for double or triple to the nature you won't say anything please put me on your list that's greatness a person has to be able to hold a secret every Rob every doctor anybody in a position of power knows there's a level of confidentiality that's expected from them but there's really a level of confidentiality for all of us if somebody tells you something sometimes in yish is an Expressions somebody wants to talk it wants he feels bad or she feels bad she's got to talk it out to someone doesn't mean that you should broadcast it the second you get off the phone with her you're going to go call somebody else the PK tells us that Hashem called M raenu and he told him Layar go say it and teach us that you're not supposed to say something that you heard unless a person says this you have permission to go tell somebody else by us it's just the opposite unless somebody says don't say anything so automatic we say it's just the opposite the gor says unless they tell you that you could say then you could say otherwise stop when somebody tells you something keep it quiet it's private I want to tell you one or two more things we'll review and end with a fabulous story most of you know and my dear friend Yakov was with me when we went where'd we go to Poland together right I'm not supposed to tell anybody he made a see him there such a big sadic made a see him gave a speech he's a good speaker okay I can't make it one time call them but anyway so we went to Poland and there are other people here who have gone with me on other trips and if you want to come this summer to Greece it's fabulous unbelievable we were there last year it's one of the most beautiful places in the world very very inspirational many wonderful yiden lived in Greece as a matter of fact the one who wrote alet he lived in Greece eventually he moved toas with the B but there's a lot of great Jewish history there but one year they asked me please take a whole group of people to Italy I was thinking Italy what's doing in Italy but then I realized theil he was born in pwa which was right next to Venice the banura was born in Italy that's where you get the wine from the banura right doesn't it come from Italy and the sorna of course that's a town in Italy the great commentator on on Kish and would you believe thees I used to thinkes was a he was a spy Jew and and he went through Italy and if you take a look you wouldn't believe you take a look tonight at the of thees he wrote it while he was in leorna all the people you think he's writing about the mafia every guy ends with an i or an o or an e it's unbelievable caloni cheni whatever all all these Italian Guys and they were all great Jews you can't believe the was he loved them he loved those Jews they were wonderful Jews but you just can't believe the names and so he loved it and the most people don't know this they wanted the to be the Rob of Y and he refused and he moved to Italy he married a girl from pizza or pizza how not pizza pizza but that's that's who his second wife was so the great sikim Liv there but I knew that the last day of the trip that was going to be the most moving cuz the last day of the trip I was going to take them to the Roman ruins now Rome is different than any city in the world in any City whether it's London Los Angeles New York every place they're always trying to show you how modern they are in Rome it's just the opposite they're trying to show you how ancient they are so you have buildings with stairs that lead no place you have pillars that are only half there but that's the ruins that's the halga ruins of Rome but there's one thing that bothered me so that it is in its Perfection a state of perfection as if it was built yesterday and that's the Arch of Titus Titus is the one who destroyed the second B mikdash Titus was one of the main Roman generals that took yiden out of y That's tius and not only that so many Jews were killed in Yim other Jews died along the way going to Rome and others died as they were building the kaliseum many of them were sold for slaves he was a terrible terrible Russia but that Arch of Titus which is over 51 ft high and was built by his brother as a legacy to him that is there in its Perfection and you know what hurts more if you take a look tonight you'll see it online if you take a look you'll see the arch of titos in that wide Arch it's depicted the Jews bent over walking out of Y and what are they carrying the manura why did Hashem allow that Arch to exist all this time what is so significance why did Hashem make it that that artist that Goa artist should depict the manora surely they were carrying other things as well now in 1953 the P of vov was in Rome and he said to Dr Rothchild who built an Hospital in natana take me to the arch of titos and he came there and he pointed up and he said Titus Titus you thought you were going to outlast us today there's no Roman Empire do you thought that the Jews you would get rid of them today Rome is nothing it's a city just like any other city but the Jews Jews my brothers and sisters we exist we're learning and we're building all over and you know what happened about 30 40 years ago there was an American correspondent who came to write about Hadrian's Wall hadrien was hadra yanus in the gamarra he killed RAB aiva he was involved in killing RAB Akiva and he was they have this wall which is 73 feet long 73 miles long and it's in the northern part of England near the of Newcastle by the river th and this Jewish correspondent who was not religious at all was asked to write a report about Hadrian's Wall and he comes there and he's writing and somebody shows him the wall is not as significant as it was it's been knocked down on many places they build highways over it and people take down Stones so somebody said to him you're a Jewish guy you want to come to a Jewish neighborhood he said what there's a Jewish neighborhood here so they said yeah Gat said said what's Gates said he says come we'll show you so somebody took him to R guritz the father of R who did that with the library boy they take him to R and they bring him in to R's house RAB begins to talk to him he sees the guy knows nothing from nothing and he says you came to report on hadrians walk come here I want to show you something come with me and he takes him into the gates B medish now this American Jew who knew nothing had never been in a Bas medish he walks in it's like a tornado he can't believe it big books little books off the shelves on the sh yelling screaming back and he says Rabbi what's going on here imagine a guy walks into a Bas Med he never walked into a Bas Medic in his life listen and ra mat Solomon told me he remembers the day that ra G brought this correspondent into the Bas Med made such an impression on everyone and listen to what ra tells him he said you came to report on Hadrian's Wall Hadrian doesn't exist anymore the Roman Empire doesn't exist anymore but you see Rabbi AKA that Hadrian killed all these 200 guys they're still trying to talk and figure out what RAB yaka meant and not only that there are dozens of places around the world they're still talking about RAB yaka what he taught what he meant what he represented hadrien is gone the Roman Empire is gone and then it occurred to me that's the reason why Hashem left the arch of tias because it's a message to all of us that man isv we started a journey we started a journey when we left Yim the only way that Journey could come to fruition is if we hold the banner of their Mitzvah as we said MIT are very important but even more important is learning T and supporting T everybody according to their own level that's why Hashem left that arch for us to see that's where the journey started that depicts the beginning of the journey and we are continuing it hopefully in until mashia but we can only continue it if we carry that Mana that represents mitvah so let's review everything that we said and we'll end with a great story let's remember we've come here to connect to the Past a Jew that is not connected to the past has no hope of being prepared for the future that's what raak told us we can't let bygones be bygones thei Yuma tells us that if the B mdash has not been built in our generation it's as ifom we destroyed it let's remember whatab told us in it's we minimize our but not that there's no at all what's the because was the greatest because that was a because it's the same night as P the first night of the Seder we remember at the say that we remember with the eggs and salt water but we also remember on Tish that it could be a night of and that's why we have deep deep happiness because and that's what we hope for let's remember what taught him you connected to then you could flourish but somebody who's away it's like that leave that's off the tree that thinks it could fly but it's only the beginning of the end let's remember what theas Tau us about windblown Jews about a Mitzvah is very important but it's only in there a wind can blow it down the only thing that's going to maintain the strong winds is T because T is or let's remember what the Ben told us stands for it's a time when we have to increase our learning increase our understanding kazal teach us that what baram did he put a flaw in the lips or the Eyes by us that's aern not necessarily by the go of the world let's be careful not to say anything that's of color let's be careful not to cause M and not to get angry let's remember what did he carried with him that note from the son of the rambam that M rips us on the families it rips us on the communities and it rips us under claw Israel let's remember that's the reason why we don't wear Shas because wool and linen were brought by K and as and there was jealousy and death and Hashem says I don't want to be reminded of that let's remember we're each are walking talking based on the head is the the heart is the the stomach is the let's be careful the food that we eat and the food that we give our children is from money that's kosher let's remember the pay and the iron are switched and peric Bay peric gimmel peric dollar underline it tonight while you still remember so that when you read a tomorrow night then you'll know you'll remember forever I have it highlighted in yellow in my a so that every year I remember how important it is to use your eye first before you use use your mouth that was the problem with the morim let's remember that lady who thought that the principal had called her Refuge he just said refuse and she went talking to every about everyone about it that little boy in a B medish in the library who spoke with his mouth before looking into it that it was really the rash let's remember sometimes you have to keep your mouth quiet and not saying sometimes you have to speak up like those people in who kept their mouth quiet and another family was able to be supported else teach us because they were that's why the BD was destroyed we have to make a commitment in a that they'll be that we love each other for no other reason that we're Jews we're all brothers and sisters no matter what level of frite anybody is doesn't make a difference we're all in it together we're all here to inspire each other and D should help if we learn all these lessons that we are walking talking human bash and we start doing and we have we'll call out to our father our father will call out to us and he'll Embrace us and bring us with msia to the B mdash may it happen in our time thank you for inviting me and thank you for listening