Rabbi Eli Mansour | Pre Rosh Hashanah: Elul Inspiration | CHAZAQ

241 is a very special share being sponsored by the Bitzalel family. Um we want to let's give a round of applause for the Bitzalel family for dedicating this year. It's dedicated to the healing of and in loving memory of Ariella bat Sarah and Kayla bat Rafa and Yamin ben Hana. The Lord is going to Rafa. The shalom of Ariella, amen. Speaking of as an organization of course Anshei Shalom which makes it states which Hashem is such a place of constant Torah, tehillah, and hesed. Baruch Hashem having attained it. Give a round of applause for the shul of Baruch Hashem. And um And tonight we're having the great honor to hear from Rabbi Menashe Klein who um Baruch Hashem so many people tens of thousands of people get inspired by the rabbi every single year and that's where we get inspired on the journey from the rabbi. Um and um just on the note of of of a rule um something that the rabbi has said in the past before is that he says that one of the one of the one of the loopholes, one of the ways that you can ensure a good judgment on Rosh Hashanah is by is by being a person by changing yourself from a person as an individual to a peace person who is a each individual a person who's involved in the community. And of course everyone should get involved with the work of Chazak which is tracked which is which is a leading force of public school outreach with Sunday school after school programs in over 20 different locations. Baruch Hashem it has transferred since 2017 over 1,700 students from public school to yeshiva. Baruch Hashem and as you know since the start of the new school year and everyone who's who's sitting right here, everyone knows at least one neighbor, coworker, friend who has a child in public school and they should reach out to Chazak as some one small commitment to everyone to take upon himself to do the be increased your new year with the sham for you and your family with the sham and and has actually having a very special raffle that they involved more more information the whole way after this year. This is a special 360 raffle is going to be 360 tickets being sold anywhere from a dollar to 360 dollars and you get a chance to win 10,000 dollars. I want you to get involved with the sham and we're going to call upon you to have a good year with the sham for your remarks and we're going to have a round of applause please. We just came out of the parsha parsha ki tavo and I mean tell us that Israel sofer instituted this parsha in order to get rid of all the curses of the previous year and begin this year with a lot. Also the beginning of the parsha teaches us thank you. How does he thank you? And I just want to say a quick thank you for a couple people who are very dear to us and especially to our love. Um First of all I want to say thank you. We should all learn to say thank you before we start asking on Rosh Hashanah say thank you for the previous year everything that gave us and gives us and then we can start asking. I want to say thank you to the president as I he does countless work for this working around the clock making it more beautiful as you can see. I want to thank all the sponsors. I want to thank also Khazak and the mayor of Yanni and which I grew up with them in Beit Knesset. The Khazak team that they go above and beyond trying to do outreach. And here I want to give a personal thank to the Rav. The first time I heard Rav Mansour, it was right over here in this Beit Knesset and 9/11, the year 2001, 23 years ago. I wasn't in the sheer, but my mom came home with four cassettes. We had cassettes back then, believe it or not. And the Rav gave a beautiful sheer four different topics about Rosh Hashanah that I still use today. And ever since these past 23 years, the Rav has been a lift has been lifting up our nation, our families with inspiration, countless teaching of Torah that you can find online and in the school of the Rav. I was lucky to do my first sheer with the Rav about 20 years ago. And the countless teachings, anything in Tanakh, anything in Nevi'im, anything in Ketuvim, everything is recorded and it really really helped me to learn the Torah from the Rav and to teach the Torah. And Baruch Hashem, I've been around for 41 years and this past Tisha B'Av, I learned for the first time that Nevuchadnezzar was a descendant of the king. Unbelievable, blew my mind. So, Baruch Hashem, the Rav is still strong and you're inspiring for us, for the family, for the community. I want to bless you. Bless you to continue to learn Torah and to teach it. I am no stranger to Kahal Kadosh Anshei Shalom here in Jamaica Estates. At some point in my life, I was coming here at least once a month. And we had a very steady shiur and I would come with my good friend Jonah Kash and his wife and we'd make the trip happily every Sunday night that we came and we would have a beautiful Kahal. And I remember I have fond memories of this great synagogue and this beautiful Kahal. And I'm glad that I was able to come back. May I have to be with Shalom. And we are able to see the Kahal flourishing and we are in a mashallah. And I pray that this holy congregation, the rabbonim, the president, the board of directors should continue to lead this congregation forward. Of course or because we move. And I will wish all the members that are present and not as my predecessor said to Shana Tova. May the curses of be behind us. We can have a lot of fun. From here on in, we have a new plan. And as I said, it will be only positive and optimistic. I wish you all the best and I mean it. I wish you all the best. I came tonight to reveal a secret which is hidden in the prayers of Rosh Hashanah. This is a novel idea and definitely worth your attention and worth your time. It begins with a prayer that arguably is the most neglected of all the prayers that we have in the siddur. And that is for good reason. It's all the way at the end. And most people don't make it to the end. Most people start the and by the time we get to the end of the they're long gone. So it is neglected. And those that make it to the end they usually say this prayer on the way out. And that of course is which has been dubbed to be that of the day. The prayer that people say when they're traveling. Now you shouldn't think because it is so undervalued and underestimated that it is not important. You must know that the prayer was actually written by Joshua bin Nun. It's one of the oldest prayers that we have, 3,500 years old. There's not too many things in our siddur that date all the way back to the times of Joshua. It is clear that he wrote it with divine inspiration. So great is this prayer that the when he brings down the of he writes that when one recites this prayer he should say it with fear and trepidation. And he says that when it happens, when it's said correctly from heaven looks down with the family. Family means the family. What is the family of heaven? The family. The family looks down and they see the Jewish people say and they turn to God Almighty and they say and they will have More of these angels in order to give us praise in front of the creator. Furthermore, the say that is it's like the it's holy of holies and one of the greatest praises to the border. Furthermore, there was a great rabba called Vitale. Vitale was a student of Ari. incredible. He says everybody has a wish. They need something. And even we call that a Yeshua. It could be in business, it could be in health, it could be family related. It's a girl that's looking for a or maybe a couple that needs issues in fertility. Everything. There's always something that you need. The Yeshua. And everybody's trying to figure out how to bring down salvation, how to reach success. How to say the secret from the master of the Ari. He said when you say the Ari. After you finish the first paragraph and you say and all. You pause. The next paragraph is I'll never go back. At that point, you pause and you ponder in your mind and you think of the item that you need. The Yeshua, the salvation. And you meditate for a few moments on that item. And he writes of Vitale the Duke of say. The Duke of say means it is tried and tested, which means it works. That's the value of the it is able not only to bring the accolades of the angels, but it's actually to be the impetus and the cause of kibbutz the people of Israel. Now, Alenu Leshabeach all year long finds itself, as I mentioned at the end of the tefillah. However, three days a year, the two days of Rosh Hashanah in the Musaf, at least, Alenu Leshabeach finds itself in the Musaf. Now, you have to know the Musaf of Rosh Hashanah is the tefillah of the year. It's the longest tefillah. Our minhag is we blow shofar not only in the lahash, but even in the hazara. This is the main tefillah. It's the longest, clearly. Malkuyot, Zichronot, Shofarot. And all of a sudden, in the middle of Malkuyot, here he is, Alenu Leshabeach appears. And therefore, it's in the center of the center. That means it finds itself in the main tefillah of the year, right at the at the hub, right at the core of this tefillah. That indicates to me how valuable it is. So, therefore, I think it's worth our time tonight to try to explain a few of the words that Yehoshua bin Nun wrote. Mainly tonight, I want to understand the words when he said, shelo asanu k'goyei ha'aratzot. V'lo sam chelkenu kahem, v'goralenu k'chol hamonam, shehem mishtachavim lahevel variq, umitpalelim el el lo yoshia. Va'anachnu mishtachavim lifnei melech malchei hamelachim, HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This is the part of the Alenu Leshabeach that I would like to explain. One at a time. What does it mean that we're not like the I'll tell you how I learned it previously. Every morning we make a prayer. If you're a man, you say you're a If you're a lady, you say you're a If you're undecided, I'm just kidding. The point is The point is every morning we make a prayer that we're a We're very fortunate. The odds are stacked against us that we were born Jewish. The Jewish people are only a small percentage of a percentage of world population. The fact that we were born Jewish, we have to make a prayer that we are a That we could have been part of the part of the majority, the large majority of the world. We must be grateful, must be thankful. We're lucky. So I always understood that we are a We're not like the But why would we have to repeat that? We did that already in the prayer that we are a Must be that we are a is something deeper. So I'd like to explain it. What does it mean we're not like them? They have a certain system and we follow a different system. It's based on something that happened in this week's portion. We read it. I don't know if you have the same custom that we have. But the majority of the prayer is read in a low murmur. It's because it's filled with the most graphic curses. Curses that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Very, very, very gory details of what's going to happen to the Jewish people. So graphic that the prayer says read it low because we don't want to scare the congregation. We don't want them to be Hashpasha long, so intimidated they won't come to back back to Beth Knesset in the following week. And nobody wishes to get that Aliya. Usually give it to somebody who doesn't understand what's being read. We tell them it's a good Aliya, just take it. Those are the same, it'll be good for him. Anyway, after the Aliya of the Kila lot, it finishes. It says you'll be sold to your enemies. You'll be sold as slaves and maidservants. And you're going to be so low, the ain't con ain't nobody's going to even want to buy you as a slave. It's the lowest Madrega. And then it ends. And the Divrei Habrit, these are the words of the covenant that God spoke to Moshe, to the Jewish people in Eretz Moab. And then we get to the next chapter, Perek Kaf Tet. Vayikra Moshe el kol Yisrael. Strange, he was in front of all Yisrael already. Says the Or HaChaim HaKadosh, that he called the children, and he called the ladies. It seems only the men were there for the first discussion, for the first Kila lot. And then he called everybody else to participate. Vayomer aleihem, he tells them, Rabotai, atem re'item et kol asher asah Adonai le'eineichem be'eretz Mitzrayim, lePharaoh, lechol avadav, ulechol artzo. You saw it. Your parents saw with their own eyes what God did to Pharaoh in Mitzrayim. You heard about dam, tzefardea, kinim, all the way to makat bechorot, to the splitting of the sea. Hamassot haggedolot, the great wonders. Ha'otot, ummofetim haggedolim. Not only that, but then you came into the midbar. And the midbar, the desert, is a very inhospitable place for human beings. A person cannot survive the midbar for more than 24 hours. The conditions are brutal. It's freezing cold at night. It's boiling hot during the day. There is no hydration. There is no nutrition. It is impossible to live in the midbar. But you Jewish people You didn't survive 24 hours. You survived 40 years. And not only barely. You survived it. Your clothes did not wear out. They were freshly pressed every day by the Ananei Kavod. Your shoes, they didn't wear out. They didn't tear. They didn't rip. Ananei Kavod gave them a buff and a shine every day. You didn't eat bread. You didn't eat bread. You had bread from the shamayim. You didn't eat wine. You didn't eat beer. You drank the holy waters of Be'er Miriam. My question is all this is true. We know that. We went out of Mitzrayim miraculously. We know our sojourn in the desert was supernatural. But this is what we we know this already. It's clearly documented so many times in the Torah. Why does Moshe Rabbenu, at this juncture, right after the Kil'ayon, why does he have to remind them of what happened in Mitzrayim and what happened in the midbar? What's the reason why the Torah and Moshe decides to review that episode here and now? This is a big question. In order to understand it, I'd like to present a Gemara. The Gemara is in Ketubot. Ketubot daf samech vav amud bet. Listen to the Gemara. Tanu rabbanan maaseh be Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai was our chief rabbi. She'ila ocheb al a chamor. He was riding on a donkey. That was the means of travel in the olden days. Vayehi yotzei mi-Yerushalayim. He was leaving Jerusalem. Vayehi talmidav mehalchin acharav. And he had an entourage of students that were traveling with him. Ra'ah riva achat. He saw a riva. What's a riva? A young lady. She hayta melaket se'orim mibeyn gilalei behemtan shel araviyim. She was a poor woman. She was so desperate. She was looking for barley coin corns. Small piece of barley. Where was she looking? In the excrement of the animals of the Arabs. The lowest place. She had no options. So, she was rummaging. By the Arabs, they have their animals. Pardon me, but in their the dung of the animals. She's sifting through. Maybe the animal ate some barley and it went through his system and came out. If she would find a piece of barley, she would be lucky. A Jewish woman and Rabbi Yohanan sees this. Wow. Would you ever imagine a Jewish girl could be so desperate? Could be so needy? So the rab he was shocked. Gamarra says incidentally Kevon she atah oto, when she saw the rab nit'atefah bis'arah. She covered her head. And even a Jewish woman that reached the lowest level she still had tzniut. When she saw the rab, she put herself together, she covered her head. V'amda lifanav, and she turns to Rabbi Yohanan amra lo rebbi My rabbi, parn'seni. Parn'seni means give me parnassa, give me something to eat. Amra lo, bat Nakdimon Who are you? Amra lo, bat Nakdimon ben Gurion ani. I am the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion. Nakdimon ben Gurion was the wealthiest Jew almost that ever lived. I don't know how to explain Nakdimon ben Gurion in our terminologies. What he was in his wealth to the Jewish people. Uh you would call him maybe a Rothschild. On that level of super wealthy. He had so much money could have supported the Jewish people in its entirety himself. This is the daughter. So the app says, I'm a love the tea my daughter my mom should be a big a big a big a big a big a Where IS ALL YOUR FATHER'S MONEY? The daughter of Nakdimon should be in such a dire straits? Where's all your father's money? She had an answer. It's not the tonight show but worthy to come back maybe to discuss her answer because it's a very perceptive. She had a very very strong understanding of why her father lost the money. It wasn't a bad investment. It wasn't that it got swindled. Says here he was a very wealthy guy but he didn't give enough charity. He didn't give according to he was supposed to give. And as a result, the sadaka preserves the wealth. You have to give in order to preserve. He didn't give enough and therefore the money of my father it spoiled. And it became deteriorated and therefore he lost it. Sadaka, interesting lesson. The greatest insurance policy to hold on to your money is not to put it in a bank that's FDIC insured. That can only guarantee up to a quarter of a million dollars. If a person wants to guarantee his wealth, you have to let some out. Money in Hebrew is called damim. Damim in Hebrew is blood. In the olden days, it was very medicinal to bloodlet. They would let some blood out. Why? Cuz when you let some blood out, the body regenerates new blood. It's healthy. And you have to let out let out some of your money like the blood in order that the remaining money regenerates and grows. But if you try to hold on to the whole pile, so that God forbid, the money gets infected and gets sickly. That's a side point. Although I'm sure the committee is very happy that I mentioned it. He says, "I don't believe it." I'm going to love she says to the rabbi, "You were at my wedding. I remember when you signed my ketubah. I remember the number you wrote in the ketubah. My father was wealthy and my father-in-law was wealthy and you wrote in the ketubah a million an exorbitant number. It didn't matter how many zeros. Didn't even matter nobody flinched. He says, "I remember when you signed my ketubah." I 80 called about 1,000,000 dinar zahav. 1,000,000 1,000,000 thousands. That's a million. Dinar zahav gold coins. From her father besides what she gets from her father-in-law. So there's 2 million in the ketubah. Bar Yohanan ben Zakkai. This episode inspired Rebbe Yohanan to be here. The tears. I understand. And now listen to his reaction. Vayama. He didn't say this to her necessarily. He was talking to his students and he was talking to us. And he makes the following analysis of this episode. Listen to the way the Gadol thought when he sees this situation, the way he perceives it, and the way he analyzes it, and his comment. Amud Ashreichem Yisrael Could you believe it? Those are the last words that would have come out of my mouth. Ashreichem Yisrael? Ashreichem Yisrael means how fortunate are you Yisrael? Fortunate? What about this episode is Ashreichem? If anything we would say Chavala Aleichem. Miskenim Atem. Poor thing. But Rebbe Yochanan saw in this Ashreichem. He saw something about the Jewish people that makes us lucky and fortunate. What is that? Yisrael she osim retzon Hashem Makom. When the Jewish people are obedient and they are fulfilling the will of their creator Ein kol umah v'lashon sholtetet bahem. The Jewish people are impenetrable. We are untouchable. No nation is able to lay a hand on us, a finger on us. Nobody has any dominance over the Jewish people. When the Jewish people are fulfilling the divine order and the divine will we are no match to any of the nations of the world. It doesn't matter even if we're outnumbered even if we're out-militaried even if we're surrounded the Jewish people when we fulfill the Torah she Hashem Makom, it doesn't matter. Nobody has any on us. And then he says, When the Jewish people are in contempt, and they are not fulfilling the divine order, God delivers us into a low nation. God puts us in the hands of lowlifes. Not only in the hands of lowlifes, to the animals of the lowlifes. Rebbe Yochanan saw something in this episode in front of him about the Jewish people. The Jewish people are extreme. We live at the extremes. When the Jewish people are succeeding, it's unprecedented, the success the Jewish people have. We rise to the highest levels that the world ever sees. And when we fall, we fall at the same level of extreme. The Jewish people are an unnatural nation. The Torah compares the Jewish people to the stars and to the dust. Well, make up your mind. Are we like the stars? Are we like the dirt? And the rabbis say that when the Jewish people succeed, they're high like the stars. There's nobody higher than them. And when the Jewish people fail, they're like the alpha to office. There's no in between for the Jewish people. Either it's Kohanim or it's afar. Either it's that demon Ben-Gurion, the wealthiest Jew, or it's his daughter that's picking barley corns from the animals of the Arabs. Rebbi Yochanan saw something in this that is ashrechem. He saw this as a hand of God. If you look at the lashon of the Gemara, quite precise, he says, Nobody is able to touch us. What's a mosran? He places us. Who's the he? Rebbi Yochanan saw in this episode a certain modality that the Jewish people have, not like any other nation. That God deals with us in such an unnatural way, unnatural in our successes, and unnatural in our failures. Kohanim and afar. If I have to give you an example of this, the year taf shin ped alef, nobody was able to predict how this year was going to turn out. We suspected it, to be honest with you, when Rosh Hashanah came and we didn't blow the shofar, we all felt it's not going to be a good year. We believe the Gemara that says when there's no shofar, put your seat belts on. But we've had many years where we didn't blow shofar. But who would have imagined that only a few weeks after the silence of the shofar, that we would experience the lowest events that the Jewish people were put in the hands of lowlifes, of ummah shefela, of gangs in t-shirts on motorcycles. Arabim, the daughter of the woman in the neon. It didn't happen to her, it happened to many like her. Picking from the dung of the beheimtam shel Arabim. This is the events that took place on Simchat Torah. I'm sorry to tell you, the generations are descending very quickly. It's not uncommon that even you'll hear rabbis that refer to that day by the secular date, October 7th. Have we not our own calendar? Have we not our own description of that day? That day is called Simchat Torah. In 1973, when we were attacked, we called that Yom Kippur War. You know which day Yom Kippur War was in 1973? October 6th. You know if anybody here, anybody say October 6th? You didn't even know it existed. It was Yom Kippur. I'm sorry to tell you, 50 years later, we forgot Yom Kippur, we forgot Simchat Torah, we became secularized. It's October 7th. It's a sign of the times. On that day, we saw the Jewish people suffer artists. That when the Jewish people fall, it's in an unprecedented way. It's in a historical way. Things that don't happen to any other civilized nation and country. But on that day, if Rabbi Yochanan was around, when all of us were crying, he also would have cried. But he would have said, "Ashrei chem Yisrael." He would have seen in it an ashrei chem. That when the Jewish people, this is indicative. This is a a feature of the Jewish people. This is the way God deals with them. It must be an act of God. It's so abnormal. It's so irregular, THAT YOU CAN ONLY EXPLAIN IT AS AN ACT OF GOD. You understand? Sometimes when we see such catastrophes, it causes us to say, "Where is Hashem?" But on the contrary, Rabbi Yochanan says, "It's so beyond, it must be Hashem. Why does THIS ONLY HAPPEN TO US AND to nobody else? Why we always the victims to historical tragedy? Whether it's the Holocaust, whether it's the Inquisition, these things are unique to the Jewish people. Rabbi Yochanan saw in that an ashrei chem. That means God is dealing with us. But I I to point out. We cannot forget the events of April 13th, either. The events of April 13th, if you check up on Wikipedia, they say that the events of April 13th never happened in world history, ever. What happened was on that day that the Iranians they sent 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles, all at the same time. Never in history was there an attack of this intensity and this level, never. In one moment on one nation. And the miracle of that day, of that night, was able to bring down 99.9% of those projectiles. So, you say, as we see him, when good things happen to the Jewish people, they break Guinness world records. And when bad things happen, they break Guinness world records. The Jewish people always breaking records of some sort, whether it's a record of tragedy or it's a miracle of April 13th. And I remind you of the events that happened this week. On September 14th and 15th, again, go on the Wikipedia, and they'll tell you the events of September 14th and 15th have never happened. Not in espionage, not in CIA, not from Scotland never in warfare. Hezbollah forgot to shut the do not destruct mode on their the self-destruct mode on their phones. They said that Nasrallah is going to be the keynote speaker at Agudath Israel convention this year on the dangers of cell phones and technology. Who knows better than him? The Israelis terminated all those plans very fast. Shabbos Mevorach. So, this is a year where we saw the extremes. We're clearly not out of the woods, but Hashem showed us both sides. He showed us the events of Simchas Torah where the Jews are picking from the giluyim of the aravim. Like the daughter of Nachman. But he also showed us that when Benei Yisrael are doing the ratzon of Hashem, Benei Yisrael come out and we prayed and we give tzedakah, and we learned, and we're doing chesed. And look, look at the response of Olam does. He gives us a a little remez. This is what we're capable of doing. This This is something that actually is a story of our history. Things that happened to the Jews only happened to the Jews. Something that never happened to another nation. Yes, nations have been exiled from their lands. It happens. But never in the history, you could check it up, a nation that was exiled from their land, did they ever come back? Am Yisrael was sent out of galut during the times of Babylonia. 70 years later, we came back. It's a Guinness world record. We were exiled a second time. And already we're witnessing with our own eyes the Jews already starting to come back to Eretz Yisrael. The majority of the Jewish people today live in Eretz Yisrael. That means we were able to survive not one exile, but two exiles. And keep in mind that during those exiles, the Jewish people were scattered over five continents to 100 different countries. And Am Yisrael is still here. We're an anomaly. It doesn't make sense. The galut that we suffered is unprecedented. And the recovery is just as shocking and just as unparalleled. There are a lot of nations that suffer bigotry. There are a lot of nations that suffer prejudices. We're not the only hated nation. There are a lot of nations around the world that are minorities and they suffer a certain amount of the same. But the Jews are the only ones that have a terminology for it. When you hate a Jew, it's not called prejudice or bigotry. When you hate a Jew, it's called anti-Semitism. There's a term for it. There's no other term for any other people that's hated. But when you hate Jews, it's a different type of hatred. It's got its own terminology. Because, again, when Klal Yisrael is down, there's nobody lower. But that's that's the hidden. It shows that we're different. It shows that we're being dealt with by God on different terms. I'd like to point out and I have good news for our members here tonight. In the Amidah, we actually say venafshi kaafar lakol tehiye. We say in the prayers at the end of the Amidah that God Almighty we should be like the afar. We're asking to be like the dust. I don't know how flattering that is. If you went to somebody that says, "Give me a bracha." You know what I'm saying? You should be like afar. I would say, "You too, with that to share." It's a backhanded compliment. Venafshi kaafar, you want to be like afar? Says the Tosafot in the Gemara Berachot, Ma afar, ein lo kilaya, af benei Yisrael ein lahem kilaya. What is What is the nature of afar? Everybody tramples on it. You step on it. But guess what? You can never destroy it. The Jewish people are like afar. No matter how much they trample on us, and no matter how much they try to destroy us, we're still here. Venafshi kaafar, we have the durability of afar. We have the netziyut of afar. But I'll tell you something else. Over the long haul, the afar always wins. Because everybody always ends up under the afar, and the afar is over them. And therefore, we pray we want to be like afar also. They'll trample us, they'll step on us, but at the end of the day, we're going to be on top. The afar always wins. And we sing it. Omdim aleinu l'chaloteinu. I have a list of the exiles that the Jewish people went through. The different nations. Egyptian empire, Chaldean empire, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Spanish, Ottoman, British, Austro-Hungarian, German, French, Russian, Soviet, Nazi. B'chol dor vador omdim aleinu l'chaloteinu. But we're like the afar. They all don't exist today. Am Yisrael has buried all of them. Am Yisrael is still here. But the fact that we went through it, Rabi Yochanan would have said, "THAT'S HASHGACHA PRATIT." IT'S THE WAY THE JEWISH PEOPLE ARE. It's the way we function. It's a It's an atypical way. It's an anomaly, that's for sure. But the fact that it's so strange and so odd, it's a proof that we're being dealt with differently because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is dealing with us. And when we all sit at Seder shel Yom HaKippurim, 20% of the Nobel Prize winners are Jewish. We're not 20% of the population. And I guarantee you that the committee that votes for the winners are anti-Semitic. It probably should be 50%. But factor in anti-Semitism, so it went down to 20%, which is still a super number. Let's go Calvin. And those are the same people that they took our babies or mashichim and put them in ovens. Those are the same people that are being with Mashpelah abused and mutilated our people. Anashim Nashim Betav Beyom Echad If that's the case, I understand what Moshe Rabbeinu was doing. When the Jewish people heard these curses, they said this is something that never happens to any nation. You're telling us things that are beyond belief. Is it possible we are going to descend to such a low place? And Moshe Rabbeinu said, "Let me tell you the other side of the coin. You are the same nation that was in Egypt and you enjoyed the 10 plagues that also never happened. A sea was split in front of you. You were able to bring down the entire Egyptian empire. You didn't shoot one bullet. You didn't have an army. Also, Wikipedia says never happened before. You lived in the Midbar. Nobody thought you could exist. You existed in luxury in the Midbar. And therefore, Moshe Rabbeinu would say, "That's why you said Asher Chem." If you stay the course, you'll be able to live a supernatural existence. And the and the rest of us scratch their heads and say, "How are the Jews doing this?" THAT'S OUR STORY. IT'S ALWAYS BEEN OUR STORY. But if you're not on status of Moshel Makom, they're also going to say, "Look at this Umashpelah. Look how low they've sunken." But that system that system is a proof that we're different. And that's what it means in Al Hanisim Shebe'ach. Shelo Asanu Kegoyei Ha'aratzot. Most of the other nations of the world, they're flat lined. They're just They don't have supernatural either way, not positive or negative. They're more or less average we would call it. But the Jewish people are far from average. Our story is always news. The events that happened to us always shocking, always novel. Extraordinary. And that's what it means us and the are not so. We're not like them. And when you A lot of Jews that went through the line of the Holocaust They said, "Where was God?" I don't judge those people. We weren't there. I can understand it a little because I went to visit concentration camps and it's so eerie. We can never judge somebody. But if you were there and you saw it And he saw it He would say actually him this doesn't happen to anybody. The way God is dealing with us in such an extreme way, that's the biggest proof that it has to be coming from a from a very high source. On the contrary, because it's so unusual, that means somebody in heaven must be doing this. Why does it always happen to us? And then you look at after the Holocaust what happened. The nation Like like like we we we we we regenerated. Everybody thought crisis is over. Everybody thought the Yeshiva is over. And all of a sudden like a phoenix from the ashes, all of a sudden crisis rises again. Here we're in America, we're learning Torah again. Who would have thought? And they're scratching their heads, they said we thought KO, they were knocked out. ALL OF A SUDDEN ALL OF A SUDDEN BOOM BOOMERANG, they're back up. So I said the are not so. But now I get to the main point. Now you have a lot of Simchat Torah, April 13th. Simchat Torah, September 13th and 14th. And in the middle of that, a helicopter of the president of Iran came down. When I remember the guy we needed to his helicopter came down. And in the middle of that, Hananiah was sleeping in a foreign military base. And the most safest place in the world. Boom, they got him also. And you look at all these stories that we never saw this stuff before. We never saw this before. It's quite a sign. It's quite a sign. You never saw Simchat Torah and you're never going to see the aftermath either. What does it mean when we say in the Mishnah, "Shelo sam chelkainu kehem ve goralainu"? Ve goralainu, our lottery is not like their lottery. What are we talking about? Which lottery is this? I'm not aware of a lottery. We have a different ticket, we have a different system. What is this goral? Ve goralainu. Let me tell you what the Midrash says. Midrash says that at a certain point in history, God gave up on the It was at the time of the Tower of Babel. God said, "You know what? I'm not dealing with these people anymore. I'm going to scatter them up." And at that moment, God created the 70 nations. 35 European eventually they became and 35 Arab. 70 nations. And then there's the Jews. As a matter of fact, the pasuk says in in Ha'azinu, Zekhor yemot olam, remember the days of yore. Behanhel elyon when God decided to divide the up. Befarid bene Adam, when he separated them. Yased gevulot amim, he established borders for the nations, lemispar bene Yisrael, corresponding the number of the Jewish people. How many Jewish people went down to Egypt? 70. So, our 70, which was one nation, God decided to give the one per. So, therefore, there were 70. Lemispar bene Yisrael. And then the midrash says a lot of it took place in heaven. Borei olam called 70 angels, and he took the 70 nations, and he wrote their names on a petek, and he put it in a lottery. In a In a goral, and he shook it up. And he told the angels, "Listen, every country needs a guardian angel, a malakh. Put your hand in the lottery, and you pick. Whoever you pick, that's your nation." So, okay, fine. They're about to pick, Borei olam says, "Hey, derekh eretz, what about me?" But we didn't know that you're in the lottery. Of course I'm in the lottery. God threw in Yisrael. So, there's 71 tickets in there. So, they shake it up good. Now, Borei olam picks first. Now, in uh in the casino business, or in American elections, they call that rigged. It was rigged, or fixed. The fix was in. Borei olam knows exactly which ticket he's going to pick. But he goes first, derekh eretz. So, they mix it up, he picks it. Bene Yisrael, he says, good. I'm in charge of B'nei Yisrael." Good. You don't have to say for the rest. You go pick it yourself. I don't care. I got the ticket. And the pasuk says, "Ki chelek Adonai amo." The chelek of B'nei Yisrael is God's chelek. Yaakov chevel nachalato. Chavalim naflu li bane'imim. David Hamelech says about God, "Chavalim is the chevel, is the portion. Naflu li, God said it fell to me. Bane'imim, I got the most pleasant one. It was na'imim. I got the Jewish people." Which means all the nations of the world are being run by an angel, by a custodian. Klal Yisrael is the only nation that is dealt directly with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Is Hashem Olam. That starts to explain to us since God is dealing with us directly why we have this extreme The angels are limited to certain rules, but God goes lema'ala min hateiva. God goes above the nature. And therefore, whenever you see this type of behavior, that's the proof that God is still managing us. And that's why it's so The insurance companies, when they see something weird, they say "Act of God." Because it's so beyond. Well, if the insurance companies were underwriting a policy for the Jewish people, they would never pay. Because everything is an act of God by us. It's so beyond the pale. But I must tell you you shouldn't think that it's automatic that God chooses the Jewish people. You shouldn't think that we should have a guarantee that it always be like that. After the Jewish people did the golden calf as a matter of fact, you know the story, the Torah says it. So what did God tell Moshe? I quit. I'm done. I'm done with these people. I'm going to send my angel. I'm sending an angel. I'm out. Why should I deal with these people? I put them on a silver platter. I'm dealing with them directly, white gloves, red carpet. And now they do that again? He and I shall have my luck. Take the angel like everybody else. Leave me alone. Moshe said, "No way. No way." If you're not going to be with us, I'm out also. Don't take us in. And Moshe negotiated and got him to come back. But now I'm going to tell you a new idea. This is a new idea from the great Rabbi Kluger. I love you In the book of he says a big idea. He says every year on Rosh Hashanah the angels in heaven come in front of God and they say, "We want a new idea. We want a recount. We want a redo. Why should the Jewish people enjoy to have God as the head? We want to do it again. Maybe maybe we'll get another nation and maybe another nation will get God." And there's rumbling. Every Rosh Hashanah he says, "This time of year there's rumbling in heavens that the angels are prosecuting the Jewish people. They don't deserve to be the hell of God. They're not doing the show my home. We want it to be rescinded. That's what's happening in heaven. Now, I'm going to tell you a interesting story now. The fact This debate goes on every year in September, which is all the time Rosh Hashanah time in heaven. The angels are prosecuting all the nations of the world are prosecuting the Jewish people. Do over. GOD SHOULD NOT BE THE ADMINISTRATOR BY you saying and the Zohar writes that when something happens in heaven it creates a ripple effect on earth and there is no coincidence that every September the 70 nations meet in New York in the United Nations. And they rumble against the Jewish people. And they get up in front of the the plenum and they TALK ABOUT THE JEWS AND ISRAEL and they make resolutions against us. Why do you think it happens that game September? What's happening on earth is an indication what's happening in heaven. And therefore in heaven that's where it counts. I don't care what they say in United Nations. The Tower of Babel, what's happening in in in in Shamayim should be concerning to us. It says a great rabbi called Menachem Azariah me Fano. Great mekubal. He says I don't know what you say. We say shalom some kind of them they go to you know. Our God is not like this. You know why our faith is not like this? Because our we're holding a different ticket. YOU KNOW WHY THE JEWISH PEOPLE, their history is not average? You know why our history is so extraordinary and so supernatural? It's cuz we have a different ticket. It's God. Did you ever hear of the term I know you say it on Friday nights, I'm sure in the Shalom Aleichem. We say Shalom Aleichem Malachei Hasharet Malachei Elyon Some communities say Me Melech Malchei Hamlachim cuz it fits the song better. Actually, Sefardim according to the Ben Ish Hai said Melech Malchei Hamlachim. They don't say Me Melech. It's a debate. Eilu Ve'eilu whatever you say my Ashkenazi change away but I want to know what does it mean? What does it mean Melech Malchei Hamlachim Hakadosh Baruchu? Melech is the king. Malchei Hamlachim the king of the king of kings to all the kings. I mean this we say every day. Melech Malchei Hamlachim. I'll tell you the way some rabbis learn it. Some rabbis learn that we have angels. There are two angels that are considered the king of the angels that all angels have to report to them. Those are the angels Gavriel and Michael. Gavriel and Michael would be considered Malchei Hamlachim. They are the kings of the angels. So therefore, Melech Malchei Hamlachim, God is the king of the king of the angels. That means God is not only the king of the angels, but even the king of the angels, which is those two super angels, God is the king of them. That's one interpretation. But listen to what the big man had to say here, he says and this is the key. Malchei hamalachim those are the angels that administer the kings on earth. Every nation on earth has a guardian angel. And the way we refer to those 70 guardian angels of the nations of the world, they're called malchei or malachei. Malchei is short for malachei. And malachim, malachim is the kings. You have the king of England, you have the king of Russia, you have the king of America. And each one of those nations has a malach. And you know who God is? God is the melech malchei hamalachim. God is the king of all those angels that run the 70 countries cuz God controls the Jewish people. And therefore, God is on top. What does the master say again? Melech which is God he is on top of malchei, the angels that are controlling the malachim. That's what the big man had to say in the final says. He's on top of them. That means his control is the strongest control. You cannot expect the control of an angel to be as strong as the control of God. And we're holding that ticket. We're holding the ticket of the melech of malchei hamalachim. And that explains why we're different. And now says the mefarshim something amazing. On the Rosh Hashanah, there's a judgement. Besides the personal judgement that we all have, which Hashem it will be good. There's a judgement of the nation. Is God going to pick us again? And we need him to pick us again. Especially now before the Messiah, we need God to finish it. But there's a big fight. Says the Midrash, you know when the debate is decided? When the Jewish people say the Alenu the Shavua in Musaf. And you know when it's decided? When the Jewish people say the Anachnu Mishtachavim. Lifnei Melech Malchei Hamlachim Hakadosh Baruchu. The angels are saying, "Get rid of them." And God says, "Look, NONE OF YOU ARE BOWING TO ME ON THIS DAY. THE CHINESE ARE NOT CELEBRATING ROSH HASHANAH. The Russians, the Syrians, nobody. I SHOULD GIVE UP THE JEWISH PEOPLE? THEY'RE THE ONLY ONES THAT MISHTACHAVIM. THEY'RE BOWING TO ME." AT that point, when you make the Hishtachavaya, when you bow in front of the Melech Malchei Hamlachim, at that point says "I pick the Jewish people again. They're mine for another year." And we're able to activate the winning lottery during that moment. Of Anachnu Mishtachavim Lifnei Melech Malchei Hamlachim Hakadosh Baruchu. And says the Midrash, if you take the letters Melech, it's three letters, Mem Lamed Chaf. Malchei, Mem Lamed Chaf Yud, seven. Hamlachim, Hamlachim, six. 13 letters. 13 letters represent the 13 Midot of Rachamim. When you say Melech Malchei Hamlachim, you're activating, just by saying those words, the 13 midot of mercy without saying it. And what Hashem says, one more year. One more year. The my nation, and if that's the case, then you can see supernatural things again. Then you see some more unprecedented historical Guinness book breaking records. She'hem mishtachavim, you know what they're bowing to? On Rosh Hashanah, she'hem mishtachavim le hevel. What is hevel? That's referring to the Arabs. The Arabs pray five times a day. That's the heh of hevel. They have two holidays, Eid al-Kabir and Eid al-Saghir. The big holiday and the small holiday, that's the bet. And the lamed is the 30 days of Ramadan. She'hem mishtachavim le hevel. Varik. Varik says the mefarshim, Varik is gematria Yeshu, which is the Christians. She'hem mishtachavim le hevel. Varik. What were we reading in yesterday's parashah? Etz va'even. The Christians worship the etz, which is the cross, the tree, the wood, and the Arabs even, the rock in Mecca. Etz va'even. V'anachnu. V'anachnu mishtachavim lifnei Hashem. And then what God says, they're all bowing to their to their to deities. No one's bowing to me. And therefore what? I should pick them? At the time of Aleinu Leshabei'ach in the Amidah, it doesn't guarantee that we're going to have a good year. Oh, yes. But for sure we win. That means every Rosh Hashanah we at least we know on one of the judgements we come out good. The national job which is which is important for our nation. That explains a minhag. Alacha says on Rosh Hashanah you're supposed to wear nice clothes. Shave, cut your nails. You're supposed to have good meat, drink wine. That's a shame shame the prophet says it's a happy day. Happy day? What's happy? We don't even say hallel on this day. It's a day of judgement. Explanation is according to Kluger. We don't know how our judgement is going to come out personally. I hope it'll be good. But there's one thing we can celebrate already from now. We know that God is not trading us in for another nation. And that alone is worth it to put on a new suit, put on a nice tie, shine your shoes, eat good food, and make it a high and eat sweet foods. WE ARE VICTORIOUS NO MATTER HOW ROSH HASHANAH COMES OUT. We won. Melech Malchei Hamelachim Hakadosh Baruchu. And if that's the case, shelo asanu kegoyim will be different. We can thank we continue to be different. With this I understand something else. Rosh Hashanah is over, Kippur is over. And now we get to Sukkot. Zman Simchateinu. And I'm asking a question. Isn't it a little premature? I mean, we don't know how we did. I mean, it's wishful thinking. I'm all for positive attitude. But I mean, maybe 6 months later when you see how THE YEAR TURNED OUT, then we can decide. Should we make any Simchatenu? Yeah, no. Meaning, Sukkot should be pending until we have a little more data. But no, WE DON'T EVEN WAIT 4 DAYS. WHICH It's right after Yom Kippur. too early to determine how the year is. What's the Simcha? If you know what Simchat Torah If you know what it's all about, On Sukkot, what do we bring in the Bet Hamikdash? Korbanot. On the first 7 days of Sukkot, we bring 70 bulls. On the last day, Shemini Atzeret, we go Simchat Torah. How many bulls do they bring? One. On Sukkot, we highlight there's the 70 and there's the one. We don't know how our personal judgment came out. But Siman Simchateinu, cuz we know that this didn't change. There's the 70 and there's the one. The Lot Sameach Chelkeinu And that is reason for Simcha. The fact that God chose us again. And how appropriate On that day, where there's the one Korban, that was the day that we were put in the hands of Umashifela. Simchat Torah, that was the day that we put in Umashifela. But that's the day that you chose us over the 70. Yes, that's the proof that I chose you. The fact that unprecedented things happened to the Jews, that's the biggest proof that I'm dealing with you. And therefore, I say the part I Even if you're not willing to change your practice on the daily Alenu Leshabeach. Maybe I didn't convince you on the daily Alenu three times a day. But please, don't squander the Alenu Leshabeach after Pilat of on Rosh, especially not after the year where we saw the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion a thousand times over handed in the match of in the lowlife's hands. And we all saw starting to see now the turn. We're starting to see the miraculous and supernatural and above nature hand of God to protect this people. And therefore we must say with kavana shelo asanu kegoyim artsot. You don't deal with us like you deal with them. You know why? Because they're being dealt with an angel bigod but our god is yours. And now we're going to see to it that you re-choose us, that you're going to re-sign the contract. And how do we do that? Ba'anachnu, not like them. Everybody. Ba'anachnu mishtachavim lifnei melech. The king of all the angels that control the kings of the earth. Malchei hamelachim. And that is Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And therefore we know at least one judgment of Rosh Hashanah will always come out good for us. And if that's the case, I pray Boreh Olam, you chose us. Already we've seen the negative side. We've seen a lot of it throughout the 2,000 years of our exile. We say to the Boreh Olam, if you're controlling us and you have our We're holding this ticket that says Hakadosh Baruch Hu and you're holding a ticket that says Yisrael. She omeret tzelotenu dai. Already let's start to see the miraculous, not like afar ha'aretz, but like kochavim. And my prediction wait till we get to the show far. That's the biggest weapon. It's the only weapon that was missing this year. If you can get the show far this year, once you start to hear the tick you out of the Shiva, then you're going to start to hear tremendous things in Shamayim. That's the weapon that the Arabs don't have, that the enemies don't and they knew we didn't have it this year and they were taking advantage. But once they're ready we start to blast 100 sounds on the two days of Rosh Hashanah, the tick you out are going to be delivered by the angels, the ministering angels in front of God and then it's going to be Hesed it's going to be a year of kindness and Hesed Tapsheen Peh Be Azat Hashem is going to be the year of our redemption and the year of our salvation. Azat Hashem it's going to be largely due to the Kavanot that we have during Alenu Leshabeach. Thank you very much.