Rabbi Ilan Meirov - Getting Ready for Shavuot

We're standing here tonight commemorating the shloshim for our dear friend Yaakov ben Malkah alav hashalom. It's still very hard to understand how we lost this pillar in our community. A man that brought so much joy, so much achdut, so much ahavah. Not just to his family, but to the members of the shul, to the members of all the shuls he was part of. And now we're commemorating 30 days since his tragic passing. You know, we're standing right now basically 48 hours away from Shavuot. If I would ask you, what is the most powerful day in the world? The most powerful day, most known day, most effective day, influential day in the history of the world? What would it be? Matan Torah. The giving of the Torah. Why is that? Because besides the Jews believing in that day, >> [snorts] >> you have 2.4 billion Christians that believe in that day. And you have 2 billion Muslims that believe in that day. We're talking about 55, 60% of the world believes in Matan Torah, the day Hashem gave the Torah to Am Yisrael. So, I'll ask you a question now. Very simple question. The holiday we're celebrating in 2 days is called Shavuot. Wouldn't it make more sense to call the holiday Matan Torah? Shavuot means weeks. Matan Torah means the day the Torah was given. If I WOULD HAVE TO DECIDE ABOUT THE NAME, I would call it Matan Torah. Why was the official name that's accepted called Shavuot, weeks? So, rabotai, I'll give you guys a very simple example to make it more practical for us. You know, when I was about 15 years old, there was a very big boxing match that the whole world was talking about. It was Mike Tyson versus Who know Who remembers this? >> [laughter] >> We have good memory over here. A guy named Holyfield. Now, I did not go to watch this boxing match. I actually went to go study with my friend in Yeshiva in his house. But, it happened to be that his father invited 20 friends to his house. So, they were all there glued to the TV while me and my friend were sitting studying for a program or test. I'm not sure what it was. And suddenly, after I don't know, 20 minutes or so, I HEAR EVERYONE SCREAMING, JUMPING, MAKING NOISE. AH, WHAT HAPPENED? IT'S A huge commotion. It turned out that one of the fighters bit the ear of the other fighter. And I was like, "Wow, I thought you use your hands in boxing. I didn't know you use your mouth." But, you know, when it comes to boxing, for all those 20 guys in the room, those 20 guys, you know how long it took them to prepare for this match? One day. They called each other up. Guys, get together at this and this location. You bring the food. You bring the drinks. You bring the this. WE HAVE A GOOD TIME. AND THEY WERE THERE WATCHING FROM A TV SCREEN. You look at the boxers and you look at the spectators. The boxers, they didn't prepare for one day. They prepared for how many days, guys? Weeks, months, maybe even years in advance. They change their eating habits, their sleeping habits, their routine in terms of exercising. They have so many months of preparation FOR THAT ONE FIGHT THAT COULD TAKE ANYWHERE between 3 and 15-20 minutes. So, for the spectators, it's one day. For the fighters, it's an extended period of time. When it comes to Matan Torah, when it comes to the holiday of accepting the Torah, FOR SOME PEOPLE, they're spectators. They come, they give a kiss to the Torah. You know, we're attached to Hashem. We love you, Hashem. They have the high necklace, Shema Yisrael. Then you have other people that are the actual fighters, quote unquote. They're preparing for weeks upon weeks, improving their midos, character traits, trying to understand the purpose of life, trying to learn and analyze more in-depth. So, if you call the holiday Matan Torah, it means just that day. If you call the holiday Shavuot, it means what? It's a process. You don't get to the finish line in one day. You got to work for quite some time. Rabbeinu Tam, there's one message we can say about Yaakov ben Malkah, alav hashalom. He had, you know, different phases of his life. When he turned that about the truth of the Torah, he didn't become a Yom Kippur Jew or a Shabbat Jew. He was a person that put in day after day, week after week, month after month to invest in his spiritual growth. And then eventually, baruch Hashem, with his wife, and then building a family. Rabbeinu Tam, he was a person that was a fighter. He wanted to be part of the action, not just a spectator. How many guys we know come to this world as spectators? But there's everyone saying this, saying that. Everyone says this, says that. Everyone does this. Amen. Amen. They're not part of the process. YAAKOV WAS NOT SATISFIED with being a spectator. He got to the point he's able to learn and delve and pray and understand AND TEACH and explain. That's an unbelievable level that he reached in a very short time period. And now unfortunately we're sitting here commemorating 30 days since his tragic passing. But we must keep his legacy, his way of life alive. He loved having guests. He loved being around people. So let's learn from him to delve deep, to learn, to analyze. Not just to be a come to the day of, but build yourself to the day of. his family his wife, his children, his whole family should live long. And we should always always have good health. We have a special speaker here tonight. I feel like I'm going back to third grade. Rabbi, what are you doing here? You're making me nervous. Rabbi Jonathan is a rabbi who's been inspiring tens of thousands of people around the world. And his not just his lectures, but his books, his CDs over the years have really touched so many lives and he agreed to come here tonight to speak in memory of our good friend Yaakov ben Malkas. We're going to give him the the microphone.