Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein | October 7: One Year Later | CHAZAQ

Welcome everyone. Um, you know, it's always an exciting time to gather together. Although this uh this occasion obviously is one that is more difficult as we are at the one year I was speaking to some people. I don't like using the term anniversary. Anniversary usually has a positive connotation to something happy, something joyous. But it is the one year mark of of the October 7th tragedies and travesties and the horrendous events. Of course we do know that in in in in in Judaism we we we usually focus on the the yard site, the actual Hebrew date, which we know is uh Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah in Israel. Um and it's actually a big discussion how we are going to uh you know, on a day that's generally associated with Simcha, how we are going to remember uh you know, the events. But in the meantime certainly it certainly caught on worldwide to focus on the term October 7th and so it would be we'd be remiss not to not to commemorate on this day. Um I just want to begin by thanking the sponsors of tonight's evening starting with the with the Adler family. Thank you very much and the Wolfson family as well as um the Schlesinger family, the Rauchwerger family, the Jacobs family, the Fern family, the Levy family, the Last Family, the Baumgarten family, the Goldman family, and the the Eunice family, and the Thanks. Did I leave anyone out? Raise your hand. You can still spot you can still sponsor. You can still sponsor. It's not too late. Um and then the Brooks family as well. Thank you. Yes. I knew I I knew I lost one person. Thank you very much. Again, it is it is due to sponsorships that we're able to continue having these great events that that are are technically not in the shul budget as it were, but it enables us to continue having them and for everyone to come together and enjoy. So, thank you very much for those sponsorships. Um it is now my privilege before I I I do two introductions whenever we partner with KAZAK and that is it is a tremendous tremendous privilege that we do partner with KAZAK. And we have been for the last couple years and it is my honor and privilege to call on Robbie to speak a little bit about KAZAK and the work that KAZAK does and in particular with communities and and and and and beyond. Meet Rabbi Forer. I know we care for the rabbis. I guess you can say a quick remark. Of course, I'm at KAZAK. We we we partner as partners. So, many times with with the shul with with the leadership of the shul, the rabbi and so many people have been inspired by KAZAK through these amazing events. KAZAK organizes these community events to give inspiration for men, women, young, old, everybody to get to act together together in unity just like tonight and and KAZAK and everyone is of course welcome to take one of the calendars we have in the hallway, a new calendar for the for the for for the new year and obviously in the calendar you'll learn more about KAZAK's programs with public school outreach programs in 20 different locations community wide, lectures in different communities and so many different outreach programs that we that we do for the community and I just and I guess one one message just about we're here on October 7th and we're doing service in the shul these days these 10 days of repentance. So, we're all thinking what are we going to do to to remember the the the the October 7th and these these all these precious neshamos of people who were who who were murdered on October 7th, as well as how we're going to have a better year this year than maybe last year. So, so so I think one message we could take is from none other than our great Rabbi Rabbi Dansiger. He was actually uh recently on the on the Khazak uh podcast. If anyone didn't see it, I was thinking there are links for the rabbi. Maybe I'll talk about it. You can see it at least a few uh four times a week. But, um so so so the rabbi quotes the um Rav Volbe and he says, let's just say someone says, "Okay, fine. I want to be better this year." So, what are you supposed to do? You're supposed to take out a piece of paper, take out your pen, and you write down what you're going to be better in. So, what do you do? You take the paper, you fold it once, you fold it again, and you fold it again. And then, what does that mean? Someone says, "I want to do four acts of kindness every single day to be better." So, what do you do? Someone's going to say, "It's too much. I'm going to maybe do it for a day, a week, whatever. It's not going to happen." But, take it take it take it in half, take it in half. "All right, I'm going to do one kindness or one act of kindness today. It's going to actually going to happen." Someone says, "I want to learn 3 hours a day." You take it again and again. Maybe I'll learn a half hour a day, 15 minutes a day, whatever it might be. So, that that that's uh maybe a message that we can all take upon ourselves and um to have a new year and may may we all make it a great year. And so, I got to go have fun. Back to Rabbi Dansiger. I'd like to interrupt. Yeah. There's like a topic for me for Rabbi cuz I like I keep I keep I keep score. Yeah. We have a tremendous tremendous opportunity tonight uh to be uh to be hosting, to be visited by uh Rabbi YY Rubenstein. Uh Rabbi Rubenstein is a uh really a worldwide uh speaker. He speaks really throughout the throughout the world, which is the definition of worldwide. Um but, speaks throughout the world uh and is a prolific author, a prolific speaker, uh one that does he has an amazing amazing history. Again, you can listen Speaking of the the Torah talks, I think number 67 was was Rabbi Rubenstein. I don't know cuz I listened to it today. But, but but Rubenstein really is again a prolific speaker. Really speaks in many, many opportunities for for Azak and for Gateways and for many, many other programs. Um, I mentioned to someone today that Rabbi Rubenstein was speaking tonight and they were floored. They said, "Wow, Rabbi Rubenstein is coming to Roslyn. It's an amazing thing." And so, we want to thank Rabbi Rubenstein on this on this occasion uh, where we're all looking for inspiration both between the Asseret Yemei Teshuvah and and and October 7th, we're looking for inspiration, ways to be better, ways to grow, ways to connect. And without further ado, it is my honor and privilege to invite Rabbi Rubenstein to address our community tonight. Cover the Rav. Um, I should express, of course, my sincere thanks for the invitation to join you here. I have to tell you, since we've moved, uh, I live in Inwood in the five towns. And Roslyn is one of my absolute favorite places I've discovered in Long Island. And I didn't even know there was a Jewish community here. And here you all are. This is fabulous. So, I'm really extremely, extremely pleased and honored and grateful to the sponsors for making this happen, of course, Azak. And again, I see you, Rav. Um, I was very, very excited to to discover that you've got a member of the shul here who is from Britain, a UK uh, a good So, he's going to be handling the translation. In fact, I have to tell you, when I first moved to America, um, this is about 20 years ago, I was I was giving my first ever talk, it was in Manhattan in Wall Street in a very, very large room. There was about 200 people there. And after I finished speaking, there was two old guys sitting in the front. And I overheard them. One turned to his friend and said, "The guy's brilliant." His friend said, "Yeah, what did he say?" I said, "I haven't a clue, but he's brilliant." Um so my So my big success since I moved to America, lecturing up from coast to coast, is that nobody's got a clue what I'm talking about. But they think it's clever. And that will do me. Um I should also explain why I think that the wheels that turned behind the scenes to make tonight happen, why I was invited here tonight. Um they all actually wanted me to allude to this. You see, many years ago when I was still living in the UK, um I started broadcasting for an organization called the BBC. Uh I don't know if The British Biased Corporation. Um and so it was actually it was quite challenging. Um the there was a the big program, the news program is very different in the UK to America. Most people in the UK get their news from radio. Um something called BBC Radio 4. Um they've got a program called the Today program. It lasts for 3 hours in the morning and it's it's very uh well listened to. The Prime Minister listens to the all the all the politicians listen to this. Her Majesty the Queen, who liked me, aleiha shalom, uh who liked me and asked to meet me. Sorry, I just let that slip out. I She listened to it. I'm sure the King listens to it as well. It was a big program. I'm the other thing in it called Pause for Thought. So apart from all that, the news and politics and stuff going on, they would have a a religious figure uh who would talk about the week's news or the day's news from a religious perspective. And I was invited to contribute to this. Now, this was the BBC. And that meant that you had to prepare a script which lasted 4 and 1/2 minutes. Being the BBC, 4 and 1/2 minutes means 4 minutes 30 seconds. Not 4 minutes 29 or 4 minutes 31, but precisely 4 and 1/2 minutes. And uh I was successful at this. And as a consequence, I then was invited to something called BBC Radio 2, which is sort of like pop music for old folk. Um And they still play things like the Beatles. Uh but it's it's the largest station, 26 million listeners. And they also had a slot where they would bring in a religious guy to sort of like say something topical or humorous. And uh I was invited to become a regular in that. What Oprah Winfrey is in America, there was somebody over there who was an Irish guy called Terry Wogan, and I became a regular on that show. 3 and 1/2 minutes. That's beginning, middle, and end. Not 3 minutes 31 seconds or 3 minutes 29 seconds, but precisely 3 and 1/2 minutes. And as a consequence of being successful at that, I was uh invited to speak on BBC World Service. Minimum audience 156 million people. 2 and 1/2 minutes. Uh that's 2 minutes 30 seconds. Not 2 minutes 29 or 2 minutes 31. 2 and 1/2 minutes. So, when people heard all over the Jewish world that there was a rabbi who could speak in 2 and 1/2 minutes, the invitations started to flood in. So, I suspect that's why I uh was invited here tonight. Therefore, in conclusion, but the rabbi did want me to mention that I did used to have a career in the BBC. And this career came to an end two years ago when I rather publicly, in fact I became far more famous when I resigned from the BBC than when I actually used to broadcast in the BBC. And as our theme is the very sad and serious topic of October the 7th, it's a question of when that hatred, where would you think that hatred started or when did that hatred start? Well, uh, about two years ago a group of Israeli kids, um, or lots of kids, I think I turned out to be from Israel, were in one of these open-top double-decker buses and round about this time of year, December time, they were going to Oxford Street, which is of course the big, you know, shopping area. And they got down at the bus to sort of like see it was kind of like that as well. And they were just watching, you know, and they were attacked by a group of Muslims. And they had to get back onto the bus uh, quickly and they they were throwing shoes at them and threatening to kill them. Uh, and because everybody these days has a cell phone and the entire incident was videoed and at that point the BBC could not ignore this, which of course would be their natural tendency to do. Um, but when they reported it, they added to the story, they decided that the story was just not it was not good enough by just telling the truth. Throw in a couple of lies and that will make it much better. And instead of the the Arabs and Muslims shouting they're going to kill the Jews and and all sorts of language which we don't use certainly in a synagogue, uh, they accused the Jews, the Jewish kids, who are only 15, 16 years old, of shouting "Dirty Muslims." Um, um, when this is broadcast, it caused quite a fuss and quite a a horrific reaction because it's simply a lie. And it was recorded in the million phones. The BBC claimed they got it from some Jewish person whom they who to identify who, uh, translated the Hebrew uh, as being dirty Muslims, but not your fight it was somebody saying in Hebrew this this is a terrible terrible situation. Somebody phone the police. That's all, but they uh transported this into the Jews saying nasty things about the Muslims and then it's okay, you see. Otherwise, it's the Muslims who are the instigators just like October the 7th. You know, the BBC wants to say it's of course our fault. And I thought, well, that was it. A lifelong what lifelong 25-year career broadcasting, writing programs for the BBC, appearing in the BBC TV, radio, and all that sort of stuff. This was my moment to make the maximum impact by leaving though publicly and loudly, which I did. Consequently, I found myself very busy in the next week recording TV interviews for TV stations all over the world, Australia, etc. They wanted to know why I even There's a Paul Simon song Me and Julio down by the schoolyard, remember that? And it says in it there's some line, I don't know how this is going around my mind, you know, and we got ourselves on the cover of Newsweek. Have you heard that? It's in the song. And I got myself on the cover of Newsweek. Famous British rabbi resigns from the BBC as a protest at their anti-semitism. Oh, and boy, that's a good place to find anti-semitism. Institutional anti-semitism. I left saying it was institutionally anti-semitic and irretrievably so. And if you're a patriotic American soul is going, yeah, limeys, redcoats. Of course, we all know that America the media here and I speak as an American citizen, my fellow Americans, is sadly just as biased if not more biased than it is over there. Anyway, where does it start? Let me tell you a story. This goes back, gosh, when did I move here? 18 years ago. I got a phone call one day, and this was because I was so well known and famous and all that stuff. I got a phone call from the Church of England, as I did all the time. Uh phone call from the Church of England, where I'd become somewhat aware that there was a problem for Jewish students on campus in England, cuz they're really quick like that. Um there's an there's an expression I've been trying to master since I moved to America. Uh people tell me I don't get it right. It's supposed to go something like duh. Uh so there's a problem with Jewish students on campus. They wanted to hold a whole day on the subject they the a conference called conflict resolution on campus. A. And so there was to be three speakers, a Christian, fair enough, or actually from the Church of England, uh a Muslim, and me. Uh or Jew. And would I become the Jew? And I said, "Yes, would I come today to this thing?" I said, "Yes, I I would do this." And so they had this conference. There must have been about a thousand people there. And there were religious representatives, people working chaplains working on campus from every conceivable faith. Um and so I was to give one of the three keynote addresses. And so I decided that uh because my main job at the time, apart from writing books and and again over the world and and the BBC was my main job, I was the official campus rabbi for the 14 universities of the northwest of England, like Manchester and Liverpool and stuff like that. So this was right up my alley. And so the topic they wanted me to speak about was the new anti-Semitism. The new anti-Semitism. So I wrote my lecture out the day before in the night before. And it was really pretty hard-hitting stuff. I was not taking any prisoners. I was telling it like it was. And I went the next day to the day of the conference. I can't remember what time I was scheduled to speak. And I say there's a thousand people there. And when I saw them, Muslims and Christians and Buddhists and Hindus and Sikhs, etc., etc. Hare Krishna, they're still about. Um I thought there's no way I can give this lecture. It's so hard-hitting. And everybody was all so English. "Hello, Father. Hello, I'm a man." To drinking cups of tea with a pinky pointing upwards, right? Lots of front teeth. "Hello. Hello." And you know what? And they were just all so polite. And all so nice. And here I was like, you know, cuz, you know, I'm me. And I thought there's no way I can give this talk. And so we start, you know, I said chatting over tea. Um and then I thought there's no way I can say this. They're so English. And I thought to myself, "Yeah, but you're Scottish." So I decided to give it. Um so the first person who spoke was somebody from the Church of England. Now remember the title of the conference was conflict resolution on campus. This fellow turned out to be the chaplain to the then Her Majesty's Armed Forces. Uh he was specializing in in work in the Royal Navy. And he stood up and spoke for half an hour, half an hour, on his work in the Royal Navy. Now remember the title of the conference? Conflict resolution on campus. So he stood up and how he performs mass in force 10 gales in the Atlantic, etc. On and on and on. Uh and then eventually he finished his talk. And they had a slot of 10 minutes for questions. So there was a fellow sitting in the front row, wearing one of these white collars that uh uh In England, it's called a dog collar, by the way. I don't know what they call it here in America. What is it called? I clerical collar, I think. Uh dog collar. So, the fellow said, uh the guy was from Wales, in a Welsh accent, quite sweet. And he said, um the fellow said, uh Reverend Harris, I I've been intrigued intrigued by your presentation about your work on the Royal Navy. Fascinating. Fascinating. Uh but I wonder if you could, as it were, abstract an element of your presentation which interfaces with the theme of today's conference. Which was the nicest way I'd ever heard anybody being told, you've been talking garbage for the last half an hour. And the poor guy couldn't do it. He just carries on talking about the Royal Navy. Anyway, that was that. Um anyway, so I was to speak next, and the whole group of Muslim guys, Sikhs and Sunnis and stuff, sitting in the front, not looking terribly pleased to see me. I don't know why. I'm nice. Uh anyway, so basically, uh I looked at my notes, and I said, okay, here, let's go for it. So, I said to them, I've been asked to speak about the new anti-Semitism. And I just like you to be aware that the new anti-Semitism is precisely and exactly identical in every single respect to the old anti-Semitism. If I walk down the street in London or in Manchester, which is where I lived, and somebody shouts Palestine or Gaza at me, they haven't stopped me to see whether I'm an Israeli, whether I'm a Zionist, it's just that I'm a Jew. And as a Jew in May, whatever it was, 2000 and whatever, um 2010 or whatever, uh even 2010, I am personally responsible for all of the suffering of the Palestinian people. In medieval Europe, I killed Jesus. Personally, I was up there on the ladders with the hammers and the nails banging them in. No, I'm personally responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people. And they're all going What did he do? I said, however, I think it would be only be fair to be honest and frank with you. There is no doubt since the founding of the state in 1948 that it was responsible for a massive refugee problem. Now, this got lots of nodding from the Muslims in the front and indeed from most of them. There is no doubt since the the founding of the state in 1948 that it was set up to accommodate the religious requirements of one religion and one religion only. It has been involved in several wars and I arguably arguably has been responsible for the outbreak of several wars. It is believed to have corrupt politics and corrupt politicians. And it is nuclear armed so any of its conflicts could easily evolve into a third world war. Lots of nodding. But I personally wish Pakistan and its people the very best of luck. Great isn't it? Good. This did not go down too well with my audience in the front row. And then I said to them, "And if you thought I was talking about the state of Israel, that's because you suffer from anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is, of course, to single out one person and blame him or her for the crimes or the flaws that everybody is is of. Yeah. Uh the state of Israel is blamed for the crimes and flaws that every state manifests. Think, after all, Pakistan and India was just round about 1948. India was split into two. Pakistan was created specifically for Muslims. Um and think about all the states that were created created when the British Empire disappeared post Second World War. Think of sub-Saharan Saharan Africa. Think of the human rights obscenities that happened there. Think of the human rights obscenities that happened there with a million Uyghur Muslims incarcerated in concentration camps by China. Nobody could give for give the phrase a damn about that. It's only when Jews are involved. Uh so I said a few uh So if you thought I was talking about the state of Israel, it's cuz you're suffering from my disease. That much is So the same fellow in the front wearing the collar stuck his Rabbi Rubinstein, uh I've been intrigued by your presentation on the new anti-Semitism. And I feel that what you're talking about and telling us about is precisely what the Islamic uh community in the UK is suffering from today from Islamophobia. I think he was trying to ingratiate himself to me. He did not succeed. I SAID, "THAT'S ANTI-SEMITIC." The guy nearly jumped out of his skin. I said, "Look, no Jew is walking down the streets in in England with a big sign saying London will be Muslim. No Jew in the UK today is planning another terrorist attack like 9/11 like they had in London in the buses and the the tubes and the undergrounds. But that is happening in the Islamic community. To draw a contrast and comparison between the two, That's not this much. That's lessons. This was the last time I was invited to address this conference. Paper. The paper. Yes. I was in complete agreement. Um about uh just before COVID, so about 1990 2019, something like that. I got a uh I got a a phone call from a rabbi. He's the rabbi of the Young Israel shul in Staten Island, and I must admit I've forgotten his name. And he phoned me up, and he said that he and his congregation uh were organizing a Yom Limud, a day in which people would be studying Torah as their reaction to an event that happened to the shul, which had caused a great distress and upset to the people in the shul. And what had upset them so much was that somebody had dropped a sefer Torah. Now, I don't know if you've ever been in a shul when somebody drops a sefer Torah. Thank God. Good. Um I once dropped a se- Well, I didn't drop a sefer Torah. I had a sefer Torah. I did a tour of Scotland. I brought Orthodox Jews for a tour of Scotland. And that's so beautiful. I think I'll see it again. Scotland. And uh and when I took the sefer Torah to my room, my hotel room, there was a nice chair in the hallway outside. One of these like round padded almost like a semicircle that you could sit in. Nice padded seat. And I was aware I didn't want the the the sefer Torah to fall. So, I situated it so it was at an angle, and it wouldn't fall. But it slid. And I don't know how. I just Well, I opened the door, it just went like like this. Horrible. And therefore, only I saw it. Thank goodness. So, I had to fast the next day, which is the normal reaction. This synagogue, what they wanted to do was they wanted to have a day of Jewish learning with various rabbis, well-known rabbis, to come and speak as their reaction, their uh response to what had happened. So, would I be the first speaker? And I said, "Of course. Drove over to Staten Island. And when I got there, uh the shul was absolutely packed. I mean, everybody was taking this seriously. Um so, I sat uh in one of the seats, and the rabbi stood up there, very nice fellow. And he said, "We all know why we're here today." And in case anybody doesn't, somebody dropped the safer Torah. And when it happened, we were all very distressed, and I was particularly distressed, and I kept asking myself, "Why did that happen to us? Why did it happen to our shul?" He says, "Look, you all know me. I've been your rabbi for however many years it was. I'm not the sort of rabbi who stands in front of his congregation and bangs his fist on the bimah and says, 'Oh, you've got to do this, you've got to do that.' So, I was thinking to myself, "But why did it happen to us?" And if you were to ask me honestly, "What should we be improving?" He said, "Well, look, we weren't We have been working on not talking during davening. And we've been successful, but to tell you the truth, I think we could do a little bit better in that regard. And then, if I bring a guest speaker or guest rabbi from Israel or whatever, for Shabbaton to speak, be with the community over over the weekend, then lots of people come to hear his shiurim or and hear the speaker, but if I'm really being honest, more people could do it. More people could come. And we're not a rich synagogue, he said. But you know, when there's an appeal, people put their hands in their pockets and they give, but once again, I think we could dig our hands more deeply into our pockets. Okay. And the reason I say this to you, he said, is because you all know who dropped the safer Torah. He said, And I sat there, and my jaw You know, in Judaism, it actually says in the Talmud, "Rather than embarrass somebody in public, throw yourself in the fire and burn to death." That's quite dramatic. Right. Never embarrass somebody in public. So, "And you all know who it is that dropped the safer Torah." No, "What?" And he says, "In case you don't know, it was Marty Feldman." Right? And the reason that I I tell you that is because why did it happen to Marty Feldman? Because Marty Feldman, he's always the first in shul. He would never talk during davening. If it was a guest rabbi or a guest lecture, he's always there listening to every single lecture. He's not a rich fellow, but he always puts his hand in his pockets and gives what he can give. So, why him of all people? So, I was so distressed about this, I went to see the famous Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, who's the son of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. And when he heard the story, he didn't bat an eyelid. He just said, "Well, of course it had to be Marty Feldman who dropped the safer Torah." Because had somebody else dropped the safer Torah, there would have been a "Oh, I know why he dropped the safer Torah." "Yeah, yeah, cuz he's he's miserly. Never writes a check, that guy." Or or somebody, "I know why he dropped the safer Torah. He never comes to any shiur. He doesn't support the shul." Or "He's too busy talking during shiur." But as it was this guy called Marty Feldman who's never guilty of any of those three crimes, nobody's going to turn around and say, "It's their problem. It's because of them." They're going to turn around and say, "It's because of us." It's very easy to turn around and say somebody else caused this. But really, so often the message is for us. I'm not sure exactly what proportion of American Jews and this is being filmed if they were to watch this video, would understand very much of what I'm saying or what I'm going to say. Simply because so many American Jews are estranged from any knowledge of their religion whatsoever. I remember my first ever trip to America, I was living in Liverpool um where the Beatles came from. In fact, at the top of a place called Penny Lane. And I was in a thing called the Kollel Institute for Post-Rabbinic Studies. And I was had to go collecting funds, which I hate doing. I was walking down the street, I think it was called La Brea in Los Angeles and there was a guy sitting in a restaurant outside the restaurant and he was eating a lobster. Now, he had a very Jewish face. He looked Jewish. And so I walked past him and I couldn't resist him. Um because by this stage you've probably got a a measure of my personality. I said, "Hi." I said to him, "And well, he's from Los Angeles, you know, anybody here from LA?" Good. Um so My wife's from LA. Um so I said I said, "Hi." He went, "Hello." "We really?" I said, "Uh are you Jewish?" And he said, "Yes." I said, "So am I." He said, "I can see that." Um He said he I said, "You're from LA?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "I'm from Scotland." "Scotland?" Now, that was suddenly was very interesting. So we chatted a little bit further. And I said to him, "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" He said, "No, go ahead." I pointed at the lobster. I said, "Is that kosher?" Yeah. And he said to me, "I think so." That's what I said would happen. Yes, brother. "I think so." And he did. He thinks that he The vast majority of American Jews, I think, would say, Yeah. "Why not?" Because they don't know. And if they don't know, they don't really see us. They see them. The Jews in Israel those Jews there are doing this. They'll crazy. They don't get it. The message is us. The people in this shoe get being Jewish. The people in this shoe script shoe study and know what being Jewish is about. When something as horrific as October happened October 7th happened. Then our reaction is it's a message for me. It's our family. I don't know anybody I think that was at that rave party whatever it was. Uh I don't know anybody who was living in these uh communities right next to the Gaza border because they actually idealistically believed that coexistence with a fundamentalist Islamist group was a possibility. But I still I'm as I I think it was said as down. I would be the guys that they would they would be out in the streets of Tel Aviv as they were demonstrating against Netanyahu and the and the parade and all this sort of stuff. I would be the the opposite of these guys, but I don't see them as the opposite of me. As we say in our dawning in Shabbat afternoon, "Ata Echad, God you're one. Shimcha Echad, your name is one. U'mi kaamcha Yisrael echad ba'aretz." And who is like the Jewish people? One nation. And there's another beautiful Jewish teaching that says, "Kol Yisrael are avim zeh bazeh." Every Jew's got a little bit of every other Jew in them. Did you know you were part Scottish? Like there's a bit of me in you and a bit of you in me. I'm Scottish and proud of it, check. I'm Scottish and proud of it, check. Scottish people don't write checks. Um I think it's Let me just You've all heard of Lakewood and of course the great Yeshiva there. The the rabbi who founded Lakewood was got somebody called Rabbi Aaron Kotler and he came from Europe. And I found I just bought myself a set of his books rather an old set, but I bought myself a new one. And I found an incredibly interesting thing. Listen to this. Uh as we are in the the period of chuva of uh returning to our roots and returning to our relationship with God. Uh there are four levels. This is the Rambam, the famous Rambam. Maimonides says there are four levels of as it were apology that's necessary for things we did wrong as a Jew. Number one is you did something wrong and what thing you did wrong was was something you should have done but you didn't do. For example, guys but until in the morning, right? So, you didn't do it. That's a positive mitzvah. Mitzvah that says you didn't do it. So, you've done something wrong. You omitted to do what you should have done. What is the prescription to put it right? Just be sorry. Be sorry. Try not to do it again. Mean you're not going to do it again and the slate's wiped clean. That's good. Suppose you didn't instead of doing something omitted to do something you should do, you did something you shouldn't do. You went to McDonald's because you always wanted to know what a Big Mac tasted like, right? Then that's a don't do mitzvah. So, what's the reaction there to wipe the slate clean? In that case, you've got to regret it sincerely, promise never to do it again. And that works but you need another ingredient. You know, sometimes you get stain in your shirt or your top and you put it in the washing machine and it comes out and the stain is gone but there's a little shadow you can just see. So, what do you do? You put it in again. You need another wash. The other element to get rid of the stain is Yom Kippur. Apart from saying sorry, Yom Kippur. Right. So far so good. Yeah, you with me? You're going to love the next thing. Suppose the thing that you did wrong is a serious no-no. One which if there was a Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court in Israel, just get might get you you skedaddle you skedashed. Excellent. Right? The death penalty. Then what you're supposed to do? What? You got to do the I'm sorry and then I'm going to again fight. And then you need Yom Kippur. Yeah, yeah. And then the thing that will get the stain removed is suffering. This is really making Judaism sound very appealing, right? And that will get rid of the of of your crime. Except if the thing that you did wrong involves what's called a hillul Hashem. What's a hillul Hashem? This is This is a desecration of God's name. You draw you you you drag God's name through the dirt. Then what you need to you're going to love this. You're going to love this. You need the sorry. You need Yom Kippur. You need suffering in your life. And then da da da da da da da da da da DA DA DA DEATH. YES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LOOK forward to a life with a day of death cuz just around the corner and you can be forgiven for anything you did wrong. Praise the Lord. Um now does this does this appeal to anybody here? Okay. So the Rambam, Maimonides says, just to cheer you up, not Rambam but there's somebody called Rabbeinu Yona. And Rabbeinu Yona says there's a simple way to be forgiven for anything including the hillul Hashem, the desecration of God's name. And that is instead of making a hillul Hashem, you make a kiddush Hashem. You do something which is so important, makes such a statement of belief that it literally wipes everything clean. You don't have to go through suffering. God forbid you don't have to die. Just try to go in the opposite direction and that's enough, which is nice. Rabbi Aaron Kotler says an astonishing thing. What is the ultimate definition of a hillul Hashem? And he says the following thing. Incidentally, this essay was written I don't say exactly what year it was. It's just I'll read I'll I'll Do you mind if I read you a bit of Hebrew just to prove I'm a properly qualified rabbi? Is that all right? Can I Can I not? The volume shin number before you Benei Yeshiva. This is a speech that he gave in in front of a Yeshiva. Beis Shurachifa as a con of milk home on Eretz Yisrael. When the Jewish people in Israel were facing a terrible war. He doesn't say when, which war. Now, he died in 1963, so it can't be 60 war cuz that's 67. There was of course that little blip of 1956 when the Israelis and the French and the British invaded Egypt. But that wasn't really much of a danger. So, it must be 1948. He says the ultimate kill Hashem. I'll read this bit to you. He says and he's quoting a Gemara as it says it's Torah. Al perish min at Seba b'zman sh'shara b'tzara. The ultimate kill Hashem is for you to turn away and disconnect your concern, your sympathy, or your worry from the Jewish people when they're going through terrible, difficult times as we are now. To not see yourself as family. To not realize there's a bit of you and me and me and you and certainly us with the Jews in Eretz Yisrael. Is there anybody here who doesn't have family there? I have two sons and lots of grandchildren there. And even if I didn't, I would still feel part of people in Eretz Yisrael. That, he says, is the ultimate thing. And he says particularly at this moment in time when the Jewish people are facing a war of extermination. 1948. Exactly, sadly, as we are today. At least. I want to read this to you. This is a letter from a rabbi to his son. Um see what you think of this. Um I recall when I was a young boy hearing my father once saying that if you want to know what the new year is likely to bring, you should look back and consider what has happened during the past year. October the 7th and the rest. Think about how many catastrophes and how much pain came to the world. That will make you realize that what was being planned for us last Rosh Hashanah, in turn, that will force you to contemplate how much we have to worry about this Rosh Hashanah. You can speak. Which is just around the corner, the father writes to the son. That's when those plans are being made again. When it's being decided what's going to happen to us again. And of course in the middle of the 10 days when we can change it around. What might be in them and what might be in store for us next in this past year, my father's words have haunted me and echoed around my brain every single day. Especially as he drove home his message by saying, "Son, even though you're very young, try and fix this in your memory. Later in your life you'll probably need to draw on them." In this past year, my father's advice was my constant companion. What has happened to us over the last months and what will happen to cloud this for all the Jewish people in the months and the years to come? Before last year, only one country loudly and proudly declared their utter hatred of Jews and their determination to wipe us off the face of the earth, Iran. Today that declaration can be heard loudly in every capital and major city in the world, New York, Los Angeles, London and every European capital. The voices speaking up to support us are very few and fading fast. There have been physical attacks on Jews across the globe and several murders, too. News of such attacks has almost become a daily occurrence. There are the low-level assaults in Jewish communities and the religion erupting everywhere. Several countries have banned shchita and others are planning to join them. Of course, there are the attacks on towns and villages in Israel with the north evacuated mid-Yom Kippur free of Jews by drone and missile attacks. Tens of thousands of Jewish refugees have been forced to flee Eretz Israel in Eretz Israel. Before last year, Israel was seen as a sanctuary and refuge for Jews hoping to enjoy a relative degree of protection and security. Suddenly, that perception and reality has vanished as Israel and over half of the Jewish people face an existential threat. Does that ring a bell with you? Can you relate to that? Do you know who the rabbi was? It's something called Rabbi Dessler. And he wrote it in 1936. Wait. I just changed a couple of the details. He said instead of one nation wanted to wipe us out and saying that that he said Germany. I just changed it to Iran. But the thing about being refugees within Israel from Israel, uh that's what he wrote. A place that we thought was safe no longer safe. I had to stuck in the couple of tweaks. But really, the template from 1936 sadly fits us isn't identically today. But trust me, so where does the hatred start? It's always been there. It's It's the new anti-Semitism is the constant anti-Semitism. And sadly, and I'm sure this applies to you, uh how many of your non-Jewish friends have you suddenly found just aren't your aren't your non-Jewish friends at all? It's I've got 5,000 friends on Facebook. It's astonishing to see the uh the lack of support um even distant relatives. Lack of support from the non-Jewish world as we stand almost alone. Well, what might be in store for us next year? I saw maybe you saw this maybe you got Facebook it was going around so picture there. I saw the most beautiful thing. You know, I I was in London I was in England lecturing just a few weeks ago. On the last night of my my visit, there's an organization called Lev Chaim, new organization in Manchester, and they asked me to speak to a group of men. Every man is either the father of a child with cancer or the husband of a wife with cancer. And because my late wife passed away from cancer, then they knew if I was speaking to them, that I would be as it were I would get them. I would understand them. Um it's pro it's so difficult. I mean, if I can just speak to the men for a moment, we men are extraordinarily we find it very very difficult to ask for help, show our vulnerabilities, um come to I was astonished I actually got a group of men to come together. If you ever go to the Kotel Maaravi, and you look at the women's side, I'm sure you've done this. The women generally, when they're praying, it's something like this. The siddur is up at their face. Tears are flowing down their cheeks. They may be swaying very gently back and forth. They're pleading with heaven to change whatever the decree is, whether they've got maybe they're sick or their husband's sick or they've got a sick child or they don't have parnassah, they've got no no income, they're unemployed, or it could be a thousand different worries. That's if you look at the women's side. If the camera goes to the men's side of the Kotel Maaravi, very often, you see somebody who's a man davening like this. FIGHTING WITH HEAVEN. Everybody is a Yakov Avinu, struggling with the angel. As my wife likes to say, men are fixers. We like to fix stuff. By the time a guy realizes that he can't fix stuff, he's usually done a lot of damage to himself and other people as well. So the beautiful thing, the little picture I saw on Facebook which I thought was really really moved me a lot. It was just a piece of paper and somebody said, "Dear God." And then about 2 inches under the paper it just had amen. But between dear God and amen, there was lots of drops of tears. That's the most effective prayer of all. In fact, the Talmud says since the destruction of the second temple, the gates of prayer have been closed apart from Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But the gate of tears the gates of tears yeah, are never closed. So let's just consider for a second. Before October the 7th happened I mean, I'm talking to people who can get this. I said this if this was shown in you know, uh some documentary channel or something and people watching this across America, Jewish people, a lot of people just would not know what I'm talking about. They'd just think I'm bonkers. But let's just consider this for a second. What was the scene amongst the Jewish people? Remember what did we say a second ago? In Mincha we say Atah Echad U'shimcha Echad, you are one, your name is one. U'mi k'amcha Yisrael, and who is like the Jewish people? Echad Ba'aretz, one united nation in the in the land. Not before October the 7th we were in. Before October the 7th, the Jewish people, the Jewish nation, certainly in Israel, was split in two, riven in two. Over a million people in Tel Aviv are demonstrating there uh with great animosity. I'm I'm considering I'm not suggesting that it wasn't not reflected in the other side as well, waving their rainbow flags and their blue and pink flags and their Palestinian for Palestinian flood. In fact, Hamas fighters who were captured said that they watched this with great enthusiasm. It gave them the final push to launch that attack. They were convinced that there's a famous American a very famous American philosopher whose name just popped out of my head said, "No nation is destroyed from without until it's first destroyed itself from within." We no longer seem to believe in ourselves. We were fighting against each other and against ourselves. And we were destroying ourselves. Since then there's been an astonishing reaction. I'd never seen the Jewish people so riven, so split since then I've never seen the Jewish people so united in my lifetime. There's a wonderful fellow called Shayeh Greucher. You come across this guy? Lives in Israel. He was sort of like he was the rabbi who supported somebody called the Chaim Kanievsky. He was really he was the biggest rabbi in Israel at the time. And he just decided this very firm fellow. His father was a famous Israeli singer to do stuff to bridge the gap between the Jewish people. Um and he's been doing astonishing things. So, let me tell you a story that happened to my wife. My wife I came home from Mrs. Gozback about 6 months ago. I came home from shul Friday night and my wife instead of a big smile on her face and a good Shabbos Shabbat Shalom, she was looking very miserable. I said, "What's wrong?" And she just looked to where the shelf in which our Shabbos candles are normally twinkling and and dancing. She'd forgotten to light Shabbos candles. Shoot. And a bit like the safer Torah falling, particularly for a woman cuz it's her mitzvah, she was very, very distressed. So, you probably know what the normal prescription is if you forget to light Shabbat candles. You know what you're supposed to do? Extra candle. You light an extra candle for forever. So, my wife said to me, "I don't like that. I don't like that idea. Isn't it that if you really are sorry and really do teshuvah, just as I said to you a few moments ago, the slate's wiped clean? Why should I have this extra candle every week, almost like an accusation, like a finger pointing at me saying, 'Yeah, look, you remember me? Oh, I'm the guy you forgot to light.' Right? And I I certainly understood that. He didn't need that. So, just after that, we saw a video of a guy called Chai Grocher. Uh an Israeli Sephardi uh Sephardi Israeli boy had been seriously wounded in Gaza. He was in a in a hospital bed. Uh his wife was visiting him. They clearly, in fact, they told us they knew nothing about their religion and kept nothing. But she felt, the wife felt she now wanted to do something Jewish. And the thing that she wanted to do was to light Shabbat candles. So, basically, uh this wonderful guy, Chai Grocher, when he heard this, he said, "The only thing is I don't have candlesticks." "Leave it to me." Out he goes. An hour later, he comes back with two beautiful silver candlesticks. This. And on the video on his website, you can see this girl, just a girl, uh this young woman lighting for the first time in her life Shabbat candles. And it was very beautiful. The wife and I watched this with tears running down our cheeks. Eating. And my wife said, "I'd like to do that." "I'd like to do that. Instead of having the sharpest candle burning, this extra sharpest candle, I would if I buy candles, two candlesticks, for somebody in exactly that situation. Would that be okay?" I don't know. I'll ask my rov. So, I phoned up my rov. Lives in Manchester. He said, "Look, the whole extra candle is only a minhag, it's only a custom. I think this is a very nice alternative approach." Uh so, instead of one extra candle, there'll be two candles. Nice, huh? So, she spent some time finding out the uh the uh phone number of the seller. And she phoned them up. And there's spoke to secretary and explained that she wants to do the exact same thing. Uh could he find a couple just like that couple who wants to light candles for the first time? He phoned back the next day. He found a young woman exactly like that. Her husband has just been killed in Gaza. Well, she's got 3-month-old baby, first child. Just married for about less than a year. Um baby. So, my wife said, "I'd like to buy for her three candles, three candlesticks. Uh one for the baby, one for the couple." Yeah. And that was that. And she sent the money. It's her It's her mitzvah. Uh the next day, he phoned back and said, "Look, um you've done said to my wife, "You You've done something very nice and you you gave a lot of money and we bought beautiful candlesticks. But, she doesn't have any parnassah, she doesn't have a job. And somebody's offered a job, but she'll have to work from home. Uh but, to work from home, she needs a computer. And she doesn't have a computer. Now, I've got lots of people who give a computer. But, maybe you'd like this whole thing to be your mitzvah. So I just wanted to give you the opportunity. So my wife said, "Okay. I'd like I'll phone you back. I just wanted I just wanted to discuss it with my husband." So she hung up and she said to to herself, "I don't need to ask my husband. I know he's going to say." So she phoned my wife and said, "I don't need to ask my husband. I know he's going to say um buy the computer as well." Now we tried or my wife tried to ask for no publicity. However, somehow or other it's on the website. And there is a picture of him visiting this young mother. It's ridiculous. She's just a girl, beautiful girl. And you see him giving the three candle sticks. And there's the computer. And then the camera shifts to the little baby, little baby girl, utterly unaware that she's come into the world with no daddy. And we just cried and cried. But when um my wife's brother heard about this, he was so inspired, he bought a set of candle sticks. And then one of my talmidim heard one of my students heard and he bought a set of candle sticks. And I was speaking at some other event, somebody came and said, "How do I get in touch with the naches?" And bought a set of candle sticks. I don't know. My wife could have had one candle burning extra every week. I'm honestly guessing by now there'll be 300, maybe 400, maybe a thousand. Because we want to touch each other and reach out to each other. If it was, I'm not a prophet, so I can't tell you. But I can imagine the split that opened up in the Jewish people. The hatred, and the word is hatred, that was existing in Israel between Jews before October the 7th could not have been contributory. Could not have contributed to happened. And if that's a reasonable suspicion to have, if you agree it's not paranoid to think so, then reversing it, just like I was saying before, how do you undo a a huge mimic a kid who is a sham? How do you undo something that might well have been contributory to the pain and suffering of mini Holocaust that we saw on October the 7th is creating a hood. Does that make sense? So, will you accept the challenge? I want to give you a challenge. Now, I can't guarantee this is going to work 100% but if everything I've said to you tonight makes sense, and I've done this myself. I wouldn't ask you to do something I haven't done myself. If that makes sense to you, I want you to consider the following. In almost every Jewish family or every Jewish person I meet, there is sadly along the way a relationship that used to exist that no longer exists. It might be a relationship between two brothers that's no longer there. Or a brother and a sister or two sisters. Might be a relationship between cousins. It might be friends that were very close and just no longer talk to each other. And God forbid it might be a relationship between a father and a son or a daughter and a mother. I want you to suggest that when you leave this shul tonight, if this applies to you, and if it doesn't apply to you, then thank God, but you'll bump into some Jew who it does apply to. I want to suggest to you you tell them to do the following thing. Go straight to your phone, uh pick it up and say, "Phone that person, the brother, cousin, friend. Look, I know we haven't spoken for 10 years. Please don't hang up. I just want you to know and you're going to say exactly as I tell you. Um I want you to know I've been thinking about the reason we're no longer speaking and I've come to the conclusion it was 100% my fault. Now, I know it wasn't 100% your fault because very seldom when a relationship falls to bits it's 100% only one person's fault. There's usually wrong in both sides, but you're going to say it's 100% your fault. And then you say, "I'd like to come and apologize to you in person." I can't promise 100% success rate, but when I've asked people in shuls to do this, it's usually something like a 90% success rate. That when you go to see them the next day or day after, as soon as you can, you'll find somebody up standing at your door who will say to you, "It wasn't just your fault. It was my fault, too." And you'll find you've recovered a brother, a sister, a father, or a son. I said this in a shul in England this all this lot for I first started to say this almost in 20 years ago. It was in Yom Kippur. And a day later, a fellow phoned me up with a Manchester accent. I don't know if you've ever heard the Manchester accent. It sounds a bit like this. You get ready with the translation there, right? And the voice at the other end of the phone said, "Is this Rabbi Rubinstein?" he said to me. I said, "Yes." "Rabbi Rubinstein, I was in shul on Yom Kippur." And I said, "Oh, yeah." "And I heard you speak." I said, "Oh, yeah." "And I heard what you said about phoning my brother." And I said, "Yes." "So, I phoned him and I said exactly what you told me to say. I've been thinking about it. It was entirely my fault." He said, "You're damn right." And he slammed down the phone. That wouldn't have worked. I would have to tell you quite seriously, uh whenever I do this, and I did did this recently in another show, straight away I got an email. I asked people to to get in touch with me and let me know. Straight away I got an email from a woman who said, "I I did what you said. I'm speaking to my sister for the first time in 14 years." I did I was Washington D.C. 14 people got people get in touch with me in the coming in the following week. They're now speaking to somebody close, a parent, a child. I think that's something we could do. I mean, it's easy. Well, it's not easy. But it shows that you want to do the right thing. We want to stitch the Jewish people back together again. We don't want that candle twinkling as an accusation. There's bigger stuff we can do. I think my wife's one candle is maybe 300 candles, maybe 1,000 candles by now. I think if you could do that, it would be making a big contribution to putting us back the way we should be. A tie card, a shingle card, and make a complete roll. And who is like the Jewish people, the way we should be? One nation in the land. It's been an honor speaking to you.