CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #74: Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff - Preparing for Rosh Hashanah

with us a very special guest but my shoulders welcome what an honor it is my pleasure big pleasure to have you and my honor tonight we're going to be talking about the Judgment Day the great day of Rosh Hashanah before we do uh tonight's exciting topic if we get a little background about the rabbi's Holy work and a little bit of a background so I was born in maimonides hospital really yeah not in Cleveland and not in Minneapolis Hospital and I went to Target Flatbush which is now taught to me what my father was a reverend benstner as my mother sheimes math professor with a PhD from Colombia Robertson Professor leaf my brother younger brother Blazer was a big guy in his receiving Muncie and uh if the high school in Cumberland I went to Colton represent for two years came back and learned I was like my father in the mirror then I got married to one of Yankovic my wife murabella and moved to Cleveland learned in the house for several years 10th and 11th and then I moved to Minneapolis Minnesota I was a relative chaos basic swell effectively of the community for 19 years wow and then this is now the 13th year I moved together in Flatbush a wonderful shoe wonderful wonderful people in Minneapolis and in Brooklyn and in New York and now in Queens great people tired of eating all over the world is spreading throughout all over the world this year anymore go very far and very wide and we have uh we're very honored to have you on the program tonight we really appreciate it and we're going to jump straight into the rabbi so we know that the Rosh Hashanah is a few days away uh what should someone focus on the Rosh Hashanah what should the focus be I'll tell you what not to focus on okay chuva not to focus not to focus on sugar we don't say our shamnu we don't say it's all about crowning the king and putting yourself in the picture everybody accepts upon themself the Heavenly yoke so that Rosh Hashanah transforms us to become more loyal with greater servitude and love for our King we say avinu our father malkano our King so that rafalamshad runs ourselves a great Margaret of you shalim would say avino in Yiddish you would say you can do whatever you want a father wants everything for a child but he's Limited in his ability to Grant every wish a king can do it all but why she do it for one over 100 million other citizens we have a dual relationship with Hashem of we know you're our father you want everything for us malkano you can give us whatever it is that we need the concept of Rosh Hashanah is not about past era heinous crimes Hashem judges the world today is the day that the world was created and on the anniversary of its creation Hashem judges the world and the question is why we know that the only birthday celebrated or mentioned in the Torah is him who led us his party's birthday and what is Paro do on his birthday he judges the realm the chief whines Steward the Sarah mashkin gets his position back the Sarah of him the baker he's hung and the question is why the enormity of the crime of the Sarah mashkin the wine sword was so much greater some are often begged ten thousand loaves of bread and his muzzle when Paro took a slice had a corned beef sandwich and bit into the bread there was a pebble right one Pebble a thousand ten thousand loafs of bread Sarah mashkin you saw the pictures the hieroglyphics they're Fanning with the ostrich plumes to make sure there are no flies well he's texting he's not paying attention to what he's doing a fly ends up in the cup in his mouth and he saved and given the position the answer is that the king didn't care about the past he wanted to know who was necessary for the realm Sarah ofan got a thousand bakeries he doesn't need them nobody made that elixir of wine like the saramashkin so I need him if I need him then I'm going to Institute and give him life on Rosh Hashanah it's almost as if you need me you need my wife you need my kids you need my grandchildren you need my parents you need my students in my community you need every Jew we make bracas we give stock we learn Tire we bring people like Hazard closer to repair take public school kids and we turn them into Cicero it's unbelievable I I know you have a lot of things on your list but we gotta be on top of the list it's a day to Crown the king with a components of the future with saying I'm a changed man I'm a changed lady I'm a changed kid I'm going to be better and I want to do good give me the opportunity to prove myself that's what Russia is all about true that's Yom Kippur that's a sound day it's a yumptive because we're absolved but there's no Hashem Kippur that's when we cry on Russia that we celebrate and tremble because with the king's chosen nation and he loves us and I'll tell you another thing one of the artifacts that we use on Rosh Hashanah to invoke compassion and mercy from Hashem is the chauffeur right now the chauffeur represents The Isle the ram that was taken in place of yetzuk the question is it's a two-bit player he's a walk-on the real on effect that Akita is all about is the rope that down yitzuk to the Al Qaeda he shouldn't Flinch is the knife when I was a kid so my brother and I I was once a kid a couple years ago this is from the rabbit but I'm really a youthful guy a group in Brooklyn and there was a day at Yankee Stadium called that day now bad day was not these little Ripple because it was a Louisville Slugger we all had so many bats that we played ball with in Flatbush from bad day so one time my brother and I and some friends decided you know we don't really want to go to the game we'll buy bleacher seats they were very cheap in those days we took the train two trains went to Yankee Stadium got the bats and went home we didn't even stayed for the game now could you imagine 10 Yeshiva Boys like eight nine years old swinging bats on the on the subway could you imagine a room filled with Jews holding knives we should have a knife Russia's son lives at a schooler people buying a brand new knife a Panacea it's mystical but we should be brandishing on Rosh Hashanah is the badge of Glory a knife Hashem remember the knife Schaefer patriarch Abram was gonna he couldn't do that because he wasn't taking his life he made a broken so you slow the rim why fixation with the RAM and with the horn the answer is that the sword the knife is a double-edged sword you're invoking Mrs nefish have yet to self-sacrifice where's your mission where's your sacrifice Victor and for kindness and for not being [ __ ] grumped when you wake up in the morning and cheering people up and being inspired if they have a stomach where is all your messiah's nephesh don't you dare talk about masira's nephish unless you have self-sacrifice but you know what the chauffeur represents Hashem doesn't want us to die he wants us to return to him and so the Schaefer represents how Hashem exchange the life of Yitzhak for the ram so we take that chaifer and we say Hashem number one you need us we're crowning you as the king and number two you don't want us to suffer you don't want us to be in agony you want us to have children and grandchildren and show them bias Harmony in the home and good kids and good partners good sustenance a good job you want us to be successful you just want us to connect to you Sean is the time when we connect our ship one of the mediums the vehicle is the chauffeur but you gotta know what it's all about you know there was a a kid I wasn't sure but his parents went to show on Rochester he did the same thing one day comes to the rabbi and says Rabbi I'm not coming this year we're not coming for that I'm coming for high holidays he says why not I got one of those newfangled art scroll Mark zorim and I finally figured out what I'm saying from the get-go and the Amigos fear and dread that's what I'm lacking I'm not afraid I'm not scared I'm scared of my wife I'm scared of my kids I'm scared of my boss I'm scared of terrorism my car's not going to start in the winter of Minneapolis I'm scared of a thousand things I gotta pray for fear I'm not coming anymore and I told him when he was a kid he had problems with his teeth but everybody came in from my dentist Dr best did a great job I'm feeling great but I should have no cavities good checkup good cleaning thank you but he said he had problems with his teeth he was in agony so his father took him to the oral surgeon oral surgeon took one look at his mouth the tunneling he would do with the bridging he would do causes secretary and he says sippy or Miss gross tell my wife we will be traveling to Israel and we're taking her mother too I mean the cost of this mouth is going to send us to Israel I'll be able to pay for it that's how expensive it's going to be the day arrives he comes to the office and he's sitting outside in the waiting room hopefully says Dad I'm about to let's go home what do you mean let's go it doesn't hurt anymore it doesn't hurt anymore what do you mean it doesn't hurt anymore you've been complaining for two weeks you can't sleep it doesn't hurt anymore why you hear that drill your hand Edge will it doesn't hurt anymore by me Dr krumbine when I was a kid just to hear the the music you know when the he'd start drilling over there and then it would start crutching the music that was enough to scare me it doesn't said the rabbi my friend what you're lacking is one great fear if you had the fear of Hashem there's nothing to be afraid of God forbid nothing because all you didn't put everything in basket and fear Hashem and the fear is not a retribution of punishment it's Yura saremos sashem loves us we don't want to disappoint him I had a rebbe in high school like going to Prime seagulls that's all he was the manual of rambling my 12th grade ribby we push it did not want to disappoint him we were not scared of him I mean he was a formidable Mahana educator I remember we had a game that we were playing my wife says I shouldn't talk too much all right I thought about it already some as well say it's our option forgives me Robinson so is the old building crimeball and the father we did high school and we had like a window that we were opening and closing and the guy outside was throwing snowballs in and the deal was to try to get the snowball in before he slams the window down ice cream okay nice game last thing we didn't have Electronics in those days we didn't have the gadgets fine okay guy slams the window down and my hand was there by the windowsill came right down I was a kid in 10th Grade like 13 14. I was in such pain before something happened so I'm a single rushed me to the hospital take X-rays was okay you know what I told him I already told him in the car ready I'm sorry for disappointing you I was shrieking and Agony but I didn't want to disappoint him that's why she shot her rebellion was sorry for disappointing you so there's so many great things that go on in Rosh Hashanah don't be afraid eat marbled meat it's the navi you're supposed to eat rib I banana brushes on it you're supposed to need to find his fish a whole meal with wine what are you drinking wine for because I'm not crying and I'm not saying oh sham new one I'm not Crown the king and include yourself in the picture make yourself needed needed indispensable so to speak and and and then and then the the chauffeur sound you really don't want us to go you want us to just you as the show for the aisle was in place of Yitzhak and then this last concept that you know if we dive into really love Hashem to the point that we don't want to disappoint him we'll be great today my son he's he was in first grade this past year and he's ready by the way just for the people that are watching this Robbie made me the best coffee the best coffee without smoking demons before Rosh Hashanah you got to say the truth slicker's time he makes delicious I invite everybody to join let's just for the coffee okay first was last year in first grade and he's gonna be able to always call metallic and because he would call himself I think he was worried I got to do the wrong thing I I will talk to people what what are you you're you're a Russia you could have you you your children have grief from you is that what you want to tell your kid exactly like you're saying Rabbi you're excited Who's acting like you know you're really exotic you're really a good boy I don't expect this of you that's that's what that's what 100 you know okay amazing person and he once gave me rebuke with my family for Hassan or mayor Roberts got married over 30 years ago and 30 people from the killer came from Minneapolis and um most left and I had another fellow David Warren but we wanted to stay a little bit longer I know it's history so there was a travel agent in Tel Aviv that for 300 could extend the ticket I hear some Zama and so many child's asking about a drink box can you open it on chamba season I was talking about I pulled out a drink box for my coat and yeah for sure no problem fine on and on and on can you shovel snowman Shabbos you you I had asked him the kids are Minneapolis so I asked them if I can do this listen to the words extend the trip to extend the trip 300 with a travel agent not the airline he says his mother it can it's possible let me explain it could be that harmonically it's permitted this is not straight as an arrow this is falsuit I know you you're an honest person I walked away feeling 10 feet tall the good ladder just said Leaf doesn't do found strike the word spread in many is before 9 11. we don't play around with tickets we don't fly the wrong way when somebody else's ticket everything has to be straight two weeks later Associates shots back in Minneapolis it dawned on me he gave me muscle he rebuked me but he didn't say you were wrong how could you do this he said it could be Lala has permitted which meant that I logically it could have been permitted fast guide and I know you you don't play games when it comes to honesty and integrity that's the song it says now the terrorist says give it management correction some people wake up in the morning please and bless me with their clock I want to be yes so let the guy wear his film backwards I can run over them and tell me not be my kind of missions opportunities he'll come to hate you only find is that what the terrorist says oh ramosha fights negative um is different and I found out afterwards talking about the same person question is the approach that he's a garnished nothing never amount anything this is the way you always are I don't expect more from you he'll come take you I'll make you I'll make him feel great he gave me more sir but he didn't tell me you know my stuffy what are you doing you don't do stuff like this and no no I know you you don't do snake this is Nick that's another approach to him beautiful you know we're raising our children you talk about your child was it sounding I just saw the Nickels Burger rubber yesterday he's unbelievable that 9 11. he couldn't stop hugging kissing I'm going away he pulls me back goes back he loves you and he's a rebbe for so many years you know many of these shivers today like it or not after a while they retire they're a bit okay they're never going to retire he's too into it he's too beloved he's too exciting that's what people like that's what you need so following back to what we're talking about with regards to Rosh Hashanah throughout the day we have uh these see money in these designs of different foods rapidly touched upon the show for right right and we wish you have a sweet New Year how effective is all this for so you're saying that you're asking like does it really help by the fact that you eat this apple and the Honey saying very good first of all you're talking to Savannah do you want wannabe I'm an Ashkenazi through and through I'm a lit [ __ ] even though we found it about 10 years ago blood in us well it might say we're all that facts my father grandfather foreign [Music] by the time you finish you're ready to go to sleep and we have like 13 things we do with tongue foreign we wish each other foreign here's the deal I'm Rosh Hashanah two people are judged but said he came into the shame righteous all right the completely righteous and the completely Wicked the Ben only there between that's all of us hopefully that doesn't work but that doesn't work it keeps on getting delayed but we wished each other that you should be inscribed in The Book of Life After immediately as it said I come foreign that's acted upon cannot be rescinded if there's a nivoire and something starts happening with that prophecy it remains sacrosanct and it can't be rescinded but if nothing is acted upon yet it could be revoked and reversed we eat the Sim on him start the process foreign God says okay that's like a number one he started a process took the ample in the honey made it started I heard my friend in Saint Paul very special man so you told me what slip shot how do you understand the Apple money the Apple is very sweet really honey double sweet it's a good year it's sweet it should be sweet and it should taste sweet you should feel we should be satisfied and says there's two kinds of satisfaction having enough and knowing that you have enough one without the other is insufficient if I think I have enough but the kids go and Barefoot that's not good if I have everything I want then I'm unhappy think I don't have anything it's also no good so this is my name is also to eat an eyeball and if you notice from the fish then of course it's beautiful beautiful try it it's hard you put it in the hallway you'll figure out how to do it how could everyone be right the head because she is beautiful beautiful well it was enough so here's the bottom line so once the process starts then it can be rescinded you gives us another Jew to a good year bought it while I'm listens and he writes down you eat the Simone inscribes it and seals it and it's going to be real of course it's not a fast track to Shiva can you see this is but that's the end of the synonyms we touched upon and this whole concept of renewal um they're feeling good and I got more years the year and the cursor should be over and New Year should start it's a brand new slate has nothing to do with the past it's the future beautiful amazing powerful so Rabbi everyone's asking how do we make this year this upcoming uh New Year better than last year and previous years in in the past do you have any uh good tips that you could share with uh with the song the ballet if you hear a good schmooze a good sikha an inspirational talk you gotta act on it it will internalize it doesn't have to be Monumental things there's a six-letter dirty word it's called change c h a n g e that's one way of looking at it I'll tell you something I noticed in Minneapolis the community there is unbelievable we had ffbs and ffcs from from birth and from from choice and it's the playoff the ffps for the ffcs from from birth look how they done look how they pray they connect to God when they dive and down me down they're talking look how they do things without all these questions of course you question Judaism but don't get rocked to the core that every other day you don't know what's happening you're not grounded become grounded so it's a beautiful Community out here Shiva light together with people that recently got involved into Ramen so that if they didn't call them we should all be but good so I found a very interesting thing the older door all the fellas that when I got there the older generation they're ready in the 60s and 70s 30 years ago so the newfangled stuff that I was introducing it didn't sit right with them right it's hard for them to change but the younger generation you say jump they say oh hi I was wondering why their life has changed they had a degree from Harvard from Colombia it was successful stock broker now that I'm working on Shabbos the parents think that they're nuts they landed on planet Xenon they're not normal people they speak a different language they have different he couldn't important things in life so change is what they're all about previous generation you grew up in America in the 30s and they had siblings that intermarried Allah their home modus apparently was don't change take your teeth and sink it in the eye teeth and don't move hold on for dear life so their psyche was no change it's just the reality and the new ones is all about change amazing so what you need to do is change little insignificant change is Monumental we make such a mistake we want this like instant 90-day wonder you know I grew up post Vietnam era I mean by the time I was a draft age the draft was battle was no longer a draft for Vietnam War but they used to have somebody called 90 day wonders 90 day wonders were second lieutenants came out of college and in 90 days from being civilians they became second lieutenants and the highest rate of casualties percentage-wise with these second lieutenants if the enemy didn't kill him their own people kill them because they didn't know what they were doing a 90-day Wonder my son is not a 90-day Wonder Russian is to affect some kind of change Kabbalah and to do it doesn't have to be something incredible which you can figure it out in your own look at the mirror you know where your flaws are of shock one system upon a result 81. how do we lose the land how did the nations of the world conquer the betamic dash to destroy it the prophets they didn't know wisdom they didn't know come on don't pay off the east Angels they didn't know if the Angels didn't know until them they left the significance so what do you want from the people you got to be punished for something you know but you did wrong but they didn't even know Thunder to shimming to waste you shiman you average you you know what's wrong you know what ails you you know what you have to be better in whether it's on whether it's in honesty Integrity compassion Mercy learning of Torah so many things we can improve in but take one thing and make a Kabbalah that's real when you're that chauffeur is being blown use those nanoseconds to Crown the Kink with some special Kabbalah acceptance of something nice that you're gonna do you'll see unbelievable success so it doesn't have to be some Monumental resolution that we just reinvented the wheel person reinvents their own will so that's the way we're gonna have a better year by taking things upon ourselves but something small something smaller hold on to you and and that'll change you and that's the key the key is change and change doesn't have to be a dirty word and change doesn't have to be impossible and change this to be difficult and we want that way in everything in life we want our financial strata to change we want our family situation to change we want to Sean bias to change we want our health to be better we want so many good things in life so we have to show Hashem quid pro quote that we're going to get a little better too it's amazing it's like the saying is that you should uh change become better between Russia versus something amazing that from Yom Kippur to Rosh Hashanah right that's true it's a better time to continue working and not just a little bit but to hold on to throughout Bradley what amazing inspiring messages we've had so far but we have a minute we have a custom on Torah talks and Zack's Tuesday night programs which is a final message for our broader audience one final takeaway we had so many so far and they're all man that took me devices sweet as honey so this is the deal okay Rosh Hashanah is when you realize who you are there was a Jew and a hasida court who could make parnassa no livelihood no Library went out of town and he was living amongst the non-jews then he made a good business he was successful in his business he said he's going to move them so we moved to this town with only non-jews and you know we dropped us to see the Garb he started wearing a double-breasted suit with a Nutty tie and a matching handkerchief ensemble and every Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Torah he'd come back dust off the shrimal the furry hat and hasira Garb and look at one of the boys after 30 years is who my fault who am I fooling this is not me I don't dress this way so he shows up and we've been a court and the rabbi's caught in the Royal Court dressed in their eyes like an anju they were shocked nobody said a word it was a venerable hasid foreign then it comes to the hotel which means I say goodbye to the rabbi and the rubber system ah yankov IC you're one of us cookies they just look like them now I see the whole time you really wanted them they just look like us and what's the takeaway Russia is not a charade [Music] if I normally eat it during the year I'm so much more religious I do so many wonderful things it's a joke if the two months are back to the same guy no that's the facade three months from now on your speaker that's the phony baloney disguise we are Rosh Hashanah Jews used to say is that song you take this effectora before you take it out on simhad Torah you showed us there's nothing but God he says you have a little you boy says hello that's beautiful that's why you get to eat rice some pizza you say this really hard and you know you sing it how's it going live America he said this that yourself says to say it from then he started taking the bells yeah and then you have foreign magnificent moment that the crescendo and the final trumpet of all of the Avada of all these days is that you've taught a session there's only you we're gonna rely on you we're going to put all our eggs in one basket we're going to pray to you and we're going to be successful [Music] continue that look at all the wonderful things I believe we want to thank everyone for joining us every single Tuesday night because October talks we have a small break because Russia it's all Tuesdays went to uh stay tuned and uh being the know uh we want to give a shout out to all the podcasts and all the platforms that are hosting time and specifically thank you very much shout out to dailygiving.org I know that the rep is very big internet yeah Dr Donuts started this it has a life of its own unbelievable who would have ever imagined one dollar a day and they have over 11 000 people who've joined it should be a hundred thousand people even have millions of dollars appreciate it so much it makes such a big difference every so often when we get that check it really gives a big boost to the organization so we want to think about belief in Dr Donovan and Bob everyone should check it out I'm a daily giver and you should be as well giving.org uh thank you very much to them and uh love the feedback we love the the the the the we got a lot of people I was just announcing throughout people were stopping me we were telling how amazing was awesome we appreciate that very much suggestions for future abundance movies are always welcome and uh because like Tuesday Torah talks uh 8 30 PM Eastern Standard Time thank you very much