Cuddled in My Mother's Arms

Today, we're going to learn what seems like a very technical statement in Gemara pertaining to a specific Jewish law. And yet, we will demonstrate how this has very powerful relevance to our own daily lives spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and practically. At the surface, it's going to seem like a very technical law that is relevant to one particular scenario in Halakha in Jewish law. But, the fact is every single line in Gemara, every law, every mitzvah, every story, every statement, every observation contains within it profound wisdom, divine wisdom, and relevance to life. And what we're going to do today will serve as a beautiful, I think, a meaningful example for that. A little introduction to be able to have perspective. Everybody knows the fourth one of the five commandments, the fourth commandment of the Aseret Hadibrot says Zachor et yom haShabbat leqaddesho. Remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify We say it every Shabbat in the Kiddush. Six days, you should work, do all of your work. The seventh day is a day of rest, don't do any work, you and your children, your slaves, your animals. Why? Hashem created the world in six days, and the seventh day he rested. The question is what is the definition of melakha? It says lo ta'aseh khol melakha. Don't do any work. What's the definition of work? Can I schlep a couch from upstairs to downstairs, from one room to another room? Is that work? That's work. It's harder to schlep a couch through the house than it is to switch on a light or ignite a fire on my stove. Nonetheless, our sages explained that their definition of melacha that's forbidden on Shabbos is creative work. Because the whole idea of Shabbos is to commemorate the six days of creation followed by a day of rest. The six days of creation Hashem didn't work in the classical sense of work. He had a job. It's creative work. He created. So, the types of labor that are forbidden on Shabbos are constructive forms of labor that create something, even something tiny and small, but they make a difference. So, for example, the first labor that's forbidden on Shabbos, the Mishnah says, is planting or plowing or harvesting. These tra- These are transformative labors. Because when I plow the earth, I turn it into fertile ground that can blas- that can blossom, that can produce vegetation. When I plant a seed into the earth, something transformative was created. The seed is now going to be able to cause vegetation and produce. The same is true when I harvest. As long as it's connected, I can't eat it, I can't bring it home. When I harvested I actually transformed the very quality of the fruit. It's not alive anymore connected to the roots of the tree. Now it's disconnected. The same is true when I bake or when I cook. I actually create a transformation. I take raw dough that's not edible, and now I put it in the oven and it bakes. Now it becomes edible. It becomes challah. It's now a food that I can actually eat. The same is true if I ignite a fire. I actually transformed a substance. I created a new reality, a fire. And the same is true all of the other melachas of Shabbos, all of the other 39 prohibited labors on Shabbos that are recorded in tractate Shabbos in the seventh chapter of Mishnah is of Shabbos are all creative work. Hazal say also, our sages teach us that from the juxtaposition in Chumash between the prohibited the between the prohibition to work on Shabbos and the commandment to build the Mishkan the sanctuary, we also learn that all of the labors that were done in order to build the Tabernacle the sanctuary, those are the types of labors that are forbidden to do on Shabbos because Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Jewish people, "I don't want you to work on Shabbos. Don't ignite a fire on Shabbos. Don't do work on Shabbos." Then he tells them to build a sanctuary. We learn from that juxtaposition to something explained at length in Gemara in Shabbos that what type of labors are forbidden on Shabbos? Those things that we do in the Mishkan. Those types of labors those types of work that types of work that were done in in the in the process of constructing the Mishkan the sanctuary. This is introduction number one. Introduction number two. The only type of labor that's biblically forbidden on Shabbos is constructive labor. Meaning if I'm doing something that's going to bring benefit use. It's going to create something that's beneficial that's meaningful. However, kol hamikalkel apturin our sages say in Mishnah in Shabbos chapter 13, somebody who does something that's detrimental is exempt. Biblically, there's no it's not considered a Shabbos labor because there's nothing constructive coming out of it. So, for example, if I decide that I want to destroy my house, demolition is one of the labors of Shabbos, but only if the demolition is for the sake of renovation. It's called soiser al menas livnos. If I demolish my house, I start removing the bricks because I want to renovate the house. I want to expand the walls. I want to want to I want to redo my kitchen. I want to redo my dining room. I need another bedroom. So, now the demolition is not just demolition for the sake of destruction. It's very constructive. By taking away, by removing the bricks or the wood, I am beginning the process of rebuilding, renovating the home. That's called soiser amanas livenus. Then, it's a labor that's forbidden on Shabbos. But, if you're just demolishing for the sake of demolishing, you're just destroying it. There's nothing no benefit from this. Then, biblically, it's not forbidden on Shabbos. The rabbis still said you shouldn't do it, but biblically, there's no prohibition on Shabbos. Because the only melacha that's permiss- that's that prohibited is melaches machsheves. It has to be with the intention of of something cons- constructive purpose. The same is true if I tear. If I tear off if I undo threads, I tear them off because I want to sew the garment again, then it's toifer amanas, it's koirei amanas litfor. I'm tearing in order to sew it back together, then it's a melacha. But, if it's just to tear without any constructive purpose, there's no benefits for it, then you're exempt biblically. Because kol amekalkel petur Whenever you do it for just for detriment detrimental purposes, you're exempt. Here is now an interesting question. The Gemara says Rebbi Yosi says in meseches Shabbos lamed aleph, tractate Shabbos 31, that the only way you are liable for demolishing in order to build, to renovate, is if you're going to renovate in the same space. But, if you're removing the bricks and you're going to reuse these bricks to build a home in another city or in another street or in another neighborhood, it's not a labor that's biblically forbidden on Shabbos. It has to be soiser amanas livenus bimkoyma. I have to be able to rebuild it in this very space. Why? Because then the demolishing is really the beginning of renovation. When you're breaking down the wall of your house on Shabbos, you're actually beginning the renovation because right here you're going to expand the home and redo the new home. But if you're demolishing the home here and then you're going to schlepp the bricks to another city and you're going to rebuild there, so even though the demolition had the objective of renovation, you're not liable biblically for doing any labor on Shabbos because right here it's demolition, there's no renovation. This is the context. This is the introduction. I hope it was clear. Let's now go inside to the text and learn an insight. This is Gemara Shabbos amud bet. Open up your source sheets. If you want to open up a Gemara, you can open up a Gemara or you can go to the yeshiva.net. t h e y e s h i v a the yeshiva.net. And look at this video, this woman's class of Tuesday, and you will see the source sheet so you could follow inside. Again, it's above the video view source sheets or below the video download source sheets. I'm going to read. Shabbos amud bet. Rabbi holds If you demolish a home with the intention of renovating it in the very same space, that's called demolishing for the sake of rebuilding, and then you're liable. Then you did something forbidden biblically on Shabbos. But if you're demolishing a home or a tent or a building and you want to rebuild it elsewhere, not in this very space, even though you're going to use the materials from this building, this is not called a melacha of demolishing on Shabbos and biblically you're exonerated. You're not liable. Amalei Rabb. Rabb responds and says I have a great question. Michter. Let's see. Kol melachos shel pinum u'mishkan. All of the labors that are forbidden on Shabbos we learn out from the Mishkan. Whatever the Jews did when they were building, putting together the Mishkan, that is considered a melacha, a labor that's forbidden on Shabbos. So now let's think about this. Where was there a labor of building by the Mishkan? The answer is they built the Mishkan. What about demolishing? They took apart the Mishkan. So he says v'hasam sose u'manas livnas u'lebanim kaima hu. When they took apart the Mishkan, were they planning to put it up in the same place or somewhere else? And the answer is, when they took apart the Mishkan, it's because they were traveling. So they would carry the Mishkan, they would carry the Tabernacle, and then set it up elsewhere. If we learn out all of the labors of Shabbos from the Mishkan, then there's something off here. Because by the Mishkan, they didn't demolish it and put it up in the same place. They didn't take apart the Mishkan and then reassemble it right here. No. They took it and then the Levites carried it until they came to a new location and that's where they put up the Mishkan. If we are learning the labor of demolishing and building from the Mishkan, so then it should follow the replica of the Mishkan. And by the Mishkan, you never demolished it and put it up in the same place. You always took it apart and you reassembled it in a new place. How can Rebbe Yossi say that if you demolish a building on Shabbos and your objective is to put it back together, to rebuild it in another place, it's not the melacha of sose, it's not called demolishing and it's not forbidden on Shabbos, when by the Mishkan, which is the source from where we learn all the labors, that was exactly how they took apart the Mishkan with the objective, with the mindset to reassemble the Mishkan and put it back together and re-erect it in another location. Great question. It's different. The pasuk says in parshas Balak three times All of the travels and all of the dwellings were guided by Hashem. So, therefore, it's like you demolish it with the objective of putting it back in the same place. What does the Gemara say? The Jews in the desert were traveling for a long time. 40 years they wandered in the wilderness. But they were guided by the cloud, by the divine GPS, GPS, God's positioning system, God's special ways that he invented. And this showed the Jews exactly where to go, how far to go, when to stop, and when to re-embark on a new journey. It was all based on God's directive. The day leave one location and begin traveling to a new location. And then it was based on God's directive that they dwelled in the new location for as long as he wanted. And then once again, they relocated to a new place. And this is what happened was was going on for four decades. As the Torah describes in parshas Balak. So, the Gemara says, so therefore, when they took apart the Mishkan to put it back together in another place, it's as though they're demolishing to rebuild it in the same space. But why? What's the logic? Because God is the one who told them when to travel, when to go, when not to go, and where to go, and how long to travel, and when to stop in a new place. So, therefore, it's as though they took apart the Mishkan to rebuild it in the same place. Why? So, they their travels were based on God, not based on their own initiative, or based on their own strategic plannings or expertise in the Sinai desert. So, then, why is it called one place? Very difficult to understand what the answer is. The question I got, what's the answer? Rabeinu Chananel writes that the answer is that since God was guiding them, they didn't know where he's going to take them. So, maybe they would just leave this place and come right back. So, if they were here, maybe Hashem would say, "Okay, you know, travel a mile, and then just come right back, like in a circle. We'll just We'll go We'll go back in a circle." Or go back in a straight line. In other words, they don't know where the new location is going to be, cuz they're not the ones planning it, God is. And he's not sharing it with them. He'll do what he wants. So, maybe they are going back to the same place. So, when they're taking apart the Mishkan, they're not sure. Maybe they're going to put it back together in the same place where they took it apart, because maybe God's positioning system is going to take them back to the first destination. Certainly an interesting way of understanding the Gemara, but it's difficult to understand. Because they were journeying, they had a destination. They were going to Eretz Yisrael. It's just they went the long way. But we don't find any situation where they were in a place and then they went right back to the same place. They were journeying. So, they probably understood that they're going to be going to a new place, they're not going back to the same place. Even if there's a doubt that maybe they're going to go back to a new the same place, but certainly it was very likely that they're not going to go back to the same place. And therefore, they're taking apart the Mishkan, not to put it back in the same place. Maybe, but probably not. Or certainly maybe not. So, how could you say that from the Mishkan we learn that whenever you demolish something and you're going to do it in another place, it's not called the Malachim and by the Mishkan that was certainly part of the equation. It's the Sfas Emes. There were two great giants in the last generation who addressed this question. And they both gave a very similar answer. And it's their answer I want to share with you today. The first was the Shem Mishmuel of Shmuel Sochaczewer. The Shem Mishmuel is a work on Chumash that was authored by a man named Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein. He was the rabbi of a city in Poland called Sochaczew. He was one of the Chassidic masters in Poland and Sochaczew the Chacham of Lublin. He was a son of the famous Avnei Nezer, Rabbi Avraham Bornstein, Rabbi Avraham Bornstein, who was also the rabbi and rebbe of Sochaczew and was a son-in-law of the Kotzker rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgenstern. Shem Mishmuel passed away in 1926, 1256. This is the Chassidic world. In the Lithuanian world, there was a very famous Rosh Yeshiva known as Rabbi Chaim Shmulevich. Rabbi Chaim Shmulevich was the famous Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva. He was in the Mir in Europe. He was saved through Shanghai and ultimately came to Eretz Yisrael and helped reestablish the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which is one of the largest, if not the largest, Yeshiva in the world. He passed away in 1978. Zechus Tzaddikim Livracha. They both give a very similar insight to explain this. And Rabbi Chaim gave a very famous metaphor. And it's this metaphor I want to share with you in order to understand what the Gamara means. A fantastic metaphor. The metaphor is Reb Chaim Volozhin's metaphor. I'm just going to elaborate a bit on it to make it clear. To make it clearer for all of our listeners. He says, "Imagine it's a hot day in Israel. Some of you visited Israel in July and August. Some of you are tuning in from Israel. But you know, Israel can get very The Middle East can get very, very hot. And it's one of those really hot summer days in the Holy Land. And there's a woman who needs to take a bus. She has to travel from the south all the way up north. So, she gets on a bus and of course she walks to the bus. There's no air condition on the bus. There's no air condition in her uh in her pocket to cool her off. She's hot. She's sweating. It's boiling. It's you know those days when the scorching sun right over your head really gives you a taste of intense heat and light. And she gets on the bus. The bus is packed. There's nowhere to sit. People are tense. People are anxious. The driver is not in the best mood. He's also boiling hot and there's no AC on the bus. She gets on the bus in Beersheba and travels from Beersheba to Ashkelon. Then she has to take a new bus to get from Ashkelon to Jerusalem Jerusalem. And then from Jerusalem Tachana Merkazit the central bus station, she schleps and takes a bus to Tel Aviv. And from Tel Aviv to Herzliya and from Herzliya to Petah Tikva and from Petah Tikva to Netanya and from Netanya to Hadera and from Hadera to Haifa and from Haifa to Tzfat. Are you exhausted yet, anybody? All by bus, from bus to bus in the scorching heat. Sometimes there's where to sits and this where not to sit. There's lines and there's bus stops and some of the buses are late and finally she's in Safed. She has one more stop, Kiryat Shmona, all the way up north. She makes it to Kiryat Shmona, does what she has to do and now she has to get back home. So, from Kiryat Shmona, she got to travel back to Beersheba. By the time this day is over or these two days are over, you can only imagine how difficult life has been for her. Simply the schlepping and the schlepping and the schlepping and the sweat and the dryness and the humidity. Now, humidity can kill some some people. And the heat. She sweated. And going from one place to another place. Every place has its issues and it's unique it's unique qualities and characteristics and so forth. It was a hard day. To put it mildly. But there's one detail I didn't say. She also had a baby with her. She had a little tinok pa'ut little baby toddler in her arms with her on this journey. If you would be able to have a conversation with this baby and ask this baby, "Wow, you must have had a difficult day today. After you all you went from Beersheba to Ashkelon to Jerusalem to Lod to Lydda to Petah Tikva to Netanya to Hadera to Safed to Kiryat Shmona and all the way back. How many places you've been in? Was it exciting? Was Is crazily stressful? How are you doing? The baby would look at you and say, "My dear friend, I was in one space today." What do you mean? You traveled throughout the length of Israel down south, all the way up north, then back. You were many places today. My experience, I was in one space. I was in my mother's arms. From the mother's perspective, she indeed was schlepping from city to city, from bus stop to bus stop, from location to location. From the child's perspective, he wasn't schlepping anywhere. He was in the same space. He was in his mother's arms in Beersheba, in Ashkelon, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv, and Herzliya, and Safed, and Kiryat Shmona. He was in the same arms of his mother cuddled up in her sweet and powerful and warm loving embrace. Ah. Now we'll understand what the Gemara says. The Jews traveled the desert. They traversed it for 40 years. They went from location to location to location to location. One location in in the desert to another location. 42 locations as discussed in Parshas Massei. All the 42 the list of the 42 locations. If I used to from here, they left here, they left here, they left here, they left here. They left here. They came here. They left here. They left here. We go through the whole list of Parshas Massei. Geographically, they went from one space to another place space. But emotionally, they experienced it all as being always in one space. Carried in the arms of the Rebono shel Olam. Go back to the words of the Gemara. Kee von dikh see val pi Hashem yakhanu. Since the Torah says that every journey and every dwelling was based on the directive of Hashem, eidomei. So, when they took apart the Mishkan because they were about to journey, and their mindset was to rebuild, reassemble the Mishkan in the next location, in their mind they weren't going to do it in a new space. It's b'mkomo. In their experience, in their imagination, they're going to rebuild the Mishkan in the very same space. Why? They're not going to be in the very same space. Geographically, they're not going to be in the same space, but emotionally, they felt themselves in one space. Carried in the arms of their divine mother and father loving them unconditionally. And in fact, these words are said by Moshe Rabbeinu himself in D'varim at the end of his life, the last weeks of his life, he records and he gives an account of the last four decades and he tells them in D'varim perek aleph lamed aleph, Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 31. You have it on your source sheets. Again, you could go to the yeshiva.net and you have the source sheets to this class. U va midbar asher ro'isa asher nasa acho adonai elohecha kasher yisa ish es b'no b'chol haderech asher halachtem ad bo'achem ad hamakom hazeh. In the desert you have seen that God has carried you like a father carries a child throughout the entire journey that you have went on until you came to this very place. In fact, Moshe Rabbeinu in parshas Beha'alotcha says to God, he says, "Have I impregnated and given birth to this entire Jewish nation that you're telling me so Aihu Bechechecha Kashe Yisa Omen Es Ayoinik Adomas Mati Lav Aysov carry the Jewish people in your bosom like a young nursing mother carries her suckling. Is that what you want? And indeed God says in Hoshea Isaiah Perek Yud Aleph Tirgalti Lephraim Al Aysov Velo Yodu Ki Refasam. I have made sure to give my children Ephraim a leader who would carry them on his arms. They don't know that their healing came from me. So Halachically the Gemara says when they were taking apart the Mishkan it wasn't with the intention to put it up somewhere else. It's to put it up in the same place. Because their experience is that they're always in the same place. They're in the same location, in the Ribbono Shel Olam's arms. Kashe Yisa Omen Es Ayoinik Kashe Yisa Av Es Bnoi Kocham Al Aysov. I'm in the same space. Maybe not geographically, but mentally psychologically, emotionally, spiritually they were in the same space. Technically we may be moving from here to there, but that didn't matter. We were embraced by God. Cuddled by him. Felt hugged and anchored in that divine space. So Halachically if I demolish a building on Shabbos to put it up elsewhere, that's not called a Melacha on Shabbos. And if I want to bring an offering the Kohen is going to say you can't bring this offering to the Beis Hamikdash you didn't violate Shabbos it's Chulin Ba'Azara go home. THIS IS NOT JUST AN abstract transcendental spiritual idea in Judaism. It's a very concrete idea. You want to do demolish it to put it up elsewhere? Sorry. You can't bring an offering. You didn't do anything wrong biblically. What do you mean? In the Mishkan, that's how they did it. No, they demolished it to put it up in the same place. What do you mean the same place? They traveled somewhere else. They didn't travel anywhere else. They traveled back in the same day. They were traveling in the same space all the time. Because they were like children in the arms of God. Remember David Hamelich's words in Tehillim. I am silent, trusting. I feel like a gomel. A gomel is a young infant who's nursing in the bosom of its mother. That's how I feel. David Hamelich says, this is how I experience life. And what he meant by that is what he says in Tehillim chapter 179. If I go up to the heavens, you're there. If I go down to the abyss, you're there. Even if I acquire wings and I dwell at the end of the sea, there too your hand will guide me and your right arm will cuddle me. Sometimes I say there's so much darkness that envelops me, but even darkness doesn't eclipse your presence. Wow. Here we have the Jewish perspective on how to live life. We all know there are days I don't know, some of us maybe have those days when life is like a choo-choo train. You ever went on it? You remember last time you went on a choo-choo train? You go to the one of these zoos or small amusement parks and you take your your 2-year-old or your 4-year-old or your 6-year-old on a choo-choo train and it goes very, very slow and everybody has a lot, a lot of time and you sit and you look at the rhinoceros and you look at the hippos and you look at the deer and the horses and the donkeys and the tigers and the bears, the lions, the hyenas, the elephants and all of the extraordinary mammals that God has given us in this world and the choo-choo train is relaxed and sometimes life feels like that. Slow motion patience, savlanut, pamalach. Sometimes you have days you feel like you're on a roller coaster. And I don't mean a roller coaster that goes like a choo-choo train. I mean a roller coaster that you have in all of these great adventurous parks you have in Disney World and the Six Flags Great Adventures or those super duper loopers that take you upside down a few times. You go up and then you go down and the speed is quite intense. Sometimes life feels like that. And some days vacillate in between and it's not necessarily because of a major crisis chalila, which can also happen but just sometimes the burdens, the responsibilities. You look at your to-do list and I have to run from here to here and take care of this and then take care of that and take care of this child, take care of another child, take care of your husband, take care of yourself, the cleaning lady didn't show up and there's Shabbos and there's Yom Tov and there's something else that's happening and you have to travel it. I don't have to explain to people who were run busy lives. And it can get very overwhelming. And this is what the Gamara is teaching us. That the key to all of this is the stability and the serenity and the tranquility by knowing that I'm always in the same space. I'm carried. I'm cuddled in the loving arms of my divine mother and father, the Shekinah. I am always anchored and centered in that space. Yes, my journey today may take me to many places geographically. I may have many texts to deal with and many emails to respond to, many WhatsApps to read or deal with, and many responsibilities and duties. I may have to run to this appointment and to that appointment. Take care of this and take care of that. Geographically, my mind may be splintered into many different locations and responsibilities, but that's only the facts. Emotionally, I'm always in the same space. I don't lose it. I don't get flustered. I don't get overwhelmed. I'm not a fragmented person. Fragmentation is the key danger here. When I become a fragmented person, I don't know who I am anymore. And I'm just being bombarded bombarded by one force and another force, by one pressure and another pressure, by one responsibility and another responsibility, and I'm trying to catch my breath. Boom. And you could lose it. And even if you don't lose it, you keep it together, but there's so much stress, there's no serenity, there's no simcha, there's no menucha. Comes the Gamara and says, "Kiva and al pi Hashem, yesuva al pi Hashem yachanu, kimkayim alu dami." But when a Jew remembers that you're never alone, you are like that infant, that child, cuddled in the bosom of my mother, who's always holding on to me and protecting me. And we are going on this journey together. Then, I wake up in the morning and I say, "Thank you for returning my soul." We're going to have a great time together, wherever that journey takes us. Sometimes maybe it's going to look like a choo-choo train. Maybe some moments are going to look like a roller coaster. There may be some curveballs today that I don't expect. There may be some interesting encounters and situations that must be maybe some conversations that will come up that are not going to be that easy to deal with. There may be some inner thoughts and emotions that are going to come up into my system and I'm going to have to deal with it. That's fine as long as you know you're anchored in the embrace of the divine, and you're always there. So, technically, that journey may take on many different shapes and forms, but emotionally, I'm always in the same space. I'm in the same space. I'm in God's arms. Or to put it differently, a shliach, somebody who represents the person who sent him or her, halachically, is like that person. I remember that I am a shliach of Hashem. I am an an ambassador of infinity. I am an ambassador of love, light, hope, truth, authenticity, wisdom, healing, and redemption. So, I represent the divine source, being carried by him, sustained, held on, cuddled by the Ribono shel Olam as his messenger. Shliach shel Adam kamoihu. So every journey is part of my mission, representing a reflection of Hashem in this world, bringing light into this place, and then into this place, and into this place, and into this place. When I have that perspective, when I anchor myself every morning in that truism, in this mantra of Al Pi Hashem Yisu, V'al Pi Hashem Yachanu, says the Gemara, you're always in the same place. You never leave. I know you could be traveling to the airport, long lines of security, long lines to get on the plane, then you're on the plane, then you get off the plane, then you have to go through customs, then you have to go to the luggage, then you have to find a car, and then you have to get to the place where you have to get, and then the journey as begins. And it's tiring. But emotionally, I'm in the same space. I'm in the same space. Why? Al Pi Hashem Yachanu, Al Pi Hashem Yisu. Because I'm anchored. I'm cuddled in God's arms. There's a Jew I know. His name is Rabbi Nissan Mangal. Rabbi Nissan Mangal, may he be well, is the rov of Ksav Sofer shul in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. He shared with me once that he was 10 years old when he arrived in Auschwitz. He was 11 years old when Auschwitz was liberated, probably the youngest or one of the youngest survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. He came face-to-face with Dr. Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death, twice. Mengele considered doing experiments on him, and twice he got himself out. And Rabbi Nissan Mangal, may he be well, very special Jew. His father was Reb Eliezer Mangal. And his father was killed on the day of liberation. Imagine. He had his father with him. The day of liberation, his father was killed. And Reb Nissan went on the death march. Death march from Poland to Germany. An 11-year-old boy, he tells me, "I was sick. I was hungry. I was despondent. I was emaciated. I had no energy. I had my father, and my father was now dead. And you know that the Germans, if you stopped walking, you stepped out of line, you sat down to rest, they shot you immediately. That's why most people did not survive the death march. I was there. He said, "I didn't have any koach. I didn't have any energy to continue this march. For a week straight, they did not give you any food. All they can eat is the muddy snow on the ground. For a few moments, they let you eat the muddy snow on the ground for 7 days. Walking and walking and walking." And Reb Nissan said to me, he said, "At some point, I told myself, 'Enough is enough. I can't bear this anymore. Let me just step out of line. I'll get a bullet in my brain, and it'll all be over. The agony And people did this all the time. They just simply couldn't. The alternative was just excruciating torture till they die anyway." And Reb Nissan said that at that moment, I had a vision. I was sitting Friday night in my home before the war, before the Holocaust. And my father is sitting around the table and telling us stories. And there was a story that he would often tell us about the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov have a chossid, a disciple, who once came to visit him from another city. His wife was pregnant. She would have to give birth, but they didn't think that it was time yet for birth for the birth. He came to the Baal Shem Tov. And when he was at the Baal Shem Tov, he got a message. Somehow somebody brought a message that his wife is going into labor, and he must go home immediately. The problem is it was night time. He thought he would wait till the next day. But the Baal Shem Tov said, "No, go home now. Go home now." He said, "Rebbe, but to go home during the night, I'm going through a forest. And this forest was notorious. There could be gangsters there and and thieves there and thugs there and could lose all my money, lose my life." So, he tells he says, "Rebbe, I'm afraid I'm afraid to go alone in the forest." And the Baal Shem Tov said these words, "A Yid geht keynmol nisht aleyn." A Jew never ever walks alone anywhere. Hashem is always walking with him. Gay, you're not going alone. And the Jew went with a confidence, with a stamina, with a sense of security. And Reb Nissan says, "An 11-year-old boy on the death march left Auschwitz this I had this flashback, this vision of my father sharing this story around a warm cozy Shabbos table with the flames glowing, flames burning on the table. And it gave me such a dose of energy. A Yid geht keynmol nisht aleyn. I'm not walking on this death march alone. God is holding me." And I held on to this story. I held on to this statement of the Baal Shem Tov. I held on to this truth. I held on to Hashem. And here I am today. I heard this I heard this story from him probably in the year 2007, 2008. So, how many years after the Holocaust is that? Around 60 years later. 67 70 years later. 60 Around 65 years later. There was a Jew, very special Jew who passed away a few months ago. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Rabbi Adin Even-Israel. One of the great scholars of our generation. Translated the Gemara into Hebrew and English to Steinsaltz Edition and wrote probably 60, 70 books. When I was a yeshiva student, it was either in the late '80s, maybe early '90s, Rabbi Steinsaltz from Jerusalem came to a for a visit to New York. So, he came to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe. And he went by to get a dollar and a blessing from the Rebbe. So, when he went by, they got into a conversation. And in the middle of the conversation, Lubavitcher Rebbe asks him in Yiddish, he says, "The aishes chaver is aich gekumen?" "Did your rebbetzin Aishes Chaver means the wife of the talmid chacham Did your rebbetzin also come from Israel to here?" So, Rabbi Adin tells the Rebbe, he smiles and he says, "Nei." "Ich bin do allein." "I am here alone." So, the Rebbe picked up his hands and says, "Allein?" "Der Eibishter is mit dir." "You're alone? Hashem is with you. I wondered what was the point of this response? I mean, we all understand he was just using a very common expression. Did your wife come with you? He said, "No, I'm here alone." This was not a theological, philosophical, spiritual, religious statement and and a state of the union address. He said, "Did your wife come with you?" He said, "No, I'm here alone." But perhaps there was a very, very profound message here. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz was engaged in a lot of activities, was a very driven person, wanted to really change the Jewish world and change the world. There have been new that he had quite a few hurdles and obstacles and challenges that he met that he would meet in different ways and he wanted to empower him. There's no such a thing you're alone. You're never, ever alone. Hashem came with you. He's with you. He's holding your hand. He's carrying you. You have to do what you have to do. You got to be as creative as possible. This is not an excuse for victim mode. Oh, I'm just a little baby. I don't do anything. This is not an invitation for paralysis. On the contrary, it allows me to be as creative, as driven, as powerful as possible because I'm an ambassador of infinity. And no force in the world can overwhelm me and splinter me and fragment me and destroy me and split me into a million pieces because I'm anchored in the ultimate source of confidence, stability, in the indestructible love of my father and mother in heaven. We'll take some questions. Okay. I love this message. The consistency from knowing that you are in Hashem's embrace. And for the people who don't know about consistency, unconditional love, or even a warm, embracing mother or father, they have to create this for themselves because they never learned this from their experience, or even for their children. Where great catharsis is found, and the imagery becomes practical. In addition, upon further reflection with modern-day thought, children imbibe their patterns that children inherit their parents' stress. So, the above baby on the bus is unconsciously absorbing the stress of Mommy. Yes, yes, I hear what you're saying, but perhaps with God it's not that way. Yeah, that's true. There's no question that our children are very sensitive to the vibes, and they absorb it consciously or sometimes unconsciously. And sometimes the issues that we're dealing with, the trauma that we're dealing with is not our own. It's really trauma that has been given to us as a result of the experiences, the life stories, the conditions of parents, grandparents, maybe great-grandparents, maybe great-great-grandparents. And it's important to know this, that it's not about guilt and blaming yourself. It's really about what your mission is, what your journey is to be able to deal with it. And if it's given to me, it means I have the power to confront it and not allow it to define me, but I'm going to define it. This is the advantage of being cuddled by God as the source of infinite clarity and oneness, so we don't have to uh incorporate that stress. Beautifully said, thank you. Okay, next question. Why does the Torah specify only fire not to make a fire on Shabbos? Why doesn't it specify the other forms of labor? It's a great question. The Shalah writes, "Because the first melacha of the creation of the world was" What did Hashem create first? It says God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. So, therefore, that's the one that's mentioned on Shabbos. Don't make light. Don't create a fire because that was the first thing God creates, which really encompassed everything else. And we know today the significance of light and the power of light and the unique properties of light. Vayomer Elohim yehi or vayehi or. So, that's why it also tells us, "Don't make a light on Shabbos. Don't make line on Shabbos. Next question. We don't do melacha on Shabbos. We don't build cherubs that are gold. But in the Mishkan, they did do melacha on Shabbos, and they built cherubs. Well, when the Torah says that some certain things you do on Shabbos, so then the same God who prohibited on Shabbos allowed it. So there were certain things, like certain offerings that they did on Shabbos in the Mishkan, but it's clearly specified in the Torah. Next question. The Jews took apart the Mishkan, and they reassembled it at in the same place. Did it ever happen that they should come back to the same place? No. You could look at the 42 journeys in Parshas Massei, and they never came back to the same place. They continued going to a new place. That was the point. You gave the metaphor of a baby who was entrapped in his mother's arms throughout all of the journeys that the mother takes, but the baby is in one space emotionally and even physically throughout. But the Jews took sea journeys. They were entrapped by the ship across the Atlantic from Europe to America before planes became commonplace, which went also on Shabbos. Could one take a 25-hour flight to New Zealand that starts before Shabbos at that place and ends after Shabbos at that place? Yes, so this is a very interesting discussion. So if you're on the boat, there were Jews who were on boats and they went on a journey and you know, they could be on the boat. Yeah, this is this is planes are different. There's a tuchman. Question. Why do the 42 camps have different names if it was all one place? That's the point because it has different names cuz it's different places, but emotionally they felt that they were in one place. That's the whole idea. If my emotions are the same here and there and therefore I can dismantle a construction on Shabbos, why can I dis- why can't I dismantle on Shabbos if my emotional state is that I'm going to redo it in the same space? No, well in the desert because Hashem was vividly guiding them so they can experience that oneness in a very powerful way. I see and understand what you're saying about the baby being with the mother being the same in all the wanderings because you feel like you're in the arms of God. I get it. I'm thinking about the fact that we are human, we have human emotions and it's not easy to live this way with this type of awareness. When you get there, it must be amazing. Yeah, this is something person ought to work on. If the cuddled baby never traveled cuz he's always entrapped in his mother's arms, then what a highly evolved person feels when he's constantly entrapped in Hashem's arms, can he travel without an eruv or beyond the tuchman Shabbos? Well, you can't change halakha. In other words, if if if I really feel like I'm in Hashem's arms, I have to follow what Hashem is telling me to do. And you know, there's still a difference between the desert and now. It's just a lesson how we could live, but I don't think we could uh you know, change the law because of it. Next question. Maybe it's maybe the single most difficult task for the Jew in exile to remember that a Jew is never alone, especially on the days that feel like God is hiding himself. Almost like he doesn't want to be found. It becomes very, very difficult. Yeah, thank you for the validation. And that's very true. And you know what? Being held in my mother's arms doesn't mean I always understand what where my mother is going and what my mother is doing. It doesn't mean that everything is clear. It doesn't mean that everything is rosy. I may be wondering, why are we going on this roller coaster? Why do we have to go up and down? You know, let's go on the choo-choo train. It's much more attractive. Let's go on the simple rides instead of on the, you know, the scary roller coasters. I may not understand what my mother is doing, what my father is doing, where they're going, what's the objective of this journey. I can't always wrap my brain around it, but I can trust. Emunah bitachon means I trust. I trust that your love to me is infinite. That you certainly know the destination and the objective of the journey. And I'm going to hold on tight. Even if I can't wrap my brain around it all. Even if I can't fully assimilate it into my understanding so that it makes sense. Sometimes I could see the value. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I'm flabbergasted. Sometimes startled. Sometimes I'm saturated with pain. And that's part of that's part of the and that's part of the journey. And even at that moment I can trust that even that which I don't understand is ultimately not here to destroy me. But I can hold on to my beloved mother and father whose love to me is infinite. Like David Hamelach also says in Tehillim uh 23, right? Psalm 23. Gam ki elech begai tzalmavet lo ira ki atah imadi. Even as I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I don't fear. I don't fear evil because you are with me. Natan Sharansky speaks a lot about this chapter of Psalm. You know, he was I think 9 years in the Gulag. And till his liberation, I think around 9 years. And a lot of the time he was in solitary confinement. In the worst conditions of Soviet prison, but he had a book of Tehillim that they confiscated and he went on a hunger strike till they gave it back to him. And he taught himself Hebrew in the Soviet prisons. And he said these chapters of Psalms really held him together. It's amazing. It's amazing story Sharansky says. And really what you see in Tehillim with David Hamelach is that he had a life that was very very difficult. A lot of crises, a lot of great moments, but also a lot of crises that he had to deal with. But that's the key that he was a warrior, he was ambitious, he was creative, he was brilliant. But he was also so vulnerable. And so authentic. You know, he tells God, I'm just like a little toddler in your arms. Nafshi kegamli lay imi. And when you have that power and I'm calling it power cuz it's powerful. When a powerful person becomes like a toddler in God's arms That's really the key to David Hamelach's inner confidence and calmness that he has throughout Tehillim with all of the vicissitudes and struggles and fluctuations and the turbulence that he endures. But he had that that solid confidence that came from the fact that he was just anchored in a place that was indestructible. Question from Israel. What do we do in order to introduce this feeling into our heart? It should be authentic. It should be deep. I get what you're saying. But I I only understand it intellectually. I don't get it emotionally. How do we get this emotionally? And also, why can't somebody travel to shul by a bus or by a car if they're in the same space? The book of Sharansky is Fear No Evil. It's an amazing book. Okay, in terms of traveling to shul on a bus or a car again, when we say you're in the same space, it doesn't mean you're physically in the same space. If I'm going into my car and putting on the motor, it's forbidden to do on Shabbos. We're talking here about an emotional fact that a person is always being connected is always connected to Hashem. I'm still not allowed to leave the city on Shabbos and go to home Shabbos. So you say, "But you're in the same place." But physically, I'm not in the same space. If I leave the city and I'm traveling outside of the city, so that's forbidden on Shabbos. If it's a certain it's called home Shabbos, the border till where you're allowed to walk. Unless people are living there, but if people are not living there, there's a certain border. You can't say, "Oh, I'm in Hashem's arms. I'm in the same space." If you're really feeling that you're in Hashem's arms, then you should certainly do what he wants you to do and not walk to the space on Shabbos. So, we're learning from the Jews in the desert, but you have to appreciate the fact that I'm not being I'm not enveloped by clouds of glory. We have to work on it. In terms of applying this emotionally, you know, that's really your question is so important because it's really the key. To be very frank, you know, we Jews are very good with cerebral mind games. Call them mental gymnastics. You know, we have all the ideas and all the great secrets and all the great remedies, but there's a difference between knowing it up here in a cerebral way and really experiencing it in a visceral way. That it's part of my heartbeat. That's part of my my energy flow. It's part of my rhythm. It's part of my body. And I think for this, we have to work on this. Some methods that can be very helpful is prayer. When you dive into really surrender and meditate on this truth and allow it to fill your brain, to fill your body. Mindfulness is helpful for this. Meditation is helpful for this. For some people, exercise is very helpful for this. To really get this, you know, to focus on your to focus on your body energy and align it with the source. Breathing. Breathing and anchoring yourself is also very helpful for this. There's also different therapeutic methods that you could read about that help people go into this place of alignment. Especially if you're carrying deep trauma in you and the body keeps the score in the famous title of the book. So, sometimes the cerebral knowledge is really ineffective because my body is tense and I'm full of anxiety and pain and stress and pressure. You can feel it in your neck or in your back or in your torso, your stomach or your chest or my legs. Very often it's in the back or in the neck or in the head. And often it's not about, you know, just thoughts cuz my thoughts my thoughts may be fine and my ideas may be fine, but I really have to be able to find right people who can help me get rid of a lot of that trauma, a lot of that stress. So, it's a very personal and very deep journey. But generally speaking in Yiddishkeit, I would say prayer, davening, is very much about this. You know, that ability for a few minutes a day to close your eyes, to move away from your phone, to breathe, to meditate, to go into a place of silence and alignment and really imagine yourself with this visual. Give give yourself this visual that I am an an innocent child cuddled, embraced in the arms of my divine mother, my divine father with unconditional love and that the journey of the day should be able to be done from that context. And if you train yourself to do this and to live this way and to react to life's challenges from this perspective, you will create new neural pathways in your brain, which will make it easier to go there. The problem is that sometimes we have so many habits that are ingrained in us that it's very hard for us to go there. We just go back to default mode of of anger and blame, detachment, victimhood, self-loathing, frustration with the world, resentment. We go into that space. And that's a very, very narrow and petty space to be in. That's the space where I am completely a victim at the mercy of the curveballs that are being thrown at me and I don't know where to place myself. So, it's so important to figure out what works for you, but to be able to have those moments in which you anchor yourself in which you anchor yourself in that space and you react to life and everything that comes your way from that space. And then you initiate things that you also would have not initiated without it. If any of the distinguished uh people on this class would like to uh add and answer this person from Israel how you make this visceral and not only intellectual in your life, I would love to hear and I'm sure she or he would love to hear. I feel like one single act of bringing light into the world is so much more powerful than trying to make sense of the darkness. That's beautifully, beautifully said. It's also very important to be able to understand that some people who are suffering from serious anxiety and trauma, they can't just hear a class and expect it to go away. I sometimes get emails from people, actually often, emails from people they feel guilty cuz people tell them, "If you would have emunah, you wouldn't have anxiety. The reason you have anxiety is cuz you don't have emunah." And I always tell them that these people who are telling this to you either don't know about anxiety or don't know about emunah or don't know about both. Yes, it's true that some people through their emunah can get rid of their anxiety and it's amazing and they should. And it's very, very helpful and very, very effective. But sometimes a person is suffering from a very acute condition. Sometimes a person is really dealing with something very difficult. Just to tell them, you know, "Listen to this class and and have emunah and you'll get rid of it" is really not understanding and appreciating what this person is going through. This person may be dealing with a serious challenge. You have to open yourself up to them. Not because emunah can't help it. Emunah could help it. But there may be so many blockages and so much resistance and so many issues they have to work with. So, you have to know how to have compassion and help this person work it through, especially with people who are experts in this particular area. And their mooner that that is applicable then is their mooner knowing that in my anxiety God is still with me. God is holding my hand and cuddling me to be able to make sure that I'm not defined by my anxiety, that I could look at the anxiety, but realize that I am not it. I could contain it and it doesn't define me. So, for each person there's a different journey and we have to respect the fact that some people who have been through a lot of stuff or there a lot of stuff are coming out, you know, it's it's it's we shouldn't just dismiss it and say, oh, you know, listen to this class Rabbi YY, or listen to this other class, you know, and everything will be resolved because it's it may be unconscious. It may be things that have been absorbed through unconscious methods and there's no way you're going to spit it out just through data and information. So, we have to just also be aware of that. Somebody says that somatic healing is very very helpful for this and learning how to relegate yourself. These are two things that she found very helpful. Yeah, so somatic therapy is now very uh it's very popular and a lot of people really appreciate it. Um it really it really tunes into the body and it recognizes the fact that the body knows everything. I heard one of the the big teachers of somatic therapy today in California. I think she had a session with Rabbi Shais Taub a few weeks ago. Uh what's her name? Uh Hoffman guess and uh I know she's in California, so she said something fascinating. She said that um you You it used to be in therapy, you come in and you have to figure out the source of your trauma. I'm not feeling well. I'm confused. I'm overwhelmed. I'm stressed. I'm anxious. And now let's figure out what happened. What happened to my son? What happened to my daughter? Can you help me figure out what happened at the age of 4, 6, 10, 15? Was there sexual molestation? Did somebody touch them inappropriately? Was there verbal abuse, emotional abuse? Was there neglect, etc. Reggie Melrose, right? Melrose, Reggie Melrose. So So this Reggie Melrose was saying, "Today we know you don't have to do that." You actually don't have to talk about or even know the source of it, which is amazing. What you do have to do is talk to the body. It's all there in the body. The body experiences and holds on to every event and to every conversation and to every encounter. And it gets absorbed in the body. And we have to give the body permission. Permission with a lot of compassion to be able to open itself up and let it go. That's amazing stuff. That's incredible stuff. And I see today generally there's more and more articles and research and books about the fact that the future of healing is going to be in the body. We always thought it's the mind, you know. We'll analyze stuff and and analysis is very good, you know. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been amazing for so many people and other forms of of of analysis and therapy, so many different schools of thought. But as time is progressing, there seems to be a new trend which is very much about the goof, that the body itself knows everything. And it's all stored in that body. So yes, it's important to learn and it's important to understand because if I don't understand and I don't have perspective, just working with the body I don't think is enough because those thoughts could drive you crazy. So, you have to have the right perspective of what the where the trauma is, what it's doing to you, and how you could respond in different ways, and that you have choices, and that remember that the trauma is not you. So, these are it's very important to have the wisdom, the education to put it all in perspective and put it in context. But, the real healing often has to happen very much inside my guf, inside my body. Now, it does say in Chabad Chasidus that when Messiah comes, this is incredible, the soul is going to get spiritual nourishment from the body. Today, we eat food because the body has to live, and the soul is connected to its divine source of oxygen. And on the contrary, the soul helps the body. It says when Messiah comes, there's going to be a new awareness, such a profound consciousness in the world, that the body is going to feed the soul. In other words, the godliness of the body is going to become revealed in such a powerful way that the soul is going to become a student of the body. It's an incredible idea. Now, I saw this as a child growing up. I heard it from the Lubavitcher Rebbe many times. He once said, listen to this, that it says in in in in Chumash, in Parshas in Parshas Vayeira, that Avram and Sarah had a debate about Yishmael. So, God says to Avram, God says to Abraham, Kol asher temer Elacha Sarah shma bekolah. Whatever Sarah tells you, you should listen to her. So, this is what the Rebbe said, that it says in Zohar in Parshas Chayei Sarah, and the Rashba writes this, that Avram represents the soul, and Sarah represents the guf, the body. The Gemara says in Bava Basra 17, that the Avos and the Imahos, the patriarchs and the matriarchs, had a foretaste of Olam Haba in this world. They already lived in the consciousness of Geulah. So, the Rebbe said, "That's why Hashem told Avraham, whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her. Whatever your body tells you, your guf tells you," he's telling the neshama, it's a metaphor. God is telling the soul, "Whatever your body tells you, you have to listen to your body." Because you're already in a state of Olam Haba where the soul gets its cues and its direction and its food and its nutrients from the energy of the body, which is a Mashiach state of consciousness. And that's why I find it this the the Lubavitcher Rebbe said a few decades ago. So, I read it many, many years ago. I saw the talk and I'm like, "Okay, it sounds interesting." But today, it's really an incredible development in history that we're getting closer and closer to a point where we see that the deepest wisdom, the deepest spiritual wisdom is in the body in the guf. That's why you have to treat your body with so much respect and sensitivity cuz it really keeps the score. It really keeps the score. What helped me was learning Chovos Halevavos Shaar Habitachon, Duties of the Heart, Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Pakuda, 11th century, great book. Shaar Habitachon, the Portal of Trust, that's been very helpful. In the recent years, there have been many editions cuz it's written in Arabic, translated in a difficult Hebrew, but in recent years, there have been quite a few translations in English. I know recently, I got I think three new editions. Uh Rabbi Rubenstein, Rabbi YY Rubenstein. I have a He sent me his edition and I think Chayenu gave out a Shaar Habitachon and somebody else. So, they're in Hebrew and English. it's a very powerful piece of work. But again, I'm going to say it's a book. So, it could be cerebral, but to make it visceral takes work. Could you say her name again? Reggie Melrose, m e l r o s e. There are many therapists today who are doing somatic therapy and other forms of bodily therapy, including therapy with the muscles and therapy in other many other ways dealing with the body. People should look into this because one of these may be very helpful for you. There's also EMDR therapy. There is uh energy coding therapy, energy healing coding therapy. These all focus a lot on the body and they are new methods being developed and I found them to be life-changing for me personally. Okay, beautiful stuff. Take another question if there is. Okay. What do you think of What do you think our action-reaction should be at this time? Yeah, listen. It's uh It's very, very intense times now, you know. Everything is coming to the fore in such a powerful way. I mean, the outburst of anti-Semitism following the attacks from Gaza are really mind-staggering. So, I spoke a lot about this. If you go to the yeshiva.net, I did a podcast with uh Mrs. Rifka Kwiensky and Ita Shatenstein. It's on the yeshiva.net or on the podcasts. We spoke about this. I also did another podcast called uh Israel under attack and the Aguna crisis. And we spoke about this as well. I think it's a very So, you may want to watch it or listen to it because we spoke a lot about the situation today. Um uh going to do be doing something also Wednesday evening at 8:00 about anti-Semitism. That's also going to be live Instagram and then it will be posted on the Yeshiva.net probably the next day. The bottom line is that we are now in a very very intense times. Obviously, a lot of things are coming to the fore, you know, our own traumas and the traumas of the world and the world's attitudes to the Jewish people. And I think this is really a moment where the Jewish people have to shine. And what do I mean by shine? You know, really, we cannot change anti-Semites. But we could stand up to them and we could speak the truth about where anti-Semitism is coming from, what its real causes are, and urge all good people in the world to identify the source of the issue, and to confront it in every possible way. And the most important thing is to re-educate ourselves about what it means to be a Jew, why we experience this hatred, what it means to be part of the Jewish people, who we are, what our mission is, what our role is, and to do it with a lot of confidence, and to do it with unwavering commitment, loyalty, and without fear. That's very briefly what I have to say at the moment. I'm going to wish you all a beautiful day and I'm going to wish you all an amazing and inspiring day. I also want to thank very much the sponsor of today's class, which was dedicated by grandpa and grandma Mohan in honor of Irene's first birthday. Irene Bat Anna dedicated by the grandparents, the loving grandparents. So, thank you very, very much.