Bonei Olam Event - Rabbi Shlomo Farhi

Good morning. What an incredible morning it is here uh today. And I don't think yet we know how amazing this morning is. We'll only find this out at some later point in history. how important, how integral, how critical it was that every one of you got dressed, made your way here, and is sitting through speech after speech. We'll only find this out in the future. Bear with me. First of all, I want to say thank you uh to Irene and Ellen for speaking so beautifully on the video. That was incredible. your vulnerability and your uh your passion and your pain came through in spades and I think people understand exactly what it was uh and what it is that we're here gathered today for. I want to say also hakubaruk to Sarah and where's Eddie Eddi there he is Eddie Eddi right over there. Okay. So, hakubaru for hosting us. I'm going to come at this from a little bit of a different angle. About a week and a half ago, I went to a brea and for the first time, someone who was not in my family named a baby after me. I didn't know what's happening. I went to the br and they named the baby and the mother said, "We named our son after you." I can't tell you how emotional that was. Not my family, but someone a student that you put time into. Rabbi Bakner Schlommo and Ghana. From one Schlommo and Ghana to another Schlommo and Khana. The Torah talks this week about the Pira, the death of Aaron Hakohen. And it was a curious funeral because following uh the speeches and the funeral and the procession and whatever it was says the midrash are 80,000 children called Aaron. And why were 80,000 children called Aaron? Not because that year the most popular name was Skyler Jaden Ariana but because Aaron Hakohhen had taken it on himself to find the couples that were fighting and put them back together. He brought shalom bay between couples that otherwise would have split. And then when they came back together and had a child, who did they name their child after? They named their child after the person who was the cause for that baby. And who was that? That was Aaron. So at this m this young woman who spent a lot of time in our house who I had the privilege of marrying them who she came to us for advice and if she should marry this guy etc etc etc. So on some level Kana and I were the reason why this baby existed. My friends, we don't yet know what how and what historic a day this morning is because those babies have not yet been born. But there will come a time in the future and you may know it or you may not. The baby might physically carry your name or in sham it might carry your name. The Talmud tells us that there was a certain rabbi, his name was Shimon Ai Aaria. Shimon, the brother of Aaria, asks Rashi. Every person we know, we know the guy's name and the name of his parents, Yakov Ben, my dearest friend, we know the name and we know the name of the mother or the name of the father. Shimon Aaria Rashi says his brother was the one who supported him. so he could STUDY TORAH. SO FOREVER MORE he is canonized in the Mishna as Shimon, the brother of Aaria, the one that enabled him to study. My friends, this morning you're going to write a check. And you know what's going to happen in Shamim? There's going to be a baby with your name on it. A baby that a young couple didn't know if they would ever be able to bring into this world. children and grandchildren will be born. And every one of those children and grandchildren will be because of you because young couples, they don't have that extra capital lying around. And I'll tell you, even couples that do very well for themselves, a round could be 10,000, could be 20,000, it it's not cheap. They don't know what to do. And even if they do it, how many rounds does it take? Sometimes a person could go 10 rounds. So let's say it's only 18,000. I can deal with that. It's a little bit difficult. It's a pinch. But you know what? Maybe it doesn't go anywhere. And then I find out at the end of this round that nothing happened. There are no eggs. There was nothing that worked. We weren't able to gather something that was viable. Another 18, my friends. The worst gamblers in the world don't gamble like that. THEY DON'T THROW DICE FOR 18 GRAND, FOR 30 grand a shot. It's hard. People feel alone. But my friends, who had babies named after him, not only because of that, as a rabbi, you get to find out many different things. And there are times when couples who can't have children start to fight between them. And really underneath the fight is a little bit of blame. There was a great rabbi whose name was Rabbi Schlommo uh uh Hyman. He passed away without any children. He was a tremendous rabbi. At the funeral, all the students came to the house, excuse me, at the Shiva to give comfort to the wife. And the wife said, "Boys, you think you know your rabbi, you don't know the half of it. You know, in all the years we were married, he never turned to me. He never made me feel like maybe it was my fault. Should have done this, could have done that. Maybe we need to do this. Maybe you're not doing the right thing physically or spiritually or you're not pushing hard enough. Not one time did he ever make me feel like that in all the years of our marriage. My friends, brings shalom between husbands and wives. And that shalom brought babies. My friends, today you don't need to be a psychotherapist. You don't need to sit with the couple. You don't need to put them together. You don't need to deal with their trauma. All you need to do is take out a pen. My friends, I want to beg. I want to ask because there's a moment in synagogue that you guys don't see and you don't feel. But as a rabbi, ask any rabbi. They'll tell you the same thing. You get a guy who comes up and I'm going to take you into my own little brain. My brain's a weird place. So, buckle up. A guy goes up for aliyah. They finished. What's your name? David, Ben, whomever, whatever. This one for the life of his father and motherto his wife. I'm already judging the guy how old he is. I'm already launching into his sons and his daughters and I'll say and the guy will go like this. that moment and the heartbreak that I feel for having brought that out in the middle of a synagogue with everyone watching. It's just a small shake of the head. My friends, I'm asking you for the tiniest gift this morning. All I want you to do is to change this to this. So this morning we don't have so much sun. There's a little bit of drop of rain. And you might think this is not the perfect setting, but I disagree. Rain is a sign of it's also a sign of fertility. These clouds represent the fact that soon those drops will fall. Or maybe they have already. It is my my wish and my that this morning from the gift that we give, Hashem should bless us and know our intention and our heart because not every person who gives merits that dead gets the job done. Did you know that sometimes you give money to solve a problem and the medicine you bought didn't work? You have to HAVE A THAT YOUR WORKS. So my blessing to all of us this morning is that the we give today should be that works and that the people who benefited from the money that we gave today should be zed to be able to become pregnant and that that pregnancy should carry to term with no mistakes and that that child birth should happen without pain and without suffering and without complications and the babies that are born should be healthy and strong to parents who waited and prayed for so long. My friends, I ask of Hashem today that Hashem considers us his angels this morning, his messengers to be able to bring like the stork before you understood our babies were born. A stork comes and brings the baby wrapped up a little nappy. My friends, that's us today. How many babies are going to have our name written on them in Shamay? Their future, their children, their mitzvot, their happiness, what they brought to their parents. May Hashem bless us to feel that vulnerability that was put across in the video so well and to uh wipe, so to speak, this frown off of so many people's faces and turn it into the most beautiful, happy smile in the world. Thank you so much.