Elul: "YOUR FUTURE STARTS NOW" {Manhattan Highschool For Girls}

to go back. Sure. Sure. Thank you. >> Yeah. 157. That's Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. It's really a pleasure to be here on the first day of school. It's been a while since I've been back at the first day of school. And we start with the beginning. There's a lot to talk about when it comes to but we know is alluded to in the famous and everyone's going to talk about how close we are to during this time of the year. That's certainly true. And we're going to talk about how went up to Hari for a third time to receive the during this time of the year. That's certainly true. But whenever you start something you always have to look at the beginning. So what's the beginning of l begins with the word ani? Which means until you understand the meaning of the word ani you can't progress and proceed to have a relationship with first we have to recognize what ani is. Now today is a big day in your lives whether you're in ninth grade or you're in 12th grade or somewhere in between. Whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, today charts the course of the rest of your life. I always look back. This goes back 20. No, this goes back 19 years ago. I was a bakar in it was my first initi. I remember the date. It was so about this time of the year and it was shabas. It was the first schmuz I heard in yeshiva when I was a bakr and the rebi depicted this rebi is a great kakam he wrote on shas he wrote fararman kish and he was describing to us bam harasha standing on the top of the mountain overlooking Arat is and he hones in on a particular group of people who are situated in the coroner of Israel and in the base ham mikdash in what is called the lishkas hagosis, the chamber of yun stone. And who were they? They were the keni. The keni are the descendants of Israel. And Bum was astounded. The descendants of Israel. They're in the Sanhedrin. They're the leaders of the Jewish people. I can't believe it. Me and Yroy, we were buds back in the day. We were best friends. We were sitting there in the same class. We were actually in the same court case when parro when the pharaoh had an issue with the Jewish people and parro didn't know what to do. He had a problem. He didn't know should he exterminate us? Should he give us food to eat? Should he let us stay in Egypt? He didn't know what to do. So he convened a court case. And who were the three judges on the court case? Bam Isra. Very good. And I was sitting there and he didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. Should he defend the Jewish people? Should he accuse the Jewish people? I kept his mouth closed. He was silent the whole time. And Bum said, "Eradicate them, destroy them, murder them, kill them." And Yroy spoke up. Yes said, "If you dare touch them, God will pour his wrath on you. He'll take revenge against you." And there's this court case. And the garra tells us that Eo because he was silent and he didn't speak up, he was punished with afflictions. And because Yroy spoke up, his children are firmly seated in the highest seat in Jewish government, the leaders of the Sanhedrin. And because Bum accused us and he attacked us and he said we should be exterminated, Bum was killed. And Bum is looking back to the day he was sitting next to Israel in the same court case. And Bum says, "Look at me and look at you. You, your children are forever the leaders of the Jewish people and I'm the paragon, the quintessential Russia." And I remember our Rebi asked, "What was so shocking to to Bum? What was so surprising to Bum?" He was surprised of where he is and where Yroy is. You know why Bum is a Russia and Yroy was so successful and he has children who are at Sadikim? Because BAM made the wrong decision and Israel made the right decision. So Bum decided to accuse us. So he was punished and Isra spoke up to defend us. So he was rewarded. What exactly did Bum not understand? And this is not exactly rocket science over here. You know, if they would have said the same thing, we could understand Bum's surprise, but they made different decisions. So, what couldn't Bum understand? And I remember the Rebi said, "Billam and Yroy, they were sitting right next to each other in the same class. They were best friends. And when parro didn't know what to do, you could be sure it entered Bum's mind maybe he should make the right decision and he should tell parro not to harm us. And you could also be sure it entered Yroy's mind maybe to curry favor with the pharaoh he should make the wrong decision. And at that point in life they were exactly on the same footing footing. They were side by side on the exact same level. And what Bum couldn't understand is how is it possible for two people in the same classroom, in the same state in life, two good friends to a little while later be so diametrically opposite. He couldn't understand that there are certain moments and decisions in life that chart the course of the rest of your life. And the first day of school is one of them. You know, you come here, you see your good friends, old friends, new friends, and you think about the upcoming year and maybe Yamim and maybe summer already, and you think it's just high school, it's just ninth grade or even just 12th grade. The small decisions that you make today and for the rest of the year literally chart the course for the rest of your life. There's a reason why David says that young people are compared to arrows in the hand of the archer. Cuz you turn that arrow just one millimeter upward. It doesn't look like a big difference now, but the arrow will end up miles apart than if you were to turn that arrow one millimeter downward. So let's talk a little bit about who we are, what we are, what is our capacity, what is our potential. I want to share with you a very profound idea. This is not a simple idea. This is not an elementary idea, but it's a very important idea. You know, Hashem interacts with us in different ways. The way Hashem is manifest to us is in different dimensions. So for example, the reality of Hashem's existence is what we call, listen to this expression, meaning he inherently exists. He doesn't need us. There's nothing we do that affects him. Whether we're here or we're not here, Hashem's existence remains the same. He is he just is, was, and will be. And in that capacity we refer to Hashem. Who knows which name of Hashem refers to Hashem's just absolute existence. That's what means. But on the other hand, he created us and we need him and we depend on him. We need food, we need clothing, we need everything we have. And in that capacity in which Hashem interacts with us as our master, what is his name? Alfal Nun Adi. And then but there's a third aspect of Hashem's existence and it's going to come surprising to you that we describe it this way. This is the relationship that we have with when we focus on on Rashashana and the days coming up to Rashashana. We refer to Hashem as me lammed me Melik king. And when I was younger, I used to think, "Oh, Hashem's the melik. This is the greatness of Hashem, the grandtor of Hashem, the majesty of Hashem, the exalted nature of Hashem. Hashem's the king." And it's a mistake. When we refer to Hashem as a mel, it's not God's exalted stature. It's his humility. Listen carefully. It's his humility. What is a king? A king is someone who takes pride in his subjects who so to speak boasts that these are my subjects. God takes pride in us. Hashem is proud of us. The almighty creator takes pride in the Jewish people. That's the humility of Hashem. Do you understand what I'm telling you? The humility of Hashem is that he allows us to refer to him as it were, as if he's our king, as if he takes pride in us. So on Rashashana, we shouldn't think of Hashem, oh today's Hashem's day that he's getting a lot of attention and we're really elevating him. No, just the opposite. It's the day of Hashem's humility that he allows himself to be considered our king. But it's very interesting. How do we coronate Hashem? Do we blow a trumpet? That would be more reasonable. We blow a How exactly by blowing the horn of a ram does that coronate Hashem? So I want to share with you a very important idea. This is a very profound idea because on the one hand, in order to coronate Hashem, so to speak, we're lowering Hashem to us. But even as much as we lower Hashem to us, is he really our king? I'll give you an example. I once met a guy in I'll make up a place in California. Okay? Even though I was just there, but that's not where I met him. And I said, "What do you do for a living?" Cuz I remembered he used to be a computer programmer. He says, "You didn't gladen. You didn't hear. I'm the new king." I'm a king. Really? What country are you a king over? No, not a country. It's all in my backyard. Really? You have a kingdom in your backyard? Yeah, absolutely. I went to the pet store. I bought an ant farm. Ants? Yeah. And I'm the king of the ant farm. It's a new job. It's very popular these days. I'm the king of the ant farm. Could a human being a king of an ant farm? Absolutely not. That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. You can't be a king over ants. The ants don't even know you you exist. You have no commonality with the with the ants. You see, the definition of a king is if he shares everything in common with his subjects, it's just that the king is slightly more elevated. But if the king is so fundamentally superior to his subjects, that's not a mel. Maybe it's a mo, maybe it's a shallot, but it's not a mel. A mel is someone that's misnay is a little bit more elevated than his subjects. So please could somebody tell me how is the almighty our king? I guarantee you that the difference between a human and an ant is much less than between God and we and us. So how is Hashem our king? You ever think about that? We say that's like the highlight of the king. Why don't we think of that as a joke? Hashem's our king. What do we have in common with Hashem? Says Ra Hutner, herein lies the fundamental greatest impediment in avoid Hashem. You know what the greatest impediment is? I get up in the morning and I say, "Yeah, I'm going to dive in today. How am I going to dive in?" And you think to yourself, I don't know. Does it really matter? Who? What am I? What am I? What is my tilo worth? Hashem is listening to it. Doesn't he have more important things to think about? The fundamental, the greatest impediment to serving Hashem is not recognizing who we are. So, who are we? Who are we? You know, do you remember in if you ever looked at we have this very interesting I'll give you I'll give you a story. Anyone here ever visit the house of Kyfki. You ever go to Benra visit maybe Rebbiten Kyvski? I've been there also. Did anyone ever go to Raim Kyvski and not get in like you knock on the door and he's not available? Yeah, it happened to me. I went there. I didn't get in. And after I'm waiting at the door for an hour and one of the big Russia Shivas and Israel knocks on the door and went right in and I wasn't happy about that, but I still didn't get in. And then I was thinking, you know, if Rebel Yosh would have come, would he have gotten in? Yeah, you could bet your bottom dollar Rebel Yoshv gets in. What about Rav Garcian Adelstein? He'll get in. What if uh Rab Ysef came, he would also get in? What if after those great Gdylam got in, I would knock on the door and I would have said like this, just like you let in Rabbi Yoshv and Gershedstein let in Gladstein. Would that be a compelling argument? No. No, I'm not insulted, but no, that would not be a good argument. If I would have said, you let this Saddak in and this God in, so also let me in. That's not a good argument. They're much greater than I am. Did you notice that in we say, listen to the words we say in he who answered Abraham at the answer me. What kind of is that? You're telling just like you answered Abraham at the you should answer me. How in the world do you have the audacity to say just like you answered Abraham answer me but we have the audacity to say that and you know what the reason is because you I don't know you personally but one thing I know you're Ben Abraham you're you're Ben Selifka and one thing I know is that gave you And the nish is a it's literally a piece of the divine and Hashem blew our into us. And the z teaches the one who blows blows from within themselves. Which means that your soul is a piece of and it's divine and it's eternal. And that means your capacity for greatness is infinite. In other words, if you were to wake up in the morning and ask yourselves, what could I do in this world? Who can I be? The answer is your potential is infinite. And you are no less dear, beloved, cherished in the eyes of than authent. Do you believe that? Do you believe when you get up in the morning that Hashem loves you and values you and listens to your no less than any great sadic that ever lived in this world? So now we understand how Hashem is our mel because we're we have an we share something in common with the almighty that we have a certain divine and infinite ability says hutner being hashem coronating hashem is not only lowering hashem to us but recognizing our infinite and unlimited ability. It's always very moving to me. I know somebody who became extremely knowledgeable in halaka. And you would think, I don't know, he learns like seven hours a day. He doesn't. He doesn't even learn every day. He learns an hour a week. And I remember he didn't go to yeshiva and he took upon himself a small cabala that he would learn one hour on Sundays. And I remember him and another guy and the other guy said, "No, it's too much. He's too tired. He he doesn't have the time. His family needs him." And this guy without any yeshiva background at all, he changed the course of his whole life with one small simple decision. You know, there was once a young girl in Vienna and this was not typical of the community that she lived in. She had a beautiful and amazing voice and people recognized she had literally professional talent. And what are you going to do? You know, as as a a from Jewish girl, what are you going to do with a good voice? You know, what could you do already? But agents were after her. A particular agent proposed to her a lucrative contract. Her parents were were shocked, frightened, astonished. They said, you know, it's very nice. You should be flattered, but obviously, you know, in the community that we live in, you know, maybe uh you'll sing in your school choir, but you know, that's as far as you could take it. But she she didn't want to listen. She heard out the agent. The agent made her a a legitimate offer to sing in the Austrian opera. She would be set for the rest of her life and she was prepared to accept the contract. The parents didn't know what to do. They bring the young girl to the capishba who heard the girl out and he asked her like be straight with me what what appeals to you about this contract. Is it the money? Is it the attention? She said I'll be straight with you Reb. It's the fame. It's the fame. Everyone will know who I am. Everyone will recognize me. So the Reb closes his eyes. He doesn't know what to say. After a few moments, he turns to her. He says, "Look, if it's the fame, you have to believe." Then Hashem doesn't give a person a challenge unless it's an equal challenge. I give you a promise, you will have a son who will illuminate the world with Tyra. That's the story. We didn't have any further information about the story until Rabdan Seagull checked out the official chronicles of the Kahila in Austria and he wanted to see if he came up with any details about the rest of the story. Sure enough, in the Safer Hazikurin of this particular city, this girl ended up growing up. She got married and she had a son. Who is this son? Reb Schmal Halevi Vuzner who is the last poadar but what's what's very moving to me about this story is that in life you know you make decisions you don't know where it's going to lead you sometimes you will be the beneficiary of that decision but somewhere down the line your children your grandchildren your great-grandchildren they will be the beneficiaries of your choices in this world you know on yum kipper it's not so long away. We're going to read about the Nvya and Yao is sent. Who remembers? Which city is Ya sent to? Ninve. Ninve is the capital of Ash. Here's the problem. Asher is a Syria. They're not Jewish. Ya is supposed to tell them to do chuva. Since when does God send Naveim to tell people to do chuva? He doesn't. Not. You could look throughout the pages of Tanakh. Never once Yeshaes Yeria. They were never sent to the nations of the world to do chuba except for Ninve. Why Ninve? What's special about Ninve? So thei in parasyak says, "What's special about Ninve?" Because 2,000 years earlier, there's a guy by the name of Asher and Asher opens up his living room window and he sees they're building a big tower. And he asks, "Well, what's this tower?" He says, "Well, you know, we had enough. We're fighting the heavens." And Asher said, "I don't like that." And Asher said, "I'm not going to be an innocent bystander." So Asher ran away and he established a new country out of Babylonia, out of Babel. And Hashem remembered that. And 2,000 years later, when the capital of his empire had been so sinful that had it been any other kingdom in the world, God would would have destroyed it immediately like he did to Seda Amorra. Hashem said the choice of the founder of this country, Ashure. Now he's going to reap the benefits of that choice. and he gave them and they're the only ones of all the nations of the world who were ever given the opportunity to do chuba. Many years ago, someone told me a story about Ramatio Solomon and I was trying to remember it. I was trying to recall it. I could not summon up the details. So I called up Raatu's Talmid. I said, "Did you ever hear this in the story of what Ramatio said why he was to become the Mashiach of He said, 'I don't know what you're talking about. I never heard the story." I said, "Who would remember the story?" He said, "Call Ramatio Solomon's son-in-law, Halpin." So I called one of the son-in-laws and he said, "The story that I told him sounds vaguely familiar. Call my other son-in-law." So I called the next son-in-law and I he said I want to tell you something. Rab Matio only said the story once. He said it when he was honored by the lake of Yeshiva. They had a camera and anyone who deals with cameras know they don't always work. And the there was no recording of that speech, not video, not audio. And nobody knows what happened to the speech. But I'm going to tell you what he said. I remember it. And Ramati was being honored by the lake of yeshiva. He's the mashiach of the yeshiva. And he gets up and he turns the whole thing on its face. Ramatio Solomon said, "You think you're honoring me? You're not honoring me. Tonight's dinner is an honor to my mother." People said, "What? Your mother? Your mother didn't learn in Lakewood?" He said, "Let me tell you something." 70 years ago. During World War II in the 1940s, Rearon Cutler was in Kletk and the Nazis were hot on the trail and they were gonna try to capture him and there was a plan in place to save the life of Aaron Cutler either through England or through America. And it was a certain Friday night and the plan was in place to save Ravarin through England and they needed someone to sit at the phone in case the call would come in from Klet that Raarin needed to fly out to England immediately and they needed a volunteer to sit by the phone on Shabas to save the life of Rabar Cutler. And a young teenager named Etal Solomon volunteered to give up her entire shabas to sit by a telephone in case the call would come in to save the life of Raaran Cutler. 70 years later Solomon as the Mashk of the Lakewood yeshiva said in the merit of my mother who risked her life. It was during the Blitz when the Germans were bombing England night after night after night. Her his mother had to sit in a bunker by a telephone to in case the phone call would come in. In the merit of my mother who risked her life for the life of Raarin Cutler, her son was to become the Mashiach of the lake. The choices we make today, they may seem small. They may may seem innocuous but they make a difference in this world. The rebum remembers them and they make a difference for you and for your children and for your grandchildren. In 1957, the great maestro, the great composer, Arturo Tuscanini, it was a year before his passing, and his biographer called him up and he says, "Arturo, we just need to do one more interview and then I'll be able to finish the biography." And Artur said, "When would you like to meet?" And the biographer said, "Let's meet tomorrow night, Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m." Artur said, "We can't meet tomorrow night." He said, "What's what's tomorrow night?" Tomorrow night, you have to know I'm retired now. I'm old now, but they're having they're playing a symphony in Europe. I'm in America and they're going to be playing it on shortwave radio and I need to sit in my apartment and listen over the radio to how this conductor plays that symphony. So, the biographer said, "No problem. I'll come 7:45. I'll sit in the corner and I won't make a peep." So Tuskani said, "No, I know you're ready. You have ADHD. You're moving around. You're shuffling around. Your keys are jingling. You know, you make too much noise." The guy says, "I'll be a statue. I won't you won't even know I'm there." So he said, "Fine, but you better keep your word." 7:45, the biographer comes. He's sitting in the corner. He takes a deep brea breath and for 60 minutes he does not inhale. The hour is over. The symphony is over. He turns to Tuscani. says, "Wow, that was incredible. That was unbelievable. That was amazing." Tuscanini says, "You fool. That was a disaster. That was terrible." So the biographer knew that Tuscanini was out of his mind. And he was. He was a mad man. He had a raging temper. But people tolerated him because he was a perfectionist. Nobody could lead the orchestra like him. And the biographer said, "What was wrong?" Tuscanini said, "What do you mean what was wrong? There were supposed to be 120 musicians, 15 violinists, 14 showed up. So the biographer realized Tuscanini lost it. How could you possibly hear over shortwave radio that one violinist didn't show up? So he just kept his mouth closed and he walked out. But then he said, you know, maybe maybe this guy knows something. The biographer called up the manager of the symphony hall in Europe. He said, "By the way, I'm an American correspondent. I was just wondering how did the symphony go last night." So, he said, "Pretty good." Most people thought it was great, but between me and you, there were supposed to be 120 musicians, 15 violinists. One guy didn't show. The guy, he's floored. The biographer is floored. He goes to Tuscanini. He says, "Are you kidding me? How are you able to hear on shortwave radio that one violinist was missing? And Toscanini says, "That's the difference between me and you. You see, you're just in the audience. So if there's one missing violinist, you can't tell the difference, but I'm the composer and I hear every decibel. I every I hear every tone. I hear every nuance. Sometimes in life we say do my decisions really matter, how I dab in, how I act, how I speak, how I conduct myself? And the answer is it may or may not matter to the girl sitting next to you. It may or may not matter to your teacher, but to the great conductor who is perceptive to every nuance and every detail and every his and every effort you make. We believe that every little effort we make makes a difference to the great conductor of the universe. It will make a difference for your life, for the life of your children, for the life of all your descendants. My humble braha to you is you should have tremendous desay on the upcoming year. Take advantage of the wonderful opportunity you have here in this beautiful yeshiva in this beautiful school. And as make sure you point your arrow upward. Thank you very much. Heat. Heat. Please stop here.